Jay+Sackett



almatimes.com
 * The Alma Times **

March 9, 2009 OP-ED Columnist By: Jay Sackett You hear it day in and day out, “with the economy the ways it is….,” people blame the economy for everything in this day and time even if it is not affecting them at all. It is amazing how some people who are very well off are complaining about this economy and how difficult it is for them when they are talking to someone who has just been laid off. It may be more difficult for some to live now compared to 1999 but look at those who have lost their jobs, homes, cars, and families due to this recession. Families fall apart due to the rise in divorce rates during recessions. This makes it that much harder for one person to live on their own and pay the bills during this time. If you hear a family of four with two working parents and two kids in school, complaining about how difficult it is to live, it is a load of you know what. They are both lucky to still have their jobs. My family is in this situation. My mom and dad both work in school districts, so luckily they have not lost their jobs. Whenever I am around they complain about how difficult it is to live. They are making the same if not better salaries then 2-3 years ago when this economy headed south. I don’t understand how they are struggling if they both still have their jobs, cars, clothes and house. This economy is hurting many people through millions of foreclosures and loss of jobs daily. Doctors, professional athletes, actors, and singers still have their jobs and people still pay to watch or visit them. Attendances at entertainment events have dropped slightly but people are still willing to pay for entertainment. High paid doctors sure haven’t let this economy affect them. People get sick and injured everyday, leaving doctors with a very low chance of losing their jobs. Teachers are another group of people who will probably never get laid off like the autoworkers do. This world needs teachers so students can learn, grow up and help keep this country going. The number of private schools is shrinking quickly but that means public school enrollment is on the rise. Parents don’t have the money to send their kids to private schools but they aren’t going to drop them out of school either. This leaves the door open for more teachers to be employed in public schools where private school students are now attending. While there are many white collar jobs out there that are not at risk of being laid off, a blue collar job in the auto industry seems to be one job that has no job security. Two of the Big Three might go under because of how poorly they are doing. You hear about the auto industry every night on the news and this scares people. The news is quick to tell you about companies laying off workers, but doesn’t tell you about the the companies who actually need more help. Some blue-collar jobs like auto repair shops - Midas, Belle Tire, Discount Tire, and Tuffy are in need of help because people are repairing their current cars instead of buying new. The last major field that doesn’t seem to be affected by this economy is energy. The past few years have been focused on alternative energy as gas and oil prices sky rocket. We need an increasing number of people to find alternative sources of energy to keep people from paying five dollars for a gallon of gasoline. Alternative energy jobs will only continue to increase no matter what state the economy is in. One day, we will run out of fossil fuels to power our cars and in order to prevent that, we will need to hire researchers to find new ways to power our homes, automobiles, and cities. Many jobs are increasing while big name jobs are decreasing. Yet, we only hear about big name companies such as the auto industry and many small partnerships and sole proprietorships failing and laying off workers. We don’t hear about the small blue-collar auto shops and other jobs that are actually increasing due to the recession and cutbacks. Some people cut back their money by keeping up with the maintenance of the car they have giving opportunities to the auto mechanic shops, rather then buying new. Many people in this economy are not affected by this economy but the media causes them to cut back in spending. My parents are prime example of that – a couple who work in the education field and have a very slim chance of being laid off and the economy is not really effecting them. The thought of what is happening to many others seen via the media, is what scares them the most. No one doubts the hard economic slump for some, but a silver lining exists: Many people are doing better or are remaining stable unaffected by job loss and money issues.
