Assignment 6-Gibbs

1) Should professional sports players get paid as much as they do?

2) If you could live for one day as any fictional character, who would you be?

3) If you could choose any career in the world and be highly successful, which career would you choose and why? 

1

Amount Lionel Messi gets paid per year for dedicating his life to soccer-41 million dollars.

Amount the average college professor earns per year for dedicating his/her life to educating our future leaders- 81,491 dollars. 

When you look at these numbers as compared to the amount of work they require and the results they produce can you really believe this is fair? While Messi is no doubt putting in a ridiculous amount of time, the discrepancy is still enormous. Also, you have to consider how important these jobs are. Messi is playing soccer-which, while it may be strenuous, does not truly benefit other people besides entertaining them. A professor is educating the furture leaders, doctors, lawyers, etc. of our world. Does this speak to people's priorities today? How does one man who literally plays for a living make about 503 times the amount of a man or women who is teaching? Globally we are placing more importance on entertainment than education, which honestly does not bode well for our collective future. Though I am a soccer fan, I do not believe that pro-soccer players, or any athlete, should be paid so much more that a person who has gone through college and graduate school and is doing something that is for the betterment of our society, such as teaching or healing. 

What is a time you have witnessed or experienced a miracle?
What is the biggest problem you feel teenagers face in today's society?
If you could make a bucket list, what would it consist of?

There are few things I know I want to do in life after high school. College? I have no clue where. Occupation? No clue. I do however know for a fact a few things I would like to achieve before dying. One of my major dreams in life would be to travel to and attend all four tennis grand slams (Wimbledon, Austrailian open, French open and the US open). Ever since I was little I've always had a fascination with Australia and the ocean. One day I would love to travel to Australia and go scuba diving. Traveling is something I love to do. I love doing all the touristy stuff experiencing new things. Last on my bucket list I would love to visit Greece and the Maldives Islands. Hopefully I will be able to fulfill all these fantasies when I'm older.

Assignment 7: On This Date

September 29th through October 6th. Those are the dates for your blog entry this week.

Pick one of the dates this week and look up historical events happened on that date. Choose the event of your liking and answer the following:

What happened? Was this good or bad?

What influence did this have on the world? A nation? A city? Your existence?

Do you appreciate this event? Do you loathe it?

Continue to editorialize as you see fit.

Due Sunday, October 6th at 11:59 pm

Assignment 6- Brittany

1.       If you could live in any fictional book that you wanted, which would you live in?

2.       Which side of the eBooks versus paper and hardback books debate do you reside on and why?

3.       If you could have one talent in the world (yodeling, break dancing, etc.) what would you choose and why?

I’m going to have to go with my second prompt. Normally, I think technology is great and it makes our daily lives more convenient. However, this is a situation where I do not like technology. An actual book that you can hold in your hand is so much better than a piece of molded plastic with buttons to change pages. In electronic form, books lose some of the character that they have in hardback form. When you’re older you can pass down the worn, read a million times, copies to your kids. You can’t do that with eBooks. When I sit down with a book, there isn’t anything that can possibly frustrate me, unless the book itself is awful of course. I don’t have to worry about a screen freezing or a button breaking. There is a certain feeling that a book loses once it is transferred to a kindle or a nook. You can’t run your hands over the multi-colored titles and the spine and feel the patterns that rise off the front of the book. And what if you lose your kindle or forget the password to your account? All those books are gone in a second. If you lose the book you are reading then no big deal; it’s frustrating but you have a library of your own at home. In addition, there really isn’t a more satisfying feeling than the experience of going through a bookstore and finding a book you like. 

Assignment 6-Taylore

1. If you could describe yourself in one word, what would that word be? 2. What is one thing that scares you, and why do you think it scares you? 3. If you could eliminate one thing from your life, what would it be? I'll answer my first question. One word I'd use to describe myself is "stressed". The fact that I seem to procrastinate on most everything I do doesn't help, but I always have the best of intentions when receiving an assignment, convincing myself that "I'm going to work on this a little bit everyday, and it will hardly seem like a burden at all!" I must be all-talk-no-game, because it doesn't only apply to my school life. I wouldn't consider myself irresponsible, but I definitely find a way to worry about everything and let it consume my mind. I get the worst of headaches and back aches and I just get so tired. Stress is so bad for you; physically, mentally, and emotionally. Especially considering I believe that I am the embodiment of the word "stress". In all appropriateness, I am now going to relieve my stressed-self with some sweet slumber.

Assignment 6 - Julian Perry

(I apologize in advance for how long this has become. I had some free time on my hands today, and I haven't done open/free/creative writing nearly as much as I've wanted to lately)
1. How free are we? Do we really have the freedom to do whatever we want? Is it possible to? Can our dreams ever really be accomplished? Can we be truly happy in life? Discuss your thoughts.

2. Imagine you wake up tomorrow and everyone else is gone (literally everyone, so far as you know). That is all you know. Everyone's stuff is still there, but no one is around. What do you do on this day? What is your course of action? Describe how you would react to this situation, and what you would do with the next 24 hours of your life.

3. List the 3 things you would miss the most, if they were to vanish from our reality. How would you cope? How would you remember them? How would you forget them? Elaborate as you will.

As entertaining as writing each of these prompts was, and provided the fact that I am unable to elaborate upon the ideas I have on each prompt, I must unfortunately write out only number 3. 

