Initial opinions of Chris McCandless

My first initial though of Chris was that he is a lost soul who thinks taking this trip to Alaska will define him as a person and help solidify who he wants to be as a person. I think he is so determined to undermine his parents he would risk his own life to do so. I think also he has a very hard time cutting off completely. That's why he goes back and forth between not having a job and having a job. He also sways back and forth with his relationships with other people. One moment he will be talking about how great it is to be alone and the next moment he's hitch hiking across the country to see a person. His ultimate fear is commitment. Whether that be to money or to love or to being fully "into the wild."  I mean if he really wanted to go completely without depending on manly possessions he wouldn't have stayed in the bus. There have been other people who have completely reverted back to a primal state and if he truly wanted to cut loose from everything he would've done that. 

Quote # 4

"Everything will be okay in the end, if it's not okay, it's not the end."
John Lennon

John Lennon was a leader in the music industry and considered a visionary by many.  He changed music and pop culture forever and can be one of the most influential people in defining "rock music" as well.  This quote was something said in an interview with The Beatles about the statement John said, "We're bigger than Jesus."  Referring to their popularity.  It was a big issue in the U.S. because of the religious beliefs here.  This quote means that in time everything will work out.  There are times where things really start to take a turn for the worse and in those times its important for us to remember that everything will work itself out.  I again completely agree with this quote, and it has been a quote I try to live my life by.  I think that the context the quote was spoken in wasn't the best of circumstances but the message still remains good despite everything else.

Into the Wild differencesk

The movie definitely takes Alex's view point; explaining things through his point of view and agreeing with basically everything he says which would be very hard to do.  The things they have him saying in the movie are not objective, they are completely subjective hinging on Alex's view.  

The  movie does not follow the exact chronological order that the book follows.

The move also ad-libs some things as well, interpreting parts of Alex's journal to fit the plot of the movie

The belt that it shows him punching new holes in the bus was in fact given away before he headed off for Alaska

 

Mr Bean sympathetic

Poor Mr Bean, that bully pushed him out of the way and was mean to him for no good reason.  He did nothing to warrant that kind of treatment.  That bully even forced him to drink soap.  Mr Bean had every right to do what he did in retaliation to that mean bully.

Mr Bean angry

This clip has no particular plot.  It has no character development and no names for characters other than Mr Bean.  Mr Bean acts rather cleverly in response to being pushed away from the washing machine by the bully.  In the end though, he is still left drinking soap wearing a skirt.  Mr Bean seems to not be very intelligent if he ends up if he ends up that way. I mean what was he thinking taking the soap cup with him.  He should've just stood up for himself instead of trying to be sly.  

Favorite Movie Character

The Punisher is one of my favorite characters.  The reason for this is because he takes matters into his own hands.  He has a problem and deals with it in his own way.  He is bound by the genre of "shoot 'em up" movies mainly because if he was in a romantic comedy it would drastically change the genre.  He also could not exist in a real society, mainly because if he was killing all of those people in real life he would've been caught and arrested.  There have been people who try to live like him, "above the law", but they always end up caught and incarcerated.  You might be able to say that the character of, someone who has been wronged and rises up against adversity, is a universal character.  There are many other books, and movies who use this character as their protagonist but nobody does it quite like The Punisher.  He is very good at revenge, using torturing people, and killing them in interesting ways to avenge his family.  He is the main character of the story therefore without him there would be no story.  He and his family make up most of the cast so without them there would be no story.  

Favorite Movie

I personally look for a movie that does not follow a typical plot.  What I mean by this, if at the beginning of a movie two people magically fall in love and then they are "torn apart."  You can assume that movie will follow the plot progression of; they're torn apart, they continue to talk, talking stops, girl "finds" someone else  but secretly has feelings for the previous guy, previous guy comes out of nowhere and stops the wedding, then he gets the girls.  I can't really think of a favorite movie of mine.  I think maybe movie might be "Lion King."  Solely because it was the first movie I remember watching as a child.  Although it does follow one of the "standard" plots it helped shape my childhood and has a special place in my life.  Another movie that I enjoy is "Goodfellas."  This movie follows what is now considered to be a "standard" plot but, at the time is was very original.  I enjoy all of the actors performances and how vulgar, violent, and very antiestablishment it was.  All of the things you need for a great Mob movie were present in this movie.  Robert DeNiro plays his part magnificently, and Ray Liotta delivers a stunning and realistic performance as well.        

