Movie-Cultural Opt. #3

Wow what can I say about the movie fear and loathing in Las Vegas. This movie is probably one of the weirdest films that I have ever seen. The whole movie is about a journalist who is sent to Las Vegas to write a story about a motorcycle race. His name is Hunter S. Thompson was the real persons name but in the movie he was known as Raoul Duke. Then they soon drop the things they are doing to find out what the American dream is. They do this by taking so many drugs it’s unbelievable. This whole movie is basically these two guys high as heck and always on an acid trip. This movie really confused me and I was interested to see if it was based on a true story. With the research I found was that it was based off of a book written by Thompson and this was his Vegas trip that he went on. What he showed was that the life of drugs, sex and partying all the time was coming to an end. This is what I got from all this with the cops being there talking about drugs and how nothing went right while they were on drugs. Also, how they had that girl in the room with them that one time I think help them show that they can not force sex in young women. So with all that said I think that Thompson did a very good job with his book because it was made into a movie and he wrote about real life things which I think really keeps the readers attention. Like I said though I do not think that this movie was the best movie in the world do to it was so darn confusing. If I would have not looked up details and the story behind the movie I would have go nothing from the movie.

Cultural Opp. #2 (Art)

Today Dec. 8, 2009, I had the pleasure of going to the Art Gallery in the room down the hall from the English 110 room. I was a little iffy at first on what to think of the art gallery because I really am not that into art. But, this experience may have changed it all. I consider myself a very outgoing person and in this certain art exhibit there was some very outgoing art I must say. One of the works I looked at was kind of crazy but good. It was called “Ouch” let me paint a picture for you of what it looked like. It had a toaster on the top that had flames coming out of it and then it looked as if it was going to be dropped down a huge staircase. Now I found this very funny and amusing because what does a toaster have to do with a staircase. I have no idea! Another painting that I was kind of confused on and didn’t know what to think of it was called “Car”. Ok, yes it did have a car in it at the bottom of the painting but at the top there were 2 about half naked people. Now I guarantee any other person that looks at this is going to have the same look on their face as I did. CONFUSED!!! A lot of the paintings actually would probably put that confused look on your face. That is because the titles kind of had something to do with the painting but not really. So, with all that said I think that I will take another adventure sometime back to that Art Gallery because I think there is usually some very cool stuff in there. Earlier this semester I recall there was a sweet pile of rocks in there and I had always wanted to check it out and I finally did. Another fun thing that I probably would suggest if someone were to go to the art gallery would be to make sure you take a friend or someone with you so you can talk about the works. Instead of just thinking to yourself because art is supposed to be fun and not boring.

Social Security

Alright what we have here is an economy that is doing pretty bad put is getting a little better. But still with that said with people still out of jobs and work hard to find will social security be around when we get of age? We all get so much money taken out of our pay checks to pay into it and we don’t even know if it will be around. I know we are helping people that need it and deserve it. Another thing that is happening with SS right now is that it will not raise the cost of living between 2010 and 2011 that is something that has happened since 1975 do to the rising cost of living. So what about the people that have worked their butts off in the past and may not have enough money to pay for things they need. With 80 million baby boomers getting ready to retire this can become a big issue. Some ideas that have been thrown out there to reduce the lack of money is to raise the age to 67 instead of 65. Now, this may sound like a good idea but is it really fair? I guess life is not fair but we just have to fight though it and see what happens. One last thing that I found is that by the year 2037 if nothing is done to change this there will be no more money left. This is actually 4 years earlier then they thought it to be due to our poor economy. So, let’s hope that something good happens and continue to work as hard as we can to have a happy living for when we retire.

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/13/confident-social-security-will-be-around-when-you-retire/

Gary Allen Concert (Cultural Opp.)

Many people hate country music because it is just plain out boring. But I happen to love country music and i find that every single one of Gary Allen's songs has a meaning to it. I know this genre sometimes has sad songs but they are all about real life situations and help people get through the hard times and move on. Such as the song of his called "The best I ever had" he is talking about his wife that had passed on but he is getting through his situation by writing a song about it and saying how good she was. Then the song "Nothing on But the Radio" is a song about love and all the good things about falling in love. Yes, you may be thinking to your self that country just hurts your ears but I think that people should just give it a chance because if you really listen to the lyrics you will be surprised. Such as, the lyrics from "Living Hard" Tell about what is to be on the road in a band. "Woke up this mornin' in yesterday's clothes, Still got my buzz from last night's show, A cup of coffee, Ready to go again. Country music just relates to everything imaginable it just a neat genre. So I hope people can agree with me on this one!