This particular weekend has been a difficult one for me, building up to this anticlimax of a blog post. I have caved in on, to plagiarize a common phrase, "the people most important to me." I have made myself a fool, I have saved the sweat of my own brow in turn for another's, and I have been hauling around an idle noggin able to mull these facts over. While 100% of what I've said and am continuing to say might entirely be dramatized, what I've found is that (in no particular order) 1: music, 2: nature, and 3: friends are the 3 things most important to my life right now.
I am a complete shopaholic. I have a weekly income. This is a wondrous combination, and most recently it has led to a new doodad that allows me to play music, at quite a volume, wirelessly, with a bass that will literally (figuratively) knock your socks off. I laid in, on, and around my jungle of a yard for hours listening to that whatchamacallit, and when it got too cold I'd give up on music because I don't deal with cold weather well. Wait, no I wouldn't. I'd listen some more, because that's just how Julian is. For me, music is literally (again, figuratively) an addiction. I can't handle stress any other way. I don't need to, so long as I can hum a melody. Without music, I would just be lost. There is no coping for a loss this great. I would simply exist without. A cold heart of pain and sauerkraut would replace my own, but I would live. That's all there is to say, really. I would be a sea turtle without my sea, flailing around wondering how my ridiculous sea turtle instincts could have possibly allowed me to walk this far away from my sea turtle home.
Speaking of me turning into a sea turtle, you might as well flip me on my turtle back if you take away nature. Ridiculous premise, I know, but creativity is key to success. Using the definition of nature as the physical world without humans, I would miss nature more than I'm going to miss looking forward to new episodes of Breaking Bad every week. Being up early in the morning to hear those first chirps from a far off bird, eventually growing into a full orchestral theme of birdie chirps with accompanying piano harmony, is something I wouldn't want to live without. Sitting in the forest at night, by the fire, listening in on the constant hum of the wildlife all around you; This is something I love about life. I wouldn't cope, if nature disappeared. I would bring it back. I would make my own universe, and it would be ten times better than this stupid nature-less one. My universe would be big, bold, and you wouldn't be punished for being brave. You could adventure through the physical world of green that I love so much, and it would never go away.
Ah, yes. Friends. That old TV show everyone loves but no one actually watches. That wouldn't be in my universe. The actual meaning of "friends," however, would. In the end, friends are all you have. Your family are your friends, your friends are your friends, and even your acquaintances can be your friends. That's part of the human experience, I guess. You never know who your friends will be in five years, but it's ok. Life is meant to be lived, not planned. I can plan to keep in contact with my friends for the next five years, but life happens. Life will happen for the next five years, and the next five after that. It might even go five more years, but the length itself is irrelevant. Life brings change, in every aspect of everything, and not all changes are good. Bad choices are reversible, though, so if I were to wish all my friends away for whatever reason, the world wouldn't end. I would just be really, really, really sad. Sad and stupid. Over time, though, new friends would come into my life. They wouldn't replace the old ones, but they would be friends all the same.
Change, loss, and sadness go together for a reason, but you never truly lose a friend. Music doesn't stop existing, just as everything else in life doesn't. Circumstances just change. Life changes. It's the memories you have that don't.

Assignment 6- Megan Woodrum

1)Who, fictional or real, is your hero? What about them makes you look up to them?
2) What aspects make up the perfect television show? What show do you think comes close to this?
3) Say you could live in a world in one of the book series you've read. Would you live in it? What world would it be? Why would you live in this world?
I am going to be answering prompt question number 3. 
If I could live in another world of a series I've read I would most definitely do that. This world kind of sucks so why wouldn't I want to? I would probably choose Middle Earth from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, you've probably heard of it. Tolkien did an extraordinary job creating this world, I mean the man developed entire languages and already supplied me with maps. Of course I plan on learning elvish before going, even though a majority of the elves left Middle Earth so I probably wouldn't have much use for it. I think with the one ring destroyed it would be pretty lovely. I find that in this world I'm bored a majority of the time so Alsace with seemingly endless adventure, and to be honest some sightseeing, would be nice. And another great plus would be the Shire for when I want to retire from my life of many adventures, because there's nothing better than kicking back in a hobbit hold with second breakfast on the stove. 

Assignment 6 Siobhan

1. There is a quote that says, "We all end up becoming the person we promised we'd never be." Think about yourself five years ago. What was important to you? What relationships did you admire the most? What qualities of a person did you dislike? In this prompt explain whether this quote pertains to you or not.

2. What is your dream job? Regardless of how difficult it may be to obtain, what are your biggest goals in life? What qualities do you have that would make you good at this job or reaching these goals?

3. Think about a time when you were happiest in life. What made you so carefree and happy? What relationships did you have at that time that were the strongest? What did you do in your free time? Did you feel like everything had balance in life?

Prompt 1: Five years ago I was in seventh grade, a very volatile and awkward time for me as it is for most middle schoolers. I was undergoing developing my self-image. I was still trying to figure out who I wanted to be and what I was like. Fast-forwarding to now, it's difficult to imagine a time where I didn't know what I wanted, because now it's never been more clear. But as a 13-year-old I did know what was important to me. My sister, good grades, a social life, and my friends. The relationship I admired the most was with my sister. We had both become the age where we could trust each other with anything and supported each other when things got rough. There is absolutely no other relationship that I have had ever, that compares to the one of me and my sister. In regard's to the quote, it's somewhat true. Five years ago the relationship I had with my sister was the most important thing to me. Now, she's in college. We've drifted apart from the distance and our relationship isn't what it used to be.

Assignment 6- Margaret Cashman

1) If you could lucid dream (control your dreams), what would you do and why?
2) What unconventional superpower would choose and why?
3) If you were given the option to be immortal, would you take it? Why or why not?

I'm going to address number 2. My friends and I, namely Gibbs and Brittany, have discussed this topic in-depth, and have come up with, in my opinion, the best superpower ever. If I could have a superpower, I would choose the ability to become any book character I wanted. If you think this is a lame superpower, keep it to yourself. Imagine, you're having a horrible day and all you want to do is be anybody else, well now you can. And not just anybody else, but you could choose to be the heroic Percy Jackson, or the quirky Etienne St. Claire, or even the murderous Voldemort. Any scenario you could imagine would be at your finger tips. Not only would you become their character, but you would live out their stories as well. Feeling heartbroken? Dive into a romance novel and become the damsel-in-distress saved by her perfect boy? Feeling like a badass? Dive into an action packed book and become the hero of a town,  or even the world. In my world, there's no better superpower than this, what's better than to be able to live and breathe alongside (maybe as?) your favorite characters?

Assignment 6- Thomas Ueland

3 Prompts:

1)   What is your opinion on the Syria affairs? Is it reasonable for the USA to take action and why or why not?

2)   Professional sports have recently become extremely lucrative jobs. Is it acceptable in your eyes that some of these people get paid more than doctors/lawyers/firefighters? Why or why not?

3)   Compare and contrast the current generation (21^st century) with the generations of your parents and grandparents. How has America, and the world, changed in the past 50-100 years? Is this change for the better or for the worse?

I am going to address prompt #2, about the absurd amounts of money being paid to pro athletes. Even as a huge sports fan, I find it slightly disturbing that people can get more money for putting a ball in a hoop than they would if they became a doctor and saved lives. For example, Lebron James has unbelievable athletic talent. He could play any sport and become one of the best in the world because of his size and agility. But, does this make him more valuable than a doctor, who had to work extremely hard to get through college, graduate school, and a fellowship program? While he is freakishly athletic, I don’t think he is as important to society, and yet America is willing to pay him millions of dollars that could go to other professions or fund our national debt. It says quite a bit about where our society is at; we are more focused on entertainment than we are on practical, reasonable fields of study. Perhaps this is why we are no longer one of the top countries in terms of education and people think of us as fat, lazy gas-guzzlers. If I were Lebron James, of course I would forgo a college education and start making millions at age 18 because you would be hard pressed to find a more profitable career. The problem is that so many people think like this, and a very small percentage of them end up making it big in athletics. Then, they are stuck with little education, no job, and hardly any money on which to live. I will strive to put school ahead of athletics, and I hope America can do the same.

