Thursday, 15 March 2012

Okay, first: Can you believe it’s already been 2,055 years since Julius Caesar was assassinated? Seems like only yesterday. Where does the time go?

If 60 Roman Senators didn’t kill him, the food would have.

Second: When I checked my University email account this afternoon during lunch, I was pleased to learn that both of the essays I submitted for Hamline’s 2012 edition of The Fulcrum were accepted for inclusion. The editors invited me to a book release event in late April wherein I get to read one of the pieces. Also at that time, I will get several copies of the book, so if you want one, let me know. I am willing to autograph the book for a reasonable fee.

Third: After logging 23 non-consecutive weeks at #1, Adele’s album 21 has given was to the new Bruce Springsteen album, Wrecking Ball. While I was more than happy to see Adele continue to rack up weeks at #1 (and there’s no proof that 21 won’t get back to the top again), if she’s gonna lose the top spot to someone, I’m glad it’s Springsteen.

Wrecking Ball now gives the Boss his 10th number one album. This ties him with Elvis at third place for Most #1s ever. I’m not a Springsteen fan, but he certainly deserves the notoriety over so much of the genetically modified crap out there. And, now that I think about it, his 2006 album, We Shall Overcome, would definitely go on my list of favorite albums (holy crap! I think I just thought of an idea for another list!). We Shall Overcome, in fact, is the only Springsteen album from this century to not go to #1 on the album charts.

Certainly one factor affording Springsteen so many number ones is how prolific he’s been; he’s released 17 studio albums, 5 live albums, and five compilation (e.g., “Greatest Hits”) albums. Conversely, one reason why he doesn’t have more #1 albums to his credit is, well, his own fault:

In 1992, he released the albums Human Touch and Lucky Town on the same day. This meant he had to compete with himself for sales. The two albums peaked at #2 and #3, respectively. If he would have spaced them out by, oh, about a month, he surely would have garnered two #1 albums that spring.

Anyway, congrats, Bruce. Knocking Adele off the throne must’ve made it that much sweeter.

Sunday, 11 March 2012

 Perhaps inspired by my post yesterday, I was inspired to do more home-improving today.

First, I finished spray-painting the light fixture for our downstairs bathroom. It was shiny gold, now it’s matte silver, which matches the hooks, tap, and toilet handle a lot better. I actually think it’s a pretty ugly light fixture – it’s one of those wall-mounted styles with the bulbs jutting out all exposed and, boy, do I hate exposed light bulbs. If you want to give me a headache, invite me over to your house, turn your dining room lights on (which always seem to hang down a bit) and tell me to sit in the living room. The exposed bulbs will be in my peripheral all evening, and the squinting will give me a headache. On a related note, if you want to give yourself a headache, just invite me over.

Anyway, the bulbs are still exposed, but at least the metal backing is silver. And, despite what all the jewelery company commercials say, Silver > Gold.

Monday, 12 March 2012

Today I competed in Toastmasters’ “International Contest” for Area 51 speakers. By “Area 51,” I don’t mean the shoot-to-kill-if-you-tresspass area the government has cordoned off in Nevada, but the local area of Toastmasters clubs.

The competition was held at the Maple Grove Government Center. Only one person from each club could compete, and they had to be invited from their club. My club invited me to compete using my speech “A Backwards Speech.”

I didn’t win. I didn’t expect to win, actually, since I’m relatively new to Toastmasters and I knew I’d be competing against the best speakers from each of the surrounding clubs. But at least I was not disqualified (more on that in a moment)! My club’s President came to the event to provide moral support, and I think that was really awesome of her.

I knew I wasn’t going to win approximately a half hour before I gave my speech. It was then that the first speaker delivered his presentation and I thought, “Wow…that was pretty awesome.” Another downside to my speech was that I relied heavily on electronic media (using both Quicktime and PowerPoint). No one else used any sort of AV resources. Granted, I don’t think the judges counted this against me, but there was some difficulty with the logistics of the overhead projector and the speakers and my Quicktime movie was too quiet. Ugh. If I ever compete like this again, I’m not using electronics of any sort.