Energy Drinks Are they really that good?

It has come to my attention that Energy drinks which are completely legal to any age most of them at least are really unhealthy. I think just like cigarettes there should be an age limit to where you can start drinking them. That is because kids as young as 12 years old are drinking them and it is ruining their health. Even though yes, it might give them energy for a sporting event but look at this stuff I found well researching what they can do to ones health. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore stated “Many of these drinks do not label the caffeine content," he says, and some energy drinks contain as much caffeine as found in 14 cans of soda. Now you cant tell me that these drinks are not going to do anything to you. I also found that these drinks could cause some to have insomnia, high blood pressure, heart disease, and ulcers to the stomach. Now imagine if a 12 year old is drinking this stuff. There little hearts are already working really hard now think of what it would do if they put this in there body it could lead to them having a heart attack. Another thing that I thought was crazy and could not believe could happen is that Energy Drinks can indeed cause a women to have a miscarriage during pregnancy. So, with all that said I think that is why they should but age limits on all highly caffeinated beverages do to how many things can go wrong while drinking them. Even though they do give you a lot of energy to do what ever you may need to do but think next time you drink one do you really want to do this to your body?

Sources:

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20080924/energy-drinks-hazardous-to-your-health

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/energy-drinks-health-concerns.html

Is feedback good or bad for one's writing?

I have got many different types of feedbacks on my writings that have influenced the way I write. The one that I get the most is that I like to type so fast and really don’t concentrate on what I am writing. I always think to myself do I really do that? Yes, I think a lot of us do that just because we want to get it done and out of the way. Although, I have tried to work on this through out the semester and it has seemed to work a little bit if I slow down and watch closely to what I am typing. Also, other comments I have got about my writing is that it is kind of boring and no fun to read. This has really made me look at more sensory words to keep the readers attention for at least half way through the paper. I also like to add a little of humor when I can because I love to make people laugh and remember me. My senior year my teacher really opened my eyes to my writing and Stephanie has really helped me out as well this year. They made me realize that I do have the potential to make some pretty good papers I just bring them down with not so well developed sentences and dull words. Yes, it kind of does hurt sometimes when you I actually did work hard on the paper and you get it back with a grade that you really didn’t think you were going to get. For me it has just helped me so much this semester and the past couple of years to get the feedback that I have got and has made me into a better writer in my eyes.

The Flu

Is the swine flu really that bad? Yes, it can be at times but so can the seasonal flu that comes around each and every year. I have read articles that stated that more people die from the regular flu each year more than the people that have died do to the H1N1 flu. “In the U.S., between 5% and 20% of the population becomes ill and 36,000 people die” this statement came from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius who also said it is dangerous yes but it will not be like the regular flu. There was the same virus called the H1N1 but of course has mutated since then that happened back in 1918 but scientists have claimed that this virus is nowhere even near this virus. Scientist have also said that you should wash your hands frequently, avoid going to work if sick does this sound similar to any other time your sick. I think that this flu is just a bad case of the regular flu. I think that the government just made a big deal about it because so many people were getting it but if you really think about so many people get the regular flu as well they just don’t mention that because so many people have it. I hope you are getting what I am trying to say. I just want people to know that it really is not that big of a scare well at least to me it isn’t. All you have to do is take the percations you would with any other flu season. Tell me what you think about this is it really that big of a deal???

Sources: http://articles.latimes.com/2009/apr/30/science/sci-swine-reality30

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/SwineFlu/story?id=7471341&page=1&page=1

Nobel Peace Prize

Ok what we have here is a president who has done nothing with our country yet. But somehow ended up getting the Nobel Peace Prize. I am not trying to be racist or anything like that I am just saying since when do we get an award or a Nobel Peace Prize for that matter from just simply stating some ideas. Many people are furious about this. Let me give you an idea of what kind of person should be getting the Nobel Peace Prize. There is a man of the name Greg Mortenson who was nominated for the award by some members of congress. Greg has made it his mission to build schools for girls in places where opium dealers and tribal warlords kill people for trying. So far his institute has made over 130 schools and has made millions of people support this and make this a building block for peace. Now that is quite the accomplishment and dedication that deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. Don’t get me wrong that president Obama has done some things for this country or plans to do but nothing has happened really. In this article I was reading where I got all this info at states that like people who don’t really know Obama and thinks because he has won this prize that it may make the illusion that he has done a lot so far. Such as the troop surge in Afghanistan, a harder line in Iran or maybe the missile shield for Portland. In my opinion I think someone else should have got the prize and give it to Obama when he has done something.

