Pat Summit's New Book

I'm currently reading the book published in early 2013 by former Head Coach of the Tennessee Lady Volunteer Women's Basketball team, Pat Head-Summit. It is called Sum It Up. Basically it "sums" her life up in a little over 400 pages.
I not only enjoy reading this book because it involves collegiate basketball and high intensity type situations, but because it is so easy to read. She is from down south in the rural part of Tennessee, and her accent is heavy. She can read and write, but she isn't the most grammatically correct nor that complex in her writing and diction. She gets down to the point and doesn't creep around with a bunch of artistical fluff. She says what she wants the reader to know and moves on. That is what I like about the book! It covers a very long, successful life in a very short amount of pages. The text is simple and there are many quotes that support her claims in the book.
It is very well written especially for a sophomore (second) book author. She did, however, get one of her very good friends to help her write and publish it. Who wouldn't want to publish a book with Pat Summit! She is one of the most winningest coaches of all time, collegiate, pros, women's, men's! It doesn't matter! Her name is up there with the greats such as: John Wooden, Coach K, and Bobby Knight! She has quite a legacy as evident by the basketball world and this book! No wonder her name gets slung around with the commentators during the NCAA Final Four, she had a career and life as successful as could be! I can't wait to finish it! (288)

Bright Future Requires Shades

Beings that I did a blog post on the end of school and what not, I deemed that it was necessary to write a little something something about plans for the future... Not the near future (as in Senior year), but more of your college years and beyond to infinity, as Buzz Lightyear would say.
Personally, I want to pursue a career in the military (hopefully either USMA/West Point Military Academy, Air Force Academy, or the Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD). This military isn't like being drafted... I wouldn't be on the front lines. I would be more of a leader or higher up officer. Why? Because I would go to college at the academy. I would get my schooling paid for and get paid even while I'm in there for extras. How sweet is that? Scholarship and money for whatever I want? NICE! And the cool thing about it is, I could get any schooling after my four year degree paid for. Me, personally, I want to go Pre-Med and then continue into Med School to become some sort of a doctor. The military academy would pay for that! They are the elitist of the elite to say the least, but it comes at a price. You must give x number of years to them after your schooling is finished. You would more than likely be deployed in those years of service, if the United States was in some sort of a foreign war/dispute. Being someone that has always wanted to travel all over the world my whole life, I might enjoy this! My parents on the other hand are naturally a little concerned as they don't want anything happening to me. I very much like the discipline that you get at these academies. They prepare you to be the best that the country has to offer academically, athletically, and in any other aspect. I can't wait to see if I can go through this avenue to pursue a nice career in my future.
If I got the awesome opportunity to go to one of the military academies, I would play basketball there! Division 1 women's NCAA college basketball to be exact. I've always wanted to be a college basketball player on scholarship, and what better way to do it! If I didn't go to the military academy, and went to a regular four year state or private university or college, I would still play basketball on scholarship! I have always dreamed of playing in an NCAA championship in early April.
No matter where I go, I want to become a doctor. Specifically a surgeon as of right now, but who knows how I could change my mind. I'm particularly interest in specializing. I think it would be so rewarding if I could perform heart surgery on a baby that wasn't even a month old, or brain surgery on a person that suffered injury and head trauma from an unfortunate accident.
Whatever I plan to do or wherever my future takes me, I hope it is bright! I can't wait to set off into it and see where I end up! I didn't even discuss a husband or kids! ;) (530)

Crime is Pride

            In the excerpt from Antigone, Sophocles displays a very factual message to not only the Greeks reading his work at the time, but for all of mankind to come centuries later. His moral in the excerpt is very timeless and applies to today’s world so well. Many other Greek playwrights and philosophers were ahead of their times, needless to say. The wise Teiresias was an extremely humble person, and you can tell in his writing, because he was able to analyze all of humankind, himself included.

            When he wrote that “all men make mistakes (line 1),” he was telling us, the reader, something we have always heard. It has been a cliché parallel to “nobody’s perfect,” and others. I don’t know about your mother, but I learned from my mom, growing up, that mishaps are inevitable, but it is how you bounce back from it that counts. And more importantly, accept your imperfections. When something goes wrong, don’t keep covering your tracks. Go back to the problem, fix it, and move on in the right direction. When you don’t you can become something you aren’t: vain, cocky, unrealistic, and unsure of how to problem solve.

