The Trojan War

In the Trojan War, the whole war started because of one girl. Everyone coveted this woman, Helen of Troy. Most men would die or fight wars for her, and so it was. When Paris, the prince of Troy, ran off with Helen it caused a war. This goes to show that people are willing to fight a war over one single woman.

In the movie Anger Management, there are two men that meet on a plane. One of them gets mad at the fight attendant and has to attend the other mans anger management therapy. After a while, the therapist sets up a prank so that the other man’s girlfriend breaks up with him, kind of like a Trojan Horse in a way. It kind of resembles the way the Trojan War was. It started over a beautiful girl and the rivals used trickery to defeat the Trojans.

Some stuff is the same about these two stories, but some stuff is completely different.  In Anger Management, the story ends good for the man who lost his girl, and same thing with King Menelaus because Helen came running back to him. The difference is the man came running back to the girl in Anger Management.

Substance Abuse

This is my expository essay on substance abuse about drugs and alcohol effect as humans for Language Arts class.

Why do people do drugs and alcohol? What’s the point of endangering your life over some stupid drink or pill? Maybe there are problems in their life and they use these things to relieve the stress. Maybe they just want to fit in with the rest and be cool and accepted. But beyond all that, there has to be some reason why drugs and alcohol are used so widely and I’m aiming to find that out.

The earliest traces of drugs started around 5000 B.C. Priests and spiritual figures used smoking to drift off into a world of peace and deep thought. According to history, even the highest of people smoked and did drugs. Later the practice of smoking spread across the world. From Asia to Australia to Europe, smoking was becoming popular and more forms of it came about like cannabis, also known as “weed”.

Although spiritual men like the priests in 5000 B.C did it, did they really know the hazardous effects smoking has on the body? In Singapore many people have died at the hand of smoking. Smoking causes many diseases involving the lungs that are usually very fatal like cancer. The worst thing is, once you’re in too deep with smoking you cant get out, because the highly addictive chemical nicotine is in cigarettes. That’s why quitting is one of the hardest challenges in a smokers life.

At the same time that smoking harms the body in many ways, it can also be used for a little bit of good. For example, medicinal marijuana is given to patients who have painful sicknesses but at the same time smoking also can give sickness like cancer. Cigarettes are also a good stress reliever and have saved people from depression many times before.

Along with smoking and marijuana, there are more dangerous things too. For example, alcohol. Alcohol has killed countless people with its harmful effects. People usually just see at as a drink to have fun or to party, but alcohol could end your life in one night as you know it. In 1997, Americans drank an average of 2 gallo­ns (7.57 liters) of alcohol per person. This translates roughly into one six-pack of beer, two glasses of wine and three or four mixed drinks per week. That much in one night could send a person into cardiac arrest and easily kill them. Already 1,057,195 people have died from alcohol alone this year! That’s over a million and the year is not even halfway over yet. This shows the danger drugs and alcohol has on us people. Whether we drink it for fun, or to act cool, or to numb the pain of depression, its not worth it.

In conclusion, drugs and alcohol have been in our past for so long we think of it as human nature to smoke and drink. A lot of people still don’t realize the death toll that substance abuse has on our population. It may relieve the pain or stress you have, or make you fit in with the other people, but in the end you will lose. Would you rather have fun and get drunk for one night and die? In the end its just not worth risking your life on things so dangerous. Your life is worth more than a few beers and a pack of cigarettes. That’s how the whole thing of substance abuse is and that’s how it’ll end too.

Super Rich Kids

Analyze how a text reflected the society, politics, or experiences of a time period.

Have you ever met someone that seems like they couldn’t be sad? Have you ever met someone that just had everything? Have you ever met someone that was so rich and blessed that they seemed like they had no reason to be sad? Well, its not always as it seems. In the song “Super Rich Kids” by Frank Ocean, it shows the real life of a rich kid and how society thinks they are.

Too many bottles of this wine we can't pronounce
Too many bowls of that green, no lucky charms
The maids come around too much
Parents ain't around enough
Too many joy rides in daddy's jaguar
Too many white lies and white lines
Super rich kids with nothing but loose ends
Super rich kids with nothing but fake friends

The real life of a rich kid isn’t as pleasant as it seems. Sure, you have money…but your parents are never home; they’re always working. These rich kids don’t know what to do with all the money and power. Kids these days always use their money and power on drugs. The drugs ruin their life even more but they think there’s no other way to make them feel better. In fact, drugs and alchohol drive them deeper into depression. For example, on Wall Street in New York there have been many entrepueners that have turned into drinkers and drug abusers. A man named Michel says that after working with so much money and power, it drives him a little insane. He went from successful businessman to compulsive drinker. Not only does he suffer from heavy drinking, he also

While these kids are already dealing with drug addiction and missing parents, they also have no real friends. Everyone is just friends with them for their money so they hope that person buys them things or something. People only like them because they have money or a nice house. Girls only like him so they hope he buys her gifts or something. They’re all alone. Nobody likes him for who he really is.

