Posted on August 18th, 2009 by jazzblog91
i think that i show leadership in a lot of small ways that often go unnoticed, not that i mind. during the school year, i taught younger school kids many lessons that should prepare them for their future lives in high school. that involved a lot of preparation on my part because i wrote and carried out the entire lesson plan by myself every time we met, even though i had two other classmates that were supposed to help me. instead of yelling at them to stay focused, i encouraged them each week to do what we were supposed, but since i don’t exactly have the most patience in the world, i just got it done with or without their help because i can’t force them to do anything they don’t already want to do.
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Filed under: Uncategorized, thought provoking
Posted on August 12th, 2009 by jazzblog91
singing, reading, playing guitar, talking, drawing, painting, newspaper, skateboarding, walking, writing, helping each other, shooting basketball
someone drawing or painting a person who is skateboarding, then zooms in to the person in real life, then see a basketball court in the background and zoom in to them playing. then see someone walking by, maybe dragging along the gate and follow them as they walk down the street to someone reading a newspaper and see the amplifyme logo, zoom into that which fills the screen and end it like that.
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Posted on August 12th, 2009 by jazzblog91
i think historical movies like remember the titans that are entertaining can tell the story through the use of characters. i think once you get the know certain people in the movie and how they were affected by what was going on, then you understand more of what it was like to live at that time. you might not be able to see yourself in the situation, but by learning about specific people and how they dealt with it, you feel like you were there and knew what happened at that time.
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Posted on August 10th, 2009 by jazzblog91
There was a lot of clear segregation in the movie, especially in the beginning. At first, the two groups of players segregated themselves on the bus to the camp, until Coach Boone made them separate into offensive and defensive. Then, at their first football game, the audience even separated themselves by race. And when they were at school, the black students had everyone staring them down making them feel like they don’t belong. When Petey is accused of talking to some white boy’s girlfriend, it becomes a fight between blacks and whites and everyone gets involved.
The thing about it, though, is that the white people (at least in the movie, I’m not sure about real life back then) either try to strictly enforce the segregation, or they are oblivious to the fact that it’s even there. Like Sunshine who tried to bring some of the players from both sides to eat inside a diner, sure of himself that they would all be allowed in regardless of race. He really did seem like he didn’t know what would happen, but it could be because he was from another state entirely. And then Gerry, who tried to fight with Julius on the first day of camp about some poster. I think that he just wanted to start trouble, or make Julius think that he could run the place however he wanted because of his race. But I don’t know for sure.
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Filed under: films
Posted on August 3rd, 2009 by jazzblog91
The most recent movie I’ve seen was last night, I watched The Fifth Element for about the 20th time. I have no idea what I like about it. There have been many futuristic movies that try to create the world in a few millenniums as filled with technology and even everyday life with aliens. It just shows how much faith they have in the scientists of the world to create amazing inventions and improve life. Most of the movies that show some type of future of mankind either have the world filled with violence or have almost no violence at all. Like in this movie, crime seemed to be much more under control than it is today. However, there was scene when Mathieu Kassovitz’s (whose birthday happens to be today) character tried to rob Corbin (Bruce Willis), and there was a lot of murder of the aliens, but it didn’t seem to be a huge problem. It just seems like there’s only two options for the future; either crime has vanished along with cars that still use roads on the ground, or crime is so prevalent that people can’t even leave their homes or use their bodies to do anything anymore. Just like The Matrix, people are ‘protected’ from themselves and don’t use their own bodies to do anything real, instead they just live in their mind and are somewhat protected from real life crime. Similarly, a new movie coming out called Surrogates is very similar in that people send out body doubles to do everything for them instead of risking their own lives. It just shows that no one knows what will happen in terms of the advancement of technology and or the progess of crime and violence in the world. It’s one or the other, never both, at least none that I can think of at the moment.
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Posted on July 30th, 2009 by jazzblog91
Personally I don’t use social networking sites, and I think the status updates are the dumbest things I have ever heard of in my life. No one cares if you’re in a corner store or if you’re getting dressed for work or other everyday routines. If you had a good day and want to share it with someone, then go out and talk to someone face to face, or call someone up on the phone, or if you are addicted to technology, even write an email. I think those sites cause too much hype on yourself, focusing the attention on you way too much, and often times the content on the site is on the wrong side of the truth. A lot of people use those sites to change their image into something they’d prefer to be, rather than something they really are. Too many people are just obsessed with Facebook or Myspace, and it’s ridiculous how in a room full of people, most would rather sit in front of a computer on Facebook all day instead of talking to someone face to face. They’d rather you text them or chat with them on Facebook, but when you see them face to face, they are stuck with their heads down on a phone updating their status or talking to someone else. What is that?
It says that we’re relying way too much on technology that we can’t even use our own mouths to have a conversation that we must risk carpel tunnel in order to connect with someone. I guess I can see how some people like being able to see what their friends are thinking whenever they want, knowing all about their social lives, but I still think it’s way better to talk to someone in person, and it just seems like people would rather not do it anymore. But hey, things change, right?