            Sophocles refers to the people that accept themselves as sinning human beings as “good” men (line 2). When these good men stop and recognize that they are doing something wrong, they must come to terms with themselves and that they were mistaken in their choices (line 2). When they are able to do this, they know that their course is wrong (line 3).

            It is one thing to know that you are wrong, but it’s another thing to change for the better, or fix the evil (line 4). Some may just play it off and hope that it doesn’t impede any more of their progress, but the only thing standing in their way is themselves. Some people are just too proud to show everyone else that they messed up. Their egos get a shot in the face, and the bad man thinks way too much of himself to let anything reshape his reputation (line 5).

            Sophocles uses diction involving criminals. To people (men especially), a mistake made known to everyone (themselves included) is considered an evil. But the real crime is when they don’t go back and fix it. Not all mistakes are crimes and evils, but we, as people, look at them more seriously because they affect our appearance to others. (407)

End of the Year/Line

                Just a quick rant sesh.

                End of the year stuff. Yes. It is an exciting time.

                There are graduation parties to attend and shorts to wear, but before you get all your Speedo flippy floppies out, I advise you to listen up!

                It is extremely hard to get/stay motivated the end of Semester 2, Trimester 3, Quarter 4, END OF THE YEAR (you get it). May comes and everybody just loses it. Nobody wants to come to school, and if they do they don’t want to do anything while there.

                I have AP Exams, regular Trimester 3 class exams, SAT test, ACT test, and 2 SAT Subject tests to take. Yea. Junior year sucks. But what is even better is that you can see a little light at the end of the tunnel; you know that your Senior year of school will be even harder with ALL AP classes.

                I’m just looking forward to a little time off to play some basketball, swim, and workout! Tanning here I come! I’m not about wishing my life away, but why does the Summer vacation have to creep to get here, and then zooms right past us like we are all standing still! Not cool, Summer vacay! (204)

The Voice

                The Voice is a great hit show on America’s TV station NBC. There have been four seasons so far since December of 2010, compiling a grand total of 82 episodes. If you don’t know what it is… I’ll tell you. It’s a reality series for competitive singing. Duets or solos can apply and compete, but you must be 15 years of age or older. It was based on the original concept from The Voice of Holland where there are blind auditions, and if the judges like it they will hit a button if they want you on their team.

                The show is created by John de Mol and Roel van Velzen, presented by Carson Daly, Christina Mililan (seasons 2-on), Alison Haislip (season 1), and judged by Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera (seasons 1-3), Usher (season 4), Cee Lo Green (seasons 1-3), and Shakira (season 4). Needless to say there are lots of popular, successful artists that are judges, coaches, and mentors. The chance to get up on stage and perform in front of these singers has to be what makes this show the greatest! They tell you that you are awesome, or what you need to work on. The shows are anywhere from 44-104 minutes depending on if it is a special “battle round” episode.

                The winner of the show, voted in by the audience via SMS text, telephone, or the Internet and partly by judges, receives one hundred thousand dollars, a record deal with Universal Republic Records (season 1-2), and Universal Music Group record deal (seasons 3-on). Past winners include: Javier Colon, Jermaine Paul, and Cassadee Pope. You don’t even have to win the season’s competition to be famous, when they perform their adaptations to the songs they are automatically available on the iTunes store to purchase by the public.

                In the last few years, it has been the lead-out program to the Super Bowls and Olympics. It had many sponsors of the past few seasons such as: Kia Motors, Sprint, and Starbucks. There have been many guest performers during Battle Rounds over the past seasons such as: Adam Blackstone, Alanis Morissette, Robin Thicke, Mary J. Blige, Reba McEntire, Kelly Clarkson, Miranda Lambert, Michael Buble, Monica, Kenny “Babyface Edmonds, Ne-Yo, Rob Thomas, Sia, Jewel, Lionel Richie, and Billie Joe Armstrong. Since season three, you, as a judge or team, could “steal!” What a steal is, is when another teams’ two performers battle, and one of them loses, you can pick that person up on their team instead of them going home. This has made it nonetheless interesting between the judge’s humorous competitiveness.

                I hope that you tune into The Voice whenever you can, because there are lots of really talented singers and performers out there. This show has said to be extremely similar (or better) than America/Britain’s Got Talent, American Idol, and The X Factor. (477)

Advanced Placement Exams are Coming!

