This Week In School: The Result...

So how was the Week after Les Epreuves Communes? Fine for the most part, and I got all of my Results back so you can finally see how well I did:


French: We haven't got the Test back yet (due to some reason about scheduling and the Teacher forgetting her papers) but I do know my final score as she read it out aloud to the Class: 21,5/40 or 10,75/20 in more relatable terms. It's pretty much exactly what I expected, and I wouldn't be surprised if I got 0/10 in the dictation and earned most of the points with the reading comprehension and the redaction. We also had a short dictation (yes, ANOTHER one) at the end of the Week in which I scored 10/20. Again, it's very average but it's the most I can hope for with this subject. In Class we did a chapter on Charles De Gaulle (for some reason) and studied a few of his speeches, analysing the techniques he used to rally his audience. It was rather interesting stuff actually, and I was looking forward to every lesson on this subject. This Week seemed especially concentrated on the 1900s era what with History, Art and this subject.  

History: Ah, History. Well it didn't turn out bad, but didn't exactly turn out good either! I scored 22/40, and you can't get more mediocre than that now can you? In fact, I couldn't have been any more mediocre because I literally scored half of the points in EVERYTHING. In the History section I got 9/18 (4/8 on the questions and 5/10 on the argumentative paragraph), in Civic Education I got 6/12 (2/4 on the questions and 4/8 on the argumentative paragraph) and the section on the chronological time-frame (were you had to put different historic events in order, with or without the dates) got me 3/6! I should also point out that spelling gave me another four points, so at least I wasn't mediocre in that??? In Class we finished our chapter on the financial crisis of the 1930's and Hitler's rise to power, it was probably one of the most engaging few lessons I've had in a while. Hitler is like the ultimate baddie for many people, and to think that he was even elected Chancellor at the time by the German government is almost incomprehensible to us younglings. Really, really intriguing stuff. I look forward to the Test next Week...


English: I scored 17,2/20. Why did I lose those last three points? You probably won't believe this, but I accidentally (despite several read-through's of the Test) missed one question in the Test! How I managed to skim over that question I don't know, but I did. It wasn't even hard, you just had to circle the correct picture! I got top marks in everything else though, my paragraph on American Schools got a 30/30 and the comprehension Test garnered 20/20. If it wasn't for that section on six points that I SOMEHOW managed to skip over then I'd have easily full points across the board. Look it was a long and tiring day okay? You're bound to make stupid mistakes even if you put the most amount of precaution into everything. Unfortunately for me though, I made quite a few mistakes... In Class we looked at an extract of 'The Truman Show' as part of our new chapter on Reality T.V. It was fun I guess, but we had to watch it over and over again so it quickly lost it's fun-ness.


Maths: If you take away the fact that I didn't complete the Test (and as a Result lost NINE FRIGGING POINTS) then I should have scored 20,5/30. But nope she still counted that section into my Result, so I therefore have 21,5/40! Like I said before, I think the Test was poorly timed and just because I cocked up a bit on one question SHOULDN'T mean a significant loss of nine points. *SIGH* Well at least in the parts that I DID manage to complete I was competent in, and for the most part the mistakes were few and far between, it's just I shame that I didn't finish it all in time and that's all it comes down to in the end. Maths this Week started was a bit on the iffy side because we've started using the 'Cos', 'Tan' and 'Sin' buttons on our calculator as part of the exercises and it was a bit confusing trying to decide which one to use! I was much more skilled by the end of the Week though thanks to the Maths Teacher's incessant watch on me. You constantly feel like she's on your case, if you know what I mean...  


Science: Another good score added to my list, 16,32/20 or 24,5/30. Quite frankly this was a relief because I had just received my Score for History and Maths and was feeling pretty defeated when this came along. As per usual, everything I touch in Science turns into Test gold, and has stayed that way for some time now due it being SO GOD DAMNED EASY. In Class we've started a new chapter on how to find ions in a solution, which involved putting a 'reactive' solution into a solution containing a specific type of ion, and watching the colours that form when the two are combined. I had to use my lab coat again for this experiment, but thankfully I came prepared this time and tucked my shirt well in so it wouldn't get tangled over my face... So yes all in all very pleased with Science. 


S.V.T:  Another good turn out, although I was expecting the score to be good: 15,4/20 or 18/24. This was one of the easiest Tests alive, so that explains my sudden leap in quality. In Class we're looking at phagocytes and white anti-bodies as part of our chapter on the immune system. It was okay, at least I wasn't tearing my eyes out with boredom!


Technology: I didn't fair that well with this one: 11/20. Like I've said before, I felt a bit confused and some of the questions were rather hard. The result was a steaming pile of mediocrity, and just like English and Maths was the Result of a few silly mistakes. In Class we're trying to find solutions for what the support will be for our information panel: I researched aluminium poles and my co-partners researched treated wood. All in all it was alright, but still disengaging.  


History Of Art: Another clunker of a subject, here I only scored 8,75/20! The Results were terrible across the board though, the year average being 7,82/20. I was simply not up for this one, and it shows. 


Well that's all the subjects on Les Epreuves Communes done, my Overall average was 12,65/20 which demonstrates the up and down quality of my Results. It's a mixed bag, and that's because it was hard and at times it seemed almost unfair. No, it isn't a gleaming pile of perfection, but then what is? I did my best and I'm proud for it! 


Sport: I was put in one of the worst teams ever, but at least I wasn't alone this time! We had mini-matches of both Football and Basketball and sorely got our asses beat in both. 


