TOW #20 IRB Killing Kennedy by Bill Oreilly

     So there was a slight change to my IRB. At first I was going to read Killing Lincoln, but I found out that I didn't own it, but I did own Killing Kennedy which is from the same series as Killing Lincoln. Killing Kennedy, written by Bill Oreilly who is a political commentator and author, is about the events that led up to Kennedy's assassination and the effect it had on America after Kennedy's death. The book also contains information on the Cold war, the rise in communism, and the Mafia which all had an impact on Kennedy's presidency and death. In Killing Kennedy, Oreilly elaborates on Oswald and details the daily life of Kennedy in order to completely disclose the life and assassination of Kennedy that is often shrouded in rumors and mystery. Oreilly believes it is a story "all Americans should know."
    Oreilly's narrative tone really helps keep the book interesting and realistic. The book itself is in a chronological order, and not only does it narrate the life of Kennedy, but also the lives of the people around Kennedy and Kennedy's killer, Lee Harvey Oswald. Most history books tell the reader that Oswald killed Kennedy and move on. However, Oreilly elaborates on Oswald, "a former U.S. Marine Corps sharpshooter... in the Soviet city of Minsk... a defector at age nineteen,... the slightly built, somewhat handsome, enigmatic drifter,... convinced that his socialist beliefs would be embraced in the Soviet Union." Oswald is now given a more human characteristic than the barbaric image the average American has of Oswald, giving the book a more historical perspective and less biased view. This historical perspective allows the reader to learn the truth of Oswald and further understand the circumstances of the entire situation between Kennedy and Oswald.
      Oreilly also details the daily life of Kennedy in the White House which gives Kennedy a more human characteristic and shows the facts of the Kennedy that many do not know. President Kennedy had an, "aching back" which caused him to "the indoor pool-always heated to a therapeutic ninety degrees." He received, "regular injections of the anesthetic procaine to ease his suffering." Kennedy took, "naps for exactly forty five minutes. Other great figures in history such as Winston Churchill napped during the day. For Kennedy, it is a means of rejuvenation." These details about Kennedy unveil the facts of Kennedy that are unknown to many. Kennedy becomes a real person more than just an assassinated president and explains to people of this time why Kennedy's assassination had such a tremendous impact of the course of American history.

TOW #19 (Visual) Naruto: the Last trailer

     Here's a topic a little new to my TOWs, anime. I have a passion for manga and anime, especially a manga called "Naruto" that recently ended after 14 years of popularity. Naruto is considered one of Japan's greatest mangas and has been within the world's top five best selling mangas since 2001, the year of its first release. In commemoration of Naruto, there is a movie even coming to America on February 21, in which Steven Sung and I will watch in New Jersey. The trailers for the movie are extremely exciting to me and I've been watching them and preparing myself for the movie for the past week and a half. One particular trailer uses scenes from the manga and a timeline of the entire story to remind viewers history of Naruto and how much they love Naruto in order to get more people to watch the movie.

     This trailer uses scenes from the manga to remind viewers of their love Naruto. Naruto has many epic moments and the trailer tries to capture all of it. Every person that has read Naruto through the mangas knows the scenes that appear on the trailer, the scene where he learns his first ninja jutsu, the scene where he blocks a punch with his head for his friend, his battle with Sasuke, his first attempt at sage mode (that's the part where his pupils turn into blocks), and his emergence as the Sage of Six Paths. Now this undoubtedly will not make sense to people who don't know Naruto, but for a fan, this is 14 years of his life that he dedicated to Naruto and lived with Naruto. The trailer captures these nostalgic and emotional moments through the actual scenes in the manga which makes the Naruto loving audience have the need to watch this last movie of Naruto.

      The trailer also follows a timeline format where it starts with the young Naruto and as the trailer goes on, the story of Naruto also goes on. The very beginning of the trailer shows Naruto being born and his young self. As time went on, Naruto grew and Naruto got stronger. The trailer shows the momentous moments in Naruto's life, the suffering he went through, the enemies he faced, the friends he made, the friends he lost. The fan is reminded of his life with Naruto and 14 years of growth. To myself personally, this trailer made me sort of sad since I knew that the anime and manga that I loved for my whole life was ending and this movie was going to be its last mark in history. This made me want to watch the trailer even more because the timeline system reminded me of Naruto's growth and my growth with him which made me really need to watch this movie. I know it may sound silly to "grow with a fictional character," but when something has been a part of your life for almost the whole of it, it becomes very real, and this trailer wants to remind me of that.

     

TOW #18 Non-fiction Editorial "ISIS is the enemy"

ISIS is becoming a more real threat every day. Just a few days ago, they burned a Jordanian pilot and released a video of it. These sort of grotesque and inhumane acts that ISIS is committing require leadership from the global community, and according to the Washington Times, America needs to lead the charge towards eradicating ISIS. The Washington Times uses experiments to show that America and specifically Obama has to take actions to stop ISIS.

Most of the editorials evidence comes from an experiment that was conducted by Ari Horowitz that shows why America's leaders have to take charge and crush ISIS. Horowitz conducted the experiment at UC Berkeley where he walked around the campus waving the black flag of ISIS, but "only a few turned their heads or muttered a few words of lethargic protest. A few students raised their hands in salute with the clenched fist of the “revolution.”A little later, he walked across the campus waving the flag of Israel with cries of praise for the Jewish state. This aroused the lethargic students. Boos, hisses and cries of “child killer” and “Zionist genocide” followed him across the campus green." 

Through this experiment, the author is trying to show that even the best and brightest of America are unaware of the true atrocities of ISIS. The author then quickly brings up the point that, luckily, it isn't the students at these colleges that are making policies, but it is the powerful people in the government. If the best and brightest are not fit enough to lead the charge against ISIS, who will? Obama has to bring in a competent overseas militant leader that take effective action and back that person with powerful determination of his own in order to end one of the greatest threats of this generation.

ISIS Beheading, showing the cruelty and barbarism of ISIS

TOW #17 Non-fiction "Editorials say football is on right path with player safety changes"

With the Super Bowl tonight, the only thing in my mind was football, football, and football. But I still have to write a TOW, so what better topic to write about than football on Super Bowl Sunday? Football is America's sport, but it hit its roadblock a couple years ago when head injuries became a major issue. However Bill Bradley, an editor of nfl.com, using a comparison between past football and present football and a quote from president Theodore Roosevelt, argues that football has changed for the better and is still a valuable part of America.

Bradley compares how rules in football, both in game and in practice, have changed from the past to show how football now is much safer for players. Recently, "the NFL and college programs have been introducing rule changes to prohibit players from returning to a game or practice if they have sustained a concussion." The players union in the NFL came together to limit "physical contact in practice, once a major source of injury." Teams now "only practice once a day and generally save tackling for the actual games" and the restriction of "water at training camps to "toughen up" players" is a thing of the past as dehydration became a major reason of injury. Football has become a much safer sport and can not be criticized for unsafe practices.

Bradley also quotes president Theodore Roosevelt which establishes Bradley's own appeal to ethos by quoting such an influential figure. Bradley argues to "not overreact to a handful of tragic injuries and legislate or litigate away a game that means so much to so many Americans.Teddy Roosevelt, the president who "saved" football in an earlier era, warned that abolishing the game would result in turning out "mollycoddles instead of vigorous men." "It is to my mind simple nonsense, a mere confession of weakness," he thundered in 1907, "to desire to abolish a game because tendencies show themselves, or practices grow up, which prove the game ought to be reformed." Even Roosevelt supports football, making football an even more American game and valuable part of American culture that can't be erased because of a small number of head injuries.

1. Devastating Hits in Football