Welp. Party’s over. You know what that means.

That’s right. Advanced Placement exams are coming up.

Now, not only are these more important than my actual third trimester/end of the year exams, but

they are more time consuming.

Great. Just what I need.

            First off, I’d like to say that I’ve never taken any AP tests before, and I am terrified. My mother forced me to sign up back in April for the AP exams in May, and I am not looking forward to them. I don’t feel that I know what I’m doing, and it will probably just be a waste of $180 ($90 a pop). I wish that I could drop out of the exams just like you can drop out of the classes, but, unfortunately, I can’t. It is too late.

            I took two Advanced Placement classes this year in the forms of: Advanced Placement United States History and Advanced Placement Language and Composition (this class). Maybe I’m just freaking out because these topics are exactly the most favorite of everyone’s. APUSH (American History) is basically just remembering a bunch of facts, dates, people, and wars. Ah? Presidents… not my forte. Hopefully I can learn that president song in a weekend. From the colonization of our great country til’ 9/11 (my birthday). A lot of shniz went down in this time period. The crazy thing is I’d almost rather learn what happened with the empires back in Europe from the beginning of time until now! To me, it is more diverse culturally. I guess I’ll just enjoy Advanced Placement World History next year that much more!

            Moving on the Advanced Placement Language and Composition. This is the class that I am doing this blog out of. It has been a very nice class to be in this year… full of discussions, documentaries, analysis of texts, reading, and creative writing! I am pretty good in all of these except… analysis of texts and reading. I have trouble focusing on passages and answering ten to fifteen questions on what the author’s reasons were for writing what and how they did. I am more of a comprehension gal, myself. I could tell you what the colors of the stripes of the boy’s jacket in the third row of the Michael Jackson concert, but I don’t know if I could tell you why the author chose to use parallel structure, extended metaphors, or zeugmas. (What are these?... Still don’t know.)

            Anyway, I’d like some prayers for these next few weeks. Hopefully God will give me the strength and motivation to study a little at least. I was originally planning on not studying at all, and just seeing how well the classes have prepared me, but I’m thinking I might get a fail (0,1, or 2) if I follow through with that. You can be dang sure I didn’t go out and waste $50 at Barnes and Noble buying Advanced Placement study books. 1) Those things are too long to read. 2) Those things are overkill. 3) You won’t have time to read it all and retain anything. 4) Too expensive!

            Wish me luck guys! Hopefully I can get a 3,4, or 5. (I can only get credit for college courses if I get at least a 4… maybe a 5!) Guess I’ll be taking it in college anyway… (557)

Original Poem by Muah Plus the List of Literary and Rhetorical Techniques Used

“You’ve Found Me”

I’ve been here all along.

Right under your nose.

Hide and seek champion for all eternity.

I trekked long and hard through chocolaty snack wrappers and crumbled math assignments.

Oh, the impossibility that I would ever see a reader’s face again.

Don’t get me wrong,

I wanted to be there for you.

But my pride was hurt, and I was ashamed.

From humble beginnings of ink smudges to the final draft,

I grew staples like a young son taller.

And you were the proud mama.

In your mind I was ready,

Ready and perfect for inspection.

But soon after our return, I felt like I had somehow failed you.

The disappointment now in your eyes was excruciating.

I couldn’t bear it,

So I sought refuge in a dark place filled with no pain nor red ink.

With a zip of a bag, I was safe.

I dreamt long and hard of days where I would be published

And cherished by all.

Worry no more, as I have appeared,

Facing my fears, and bearing my bold.

Ready to start anew.

Maybe one day, I can fulfill my potential as you desired.

And with a little work,

Become what she expected.

I’d like you to give me another chance.

A second shot at redemption.

·         Symbolism- Throughout the whole poem, I created a poetic letter from my missing “A Second Shot at Redemption” Argument/Persuasive essay to myself. It should appear to the reader that the letter is from an actual person based on the human traits and feelings coming from the paper. The author of the poetic letter is a symbol for my misplaced paper.