 * The Other Side of The Recession **

**Parking Issues Cause many Complaints Around the Alma College Campus** || Due to more and more complaints about parking from Alma residents and students at Alma College we decided to look into the issue. The alma residents are complaining because they feel if someone goes to the bar and can’t drive home, they don’t have a place to leave their car overnight. This will cause more people to drive after having a few beers at the bar. With the free municipal lots, they were able to leave their cars overnight and walk home or get a ride. We then surveyed the students and conducted an interview with Alma College’s physical plant. The responses we got did not seem to match up. The students reported that they couldn’t ever find a spot in the lot they have a pass for, yet three-quarters of the students who responded have had to pay parking fines due to lack of parking spaces available. Many students pay $150 dollars or more to park their car on campus. The campus has the parking lots set up by color (shown on 2nd page) – Maroon and Silver. The maroon lots are closer to the campus and dorms, which is why they are more expensive then silver passes. The silver lots are cheaper and farther away. They have 5 main maroon lots and 2 main silver lots. These lots are scattered around campus. The largest maroon lot is located on the north side of Mitchell, surrounding Bruske completely and that lot typically has parking spots available. The maroon lot between Mitchell hall and Gelston hall is nearly impossible to find a spot in. The lot between Mitchell and Gelston is the closest maroon lot for Gelston residents. Approximately 1/3 of the students surveyed had once parked in the free city lots. Since the city started charging, not one of those students bought a pass from the city because it was cheaper to purchase a pass through the school. Not only that, but the Alma lots were closer. When a student first come to Alma College, they may be thinking that they will not have to spend any money on a parking pass because of the free city lots which are less then a mile away. This year, they decide to charge students to for parking there. This may have an effect on the amount of students with cars on campus as well as the amount of passes sold through the school. When we surveyed the students we found out that ¼ of them are paying $60 or more in parking fines. A parking fine of the school usually costs 20 bucks. We then asked the students if they would use a free lot less then a mile away from school if it was an option and 2/3 of them responded that they would rather use that lot even though there was no security from the campus. When we went to interview the physical plant, they seemed irritated and annoyed with each question, almost like they knew they were wrong. They told us that there are 504 maroon spots available across campus. They issued 500 maroon passes this year. There are 15 other small parking areas across campus that are designated maroon lots. They sell 500 passes expecting all the students to evenly distribute among these parking areas. They included all houses and apartments owned by the school as maroon parking pass areas. Sigma Chi’s driveway is considered a maroon lot so technically a Gelston resident may have to park there if the lots are full everywhere else. The physical plant said they usually sell out of maroon passes, but when we asked about selling out of silver passes, they said they haven’t recently. They used to sell out of silver for several years when there was no place in the city for students to park. With the city charging for their city lots they may begin to sell out of silver again. The high price of the parking pass could not be answered by physical plant. Our reporter in action was recommended to talk to someone else and then someone else and the only thing he found out was that all the money from the tickets and parking pass fees collects into one account. The money may go toward parking lot up-keep and wages of employees.
 * S tudents fight everyday to find a spot to park their car. The issue became evident in November when the City of Alma began charging people for using their free lots. Students complained to the city because the city issued more tickets. Most students bought a pass through Alma College for two reasons: one, Alma lots are closer and second, buying a pass at that time was much cheaper then the cost of a city pass.

**Sight Unknown** I walk out to lunch, dodging the giant potholes in our parking lot, and I get glimpses of people making eye contact with me. I always wonder what they think when they look at me. I know I have changed as person from what I used to be when I was younger in school. But I wonder if they notice that I’m different now or that’s part of the reason they don’t talk to me anymore. I don’t have many friends because I don’t fit in with the cool kids and I am so busy with work and baseball. Do they think I’m weird because I never go out to lunch with anyone and never go to parties on the weekends? I always had these thoughts and many more in high school because I knew I changed as a person. I was finally able to learn through one of my best friends how the others who didn’t know me pictured me. It was the middle of high school, and I had given up trying to be someone I wasn’t. I just wanted to be myself no matter what others thought of me. I always had an excuse not to hangout with people I wasn’t avoiding them, I just had a lot going on in my life that I had to keep up with. On a Friday, I remember two of my friends were walking out to their cars with me and they were talking about what they wanted to do for lunch. I hesitated to even include myself in the conversation because I really hated to turn down the offer of going with them. So I tried not to say anything but they finally asked me, “Hey, do you wanna come to Boston Market with us?!” There was no way I was going to go to Boston Market for lunch. I might have thought about it if it was something