The Week In School: I Feel Like Sh*t

Yeah, I didn't really like This Week In School? Why? Well most of the Tests I did were duds, and for the most everything felt a bit to routine, uninspired and boring. I suppose this is just one of those Weeks eh?


Art: Our next task is this: imagine an alien/monster/human trapped inside the confined space of a box, and draw it like the alien/thing is trapped right in front of you. Bit of a weird topic isn't it? I suppose it fits in with this Years theme of 'Define space in art' but it just feels like a random topic that was quite literally pulled out of the Teacher's ass. So I started experimenting with the different shapes that a box could have: for example I imagined this fat alien blob trapped inside a circular box or an octopus confined to a small rectangular box that caused it to pack it limbs into every square inch of space. I haven't yet decided what I'm going to go with so you'll just have to wait until next Week to find out which idea I'll pick.    


Geography: We were mainly just correcting the work we did last Week while the Teacher was away, apparently if you live in Los Angeles you have a 50% chance of either being run over by tornados, swamped by floods or ravaged by Earthquakes. Sounds like a safe place to live in then... Monday was the History Test on the USSR, and at the time I thought it went superbly well (as usual), heck I even finished early this time which was a plus. The last question asked me to write a argumentative paragraph on how Joseph Stalin turned the USSR into a totalitarian regime and I pretty much wrote a full on essay! I did one 'introductory' paragraph on how the USSR was founded (with Lenin and his Bolsheviks), one on what Stalin did when he rose to power (concentration camps, propaganda, everything being owned by the government ect...), ANOTHER paragraph on the result of his actions (USSR became the 3rd highest industry powerhouse in the world) and a final paragraph on how all this meant it was a totalitarian regime. Why did I do all of this just for one question? Well for one it was worth half of the points in the entire Test, and secondly I wanted to show off how much I'd invested on this subject.
So what happened the following Thursday? I got my Result back, and was quite frankly livid. After all my hard work, WHAT DID I GET!?? A 14/20! CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? Well I couldn't! So the Test was on twenty points: ten for the augmentative paragraph, ten for the other questions. I got 9/10 on the questions (as per usual) and a measly 5/10 on that bloody paragraph that I was so cocky about! Teacher's comments? 'You should make better use of your knowledge and better analyse the subject because half of it is irrelevant.'  So in short, all that effort I put into the other paragraphs wasn't at all needed: I just needed to do one paragraph on what Stalin did with the USSR and a little sentence at the end to conclude why it was a totalitarian regime. So she deducted points simply because most of it wasn't necessary? We corrected it in Class and minor the odd spelling error here and there if I had just taken out the Introductory paragraph and the one about the effects of Stalin's power on the USSR then I would have got almost FULL marks! Still at least I'm continuing to be Top Of The Class, my score was still the highest in the Year because apparently everyone else failed miserably at it. The average for my Class was 8,54/20 so from a purely statistical standpoint everyone was horrible across the board, with only me and a few other people getting more than half the points. Again I'm livid that I failed this Test, or at least by my standards anyway. The Teacher just deducted those points because, if anything, I went ABOVE of what was expected of me and did a whole lot more than just a 'little' paragraph of text. I just want to scream right now, that's two Tests in a row now where the bloody argumentative paragraph has seriously hindered my score. It's like I'm working just a hard as last year and yet I'm not getting these PERFECT Results anymore! GRRR SO FAUSTRATING!!!!!    


French: For the holidays I had to read this book the Teacher gave us called 'Un Secret' by this guy called Phillippe Grimbert, apparently it's supposed to be a really good read but basically I was 80 pages in, couldn't understand a damned word of it and just put it down. Which was a shame really, because judging from the film alone it seems like a really deep tragedy set in the era of World War 2. Yes that's right, for once in this subject we actually did something interesting and we've started watching the film adaptation of it, because one of our new objectives for this Chapter is to distinguish the differences between the film adaptation and the book. Shame she couldn't have showed us Harry Potter instead but oh well...Well more on the film next Week, and the less said on that awful Test I was subjected to on Thursday the better *SHUDDERS* Not looking forward to the Result on that one!


Sport: It was mainly Ping-Pong this Week, with a bit of Football thrown in for good measure. I still sucked balls at Ping-Pong, and to make it worse this was the Week where we were all evaluated on our performance so I don't stand one chance in hell of getting a good score! I lost nearly every match I was in, it was just a horrible way to spend an hour. Still I'm just glad that this marks the end of Ping-Pong, at least now I can go in on Friday afternoon knowing that I may NOT be the worst in the entire class. And I was just as bad in Football as well, couldn't score or save a goal for my life! *SIGHS* I'm not doing very well this Week am I?


Maths: I liked Maths a lot this Week actually, the work was easy, no mistakes were made and it all bodes well for the Test on Tuesday. Except we should all know by now that when the Test does arrive I'll be terrible in it no matter what, even despite all my previous efforts in Class (I'll probably make a few silly mistakes again), so in a way I kinda feel crap about this subject as well!


English: Got a 10/10 in one Test, so it wasn't all horrible results this Week then. It's a shame that I don't see getting full marks in an English Test as an achievement then, heck by now it's practically mandatory. The rest of the lesson was a debate on the difference between living in the country and living in the city. Pretty mundane stuff, all in all, but least it was nice break from the other lessons.


Music: The Test went well, but I'm not sure if I screwed up on one question or not (may have answered it incorrectly) so we'll have to wait and see. The rest of the lesson was on music being utilised for advertising, so we were subjected to more publicity. Not bad, but not good either. 


Technology: Remember that time when I f*cked up a month ago in front of the whole Class because I was so unprepared? Well I finally learned this Week that my Team (well mainly me because I was responsible for 95% of the work) scored a poor 2/5 on that project, which just adds to my increasingly sombre mood this Week. We now have to plan all the steps/stages it'll take to get from the idea of our project to it's conception (budget, getting the necessary materials ect...) and make sure to put them all in the right idea. Technology was alight I suppose.


D.V.3: Nothing much to comment about really this Week other than the fact that we did the interview with our school technician M. Chapel and it went rather smoothly if I do say so myself. We planned it so I was the one who wrote down the answers and my co-worker was asking the questions. Obviously I couldn't write everything down and ideally we could have done with a camera to film it with but I think I did a good job overall in jotting down the important words. Now we're not journalists so our questions weren't exactly 'think outside of the box' good, but we did come up with a few idea's that really made the guy consider his reply for a moment. Amongst the general questions of 'How long have you been in this line of work' we rather cheekily put in the addition of 'Do you like this job? What for you is the hardest part about being a technician? Would you recommend someone on this line of work?' His reply skirted away a bit on that first question so I was sure to repeat the whole 'So DO you like this job?' after he was done! Think I was being a bit to insistent there? I don't really care, it'll look good in the resume we'll do and we get an honest opinion about this type of job. He basically said that you do get a bit sick of computer screens after a while and it's grating to think that with every new system comes a stream of new problems to tackle (he mentioned Vista in particular as being a pain in terms of actually getting the thing to work) but OVERALL he doesn't HATE his job, he said that 'adaptation to the constant change of technology' was a required skill though that needs a lot of patience! So that's the main 'scoop', as they say, I'll maybe divulge a bit more about the interview next Week (as then we should be putting it into our Diaporama and I'll be able to explain it in detail).


