A Night at the Theater 2

Wow! What a great movie “Bachelor Mother” was. I ended up seeing the film on Thursday December 9^th at 7:00pm and I must say I was a bit surprised by how the whole thing turned out. I figured that since the movie is so old it would not be good, but I was wrong. There were many parts of my Normal Theatre experience that I enjoyed very much. One such thing happened before the movie even started. Before the film the theater played a cartoon episode; I guess it is their version of previews. It involved Daffy Duck and the Stork and was quite comedic. It definitely got me ready to see the movie and learn what it was about. Speaking of which, going into this film I imaged that it was a simple plot about a rich store owner falling in love with one of his employees. Man oh’ man was I wrong… There was so much more to this movie and there is no way I can cover it all in this blog, so I’ll just hit my favorite parts. First off, I found it extremely relevant that the movie was set during Christmas time, because it is currently Christmas time. I also enjoyed the comedic relief that happened throughout the duration of the film. This was seen many times through the male characters trying to impress Polly (the main character), but Polly also included some of her own knee slappers. Another particularly interesting thing that happened in the movie was how it played out. At the beginning Polly wanted nothing to do with the baby and insisted that it was not hers. Yet, as time went on she began to love the baby more and more, as if it was her own. What happened next was for me one of the most ironic things I have ever seen in any film. The store owner, who once forced the baby upon Polly and insisted it was hers, fell in love with Polly and thus had to start proclaiming the baby, was not his. Nevertheless, it all worked out in the end and Polly ends up marrying the store owner after they both admit to the big man (the store owner’s dad), the baby is both of theirs. Now isn’t that ironic? Yea yeah I know, my guess in my first blog about how the store owner was the ACTUAL father was wrong, but what can I say; you win some you lose some. All in all, seeing the “Bachelor Mother” was a great way to spend my Thursday night. I really appreciated seeing how actors acted back then and how movies were made in the past. There definitely is a difference in the way they portray themselves on film, and how the films are shot for that matter.  The directors back then incorporated comedy, love, iron, and all other movie techniques into the films much differently than today’s modern action movies and I really enjoyed it. It was a nice break from the normal guns blazing, glory filled movies that make up today’s society and I definitely want to go back soon. That said I am really glad I was able to experience the Normal Theatre and watch a film that my grandparents most likely watched when they were my age!

A Night at the Theater 1

Well the end of the semester has finally arrived and I have decided that it is about time I do this movie project. I plan on seeing “Bachelor Mother” on either the 9^th, 10^th, or 11^th of December just in case anybody else is interested in attending with me. The movie is relatively old and the play time is quite short- it came out in 1939 and is only 82 minutes long. Nevertheless, I did some reading up on it and it appears to be well respected. According to what I have read, the movie deals with a department store clerk who suddenly becomes the mother of a baby and is not too happy about it. However, her boss is determined to keep the two together and I imagine that is what makes up the plot. I was not able to find much else on the movie considering how old it is and I guess I will have to just wait and see what else happens. I really look forward to going to the film and seeing how the clerk’s boss tries to keep the daughter and mother together. I have a hunch that the clerk and her boss end up falling in love or they have already been in love and he is secretly the father; but I guess there is only one way to find out. Well that is all I got now. Let me know if you interested in going with me and I look forward to watching this classic film!

Thanksgiving Break

Well I must say this break is long overdue. You may find it a little odd that I am writing my blog so early on in the week, but so much has already happened. It has been really great visiting with family and friends so far. On Friday I met up with some friends and we hung out like we used to back in the high school days. It was really fun! However, Saturday and Sunday were a little more laid back because football was on and that’s pretty much the most important thing on weekends. Sunday night during the football game I managed to lose ten dollars in a game of poker. I’ve never managed to beat my friends, and it seems my luck has not changed. Nonetheless, I must say my parents have been making me do a lot of work in order to get the house ready for Thanksgiving. Speaking of which, I can’t wait for Thursday! Eating all the delicious food while visiting with family and watching football will truly be amazing. We always have Thanksgiving at my house and I must say it can get a little hectic. Nevertheless, it is always a great time to catch up and see what’s new with everyone. After Thanksgivings, I will finally be able to hang out with my friends Walker and Kurt. They both go to schools up north and won’t be getting home until Wednesday. In other words, Friday is going to be one hell of a reunion. I look forward to seeing how their college experience’s have been and doing our usual illegal things. All in all, my first Thanksgiving break is meeting all the expectations so far. I have been able to meet up with friends and catch up with family. The only thing left to do is get through Thanksgiving and this weekend, then get back to school and hit the books hard.

Project 4 Recipients

For this project I landed on writing a letter to my parents and a good friend Gary, persuading them that I have made the correct decision in choosing Criminal Justice as my major. My parents are very hard working people and both of them have worked very hard to get where they are today. My mom works for one of the hospitals in Springfield, Illinois. While I am not quite sure exactly what it is she does, it involves the hiring of doctors and payroll. On the other hand, my dad works for the state Comptroller office. He is the manager of the Springfield office and deals with oversight of the whole building. It is actually quite ironic that he has such a high ranking job, seeing as how he did not go to college and instead worked his way up through the state system. Nevertheless, they are both successful people and I have big shoes to fill.

