Comparison of Heroin Lies with The Basketball Diaries Essay Example for Free

Comparison of Heroin Lies with The Basketball Diaries Essay Heroin is a deadly drug, which kills approximately one million people every year. In this essay I will be comparing two dramatic acts. Heroin Lies, which I acted out. The other is a 1995 hit called The Basketball Diaries. I chose this particular film to compare with my act because they have several similarities but also a number amount of differences. The beginning of the film The Basketball diaries starts with an ordinarily boy waking up in bed on a normal day. Instantly you see that he has got a type of book in his hand, which later on we see that it is his diary which he occasionally writes in. In the block opposite him we see a strong religious woman constantly shouting out what seems to be a prayer. We then witness the boy by the name of Jimmy Carroll change from an innocent being to a horrifying beast as he tells this religious woman to Shut up! We now see that Jimmy has a horrible side to him. As we watch on we see that Jimmy Carroll is a star basketball player on his New York City Catholic school team. Fellow basketball team mates Mickey and Neutron and unofficial cheerleader Pedro are Jimmys closest friends, and whenever trouble stalks one, it invariably affects them all. So, when the drug cycle starts, it quickly spreads to each of the four corners of the friendship. What begins as casual use first becomes a weekend habit, then an everyday obsession. Grades plummet, on-court performance becomes unreliable, and crime looms as the only means to pay for a seemingly endless supply of uppers, downers, cocaine, and heroin. Heroin Lies is a play written by Wayne Denfhy. The story is about a young teenage girl that is having problems with friends. Later on she finds her self addicted to heroin and soon after dies at an early age. We chose a scene from the play and we made changes to the scene as apart of our task, for example we added monologues and dialogues. I learnt a lot about the characters in our scene. Vicki was a young stubborn teenager who had a lot of confusing things going on in her life, although she finally decided to make a decision and start taking drugs to solve her problems. Mandy had been involved with drugs longer than Vicki. So obviously Mandy would be more confident about it. Mandy can easily loose her temper as we showed in the play when Vicki hits the drugs all over the floor. Mandy ends up slapping Vicki. This implies that Mandy is quite violent and doesnt know how to control her emotions very well. My character (Jason) wears corded trouser and an old knitted woollen jumper to sho w that he bought them from Oxfam, since what he wears is mentioned in the script. I believe that Jason is quite immature watching playschool and pretending to grow into a big tree. However this end scene Mandy got what she came for. Jason, my character, was an older brother of Vicki, as it says in the script however I had played him younger then Vicki. As Mandy was flirting with me I used a stuttering voice to emphasize the fact that I was shy. This tells us that Jason is growing up as the tree is growing, and Vicki is stuck, still having problems with friends and drugs. This scene Mandy probably would like to know more about Jason. Not only does the relationship between Mandy, and Jason but the relationship with Vicki later on in the scene. Vicki seems more dominating with Jason since she scares him off. I dont believe that Vicki feels very comfortable having Mandy in her house. This results in Vicki snatching the drugs off Mandy and Mandy hitting Vicki. After Vicki has been hit. Mandy comes to her senses and tells her she regrets hitting her and asks Vicki to take some drugs. I believe that this is the most important part of the scene because this is the first step of Vicki ending her life. Heroin Lies and The Basketball Diaries in my opinion had interesting but defiantly very similar characters. Vicki Brown (Heroin Lies) who is a drug addict who gets thrown out of her house. Jimmy Carroll (The Basketball Diaries) is a drug addict and like Vicki Brown gets thrown out of his house. This is an example of a similarity. However after becoming a drug addict Vicki Brown then leads to a tragic ending. Whilst Jimmy Carroll then realises his mistakes, then fights his addiction to drugs. I have researched Heroin to find out more about this drug. Heroin is a highly addictive drug, and its use is a serious problem in America. Recent studies suggest a shift from injecting heroin to snorting or smoking because of increased purity and the misconception that these forms of use will not lead to addiction. (From a website discussing drugs) The play that I did Heroin Lies and the film The Basketball Diaries had several similarities and differences. The main similarity that I picked up was that these two plays were based on drugs. This is also the main reason I chose to compare these two plays. Heroin Lies was set in the 90s, which is modern time. These days it tends to be teenagers that are addicted to these drugs. The film The Basketball Diaries was also set in the 90s, which again the teenagers are pushed towards Heroin.

