Christmas

“Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la'Tis the season to be jollyFa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Don we now our gay apparel
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la.
Troll the ancient Yule-tide carol
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.”
(Deck the halls)

We all know this song, at least from the Disney shows they show on TV in Norway during Christmastime. However, some people do not find Christmas jolly at all. Many people around the world have a hard time making ends meet, even more thinking of Yule-presents. For these people, Christmas can be really stressful and nerve wrecking.

But of course, many people have a much harder life altogether. In Africa, HIV and AIDS are common diseases. Deceases strike, also during the holidays, so there is no difference between Christmastime and other parts of the year. People in these continents are poor, and barely educated. The hygienic conditions are bad; making diseases spread fast trough polluted drinking water. These people don’t care about Christmas presents, but how to survive the coming year. In the western parts of the world, we use millions and millions of dollars to buy presents. Still, the question to ask ourselves is this, what if some of this money went to charity?

The Killers, a sensation

Every year since the Killers got together, they have made a Christmas single, where every single dollar of their income goes to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. They started this in 2006, with their single A great big sled. This single was in cooperation with Toni Halliday. In 2007, they released Don’t Shoot me Santa. In 2008, they released Joseph, Better you than me, together with Elton John and Neil Tennat. In 2009, they published ¡Happy Birthday Guadalupe! This single was also a cooperation project, but this time with Wild Light and Mariachi El Bronx. In 2010, they published Boots, and all the income from these singles has been given to charity, as mentioned earlier.

The Killers is a very acknowledged band, with many fans all over the world. Therefore, I think this act is even more touching, because they could have earned a lot on these singles. Another prospect of it is that these songs are very well planed and thought trough, which make them great hits. Giving the income of such big successes as these is a big-hearted action. One person can not change the world by himself, but together we can make a difference. I believe that actions like this, and using ones talents to change another human's life for the better, is really kind. But, isn't that what Christmas is all about?Doing something as selfless as this? If everyone started to act upon a greater good, I think we can make a difference together. Why not start by listening to the Killers, Boots? Let us hope the Killers will keep this tradition alive, and that we get to hear many great, new songs from them in the future.

Marry Christmas, and a Happy new year to you all!

If you want to see the video made for Bo

ots, use the link below. Every time it is showed, 5$ dollars is donated to the Global Fund to help fight AIDS in Africa.

http://www.starbucks.com/share#/the-killers

The complete lyrics for Deck the halls:

http://Idsguy.tripod.com/Christmas.songs.html

Picture of Mickey Mouse & friends:

http://fanpop.com/sports/christmas/images/2735426/title/mickey-mouse-christmas-wallpaper

Picture of the cover for Boots:

http://culturepop.me/new-songs-alert-the-killers-boots

Picture of the Killers:

http://celebrety-mania.com/wallpaper/the_killers.html

Japan and Anime

Today, we had a quite free lesson, where we were to work on Japanese culture. We were able to do whatever we wanted to, as long as it had something to do with this topic, and the point was to learn about Japan. The teacher gave us three texts that were related to the topic.

I started by reading the texts and writing notes. I think this was a good start, because that gave me useful background information on the topic. The notes were a good idea when I sat down with Eline, Julie and Heidi and watched Anime. We watched Ouran High school Host Club. The anime was from a high school where we got to see what the students did, and how they acted. This anime was a good example to illustrate the facts I had just read about. However, this anime was not very dark. I thought it was very fun to see what so many people around the world find so fascinating. In the Anime, I found many of the same characteristics that you can find in many other cartoons and films. In the Anime, the main character was a regular girl with no superpowers. Her schoolmates had their faults, and none was like the American dream- male or female. This gives the series personality, and also, this makes people able to relate more to the stories. In the anime, I also found characters that are similar with famous characters from the west, like Fred and George Weasley. Their behavior were very similar, indeed, as wel as the fact that they were identical twins too.

Fred and George Weasley

Hikaru and Kaoru Hitatchin

Of course, there are a lot of differences between the Japanese Anime, and our western comics. First, like I’ve mentioned, the main character in Anime is a regular person. The Anime also refer a lot to the culture in Japan. The culture in clothing and greeting are being showed trough the Anime, giving its fans a quick impression of the society most of the Japanese people live in. You also see Japan in the houses and gardens in the series.

