Blue Season Review

Blue Season directed by Lee Jones and Georgina Higgins was a thrill. Sarah, played wonderfully by Daisy Ridley, made the film intense and awakening. Kenneth Jay, who played the sweaty office man, created suspicion and curiosity to add the Sci-Fi film.

Sarah wakes up and finds herself hanging upside down in a strange cellar. Next to her is a head phone with the office man on the other side. She answers desperately asking him to help her. Weirdly, the office man seems to know a lot about her situation and offers to get her out. He frees her and tells Sarah to run to this tower off into the distance. What Sarah doesn't know is that the office man is leading her to her death. Throughout the film, there are close up shots on Sarah's neck revealing that she has been poisoned with something. The pictures ends with Sarah collapsing to the ground with spider veins on her neck from the mysterious item in her neck.

Blue Season had an amazing story line that kept me on edge the whole time. The plot twist, when the office man turns out to be the killer, was the best choice of the film. The intensity a was a necessity for it. Extreme close up camera angles and drippy sweat is what kept me wondering what was going to happen next. Hanging upside down can be a good thing.

Male Guide to Female Communication: High School Style

Female: The better half of males everywhere. The "F" and "E" on the beginning stands for "Freakin' Excellent," which makes them freakin' excellent versions of males. Also known to be the communicator, under stander, and tolerate of all beings.

I was recently confronted by a boy in the hallway who clearly thought he had it all in his head. His witty pick-up lines made me gag a little though and his "trying to be sentimental" tone made my head hurt. It left me with a smile, little chuckle, and the result of my walking away in embarrassment for him. No offense of any to the wonderful male species, but you really got to step up your game. Even if it isn't pick-up lines you're trying to work on. How about working on a basic conversation in general?

Step 1 to talking with a teenage girl: Introduce yourself! Hello! Don't assume that we already know who you are, because I promise you're probably not that cool. You don't have to walk up to us in a "swaggy" manner; it doesn't make you cooler... Actually, it makes you weirder. Another helpful thing to remember when introducing yourself, we don't like your "home boy" handshakes. C'mon guys, a simple wave or smile works just fine. What else is nice for you guys to do is don't bring your entire squad with you...

Step 1 1/2 to talking with a teenage girl: No gifts are necessary, but aren't discouraged. Just kidding, we love gifts. If you're really looking to get your girl something, flower, food, body wash, or food is nice. Even if you're doing this last minute, buying chips or a cookie from your lunch line will be ok. But seriously, we don't want your half eaten ham sandwiches or already opened bag of goldfish. Gifts aren't a priority, but they may be later.

Step 2 to talking with a teenage girl: Hopefully you sorta have a game plan which includes being yourself. Girls don't want you to overdo it. And by that, we mean don't lie and don't stretch to truth. We don't care if your third cousin is Taylor Swift or if your Dad works with a big record label. We want to have a meaningful conversation with you. Make us laugh until our stomachs hurt or if being a funny person isn't you, then make us think so deeply to out next response in the conversation that we get lost. Conversation is great, and every guy knows that girls don't shut up. Here is a stereotypical statement, but it's true; girls love to talk about themselves, so ask us. But be aware, don't pick such personal topics; good topics don't have to be boring or super personal. We'll tell you our favorite color, book, boy band, or even movie. Don't be too fake to get enlightened with your hopeful girl. Even if you're not a fan of what she's saying, act like you genially care because she may not be a fan of what you're saying either.

Step 3 to talking to a teenage girl: I don't know if I, or any girl in fact, can stress this enough, but don't be rude, even if you're kidding. It's best not to tease us about things that we may take seriously, an example being weight, intelligence, and looks. If you somehow end up deeply offending us, then that's a hard hole to dig out of... However, it is ok to tease us back if we are teasing you. Watch our signs and listen to our language. Maybe we're the poke-fun type just like you. A major tip to remember is don't talk about other girls in front of us, it lowers our self- esteem and expectations of you.

Step 4 to talking to a teenage girl: (Don't worry, it's the last step) Stay positive. Girls like hanging out with boys that make them forget to check the time. Also, we like being around people that make us feel positive and put us in happy moods. If you're angry or grumpy, then it's probably not the best day to talk to her. Until you get to know her more, talk about the remembered experiences you've had that will keep her engaged. Replace negative comments with turnaround statements, a.k.a adding a comment on a high light of your day or past event. If we ask you about something that you don't necessarily like, make your answer short, not harsh, and leading to a new topic.

I promise that you, male species, will get the hang of talking to us freakin' excellent versions of you. Deep down inside, we want to talk to you too. And to create a great ending to the already fantastic conversation you will have, talk about the next time you will get to talk again. We like knowing that you're interested.

