My Fan Labor: Ender's Song

This is my song about the book "Ender's Game". It shows how valuable Ender really is to the planet Earth. Without him, the Formics would have killed every human on Planet Earth. This song sympathizes with the people of Earth, shows how brave Ender really is, and how humanity owes everything to him.

Ender's Salvation

by Ken Bantol

(Inspired by Tupac)

Intro:

*Some deep lyrical stuff being spoken!*

Verse I:

When humanity started Exploring

They were unsure of what to find

Everybody was in silence

No one knew what to do

They ran into the Formics

An alien race that terrorized outer space

These buggers felt the commotion

And told the humans: "STOP PLAYING WITH OUR EMOTIONS!"

The Formics started attackin'

Which caused the war to begin

The humans got furious

And they said:

Bridge:

"Oh buggers we've had enough

of this terror going on

So we'll make sure we win

Because we're lead by Andrew "Ender" Wiggin"

Chorus:

'Cuz there ain't no other mind so bright

He will send these nasty buggers flying to the sky

Who can bring back Earth's glory and paradise

His Combat skills are out of sight...

He can lead an army and strategize

In the end he will be standing tall and high.

Verse II:

Ender has come to power

A fella born to be a leader

He overcame adversity

and killed the nasty buggers instantly

He helped the world overcome

The damage that the Formics have done

The Earth has now regained their domination 

While the Formics lives have come to a conclusion

Outro:

Every corner

Every City

The Formics will make your life uneasy

But don't worry 'cuz Ender is finally here

He will kill those Formics and take away your fear.

*Thank You, Ender. Thank You!*

Naudo Rodrigues: A Guitar Master

For this week's personal blog, I will be talking about music, again. I am more than just a listener, I am a lover of music. Unlike others, I appreciate every type of genre, except for the ones that sound like notes or computer made sounds thrown in together. This week, I will be talking about my FAVORITE musician of ALL TIME. He is unknown to many. I came across his videos back in 2007 when I started getting intrigued by guitar plucking and fingering. This was the very first video I have ever seen of Naudo. He plays in a hotel in Tenerife Island in Spain and one day, I will visit him and witness the GREATEST guitarist in the whole world do his magic. What separates Naudo from the rest of the guitarist you see on TV or anywhere else is his passion for the music he plays. He is a didactic which means he is self taught. He arranges his own material and incorporates every part of the song in his arrangements. Bass, Rhythm, Melody, even Percussion. His arrangements are ever flowing and have a sense of smoothness. Unlike other guitar arrangements, every note has to correspond with another note. But Naudo uses improvisation which allows him to play the chords/rhythm of the song and just add the bass and notes. This is very hard to do. Many have not heard of Naudo and most of his followers on YouTube want him to gain fame. But naudo has stated that he is happy of where he is in life. He is content of the small fame he has in his hometown in Spain and I agree with him. I don't care if he doesn't get paid Millions to play for the whole world. His happiness is enough for me. And I feel very special that I'm one of the few people on earth that know of this one of a kind talent. 

The GREATEST game ever created. EVER.

Here are some screenshots of me playing Counter Strike 1.6

I have been playing this game since I was 7 years old. I am proud to say that this game is a BIG part of my childhood. Now that I have started college and that I have a job, I hardly have any time to play. I can't wait until SUMMER to get back and play again!

This is a screenshot of me using the AWP Rifle which is a sniper. In this picture, I am scoping and aiming for my target. I run with my AWP which people say is very hard to do in the game because you need a stable position to shoot. But to me, it just comes easily.

This is a screenshot of the aftermath. I killed the enemy. As you can see, I got 300 extra dollars for killing the enemy and my name "DJ .ako #P90X" is shown on the top right corner, killing the enemy.

