My favorite american TV show :

Hello everyone, in this post,  Im going to présent you my favorite TV-show. This was a really hard décision since I have so many in mind. From « Prison break »,  « Alias », « Battle Star Galactica », « Dexter » and « Heroes », only one will prevail. My final choice will be based upon 3 factors :

The scenario

The originality

 And its ability to keep me satisfied the whole season

Indeed, many TV- show have outstanding first season but then gets boring as the scenario goes.

Ok, and the winnnner is….

Prison Break.

This tv-show  is about 2 brothers : Michael Scofeild and Lincoln Burrows. This latter is held in Fox River prison and is sentenced to death for the murder of the vice president ‘s brother. After Linc convinced Michael he was framed, he decides to lock himself in prison in order to  sneak him out of Fox River. The whole  escape is meticulously planned  in every détail th

anks to Michael Scofeild  who happenes to be a structural engineer who designed Fox River. Therefore he has complete access to the blueprints as well as the security system and made himself a complete tattoo of his escape plan. However, things doesn’t always go according to the 

plan. This is where the suspens gets tense

 

First, I was really curious of how a scenarist could write an escape through a whole season. Indeed it takes some writting skills and imagination to keep the watchers appetized by just telling a 

single escape story. It is usually told in one movie of  couples hours (« The shawshank rédemption »). After watching the pilote episode, I realilsed that Michael Scofield’s escape plan is no easy task to pull out.

 The characters

In prison break, Michael Scoofield is surrounded by dangerous inmates with strong charismas. They are the secondary characters of the show. Each one them are different and act accordingly to their  own personality. Since inmates can’t be trusted, Michaels scofield cleverly « strings » the prisonner’s to his benefit. (The term string is commonly used in prison break as a reference of a puppeteer manipulating his toy via strings).

Michael Scofield stringing the prisoner has become a symbole of the show and even have its own music theme called « string of prisoners » :

 Scofield : He’s the mastermind of the escape operation. When he arrived in prison, inmates call him "Fish", a term that designate a new prisoner.

Lincoln Burrows : Michael’s scofield brother, he ‘s been sentenced to death and try to escape with the help of his brother.

T-bag : The rapist and pedophile of the TV-show. Probably the most viscous character among all inmates.

Sucre : Michael’s cellmate. He’s probably the only inmate Michael trust. He’s also the c

haracter that brings a certains sens of humor.

Tweener : A new inmates that will appear in the show. He ‘s got a solid thieving skills as well as a strong accent from Texas

John Abruzzi : He’s the mafia. He owns PI (Prison industrie) and plays a role in Michael Scofield plan.

C-notes : A former military soldier who end up in prison. He’s the known to be the reseller of fox river and can get you anything you need for a small fee.

Bellick : He’s one of the top warden of the prison and doesn’t like Michael Scofield at all.

As you may have notice, the main characters are mostly inmates with lack of likeliness which make the show really original. And the suspens is build arround the theme : Cat and mouse.

Work in progress...

 

Cape Wind

Assignement: Cape Wind

Benchmark :  reference of comparison

Nantucket sounds : sea area south east MA

Bellwether: Leading Sheep of the flock

political shenanigans: secret or dishonest activity

This text is about Cape Wind project which is designed to exploit natural energy from the wind by using offshore wind farm located in Nantucket Sounds. The project has been negociated over 7 years and yet, hasn’t win the final approval. Indeed the Obama’s election face a dilemma between the Cape wind project and his new political allegiance. However, the agency report is good news and may strenghten the Cape Wind Project.

All the project supporter including major environmental group celebrated the release of the final project on the environnement but the Cape Wind project still faces issues such as navigational hazard and property violation.

However, the Cape Wind project has to face majors opponents. In this essay, we are going to sum up both camp and their point of view.

According to Randall  Luthi, the Management Mineral Service director, the Cape Wind project is a huge breakthrough and could become the new model to follow for the next offshore wind project to come.

However, in order pursue the project, it will need to sign a contract with the secretary of interior.

If everything goes right, Jim Gordon, the president of  the cape wind project hopes the construction would begin by the end of this year and that the wind farm would be ready to produce energy by 2012.

However, the cape Wind project faces a major opponents: Senator  Edward M Kenedy who was a longtime opponent of the project. Indeed, he never believed the favorable review of Cape Wind project would stand.

Former governor Mitt Romney and US représentative William D.Delahunt who worked against the project.

Although the opponent, Cape Wind project has a huge asset: Governor Deval Patrick who happens to be in favor of the natural energy project and a big ally of Obama as well.  The president has placed in top priority the development of new clean energy, which is in total correlation with Cape Wind.

Other supporter such as Nathanael Greene, director of renewable energy policy at the Natural Resource Defense Council do believe that more research and studies are needed in order to be sure that clean energy project can be adopted as quickly. 

So as we can see in the text, opinions about the Cape Wind Project are shared between 2 sides. On one hand, some believe that the usage of this new technology is a huge breakthrough and might even set the standards for the future offshore wind farms and on the other hands some people don’t believe in this new sources of energies for the reasons we’ve mentioned above.

