Shannon Corcoran Blog #5 The Decalogue

The Midrash in the first segment of the film can be the computer compared to a false god. The father trusted the computer for detailed calculations while not putting his faith in God. The father believed in everything the computer said but he did not believe in God. When his son went out ice skating, the ice cracked and the boy drowned. The father paid an ultimate price for putting is faith in the computer, a false god. Although the meaning of the film was not obvious because it was a little hard to find out what the other god was and what the punishment was.
The Midrash in the second segment of the film is the act of killing. The main character killed a person but later on he regrets the killing. He kills not thinking on the crime he did nor what the reactions were going to be. To me it was harder to find the meaning behind the story and how it will affect the characters in the story.
Some of the visuals that gap the understanding of the film are the snow in the first segment. The snow is a symbol of death. Also snow is a symbol of sadness. The death and sadness is of that of the little boy. The ice breaks killing the boy. With the ice breaking also can symbolize in the film the breaking structure of truth the father had with the computer. Once the ice broke the truth in the computer also broke.
A visual in the second segment of the film is rope. Rope ties us together and shows where it have been. When the main character kills with some rope. Later, when the main character is being executed, he dies by being hung. The material on which he is hang is rope.
The films relate to feeling because we know what death is and the fear of death. The films shows how some people try to avoid death, either by trusting in a computer or fighting to avoid being executed. The films also shows the effects of death, either it is new or been a while. They show people are sadden by the deaths.
With the flux of the moment people do things on what they think is right or fun. But with the eternity on their hands people will regret the actions they did. In the first segment the action the father regretted is trusting solely on the computer and nothing else. While in the second segment the main character regretted killing the person because now he has to die. The father has to live with eternity regretting his actions. While the eternity of the main character in the second segment is death. He will forever be dead.

Shannon Corcoran Blog #4 Northfork

The story about Northfork is about about a town that is about be flooded and the town is dealing with the situation. When the film starts most of the town is deserted and the last few people are packing up and moving away. One scene of this is when there are three cars that take different paths in three different paths at a crossroad. This is like the people of the town are scattered into the four winds. The father and son have the job to eventuate the people from the town but they have some of their own trouble about the moving. The trouble is whether or not move the father's wife from her grave. They don't know what is better, move her from her resting place to move her to a better place or leave her in her resting place but have it covered in water.
The film Northfork had several different religious symbols. Some of the symbols are obvious like an ark with two of everything (including two wives), some angels, and a great flood. Some of the symbols are not too obvious. One of the symbols is when the boy dies, he takes a plane ride. This could symbolize him flying off to Heaven. Also it shows that the other angels can too “fly”.
One of my favorite symbols is the term of moving to a higher ground. The term higher ground could mean a better life. With some people the higher ground can mean heaven. The people move to heaven in order to get safe. They are going to be saved from the flood. The flood can be the great flood in The Bible but this time the people are saved.

Shannon Corcoran Blog #3 Witchcraft and Religious Services

Every year the Harry Potter books are up on the list of books of people wanting to ban. A main reason for this is because people believe the books are promoting witchcraft. But what is really witchcraft? To me, witchcraft is just a form of a ritual. A ritual is a set of actions performed with symbols. With witchcraft the ritual is casting of a spell, even though it is a very fast ritual. One would have to cast the spell in a certain way, saying certain words, and for potions mix certain items together in a certain way. When one is casting a spell they have to pay attention to the signs and symbols because if the signs and symbols are wrong then the spell is no completed.
With religious services, they are mainly based on rituals. The religious leader says certain words and act in a certain way. The way on how the religious leader conducts is based on symbols. Some people believe if one performed the service based on the symbols then there be a result. The results will be slower and not in a way someone would expect.
To me, religious services and witchcraft are both rituals. Although they are both very different and used for different reasons. They both had to be performed in certain ways, have words said in a certain way, and both have symbols. They both are used to get results even though the results are different. The results may for different things and may have different timely for the results. So some religious services may count as a ritual as the same for some witchcraft. In the end they are loosely based on the same foundations of a ritual.
If some people want to banned the Harry Potter book because they have witchcraft in them then the same people should look at the religious services and then try banned them.

