Carnival

So yesterday I went to the free carnival we had at church(and I would have posted yesterday if my brother had ever let me have access to the computer. . .) at I have two questions: 1, why can I have a five minute conversation with a man I recognize but I have no idea who he is and at the same time easily rocognize another guy(who happened to be introduced to me at least twice) but he did not recognize me. But he did sing well. 2: What ever possessed the people in charge to serve popcorn in Barf Bags? It was scary.

And on another unrelated note, why do authors choose to write in the present tense? I understand that form follows function, so present fits when people role-play, but when its a book in a series that occurse before the rest of the books? It is funny, though. All the reviews on the book happen to come from a completly different book in the series(which happened to be written in past tense). Anyway, happy trails!

Words

And now, an Ego booster as I talk about myself.  Well, actually about my posts.  If any of you for whatever reason took the time to look at a post you had already seen you may have noticed I changed the title of one of the from Lament to Requiem.  Either word would work as a title for the post, as would Coronach, Threnody, or Elegy, but I figured Requiem better feet the feeling of the piece, as it was about the death of a Neo-Classical musician.  This word change thing got me thinking about the power of one word over another.  This is often what defines great poems and great literature from it's near-great counterparts.  For example, when writing about the Rohan, J.R.R. Tolkien choose to concentrate on words of Germanic origins to better feet the people.  Thus concludes my thoughts on the words.

Burn New Line

Well, apparently the extended Return of the King is not coming out until December.  Seems quite stupid to me, and if people at New Line Start Dying, don't look at me.  I would suggest blaming Willow, who has no shame(I assume) and is more dangerous than her murder plotting identical twin.  Anyway. . .I no happy camper.  But Azkaban comes out November 23rd.

Money

Well, they've done it again.  They raised prices at work.  We are now effectively the most expensive fast food restaurant out there(except for maybe Subway).  Not only did they increase the price of the sandwiches, they decreased the value of the combo meal.  Some combo meals are now $.40 more expensive.  And they don't even pay me more.  Quite depressing. 

What size was that?

Does anyone remember the book BFG?  If you don't, BFG stars a Big Friendly Giant, which leaves an interesting question: If he is a Big Friendly Giant, that means there are Little Friendly Giants.  How, exactly, do you get a little giant?  Just wondering.

Can I hate it?

Am I allowed to dislike a movie for not being another movie?  I just finished watching the Magnificent Seven, and while it is a good western it does not do justice to Seven Samurai, the film it says it copies.  You can clearly see the similarities between the films, even the setup of certain scenes, but as a whole The Magnificent Seven feels very shallow and not as fulfilling as the Seven Samurai.  MS also has the problem of trying to fit the samurai code and honor into a western setting, and it is apparent where it does not work, because it does not work very badly.  Still, I can't say I would not recommend MS to anyone, but I would suggest that if you had three and a half hours to see Seven Samurai instead.

Requiem

All great things must come to an end.  Jerry Goldsmith, the mind behind great soundtracks, such as those accompanying Star Trek and the original Planet of the Apes, died on July 21st.  He, with John Williams, founded the Neo Classical movement within the film industry.  It is sad to see the end of a man who I would place in the top five film composers of all time.  He'll live on, though, every time someone takes a journey where no man has gone before. 

An interesting note about Goldsmith: he conducted the original score for 2001: A Space Odyssey(written by Alex North) before Kubrick dumped it in favor of Also Sprach Zarathustar and other classical titles.  

Our World and the People in It

I am amazed and what the people in this world are willing to do, and how fast things can change.  It is scary, sometimes.

An odd thing I did. . .

I found this list of books on another blog with instructions, so I followed them but did not want to clutter this blog(the list is almost 400 lines long) so I stuck it in my other blog and here is the link for any of you crazy enough to check it out: http://musingsofamadmunchkin.blogspot.com/

Comments

If anyone tried to post a comment and was not allowed to that problem is fixed.