·         Irony- This is an ironic topic and style that I chose. I misplaced a paper that I’ve been looking a week for, and, once I finally found it, I was inspired to write about the paper. The paper had quite a few corrections and marks from the teacher on it, so I gave life to the paper. It felt ashamed of its performance so it hid from me. I associate this type of style to Mr. Atticus’s because I didn’t write about normal poetic topics such as nature, music, or feeling. I wrote a humorous, spoofy letter to myself from an item I had misplaced. I also mentioned the teacher (Mizzay) in the poem to give the poem some personal meaning to the class and myself. Of course we know that papers don’t hide from students; students often misplace them, and it is there fault. But I am placing the blame on the paper by writing its apology.

·         Diction- I chose a few words that I thought stood out and were interesting. In line 4, I use the word “trekked” to show how exciting my paper’s journey was in my book bag and locker. Although there were a few others that I could have mentioned, I really liked my idea for line 23’s “anew.” This gives the poem a touch of classical poetry. The word “anew” sounded like a phrase from Shakespeare’s time. It sounds very poetic and sophisticated when referring to the fresh start the paper is seeking.

·         Imagery- “Chocolaty snack wrappers and crumbled math assignments” in line 4 is a really descriptive phrase. “Chocolaty snack wrappers” appeals to the reader’s smell (olfactory) and taste (gustatory), while “crumbled math assignments” appeals to the reader’s visual (sight) and auditory (hearing) senses. They will be able to taste and smell the cocoa of the chocolate and hear the crumbling of the paper, while seeing the wads of homework.

·          Hyperbole- In line 3, I use the phrase “for all eternity,” quite figuratively. I don’t mean that the essay will be reigning “hide and seek champion” forever, but I use it to fully convince the reader that its hiding spot was exceptionally good, and I couldn’t find it for the life of me.

·         Personification- Through the clues that hint at my symbolism (like “staples” (line 10) and “red ink” (line 17)) the reader knows that I’m talking about some sort of an assignment. Paper cannot win at “hide and seek,” trek, “see a reader’s face” (line 5), be “ashamed” (line 8), have a hurt pride (line 8), fail people (line 14), dream (line 19), or face fears (line 22). All of these traits or actions are possessed or carried about my human beings. Through personification, I was able to make a further connection to my symbolism: that in fact, my paper was human to some degree.

·         Simile- In line 10, “like a young son taller” compares how the paper grew staples (like a paper would if it became long enough) with how a young boy has a growth spurt. I continue to make a connection with the essay and a human being.

·         Metaphor- In line 11, “you were the proud mama” is the essay telling me that I was proud of it right before I turned it in for a grade. I was the proud mother of the son that was growing tall in my simile in line 10. Both of these together were a good choice.

(857)

 

United 93 (4/7)

                United 93 (2006) is a movie revolved specifically around the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and (supposedly) the White House. United 93 is the name of the flight that was targeted for hitting the White House. Though it never hit the White House, it was very close to making the day an even bigger disaster.

                The movie starts out with the three terrorists in their hotel rooms praying before they boarded United States Airline Flight United 93 at Newark Airport. Knowing what we know now (and did know in 2006) we are able to have compassion for the people loading the plane. We know that they would never come off the plane alive.

                The plane starts out and people begin to get comfortable for the flight ahead when suddenly news breaks out that the Pentagon and North and South Towers have been hit by hijacked planes. The passengers become scared and start to make phone calls home. The pilot and staff get orders to land the plane (as do the rest of the planes flying that day).

                The three hijackers appear; one with a bomb strapped to his stomach, one with a knife and red bandana, and the other (the brains) flying the plane in the cockpit that they took over by force. The shocked and scared people flee to safe spots in the back of the plane and are held hostage.

                Knowing that they are trying to crash the plane into the White House, they come up with a plan to attack the two hijackers, diffuse the bomb, and attempt to fly the plane. They managed to kill one of them with fire extinguishers, food carts, and pepper spray. The other two are in the cockpit trying to hold them off until they can hit their target.

                One of the people who were trying to safely gain control of the plane ended up snapping the second terrorist’s neck. Just before they got into the cockpit, the smart terrorist shakes the plane to disrupt the people’s balance. The plane takes a nosedive, and the screen goes black.

                They landed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania in a field. The people that fought the terrorists didn’t win, but in my mind they did. They saved many more lives by corrupting the terrorists’ plans to bring down the nation’s capital. They did not die in vain. (397)

Rock & Roll

Rock ‘n’ Roll. I hope I’m spelling it correctly with the right punctuation…

Anyway. Hopefully you have been exposed to this music genre and its hard core-ness.

