A Spicy Adventure Gone Wrong? *GASP*

                         Geralds Game by Stephen King brought on the suspense and jerked my senses from sad to scared throughout. In reviewing this movie, the following criteria are used; “Does the movie give the book justice?,” “How well does the director create suspense?,” and “How well do the actors play the character?” Based on these criteria, Geralds Game succeeds at being a great horror movie.

                  Geralds Game was originally written by Stephen King, published in May 1992, and was made into a movie this year, directed by Mike Flanagan. Geralds Game is about how a harmless adventure turned dangerous in a matter of minutes. In the midst of all the fun, Gerald (Jessie‘s husband) has a heart attack, leaving Jessie handcuffed to a bed, defenseless. After hours of trying to get out of the cuffs, Jessie finds herself hallucinating that she is feuding with her dead husband and a second, more sane version of herself. As the story progresses, more in-depth aspects come into play and she realizes if she cannot unchain herself from her past, she will not be able to unchain herself in the bed and “death” will win. This movie is directed towards horror movie lovers and Stephen King fanatics, who will thoroughly enjoy this film.

            Seeing as the book, Geralds Game did so well, it was expected that the movie would live up to its expectations and it did just that. It was amazing to see how it all played out on the screen, for example, the voices Jessie heard were actually hallucinations of her dead husband and herself standing beside her debating with each other rather than voices in her head. The film also brought the moonlight man or “death” to life. When reading the book, the Moonlight man gave off a scarier vibe than he had in the movie, but it gave the movie a sense of harmlessness which helped ease the suspense.

              The suspense in Geralds Game was done well with the help of natural elements such as day and night and the direction of Mike Flanagan. Flanagan does an excellent job of bringing Stephen King's suspenseful novel to life in the film. In the daytime, Jessie rests because she knows that at any point of the night “death” could come for her but that she is not protected by her dreams, where the suspense grows and the tension in her memories intensifies, having no escape from either day or night. Another element of horror that helps build suspense is the stray dog in the corner, who is growing tired of Gerald’s dead meat and he can smell Jessie growing weak, so the dog hungers for her fresh meat. The music and sound effects also play a big part in the suspense because they drive fear from the viewers to whole new level. Ultimately, Mike Flanagan did a great job at expressing suspense throughout the whole film and kept his audience on their toes.

          Carla Gugino plays as Jessie in Geralds Game and really does the character justice in her scenes of the film. One can see the fear and hurt in her eyes, which is very important when it comes to acting and portraying the scene. Chiara Aurelia plays the younger version of Jessie in the film and does a wonderful job during these triggering scenes, while still giving viewers peace of mind. She acted exactly as a person in these situations would especially well for her age. For how well she did, it is no surprise how many films she has under her belt. Overall, Carla and Chiara did an amazing job of giving present-day Jessie and younger Jessie a voice that could finally be heard.

        There is always the debate of if “The movie is as good as the book” but the truth is the book is always better. The question people should be asking is “Does the movie give the book justice” because as Stephen King fan, it is common to want people to experience what you have with the book, and in Geralds Game and the movie definitely gives the book justice. Overall, Geralds Game is just what you’re looking for in your horror movie queue and is available on Netflix for your horror movie needs.







References
IMDB. "Gerald's Game (2017)." IMDb. IMDb.com, 29 Sept. 2017. Web. 26 Oct. 2017.                        Retrieved from  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3748172/

Phaire, D. W. (2013). Linking Character Strengths and Learning with Films: A Content Analysis
of Films for Adolescents. Retrieved from https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/docview/1289100557?accountid=7374

Stephens, B. (1996) Films in Review. Retrieved from
https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ulh&AN=9603202482&site=eds-live&scope=site

blog comic thngy

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lopes up

   Investing in stocks is a risky business that puts you in a position to make educated decisions and guesses and asks yourself is it really worth it? Much like your education. Once the mandatory primary and secondary school is over, the opportunities are limited unless you choose to invest in a higher education such as a trade school or college. College is an investment in your life, a commitment to better yourself, so why not make a little money off it. Like stocks, the outcome is unpredictable and can be a situation of up and downs, so it is important to really research your investment. I invested in 1500 shares of Grand Canyon University stock because I figure as invested as I am in my own education, I should physically do so and in doing so my profile rank has gone up and so has the value of my purchase which ultimately is a win for me.

