The Fault in Our Stars' one pivotal hamartia

By Kat


Before I begin, I would just like to state for the record that The Fault in Our Stars was not a bad book. In fact, at many points I genuinely enjoyed the book and overall found that is was generally a good novel. However, in true Hazel Grace Lancaster fashion, it does indeed have one pivotal hamartia.
Which brings me to the issue at hand:
The Fault in Our Stars is pretentious.
There. Pause for a moment to hear the protests of fan-girls.
John Green is a great writer. He is obviously very well read, and obviously knows his stuff after all the successful pieces he's written. However, in The Fault in Our Stars, we find quotes like this:
“It's a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing.”
"What do you fear? -Oblivion."
And even the book itself admits it! Isaac, at one point, says: "Augustus Waters talked so much that he'd interrupt you at his own funeral. And he was pretentious: Sweet Jesus Christ, that kid never took a piss without pondering the abundant metaphorical resonances of human waste production."
But the thing is, we actually have to sit through hundreds of pages of this. Hundreds of pages of Augustus Waters, a guy with strange philosophical viewpoints that could only belong to teenagers who would be wise enough not to share them with other people. It's almost as if he's inviting people to hate him, and it doesn't make for a character that actually makes sense. You can have a meaningful and layered story without making one of your protagonists go on a soliloquy about every implication of every situation.
And one more point: cancer. Cancer, the central element to the story. But despite how many layers it gives to the story, it must be realised that without the cancer, the story lacks substance. These characters suddenly become quite empty, and the entire story seems to be just another cliched tale of teenage love. I understand what terminal illness brings to this story. I understand how it builds up the story itself. But the core of writing a story involving any sort of medical condition is to convey how your story and subsequent situations and characters actually have a sort of weight that is nothing to do with cancer. Because that's what these people all are- people. And these people shouldn't be defined by a situation that was  brought upon them by chance, which really needs to be shown in every sort of story. Green treads on delicate territory and dangerous thresholds- if we look at Hazel, we see that her life for the first few chapters seem to revolve entirely about her cancer, then she simply allows her happiness to become reliant on Augustus. We want to see a human side, a side away from cliched love and teen romance and away from cancer and unforeseen circumstances.
The Fault in Our Stars is, at its core, a cancer story. It's somewhat pretentious, but it's also brilliant. All we need is for Green to understand this situation without delving into unnecessary dramatics. All we need is for The Fault in Our Stars to grasp what it truly means to grow up, away from any adversity.

Frozen's One Fatal Flaw

By Kat


Frozen. The movie that inspired warbling singing from enthusiastic youngsters un-musically belting out the lyrics to "Do you want to build a Snowman?" while dancing around the house. The music that spawned countless covers and constant annoyances in arguments.
Person A: "But it's not okay!"
Person B: "Geez, just let it go!"
Person A: ..."Let it go...let it go..."
But amidst all of the hype surrounding how spectacular the movie is and how great the twist is, it, like all things, has a hamartia (see how annoying that is? Rant on The Fault in Our Stars later on.).
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the fact that the twist itself makes absolutely no sense.
If Hans even is a villain, he's a terrible one. At the start of the movie, when the two spontaneously fall in love, there are clear cheats in the narrative with moments of him smiling all good guy-like.
Furthermore, if he really was bad all along, wouldn't there be so many opportunities and circumstances in which he could have just ended it?
1. When Anna left him in charge of Arendelle, all he needed to do was bring on the dictatorship and rule the place. He never really needed to go after Anna...but instead he decides to leave. Why would you leave a kingdom you want to conquer to find a princess you don't even want to exist? She left you in charge, Hans! You had the whole kingdom in your grasp, and there was never really any point chasing after anyone. You could have sent your men away to find her and still look like a dutiful ruler to the people. Or you could screw dutiful ruler and take over. There is no point going after them, because they may as well have perished anyway, and there's no use trying to find Elsa either because if he's already in charge and she's not coming back, she poses no threat. And if she does come back, wouldn't he have the people of the city (and the weapons of the city) under his full control? Let bitter fates play their course, Hans! Don't you know anything about villain-ship?
2. The "I am evil because I need a sense of identity" excuse has gotten way old at this point.
3. Possibly the most tedious and facepalm-worthy line in the entire movie, I swear:
"You won't get away with this."
"...I already have."
I am unimpressed, Disney. U-n-i-m-p-r-e-s-s-e-d.
Yes, I admit that some elements of the movie were executed quite well. But I have to say, for a film that's so acclaimed, the entire basis the ending is founded upon is really fundamentally flawed. The villain turnaround is just out of the blue and completely out of place. The only acceptable explanation I will take is that Hans had multiple-personality disorder, or had a twin brother. Because frankly, that's the only way such inconsistent behaviour can be excused.

SketchRant: Bird #4

 By Kat

SketchRant: Insect Life

By Kat

SketchRant: Bird #3

By Kat

SketchRant: Bird Sketch

By Kat

Continuing on with the artistic trend, here is a sketch of a bird I drew in primary school. :)

SketchRant: Butterfly on Flower

By Kat

More drawings to share, this time a charming butterfly on a hastily coloured flower.

SketchRant: Bird Drawing

By Kat

Isn't it annoying how your hobbies seem to be less and less important as school years move on?
This one is from many...many...years back. All the way back to when I used to draw in markers...

10 Bad Puns in 10 Minutes

By Kat

Here we go...
1. What is Edgar Allan Poe's favourite food? A poe-tato.
2. What did the cup say to the upset straw? Suck it up.
3. What country does whisky embody? Scotch-land.
4. What theme park do Harry Potter characters most like to go to? Luna Park.
5. What happened to the farmer's chicken pen? It had a fowl smell.
6. What brand of sunglasses does the Sun wear? Ray-bans.
7. Did you hear the story of the pig? It was a great tail.
8. How well did the chickens perform today? They were eggcellent.
9. Bearings is a difficult topic in maths, but you can get through as long as you bear with it.
10. I wrote this essay on paper. It was tear-rible.
As evidenced, I am not great at puns. 8 of them I thought up on the spot, whereas the other 2 (which shall remain a mystery) were outsourced to the very punny people around me.
How many puns can you make in 10 minutes?

