Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Does money buy happiness? & The Length of Sports Seasons! + True Grit Review

He sure looks Happy!

So the question always is asked, does money buy happiness?  This question has always been asked and both sides have strong cases to be correct.  Throughout my life most people around me have said the answer to this question is no, but I am here to say otherwise with a rule or two.  I honestly do believe money can buy happiness but it might not be able to buy ultimate bliss.  The one thing I will say money can't buy is true love so lets take that out of the debate.  Love is a feeling that can be masked by money whether it is there or not.  Ultimate love is more than money and more than something that can be bought.  This doesn't mean you money can't buy you a happy relationship.  Money is an interesting thing because at the end of the day it is a huge reason people wake up in the morning.  I wish money didn't control as much as it actually does but this is the world we are born into so I gotta get mine.  But money buying happiness on the a basic level is very simple!  Say I am hungry and a burger from IN-N-OUT will make me happy then using money to buy that burger will make me happy so in that instance money does by me happiness period.  Then say I want to lose weight and I feel I don't have the self-control to stop by self from eating or the dedication I need to work out everyday, if I have the money to spend on a nutritionist and a trainer it will make doing everything easier.  Yes, you can do all of that without money but having money makes it easier, faster potentially, which in the end makes me happier quicker.  So from my two examples you can see why I think money does buy you happiness but the side note I wanted to say with it was, money buys you happiness if it is used with the right means behind it.  Just spending money to spend money isn't the answer (unless that is what makes you happy) but using it to satisfy those needs helps with the happiness.  People who say, well it can't buy love, and therefore can't buy happiness all I can say back is that not everyone is looking for love.  Yes, we are wired to think everyone needs love and this and that but there are people out there that are happy not being in love and not looking for it.  So in the end I guess what I am saying is this debate will never end because what makes humans great is that we don't all think alike.  So when you talk to your friends about this topic just remember not all people see the world through your eyes, things are your opinions and other have theirs just respect that.   


 As most people can tell I love sports.  I truly love them all, some more then others, but I can watch any sports and be happy.  Lately I have been wondering if the season are too long.  Baseball comes in with 162 games a year, basketball with 82, Football with 16 games but 17 weeks and the NFL with an 82 game season.  Recently there has been talk of extending the NFL season so each team plays 18 instead of 16 also.  A month or so leading up to the season of these sports I get excited (hockey not as much) and then that excitement persists for the first quarter or so of the season.  Then I usually hit a slow point where it just doesn't seem to matter.  I know they are all business and that is a huge component to why they are so long but wow do I think they can be shortened.  I do first off think the NFL has it right.  I think 16 games is perfect for them and adding two more would just be too much, so this next part is in reference to the other three (I am not talking about soccer or any other sport because I feel I don't know enough).  First off baseball is my favorite sport but 162 game is just absurd I think.  Teams can play other teams in their division almost 20 times!!!!  I think baseball should lower its games to somewhere around 125 with 25 of those games being inter-league play.  I am against the thoughts of shortening the games themselves because that is just stupid.  I think this will make people happier because to be honest the attention span in America is getting shorter and shorter so following a 162 games is a lot.  Then there is Hockey, and I don't watch too much but I think one of the reasons it feels long its because teams take about 2 days off in between games and sometimes up to 4 days off.  This much rest only extends an already long season.  If they cut it down to say 50 it would move much faster plus well over half of the league makes the playoffs anyway.  Then there is basketball!  Basketball is 82 games, this is comprised of played the teams in your conference 4 times a year and the teams in the opposite conference two times (with some exceptions).  I think there is a simple way to fix this.  First off take away 1 of the 4 against every team.  So this means play teams in your conference 3 times instead of 4, and rotate that 3rd game each year, so you play one away, one home and then the third switches every year.  With that taken away you now have 68 games (82-14=68) then take away a quarter of the non-conference games, meaning play every team once and 7 or 8 of the teams twice, but also make a rotation so it switches every year.  If you play every team once and 7 of the teams twice you now take 8 more games away, leaving you with 60 games (30 home and 30 away).  Then the final change I would make is shorten the playoffs.  Yes, its fine to do best of 7 in every round, even though I say do best of 5 in round one then switch to best of 7.  But I am saying make teams only get 1 day rest no matter what.  The western conference on one day and eastern on another and when the Championship hits one team gets 3 day rest and the other 4.  I know it seems like this might lose owners a lot of money but it also means smaller contracts because they play less.  Don't react right away people just think about it and let me know.  I am a huge sports fan and these are changes I want to see, what changes do you want?


So I saw True Grit last night and I will say I am impressed.  First off the movie is 2 hours long which, I think is the perfect time frame for a movie.  The cast did a fantastic job and on the acting alone I would give the movie a 9.7/10.  Then there is the story about a 14 year old girl seeking to avenge her fathers death.  She just wants to have some peace for her fathers murder.  The story was compelling throughout and I never got board with it.  They added some great lines to the movie to keep it light hearted when needed.  It is a movie I would 100% recommended to others.  I also hear it is much better then the original even though John Wayne won is only Oscar for that one.  Overall I will give the movie a solid 9.5/10 and if you haven't gone to see it go for it because you will enjoy it.    
   

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