That Time A Ladies Marriage Was Determined By Boxes

This period we started reading Act Two of The Merchant Of Venice.

So far, this act has entailed a meeting with the Prince of Morocco and Portia. In previous parts, we find out that Portia is to get married to the person who selects the correct casket from the ones her father left. She has no choice from her suitors though she dislikes them all.

1. We have watched racial and religious tensions at work in A1S3. The Prince of Morocco opens A2S1 with another sensitive issue. What is it? Racism. He says "Mislike me not for my complexion," Meaning, "don't hate me for the colour of my skin," which is brown. We know that because he says "The shadowed livery of the burnished sun.To whom I am a neighbour and near bred." He believes that Portia won't like him due to the colour of his skin
2. If Antonio loses his gamble, he must forfeit a pound of flesh. What must Portia’s suitors give up if they fail to win her? Their hand in marriage to any women."If you choose wrong. Never to speak to lady afterward In way of marriage. Therefore be advised."
3. Shylock practices ‘usury’. What is this? Lending money with intrest
4. Why do Shylock and Antonio hate each other? Because of their difference in religions and values. On top of the fact that Antonio has teased and picked on Shylock for these same reasons.
5. What is Portia’s opinion of the Prince of Morocco- give examples. She thinks as highly of him as she does her other suiters "Yourself, renownèd Prince, then stood as fair As any comer I have looked on yet For my affection." Meaning, "then you’d have had as good a chance to marry me as any of the suitors I’ve met so far, prince."

Scene Two

1. Why does Launcelot want to leave Shylock? Give evidence from the text to support your thinking. Because of their different values. Another reason is that Shylock treats Launcelot very poorly. We know this because he says, “the very truth is that the Jew, having done me wrong,”  which means, “the truth is that the Jew has done me wrong.” 
2. Why is Bassanio worried about taking Gratiano with him to Belmont? Because Bassanio is afraid that Gratiano will do something stupid or idiotic and the blame will fall on Bassanio. In lines 114-142...
3. Launcelot and his father are very anxious to find Launcelot a new job. They both want to impress Bassanio. This leads to
   a. frequent interruptions.
   b. contradictions
   c. misuse of words to impress.
   Find examples of each of these in the text.
   A. Many times in this scene this sort of thing happens: LAUNCELOT To be brief, the very truth is that the Jew, having done me wrong, doth cause me, as my father, being, I hope, an old man, shall frutify unto you— GOBBO I have here a dish of doves that I would bestow upon your worship, and my suit is— B. GOBBO Here’s my son, sir, a poor boy- LAUNCELOT Not a poor boy, sir, but the rich Jew’s man that would, sir, as my father shall specify— (Their words go against each others) C. Not exactly sure of this one..

Scene Three

1. What does Jessica think of her life at home? Give evidence from the text to support your thinking. She hates it, she believes it’s a hell hole. She says “Our house is hell, and thou, a merry devil,” Meaning “It’s hell in our house, and you helped cheer it up, like a funny devil”
2. Which of Bassanio’s friends is Jessica planning to marry? Lorenzo

Scene Four

1. How does Jessica get a message to her lover? Through Launcelot, she gave him a letter to give to Lorenzo
2. How will she be disguised for the elopement? She will be dressed a page boy

Scene Five

1. Why is Shylock uneasy about going out for the evening? Give evidence from the text to support your thinking. Launcelot told him they've been plotting things ("And they have conspired together.") and that there is going to be a masque he wasn't aware of. Also because he dreamed of money bags the past night, which was thought to be a sign of things not going your way ("There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest, for I did dream of money bags tonight.")

