Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
yet more confirmation of how screwed up our society can be/Shades of Disbelief
......That some things get published. 50 Shades of Grey is the most stupid book on the face of the earth. As sarcaschicks says: "It started out as Twilight fan fiction." It's like reading porn in public....and thinking you're being discreet.
(Okay, so, here I am guffawing at the joke that it started out as a Twilight fan fiction. A short bit of research later-it actually did.) This is really pathetic. And I hate critics who validate books like this with positive reviews full of clap trap and a profession of "deep meaning" in the writing. No, it doesn't show any deep meaning. The author's a psycho and the book's rubbish. (Just to clarify-I'm all for things starting out as fan fiction. Bravo, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just that, in this case, the nature of the fan fiction is preposterous, unnecessary, lacking content and really, really disappointing. And here libraries all over are saying "Well, we're not going to ban it because it's flying off the shelves. There's a demand for it." Screw you, 50 Shades. As if there aren't enough violent, dangerous, controlling relationships out there all ready, let's make it popular to be in one! Yes, impressionable young women going out into the world, BDSM is a walk in the park! I mean, really, what have we come to? I'm ashamed of womankind right now. Really, really ashamed. Have we no sense?!)
(Okay, so, here I am guffawing at the joke that it started out as a Twilight fan fiction. A short bit of research later-it actually did.) This is really pathetic. And I hate critics who validate books like this with positive reviews full of clap trap and a profession of "deep meaning" in the writing. No, it doesn't show any deep meaning. The author's a psycho and the book's rubbish. (Just to clarify-I'm all for things starting out as fan fiction. Bravo, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just that, in this case, the nature of the fan fiction is preposterous, unnecessary, lacking content and really, really disappointing. And here libraries all over are saying "Well, we're not going to ban it because it's flying off the shelves. There's a demand for it." Screw you, 50 Shades. As if there aren't enough violent, dangerous, controlling relationships out there all ready, let's make it popular to be in one! Yes, impressionable young women going out into the world, BDSM is a walk in the park! I mean, really, what have we come to? I'm ashamed of womankind right now. Really, really ashamed. Have we no sense?!)
The Storm, Bounty, and General Confusion
Every once in a while, something comes along that shows us just how insignificant we all are and smacks us right out of that comforting bubble of modernity. Hurricane Sandy may be the worst storm the United States has seen, and is at least the most expensive damage-wise. The entire eastern seaboard is witnessing The Perfect Storm-esque flooding and waves. It really is unbelievable. My focus, of course, has been mainly on the HMS Bounty, which sunk 90 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C.(famous for being a danger in rough seas), late Sunday night.
It was reported that 14 crew members made it to safety, but two were washed overboard while trying to climb into the octagonal life-rafts: Captain Robin Walbridge, and a descendant of the original 1787 mutineer Fletcher Christian, Ms. Claudene Christian, who's body was recovered Monday afternoon, having been spotted from the air. The Captain is still missing, but two helicopters are expanding their searches based on wind speed, current, and tide. I don't know how much of a chance there was, or is, for this man, but I can't stop thinking about what it must be like out there in the roiling ocean. Everything is being done to find him, so the best we can do, as helpless bystanders and as humans, is to hope.
There is a lot of blame and anger floating around regarding the unanimous decision of the Captain and his crew to even attempt the voyage from New London, CT, to St. Petersburg, FL in the first place, given the conditions. However; the Bounty had braved storms and seas of relatively the same level before, on a former trip to Puerto Rico in 2010. The ship would likely have made it, if the engines had not started taking on water and the pumps stopped working.