German: We mainly studied an E-mail this Week, about a teenager named Leon writing to his friend Hannah in Hamburg about what he did during the Summer Holidays. It was boring, as usual, and this time even the Class said it out loud! One girl in my Class actually had the balls this time to challenge the Teacher, saying that learning German was useless as she'll never need it in her life ect... You can imagine the murmurs of agreement the Class cried afterwards! My personal opinion aside, it was pretty funny to watch, by the end it was like a full fledged revolution, a few of them even refused to work and the Teacher was just like 'Okay, if you don't want to work that's fine, though don't complain when the Test is to hard.' WHAAAAT? You can't just let them sit there and do nothing surely? Have a backbone for once, you're too nice! Give them all words for crying out loud! They're only acting like this because YOU let them act like this! Anyway I just sat at the back of the Class and kept quiet for the entire duration, bored out of my mind.


S.V.T: Well the Test that I've been dreading for quite some time now has finally arrived, and guess what? I FAILED BIIIIG TIME! And so did the rest of my year unfortunately. In fact the Teacher cannot recall a time in her career where a Class of 3eme has failed THIS HARD on a Test! I think the highest score was a 11/20 and the lowest got to a 1/20 (there were quite a few of these). It was quite literally SOUL DRAINING to see the Teacher hand me a Test that had a 4,5/20 on it. S-O-U-L D-R-A-I-N-I-N-G! Euh, I'll never live this down, that Test is quite frankly a disgrace to humanity, an indescribable travesty that will never be purged from my soul. I beg for Redemption, and yet all I see is dispair! This is a monumental failure! A blot on the whole of history, an avalanche of evil! A herculean monster! I could go on if you want but I think you get the idea by now...     


So that Test pretty much summed up this Week in a nutshell: pretty shitty. Let's hope next Week picks up or my average is going to go down by quite a few points come the end of the Trimestre. Can't say I'm in the best of moods either, I really feel like crap after that whole Sport fiasco.       

This Week In School: Histoire Des Arts

Well I might as well start talking about Histoire Des Arts this Week, seen as The Art Teacher devoted an entire lesson this Week to it. If you don't know what this is, Histoire Des Arts is an exam that you take as part of the Brevet later on in the Year. It consists of writing an essay (around 2000 words) about any art form (you can choose a topic or select one from a list) from the 19th Century and then presenting them to two teachers (at least one history teacher has to be there) for about 10-15 minutes and then answer any questions that they ask. This year the theme is 'Art, State, Power', so it has to be a piece of Art centered around politics and all that. It's probably the most terrifying thing about the Brevet in my opinion and I'll explain why soon. First let me just go through the usual recap of the past Week:

French: I'm starting off on a bit of a down note this time as my dictation this past Tuesday didn't go all that well. In fact it scored rather miserably, a meagre 2,5/10. It isn't that bad, (I've had far worse certainty) it's only the second Test thus far to hit the negative zone this Trimestre and for me that's very, very good considering my previous efforts. Without a doubt my score for French in the first report will be the best one I've ever had in this subject, but Results like these just make you feel awful at the end of the day. My Redaction got a 8/15 though, which was slightly better than average but again, still WAY better than some of my previous efforts. This Week in French we primarily looked at a lot of grammar (as usual) and studied a lot of boring texts (as usual). One of the texts we looked at was rather funny though, it came from a French writer's autobiography and detailed how he was awful at school when a new French Teacher came along and taught him how to read and write...apparently 'saving' his life in the process. I looked at my French Teacher and just thought 'Good luck trying!'

Geography: The Teacher was off for most of this Week, but she did give us some work on geography while she was away. Apparently we've finished looking at Stalin and are now setting our eyes upon the U.S of A, which will be a fascinating topic I'm sure. Although I don't despise Geography it can get a bit tedious at times, I mean do I really have to learn ALL of the bloody rivers, mountains and cities?

Maths: Maths was for the most part fine this Week, and I was happily surprised with my Results. I scored a 14/20 in the Test that I moaned about a few Weeks back and a 16,25/18 in an old Homework Test, so neither of them were the catastrophe that I predicted then! Very good indeed, but considering the okay-to-bad Results at the start of this Trimestre I'm not looking forward to the final score. So on Tuesday we went to the Technology class and spent an hour fiddling with this Maths program called Geogebra were I was trying to create these parallel intersecting triangles (geometry stuff) and really failed (NOTE TO SELF: ME NO GOOD AT MATHS ON 'COMPUTOR). The rest of the time it was pretty easy but on Thursday I was having a few problems with the Thales' theorem but I think I've worked it all out now (put this one down to more boredom on my part, I could have been concentrating more).

Science: I was bang on the money last Week, the last Test scored me a 15,5/20. The lesson this Week was mainly devoted to magnetism (how it works ect...) and we did a nice little experiment with a metal ball being attracted to a steel pole and vice versa. Not much to comment about other than 'meh' really.

English: We're still on global warming! We had to write a paragraph about the effects of global warming and as usual I finished it in seconds and just waited for the rest of the Class to catch up. The spare time I had all to myself was generally spent scribbling things onto a piece of paper, looking at my watch or fiddling with my pen ect... What can I say? English is my speciality. Oh yeah and my Team this time scored another 20/20, which was good considering the fact that I rarely had to help them this time.

Sport: Last Week of Endurance, YAY! For the Test we had to run/fast jog through thirteen minutes without stopping. Of course I had the usual urge to throw up and pass out half way through but I kept my 'A-Game' as they say. Well okay I slowed down a fair bit in the final minutes but I'm sure the Teacher won't penalize me a lot for it. And considering my previous performances, I think I've done okay. All I have left to say is 'GOODBYE ENDURANCE, I SURE AS HELL WON'T MISS YOU!'

Technology: We had to do exactly the same thing as before, just with a bit more complexity really. So on a scale from one to ten this ranked very high on the OH GOD I'M BORED!-o-meter. There's only so much interest generated by this idea of putting panels around the lake informing people on the tree's/local wildlife. Does it really have to take up the whole year? Why can't we design something cool/inventive for once? My Team also got a 4/5 for our previous work, so that's always good. Who know's maybe I can salvage my score a bit before the end of the first Trimestre? Probably not, it finishes in a few Weeks.

