Book Trailer: Extraordinary Means

Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

If you love John Green books, try this.

Lane has been diagnosed with a new strain of tuberculosis that is totally drug resistant. TB is a lung disease that is pretty much a death sentence. Kids with the disease are sent to special country homes to recover with rest and fresh air. Sometimes people go home. Usually they don't.

Lane thinks that his life is over when he is sent to Latham house. But when he gets there he meets Sadie and her friends - a group of troublemakers that are determined not to measure their lives by their health charts. They will sneak phones into their rooms and steal internet time, and sneak into town for coffee just to feel normal.

But how real can love be when life seems so temporary?

Mrs Kelleher rates this read 3 1/2 stars

Google like a pro: Tip #4

Using site: to search within specific websites

You can use Google to search within a particular website using the site: function.

Let's say last week you saw a news article about Tasmanian devils on news.com, and now you want to find it again. You can search Google like this:

Tasmanian devils site:news.com



e.g.

This trick also works really well when you are watching a movie and want to know what other films one of the actors has been in search for the actors name, or film name and add site:imdb.com

Quiz - Music Rocks

This fortnight's competition was created by a student in 9 Faber. The person who correctly answers the most questions will win the prize.

How well do you know your Rock Music?

Go to the competition

Entries close on Friday 14th of October.

Winners announced Monday 17th of October.

Inky Award Winners Announced

These are the best books published last year, as voted by teenagers.

The GOLD Inky (written by an Australian author) goes to:

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

This is a book that will blow your mind. It is written in a series of emails, IM conversations, interview transcripts, public notices, web pages, and other odd and ends.

An ex-couple are, with the rest of their colony, on the run from an enemy spaceship. The AI on their battle cruiser has taken damage, and might, or might not, be insane. There seems to be a really nasty disease breaking out on one of the other ships, and there might be zombies involved along the way.

"I'm on a ****ing derelict warship, on the run from the psychotic crew and insane artificial intelligence trying to save my ****ing boyfriend. Damn right it's nuts."


The SILVER Inky (written by a non-Australian author) goes to:
I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

If you like John Green's book, try this one. It's a gorgeous story of love, loss, family and betrayal.

A pair of twins that were really close, until something drove them apart. What they don't realise is that they each have only half the story.

"The sun, stars, ocean, trees, everything, I gave it all up for you."

Google like a pro - Tip #3

Using minus to exclude words

Sometimes when you search Google you will be flooded with results that you are not interested in because they used the word in a different way to you.

Let's say you were looking for information on jaguars - the big cat, not the car. But the results seemed to be all about the car. You can re-do the search using -cars (no spaces between the minus and the word you want to exclude), so Google knows to leave those pages out.

e.g.

Pop Culture quiz winners!

Only one student was able to get every question right.

Congratulations...

Anthony Zanghi (9 Isore)
Benjamin Robertson (9 Isore)
Fraser Richards (12 Bobola)

You will need to come to the ILC to collect your prize.

Congratulations to the other students who had a go. Better luck next week!

Check out the blog again next week for a new competition and a chance to win!

For those that are curious the answers were:

Q1: The young rising star, Anton Yelchin, 27, was tragically killed in a freak accident with his car  before the release of the latest installment on Star Trek Beyond. Which film or TV show didn’t Yelchin appear in during his short career?
 A: Perks of Being a Wallflower

Q2: Pokemon Go was released on and has quickly broken all records. It has also led many humans into some unfortunate and downright bad situations. Which of the following incidents hasn’t happened (yet)?
 A: Rival teams of Pokemon Go players have a “dance-off” in a gym located on the moon.

Q3: Kesha’s lawsuit against Sony relating to her allegations of abuse by her producer Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald, and the February ruling that Kesha cannot invalidate her contract caused an uproar inside the industry and, in particular, other female singers came to her defense. Which of the performers below didn’t publicly come to Kesha’s defense?
 A: Rihanna

Q4: Despite poor reviews and intense, widespread hatred for Ben Affleck, his movie has been raking in the dough. The film is also the debut of several other live-action depictions of other superheroes. Which of the following doesn’t make an appearance?
 A: Green Lantern

Q5: After taking the Internet by storm, which adorable cat has recently become a toy empire?
 A: Pusheen

Q6: Match the artist with their song:
 A: Calvin Harris (feat. Rihanna) --> “This Is What You Came For”
Justin Timberlake  --> “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”
Sia (feat. Sean Paul) --> “Cheap Thrills”
Katy Perry --> "Rise"
The Chainsmokers (feat. Daya) --> “Don’t Let Me Down”
Kent Jones --> “Don’t Mind”
Drake (feat. WizKid & Kyla) --> “One Dance”

Quote of the Month

"Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever."

- Walt Disney