The Aviator

This movie is referred to the Industrial Age. I think it is based too much on true story that is why it’s kinda boring. I remember watching it twice and still didn’t get nothing much from both times. The story is good but somehow is confusing too. It discusses about the crazy life of Hugh Howard (Leonardo Dicaprio), an extraordinary guy who built up the entire aviation industry as well as the commercial airlines competing with Juan Trippe, another guy who owned another commercial airline, Southwest, I guess. (Take English for Airlines class and you would know lol) Howard is a little bit crazy I would say. He just keeps on repeating himself over and over again so many times when he says something. This is a secret his personal manager trying to keep away from the media because it would ruin his reputation. Hugh is a rich and very determined person. When he wants to get something, he needs to get something no matter how hard he has to try. His flying skill is also marvelous. When testing the new model his company his producing, he asks to go flying it by himself, even though he almost gets killed in the end.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

A. Cecil, I understand if you wouldn’t count this one as a potential blog but I still feel like writing it so the readers could have some more ideas about American Indian tribes in the past we studied before midterm. I deeply fall in love with this movie and I dare to bet that those who get to watch it would love it as well.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron talks about the lives of the West in the past, both of men and horses through the eyes of a stallion named Spirit. It was a period where there was only a few of British settled in. The Whole wide west was still belonged to the wild horses and other wild animals. Spirit is narrated by my favorite Hollywood star Matt Damon. In the film, you can see uncountable breathtaking scenes (since it’s an animation they can make it whatever they want). Even though there are not many conversing parts in the movie since the main character is a horse, but it is not boring I am telling you. I can guarantee that the movie shows you about almost everything A. Cecil taught in class, for instances, the Indians (Kiowa I think), tee-pees, the interstate railroad construction, and how peacefully Indians’ lives were before the American came. (you can even see the Grand Canyon as well) Oh my gosh, I can’t seriously put all these into words. Nobody can. You just need to watch the movie yourself. The other thing you can fall in love with is the musics, (it's "wicked!"), which is sung and composed by Brian Adams who did an incredible job performing it. Whoever has this film's soundtrack, lend it to me. I've been lookin for it for years but i still cant find it no where. (It's that great... trust me for once!)

King Kong

Only the introduction part of this movie that is related to the period of Great Depression. The rests are just all about poor King Kong! Between the first 10 – 20 minutes, the movie displays how American, particularly in New York, lived during the Great Depression. People were homeless and jobless. Hunger is wandering along with the people. The poor even need to look for food in the trash can and whatever they see they think they can eat, they will eat ‘em just for the sake of survival. There was also a scene where you could also see people queuing in line waiting for a small portion of free food just like the picture A. Cecil showed us in class. People wearing the same kind of dress having the same, unfortunate facial expression. The movie also focuses on the leading character Anne Darrow (Naomi Watts) about how sad and suffering she is when her whole acting team is sacked and that she needs to look for a new job alone coz her uncle is planning to leave to Chicago.

Anyways… now enough with the story. let’s come listen to what I wanna say which is way more interesting… hopefully! LOL Personally I like this movie very much and I’ve seen it for like 5 times already! (2 in theaters and 3 on dvd… ahh I know you don’t care but just read! LOL) The most impressive part is the construction of modern tall buildings as well as the part where Kong fights with T-Rex. Whoo hoo! They rock! Peter Jackson the director is incredibly unbelievable!

And the Children Shall Lead

Initially I didn’t think I would personally like this movie very much, seriously. First from its name and later when I found out that it’s a really old movie. But my mind is changed after watching it for a while. So is yours if you watch it I can guarantee. Anyways... let’s get down to business. This one-hour, civil-rights movie talks about the lives of black and white people in the past, about the legal right for the black to vote and have the equal right as the white, through the story of one family and their neighborhoods. Since there’s nothing much in the movie, besides the kids playing and fighting (as well as adults) I’m just gonna skip talking about the real story or what happened in the movie and talk about its main theme instead. Somehow the white believed that as being white, having white skin color, they were superior to the black. Believe it or not, in the old days, the black were not allowed to use the white’s public toilet and there was the sign said “COLORED” posted in front!! Also, they were not allowed to drink from the white’s faucet and I could see the sign read “WHITES ONLY”!!! If the black violated the law, they could and would be thrown in jail. People were (or perhaps still are) so racists. They made such a big deal out of different skin colors.