D.V.P: Remember when I chose the 'Media Consult' job from the 'techie' industry list Week? Well turns out our school actually HAS a media consult on it's staff (albeit one that's rarely seen by us mere mortals) and the Teacher thinks it would be great if we could interview him next Week for our diaporama. Ugh, more work to do. Still it does freshen things up a bit after this never-ending formula of 'Look something up, do a Diaporama on it'. And for crying out loud the guy with me has an APPALLING taste in colour, he just want's to paint everything in different shades of green!

German: We looked at a bit of grammar this Week and as usual we lingered over one sentence in German for about half-an-hour. Then it got a bit difficult, as we went from studying a sentence to a full on paragraph. Learning curve anyone? And when the Teacher does explain what it means her voice is overshadowed by the Class' constant antics: it's more disruptive than ever, the Teacher is just another voice amongst the sea of conservations going on at any one time. One kid even got sent to the Headmistress' office, but she came back the following day with exactly the same attitude as the day before! Wow, now if Mme Philippe can't sort you out then you MUST be the human version of Bart Simpson! Another girl chucked a plastic glue tube at someone, which missed and dented a window! Animals, the lot of them. What's even more shocking is the fact that they're generally not like this in the other lessons, but the Teacher's lack of authority basically gives them free reign to do whatever the hell they want. So in short the subject is boring/hard and the Class is extremely annoying to watch. But we have only had one Test so far though, so that's a positive right? *LOOKS AT CALENDAR* Oh boy we've got a big one coming up...

S.V.T: Good news: Test has been rescheduled to next Week. Bad news: I've got even more to learn and understand, great! Really Bad news: What happened to the time when S.V.T was easy? I FEEL LIKE MY HEAD IS GOING TO EXPLODE HERE! IT'S OFFICIALLY MORE COMPLICATED THAN FRENCH AND MATHS ARGHHH!!! On a lighter note, it wasn't that bad this time around and I at least STARTED to get my head round this DNA/genes/Chromosome fuelled complexity. Well okay it isn't nuclear physics or anything, but the use these 'Scientifically complex sounding' words is very difficult to get your head around. I'm going to go into this Test having learnt everything but understanding little, so let's hope it'll just be a slew of 'What is the Definition of...', 'What is a...' or the classic 'Describe this...' questions or I'M DONE FOR!

Music: Unfortunately Mme Jouet is back and all the more boring for it. She wasn't very happy that we haven't had any Tests so far either. We're now looking at adverts and how music can change the feeling someone can have about the product. We've also gone back to writing endless amounts of text which just serve as filler for the eventual Test. *SIGH* Goodbye interesting lesson...

Art: I've finally got to Histoire Des Arts have I? Well the Art Teacher gave us a crash course on how to describe and 'emote yourself' onto a painting. This is so we're all prepared for Histoire Des Arts, and describing 'Art' his hardly my forte. I don't even know what to pick, it can be anything from Charlie Chaplin to World War 2 songs to even the Louvre pyramid. Apparently I have to pick something before Christmas and as of yet I'm stumped on what to choose. Here's the list given to me so far:

I'm also bricking it. First Week of January I've got Les Epreuves Communes (just like last year), then I have the two Weeks of bloody internship coming up (how am I going to get through that? What job to a pick to be an Apprentice on?), I've got two more Brevet Blancs AND the actual Brevet with Histoire Des Arts packed in there as well. So basically from Christmas onwards I'm going to be a blubbering wreck of nerves. Why does living in the Stone Ages feel so appealing now? It's Histoire Des Arts that troubles me the most, because I have to speak to a group of Teachers for 15 mins and become a master know-it-all on a piece of 20th century art. Oh yes and did I mention it's in French? HOW AM I GOING TO DO THIS?!!! *CRIES OUT IN PANIC* It's okay Tim, everythings going to be juuuust fine.... 

So that's This Week done then. Pretty boring really, mixed in with a few moments of severe depression but hey that's how life rolls. Til' next Week then...

This Week In School: The Days That Shouldn't Have Been

UPDATE: Yes I'm still a Week behind with this one, I've been a bit lazy recently, still shaking off those leftover after-effects from the Holidays. 


I know what you're thinking, strange title eh? Well I've named it 'The Days That Shouldn't Have Been' because quite simply put, these school days should have never, ever existed (Well that and the fact that I couldn't think of a title to name this one). So here was me thinking we'd have two full Weeks of pure bliss to just revel in our laziness when low and behold I look at my School calendar and it turns out I have to go back on a bloody Thursday! *GRUMBLES* Why couldn't they have just waited til' Monday? That's how it normally is! So I begrudgingly waddled into School last Thursday feeling cheated of two extra days I COULD have spent in Bed.  Anyway, now that I've got that boring explanation off my chest, here is a brief summation of what went on:


French: GOOD NEWS! My comprehension Test that I did before Halloween didn't turn out to be a complete disaster! Somehow I scraped a 7,5/15, which is only half the points but still infinitely better than my previous efforts. Yeah I know it isn't THAT great is it but for me I'm just glad I didn't get a 2/15 like I normally do in these Tests. The Teachers comments at the top of the paper was: 'The work was done seriously, and you have learnt considerably since last time, despite many grammatical errors'  While the Test went better than usual, the three hours we had to endure in this subject was your average French lesson structure: Write for an hour, do a few exercises, then a bit more writing, then a lot of Homework ect... Boring yes, but I'm just happy I got a better Result.  


English: Still keeping with our current topic on climate change, this Week we listened to a radio interview on a fictitious journalist from The Guardian called Paul Brown. He's been their environment correspondent since 1990, and was saying how global warming could have a dramatic effect on our climat (2 billion people without water, New York and London being flooded, desertification...). Basically he made it seem like the events in the movie 'The Day After Tomorrow' are about to happen! Well it wasn't that boring this time I suppose, global warming was an interesting topic to work on.    

S.V.T: It did get a bit complicated this time. The Teacher was explaining all the different ways a boy or a girl could be made using genetics or something? I'm not really sure! It's all about cell division and scientific jargon basically. It's not that I don't understand it, it's just difficult to get your head around it you know? Well I'm most definitely NOT looking forward to the Test now. *PRAYS TO GOD*


German: *SNOOOORE* That is all.


History: ALL HAIL STALIN! This Week was fun, we're looking at Russia's history in the 20's. So far we've done the rivalry between Stalin and Trotski (just before Lenin's death), the communist propaganda during Stalin's reign and the oppressive control he had over his country. All interesting stuff there, but what about my last Test? Well the Test from a few Weeks back scored a 15,5/20, which is slightly disappointing but it was still the highest Result in the Class so I don't feel that bad about it. Why haven't I scored another perfect Result? It was all down the ticking clock, I had to finish the Test before time ran out and as a result rushed through the last paragraph. I mean better to rush it and get a few points than to not do it and get none right? Remember I barely finished the Test in time, so it was the right decision to make. I scored 6/10 on the paragraph, and 9,5/10 on the actual questions, so hands down that's what my shortcoming was. I can't help but think that with an extra five minutes I could have really nailed this one, but oh well. I'm still Top Of The Class (by far, 2nd Result down from me was an 11/20) and 15,5/20 is nothing to be frowned at.  


