Level 3

Rob Haarstad
The Road: The Game
Level 3 - The Ship
12/17/08
Burgess Period 5
Summary: 1- Swim to the ship. 2- Find entry way onto the ship. 3- Get to the command deck. 4- Unlock door to kitchen. 5- Search kitchen for food and weapons. 6- Head to the Engine Room.7- Press the "Self Destruct" button. 8- Escape ship before explosion. 9- Bonus: Do not raise any alarms.
Items: Scissors, rope, clever, steak knife, 9mm pistol, AK-47, saw off shotgun, Uzi, silencer, steak, tomatoes, canned peaches, canned roast beef.
Detailed Walk Through: After a cut scene of the Man explaining the origins of the apocalypse to the Boy, then seeing a ship off in the distance, you start on the beach about to head out. As you are already weak you will not be able to carry any of your weapons from the previous levels and must leave them on the shore. Start by heading into the freezing water. The water is freezing so you must be quick. Tap the A button as fast as possible to swim as fast as possible. The longer you are in the water the less health you will have when you finally reach the ship. Once you reach the ship, head around the back and you will see a cargo net that you can use as a ladder. Doing this will activate a cut scene that will show that the ship is infested with cannibals armed with 9mm pistols, AK-47s, saw off shotguns, and Uzis. If any of the cannibals is able to raise an alarm or is able to shoot their weapon within earshot of another cannibal, you will lose your bonus. Also all the locations of the cannibals are random. You must be prepared and stealthy around every turn of this ship. Head along the right side of the deck to the first stairwell heading up to the third floor. Be sure to search the other two levels where you will find the scissors, rope, and tomatoes. After going up three stories you will reach the Command Deck. Check the security cameras and you will see that the ship is full of captives that will be eaten when they reach shore. Get the keys off the table and go through the door in the back and down 5 stories (again, check these floors too. You will find the silencer which will let you pick up one of the guns from the dead cannibals and use it.) You will see signs that point to the kitchen where you need to find some canned goods. After finding the canned goods you must blow up the ship in order to put the captives out of their misery. Go back to the previous stairwell and head down until you reach the bottom. Beware; this part of the level has the most cannibals per square inch! Head into the Engine Room and look for the main control room. There are three different ways to reach the main control room: go through the engine to the right, climb onto the rafters, or just walk along the walkway. If you have a high mechanical skill you can make it through the engine with ease. If you have a high sneak and strength skill you will find the rafters the easiest way. If you just want to kill someone go on the walkway. Either way when you reach the main control room you will see a big red button that says "Self Destruct." Wow, that lucky. Push the button. You will hear a voice that will say "Self destruction in three minutes" and a cut scene of the captives rejoicing. Turn around and head through the door marked exit. Head up three stories and into the poop deck. Watch out, it really smells. Find a chair and throw it through the window. Get a running start and jump through the window just as the ship explodes. You will get a long dramatic cut scene of the ship blowing up and The Boy helping to shore.

The 5th Element

Recently I watched The 5th Element (1997) starring Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Milla Jovoich, Ian Holm, and Chris Tucker. It was directed by Luc Besson and produced by Patrice Ledoux. I watched this a long time ago when I was a kid and I thought I'd watch it again. I learned that somethings are better left in the past. The alien costumes were so ubserd that I had to rewatch scences because I was too distracted by their outfits. Basicallly one of the aliens was a hippo in a metal suit. The action was alright, not new about it but nothing boring. The police chase through New York seemed really short. I remebered it being really long back in the day and now that I saw it again it was pretty disappointing. However I really like Chris Tucker's character, a flamboyant radio show host. Tucker seemed to really put some of himself into that character since I can see some pretty clear similarities between this and his role in the Rush Hour triliogy. If you plan on watching this I say you come in without high expectations, and have a sense of humor.

