The reflection after watching the movie “Saving Private Ryan”

Robert Rodat, the producer of Saving Private Ryan, gaining inspiration after seeing the monuments set for the soldiers who died in American Civil War. Successfully directed by Steven Spielberg and exquisitely acted by a sequence of actors, Saving Private Ryan has already won a large amount of awards as well as being the highest-grossing domestic film of the year. It is not until recently that I watched this well-known movie seriously. Like all of the praise and the fame it earned, I was overwhelmed and touched after watching it. Not only spectacular performance that all the actors did, but this movie arouse the topic of ethics, morality, and fidelity which all of us should concern about.
The first 30 minutes of the movie is the scene about Normandy Invasion. The director frankly revealed how cruel, horrible, and unbearable the war is as well as the painful one soldier must face on battlefield. The plot also reminds me of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey which the author elaborated the scene by the power of words. However, both of the producers created the truth of reality that wars brought about. Although the end of this movie implies the exultant victory in one country, it does not narrate in detail how long should one country be recovered and how long do people need to get rid of the trauma brought by the war in their deepest heart.

The reflection after watching the movie “Changeling”

I was overwhelmed after watching “Changeling”. And overall speaking, this movie is a must-see. The movie is adapted based on a real event which happened in 1930s. Angelina Jolie is a character of a mother in a single-parent family, whose only child disappeared in one day after she went back to her home as usual. She used every possible mean to find her only son and fought against the authorities when she faced difficulties. The story not only elaborately described one mother’s magnificent love to her child but also revealed the corruption and irresponsible attitude of police in Los Angeles.
After finishing watching this movie, I surfed the Internet in order to know more detail about this event and the background of the murderer. Frankly speaking, it is really hard for me to recover while knowing how miserable the mother suffered and the murderer’s unusual family. (The killer’s grandmother stated that the murderer was the result of incest committed by her husband against their daughter. She also stated that as a child, the murderer was sexually abused by the entire family.) I strongly recommended this movie, and if you want to pursue the topic further, please check on the website: http://www.wretch.cc/blog/kisswatch/11914579.

The reflection after watching the movie “Revolutionary Road”

The movie Revolutionary Road is adapted based on a novel of the same name written by Richard Yates. Yet finish reading the novel, I cannot wait to see the movie which is played by Leonardo DiCarpio and Kate Winslet. Generally speaking, I was a bit upset after watching the movie. Both of the actors performed spectacularly but the movie narrated the story in a dull and pain way. Kate Winslet is always renown as her exquisite and skillful acting and she can also pick up the suitable character in one movie to achieve her consummate performance. Leonardo’s performance seemed not as well as Kate did, but still, he improved a lot and played potentially and perfectly in this movie.
The story is about a married couple. Both of them are looking forward to living a noble life and had a sudden impulse to decide to move to Paris. As soon as they began to spread this news to their neighbors and finish package all the luggage, both of them are facing new challenges-the man had a chance to be promoted and the woman is pregnant. While the man insists on having a baby, the woman decides to have an abortion by using hoses. They blaze with anger and of course decide to live in their hometown as usual. In the end, after the woman has an abortion, she died of excessive bleeding.
Unlike the Chinese translation “the tour of true love”, this movie is totally not about a love story but a tragedy which caused by an unsuitable couple. I have learned some lessons about the way to deal with marital difficulties which is that you have to trust each other no matter what happens and always communicate when misunderstandings arise.

What kinds of business I will probably do in the future

I would like to open a cram school which provides three main subjects (English, Mandarin and Math) taught in high school and a “reality class” for students in their 12th grades and their parents. In Taiwan, students in their third grade of high school show great diligence in studying. Most of them are under massive pressure, but the students and their parents follow the trend blindly instead of knowing the core value about attending to universities. In my cram school, I will not only teaching those subjects, but the main goal of “reality class” is to let them know what qualities they should possess to enter this society, and give them pertinent advises instead of embellish anything in the universities and society. Both students and their parents are welcomed to attend to all classes. In “reality class”, I will devote myself into letting students know the exact thing happen in adults’ daily life as well as letting parents know how much pressure their children suffer from. The name of this cram school that I will be giving is “Knowledge and Reality worth Spreading”.
My school will be located on the outskirt of town. The reason why I am choosing that place is because the city is a place full of noise and pollution which will not make students focus on their classes. Furthermore, suburban area is easy for parents to park their cars.
I will interview each applicant for the job individually and let them teach on the stage for 30 minutes. Finally, I will choose the teachers who possess the qualities of creative, flexible, optimistic and humorous. Each of the qualities has its functions. Creativity means one person thinks critically and does not always talk about the same old cliché. Flexible means one teacher knows how to face different kinds of students and educate them appropriately. Optimistic is a necessary quality not only to a teacher but all of the people in the world. He who always thinks the bright side of one thing can make students think positive unobtrusively and imperceptibly. Humorous person can make the phenomenon become much fun and interesting.
The way that I promote my cram school is to promote myself first. Before opening one cram school, I will gain as many experiences as I can. In other word, I will make myself reliable and specialized. For example, try to persuade parents how many times I successfully change one person’s life, build their confidence, and how professional on education I am. This cruel society always likes some superficial things. To gain people’s trust, I will convince them of my enthusiasm, and professional skill for education.
Students are encouraged to attend to all classes. They must learn the three main subjects which I consider as necessary knowledge to enter this society. Each of the subjects will be charged $2400 a month. And if you want to take all of four classes, it will be charged $8500 a month. More than two people join the classes can get a discount. Parents are totally welcomed to join our classes and it is for free. They can learn some useful knowledge with their kids and also supervise their children. I will make my classroom a bright and clean place which sunshine can directly beam the environment.
I always believe that the key point to create a successful business is the ability of persuasion. For example, you have to produce a convincing slogan, advertisement, and your personal image. So if I am going to make a profit by opening a cram school, I will make any effort on advertising any field, which includes the environment, the qualities of teacher, the methods I use on education and the ability about me. Maybe it needs a long time to make profit from my cram school, but I think a successful business is the one which is sustainable.

