Post #8 3/17/09 Quiverfull

When it comes to watching television shows that portray how life is raising a huge amount of children, you just can not believe how a couple can have that many kids. Now I have never watched the show "18 Kids and Counting," but found their family story to be quite interesting. In this week's edition of Newsweek there was an article that discussed the religious conviction called Quiverfull. Claiming that the twenty member Duggar family follows this religious conviction, this family believes that any form of birth control is a form of abortion. They also believe that births should not be planned and that only god can control the amount of kids a couple has. Those who follow this are open to all "unqualified blessings."

This type of "extreme motherhood" seems to be overbearing and extreme. There is no doubt that the majority of couples are even considering about having a quarter of the amount of children the Duggar family has. When you think about costs having twenty kids is going to tough to handle, especially when you do not get any money for showcasing your life on television.

The link below provides answers for some questions on the issue of Quiverfull. They are answered by a Quiverfull follower who has many kids of his or her own. So, obviously the answers will be supportive to the subject.

http://lotsofkids.com/LOK-Features/quiver/quiverfull.htm

The parent does make decent arguments stating that "Therefore deliberately preventing the conception of a child is saying, in effect, that that child is unwanted and worthless." and that "Age wears your body out along with having babies."

Althoug I am not very religious, I feel that there needs to be a plan in births. Having and raising thirty kids is something I can not fathom and there is nothing that can change my mind about how crazy this conviction is. Especially when the woman said that "Guiness" has a woman with 69 children in Russia.

What do you guys think?

Post # 7 3/10/09 Dancing With the Athletes

Yesterday "Dancing With the Stars" returned to ABC's programming schedule for an eighth season. Out of the thirteen stars two of them were professional athletes NFL legend Lawrence Taylor and Olympic medalist Shawn Johnson. In this week's issue of "Newsweek" Jesse Ellison talked about how five NFL players have competed in this dance competition and how Lawrence is focusing on not embarrassing himself.

Well, some of you may have heard of how some athletes take dance lessons to improve their overall performance. Aside from being an art form dancing incorporates speed, strength, and grace. Many forms of dance are looked at as ways of making athletes better. Whether it is improving foot work through steps from the Tango, or toning your muscles with a variety of ballet moves, coaches and players have become open to dance as a form of practice drill. John Shepherd said "This has led researchers and sports team players and coaches to experiment with ballet and other dance forms as a conditioning method." In the article below Sheperd discusses the aspects of how dance improves athletic performance. Sheperd even researched about skiers in Sweden who evaluated several skiers who had dance training comparing their results to those of skiers who did not have any dance training. Their experiments resulted in the dancers having more mobility which decreased back pain. In another experiment to test balance results concluded that the risk of falling was majorly reduced.

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/can-athletes-dance-their-way-to-agility

He recognizes how dancing improves speed and balance, thus making athletes more graceful as they move even faster. This is mainly due to how dancing deals with being light on your feet.

In this article below M. Lane talks about how ballet improves athletic performance saying, "Specifically, ballet will tone muscles and help the dancer develop better body awareness. Ballet improves strength, flexibility, coordination, dexterity and agility. Adding ballet to a workout will complement just about any sport." Supplementing athletes workouts, ballet uses a barre attached to the wall to warm up parts of your body which improve muscle symmetry.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/319617/ballet_training_for_athletes.html?cat=14

With dance athletes can become more tone through different exercises and improve their balance and increase their speed, becoming swift and graceful in the game. Dancing makes normal movements look even better and prevent performance mishaps.

Post #6 3/3/09 Watchmen and Curing Negativity

In this past week's edition of Newsweek, one of the author's spoke about the disappointments in a variety of movie's that were adapted from novels and other pieces of literature. He began with Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, claiming that George Lucas' dialogue was meager as well as the performance of Hayden Christianson as his "mannequin" like portrayal of Annikin Skywalker. His negativity then shifts to the next anticipated super hero movie called Watchmen. Based on the twelve-issues comic book series and novel written by Alan Moore, Watchmen set around the time the United States was entering the nuclear war against the Soviet Union when superheroes hung up the cape and retired. But when a superhero is murdered, the others are forced to come out of retirement to solve the murder mystery. In this story Moore focuses on the deconstruction of the superhero.

This author or critic pontificates how the director Zack Snyder has failed to turn this story into the film it should be. He said that it was confusing

As for my opinion, I think that this movie will be the opposite of what this critic thinks. Although I have not read the actual comics or novel, I did have the oppurtunity to go to Wondercon in San Francisco this past weekend, which is a huge urban and modern art convention where comics, movies and video games are promoted. That weekend, Watchmen was being well advertized. Free stuff was handed out the trailer was shown, and DC was there too. From what I've heard from standing in line waiting to get their free memorobilia, it sounded like this movie should be successful and entertaining. People were saying how Snyder was going to make this movie as big as 300. and the special effect should be top-notch.

I do not know why this guy was so negative. I mean others say this movie has potential, and can not be worse than decent. "I'd say Watchmen has more initial buzz than 300, partly due to the fan base and partly due to 23 years (versus nine years for 300) of existence," is what one critic said.
http://www.film.com/movies/watchmen/story/watchmens-opening-weekend-box-office/26326767

This guy did not even like Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, sure there may be minor defects but one can't hate the movie altogether. His negativity is at too high a level, but that is part of his job. Thi brings me to how he needs to cure his negativity. He has to "Focus on creating solutions. Don’t focus on everything that is wrong and negative; focus instead on creating options for positive morale."http://humanresources.about.com/cs/conflictres/a/negativitycures_3.htm
This movie has not even come out yet, and this critic has just turned to all of the possible, negative outcomes. He needs to be the opposite and talk about some advantages and the pros it will have.

