To Ride a Bolt of Lightning

“Riding lightning. That’s the best way I can describe taking Adderall.”

Retired NFL offensive lineman Eben Britton wrote this during his reflection on his use of performance enhancing drugs to keep up with the other players. But giants in the NFL aren’t an anomaly when it comes to abusing amphetamines. On my way to class every weekday I pass people on campus who take Ritalin, Adderall, and Vyvanse without a prescription - people who understand these chemicals as a way of “evening the playing field” when it comes to academics. Take Your Pills is a documentary that highlights the performance enhancing drug lust found in American culture and how much harder it is to get by today without these aids.

Take Your Pills begins its commentary through a series of interviews that hits close to home: interviews with college students just trying to pass their exams. Disturbingly, the kids interviewed didn’t seem to take notice of the fact that they were committing a crime by taking somebody else’s pills. They pointed out that kids would openly ask in group chats if anyone was selling their Adderall. Most people had a system laid out where they would go to the library, place everything on their desk, and crank through hours of homework on an amphetamine high. This practice isn’t new: a 1937 news article mentions college students using amphetamines to get ahead in school.

After a few short interviews with people my age, the documentary switches gears and begins a brief history of the production of narcotics by the pharmaceutical industry. For the first half of the 20th century, nobody knew of the adverse effects of these chemicals. Benzedrine, the first marketed name for amphetamine was sold everywhere. To test these pills, one pharmaceutical company simply went to a school and asked the principal if they could just start giving them out to children. The principal was happy to let a drug company give out experimental pills to the children if it meant they would calm down and do their work more effectively.

The documentary then introduces its final subjects: a young programmer, an aspiring artist, a financial analyst, and two young CEOs of a nootropics company. Of these people, the aspiring artist and the financial analyst were unhappy about having to take cognitive enhancers. Of course, the nootropics CEOs would be very supportive of the pills, and the young programmer sees it as the only way he can keep his job. The only negative side effect discussed by any of these people was the seizure that the financial analyst’s coworker had after two and a half days of uninterrupted work. This is a very serious medical emergency, but since it took two and a half days of no sleep and a constant dosage of Adderall, it can’t necessarily be used as evidence for cognitive enhancers being exceptionally deadly. This brings up an interesting problem with the documentary: there wasn’t much discussion about the negative effects of small doses of amphetamines. One kid mentioned getting a headache and a college girl said it made her feel less fun to be around, but other than that, the pills these people took helped them get their work done faster. Why is it that every argument to stay away from drugs is centered on the negative side effects? If there were no negative side effects to taking cognitive enhancers, would there still be a moral dilemma attached to their use? Where is the line between taking fish oil pills in the morning with omega-3 fatty acids to keep your heart healthy and taking a healthy cognitive enhancer to help your brain work more effectively? The documentary only began to answer some of these questions at the very end, posing the idea that not being enhanced is what it means to be human. To take away someone’s creativity or liveliness as a side effect of a drug takes away some part of their being. As for me, I haven’t and will continue to not take pills like Adderall or Ritalin, but I feel like the only thing keeping me from doing so is the danger that comes along with them. If these pills were safer, maybe then “riding lightning” would be suitable for everyone.

The World's Most Extraordinary Homes

For this week’s blog post I watched The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes. Which is a British series that consists of 4-hour long episodes that gives viewers a sneak peek into breathtaking homes around the world. The show’s hosts are architect, Piers Taylor, and actress Caroline Quentin. The entire first season was extremely easy for me to get through in one night’s sitting. The first season’s theme is mountains, forests, coasts, and underground. Each category previously listed has its own episode, making up the 4 episodes in the first season.

In each episode, Piers and Caroline first get to go through the house without the owners present, then the owners will come and give them their own personal tour. Both the owners and the architects are often both shown and give the backstory on how and why these amazing homes were built. Each structure is very conscious of the beautiful nature around them and tends to incorporate it into the architecture. Each episode brings you with brand new ideas that you would never even think of when building a home. In one of the episodes, a home was made out of an old Boeing jet. Using the jet wings on the side of the home and using every possible aspect of the plane. They used this portion to be very educational on the architecture and overall use of the aircraft.

