The Simpsons Movie

In the first place, there was a performing on the Springfield Lake, everybody enjoyed listening to music. When the rock band would like to say something about the environment, audiences were silent at that moment, then things became out of control, everyone throw their garbage at the lake, then one guy said that “Pollution in your lake, it is dissolving our barge.” Then, all members of band were killed because of the toxic lake. Although it overstated the plot, but I think that the author wants to convey the serious problem to people who do not care about our environmental pollution.

I was impressed on the another scene, when the EPA captured the squirrel which has thousand eyes, and then the head of EPA proposes five unthinkable options to President, but the President just random choice one and said “I was elected to lead, not to read.” The author wants to convey that the politicians always only care about the power and benefits, but don’t care about citizens are dead or live.

I had never seen the Simpson before, but when I watched it I was surprised at how much funny it is but I think when Bart is riding his skateboard naked, it was really too exaggerated, but it made me laugh. I like this movie because it use humor, irony, overstating and funny methods to highlight and express the serious problem of the environment and use irony to mock politicians. Also, it shows about family love and the relationship between parents and children.

Humor is a Way for People to Connect

As no doubt, humor is the best way to socialize and connect with people easily. In my opinion, making friends is not always easy. It depends on how outgoing you are. The person who has humor is always popular in the group, and easy to socialize with other people.


First, humor is the way for people to socialize- when I was in senior high school, I joined the party where have many people. I was not good at to socialize with big group because I didn’t know how to make jokes or say something funny. But now, I love use humor to socialize with people, it is best way to make friends when you are go into the strange environment.

Second, humor is also the way for people to connect and bond each other- why the TV show which have humor and funny are so popular with audience? That is because they use humor and irony methods to express the today’s phenomenon. Most of audiences love this kind of methods because people are very busy in the daily life; we need some funny things to release the pressure. When I am angry at my kids’ behavior, my husband will say some humor words to reconcile conflict. I feel we are more bonding each other.

Finally, having a sense of humor is important, but don't get too carried away, there are some things you have to be serious about. If you joke about your friend in a rude way it could damage your relationship with them.

Book Review-"Millions" (Part II)

Comments:

I think that it’s an amazing, funny, horrifying, fantastical, realistic, sad, touching, and shocking story. When Damian talks about any topic, he likes to start with the patron saint of the story. His big brother, Anthony, is into money and investments, but Damian is fascinated by saints. As this story begins, the boys' mother has died. They've moved with their father into a new house and started attending a new school. As mostly parents in the world, they always want their children to be excellent and good. Being good parents are not an easy job, especially live in the competing world. You have to earn more money to raise your children, set a good example for them, and take care of them with full attention. Sometimes I feel exhausted, but I love being a parent.

In the story, Damian’s Dad has instructed Damian to be excellent and he tries very hard to be good, partly because he's afraid his father will vanish, as his mother did, if he fails. To that end, he answers his teacher in class in such long-winded detail or is so "quiet" that his teacher is concerned.

Damian builds a hermitage. There, he has visions of saints. When the saints talk to him, he always asks if they've seen his mother. Obviously, he was missing her mother very much; therefore, he focused on the biography of saints and hope can see his mother someday.
One night, Damian is in his hermitage, praying. The train thunders past. A bag with millions of the old-fashioned pound notes --- an unbelievable fortune! Damian believes it's a direct gift from God in sympathy for the death of his mother.

Damian and Anthony don't tell their father of their sudden wealth out of concern for taxes. They discuss all they can buy: sea monkeys, fancy bikes, cell phones, computer games, houses. They must spend their wealth in 17 days, because when the new money system goes into effect, their notes will be worthless. Life becomes more and more complicated when thieves and police enter the picture.

The brothers treat school kids to soft drinks, and then bribe them for favors. Damian and Anthony buy their classmates' belongings for huge prices. Soon, they're lying to their father about where all their new toys have come from. Damian wryly notes that there's no patron saint of lying.

I've never read anything remotely like it. It’s a truly excellent read. If you incidentally get vast money and you have to spend it out within 17 days. What would you do? It’s really interesting. Just think about it. It’s a good book, recommend you to read it.