Overall, I think this movie will be cool and should be checked out,


and that critics should take it down a level to cure their negativity, and point out the plusses.

Post #5 2/24/09 All You Have to do is Ask

Thinking back to the time this past week when our essay was pushed back just because someone asked, I was reminded of a chapter that I read in a book written by Randy Pausch called "The Last Lecture." In one his chapters he discussed one of his experiences that he shared with his dad when they both went to Disney World. While they were riding the monorail into the park Randy's dad wanted to sit up in the front. Randy told his dad that by being an Imagineer he learned a simple trick to make that request possible. He took his dad and his son up to the attendant and simply asked if the three of them could sit in the front car. The attendant then replied with a yes.

During the rest of the chapter he talks about the importance asking and how they can enable your dreams to come true. In another example he talked about how he asked if he could drive down to meet with one of the most highly regarded computer scientists in the world for just thirty minutes. Then said how his question led him to a ninety minute talk and a new life long friend. He also said that trip led him to meet his wife.

By asking questions we have the opportunity to bring thoughts into reality. There are simply just to responses that you can get. The worse someone can say is no.

Like the late Randy Pausch said, "Ask those questions. Just ask them. More often than you'd suspect, the answer you'll get is, "Sure." If you have not read the book or watched his lecture, you should definitely put that on your "to do list." His lecture is very inspiring and offers a positive perspective on how we should live our life and follow our childhood dreams.

The book and his speech are truly inspiring. As an admirer I'd just like to say rest in peace.


Here's a link to this particular lesson and many others we should follow.
http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_04-06-2008/1My_Last_Lecture

Here's a link to see his Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo&feature=PlayList&p=BCD362F95A724D1E&index=0&playnext=1

Post #4 2/16/09 The Oscars

After reading last week's edition of Newsweek about the Benjamin Button article
and the Dakota Fanning interview, I was filled with excitement that the Academy Awards are approaching. As many people may know, the Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, is an annual event that takes place once a year to recognize the finest and most creative achievements made in the motion picture industry. Whether it is to recognize the year's Best Picture or the year's best Visual Effects, the Academy offers a plethora of awards. The Oscar is the most prestigious awards one can receive in film. For everyone in the film industry, receiving this award would be the highest honor one could receive.

Receiving one makes you wanna

Watching them as a fan is another story. As a member of the audience we watch films for entertainment. We watch films for many reasons depending on genre and mood we are in. "The movies are our hopes and our dreams." We fantasize about being in a magical environment or having a happily ever after. Not only that but it gives us the opportunity to sit back and enjoy and congratulate what these entertainers have done. It inspires us to reach for the sky and to dream big.

Below is a link to an article about why the Oscars are enjoyable for us.
http://www.helium.com/items/884587-why-we-love-to-watch-the-academy-awards

Oh yeah, it may be mean but it is funny to see the expressions of the other people that did not win. You know they want to just get the heck out of there.


The first Academy Awards was on May 16, 1929 as a private dinner. The Oscar itself is made of gold-plated brittanium with a knight holding a crusader sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes that each represent the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, and Technicians. The origin for the name "Oscar" for the award is still unclear.

This year I have only watched a few films that have been nominate namely Slumdog Millionaire, Wall-E, The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and Bolt. I have a strong feeling that Wall-E is going to win Best Animated Feature Film. However, I'm hoping that Slumdog Millionaire will win Best Picture. It is a phenomenal movie and is a must see. Plus Freida Pinto is in it. I thought Wall-E was snubbed for a Best Picture nomination.
Here's a link for the list of nominees
http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=nominees

Who do you guys want to win?
Who do you think should have been nominated?

Post #3 2/9/09 Trekies Assemble

Welcome Trekies. In general I am not really an avid Star Trek follower, I watch episodes rarely and was accustomed to seeing Captain Kirk. After watching Star Trek the New Generation, it was interesting to see the new characters especially the reading rainbow dude playing LaForge. The similarities between the "Drumhead" episode along with "The Crucible" were somewhat difficult to interpret. However, as the events began to unravel it became clear. The discreptincy about a sabateur brought so much fear that people began to question the fleet like the people of Salem did about the witch crisis. Just as it is stated in Captain Picard's quote, "Have we become so fearful, have we become so cowardly that we must extinguish a man because he carries the blood of a current enemy?"

Here's the link to other quotes from that episode

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708793/quotes

During the trial when Admiral sprouted with a burst of anger I almost freaked out. SOme people were so surprised that they left the room, like that security guy, before they could not control their emotions.


The Admiral seemed to be reminiscent to Danforth, the way he sees everything in black and white, and thinking that every suspicion is a guilty fault. Shes just one of those characters that make you go

did she really say that, or did she really just do that.

Let me hear your thoughts. Express yourselves.

Post #2 2/2/09 It's Finally Over

Yes! I'm going to flat out say that I am glad that the "Crucible" is finally over. The story was interesting, but some of the characters were straight annoying. I just could not stand Danforth, and even though Parris had a change of opinion towards the end, he was irritating during the whole trial. When Danforth said, "There will be no postponement," I was like

Whenever Parris interupted, saying "He means to overthrow the court."
I just wished Proctor would do this to him even though he was a reverend.


It just angered me how he saw things black and white.
In addition, it was just amazing to see those twisted girls manipulate the whole town.

Here the link to the quotes

http://www.bookrags.com/notes/cru/TOP1.html

Overall, the book in my opinion was just okay. I guess I just did not like the subject of the story.

What are your thoughts? Were there any characters that you could not stand.