Oh how I love you, Mt. Dew

Hello!
          My name is Matthew and I am a MtDewAholic. I drink it like it's water, and that's not a good thing. Studies show that it can cause cancer and stuff. NO ONE LIKES CANCER. So I've got to stop drinking Mt. Dew. That is all.

Ireland Recap

Hello!

               This spring break apparently wasn’t all it was cracked up to be here in Iowa. It was supposed to be cold and rainy, and there was still snow on the ground. To make it worse, the last day of the break it was actively snowing. Who wants snow on their spring break? I blame global warming. In other news, I didn’t spend my spring break here, I spent it in Ireland! I’ve already talked about everything I wanted to do, so this post is mostly going to be a recap, as well as some pro tips in case you’re internationally traveling anytime soon.

               Firstly, Ireland was fantastic. Going over there as a first-time international traveler, I had no idea what to expect. So when we first stepped out of the airport in Dublin and they had a bunch of high school kids there to welcome us to Ireland, I knew we were in for a very interesting time. In America, everyone is going where they need to go at a billion miles per hour. That means a lot of people end up coming off as rude. In Ireland, it’s way different. Everyone we met was very nice, and would stop and talk to us for a while. Therefore – The average person we met in Ireland was more polite than their American equivalent.

               The next point I’m going to make is the scenery. While descending in our plane onto Irish soil, everyone was looking out the window and talking about how green everything was. This was a huge contrast to Iowa, where everything is brown and frozen. Things are green over there even when it’s below freezing. That’s just talking about the grass and trees you see everywhere, too. There were a lot of really cool sights otherwise. We saw Blarney Castle, which had very beautiful grounds. Then there was the Giant’s Causeway, which is without any exaggeration the prettiest thing we saw on the trip.  It’s essentially just a very odd rock formation that happens to be right next to the Irish Sea, which makes it infinitely more majestic.  Point Number Two – Ireland was super pretty.

               The third point I’m going to make is about the cities. We went through Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, as well as a city called Limerick. In Northern Ireland we went through Belfast. These cities were laid out very nicely, with residential and commercial districts within walking distance of each other. This means that there were a lot more methods of transportation, as well as a lot of people riding around on bicycles. All of the cities just seemed a lot more people-friendly.

               A final point that I’m going to talk about is security. I’ve always assumed that security was pretty tight everywhere you went, but that’s really untrue. See, coming home from Ireland to the United States we had to go through Irish security first at the airport in Dublin. They actually laughed at some of the kids – All because they tried to take off their shoes. We Americans didn’t think anything of it because that’s what we’ve always done at airport security.

               Anyways, Ireland was fantastic. That is all. (530)

Texting V. Talking

Hello!

                My AP Language and Composition teacher has assigned us a blog post for this week. Although I would usually complain for several paragraphs about the tyranny involved in deciding what our so-called “free writing” is about, I really don’t mind. It gives me a topic to write about, and the topic she’s given us is actually pretty fun to think about. So in the interest of picking battles worth fighting, I’m going to get started.

                Social media is something that a growing number of people – both old and young- are becoming interested in. To some early adapters social media is already ingrained in the very framework of their being. Without it many know that they would simply cease to exist, their Facebook-less bodies wasting away in front of a blank computer monitor. The prevalence of such types of social media in society has brought, and is continuing to bring about changes in the way we act.

                Many years ago there was an era that, for the sake of clarity, I will now refer to as “the Dim Times.” Oddly enough, however, is the fact that during the Dim Times people were actually exposed to more light than they are being exposed to now. This strange phenomenon is due to people actually going outside instead of staring slack-jawed at a glowing screen while they creep on their friends’ friends’ friends’ friends on Facebook. In any case, in this past era people communicated through a slow, unwieldy, time-consuming form of communication called “mailing letters.” A person would sit down with a pen and piece of paper, usually with a very clear purpose in mind. They would write a reasonably long, thoughtful letter, and proceed to put it in an envelope and send it across town or across the country. This whole process could take days or even weeks to complete. Another archaic form of communication is the “phone call.” People would actually use their voices to convey various types of communication. It’s almost absurd what people resorted to in Ye Olde Times.