cheap and easy like Taco Bell, but Boston Market? No way did I have the time or money for that kind of restaurant. I hated to say no to them but I had to decline their offer. My parents taught me differently I was born into middle class family and my parents always wanted to know where I was going and what I was doing. I had to pay for everything that most of the kids in my area would not even think of. The cell phone bill came every month, and my mom always expected me to pay my third. My brother paid his third and my mom paid her third; no questions asked. How many kids that went to my high school would have to pay for their own cell phone bill? // He seems different than what he used to be. He used to dress in style and he fit-in pretty well with all the kids. I always thought he had wealthy parents who paid for his clothes and gave him money for his lunch everyday. It seemed everyone who dressed well and hung out on the weekends together was looked up to. I recall one day when we were in middle school, he had a locker near mine. I saw him at his locker one day wearing his Abercrombie and Fitch shirt and in style cargo shorts. This was his way of fitting in with the “cool crowd” and I don’t understand why kids like him try to fit in so much. I had a math class with him and I sat across the room from him. Almost everyday, as typical middle school kids, a girl named Shelley and he would pass notes back and forth, giggling and being kind of immature. From then on I always thought he was a ladies man and was always trying to impress the girls. I never heard many stories about him dating any girls, it just seemed like the girls always liked him. Now that I see him walking through the halls half way through high school he seems to be a different person than in middle school. I begin to wonder why he doesn’t have many friends anymore. Maybe he grew up and realized he doesn’t have to fit in and try so hard to impress people. // Country music, trucks, and being able to do things on my own were my experiences growing up as a kid. My grandparents were from the south and I think that’s where my mom gets the country attitude. I had chores to do everyday. By chores, I don’t mean making my bed or putting away my clean clothes. Those were everyday activities I was expected to do. Chores were not something I got paid for but they had to be done in order to get my supper that night. My mom worked in the elementary school so she came home later than my brother and I. I came home to find a list of chores she wanted done one Thursday night. It was conference night for the elementary schools, which meant she would be home even later then normal. Clean and vacuum your room, empty dishwasher, put clean clothes away, cut the grass, switch laundry over, and blow out the garage. I clearly remember this list because she left it sitting on the kitchen counter, just as I walked in, so I didn’t miss seeing it. Not having much homework for Friday, I remember thinking to myself how accomplished I would feel if I finished everything on the list. So, from three o’clock till seven o’clock I worked on each one of the chores she left for me. Cutting the grass took me the longest but it was also the last one I did and when I came back inside, I showered and my mom showed up just as I got done. She was so proud of me when she found out I finished all those chores. Not only that, but I felt really good about myself for accomplishing the list and pleasing her. It made me feel so good inside to make people happy. She felt the busier she kept my brother and I the more trouble we would stay out of. At dinner that same night, I asked her the question I’ve been wondering most of my life, “Mom, why do I have to try and fit in with the other kids? I feel like I don’t belong here. None of them do chores unless they get paid for them.” Her answer basically told me, – we live in the area with families wealthier than us and kids who aren’t brought up like us because the public school system is one of the best known in Michigan. Essentially the only reason we live here is so we can get well prepared for college and our future. // I used to look at this kid Jay and think he was just like the rest of the people in this area – rich, snobby, and not caring about anyone else but himself. The only real thing I know about him is his name. I never have paid much attention to him as he has never been mean to me or anyone I know but I just think that’s the way he is or was. I see a different person in him today as the days keep going by in high school. I noticed this change when I was sitting in class with him one day. I realized that he is very quiet yet he’s not like all the other kids in the class who were sleeping as I looked around. He was actually paying attention to our teacher but he was just very quiet. We had an assignment due this particular day that I forgot to do myself. There were only about 5 kids that turned it in. I saw him get up and hand it in to the basket in front of the room. This made me feel really lazy, because I knew I should have done it I just didn’t feel like doing it last night. I enjoyed watching “24” instead of doing homework. I really feel like he has changed, or I am getting to know him, either way he is not the kind of kid I had originally pictured. I think it will be interesting when he turns 16 to see what kind of car mommy and daddy buy him. The other typical rich kids usually get the Saab’s or the Jeeps with leather interior, 6 CD changer, sunroof and all the other goodies you can get. It’s more or less the people he hangs around that makes me think he will be like all the rest of them. I wish I could find someone like myself who has a lot of responsibilities, has to do things without having someone tell them to do them, like paying my credit card bill, which is never fun. Maybe it’s just a part of growing up. // My sixteenth birthday came and went and I finally got my driver’s license. This was one of the coolest days of my life. I got my first cell phone, I think