Technology: To be honest I was expecting really bad things for that dodgy Test last time, but somehow I managed a 22/30 (or in terms a bit more relatable to you guys, a 14,7/20). The Teacher notes: 'You understand what you're doing, but you're not formulating it well enough' So it was exactly the same problem that I prescribed in my last post then. I must admit that Technology isn't shaping up to be the best of things this year, I've only had a 2,5/5 (which was beyond my control) and a 22/30 so far, which is crap considering my previous efforts from last year: First Trimestre 17/20, Second 17/20 and Third 18/20. So I'm still doing well in the subject but statistically it's saying that I've declined since 4eme. The problem is that in order to match my previous year's results I need to get a PERFECT score pretty much every time the Test clock dings, and that's really hard to do now considering the final year has 'amped' things up considerately. I'm under an insane amount of pressure this time, and human error practically dictates that I have to trip up at SOME POINT OR ANOTHER. Either way just know that I'm doing my best here, okay?  


Art: Finally got to see my last artwork back, which scored a 16/20: 


 


Got some of the door's angles wrong, but other than that I think I did well. 


D.V.3: I had to do a page on a job from the 'Techie' industry, so I chose media consult from a long list of boring sounding job names. Pretty boring, and my computer busted half way through so I had to work with another guy who makes everything look ugly presentation-wise. By the way if you're not already aware by now, I take presentation very seriously when it comes to doing diaporama's or other menial tasks over the Internet, and I think I do a better job of handling these sort of things on my own than with another group of people. Especially when you have a time limit to finish this thing and we're both arguing over what colour/font we want the bloody text to be in! 


Science: The Test was first thing in the morning on my first day back from the Holidays, so I haven't got extremely high hopes for it okay? In hindsight I think I might have muddled a few questions up, which can't be good for me considering that I get near flawless Results in Science, but we'll see I guess. I think I might get a 15/20 or something like that, heaven forbid if it's a 14/20! WORST SCIENCE RESULT EVAR!! OR IS IT??? TUNE IN NEXT WEEK TO FIND OUT! In other news the Teacher used a 3D program to show us all the different planets in the solar system, which was fun but a bit disconcerting nonetheless, I mean we're in 3eme and we're only NOW starting to learn all the names of the different planet's?  


So that was those 'extra two days' I was moaning about. Test-wise it was a bit disappointing, but I'll be better next time (hopefully). Lesson-wise it was just your average boring School Week, so no change there. Til' next Week then! 

This Week In School: Peace And Lobe

UPDATE: Yes I know I'm nearly three Weeks late on this one, it was almost finished before Halloween and I kind of just forgot about it til' now. So in the Blog when I say 'last Week' I'm actually referring to the School Week that was the 17th-21st of October. Now I'm finally back in School normal Blogging will resume.. 

I found last Week a bit boring and dull to be honest. But it was the last Week before the Halloween Holidays so no wonder I was having a bit of ‘Can it just END already?’ syndrome. It’s been a long few months, but at least I can finally lie in Bed looking at the fruit of my labours:

Nice looking report card isn’t it? Mostly brilliant, with the exception of Maths of course. I don’t think I’ve seen French Results that good in all my life, but then again that’s thanks to the numerous knowledge Tests we’ve had were you just learn a page of stuff and recite it off by heart onto a piece of paper the following morning. Don’t look at it like ‘Wow Tim has a real nack for French’ just more like ‘Wow, Tim surely works his ass off revising’ because at the end of the day (and I can say this for both History as Science as well) all I‘m really doing is learning a few paragraphs of text and writing them down. It’s not really that difficult but it is time consuming (and boring). Still I’m not complaining, the Results are what matter in the end, and this early Report just certifies what I already know: I’m NOT going to fail this Year, for the simple reason that I know that if I work hard enough I can obtain the best Result possible. As long as the subject isn’t Maths or French anyway…

Sport: After the Cross Country Race the previous Friday, I only had two days rest before I was again jogging endlessly around that bloody football field. Still at least it was to be the last time before the Holidays (I get spared for three Weeks!), and as far as I was concerned that was the only thing that kept me going for most of the time. Just one last lap Tim, just one last lap… I should also mention that my performance in Endurance has been really good so far, and my lap times always clock in at around 2 minutes which means that despite almost dying in the process, I’m very consistent and regular in my rhythm. The whole idea of Endurance is about maintaining the same speed for a long period of time, so while I might not be the fastest guy out there (think slow) I can certainly keep up the pace. Even if ‘keeping up the pace’ for me means nearly passing out from exhaustion near the end…

History: We finished Civic Education last Week and started a new chapter on the URSS and Stalin. Should be a fun chapter, and I can already see the perfect Test score on the horizon. I think 3eme will be a blast on the History side of things, the 19th Century is probably the era that I specialize in the most, and I can say that with confidence because most of the stuff that we’ve done in Class so far is stuff that I already know anyway. Thursday was the Civic Education Test on all things to do with Democracy and Liberty ect… and judging from my past efforts (there rarely has been a Test in this subject were I’ve obtained a score below 15/20 in about oooh three years) I think it went really well. 

English: Climate change last Week, and the Class was showed many a BBC news report on how Global Warming was effecting the Arctic and we all should stop polluting. I sleeped through most of it to be honest, seeing the same report repeated over and over again got very tiring very quickly. English has and never will pose a challenge for me, walking into this lesson is the equivalent of enduring a one hour pre-school lesson and even if it's nice knowing that there's at least ONE lesson that I'm sure to get full marks in every-time it does become a tad tedious after a while. I could sleep through most of these lessons and it would probably have the same effect as when I'm awake. Still it's nice seeing that barrage of excellent Results on my report card.  

German: It’s surprising how little we’ve done or accomplished in German so far this Year: It’s taken us a whole two Weeks now just to learn how to say the Weather and name the different clothes you have to wear for each occasion. I thought things would be at least a little more challenging by now, we have been studying the subject for a Year by now and I don’t recall having learnt anything substantial. It’s bare bones at best, and last Week I was still bored to buggery by it. Then again for all I know the difficulty curve could suddenly be bumped up and in a few Weeks time I could be crying over how difficult German has got but I won’t, this Teacher (although very nice, almost TOO nice) doesn’t seem to have any intention of speeding things up.  