I'm not sure if it's because I live in Maine, which usually gets the fading tail end of storms like this one, but I've never felt connected to a storm this much. Usually it's just exciting and terrifying, but since we know some of the people on board the Bounty from touring it not long ago...thinking what they are going through is awful. That feeling of luck, that you weren't the one washed away, but also feeling so sad for someone whom you trusted with your life and went through so many adventures with....I can't really imagine it. It seems that Robin Walbridge got his whole crew into the lifeboats before attempting to get in himself, so that's heroic.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/10/29/3631737/bountys-crew-plucked-from-the.html
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/10/hms_bounty_sinks_14_rescued_pirates_of_the_caribbean_sandy_frankenstorm.php
http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-sandy-map-2012-10
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49577692/ns/weather/
http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-sandy-pictures-2012-10
http://www.examiner.com/slideshow/slideshow-last-days-of-the-hms-bounty?slide=54711361#main
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/hms-bounty-slideshow/photo-provided-u-coast-guard-shows-hms-bounty-photo-042005337--finance.html
http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Coast-Guard-Rescue-Underway-Now-16-People-In-Lifeboats-Off-NC-Coast-176228331.html
On a completely different note: this video ad on youtube has been driving me insane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6hqN9q2ntg&feature=player_embedded
I can't stand it. OH, OUR COUNTRY *falls on knees* Let's just dig under our National Parks next, that's where plenty of natural gas is.
While I agree with the general attitude of the video (be self-sufficient energy wise, stop violently looking for oil in the Middle East, etc.), we should be trying to find alternatives to fracking and offshore drilling. I'm not naiive-I realise that gas is the easiest way to do things, and that alternative energy sources are expensive and sometimes less effective, but by god we've lived without cars and all that rubbish for centuries before now and we can live without it again. The human race, as a whole, doesn't think clearly.
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2010/05/oil-and-gas-production-and-national-parks5803
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/09/12/838371/how-drilling-could-threaten-our-national-parks/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car
It was reported that 14 crew members made it to safety, but two were washed overboard while trying to climb into the octagonal life-rafts: Captain Robin Walbridge, and a descendant of the original 1787 mutineer Fletcher Christian, Ms. Claudene Christian, who's body was recovered Monday afternoon, having been spotted from the air. The Captain is still missing, but two helicopters are expanding their searches based on wind speed, current, and tide. I don't know how much of a chance there was, or is, for this man, but I can't stop thinking about what it must be like out there in the roiling ocean. Everything is being done to find him, so the best we can do, as helpless bystanders and as humans, is to hope.
There is a lot of blame and anger floating around regarding the unanimous decision of the Captain and his crew to even attempt the voyage from New London, CT, to St. Petersburg, FL in the first place, given the conditions. However; the Bounty had braved storms and seas of relatively the same level before, on a former trip to Puerto Rico in 2010. The ship would likely have made it, if the engines had not started taking on water and the pumps stopped working.
I'm not sure if it's because I live in Maine, which usually gets the fading tail end of storms like this one, but I've never felt connected to a storm this much. Usually it's just exciting and terrifying, but since we know some of the people on board the Bounty from touring it not long ago...thinking what they are going through is awful. That feeling of luck, that you weren't the one washed away, but also feeling so sad for someone whom you trusted with your life and went through so many adventures with....I can't really imagine it. It seems that Robin Walbridge got his whole crew into the lifeboats before attempting to get in himself, so that's heroic.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/10/29/3631737/bountys-crew-plucked-from-the.html
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/10/hms_bounty_sinks_14_rescued_pirates_of_the_caribbean_sandy_frankenstorm.php
http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-sandy-map-2012-10
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49577692/ns/weather/
http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-sandy-pictures-2012-10
http://www.examiner.com/slideshow/slideshow-last-days-of-the-hms-bounty?slide=54711361#main
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/hms-bounty-slideshow/photo-provided-u-coast-guard-shows-hms-bounty-photo-042005337--finance.html
http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Coast-Guard-Rescue-Underway-Now-16-People-In-Lifeboats-Off-NC-Coast-176228331.html
On a completely different note: this video ad on youtube has been driving me insane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6hqN9q2ntg&feature=player_embedded
I can't stand it. OH, OUR COUNTRY *falls on knees* Let's just dig under our National Parks next, that's where plenty of natural gas is.
While I agree with the general attitude of the video (be self-sufficient energy wise, stop violently looking for oil in the Middle East, etc.), we should be trying to find alternatives to fracking and offshore drilling. I'm not naiive-I realise that gas is the easiest way to do things, and that alternative energy sources are expensive and sometimes less effective, but by god we've lived without cars and all that rubbish for centuries before now and we can live without it again. The human race, as a whole, doesn't think clearly.
