Mandatory Fun Review

Mandatory Fun is "Weird Al" Yankovic's most recent album and probably his most influential. With this album, he was able to introduce people with many interests to his music and comedy music in general. Another thing that helped to make this so popular was the internet, especially Youtube. With a new video coming out every day this past summer on his website, he was able to make people eager to see the next one. This was the first time in over 50 years that a comedy album topped the Billboard chart, and the quickest a comedy album has ever taken to the top of the charts, making history by incorporating more original songs about everyday topics to relate to even more people; these songs even include titles like "First World Problems" and "Lame Claim to Fame," which are easily relatable for many people.
This album still follows the general trend of his albums, though. It is standard for Weird Al to include one or two longer "story-songs" in his albums, which he does, with his ever-present crude sense of humor. In addition to the "story song," he also includes a medley of popular songs in the style of polka music, putting his own spin on the songs with accordion and clever transitions. Every summer, there are hit songs, and Weird Al made parodies of these like he does with many of his other songs, which still use topics relative to everyday life. These songs are: Handy, Foil, Word Crimes, Inactive, and Tacky, which use hyperboles to create an almost fantastical idea of what the song could be. Lastly, the "Sports Song" and "Word Crimes" display Weird Al's intellect as well as his humor, as Tom Lehrer did in the 1950s.

A Principle to Keep

I believe that a principle to keep no matter the situation should be to have at least a companion in order to maintain hope. If one can turn to their god(s) or to friend(s)/family in times of despair or difficulty, they are less likely to lose hope with someone on their side. There is also safety in numbers which helps people to stay alive and maintain confidence. With no one to speak to except themselves, people can develop Nihilist beliefs and make poor decisions pertaining to their survival if they have lost hope in surviving and have no signs of salvation or confidence. Studies have shown that when people are alone for too long, they lose sanity, which may lead them to make poor choices and lose social skills, as is also shown in The Lord of the Rings where Gollum talks to himself almost as two different beings after being isolated for half a millennium, and in H.P. Lovecraft's short stories where incompetent townsfolk are drawn in by curiosity without a voice of reason, and as a result lose sanity to Cthulu. This theme is also shown in Ernest Hemingway's story "Now I Lay Me" where Nick lays awake, and although he does have a companion, his companion is asleep most of the time. Nick has to constantly be doing something when his companion is asleep to avoid being literally bored out of his mind, and the times that his partner is awake keep him thinking and give him new things to consider and to aspire to. A companion helps one to imagine a fantasy where new possibilities arise, and even though both may not believe in it, there is always the question of "what if," and hope for new possibilities.

Margaret Macomber's intentions and actions

Earlier in "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," it is shown that Margot doesn't like her husband partially because he isn't excelling at his current activities (which was most of the purpose that she married him, the other part being the money), and also because she doesn't love him as a person, especially at that point of the story.  Near the end of the story, it is apparent that Margaret had jealousy and fear regarding Francis once he finally realized how to not be afraid of "hunting", which includes not only taking charge of the animal's lives, but also taking leadership over certain situations with humans.
It even says from Francis' point of view that Margaret "was very afraid of something."  She even acts tempered, making bitter and impatient comments such as "isn't it sort of late?"  The last that Francis saw of his wife before he got killed in action was when he waved and did not get a wave in reply.  During the encounter with the buffalo, it was unclear what killed Macomber, although it appeared to be the buffalo.  This may have been the case, but I think it more likely that Margaret did kill her husband, whether or not it was by accident or purposefully.  Since she was going through a tough time emotionally then, she was more likely to pull the trigger.  I believe that it was a gut reaction because she saw her husband being charged at, and even though she didn't particularly like him then, she still didn't want to let him die doing what he had begun to like; It was probably an accident, and although the shot was supposed to hit the lion, it hit Macomber because he happened to be right next to the lion.  This reminds me of a scene from the movie Soylent Green where an assassin tries to kill the detective with a gun in a large crowd and keeps hitting other people instead of the intended target.  At the end of the story, she just keeps repeating "stop it," which Francis was probably thinking throughout that story, and also because she already feels bad enough about what she did, and doesn't want to think about it anymore.

6 Stories 6 Sentences 6 Words

• What surprised me most: 'twas alive!
• "Duck!" etched there in the cave.
• "I told you already: no killing!"
• Caution: slippery when wet, use lights.
• Cave Canem; be quick and watchful.
• It sat there and stared back.

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

For me, John Proctor appears as more of a hero than a stooge in the play, especially in the final two acts.  At first, he just tries to prevent anything he can from happening in the court, like in the second act when he told Mary Warren to not go to Salem.  He also couldn't believe that there were so many people arrested already at that point.  Especially in the second act, there is a question about whether or not Proctor is associated with the devil.  Later, when Proctor has decided to move past his previous unproductive goal, he takes all of his anger out on the court officials, even the Head Honcho Judge.  After he has overcome his wrongdoings, he confesses that he has "known" Abigail, and even tells his wife, who didn't know before.  However heroic that was, I do agree with Hale that there was an absence of god in that courtroom with all the shouting and cursing which lead up to this.  In the last act, He lies to get himself out of the situation, but then rebells and tells the court officials constantly that everything they have been doing is a lie.  I consider this heroic because he liberated them from their old beliefs, and he was speaking his mind.

On the other hand, I see nothing that Proctor does as "stooge-like" or comical, as he does a lot of shouting and regulating who does what.

There Goes the Neighborhood

When two conflicting cultures end up sharing the same space, one instinct is to convert to one side's belief.  This is what the Europeans did when conquering the Americas, and it didn't work so well, considering that both sides wanted to keep their old ways of life.  Another instinct is (sometimes initially, or in this case after conversion attempts) to consider people who don't share your way of life hostile and filthy and declare war on them.  One example of this is the Rwandan Genocide in which the Hutus took to extreme measures (given they're an extremist group) and wiped out the whole Tutsi population with machetes- about a million.  In other cases, however, the cultures may decide to blend together and keep certain aspects and rules from each of their set of beliefs.  This would trigger intense societal changes depending on how different the groups were.  Actually, in our own city there are big examples of this.  Being a very diverse city, Chicago has many neighborhoods where different people moved to, and their culture along with them.  Because of this, in Chicago, for example, anyone can just take a step out of an Indian neighborhood and walk into a Jewish neighborhood, or maybe be standing in both overlapping at the same time.  When the Europeans took over the Americas, they regarded the Native Americans as different and unwanted, so they were taken over.  When the English sent people over to the East coast of what is now the U.S., they turned into colonies.  In this case, what was one nation divided into two: the revolutionaries and the nobility.  Notice that the Native Americans weren't colonized- they were just eschewed.  Later in U.S. history, the Americans didn't like the idea of other civilizations (aka. "Indian scum") existing within their country, which lead to the Trail of Tears.  Many hostilities can arise when there are different cultures occupying the same space, but it is up to the people to avoid them.