Swimming to Antarctica Blog Post #4

I have completed the book and I'm just brainstorming and starting to plan things for my CD project.I was thinking that on the front of my CD I could have definitely something to do with swimming, but that Lynne traveled all around the world to break records and swim new distances I was thinking that I could also add the globe and her swimming on it ( but its just an idea ). Here are some ideas for the CD cover and project :
- Soviets
- Bering Strait
- Swimming
- Travel ( Earth )
- Catalina Island
- Boats
- Her crew
- Government ( Soviets and Americans )
For the songs that I'm going to use for the CD, I was thinking that they could be country, band/orchestra, or classic music. The book was exciting but it wasn't like much about her life or love or her friends it was about accomplishing her dream, and her swim.The songs might be in an adventurous way but different feelings for different songs. Since she had fallen in love, one of the songs will be love, she had reports and press people anywhere so it might be a fast song, there will be a song with surprises in between because there are a lot of them along the story, but also when the shark was about to eat Lynne and how Dave saved her. The title will be Swimming to Antarctica but I was thinking of putting a spine of the CD case too, and I wanted to put like a theme quote that is to the story ( perhaps I could put it on the spine, but when I do then if like someone takes it out of the shelf they will see the quote not the title, but it could persuade them to listen to the CD ) I could either put it on the spine ( maybe ) or somewhere on the CD cover ( either front or back ).

Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod - Post #4

Mai Ness
Post #4
Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the IditarodGary Paulsen
Pages Read: 256/256

          In the book that I chose, there are a lot of obstacles that the main character, Gary Paulsen has to overcome. Most conflict types are Man vs. Nature because the main character is racing in Alaska during Wintertime, when it is extremely cold and dangerous. The first obstacle is that he comes to the Iditarod race and he figures out just a week before they start the race that he doesn't have enough equipment for the dogs to keep them running for the fifteen to twenty day race.The next conflicts, he encounters while he is already in the race, like the extreme weather conditions and such. He overcame these obstacles by borrowing some equipment, and also teaming up and making friends with other mushers (yes, that's what they call the racers in the Iditarod) in order to keep sane and alive. The last and most saddening conflict is what he comes across after the race. Since he did not win the Iditarod this year, he wanted to race again. Although he wanted to race, and he thought he was in a good condition, turns out he had a heart disease and could not race again. Sadly, this is how the book ends, although I was hoping for a happy ending. If I were  in these situations, I would do the same as Paulsen, since I see no better way to try to minimize the conflict any different manner.

Quote: (this is where makes friends with other mushers) "To share the doughnuts and that way and help us all get going, headed in the right direction. Just an all-around nice person, and I felt grateful that he was with us" (Paulsen 210).

The Motorcycle Diares
Ernest Che Guevara
100/ 165 pages
11/ 23/13

The obstacles Ernest and Alberto have experienced is probably the cold. Whatever country they are in, the deadly wind cut their faces like a sharp knife, thus delaying their trip an extra night. They have to stay in somebody's house for the dangerous night. As, well due to the cold, they have caught some colds and fever and therefore delaying the endeavor another 2-5 days. I could learn from these obstacles. For one thing, even though they were walking in the desert, the nights were bad so always carry extra layers in my backpack. Also, extra socks. Ernesto said that even after the ran for a while, his feet were numb! As well, bring a car rather than a cheap motorcycle.

Quote: "At six in the morning we saw two huts by the edge of the road, illuminated by the clear , gray light of dawn. The last few meters we traveled in a flash, as if we had no weight at all on our backs. It seemed as if we had never been welcomed with such friendliness, that we never eaten bread and cheese like they sold us, or had such revitalizing mate." (Guevara,  91)