   "The problem is a well-known one, and indeed one we have discussed here before: as soon as you try to measure how people are doing, they will switch to optimizing for whatever you're measuring, rather than putting their best efforts into actually doing good work." When it comes to education, it is hard to come by good quality education at a decent price that is not a play by play or rubric by rubric. Grand Canyon has an abstract teaching style that focus's on the real active environment of your future career. It provides hands-on experience both through classes and opportunities for internships. This gives you a better headstart and the experience to know whether your career path is the right one. 

   This school has not always been at the high +82.66% that it is now. It was developed slowly but surely by investors and students but having an overwhelming focus on the students which is weird because it is a for-profit school. My journey to getting into Grand Canyon University was a financial struggle but with tedious work, they were able to reach a price that I could afford on my own, which I am grateful. They invested in me so I invested in them. I have virtually made $9375.57, that is more than half of my tuition for two years and I only paid $62.67 for each 100 shares.

   Grand Canyon is a corporation that mass produces educated students in a variety of different styles and colors, promoting diversity at a reasonable price. This corporation creates jobs and eventually success by helping us form our own creative mindset. This school also provides students with a well-rounded education from pagan, Christian, and a variety of other religious viewpoints. This school is worth investing in, both in stocks and in life. So I encourage you or others to invest in Grand Canyon University. To reference previous articles, it is far from what people would call sin stock, frankly, it is the opposite and can make you a hell of a lot of money. 

Bieber-approved. 

A cure for wellness

   Cancer is one of the many leading causes of death around the world and the number one leading cause for children in the United States. This disease is heavily funded and most times the topic of terminal illness. Cancer has been normalized to the point we are blinded by how it is actually beneficial. Beneficial? of course, it is. Why terminate an illness that makes people wealthy?

   In 2012, cancer made 124.6 billion dollars and in 2014, 895 billion dollars a year, only spending 1.8 billion in prevention costs. They are really making bank on the deaths of millions. The cost for a well-known cancer research organization to run tests is $22,874,676 a year given through donations and outside funding. A small portion of what cancer earns and there is no definite proof that this money goes directly towards the cause of cancer research. "National audit office report indicated that we do not know enough about how the money is spent and whether it is spent wisely and for the benefits of patients," meaning that is "research" could ultimately be for nothing. This research consists of studying the dieting patterns of healthy people and people with cancer and comparing the substances within the food to trace it back to cancer. Then doing tests on healthy people with this information, having them eat the cancer-prone food and the cancer prevention food. Each group not knowing what they are given. Each section of research is consequently disclosed with something along the lines of "the accuracy of this experiment does not directly help to find a cure," not at all reassuring. 

    All they are actually certain of is that if you eat your veggies, you have a possibility of not getting cancer...a possibility. When the goal for curing cancer was actually for the benefit of patients rather than a face for increasing income from "treatments," they were shut down and shut up. "A great deal of research is covered up, potential cures are ignored because there is far more money in perpetuating illness than curing it."
                                                   -mic drop


    It is ironic that the movie "A Cure for Wellness" came out while I write this because just like cancer research it is only benefiting the person, not at risk and leaving the patients in a loop of cancer "cures" while they go broke. 

