ketchup 3(0)

(cuz it's the 30th post, that's why)


Loretta Lynne, Van Lear Rose

Many, many years ago, within about 2 weeks, a phenomenal teacher/friend named "Mrs. Bonilla" as well as an amazing former student/friend named at the time "Kelly Cooke" (now known as "Mrs. Keepers") each told me that I simply had to listen to this cool band called "The White Stripes."

Wow, were they right.

I am not the biggest fan, but I must admit that Jack White is one of the most important musicians of my lifetime.

The White Stripes.

The Raconteurs (unless you're in Australia, where the band is known as "The Sabateurs").

The Dead Weather (well, we can't be perfect).

It Might Get Loud

(Please. if you love guitars, go watch this.

Now.

Netflix.

Watch Instantly

W/ The Edge & Jimmy Page.)

Oh, & he produced & performed on the album highlighted above.

I must say I never really thought I might recommend a Loretta Lynne album, but here I do so.


Juniors:

You saw your "grades," & it was good (for most of you).

The Do Now included the ever-so-poignant Swift saying, "When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign, that all the dunces are in confederacy against him."

After we defined "dunce" & "confederacy," we got some really, really cool responses.

Seriously, he may cause a few problems in the "language-differential" department, but, eventually, if you arean "honors" student, you will be glad that you read Swift.

Yep, a genius.

(note: IQ stuff is fun & flawed, & we can get into that in PMs or in class.)

Sophomores:

If you don't at least appreciate "The Bet," you are in the wrong class.

I mean, this one gets to the heart of us as humans.

Chekhov looks within us & sees that which too many of us refuse to admit.

(By the way, you may go back to Swift's "glass" & get some more ideas there.)

You all are good folks, & I hope that you may continue to . . .

. . . be cool

FINAL, POST-"BE COOL" NOTE: Go watch the Twilight Zone episode based on "The Bet," & enjoy that one, too.

ketchup 2sday, after a night & day of stomach-upset

Lili Haydn, Place Between Places.

This lady is amazing.

Look her up or something, to get the full scoop, but let me say that I recommend no other violinist more highly.

Honestly, I like her instrumentals more than the vocal tracks, but she is, in a word (hyphenated), "multi-talented."

Her version of "Maggot Brain" on this album rivals the original, & I had never thought I'd hear or say that.

I noticed a strange thing the other day, too, as my CD of the day sat near the book I'm gonna read next:


I mean, they ain't twins, but there is a certain resemblance that one cannot deny.

Oh, & I highly recommend Mary Karr's "trilogy" of memoirs, The Liar's Club, Cherry, & Lit. It's rough stuff--as memoirs often are--but we get that human victory in the end. We're in this together, & we can win this big ol'
 game, no matter what they throw at us.

Juniors:

Swift: "Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." 


Wow, this one worked.

I thank you for your responses, & I hope you see the way in which Swift managed to get into our "nature" as "humans."


Sophomores:

"The Leap," by Louise Erdrich

A big jump, in more ways than one.

Figurative & literal.

13 questions.

Words:

"I owe my existence, the second time then, to the two of them and the hospital that brought them together. That is the debt we take for granted since none of us asks for life. It is only once we have it that we hang on so dearly."

Please hang on.

&

"As you fall there is time to think."

Think, please.

& be cool

ketchup 1: birth of the cool

I prefer mustard, & I love that on Hot Dog Paradise I have seen restaurants that absolutely refuse to put ketchup (or even "catsup") on a hot dog.

Cleveland's Stadium Mustard (kinda like a spicy brown) & raw onions win, here.

Burgers: well, yeah, ketchup & mayo, maybe bacon, a chile, some guac or bbq or steak sauce or hot sauce, depending on mood.

Anyway the"ketchup" in our title here is a phonetic spelling of "catch up," or get back in the proverbial groove after a week off at midterms.

Oh, & Miles Davis has an album ("collection of songs not stolen") called Birth of the Cool, by the way.

So, let's get at it . . .


You can read the artist & title.