Song and Culture

If you want to know what a culture values, look at its music.  In the past myths (which always reflect in at least some way a cultures core values) were transferred through song, as were many religious beliefs and ideas.  While many of these were more of poems than true songs they all had a noticeable beat and often were accompanied by a harp or another instrument.  If you take this to today, the culture of America is scary.  The popular songs speak of drugs, sex, and death, particularly suicide.  You have you wonder what effect this music is really having on our world. 

Reading

I have a simple yet incredibly time-consuming question: what posses somebody(in particular me) to spontaneously decide some morning(this morning) to pick up Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and finish reading it by six o'clock the same evening?  I am actually very curious what makes those books so good that I would do little else but read them, even if it is for the forth time(the same actually goes for a variety of other written works).  Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

Today's Events

Well, today was a little more interesting than usual, but that is not all together a good thing.  We spent the day up at our cabin on Ennis Lake and on our way back we came across an accident that had just occurred on Norris Hill.  We had two cars, so the one carrying the Eagle Scout stopped to provide aid and what could while the other car kept going until we could get cell reception and call 911.  After completing the call we turned back because my sister had taken a semester of first aid so she was going to help if necessary.  If you are unfamiliar with Norris Hill, the road is three lanes, two going uphill and one down.  What had happened was two sets of cars were driving past each other on the most outside lane and both of the cars in the back decided to pass at the same time, which unfortunately meant they hit each other head on.  The cars then spun out of control and went of the road and both ended up fifteen to twenty feet down the hill.  Each car only had one person in it, and both sustained pretty heavy injuries.  The smaller of the two cars was burning when we returned from placing the call.  Needless to say, when, later this evening, we were driving up Kagy towards the east and a car in the left turn lane decided to continue driving straight and nearly smash into us it was quite interesting.

The nothing time

Not much has gone on the last couple of days, so I thought I would tell you all about it.  Which I have just done, as not much is needed to talk about not much.  Other than the cupcakes at work.  Those were good.  One of the managers was bored before she came to work so she made everybody cupcakes. 

Muzak

What I learned today: Muzak is not only a type of bad music, it is also a registered trade mark of the Muzak corporation. I kind of feel sorry for the people who work there, because I have heard nothing but mocking for Muzak. Anyway. . .

Okay, who sniffed the glue?

I browsed through a book called Harry Potter Slueths at Hastings today. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they were absolutely positve James Potter and Remeus Lupin used a switching spell on themselves shortly before 'James' died. Thus Lupin is really Harry's father. They cited numerous places in the books where apparently J.K. Rowling hinted at this. As for myself, I think they're a little off the rocker.

Myth

Back to my earlier post on Myth Quest, I watched another episode today and was slightly dissapointed about the way it was put together. The show could be wonderful with the right people running it, because it has such a great concept. And a quote from the show.
"Destroying the myths would destroy who we are."
-Max
I know one person who would agree here. Myths define out culture(like Arthur, King of the Britons) and create the origin of many stories.

Question

I have an interesting question to pose: Why do good things happen to bad people? I've noticed most people ask why do bad things happen to good people, but why not ask this reverse? It is just as pertinent.

Myths and Film

I just watched part of a PBS show called Myth Quest. It is aimed at the younger age, but I found it rather interesting. The show revolves around a pair of kids looking for their father. He disappeared into a Myth in the past, and they must search myths to find him. The episode I watched placed Alex(one of the kids) in the role of Minokichi, a woodsmen who unwittingly marries a snow vampire. The entire story can be found here [scroll down to THE SNOW BRIDE]. Anyway, I really like the idea of the show because it is all about the myths across the world. The only problem I find is that they try to show all the effects laden portions of the myths with poor visual effects. It leaves little up to the imagination and what it portrays is clearly not what the thinkers of the myth believed whatever it is should look like. I would still suggest you try to watch it sometime.

