Summer

This summer is set up to be one of the best summers in my life. One thing that I can look forward to is knowing that my parents won’t be asking me every day whether I got a job or not. I finally got my first actual job. I just got employed to be a lifeguard at a very small pool in an apartment complex, so it shouldn’t be that hard. But before even starting my job, I already want a different one. Right after being offered the job, I went to my golf course and had an interview with them and I am currently waiting for a call back. I only want a job at the golf course because it is closer and the chance of someone dying on my watch at the golf course is very unlikely. But the real reason why I am excited for the summer is my family reunion in Estes Park, CO. Every year, my dad’s side goes to the Rockies for a week and goes hiking, rafting, rock climbing, and really whatever we can think of. The coolest part about our family reunion is that we have about 30 people in our family and I’m the second youngest person there. The advantage of being the youngest is that all my cousins are in their 20’s so the activities that we do cannot be held back by younger people or even our parents. This year is the first year that the cousins are being put in charge of planning the events, so this year should be interesting. And to top the summer off, my friend has a lake house on Lake Michigan and last year we went there at the end of the summer with about 10 of my friends. It was fun to say the least. I’m really looking forward to going because all my friends go to different colleges and none of them go to the same. But as much as I want to write about the adventures at the lake house I’ll just hold off because I could write pages about it.

Word Count- 351

Summer Jobs

Summer is almost here and that means one thing, freedom. False. That’s what summer used to be back when you were in elementary and middle school, where the only thing you had to worry about was whether to play cops and robbers or wiffleball. But now that all the fun and games are over, my parents just love to give me crap for not having a job yet. For example, this is what the conversation is going to be like when I get back home:

Dad:      Welcome home son, how’s it going?

Me:        Gee dad, I sure am happy to be back!

Dad:      Did you get a job for summer yet?

That conversation is no joke. Literally the second thing he has to say is always whether or not I have a job yet. It happens every time I go back home or talk to him on the phone. I don’t think he understands that it is not that easy to get a job over the summer. I have never had an actual job. I have no car. I will not be working with the company after three months. Hell, I wouldn’t even hire me. Since I couldn’t get an actual job last year, I was stuck umpiring third graders play baseball. Now I’m not saying that I was a bad ump, I was awesome. Obviously. But the abuse that comes with the job is just awful. I mean, your kid is not on the White Sox (I would say cubs, but let’s be real, they’d have a shot), so sit back down and don’t even think about asking me if you can intentionally walk their best hitter, they’re third graders! Hopefully this year will be different, I do have an interview tomorrow, and I will do anything to not umpire again this year, so I’m gonna have to do some Grade A ass-kissing and just hope for the best.

Word Count- 320

Shooter Paper Proposal

I am doing my research paper on the movie Shooter, which is based off the book Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter. The purpose of my paper is to show the difference between the book and the movie. But the problem is that even though my movie is based off a book, it is very hard to find out what I actually have to write about for 8-10 pages. The whole 8-10 pages thing is really throwing me off right now. I know that I am capable of writing 8 pages, but right now I’m pretty confident that half of those pages are going to be a load of crap that shouldn’t even be written in the first place. The only thing that I have going for me is that the movie has younger characters and that the movie was based on an Iraq War veteran rather than the book’s version, which was about a Vietnam vet. I just don’t see how I can stretch this topic to eight pages. The only thing that I have going for me right now is that I do have an awesome title right now: Marky Mark’s Got Swagger, But Should He? Now you might not completely understand it now, but just wait. Mark Wahlberg is the main character whose name is Bob Lee Swagger and is a complete badass in the movie. Now look back at what my title is. Mind Blown.
Word Count- 309

Shooter Review

The movie Shooter is based off the novel Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter, and is directed by Antoine Fuqua. The movie Shooter is pretty up there as one of my all-time favorite movies. But the weird thing is that whenever I would bring up the movie Shooter, I would always get the same reaction depending on the gender of the person I would talk to. For women, the common response would be, “I have no clue what you are talking about”. But when it comes to men, the reaction may go a little something like “No way dude I freaking love that movie, Mark Wahlberg and Danny Glover are awesome!” This goes to show that this movie was clearly targeted specifically towards males.