So apparently after doing my research it is read: Rock and Roll. (or Rock & Roll)

It arose around the 1940’s or 1950’s in the United States. We could say with just about any genre that it was originally thought to be scandalous. Your parents didn’t care for it too much and thought it was the cause of most of your naturally rebellious adolescent stages. Well… they were wrong. Rock and Roll was supposed to set you free!

Where did it come from? Well, in my opinion, music builds off of each other. There isn’t a purebred genre out there! And if someone tells you differently, then they are lying. Rock and Roll was said to come from the following genres:

Rhythm and Blues

Gospel

Boogie-Woogie

Country

Jazz

Electric/Jump/Chicago Blues

Swing

Folk

Needless to say, many genres that went into Rock and Roll were stemming from African American culture. So we can say, “Thank you,” to them for their many contributions to the musical industry.

How could your Bob Seger’s rock music be from classy blues music? Well to answer your question, they were virtually the same at the beginning of the 40’s. Blues music features saxophones and pianos, and they later got replaced with guitars and snare drums bringing more of a backbeat to the forefront.

Rock and Roll doesn’t feature your acoustic (country music) guitars… it features electric guitars. In a normal, typical band there is a lead guitar, rhythm guitar, string bass, and electric string guitar, and drum kit.

This type of music created a lot of buzz, especially with teens. With dance moves such as the jitterbug being done in sock hops, gymnasium dances, and basement parties, the wild and freeness were coming out! The music expanded language, fashion, behaviors, and attitudes. It did introduce the first public lyrics about explicit matters such as drugs and s*x.

                Like any musical genre there is a time where it becomes less popular and declines in ratings. Around the start of the 60’s it started. Elvis left for service in the war, the plane crash (death of sensations Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens), retirement of Little Richard, prosecutions of Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry, and the payola scandal occurred. This was enough to make Rock and Roll lovers distraught. Who would they listen to now? (417)

Contemporary R&B

                I thought I might take a look at some of my R&B (not RnB) musicians out there! Wherever you are… you know I love you! What people might not know is that it is actually called Contemporary R&B. If you didn’t know, R&B stands for Rhythm and Blues, but it doesn’t stop there! Along with Rhythm and Blues, there is a combination of Pop, Soul, Funk, and Hip Hop. Most of it is the African American spin and offshoots of Disco. They sing with power, syllables, and melisma. So please… look some of these funky fresh artists out! Youtube them… like now!

Usher

Tina Turner

Ike Turner

TLC

Justin Timberlake

Robin Thicke

The Cheetah Girls

The Temprees

The Pussycat Dolls

Willow Smith

Sugababes

Spice Girls

Jordin Sparks

Trey Songz

Solange

Jessica Simpson

Shontelle

Nicole Sherzinger

Kelly Rowland

Diana Ross

Rihanna

Lionel Richie

Raven-Symone

Ray J

R. Kelly

Quincy Jones

T-Pain

Sean Paul

P!nk

Prince

Frank Ocean

Billy Ocean

Omarion

‘N Sync

Nelly

New Kids on the Block

New Boyz

Ne-Yo

Monica

Jesse McCartney

Mike Posner

Mario

Bruno Mars

LeToya Luckett

Jennifer Lopez

Leona Lewis

John Legend

Alicia Keys

Danity Kane

Joe Jonas

JoJo

Jessie J

Rick James

Michael Jackson

Randy Jackson

Marlon Jackson

Jackie Jackson

Tito Jackson

Jermaine Jackson

Janet Jackson

J. Holiday

Jennifer Hudson

Whitney Houston

Vanessa Hudgens

Keri Hilson

Cee Lo Green

Selena Gomez

Marvin Gaye

Nelly Furtado

Fugees

Aretha Franklin

Jamie Foxx

Melanie Fiona

Estelle

The-Dream

Destiny’s Child

Jason Derulo

Kat DeLuna

Kristinia DeBarge

Ester Dean

Natalie Cole

Nat King Cole

Keyshia Cole

Cherish

Cher Lloyd

Cassie

Mariah Carey

Bobby Brown

Chris Brown

Toni Braxton

Brandy

Boyz II Men

Mary J. Blige

Justin Bieber

Beyonce

Natasha Bedingfield

Adrienne Bailon

Backstreet Boys

Babyface

Auburn

Ashanti

Ashford & Simpson

Christina Aguilera

Akon

Paula Abdul

Aaliyah

Adele

And many others!

