Jun Yang's Blog

My Favourite Poet

2009-06-29T17:41:00.000-07:00

A truly unique and multi-faceted artist, Shel Silverstein was a renowned poet, playwright, illustrator, screenwriter, and songwriter. Best known for his immensely popular children’s books including The Giving Tree, Falling Up, and A Light in the Attic, Silverstein has delighted tens of millions of readers around the world, becoming one of the most popular and best-loved children's authors of all time.

Born in Chicago on September 25, 1930, Sheldon Allan Silverstein grew up to attain an enormous public following, but always preferred to say little about himself. “When I was a kid,” he told Publishers Weekly in 1975, “I would much rather have been a good baseball player or a hit with the girls. But I couldn’t play ball. I couldn’t dance. So I started to draw and to write. I was lucky that I didn’t have anyone to copy, be impressed by. I had developed my own style.”

Silverstein drew his first cartoons for the adult readers of Pacific Stars and Stripes when he was a G.I. in Japan and Korea in the 1950’s. He also learned to play the guitar and to write songs, a talent that would later produce such hits as “A Boy Named Sue” for Johnny Cash and “The Cover of the Rolling Stone” for Dr. Hook.

Shel Silverstein never planned on writing for children – surprising for an artist whose children’s works would soon become available in more than 30 languages around the world. In the early 1960’s Tomi Ungerer, a friend whose own career in children’s books was blossoming, introduced Silverstein to his editor, Harper Collins’ legendary Ursula Nordstrom. That connection led to the publication of The Giving Tree in 1964. The book sold modestly at first, but soon the gentle parable about a boy and the tree that loved him was admired by readers of all ages, recommended by counselors and teachers, and being read aloud from pulpits. Decades after its initial publication, with more than five and a half million copies sold, The Giving Tree holds a permanent spot atop lists of perennial bestsellers.

Shel Silverstein loved to spend time in Greenwich Village, Key West, Martha’s Vineyard, and Sausalito, California. Up until his death in May 1999, he continued to create plays, songs, poems, stories, and drawings, and most importantly, in Shel’s own words, “have a good time.”

Reference :http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/6166/ss/ssbio.html
:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shel_Silverstein

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

2009-06-28T23:06:00.000-07:00

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

The words in italic are the figurative language of this poem.They are mostly made up of hyperbole. They include : peppermint wind.

I like this poem because the poet uses figurative language at the correct place. Such as: chalk-white arrows.When ever i read ANY of his poems, i can feel that i can picture what he is writing in my head. This is because of his great description and great usage of figurative language.Actually I like his books better than his poems, the book i liked best was "The Missing Piece". The story centers on a circular animal-like creature that is missing a wedge-shaped piece of itself. It doesn’t like this, and sets out to find its missing piece, singing:
Oh, I'm lookin' for my missin' pieceI'm lookin' for my missin' pieceHi-dee-ho, here I golookin' for my missin' piece
It starts out on a grand adventure searching for the perfect piece to complete itself, while singing and enjoying the scenery. But after the circle finally finds the exact-sized wedge that fits it, it begins to realize that it can no longer do the things it used to enjoy doing, like singing or rolling slowly enough to enjoy the company of a worm or butterfly. It decides that it was happier when searching for the missing piece than actually having it. So it gently puts the piece down, and continues happily searching.

2009-06-28T00:35:00.000-07:00

I liked the de Silva’s in the Village by the Sea (VTBS) the most, as they helped Hari’s family a lot. They allowed Lila and Hari to temporally work for them and gave Hari their address in Bombay. They even gave Hari’s father a chance to ‘guard’ their house when they were leaving. Unfortunately, their father did not treasure the chance, appearing drunk during the interview and left a bad impression on the de Silva’s. Hari was also very angry with his ‘father’ for not treasuring the chance to earn money. The second time when we saw the de Silva’s, Hari was not at Thul as he went to protest in Bombay. Lila and her sisters continued to work for them, buying ingredients, preparing food as the cook was not there and serving them. The de Silva’s continued to pay them and when they saw their mother was seriously ill, they even sent her to the hospital far away. They even allowed Lila to slowly pay the hospital bills by working for him. After the diagnosis, they found out that their mother’s illness was treatable and their mother continued to stay there for treatment. Their father also went there to look after his wife as he thought she was not safe at the hospital alone. He stayed there for many days and miraculously quit his bad habit of drinking toddy without knowing himself. After a few weeks, their mother recovered and Hari was back. The whole family united and celebrated the festival together. This was possible due to the help of the de Silva’s and they were really compassionate and kind-hearted.