Compare and Contrast

Me and my sister are quite different, some of the qualities that make us different are that we cannot agree on most politics, as well as she is an outlandish dreamer while I try to keep myself grounded.  We also enjoy very different kinds of sports, I enjoy football because of how fast-paced it is while she enjoys baseball because of how slow and methodical it is.
We appear very different from the outside but are very much the same when it comes to core values, mainly because we were both raised differently than our have brother.  My sister and I were raised in a broken home with an abusive and drunk father.  This made it very necessary to lean on each other and look to each other for help; because of this we became very close and grew to possess the same core values of: family loyalty, constantly striving to do our best, and lastly love everyone to the best of your abilities and things will turn out okay.  These values are still near and dear to our hearts to this very day and we are still very close.
Though we share the same core values, our likes and dislikes are very different.  This is in part because of my father trying to force her to be a "tomboy"so, as soon as she got the chance to rebel and change her likes she did and they stuck.  When we were children she liked all the same things us boys did, she enjoyed going paintball, and enjoyed rock climbing.  Now she is obsessed with things like fashion week and the release date for the new Michael Kors winter line.  She is also very different in how she looks at life, because she was the youngest she was given lots of things throughout her childhood and quite spoiled.  All the while, I being the middle child, was given nothing and was forced to work for everything I had.  Because of this, she has taken the life view of waiting for things to be given to her instead of seeking out opportunity.  This has changed in the past year because of her starting college and not being able to afford everything with the allowance my parents give her.  She also is much more emotional than I am and handles stress very differently.  She takes more of the approach over reacting instead of looking at things objectively.  

Ron Franz

I think Ron Franz was portrayed as the father figure Christopher, in his mind, never had.  I think that John Krakauer wanted to show Christopher in a different light, that is why Franz is such a big part of this chapter.  Christopher made a huge impact on Franz; he completely changed his views on the world just in that relatively short time that McCandless spent with him.  I also think that Franz impacted Chris as well, Chris held onto that belt and “read” it often and very intently.  He looked to cherish it just as much as some of his favorite books, which were extremely important to Chris.  McCandless’ death impacted Franz as well; it says in the book that Chris’ death drove him to drinking again.  The last thing to do that was the death of Franz’s family.  That shows how important Chris was to him.  As well as Franz was one of the last people to receive letters from Chris.  Also, the fact that Chris repeatedly came back to see him was a sign of the intimate relationship he had with him.  I think Krakauer put this in his book to defend Chris’ image, showing him as an individual who was capable of loving another person but was just too troubled to do so. 

Joining a group # 5

When I was 17 I joined the Marine Corps.  I left my family and friends right after my last summer as a "civilian" and was shipped off to Marine Corps Recruiting Depot Sand Diego for bootcamp.  WhileI was there I was constantly thinking to myself "what did I get myself into?"  It was not an easy by any means but all I kept telling myself is that I signed up for this voluntarily and this was my choice and by golly I was gonna finish it.  The days dragged on and thing just kept getting harder and harder but my "light at the end of the tunnel" was slowly approaching and the only thing I could think about was graduation.  Once I graduated a whole new set of concerns flooded my mind, "Am I going to pass my specialty school?", "Am I going to measure up physically to my fellow Marines?"  It was exhausting, constantly thinking about what's going to happen next.  Finally when I went home my friends and family were so proud of my accomplishments, and so proud of what I had become, it made all my worries drift away.  They all told me when I came back how different I was.  How I was a changed man, how my values had changed, how my demeanor and thought process had changed, and even how different I looked.  All that happiness was short lived though, after I left home again this time for Marine Combat Training, the hazing and questions all came back.  I once again was left thinking to myself how hard this is, and how hard it is to do this alone.  The Marine Corps submerses you into a very diverse group of people, so to say the least it's a little hard to make good friends, you may have a lot of acquaintances but not many true friends.  Even if you do have "true friends" you can't show any weakness, that is the ultimate sin.  So you push on, gritting your teeth and rolling with the punches.  Things do get a little easier after your specialty school, or at least they settle down a little bit.  After your specialty school you get your Duty Assignment, which means you get stationed somewhere.  I was stationed in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  Once I arrived there it was harder initially but easier over time.  Mainly because you get used to things, what you have to do at work, where everything is located, how your boss wants you to act, things of that nature.  The thing that made it harder originally was you're once again at the bottom of the totem pole.  You are the grunt worker, the new guy, the peon, the guy who gets stuck doing all the jobs no one else wants to do.  Once you make it through the hazing period though, things drastically get easier.  You are no longer the whipping boy and graduate to just an average Marine. After you prove yourself at this point and work hard and get promoted you're placed in a position of authority and things get even easier.

