Results of Ruminations

Time: 11:04am. Timer: 25 minutes. Go. Case #1 Here's a thing I've been thinking about: Fame. Part of it comes from the book I started listening to this morning, But What if We're Wrong? . I'm still early in the book (about an hour and a half so far), but there are ideas that are challenging and interesting. It's part futurism, part history, part critical analysis--definitely up my alley, even if it does make me uncomfortable with some of the implications of the cheerily described tendencies of humanity. Klosterman begins by talking about Moby-Dick , one of my favorite novels. I've read it once in college (where it ought to be read, if only so that the worthwhile conversations that the book inspires can have regular space; in lieu of college, a good, dedicated book club could tackle the Whale over the course of, say, three or four meetings), then half again whilst playing a Batman video game. It's not easy to read by any stretch, and its purpose is far...

There's something that I really want to talk about, but I don't know if there's ever a place or venue in which I should. I know that I shouldn't talk about it here or on Twitter, as I have students who read both. Even if I don't share such an essay online, it'd be  online, archived and ready for viewing. It isn't that I think that this Topic is so horrible or scandalous that students shouldn't read it, but rather I don't know if I want to talk about this Topic with them. I could verbalize it; make my wife suffer through my poorly constructed ideas and rambling sentences. That's the most likely outlet, but I don't know what I expect by airing this Topic, so I don't know if it will help or hinder my feelings. Additionally, it's difficult to know when to have important conversations, what with the differences in patience, energy levels, and emotional states of the different participants. Sometimes, I'd really like to talk about som...

I happened upon Verso Books '* summer sale and picked up five books for a buck each. I bought five ( General Intellects, Beneath the Streets, and The Spectacle of Disintegration, all   by Mckenzie Wark, Beyond the Pale  by Vron Ware, and In Defense of Lost Causes  by Slavoj Zizek), but I wanted to go a little meta, a little rhizomatic, and talk about one piece, taken out of context, from the beginning of Zizek's book. I've mentioned Zizek before , and he's a fascinating thinker, albeit hard to understand (as much his speech patterns, his lisp, his accent, his thoughts, his writing as anything else about him). Nevertheless, there's a lot about him that I can't help but be attracted to, and when I started off, he hit me with this particular phrase: "the rhizomatic texture of reality" (loc. 93). The broader context is that he's going off on the idea that, because there are no more "big ideas", some think that "we need 'weak though...

Why do we tell stories? Yeah, yeah, I know: To make sense of the world, to preserve our culture and heritage, to explain what we could be. There are lots of reasons, and a lot of them also make sense (which is nice), but I've been thinking a lot about stories lately. Maybe it's because it's late but I'm worried the insomnia that's been plaguing me the last three nights is lurking behind me; maybe it's because my own sense of self-worth and legacy resides in twenty-six fragile letters, pushed back and forth on my keyboard millions of times and my stories remain almost entirely unread; maybe it's because the late July night outside of my now-open window is cooler than July usually is, and that feels like a detail that ought to be remembered somehow, if even in a nebulous, digital way. Maybe there are more reasons for telling stories than there are stories to be told, or maybe because there are really only a handful of each, but the veneer is different enou...

Considering the Marvel Cinematic Universe's version of the Avengers, I'd have to say that my favorite of the collection of heroes is the Hulk. I particularly enjoy Mark Ruffalo's Hulk, both in his portrayal of Banner and the Hulkalo look. There's a lot of anger here. ( Source ) It's also interesting to note that the MCU cannon includes the events of The Incredible Hulk , complete with Thunderbolt Ross, a disgraced general, eventually getting the Secretary of State position in the Captain America movies. Despite that, the Abomination and   Leader  (who I had to look up on the internet because I'm not as well versed in Hulk comics as I wish I were) are open characters who are part of the MCU and haven't shown up since their origins back in 2008. Admittedly, The Incredible Hulk , which I watched last night, is not the strongest entry into the MCU. There isn't anything egregiously wrong  with it but there isn't a lot that's right  about it, e...

This last week, my family and I went to Anaheim in order to worship at the Altar of the Great Mouse. We had a lovely time, visiting both Disney Parks for a couple of days each. My youngest is four years old and hadn't been to Disneyland yet, so it was enjoyable to see how excited he was to see the parks. We managed to squeeze in a viewing of Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2  before the trip, so he was particularly happy at the frequent banners showing off Baby Groot. My seven-year-old was only disappointed when we went on "slow rides" (which, I guess, would be like Pinocchio or Snow White?) because he is--and I didn't know this--a roller-coaster fiend. Big thrills are big for him, apparently. Additionally, he lost a tooth while there, which not many people can claim. Lastly, my oldest (he's 10 now), simply loved the whole thing--except for leaving and when we got after him for breaking his friend's wheelchair (my son has half a heart, so we put him in a wheelch...

