Jelly-Pinched Theatre

Canterbury Goth

2010-09-11T15:17:00.001-05:00

First tale from the as-yet-unfinished novel Canterbury Goth is being serialised on Dark Valentine. The illustrations by Pamela Jaworska are amazing, as well. Go read, and leave comments--you could win a copy of Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins.

Vocabulary Mishaps

2010-03-08T20:39:00.000-06:00

In the wonderful realm of vocabulary debacles and mishaps, I present a sentence written by a student to demonstrate the "proper" use of the word "turgid":

"My great uncle is especially turgid for a gay man."

What does that even mean? And, really, do I want to know?

Christmas Lamp Sale!

2009-12-29T11:14:00.000-06:00

Salignac Cognac Lamps

Sale ends January 6th. 2 available! Buy Now!

Bottles in Stock

2009-11-18T16:44:00.000-06:00

Here's the first group of bottles available for lamps. Sorry for the quality--phone cam isn't stellar.

Lamp Pics

2009-11-15T15:11:00.000-06:00

The following are some samples of lamps we are currently using in our own home. I'll upload pics of the bottle we have in stock later on. Please consider buying one (or many--they make great XMas gifts!)--instructions are in the previous post.

Emergency Lamp Sale

2009-11-11T17:58:00.000-06:00

As noted in my FB status update, I'm petitioning for some emergency help in gathering funds for some home plumbing repairs (amongst other financial needs) that have come up. Therefore I offer custom-made lamps from attractive liquor and wine bottles.

The prices are as follows:

Small Lamp (50ml flask size, 350-500ml): $40
Large Lamp (750 ml and larger): $50

(Sorry for the high prices--the shades and other materials aren't cheap, alas. But they are custom-made!)

If you need it shipped, you'll have to click the shipping button as well (which may process separately). I will work out a simpler system when I have time--like I said, something of an emergency. But for those in the area, I can easily arrange to get it to you.

ORDERING PROCESS: You must pay in advance so I can obtain the materials. Send me an email with your request (I can take special orders for bottles not in stock, but either you will need to provide the bottle, or it may be extra for me to obtain one). Click on the purchase button (PayPal) below. Once I receive payment and obtain the materials, I will work quickly to get the lamp to you. If you have any special requests (shade colour, for instance), let me know in the email. Otherwise, I'll pick a shade that fits the colour scheme and shape of the bottle.

Bottles currently in stock:
SMALL:
--Tokaji
--one strange bottle with a glass cluster of grapes inside

LARGE:
--Amarone (wine)
--Booker's Bourbon
--Citadelle Gin (blue glass, 2 available)
--Cragganmore Scotch
--Cruzan Rum
--Edradour Scotch
--Flor Proseco (with a fleur-de-lis!)
--Fonseca Tawny Port
--Gabbiano Chianti
--Jose Cuervo Tradicional
--Ketel One Vodka
--Knob Creek Bourbon
--Makers Mark Bourbon
--New Amsterdam Gin (2 available)
--Sandeman Tawny Port
--Scarborough Mead (2 available)
--Tanqueray Rangpur Gin
--Taylor Fladgate Tawny Port
--1 green sake bottle

Shipping Only (if needed--may process as a separate purchase)

On Student Essays

2009-10-15T21:32:00.001-05:00

There are times one desires to drive an ice pick repeatedly into one's eye while slogging through egregiously bad grammar and usage in student essays. In fact, the impulse comes more often than is healthy.

But every once in a while, you get a real gem of a sentence which delights to no end.

And so, I present one to you now regarding the scene in Hawthorne's famous story in which the professor gives the *antidote* to the young lover, Giovanni:

"[Baglioni] was tempted to give the deadly anecdote to Giovanni to give to Rappaccini's daughter."

Ahhhh. This makes it all worthwhile!

And Another

2009-06-13T23:04:00.000-05:00

Love this man.

Dogma is actually the only thing that cannot be separated from education. It IS education. A teacher who is not dogmatic is simply a teacher who is not teaching. There are no uneducated people; only most people are educated wrong. The true task of culture today is not a task of expansion, but of selection-and rejection. The educationist must find a creed and teach it.

-G. K. Chesterton

Looking for Dragons

2009-06-13T23:00:00.000-05:00

While on a hunt for something completely different, I happened upon this and rather liked it. So, apropos of nothing:

A new morality has burst upon us with some violence in connection with the problem of strong drink; and enthusiasts in the matter range from the man who is violently thrown out at 12.30, to the lady who smashes American bars with an axe. In these discussions it is almost always felt that one very wise and moderate position is to say that wine or such stuff should only be drunk as a medicine. With this I should venture to disagree with a peculiar ferocity. The one genuinely dangerous and immoral way of drinking wine is to drink it as a medicine. And for this reason: If a man drinks wine in order to obtain pleasure, he is trying to obtain something exceptional; something he does not expect every hour of the day; something which, unless he is a little insane, he will not try to get every hour of the day. But if a man drinks wine in order to obtain health, he is trying to get something natural; something, that is, that he ought not to be without; something that he may find it difficult to reconcile himself to being without. The man may not be seduced who has seen the ecstasy of being ecstatic; it is more dazzling to catch a glimpse of the ecstasy of being ordinary.

-G. K. Chesterton, from “Heretics”

Year in Review

2009-06-08T13:52:00.000-05:00

So, now that I am back for the summer to blog to no one (well, my original design for this blog was as a way of keeping the thoughts and writing flowing for my own personal benefit, and not for random cyber-people to peruse anyway, so at least I’m living up to that), I thought it best to hold with tradition and recap the year of teaching.

‘Twas a strange and action-packed year, to be certain—excellent, yet tiring. But I must, as is necessary from my viewpoint as teacher, begin with the kids. For it is they who make the job what it is, without whom I’d feel rather foolish since I’d be talking to myself in a room (and it’s not like I wouldn’t, either). This class holds a special place in my heart, though (and I can only hope they don’t find their way to this, as I’d rather not actually give credence to their surety that they’re my favourites—then again, if their egos need the boost, who am I stop it?). They were the Freshman class the year I began teaching—my own freshman year, as it were. And so to see them graduating was pretty darned amazing. And many of them I have taught two or three years out of the four (one poor soul got stuck with me all four years, though the first was just in homeroom; I’m not sure how he’ll ever recover from that…), so I know them very well. Though my senior AP classes tried my patience at times—oh, indifference, thy sting is terrible!—(which is just a part of the job after all), they really were rather wonderful. Good thinkers, some amazing writers, and quite a few marvellous souls. These kids are poised to take the world by storm, and I can only hope and pray that they live up to that potential. If they shock and amaze their peers and professors next year, it will only make me ever the prouder of them. They done good, says I.

Which does not mean there isn’t more good on the horizon. The incoming AP seniors that I know (ones I had as sophomores and those I was able to witness during a class swap—more on that later—are some heavy guns in the thinking and wonderfulness department). It might be a bit of a battle, though, since many are unfortunately coming in with preconceived notions about the ideas of the course (how dare you suggest that a monarchy could be a legitimate and fruitful form of government when we have this illustrious system here where nothing ever foul or unjust occurs? how dare you suggest that dragons might really have existed?—there’s no physical evidence, and if we can’t see it, it must not exist!). If there’s one thing that drives me crazy, it’s this ridiculous tendency in people (though I reckon it’s more or less always been this way) that because a ideology is from the past, we, in our clear and apparent “enlightenment” should be thrilled with ourselves for having cast the ideology into the darkness and moved beyond it. If it is of the good, if there is truth within it, then it is always good, always true. Because we have found another way of doing it doesn’t necessarily make it better, just different. Perhaps more appropriate to the needs of the age (as we are changeable and ever-changing beings), but not necessarily better. And not necessarily worse, either. I am not nor have ever been one to discredit what we have built here; it is good and worthy. But neither does that mean I cannot admire the beauty and rightfulness of a properly conducted monarchy. Sigh. Apologies for the rant. As I said, a wonderful but tiring year.

On the other side of things, we had quite an interesting year administratively—every one of our major administrative positions will find a new body within it next year. A flurry of departures at the end of the year (for a variety of reasons) will leave us with a very different team of bosses next year. And I think it a good thing—or at least interesting. But though I like things to be orderly and tidy, I am also a bit in love with occasional chaos (so long as it’s tidy, you understand), and so these sorts of change make things more interesting. Happily, my department head is still with us and managing things well—she’s wonderful, and so supportive; best I could hope for, really. And of course, there were the sorts of things we “cannot discuss” that occurred this year. I tell you what—corporate office politics have nothing on those of a high school. But as I respect the confines of my contract, and do still love where I work (more than any job I have ever done, and likely ever will, unless that whole fulltime author thing ever bloody well takes off), I must be content to say that I am a rebel, and apparently far more dangerous than I’d have hitherto imagined. But then, as I have always taught from the perspective that free thinking (true free thinking, like Socrates—not that hippified nonsense that essentially means “think whatever you want, even if it’s meaningless and has no basis in reality—just so long as it makes you feel good about yourself!”) is dangerous, and will more often than not put us in opposition to the majority of society at large, then I suppose that really shouldn’t come as a surprise. Silly me, teaching kids to think for themselves and to know how to question that which needs questioning.

And so, in the end, a good year. I robed 16 students at graduation (for those, like my wife, who’ve never heard of such a thing, my school has, at the beginning of the three-day graduation extravaganza, a segment of the awards ceremony devoted to the students getting to choose their most influential teacher or staff member to put their graduation gown on them as an entrance into above-noted extravaganza). Apparently, I robed the highest number for the year, which still amazes me. But it was a pretty terrific experience. And at the end of commencement, I got to give the benediction, for which I used the brilliant and illustrious words of John Henry Cardinal Newman (hooray for Anglo-Catholics!):

Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being, so utterly, that our lives may be only a radiance of yours. Shine through us, and be so in us, that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us but only Jesus! Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as you shine; so to shine as to be a light to others; the light, O Jesus, will be all from you; none of it will be ours; it will be you, shining on others through us.

Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us. Let us preach you without preaching, not by words but by our example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.

One of the challenges (for me, at least) to teaching in a Catholic high school is dealing with all the fruity, hand-holdy, missing-the-point nonsense of the modern American liturgical practices. It was nice to give them something a bit more solidly orthodox as they head off to begin their lives.

As mentioned above, I did have one exciting teacher-exchange sort of experience this year. Since I didn’t have Junior AP, and one of the teachers doing it was new, I asked him if I could have a day to teach his class while they were doing Light in August. Why, you ask? Well, dear friends, because any chance I can get to talk about Faulkner is a good thing. I’d bloody well teach a Faulkner course if I could get away with it. Oh, if only…. Anyway, it was all kinds of good. This teacher isn’t much for the lit discussion-oriented approach, and so his students were ravenous to voice their ideas and delve into the rich depth of this novel. We may only have scratched the surface in that one class period (two separate classes in the day, though), but by God and St. George they did an awful lot of scratching. Rather a large number begged me to come back and do it again (which is always one of those terribly embarrassing, yet wonderfully ego-building moments). Oh, but it felt good to talk about Faulkner again! I mean, sure, I had The Sound and the Fury with my own juniors, but that’s always a struggle (yes, I know I’m a sadistic man giving one of Faulkner’s most difficult works to regular-level juniors, but I see it as a great reading tool, and a surprising number get more out of it than one might expect; invariably, they choose to use it on their final exams more than most of the other works from the semester. I see no reason not to set the bar high for them just because they’re “regular”). But chatting with those who are so desirous to understand more of what they’re reading like that—well, it’s just all good. And this gave me an introduction to many of the students I’ll have next year, so it’s really nice to see ahead of time the kinds of minds that’ll be tackling what I offer them as seniors.

And that’s pretty much it for the year, at least as far as school is concerned. I mean, I could go into specifics, but that would be boring for anyone but me, and I know them already. Next year should be more relaxed, actually, as I finally (barring sudden changes over the summer—) get to keep the same schedule two years in a row. Hey, I might actually be able to improve on things! Crazy! Our curriculum for the juniors is changing, but I’m excited about that. Only two major works for the year—The Crucible and The Great Gatsby. I am sad to see The Scarlet Letter go, because it’s just so darned beautiful and amazing, and I think they should encounter it even if they don’t get that much out of it, but then again, it is such a struggle to teach at this level, I shan’t be too upset. I will be adding A Canticle for Leibowitz to my own syllabus for the end of the year, since it’s just so wonderful, and I’ve already had success with it on the junior level (albeit in AP, but I don’t think it’ll matter—it’s not a terribly difficult read). But the rest of the year will be focused on short stuff (which is what Americans do best anyway), so we’ll get to play around with lots of short stories and essays and speeches. Huzzah for constantly-changing topics! Should be exciting—we’ll see how it works on the keeping-kids-engaged level.

On the personal side of things, I managed to complete one story during the year, which is to begin a series based around the same character, is vaguely steampunk, and which I hope to continue this summer. I have begun the newest round of agent-queries with a flashy new query letter, courtesy of kashi and friend Michelle, and am happy to report that I have my first bite. One agent requested further materials, and now I am waiting to hear back from her. Hopefully a request for the full manuscript will be forthcoming and then, who knows…. In the meantime, I’m sending more queries out and praying like mad. The rest of summer will consist of some Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories playing and a heckuva lot of reading. Summer reading list is as follows:

Small Favor - Jim Butcher
The Terror - Dan Simmons
To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis
Either Absalom, Absalom or Sanctuary (can't decide, but I'm committed to reading at least one Faulkner a year) - William Faulkner
The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
One Melville novel (not sure which yet)
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Vol. 1 - Diana Wynne Jones
Sailing to Sarantium - Guy Gavriel Kay
Bag of Bones - Stephen King
Hell House - Richard Matheson
The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler (forgot to add this earlier)

The following are required for school:
1984 (re-reading) - George Orwell
Catcher in the Rye (re-reading; or rather skimming, because I hate this book) - J.D. Salinger

I’ve finished Small Favour and am currently working on The Terror. Though if Simmons doesn’t pick up soon, I may have to set it aside for later or it’ll be the only other thing I read this summer. It’s not bad; he’s just taking his time with getting going.

And I reckon that’s all. Don’t know how much I’ll blog this summer, as I really don’t have a whole lot to say. Might ought throw some movie reviews up (Star Trek and Terminator in particular, and Up once we get around to seeing it), but otherwise, we’ll just have to see where the summer takes us.

The Height of Hilarity

2009-06-02T12:59:00.001-05:00

Probably one of the funniest passages in Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog!) by Jerome K. Jerome:

How good one feels when one is full - how satisfied with ourselves and with the world! People who have tried it, tell me that a clear conscience makes you very happy and contented; but a full stomach does the business quite as well, and is cheaper, and more easily obtained. One feels so forgiving and generous after a substantial and well-digested meal - so noble-minded, so kindly-hearted.

