I just found out that Lucy that inspired the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds died Monday of lupus. Lucy Vodden was classmates with John Lennon's son, Julian. Julian brought home a picture he made in class and said it was, "Lucy in the sky with diamonds." John Lennon ended up making a song out of it. Many people think that the song was actually named after LSD (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds), but that is not the case. I think it's an interesting coincidence though. For any of you that have seen the movie Yellow Submarine, it's easy to see why people thought it was LSD. I saw Yellow Submarine for the first time when I was about 8 years old, and it probably made more sense then than it does now.
Lucy died at age 46 of lupus. Lupus is a chronic illness during which the immune system attacks the body's own tissue. She battled this disease for more than five years. Original news article
Here's the Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds clip from the movie Yellow Submarine
Also, you can listen the Across the Universe verison for those people that want to listen to a more modern version.
So, a new TV show has made FOX Wednesday my favorite night of the week. GLEE! Glee is a show about a high school's show tune club. The program was dying until a new teacher takes charge. It's filled with tons of high school stereotypes, like the pregnant cheerleader dating a football player. It's also been filled with tons of surprises. It's like your typical high school drama show on musical steroids. Watch for yourself!
My favorite scene in The Sieve and the Sand is the scene where Mildred's friends come over to gossip. Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles both bring up important issues for this book.
Mrs. Phelps says, "The Army called Pete yesterday. He'll be back next week. The Army said so. Quick war. Forty-eight hours, they said, and everyone home. That's what the Army said. Quick war. Pete was called yesterday and they said he'd be back next week. Quick..." This quote shows that in this society, war has become nothing important. It is quick and easy. No one worries about it.
Mrs. Bowles says, "I've had two children by Caesarian section. No use going through all that agony for a baby. The world must reproduce, you know, the race must go on. Besides, they sometimes look just like you, and that's nice. Two Caesarians turned the trick, yes, sir. Oh, my doctor said, Caesarians aren't necessary; you've got the hips for it, everything's normal, but I insisted." "I plunk the children in school nine days out of ten. I put up with them when they come home three days a month; it's not bad at all. You heave them into the 'parlor' and turn the switch. It's like washing clothes: stuff laundry in and slam the lid. They'd just as soon kick as kiss me. Thank God, I can kick back!" The first thing this shows is that society had stopped caring about children. This also shows how everyone lives "comfortably". Mrs. Bowles doesn't want to go through pain so much that she has Caesarians. She also shows how vain she is because she wants her children to look like her so much.
For those of you who haven't heard yet, they're opening a Harry Potter theme park! It is opening spring 2010 in Universal Orlando. They are creating a life sized Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and Hogwarts Express. The park will be complete with racing dragon roller coasters and the Three Broom Sticks. I will definitely be visiting this park hopefully in the near future. It sounds so exciting. I can see that Harry Potter posts seem to be a trend for me.
Reading Fahrenheit 451 for the second time has given me a chance to relook at some aspects of the books I didn't notice before. When I read the book for the first time in 11th grade, I didn't pay as much attention to the little details because I was trying to understand what was happening in the book. In 11th grade my teacher pointed out a lot of the inventions Ray Bradbury predicted. If you look at many of the things in this book, they didn't exist in 1953 (The year the book was first published). Reading the book for the second time gave me a chance to realize all the predictions of future technology.
First are the earbuds, called "seashells" in the book. In 1953 they had radio, but headphones definitely were not earbuds like they are today and in the book. Bradbury almost predicted little ear phones that would fit into your ear.
Moving sidewalks and escalators are also mentioned in the book. I had to look up if escalators existed in 1953, and I found this, "The first patent relating to an escalator-like machine was granted in 1859 to a Massachusetts man for a steam driven unit." (Link to source) So, escalators did exist in 1953, but not the kind of moving sidewalks that Bradbury talks about in 451. They almost remind me of the moving sidewalks you find in airports or at Universal Studios, FL.
Subways also existed in 1953, but in the book Bradbury talks about air-propelled subways. Aeromovel is the only air-propelled train I could find that exists today. Aeromovel has actually built two air-propelled trains, one in Brazil and one in Indonesia. Aeromovel was created in 1994.
Bradbury also mentions sleeping pills in his book. Sleeping medicine is a very modern concept, and was just beginning to develop in 1953.
Bradbury also described a machine that "slid down into your stomach like a black cobra an echoing well looking for all the old water and old time gathered there." This is a decent description of "stomach pumps", also known as gastric lavage. The dictionary defines this device as "a suction pump with a flexible tube inserted into the stomach through the mouth and esophagus to empty the stomach in an emergency, as in a case of poisoning." Although stomach pumps have been around for many years, including in 1953, the concept of using it after a suicide attempt was very rare.
I'm completely admitting my dorkdom for this post. I'd like to tell the story of Ezra Chatterton, known as ePhoenix in the World of Warcraft. Ezra was only 10 years old when he discovered he had a brain tumor and was diagnosed with metastatic cancer. Since Ezra was contained to a hospital bed for treatment, he started to really enjoy the massive multiplayer online roleplaying game, World of Warcraft. Ezra was granted a wish from Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. "I wished for a trip to Blizzard because I'd like to see if they could make a character and do some things for us." (Blizzard is the company that makes WoW) Not only did Blizzard meet this wish, they completely outdid themselves. Ezra went to Blizzard for a day where they designed a whole new weapon, a mount, and a quest. The quest involved Ezra doing a sound recording for the quest characters voice, and they even made his dog in the game. They also completely outfitted his character in the best armor and weapons. Now this doesn't sound like much if you don't play WoW, but the weapon they created for him is an extremely rare item. He was the only one with his mount in the entire game (of 8.5 million people). It was the best mount of its time. Unfortunately about a year later, Ezra ended up dying from his brain tumor. They ended up making Ezra's character a Elder during the game's Lunar Festival. His weapon, quest, and mount still exist in Azeroth.