The Road

So far I like The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I like how unconventional this book is, like how there are no chapters, no quotations, and usually just periods. It makes this book unique just like the unique situation the Father and Son are in. I think it would be helpful if he used **** when there was a flash back. I remember being really confused as to why they were walking on the road one minute then going boating on a lake the next. Re-reading something that could of been easily avoided would of been really helpful, and it would make sense because **** means a change in time. It could mean ten minutes, ten hours, ten years, or even ten years in the past. Right now I am really looking forward to finding out what actually caused the end of the world. I have not found any clues yet and it is kind of bugging me. If this book is able to keep my interest I would really like to see the movie after I am done watching it. Hopefully they will change too much and it will stay faithful to the book. Now I am at 200 words.

Yup

I got nothing to write about. Writer's block? I don't know. So we got some snow... I hate winter. Its overrated. How about the Vikings beating the Bears. Take that Chicago, yeah, in your face. Oh and now we are leading the NFC North, but we're still going to lose. Fallout 3 is amazing. Enough said. I just wanted to say 'good morning again.' Isn't that just adorable. I got a singers rehearsal at 7:30. Oh look its 12:12, that means 1 hour and 1 minute ago I kissed my phone and wished for peace on earth... HAHAHA no one ever actually wishes for that. I mean, peace on earth would be pretty sweet, but I'd rather have that special someone (Sam Ziola) like me, or a new car even though my car is new, but its mommy and daddy's. 281-330-8004 who Mike Jones up on the floo' because Mike Jones about to blow! I even got that number in my phone book. I'm listening to Slam by Midnight to Twelve right now and its pretty sweet. I don't know why its called Slam because its a love song. Oh wait nevermind I just heard him say slam in the chorus. Slam is the sound the door makes when she leaves because the door shuts. Why can't I grow a full beard? This little stubble is not manly what so ever. Slam goes the door, your walking out on me, and I'm left to think, watching the time go by. Am I at 200 words yet? It is 200 words right? Maybe its 150. For Art of Film I think its 500. 300 was a cool movie. Yeah is haey backwards, while Otto is Otto backwards. Makes you think doesn't it? So like I went to the Wayzeta vs Blaine 5A championship game on Friday. Jimmy Johns is really good. Vito for the win (FTW). Oh my god (OMG). For the Loss (FTL). If I Recall Correctly (IIRC). In This Topic (ITT). 'Why do birds suddenly appear every time I am near,' you ask? Because they are stalking you. What's up with that song anyway? If a bunch of birds are following me around then I would know that someone that loves me is close by. If this isn't 200 words I might just start crying. Hold on let me check.... OMG scariest thing ever I hit Ctrl + A, but I accidently hit the backspace button. I started to get teary. Wow that was close. So anyway 200 words.... Woah (Wow + Yeah)I have 419. Yeaw (Yeah + Wow, can also be Yeow) that is how you get past a writers block.

The Odyssey finale

The Odyssey is kind of disappointing. I was really hoping that the kin of the suitors would try to get some revenge on Odysseus for killing all their family members. And why did Zeus stop the violence in the end? Why didn't he stop the Suitor Slaughter? All he had to do was throw some lightning at Odysseus and ten-ish people would still be alive. It would of made more sense to stop it there because Odysseus is more of a bad guy than a good guy. He is unfaithful to his wife, kills many innocent people because they were on his property for a while, and is cocky. That's pretty much the definition of a bad guy right there. For me, I find myself not cheering on Odysseus. Rather I was hoping that he would die before he finally reaches Ithaca because Odysseus really doesn't deserve happiness. I don't get why anyone would really want him to be happy in the end, he was such an ass to everyone in the book. And what makes Odysseus so special that he can survive everything the gods throw at him? Sure, he did have Athena on his side but that one god and Zeus could of just told his daughter to do something else with her free time. Odysseus doesn't deserve that happy ending he gets in the end.

