Entertainment

Everyone loves to be entertained, myself included. Entertainment in America is such a prominent focus and a lot of times we revolve our lives around it.

I worked at a movie theater for two years and because of that, I really enjoy movies and talking about them and analyzing them, but I also love other forms of entertainment like music, television, books, sports, etc.

If I had a blog that I wrote so other people could see what I am about and what my passions are, I would want to do a blog about entertainment and all its facets. While movies would be my focus and writing about movies most often and in the most detail, I would also want to graze over the other forms of entertainment too. I enjoy them all, as do most other people in today's culture so entertainment, while it is a broad subject is very relevant and it peaks the interest of today's generations.

Being a college student is hard on my passions. First of all, I do not have the money to see all the movies I want to see when I want to see them. Secondly, I do not have the time to go out and buy all I want, do all I want, or see all I want. As much as I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to blog about the most recent movie I went out and saw and maybe even write a review for it, the most recent movie I have seen is The Adjustment Bureau, which has been out for about a month already. I saw it even before that though at a free screening (thank God Biola is so close to Hollywood!) Either way, I could definitely talk about that because it is so relevant, not only to the entertainment industry, but to Christians.

The Adjustment Bureau features Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, who are legends in their own right. Emily Blunt has been nominated for three Golden Globes and has won one in her roles in The Devil Wears Prada, Young Victoria, and Gideon's Daughter. Matt Damon has been nominated for Golden Globes, Emmys, and Oscars, and is best known for his role in the Bourne series and his Oscar winning role in Good Will Hunting.

The combination of these two professionals acting in a movie which boils down to fate vs. freewill makes for a very interesting movie.

Christians in Journalism

Christians' involvement in media today is a must, but have they taken it too far?

Christians, especially gung ho ones that feel the need to be extremely forward with what they believe, have often gone too far with how they go about journalism. I believe that yes, we do need Christian publications, but we also Christians planted in the secular world who can be a light to everyone who does not read religious publications. Christians have perspectives that are unique to this world and they do not need to mention God to portray a view that displays the attributes or the work of God.

I really appreciated Paste Magazine, which we analyzed today in class. They have shown that it is possible to write articles from a Christian perspective without throwing God's name out there. God can be displayed in everything, so we do not always need to bombard people with his name.

We need Christian writers in unchristian places so that they can be a light not only to the people around them, but also give the people who read their publications a view that reflects the view of God, without shoving religion down their throat. People need to see the love of God more than anything else in this world, if they want to eventually understand who he is. It is crucial in the world of journalism to have both Christians writing Christian articles, and Christians writing articles that do not necessarily scream God's name.

Remembering Michael Longinow

Michael Longinow, age 50, died yesterday from an unexplained problem in his digestive system. Born August 23, 1960 to a Ukrainian father and a Mexican mother, Longinow was a very active child, and he had scars to prove it. As he grew up, he became more involved with the church and less with sports because he felt that sports were becoming his God. The summer before his freshman year of high school, Longinow rededicated his life to Christ. After high school, he attended Wheaton College in Illinois, University of Illinois for graduate school, where he met his wife, Robin Turley, whom he married in 1987, and  he went to the University of Kentucky for his doctorate in 1996. After graduate school in Illinois, he became a newspaper reporter, until he started teaching in 1989. His teaching career started at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, and ended teaching journalism at Biola University in La Mirada, California, a position he took in 2005. Longinow is survived by his three kids: Ben, a junior at Biola, Mat, a sophomore, and Sarah, a high school student of 17.

My Obituary (A Class Exercise)

Heather Pape, an 18-year old student at Biola University, died yesterday in a tragic and surprising shark attack off the coast of Newport Beach. Heather was an aspiring journalism student who enjoyed watching movies and playing sports in the time when she was not trying her hardest to excel in school.

Pape loved the beach so in an ironic twist of fate, it was on her favorite beach where the shark attack occurred. She was out in the water, alone, farther than recommended, and a shark had ventured closer to shore than expecte. There was no escape from the hungry jaws that took her life.

