"The Lovely Bones"movie and thinking outside the box

Tonight a friend and I went to see the movie, "The Lovely Bones," in which I highly recommend. As there may be spoilers to follow, I would recommend not continuing to read on unless you've either seen it or don't mind spoilers. After watching the movie, I realize just how much you really can't know one person. You might think that you can trust everyone, and they seem harmless, but how are we really to know, unless we've actually known them for a long time, the true them, not what they want us to think of them as. In the movie, this neighbor murders Susie (rape is also insinuated) because by half-way through the movie you find that Susie isn't the only girl he's done this too. He did it to his landlord, 14 year olds, 13 year olds and a 6 year old, and everyone just thinks he's this harmless neighbor because no one suspects him. It makes you realize that these kind of people are everywhere, in fact there could be some living just next door to you that does these things and you just don't know it. So it makes me question just how trusting we can be, especially at a young and vulnerable age as Susie was.

As children we are taught don't talk to strangers, but sometimes the worse threat is those you know. In my Social Problems class, we discussed an article about Halloween Sadism in which a long time ago people were afraid that their children's candy was being poisoned when they went out tricker-treating, especially when two deaths were reported, but what most of those reports left out was that those deaths were the cause of family members, but we still don't want our kids talking to strangers. It seems these days that it's hard to trust anyone. I know, it's just a movie, and yes, it's based off a book, however, these kinds of things still happen, and there's no stopping it, because there are sickos out there. I'll never be able to understand how someone can do something like this especially to kids. I suppose, this is an pessimistic look, but we should really be aware of our surroundings, which include people you know. If we can't trust our family and close friends, then who can we trust?

PS On a different note, you should go check out "Dear John" it's one of the most amazing movies I've seen in a long time.

To learn in class, or not to learn, that is the question...

As I sit in class actually wanting to learn something, I realize, I'm not actually learning anything, and what I do learn, is stuff I learned in grade school. Keep in mind, I'm 25 and grade school was a long time ago for me. I have two classes that this is the case for. One of these classes, however, is called 'Earth Through Time,' in which all of the notes that we've done so far. I had with the same teacher two summers ago in a class called 'Earth in Action.' Sometimes, I wonder if teachers, at least college teachers, even try any more? Seriously, what's the point in going to a class where you're learning the same stuff you learned two years ago with the same teacher, but a different class? Or learning stuff that you learned in the fifth grade? Not only is it a waste of my time, but it's a waste of my money to pay for a class, that I know most of the information for already. Furthermore, both of these classes, the only grades that count as part of you grade are the exams. However, although these classes seem quite pointless, some people just aren't good test-takers, like me. So basing your grades only on tests is unfair to those people, unless the test is easy that a first grader could do it, but still it's not an accurate calculation on how well you know the material without homework to show more of your understanding of the material being presented.

My other class, 'Geology of the US,' I have actually learned more from going through my textbook than I actually learn in lecture. This class is so pointless, that on a typical day 30-40 people out of 120 actually show up to lecture. Most of us, are either do the Soduku in our college paper or on facebook, etc. not actually paying attention. Furthermore, he doesn't even follow the syllabus either. Our test this coming week is over chapters 1-3 and only chapter 2 in on the syllabus for next week's test, and 95% of the stuff that's in these chapters we have yet to cover in class, and classes started almost a month ago. So, I'm dreading the upcoming test. On that note, I'm going to start going through my text book and pulling out important info, along with my other classes to get on top of things.

DFTBA!