Scene Six

1. How does Launcelot manage to tell Jessica that Lorenzo will be there that evening? Through vague messages. He says to Jessica "Mistress, look out at window, for all this. There will come a Christian by will be worth a Jewess' eye." In short, that means, there will be a christian worth your viewing, referencing Lorenzo
2. What does Jessica throw down to Lorenzo?
   A box/casket thing with gold ducats inside.
3. Why is Antonio looking for Gratiano?
   To tell him that the masque has been canceled

Act Two Discussion Questions:

1. In A2S2, Launcelot deceives his father. In A2S6, Jessica deceives hers, What does each of them hope to achieve? Revenge and Freedom
2. In A2S5 Lines 11-18 & 28-39. In both speeches Shylock is speaking to his daughter, Jessica. What is his attitude to her? Give supporting examples from the text. 
3. Trusting but nervous and worried, “I am bid forth to supper, Jessica. There are my keys.—” " Hear you me, Jessica. Lock up my doors,”
4. In A2S5 Lines 11-18 & 28-39. What do Launcelot and the audience know, that Shylock does not? How does this show dramatic irony. We, the audience, and Launcelot know that Jessica is planning on eloping.The dramatic irony is that while Shylock is concerned with his valuable possessions, it is his daughter that he is going to lose, and it’s her that he’s trusted his stuff with.

Scene Seven

1. Which casket does the Prince of Morocco think is worthy to contain Portia’s portrait. Use evidence of the text to justify your answer. The gold one. He says “One of these three contains her heavenly picture. Is ’t like that lead contains her? 'Twere damnation To think so base a thought. It were too gross To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave. Or shall I think in silver she’s immured, Being ten times undervalued to tried gold? O sinful thought!” Meaning that thinking that the lead and silver caskets were worthy of having Portia’s portrait in them was a really bad thing.
2. How is Portia feeling in A2S7 -at the beginning, -while the Prince is making his choice, at the end
   At the beginning she’s partly nervous, while he’s making his choice, she’s annoyed with the process. At the end, she’s relieved.
3. What was Portia’s father trying to achieve by the use of the caskets. Does this seem to be working?
   To see who is worthy of Portia. It’s not really working, because Portia doesn’t like any of them...

Scene Eight

1. What double disaster has struck Shylock? His daughter ran away, with a christian, and took some of his money and jewels.
2. Where did Shylock think Lorenzo & Jessica might be? On Bassanio’s ship. (The villain Jew with outcries raised the Duke, Who went with him to search Bassanio’s ship.)
3. How did Bassanio and Antonio part? With a short conversation and an affectionate handshake
4. What is the first suggestion of trouble for Antonio? Find a quote that tells you this. Salarino says “in the narrow seas that part the French and English, there miscarried a vessel of our country richly fraught. I thought upon Antonio when he told me, And wished in silence that it were not his.” This means there was a sunken boat from Venice and he hopes it wasn’t Antonio’s

Scene Nine

1. What is the purpose of the rhymes in the caskets?
   To make fun of and mock the choices of the suitors.
2. Why does the Prince of Arragon discard the golden caskets. What does his interpretation of the inscription tell us about his character?
   Because it says “He who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.” He believes that it may be that some people are as foolish as to not see past looks, the expensive look of the gold.
3. What is Portia’s reaction to Bassanio’s arrival?
   She doesn’t realise it’s him, she believes it’s the messengers relative because of how highly they think of him

Want to read the play yourself? Click here for the original play along with the modernised version of it. and here for the audio book version.

First Experiment For The Year

Tennis Ball Drop

Aim: To investigate the relation between the height a ball is dropped from and the height of the first bounce

Hypothesis: If I drop the ball from around a metre, it will bounce around 75 to 80cm so around 75 to 80%

Equipment:
Metre Ruler
Tennis ball (or another kind of ball that works)
Clamp stand
Boss head and clamp

Method:
1. Set up the clamp stand to hold the ruler
2. Drop the ball at a certain height and drop it.
3. Record how high it bounces.
4. Repeat with different heights.

Variables: 
Control variables - The ball, the person dropping it, the equipment
Independent variables - The height the ball is dropped from.

