Blue Jasmine (film critique). By Cesar Reyes Torres

Blue Jasmine is more of a quirky film than a comedy. It portrays the wealthy in this country for what they truely are. When you strip away there mansions, jewelry and all of there toys, what you are left with is sad empty people. Cate Blanchet's character really embodies everything the wealthy and powerful value. Sally Hawkins who plays her sister in the movie portrays a simple woman from the Bay Area with everyday real world problems. But despite not having been exposed to the level of pomp and wealth that her sister (Cate Blanchet) has, she still comes out with with the ability to carry her self with her head held high and with most of her dignity intact. This movie was a fun quirky movie to watch. I would not go as far as to call it a funny comedy, but I would call it a fun movie that was worth money. 

Materialism in life. By Cesar Reyes Torres

              You know its funny the lessons you learn, and how God chooses to teach them to you. How he puts things in your life to not only learn but think about for years, at the end of which it all comes down to one single thing that he wanted you to realise. This business card represents 8 years of my life. For four years I struggled and worked and struggled to be a new accounts representative. I wanted my own desk, and my own space. Then out of nowhere, from one short dark time in life that seemed eternal, God simply gave me everything I asked for and more. I had my own office, a desk and a company blackberry, and these material things represented something for me. It represented success, trust, and stability. And even though I worked for four years to get to where I am at, from one day to another I simply handed all of it back to the people who gave it to me. I’m transferring to a different department in the company that I work for, and I don’t need any of it anymore. Some people can look at me and think that I’m reading too much into it, but I don’t expect many people to understand. The lessons that God teaches are meant for you, not your friends, or family, just you. His way of teaching things will never lead you astray; he may not provide quick answers as quickly as today’s society’s timetable commands all questions to be answered in. But the lessons he teaches you, are everlasting ones that will test not only your patience, resolve and strength, but ultimately your faith, and lessons that you will not be able to unlearn and that will come in handy when evil tries to lead you astray. 

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,  for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your soul”-1 Peter 1:6-9

         

          To me being able to easily let go of those material things, says that they never really meant much to begin with. They are simply material things that are there, which is not to say that they were not useful. But as useful as a hammer is, it is still only just a hammer that can be destroyed. But your faith can be unbreakable, impenetrable; it can be the light that guides you through the darkest alleys, the fruit from where you eat and feel full and complete, and the only place where you can peacefully rest.

           

          To say that material things don’t mean much is a lesson that some people could easily tell me, “Well I could have told you that…” But why would you, and who really takes the time to teach you life lessons, aside from possibly your parents only when you are young and in need of basic guidance. But what happens when we are grown adults and basic guidance is no longer enough. It is in each of us a responsibility to seek out our holly father, and to learn the lessons of the day. For we are all God’s children and as his children we are all students in a lifelong class, so pay attention because there will be a test at some point in time. It is only through him that our faith will grow, and that our lives will be

enriched in ways that we may or may not see immediately. It is only through his teachings that our faith will be tested and be given the wisdom  to overcome anything. That continues to be my belief and part of the foundation of my faith. 

Top 10 sitcoms of all time .By Cesar Reyes Torres

Top 10 sitcoms of all time 

1.Friends

2.The Office

3.Seinfeld

4.Married with Children 

5.How I met your mother

6.Living Single

7.Martin

8.The Simpsons

9.Home Improvement 

10.Chespirito

Subway: Stories from behind the counter(Part 6)What goes around comesaround. By Cesar Reyes Torres

Repetition and routine can become hopeless after a while . But they do offer a certain safety net for you in regards to what you can expect for the day. At Subway repetition and routine are a constant guarantee. My routine at Subway consisted of opening the store, setting up the food, baking bread, and making sandwiches. But aside from the required tasks, I had developed a new sense of normalcy from the one that I had previously lost. 

I was dating Liz and I honestly thought I was making progress in that department, I was gonna ask her to be my girlfriend. Meanwhile Kay was making some very interesting friends in Long Beach. Kay was hanging around a lot with Moses, a new guy we hired. He was a pothead and had a real bad crystal meth addiction. But he knew how to make sandwiches and he did whatever we told him to do. If we needed someone to clean the toilet, or clean the trash cans, and sweep the sidewalk, we always asked him to do it. He and Kay started hanging out, probably because Moses smoked a lot of weed just like Kay. Kay introduced him to one of the tenants in the building that hooked him up with all of his weed. The guy that Kay knew was some big hippie guy who had been smoking since the 60s and only sold weed to a very specific clientele. And Kay was one of his clients. Moses in return introduced him to all of his friends, who for the most part were a bunch of Mexican gang members from the east side. At the time the gang members in question, who's official gang name I shall refrain from mentioning specifically, we're fighting with the asian gangs and the black gangs. So as long as Moses wasn't bringing any blacks or asians around they were cool with it. Kay now had friends that rolled in deep numbers, had guns and were not afraid to use them, and who respected Kay because they could tell he was street smart, he was down for what ever like they were, and he had some of the best weed they had ever smoke and he could get more of it. A guy like Kay is dangerous on his own, but when you add a group of other guys to him, that have no ambition in life and enjoy destroying everything around them because they live by the mentality, "I don't give a fuck", along with drugs and drug use. You create a very dangerous problem for someone. And unfortunately that someone became me to some extent.

