Month: May 2014

When writers talk of purpose in writing we speak of multiple purposes. As a creative writer my purpose is always to entertain. I want to create something that others can enjoy. However, that entertainment factor is merely the skin of the apple, a decorative cover that entices the reader to bite into my narrative and see what lies beneath. In other words, I, and most all other writers are not creating merely to entertain a reader. I am attempting to do something else with my work.

It is easy to figure out why we do it. When you cut directly to the heart of the matter, the average reader is not interested absorbing pure information and analysis. This is why we don’t actually read textbooks, but instead skim pages in search of highlighted terms. We temporarily store these terms, ideas, and utterances so they can be fed mechanically into a blue book and then forgotten entirely. On average, we don’t want to know things unless we have an immediate need of that knowledge. It is even rarer for us to want to hear or give time to an argument that contradicts what we already believe. So, writers obfuscate. We wrap our truths in the pretty coating of entertainment and hope that something in your subconscious latches on to what we want you to know.

Sometimes the message beneath is subtle, like with No Country for Old Men, which challenged the notions of machismo, purpose, and honor in the modern west. At times the message is blatant, as with Heaven is For Real, a film that openly reminds the audience that it believes God exists and that we would be all the better for believing.

The goal of literary analysis is to discern the purpose beyond the entertainment factor—to know the meat beneath the skin of the apple.

I’m in the middle of brainstorming with my teaching partner and we’ve been circling around this idea of cycles and how things seem to repeat themselves throughout history, regardless (ironically) of knowing the history in the first place. It all started with trying to build learning project that tied english composition (research) to African American literature. We came up with several ideas, most of which were rote thoughts we’d already done in one form or another. The idea of an integrative assignment is to take to seemingly disparate classes and show transfer of skills by unifying the two courses through a single assignment. It seems like a pretty good idea to take the next 10 minutes to sort some of it out…

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. The quote was born out of the wild musings of Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr and roughly translates into, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Our thoughts swirled around the idea that you can match specific points in history with modern times and/or other specific points in history and see parallels. You can see parallels between the Women’s rights movement and the Gay Right’s movement. You can see parallel’s between the Harlem renaissance, and the emergence of the latin-american voice in the southwest. So, we are looking at the idea of doing this on a limited scale. We want students to be able to identify these parallels and draw connections between certain movements and situations throughout time to movements and situations in their own time. Plus ça change.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. After watching Jon Oliver’s show last night, I feel a need to share (#mutuallyassuredhumiliation): I have occasion to look like a total idiot and be reminded of that. For example, when openly dissing Boston, as New Yorker’s are wont to do, I brought up that damned broken bell as part of my rant. I know the bell is in Philadelphia. It just fit the rant in some way–thus making me look the fool. Sometimes I step into such exposures fully on purpose like now when I find myself thinking and thus typing: What is up with Paul Frank and his crazy obsession with monkeys?
2. While we are on the subject of such creatures, I saw an ape walk upright. He did it for a considerable amount of steps, leading me to believe that Bigfoot is probably an ape that was walking upright at the time–probably as a show of dominance as they are wont to do (sorta like New Yorker’s talking shit about Boston, but without the credibility shattering Liberty Bell references).

One of the main reasons I was drawn to Shadowrun years ago was because of its dystopian vision of a world run by corporations. It was Big Brother writ large, where there was not one brother but a cadre of world corps civilly battling to control an ever-growing populace. Plus ca Change, as they say. One day I woke up, the 90’s were gone, fiction still pushed the image of corporate global dominance, and that Shadowrun myth seemed a lot closer to reality.

The name Blackwater has faded into legend. The company, formed in 1997 by Erik Prince, began as a private security firm and erupted into an army outsourcing corporation, taking its place beside KBR and Lockheed Martin as one of three primary drivers of the global military-industrial complex. Blackwater became Xe who became Acadami, conveniently masking its identity from the public under the glamour of public relations. Conventional American thinking tells you that you want to be able to control the media message, because the media message buys you votes. This is the same reason that British Petroleum calls itself Bp (to make it seem more international or even American for the American market) and why hedge funds caught in scandal often rename themselves, divesting themselves of notoriety and responsibility of action. All of these actions add up to one thing, the growing power of corporations in the world.

Too big to fail was a catch phrase of the housing market crash. At some point it was decided that the collapse of major corporations would damage the country more than allowing these corporations to be responsible would damage the country. Ironically, the same people screaming for our dollars to help the corps were the people screaming for us to stop being a welfare nation. I supposed welfare is only welfare if it is helping people and not corps.

