perspective

Jason Becker, Collection

We don't call people "heroes" & such.

We whine a little too much when things don't go our way.

Here's a guy who might make you think, put it all into perspective.

Jason Becker was an up-&-coming guitar god back in the late '80s (& we all thought he'd be the man in the early '90s)--check out his work w/ Cacophony, which also included Marty Friedman.

He got the coveted post-Steve Vai gig w/ David Lee Roth.

While recording the album A Little Ain't Enough, he started feeling strange, stumbling around a little, getting weak feelings in his hands . . . & eventually was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or mayhaps more commonly as "Lou Gehrig's Disease."

He was 20.

He was given 3 years to live.

He lost the ability to speak in the mid-90s, & he was soon completely paralyzed, before age 30 lacking pretty much all movement except for his eyes.

About the disease he says, "It has crippled my body & speech, but not my mind."

Go here for more info on this amazing human being:

http://jasonbeckerguitar.com/

[Also, check out youtube for some pure shred guitar.]

"Hero"? Maybe, maybe not.

"Dude who has done more than I ever will"? Probably.

"Inspiration"? Yeah, that's it.

& as for the music, some key cuts on Collection are "River of Longing," "Opus Pocus," & "Electric Prayer for Peace."

Also, he has another album w/ a great title I wish we all would consider.
'
It's called Perspective.


Juniors:
"Psychological Approach to 'Young Goodman Brown'" quiz today.

Also . . .

Dexter
House
Nina (Black Swan)
Forrest Gump
Sheldon (The Big Bang Theory)
Tyler Durden
Tara (True Blood)
Lisbeth Salander
Amir (The Kite Runner)
Rorschach
Humbert
Boo Radley
Yossarian
Holden Caulfield
Ichiro (No-No Boy)
"one I have yet to come across"

Some of our most interesting characters.

Round, not flat.

Dynamic, not static.


Sophomores:
Unit 7 vocabulary quiz today.

Grammar--parts of speech & parts of sentence--quiz tomorrow.

Unit 8 definitions due Wednesday.

OR 2.2 due Friday.

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circa 1990, that was

King's X, Gretchen Goes to Nebraska

Saw these guys open for Blue Murder & Billy Squier many, many years ago.

Bought this album the next day.

Was not disappointed.

Will begin all "sentences" w/ verbs.

Must like an album titled  Gretchen Goes to Nebraska.

Love these songs:"Over My Head," "Summerland," & "Fall On Me."

Juniors:
Discussed "always" & "never."

Listed other words to avoid, such as many, some, could/would/should, various adverbs . . .

Mentioned time (yep, again), space, music, literature, life, insanity, grammar, CD & CM, & life again.


Sophomores:
Identified all the words in that famous opener from Pride & Prejudice.

(Missed the zombies.)

Collected U7 "completing the sentences"

Reviewed OR 2.0.

Prepared for OR 2.1

Enjoyed.

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stylin'

Echobrain, Echobrain.

The album that got Jason Newsted kicked out of Metallica. Couple of young dudes met him at a Super Bowl party, they got together to record, James from Metallica didn't like it, Newsted left.

Really cool album, & absolutely nothing like Metallica.

Juniors:
Formalism.

(Long story short: concerns about the text, & mayhaps focus on "style")

After "The Death of the Author," we look at that which is left behind.

Mr. King says, "narration," "description," & "dialogue."

& he just may be right . . .

Other cool things: time as illusion & a 4th dimension,

setting in The Hunger Games as well as Lord of the Flies,

character & the revelation thereof,

& a whole lot of other art-&-literature-based inquiry.

Tomorrow: we start the "psychological" approach.


Sophomores:
Grammar for the Do Now, then

Vocabulary return (including the return to the 5 o you who actually did the assignment, which we began in class . . . come, on now, let's do this ).

Back to grammar, specifically parts of the sentence.

Hint: there are but 2.

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Uli Jon & Cee-Lo & Roland Barthes & Judas Coyne

Last Friday, it was this:

You can read it.

& that guitar--the "Sky Guitar," he calls it--is simply awesome.

He played w/ The Scorpions in the '70s & then unleashed his Jimi/neo-classical stylings threafter.

Yep, he did.

Great guitarist.

Key tracks: "War of the Winds," Transfiguration," "The Heart of Chopin," & "Sky Overture."

Today it was this:


You can read that 1, too.

We won't get into the difference between "Forget You" & the other version, except to sat I am interested in the controversy around the Grammy nomination. Last I remember was The Black-Eyed Peas song "Let's Get It Started," which also came to be w/ a different title.

I am no fan of censorship--part & parcel to being an "English teacher"--but I can understand this one completely. Really, really catchy song.

Juniors:
Does the author matter?

Well, it probably all hinges on the way in which you choose to think about that question.

Barthes says "no," but I say "sometimes."

& I think many of you agree w/ me.

& in our discussions, which included Christopher Nolan & Rob Zombie from the movies; Snooki, Hillary Duff, Joe Hill, John Edgar Wideman, Tim O'Brien, & many others from literature (well, at least "fiction"); & even Salvador Dali in at least 1 class, we all saw the differences between our preconceptions of "author" & mayhaps the reality therein.