Assignment 6 - Katy

1. What are you biggest pet peeves? And how do they make you react?
2. If you could create the perfect bedroom what would it look like? What kind of items would it have in it?
3. If you could travel anywhere for a day, and do whatever you want, where would you go?

I find all three of my questions fun to think about and answer, but I'll choose the first one, seeing as maybe if more people know of my pet peeves they won't do them as often.

Let me begin by saying that I am a very easily annoyed person, and this list of pet peeves is not complete. Sometimes it worries me that so many things that people do everyday bother me so much, but I can't help it. For example, when I wear flip flops, I don't think it's so much to ask for people to not step on my flip flops and force them off my feet. When people do that I personally would like to confront them and tell them to please back up three feet and continue with their day. But I am a small girl with a passive aggressive attitude and never have the nerve to.
I also want to confront people who curse too much. If you find it necessary to add a curse word after every other noun or verb in your sentence, you need to rethink your vocabulary. Not everything you talk about has to be "f-ing this" and "a piece of sh-." I honestly get annoyed with people who unnecessarily curse. I understand if you stub your toe on a table and need to release a couple of words. That happens to everyone. But if you're just excited about something, I prefer that you sit back down, calm your mouth, and try again. Of course I'd like to say "excuse me, but some of us are attempting to enjoy our lunch without your foul mouth. Would you please quiet down and leave the F-bomb out of the conversation?" But I don't want to get kicked out of my lunch table, so I set quietly, talking to myself in my mind about how much I wish they'd stop cursing.
Right now, those are the top two on my mind, mainly because they both occurred within the last couple of days. There are more things that annoy me, and I'm sure I'll be able to think of them later on when they occur.

assignment six - Hannah Pulley

-pick an album, any album you want. clear your mind, instead consider your thoughts in the context of what you hear: lyrics, sonic aspects, etcetera. what do you feel, do you see a story in your head? does this have any connections to your current feelings or situation? you have the length of the album to write, but you can take as much time as you want afterwards to finish thoughts that you have started. you can choose to divide sections with paragraphs between tracks, or not, but the point is to work through your interpretations and feelings on paper.

(a creative writing prompt that I’ve been wanting to write)

or just some questions:

-if you were given the chance, what would you change about your school?

-how well do you think you deal with stress?

On the topic of stress, I don’t remember being this tired this time last year. Not tired in the physical sense, which comes later, but tired mentally and physically. I’ve noticed that one of my favorite ways to deal with stressful days is procrastination, possibly one of the least constructive coping methods of all. My parents have almost always thought of me to be a responsible kid, so maybe I’m just cutting myself down for some perceived laziness. Every week, I resolve to put empty weekends to good use and start early, maybe even leave myself a whole day with no pressing deadlines on my mind. Yet most of my Fridays nights and Saturdays are spent lying in bed, surrounded by books, tangled headphones and thoughts of all the work that I should be doing at that moment, but instead I’m listening to music with my friends through a Skype call. (A word document with the first two sentences of this blog post finished is lurking somewhere in the background.) I know that I have a lot of homework to do when I can’t even let myself relax and push the thought out of my mind. It’s usually around 10 or 11 on Saturday night when I sign off and decide it’s time to start. I work until 2 or 3 in the morning, taking twenty minute breaks every so often. I usually spend this time pacing around the house; I’m hoping not to wake anyone, even though they seem to have accepted my odd habits. Then I set my alarm for 7 to finish what I haven’t already. I don’t even know if the total of an hour a day that I sometimes spend walking in circles around my house is helpful at all in refocusing myself; all I know is that the side of a two-lane highway that my mom lives on is not the best place for going on walks at any hour of the night, or whenever my mind needs it.

I know I am completely capable of handling the workload that we as students are given, but sometimes it’s my mind that wants to rebel against me. I’ve been smart, making decisions on the basis of what I fear will cause me to burn out. I’ve heard horror stories about the physical effects of stress: sleep deprivation and the eventual insomnia that can result from the body becoming accustomed to it; hair falling out, a product of hormones remaining at abnormal levels for extended periods of time; and the dark circles glassy-eyed look in the mirror, looking back at someone who could snap over something totally unrelated at any moment. I’m doing well; it’s written on my bathroom mirror as a reminder that “[you] have survived every single day that has passed, taken everything that life and the people around you have thrown at you, and still managed to keep living.”  I’m walking around with unanswered questions and decisions that I know have to be made in my head. I deal with stress and the rest of life pretty well. That doesn’t mean that I’m not terrified of what the future holds: things that aren’t as easy as a deadline for a paper, tests to study for, applications that need to be filled out. I couldn’t write it down if I tried. 

Assignment 6- Max

1. Look to your immediate left. The first object you see will be your only weapon in a battle against Mike Tyson. How will you fair?
2. What is your current cellphone background? Why?
3. Do you believe in any conspiracy theories? Which ones? Why?

     My apologies for going with the most boring of my three prompts, but my cellphone background is a photo of my current favorite musician, Nick Cave. I love Nick Cave because he can work in nearly any genre. Piano ballads? Garage pop? Metal? Semi-Gospel? Shrek Soundtracks? Harrowing story songs? Whatever this is? He can truly do it all. He is also a fantastic writer, not only for his lyrics, which can be read as poetry and be just as effective as they are as songs, but for his screenplays and books. Currently, he has written two movies and two novels, all of which have received widespread acclaim, and even wrote a rejected screenplay for Gladiator 2, presumably while under the influence of some sort of drug, titled Christ Killer, in which a dead Maximus is sent back to Earth by the ancient Gods to kill Christ, and ends with Maximus working in the Pentagon. As bizarre as this sounds, it was deemed a masterpiece by Gladiator director Ridley Scott, but impossible to make, due to the conservative nature of Hollywood. The entire script can be found online, and is well worth a read if you have a couple of hours to spare. Nick Cave is also, along with Tom Waits, one of the only artists to remain consistently great for nearly 3 decades. From his early days in the no-wave scene with The Birthday Party to his current more focused work with The Bad Seeds, Cave shows no signs of stopping. Nick Cave is undoubtedly one of the greatest songwriters of all time, and in my mind, can do no wrong, musical or otherwise.

Assignment 6-Eliot Smith

What is something small that gives you problems in your everyday life?
What is your opinion of AP classes?
Do you ever get intimidated by the size of the universe?