                If you notice… not all of these artists and musicians are African American. Some of them are Caucasian or apart of other ethnic groups. It is all about the music for them! From the early 1980’s (when it emerged) until now (in the year 2013) we still have Contemporary R&B music. It came from all types of cultures, neighborhoods, and backgrounds of the streets of cities such as: Los Angeles, New York, Montreal, Atlanta, Chicago, Toronto, and Houston. All of North America! So you see… it is all about the passion within the music.

                I hope that you can recognize some of the above musicians as I tried to pick out the ones that I liked. (Just a few…) So R&B on, girl! (423)

90's Toys

I’ve compiled a little list for all of you soppy, sentimental chaps out there.

Do you remember what it was like to grow up in the 90’s?

Before all of the drama and complication of being young adults.

Let’s take a stroll down memory lane… shall we?

Do you remember these specific toys:

Pretty Pretty Princess- I was a tomboy. Didn’t get into it much.

Furby- Loved them so much, I named my cat after them.

Super Soakers- Got my dogs real good with these!

Bop It- Gave me reflexes.

Legos- For the win! Always had fun with these… whether they were the classical kind (primary colored) or Harry Potter ones.

Britney Spears dolls- Hit me baby one more time! Every girl wanted to be like Britney… except me.

Virtual Pets- Waste. Too boring.

Troll Dolls- Tried to bring them in the bath with me (because they were naked), and their gorgeous hair got ruined! #sadday

Talkboys- Never got one like Home Alone. L Ya filthy animal.

Sky Dancers- Commercials aired for a decade I swear…

Beanie Babies- Had a bajillion of them!

Laughing Elmo- So apparently these were really expensive, and there was a high demand for them? Too bad I never got to have one. L

Water Snakes- Still baffle me. Gel inside of them… or?

Pokemon cards- One kid tried to make $5 off of me for a dud Pokemon.

Skip It- Tripped myself to death with these!

Hit Clips- The iPod before the iPod.

Maybe I will do another list of other things from the 90’s or maybe I will try another decade! (267)

22- T-Swift

I don’t know about you… but Taylor Swift hasn’t always fascinated me like she has with other girls. (Not to mention the sweetheart guys that listen to her.)

Yes, it is true. I am not the typical American girl teenager. My tastes in music can best be described in another blog about EVERYTHING with sound, but for now we will stick with Tay Tay.

Her taste has recently changed. It isn’t so “Tim McGraw” (quite literally) country now, but more of a rocky-poppy-country. She has branched out with her voice, dance, videos, and clothing. She isn’t a little innocent blue eyed, curly blonde girl anymore, but rather a 22 year old that has had numerous dates with numerous amounts of famous or well known boys/men. She is currently showing Harry Styles off, and maybe he is inspiring her to branch off into new cultures with her music and clothing choices.

Sitting in her room singing about make ups, breakups, and the ins and outs of relationships didn’t always appeal to me, and, honestly, still doesn’t. Her guitar and country twang came out in her acoustic guitars, music videos, and small town lyrics such as “back porch,” “mama don’t know,” “truck.”

My absolute favorite song EVER from her is from her newest album, Red (pick it up at Target, holla!). The name is “22.” At first, I was wondering why she was “feeling 22” until I found out that she was in fact 22 years of age. Whaa? T-Swift’s grown up and FAST! She seems a lot younger and it wasn’t too long ago that she was singing about Drew.

I think we assume her to be younger because she has been known as a cougar. Rawr. She has dated lots of guys younger than her. Recently she broke up with Conor Kennedy (tote gorgi, btw) that is still in high school! Maybe her style in her clothing came from the beloved Jackie Kennedy?

Anyway, the song “22” is about living carefree with your best friend/boyfriend. Carefree experiences like eating breakfast at midnight, falling in love with strangers, and dressing up like hipsters. Having fun, I’d say, is her main focus in the song. Of course it might seem fun to be 22 just because you are of legal age to vote, drink, smoke, and other stuff. (Which isn’t fun in my opinion, but detrimental to your health!)

