The Wal-Mart Effect

I just watched this video discussing the book The Wal-Mart Effect, and found it interesting that the disparaging comments ultimately did not revolve around how greedy the corporation is, or how unethical their labor laws are. The focus was actually on the unequivocal power over the free market that Wal-Mart exerts.

A friend of mine who is often concerned about the government's intervention with the economy recently quoted George Orwell to me, saying, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." The thing is, it appears that power can be exerted from anywhere, from outside the free market, and from the inside. Personally, I'd find it more satisfying to point fingers at that sinister yellow smiley face than anyone else. But, I'm still too sane to start doing that.

Rush and Philosophy

I'm certainly glad that I keep up with the Rush is a Band blog, because as it turns out, there is now a Rush and Philosophy book in the works for the Pop Culture and Philosophy book series! If you remember, I was pretty dang excited about this series just a few entries back. When I came across the Beatles and Pink Floyd editions, I couldn't help doing a Google search for a Rush one as well. Of course, I wasn't surprised to find that such a book didn't exist, but that doesn't mean I wasn't certain that it would make a great edition. Apparently, others at "the top" agree with me.

Ol' Rush may not be The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's cup of tea, but they are certainly getting a lot of attention lately. And what with a few of their songs getting into the Rock Band video games and all, perhaps the coming generations of video game junkies will get into it and download some Rush albums. Of course, I also fully acknowledge the supreme power of the "Colbert Bump." Old news, of course, but the fact that Rush hadn't been on tv for 30 years, and then suddenly made an appearance on The Colbert Report of all things, last year, REALLY excited me. I even want to see I Love You Man, even though it looks pretty stupid, because I know that there is a Rush concert in the movie.

Well, not much else to this entry other than the fact that I was excited about that book coming out. I guess before I leave you, I'll let you in on an interesting facet of Geddy Lee's personality. Now, I don't know whether or not Geddy has an obsession with a sense of equality, or symmetry, but he always seems to want something on his side of the stage to counterbalance Alex's amps. In this instance, industrial dryers:

While we welcome eccentricities in the World of Rock, our curiousity certainly heightens when we notice that for the subsequent tour Alex has gotten a larger set of amps, and Geddy has gotten an equally larger-sized set of...chicken rotisseries?!:

Okay, so Geddy is officially a little nuts. But I love him for it!

Philosophies of Teaching, Puzzle-piecing, Pop Culture, and Book-reading

The other day I was out at Mt. Logan Middle School, sitting in the back observing class, taking notes, wondering if I would be mistaken for some sort of Billy Madison. Afterwards, I stayed to help prep students for the Science Bowl, and before we got started one of them asks, “So, you’re not a student, are you?”

“Actually, I AM,” I answered with wide eyes and a smile. Then, a deadly silence…”…at the university,” I clarified, and further explained.

I’m doing my clinicals at the middle school this semester so I can get an idea of the age group I want to teach. Believe it or not, I actually preferred my middle school years over my high school years. It was a very impressionable age for me, and somehow I happened to have a lot more confidence as a pre/young teen than at any other time in my life.

I feel like perhaps it is at this age that I can best accomplish some of my primary goals as a teacher: Help the students develop more enthusiasm for science than they had coming into the class, and cultivate an interest for science outside of the classroom. These objectives are actually fairly impractical to measure. My methods teacher last semester called me a hippie for my subjective values as a science teacher. Well, sure I want the kids to understand cell and organ function, chemical reactions, and evolution. But I would rather convince them of the importance of curiosity, observation, investigation, and imagination through science so that they can apply it to their own personal interests and pursuits.

I hope that a good way to facilitate this is by incorporating a few generally untraditional ways of exploring science. I first plan to incorporate more writing about topics in science than any of my teachers ever did. I also want to examine the history of scientific thought as well as the societal influence/inference of science, including ethics. Another helpful idea mentioned in one of my classes was letting the students read a variety of trade books for your content area. I love this idea. I never got to read a fictional novel for any of my science classes. Even a non-fiction book would have been fun, if it was something other than the text book. Actually, my professor liked this idea so much that he is letting us find and review some trade books that we would use in our classrooms instead of taking our final. I’m glad, as I was going to do this eventually anyway.