Dependent variables - The height the ball bounces

Results:

Drop height	Bounce height
50 cm	25 cm
60 cm	31 cm
70 cm	38 cm
90 cm	45 cm
1 m	51 cm
2 m	87 cm
3m	99 cm

50 cm Drop Height:

Discussion:

During the experiment, we dropped the ball from each height twice, then recorded the second height. We found that the second height was usually more accurate than the first, though they were similar numbers.

Conclusion:

My hypothesis was incorrect. I originally thought the ball would bounce around 70 to 80 percent of the drop height. It seems that the bounce height was more around 50 or 60 percent of the drop height. 

Family Crest

In social studies, we were tasked to create a family crest, also known as a Coat of Arms.

This is mine:

What does it mean?

Koru - Most of my family lives in New Zealand and is the "Baby" version of a silver fern, a kiwi icon.

Three Deer- on our original Rogers family crest had three deer on it, so I

decided to use this on here as well

Boat - The boat is the Edwin Fox, the boat my great and great great grandparents came to New Zealand on. Also, two of my uncles have boats that we go on sometimes

And that's my family crest!

Home Ec - Savoury Cases - Bacteria

Last week for our weekly practical we made Savoury Bread Cases.
Recipe

Things we learned/Key Points
- We found out where everything was and how to use it/what to use it with.
- We figured out what the routine was for a practical. (Bags, Aprons etc)
- Teamwork wasn't the greatest, mainly because Brayden was sick and Sarah had to leave. Leaving me to do most of the work by myself.

Bacteria

What is bacteria?
Small organisms that are everywhere

What does it need to survive?
Food, oxygen, moisture, temp, time, ph

Give 3 examples of how we avoid spreading bacteria.
Wash your hands, store food correctly, cook food correctly.

What does the term cross-contamination mean and what is it's effect on you.
when bacteria are unintentionally transferred from one object to another, with harmful effect. You can get sick/food poisoning.

Musical Theatre - Behind The Scenes/Identifying Musicals

What you don't see when going to a live musical

Behind the scenes of a musical a lot more work goes on than you would think. Before a show both actors and crew members could spend 1 to 4 hours prepping before a show. Such as, the lighting crew would have to arrive about an hour to two hours before the show to make sure all the lighting and special effects will work for the show. Then maybe the actors/actoresses will be at the venue about 2 hours before to do makeup, costumes and warm ups. Now, that maybe before the show but during the show? That's chaos. People are running around trying to find costumes and props. After today, I'd have a new respect for people working in musical theatre.

Getting Inspired

Musical One: (Video here)

Name: Hamilton - An American 

What it's about: Hamilton as a whole is about the life of one of the lesser known founding fathers of America, Alexander Hamilton. It follows his life from around age 19 through to his death.

When was it first performed: 17 February 2015

Genre: Hip Hop/Rap and a whole assortment of genres.

If I was involved in this musical, I would play: Probably Peggy because she's so underrated but cool. In history she did a whole lot of great stuff. She's just a general great character. 

Musical Two: (Video)

Name: Dear Evan Hansen 

What it's about: An anxiety ridden high school student gets caught in a lie after saying he was friends with a fellow student after he commits suicide.

When it was first performed: July 10, 2015

Genre: Pop 

If I was involved in this musical, I would play: Maybe... Zoe Murphy? I'm not completely sure why, but I feel like she's an overall cool character

Musical Three: (Video)

Name: The Greatest Showman

What it's about:  Celebrating the birth of show business.

When it was first performed: 8 December 2017

Genre: Drama/Romance

If I was involved in this musical, I would play: I haven't seen this musical, so I'm not sure of any of the characters and their personalities. I was also unable to find descriptions of the characters.

Deeper, Darker and Colder

In English, we were given the task to write a short story inspired by this VR/360 video:

Here is one of my first drafts. Obviously, it's not going to be perfect just yet. I hope you like it!
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I can feel my body slowly losing more and more weight. My hair grazing against my face. The glisten from the surface of the water getting further and further away. I scream. nothing but bubbles come out. How did I get here? What is happening to me? I give up on swimming. Deeper and darker I go. My eyes sting more the longer I try to keep them open. I’m not alone. There are dolphins. A whole pod of them. Aren’t they supposed to be helpful when humans are in danger? Then again, am I truly in danger? Or am I dreaming? It feels like a dream. But if it was a dream, why does the pain in my chest feel so real?