Art: We looked at a film clip of Charlie Chaplin's 'Modern Times' and had to draw a sketch about the mise en scene of the scene and how you would structure it if you were doing the scene in a play. From a creative standpoint it was extremely interesting, and the time flew by.


Music: We had a Test on 'Music in commercials'. The Teacher showed you a commercial and you had to decompose it using those posh sounding words that we looked at in Class. It was oh so easy but all you had to do was revise and you'd pretty much won it anyway. I scored 16,5/20 Overall.

This Week In School: Les Epeuves Communes

So how did Test Week go you ask? Well to be honest it was rather mixed Overall. I had some good Tests, some bad Tests, some 'OK' Tests and it all stemmed into this bowl of mediocrity. It was a challenging Week though, that required a lot of effort and sustained mental concentration for a long period of time. Friday in particular felt like I was on my last legs. Here is a recap of all the Test's I had to endure:

French: The first day started off all guns blazing with French, it was FOUR HOURS of back-to-back testing madness. Minus the 20 minute break half way through, I literally started writing at 8:35 and didn't stop til' 12:15! I even changed pens half way through, it was THAT hardcore. The Test was split into three parts: the first being the dictation, the second a reading comprehension and the third a redaction. The dictation went as bad as you could expect, as I'm always rubbish at those. WHY don't the French pronounce their 'ss' at the end of a plural word? I mean how the heck am I supposed to know if, for example, I have to put an S at the end of 'dogs' if you pronounce it 'dog' when speaking it? And don't even get me started on the whole 'le or la' debacle. So yes I sucked at it...because it was hard. The comprehension Test was rather easy in comparison, the story was about this homeless guy called Ali living next to a canal and one day finding an abandoned baby girl on his doorstep. The text ends with him calling the baby 'the most beautiful thing I've ever seen' and taking it inside his tent to 'care for it'. Now as creepy as that last bit was (or at least it seemed creepy to me) the text was nonetheless easy to decipher, I even remember at one point thinking 'Wow, for a French Test this has (so far) been pretty easy!'. For the redaction I had to be a journalist working for the local newspaper, writing up a story about Ali and his new-found adopted daughter. Why the authorities would let a homeless man keep an abandoned baby girl he just found lying on the ground next to a canal and casually decided to adopt her was a bit unbelievable in my opinion, so when the briefing in the Test said to 'represent a conflicting moral argument' I decided to incorporate this element into my writing. I ended my article on a light note by saying that Ali's life had improved since the arrival of the baby girl, having taken responsibility by quitting his alcohol addiction and applying for a job, which was definitely a step in the right direction. So yes the redaction went just as well as the comprehension Test, and while I'll probably get a crappy score in the dictation, the easy-ness of the comprehension and redaction Tests should MORE than make up for it. I did have trouble laying my hand to rest that day though, after eight pages of writing under my belt I had to actually grip it to the table because it wouldn't stop fidgeting all over the place!   

History/Civic Education: Yeah I feel pretty mixed about this one. You had the choice of two subjects to begin with: The First World War and Stalin's Regime. I wisely picked the First World War, and it went okay. I felt my argumentative paragraph was especially strong this time, although knowing this Teachers scoring habits if I fail to add ONE element or don't go into detail on this ONE specific thing then I'll be deducted like half of the points so here's hoping! Civic Education didn't go as well, and I struggled to find enough material for the argumentative paragraph. The question just said to 'prove that voting has a basis in democracy' and I though that that was a bit vague of a topic so I ended up slap-dashing these different things together in the hope that it was relevant to the main headline above. But argumentative paragraphs aside, I think the question portions on both evaluations went well. We'll just have to see what the Result is I guess? 

English: It's at times like this when I love having English as my native language, I mean JUST LOOK at how easy it is compared to the French language! The Test was a ball all the way through, but was you really expecting anything else? Half of it was based on this text about American Schools and how they worked, like for instance did you know that over there they are accustomed to singing the national anthem during assembly's? Yeah that was probably a boring tidbit of information that you already know but it did come from a Test, so that explains it. The other half was a document on home-swapping, where a family in America wanted to swap with a family in France and you had to pick the right home corresponding to their 'WANT' list. I had two hours to do this thing and I finished it in like 50 minutes, THAT was how easy it was. I ended up re-checking my work like 19,000 times as a result of this extra time just to be really, really, really sure that I was going to get every point in the Test. If I get ANYTHING less than 40/40 I would be surprised, I really would.  

History of Art: I went into this thinking it would be another Art Test. You know were you have to look at a painting and describe the layout and historical setting ect...? But nope, instead it was on a song, which is probably the domain of Art that I know least about. What followed was quite a few head scratching moments, and because this was the last Test of the Week I was by this point knackered and mentally drained to the point of desperation so I just ended up putting pen to paper and....wrote some inspiring sh*t? Oh I don't know, I wouldn't even be surprised if this was my worst result out of all of them simply because I had gone through so many Tests my head had turned into a blank mush. It wasn't all THAT bad though, the Art section went pretty well I suppose. Overall I think this one was more down to my state of mind on the day than the actual difficultly of the Test.  