     I walk down the familiar upstairs green hall of Henry Clay, on my way to physics, thoughts clear, head high.  I gaze at the tired stream of students traveling in the opposite direction.  Suddenly, I pick out a friend of mine about ten feet away from me, I look at him, he looks at me, he displays a face of recognition, I do the same.  The distance between us lessens, from ten feet, to five, to three.  He extends his arm, I follow. The distance between us is now minimal, and a manual greeting is guaranteed.  Our palms meet, no turning back now.  I go for the traditional handshake, attempting to slide my thumb over the top of his hand, hoping he has the same intentions.

If only it were that easy.

     He tries for the more casual slap and grip, a newer method that isn't my preferred choice.  Our fingers clash in a catastrophe of failed grips, clamps and slides, and our contact is severed.  We don't look back at each other, but we both know what just occurred.  We are fully aware of the failed, demoralizing exchange.  My head drops low, his the same, and we keep walking to class.

   Incidents like the aforementioned add a hint of distress to my day just considerable enough to make me reflect on the awkward encounter hours after it's occurrence.  I guess that around 95% of the Henry Clay student body has had this exact same problem or any version of it.

     It is because of this that we need a universal handshake.  This would eliminate any stress caused by the indecision inspired by the choice of the multiple currently existing.  No longer would the students of Henry Clay hang their head on their way to class as a result of a failed greeting.  No longer would I reflect on one of these incidents late at night while trying to read my history textbook.  And, most of all, no longer would my hand experience the intense awkwardness of being shoved up against that of another student, ridding it of its innocence.

Assignment 6 Kaylyn Torkelson

1. A bucket list is a list of things that you'd like to accomplish in your lifetime. What things would be on your bucket list? Why are they important for you to accomplish?

2. What is your favorite word and why?

3. What little thing annoys you the most?

I'm going to go with number three here, simply because I can rant about annoying things forever. I'll start with one of the most annoying little things that I experience every day at school: that one person who thinks its totally okay to stop in the hallway between class change and stand on the corner waiting for her friend or boyfriend or whatever, making it absolutely impossible to turn the corner and actually go to class. This one person makes me want to scream every single day. C'mon. THIS IS THE ORANGE FREAKING HALLWAY, AND I CANNOT GET OUT OF THE ORANGE FREAKING HALLWAY AND GO TO THE YELLOW FREAKING HALLWAY BECAUSE YOU ARE STANDING ON THE CORNER, BLOCKING MY HOPE OF TURNING. Really people? Strategically, there are fifty different places to stand in the hallway that would screw me over less, but you have to pick the corner and refuse to budge. And then you get mad because people are trying to get around you. HONEY, DO NOT STAND ON THE CORNER OF ONE OF THE BUSIEST INTERSECTIONS IN THE ENTIRE SCHOOL AND COMPLAIN ABOUT GETTING PUSHED BY PEOPLE TRYING TO ACTUALLY GET SOMEWHERE. GO TO CLASS ALREADY GOSH DANG IT. People like that are just being inconsiderate of everyone else's time, and that's why it drives me insane. In fifty years, I probably won't even remember that this happened every day of my junior year of high school. But right now, it's important. And very annoying.

Assignment 6- Jonathan Tungate

1) The school system is set up right now. For the first quarter or more of our entire lives, we are school, and everything we do is based around it.

2)People arguing about what "is a sport" and what isn't. It's pointless and nobody is ever going to be right.  (i.e. Golf isn't really a sport!)

3)What if your entire life is just one big reality television show, and nothing is actually real.

I'm going to pick number three to talk about. This idea could go many different ways, and there's lots of people that have taken this idea and transformed it into great movies, like The Matrix, or The Truman Show. This television show spawned the Truman Show delusion, in which a person may believe that their life is just a television show. After all, you never know, maybe they are right and everybody is just being fooled. Possibly, the people with that disorder are people that got a glimpse into the real world. It's scary to think that someday, you're life could be revealed and everything you've done so far in your life doesn't mean anything, and you've just been deceived. Or your life as far is just a big dream, and you wake up to your actual life thinking, "whoa, that was one crazy dream." Then you continue on with your actual life. So maybe nothing matters right now, and you're just giving the viewers back home one boring show, or a boring dream for your actual life. Is there any way to prove your life is your actual life?    

Assignment 6- Saba

1. If you could swich places with anyone for a day, who would it be?
2. Do you think ghosts/other myths are real?
3. Do you think humans should have been amphybians? why

I'm actually going to pick two topics to rant about, because if you know me, you know that I like to RANT.
First of all, since I watched The Conjuring last night, it only seems appropiate for me to rant on this topic: ghosts/demons/witches. Now I know LOTS of people don't believe in those things, but just think about it. Obviously, no one just woke up one day and said, "Oh, I think I'm going to make up an evil thing that tries to possess people's bodies and kill them at night", or "Let's pretend that ladies in pointy hats can say spells and make potions that make supernatural thingsoccur." Obviously there were occurences in the past that led them to believe such things. And let's say that they did make up that stuff, how did so many people believe them?
Were people just not that smart back then? For example, The Conjuring is "based on a true story". Why aren't the people whom the story is based on not in asylums if their story is true. Or better yet, if those things are really true, WHY ISN'T ANYONE DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT?
(Though the conjuring is definitely the best scary movie I have seen yet.)

Now on to the humans being amphybians topic. If god spent so much time on creating us and the ocean, why couldn't we have the best of both worlds (like mermaids- which by the way, could they be real too?!) It just seems really unfair to me. I watched a movie on Disney Channel when I was 10 and the main character turned into a mermaid on his 13th birthday because his real mom was a real mermaid (sounds very stupid when I think about it now...) but I was 140%  sure I belonged to the sea as well. You can guess how disappointing my 13th birthday was.

I tried to keep my ranting to a minumum. That is all.

Assignment 6 - Jacquelyn Engel

1) If you could be anyone you wanted for a day, who would you be and why? 2) What subject in school would you eliminate? Explain and give reasoning. 3) Do you believe in giving second chances? 3) Whether intentional or unintentional, I believe we have all given a second chance. Often, people conjure more elaborate ideas of giving seconds chances such as someone cheating on their girlfriend or boyfriend, but second chances are given on a daily basis. They are given in sports, relationships, academics, and many more situations. Those pesky quarrels you get into with friends or family can distance yourself from them, but after some time to cool down, you return to your usual loving and friendly relationship. You have just given them a second chance even if you were unaware of it. A more common situation would deal with sports. A majority of us do some sort of sport, activity, or hobby. We all know that major fail feeling when we lose a race, don’t beat a certain time, etc. Most of us choose to try it again because we want to improve; therefore, we have willingly gave it a second chance.

