This third edition of the "Quick Stories" series will be a little different. Instead of stories, I will firstly share a presentation of mine, then there will be two discussions about topics I won’t be able to share due to copyright.
In spite of not having the chance to share it entirely, I sincerely hope you all enjoy these ones as well.
LESSON 11: The Empire State Building.
I’m going to be talking about the Empire State Building. Instead of just boringly talking about how tall it is or how much money it took to be built, I’d rather start stating some other quick facts, which are being brought to you by CNN Library and Evan Andrews from History Channel. Let’s get into it!
1. Adding the height of the antennae to the building itself, the Empire State Building (ESB) stands 1,454 feet tall, which results in nearly 444 meters tall.
2. Despite its height and the amount of construction materials used in the building process, the ESB took only 410 days to be completed. It’s just a month and a half past a whole year of work!
3. In spite of the ESB being a symbol of everything NYC is known for, such as ambition, a competitive spirit and sheer will, it was opened in 1931, in the middle of the Great Depression of 1929.
4. In 1945, at the very end of World War II, and 14 years after the ESB’s opening, a bomber plane crashed into its 79th floor, leading to 14 people ending up killed.
5. The ESB lost its title as the tallest building in the world back in 1973, after the construction of the World Trade Center (WTC). This title has been given back to the ESB after the WTC collapsed in 2001.
6. The towers are turned off whenever it’s foggy or during the spring or autumn bird migration seasons, so as not to make the birds confused (otherwise, they might end up flying into the building).
7. A rather disturbing fact: despite plummeting from the 75th floor, Betty Oliver, who was inside the falling elevator, survived with just a broken neck and back. It appears that the speed of the fall might’ve been decreased by the elevator cables, which ended up saving Betty’s life.
– Tria. July 7th, 2020.
Sources:
Empire State Building Fast Facts:
https://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/11/us/empire-state-building-fast-facts/index.html
10 Surprising Facts About the Empire State Building:
https://www.history.com/news/10-surprising-facts-about-the-empire-state-building
LESSON 18: Ill-lit Thoughts.
What you’re about to read ahead will be more of a spoken discussion, as if we were verbally speaking about the subject, rather than me serving up some stiff-structured sentences in order to get the highest grade (pretty much like I used to do before dropping out of the course). Let’s get started!
In spite of the text itself being rather enjoyable through and through, the first idea I consider being important to be brought to light is when the author writes “we drink too much, smoke too much, (…), stay up too late, get up too tired, (…)”. He goes on giving examples of activities we should or should not be doing. I do see this sleeping pattern not only in myself but also in many more people wherever I go. Whether because of this messy quarantine or not, I’ve seen dozens upon dozens of people either sad or angry about not being able to sleep early so as to feel rested to work the morning after. Is it only because of the quarantine or are we dealing with a genocidal President who wants to have us dead before 2020 comes to an end? Who knows. Stay tuned! The fact, though, is that we’ve gotten used to sleeping less and less, living faster and faster and even having tons of chemicals (nicotine, caffeine, cocaine, etc.) to deal with this widespread and harmful lifestyle.
That kind of brings me to the second excerpt I’d like to bring up: “These are the days of (…) overweight bodies and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill”. What a deep statement! I’m not on my Twitter account, so I won’t pretend I feel ok with being chubby nor will I say this is carried with empowerment. I’ve only been eating too many snacks. Call me nasty all you want, but that’s on period. Still talking about compulsive behavior, it sure is a shame how many people we lose in the war against drugs on a daily basis. It’s even rather problematic, since a lot of people glamorize doing coke and ketamine all night even though there are innocent people dying in the slums because of that. I remain not being judgmental (they can have as much of it as they want), the treatment given to the poorer, though, is what should be replaced by a more humane one.
The last topic I’ve chosen talks a little bit about the following part of the text: “we plan more, but accomplish less”. Although life is not measured by achieving our dreams, which Schopenhauer would highly disagree with, I wish I could be doing more than the bare minimum I’m used to. I mean, I plan to learn German and study Chemical Engineering so as to finally move from here, but I’ve been doing little to nothing to get those things. Yet, why should I work harder for that? Why should anyone see their lives go by as they don’t spend it with their loved ones? Just a more philosophical question that doesn’t have to be answered.
– Tria. July 2nd, 2020.
LESSON 19: The Movie Theatre.
The last film I saw was “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”. It was back in 2013 when I last went to the movies with a couple of friends.
Since I’m not much for going to places like those, it took the best of my abilities to be there and enjoy it. Plus, although I don’t feel like going to the movies, to theaters, to circuses, etc., since I was with Drew and Pam, I did have fun.
In spite of being in good company, the movie itself was beyond-this-world amazing! Jennifer Lawrence really gave me chills with her acting. She impersonated Katniss Everdeen in a way only a really talented actress could. Besides her amazing acting skills, the director did a spectacular job at bringing to the screens exactly what had to be shown from the books. The movie was as similar to the book as it should be, not lacking in quality in the adapting process.
Both the music and the special effects made this piece even more memorable. When the third Quarter Quell was being announced, the sound of the drums made it seem rather grand. Despite that, when the arena was destroyed, by the very end of the movie, a lot of the viewers gasped knowing that that was an even bigger and more dangerous of Katniss’ acts. You should see it on YouTube!
My favorite part was when the third Quarter Quell was announced by President Snow. He went like, “(…) the male and female tributes will be reaped from the existing pool of victors”. That blew my mind! That was a masterful move on Snow’s part, which might’ve been previously planned by him in order to take Katniss back to the arena, so that he could finally kill her without making it seems that he personally wanted to.
This was definitely worth seeing. Not only would I see it again, I actually watch it on Netflix every now and then, even though not all four movies are available there. Rarely have I seen such a good movie: although I’m a huge Harry Potter fan, I’d say The Hunger Games is also an impressive, dramatic and powerful story, which reflects the world we’re probably about to see in less than a century.
– Tria. July 4th, 2020.