We could say that the de Silva family was one of the important fators that the story has a fariytale ending.The other factors include the kindness of mr Pallawahna and mr Raju.People which I have mentioned above had showed Hari the concept of change has to go on.They provided Hari with a platform to realize his promise to the family memebers.

Is progress necessarily beneficial for society?

2009-06-27T23:13:00.000-07:00

Progress is not always necessarily benefical fo the society. I do not really believe that progress is definitely beneficial. However, let me just anaylse the cons of progress.

Progress brings more harm than benefits. For example, from VBTS, when the watchmen of the fertiliser plant told Biju about the building of the factory, the watchmen mentioned that the wastes of the factory can be pumped into the sea and a whole housing colony will replace the village. Because urbanites demand progress; wanting a more luxurious life, people tend to take things for granted.
The rich urbanites take the environment for granted, for the convenience of disposing their wastes and cutting cost, they literally intend to dispose them into the sea, not considering about the aquatic life in the sea. They also desire to earn more income so that they can afford a better standard of living, thus they build more factories and bigger city at Thul, leading to the destruction of the natural environment around.

Cross Stiching is fun

2009-06-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

Embroidery is one of the earliest crafts, and there are many different techniques you can try. One of the most popular today, is counted cross stitch.

To me, seeing a picture appear on a blank piece of fabric is like a gardener sewing seeds and watching them grow into a colourful garden full of flowers. It is like painting a picture in thread; the results can be as soft as a watercolour or as striking as an oil painting. But for this type of artwork you don't even need to be able to draw.

Would you like to create your own masterpiece? An heirloom to leave for future generations to appreciate and wonder over? Or a simple, fun piece that expresses your bubbly character? Whether you frame your work to hang on the wall, give it away as a gift or even wear it you may easily find that learning this needlework technique opens up a whole new world of colour and design.

1st thing you need to learn before you could even start sewing your masterpiece is how to read a chart, what the symbols on it mean, and how they translate into a work of art.This is the foundation of cross stitch.

If you want to learn how to cross stitch you could go to this
website

Mother's Memorable Read

2009-04-16T05:22:00.000-07:00

The book that I am going to introduce to you today is 'Alive'.The story is based on a real life situation.It was based on the incident of the events of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571.The story states and describes the feeling of the friends eating other's meat for survival.The story is about a Rugby team flying to somewhere.Because of the pilot's miscalculations,the plane crashed at a mountain.Without food and water,how can the survivors of the plane crash survive?If you want to know,READ IT YOURSELF!!!!!!

Organ Transplant

2009-04-07T05:35:00.000-07:00

The problem that people are discussing now is the legalising organ transplant.This problem has been discussed and no conclusion is made.From my point of view,I think that both actions are acceptable as both will benefit the society greatly in different prospect.

First,I will be talking about the benefits of legalising organ transplant.We can monitor organ transplant going on and know about the detail and standardise the price for an organ.By doing so we are preventing people from short changing the people who donate their organs.But on the other hand , family members will not donate their organs to their family members as they want more money.

Next ,I will tell you the disadvantage about legalising organ transplant.It will cause people who are rich but sick to get their organs through other illegal ways such as from the black market.

Black hat

2009-02-28T20:25:00.000-08:00

Standing at the black hat's P.O.V,i think that there is alot of things that i would like to say about our class discussion.

1st.

I strongly disagree with some of my classmate's option that the real 'lamb' is the baby in the Mary's womb.He/she should not be the victim that loses his/her father as they dont have a strong relationship yet.Even if hi/she loses his/her father,it will not be such a huge impact in his/her life.

