High School is Hell

Okay, so I think its pretty easy to see that the author of this article clearly had a terrible high school experience.  I understand that the things that happen in the show and relate to high school experiences actually do happen, however, they happen on very rare occurrences.  Yes, high school shootings do happen, and tragedies occur, but this article makes it sound like every teenager is going to come out of high school with no friends, a broken heart, and at least one school shooting or bomb threat at their school.  Thats not the case at all.  I understand that some people will have more friends than others and there are some awkward times in high school where you might not feel like you fit in with the crowd, but for the most part high school is a very laid back time in life where you can hang out with the people who are your friends whether its 1 or 100.  This is not to take away from the fact that the article was very well written.  Yes, the author drew sources perfectly and related them to the reader to get her point across.  I just think her point was extremely misguided and very sullen.  That article would scare the crap out of any junior high student who is slightly nervous about the unknowns of high school when they really have no reason to be scared.  All in all it was a very well written article, just a very misguided thesis.

Firefly Episode 8

This episode was interesting and boring at the same time if that makes any sense.  It starts off with the crew enjoying a nice meal and everyone getting along but then the ship malfunctions.  At this point the engine is no longer running and this poses a problem because the engine is what controls the life support system.  This means that no heat and no new oxygen is getting into the ship and the members of the crew will either suffocate or freeze to death within a few hours.  Once again, Mal rises to the occasion and seems to do what is best for everyone else besides himself.  He sends everyone else on the ship out in the shuttles to give them a few more hours of life all the while he waits for someone to answer the ships distress beacon.  A ship does indeed show up, however, they seem to be nice at first but that quickly changes.  Once Mal lets them onto the ship with the spare part for the engine, they decide to shoot Mal and take over the ship.  Mal is shot in the stomach but somehow pulls himself together and manages to get the crew of the other ship off of the Serenity by threatening to shoot them all.  Mal manages to fix the ship and save the day once again.  I did see some foreshadowing for the next episode or two, I am excited to see what comes of that and how the rest of the series plays out.  

Simon

For my blog post of the day I decided to write about Simon.  In class previously today, I linked the ideas of Simon being a brilliant doctor and also his protection of his sister.  I found it very courageous and sincere what he has done for his sister.  As we learn in later episodes, all Simon wanted to be growing up was a doctor.  He quickly became a high ranking doctor at one of the Alliance's top hospitals.  He was destined to become the chief of this hospital.  Then, however, he discovered that his parents were going to send his sister, River, off to the Academy.  Simon read what the academy was about and what they would be putting his sister through and he did not agree with his parents decision.  He then took it upon himself to break his sister out of the Academy and give up his amazing job as a high ranking doctor.  I posed these questions to myself.  How far can one person go to protect the ones they love?  For Simon it seems as though he will stop at nothing to protect River and keep her well being as his number one priority.  He was a devout member of the Alliance and saved many lives for them.  He gave it all up in an instant to protect his sister and do the right thing for someone he loves. Now they are destined to spend the rest of their lives as outlaws running away from the Alliance.

Firefly Episode 7

Today I watched the seventh episode of Firefly.  In this episode a lot of insight is given into the character Jayne.  The crew lands on a tiny moon planet where they have business to attend.  Jayne gives a little foreshadowing by saying that he isn't very liked on the planet and has had bad dealings with people on the planet in the past.  Upon arriving, however, things couldn't be more different.  He is a hero because the money he stole from the planet fell out of his ship as he was trying to escape and fell down to the poor.  A modern day "Robin Hood" if you will.  Many other story lines follow this main plot line.  The mechanic and Simon, the doctor, further their relationship by discovering that they are attracted to one another.  We also get a first glimpse of the dealings of a companion (prostitute.)  A companion is not made out to be nearly as bad as we would think of it as today.  It has a sensual side, however still not very morally correct by our standards.  Another little story line is River, the genius sister of the doctor, going through the bible of the shepherd's and picking out everything that is wrong with the bible.  She picks out many things that are known to be incorrect and can't physically be possible to have happened.  All in all it wasn't my favorite episode of "Firefly" but was good nonetheless.  I plan on watching episode 8 for tomorrow's assignment.

