Issue No. 2
April 2015
MOVIE THAT TELLS A STORY ďšť THE FOUNDERS OF GZAAT Mrs. Lika Asatiani together with her team (GZAAT graduates) filmed a documentary movie about the founders of GZAAT and Donald Thomas. The presentation of the movie will be held on 24th of April, Friday on official day dedicated to Guivy Zaldastanishvili.
BEST WRITER OF THE SCHOOL
ANNUAL OPEN HOUSE DAY
In Spring GZAAT held two annual Open House days. The future freshmen and parents had an opportunity to even better learn the academic and extracurricular life at GZAAT. Students who volunteered for ushers directed guests throughout the entire building including: classrooms, library, cafeteria and student lounges. Teachers explained the curriculum and method of studies; student government and parents council emphasized on the importance of student activities and their responsibilities, while alumni and student counseling group told about the achievements of GZAAT graduates.
American Academy held a short story writing contest among its students. For pure objectivity all the stories were anonymous. The winners were announced on assembly and first second and third places were all taken by Juniors. Congratulations to talented novice writers with promising future as the authors of upcoming bestsellers!
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April 2015
ANOTHER DISCUSSION IN GZAAT
On February 13 one more public discussion took place in GZAAT during an assembly. The chosen topic was: “Government must impose limits to freedom of speech in order to avoid offending people’s moral and religious feelings.” Some students participated in the discussion and, of course there were expressed different opinions for or against the statement. Everyone supported their point of view with various kinds of evidence. One point of view
was that any kind of offence shouldn’t be allowed by the government on social media and etc. in order not to make people feel oppressed or offence them. However, criticism still maybe be expressed in some ways, because it doesn’t hurt people that much and lets others share their opinions too. On the contrary, other students strongly disagreed with this statement saying that some people are too sensitive and they might consider something to be offensive, while oth-
GUESTS FROM DARTMOUTH UNIVERSITY
On March 16, 2015 American Academy hosted guests from Dartmouth University. The MBA students took part in Tuck Business Bridge Program at Dartmouth, during which they visited various countries in order to use their marketing skills to increase effectiveness in management of different structures. Among these places they visited GZAAT, where they met alumni students and staff members, and talked about their future careers in business.
ers will just take it as a joke. So, it can be assumed that the government might not know what makes some individuals oppressed and it won’t be able to impose the limits. In the end of the public discussion every student was asked to vote for or against the discussion topic by the principle and since most of the students voted against, it was decided, that the side that disagreed with the statement won this time. However, this doesn’t mean of course, that in reality this problem
isn’t open anymore. In fact, everybody’s opinion can be supported or argued with. More discussions are waiting for us in future and they’re going to be even more interesting, exciting, and challenging. If you can come up with any kind of interesting idea for the next debate, please go to see Mr. Cruz and together you will work on a geat topic for the discussion. ANA SANDLER
OPEN HOUSE IN GZAAT
The Tuck students were directed to American Academy by Lizi Zaldastani, the trustee of GZAAT. After the meeting and the tour around the school, the Tuck students left GZAAT, and continued their expedition to Armenia. Overall, they were quite impressed with American Academy, and the advice they gave to the alumni of GZAAT were very useful. ELENE UGULAVA On Friday, February 27, 2015, The Guivy Zaldastanishvili American Academy in Tbilisi held the annual Open House where students and parents had the opportunity to learn more about the American Academy’s programs and the admission process. Organized groups of ushers directed guests to the auditorium where they heard greeting speeches from the principal of the school Mr. Cruz and from Mr. Mamuka Khazaradze the trustee and cofounder of GZAAT. After the opening speeches guests were organized in groups and directed
towards various classrooms throughout the entire school. Teachers told about harkness table and method of discussion used in AAT classes. Guests took a look at a rich library and resources available for students. Student council gave advices to new freshmen and explained in details the responsibilities they had as the representatives of their class. Guests were motivated and amazed by the unique academic experience and sophisticated facilities American Academy offered to it’s students. SOPHIA JAVELIDZE
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April 2015
MRS. LIKA ASATIANI ABOUT LATEST MOVIE
We asked Mrs. Lika Asatiani to tell us about Mr.Donald Thomas’s biographical movie that she is shooting. She agreed and this is what she told us: - It all started when two of my former students of the Digital Film Making class Kato Chavchanidze and Kote Beridze came to me and suggested to make a film about our school and since Mr. Donald Thomas was in town at the time we decided to make a biographical movie about him. The film is made as a fulltime documentary (52 minutes). It was a hard, but very interesting work and took us whole summer to finish the screenplay, make storyboard and to shoot it. The film also includes some scenes from other videos as well as the interview with Mr.Donalds grandchild and all of the students will hopefully be able to see it on the Founders day. Another interesting fact about this movie is that its sound is recorded separately like in real movie and synchronized with the camera sound, which usually is used as a draft sound track. For such kind of a work with the audio studio environment is required with all the
necessary equipment provided, However not everything went as planned, For instance one problem that occurred, was that I almost lost all footage of the movie when my notebook broke where the whole movie was stored, however everything turned out all right and we managed to retrieve all the footage that we thought was lost and after that I always remember that a notebook isn’t a suitable tool for such work. After this introduction we asked Miss.Lika some questions about movie making in general and about Mr. Donald’s movie in particular: - How much time does it take to make an ordinary movie and how much time did it take to make this particular movie? - Normally it depends on the kind of the movie for instance this movie took about 8 month to make. - How does it fill to work with amateur movie staff?
