Graffiti

Can we just pause for a moment and reflect on the idiotic act that is graffiti. Graffiti that is actually a nice artwork I can understand, I personally like Graffiti Lane in Melbourne. However, when graffiti is used just for the sake of vandalism and to be "cool" then I have a problem. This blog post was sparked after some horrible graffiti that vandals sprayed onto the iconic Captain Cook's Cottage in Melbourne which is a big thing in Melbourne as it is part of our cultural heritage. However, some idiots decided it would be fun to defile it and cover it in graffiti. You can see the photo below. It says "26th January Australia Shame!" There is a time and a place to protest but to do this to an Australian landmark is totally unacceptable.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/MelbourneMemes

What to they think gives them the right to do this? It is bad enough that they wrote on the wall but did they have to continue with the other coloured graffiti. The worst part is that the culprits are likely to never be found and be brought to justice. It really is despicable how they can do this and get away with it. To do it on any other brick wall is still bad, but this is an Australian icon and landmark which makes the crime a hundred times worse.. I feel sorry for the council workers who have to clean up someone else's mess. It really is very selfish. There are thousands of ways to protest about Australia Day but this should have never been an option. As I mentioned earlier, graffiti can also be appealing as it can  be very artistic. Sometimes, people even hire graffiti artists to liven up an area with an interesting mural or piece of art. The following is an example of good graffiti which does no harm and is actually appealing.

Source: http://ciuki.wordpress.com/category/centrum/page/3/

What I am trying to say is that graffiti has a time and a place. Captain Cook's Cottage should never be a place or a time yet a disused plain wall could use with some artistic graffiti. Though I emphasise the adjective; 'artistic' because just scribbling swear words is not artistic, no matter how much effort you put into it.

Just think before you act. See you tomorrow.

Doctor Who Sunday: Top Moments of the Modern Doctor Part 9

Welcome to yet another Doctor Who Sunday! This is the segment with all things Doctor Who! Currently we are going through what I deem to be the best moments of modern Doctor Who. Of course there are heaps that I have not mentioned (yet) and I may have even forgotten a few of the best moments so feel free to comment below your own favourites or send them through to legolukeytutorials@gmail.com where I read every email you send (as it is sent to my phone so I have no choice). Let's begin!

41. The Truth about Starship UK from The Beast Below

Source: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/s7/doctor-who/i437689-8/doctor-who-a-history-of-the-universe-in-100-objects-starship.html

Do you remember the famous quote "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" from A Few Good Men? That same thing can be said about Starship UK. When the world was burning due to the expansion of the Sun, the people on Earth fled to the stars on spaceships. This spaceship contains the whole of the United Kingdom (except for Scotland). Every person on board (except for some very few people in the control centre) believes that the ship is run by engines. However,  it is actually run by a space-whale which has the Starship UK attached to its back. Every 5 years, the people aboard Starship UK go to a voting booth individually. Here they watch a recording telling them the story of the Starship UK. After this they can vote to either "Protest" or "Forget". If 1% of the population select "Protest" than the program is stopped and the whale is set free. Even the Queen has chosen to "forget". There is a very emotional scene where the Queen watches a recording of herself telling the story of the Star Whale. When the world was burning and the children were crying this star whale came from above like a savior. On its back they built a ship to sail them away from their world. It is also revealed that this Star Whale is the last of its kind. It was very emotional as the Doctor had to decide whether to save millions of people and kill the last star whale or vice versa.

42. Scared Children from The Beast Below

Source: http://www.tvrage.com/DoctorWho_2005/episodes/1064899752/recap

This part of the episode sees Amy Pond, the Doctor's companion at that time, take a gamble that the space whale will stay to save the children. It is discovered that the Star Whale did not come to Earth all those years ago like a miracle, it came because it could not stand hearing children cry. It was a very poignant moment and the audience got a taste of the Amy Pond we would grow to love even more throughout the forthcoming episodes.

43. The Dreamlord from Amy's Choice

Toby Jones is great in this episode as he plays the Dreamlord who (SPOILER ALERT) turns out to be the Doctor's darker side brought out by psychic pollen in the TARDIS. In this dream brought on by the pollen, the Dreamlord creates two worlds with two very different dangers. Only one of the worlds is real (or so they are told) and they have to decide which world is the real one. Amy is also made in this episode to choose between the Doctor and Rory, hence the title Amy's Choice.

44. Amy can not Live Without Rory in Amy's Choice

After this scene, Amy decides that the real world is the one in the TARDIS as she can not bear to live in a world where Rory has died. Amy takes the van and kills herself and the Doctor by ramming it into her house. It is very emotional and one where we finally get to see who Amy loves more; Rory.

45. Vincent Hears of his Fame in Vincent and the Doctor

In this episode, Amy and the Doctor go to visit Van Gogh after discovering a monster in one of his works. They discover, and Amy is shocked, at how sad and dejected he is and how no one likes his works. This is the end of the episode where Amy and the Doctor take him to see a museum exhibit all about his artworks. The Doctor also allows him to overhear a conversation with one of the art historians and how he believes he is one of the greatest artists of all time. It is a very emotional scene.

We have reached the end of yet another Doctor Who Sunday, come back next week for more. See you tomorrow!

The Holidays have Arrived

Hooray! Finally, after ten long weeks of school the holidays have arrived. As much as I enjoy school it is always nice to just get away from it all and relax instead of rushing around trying to organise everything and completing homework. It is a nice feeling although this Term has being a great one. I would like to start off with a bit of an update on the fundraising we held this week on behalf of the 'Wyndham Leaders of the Future' program. I am proud to announce that, thanks to the generosity of students we raised over $600 which will all be pooled together before next April to purchase medical supplies to send to the Menari Medical Centre in Papua New Guinea. Over $100 of this came from the lolly-jar raffle and it is great to see so many people rally behind such a great cause. Aside from this however, this term has been full of a lot of highlights (and yes, I am looking at the term calendar to remind myself).

Source: http://www.millerapartments.com.au/_blog/News_and_Events/post/winter-school-holidays---6th---21st-july-2013/

The term started off with the Australian Maths Games Day which I participated in and had a lot of fun. It may have been a long tram ride from Flinders Street Station but it was worth it and going with a friend made the time seem to pass a lot quicker. Especially, when that friend had not realised how long the tram ride actually was. Then came LOTE week shortly after which supplied a lot of daily entertainment and international songs between bells. It was a nice and relaxing week and next year should be a whole lot better with even more students. Science Week followed not too long after and the daily recess trivia competitions with the horrible animations (that were funny because of how bad they were) really made my day (well, several of them actually). Finally, Book Week decided to show up and there were movie screenings in the iCentre (what we call our school library), a Macbeth incursion on the Wednesday (with actors from the Bell Shakespeare Company), a dress up day on the Friday and lots of competitions in between. Melbourne Writer's Festival then followed suit the following Monday which was a lot of fun to participate in and, since I was just an iCentre volunteer, I could just relax and enjoy the day rather than have to worry about doing any related work. The Arts and Technology week then came around with our performance-night on the Tuesday and the House Choral competition which was a blast. Seriously, this school is anything but boring. Finally, to cap it all of, there was this week full of fundraising for a good cause. Not a week goes by at this school without something happening, our Term calendar has barely a blank day anywhere with absolutely no empty week in sight.

It has been a busy term so a holiday is needed, see you tomorrow!