Alphabet Challenge Round 12

Y is for Yoga Bitch by Suzanne Morrison. The book says she’s a cynical smoker who goes on a 2 month yoga retreat to get in touch with her spiritual side. The problem I have with books who advertise ‘I’m cynical and have problems’ and then resolve all the problems by the end of the book already had one foot in the door. 

One memoir I read about a woman who decided to change her life with magazines complained about her terrible relationships but she was already in therapy and had a quality boyfriend candidate waiting in the wings. No memoir has someone go from totally-flawed to totally-fixed. There’s always some groundwork.

Morrison was the same because while she was a cynical coffee-loving smoker, she was also a yoga junkie before she left. She idolized her teacher and loved doing yoga so she was open to spiritual awakening no matter how agnostic she proclaimed to be. One of her reoccurring points is that she enjoys the theatricality of religion. Like many of us, she probably just wants something she can believe in.

She gradually warmed to the ideas and practices of people drinking the Kool-Aid (among other things). When she became the perfect yoga student with meditation, concentration, and a seizure-like vision, I wasn’t that shocked. The beginnings of that were already there. You can tell by the way she talks about the female yoga teacher she adores and idolizes her in the beginning. Her thirst for approval was obvious but not unfamiliar. 

Eventually the teacher is revealed to be flawed and human. Morrison claims to enjoy knocking her off the pedestal and kicking her former idol. She wanted something to believe in but her cynicism loved that this latest ‘god’ wasn’t perfect. 

At the end Morrison seems to be unchanged but in retrospect she admits to being transformed in a way she didn’t realize yet. Morrison has a good voice and this was an interesting story to tell.

A

B

C

D - Divergent by Veronica Roth

E - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

F - Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

G - The Great Fables Crossover by Bill Willingham

H - How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown

I

J - Jane Austen Made Me Do It edited by Laurel Ann Nattress

K

L

M - Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen

N - Naked City edited by Ellen Datlow

O - One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde

P

Q

R - Reality Bites Back by Jennifer L. Pozner

S

T

U - Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman

V

W - White Girl Problems by Babe Walker

X

Y - Yoga Bitch by Suzanne Morrison

Z

Current Music: You're a God - Vertical Horizon

Must. Watch. TV

I have heard from several places that the vast majority of kids are reading below grade level. In a world of texting over talking, the English skills of young people everywhere is going rapidly to crap. If it can’t be said in 140 characters or less, some kids won’t even read it. With this reality, is rewarding watching TV a good idea?

Viggle is a new app for the iProducts that gives you reward points for watching TV shows. For a half-hour sitcom, you get 30 points. For an hour long drama, it’s 60 points. If you hate the show and give up after 15 minutes, it’s 15 points. Some nights you get bonus points for certain shows e.g. Reality Dance Show is worth 300 points or Teen Melodrama is worth 100 points.

So how long does it take you to get rewards? $10 for iTunes is 18,000 points. That’s 600 sitcom episodes, 300 hour long episodes, or a combination of different bonus shows. Fortunately it’s only 15,000 points for $10 from Sephora. That gift card will give you a lot of mileage.

Much like Shazam and SoundHound, the iProduct knows what you’re watching and rewards you accordingly. My first concern was whether or not channels like Discovery or History were in on this. Good news: Yes they are and Hatfields & McCoys is worth bonus points. Bad news: It’s not worth as many points as The Bachelor or the Bachelorette.

If I do this I may have to try out my drinking game just to make the Bachelor watchable. While I would enjoy the subterfuge of getting one over on the app and creators of what my friend calls Whore Wars, I don’t know if it would be worth it.

Part of my concern is the quality of TV programming in this country in the first place. Basketball Wives, both Bachelor franchises, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and Bethenny Ever After are all worth bonus points. All of these shows are popular. Firefly died in obscurity and shows like Who Wants to Be an Engineer don’t exist. If you have to sift through hundreds of channels of crap to find three worthwhile things, it’s no wonder our population can’t read or pay attention to anything.

Here’s a link to their blog. If I decide to take this for a test drive, I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

Current Music: Dirty Work - Halestorm

Must Drink TV

Everybody is familiar with making movies or TV shows into drinking games. Reality Bites Back recommended I do the same thing to highlight the sexism in reality TV. Please note, I do NOT recommend playing this exclusively with alcohol or possibly any alcohol. You could die. 

The Bachelor Drinking Game (applicable to any elimination based dating show)

Drink at any of the following words and phrases:

-Princess 

-Prince Charming

-Cinderella

-Happily ever after

-Fairytale

-Royalty (mention of William & Kate counts)

-Women name calling other competitors including bitch, slut, whore, skank, tramp, hussy, bimbo, etc.

Bridezillas Drinking Game (applicable to most, if not all, wedding based shows)

-It’s my day (said by the bride)

-It’s your day (said to the bride)

-I’m the bride

-I don’t care (said by the bride)

-[Someone is] running my wedding!

-Perfect

-That’s not what I ordered/asked for

- Princess (I’m a/you’re a)

-Anyone gets kicked out of the wedding party

-Anyone gets kicked out of the wedding

Current Music: Magneto - Henry Jackman

Alphabet Challenge Round 11

F is for Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James. What started as a racy Twilight fan fiction became a digital bestseller and then became a New York Times bestseller. There was a bidding war for the movie rights. Copies can be found anywhere books are sold and I do mean anywhere.

For all the hype, I'm going to say something nobody wants to hear: What was the big damn deal? I really don't see what all the hype is for.

I see echoes of Twilight in James's work with Grey's protectiveness and extravagant gifts or in Ana's inexplicable and immediate devotion. James did change some things to suit the work like who left whom and why. 

