5 alarms (well, honestly, maybe 4, 4 & 1/2)

Wyclef Jean, The Carnival

(He's Haitian, so it's pronounced like "zhaan," by the way, not "gene")

"You're listening to rap?!?!"

"That's not Wyclef!!"

Just some sounds at the beginnings of various periods.

Yep, the old man listens to some rap/hip hop.

More to come, too.

Later I will tell you that my favorite Fugee solo album is The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, but at times it has also been this one & Pras's Ghetto Supastar.

They are all really, really good.

Oh, & for a few of you who mentioned you have The Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant, note that this is where it started.

& yep, the old man has in his collection NWA, Public Enemy, Kanye, Common, & a few other surprises.

By the way, the title came from my dinner. My wife made some fantastic chili, but I need the heat, so I added some of this:





6000,000 Scovilles.

Yep, it comes w/ the bullet keychain & all.

Any extreme heat fans out there, let's chat.

Also, if Nick Plunkett is in the house, note that I forgot, so the ghost chili goes in tomorrow.


Juniors:
Some of you all tried the truth, the whole truth, & nothing but the truth.

& it got really interesting.

Also, you had the pages from Michael Foot's intro for the context of the quotations you were given Monday, & it was good.

(Except for the crazy messups of the copies.)

Seminar prep due tomorrow.

Seminar Monday & Tuesday.

Be honest!!!


Sophomores:
Antigone, we shall read.

Yes, it is the 3rd part of a trilogy, but you'll get all the soap-opera details of the 1st 2 parts.

Today you turned in your unit 3 "completing sentences," & you got started on your drama notes.

Tomorrow was going to be the quiz, but you're getting a long-weekend break, & you'll take it Monday.

Be cool!!!

it's radical (drink it!!)

Tomahawk, Tomahawk

Mike Patton.

Enough said.

If you have never listened to Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, Peeping Tom, or Fantomas, please go & do so now. Mike Patton is an absolute vocal genius.

This album, the 1st by the band, is one of his most straight-up rock records, which means it's only pretty bizarre instead of absolutely insane.

Band also includes Duane Denison from The Jesus Lizard (who recently reunited, huzzah!!) & a couple of other dudes.

Saw them live on that tiny stage at Amoeba, & they absolutely kicked.

Great, scary, absurd rock n roll.

Check it out.

Juniors:
Radical honesty can't work, right?

But how about being just a little (a lot) more honest?

How about all the good that could come from showing integrity, compassion, & care in a trustworthy manner?

Nah, that's crazy talk.

The Houyhnhnms aren't naive; they live in a world in which "lying" is simply non-existent. They do not maintain a utopia, but they have some really good ideas. They aren't held up as the example, but they can teach us just a little.

HOMEWORK: be more honest. As honest as you can be. You won't be perfect, but give 100% of what you have on any given day, in any given situation.

DO NOT feel the need to speak everything that's on your mind, but answer questions honestly, show your sense of dignity by respecting other w/ the truth.

The most difficult part, some people find?

Being truly honest w/ themselves.

Sophomores:
You submitted your "Bet" paper, & they look pretty good.

Remember: you earned 70 points by just doing the preliminaries, & you will have at worst a C- if you followed all the directions.

Now that heavy lifting has ended, we're back to vocab before we head to drama w/ Antigone.

HOMEWORK: unit 3 completing sentences . . . & Thursday: unit 3 quiz.

Have your ID--the one you are obligated to have w/ you EVERY day you are on campus, so we can go get some books from the library.

Oh, & be cool.











(title from the SpongeBob episode, "Sunbleached")

if I believed in "time" I'd argue it could not be "wasted," but it's still a great song

"I like rock," to quote Paul Gilbert.

I love rock, to take it another step.

I was born a rocker, have made it way past the expiration-date of rocking whilst still rocking, & I assume my last years will be ensconced in the rock.

I am raising my kids to rock.

They love Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Slayer, Megadeth, Avenged Sevenfold, Trivium, Anthrax, Kiss, Judas Priest, Pantera, & 50 other bands I'm not gonna list here.

At the house, we rock.

My wife, as you know, rocks.

& today's music was . . .



country?!?!?!

I got a Guitar Player a few years ago, & Brad Paisley was on the cover.

I was not amused.

Later, I decided to give the article a try, & the word "shred" appeared.

The editors defended their choice, I took their argument & trusted their opinion, & I bought the album shown above.

I absolutely love it, especially for 5 reasons.

