Too Early?

Recently I have saw on the news something that is just infuriating (I know, it's the news, it's its job). What I saw was that even with the presidential election over (FINALLY!!!) the GOP are already talking about candidates for 2016. This is stupid, why in the world are we talking about elections a few weeks after the last one, for an election in four years. This has got to stop, we no longer have politicians doing their jobs, they are simply campaigning for the next election as soon as they get elected. We need to have politicians who are more worried about our nation than about if they get to keep their job because they're "better" than the person running against them. If they did their job correctly in the right way, then their actions would speak louder than their words, because lately it just feels like all that we get are empty promises from all of the politicians. With the hole that the U.S. is digging for itself financially, I don't care what "party" you support, but we need to get out heads out of our butts and fix this nation. It's not about what either side says, it's about what they both do that matters.

The Real Meaning to "YOLO"

http://dribbble.s3.amazonaws.com/users/68296/screenshots/678555/yolo3-03_copy.jpg

Lately I have been hearing a lot of people saying "YOLO" after doing really stupid stuff. Why is that an excuse for being stupid. Whenever I hear that it is always after hearing about how drunk they got or after they doign something copletely moronic.

Honestly this is getting out of hand. For a little why it was amusing when people made little mistakes and said "YOLO", but now my only response is "really?" I'm even hearing this from my friends and I have actually had to start asking them to stop saying it.

I have seen a few of my friends begin to do extremely stupid stuff, some of which could ruin the rest of their lives, and their only response is "YOLO". My response has come to "You only die once too", that has made many of them stop, at least around me.

The best thing that I have ever heard from someone speaking out against "YOLO" is that the true meaning of "YOLO" is that "you only live once, so do something that matters".

Is there truly any winners?

With all of the recent information for the election an the election iteself coming up, it makes me wonder if there really are any "winners" once it is all said and done. Each party has picked a candidate that they feel has the best chances of winning, not necessarily what they as a party actually want.

With each election, the debates get more and more mean spirited; they also get farther and farther from what they were in the past. In the past, a debate was a way for each candidate to distinguish themselves from the rest by giving their HONEST feelings to questions posed by THE PEOPLE, not one party or another. This was a time to show their worth to the voters, not at how much they are not as bad as the other candidate.

In many of the recent years I have seen many of my friends pick one side the other, and then start bickering to the point of screaming at each other. There are times when they stop talking to each other completely until after the election is over. I have family members that have told us that they "can't help" their mother when she was ill, because of "those damn republicans" making them pay for some of their own health insurance.

To be honest, I am sick of it. The President of the United States should unify our country, not divide it. He should stand to the world as a leader of our country, representing our ideals, hopes, and will. Instead, he/she will always be the head of their party. I guess I will keep going back to a letter George Washington wrote right before he left office (voluntarily, which was against the people's wishes) in which he warned the country about the dangers of having a two-party political system. And you know what, he was right, on every count.

A Man To Truly be Respected: Arthur Pejsa

Arthur Pejsa
http://people.mnhs.org/mgg/uploads/fullsize/1428_01_f.jpg

During this past week I attended a naming ceremony at the university observatory for Arthur Pejsa. Originally I had only gone as a worker for the Planetarium and for the Observatory itself. What I found out was something I realize, I forget all to often.

Through the ceremony, different people related to Pejsa spoke about how he has inpacted their lives, and it was truly amazing. I found out that he had served in the Air Force during WWII, flying roughly thirty missions over Japan, flew over the ship when Japan surrendered, and helped design multiple world changing technology. And after all of that, he went on to be a college professor for mathematics and physics.

Arthur Pejsa:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JtaXKl3k9Y

This man, whom I don't know if I should refer to him as Captain or Doctor Pejsa, is a man to be honored and looked up to. It was an honor to meet him, and even more so to be involved in a program that he has put so much care and faith in. He truly is a hero in my eyes.

