William, shouldn't you be studying? Yes. Probably.
Dakota is watching the Captain Planet Marathon on Boomerang before her ice skating lesson. I remember when this cartoon first came out, it was just the zenith of cartoons that successfully propelled the sale of toys (GI Joe, Transformers, and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe) had given way to more players entering the space with lower production value cartoons and toys for a higher price (Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Inhumanoids, Galaxy Rangers, C.O.P.S.). Enter Captain Planet. I have some gratitude for the makers of this show. There would be times when I would try to procrastinate studying by watching TV and it would be Captain Planet, within 2 seconds, I would be back to studying.
I never gave it much thought as to what, precisely, it was about Captain Planet that annoyed me. My gut reaction was "Don't tell me what to think, Orwellian Propagandist!"
Dakota is not so picky.
Actually the show manages to pack in a huge amount of relatively sophisticated (if biased) discussion about environmental issues pitting the Planeteers against misguided capitalists and various one-dimensional bad guys. One the annoyingly preachy scale of television, Captain Planet scores less than a full blown "7th Heaven" but higher than "the original Star Trek"
In the particular episode that was on happened to deal with "Clear-cutting" in the lunber industry. Although the episode took certain (ahem) liberties with how an ALJ (Administrative Law Judge) will conduct a regulatory adjudication, the fact that they the competing interests joust over adminstrative procedure in order to prevent the other side from submitting decisive subtantive material was surprisingly interesting. Then, suddenly, the Planeteers get backed into a corner and invoke their magical power to summon Captain Planet, the most annoying Deus Ex Machina ever, and the whole episode was ruined.
The memories all came flooding back: Wasn't there something vaguely rascist and ethnocentric about the ham-fisted way that the writers tried to be "inclusive"? Why have the essential elements be "Wind, Fire, Water, and Heart"? If you want your cartoon to be educational, teach science not alchemy! And not to put to fine a point on it, Captain Planet himself is a freaky, wussy, smart-alek.
Having said all that: I feel that I should do my part to raise awareness. Be aware that Arbor day is April 28. Whew, all of my middle-class guilt is washed away in one big empty guesture.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Recognizing the substance
On law school exams there is an important skill called issue spotting. It works a bit like this
If you are too lazy to click the link it's a clip from Indiana Jones 3 where the dialog goes:
Elsa: What's this one?
Indiana: The Ark of the Covenant.
Elsa: Are you sure?
Indiana: Pretty sure.
Ideally in Law school they would teach you the substance of the law by having to get important clues from your ex/offspring of your former teacher only to be interrupted by gun-toting Nazis in the process, followed by a day of digging in the desert, followed by being tossed into a pit full of snakes, followed by holding on to a submarine for hundreds of nautical miles, followed by witnessing the judgment come down wherein it looks like you've lost but then all of adverse parties and their advocate have their faces melted off, but then you can't collect on the judgment because a federal agency is within its discretion to seal all the records and anyway all the facts must be held in confidence through sancrosanct rules. But at least you've learned something.
unfortunately, all they can really do is make you puzzle through the hieroglyphics of these adventures and be amazed.
If you are too lazy to click the link it's a clip from Indiana Jones 3 where the dialog goes:
Elsa: What's this one?
Indiana: The Ark of the Covenant.
Elsa: Are you sure?
Indiana: Pretty sure.
Ideally in Law school they would teach you the substance of the law by having to get important clues from your ex/offspring of your former teacher only to be interrupted by gun-toting Nazis in the process, followed by a day of digging in the desert, followed by being tossed into a pit full of snakes, followed by holding on to a submarine for hundreds of nautical miles, followed by witnessing the judgment come down wherein it looks like you've lost but then all of adverse parties and their advocate have their faces melted off, but then you can't collect on the judgment because a federal agency is within its discretion to seal all the records and anyway all the facts must be held in confidence through sancrosanct rules. But at least you've learned something.
unfortunately, all they can really do is make you puzzle through the hieroglyphics of these adventures and be amazed.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
I'll take Manifest Destiny for $1000 Alex...
This may have been mentioned before, but I do not think so.
Jason LOVES James K. Polk by the alt/nerd rock band They Might Be Giants. He has taken to this song more than Dakota ever took to any song. She does have her favorites, Blackbird, sung by The Beatles (and Daddy), The boy song, and the girl song (I will let well edit this later to tell the names of said songs, as they elude me at this moment). And she did have a They Might Be Giants phase when she recieved the DVD of Here Comes the ABCs. But never has one song placated her as this particular song has done for Jason.
