Sunday, May 10, 2009

Book Review

Cole Jolovich
May 10, 2009
English 2
Book Review
Brisingr

Christopher Paolini’s book Brisingr is a tale of a boy named Eragon whom continues his adventure as a Dragon Rider. This is the third book in his series of novels, which also include Eragon and Eldest, which are the only books that he has written, so far.

This book is about Eragon’s adventures with his dragon, and long term companion, Saphira. He also talks about Roran’s and Nasuada’s adventures and exploits throughout the course of the book. In the beginning, Eragon, Roran and Saphira venture to the Ra’zac’s lair and exterminate them and their mounts for good. When the deed was done Saphira, Roran and Katrina, the main reason they went to the Ra’zac’s lair, while Eragon stayed behind to search for useful things. Upon his return he paid some overdue duties and left with the Kull Nar Garzvog for the dwarves of Ingeitum’s city, Bregan Hold, to meet up with Orik. Once he arrives he is greeted warmly by the dwarves and children. While he is there he finds that his foster brother, Orik, had recently been married and that his people were still celebrating in the festivities. After a couple days of relaxing among the dwarves in Bregan Hold they depart and pass through the Forest of Stone while on their way to the capital, Tronjheim.

Meanwhile, Nasuada and Roran are still constantly fighting off the empire only to discover a newly trained warrior that Galbatorix has come up with, one’s who could feel no pain. With this newly innovated soldier the Varden was put back and started having heavy casualties.

Once Eragon reached Tronjheim he witnessed the clan meet of the Dwarves and helped enough to ensure that Orik won the position. As soon as it was evident that the clan meet had decided who the new king or queen was Eragon sent a message to Nasuada having her send Saphira on her way to also participate in the coronation of the new royal head of the dwarven nation. After this long process Saphira and Eragon left for Ellesméra to tie up some loose ends with their teachers.

Upon their arrival they discover that Brom, their old friend and trainer who died tragically, was Eragon’s father. Also while there they learn how Galbatorix has become so powerful and how he made Murtagh so close to his equal. After gaining this knowledge he ventures to Rhunön’s shop outside the city. Even through his much begging she will not forge him a new sword. Much to his dismay she found a way for it to be done but she needed the key additional element for her Dragon Rider swords. After hearing this he and Saphira travel to the Menoa a tree to see if it had some brightsteel, the missing element, beneath it. Much to their dismay they anger the great tree and almost lose their lives in the process. Finally she gives them the metal and they take it to Rhunön. With her guiding them through his mind, they make a new instrument of extinguishing lives. After they forged it he gave it the name Brisingr.

He takes his new weapon and travels to his teachers’ home and after greeting them finds that they also will depart and partake in the war. Along their flight they discuss many things that Eragon and Saphira know and may yet need to know along their journey. At the end of the forest they take separate ways to aid the different armies that formed on each side of Alegaësia. In a short couple of days they scoured the length of the Empire and reach their allies in the midst of a siege. With their help the siege was over with quickly.

This book to me was a very enjoyable read; I would recommend this novel to any reader who enjoys a good adventurous read. Also it was written very well by not giving away what will happen next. The main thing that stood out to me in this novel was the authors’ ability to maintain suspense with the reader but not boring them with tedious details. All in all, Christopher Paolini’s novel Brisingr is a great fictitious read that was written well.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Prom Review

Cole Jolovich
May 3, 2009
English 2
Event Review

TRHS Prom and After Party

At the Prom’s Grand March many of the students filed out as participants; although, there still were a lot of parents and students in the audience as well. Before we marched out we had to fill out a sheet with a couple of questions on it. Nobody had any idea what it was for so we made it pretty serious. Come to find out they were reading some of them off while we were being introduced. A couple of pairs found this out so they made their cards funny and convinced some of the others to do the same, because of this scheme it became much more interesting. All the while every pair came out with the girls in their fancy new dresses and the guys in their tuxedos. The showing of all the clothes was a really interesting experience. Once the Grand March came to a close there was the crowning of the Prom Royalty. The on-stage candidates were: Chris Maze, April Korp, Michael Tucker, Kristen Nielsen, Lucas Carr, Aspen Heaps, Colton Caywood and Lori Tarver. After so much suspense, put on by the homecoming king and queen, Lucas Carr and April Korp were crowned.

Once the crowning was over there were numerous people waiting to take photos. After about a half an hour of photo taking and parents talking: the dance finally got underway. For a while the dance was a ton of fun with many people on the floor dancing; later, however, everyone became tired of what the DJ was playing and attempted to make some suggestions to help make it more interesting. Everyone’s ideas were shot down by a definite no, but that did not stop anyone else from trying. Other than the DJ playing music that no one liked, the dance was a blast. My favorite part was that they set up a couple of heat things outside so that if we wanted to we could go outside and dance or hang out. Overall, the first part of Prom was great, but the dance portion needed a little bit of work.