                First off, the movie was casted perfectly, simply because all you need is Mark Wahlberg as the good guy and Danny Glover as the corrupted politician. Mark Wahlberg has always been the badass that you should never mess with. In this movie he is a retired sniper who is getting framed for killing the president. And I think this movie is a very easy example of why nobody should even think about messing with him. And Danny Glover is the perfect actor for a corrupt politician because he shows a lot of power in his acting, but he also makes you think that you shouldn’t trust him because he might have something up his sleeve at all times. As for all the other people in the cast, I honestly think they could have filled it with really anybody that can read because as I stated earlier, you only need two people too make a movie great, Mark Wahlberg and Danny Glover.

                This movie is the perfect movie for guys. With all the big shooter video games, every guy is now in the phase where if you give them a gun, they might just wet their pants because of excitement. And this movie is perfect for men because it brings that feel of excitement of running around with a gun in your hands while getting shot at by every single person around the corner. And Mark Wahlberg’s character isn’t just any ordinary soldier; he is the best sniper that our nation has to offer. Of one of the many reasons why this movie is geared towards guys is because of the explosions. Although this movie might not have been made by Michael Bay, it was able to live up to that high of a standard with their big explosions and detailed special effects. But if there was one main reason why this is a movie for guys, it would have to be because of man’s best friend. That’s right Mark Wahlberg had the dog that every guy wants, a dog that will fetch him a beer. Now every time that Bud Light commercial comes on I get the same reaction from my friends who are over 21, “Dude that would be so awesome to have a dog that got us beer on command!” little do they know that they have to learn how to train the dog to not piss all over their house first. But besides fetching beers, this dog was more than that, he was truly man’s best friend, and Mark Wahlberg clearly showed that in the film.

                Although many see this movie as just a bunch of explosions, headshots, and dogs fetching beer, the real kicker for me enjoying this movie was the intelligence detailed in the movie. Although showing people how to knock themselves unconscious with whipped cream bottles might not be the best thing to teach people, there are a lot of example of how people in the military are more intelligent than people make them out to be. Military are more than just another human being with a gun in their hand and a United States flag on their shoulder. One reason why I enjoyed the intelligence behind this movie is because I was able to follow what exactly was going on in the movie, everything was easily explained as the movie was going on, which showed the viewer all the angles of what was going on in the movie, and maybe taught some people how to make explosives if they were playing close attention, but I like to think that people won’t actually try that at home.

                Overall, with all the special effects and the deep storyline, Shooter is a very enjoyable movie to watch. And to be honest it really doesn’t matter what the gender of the viewer is, women can also find this movie enjoyable, as long as they don’t expect any romance. And if I had to rate this movie I would give it a perfect score out of any grading system because I truly feel that this is a great movie that is underappreciated.

Word Count- 808

Review- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0822854/  should be under my name.

Spring Break

The week has finally come. I have been waiting so long to finally go back to see my family and friends. The weird thing is that I’m supposed to come back to an empty house for the second straight time in a row. But I’m actually not that disappointed because my parents are going to my cousin’s dance recital which I am so happy that I don’t have to go to. And the house will not be completely empty because I can trust my dog is going to be there right when I get back, try her hardest to take out my legs right when she sees me. The real reason why I have been waiting so long to go back home is because I have gotten so tired of Normal for the past couple of weeks. It kills me that I have to walk all the way across campus just to hang out with my friends. So Normal has really became kinda boring in the past couple of weeks because I only find myself hanging out with my friends about three days a week. And when I go back this week it’ll be fun to see my friend that is so desperate to hang out with people because he goes to the local community college, and it’ll also be awesome to be able to talk to my best friend that I haven’t seen since winter break.  And when it comes to what I am actually going to do while I’m at home during break is absolutely nothing. Nothing productive that is. I do have a lot of time to catch up with my dog because it seems like no one in my family gives her attention, and always sucks at doing tricks whenever I get back. But if I had to choose why I am so excited to go back home this week, it would have to be the home cooked meal. I know it’s really cheesy, but the dining center food is getting really boring and really fatty fast.