Assignment 5- Omer

I would like to take this opportunity to  relate to you my love of my parents. I choose not to judge them based on their belief that there is no cable, except Arabic cable. So to answer your question simply, I don't watch TV "because parents." But at the same time, I don't refute their obviouly erroneous opinion. Why? I simply don't care. TV for me used to guide my thinking and shape my behavior. Granted, my love for spongebob and Boohbah( In order to fully understand how i viewed this show, mute it, and play it from 1:47 while opening this beastly song in another tab. It will not dissapoint.) didn't help to enrich my brain, it sure was funny. Nowdays, i don't watch TV simply because i have the internet. I can watch BBC's Sherlock and The Walking Dead all while being a click away from Skyrim or Reddit. Speaking of Sherlock, the link above takes you to some insults that he uses, and shows you the awesomness of the show. The internet makes it easier to do so many other things, all; while giving you the capability to do everything you with a TV.

Assignment 3- Omer

The point of this blog isn't to convince you that good and evil are almost never concrete. Even someone with a smooth brain can come to this conclusion instantly. Good vs. evil is a nice fantasy, but it's an impractical way of viewing life. Good is the absence of bad, and bad the absence of good. Due to the impossibility of lacking either good or bad, is ever good or bad. Lets say a student wants to get a 4.0 GPA throughout high school. This seems innocent enough. Lets say he wants to use his GPA to help him get selected for a prestigious college. So what if he makes it, and because he does, another student doesn't get in. To the not chosen student, the 4.0 GPA student seems evil; he cut short the student's dreams. Is the high GPA student evil? Obviously not. He isn't good or evil. Now what of the monsters of society? Sure they kill, but are they evil? The fuel behind many criminals can be found in their childhood. So they aren't evil, mom made them what they are. So mom's now evil? Even if the way she acted made a child into a serial killer, is it even her fault? Was it the way she was raised? Could abuse from a past boyfriend have scarred her past the point of return? But then is the boyfriend evil? This train of thought can go on forever. No one is ever truly at fault, unless you conceptualize god and evil differently. If good and evil are merely what you perceive, then what? If two people resent each other, each views himself as good, and the other evil. Does this mean that everyone' good, and evil? I don't think so. Good and evil don't exist in the way we view them. What someone views as evil, another views as justified, and another still views indifferently. There is no bad, nor lack thereof; there is only what we perceive.

Assignment 5-Garrett Uebelhor

Why do I watch television? I’m too lazy to change. Since I was a young child television has been part of my daily life. Just as one’s daily routine involves brushing their teeth, mine involves TV. Of course there are other reasons I like to watch TV, I enjoy the comedy shows and being plunged into a fictional world, yet the fact that television was ingrained into my very DNA as a child is probably the number one reason why I watch TV. My favorite shows usually involve some scientifically advanced or magical world, but not always. Just a short list of favorites would include Merlin, Doctor Who, Firefly, Walking Dead, Supernatural, and so many other shows which I have left out. Long story short: I Like a lot of shows. Although I mentioned that I like a lot of shows, do not in any way believe that I don’t dislike a lot as well. Primarily on this list would be most things on Hallmark and TLC. Although a few decent shows, most concepts are rather archaic and cliché.  As a whole though, I very much enjoy the guilty pleasure that is watching TV. Could I use the time more wisely? Probably, but personally television viewing gives me a way to alleviate stress and forget worries. And for this, I truly love TV.

Assignment 4-Gibbs

This photo is that of hundreds of bodies lined up in a concentration camp in Germany during World War 2. Part of what was so shocking to the world about these camps was that very few people knew about them, or at least how bad they were, until after the war was over. Pictures like this one, along with many others, were and are able to convey a fraction of the pain and devastation suffered by the people subjected to this torture. You can see how emancipated the bodies are in the picture and it is heart wrenching. The people that suffered in the concentration camps, mostly Jews, were innocent except for, 

in Hitler's eyes, their religion. It is disgusting that he should have punished them to such an extreme for something as harmless and peaceful as being Jewish. 

People say that pictures are worth a thousand words. I believe that they are worth emotions. Pictures can make you feel, understand, and empathize more than any speech could. The holocaust in Germany was a horrific event, and I can say that with confidence even though I was not alive when it occurred because of the pictures. Pictures can tell a thousand stories. 

Assignment 5

I don't watch TV much, but when I do, I tend to watch it for large amounts of time. 90 percent of the time, I am watching my favorite show, Breaking Bad. For me, TV serves as a good form of entertainment, mainly because of the many different genres and shows that are available. I think that TV can be a very good way for advertisers to relay messages, which is why advertisements during prime hours can be fairly expensive. Corporations can broadcast advertisements to millions of people at once. I feel like television is somewhat of an insane use of time. It is entertaining and all, but with the hours that we spend watching TV, we could be doing much more productive things. Every once in awhile, it's good to just relax and watch something that you enjoy, but it would be much more beneficial to do things to better ourselves and society instead of sitting on the couch, watching TV.

Assignment 5-Gibbs

The average American spends a ridiculous amount of time in front of the television. Many students watch pointless shows instead of doing homework or sleeping. So is TV a bad thing? It gives us news from around the world, and in my opinion is the most effective form of más communication. So it appears that it is a necessary evil. But it certainly can be an evil-especially when it comes to me trying to do my home work. Passing the hours mindlessly watching other people who make you laugh is just so much more appealing in the short term. It's really difficult to resist the temptation of Netflix, and I admit that I can often fail in this battle.

My favorite show currently to watch in between batches of home work is New Girl, particularly because it is hilarious, but also because it is only 20 minutes long per episode so it does not suck too much time up. Another couple shows I enjoy that do take up far too much time are Mad Men and Game of Thrones, but I have been avoiding those recently because of the time commitment. 

Assignment 5

For the Love and Hate of Television

Television is a good form of entertainment, it is something that captivates millions of people who keep 'tuned in' each week to see a new episode of their favorite show. There are shows made for every sort of person from history buffs to people just looking for a laugh. With television the advertisements come with it. Everyone hates to see Ads interrupting their shows, but it has become something that we are just used to by now. Can you imagine planning to watch a show on good ol' television without commercial breaks? Probably not. But these ads are becoming more and more obsolete with things like DVR, and internet viewing sources that may have fewer to no ads at all. Television is a waste of time, essentially. This is because most of the time, you are gaining nothing from watching it, however this means that pretty much all forms of entertainment is a waste of time, whether it be television, or going to the movies, or even playing a board game. So while television is essentially a waste, so is most of what we humans do anyways, so it's not important where we get our entertainment from because it's all a waste in the end. Television can very much be all three of these traits, it helps out advertisers with their products, keeps us consumers happy with good shows, and gives us an easy form of entertainment to waste our time with.