So, after I finished up at the middle school, I went over to Borders to browse what they had in the way of science books, and to browse in general. I actually came across the strangest jigsaw puzzle I’ve ever seen. It was of The Beatles' White Album!

I know some of those puzzle-lovers want a challenge, but, seriously, how is it fulfilling to put together a picture of a white void? How do you even put into words the progress of your puzzle assemblage?

“Well, I finished another white section. Gee, that took me a lot longer than the last one.”

What a boring way to spend your time!

Anyway, I actually found a copy of The War of the Worlds for $3.99 that came with a cd where you can listen to the radio broadcast adaption with Orson Welles. It also has the text to the radio broadcast, and a bunch of reactions from people that really thought that the world was coming to an end. Haha, classic! Plus, the foreword is written by Ray Bradbury, so, all around, this was a great find. I’ve actually been wanting to get into old science fiction (H.G. Wells, Joules Verne, etc.). Though, I'd really actually peg this early stuff as fantasy.

It’s really just entertaining to look back on the time that space travel was fantastic, when the aim in the writing surrounding it was to tell an imaginative story of adventure with the absurd charm of a dream or unease of a nightmare, rather than to predict what may actually happen in the future. Although, when such predictions explore the extreme and ethical ramifications that lie in wait of our potential abuse of science and technology, it is a great deal more interesting.

Besides the science trade books, I also stumbled upon this marvelous (I feel silly for using that word, but it IS) book series that I am really excited to get into. It’s called Philosophy and Pop Culture. Now, I’m sure that there’s a book for everyone in this series from Philosophy and The Legend of Zelda to Philosophy and Metallica. In fact, it actually happened that about 80% of the ones they had in stock involved my absolute favorite tv shows. There was an edition of Lost, The Office, House, The Simpsons AND Seinfeld. There was also a Batman one.

I was totally filled with glee! I mean, this is basically my favorite intellectual passion combined with my favorite television entertainment. They are actually $20 each, but just too perfect for my personality to pass up. If you want to know what to get me for a gift, there you have it. Except, I bought the Lost one already, so, not that one. I looked them up on the net, and there is also a Beatles and Pink Floyd edition, which sound particularly awesome.

Hmm, I don’t know why I buy so many books sometimes. I’ve only read about half of what I own, if entirely all the way through at that. It’s weird, I like books, but I don’t especially enjoy reading. For long. I’m actually a relatively slow reader, perhaps because, for one thing, I say each word in my head. I honestly thought everyone did that! In fact, I was pretty surprised when I asked people out of curiosity if they said the words in their heads or just processed the words, and they said the latter. Huh. I don’t think I can do that very well, if at all, really. But I can’t do Magic Eye, the Spock hand gesture, or even sprawl the toes of my left foot either, so, there are a lot of seemingly simple skills that I lack. Bogus.

The real problem with my inner narrator, however, is that she is picky about what books to read. For instance, I remember that in high school I only got one or two pages through Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and I couldn’t take it anymore. My sentences had become a grammatical train wreck, and it was so annoying that I literally chucked the book across the room. Yes, my rashness did result in some spinal injury. But whether that regards myself or the book in question, you are free to interpret as you will. I think that the beginning of The Sound and the Fury may have been a similar experience, but that version of my inner narrator sounded more confused than overly-animated, so it wasn’t quite as bad.

George Costanza’s character on Seinfeld actually reads the same way, but doesn’t like to read often because he hates the nasally sound of his voice. So, when he had to read a business management book for work, he pretended to have vision problems so he could get book on tape. The funny thing was that the person narrating on the tape ended up sounding exactly like him. But he had the right idea. Sometimes if I can’t take what the reading does to my inner voice, perhaps the best solution is to find a different voice.