It is very strange, this domination of our intellect by our digestive organs. We cannot work, we cannot think, unless our stomach wills so. It dictates to us our emotions, our passions. After eggs and bacon, it says, "Work!" After beefsteak and porter, it says, "Sleep!" After a cup of tea (two spoonsful for each cup, and don't let it stand more than three minutes), it says to the brain, "Now, rise, and show your strength. Be eloquent, and deep, and tender; see, with a clear eye, into Nature and into life; spread your white wings of quivering thought, and soar, a god-like spirit, over the whirling world beneath you, up through long lanes of flaming stars to the gates of eternity!"

After hot muffins, it says, "Be dull and soulless, like a beast of the field - a brainless animal, with listless eye, unlit by any ray of fancy, or of hope, or fear, or love, or life." And after brandy, taken in sufficient quantity, it says, "Now, come, fool, grin and tumble, that your fellow-men may laugh - drivel in folly, and splutter in senseless sounds, and show what a helpless ninny is poor man whose wit and will are drowned, like kittens, side by side, in half an inch of alcohol."

We are but the veriest, sorriest slaves of our stomach. Reach not after morality and righteousness, my friends; watch vigilantly your stomach, and diet it with care and judgment. Then virtue and contentment will come and reign within your heart, unsought by any effort of your own; and you will be a good citizen, a loving husband, and a tender father - a noble, pious man.

Dr. Who Day!

2008-11-16T18:43:00.001-06:00

The British Emporium in Grapevine is celebrating the 45th anniversary of Dr. Who this Sunday (23 November). I am so very excited! Time to throw on my scarf and buy some Jelly Babies! Info here:

Dr. Who Day

Skill: Intimidating Other Teachers

2008-11-15T14:34:00.000-06:00

Apparently, my tendency to write complex sentences with depth causes my fellow department members consternation. Likely perverse, but this causes me much joy.

So, yesterday, during a teacher workshop planned for our department on writing and assessment (with a lecturer from A&M), we had a short exercise wherein we read a passage and then were to individually write 2-3 sentences stating the argument or theme in the passage. Very similar to the writing work I did during the summer colloquium, except for the length limitation. So, I proceeded to state it as best and interestingly as I could, 'cause that's what I do. This is what I came up with:

"Man-made structures, including civilisation itself, are ephemeral. Understanding and accepting a city's transitory nature is necessary for a stable and content existence because the city's citizens can focus on essential matters of life and afterlife, and not become distracted by the inevitability of entropy."

Pretty straighforward, neh? Alas, in my reading of it to the group, many became rather insecure regarding their own statements (which were fine in their phrasing, by the way) and didn't want to read theirs after me. Which is ridiculous--I mean, we're all intelligent, capable individuals, and it's not as though I was trying to show anyone up. It's how I think and write, and cannot be helped. It'd be like trying to tell T.S. Eliot to stop being intellectual. Also, it's not that overblown. They should really fear what I would've done with some time to revise and edit. I reckon a few semi-colons later and I'd have come up with quite the Faulknerian line or two.

Still, mayhap I ought develop this skill. I mean, if I can intimidate such fine folk as these with a few hastily scribbled words, just imagine the posibilities....

Nihilism

2008-11-09T16:33:00.000-06:00

'Cause it's funny.

Nihilism

The Awesomeness of Language

2008-10-25T23:10:00.000-05:00

So, I must rant.

I know I should not be baffled (let alone outraged) by the fact that my AP students (some of whom may inevitably read this--but so be it) stand in judgement of Shakespeare's King Richard II for the sole reason that they don't believe it measures up to what, in their opinion, constitutes great storytelling. Never mind 400 years of respect accorded to this work, which constitutes part of the bloody canon of Western literature. Never mind that it possesses some of the most complexly wrought poetry and imagery the Bard himself ever composed--let alone anyone else in English literary history. Never mind that in six weeks of study, we actually were only really able to scratch the surface of this beautiful and challenging work. No, you see, it cannot possibly be worthwhile because, well, let's see: Richard's a big, selfish jerk, and it's boring. Oh, and it doesn't measure up to the greatness of the two (yes, two) other of his works they've read.

Sigh. Why are relevance and actiony plots so blasted essential to these kids? I know the science says they're too young for the depth of ideas and the true appreciation of poetry and rich symbolism, but by God and Saint George that seems to me such a cop-out. These are bright, bright kids. They know how to think--I've seen it. Goodness knows they've argued with me enough that I can see the thought happening. But on this sort of thing, there's such an intensely stubborn refusal to open up to what's there. And what is there? Staggering beauty. Richard II's a Michelangelo in words. Gorgeous language, rich, provocative imagery, and, my God, the pathos! Right to the heart, it goes! And relevant to anyone with a soul (or at least the ability to investigate honestly the yearnings of their souls).

Maybe it's just because I love language so very much. (Though I have entertained the thought that the fact that I'm more widely read--especially in the way of the Bard--has a little something to do with my appreciation of this play.) I mean, language is in my being. I like words. I like playing with them, saying them, hearing them, manipulating the meaning of them, composing them into poetry, picking them apart in others' poetry--words are what we are. They tell us where we're from and point us at where we're going. They're the links in the chain-link fence of our existence, the cherries in our cherry pie, the notes in our symphony, the tears in our sadness, the grounds in our coffee, the warmth in our love--the everything in our gorram everything. That they're not enough to express half what we know, or believe, or even what is, only makes them that much more a part of who we are. For to be human is to be incomplete, imperfect--yet exactly right for our design as humans. And what completes us? The Word--the divine one. You know, Logos--what was in the beginning, with God and was God? Funny, that. Again, sigh. How do you convey this to the young, cynical mind? The mind what is sure it knows everything. How did I get it (for, let's be honest here, that same young cynical mind was mine once upon a time--I've no delusions that I once thought the world ought revolve around my opinions)? Apparently, I can passionately blather at them all I want, and not a whit of difference shall it make. (Completely unrelated, it seems that G&Ts make my syntax even more pompous than usual.)

So, part of what sparked this post in the first place (in addition to the raging frustration, that is) was a small selection from Turgenev, writing about the violent reaction against Fathers and Sons (the next work I shall endeavour--fruitlessly though I fear it may be--to convince them is fabulous and brilliant). Mayhap I'm misconstruing what he's getting at here, but I find it terribly apropos to the current generation's view of literature and language, and therefore, as a way to end this rant, I offer it to you, ye silent viewing public. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

And my request consists of the following: guard our language, our splendid Russian language, transmitted to us by our predecessors, at whose head Pushkin again shines! Treat that powerful weapon respectfully; in able hands it can achieve marvels! Even those who don't care for "philosophical abstractions" and "poetic tenderness," practical people for whom language is only a means for expressing a thought, like a simple lever,--even to them I say: at least respect the laws of mechanics, extract the maximum use of everything. Or else, scanning some pale, confused, feebly long-winded verbiage, a reader involuntarily will think that you have exchanged a lever for some primitive props, that you are returning to the infancy of mechanics itself...

But enough, otherwise I too will become verbose.

Ivan Turgenev, from Apropos of Fathers and Sons

Greatness

2008-09-28T16:30:00.000-05:00

Officially, I now think farmers are made of awesome.

Marvel Sketchcards

2008-09-08T20:57:00.000-05:00

Recently, kashi got the opportunity to draw Artist Sketchcards for Marvel's Masterpiece line of trading cards. After an incredibly long (nigh unendurable) wait, she got news today that her cards were officially approved, and will thus end up in random card packs that will be distributed everywhere, and thus become collector's items. So thrilled about this!

Check out the artwork on her DeviantArt site, and consider trying to nab one when they're released. You won't regret it!

Stand Up and Applaud

2008-09-03T21:57:00.001-05:00

Watching the RNC:

If I did not the first time I heard about who she was, if I did not the first time I heard her speak, then tonight, without doubt, I can honestly say I love Sarah Palin. This woman is just amazing. Wow.

Horrible Awesomeness

2008-08-23T23:58:00.000-05:00

Found on the Dr. Horrible Facebook page:

Wanna Play Cards?

2008-08-23T20:02:00.001-05:00

Trust me, you don't want to play Blackjack with this kitty.

Back to It

2008-08-04T16:27:00.000-05:00

Actually, I'm back to several things. As of tomorrow, school things start up again, since I'm mentoring a new teacher this year. Otherwise, I'd have until Wednesday before the in-service begins. As of next Wednesday, though, school begins, and thus this blog will once more go into hiatus (more or less). As usual, I may try to post during the year, but of course can guarantee nothing.

More importantly, however, I am back to trying to get a blasted agent for my blasted novel so I publish it in some blasted way that makes some blarmed money. Noting bitterness? Anger? Why, yes. That would be because I hate jumping through hoops like this. I hate being subject to the whims of people whose job it is to assess "marketability," especially when what I see on the bookshelves these days--if that trash and offal is what's marketable, then I don't stand a chance. Which is not to say I've written great literature, or anything, but come on--Laurel K. Hamilton? Really? Sigh. Anyway, yes, hoops. Hate 'em. Passion-like.

But, once more, I'm doing the research, getting a right big ol' list of agents drawn up. And kashi's helping with the query and other needful documents, since she's good with that sort of thing and I couldn't sell a pair of shoes to Imelda Marcos. Again, hoops. But it's comforting knowing my wife will help with this thing. Because it's worth it. It's important. I have to believe this thing is publishable (God knows I've poured enough of my life into it). And mayhap, in the end, I'll see it finally happen.

Bad Movies

2008-08-04T15:42:00.000-05:00

Inevitably, on our trips to visit the fam in Kansas, we get subjected to some pretty wretched movies. In fact, it's rather become one of the parts of the trip we look forward to, especially the godawful B-movies we tend to lampoon alongside kashi's dad. This time around, however, the experience was just simply painful. Thus, ever wishing to ward off others from the torture and the loss of valuable time, here be short reviews:

(NOTE: Since my goal is a very opinionated attempt to save people from these cinematic mistakes, I do not intend to avoid spoilers.)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

We rented this while visiting kashi's grandmother because it looked decent (Jesse James, Western, guns--how bad could it be?) and because I am fairly certain I had heard good things about it. Goodness but it was a mistake. Apparently the film was reviewed very well by critics, and it was nominated for many awards, even winning some. What we observed in viewing it, however, was perhaps once of the longest, most boring films ever made. I swear, it took 3 years to watch it. And nothing happens--excepting of course the creepy stalker activities of Bob Ford as he hangs onto Jesse James like some kind of Star Wars fanboy granted access to George Lucas' home. Très disturbing, I assure you. And then there's Jesse James himself, who is not the enigmatic yet charismatic figure he ought be, but rather a loony non-entity. And that's it. That's the whole movie. Bob Ford following Jesse James around like a lost puppy. Some people die here and there. Then James gets assassinated (which apparently he was fine with, since the movie suggests he allows it to happen). And then, guess what? The movie doesn't end! It keeps going, apparently trying to make Ford sympathetic, but rather indifferent to the fact of whether it achieves that end (which it doesn't). Call me crazy, but I like my stories to go somewhere. I like rising and falling action. When a story finds one note and maintains that note steadily throughout, I find it rather disheartening. And if this is art, then call me a philisitine and I'll take my vulgarian self elsewhere, 'cause in the end, all I'm saying is that a few decent gun battles might have made this worth watching.

The Orphanage

I had actually looked forward to this one. Good horror's hard to come by these days, and this one seemed like it could have a genuine creepy vibe. It did, at least, have great potential. The filmmakers managed some really creepy scenes. What kills it, however, is that it runs awfully slow, and any suspense they build cannot be maintained long enough to be effective. And then, there is the ending. The ending, which is happy because of suicide. Where the evil things going on weren't really evil after all (although, if you consider that they kind of "won" in convincing a person suicide was the only road to happiness, then I reckon they could be seen as truly evil--but I don't think this was in any way the film's attempted point). Where we're supposed to feel uplifted (note the lighting and music in that final scene after the suicide--it's all designed to support this suicide as the happiest thing ever). No, in the end, this film's selling something seriously wrong, and I ain't buying. No, thank you sir or madame.

In a Word...

2008-08-03T23:30:00.000-05:00

Wonderful.

And because it's true.

Annoying Summer Reading Review

2008-08-02T15:13:00.000-05:00

(It's the summer reading that was annoying, hopefully not the review.)

So, the other day, I finished (didn't take long to read, thank God, but I'd been delaying starting) my school's summer reading choice for the year, Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. Woo hoo, I say. How lovely that we should get such an unbiased, non-partisan look at a serious issue in our world today. And from such a clearheaded, stick-with-it kind of gal, too! /sarcasm

Look, I'm all for investigating poverty, and, oh, I don't know, maybe even proposing doing something about it. But when the Honorary Chair of the Democratic Socialist Party of America whines for two hundred pages about how difficult it is to work menial job after menial job (she demonstrates how hard it is by quitting repeatedly, complaining incessantly, looking down upon both the people she works with and the rich people who have condemned them to this life, and fleeing back to the upper middle class she excoriates), gives herself starting capital, various recourses when the going gets too tough, and an easy out that the typical wage slave does not possess, and in the end sets herself up to fail, then it rather invalidates her entire experiment. What is the experiment? To find out how low-income wage earners manage to survive. Not only does she invalidate the experiment as noted above, but she doesn't even succeed at finding anything out, because the typical wage slaves are still out there surviving somehow (though admittedly not in any pleasant way) and she doesn't bother staying in any one position or location long enough to actually find out how they really do it. She quits.

I think what really bothered me most about the book (because I never hated it as much as I did Ishmael two years ago) was Ehrenreich's tone. She's so smug and superiour about everything, it's nauseating. She consistently condemns capitalism, and really anyone living middle class or higher while neglecting to recognise (or feel bad about) the fact that she too is a part of those upper classes. And here's a book (NY Times Best Seller!) that has probably made her a tidy sum to boot. Does she suggest maybe changing her lifestyle? Donating profits to those she worked alongside, or perhaps shelters or food banks? Does she propose any concrete actions to fix the problems? No. What she proposes (and here we get to her true purpose, as a shill for the socialists, in writing the book) is that we need to throw capitalism out the window, get more unions out there, take away the money from anyone even remotely rich (apparently whether they worked for it or not), and let the government regulate every aspect of our lives through exciting programs! Workers of the world unite!

And in the end, while I admit I am no great economic mind, it's clear that her grasp of the way economics actually works does not resemble reality. Of course, I'm not going to even try to dissect her ideas of the economy. I'm not up to the task, and as far as I can tell, they really only amount to: Capitalism is bad, and Socialism will save us. I scoff. And I offer two much better assessments of the ideas:

Jonah Goldberg: The Spoiled Children of Capitalism
Steven Malanga: The Myth of the Working Poor

As for me, Ehrenreich makes my soul to cry out for a re-reading of Adam Smith and a return to some semblance of sanity.

New Comic

2008-08-02T15:01:00.000-05:00

Since word-of-mouth is necessary on this, I'm urging everyone to head here for a preview of a forthcoming new comic called Shadow of the Stars. Why should you do this, you ask? Well, because kashi's the penciller on the project, and the more successful the first issue, the more chance it has of being picked up down the line in print, rather than merely ebook format. And since I am not only in favour of anything what will help the finances but also simply a huge fan of my wife's art, I must needs urge all to go now and peruse!

