Finale

My favorite topics of the class were most definitely the ones about satanic cults, serial killers, and drugs in the media. I found it interesting that the media could play such a large role in these issues. Many times, these issues weren't even that serious, but the media blew them way out of proportion, like the satanic cults. It was interesting to see how the media can shape our opinions about some of these issues, and even take the focus off of the real issues at hand. For example, in the readings about school shootings, much of the blame was put on goth groups and music while it was simply the fact that these children did not feel as though they fit it. My least favorite topics were probably about blood diamonds and terrorism. Honestly, I don't care about diamonds. I know that sounds shocking, but I am not a diamond kinda girl. I understand that it is a serious issue, but it is not an area that I am passionate about. However, I did enjoy the use of the movie Blood Diamond to demonstrate how media can misrepresent an issue. Also, terrorism was not my favorite subject simply because it is covered in so many of my other classes. Overall, I really enjoyed the content and structure of this class. The only thing that I would do differently would be to incorporate more media into the class (videos, clips, music, etc.) but that is only because I am ADD lol.

Good Will Hunting

I chose this movie because it is definitely my all time favorite film. Will Hunting is a troubled foster kid who has racked up several charges from theft and robbery to assault. The last straw comes when he assaults a police officer in the middle of fight on a basketball court. While he waits for his court date, he ends up solving a nearly impossible math problem at MIT, where he works as a janitor. When the professor finds out that he is the one who solved it, he works a deal with the judge who allows Will to be released under the supervision of this professor and under the condition that he goes to counseling. His counselor (Robin Williams) shows him everything he can be, and how to follow his dreams. He falls in love, and eventually leaves the countless job offers to go be with this woman.

This film is so interesting because it shows some more of the emotional and psychological issues behind crime. Because Will Hunting was given a chance to explore the reasons behind his criminal behavior, his life was changed. Criminals aren't always just "bad people." Many times they are just troubled people who need a helping hand. Also, I chose this film because it does show some of the issues involved in the foster care system in our country. Overall, this is a fantastic movie!

Songs

He was on his way home from candletop
Been two weeks gone and he thought he'd stop
At webs and have him a drink for he went home to her
Andy wo-lo said hello
He said hi what's a doing
Wo said sit down I got some bad news that's gonna hurt
Said Im your best friend and you know that's right
But your young bride aint home tonight
Since you been gone she's been seeing that amos boy seth
He got mad and he saw red
Andy said boy don't you lose your head
Cause to tell you the truth Ive been with her myself

Chorus:
That's the night the lights went out in georgia
That's the night that they hung an innocent man
Don't trust your soul to no back woods southern lawyer
Cause the judge in the towns got bloodstains on his hand

Andy got scared and left the bar
Walking on home cause he didn't live far you see
Andy didn't have many friends and he just lost him one
Brother thought his wife mustve left town
So he went home and finally found the only thing
Daddy had left him and that was a gun
He went off to andys house
Slipping through the back woods quiet as a mouse
Came upon some tracks too small for andy to make
He looked through the screen at the back porch door
He saw andy lying on the floor
In a puddle of blood and he started to shake

The georgia patrol was making their rounds
So he fired a shot just to flag em down
And a big bellied sheriff grabbed his gun and said
Whyd you do it?

The judge said guilty in a make believe trial
Slapped the sherrif on the back with a smile and said
Suppers waiting at home and I got to get to it

Chorus

They hung my brother before I could say
The tracks he saw while on his way
To andys house and back that night were mine
And his cheatin wife had never left town
And that's one body thatll be found
You see little sister don't miss when she aims her gun

Repeat chorus twice

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/r/reba+mcentire/#share

I chose this country throwback song because I remember hearing it for the first time and loving it as a child. However, I admit that I had to listen to it a couple of times to realize exactly what was going on. Basically, this man comes home from a vacation and finds out from his best friend that his wife has been cheating on him with not only another man, but his best friend himself. Angry, the man leaves to go get his gun to confront his best friend who also left for home. However, when the man arrives at his best friends house he sees tracks and finds his best friend dead. Turns out, his little sister not only killed his best friend, but his cheating wife. The man fires a shot to get the attention of the sheriff who assumes he was guilty of the crime, arrests him, and takes him to a corrupt judge who sentences him to be hanged that same night. The little sister is never convicted and successfully hid the body of the cheating wife.

This song covers a variety of justice issues. Murder is the obvious one, but the issue of police corruption comes into play as well. Also, the judge can be considered as corrupt for giving him an unjust trial and sentencing the man to be hanged without viewing all the evidence.

Deadly Halloween

This blog is about a news article I found about a newlywed woman being shot by her husband after attending a Halloween party. The couple were married on October 10 and not even a month after the wedding, the wife was dead. Police said they found the husband walking naked in a nearby park, and when asked what he was doing, said that his wife had just been shot multiple times. The police then took him in for further questioning, where they then decided to identify him as the main suspect. What an intense Halloween.

Forensic Files

For this free blog I have decided to choose another one of my favorite crime shows, forensic files. Not only  is this show fascinating to me, but the narrator's voice tends to creep me out which adds a whole new element of excitement for me. Anyway, the show is a real life, non-fiction show in which forensic science and technologies are used to solve crimes. Usually, the show starts out giving the background story of the people involved. You know, life story, relationship status, etc. One of my favorite episodes involved a woman who had been cheating on her husband. One day she was at choir practice at church, and while getting ready to leave the church, she was gunned down in the parking lot. Her husband then became the prime suspect because investigators realized that he had just recently found out about her cheating on him.

here is a link to this episode. 

http://www.forensicfiles.com/episodes.php?id=119#EPISODE_INTROS

Oh the Horror!

So, I must say that I did find this video quite interesting. However, I found that many of these people are just ridiculous! The one that shocked me the most was about the couple who killed those people to get money. That is terrifying! Now I am going to be so concerned about who I decide to date. Good thing I don't have a lot of money though lol. Anyway, I just think that it is shocking that these two people got away with these murders for as long as they did. And the fact that they went through that much money that quickly was ridiculous. Secondly, the boy who killed his mother because of the Scream movies was scary. I, personally, have never seen a movie and then decided that killing a person in that manner would be awesome. This, again, makes me nervous about what I let my kids see. I'm not sure if there should be regulations on movies, or even if the creators of these movies should be held responsible because in the end these people are capable of making their own decisions. These are just a few cases in which people saw something and took it to the extreme by trying to copy it. That does not mean that the rest of society should suffer by having these movies removed, or not allowing movies like this to be made in the future. I, like many other people I am sure, enjoy a good horror movie every now and then, but that doesn't mean we will go out and copy the events that occurred in these films.

Belle

So it took me a while to think of something, and honestly I could not think of anything recently that applied to this. So, I called up my grandma and asked her about this question and found a rather embarrassing answer. Apparently, when I was young, about 3, I thought I was Belle from Beauty and The Beast. I watched the movie constantly, had a Belle doll, and even tried dressing like her. People would come up to me and ask me what my name was, and I would answer Belle. My grandma apparently was quite concerned about this haha. I, personally, have no recollection of this at all, however, Beauty and the Beast is still one of my favorite movies of all time.