Technology: This was another hard one, I was caught off guard straight away when the first question was 'Name 4 exterior elements associated with a GRILLE-PAIN'. Grille-pain means toaster in French, but me having not been accustomed to this word before took it as being a croque monsieur maker and 'effed up quite a few questions because of it. Oh and by the way, the 4 exterior elements associated with a toaster are 1. electricity 2. bread 3. a surface and 4. someone to put the bread in the toaster. That was either really hard to figure out or really easy, and I still can't decide whether I should have put Boulangerie as one of the exterior elements...IT COUNTS RIGHT???? And yes half the Test was based around this Toaster, which is one of the most boring subjects for a Test I've ever seen. We might as well have just been counting the number of dots on our skin, and deciding if someone else's hand has the same amount on dots, it's that same sort of randomness. So the toaster questions aside (but really how odd was that? I was really scratching my head when I saw that), what followed was a mix of the really easy and really hard. One question had you trying to calculate the amount of wood/materials you need to build an information panel in metric squares WITHOUT a calculator! I mean WTF? I don't get this lesson anymore, it's got about as much to do with Technology as my old grandma, who has never used a computer in her life. I mean sure we USE computers for research but the similarities end there. So back to the Test, Overall I found it to be rather 'meh' and pretty confusing in certain parts.      

S.V.T: To call this one a surprise would have been an understatement, because next to English, this was probably the easiest Test out of them all. It's almost like the Teacher INTENTIONALLY dumbed it down for us, I mean come on if the question 'What is a microbe?' isn't point whoring then I don't know what it! Heck we even studied a photo that had 'Cholera virus hacking a nearby cell' for a title (in big red letters) and then immediately after that we were asked the question 'What type of virus is being observed in this image?'! If anyone in my Class failed that question that they must have an IQ below 0. AND THE ENTIRE TEST WAS THIS EASY! I mean of course I'm delighted by this, but this just doesn't feel earned in any way. It's practically insulting your intelligence if anything else!

Maths: I feel a bit pissed off with this one. Okay so Maths has always been a bit 50/50 with me, I keep suffering from this common simpilus-mistakus disease that depending on the Test could mean a poor to mediocre score. Recently though I have managed to overcome this problem and as a Result the scores have been greatly in my favour. This time though? Well considering that I have to simultaneously deal with everything that we've seen so far, and we're talking about everything from geometry to numerical equations, WITHOUT making a ton of mistakes then margin for error is pretty high. I took the best approach by taking things at a steady pace for the remainder of the Test and making sure that I rechecked all my answers once they were done. After all I reasoned, if I could do History AND Civic Education in under two hours then Maths should be a hoot right? WRONG. I failed to finish the Test in time, BY A LONG SHOT. Now to be fair I was stuck on a particularly tricky question for perhaps a bit to long near the end but that DOES NOT compensate for an entire part of the Test not completed. A part of the Test that just so happened to be on NINE FRIGGING POINTS! Yes that's right, I missed out on 9 points because I took a fairly methodical pace to the whole thing and took a while to do one particular question on geometry. I CALL BULLSH*T!!! I'm sorry but up until that point I was doing really well, and to have it all ruined at the last minute due to the Test being poorly scheduled is simply NOT acceptable. And I'm not the only one that failed to complete the Test either, I counted seven, YES SEVEN, members of my Class that also (give or take a few extra questions) FAILED to complete this Test. I was FUMING to say the least afterwards, because even if you rushed the whole thing to get to the end the quality would have surely gone out of the window in several aspects. So while this Test was on 40 points Overall I should be evaluated on 31 out of those 40 points really, because that was all that I ended up doing. I don't think that it was my fault, ooooh no. I GENUINELY think that it was impossible to complete this Test (and retain the level of quality required) in the restricted time slot, and I am pissed off because of this.   

Science: Well it's Science, what else can I say? Like with English I have trouble describing these Tests as being anything other than easy-peasy. If you revise hard enough everything is all laid out in front of you by the time the Test arrives. The questions were clear, the schedule of 1h 15mins to complete the Test was spot on, even allowing me time to re-check a few of the 'dodgy' questions. So all in all, Science was a blast. No literally it was, there was a part of the Test on how the atomic bomb was made!   


So that was my basic, raw thoughts on Test Week. It was an extremely packed few days to say the least, not to mention Thursday night, where I snapped for a good few hours wondering if I would make it out of Friday alive! It didn't help that Friday was the toughest day either, and I felt that the quality of my work slooowly declined as the Week went on due to mental exhaustion but, oh well? I did my best, so I don't regret anything.  You'll just have to wait a little bit longer and I'll have the Results up....

Sherlock Series 2: My Thoughts

So after a year and a half of waiting, Sherlock finally came back onto our screens this Year in three extended Episodes. After that jaw-dropping Cliffhanger to Series One I think we were all greatly looking forward to it's return, and it certainly didn't disappoint! We're only a month into 2012 and already I'm 100% certain that this is going in my Top Ten list for the Year. I wouldn't even be surprised if it ranked Number 1 either. These three so-called 'movies' topped anything that I saw last year (Doctor Who included) and probably this year as well. It was fantastic television in every second it occupied the screen. Here's my main thoughts on the 3 episodes: 


