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The misogynistic fun fest that is Fox’s The Last Man on Earth is my latest binge/purge. TLMN is one of those shows that falls into itself as the first season moves towards climax. The main character begins to focus towards being a slightly better person and as such completes the rotund picture of who we would be should we be in his shoes. It isn’t high art, but I like it. In truth, there isn’t much that is good right now.

John Truby quipped that the best new stuff coming out is on TV, but I must admit that stuff is few and farm between. Above all else, that stuff is unsustainable, which is the curse of TV in some way. TV is meant to be sustainable in the old model. The new model ought to point to limited duration shows that maximize audience and have a complete character arc with a beginning, middle, and defined end in sight.

 

I’ve gotten to the point where I am starting to feel very good about the 2015-16 ‘work year’. I ended my summer with a burst of energy and faith in what was to come only to suffer snag after snag of disappointment. Now I’m at a point (and a place) where all feels good and right with the universe. I’m building towards something again, writing at an increasing pace, and starting to be more honest with myself about what I want and need.

Classes are fantastic again. This hasn’t happened in some time, but I can say that I enjoy every class I teach, though I enjoy them all in very different ways. Some are wonderful because of the challenge, the students, or both. I’ve pulled back as father-coach and recognize that it is far too soon to be crowning my kids as MVPs of all that is good in sports. In fact, I’m moving gradually back towards that idea of fundamentals–not just of a specific sport but mechanical fundamentals of body movement, exercise, and teamwork. I realize more and more that game-specific skills don’t mean all that much at this level. Right now it is more about how courageous a kid is and how patient they are and how much they trust the person standing beside them to do their job. Lofty concepts that can all be broken down into a simple game of capture the flag, 4 points, or sharks and minnows, which all remain the currency of good youth practices.

The writing remains a situation.
While I am writing more, I have yet to hit that stride that comes late in a project. Moreover, I haven’t found a way to carry that from project to project.

I have, on the other hand, found a stride when it comes to teaching and I am in a very happy place with that. If only I can combine the philosophies  into one smooth movement, life would be on fire…

I spent a lot of good years first learning and then getting caught up in the language of academia. I found myself wandering through monstrous diatribes about the completion agenda and outcomes and learning goals—all designed to teach me what makes a good teacher. Unfortunately, all any of it did was to remove me from personal instinct and teach me how to speak a language that is wholly foreign to students and in doing so, overlook the most important thing there is when it comes to teaching: learning.

 

My first time teaching I was thrown into a classroom full of honors students without any formal training. There was a class on teaching and I signed up for it the next day, but I learned as they learned, and I learned from them. Fortunately, I had an advantage in this situation. I’d been around teachers my entire life. My mother taught in a resource room for 20 yrs and I myself had the ultimate edge: I was a smart, thoroughly disengaged student for most of my learning life. Basically, I was one of them and as such I knew exactly how to reach them.

 

That situation ended with me loving the job of teaching and signing up for more and more of it. Eventually that took me to ASU and from there to a local community college that was focused on the classroom more than it was the rhetoric of education—at least for a while.

 

The moment you start to talk about accreditation and completion goals and large-scale programs, you stop talking about good teaching. IMHO, good teaching is exactly like good coaching—you build a gameplan around the talent you have as opposed to trying to force everyone in the room to do something you’ve done for so long that it has become second nature.

 

I recognize the world isn’t black and white and you cannot completely engage in one thing or the other. The reality of education is that teachers are expected to have their feet in both worlds, and professors get full time roles because of the stuff they do outside of the classroom—the stuff that makes the college look good and gets you noticed—as opposed to anything they do inside the classroom. In my own job and interviewing experience, we will spend 45 minutes or more asking questions about who these people are as ‘educators’ and about 20 minutes watching them actually teach. Until recently, we did the teaching part without even having students in the room. What sort of false construct is that?

 

This semester I’ve stepped back entirely from the administrative side of the academic world. I’ve given up on presenting work at conferences, chasing academic publishing credits and innovation awards, and even looking for recognition within the college. I’ve drilled down my focus to what works best in the classroom and discovered that when I peel away the sticky glue residue that is everything that comes with the job of being a professor, the stuff beneath is raw energy that needs to be engaged and channeled. The human brain wants to learn and if we allow ourselves, each person standing up in front of that classroom has the engrained tools to engage it.

 

I am officially all in.