The Truth about Ships

By Kat


Ships. They are everywhere. People create them, sometimes for strange or personal reasons, and then they ceaselessly drift about in circulation.
Often annoying, often intrusive on your own activities.
Today I'm going to portray ships in the best way I know how.

There.

Putting others down

By Kat


Sometimes it's unintentional. Sometimes people just don't understand. But often it happens every day, whether it be subtle or bold.
Here's the case in point:
Don't ever put anyone else down when you don't fully understand their situation.
Often these people might just be trying to help you with constructive criticism- and here's the difficult thing- because if someone is wanting to help, it is more difficult to understand how to react. You get phrases like "what's wrong with you" in some cases, and I would just like to state outright that no matter who you are, whether you're a parent, child, teacher, student or otherwise, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to put any other down without first knowing the situation.
A message to everyone out there- people are people. We make mistakes, and we make stupid decisions, but we are- in the end- people. We are people who naturally feel crushed by scathing words, and begin to feel lower and lower as the day progresses.
Picture a day where you go through your daily life where everything is going your way. But one comment that goes beyond constructive criticism, something that actually hits you hard...that is when your happiness seems to take a downhill turn.
It is my opinion that the human race is becoming more and more idiotic to one another. Instead of practising self-control and common decency, we revert to cold-blooded bluntness and comments without reason. There is a difference between helpful honesty and crushing criticism.
Say that a student fails a test.
Constructive criticism:
I know that you didn't do as well as you wanted, but I know you can do better next time if you put work into it. If you don't understand anything I would be happy to explain it to you. See, this section here...
You get the gist.
Criticism:
What are you even doing? This is simple, and you can't even get this!
I have mentioned before that we, as humans, are 7 times more likely to look out for negative things than positives. I implore you all, for the sake of human sanity, to step back and think.
What are you saying?
Why are you saying it?
Will anything good result from you saying it?
Because if all these answers result in something along the lines of:
A) I dunno.
B) I dunno.
C) Um...
Then you should probably reassess your everyday interactions. Are you really being as socially positive as we all have the capability to be?

A Quick Lesson in Music

By Kat

Music. To learn it, you also have to have a moderate vocabulary of Italian. But no worries. Here's a quick (and completely non-educational) lesson in music:

 This right here is a crochet. Basic rhythm.

 This right here is a quaver, which is twice the speed of a crochet.

This right here is a semiquaver, which is twice the speed of a quaver.

And this right here is the monstrosity that is a demisemiquaver, which is...yeah no, I'm not going near that.

Next, tempo. 

Andante means slow walking pace (kind of like a Sunday morning walk pace), but andante is not as slow as largo, but slower than moderato, which is moderate, ALTHOUGH larghetto is slower than andante but also slower than adagio, where on the other hand moderato is slower than allegro which is slower than presto (which means fast) which is slower than prestissimo (which is very fast).

Wasn't that a breeze? 

Next, markings.

I'll introduce you to two today, staccato and legato.

Staccato means short and detached and is characterised by a small dot above a note.

Legato means played for full length and sounds flow-like.

But if you combine the two and put a staccato under a slur, meaning you play between staccato and legato if that's even possible...then you get...a portato!

Hehe. Portato. 

Case in point: music theory is tedious. 

SketchRant: Photoshop Art #2

By Kat


Isn't getting the nitty gritty details with brushes in Adobe Photoshop tedious?

SketchRant: Photoshop Art #1

By Kat


This took way too long than it probably should have. Oh, and because I'm a noob at Photoshop, I had to do some weird things to get those skyscrapers...

\

Santa is Creepy

By Kat


We all know it.
I mean:
"He sees you when you're sleeping,
He knows when you're awake...
He know's when you've been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake!"
...holy crap.
Imagine this scenario, first of all.
At the dead of night, a man sneaks into your house. He eats your cookies and drinks your milk, but ONLY these two items, nothing else. You hear him travelling down your chimney, then while your children are sleeping he leaves suspicious gifts bearing their names, which are all the signs that are left of him once you wake up in the morning. He terrorises all the children in the world, except for a select few which he labels as "bad", giving them a mysterious chunk of coal that scorches their hearts with its ambiguous and sinister nature.
Plus, he claims he travels on magical reindeers and visits all children on his flying sleigh in a night. Sounds less like a jolly old fellow bearing happiness, and a bit more like a guy who maybe forgot which container contained the hallucinogens.
But wait, there's more! He has a list of all the names of all the children in the world, and documents their every action to judge whether it is considered good or bad to him. He has little helpers that package gifts for him to send off to your homes!
People of the world, we must arise. We must boycott Santa Claus, and his mysterious ways. No longer can we accept the presence of such a figure in our media, a figure that appears so popular in Christmas time. We need to acknowledge that there would be far better mascots for a holiday season in the world than Santa, and reveal this creepy guy for who he is.
If we don't...
Then you better watch out.
You better not cry.
You better not pout, I'm telling you why.
Santa Claus is coming...to town.

