Worldly Cuisine

Every day, every human being on earth does a few of the same things. One of those many things is eat. Everyone needs to eat. Now, that doesn’t mean that it has to be a boring and tedious task. Many people, including myself, greatly enjoy eating. That brings something along with it; what to eat? Well, that depends on where you are at times. Different parts of the world eat different types of food. As eating food is very enjoyable and entertaining to some people, I am going to go through some different types of food around the world for ideas on what to try eating. First, in Spain, churros are very popular. Leche Merengada is also very popular in Spain, and it is a Spanish milkshake. In France, some popular foods are cheese, bread, and wine. In Japan, some popular foods are sushi, and in China some popular foods are chicken and rice. In India, spicy foods are common, and in Mexico, spicy foods are also kind of common, such as tacos and burritos. America, however, has everything. There are places you can get churros, nice wine, sushi houses, Chinese restaurants, and there are also Mexican restaurants. Eating is entertaining for me, so I suggest you go out and try various types of food from around the world!

High School Football: Kennedy v Jefferson

High school is something that now a days practically everyone goes through, with only a very few amount of exceptions. High school means, for a lot of people, having fun with friends, being teenagers, doing things that you won’t be able to do when you’re older, and making experiences. A lot of people will participate in an activity, a lot of times one or more sports, throughout their high school career. Some sports are very popular, such as football, while some are not as popular, such as tennis. I don’t mean to put tennis down at all-I am just stating that tennis is not as popular in high school as football is. The popularity that football brings also brings another aspect: fans. Going to your high school football game is a lot of fun, and you get to see a lot of people you know there and a lot of friends, either in the stands or on the field.

This last Friday, on September twenty fifth, John F. Kennedy High School played Jefferson High School. These two high schools are city rivals in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They played at Kingston Stadium, with the Kennedy Cougars the home team. Kennedy beat Jefferson, thirty five to sixteen. The kickoff was scheduled for seven fifteen pm, but was closer to around seven thirty pm.

High school football games, such as the one mentioned above, are great games to go to and participate in. They are a lot of fun, especially when you go with and are with friends at the game. It is a lot of fun to go in a group. At the Kennedy game, the student section was very crowded, as a lot of Kennedy students go to the football games. It always gives a sense of belonging to your school. It is like the concept of nationalism, but instead of that feeling towards your nation, it is that feeling toward your high school. It helps to bring the high school students together and make them feel as one. Along with being a great experience with friends, it is always a lot of fun to watch a football game. Especially high school football games for many reasons. One reason is for the players. More likely than not, a high schooler will know some of the football players, and possibly even be good friends. It is always great to cheer on your friends. Another reason is to watch a football game, which is always a lot of fun (at least it is for me because I enjoy watching football). It is even more fun to watch if your high school wins, which is always very fun and enjoyable. Therefore, high school football games are a great experience, such as the one between Kennedy and Jefferson this last Friday night. It is a great time and is highly recommended by myself!

Learning About History: Movies

History is an important thing, and is pretty interesting at times (in my opinion at least). However, reading from a book about history can get really boring, and I mean it can get so boring that you might even fall asleep. That is especially the case with really dry, boring, and hard to understand history books and textbooks. This poses an important question: How to learn more about history without getting so bored? Learning about history can be very enjoyable and very entertaining-if done in an entertaining way that is. That means not just reading out of a textbook, or at least that is what it means for me. One way to learn about history is through movies. Whether it be a documentary, a short film, a television movie, or a feature film, many movies can teach a lot and be packed full with historical knowledge.

A large handful of movies it seems now a days are based on either a true story, are based on real people and real events, or are related to something that actually happened. This sometimes leads to a common misconception: that a movie is always one hundred percent correct over the topic it covers. This is sometimes the case, and if you are looking for a movie like that then your best bet is to look at a documentary. However, documentaries are sometimes dull and slow moving and not as entertaining as other movies and films. Some people are entertained by documentaries, but that is not me. I don't want to just learn; I want to learn, relax, and enjoy. That leads me to my favorite of the choices: a feature film. Whether the feature film is based on a true story, based on real people or real events, or just related to something that actually happened, I prefer those over documentaries and television movies or a short film. That is because they are made to entertain.

Feature films that deal with historical events are very entertaining. They usually have an interesting plot, characters that you usually learn to love or hate, and you learn something about history as well. If you're ever bored and want to be productive and entertain yourself at the same time, then I recommend a feature film dealing with a historic event in some way shape or form. Some examples of such feature films are: Pearl Harbor, The Patriot, The Passion of the Christ, Braveheart, Revolution, Annabelle, A Haunting in Connecticut, American Sniper, Schindler's List, Captain Phillips, Zero Dark Thirty, Argo, Black Mass, Pompeii, Apollo 13, Remember the Titans, We Are Marshall, Hotel Rwanda, and Gladiator. All of these feature films have something to do with a historical event; either are based on a true story, based on real people, real events, or are related to something that actually happened. However, some of these movies are more historically accurate than others. Also, this list is just a list of some movies that I have heard of or seen myself that are entertaining movies to watch and have to do with a history in some way shape or form. I highly recommend watching one or more of these movies, as they will entertain you and you will learn something from them as well.

