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Showing posts from January, 2014

State Of The Union

On Tuesday,  President Obama gave the 2014 State Of The Union Address. The speech lasted 65 minutes, and had lots of standing ovations from the crowd full of Democrats and Republicans alike, alongside many special guests that Obama referred to by name, including a recovering solider. The speech was also met by eye rolling from John Boehner, although for most of the first half and for a little bit at the end, he also stood up.  There was also a funny moment when Joe Biden stood up and pointed to someone in the audience trying to act cool.  I think Obama's plan for 2014 is a good one, as he wants to work with Congress, but will use some power where he can, power he has full rights to use. It's going to be an interesting year in Washington. Of course, Republicans had their nitpicks. Marco Rubio, who gave the Republican Response last year and did the awkward bend for a glass of water, gave the address a thumbs down.  This year, the Republican Response was given by Cathy McMorris

A Movie You Should See Before You Die

Earlier this week, I watched the film Temple Grandin for the third time in my life.  The movie follows the real-life story of Dr. Temple Grandin's life up until when she became a speaker for Autisim. Grandin herself is autistic, and at the time the movie was set in, Autisim was still widely unknown. Most autistics went into an asylum. But Grandin found something to do to change the world, and that involved better treatment of cattle. She built a new dip for cattle that was originally quite negatively received by her fellow employees. She also published articles for a magazine. And she did all this while being scared to go through sliding glass doors, using a "squeeze machine" to calm her down, and failing college classes like French. The movie also flashbacks to Grandin's high school days, and this is where her Science teacher Dr. Carlock, is introduced. Carlock sees that Grandin thinks in pictures, and uses this to give her an advantage, leading her to create a p

Saturday Night Live and Diversity

In August, SNL hired six new cast members. Five were replacements for Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Tim Robinson, Jason Sudekis, and the soon to be gone Seth Meyers.  All five of these men were white, which sparked outrage for the cast's lack of diverse actors.  They also hired a white female, and although she is part Tunisian, people still weren't happy. Then came Kenan Thompson's comment about how black female comedians just weren't ready for the show.  Meanwhile, both Jay Pharoah and show creator Lorne Michaels acknowledged the issue. The issue even found itself as the issue of a cold open that featured Kerry Washington that aired in November.  In the sketch, Washington is forced to portray Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and BeyoncĂ©.  An onscreen text read by an announcer apologized to Washington, and said they would be working to resolve the issue. Also appearing was Rev. Al Sharpton, who introduced himself  and said "What have we learned from this sketch? As u

Heat Wave

Remember last week when I told you that school was cancelled due to the extreme cold? That's gone now, and we find ourselves experiencing the warmest temperatures we've seen in quite sometime.  It's lovely to see the temps finally go above zero degrees.  It feels like Spring because of this.  I hope it's around for a long time to come! Lately, I've found myself announcing starting line-ups for boys basketball games at my high school.  I did the girls team for the first time last night.  One thing I like to do differently though is announce both teams with the same amount of enthusiasm. Some people like it, and some hate it.  Either way though, I'm going to keep doing it the same way, as I'm sure the other team and their fans like to get hyped up rather than just being read off in a monotone. As for the story, I have made some progress this week.  I moved through Chapter 19 and into 20 while tying up the loose ends in 18.  I think Chapter 20 will be the l

All Minnesota Schools Have Been Cancelled.... YESSS!

So, the news came out this morning that Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has cancelled all the schools in the state for Monday due to the predicted cold temperatures.  Now, seeing as I go to a Minnesota school, I'm very excited for this extra snowday that just came out of nowhere!  I honestly found it quite ridicuolus that we came back for just two days starting the day after New Year's Day.  A few years ago, our winter breaks were two weeks or more.  Now they're just a week and half or less.  Sometimes, it feels like it isn't fair! Meanwhile, marjuana was legalized for recreational use in Colorado beginning Wednesday.  A total of 37 people died on Wednesday from overdoses.  Maybe things are getting a little bit out of hand?  Some people should honestly learn to take it in moderation, because overdoses are not cool in the least bit. As for the story.... I didn't make any progress over Winter Vacation due to several prior commitments.  But anyways, I have hit a roa