Film Noir le a bein

I finished "watching" Out of the Past today in class and I didn't like it very much, but I think Film Noir may have some potential. The problems that I had with Out of the Past is that the plot was too confusing. I didn't know what was going on for most of the time. At first I thought that the main character was part of the mob, but I was sadly misinformed when it's revealed that he is a private investigator. There are a couple of other things that I didn't like about Out of the Past that I won't get into. Although I didn't like Out of the Past, I see some potential in the other Noir films we will watch. The hardcore gritty vibe of these films remind me of Mob Movies and hopefully we will watch something as interesting as The Godfather.

The Odyssey #1.5

After cooling down a bit, I realized that I got a little off topic. This time I promise to stay on topic and will rant about our flawed school system. As I said, I hate the book. There is a lot you have to know before you even start reading. You need to know about Greek Gods and the whole history of the Trojan War. Another thing that I hate is how long a this book is. Something that could be summed up in a sentence is expanded for a good two to three pages. Also I hate the amount of names that thrown around. Most of the names we hear only once and have nothing to do with the plot of the Odyssey, even though we will have to read a three page history of the character that has nothing to do with the plot because Homer must have been running out of things to talk about. Lastly I don’t understand what is taking him so long to get home. Plenty of other Trojan Warriors got home fine, but not him. If I was a general and my men were constantly causing trouble, I’d let them mutiny against me while I sail home on a passenger boat. Simple as that.

The Odyssey #1

Personally I am a fan of ancient mythology. I love sitting down and wikipedia-ing about the Ancient Gods and Goddesses. In the past I thought that I would love to read The Odyssey on my own time outside of school, but now that I think back on it I realized how right I was. School does some amazing things to a person. We get an education, meet new people, make friends that we will have for the rest of their lives, but also put enormous amount of pressure of us to do the best they can, be categorized as a Foundations-Student or a Normal-student or as a Enriched-student, have 50+ year old teachers say they know what is going on in our lives and know why we act the way we do, our smartness defined as a simple A, B, C, D, or F. We are taught things many will never use in real life, and are likely to forget in the days and weeks and months to come, while no one seems to teach us how file taxes, pay taxes, deal with money, anything about dealing with a bank, or my generation's social security problem to name a few. No, we are taught that if AB = CD and CD = EF, then AB = EF. When will that come up in my future? College? Probably. After that though? Maybe I can get a tax break if I can prove that I know that AB = EF. School also takes people's genuine interests and turns them into chores. If someone handed me the Odyssey and told me "Have fun," I would read it. Not only that, I wouldn't read just to get through it, like I do in school, I would take in every word and enjoy every second Homer's words wash over my brain. In school, I'm handed a book and told "Pay attention to the minute details, if you don't like it I don't care, and there will be a 100 point test on it", and adults wonder why we kids turn to television, and adults wonder why no kids ever seem to read on their own time. Adults turned reading into a chore. I hate the Odyssey. I hate how a simple sentence is turned into 3 pages worth of torture. I hate having to read this with minimal energy after an 8 hour day, I hate having to reread the same page again because I couldn't get it the first time. I hate having to read the Odyssey because if I don't, I have no future. Bad grades leads to no college, and in today’s standards, no college means no future. No college means that I will have to work my ass off in some job I hate in order to retire. I hate the Odyssey because I am forced to read it with my future on the line. My future shouldn't be determined by how well I did on a test, or what my GPA is, or the years of college I've taken. My future should be determined by my will to learn, my interest in learning, and my dedication to learn.

Rant Over.

I have love probelms too...

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) is a film by Nicholas Segal starring Nicholas Segal, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, and Russel Brand. Peter Bretter (Nicholas Segal) is a composer who has spent five years dating actress Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) and is heart broken when they break up. After a month of one night stands and one night stands, Peter decides to take a vacation to Hawaii. Upon reaching the Hawaiian hotel, Peter meets receptionist Rachel (Mila Kunis) who he starts to fall for. This movie is a romantic comendy because the majority of the plot centers around Peter either trying to get over Sarah, or falling in love with Rachel.