For those who have time, you may go search for this nice, meaningful song by Sarah Connor to enjoy. It was the first and the only song that popped up in my mind after finishing the movie. It’s one of my favorites. Here’s the lyric…

Sarah Connor

Love is Color-Blind

It don't matter if you're black
white or yellow, if you're brown or red
let's get down to that

love is color-blind

Verse 1:

I remember when

I was a child and couldn't understand

people having fun

discriminating all the different ones

mama just used to say

when you grow up you'll maybe find a way

to make these people see

that everything I do comes back to me

Bridge:

You gotta live your live

we're all the same, no one's to blame

they gotta live their lives

just play the game and let love reign

Chorus:

It don't matter if you're black

white or yellow, if your brown or red

let's get down to that

love is color-blind

you're my brother, you're my friend

all that matters in the very end

is to understand

love is color-blind

TQ:

I remember as a young boy

I watched my neighborhood go up in flames

I saw the whole thang thru tears of pain

and a situation's rackin' my brain

I wish I could fly away and never come back again

we need some love y'all

we need some real deal help from above y'all

I mean the kids watchin'

and I just can't see it stoppin', I don't understand

I mean we all bleed the same blood, man!

Bridge:

You gotta live your life

better than our fathers did

let's make some love, baby, have some kids

they gotta live their lives

and I don't care what color they are, or u are, or we are

it's all love, baby!

C-Part:

You could have been my mother

you could have been my brother

what if you were my sister

if you were my father?

you could have been my fella

you could have been my teacher

what if you were my friend?

would be so nice to meet ya

Verse 2:

take it out to the world

tell every boy and every little girl

be proud of yourself

cause you're as good as anybody else

put away your prejudice

open your mind, don't need a stick to this

try to make this earth

a better place without a racial curse

TQ:

Yeah, it's time for some changes

[Chorus]

Pearl Harbor

You all have probably seen this Hollywood movie before, or at least you probably have heard what it is all about I hope. It simply shows the tragic situation when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and later the American got them back worse. The movie is also combined with the triangle love story between three major people; two good friends Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker (Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett) and a girl Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale).

Rafe and Danny grew up together and learned to fly in the dangerous aviation practice of crop-dusting. Both men joined the U.S. Army Air Corps where Rafe fell in love with a beautiful nurse Evelyn before volunteering to fight alongside the English pilots in the Battle of Britain. (Evelyn did Rafe a favor while examining his visual test by passing him. He could read poorly, therefore, he was not qualified to be a pilot. This is where they started to like each other.) Rafe left behind Evelyn and Danny who were soon stationed together at Pearl Harbor.

Since they both thought that Rafe died during fighting in Britain, they stayed close to each other and helped healing one another’s heart. Then they fell deeply in love and suddenly Rafe surprisingly returned from death. Rafe was mad at both of the two but before starting to make thing clear, it came the attack from the Japanese. After the Japanese pulling back, the two men, who were the greatest fliers, were put in the top secret mission, by Colonel Dolittle to fly to Japan and take revenge on the Japanese. In the end, sad-but-true, Danny died and right before that, he acknowledged the truth that he was going to be a father because Evelyn was pregnant.

Well... this is pretty much about it. This summary is not that interesting and encouraging that is why you guys need to watch the movie by yourself. It is absolutely awesome! Trust me. Even though some websites say that it’s inaccurate, but I’m sure you will learn a lot from it as I have myself. So go watch it, go, go, go!

Say's Law

Say's Law, also known as Say's Law of Markets, is named after Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832), Say's Law argued that an economy is self-regulating p[rovided that all prices, including wages, are flexible enough to maintain it in equilibrium.

In a more simplistic, and showewhat inaccurate form, Say's law states that supply creates its own demand and over-production is impssible. This theory has major implications for how governments respond to periods of high unemployment or widespread underemployment.

Say's law was accepted as a major plank in classical macroeconomic theory until English economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) challenged its applicability in modern economies.

Jean-Baptiste Say was born in Lyons to a family of textile merchants of Huguenot extraction. In 1787, after spending two years in England apprenticed to a merchant, Say took a job at an insurance company in Paris run by Claviere (later to become Minister of Finance). An ardent republican, Say was overjoyed by the French Revolution. He served as a volunteer in the 1792 military campaign to repulse the allied armies from France.

It was around this time that Say read Adam Smith's book and the work of and fell into with a group of laissez-faire economists, known as the ideologues, who sought to relaunch the spirit of Enlightenment liberalism in republican France. From 1794 to 1800, Say served as the editor of their journal, La Decade philosophique. His 1800 essay, Olbie, was submitted to a contest run by the Institut de France. Say's eminence grew such that he was nominated to the Tribunate in 1799, sitting in the finance section.

In 1803, he published his most famous work, Treatise on Political Economy. Say's distinctive approach to economics was an outcome of the muddled marriage of Condillac's utility theory of demand and Adam Smith's cost theory of supply. Value, Say claimed (with some inconsistency), was the outcome of the interaction of these two. In this respect, it departs considerably from the Classical Ricardian School, where value is determined purely from the cost side. Say's approach was taken up
by French Liberal School and he can be considered a precursor of the Marginalist Revolution. Like Cantillon before him and the Austrian School after him, Say also placed great emphasis on the risk-taking entrepreneur and even tried to include him as the "fourth" factor of production in his analysis.