Science: Another lesson that just seems easy to the point of boredom now. Hopefully the new Chapter on gravity, solar systems and the inner workings of the universe can inject life into proceedings after the Holiday. At least it’s something I’m partially interested about. I know I'm moaning a lot now about how easy and tedious the lessons have become, but that is NOT really a negative. I'd rather it be stinking easy than stinking hard, it's just that when it's stinking hard I tend to wake up a bit.

S.V.T: Speaking of stinking hard, S.V.T this Week was probably the ONLY lesson last Week that I had some difficulty with understanding. While the chromosome experiment a few Weeks back and the happy-go-lucky attitude of Mme. Gandon did inject some life into proceedings (and didn't really represent anything at all complex) this Week was just one BIG Mind-F*ck (if you pardon the language). I suppose it was down to a mixture of complicated words, baffling exercises and rubbish thought-processing on my part (it WAS pretty early in the morning). Still, the Test is coming straight after the Hols, so I'd best re-look at what we've done and get my head round it pretty quickly or I'll be beside myself in the Test.  

D.V.3: One lesson this Week due to the Teacher being ill, basically after the holidays I’ve chosen to do a diaporama on a job from the ‘Information Industry’ (I.E Web Site creators, computer technicians ect…) so I can participate in an online contest or whatever. It’s a bit more complex than that, but I’ll explain fully in a few Weeks time. 

French: I fear the worst for the text comprehension Test we had last Thursday. Oooh boy: The questions were a bit too wordy for me and to be honest I didn’t really understand the text either! Again I feel that my weakness lies in the fact that I’m simply not at all that fluent in the French language, even after five years of being in this country. A lot of it I’ve picked up just from listening to my Class day in, day out but if no one in my Class (for example) says the word ‘Plane’ in French and points to a picture of a plane then how can I know what the word is in French? Maybe one day I’ll be able to read a French book and understand it just as much as the English version, but for now I can just get by and do my best. Anyway unless I break open a dictionary and start learning every single word in the French language I’m doomed to fail in Tests like these. I suppose it's just something you accumulate over time. The rest of the time this Week was spent on another looong and boring study of grammar and as usual I felt both bored to death and overwhelmed all at the same time. We also took a look into the realm of uninteresting autobiographies again, this time to make sure we know the difference between the narrator talking in the present and the narrator talking in the past. Yes, very boring.

Music: Last Week was mainly around modern music again, and we heard a track from Kayne West called 'Power'. Basically it was the Teacher showing us how a lot of modern music is stitched together from old music, the track we listened to featured several tunes/beats from old songs that the composer had just tweaked a little so as not to make it that noticeable. Oh yeah and the Teacher went onto this massive rant about how Auto-Tune is the most disgraceful thing that has plagued new music and how in the good old days performers had to live without that crap ect... It was nice to see a Teacher that isn't so damn neutral about anything, and I like his method of teaching were he basically goes kinda geeky on a few topics. And by 'geeky' I mean he is rather indulgent when discussing modern music techniques to us. He even gave us a quick list of songs that he deemed to be (rough translation) 'technoey crap' and 'wonderfully inventive'.   

                    

Maths: Ah Maths, Maths, Maths, how I despise you so. I'm a treat with you in Class, but when the Test beckons it all falls apart...Going into the Maths Test we had two Wednesdays ago I felt fairly confident that I'd get top marks, simply because this Chapter hasn't posed ANY major problems in Class whatsoever and I'd learnt all the different methods down to a tea just by the sheer rinse and repeat nature of the BILLION monotonous exercises I'd had suffered through. It had all the makings of a winner. And what happened? Well I was pretty chuffed about how well it went...at first but the Teacher then decided to read us the correct answers out-loud afterwards (just so we could get a good idea of our overall score) and judging from that I'd wager that the majority of my answers were dead wrong. Which was surprising considering that it was the EXACT same thing we did in Class, so therefore the EXACT same thing that I got Top marks in every single time. I have only one explanation so far: A demon must have possessed me 'Exorcist' style during the Test and made me write down all the incorrect answers, it's the ONLY logical thing that could have happened in my mind. Well either that or I have a split personality: One that is really bad in Maths and the other that's Top Of The Class. What's worse is the fact that I WAS SO GOD-DAMNED SURE OF MYSELF, I even rechecked my answers several times before handing in the Test papers (I am known for making loads of simple mistakes in these Tests, so I'm always extra prudent), and I STILL cocked up big-time, even though I took every possible precaution so as to NOT F*UCK UP! ARRGHHH! So Maths is frustrating in the sense that no matter how good I am at any one subject in Maths, I always manage to eff' it up one way or another in the Test. I'm seriously starting to think I'm cursed, I just CAN'T have failed that Test, the clouds must have been aligned against me or something that day. 

Technology: We finished our diagramme on the 'panel project' last Week, and you can see the efforts of both me and my comrades here: 

We also had a Test on that exact same type of diagramme, just with a different object instead of 'panels'. No, this Test was on a scooter/moped and we had to do a list of all it's functions and guidelines (ex: MUST MAKE IT SAFE TO DRIVE, AVOID ACCIDENTS ECT...) just like before and represent them exactly like the thing above ^. It went well (I think), but my wording was a bit off due to my limited vocabulary. Unfortunately I forgot what the  French word for 'movement' was (it's 'deplacement') so I handicapped my way through the entire Test trying not to use that word on an object that is clearly meant for moving from place A to place B in a manner that is both effective, safe and simple. Problem is I had no idea how to spell that out clearly in French for the Test. Hopefully the Test went well, but if the Result is more on the sour side then I can direct 100% of the blame onto my ability to correctly word things in French. *SIGH* You know sometimes I wish I was French because it would make life over here so much easier for me. 

Peace and Lobe: So judging from this Blog's title you're all wondering what the hell 'Peace and Lobe' is, aren't you? Well Peace and Lobe is sort of like this weird concert mixed in with an educational lesson about our hearing and how we perceive sound. It took up the best part of Monday afternoon and we shared the concert hall with the other College from Mohon (who in all seriousness looked like they could beat the living sh*t out of my school, they literally towered above my lot) although it was undoubtedly better than the alternative (Maths, History and D.V.3) I felt really bored (well there's a surpriseduring the last half when they started explaining the inner functions of our hearing. One thing I will say though is that the group performing this act was quite entertaining, especially the leader of the band who pretended he was a famous rockstar for most of it, and actually leaped into the crowd at one point. They also performed several different  ear-pain-inducing songs, and I couldn't tell if they were either really bad or doing it on purpose most of the time! But Overall it was an interesting way of spending an Afternoon I guess.                

