Happy Record Store Day!!!

Incubus, Make Yourself

Yep, got into these guys late--"Drive," that is--but love their earlier stuff.

This may be their best "album," & it provides the transition from much, much funkier, less-poppy stuff to the top-40 sounds of much of their later work.

Highlights: "Drive," of course, the title track, "Stellar," & the instrumental "Battlestar Scralatchtica."

Also, I simply love the concept of the title, & as the dude who told you that all literature to some (usually "large") extent is about the search for identity, I enjoy the idea of self-creation.

KETCHUP ON THE MUSIC ALERT
Beneath the class write-ups, you will find a rundown of the past several albums; I decided to put it lower for those who use this blog for academic reminders moreso that musical ideas.

Some great albums down there, so check it out.

Juniors:
Wow, those of you who spent time w/ the novella really got some good ideas out of it.

We discussed identity, psychology, truth & fiction, & about 100 other ideas this week.

We alluded to the usual suspects (Family Guy, Star Wars, DFW et al).

We alluded to some new suspects, including but not limited to The Box, Apocalypse Now, the novels of Chuck Palahniuk, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Clarke Rubel & many other great minds of the past & present.

We talked about the truth & the moral obligation to tell it.

Or not.

We thought about what it means to be "enthralled" w/ another person.

We looked at the characters & narrators & the styles throughout.

It was good.

Next week: looking back, more closely.

The following week: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce.


Sophomores:
Piggy got hit by that rock, & in the book it is simply a terrible consequence of lives gone awry.

Roger no longer "throws to miss," & society, morality, & even a piece of the soul seems to have gone away.

Now, in the film it's simply a poorly-shot scene that creates unintentional comedy.

We had some good discussion of what it all means in terms of the novel, what the title is all about, how Golding explores us, not just those kids on that island.

This weekend you will finish the 14 questions from "Notes on Lord of the Flies," which we started (1st 5 questions answered) in class Friday.

get those points! get them all!

be cool & check the music below (quick-rundown style)





Jonas Hellborg, Buckethead, & Michael Shrieve, Octave of the Holy Innocents

Many of you know of my (& my wife's) love of all (well, "most") things Buckethead, & if you're in the mood for some slow-jazzy-type maniacal instrumentation, grab this 1.

All 3 musicians here are simply virtuosos, & this is well worth your time.





Van Halen II

Not their best, but exceedingly good "teeth rock" or "smile rock," as it was called back then.

(I prefer Dave's term "big rock," but whatever.)

Highlights: "Beautiful Girls," "Dance the Night Away," & "Somebody Get Me a Doctor!"

(& all the rest, as every song they ever recorded w/ Dave rocks.)




Aerosmith, Toys in the Attic

You all know "Walk This Way," but the title track her is a much better song.

Also, the best ballad they ever recorded, "You See Me Crying," closes this album, & it almost always makes me listen to the whole thing again, which could lead to a vicious never-ending cycle.

Wow, both Van Halen & Aerosmith played such a role in my formative years . . . that I try not to think about where they are now . . .





The Mars Volta, De-Loused in the Comatorium

Their 1st, & to me, their best.

It's all good, & having seen them live a few years ago, I became even more impressed that such complex musci translates live.

Also, their singer is named "Cedric," so extra points there.




Once Soundtrack.

The movie is rated "R"--& as far as I can tell, it's only for some Irish-brogued "bad" words, as the other usual R-stuff is nowhere to be seen--so I won't recommend it, but I will say that at some point you should check it out.

The soundtrack is fantastic, especially "Falling Slowly."

Oh, & the scene in which the 2 main characters play that song in the music store is what movies should be about.



Matisyahi, Live at Stubb's

"King Without a Crown" & "Chop 'em Down."

Hasidic-Jewish reggae-rap-folk-rock.

'Nuff said.




Cheap Trick, Live at Budokan

Might be my 5th favorite live album (as of today, 1st 4 are Maiden's Live After Death, Kiss Alive!, Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds Live at Luther College, & Frampton Comes Alive!)

(Live at Stubb's? Probably top 10.)

"I Want You to Want Me," "Surrender," & "Ain't That a Shame."



Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde

I am not the biggest Dylan fan--like The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Hendrix, & many others, I "respect" more than I "like"--but I'll take this 1 any day of the week.

& yes, twice on Sunday.