In the first part , I set up a rewrite for Batman v. Superman  to try to salvage what happened in that film. Obviously, this is not a unique exercise, and there are a lot of others out there who have done similar things. I haven't read or watched those thought exercises, so if there are parallels between my ideas and others, it's happenstance. Part 2 Batman's unsatisfied, so he breaks into Luthor's office to see this "curiosity". He hacks (because it's this easy) the files, but doesn't have time to decrypt them as the alarm goes off (of course) and he has to do his disappearing bat-trick to keep from being caught. Now, however, he's on the trail.   Back at Lexcorp, Luthor figures out what Batman has done. "They know." He places a call, then says to the scientist fellow from earlier, "We have to move forward the Doomsday Protocol."  "To when?" asks the tinny voice on the other side of the call. "As...

Note: I'm assuming most people who care about Batman v. Superman  would have seen it by now, but I guess I should say I'm talking about that film in this essay. So...spoilers on it, Man of Steel, and  Wonder Woman , y'know? I tried " script doctoring " Jurassic World , so I thought I'd throw out some ideas about what I would have done differently with Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.  Because multiple different films are contingent on the BvS  as the flagship, tent pole, or whatever metaphor you want to use for the entire DC Extended Universe, there are likely parts from Zack Snyder's film that had to be in there as setup for the other films. In fact, that setup is part of what makes BvS  such a hard film to follow. (In essence, DCEU went the opposite route of Marvel: What if The Avengers  had been the third film in the franchise, with only Captain America and  Iron Man  coming before it? It wouldn't have worked the way that it did. DCEU is...

I was watching a video on how to freestyle rap (because I think it's cool and I'm curious how people do it), and one of these videos (I can't remember which), the teacher, Scott Para, said something that really caught my ear: He said that good freestyle rappers are those who are able to dissociate their prefrontal regions of their brains, thus allowing them to speak without the impulse to regulate the thoughts as much. Curiosity piqued, I did a quick Google search and came across this article , which verified and expanded what Para claimed: The brain stops trying to self-censor. Or, as it says in the article, "these shifts in brain function may facilitate the free expression of thoughts and words without the usual neural constraints." That's really interesting to me. The brain is a complicated organ, but the fact that we can think about our brains is fundamentally cool, as well as the idea that professional rappers can reroute where  they are thinking in...

If you don't subscribe to Netflix, here's a write up about the documentary Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press from The Atlantic .  The documentary is pretty good, though, if you're sensitive to profanity and frank discussions of awkward experiences, you may not enjoy it. There are some problems (like most documentaries, it manipulates via music what you're supposed to feel throughout certain sections, and the second half feels too heavy on "broad strokes" style storytelling since the ostensible focal point is Hulk Hogan, and that section is finely detailed. Still, it's a worthwhile viewing. I don't want to talk about free speech, though. I'm interested in a strange, protracted argument that Terry Bollea (the man most people identify as Hulk Hogan) gives during his time on the witness stand. The details are embarrassing, but it isn't the details that Bollea is giving that made me sit up a little, it was the crux of the argument: According ...

Being an abashed Twitter-(over)user, I was delighted when I saw this tweet : I love homework! Not only is Doug Robertson a great resource for connected educators (you can check out his blog right here ; it's entirely education centered, rather than the hodgepodge of stuff that mine features) and a funny guy, he also throws out a lot of ideas online that have helped me think differently about my profession. He let me guest blog on one of his other sites, too, and that's pretty spiffy. But what got me excited about the tweet was not that it was Doug (sorry, Doug), but that it was talking about Revisionist History . I already geeked out about finding Malcolm Gladwell's podcast (another find that occurred because of Twitter, as it so happens), so this shouldn't come as a surprise. What was exciting was that the second season is being released. Eagerly, I listened to the first two episodes, taking extra time to do my chores so that I had an excuse to keep listenin...

Brigham Young: The gospel of Jesus Christ embraces all truth. All truth is for the salvation of the children of men—for the benefit and learning—for their furtherance in the principles of divine knowledge; and divine knowledge is any matter of fact—truth; and all truth pertains to divinity (DBY, 11). Be willing to receive the truth, let it come from whom it may; no difference, not a particle. Just as soon receive the Gospel from Joseph Smith as from Peter, who lived in the days of Jesus. Receive it from one man as soon as another. If God has called an individual and sent him to preach the Gospel that is enough for me to know; it is no matter who it is, all I want is to know the truth (DBY, 11). “Mormonism,” so-called, embraces every principle pertaining to life and salvation, for time and eternity. No matter who has it. If the infidel has got truth it belongs to “Mormonism.” The truth and sound doctrine possessed by the sectarian world, and they have a great deal, all belong t...