Shortly after the dance was over with people went and changed into more comfortable clothes for the after party at the school. The first two hours were filled with magic tricks, performed by John Rotolini. Among our favorites were: him moving a Sprite wrapper to the inside, changing a five of diamonds to a queen of hearts, and shuffling a deck of cards, one of which has Boot’s name on it, and hits it with a knife as they are thrown. Another really cool trick he did he completely blindfolded himself with silver dollars, duct tape and some solid metal goggles. Then, he had Meagan pick two people from the crowd, who were Parker and some kid I do not know. From this he guessed what they were wearing, even their boxers he guessed right. Finally, he had Meagan get some random object from the crowd, and guessed they were keys and even got the make and color of the vehicle. All of this and he never even touched them.

For the remainder of the after party there were drawings giving away smaller things like money and ITunes cards. Although as the party progressed some of the prizes got even better, and at the end they gave away two T.V’s, a couple laptops, and a microwave oven. All of this was going on while there was a movie going in the auditorium, open gym in the gymnasium, and blackjack/Texas hold’em tables in the cafeteria. This party was definitely put together well and the overall experience was a ball.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Lede week 6

Cole Jolovich

First swine flu death in U.S. reported

April 29, 2009- Why is the swine flu any worse than the normal flu? Well for one the media is making it sound so much worse than it really is. The first U.S. fatality was an infant in Texas. This virus is a big thing but it isn't as bad as the media makes it sound. This disease has killed only a small portion of the number of worldwide cases. Unlike the swine flu, the seasonal flu kills 250,000 to 500,000 people per year. (Question Lede)

World swine flu cases jump

April 29, 2009- How many cases worldwide are there of the newly discovered swine flu? In the U.S. alone there are now 91 cases of the 132 confirmed cases in the world. Of those 132 only eight have died from it: seven in Mexico and the one infant in Brownsville, Texas. All these cases were reported in 11 different nations. (Question Lede)

Baghdad car bombings kill 48

April 29, 2009- Is staying in Baghdad, Iraq a good idea? There were six car bombings in a four hour period- killing 48 and injuring another 81. Following these six were several other bombings that were closer to and inside of Baghdad. Even last week on Thursday and Friday there were five suicide bombings, as well as a couple others in other places around Iraq, leaving 160 dead and 275 injured. (Question Lede)

House approves $3.44 trillion budget resolution

April 29, 2009- How much more money are we going to give away to help bail out the economy? The House of Representatives passed a $3.44 trillion budget keyed on energy, education and health care programs. This new bill passed with a 233 to 193 vote in the house. The fiscal year for this bill is in 2010, but it will really cut down on the spending. (Question Lede)

Article final

Cole Jolovich
April 22, 2009
English 2
Northeast District Music Festival

On April 21, and April 22, 2009, the Northeast Music festival kicked off at eight’ o’clock a.m. The first day we had an exceptional show, according to the judge, yet most of the other ensembles’ had astounding performances also. Since this event is not a competition and it will give out certificates for specific rankings on a scale from one to five, with one being the best. We seemed to get a lot of ones and twos, which was much better than last year. By better I mean that one of the ensemble’s we had the judge wouldn’t even let them finish their song. It was terrible because for some reason the piece they worked on for months sounded like them trying to speak Korean. For the rest of the day they were moping around because they got a five, which is terrible. Even the choir group did excellent on their songs. This was unusual since the judge did not seem like the nicest person and was very nit-picky about some of the littlest things. She was very different from the choir judges that I have seen the last couple of years.

The next day there were only a couple of pieces played and sung. These songs were not done as well as before, but we still acquired a little praise from the judge. Our main moment was in the song John Muir Suite, which is divided into four parts, because the judge and Mr. Clark were part of a group in the county that had played this song and had said that it was a fairly challenging piece and that we played it well. Our other song, Concert Variations, did not get as much recognition, but it still sounded good for how complicated some of the parts are. As an overall rating we only got a two, but that still is a good score to receive at this event. I didn’t get the opportunity to hear the choir, but I did hear that they did well. They also received some good comments from the judge. From what I gathered they received either a one or a two; the same as they did the day before in their other pieces.

As a whole we had a great showing in Buffalo and Sheridan the last two days. Since this is generally a tough time for some students anyways without having to know some music that we would be graded on. Also this event can be difficult and nerve racking, but we pulled off some great performances for the judges and spectators to remember. Even though not all of us got one’s and two’s, as a whole we still did very well especially when we broke up into our littler ensembles. To listen to us play and sing; come to our Pop’s Concert on May 19, 2009, at the TRHS Auditorium. There will be new, more exciting, pieces for us to perform on stage.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Northeast district festival

Cole Jolovich
April 22, 2009
English 2
Northeast District Music Festival

On April 21, and April 22, 2009, Tongue River, along with the rest of the Northeast District of Wyoming, will participate in the Northeast Music Festival. The first day we had an exceptional show, according to the judge, yet most of the other ensembles’ had astounding performances also. Since this event is not a competition and it will give out certificates for specific rankings on a scale from one to five, with one being the best. We seemed to get a lot of ones and twos, which was much better than last year. By better I mean that one of the ensemble’s we had the judge wouldn’t even let them finish their song. That is a terrible shame because they worked on it for months but that day they did not play as well and screwed up a lot. Even the choir group did excellent on their songs. This was unusual since the judge did not seem like the nicest person and was very nit picky about some of the littlest things. She was very different from the choir judges that I have seen for the last couple of years.