INTERVIEW WITH ZOO DIRECTOR - Can you tell us briefly about yourself and your job? - I’m a zoologist, or in other words a conservational biologist. Basically, my job is to study how to save different species of animals by studying their environment and observing their habitat. - What influenced you to choose this profession? - Well, the biggest factor was that in my childhood I really loved animals, and since I was a child I wanted to be the director of the zoo park, so that no one would disturb me when I wanted to play with elephants. - How did you start your career? - One of the first animals that I started to study when I was 18 years old was a wolf. That was the first time I went on expedition, and I’ve been going on expeditions ever since. - What has been the most interesting moment for you throughout the time you’ve been studying animals? - It is hard to distinguish one certain moment that was the best one, since every expedition is very unique. Even if several expeditions are conducted in the same territory, they still differ from each other, since nature is alive and it always changes. In zoo every time we change some animal’s fence it is very interesting and exciting, or when we’re getting a new animal and we can observe how it gets used to new environment. - Do you have an animal you especially like and interests you? - Of course. Every animal is interesting in their own way, but you can’t really work with all of them, so you always have to choose a few of them. For example, personally I study ibex, wolves, they are my favorite animals, dolphins, they’re very intelligent, and I also study some very unintelligent creatures such as mollusks. All of them have their own perks. There are also some animals I would like to work with, such as elephants. - What kind of difficulties do you stumble upon in your everyday life at your job?
- Well, the biggest difficulty would be the lack of free time. I myself first started working with animals when I was a student, and on my vacations I would go on expeditions, and then I got carried away by this occupation. - What was the most difficult period for you throughout your career? - 90’s was very difficult for us in Zoo. We had to watch how animals died from starvation. I really don’t like remembering that period. - Did all of them die from starvation? - Yes, mostly, but there was one time, some people got in the Zoo and cut the leg of a living deer. - And which periods do you remember as the best one? - It would be the latest period, when we have some progress in zoo, and everything is going well more or less. - After so much time of working with different animals, how would you compare them to humans? - Well, if we try to divide humans in most basic manner we’ll see that some of them are bad , or “evil”, and some of them are good. Meanwhile in animals there is no such thing as evil. There is no evil animal. Even wolves and carnivores, they don’t harm others without reason, they just need to survive and for that they have to feed upon other animals, but they don’t do anything evil intentionally. If they have enough food to survive they won’t even hunt, if you saw our wolves you’ll be assured about it. - Finally, what are some plans you have for future of the zoo? - Well, we will probably bring in an Asian leopard, it is one of the target animals of conservation and observation. Other than that we might also bring some meerkats (of mongoose family). - Would you like to give some advice to our readers? - My advice would be to be closer to nature. ELENE UGULAVA
- Most of the kids from my Digital Film Making class or Movie Club already know about the process of making a movie not only theoretically but with an experience in doing the actual work. I also had Screenplay writing elective course last year so this was a good chance for them to practice their knowledge. - Was the movie finally as good as you imagined it to be? - I think it was good however there were some parts that could have been fixed like footages we used from the graduation ceremony videos they popped up when we put it next to our footage taken by our Canon Mark II camera. - Are you planning to do other biographical movies, if yes than whose? - We don’t know for sure yet, what exactly the film will be about, but we are planning to shoot another film this summer. - Is it harder to make a biographical
movie or 3 act story movie? - It depends on genre, for example it’s harder to make science fiction than biographical film, but sometimes it’s harder to make biographical films. It all depends on what you want to tell the audience, what the message is and it also depends on the technical equipment you use. - What do you need to have to make a good movie? - Well, good movie needs a quality tools and a studio where you can work on the sound so I really hope that our school will be able to build a studio of its own somewhere in the near future. - What difficulties may you encounter while making a movie? - First of all there might be financial difficulties as movie needs not only a lot of effort but also a lot of resources which in return requires budget. Movies are usually the result of a whole crew several different people working together as a whole and again it’s the result of the studio as we mentioned above. TAZO ALAVIDZE