Compare that to the communication style of many today. A text message usually contains anywhere from 10 to 160 characters and takes approximately 13 seconds to send. An even more indirect method of communication is the Facebook or Twitter post. Many people will put vague phrases on the internet that leave nothing but a wasteland of confusion in their wake. Another downside of these near-instant forms of communication is the different ways that a text or tweet can be interpreted. For example, the one-word reply of “Okay,” will be endlessly debated and scrutinized for deeper meaning. Why didn’t they include a smiley face? Why didn’t they add an exclamation point? Why didn’t they say more than that? The list goes on. Compared to texting, a telephone call is simple! Through the natural inflection in someone’s voice emotions are easily expressed. This makes it very clear when you’re talking to them on the phone.

Newer forms of communication certainly have their uses. Sending someone a list of things that they need to remember is easily done through e-mail or text messages, and allows the recipient to have a hard copy that they can hold on to. It’s also much faster than sending a letter through the mail, taking only seconds instead of days. These new ways to get in touch with your friends also gives you a chance to get ahold of them even if they’re busy – just shoot ‘em a text. They also have some very serious downsides, too.

The amount of detail that goes into a letter or phone call is immense. You can convey more information with a single letter or phone call than you could in fifteen or twenty text messages. This means that people are less likely to be confused, worried, or upset by a phone call or letter than they would be by a Facebook post or text message.

So although new ways to get in touch with people are nice, it’s also very cool to get back to our roots and send that occasional letter or call your friends every once in a while.

Thanks for reading,

Matt Finley

(696)

Turtles

Hello!

               Recently several of my friends have been asking me why I have such large amounts of affection for turtles. I suppose there are several reasons why I think that turtles are the superior race of animal, but I’ll only list a few of the better ones here.

               Firstly, turtles are the pet that keep on giving. Turtles live an insanely long time for such small creatures, so it’s likely that you’ll only have to buy one during the time you’re interested. Next, turtles require very little in terms of attention. If you’re a person that’s out of the house a lot and don’t have time for the intense amount of care that a dog or cat requires, then the turtle might be the perfect pet for you. Thanks for your time. 

Senioritis

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               As the new term rolls around here at Kennedy high school, I’ve noticed people slacking more and more. Perhaps it’s because people are realizing that it’s third term and they’re loosening their belts in preparation for the long summer vacation ahead. Perhaps it’s because students are naturally losing steam after trying hard for the past two terms. Whatever it is, it’s happening. This can lead to the assumption that grades during third term are not as good as grades during first and second terms, a fact that has been agreed upon by everyone I’ve asked.

               This leads to the topic of “senioritis.” This is when people, specifically seniors, lose interest in school towards the end of their high school career. Although this is pretty normal, it can also be very detrimental to their high school experience. In all of my recent conversations with college admissions officers, they’ve said that they look at a variety of things, but one aspect that they carefully evaluate is an applicant’s senior year. If a student slacks off their senior year, admissions officers say it is a sign that this student will not be as well suited to the college experience as a student that works diligently throughout their high school experience. So the experts recommend not slacking off, what a surprise. Really, though. If you want to pursue your education in an institution for higher learning, you should probably not screw around your senior year. Use common sense and I’m sure you’ll come out fine.

Ireland

Hello!

               So in the next few hours I’m going to be boarding a bus on the first day of my spring break. This bus is going to take me to Chicago, where I’ll get on my first international flight. From there, I’m going to Ireland! That’s right, Ireland. I am so excited right now, and I’m just going to take some time here to point out a few aspects of the trip.

               Firstly, our itinerary is pretty killer. Except for the few days where we’re traveling ALL DAY, like tomorrow, it seems like there’s going to be a lot of stuff to do. Starting Sunday the cool stuff begins. We get to march in the St Patrick’s Day parade. In Dublin, Ireland. That’s like, the epitome of everything St Patrick’s-y. To be broadcast across international television. I’m pretty excited. After that, there are a few more performances, which is pretty neat. We also get to do some very touristy-stuff, such as the Knappogue Castle Medieval Banquet. Another big deal is the Titanic Centre, which is a museum devoted to the Titanic. What makes it cool is the fact that it’s located on the last port of call for the Titanic. Then  we have to perform some more, and this time with the orchestra that’s going along too. Then we get to see the Giant’s Causeway, which is pretty awesome. We get to spend a bunch of time in Dublin after that, we get to do some other cool stuff, then we get to spend another billion hours on a bus on the way home. And then a plane. Then a bus again.

