Psych

Psych is a WhoDunit comedy TV series about a man named Shawn Spencer, who has the ability of exceptional observation skills and photographic memory, but he attributes his abilities as being psychic and is hired by the police after a member of the rich and influential McCallum family, Camden McCallum Jr. is kidnapped. Shawn, using his memory and "psychic" abilities theorizes that the kidnapped man may have kidnapped himself in order to get the 5-million dollar ransom. When the SWAT team and local police arrive at the isolated woodland cabin where Shawn "sees" that the McCallum is, they burst in to find Camden and his accomplice shot dead. The police, noticing the pistol in the accomplice's hand, says that it was suicide, but 

Shawn thinks otherwise. Once again using his clue-gathering skills and photographic memory, he visits the McCallum family mansion where he confronts the head of the family, Camden McCallum Sr., father of Camden McCallum Jr., and has a vision of McCallum Sr. accidentally killing his son and intentionally killing his accomplice after discovering their woodland hideout. (Of course, he already figured this out using deduction and evidence at the scene of the murder, but he had to keep up the facade that he was psychic in order not to be arrested) McCallum Sr., outraged and scared by Shawn's revelation, orders Shawn and Gus to get out of the house. Gus, Shawn's partner, shows Shawn some medication for a dog bite. Gus theorizes that after that murders, McCallum Sr. was bitten by the dog that mcCallum Jr. owned, but stopped biting him after he recognized who his victim was. Then Shawn calls the police, and acting like McCallum Sr., says to the police that "there's an intruder in my house. Please come and arrest him." As Shawn is being arrested he pretends to have another vision, this time about the dig bite, and tells the Chief of police to check McCallum's wrists. After this, McCallum finally cracks, and Shawn is pardoned. At the end of the episode, Shawn shows Gus a piece of property he recently bought, and says that this is the site of their new detective agency.

This is an example of the SUSPECT who may or may not have commited the CRIME.

This is an example of the DETECTIVE or the INVESTIGATOR who is trying to solve the crime.

This is an example of the VICTIM of the crime.

This is an example of the EVIDENCE that may or may not help the IVESTIGATOR solve the crime.

This is an example of a WITNESS to a murder.

This is an example of the CRIMINAL who commited the crime.

Monk

On thursday we watched an episode of the award winning WhoDunit television series Monk. The episode was called the Case of the Voodoo Curse. In this episode Mink is called in to investigate the mysterious death of a woman who was hit on the head with a baseball. After her death, her family finds a box in the woman's house, and inside that box is a voodoo doll with a baseball stitched to its head. The weird thing is it was mailed 3 days before she died. 2 other people die, and each one ofthem have a voodoo doll mailed to their house a short while before they die. I did not like watching this show because evidence and clues are scarce, as compared to Sherlock Holmes where a lot of clues are found and the reader or the watcher, in the case of the Sherlock Holmes movie, must figure out the puzzle for himself and that is what makes it fun to red or watch. Monk however does not have many clues and the whole effect of "reader figuring out puzzle and then being surprised by surprise"ending is ruined when Monk explains the whole thing in a car chase. Needless to say, I did not enjoy this very much.

Traitor

Traitor, by Andy Mcnab is an explosive, suspense filled adventure story about 17 year old Danny Watts, who is in training to become a member of the British army. When it seems like Danny finally has the chance to become an actual soldier, his dreams are shattered by a single news story. SAS TRAITOR MASTERMINDS COLUMBIAN PRISON BREAKOUT. The traitor is someone Danny knows all too well, his grandfather, Fergus Watts, aka Frankie. As Danny sets of on a journey to find his grandfather and show him that he has ruined his life, a whole new plot begins to unravel, and Danny realizes that Fergus might not be the traitor at all.

My favorite parts were the parts where they use surveillance slang and acronyms in the book because it’s really interesting to see how soldiers and spies communicate.  E.g.: Mag=Magazine for a gun, Rounds= Bullets, LUP= Lay up point or camping point, CTR= Close target recon and so on.

Andy Mcnab was born on 28^th December 1959 and is an English writer and former soldier. He says that “ I never did well in school, and I didn’t even know what a syllable was.” He 

was awarded several medals, including the Military Medal and the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his part in the failed SAS operation that involved a SAS unit whose call sign was Bravo-Two-Zero. Andy was a member and the leader of the unit, and hypothermia and bullets killed 3 of his friends. Andy is still believed to be wanted by some of the major terrorist organizations of the world so he chooses to not reveal his face or his current position.

Plastiki

I am here to tell you about a new thing called Plastiki. But before that, I have to tell you a small story. During the 1950's and 60's, there were a group of scientists who theorized that early man might have populated the continents by using rafts to sail across the ocean. To prove it, the scientists built a raft out of wood and sailed around the world.The experiment didn't actually prove anything, but it showed that the theory was possible. It was called Kontiki. Now, almost 60 years later, a team of scientists, adventurers and journalists have constructed a 60 foot long catamaran out of plastic bottles. It's known as Plastiki. Their ambitious plan is to use this catamaran to spread awareness about what we are doing to the oceans. Their first stop after leaving San Francisco was the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It is a final stop for all oceanic 

garbage riding the currents, and right now it's bigger than the United States. Their goal, as I said before, is to spread awareness that there is a mass of garbage out there right now which is nearing the size of Canada. If we stop polluting, that thing won't grow smaller, but we can focus all our power the destroy the Patch instead of worrying that it will get bigger. They will also  stop at several sites of ecological importance that are being affected by global warming and the Patch. Islands such as Hawaii, which is the closest US state to the Garbage Patch. Midway, whose spectacular coral reefs and historical WWII shipwrecks are threatened by the large amounts of garbage that breaks loose from the Patch and float into its waters. The British skipper of the vessel, Captain David De Rothschild, says it is a fun and a media-

attracting venture since to spread awareness today you need the media on hand to broadcast everything you say. In my opinion, Plastiki, you have my full support. I think that this is a great way to show the world what exactly it is they are doing to our beautiful oceans, and that there is a simple answer to it. Unite and stop polluting.

Elephant Run

Elephant Run by Roland Smith is an action packed suspense filled adventure set in Burma in 1941. When Nicholas Gillis Freestone, aka Nick, is sent to Burma to help his dad out in the family’s teak plantation. Nick grows to like the place, but all that is snatched away when the Imperial Japanese Army comes knocking on the front door. With Nick’s dad set to a camp and Nick and Mya, Nick’s friend, all alone, there seems to be nothing they can do. But the sudden appearance of Hilltop, a mysterious monk, convinces them that they need to set Nick’s dad free. The question is, will they succeed?

 

My favorite part of the book was actually the whole book. Each part was about the same in quality, length and pace, so I can’t judge. But that was the thing I liked about this book.

 

Roland Smith was born in Portland, Oregon November 30^th 1951. He has worked in various zoos around America. Following the 1990 Exxon Valdez oil spill, he promptly launched 

a campaign to save the wildlife injured during the spill. He lives with his wife Marie and children Becky, Shawn and Niki Smith in Tualatin Oregon

Pictoral Definitions: Vocab 10

Melodramatic

Beckoning

Despicable

Godsend

Probation

Impeccable

Ambivalent

Melancholy

Primitive