I say all this to provide a glimpse into my thinking about the corporate machine. There is a certain inevitability here that you see played out largely in comic books and syfy channel tv dramas. In Japan, many swear fealty to their corporation from birth. How long before that becomes standard operating procedure for us? Heck, I suspect we are a lot closer than we all realize.

A semester ends quietly, but a season ends with a bang.

We went into the last game of the season facing a team that only lost 1 game (last week, coincidentally to a team we beat who in turn only lost to dear young us). We took an early 2-0 lead using the strategy I proposed in an earlier post. Afterwards, I flipped strategies and put 4 players back on defense. This was the wrong move. The kids backed down and let the pressure fall on their goalie. At one point they totally let the goalie down by blocking him when the other team kicked. 2-0 turned to 2-2 and that is how the season ended.

I’m good with that. Really good. We played a team that has played together for a while. Our team is a very young band of kids who are just starting to feel each other out and the situation shows a lot of growth potential. I’m learning that coaching is not only about cultivating talent but about cultivating friendships. Its also about logistics, but I’ve got work to do on that front.

Not all was perfect. Some mistakes were made. Most were made by me. Some of the parents reacted angrily to showing up at 8 for a game that was actually at 9:45. Rightfully so. I wouldn’t want to be out in that heat for an extra hour, not to mention the idea of having to get up early on a weekend. I couldn’t for the life of me understand where they got the idea that the game was so early. One parent suggested the schedule said we had the early game, but I’d checked that schedule after returning from practice and it said 9:45. Finally a parent reminded me that I’d sent an email early in the season with the times of all the games. Unfortunately, my email had the wrong time for the last game. In other words, I screwed up the logistics on the thing.

 

 

Some Thoughts:

1. I’ve been doing some research on Sharia law, which I will share in a later post. One thing that is becoming surprisingly clear is the alignment between the laws being passed here, the cases being fought, and discussions about women’s rights and Sharia. It seems like we are leaning towards adopting more of those principles, but the charge is not coming from the Muslim community or from the left as the press would have you believe. The charge is coming from the right.

For those who haven’t seen Godzilla in a while, this is exactly what you’ve been waiting for. I originally cringed at the thought of a new Godzilla flick. The 90’s brought us a reboot so utterly terrible that the owners of the Godzilla franchise, Toho Films, worked the rebooted creature into the 2004 Godzilla: Final Wars just so the real Godzilla could kick its ass in under 20 seconds. This new one is worth the wait and up for a fight. Godzilla is a movie that brings excitement and enjoyment throughout. There are surprises I didn’t see coming and battles worthy of the Godzilla name.

No spoilers here, folks. The previews do an excellent job of sinking you into this new world of Godzilla. You know from watching that the legendary monster will eventually come ashore in America. After all, this is an American film. What you don’t know is how or why that happens. I can’t tell you that and still look at myself in the mirror, but I can tell you that this is as much a human story as it is a monster flick. This is two stories intertwining and told together. This is a film about family where we see the motives of every entity on proud display. There is no evil here. There is no right or wrong. This is as monster flicks should be: about survival of the fittest.

What I can tell you is the effects and graphics live up to the promise. There are occasional hints of the ‘man in the suit’ effect, but these are dimmed by the predatory movements and nature of the creatures involved. It is hard to believe that Godzilla is real to these people only because of the sheer scale of the creature, a feature the director of cinematography worked hard to make epic. The work is felt and even more impressively, plays into the subplots of the story.

If you’re looking for character development on the scale of Breaking Bad, you’ll be very disappointed very quickly. However, the acting does deliver and does make for a fun afternoon or evening with the family. Go see the big green monster, and if the crowd will stand for it, cheer when he starts kicking ass.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. Its official: I am more coherent during daylight hours. From now on I must fight to write in the daylight and save evenings for Minecraft, movies, and other endeavors of a non-critical thinking nature.
2. Last game of the soccer season is tomorrow. We are 2-3-1 and have a slim chance of getting to .500. Still, I believe in these kids and I believe they can knock off the undefeated #1 team and all of its superstar players. To that end I’ve structured a strategy that includes putting 3 forwards and 3 midfielders in as well as ‘marking up’ star players on the other side. In other words, I’m going to put my tenacious players on their best players and straight up shut them down.

