~ la 1 Alphabet Book ~ June 19, 2009

words

By: Jeremiah

DeAndre Cortez Way, also known as Soulja Boy, was born in Chicago July 28, 1990. He moved to Atlanta, Georgia at age 6. This was where he became interested in rap music. At age 14, he moved to Batesville, Mississippi. His father then provided him with a recording studio so he could explore his dream to become a rap artist. Soulja Boy had his very first live performance at age 15, at a teen nightclub in Indianapolis, Indiana. He posted his music on Sound Click, which got positive reviews, so then he made his own WebPages on Myspace and Youtube.

In 2007, he recorded a song called, “Crank That.” His first album, unsigned, was called “Da Album Before Da Album. In May 2007, Soulja Boy received his first air play. Also at the air play Soulja Boy asked Mr. Collipark for a record deal. For the next big thing that happened, in August 12, 2007, “Crank That” appeared on the Grammy-award, which won the HBO series by September 1^st toped the top 100! On two charts got the award for the top R&B hip hop albums.

December 9, 2007 Soulja Boy was sued by someone called William Lyons who claimed he created the stage name Soulja Boy, but Soulja Boy won. Then for the 50^th Grammy awards he was nominated for best rap song with Soulja Boy “Crank That”. Sadly he lost to someone called Kanye West and T-pains “Good Life” on June 2.

However, Soulja Boy spent 7 weeks in the top 100. His song “Crank That” reached number one on the top 100 billboard (September 2007). Over 10 million people have visited his myspace page.

On the north-western side of Lake Ontario, lies Toronto. Along with being the most populous city in Canada, it also is considered the economic capital of the nation and is the capital of the Ontario Province. It is the 5^th most populous Municipality in North America with over an estimated 2.5 million residents residing in the city, 4.7 million in the urban area around the city and a total of 5.5 million people in the Metropolitan area. The city covers around 630 square kilometers and has a population density of 3,972 persons per kilometer squared. The city is at the core of the Greater Toronto Area which is part of the Golden Horseshoe, an area of high population density with over 8.1 million residents, which is around ¼ of Canada’s total population.

Toronto is also one of the world’s most livable cities according to the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Mercer Quality Living Survey.

Climate wise, Toronto is considered a humid continental climate. Urbanization and proximity to a body of water gives the city a low night-day temperature range.

The harshest winters bring temperatures that dip down into -10C (-14F). That number is often colder due to wind chill. Winter may also have stretches of warm periods that range from 5C to 12C (40F-54F) Snowstorms that accumulate appear during November to April. These snowstorms bring in an average snowfall of 133cm (52in). Summers in Toronto are generally humid with an average temperature of 23C-31C (73F-88F), and may peak at 35C (90F). Spring and fall are usually mild and cool with dry and wet seasons alternating. Periods of dry weather occasionally appear, though drought conditions are extremely rare. Yearly annual precipitation for Toronto is around 83cm (33in) and the city has an average of 2,038 sunshine hours per year, which means about 44% of the year is daylight.

Toronto has no dominant architectural style, it is a mix of styles and periods. There are over 2,000 buildings over 90metres tall (300 ft), this number is second in North America to only New York City. Recently there has been a large architectural overhaul in Toronto; many older buildings have been renovated. One of Toronto’s most historic architectural districts is the Distillery District, which is North America’s largest and best preserved collection of Victorian era industrial architecture. Glass and steel high-rises are the majority downtown, and since the condo market has exploded in recent years, widespread construction can be found throughout the city.

The most famous landmark in Toronto is the CN tower which stands 553.33 meters tall (1,815ft) which was the tallest freestanding structure in the world for many years until it was surpassed in height by the Burj Dubai. The royal Ontario Museum is Toronto’s finest museum for natural history and world culture. The Toronto Zoo is one of the worlds largest zoo’s with over 5,000 different animals and 460 unique species. Easton Centre is the 3^rd largest mall in Canada and the biggest shopping mall within the city. Contemporary, European, and Traditional African art can be found in the Art Gallery of Toronto. The Canadian National Exhibiting at Exhibition Place in Toronto is the world’s oldest annual fair in the world and also the largest fair in Canada. Greek town on anforth is as popular area due to its high concentration of restaurants. “Taste of Danforth” is an annual food festival that brings 1 million visitors in 2 ½ days.

Toronto is a major international center of business with a high concentration of it’s banks on Bay Street. The city’s stock exchange is the 7^th largest in the world by market capitalization and the headquarters of all Big Five Canadian Banks are located in Toronto. The city is also a center of media, publishing, telecommunications, information technology, and film production along. Most manufacturing takes place outside of the city.