The Dark Knight, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Harvey Dent

2008-07-26T11:56:00.000-05:00

Okay, so, we got to see The Dark Knight a second time while visiting kashi's folks in Kansas, since her dad had not yet seen it (yes, it's so very terrible the way we suffer). I think, now, upon reflection, I am able to gush properly about it.

First and foremost, let me say that Christopher Nolan is nigh god-like in his directorial powers. So far, I do not see how the man can do wrong--Memento, The Prestige, Batman Begins, and now The Dark Knight--such an excellent run of films. The man knows storytelling, he knows pacing, and he knows how to let characters really drive things along. Just beautiful filmmaking.

Second, Harvey Dent. I, truly and definitely, believe in Harvey Dent. Aaron Eckhart brought an amazing strength and warmth to this character, with just a hint of violence hiding beneath to suggest the turmoil that would later characterise Two-Face. He is believable as a White Knight, and thus his pain is our pain. This is tragedy, folks. This is what the Greeks were doing thousands of years ago, what Shakespeare did, what we, I believe have lost much of today. I could go on, but I daresay it would be merely effusive blathering. There has been much talk of Heath Ledger getting an Oscar nod for his performance (quite deserved, too), however I've yet to hear anyone speak of Eckhart's performance, and that is a real shame. He brings the kind of presence to Dent that is needed, that can serve to show just what Batman really is, and the danger the Joker really represents for Gotham. Because Dent is a good man, through and through. Alas, he is, in the end, a man, and thus subject to the same flaws we all are.

And then, there is, of course, the Joker. The previews do not give one the proper sense of menace that Ledger gives us in this character. This is most assuredly not Jack Nicholson's Joker. This is not a somewhat dangerous buffoon creating bad art and stealing because he can. This is, as he himself recognises, chaos incarnate. No rhyme. No reason. Just menace. And he is frightening, yet, somehow, oddly sympathetic. It is, perhaps, because he is so very honest (and earnest) about what he is and what he is doing. Though he may wear a mask (of sorts), the mask is what he is (though not the Mask, for Nolan's world is not the ridiculous world of Jim Carrey--who also made an awful Riddler). Whatever made the Joker the way he is, I suspect there, too, is tragedy. Yet there is no possibility of redemption or resolution here. There is no coming back from where the Joker has gone, just as what he was before becoming the Joker no longer exists. He has no identity, no past. He is the Joker, through and though, and who is to tell what story to explain his scars is the real one? Ledger truly is amazing in the role. Powerful, unpredictable, malevolent, at times childlike, utterly convincing.

Now, have you noted that I've said almost nothing of Batman himself? Why, the film is titled The Dark Knight, isn't it? Shouldn't it be all about him? Did this movie make the mistake of the earlier wretched films by casting too many villains? No, no, and no. In many ways, it is and is not about Batman. Throughout, Batman is being acted upon by other forces. This is a film (like the first, though in a different way) of becoming for Batman. The forces which act upon him (which if they are to effect a change--a believable change--must be developed properly first) are there to produce the Dark Knight. To make him what he needs to be. Nolan is showing us changes, progress, development. He is not rushing this storytelling, and is thus producing some of the finest films of the decade in the process. Batman's story in this film is pointing toward the future, and so we must of necessity spend more time with the forces of his present that will create his future. And we do, and it is wonderful.

Speaking of the future, there is a brief, subtle hint early on that has kashi and myself thinking that the next film will present us with Catwoman. Since Nolan has consistently given us incredibly human heroes and villains in these two movies, I cannot wait to see what he does with Catwoman. I am certain it will not disappoint.

If you've yet to see this film, do. And then see it again.

Facebook

2008-07-26T11:48:00.000-05:00

I'm still not one hundred percent sure why, but I am now on Facebook. It's a strange phenomenon, because I tend toward anti-social so very much, yet this whole site is all about "connecting." Still, it is nice now that I actually have friends on it to have a window into the lives of far away acquaintances. Oddly, a student (now-graduated Poetry Club member) happened to find me first. Now that some real-life friends have located me, it's rather blossoming (well, for me, 12 is blossoming).

Still, quite bizarre.

Prayers Requested

2008-07-20T16:49:00.001-05:00

One of my students (I had her as a sophomore and will have her again this year as a senior) just lost her parents and brother in a private plane crash. Please keep her in your prayers. Thank you.

I Believe in Harvey Dent

2008-07-20T15:38:00.000-05:00

Stunned Beyond the Point of Stupefication

2008-07-19T16:07:00.000-05:00

Will comment more later when I've had more time to digest, but for now let me say this:

We saw The Dark Knight last night. It may well be one of the most amazing films ever. It left me speechless.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

2008-07-19T12:40:00.001-05:00

This will only be online through tomorrow, but if you can, go and watch NOW! It's the latest Joss Whedon creation, and is amazing. The ending's a bit, well, it kinda just stops, but it's still a terrific production. Both Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion are great. They're planning a dvd release, which we shall definitely be obtaining.

Thanks to Happy Catholic for finding this.

London 1888

2008-07-18T10:53:00.000-05:00

In researching steampunk and Victorian stuff for the story I'm currently working on, I came across this game. Looks really cool (after all, a Clue-meets-Jack the Ripper scenario has to be instantly cool), but alas, it seems to only be in French at the moment. Hopefully the purported forthcoming English version will actually be forthcoming soon.

Via Brass Goggles

The Spirit

2008-07-18T10:41:00.000-05:00

All I have to say is that I'm terribly excited about this. Setting aside all the Frank Miller stuff (although the look of the things really is amazing), it's just great someone's finally made a movie based on one of the most foundational works in the comics medium. Definitely one to look forward to.

Success!

2008-07-17T20:55:00.000-05:00

I just got news from one of my AP kids from this past year that he scored a 5 on the AP English Language and Composition Exam. I'm so thrilled--not only because at least one of them made a 5 (I think I was mostly worried because it was my first year teaching AP, so I was never sure how well I was preparing them), but because this particular student did so well. He's the one student I prayed would get at least a 4 or 5 (although I certainly hoped they all would), mostly because I felt it would be something of a coup. He's very bright and has a terrific sense of argumentation, but he had a tendency to complexify his writing far more than it needed to be, which often made it inscrutable. It's something we worked on all year, and he definitely improved--well, obviously he has, as his score can attest. kashi and I have talked about this problem, actually. It seems the really smart kids think they need to use the big words and complex language to really be effective, when often simpler and more straightforward is better. There's a reason that clarity is the first of the Universal Intellectual Standards, after all. You can't be persuasive if your reader has no idea what you're trying to say.

Well, this one certainly did me proud. I can only hope the rest of the class has also done well. They're a good group, and it'll be great to see. Not to mention the confidence boost it'll give me since I'll have a good majority of them again next year for Senior AP.

Poem

2008-07-14T22:06:00.000-05:00

So, I started this poem back a while for kashi, but had hit a wall until just recently. I'm not sure of its quality (I've been a little out of practice with the writing of poetry and thus find myself a bit lacking in confidence), but kashi likes it, and really, that's all that matters. No title yet, as that's always the part what takes forever, but here you go.

And by this star I ship my heart.
And by this parchment existence
I roar like her watery depths.
And by this constant melody
I sound my quiet devotion.

Fallen hours echo in brittle seasons,
Scoured by the dismay of broken icons
For estranged deities. But this Passion's
Word revests the lost roots of my design
By chanted avowal and bounden blood.

You are my soul's first and last syllable.
What utterance I can, I sing for you.
Between song and sense, breath and nascent grasp,
In the cadence of dream and wiles of art,
These notes of grace conduct this artless plight.

Pray

2008-07-09T10:43:00.000-05:00

Just pray, hard and often. If this comes to pass, it would more wonderful than I can possibly say. Being a part of an Anglican Use parish myself, there are ways of making this happen. We just have to hope.

Via Holy Whapping

Hancock

2008-07-08T11:12:00.000-05:00

Also on Sunday we took in the new Will Smith movie, Hancock.

There's been some serious negative reactions to the film, which I must say I just don't get. It's a well-put together and fun movie that delivers plenty of happifying explosions, good humour, and a really satisfying ending. Yes, all ye complainers--I found the ending satisfying. I hear all this talk about the unexpected twist, and yet it's only unexpected if you have absolutely no powers of observation. The hints are dropped like a stack of two-by-fours, and the conclusions about what's behind it are an easy few steps away. The specific background details that are revealed are not obvious (which is good, because then it'd be lame), but otherwise, it ought to surprise no one. What I particularly like about the reveal and the ending is that it doesn't spell out everything, but leaves some terrific implications behind.

Was it great art? No, of course not. Nor does it try to be--or need to be, for that matter. It is what it is--an enjoyable (and even rather thoughtful at times) summer movie.

Addiction

2008-07-08T10:59:00.000-05:00

Apparently, we have no control over our desire to acquire new feline members of the family. As of this past Sunday, we adopted a new kitten because it seemed our 1-year old, Anathema, really needed a tiny friend to play with (especially since her continual attempts to jump on Luna, our older cat, have met with nothing but squalling and fleeing). Alas, Anathema is slow to warm to the new tyke, but I think it's just a matter of time.

We've named the new kitten Artemis, since she's already demonstrated she's fearless and will attack anything. (I really wanted to name her Starbuck, but alas, it was not meant to be.) She's a gorgeous tawny Abyssinian (mixed, I think) bobtail. Beautiful colouring, and sweet as can be. Someday, we shall have a sprawling house, with much land, and can feed this little addiction properly....

Anyway, here's a photo of the 12-week old little one:

Poetry Break

2008-07-03T13:04:00.000-05:00

While putting together selections of stories and poetry for my Senior AP class, I happened upon the following two poems by Edwin Arlington Robinson. I've always rather admired Robinson for his sense of the ironic, but the first of these two poems, "New England," really hits home. This is the atmosphere I grew up in--where "reserve" is the nicest word one can apply to the kind off coolness that New England society breeds. As for the second poem, well, it's about the Flying Dutchman--that's just inherently cool.

Edwin Arlington Robinson - "New England"

Here where the wind is always north-north-east
And children learn to walk on frozen toes,
Wonder begets an envy of all those
Who boil elsewhere with such a lyric yeast
Of love that you will hear them at a feast
Where demons would appeal for some repose,
Still clamoring where the chalice overflows
And crying wildest who have drunk the least.

Passion is here a soilure of the wits,
We're told, and Love a cross for them to bear;
Joy shivers in the corner where she knits
And Conscience always has the rocking-chair,
Cheerful as when she tortured into fits
The first cat that was ever killed by Care.

Edwin Arlington Robinson - "The Flying Dutchman"

UNYIELDING in the pride of his defiance,
Afloat with none to serve or to command,
Lord of himself at last, and all by Science,
He seeks the Vanished Land.

Alone, by the one light of his one thought,
He steers to find the shore from which we came,
Fearless of in what coil he may be caught
On seas that have no name.

Into the night he sails; and after night
There is a dawning, though there be no sun;
Wherefore, with nothing but himself in sight,
Unsighted, he sails on.

At last there is a lifting of the cloud
Between the flood before him and the sky;
And then--though he may curse the Power aloud
That has no power to die--

He steers himself away from what is haunted
By the old ghost of what has been before,--
Abandoning, as always, and undaunted,
One fog-walled island more.

WALL-E Redux

2008-07-02T09:37:00.000-05:00

Since I was actually physically incapable of saying much about the film, I point you toward James Lileks' incredibly astute, spot-on review:

The Bleat

In addition, he is today responding to the "fallout," email responses to his review from people who are far too caught up in their own politics to enjoy one of the finest films in, well, ever. He says:

Look: it’s a pro-human movie. Really. That’s the point of it all, wrapped up in metaphor and parable and satire. If it is impossible to even lampoon consumer culture as a force that invites a loose, agreeable, consensual form of collectivism – one that distracts people from more pressing matters occasionally - then we’re getting entirely too touchy. Besides, all the conservative critiques of contemporary culture can be found in the movie, if you look for them – the culture of the humans in the future is infantile, sensational, oral, banal. People who bitch about network TV ought to love this, because the culture 700 years hence is the logical end result of the idiot stew pumped out by the networks.

What kashi and I have been talking about for several days now is that the issues this film raises (which are only bloody tangential to its main point anyway) are moral issues, not political ones. The environmental stuff in the film is the set-up for the story, not the point of the story. You want to create a situation with a lonely robot as the last creature on the planet after humanity makes a mass exodus? Well, turning the planet into a garbage heap's a darn good way. Consumerism? Look, we've been materialistic since the nineteenth century at least. Melville criticises it Moby Dick. That great conservative of the twentieth century, T.S. Eliot, criticised it relentlessly. And suddenly now it's the "out" thing for a conservative to do? Right. Anyone who knows me or has heard me rant about that pathetic and lame excuse for a novel Ishmael that our school had as summer reading a couple years ago knows that I am no fan of the environmentalist agenda. That said, we are supposed to be stewards of the earth. Thus we are to use its bounty to the best of our abilities and needs, but not trash the place in the process. Eliot's Waste Land was mostly spiritual and cultural, but it was physical, too. The land did not not breed life anymore. And Prufrock's "yellow fog" was not a mere trick of the light, my friends. Can you guess what that might have been? Artists have nearly always been politically motivated in some way, especially in the twentieth century. If I couldn't separate a message in a work of art from the work itself, I'd never watch another film or listen to music again. I mean, Green Day has some of the most atrociously liberal (heck, anarchic for that matter) lyrics, but at the same time they make good music (well, now they do--they've grown a lot in the last decade). Point being, there is a difference between what the work of art is, and what the artist may or may not be trying to say. Learn to tell the difference.

So, yeah, people just need to get off their dead horses and learn to enjoy something that is beautiful--a story that is about individuals (robot and human) making a connection with each other and learning to act for themselves instead of just waiting around for everything to come to them.

Visual Stimuli

2008-07-01T10:17:00.000-05:00

Now that I'm back on something more akin to a vacation-like schedule, I figured it was about time to get on with catching-up.

To begin with, the biggest addiction ever: Battlestar Galactica. I remember the original series from my youth as fun and exciting, but it's got nothing on the new series. I'd been hesitant to watch it at all because the ads I'd seen really did not do it justice. But when one of kashi's co-workers lent her the first season, we decided to give it a shot, and were pretty much hooked right away. First of all--very little pseudo-science. Much like the excellent Firefly, Galactica goes for a more gritty, realistic approach in telling good stories about textured, interesting characters. And there's some darn good action, as well, which never hurts. We've made it through the first three seasons, and will now, alas, have to wait for the current season to hit dvd so we can find out what happens. Definitely a worthwhile show (and since it comes from the Sci-Fi Channel, something of a miracle, given their track record). Also, it gave us the usage (as I mentioned previously somewhere) of the neologism "frak." We thought it silly and cheesy at first (which it is), but it quickly became addictive. It's nice having an inoffensive, non-curse word substitute for curse words--especially since it is silly, which reduces the anger factor which seems to be one of the major problems with cursing in the first place. For me, anyway.

