Sunday, March 25, 2012

When Shows Go Bad

Many shows now a days "jump the shark" lowering viewer rates or resulting in the shows end. One of my favorite shows that jumped the shark was the series of iCarly. 

The moment when they jumped the shark was when they made the two main characters, Freddie and Sam like one another and start dating in the episode, "iLost My Mind". This completely threw me off and had ruined the series for me. They hate each other, how could they be together!


This is not what it should be like. Throughout the series, the characters, Sam and Freddie, had always hated each other from the very first episode, when they met. This hatred between the two brought most of the humor into this show. Carly, Sam and Freddie were all good friends forming a webshow together, iCarly. Since the beginning, Freddie has always liked Carly. At one point in the series, they had gone out for a short time in the episode, "iSaved Your Life". Meanwhile, Sam stilled hated Freddie, continuously bullying and threatening him. Who knew they would end up together?!


After their "Jump the shark" moment, the show has gone downhill, and I rarely watch it anymore. Now that Sam and Freddie are together, there is not much humor in the episodes like there used to be. They tried to have Sam and Freddie fight again in the episode "iDate Sam and Freddie" but with the two dating it just made the episode awkward and the humor between Sam and Freddie isn't as funny anymore, making the show less favoring. I think the episodes here on after are nearly as good as before. The dating of the Sam and Freddie had ruined the series of iCarly.


Friday, February 3, 2012

What might you find in Rome during Julius Caesar's time?

This is my Angry Birds collection. I feel that this represents what I might find in Rome during Julius Caesar's time in many ways. I see the pig as Caesar who is crowned king and stands on a high position, while others under his rule are below him. I see the angry birds as the conspirators that are "angry" with Caesar (get it?). Like the conspirators, the birds go against the pig and get together to kill him. The two angry birds in this photo are Brutus and Cassius!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

"Violence Doesn't Solve Anything!"


Here's the Link to an event that relates to the theme: “Violence leads to more violence.”

http://www.southcentralhistory.com/la-riots.php

This event happened just 2 decades ago, when many situations went wrong leading to a bigger situation. The LA Riots in 1992 were caused by many previous actions.

The first incident that caused the riots was the case of the beating of Rodney King. The police had caught him speeding on a highway one night in 1991 and beat him hard for 15 minutes without knowing that they were being filmed. Soon everyone had seen what had happened and the officers were extremely charged for severely and permanately injuring King. Because the officers were all white, the people believe that they beat King up because of his color. This belief was the first cause of the riots.

Another cause of the LA Riots was the murder of Latasha Harlins. When the young teen girl went to buy orange juice, the clerk, who was Korean, accused Harlins of stealing and shot her in the back of the head. This murder was also caught on video and the clerk, Soon Ja Du, was put on probation and had to pay a fine, but was not put in jail. Since Harlins, like King, was black, there was the belief again that Du was not put in jail because of Harlins’ color, which put a deep strain in the relationship between Koreans and blacks.

In 1992, the case of Rodney King ended with the officers found not guilty, which led to many people angry and dissappointed. This is when the rioting began in South Central
.
As the rioting went on for 5 days, violence grew and grew. To think that all this started because of one injured and one murdered  a year before. This proves the statement “Violence leads to more violence.”

It is very important to understand that this statement is true because it just leads to the worse and doesn’t stop unless the violence was never started. Violence can also hurt many others around that weren't meant to be hurt. It is never a good solution to anything. Always go by the famous saying:

“Violence doesn’t solve anthing.”

Friday, December 2, 2011

Panther Abolishes Prejudice


This is a fable to teach the reader that racism is wrong, an allegory using dogs to symbolize the foolishness and also the loyalty of some humans.


There was once was a wonderful dog town in England named Brittany. It was ethnically and culturally diverse; a place where all dog breeds loved each other and got along splendidly. Well everyone except for one big dog.  He was an older, white German Shepherd named Mr. Dave.   

Mr. Dave was a foul-mouthed, contemptible, white haired dog. No other dog in town would get along with him. Whenever he saw other dogs in town that did not have white hair, he would raise his steep voice and swear and fling the most despicable names at them. He had thought that other colored dogs were dirty, useless and foolish; unlike him and the other white haired dogs were mature, smart and formal. He was filled with hate, and over the years it became his only mode of communication. For the most part he would stay to himself, on his farm, chasing after small rats for food, and drawing water from his well. On occasions, he would see other colored dogs, and he would greet them with the usual slur or slander. Meanwhile, he would formally greet other dogs that had white hair, and they would greet him back, but inside they despite his attitude towards everyone else.

The dogs in town were a kind and tolerant group, but over time no one could stand Mr. Dave's presence and racism; so for the most part they stayed out of his way and ignored him.

One summer, the kind and tolerant town of Brittany decided to adopt a young black orphan, miniature pincher, named Panther. After living in the town for a while, it happened that one day, Panther got lost and stopped at Mr. Dave's farm. Upon seeing the black mini pin, of course Mr. Racist immediately showered him with the most offensive of accusation. But as Panther was raised in the kind and tolerant town of Brittany, the black mini pin didn’t even know how to be offended by these racist remarks. He found Mr. Dave highly entertaining, and found it all to be a quirky amusement. And so Panther began to come by Mr. Dave’s farm more often. 

Every time the black mini pin visited, Mr. Dave would criticize him with hated speeches. Until one day, Mr. Dave asked the mini pin, “Hey, you lazy piece of dark mutt, why do you come here so much?”