I played the trumpet for about 3 minutes in 6th grade, when we chose instruments. I wanted to play drums, which seemed the only "cool" instrument available--because "loud, obnoxious shred electric guitar" was not available--but 4 of my best friends went that way, so I had to do something else. & the saxophone had way too many buttons . . .

I couldn't play the theme to Rocky in those 3 minutes, & the experiment ended.

But years later I got into Miles Davis because he was cool.

He embodied cool.

& the trumpet can add texture to any rock or funk song, & rock & funk rule my world.

If you ain't got Kind of Blue--or better yet, this one, which covers much of his amazing versatility:


. . .go get it now.

(buy, don't steal, please)

ON TO THE ENGLISH STUFF:


Juniors, last Friday:
FORWARD!!!

You checked your CST scores, & many of you stayed "advanced," but slightly less advanced.

Aodhan, Linda & I talked about the fact that he scored "perfect" in language arts his 1st year & "perfect" in math his 2nd, but not "perfect" in both.

What does that mean?

It means he's still "advanced" & has something for which to shoot.

As do you.

Gulliver's Travels rocks, by the way, & you looked at those little fellers.


Sophomores, last Friday:

FORWARD!!!!!

You worked on reading, & you did well.

Seriously, let's look at these tests as a kind of competition, not necessarily w/ Los Osos or Rancho or Etiwanda, but as us against the test.

It's like golf: you play no one but the course.

Let's beat it (cue the Michael Jackson).

(Wow, Mile Davis & Michael Jackson in one post . . . how to top that?)

be "cool," like Miles

yep, it's 140

got much catchin' up to do, & will do it this weekend

(file under : "life gets in the way")


recent music:
9.10 Miles Davis, Kind of Blue
9.14 Lili Haydn, Place Between Places
9.15 Loretta Lynne, Van Lear Rose

because I love these artists so much, I will give you more scoop & the album cover soon

(also, today I will not use standard capitals or punctuation)

Juniors:

here are 2 examples to explain the title of today's post:

http://wilderdom.com/intelligence/IQWhatScoresMean.html

http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/IQBasics.aspx

IQ, a flawed mechanism but interesting concept

Swift, a creative genius

we'll talk more about this in the future

be done through chapter 4 of part 2 for tomorrow


Sophomores:

who won that bet?

tune in tomorrow

& bring your synonyms

"eclectic" is the word

Funkadelic, One Nation Under a Groove.

I cannot say enough good things about Funkadelic.

So I won't really try.

But how about this song title: "Who Says a Funk Band Can't Play Rock?"

I love this one for so many reasons, but the major one has to do w/ the idea of overcoming boundaries &, especially societally-imposed labels.

Dude said something about my music being "random," & I responded w/ the title of this post.

Eclecticism makes this world go 'round.

Funkadelic embodied this concept.

I remember years ago at a guitar clinic, Gilby Clarke (then of Guns n Roses) stressing to all of us that we need to listen to all kinds of music, rockfunkjazzclassicalrapmetalbluescountrygrungehardcoreshowtunes & the rest.

So the 1st fellow who had a chance to ask a question began w/ "I just wanna say Guns n Roses rule all & I don't listen to nothin' else."

(here should be the "facepalm," preferably Picard, right?)

oh, what the heck:



You all have abilities & ideas that can make this world a better place. & so do a lot of other folks.

& we owe it to each other to . . . well . . . LISTEN.

Who says a funk band can't play rock?

Who says a "D-student" can't get an A when she puts in the effort?

Who says a kid in "honors" can't get way, way past the "nerd" label & still read, write, speak, listen & be really, really cool?

Who says we can't make things just a little better by caring, working, &, as Bill & Ted said, "being excellent to each other"?

Sadly, a whole lot of people do.

So, let's not be those people.

Juniors:

Seriously, Jonathan Swift was a man of ideas. As mentioned, a lot of folks didn't "get" him, didn't "like" his writings, & were probably a little scared about how well he knew them.

You took a cool McB-style quiz, in which there were no pointless facts but a whole lot of "what do you remember?" I mean, you got credit for asking a question.

We talked about kites, chickens, people, expectations, & all kinds of fun stuff.