Okay, end digression.

We did not get to see many movies during the year, but the ones we did were mostly excellent, with one exception.

I Am Legend

Though radically different from the novel in several ways (which annoys the purists to no end), the new film version of the Richard Matheson novel (and the only version to keep the novel's title) is pure excellence. kashi and I screened it before I took my Horror Lit class to view it, and though the suspense was a bit much for kashi, I absolutely adored it, and found that subsequent viewing improved it. To begin with, it tells a beautiful, affecting story while using good elements of horror and never once straying into the destructive land of most zombie movies and abominations like Saw. Brilliant economy of storytelling throughout, but especially in the opening with an immediate cut from the setup to the after effects--no time at all is wasted in showing the fallout of man's overwhelming pride in believing he can fix everything, because it's unnecessary. The process of apocalypse is unnecessary if the results are clear enough--and the hauntingly barren New York streets and skyline are quite clear. Will Smith continues to prove that he can be a powerful performer, mostly because he's so darn human, and so very earnest in his portrayal of characters. One of the things I didn't care for in the novel (though it wasn't a big issue) and I suspect the naysayers about the movie did approve of was the rather dispassionate qualities of the character, and the narrative for that matter. It's a stoic, bleak world, and an even more bleak ending. What I liked about this film was that it managed to be tragic yet still hopeful. Life will out, this movie says. We can be saved, if we have faith. I suppose that view isn't modern enough for the purists. And the novel is very modern (though let me be clear--it is an excellent novel, just not brimming with hope for humanity). On the other hand, there's an alternate ending to the film which is in fact too hopeful--very Hollywood, very cheesy, very lame. The filmmakers chose well in not using this ending. In the end, the film gives me hope that good horror can still be made.

Enchanted

The opening sequence of this film (and several other smaller bits throughout) was the first major production using traditional, hand-drawn animation in some years, and thus we were obligated to see it (having an animator as a wife comes with certain rules, and since those rules involve watching movies, one can hardly complain about one's lot in life). First, the animation (which was done by James Baxter, who's done amazing work for both Disney and Dreamworks) is absolutely gorgeous. To all the harbingers of the demise of 2D animation out there: this is proof of just how absolutely wrong you are. And then the live-action portion of the movie is both delightful and infinitely rewatchable. One of my favourite aspects is that the current girlfriend of the male protagonist (who, of course, must be displaced by our herione according to romance plot rules) is not an unlikable harpy who gets her comeuppance in the end. She is, in fact, a decent and strong woman in her own right, and merely not the person for our hero. Much of the film is an homage to the classic Disney tropes, and so in that may be considered cliché, but otherwise it avoids the usual egregious clichés it might have fallen into. A great film all around.

Beowülf

And then, we have a wretched, wretched mistake. I think I can even avoid going on and on complaining how this movie is not like the poem, that it strays from the story too far. Well, I could go on and on, but that aspect is so obvious, it doesn't need mentioning. And as can be seen above, I'm not so much of a purist that I don't understand some changes need to be made in adapting a work. The problem for me is the choices they made in adapting, the story they chose to tell, which is flawed and horrible and wrong. Our culture needs more heroes today. It does not need to see the hero demythologised as a thoughtless, lying brute who is a slave to his hormones. We do not need to be led to believe that humans are terrible people who can't actually commit truly heroic actions and that monsters may not really be all that monstrous, but merely misunderstood victims. Even all of this aside, the movie simply was wretched to look at. Robert Zemeckis again proves he's fallen a far way off from the brilliance he demonstrated with Back to the Future by giving us lousy, wooden, zombie-like performances through mo-cap, which should be used for little else besides video game production unless you've got a team of highly skilled animators to flesh out the motion and make it flow. The dragon was very well done, I admit, but then that was pure animation, not a reliance on mo-cap. Ultimately, this was a throroughly disappointing piece of dreck created by people who don't seem to believe in much beyond the baser, more primal instincts of humanity.

And there you have it. The visual year as far as my experience covered it.

Next chance I get to expound upon anything at length will likely be a discourse on why William Faulkner is the greatest author after Shakespeare.

Well Said

2008-07-01T10:02:00.000-05:00

Really interesting thoughts on female altar servers over at Aliens in This World. I love it when people do research and present these sort of ideas logically and reasonably. It's so refreshing.

WALL-E

2008-06-29T21:45:00.000-05:00

kashi and I got to see the new Pixar film Saturday--absolutely lovely. Very few films can convey such a profound sense of joy as WALL-E does. Beautiful in every possible way. I could say more, but I think it's one of those things you just have to simply experience. If you can, see it soon.

Short Stories

2008-06-26T22:01:00.000-05:00

There were a fair number of stories we read during the last couple weeks that I cannot say I would want to read again, however there were a few that I would highly recommend. Some I've read before, but many were new to me (part of the reason I'd wanted to do this colloquium was to broaden my knowledge base a bit). So, in case you're looking for some new reading, I recommend the following. Most should be available online, though be warned, a few a very long.

"The Old People" - William Faulkner
"The Overcoat" - Nicolai Gogol
"Bartleby the Scrivener" - Herman Melville (a classic)
"Big Mama's Funeral" - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"The Birthmark" - Nathaniel Hawthorne (I've loved this one for a long while)
"Patriotism" - Yukio Mishima
"The Third and Final Continent" - Jhumpa Lahiri
"The Dead" - James Joyce
"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"The Child By Tiger" - Thomas Wolfe
"Barn Burning" - William Faulkner

Colloquium Essay

2008-06-26T17:25:00.000-05:00

So, today brought the colloquium to an end, and we were assigned something a bit different for our morning writing. Yesterday, they gave us a heads-up so we could be thinking about it in advance and bring our ideas ready to write, since they wanted volunteers to share with the whole group. The assignment was thus: choose any of the poems from the collection and connect it with any of the stories we've treated, pulling in short references to as many of the other works as we can.

Last night, then, I jotted some notes, and today wrote a ton on "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot and "Patriotism" by Yukio Mishima (see below). I pulled a bit in from what I've written on the story in the last few days (you may note a couple of lines from the post below), but most of the following was written this morning. I'm pretty darned pleased with it, though I ran out of time, so the end is rushed, and missing more references I'd intended to include to other stories. But I was also the first to volunteer to read (my UD profs would've been shocked, I'm sure, but at least now I can tell my students that I do practice what I preach!), and everyone seemed impressed. So, you tell me. Here it is:

Personal Action in "Prufrock" and "Patriotism"
A Study in Opposites

"Do I dare eat a peach?" (122) Question of the ages, or a mark of sheer pathetic failure? The inaction of J. Alfred Prufrock stands as a mark of the inadequacy of modern man, yet the complete commitment of Lieutenant Shinji Takeyama and his wife Reiko in Mishima's "Patriotism" demonstrates that humanity may not be lost in the contemporary world.

Our relationships, either personal or social, are defined by the choices we make, and our willingness to act upon those choices, as well as the beliefs we hold. The essential problem of Prufrock is that he cannot act because he cannot even manage to make a choice, to commit to anything. Because he cannot bring himself to even speak to women, but rather allows himself to be reduced to a mere insect, "pinned and wriggling on the wall" (58) by what they might be thinking about him, and out of fear that should he speak, should he engage them, or, God forbid, pose that "overwhelming question" (10), a romantic involvement might ensue and he then might be vulnerable to rejection and failure—because he cannot do this, his life of "indecisions" (32) and "revisions" (33) crush, cripple, and ultimately "drown" him (131). Prufrock is the ultimate slacker. "There will be time, there will be time" (26). Why do anything in the now, when we can put it off for later? Surely later will be just as effective as now. Surely nothing will prevent these actions if we just delay a bit longer. And a bit longer. And a bit longer. And yet, when we look at Prufrock's world, we see what his inaction has created. It is a world "etherised," insensate, with "half-deserted streets," "one night cheap hotels," and "sawdust restaurants," of superficial people and blankets of pollution (2-7). Prufrock's is a static world where right relationships cannot develop. And he is this world's spokesman.

On the other hand, Shinji and Reiko, is "Patriotism," treat their marriage with the sacred devotion it requires. There is no question for them, no doubt. From the opening of the story, and throughout, we know that Shinji is honourable, that he holds the structure and honour of the Empire as the highest ideal, that his death is not an act of weakness, but one of loyalty to something greater than himself. Further, we know the measure of Reiko, whose loyalty to her husband is also without fault. She is, as is the lieutenant, a subject only by choice—because it is right, it is good, it is most just to submit to this highest ideal. Shinji sees a potential breakdown of the honour of the system in which he lives; if he, an Imperial soldier, attacks other Imperials, then he degrades not only himself, but the Empire as well. Suicide, distasteful as it may be to us in the West, is the only way he can remain honourable. Given this choice, he does not hesitate, does not shrink from this action. What must it take to commit to such an action? And what strength, what love must be required to witness this act, and them commit the same? Are we today ready to choose such a course if it be required? Prufrock certainly isn't. But shouldn't every one of us ask ourselves these questions in our own relationships—our own commitments? Not in the way of suicide, of course, but for devotion to something outside of ourselves. The suicide in the story is no trifling matter. It is done for the highest ideal and, in the case of the wife, for love. Though the act, the manner of demonstrating the commitment, is different, is this not what Christians are called to do? Are we not asked to defend the Faith in word and deed, with our lives if necessary? Though suicide does not square with our beliefs, the commitment behind it does—it is a giving up of ourselves for others, or for some concept that is above us, that is an ultimate good. Throughout the story, Shinji and Reiko's thoughts are not of themselves, but of each other. The narrator notes that their passion was not merely of the physical variety, but also that "their hearts were sober and serious" (146). The couple understands the necessity of commitment, and they act upon that understanding. "The lieutenant was resolved" and "there was no room for vacillation" (147). The ritual suicide is, then merely a reflection of the devotion these two lovers exhibit in every part of their lives. As Shinji is devoted to honour, he is also fully committed to his relationship with his wife, and she to him. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Prufrock, who is more concerned with his baldness than committing and acting. Prufrock cannot ask that "overwhelming question" because he cannot fathom devotion to something outside himself.

Nor, it should be noted, can Aylmer in "The Birthmark" by Hawthorne. While Aylmer's devotion to knowledge, to science can be admired, it must be remembered that this devotion comes at the expense of his wife. Because he cannot accept Georgiana's flaw, his inhumanity—a cold, unfeeling rationalism that cannot grasp what true beauty is—destroys what he ought to have loved. In Georgiana, we have elements of both spirit and earth. Aylmer, as representative of the mind, completes her in the bond of marriage. However, Aylmer's inhuman action, his unwillingness to love even the flaw of his wife, breaks her connection (and the connection inherent in the marriage) to the divine. Ultimately, his inability to commit fully, and accept her fully, is a rejection of the sacred bond of marriage. In them, then, we see a negative image of Shinji and Reiko. Both Reiko and Georgiana show unerring devotion to their husbands, but Aylmer fails where Shinji succeeds, in devoting himself to something outside himself.

Thus, in closing, we have a choice—to reject choice and action, like Prufrock, or to commit ourselves fully to others and to the Good, to give ourselves over to something greater than we are.

Patriotism

2008-06-22T20:42:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, I've been unable to locate an online version of the short story "Patriotism" by Mishima Yukio, but if you can locate a copy in a library or an anthology somewhere, please read this wonderful story. It's one of the stories we've had to read in the colloquium I've been attending, and I found it to be one of the most powerful, beautiful, moving stories I've read in a long time.

It's by no means an easy read, as it involves a very descriptive presentation of seppuku, but I think it's an absolutely necessary read in these slacker days where a commitment involves a vague attempt to decide what fast food restaurant to eat at, or if one is really serious about committing, what form of contraception to use (and never, alas, a consideration of morality in said hypothetical decision). Sure, it involves cultural aspects that don't fit with a Western mindset (and one could argue that they don't much apply to the modern Japanese, either), but ultimately, I think the idea of commitment to an ideal higher than ourselves, the concept that some things really are worth dying for (or at the very least worth defending and standing up for) is infinitely applicable to our culture these days.

I put this out there primarily because I was greatly moved by the story. It's wonderfully appropriate to the Senior AP class I'll be teaching this year on Sovereignty and Stewardship, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the students make of it. But also, as things fell out in the colloquium, the story has been a point of severe anger on my part these last couple days. Not, it should be clarified, because of the story itself, but because of the lecturer who presented it. The lecturer made certain at the outset to state that we cannot of course judge a culture as radically different from ours as the traditional Japanese using our own cultural standards. Sounds good, right? For truly, it's really hard to understand ritual suicide from a western perspective which sees suicide not only as sinful but as a sign of weakness. Alas, as she proceeded, she went right in and did just that--cast judgement upon the story and the characters and even to some extent the author from a western perspective.

I don't normally get riled by bad interpretations (well, okay, that may not be 100% true...), but this one felt like there was an axe what needed grinding, and at the same time it was offensive to tradition, a rather beautiful and easily misunderstood tradition at that. The position was one that did not understand what honour truly is (from any cultural perspective, I might add). And I think what really clinched it for me was that no real discussion time was allowed over this, and thus no chance to counter the lecturer's inane and hostile reading of the story. (This is, in fact, one of the biggest failings of the colloquium--too mush time devoted to the lectures and not nearly enough to teachers coming together to discuss these stories. What can I say? I love Socrates.)

Each day we begin with a 30-minute writing session on pre-chosen selections from the day's stories. Since I was denied the opportunity to share mine that day, I'm posting them here. Should you be able to read the story, I hope you might look back on these musings, and perhaps even email me your own reflections, of any disagreements. For anyone else, with the exception of a few brief references to the story, these reflections are mostly idea-driven, and should be accessible to anyone. (By the way, I reveal really nothing here in the way of spoilers, as the ending of the story is revealed in the opening paragraph, which is the selection we were to write upon.)

Devotion. Pure and simple, and rendered gorgeously. Devotion to ideals beyond oneself, to a sense of justice and commitment, to love and right action. The opening of "Patriotism" is profoundly powerful and beautiful in the stark simplicity with which the author paints these acts of devotion. It is interesting that the entire story is here contained--that ultimately we do not need the detail and description given in the remainder of the story to fill in the how and the why (though this unfolding itself is beautiful and moving). Here, in this short paragraph, we know all. We know that Shinji is honourable, that he holds the structure and honour of the Empire as the highest ideal, that his death is not an act of weakness, but one of loyalty. He is no mutineer. Further, we know the measure of Reiko, whose loyalty to her husband is also without fault. She is, as is the lieutenant, a subject only by choice--because it is right, it is good, it is most just to submit to this highest ideal. And here, I think, is where we really hit the point of the story--choice. In the face of injustice, what do we choose? Can something that in the west we look upon as weakness (as in "Oh, he couldn't handle it so he offed himself") actually be noble? And what must it take to commit to such a course of action? And what strength, what love must be required to witness this act, and then commit the same? Are we ready to choose such a course of action if it is required--and is this not the same choice the martyr must make? And shouldn't every one of us ask ourselves this question before we commit to marriage?