I realize I should’ve done this a lot sooner—like draft day when I had the chance to snag the Jets D, but due to a computer scrolling error never realized they were still on the board. Now I have the Big Blue D set to start for me tomorrow evening and I believe with all my heart that they will pay out. That means the Giants will too, as you will soon discover…

 

NYG over WAS
Consider who they’ve lost to and in what fashion. The Falcons are #10 on the power chart, and that game was NY’s to loose, which they did but I feel like composure is forming amongst this young and scattered D. The offense is coming together as well, especially following Preston Parker (5 drops—3 of which could’ve changed the outcome of a total of two games) being cut. Like Vereen said, “We just gotta finish”

CIN over BAL
Something is amiss in Ravens country. I cannot figure out what it is exactly, but I have a feeling it has to do with the secondary. I expect to see them picked apart Sunday Morning. Wait, I know what it is… No sizzle.

CAR over NO
I’m assuming that Brees does not play, but if he does the outcome might still be the same. I wonder what they were thinking when they let Graham walk.

CLE over OAK

I trust the CLE secondary to not let Cooper and co run wild all over them. I also believe in the power of Manziel to extend plays to the point where Benjamin can put up points.

ATL over DAL
NY tried to stop Julio and failed. DAL has even less of a chance here.

HOU over TB
This is the week to start the HOU D. They will come together and make an enormous impact on the rookie QB.

SD over MIN
NE over JAX
These two are gimmie games. Nuff said.

NYJ over Philly
Sanchez might get some work in. The way I saw the Jets hit Luck is the way they may hit Bradford, and that dude cannot take it. Make your waiver wire grab right now. Butt fumble and all…

PIT over STL
This is about the passing attack and the ability of the Steelers to stretch the field. Mostly though, it is about the return of Bell

IND over TEN
They cannot lose forever.

ARI over SF
BUF over MIA
Same issues here. Old rivals clashing with one team clearly emerging as a divisional contender and the other emerging as Just Another Franchise.

SEA over CHI

Bam Chancellor!!!!!!

DEN over DET

I don’t know how they keep winning but they do.

GB over KC
I DO know how they keep losing and we will see more of that on a high schoring and close Monday Night game.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. This will be posted late. I’m not internet adjacent at the moment and may not be for hours.

 

My youngest is throwing a fit in my bedroom. At one point he ‘Brogue kicked’ a pillow straight off my bed. Its a wonder he’s in there in the first place as he is completely unconscious and has been since he staggered in a half hour ago. He didn’t head straight to the bedroom. There were stops in the loft and library along the way. The entire time he was touring our home he was whining plaintively about how I was somehow being mean and not allowing him to go to sleep. Once he settled on my room he turned his attentions to being angry at whoever was the antagonist of his dream. That dude is still catching a butt kicking.

I’m not certain that this level of anger is at all healthy for the kid, but I remember sleepwalking as a kid. I remember being angry based on the way life was and the way I perceived myself being treated and wanting to lash out. If a pillow has to get ‘got’ then I’m willing to let that go. Besides, he is asleep. That part hasn’t gone totally overlooked for me. I think the whole episode is the result of a difficult run in we had at the end of the night when he, a tired little 6 yr old boy, asked to be carried to bed. I obliged and waited at the stairs for him to join me. He wandered off elsewhere to do, well, who knows what. Meanwhile another one of them franchise boys made the same request. I carried the child upstairs and let the little one know I’d be back in a moment and he became very upset at the idea.

He just woke up.

He looked at me, confused, and then went back to his room. I’ll check on him soon…

The thing about all of this is expectation. He expected me to wait and hold fast until he was ready to go. He didn’t think I was going to work with any other kid until he was ready because he already called dibs. Such a fine and bright theory, but impossible in practice.

As I wind down these ten minutes I feel like I need to go tuck him in again. A soft kiss and a few moments of back rubs should soothe the shuddering beast. If that doesn’t work there’s always hypnosis…

I’m pretty crossed up about fantasy football. My team is in a 2 QB league, which means I should have 3 to satisfy the Bye week. My 3rd was Robert Griffin the 3rd, who fell to an injury in preseason and lost his job on the other side. My other two QBs both were injured within hours of each other this sunday. Cutler is gone for at least 3 weeks and Romo is, well, pulling a Romo. We should see him and Dez make their triumphant return in two and a half months–right round the fantasy playoffs.

I’ll be toast by then.

