The Great Gatsby

Any fan or Fitzgerald, enthusiast of the roaring 20s, or high school student taking junior year English has read The Great Gatsby. Those of us lucky enough to be introduced to it in a school setting have probably spent a few humid class days slumped over our desk watching the terrible film translation done in 1974. There isn’t much to be said about the poor casting, lackluster acting and generally unfortunate production, except that it captures none of what Fitzgerald hoped to bring to us through his masterpiece.  The disappointment with the first movie definitely has a role to play in all the anticipation surrounding the version that is to be released in just a few weeks. With such names as Leonardo DiCaprio, Isla Fisher and Tobey Maguire the bar is set high. The first trailer gave us a taste of decadence Fitzgerald himself would likely approve of, however the modern take opens it up to an audience of its own. The use of a sample from No Church in the Wild, especially when it was at its peak of popularity, multiplied the anticipation and exemplified exactly what the book made us feel. Subsequent trailers featured Amy Winehouse covered by Beyonce, a combination as dreamlike as the scene where Gatsby is throwing his fine clothing over the banister down to Daisy. The soundtrack for the movie features the likes of Andre 3000 to Lana Del Ray showing just how diverse the fan base is expected to be. Each new poster set is more stunning than the last, featuring gold, silver, black as the main backdrops. The same electricity oozes from the posters and trailers that we felt as the story was unfolded at our fingertips. The Great Gatsby (2013) is sure to be the blockbuster of the year. We can only hope our anticipation and excitement does not result in the same disappointment Gatsby faces at his end.

Great Gatsby IMDB

What is wrong with our food?

There are many important issues in the country that affect and concern me, but one that is most important to me is the treatment of animals living on large farms run by national food processing corporations. In order to satisfy American appetites for vast quantities of chicken, beef, and pork, large food corporations disregard the safety of the animals and resort to morally unjust ways to produce food quickly. In order to produce a larger amount of chicken breast meat, which is the part of the chicken most desirable by consumers, companies inject baby chicks with hormones as soon as they are born so they can grow larger and fatter, with enlarged breasts. Cattle are fed manure, corn, and dead animals rather than grass as they are denied a healthy, natural diet. Pigs are compressed together in a giant machine in order to expedite their slaughter. For the majority of their lives, these farm animals never see the light of day, as they are kept in enclosed filthy huts. These animals suffer during slaughtering where they are crushed together until they are suffocated. It is essential to kill these animals in order to make meat, but it is unfair to inject them with hormones, and slaughter them in such unimaginable and atrocious manners.  What can Americans do about this problem? Americans who care about what they eat should eat organic food, especially organic meat. This means that the cow was fed natural grown grass instead of mass produced corn, and the chickens are free range and aren't injected with hormones or any medicine. Organic food is more expensive because local organic farms are hard to come by so it costs more to upkeep. However it is better for you and you will rest easy knowing the animal you are eating was treated badly dying to become your next meal. 

Food Inc Documentary

How Nike Came to Be

Nike is today’s leading brand in sports apparel, footwear, and equipment. It has a rich history, success stories, but also a lot of problems and challenges that need to be solved in the near future. Nike was founded in Washington County, Oregon by a track coach Bill Bowerman and his student Philip Knight in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports. They originally started the company to be a distributor for ASICS (a very well know Japanese shoe company), so they can sell their Onitsuka Tiger running shoes. Because both Bowerman and Knight were involved in running and were very interested in the sport they enjoyed selling these shoes but they always had a motive to make their own line of running shoes. In 1966 Blue Ribbon Sports opened their first store in Santa Monica, California selling ASICS shoes. In 5 years the relationship between the two companies was dying down and the distribution contract ended. On January 22^nd, 1974, the world famous Swoosh was registered as the company’s trademark and the company was creating its own set of footwear and clothes. They hired an advertising company to do their marketing and started gaining market share little by little. In 1978 the company was officially changed to “Nike Incorporated” or “Nike” for short and two years later in December 1980 Nike went public on the NYSE owning about half of the sports footwear market in the USA. Nike got its name from the Greek goddess Nike that represented victory. Now it is one of the world's most recognizable companies. 

