Bergson Blog

                                                             Frank The Tank

An example of Henri Bergson's philosophical ideas about comedy promoting social and moral values would be Will Ferrell's character of Frank the Tank in the movie Old School. In the movie Frank is recently married and is trying to settle down and adapt to married life. But then his friend Mitch (Luke Wilson) buys a house extremely close to a college campus and it turns in to a disaster for Frank. Another friend of theirs Beanie (Vince Vaughn) implores Mitch to turn this new house into a party house so they can relive their college days. Mitch agrees and this is nothing but trouble for Frank who can not control himself while intoxicated. Frank tries to keep himself under control by letting his fellow party goers know that he can not drink because him and his wife are busy the next day going to Home Depot and Bed, Bath and Beyond if there is enough time. Once Frank starts drinking he becomes the epitome of Bergson's ideas. He becomes belligerent and takes his shirt off and starts dancing around. Everyone at the party is laughing at him because he looks so ridiculous but everyone is silently saying that they would never want to be like him. He crosses the line when he takes Snoop Dogg's microphone from him and then he crosses it even further when he began streaking throughout the town. Frank gets caught by his wife and it ultimately leads to their divorce. Frank's antimoral and antisocial behavior are hilarious from afar but it does make everyone think about how much they would never want to be in his position which in turn promotes social and moral values.                                                                      Frank the Tank mid-party

Thanksgiving Blog

                                            My Perfect Friendship

I would say I have a perfect friendship with my friend Lexi. While I don't think Aristotle's friendship categories are perfect I feel our friendship is most closely a perfect one. A perfect friendship is defined as one this is not fleeting and very strong.  I believe that Lexi and I are all of these things. We have been best friends since freshman year which proves that our friendship is indeed strong and definitely not fleeting. It also characterized by if you want what's best for one another. I believe that over the past 4 years if we had not done what was best for one another at least most of the time we would not be as close and as great of friends as we are. Our friendship has the right amount of utility as all perfect friendships do. The utility in our friendship may not always be beneficial for both of us at the time but the other person is always happy because we want what's best for each other at all times. Me and Lexi's friendship has the perfect amount of pleasantness and the perfect amount of utility reaffirming that we indeed have a perfect friendship.

Aristotle Friendship Blog

Utility Friendship- Aristotle describes the Utility Friendship as one where the people are only acquainted because they need something from each other. Once this need is met the friendship deteriorates because there is nothing holding it together except the need.

An example of a utility friendship would be Terrell Owens' relationships with his quarterbacks. T.O. was one of the best wide receivers of his time but like most receivers of his time he was very self centered. Owens wanted the ball on every single play whether he was actually open or not. He depended on his quarterbacks to get him the ball and because he was so good his quarterbacks needed to get him the ball thus a utility friendship was born. As long as T.O. was getting the ball everything was awesome but as soon as he wasn't things blew up. He fought with Jeff Garcia in San Francisco and got released then he fought with Donovan McNabb in Philadelphia and got released from there. Owens and his quarterbacks are the perfect example of a utility friendship.

                                                      T.O. fighting with Donovan McNabb


Pleasantness Friendship- Very similar to the utility friendship friendships for pleasure do not have very strong long term bonds. But where they differ from the utility friendship is that they are not for a need they are simply for pleasure and what is making the person happiest at the time. Once this person no longer finds this common interest pleasurable the friendship will again most likely dissolve. An example of this in my life would be the Lowell High Fan Section that I am very rabidly apart. Most  of the people other than a select few I have no contact with outside the student section but in the fan section I am friendly with everyone. Right now in my senior year the student section is insanely important and means a lot to me but as soon as I graduate I will no longer have any connection with the student section because I will not be attending Lowell High. The student section is a great example because right now it is a huge deal but once I graduate it will not be at all.


  Lowell High vs Central Catholic

         
Perfect Friendship- Aristotle describes the perfect friendship as one that is not fleeting and is very strong. It is the complete opposite of  utility. The people in the perfect friendship want what's best for each other and have nothing to do with utility. The people must have similar values or they'd have nothing to base their friendship off of. Obviously there is pleasure in the relationship or it wouldn't be a friendship at all but it is totally not for utility.

A great example of a perfect friendship is Will and Chuckie from Good Will Hunting. Chuckie and Will are the best of friends and do everything together. From working together at a construction sites to drinking together at a Harvard bar to fighting Wills kindergarten bully they are inseparable. But they do deep down just want the best for each other. This is clear when Chuckie tells Will that if he doesn't use his gift of genius to get out of Boston that he'd kill him. This really exemplifies Aristotle's main points of a true friendship because they were never using each for anything and deep down they really did just want the best for each other.