The first Episode 'A Scandal In Belgravia' aired on New Year's Day and was based off the great short story 'A Scandal In Bohemia' by Arthur Conan Doyle. As with the last Series, the Doctor Who show-runner Steven Moffat was on script duties here, and his penchant for crafting extremely witty but mind-boggingly complex tales were put to good use here, having based the story around Sherlock and his brief romance with Arene Adler. The resolution to the cliffhanger was audaciously cheeky, Moriarty's phone having gone off at the precise moment, just before Sherlock was going to pull the trigger (yes I do think he would have blown the place up). It could have been one of the worst cliffhanger resolutions ever, but they made the clever choice of making the B-Gee's song the ringtone for the phone, which instantly made it awesome and funny instead. I personally was expecting the Police to burst in and arrest Moriarty, revealing that one of the snipers was actually a cop but oh well: It was funny and unexpected, yet another moment in Moffat's scripts that tease the hell out of us but then pulled the carpet from under our feet at the last second *COUGH* Series Six *COUGH*. From then on it was fantastic: the Story, Cinematography, Performances and Plot merging together perfectly into a complex thriller that turned and twisted at every chance it could. The Character of Irene Adler is really well handled, and only at the Episode's end do you  find out whether she is in love with Sherlock, and the resolution to the phone's password was heartbraking. It's a shame her character was only in the one Episode though, because Lara Pulva's performance was simply stunning. Speaking of performances, the people that cast Sherlock should be given some sort of award, because there hasn't been ONE weak link all season. Everyone on Sherlock are fantastic, it truly is an acting tour-de-force, whether you're talking about Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock), Una Stubbs (Mrs Hudson) or Lara Pulva (Irene). So the story and the acting in this Episode was fantastic, but was there anything else fantastic here? Yep, two words: Cinematography, Music. Paul McGuigan returns to the Directors chair for this Episode and simply knocks any competition out of the water when it comes to visuals. Even when watching it on a normal T.V it looks stunning, and I can only imagine what it looks like in HD. The way the shots were filmed are frankly movie-quality, with no explosions, visual effects are action sequences in sight to spice up the appeal. For a show that's basically just people talking intellectually in different rooms for an hour-and-a-half, Sherlock makes it seem effortless in trying to capture that cinema feel. There's just something about the camera's and the style that makes everything pop. And the music? Again stunning, especially in the scene where Sherlock opens the door and figures out that Mrs Hudson has been captured by the CIA agents. It's just the perfect 'SHIT IS GOING TO GO DOWN' music, and every time they use it it raises the tension and suspense levels to almost astronomical levels. So as a recap, 'A Scandal in Belgravia' is amazing, and already became the highlight of the year despite the fact that it aired on the first day! Any negatives? A few, but they were far to insignificant to detract from my enjoyment of the Episode. The main ones were the constant use of the word 'Camera phone' which nobody says in today's world because EVERY PHONE HAS A CAMERA NOW and the CIA agents that as far as I can tell served no significance to the story and were just there to be a physical threat to the characters. Heck the Episode just forgets them half way through, with almost no mention of them again whatsoever! Another little niggle is the fact that when Sherlock does his deducing he's quite literally going at 400mph and it's almost impossible to retain all the information in one viewing. But then again I suppose his character is always one step ahead from everyone else so it kinda makes sense that you don't understand anything on your first viewing. 9,5/10. 


The second Episode 'The Hound of Baskerville' while not as good as the first one, is still really, really good. It's like comparing Batman Begins to The Dark Knight really, while one was really good, the other is fantastic and as a result it makes the other one look weak in comparison. Everything here is again top-notch, with great actors, great cinematography, a really moody soundtrack and a crackingly fun (if at times scary) script from Mark Gatiss, who weirdly enough plays Mycroft in the Series as well as being an executive Producer with Steven Moffat. The plot is a perfectly updated version of the Arthur Conan Doyle story 'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' catching that perfect blend of old and new at the same time.  Oh and did I mention it was scary? Gatiss is a big fan of horror, and it shows more here than anything else he's done. At some points I was genuinely at the edge of my seat, particularly when Watson was trapped in the room with the supposed 'Hound'. It's also really funny at points, with the bromance between the two leads being the particular source of comedy. The acting was phenomenal, and I'm now quickly running out of adjectives to describe how good this stuff is: I've already used up fantastic, awesome and stunning! Oh dear, I'm going to have to get inventive pretty soon aren't I? So as I was saying, the performances were again phenomenal, Russell Tovey being the 'guest star' for this Episode, playing a much crazier version of Henry from the original Story. I really felt for him at the end, although his voice was a bit squeaky at times. The grim tone of the Episode was accentuated perfectly by the almost grey visuals of the moor, the fog during the night-time scenes being both atmospheric AND neatly addressed, as I was almost thinking 'Gosh, there's a bit to much fog in these scenes aren't there?'. Then there was the army base which was all flashy white lights and strobe flares, which made it seem like they had walked onto the set of a J.J Abrams movie (his movies have an enormous amount of lens flares in them). Very fitting if you think about it, what with Cumberbatch being cast as the villain in the next Star Trek movie, directed by J.J Abrams! The scene when Sherlock was accessing his 'memory palace' was also very Sci-Fi-y, Cumberbatch's movements matching perfectly with the graphically perfect on-screen display that was presented to us. It's a beautiful Episode, more-so than the last one in my opinion, simply because the locations allowed for a lot of contrast between scenes. So 'The Hound Of Baskerville' gets a 8,5/10 rating from me, the only negatives being that the CGI hound looked rubbish and the villain was SO CLEARLY telegraphed from the start. 