because my mom wanted me to have it in case of emergency, but that’s not what it turned out to be for. It was a new level of freedom, being able to drive and be on my own. I had to buy a truck in order to do my lawn business and it had to have a lot of miles on it so I could afford it. I knew this would be interesting when kids found out I drove a truck because the cool kids usually get something that has all the gadgets and is brand new. As expected the first day of junior year started off with some weird looks. First off, I never really hung out with anyone over the summer, as I was so busy with my lawn business and baseball. Second off my friends or people I thought were my friends didn’t seem to want to sit by me in class or talk to me that day. The day dragged on as a usual first day of school does. I came home with seven syllabuses, a couple homework assignments and zero friends. What, just because I am dressed in jeans that don’t have holes in them, I’m not wearing an Abercrombie shirt, and I drive a truck means that I don’t fit in with them all of sudden? They must have standards and being myself must not be cool with them. // I was just walking into school when I caught glimpse of someone I had forgot about over the summer. I was even more surprised to see him in something that is just asking for him to be made fun of; a pick-up truck. What a surprise, I never thought he would drive something that big or even know how to maneuver it. I wonder what his so-called friends think of this. The truck’s not new and its not very classy. I can’t figure out why he is driving this. It’s more of a country style and more my style. I wonder what he uses it for? A million questions were running through my mind on the first day because it was very strange to see someone I thought to be something appear to be something else. None of my friends know him but I really wish I knew someone that did because I want to find out why he is driving a truck and what he uses it for. I noticed that the first few weeks of school he didn’t seem to be around his usual group of friends and it never seemed like he went out to lunch with anyone. I feel creepy cause I am keeping such an eye on him but I think I want to get to know him, his truck really draws me in. I am really into cars and engines especially diesels which is what he drives. . // Well the first few weeks of school are flying by and I really don’t have many friends this year but that doesn’t bother me. I am here to get my education like my mom told me. I am working hard to pay for all my hobbies and to save up for college. I feel I am so busy I don’t really even pay attention to the fact that I don’t have many friends. Everyday I am working after school. And this year I took a program called co-op, which allows me to take 3 classes off in order to do my job. Without co-op I don’t think I would have enough time to get all my work done and stay on top of my schoolwork. Trying to keep up with the maintenance of all my lawn equipment and my truck takes my weekends completely away from me but as long as I stay busy it doesn’t bother me. I don’t care what people think of me because I am being myself and loving myself. I don’t dress to impress, no polo shirts with the collar popped up to my ears, no jeans with holes in them looking like they just came from a garage sale. I dress more like the old days with my Levi jeans, a plain jane shirt and some older looking sneakers. Once winter comes and my job and baseball slow down, I start to realize that I am a little bored, that is until the snow starts to accumulate. I know I will be busy having fun when the snow starts to fly and I get to hop in my truck and head up north to snowmobile. It’s a hobby that is almost impossible to keep me away from. Not only that – it brings time that I get to spend with my family who are so important to me. I remember after Christmas sometime in January, I had to bring my snowmobile home from up north because I had to work on it. Well that following weekend I was going back up to ride and Friday I took it to school in the back of my truck. It just so happened I parked next to a kid that I noticed loved cars and engines which was cool because I loved engines and cars too. // Well the year went on and it practically felt like my classes were meant to be taught by ninety year old people who talked in the same monotone voice. I never felt so bored and annoyed by all of my classes. Winter was near and boy was I ready for snowmobiling season and going up north. That feeling of power beneath your right thumb is a feeling of chocolate in a chocolate lovers mouth. It’s a rush to get on a snowmobile, whether your floating through the powder or going 0-60 in 4 seconds, it is such pretty scenery when you go riding after a snowfall of 8-12 inches plus of snow. Christmas came and went and I still hadn’t seen snow yet, Michigan winters are so unpredictable but I knew the snow was coming. It was a Friday in January when I was headed out to my car for lunch and I saw that familiar truck that I hadn’t seen in a while parked out by my car. As I got closer I about crapped myself as I saw a snowmobile sitting in the back of it. I had not seen or thought much of Jay since I’d seen him in that same truck the first day of school. I don’t know who he hangs out with anymore but I was in shock. How could I have mistaken someone this bad? I wonder if this is really his and I wonder if he bought it himself. I had all the same thoughts in my head as I did when I saw him in that big red truck the first day of school. As I was sitting there staring not even realizing this was happening I heard a voice cry out, “Hey do you have a snowmobile or something?” // I was walking out to lunch when I saw this kid standing near my truck just kind of staring. As I got closer I realized, it was the kid into cars that parked next to me. I had to say something so I said, “Hey do you have a snowmobile or something?” He swung around surprised to see me and said, ‘Yeah, I’m sorry, I’m