Assignment 6:Create Your Own Adventure

What interests you? What is your point of exigence? What's on your mind?  What do you want to chat about? Rant about? Learn about? 

'Cause really, isn't it all about you? <wink wink nudge nudge>

This week, create three writing prompts that you find most intriguing. Then, choose one prompt and respond to it. 

Note:
Please don't make the other prompts "dummy" prompts - I'll be revisiting these options later next semester.

Ready...

Go!

Due Sunday, September 29th at 11:59 pm

Long Live the New Flesh

Since being introduced to the United States in 1928, television has become one of the most monumental innovations of all time. It has changed the way we entertain ourselves, the way we receive our news, and even changed the world with it's images. Is it possible, however, that television has become too much a part of our lives, and to some even more real than reality itself? Master director David Cronenberg explores this idea in the best science fiction film ever made, Videodrome. In this film, Cronenberg looks at television a bit like a modern version of Plato's cave. To the viewers, the figures on television, like the shadows in Plato, have become more real than those they see in their own life. This may be a bit of an abstract concept to most, but regardless of your view, it's interesting to ponder. Television has changed the way we live so much, that it has really become life. After all, how much of what we see and believe is influenced by what we see? Like the oft-repeated motto in Videodrome says, "Television is the retina of the mind's eye." If TV can control what we see, then it can control our entire lives, maybe even until it is our lives. Television is a valuable resource for both education and entertainment, but like Cronenberg predicted, it has undeniably become more manipulative than anyone could have guessed. There is nothing real outside of our perception of reality, and if TV changes that, then it arguably is our reality. But this blog post is getting incredibly pretentious, I apologize, so I'll just end it here in the way all great things should end: Jeff Goldblum.

Assignment 5: Siobhan

It's a rare occasion when you find me parked in front of the T.V. on a school night. Don't get me wrong, I like watching television just as much as the next person, but I just simply don't have the time. My schedule is incredibly demanding and the ounce of free time I do have is spent sleeping, or catching up on sleep. I get a feeling of anxiety doing something so mindless and unproductive when there is a list of things I need to get done accumulating in my brain. 

When the saturdays and sundays are slow I will watch T.V. on Netflix. My latest obsession? Gossip Girl. My favorite aspect of that show is the fashion, the very thing that "geeks" me out. It' a great asset to the show and keeps me interested when the plot gets slow (which is a very rare occasion in the lives of Manhattan's elite)

A show I've never been a fan of is South Park. I find it offensive and it encourages stereotypes and ignorance.  I've heard the argument that its all suppose to be a joke but when satirical humor is taken that far I am just turned off by the whole affair. 

Assignment 5

I used to be one of those people who watched TV or played video games about every night of the week, but over the past few years, ive stopped watching TV almost completely. Although, I still do watch TV when I have nothing else to do or my favorite sports team is playing. I guess I just realized that it gets addicting and wastes a lot of time. You start off watching a show a friend recommended and then you have to watch the entire series in the same week so you can talk about it with your friends. And after that you find another show, and another, and another. But yes, TV is very entertaining, it has shows for just about anyone. My point is that TV is entertaining and is there for you when you have nothing to do or when you're bored, but don't get addicted to it because it will waste so much of your time.

Assignment 5- Margaret Cashman

I am addicted to TV. I don't say this lightly either, I honestly don't think I could function without my TV.  It's my way of turning my mind off, the way I chill after a stressful day. You can sit and tune out the world for a few minutes ( that may be an understatement), but who doesn't like to turn off their brain for a bit? My main vices happen to be Under the Dome, So You Think You Can Dance, Downton Abbey, The Walking Dead, Teen Wolf, Modern Family, and The Vampire Diaries. As you can see I dedicate a good majority of my time to TV watching. More often than not the TV is the background noise to my homework time, though mainly because I hate working in quiet. I see nothing wrong with TV, it's basically the same as spending your time reading. Both of them tell stories, just in different ways. In fact, I've decided that since I've spent a good half an hour doing homework it's now break time! American Horror Story, here we go.

Assignment 5-Eliot Smith

    The majority of modern television struggles to capture my attention. I'm usually not in favor of engaging in brainless activities for a long period of time, a trait that characterizes various sitcoms and shows. For something to really capture my attention, it has to make me work towards some goal, such as arriving at a specific conclusion regarding the meaning or outcome of a production, supply meaningful information, or make me laugh.  These are not distinguishing traits of shows like The Walking Dead or famous award ceremonies like the Emmys (no, the best actress for some mindless show is not important).  The shows that have succeeded in attracting my attention are Breaking Bad, a show that is laced with symbolism and cognition-inspiring conflicts, Family Guy and South Park, both hilarious shows that leave no stone unturned when poking fun at contemporary issues, and any national news channel.  These are all productions that require a vast amount of time and work to make and, in return, are rewarded with my viewership. 

     The answer to the question, "Does TV provide a good form of entertainment," relies on the meaning of "good".  If by saying a "good form of entertainment" one means a time-consuming action that requires small amounts of reflection, then the answer is yes, television excels in this field.  However, if one intends it to mean a valuable and informational hobby that will better the watcher in the long run, then the answer is no, with the exception being a very select few of choices currently being aired. Whether or not television is an inane use of time depends on what you watch, and for how long you watch.  Although one might watch meaningful content, spending inordinate amounts viewing can result in the same destruction that watching trashy television can cause.

    I believe that almost any individual would agree with my opinion that it is absolutely tragic that celebrity-centered events attract a higher viewer count than one that centers on the intellect.  We have transitioned from a nation of Albert Einstein wannabes to one of unmotivated, lazy sad sacks that remain stationary on their couches wishing they could be one of the people they see on the screen; tired with their own lives and doing nothing to change them.

Assignment 5- Julian

TV is the downfall of our society. The end is near. GAME OVER, MAN.
Maybe not, though. We were wrong about that whole Y2K thing, too. Television has been wrongly placed as the brain juicer we think it is, but for all the right reasons. It isn't stimulating, it damages the eyes, it leads to unhealthy lives, and it Jersey Shored us. This once great nation that we call America has been Snookied. Bamboozled, I say! We're been fed this "quality entertainment" in the form of ads, spray-on tan, and more ads. We actually give people money in order to watch 2 or 3 of our favorite television shows a month before they are available for free on the internet or via Netflix's subscription service, and we do this willingly on a time frame we have to work our schedules around. Well, you know that they say: "Nothing says convenience like the opposite of convenience."
I say that, anyway. I say that because it's true. This is what TV has taught companies. Companies can get away with being inconvenient and outdated as long as what they're selling is something we can't live without. Maybe we can't live without our daily dose of Dangerous Truck Drivers on Frozen Water or It's Forever Bright in Philadelphia, but we can live with a better way to get our fix. Netflix is a great company doing great things for television, and it lets you watch on your time, without ads, because a service that you pay for should not be limiting your access to the very same service. TV in the generic sense is an invention now used to sell products. The shows are just there to keep our attention until the next ad, and that is not how it should be. The shows should be the main attraction, not half and half split between entertainment and commercials trying to get more money out of the consumer. There are even ads in the shows themselves, as if there wasn't already enough time in the day for advertisements.
So the dilemma at hand is what to do about this. Companies go where the money is, consumers supply the money, and we are the consumers. That is all there is to it. Society will either move forward, with Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming networks, or society will stay where it is now. This choice is what will decide what television will become, and if it will even be in our future. It is not an active choice, rather a very passive one. It is our unspoken choice, to unknowingly choose as we see fit. We decide how this (very relatively) new art form will change, just as it has changed us before.