      My grandma was one for being cured of cancer multiple times but never long enough for it to make a difference. Her cancer had a huge effect on my grandparent's financial situation. They went from living in a house that was oversized and for the time being, comfortable to a trailer park in the scary part of Olivehurst. But it was all for nothing. As the money paid for cancer, my grandma progressively got worse. Before she got cancer, she was always health conscience. She ate mainly fruit, vegetables, and fish all of these big on the list of cancer prevention foods. So, to me the research does not add up, nor is it effective or worth the millions that could be used in actually using possible cures which have been put off. And as March comes around, I remember her and how if people were not so focused on how much money they make and more on the lives of millions, she might still be here. 

An eye for an eye, a debt for a debt

  Alexander Hamilton was the most influential and controversial man in history and those were his best qualities; as told in "Villainous business." His ideas on how to rid this country's debt were unthought of and for most people unacceptable. He pulled ideas from developed nations in which we were feuding and sought to seek peace with them in order to establish foreign trade, talk about backward thinking. He created an incentive for the people, to unknowingly want to pay for the debt the revolution caused. To give credit and expect people to pay it back with interest, what a thought. In that day and age, Hamilton was almost laughable when it came to his ideas. Due to his new ideas, people began to think he was scheming against them through a funding system and they gossiped and bickered on his intentions but this did not stop him, he persevered. He also proposed luxury taxes on items like alcohol and tea and way later this would spread to things like feminine products which is totally sexist but you know, at least we can help the debt this way. Hamilton also established a start to our taxes and refunds. Washington and Hamilton shared similar ideas on how they wanted to build our country, to get all states into one nation; check, to pay off the debt in a timely manor; check (well the revolutions debt), create a navy and army; check, and harmony among its people; mostly check. Hamilton set the stage (not just in the play) for all of these issues in his 'villainous business.

  While reading this passage, a strange character came to mind, his catch phrase, "better than I deserve" rang in my ears. Dave Ramsey; the master debt defeater. I could not help to think what if he was in 
Hamilton's place? The short answer would be this country would go to hell because he is woefully unqualified. Ramsey's ideas on how to rid debt now but at the time our nation did not have a steady income to back itself so his 'baby steps' would collapse on themselves. And I know that is Dave Ramsey were around in Hamilton's day, he would be one of the many to reject his ideas........mostly the ones about credit. In Ramsey's book, credit is the equivalent to the devil. 

  Alexander Hamilton had an extraordinary way of thinking and innovating thought process which needs to be reintroduced today. He attacked debt by creating debt among small things that would eventually pay for themselves later and profit the national fund. He approached things differently without thought of disapproval. He had a great support system, as well as many who disagreed but that never stopped him. He worked for the good of the country as a whole and for her people and without his ideals, we would not be as established, we would not be properly informed about money or have a banking system, and we would not be where we stand today. Thank you, Alexander Hamilton.

follow up marriage issue

   Basing a marriage solely on your love for "god" and another person is like setting a trap in which it is "morally" wrong to escape. To say a pagan marriage is selfish is to say our choice means nothing when the standing for all Christian belief is that God gave free will to man, to make their own choices, to love whom they want to love, to do as they please but know the consequences. 

  It was discussed that for pagan individuals; marriage is merely the next social step on the ladder of life but this is less true than that of a Christian. "As Christians, we don’t use statistics to determine our morality, but you would expect that doing the right thing would demonstrate itself in some form of success ( Scott Turansky)." Success being that god will see that they have suffered through a marriage and done the right thing by him, for him, with him. It sounds like some kind of widespread state farm commercial to dignify that the Christian way is the right way, the only way. To get married because "It is the Christian thing to do." But other than it being the Christian thing to do where are your intentions, what are your motives, what is your plan!


   Culture is mainly a concept created by the imagination of man followed by tradition, ceremony,etc....  The Christian culture does not approach marriage in a way that would seem generally accepted but because it is so widely known this idea has been given many lights that have the possibility of being the cause of a number of divorces. By following the rules of basically a glorified book club, in which little to known have direct experience with the love they talk so highly of.

