yvonne was here.
yvonne was here.
Review: Animal Farm
George Orwell
This story is about a farm which is being run by animals themselves and a pig named Napoleon as the leader. This story is a famous story whereby it says about leadership and teamwork. I feel that the book gives readers a chance to think of the situation in reality, as in whether such events in the story had happened in real life.
Mr Jones is a lazy human farmer of Manor Farm. He has pigs, dogs, sheeps, cows, poultry, horses, cats, mare and donkey. Old Major, the oldest pig in the farm shared his dream with the other animals whereby animals get to run the farm themselves instead of working under Man. He encouraged them to go on a Rebel to chase Man, whom made their life miserable and labourious out of their way.
Three days later, Old Major died. Three of the pigs, namely Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer were thinking of elaborating Old Major's teachings into a system which they called Animalism. All the animals in the farm thought it might be a good chance for them to get free but came to no decision. In June, however, the animals could stand it no longer, being unfed all the time, decided to oppose human beings. All of them charged into the farmhouse and soon left Mr and Mrs Jones running for their lifes. The farm is now theirs.
The animals in the farm took up all the chores that the farmer used to do, from mowing to harvesting. The Rebellion had made the animals felt happier than before. The pigs however, did not do any work in the farm because they were said to be the cleverest and should only stay indoor to keep the farm working. There were less disputes, more food, more leisure and no work on Sunday, a day to hold the Meeting. The Meeting is a time where work of the coming week was planned out and resolutions were put forward and debated. Often were Snowball and Napoleon debating, opposing each other on opinions.
The following week started with the animals leaning how to write alphabets and only pigs, Muriel the goat and benjamin the donkey could read very well. Soon, pigs were given the privilege to have milk and apples reserved for themselves alone because they were brain-workers.
By late summer, almost half the country had heard about Animal Farm. In the mean time, Jones, the formal owner of Animal Farm (once called Manor Farm) tried to complain to as many people in other farms about his rebellious animals. Everyone thought the animals would die of starvation but unexpectedly had survived til the very day. Jones and his men decided to fight with the animals for the farm. Little did he know that the animals were well prepared for the day to come.
As the men approach the farm, the pigeons flew to and fro over their head and muted upon them from mid-air; geese which hid behind the hedge pecked viciously at the calves of their legs. Sheeps prodded and butted the men for every side while the donkey lashed at them with his small hoofs. As part of the attack, Snowball tricked Jones by signalling the animals to retreat to the yard. Jones appeared at the yard and the horses, cows and pigs that hid in the cowshed charged towards their enemies. Snowball immediately dashed to Jones and was injured by the pellet from Jones' gun. On the other hand, Boxer the horse killed him with his hind legs, forgetting that he was wearing iron shoes.
Everyone celebrated for defeating their enemies and had posted Snowball and Boxer as the Farm's Heroes. Not long after, Snowball was being kicked out of the Animal Farm by Napoleon who said that he had betrayed everyone by contacting Jones all these time after the Rebellion. On the other hand, Napoleon took this chance to gain the seat of being the master of the farm.
Soon, the animals were told to build a windmill that can do the jobs that can reduce the labour of the animals and gain more food for the farm. The animals had no choice but to listen to Napoleon, who later was called Comrade Napoleon.
The building of the windmill was difficult and food was scarce. The animals worked very hard for the windmill and their regular job. They have to work on Sundays as there are no more debates during The Meeting. Nobody dared to oppose as everyone agreed that life is still better compared to the days before Rebellion. The pigs had been engaging in trade with human beings and to the others' surprise, they had moved into the farmhouse, using the kitchen drawing room and slept on beds.
It was in winter and a storm caused the windmill to be destroyed. Napoleon took the chance to blame Snowball the betrayer to ruin the windmill at night so as to gain trust from the animals. There were also public executions of 4 pigs, 3 hens, 1 goose and 1 sheep who confessed that they had rebelled Comrade Napoleon in one way or another. The others were feared to rebel and hence could not point out their views. As usual, the animals are starving as food fell short in the winter season.
As soon as the animals had completed building another new windmill, the Pilkington farmers launced an attack at them at night as they were jealous of it being strong and new. They felt very sad when it collasped, seeing their hard work being destroyed but was later infuriated and started charging toward their enemies. In the end, they won the battle but were all weary and bleeding. Once again, they got ready to build another windmill.