Humans are causing climate change

By Kat


Climate change. Polls show that 1 in 4 Americans still believe that it doesn't exist. Some others believe its not anthropogenic. But in the end, there's no doubt that humans are causing climate change, and we need to do our part to turn it around.
First of all, overwhelming evidence points in the direction of anthropogenic climate change. 13 of the 14 hottest years in history occurred this century- any claims that climate change has "slowed down" in recent years are completely unfounded. When people display their theories that scientific theories on global warming are incorrect, what has to be brought to attention is the fact that broader graph trendlines clearly show that in the larger scale of things, CO2 levels are indeed rising. The presence of humans has thrown the world out of balance, and as a result natural production of CO2 has become imbalanced with its capability to absorb.
In a survey on the consensus of the scientific community, it was found that 97% endorsed anthropogenic climate change.
The facts are this:
- The sea level is rising
- The environment is emitting more CO2 than it is capable of balancing
One may bring up that "climate change has been occurring long before humans".
And like all natural processes, this may be true. But consider our presence, and consider the changes we have made to this environment and the speed at which these changes have been created, and it is then you begin to realise the overwhelming threat that humans pose. Even aside from climate change, you can look at the case of artificial selection in terms of biological evolution, or just our growing influence on the destruction of natural habitats and ecosystems.
Our environment is degrading, no doubt. If anything, all people must at least agree on that. We must agree that through all our waste and manufactured garbage that drifts into natural areas, and in all our urban sprawl that takes over habitats, we have reduced this earth to a point where it would be better off without us. It is up to us to face up to the fact that we are a naturally destructive race, but also to acknowledge that as a species, we have the greatest capability to change. And now, this change is more necessary than ever. Let us all face the coming need for action, and halt global warming while we still have the chance.

Exam Journals (Day 9 & 10)

By Kat


The final days have passed, and finally...we are free!
Yesterday, the tests by the corrupt forces have increased in frequency. They are sometimes giving us two in one day and one every other. Not many of us can cope, but we have learned to push on.
Finally, we find ourselves winning the tests. They are running out of time, and if we all survive for one more day, we will be free from the boundaries of the evil "exam".
Today, finally, we were freed. The forces were overthrown and finally, finally we have escaped.
The hardest test of them all, that of the "Maths Teacher" has passed. We have our results as a final remnant of the memories of the period of history we will only ever know as "The Exam Age".
Remember this?

Well, today, it looks a bit more like this:

Perhaps the great and powerful "Maths Teacher" is not so evil after all.

Exam Journals: Day 8 (Cramming)

By Kat


Isn't cramming great?
Cramming is the one salvation that a poor student has left to turn to when all is said and done. Or, at least, when they have terrible organisational skills.
Two exams tomorrow, and a ton of concepts to memorise? Can't remember the formula for calculating average acceleration? Boy, I remember what that felt like. But luckily, cramming came to the rescue!
Here is your free sample of a cramming timetable for one night:

4:00	Arrive home
4:00-5:00	Practice tests
5:00-6:00	Review of notes
6:00-6:30	Note-reading while eating dinner (because multitasking…)
6:30-7:30	Congratulations! You get a break. Do something you enjoy, that is, something you can do while completing another practice test.
7:30-8:30	Lookback on past tests, redoing mistakes
8:30-10:30	More practice tests plus assorted textbook reading and note compiling
10:30-11:00	Short break, while reading notes of course.
11:00-12:00	Final revision and affirmation of knowledge
12:00-undefined	Overtime for extra cramming

And there you go! A perfect timetable for adhering to all your cramming needs! 

(Do not heed any advice in this post. Rather, do actual work a few weeks beforehand. Much more efficient.)

Exam Journals: Day 7 (Exam Rewards)

By Kat


So far, so good. One down, six more to go.
In celebration of the future that is about 3 weeks away, in which all exams will officially stop for us...here is a exam reward table you can treat yourself to (works for up to 7 exams!):

Exam Number	Reward
1	One hour of snacking
2	Two hours of study music
3	One hour of computer games
4	One movie
5	Two hours of not studying
6	Ten minutes of self-esteem raising congratulations
7	One week of restful sleep

Keep going, and eventually you'll make it to the greatest gift of all....Exam Number 7....

Exam Journals: Day 6 (Things I do the Day Before Exams)

By Kat

Tomorrow begins the formal commencement of our exams. What fun! 

On the contrary to what it should be, however, today was a pretty chill day. Why? I find that stress is really the last thing that I should be accumulating right now, contrary to all my previous exam preparation periods.

I believe that is an appropriate enough segue...so...

Here are The Things I do the Day Before Exams:

1. Waking up

"It's a beautiful day, and I can't stop myself from smiling..."

Not really. Usually it starts with a small freakout in my head. Today it started with me shooting out of bed to get ready for Chinese school, so not much time for a freakout there. But generally, I begin to crowd my head with thoughts, mainly revolving around this:

"Wake uppppp...you haven't done enough revisionnnnnn...you're not readyyyyyy...get prepareddddddd...you need to do more revisionnnnnn..."

It's horrible.

2. Revision

My revision goes on for way longer than it probably needs to. Why? Two reasons. Firstly, I psych myself out about not doing enough revision, like what happened today:

"You only wrote one essay yesterday. Write another one."

One hour later...

"Two essays aren't enough! Write another one."

Secondly, the other thing that happened today was my dear friend procrastination. Because, just as much as I have a strict work ethic voice in my brain, I also have the chilled and "I don't care" voice.
"You've already written an essay today...take a break...go outside...watch some Youtube...chat with someone..."

One hour later...

Should I get back to my revision?

"What about after you get yourself an ice cream?"

And so the cycle continues. It's quite painful, really, because I can't seem to find the balance between work ethic and relaxing. My one central flaw in exam revising...it's funny though, because sometimes you find yourself in those circumstances in which you study little and excel. As well as those in which you study a lot and do poorly. I deem exams a strange and elusive thing.

3. Sleeping

I haven't decided what time to sleep. Should I sleep early to conserve my energy, or late to cram more?

Exams are infuriating. But their existence is a topic for another time. In the meantime...it's probably sleep time...

Good luck again to all takers of exams, especially those experiencing some sort of university entrance exam. May the odds be ever in your favour.

A further note on asylum seekers

By Kat


Asylum seekers- an issue close to heart and especially prevalent in the news recently in Australia, as we watch the government scramble to try and 'stop the boats'. You may recall that the first full post I ever wrote was on the topic of asylum seekers. And we return to it today, to target the ethical side of this argument and delve deeper into this topic.
The below article explores the topic of asylum seekers. It references the story of Amal Basry, a woman who found herself a survivor of the capsized SIEV X boat, who struggled with being caught 'in-between', then was accepted as part of Australia, only to pass away from cancer in 2006.