just shocked to see someone else around here that actually enjoys the same thing I do.” He shocked me with this answer and we talked for a few minutes and realizing how much we had in common. I asked him if he wanted to join me for lunch at my house even though we hardly knew each other. Weird how all it takes is one little thing to make a friendship that can last forever. I never really thought much of this kid because I never saw him around. We never really had class together or saw each other much in school although I had always known him as we had been going to school together since 6th grade. I made some judgments about him that weren’t necessarily bad but I told him about them which led to some things he told me about me. He explained how he thought because of whom I hung out with and being a sports player he had a mental image of me in his head of a rich, snobby, stuck up kid that fit in well in this area. We got into some deep discussions this day and it is so amazing to find out how much you have in common with someone that you don’t even notice. // Well what a shocker! We ended up at his house for lunch. I think this day helped me realize you never know a person until you actually sit down and get to know them. I cannot believe the amount of things we had in common as we kept talking. This is what I had always dreamed of; finding someone who was brought up the same way as I was. I can’t believe it took us all of 5 years to finally start talking and become such great friends a day later. I think he finally found his group of friends he switched to. It’s so nice to have someone to understand that you’ve got stuff to do, that you have to work to make money in order to pay for things on your own, and to have someone understand how you were raised to do things on your without being asked. We talked about this over and over at lunch. Then we got to the fun stuff; our hobbies. We ran out of time but we probably could have talked for hours about that. I know that I still do it to this day but I try so hard not to judge people just by the outside, (after this day I still cannot believe the type of person Jay was.) I wish everyone would take the chance to get to know someone before judging them as I learned my lesson. // **“Click” Film Analysis** While a bit confusing overall idea, // Click // had a great meaning behind it while keeping comedy a key factor in the overall performance. The actors played their roles perfectly. Donna was the typical stay at home mom who did all the work around the house while trying to keep up with the kids. Michael was the male father figure working too much and spending too much free time on his cell phone. And Michael’s parents were always yelling at their son to spend time with his family and making fun of how much time he spends on the phone dealing with work. Morty was your stereotypical nerd who looked like creeper and showed Michael everything he needed to know about that weird universal remote. Frank Coraci made this film enjoyable and unique (with his different techniques) for almost any crowd. He got people laughing, crying, and everything in between with this film. The film had several factors that made it a very well made movie including, the different point of views shown, the camera angles, the dominant color blue and the background music. Michael, played by Adam Sandler, leads a normal life with his family of four, his wife, Donna and two kids. He gets fed up with trying to turn the T.V. on with the five remotes sitting on the table and goes to get a universal remote from Bed, Bath and Beyond. He lays down on a bed in the store and sees a sign that glows saying, “Beyond.” He meets Morty who helps him find a universal remote which is non-returnable. He soon learns that this remote is much more then just a universal remote for T.V.’s, fans, and other electronics. He finds himself using the remote to fast-forward through the hard parts of his life and pausing the one’s he wants to enjoy, making his life easier for himself. He ends up losing his family due to the amount of time that passes without him realizing. He learns his lesson by the end of the movie when he is telling his son - as he is dying, “family comes first.” He wakes up on the same bed in the same store and is delighted to know that is was all supposedly a dream. It taught him a very important lesson and made him enjoy every possible chance he got to spend with his family, as everything seemed more important to him. Going into this film I knew it was told over an extended period of time. We get to see the whole life of Adam Sandler from when he was young - going on his first date with his wife, to when he dies when his kids have grown up and married. The film is in chronological order of what happens in his life from the day he gets the universal remote. The menu button on the remote allows Michael to go back in time and see his life from the day he was born. By using the menu button he also gets to see himself as a kid playing football and as a teenager with his many girlfriends. There were some voiceovers in the film to help the audience better understand what was going on. One voiceover occurs when Michael looks back on specific dates in his life. This voiceover looks back a couple of days and is describing what Michael had to eat, a cheeseburger and the voiceover continues to go back in time. The second voiceover comes on when Michael leaves for work and the voiceover says “leaving his wife confused again”. He wakes up one morning realizing he can’t shower, kiss his wife goodbye, or fight with his wife and the voiceover comes in to say that he leaves her confused and clueless once again. These voiceovers help emphasize what the director is trying to get across to the audience. Through this voiceover the director is trying to show that Michael learned the night before that he cannot fight with his wife, kiss her, or shower because the remote will automatically default to autopilot mode causing him to lose more precious moments of his