There is a way of playing the game where you seek to destroy your opponent. The league I am in feels that way, because they’ve snapped up every possible QB, leaving me to hope for the backups to the two I lost. Given that other teams lost players this week (most notably Drew Brees), I don’t have a lot of chance to score two QBs without some crazy trading happening. I might just be done for the season… in week 2.

Some Thoughts:

1. This week has been interesting already in that I am really beginning to take stock of my responsibilities and make measured gains in reducing how much I have to do on a daily basis in order to make space for the things I already do that can be done with more car and depth.
2. I am also thinking about the lifespan of cars. Mine is well over 150K and I bought the little box in 2008. It feels like something that I need to think through/work on.
3. I’m happy. It is a good feeling. I used to be happy every day, and for a while I went dark, but I’m back to my old ways–in so far as happy I mean. My old old ways wouldn’t be smart life choices.
4. I’m more excited about the soccer season this year for my kids then I am about the football season. I think it is because I am more intimately involved in the soccer–I help coach and can work on making shirts and cool stuff like that whereas in football all of that is left to other people who may or may not get it done in a way and level that makes me gleeful. Still, I promised not to helicopter so there.

I feel like Dr. Frankenstein.

Some time ago I forged ahead with the idea to do as most American parents do and tell my kids the little white lies of Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny. This weekend we sat and watched We Bought a Zoo and during that film the dad has an interaction with his daughter where she overhears him say the Easter Bunny isn’t real. My eldest said, “What did he say about the Easter Bunny?”

My first born child is in middle school now and through the impossible magic that is storytelling I have managed to keep him believing these things are real. All three boys are believers. In fact last xmas Santa led them on a scavenger hunt to uncover their gifts ‘he’ has been doing this for two years now and they adore it. They look forward to Santa’s search nearly as much as they do the process of opening the gifts themselves.

The Bunny has no active role in our lives. He doesn’t hop over to our home delivering candies like he does for some others. The tooth fairy still delivers on her promise of cash for teeth. They were also recently introduced to the elf on the shelf and find the concept of that utterly believable.

My kids are not dumb or gullible. They figure out most things very quickly, but I have actively engaged in maintaining this myth of magical creatures for reasons I still don’t quite understand. I’m good at creating such fictions and better at locating media that supports and justifies the physics of such things. Still, it seems quite destructive to have kids believe in that stuff for so long.

Unfortunately, I don’t know how to pull the plug on the myths. I mean I could just tell the older one. He’s at that age where he should’ve already figured it out anyhow. However, the real question becomes why did it take so long and what have I been holding onto with these stories?

I just don’t know.

Paul Schrader was once wrote, “I could be just a writer very easily. I am not a writer. I am a screenwriter, which is half a filmmaker. … But it is not an art form, because screenplays are not works of art. They are invitations to others to collaborate on a work of art.” I believe his statement was somewhat incomplete, because it fails to include the now ubiquitous adaptation. If a screenplay is an invitation to collaborate, a novel is quite possibly just a jump off point to something completely new. I’ve watched that unfold time and again, most egregiously with World War Z–that is until I saw the Scorch Trials.

Our departure from the original text begins with the fade in. The names of the characters here mostly remains intact, but the situations are changed, at first to pump up the action, but largely to spin an entirely new story based around strange infected creatures that resemble the vampire/zombies from I am Legend. Reused and updated CGI aside, the film fails to generate the spooky fun of the maze in this larger, less understandable world. The result is chases that are fun but pointless and dialogue that tries to be highly expositional about a plot that never really needed the help.

That isn’t entirely true. As we wind deeper into the film it becomes clear that the massive changes made lend themselves to continuing and punching up the series as it moves towards what will likely be a two-part conclusion. The original text didn’t allow for that. Still, the changes eliminate a lot of the theme, leaving us with strange Groot-zombies to deal with.

Some Thoughts:

1. I can tick off my writing and academic responsibilities on one hand. That’s new and wonderful.
2. Big loss in the youth tackle league. I cannot say I’m surprised. Angry. Not surprised.
3. Slow start for soccer too. We won 3-0 and our defense looked good but we had a lot of issues on offense.
4. Cat is in heat and trying to claw her way out of the house to get some ‘action’. I held off on the spay till after she is done milking but that might have to change. No need for pregnancy 2.0

Once, when I was about 17 yrs old, I took a class about building computers. I was poor, so I couldn’t afford to buy my own. Instead I worked on my classmate’s decks, moving from system to system spoiling over memory sticks and hard drives, hoping that I’d placed jumpers in the right order. The hardware side of the class was easy for me. I have never had too much trouble with wiring. The software side was more painful. I found that the Operating System was really what determined how the computer worked, and thus how I perceived each finished deck. The thing about operating systems is that they are always receiving updates. My problem was that I’d look at a deck, decide whether or not it was a good one and move on. Later, the OS would be refreshed and the computer I’d said was a low quality clunker would hum to life with all the speed and power of a Porsche.