This last question, I admit, came into my mind off a conversation my wife and I once had. Somewhat humourous, but at the same time deadly serious. We were talking about vampires, and she said to me, "If I ever become a vampire...." She did not need to finish the statement nor ask the question. I knew what she was getting at (as the married will do) and cut in with, "In a heartbeat. I'll drive a stake through your cold, undead heart, my love." And she was glad of it. Because that's the response, if you're truly commited to love, and the necessary salvation of the souls of those you love.

So, um, yeah. There you go. If you can, read this story. It's worth it, and it contains something we're in sore need of these days. In me own 'umble opinion, of course.

Note: Our local library has the 5th ed. of Norton's anthology of short fiction, which has the story in it. I imagine, it should be available in most libraries.

UPDATE
A friend sent me a link to the story online! Thanks Rufel! So, go. Read. Enjoy. "Patriotism"

Great Statement About Children

2008-06-20T18:19:00.000-05:00

Just a brief note: I'm in the middle of a nine-day colloquium on short stories run by the Athena Foundation in Dallas (good people involved in this thing, who ran with the likes of Allen Tate, Caroline Gordon, and John Crowe Ransom). Thus, I'm reading about three million short stories and don't have much time for blogging. But I shall be back at the end of next week, I promise.

Until then, I offer a quip from Dr. Charlie Starr (one of the panelists for the colloquium) on children, which I found humourous and rather brilliant:

"Children are so full of life that chaos walks with them."

Happy Friday the 13th!

2008-06-13T14:26:00.000-05:00

On this most wonderful day of the year, best wishes to all!

(And no, I'm not being sarcastic--I mean every word.)

Changes and Other New Stuph

2008-06-10T18:17:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to highlight a few alterations to the blog. Dropped a few defunct blogs from the roll and added John C. Wright's Livejournal page. Wright's a (now) Catholic sci-fi writer who often posts wonderfully dense and philosophical reflections that make the brain hurt. Also, I have yet to find myself disagreeing with him, so that's always a good thing. Not that ideological disagreements can't be fun, but it's always nice finding someone whose head is on straight--and is articulate about it as well. Most recently he's got a reflection on The Incredibles in relation to his own children and modern American cultural issues. Dovetails nicely with a piece I threw at my AP kids (and my honors class, now that I think about it) this year by Terrence O. Moore called "Wimps and Barbarians". Both are highly recommended.

Also threw a few permanent links to a couple of the below mentioned bands into the Conservatory.

Finally, in the Reference Materials (mostly because I didn't really have a better spot for it) is a link to the Invisible Children website. If you don't know about this, please check it out. One of my students helped organise a group of kids at my school to raise awareness on this, and it is more than worth knowing about. This needs our attention. Now.

Brief Interlude in the Whole Catching Up Business

2008-06-08T21:13:00.000-05:00

So, my Horror Lit class, as the first (and they would argue best), decided they really wanted their own t-shirts. I could do nothing officially, of course, because then it would need to go through proper channels, get admin approval, and the shirts still couldn't be worn at school because of dress code regulations. But I did allow a sort of contest amongst them, and the winner was set up on Cafepress so that those who wanted a shirt could get one for themselves.

All this is, of course, backstory to explain the following image, which represents the whole of the Horror Lit class of the 2007-08 school year. Personally, I love it.

(Click for a much bigger version.)

'Nother Quiz

2008-06-08T20:50:00.000-05:00

Cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be so closely associated with Plato!

Your Score: The Idealist

You scored 10 Materialism and 30 Phenomenology!

Plato's Republic makes you feel fuzzy inside. You can rapturously quote from the Kant you agree with (and ignore the Kant you don't). You're the Idealist.

Idealism got its start with Plato, and confusingly enough, Platonic idealism and Platonic realism are the same thing. The material world disgusts you as an imperfect shadow of what is Ideal, the eternal perfect forms of objects that exist somewhere beyond our sensory experiences. Any specific tree, for example, is merely a representation of the idea of treeness in Platonism.

Still with me? Hello?

Thinkers you may agree with: Plato, Zeno of Elea, Plotinus
Thinkers that may challenge you: David Hume, John Locke, Aristotle

Link: The Metaphysician Test written by Jaylhomme on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test
View My Profile(Jaylhomme)

Again, Courtesy of Happy Catholic

Musical Interludes

2008-06-05T22:41:00.001-05:00

It was a good (and somewhat odd) year for music. I'll deal with the odd later. For now, the good.

Thanks to my wife and a co-worker of hers, I've discovered several bands who are most wonderful. First and foremost is Eisley. They are a brilliant young band from Tyler, Texas who have a unique blend of bizarre, yet catchy lyrics and folksy-popish music (though their recent album Combinations is much more of the rockin' variety, and they do it well). I was even more happy to find out that one of their songs, "Invasion," is based on Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which I had the pleasure of teaching in my Horror Lit class this year. Plus, it's just an awesome song--one of their best. We actually got to see them in concert here in Dallas a couple weeks ago at the House of Blues. Terrific concert, which led to our discovery of another truly wonderful band--The Myriad. Both opening acts were really good (which in and of itself is something of a miracle). The other band, Vedera, was definitely more of a me band than a kashi band, but we both really liked The Myriad. They're sort of like a neo-prog rock with a splash of alternative thrown in. They've got a bit on You Tube, should you be interested, and we both highly recommend them. Their new album, "With Arrows, With Poise," is thoroughly addictive.

Another new band (to us, anyway) is Thrice. They're apparently a screaming, screeching metal band most of the time, but have within the last year put out two concept albums (all of a piece), called The Alchemy Index, which is based on the four elements of fire, water, air, and earth. "Fire" has a fair amount of their screechiness, but the other three are of a wide variety of musical styles and textures, with rich lyrics and sounds. "Come All You Weary," on the "Earth" album is about one of the best songs I've heard in a long while. These albums led me to seek out lead singer Dustin Kensrue's solo album, "Please Come Home," which has a bit of a down-homey feel to it and is also quite wonderful.

I've only recently discovered (based on an Amazon.com recommendation) A Fine Frenzy which is really just a young artist by the name of Alison Sudol. Not kashi's cup of tea, partially because her singing can be a bit raw at times (which my somewhat tin ear really has no problem with at all), but I'm really hooked.

Finally, I am pleased to announce that after more than ten years, Portishead, that wonderfully enigmatic band from Bristol (they're named for the nearby town of Portishead) has put out a new album. I (and many others) had begun to wonder if it would ever happen, but now it's here. I cannot recommend it for everyone. I think you have to be terribly warped to truly enjoy their music in general, but this one's rough going unless you're particularly warped. Previously, they'd been credited with helping to create (or at least define) the trip-hop genre. Never ones to be labelled, however, they've forged a new sound, which the media (at least for the nonce) is calling "torture chamber pop." It's rather apt, actually. There's something terrifically painful, dark, and mournful about this album. It's like a trip through some nightmarish landscape that is somehow beautifully haunting at the same time. It's somewhat hard to describe, really, but I suspect one either loves it or is driven insane by it. I don't know that this description sells it, but I myself have quickly grown to adore it.

And then (as promised), there's the odd. Me. Singing. Never thought it'd happen, but there you have. I'm not good, but I'm learning. Back in November, I finally decided to throw my voice into our parish choir. We're small, and notoriously short on male voices. I found myself increasingly distractible in the congregation, and thus, all factors combined, decided to see what I could do in the choir. It's grown on me a lot, and I'm learning more all the time. I was actually somewhat surprised to find out I'm a bass. But it has given me a new appreciation for those with serious talent, 'cause it ain't easy.

Right. So there's the school year in music. Next: Likely film and television, though we'll see what my mood decides.

Quizness

2008-06-05T15:17:00.000-05:00

Rather amusing results, considering my novel....

Which Norse God Are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Odin

You are Odin. You are the leader of the Norse Gods. You are the wisest and always fight evil. You sacrificed your eye for knowledge, as well as hanging for 9 days with a spear in your side. You are the God of Philosophy and Poetry. You will lead the Gods into Ragnarok (the end of the world)

Odin

70%

Loki

53%

Freyja

50%

Tyr

43%

Baldr

40%

Thor

38%

Via Happy Catholic

Of Monks and Men

2008-06-03T21:16:00.000-05:00

As promised, a review of A Canticle for Leibowitz.

I chose to teach this book to my AP kids on something of a whim. I knew it by reputation as a classic sci-fi work, I adamantly refused to teach the work one of the other AP teachers was doing--the abysmal-sounding Riddley Walker (in its defense, it's also well-thought of, but to me smacks of the gritty, realistic, recycled-urine form of sci-fi, which I just cannot get behind)--and it sounded like a perfect follow-up to Eliot's The Waste Land.

The choice turned out to be a good one. It's not big on characterisation (though Brother Francis is really sympathetic in his naïveté), mostly because it's comprised of three vignettes spread across several thousands of years. What it does give us is a glimpse into humanity's failings and her beauty. It looks at us honestly, and notes our ridiculous qualities and our amazing capacity for enduring. It's serious, without being overburdened by gravitas. And actually there's some rather wry humour in it, as well. It's also a fairly easy read, which was a boon for my students who'd just come out of Faulkner and Eliot, and were preparing for the AP exam. They needed a book whose depth was somewhat more straightforward. Anyway, a worthwhile read. And for those who want intellectual discussions, it raises some great moral issues which are quite relevant to today's world.

So, now that the year's over, I have summer reading to look forward to! For once, I'm not taking education classes this summer, so I'll have much more time for reading and writing, and can hardly wait to get started (alas, I'm having to finish up the narrative for my school's accreditation self-eval, so I've got at least one more day to wait, dagblast it). Of course, there's the inevitable school-required summer reading (Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich) and I need to re-read some works for the new AP class I'm teaching (see the previous post), but I've also got a sizable list of long-awaited books ahead of me.

So, in no particular order (except the first, which will be first because I've waited far too long for it already):

White Knight - Jim Butcher
The Unvanquished - William Faulkner
The Grand Tour - Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K. Jerome
To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis
The Chronicles of Chrestomancy - Diana Wynne Jones
Olympos - Dan Simmons
Bag of Bones - Stephen King

There may be more, but I'm also attending a nine-day colloquium on short stories, which will require a fair amount of reading, so I don't want to plan for too much and then be disappointed. Especially as slowly as I tend to read.

All right, that's it for today. Next up: Music.

And Thus, Like That, It Was Summer, And He Didst Post

2008-06-02T22:32:00.000-05:00

I'm really and truly amazed anyone at all has visited this thing recently. Ah, well, that gives me hope that I'll not be posting merely into the aether this summer.

So, it be summer and thus it's time to play catch-up. As usual, there're so many things I've no idea where to begin. Assessment first, I guess. Third year of teaching--definitely when you hit a certain stride. I'm not saying it's a breeze, nor am I saying there was no stress, nor again am I saying I exactly slept as much as a human ought for the last month. What I am saying is that this year was frakking awesome (and I'll get to my Battlestar Galactica addiction later). I owe a lot of the success actually to the kids themselves. I was blessed this year by some of the most wonderful students ever. My regular Juniors had some terrifc discussions (especially in regards to The Sound and the Fury which hurt their brains, yet got them thinking in a way many never had, and might not ever have otherwise). My AP kids were strangely determined for me to lecture at them all year, which I refused to do. Funny how the best and the brightest are the least desirous of doing the hard thinking themselves.... But they were a good class--and at least I learned a great deal. Now, I just need to see if they actually made it through the AP exam or flopped horrifically.

The real gems, though, were my Horror Lit kids and my Sophomore Honours class. It's so strange to have students who are actually sad to be leaving at the end of the year. I don't doubt they were tired of school and in need of a break, but they actually enjoyed the learning, and are missing it even now (I know, because they still post to the class forum their lamentations--okay it's not that bad, but still, there's a kind of love there). Individually, I had the pleasure of teaching some ridiculously bright minds. These students absolutely blew me away time and again. And they liked thinking and learning. What could be more satisfying than that?

Though I fully intend to enjoy the heck out of this summer, I'm actually looking forward to next year already. Horror Lit and Soph Honours again, but the rest is very different. This'll be the first year I've not had Juniors. Instead, I'll get to teach Senior AP, which, if my syllabus ever gets approved (come on already, College Board!) will be très, très exciting. I'm doing this whole Sovereignty and Stewardship thing, which ought to generate some great discussions. Book list is as follows:

Beowülf - Heaney translation
Richard II - Shakespeare
Emma - Austen
Fathers and Sons - Turgenev
Great Expectations - Dickens
Saint Joan - Shaw
Murder in the Cathedral - Eliot

Lots of good short works as well, including snippets of Dante's de Monarchia and Macchiavelli. Should be fun.

Wow, lots more to cover, but I'm getting tired, so I think I'll save it for Part Two.

Next Up: A review of the wonderful A Canticle for Leibowitz and my summer reading plans.

Jittery Fun

2008-03-27T22:36:00.000-05:00

Would you believe I went off the scale enough to create a scrollbar along the bottom?

Created by OnePlusYou

Ragnarök, N.H. - Published!

2008-01-28T21:52:00.000-06:00

It's taken a while, and I ended up doing a simple cover myself (with some much-needed technical and design aid from kashi), but my novel is finally available for anyone interested in a wee bit of a horror story.

It's available here: Ragnarök, N.H.

Create a Band

2008-01-27T15:05:00.000-06:00

Fun meme kashi found:

1 - Go to wikipedia. Hit "random".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Random quotations:
http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on "explore the last seven days"
http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to mix it all up.

The following is what I came up with for my first try:

Adieu

2007-12-28T15:05:00.000-06:00

Today we had to say goodbye to an old friend. It’s hard. I’ve only known our cat Lily for about 7 years, but kashi’s had her since she was a kitten—nearly 19 years now. Lily’s been declining for a while, first a bit arthritic, then a little senile. Yesterday, we found out she was in an advanced state of kidney failure, and basically treatment would merely serve to prolong her agony. So we decided to say goodbye to her. And it’s hard.

Kashi tells me Lily was a mighty huntress in her day, and I believe it. I’ve decided to remember her not as the ailing, pained creature she was at the end, but rather the often cantankerous ball of fluff who liked most to bask in the sun on the balcony of our old place, upside down, curled like a shrimp, warming her old bones, and smiling peacefully. Yeah, that’s our Lily.

Rest in peace, ol’ gal.

Marketing Silliness

2007-12-26T11:25:00.000-06:00

So, I have far too many things going on in life to bother paying attention to anything political these days. I don't know who these people are, nor do I really care. Therefore, take the following not as support or condemnation of a particular political view, but rather as a ridiculing of the idiocy of marketing departments everywhere.

I see the following image on a billboard on the drive home everyday, and it really bothers me. I know what they're going for, of course, but this is not what it look like to me. I mean, did the marketers not realise the man's head is not pointy like an 'A' but rather ovoid like an 'O'? Because, and correct me if I'm way off base here, what it seems to me they're trying to advertise is the desperate need to get out there and harvest:

Cut the crop, indeed.