James changed the most crucial thing between this and Twilight; there are no vampires, just adults into BDSM. They characters have sex and lots of it. The problem was that all the intrigue Twilight had because of vampires is gone. It's been replaced with sex scenes and it's not that much more interesting for it.

The quality of writing is mediocre. People bash Twilight for being poorly written but I didn't think Fifty Shades of Grey was any better. The characters aren't that compelling, the plot isn't that interesting, and writing isn't that good. For all the hoopla and people singing its praises, I give it a hearty "meh."

A

B
C
D - Divergent by Veronica Roth
E - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
F - Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
G - The Great Fables Crossover by Bill Willingham
H - How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown
I
J - Jane Austen Made Me Do It edited by Laurel Ann Nattress
K
L
M - Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
N - Naked City edited by Ellen Datlow
O - One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde
P
Q
R - Reality Bites Back by Jennifer L. Pozner
S
T
U - Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman
V
W - White Girl Problems by Babe Walker
X
Y
Z

Current Music: Fidelity - Regina Spektor

Where's Wall-E?

George Takei always posts the best stuff on Facebook. Today he posted this photo. I've included a list of everyone I've found so far. There are some I just know I'm never gonna get but I'm sure the same can be said for several other people with some of the ones I knew right away. I mean, who else saw Treasure Planet, Flubber, and Meet the Robinsons. 

I have to say, I'm a little disappointed to not see some of the more humanoid robots like Six or Data. Regardless, the artist did a great job. I know I recognize the cylindrical guy i the top corner. Can anyone tell me where he's from.

Bender

C3PO

R2D2

The robot from Space Balls

Eva from Wall-E

Mo from Wall-E

I, Robot robot

Matrix robot

Meet the Robinsons robot

Dalek

Bad Robot

Original BSG dog robot

Cylon

Main robot from movie Robots

Original Terminator

Treasure Planet robot

Portal robot

“Danger Will Robinson!” robot

Flubber robot

Star Wars droid

Day the Earth Stood Still robot

Bill and Ted robots

Buzz Lightyear TV show robot

Gir

That little SOB from the Transformers movies (I think)

Android mascot

Marvin the depressed android

Rosie from Jetsons

Avatar combat robot

Metropolis robot

Bicentennial Man

The Tin Man (who is not actually a robot)

I don’t know who the robot in the monkey suit in the top left is but he reminds me of a character from Thursday Next

Current Music: Slam - Pendulum

Here’s Looking at You First Born

I noticed that both I and my mother both look like our fathers. My mother’s younger sister looks more like my grandmother. As an only child, there was no second born for me to consider. I never knew my father’s parents but my mother was a 5’4 blonde at my age whereas my father was 5’9 and almost entirely Italian. I inherited his height, dark hair, and dark eyes.

As I pondered this idea, I thought of more people who this was true for. When I mentioned it in conversation, a woman who was more scientifically minded than I insisted, “It’s just speculation.” Translation: without verifiable data, speculation is worthless. But isn’t that where science comes from? You observe, you speculate, you test, you analyze, and then you prove or disprove. I don’t have the means to test this theory but an unverified observation is not without merit.

Scientific American noticed the prevalence of the observation and when seeing if it was true I found this article. In terms of evolution, first borns looking like the father is advantageous because women know that’s their kid, men don’t. If the father believes that’s his child, he is much more likely to care for it. It follows a believable train of logic.

According to SA, it’s still unverified. Several studies have found results all over the map. I have a friend who is ¼ black from his mother and those are his dominating features. Patty Hearst’s daughter is the spitting image of her. 

Many people think I look like my mother (whose hair darkened as she got older) until they see pictures of my father. It could be I take after my father because he had the dominant traits. It could be common place for my maternal genetic line for first borns to look like the father. It could just be that’s what people are looking for. One of the studies mentioned in SA said that for the first few days, newborns look like the mother but the new mothers insist the kid looks like the father. 

It makes just as much sense in the crapshoot that is genetics for children to look like either parent. Or to get traits from god knows where. My hair naturally curly but both of my parents, their siblings, and all of my grandparents had straight hair. Going back in the family tree finds only my maternal grandfather’s siblings had curly hair. 

My particular observation wasn’t verified as fact but wasn’t entirely disproven either. In the game of genes, there doesn’t seem to be an easy answer which means people will continue to speculate for a long time.

Current Music: Rumor Has It - ADELE

Alphabet Challenge Round 10

E is for Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and starts with a caveat: When you recommend books to your friends, don’t oversell the book. My friend read this when she was younger and ‘lost’ her library copy because she couldn’t stand to be without it. I wasn’t quite as in love partly because this book was oversold to me by multiple people. It was excellent but not the pinnacle of literature my friends made it out to be.

It’s an excellent book. It explores the human condition and human endurance. The battle scenes are well described and interesting to visualize. The characters are interesting but secretive. It describes warfare in a way that’s accessible for young ages which is not easy.

If you read it as a young person, reread it as an adult. You’ll take away very different things. It’s a good read at any age. The book also contains several truths about war and the human condition that are remarkably poetic. A forthcoming blog will contain some of my favorite quotes from the book.

There is only one slightly negative thing I have to say. Between the technicality of the writing and the necessary isolation of various characters, I just wasn’t as attached to this book as some of my personal favorites. However, I think that was the point given the level of isolation Ender endures

A

B
C
D - Divergent by Veronica Roth
E - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
F
G - The Great Fables Crossover by Bill Willingham
H - How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown
I
J - Jane Austen Made Me Do It edited by Laurel Ann Nattress
K
L
M - Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
N - Naked City edited by Ellen Datlow
O - One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde
P
Q
R - Reality Bites Back by Jennifer L. Pozner
S
T
U - Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman
V
W - White Girl Problems by Babe Walker
X
Y
Z

Current Music: Eyes Open - Taylor Swift