RED CROSS The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies reaching 160 million people each year through its 189 member National Societies. It acts before, during and after disasters and health emergencies to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people. It does so with impartiality as to nationality, race, gender, religious beliefs, class and political opinions. Guided by Strategy 2020 – the IFRC’s collective plan of action to tackle the major humanitarian and development challenges of this decade – the IFRC is committed to ‘saving lives and changing minds.’ The IFRC’s strength lies in its volunteer network. It works to improve humanitarian standards, as partners in development and in response to disasters. It persuades decision makers to act in the interests of vulnerable people. It works to enable healthy and safe communities, reduce vulnerabilities, strengthen resilience and foster a culture of peace around the world. -so says wikipedia. In essence Red cross was established to aid. Aid those who have less rights than oth-
ers. Aid those that have survived through horrible catastrophes and have nowhere to go to. So why are we telling all of you this? You can help as well, through volunteering. One of the most important things that a volunteer can do is to donate blood. A lot of horrible accidents happen, the worst of them being those where people harm others. Recently, as a source from Georgia Red Cross says, there was an accident where 2 men (not quite in sober state) arrived at the nearest Red Cross office. One of them stabbed another right in the rib cage. By donating blood some person saved one of the man’s life. Otherwise the man would just die from bleeding out. You can be that saviour, who saves someone’s life by doing such a simple thing as donating blood. They accept money donations as well. With your money they can get food for starving or medications. Want to help? Tel: +995 322 96 10 92 E-mail: press@redcross.ge Web-Site: www.redcross.ge Remember: you can save someone’s life. GIORGI BEKURIDZE
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April 2015
WINNERS OF THE AAT WRITING CONTEST iasamnebi
1ST PLACE: TINANO GVELESIANI
uyurebda, rogori Cveuli xmauriT gadaSala fsiqologma wignaki da kalmis swrafi moZraobiT furclis zeda, marjvena kuTxeSi TariRi miawera- 03.05.2014. rogor nervebs uSlida es saZulveli kabineti, ugemovno, yavisferi bloknoti, sazizRari pasta, uazrod rom wripinebda da es viTom-da yovlismcodne, saTvaliani bebruxana. gaqceva undoda. sulerTia sad wavidoda, oRond aq ar mjdariyo da am qalis idiotur kiTxvebze ar epasuxa. `rogor grZnob Tavs? rame xom ar dagesizmra? am naxatze ras xedav? ra emocia Warbobs SenSi am wuTas? risi gakeTeba ginda am mocemul momentSi?~ ra didi siamovnebiT gaumeorebda simarTles, rom am mocemul momentSi mis mixrCobaze ocnebobda! magrm im sabediswero SemTxvevis mere Wkua iswavla _ damatebiTi seansebiRa aklda sruli bednierebisTvis. ara, sjobs isev Tavi moaCvenos, rom kargadaa. iqneb odesme gauSvan am sagiJeTidan. kviraSi samjer, xuTidan Svid saaTamde am beber sulelTan erTad oTaxSia gamoketili da sakuTar pirad cxovrebas ganixilavs. ratom unda mouyves viRacas ras grZnobs mamamisis da ninos mimarT. an vis raSi ainteresebs, bolos rodis elaparaka Tikas. kaxas mainc ra daemarTa sakuTar Svils aseTi wamebisTvis rom imetebs. xom xedavs rom uaresadaa. arc es wamlebi Svelis, da arc cisanas mdidari gamocdileba bavSvTa fsiqologgis sferoSi. Tumca misTvis albaT sulerTia. ma-
mobrivi instinqti saerTod ar gaaCnia. ubralod Tavidan moiSora. martivi gamosavalia ara? - sandro fsiqologTanaa da ojaxTan erTad ar isadilebs. sandro fsiqologTanaa da ojaxTan erTad ar wamova konservatoriaSi lukas koncertze. sandro fsiqologTanaa, ninos TvalebSi aRar gaeCxireba da ojaxur idiliasac aRar daarRvevs. ninos ojaxis wevrad mainc ar Tvlida. is ubralo qera Tojina iyo- barbi, romelic erT mSvenier dRes, srulebiT moulodnelad dedamisi gaxda. versfriT xvdeboda, rogor SeZlo kaxam axali colis ase swrafad povna. albaT gazeTSi ganxcadeba dawera! mamisisgan ra gaukvirdeba. ise, rodesac koniakis saerTaSoriso biznesi gaqvs da marto saqarTveloSi sam moqmed qarxanas flob, gancxadebis dawrea namdvilad ar gWirdeba. minimum 50 ninosnaeri barbi maSinve gamoTqvams survils Seni coli gxades da am sapatio statusisTvis ramodenime usiamovno garemoebac aitanos. nino ar iyo winaaRmdegi axali qmris gardacvlili colis saflavi weliwadSi erTxel zrdilobis gulisTvis moenxaulebina da yvavilebic ki mietana. Tavidan ori mozardis biWis dedobac viTomda siamovnebiT ikisra. imdens ki veRar mixvda rom Teqvsmeti wlis sandros axali deda ar Wirdeboda. sandromac Taviseburad auxsna, rom mamamisze `ugonod Seyvarebuli~, fulze daxamebuli qera naSis mzrunveloba araferSi sWirdeboda, da rom ninos SeeZlo rogorc gaexardeboda ise moqceoda kaxas, oRond misTvis da lukasTvis Tavi daenebebina. ra undoda, ra alaparakebda! axla nanobs, gabrazebulze Tavi rom ver Seikava. ara, sakuTar simarTleSi isev darwmunebulia, ubralod eqsperti fsiqologi cisanas atana uwevs kviraSi samjer or-ori saaTi. saaTnaxevaric gaiyvanos da morCeba. mere albaT Tikas naxavc mouwevs. im Tikasi, romelic sandrunas eZaxis, yvela wvrilmanze eWvianobs, mere ebuteba da Serigebis sanacvlod saCuqars elodeba. im Tikasi, romelic arafris didebiT ar gaacdens varjiSs sandros gulisTvis, romelsac sakuTari muclis presi ufro uyvars, vi-