Start my day up on the roof
There's nothing like this type of view
Point the clicker at the tube
I prefer expensive news
New car, new girl
New ice, new glass
New watch, good times babe
It's good times, yeah
She wash my back three times a day
This shower head feels so amazing
We'll both be high, the help don't stare
They just walk by, they must don't care
A million one, a million two
A hundred more will never do

On the other hand, the rest of society mostly thinks that money is everything and they have enough friends and the key to happiness is money. And that’s why they torture the wealthier. Society thinks they have everything they need. I myself, understand what rich people go through because I’m friends with some of them. Everyone else tends to think they have all the friends they need, they’re super popular, and don’t have to worry about not having food or anything.  What the lower classes don’t understand is no matter how much money anyone has, everyone has their own problems. They treat the rich like they have no reason to be sad.

Close your eyes for what you can't imagine; we are the xany gnashing
Caddy smashing, bratty class; he mad, he snatched his daddy's Jag
And used the thing for batting practice, adamant and he thrashing
Purchasing crappy grams with half the hand of cash you handed
Panicking, patch me up; Pappy done latch keyed us
Toying with Raggy Anns and mammy done had enough
Brash as luck, breaching all these aqueducts; don't believe us
Treat us like we can't erupt, yup

[Verse 3: Frank Ocean]
We end our day up on the roof
I say I'll jump, I never do
But when I'm drunk I act a fool
Talking 'bout, do they sew wings on tailored suits
I'm on that ledge, she grabs my arm
She slaps my head
It's good times, yeah
Sleeve rips off, I slip, I fall
The market's down like 60 stories
And some don't end the way they should
My silver spoon has fed me good
A million one, a million cash
Close my eyes and feel the crash

In conclusion, the meaning and impact of this song on society can be heard and seen through the lyrics so easily. All through music and text, the super rich kids can show and reflect on society how their perfect lives really are.

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place In  Film

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway is much different than the short film made afterwards. The book by far is better than the movie. I felt like the actors had no emotion and they were just reading lines. Also, the characters didn’t look as how they were described in the story.  The older waiter actually looked pretty young.

Along with the characters appearances, the music was also kind of…not fitting. It was eerie with sharp and high notes. The music sounded like something that would be in a horror movie. There was also barely any music, just the waiters talking in a silent café.

The screen shots were actually pretty right on. It gave it that sad kind of feel which Hemingay portrayed in his story. They were long shots that would not really moved at all as the characters either walked into the distance and talked.

A Clean, Well Lighted Place Response

Write a brief analysis of the two waiters.  What do they represent about life? What does the café symbolize?

The waiters kind of represent the old and young generations and how they don't get along and the cafe is kind of like life or where people will meet. The young waiter represents the disrespectful teenagers that are kind of selfish and dont understand the more elderly.  The old man has a story behind being there but the young one dosent give him a chance.

Text Analysis

 This is a piece for language arts analyzing how a text or song in this case reflected the society, politics, or experiences of a time period.

Every group has that one person who thinks they rule everything but they really don’t, and in that every group theres everyone else. Everyone else is the reason why the group stays together even though the leader treats them like the minority and the punks. The Punk and The Godfather by The Who is the perfect song to describe situations like this, and these situations aren’t just examples or fakes, they exist in all of society all around our world.

The Punk and The Godfather really reminds me of most countries societies. There is one person who controls everyone, kind of like the relationship in the song. A mean and controlling godfather is always controlling and manipulating the minor and smaller teenage punk. The godfather knows he is the leader but he also knows he is wrong.

I have to be careful not to preach
I can't pretend that I can teach,
And yet I've lived your future out
By pounding stages like a clown.
And on the dance floor broken glass,
And bloody faces slowly pass,
The numbered seats in empty rows,
It all belongs to me you know.

In those lyrics the godfather, or leader knows his teachings are wrong and that he has ruined his own nation. He knows that it belongs all to him, that it is his fault. Just like a country with a government that treated their countries the wrong way, the leaders know what they did. Though they might not admit it because they fear they will come off as weak, they do know they are wrong. They know they are just like a mean godfather.

Just like Libya or other nations, protesting against their leader Khadafi, they have destroyed their own nation and the lower people know it. The people know that the leader has nothing to say so he only sees what the people have showed him, so he knows he knows nothing.

We tried to speak between lines of oration
You could only repeat what we told you.
Your axe belongs to a dying nation,
They don't know that we own you.
You're watching movies trying to find the feelers,
You only see what we show you.
We're the slaves of the phony leaders
Breathe the air we have blown you

The Punk and the Godfather makes a connection to almost everywhere. The Godfather is the government and the punk is the citizen. If you look anywhere in your city, a nearby place, even a neighborhood; you could find a place that has a relation to the meaning of this song. Everywhere you look, there’s always those lower people controlled by the one that should be equal to them.