The last Episode 'The Reichenbach Fall' is quite possibly the best thing I've seen in years, ramping everything up to ten and giving us one hell of an ending. It's like cramming everything into one room and then throwing away the key! I mean where do I start? Everything is so god-damned perfect that I'd almost wondered if I'd died and gone to heaven half-way through watching it. The Story, based off 'The Final Problem' and written by Steve Thompson (who as a writer has had a rather bad reputation, writing episodes like 'The Curse Of The Black Spot' and the 'meh' episode that was 'The Blind Banker' from Series One), is basically the final confrontation between Sherlock and Moriarty. In the original version Sherlock escapes several assassination attempts from Moriarty, but bumps into him at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland to have a duff up which results with them both jumping into the waterfall and tumbling to their deaths. Of course Sherlock survived, but that was only because the public at large pleaded at Arthur Conan Doyle to write another story about him (it was intended to be Holmes last story). In the updated modern version (aka THIS episode) Reichenbach is the name of the case that made Sherlock an internet phenomenon and the so-called 'Fall' is both the Fall of his reputation and the actual fall that kills him. So the Episode uses these expectations to it's advantages and runs with it, single-handedly making Moriarty the best villain Sherlock has ever faced. The script is just choc-full of these brilliant moments that all revolve around Moriarty and Sherlock. It's amazing to see Moriarty's scheme come to fruition, just the way he brought everything about Sherlock's life and crushed it in one-fell swoop was incredible to observe. And Thompson had balls to write that ending the way he did, making us all believe that this was the perfect end to a perfect series. It felt final in the way it handled everything and I applaud him for that. The acting though? There aren't enough awards in the world to bestow upon these people, they're that fantastic. Andrew Scott as Moriarty has truly a break-out role, he's equal parts terrifying, evil genuis and camp all at the same time. The scene at the beginning when he was breaking into the Tower of London just showed how awesome his character was. The line 'No Rush' is an instant classic as far as I'm concerned! While some say he is only a lick of the lips away from being the Joker in The Dark Knight, they clearly haven't been watching Doctor Who because that guy would make the perfect Master. Benedict Cumberbatch just knocks it out of the park and into the galaxy as Holmes, even more so than previous instalments, and watching him turn into a human was spell bindingly good telly, his goodbye to John over the phone heart wrenchingly powerful. So what happens when you put Moriarty in a room with Sherlock Holmes? F*CKING mesmerizing telly, that's what! Who gives a crap about the plot, I could listen to Moriarty and Sherlock having a conversation all after-F*CKING-noon! Martin Freeman's acting chops were also put to good use to, John Watson barely managing to restrain his emotions until the very end, when it all came flooding out. Just give these actors all of the awards in the world will you? And you know what? Not even THAT would do them justice! The Music puts to good use that epic theme from 'A Scandal In Belgravia', every moment made even more powerful by that beautiful thundering score. And the beginning of the Episode is a case study on how well classical music mixes in with Live Action. Ugh, I'm practically drooling at the mouth now over my love for this episode! In the end it all fits everything together perfectly, but just a shame that it's the last we'll see of Moriarty. Well okay, he could have easily faked his death just like Sherlock did (and with considerably less effort), the problem is that if they do bring him back then everything that made this Episode great is going to get ignored, because the impact we got thinking that this was the end for them both made the Episode THAT MUCH MORE awesome. If ultimately nothing changes after this Story, if both Moriarty and Sherlock are still alive after this then the Episode will lose alot of it's impact, and that's something that I don't want to happen. BUT having just said that, I do want to see more of Moriarty because the actor playing him is just so FREAKING GOOD! Anyway back to the subject of Sherlock's death, just how did he do it? Well luckily I came across this nifty video online that explains the whole thing rather neatly: 

I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE NEXT SERIES. 10/10.             

This Week In School: I Think I'm Going To...BLEUGGGH!

So This Week In School is back for a new year and...hey didn't a miss a Week? *CHECKS CALENDAR* Ahhh yes I forgot to recap the last Week in School before the Christmas Holidays. And subsequently this Blog is nearly two Weeks out of date too. woops. Completely forgot about that. Nevermind, not a lot really happened to be honest apart from the Parents meeting and a few Test Results (Music 14,5/20, French 8,5/15, Maths 9,5/15). To make sure you're not missing anything significant I'll put a little description of the Parents evening (because I assume everyone wants to know how that went on) at the end of my recap for each of the subjects.


Now back to my regular recap: So how was the first Week back you ask? Well it started and ended horribly but the stuff in-between was alright I suppose, if a little boring. So here I was Monday night, setting my Wallace and Gromit alarm clock for the impending morning back (we had Monday off, presumably so the French could recuperate a bit after all the booze they had been consummating for the New Years celebrations...), tucked myself into bed and went straight to sleep feeling just fine. Tuesday morning? I woke up feeling ill, was coughing everywhere, had a bad head and my stomach felt like it was filled with a MILLION butterflies. Refusing to submit to my mortal body I promptly plodded downstairs to make myself a nice pot of tea. Normally Mum would wake me up and slam the mug of Tea onto my lap (I normally need resuscitating on early mornings) but seen as she left at 5.00am to pick Eliot up from the Ferry and wouldn't be back til' the afternoon I had to feed myself for once. I had just finished my second cup of Tea (still feeling dreadful) and was about to move on to the buttered teacakes when I suddenly had that feeling. I dashed to the toilet, and the moment I was through the door I quite literally puked/barfed/exploded EVERYWHERE. Of course I won't give a description of the sick, that would be disgusting (it was mostly the Tea that came up, but I did notice some white stuff that came up as well). So I was standing in a sea of puke, and only had 15 minutes to go before I was due in School. Great. And why didn't I just call it a day and simply not go into School when I was clearly not at all well? Because there was no-one in the house capable to explain my absence: If I take a day off without my mentors/parents explaining my absence then my School will have to resort to phoning the police and consult them on my absence. So basically unless someone from my house contacted the school, the police would show up at our doorstep and we'd be fined. I sure as hell couldn't do it, because that would be suspicious, Grandma couldn't phone the school either because she doesn't know a word of French and Mum was out! I had to go into School no matter what, and surrounded by a pool of sick with only 15 minutes to go was NOT a good start. So I woke Grandma up, which was odd considering that I had just barfed my guts out right next to her door and while she was cleaning up the suck (originally a typo, but I left it in because that's basically what it is) I was frantically trying to both change clothes, and eat SOMETHING, because I'm damn well not going into school on an empty stomach I can tell you, even if I had just puked my brains out all over the floor! Besides, if I'd already puked, then the worst was over right? It's not like I was going to puke again. So I walked into School on Tuesday morning, head pounding, still feeling a bit woozy and to be honest not at all myself. Good start right?


