the great debters

It is not often that a movie is such a crowd-pleaser that the audience responds with tumultuous applause not once but numerous times. That is the kind of reaction Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters inspired when I saw it in a crowded theater. Yes, the movie follows some tried and true underdog movie conventions but rarely is it done so skillfully that it does not wait until the final deciding match to provide small moral triumphs along the way to have people stand up and cheer.
Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters is, in many ways, the “sports movie” I have been waiting to see. Based on a true story about an all-African American debate team that hopes to win the national debate championship in the Great Depression after facing off against other African-American as well as Caucasian debate teams across the country, it is a movie that has the heroes fighting their personal and ethical struggles with words, not physicality. Melvin Tolson (Denzel Washington), the professor who forms that debate team in an all-African American college, Wiley College, sets the grounds and says, “Debate is like blood sport. Blood sport is combat and the weapons are words.”
His standards are unbending and his expectations demanding and after a night of tryouts, he picks four members. The mainline debaters are Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), an astute, intellectual student who is also a bit of a womanizer and a hard-drinker, and Hamilton Burgess (Jermaine Williams), and the two alternates, Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollett), who is reportedly the first female college debater in history, and 14-year old James Farmer Jr. (Denzel Whitaker), the researcher for the team. The latter in particular, despite being the youngest, also carries a certain amount of reputation because he is the son of James Farmer Sr. (Forest Whitaker), a preacher who is one of the few African-Americans so far to graduate from Harvard University.
The debate team’s singular struggle to win the championship title would be enough to fuel a worthy, inspirational story but Washington’s film paints a richer canvas that does not escape the harsh issues of racism in the Jim Crow South of the 1930s. There are some harsh emotional moments that drive the prejudice home such as a significant one when the team is driving home one night and sees a black man strung up on a cross after being burned to death by a lynching mob. Tolson, as many people know today, is also one of American’s most renowned poets (a fact that is only slightly hinted at) and it turns out that he has a secret life as an organizer for a national sharecropper’s union between blacks and whites, which anger the racist local sheriff, Dozier (John Heard) and may set yet another obstacle for the team.
The relationships between the members of the debate team are not simplistic either as a seemingly clichéd plot of a young James looking jealously at the potential blossoming romance between Henry and Samantha does not resolve itself in necessarily predictable ways. Tolson also carries the flaw of insisting on writing the arguments himself for the debate team instead of letting the team have their own voice, which Henry’s equally headstrong personality often collides with. There is also James’ relationship with his parents, which becomes more strained after he witnesses Tolson’s secret life.
Washington as director and writers Robert Eisele and Jeffrey Porro pull all of these strands together into a story that teaches that the journey to win should really be the means to the end of educating oneself and others to think morally and without racial prejudice or discrimination. The dialogue, which needs to be eloquent in a movie about debates, is contributive to many of the film’s well-timed and paced triumphant emotional moments within the Wiley team’s arguments that challenge for the resolutions of issues we now take for granted such as racial integration in colleges (though there could have been a more unpredictable, dimensional challenge if they had to argue for something they don’t believe in, as real debaters sometimes have to do). The debating atmosphere is also enriched in the conversations within the team as everyone seems to be talking in the cultural code of argument and rhetoric throughout (as when Tolson explains the origin of the word, lynching to the team).
Washington is one of the most magnetic and likable actors on the screen, which is why we always welcome him playing another flawed but decent, authoritative figure, no matter how many times he has played other such roles from Courage Under Fire to Remember the Titans. He also shows more definitive proof after Antwone Fisher to be a true actor’s director, as he gives every one of his actors to define who they are and not single his own character to necessarily be the natural “hero” of the story. The familial issues that result within Denzel Whitaker’s character find their own uneasy complexity, which culminate in a long-awaited square off between Washington and Forest Whitaker who conflict in the social issues around them despite both having the best interests for the young teenager (the fact that the child actor’s name happens to be Denzel Whitaker is not intentional, as he is neither related to Forest Whitaker nor named after Washington).
By the end of the film, I found myself caring so much about these vivid characters in this time and place that I actually would have found the story equally satisfying and uplifting whether the team won or not. Of course, most stories about underdogs are told because they satiate our natural desires for the longshots to triumph but the great ones make you feel that you care for them as individuals more than the outcome. Seeing these people have the will to challenge the harsh times they lived in was enough to make me cheer for their moral victory, before their historically important, visible one.

ssss

I have been feeling very sad and lonely for a long time because I missed my family and old friends. I myself go to school after get up and go home after class everyday. After that, I cook for myself and do my homework. I think the food is not delicious because I eat it by myself. When I was in China, I always had meals with my friends or family. I thought the food was good because I could chat with my friends or family. Nowadays, I live by myself and I felt lonely. I want to go home recently; however, I cannot go home as I told before. Last week, when I felt lonely and terrible, I gave my friend a phone call and told him I wanted to visit him. His girlfriend cooked four kinds of delicious food for me and we had a meal together. Then, we discussed a lot of things including movies, cell phones, sport, and computers. I felt very happy about that since I was not lonely any more. At 11:30 pm, his girlfriend wanted me teach her to steam Chinese bread. I showed her how to cook it. We spent two hours on cooking Chinese bread because of yeast’s problem. Finally, we achieved success and she was very happy. Event thought it was very late, we were still watching TV. At 4:30 am, we were too tired to watch TV, and I asked my friends gave me a ride. When I was arrived my home, I was not sad any more although I was tired at that time. From this experience, I think friends are very important to me and I will cherish our friendship forever.