Read it here: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/anniversary-of-siev-x-sinking-a-time-for-reflection-20141016-116xng.html

And the title is true, because we all  need to reflect. Polls show that 71 percent of Australians support asylum seeker turn-backs. It's funny that we think so, because the amount of countries that almost immediately accept refugees are astounding. We're falling behind on a large scale, because of a government that doesn't accept that as a developed country, our role is not merely to flaunt our status, but to understand the necessity of our role in a wider world context.
Let's return to Amal Basry. Some may call her case tragic- a woman who earned her freedom then lost it before she could truly experience how it felt.
And in many ways it is, because she never got a chance to live the rest of her life here. But isn't there something in her story that represents all of this- the fact that she got to experience one moment of knowing how it felt to be free?
These people aren't just walking into this country carefree, expecting a life to be laid out in front of them. I consider there to be an air of heroism surrounding them, a heroism that is considerably greater in substance than any policy the government may throw out there. In the end, it doesn't matter what they do or what they say, because people will continue to be people, and they will fight for their freedom. I doubt that any of these politicians will ever know how it feels to undergo a life of turmoil in a country that poses an ever-present danger. They will never know the bravery it takes to try and seek a better future, to travel the seas for months on end, risking their lives in the process. They will never understand how it feels to be in-between, nor how it feels to be denied a basic human right- the right to freedom.
The US Declaration of Independence references the human right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." In our case, these are interconnected. The lines between them begin to fade away, and we begin to see that this so-called pursuit becomes especially poignant. These people are pursuing life, liberty and happiness, and we find ourselves playing the role of simply turning them away from the chance of starting again. For a country that calls itself the land of opportunity, the government sure seems to enjoy destroying opportunity.
In many things, we developed countries share our flaws. But this- this is one of the topics that enrages me especially about the state of Australia. It seems we have forgotten what the meaning of human rights is. It seems we have forgotten the role we can, and should, play in a future where we can safely say that freedom is one of the values that defines us.

Exam Journals: Day 5 (The Twelve Days of Exam Time)

By Kat

On the first day of Exam time

my teachers sent to me:

An essay in a worksheet

On the second day of Exam time

my teachers sent to me:

2 physics terms

and an essay in a worksheet

On the third day of Exam time

my teachers sent to me:

3 maths tests

2 physics terms

and an essay in a worksheet

On the fourth day of Exam time

my teachers sent to me:

4 context prompts

3 maths tests

2 physics terms

and an essay in a worksheet

On the fifth day of Exam time

my teachers sent to me:

5 practise tasks

4 context prompts

3 maths tests

2 physics terms

and an essay in a worksheet

On the sixth day of Exam time

my teachers sent to me:

6 kids a studying

5 practise tasks

4 context prompts

3 maths tests

2 physics terms

and an essay in a worksheet

On the seventh day of Exam time

my teachers sent to me:

7 students stressing

6 kids a studying

5 practise tasks

4 context prompts

3 maths tests

2 physics terms

and an essay in a worksheet

On the eighth day of Exam time

my teachers sent to me:

8 speech presenters

7 students stressing

6 kids a studying

5 practise tasks

4 context prompts

3 maths tests

2 physics terms

and an essay in a worksheet

On the ninth day of Exam time

my teachers sent to me:

9 people writing

8 speech presenters

7 students stressing

6 kids a studying

5 practise tasks

4 context prompts

3 maths tests

2 physics terms

and an essay in a worksheet

On the tenth day of Exam time

my teachers sent to me:

10 paper peepings

9 people writing

8 speech presenters

7 students stressing

6 kids a studying

5 practise tasks

4 context prompts

3 maths tests

2 physics terms

and an essay in a worksheet

On the eleventh day of Exam time

my teachers sent to me:

11 revision pages

10 paper peepings

9 people writing

8 speech presenters

7 students stressing

6 kids a studying

5 practise tasks

4 context prompts

3 maths tests

2 physics terms

and an essay in a worksheet

On the first day of Exam time

my teachers sent to me:

12 bad exam marks

11 revision pages

10 paper peepings

9 people writing

8 speech presenters

7 students stressing

6 kids a studying

5 practise tasks

4 context prompts

3 maths tests

2 physics terms

and an essay in a worksheet

Exam Journals: Day 4 (Stages of Procrastination)

By Kat


The apocalypse rages on. I seem to have survived another week but the ultimate test is coming- the dreaded "exams".
Despite how much I should be valuing these exams, I find myself procrastinating on a large scale.
Hence, rather than actually revise, I shall procrastinate by writing this post on procrastination, in true procrastinator fashion.
I present to you...the stages of procrastination.
Stage 1:
"I will do my revision! These exams are important to me! I will get 100%!"
This is the stage in which I normally organise all my study notes, preparing to do worksheets and structuring my revision. Once I have it all organised, however, I try to begin. And believe me, beginning is the hard part.
Stage 2:
"I'll finish the rest of this revision sheet tomorrow..."
So normally at the start of the process, I am far more productive. I begin my revision with enthusiasm, starting my worksheets, before I realise it's late at night, and I should probably stop. But here is the first issue. Once something is unresolved and I promise myself to do it tomorrow...the true procrastinator within me shines.
Stage 3:
"I'll do this revision sheet tomorrow..."
Yup. Further procrastination is great. Once I run out of time on the following days, I simply postpone it for another day. And the cycle repeats, much like the cycle of change that happens to be a topic in the upcoming health exam.

Habits
 |
V
Idea for change
 |
V
Action --> Long term good habits
 |
V
Relapse
 |
V
Habits

In this case, procrastination is the habit, resolving to do it tomorrow is the change, and doing it is the good habit. Except the cycle tends to continue...
Stage 4:
"Hehe. Hehe. Who knew that llamas had such amazing hiccups? ...oh look, what an interesting video in the sidebar! Just one more video..."
It's true! Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj7l_WiZJsk
Stage 5:
"WHAT THERE'S AN EXAM TODAY WHAT."
'nuff said.