When I was searching for information on The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I found this video: http://blip.tv/file/1315315/ . It is a video of a speech that Steven Chbosky, author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, gave at ALA's Banned Books Read-Out. In the video Steven reads a letter from one of his fans, and urges libraries and schools not to ban books.
I would just like to say I'm kind of shocked by Kanye West's actions at the VMAs. Even if you didn't agree with Taylor Swift getting the award (I'm not a Taylor Swift fan at all), she still worked extremely hard to get where she did. I also thought it was very awesome of Beyonce to give up most of her acceptance speech so that Taylor Swift could actually finish hers.
The next day, Kanye West went on Jay Leno to apologize. He almost started crying when Jay Leno asked him what his mom would say about the situation (Kanye West's mother died in 2009).
Today, I was think about my debate team in high school. Right about now, they're probably preparing for the upcoming season. This is the first time in three years I won't be joining them. It's weird to be done with debate.
In high school I was very successful with policy debate. In 9th grade my partner and I placed 2nd in the district. In 10th grade we won the Monsignor Lyons debate tournament at Delone Catholic. In 11th grade my school swept districts. This means that we our two teams took both places that qualify you for the state tournament. The day of the state tournament, I ended up getting a 101 degree fever. It was probably the worst I've ever debated, but I still placed 14th speaker in the state. I'm definitely missing another chance to do well at states.
The first thing that called out to me in "Writing from the Darkness" is her account of going to the outhouse at night. Her granddad would say "No light necessary. There is light in darkness, you just have to find it." It reminded me of how little children believe almost anything you tell them.
It's more then just believing in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and so on. Children are so easily manipulated at that age. I'd say most parents get their children to believe in their religion or their political party. It's not like a 5 year old kid is going to question their faith. It reminded me of one time when I was baby sitting. This little boy asked me, "Where did all the corn go?" Last time he was there, the corn field hadn't been plowed yet. My sister told him the deer ate all the corn. I wonder how many years it will take him to realize that corn fields get plowed...
I just got back from the Drum Corps Associates finals in Rochester, NY! Drum Corps Associates is the national all-age drum corps circuit. DCA hosts over 25 competitions annually and has 27 competing corps. I compete with the Hawthorne Caballeros from Hawthorne, NJ
The Hawthorne Caballeros were founded in 1946 by James J. Costello, Jr. Since 1946 The Caballeros "have won the DCA World Championship 9 times, the American Legion National Title 16 times, the National Dream Contest 17 times, and the New Jersey State American Legion Title 43 times. They have completed 5 undefeated seasons, consecutively in 1984 and 1985. They have placed in the top 3 placements at the DCA World Championship 31 times in 43 appearances, a clear indicator of the Caballeros consistency for excellence on the drum corps field."
The Caballeros perform in around 10 competitions in a season. These competitions are all over the northeast in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The competitive season starts Thanksgiving weekend, after which we practice every 3 weekends. In March we start to practice every weekend until finals on Labor Day weekend. We practice Saturday and Sunday, usually for more then 8 hours a day, and we perform a show almost every weekend in the summer.
The Caballeros have around 120 marching members from over 7 states and Canada. These include New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Virginia, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Maryland. I personally drive over 4 hours every weekend to compete with the Caballeros. Sometimes when a show was farther away, I would drive over 7 or 8 hours.
This weekend was the last weekend of the season. It was DCA finals hosted in Rochester, NY. It all started Thursday with a 7 hour drive to Rochester to my hotel room. Friday we had a 6 hour rehearsal followed by a 2 hour exhibition rehearsal in the city. Saturday we practiced 7 hours and then competed in the preliminary competition. Sunday we had the last practice of the entire season, which was only 3 hours, and then competed at finals. Thousands of fans come from all over the world to see the DCA finals. Finals was followed by an encore in the parking lot. We placed 5th in the country.
Coming back home is so weird after such a long season. It's crazy to think I won't see my fellow members this weekend...
Here's a video of the cymbal line's (which I am a part of) finals performance:
So, I was sitting at my computer trying to get rid of my insomnia, and I decided to be productive with my time and post on my blog. Without further ado I would like to introduce to you A Very Potter Musical! Written by college students, A Very Potter Musical is a parody musical about Harry Potter. They took some of the events from each book and made it into 1 musical. It is a full length musical and contains many very good songs, which is surprising.
I think the potential to make money off this musical is very high. They are planning to make a website and sell the soundtrack, but I think they should sell the rights to perform it. It is kind of cool how a college made musical can be broadcast to hundreds of thousands of people through YouTube and become a hit. http://www.youtube.com/user/StarKidPotter
I find myself torn between two view points after reading Stanley Fish's "What Should Colleges Teach?" My first thought is that learning composition is very important in order to succeed in today's society which heavily stresses communication. Being able to express yourself clearly on paper is a necessary skill, and it should be important on a collegiate level. Therefore, it seems like a good idea to have outside source monitoring curriculum in the classroom.
However, my second thought is this: Is the American Council of Trustees and Alumni really the right way to monitor curriculum? In "What Will They Learn? A Report on General Education Requirements at 100 of the Nation’s Leading Colleges and Universities” the American Council of Trustees and Alumni based their scores "on whether students are required to take courses in seven key areas." These areas are composition, literature, foreign language, U.S. government or history, economics, mathematics and natural or physical science. Why do they have the right to make these seven areas the most fundamental to education? None of the arts are even included on this list, which many agree are also fundamental to a well rounded education.