2ND PLACE: IRAKLI TKHELIDZE
Motionless, in an open street I lay, facing the concrete, drowning in the pool of my own blood. I can still hear people crowding around my body, murmuring, whispering, susurrating… But despite their attempts to be unheard, their low tone is still able to break the barriers of the awkward silence. A good crowd has gathered around already. Some are here because they care; others - because it is their job, and the rest are here because there is nothing better to watch. You can’t tell who is who, because the looks on their faces are the same, depicting curiosity. Some are terrified as well, but curiosity takes over, since they wonder what happened.I wonder too. What happened? Why am I here? I have no answer to any of those questions, yet the only thought that comes to my mind is that this is the first and probably the last time I’m in the center of attention. I didn’t sleep that day. I didn’t sleep the day before either. It’s not that I had no wishor no time, but I simply couldn’t. My body wouldn’t go to rest. I felt like I had to do something, but what exactly, I knew not. Had home been the
dre megobrebis naxevari, romelmac icis Tbilisis yvela Wori, giJdeba simpaTiuri sandrunas saswaul mwvane Tvalebze da romelsac saSinlad unda ninos gacnoba. _ sandro, Tu SeiZleba mipasuxe!? ginda SekiTva gagimeoro? `rato elaparakeba es qali, TiTqos ori wlis bavSvi iyos? SekiTxva mSvenivrad gaigo, yru ki ara, ubralod tyuili ar uyvars. simarTlis Tqmas ki ar apirebs. gamosavali isev Cumad yofnaa.~ _ xvdebi, rom ase jdoma manam mogviwvs, sanam ar metyvi ras grZnob? - cisana daRlili gamometvelebiT ixsnis saTvales _ sandro, mamaSenTan dalaparakeba momiwevs! me kide ar minda, rom dagemuqro an dagaSino. me megobari var, romelic daxmarebas cdilobs. `megobari! rogor gaumarTla cxovrebaSi fsiqologi cisanebi Tu eyola megobrebad. oRond gauSvan aqedan rac SeiZleba swrafad, oRond sakuTar grZnobebze viRac ucnobebTan saubari ar daaZalon~ _ kargi, dReisTvis sakmarisia. xuTSabaTs xuTze gelodebi. `rogorc iqna mixvda, rom pasus ver eRirseba! gauSva, Tan sruli erTi saaTiT adre.~ didi xania aseTi bednieri ar yofila. quCaSi gamovarda da maSinve gaaCera taqsi. Cqara konservatoriaSi! unda miuswros, unda miuswros. kaxas da ninos jinaze unda miuswros, pirvelsave rigSi dajdes da xmamaRla iyviros `bravo~ roca luka pireli simfoniis dakvras daamTavrebs. unda daanaxos yvelas rom luka misi Zmaa! unda daanaos yvelas, rogor amayobs misi warmatebiT, rogor uxaria misi sixaruli, rogor udgas mxarSi yovelTvis imitom rom ubralod uyvars! ra nela icvleba SuqniSnis monitorze cifrebi. oTxi, sami, ori, erTi... kibeebi kisristexiT airbina, darbazis kari SeaRo da fexze wamomdgari mayurebeli dainaxa. mTeli darbazi taSs ukravda. scenaze biWi idga, sandrosaviT aCeCili, Savi TmiT, smoking ecva da gabadruli iRimoda. daagviana. bolo akordsac ver miuswro. dainaxa rogor gadaexvia pirvel rigSi gamoWimuli nino mamamiss. sunTqva uWirda. ar SeeZlo aq gaCereba, Tundac kidev erTi wamiT. zustad icoda,
koncertis mere luka, kaxa da nino raime uZvires da ugemovno restoranSi wavidodnen sadac nino uamrav ojaxur fotos gadaiRebda. iq lukas varsklaur momavalze erTad imjelebdnen. albaT mzrunveli deda SviliT iamayebda da Tavs im axali ojaxis nawilad igrZnbda, romelSic sandro ar Sedioda. arc undoda am siyalbis nawili yofiliyo. saswrafod gareT gamovida da kidev erTi taqsi gaaCera. axla ukve aRar eCqareboda. is, visTanac midioda, yovelTvis daelodeboda, arsad wavidoda, mousmenda, gaugebda da miuxedavad imisa, rom ver daamSvidebda mainc yovelTvis eyvareboda. eyvareboda ise Zlierad, rogorc sxvas aravis ar uyvars dedamiwaze. muxaTgverdi Zalian Cumi da lamazi iyo. iqve ayvavebul iasamnis buCqs ramodenime toti jibis daniT moaWra da frTxilad daalaga dedis saflavze. isev aq movida. moxolod aq grZnobda Tavs rogorc saxlSi. mxolod aq grZnobda imas, rasac uSedegod eZebda kaxas saxlis betonis kedlebSi, Tikas naCqarev CaxutebebSi, lukas notebis furclebSi. mxolod aq grZnobda, rom viRacas uyvarda! uyvarda sandro, da ara mamamisis fuli, an misi lamazi mwvane Tvalebi. uyvarda namdvilad, arafris gamo. zustad ise, rogorc sanros uyvarda luka. grZnobda ramdenad axlos iyo am siyvarulTan, da mainc ra Sors. Uyurebda TeTri saflavis qvas ubralo warweriT `irina~, da ocnebobda, erTi wuTiT, sul erTi wuTiT SesZleboda misi danaxva, an Tundac gagoneba. misi naTqvami erTi sityva cxovrebis bolomde eyofoda. sasaflao ki jiutad dumda. sandroc Cumad iyo. yvirili yelSi gaeCxira. aRar undoda, arc erTi wamiT am saSineli siCumis mosmena. iasamnis totebs daxeda, jibeSi xeli Caiyo da lukas naCuqari, wiTeli jibis dana amoiRo. erTxans uyura, da mere frTxilad dado TeTr saflavis qvaze. saSineli daRla igrZno, Camojda. arsad wasvla da aravis naxva ar undoda. mobezrda, saSinlad mobezrda... sandros garda aravis unaxavs rogor wiTlad Cadioda sam maiss mze mxuaTgverdis sasaflaoze.