So I could some up last Week in School in one word it would be 'boring', but it was a nice break from the over excessive amount of Homework we've been getting recently. This Week was just another hurdle to overcome before the lovely reward: now I can now finally relax in the comfort of my Bed for good two Weeks! Long may the holidays reign, I say! Oh yes, and I almost forget to say HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  

This Week In School: Cross Country Race 2011

So another long and tiring Week is finally over, thank heavens. Last Week I suffered through two endurance Tests (one of them being the big Cross Country Race of course), a weird French Breakfast with the school and amongst other things a lecture in front of my entire year. So without further ado, let me begin:

English: I got a lot of recognition last Week for my fake article on 'Muse'. You basically had to make the document look like a fake Blog Post and describe a night you had going to one of the band's concerts with a few of your mates. I leaped at the chance to write it of course, I always feel like my inner-writing talent in this School is wasted on countless grammatically flawed essays in French. Naturally my work got a flawless 20/20 and the Teacher even said that I should be a journalist, so try that on for size. She was so impressed with my article describing 'a night out with Muse' that I was allowed to do my Homework for the remainder of my lesson, which is quite literally the equivalent of winning the lottery right now. Unfortunately I had to hand my precious work of art back to the Teacher so it could be hung up on the wall of my Class, so unfortunately I can't scan it and post it on here for the time being. Oh well. Shame, still my work is up there for all to admire now, not that I'm boasting or anything.

Music: Last Week we studied digital sound mixing, and how new technology has granted us the power to distort, slow-down, speed-up and just all around tamper with everyday music. We kept on hearing the same generic 80's 'disco' music over and over again but each time the Teacher would add in a new effect, like slowing down the song and putting the same sound on an endless loop which just kept droning on and on and on... The new Teach then did some weird synthesizing sh*t with the track and made the bad song even worse. Basically he was trying to show us all the different ways you can experiment with music now by altering them artificially through technology. Interesting (if very painful to the ears) stuff. 

French: You know what? I've counted the amount of Tests we've had in French vs the hours of French without a Test we've had so far, and literally EVERY OTHER LESSON is a bloomin' Test! Last Week saw another one creep up behind me and we all had to write a short story on something that scared us as a child (real or non-real). I wrote something based around Halloween, and when I was young (a fictional 'me' of course) me and a bunch of my friends decided to sneak into a local cemetery and got scared by a creepy looking statue reflected in the moonlight. Naturally my skills were hindered by a limited French vocabulary, and I can only hope for the best. The remainder of the lessons was one big Grammar orgy, which failed to spark any sense of non-boredom in me. No more Rousseau sadly, but the Teacher assured us that by the time this Trimester is over we'll all be sick of him.   

Maths: I enjoyed Maths last Week, mainly because I was so god damned good at it. At one point I was the only one to get a complex Maths calculation right. And if you want an example of these calculations we had to do then take a look at this: A= 78 x 5 x 105 x 8 x 10-7 x 100 x 10-4 . Also my Test from last Week really paid 

                                           108 x 10-5                                   off, earning me a 7,5/10 which (so far) is the only good Maths Test Result I've had! Well a long bloody time coming I say. 

Civic Education: I was the subject of much debate last Week as we mainly focused on nationality and what it means to be a European citizen. My Class all thought I was French for some reason, which to be honest doesn't surprise me one bit seen as just moments before they all thought New Zealand was a part of Europe! This lead to a half-an-hour discussion on how people from other country's can become French and what rights everyone is entitled to ect... To be honest I've found it all a bit dull this Week, hopefully we'll be getting back into World War I soon. And speaking of World War I, my Test from last Week scored an impressive 17/20 (highest in the Class, may I add...). In hindsight I wasn't at all sure on how it would do but I'm relieved with the outcome.    

Science: Because of the Cross Country Race taking up all of Friday afternoon, we only had one hour of Science this Week. We're now studying ions by the way, and how Scientists like to tamper with electrons. It was okay, we were mainly just writing down stuff so it wasn't that intellectually stimulating. Ah yes, and no 'embarrassments' last Week so that's always a plus... 

S.V.T: We're talking about DNA and genes now, and it was a  bit boring despite the Teacher's best efforts at 'waking us up'.  If you're wondering, S.V.T is normally first thing Monday morning, so we can't really be considered awake at this point in time. Heck we could be studying video games and I'd still be asleep!  

Technology: Thank god I understood something last Week! We had to define all the little details that make up our so called 'exiting' project, which ranged from determining the size of the panels to using 'natural' products that won't harm the environment. Again not really anything to with 'Technology' although we do use the computers a lot. We're basing the entire year around putting up panels around the lake and plastering information about different animals/plants  on them.   

D.V.3: Last Week had both Classes in our Year stand-up in front of everybody and present their Diploma's (research was done the Week before remember). And of course I was saved til' last, because we wouldn't want him to go first and have it all done with would they? No, let's just draw it out, save him for last so by the time he actually stands up in front on everyone he's practically crapping his pants in fear! And of course something had to go wrong...as usual. Somehow when I transferred the file from my computer to the main computer the different programs didn't really compute and as a Result my beautiful looking presentation was a scrambled mess of ugliness. Thankfully the Teacher didn't take take into account the presentation, so I didn't lose any points *THANKYOUGOD* We finally got the results from our presentation on the 'MFR' thing-y as well, despite it being nearly a whole month since we did it. I must (correction: my group must) have done well because we all scored 8,5/10.  

German:  We did crap all last Week apart from learn a silly German nursery rime and learn how to say the weather. Another bore-fest I'm afraid, and my Class must have felt the same way too because they couldn't stop talking throughout. The Teacher is still very nice, but she get's into so many arguments with the Class that it reduces the actual time she's spending 'Teaching' by almost 50%. I really don't know why the Class hates her so much, perhaps they like preying on one of the more 'less-strict' Teachers?     

Art: Our objective for the next few lessons was simply entitled 'Define Space'. What the hell does that mean you ask? Well play with the idea of space, basically. To give you an example I drew a stick figure trapped in a comic strip box who found the 'exit' door and just fell out of the square box and onto the comic below, just funny things like that I guess. Of course there are many different ways to represent space in Art, like toying with depth perception (my corridor illusion from the previous Weeks falls nicely into that category) ect... Overall I found it to be a fun lesson and to be honest it was the only thing I actually enjoyed all Week. 