I have learned a lot this lesson. I have personally found Anime a waste of time earlier, but now, my eyes have opened to the brilliance of this way of letting the world know Japanese culture. I also figured that it was a good idea to start by reading a little on the background information, and ending the lesson by seeing a real example.

The first picture of Ouran High School Host Club: http://animeafterglow.wordpress.com/category/anime-series/ouran-high-school-host-club

The picture of Fred and George:

www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potter-news/happy-birthday-fred-and-george-weasley71774/

The picture of Hikaru and Kaoru:

http://anime8me.wordpress.com/

The Film vs. The Book

For this entry, I am to choose one of the passages in the movie and relate it to the book. The passage or scene that I will analyze is the first time Amir meets Rahim Khan in many years. He has traveled all the way from America to Pakistan to meet Rahim. Khan is very sick. He has one last request of Amir; to go back to Kabul and save Hassan’s only child, a boy called Sohrab. In the book, this is an emotional part, and a part where Amir also finds out how close he and Hassan actually was. It is also an big turning point, where Amirs life in America is changed forever. I think that this is the first warning that something dramatical is about to unfold, and that the scene and all the emotions involved are essential towards the developement of the story. In the movie, I didn’t get that feeling. The scene was a bit too short and impersonal to meet my expectations. I also feel that it was given very little attention and importance.

I feel that this is the general mistake in the movie. The scenes are to short and lacks a lot of important details, like Hassan’s hare clipped lip, Ali being crippled, Assef having blonde hair, and I think they cut out too much on their life before the Kite fight that fatal winter. This makes the whole change in atmosphere less noticeable, and Amir’s failure less clear. Therefore, I am actually a bit disappointed of the film, and there are many things I would have done differently if I were to make the movie. This made me want to give the movie not more than 4, but mostly it gets this because I like the book so much it feels wrong giving it less...

For you, a thousand times over

This will be the last time I write on the blog about the Kite Runner. I have chosen to use this entry as a summary of the book, as well as a summary of my own emotions and thoughts about the book. What could possibly be a better name for the entry, than the famous quote from the book “For you, a thousand times over”? This one sentence that in so many ways illustrates the deep satisfaction and admiration Hassan feels for Amir. The great failure from Amir, not being able to see the great friend he has in the hare-clipped Hazara boy, going to catch the last fallen kite for him. I feel my eyes watering just by writing this now. Hassan was truly a great human being, which was at the wrong place at the wrong time all his life. And despite his bad luck, he still smiled as though the world had shown him the bright sides only. This is clear to read from the letter he writes to Amir: “(…) The streets are full enough already of hungry orphans and every day I thank Allah that I am alive, not that I fear death, but because my wife has a husband and my son is not an orphan. (...)” I think this draft from his letter shows us quite well where the focus of Hassan is lying.

Amir is another kettle of fish, entirely. His focus is, exclusively, on himself, and his own needs. He does not care what is going to happen to Ali and Hassan when he purposely accuses Hassan of stealing. Neither does he have the courage to tell Baba what happened to Hassan in that alley, the winter of 1975. But people can change, and that we learn from Amir’s amazing journey to save the now orphaned Hazara boy, his half- nephew Sohrab. This change gives us hope that there still is hope for the Human Race, and that everyone can change for the better.

This book is filled with so many emotions and devotions, between brothers, friends, fathers and sons, and between inhabitants in a whole country, it is for me impossible to say it all in words. This book is an emotional rollercoaster, where you go from laughing to crying in a matter of ten pages, where your whole impression of a character changes in no time, and you end up thrilled, exited and wounded deeply at the same time. This book is brilliant in so many ways, but mostly because it has got sole. It illustrates the sole of two boys so unbelievably different, but so amazingly similar. Thank you, Khaled Hosseini, for a most extraordinary book!

Hassan's letter can be found at page 189 in the book.
The picture is from the Movie, when Amir reads to Hassan. it is from: www.200movies1woman.com/2010/10/09/the-kite-runner

Do not read this if you haven't read the book!

