Natural Disasters (Hurricane Katrina)

(source: http://www.katrina.noaa.gov/ and my memory)

Hurricanes are not exactly a pretty site for any part of the world, but one in particular stirred up a storm (no pun intended) when it arrived in the southern US. This hurricane was Hurricane Katrina. A category 5 storm, Katrina ruined the coasts and blew harder than most storms, though normal for a storm of that size. The one thing that ruined it all though, was that the levies apart, flooding the streets of New Orleans, LA. In addition, it did not only destroy the city, but George W. Bush's reputation, due to the way he handled the situation.

Sonic Unleashed Game Guide (Playstation 2 and Wii)

I'm back with another Sonic guide that I read. Sonic Unleashed is a game with the famous blue hedgehog doing what he does best: saving the world from Doctor Eggman (also known as Doctor Robotnik). In the mist of Sonic stopping Eggman again as Super Sonic, he captures Sonic and drains the power of the Chaos Emeralds to unleash a beast inside the earth called Dark Gaia. The side effects are that Sonic turns into a "Werehog" (refered to as WereSonic for the rest of the review) and people act very differently than they would normally, at night. Unlike the people, Sonic is the same on the inside when the sun goes down, despite looking like a beast. The main plot is to restore the Chaos Emeralds' power and stop Eggman as usual. I could go on and on about this game, but it would be rather boring if I did so. The guide itself really helps, but only if you have the PS2 (Playstation 2) or Wii versions. The XBox 360 and Playstation 3 versions are very different versions of the game and there's no guide for them, though the story is just the same. Sonic Unleashed is another game I highly recommend, but then again I may be biased, because I like Sonic a lot.

The Onion - Sh*tload of Mathwork Due Monday

As I have mentioned in my "Good Night Bush" entry, I really like comedy and satire (usually depending on the topic). My Resource Room had a copy of the comedy newspaper "The Onion" and one of the articles was pretty interesting. This particular article was called "Sh*tload of Homework Due Monday" (censored for school reasons). It looks at how a teacher assigned an assignment right before the bell rang and how it was a pointless one. To sum up the article, one of the interviewees said one word. Because this is a school blog, I won't say it on here (Hint: It starts with "F" and ends in a "C-K"). Overall, the humor in that one article is sure to brighten any student's day when one is suffering having too much homework

Guinness World Records - Gamer's Edition 2008

Did you know Sonic The Hedgehog has the longest running video game comic series ever? Or that Super Mario Brothers 3 is the best selling game of all time (not including bundles with consoles)? You could learn this and much more in the Gamer's Edition of the Guinness World Records. If you're a fan of the Guinness World Records series or just love video games, this book is for you. The Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition book is very similar to the regular "World Record" books, but this one has records of gaming such as high scores, sale records and other high ranking stats. Facts like that "Tomb Raider is the most successful video game-based movie" and "World of Warcraft is the most popular MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) with 9.3 million subscribers to date. The good news is there's going to be a 2009 edition, so be on the look out for that, if you like the 2008 edition.

The Broadway Outside Reading series comes to a close with a book about the last show (and my favorite), which I saw for the third time, Mary Poppins. The book's called "Mary Poppins: Anything Can Happen if You Let It." In actuality, it's three books in one. The main book has the same title as the whole collection and explains how Mary came from the books to the film and to the stage. There's also a design portfolio of sketches of sets and costumes that are/were used in the West End and Broadway productions of the show. The last book has pictures of the original Broadway cast for most of the show's parts. As for the show itself, if you expected to see the movie on stage, you're in for a big surprise. It's based off of the P.L. Travers books as well, so it's not all familiar territory for Disney fans. Personally, I knew all about it before I saw it in person for the first time and it's my favorite version of Mary Poppins to this day.

Outside Reading - Spamalot (to close in 2009)

(Sources: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/122497.html and http://www.broadway.com/Broadway-s-Spamalot-to-Close-One-Week-Earlier/broadway_news/5016130)

The second of the Broadway O.R. collection is here, with an article on Monty Python's Spamalot. Spamalot is a show spoofing the medieval times, for those who haven't seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail. However, the jokes are more out there than in the movie (or at least in what I've seen of it). In addition, the humor keeps getting updated. For example, at the show I was at, they did a joke: "When's a plumber not a plumber? When his name is Joe" (It's a political joke). The bad news is that it's closing on January 11th, 2009. When it does close, it will have performed 1,582 performances along with 35 previews.

Outside Reading - Avenue Q Review

(this "review of a review" is based off a review from http://gonyc.about.com/cs/broadwayshows/gr/avenueq.htm)

As you may know, I was in New York in October. Starting with this blog, I'll post something related to each of the three shows I saw, starting with Avenue Q. Avenue Q, at first glance, seems like just Sesame Street for adults. However, it's much more than that. It's a story about a man named Princeton, who is moving to Avenue Q and wants to discover his purpose. He meets Kate Monster and the rest is history. At least, I won't reveal it for those who want to see the show. The characters are almost all puppets, a la Sesame Street, but there are some humans too. Keep in mind though, this show is aimed for adults and is not appropriate for children. The message of the show is that nothing's forever ("Your hair... is only for now, George Bush... is only for now" - "For Now" (song from show)) and you don't need a purpose to succeed in life.