Sport + Breakfast + Cross Country Race: Sport on Monday wasn't as bad as the last time we did endurance, but the temperature was a bit chilly so that would've helped. It's still a gruelling two hours though, and you feel completely wasted by the time you come home for lunch. Still, at least my legs didn't hurt as much this time, I had a hard job thawing them out of ice afterwards though. Friday was a whole other kettle of fish though, with the first hour being a an invite to a 'special' breakfast with the whole College attending and the entire afternoon was basically one big sporting event. For Breakfast I had Apple and Raisin cereal in a bowl of hot milk, an apple, a buttered bit of baguette and a glass of Orange juice so I think I made it out O.K. Some of the stuff on offer though was a bit *YEUCH!*, and most of the Frenchies had black (and I mean BLACK) coffee in their  bowls with cereal mixed in! And they didn't use the spoons a lot, they just sipped from the bowl. The fruit on offer was also a bit WTF?, I mean who has a bloody shrivelled up bit of frozen bat poo for brekkie? Unbelievable some of these French habits. Quite a few of them had plain yoghurt as well, which tastes a bit 'off' for my liking if you're wondering. The Cross Country Race was a nice way of having an afternoon, but I wasn't very fond of that darned 'running' part to be honest. And I might as well just come clean now, YES I FINISHED LAST IN MY YEAR. It's not one of my proudest achievements, but I don't really care. As I pulled my broken legs up this arduous looking hill (for the 2nd time) something in my mind just clicked you know? I came to the sudden realisation that all this effort I was exerting just to trudge up this hill wasn't at all worth the reward. After all, what do I get out of being in 24th place? A Weekend of sore legs, that's what. So basically I relaxed a little and let the few people behind overtake me, and before I knew it I was last! Or before-last anyway, the little git behind me started to run just before I crossed the finished line and beat me to it (this happens every year) so THEN I was officially last. But I don't care, I may have lost a good 5mins just walking but it saved me an entire Weekend of feeling awful just because you overworked your body. And the race wasn't as arduous as last year either, I think it was only about 2000 Meters in all.  

So another Week comes to a very sweaty close, can't say I really enjoyed it. If I'm honest Art was the only thing I really gave a damn about and even then I'm crap at drawing. Oh yes, and my report card should come soon, so hopefully that will be up next Week. Til' next time then...     

            

My Top 5 Most Anticipated Games

Man is autumn a great time to be a gaming fan. If you're not already aware, autumn is increasingly becoming the gaming equivalent of blockbuster summer movie season, and it's at this time when most of the BIG AAA titles come out, showcasing both the biggest and the best that this entertainment format has to offer. Creating a Christmas List this year will be most difficult indeed! But after this avalanche of titles to choose from, which ones come out on top? When I look at the line-up for the next three months (with one exception) of video game releases here are the Top 5 games that stick out for me (NOTE: This is based solely on Xbox 360 games):    


Number 5: Battlefield 3 / Modern Warfare 3

This autumn see's two of gaming's biggest franchises go head to head for dominion of the first person shooter's category. On one side you've got Dice's engine powerhouse that is Battlefield 3 and on the other Activision's biggest money-maker Call Of Duty. Both of these will no doubt be great games but the toughest thing for me is 'Which one to get?'

So you've got Battlefield 3, which right off the bat looks astounding in terms of graphic quality. Now don't get me wrong, Call Of Duty is no slouch when it comes to the visuals department, but Battlefield 3? People have been shown screenshot's from the game mixed in with real images and couldn't tell the difference between reality and the game. Now THAT is a brilliant feat of Technology, I mean the game just looks gorgeous! 

Pretty cool looking eh? Now add to that the immense visuals of the Frostbyte 2 engine, which can, and I quote: 


'The new engine is capable of bringing entire skyscrapers down and is so powerful that a developer was even quoted as saying if somebody took the time to design in-game the Burj Khalifa from Dubai (the world's current tallest building at almost half a mile in height) Frostbyte 2 is absolutely capable of demolishing it in real time.'


Clearly this is a game that will take a lot to beat. Even the multiplayer, which is the bread and butter for shooters, looks to take it up a notch up in almost every way. Here you can pilot tanks, jets and any manner of war vehicles to crush your team's opponents in what is (apparently) a very Team-centric experience. In COD Multiplayer you're always in it for yourself, here you must work with your Team-mates in order to survive and I think that is a most intriguing way of tackling cooperative gameplay. But what has Activision got up their sleeves for Call Of Duty? 

Well judging from that trailer, a crap ton of explosions and a global conflict on a scale that has never been seen before. The Call Of Duty franchise, one of the biggest selling franchises in video game history (for four games in a row now sales have gone past the billion dollar mark), has always prided itself for it's blockbuster set-pieces and addictive competitive multiplayer. Yes, the campaigns in Call Of Duty are short (I think that can be said for ANY first person shooter), but they're also ridiculously fun and it's clear that they throw every last possible explosion and location in there so you'll get you're money's worth. This game is set around the possibility that a Third World War could happen in our time, and will have you play many different characters in many different locales all over the world, ranging from France, Germany, England and the USA. As a franchise that has it's single player based around big, epic conflicts this game hopes to top them all in terms of scale and scope. The Multiplayer remains largely the same as all the other previous games in the franchise: it's a fast, adrenaline fuelled and extremely addicting way of playing a game. The only negative thing I can say about Modern Warfare 3 at this point is that as a franchise it hasn't really changed. Multiplayer is the same as all the previous Call Of Duty's, and the single campaign is still just a barrage of senseless explosions EXACTLY like Black Ops campaign. There's NO innovation in it whatsoever, whereas Battlefield 3 seems to be doing some really interesting things with the genre and isn't repeating the same game every year just so it can make another billion dollars. Hmmm, do I play it safe and stick with Call Of Duty (a good game, but the same GOOD game I played from last year, the formula hasn't changed) or try something new with Battlefield? I really can't make my mind up, which is why I've put both games in the number 5 spot.

   


Number 4: Saints Row: The Third

Ladies and gentlemen I present you 'Saint's Row The Third', one of the most ridiculous, over-the-top and simply bat-sh*t insane games to have come out over the past year. This a Sand-box game that basically gives players the option to do whatever ridiculously awful things they want, which range from grabbing a simple passer-by's head and smashing it into the ground (complete with hilarious 'KER-SPLAT!' sound effect), rampaging around the city in a giant tank and even beating an old grandma's head open with a giant dildo. Yes, this demented game GOES there. You can also get into a jet and just blow up half the city from the air by launching targeted laser missiles if that's to your liking. The gaming-world is your oyster as far as this game is concerned. It's ludicrously silly fun, and to me resembles like Grand Theft Auto on crack. I really don't see any cons to this game so far apart from the fact that there aren't any dragons in it. Oh wait, that's for the next game on my list. 

And yes, my generation does consider this stuff 'fun'. 


Number 3: Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Woot! Finally a massively detailed open-world fantasy game with Dragons! It's like all my dreams have come true! Skyrim is basically like Saints Row 3 just minus all the ridiculous weapons and granny trampling. In Skyrim, you can get on your horse and just ride off into the beautiful landscape and never come back, so think of it as a much more sophisticated game rather than some silly affair. The hero you portray is a Dragon-born (of any race, you can select which species you want to be, which range from Vampires to Cats to Humans!) and is tasked with reclaiming order to a land ravaged by Dragons. Or at least I think that's the plot...story isn't a heavily touted feature of this game, it's more about exploration and finding hidden the many hidden dungeons (all 300 of them) scattered around the world that unlock different ability's. One of the great things I've heard about this franchise is the fact that you can follow a simple trader from one village to next and see him sell his goods and go to bed each night. 