2nd.

I disagree that the 'lamb' is Mary as she was not the that lost her life.It was Patrick which lost his life,not Mary.Mary only found out that her husband was living her,that was not a very big deal compared to losing ones life.

Jiawei's love match in picture.XD

2009-02-23T06:15:00.000-08:00

The story that i have picked is a character driven story.Ok,guess what i will let you start by guessing the main character.No ,its not Obama,nor is it the infamous Mas Selamat.It is someone who has done proud to all singaporeans and.Here ou go ,it is LEE JIA WEI.I sure u don't know who she is,do you?Anyway I will have a brief indroduction of her,singapore's star paddler.

Full name:
Li Jiawei
Nationality:
Singapore
Residence:
Singapore
Playing style:
Right-handed shakehand grip
Equipment(s):
Stiga blade
Highest ranking:
3rd (2005)
Club:
Peking University (in China Table Tennis Super League)
Date of birth:
9 August 1981 (1981-08-09) (age 27)
Place of birth:
Beijing, People's Republic of China
Height:
1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
60 kg (130 lb) (2008)

Ok at last I can go on to the main part.Basically the story revolves around Jiawei's wedding and her lovey dovey husband.(I find her husband quite nice.)The artice shows you pictures taken and lots of stuff.At the start,she played table tennis with her husband.She even joked about her husband increases her confidence as her husband cannot even return one of her balls.However her witty husband rebuttled by say that he is only focuson the player but not the ball.

The pair said that they don't mind spending money on celebration.Ok,brace yourself as I am soon going tell you an startling information.An insider revealed that the total cost for the celebration was a six-figure sum.

I personally think that we should not be so wasteful.WE must save for the rainy days as we are not sure when it will come and usually people are not prepared for it.Being so spendthrift on celebrations , although I cannot say that it has no benefical purposes,saving for rainy days is much more important.With this extra amount of money,we are creating a cushion that softens the impact when something bad happends.

Fun in the sun

2009-02-18T06:44:00.000-08:00

Yah,after school today our class went to the army exibit to check out some REALLY cool stuff.I even had a chance to use a real fire hose and spary at my friends!!! Yah!! Ok i lied I didnt get a chance to spary at my friends but at least I got to try that SUPER cool hose.one of our tour guide was super cool.He was already in his 60's but he was still got fit that he can come out and 'impart' his knowleadge to us!!The nasi lemak there really tastes very yucky.But!!!The Fries were still not bad.Yum Yum!

The part where i enjoyed the most was the time when we were on the bus returning to school. The bus was so chaotic that shoes went flying all around.People screaming like girls,people listening to their own music and some playing with their handphones like me.

I had a great time today.

Jun yang,
Signing off

Cca results

2009-02-06T06:01:00.000-08:00

I have gotten to know my new EP3.And...my EP3 is string ensemble.Though some people says that it is quite lame but i find it ok.not very cool but it is not that lame.My first choice was judo but i was VERY unlucky not to get my first choice.

NYPS Camp Leader

2009-01-21T06:42:00.000-08:00

On the 17 of january,i departed from my house to NYPS as i was going to be the camp leader there.The camp was extremly fun as the camp allows the pupils to build teamwork.I tried the "milo pond" which I did not try out last time.It was mainly a slide which leads you to a pool of mud.My class was very naughty so i had to raise my voice just for them to listen to me.I had a great time with my class at the camp.

Sushi buffet

2009-01-18T05:30:00.000-08:00

Today my mom prepared a great varity of different sushi.It includes prawn roe sushi,salmon sashimi,baked scallop and ebi fried.The best part of this sushi buffet is that we make our own sushi form the materials my mom made.

Hi again

2009-01-17T21:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my dad flew back home from China.He brought back many things for me and my mom.Although he can be abit irritating ang annoying sometimes,he is kind a nice.

First post

2009-01-16T23:25:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone for viewing my blog.I hope everyone will meet their goals and be happy for ever.O_o XD