               Now there are some other benefits of going to Ireland besides getting to see a bunch of cool stuff. One of the perks is getting to meet a lot of new people. Because going to Ireland with the 30 or 40 people that are going from our school would be super expensive, the Cedar Rapids school district decided to open the opportunity to all three public schools in our area – Washington, Kennedy, and Jefferson. This means that I’ve been hanging around with people that I’ve never met before, which is pretty nice. My section has two people I’ve never met before, and then a couple that I vaguely know. There’s also the fact that I get my first over-seas experience, which is neat. WE ALSO GET SUPER SEXY JACKETS AND BASEBALL CAPS.

This trip isn’t as cool as it could be, though. I mean, don’t get me wrong – I’m really, really, really, really, really excited. I cannot even describe how excited I am to be going on this trip. But in the future, there are things that could be made better, maybe. First off, at some point we’re going to be staying in two different hotels. I realize this is because of a lack of space, and nothing could really be done about it, but it means that we don’t get to choose our the people that are on our bus. This means that at certain points during the trip we’re going to have to hang out people that we don’t necessarily want to. Another point that I’m going to make is that we don’t get as much free time as we could possibly have. I know that this is because we’re going to be overseas and don’t want to “get lost” or “wander off,” but still. A few years ago the band went to Washington DC to march in a parade there, and it was really fun. We got a full day to wander around the Mall, and just to do whatever. There’s not going to be much time for that kind of stuff in Ireland this year.

               Now for some fun facts about Ireland! The Republic of Ireland gained their independence in 1922, and became a republic in 1949. Dublin is the Irish capital, and there are only about 4.6 million people as part of the population. Northern Ireland is a part of Great Britain, and has about 1.8 million people as part of its population – we’re going to see Northern Ireland when we go to Belfast. Ireland has two official languages; Irish and English. Irish is a type of Gaelic language. Ireland has free public schooling. Ireland gave birth to a ton of different writs, from Jonathan Swift to Oliver Goldsmith to William Yeats, James Joyce, and Thomas Moore. The Great Potato Famine, which saw the movement of my ancestors to America, killed almost 1.5 million people. One of the most interesting things about Ireland in my opinion is that St. Patrick’s Day as a holiday was never widely celebrated in Ireland until recently. Although it was celebrated, it was never done with such gusto as you can see now.

               So if you can’t tell, I’m pretty excited about this whole trip. I have a lot of plans, a lot of hopes, and I’ll definitely blog about it when I get back. Hopefully with pictures. I want a Leprechaun. 

SuperFastReview of "Warm Bodies"

Hello!

               This post is going to be a quick little review of the movie “Warm Bodies.” It came out fairly recently – recently enough for it to still be at theaters when I’m writing this. I’ve never seen the plot attempted before. It’s a zombie apocalypse movie, but from the point of the zombie. This zombie promptly falls in love and engages in other crazy zombie-like shenanigans with his zombie buddies. Although it’s a cool plot, the beginning of the film seemed too drawn out and the ending seemed too rushed. They could have done a little bit better, but not much. I’d give it 7 out of 10. Awesome! Bye.

Food Inc

Hello!

               So recently in my AP Language and Composition class we’ve been watching a documentary called “Food Inc.” This documentary is about the industrial food industry of today and also discusses the small-farm based society of the past. Throughout the film and throughout the discussion our class had on the topic, a few things kept popping into my mind.

               The first thing that concerned me about the documentary was the fact that it only presents one side of the argument. Throughout the entire film they never refuted their counterarguments, which is ridiculous. You cannot trust any documentary that doesn’t show both sides of an argument. For example, in the film they talked about a business called Monsanto. This company produces a pesticide and a brand of soybean which resists this pesticide, a very good combination for soybean farmers. The film complained that it was unfair of Monsanto to patent these soybeans, because it forces people to buy their product. I don’t really believe that’s unfair, because it’s just an attempt for them to make money - it helps run the American economy!