Exam Journals: Day 3

By Kat


The apocalypse has been raging on for three days now.The evil dictator who calls himself "Maths Teacher" has been plotting to bring us all down. I fear that his world-ending plans are  beginning to reach their terminal stage.
Despite how kind the leader seems to be, putting on a facade which speaks to subjects so nicely, I know the truth- he is hiding. He is concealing his true nature- the nature which will certainly bring about the end.
The dictator has enforced a strict regime on us. Each week, he will subject us to a "test" in which we either survive for another week, or fall into the malicious disease he has spread, called "The Failzone". All of the survivors who are still left are dreading what may come next, as each week the difficulty of these "tests" increases exponentially. What started off as a breeze has now turned into a living hell, and more and more of our surviving groups are collapsing as more and more succumb to the deadliness of "The Failzone", experiencing severe symptoms such as paranoia, subconscious visions and mental breakdowns as we walk into the chemicals' welcoming arms.
Insomnia before the "test" each week has spread, and I fear that "Math Teacher"'s plans have reached us. He threatens to break us all, and despite only being on the second "test" of what could be a perpetual journey, I fear I am slipping. I fear that my time is short, and soon I too could succumb to his plans.
Our leader has reduced us to pleading. Sometimes, he introduces a kindly gesture just to prove himself to us. He calls it "scaling", and through this sometimes allows members of our dwindling society to survive one week longer. But his kindness runs out, and I feel as if the truth will hit us soon. No longer will we be subject to kindly gestures, for he will soon reveal his true nature. It is beginning to show already, bit by bit, and even at nights we can hear his evil chuckle echoing in our crazed minds.
He claims to have an antidote to the disease we all know he created. A small vial labelled "redemptium oxide" sits on the table in his grand hall. It is said to be administered to all those currently in "The Failzone", but I doubt that those who experience it once will ever be the same again.
I still remember when I was a child, first introduced to the regime of the governmental entity of the "Mathematical Labour Party". I would never have expected what it has become. These people have become corrupt, and now sustain us with cruel evaluative methods which tear us all down, whether we survive or not.
Time is running short. Tomorrow the results of this week's fated "test" will return. I sincerely hope I will still be here 24 hours from now.

Exam Journals: Day 2

By Kat


Tired. Planning to stay up till 12pm at night.
Maths overcrowding brain.
I have come up with a theory for school sleep times.
In true mathematical fashion: I present to you a comparison of standard deviations.

This is what sleep probably looked like at the start of high school. There you are, my hastily drawn standard deviation that I could have put a lot more effort into in Excel. That is, if I wasn't trying to remember how to use a sine graph equation to pinpoint specific x values to isolate a specific range.

And here is now. You see, it was even necessary to come up with a new scale for my standard deviation, as the range has grown considerably. I have a friend who, before exams, often sleeps at 6 to wake up at 7.
Huzzah for maths and all other exam-related shenanigans. Hope you all are going to have an earlier sleep time than I do.

Exam Journals: Day 1

By Kat


It's that time of year again. Exam time. Prepare for two weeks of hair-tearing, pillow-shouting, head-banging fun.

Day 1:
Attempted to study over the long weekend. I should be prepared...right? Right?
But...Youtube. But...TV.
Maybe just one more video.
One hour later:
Okay, work! Attempted to look at geography today. Wrote a paragraph about basaltic plateaus even though it's probably not going to be in the exam. Ah well. Moving on. What...on earth...is a batholith?
Wait a second, I still have homework to do! Why do these cruel teachers still insist on giving us homework one week before the exam? And I have three assessments before the actual exams even start?
Finish homework then you can start revising! All you need to do is finish this context piece, write the statement of intent, finish the science report...this is going to be a long day.
Okay, focus. Study buddies! Study buddies help! Okay, hightail it off to group study.
Two hours and a jar of pistachios later:
Work! Work! Define these geography terms! I can do this! I know this!
Volcanic plug...dyke...sill...batholith...secondary cone...crater...hot springs...geysers...tuff...
Tuff. Hehe. That's a funny word.
Back to work. Time to answer some geography questions.
Q: What is an eruption?
A: When magma goes bam!
Good job, partner, that answer is genius!
Now...
Q: What are earthquakes?
A: When tectonic plates meet and go bam!
Q: What is a divergent plate?
A book written by Veronica Roth turned suckish major motion picture...and plate, of course.
Now to get onto Englis...
You know what, enough work for today, let's watch some more Big Bang Theory.

As you can see, today was a very productive use of revision time. Good luck to all those preparing for their exams, and I sincerely hope your day was more efficient than mine.

Parents and Social Events

By Camoron

During the weekend, I am quite happy to be antisocial and sit in my room playing games and doing homework. Often my only form of conversation will be emails and whatever dinner conversation exists in the evening. And this suits me! Sometimes I will organize to see a movie with friends, or play some soccer down at the oval, but for the most part I am balancing YouTube and homework. So when my parents organize to dinners with family friends in a row, I get a little annoyed.

As a procrastinator, I tend to leave my homework to the last minute. My parents, who grew up before the internet was capable of eating away your life, don’t seem to understand that. So I don’t learn about the event we are going to until two hours before, resulting in a last minute rush to study for my tests.

And the fact that we are now in the lead up to exams doesn’t seem to stop this behaviour. Last weekend I had two dinners and a lunch on top of my other weekend requirements. That left about an hour of time for the range of tests and assignments that had been squeezed into a five day week. Oh, and don’t forget the rants I am pressured into writing! Even though I am writing this while watching the Hearthstone World Championships, I could be writing Science, this, while watching the Hearthstone World Championships!

So my dream weekend would look something like this

Friday Afternoon: Nothing

Saturday: Nothing

Sunday: Volunteering and Library

With YouTube and homework squashed in that busy schedule.