Boxer, the hard working horse was about the age to retire and could no longer be useful. Comrade Napoleon thought it was important to send him for treatment for his lungs in the hospital. To the animals' surprise, Boxer was sent away by 'Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler, Winllindon'. In return, Comrade Napoleon got money to buy a bottle of whisky while Boxer is no longer seen.
Years passed and there was greater porpulation growth. The farm was more properous and organised. All the animals were happy that they were no longer under Man's control but in actual fact, they were still poor and hungry and cold, except for Comrade Napoleon who does no work and live in comfort.
Review: The Princess Diaries - Seventh Heaven
Meg Cabot
The Princess Diaries - Seventh Heaven is written by Meg Cabot. I find the story as exciting as the other series and the writing style is still the same. I felt that it gives readers a temptation that cannot be resist which makes us read the book at one shot. Overall, I will recommend the book to my friends!
Mia, the president of the student government had blew the entire annual budget with just some recycling bins with built-in crushers. It had been the seventh month she runs the government and they were the first government in the history of Albert Einstein High to be bankrupt.
The financial crisis has left them nothing to rent Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Centre for the Senior class's commencement ceremony . Feared that it will create chaos in school, Mia knew she had to do something to solve the problem.
Grandmere on the other hand faced her problem too. She was currently buying waterfront property --- the island of Genovia. However, she was not the only bidder. Se was competing with John Paul Renolds - Abernathy the Third whose son is J.P, aka the Guy Who Hates It When They Put Corn In The Chilli.
While Mia frets on her problem, Grandmere thought it was an excellent chance for her to keep John Paul Renolds - Abernathy the Third away from her waterfront property. Grandmere decided to open an audition for a Musical Braid! for students in Albert Einstein School to take part in to raise money for the Genovian olive farmers, while secretly taking out a small amount for Mia's student government. That's not all. Her main motive was to make J.P a part of the musical and cause his father to drop the bid.
Everyone in school was busy with their schoolwork but it turned out that many students were aspiring thespians who turned up at the Grand Ballroom at The Plaza for audition. Soon, the musical cast list is out and as expected, the male lead was J.P, but surprisingly Mia was the female lead! She had never wanted to take part and did not even audition! She called Grandmere immediately to change the female lead, to which the latter replied, " I wondered what Amber would say if I happen to mention to her how you squandered the money for her commencement ceremony on recycling bins."
Mia was stunned to be threatened by her grandmother who said that just to make her join the musical. Mia was indeed taken aback because Amber Cheeseman is the only one who would come after her for the Senior class's commencement ceremony and thus, she must abide to her grandmother.
On Saturday March 6, Micheal, Mia's boyfriend organised a party for his friends and Mia was exceptionally not looking forward to it because Micheal's inviting his college friends whom she thought would definitely look down on her as she was merely a high school student.
Mia pratically embarrassed herself by sexy dancing with J.P, who was invited by Lily, Micheal's sister to his party. She wanted to proof to Micheal that she can be a party girl just like any other girl in his college. She wore black tights, a black velvet skirt, black Docs, black leotard and a black beret which caught everyone's attention and apparently, had shown Mia as a party girl. Mia then took out a beer from the refrigerator and started gulping it down just like any other drinks. Surprised, Micheal and Lily thought she was drunk but they could not stop anything because the next second Mia has started jumping and dancing with J.P.
The party ended for the princess when she noticed the door open, where Micheal's parents stood rooted to the ground, watching her dance with another guy in their apartment. Mia stopped dancing as she stared at the Dr Moscovitzes (parents of Micheal and Lily) said "Sorry, don't mind us," and hurried down the hall to their room. Micheal followed his parents and left poor Mia alone who decided to leave the house since she thought her boyfriend must be angry with her.
Wednesday March 10, the day of the big performance. The musical is about to begin and the cast is preparing behind the curtains, nervously waiting for the time to come. Mia was worried, because Grandmere had set an impossible task for her --- to kiss J.P to signal the end of the show. She felt like she was betraying Micheal but it would be bad to tell J.P about it...
The finale is here and it was time J.P and her appear on stage. Mia grabbed J.P's --- no wait, it was not J.P, it was Micheal's hands! It turned out that Micheal changed into J.P's suit and became the one who kissed Mia. The musical ended successfully and Grandmere, as she wanted, had J.P's father drop the bid. As for Mia, she got the money needed for the Senior's class's commencement ceremony and of course, Michael to be back with her again.