Arbuckle, Lloyd, Keaton, and Chaplin

Considering the period of these scenes, I found myself chuckling from time to time. I believe that the lack of sound influenced the actors as they used extreme facial expressions to display their emotions better. Furthermore, the body movements in the scenes were much more exaggerated than what would occur in real life. I believe that this exaggeration largely contributed to the effectiveness of silent comedy. Arbuckle's scenes were focused on exaggerated facial expressions and body movements.
In contrast, the humor from Harold Lloyd's scenes was humorous due to the bizarre situations. I found myself laughing as a result of Harold being in these odd circumstances. Buster Keaton's scenes were funny because of the unexpected events that occurred in the scene. I enjoyed these scenes as I genuinely never knew what was going to happen next, and the stunts were quite humorous as well. Ultimately, I found that Charlie Chaplin was likely the best actor/comedian of this time. I felt like his scenes were more sophisticated, and the acting was much more impressive than Arbuckle, Lloyd, and Keaton.

Top 5 Comedy Films

My list of the greatest comedy films of all time:

1. Anchorman
2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
3. The 40-Year-Old Virgin
4. Step Brothers
5. Superbad

Social Distancing Selfie

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."

- Steve Jobs

Would Victorian Society Laugh at Us?

One of the most enjoyable learning experiences I have had form the Laughter class is reading and discussing the play, “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde is an incredible writer, and it was enjoyable to see how his humor can still be enjoyed in the 21st century.

One of the key themes throughout the play was marriage and its nature in society. Jack and Algernon briefly discussed the nature of marriage and whether or not a proposal is a matter of business or pleasure. The continued focus on marriage occurs when Lady Bracknell presents the list she has made of eligible bachelors for her daughter. Victorian society in the 1800s had a strong focus on social classes and marrying into the appropriate social classes. However, the play satirizes the absurdity of these expectations in society. It was enjoyable to notice this sarcasm throughout the play.

The most important and intelligent aspects of the play were Oscar Wilde’s play on the words “Earnest and Ernest”. The term “earnest” relates to the state of being serious or sincere. Wilde focused on this word throughout the play because being serious and honest was such an important, yet trivial aspect of Victorian Society.

The climax of the play occurs when Cecily and Gwendolen realize that Algernon and Jack are not named “Ernest.” For some reason, these women believe that one of the essential pieces of the foundations of their relationships was the fact that their lovers were named “Ernest.”

Ultimately, it is discovered that Miss Prism abandoned Jack as a baby and truly is Algernon’s brother. Ironically, Jack has been found to be indeed named “Ernest” and has been telling the truth about his name all along. The irony comes in the fact that by Jack not being earnest, yet he has, in fact, been “Ernest” all along. The critical piece of this play is the importance of Jack not being earnest.

I enjoyed reading this play and the unique writing style of Oscar Wilde. I am impressed that Wilde had the ability to cleverly satirize society through his writing. Many of the themes and symbols throughout this play are still relevant in today’s society. Sometimes it may be reasonable to take a step back and look at society. Is the society we will live in precisely what we want it to be? What are its flaws?

Modern-day America has changed tremendously since the writing of this play. Many things that were considered a requirement for Victorian Society are quite comical to present-day standards, as I’m sure that people of Victorian Society would find our society amusing as well.

I think that its important to be understanding, but critical of society when necessary. There are many problems in society, and people all have varying opinions of what society should look like. With the upcoming election, it may be essential for people to step back and have a good laugh at ourselves. We are far from living in a perfect country. I’m thankful that we no longer need to worry about social classes when getting married, as well as women no longer drinking arsenic like it’s not poison. We have made considerable strides in society, but many aspects of modern-day society are quite laughable.

Happiness is Knowing the Difference

As a senior at TCU, I can say that your college experience does go by in the blink of an eye. I’ve had people come into my life. I’ve had people leave my life. I’ve been in relationships, and I’ve been single. I decreased my commitment to my faith and, at other times, found myself pushing forward in my commitment. College is one of those experiences that are indescribable as you see yourself, and others go through so much change in such a short period. I think it is a time in your life to mature, to grow, to learn, and to enjoy life. My time at TCU has been nothing short of a fairy-tale. I have been so incredibly lucky with the opportunities and people I have met during my time at TCU. I think one of the most important lessons I have learned, particularly this semester, is this; some things matter, others don’t, and happiness is knowing the difference.

During my freshman year of college, I was incredibly stressed out when it came to school. I worked so hard in my classes and was always stressing about my next test or next assignment. Although my grades have played a significant impact on my future career, I wish that I had sometimes taken the time to spend more time getting to know my fellow classmates and students. What I have learned is that some things don’t matter. Sometimes getting a B on a quiz because you spent the night hanging out with your friends is worth it.

One thing that I have learned that matters are relationships and people. I’m not sure what it is about TCU, but the people at TCU are unlike any other community I have ever been a part of. The people at this school are unique. Money, clothes, cars, etc. have never given me fulfillment in my life. The one thing that brings me consistent joy and satisfaction is through the relationships I have found through this school and its organizations. People will bring you happiness in this lifetime. People will bring you up, encourage you, and push you to be the best version of yourself. I will forever be grateful for the people I have had the opportunity to surround myself with at TCU.

It isn’t easy to know what makes you happy, so instead, I have learned to understand that some things matter, others don’t, and happiness is knowing the difference. Some things in this life don’t matter. People that don’t encourage you shouldn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t get that internship. It doesn’t matter that you got a C on one of your tests. Some things don’t matter.

TCU has given me some of the greatest experiences, inside and outside of the classroom, and I look forward to contributing to the TCU community in the future in whatever capacity I can. TCU matters, and TCU has brought me so much happiness.