Time is slowing down and everything is becoming darker. Things blur around me. Is it my head spinning or is there something going around me. My head is pounding faster than my heart. I up at my hands. They’re subconsciously reaching, no, clawing, towards the sun. I look down at my legs. The black cage that is my wetsuit is stuck to my legs and upper arms. It doesn’t help the pressure. It’s making me sink faster. I struggle to get it off, leaving me in my original bathing suit. A black one piece. That was… anticlimactic. As I realise hardly slowing down, I notice how deep down I truly am.

The thoughts spinning in my mind clog up my head. I realise these could be my last moments. I remember back to when someone told me that life can be a poem. Like life, a poem always finishes. But a poem is never truly over. It just stops moving... My life will never be over. I will just stop moving…

My vision begins to fade as my head spins faster. My heart pounding faster. The pain in my chest growing deeper. It seriously burns, like you’re swimming in hot lava. Have I really been holding my breath this whole time? I can’t hold it anymore. I let out a breath, inhaling nothing but the water around me. My attention is once again attracted towards the surface of the water, which I can barely see. There! There's a shape? The boat? It must be...


But there's something being dragged behind it...


Things get darker... Until there’s…


Nothing….

It’s cold… So cold...

I'm very open to feedback, so feel free to leave some!

That Time A Jewish Man Wanted To Cut A Pound Of Flesh From A Christian Man

The Merchant Of Venice, by William Shakespeare. 

What do I think is going to happen in the story?

I know the basic storyline. But what else do I think will happen?
I feel like there will be a few... sorry, a lot of arguments.
Rumours, other than ships sinking, might spread about whats going on?
Some... discrimination about religions, which was something I picked up from the
trailer

Something I am interested in/wondering about after watching these videos: (This one and this one)

What actually happens to Shylock after court? What happens to the others?
What are their lives like afterwards? Is it complete happily ever afters for everyone,
other than Shylock? Or do some things go wrong?

Something I think will be challenging about this subject:

Definitely understanding what is going on and what is being said.
I will obviously be able to ask for help from classmates/the teacher or even go to
Google for that one, though.


Questions:

Scene 1:
1. Antonio is depressed without knowing why? What two possible reasons do his
friends suggest?
He's in love or he's worried his boast sunk.
2. Do you think that Gratonio's contributions help Antonio's mood?
Not really, he seemed to be nagging him rather than helping him.
3. What are your first impressions of Bassanio
He's broke and innocent
4. Is he in love
Yes, with Portia
5. Why does he need to borrow money again now?
To impress Portia.

Scene 2:
6. How do Portia's first words compare with Antonio's?
She seems to be more whiney than sad.
7. What is the reason for her mood
She's fed up with her suitors not meeting her expectations 8. Do you think Nerissa is a help to her
A little bit but not a lot. She's "laying" out Portia's options for her.
9. Sum up in one word or phrase, Portia's attitude towards the suitors
Malicious

Scene 3

1.Shylock is a moneylender. Does he seem eager to do business with Bassanio?
How do you know?
No. Because Bassanio, going through Antonio, isn't confident he's able to pay it back
in time, or at all.

2.Which does Shylock think is safe, his business or Antonio’s? Why?
His business, Antonio doesn't have the money on hand and his boats could sink
at any second

3.Why doesn’t Shylock want to dine with Bassanio and Antonio?
Because of their religions. Bassanio and Antonio would most likely have food that
Shylock isn't allowed to eat, due to religion

4.What strict principal of his is Antonio breaking to help Bassanio?
Never lend or borrow money with interest.