It was one of my favorites from highschool (ah, the lovely time of life known as highschool...), and the lyrics are pretty easily memorized, and the melody is simple enough that even I can't butcher it entirely. I guess one day I must have started to sing it to him to calm him down. Dakota's calm down song (or at least the one I tried) was Deep in the Heart of Texas (the stars at night/are big and bright/*clap clap clap clap*/deep in the heart of Texas). But she never really responded to it. Jason always calmed and stared at me during JKP. And, of course, one day I played the Dial a Song compilation album in the car, and Jason calmed at that song. Now every "Jason" mix Will creates must have, nay, start with that song.
And it still works. He would not accept his bed time this evening. I said "night night" and he shook his head and screamed at me. I put the cd on, and he was quiet for a while, but then began to yell again. So the song went on repeat. And now, a half a dozen times through, he is peacefully snoring away. To anybody else, this would be like playing the drinking game "We Built this City" (where everybody gets locked in a room, with the classic Starship song on repeat, and nobody can use the bathroom or leave until everybody has finished the predetermined quantity of beverage of choice). But to Jason, this repetition is bliss, calming and comforting.
Someday, either in an AP US History class, or on Jeopardy, the words of this song will come back to him, and hopefully, he will remember his mom singing to him. Or if that is too corny, then he can just give a shout out to John and John.
Jason LOVES James K. Polk by the alt/nerd rock band They Might Be Giants. He has taken to this song more than Dakota ever took to any song. She does have her favorites, Blackbird, sung by The Beatles (and Daddy), The boy song, and the girl song (I will let well edit this later to tell the names of said songs, as they elude me at this moment). And she did have a They Might Be Giants phase when she recieved the DVD of Here Comes the ABCs. But never has one song placated her as this particular song has done for Jason.
It was one of my favorites from highschool (ah, the lovely time of life known as highschool...), and the lyrics are pretty easily memorized, and the melody is simple enough that even I can't butcher it entirely. I guess one day I must have started to sing it to him to calm him down. Dakota's calm down song (or at least the one I tried) was Deep in the Heart of Texas (the stars at night/are big and bright/*clap clap clap clap*/deep in the heart of Texas). But she never really responded to it. Jason always calmed and stared at me during JKP. And, of course, one day I played the Dial a Song compilation album in the car, and Jason calmed at that song. Now every "Jason" mix Will creates must have, nay, start with that song.
And it still works. He would not accept his bed time this evening. I said "night night" and he shook his head and screamed at me. I put the cd on, and he was quiet for a while, but then began to yell again. So the song went on repeat. And now, a half a dozen times through, he is peacefully snoring away. To anybody else, this would be like playing the drinking game "We Built this City" (where everybody gets locked in a room, with the classic Starship song on repeat, and nobody can use the bathroom or leave until everybody has finished the predetermined quantity of beverage of choice). But to Jason, this repetition is bliss, calming and comforting.
Someday, either in an AP US History class, or on Jeopardy, the words of this song will come back to him, and hopefully, he will remember his mom singing to him. Or if that is too corny, then he can just give a shout out to John and John.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Expect the unexpected
The History Channel- 10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America looks good but I already missed most of it and I don't care enough to Tivo it. Mostly I just want to grouse about "Expect the Unexpected"
First of all to give it the standard treatment:
If you expect something by definition it cannot be unexpected, this expression is merely a poetically imprecise statement of "More events may transpire than are within the scope of even the best forecasts or even previous experience, but one can become adept at quickly accommodating to the transpiring of rarely experienced or previously unexperienced events."
Boy howdy, that was tedious.
Normally I find paradoxical expressions delightful but "Expect the unexpected" is just so overused and idiotic. I think less of the History Channel for using it.
Now that's a funny expression. I don't often think of the History Channel to begin with. In fact, this blog post is about the most (which is more than more) that I've thought about the History Channel. I guess I don't know how to express myself. Let's Mulligan:
I think more of the History Channel for using it-- more bad things, that is.