This is another screenshot of when my team, .ako which stands for "Ass Kicking Order", was defeated in a league match. I said "GG" to the other team which stands for "Good Game". I scored the top score for my team ;)

The Abominable Charles Christopher: Feb. 15th

For some odd reason, this reminds me of my friends and I. We've been close friends since 8th grade and we have always gotten into trouble with people. Whether it'd be the manager of our old apartments, parents

. of the other dude we made cry, the teachers from our middle school, the old security guard from High School, or even the LAW! We would always do something stupid that gets us in to some real deep CRAP. I see myself as the duckling on the very right who is trying to calm the pissed off swan. As you can see, all the other three ducklings are running for their lives as the swan is scaring them. The duckling on the very right, however, is brave enough to face the consequences and is trying to calmly talk to the raging swan. Everytime I get in trouble with my friends, I always come forward to face the harsh punishment which prompts the rest of my friends to come up as well... SOMETIMES. For example, back in 6th grade, one of my closest friends was being bullied by a bigger kid in his class. It was after school and I was walking towards the table that my friends and I usually meet at. But for some reason, my friends weren't there. I thought they went to the pizza joint we usually go to so I went there right away. Right when I crossed the street, I saw my friends being pushed around by other guys that I knew. I ran straight towards them and tried to calm them down asking them if we can just talk it out. But the dude who started the altercation, who I didn't know so well, pushed me and told me to back off. I was angry and was getting ready to fight when I heard the MOST FRIGHTENING sound I have ever heard in my entire life... A police car's siren. I stood still, frozen and could not move. I thought of my future and wondered whether I have put my graduation in jeopardy, and what if I get sent to Juvenile Hall! The police car blocked the whole street and all the cars backed up since they could not pass. This was when I realized that I was in some real deep CRAP! The police took down my name and the other kid's name and asked us who else was involved. I looked back to see if my friends were still there but they were long gone as I saw them sitting 30 feet away inside the pizza joint, staring at me. I took full responsibility and told the officer that I was just trying to pass through when the other kid and his friends "HIT ME UP" and asked me "WHERE I WAS FROM"(Gang reference). The officer told us to "STOP THIS BULLSH*T" and that he will be seeing us the next day. I went to my friends afterwards and cursed at them endlessly for leaving me alone. I was very pissed when they just laughed at me as if the situation was not serious, at all. The night I did not sleep at all, and prayed the whole night asking for forgiveness, thanking the Lord for everything he has done for me, and I even cried because of fear. Fear that my mom would kill me if she found out I was going to Juvenile Hall or that I would not graduate. The day went by and I did not speak a word to my classmates, teachers and even my friends. When the bell rang at 3:00 pm, I felt a huge relief as if every load of worry has been taken off my back. I have come to the realization that my misdemeanor was not taken seriously by the officer and I was let off with a warning. The next day, I ran into the officer at school and I asked him if he still remembered me. He said, "No, Should I?" I replied with a no and ran to the basketball court. 

WOW, I didn't plan to share a life story but DAMN! I guess I just got carried away. Oh well... So that's what this picture reminds me of, hope you enjoyed.

The perfect girl.

OK. So I might come off as a lunatic with this post but I don't care. 

The sad news of Whitney Houston's departure from this world has been on the Internet the whole weekend. On Facebook, my friends can't stop posting about her. On Yahoo, the whole front page is covered with articles on pictures of her. On YouTube, all the recommended videos are of her. Interestingly enough, the Grammy's was held this weekend and of course, a great tribute was held for Whitney. 

Towards the end, Jennifer Hudson gave a stunning performance of Whitney Houston's hit single, "I Will Always Love You." Al though I enjoyed the performance, I thought it could have been better. Which brought me to one of my favorite videos on YouTube.

This is Charice, the most amazing girl on earth. She is a Filipino singer who was discovered in the Philippines and now travels around the world with renowned music composer, David Foster. She is considered as one of the true divas of the world today. Unlike Lady Gaga, Beyonce, or Adele, she sings older songs by the likes of Celine Dion and Whitney Houston. 

This brings me back to my main point. I thought that Charice should have honored Whitney at the Grammy's by performing this amazing performance of Whitney's hit single, "One Moment In Time." It would have been a mind blowing performance that everyone in that audience have not seen, EVER. 

.

My legs LITERALLY gave out on me and I fell on the floor when I heard this sad news.

I grew up listening to this woman and all the soulful legends of the music industry.

Rest In Paradise, Whitney<3

Memories.