Sorce:http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091009/us_time/08599192939500

Writing Experiences

I have had some very good writing experiences and some very bad one’s as well. Let me talk about the bad one first. This experience was so bad I had to actually rewrite the whole paper. It was like at the very beginning of my senior year in high school. The paper had to do with something I really did not care about like I think it was a paper about some guy. But, anyways I could care less about the dude and I did no research on it or anything. So when I got the paper back it looked like it had been stabbed with a knife there was so much red ink on there. So ever since then it taught me to that I have to actually care about the paper now because the teacher is going to grade it hard. Another lesson I have learned was that you couldn’t write a good paper with out an outline. Some people believe that it does not work better when you have an outline but I have noticed that having that structure makes the whole paper flow better. That brings me to the good experience that I had with writing a good paper. I know I have mentioned this in an earlier blog but I have to mention it again because it went so well. This time I gave an interview to the guy that was in the profession I was writing about. It also was something that I was interested in which was firefighting. On top of all that I had an outline for my paper. So moral of the story to write a good paper you must have an outline and research in my eyes!

Lowering Drinking Age

In my personal opinion I think that the drinking age should be lowered to the age of 18. Not just because a lot of kids would like it but because it would save lives. It would save lives because people would be less likely to binge drink when they just turn 21. I think that if people can fight for our country and vote for the president of the United States they should be able to have a drink. Also, teens would take a lot less risks if they knew if they were not doing anything wrong. Because, right now if a kid has been drinking and his parents want him home he is going to try and drive home and he is likely putting his life and others in danger. David J. Hanson, an alcohol policy expert at the State University of New York-Potsdam. “Just like during national Prohibition, the law has pushed and forced underage drinking and youthful drinking underground, where we have no control over it.” So, there are actually people out there who a firm believers that I would save lives. Also, in a Federal government survey stated that 85% of 20 year olds have consumed alcohol before they turned 21. There are some states that are very into the idea such as Florida, Wisconsin, Vermont and Missouri have but it into considerations. Another interesting fact is that some states actually let you consume alcohol with parent or legal guardian I think that this is a great idea because they will learn how to manage their alcohol consumption. So, is there really a huge problem with lowering the drinking age to 18?

Source: “Debate on lowering drinking age bubbling up”- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20249460/

In school writing vs. out of school writing

In school writing vs. out of school writing that is an interesting thing to talk about. The reason I say that is because if you think about it not most people like writing about stuff they have to write about in school. So, when someone is writing about something that they really don’t care about they are not going to put very much effort into it but they will do it because they have to. At least that is the way I feel about it. When I get a topic I do like I could write for days about it and will enjoy it. But, I must say when I do write out of school it goes so much better because I usually don’t have worry about the grammar in it which makes things a whole lot easier. Also, you get to write about what you want and you don’t have to censor what you are saying to some extent if you don’t want to. Although when you do write in school the quality will be a lot better because you revise it and have it checked multiple times which is a good thing but all and all I like writing out of school better. Another reason I say that is because when you are writing outside of school you really get to express yourself like on facebook and that kind of stuff you are speaking straight from your mind and heart. I know that kind of sounds corny but it is true. To sum it all up I am a much bigger fan of writing out of school then in school. Although to make Stephanie happy I must say I do like writing on the subculture that I am in. So let me here your thoughts on which one you like the most.

Athletes getting paid to much!

