Author Archives: Ryan ARGETSINGER

Eighth Grade Playlist- Name: Farewell

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Brief Description:

The playlist that you see before you  is made up of numerous songs from various genres. From Rock, to Country music, the playlist is a reflection of my Eighth grade year, both academically and socially. All of these songs I had found this year and had continued listening to from the very start. All of the songs have a symbolical meaning to the experiences that I had this year. Some being good, but also some being very unpleasant and confusing moments of the year.

 

Song #1 Wagon Wheel By Darius Rucker

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I chose this song as the first one because at the beginning of this year, and the last, and the very first school year that I came here, I never felt like I fit in. Mainly because of where I was from in the US. I lived in South Carolina where I was taught several customs of being respectful and kind to others. However, when I moved here it felt completely different to me because everyone seemed different and talked different. So this song reminds me of my old home because it specifically just talks about the southern US.

Song #2 Where Everybody Knows Your Name By Gary Portnoy

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This song is actually a theme song that I found in the past week. The song is the intro to a show set in a Boston bar, where friends get together and have fun. I thought that this reminded me of how much fun I had with my friends. But instead of a bar, we hung out at a table on the second floor. The song also reminds me about how good my friends are to me, but more importantly, It reminds me of how much I appreciate my friends as well. If my friends weren’t here for me, then this song would have no meaning to me.

Song #3 Stan By Eminem

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The song Stan, by Eminem, is about an out of control fan that keeps on sending messages to the Eminem. The song starts with three messages; each progressing by each letter, until the crazy fan, Stan, ends up killing himself and his pregnant girlfriend in a car crash. Well I can’t relate to having a crazy fan, but I can relate to a good friendship that I had that ended this year. I felt that the friendship ended because the friend that I had started to make comments that I didn’t specifically like towards me, and others. A similarity between the song was that these comments came in small messages to me until I finally realized that it was time to stop.

Song #4 Here I Go Again- USA Remix By Whitesnake

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This song Here I go Again, is what I listen to when I need inspiration, or need to get hyped. Whenever I had a test, or I was working, or was about to play an important baseball game, I would listen to this song because of how it gave me a hyped feeling. Although I found the song about a month ago, I still use it when I work because it keeps me focused on my goal.

Song #5 American Pie By Don McLean

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I started listening to this song by Don McLean ever since I was a kid in the US, but when i moved here, it became a forgotten memory. However, this year, while listening to a greatest rock radio on Spotify, This song had come back to me after listening to the first 30 seconds. Ever since I was reunited with the song, I felt like I had something that came back to me, which made me feel cheery ever since.

Song #6 The Scientist By Coldplay

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I found this song at the beginning of the year, thanks to my art teacher playing it during class. Ever since I discovered The Scientist by Coldplay, I’ve listened to it as one of my favorites. I listened to it as a song to help me relax when I was stressed, or to remind me that everything was alright when I was mad, or scared. The piano and the tune of the song is probably what makes me feel the way I do when I hear the song because of how calm it sounds.

Song #7 Home By Phillip Phillips

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The song Home, by Phillip Phillips, is a song written to talk about the one place where everyone feels welcome…home. This song became more influential to me when I found out that I was moving back to my old home in the US; to my old house; to my old friends. This just started to make me feel more overjoyed. Home is where you make it, but I think that eighth grade has given me a bigger influence as Hong Kong being my second home.

Song #8 Voodoo Child By Jimi Hendrix

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This song by Jimi Hendrix is just another work song hat I had listened to when I needed to get hyped or get work finished quickly. My favorite part of the song is in the beginning with the guitar intro. It just sounded cool to me because the sound was so different and complex from what I had heard from all these other rock songs from before. I also thought that it’s rhythm was different and good compared to every other rock song that I had heard before.

Song #9 Nothing Else Matters By Metallica

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The song Nothing Else matters, by Metallica was a song that i heard from a radio station. The song sounded depressing and different compared to everything else that I heard. The funny thing, or maybe not, was that I was going through a bad time in the school year. I felt too tired, i felt like I was stupid, and I thought that I was becoming trash at baseball. But the song made me feel a little less. Although I could’ve taken the message wrong, I felt that it helped me persevere through my tuff time.

Song #10 Downtown By Macklemore

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The song Downtown by Macklemore wasn’t my best idea to put on my playlist, but I still thought that it was an honorable notice. I think the reason why I like it was not only because it was a rap song that had just come out on Spotify, but also because it was talking about city life. Living in Hong Kong gives me only a glimpse of living in a city. A crowded, smelly, but mainly always interesting place. I think that this was the main reason why I like the song cause I could somewhat relate to the message.