So I need to have 9 blogs by 8 am on February 13 so I don't lose points in my English class. I did all the 6 mandatory blogs but i need 3 more. I ran out of things to talk about so I wandered around the internet looking to kill some time. Then I stumbled upon a link on my Facebook that my friend shared with me. It was my old poem from 8th grade. It was poetry week at my school and each 8th grader was to write 5 poems. I got an A for every poem and my "I AM ME" poem was voted best in my English class. I still remember that day... It was a Friday. We got out early around 12:25 pm and the poetry slam contest was that day. It was voluntary but my teacher urged me to join because he believed I could win it. So I signed up, went home and listened to some Green Day, then went back to school with my friends around 5 pm. I was contestant #8 among 19. As the first 7 contestants read their poems, I started to wonder why my teacher urged me to join. I have read many poems before and my poem was not even in the same league. My name was called and I went up. I stared at everyone and waited for complete silence. Then I started reading my poem. For the first time that day, the audience laughed and actually paid close attention to the contestant, which was me. I received the loudest and biggest applause so far and I was baffled by the standing ovation I received. How did I do that?!?!?! My poem was mediocre for a middle school student. The contest went on and 2 other contestants wrote better poems than me and received 1st and 2nd prizes. I was 3rd.

The next day I talked to my teacher and asked him why he urged me to join. My poem was average at most yet he took no for an answer when he asked me to join. Presenting a poem is not just about pronouncing the right words, but how you pronounce the right words. My poem was from the bottom of my heart. It wass how I felt. I didn't write it for money or fame, I wrote it because it exemplified everything I cared for and stood for during that time in my life. It sounded childish but I was 14 years old. I wanted to be a professional basketball player, I LOVED (AND STILL DO) my mom, I had doubts of my existence and YES, I WAS A LITTLE EMO. But who wasn't?!?!?! When I spoke these words during the poetry slam, I captivated the whole audience. They felt my emotions as I read the words. My hand gestures and voice changing as I read each word. That was the reason why my teacher wanted me to join. The other contestants wrote their poems to get an A on the assignment. I wrote mine because I wanted to vent my feelings on a piece of paper.

How to get hooked to Science Fiction?

For my latest assignment, my professor asked how science fiction can be introduced to people. Science Fiction is not the most popular genre out there and it is hard to like books. A great personal example is my latest experience with the genre. I had to read two of Orson Scott Card's novels, "Ender's Game" and Speaker For The Dead." At first, I was not thrilled to read these books. I am not an avid reader everytime I read a book for class, I half ass all the work by either watching the movie or going on sparknotes. The only way I can "get into" the book is if it relates to me, like the novel "Siddhartha", an intriguing plot, "Chinese Cinderella" or if it has a great start to the novel. Both novels by Scott Card did not relate to me nor did it intrigue me when I first heard of the plot. However, I gave it a shot by reading the 1st chapter before planning to watch the movie, and it blew me away.

Ender's Game starts the novel with descriptions of the main protagonist and the important characters of the novel. Scott Card uses simple and basic imagery that every type of reader, beginner or avid, can understand right away. The story then begins to unravel and everything begins to make sense to the reader.

Unlike most novels, Scott Card's novels are straight to the point. They reveal the plot with unsophisticated diction or vocabulary right at the beginning of the 1st chapter, thus making it easier for non-Science Fiction readers to understand the concept. Most readers who do not like Science Fiction do not read the genre because of the confusing dialogues or that it starts by explaining the middle part of the story which is the present, before going back to what has occurred in the past. Scott Card's novels follow the basic concept of starting from the very beginning until the end which makes it different than other Science Fiction novels.

I believe that the author's real first impression should be shown in the first few paragraphs of the first chapter. This is the perfect time to captivate the reader's mind and get him/her hooked on to the story. When a boring genre like Science Fiction is introduced to a reader, his/her mind starts to wander while reading because of the confusing introduction. Science Fiction can be loved by many if they just start with a bang like the rest of the story instead of a plain introduction.

The Abominable Charles Christopher: Feb. 8th

In this weeks edition of Karl Kerschl's, The Abominable Charles Christopher, we see an off the storyline strip. Karl explains that he is still working on the story's arc which is why he is going to update with images that can be seen in the strips but are not relevant to the plot.

This week, he drew an image that was set at daytime. We see birds singing, chirping and making loud noises, while a bat is annoyed by them for disturbing the bat's sleep.