The next day there were only a couple of pieces played and sung. These songs were not done as well as we had been before, but we still acquired a little praise from the judge. Our main moment was in the song John Muir Suite, which is divided into four parts, because the judge and Mr. Clark were part of a group in the county that had played this song and had said that it was a fairly challenging piece and that we played it well. Our other song, Concert Variations, did not get as much recognition, but it still sounded good for how complicated some of the parts are. As an overall rating we only got a two, but that still is a good score to receive at this event for playing in a place u have not been in before. I didn’t get the opportunity to hear the choir, but I did hear that they did well. They also received some good comments from the judge. From what I gathered they received either a one or a two; the same as they did the day before in their other pieces.

As a whole we had a great showing in Buffalo and Sheridan the last two days. Since this is generally a tough time for some students anyways without having to know some music that we would be graded on. Also this event can be difficult and nerve racking, but we pulled off some great performances for the judges and spectators to remember. Even though not all of us got one’s and two’s, as a whole we still did very well especially when we broke up into our littler ensembles. To listen to us play and sing come to our Pop’s Concert on May 19, 2009, at the TRHS Auditorium.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Wrestling Team Op-Editorial

Cole Jolovich
April 21, 2009
English 2
Op-Editorial

There are many reasons for a school like ours not to have a wrestling team. One reason we cannot is our lack of students willing to. Also we do not have the facilities to allow them to practice, and cannot afford them or be able to support them financially.
For starters we do not need one because we are such a small school and do not have enough people to support one. Since we have a huge number of participants in basketball, which is during the same time, most of the other part of the student population either will not partake in sports or are lifting and running in preparation for another sport. With these limitations that greatly reduces the numbers of potential wrestlers from a hundred some to maybe the twenties or thirties. Of those not very many of them would wrestle because they would be doing something else extracurricular related. Obviously we could not support a wrestling team at Tongue River High School.

Also we do not have the facilities to support another sports program. During the wrestling season there would have to be a separate area for them, which the school cannot afford at the moment, since the gyms are taken up by the basketball teams. If we were to add wrestling to our school then we would have to buy all new equipment for them. The new equipment would cost the school a fortune since they have to pay for wrestling mats, uniforms, and other equipment necessary for the sport. On top of that we would have to pay more than usual during the winter months. On top of the costs of those minor things we would have to pay for an extra bus to go to a farther away place just so that they can wrestle. We would have to cut funding from somewhere in our budget, which would probably be from the lunches like it usually is, just to pay for their trip and food during the trip. The money that we have is already becoming scarce as it is without the help of another activity feeding off from it.

Obviously, this is a bad idea at the current time. One is that we do not have enough people to support it during that time because of basketball. Also we do not have the facilities and the money to support a program that would sky rocket our spending. All in all, adding a wrestling team to Tongue River High Schools extracurricular activities list is a terrible idea.

Store Review

Cole Jolovich
April 21, 2009
English 2
Wal-mart review

Of all the stores in the world none compare to Wal-mart. They have the greatest supply of merchandise of all the super markets. If there is anything you need, ranging from food and car-stereos to toys and craft supplies, Wal-mart will definitely have it. When they do not have something that you are looking for they probably just recently ran out and have an order coming in. Very rarely do you find something that they do not have in stock anymore. Often times I will go there first to look for something that I need for the week or would just like to buy. I would say that 99 percent of the time they have what I am looking for, the other one percent was out of stock stuff, and it has become an expectation. Not only do they have a large stock on items but they have low prices also.

Also Wal-mart has some of the cheapest prices in town. They give people a fair price for everything in stock. If they do not have it in stock they will order it without a shipping fee and for a still fair price for a special order. From experience I know that they generally have the cheapest prices on their merchandise. I compared their prices on stereos to Radio Shack and K-mart, yet again Wal-mart pulled out victorious with a lower price for the same product by several dollars. This amazing store also maintains an astounding environment for people to shop in.

In this store they have cameras and employees everywhere to help maintain a mellow environment. The employees walk around the store and ask their customers if they need any help finding something that they are looking for. Some stores the employees won’t even leave the counter that they are standing behind. Also the cameras help to keep it safe from possible dangers. They keep unruly visitors at bay because there are security officials ready to intervene if necessary. Along with keeping it safe it also allows them to see who may be shoplifting something. All in all, Wal-mart is the corporal giant of all the stores.