American Gangster

One of my all time favorite movies is American Gangster. For those of you who don't know what the film is about ill give you a little background information. Denzel Washington plays a man by the name of Frank Lucas, who after his employer dies, establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. And this movie is based on a true story. If you haven't seen the film, i'd highly recommend it because its very gripping from the minute you put it on. This movie has many different justice issues in it. First is the issue of importing 100% pure heroin from the source in Bangkok by using military planes. This is a huge justice issue because during this time, drugs were running the city streets and Frank Lucas wanted to get ahead by importing the drug directly from the source and selling it for cheaper then the other heroin products on the street. He enlists the help of his cousin in the army to transport the herion using military planes so Frank can pick the drugs up once the plane landed. Obviously, this is a huge issue becuase it is extremely illegal not only to purchase and sell drugs, but to use the United States Military to do so. Another justice issue in the film is that Frank uses his brothers as the drug dealers on the street so he never has to get his hands dirty. This is not right becasue he calls up all his brothers from down south, and moves the whole family into a big mansion and in turn has his brothers and cousins sell his drugs at different locations throughout New York City and New Jersey. Frank'sfamily knows that he is the one providing their new fancy lifestyle for them and that they must comply if they want to keep up with the new clothes and fancy parties.  This movie is filled with Justice Issue. The other issue, is that not only the cops but the military are using drugs and in the end of the film when Frank Lucas finally gets caught, he works with the police to name over some hundred bad cops who have been buying his "blue magic" product and have been bad cops. And finally the last justice issue in the film is that in the beginning we see that these bad cops are the ones arresting the citizens for drugs, putting the drugs into evidence, and then taking the drugs out from evidence and using them for cash. This shows how corrupt our legal system was and how the majority of people, even the cops, were involved in drugs one way or another.

Colleen

Date Rape by Sublime

The song that I chose was Date Rape by Sublime

For those of you who arent familiar with the song, Its a really fast paced song that talks about how a guy got a girl drunk, and rapes her in his car, and then he gets thrown in jail. The song is actually very upbeat in rhythm but what it actually is about and says is not a topic that should be sung so lightly in my opinion because its such a serious issue. But the way this song is sung, kind of takes away the shock value of it being about rape and you kind of lose sight of what your singing about when youre listening to this song.

Here are the lyrics:

Let me tell you about a girl I know
Had a drink about a hour ago
Sitting in a corner by herself
In a bar in downtown Hell
She heard a noise and she looked through the door
And saw a man she'd never seen before
Light skin, light blue eyes
A double-chin and a plastic smile
Well, her heart raced as he walked through the door
And took an empty seat next to her at the bar
'My brand new car is parked right outside
How'd ya like to go for a ride?'
And she said, 'Wait a minute I have to think'
He said, 'That's fine, may I please buy you a drink'
One drink turned into 3 or 4
And they left and got into his car
And drove away someplace real far
Now babe the time has come
How'd ya like to have a little fun?
And she said
'If we could only please be on our way, I will not run'

That's when things got out of control
She didn't want to, he had his way
She said, 'Let's Go'
he said, 'No Way!'
'Come on babe it's your lucky day
Shut your mouth, were gonna do it my way
Come on baby don't be afraid
If it wasn't for date rape I'd never get laid'

He finished up and started the car
He turned around and drove back to the bar
He said 'Now baby don't be sad
In my opinion you weren't half-bad'
She picked up a rock
Threw it at the car
Hit him in the head
Now he's got a big scar
Come on party people won't you listen to me
Date rape stylee

The next day she went to her drawer
Look up her local attorney at law
Went to the phone and filed the police report
And then she took the guy's ass to court
Well, the day he stood in front of the judge he screamed
'She lies that little slut!'
The judge knew that he was full of shit
And he gave him 25 years
And now his heart is filled with tears

That night in jail it was getting late
He was butt-raped by a large inmate, and he screamed
But the guards paid no attention to his cries

That's when things got out of control
The moral of the date rape story
It does not pay to be drunk and horny
But that's the way it had to be
They locked him up and threw away the key
Well, I can't take pity on men of his kind
even though he now takes it in the behind
Date rape!