Nike's Official Site

12 Angry Men Movie Review

            In the movie 12 Angry Men, the 12 jurors took a long time deciding the case of murder but at the end of the film justice was indeed served. The case was about the stabbing of a man and the suspected killer was his son who is referred to as “the boy” throughout the film. In the beginning of the movie 11 jurors were surely convinced that because the son was present during the killing and because the son and father had a fight hours before the murder that without a doubt he was the killer. With the odds against him, one brave juror chose to vote not guilty for the boy and after a great effort of convincing 11 jurors to completely change their mindset and change their vote, justice was served. This was very hard task to accomplish on the lone juror's behalf but he was convincing with outstanding evidence. Everyone wanted to get out of the juror's room and declare this boy to be guilty so he can be sentenced to die but one juror decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and it happened that the book wasn't the killer. This movie is so interesting but its a classic movie from 1957 and it embodies how one smart man can persuade everyone around him to completely change their mind. This a must watch movie. 

Square is changing the way we pay

Square is a physical reader for an iPhone, or an iPad that scans credit cards, and accepts mobile payments. The program has a built in app in it and it transfers money from the phone or tablet to the person's bank account. Square takes a 2.75% off each purchase that the merchant makes with his square reader. This is revolutionary for how we pay for things because now we can use credit cards to buy anything. Merchants on the street don't only have to accept cash they can accept cards and transfer money directly to their accounts in 2-3 businesses days with no hassle. I seen a lot of merchants starting to use this reader in the Union Square Farmers market and customers seem very happy with it. The process is painless and fast. The merchant swipes their credit or debit card, the customers signs with their finger on the touchscreen, a receipt is emailed or texted to the customer and thats it. It's that easy. Square gives anyone a reader for free and the way they make their money is on the 2.75% of the amount of each purchase, so the more the customer uses their product the more money they make. This is a great idea and it will change the way we pay for goods.

Square's Official Website

Instagram

Instagram is changing how we share photos around the world. Instagram is an app on iPhones and Android devices that lets you put the photos you took under an array of filters and share them with the friends that follow you. Instagram allows you to geotag the location so that the user can see all the photos that were taken in that location as well. I enjoy instagram because I have a lot of friends that follow me that can see all the photos I post, like and comment on them. Instagram also has a tags feature where you can hashtag tags and that tag will link back to all the photos that have that tag on them. Instagram is an amazing device for sharing memories and photos from all around the world. Every since it has been bought by Facebook for 1 Billion dollars in 2012 it exploded in popularity. As of February 2013 it has 100 million users that use it every month after just a little over 2 years on the market i. Instagram is a great social media site. I enjoy it because up until recently it was only phones. There was no distraction of using Instagram on the computer and on the phone because it was just on the phone and it was all mobile. It was unlike Facebook which is on mobile and on desktop browsers.

Instagram reaches 1 million users 

Child's Development

I recently read about moral development in children online and it interested me. Moral Development starts at an early age, however moral development plays a big part of social development in children from ages 6-8.  If parents decide to enroll their children into school at age 6, these children will probably make better moral decisions than children that do not go to school. This is because in school children learn what is wrong and what is right and learn from their teachers and other children. Moral reasoning also relies on cultural values, where children may learn from their culture or religion what must be done in a certain situation, in terms of moral reasoning.  Lawrence Kohlberg believed that some children at this age might still be in the pre conventional stage where they don’t do what is morally right in a situation but do what will benefit them. Lastly, it is believed that moral development in children is mainly affected by how their parents discipline them. For example if parents use power assertion and threaten or use physical force on their children, the child might obey and do what is morally right but only when their parents are present, otherwise the child feels resentful. If the parent uses induction, which is talking to child, and explaining things without using force, the child might do what is morally right in the next situation and not only when their parent are present. Overall moral development is a big part of a child’s development and shapes how they will be in the future.

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development