The definition of good parents

Family is the minimal unit in one country. In addition, it cultivates one person’s personality, thoughts, and actions in an ingrained way. So parents become the most significant supervisors during the period when children are bringing up. I will divide the period into three main parts to discuss the different attitudes and characteristics parents should notice and possess.
The first period is infancy and childhood which children’s age is between 0 to 12 years old. In this duration of time, children are influential by their parents and surroundings. Children are good at imitating and they desire encouragements. They might be fragile seemingly but this is the important period for them to form personality, build confidence, and develop talents and skills. In my opinion, good parents should take care of their children in an attentive and intensive way. When I was in my childhood, I remembered my parents let me learn versatile skills, including sports, arts, languages, and musical instruments and I can hardly forget any of them until now. After growing up, I am interested in plenty of things in different fields. Moreover, they let me go to kindergarten and elementary school independently. They did care about my grades but not in a stern and forced way. So I can delightfully develop my advantages and what I am interested in. I appreciate the way my parents taught me which makes me become a self-controlled person.
The second period is adolescence and the age is between 13 to 18 years old. In this period, youths are influenced mostly by their peers and they rebel their parents frequently. Youths often put the emphasis on developing their friendships instead of focusing on academic studying or caring about family. In this period, people show the great differences on both mentality and body. And youths yearn for getting rid of restricting by their parents. Thus parents are facing great difficulties on education in this period. In my viewpoint, parents should stop strictly disciplining their children otherwise children will run away from them. Moreover, adults should still teach their children how to differentiate right or wrong things and let youths do what they want without restraint. I remembered that I did change a lot in this period, too. I cared only about my friends and seldom studied. I also came home late which made my parents started to worry about my future. But after this period, I introspected and changed myself spontaneously. I felt grateful to both of my parents since they did not scold me harshly.
The third period is the adulthood, which is above 18 years old. Since normal adults can act regularly, parents should be democratic to their children. Parents should give their children pertinent suggestions and right direction instead of interfering within their decision in this period. For example, my parents do not exhibit any of my activities after I entered university. On the contrary, they gave me the freedom toward what I want. Their education method makes me become independent, self-motivated and confident person.
Consequently, no matter what methods do parents use, they should not forget to educate their children with the passion of love. The passion of love means parents should accompany their children when they felt frustrated, concern with their daily life, and interact with them as much as they can. Bringing up a child has always been a tough issue. Only knowing one child thoroughly that parents know the suitable and appropriate way to educate their children.

Different Generations

In this week, I will discuss the topic about our generation and our parents' generation with my classmates. So I would like to share my thoughts here with you.