1. Look at the neck of his guitar--bendy-clock, Dali-style. big, BIG points there.
(1a. the guitar--like all of his--is a "paisley" Telecaster--how cool that he incorporated his name as such)
2. dude flat-out shreds in places, but it's always tasteful
3. lyrics: ya should laugh, ya might cry, but it ain't the usual
4. he named his kid "Huck"
5. the title track--if you never heard it, go check it out. I'll wait. I don't believe in "life-changing" songs or anything like that. but this is one of those songs that hits me in the soul

BONUS "LOVE-IT" ITEM RELATED TO ANOTHER ALBUM
6. as a dad, I can't get enough of the song "Anything Like Me," from the album American Saturday Night . . . it's almost up there with the moment in The Pursuit of Happpyness when Will Smith's (man-crush #1) character tells his son, "Don't ever let someone tell you, you can't do something. Not even me." Is it getting dusty in here? I think I got something in my eye . . .

So, I own everything Brad Paisley has recorded, & I don't think I have one more album in my 1500+ that would qualify as country. (only ones really close: Eagles, Izzy Stradlin, maybe some Black Crowes & Stones . . . oh, & that one Dixie Chicks album, just because it made everybody soooo mad)

Brad Paisley rocks!!!


Juniors:
We have completed the novel, & we have seen Lemuel Gulliver's descent into misanthropy.

Dude be talking to horses for 4 hours a day.

Finally let his wife back at the dinner table . . . 5 years later.

This is some seriously funny stuff.

You got a start on your seminar prep, due Thursday.

You got the official 10-days notice that we will next read The Waste Land, by T.S. Eliot, & you will need to procure a copy, by next Wednesday


Sophomores:
MLA.

More MLA.

Most MLA.

Ever.

OWL.

Paper due tomorrow, & remember to get those "easy" 70 points by bringing the preliminaries.

Wednesday: unit 3 completing sentences.

Thursday: unit 3 QUIZ!!!

Friday--tell ya what . . . take the day off.

But . . . you must promise to

be cool

"party in the house" or, "the art of optimism"

Anyway,


Now that is what all the bands I grew up with kinda looked like.

(Well, except Kiss.)

I wish hats were societally acceptable again.

Anyway, the J. Geils Band, Anthology: Houseparty

Picked this one up at Amoeba last spring, & it went over really, really well with the boys.

We spent much of the summer (well, at least before we bought the Iron Man 2 soundtrack, & AC/DC took over) partying in the house with the J. Geils Band, just about the world's greatest white-boy blues-funk band.

You have heard "Love Stinks" on that commercial, & you may have come across "Musta Got Lost," "Freeze-Frame," or "Centerfold" in your travels.

I got into them late, when "Centerfold" hit in the early '80s. But their best stuff comes from the '70s & is found on the live albums, so check out Full House, Blow Your Face Out, & Showtime!

I had to dig through boxes of stuff to find my harmonica so Cedric & Finbar could play along w/ "Whammer Jammer," perhaps the greatest of all harmonica-centered instrumentals.

SIDE NOTE:
Harmonicas RULE--you can't get "out of tune" . . . excellent instrument for kids.

Juniors:
FORWARD!!!

Seriously, "The Art of Optimism" simply rules, right?

Mixing the grammatical with a life lesson?

Excellent.

Best.

Forward Friday.

Ever.

Sophomores:
FORWARD!!!

Student-written drafts, we checked.

Multiple-choice questions, we answered.

Like Yoda, he wrote.

cool, be

one darn good cure for my pain

Morphine, Cure for Pain

A few tidbits: the band had no guitarist, but I loved them. (A 3-piece, they had bass, sax, & drums.)

The singer, Mark Sandman (yep, "Sandman") "sang" Beat-inspired lyrics over a "low rock" sound.

Sandman died on stage. Tragic/comic, & pretty cool, of all possible ways to go.

NOTE: WARM, SNUGGLY "I-LOVE-MY-WIFE" SENTIMENTALITY ALERT
I chose this music because Thursday was my wife's birthday. As she would say, she's as close to 50 now as she is to 20. Anyway, she introduced me to Morphine (the band!!) many years ago, when we used to hang out in my apartment just listening to really cool music & getting to know each other.

We got together just a few weeks after her 20th birthday, a fact I neglected to note all those years ago, because at age 25 had I been dating a teenager I'd have been contractually obligated to mock myself mercilessly.

We connected, got engaged within a month, & tied that proverbial knot 11 April 1997.

"They" say behind every good man is a good woman, but we stay up here together, neither behind or in front of the other.

I like to say that 1 + 1 = 1, as we came together to create a cool new thing.

& now, many years later, we got 1 + 1 + 3 = 1, & I gotta thank god or the universe for this amazing family we have created out here, about 2500 miles from the small town in which we both grew up.

Linda reads this every once in a while, & a few weeks ago I mentioned Talbot & my kids & maybe some other folks, & she wondered where her mention was.

Well, here it is.

I refuse to go the "luckiest-man-in-the-world" cliched route here, but I will say that I must have done something right to have earned the right to have such an amazing woman choose to marry me, travel across the country with me, & raise these kids with me.

She's great at being a wife, a mother, & a friend.

She is not a "teacher" by trade, but everyone she meets learns from her & becomes a better person for having met her.