Pape's life was a full one, yet one short lived. She spent a lot of her time building relationships with her family and friends, and working at the local movie theater making minimum wage. It was not about the money for her though--watching movies was one of her passions. She was highly active through middle school and high school, playing volleyball for three years, track for two, and softball for five, as well as helping out with various student governments throughout the years. She also participated in drama for 4 years and was in a variety of different shows.

Being a resident of the California Bay Area, she was a huge San Francisco Giants fan, because that is the way her father raised her. She attended such games as the Division Championship in 2002, and Barry Bonds 500th career home run and 72nd home run in a year.

Throughout the first two years of high school, Pape dealt with scoliosis and had surgery for the correction of it in August 2007. This was a huge struggle in her life, but one she overcame with poise and style. This was a major event in her life, and one that affected her in a very permanent way in the time that followed.

As a child, Pape was the apple of her parents' eyes. She learned to read and do complicated math, like division, at such an early age that by the time she got to first grade, the public school system could not keep up with her. Every day she was forced to sit in the back corner and read to herself because she was so far ahead of the class and the school could not cater to her needs. That is when she started attending private and Christian schools, and that changed her life. Her intelligence was what helped her stumble upon the Christian religion.

While in recent years, she may have been just a normal smart kid instead of the child genius her parents thought she was when she was a kid, she still made her mother, Sandra Pape, and her father, Mark Pape, very proud. She often tried to help her younger sister, Ashley Pape, follow in her footsteps, but she and Ashley were very different people and they often dealt with a disconnect of cultures, one being in private school and one being in public. Despite all of that though, she was very close to her family.

 

Heather believed very much in fairness and equality, especially when trying to find scholarships to pay for college. As a result, Heather's family will be establishing a scholarship fund that gives money to students who do not qualify for minority scholarships or scholarships of poverty. She believed that those who have the smarts to get into college, should be able to find money to pay for it as well. If you would like to support Heather and her family at this time, please donate to the Heather Pape Memorial Fund and help students just like Heather pay for college.

We're Going Biblical on Japan

Thousands of years ago, God used a little thing called "The Flood" to wipe out almost all people on the entire face of the earth, and maybe the situation with the earthquake and tsunamis in Japan are not so different.

"What is going on in Japan scares me," said Kristina Newkirk. "While it doesn't really affect me personally, this is just like the biblical catastrophes of the Old Testament, and that should affect all of us emotionally. A lot of people died! And that incident in Japan could have happened to us.We are all sinners"

According to Newkirk, historically, massive incidents like this with a large death toll have been related to the wrath of God. Large amounts of people die, and some people's minds, especially those of Christian background jump to punishment, or a display of god's power. They think of disasters like The Flood where God destroyed a large quantity of people because they were corrupt. If this were the case, America has a lot to be afraid of. While this does not affect the majority of people directly, it should affect all people emotionally, and instill in them a healthy fear of God.

Katie Thede said that the way she was affected by Japan was that her heart was broken for those people. It made her feel helpless, as not only the calamities themselves were out of her control, but also she cannot really do much to fix them either. She struggled with the idea that she wanted to help, but did not know how she could really do much.

Chris Chung felt the same way. Despite his feelings of helplessness though, Chris wanted to go around Biola and collect donations and give it to an organization that is dedicated to helping rescue and rebuild Japan. He also thought it would be good to raise awareness about what is going on so that more people would do the same.

Lying on the Pacific Coast, California is lucky that a similar incident has not occurred here. That could have easily been us. The things we can do with the incident in Japan in mind are donate, raise awareness, and pray--pray that God helps them, and that God's will be done in this current crisis.

Yummy Ice Cream!

I am an ice cream addict. There is no denying it. The freezing cold temperature that warms and melts into flavor in your mouth--what's not to love? I prefer flavors of the chocolate variety. Chocolate has practically no smell, so you have to rely on your taste to really understand its character. Chocolate ice cream is hard to describe without using chocolate to describe it. Chocolate is a flavor in itself. It has that taste of cocoa bean and sugar, and when used in ice cream, it is like a chilled way of downing some Hershey syrup. Delicious. It is a flavor completely unique to everything else. That sweetness, that frigid temperature--it provides the perfect dessert.