Ben Affleck as Chuckie Sullivan and Matt Damon as Will Hunting

Harry Potter Blog

                                                                 Gryffindor 



                 

Gryffindor Crest

If I were to go to Hogwarts I believe I would be sorted into Gryffindor. One of the main characteristics of people in this house are bravery. In the Sorting Hat's poem he says "You might belong in Gryffindor, Where dwell the brave at heart,"  Much like Ron I may appear to be cowardly at some points but in the movies Ron always rises to the occasion. I believe I would do the same. I am similar to Ron in more ways than just our appearance. The way Ron appears afraid in normal every day situations and often claims he wont do something but then when push comes to shove he always has his friends backs is the way I believe I act. In my younger years sneaking out to get fast food was a really big deal. One night me and my friend Justin got a craving for some Wendy's. Justin being more rebellious than me said that we should go get some Wendy's because it was only right down his street. I then reminded Justin it was 2:30 in the morning and we probably weren't allowed to be out at this time. He could not be swayed away from this and after I said several times I would not be going he said he was going with or without me. I knew at this time that letting my friend go out alone would be far worse than if we went out together and got caught by his mom. So I went and we got some chicken nuggets and some fries and got back safe and sound. I think this proves my claim that much like Ron I will always have my friends backs.

Doppleganger

Kierkegaard Blog

Jerry Maguire movie poster

A great example of the contrasting views of the ethical stage and the aesthetic stage is in the movie Jerry Maguire. In this movie the main character Jerry Maguire works for a high profile sports agency until he has an epiphany and releases that he is just being controlled by the greed and selfishness that comes with all the money they're making. Jerry decides to go out on his own and manage less clients which would mean less money. But Jerry is free from the bindings of his job and can conduct his business however he likes. He doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to do ever. Jerry is in the aesthetic stage by definition but his actions are ethical I would say.

The people in the ethical stage in Jerry Maguire are the other agents more specifically his main rival Bob Sugar. Bob was all about getting the most clients and making the most money thinking that is the best way to do things. Bob Sugar l although he does make several choices that are very morally incorrect he does them to get to his ultimate goal. 

Aristotle Character Blog

Virtuous-Dr.King Schultz

                                                   Christopher Waltz as Dr.King Schultz

Dr.King Schultz was one of the main characters in Django Unchained and in a time where slavery and prejudice was more than accepted Dr.Schultz knew what was right and did it happily.He frees Django from the slave masters and then lets the other slaves go.He then frees Django and does everything in his power to get his wife back. Dr.Schultz knew what he was doing was right and that slavery was wrong.





Continent- Jerry Maguire

                                                       Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire

In the movie Jerry Maguire  Tom Cruise plays Jerry Maguire who at the beginning is a ruthless sports agent who will do anything for a buck. But after one of  his clients gets hurt he has a Revelation that is not all about money and profits it is more about relationships with your clients. It is at this point that Jerry writes a mission statement basically centered around the main point of less clients less money more relationships. This obviously is the right and moral thing to do but after this revelation and the handing out of his mission statement Jerry tries to get it back but can't. Jerry does the right thing but does have some doubt about it because of his own personal desire for money and success but in the end he knows what is right and does it.

Incontinent-Jax Teller


                 

                                                           Charlie Hunnam as Jax Teller

Jax Teller is the main character of the show Sons Of Anarchy and goes through struggles season by season as to what to do with the future of the club. Last season Jax had decided to get the club away from gun running and into legal and legitimate business.But some events transpired which led to Jax going on a warpath and totally leaving the plans of doing the right thing behind. Instead of becoming a legal business he goes out for revenge. He kills more people and gets into more than ever before even though he knows this is the wrong thing to do.

Viscous- Colonel Nathan Jessup

                                                       Jack Nicholson as Col.Jessup
In the movie A Few Good Men Colonel Jessup is the person who ends up ordering the code red on the cadet who is falling behind in the class. Colonel Jessup has basically gone mad with power and just tries to take out anyone who opposes him. He orders the code red on Santiago because he wants to transfer off the base.Also Santiago consistently falls back on runs and other things that usually warrant code reds. Jessup lies about having ever ordered the code red when he did and he knows it was the wrong to do and does it anyway with no remorse.

News of the Summer of 2014

                                                  News of the Summer of 2014

One of the biggest tragedies of the summer of 2014 was Robin Williams committing suicide. Robin was one of the best and most well respected actors in the world. He has played leading roles in some of the biggest and best movies of all time and it is awful that he is gone.

Picture of Robin Williams and Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting

Another important event of the summer of 2014 that affected me  personally was the Market Basket protests. I work a Market Basket so I was at the center of all of the controversy. I didn't get paid for almost a whole month because of all the protests and part-time layoffs. It was a very difficult time for everyone involved.

MB Protests

My Summer '014

     





                                                               My Summer of 2014


The Summer of 2014 was a great summer. I did a ton of fun things throughout the course of the summer but 2 events that really stood out to me were my trip to Fenway and my week at the beach.

I went to Fenway on August 2nd for a game between the Red Sox and the Yankees. Me and my friend Conor drove down for the game which was at 4 o'clock. We got down to the game around 3:45 and then went in pursuit of tickets for as cheap as possible. We encountered a scalper who had 2 tickets for 60 a piece which seemed really reasonable seeing as that it was a day game against the Yankees and it was also Yoenis Cespedes debut for the Red Sox so we took the man up on his offer assuming that the 2 tickets were together. They were not even close to each other. My ticket was for the Grandstand and Conors was for the Lodge Box. Conors seats were far superior and there was an empty seat next to his so we sat there and it was a great day.

 

 

Another great event of my summer was when I spent a week at Hampton Beach. It was probably the nicest beach house I have ever stayed at and it was basically on the beach. A lot of my family was really close by so we all hung out at each others houses and it was just a really great week. The weather was perfect except for one day in which there was a terrible storm but it was actually really nice.