  My dad once told me that marriage is meant for childbearing, nothing more. To procreate and dominate, the Christian way. I use dominate loosely as a more intense word for convert/spread word of this god. 

  Say that you are in a Christian marriage and you have had a child or children and one is not exactly the cookie cutter Jesus you were hoping. Does this mean your due diligence was not done? You have only made it to Samaria but not the ends of the Earth. Is your marriage all for nothing? In the end, that is for you to decide but basing it on a love that a god who may or may not exist without having directly experienced this 'so-called love' makes little sense. 

  In a pagan relationship, marriage is a choice, we have the will to marry or be married rather than making in another step in the seven sacraments.

Make love, not divorce

 It's spring, the flowers are coming into bloom and men and women of every age are reserving the day. The day that they become one in holy matrimony. But most of these people are in such a rush they forget to grow up. "Marriage are more likely to last longer when people marry at an older age, have higher education and earn more," the article Divorce rates increase if you're under twenty-five. There is no race to get married and if you find yourself in a situation where it seems like a must-have, you need to check your motives.

 Religion aside, you can be with someone and have sexual relations without making it such a shameful act. People often use this as a motive for marriage, as a way to satisfy the needs or urges but it makes so sense if this is a motive for marriage. If you plan to get married, the motive is important so rethink your motive and I suggest waiting. 

 Females and males have different ages in which the are considered mature or "all put together." Females being 18 and males being 21 but that does not mean you are ready for the responsible of marriage. "Sixty percent of marriages for couples between the ages 20 and 25 ends in divorce," that's more than half and should be taken into account.

Time is essential when it comes to your intended spouse. People are dynamic, constantly changing. The person you thought you knew inside and out could change in a manner of minutes. This is why when it comes to marriage, we should take our time with the person or not get married at all. 

 My father was married twice and both ended because of the horrible reason behind it. The first marriage was when he was 21 on the account of well, me. Immediately after they took the alter. He did not know this woman and it was merely a case of too much alcohol and no protection. Because of this, he's where he is today. Barely any college on account of his kids and TIME. Marriage is a death to youth, freedom, and ability to do as one pleases.  Marriage makes you one with your spouse, the time for childish dreams and freedom are over. His second marriage started and ended within months. This one was not a shotgun wedding, though, it was a case of "love", which is maybe sweet but its also stupid. 

 I do not believe in love and I think marriage is merely a scam to use on your tax returns but in the end, marriage is a choice where we live so choose wisely.

TOMs, are they for the people?

   In 2006, Blake Mycoskie the founded the idea of one for one. One for one being the TOMs organization where if you buy a pair of shoes, a pair will be donated to a person in need. This is why the price of shoes range from fifty dollars or more because the price without One for one would be half that. My issue with this is that the hookworm epidemic is what the whole One for one organization stands on but the money the collect from selling the shoe could ultimately eliminate the issue altogether.

   Over sixty million pairs of TOMs have been given to people in need only beginning to touch the issue of hookworm. There are over seven hundred million people around the world dealing with this issue, a significant amount compared to the number of shoes given to help this issue. That leaves six hundred and forty million people still at risk of attaining hookworm. 

  The only gain in this whole situation is for TOMs and their income. The manufacturing price for these shoes is seven dollars and fifty cents for a pair being made out of canvas paper for the structure and design and organic cotton for the base. The quality is woefully inadequate though the outside looks decently fashionable; not lasting more than a couple months and leaving their mission uncompleted after the first few months.

  The cost for roads in third world countries is three hundred million that's a little more than half of the people who are affected by hookworm being again, seven hundred million people. Since TOMs only brings shoes to select a number of Christian schools, let us say that the school has a number of 1000 kids and each kid gets is promised a pair of TOMs that's a total of twenty-five thousand dollars in shoes being that each pair alone would be at least twenty-five dollars. With the money they used to supply shoes at least the roads in that area could be fixed and maintained and get closer to solving the problem. Making these roads will make a bigger difference than a shoe made out of very destructive material. And if each person donated a dollar at most and least two countries can have the ability to build lasting roads and control the hookworm epidemic; the whole reason behind One for one. 