First of all to give it the standard treatment:
If you expect something by definition it cannot be unexpected, this expression is merely a poetically imprecise statement of "More events may transpire than are within the scope of even the best forecasts or even previous experience, but one can become adept at quickly accommodating to the transpiring of rarely experienced or previously unexperienced events."
Boy howdy, that was tedious.
Normally I find paradoxical expressions delightful but "Expect the unexpected" is just so overused and idiotic. I think less of the History Channel for using it.
Now that's a funny expression. I don't often think of the History Channel to begin with. In fact, this blog post is about the most (which is more than more) that I've thought about the History Channel. I guess I don't know how to express myself. Let's Mulligan:
I think more of the History Channel for using it-- more bad things, that is.
Monday, April 10, 2006
William Lee is in JEOPARDY!
I was going to say William Lee is a complete tool until he rocked out a $5800 daily double and and $15,300 final jeopardy. Not bad for 30 minutes work, makes a few dorky promo clips worthwhile.
Growing up, I used to hate it when people would spell my last name Lee instead of Li. Then people knew it bothered me so they started doing it on purpose. Then it stopped bothering me. Then one day I was hungry, so I made a sandwhich. It was peanut butter on bread. No Jam or banana. Blogging and banality both start with "B." There were a lot of "B" words in that last sentence. Some sentences say "s" starting such sounds so spoken.
Growing up, I used to hate it when people would spell my last name Lee instead of Li. Then people knew it bothered me so they started doing it on purpose. Then it stopped bothering me. Then one day I was hungry, so I made a sandwhich. It was peanut butter on bread. No Jam or banana. Blogging and banality both start with "B." There were a lot of "B" words in that last sentence. Some sentences say "s" starting such sounds so spoken.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Yeeeeeeeee! and/or *gulp*
I am currently in the wonderful position of feeling both exhilerated at the possibilites that exist in the future, and terrifyingly nervous about the same prospects.
It is as if one moment the butterflies are keeping me aloft aside a cloud, and then they decide to head back to their usual and prefered resting place, my stomach.
I can't elaborate further now, but hope to be able to soon, with positive news.
And NO, I am NOT pregnant, thankyouverymuch.
It is as if one moment the butterflies are keeping me aloft aside a cloud, and then they decide to head back to their usual and prefered resting place, my stomach.
I can't elaborate further now, but hope to be able to soon, with positive news.
And NO, I am NOT pregnant, thankyouverymuch.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
My Princess is 5!
She was very good at school today, especially during her doughnut hole and apple juice party.
She is now happily player her new Leapster, while Jason scampers laps around the couch.
Life is good!
She is now happily player her new Leapster, while Jason scampers laps around the couch.
Life is good!
Happy birthday, Dakota
Kerry and Travis hope that Dakota has a great birthday. We'd also like to remind her that she will be exactly five only for a moment, roughly five for only a year, but that Bob Fosse can be alive in her soul always.
Jazz hands!
Jazz hands!
Spread out the fingers of one hand and pretend to catch a baseball
I remember thinking that this was the ultimate wildcard hand sign for a driver because it meant so many important things:
"Hi"
"Thanks"
"I'm going and you are stopping"
"My bad"
"Peace"
"Five"
"Look at the size of my hand"
"Bob Fosse is alive in my soul"
Now I know that it mainly means five. At least it does today.
"Hi"
"Thanks"
"I'm going and you are stopping"
"My bad"
"Peace"
"Five"
"Look at the size of my hand"
"Bob Fosse is alive in my soul"
Now I know that it mainly means five. At least it does today.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Louren, Take a Deep Breath...
...and let it out slowly. Finish this post, then finish your portfolio.
My mom gave me the best advice yesterday, re my portfolio.
roughly, "don't waste time making it perfect first, you will never finish. Just put it all together, and THEN organize it."
Which when I think about it makes the most sense, of course. My mom is very smart, as well as being a good cook.
Whenever we want Dakota to eat something new, we have found the perfect "trick"
"but Dakota, this is Oma's secret recipie"
Works every time. So far.
My mom gave me the best advice yesterday, re my portfolio.
roughly, "don't waste time making it perfect first, you will never finish. Just put it all together, and THEN organize it."
Which when I think about it makes the most sense, of course. My mom is very smart, as well as being a good cook.
Whenever we want Dakota to eat something new, we have found the perfect "trick"
"but Dakota, this is Oma's secret recipie"
Works every time. So far.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
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