Feature

The feature I chose to read was the 25 Best Places in the World to visit. It is a good feature that has some magnificent places in it. Paris is ranked number one which I agree with, this is the one place I believe everyone should visit at some point in their life. Maui also would also be unbelievable to visit. The different places in Greece that are astonishing, for example Crete. This is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places ever. I agree with almost all the places on the list except a few don’t belong. For example New York City is ranked number five which is not a proper fit. New York City is a great place but it does not belong in the top five. There are so many more beautiful places and sites to see than New York. This may just because I am not a city guy, I much prefer a pretty site. Also I feel that the fact that I have already been to NYC has a big impact on how I feel about it. New York City is definitely one of the most fascinating cities but it is not in the top places to visit. I believe different beaches and islands should be listed ahead of almost all cities. I would like to see a couple West Coast cities put before New York. I feel the area and atmosphere are much more appealing than the East Coast. The idea behind the massive buildings and sculptures of cities is why they are listed so high in places to visit, but in my list they would not be near the top. Seeing a giant hole in the ground or mountains is much more pleasant than a high traffic city. My top twenty five places to visit would be different from this one. I would put all the great sites ahead of most cities. The Grand Canyon would be in the top and also the northern lights in Alaska. Things that are breath taking or eye candy would be listed in my top 25. This maybe just because I am not a city guy,

Christopher Slattery John Nardone Journalism Review of Review I read a review on 300 Rise of an Empire written by New York Daily News. I have never seen the movie but had high hopes for it. The first 300 was a great movie that really captured the determination of the Greeks and portrayed them as warriors. This review starts out by saying that this event was happening at the same time as the first 300 and how the more memorable story is told first, hence this movie being less important as King Leonidas’ battles. Right away you can tell that this reviewer does not think too highly of this movie. Rise of an Empire is the battles going on in the sea, the naval war. Thermostikles is brought to be as fierce as Leonidas. Just a little less manly looking, he has the main role. His nemesis is Green who is a smokey eyed witch-queen that is the saving grace of the movie. She plays an intense character and has a big role in the movie. This review makes it out to seem that she is the best part. The graphics are “over the top” which means that with every cut or wound a life threatening amount of blood squirts out. It is muddy, and the filming looks bad because of how they exaggerated the blood and filth. It makes for a good action scene, but if you’re looking to get a history lesson of out Rise of an Empire than think again. This review makes the movie seem as a letdown to me. I was anticipating a good, history based action movie. It appears that the action is there, but it doesn’t portray the history behind the events. Makes me believe that making this movie was maybe a mistake, they should have just left it at the first 300 that came out in 2006. That was a top notch movie, and as the “sequel” it does not do the first one justice. I am a little disappointed in the fact that this movie has such poor reviews; I believe it is still a very enjoyable movie, it just doesn’t capture the same feeling as the original 300. I do see myself seeing this movie in the near future, I believe the review bashed the movie just because it had such high hype before coming out. Still most likely a decent movie.

Profile Journal

I read an profile article about Rich Peverley who is a hockey player for the Dallas Stars. Rich has been around the league for a number of years and is a good player. At the age of 31 he has had some issues with a heart condition and has had surgery, and was believed to be fine. On march 10th 2014 things took a unexpected turn for Rich. He had just finished a shift and got the bench about five minutes into the game. While he was sitting on the bench while he all of a sudden collapsed. A sudden upbringing of concern on the Dallas bench, the players trying to get the attention of on ice officials, while the coach was getting a doctor. They got Peverley to the hallway they gave him oxygen, administered intravenous and performed chest compressions. Peverley quickly responded and regained consciousness, and wanted to go back to the bench but the medical staff wouldn't allow that. He was then rushed to St. Paul University Hospital. The game was paused for awhile and the two teams went to their locker rooms. After what had just happened nobody on the Dallas team wanted to play at all. Hockey was the last thing they wanted to do at that point. The Columbus Blue Jackets understood how they felt and both agreed to postpone the game to future date. This article was well written and it followed the inverted pyramid scheme. It started off with the big picture that Rich collapsed on the bench, and then it got further into detail. I believe the detailed part was the most interesting. It showed how he had heart a heart condition, and the fact that he missed the game a few nights earlier because of a "upper body injury" which makes you wonder if he should have even been playing in the first place. This was a complete tragic event, and this article covered it well. Showed how both teams and fans understood the poor feelings, and postponed the game. It must have been so scary to witness it and not know what was going on. The National Hockey League was willing to postpone the game, which rarely ever happens. It was a big deal and everyone's prayers go out to Rich and his family. A crazy turn of events for a in shape professional athlete. Very scary for everyone that was involved.