The city is a major place for the performing arts with over 50 dance and ballet companies, 2 symphony orchestras, many theaters, and 6 opera companies. Ontario place holds the world’s first permanent IMAX Theater- the Cinesphere. Large concerts are held in the open-air venue, the Molson Amphitheater. Canada’s walk of fame that notes the achievements of successful Canadians can be found on the blocks on King and Simcoe street. Many shops, restaurants, art galleries, artist studios, and breweries can be found in the historic Distillery District. Film and Television is a popular local industry. Movies that are yet to be released worldwide are often screened before in Toronto. The Toronto International Film Festival is an important yearly event for the Film Industry.

Pride week in Toronto is one of the world’s largest LGBT festivals in the world, attracting over 1,000,000 visitors. The city is also a center for LGBT culture and entertainment.

There are 4 daily papers and 2 free commuter papers in the greater metro area. The Toronto Sun and Star are the most well known daily papers and two national papers are headquartered in the city. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CTV, Global, and CityTV are also all headquartered within the city. Many other national media companies are based in Toronto making the city the largest media market in Canada and the 4^th largest in the North American continent.

~U~U~U~

by Josh

charges through the woods.

into an umbrella which

he thought was a hood.

He was not understanding

that he poked a

gigantic hole into it.

he walked away

leaving the umbrellas

feelings unvalued.

The unicorn felt

sorry and did a u-turn

he said he was sorry to

the umbrella

and they became good friends.

The Unicorn’s Umbrella

Once there was a unicorn. It had umbrella that was very sad. It was sad because it had holes and no one used it. It felt much unvalued. But when they did, on rare occasions use it, it got so excited only to be rejected and thrown on the ground. Then one day a unicorn showed up on a very sunny day. The unicorn wanted shade, but there was none around. So the unicorn picked up the umbrella. The umbrella was expecting to be thrown to the ground but to his surprise the unicorn kept going. The umbrella was so happy he sprouted a mouth and started to smile. He finally understood what it felt like to be useful. The umbrella did a u-turn because it could fly and gave the unicorn a hug.

Words that start with U

By Vova

Further research told me that people who play video games naturally improve a lot when playing, while people new to video games don’t improve one bit after much time of game play. Video game sales have increased by 40% (Wow!) since 2003 to 2007 and over the same period of time movie ticket sales dropped by 6% and purchases of recorded music on I tunes fell by 12%. It is believed that games alike to Xbox 360 games such as Guitar Hero are the games that are making more people play them. Some of the most popular video game systems out there at the moment are the Wii, Xbox 360, Play Station 3, Nintendo DSI, and the PSP. My personal favorite bestselling games right now are Gears of war 2, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Guitar Hero World Tour, and Halo 3.

Many experts have said that the ESRB should be a replaced by a better rating system that includes parents and the recommended games for children are: Harry Potter and the goblet of fire, The Incredibles: Rise of the underminer, Legend of Zelda the minish cap, Peter Jackson’s King Kong, Chronicles of Narnia the Lion, The witch and the wardrobe, Sly 3: Honor amongst thieves, We love katamari, Sid Meier’s Pirates!, Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix3, and Backyard Baseball 2005. Those were just some of the recommended games from what seems is “Soon to be the new the ESRB” but I doubt that.

On the other hand, some of the games experts have said to avoid are Far Cry, F.E.A.R, The Warriors, Stubbs the zombie in rebel without a pulse, True Crime: New York city, Blitz the league, Grand theft auto: Liberty City stories, God of war, Doom 3, Resurrection of evil, Urban Reign, Conker Live and Reloaded, and Resident evil 4. If you ask me, there are many more video games that should be added on to that list, but it’s just an example of some of the games proved to not be a great choice to buy (not because they aren’t exciting to play for 17 and up kind of thing!).

On top of that, the leading cause of having these game lists is the lack of talking and other ways of communicating between children and their parents. The institute that listed these games gives the ESRB rating system a grade of D+. Many officials said that progress was pretty good over the last decade, but there are still more violent and gruesome video games coming out and ending up in the hands of small children. Surprisingly enough, violent video games are being sold to small girls more than small boys. Overall, the average gamer is becoming much heavier, contributing to the obesity in the United States and corrupting the minds of small children.
Video Games

Intensely violent or Majestic

Bloody or Romantic

Destructive

There are all kinds of video games

From perilous adventure to Doomsday

Underground or up high reaching for the crystal clear sky

You will find the one just right for you

I swear