commonplace community issues

Community: America

Issue: Rising debt

One of the major issues affecting our nation is the amount of rising debt that our nation is accruing.  The popular opinion on this is that the government needs to reduce spending by many different means and figure out a way to get our country back on track and out of debt.  The position taken by people in authority is one in agreement with the problem but people in authority cannot come to an agreement on the solution.  My position is more of a libertarian viewpoint and is one that entails reducing government spending by pulling out of the different wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as not starting a new war with Syria, mainly because war is expensive. Next I would then reduce our imports and increase our exports.  Doing this by increasing the amount of jobs in factories thus making our economies net worth grow.  Also by creating more jobs that creates a bigger opportunity for people to spend the money they’re making.  Yes there are definitely practices I reject as well as ones I advocate for.  For example, I advocate the libertarian view of “keeping things in house”, I do not support importing a ton of goods that can very well be made in America.  I reject that practice, the practice of importing goods that are made over seas because in doing that you are taking away from the American economy.  I agree with most republicans and all libertarians.  I disagree with almost all democrats, at least on this issue of the economy.  The people who disagree with me mainly just want to increase taxes to pay off the debt that America has accrued over the years. 

Issue 2: Distance between family members

There is a rising issue in my family that is almost all of my family has been split up.  As in, we all live in different places.  For example, my brother lives in Baltimore, my sister lives in Denton, I also live in Denton, my mother lives in Boise, and my father lives in Houston.  This is becoming an issue because it is causing my siblings and I to choose where we want to spend holidays.  Which is offending the parent who misses out on seeing the kids for that holiday.  I understand why it offends my parents but it is just impossible to make everyone happy in this situation.  I do not like hurting my parent’s feelings but it has to be done 9 times out of 10.  This issue is hard on the kids as well, it causes them to make a decision in which they wish everyone could be happy but that is not a possible outcome.  Of course both parents say “I’ll be okay if you don’t come” but that is a complete lie.  They would be devastated if they didn’t get to see their kids for holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas.  This is especially hard on me because I also have to consider my wife’s family as well.  They all live in the Los Angeles area and in the Kansas City area as well.  It is becoming a huge ordeal as to where I will end up when it comes time for the holidays to begin.  The hardest part about all this is to decide which stance I want to take, as in, do I want to fly to Boise, or to L.A., or do I want to drive to Kansas City, or drive to Houston.  There are so many options to choose from and it is hard to finally decide which would be the best decision for everyone.  Compromise is hard especially when you are working to compromise with family. That mostly being because family is most of the time unwavering. But, I normally side with my father on this issue because he thinks about it pretty much the same why I do.  That way being, visit whoever is going to be the most cost effective.  That being said, this year me and my wife are flying to Boise for a few days mostly because I have not seen my Mother since June and would enjoy seeing her in her new house. As well as while I’m up there I will be able to visit my grandmother and her husband.  So to me I am getting “more bang for my buck” if I go up there.       

