The Cove

I watched this documentary in class. It's called The Cove and it has got to be one of the most heartbreaking documentaries I have ever seen. It's about an inspiring activist named, Ric O'Barry. In the 1960s he captured and trained dolphins for a television show called Flipper. Kathy was one of his favourite dolphins. She lived in The Miami Seaquarium, after they were done filming, they brought her with them as if she were a prop, she also performed for crowds. O'Barry claims that she "committed suicide" in his arms due to stress from excessive noise.


He said that dolphins, unlike humans, are conscientious of their breathing, and that they could just stop at any time.When Kathy committed suicide O'Barry started to realize something he'd been blind about for years. Kathy just suffer from stress due to being in captivity. Dolphins in captivity are stressed because of all the noise coming from the spectators. For dolphins, their sense of hearing is their strongest sense and the noise was so loud it caused many to die.

He founded the Dolphin Project in 1970, it was a group designed to educate the public of captivity and even free some of the dolphins in captivity, he has been doing this for 40 years. The first dolphin he saved was from a sub-standard sea pen in Bimini, the dolphin was swimming in its own feces.

He then went to Taiji, Japan. He found out that people were capturing as many dolphins as they could and the young dolphins were to be trained, while the older dolphins were brought to the Killer Cove, where they killed 23 000 dolphins a year. 

At first the fishermen said that they killed these dolphins for the meat, but O'Barry went around Taiji asking people if they knew about the dolphin killing, no one did. Everyone said that they don't consider dolphin as food, the dolphins just entertain them. They started giving school kids free dolphin meat at lunch as a form of propaganda. The legal amount of toxicity in meat is 0.4 parts per million. The dolphins they were killing were not within the restrictions.

Next the fishermen said that they were told to kill them by the government, that it was about pest control. That isn't true because they would drive around the sea in speedboats and forced the dolphins to swim toward shore.

In reality, the government kept it under the radar because for every dolphin they got that was alive sold for $150 000, every dead dolphin was sold for $500. The fishermen said the they were trying to keep as many alive as they can. I'm guessing that boat has about 13 dead dolphins in it, and that water doesn't even look like water. I seriously doubt they tried to keep too many of the dolphins alive.

Ric O'Barry and some of his fellow activists put cameras in fake rocks that they placed by the cove to get footage of what was happening. It was gruesome, the fishermen brought thousands of dolphins to that cove daily just to kill them. O'Barry went to a meeting for the IWC (International Whaling Commission) with a T.V. strapped to his torso, the T.V. displayed the footage they got of what the fishermen do in the cove. He also stood in the streets of Taiji just playing the footage over and over for the public to see.

The thing I hate the most is that this world is so corrupted that people will standby and let these horrible things happen for no other reason than because there's a lot of money involved. Also I want to know what makes those people think that a dolphin's life has any less value than ours. They are intelligent beings they know whats happening when they're brought out to that cove, they know when they're being taken away from family members, they have just as much right to live as we do.

O'Barry mentions that in this generation not many people are stepping up to plate and trying to help. Here's a link to a petition, if you feel the same way I do, sign it, if you don't sign it, well then just remember this: It's still happening right now as you are reading this and it's not something that will just go away.

The last 8 words of the documentary are: Unless we stop it. Unless you stop it.

Lit. Circle Books

My first choice is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. My second choice is The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. I chose Thirteen Reasons Why as my first choice because as soon as I read the description I was instantly interested. It sounds like a really good book and I really want to read it. I chose The Glass Castle as my second choice because someone I know read it and they said that it was good. They also read some chapters aloud and I really liked it. The first book I crossed off immediately was A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness because I don't really like books about vampires. There was only one book that I knew I wouldn't want to read from the beginning. I narrowed it down to two because There were only a few books that really stood out to me in the first place and those were The Glass Castle, Thirteen Reasons Why, and Essex County. I crossed off Essex County because the other two books seemed the most interesting to me.

Grade 11 Courses

I chose my grade 11 courses recently. It was not very easy to be honest. But in the end, I chose Beginner Guitar, Photography, University level English, Parenting, Intro to Anthropology, Psychology, and Sociology, Philosophy: The Big Question, Mixed Functions, a math course between University level and College level, Exploring Hairstyling and Aesthetics, and I chose grade 12 Philosophy as an alternate. I'm really excited about grade 11 because I've wanted to learn guitar for a while now, and I'm most excited about Philosophy and Parenting.

Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes

I read this book recently. It's about a teenage boy, named Karl Shoemaker, with and alcoholic mom and a father that died of lung cancer. The time perod is 1973. He's in a therapy group at school, the other people in the therapy group are: Cheryl, she's in the Madman Underground because she loses her temper and has crying fits, and she's an incest victim. There's Esquibel, his friends call him Squid, he's in the Madman Underground because he has depression and anger issues, he's done some binge drinking, his mother commited suicide, his stepmom hates him, and his dad drinks and hits him. Bonny is in the Madman Underground because she's abandoned while her parents go on vacations, and she has to keep her house running. Darla is in the Madman Underground because she's also abandoned by her parents and left to keep her house running, and her brother was taken away by children's service because she threatened to blind him with Drano. Danny lives on a farm with an alcoholic dad that hates him, and he is in the Madman Underground because his dad makes him do all the work on the farm, which is falling apart, his dad also hits him and belittles him. Paul is in the Madman Underground because he saw his mom get runover by a car, he's gay and isn't accepted for it, especially by his dad. There's also Marti, she's a new girl that came from a genius school, her dad is a scientist and a professor and he thinks she should be as smart as him. Her mom is an alcoholic, and both of her parents yell at her. Those are all the people in the Madman Underground. This is a very good book and what happens in it is exactly what the title is, the whole book is only about a week's length, but there's flashbacks of old stories about the Madman Underground. This book is sad in some ways, but also funny on ther ways. I recommend this book, it is a very good read.

Some of my favourite things

This is my Photography Intro Project. At the top left hand corner, the photo of the dog is my dog Jasmine. I've had that dog since 2000. My parents got her for me and my sister for Christmas.
The photo beside that is City and Colour (aka Dallas Green), He's my absolute favourite musician. My favourite song is O'sister.
The next photo is of converse because I love those shoes.
The photo on the left underneath Jasmine is a photo my friend took of me rowing. There's a Rowing Club at my school and I joined it, we get up at 5 in the morning to go rowing before school. It wakes you up that's for sure.
The photo beside that is me on a dinosaur at a park by my house. The next one is Eminem because well, I love Eminem. I've listened Eminem since I was 10 and I still enjoy his music, but I don't like his Recovery album as much as his older songs. I just find that his older music is better.
Underneath the rowing photo is a picture of my friend and I colouring with chalk. In that photo I am 15 years old and I don't care if people think that colouring with chalk is for little kids because I find it very entertaining.
The photo underneath the chalk drawing one is of the Harry Potter series. Those books are very interesting and I love them.
The photo of the black puppy is my dog Chester. I got him in 2009. He is the best dog in the world. I love him, and he has a great personality. He is the cutest thing ever! :)
Then the photo of Slumdog Millionaire is there because it's one of my favourite movies.

About me

This is a post about me and what I find interesting. I love music. My favourite musician is City and Colour (aka Dallas Green). I also like Marianas Trench, Eminem, Slipknot, Bruno Mars and I also really like a band called Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls, unless you're a major Harry Potter fan you won't know who they are, and in case it isn't already obvious I am one. Some movies I enjoy are Devil, The Hangover, Slumdog Millionaire, Remember Me, and Alice in Wonderland. Books I like are Harry Potter of course, the series Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness, Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes, and Crank by Ellen Hopkins. My interests and hobbies are unique to the world that I have grown up in.

Killing Vermin

I believe that if someone kills a raccoon and people get upset about that then it should be the same for rats and other vermin. Only getting upset about cute animals being killed is unfair. death shouldn't be the first option. There are better ways to deal with pests, for example, if you have vermin living on your property that aren't harming anybody, you should call the Humane Society. If there are vermin that are killing anyone or are seen as dangerous and relocation doesn't help then that's when killing the animal should be acceptable, in my opinion.

Words

How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days
Ben: You wanted to lose me Andie, well you did it. You just lost me.
Andie: No I didn't Ben. Because you can't lose something you never had.

I love this quotation, because I love the way Andie says her line.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Albus Dumbledore: Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?

I like this quote because it's actually very true. I also like the way he says it because Harry asked him as if it could be one but not the other.

Crossing Lines By Paul Volponi
At that moment, I felt like I was a tightrope walker. That I was on a thin rope stretched a thousand feet up in the air over a bottomless pit.

I think this part in the book is an oxymoron because it doesn`t really make sense to me.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Aberforth Dumbledore: What makes you think you can trust him? What makes you think you can believe anything my brother told you? In all the time you knew him, did he ever mention my name? Did he ever mention hers?


 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Severus does the patronus charm; it is symbolic to Lily Potter.
Albus Dumbledore: After all this time?
Severus Snape: Always.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Harry Potter: You'll stay with me?
Lily Potter: Always.
Sirius Black: Until the end.

I believe humanity was born from conflict. Maybe that's why in all of us lives a dark side. Some of us embrace it. some of us have no choice. The rest of us fight it. In the end, it's as simple as the air we breathe. At some point, we're forced to face the truth. Ourselves.

Alice in Wonderland (2010)
The Mad Hatter: There is a place. Like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger! Some say to survive it: You need to be as mad as a hatter. Which luckily I am.

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

The Mad Hatter: Have I gone mad?
[Alice checks Hatter's temperature]
Alice Kingsley: I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.

 

Necessity - Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls

Your illusions of grandeur are just delusional musings at best.

Literary Devices

Simile: Her voice droned on like a hive of bees.

Simile: Within seconds, there was a buzz in the class that kept on building. It moved like a wave...

Simile: Alan was wearing lipstick-red, red lipstick that stood out like a stop sign against his pale skin and blond hair.

My comments

I think that post was very clever and true.

 I commented here.

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