TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you will be shown an extract from a movie plot and a question. You need to provide the correct answer for it. Short answers containing words that are present in the passage are preferred.
PROBLEM: This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (February 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)The film opens at a meeting of the Board of Chosen Freeholders of Ocean County, New Jersey. Ocean County resident and New Jersey police officer Lieutenant Laurel Hester has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, and expected to live only another year, she wishes to pass on her pension to her domestic partner of five years, Stacie Andree. Although New Jersey counties have the option to extend pension benefits to domestic partners, Ocean County Freeholders will not do this. In protest, the state's LGBT civil rights organization, Garden State Equality, organizes hundreds of people to speak out at each of the Freeholders' meetings. The crowds Garden State Equality organizes get bigger and more vociferous at each meeting.Among those speaking out are Laurel's police colleagues and Ocean County residents, describing Laurel's 25 years of exemplary work for the police department, and petitioning the Freeholders to allow her to pass on her pension to Stacie. Laurel's first police partner, Dane Wells, speaks about her and compares the situation to separate drinking fountains and seats at the back of the bus. Freeholder Joseph Vicari says that although they are "anguished" by Laurel's case, they are unable to change things because of the state legislature and moves for an adjournment. The members of the public present are unhappy with this decision and some begin to chant "It's in your power".Outside the administration building, news reporter Ida Siegal explains the background to the case. In 2004 New Jersey passed the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act which allows all gay and lesbian state employees to pass on their benefits, including the pension, to their domestic partners. According to Siegal, all New Jersey counties can choose whether or not to allow their employees to pass on benefits to their partners. Ocean County Freeholders have decided against this.Don Bennett, a reporter for the Ocean County Observer says that every time he talked to the Freeholders, they had a different excuse for not moving forward. Margaret Bonafide of the Asbury Park Press says that while Freeholder John Bartlett had said that such a benefit would have had to have been negotiated in union contract, Freeholder John Kelly had said that giving pension benefits to domestic partners would violate the sanctity of marriage.Stacie says that the home she and Laurel have made together is more than just a house to them, and that she would like to keep it following Laurel's death. As an auto mechanic, Stacie does not earn much money and would be unlikely to be able to afford to keep the house without the pension. Laurel and Stacie are also struggling to pay doctors' bills for Laurel's treatment. Laurel says that if they were a heterosexual couple there would be no problem with Stacie receiving the pension. With not long to live, Laurel says that her only priority is spending time with Stacie and obtaining justice for her.Dane Wells and former police chief Dick Chinery recall Laurel's work as a police officer, remembering her as an excellent marksman and a courageous officer. Wells describes her as the best partner he ever had. Describing himself as conservative, who votes for the Republican Party, Wells says that he had never paid particular attention to social issues or gay rights. Now he was working as hard as he could to help Laurel obtain justice before her death. When she first joined the police, Laurel's police chief and prosecutor knew that she was gay, but made it clear that she should keep that fact to herself. She was happy with that, wanting simply to focus on being the best detective she could be.The day after the Freeholders' meeting, Laurel goes to hospital, and as a result of an MRI scan is told that the cancer has spread to her brain.[5] Stacie spends time arranging payment plans for the medical bills, and praying for Laurel. As a result of chemotherapy, Laurel's hair begins to fall out. Stacie shaves Laurel's head for her and Laurel returns the favor, saying that Stacie now looks more like she did when the couple first met.Six New Jersey counties make the decision to extend pension benefits to domestic partners. Don Bennett says that the Ocean County Freeholders are now under increasing pressure from the press and cannot come up with a good reason for their refusal to do likewise. Although the Freeholders attribute their decision to financial reasons, Dane Wells believes that one or two of the board oppose change, and that the other board members are backing them up. He says that John Kelly has said that his personal belief is that the change would violate the sanctity of marriage, but that this is not the official position of the Freeholders.Laurel grows increasingly sick, losing all of her hair and finding it more difficult to breathe. She speaks of the difficulty of experiencing the physical changes of her illness and knowing that she will only ever get worse. When another Freeholder meeting is held, she is too sick too attend, so she videotapes a message instead. In the tape, she asks the Freeholders to sign the resolution and make a change "for good and righteousness". At the meeting the Freeholder's say that although Laurel has been a valuable employee, they will not allow her to pass on her pension. They say that although they have the money to do so, they will not pay pensions in the absence of a negotiated contract. John Kelly says that he has been misquoted in the press and that although it is a moral issue, he believes that Laurel is a moral person. When Dane Wells ask if they intend to change their minds before Laurel dies, the Freeholders decline to answer the question.Laurel is visited at home by a hospice worker. She says that her symptoms have gotten worse, that they scare her and that she is very concerned with when she will die. When the hospice worker asks her what is most important, Laurel answers "Stacie".Under mounting pressure, and following a telephone call from Governor Jon Corzine at the urging of Garden State Equality, the Freeholders call an emergency meeting. Stacie and Laurel, now in a wheelchair, attend the meeting. Freeholder Bartlett says that it is time to change the situation. The Freeholder of the county makes a motion to pass a resolution to expand pension benefits to county employees under the provisions of the law. The four Freeholders present agree. John Kelly does not attend the meeting. Laurel speaks briefly to news reporters and receives a standing ovation from the people present, including the Freeholders.Laurel goes home to die and the final scene of the film shows her memorial service, attended by Stacie, Dane and her police colleagues. Nine months after her death, the New Jersey Supreme Court rules that same sex couples must have the same rights as heterosexual couples, forcing the state legislature to legalise civil unions in New Jersey., Question: What is Laurel Hester's occupation?