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster states that

Long story short, Barthes wants us all to think about the work, not just the author.

I love the final line: "the birth of the reader must come at the cost of the death of the author."

See, that empowers you to do what you want to do w/ this reading, this writing, this project.

I know some of you are a tad "scared" now, wanting me to tell you what to do.

Think of this as your 1st college paper: you are choosing the topic; I am giving you the advice & the tools--& the 1 serious prepositional phrase "w/ a literary slant," but you will read, write, think, & learn in about as close to  guided independent study as we can get.

Those of you who have spoken, w/ me--great stuff thus far.

Those of you who haven't--well, you're probably not reading this anyway, but, I implore you to take control of your education (at least as much control as we can offer).

Sophomores:
We discussed the character in the book I just read, Heart-Shaped Box, by Joe Hill, in order to provide an example of character analysis. Many of you chose to do the OR assignment--1/2 of which we did in class last Friday, & the other 1/2 which you could have finished in class today.

Note: his name is "Judas Coyne." Think about it.

Note 2: he re-named himself. Think about it.

Note 3: he re-names his girlfriends by their birth states. Think about that.

What we get: he wants to distance himself from his past (hence the name-change); he wants to shock people (hence the "Judas" & to another extent the "Coyne); he wants to keep distance form his "girlfriends" (hence the lack of using their names).

A pretty good paragraph can be written about this guy just from the info above, & a really good 1 w/ more info added in, oh, let's sya the 50 pages you should be reading each week.

It's time to choose to succeed.

More grammar tomorrow, vocab Thursday, OR Friday, good times all around.

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finally

UFO MIT SAT ACT PST TMZ OMG

UFO, The Best of UFO (1974-1983)



Classic rock, they call it.

Another underrated band, mayhaps lost in the shuffle of Sabbath, Zeppelin, Purple, AC/DC et al.

Key tracks: "Doctor Doctor," "Rock Bottom," & "Lights Out."

Oh, & Eddie Trunk from That Metal Show absolutely loves these guys.

Juniors:
DO NOW:
“What the words will mean to other people will depend on where they are in their lives, and what their interests are, though meaning may also be conveyed directly to their unconscious whether they consciously understand the words or not.”  --John Frusciante



Another quotation from a guitarist, not an "author" or "critic."


Another day of good expression of ideas & opinions, based on my favorite recent concept, interpretation, & the feeling-vs-meaning debate.


Also, the added benefit of a visit from a current MIT student, Zach Ybarra, who gave you some really good scoop on college.


& I'm sure many of you attended AP Night for more info on your future.


Please remember that "table":


(in no particular order)


1. academics--GPA
2. test scores (SAT, ACT, AP)
3. extracurriculars
4. interview/application letters


Sophomores:
You did 1 of these:
A1: describe a time in which you changed your mind about a song/film/TV show/book/whatever
A2: describe a time in which youo & a friend vehemently disagreed about a song/film/TV show/book/whatever
OR
B: explain the idea of liking w/out truly "consciously" understanding.


Then, we went the verb route.


"That's what's happening."


Yes, there is  major difference between the grammatically correct sentences


"I do well."


&


"I do good."


So. let's all do well on the OR tomorrow, & let's do good over the long weekend.


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today . . .

. . . we listened to The Clash.

The Story of the Clash, Vol. 1.

& this has become "greatest-hits week."

There won't be any new Vol. 2 here, as the band broke up many years ago, & singer/guitarist Joe Strummer died in 2002.

The Clash were among the punk pioneers, & their mixture of pop, punk, reggae, & rock stylings w/ politically-charged--& sometimes absurd--lyrics brought us much joy & thought back in the '70s & 80s.

Key tracks: "Rock the Casbah," "Should I Stay or Should I Go," "Train in Vain," "Lost in the Supermarket,"Janie Jones," "London Calling," & many, many more.

Really, just go check 'em out.

Juniors:
THINK NOW:
Shirley Brice Heath, quoted in Franzen's "Perchance to Dream": 
“‘This is precisely what readers are saying: that reading good fiction is like reading a particularly rich section of a religious text. What religion and good fiction have in common is that the answers aren’t there, there isn’t closure. The language of literary works gives forth something different with each reading. . . . But unpredictability doesn’t mean total relativism. Instead it highlights the persistence with which writers keep coming back to fundamental problems. Your family versus your country, your wife versus your girlfriend.’” (49)



We defined "relativism" & discussed situational ethics.

(pause for fist-pump)

Good discussions, covering Toy Story, Spider-Man, TV & film, life in general.

You guys rock.

For tomorrow: pages 32-38 in the Handbook, "Approaches in Practice."

Enjoy.

Sophomores:
Pronouns, adjectives, verbs.

That's what's happening.

NOTE: I forgot to remind you--though it was clearly written on the board & posted on my TeacherWeb site--to bring your unit 7 definitions today, & about 7 of you did the work.

So . . . we reminded ourselves of formats, you started them in class, & I said I would accept them tomorrow for full credit.

Those of you who turned 'em in today get an extra 2 points.

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