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Filed under: thought provoking
Posted on July 30th, 2009 by jazzblog91
It sounds pretty self-explanatory to me; living by example means to live in a way that is honorary or exemplary, it’s admirable enough for others to want to live the same way. It’s being a role model, doing what’s right because it’s right, and inspiring others to do the same. I think it means to be honorable, but not doing it just for that reason, it’s because it’s what you want to do and not because of others or because you want the recognition. It’s doing something better for yourself and hoping that others will be influenced by your actions. It’s hard to do in many situations, but the little things mean a lot, especially when there’s younger kids involved.
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Filed under: films, thought provoking
Posted on July 29th, 2009 by jazzblog91
In the Anti-Apartheid movement, music was something to give the strugglers (blacks) strength and encouragement. They used it in almost all occasions, and what it sounds like from the film is that many of these songs were spur-of-the-moment bursts of emotion that brought the group closer together. They sang during funerals, riots, interviews and more, which shows that it was very influential to them. Music had such power to give them hope, and it was also obviously used to speak badly about the white police and government, even though they were right there. To the whites, they wanted to look happy and obedient, when really they were shouting to the top of their lungs that they would one day get revenge on those same people.
It was clear that remembering the songs and the days in which they were sang was very emotional for the people who actually lived through it. Music was effective for them because it’s easy to get everyone involved, and it would be hard for the police to protest something like that. It’s something that everyone can enjoy and even you don’t like to sing (like me) then you can listen and still be as moved as if you were taking part in it.
At the end of the school year, I did a presentation on music and its effects on the brain, and music can be very therapeutic. Obviously most, or all of the people involved in the riots and everything were constantly thinking about all their troubles with the government, and music helps to reduce stress, so singing as a group must have been good for the overall wellness of everyone around. It sounds like even the guards and policemen were enjoying the tunes of the South Africans. Music can also be very influential and powerful; yet another reason why it brought the organizations together on all occassions. Even though many of the songs were sung a capella, it still counts as music and with those uplifting lyrics, the people regained their strength to fight for change. There’s nothing else that could have brought the people as close together as the powerful melodies they created in the moment.
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Posted on July 27th, 2009 by jazzblog91
in the movie i think the matrix is just the world we want it to be. they said it was the world in our minds, that we’re not really there, it’s just what we think it is and that the real world is oblvious to us. i understand it way more than i can explain it, but i do get it. i can explain it, but i’d say that reality is whatever you think reality is. that’s what the blue pill, red pill is all about i think. if you took the red pill, then you’d find out that what you thought was reality really isn’t and that the world is basically destroyed so we must create our own better one in our minds. but the blue pill lets you go back to thinking that your reality is the real reality and you can go on about your business. i have no idea.
so the matrix is the alternate reality, or what is in the person’s mind and only that. it includes all the sounds, sights, smells, and whatnot, and to most people, it’s all they know, but the crew on the nebuchadnezzar are the ones who try to let people know the real deal, that everything is not real, that everything is just in their imagination. that they’re being manipulated and controlled by a much higher power.
if neo means new, than his character must be the start of a new way to fight off the agents and a new way of life for all those who don’t yet know about the matrix. he’s caused the beginning of hope for the rest of the world and probably the continuation of the ship. morpheus means he who shapes which makes total sense because in the movie, he guided all of them into being the best they could, and helping to save the world (i guess). he definitely shaped neo into believing in himself and tank even said that he was like a father to them. if trinity means threefold, i’m not really sure how that applies to the movie. anyways, zion means uncertain or dry place which does describe the actuality of the world outside the matrix. it’s deserted, and filled with robots and sleeping humans, so there’s no real life to it except for the people on the ship. it doesn’t sound like a good place to be.
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Posted on July 23rd, 2009 by jazzblog91
The news story about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has gotten much more attention than I would initially expect. I would never think that this would make national news. I do think that the cops were pretty much wrong in what they did. If they had looked at his ID, which they might have done, then they would have seen that the guy actually lives there and there’s no need to arrest him. If you walked up to him while he’s trying to get into his house, after it was damaged from some other break-in, of course he’s going to get all rild up. He’s already upset that someone tried to rob him, he’s tired from his trip back from China, he can’t get his door open, and now the cops are questioning him getting into his own house. I would get upset too. He was probably just tired and didn’t want to deal with them which is understandable. But I do think that some part of it was a bit racial, at least that’s the way it was portrayed in the media, which is sometimes hard to ignore. They even got the president to say something about the issue. I think it does tell us something about the progess of racial profiling in Cambridge at least. I think though, that if the man had not gotten upset, they wouldn’t have arrested him. I don’t think it’s his fault, of course the Cambridge cops were wrong, but I do think it could have been avoided. I agree with Gates fully, I just might have handled it differently. I think the Cambridge police should just apologize too, because obviously they were the wrong ones, and once they do that, this thing can be over with.
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