Film

In any of you local people are interested, during next semester I am looking for a couple of people willing to appear in a regular(once a week) filmed serial. Total film length will be a bout three to five minutes a week, but as those of you with film background will know this could take multiple hours to film. So if you're willing to give up a couple hours(around homework) I would be glad to have you on the team. I will be sure to show you the results regardless. Also, if any of you feel you have aspiring script writing capabilities(particularly comedic) I would love it if you would lend your talents(in any amount) to the scriptwriting. I'll give you more details if you want. But for you original gang(as in the group I hung out with three years ago) this project has its roots in the Y-Files.

Marriage

It's funny learning about today's culture. The marriage age is increasing for first marriages(it's now about 28) and many Shrinks(or whatever they're called) are saying this is a good thing, but I'm not sure I agree entirely. This change is partially a result of the increased ability of people to feel fine when they experiment with other people and their lives. Thus our culture is supportive of dating to the extreme before finally settling down. They consolers say this is good because it allows people to find who they are compatible with, but I think it is far more effective to become friends then let it go from there. Just my thoughts.

Photo Shoot

My grandmother organized a photo shoot of her side of the family today. We were aways out down Story Mill road(towards the dump) and off by a creek. My family(all twelve) were dressed in white tops and blue jeans and each other familyt had matching clothing. Anyway, the fun part was watching the cars go by us, and every head would follow us as they passed. Quite funny.

Fools(or not)

Interesting thought on the cliche "Fools go where angels fear to tread." Fools here could be replaced with very wise men, if you think about. The wisest of men(or women, it means both in this context) would no he has nothing to fear from situations where others say "angels fear to tread" because they now God protects them and would let nothing happen to them outside of his will. Just a thought.

An ingenious failure

Well, today was interesting. The goal was for me and Cooper to go to Billings and visit Willow's alternate personality. We figured how hard could it be? We'll drive up there as a surprise. First problem is we don't know where the house is, so we drive to what we think is it, decide its not, call friends, find out it is, then go back. Imagine our surprise when we get there and find no one at the house. Oh, easy to rectify. The magic of cell phones. No answer. Try again. Nothing. Call friends, looking for address of new house(where family might be) or name of bar(owned by parents). Get nothing. Begin to browse the phone book, looking for a name which is familiar. Get nothing, again. Drive around town, checking remotley correct seeming bars. Go firgure. Call local man, Jake. Ask for help. Make a few attempts, get nothing. Go and eat lunch, then one last stop at the house, complete with two notes. One short, one indecipherable for the most part. One last, all events inclusive message on the phone, that it is back home, a couple hours after we arrived. We made a stop in Laurel for cheap gas, lost ditch call. Get her father at home, but she is in limbo. Then on to Columbus, where we stop for a rest stop. Call the cell. Finally get through, talk for a long time, leave, and plan on returning(maybe). Darn you Murphy.

Everything and nothing

Well, not much has happened the last couple of days so I figured I would post and tell all about nothing. . .yep. Exactly. I went to work, I went home, I slept. I went to work, I came home, I typed this. That is about it. Oh, and I watched some TV. Okay, you can all go back to your lives now.

The Matrix

I just watched the special feature on the Matrix Reloaded DVD about the making of the Highway scene and an interesting thought came to mind. The point of the Matrix is to provide power, which is done through people. Thus, the more people in the Matrix the more power it produces. It is then logical that it should be designed in order to keep the largest number of people alive. It seems to me the simplist way to do this would be to have the core program of the Matrix stretch chance, so people are just lucky enough to escape crashes that should have been lethal. Well, just a thought, though I may one day try to make something more out of it.

Guten Tag.

Howdy! I'm sure you all know who I am, and if you don't most of what I shall say shall not be pertinant to you, so it doesn't matter. Anyway, I decided I'm going to keep this blog with interesting things that happen to me and thoughts I want to share, so now it begins, here.