How Selfish

In the novel, Into The Wild, Chris McCandless takes off on an adventure leaving everything he has ever known behind. I believe that because the way he was raised is the reason for his death. From personal experience I’ve realized that kids that grow up with money don’t find real happiness in life because so many things are handed to them. I believe Chris was the same way. You need to have some struggle in your life to realize what’s important and to appreciate others around you. Since his father betrayed him he basically shut down and thought his whole life was a joke. Not knowing where to turn to Chris immediately stopped trusting people and turned to the wilderness. He never thought about friends and family he just took off with one thing in his mind: finding inner peace. Unfortunately inner peace doesn’t come unless love is present, which is exactly what he already had. McCandless’s sister was the most devastated when he disappeared and cried for months. Chris had no second guesses and didn’t think at all about the ones who loved him. I think Chris was completely selfish by taking off like that I didn’t realize how much it would hurt the ones he knew.       

Adventure

In the novel, Into The Wild, Chris McCandless takes off away from home on an adventure for true happiness. I personally think that Chris was not happy with anything in his life and thought he needed to go somewhere to try and find happiness. This adventure just happened to lead him to Alaska to live off the land. Even though he wanted to prove to himself that he could live on his own in the wild his main reason was to explore to try and find if something out in the world is better than what he had been living his whole life. Not knowing what he was doing or looking for he went very unprepared which resulted fatally. Because of the life he experienced is why he thought there was more to life

Quarter-Life Crisis

In the essay, "Generation Debt", by Anya Kamenetz she explains how former college graduates are left to face many problems when they are done with school. This essay definitely had the most impact on me because I know I don’t have a lot of money to spend on college and need to make sure I do not leave myself a bunch of debt when I get done with college. She explains how young adults being in debt and not being able to find a job after college is causing them to face a “quarter-life crisis.” This essay gave me a great outlook on what I don’t want to have a problem with when I am done with school and helped me prepare to not being freaking out after I’ve earned my degree. 

Popular=Children With Divorced Parents

In the essay, “Numbers Drop for the Married-with-Children”, by Blaine Harden it shows how being married with children is becoming more rare these days. From personal experience and being part of a divorced family I totally agree with Harden’s point. The divorce rates are getting higher and being married with children, as Harden says, is “becoming a luxury item.” It is very expensive to have a family and in this essay it explains how people that get married are usually of the same social status. Wealthy marry wealthy and poor marry poor, which results in the poor being very unhappy and usually filing for divorce. Or in my situation, two people that don’t have the same personalities end up marrying and find out about ten years later that they are not meant to be. Divorce is becoming the new norm in for families.  

Not Really Reality

In the essay, “Reality TV: Should We Really Watch?” it explains what kind of things that draw us into watching all of the reality TV shows on these days. Personally I think reality shows are a waste of time because they are for pure entertainment. Almost all reality TV shows are staged these days and aren’t actually real events. In this essay it also explains why people are attracted to these kinds of shows because they like seeing disastrous real-life events happen to other people. For some, people like seeing others get there feelings hurt, or beat up in order to make them laugh on a week night. In my case I would rather not watch these kinds of shows and go out live life with friends and family. 

Marley

The movie I picked to watch is the documentary about Bob Marley directed by Kevin McDonald. Most don't realize what kind of person Bob Marley was and just perceive him to be another Rastafarian stoner, but he wasn't. He was an advocate for peace in his country, very down-to-earth, and an unselfish individual. This movie makes you change your perception of him and realize how much good he was trying to do while he was alive.
The movie starts with him growing up in Jamaica and how he grew up in poverty. Not eating for days at a time because he only had his mom to take care of him. He never knew his dad but soon came to know that he was European and not Jamaican. With his mother black and his father white he was made fun of a lot when younger. As he went into his teens he turned to music for freedom.
He ended up joining various groups making music while he was younger before he got a record labels and became a part of the famous group, Bob Marley and The Wailers. This group was the first group to be recognized outside of Jamaica representing the Rasta style of music. While representing their country Bob’s main focus was to try and stop the violence that was going on in Jamaica at the time. He did this by using his music to make people come together through the lyrics of his songs. He also paid for 3 concerts in Jamaica for people to come and be brought together by his music to promote peace during some of the most violent years in Jamaica. Even though he was very popular, he did not successfully accomplish what he was trying to get across to his native people. Rather than getting the message of peace to Jamaica the group got more recognition from the rest of the world, playing in Africa, Canada, Europe, and the U.S.
By the end of the movie it winds down by telling how Bob gets sick and later dies. Explains how much good he could have done for his native country but couldn’t accomplish his goal because of his life being cut short.
My favorite part of the movie is that it gives a great explanation of the life of the Rastafarian culture. Instead of the stereotypical view of a lazy weed smoker, Rastafarians are all about taking care of the mind and body. Exercising every day and promoting peace throughout one’s life. Marijuana is present in the culture, but not to abuse. They use it culturally and help them maintain the right state of mind.
Personally after I watched this documentary it made me have respect to Jamaicans, Rastafarian culture, and Bob Marley and his efforts to promote peace throughout the world. I recommend this movie to anyone that is willing to learn the truth of Bob Marley’s life through personal stories that his friends and family members share.              

That Book Was a "Choke"

The novel Choke by Chuck Palahniuk was published by Doubleday in 2001 and is strange to say the least. If you are interested in strange imagery getting put into head maybe this novel is for you. But in my case I did not enjoy its descriptive language. This novel follows Victor Mancini through a part of his life where his mother is ill and in a nursing home. Victor cannot afford the care his mother is getting so he goes to various restaurants and makes himself start choking on the food. This then forces people to help him and after it is done he tells people what kind of financial situation he is in which results in them feeling sorry for him. The people then feel so sorry for him they keep in contact with him and send him money to help with his bills. The author also focuses a lot of time describing Victor's job and how he keeps his friend Denny out of trouble all the time. It describes how both were former sex addicts and how Victor has sexual and relationship problems.
To me this book was just too weird for me. I didn't find the plot interesting at all, just disturbing. The main thing I didn't like about this novel was the characters. All of them had strange and disturbing backgrounds that didn't make me want to keep reading.
Maybe its just me but i don't recommend this book to anyone, especially not younger ages because of the sexual content.