The song has a catchy tune to it, and the lyrics are splendid… if they came from a 16 year old American Idol winner. To me, Taylor Swift must start (and I mean… like… NOW!) growing up and having more substance in her lyrics. Talk about something other than relationship problems that you seem to always be having. And the same goes for Ms. Carly Rae Jepsen. (Who is like 27, btw!) Bet you didn’t know that, huh? (475)

Rant Sesh. #youknow

                Just some ranting going on here. Nothing too special.

I wanted to address some things that were going on and I had taken notice in. Please refrain from the following:

1)      Bragging- Do you really feel the need to brag about your accomplishments? Why must you have to tell people about your feats? People already know, or should know, how great of a (insert occupation here) you are. No need to try to “sell” people like your cheap uncle sells cars. My momma always said, “Let your walking do the talking.” “Lead by example.” “Actions speak louder than words.” And… any other cliché you can think of.

 

2)      Stealing- I had to pay for a t-shirt (for a sporting event or occasion of some sort), and guess what happened? Someone stole my t-shirt? Nah. Worse. Someone stole the $5 I was planning on giving the coordinator of the event for my expected t-shirt. It is pretty lowlife and trashy of someone to steal… let alone $5. I have never stolen and don’t plan on it in my life time, but, if I was going to break my moral boundaries, I would steal A LOT bigger dollar than a Lincoln. A Benjamin maybe? If you have to steal for $5… just ask. You must really be in need of it, so I will be willing to give it to you! Just don’t take what is not yours!

 

 

3)      Cheating- Yes, this can go with stealing to some extent. You are taking what is not yours. Like answers on a test or homework. You didn’t find the time to do it, so now you are cheating someone out of their work, effort, AND time. Why should you have the easy way out of this? They didn’t take it, and you should have either. No one should get a free pass in this life. NO ONE! Tests are designed to analyze your brain and where you are intellectually. No need to have the exact same answers as someone else who is sitting right BESIDE YOU! Not obvious to the teacher or anything. #commonsense

 

4)      Being fake- I’m really surprised this doesn’t have a name for it in the form of a gerund. (How you like that Mizzay? ;) It should be called “tooling” or “two facing!” No! I got it… “tweekin’!” Whatever it is called you should not do it. People have a hard enough time being nice to EVERYONE, trying to get friends, without you turning around and calling them out. It’s not what Jesus would want us to do, is it?

 

 

I’m sure I haven’t even skimmed the top of my list on what bugs me more than these four that I have listed, but I might return to it in the near future. Stay tuned for more of these… COMING YOUR WAY! (472)

Zero Dark Thirty (4/7)

                Zero Dark Thirty (2012) is a movie about an essential time frame in our American History. It centers the decade long hunt for Osama bin Laden, leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization that is most famous for being involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

                The movie starts out with torture scenes committed by the CIA against suspects linked to bin Laden and the al-Qaeda group. From soaking their faces with soaked rags to starving them, they eventually get what they want. Names. They get names and background information on people that eventually lead them to the big guy.

                Someone that is new to the CIA, fresh out of high school, is a woman by the name of Maya. Though I’m not entirely sure if the person who found bin Laden was named Maya, I am positive that it was in fact a female! For a few months short of a decade from the 9/11 attack, she worked hard to find the man behind it all.

                The movie shows her frustration and others’ frustration as no one seemed to believe that she had a reliable lead on the case. Sometimes they failed. For example, she was following up on a name she had found, and the squad leader didn’t send enough men to carry out the exploration. Or the woman working beside her was trying to spark a deal with bin Laden’s supposed doctor, and, through called off security, the base got blown up.

                Maya tried to use all of her resources. She made frequent calls into her mentor that went back to Washington. She eventually had to threaten her boss to let her keep going in her investigation. She also sent her mentor to buy off the Kuwaiti prince with a Lamborghini just to get a bin Laden deliverer’s mother’s telephone number… with CIA funds, mind you.

                Often times the American people have tended to complain about how long it has taken us to seek out hated terrorists like Hussein and bin Laden, but they aren’t aware of the extent that people have had to go and the amount of time it takes to locate such a well-hidden individual.

