Zach- DMB

http://www.metrolyrics.com/funny-the-way-it-is-lyrics-dave-matthews-band.html

For this post, I would like to comment on one of my favorite songs produced by a fantastic band, The Dave Matthews Band. “Funny the way it is” is one of the hit songs on their album, “Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King”. The lyrics is basically a list of dichotomies that present opposing ideas in the world. This is more on a global scale than America, per say, however I think the idea behind it can tie into my paper. There is a different conception of how life truly is to different people. I think that Dave Matthews speaks on the unfairness in the world, “funny the way it is, somebody’s going hungry while someone else is eating out”; which is an example of an opposing unfairness in the world. I’m not sure how exactly the lyrics will tie into the paper but I thought that the music made sense and is was inspiring to my thoughts.

Zach- American Dream in Literature

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/111892/the_american_dream_in_literature_pg2.html?cat=38

This is an interesting article that is most important in listing several pieces of literature, particularly novels that will be used in my research paper regarding the American dream. This includes Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby, etc. It also influenced my idea of what this “dream” can be defined as. Although it only provided a little insight, it was powerful in stating the conclusion as a question… “What is the American Dream”. I think that, truly, it is nobody’s place to define it, but rather, to show what it means to them. This concept is opening up my mind to many more ideas that were not originally going to be included in my paper.

Zach- Match Point

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/match-point-trailer/91fee091cf3dba7f267291fee091cf3dba7f2672-764715008815?q=match+point&FROM=LKVR5&GT1=LKVR5&FORM=LKVR8

This is the trailer for the Woody Allen film, Match Point, made in 2005. It is a movie that shows a different perspective of the American Dream. Rather than working up the social ladder, the main character gets quite lucky and marries into the fame and fortune of a “Utopian-esque” lifestyle. Critics claim that it instills many ideas from Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy. This novel and movie provides a different perspective than The Pursuit of Happyness because it shows how a great and fortunate lifestyle could actually end up initiating negative consequences. Lust and luxury becomes overwhelming and quite devastating to the lives of the character’s portrayed in both sources.

Hannah - Mean Girls Trailer

The comedy Mean Girls (2004)

Zach- The Pursuit of Happyness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xcZTtlGweQ

Here is a trailer of the 2006 biographical film directed by Gabriele Muccino. Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is a salesman for a dying medical product that he invested his life in. The unfortunate events that follow are of his son and his life down a path that is quite devastating. Eventually homeless, Gardner must strive to become a different man in the busy and sometimes unforgiving country that we live. His son is who inspires him to become this man and initiates his strive for a better and more successful life.

This film adaptation of true events is key in discussing my thesis topic of the American Dream in the modern country. Here is a story, that takes place in the 80s, of a man who endured both the worst and the best consequences of American life. He witnesses the effects of a failing business in a capitalist, free-market society, eventually releases the ingredients for success in a particular area of interest, works hard, and moves up to a ranking occupation that improves his family’s quality of life. This whole idea will be a great base for providing information on this topic.

Matt - Fight club

Brief Summary : Fight Club is a 1999 American film adapted from the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher and stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job in American society. He forms a "fight club" with soap maker Tyler Durden, played by Pitt, and becomes embroiled in a relationship with him and a dissolute woman, Marla Singer, played by Bonham Carter

Source : Wikipedia

 http://articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/15/business/fi-22483

"No one in Hollywood doubts that 20th Century Fox's "Fight Club," starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, will have a strong opening this weekend--estimates range from $14 million to $17 million. But many believe the movie will face an uphill battle sustaining itself in the marketplace and appealing to people beyond its hard-core audience of 18-to-30-year-old males due to its graphically violent content."

Matt - American History X Clips

Brief Summary: The film tells the story of two brothers, Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) and Daniel "Danny" Vinyard (Edward Furlong) of Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California. Both are intelligent and charismatic students. Their father, a firefighter, is murdered by a black drug dealer while trying to extinguish a fire in a South Central neighborhood of Los Angeles, and Derek is drawn into the neo-Nazi movement. Derek brutally kills two black gang members whom he catches in the act of breaking into the truck left to him by his father, and is sentenced to three years in prison for voluntary manslaughter. The story shows how Danny is influenced by his older brother's actions and ideology and how Derek, now radically changed by his experience in incarceration, tries to prevent his brother from going down the same path as he did.

source: Wikipedia

http://dailyuw.com/1998/11/5/a0.americanx/

"Told from the perspective of the villain instead of the victim, it portrays the racist skinheads as more than just aimless, rage-filled punk, but rather as focused, deliberate punks. This is not to say that it's time skinheads got fair representation in the media, but it is interesting to see how easily these kids are made into racists. American History X allows us to understand them without actually sympathizing."

Robots-From imagination to reality

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Creating-Star-Wars-Inspired-Robots-149106.shtml
 The article basically outlines two types of robots that are under development today and based off of the similar 'bots found in the popular Star Wars films. The first bot being similar to that of the servant bot of C3P0 who interacts with humans and the objects around him. The second is a cable suspended bot that has the ability to scale cliff faces and is expected to be used in space exploration within our own solar system. The head of the project design, Dennis Hong, says that when he saw Star Wars for the first time he was amazed at the robots and that they captured his imagination. Now years later he is actually designing what has captivated his imagination since he was seven.

RL Iron Man

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=real-life-iron-man-exoskeleton

 Summed up this robotic suit is designed to enhance the users strength and in the case of amputees gain them back their missing limb. The suit draws similarities to the popular Marvel comic and film Iron Man. In which a famed weapons inventor named Tony Stark creates a robotic suit that aids him in fighting crime. Though this suit is years away form public usage it is a step in the right direction. Other companies of similar caliber are creating exoskeletons that also boost the strength of it user. 

Side note: The company developing the suit is name CYBERDYNE, the same name of the company the developed the fictional Skynet in the Terminator films.

Hannah - Media's Effect on Teenage Behavior (Blog)

http://ghroll.blogspot.com/2008/10/medias-effect-on-girls-body-image-and.html

Another link to a blog which cites research about how the media effects adolescent body image.