Rocky
I went over to a friend's house with nothing to do. In our boredom we decided to watch an American masterpiece, Rocky.
I have to say, I am disappointed in myself for not having watched it earlier. Rocky is an Amazing movie. If we had stopped with Rocky it would have been fine, but we pushed on to Rocky 2.
Rocky was amazing, but Rocky 2 was hard to watch until after Adrian's recovery. However, what was good about both movies was the match between Rocky and Apollo and the training montages for the matches. I for one am a big fan of training montage. I have had a few myself in getting prepared for Geometry tests and Debate tournaments, but of course neither involved working out.
Stallone's performance in Rocky felt natural, the acting itself was awkward, but it fit the character so it all worked. The drama was intense, I must say that I was happy for the storm to be over and for Rocky to be training.
I can see how the scene of Rocky running up stairs is so iconic, I myself felt like running up those stairs.
As for now, I must read more Greek philosophy and keep up with news so that I can be prepared for the next debate tournament. I should turn these few months into one big training montage.
I have to say, I am disappointed in myself for not having watched it earlier. Rocky is an Amazing movie. If we had stopped with Rocky it would have been fine, but we pushed on to Rocky 2.
Rocky was amazing, but Rocky 2 was hard to watch until after Adrian's recovery. However, what was good about both movies was the match between Rocky and Apollo and the training montages for the matches. I for one am a big fan of training montage. I have had a few myself in getting prepared for Geometry tests and Debate tournaments, but of course neither involved working out.
Stallone's performance in Rocky felt natural, the acting itself was awkward, but it fit the character so it all worked. The drama was intense, I must say that I was happy for the storm to be over and for Rocky to be training.
I can see how the scene of Rocky running up stairs is so iconic, I myself felt like running up those stairs.
As for now, I must read more Greek philosophy and keep up with news so that I can be prepared for the next debate tournament. I should turn these few months into one big training montage.
UN Blames Israel
A United Nations inquiry into the war in Gaza has found that Israel was blame for at least seven direct attacks on UN operations - including schools and medical centres.- Al Jazeera.
Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council's criticism of the UN study.
Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman rejects the study.
In my English class we have been reading Persepolis. While a lot of the talk has been (very) off topic, there is this constant feeling of complex emotions felt by the people of this region (especially concerning Israel) due to actions in the past and political relationships.
This just gives me more reason to hate politics because people put it before people, this crisis in Gaza only seems to prove it further.
For an AFF case, I found a pretty interesting page that contains Ron Paul's argument against military conscription.
It feels a bit awkward working on a debate resolution I won't be taking to any tournaments... but even so, I really like this resolution. Maybe it's because I've grown up since the last one and I can see a bit more gray areas and spots for argument. Oh well, be it as it may, I am working on it just for the heck of it.
A draft weakens the military by introducing tensions and rivalries between those who volunteer for military service and those who have been conscripted. This undermines the cohesiveness of military units, which is a vital element of military effectiveness. Conscripts also are unlikely to choose the military as a career; thus, a draft will do little to address problems with retention. With today's high-tech military, retention is the most important personnel issue and it seems counter-productive to adopt any policy that will not address this important issue.- Ron Paul.
It feels a bit awkward working on a debate resolution I won't be taking to any tournaments... but even so, I really like this resolution. Maybe it's because I've grown up since the last one and I can see a bit more gray areas and spots for argument. Oh well, be it as it may, I am working on it just for the heck of it.
Resolved: Military Conscription is Unjust
As found out on decorabilia, this is the Nationals Debate topic.
Since I did not qualify, and none of my team mates qualified, I feel completely free in saying anything I want too about this topic.
I could definitely see this with Rousseau on the NEG, as for the AFF I was thinking of something to do with autonomy or peace. Oh how I wish I could debate with this topic!
Since I did not qualify, and none of my team mates qualified, I feel completely free in saying anything I want too about this topic.
I could definitely see this with Rousseau on the NEG, as for the AFF I was thinking of something to do with autonomy or peace. Oh how I wish I could debate with this topic!
Two Novembers ago a teacher of mine asked me to do debate. For some unknown reason I was strongly interested. I knew next to nothing about debate or how too, only that I was interested.
In order to prepare me they pitted me up against an upperclassman who had a lot of experience in debate. It was intense. I didn't really understand what was going on or what I was doing. On the other hand, he knew exactly what he was doing and beat me down. For some reason I kept on coming back for me. It wasn't exactly fun, but I kept on pushing myself to come back.