Happy Rejection!

2007-12-01T21:41:00.000-06:00

I recently submitted a story to Weird Tales, and just heard back. It is a rejection, but a very reassuring one, as you can see:

"Well-written tale that drew me in, but unfortunately I'll have to pass. It's not quite what I'm looking for, but I would love to see more of your work."

Woot!

The Reason Twin Peaks Was One of the Awesomest Shows Ever

2007-12-01T10:11:00.001-06:00

Damn Fine Coffee

(Watch the video)

This 'n' That

2007-10-14T14:20:00.000-05:00

As expected, the blog has been pretty durned low on my list of things to attend to as this year has progressed. For once, though, this has had less to do with exceeding busyness (though I've had plenty of those moments) and more to do with simply having more important and interesting things to do than to blather on about me own self.

But, now that first quarter's come to a close, and I have a few moments, I thought I'd play a bit of catch-up. So, things what need to be said:

Having grown tired of quite so long a drive to the school, and not wishing to cause further hemorrhaging to our finances (since our current apartment decided to raise the rent again upon renewal), kashi and I have decided to move. For the first time since coming to Texas for college, I will not be living in either Irving or Dallas County. No more yuppy-fied neighbourhood. No more lousy Kroger that never stocks properly and always keeps rotting broccoli on the shelves. And best of all, not more blasted gated community with pathetically limited parking! Woot! So, at the end of this month, we shall be a bit further west, and (at least we hope) much happier.

Yesterday, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Nothing schmancy, but it was a terrifically fun evening nevertheless. I tried a new beer at Trinity Hall in Dallas, and I must say, 'twas love at first sip. It's called Storm King, by Victory Brewing Co. 'Tis as dark as the darkest regions of Tartarus, rich, strong, bitter with a hint of sweetness, and distinctly coffee-flavoured. So very tasty!

Otherwise, I can't say there's been much more of interest. School is going along fine (100% pass rate for first quarter! I am amazed!). Sales on my collection amount almost exclusively to family, alas, but oh, well. At least I can say I'm in some form of print. Generally, life is pretty good.

Movies

2007-08-20T16:54:00.000-05:00

We got to see both Flushed Away and Hot Fuzz this weekend--both terrifically funny. Highly recommended!

(Sorry so short, but this is the best my brain can do right now.)

Update on The Voyage to Ruin

2007-08-20T16:48:00.000-05:00

For any who wished to buy The Voyage to Ruin by H.L. Trombley, for which my wife kashi did the interiour illustrations, but were daunted by Lulu.com's idiotic price, fear no more! Barnes and Noble is selling it on their website with a discount (yay!) and even more of a discount for B&N members (woot!).

It's much more regular, hardcover book priced now, so go get it, and support the arts!

You can go straight to it here.

American Film Class

2007-08-11T16:31:00.000-05:00

So, as I mentioned a bit back, I'm getting to teach an American film class this year. It is, alas, only a semester long, so I won't get to do as much as I'd hoped, but nevertheless, I've got time for some great films, and I pretty much have free-range over the choices. And yet, choosing from the vast collection of incredible films out there was no easy chore. Especially since I decided early on to avoid some of the more common choices of such films--like Citizen Kane and 2001 (a film which in recent years I've found somewhat unwatchable since almost nothing happens in the interminable movie).

Though I'll not get to every one of the film I'm listing on my syllabus, I think I've come up with a good range of examples for various genres, themes, and techniques.

The list is as follows:

Freaks (1932)
Modern Times (1936) – clips
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
Rope (1948)
Sabrina (1954)
Touch of Evil (1958)
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
The Manchurian Candidate(1962)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
The Godfather (1972) – clips
Chinatown (1974)
Rooster Cogburn (1975)
Alien (1979)
Deathtrap (1982)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Noises Off! (1992)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Sudden Manhattan (1997)
Iron Giant (1999)
Unbreakable (2000)
Memento (2000)
Serenity (2005) – clips

Stardust

2007-08-11T16:13:00.000-05:00

Went to see Stardust earlier today. Excellently done, and by far one of the most happifying movies I've seen in a longtime. According to kashi, it differs from Neil Gaiman's book on a fair bit (it's been too long since I've read it, and I'm afraid the details have rather faded), but nonetheless it's exciting, charming, often beautiful, and terribly fun. The actors are particularly splendid, as well, with Charlie Cox's Tristan being perfectly dorky, yet charming, and Robert DeNiro nigh stealing the whole show as Captain Shakespeare. And did I mention the airship? Très wicked.

Definitely worth seeing. I honestly cannot think of a single complaint against it.

Thai Chicken Pizza Recipe

2007-08-11T11:01:00.000-05:00

This past week, I came up with the following recipe (partially compiled from other existing recipes which I've adjusted, partially made up by me), and thought I'd share with those who're interested. kashi and I really enjoyed it, so it seems like a successful recipe ought be shared with all.

Enjoy!

Thai Chicken Pizza

Sauce:

• 5 tablespoons peanut butter
• 4 tablespoons hot water
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (if you like it really spicy, add more to taste)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

In a small bowl combine peanut butter and water; mix until a smooth paste forms. Stir in soy sauce, then brown sugar, cayenne and lemon juice. Mix by hand until well combined and smooth. If too thin, add more peanut butter (heated slightly in microwave) as needed.

Dough:
(Can use pre-made, or any other recipe you prefer. This recipe is for a simple, flat-crust style.)

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 pkg. quick-rising dry yeast
• 1 tsp. sugar
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ cup very warm water (125º - 130º F)
• 1 T vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 400º. Slightly grease pizza pan (I use a touch of olive oil); set aside. Combine flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in medium bowl. Add water and oil; stir until mixture forms a ball.
2. Place dough on a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 3-4 minutes. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
3. Roll out and/or toss to desired circumference. Stretch onto greased pan.

Toppings:

• bean sprouts
• chicken
• mozzarella or jack cheese
• mushrooms (if desired)

Putting it all together:

1. Grill up the chicken separately, either on an actual grill if available, in a pan with olive oil and butter, or under a broiler. (I marinated mine with a couple teaspoons of the peanut sauce first, then pan grilled it.) Then, cut the grilled chicken into small, bite-sized pieces.
2. Spread the sauce over the dough.
3. Top with bean sprouts, chicken, any other veggies or toppings you may prefer. Top off with shredded cheese.
4. Bake until dough is a good golden brown and cheese is just beginning to brown.

Note: About halfway through baking, I brushed the crust edge lightly with olive oil.

Done and Done!

2007-07-26T21:51:00.000-05:00

Finished my summer class today. All portfolio materials turned in (including the final exam), and I am confident I'll make an "A". Now I've got about a week and a half to mentally prepare for the new school year.

More important than this, however, is that I finished Deathly Hallows last night. I'll not say anything about the story, but merely give my brief assessment: Beautiful! Could not have been better.

The book has been a source of much conversation betwixt me and kashi as regards fandom, and some serious issues therein. Mayhap I'll post our thoughts sometime soon. Until then, I sleep.

Smart Quiz

2007-07-26T20:40:00.000-05:00

I am smarter than 93.18% of the rest of the world.
Find out how smart you are.

I admit, I had to guess at a couple of these, but this is is a serious ego booster! I only wish it told which one I missed...

Via Happy Catholic

Update to the Update

2007-07-25T19:28:00.000-05:00

Right then. Though I had to close my shop and re-open it in order to fix the problem, The Unveiled Clepsydra is now available again with no issues (so far as I know). So, should anyone wish to purchase a lovely and handsome copy of verse, have at it!

And now that I've finished the last of my work for my summer class, back to The Deathly Hallows!

Unveiled Clepsydra Update

2007-07-22T21:05:00.000-05:00

I've received my copy of the poetry collection I self-published, and it looks good. I decided to make a slight top margin change to the document for future copies (just to give it a smidge more room on top) and had to delete a stray quotation mark, but otherwise I'm really pleased.

The problem now is that in switching out the .pdf on Cafepress, my store has freaked out and will neither let me change the file nor add new ones. Apparently there's now a bug in my storefront, and the IT people of Cafepress are working on it. All this is to say that if you ordered a copy (like Mama T--thank you!) or were planning on doing so, give it a day or so to get sorted out, and all should be good. I hope.

New (ish) Blog

2007-07-20T08:28:00.000-05:00

It's taken me nigh on half the month to notice (I'm just not the blog watcher I used to be, I guess), but Meredith over at Basia Me, Catholica Sum has hung up her hat. But, not to fear, she's started a new blog with a focus on poetry. This just warms my heart--we need more intelligent people out there talking out poetry. Real poetry, that is--not the gush your feelings in bland language with no sense of the traditions of rhythm and metre kind that passes for verse these days.

Anyway, because her focus has changed, I'm moving her to The Stacks, but don't think this means the new site is any less worth going to. After all, two of my best friends are in The Stacks--'tis not a bad place to be, even if the name might imply otherwise.

I'll keep Basia Me linked a bit longer for archive viewing purposes, but the new site, happily titled For Keats' Sake!, is here.

Sorcery and Cecilia

2007-07-19T22:08:00.000-05:00

Before my class started two weeks ago, I managed to do rather a bit of reading during my summer break (especially for the somewhat slow reader that I am). I managed to burn through the last three (or was it four?) Dresden novels, and am merely waiting for White Knight to be released in paperback sometime this year so I can read it. I read the summer reading selection for our school, which I had been dreading, but was particularly surprised by. It's called The Kite Runner, and is one of those books that's on all the critics' lists and would be considered a terribly "important" book. As it turns out, it's also a really good tale. The narrator's hard to like for much of it (though that's the point) and there are some really harsh scenes in it, but I confess to having found it quite moving and a very good read. I also re-read The Scarlet Letter, since I'll be teaching it this year, and am again staggered by the beauty and complexity of Hawthorne's prose. Just a gorgeous book.

The last book I read before taking up Moby Dick (which I get to teach in my AP class) and beginning my summer education class is one I particularly wish to share with those remaining readers I have. It's called Sorcery and Cecilia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, and was written by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. First, a warning: Should you check out Amazon's page for this book, avoid any review mentioning Harry Potter. As with so many books these days, Sorcery suffers the "comparison-with-some-other-great-work-of-fantasy" issue with unimaginative readers. They'll say, "It's just like Tolkien, but with robots!" or "It's just like Harry Potter except darker!" Blech. I'm so tired of hearing this, especially when it's not really applicable. For example, people keep comparing Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell to Harry Potter, and I can only imagine that these people haven't actually read Strange & Norrell. It has more in common with the writings of both Patrick O'Brian and Jane Austen than Rowling. Not to mention that the book took Clarke over ten years to write (and boy howdy did that make me feel better about my own novel), which means she started it three years before Rowling published Sorcerer's Stone. But oh, how people love to play the "She must have been influenced by" game just because two books happen to be about magic. As the characters in Sorcery might say, it is the outside of enough. Sigh.

Okay, mini-rant over.

If one were to compare Sorcery with other works, Austen would be the best bet. Wrede and Stevermer have written a Regency novel of magic, humour, and romance, and done it epistolary style. It started as a game between the two authors in which they wrote letters to each other in character. The characters, cousins Cecy and Kate, relate their adventures in society via their correspondence, and the result is lively, engaging, and often hilarious. There are now two sequels to the book, The Grand Tour and The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After. I greatly look forward to reading these, and highly recommend to anyone the first.

Voyage to Ruin Update

2007-07-19T15:23:00.000-05:00

As a follow-up to my previous mention of Voyage to Ruin which was recently published by H.L. Trombley and for which my wife kashi supplied the interiour illustrations, the book is now available on Amazon.com. Unfortunately, they have not seen fit to discount it, so if anyone wished to buy it but was waiting for a cheaper option, I'm sorry to say it's not yet there. They may be waiting to see if it's moving enough volume to be worthwhile--I don't know. Anyway, if anyone was waiting, best to just go ahead and order from Lulu. The book is really worth it, and as a not inconsiderable side note, you'll be supporting kashi's art career, which is a noble thing indeed. Least, I think so.

Cheery News and Wishes

2007-07-19T15:17:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to take a brief moment to wish friend Flambeaux both a Happy Birthday and also congratulations. As of yesterday, he and his wife added new baby Robert Charles Francis to the family. For those who know them, mother and baby are doing just fine. Congrats!

Anathema

2007-07-18T11:05:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, the closest thing to a digicam we have is my phone, so this isn't very great quality. At least I managed to lighten it somewhat in Photoshop. Anyway, here's a pic of our new kitten, Anathema.

I Try To Be Good, Really

2007-07-17T23:01:00.000-05:00

Find out your Harry Potter personality at LiquidGeneration!

Via Happy Catholic

Simpsons Avatar

2007-07-17T22:38:00.000-05:00

I linked to this a few weeks ago off Julie D's site, and thought it'd be fun to have my own personal Simpsons avatar. Alas, this is the first chance I've had to post it. Non-Wolf version only, unfortunately:

Via Happy Catholic

The Unveiled Clepsydra

2007-07-15T18:47:00.000-05:00

It's done! Apparently, Cafepress has no proofing process for book publishing like Lulu does, so without further ado, I offer you the link to my first collection of poetry, The Unveiled Clepsydra.

The Unveiled Clepsydra

There shouldn't be any issues with the publication, but if there are, I'll fix them soon. I'm ordering my own copy today, so within a week or two, I should be able to fix anything (though I'm pretty darned confident it'll be fine). I will be eternally grateful to anyone who buys it and spreads the word to others.

In Brief...

2007-07-14T15:46:00.000-05:00

Lots of doings have been afoot, and this is the first chance I've really had to post.

In as few words as possible (which'll be a real challenge for me), here are the highlights:

We saw Ratatouille on opening night. Absolutely amazing film. Brilliant and beautiful.
We spent the week of the 4th of July in kashi's hometown, which has become a tradition these last years. It was terrifically refreshing to get out of DFW and relax a bit. Plus, it's just really wonderful spending time with kashi's family--they're good people. Alas, that Kansan town is dying fast. You can see it written on the walls of every building, in the faces of the people. And the few who seem to care can't do a darn thing to stop it. It's sad, and I fear all too common an occurrence in the rural midwest these days.
While in Kansas, we were beset by an adorable little stray kitten (the town's rife with strays) for a day and a half, at which point we decided he was coming home with us. And that was the point at which he decided to stop coming around. Alas, as we were already committed to the idea, we decided to help out a family from our parish who had recently rescued a passel of kitten whose mother had abandoned them. We'd been resisting, but now felt obligated to give one a home. You know, stewardship an' all. Plus, we're really just big softies. So now, little Anathema (as we call her) is busy being terribly cute and annoying the other two cats, who have yet to warm up to the interloper.
I've begun my summer class in Instructional Principles. So far, it has done little but confirm that yes, I actually know what I'm doing as a teacher, and am not half bad at it. Happily, it's also not much of a time suck, which leads to the next item.
Though my novel yet awaits cover art and is thus in a holding pattern, I have finished putting together a collection of poetry, and will have it on Cafepress within a week or so. The final poem, "Interstices," is a poem in nine parts, which I started nigh on a decade ago. It went through some revisions over the last year, and then I finished the last part a week ago. It's nice--gives one a sense of accomplishment. The collection is titled The Unveiled Clepsydra, after, I'd argue, the best poem in the collection. I'll post the link once it's available, and mayhap someone will buy it.
Saw Order of the Phoenix the other night, thanks to some unloading we did at Half-Price. Highly disappointing movie. You get no review--go read Dr. Swietek's; I rarely agree with him, but here he's spot on.