Journey Commonplace #3

The journey I found myself on was when I was thrust into Afghani culture.  It was a very rude awakening and was not at all what I had expected.  When i arrived I was instantly confused by the language and gestures they were using to communicate.  The local language is Pashto but that is also regional, so if I were to travel north 100 miles they would speak a completely different language.  This made communicating very very difficult.   On top of that I was working with the Jordanian Armed Forces and they also spoke a different language than the locals, Arabic.  I had an interpreter but that was little help seeing as my interpreters first language was not English, so his accent was hard to understand.  Also being in that country their values and ways of doing things are very different from ours here in the United States, they value relationships more than anything, which cause them to move slowly when doing work or anything of that nature because they are spending most of their time socializing instead of working.  Also they do not have a very high value on physical appearance and cleanliness outside of their religious practices.  They will leave their house and go to the local bazaar without bathing for days, sometimes weeks.  That is in part because they are a very poor country and also water is scarce.  This changed me very much, especially when it comes to me valuing the little things I have and enjoy.  While I was in Afghanistan I was not able to have or use my cell phone, as well as I didn't have a television to watch.  Also showering was a precious commodity that I will never take lightly again.  Also their philosophy of treasuring and growing relationships I adopted and use in my everyday life, but only to a certain extent.  "A little goes a long way" I believe in this aspect.  Also their religious beliefs are very different from mine as well as different from most of the United States' beliefs.  They are all Muslims which if you do not know is very strict when it comes to what you can and can't eat, as well as non-Muslims touching religious things.  This was very hard for me to understand because being raised in a christian household I was taught to allow anyone to talk to me about religion as well as let any one touch and read my bible.  Also the food and drinks there are immensely different from our own.  There the drink of choice is tea, whether that be tea with sage or green tea, unlike here were is you go into someones house and they offer you a drink it is most of the time coffee.  Also they eat an immense of lamb.  They do not eat pork because of it being against their religion, much like the Jews.  All in all there are massive differences between the two cultures and at first I was very hesitant and sometimes afraid of submersing myself into it; but as I became more comfortable it became easier to thrive there in that place.  I learned a lot from them and hopefully they learned something from me.

Issues 1-3 first commonplace entry # 1

Issue 1: One issue that has been facing me in my apartment community is the defacing of my personal property.  I had a "Duck Dynasty" welcome mat that I had placed out in front of my door.  After a weekend in Fort Worth I returned home to discover someone had written" Fags" on it in permanent marker.  This is becoming more and more of a problem as other people have complained about similar things.  After discovering the welcome mat, I immediately went to the leasing office and expressed my unhappiness with the current situation.  My solution to this problem is to do a more thorough check of potential patrons.  This is an unacceptable thing that should not continue to happen.

Issue 2: I have noticed that my generation has a huge problem with a sense of entitlement.  I was raised in a household that preached "earn what you work for." The current generation has no idea of what that means, they continually take the stance of everyone owes them something.  This is made blatantly apparent when looking at some of my sisters friends who have yet to get a job and they are all around 19 years old.  I personally got a job at 16 and helped my mother pay the bills the household concurred. My solution to this problem is require work studies and things of that nature in high school so teenagers are required to get a job earlier in their lives which will promote a healthier understanding of how the real world works.

Issue 3: Another problem my generation has is complete disrespect for their elders.  I have personally seen kids around me and my sister's age tell their parents to "shut up" or "screw off".  If that was me my mother and father would have punished me accordingly.  I dumbfounds me that children and teenagers are talking to their parents that way.  Children need to realize what their parents have done for them and treat them with appropriate respect.  It is completely unacceptable for people to treat anyone that way.  My solution is for parents to be more strict on their children and teach them proper ways of acting instead of letting the television teach them how to act.    

Common place #2 (cultural change)

50 year: it has become taboo to smoke in public now a days. In the 60s everyone smoked and it was almost expected of everyone to partake in a cigarette, including pregnant women. Now people who smoke in public places are perceived as inconsiderate and even "disgusting". 

10 year: Muslims are now conceived as bad by most of the American populous. Ever since the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept 11th 2001 they are generally associated with "the enemy". Women wearing burkas and/or men wearing turbans are searched more thoroughly at airports and security checkpoints. 

5 year: my personal views on gay rights have changed drastically. I was raised in a traditional Irish Catholic family where it was almost taught that gays do not possess the same rights as a non-gay person. They are talked about as bad and taboo. My views have changed because of myself making friends with some homosexuals and realizing they are no different from myself.