Blog 15

          For my paper I am writing I am looking for some information on greed. I want to find why it exists, what it is, and why people are greedy. I want to be able to explain why people are greedy and just to get a better background of everything to do with greed. Not only that but I also want to read some article about actual real life stories of greed. That can help me get a better idea of the greed concept and it will also give me an idea of how it affects people; not only the person but the people around them also. One example I can think of is Pete Rose and him betting on baseball games. I think this is a good example of greed and it will help connect with anyone that enjoys sports.

1.    Hansen, Laura L.; Movahedi, Siamak. Sociological Forum, Jun2010, Vol. 25 Issue 2, p367-374, 8p

2.    Harris, Jaime C.. New York Amsterdam News, 1/8/2004, Vol. 95 Issue 2, p42-42, 1/3p

3.     James, Eshanda A.. Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences, May2010, Vol. 2 Issue 1, p415-429, 15p

4.     Long, Susan. Psychodynamic Practice, Aug2009, Vol. 15 Issue 3, p245-259, 15p

5.     STANDEN, JEFFREY. Nine: A Journal of Baseball History & Culture, Spring2010, Vol. 18 Issue 2, p134-140, 7p

Blog 14

           For my analytical research paper I chose the Ariel episode in the Firefly episode. I chose this episode because it was one of my favorite episodes that I watched. Not only that but it worked almost perfectly with the topic I want to write about. I am going to talk about how greed can make a person do really stupid things. Jayne in this episode works perfectly with that. Watching the episode for the second time helped me understand the show plan better and it helped me generate some ideas for my paper. For those who have never seen the episode, a crewmember makes a stupid decision because of greed. He is offered a large amount of money for turning in two fugitives that are on their ship. He agrees to a deal and put himself and his entire crew in danger. Throughout the series Jayne is making poor decisions because he is greedy and because he only thinks about himself. To someone who has seen the show should not be surprised by what Jayne did because he has done it over and over again. Not only does this connect to Jayne but also this has many real world connections. Just as a general example, think of all the people who are in debt over their eyeballs because they are greedy. They keep spending money because they want something and they end up getting in trouble. That is just a simple and general example of how greed can get you in trouble but there. There are countless real world examples of where someone’s greed gets him or her into some type of trouble so I don’t think my topic will be too tough to write about.  I don’t want to talk about what I am going to put in my paper because so everyone can come up with their own ideas for their paper. 

Blog 13

            Today I watched the Trash episode of the Firefly series. Today’s episode showed just how stupid Mal can be. In today’s episode one of Mal’s old war buddies introduces him to his wife, which is, none other than Mrs. Reynolds. So long story short her husband leaves her and it is just her and Mal. Mal tells her many times to start walking and to leave him alone but she convinces him to let her get on Serenity. I cannot believe he would let her get back on the ship after what she did earlier in the season. Then Inara talks to Mal about how she can’t get work because he is laying low and insults his work. So to prove her wrong he goes to “Mrs. Reynolds”, because she mentioned that she had an easy job worth a fortune. So he goes and lets her out of her crate and she explains the job to the rest of the crew. As the whole crew is dumbfounded why he trusts her, she explains the plan. The job is an artifact worth a fortune that will be stolen but it is coded so they can’t get the artifact out the door. So they come up with a brilliant plan to put it in the trash and reroute the trash bin to a place where they can meet up with it later and recover the artifact out of the trash. So she has all the door codes and everything and she keeps up on her deal. But then we find out she is married to the guy they are stealing from.  So the guy lets Mal steal the artifact but he calls the feds on them. The thing is why didn’t Mal just leave her there to be caught by the feds and just escape for himself. But they do end up escaping and this is where Mal’s stupidness really comes in. She makes him think that she is all sad and he tries to comfort her and she end up getting his gun and takes over the mini ship. So she strands Mal and goes to get the artifact for herself. Luckily Inara got the artifact before she got there and everything worked out but I still cannot believe how Mal trusted her. Of course another example of Jayne’s greed came into play again today. As he is layi g on the Doctor’s table the first thing he asks is, if they got the job done and if we got the money. 

Blog 12

         Today I watched the “War Stories” episode of the Firefly episode. Well in today’s episode, the main theme was jealousy. Today we got a dose of how Warsh really feels about Mal and Zoe. Even when Zoe was telling one of her and Mal’s war story Warsh got jealous. She was just explaining to Kaylee why she always cuts he apple with a knife instead of just eating it. That wasn’t even the beginning of it. The jealousy got really bad when Warsh had an idea on how to get ride of the medical supplies they stole in the last episode. Zoe told Mal his idea and he rejected it and so did Zoe. Then Warsh asks what she thinks and she just tells him exactly what the captain said. He saw that as her always following in the captain’s footsteps. That’s not even the worst part. He ends up changing the controls for one of the personal ships so that Zoe and Mal couldn’t do the drop together. He refuses to tell them the new controls and he insists that he goes instead of Zoe. Warsh gets his wish and he goes on the drop. The problem is that they end up getting caught by Niska from the Train Job and they end up getting tortured. When they are late Zoe goes out to find them and she knows where they are. So she is able to buy Warsh back but the captain is left to be tortured. But of course they can’t leave him behind and the entire crew ends up breaking in and getting the captain back. Although Warsh’s jealousy kept Zoe out of danger, he ended up getting tortured because of it. He could have easily got himself killed but he was lucky this time. Now that he went through that I think his jealousy may be gone. 

