Itzhak Perlman: Ravens Fan

If you know me, you know that I love the violin. Although I like to focus on rock, folk, and pop outside practice time (electric strings are so sweet),I was ecstatic to see Itzhak Perlman, arguably the world's best classical violinist, in concert yesterday. He played Vivaldi's "Winter" and "Summer" brilliantly with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and then he conducted two pieces by Mozart and Brahms. The music was, frankly, amazing.

Unless you are a classical music fan, however, you probably couldn't care less about what he played. But Perlman was more than a stony-faced maestro. He was down-to-earth and he had a prominent sense of humor. While he played "Winter," his sheet music kept blowing off his stand, probably due to an draft on stage. When he finished, he just laughed it off, remarking that it is usually windy in winter.

That day, the Baltimore NFL team (the Ravens) were playing a home game against Texas crucial to their season standings. Perlman seemed aware that many in the audience, while enjoying the performance, had football at the back of their minds. He made a couple jokes about this between pieces. Before conducting the Mozart, he deadpanned, "It's the fourth quarter, 20-13" with a wry smile on his face. After the intermission, he gave the audience members a thumbs-up. The Ravens had won. That was one of the best symphonies I've ever heard, and the football game wasn't too shabby, either. Itzhak Perlman is now my favorite violinist and one of my personal heroes. It almost makes me forget about the Ravens' upcoming match with the Patriots.

Two Spies of the American Revolution Have Failed Somewhat in Impressing Me

After a not-so-brief break/long lazy lack of commitment, I'm back! I am many movies, school days, books, websites, videogames, and TV shows older, and perhaps even a bit less immature.

Today, I'd like to say a few words on the topic of espionage. Most Americans know about Nathan Hale, the Yale grad who supposedly said he only regretted having one life to give for the good ol' USA. He has a lot of statues and is the namesake for many places of interest in Connecticut and elsewhere, including a freshman girls' dorm in a secondary boarding school (don't ask). He was brave and patriotic, to be sure: I am not challenging that. As a spy, though, he was less than stellar. He was recognized (RECOGNIZED!) in a pub, mistook the people who asked after him for patriots, and spilled the beans to them, getting himself in very hot water very fast. Definitely an "Oh crud" moment.

Fewer people know about Major John André, a British officer-turned-spy. He was a friend of Peggy and Benedict Arnold, and a minor figure in the American Revolution. His situation was eerily similar to young Hale's. He thought some patriots to be redcoats, and the rest, as the kids say, is history. Like Nate, he was even caught with the secret papers in his shoes. A note to spies: avoid storing things in your shoes. It seems to be the first place people look and would perhaps be uncomfortable should you have to transport documents in thumb drive form.

These musings were inspired by:

-Reading about poor Amir Mirzaei Hekmati in the New York Times. Like the majority (I assume), I don't think he is a spy and hopefully he will be acquitted.

-Rewatching the "One Life to Give" episode of that old PBS Kids! show "Liberty Kids."

-The biographical book "The Traitor and the Spy," an excellent read for anyone wanting to learn more about Major John André, Benedict Arnold, and Peggy Shippen Arnold. (population: 1 so far)

-Thinking about how awesome a spy Rose O' Neal Greenhow was, as I tend to do in my spare time.

Why I Like Dr. Strangelove

I just watched it. Best...movie...ever ( of course this is just post-movie glow and the Harry Potters are the best)
Besides liking all comedies except for the lovey-dovey ones, this is why I liked it:
1. I just studied the Cold War, and I could appreciate it for this reason
2. I love sarcasm and irony, considering them the highest form of humor since puns
3. Peter Sellers is a great actor in all 3 of the roles he played
4. I like movies where the protagonist doesn't always win. Sure, you get the warm fuzzies at the end, but after 17,371,936 movies end the same way, it gets kind of boring. This is why I love "Julius Caesar" and also why I was sorely disappointed at the respective ends of "WarGames" and the Karate Kid remake (which could have used the subtitle "A Disappointing Remake of a Good Movie That Also Features Zero (count 'em) Female Martial Artists and has Nothing To Do with Karate Whatsoever").
If you have different views, please do not flame me.

Memory

On Thursday at the audition, I saw a girl that I used to play with in 1st grade. We weren't in the same class, but she was really nice and I played with her. So I went up and said hi. She didn't remember me. I thought she would, so I was kind of disappointed. I wonder if she remembered me a bit after the audition or if she still thinks I am a complete stranger. Why does memory work like it does? I can remember that girl from 7 years ago AND my lines from a play 3 years ago but I can't remember the commutative property of whatever that I studied in algebra a month ago. My great-grandma can remember stuff that happened to her in the '30s but can't remember what she did yesterday. The mind does not make much sense.

Auditioning!

Today's the audition for The Little Prince. I'd like to go out for the fox or the snake, but really it'd just be cool if I got into the ensemble. This is my first audition for Cary Applause, so I'm kind of nervous, but I think it's going to be great!

I join Teenink

For those of you who don't know what Teenink is, it's a place where teens can post short stories, poems, essays, etc. and other kids can come and read them. I already wrote a small story, but it might take a bit to get approved. I'll let you know if it gets published.

What I thought about Mockingjay (spoiler alert)

Ok so recently I read the last book of the Hunger Games trilogy. I found it to be somewhat confusing and disappointing at times, but pretty good overall. Here is my main complaint:

-Katniss should have gone with Gale! She's known him longer and Peeta, once you take away all the lovey-dovey stuff and all the acting during the Games, is an uninteresting sack of mush. (some of you will disagree but this is my opinion)

-Cinna should not have died!

And here is what I did like:

-I like that Gale went back to help in the district that he bombed out. It shows his conscience.

-Absolutely LOVED the ending with Katniss's decision to shoot Coin instead of Snow. Snow wasn't a threat anymore. Coin would have ultimately killed her.

All in all, good book but I still like the first one the best.

9/11

I have a few words to say about 9/11.

It was horrible.

The people who organized it were a tiny fraction of the Muslim population.

There is no reason, therefore, to be prejudiced against all Muslims.

I am glad Pastor Terry Jones called off his Qur'an burning, but he shouldn't have planned it in the first place.

For extended ranting on the aforementioned topic, see a post in The Liberal Rocker

At the beach

Hello people! I'm posting this on location from Emerald Isle, Outer Banks. Every year on Labor Day week, Mom's family like to come down to the best beach in the universe. For our four years coming, we always rent good old Fairhaven Cottage. I'll be here for one beautiful week (a perk of homeschooling), getting run over by waves and digging holes. No sign of Earl, Fiona or the rest yet!

Swimming with the Lake Weeds

This morning I went down to Harris Lake with Dad and a lot of other people to do the one-mile Nuclear Swim. It's called that because the lake is next to the Sharon Harris power plant. It was fun, except there was a lot of "lake grass," even in the middle of the lake. I came in second in my age group, so I got a little plaque with a radioactive symbol on it :-). Dad didn't come in last.




My Time: 40 min
Dad's Time: 36 min
Winning time: 21 min

It was great and I want to do it next year!
P.S. 1 mile may not seem like a lot, but in swimming it really is.

Ok, ebooks aren't as bad as I thought

Yes, I said it. I downloaded a free ebook app, Stanza, onto my iPod and I like it pretty much. I'll admit, it's useful to not have to go to the library to get a book, get a book they don't have at the library, or carry around a heavy book. And so far, I have only downloaded free books so that part is good. But I still like regular books better!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Hi everybody! I am writing this post from my new iPod Touch, so if it looks wacky it means that I am learning. I had a pretty good birthday today, just spent time with my family and took a day off from homeschool. It was good, despite the fact that I had a minor cold, felt sore and tired, and kept bumping into things. I hope you all had a great day and I hope I can get some more songs on this thingamajig by tomorrow!

Happy (not really) Fourth of July!

It's odd, isn't it?

For those of you who didn't know, some vandals broke into our neighborhood pool on the night of July 3, and broke glass in and around it. It was pretty bad, because we here in Wellsley have a huge pool party for Independence Day. My family was shocked, but we pulled ourselves together and had a great backyard party with some close friends. I assumed that the other residents acted similarly, but apparently some people were really upset by the cancellation(and had spent much money on supplies, granted), because now they decided to celebrate today.

On August 22nd.

You'd think, if they had to reschedule it, they would do it immediately after the pool was cleaned up, but in late August? I didn't go, by the way, but the rest of my family did. I never really felt that attached to the party. Happy Fourth of July! (Ha, ha.)

Homeschool Thru High School

Me and my mom have been very preoccupied lately with this. I don't know how rock4ever95 does it. Maybe he has been doing it since he started, but it involves buying books on your own. And you might think this is no big deal, but since 3rd grade I have gotten all my textbooks in a neat little box with a lesson plan to boot. And now we can't find the exact history book we need. Also, Mom has been doing research and she found out that some textbooks have some biased material. For example, ours says, "The so-and-so religious followers BELIEVED this," and it also says, "This prophet CAME TO these other religious followers." Little stuff, but you can see the slant. It's confusing.

Belated Post

Hi, I meant to post this yesterday, but I was busy. Yesterday, incidentally Friday the 13th, was International Left Handers' Day. As I am the only lefty in my family, my sisters sadly did not see fit to throw me a party. To celebrate yesterday, here are some famous left-handed people:

Barack Obama
Paul McCarteney
Kurt Cobain
Oprah
Alexander the Great
Friedrich Nietzsche
Leonardo da Vinci
Ringo Starr
Michelangelo
Ronald Reagan
Helen Keller
Fidel Castro
Santi Raphael
Napoleon Bonaparte
Julius Caesar
Lewis Carroll
Buzz Aldrin
Jay Leno
Jimi Hendrix
Lloque Yupanqui (Inca monarch)
Maurice Ravel
Charlie Chaplin
Joan of Arc
Whoopi Goldberg
Babe Ruth
Jim Henson
Marilyn Monroe
Simon Bolivar
Aristotle
Pele
Mohandas Gandhi
Me!

If you know anyone I left out/have any corrections, please post!
Happy belated Lefty Day!

Cool drawing website

Hey everybody, I found a cool drawing website. It's called deviant art, and it has really cool functions. You'd be amazed at what you can do. Here's a link, just copy & paste!

http://muro.deviantart.com/

Also, you can make them into tee shirts, but you have to pay. Have fun!

I'm BAAA-AACK!!!

Hey everybody, I'm back from my grandparents' house. I did not catch a scorpion. Instead, I caught two lubber grasshoppers. Their names are Mr. Miyagi and Bellatrix. Hopefully, I will start a population of the large black insects in NC and you will hear about them in a news bit about invasive species a year later. As I have said many times before, I regret nothing. Please post comments. They don't even have to be about this post.

Newbery

Ok, so I'm in a club that reads books and decides which one should get the Newbery Medal, and I'd like people to post about books they like so I could read and suggest them. Here's the criteria:
-Has to be published this year
-Has to be written by an American (that's why Harry Potter never won a Newbery)
-Has to be a book for kids ages 14 and under

I just feel like my club's book selection should be a bit broader.

Swim team is almost over...

Yep, I said it. I always hate it because it feels like summer is dying. I'll still have to keep swimming, though, to train for the open water swim at Sharon Harris Lake. I had a great season, even if I wasn't the best swimmer. Also, could you guys tell me if you want me to post more interesting stuff, because I feel like you've abandoned me. Please comment and tell me!

Cary City Invitational Swim Meet!

As you might have guessed, I competed in a town-wide swim meet today. It is THE biggest sports thing I do and the Waves (my neighborhood team) actually did pretty well this year. We came in second, next to a big ol' country club that always wins. We also had the most swimmers- 88 of our Waves competed. AND we had the Best Swimmer. (there is no award for this, just my opinion) A guy in our 15-18 group totally dominated. We think he's on the fast track to the Olympics.
That said, I did pretty mediocre. Here are my scores:
Medley Relay: My group got DQ'ed (not my fault, but I was lousy too)
Freestyle: 53rd place
Backstroke: I don't know, but it was horrible
Breaststroke: didn't even enter
Butterfly: 38th place
Freestyle Relay: One of my group left early, so we couldn't do it

Oh well. I had lots of fun anyway and I'll do it again next year!