I have that poster of Dylan in my classroom because it so embodies the rock ethic that I love, but also because he come the closest to being a "poet" in popular music.

Oh, "Visions of Johanna."

That is all.

be cool

cuz they thought maybe we are all just the "ants" on some alien's "farm"

Alien Ant Farm, ANThology

See what they did w/ that title?

Pretty creative . . . also have an album called truANT.

Besides their super-cool cover of "Smooth Criminal," highlights here include "Movies" & "Attitude."

Underrated band, not just a 1-hit wonder.

Check 'em out.

Juniors 
Identity.

'Nuff said.

Sophomores
Open-book quiz.

(focus on the "open-book" part: page numbers provided in class)

'Nuff said.

be cool

mayhaps a little scurrilous & somewhat esoteric

Protest the Hero, Scurrilous

There's a SAT-type word for you, huh?

I will repeat: these guys annoy me because they are so young & so talented.

Yep, envious much.

(a touch of sarcasm, by the way)

New lyrical direction--less esoteric (speaking of SAT words), more personal--same musical direction, though a little less time-changy this time around. Still prog-metal, though.

& still tremendous.


Juniors:
You vote for the next course of study--nonfiction, short stories, novella, or novel--& the verdict will be in shortly.

I'm currently trying to decide if how I count the votes for "fiction" & "picture books."

Also, deciding if the misspelled votes should count . . . the English teacher in me says, if you can't spell "novella" (mostly misspelled w/ 1 "l"), then your vote doesn't count.

You got the whole rundown on the AP Fact sheet of your life (some details in yesterday' post).

Due Friday--at the BEGINNING of the period, & if you're late or absent, it doesn't count.

Sophomores:
You also got the BONUS!! rundown, & then . . .

. . . we looked back at chapters 3 & 4 of the novel (Lord of the Flies, that is).

You are to read chapter 6 tonight--you will be quizzed tomorrow--& we will review both 5 & 6.

Looking ahead, 7 & 8 over the weekend, 9-12 completed by the following Monday.

be cool

Re-launch--now w/ BONUS!!

Animals as Leaders, Animals as Leaders

Tosin Abasi is a beast.

(Is that a pun, given the band name? Maybe.)

Dude plays 8 strings on his guitar.

That's "8," not the usual "6" or the less-usual "7."

8.

Lots of strings, & he plays them all.

Music is instrumental, progressive, fantastic.

"WHERE I BEEN" ALERT
I have been being "Daddy," (well, usually "Dad," now) my favorite of all my roles.

As Aodhan hit double-digits last year, I have tried to focus as much as I can on that, remembering how often folks I know older than I regret or pine for those lost years of their children's childhoods.

So, I'm taking A to baseball practice, playing Legos w/ Finn, teaching Ced to tie his shoes, enjoying every moment.

(Well, most of 'em--let's be honest here.)

Super-fun redundancy alert: But as my beautiful, gorgeous, fantastic-looking, smart, intelligent, witty, humorous, funny, & just Cool" wife works until 6 or later, much of the time I get to be Mr. Mom.

& though I whine now & then, I love it.

But some things have suffered, & this blog is 1 of those things.

For those few of you who have been true "followers," I apologize, & I point out that look out, you may just get what you ask for.

That is, daily updates.

"WHERE ELSE I BEEN" ALERT
On the other hand, I have been far from neglecting y duties as "educational-enhancement facilitator," as those of you who have done the big-ol' research project know.

Those things take a lot of time.

["A lot," that is, unclear, imprecise language & all.]

& also, as many of you know, this is the last hurrah for McB's Junior Honors English.

But, McB has a new animal, namely "AP Language & Composition." I am as pumped for this class as I have been in a while.

Not that I do not love the literature I teach & the assignments we do, but in examining the course, I see that I can get back to a bunch of stuff I used to teach back at good ol' Youngstown State University.

Things like argument, rhetoric, style, "how" as much as "what."

Non-fiction in terms of biographers, diarists, critics, columnists, thinkers, philosophers, sportswriters & other journalists.

I am truly excited about the class, the new challenges to come.

"1 OTHER PLACE I BEEN" ALERT
Reading.

Reading, like everywhere & everything.

Literary fiction (Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Franzen, DFW)

Graphic novels (Buffy Omnibus, Scott Pilgrim),

young adult books (Artemis Fowl series),

kids books w/ my sons (The Kid Who Ran for President),

philosophers (Wittgenstein, Taylor, Calvin, Hobbes, Wallace),

journalists (Halberstam, Gladwell, Wallace),

critics (Smith, Wallace, Bakhtin, Spivak),

just reading & more reading.


