Hunger Games: May the Landscapes be ever in your favor

The Hunger Games series, as you all know, is based on a dystopian world where states are separated into districts.  Each district is responsible for manufacturing and creating a certain goods.  Every year, a boy and girl of each district, ages 12-18 are chosen as tributes and thrown into an arena to fight to the death for their survival.  Winners will be awarded with incentives like food, fame, wealth and even a new house.  Katniss Everdeen is the main protagonist of the series as she is battles her way through three books for her survival and exploration of the Capitol to uncover sealed secrets.

The Hunger Games series successfully portrays the psychological landscapes where tributes thrown into the arena must think strategically to survive in their given environment, prior to the arena.
It also affects the social landscapes of the character's families and friends but most importantly, their competitors where they must learn to either trust their enemies or not and find an exit to freedom and survival.

The French Revolution

The French Revolution (1788-1799) was the time of a major upheaval in France where it shaped the mental and physical landscapes of France.  A lot of France's history now lies under it's home soil after excess damage of residence, furniture, jeweler...  During that time, France went under radical changes with it's social landscape where peasants, treated as inferior rose up to fight against their rights against people higher in hierarchy likes nobles for example.  Causes of this revolution were due to inflation of grocery prices which were dramatically unfair to lower class people like peasants.  Most causes were financially related.  

This revolution changed the psychological landscapes of France today but also changed it physically.  Today in France, you may not be able to see the difference but there were mass changes in appearance of France then and now.

H+: The Digital Series

H+: The digital series is a series that does not air on television but on the Internet.  The series is set in the future where one third of the world's population is implanted with a microchip/computer called H+ which gives the human mind access to the Internet (Cool huh?).  The series launches off in the middle of the story where it portrays the effects of a virus which has infected the chips to shut down the body of those who were implanted with it.  The story jumps back and fourth through time whilst indicating its time period through the phrase '___ minutes/months/year before it happened'.  
This series showcases imaginative landscape in a broad perspective.  It demonstrates teh social landscape where as more characters appear struggle to face against the harsh conditions to fight off the virus and explore and understand why it is there in the first place.  
H+: The digital series portrays a psychological landscape where it jumps to certain time periods where characters face and solve scenarios/issues either for their survival and goals.  
H+ is an amazing show but requires a little brain-power to figure out what is going on because of the layers of time periods in the series.  The series is segregated into different episodes and each episode is uploaded on Youtube.  However, the series is already complete so you don't need to worry about that.  All you need to do is go onto Youtube and search up H+.There are a total of 48 episodes ending with a season finale.  Enjoy!     
  
        

Barack's second swearing

After a winning against Mitt Romney in a landslide, Barack Obama, United States's first black president was re-elected as president again.  On the 20th January, Barack Obama attends his second inauguration ceremony as the 44th United States President.  This event is sure to up heave the political, historical and when broken down, the psychological and social landscape of America.  America was re-owned for it's tough history of racism  inequality of different races and people's beliefs but sure now the tables are clearly turning.  Barack expressed great commitment into building a new era of equal ism through eliminating inequality acts such as racism, abuse against homosexuality.  This is sure to bring America closer to their  prolonged search for a long lost landscape of equality and liberty.  

With Obama who has successfully shaped America's landscapes onto a positive scale like no other man,  America is now shone under a bright light for a bright future ahead.          

Australian election 2013

By this time, I'm sure everyone here should know that Julia Gillard is Government of Australia.  From what I heard on the news, the date for the 2013 election is set to debut on September 14th.  This event yet to happen in a few months will decide the new fate of Australian historically and also politically.  It will change the psychological, social landscape of Australia dramatically through social media.  

It will be a big challenge for Julia Gillard, first female government and her competitors to persuade and change the viewers psychological landscape to their favour.  Will Julia Gillard survive this election just like last time?  Will Australia's landscapes will be upheaved or reach a downfall?  But one question remains until then, who will YOU be voting for?    

Queensland Floods

As I woke up in the morning as usual and slumped my way to the television, I was instantly flooded with news about flooding in Queensland. I was baffled by another disaster by the fact that there was already bush fires ravaging Australia's bush land and now a flood???  From what I heard, a monsoon trough (a seasonal wind that changes direction by the change of season) has caused flood through series of wind, storms and believe it or not, a cyclone (see "ex cyclone Oswald")!!!  Apparently, the flood has made its way down from Queensland, through the metropolis of Sydney down to New South Wales.

The Queensland floods have done significant damage in relation to Imaginative landscapes.  Many residential homes are about to or have been destroyed where people are forced to move out.  The flood itself has caused the uprising of social landscape over social media and psychological landscapes for the fatalities which stand so far at 4 of in this scenario.  It has sparked an economical landscape where affected shopping, major competitors have to shut down stores and manufacturing of goods will be disrupted in that area.  From the economical landscape, can be broken down into smaller fragments into the financial landscape where companies, store owners will lose money and income.  Furthermore, owners of destroyed homes but also the state governments will be shattered into financial burden as increasing millions of dollars will be added to the bill for cleaning up and repairing damage.