You know how you can custom order just about anything? What if you could pick a book and a celebrity, and get a custom made audio book? Wow, that would be expensive! If I were rich, though, I may use this service to actually irritate the celebrities I don’t like. Okay Chris Rock, you get to read Sense and Sensibility, and Rodney Dangerfield, how bout you read The Epic of Gilgamesh? And Matthew McConaughey, why, you get to read Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary. Doubly, if you wanted to irritate anyone else, what could be better than popping in any one these horrific audio books?!

Seriously, though, this would be pretty cool if it were practical. Luckily, sometimes you just run into really serendipitous combinations of book and narrator. I got a free download of The Odyssey with Ian Mckellen! And I saw an audio narration of The Bible by James Earl Jones once. Just imagine Darth Vader reading the Old Testament! Oooh ho ho :0 But then you can switch over to Mufasa reading the New, if you like. Or if you like irony, imagine Darth Vader the entire time. Then again, the image of Vader doesn’t exactly invite the Spirit, so maybe you ought to hold off on that purchase altogether.

Speaking of audio books, if you are interested, there are a bunch of free ones available for download here. Maybe there’s something for you. I’m planning on giving Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a second chance sometime, now that I can get through it without allowing myself to take on a Southern drawl. Ugh. That was incredibly annoying.

Black Magic Woman

Today I bought a children’s book that begins, “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.” I don’t know about you, but this sounds like just the sort of book I’d love to read my children at bedtime. Then I could kiss them goodnight, gingerly close the door with a little “good night, sleep tight”-sort-of- smile, and then suddenly burst in a minute later brandishing a butcher knife. No, it’s not what you think! I’d also have a pan of midnight brownies…fresh out of the oven…in need of slicing. So what if the kids already brushed their teeth. These are my imaginary children, not yours. Yes, I know there are some of you out there who are deathly afraid of those insidious demons that incessantly gnaw away at your tooth enamel by night, and sleep comfortably in the cavernous decay of dental caries by day. You are even more afraid of them than the knife wielding maniacs out there. To that I say, “For shame! Chocolate tastes so much better after bedtime. "

Anyway, the book is called The Graveyard Book. I happened to catch the author on a recent episode of The Colbert Report, and was a bit intrigued by him. Firstly, he has an English accent. I’m telling you, the dullest chap in England automatically sounds more interesting and intelligent than your average American guy, just because of the accent. Since I consider myself such an auditory person, a compelling voice is a plus. The second thing I liked about this guy is that he was able to keep his wits about him in the midst of a Colbert interview. Stephen Colbert always takes witty jabs at his guests, and most of them don’t seem able to fully counter his attacks with their own confident and clever quips. This guy did pretty well. He also hates Tom Bombadil. But don’t we all! In case you don’t know who that is, he’s a pointless and irritatingly jolly character from The Lord of the Rings. Luckily, we don’t have to put up with him in the movie, because they cut him out.

I also got the impression from the Colbert interview that this book, which is set in a cemetery, had an ironic theme of facing our fears of the living. Of life. Of the people we pass by every day. This is a great message, and I can’t tell you enough how compelled I am by life and death juxtapositions and comparisons. Even scripturally speaking, I’m fascinated by Romans 6, because baptism represents both death and life. But now I’m getting into paradoxes. And you don’t want me to do that, because I won’t shut up. Essentially, I have high hopes that I will enjoy this book.

I also picked up a Dover Thrift edition of some Grimm’s fairytales. I guess it was a few years ago that I realized that all of my favorite fairytales growing up (Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Grethal) were from the Grimm brothers. My mom was really such a wonderful story teller. That part of Rapunzel where the prince gets blinded by thorns and is later healed by Rapunzel's tears is certainly the most vivid image I can remember from those nights of bedtime stories. It's kinda morbid, but I've always considered it a very positive and authentic memory. Perhaps that is part of the reason why I love the character Rochester from Jane Eyre, and even why I sometimes have an odd compulsion to date a blind guy.