It was also in the Treatise that Say outlined his famous law of markets. Roughly stated, Say's Law claims that total demand in an economy cannot exceed or fall below total supply in that economy or as James Mill was to restate it, "supply creates its own demand." In Say's language, "products are paid for with products" (1803: p.153) or "a glut can take place only when there are too many means of production applied to one kind of product and not enough to another", (1803: p.178-9.). Or:

"It is worth while to remark, that a product is no sooner created, than it, from that instant, affords a market for other products to the full extent of its own value. When the producer has put the finishing hand to his product, he is most anxious to sell it immediately, lest its value should diminish in his hands. Nor is he less anxious to dispose of the money he may get for it; for the value of money is also perishable. But the only way of getting rid of money is in the purchase of some product or other. Thus the mere circumstance of creation of one product immediately opens a vent for other products." (J.B. Say, 1803: p.138-9)

The radical laissez-faire notions expounded in the 1803 Treatise caught the attention of Napoleon Bonaparte himself. Summoning Say to a private meeting, Napoleon demanded that Say rewrite parts of the Treatise to conform with his attempt at creating a war economy, built on protectionism and regulation. Say refused. Napoleon proscribed the Treatise and had Say ousted from the Tribunate in 1804.

Although offered another post as compensation, Say was too disgusted by the imperial regime. He moved to Pas-de-Calais and set up a cotton factory at Auchy-les-Hesdins. He grew fabulously rich. In 1812, Say sold his shares and returned to Paris, living as a speculator.

After the fall of Napoleon in 1814, Say finally published the second edition of the Treatise. He then spent some time in England, met David Ricardo and Goodwin, and, upon his return in1815, published his 1815 reflections. The Bourbon restoration government showered Say with numerous dignities and honors. In 1816, he was invited him to deliver a course of lectures on economics at l'Athenee Royale, a private college. In 1819, he was appointed as Chair of Industrial Economy at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers. His popular lectures were published in 1828.

Say's law of markets came to divide economists in the General Glut Controversy around this time. Say joined in the fray, attacking the underconsumption thesis in his letters to Malthus (1820) and in his 1824 exchange with rival countryman Simonde de Sismondi in the Revue Encyclopedique.

In 1831, Say was granted a chair (the first in economics) at the prestigious Collegeede France. The French Liberal School which followed up on Say maintained an even more intimate connection with the establishment.

Saving Private Ryan

General Marshall: My Dear Mrs. Ryan, it’s with the most profound sense of joy that I write to inform you your son, Private James Ryan, is well and, at this very moment, on his way home from European battlefields. Reports from the front indicate James did his duty in combat with great courage and steadfast dedication even after he was informed of the tragic loss your family has suffered in this great campaign to rid the world of tyranny and oppression. I take great pleasure in joining the secretary of war, the men and women of the United States Army, and the citizens of a grateful nation in wishing you good health and many years of happiness with James at your side. Nothing, not even the safe return of a beloved son, can compensate you or the thousands of other American families who have suffered great loss in this tragic war. And I might share with you some words which have sustained me through long, dark nights of peril, loss and heartache. And I quote, “I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Abraham Lincoln.” Yours very sincerely and respectfully, George C. Marshall, General, Chief Of Staff. This is the whole part of the message said by George C. Marshall to Mrs. Ryan that I’ve taken from the movie. I find it very downhearted and think that it probably would give you some idea; the same idea I have, that war is absolutely good for nothing.

Saving Private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg, basically shows the cruelty, loss, as well as the sacrifice taking place during the World War II through the eyes of Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks), who was ordered to go save and bring back Private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon) home since he had already lost three brothers during the war and the government didn’t want his mother to suffer any more. (losing three sons is more than enough I believe!) Many of Captain Miller’s soldiers died during the journey and the captain himself died at the very end. Besides all the depressing parts, the movie itself is very interesting. Spielberg did really a great job by making it so realistic. It’s like you could feel all the gunshots running through you right at the same time as all the soldiers felt in the movie. The blood, the corpses, the gushing intestines all looked so real. I even jumped once when the German soldiers appeared and fired the M-16 at American soldiers. I remember I went to watch this movie by myself when it first came out in the theater years ago. How brave! LOL I was really petrified. Had never seen this kind of cruel-but-real movie before by that time. It’s really good, as worth spending almost 3-hour time watching. Watch it so you’d know that I’m not just babbling.

This part has nothing to do with the movie but I just feel like sharing it with you guys. LOL There’s also Vin Diesel starring in this movie, just so you know. Believe it or not, he’s nothing like in the movie XXX I have seen. He was someone far from the word “muscular”. Couldn’t recognize him myself but I just saw his name on the casting list. Hahaha