My Invocation

I liked how my Invocation turned out so I thought I'd post it here.

My Invocation

Rob Haarstad

1 Tell me, Muse, a story to end all.

A story, hopefully not a bore at all.

A story of a man more famous than none at all.

With skin so pale, lighter than buttocks of I.

5 With hair so great, point and laugh old men do, no one can relate.

With a voice smoother than a donkey of the fringes of death.

Eyes more blue than the night sky times negative dye.

Hero of females, yet “friend zoned” always is.

Knower of all excluding logic, reason, common sense, French, math,

10 reading, science, and basic heterogeneous skills.

With facial hair manlier than a twelve year old girl

Talent so few, reduced to the line of offense.

Youthful still, laughs at jokes of own,

mother still picks garments to bestow upon her own.

15 Tamer of the horseless carriage, always give, never thanked.

Jealous of all, for no hockey he plays.

Sing to me, muse, for I need a fright,

a story of a man with no delight in sight.

A story where he conquered all in end,

20 glory and fame in future, yet still sleeps in single bed.

The Champion of Edina School of High.

a story, still, not as big as his thigh.

A story of a man simply known as:

Stad Number Two.

E=MC^2

For the last three years in my science class we have watched E=MC^2, a video all about Albert Einstein's famous equation. Every year we had to fill out the same yellow packet, with the same number of questions, while watching the stale, boring, and over the top acting. Not only that, but I have seen this video outside of school twice! Why? Why do teachers enjoy torturing us? Why couldn't we watch Bill Nye the Science Guy instead? Do the teachers not hear how we cheer and cheer when they announce we are going to watch an entertaining episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy, and do they not hear us cry and moan when we watch a long, boring, uninteresting video we have seen the last three years? And you know what really grind my gears? THE FACT THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT E=MC^2 EVEN MEANS! I HAVE SEEN THE VIDEO AT LEAST SIX TIMES AND I STILL DON'T GET IT! WHY WOULD TIME SLOW AND EVENTUALLY STOP AS YOU APPROACH THE SPEED OF LIGHT? SINCE WHEN ARE LIGHT AND TIME RELATED?

On a side note, Siddhartha, there is such a thing called time. Your example about how the river is everywhere at once doesn't prove a thing. In fact that whole long speech you gave at the end of the book to Govinda made no sense at all. Just because you use big words and run on sentences does not prove that you are smart.

Back on topic. After watching E=MC^2 for the sixth time I finally asked my science teacher what it means, why is it important, and when will I ever need to know this in every day life, she told me it was a theory.

...Are you kidding me...

I have spent about nine hours of my life watching a video about something that isn't even proven!

Why was the PLAN test such a pain?

Today sucked, to put it simply. It was because of the PLAN test. Why did we need to take this test? It started out really slow, write you name, school ID number, and address. Then we get asked all these stupid questions about what we like to do, and they are so vague that you really don't have any idea what to write, or are just so random that you have to wonder if the person who made these questions pulled paper out of a hat with different jobs written on them. "Would you like to be a tour guide?" No, I would like to make money in my lifetime. "Would you like to watch for forest fires?" No, I would want to have a job where I actually do something. After that long and tiring process, we finally start the actual test. Why weren't we ever told what was going to be on the test? It would of been helpful if I had some idea of what to look over, I mean, this is my future we're talking about. And why is this thing timed? If we are trying to prove what we know, then why are we being pressured to answer fifty questions in twenty five minutes? How long did it take Einstein to come up with E=MC^2? If it was under a month, then I'll be impressed. And why was the "Science" portion of the test really more like "Read a bunch of tables, graphs, and charts about useless information"? I thought the questions were going to be like "Why is the sky blue?" not "Read table 3, what happened to the tomato after the third day?"