I know this is a negative start so far for the year but I would like you guys to enjoy the rest of the remaining holidays safely before you start working or go to school and lets just hope it does not reach Melbourne!          

City of ghosts

As part of my English course for year 10, I will be studying three English texts, Dream stuff by David Malouf, Macbeth by Shakespeare and also City of ghosts by Bali Rai.  I've decided to read City of ghosts because it is the first book I will be studying (well DUH) and also because it is related to the theme I will be studying in English, Imaginative Landscape.  

What I realised when I was reading the book was that the book contained a large amount of focus on the imaginative landscape.  The story and events of City of Ghosts dates back during in 1919 in Amritsar, India which is 5 years since the outbreak of the first world war.  It focusses on a historical landscape where the fictional characters experience the historical events of World War 1 like the macabre Amrtisar Massacre, India under the British rule...  Even with this landscape, it can be broken down further, which also brings up cultural landscapes.  Bali Rai has successfully implemented tenchiniques to draw the readers into the culture of India by including some Indian words, describing in broad detail about the environment and also giving the reader into the ordinary life of people in India.  What I must say is that City of Ghosts is an amazing book and is a great read.  Happy Holidays!                

Australian Open

Tennis is a sport that has changed and shaped the psychological, physical, sport and cultural landscapes of countries across the globe.  Tennis dates back centuries ago where people play with *.  Now with technology continuously expanding, rackets now are engineered to come in different weights, sizes and are more powerful and stronger but also can be produced from a variety of materials.  Not only that, technology also has expanded into cameras where they are specially designed to precisely tell where a bar lands on the court! 

Because of the rapid expansion of technology, it has bought excitement, interest and lots of people, beginners or professionals together which shapes the landscapes we see today through people and ourselves.  Tennis has united people of many cultures and different nationalities to enjoy, learn and show off their skills and talents.  Because of this, I believe that one factor that influences all of this comes from tennis tournaments which takes places all around the world at specific times of the year.  But because it is the start of a fresh and lively new year, many tennis toournaments are bound to open up in Australia.  Right now there is the Brisbane International but one tournament which stuck out to grab my attention is the upcoming Australian Open!    

Depending on where you live, the Australian Open debuts on on air from Channel  7 AEDT.  Right now I am eagerly waiting for this tournament to set up on fire because it is a great chance for me to improving my tennis skills as I watch tennis players, from the great Roger Federer to the nimble Novak Djokovich climb their way up the tournament standings to the ultimate showdown!  But to make up for the time, I generally tune in to Channel 7TWO to watch the Brisbane International, another tennis tournament.  I also can’t wait to see the new tennis courts my school is currently constructing because I can’t wait to play on it! I hope this tournament is worth a watch because until then, I would like to say to all of you…GAME ON!                      

2012

Long ago, dating back as far as the Mayan empire, there have been numbers of eschatological beliefs and prediction of when the world we have known to live will end.  Although many predictions have failed and yet some still remain a possibility, a phenomenon called 2012 predicted by the Mayan empire (dating back thousands of years) stated the world will end on December 21^st 2012.  Despite many predictions failing including the Y2K bug incident happening 12 years ago, 2012 remains a popular predictions where there are actual series of calculations to conclude that today is when the world will end.  But what drives people to believe and up bring such an eschatological prediction that dates back hundreds of years? Technology was nowhere near at its zenith in advancements.   There was barely any evidence to back up the hypothesis that world is ending  excluding the fact the Mayan calendar ran out of space.   Why should we believe in a phenomenon that is bought up so well today? My fellow readers, this is when imaginative landscape comes in.

Many believe on the 21^st December 2012, that the world will end.  One suggestion that drives people to believe this is because of the psychological landscape which is adopted by many other landscapes including the scientific landscapes.  Although the predictors of this eschatological day never used science to aid in calculating their prediction, many scientific events trigger our psychological landscape.  Solar flares, earthquakes and natural disasters are the few events that trigger these landscapes, but also our increase our beliefs that the world is bound to end.  I was also able to gather some research on the Mayans and 2012 and guess what?  The Mayan calendar used to predict 2012 does not cease to exist on the 21^st December 2012!    

That day was the day I sat on the couch where I gazed and scanned like a vulture upon the news for anything relevant to the world’s final stand.  But I’ll tell you something.  It is like staring at a blank piece of paper and it turns out the world is still in one piece.  But who knows, the Mayans lived in a time that is un doubtfully different from ours; there may be a miscalculation or something minor error.  This entry was written the day after the world was ‘supposed’ to end.   To conclude this entry, I would like you all to remember that day and that IF the world were to end sometime in the future, I would urge you all to live your life to the fullest.