Smoking kills

I saw an anti smoking ad the other day well I was driving around with my dad. I was unable to get a picture of it because we were on the highway. So when I got home I searched for it on Google. I could not find the exact ad, so I chose an ad that had good meaning. In the ad above the first nine words almost make it seem like the ad is encouraging smoking, but when you read the last four words the meaning of the ad completely changes. An ad that at first glance seemed to support peoples right to smoke quickly changes to an ad that is anti smoking. Anti smoking ads mean a lot to me because my grandfather is now suffering from emphysema and lung cancer. He was a life long smoker and even when the doctors said that if he did not stop smoking he would not live much longer he was unable to quit. My dad has been a life long smoker as well. He is just another example of how addictive smoking is. Even though he sees his father suffering from smoking he is unable to quit. Smoking can be extremely addictive and can be almost impossible to quit.

Reflection on Rant!

After reading a few online articles about the physical demands and physical nature of soccer I have not changed my view at all. I still believe that soccer is one of, if not the most physically demanding sport in the world. I also still believe that soccer is a physical sport, contrary to the belief of a lot of Americans. I really did not need to read any articles about these issues because I have had first hand experience, though the articles I read did reinforce my thinking. I read one article from ussoccer.com that was pretty interesting. It was about how coaches track each player’s movements on the field during a match. The coach tracks when a player is walking, running, running with the ball, and many other movements that the player could have during a match. Reading this article truly did reinforce my current belief that soccer is demanding. A soccer player must have great fitness or will be unable to play soccer the way it’s meant to be played.

Reading the articles did not affect where I was going to post my rant because I was always going to post it as a blog. I am not an avid user of twitter or Facebook or any others social media sites, so those are out of the question. I also have no idea how to make and post a video to YouTube, so that’s out of the question as well. So all I had left was to make a blog post.

This is the article about how the coaches track the movements of players.

http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014/03/17/12/28/the-physical-demands-of-soccer

Soccer IS Physically Demanding

Something that really bothers me are people that think soccer is a sport that is easy to play or anybody can play it, when really most could not. Soccer is a very physically demanding sport, players must have excellent fitness if they want to play at the highest level. Along with having excellent fitness they must also have great footwork and have some strength, because soccer is a physical sport. There is a lot of physical play in soccer, a lot of pushing and pulling. If you ever get the chance to watch a soccer match I would suggest you do, because seeing is believing, and if you watch a match I guarantee you will see how physical it really is. Especially watch when a corner kick or a free kick is being taken, that is where there is a lot of pushing and pulling. Something else that really bothers me is when people say soccer players dive to much, but the fact is when someone is running at full speed, like most soccer players would be doing, it only takes a little contact to knock them off of there stride or for them to fall over. All though this is true some players do dive, and when I am watching a match and I see a player dive it really gets me anger. I am a physical player myself, so watching a player dive when there is no contact really infuriates me. Diving is cheating but is sadly going to be part of the game until referees start calling dives and handing out yellow cards for them. Soccer is truly the world’s greatest sport and hopefully someday soon Americans will come to their senses and treat it as such.

Rant!

Something that bothers me are people that think soccer is a pussy, girly sport, when it really is not. I have played and watched soccer for most of my life. There is a lot of physical play in soccer, a lot of pushing and pulling. If you ever get the chance to watch a soccer match I would suggest you do, because seeing is believing and if you watch it I guarantee you will see how physical it really is. Especially watch when a corner kick or a free kick is being taken, thats where there is a lot of pushing and pulling. Something else that really bothers me is when people say soccer players dive to much, but the fact is when someone is running to full speed, like most soccer players would be doing, it only takes a little contact to knock them off of there stride or for them to fall over. All though this is true some player do truly dive and when I am watching a match and I see a player dive it really pisses me off. I am a physical player myself, so watching a player dive when there is no contact really, really infuriates me. Diving is sadly going to be part of the game until referees start calling dives and handing out yellow cards for them.

My Favorite Answers

            Q1. What did you learn from the movie?

There are many things that I learned from watching the documentary “Dark Days” directed by Marc Singer including a new understanding of how homeless people live and how their life is a constant struggle. But I think the most important thing that I learned from watching this film was to not take the life I was given for granted, because life could me much, much worse. This documentary really opened my eyes to an entirely different world, the world of the homeless. Honestly, before I watched this documentary I had never really thought about the battle that homeless people fight everyday, but after viewing this film I cannot stop thinking about it. It’s constantly on my mind. I learned how homeless people will rummage through garbage just to find a few dollars worth of what they would consider treasure, but the average American would consider trash (Dark Days). I also learned that some homeless people, such as the ones in this documentary, would rather live in a dark, disgusting tunnel than in a homeless shelter, where at least they would have a nice meal and a warm bed. This fact really made me think, and I came to the conclusion that some homeless people really want to be self-reliant and do not want to have to rely on others to help them. This shows that they are strong willed people.

Q2. What surprised you?

What surprised me about the documentary “Dark Days” was the fact that human beings, just like you and me, were living in conditions that I would consider not suitable for any human to live in. Something that surprised me even more was the fact that the people living in those conditions where not even trying to change the way they lived. They were complacent and really showed no desire to change the life that they were living. This was a huge surprise to me because from what I understand it is human nature to want to try and better your life and not just accept the hand that was dealt to you, especially when the hand dealt to you is a two and a seven. A two and a seven, for anybody that does not understand what I mean is the worst possible hand that can be dealt to someone in Texas Hold’em poker (Bochan).

Q3. What questions remain after the viewing?

After finishing “Dark Days” there are still a few lingering questions in my mind. These are questions that I would ask Marc Singer the director of “Dark Days”. Where did the idea to film how homeless people lived come from? Why did you decide to make the movie in black and white when you could have made it in color? How many people lived in the tunnel, was it only the people shown in the documentary or were there others? Did you film everything that happened in the tunnel or did you leave certain things out? Did you actually live in the tunnel along side of the homeless, to get the entire experience or did you stay in some big, fancy hotel? The last question that I would ask Marc is would he ever consider filming another documentary like “Dark Days”?

These are questions that I would ask the homeless people if I had a chance to speak with some of them. How did you feel when some guy came down into the tunnel and asked if it was all right to film how you lived?  At first did you want to be filmed of did you what to be left alone to live your life? Was there any time during the filming process that you wanted Marc Singer to stop filming and leave you alone? If so, when? How did you feel when the news came in that you were going to be evicted from the tunnel? The last question I would ask them is if they had the chance to go back in time and change one thing in there life’s what would that one thing be?

Q6. Was there a specific scene or segment that stayed with you and caused you to be curious? delighted? angry? motivated?

Yes, there actually was one particular scene in the film that has stuck with me and that scene is when Marc Singer is filming Julio and Lee. In the scene Julio is the only one talking, but he cannot finish any of his sentences. Lee is sitting next to him and is just laughing at him has he tells Marc about his pet cats. I suspect that they were both high and both of their minds were shot from abusing drugs. This scene stuck with me because all I could think about was how I felt sorry for those two men. It almost even made me feel angry because I knew that these guys had ruined their entire lives and there was nothing that I could have done to prevent it.

Works Cited

Bochan, Toby. “Top 10 Worst Starting Hands in Texas Hold’em”. About. n.p, n.d. Web. 28 January 2015.

Dark Days. Dir. Marc Singer. Picture Farm, 2000. Film.