One generation is value by its distinguishing feature all the while. We can apparently discover some unique thoughts, actions, and events in a particular era. For example, in the United States, there is a term called Generation X . The label was chosen because people consider it a "Reactive" or "Nomad" generation. The older generations generally have negative perceptions of Reactive generations—whose members tend to be pragmatic and perceptive, savvy but amoral, more focused on money than on art. After generation X is generation Y which is known as the Millennial Generation or Generation Next. Generation Y is generally signified by an increased use and familiarity with communications, media, and digital technologies.
In Taiwan, because of the multicultural history background, the older generation shows significant differences between the new generations. By the end of the 1949, when the Communists controlled almost all of China, the KMT retreated to Taiwan with 2 million people. In the 1970s, the president, Chiang Ching-kuo launched the "fourteen major construction projects", the "ten major construction projects " and the "Twelve New Development Projects" which contributed to the "Taiwan Miracle." His accomplishments give Taiwan a 13% growth rate, $4,600 per capita income, and the world's second largest foreign exchange reserves. However, now the unemployment rate is climbing, and there is an economical depression. This is t he worst financial crisis since the great depression in the 1930s.
Nowadays, with the innovations of new technology, each person owns a computer in and surfing the Internet can be a routine in our daily life. We not only absorb any kinds of information on the net but also share our own ideas with people all over the world. So the pace in this society becomes even faster than the old days and the people’s horizons are not restricted anymore when only staying in their home town. Furthermore, people can share their own thoughts to the public which includes some creative and critical ideas. So the public can pool the wisdom of the masses and then prosper our country. This method of sharing opinions keeps everyone exchanging their ideas promptly. One of the relative examples is the invention of Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia which allows anyone with professional knowledge to edit the web page. This useful, convenient, and instant tool becomes so popular in recent years. While people have some questions toward an event or professional knowledge, they usually check out some information on this website. This kind of contributions makes any opinion flow between individuals. Thus, I will regard this trend makes the new generation a fast pace one and any kinds of thoughts gained wide currency immediately. On the contrary , since Confucianism is considered as a country religion, the older generation put the emphasis on their family in stead of enjoying other leisure activities. One of the apprentices of Confucius, Mencius, carried Confucius’ ideas further. He mentioned that whether parents are doing right or wrong things, children should not disobey their parents. In my opinion, this thought seems ridiculous. But children in the new generation do not have any respect to their parents. All the children want from me is money. If they do not get what they want, they will abuse their parents or even kill them. According to the statistics provided by the ministry of the interior, we can see that people between thirties and forties suffer from domestic violence, and the news recently also implies that domestic violence is increasing fiercely. T his phenomenon seldom occurred in the older generation. The idea of Filial piety influenced the Chinese legal system: a criminal would be punished more harshly if the culprit had committed the crime against a parent. Thus, in older generation, defying parents is a crime for which one deserves to die ten thousands deaths. Of course, this phenomenon has its drawbacks, too. For example, Chen Chih Chung who is the son of the ex-president, Chen Shui Bian, helped his mother do money laundering. But he claimed that all he did is to obey his parents. Although Filial piety is important, it may make a child to not know how to differentiate the right or wrong things.
Because agriculture is the most important occupation all the while in China and Taiwan, people’s personality is influenced deeply by agriculture in the old days. Agriculture needs a wide variety of specialties and techniques, including ways to expand the lands suitable for plant rising, by digging water-channels and other forms of irrigation. And all of those works must be done by one person. People are not allowed to whine or we will not have sustenance. So agriculture makes farmers stay in one place to take care of their crops. They are not allowed to move from place to place and this circumstance leads them to live a steady life. One of the 100 most influential people in 2005, Malcolm, had done a research. The research talks about the differences between Asian kids and American kids. Asian kids are more successful at math because of cultural attitudes: persistence. In my opinion persistence is the only route to success not just at math but in every area. New generations seems cannot stay in one place finishing their jobs, but I think this is because they would like to experience difference things instead of following their parents’ hopes. For example, Lin Yu-Chun is the most famous singer recently. When he told to his father his dream, his father scorned at him and then said “stop dreaming”. Lin Yu-Chun did not change his mind and practice singing constantly. Now he is one of the most successful singers in the world.
The parents of the older generations have so many children and they’ve got to take care of their crops, most of us are good at organizing our life. People can do all the house work in their young age. The president of America psychological association, Robert Sternberg said this is called practical intelligence. Practical intelligence is the ability to adapt everyday life by drawing on existing knowledge and skills. However, the new generations cannot solve all the problems by themselves and overcome any obstacles. I think their parents should take all of the responsibilities. The new generations are so-called the strawberry generations is because they are well-protected when they were young. Adults should introspect first instead of blaming their children.
In my opinion, every generation should take all the criticism because one generation is value by their character. Consequently, each generation owns their distinguishing characteristics which signify the richness and the prosperity of a country. Having the dedications of all different groups in an era means a nation is gaining their special cultural heritage. In my point of view, we are remaining a historical trait in our epoch which means all of us are creating our unique history. Whether the trend in a generation is appropriate or not, they are definitely the connection between the human being. All of us must face them and accept them in our whole life. Hence, every generation should be elated to have their culture also to enhance and glorify their extraordinary qualities.

The reflection after watching the movie “The Secret Life of bees”

I was first attracted to this movie because of the gifted actress- Dakota Fanning. There is no doubt that her performance in this movie is awesome as always. Moreover, there is also one of my favorite singers in this movie who is called Alicia Keys. In my opinion, Alicia Keys should focus on her singing career instead of acting.
The story describes a girl who suffered from a guilt she made unconsciously when she was four years old. She killed her mother by a gunshot. During the period of her childhood, she lived with her father. And she had to endure her father’s moody, violent and obstinate personality. However, there is a black woman who took care of her in a gentle and cordial way. Since this story happened in the 1960s which is an era of the black people who were treated unfairly, this black woman also humiliated by the residents. The little girl decided to run away with the black woman from this miserable place to find somewhere only love and peace exist.
This movie concerns the topic about family love, friendship, believes and race. After finishing watching this movie, I kept thinking about all sets of relationships in today’s society. I realized that any kinds of relationship needed to be managed carefully by the passion of LOVE. Consequently, each of us should not underestimated our important status to others and always remember to express our passionate affection to the people we care.