Archive for August, 2008

Last Day of Summer

Posted by Akash under School on August 24th,2008. 3 Comments.

It’s here. Tomorrow, everything will change. I will be a Junior in High School. Before I know it, I will be in college. This year is going to be simply hectic. Due to zero hour AP Chemistry, class starts at 6:55 A.M. for me. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I will go to the YMCA after school with Marijke, as we have been doing this Summer. On Tuesdays, I will have voice lessons and vocal jazz in the evening. ISA and this PSAT prep class I am taking are on Thursdays. I still have to find out when my piano lessons are. I will also sign up for volunteering at the hospital (probably on the weekends). I plan the join the Spanish Honors Society, and maybe one of the following three: Speech, Youth & Government, or Model UN. If I somehow have free time and decide to completely give up my social life, then I will apply for a job at Barnes & Noble or at the local movie theatre. As for the musical (Crazy For You), it depends on how busy I am and my desire to do it. I may try out for the pit orchestra. I will do Solo & Ensemble, as always, but I will not audition for the IMEA District choir because I will be in India for my cousin’s wedding.

As for my classes, I think I picked a moderately challenging selection. I am deathly afraid of AP Chemistry, but it’s my fault I signed up for it. I will also take Honors Math Analysis (pre-calculus), Dramatic Literature and British Literature (semester each), Spanish III, Psychology and AP Psychology (semester each), Varsity Chamber Singers (top choir), and of course, P.E. Some other options, and classes that my friends are taking, are AP English III (but I am not that great at English), Honors Physics (which I will take next year. I took Honors Chemistry last year, so I’d like to keep the Chemistry classes consecutive), AP US History (I took regular US History last year, so there’s no point), and AP Biology (Chemistry interests me more).

Wow. Big plans? Yes. Will all of this work out? Hopefully. Will I have time to blog and design? Barely. Do I use too many parentheses? Yeah. :|

Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Book Review)

Posted by Akash under Books on August 13th,2008. 3 Comments.

I finished it last night at 12AM. To be honest, I started reading a LONG time ago. Probably two months back. I read a good chunk of it, left it be for a few weeks, then read a good chunk, left it be. In the last heat (which lasted a day), I just had to finish it. It got really intense. Chapter 92 was phenomenal and the best thing I have ever read. Overall, this isn’t my favorite book, but it’s up definitely there. It deserves five stars.

The main jist of the book is: Teenage boy gets stuck on a lifeboat. With a fierce Bengal tiger. How do these castaways survive? The beginning did drag on a bit. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if I didn’t take those two long breaks, though. I really liked how religion and realism came together in this book. Also, the details. I am a partial vegetarian (I only eat foul meat), so some of the events described in the book were utterly gruesome. It was so sickening that I just had to keep on reading. Anyway, the book is an inspirational life lesson. Not just a lesson of surviving in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, but just about life in general.

I thought I got along with technology…

Posted by Akash under Life on August 12th,2008. No Comments.

I guess I don’t. For the past few weeks, I have had sudden urges to take photos (when I am driving or just walking around my house). I don’t have a camera, and I use my parents’ camera when they tell me to take pictures of things. Today, I was playing around with my camera and its settings. I found some neat things like filters and timers, but I can’t manage to do anything else. I don’t know how to change the resolution, turn off the auto power-off, or check how much battery power is left. I don’t even know how my camera compares to other ones. It is a Canon PowerShot SD600. On Amazon, it sells for over US$500. I guess that means it is good? No sé. If anyone knows how to work this camera, or has any tips/tricks, do tell.

The Last Airbender – Open Casting?

Posted by Akash under Television on August 10th,2008. 5 Comments.

For those of you that follow Avatar: The Last Airbender, you know that the show recently ended a few weeks ago. The next big thing that is confirmed is the new Avatar movie. It is supposed to be a live action movie… I don’t know if it will be up to par of the action movies that I like. Anyway, there are apparently going to be open auditions for Aang, the main character. This line of description is funny, in my opinion: We are considering male actors 12-15 years old, Caucasian or any other ethnicity. Does that mean “technically, a boy of any race can audition, but you only have a chance if you are Caucasian” or “yes, even you, Caucasian male, can audition?” They could have just said “We are considering male actors [...] of any race.”

I do have some hope for this live action movie. I think it has the potential to be as amazing as the original series. At San Diego Comic Con’s Avatar panel, Michael Dante DiMartino, one of the creators of Avatar, said that it was a “very faithful retelling of Book One: Water.” Though he and Bryan Konietzko, the other creator, are not directing the live action movie, I will take their word for it. I believe it is going to release in 2010. Actually, I think the show’s director (Joaquim Dos Santos) isn’t even directing it… *googles* Oh, it is M. Night Shyamalan who is directing the movie. I heard he is pretty good.

Oh yes, I did totally redo my site. Thanks for noticing. I still need to make the URLs pretty for my portfolio and make a site map. For those who subscribe, you will have to change the RSS feed. Sorry. I also added a feed for my portfolio.