Maths: I'm continuing to do well in Maths, which I'm almost certain is down to the Teacher now. It's the classic start out small and then work your way up to the top formula. You start off with a calculation that is very basic, do several more until you've got every single one right, and then keep adding different elements of complexity to it until you are able solve very complicated calculations (that require a lot of steps in order to solve it) effortlessly. All while the Teacher is doing the rounds and making sure you're doing everything right. So while everything in Class is perfect, how did the Parents evening go? Well the Teacher said that my work is very detailed, very well laid out and generally 'very good' BUT I have a habit for making very simple mistakes for no reason whatsoever and that renders everything I'm doing instantly false. BUT (again with all the buts!) she thinks that I've been improving, and gestured to her log book that contains all of my Results. Seen as the Maths Teacher is also my Principal Teacher she also gave a brief summarisation on my performance in the first Trimester: 'I think you are very quick to learn, very observant, a very good listener and overall a very good worker, but when you don't understand something you really must consult your corresponding Teachers for help'.


English: We've now started a new Chapter that focuses on studying news reports. The news report in question this Week was on the infamous mass floodings that took place in England 2007. We had to describe a few photo's, study a BBC radio news broadcast ect... Again it was alright, but I wish the Teacher would choose our group more when it comes to answering the questions, because the Scores at the end of the Week are all based on how much we participated in Class! It's jolly fine to put your hand up twenty times in Class, but if the Teacher doesn't pick you then it doesn't count. As for the Parents evening, it was exactly what you expect: The conversation with the English Teacher lasted approximately 20 seconds and basically all that was said in those 20 seconds were 'You're brilliant, keep up the good work'.


History: On Monday we corrected the Geography Test I took in December. Because I didn't Blog about that particular Week I'll give you a short description: Revised for five hours, felt pretty prepared, did it (but barely completed it in time) and felt a bit 'meh' in terms of how I performed. And the Result? A poor (by my standards anyway) 13,75/20. Surprisingly my failure this time was down to the questioning part of the Test, which I only scored 4/8 on. The argumentative paragraph (on why America is economically powerful thanks to it's cities) gave me 7,5/10. To rub it in more the highest score in the Class for this Test was a 14,75/20, which meant that I was only a few spelling errors away from obtaining that award for the fourth time in a row. At this point what can I say other than I'll try even harder next time? The moment I fix one problem, another arises! IT'S LIKE A NEVER ENDING STRATEGY GAME! Tuesday was the start of a new chapter on the economic collapse of the 1930's and the path to World War II (rather interesting) and Thursday was the Teacher showing us the last 30 minutes of Schinders List, and I'm sure by now you've all heard of the joke: On the last afternoon before the Xmas holidays, the School decided to show us the Holocaust film 'Schinder's List' by Steven Spielberg. Why they thought that the film 'Schindlers List' and 'Christmas' went together is beyond me! I came back from School feeling uber depressed, and as a Result I was still thinking of the Jews being horribly murdered on the days leading up to Christmas, even when I was watching a repeat of Shrek 2! THANKS SCHOOL :)! Of course the irony now is that the Teacher was forced to cut the film (ran out of time) with about half an hour left, and now having finally seen the end I can without a doubt say...THAT THOSE BASTARDS CUT THE FILM OFF AT THE EXACT MOMENT SCHINDLER STARTED TO HELP THE JEWS! So in other words, THE BIT WHEN THE FILM GOT LESS DEPRESSING AND THE HAPPY ENDING KICKED IN! You'd think they did this on purpose, didn't you? Now for the Parents evening, where the Teacher basically said that I was really good yadda yadda yadda endless praise blah blah blah and it would be good if I could speak up a bit more in Class yadda yadda.    


German: While I'm doing just fine in German, it's still one of the most boring things I've ever had to endure in my life (*joke* hashtag: moreboringthananything#). In the Parents evening the Teacher said that I was a 'model student', was more mature (read that again: MATURE) than the rest of the Class and works really hard. 


Technology: We're making what the Technology Teacher likes to call a FAST diagram, which are used to prioritize the objectives or functions of a product. So essentially we have to do that but for a panel that educates people on the different wildlife of the lake. *SIGHS* Again, not the most interesting of tasks. Oh yeah, my group scored a 4/5 on a thing that we did a few months ago and a 4,5/5 on something else. Wish I could be more detailed about that but I find it hard TO GIVE A DAMN ABOUT TECHNOLOGY recently. The Technology Teacher expressed his belief that 'my group is quite disruptive' in the Parents meeting, and I should try to get my opinion voiced when it comes to the final say. Overall though the work from me is still good, I just need to be more aggressive if someone in my Team just goes 'I'm right and you're wrong, we're doing this' and try to come to some sort of compromise. Sounds fair enough. 