SOLUTION: Answer: Police officer

PROBLEM: Frank Vega (Danny Trejo) is a decorated Vietnam War veteran who had led a difficult life. His old girlfriend married someone else and had two kids while he was fighting for his country, he is unable to get a job anywhere, and ended up making a living selling hot dogs for most of his life until a hot dog van took away his customers. Frank spent much of the rest of his life as a drifter, until one day, he becomes famous on the internet when he beats up two abusive skinheads on a bus, is given the nickname "Bad Ass," and is celebrated by everybody around him; people make T-shirts and graffiti with his face on it, police give him ride-alongs and he ends up on talk shows.Three months later, Frank's mother, Juanita (Tonita Castro) passes away, leaving him her house and dog. Frank's best friend, Klondike Washington (Harrison Page), moves in with Frank and entrusts him with a USB flash drive for his late mother's safe deposit box. Klondike goes out one night for cigarettes and is murdered in a dark alley by two thugs, leaving Frank heartbroken. Frank meets a boy named Martin (John Duffy), who lives next door to Frank with his mother, Amber Lamps (Joyful Drake), and abusive father, Martin Sr. (Chris Spencer). Officer Malark (Patrick Fabian) assures Frank that the police department are working on finding the men who killed Klondike, but after watching the news and learning that the police solved a different murder in a faster time span, Frank realizes that the police are doing little to nothing about Klondike's murder.Frank decides to solve the mystery himself, and investigates the alley where Klondike was shot. He finds a spent bullet casing and a pendant with a woman's picture in it. Frank takes them both to a pawn shop where the shopkeeper (Duane Whitaker) tells him it belongs to a man named Terence (Erik Betts), whose wife's picture is in the pendant. After returning the pendant to Terence's wife, he asks where Terence is, and she tells him that he is playing basketball with some friends. After Frank beats up some of Terence's friends, they tell him that a man named Renaldo might know where Terence is. Frank goes to Renaldo's apartment and meets his roommate, who tells Frank that Renaldo is at a bar across town. After beating up some of the bar patrons who try to throw him out, Frank finds Renaldo and extracts the information that Terence is hanging out with his girlfriend. Frank finds her working at a massage parlor but she is uncooperative, so he follows her after her shift. After breaking into her house, he finds Terence and tortures him for information about his boss (who ordered Klondike's murder) by sticking Terence's hand in the kitchen's garbage disposal. Terence reveals that Klondike was killed by a drug lord named Panther (Charles S. Dutton) for the flash drive he had been given earlier, which contains details of a secret project to dig oil wells in the neighborhood on behalf of Mayor Williams (Ron Perlman).Before confronting Panther, Frank saves Amber and Martin from their abusive husband/father and ends up becoming their neighborhood friend. Amber invites Frank over for a home-cooked meal, and Frank gets all dressed up for it. At dinner, Frank asks Amber if he can have a matchbook of hers as a memento, and she gives it to him. They are about to kiss when Martin, Jr. walks in on them, so they do not. Frank insists that Amber and Martin stay at his place until he can repair her front door.The next day, Frank gives the flash drive to Officer Malark and tracks down Panther at his hideout. But he is knocked unconscious, captured, and then tortured for information about the location of the flash drive by being hooked up to an electrocution device. He is shocked multiple times, like he was in Vietnam, but Frank still refuses to surrender the flash drive. Panther takes Frank's wallet, learns Frank's address and believes Frank is hiding not only the flash drive but a loved one there as well, due to Frank's insistence that there is nothing to find. Panther leaves his men to continue torturing Frank, but Frank breaks free from his restraints and throws a lit matchbook (the one he got from Amber) at some oil drums stored in the room, setting the building on fire and causing explosions. Panther escapes but Frank gives chase. They both steal buses and duel, damaging many other vehicles during their chase, and ultimately demolish both buses. While chasing Panther again on foot, Frank comes across the two skinheads he beat up on the bus earlier. The skinheads try to undo their previous humiliation at Frank's hands by using their cell phone to record themselves beating up Frank, but Frank overpowers them again and resumes his chase. Panther arrives at Frank's house, finds Amber, and threatens to kill her for the flash drive, but Frank arrives in time to intervene. Their fight spills out into the front yard, and just as Panther is about to go after Frank again, Amber jumps on his back and slows him down enough for Frank to get up and beat Panther senseless.Panther is arrested, as is Mayor Williams when his connection to Panther's scandal is revealed on the news. Frank, Amber and Martin all live happily ever after., Question: What war is Frank Vega a veteran of in the movie?