You now know that Gulliver ate as much per day as 1724 (or 1728) Lilliputians, or that he left May 4, 1699, or that his "enemy" was Skyresh Bolgolam.

I had a reading schedule on the board, & this is what you need to know: you'll be done w/ Part I by Monday. If you read some today, fantastic . . . & if you didn't, you'll have 5 chapters for the weekend.

Sophomores:

Really, the dude just wanted to take a walk . . . I mean, come ON.

Vocabulary quiz, unit 1: every single answer had been covered in class, & even had you not completed the exercises a few minutes of listening gave you a study guide.

Oh, & you had your vision & hearing checked.

OR 1.3 now not due until MONDAY.

But, most important, tomorrow is Friday.

&, dare I say,


FORWARD!!!

be cool

"finally, a song I know"

I heard something like that each period of the day.

Song of the day: "When You Were Young."

The Killers, Sam's Town.

Big uproar when this one came out, because (gasp!) . . .the guys looked different. They went from Duran Duran to Bruce Springsteen. Didn't sound a lot different, but gave up the skinny ties for facial hair.

Good band, & singer Brandon Flowers has a solo album coming out next week.


Juniors:
Jonathan Swift had a fantastic mind, & he has made a ton of folks laugh out loud in the past 300 years. & yes, he has also angered lots of people. Today you got a taste of his "Thought on Various Subjects," & we had a pretty good little discussion on nice men, vision, religion, love & hate.

You also got started on the reading, & for tomorrow you will have read the 2 letters & chapters 1, 2,  & 3 from Book I.

HINT: the Lilliputians are really small.


Sophomores:
"The Pedestrian."

Dude just wanted to take a walk . . .

We went over the "completing the sentence" exercise, & you know that tomorrow's vocabulary quiz will have definitions, synonyms, & completions.

Many of you have been choosing not to do the homework, & that will negatively affect your grade, as you don't get those points . . .& it's hard to know the words if you, like, don't know hte words.

So, let's do this!!

(Double-exclamation point!!)

Also, vision & hearing screening tomorrow.

OR Update 1.3 due Friday..

"Forward," I say.

FORWARD!!!


(& large-style "be cool")

BOI-SE STA-ATE (clap clap clapclapclap)

Sufjan Stevens, Come on Feel the Illinoise.

He was going to do an album for each state, but that has yet to happen. Great album title, anyway.

Very nice folksy, mellow-ish stuff. Check it out.

Juniors: You learned a little about satire, which mostly seems to come in the animated world these days. Yes, that is a gross exaggeration, but The Boondocks,  South Park, Family Guy, The Simspons, maybe even Metalocalypse come to mind before anything else.

With permission, check out also The Onion online, the fakest news money does not buy.

This all leads into Jonathan Swift, the master satirist, whose Gulliver's Travels we begin in earnest tomorrow. Have your book & I guarantee you some reading time.

Speaking of "reading," as for the "outside reading" requirement . . . the advent of "Forward Fridays" has caused me to re-think Literature Circles & the assignments for the class.

Choose one of the books your classmates have presented, & get started reading. You must read 500 pages per quarter, which I know some of you do weekly.

Some assessment is to come, but it will be a few weeks away.

Just make sure you are reading.


Sophomores: you got your class-ring info, & don't forget --IF YOU ARE ALLOWED--to text that message & get in the raffle for the free ring.

We almost wrapped "A Very Old Man . . ." & you got back your "marginal notes" from that story, the OR 1.2, & unit 1 synonyms. I gave you a break, & if you turned in the "Completing sentences" today you could have earned 2 bonus points .  . . tomorrow, they will be collected for full credit.

 Unit 1 vocabulary quiz Thursday: definitions, synonyms, & "completions." The words will be on the quiz, & it's a veritable matching assignment.

Oh, & I have been a documented Boise St. fan for more than 10 years, for those of you who see the title & think "front-runner."

The list of "McB's  favorite college FBS teams":

1. Florida St.
2. Pitt
3. Boise St.
4. Oregon
5. LSU
6. Michigan St.
7. Georgia

be cool