In recalling more childhood experiences with such stories, I also remember watching old tv programs based on the original fairytale versions of such Disney classics as, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast. I cried when the Beast died, but I liked being affected that way. Getting older, my fascination for tragic and disturbing stories turned to an enjoyment of The Twilight Zone, the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe and Ray Bradbury, and the occasional Tim Burton or Stephen King movie.

With this in mind, the fact that there are so many other characteristics about me that have stayed the same reminds me of this on-going documentary I saw called The UP Series. It follows the lives of 14 children from the UK. During the first series, the children are seven, in the second series 14, then 21, and so on in spans of seven years between series. The point of the documentary is to illustrate the basis behind the saying, “Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man.”

After watching all of the finished series, it certainly did seem like most of the children stayed the same into adulthood. Although, the boy Neil, who I identified with the most and for whom I therefore had the highest hopes, actually ended up becoming a crazy and homeless hermit who wandered the open countryside of Scotland. That's sort of disturbing. I hope I won't share his fate. But now I've veered off the subject of my blog entry again with my all-too-constant fears of going insane.

Going back to the books I purchased, I also got one that has nothing to do with dark children’s stories. It’s called This is Your Brain on Music, with the sub-caption, “The science of a human obsession.” Hmm…I’ll admit, that sounds a little dark. Anyhow, it seems right up my alley. I actually wrote a research paper years ago about this weird theory I had that music was a part of everything. While I knew it was probably an over-exaggerated stretch of the imagination, I enjoyed researching it so much.

I remember having a keen interest in some of the thoughts of Pythagoras. Though, at times this guy had some wacky ideas. For instance, that every pair of opposites, say: day and night, hot and cold, up and down, etc., had a “good” and “evil” component. Seriously. And I’m sure if given the pair 'man' and 'woman,' he would have insisted that women were evil. In fact, I think he did. Perhaps you would agree, but that just means you’re a crack-pot too. On the other hand, some of his ideas have been monumental, like the Pythagorean Theorem and the development of the 12-note scale. Point being, I wonder, "Can sanity stray too far from genius?" (and can I stay off the topic of insanity?)

While his notion of “the music of the spheres” seemed ridiculous, the concept of the movements of the planets literally being in musical harmony was just so poetic that I couldn’t help but hope there was truly some scientific truth behind it. On the grandest scale, I love imagining this cosmic orchestra of worlds in motion. Even on the smallest scale, in picturing quarks consisting of what can basically be described as tiny vibrating strings, I hear music. It’s probably all just a thought I’ll secretly love despite its incongruence with reason (there's no sound in space). Just a fanciful myth, this “music of the spheres.” Despite that, it is an irresistible thought. Much like the obsession Dr. Frankenstein had for Cornelius Agrippa’s view that magic was the key to understanding God and nature.

Magic, of all things! But maybe those laughable passions aren’t as insane as they seem. I recall now the last words of the magician Angier (aka Wolverine…I mean, Hugh Jackman) from The Prestige:

“You never understood why we did this. The audience knows the Truth: the world is simple, miserable, solid all the way through. But if you could fool them, even for a second, then you can make them wonder. Then you got to see something very special. You really don’t know? It was the look on their faces…”

As crazy as he was by the end of this movie, I think he had a point about the value of magic. For my part, I am not ashamed to be scientifically minded and compelled by Pythagorean fables and gothic fairytales. For me, they provide a sense of wonder worth capturing. So long as it never involves drowning myself in a water tank every night.

My Interest is Kindled at Least

I was wondering how long it would take until someone would develop a device that actually made reading as convenient and accessible as music has become. I've heard people say that computers had done it, but, how many of us really subscribe to eBooks? Now, the computer is fine and all for a little bit of reading, but the strain on your eyes is so horrible that reading an entire novel is out of the question. With this new Amazon Kindle device, however, such a vision is finally possible. It is pretty expensive, though. So, unless you travel a lot or otherwise have a need for instant and light-weight access to a number of your books...I don't think you ought to shell out the dough. Just yet. As it is, I don't see it as being that marketable.