Now, about being disqualified: Members from Area 52 were also present. I thought they’d be competing with us, but they were given their own separate competition. Here’s the funny thing: Only one person from Area 52 was there to compete. Before the program began, one of the judges told her: “All you need to do is speak for 5-7 minutes and you’ll win!” Not very fair, I thought. Also, not very deserved. I don’t think I’d feel too proud if I had gotten home tonight and said: “Guess what? I won the competition by competing against no one!”

Well, when the time came to present the trophies, the Toastmaster first announced the winner from Area 51. He then opened the envelope for Area 52 and said, “We’ve had a disqualification, so there won’t be any winners from Area 52 tonight.” I turned to my President (who was sitting next to me) and said, “Awkward!”

Tuesday, 13 March 2012

Before class this morning, I stopped in and visited with the professor. She and I had arranged this time. We pulled up my transcript. Actually, she had me pull up my transcript on her computer, during which time I managed to drop her mouse off the die of the desk, and we figured out how many more history classes I need in order to know everything there is to know about history.

She seemed very on board with me getting a History Minor. Having just achieved an A on the last exam probably helped. I considered telling her that today marks the anniversary of Herschel’s discovery of Uranus – you know, to show her that I know history – but I couldn’t think of a way to phrase the sentence without giggling.

She next signed off on this paper I had with me – I think it’s called the Paper to Fill Out to Declare Your Major and Minor Paper – and so now it’s official:

I am a History Minor.

Or, would that be:

I am working on a Minor in History.

Or maybe:

Me get History Minor.

I don’t know. Maybe we should ask an English Major how to phrase it.

Wednesday, 14 March 2012

I updated the “Books I’ve Read This Year” tab (see above). I added another Ron Roy book. Roy is not only the most represented author on that list (which lists only books I’ve finished reading in 2012), but he is well on his way to being the most represented author on my list of books I’ve EVER read.

No – wait – I just checked: As of today, I have read more books by Ron Roy than any other author.

Just FTHOI, here’s a list of the most represented authors on my list…

Cecil Adams (5 books)

Ann Armbruster (6)

Dan Brown (5)

Beverly Cleary (8)

Arthur Conan Doyle (10)

David Feldman (12)

Gary Larson (7)

JK Rowling (8)

Ron Roy (13)

Lemony Snicket (5)

Laura Ingalls Wilder (9)

…Wow. That’s not what I thought it would look like. The list is almost totally fiction writers. I guess this makes sense because, if I like one book by a fiction author, I read their other books. The majority of books I read, however, are non-fiction, but such books are more subject-bound rather than author-bound. I also included only books that the author wrote or co-wrote entirely. I did not include authors if they’ve contributed to an anthology or wrote a preface for a book.

Anyway, Roy is #1. Expect his margin to widen in the coming months.

Tuesday, 06 March 2012

The Freethought House website was just updated to include the latest information on the book I’m co-editing.

I’m pretty excited about this, and not just because I’m accruing four college credits for doing it. If you read this blog, it’s pretty obvious (I think) that I love books, so it’s great to have such an insider look into the creation of one.

There’s a tab at the top of Freethought House’s site called “Atheist Voices of MN,” which opens a page detailing the forth-coming book. The bottom of the page lists all the people who contributed stories and artwork for the book. My wife and I are both listed there and, I gotta admit, it’s a little weird to see my name in the antepenultimate position (it’s usually last).

The book is scheduled for a September release, but this may be bumped up to August. Stay tuned!

Wednesday, 07 March 2012

Last summer, I uploaded this video to YouTube:

It’s not a particularly remarkable video; my friend, Rhett, and I were just out and about for the day and I was just filming random things. I was borrowing the camera from my high school and, if I recall correctly, I had to return it the next day, so I was just using it as much as I could.
Anyway, when I rewatched the film recently, I noticed something – 44 seconds into the video, Rhett quickly points out the Nut Goodies for sale.

I don’t think I ever noticed this before. I mean, I must’ve noticed it in the moment, because, as you can see, I turn the camera for a brief second to stop focusing on Rhett and point out the snack he just pointed out. But I never paid attention to that again. Rhett and I were kicked out of KFC just the day before, so just being able to film inside a store was amazing to me at the time, and in subsequent viewings, I paid more attention to the people in the film, rather than the quick mention of the snack food.
Why did he point out the Nut Goodies? Who knows? My guess is that they just caught the corner of his eye as he was rounding the corner in the gas station, and he figured he’d give me something “interesting” to film besides the back of his head.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the day we made A Groovy Teenage Movie, and so, to mark the occasion, I purchased three Nut Goodies and, following dinner, Jennifer, Owen, Isla and I shared some tasty home-grown Nut Goodies.