People are like that.

It is my experience that others tend to write you off based on the last bad thing you did. You go through a few months of a rough spell or a slow start and suddenly you’re the person who can’t get it going or the one who will never recover or is constantly overwhelmed. They don’t stick around to see your OS refresh. Instead they look at you with the false pity of someone who thinks they have their own shit together. They sigh and tiptoe and give you the reassuring glance, all the while thinking that you are less than–a clunker that never quite got that OS installed right. Instead the reality is a person who is going above and beyond and doing things that make life all the more impressive to live.

Such parables remind me that people aren’t static. We are all fluid beings capable of doing wonderful things. Some of us are extraordinary and capable of doing so much more. Of course, doing more means more expectation and more that is taken for granted or lost on an uncaring audience. So, sometimes it becomes the wisest route to do nothing at all.

After a decent start to the regular and fantasy seasons, it is time to move on to week two. The Giants have moved on from a terrible loss and are ready to show that the outstanding defensive play was no fluke. The Cowboys are trying to prove that it was, but without Dez it will take some doing. This isn’t to say both teams can’t notch wins this week. In fact, here is what I think might happen:

DEN over KC
This will wind up being a defensive struggle. Manning will push himself and in so will expose a weak secondary on the KC side. This ought to be enough to help them squeak out the win.

BUF over NE
Like my least favorite wrestler intones, ‘Do you Bo-Lieve?!’ I Bu-Lieve in what Rex is doing with that team down there and Taylor has shown that he was learning a lot on the bench all that time in Baltimore. He isn’t a newb, and has the legs to cause the NE defense to creep up just enough to let that crew of talented wideouts go to work.

CAR over HOU
I’m looking for the HOU D to take control and help them win some games, but I am quickly coming to understand that this is still a QB league. That is made more clear when you look at the Texans who are also without their starting RB. No matter how well the D plays, Carolina has too much going for them for it to make much of a difference.

ARI over CHI
Cutler starts for me in fantasy and he really shouldn’t this week. The Cards will give up points to the Cutler-Bennett connect, but overall that defense should hold the Bears in check.

SD over CIN
This game is really a push for me. I’m going for SD purely because the the QB work here. I think Dalton has more holes in his game and his confidence than Rivers. That will lead to some unfortunate check downs, which will cost them a close but high scoring game.

TEN over CLE
Note: Mariota will have his official welcome to the NFL this week. That being said, the Browns D isn’t quite the scoring type. Unfortunately, neither is the Browns O. Count this one as a loss by the Browns.

MIN over DET
Bruiser ball is BACK. While MIN looks like a team that is reeling, in fact the Vikings are just trying to pull things together and get back in the rhythm they were looking to create when Peterson was suspended. I think that starts to happen this week and he has a 100+ yard effort which triggers some big plays for Bridgewater this week and in the weeks ahead.

NO over Tamp Bay
TB sucks. Nuff said.

NYG over Atlanta
Here is what I saw last week: Dez Bryant contained. The Giants secondary played an outstanding game that was schemed perfectly. This is what Spags brings to the table. Now he doesn’t have the D-line to pressure the QB, so that does give ATL time to create plays, but they don’t have the O-Line to create a dominant run effort, allowing the safeties to creep out of the box and cause trouble out there. I think the G-Men get in the W column this week.

PIT over SF
Not a lot to say here. I think Pit is more game ready this week than SF. They had more time to rest and prepare.

STL over WAS
Another one that comes down to D. STL is weak against the TE this season, which means some points for Jordan Reed in fantasy, but that isn’t enough to win.

MIA over Jax
layup.

BAL over OAK
see above.

PHI over DAL
This is a tough call, but the losses on Offense are too much to overcome in this short of a time. Look for more reliance on the run game from both teams this week.

GB over SEA
No Bam, no win. This will become a theme.

NYJ over IND
Luck done runout for Andrew. He faces two of the best Defenses in the league two weeks in a row? Thankfully it is a long season.