Violence :: essays research papers

Media Violence   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Psychological research has shown three major effects of seeing violence on television. The three major effects that many parents world wide fear are children may become More aggressive and behave in harmful or hazardous to others. Be less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, and children may be more fearful of the world around them. Violent programs on television lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch those programs. Children begin watching television at an early age, sometimes as early as six months, and are ardent viewers by the time they are two or three years old. The general pattern of viewing is one of the steady rise in the number of hours viewed from early childhood to preadolescence and then a sharp drop in viewing during the adolescent years. According to audience rating surveys, the typical American household has the television set on for more than seven hours each day, and children age 2 to 11 spend an average of 28 hours per week viewing. There is a growing concern in this country about teenage violence and how it is connected to the violence seen on the television. The impressionable youth of America somehow fall victim to spending many hours a day watching television and is exposed to violence. Studies show that the average child has witnessed eight thousand murders before they actually finished elementary school. Most of the shows that the younger generations watch contain some vi olence. Several years ago when Power Rangers was first Broadcasted, it had a great effect on the younger population concerning violence. Many children began trying to imitate these so called â€Å"Heroes.† Three out five children, eight-six percent males had a tendency to want to rough house with the other children and or had outbursts of violence. Of course, conditions in society, does not make it easy to pull a child away from the television. Parents work and most families cannot afford to have a parent stay home and watch the children. This situation is understandable and does not necessarily mean that parents do not care for their children. Parents regardless of the situation should try to be as involved as much as possible. Parents should take time out to speak to their children about certain programs they might come across while viewing the television. Parents should also view programs with their children so they can get a better understanding of what their children see when they turn on the television.

Bus 303 Practice Midterm Essay

Characters: Cathy and Dave, a well-to-do professional couple Al, a real estate salesman Cathy and Dave are young, upwardly mobile. They hold good professional jobs in downtown Chicago. One day Cathy received an invitation in-the mail, from a resort called Green Acres (GA), which was located near the mountains, about eight hour driving time from Chicago. The mailer invited the young couple to spend two nights free of cost and receive $50 for expenses. All they had to do in return was to listen to a presentation, see a video, and take a tour of the resort for about two hours. Additional conditions included 24 hour advance booking of the room with 24 hour notice for cancellations, and a valid credit card. Green Acres would charge $50 for a no show. Although the letter made no mention of it, Cathy and Dave knew the invitation was a real estate promotion and guessed that the two hours with the GA staff meant a hard sell for a condo or a timeshare near a lake or a golf course, something they did not want. They decided to take the offer anyway in order to get a free vacation and arranged to visit GA the following weekend. Cathy and Dave had a good time at GA. The only sour point of the trip was the last exchange they had with Al the salesman. At the end of the two hour presentation when Cathy and Dave had refused to buy any GA properties, Al looked at Dave in frustration and said, â€Å"If you knew you weren’t going to buy any property here, why did you come? Our company spent $300 to get you down here, and you have taken food off my family’s table. What you did is immoral. Please don’t do it again.† At this Dave retorted, â€Å"Your letter was clear, there was nothing in it that said a purchase of real estate was involved, and we had no obligation to buy anything from you. Your invitation was unconditional, I don’t owe you or your family anything and I resent what you just said.† At the end of this uncomfortable exchange, Cathy and Dave left the room with an unpleasant feeling. But the unpleasant feelings did not last long because the drive back through the m ountains was truly spectacular. After a few days Cathy said to Dave, â€Å"You know, I’m still mad about what Al said to us at Green Acres. Should we write to his boss, or to the real estate board or to some government agency? You know, if we don’t do something, some poor unsuspecting people might fall for their gimmicks!† Dave replied, â€Å"No, I don’t think we should waste any time on this. Most people know, or should know what they are getting into-there are no free lunches! Besides if we complain, Al may lose his job and when we’ll be really taking the food from his family’s table!† What Are the Relevant Facts? 1. Cathy and Dave are educated and well paid. 2. They received an unsolicited invitation from Green Acres (GA). 3. The invitation had nothing in it that said they had to buy anything from GA. 4. They correctly guessed that the GA sales staff would put pressure on them to buy real estate. 5. GA was eight hours driving time from Chicago. 6. Al made a sales presentation. 7. Cathy and Dave listened to the presentation. 8. Al said Cathy and Dave had acted immorally and had deprived him of a chance of earning a sales commission. 9. Dave said that they had fulfilled their obligation, as outlined in the invitation, and had not acted incorrectly. What Are the Ethical Issues? 1. What is the role of inducements in marketing? 2. What is the responsibility of individuals who accept inducements? Do they have any moral obligations to purchase goods if they accept free gifts from merchants? 3. Is giving attractive gifts to potential buyers an ethical practice? Does the size of the gift or the inducement matter? 4. Cathy and Dave were sophisticated, educated city folk and did not feel pressured to buy from GA. Do less educated or less sophisticated consumers feel pressured to buy merchandise under enticements of gifts? Would such business practice be considered ethical? 5. Should Cathy and Dave complain so that other vulnerable people may not be pressured into buying expensive property they do not want? Who Are the Primary Stakeholders? †¢ Cathy and Dave †¢ Al †¢ GA †¢ GA’s stockholders †¢ Other potential consumers, especially the vulnerable ones What Are the Possible Alternatives? 1. Cathy and Dave can forget the incident and do nothing. 2. They can file a complaint with GA. 3. They can file a complaint with the appropriate authorities. 4. They can write to Al. What Are the Ethics of the Alternatives? 1. What is the best course of action for Cathy and Dave from the moral standpoint? What is the best course of action that Cathy and Dave take that will provide the greatest benefit to the greatest number? 2. Do Cathy and Dave and other potential customers have rights not to be pressured or induced into actions they may not wish to take? Do GA and Al have rights to pursue their business and personal interests? Were any rights violated? 3. What is the just thing to do in this case? Which alternative distributes the burdens and responsibilities fairly? If Cathy and Dave act and if GA improves its practices everyone except Al may benefit. Not complaining may mean Al will continue his tactics and undermine GA’s goals assuming that word would get around and additional customers will be offended. What Are the Practical Constraints? None. What Actions Should Be Taken? 1. What should Cathy and Dave do? 2. Which alternative would you choose? 3. Which approach (utilitarian, rights, or justice) makes the most sense to you in this situation? Clearly, no action could mean unsuspecting people may be lured into buying expensive real estate with potentially severe consequences. Complaints could lead to improved practice and better performance but could lead to the loss of Al’s job. 4. What is the right thing to do?