Thursday, 08 March 2012

Today, I brought the book The Pocket Guide to Minnesota Place Names, by Michael Fedo, into our house.

The funny thing about this boring piece of information, is that I purchased the book on August 24, 2007, and I think today is the day the book finally made it into the house.
I normally don’t take four-and-a-half years to carry new possessions from my car to my house, but I can explain this odd occurrence.
On that day back in 2007, Jennifer and I were celebrating our anniversary. We visited the Oliver H. Kelly Farm in Elk River. In the gift shop, I picked up this book and thought it would be interesting to learn “the stories behind 1,200 place names in the North Star State” (as the front cover advertises). So I bought it.
On the drive home, I decided it would be an excellent book to keep in the car – as we are driving around the state, we can open up to the name of the place we are traveling in, and learn how it got that name. So I tossed it in the glove compartment.
Over the years, I pulled it out whenever I was waiting in the car for one reason or another, and read a page or two in the book. Yesterday, when I pulled up to Owen’s school to pick him up, I arrived about ten minutes early. So, as I often do, I opened up the glove compartment, and began reading the book. With only three pages left, I easily finished it. I tossed it on the passenger seat and got out to go get Owen. Today, I brought it in the house to add to my list of books I’ve read.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, don’t bother with this book. Despite the claim of 1,000+ stories in the book, it contains almost none. Most place names are given just a one or two-sentence explanation, often just by saying “this river was named after the local saloon owner” or “this city is named after the corresponding city in England.” Stories those are not.

Also – interesting article on the large bill for the new sports stadium.

Friday, 09 March 2012

Tonight, before bedtime, Owen and I watched some silent films. Ever since I read The Invention of Hugo Cabret with him last month, we’ve been meaning to sit down and watch A Trip to the Moon (the 1902 film that SPOILER! forms a key point to the plot).

So, first we watched the Georges Méliès classic. We easily found it on YouTube. It’s only about 12 minutes long, so give it a whirl here:

Make sure you watch this one, and not the one labeled as “OFFICIAL,” because that one has a lousy voice-over.
At the end of the film, YouTube offers suggestions for similar films, so we also watched:

The Haunted Castle, from 1896,

The Astronomer’s Dream, from 1898,

and The Merry Skeleton, from 1897.

Owen laughed and giggled numerous times with all these films. He thought they were so great, he kept talking about the funny things that happened. Thanks to Jennifer, we snacked on pop-corn while watching the films, too.

We next found Safety Last, the 1923 Harold Lloyd film, in complete form on YouTube. The famous scene from this film, in which Lloyd is hanging from a clock on the side of a building, is discussed in Hugo Cabret, and a two-page spread shows an actual still from the film. So Owen immediately recognized the film and wanted to watch it. I’m glad he did, because it’s probably the most significant silent-era film that I’ve never watched. We watched about a third of the film tonight, and then I paused it and said I was too tired to finish. So Owen and I went to bed. I hope we get to finish the film tommorow!

Monday, 05 March 2012

Since I’m working on my minor in history at Hamline, I guess I should devote a minor amount of this blog to noting anniversaries of notable events in human history. That, and I’m obsessed with commemorating this sort of stuff, anyway.

It was on this day in 1980 that a fully booked passenger airplane en route to Chicago met up with a triple threat: inclement weather, incapacitated crew, and a bomb threat. While still in mid-air, pundits gave up the passengers for dead, and multiple news outlets declared there was no chance of a safe landing. In an unbelievable turnaround, however, one of the passengers, a former army pilot during Vietnam, with the help of the two flight attendants, wrested the bomb from the would-be terrorist, navigated the storm, and brought the plane in for a safe, albeit bumpy, landing. Though the injuries were many, no lives were lost in the landing.

The pilot went on to become a space shuttle test pilot and married one of the flight attendants. A documentary about the event can be found AT THIS LINK.

Of the reluctant passenger’s rise to heroism that day, one of the passengers memorably stated: “The bro was on. Didn’t flip. But the folks was fleeking man, hey. And the pilot was laid to the bone, home.”

But I can’t do his words justice. Just watch the clip: