Q2, P11. Call of Duty 5

This week I'm going to take a different route in my blog. Instead of writing about sports, I am going to focus on video games. The game i have selected is Call of Duty 5. The game is set during World War Two in places including Russia, Germany, France, and Japan. In the Campaign, you switch off playing as a Russian and American soldier, going on various missions and playing different roles inside your squad. Not only do you get to experience infantry levels, there are also several airplane and land vehicle based missions to play. But the main focus of the game is the online multi-player. If you have an Xbox Live account, you can log in and play a wide variety of game types and maps against people from all around the world. As you kill more and more people, the more weapons and "perks" you unlock. The highest level you can reach is a 65 but you still are not done yet. Once you reach a 65, a player can enter "Prestige Mode" where you go back down to a level one while keeping all of your stats. Prestige Mode can be done ten times and takes a lot of time and skill to complete.

I really like Call of Duty 5. A lot of people were not very excited for the game because they didn't want the game to go back to WWII (Call of Duty 4 was Modern Warfare). But i was very impressed with the game and how it plays. So far I am a level 23, first prestige on Live and am about 1/4 of the way through the Campaign. My favorite level in the Campaign is the first Russian level. You play as a sniper in a German town who must stealthy snipe his way out of trouble until your back up arrives. For Live, my favorite guns are the Springfield (American Sniper Rifle), Mosin Nagant (Russian Sniper Rifle), and the Type 100 (Japanese Sub-Machine Gun). A lot of times on XBL I will play with Joey K. (He's pretty good), Marcus J. (Absolutely terrible/garbage/n00b), and Mark G. (n00b). I'm by far the best and i have to carry our team every time. I have also heard Pat B. is pretty good but him and his Hornettes bag have nothing on me (insider).

Q2, P10. The Odyssey Part 2

The Odyssey endeds on a great note and had a lot of good, fast paced action. When Odysseus returned to Ithica, he silently bid his time disguised as a beggar and collect intel on the enemy over-running his house. Odysseus made a plan to slaughter the suitors with Telemachus and a few other loyal servants. Once it was time to strike, Odysseus shed his disguise and showed who he really was. The suitors were amazed.... Then Odysseus stated the killing spree and didn't stop hurling spears, shooting arrows, and stabbing flesh until the last suitor collapsed dead on the cool floor. Control over the palace was regained and Penelope could finally get it on. The end. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate this book a six because it has a great story line and a good amount of action but gets very boring in a lot of parts. I think it is a decent book to read for school.

So this is my second time blogging about The Odyssey in the last two weeks. Frankly I'm very excited for this unit to be over. Don't get me wrong, I liked the book a lot and I love reading about Greek stories and mythology but it's just getting old. The biggest pain about the book is the fact that we need to do a study guide for every chapter. The concept is pretty good but it would be much better if we did them together as a class. I read every chapter we were supposed to but it is still hard to remember all of the details of what happened. Now I have to go back in my book and find the answer to some of the questions. I think for all the effort we put into these study guides, we should be able to use them for more than the last ten minutes of the test.

Q2, P9. The Odssey

For the past couple of weeks we have been reading The Odyssey by Homer. The book was made long ago and was translated to English so we could read it. The stories two main story lines are following Odysseus and, Telemachus (Odysseus' son). Odysseus has been away from home for a long time and wishes he was safe in his own bed already. But the Gods are set against him and put many obstacles in his way. Telemachus is tired of suitors ruling his house and he decides it time to man up. His journey is to set out looking for news of his father. If he finds his father he will stay out looking for another year. But if he learns his dad is dead, he is supposed to return back to his mother and run their house. Both characters face many challenges during their journeys but also receive help from some Gods that favor them.

So far I have enjoyed The Odyssey. I think it is interesting to read about the long journeys that some warriors had to take back from Troy. I especially like reading about how the Gods help some mortals and are out to kill others. The mythical and magical creatures are also fun to learn about and how they came to be. The book has mostly been pretty good. But some of the books have been boring and uneventful. I am happy that we are skipping part of the book so we don't have to read a ton every night. THANKS MRS. B

Q2, P8. #7 Texas Tech Stuns #1 Texas

Last Saturday Night (11/2/08), The #1 ranked Texas Longhorns faced their long time rival, #7 Texas Tech Raiders. This was the second meeting of the two teams this season and was a highly anticipated one. Not only was this game a big rivalry game but there was sub-plots to go with it including the Heisman Trophy race between Texas QB Colt McCoy and Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell. The game was predicted to be a game of big offenses and high scores and fans of both sides were not disappointed. The Longhorns fell behind 19-0 at halftime but cut the lead to three points at the beginning of the fourth quarter with a 91 yard TD pass to Malcolm Williams. Texas Tech marched back down the field and extended their lead to six. But Texas was not ready to give up and answered with a four yard TD run to capture the lead. It seemed like Texas had won the game but after a big kick return, the Raiders went right back to work. They steadily drove down the field and entered field goal territory. Then with eight seconds left Harrell went for it all heaving the ball down field to WR Michael Crabtree for the winning TD with one second to spare. The Raiders beat arch-rival Longhorns 39-33.

I liked both teams coming into the game but I was very happy to see the underdogs win the game. This was one of the best games I have watched all season and for sure the most exciting. Since Texas Tech won the game they have a shot at the National Championship game and could possibly take the #1 ranking in the country. After his amazing performance, I think Graham Harrell deserves the Heisman Trophy more than any other player in the country. Him and Michal Crabtree have put up amazing number all season and will be playing football for a loooong time to come.