"Simple Man"

Many people entertain themselves with music. Whether it be listening to music, composing music, making music, music can be very entertaining. In particular, some certain types of music seem to be more entertaining than others, and even more specifically, certain songs seem to be more entertaining. One way to see how entertaining a song appears to be would be the amount of covers of that song that have been made. Not the covers made by people who do covers of songs regularly, but that does help, but I mean when bands make a cover of another bands song. Whether this be live at concert only, or for an album. One such example is the song Simple Man, originally by Lynyrd Skynyrd. This song has been made a cover by a few bands, most notably by the band Deftones, Confederate Railroad, and perhaps the most famous cover by Shinedown. Shinedown has made two versions of the song, an acoustic version as well as a rock version, and their cover of Simple Man is very popular. However, the original by Lynyrd Skynyrd is arguably more popular and better known, but it can be argued that the Shinedown cover (either the acoustic or the rock version of the song) is the most well-known cover. Many people are fans of either Lynyrd Skynyrd, Shinedown, or both, and they entertain themselves with listening to their songs. One of those songs is Simple Man, entertaining a large amount of people around the world as they listen to the song, no matter the artist.

NCAA Football: Pittsburgh at Iowa

Fall is nearly upon us, and for many people that means something important is happening: that it is football season again! Both National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football and National Football League (NFL) are starting up, even though the NFL pre-season is already all over. This weekend, September 19^th and 20^th of 2015, mark the third week of NCAA Football and the second week of the NFL. However, today, Saturday, September 19, many people entertained themselves with NCAA games. Many people I know gathered together and watched at least one game. While driving today usually I just listen to some CDs, but today I tuned to the AM radio station 600 and listened for the games currently going on (I recommend radio station 600 to listen to games, particularly Iowa Hawkeye games). Many people in my neighborhood even gathered together and watched some games today. Whether the kickoff in the morning or at night, many people entertained themselves today by watching a NCAA Football game, and some people watched more than one. Many teams played today, with one in particular sticking out for me: the Iowa Hawkeyes playing the Pittsburgh Panthers. This game may have stood out to me in particular because I am an Iowa Hawkeye fan, but I know of some people who are neither Hawkeye fans nor Panther fans and yet they still watched the game. This game was a very good and entertaining game.

The game was played at Iowa, at Kinnick Stadium, and kickoff time was scheduled for 7 pm. The game itself was a close one; Iowa took the lead by the end of the first quarter with a field goal, leading three to zero. In the second quarter, Iowa got two touchdowns and was able to get the extra point for both touch downs. However, Pittsburgh also got a touchdown, but they only got one. They did, however, also get their extra point. Going into the half the score was seventeen to seven, Iowa in the lead. In the third quarter, Pittsburgh got another touchdown and extra point, and they were able to get a field goal as well. At the end of the third quarter the score was tied at seventeen. In the fourth quarter, both Iowa and Pittsburgh got a touchdown and an extra point, tying the game again at twenty-four.

At about this time, things were getting interesting. Iowa had the ball at Pittsburgh’s forty-seven yard line, which was fifty-seven yards from the field goal post. It was fourth down and two to go, and there were two seconds left on the clock, with the game tied at twenty-four. At this time, everyone that I knew that was watching the game had their eyes glued to the television, unable to look anywhere else in anticipation of what would happen. Iowa was going to attempt a fifty-seven yard field goal in order to try and win the game. With everyone’s eyes glued to the television, the ball was snapped, and thud! the ball was air born. It sailed through the air, and went right in between the two field goal posts. The field goal was good, and Iowa had just won the game. Everyone around me was cheering, and were so happy that Iowa had gotten another victory (at least all the Iowa fans were).

Today many NCAA games aired on the television and were played, providing entertainment to many people who watched the games. It was one way that many people spent their day, and it is always a good time, made even better if the team you are rooting for wins. If you’re ever looking for entertainment, I suggest getting together with a couple friends and watching a football game together; it is always a blast.

New Bohemia Half Marathon

Two weekends ago, labor day weekend, on Saturday, September sixth, New Bohemia (which is better known as NewBo) hosted a half marathon and 10k race. Due to the heat of that weekend, the race was moved to a very early starting time of seven thirty in the morning, as to try and avoid as much of the scorching heat as possible. Both the half marathon and 10k were ran at the same time, and both had the same start line and finish line, the start line being a few blocks from the NewBo Market and the finish line being at the NewBo Market. Both the half marathon and the 10k race courses traveled down by the river and along it, and onto the trail by the river after a mile or so of running on road. The half marathon course, which is what I ran, went back and forth from the dirt trail in trees and beside the river to a paved cement road. In total, about eight hundred people ran in either the half marathon or the 10k, with many age ranges. This was one way that many people entertained themselves throughout the summer, with training for the race. Even though it was not all that big of a race, many people still participated. In order to get ready for the race (either the half marathon or 10k, but especially the half marathon) the runners had to train. As for me, I ran almost every day from Monday to Friday for most of the summer for cross country training. I just carried that training over for the NewBo half marathon. It was a great entertainment running the half marathon and something that I strongly suggest that everyone try to do: run a race. Whether that being anything as small and noncompetitive as a 5k Color Run (which are still loads of fun) or something as competitive as, for example, the Boston Marathon, running a race is a great thing to do. It is something that I highly recommend, and think that everyone should do at some point in their lifetime.