Savory Senses of Biola

Walking through campus, one may enjoy Biola while it is experiencing "the freshness of Spring," as Luke, age 25, calls it. The clacking of sandals pounds the cold asphalt as students hustle off to classes. While the asphalt is cold, the warm rays of sun soak into one's very core, providing a very mild temperature. The wind is just slightly breezing by, enough to blow small strands of hair lightly across one's face.

Luke noticed the savory aroma of the greenery of Biola, while I just noticed the smell of food radiating from the cafeteria. Granted, there are greenish brown tress that blanketed me in shade overhead, and the smell of fresh cut grass, but I was locked in on the incense of that meal that I was wishing awaited me in the Caf.

While I sat there pondering this, the sounds of Biola struck me. The spinning and clicking of bikes tires across the ground can be heard over the relaxing, rushing sound of Flour Fountain and the chirping of birds. Conversations can be overheard all the way across Sutherland Way, but as I sat there with stomach growling, all I could hear was the sound of construction trucks beeping incessantly in the background. That is what it is like to be on Biola on March 15, 2011.

Guys Smell

Old Spice, Axe, and the other body sprays of the world have done wonders for the men of America today. Nothing appeals to a woman more than being able to snuggle up to her significant other and take in the calming and exciting aromas that cover up the smell of whatever disgusting secretions are emitted from his body that day.

A Very Mental Way to Examine Features

The piece about the memory team in Hershey, Pennsylvania by John Branch was extremely interesting and so I wanted to look in depth as to why it is a good feature.
First of all, the lead is pretty unique I think. Instead of telling us what he is going to tell us, Branch just jumps right into the setting of the story he is about to tell. He sets the scene with beautiful imagery and colorful diction, while also explaining what the place we are talking about is like. I don't know what the heck he is talking about yet, but I know that the writing is going to be good at this point.
Branch does not even get to the "so what" until the fifth paragraph so he takes a while to set up the point and after that, he spends time analyzing every little detail of this memory team, their techniques, about the members' routine and daily lives. He really makes the team come to life and seem like an interesting thing to get involved in.
He does not use a lot of paraphrasing but uses a lot of quotes from students, which makes the story come of alive because it feels real when using their own words. Branch uses mostly facts and quotes to form his story.
I like the story a lot just because of how appealing Branch made it sound, and how real the whole situation seemed.

Say Whatever You Want

Grief strikes the families at military funerals everywhere, but who would have though that hateful homosexuality protests would be allowed to strike as well? On Wednesday, March 2, 2011, The Supreme Court ruled that it was more important to protect the First Amendment than to protect the mourning people at military funerals. As many people may know, there have been hateful protests executed at military funerals because the people of Westboro Baptist Church believe that God is punishing America for its stance on homosexuality.

While I believe these protests to be WILDLY inappropriate, I believe that the Supreme Court did the right thing.

The protests at funerals are not only a disrespect paid to the memory of someone who gave their life for their country, but it is also very inconsiderate to those who are mourning the loss of their loved ones. Westboro Baptist's protests are a terrible display of the love that Christians should be showing and they give Christians a bad reputation. I do not support what they are doing in any way.

That being said, I do however believe that the Supreme Court has done the right thing in allowing it because it corresponds with everything that the First Amendment, the freedom of speech, stands for. People should be able to express themselves in whatever way they chose. I would want the courtesy extended to me to protest what I believe in, so they should be given theirs. It is not fair for the government to say that one protest is any more protected by the First Amendment than another.

While I am glad that the Supreme court has allowed us this freedom of speech in whatever the circumstances, I wish the people of Westboro Baptist Church would be reprimanded for being anti-American.

Shonette Reed, from my Foundations of Journalism of class, agrees. Reed believes that while she believes that it is the freedom of speech, they should be stopped by violating some other sort of law, though she is not really sure of which one they would be violating. Either way, Reed says that freedom of speech is right, Westboro Baptist is wrong, and the way in which this situation has been handled is very contradictory regarding the Christian faith.