So the NBA Final 4 is set. The Thunder will dance with the Spurs while Miami and Indiana renew their rivalry. I only seem to like basketball during the playoffs anymore. Perhaps it allows me to watch without the edges of fear and disappointment gnawing through my psyche. I know the Knicks aren’t going to be there, so I’m no longer waiting for them to let me down. I’m good with two of these teams winning it all. If the Spurs take it, then that is class on display right there. The Spurs have been the class of the NBA since David Robinson. The Heat, on the other hand, are the flash and fire of the league–a rag tag group of has beens and role playing vets clinging hopefully to the power of the big three. If I were a betting man, I’d plop down my cash on the Heat. In fact, I think I will head out to Vegas some time soon and do just that.

I’m not putting down cash on a Jets v. Giants Superbowl yet. I don’t want to jinx it.

The truth is, both teams gained some legitimacy this off season. The Jets ushered in a new QB controversy while the G-men ended their receiver controversy in the first round. It looks like the new NYG offense is going to stress 3 wide sets and use the spread to open up lanes in the run game.It is certainly a interesting approach. Knowing that they don’t have  playmaking tight end points to the fact that this may be a good idea.

 

Me, I’m out of ideas and tired for the night. More tomorrow.

The SyFy channel series Continuum speaks of a time where police officers (known as protectors) dress in technology that offers them tremendous protection, power, and feedback to their superiors. These cops constitute a more acceptable evolution from the traditional ‘Robocop’ impression of a cyborg and seem to indicate that there is a possibility we could one day move in that direction. A casual encounter with a handful of new wearable technologies have me convinced we are a lot closer to the cyborg future than I thought.

It was Lumo that opened my eyes. The bodytech outfitter just pre-released a product called lumo lift, which is meant to analyze your posture and provide constant updates and reminders on how straight/proper your posture is. This is done by attaching a small device to clothing on your upper body. The device tracks and analyzes you in order to provide the desired feedback. I already wear a similar device, a Jawbone Up, that tracks my steps. There are others out there. Google Glass records everything you see–a feature that has seen it outlawed in some bars and other public establishments. The Nike + sensor tracks your footfalls, and at the higher end of the spectrum,  cyber replacement limbs are moving towards brain-based control.

This is only a 10 minute response, so I am not going to break down the pros and cons here. The post is to acknowledge that it is coming.

It is tough sliding back into the skin of Arizona living. I miss New York. There is a part of it that is always thrumming through my veins, driving me back towards the city. I think about the place of my birth and I think about what cool is and what culture (dominant and useful culture) means. I think about Arizona and I think about summer bugs beating at my door, oppressive heat, and naked contentment with subpar conditions. It is home and I love it in a certain way. There are days like today when all I want to do is sit in the yard and feels the breeze course over me. Then there are other days when I recognize that I sit in the cradle of ignorance.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. I struggle with children of oppression who wind up being crazy racist. The Sterling thing has me pretty pissed off–not the part about him being racist, but the part about him being a Jewish racist. You’d think the lessons learned from his own family would show him the horrors of discrimination…

I recently read a book (which shall remain unnamed) that reminded me of the power of character in story. In short, character is the key to story–the driving force that determines the direction and gives purpose to a story. Who a character is must affect how a story is written and the eventual outcome. The writer of the book in question is experienced enough to be aware of this, but the book shows no evidence of this knowledge. In truth the novel suffers from the worst affliction possible to a story: If you changed the characters race, age, gender, affliction, etc. the story wouldn’t be affected at all.

From time to time I call this the Bella affliction, or PANTS. The latter name comes from the notion that Bella, the lead character of the Twilight series, could be easily replaced by a pair of ladies jeans. Short of being female and young, every other variable about her could be changed–race, personality, characteristics, etc. and the story would still play out the same way. This is exactly how the other novel I just read played out. In fact, these PANTS could’ve switched gender and age without the story skipping a beat.

Story is about character, so who a character is must affect the choices made in the story and, in many ways, determines where the story begins and ends. Without this fundamental part of story, all you are doing is pushing script for Oculus Rift. I think some writers get lost in trying to tell an epic saga and focusing on the big mystery and or the great changes their worlds will undergo. All of those mysteries and changes are meaningless unless the reader cares about the person that stuff is happening to. Readers are followers. We follow people in stories because we care about what happens to them. Things happening independent of people to care about are just empty things.

For the first time in a long while I am in jeopardy of a loosing season. I’m frustrated by this because it feels like a continuation of what went down at the end of the flag football season. We dropped two of the last four games, because the kids simply could not execute. The talent was there, but the kids couldn’t make the plays and the plays didn’t work to help put the kids in the best position to make the plays. This time the sport is soccer and the problem again is execution. The coaching is working to a point. The kids love practice and they come into the practice with excitement and energy, but come game time they take a half off–first or second depending on the game. It leads me to wonder how they plan to finish the season and how I can break this routine for the upcoming basketball season.