Lacus soft drink

This is my ad for an environmentally friendly soft drink. The idea of the ad is to convey a "natural message", hence the green colour and the trees inside of the bottle. To make it more attractive to the eye, the bottle is shining, also resulting in it sticking out more in comparison to the rest of the picture. With the slogan, I wanted to use a word which fits together with the title of the product - lacus, luscious. The ad is supposed to be shown at bus stops and in the subway, as the target group are people who care for the environment and therefore are likely to choose to go by these means rather than going by car. Also, at the launching of the product, samples of it are to be handed out at large subway stations such as T-centralen and Odenplan to make sure some people have tried it.

Computer Tech Support

Here's a true story I've heard:
A man was working at a computer shop tech support when one day a woman phones. She says her computer has broken, and the man immediately starts to question her about her computer. There seems to be no problem with it, but she continues complaining and starts saying that the computer shop should replace it. Finally, she starts talking about a "cup holder". It turns out that she tried to use the CD driver as a holder for her coffee cup.

Funny story

Once upon a time there was a girl who was supposed to write a funny story. She failed.

Success

Success to me is when I am able to do something that I set as my goal. It can be things ranging from getting a good grade on a test, getting to know a new friend, finishing an assignment on time or finishing a drawing that I've put aside for a long time. Other people might think themselves successful when they've met the love of their life, bought that house they've always dreamt of or reaching the highest position in a job. However, when you use the word success or successful when you're talking about someone else you're usually talking about a working career, or possibly that someone is successful in life if they have a family and have money. I've never heard someone say "that person is so successful", refering to someone who have finally started to play a music instrument or whatever he or she might have wanted to do.

I set the goals pretty high for myself - if I'd get a grade that to some is a success, but to me one step down in the grading scale, I'd feel that I had failed and I would be disappointed in myself. At the same time, I want to be good at pretty much all the things I do, unless I feel that there is no way that I can be (such as sports), and if I don't live up to my own expectations, I get angry with myself and push myself harder. This is what drives me in life - succeeding in doing the things that I wish to do, and doing it well. It's also my definition of success - I set a goal, and then I achieve it. Sometimes these goals are not about work in any way, but in social connections, such as I decide that I want to get to know someone better, and if I do, I feel that I have succeeded in befriending him or her. It might sound silly, but I quite often have these goals - to change someone's view on me, to get to know new friends... I think my life would move much slower if I didn't have this drive to succeed in what I do.

My teacher's blog

My teacher's blog can be found here

Memorable moments

This should be a quite easy subject to think of as the most memorable memory of the year obviously is the memory that first pops up in your head when you start thinking about moments you remember. Sadly, there is no such memory that pops into my head, so I'll just tell you about a few fun things that have happened.

In february, I got a Daily Deviation on my favourite website Devianart. A Daily Deviation (DD) is a feature that is showed on the first page and gives the artist a lot more attention from the members of the site. (Or as Wikipedia put it: A submission deemed by a staff member to be impressive or otherwise interesting enough be brought to the attention of the community-at-large; it is considered to be a great honor within the community. It is commonly known as a DD.) It is indeed a great honor to recieve a DD, as only 20-40 is given out per day on a site which recieves 100,000 new submissions daily. In my case, I got 13,000 new views on the featured drawing - in one day. The next day I had 2,200 new messages in my inbox - comments on the drawing, notes that people had added it to their favourites, notes that people started watching (they'll get a note each time I upload something new), etcetera - about 100 times more than I usually have.

Except from that it's obviously quite memorable that I've met a lot of new friends and been to my first Anime convent, which lasted 3 days and was great fun, however it's hard to describe these events (especially the friend one), as they took place over a long time.

My DD can be found here.

How to confuse people using Xbox Live

First of all, make sure you're playing Rock band and have a microphone. Otherwise, people won't be able to hear you and that will be no fun. If your band mates also have microphones, it will be even more fun, as you can hear their reactions.

Now, start searching for band members using Xbox live. Ask them if they have a microphone, speaking in some strange accent and pronouncing words entirely wrong. Then, start your game.

Pick a song that is really hard and then start it (make sure you'll be able to play it first, though). Sometimes, these songs are only avaiable in hard or expert mode, so if your band members are on medium level they will be utterly sad. Desperately, they will try to pick the medium level, but it just won't happen. As the poor guy tries to do this, you just continue talking nonsense in your strange accent.

If your band members happen to be nerds and awesome at guitar hero, pick a song that is impossible to sing - maybe one with only growling all the way through. Then, as the song starts and you "notice" that you don't know it, start screaming of horror and make random sounds to express your fright of the evil song.

Make sure you lose a lot of fans this way, and blame it on your new band members, saying that they are destroying your game. Also, as you're picking the next song, make random announcements such as "WAAH THAT HURTS". They will most likely leave you at this point.

Good job! You have now annoyed and confused someone using Xbox live!