What I enjoyed most about this series is how relaxed and casual it was. It did not have the usual HGTV feel of usual housing shows. When watching HGTV will often leave you feeling as if they are rubbing the money and beautiful homes in your face. It also most of the time feels very forced and impersonal. Like these owners really don’t a camera crew trampling through their multi-million-dollar mansion. The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes gives me the exact opposite feel, the owners are very casual in their homes and it doesn’t feel like they are just showing off their homes because of how much money they have spent on them. This show Is much more focused on the architecture and actual beauty that these homes bring. I truly felt like I was just on an adventure exploring beautiful homes around the world when watching this show.

The hosts bring a lot of energy and knowledge to the show that I think makes it much more entertaining. They keep the episodes very fun and upbeat. Caroline can be a tad annoying and tends to make extremely cheesy jokes throughout the series. They definitely used this show to educate people on the beautiful architecture and homes that can be found around the world. The appreciation for the beautiful structures is very evident. If you can get past the sometimes-corny hosts, you will truly enjoy getting the opportunity to explore some of the world’s most extraordinary homes.

Edible and Nostalgic

Hi grandma. I know that I’ve told you about my writing class, and this is it. This week for my show that I watched I watched the Netflix original show, Nailed It. In the show contestants try to recreate a series of cakes made by experts in a very short time period. The catch of the show, though, is that none of the contestants have any history or knowledge of baking. After they make their cakes judges appraise their cakes based on closeness to the original in terms of looks and also the taste of their cakes. This happens in two rounds with the winner of round one winning some sort of prize and round two’s winner receiving $10,000.

Overall I did not really enjoy this show. I found it very cringey and uncomfortable, for the contestants had no clue what they were doing. I also did not really enjoy the humor of the show’s host. That being said the one thing I greatly enjoyed from the show was the feelings of nostalgia. Watching this show reminded me of the times where I would stay at your house and watch tv with you and grandpa. I remember watching the show Chopped on quite a few evenings, and this show reminded me of those days. I do believe Chopped was a much better show, though. Watching Nailed It, just brought of good feelings and memories from that time, though, for Chopped I think was my favorite show we watched ( I definitely enjoyed it more than the news or the weather channel).

Nailed It also made me think of your baking skills (which are leaps and bounds ahead of those on the show). I mean, I have three of your cakes with me now, and they are fantastic. In the show, multiple contestants make mistakes like forgetting to add eggs, not letting their cake cool before decorating, and a multitude of other mistakes. One mistake that stuck out to me in particular was a set of people who have overfilled their cake pans, forced them to overflow, and burn to the bottom of oven. With how many cakes you have made, and I have seen you make, it’s hard for me to imagine you making these kinds of mistakes. One cake, in particular, that you made, that I remember and often thought of while watching this show, was Uncle Dave’, camo,  rehearsal dinner cake. I found this cake to be hilarious and very tasty. The problem solving manner needed to bake that cake was reminiscent of the show to me. This stems from the fact that these bakers have little experience with the level of cooking needed to succeed.

Overall, the memories and sense of nostalgia this show brought to me were the most positive aspects of the show. That being said, if you ever had the opportunity to go onto the show, grandma, you definitely should, you would sweep the competition. All that I ask is that you share some of that $10,000 with me. I accept cash, checks, cards, cakes and care packages!

Amazing Homes

Hey grandma! I’ve been telling you I would be writing a blog post to you soon and I’m finally writing it!

For this week I watched a Netflix Original called The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes. It’s not usually something I would watch, but I gave it a try. Like a lot of other Netflix Originals I watch for my Blog Posts, I usually watch more than just the first episode. With this Original, I watched almost through the second episode, and there have been many houses featured so I honestly can’t remember them all. This show really would be something dad would watch, more than me or you honestly, since it has to do with building things.

So the show is hosted by two people, named Caroline and Piers. I think Piers is an actual architect or something, but his co-host, Caroline, isn’t. She is more relatable to us non-architects, while Piers speaks to the audience that has a real interest in the architecture of the featured homes. I’ve read some reviews that put down Caroline, but I didn’t mind her; I guess I related to her more than him, which I think you would find with yourself also if you ended up watching this show.

