What I've Consumed Lately, A Post Too Long To Read

They have been dark days of late, and I am once again amazed at big the little things can be.

I assumed my funk, my blues, my down was the result of the big things. Problems in my personal life. Stresses at work. Especially, perhaps, an existential crisis due to shifts in my spiritual life.

I've never been accused of under-thinking things

Turns out I wasn’t sad because of those problems. They were problems because I was S.A.D.

And then the school counselor, whom I don’t know well, but I want to cuz she’s so cool, shows up in my classroom. She said “Here, try this. You’ve looked like you could use it,” cuz counselors notice these things. And she put a light on my desk.

Look, I’m a skeptic, too. About just about everything. But I admit that I had been wondering if my blues were seasonal, and I had heard about light therapy and wondered about it. A buddy walked in, saw me sitting in front of the light, and said “Oh, come on. You have crystals in your pocket, too?”

But I gotta tell ya. I turned on this blazingly bright light for a half hour while I checked email or graded in the morning, and, well, I felt just like this:



Let’s acknowledge that it could be psychosomatic. Okay. I’m alright with that. But it’s not. But it could be. But it’s not. But who cares?

Let’s also acknowledge that the person who gave it to me thinks it works. Which means she literally took her happy off of her desk and put it onto mine. Which is really nice.

So, in all of this time, have I done any writing? No. Well, lots of writing for work – comments on each kid, lots of college recs. But no creative writing.

Well, wait. I wrote a college recommendation for a kid who is the best reader and writer I’ve ever taught, who is getting a C in my English class. So that took some creativity, I suppose.

So the answer to the “And so now what now?” has, for too long, been nothing much. I've not been a creator. Even my time on the piano has been about learning other people's songs. Which I've enjoyed, a lot, but still.

However, I’ve continued to be a big consumer of pop culture, so I thought I’d do a run down of some stuff I’ve read or watched in the long time since I’ve written. This is going to look like a lot of stuff, but remember: it’s been a long time, and I don’t watch sports.

Okay. Here’s stuff I’ve consumed of late:

The Odyssey: Impressed? You ought to be. Well, actually I just taught it again. I love this thing, and as stuffy and unmanageable as you might think it is, you should know that my students love it, too. Cool thing:, I took my son out to lunch at a new Greek restaurant I heard was great. And, it being just after his exam, we got into an argument about The Odyssey. Then we realized we were in a Greek joint arguing about The Odyssey. And that felt kinda cool.

Oedipus Rex: Taught it, love it. But when teaching two different classes, I keep calling Odysseus and Oedipus by each other’s names

That led to Minority Report, which I show after teaching Oedipus Rex. We talk about how the ancient Greeks saw fate as, well, fate: inevitable, unchangeable, and you are a hero if you face it with dignity and courage. Whereas in American culture, you’re a hero if you change fate. Also, it is a really cool movie. I had forgotten how much I love Spielberg. When Tom Cruise's watch ticks toward zero - Will he kill him, as prophesied? Will he not? – it was more fun to watch the students than the movie. They were rapt.

Artificial Intelligence: A.I.: So Minority Report put me in a Spielberg mood, so I tried to watch A.I. with my kids, but my son got too creeped out by it, and I decided that it was too creepy for my daughter. I love this film. It is a beautiful mess the likes of which you should expect if Spielberg (“Life is good, we can control our lives, a positive view saves the day, more happy endings than a Craig’s List massage parlor” [even to the holocaust, see Shindler’s List]) takes over a project started by Stanley Kubrick (“the universe is a bitch, we’re all evil deep inside, we’re doomed by eye liner and bowler hats, or nuclear bombs ridden like rodeo horses, or Nicholson with an ax”) The reactions A.I. causes are so complex and contradictory it’s almost hard to sit through.

I realized that the movie never made sense to me because I thought of the ending as being about aliens, not evolved mechas. I’m an idiot.

Note about me being obsessive. I bought this movie on eBay on a whim. When it came, it was full screen. So I bought it again. You want the full screen version? Really? Shame on you.

Wall*E: How amazing is Pixar? This movie is brilliant, and proves that clever can also be powerful and poignant and fun. We just watched this on DVD, but when we saw it in the theater it got me on a serious Charlie Chaplin kick. Have you ever watched Chaplin?

Modern Times still feels modern, and, though funny and slap-sticky, is also satirical, with an edge that holds up more than I expected. I expected to enjoy it in that I-forgive-old-movies-for-being-kind-of-boring-and-cheesy sort of way, but I didn’t have to. Chaplin movies really hold up. And if The Kid doesn’t touch you, you’re an asshole.

Born Standing Up by Steve Martin. I’m a huge fan. Of the author. But not of this book. Eh.

Wanted I grabbed this comic book from the library and read the whole thing, constantly amazed at how stupid it is, and how hard it works too be bad-ass and shocking, only to come across as trying too hard. This book is embarrassing. So of course I immediately rented the movie

Wanted, which is dumb but not nearly as dumb as the book, and is a blast to watch. Fantastic if crazy derivative stunts and effects, and I think this might have been the first time I’ve seen Angelina Jolie on film. She’s really cool. I didn't expect that. I thought she was only hot. She comes across as really smart and charming (and those other things too, yes.) Also, this movie contains the most ridiculous conceit ever, announced in dulcet tones by Morgan Freeman: “The Loom of Fate.”

