another great day in the kingdom

I love arriving home from work & having a package waiting on the doorstep.

Usually they're for the kids, but one of the great joys in my life is watching my kids open presents.

Well, today it was Dad's turn.

Of course, any joy I feel is mitigated by my kids' disappointment when they know it's for me . . . but I let 'em tear it up.

So, today brought:

Paul Gilbert, Fuzz Universe.

You may remember him from my wall (east side of the room, between the big cabinet & the week's-agenda white board).

This guy flat-out gets it.

One of the most gifted guitar players who ever graced this planet, he can do it all.

& it's way too soon, after a few listens, but I will call this, his 3rd instrumental album, the best.

& to get that "free super-saver shipping," one must place an order for over $25, so to fill in that blank I also got this:



These 17 essays come from a DFW conference held last year in England.

ULTRA-NERDY LITERARY SCHOLARSHIP INFATUATION ALERT

Those of you who pay attention know that I have mentioned David Foster Wallace as my absolute favorite author, ever (he unseated the tie of Don DeLillo & Milan Kundera just last year).

I have read it all (except Broom, Lizzy--I'm holding out for a while, cuz after The Pale King next tax day there will be no more DFW).

This is what we literary scholars do--we read & re-read & then read what others have to say about their readings. I, like Rubel, live for this kind of stuff, & we try to impart the love of reading & thinking.

& sometimes, it works.

My latest goal: when I head back to grad school for my PhD, I'm going to study post-modernism & the late-20th-century novel, w/ a focus on David Foster Wallace's writing, fiction & non-fiction. (He would not agree w/ the "post-modern" label, but that's the closest we have now)

Which means a trip to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin to check out his archives.

Yep, I want to read the syllabi & writing assignments from his teaching days, some of which are available to sample online. I also feel the need to see the words he checked off in his dictionary as well as his annotations to books like The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe & The Silence of the Lambs.

In the coming years, I will re-read everything that he has written & all that has been written about him.

Seriously, you should see my bookmarks bar . . .

Please, take this time to consider an author or artist you'd like to study, to become an expert in his or her field. There just may be a bonus-point opportunity in the coming weeks. . .

END ULTRA-NERD PORTION OF OUR PROGRAMMING

. . .& as for class . . .

Today's music:

Pete Droge, Find a  Door

One of the most underrated roots-rocking singer-songwriters ever.

Also, extra-large pic because the cover os way cool.

Another one-hit-kinda wonder, you heard his song "If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself)"; it is cute & all (it's on his 1st record, somewhat-ironically titled Necktie Second).

& you heard it because it is in Dumb & Dumber, which you had to see, right?

This album is much better, & everything he does just simply works.

I implore you, check out some Peter Droge!!!

I even employ the exclamation points!!!

Juniors:
You engaged in a seminar.

Some of the time, thought occurred, followed by the careful articulation.

Some of the time, not so much.

Seminars provide wonderful opportunities to engage in argumentation, the kind on which I have created a 1st career & look toward another.

A seminar on Swift? Man, this could go for weeks.

But we'll do it in 2 days.

So, let's do this.

More tomorrow.

Sophomores:
You got your Antigone books (The Oedipus Cycle, to be precise).

You took the postponed vocab quiz, & I showed you the format for the review.

REMEMBER: definitions & antonyms due WEDNESDAY, & completing sentences & analogies due THURSDAY.

Also, no OR update for 2 weeks.

So, let's get our Greek mythology on!!!

be cool!!!

oops . . .

Pretend this is last Thursday:


















Jamiroquai, Travelling Without Moving

One-hit wonders, w/ "Virtual Insanity," which had one of those iconic videos like A-Ha's "Take on Me" or Dire Straits's "Money for Nothing."

Yeah, I'm old, but look at youtube & you'll see.

Anyway, this one had Jay Kay in  "room" in which all the furniture was moving around him, & you have to see it so I'll stop there.

My favorite song here is "Cosmic Girl," & the whole album is dance-y funky acid-y jazzy British fun.

& yep, dude wore a hat like you see silhouetted on the cover above.

Juniors:
Swift simply ruled & continues to do so.

You turned in your seminar prep, had it returned, & signed up for seminar or writing.

A handful of you chose to opt out of the seminar, & you will write one of those 3 prompts Monday, then observe Tuesday.

All of you will re-submit your prep for points next Wednesday, during the "wrap."

Sophomores:
Antigone, she is coming.

You got all the soap-opera details of the Oedipus story.

Vocab quiz postponed until Monday, when we will also get the Oedipus Cycle books. So, make sure to have the ID--the one you are supposed to carry whenever you are on campus--with you.

be cool

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 . . .