EL Chapo

I choose to write about how El Chapo was finally arrested after escaping prison numerous years ago. I saw this in the news the other day and it struck me as a pretty big deal. The Mexican KingPin has finally been arrested. At an initial glance you would think that this would slow down drug flow through Mexico and the United States, but in reality I don't believe it will slow down. With a man as powerful as El Chapo he has a large base of people working for him. With him being dead would only mean the next guy in line would take over. It is hard to say for sure that this will happen, but I do not see why it wouldn't. Also this could invite the competition to try and step up their game and become higher up in the drug trafficking. It just gives other drug lords more room to move up in scale. I completely agree with George Grayson when he says that "the takedown of El Chapo is a thorn in the side, but not a dagger in the heart of Sinaloa Cartel". That is absolutely correct, that it is a step in the right direction, but taking down one man can't stop a whole Cartel. One controversy with this arrest is that it has not yet been decided whether or not El Chapo will be kept in a Mexican jail or be transferred to a high protection jail in the United States. I believe that they should keep him in Mexico, and let them deal with him. I understand he was a fugitive in both countries but he was arrested in Mexico and they should have the right to decide where he goes. If they decide to transfer him I believe that their will be a high percentage chance that someone tries to break him out. He a "drug lord" and has people willing to do anything for him. It would be very risky to bring him to the United States. The arrest of El Chap is a good step towards trying to stop the Cartel but they have a long way to go to stop them. This was breaking news to me and I thought it was interesting so I decided to share it with everyone else. http://www.npr.org/2014/02/23/281543314/mexican-drug-kingpin-arrested

Olympic Speed Skating

I choose to blog about the Netherlands taking their first gold medal in men’s 500m speed skating. Taking gold was not all they had in mind, also they swept the podium taking first, second, and third. Michel Mulder took first place, while teammate Jan Smeekens taking second with a loss of only 12 thousandths of a second. Third place went to Michel Mulder’s twin brother Ronald Mulder who took bronze. The 2014 SOCHI Olympics men’s 500m was dominated by Netherlands. Turns out when Smeekens finished the race the scoreboard showed him winning the race by a thousandth of a second. His reaction to the scoreboard was a clear indication that he believed he won the gold medal, but the score was quickly corrected to second place. This seemed to be very controversial to me, but not everyone else. If it were two different countries that were fighting for the gold medal I think that it would have caused a much bigger dilemma. Being that all three top spots were taken by the Netherlands wasn’t as big of deal. The Mulder twins have got to be satisfied with how they represented their family and country, it is not too often that brothers, let alone twins even get a shot at the Olympics. This wasn’t the only thing the only event that the Dutch had swept the competition. In the men’s 5,000m race they also went one, two and three. In the women’s 3,000m race Irene Wust took the gold medal as well. The orange seem to be in control of the 2014 SOCHI Olympics Speed Skating. Watching these events completely surprised me, because I did not except the Dutch to compete at such a high level in the speed skating. I thought that one of the other power house countries was going to take these medals. For example Canada who is known for their hockey and skating, or Russia who dominates in ice sports, even the United States I believed had a better chance. Well I was wrong, and now I know that ice hockey and speed skating are two completely different events. The way that they skate, and the strides they take are different. In ice hockey you want quick strides to get going as fast as possible in the shortest time, while speed skating is almost the opposite. They want to get going fast and maintain the speed, taking as long strides as possible.