Let's go back.

Dear sister,

      An older sister isn't exactly someone that can be replaced. You're one of the few people that I've known for my entire life and the bond that we've built throughout that time period truly is irreplaceable. As cliche as it sounds, at one point all good things must come to an end and unfortunately, that end came sooner than I thought.

      Let's go back to our younger years. Ever since we were little you've been my biggest role model and my worst enemy. I looked up to you in every way possible and would copy every little thing you did but I don't really think you liked that all that much. You would be furious with me when I followed you and your friends around, wore your clothes or listened to the music you liked. I can admit that I was like you're little wannabe clone but we can look back on those foolish arguments that were so important at the time and now realize how pathetic they actually were. Let's go back, back to when we were young and the smallest of inconveniences seemed like the world was upside down, back to when we didn't know what saying goodbye for months at a time felt like.

     Years passed and we grew up, together, you of course always being two years ahead and I used that to my advantage. With that two year difference you had two years more knowledge than I. Sure, we both had our fair share of tough times whether it be boyfriend/friend issues, school stress or whatever the case may be but we always had each other to run to at any given moment. Who would have thought that that could all change in one day.

     As you get older, duty calls and you have to allow your future to broaden, as you did. I suppose this means that our daily rides to and from school together are coming to an end, along with long conversations that will keep us up all night and sticking up for each other when one of us is in trouble is coming to an end. Distance is sure going to put a strain on our relationship but it's nothing we can't work through. So I'm not saying goodbye to you but to a piece of our childhood. Although our time living together is coming to an end there's one thing that will stay forever and that's being sisters because that's something that no one can take that away from us.

All my love,

Lauren

Revenge

           Have you ever been so angry with something that someone has done to you that you considered seeking revenge on them?  Maybe somebody has betrayed you or lied to you.  Whatever the case may be, you might have wanted to exact revenge on them.  Maybe this hasn't occurred to you but you've probably came across revenge in a piece of literature or a movie.  After a few bloody encounters between characters,  revenge becomes a key topic in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.  Secondly, two of my favorite movies, Taken and Taken 2, portray revenge between two families. 
          When Taken came out in 2008 and I saw it for the first time it immediately became my favorite movie.  The trailer to the movie is attached here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCbDUREBwUg . The action, Liam Neeson's acting and the theme of the movie all came together to make one phenomenal film. Here is my personal favorite scene in the movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgmO32IdwuE.  The movie began with Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills, a former CIA member who is looking to rebuild his relationship with his daughter, Kimmy.  As a divorced father, he struggled to connect with his fast aging only child.  Against his intuition, Kimmy travels to Europe with her friend, Amanda, and while on the phone with her father, she and her friend are abducted by intruders.  Brian wastes no time gathering evidence and discovers the girls have been kidnapped by Albanians who specialize in the trafficking young touring females.  Bryan arrives in Paris in the search for his daughter and Amanda.  A one man army, taking down men one by one, Bryan did anything to get his daughter back.  After killing anyone and everyone in his way Bryan and Kim were reunited once again.  This leads us into the second Taken, when Kim, Bryan and Lenore, Bryan's Ex-wife, travel to Istanbul for a family vacation.  As soon as they arrive, the family members of those who were killed by Bryan are on the search for him.  They try to avenge him with the consequences they think he deserves by attempting to kill him and his family.  Bryan fights to the death with many men reminding them that what their sons did to all of those girls deserves the punishment of death.  After several extraordinary life or death battles between Bryan and the Albanians he gets his family back and they return to the U.S. safe and sound. 
            I'm sure you have heard of the tragedy, Hamlet by William Shakespeare or maybe you've gotten the opportunity to read it.  Hamlet begins with a King who is murdered by his brother and his brother proceeds to take the throne of sovereignty along with marrying the dead king's wife, Gertrude.  I know what you're thinking, "he married his brother's wife?" whatta creep!  When Hamlet, the dead kings son, gets wind that his uncle, Claudious, killed his father he becomes furious.  Throughout the majority of the story Hamlet plans his revenge against his uncle while losing his mind along the way.  He unknowingly kills Polonioius, Claudious'  chief counsellor which fills Polonious' children Ophelia and Laertes with wrath.  Claudious becomes aware that Hamlet knows he killed his father so he also tries to come up with a plan to get rid of Hamlet.  The whole fiasco brilliantly illustrates revenge and its colossal domino effect. 
            Okay, so maybe your uncle didn't steal your father's throne or you weren't kidnapped in Paris.  But whatever the reason may be, most of us have been wronged in some way and have been confronted with the idea of revenge.  Revenge is not only found in our lives but in literature and media, as shown in the examples I have given.  In my opinion revenge makes for a good plot line in stories but probably isn't the mantra to live by.

Satire in Anchor Man

            Satire is an element in literature and media that is frequently used to make fun of and criticize stupidity or human folly.  Satire is often times mistaken for seriousness which can stir up a major conflict between individuals if it comes off as offensive.  An example of satire in literature is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and an example of satire found in media is the movie Anchorman. 
           One of Will Ferrell's most popular comedies, Anchorman,  satirizes news productions and rivalry between male and female.  Ferrell plays San Diego's top-rated anchorman in the 70s, Ron Burgundy.  Ron is completely self absorbed and his character satirizes your average anchor man.  Ron and his co-workers Brick Tamland, Brian Fantana and Champ Kind each bring something different to the table and make up the hilarious but top notch channel four news team.  This group of losers who look up to Ron enormously only make his big head even bigger.   In this clip Ron is astonished when he is speaking to a woman who has never heard of him before.  This is one of the many scenes from the movie that reveal his conceited personality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8OxKx6zKkQ.  This specific scene satirizes the idea of how news anchors can be vain.  It pokes fun at their arrogance by exaggerating how one would react if someone didn't know of their importance as a news anchor.      
            A second thing that is satirized in the movie is a battle of the sexes between Ron Burgundy and Veronica Corningstone.  Veronica is new to the city of San Diego striving to be the head anchor woman of the news broadcast.  She is a very determined and talented woman who is willing to go where no woman has gone before to prove her power.  As Veronica becomes more and more of a threat to Ron he begins to feel that his position as head anchor is in jeopardy.  Burgundy and Corningstone are continuously going back and forth as they try to schmooze their way to the top.  This clip from the movie is one of the many evident scenes of immense tension between the two, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN-_cZNDy0w&feature=related. This satirizes the relationships between men and women in media by how they act like they are genuinely happy to be co-workers but in actuality they are verbally battling back and forth with nasty comments to one another but hiding it from the viewers to keep up a good reputation. 
            Satire is also found in Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  This novel reveals the human folly that occurred basically all throughout American history which was slavery.  Humor is frequently incorporated into the novel to uncover some of the more ridiculous Southern habits. He does not satirize the institution of slavery because to do so would be too volatile. Instead he makes fun of pretty much everything else and leaves it up to the reader to figure out that slavery is equally worthy of our contempt.  In some schools the book was banned due to its vulgar language that offended individuals.  The book was not intended to be offensive but to mock the way things were going in the past so that we may refrain from going back into that direction.
             The element of satire used in works of literature and media is used to inform people of stupidity of human folly so that we may change the way things are going or remind people not to go back to it by making a mockery of the situation.  Satire can be found in Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the movie Anchorman.  When it is not recognized satire may lead to disputes of sorts but on the other hand it can be used for comic entertainment.