Blog 11

            In the Ariel episode of Firefly today, Jayne’s selfishness was truer than ever. Inara had to have a physical examination on one of the central planets and the crew had no job to do. The crew was going to stay on the ship until they found work and the doctor gave them some work. The doctor came up with a brilliant plan to get River into the hospital for a scan of her head and for the crew to make money. The plan was to have the crew dressed as medical personnel and for the Doctor and River to be “dead” bodies. While the Doctor did scans on River’s head, Mal and Zoe went and stole some medicine that they could sell to other planets for a big profit. They decided this wasn’t wrong because it was government medicine and the stock would be refilled within days. Now is where Jayne’s selfishness comes in. He actually called the feds and told them that he has their wanted felons. He was offered a big amount of money for them and he was stupid enough to make a deal with them. The thing is, the feds backstabbed him. Instead of rewarding Jayne money, they arrest him for helping felons. So his greed ends up putting himself and the rest of the crew in danger. Luckily they are able to escape back to the ship fairly unharmed. Then when they get back to the ship the Doctor thanks Jayne for “saving” them and he just acts all noble. But he could not fool the captain. Mal knew what he did and he almost kills Jayne. Although Jayne did admit that he got greedy and was stupid that doesn’t make him noble at all. I think he just admitted he was wrong because his life depended on it. 

Blog 10

            Today I watched the next episode of the Firefly series. Today’s episode started off confusing but it all made sense as the show went on. I guess I can also see why they titled this episode, “Out of Gas”. At the beginning of this show started off with Mal laying on the floor appearing to be taking his last breaths. I had no idea why and Mal kept having flashbacks to when he first bought Serenity. So in this episode while they were celebrating the Doctor’s birthday, the power flickers. Not only does the lights flicker but, a huge ball of fire ends up flowing through the ship. During the blast Zoe is hurt badly and has to be treated. Today’s episode was another part that contradicts us thinking that Mal has morals. Warsh was with his dying wife and Mal demanded that he does work. Warsh refuses and he ends up grabbing him and Warsh does what he is told. Not allowing him to be with his dying wife was a terrible thing to do and that shows he has no morals. However, he thinks of the others before himself later in the show. He tells the rest of the crew to leave on the small ships while he stays with serenity. Long story short, he ends up getting the replacement part for the air, get shot in the process and nearly dies. The rest of the crew ends up coming back for him and found him with a bullet wound. He did lose a lot of blood but he seems like he with be okay. On today’s episode, it seems like the whole crew is working together better and is coming closer together. Another thing I have noticed in the last couple episodes is that River is making really good progress. She is talking now and is interacting with the crew. Seems like she is recovering just fine now. 

Blog 9

            Today I watched the Jaynestown episode and I was really shocked at what happened. In the Firefly episodes Jayne has been a selfish and crude man. Throughout the series he has always only thought about himself. For example, in the Train Job he wanted to leave Mal and Zoe behind and finish the job just for his own safety. He didn’t want to displease the boss man so he rather put Mal and Zoe in danger rather than himself. Another example was when the doctor wasn’t coming back to the ship so he went through all of the doctor’s stuff and was stealing his things. Not to mention in today’s episode he pretty much destroyed the doctor’s medical room just to find some tape. Today’s episode showed Jayne as his normal self pretty much all the way through the show. If you have seen the episode he thought that he was hated in the town where they were working so he didn’t want to be there in the first place. Then he finds out that he is seen as a hero. Once the people find out that he is there, he is worshipped and he takes it all in. He didn’t want to be there in the first place but now he was singing taking in all the praises and acting all heroic. That was something I expected from him but what he did at the end, I didn’t expect at all. At the end his old partner tries to kill him and a mudder takes the bullet for him. And the surprising thing was that he was mad at the man for doing that. He felt bad for the man and he didn’t want him to do that. Not only that but he explained to everyone that he really isn’t a hero and that he shouldn’t be worshipped. But that’s not even the most surprising part. He even knocks over the statue of himself and destroyed it. The selfish Jayne destroys his own statue. I couldn’t believe it. Even back on the ship he was asking why the guy took the bullet for him. This episode seemed like a big step for Jayne.