What makes you happy?

Roommates with the TCU Easter Bunny - Uncontrollable Laughter

It was 7 pm after a rainy day in Fort Worth. Four of my roommates and I are spending time hanging out in our family room/kitchen as we each make ourselves dinner. One of my roommates, Harrison, is 23 years old. He transferred to TCU during his sophomore year after spending 1 year at Belmont. Since his credits did not all transfer, he was forced to take an extra semester here at TCU. He was a Biology major, and he graduated in the Fall of 2019. He was recently accepted into Dental school. We are all proud of what he has accomplished.

Harrison only took 9 credit hours in the Fall and found himself with considerable free-time. The rest of my roommates and myself are all seniors at TCU that are taking a full-load of classes. We gave Harrison a hard time during the Fall, and we're all confused about what we would be doing in the spring while the rest of us are taking classes.

He took it upon himself to get any job that would accept him and ended up being hired to be a swim-instructor for children at Fort Worth swim school. It is quite humorous to see your roommate, a recent college graduate, find such a random job as a swim instructor. After graduating from college, it seems like it would only be fair that he could find a well-paying job in a variety of places. However, a Biology degree is quite specialized, and it is seen as a stair-stepper in the ladder of becoming a doctor of some sort in the future.

While he was still teaching swim lessons, he was pursuing various opportunities. Fortunately, he was able to land a job in the Office of Expansion at TCU. We were all incredibly impressed with this accomplishment. The Office of Expansion at TCU has been an enormous part of TCU's success and was surprised that he could land such a unique role. We later came to find out that he was being paid under the Office of Expansion but truly was working for the Office of Admissions – slightly less impressive but still quite impressive.

As we are conversing on this Tuesday night, I inquired about the day-to-day tasks of his new role in the "Office of Expansion." He began the story by discussing how unique it is to be working under the Office of Expansion and really enjoys the job. Harrison mentioned that the role has been exceptional as he has been performing ad-hoc tasks and working on whatever is necessary. He spoke about arranging materials and supplies for an upcoming event and ensuring that an appropriate schedule was made for the event. My other roommate, Chris, asked, "What event?"

Harrison replied, hesitantly, and said, "The TCU Easter Egg Hunt."

My roommates and I burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. We were caught off-guard by the idea that the only full-time employee in our home was spending each day organizing an Easter Egg hunt. He had hyped up his role so much that it was hysterical to hear that he was just spending every day working on an event put on for the children in Fort Worth.

The future Dentist is currently spending 40-hours a week organizing an Easter Egg hunt. The comedy in the scenario is undeniable. Although we try to be encouraging to each other, we were not at this moment. Harrison, we thank you for the laughs.

Learning to Work in Risky Group Projects

I am currently a double major in finance and accounting in the Neeley School of Business at TCU. I started my time at TCU as an Accounting major with the expectations of staying at TCU for the Masters of Accounting program. After taking both an introductory accounting course and an introductory finance course, I quickly found that I found the science and judgment aspects of finance to be much more interesting than accounting. However, I brought a decent amount of credit hours into TCU. I knew that my parents would make me graduate early if I genuinely did not need to take classes anymore to get a degree. To avoid graduating a semester soon from TCU, I decided to pursue a double major in finance in accounting. Ironically, the accounting courses I have taken as a senior at TCU have been some of the hardest classes I have taken during my time.

I am currently in a class titled “Risk and Controls,” which is an upper-level accounting course that focuses on the internal controls of companies. Although the class is relatively interesting, our teacher has gone out of her way to give us an excessive amount of work – particularly group work. The course has about 20 students, and I know about 10 of them from prior accounting classes. We were assigned a group to work on group projects for the semester, and I found myself with 0 of my friends in my group. Not to complain, but all of my friends ended up in better groups than myself.

Although I am a senior, I still have some motivation to finish my time at TCU strong. I care about my GPA and care about how teachers view me in terms of my effort. My team members that will remain unnamed do not have the same motivation or level of expectation for projects to be submitted. There have already been two separate group projects assigned and submitted.

The most recent project was quite exciting. We were given three excel files from a company that provided comprehensive data on the operations of the company. We were assigned steps to analyze the data and provide answers to questions regarding the company’s services. The final deliverable was to turn-in an Excel workbook that described the actions taken to solve the various problems and making interpretations regarding the company’s operations based on the data.

Fortunately, I have gained considerable exposure to Excel through my various internship experiences and classes. I found the project somewhat tricky, even with my slightly above average (not to brag) Excel skills.

The project was assigned so that each individual in the group would turn-in an original version of the project. Then we would collaborate to create a finalized version to submit as our group version of the project.

Three days before the project is due, I received the following text from one of my group members in our group project text message group: “Ben, do you understand this assignment? I have a hard time finding out what I’m supposed to do and where to start.”

I knew at that moment that I was going to have to pull a lot of weight for this group project. I spent the majority of the next few evenings, always providing instructions for my teammates to complete their own versions of the project. I ultimately finished the project on my own. I sent them my finalized version, suggesting that we submit mine for our group version of the project because I knew that my team members honestly had no idea how to complete the assignment.

After reviewing the project, my teammates responded with the texts “Thanks Ben” and “Thank you, Ben, it looks incredible.” My teammates did not take any responsibility or do anything whatsoever for this project. They will be receiving a grade on this project solely as a result of my efforts on the project. This group project made me learn how important it is to hold yourself to the highest standard. Group projects are risky (pun intended). Even in a group project, you can control your own destiny. Although it is frustrating to put in so much work and others to receive credit for it, it is more important to manage your own destiny in your path to success. You can’t let others lower your expectations and effort levels. I will continue to pursue academic excellence and do the best I can to achieve the outcomes I desire in the classroom.