18. STAR TREK



Quotes from Star Trek (2009)

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Scotty: "I rather not take sides."
When Spoke and James are arguing back and forth, trying to win one another, they seek to get Scotty involved, and Scotty shows his fairness by announcing to not be involved in their argument. At this point, it is interesting that Scotty chooses to not be on James' side of an argument by standing up to him even though they have been through difficult times together previously. This action also shows that Scotty is being fair to Spoke because he is being neutral rather than supporting James.


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James:  "You know, coming back in time, changing history... that's cheating." When James says this to Spoke Prime, it makes me wonder if it is fair for us to go back in time and change our history. In my opinion, going back in time changing history will harm our surviving skills. If we know we could go back and change things we're not proud of, we will not learn to get over our mistakes. Another words, we will keep perfecting our past that it makes us become obsessive rather than learn to be stronger.

17. THE HERO

From April 29 - May 4, I'll be in Indianapolis, IN to compete in Accounting, Accounting with QuickBooks, and Banking and Finance in Nationals Leadership Conference for BPA. I'm very excited. I've been raising money around the school just for this trip. This trip means a lot. To me, it's a whole new world. Last year, I was introduced to the world of business when I took Accounting. At first, I took Accounting for the sake of having an extra math class in my schedule, but then when I got to know accounting really well, I became in love with it. Then this year, I really got to know Business Professionals of America (BPA) when I competed in these threes areas in States Leadership Conference. At this point, I feel similar to Neo from The Matrix. Neo, or Mr. Anderson, is introduced to a new world he has been chosen to be the hero. Like Neo, I felt like a hero in my family when I won third place in Accounting. I'm proud that I'm the first one in my family to win such competition in the US.


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16. THE MATRIX IS A BUDDHIST GROUP.

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 In the movie Matrix, Neo, the main character, is living two lives. During his first life, Neo is known as Thomas Anderson, a normal computer programmer. He, however, maintains a double life as the hacker "Neo." Neo, then, has been contacted by Trinity, a member of the Matrix, a phrase that Neo has encountered repeatedly online but does not know what it means. As a result, he wants to find out the truths. This concept is Buddhism. First of all, Buddhism is a religion pretty centrally concerned with suffering. In Neo's case, he is suffering from the confusion and an eager to find out the real happiness of his life. He also has similarities with Buddha. Living as a prince at first, Buddha has never learned about the normal life which includes: birth, sick, old, and death. Then, he is enlightened as he walks along the village seeing all these beings before him. Finally, he makes a decision to separate from the busy world to the world within himself to find the true happiness. Like Buddha, Neo separates himself from the world of computer programing to become a member of the Matrix to find out what his life mission is - which is to be "the one."

15. THE FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF IN THE GROUNDHOG DAY

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In the Groundhog Day, Phil Connors, an arrogant and self-centered Pittsburgh TV weatherman who, during a hated assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, finds himself  repeating the same day again and again. After allowing himself to enjoy the pleasure in pleasure-seeking and numerous suicide attempts, he begins to re-examine his life and priorities. During his journey of finding out the truth about his life, he experiences the five stages of grief.

1. Denial and isolation. At first, Phil refuses to believe that he is repeatedly living the same day over and over. As a result, he keeps asking the same people he sees every day in hopes they tell him something different even after they tell him the date he still  hesitates.

2. Anger. The second day Phil wakes up, he punches Ned because he thinks Ned is playing a joke on him since he is in denial that he is reliving the same day over and over.

3. Bargaining. Phil tries bargain his way to get out of reliving the Groundhog Day ever and ever again by helping as many people as he can. In addition, He tells people that there will be a blizzard coming, so if people have a chance to leave the town early to avoid it. 

4. Depression. Phil is so depressed about reliving the day that he tries to kill himself so many times. He thinks it may help him get out of the day by committing suicide but as a result he wakes up in the same day in the same bed. 

5. Acceptance. Since Phil realizes that there is nothing he can do to get out of reliving the day, he uses this advantage to help other people. In addition, he tries to prevent an old man from dying and he saves a boy from falling out of a tree. As a result, he becomes used to it and takes what he can out of it.

14. GOD IS DEAD, THE PARTY IS ON.

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While reading the book 1984 in English class, I keep thinking about the Nietzsche idea -"God is dead." In this book, all people have to believe in is the government which they call the Party. The Party makes people believe in different things. They believe that love is bad, hate is good, and ignorance is freedom. To their citizens, the Party is their god. The Party makes up the rules, and the citizens must follow, or they will go to hell. I don't have any clues about the punishments yet, but from what I've heard, the Party makes their enemy, who is in their control, turn into a completely different person. In the novel 1984, the people also don't have a religion since the Party wants them to focus on serving the government and not think about going against them. If we think about today's society, we have so many rights and freedom to do whatever we'd like. This book makes me appreciate the society I have now. Our society might not be the best, but it's obviously better than what could happen. The main reason why it reminds me of  Nietzsche's idea, God is dead, is because of their poster stating "Big Brother is Watching You." Most of the religious people believe that they are being watched by God, but the people in 1984 know they are being watched by the Big Brother aka the Party.

13. THE OLD GUITARIST



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This picture, the Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso, represents the idea of Ubermensch - the over-man. To start off, Ubermensch is capable of creating a new perspective without dramatically forcing his perspective on others, instead he inspires them. In the picture, this old guitarist chooses to play his guitar until the last second of his life. This man separates himself from the busy outside world to do what he loves to do. This action shows that he has created his own perspective to do what he loves while he is alive, instead of following the norms. Despite the fact that this picture may cause the audience to feel pity for him because of his physical disability and his age, this blind man shows others that with the loss of his eye sight, he is still capable of doing something that takes such skills. As a result, this man shows us that nothing can stop one from doing what he or she loves, not even death. He also makes us stop and think about our way of living. Are we happy about what we do everyday? Also, what would we do on our last day of our lives? Overall, this man demonstrates to the audience different perspective about life which can become an inspiration to others. For this reason, the old guitarist is the over-man, or in this case - the Ubermensch.

11. SO MANY DEATHS

Last year was scared to me. Death was so close to me that I felt I might be the next one in line. I lost one of my close friend in July. My mother lost one of her co-workers. Also, her boss just lost her son two days after Christmas. Sometimes I wonder why people die. Is there really an after-life? I, however, got a crazy idea about life after death from the movie RIPD that yes there is an after-life. Maybe people die to reborn to be someone else that's why we sometimes feel connected to the person we meet for the first time. Maybe people die to fix their past lives that's why some people are so intelligent they could predict their destiny. Although, they might not die to kill the monsters like the partners from the RIPD, some may serve the livings during the after-life.

Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790736/