Movie Review: Gangs of New York

In 1846, in Lower Manhattan’s Five Points, a territorial war between the “Natives” (those born in the United States) and recently arrived Irish Catholic immigrants, is coming to a head in Paradise Square. The Natives are led by Bill “the Butcher” Cutting, a Protestant nativist. The leader of the Irish gang, the Dead Rabbits, is known as “Priest” Vallon. The gangs meet in a bloody battle, concluding when Cutting kills Vallon, witnessed by Vallon’s young son, Amsterdam. Cutting declares the Dead Rabbits outlawed but orders Vallon’s body be buried with honor. Amsterdam seizes the knife used to kill his father, races off, and buries it along with a medal his father gave him depicting St. Michael the Archangel.

In September 1862, Amsterdam Vallon returns to New York. Arriving in Five Points, he reunites with an old friend, Johnny Sirocco, who introduces Amsterdam to Cutting. Amsterdam finds many of his father’s old loyalists are now under Cutting’s control: Happy Jack Mulraney is a corrupt city constable in Cutting’s pocket, and the racist McGloin is one of Cutting’s lieutenants. Amsterdam works his way into Cutting’s inner circle, and learns that each year, on the anniversary of the Five Points battle (February 16), Cutting leads the city in saluting the victory over the Dead Rabbits. Amsterdam makes plans to kill Cutting during this ceremony, in order to exact public revenge, later meeting Jenny Everdeane, a successful and discreet pickpocket and grifter. His interest in her is dampened, however, once he learns she was Cutting’s ward and still enjoys Cutting’s affections. Amsterdam becomes a part of Boss Tweed’s empire. After so long of having these connections, he then attempts to assasinate The Butcher, but fails. And has to recover after being brutally mutilated. Once he does recover, he assumes leadership over the Dead Rabbits, and leads them to victory over another battle with The Natives.

Now to divulge on the term “gang”. Between current society, and the old society. Currently now, the term “gang” is depicted as a bunch of thugs, set on crimes and nothing good. They also have territories. And leaders, with ranks and such. Kind of like how it was back then. But it’s much different from then now.

Back then, it seems to have been more of a clan, and it’s set on heritage. But they weren’t hell bent on crime like they currently are now. They’re as corrupt as they ever were, and they bribed the police and the city ranks. But they’re usually neutral, but against another clan, they’re very hostile. And defensive.

Movie review: Shawshank Redemption

In 1947, banker Andy Dufresne  is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, based on circumstantial evidence, and is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences at Shawshank State Penitentiary. Andy quickly befriends contraband smuggler Ellis “Red” Redding, an inmate serving a life sentence. Red procures a rock hammer for Andy, allowing him to create small stone chess pieces. Red later gets him a large poster of Rita Hayworth, followed in later years by images of Marilyn Monroe and Raquel Welch. Andy works in the prison laundry, but is regularly assaulted by the  gang “the Sisters” and their leader Bogs.

In 1949, Andy overhears the brutal chief guard Byron Hadley complaining about taxes on a forthcoming inheritance and informs him about a financial loophole. After another vicious assault by the Sisters nearly kills Andy, Hadley severely beats Bogs resulting in Bogs being sent to another prison. Andy is not attacked again. Warden Samuel Norton meets with Andy and reassigns him to the prison library to assist elderly inmate Brooks Hatlen, a pretext for Andy to manage financial duties for the prison. His advice and expertise are soon sought by other guards at Shawshank and from nearby prisons. Andy begins writing weekly letters to the state government for funds to improve the decrepit library.

Andy treats hope as something to keep him wanting to be busy on getting out. After his release, Andy explains that he holds onto hope as something that the prison cannot take from him. In 1963, Norton begins exploiting prison labor for public works, profiting by undercutting skilled labor costs and receiving kickbacks. He has Andy launder the money using the alias Randall Stephens. And that’s when Andy started plotting his escape. Once he had escaped the prison after so many years of digging, he used this alias and left no paper trial of himself to be caught.

Red, looks at hope as something that’s useless, and unneeded. He says hope can kill a man. After serving 40 years, Red receives parole. He struggles to adapt to life outside prison and fears he never will. Remembering his promise to Andy, he visits Buxton and finds a cache containing money and a letter asking him to come to Zihuatanejo. Red violates his parole and travels to Fort Hancock, Texas to cross the border to Mexico, admitting he finally feels hope. On a beach in Zihuatanejo, he finds Andy, and the two friends are happily reunited.

Catch Me If You Can: Movie review

Catch Me If You Can is a  true story about Frank Abagnale Jr., who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars’ worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor.  He became so skillful that the FBI eventually turned to him for help in catching other check forgers.

Paula carries on an affair with Jack, a friend of her husband. Meanwhile, Frank poses as a substitute teacher in his French class. Frank’s parents file for divorce, and Frank runs away. When he runs out of money, he begins to rely on confidence scams to get by. Soon, Frank’s cons grow bolder and he even impersonates an airline pilot. He forges  payroll checks and succeeds in stealing over $2.8 million. 