Stages of starting a blog

By Kat


There. I said it! Writing a blog is hard.
I'll admit that I'm writing this as I realise that I forgot to post today, meaning that I'm hurriedly trying to get this done in the ten minutes before twelve o'clock comes around.
Much like my previous post on instruments, mastering blog writing is of course a similar art. Here are the stages of blog writing, as I have experienced in the past month.
- Being new
Being new is always difficult. And yes, I'll admit, I am a bit new at this. I have been hobby writing for a while now, but the online world is a different art to master. It goes a bit like this:
"Finally! My great writing skills shall be shown to the world in a wondrous display! I will go viral on the front pages of all the websites in the world!"
- Settling into a rhythm
I have posted daily ever since the blog has started, so naturally it has become part of my daily routine. But often it ends up like this:
"Time to go to sle...oh wait! I forgot! Noooooo. Time to hurriedly type up a post. What to write about? My mind is not thinking! Awaken! Awaken!"
- Obsessiveness
Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.
"Oh goodness I got another viewer!"
Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.
"Another?"
Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.
"Damn, I should really do some marketing, shouldn't I?"
Yes, ladies and gentlemen. That is how we get to here. Yes, writing a blog hasn't proven itself to be the easiest thing in the world. But yes, it's been rewarding and it's been great to get ideas and opinions and general amusing stories out there. I encourage you all to give it a go, because the world needs you and your opinions to add another facet to the already multi-dimensional world that is simply in need of more angles to look at an image at. We are all viewers of the canvas that this earth has been founded on, and all our interests and who we are matters to the place as a whole. So get out there. Share your ideas, and leave a comment down below. These insights matter, and you never know, they just may be people out there willing to listen.

The Stages of Learning an Instrument

By Kat


Instruments are great...sometimes. Of course, music has its perks, being a great form of expression and wondrous when you master it. But learning an instrument, of course, has its downsides.
While learning the flute, you have to consider adjusting your embouchure, having consistent tone, having deft fingering, breathing at the right points, having the right articulation...instruments are all the same- there are a lot of perks to learn and not much time to learn them. Plus, there's all the costs associated with music exams, and textbooks, and repairs...it's never easy.

While learning an instrument, I went through the following stages:
- Excitement:
"I'm so excited! I'm going to learn a new instrument and I'll play music and I shall become the GREATEST MUSICIAN IN ALL THE LAND and I shall accomplish this goal by the end of the week oh man I will practise so much until I master this art!"
- Overestimating:
"An eighth grade piece you say? How curious. Print that off for me please, I shall get it done by the end of the week! You know what, photocopy that whole book for me. I will be far too bored if I only have one piece to master."
- Annoyance:
"Why. Why. Just. Why. I thought this was the right fingering what is this but these keys are right I've tried this ten times why is it still not working?!??!"
- Ragequit:
"WHAT THE HELL I'VE TRIED THE SAME LINE THIRTY TIMES BY NOW WHY CAN I NOT GET IT WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM DO THE KEYS NOT WORK I DON'T EVEN I DON'T I GIVE UP. I'M FINISHED.
- Improvement:
"It's a slow road, but I think...I think I might be getting there."
- Achievement:
"I did it! I finally did it! I'm so proud of myself! I shall flaunt this piece forevermore! I shall show up everyone else in my class!"
- Routine:
"Looks like it's practise time again. Bah."

So there you are. Whether you are starting an instrument, in the middle of one, or at the end of your long journey, I wish you good times with your instrument friend. Despite how much its smug face might seem to hate you sometimes. it truly does mean well. Just cooperate, work hard, calm down, and I promise that piece will be mastered soon enough.

Life lessons that fairytale logic teaches us

Fairytales are illogical. Therefore, more posts are needed to construct criticism. 

Without further ado, here are life lessons that fairytale logic teaches us.

- Always label your clothes.

If Cinderella had only taken the extra time to mark her precious items, there wouldn't be so much fuss about the identity of the secret princess in the first place.

- Stranger danger

Do not trust every random stranger that walks by, especially not sinister-looking old witches offering you trinkets.

- Read the terms and conditions

Ariel, next time, actually understand what kind of deal you're making before you go off trading any substantial parts of yourself. And beware of dodgy tradespeople.

- Safety over convenience

After all, what a lovely scenic route Red Riding Hood could have had if she had taken the long way around, where there weren't any trees obstructing her view.

- Do not trespass

Especially in a suspiciously sized house that has no signs of humans. I'm talking to you, Goldilocks. Stay out of places that scream signs to stay out!

- Do not go into that house

Candy houses are suspicious. Even as you are young, Hansel and Gretel, you should understand by now not to get yourself inside the house of someone you do not know!

- Think ahead

If the pigs had just constructed a bunker earlier, maybe they wouldn't need to spend all their time dashing from house to house to evade a nasty wolf.

You know, I could say that Jack and the Beanstalk teaches you that spending your savings on gambling is good, but you know, that fairytale went a bit awry with its morals.

SketchRant: Test scores over the years

By Kat

Things have changed over the years as a student transcends primary school. Attitudes to test scores, particularly.

SketchRant: Leadership Candidates

By Camoron

Why leadership candidates are annoying, and why votes are misdirected.
No more luck wishing please.

3 things Fairytale Princesses could have done

By Kat


Sure, I liked them when I was a kid. They were among the first story forms I was introduced to, and I would be enchanted by their characters and happy endings. But now...fairytales are tedious. The characters are boring, predictable, and unreasonably flawless. The girls are portrayed as dainty and in need of rescuing. The only solution? Let's revamp these archaic stories, and bring badass-ness (and a moderate amount of violence) into fairytale town.

Snow White:
Evil queen on the hunt for you?
1) Wait for huntsman. When he takes pity, brainwash him to do your bidding. Send him as an undercover agent back into the queen's court to assassinate the queen.
2) If Step 1 fails, hide at the dwarfs' house until queen arrives, disguised.
3. When she offers apple, realise the dodgy nature of the situation and appear as if you are going to eat the apple, before promptly throwing right back into her face. Once knockout is completed, simply capture to claim your captive.

Sleeping Beauty:
Cursed by an evil fairy to be destined for 100 years slumber?
1) On the day of inevitable spindle finding, judge the situation and realise that no matter how pointy the spindle is, one cannot die from being stabbed with a spindle.
2) With this knowledge, turn the spindle around and drive into fairy's finger.
3) Either proceed to knock the confused fairy out, or if taking more drastic measures, proceed to throw out of the castle window and into the bushes below.