My second concern besides the comfort of reading the screen was whether or not you could mark passages or write comments about what you read. That's a great reason why I like actual books and magazines versus reading things on the internet. And this is certainly something the makers of the Kindle thought about and made possible. In fact, you are also able to share certain articles, book passages, etc. with other users. Also, being able to search your entire library of books by word or phrase is a wonderful plus. It's like a Topical Guide for all your books!

If only we could magically sync the books we already own into the device. Doesn't quite have that perk like music. Of course, this just means that you must be patient to build up your collection. So, it really is only worth it in the long run. It would be nice if you could get a number of titles free with purchase to compensate. Though, it is likely that the prices on these sorts of devices will be more affordable in a few years. I for one think it would be fabulous to get text books on these things. They would be cheaper, and wouldn't weigh down your backpack. I really hope that this technology becomes more cost effective. Truthfully, I think that computer manufacturers should just make laptop screens like this.

"O, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or nothing worth!"

Speaking of witches, I've been thinking about Macbeth lately. Though, what first got me thinking about Macbeth again was a documentary I rented called The Hobart Shakespeareans. It was really good. I recommend it especially to those going into teaching. It's about an inner city elementary school teacher in L.A. who directs a performance of a Shakespeare play by his class each year. That particular year, they happened to be doing Hamlet. It was so impressive that these 10-year-olds, who incidently were all second language speakers, were understanding and acting out what is generally considered Shakespeare's greatest play. The documentary even featured the appearance of Ian McKellen, who comes to see them perform each year. I really like Ian McKellen.

So, with Hamlet in mind, I decided to read my favorite scene from the movie I watched with, well, I don't know his name. Remember Lockhart from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets? He's a good actor. Anyway, in this scene Hamlet has just come across Fortinbras' army, who are marching to claim some pretty useless land that has "no profit but the name." It is such a huge and shameful contrast when Hamlet compares himself with this army. Thousands of men are risking their lives for something so insignificant, as he compares it to an "egg-shell", and he is not willing to act on the great injustice that has been done to him. And I love his conclusion, "O, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloodly, or nothing worth!" Yeah, blood! Anyway, here's his speech:

How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and god-like reason
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on the event,
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward, I do not know
Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do;'
Sith I have cause and will and strength and means
To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me:
Witness this army of such mass and charge
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death and danger dare,
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour's at the stake.
How stand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

After reading this, I thought how interesting it was that at times the character Hamlet seems to be the opposite of Macbeth. While Hamlet has the flaw of inaction, Macbeth has the flaw of "vaulting ambition." Hamlet lacks courage, and Macbeth has gone too far with his courage...beyond virtuous proportions. Yet, they both decide to kill a man in order to gain or keep their courage. It's the same choice, but under the circumstances we see it as a good one for Hamlet, and a bad one for Macbeth. Hamlet makes this choice close to the end, and Macbeth does so close to the beginning. It's also interesting that one play accounts for the forethought to the decision, and another the aftermath of it. I'd be interested to read any essays on the comparisons and contrasts between these characters, now. Hmmm...maybe I should do a search.

In the interest of a quick visual, I did a little Google Image search. Here's a little look at some contrasts. This picture of Hamlet is from Act I, and the one of Macbeth is from Act II. See how different they look?

Hamlet

"O, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or nothing worth!"

Macbeth

"I am in blood stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er."

Now, compare those quotes, which occur near the end of the plays, to the pictures from the beginning. Wow, they certainly have changed! Hamlet wants to stop hesitating and start cracking skulls, and Macbeth is so accustomed to violence that he is now referring to murder as "tedious." It almost seems that the quotes should go with the opposite pictures, if you didn't know better. I just thought that was pretty cool. Incidently, haha, that sketch of Hamlet was made for Ian McKellen. See the writing, "To Dear Ian"?