AS I LAY DYING place I could find the answer, I’d have stayed, but it definitely wasn’t, so I decided to take walk. It was a chilly night, not really cold, but rather comfortable. The smell of rain that had ended hours ago was still present, perfectly going with the silence due to absence of cars. It looked like the Mother Nature itself wanted me to enjoy the tacit moments, and didn’t let anything interfere with my deep contemplations. I reached the old diner on the intersection of the 3rd and the 5th, the lonely place, as I would call it. It wasn’t actually lonely, but I only went there at late nights, when it was mostly empty. That night wasn’t an exception. I opened the door, heard the jingle and looked around. Old Martha was at her spot, as always; I thought she never slept, just like me. A man was sitting in the very corner, so I decided to sit at the front. I never sat anywhere else, either in the corner, near a wall, or in the front, next to the door, because I hated when someone sat beside me, I just did. Martha hated me, or I just thought she did, because I was among the few, who at late nights made her move around. I knew she felt like saying “What the hell do you want?” but she knew what I wanted, because I always ordered black coffee, so she brought me a mug as soon as I took a sit. I pitied her. She was a nice woman, kindhearted and caring, even though she never smiled. I understood her, I never smiled either. I looked down at the mug, and could see myself in the dark reflection of mad swirling coffee circles. I didn’t even take a sip, just stared at it and
thought. It looked like a black hole, swirling, sucking everything in, all the emotions, all the feelings. Yet coffee was what kept me alive, what prevented me from a collapse. Nothing new had come to my mind and the fog never settled down. In my head, there was nothing but chaos, chaos caused by all the questions, answers to which I couldn’t find. Frustrated, confused and exhausted, I left the diner. The jingle followed me again. Streets were empty, just as empty as I was. The walk back home took forever, much longer than it took me to get to the diner, but I was already exhausted enough, no big difference. I closed the door behind me and went into the room. The disorder in there looked similar to the one in my head, the only difference was that one had a cause, and the other one… the other one was just in my head. I looked at my messy bad, and laughed. I laughed at my own trouble. Yeah, it was that bad, bad enough to be funny already. I looked at the folders, looked like a bunch of letters to me, but when I looked close, I saw names and hours. I realized I hadn’t accepted anyone for two days. Diagnosis, symptoms, advice… everything what people got from me, I needed now myself. I’d heard out too many people, occupied my mind with too many problems, and kept no space for my own. I cared too much about others, but there had never been anyone to hear me out. Maybe because it was my job, to listen to people, to try to help them cope with difficulties in their lives, to take their problems
close to heart, and be sincere. My wish to help had always been honest, but at that point, I understood that it couldn’t last that way anymore. Sun was up already. I had lost the count of time, but it was midday, I was sure. Sound of cars passing by, sound I never paid attention to was so salient then. I opened the window, climbed onto the ledge and looked around. The buildings were all the same, grey color took over the most of them, but when I looked beneath the ledge, I saw more than just grey, I saw bright colors of the cars passing under the buildings. They looked beautiful. I closed my eyes and started thinking again. Once again I remembered that I had to do something, but this time, answer to the question was there. Probably the fresh air and the view had cleared up my mind. I knew what I had to do. I had to stop. I had to stop living the life of someone else. I took a deep breath… Motionless, in an open street I lay, facing the concrete, drowning in the pool of my own blood. I can’t look around, but I really want to see what’s going on. I don’t see dreams, but now, when I start noticing that the breathe I took up there is slowly leaving me, I really wish I did. I want all this to be a dream, but I know it isn’t. I want to wake up in my bed, having finally slept enough, but I know I can’t. I can’t wake up twice, because this is real. After you see a dream, you wake up, and the dream ends, but it was the opposite here, I woke up into a nightmare, and now it’s time to sleep.
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April 2015 3RD PLACE: ZAZA ASATIANI
FASTER! FASTER! LIGHTER!.. or (How I Taught a Snowball Flying)
“Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Winter cold makes me add one more blanket and I once again return to the dream. As usual, snow came on the very first day after the Harvest, but our village had never seen such a cold one before. According to Taligma, the grey witch living in the surrounding woods since immemorial time, a big immigration of Northern Snowballs to South caused
NEW BOARD GAME Magic The Gathering, or how to become a magician. Magic The Gathering, sounds so mystical, so magnificent, even majestic. But what could it mean? Well, to tell you the truth there is nothing so magical behind mtg, besides tons of work and love of fellow fans. This is a board game, or to be more exact a TCG (trading card game). Some of you might have heard of it, while some might be in the dark about it. Let me guide you through the realm of planes, plane walkers, creatures and spells. The first card game ever produced (it was produced in 1993). This game had some 12 million players by 2011. But what is it and why do people love it so much? “As a Planeswalker, you are a mage with the ability to travel between the planes of the Multiverse, cast powerful spells, and summon armies of creatures to your aid.” (mtg site). In magic the gathering you assume the role of a planewalker, one of the few granted the ability to travel between
winter to become colder. no one knows exactly why snowballs left their motherland, although Taligma believes that it was Global Warming, her godson, who made snowballs abandon icy place. Before I continue my story, I want to tell a few words about Taligma. As I mentioned before she is a witch but not such a kind of a witch that adults try to frighten children with. On the contrary, she is very kind (when I was young she even permitted me to play with her amazing hats). I think she isn’t a witch at all. I remember my papa told me once that the villagers called her a “witch” because she practiced some magic. Taligmaherself claimed to be a “flaminis” - a profession that was known for no one. So, when I finally woke up, I decided to visit Taligma to ask her for some more heating elixir. Two oak trees separated me from her house when I saw a tiny snowball floundering on the ground. She (I concluded that it was a girl) asked me to help her stand up. Certainly, I helped her, and as if she had read my thoughts, the snowball said in a coarse voice: “I was learning flying - that’s what I was
doing.” When I heard those words I smiled gently and told her: “Every one wishes to be capable of flying, including us - humans, but, unfortunately, only the birds can. Don’t you know that your kind is unable to fly? Like birds, your cousin snowflakes also can, but not you. Snowballs only roll on the ground.” “You’re wrong!” said the snowball with indignation, “ If snowballs can’t fly, how then do we scatter all around the world during winter?” “Well, it’s easy to explain. You’re scattered when children play and pelt each other with you.” “If we don’t fly, how then did other snowballs migrate here from the North?” “Global Warming made you!” bored with silly argument, I almost shouted. “You’re wrong! It was winter when snowballs started to migrate and there was no warmth at all. So, if you think that we are unable to fly, how then did those snowballs manage to come from there here? Certainly, they couldn’t swim across the rivers or jump over the mountains.” As I had no idea what to answer, and it’s said that silence represents consent, I decided
to help her learn flying. Firstly, I asked her to illustrate how she could move in the air. In just a minute she darted off the ground, nearly reached my face and then fell down. I made her repeat that again, again, and again, until I realized what her problem was, why after several minutes she could no longer stop in the air. She fell because of loosing speed so when she took off the ground anew, I shouted: “Move faster! Faster! Faster! Accelerate as much as you can and be attentive to keep balance.” In minutes, she was flattering to and fro like a white butterfly. Then she sat on my arm and whispered into my ear: “You are right: snowballs can’t fly!” “If so, then how can you?” I exclaimed with amazement. “I just wanted to ‘can’ and didn’t stop believing in myself. Remember, a combination of strong desire and hard work is the key to success!” she said that and disappeared. I have never seen that snowball again, nor any other snowball capable of flying, but every time I found myself in a difficult situation, I always remembered her words.