Book Review-"Millions" (Part I)

1. Title: Millions
2. Author: Frank Cottrell Boyce
3. Publisher: Macmillan (UK version)
4. Date of Publication: February 6, 2004
5. Pages: 250 pages
6. Major Characters:
◎ Damian- a 7-year-old boy, who found a bag of money flung from a passing train.
◎ Anthony- Damian’s brother, who is the selfish and wants the money only for himself and his entertainment.

7. Plot Summary:
“Millions” tells the story of 7-year-old Damian, whose family moves to the suburbs of Widnes after the death of his mother. Soon after the move, Damian's "hermitage" is obliterated by a bag of money flung from a passing train. Damian immediately shows the money to his brother, Anthony, and the two begin thinking of what to do with it. Anthony, the selfish one, wants the money only for himself and his entertainment.

Damian, the kind-hearted and religious of the two, had recently overheard three Latter-day Saint missionaries lecture other members of the community on building foundations of rock rather than foundations of sand, an old Christian principle which dictates that self-worth should be based on the teachings of Christ rather than any other object of worship such as Money/Mammon or Power. The lecture inspires Damian, who is particularly enamored with the missionaries because of the name of their church; Damian is obsessed with saints, studying their biographies and even seeing them in his day-to-day activities as visions. He immediately begins looking for ways to give his share of the money to the poor; at one point he even stuffs a bundle of cash through the missionaries' letter box, having heard about their modest lifestyle and deciding that they too must be poor.

Throughout the story, Damian commits small acts of kindness like buying birds from pet stores and setting them free and taking beggars to Pizza Hut, while Anthony bribes other kids at school into being his transportation and bodyguards, and looks into investing the money in real estate.
The story takes place within a few weeks of The Bank of England's (fictional) change from the pound (£) to the euro (€). An assembly is held at Damian's school to inform the children about the change, as well as to educate the children about helping the poor. Realizing that the money, which is in pounds, will be no good after a few days, Damian decides that the best thing to do would be to give it all to the poor before the conversion. Upon deciding this, he drops £3,000 into the donation can at the assembly, for which he gets into trouble. When Damian goes into the principal's office, Anthony lies, stating that he and Damian stole the money from the Mormons (to protect Damian). Damian and Anthony are grounded that night.

After the donation, Anthony's friend informs them that a train carrying bills which were to be destroyed after the conversion had been robbed, and that the money had been dispersed by throwing it off of the train at various locations throughout the country to be collected by the robbers. The boys logically conclude that their money was stolen, and Damian, who thought the money was from God, feels terrible.

Around this time, a mysterious man comes snooping around the train tracks and asks Damian if he has any money. Damian thinks that the man is a beggar and tells him he has 'loads of money'. However, Anthony finds out and comes back to give the man a jar full of coins to cover Damian's tracks.

The robber eventually finds out where Damian lives and ransacks his house to find the money. Damian had informed his father about the money just before they came home to their destroyed house. Damian's father, who had resolved to give the money back, decided that if the robbers were going to steal his family's Christmas, then he would steal the robbers' money. The family, as well as the father’s new girlfriend, goes on a massive shopping spree on Christmas Eve.

That night, after they are asleep, their house is bombarded by beggars and charities begging for contributions, and seeing the confusion that results, Damian runs off to the train tracks to burn the money, deciding that it was doing more harm than good. While he is burning the money, he is visited by his dead mother, who tells him not to worry about her. This is not out of the ordinary in the scope of the story; Damian is visited by numerous dead saints throughout the story, a phenomenon never explained as either hallucinatory or genuine and used instead as a light-hearted device used to show Damian's purity. Damian's mother also tells him that he was her miracle, which is significant because in Catholicism, performing a miracle is a requirement for becoming a saint.

In the final scene Damian's dream of the family flying a rocket ship to Africa and helping develop water wells is seen, which earlier in the book is shown to be the most crucial and cheapest way to drastically improve the quality of life for many African communities.