Essay topic dos

My first idea for essay dos was to compare the movie Inglourious Basterds with the dark comic Maus by Art Spiegelman. I wanted to compare them because they were both controversial and have the same appeal of Nazi Germany being awful people. But I realized that this comparison would be very time consuming and I was aiming for a great essay not one that would be rushed due to time constraints.

My second idea came to me as I was looking through some evolution vs. creationism comics when I came across the idea of the big bang and the universe. I looked up pictures of the big bang depictions and time relatives and then came to sizes of our galaxy and solar system on the National Geographic webpage. I really wanted to use this image that is an argument of the size and totality of our galaxy. I then remember back to one of the first lectures in my geography class, which had the Galaxy Song by Monty Python, that also depicts the size of the galaxy and the stars that are in it, and thought what a great comparison of two totally different medias arguing a similar topic. The video is very interesting of the Galaxy Song, but I am just going to compare the lyrics and not the video depiction.

From my stance on the two arguments, as of now, I think the National Geographic is conveying the size more accurately than the Galaxy Song due to it being published in a widely known magazine, having visual argument showing cylinders and grids, and having a big bang progression. The Galaxy Song is slightly fabricated and uses humor to depict a informational theme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buqtdpuZxvk

Here is the image form National Geographics.

http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/maps/print-collection/universe.html

Patrick Swayze's Obituary

Patrick Swayze, dancer, actor, and singer born August 18, 1952, died September 14, 2009.

Swayze's obituary comments on his successes which started with the movie Dirty Dancing in 1987 followed by Ghost in 1990. These two movies, mentioned in the obituary, were his best works and he was unable to live up to those expectations for the rest of his career. The obituary mentions other works he starred in, including his first big break in The Outsiders.

The article mentions Swayze's background history. Swayze was born in Houston Texas, where he started as a dancer since his mother was a choreography. She pushed him into a dance career. He went to Houston's San Jacinto College on a athletic scholarship. After graduating, he went to New York City and joined the Eliot Feld dance company as a principle dancer and was first noticed by Hollywood as Danny Zuko in the musical Grease.

In 1990. People's Magzine considered Swayze as one of the sexiest people alive, and I would agree.

The obituary also remarks on some dark sides of Swayze's life. He battled with alcoholism and his struggling career, trying to live up to his late 80's-early 90's rise to stardom.

He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, in which he underwent chemotherapy and drug treatments. But the cancer overcame him and he passed away on September 14, 2009.

This obituary was very informative and really wasn't biased on whether the author was partial or impartial to Swayze or his career. Swayze’s career is the main focus of the obituary which is considered his biggest accomplishment. I guess because he was an actor, that is all people know about him. We see actors on the big screen and follow their lives through the tabloids. But when it comes to what to mention after the death of such a popular celebrity the positive out ways the negative, even though the negative is still mentioned-it is just not dwelled on. I guess it is what is most memorable about the actor that we remember. I mean who is going to forget the line, “no one puts baby in a corner?”

Different Englishs

There is many different Englishes I use. The main one is my everyday English, in which I use with most of my friends and family. I try to speak with "proper" grammar but slip in the occasional curse word and made-up word. I speak a slightly proper English with my professors and elders that eliminates the curse words, definitely the made-up ones and I add a respectful tone and voice to my speech.

One thing I do find myself doing is talking like whomever I am around. For instance, I was out in the country, deep Pender County, with my horse riding family this weekend and found myself slowing down my speech and adding a little twang to it. There was a terrible accident this weekend involving 2 horses and two lucky men. A drunk driver had ran into the horses, killing one instantly and the other had to be shot, and the guys ended up with minor injuries and lucky to be alive. I went out to the scene of the accident and found myself consoling the owners of the horses in my slowed country twang. I guess I felt like I could connect better with them when I speak that way.

I find my fiancé doing this often too. He is from Bayshore, Long Island and used to have a thick New Yorker accent but it has now slowed and slurred with him living here in North Carolina. He says that it is easier to talk "southern" than to fully pronunciate words. But when he gets around his family, his voice quickens up and gets louder and he get all yankee-like. Its just funny how you talk around different people depending on your audience.

Another English I speak is gibberish. I used in it high school to talk to my best friend. It was a kinda lingo like pig latin that only a handful of people knew. I used to love to use it at work at the ice cream parlor. Tourist would have no idea what we were saying, mainly we were talking about them and we would just laugh and have a great time.

I guess there is no standard English set for myself, I have my own and I am guessing everyone else has their own as well. It is probably based on where you live and who you talk to on which English you use.