She stayed home for several years to provide our kids a foundation, went to school at night for 2 years to become a nurse (valedictorian, class president, award-winner, speech-maker).

She got a job last year, & every kid she has to give a shot is lucky to have such a caring, compassionate lady to hold his or her hand.

She has a new job coming up this month (more money!! yay!! we can eat out again soon!!), & she'll be working with more kids, & she'll make them all feel a little better about their lot.

Quite simply, if you ever get the chance to meet her, you should take the opportunity & cherish it.

I know I do.

Juniors:
The do-now had to do with 1st impressions of Houyhnhnms.

(Yep, it took me about 8 years of teaching this novel to master the spelling of that one. Always thought there was another "y" in there somewhere.)

Several of you loved 'em, & several hated 'em. By the time this is posted, you will have come to see Gullibver's views to fruition.

Part 4, chapter 4 in class.

Just to mix it up, I gave you a printout of the chapter, you read & annotated, & then you summarized in fewer than 100 words & analyzed one point/idea/character/image for more than 100 words.


Sophomores:
More stuff about that essay.

Yep, it will be done soon.

You have many, many handouts & links to get all the details of literary analysis, & I have all-but-guaranteed you a "C" at worst if you follow all directions.

Remember: make it look like an A, & then we'll see about it.

be cool . . .

he has 2 1st names, or, mayhaps, 2 surnames . . .

Stanley Jordan, Flying Home

This probably ain't in the top 10 of '80s instrumental guitar albums (you'll get those 10 later, I would think), but it's pretty good.

Worth it for the cover of "Stairway to Heaven"--which, let us all admit, takes a lot of guts--most of the album sounds like a soundtrack to a John Hughes movie.

Some great guitar, a lot of drum machine, & too much synth.

Dude is a crazy-great two-hand tapper, & he shows some of that here . . . but not enough.

So, take that for what it's worth.

Juniors:

Part 3 resonated w/ many of you, & that makes me happy.

It's challenging, it's eclectic (not "random," but, OK), it's durn funny, it's the best of the 4 to these eyes.

You had a chance to begin Part 4, "A Voyage to the Land of the Houfufhfhudbdfhhfnfnnfnms."

Or something like that . . .

(cue the '50s matinee machine)

TALKING HORSES!!

LOGIC v EMOTION!!!

ID v SUPEREGO!!!

STAY TUNED!!!


Sophomores:

We went over the "The Bet" theme essay again, & almost 1/2 of you completed the assignment that had been explained via teacher, TV-through-AVER key, & handout.

You were shown all the remaining details of the assignment, including due dates & point totals.

REMEMBER: you get many points for the preparation, & the remaining points for the final product.

If you pay attention to the directions, do all that is assigned, & proofread, you cannot earn less than a C.

So . . . let's do this!!!

You had your definitions returned, & you will submit synonyms tomorrow.

THURSDAY: unit 3 synonyms
FRIDAY: FORWARD!!!!
next MONDAY: OR 1.6
next TUESDAY: FINAL ESSAY, w/ all preliminaries
next WEDNESDAY: unit 3 completing sentences
next THURSDAY: unit 3 QUIZ!!!

be cool . . .

just cuz you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't out to get you

Rob Lamothe, Above the Wing Is Heaven

This dude was in a one-near-hit-wonder band called Riverdogs many, many years ago. (Check out "Toy Soldier," which was that near-hit, but there are some really good songs on their self-titled album, including "Baby Blue" & "Big House.")

I bought their album because Viv Campbell was on guitar. (For those who care, he had been Dio's wunderkind prior, & later he joined & remains with Def Leppard. He has not played on any good Leppard records--just the we-need-more-12-year-old-girls-to-listen albums, but he has monster chops & is a darn good vocalist, too.)

Anyway, I checked out some youtube clips of Lamothe's solo stuff--mainly melodic mellow acoustic pop--& saw that this album had a cover of paranoid.

So I bought it (yep--bought it) that day.

& yes, that was a slow acoustic take on the Sabbath classic "Paranoid."

Highly recommended.

Juniors:
Swift & more Swift.

Today you re-opened the books & chose a passage that struck you in some way.

Really good stuff, as usual: the kings of Brobdingnag & Luggnagg, history &  politics all around, a tad of scatological humor, & jsut some darn good writing.

Bring in your "A Voyage to Laputa, etc." notes tomorrow, & read up through Part 4, chapter 3 by Thursday.


Sophomores:
A whole lot of notes on the TV.

Formal writing

(NO 1st or 2nd, NO contractions, YES to literary present & MLA formats)

The OWL, at Purdue

Incorporating quotations

Weaving said quotations

Argument

A "debatable" thesis

Collected the unit 3 definitions, & tomorrow you will submit your 1st drafts of writings about "The Bet."

I'm expecting good stuff, so let's do this.

be cool . . .