Juniors:
You are done, except for the re-write.

At this point, you all know if you put in the effort or not.

You will probably be rewarded accordingly, mayhaps a little "unfairly" in your favor, as I try to add in "effort points" for completion as well as the final product itself. & yes, once again, I said to anybody who asked, you may fix any final errors tonight.

& you are done . . . except for the re-write, which will be coming end of April/beginning of May.

Sophomores:
It's sad that you are given more than an entire week--remember, the reading schedule was on the board ahead of time, & you could have been done w/ chapter 5 before you left for break--& so many of you simply did not bother.

That said, several of you did the reading, & the quiz I offered up today gave you plenty of opportunity to provide"educated guesses" or commentary-type answers rather than simple identification questions.

Now, you must choose: are you going to continue to read, or are you going to sabotage your grade.

This novel will take up a big chunk of the final quarter in terms of points, & now is the time to get on it.

I have assigned no reading tonight, so catch up if necessary. Check out CliifsNotes or SparkNotes to remind yourself of what's been read. get to work, do the reading, earn the grades.

LAST POSSIBLE BONUS ALERT!!!
Yes, the assignment was "previewed" in terms of being added to the grade book, which shows up on the SchoolLoop calendar, & yes, many of you went a little nuts--let's hope not to the detriment of the real work.

As now posted over on the Loop, you must go to my TeacherWeb site & download an AP Fact sheet to do this assignment (you'll find it under the category of "Handouts, Notes, Fun Stuff in Text Form").

This will be the AP Fact sheet of your life--you will fill in a title for your life thus far:

your parent(s) is/are the author(s);

your friends, family, & other acquaintances are your characters;

the sports-related numbers you wear, the cross around your neck, your haircut or whatever are the symbols for which you will explain the "meanings";

your ancestors provide your historical context;

that which you believe or the words by which you live will provide your themes;

you will provide 5 notes about your "style';

& on the back, you will begin to write--at least 500 words--your autobiography.

More details tomorrow.

Come w/ questions, I'll give you answers.

Bonus available to all students, sophomores as well as juniors.

be cool

the royal we

High school is all about where we have been.

College is about where we're going.

I kind of like that 1, & I haven't been here in a while, so I thought I'd put up some words.

Also, I played w/ the pronouns ("you"? "we"? a mixture?).

I like the royal we.

So, we are moving forward w/ research & all kinds of stuff.

Check back here for more in the future.

Recent music:


Mr Big, Back to Budokan

Love these guys (note Paul Gilbert--the guy w/ the red pants from my classroom wall--in the upper right).

Gonna see 'em live at the HofB Sunset before they head to Japan, & I love living near LA.

Highlights:  "Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy," "Addicted to That Rush," Green-Tinted Sixties Mind," "Take Cover," & of course the bass &  guitar solos, as well as the & guitar & bass duo.

Finally, "To Be With You," the 1 hit. You gotta hear Finbar & Cedric sing that 1.

be cool

a super post, a veritable cornucopia, a lollapalooza . . .

Wow, it's been a while, as life & School Loop have taken over.

By the way, if you haven't seen it on my board, you will all be onboard School Loop February 22 or 23.

It is a really (REALLY) cool communication device, 1 that will allow you & your parents to be in that proverbial "loop" in terms of assignments & grades.

(In other words, the stuff that you see here, on the TeacherWeb site, on the white boards in room 57, & such . . .)

I am pretty excited.

(& I don't get too excited . . . )

Anyway, to the music!!

Lots o' catching-up to do, so feel free to skip down past the album covers to the school work . . .


Linus of Hollywood, Triangle

Saw him play bass w/ Paul Gilbert several years ago, & the dude rocks.

This album is quite mellow, poppy, top-40 stuff (anybody know what top 40 is anymore?!?)

Really good melodic rock, & a really cool album cover, no?

Also . . .


Hum, You'd Prefer an Astronaut.

(Seems like they'd prefer a zebra, yes?)

Excellent post-grunge rock from a truly underappreciated band

& then . . .


Collective Soul, hints allegations & things left unsaid

An English teacher's nightmare in terms of grammar--at least the punctuation.

I really like these guys, & this, their debut, might be their best effort.