The experiment of my editing.

I had edited an essay which was written by my classmate. His essay was great because he was a few grammatical mistakes. However, he still got some. He was one of student who got A+ in writing in this program. This reminded me to check my essay because no matter how good were you, you still could do something wrong. In fact, this is normal thing that study had to do. The reason of this could be to get a good mark and make their teacher happy. In addition, this was the same rule in my culture. The students had to check all of their writing to keep it clean and nice to make their revisited easier. To back to the point, I saw the mistake that my friend made was to use article. For example, “to study in the class.” I considered this was wrong. It should be to study in class. Well, I usually made the same kind of mistake. In my opinion, it is a common error for English learner because it always confuses them. Ever Canadian will the language mistake.

hitman a nice moive

I have been waiting for the movie "Hitman" for a long time, and finally I watched it because I am a super fans of this game. This game is developed by a company called IO in Denmark and it has 4 series so far. I remembered when I first played this game, I couldn't admire more about the great idea of the game: you acted as a hitman who named 47 to assassinate certain people for money. In addition, I have convinced my father to play this game and he really got into it. After several years later, it has become a movie, which was wonderful news for me. However, finishing the movie, I felt a little frustrated.
Although the movie was about Hitman, the scenarist just like created a new story based on the game. I totally could not find any connection between the movie and the game. Also, the actor who acted the 47 was not what I expected. Probably the one in the game has impressed me a lot but I won't say I satisfied with the movie. The actor was a little bit young so he looks not that mature except his stony expression.Furthermore, to my surprise, the agent 47 always stayed with a woman in the movie, which has completely destroyed the image of 47 in the game.
Well, I think it does not happens occasionally because if people really love a novel or a game, after they become a movie, every single change will make people uncomfortable so I don't wanna complain anymore and what should I do is go back to the game and enjoy myself haha

studyyyyy

Last couple of weeks, while I was walking in the university, I was thinking about a question. Looking at students from all over the world, I wondered why they come to here and study? Generally speaking, every year millions of students come to study in North America. Like Chinese international students, which take the highest percentage of them, have to pay huge tuition fees but they still choose to leave their own country. Why? I think the reason is not just the job crunch in China, but the problem is educational system.
Educational system sounds really common; however, it contains lots of things. I checked Li kai fu's blog, who used to be the vice-president of Microsoft, and found some edification from it. A successful university just like a private company, everything needs to be judged by itself. Things like tutors, courses have to be adjusted with the situations of the university. Some universities are controlled by governments so for example, they have to wait for funds from the governments. In contrast, a private school get money from foundation so that they have more freedom. Because of this, these universities can improve very fast and it is why private universes, especially in the US achieve a great success. In addition, these universities may try some different ways to improve. Some of them are crazy, like the MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) has spent about a hundred million dolloars in order to share 2000 courses on the Internet for free. Although the university has lost huge profit, it is good way for them to try distance education and become the best university of engineering. Compared to them, Chinese universities are far behind so there in no doubt that students come to here and study.

work hard

Those days are a little sad. But I can do it.
Yesterday, I said I am poor in English writing. An d J say I need to say I can do it.
Yes, I agree with that. It just takes time. I was not only good at wrting in English not aslo Chinese. I think I will get it sooner or later.
I got my mark of persentation. It was ok. I thought I was getting enough preparetion of it. but I just got b. It was a little bit suck. The summer of calgary finally comes. I hate the winnter it was too cold.

haha

Nowadays, in an ever tighter job market, great importance has been attached to an interview by both the employer and the applicant. The interview, so to speak, has become indispensable for getting a satisfactory job. On the one hand, the interviewer can take advantage of the occasion to learn about the candidates, such as their work experiences, education and their personalities, so as to pick out the right person for the company. On the other hand, the interviewee can make use of the opportunity to get to know the job he is going to take up, the salary, the working conditions and many other things about the job he is interested in.　　Therefore, the job interview is very important to a job-hunter. But how can one succeed in it? Firstly of all, the interviewee must pay attention to his or her appearance. The first impression is always where we start. Get dressed properly and neatly. Secondly, good manners are equally important. Don’t be too proud, and neither too timid. Just be courteous. Thirdly, the interviewee must demonstrate his aptitude and skills for the job and his knowledge about eh job-related areas. Be confident. Last but not the least, the interviewee ought to be honest about his or her personal as well as academic background, for honesty is the best policy.　　To sum up, the job interview is indeed important, but there is no need to be nervous. As long as the interviewee has the ability for the job, with careful preparation and a fairly confident and honest performance, his or her success can be ensured.