Assignment 5

TV sucks me in.  I genuinely love cuddling up with a blanket on a comfy couch by the fireplace and watching just about anything.  Sometimes, depending on how much homework I have, I might even become distracted by some dumb Disney Channel show.  When I was younger, I remember being at the mercy of the TV guide, hoping and praying that a decent show might be playing at the particular time I was hoping to watch TV.  Then, I was introduced to the DVR, one of my favorite inventions ever.  I could now record shows that I liked and have them available to me at any given time.  The only frustrating thing about that is that sometimes the only episodes that would be recorded were be reruns or episodes I had seen about 5000 times.  My most recent obsession is Netflix.  With Netflix, I can watch any show anytime I want.  My two favorite TV shows are 24 and Friday Night Lights.  24 offers action and adventure.  Friday Night Lights provides drama and romance.

Assignment 5: I Don't Love or Hate Television

Why do you watch TV? Why do you not? What shows do you love or hate? I don't love or hate television; you could say that I feel indifferently about it. In order to sit down and watch television, I feel like you have to have a considerable amount of time on your hands. One episode of any given show runs for roughly 15 minutes, 30 minutes if you count the advertisements. Half an hour guarenteed to be taken by television, time too precious to be indulging in things like that. I simply don't watch TV because I find other things to take up my time. If I'm not at school, doing homework, or working, im spending my freetime doing things around the house or napping. Sounds boring, I know, but if you were to enlighten me with your weekly-scheduled show recordings I'd feel sorry for the both of us. But don't take that the wrong way- if watching TV is what helps you unwind when you have free time, then keep on keepin' on! There are two shows that I do like to watch. One is the Bachelorette (a seasonal show), which I watch with my brother and Mom. It wouldn't be the same if I were to watch it alone, we all enjoy making fun of the guys trying to pursue this one girl and all of the drama that comes along. It gives us a good laugh. The other show I like is Portlandia, which is an older show that can be found on Netflix now. It features a man and a woman who do a bunch of little skits and put them in this one show. As random and strange as they might seem, I get a kick out of them because I never know what to expect. Unfortunately, I've run out of seasons to watch, so there hasn't been anything new to watch and I don't suppose there will be again...

Assignment 5- For the love and hate of television

I personally do not watch TV very often. The only show I watch is breaking bad, and I do not watch it on TV, I watch it online. It is more convenient for me to watch breaking bad, other shows, or other forms of entertainment online, because I can choose exactly what I want to watch, and when I want to watch it. The reason I can almost never watch TV shows when they air on Television is because I usually have no time during the school week to basically do anything besides schoolwork, swim, eat, etc. Over the weekend in my spare time at home I catch up on breaking bad, and occasionally watch something that's on Netflix, however most of my time online would probably be attributed in watching youtube videos. There is simply so much content on youtube its hard to not find something that interests me. Television is great, however I feel like in the future the most common way of watching shows will be through the internet on websites like Netflix, Hulu, or youtube. These websites have less advertising and the advantage of more flexible time constraints for the viewers.

Andy- Assignment 5

       Once I watched TV almost every night of the week, usually hours a week. Though I have grown away from the television I still watch it with my family occasionally. On these occasions I often see many sides of TV. I see violent murder mysteries, crude adult cartoons, and trashy reality TV shows, but there are still beacons of light in bleak landscape of the channel guide. (Semi) educational channels like the Discovery Channel and the History Channel can show us many new and interesting things throughout the world. We can get in touch and learn about our communities through local programming. Educational programs can assist parents in developing their children's minds. Millions of people in the United States and around the world rely on television to deliver news to them. TV is a very powerful tool, one that could be used to make the world a better place, but it has become a way for the average person to escape from their problems and simply stop thinking. I believe that even though TV has become a mindless form of entertainment and profit, given time and collaboration it can be a source of productivity for the entire world.

Assignment 5- Katy

I begin by announcing I have muted my TV to do this assignment. I have a love/hate relationship with television. At times I love to spend a rainy day watching reruns of my favorite shows like Criminal Minds and Pawn Stars, but I find that I am not very productive on those days. I sometimes find TV as a distraction to things I need to get done like homework or chores. But I can't help the temptation of pushing that red "ON" button every time I slump onto the couch after school.
My theory is that I either watch TV because it is not a very demanding activity and can lead to relaxation, or have the opposite effect and make me think outside my normal realm of thoughts. For example when I watch a marathon of Full House or Friends (one of my many guilty pleasures), I am relaxed in my bed, laughing along with the corny jokes of either Joey (Full House) or Chandler (Friends). I would say Full House and Friends are not very stimulating shows and I do not ponder many troubling thoughts. However, when I watch shows like Criminal Minds or 48 Hours, I am always trying to challenge the detectives on TV and figure out a suspect before they can (of course I have an advantage on Criminal Minds as it shows the suspect early on). Then after an episode (or three) I always get in the state of mind asking "Why would someone do this?" or "Who would want to hurt innocent people?" These questions only bring about ideas of limiting the kinds of criminal behavior that people make TV shows out of. Sometimes I even wonder "Are we praising the criminals by giving them TV shows like this?" I haven't reached a decisive answer.
Obviously you can tell my range of shows that I like is quite large, but there are certain shows I cannot stand to watch. Almost every other teenage kid would disagree with me (and would love to debate their opinion vs. mine) but I do not like South Park, Family Guy, or American Dad. I do not hate them because they are cartoons; I enjoy some cartoon shows. I just find that their humor is low and unappealing. The perverted jokes and rude comments to people do not attract me in watching them. I honestly can't even understand how other people like the show or find it remotely funny.
Although there are some crappy shows out on cable, I do not plan on unplugging my flat screen anytime soon. I will continue to waste time and procrastinate assignments (like my homework today) in order to enjoy my shows. Hopefully I will be able to multitask with the rest of my homework as Duck Dynasty is having a marathon tonight. Wish me luck!