Problems with Homework

One of the most talked about topics among students and teachers is homework. Homework does have benefits, but it comes with more problems. The constant struggle for students every day trying to balance free time, sports, and school is sometimes impossible. Students need to have free time. Free time serves as a moment to mentally regroup, which is healthy for a student's growing and developing brain.

In a study conducted by Denise Pope at Stanford, 56% of students surveyed found homework to be their primary source of stress, along with tests and trying to keep up good grades. Something that was specially noted was that less than 1% of those surveyed said that homework did not stress them out at all. The effects of stress on the body include breathing problems, muscle tension, nausea, or high blood pressure.  She also discovered through her survey that students are experiencing health problems. “We found a clear connection between the students’ stress and physical impacts – migraines, ulcers and other stomach problems, sleep deprivation and exhaustion, and weight loss,” Pope said. Aside from physical health, homework takes a toll emotionally too. The pressure from trying so hard to keeping good grades and not being able to do it sets up students to view themselves as failures. The pressure to impress friends and family sometimes brings the student into depression or gives them severe cases of anxiety. “They feel out of control,” Pope said. “They often have no idea when a teacher will assign what. They can’t plan around Grandma’s birthday dinner, and it’s really not their fault.”



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Overloads of homework don't just affect the student either; it affects the entire family and their friends. Parents fell responsible to make sure their child does their homework. Some even say that their child's homework feels like a second job. This can lead to arguments between the family and destroy personal relationships between them. Along with arguments, there is no time with the amount of homework typical students receives to bond with their family. The time that students can spend with their families is crucial for the development of social skills and creating interests.

"Very simply, too much of anything can be harmful," says Gerald LeTendre. LeTendre states that homework causes loss of motivation and creativity in students. He also explains that homework is improperly assigned and reviewed by teachers which cause the student to be hopelessly lost. Teachers hand out the same assignment to every child instead of personalizing the assignments to help students where they are struggling. He finishes by saying, "That kind of [individualized] homework is exemplary and you don't see it very much." There is a solution to fixing the corrupt homework system.

In summary, homework is given out incorrectly, causes emotional weaknesses in students, and physical health problems. Too much is useless from what many studies have researched. Homework occupies the lives of students, preventing them from being themselves. It's no longer about learning being fun, it's just busywork. In fact, if homework were a prescription drug, the FDA would long ago have demanded its recall.


American Sniper Tweet Response

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In response to this tweet, which is clearly longer than 140 characters, I know for a fact that this tweet is completely ignorant. Not only is the tweet politically wrong, the Twitter user also missed the entire message of the movie, American Sniper.

American Sniper is about the hardships and emotional impact of war on a soldier. This movie also includes an extremely realistic representation of the conditions Marines and Navy SEALs face across seas as they fight for our lives. The main character, Chris Kyle, only wants to be a cowboy in life, but after seeing the harsh effects of terrorism on his country, his heart changes and he decided to put his talents to work and serve in the Navy SEALs. During his service, Kyle is deported to over seas 4 times. He eventually gains the title among other Marines and soldiers as "The Legend" due to his success with the sniper. Although he is succeeding in the Navy, he is failing as a father and husband at home not being able to escape to war-like mindset. His wife encourages him to get help, which does great things for him mentally. Kyle becomes the loving father to his 2 children and caring husband to his wife. On an afternoon, Kyle is going to help a disabled Marine shoot out in the woods. Tragically, he is killed that day by the handicapped Marine.

This tweet fails to realize that instead of accusing an amazing SEAL for protecting her rights, she shames him for setting records among US service men. The term "hero" is defined as a person who is admired for courage, incredible achievements, and noble qualities. Chris Kyle is honored for the courage to leave his family for months at a time and to go to a war, across seas, with a very high chance of dying, and that's just the assumed courage.

Documented by the Navy SEALs, Kyle is credited with 160 kills, two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars with Valor. Along side those achievements, he survived six IED attacks, two helicopter crashes, three gunshot wounds, and countless surgeries.

If Kyle's achievements don't count as being a hero, then the term hero has lost all true meaning. The biggest error in this tweet has to be that the user fails to realize that the only reason she has the right to voice her own opnion is because of people like Chris Kyle, heroes, risking their lives in order to defeat the people trying to take our rights away. Kyle said in an interview with D Magazine that he didn't enjoy killing people, he enjoyed protecting Americans and allies and civilians.

“If you hate the war, that’s fine, but you should still support the troops. They don’t get to pick where they’re deployed. They just gave the American people a blank check for anything up to and including the value of their lives, and the least everyone else can do is be thankful. Buy them dinner. Mow their yard. Bake them cookies.” -Chris Kyle