worlds. On your way you meet other of your kind, and most of the times the encounters end in battles. But you are not alone, you have a lot of creatures to help you in your adventures and battles. In reality, these creatures are cards that you have. First step in magic is to build your deck, and for that you need to purchase some cards. Unfortunately, they are nowhere to be found in Georgia, but there is a magical site called Amazon. Great sets to start off with are deck-builder’s toolkits. But you shall discover those later. About cards: there are 5 colours of mana, each with different cards. There are creatures, artefacts, spells, enchantments, lands and instants. Creatures and artefacts, as well as some spells and all lands, are permanents, meaning that they stay on the field until destroyed. Creatures, which are the main part of your deck are your main strength. To cast any creature you have to use mana. You get mana by playing maximum of 1 land per turn and tapping (activating) it. Certain cards require more mana than others. Now back to creatures, all creatures have strength and
toughness. Strength is the amount of damage that card can inflict during one attack, while toughness is the amount of hits it can take. Some creatures have special abilities, such as death touch. Death touch instantly destroys any creature that comes into contact with it. And it’s just one of the thousands of different abilities, because every card is unique. On the other hand, we have spells, instants and enchantments. These cards apply different effects or do direct damage, they can come in handy in a lot of situation. Some of you might be asking: “what is the goal here”? “In Magic: The Gathering, you are counted among the elite spellcasters of the Multiverse – the Planeswalkers. Your deck of cards represents your weapons, containing the spells you know and the creatures you can summon to fight for you. Games are played by two or more players, each of whom has a customized deck of Magic cards. Each player starts at 20 life. When you reduce your opponent to 0 life by attacking with creatures and playing spells, you win!”(mtg site yet again). Guess what you have to do to lower oppo-
nents life. Attack him! (if you got that correct pat yourself on the back). Seems simple right? But in reality it is not. The difficulty level of mtg is comparable with chess. Games take about 3-4 hours each. But that is in professional tournaments. Community is another great part of magic the gathering. Most of the cards one gets are not acquired through purchase, but rather through trading. A very interesting part of the community is tournaments. And yes, they do have prizes. About 50,000$ is the grand win on the pro-tour. But that is one long way to go. Now I have a suggestion to the students and the staff as well (I know you are reading this). The idea is to form a little mtg club in our school. But that is just a suggestion that the council could look into. Playing magic might seem boring at first, but after you see a few games, you will never be able to forget it. If this article will have good “rating”, I will go into more details in the next issue. But for now, goodbye. And remember: “you are a wizard Harry”. GIORGI BEKURIDZE
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April 2015 HOW TO BE FIT Tips From Ana!
It’s often a challenge for many of us to get up from the couch and start exercising in order to get and stay fit. So what’s the secret of the people who really can manage to do it? Well, let’s find out. 1. Sometimes you don’t have to be a fitness expert to figure out that you have to loose some weight. If you think that it’s finally the time when you should get fitter, well you could at least start out with something small and relatively easy, for example cut out eating fatty food and walk on a treadmill. Who knows, maybe eventually you’ll even be running a whole marathon! A clear example of this is a 42-year-old Colorado resident named Chase Squares. “It all started with 20 minutes on a treadmill,” he says. “The difference between my success and others who have struggled is that I did it every single day. No exercise program in the world works if you don’t do it consistently.” 2. The American Council on Exercise (ACE) recently surveyed 1,000 ACE-certified personal trainers about the best techniques to get fit. Their top three suggestions: Train your strength as much as you can, or at least for a short period of time. Try to exercise about 20 minutes a day, twice a week and it will already have good effect on your body. Another extremely efficient and produc-
The 87th Annual Academy Awards As always Oscars were expected by many with a huge interest. I’ll say that Georgians were waiting for Oscars with great enthusiasm. This year Georgian movie Tangerines, directed by Zaza Urushadze, was nominated in category of the Best Foreign Language Film. To the surprise of many it was presented as Estonian movie. The explanation is simple; Estonia raised the budget for filming Tangerines. Unfortunately, the movie didn’t win; the Oscar went to Polish movie Ida about a nun who finds her ant thus opening the way to learning of the fate of her family. Ida was the first
tive way of exercising is interval training. Which in its most simple form involves walking for two minutes, running for two and then alternating them with each other during all the time of a workout. 1. Don’t try to be perfect and do more than you actually can and exhaust yourself with it. Do as much as you can instead, in little amount, but focus on the healthy behavior at the same time. For example, don’t worry if you can’t run 5 km a day. Instead, walk for 15 minutes and step by step you should add time, pace and intensity. 2. Find a close friend, relative, or a family member who also wants to get fit and then you can encourage each other all the time and exercise together. 3. If you’re too busy and don’t have enough time or energy to go to the gym and exercise there, you can do some things at home too. If you’ve got floor space, try simple floor exercises to target areas such as the hips and buttocks, legs and thighs, and chest and arms (like push-ups, squats, and lunges). Repeat each exercise about 10-12 times a day and as time passes, add more intensity to it. 4. You won’t get the required result fastly and easily if you don’t do something you want. Exercise the way you enjoy it and this will make things much easier. For example, if you don’t enjoy weights, don’t go to the gym. You can go rock climbing instead. 5. Getting fit involves exercising while you
have the most amount of energy. It won’t be any better if you exhaust yourself. For instance, if you’re a morning person exercise in the early time of the day, but if you receive more energy as the day goes on, try to exercise during the afternoons or evenings. 6. Different people need different types of exercising. So, if you’re new in this, you’d better call in pros who will determine what kind of exercise your body requires. Professional assessments can tell you your weakest points,
so that you can focus and work on them. For instance, some people may need more attention to their flexibility and agility, but not need much resistant training or aerobics. It’s not so hard to exercise and get fit fastly, quite often all the things we need are some advice, time and motivation to do it and it’s not necessary at all to become exhausted from different types of training all the time.