Right. I reckon that brings us up to speed. There're a few posts I need to write, but they'll have to wait until I'm a bit less scattered.

Words, Words, Words

2007-06-23T15:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, kashi passed me an article she'd found somewhere online (the original source is here.)

Very good and interesting stuff. At least, 'tis to me as a teacher and as a lover of the language. I'm ever in search of more and better ways to help my students increase their vocabularies (which are far too often paltry, pathetic, or sophomoric), but it's always an uphill battle. Oddly, one of the best ways I've found has been to simply speak as I am wont to do, to not, as Clive Beck in the article would have us do, lower my vocabulary to meet the current level of the students, or use their lingo as a way to "connect." And these kids will stop me, and ask what the words I use mean. And get this--most times, they remember the word. The word detritus had them practically falling all over themselves. One student even requested a daily word to help augment her vocab. Part of it, I suspect, may be that I let them harbour no illusions about my pretentiousness and love of the language. I don't use big words because I'm trying to make them feel less than myself. I use them because I love the language, and because I simply am, naturally, a pretentious windbag. I tell them this. It really is amazing what honesty can do for you.

Alas, spend time in corporate America, read a business email, and you'll know that your expansive vocabulary is worth little in today's culture. People will just shut down on you. If it's not Dick-and-Jane simple, you're going to lose most people. Which means I'm going to lose most people all the time, because I shall not say in three words what can be said far more beautifully in fifteen. Which is not to say I don't recognise the power of an economy of phrasing, a certain succinctness, being terse, or pithy (not to mention the ability to use irony). I mean, should I find myself and a loved one in a dark alley with a vampire, I think I would be much more likely to say "Run!" than "Let us, my dear, hie ourselves from this place with all due haste." But in most cases, by God and St. George, I will not let my vocabulary go gentle into that good night.

1408

2007-06-23T15:13:00.000-05:00

I wonder if all theatres are showing the new horror film 1408 in the fourteenth theatre of their complex? If not, they should be. For those who notice, it'd be a nice touch. Something akin to Hitchcock making theatres lock their doors once Psycho had begun so people couldn't come in midway through (which I imagine, for lawsuit reasons alone, could never be done today). The art of presentation seems a lost one, alas.

Anyway, caught the movie this morning, and I have to say I'm pleased. And impressed. A film that can hit all the right scare notes without unnecessary dismemberment and gore. Nor does it ask its audiences to leave their intelligences at the door. Which is not to say it's by any means a deep movie, but it certainly operates on a much higher level than Saw or any of that wretched ilk. Mostly, though, 1408 delivers a sustained level of suspense that is exceedingly effective and beautifully enhanced by the use of sound. Also, the protagonist is a damaged man who is seeking something (peace, healing, release, truth--what do you seek when you're hurt? And do you always go to the right place? That's what the subtext of the movie asks, it seems.) Where John Cusack's Mike Enslin seeks it is the evilest room ever. I mean, it plays the Carpenters at him--how much more evil can you get?

Anyway, it's got humour, irony, a host of scares, and Samuel L. Jackson having a deliciously creepy fun time in his role. Ultimately, if more of today's films were like this, and fewer like the one trailer kashi and I caught (Captivity, which even in the trailer clearly shows there's something horribly wrong with our culture), I could rest a little easier at night.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

2007-06-18T10:03:00.000-05:00

In the coming weeks, I'll likely have some movie reviews, or comments when I'm feeling more laconic, especially of movies I intend to watch for the film class I'm teaching this year, as well as ones I intend to show in my Horror Lit class.

Since my mind's been on the horror trip of late, I decided to rent The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which I'd heard much about, but on which was somewhat dubious. Mostly, I found it suspect because my experience of recent horror films has not been good. Between the badly done and morally shallow zombie movies which have been all the rage, gore-fest-o-ramas, and the ill-made exorcism movies like Exorcist: The Beginning (see here for my review of that debacle), one can easily lose hope that anyone knows how to do good horror anymore.

Happily, I can report that not only does Emily Rose manage good horror, but it's also simply a darned good film. One part horror, one part courtroom drama, and one part philosophical/ theological musing. What is best about this last aspect is that the film does not force any particular view on the viewer, but merely forces the viewer to confront his own ideas in order to question or further embrace them. One cannot view the film (at least not honestly, in me own 'umble opinion) without at least pondering what his own mind is on the subject of demons (and more generally the supernatural and faith). Now, based on character arcs and such, I would argue that the film does perhaps more favour belief and faith and recognising that there are evil forces out there waiting to eat us, mind, body, and soul, but it never disparages the other view, or a doubting one either. And ultimately, it is the two leads, Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson, who really sell this ideological (and at times emotional) sparring.

One cannot, however, overlook the performance of Jennifer Carpenter as Emily Rose. For a girl who has very few actual lines in the movie (unless one counts screaming, which she happens to excel at), she really delivers quite a punch. Because the actress has some amazing physical control over her body, the special effects team actually decided to redesign their approach to the FX, so as not to get in her way, but rather to merely enhance what she was already doing on film. And it is in her performance that we get the true horror of the movie. Because we see Emily Rose before she is attacked, and what we see is a bright, pretty, and most of all hopeful young woman. She comes from a loving family; she has dreams and aspirations; she is, simply, a good person. And it is this person, this goodness, who is ravaged by something completely beyond her control. And yet, she is not without power in the world, not entirely helpless to effect change. And it is here that the film makes an important point.

One of the things I really love about good horror is that it does not feel the need to end happily in order to satisfy our need to believe the world actually makes sense. The world doesn't make sense; it can't. It's beautiful. It's wonderful in many ways. But the things that happen in it are never going to fit the happy ending rules. And lest you think me a cynic (which, actually, I am), it's not because the world is all bad, but rather because the world isn't the point. The physical world is the place of opportunities. Opportunites to show what we're made of, that we can be true to how we were made, even unto death. The horror movie doesn't always end happily, but it should end well. Evil may not be forever vanquished, but we must know it can be defeated--even in small doses, even if it requires the main character's death. We are asked to live in this world, but we are not left without tools and equipment to do what we're asked to do. Which is not to say you don't often have to look really hard to find the bright spot in the end of a horror story, but the ones that are utterly bleak, utterly hopeless, are often the ones that leave you cold. Good horror should make you feel good about humanity. It should make you believe, not just in a Good beyond ourselves, but also in us, in humanity. It should show us that we are capable of standing up against those things that do exist, and that we cannot even begin to really comprehend, so long as we recognise we'll almost certainly have to lean on the support what's been supplied to us from the beginning. We are never alone in the fight.

In Emily Rose, Father Moore responds to his attorney's agnosticism regarding the existence of demons by saying, "Demons exist, whether you believe in them or not." So, the question is, that thing which is lurking over your shoulder, or around the next bend and is trying constantly to find an opening in your soul--how will you deal with it when it attacks?

Gone a Little While...

2007-06-18T09:51:00.000-05:00

And all your links become a mess.

Maybe it's just me, and I'm becoming (or have been and never really knew it) an old fogey, but the internet is too transient for my tastes. Admittedly, nine months is a long time to not be posting and keeping my blog updated, but still, between the redesigned blogs, and the changed addresses, it took the better part of Saturday to get all my links cleaned up.

Never mind me--just grousing.

Anyway, I'm happy to say that all my links (so far as I know) point in the right directions now. And since Mixolydian Mode has shut down to become Scuffulans hirsutus, that's all fixed as well. I've also added in Jim Butcher to The Writer's Den, should anyone have an interest.

Don't Delay; Buy Now!

2007-06-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

Get the word out now to all you know--there's a new book out that you must have. If, that is, you enjoy pirates, magic, naval battles, treachery, honour, love--all that sort of thing. 'Tis called, The Voyage to Ruin, and is written by H.L. Trombley.

The book is a series of stories which all serve one main plot--the attempts of Captain Acheron Zeal of Her Majesty's Royal Navy of Camembert (in the world of the Quadra Terrarum) to hunt down the notorious pirate, Captain Franceline Drake, who has waged her own little war against Zeal. But of course, it could never be as simple as this. For another man's fate (and possible that of the whole world) hangs in the balance.

The book is filled with wonderful characters, excitement galore, and exceeding fine prose. This is a new kind of fantasy here, I think; one which at once holds true with the essence of traditional fantasy, while also breaking new ground and maintaining a joyous wit throughout.

Now, why am I effusing so much? Because it's good, that's why. Also, I happen to know the author, and am helping to promote it. Also also, my wife, kashi, did the interior illustrations for the book, so I have triple reason to urge everyone, everywhere to obtain it as quickly as possible. But even if these two other factors were not involved, I would recommend it most highly, for it is worth owning, and worth reading again and again.

Finally, the technical stuff. The book is currently only available on Lulu.com (the author has chosen to self-publish), and is thus only available at list price. Within about two months' time, it should be available through major book distributors like Amazon.com, and thus at their usual discounted price. However, this is by no means a sure thing, and I highly recommend you purchase it immediately--if anything, it's perfect summer reading material (also very family-friendly, ao anyone with children 12 and up who have interest in this area of fiction should not hesitate). Anyway, it's available in a beautiful hardcover edition with cover art by Jackie Sullivan (see her artist's site here) and, as I said, kashi's illustrations inside. There is also a much cheaper paperback version, but it is, alas, sans nifty interior illustrations.

So, then, without further ado, I give you the web address at which you, yes you, dear friends, can jaunt off immediately to buy said wonderful book. Enjoy!

The Voyage to Ruin

I Am Legend

2007-06-09T11:52:00.000-05:00

Couldn't be happier this morning. I've just found out that they've done a re-make of The Last Man on Earth, a Vincent Price film from the fifties which still stands today as one of the best horror films of all time. Both films (as well as the 70s flick The Omega Man with Charleton Heston) are based on Richard Matheson's book I Am Legend, which I've not yet read, but soon will. Matheson's one of those horror writers you hear about all the time, but it's usually years after you've watched something which he penned, or something which was adapted from one of his works, that you say, "Oh, he wrote that? I love that!" Matheson's also the author of Hell House, which again, I know of, but have yet to read, and he wrote that classic Twilight Zone ep starring Shatner, "Nightmare at 20000 Feet." You know the one: "There's a ... man ... on the ... wingoftheplane!" Sorry, that's the best I can do to Shatnerise text.

Anyway, the teaser trailer for the new film (using the book's original title) can be viewed here. It stars Will Smith--some might have a problem with that casting, but I really don't. Smith's got the kind of charisma and honesty in his acting that I think makes him very adaptable to different roles. Done right, this role could really make people look at him differently. True, there's something to be said for spindly Vincent Price tackling vampires as the last man on earth--it's got a frightening realism to it which I think unseats people's sense of safety better (and what else is horror for?). But all of this is to say that I'm hopeful. Alas, I'll have to wait until December to find out if they made a good film or not, but that's okay, I can be patient.

Until then, if anyone's interested, see if you can dig up the original with Price. If Blockbuster's smart, they'll make it available before the new one hits. It's well worth the viewing.

And Another...

2007-06-07T11:38:00.000-05:00

Because the comic's just too funny, and sums up my feelings on MySpace.

Join MySpace

Absurd Humour

2007-06-07T10:53:00.000-05:00

Colour me strange and bizarre, but this web comic is hilarious.

xkcd: A webcomic of romance,
sarcasm, math, and language.

(This particular one's from the archive.)

My Burgeoning Acting Career

2007-06-05T13:03:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I, kashi, and a friend got to be extras in a short film put together by Element X Creative for the 2007 Dallas 24 Hour Video Race. The film won 1st Place in its category. Though I'm the only one of the three who made it into the final cut (and barely any of me did--you can see most of my head as I'm unloading a truck in the background), we still helped, it was much fun, and kashi's the one who came up with the title. If you're interested, it's a fun little short, and you can watch it here: The Day of Wrong.

I'm Not Dead Yet!

2007-05-30T13:00:00.000-05:00

Long time, no write.

There's no point in recapping the nigh-year I've been silent, and so I shan't. Suffice it to say, it was a veritable drain on time and energy, and this here blog does not come close to matching the importance of other things in life.

That said, a couple of necessary highlights:

1. Heroes. This shows rocks in every way. It comes close to toppling Firefly as best show ever. Very close.

2. Harry Dresden. A little over a year ago, Happy Catholic recommended Jim Butcher's series of books starring wizard/ detective Harry Dresden to me. Managed to pick up the first one earlier this year, and kashi and I have been zipping through the lot ever since. Wonderful reads--fun, and quick. Highly recommended. The recent Sci-Fi Channel series based on it does not do the books justice at all. Thanks, Julie!

3. POTC III. Seen it twice already. Lots of critical foofaraw, but what do critics know? It's got love, sacrifice, the best film wedding ever, and Davy Jones. What more could you possibly want in a film? Also, the soundtrack pretty much rocks.

Looking ahead, I'll likely bandy about some thoughts this summer, but I think the blog's going to be more a sounding board for random ideas and reflections than anything particularly serious. Frankly, just don't feel like putting in the time. Still, I'm not wholly ready to give up Jelly-Pinched Theatre just yet.

As to the teaching, next year's looking mighty interesting. I'm getting a Junior AP class to teach (and my syllabus just got approved by the College Board, so all's ready for that), an American Film class, which oughta be fun, and best of all, I'm teaching a Horror Lit class of my own design. Should allow me to further develop my theories, do some research I've been needing to do, and really just chat about horror once a day--how cool is that? There'll be a lot of shorter works involved, too, but the major readings are as follows:

Carmilla, by J. Sheridan LeFanu
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by R.L. Stevenson
Psycho, by Robert Bloch
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, by Jack Finney
Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty
Coraline, by Neil Gaiman

I'm terribly excited about it.

Well, I reckon that's all for now. If anyone's still listening, here I am. If not, at least I'm content in my own thoughts.

Frisante!

2006-09-07T17:20:00.000-05:00

For the first time in my life, I have a new car. Not a new-to-me car, but a new car. We hadn't planned on getting one (we've been operating with very tight belts, and even got ourselves a financial advisor), but it became necessary.

See, on the way to work Tuesday, I ran over something. I have no idea what the something was, just that the truck in front of me ran over it with reckless abandon, and so I had no idea there was a something in the way until I, too, was going over it. My car seemed a little odd in the aftermath, but not terribly different. When I left in the afternoon, however, it quickly became apparent that not all was well in the state of Pontiac. Turns out the transmission mounts broke, and the torque converter went because of that. So, yesterday I made use of Kia's deal whereby they give you $3000 on a trade-in, regardless of condition, and obtained me a 2006 Kia Spectra. I would've loved an Amanti, which has a Jaguar feel, but it's way out of our affordability. Plus, I've very quickly come to love my little car. She's fast and zippy and actually has A/C. I haven't had air conditioning in about two years now. Oh, frabjous day!

