Tackling crime, greed, and corruption, Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street explores the insidious underbelly of modern American life. Based on the true memoir of a former Wall Street broker, the 2013 film follows the story of Jordan Belfort as he navigates wealth, Wall Street, and the federal government over a 10-year period. At its release, The Wolf of Wall Street was … [Read more...] about The Wolf of Wall Street and America’s Ambivalence Towards Wealth
Archives for November 2022
Air Pollution in Zhaoqing
“Dawang is a toxic town. You can't imagine that those industries dare to emit toxic air nowadays. We can't open the windows or use the air-conditioner because there is a strong, pungent chemical smell in the middle of the night” (“Air Quality of Dawang”). This quote is from an online forum, discussing the air quality of a town in Zhaoqing. Zhaoqing is a tourist city in … [Read more...] about Air Pollution in Zhaoqing
Constructing the Riemann Integral: A Brief Prelude to Real Analysis
Welcome back. I hope that everybody is doing well as midterm season winds down and finals season ramps up. In engineering, mathematics, and computer science, the integral is a powerful tool. A single-variable integral can yield the area under a curve, and a double-variable integral can provide an efficient way to compute the volume under a surface. Integrals also allow us to … [Read more...] about Constructing the Riemann Integral: A Brief Prelude to Real Analysis
Kiki’s Delivery Service: Emerging into Adulthood
Kiki’s Delivery Services is a 1989 Japanese animated film that was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who also created the screenplay, based on the book Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiki Kadono. The film follows a young witch named Kiki, who moves to a seaside town, as a part of her village's tradition for young witches in training. She has to stay there for a year and learn about … [Read more...] about Kiki’s Delivery Service: Emerging into Adulthood
The Death Enigma Prompted by Morbid Curiosity
“Don’t look.” Look. Slowing down, I peer across two lanes, scanning the scene. A man lies still, face down on the cement with a marine corps baseball cap sitting next to him. Behind him is the wreck. Though told not to look, I have to. What was once a pickup truck is merely a hunk of metal, shaped and bent like an abstract piece of art. I can’t help but stare. The thrill … [Read more...] about The Death Enigma Prompted by Morbid Curiosity