Does any one else think that professional athletes should get paid less then what they are making now? Also, do you think people should get paid more for the things they can and what they have learned. I think they should due to the fact that I mean who in the world needs that much money to play sports. Sports are supposed to be about having fun like back in high school and college. I know they work hard and stuff like that and it is there living and they are just simply entertaining. But think of the teachers and people who got them there should be getting paid well too. I guess what I am really trying to say here is that people should get paid more for what their actual job is. For example, the government wants to put a ceiling on doctors I think that is just wrong. That is because think of how much work they actually put in to get to where they are not to mention they are saving peoples lives. Also other people that save lives such as firefighters are getting an average of $50,000 dollars a year. That is a load of crap because they are putting their lives on the line to save other peoples. Back to what I said about the teachers they shape the minds of people and guide them the right way and teach them valuable information and they hardly get paid for it at all. So, basically I’m just trying to get people to realize that our government needs to look into making laws or something to get money to the people who actually deserve it.

Physical Part of Writing

I am defiantly a last minute writer so I am usually in my bed when I write. I think that I work alot better under pressure and that is when the best ideas come out. It’s just something about that I know I need to get it done that makes me write better. At the same time I like to take my time so I usually work way into the night till like 3 or 4 in the morning. I love to type on my computer more than actually like writing it down because my hand gets tired when I have to write long hand so it’s so much better on the computer. It also takes a lot more effort and time writing it out do to the fact that you do not have a backspace key and you actually have to erase it. Also, I can not concentrate worth a darn so I usually have to have it complete dark in my room with just the fan on and the computer and that’s it. It kind of stinks because a lot of people can have music and stuff on but not me my mind goes else where when stuff is going on. All and all though I think that I come up with some pretty good stuff for a person who does all his work last minute. That is just always the way I write and it never has changed. So to sum it all up I think I’m just another typical guy in an English class.

Letter of Intro

Kyle Mayer
709 S. Prairie
Metamora Il, 61548
August 26, 2009

Ms. Stephanie Guedet Scott
Illinois Central College

Dear Ms Stephanie Guedet Scott,
Hey there Stephanie I would like to share a couple of facts about my life with you. First off, my favorite subject is definitely English because compared to everything else, it’s a lot easier. I enjoy watching movies especially funny ones like “Super Troopers” and other comedies. I also enjoy listening to country music and sometimes rock. Other things I like to do are in the outdoors. My favorite outdoor activities are things like riding my four wheeler way out in the country and go hunting during deer season. A preferred outing that I like to do is go to Mustang shows with my good friend Tim Mayer, who is my father. He bought a Mustang a couple of years back, a brand new one, and has driven the thing probably a total of 5 times. When, I’m not at school or out doing any of those things. I am managing the local Dairy Queen in Metamora. I worked there all through high school and finally worked my way up the corporate ladder to a management position. Then, when I am not at the DQ, I am usually on call for the volunteer E-116 Ambulance. During my senior year, a buddy and I decided to take an EMT class and see what it was like. I ended up passing the class, then the state test, so now I’m certified and officially an EMT-B. I must say I really do not know quite yet what I want to do with my life, so hopefully this class will maybe spark something. The two goals that I want to have this semester would probably be number one, to get better at my grammar and use of words. I’m not always sure how to word things and when I do word it, it sounds like it came from a grade school kid; I’m not going to lie. So that was number one and number two, I would like to make new friends.
Sincerely,
Kyle Mayer

Bomber Released

What is wrong with some of the governments around the world? One such incident that makes me ask such a question is Great Britain’s release of Abdel Basset Ali-Megrahi. Ali-Megrahi was responsible for planting a bomb-laden radio cassette player in a suitcase that caused the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103. The plan exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. Two-hundred seventy people died in that plane crash. Many of the people killed were students from the United States. That is 270 people that were killed because of a bomb that Ali-Megrahi put on the plane. He has been in jail since 1992 when he was convicted. It has been reported that the British government made a deal with Libyan Government to let Al-Megahi return home in return for oil. Originally, the British were releasing Al-Megahi because he was dying. Why is he being released at all? Does anyone else think this is a little wrong? This guy killed this many people and now he is going to be able to be let free. I don’t see how this is even fair or how it is even right. I mean yeah, he has cancer and is terminally ill but still why this should make him have his freedom back. Many of families of the people who died do not like the idea that he is being let go. Also, Al-Megrahi is being hailed as a hero in Libya. Would you want the guy that killed someone in your family just let go with a slap on the wrist? I just don’t think that the British government approached this the right way. It is unimaginable, what the families are going through, it has to be so hard for them. I would have to say that it is not good that anyone has cancer but for a person who has killed this many people it is not a good accuse to be let free. Please let me know your opinion.