Infinite Jest I had never read any David Foster Wallace, and when he committed suicide, I was moved by the many obits in the press. So I read a bunch of his journalism, and then dove into his masterpiece. Well, I didn’t dive exactly. I'm still wading in, slowly. But I felt over-due for a literary challenge. I love the book, when I’m able to really concentrate, but my progress through this cinder-block of a novel was stalled by a quote-of-the-day in an email at work:
"Here's something else no one will ever tell you: if you don't read the classics, or the novel that won this year's Booker Prize, then nothing bad will happen to you; more importantly, nothing good will happen to you if you do… Read anything, as long as you can't wait to pick it up again.
— Nick Hornby, Housekeeping vs. The Dirt (2006)

I don’t quite agree with the “nothing good” part, but I'm still taking a break from the challenge and am reading

When You Are Engulfed By Flames by David Sedaris instead. Fun, thoughtful, with some laugh-out-louds, but his self-absorption gets a bit tedious.

Speaking of self-absorption, I should be clear that I don’t think you are still reading this. But I’m enjoying recording my opinions for myself.

Okay. Other things I’ve consumed in the past days or weeks or months:

Obama’s victory. It’s all been said, but I felt it too, big time. It hit me when I was walking my dog , waiting for the official 270 at 11:00. It just hit me, hard. It was good.

30 Rock: I often forget how great this show is, and then I watch an episode on hulu on a whim, and I try to remember other shows that make me laugh so much.

Quantum of Solace: I don’t get it. Why is everyone bashing this film? It’s not as good as Casino Royale, sure. But for a Bond film, it’s good, right? People remember Bond movies as better than they really are, sort of like the first seasons of Saturday Night Live. Goldfinger? Sure, it’s fun. But go watch it again. Then watch Quantum of Solace. It’s cool and fun, if a little bloated. And smarter than it looks. Nice touch with the oil-coated homage to the Connery classic, too.

A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All: I enjoyed this at the time, but weird out weighed funny. This was almost as surreal as the old Peewee’s Playhouse, but you expect Peewee to be that bizarre.

Tropic Thunder: I'm not entirely fond of how much I loved this film. Hilarious, and Robert Downey Jr.; is there anyone more fun (and impressive) to watch on film these days? I was half way through the movie before I recognized Tom Cruise.

Derren Brown. This guy, who I’ve only seen online, rocks my world (and distracts me from grading exams. And challenges what I believe. And has me studying NLP.) You can’t get his DVDs on this side of the pond. Watch one and see if you can stop.

Frankenstein: The old original. Frickin’ blast.

Young Frankenstein: Funnier than I remembered. And without that old-comedy sag at the end.

Man on Wire: The effect of this documentary is this: even though the guy who walked on a high wire between the Twin Towers is there, in the documentary, in 2008, talking about his exploit in 1974, when you watch the old footage you still think he might not survive. The movie doesn’t exploit the sadness of the missing towers, but the film gains beauty from 9/11 anyway.

West Wing: I loved this show and stopped watching shortly after Aaron Sorkin left, cuz it fell so far so fast, but I’m watching season five now because of this, and while it ain't Sorkin, I am enjoying it.

All Star Batman and Robin by Frank Miller is a comic for fans of the genre only, and only the fans willing to forgive super-hero comics at their most misogynistic. I’m not sure I’m there. And Batman should never laugh like the Joker or say “God damn.” But the guest appearances by the JLA are fun.

Slaughterhouse 5: Taught this again for the first time in years. Loved it even more than I remembered, in large part because of the quality of my students' discussions. And, this time, I think understood the novel in a whole new way. I realized that Vonnegut probably doesn’t agree with the lessons he has Billy Pilgrim come to learn.

The Day The Earth Stood Still: I won’t take the kids to see the new one (horrible reviews, but my daughter really wants to see it) until they watch the old one. Really great movie, in a I-forgive-old-movies-for-being-kind-of-boring-and-cheesy sort of way.

Bolt. Took the family to this one. It’s okay. Opening chase scene is great because it steals apologetically from Pixar’s The Incredibles. The rest of the movie is fun, but mostly points out how impressive Pixar’s consistent excellence really is.

Boy in the Stripped Pajamas: My son and I saw this as a preview for free, and our night out was great. Hooray for the non-megaplex; we need to go to the Drexel much more often. At first the film made me uncomfortable; it depicts the fashion and zeitgeist of my parents' childhood, but with English accents. but the performances are fantastic and the movie really powerful. It is as good as the holocaust as a young adult film can be - which is actually very, very good. The point of view of a young boy who doesn't understand what is happening is moving and tragic and sad; you feel sorry for the son of a monster - and the monster, his father who runs a concentration camp, is uncomfortably honest in making him human. The last fifteen minutes are amazing and powerful on a number of levels.

That's a downer to end on. How about this one:

Robot Chicken: Star Wars I had never seen Robot Chicken, because I am old. But I threw this on my iPod a long time ago and forgot about it, and stumbled upon it yesterday. I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but it's hilarious. Here are some clips (not embeddable).

Writing this was a fun and oddly relaxing way to kick off Winter break. If you read the whole thing: why?