Cinderella:
Trapped in a cellar and unable to go to a ball?
Solution is simple.
1) Find small pin, needle or paperclip.
2) Lockpick your way out of cellar, ensuring to pick up a broom along the way.
3) Sabotage stepmother and stepsisters' transportation.
4) 'Borrow' fancy clothes from nearby closet.
5) Make your way to the ball. If stopped by evil relatives, do not hesitate to knock out with acquired broom.
6) Arrive at  the ball, ditch broom, and await inevitable 'love at first sight' with prince.
7) If Step 6 fails, knock out the Prince for being so ignorant of your indisputable superiority.

Potentially life-threatening situations? =avoided.

Move aside, boring antagonists

By Kat

All forms of stories are pretty unique. They have their plot, and in media forms, their visualisations. Everything contributes to the storyline, which is what I love about all forms of storytelling. But I think one of my greatest pet peeves lies in people not paying as much respect to the quality of their antagonists as those good ol' villains deserve. 

Let me present to you...Exhibit A. 

Avatar. No, not the movie, the cartoon. It's beautifully written, brilliantly executed with revolutionary ideas...and yes, there are good antagonists, such as Zuko and Azula, who through their different paths turn out to be amazing characters...but my point at hand here is the central villain, Ozai. He's described as the 'Phoenix King', he plans for world domination and generally you get the same old bad guy vibe from him throughout the whole series. It's one of the reasons that I sometimes favour the newer series- Legend of Korra- because every single one of these villains has never failed to please. Despite the fact that so many elements of the older outweigh the new, the one part that I just love is the fact that all villains are multi-faceted. They're not just bland and apathetic- they feel and display emotion and each have a motive- whether it be equality, spirituality or freedom. Which brings me to my first statement: A good antagonist is one you can feel empathetic for.

Exhibit B: You can see it in the famed Joker, you can see it in The Prestige...guys who give off bad vibes have a past. They don't just appear out of nowhere, like the author decided "Oh hey, I haven't written a villain for my story yet. Better just slot one in here"...They are circumstantial, created by their past and shaped by their actions. They have motive and that motive is justifiable, making us all think for one second about whether their actions were warranted, or even some form of pity for their depressing pasts. Conclusion? A good villain has a backstory.

Villains are often what can make or break a story. They can build up atmosphere, and they can give stories- whether it be on pages or the big screen- a sense of depth that is lacking in many. Characters should be multi-faceted, they should be comprehensive, and by no means should they be an emergency character pasted onto the page with little explanation and/or exploration of their person.  

So often stories get all caught up in their heroes. You can find great epics about the romances, the drama, the brave rallying of the troops to fight against the evil forces as they struggle with whatever obstacles they are to face...and what I've said here goes for them too. But antagonists deserve more credit for the great contributions they bring. After all, what would be a story without them? 

All protagonists must have their dark side, as all antagonists must have their light. But let's face it- nobody wants a world that's strictly black and white.

Why People Suck: Part 1

By Camoron

Ok, try to exercise a little bit of self-control here, because I’m about to get racist. That’s right; I am going to be getting angry at the entire human race.

Where to begin, where to begin... There’s just so much that we have done to kill everything else! So much so that this shall become an ongoing series on why people suck.

Anyone who has seen ‘The Matrix’ will know of Mr Smith’s awesome quote, ‘Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.’ Ok, so while I don’t feed of human energy by keeping them in pods, and I am pretty sure that I am more than just computer code, I agree wholeheartedly with the honourable Mr Smith.

Okay, so I think I know where this rant will be heading, and it’s a pretty obvious direction. Wherever people go, they domesticate what they can, and kill everything else. When Julius Caesar said “I Came, I Saw, I Conquered”, he was pretty much summing up the human race. Throughout history, whenever we discover a new land, we have gone in, mapped everything, made friends with the locals and taken back some plants and animals to study. Then we come back with ships full of people, chop down the natural environment, force the indigenous population to abide by new laws and customs, and basically try to make it is similar to the urbanized wasteland we have come from.

Throughout history, there have been periods of mass species extinction. Previously, these have been caused by giant meteors hitting earth, huge changes in temperature or environment, or even global volcanic eruptions. We are currently in one of these periods. That’s right, the human race is as devastating to the natural environment as an asteroid hitting the earth, like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. So yay us!

How did we manage such an amazing feat? We are so set in our view of how the world should be, that we get rid of anything native to replace it with something we recognize, hence the feral animals and weeds that ran rampant all over Australia. Developed countries where people have enough money to get any house location they want are experiencing urban sprawl to the point of running out of space fit for living, and coincidentally, running out of habitat for many species. Our everyday lives revolve around power, whether it be heating, lighting, cooking or reading a blog online. We are constantly pumping gasses into the atmosphere, and waste into our river ways. And if an animal is rare or endangered, what do we do? We go out with our guns and we hunt it down. The less there is of something, the more we seek to destroy it.

Okay, so what about the animals we don’t kill? Chickens must be pretty happy with their lives, right? Cows wouldn’t be living like they do without us, would they? Pigs must prefer the safety of their pins to the dangerous wild, surely? Well yeah, all these animals wouldn’t be able to survive without us. But they weren’t always like this.

Let’s start way back, before agriculture was a thing. People roamed around, hunting and gathering. The earliest known animal to be domesticated was the dog, and they roamed alongside man, flushing out the wildlife for their masters to kill. Let’s move forward a bit, and now we have started keeping cows for their milk and meat. Sheep and pigs are also starting to be used. Further some more, and people are riding horses, using donkeys and oxen to move and carry, now are able to get wool from sheep, and have dogs cuddled up with them at home. But all these animals didn’t start like this. They became these slaves of human want and need through a process of artificial selection.