She didn't want to
She didn't want to
She didn't want to
She didn't want to take it!
Colleen

Reflection on Suicide

I thought the guest speaker's sucide presentation was very nicely done. She did a good job of introducing who she was and what she was tying to accomplish by giving the presentation. She seemed like she had really done some extensive research on the topic and had a lot of really mind blowing fact. I was really taken back when I read on her powerpoint that every 2 hours and 11 minutes a person commits suicide. That was extremely shocking to hear and really put the number of people commiting suicide into perspective. Also, I thought it was pretty interesting to hear that about 80 % of people have had suicide cross their mind at some point or another. I think that it was a relevant topic to give a presentation on because of the recent events that have occured with students commiting suicide because they feel that they are trapped and that taking their owns by suicide is their only option. I think it is important that all students, regardless if they are in college, highschool, middleschool, etc., should be educated and no what to do if someone they know is showing the signs of commitin suicide or they themselves are considering it. I think that the more people are educated about the subject, the more beneficial it will be in preventing people from using suicide as the way to deal with their problems. I know that I personally was effected by the presentation, having my friend commit suicide, and really took a lot away from her presentation and really learned alot. Suicide is not an issue that can be ignored and by taking the time out to educate yourself and others on the topic, I think we can really make an impact on creating a solution.

Colleen

Kids Costume makes him an Internet Sensation!

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/01/kids-texas-rangers-costume-makes-him-internet-sensation/?iref=allsearch

I thought this article was really cute and it was interesting to see how fast someone can become an internet sensation these days, even little kids. Seven year old Liam Roybal of Texas and his parents managed to make him a costume that made him look like a mini version of the Texas Ranger's manager Ron Washington. This costume wasn't originally what the seven year old planned on being for Halloween but the costume definitely worked out in his favor. He even managed to get a picture with the full-size Ron Washington before the Texas Rangers played their game last night!

Colleen

Skeletal remains found in a convicted murder's backyard

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/26/texas.body.in.barrel/index.html

I was on CNN.com and came across this bizarre article that really caught my attention. Apparently Harris County Sherrif's Office was tipped off by CrimeStoppers about there being skeletal remains in convicted murder's, Dennis Anderson, backyard. The 64 male was not home when the police went to search the property, but his roomate let the police in to check the backyard. They found an old rusted barrel in the mans backyard and when the pried it open, they found remains of an unidentified person. The police determined that the body was female and had been wrapped in bedsheets and trashbags and her legs had been tied together as well as her neck. Dennis Anderson was not home when the police searched his home, but has been missing ever since. According to forensics, the person had been dead for several months due to the decomposition. According to court documents, the tipster who led the Harris County police to the body said Anderson had told him he had strangled a person and placed the body in the barrel. The tipster also said Anderson had told him he takes the barrel with him when he moves from state to state. Anderson is now wanted for questioning by the police.

I thought this was a really sick article that a person would stash a body in a barrel and carry it with them from state to state and the police should be doing more to catch this guy who had been convicted for double murder in the past.

Colleen

Bill Curtis Movie

Reflect on that awesome DVD from 1998 that we watched in class. What do you think about some of the copycat examples given in the movie? Where do you stand on the copycat phenomenon and why?
I actually really liked watching the movie from 1998 about copycating, but it would have been interesting to see one that had been made recently and see examples of people still using copycating to get out of their crimes today. I mean the film did use a lot of examples that I never heard about, probably because i was seven when this film came out, so that was insightful for me to hear. I think that some of the examples in the movie were pretty messed up. Like the two boys who just killed that guy and girl on the beach and tried to flee to mexico. Like did they honestly think that it was going to work? And that boy who killed his mom (or maybe it was his step mom, I cant remember) to reenact a scene from Scream, that was just disturbing. But when it comes to the whole copycat phenomenon, I'm sort of torn. On one hand, I think that people who are in trouble sometimes use it as a cop out, like "oh scream made me kill my mom", but then on the other hand, after watching the film in class, I realized that people get pretty obsessed with the movies and watch them over and over again and get reality and fantasy mixed up in their heads and feel so inclined to murder other people. But I do agree with the movie producers, that they should not be blamed for the killings because as the one woman producer said in the film, they just make the movies, they dont put a gun or knife in anyones hand.

Colleen

Copy Cat

What did you copy and why? Where did the idea come from? Were others copying the same thing?
I remember last year, one of the biggest trends/ copycatting that went around my school was rockin the poof that Snooki made infamous on Jersey Shore. And of course, being from New Jersey, everyone seemed to have a poof in their hair, whether it be a little one or a huge one like Snooki had. It literally seemed like everywhere you turned in my highschool, all the girls had some form of a poof with either a hair clip or bobbypins. I will admit then when I used to have long hair in highschool, I used to copy the poof from Snooki from time to time, and no one really thought anything of it or that it was weird or anything becasue all the girls seemed to have it, especially one of my bestfriends Sarah. That girl always had one in her hair. But one thing I did notice is that the poof is more accepted in Jersey then it is in VA here at JMU. I honestly can't remember seeing anyone rocking the poof here at JMU and I think everyone would think it was weird here and not do it. But whatever, I used to rock it and so did my friends and I thank Snooki for that.

Colleen