My steve

By: Terri Irwin
i read 40 pages

In this book their are many obstacles. The latest one is that they had a flood at the zoo. There are many animals at the zoo which means their are many enclosures. Steve loves wildlife so he has some animals that are safe to be lose. In fact even the crocodiles have very low fences. This flood was a lot worse then the one they had the year before. They had the zoo closed the sky was getting darker most of the staff left home and they had to split up in small groups. Before they knew it the sky got darker and it was very late. All the flash lights and water proof flash lights went off, the only thing they had now where the cars that parked in front of the zoo. Steve's best friend/mate Wes was in the crocodile enclosure clearing out all the debris that got in her cage. Before he knew it the crocodile grabbed his back side and his thigh then she let go Wes saw that she was coming in for another bite though he punched her and went back to work. The was nobody with him and blood was pouring from his leg into the now one meter flood. Steve saw Wes and quickly jumped over the fence and grabbed the crocodile by her hind leg and got her attention on him. Wes was climbing out of the enclosure but instead, knowing that he could die, he went to help Steve. They both then jumped over the fence. Steve and Wes both went inside catching Terrie (Steve's wife's) attention. She hurried following them to the house. They were thinking about taking him to the hospital or calling an ambulance. They drove him, it usually took around 30 minutes to get to the hospital but this time it took them under 20 minutes. they got to the hospital and saw that it was really busy. Though at this time Wes's face was getting pale and grey. They showed the doctor his tore up leg and the doctor said that it can be fixed though he might need some extra skin. Steve got very emotional thinking that he could have lost his best friend/mate. The were able to fix his leg and after a few weeks when his leg was fully heeled, though he could not move it as well as before, They went to Fiji to go surfing.          

Anne Frank

Anne Frank
Author: Otto H. Frank/ Mirjam Pressler
Pages: 351

One of the conflicts in my book is that Hitler is killing all the Jewish people.The problem in my novel is also that Anne is a Jewish girl and so is her family. i think that the world war ends and that she dies in a concentration camp.

Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

Title: Nothing to Envy
Author: Barbara Demick
Pages: 90/315

Though there are many smaller conflicts with each character described in the book, the overall conflict is the struggle of life in North Korea. The conflict is man versus society. The conflict was introduced straight away as it is the very essence of the book. I have not yet finished the book but I can infer with a high degree of certainty that the solution to the problem will be to defect to South Korea. I must admit that the fact that Barbara Demick stated in the beginning of the book that she was interviewing North Korean defectors gave it away.

Eleven Rings

Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success
Phil Jackson (and Hugh Delehanty)
334 Pages

Phil Jackson, arguably the best basketball coach the world has ever seen, has many different conflicts in his book Eleven Rings. Phil talks about the struggles of managing ego's, learning to be a leader, working as a team, and more, to win the ultimate prize, an NBA championship. Phil is an 11 time champion, winning 6 titles with arguably the best basketball player that ever lived, Michael 'MJ, His Airness, Black Cat, Money, Air Jordan' Jordan (and the Chicago Bulls), and 5 with arguably the second best basketball who ever lived, Kobe 'The Black Mamba, The Dagger, Izzo, Kob-Me, Mr. 81, KB-24, The 8th Wonder Of The World, Kobe Wan Kenobi, Neo, Lord Of The Rings' Bryant, and arguably the best center who ever lived, Shaquille 'The Big Aristotle, The Big Daddy, The Big Shaqtus, Shaq, The Big Cactus, The Big Banana, MayorMcShaq, The Real Deal, The Big Agave, The Big Shamrock, Big Shamrock, Shaq Daddy, Manny Shaq-iaou, Hobo Master, The Big eQuotatious, Superman, The Big Galactus, The Big Felon, The Big Field General, The Big Maravich, The Big Conductor, Diesel, Shaq Fu, The Big IPO, The Big Baryshnikov, Wilt Chamberneezy, The Big Leprechaun, Dr. Shaq, Shaqovic, The Big Twitterer, Witness Protection, L.C.L, Osama Bin Shaq, MDE, The Diesel, The Big Cordially' O'Neal (and the Lakers).
Phil, being arguably the best basketball coach ever, tried many different approaches to managing his players, and as he gained more experience he learned that when you give every player a 'leadership' role, not only will they mature, but they will respect you. Another thing he learned about respect is that if you speak from the heart, while giving the players the freedom of expressing themselves without surrendering final authority, not only will you have the final call and the 'teams vision', but you will have your players respect too.