(M)onthly(I)ndependent(B)ook(P)roject: Animal Farm- Post #2 March

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Animal Farm

animalfarm

By George Orwell

 

Themes of Animal Farm In Propaganda And Political Cartoons

Propaganda

Cartoon.

I decided to show the different themes of Animal Farm in a different manner then I would normally. I decided that I would show the themes of animal farm through propaganda drawings and political cartoons. I made a poster relating to the first theme, which was power corrupts all. The poster was a picture of a pig with a hat, with one of the quotes in the story that showed how because of ones power they feel the need to control everything in life. The quote was, Napoleon Is Always Right. I thought that this showed the soul purpose of the theme because of how if one develops an unhealthy friendship with greed and power, they usually want to be controlling over people, so they wont lose their power.

The second theme was drawn out by a political cartoon of three pigs, one rewriting a Seventh Commandment ( All animals are equal.) and changing it to ( All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.) The other two pigs are toasting to each other with a glass full of beer. I chose this symbol because it showed how the pigs were violating the  laws for their own purposes. I thought that this showed how animals could not be equal in Animal Farm because of how the pigs were bypassing the laws each time and were being hypocritical as well. This shows how because of one person feeling higher than another in society, they tend to believe that they can bypass the laws, which is completely incorrect.

 

Easybib: Van Der Kaap, Albert. “Animal Farm.” Histoforum. Internet, 18 Dec. 2011. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.

Wiki History. “Leon Trotsky.” Wikipedia. Internet, 1 Mar. 16. Web. 8 Mar. 16.

(M)onthly(I)ndependent(B)ook(P)roject: Animal Farm- Post #1 March

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Animal Farm

animalfarm

By George Orwell

 

Brain Frame

Character Analysis

Character: Snowball

Animal: Pig

Significance to the Russian Revolutionary: Leader Leon Trotsky

Brain Frame: Categorizing and Comparing.

 

Snowball Character Analysis

Snowball is one of the main characters in animal farm, before he was driven out of the farm by the dogs. Snowball is a pig that believed in the equality of all animals, and that all humans should be overthrown. Snowball had begun the process of advising other animals to follow the ways of Old Major, fighting off Mr.Jones, and causing other animals to want to learn how to read and write. Snowball’s main traits as a character were that he was a leader, and for the cause of overthrowing the humans. Snowball also made the first army for the animals on Animal Farm. Snowball also planned to build the windmill, so it would benefit the animals on the farm. However, Snowball was exiled from Animal Farm by Napoleon, and was thought of as a traitor.
Leon Trotsky Character Analysis

Leon Trotsky was a political activist in Russia and was also a huge political figure during the revolution. During the Russian Revolution, Leon Trotsky was for the democratic party in Russia, until the Bolshevik party had come into power, which made Trotsky switch sides. Leon Trotsky then followed the leader of the party, who was Vladimir Lenin; Trotsky told the people of the new Soviet Union that communism is the only real way for life to prevail. Trotsky formed the Red Army and was made the head. He influenced outside countries to follow the communist government. After Lenin had died, Stalin ordered that Trotsky be exiled and then later assassinated in Mexico.

Easybib: Van Der Kaap, Albert. “Animal Farm.” Histoforum. Internet, 18 Dec. 2011. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.

Wiki History. “Leon Trotsky.” Wikipedia. Internet, 1 Mar. 16. Web. 8 Mar. 16.

(M)onthly(I)ndependent(B)ook(P)roject: The History Of The World In Bite Sized Chunks- Post #2 January

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History Of The World

 

In Bite Sized Chunks

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By Emma Marriot

 

Genre History

Trivia Of The World

 

Beginning of history to 450BC  

What was the first known civilization?

Where was the fertile crescent?

Were the hanging gardens built in Babylon or Assyria?

What is the earliest known Chinese civilization? Hint, it is the word for down.

When was the first Hindu scripture written?

450 BC to 450 AD 

What was the original name to the Persian Empire?

Where can you find most buddhist temples today?

What were three forms of Greek government?

From Greece to, blank, Alexander The Great conquered the land.

Who was the Roman general who turned the republic into an empire.

450 AD TO 1066 AD

What is the second most popular religion in the world?

What western European country did the Islamic empire conquer?

During the Golden Age of China, what dynasty ruled during the time?

Japan had simplified what language to form their writing system?