By the end of this class, I am at page 239. Hassan is Amir’s half brother. Baba is Hassan’s father…

Hassan has a family, a wife and a son in Kabul. He has learned to write and read, and has learned to his son, which is named Sohrab, after Hassan’s favorite novel. Amir learns this from a letter Hassan wrote him. By the time Amir reads this, Hassan is dead. He and his wife were shot by Taliban. Sohrab is an orphan, and Rahim Kahn wants Amir to get him out of Kabul.

Right now, Amir is at a soccer- field, watching two people being stoned to death. He is at the soccer- field to find Sohrab, who has been kidnapped by the Taliban.

The Kite Runner

Before class today, I am currently at page 178, Amir has just traveled to Pakistan, and Rahim Kahn.

It has happened a lot to Baba, Amir, Hassan and Ali since last time I wrote here. The relationship between Amir and Hassan is really bad. Amir is driven by guilt, and Hassan doesn’t know what he has done. After Amir’s birthday, he plants his new wristwatch and a handful of money under Hassan’s bed. Then he asks Baba where his watch is. This is Amir’s way of forcing Ali and Hassan to leave, and so they do.

At the age of eighteen, Amir travels with Baba to Pakistan. They escape from an Afghanistan tore by war. At the trip, Baba shows himself as a gentleman, as always. In the US, Baba works his head off. His hands are black from oil and dirt from the gas- station, and he is soon promoted as “daily manager”. Every Sunday, they go to the Flea Market where they sell second- hand items for a dollar more then they bought them. At the market, Amir meets the Taheri- family. Their daughter, Soraya, and she is at Amir’s age…

Baba gets cancer. For a long time, this illness demands a lot of attention in Amir’s life. After months of illness, Amir asks Baba to go and ask the Taheri for their daughter’s hand. Amir and Soraya marry each other, and a couple of weeks later, Baba dies…

Many years pass, and Amir and Soraya are happily married. One day, Amir receives a phone call. The person calling is Rahim Khan. He says that it is a way to be good again, and asks him to come to Pakistan before he dies…

the Kite Runner

This semester, we are reading the Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. I started the book on Friday, and I am currently at page 88, chapter nine.


The book starts with Amir talking to us from his grown up life. I know this because I have read the book before. In the first chapter, we are back in Kabul, where Amir grew up. This is a novel about a boy who really wants to be acknowledged by his father, Baba. Baba doesn’t give Amir enough attention, and Amir feels like a stranger in his own house. He explains this as “At the dinner table, the only thing speaking, was the silverware against the plates.” He finds support in Hassan, the servant’s boy. He and his father, Ali, is descended from the Hazara people. They are treated like dogs by every Afghan, but at Amir’s house, Ali and Hassan are treated with as much respect as a servant can get. The thing that bothers Amir the most is that Baba keeps a nice eye at Hassan at all times, as if Hassan was his son, and not Amir…


Every winter, Afghanistan’s children perform the Kite fights. The game consists of children with Kites, and the point is to try and cut the opponents kite down, and be the last kite flying. In the winter of 1975, Amir wins this tournament, and Baba is very proud. Another part of the tournament is to run for the fallen kites. The children station themselves at different spots around the city to try and get a head start. Hassan is the best of these Kite Runners. This day, Hassan runs for the last kite for Amir. As he runs to the opposite corner of the square where the championship where held, Hassan turns his head and calls: “For you, a thousand times over”. I think that one sentence summarize Hassan’s personality. He does anything for Amir, his best friend in the whole world.


Amir, at the other hand, teases Hassan all the time, and is a coward himself. He never stands up for Hassan, even when he is raped by Assef in a shabby alley. Hassan is there to pick up the kite for Amir, and Assef and two other guys gets there and tease him. They try to force him to give them the kite, but Hassan says “The kite is for Amir”. What Hassan doesn’t know, is that Amir stands and watches the whole episode, and then runs...


After this, Amir is driven by guilt for not interfering. It ends with Hassan saying: “I don’t know what I have done, Amir agha. I wish you’d tell me (...) You can tell me, I’ll stop doing it.” This statement from Hassan kills me inside, every single time I read it. How can a person be so kind? He scarified himself for Amir and that stupid kite, and all Amir was able to do was to run for his life! That's enough for this time, and I’ll try not to rip Amir to peaces until next time…



(The picture is the oridginal cover of the book, and I found it at: www.thebookclubblog.co.za/?p=688 (19.09.10)