The point in when Frank is the “richest” during the movie, is right before his wedding. I say this because he had a nice fiance with a very wealthy family. And her father actually like Frank for whom he was faking to be. At this point, he didn’t have to worry about money, nor a place to sleep, and he had a new family to love and care for.

But the point in which Frank was the happiest, and most fulfilled? I’d have to say it’s when he was working for the FBI. At the end of the movie, he was trying to run off to get away and be on the run again. But Carl let him go, because he believed Frank would come back. In which he did, and he started to help bust check frauds again.

Movie review of: Remember the Titans

The movie; Remember the Titans, was about a football team, back in the day where segregation was in play. Normally, the Titans were an all-white team. But in the movie, it shows when the team, was starting to become mixed, with both white people and colored people. The movie was really in-depth with how they people actually reacted towards this situation, and how it really went down.

At first the original football team, of all white people, were not having this whole mixed situation. And the colored just wanted to play ball. But when they went to football camp, the two coaches; one white, one colored, really pushed hard to make them work as a team, weather they liked it or not. And it then end, they actually started to enjoy playing with one another. That whole football season, they were un-defeated.

One of the main characters, Gerry Bertier, the football team-captain, was white. And he was not having the whole idea of a mixed team at first. But in camp, he did what he was told to, even though he didn’t want to. Especially when he was told to learn about his bunk-mate, who was a colored person, in which he found out, that he was just another normal person like himself.

Throughout the movie, he strived to make other people see the colored people the way he did. At first he tried with his mother, he wanted his friend to meet her, and she didn’t want it. And his girlfriend/ex throughout the movie, he tried to shake her hand and introduce himself, and she walked away. But towards the end of the movie, Gerry’s mother accepted his friend and they became good friends, like a family friend. And after Gerry’s car accident, his ex really took what he wanted into appreciation, and shook his friend’s hand, and introduced herself.

Interview with Kurt Joviak

Today, I interviewed my Physics teacher Kurt Joviak, at Lorain County JVS. He teaches Physics. I asked him a quick ten questions, and here’s what he had to say.

1. Q. What is your name and how many years have you been teaching Computerized Draft and Design?

A. My name is Kurt Joviak, and I’ve been teaching Physics for 11 years.

2. Q. What skills are necessary for a student to have when they enter your program?

A. Probably the most useful skill would be to have a basic understanding of Science principles.

3. Q. What should a junior student expect to learn in your program?

A. Some skills that a junior student would expect to learn are force motion, heat, and electricity.

4. Q. What inspired you to teach Physics?

A. I’ve always like science, and then I ended up marrying a teacher

5. Q. Briefly explain your classroom rules and expectations.

A. Basically, my class expectations are for my students to be prepared, and to participate.

6. Q. What is a typical day or week like in your lab?

A. A typical day in my classroom would be some lecturing, and then some hands-on lab work.

7. Q. What are common mistakes or problems students have in your lab? What are things I should avoid this year?

A. Some students make the mistake of not turning in assignments, and not reading directions.

8. Q. What are some things that I should do to avoid failure?

A. Some expectations for those things would be to be attentive, turn in your assignments, and make an effort.

9. Q. What kick stated your thrive on Science?

A. The thing that really kick started my enjoyment for Science would have to be a chemistry kit I received in my teen years. It just got me really interested in how Science really works.

10. Q. Do you enjoy what you do?

A. So far, yes. I’ve been to a few schools, and I’ve enjoyed teaching them all.

The Boston bombing

Today, I will be doing a brief analysis on the Boston bombing. For those in which do not know about it, it happened about a week ago, and the FBI have taken down both the suspects. Killing one, and capturing the other. The reason this is so “report worthy”? To get to the bottom of this, we don’t know why they did this whole bombing.

No one suspected it either. The crowd was just enjoying the marathon, and as the first runners passed the finish line, “Boom!” A bomb went off. Whilst in shock, all the of spectators scrambling to figure out what had just happened, another went off about two blocks down around ten to fifteen seconds later. But why? Why then, why there?

We don’t know, but the captured suspect is now awake and breathing. Waiting to be questioned. Because before all of this, him and his older brother whom has passed in a gun battle, were both good people. Passing, excelling in school. But all of a sudden, they went haywire and decided to bomb the Boston marathon. We’ll soon figure out what motives they had.

April lab skill

In the month of April, we learned all about threading and how to thread on autocad. Threading is basically just identifying screws and also how to draw them correctally. There are many type of screws, so many to where they have their own book, consisting of over 700 pages.

But threading isn’t as easy as it may seem, there are many parts to successfully identifying a screw, and its thread. And then having to draw them, is another story. But we spent all month learning about them, and I won’t say i’m adept at threading, but I understand how to.