for movie Still Alice. The Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role went to J.K. Simmons from the movie Whiplash; the best actress in a supporting role became Patricia Arquette for Boyhood , beating other nominates such as Laura Dern, Keira Knightly, Emma Stone, and Meryl Streep. Patricia also impressed the audience by her speech where she spoke about giving equal rights and equal wages to women in the United States of America. Her colleagues met her speech with great sympathy and a huge
I felt like I did not belong. And now I’m standing here and so I would like for this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she’s weird or she’s different or she doesn’t fit in anywhere. Yes you do. I promise you do. You do. Stay weird, stay different.” The rest of the winners were: Big Hero 6 became the Best Animated Feature Film; Birdman won Oscars for the Best Cinematography, Directing, Writing (Original Screenplay) ; The Grand Budapest Hotel gained Oscars in
applause. But maybe the best and the most sincere speech of that night was of Graham Moore who won the Oscar for the best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) for The Imitation Game. Here is the fragment from his speech, “When I was 16-years-old I tried to kill myself, because I felt weird and I felt different and
categories of Costume Design, Music ( Original Score),Production Design, Makeup and Hairstyling; Whiplash received Oscars for the Best Film Editing and Sound Mixing. The Oscar for the best Sound Editing went to American Sniper. NATIA KURDEVANIDZE
ANA SANDLER
Polish movie to win the Oscar, so it was significant event for the whole Polish population. The main fuss was, of course, around the category of Best Film where eight movies were nominated this year: American Sniper, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The imitation Game, American Sniper, Selma, The Theory of Everything, Whiplash. The winner was Birdman. Many expected the movie Interstellar to be nominated, but the Academy decided not to present this film on Best Film category, however it won the Oscar for its visual effects. The best Actor in a Leading Role went to Eddie Redmayne from The Theory of Everything. He played the role of Stephen Hawking. The best actress in a leading role went to Julianne Moore
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April 2015
REVIEWS BOYHOOD What is boyhood and when does it actually end? This is the main topic in the movie “Boyhood” is based on. Film tells about a boy, Mason (Ellar Coltrane), who is growing up, and how the world changes him. This movie is unique because it was filmed for 12 years. Yes, you did not misread it, 12 years! Ellar Coltrane and all of the cast members grew up on filming this movie. Neither of them changed, each character had
it’s development. This movie is really nostalgic, for example when I watched it I used to go back just to see how his manners or face changed. The message of the movie is that that’s not the big things like graduating, getting married, finishing university matters, but the little things like going to the cinema with family, or having a dinner with your mother. This little things happens in the middle of the big ones. I strongly recommend watching this movie, it will inspire a lot of people and will show you that growing up is a really hard process.
The story line is very interesting, and it may even remind you of some James Bond movies. It is clearly a parody of it. Boy, which is very talented but is “lost” in his life, is found by an agent which gives him a chance to become one. Boy takes it and of course, in the end tries to save the world. The movies is rated R, because of some vio-
lence, which is present, but I still feel like it is a movies anyone can see. If you are not of course very emotional. In the movie, there are many unexpected plot twists, which keep people behind the screen always aware of something. I think this was the good trick, that film director used. Film director is Matthew Vaughn, Englishman, his is known for producing such films as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Snatch (2000) and others. I recommend watching this movie, it will grab your attention and keep it until the end of it. Also, if you want to have a good laugh, this movie will be good for it. LIZA KHURTSILAVA IMAGINE DRAGON Imagine Dragons is an American rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada. Imagine Dragons’ line up consists of lead vocalist Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne “Wing” Sermon, bassist Ben McKee
KINGSMAN - THE SECRET SERVICE Kingsman is a great movie that came out on February 13, 2015. It is based on comic book. It tells the story of a secret spy service, which no one knows about. The main advantage and difference in this movie, from other actions is that, it is very funny and can even be called comedy.
WHAT’S TRENDING? PUMPKIN SPICE MADNESS Yes folks, its that time of the year again. Everyone’s drinking it. Everyone’s eating it. Its Pumpkin spice MADNESS. As soon as October comes, it’s everywhere. Pumpkin spice lattes (PSL’s), Oreos, waffles, donuts and even candles! When did a flavor, which doesn’t even include pumpkin might I add, become a holiday? The worst part is that people judge you if you don’t like it. To me, it tastes like someone accidently spilled too much cinnamon in corn syrup, and then mixed it up with 3-week-old pumpkin pie. But dare I say that out loud- I will be attacked by herds of 12 year olds who live off of that stuff… Come December, peppermint-flavored products will replace pumpkin spice. But it’s
that alarming, eternally long stretch of hours between the end of Thanksgiving and the first day of December that I’m worrying about. What to do then? Peppermintypumpkin flavor? “Fads come and go, but pumpkin spice is here to stay. Retailers are barely scratching the surface of this goldmine.” Says Michelle Mahone, a reporter for “Fox News”. It’s true, there’s so much more they could produce. Pumpkin spice hair spray. Pumpkin spice flavored paintings. Socks that smell like pumpkin spice. It’s never going to end.
