Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is the sequel to Wall Street that came out in 1987.  The plot is centered around a relationship between this guy named Jacob and Winnie.  Jacob works on Wall Street, while Winnie attempts to establish a web cite she created on the map.  The kicker is that Winnie is the daughter of Gordon Gekko, a highly respected man within Wall Street once upon a time.  He was found guilty of using and abusing insider information to enhance his profits.  The movie starts off with him getting out of jail and having nothing.  Long story short, he manipulates Jacob into using insider information to ultimately steal 100 million dollars from Winnie that he left in her name before he went to jail.  

The most prominent justice issue presented in this movie is this idea of insider trading.  The trading of stock with hidden information that the general public is not informed about.  Its not only about insider trading, but the ways of proving someone guilty of this crime.  As one can imagine its extremely difficult to prove what a person has heard by word of mouth.  How can a justice system convict a person of hearsay, when we are highly rooted in providing solid/hard evidence towards one another?  Gordon Gekko really isnt seen as a villain in the movie yet more so as an antihero.  The movie is drenched in moral and ethical issues between the three main characters, yet is seen as secondary to the white collar crime.  It really gives you a great example of a victimless crime. 

Cocaine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdDhV45lYHU&ob=av2n

If you wanna hang out
You've gotta take her out
Cocaine
If you wanna get down
Down on the ground
Cocaine

She don't lie
She don't lie
She don't lie
COCAINE

If you got bad news
You wanna kick them blues
Cocaine
When your day is done
And you wanna run
Cocaine

She don't lie
She don't lie
She don't lie



COCAINE

If your thing is gone
And you wanna ride on
Cocaine
Don't forget this fact
You can't get it back
Cocaine

She don't lie
She don't lie
She don't lie
COCAINE

She don't lie
She don't lie
She don't lie
COCAINE

Alright so this song is obviously about Cocaine.  Hands down one of Eric Claptons best songs.  So if this is your first time hearing this song you might be inclined to think Eric is supporting the use of cocaine.  In reality he says its an anti-drug song. He supports this by saying look at the opening lyrics, "if you wanna get down, down on the ground, cocaine".  In essence saying theres a price to pay to use cocaine.  Clapton had many drug addictions in the 60's and 70's.  I believe he was finally sober by the mid 70's.  Obviously the justice issue present is the use of drugs.  In reality Clapton has to be using his own experiences for the lyrics.  In my opinion it seems like there are mixed messages being sent.  I think a lot of artists purposefully make music to interpret subjectively.

Speaker Guest

Overall I thought the guest speaker was very informative.   Her presentation was well rounded and covered many aspects of suicide.  I was actually quite surprised on the number of suicides per year.  I was expecting a lot more.  Also, it was pretty shocking that 80% of people have thought about suicide at least once in their lifetime.  I dont know if thats sad or alarming to be quite honest or both.  She also said most suicides come from people between the ages of 18-25.  What is happening between these ages, college?  Does this mean our universities are putting way to much stress on their students?  In my opinion I think they are.  Personally I believe there should be limitations on student work loads.  That no college in the U.S. should be allowed to break.  

Her presentation seemed to cover almost every aspect and emotion involved in suicide.  I almost thought I was at risk when she mentioned the fact about people staying in bed all day.  I mean on the weekends I rarely leave my bedroom.   To say the least she was very informative.  In all seriousness its important to understand the symptoms of suicide.  Suicide is an extremely hard idea to grasp for some people.  I believe it should be mandatory for all people to take a class like that.

Halloween Prank

http://www.toledoblade.com/article/20101101/NEWS02/11010307


This article consists of a triple homicide.   Early sunday morning 3 bodies were found in a local barn.  The 3 bodies consisted of a father, a mother, and a son.  Early sunday morning one of the other came home from a friends house thinking it was a halloween prank from the night before (the family had a barn party saturday night).  After soon realizing his family was murdered he called the police.  Not to long after the police found the other son in a local hotel.  It didn't take long before they found out that he had murdered his own family.  The son had countless run-ins with the law prior to this murder.  The police were quoted saying, "he had violent past".  Motives are still unknown along with the weapon.

Does the media use Halloween as an excuse to influence ratings?  In essence does the media stretch stories to help connect a reason to an action?  In my opinion I believe they do.  Im sure there is an influx in homicides during Halloween because of the costumes.  Im sure there are days where there are just as many murders as Halloween accumulates that dont get the same publicity because of the randomness.  Being able to provide speculation with causality has to help media ratings without a doubt.