After Rome split in two, what empire had been founded in the east?

What civilization had first found North America?

What was the capital of the Aztec empire?

1066 AD to 1700

How many crusades were their and how long did the crusades last?

What civilization succeeded the byzantine empire?

What is the name for the military dictators that ruled Japan?

Who founded the Mongol empire?

Who conquered England?

What state in the US still speaks French as a second language, due to the New France territory.

What was the first of the 13 colonies?

1700 AD to 1945 AD 

Who drafted the declaration of independence?

How long did the revolutionary war last?

Who was the first king of Russia?

What was the old capital of Russia?

When were New Zealand and Australia found?

What was the other name for the Great War?

Why did Russia secede from World War 1?

What three countries were the main cause of world war 2?

What year did world war 2 end?

What year did Australia gain it’s independence?

 

Answers:

Sumerians.

Iraq and parts of Syria.

Babylon

Xia Dynasty

1500 BC

Achademia  empire

Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos

Tyranny, Oligarchie, and Democracy

India

Julius Agustus Caesar

Islam

Spain

Tang

Chinese Writing

The Byzantine Empire

The Viking tribes of Scandinavia

Tenochtitlan

9 Crusades, all summing up to 200 years of war.

The Ottomon Empire

Shogun

Genghis Khan

William The Conquerer of Normandy

Louisiana

VirginIa

Thomas Jefferson

5 years

Peter The Great

St. Petersburg

In the 17th century

World War 1

Due to the Communist Revolution in Russia

Japan, Germany, and Italy

1945

1946

 

I decided to represent the book, The History Of The World In Bite Sized Chunks, by Emma Marriot, with a chance to learn while having fun. My decision was to make a whole novel into a game of trivia. Reading the brief history of the world allowed me to gain fun facts about different cultures that existed in history. Such as Japans writing system actually being from China, and the first communist union beginning in the  1920’s. Therefore, I thought, ” Why use a reference book when you can make it into a fun quiz; especially since I had access to all of the facts that I needed to make a trivia game anyways.”

 

Citations: O’marra, Michael. “The History of the World in Bite-Sized Chunks.”Goodreads. Goodreads.com, 1 Sept. 2012. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

(M)onthly(I)ndependent(B)ook(P)roject: The History Of The World In Bite Sized Chunks- #1 January

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History Of The World

 

In Bite Sized Chunks

 

 

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By Emma Marriot

Genre: Historical

After reading this historical reference book about the brief but long history of the world, I have learned more about the world quicker then I would have ever imagined. Besides the fact that the book was a reference book, I found it intriguing to learn so much about our world, and our history, in bite sized chunks. From the Mesopotamians in the fertile crescent, to the independence of Australia. I especially liked the book because of its interesting facts, learning about different civilization backgrounds, and reading a short, but descriptive history book.

What I thought made the book interesting, wasn’t just because I like learning about history, but also because the book included facts that were completely new to me. Learning previous history, I learned some facts that I didn’t know as much about, however, in this book, no matter how brief the segments in history were, I feel as if I learned facts that I would have never’ve known about. For example, the numerical system that we use today had been discovered, and adopted, from Arabia, however, recent evidence have shown that the numerical system is from north western India. I found that the facts were also correctly cited as well. At the end of the book I had found that all of the facts had been properly cited and were found from proper sources.

Besides interesting facts about how our world has evolved, the one way that civilizations had evolved was through the mixing of cultures. Civilizations of the world had started in Mesopotamia/ However, the Mesopotamians would die out and then spread all over the world. The book had given information starting from the very beginning of civilization. I thought it was interesting to learn about how different cultures had evolved and had developed into countries of great power over time. Something interesting that I found in the book was how language had also evolved amongst the world. Spanish, Portugese, and French, are all Latin based languages, and eventually english would be considered one as well. The book contained information that I knew only little of, however, in the end of the book, my knowledge of civilization had grown very strong.

Lastly, my favorite subject in the whole book is its shortness. Although the book was only 170 pages, I found it very informative and descriptive. For a brief history of the world being printed in bite sized segments in a 170 page book, i found it to be very interesting. The book might seem like a very impossible situation, but, if you look at the format of how history was arranged; which was only about one and a half pages per event in history. I thought of this idea crazy until I started to find more and more details in each new historical period. Also, the book was split by regions of geography, and then reordered them in historical the proper historical timeline. However, I dislike the fact that the book only reaches the point of 1945, instead of 2000. Besides the lacking information of the twentieth century, I found the book very interesting and intriguing.