In the fall of 2004, I was dating Liz and I was the assistant manager at Subway, I was dating a cute girl I had my own car, I didn't have to go to school since I dropped out of college and kept all the financial aid money in cash, and I felt like I was a big fish, even if it was in a small pond. But this new feeling of normalcy I had re-established  would not last.

Gossip is always a bad thing, but the most fucked up thing about it is that even if you don't believe what's being said sometimes, that shit lingers like a fucken fly you can't ever get rid of. Me and Kay ran the store on Ocean in downtown Long Beach, and he had his wife working in the Subway store on Broadway in downtown Long Beach. From time to time we would send them some of our staff to help cover their staff shortages. Everybody knew that I was going out with Liz a lot and that I was sweat on her, and that I would give her a lot of slack even when she made mistake after mistake, and showed up late and Kay wanted to fire her about 3 times. One day we sent over a girl by the name of Cecilia to the broadway store, and while she was there she went on a rant, complaining to one of the girls there, telling her that I let Liz do whatever she wanted. What Cecilia apparently didn't know was that she was actually talking to Kay's wife, and that I talked to Kay's wife almost every day whenever I would go to Kay's house to play play station. But that fact that she said that wasn't what bothered me, because it was all basically true. What pissed me off was when she said that she asked Liz if her and me were dating, and that apparently Liz said "Fuck no!!! If wants to take me out then that's fine, it's like whatever but I'm not going out with that ugly ass foo". When Kay's wife told me that. I felt about 2 inches tall. I felt embarrassed , sad, worthless, and at first I was in denial, but Cecilia had no reason to lie, and neither did Kay's wife. So I did what any immature impulsive 19 year old Subway assistant manager would do, I got angry and I got even. 

Liz called me the next day, and I had to be honest with myself and admit that I could no longer look or talk to her the same way I did before. So I put a plan in motion and crossed my fingers that it would work out as I was planning it. While we were talking on the phone she asked me for her new schedule, and I told her she had to come the next day from 4 to close, even though she really had to come in from 11 in the morning to 4. So when 12 o clock came and we had a huge lunch rush and were short 1 person, Kay was pissed off, and luckily for me our general manager Patty showed up. Patty brought over some girl who helped us cover her shift and finish the lunch rush. But there was still the question of what to do with Liz. Patty and Kay called me into the office and went over her four write ups, and Kay asked me, "So what do you want to do about your girl?" So I grabbed a sharpee and I crossed her name off the schedule in front of them, and said "fire her ass". They both looked at me and were kind of surprised that I said it the way I did. But nobody argued my recommendation, Kay didn't want to hire her in the first place, and Patty had heard staff complaints and customer complaints about her, and I was angry and bitter over what she had said about me. When I started these stories I stated that working in fast food is all about who you know, and who you can afford to piss off and who you can't. Unfortunately for her, she pissed off the wrong person. She came in at 4 and Kay fired her. I didn't have the guts to do it myself, so he did me a favor and took care of it. He handed her a check and that was it. To my knowledge she never found out that I was the one behind her getting fired, and whatever I was to her just kind of faded away into nothingness which only confirmed that I didn't really mean shit to her anyway. 

What I didn't see at the time was that my decision to fire Liz had many un intended consequences coming my way. After that day, Kay kind of looked at me differently. I guess he didn't think I could be as cold blooded and fire someone who trusted me so much. And to be honest neither did I. But that was the least of my worries at the time. I was going to be confronted with with one of the toughest...

To be continued      

World War Z (film critique). By Cesar Reyes Torres

I was not sure what to expect from this movie when I went to go see it. The previews looked interesting, but zombie movies aren't really my cup of tea. But then again it's, Brad Pitt. He would never sign up or put his name on anything that wasn't worth his time. With that said, I can say that his movie was totally worth my time and money. The story line was there from beginning to end. The action packed scenes were very well shot. The movie had me tense the hold time, some movies are predictable to a certain extent, but just when you kind of think you know what's going to happen, World War Z completely changes gears on you. At one point I was like, "ok so that's how that happend" and then I was like "oh shit, what the hell". If you've already scene most movies out right now and are looking for something new and interesting, Go see World War Z

A Way Forward. By Cesar Reyes Torres

 -The never ending wealth that comes from 

guns and funeral wakes.

-I can't help but think the world would be a better place 

if it had more hugs and handshakes.

-Treating people with respect in hopes they'll do the same.

-Trying to deal with life's tragedies 

without assigning any blame.

-Our prayers seem at odds with our actions, 

but still we pray for the Lord to understand.

-That the world is unforgiving, it's cold, full of hate, 

but there are those amongst it who do the best they can.

-How much is enough anyway, 

and at what point can a man claim a victory over sin.

-How far in life must we go, 

to be able to have the long-sought 

after piece that flows within?

-Sometimes I cry, even if the tears don't fall

-They keep telling me to pray, 

but I honestly wish Jesus just had a number I could call

-I still keep my faith in silence; 

I don't even bother asking for a sign 

-Because the Lord works in mysterious ways, 

and I know he's aware of the struggles I call mine