Assignment 5

Confession time: I love television and I watch entirely too much. I can sit on the couch and get completely absorbed in what my mom calls “crap TV”.  I hate to say it but I watch marathons of The Real Housewives series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, pretty much any terrible reality TV show. I will also watch the occasional sitcom or drama or the movies that are on constant replay.  I know, I know, potentially TV is an inane use of time but it is also a good form of entertainment. It does just that; entertains you when you have nothing better to do (or many times even when you do). After a long day of school it is perfect to just sit back, procrastinate and watch Friends reruns.

Assignment 5

So much time and money is spent on award season. The dresses seen on the red carpet cost more than all of the clothes in my closet combined, the earrings more than all the shoes in my house. Why does society put such an emphasis on these "stars"? Why don't we put this emphasis on other things like Nobel Prize winners? People are selfish. We only like to concern ourselves with thinks that directly involve ourselves. Sure the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry discovered some cool thing, but how is it going to effect us? Celebrities do concern us because we see them on TV and in the movies all the time. This also occurs on a global scale. When a tragedy strikes in the US everyone is quick to point out what went wrong and how they feel so badly about it. For every major US tragedy there is hours upon hours if news coverage in newspapers, magazines, and TV. But much more awful things happen across the world everyday and there is no news coverage over it. Everyday there are people dying from awful loving conditions in refugee camps in Jordan, work camps in North Korea, countries divided by civil war. People all across the world will be dying tonight from tragedies but the United States won't know because they will be seeing who has the most expensive gown walking down the red carpet. 

Assignment 5 Kaylyn Torkelson

Watching TV may seem like a total waste of time, but it's always been something that my family has participated in, even though we often don't give it our complete and undivided attention. Sitting in the family room and "watching TV" is kind of the family way of winding down for the night, even though my sister and I are doing homework, or my mom is in the kitchen putting things away. Watching TV is something that we can all do together at the end of the day, and for that reason, I do think it is good entertainment. I don't personally subscribe to the award show media hype that goes on, just because I don't find award shows useful at all. I'd rather watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer with my dad or one of the many fabulous shows on HBO in place of the Emmys or the Grammys or whatever other award event that's happening. Sure, they're probably fun for a certain number of people, but I honestly don't care what show receives the most critical acclaim. I watch TV to be entertained whilst doing other things, and the Emmys just doesn't do that for me.

Assignment 5 - Hannah Pulley

I remember a time when my mom and I were dedicated crime-drama followers, but not anymore. My reason being the fact that schoolwork, late night swimming workouts and friends on Skype took up most of my time, while hers was the difficulty in justifying the cost of a cable subscription that we never had the time to use. Even when I did have the time, it felt like there was nothing on that would hold my attention, or maybe my attention span had just shortened over time.  

One of the links in the prompt leads to a collection of articles, arguing for and against television. While the internet can just as well be a pointless waste of time, I do agree that it is easily justified by a difference between the two: computers are interactive, while television is passive. You can choose what you want to watch, read, or learn about, while with TV, you’re at the mercy of the network programmers. The internet does hold wide array of options for those who just want to talk to other humans about how much they love TV shows, movies or music, and it becomes a more enjoyable, two-way interaction.

(For the record, I don’t hate awards shows; I just don’t like parts of people they bring out. It seems like a three-hour montage of arguments waiting to happen and attention seeking stunts, and maybe some of that should be used to bring attention to more worthy causes.)

Assignment 5

No one in my family really watches TV. There, I said it. But boy do we love our movies. That explains our Netflix account, the Amazon Prime account, and frequent trips to the two Red Boxes down our street. We also always watch movies together, unless someone isn't home. Just last night, we watched 2 movies. Recently, however, we have been obsessed with Under the Dome. Watching that show every monday night became a tradition. However, I do believe that the internet is replacing TV. Almost all of my friends prefer YouTube rather than TV. For example, it's much cheaper and easier to put an ad at the begining of a You Tube video. The You Tuber gets paid by the company every time you don't press "Skip Ad" and watch the whole advertisement. Though I believe there are aspects of TV that cannot be replaced, but man will eventually grow and evolve to replace them.

Assignment 5 - Drew

I personally don't watch a lot of network T.V., and let me give you the primary reason. My family at one point subscribed to cable (where a viewer had at their disposal almost 1000 channels), but finally came to the realization that, of those 1000 channels, we watched less than 20 of them, and of those we only regularly watched 10 of them. So now we watch the few channels afforded us by the digital antenna, and almost exclusively watch those for sports.

But I wouldn't say I don't watch T.V. The rest of the family and I do spend time watching the television, but not in the traditional network sense. Through a device called Apple TV, we get Netflix on the television, and we watch it on a regular basis. Many people don't like this approach because they don't get the newest shows. But we as a family realized that, having watched network T.V. during our subscription to cable, really didn't watch many of the "new" shows. Netflix not only gives us on demand access to hundreds of series of shows IN THEIR ENTIRETY (something you can't do with cable), but also gives us instant access to programs that don't (and probably never will again) air on network T.V. For example, my family and I regularly watch portions of all 5 series of Star Trek (the Original Series, Next Gen., DS 9, Voyager, and Enterprise), my dad has gone through the entirety of Numbers and the newer Battlestar Gallactica, and we've periodically watched episodes of such shows as MacGyver and the A-Team.

Assignment 5- Thomas Ueland

I probably watch way too much TV. As I am writing this, the TV is in the background and the more I think about it, the more it has become a routine; I do much of my homework in front of the TV. Most of the time I watch sporting events, but I also keep up with shows like Breaking Bad, Tosh.0, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It provides a constant flow of entertainment as something that I can rely on if I want to laugh, get scared, etc, and also helps me wind down after a work-filled, exhausting school day. I think TV is an excellent source of entertainment, but often people (myself included) abuse it. It can be used for good, like to catch a presidential address or find the weather, but it can also be a medium for procrastination and about the lowest level of productivity one can have. I can’t bring myself to say that it is an insane use of time, perhaps because I watch so much and I don’t want to think that I am spending my days in an ‘insane’ way, but it is definitely a mindless way to pass the time. Lastly, to address the final prompt, the fact that the Emmy’s get more coverage than the Nobel Prizes’ speaks wonders (atrocities) about our society. At least for the USA, it certainly feels like more emphasis is being placed on entertainment than actual academic advancements. Professional sports leagues are multi-billion dollar businesses, and you can become a millionaire by being good at putting a ball through a hoop. I’m not here to offer a solution, but rather just another complainer of the wavering morals in today’s society.