Since I personally prefer the story of Macbeth (perhaps more due to my ignorance of Hamlet than any particular claims of superiority), I have been looking it over much more than that soliloquy of Hamlet. I actually have some lectures on Macbeth (along with other Shakespeare plays), that I have been looking at lately. The Teaching Company is really awesome. They have a sale that ends tomorrow actually...maybe I'll give in and get something. Anyway, since it's on my mind, I might share some of what I've learned/observed about Macbeth. I mean, I will. Count on it.

I just realized how different my blog is than most. It's an outlet for my thoughts more than a form of "communication" (bizarrely, crappy computer age) while I'm practically isolated all day. I bore myself when writing about what "my day" consists of. Blah! I mean, my life is really, really exciting...and pregnant with possibilities!! Now I'm just quoting the results of a personality test I once took. It actually used the phrase "pregnant with possibilities" in regards to my life. So, maybe I'm being particularly ironic in my sarcasm.

Note: I like the computer age very much, despite my complaints.

"A being darkly wise and rudely great"

It looks as though I might have more back pain to come, as now I will be sitting at a computer for almost a good 40 hr a week. More money, though. Anyway, with all this time to spend with a computer in front of me, I've decided to do some online writing classes. The structure of a syllabus and all will hopefully force me to write regularly. I'm going to do a creative writing class
and a reading and writing short stories one. I actually think that getting into short stories would be a good idea, since the idea of doing a whole novel seems like too much. And if I've feigned to learn anything valuable from What About Bob?, it's baby steps.

Interestingly, while I was browsing some of this open courseware, I stumbled upon something that reminded me of one of my main characters, Hadrian, in the book I want to continue writing. Though, I never seem to get around to that. Pretty pathetic, actually. Anyway, these words are by Alexander Pope. I'm not sure if it is meant to be a poem, but it is a poetic expression of the nature of man, only a part of his larger Essay on Man.

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan,

The proper study of mankind is Man.

Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,

A being darkly wise and rudely great:

With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,

With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,

He hangs between, in doubt to act or rest;

In doubt to deem himself a God or Beast;

In doubt his mind or body to prefer;

Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;

Alike in ignorance, his reason such,

Whether he thinks too little or too much;

Chaos of thought and passion, all confused;

Still by himself abused or disabused;

Created half to rise, and half to fall:

Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;

Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd;

The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

Wow, it really reminds me of how I picture Hadrian. Actually, I haven't included him in that much of what I have written yet, but he has a major role. If you'd like to learn a little about him, he shows up in chapter 1, 2, 8(?), and 10.

I've always want to create complex characters, and so that is my goal with writing The Secret of Aïdoneus. I hope to use a little of what I have learned from the bit of philosophy I have read over the last couple of years. Actually, the first thing I can remember reading that got me thinking philisophically was Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH when I was 12. I remember being really interested in the notion that the rats wanted to move to a destitute place they called Thorn Valley, and away from the comfort of the rose bush. They knew it was wrong to steal from the farmer, and so they decided to sacrifice their life with abudant food and electricity for something much more meager. I thought about it a lot, as well as the idea that the more we learn and are priveledged to discover, the more we are expected to develop a higher sense of morality. Not only that, but that the more we learn, the more we should desire to do so.

I also considered the other side, the opponent Jenner. What sort of a personality would a person develop if he had a lot of knowledge, but didn't desire to be more moral? What kind of fate would he have? Or perhaps, and I doubt I considered this then, what if he really thought that he was, in fact, becoming better, when he actually was becoming more corrupt? That is the real characteristic about the villain that I have come to be fascinated by as I have gotten older. I think it's interesting that these little questions I had as a kid are obviously still significant in my mind. These are the questions I want to wrestle around with, in a more mature manner, with my character Hadrian.