               Another example of this film being less fair than it could be is when a woman begins talking about e-coli. E-coli is an illness that can be passed to humans through a variety of means, including unsanitary conditions in the meat-production industry. Although this information was very objectively given, the woman giving the information proceeds to talk about her child, a young boy who died of this illness. Lots of heart-wrenching pictures are shown, and it’s all just very sad. This is unfair in my opinion, because too much emphasis is put on this one aspect of the story – almost half an hour worth of this kid. This blatant appeal to pathos is obvious if you’re looking for it, but it really skews the story.

               Finally, something that I really didn’t like about the documentary was the whole idea that people are complaining about America having too much food. For the first time in the history of the modern age we have the capability to feed our own nation and the world as a whole. It is so stereotypically American of us to complain about where this food comes from instead of taking it as a blessing and not questioning it.

               Since we first domesticated animals we have been keeping the biggest and best of our herds for breeding. Is this really any different than what we’re doing today by producing bigger and better chickens? Our chickens are ready for the slaughter in nearly one third of the time it used to take, and they produce more meat than ever before. Our cows also grow faster, produce more milk, and yield more meat. How is this a bad thing for our country? How can we complain about where our meat comes from when we can produce it in more quantities and for much cheaper than most other nations in the world? Yes, there are cases of animal abuse and unsanitary conditions. But these are few and far between in comparison to the benefits that we get from them. According to Daily Finance the price of a pound of ground beef in the United States averages around three dollars and fifty cents. In Europe, the price of a pound of ground beef escalates quickly from around five dollars and fifty cents all the way up to eleven dollars. So we should count our blessings and appreciate our cheap beef.

               In conclusion, the documentary “Food Inc” is very one-sided. It doesn’t show the two sides of the story, and tries too hard to tug on our heartstrings instead of giving is cold hard facts. I think that a lot was left out of the documentary, such as the very low price of meat in this country compared to others. It is very un-cool of us Americans to complain about something that we have too much of.

WPA - Who Pays Anyway?

Hello!   

Once again, it’s nearing that time of year for my very own Kennedy High School. The signs have been posted, the tickets are ready to be sold, love is in the air, and rejection stagnates in the gutter. Our “Woman Pays All,” or “WPA” dance is the weekend before Spring Break, and reminds me of so many problems with these types of dances.

                Firstly, I’m going to talk about all dances in general. In an attempt to be as non-sexist as possible, I’m going to address simple facts. Both guys and girls go to these dances. Both guys and girls dress up. Ask any guy what he’s going to wear to a school dance, and there is a high probability that he’ll tell you he’s going to wear the same black dress pants he wears for everything else, a nice shirt that he already owns, and he might buy a new tie. Ask any girl, and there’s a high probability that she’ll tell you that she’s going out to buy a whole new outfit for the occasion – from dresses to shoes and jewelry. Not only is this a waste of your money, but the companies that cater to young women realize that you’re buying new dresses for every occasion and take advantage of this by beefing up the prices and raking in the dough.     

                Another problem I’ve noticed with this dance in particular is the whole idea of “woman pays all.” I think that it’s fairly sexist, and frankly it just presses sexist idealism onto our impressionable American youth. Having a WPA dance implies that men pay for everything on all other occasions. I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s considered sexist. Women in a relationship should be paying equally as much as the guy. Or at least the ratio can be based on a simple wage-rate calculation that I’m sure we’re all too lazy to do. In any case, it’s dumb that we have to set aside a specific time of year where our teenaged men can give their wallets a break.

                In conclusion, there are a lot of things that are wrong with high school dances. Don’t even get me started about the so-called “dancing” that goes on at these events. I mean, really. Are we in a brothel or a high school cafeteria? ANYWAYS, take a break from buying new clothes and wear something you’ve already got. If you’ve got someone that really likes you, I’m sure they’ll think you’re just as pretty. And women out there that ONLY pay at this WPA thing . . . shame on you. I apologize for ranting, it happens sometimes, to perk you up, here’s a picture of a turtle. HERE!