(Side note: I seem to like bands w/ "soul" in their name, like Collective Soul, Soul Coughing, Soul Asylum . . & each may have a better name than band, but they are all cool.)

Acoustic-based pop rock, "Shine" being the lead single back in '93.

So, how about 1 you all know:


No Doubt, Tragic Kingdom

"Just a Girl" was the 1 I heard 1st, but my love affair w/ Gweng began w/ "Don't Speak."

I'm a sucker for those catchy ballads.

1 for Jamie:



Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

1 of the all-time great voices as well as a durn good songwriter (yes, w/ Bernie, I know).

This has to be his best studio record, right?

I mean, come ON:

"Funeral for a Friend (Love Lies Bleeding)," "Candle in the Wind," "Bennie & the Jets," " the title track, "This Song Has No Title" . . .& that's just side 1 . . .

& finally . . .

The B-52s, Cosmic Thing

Let's just say that VHS footage exists of my karaoke performance of "Love Shack" (w/ the help of 1 Elissa Stewart)--on the quad at good ol' ALHS, as I won (or "lost") the "Alta Loma Idol" contest.

& we'll leave it at that

Juniors:

Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, by Jonathan Culler.

Chapter 2: "What is Literature, & Does It Matter?"

This book is so amazingly cool that I put it up there w/ my man Thomas C. Foster's How to Read . . . pair of books as the near-perfect intros to reading & thinking.

& yeah, I love to think even more than I love to read.

I'm glad some os you do, too.

Anyway, get these points for filling in the skeleton outline, so you can support yourself if something goes wrong on that big ol' project.

Speaking of which, you got your official due dates & handout for The Proposal & The Annotated Bibliography, so you are thinking, reading, working, researching.

We hit the library this Tuesday & Wednesday, so be sure to be present & ready, as you can print & make your copies.

Let's do this!!!1!1!


Sophomores:

Grammar--parts of sentence & of speech.

Vocabulary--unit 7 done, unit 8 nearly done, quiz this week.

No Logo got us thinking about product placement, surrogate relationships, the political machinations in effect behind the companies whose products we consume.

& speaking of that, Consuming Kids--& yes, that 1st word can be a verb or an adj.--will make us look more deeply at the issues in the culture we have helped to create.

Obviously, this is all preparation for the Consumer Research Paper, for which you will have 2 choices, as covered in class . . .

(1) the actual comparison-of-products paper, in which you will examine 3 possibilities for a major purchase--e.g. "college education," OR "desktop/laptop/notebook/netbook," OR automobile, OR musical instrument, OR "phone/provider/plan," OR anything else that you can fit into that category of "major purchase."

(2) ad analysis, in which you choose a campaign (check tonight's game for examples, if nothing else), & you analyze the demographic, the theme of the ad, the suitability thereof, & you make your statement on the relative ad campaign's success

yeah!!

let's get in the loop!!

be cool

ya know, what the heck: I'll even risk embarrassment for all my family by providing this . .

me: Pitt 30 GB 28

Aodhan: Pitt 27 GB 21

Finbar: Pitt 41 GB 21

Cedric: Pitt 40 GB 14

& the lone female as well as GB-chooser . . .

Linda: Pitt 17 GB 31, w/ a call for a Roethlisberger injury

note: this may be deleted if we ain't close

so,

be cool

just be

Common, Be

What a super-fantastic amazing album (but note that parental advisory at the bottom left).

My favorite of his, though Electric Circus & Like Water for Chocolate are also very nice.

Allegedly he's now engaged to Serena Williams, too.

Not a bad life.

Key tracks: "The Corner," "Chi-City," & probably my favorite, the album-closer "It's Your World." I love the little kids saying what they want to be.


Juniors:
Some symbols, from literature, fiction, & life,  mentioned Tuesday:
flag
sorcerer's stone
red apple
colors
Grim Reaper
creepers from LofF
maggots & worms (yeah, "ewww")
Greg House's cane
rabid dog (TKaM)
heart
cross
green leaf
pink ribbons ("YGB")
family crest
Superman logo
wedding ring
totems (Inception)
names
blood (Macbeth)
shoes (House on Mango Street)
beard (yeah!!)

Questionnaire, time to work, think, prepare.

Read, write think.

Think.


Sophomores:
Grammar--parts of speech & parts of sentences.

Unit 8 definitions.

No Logo.

(yeah, ironic given the symbol theme here)

be cool