                It is safe to say that for a year we knew where bin Laden was. Why didn’t we strike immediately, then? This fueled Maya’s frustration, as in the movie she writes on her boss’s window the number of days that they knowingly did not take action to capture bin Laden. Almost a year passes, and they finally get together the best qualified team to carry out the mission: the U.S. Navy SEAL team.

                After reassurance that the mission will have a 100% success rate, Maya flies back to the U.S. to help inform and train the SEALS for the capture. And on May 2, 2011 the raid is executed. It isn’t so smooth, though. A few of the helicopters crashed on the compound, and women and children (supposedly kin to bin Laden himself) were fatally shot accidently.

                Going through every floor of every building on the site, they finally find him and shoot him on the spot. With nearby neighbors and concerned Afghanis coming, they must quickly flee with his body and all the technology (computers and files) and intelligence they can fit into a duffel bag. Once they get back to the military base where Maya is, she then gets the opportunity to identify the body. It was in fact bin Laden.

Maya was truly an inspiration. She was a female, and I think this gives the movie more of an appeal. The film shows how the generations have changed. Women are capable of much more. They are able to help protect the United States of America and its safety. She did it with pride and courage. Coming straight out of high school, she may not have been the most experienced, but she persevered and came out on top. She found the head honcho terrorist in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The team celebrates, and Maya, on her plane ride back to the U.S., weeps into the camera tears of joy, I assume. This was a perfect ending for such a powerful movie on such a riveting component of our history. (706)

Nike Ad Presentation

I'm doing a presentation on this tomorrow!

I'm considering the following:

Nike ad

Inner Drive= play on words for “driving car” vs. “motivation to run/walk from within”

For Sale sign on window of car

Nasty weather in clouds and wet leaves vs. bright colored workout gear

Dirty car vs. clean shoes and bright colored workout gear

Lazy cat vs. motivated woman

Stretching= running/walking NOT driving/riding

Using car TO stretch= blatantly NOT using car

Car faces West vs. woman facing East= drawing eye to differences

Nike’s purpose: Get people to become more active and buy their products to assist the active movement! (101)

Argo was real or fake?

In the movie Argo (2012), Ben Affleck plays a CIA agent that comes up with a clever plan to rescue the six hostages held by Iran from 1979 to 1981.

The movie title Argo is the title of the movie that Affleck and a Hollywood producer friend come up with. They come up with a fake movie requiring dessert space shooting scenes: Iran. After he convinces all of the CIA that the plan will work, he gets a script, film crew, and someone to put their name on it. But they can't go in as Americans. They are in disguise as Canadians.

The Iran people aren't in conflict with Canadians, and the hostages found refuge at the Canadian embassy with the ambassador and his family. Affleck and his crew show up and, though have Canadian identities, still have to be careful. Once they get to the Canadian embassy, he meets the six people. He describes the plan to them, but they aren't fully convinced that it will work. They believe that they will die if they try it, but Affleck assures them that if they don't try it they will die anyway.

I was able to connect with some of the happenings in the movie because we had just learned about OPEC and the Iranian Revolution and bad feelings against the United States in class, but now that I'm researching the hostage, there are a lot of things left out, changed, and inserted. I believe that they did this just to make it more interesting; as movie makers usually do.

First off, the Canadian role in the rescue was downplayed in the movie. This part of the movie was probably upsetting to some Canadians, as they had a lot to do with it. The movie exposed that the CIA actually rescued the hostages. The CIA didn't want their name to be involved so they let the Canadians take all the credit at the time. Yes, the hostages were housed by the Canadians, and the Canadians scoped out the town and how safe and secure the airport was while teaching the hostages to speak like someone from Canada.

Secondly, the ride to the airport and the boarding of the plane was quite easy. In the movie, it displays that the Jimmy Carter and the government shuts down the plan "Argo," but then quickly reinstates it and sends the tickets for the hostages just in the nick of time, conveniently. The tickets were historically ordered in advance by the Canadian ambassador's wife. (How's that for Canadian involvement?) Also, the movie captures the paper weaving children piecing together a photo of one of the hostages just in time to discover one of the hostages at the airport, and they just barely take off in a plane without getting shot down. None of this happened. The escape was a lot easier than displayed, but with movies, you have to have some tension and a climax.

While the film fails to mention that Argo was originally Lord of Light, it was a great movie that really made the history lesson about it come to life. It over dramatized the encounter of the Iranian hostage, but what do you expect from a movie? (537)