There are many parts to describe a screw, and its threads. There is the type: English or Metric, then you find the threads per inch, then the standard that the screw goes by. Then after that, you find the length of the screw, and you can start your journey of drawing the screw.

In autocad, drawing the screw isn’t so bad. You start off by drawing a center line the length of the screw. Then after that you would off set the minor radius, both up and down, then the major, and finally the pitch. After that, you would change the layers, and close off the open sides, also you would offset the sides, and extend your center lines to your choosing.

After that, it all depends on what type of thread your drawing, but you would start by using the three different lines to draw the tooth. Once you have the tooth drawn, you can copy them and get a few started on one side. After you’ve done that, you can mirror them to the opposite side, and copy all the way down. Finally you can trim what you don’t need, and bam! You’re all done.

It seems simple when I explain it, and it realy is once you know how to do it. But learning it was tedious and it took quite a while. But once you get it down, you can draw new threads in a matter of minutes! Spending some time on learning and practicing threads makes it so much easier to where you can fly through drawing them without even realising it.

Spring Break!

It’s that time of the year, Spring Break. The time to go on a vacation or a road trip to somewhere warm and nice, mainly beaches. But I usually don’t go anywhere, sadly enough. I’m content with staying at home and enjoying the days off I get.

But if I were offered to go anywhere to my choosing, worry free about expeneses, i’d go to Hawaii. Why Hawaii you ask? There’s so much to do there, and plenty of new, outstanding culture to experience. The main things I would enjoy to do in Hawaii would have to be skydiving and deep sea diving.

I would want to do these two activities because i’ve never had the thrill of sky diving, nor deep sea diving. They’d be outstanding to partake in. Falling at over 100 miles per hour, from thousands of feet, being able to do flips and anything you want to do seems fun! Also, deep sea diving, going down in the water, and seeing what’s deep, deep down. Would be a sight to see.

A person that I admire

Probably the one and only person I look up to and admire is my brother. He’s four years older than me, but he still acts younger than me. He’s always been there for me and i’m glad he is. He raised me rough, but it was for the better and i realize that now.

I admire him for many reasons, but mainly because he’s like a mentor to me. He shows me everything, the rights and wrongs. And I’m smart enough to follow the rights and not the wrongs. I’ve followed some of his footsteps and they’ve taught me a lot.

He’s gone through some rough times, and I’ve almost lost him. But he’s still here, and he’s shown me to never give up. When him and I are working on something and i’m having troubles, he will literally scream at me to keep trying until I get it. And eventually I will get it.

He’s shown me that almost everything is possible if you put effort into it. Even though he’s much older than I am, he still acts my age. And him and I partake in some very entertaining bonding time. He’ll usually come into my room when i’m playing games and we’ll just BS. And it’s nice.

And that’s the person who I admire, my 20-year old brother Ryan. He’ll always be there for me as will I for him. And I love him to death. If it came to, I’d choose him over me, just because of what he’s done for me. He’s given me so much and I can’t possibly think of ever being able to pay him back for it, no matter what I do.

He’s a huge impact on my life, and more of a father figure to me, rather than a brother. I couldn’t have asked for any better. I wish he knew how much I actually appreciate him and what he’s done for me. Thanks Ryan.

Landing on a pot of gold worth $10 million

Where do I start? I landed on a pot, worth ten million dollars! the very first thing I would do, is split the money up, and put it in various bank accounts, and start to live off of all of the monthly interest coming from the bank accounts. Why would I do this? Why not just buy everything I want right then and there? I’ll tell you in a few short paragraphs what and why I’d do what i’ll do.

Firstly, instead of blowing off all of the money and risking bankruptcy, from not having anymore money to spend on the monthly payments for all of the goodies I’ve purchased, I can easily live off of the interest and safely and happily live. I could easily live off of $100,000 per month from just the interest. So while having a $10 million safety blanket, I have at least $100,000 every month for spending cash!

The first thing I would buy, would absolutely have to be a house, I need a place to stay! Nothing too big, nothing too small. A nice two floor, 2 bed 3 bath house. But I’d have it custom built in a secluded area of land that I will purchase along with the house. Neighbors are nice, but so is having a bunch of land to play with!

The next thing I would have to buy would be a car, not just any car. But a 2013 Shelby Cobra Mustang. I’ve always loved Mustangs, and this one in particular is a monster. And for less than $100,000, you can’t complain! I get to have a nice daily driver, that’s also a boss! Maybe I’d get a luxury car, or a fancy super car. But if anything, I’d be content with just the Mustang.

And probably after that, I’d help out all of my family with their bills and help them out by donating some of the monthly income to them, give them a nice jump start seeing on how I won’t be needing anymore of it. And doing my way of saving and spending the money, will give me a life of riches and happiness along with my family, because of all the money piling on top of the $10 million every month, I’d have plenty of money just in case of a crises.