Blog entry 2: A Review of Ben Affleck's 2012 movie, Argo

It has been a good year in the box office once again, thanks to hits such as The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and The Hunger Games. A film that really grabbed my attention so far has been "Argo", starring and directed by Ben Affleck. The plot of "Argo" surrounds the CIA's involvement in the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis (this leg of the crisis was dubbed "The Canadian Caper"). Perhaps the one of the most enticing elements of this film is the fact that this is all based on a true event, which in turn causes the mind to endlessly imagine it all happening off the screen throughout the experience. To summarize, the "Canadian Caper" was a joint mission involving the Canadian government, the American government and the CIA to rescue six American embassy staff who narrowly escaped being taken hostage by Iranian extremists. Taking refuge at the Canadian Ambassador's home, Tony Mendez (Affleck) who is a CIA specialist is given the task to create a fake film to take place in Iran. With the six hostages his fake film crew, he attempts to break them free of the country and back to American soil.  Ben Affleck puts on another stellar performance as well as the entire supporting cast. Throughout the entire motion picture there is a steady pace keeping the audience on the edge of their seats -I found myself squeezing the hand-rests a few times- but also enough breaks from action to give the audience time to digest all the information gathered throughout the movie -there is plenty to take in-. Overall, "Argo" was a very well organized and directed film. I did not find myself lost at any points throughout the film but at the same time, I took in a large amount of information throughout. I also did not find myself bored, or tired of any scenes in the movie but instead enticed and eager to see whatever came next. "Argo" is a must see in the current wave of box office hits.

Blog Post 1: Research essay topic selection.

The sports world is a billion dollar industry, an industry which I have always had great interest in. Since a young age there have been numerous athletes from sports such as football, hockey, baseball and basketball that I have grown an immense amount of respect for. Something that has bothered me over the years is to read in the news talk of "doping" allegations, otherwise known as the use of performance-enhancing drugs. To me, the use of performance-enhancing drugs whether it's in recreational, varsity or professional sports, is wrong on many levels and is still a large problem in the world of sport today. My strong interest in sports and the actions of it's athletes has propelled me to use "doping" in sports as my topic for my research paper, in which I will discuss the pros and cons of doping, the punishment involved currently, notable users and most importantly, the effect it has on the sport itself.  I believe this is an important topic because over the years many heroes of the sporting world have been uncovered as steroid users, ranging from baseball greats like Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemens, to recently the Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong. Doping allegations around these big name athletes sends a negative message to fans of all ages, including children who may idolize these people, and also damages their respective franchises in the case of team sports, and sometimes even the industry itself.