There Will Be Blood BSR

http://www.blogto.com/upload/2007/12/20071230_blood.jpg

 

Throughout the film, the music and the lighting help the viewer to understand how Daniel Plainview feels towards others in the movie. In one of the beginning scenes, Daniel is seen mining alone in a dark hole. At this point little sound is played beyond him striking the wall searching for silver. After a short time, Daniel leaves the mine shaft and then returns. On the way back in, he falls down the shaft, breaking his leg. While attempting to leave, he picks up some of the rocks which are silver. This begins precedence throughout the film of Daniel caring more about money than about himself or anything else. At this point a dull, low sound begins to play in the background. As the camera begins to pan out starting from Daniel’s side to the wide open countryside of the Western landscape, the sound grows louder and higher in pitch. At every point in the film where something important happens, the same sound is heard again and again. Each time we hear this sound, or any sound played by a string instrument, we know that something important is about to happen.

http://thelifeofwaddy.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/therewillbeblood1.jpg

In the film, there is an overriding camera angle that represents how Daniel views others around him, the angle is nearly always from below head level. Nearly all of the light during the film is of darker areas, with an even darker overtone from Daniel himself for most of the movie. In many of the most crucial times in the film, the lighting becomes darker, until the only light is cast from flame, making the darkness “come alive” on the faces of the actors; at times this brings the actors fear to life on their faces. After Daniel’s “conversion” in Eli’s church, the lighting becomes a little brighter, but the camera angles never change. Only in the last scene does the camera angle change, right before the final scene comes to the screen, "There Will Be Blood".

American Genre Review

Action Movies

Action movies have captivated audiences since the beginning of the industry. In the recent decades, action movies have done phenominally well, including many well known films. Some such films include Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, many of the recent comic book movies. It can be said that action movies captivate its audiences by transporting them to world similar to our own, yet mingled with the dreams we have of heroic deeds to save either those we know, or the entire world.

In many of the recent films of the last few decades, we see that the best films are those that remind us of who we are, but then propel us into the dream we all have of prevailing over evil and saving everything. In George Lucas's Star Wars, Luke Skywalker is propelled through adolescence with his "easy" life on a moisture farm, to leading the Rebellion as the head of the Jedi Order. In J.RR. Tolkien's The Lord of the Ring's, Frodo moves from the quiet little Shire to defeating Lord Sauron by throwing The Ring into a volcano.

But with these films, the part that truly brings the viewer in, is that of the "hero" nearly falling to his own darkness but overcoming it in just the nick of time. This makes us feel as if we too can defeat our "darkness" and once more travel the path of "light".

David Maraniss response

David Maraniss response:

          The main idea of David Maraniss's article is that of "[winning isn't everything]" and how that pertains to the recent Packer game against Seattle. Maraniss begins the article by talking about a few of the things that had been bothering him in the week, such as politics, and how he had been looking forward to the football game. Unfortunately, he was disappointed and initially angered by the result of the game. Then, he realizes that being angry at the outcome is biased because of the fact that he is a Packer fan; that is, he would be thrilled at the referees' call at the end of the game giving the win to the Seattle Seahawks. Realizing this, Maraniss begins to write about how it is deplorable that the quarterback and coach of the Seahawks did not have any issue with the win, even though it was a sham of a win.

         The main argument of the article is that of whether or not "winning" is everything. Near the beinning Maraniss is quoting a contributor to Mitt Romney's campaign as he misquotes Vince Lombardi. The misquote was of Vince Lombardi as saying that “winning is everything, it’s the only thing”, when in fact Lombardi never said this, or showed that he believed this. I agree with Maraniss’s statement, because winning is not everything if you do not win with honor and integrity. It is deplorable that not only did the quarterback see nothing wrong with how he won, but that he did not speak up when he is seen as an honorable person. Sadly, this is not the first time that the coach has been seen as being unjust and doing something that should cause him trouble. Maraniss gives information that before the coach had come to the NFL, that he was being investigated by the NCAA for his coaching in Southern California University. To show that Lombardi did not believe in winning at any cost, Maraniss tells of how he pulled one of his best players out of a game because he tripped another player when the refs did not see it. If nothing else, this shows that Vince Lombardi was an honorable man, and one that we should aspire to be like in everyday life.