How to Conjugate Remplir (to Fill) in French

The French verb  remplir  means to fill. When trying to remember it, it may help to think of replenish, which sound similar. Yet, when you want to use it in the present, past, or future tense to mean things like filled or will fill, youll also need to know its conjugations. This lesson will introduce you to the simplest forms youll need for your French conversations. The Basic Conjugations of  Remplir Remplir is a regular -ir verb, so it does use a rather common conjugation pattern found in French verbs. The endings you find here are the same as you would use for words like bà ©nir (to bless) and finir (to finish). If you study a few of these together, each is just a little easier to remember. The first step is to identify the radical or stem of the verb. For  remplir, that is  rempl-. To this, different endings are added to fit both the sentences subject pronoun and its tense. This gives us, for example,  je remplis  for I am filling and  nous remplirons  for we will fill. Practicing these whenever you see someone fill something will help you commit them to memory. Present Future Imperfect je remplis remplirai remplissais tu remplis rempliras remplissais il remplit remplira remplissait nous remplissons remplirons remplissions vous remplissez remplirez remplissiez ils remplissent rempliront remplissaient The Present Participle of  Remplir Useful as a verb as well as a noun or adjective in some instances, the present participle of remplir is an easy conjugation. Simply add -issant to the radical and you have remplissant. Remplir  in the Compound Past Tense In French, the compound past tense is called the  passà © composà ©. Its also easy to form and youll begin with the present tense conjugate of the auxiliary verb  avoir  appropriate to the subject. All thats left is adding the  past participle  rempli, which implies that the act of filling happened in the past. This leaves us with things like  jai rempli  for I filled and  nous avons rempli  for we filled. More Simple Conjugations of  Remplir To question the certainty of whether something is filled or not, youll use  the subjunctive  form of  remplir. Similarly, if it will only happen if something else does,  the conditional  can be used. Youll encounter the passà © simple  and  the imperfect subjunctive  only in written French as these are literary tenses. Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je remplisse remplirais remplis remplisse tu remplisses remplirais remplis remplisses il remplisse remplirait remplit remplt nous remplissions remplirions remplmes remplissions vous remplissiez rempliriez rempltes remplissiez ils remplissent rempliraient remplirent remplissent The French imperative  is used for short and very direct statements and the subject pronoun is not required. All you need to say is  remplis  rather than  tu remplis. Imperative (tu) remplis (nous) remplissons (vous) remplissez