I hate blogging. (Letters From Iwo Jima)

Ok so a few days ago I watched the movie Letters from Iwo Jima (2006). It is directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Ken Watanabe as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi and Kazunari Ninomiya as Private Saigo. Ken Wantanabe is probably most known by American Audiences for his role in The Last Samuri (2003) as the leader of the Samuri, Katsumoto. I doubt anyone would know this, but Kazunari Ninomiya use to be in a boy band... and he can act... weird... Letters from Iwo Jima follows the battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese's view point, which I find very unique. We also get to see how the battle was planned from the General's view point and how the battle actually played out and how it affected those in the battle from the Private's view point. I really enjoyed this movie because we usually never see what happens on the other side of the barrel. Not often do we get to see a movie that portrays what the enemy was doing while trying to kill our troops. All the performances are absolutely perfect. Kazunari Ninomiya was able to show how normal people react when they are thrown onto the front lines of the conflict. Ken Wantanabe is also perfect in his performance as the general who knows that he cannot win the battle, but must buy enough time for the rest of the army may prepare for an assault on the Japanese mainland. This movie is far superior to Clint Eastwood's other film about the same conflict Flags of our Fathers (2006) from the American prespective. Yes, there are subtitle for the vast majority of the film, but if the sole reason you do not see this movie is because of subtitles, you are pathetic. Simple as that. If you are a fan of war movies, or interested in World War II, this is a movie no one should miss.

Irish eyes are smiling upon this wonderful talkie *does Irish Jig*

Leprechaun is a 1992 horror movie that I watched today. As a fan of horror movies, especially slasher flicks, I enjoyed this movie. Jenifer Aniston plays Tory Reding in her first movie role, Kevin Olandt as Nathan Murphy, and Warwick Davis as the Leprechaun. Warwick is most famous for his role as Wicket, one of the Ewoks from Star Wars Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Today Warwick can be seen playing Professor Flitwick in the Harry Potter movies. In the movie, a killer Leprechaun hunts for his stolen gold. Tory and her friends must try to either return all the gold back to the Leprechaun or else find what can kill a Leprechaun. By most peoples standards this movie was probably bad, but thats some of the fun it it. The stale and laughable acting, cheesy special effects, and ridiculous plot twists are what make movies like these so enjoyable. I'm not saying this movie is the next Citizen Kane, but if you walk into a movie like this, expecting it to be bad, accept the fact that it is bad, and just enjoy the movie for what it is, then you will walk out of that movie feeling satisfied. Trust me when I say this. I have watched all of the Friday the 13th movies, all the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, all the Halloween movies, all the Child's Play movies, all the Saw movies, and countless other horror films that I have had the same experience with.

A Journey I Intend to Take

One journey I'd like to take in my lifetime is to Europe. I would like to go to Europe because of all the history that has happened there. I would first go and visit London and see Buckingham Palace. If I see the Queen, I will try to yell "America Rules!" into her face. Then I would go to Paris, and attempt to speak the language... which will turn out pretty badly. After maybe a day, I will get sick of that country and attempt to flee. I would then see Germany... just because... After Germany I would see Rome because I am interested in ancient culture and I would like to see some of the museums on the Roman Empire. After that I would go to Greece to see pretty much the same thing as Rome.

--Stad

My name is Rob. This is my super cool blog, which I will personalize and make my own (but not post pics of myself on or use my last name on). I will always use appropriate language on my school blog and follow the conventions of the English language. The expectation for this assaignment is that i post on my blog once a week for the remainder of the school year. I am expected to comment on texts that i am viewing in the world around me. These might include, but are not limited to: books, magazines, movies, internet articles, television shows, trips to museeums, etc. Each post should be at least 200 words. each weekly post is due by 8am on that wednesday. Therefore, Q1 due dates are: 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, and 10/29. That makes for a total of 7 psts this first quarter. I understand that blogs are worth 100 points per quarter and are graded holistically (I will receive the rubric from Mrs. B. soon). I also understand that blogging is a significant component of my quarter grade. By the way, what i have just typed is only 196 words! Now it is 200!