5.Shylock tells a bible story to prove that the taking of profit is blessed,
as long as thieving is not involved. Does he convince Antonio? Give evidence.
No. Antonio says "This was a venture, sir, that Jacob served for— A thing not in his
power to bring to pass But swayed and fashioned by the hand of heaven.
Was this inserted to make interest good? Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams?"
Which basically means, "No, he had no control over what actually happened and
was going by luck. God made that happen, not him. Are you saying that this story
means taking interest is okay? Are your interest's Jacobs sheep?"

6.Shylock accuses Antonio of a whole catalogue of nastiness. How does
Antonio answer the charges?
Antonio admits to them and basically says that he has done it once, he will do it
again.

7.How does Bassanio react to the proposed bond?
Bassanio doesn't like it, he thinks it's stupid. He doesn't want Antonio to take it for
him because he can find another way.

Science 2018: Lab Equipment And Uses

Test Tube - To hold small amounts of liquid













Beaker - for mixing, stirring, and heating chemicals/liquids













Conical Flask - for pouring and heating solutions

Funnel - To transfer items from one larger container to another smaller container

Fumehood - to limit exposure to hazardous or toxic fumes, vapours or dust

Bunsen Burner - To heat up chemicals or liquids

Measuring cylinder - to measure liquids more precisely

Scissor Tongs and Test tube tongs - to hold items, usually over a bunsen burner













Clamp stand -  to hold other pieces of equipment

Musical Performance

What does live performance mean?

A performance of something like songs, plays etc. done in one take, usually in front of an audience.

What could go wrong in a live performance?

Basically anything, the music could stop, you could forget your lines/lyrics, technical difficulties.

What did you like about this performance?

The choreography is really good, it goes really well with the song.

Chicago - Cell Block Tango Chicago - We Both Reached For The Gun

Nightclub sensation Velma murders her philandering husband, and Chicago's slickest lawyer, Billy Flynn, is set to defend her. But when Roxie also winds up in prison, Billy takes on her case as well -- turning her into a media circus of headlines. Neither woman will be outdone in their fight against each other and the public for fame and celebrity.

1. I really like all the songs and how they fit together

2. I also like just the storyline in general

3. I like how the actors portrayed the characters

What do you think it means?

Sophisticated Picture Books: The Heart and the Bottle. By Oliver Jeffers. 

Credit - Brain Picking

What happens in this book?

A young girl has an immense imagination. With her grandad (dad?) by her side, she can think of and do anything. No matter what she does, he's always there with her. Until one day, his chair was empty. This can come across as he has died or he has just left in general. After this, she decides she needs to protect her heart. To do this she places it inside a bottle. Possibly symbolising "bottling" up her feelings? She places the bottle around her neck. As life goes on, the bottle around her neck gets heavier and heavier. The heavier the bottle gets, the smaller and weaker her imagination grows. She stops being curious about the world. Until, one day, when she's much older, she meets a young girl. The young girl is very much like her younger self. Upon meeting this younger girl, the older girl remembers about the bottle around her neck and wants to get it back out. She, however, cannot figure out a way to get it back out. After trying and trying, the younger girl says she might know a way to get it out. Just like that, the young girl gets it out of the bottle and the older girl gets her imagination back.
This can be thought of in many different ways. But maybe your idea is different to mine or others? If you ever get the chance to read this, certainly do!

Who would you recommend this book to and why?

Credit - Amazon

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a book you can think about it. Or even someone going through, or have been through, grief. Why? Well, this book is one where you have to both read between the lines and make sense of the pictures. One of the main underlines of this story is grief and acceptance of loss, showing you it's not the best idea to bottle up your feelings and to just tell someone.

How is curiosity important in this story?

It shows us what you can lose when losing someone important to you. You aren't just losing that person but everything that person gave you. Whether it be life skills, or in the book's case, curiosity. She could've felt safe to be curious about the world while she was with him and when she lost him, that feeling of security went with him.

Have you read this book before?

If yes, what did you like about it? What did you take from it?

If no, would you want to read it?