1950's

• 1950's were much more simple times, compared to today but teenagers started thinking out of the box.
• Teenagers were becoming more independent.They were more inclined and encouraged to attend college, find a skill, and seek a successful career.Teenagers were becoming more rebellious, defensive, and at times, disrespectful.
• Most women did not work outside the home.
• Divorce was rare, if any.
• Teachers were strict at school.
• Today in school we do fire, tornado drills but in 1950's they used do duck and cover drills in an event of nuclear attack.
• Rock & Roll music and Fashion was a huge part of teens culture like in the book Catcher in  the Rye, Holden likes to dance.

Brave New World
By Aldous Huxley
Review by Aman Singh

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to live in a perfectly happy world. A world where there are no crimes, no religion, no values. A world in the future, and a world called “Brave New World” where humans are made in factories and are already conditioned to do their jobs.

The story revolves around an outcast named John who is stuck in a utopian world and is looking for somebody who has feelings, emotions, love, and true happiness. He has good relationship with her mom Linda because from her he heard about the World State and she taught him English. It is her who makes him dream about going to the World State but you have to read the book to find out why he ends up killing her with his own hands.

Mustapha Mond is the most powerful character in the world of this novel. He is among one of those few, who can break the rules, ironically because he made them, along with other nine World Controllers. You can break the rules too, but only if you want to be exiled.

                Lenina is one of the drugged, dull, programmed robotic objects, like every other person in this future world. She is attracted to Bernard. She is passionate about John and loves Soma, the perfect drug with no side effects.
                John is the only major characters who have grown out of the World State. As you read the novel, you will find out that he is a son of Director and Linda. He always wanted to go see the World State but when he gets there, he finds himself unable to fit in to the World State Society. One of the big question that remains is that “If John is unable to fit in, will he try to change the World State back to normal or not?”
                Bernard is a selfish and cruel character who has a frustrated desire to fit into his own society. He is one of the main reasons John gets to see the World State. He is very much alike Helmholtz Watson because they both have problems with World State.

One of the biggest themes that Huxley tries to set throughout the novel is the use of technology to control the world and validity of happiness and truth. One of the main reasons I like Brave New World is because it is fascinating knowing that this book was written in 1931 in England and is very much related to today’s world in 2011.

Many people have challenged this book because of its strong themes of sexuality, drugs and suicide. It might offend some religions. This book is mainly written for teens or adults. Interesting point to think about is that we might be heading towards this utopian society as we continue to rely too much on technology.

               

Resturant Review

When I don’t have time to wait for a table at a fancy Chinese restaurant, I turn to Panda Express, a Chinese fast food Restaurant. It was founded in 1983 by Andrew Cherng. Now it has 1000 locations in 37 states. It ranks as one of the largest Chinese restaurants in US.

Panda Express has limited menu, offering only 8 entries and 5 side dishes including one of my favorite Orange chicken, chow mein, Egg & Spring rolls etc. Food is prepared ahead of time and is placed in an open view in front of you, which makes customer service faster.

Panda Express sells its food at lower prices than other Chinese Restaurants. You can get one full meal under $6.00.

Atmosphere does not offer much here. There is usually some music playing. No more than 40 seats are available with few panda and plant pictures to look at. There is an open view of kitchen, which is kind of unique, so everything is cleared in front of your eyes.

Overall, Panda Express doesn’t offer wide variety of food but I prefer it once a week over burgers and fries. If I was taking my whole family out, I would rather go to some Chinese restaurant than Panda Express.

Ford, My Ford: POW # 3

In Brave New World, "Ford"- the founder of Ford Motor Company and the Assembly line, is mentioned all over the place in the book. He is replaced in place of god, just like technology over people. I think of it as a situational irony because we (maybe John) will never expect him to be a god in the future. Huxley is trying to say that we are spending too much time in technology and we are just waiting for technology to overtake us. Daily examples are texting all the time, Video Games instead of playing outside etc. People are getting lazy and are heading toward becoming this:

Home Alone 3 - Movie Review

Have you ever wondered what would happen to your home when you leave your son alone? Check this out! Home Alone 3 by John Hughes is based on a crazy boy named Alex.

                Alex is playing a role of a boy who is left home alone and has to defend his home from robbers. Alex accidently receives a valuable missile clocking computer chip and four thieves are after him to get back that chip. Alex calls police two times when he see the thieves but they manage to escape right on time and the next time police thinks that he is lying so he decides to take matter in his own hands. From here, the story begins with lot of fun, hilarious gags and traps.

                The jokes are definitely smart and characters are fleshed-out, plus Scarlett Johnson fans get to see her in a big part as Alex’s older sister. The punishment given to the villains are funny but many of them are also cruel so keep that in mind while going to watch this movie with kids.

                Parents need to know that in Home Alone 3 the bad guys get really banged up by a smart little kid. Sensitive kids might be frightened by the fact that these bad guys have real guns and are hunting down an Eight year old boy. More importantly, this movie is intended to entertain rather than educate.

                I will recommend this movie to the kids rather than grownups. If you are big fan of Home Alone I and II, then you got to check this one out. The movie is new, fresh, well acted and had good directions.

POW#3

The memory that comes to my mind is playing cricket with my friends in India. Those days were fun. 

I had nothing to worry about except for playing with my friends and sleeping. We used to play every week. We used to set day and time every week just to play cricket. All my friends used to get together in the field to play. Nothing could have stopped us, homework, grand-parents (I lived with my grand-parents for 12 years), nothing, not even weather. It doesn’t snow in the part of India where I live but if it did rain, it made cricket even more fun to play. Even though we planned as though we are going to play in a World league or something, we used to play less, and fight more. Making jokes about each other was always on. Good Times!.

I wish I had photos of those days. Sadly, I don’t and I never will but images of those days are in my head that are going to be with me, my whole like a shadow.