SOLUTION: Answer: Vietnam War

PROBLEM: The American Ruling Class, the worlds first dramatic-documentary-musical, explores our countrys most taboo topic: class, power and privilege in our nominally democratic republic. This feature-length satire stars Lewis Lapham, the renowned essayist and author, and a heavy-weight ensemble cast that includes former cabinet secretaries, corporate mandarins, media magnates, and at least one journalist working as a waitress. The film follows Lapham and two recent Yale graduates as they make the rounds of Pentagon briefings, the World Economic Forum, philanthropic foundations, law firms, corporations banks, and New York society dinners as they attempt to answer the question, Who rules America?The narrative portion of the film, interwoven throughout, tells the story of two representative graduates, one rich and one poor as they seek direction in their lives. Does America have a ruling class? If so, of what is it made, and how does it co-exist with our democracy? How does one join it: should one even want to? The real life luminaries become characters in a story about power and its responsibilities, and by the films end, the young men must decide: do they wish to rule the worldor save it?Appearing in the film are a range of leaders from across the political spectrum, among them: Robert B. Altman, James A. Baker III, Bill Bradley, Harold Brown, Hodding Carter III, William T. Coleman, Jr., Walter Cronkite, Barbara Ehrenreich, Martin Garbus, Vartan Gregorian, Mike Medavoy, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Samuel Peabody, Peter G. Peterson, Pete Seeger, Lawrence H. Summers, Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr., William Howard Taft IV and Kurt Vonnegut.As we watch these two real-life graduates wend their way through what is only a slight fictionalizing of their actual lives and choices, as we meet former Secretaries of State and Defense, directors of the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, the publisher of The New York Times, and a host of others, we must ask (along with Mr. Lapham): "To what end, the genius of the Wall Street banks and the force of the Pentagon's colossal weapons? Where does America discover the wisdom to play with its wonderful toys?" The possible answers move beyond the hollow category of party affiliation and into the heart of American Oligarchy itself., Question: Who is the satire star in the movie?

SOLUTION:
Answer: Lewis Lapham