So before the fall months end this year, do yourself a favor and try a PSL. And if you get addicted…well… Good luck. #DONUT SELFIE: NEWEST CRAZE? …OR JUST ANOTHER WAY TO LOOK STUPID IN PUBLIC? We have all taken a Selfie at one point in our lives, and we know just how addicting they are. Car Selfies, bathroom Selfies, mirror Selfies, what’s next? Karen X. Cheng, an admired Internet persona, believes there’s more to a regular snapshot than we think. Introducing the “The Donut Selfie”. This new photography trend takes a spin on the usual Selfie… literally! It captures the 360-degree environment of it’s subject- taking the Selfie game to the next level.
Yahoo News spoke to Cheng who told them she got this innovative Selfie idea with her friend by playing around with her camera adding, “We were doing sweeping camera motions around the head trying to make optical illusions. I did one that was from one side of my head to the other - made a donut around my head - and the video started looping and woah that looks cool. Soon enough I was running all around the city trying to get cool shots, playing with slo mo effects and iPhone lens attachments, and this is the result!”
and drummer Daniel Platzman. Imagine Dragons won an American Music Award for Favorite Alternative Artist, a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance, five Billboard Music Awards, and a World Music Award. In May 2014, the band was nominated for a total of fourteen different Billboard Music Awards, including Top Artist of the Year and a Milestone Award, recognizing innovation and creativity of different artists across different genres. Their most famous song was Radioactive and Demons in the network especially in YouTube their music videos have got more than 500 million views. In this year, band is planning big world tour and in April 12 they open their tour in Santiago, Chile in the Movie star Arena. SOPHIA JAVELIDZE ASSASSIN’S CREED ROGUE
Templar ways and after the game we start to ask yourself who are the bad guys a lot of characters from old games Young Aquilis Connors mentor from Assassin’s creed III, Ale vale our old friend from Assassin’s creed black flag and freedom cry, Heitem Kenway Connors father from Assassin’s creed III and Edward’s son from Black flag Also a lot of historical characters like copral Monroe and Benjamin Franklin, but this exciting story is short it almost as if game developers were forced to finish up game cause there are 5 episodes with missions ranging from 10 to 2 and if first 3 are big episodes last two has only 2 missions in it and by the end you fill like you want more of it but there is none also another thing done poorly is the outside world story which pops out rarely and isn’t interesting at all. but Ubisoft managed to sneak some ester eggs in that game anyway I already mentioned characters from old games but there
Ubisoft made a very unexpected move by releasing two Assassin’s creed games a year Assassin’s creed unity and Assassin’s creed rogue one for next gen and another for past gen of course everyone went to play next gen assassin and it was really bad I mean really bad and no one even tried out to play past gen. and there was something to see. Before I start a little back story after very successful Assassin’s creed Black Flag Ubisoft game developing team was split into two parts one was asked to create new enhanced Assassin and another was asked to improve black flag well did they succeed? in my opinion Yes! One way to describe Rogue is more see battles more unique locations more side missions more missions on land and more interesting characters. If you liked black flag then you defiantly gonna like rogue map has been tripled in size so there are there mane areas that we will visit it is New York fully land River Valley 50-50 on sea and land and North Atlantic Big sea with a couple of islands so yes land it’s not a secret that the biggest focus for black flag was sea battles and therefore land missions are there just to be there and most of the missions required you to follow someone and then assassinate him in a specific way, However in Rogue land missions are almost as interesting as sea adventures there have been gang hideouts added a bunch of collectibles assassin’s interceptions and revetilating buildings, However by far the best part about Assassin’s creed Rogue is it’s story We get to see
was more for instance you could decorate your ship Morigan as Legendary Jackdaw our Ship from assassin’s creed black flag or get Edwards Guns and Altars sword our main hero from the first Assassin’s creed And finally I want to mention Soundtrack as it is the first thing you hear and it is amazing it is remix of assassin’s creed II soundtrack and makes every Assassin’s creed fan release nostalgia tear it’s just beautiful all at all I really liked it and I suggest it to all assassin’s fan and especially if you liked black flag and if it would be longer it would be fascinating but as for what it is I give it 9,5/10 (0,5 for the most epic ending in assassin’s history.) TAZO ALAVIDZE
How does this donut picture thing… work? To take a Donut Selfie all you have to do is spin your phones camera around your head in a semi circle direction to capture all of your surroundings. Later, you collect the “donut shots” and edit them together to create a short video you can post to your social media platforms. Still not sure how it works? Karen set up a
website where you can find tutorials and examples on how to take the perfect donut Selfie. “It’s so cool! I like it way more than regular Selfies!” says Danae Japaridze, a freshman at GZAAT. She told us how she believes that the trend will definitely go viral at our very own school. Well, what are you waiting for? Tag your pictures with #donutselfie, and get in on the trend. TASIA KUCAN
FIFTEEN INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE WORLD rods of a nuclear reactor. 9. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky. 10. Like fingerprints, everyone’s tongue print is different. 11. A duck’s quack doesn’t echo, and no one knows why. 12. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily. 13. A man named Charles Osborne had hiccups for 69 years! 14. Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon of cleanliness. She declared that she 1. It takes 8 minutes and 17 seconds for light to travel from the Sun’s surface to the Earth. 2. One million, million, million, million, millionth of a second after the Big Bang the Universe was the size of a pea. 3. Giraffes often sleep for only 20 minutes in 24 hours. They might sleep up to 2 hours, but it’s rare. They never lie down. 4. To escape the Earth’s gravity a rocket needs to travel 7 miles a second. 5. Utopia is a large, smooth lying area of Mars. 6. On the day that Alexander Graham Bell was buried the entire US telephone system was shut down for 1 minute in tribute. 7. The mortality rate if bitten by a Black Mamba snake is over 95%. 8. Microbial life can survive on the cooling
bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not. 15. Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour. ANA SANDLER
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April 2015