Willie Mears, blog 15 personal choice

I am very excited to hike the Appellation trail in 10 days. As I have already begun preparing myself physically and have already invested time and money into the endeavor it is save to say that I am locked into going. It is strange though that although I am getting closer and closer to leaving the trip is still very far out of my mind. Maybe it is because finals are in full swing right now or maybe it is because I just don’t look very far ahead, but either way I have not really thought at all about the fact that I am going to be out in the wilderness for two week very much at all. Maybe that is a good thing because there is a lot to worry about, but there is also a lot to be excited about. I am hoping that the trip is truly a chance to rest, not physically, but mentally and spiritually. Rest is a very difficult thing to truly achieve, I can sleep for 12 hours and still wake up not feeling like I am ready for the day, I need to be alone, I need to think and to pray, it is only then that I will find true biblical rest.

Willie Mears, 14 personal choice

Easily one of the move embarrassing things that can happen from the day to day is when you and a buddy are sitting in a car, driving, and listening to a song. It’s a really nice day out so the windows are down, the wind is blowing and man life is good. You are rocking out to a sick song on the radio and singing at the top of your lungs and just when you get too comfortable, boom you accidently scream one of the wrong lyrics. I know it sounds totally stupid but when/if it has ever occurred to you, it is surprisingly embarrassing. Not that anyone else cares, and not that anyone else even notices, but regardless when it happens you fill with shame at the fact that you got a little overconfident with your memorization of a pop hit song and botched your shot to sing it loud and proud.
Now this event is not all that uncommon for myself because I enjoy driving and do it quite a lot, I am involved at Grafton High School in York county and drive there daily; and I also really enjoy singing tunes with the windows down. So from experience I can tell you that when it happens you feel like a total idiot.
All I am gonna say is be responsible, learn the lyrics.

Willie Mears, Blog 13, Personal Choice

Good Will Hunting is a really fantastic film. It was the one that brought Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to fame. The two, now famous actors, wrote the script when they were still dirt poor and trying to scrape by. Now both are hugely famous actors that make multiple movies a year and are known by just about everyone in the country. The film is about Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT who has an amazing gift for mathematics, however problems with an abusing family have kept him trapped in a low paying job so that he can remain by the comfort of his childhood friends.
The film has aspects that make you laugh, and it certainly has no shortage of emotional scenes as well. Throughout, Matt Damon’s character, Will Hunting, is working with a respected mathematics professor from MIT. Will is a genius and organizations from all across America are looking to hire him for high paying positions. Will though doesn’t want to take any of them, he doesn’t want to because they will require him to leave his three best friends, Sean, Morgan, and Billy who are a source of comfort and love for Will. It is powerful in the sense that, for those of us that don’t have any personal experience with physical abuse it is crazy to think of how long it can affect someone. Will is well into his twenties in the film, and was abused as a teenager, and still he is very much trapped because of what his father did to him. It is only when he falls in love with a girl named Skylar and decides to follow her across the country that he breaks out of his shell. He sets himself free, but he also sets his friends free who only want the best for him and want to him take advantage of his brain. Overall, maybe my favorite movie of all time.

Willie Mears, Blog 11, my Choice

I saw that someone else did a blog on the movie Book of Eli, and immediately knew that I had to do one on it also, it is such a sweet flick. It is one of those movies that are so good the first time you watch it; the shock value is unparalleled. Throughout the movie you are in awe at Eli’s ability to thwart his enemies, and that is the filmmakers idea. He is trying to get the viewer to think that Eli is the biggest, baddest killing machine the post-apocalyptic world has ever seen. Then, at the end of the movie, you find out he has been blind the entire time! It is an awesome picture of the power of the Holy Spirit, which was Eli’s driving force, and also the importance and power of scripture. Eli had no fellowship, he did not have the luxury of going out two by two, as the disciples did, but rather his only weapon was the brail bible that he had.
It is also powerful when you see the way the Carnegie, the bad guy, viewed the Bible. Although he view was totally corrupt, there is still power in seeing that he recognized the impact scripture can have. He doesn’t understand the gospel at all, but still knows that the Bible is powerful. For a movie to be freakin action packed, and spiritually eye opening, cannot beat that.