News articles

(Assignment #3)

Article: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/16/grace.coldcase.zimmerman/index.html
Blog: http://cherylcline.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/kittens-need-more-than-whips/

I agree with what the blogger writes on this subject. However, I don't think that arming women would do much good, as that would most probably enlarge the number of crimes, and possibly also make fewer people turn and run - you get bolder with a weapon in hand. Instead it should take shorter time for one to get help if needed, so you can be able to rely on others to protect you instead of getting in trouble because you did it yourself. Nevertheless, if all women, as women on this matter are more exposed, would get training in self-defense, maybe the one attacked could hold off the attacker until help gets there. Also, maybe it would encourage other people to step in and help - if there's one versus many the one by themself will probably give up first.

Schindler's list review

(Assignment #2)

Schindler's list is a true story about a man named Schindler who during World War II worked to save jews from being sent to concentration camps, even though he himself was Nazi. In the beginning of the film, he is highly self centered, but soon his character develops into the compassionate person who risks his own life to save others'. It is shot in black and white, except for three times in the movie where specific items are coloured to let the audience notice those vital points better.

I first started watching Schindler's list when I was still young and easily frightened. When we got to the scene where they're cleaning the gettho, I couldn't stand it and went to my room, unable to sleep that night.

It is really a powerful movie. I tried watching it again this year, and I absolutely loved it. The shootage is beautiful and the story keeps you concentrated all through the 185 minutes. I watched nervously as the jews came to places where they could be killed any minute, and Schindler fighting to save them through bribes and personal contacts. At the end of the movie, I found myself crying, unable to take my eyes of the screen. It is such an amazing story - a reminder of that there actually is people who will risk everything to save others.

Other review:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/01/25/schindlers_list_1993_review.shtml

All about me

(Assignment #2)

My life is pretty simple. I never do anything all too exciting, I just live my dull life of normalness.

My spare time consists of sitting by the computer, reading books, drawing, hanging out with friends and such utterly usual things that everyone else does. What makes me special is probably how I change interests all the time - about every year I start doing something else and almost forget about my other interests. Last year it was drawing, the year before it was playing the violin. Right now I don't have any new interest so I just keep doing that, however not as dedicated as I was before. Mostly, though, I like to do artistic things - music, art, writing etc. I've recently re-discovered reading too; I've read maybe 1000 pages in three days. That's almost as much as I used to when I was younger - back then I got through at least 1 book per week, usually maybe 3-5, adding up to about 3000 pages in one week (well, sometimes). It's so fun to read because it's easy to escape from reality that way and "experience" something more exciting than starting at the television.

One of my biggest interest has always been drawing. Last year was my busiest year, I suppose, as I started drawing portraits and found that is was much easier and more fun than I expected. Then I got used to the fact that my drawings turned out almost as good as I wanted them and suddenly I didn't feel that it was as fun to draw anymore. I still do it though, but not to the same extent as before.

I'm a pretty ambitious person, which has somehow led to that I learn things quickly. If I really go for it, I can concentrate for hours on something that others would find boring, and progress on that topic fast. That is the case when talking about playing the violin and drawing, at least. I'm currently the concert master in our orchestra, which is usually a person with the ability to "lead" the orchestra and do few mistakes when reading sheet music and following the conductor. Two years ago I was in a less advanced orchestra and one of the worst players there. I'm currently mid level on playing I suppose, as there are a few that play much better than me.

Dear blog...

Firstly, I shall introduce you to the name of the blog. You might not know it, but Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is the word for Fear of long words. As you might notice, the poor people with this condition can't tell what phobia they have as they would run away in fear if they did.

Secondly, I shall tell you my thoughts of blogs.
(Assignment #1)

I think a blog is a way to get your thoughts off your mind. It might be of comfort to know that other people will read what you think, though some don't know you personally. I think that it's easier to sit by your computer and write things about yourself than to say the same things to someone, as you would see their reactions live. When you just sit by your screen you think less about the fact that other people can read your text, regardless of who they are. However, even though you think little of it, it's hard not to be conscious of the fact that your blog, and therefore thoughts, is wide open to the world.

Those who think of blogs as online journals hopefully don't pour their heart out on their blog, as one would do in a diary. You might feel that you need to share something but not with people who would be concerned about it, and that's where the blog comes in. Of course it could be dangerous to do this as someone might search the internet for people currently weak of mind, searching for a someone to trust. This someone would perhaps betray your trust and leave you regretting your decisions.

As the internet grow bigger people get more and more bold about giving out personal information on the internet. Most teenagers have Facebook these days, signed up on their real name. It is an easy way to find people and misuse the site to do something that was not its purpose. You only need the email adress the person you're looking for is signed up on, and it's easy to find him/ her. Some might be more cautious about giving out information such as adress and telephone number there, but name and pictures still gives a good chance to track you down.

This is a very pessimistic way of looking at websites. These things can happen obviously, but it's not that common and if you think about what you put on the internet and who you agree to meet you should be safe.