I really love this image because it relates to me in many ways. I am a full time student and a part time cashier. My education comes first which is why my availability for work is from noon until closing (midnight). Sometimes, when I get home late past midnight, all I want to do is sleep. But this is very hard to do when I have to get my things ready for school the next morning. On Fridays, I don't have school until 1 p.m. which is a perfect time for me to catch up with my sleep. But my mom finds this as a great time for me to run errands for her before I start class. Errands such as driving around Los Angeles to pay the bills because she forgot to pay online or call or mail. She can't make a simple phone call or spend 5 minutes online to pay because she thinks I have ALL the time in the world to do her errands. Although I LOVE my mom and am truly grateful for what she has done in my life, I am a grown man with grown man obligations such as schooling and work, and sleep is much needed. I feel the bat's pain when he is being disturbed by the other birds around him and he can't do anything about it. As much as I hate it, I can't do anything about it.

The Abominable Charles Christopher: Feb. 1st

Last week, I talked about the exciting project that my English professor assigned to the class. The Abominable Charles Christopher is a web comic series that is updated by the author, Karl Kerschl, every Wednesday. In my first blog, I talked about my overall thoughts of the comic as a whole. I talked about the mixed emotions that Karl, the author, shows in each picture. His thoroughly drawn images show every detail of emotion that each character is trying to show.

This week, and the following weeks until the semester ends, I will be posting my thoughts on the latest updates on the comic. So if you are following my blog, you might wanna get in the program and get updated with the comic.

My take on the February 1st, 2012 edition is simple and straight to the point. To me, the 1st and 2nd panels stick out from the rest of the panels because it shows a behavior that a lot of couples in real life face. The woman always performs the duty of serving the family with care and love. What they do is very hard but goes unnoticed by their spouses. The men let the women do all the work in the house and when she is done, instead of showing gratitude towards her, the man disregards her hard work and goes off to find something that will satisfy him.

Mo' Students, Mo' Problems.

The 2012 Spring semester has begun here at CSUN, and for the graduating Seniors, it's the final semester before going off to whatever they pursue with their degrees. This is the semester to enjoy and take the classes they want and need, and possibly get "SENIORITIS." However, this is not the case for the other students, especially Freshmen (LIKE ME). The California State University system, which CSUN falls under, has applied a huge amount of budget cuts this semester. These budget cuts are due to the overpopulation of students in the campus. CSUN has to cut 7% of the students to be able to maintain the right amount of budget for the semester. So what does this mean? This means less classes for students to choose from and if they do get the classes they need, chances are, those classes will be full and much larger which will decrease the amount of help an instructor can give to each student in the class. 

A full time student at CSUN pays a minimum of 6,500 dollars per year, for tuition alone. That doesn't include books, food, and other necessities which has been estimated to cost a total of 18,000 dollars per year, at a minimum. With this much money, a student should be able to get the classes that they WANT and NEED. Classes that will be convenient with their schedule and classes in which they can get the proper amount of individual help that they paid for. 

The less classes there are, the slower the pace of a student to graduate. Some students find loopholes by taking classes at another campus while others simply give up and drop out. 

The drop out rate of College students in the past year has risen rapidly and experts point the blame to the expensive rates of the CSU systems. Students are not satisfied of what they receive to what they give which is 18,000 dollars a year of hard work. 

How do I feel about this? 

I AM PISSED THE F*CK OFF. 

During the last two years of High School, I worked my butt off, doing anything possible to save money for college. I was the candyman of my High School. I sold Hot Cheetos and sodas. Made about 50-60 dollars profit a day. I estimated to have made at least 7,000 dollars in those two years. When people hear that, they are amazed at how rich I have become. I should be proud and happy when they say this, but I'm not. In fact, I am furious and sad at the same time. All those hard earned money that I made from carrying 50 pounds worth of drinks everyday to school has vanished so I could pay for my first semester of College. I don't receive Financial Aid which means every single penny comes out of my pocket. 

Now I have a decent part time job at Target and am starting to make as much as I used to back in High School, with less physical work. But standing up for 7 hours at a given day is not an easy job to do. This hard work is to pay for my schooling but I'm afraid I might be working for something that will be useless in the future. Very soon, CSUN might start cutting students, especially Freshmen, to make budget, which means guys like me might be gone by the end of the semester.

the students have to suffer. 

CSUN is pulling away my dreams from the grasp of my hands, delaying all the success that is due for me.