One of the homes that stuck out to me most was one on the “Forest” episode, which is episode 2. The architect and the homeowners didn’t want to upset the trees on the plot of land that they had chosen to build on, so they figured out where the trees were and built the house around it. I thought that was pretty neat but it confused me because I know trees have deep, widespread roots and I didn’t understand how they built around the roots of the surrounding trees. They explained that instead of the usual cement foundation dug into the ground, they mapped out the tree roots and drove long steel “fingers,” as Piers described, in between the roots and they served as the foundation for the home. With this same house, the outside walls are literally inches away from the surrounding trees, which is just amazing to me that the builders were able to build so close to the trees without disturbing them.

Another home that was featured in the same episode was another odd-shaped house. It was built kind of like a tree house. This house is functional as a weekend home for the family that built it, but it won’t be very functional once they start to age. It features three bedrooms stacked on top of each other with the main family living area and kitchen on top of everything else. The living area and kitchen are wider than the stacked bedrooms, which is why it reminds me of a treehouse. I’m not sure if that made any sense, but I don’t know how else to explain it. It is a very tall house that allows its occupants to get a gorgeous view from the living area. The main feature of this house was the yellow staircase; it connected the three levels of bedrooms and the living area, which is why I say it won’t be a very functional home once the occupants start to age, as they may not be able to go up three levels of stairs to get to the living area and kitchen. It is definitely a pretty cool concept, though, since it isn’t taking up much space on the ground.

The show has four episodes jam-packed with houses from around the world- in the mountains, the forest, on the coast, and finally underground. I think you might enjoy the show if you end up watching it. It is pretty cool seeing houses that are nothing like what we have here in northeast Missouri.

Thank you for reading my post for this week grandma! Leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

More of the Same (Which is Good): Series of Unfortunate Events Season 2 Episode 1

     As any long-term viewer of any television show may be able to tell you, shows often undergo a change in quality after their first season. This can be good change, but more often than not, it tends to be bad. However, I am happy to report that A Series of Unfortunate Events has a second season that is just as good, if not better than the first. It retains the charm and style established in the beginning while also improving on the storylines in each episode.
     One of my favorite parts of last season was the self-referential humor. In the first few episodes, Count Olaf would turn to the camera and encourage the viewer to watch more Netflix. While this is a shameless plug, it also helps dispel some of the tension in some scenes which may be too frightening for the younger target audience. In the first second season, many references are made about the fact that this is a new season, including the very first line. The slight morphing of the “breaking the forth wall” joke keeps the show from feeling stale.
     Another slight change that keeps the show fresh is the slight change in the story line. Having not read the books, I am not sure if this is the way the books are situated. However, it appears that the first season featured the same plot: the children come to a new home and start connecting with an adult, but then Count Olaf ruins everything and the orphans have leave. The viewer can see the changes in “The Miserable Mill”, where the seemingly nice Dr. Orwell turns out to be evil, but other than that, it follows the formula. The first episode of the new season has the children not spending much time with any adults, outside of the VFW agent. Instead, they get to know the two surviving Quagmire triplets and with their help, discover more about both sets of parents secrets. This underlying sub-plot helps leave the viewers wanting more since there is an unfulfilled story to be solved. Even if this is changed, there are some elements that are the same.
     One of my favorite aspects of the last season was the atmosphere, and this one was no different. The slight dingy feeling to them, which helps contribute to the dark, bleak atmosphere of the show. Having ridden a school bus for many years, I feel confident saying that none of them look like the one depicted in the show. There are no pure colors and even Violet’s pastel dress is dispensed with. Carmelita comes close, but here dress is oversaturated, showing her overly sweet personality to those not aware of her true colors.
     In conclusion, the second season of A Series of Unfortunate Events is worth watching if you enjoyed the first. The storyline has thickened and picked up a darker plot which directly involves the children. There is an atmosphere which fits the story being told and some of the same humor as before. This is a show I can’t wait to watch again soon.