D.V.3: Not a lot happened, we worked on our diaporama about a maintenance technician for a bit. Did a bit of this, corrected a bit of that, you know the usual flim-flam! The Teacher was more than happy with my work though in the PR meeting, and said that he could let me go off and do anything I wanted when it came to doing an interview with the technician or taking photos of the computer room/work environment for the diaporama. So basically he trusts me to work hard on the task in hand. Well there's another bit of praise ticked of my list *CHECK* 


S.V.T: Didn't have an S.V.T lesson this Week, seen as we have S.V.T on a Monday and school started on Tuesday. The Parents meeting was...interesting. The Teacher Mme Gandon (having looked at my fabulous Report) wondered if I was slacking a bit in her subject. Which was understandable, it seems odd that I am good in everything apart from S.V.T, but I was insistent on the fact that I revised hard for both Tests, but the second one suffered because I couldn't make sense of a damn thing and muddled everything up. Of course she replied back saying that in future I should ask when I don't understand anything, which admittedly, is a major weakness of mine, although not one that occurs often. She gained a few points in my books when she said that: A) Her subject can appear boring, but she is doing her best and B) She is re-evaluating the lessons to make it more 'understandable'. So at least she is aware of how poor a job she is doing? 


Art: Same thing as before, I made it seem like one of the silhouettes had fallen into a hole and hurt himself badly. The Teacher laughed at it so that should count for something. The Art Teacher was absent from the Parents meeting, but I assume (judging from my Score) that it would just be more praise lobbed onto my ever growing ego of confidence that had been steadily building throughout the evening. 


Science: The new Chapter on renewable energy went down a treat: Did you know that solar energy makes up 10% of France's electricity? Well I didn't, but I'm really that bothered about it. So yeah, the Test on power stations and energy should be easy-peasy. The Teacher was again dumping praise on me when it came to the Parents meeting. He just said that I have been 'very consistent' when it came to my Results and I should keep up the good work. 


Music: Still studying how music is used in various adverts to set the 'mood' of certain products. For example in perfume adverts it's the very classical stuff, like Mozart or *INSERT CLASSICAL COMPOSER HERE*. It was tolerable, though I'd be lying if I said that I was disappointed when the lesson ended! The Teacher's comments at the Parents evening were largely the same as the rest of the comments, which by now you can expect: You're brilliant, well done! At this point in the meeting I was all like 'Yeah yeah, heard it all before *YAWN*' 


French: This Week we studied the first seven minutes of the film 'Un Secret'. It was interesting to see how the film translated the lines from the book almost word by word visually, each camera pan contributing to the overarching theme. And what did the Teacher say at the PR meeting? Again, hate to sound like a battered drum here but she said that 'the change in Tim since 6eme has been nothing short of remarkable, in fact I barely recognised him' and that 'I have put some serious effort into her subject this year' AND that 'his writing ability is clearly more matured than some of the students in his year' BUT 'Tim needs to overcome his problems with grammar if he wants those results to improve'. Need I say more? 


Sport: One of the worst lessons I've ever experienced, full stop. Apart from the Tuesday barfing session, I thought that everything would be smooth sailing from then on but on the very last lesson of the Week everything came tumbling down once more. Why? Because I was horrible in Sport, to the point where it was embarrassing. And I mean EMBARRASSING. Seen as it was the first lesson of the New Year, the Teacher decided to give us the choice of what Sport we wanted to do, and this eventually came down to the girls all wanting to do Basketball and the boys wanting to do Football. Me, not wanting to wind up being the only boy NOT playing Football ended up on the Football side of the playground and was quickly allocated to being the goalie. They realised that I was the only weak link in both of the Teams, me not having played footie in clubs or even being semi-good at it so of course they shoved me to the other end of the field. I was fine with this, because normally I suck when I'm not in goal (and even when I am in goal, I lose more balls than I save!) and at least this way I won't be a sweaty mess at the end of the lesson, running around like a headless chicken for an hour. You can see where this is heading can't you? Yep, I missed EVERY single ball that came my way, and EVERY single time the other Team scored a goal successfully. By the end it was 24-9! THAT is how much I sucked at Sport! I might as well have just stood by the side of the goalposts and gestured to the player to shoot into the goal, it would have had the same effect! LOOK AT THAT SCORE! It wasn't a defeat, IT WAS AN ANNIHILATION! And it was all down to me! Thank GOD that it was the last lesson, I would have been ripped to shreds by my Team if the day had gone on a second longer. And my plight was made even more agonising by the fact that the other goalie on the opposing Team was brilliant. It was like a neverending pit of shame, a trend that I just couldn't shake off. OH WOE IS ME TO HAVE BEEN GIFTED WITH SUCH BIG FEET! Ugh, I was just begging to the gods for it to stop, for me to save ONE goal, but alas, fate was stacked up against me...So what did M. Radenac say at the Parents meeting? That I'm rubbish basically, but he can see that I'm at least trying to get better at Sport. He also caught me out for not knowing the different muscle groups in French, but I was THIS close to telling him that if the Test was hinted at beforehand then I would have known the different muscle groups!


So that was the first Week back. Next Blog is on Les Epreuves Communes so expect more of my ramblings coming up..

Christmas 2011 Round-Up!

So another Christmas over, and as usual it went by lightning fast as was an exceptionally good few days. Wonderful gifts as always, and I am truly humbled by everyone's generosity just like every year. Here are my personal highlights from this year's festive treats:

If you haven't tasted any of Green and Blacks deliciously tasty chocolate range then go and do yourself a bloody favour and buy the 'Tasting Collection Boxset'. This wonderful gift that was given to me from both Tina and Barbie is quite simply F*CKING AMAZBALLS. It even comes with an assorted selection of recipe cards. I love the description they put on the back of each flavour as well...it just makes me drool even thinking about it! If you placed a bet on what present I opened first (i.e the one I decided to look at first), you can be damn sure that it was this one! 