Word Count- 341

The Movie Fan

I’m going to be honest when I say that I was not looking to this blog at all when I heard I had to walk across campus to check out this mom and pop movie store called The Movie Fan, little did I know that this place would actually be a pretty cool. I do have my fair share of movie stores back in the AH, but none of them have the same feel as The Movie Fan does. Walking in at first was complete madness. There are movie posters, VHS, and DVDs everywhere. I felt like I could have been looking around for hours, but I actually had some important things to do. The thing that I regret the most is that I forgot to bring my wallet. Another thing that I thought was really cool was that the person working there seemed like a really nice person. I didn’t personally get a chance to talk to him, but I did see him willingly helping the other people in the store. And this is the perfect movie store for a college campus because their prices are so low. But I think if The Movie Fan were to be in a town that did not have a university in it, I think that it would fail. I’m not too happy to say that, but it’s true. With On-Demand movies being the next big thing in movie rentals, all the small mom and pop movie stores will be gone in the up in coming years. The Movie Fan might have low prices, but On-Demand also has relatively low prices, with no late fees, and you don’t have to drive to a store to pick it up and drop it off. But when it comes to The Movie Fan, I have definitely become a fan. (You don’t have to compliment me on my awesome word play)

Word Count- 314

Man's Best Friend

A lot of people when they are homesick, talk about how much they miss their family and how much they miss a good home cooked meal, but the real reason why I love to go home is because of my dog. I can call my parents and my brothers anytime I want, and I talk to each of them about every other day so it’s not that exciting to see my family when I head back to the good ole 847. And the hug that you give your mom when you come back does not even compare to the instant your dog sees you for the first time in over a month. And unlike everyone else in the family, the dog is the first one to greet you jumping on you trying to knock you over and slobber you with kisses, and I’m glad that she’s the only one that does that because that would be extremely weird for any human to do. I think it’s pretty obvious that dogs are easily the best pets that you can possibly have. Don’t even get me started on how selfish and not entertaining cats are. I can’t wait until I’m able to own my pet because if my future dog is even half my dog right now I would be so happy. I know this might be a bit of bragging but my dog is so awesome and is the true meaning of “man’s best friend”. She is always walking right next to you just waiting for you to say one of the three most important words in the world: walk, park, or ball. They may not be that interesting to people, but to my dog it means that she gets to play with me and that’s all she wants to do. And the fun thing about playing with my dog is that she is very athletic and smart (although my dad will argue that she is mentally challenged) but in all seriousness she is a pretty awesome dog and writing this article really makes me want to go back and hang out with my pup, it just sucks that I have to wait 2 more weeks til spring break.

Word Count- 370

Week 4 Pictures

I chose this Dark Knight movie poster because I think that it is one of the better examples of what we have been talking about in class the past week. All the dark colors really bring out what Batman is really all about, a superhero that fights all his crimes at night. And with all the blood and joker cards, the poster shows that the joker is more of a darker version than all the previous portrayals in the previous movies and cartoons. And the part that I think is the coolest is that the people who made this poster made it seem as though the joker was the person who put the whole poster together with all the joker cards taped together and the crazy sayings written all over a batman with a joker smile. I think that the point that the marketers were trying to get across was that this is a movie with a very interesting villain and this is a darker superhero movie than what people normally perceive.

You know what really grinds my gears?