I DONT HAVE THE INTERNET

Just to make sure everything is clear. I live in the middle of nowhere Pender County and have been trying to find reasonable internet service out there, which is slim to none, and have to blog whenever I can be near the internet including between classes and work, at school and friends houses. So please bear with me, whilst I try to get internet service at a reasonable price.

Companies I have tried are At&t which only offer internet via cellular phone towers. This would be great to use but I do not have reception inside my house, I have to go outside to make and receive phone calls. I really can’t bring my entire desktop computer outside and printer, well I could, but what if it rains? I have seen my other neighbors I guess with similar service outside in their garages with their entire desktop setup, but that isn't feasible to me.

The next best thing would be to try Hughes net, the new internet via satellite, but that is extremely pricey depending on what speed I would like. The cheapest plan is like $59.99/month and that is a crawl above dial-up. I could always get dial-up, but I haven't used dial-up since 1998 and I will be damned if I try to use it now.

The other option I have tried was through Direct TV, but their internet service is also via satellite and cost $99.95/month.

Until I am making the big bucks, I will have to rely on friends and school to use the internet. It is really difficult trying to keep up with the demands from classes who make it mandatory to use the internet for grades. I have to allot time to get to school early and stay late to make sure all of my internet work is finished. I guess professors assume everyone is technologically advanced nowadays. I am advanced, but due to where my house is located, I can’t quite be yet.

Essay Topic

My essay topic is going to be based from the article in Time magazine, "Why Legalizing Marijuana Makes Sense" by Joe Klen. After many years wondering about the drug, I opted to consume it. It was then I knew that this was not a harmful drug and why the government deems it as a Schedule 1 classification, with cocaine being a schedule 2. Here's a little shake down of FDA drug classifications:

Schedule 1: High Abuse, No Recognized Medical Use, Lack of Safety
Heroin
LSD
MDMA
Marijuana
Methaqualone
Schedule 2: High Abuse, Medical Utility, High Dependency Risk
Opium
Morphine
Coca
Cocaine
Methadone
Methamphetamine
Schedule 3: Lower Abuse, Medical Utility, Moderate Dependency Risk
Amphetamine
Barbiturate
Valium
Xanax
Anabolic Steroids
Codeine
Schedule 4: Limited Abuse, High Medical Utility, Limited Dependency Risk
Chloral Hydrate
Meprobamate
Paraldehyde
Phenobarbital
Schedule 5: Minor Problems
Typically includes preparations of the above drugs in limited amounts

I have not experimented with many drugs in my life time including cocaine, but I have seen the effects on people that have. And from what I have seen and heard about these drugs, all the drugs on the classification list above seem way worst then marijuana. I will have to end my discussion here, but believe me, my essay will further this investigation.

Heatbeats anyone?

This week I got to hear the baby's heartbeat. It was an overwhelming experience for me. It really assured me that there is a living body with my own. Yeah, I got a little emotional, but with all these crazy hormones surging through my body, what do you expect? I also got to see a sonogram of the baby as well. It has a really big head, but of course that what it is suppose to look like at 12 weeks. The body will start to catch up. I have the real deal sonogram on the 24th of this month. I will definitely being uploading a picture of that one!

Anyways, about these Fiji women wanting to be skinny due to American television and the American media views. It is a shame that these women who were beautifully big see other cultures through media and think that us Americans are like what is portrayed in the media, which is very contrary to what the actual American looks like. It is hard to say whether fat is better or skinny; I think it should be up to the person and what makes them happy and keeps them healthy, which might not go hand-in-hand.

The stereotypical skinny women from American media have caused this sensation to reshape the body of Fijian women whom think this will help them in social positioning for both employment opportunities and peer approval. It’s hard to believe that this culture that has been so drastically molded into what the Western media thinks is the beautiful.

Now it seems that these women are putting too much effort into their appearance than in learning about their culture or heritage, from Becker's article "the absence of guidance from 'conventional' wisdom and social hierarchies that may have grown obsolete in some respects."

Becker also brings up another important point of her argument, that “adolescent girls are influenced by the media imagery extend beyond the borders of Fiji and the ways in which young women in Fiji consume and reflect on televised media may suggest mechanisms for its impact on youth in other social contexts.” This is true. This media impact has profound impact on young women here in the states but probably has impact on other countries that are just beginning to receive our western media.

Hopefully, other cultures and traditions won’t be lost due to this media propaganda. The influence from the media really reacts with young women and their pursuit to gain the perfect body and figure no matter what the consequences are.