Still need a name for her. Kashi has suggested "Frisante," which, I must confess, I kinda like. But we shall see.

For now, I'm just thrilled to have a car that doesn't suck.

I See...

2006-09-07T17:14:00.000-05:00

So, I had a realisation last week regarding teaching.

When lecture has failed, and discussion has failed, and all manner of other approaches have failed to help students make the necessary connections for understanding, then there is only one thing to do.

Stand on a chair. In an instant, it'll all come together for them.

Poetry Club

2006-08-28T19:01:00.000-05:00

Last week, I submitted a proposal to the administration of my school for the creation of a poetry club. Happily, I found out today that they've approved it, and were quite excited at the prospect.

As for me, I'm thrilled. Not only do I love yammering about poetry, but I also love getting others excited about it and teaching people to better understand, write, and read aloud poetry. And it's really awesome to see how into the idea some of these kids are.

Of course, I've no real idea how to run a club. I mean, I was barely in any clubs in high school myself, and I'm but a second year teacher. Not much experience to utilise. But ultimately, I figure I'm just there as guide and mentor (and instructor as needed). I reckon the kids themselves have a far better idea how to handle some of the aspects of the club organisation than I currently do. For now, though, we've got our first meeting set, and I'm darned curious to see how many come in to sign up.

This is such a cool thing.

Cue "Haunting Torgo Theme"

2006-08-23T20:40:00.000-05:00

For lovers of MST3K, the following is an absolute must-see. It's based on the (arguably) worst movie ever made--Manos: The Hands of Fate. kashi found this little gem of artwork on deviantart.com, and shared it with me.

Therefore, go hence ye now, and bask in its awesomeness!

Torgo Lives

Week One

2006-08-21T18:01:00.000-05:00

Well, I've survived the first week of the new school year, and with far less stress than last year. Having a lot of material and assessments prepped in advance and some clue of how this whole teaching thing works is a major boon, lemme tell ya. Having my own room makes a bit of a difference as well.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased. It looks like I've got a pretty good crop of kids, willing to share their ideas and actually work out what's going on in the readings in class discussions. I still haven't been able to make as much of a break from my lecture tendency as I'd like, but there's definitely a much greater "dialogue" feel this year. It's nice, 'cause I've had a fair amount of time now to reflect on my role as a teacher, and I'm starting to think it's not quite like what I had once thought, nor is it like what a lot of teachers seem to consider themselves.

Simply, we are not the owners of knowledge.

I think it might be an easy hubris to fall into (I've seen myself do it on occasion, and witnessed it elsewhere enough that it seems like a solid theory)--that somehow we are the keepers of this vast collection of knowledge and understanding, and we can use that to mold and shape minds. Certainly, some molding and shaping is going to happen (and it should), but I don't think our role is (or at least should be) quite so domineering. It seems we should work on being more like guides, pointing out the multiple paths one can take through the jungle, keeping the student from falling in a tiger trap, but mostly letting them learn to hack their way through everything so eventually they can guide themselves.

My goal in class is to try to draw ideas out of them, to help them think more deeply, to reason better--not to talk at them for 45 minutes. Especially in teens, passive learning is nigh useless, and I'd argue not learning at all. Yes, I do have information to impart, but the whole process is way more involved than that.

In addition, I can learn at least as much from them as they can from me. It's really brilliant when a student finds a new way of looking at a work of literature that never even remotely occurred to me. And to see them follow the logic, making the necessary connections, supporting the idea--to see them hit on something new and interesting is absolutely awesome. I don't think you get that when lecturing. And frankly, I don't want to stop learning. Either on my own, or from my students.

Maybe this is completely obvious to anyone who's not me. It's only my second year teaching, after all. All I can see is the results. I've got a lot more kids participating than I had last year, really good discussions evolving out of that, and a much greater sense of respect in the room, both toward me as well as the students toward each other. I just can't really argue with that. It's really satisfying to be a guide.

Trampling Out the Story Where the Grapes of Wrath are Stored

2006-08-04T16:00:00.000-05:00

I shall try to keep my wrath toward John Steinbeck’s Grapes and his ideology limited to a discussion of the specific problems of his writing and storytelling. Also, I’ve ranted about the man enough in my personal life and just don’t have the energy to go too far into things here. But there are certain ideological aspects of The Grapes of Wrath what need to be brought to light.

First, let’s get the political rot out of the way. The longstanding defense of Steinbeck has been that he was never a communist. That is, so far as I know, true—he was never an official member of the Communist Party. However, this does not mean he was not sympathetic to the ideas, and if you can read Grapes without seeing his call for revolution to institute a socialist society, as well as a determined rejection of American tradition, then I must confess I’m at a loss what to say. He’s neither subtle about it, nor relenting in his restatement of his ideas of “communal life.” To be fair, I can see where Steinbeck is coming from. He witnessed first-hand the effects of the Depression and the terrible drought that afflicted the Midwest and Panhandle, as well as the cold, unjust, and sometimes violent reception the native Californians gave these migrants when they were forced to pick up stakes and risk their lives for some elusive, better way out in the west. They were, in many cases, robbed of all they had (even if only by natural forces) and duped into believing in something that wasn’t actually there in California. If Grapes does anything very well, it’s to give a very personal snapshot of a terrible time in our history and how the real people of the Midwest were hurt by events beyond their control.

My problem with Steinbeck’s ideas is mostly in the one-sidedness with which he presents things (well, that and I just think the kind of utopian socialist regime he wanted was illogical, impractical, and simply wrong in so very many ways—but I reckon that’s neither here nor there). According to the text: All banks and corporations are faceless evils, and all who work for them are corrupt and selfish. All institutions of American tradition are failures, or else the Depression would not have happened. All law enforcement agencies merely support (violently, of course) the system. The little guy can never get ahead, unless government programs support him, and everyone is forced to be equal in all respects. Let no one person or organisation have an advantage over another (except, of course, those who would of necessity need to be granted the power to enforce such a system).

Simply put, Steinbeck has a point to make, and he works in extremes to make that point very clear. In other words, he stops at nothing short of beating the reader over the head with his point. This does not a good read make.

At the heart of it, this is why I loathe Grapes so very much. Because Steinbeck’s really not a bad writer. He’s got some beautiful, poetic language, good characters, and essentially a good story. But for him, it’s not about the story, but the ideas. He is not performing the role of storyteller, as he ought, but rather that of a man on his soapbox. I’ve covered this before (see here), and may well again. It is an injustice to the story to let your ideas run it. Ideas are fine, so long as they naturally stem from the story and don’t overshadow the telling of the tale. But Steinbeck’s ideas reign supreme, and the story serves their needs. He is relentless, and restates the same things over and over throughout. The horse is so much glue long before the end of the novel. And it’s sad, because it could have been a good, even enjoyable story had he let it live and breathe on its own terms, a story that needed to be told. But he sacrificed that story for an ideology he wished to foist upon the world. This is, to my mind, an unforgivable sin for a writer to commit.

Happily, my department head is open to changing things up a bit on occasion, so next year (Spring of ’08) I’ll be dropping The Grapes of Wrath from my curriculum in favour of some Faulkner (either As I Lay Dying or The Sound and the Fury) and some other smaller works from the same era which consider similar themes. As for Steinbeck, I can sort of appreciate him, but I’ll never have a love for his works.

Cars

2006-08-03T15:34:00.000-05:00

On a lighter note...

I had promised this review rather a while back, before my class gobbled up all my time, and I figured now was the time to get back to it, such that I can leave the more serious, angrifying topics behind.

There were a fair number of complaints about Pixar's Cars when it came out--too long, not enough interest for kids, not as good as The Incredibles. To answer each, I say:

1. It may be a bit long, but so is every other bloody movie out there--when was the last time we were blessed with a major movie running at only 90 minutes?--and if it's a little slow, well that's part of the point of the movie--stop speeding through life, or you might miss the scenery.

2. What is this American obsession with animation being only for kids? I'll grant that children will likely enjoy it automatically because it mirrors, to some extent, the way in which their imaginations work (although I know of one 3-year old who adores watching the likes of Poirot and Alton Brown and asks for them as regularly as animated works, so who is to say what children's tastes may be?), but this does not mean that it is exclusively a child's form of entertainment. Animation is wonderfully versatile, able to do so much more than live-action, able to work on so many different levels. And Pixar has shown repeatedly that it is more than willing to allow its films to take advantage of all these levels--accessible to children and adults.

3. No, it's not as good as The Incredibles, but really, what could be? Brad Bird is nigh a god of animation and storytelling. It's kind of hard to beat. Stop comparing everything and judge a movie on its own merits.

So, as to the movie at hand, kashi and I realised coming out that it does help if one has a love of cars or an affection for backroad, backwater burghs, especially of the south and midwest. It's not a deal-breaker, but it does make a difference. The basic conceit of the movie is that cars have personalities. You've got to accept that to some extent to get the movie. If you've only ever seen cars as hunks of metal (or, I guess, plastic these days) that get you from point A to point B, you might have a hard time getting all the nice small touches put into this film. As for me, I love cars, especially older models what had true personality. Give me a '56 Chevy Bel Air, or a '58 Plymouth Fury and I'm a happy guy. And oh, what I wouldn't give to be driving a late '50s, early '60s hearse!

That aside, the story's good, too. It's the classic "jerk gets his come-uppance and learns to be a decent fellow" story, but there's a reason it's a classic. It rings true, every time. Critics always seem to want something new in a movie, but personally, I say stick with the classics. The story was old when Dickens used it in Great Expectations, but he knew it was good and used it because of that fact. And even deeper than that story, there's an underlying dose of respect for the lost part of America. I may be from a New England small town (and they have their own particular characters), but I'm a small town boy nevertheless. The cities offer a lot in the way of convenience, lifestyle, and things to do (which is, of course, their allure) but the more I think about it, the more I come to believe that America's small, rural townsfolk know more about true living than we city folk ever will. They're so far removed from the culture wars of New York and L.A., and yet if anyone thinks them uncultured then I say he is ignorant and a fool. And the people of these towns are suffering. Take a trip into the small towns in the Panhandle region of Texas, or up into western Kansas, in Garden City, and you'll see what I mean. There's no rain, no money, and a lot of people who are being forgotten. Cars makes a stand against this. It says, we will not forget these people. They deserve our respect, and our attention. Get to it. I don't know how yet, but kashi and I do have some ideas we're kicking about. I only hope we can find a way to put them into effect. Maybe just dreaming, but dreams are where everything begins.

As a final note, the animation in the movie is gorgeous. I can't imagine how anyone could watch the scene in which Lightning McQueen and Sally tour about the landscape of old Route 66 without being struck to the core at the sheer beauty of it. But then maybe I'm just a big sap. The animators capture the natural beauty of the landscape stunningly--and with heart. One gets the sense this scene (heck, the whole project) is a labour of love.

Anyhoo, we really loved it. Good story, much humour, exciting car races, truths told, and beautiful animation. What more could you want? If you haven't, give Cars a chance.

Sigh...

2006-08-03T14:07:00.000-05:00

I really must thank Hollywood and the media. They've given me a perfect example, relevant to the lives of my students, for when we discuss witch hunts as portrayed in The Crucible. To be sure, I make it clear to my students that while injustices were wrought by the witch hunts, and this is what we should be careful of whenever fear enters the mix, as it turns out yes, there really were practicing witches in Salem, as well as practicing Communists in the HUAC investigations.

Just as Mel Gibson really did say those vile things the other night. This does not make the retaliating persecutions by the self-righteous of Hollywood any more right.

I honestly don't know what's worse, that while North Korea is nigh to dropping some exciting fireworks on our shores and the Middle East is rapidly falling into utter chaos the media is concerned more with the drunken slurs of a Hollywood celebrity, or that so many voices in Hollywood and the media are intent on crucifying a man for his sins rather than forgiving him. Trust me, the irony of that last statement is not lost on me.

Frankly, I'm just sick of the news reports about this, and the voices coming out of the woodwork to proclaim that we must run Mel out of the business, never see his movies again, banish rice pudding for all time, blah, blah, blah. Hate. That's what it all comes down to. These people respond to Mel's (self-admittedly) hateful words with more hatred. The man was drunk! It may not be an excuse (though, it must be noted, the Japanese would believe it so), but it's not as though he's defended his words. He has much to make up for, he has problems and sins to overcome, he has penance to perform. Welcome to humanity, people! If we cannot accept that he's truly sorry for his actions (and really, must we not assume this is true? We cannot see into his soul, nor should we presume to. If he says he truly regrets his words, then we must accept that, or else where is our hope in man?) then we must forgive and allow him to set things right, not castigate him.

ABC has dropped his miniseries. Barbara Walters says she will never see his movies again (though one can assume that she will not pass up the opportunity to have him as a guest on one of her specials in order to confront him and make him weep over the whole affair in order to boost her ratings--how's that for cynicism?). Hollywood is ravenous to ruin the man, and I find that far more despicable than the vile words he spoke. Mel deserves our pity and our prayers, not our wrath. But then, he made The Passion didn't he? I fear that may be what this is all about, in the end. I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist these days, but it seems at least moderately plausible in this case. A man (imperfect like the rest of us) who loves God created a beautiful and powerful film detailing the central mystery of his faith. He did so in the midst of an antagonistic, anti-religious culture that assumed such a project would fail. It did not. In fact, it succeeded in more ways than they had imagined. It is bitterness and hatred which rule the mob of voices denouncing Gibson, and I, for one, am sick of it.

I was hesitant to post on this, in part because I'm sure better thinkers than I have already weighed in on the topic in far better fashion than I have. But also, I do not wish to give the impression that I think Gibson's display was in any way right. I don't defend what he said, but rather his right to repent, to seek forgiveness and help. For even if all he is doing now were revealed to be a sham to save face, were he again to ask forgiveness should we not offer it? Is not that what we're called to do? I just can't believe that vilifying him is the right way to go about things. But then, what do I know?

Shirt of the Day

2006-08-03T10:03:00.000-05:00

Didn't get a chance to put this up the other day, but one of kashi's Cafepress t-shirt designs won "Shirt of the Day" at a site called Lamp 8. Much happification! And mayhap it might bolster sales (speaking of which, I've also included a link to the Cafepress site on the sidebar for ease of browsing her other designs).

See the page here

Also, I've been remiss in getting a link up for the business kashi's started with a friend, so that's now available in the "Required Reading" section, as well as here. Pink Ink Writers is a copywriting and design company, so should you happen to need such services, check 'em out. Or, just check out the site simply because it's terrifically designed (and this is said from an objective point of view, not a husband's--as a husband, I'd gush far more).

*Again, I am slow in adding blogs what ought to have been added long ago. Mea Culpa. Though belatedly, I've now got Steven Riddle's Flos Carmeli added to the links.