A Lecture on Rwanda

Many things lead to the problems in Rwanda. “A Lecture on Rwanda” is about Africa from 1959 – 1994. Rwanda is a very small country in central Africa. It starts off talking about how Rwanda is covered in mountains and the tribe. The one group in Rwanda is called the Banyarwanda. Their 3 sub groups; the Hutus, the Tutsis, and the twa. The Hutus are farmers, the Tutsis are cattle owners, and the Twas are servants and laborers. The Germans originally owned the country but after world war two they had to give it to the Belgians. The Belgians favoured the Tutsis but when they demanded independence they switched sides to the Hutus. When the cattle would ruin the farmland, there would be an argument between those two tribes. There would be constant battle the two tribes, but when the plane that carried the Hutu president was shot down the genocide started. The Hutus slaughtered the Tutsis. Between half a million and one million people were killed. Next I will be talking about the rituals and way of life of the Rwandans and how it is interesting.

The rituals and way of life the Rwandans practice is very interesting. The ceremony the Tutsis have when the cattle kick up a dust cloud is cool. The Leader of the Tutsis has the most cattle. The more cattle you have the more important you are. When the cattle’s walk and kick up a cloud the goal is to get the biggest cloud ever and to make it last the longest. The bigger it is and the longer it lasts gives even better luck. I learned that there was also another tribe named the twa. They are only 1% of the population and they are pigmies. The Tutsis have 14% of the population, yet for a while they were in power because they were preferred over the Hutus by the Belgians. I was very surprised that the Hutus did not try to take over the power much earlier because they had a significant amount of more people than the Tutsis did. I am also surprised that when the Tutsis kept taking more land for the Hutus that they wouldn’t stand up to it. Next I will be discussing two quotes from the book that are interesting.

These quotes are entertaining and show how Africa and Rwanda are very unique. The first quote is about how Rwanda has tons of mountains and that it is a big problem because the country is small and there is not too much flat land. “High yet gentle peaks stretch before you into infinity.” (170) It is a bad sign that if you cannot see the end of the mountains and you are surrounded in them that you will not have much flat land in such a small country. That is why space in Rwanda was fought for over by the Hutus and the Tutsis. “The officially orchestrated massacre of the defenseless population lasts three months, until the day the RPF troops seize control of the country, forcing adversary to flee.” (181) This quote is about the genocide against the Tutsis after the president who was Hutu was killed and it was blamed on the Tutsis.

Video Game Review Blog: "Lugaru"

Ryan Irwin                                                                                                     Friday, December 3, 2010

Video Game Review Blog

            Lugaru is one of my favourite games I have played. It is a very interesting and fun game. It is an action adventure game. You run around as a bunny rabbit and try to beat up other rabbits with weapons such as staffs, swords, and knives. The storyline is also interesting because your family is massacred and the whole story is trying to figure out who did and trying to kill them. Along the way there are many other problems than just the enemies that killed your family because you run into wolves and other rabbit fighting for their families. The game has many levels and is has tons of surprises. There are so many options in this game so that it is impossible to get bored. They are in the progress of making a sequel to the game that looks even more interesting. The main menu layout is very interesting and nice to look at. For your progress in story mode it shows a map and it is marked with red dots. These red dots show the main places you have visited and the main levels you have beaten. It also includes challenge mode which is a very fun alternative to the story mode incase you get bored or are stuck on a difficult level. Since challenge mode is mainly based on fighting, you can practice your skills so when you try and beat the level that was too difficult for you, you can finally beat it. It is compatible for Mac, PC, and Linux.

            My Favourite part about the game is the challenge mode. There are two modes to this game, story mode, which has a plot to it and challenge mode. Challenge mode is just your normal action packed fighting with no plot or any point to the killing. It is old school style because every time you beat a level you go to the next level, and the next level has even more enemies, even stronger, enemies, and smarter enemies. Even new weapons are introduced throughout the levels. It is very fun to challenge your friends to see what level you can get to or to race them to a certain level.

            There were many things I enjoyed about this game but there are some features about this game that I did not like so much. I did not think that the dialog when people are speaking was put together very well. It had a few spelling errors and the grammar wasn’t so good either. It was most likely translated to English very poorly. Another problem with the game was the jumping over walls. They intended your character to grab on to the top of the wall when they are near it, but this feature did not work very well because whenever you jumped near a wall you would automatically grab the wall, which could be very annoying at times. I really liked the different moves you could put together while fighting and the sneaky tactics they added to the game. They had a wide variety of different attacks and you received combo points for hitting the enemy a certain amount of times in a row with ought getting touched. I also liked that instead of just running up to the enemy you could sneak behind him while in sneak mode so you could get an advantage for the battle. This game is made very well and I really enjoyed playing it.

Independent Reading Blog: "Born To Run"

       Independent Reading Blog                                                             Ryan Irwin

Born To Run is book is my favourite book that I have ever read. It will interest everyone who reads the book. The book is like Magic; it lures anyone into wanting to continue the book. Athletes would especially love this book because it teaches you the secrets of running and a secret tribe. This book is about a journalist who likes to run but he is out of shape and he keeps on getting injured. So he decides to see sports medicine doctors and they all seem to say the same thing. They all say pretty much that his body is not meant for running. This is not true and this book teaches you why. He ends up stumbling across some information of a secret running tribe that can run for miles, and miles, and miles. From here his journey begins of a life changing experience, and he learns the secret to running.

            My favourite character from the book is a person named Barefoot Ted. His name seems a little weird but he is amazing. I might have given this away already but he is an ultra marathoner that runs in nothing but his bare feet. Yes this seems very weird and the first thing that comes to your mind might be asking yourself these questions: Wow, does he get injured a lot? How do his feet manage without all the support that running shoes give you? Why would anyone even think of doing this? Well, it would shock you to tell you that running without shoes is better for your feet, your legs and your body. Well, it may also shock you if I told you that the cheaper the shoe the better.  (Now you may be thinking by now that this is very stupid and it is a big joke, but actually your foot doesn’t need ankle support or soft soles. Your foot doesn’t want to land on its heel. Your foot actually includes support and shock absorption and support by itself. It is also more natural to land on the ball of your foot before your heel). The character Barefoot Ted teaches you all about it.

            As I said before this book is my favourite book and I would argue that it is the most interesting book ever. When I think about the book I cannot spot out one thing that I disliked about the book. Except for the fact that it was to short, but it is a very well written book and is very, very interesting. I like a lot how it start in the present then skips back to race that happened in the past then goes back to the present, and the past makes everything that he said before it make sense. It is great how when you meet a new character it instantly goes into a big description of the character. I like how the book talks about how some of the runner’s personal lives and how they party just like normal people. This book was amazing and I would advise you to read it.