  I believe that the One for one organization is more a scam for a good name rather than an ability to help those in need. Despite all the children that have been given shoes it does not make a difference if they do not have a lasting solution. Seeing that they were or those who purchased two pairs of TOMs for one donated over sixty million pairs for about twenty-five dollars per shoe and the manufacturing price being seven dollars and fifty cents, the TOMs organization have made $1, 050,000,000 altogether. With this in mind TOMs if a public stock would be a great investment even if their morals are not in the right place. 

From a nonpolitical standpoint looking in

 The fight for power had begun, Donald Trump versus Hilary Clinton. The fight was brutal and prolonged. But HIlary fell ill and Trump found himself on top.
 Families all around sat in antici.....pation for the results of the election. Hilary supporters, braiding each others armpit hair and Trump supporters, sharpening their pitchforks and marrying their second cousins; when it happened. 
    "Our 45th president-elect everyone, Mr. Donald J. Trump."

All his supporters leaped in joy, whistling, "yee, doggy" and chewing tobacco. Hilary supporters sat in a circle, taking bong hits for Jesus in an overcrowded room full of puppies and liberals. 

 "The world is ending," they cried in disbelief.

   Even before Trump came into power, the riots were still present, these riots forshadowing his reign. Absolute chaos was ahead, heartbreak spreading. This free country would seem behind bars with Trump holding the keys to freedom.

  Meanwhile, in the white house, there sat Barrack Obama and Joe Biden scheming against the new president-elect.

  "Let's change the WiFi password to ILUVMEXICANS, he'll never guess it," Obama said slapping his knee.

"Now, now Barrack, be civil, let's hack his twitter and tweet about his tanning addiction," Biden interjects.

  "Yes, that's genius! What would I do without you, buddy?" Obama says ruffling Biden's hair. 

  After Kanye wests meltdown reporters were lining up for an inerview and one was lucky enough to.

"So you voted for Trump?" a reporter asks.

 "Yeah man, he has my full support. Now, I ain't no woman beater he knows how to keep them in line, hah pow, pow," Kanye said with extreme enthusiasm.

-meltdown video

"How do you explain this?" the reporter asks.

"Fuck, man get out of my face," Kanye exists.

Actions taken against the Latino community are absolutely heartbreaking. Trump has terorized the emotions of so many peaceful members of the United States.

"Sir, what are you doing right now?" a reporter asks.

"Estoy construyendo una pared para bloquear a los haters," he explained with sass.

Hilary shows up and pats him on the back in compassion.

"This is CNN reporting live and I ask you, rethink your vote, thank you and goodnight," the reporter ends.

"And I'd like to announce our 45th president of the united states....(reads card) Hilary Clinton," the host says.

*all is quiet 

Whispers: "It's the other one."

"I apologize for the mix-up. Congratulations, Donald J. Trump; our 45th president of the United states!" host corrects himself.

*Green screen flashes war scenes and pictures of Hitler

"I apologize again, we're having minor difficulties, on to this commercial break," said with nervous laughing.

* rainbows and American flag in background

"We the people x 24 times and this is my speech. Let's make America great again," Trump says giving a Hitler salute and winks. 

Oh debt... nah not for me but you can have it...

  Between forty-four million students who have borrowed to pay for college, we have accumulated nearly 1.3 trillion dollars in student loan debt. That's an average of $37,172 for four years, suggests studentloanhero.org. And this is not including extra costs when it comes to the type of college you attend and living expenses. The average tuition for a 4-year college being $18,000 a year. This is a hell of a lot more than a high school graduate with no financial support other than if they choose to add on the responsibility of a part-time minimum wage job. In a recent poll, over fifteen percent of parents cannot or will not contribute to their child's education, financially leaving over twenty-seven percent of students to cover most or all of the cost of college without proper means of income.