Firefly Episode 6

So today I watched episode six of firefly, my 3rd episode overall.  Every time I watch it I become more and more hooked.  Yes, the plot line is very strange and it looks like it is an old country western movie with bad special effects for the outer space aspects, but it still somehow hooks me.  I am not sure if it is just the humor or the chemistry between the crew of the firefly, or maybe it is the girl who plays the very attractive "companion."  Anyways, for some reason I really do enjoy the show and don't really see it as homework when I have to watch it.  For this episode though, Mal is tricked into getting married because he had a little too much mulled wine.  Been there done that right? However, his wife is not at all who she seems to be.  She appears to be a very shy girl who is willing to do anything and everything to please her husband because that is the way that she is raised.  Once again, she is not at all as she appeared.  She then drugs Mal when he kisses her with some narcotics she put on her lips and proceeds to take out half the crew and then send the firefly on course to be turned into scrap.  Once again though, we see strong morals and character from the crew of the Firefly, especially Mal, who has this beautiful girl throwing herself at him yet he won't take the bait because it is wrong of him when he didn't want to be married to her in the first place.  All in all this was a good episode and I'm looking forward to watching episode 7 tomorrow.

Firefly Episode 5

I just finished watching firefly episode 5 titled "safe."  I thought that this episode grew off of the 2nd episode and was much more entertaining.  This episode deals with many moral issues.  First, as I am sure you know, it deals with the illegal underground dealings of captain Mal and the rest of his crew.  Another issue the crew faces is when the doctor and his genius/psychic sister are kidnapped by men who lead them to a very small, religious, and slightly crazy community.  The community is terrified by the doctor's sister because of her apparent ability to read people and their minds.  They call her a witch and immediately try to burn her at the stake judging it as "god's will."  At this point, captain Mal returns to save the doctor because of his guilt at leaving them behind in the first place.  Which brings us to the last moral issue.  Captain Mal once again displays a strong character when he knowingly returns to save the doctor and his sister even though he knows that the two of them being off the ship is much more suitable to the crew.  The doctor's sister complicates many situations and the doctor seems very pompous and full of himself, however, Mal realizes what is right and acts on his judgement.

Another part of the episode is that the shepherd is shot in the chest and the only way to save his life is for Mal to return to an alliance station and get medical treatment for the shepherd.  Upon arriving there they realize that the shepherd is not who he really seems.  He seems to be an important alliance member rather than a preacher.  This is a bit of foreshadowing for the shepherd will still not reveal who he truly is.  I am anxious to see what happens within this plot line.

The Train Job

I didn't really know that I would be able to take the show seriously at first when hearing that it was cancelled halfway through the first season.  The fact that Steve the Pirate from "Dodgeball" is the pilot of the Firefly didn't do much to help the cause of the show.  However, after about 15 minutes in the show I my mind was quickly changed.  The show contains quite a bit of humor to it and without it would probably seem quite bland and boring.  Another thing that I enjoyed about the show is that even though the brown coats lost the war they still are portrayed as "The Good Guys" within the show.  They display strong morals by returning the stolen medicine back to the people who seem as though they would die without it.  I do feel that turning their back on the deal they had with the man with the terrible accent (can't remember his name) will come back to haunt them in the future.  Right now hulu.com has episodes 5-9 of this series that can be watched for free.  I plan on watching these as part of our next few assignments that we have coming up during this next week.  All in all I am anxious to see what does end up happening to the crew of the Firefly, especially the doctor's little sister.  I wasn't sure at all what was wrong with her exactly, maybe she will turn out to be some kind of genius though.

Introducing Myself

My name is Adam Bittinger.  I am from West Chester, Ohio and graduated from Lakota West High School.  I am a sophomore at Ohio State and my major is mechanical engineering along with  pre-med requisites.  My goal is to attend medical school either at Ohio State or at the University of Cincinnati.  

In general I am a shy person unless you really get to know me.  Once a person knows me and I am comfortable around someone I am extremely outgoing and can be borderline goofy at some points.  The thing that I value most about myself is my intelligence.  I try to be as rational and objective in any situation as possible.  A thing that people think is a good and bad thing about me is my competitiveness.  I am tremendously competitive.  This aspect about me has caused people to get upset because I have an unfortunate knack of not wanting to lose at anything. I have always loved all sports and have played multiple sports up through high school.  Although I can come off as somewhat mean during some type of competition I like to think of myself as a very nice and good-natured person. 

I value my family and friends above everything else in my life.  I would do anything for any one of them.  I have one sister who is a freshman at Miami University in Oxford Ohio.  The most important people in my life are my grandparents. Their love and trust are things that I value very much.  They have complete faith in me and are very proud of me.