Inauguration day.

Ok so I was at the gym exercising a little on my bike and listening to some interviews about about the inauguration day and the fact that Obama will be the first Black President. It was before the president gave his speech.Those were the idea that came the most and I though it was worth it to mention them again...

Hope

A dream come true, Martin Luther King’s dream

Proud of beeing an American

Page of History

The oath...

Ok, the first time I listened to it , it seems  to me that Obama had some troubles with pronoucing the oath. Actually, by searching on the internet, I discovered that it was the chief justice ou messed up the second line of the oath. This is why Obama got confused and threw Obama off track.

But hey... those lines were  seriously too long for one to remember... Especially in front of 2 000 000 people... Would you be able to say it out loud without hesitating? Honnestly, I would’ve messed up as well...  Obama did well and above all, the oath has been said with sincerity...  

“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States....”. The crowd litteraly burst into tears...

And now, he is officially the 44rth president of the United State. People were screaming, shouting claping of joy... It was so loud that I could even hear them from Boston... There was only 3 sillabus... O-BA-MA .... O-BA-MA.. The man of the day... The symbole of hope and equality.

 

Among this storm of screams... one voice came threw/“ My fellow citizens...” ... The crowds listen in silence...

During his speech, he mention an America in crisis in many different ways... At this point, we realise eventhough he’s a symbole of hope that everyone was waiting for, by becoming the president of the USA,  he unfortunately has inheritated all of its troubles:

People have lost their house because of the subprime crisis, also resulting in job loss. Obama also has mentionned  the insurance policy issue. It is at the moment too expansive  and the price need to be tuned down.

It will be a challenge task to archieve. Nevertheless, Obama is ambitious and is will to rebuildt the America country. Even his speech and his tone  seem to be very reassuring and full of hope... He reaffirmed the amercan valor to all citizens and makes us want to believe that hope will prevail over fear.

Greeting Ladies and gentlemen

Hey every one. As for my first post, I’m going to make a short introduction of myself... But first you need to know I’ve never had a blog before, I don’t really know how it is suppose to be written, how often you’re supposed to update it... and so on...

All Im trying to say is that my blog may look bad but ill try my best to improve it ^^. And I will try to share all my experience of Boston with you guys.

Ok here we gooo!.. Let’s start with the easy stuff. My names is Khai, I’m 25 years old and I’m from Paris. Yep that’s right, Paris like.. the Eiffel Tower. Paris Like “Sacred heart”. Paris like the good wine and the stinky cheese... ^^. It is such a romantic city and there are a load of place where you can take a date out and score some point. My favorite is probably the “Pont de Mirabeau” also known as “ The lovers bridge”. It is said that when you kiss your date while crossing this bridge, eternal love awaits you.

Here is a pic of me BTW

I’m currently studying in the ESG, ( Paris graduate school of management) and my major is International business. I am on my forth year and for the second semester we are asked to study abroad. Esg had some sort of exchange programm with boston so I took the opportunity. Indeed, I’ve always wanted to study in america so badly to meet new people, learn about other culture and so on...

As for my hobbies, I like to hang out with my friends, go to nightclubs and Movie Theater... I know, not very original.. Oh… I also like Iceskating.. Oh yeah.. Actually, I luuuv Iceskating.. It’s so much fun and it is a nice place to meet people as well. Ok Ok.. You got me... By people, i mean some hot chicks^^ (that is so true). I’ve heard there was an outside ice skating rink in boston and Im planning to go there soon. Anyone wants to join me? ^^

So, as you can see.. I have a very exciting life... Not many hobbies.. No girl friend... Oh wait... have I mention that before? Yeah you read right... Im single!! Perfect freedom...

Ok enough about me... Now let’s talk about my firt impression about Boston.

So when I arrived at the Boston airport, it was dark and freezing... So freezing that iIcouldn’t feel my finger tips... I was like “what the hell? How am I suppose to survive in this weather? It’s so extreme!! I was wearing like 5 layers underneath my coat but It felt like I was naked”. Then I took a cab to my residence. I was so excited to meet all my floor mates. Will there be any ambiance in my floor? Any chance of meeting a girl? I ‘ve even thought about “pick up lines” and other good icebreaker... However, when I arrived... The place was totally quiet. Not a single student. No noise.. No ambiance... Nothing. I was very confused and worried... Indeed, I don’t wanna live in a dorm where nothing happens, I mean who does? Then I realized that all BU residence close their room during winter vacation. This is why there was no one. But still, I felt lonely for couple days...

First night, first trouble.

I finally opened my room, I realized that there was no blanket. So I rushed the closest market in the street ( Good Will ) in the freezing desert. And bam, the shop was already closed...  For this first night, I had to use my towel as a blanket cuz my room was freezing cold. And my bed felt like i was sleeping in a huge bag of plastic. It was a rough night.

As you may have noticed, my first impression are just based on this first day...But i guarantee you, the next ones was so much more exciting. ^^

Quang Khai Nguyen