   All of high school, it has always been a major push to get excellent grades for the sake of college but never until the middle of this year did I realize the cost was so high and that my parent could not financially help me. This left me with a lot of choices for my future. During the course of the year, I had applied for over fifty widely different colleges with my intended major in mind, thinking my dad had saved up or started a fund for my college and that I would be able to work my way through the rest of the difference. But by November 30, the final day to turn in applications, I was given a huge wake-up call, I can not afford college on my own without taking out loans which my family is totally against (thanks to Dave Ramsey who I'm coming to the conclusion, my dad thinks is god. I despise this Ramsey guy tbh), so that would be out of the question. So college options were limited, it was between Grand canyon University, Yuba college, or no college.

   Grand Canyon University is a for-profit Christian college with a tuition lower than a state school and has excellent programs for the arts which are my intended major. I had the mindset that "hey, its an out of state school and my dad is not going to be able to help anyway, why stay here when my new "dream school" is calling me?" But the cost still being higher than I can afford even with a part time job, I had to decline this choice.

    My second choice honestly was no college because really I was focused on working towards my major but you don't actually start on your major until you get your associates so hoping for a name college would be pointless considering the cost and no college would just be fucking stupid in my opinion as of now. 

  So my final choice is Yuba College, by going here to get my associates I save around $50,000 compared to a well-known school I would have chosen to attend. Yuba college also offers a lot of the same classes that other colleges has as well but with little or no cost with the help of FAFSA and other financial aid services. This choice gives me time to save up for a state school where I can focus on my major. Economics is about the choices we make and how they affect us, in this situation I was able to make good choices with lasting effects that I would regret. 

Globalization is the gateway drug to poor people +++++

Having established globalization; our world is filled with its pro's and con's mostly concerning the lower and middle class. "Globalization is simply about the free movement of goods, capital, people, and ideas around the world and across borders", the article "What Globalization isn't" by Michael Tanner explains. My focus for this blog is how this effects the price of goods in the United States, human response, and job decline. 

The average income for those in poverty around the world was $1.90 per day, this was 37 percent of the world's population; a pretty big chunk. But due to globalization that percentage shrunk to 9.6 percent, the majority of these jobs not in the United States.

Globalization helped lower prices on many items in America because the manufacturer is and was foreign but do not get me wrong the consumer rates rose through the roof increasing by 29 percent. This was of course due to the now unemployed and not wealthy portion of America. Although the prices of goods may be more agreeable is it really worth all the jobs that were lost. According to Mattew Klein in his article, "How many US manufacturing jobs were lost to globalization," the total lost jobs was over 2 million; over 2 million well-paying "American jobs". These newly unemployed people now having to depend on welfare and pretty much redirect themselves completely, career wise. This ties into our 18 trillion dollar budget in which very little of it pays for those on welfare but still gives our well-earned money to those whom "can make it themselves" but don't fault them for they know not what the system has done. Globalization has created a cycle of unemployment, foreign manufacturers, cheaper goods, and lazier people.                

A friend of the family suffered the effects of globalization. He had devoted all his life savings to a trade school and learned a unique skill of programming and CGI; one that paid excellently, he even got to work on the hit movie Tron. Due to how well he and others with this specific skill were paid; the job was shipped overseas where profits would rise but these American jobs would be lost. So he is now (like many others in his situation) restarting by going back to school and forcing himself into something that is not so much his passion but a job that only America can provide.

Globalization is a blessing only because it helps bring our countries together; forming a good relationship and communication but tends to lead to trouble when it comes to the lower and middle-class people of America. The only profit made is with the wealthy making more by paying less for services by people who do not necessarily have the background. "Buy low, sell high", my grandpa always says and that's exactly what globalization does, making money at the cost of American jobs.