“I like you Mr. Dave. You make me laugh.” Panther answered.

While Mr. Dave’s brain is filled with animosity, he could never express it, it was clear that he was growing fond of Panther. After all, this little black mini pin was the only one who enjoyed his company. Every other dog in the town ignored or ridiculed him. So Mr. Dave ignored his usual appearance and continued his fussing to the other colored dogs.

And so it became a routine that the young black mini pin would stop by and while Mr. Dave would rant and fuss about the farm, filling the air with the foulest of abusive language, the little black mini pin would lie on the porch and giggle at Mr. Dave's foolishness.

Then one day, Panther came to Mr. Dave’s farm for is daily visit and found that Mr. Dave was very ill. He has not left his bed nor eaten in three days.  Panther was worried that Mr. Dave would die if he doesn’t take him to town to see a doctor, but Panther soon realized that he lacked the strength as a miniature pincher, to get Mr. Dave out of his bed and to carry him to town himself.

“What Should I do?” he thought to himself. Since Mr. Dave had always thought the black mini pin was inferior and always degraded him, when Panther had left Mr. Dave’s farm to get help, Mr. Dave had thought that Panther had left him there to die for good.

When Panther got to the center of town he saw a white female Golden Retriever walking down the street. He ran to get her attention, "Ms. Golden Retriever, please come and help Mr. Dave, he is very sick."

The Golden Retriever, who had long ago tuned out of Mr. Dave’s taunts, paid no attention to the little mini pin.

Then Panther saw a brown poodle couple and tried to ask them for help, "Please help Mr. Dave, he is very sick and has not eaten in a few days, he needs to see a doctor!”

The female poodle, who was oddly aggressive, bluntly told the little mini pin, “Mr. Dave needs to get some self-respect and change his attitude towards other colored dogs, then maybe he will get some help,” and the couple turned and walked away carelessly.

Panther continued to search for help, then he spotted a black Labrador down the street, who was new in town, and Panther begged him to come and help Mr. Dave.

The black Labrador, who has not yet come across Mr. Dave’s offensive remarks, immediately agreed to help without hesitation. He followed the little mini pin to Mr. Dave’s farm.  They helped him out of his bed and took him to see a doctor. 

After Mr. Dave got better, he realized that the hate which had long taken control of his heart would not allow him to harness language in a way that was inoffensive to the kind and tolerant people of Brittany. This had led to the reason why no one in the town ever listened to Mr. Dave and they would not help him when he needed them.  But in the end, the black dogs have saved his life despite his racist remarks and hatred for the negro dogs. 

Eventually Mr. Dave started to change his attitude and learned how to get a long with all the different colored dogs in town.  And so, it turned out that the little town of Brittany had rid themselves of racism and Mr. Dave had opened his heart to everyone, and so Panther is the one that saves his life, not just from dying, but also from prejudice.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Soma Free!

An English assignment based on the book, Brave New World.  From John's point of view...


A Declaration from Soma

“There’s always soma!” I hear this sickening phrase, everywhere I go in this so-to-be-called, perfect world.

What is soma?

Soma is the use of instant gratification to control the World State’s populace. It also shows the powerful influence of science and technology on society. As a kind of “sacrament,” it also represents the use of religion to control society. Soma has taken over our minds.

Soma can calm your anger.
Soma can reconcile you to your enemies.
Soma can make you patient.
Soma can make you long-suffering.
Soma can make you happy.  
Soma this, soma that. Why can’t soma make Ford society go jump in a lake!

Initially, soma is a very one-dimensional exhilaration. It gives rise to only a shallow, non-empathic and uninteresting well-being. Apparently, taking soma doesn't give Bernard Max, the disaffected sleep-learning expert, more than a cheap thrill. Nor does it make him happy with his station in life.  The drug is said to be better than sex - the only sex this brave new world practices. But a regimen of soma doesn't deliver anything elevated or life-enriching. It doesn't catalyze any mystical intuitive perceptions, intellectual breakthroughs or life-defining insights. It doesn't in any way promote personal growth. Instead, soma provides mindless, unauthentic moron happiness where a vacuous escapism makes people comfortable with their lack of freedom. The drug heightens suggestibility, leaving its users vulnerable to government propaganda. Soma is a hypnotic that raises a quite impenetrable wall between the actual universe and their minds.

Oh how I disgust of soma!

What is a way of banishing the world of soma? Well, throwing it away, of course. So when the time of soma-distribution came, I decided to set myself free, by disposing of this trash, they call soma.

The people did not understand what being free meant.
The people did not understand what being a man meant.
They started to attack my views and went all villainy on me. Thou art a villain!

After my incident of throwing packages of soma out the window I met Mustapha Mond.
He was The Controller, he was Ford, and he was the man who thinks soma is the solution to everything. He is a very bright man. He is the only man in this Ford world that doesn’t think I am crazy when I talk about “Romeo and Juliet” or “Othello”. Yet, how can he be so ignorant to let science go, to let culture go, to let religion go, to let knowledge go, and to let God go? All the things that had created our universe is forgotten, or more the less forbidden.

Yet again, I am faced with the controversial idea of happiness. While the majority of
Ford's population would define it with the consumption of soma, I am different. I am intelligent. For good measure, it is absolutely idiotic to even fathom the thought that a drug concludes to happiness.

What fools!

I, however, will not partake in such mediocrity!

I declare myself free from this horrible drug that they call soma!