In conclusion, the book was very descriptive and informative. It had the basics of the worlds history and the civilizations of the past, and current day. The book provided great facts of the past and were properly evident in the amount of citations. I now have a greater understanding of the past civilizations from this book, and it had left me wanting to know more about the given civilizations. I feel as if I would learn more about the worlds story through a short book, then reading a long book that is for a class instead of leisure.

 

 

 

 

Citations: O’marra, Michael. “The History of the World in Bite-Sized Chunks.”Goodreads. Goodreads.com, 1 Sept. 2012. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

 

 

Photographic Map Project

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Photo on 3-12-15 at 9.06 am

 

 

The places that I chose for my project were the field, my living room, the dragons back mountain view, and a segment of the second floor of HKIS. I chose the field because it was the place where my friends and I could play around and practice our sports for fun. Also it was a place where I can just do what ever I want. I chose my living room because it’s where I do mostly everything at home. Homework, watching TV, hanging out with friends, etcetera. I chose the dragons back mountain view because I thought that it was a nice view and range of HKIS’s surroundings. I chose the one segment of HKIS because it’s where I hang out and where I talk to my friends at school.

Over the time photographing the places, I realized how different they were when I payed attention. Each of the places seemed more peaceful, not just because there weren’t crowds of people, but also because I saw how they resembled a part of me. How one of each location represented a certain trait of mine, such as friendhip, or competetiveness.

I thought that for me to creative, and for my map to work, I needed to put the map in a puzzle like format. If I put it in a collage, the photos wouldn’t seem right by being mixed all around. When you keep it as a ceratin map thats planned out, you can have space thats just right for the photos.

I put the map together by trying to make it realistic as possible. The way that I started off was by taking photos of the skyline and mountain range and then placing outdoor photos ontop. Then putting indoor photos at the bottom. Trying to keep the photos as realistically matched as possible. Therefore, keeping the photos closely matched by location as well. Having the field matched with the dragons back and the school underneath the field, keeping them close in venue.

(M)onthly(I)ndependent(B)ook(P)roject: Unbroken- December #1

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Unbroken

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By Laura Hillenbrand

 

The Beginning.

 

A boy came across a long road.

One road that submerged into two seperate roads.

One leading to a mountain and the other to a valley

full of desolate despare.

The boy walked on the path to the valley, curiosity controlling him.

With each growing step the boy took he found thoughts of hatred and

mischief. The boy continued on his journey until he saw the valley from the

top of the descent. He saw the land was barren and there was nothing for him.

The boy turned around and headed for the mountain, running faster than ever.

Eventually he reached the slope of the mountain and could see something emerging.

Something glowing and shimmering like gold, with the purest light to be seen.

When the boy reached the summit of his destination, he found the greatest treasure,

his dream.

 

Review: The poem was written in honor of Louis Zamperini, the olympic runner who had run the fastest 400 meter lap in history, and the main character of Unbroken, by Luara Hillenbrand. The poem summarizes his early beginnings in life. Living the life of a child thief who stole, fought, cheated, and lived the life of a criminal. Until, his elder brother, Peter Zamperini, had found Louis talent in running. Louis Zamperini was trained by his elder brother to become a great runner, eventually running for the United States in the 1936, Olympic games.

The Poem, shows his early life of being a thief and then changing his life’s course of destination by becoming a famous athelete and finding the greatest treasure of all which is having something that no one can take away from you which is glory.

 

 

Citations:

BLT Communications, LLC. “Unbroken Movie Poster.” IMP Awards. IMP Awards, 16 Oct. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

 

NaNoWriMo

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I felt that being able to write about anything of my choice was both fun and creative. I say this because over the whole month of November I thought I strengthened as a writer by being able to put a memory that was related to my life onto paper. I did keep the normal writing pace over NaNoWriMo at a steady pace, but sometime the pace would be broken if I had a break, a lond day, or some other reason. I felt that I had a good portion of my story finished, but I also thought that if I had a bit more time I would have been able to finish the story.

I learned that the experience of having a goal for writing was different then I expected. I learned that over the all the time you have to write, you learn how you can just write whatever you want, without restrictions.  And on the way, you also learn to improve writing even if you don’t notice you are while your writing.  Which I thought I some what did while I was writing my story.

And in conclusion, I will not finish my story to have it published online. I can promise this because A, I am now exhausted from writing everyday, and B, I feel that I should focus on improving my writing more and more before I think about writing another story for NaNoWriMo.