  
For quite some time now I've heard people on the Internet rattling on about how Skyrim will be the be all and end all to their life upon it's release. Apparently the Elder Scrolls series has been known to break up couples over it's almost drug-like addiction that people seem to have over it. I bought into this hype, and requested it on my wish list which Louise so kindly got for me. I'm probably a fair few hours into it by now, and yet I've been to distracted to even attempt a tackle with the main storyline, I've been mostly observing the everyday life in Skyrim (a fictional Nordic land) and just gazing at this beauty of a game. Now when I say beautiful it isn't necessary the graphics I'm talking about but instead the great detail that the developer Bethesda has put into every person and object in this world. For half an hour I watched a local woodcutter go to the forest of Mithdral, cut down this massive tree, chop it up into bits and saw it into pieces. He then took the wood pile back to the village where he plonked it all onto a bench, pulled a lever and watched as it got diced up even more by the primitive machinery of that time and dumped into a pile where a few assorted villagers would perhaps grab a log everynow and then for their fire. Thanks to the games neat dialogue system I (my character being a war torn elf from Cyrodil who had just escaped near certain death from a Dragon attack in Helgen) had a brief chat with the woodcutters wife and found out that someone had broken into their house a few night ago and stolen a precious gold encrusted Dragon claw from them. Me, having stumbled across that very same item on my travels to the village (surrounded by a heap of bodies, presumably bandits murdered by a pack of wolves) gave it back to the couple, much to their delight. I found out later that the woodcutters daughter had died in a terrible accident a few years prior and the golden claw was the only item the couple had left of her. Now that story I just told you? That was ONE tiny detail of ONE tiny couple in the vast world of this game. It wasn't even a main quest. It was just there, and that was something I only accidentely stumbled upon in the beginning of the game, located in a small village situed in the middle of who knows where! Amazing, isn't it? Such small details like this are what Skyrim has so far excelled at. It really feels like a breathing, organic world that continues to exist even after you put the controller down. 

Back in my Top 5 Most Anticipated Games list I said that Arkham City looked 'f*cking amazing'. Having just finished the main Story mode, I can safely say that this is exactly how I would describe this game. Provided by Matriarch Barbie this game is what happens when you take a really good Batman Graphic Novel and put it into the interactive experience that only a game can deliver. Just like the previous entry of the 'Arkham' series, this game truly makes you feel like Batman. It nails the atmosphere, Arkham City is realised in mesmerising detail (although not Skyrim detail mind, but then again what is?) and filled with over 400 Riddler challenges, trophies and puzzles to overcome and collect. Combine that with a Storyline that could give a live action film a run for it's money (Mark Hamill delivers an Oscar worthy voice performance as The Joker, poisoned by Titan from the last game and facing his final days) a masterful soundtrack and an EXTREME level of polish and you have one of the best games of all time. PERIOD. Come on, just listen to this track and tell me you don't want to just pick up a controller and start playing this game. I. DARE. YOU.  

A weird thing to put on this list perhaps, but I really do love this alarm clock! Just seeing the ball going around the little circuit while triggering the alarm is quite charming, just like one of Wallace's mad inventions. Well done Barbie for picking up on my love for Wallace And Gromit. 

Gosh this is a movie that I have wanted to see for ages, and guess what? I finally have! Marvel really know how to craft fun movies and Captain America retains the consistent quality of previous offerings (check out Thor, Iron Man 1+2, The Incredible Hulk...) offering up equal amounts of action, comedy and drama. And hat's off to the films villain Hugo Weaving as well, who revels in his deliciously evil performance. It's just an all round fun flick really. Thanks Tina! 

Saints Row The Third is one of the most weird games I've ever played. You can sort of compare it 'The Simpsons Game' in the way it manages to incorporate various elements of pop culture in a truly zany way. You name it and it's in this game: Zombies, Tron, Grand Theft Auto, Showbiz, Michael Bay set-pieces, Star Wars... the list could just go on and on. This game is insane and it's definitely the most entertaining game out of the bunch. Thanks to Dad for the great gift! 

Another year has gone by, so therefore another Call Of Duty game has been released. Having only played the campaign yet it's still one of the most adrenaline fuelled, heart pumping and awegasmic action franchises out there, it's just that it feels a bit to similar to the Black Ops campaign if you ask me. Still a great game though. Thank you Dad!

And thank you Mum for finally allowing me access to Xbox Live, which opens up so much new untapped content on all my previous games. I feel practically spoiled now!


Notable Mentions (stuff that I also really liked):


- The Brian Cox book that was a nice gift from Jack & Leanne. 
- The 'Photographed without Permission' T-shirt from Barbie!
- The new blanket that Mum got me, sooo silky smooth I could just die in it and feel like my life was complete.
- The Xbox Hardrive, another essential piece of equipment.
- All the other Blu-Rays (Thor, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, Super 8, Transformers Dark of the Moon)
- Watching a Muppet's Xmas Carol with the family.
- Xmas Dinner.


Well that's my 'Best Of' list done. Notice how I didn't include Doctor Who this Year? That's because it was mostly crap I thought, really scatterbrained Story. WHAT WAS THEY THINKING?! First real clunker the show's had for me since 'The Curse Of The Black Spot'.

HINT: The T-Shirt IS A LIE!

P.S HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Gosh it's been a good year (so far of course, there's still a few hours left) and what a splendid way to end it! Shame Doctor Who sucked though...Sherlock anyone?