life. The point of view the movie is shown through is mainly objective. We mainly see what is going on from the third person viewpoint. We see Michael in many atmospheres dealing with all sorts of situations. There are a couple main scenes, which are shown in the subjective point of view through Michael’s eyes. This makes the scenes more interesting and focuses more of your attention toward what the director wants to you to see. The first time we get to see through Michael’s eyes is when he is in the basement, after he had fast forwarded through dinner with his parents. They change the scene to the basement and all we see is the desk in front of us and the remote in our right hand just as Michael sees it through his eyes. They then slowly show us Michaels face and body as the camera angle switches back to showing Michael sitting at his desk. It is interesting how they switch scenes right away and jump into his perspective. The other time when we get to see through Michaels eyes is at his son’s wedding. He gets to dance with his wife when The Cranberries, “Linger,” the song of their first kiss comes on. After the dance he hears his daughter call Bill (aka speedo torpedo), “Dad,” and everything starts to spin. We get to see everything start to spin through Michael’s eyes and hear the voices calling his name through his ears. It gives a good effect of how it would actually feel and what Michael is seeing. Michael takes himself back to the last time he saw his dad before he died and plays that scene over and over. He was on auto pilot the last time he saw his father and seeing how he treated his dad, he felt so guilty and hurt inside. Now, that his father is dead, he couldn’t believe that he wouldn’t even say, “I love you dad” the last time he saw him. Michael begins to cry as he realizes he never got a chance to tell his dad how much he loved him. By this emotion as an audience, it really makes you feel for Michael because of his carelessness. Going back in his past by using the menu on the remote, really showed Michael how uncaring and mean he was towards his family. This is what makes him change to a different person. By realizing how he treats his family by watching himself on autopilot, he is angry and upset. He sees that he is blowing his wife and kids off for his work when he is on autopilot and this hurts him when he watches it but he can’t do anything about his past. His viewpoint of how he acts in his past makes him want to spend every precious moment he gets with his family, giving them everything they could ever want. When he realizes he lost his wife Donna to speedo torpedo, it makes him hurt so much inside that he would give anything to go back in time. This makes us sympathize for Michael because it is not his fault that he is acting the way he does. It is because he is in autopilot mode but the audience are the only people who understand this, his wife doesn’t. He learns his lesson by the end of his life and is luckily given a second chance, which he will make no mistakes of getting irritated by the little things. There are a couple of images in the movie where the camera angle of the Michael and Morty are very interesting. When Michael’s life fast forwards ten years to him being the CEO of the company, he gets out of bed and realizes how incredibly fat he is. When he first gets out of bed the camera is almost on the ground and makes him look enormously big, fat and tall. He looks like a giant when he first gets out of bed and is walking toward the bathroom. He is fat but he’s not gigantic like they first made him out to be. The other scene involves Morty when Michael is at his fathers grave. Morty is telling Michael that he is the angel of death and they make Morty out to be this superior man by looking up at him in a close-up. The image of Morty makes him look tough and wicked but really he is no different then what we pictured him from the beginning. The setting of “Click” mainly takes place at Michael’s house and his work place. It is very easy to disguinsh between time differences - in the mornings the director was sure to show the outside of the house with the sun rising and Donna cooking breakfast. It was always easy to tell when Michael stayed up late because the windows were all dark in the house and one time they showed the clock changing from 2:32 A.M. to 2:33 A.M. Being able to tell whether it was night or day helped show how late Michael stayed up working and helped with the transfers of morning and night. Morty always seemed to glisten whenever they showed his face. He always seemed to have a light shining down on him. When he was at Michaels house randomly, he always seemed to light up compared to Michael and even when Michael went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond Morty was always seemed to glisten in the light compared to Michael. This visual effect showed how powerful Morty was. The glistening light made him stand out and show his crazy powers. Michael was almost always wearing a white collared shirt. He showed up to the swin meet in a white collared shirt. He went to Bed, Bath and Beyond in a white collared shirt. He always went to work with his white collared shirt on, no matter where the showed him he almost always had it on. This effect in the film really represented how much of a business man he was and how much he worked. Another interesting thing I learned about Michael is that the two times they showed him in the hospital he was always wearing all white. The first time was when he had cancer and had gained weight. They had done lipo suction and his wife was there with him and whenever the showed him he was surrounded by whiteness. The second time he was in the hospital was after he popped an artery dancing with Donna and they showed him in the hospital again surrounded by white with his son and daughter there as he woke up. The white meant another chance at life for Michael, almost as if Morty had saved him (an angel) and gave him a chance to live again. The color blue dominates much