The World will feel so alive and detailed, and you know that the person you just passed on the road will be having an adventure all on his own even if you're not watching him at the time. A lot of these events are unscripted by the way, so if you see a Dragon pick up a giant and fling him off a cliff you won't see it happen again. In fact alot of the time the developers (the guys who make the game) see behaviours that they hadn't yet observed with the game's characters WHILE they were playing the game! So not even the developers know what's going to happen 100% of the time, which is simply amazing. The game supposedly takes 300 hours to complete, so if you can believe that then this game should set you back several months of your life. Well I hate to brake this to you, real life, but I'll be playing Skyrim. 

    


Number 2: Batman: Arkham City

'In Batman: Arkham Asylum, we really focused our effort on creating an intense, pressure-cooker atmosphere by locking Batman in the madhouse and allowing The Joker to turn up the heat.

“In Arkham City, we want to take that attitude to the next level, so we created an experience in which gamers will have a huge amount of navigational freedom, but they will also feel the extreme pressure of the challenges that they face.' Sefton Hill, Rocksteady 

After Batman: Arkham Asylum was touted as being one of the best super-hero games of all time (and rightly so) it's sequel looks like it's going to take the last game and amp it up to maximum overdrive. In Arkham City, new major Quincy Sharp has sectioned off an entire area of Gotham and dumped anyone that misbehaved into it. So all the criminals and super villains are basically locked up in this giant playground of mayhem and disaster. Add to that several turf wars by the many villains and an overarching scheme that has something to do with Doctor Hugo Strange (the guy who controls this sector) and you've got one heck of a game. One of the best things about Arkham Asylum was the fact that you really did feel like Batman, every-time you crushed someone's skull in it felt every like every punch had impact and as a result you felt extremely badass. The Sequel? Apparentely it amps the combat up to 100mph, you now have a massive arsenal of gadgets at your disposal which range from smoke pellets to remote controlled batarangs. Not to mention you have this huge area to glide around in and all of a sudden come crashing down on some of the Joker's thugs. If Arkham Asylum made you feel like Batman, then Arkham City will make you become Batman. 


Now even if you take away the immensely satisfying gameplay what have you got left? Well for starters you've got the villains. Batman has one of the best line-ups a rogues gallery could offer, and as far as I can tell, it seems like most of the really good ones have made it into this game. Every time Mark Hamill's (Mark Hamill as in THE Mark Hamill, you know, the guy who played Luke in those old Star Wars films?) portrayal of the Joker pops up on screen the game automatically becomes 10/10 for me. He even mocks you when you're dead, it's almost like the game is humiliating you for dying and I love it: 

       
The Penguin also make a return, except this time with a cockney British accent. You're laughing at first, but then he blows a guy's head off...
The Riddler in Arkham Asylum was a mere annoyance, he would give you a few clues and you'd find the hidden trophy pretty easily. Here? You better damn well solve those riddles, because he's captured people and put them in Saw-like death traps, each one harder than the last and all of them having you face a ticking clock. 
Two-Face, the once prestigious Harvey Dent is now a multi-personality psychopath who likes to drop people into vats of acid. What's not to love?
And nothing can compare to Doctor Strange, who is so masterful in the art of brain deciphering that he even figured out the identity of the caped crusader himself, Batman.  

There is something so gratifying about seeing all these villains come together as a whole in the first game and I hope that this continued sense of escalation and dread you felt will also appear in it's sequel. From where I'm standing though, it looks f*cking amazing.  


Seriously, I'm at breaking point. I look at my School calender every day knowing that the game is ONE day closer to being released. I keep refreshing bloody internet pages just to see if there's any new news on the game, heck even a promotional photo is enough to get me exicted! PLEASE DON'T SUCK! PLEASE BE THE BEST GAME EVER! I NEED ARKHAM CITY NOOOOOW!  *ROCKS UP AND DOWN*


Number 1: Mass Effect 3

I made this list just so I could include Mass Effect 3 if I'm honest. For those of you that don't know, Mass Effect 2 is my favourite game of all time and Mass Effect 3 as a result is my most anticipated game of all time, which will make the wait for March 26th 2012 all the more painful. NEVER have I wanted a game (or anything apart from Doctor Who) so badly, the Mass Effect Series is one of the most personal, richly detailed and mind-numbingly epic franchises out there, and it all comes to a head in Mass Effect 3 when the entire galaxy is at risk from the Reapers and only you can stop it. 

This is it. All the choices you've made over the past two games in the franchise will effect the outcome in some way, shape or form. All your Squad mates from the previous game will return (along with all their individual plot arcs and character progression which YOU helped define), granted they lived at the end of the last one of course. Your love interest from Mass Effect 1 could damn well meet your girlfriend from  Mass Effect 2 and duke it out with each other. Or, they could get along fine together. OR, you didn't get romantic in Mass Effect 1 or 2 and everything will be fine. See? All these choices you made over the course of the last two games will impact this one in some way, and that's what so exciting: this is the grand finale to a trilogy of video games that center on how your actions affect the world around you, with a deep mythology and quite frankly some of the best characters any entertainment format has seen. At the end of Mass Effect 2, you actually give a sh*t about everyone (even if they are a robot or a green skinned lizard dude) and shed a tear when (or if) they die. In Mass Effect 3, you will feel their loss because it can effect the other characters, or even make new ones who replace the guy who died! You feel deeply attached to this universe and it's characters as a result, so when an invading armada of giant sentient beings arrive to f*ck things up, things get PERSONAL. It also helps that the combat has been refined, so now you're playing the game to have fun shooting the buggers AND enjoy the story at the same time, which is a real plus. Blowing up organic robot's the size of skyscrapers have never been this fun, and the impending sense of doom SHOULD heighten your adrenaline. 

Interesting decisions lie ahead indeed, and the dialogue tree is there at every step of the adventure to run this into the ground. So will the Quarians finally reclaim their homeworld from the Geth? Will the Krogan finally overcome the Genophage? Can Garrus refrain from letting the dark side overcome him? Will we see Tali's face? Just WHO is the Illusive Man working for? I have to wait another five months to find out, great.

So that's my Top 5, hope you enjoyed reading my favourite upcoming games. The gaming industry is reaching an all time high now with so many awesome games hitting the shelves currently, and this list was extremely hard to make. And yes, the games technically haven't come out yet, and I suppose Mass Effect 3 could completely suck balls, but judging from all the hype and promotion surrounding this game it's almost impossible to think that it could all turn out sour. Well let's just wait and see I suppose...