We all know and love the process of natural selection, or evolution. The individual animals more able to pass on their genes have more children, and therefore the traits they possess become more common. People have their own spin-off of this called artificial selection, where we choose which traits we like, and get rid of the rest. Originally, horses weren’t the hulking beasts that they are now. They were small, and pretty much useless. So the ancient Mongolians who found them were like, "Hey! Check it out! If these things were big and stuff, we could use them to carry our things!" So they took the biggest ones they could find, and started breeding them. Each generation they would keep the biggest ones to breed the next generation. Guess what happened to the ones that didn’t get better. Yeah, back then they didn’t care whether it was horse meat or cow meat in their meatballs.

And this isn’t an isolated event either. Throughout history, we have bred animals to be easier to command, larger, woollier, and more or less fatty, you get the idea. We actually change the genes of an animal species to make it suit our purposes, without any concern for the ones that don’t. And the repercussions extend further than the animals that die. The animals that live are never the same either.

Multiple studies have shown a few things in common in all domesticated animals. Ears get floppy, they are born trusting humans, and here’s the killer, their brains get smaller. So domesticated animals? We kill their family, limit their freedom, and decrease their intelligence.

We are the worst plague ever to sweep the globe. It is my view that the world would be far better off if we had never evolved from monkeys, because the human race is the greatest monster of all.

For more information about animal domestication occurs and its affects, I suggest the Stuff You Should Know podcast, which did a great episode about just that topic. 

SketchRant: Indeterminate Weather

By Kat


What it looks like to live in a place like Melbourne with indeterminate weather. 'nuff said.

Catwoman: the 'Grey Area'

By Rae

Firstly, I would like to point out that this evaluation is based on only some of the character which is Catwoman, mostly from Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises, purly because I thought she was the best Catwoman yet, probably because unlike the first few Catwomen, she was not portrayed as a ‘bad, bad kitty’.

Catwoman is one of the most realistic characters I have ever come across, or at least stands for something quite realistic. Yes, she is at a disadvantage to the other characters I like because she doesn’t fight with a Katana (which automatically gives any character a massive plus), however I do like how she is portrayed.

Catwoman, for those of you who have been living under a rock, is the costumed alias for Selina Kyle, and is a supposedly ‘reformed’ cat burglar. She is a very strong-willed and independent woman who is morally conflicted with her past.

The reason I like Catwoman has to do with what she stands for. If I had to describe her in one word, I would say ‘opportunist’. She is not generically bad, not a psychopath like some of her fellow villains - *coughcough Jokercough* - and is not a villain for some dull reason like getting back at someone or even just getting back at everyone because they were bullied as a child – Alex Cross’ villain Herod Sayle is guilty of this. Catwoman is seen to be good when it suits her and not so good when she has to be, not letting any opportunities to allow for her or her sister’s survival escape her, making her seem like a real character fighting for survival, whether that is burglary or helping others. Also, the fact that she made her own luck and did not let any opportunity get past her which allowed for her survival instils a sense of admiration in me.

So, because of this, she can be seen to be in the ‘grey area’. Too often the character’s in movies and other media are seen to be distinctly ‘good’ or ‘evil’ with no area between, which is where virtually everyone in the real world is located. Because of this, I find Catwoman as a character and as an idea very refreshing.

Although, one of the things I CANNOT stand about her is her on-again, off-again relationship with Batman. Ok, I can see why you may seduce him for personal gain – which would fit with her character – or be drawn to him because of how he represents what she wishes she could be, however I cannot stand it. I may like Catwoman, however Batman is another story: and do not even get me started on Robin! Also, the fact that in some versions she is a prostitute irks me a bit, furthered by her choice of costume...although I can also see the practical side of wearing a skin-tight black suit in burglary and fighting.

All in all though, her portrayal as the ‘grey area’ between the normal strict good and bad is quite refreshing.

The Stupidity of Double Letters

By Camoron

I respect language as one of the pinnacles of human achievement. It’s what sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom, and it is the reason people have been able to become the dominant species. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think the English language is incredibly stupid, or at least the rules they insist on teaching us in class.

My first issue I would like to raise with English is double letters. In small doses, they are ok. Sometimes it makes sense to use them, and the word would look stupid without them, or be pronounced completely differently. But isn’t having two double letters a bit greedy? Balloons may seem innocent, but you can’t trust them. Ordering a Cappuccino is indulgent, or any kind of coffee really. Getting a tattoo is something you will definitely regret. And don’t get me started on bookkeepers! (or what about the underling of the bookkeeper, the subbookkeeper? Now that’s just disgusting!) The list goes on, and gets more and more ridiculous.

Now while this words are kind of fun to play with, they are hell to spell. Even words with only one double letter can be hard to spell, because where do you put the double letter? It’s just unneccesary! Double letters are stupid, and don’t deserve a place in the English language.

Next on the chopping blocks is ‘these’ ‘little’ ‘things.’ While they are great for conversations, the use of the humble apostrophe for shortening two words into one is not something I am a fan of. It is not fun to try to fit the apostrophe in to this sentence. Do you write it isn’t fun? It’s not fun? It’sn’t fun? Actually that’s kind of cool, everyone should use it’sn’t. And that’s not even mentioning they bring down the word count on your essay by one each time you use one! Keeping your words whole, instead of chopping them into little bits and then stitching them back together like strange word-Frankensteins is just wrong, and should not be something English teachers force you to do. Words have rights too!

Finally, colons and semi colons. We were taught how to use these last year, or at least, the teachers attempted to teach them to us. While they look cool, and save you a full stop by sticking two full stops together (how counterproductive), they are the blight of an eighth graders grammar life. Not only do they look similar but have different purposes, they each have multiple purposes! I’m not going to try to explain all their purposes, because despite the efforts of my English teacher, I don’t remember squat about these stupid little grammar monsters.

Once again what was supposed to be a rant spiralled into a conversation about nothing (there it is again, the stupid double letter. Without words autocorrect, that would be spirraled). But hey, if nothing else, I hope at some point you use the word subbookkeeper, or it’sn’t. Because dayum those should both be words of honour in the dictionary.