You know what really grinds my gears? SOPA and PIPA. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s pretty much the government trying to regulate the internet for all Americans. And even though the bill did not pass, it still ruined the internet for me. When the idea of SOPA and PIPA came out, a lot of illegal websites for tv shows and movies shut themselves down because they were afraid if the bill got passed, they would find themselves in jail. But out of all the people that this bill affected was college students. I mean what am I supposed to do during the day now that I can’t finish my seasons of Modern Family and How I Met Your Mother? I mean I could work on schoolwork, but now I just plan my schedule so I can leave 2 hours of just looking for a site to watch my shows. So thank you US government, for ruining my life. Also, you know what really grinds my gears? College Memes. These cartoons were really freaking hilarious two weeks ago on stumbleupon. But once people thought it was a good idea to create their own about their college, and post them on facebook, I lost my mind. I get it, you’re related to the situation, so you are obligated to like it so it will blow up everyone’s newsfeed. But the thing that really irritates me the most is that most of the memes that people make, don’t make sense. I get it, you’re trying really hard for people to like you, but the truth is, anyone can make obvious observations, but the actual funny people are smart enough to put the right parts together. Just help us all and leave funny pictures to actual funny people.  Thanks for reading, and if you were confused why I started the topics with “You know what really grinds my gears?” here’s a link for your own enjoyment: http://youtu.be/VL-0F3IAVfo

Word Count: 328

Week 2: Commercials

So while watching Comedy Central for multiple hours (it’s almost like I care too much about this class) it was easy to learn what demographic they are marketing. The target is males in their twenties. It was very easy to tell because nothing screams guy films for than a movie that stars the great Liam Neeson. Liam Neeson is one of the baddest dudes in showbiz, I’m pretty sure that kidnapping has decreased in the past couple years strictly because criminals are scared that the father of that girl they just snatched is a badass by the name of Liam Neeson. But other than the guy movie trailers that are shown between shows, Comedy Central still targets men through was that people might not realize. For example, one of the more recent and popular commercials is that new Dunkin Donuts commercial. Now Dunkin Donuts iced coffee isn’t the most appealing drinks in the world, but they did just come out with a new donut that no guy will look at it and say, “That looks nasty”. This donut looks like it’s the bee’s knees, it’s that appealing. This donut is filled with cream and topped with chocolate chips. I have never wanted to go to Dunkin Donuts until now. I just realized that when you read this it’s gonna be around nine o’clock in the morning, so I’m terribly sorry for talking about donuts. So to finish off this blog, the final topic that Comedy Central commercials feature is a boatload of technology. One of the most common themes you see in these commercials is the whole smartphone craze there is in America. And it seems like there’s new technology every year, which is a shame when your parents have to keep telling you, “you don’t need a fancy phone to make calls”. And after getting lectured a constant amount of times about how your family is not made of money, you start to accept the fact that you are stuck with an indestructible P.O.S. and you just have live with it. And I’m sorry that this last section will not relate to any of the people reading this because most of you just laugh and check your iPhone to see whether or not it’s gonna snow this year.

Word Count: 379

Week 1: Introductions

My name is Mark Butkus, and I am from Arlington Heights Illinois. Since I am not the most creative or artsy people there are, I just resort to sports as my “hobbies”. When it comes to sports, I tend to focus on the three sports most popular by Americans: baseball, basketball, and football. My favorite teams consist of: the Bulls, White Sox, and Bears. The Bears are pretty much the only topic that I have very strong opinion about and can ramble on until even I get annoyed by myself talking. When it comes to politics, I am neither a republican nor a democrat; I think that it is ridiculous how people judge each other just by what political party. But my real reason why I do not choose a side when it comes to politics is because I really do not care if a person is from the democrats, republican, or even the Green Party, I am just going to vote for the person who has the best views. But it is about that time to focus on what this blog is really about, writing.  Now writing is not my favorite thing to do, so that is why I am an accounting major. Throughout middle school and high school, I have never really been interested in writing because it just seemed so boring and I am just not that creative of a person. Math has always been the subject that I would interest me, thus my major being accounting. In this class I expect us to do a lot of writing unfortunately. And that is not the worst thing in the world but as a general education course, I still have to try my best. And who knows, this class could be fun, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, English is usually not known for being that fun of a class.

word count- 313