My parents have always watched over me like a hawk, seeing as how I am an only child, and are constantly pushing me to excel. However, they have always been behind me 100% on whatever it is I want to do, even if it is something they do not believe in. That it is why it is even more important for me to prove to them that I have made the right decision. They need to be assured that my major is the right choice and that it will ultimately affect my future positively. My parents are not the type of parents that are willing to keep me under their wing until I am 35. They want to get rid of me as soon as possible so that they can retire and relax. Therefore, seeing as how they are paying for my schooling, they can pull the plug on my education at any time if they feel I am not performing to my fullest.

As for my second choice for this project, I decided to write a good friend of mine named Gary. Gary is a retired federal agent and is now one of the youth leaders at my church. In addition Gary and I, along with other church members, have gone on many Habitat for Humanity trips nationwide. Therefore, I would like to prove to Gary that I have made the right choice in regards to my future. I chose him especially since he is a retired federal agent and has worked with the criminal justice system his whole life. He not only knows what it is my major pertains too, but he has experience in it and can in the future give guidance to me. All in all, both my parents and Gary are worth recipients of letters. While on one side I have a lot to prove to my parents and they need to be assured that their investment in me is the right one, Gary is a long-time friend who has dealt with the criminal justice system his whole life and can offer me future guidance; if he feels I am a worthy candidate.

College Food

I do not know if it is just me or if I am simply getting bored with eating the same food over and over again, but it seems as though the food in the dining halls are getting progressively worse. I understand that after a few weeks of doing the same job again and again, you are going to eventually start slacking. However, there is a huge difference between lazily cleaning a bathroom and cooking crappy food; after all we do have to eat the stuff. In fact, about the two weeks ago I was in the dining hall at Watterson. I was waiting for some vegetables in the main course line and the main course for the day was fried shrimp. As the server went to empty the last spoonful of the pan onto the kid in front of me’s plate, something tremendously disgusting was discovered- a fried up frog. Apparently a small frog had jumped into the boiler while the batch was cooking and decided to become part of the main course. Just imagine how many people ate that fried shrimp before without knowing a frog was a part of that batch! Nevertheless, the server merely took the pan and the spoon- complete with the frog- into the back and came out with a new batch; but it was safe to say that fried shrimp was no longer what everybody in the line so desired. Now I know instances like these are not very preventable and that a frog jumping into the boiler is extremely rare, but the vegetables I got that day were also not very good. They were a bit cold and felt like they had been sitting under that heat lamp for over an hour. So while, a frog may never again jump into a batch of fried shrimp, one thing is certain- the food at the dining halls is steadily decreasing and something needs to be done quickly to change it.

Backpacking through Europe

     As I'm sure you have all heard me say many times before, last summer I visited Germany for a month and fell in love with it. In fact I enjoyed it so much that I am planning another trip to Europe this summer. I want to go on a 31 day backpacking trip through all of Europe. The trip would start out with me flying into London. Since backpacking is all about being free and doing what you want, I do not really have a set plan for what I will be doing. I do, however, have a basic outline of the cities I want to visit. They include: London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Venice, Rome, Monaco, Barcelona and Madrid. I have mapped it out and if I travel to each of these cities in that order I will have essentially made one big loop around Europe. This will also allow me to fly out of a major airport back to Chicago on my last day- Madrid. While I am in Europe I will be traveling city to city using trains. The train system over there is much different than ours and, if I may say so myself, much better. I would purchase what they call a "EuroRail Flexi Saver Pass." This pass is good for 15 full days of unlimited travel within a 2 month period. It cost roughly $800.00 and is good for 2-5 people. Therefore, the more people you have the less the train cost. I plan on staying in hostels when not traveling. Hostel's are a great way to meet new people and, contrary to popular belief, are nothing like what you see in movies; in fact there more like motels. However, while I am in Berlin I plan on staying with friends since I have a lot of them there. This will ultimately save me some money, while at the same time allowing me to catch-up with old friends. All in all, I am really looking forward to this trip. I estimate that after the expenses are added up (plane/train tickets, hostels, food/necessities, gear, souvenirs, etc...), the trip could cost anywhere between $2500.00-$4500.00. It all depends on what type of deals I can get on tickets and how much money I spend when I am over there. Nevertheless, I plan on doing this kind of thing the rest of my life (hopefully every summer) and in 2014 my friend Kurt and I are planning on backpacking through Brazil, then going to the World Cup since they will be hosting it. Anyways thanks for reading!

-Jake

Criminal Justice

      While I am not one hundred percent certain I am going actually major in Criminal Justice, as of right now it is my major and I am fairly happy with it. There are many topics that one could write about when thinking about criminal justice. For instance: "Are America's prisons too crowded?" Many people belive that America's prisons are too crowded and that we need to stop imprisoning as many people. Much of the overcrowding has to do with America's harsh punishment for parol violators and second time offenders. If we lessened the punsihment imposed for these minor crimes we could save our country a great deal of money and space. This would be the main topic of my paper- Why America needs to decrease its prison population.
    Another possible criminal justice topic could be: "Are there too many criminal laws?" It seems like almost every day a new law is made and that it is nearly impossible to go a week without breaking at least one of them. If I were to write a paper on this topic the main focus would be "Why we do not need so many laws." I would write about this because I feel as though our government has too much control over us and we are losing the idea of being "a free nation." Yes laws are necessary to keep order, however, we do not need anywhere near as many as we have now.
     My third and final idea for this project right now is: "Are cops too corrupt?" We give the police a lot of power and at the end of the day they are merely the same person as we are; just with a badge and a gun. Our nation is full of dirty cops who abuse their athority and do what they please. In this paper I would focus on why cops are too corrupt and what we can do as a country to fix this solution.