In all those practice bouts he won, and to this day I have never been able to defeat him.
But I digress, one thing they showed me besides debate was extemp. I had didn't have a lot of knowledge on extemp either, yet I could grasp that it was much easier (for me) to extemp as opposed to me debating.
With that blind voice in the back of my head at the lead I went to my first debate tournament. The first round wasn't too bad since I was pitted against another newbie, but I lost since he technically had more experience than I did. The next round was horrible since my opponent had a lot of experience and I had the feeling that my judge hated me. My third round was bright sunshine and puppies compared to my second, and yet I still lost. My fourth, and last round was against an amazing man. HE was apparently third in state and was, and still is, an incredible person and debater. I still look up to him.
That upperclassman, (this is his last year) managed to win a few rounds by intimidating the opponent with his own story. Some had debated him early on in their debate careers and had a image of who he was back then in his mind. To them he was a monster. For me, the man in my fourth round was no monster, but more like a prophet whose gaze consisted of love. As you might have guessed I still have that image of him even after talking to him.
However, after all that I proclaimed that I would never debate again. And that was that.
As for extemp, for some reason I liked it. While I did happen to get dead last by the judges' rankings, I really liked it. Probably because it didn't kill me on the inside.
I liked speaking, and (well now I do) had an interest in current events. Extemp was a natural match for me.
I went to compete in extemp whenever I could, but not debate. Extemp was my first love, and that was that. Ironically, that upperclassman's first love was debate, and extemp second even though he's better in extemp.
Later, after having forgotten the pain of my first debate tournament I decided to try it again. Well, technically my speech coach asked me to fill in and feeling some sense of duty I decided to be a sacrificial lamb. Two rounds and I was out. My first round was a joke, but because it was I managed to enjoy debate. My second was a bit more bitter, but for some reason because of that first round I fell in love with debate. And that was that.
This year I have gone far but with both the man I debated in my fourth round and that upperclassman leaving this world I have dived head first into feels lighter.
All that's left is for me to expand their shoes. And this will be that.
In order to prepare me they pitted me up against an upperclassman who had a lot of experience in debate. It was intense. I didn't really understand what was going on or what I was doing. On the other hand, he knew exactly what he was doing and beat me down. For some reason I kept on coming back for me. It wasn't exactly fun, but I kept on pushing myself to come back.
In all those practice bouts he won, and to this day I have never been able to defeat him.
But I digress, one thing they showed me besides debate was extemp. I had didn't have a lot of knowledge on extemp either, yet I could grasp that it was much easier (for me) to extemp as opposed to me debating.
With that blind voice in the back of my head at the lead I went to my first debate tournament. The first round wasn't too bad since I was pitted against another newbie, but I lost since he technically had more experience than I did. The next round was horrible since my opponent had a lot of experience and I had the feeling that my judge hated me. My third round was bright sunshine and puppies compared to my second, and yet I still lost. My fourth, and last round was against an amazing man. HE was apparently third in state and was, and still is, an incredible person and debater. I still look up to him.
That upperclassman, (this is his last year) managed to win a few rounds by intimidating the opponent with his own story. Some had debated him early on in their debate careers and had a image of who he was back then in his mind. To them he was a monster. For me, the man in my fourth round was no monster, but more like a prophet whose gaze consisted of love. As you might have guessed I still have that image of him even after talking to him.
However, after all that I proclaimed that I would never debate again. And that was that.
As for extemp, for some reason I liked it. While I did happen to get dead last by the judges' rankings, I really liked it. Probably because it didn't kill me on the inside.
I liked speaking, and (well now I do) had an interest in current events. Extemp was a natural match for me.
I went to compete in extemp whenever I could, but not debate. Extemp was my first love, and that was that. Ironically, that upperclassman's first love was debate, and extemp second even though he's better in extemp.
Later, after having forgotten the pain of my first debate tournament I decided to try it again. Well, technically my speech coach asked me to fill in and feeling some sense of duty I decided to be a sacrificial lamb. Two rounds and I was out. My first round was a joke, but because it was I managed to enjoy debate. My second was a bit more bitter, but for some reason because of that first round I fell in love with debate. And that was that.
This year I have gone far but with both the man I debated in my fourth round and that upperclassman leaving this world I have dived head first into feels lighter.
All that's left is for me to expand their shoes. And this will be that.
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