of this film and the whole cover of the DVD box. Morty is first shown wearing a blue overcoat as he gets the glowing blue universal remote for Michael. The remote is always lit up blue and bright in every scene that we see it in. Whenever Michael goes to the menu, everything turns blue including himself and Morty. Morty’s business card that he gives to Michael in case Michael needs any help with the remote, is dominated with blue too. Bed, Bath, and Beyond sign is always lit up blue throughout the movie as well. Whenever something stressful is going with Michael, the bright blue remote always shows up in the corner of the screen and catches everyone’s attention. Blue generally symbolizes trust, loyalty, and wisdom and that is what Michael has learned with the remote; to trust it. Morty wants Michael to have trust in him and that is why Morty and his card are blue. This whole film has to do with wisdom and power and this is why blue is such a dominant color throughout the movie. Background music is one of the last things that is very noticeable and effective throughout the whole movie. One of the first camera angles that really makes a scene stand out is when the camera centers on the door and the word Beyond above the door. The music that goes along with this scene is really an attention grabber to the audience. The music that goes along with this is hopeful music, makes it seem like he just found exactly what he was looking for. When Michael first realizes he can fast forward, his dog is doing his business, and the background music builds in intensity like something major just happened, as if he can’t believe his eyes. There always seems to be short background music when they transfer scenes, which made the transfers go smoothly. An example of this is when he is on his way to work one morning and the background music is upbeat and happy trying to remedy his problems. On top of the background music, the movie has great sound effects that go along with the remote, which makes it very easy to establish when the remote fast-forwards, pauses, rewinds etc. At the graveyard where Ted, Michaels father, was buried, the background music is suspenseful as he tries to tackle Morty for taking his father. It then transfers to happy and joyful music as Michael is taken to a happy place, his son’s wedding. One of the last camera angles in the movie shows Michael lying on the street from up above with everyone huddled around him and the music helps to give more of an effect of his death. Each one of these examples of music in the film help establish the mood for each scene. If there were no music it would be hard to set the mood or transfer scenes smoothly. “Click” was very well done from the general comedy all the way down to the extreme detail put into making this movie. The transfers from scene to scene and the time lapses were very easy to establish throughout the whole movie. The characters filled their roles perfectly making the film that much better. You may not have been able to find actors and actresses to fill the roles better in this film then they did. The setting of the movie was perfect, they showed the future perfectly by upgrading his office with all new furniture and technology. Also by the car he drove, you could tell that was in the future and the radio said it was 2017, so everything seemed modern. They did a great job showing Michael and his family age as they fast forwarded through his life. It took a lot to think of what would happen in such a fast paced life and Frank Coraci managed to get it all in, in a film that was extremely comical and extremely meaniful at the exact same time.

**Adjectives of the letters of your Name** Jay is my name, short and sweet but difficult to come up with adjectives beginning with J and Y. Joking is the adjective I came up with for J and I used this adjective because it describes my everyday life. I am a sarcastic and joking person, it is very rare to catch me being dead serious. If you were to be around me during an entire day you would find that I spend most of my time joking around and laughing rather then being serious and upset. I love watching comedies and enjoy anything that makes me laugh. I love being around others who can take a joke and laugh as much as I do. Joking is an adjective that describes me the best a one-word adjective could describe me. For the second letter of my name a, the adjective I came up with was affordable. This is an adjective that you would learn very quickly about me. I am very cheap and always have been. It’s not just because of college that makes me try to be cheap and affordable. I just have been brought up that way and I like to save my money knowing that I always have a good amount of money stored away for something I may want one day. It may be not going out to the movies or to get food or to go home, I am always trying to find ways to be affordable and save money. I feel it has become even worse as I have been at school as I just sit and watch my bank account dwindle. Affordable is an adjective that helps describe how I live day in and day out even though I still find money to enjoy myself and live my life having fun. Y was a tough letter to come up with an adjective to describe myself. I came up with yielding. Yielding to everything, meaning I am very reluctant to everything. I am not one who can just say yes to something if I have never done it before or if I have no clue what’s going on. I am yielding to letting other people borrow my stuff most of the time because I don’t know what they’re going to do to it. I am yielding to trying new things especially foods. I don’t like to try things that I probably wont succeed at even though most people don’t succeed at first. I am very yielding mainly because I don’t want to make a scene of myself. For being such a tough letter this adjective described me very well. All three of these adjectives describe me and how I am very closely to how I would described myself even without having to use the letters of my first name.