The Ranch: A Funny and Refreshing Original

The Ranch is quite the Netflix original. I has been a while since there has been a traditional sitcom, with a laugh track and everything. The show is filled with dry humor, and that is one of my favorite types of humor, so I love this show. The Ranch does something different, instead of the main character just being an average human being, he was as football, and now he has to acclimate back to life with his family on the ranch. The dad particularly does not take this well, as he thought that his football dream was never going to happen, however, when the main character, Colt, was offered a spot on the local team, he declined the offer.





Colt had figured that it was time for him to return back to his life at the ranch, especially since his mother told him that his dad was going to lose the place, due to the lack of rain. That is what the show is all about, throwing someone who is used to stardom returning back to his farm life. It creates a lot of silly moments that every sitcom has, such as Colt walking in wearing ugg boots (The Ranch), or not having people do stuff for him.





One of the most interesting parts however is that The Ranch has a Forgotten Older Brother type of character. That’s not something that is normally done, as it is usually the older sibling that outshines the younger, such as the relationship between Ross Geller and Monica Geller in Friends (another sitcom). This creates a funny relationship between the dad and his two sons, as some parts they straight up ignore the older brother when he is talking.




All around, The Ranch is a funny show. It is not drop dead hilarious as something like Archer or The Office, but it definity does Netflix justice in their ability to create an original sitcom. The setting is perfect too, ripe with conservative jokes all over. If you are not one to care about political views or getting offended, The Ranch is a show to add to your list.

Conspiracies

Netflix's original documentary series, Conspiracy, focuses on different events such as the moon landing, Hitler's death, and the Cold War. I watched the episode on Hitler's death and it was pretty interesting. They walk through the original account of his death, which was that he shot himself in the head and his men set him on fire in a shallow grave. Most people accept this as truth, but there are people out there who believe this was a cover up. This show is a great watch for anyone who enjoys history or conspiracies.




The show brings on multiple experts, who attempt to debunk mysteries and put together conspiracy theories. In this episode the main expert starts to walk us through the events that followed Hitler's alleged death. The show puts together a timeline to take the viewers through history, to follow what is going on. They make good arguing points throughout the documentary, one being that the German government were the first to announce Hitler's death. Each expert brought on gave new insights into the conspiracy. Each was an expert in a different field and looked at different information. The show does this so that it is not just one person trying to build a case. They have multiple experts all coming together to make their case, which helps to build a strong conspiracy.




The documentary, to keep viewers attention, recreates the events so we can see what happened. They recreate the way that Hitler allegedly died and was buried. It was pretty gruesome. The scene shows blood spatter after he shoots himself, and then shows his body thrown into a grave with gasoline poured over his body. They also showed live footage from World War II at different points in the episode. This helps to bring it to life, seeing actual events that took place. Most of these shots are on battle fields, showing artillery guns firing, people shooting weapons, etc. All of the actual footage shown in this documentary is in black and white, but all of the recreated scenes are shown in color. The recreated scenes are all shown in dim lighted shots. The directors probably did this to make the scenes eerie, since it has to do with the most evil people to walk the earth.




The documentary uses a narrator to help with transitioning from one scene to the next. The narrator gives a little bit of information as an introduction for a scene. The narrator also gives a brief background of an expert who is being introduced, The producers elected to play music throughout the documentary, with the tempo setting the tone for the scenes. During the suicide scene, the music is low and speeds up when he shoots. During the actual footage of fire fights, violins are played at a faster tempo to add intensity. Most of the music in this episode is played with fast tempo. Music is also played while experts are talking. The music is quiet enough to not distract from what is being said, but loud enough to set the tone.




This episode does a thorough job of poking holes in the death of Hitler. It makes you wonder if Hitler actually escaped. This is important for a conspiracy. If it makes a person think and question what they originally believed, then it is doing it's job. The documentary goes over a handful of documents that were declassified decades after WWII. These declassified documents show how untruthful governments can be to hide information from the public. This helps to make viewers believe the conspiracy, because it makes you wonder why the government would hold back information.