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2010/05/oil-and-gas-production-and-national-parks5803
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/09/12/838371/how-drilling-could-threaten-our-national-parks/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car
Monday, October 29, 2012
BLOGGY BLOG BLOG
I was asking myself the other day: why the hell
do I have a blog anyway? No one reads it, all I do is rant on here, no one
actually cares what I’m thinking and if they did and found out about this blog,
they’d probably shun me (or something equally horrid to contemplate). Then I
realized--it isn’t really for anyone else. Sure, it’s good in that I can share
links and petitions and things that I think are interesting/strange/important.
But, being a teenager in today’s society, there’s a ton of angst and stress and
rage going on in my brain, and this weblog is just one of the many channels
into which I can direct all that, so that my head doesn’t implode.
October-End Thoughts
Willa Cather also said, and this I love: "Some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm."
I'll have to read her books! Also, this article on weather is just gorgeous: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/07/epic-storms/berlin-text
The photographer's website: http://www.mitchdobrowner.com
There is something about black and white photographs that makes you really appreciate what's happening in the scene. There are no colorful distractions, it's just simple and clear.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/myshot/categories/wallpaper?startgallery=1
Today I was getting all into splitting matches with a knife when I found this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tCtjmOqJkc&feature=channel&list=UL
I'll have to read her books! Also, this article on weather is just gorgeous: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/07/epic-storms/berlin-text
The photographer's website: http://www.mitchdobrowner.com
There is something about black and white photographs that makes you really appreciate what's happening in the scene. There are no colorful distractions, it's just simple and clear.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/myshot/categories/wallpaper?startgallery=1
Today I was getting all into splitting matches with a knife when I found this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tCtjmOqJkc&feature=channel&list=UL
Quote #17
"There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they have never happened before." ~ Willa Cather
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Serious Folk and Bell Bottoms Don't Mix
No one takes me seriously when I'm wearing my acid green corduroy bell bottoms. People, in general, need to lighten up. I like enlightened folk.
There Goes That Girl Who Panics All the Time
Something that really terrifies me in life is that you can
learn something, and then a week later you’ll have completely forgotten it. I
like to think, or I hope, that everything that we have ever learnt is stored
somewhere in our apparently unlimited brain libraries. But….yeah. Just…..scary.
No one can retain things forever. I guess that’s why we have to review things
so much. Thoughts, facts, and skills are like precious paintings—you can try,
but eventually, time is going to wear them away.
Englishy Things
I’m still deciding on whether or not to take an English Lit
course sometime. I’ve always vaguely despised the way that students are forced
to wring meaning out of books and short stories. All the overanalyzing and
discussing and presuming gives me a headache. If a person reads a book and
appreciates it as a work of art, why must they peer into every nook and cranny
for foreshadowing, plot peaks, characterization, and themes, to name a few. For
goodness’ sake, a book can have multiple climaxes, motifs, and points of view. It
largely depends on the reader and what experiences have shaped their views up
until the point of reading the book. You experience a book in a different way
from the next person. There’s rarely a “right” answer to anything.
I’m not saying it
isn’t good to notice these things. It’s great to be aware of them. But notice
them and MOVE ON. Don’t spend pages and pages writing about it.
If we have to look that desperately for meaning in a book,
if we have to invent opinions about pre-selected aspects of a piece of writing just to pass exams, (notice how just is
in italics, because, contrary to popular belief, your worth as a human being is
not actually determined by whether or not you can pass a standardized
test), then either the whole business is being taught wrong, the writer wasn’t
as clear as she/he should have been in the first place, OR we were meant to
read books as readers and not as analysts.
BUCKETY
Today I was inspired by the Sarcaschicks and their many
bucket lists. So I drew one up last minute. Add more later.
My on-the-spot bucket list in no particular order:
1.
Go several years without internet. I’m 17, I’ve
lived most of my life without it, and I can go back to living without it.
Right?! I only really became obsessed and aware of what an amazing tool the net
is when I was around 13.
2.
Go to as many countries as possible. Have some
kind of job that allows this. Travel writing? Lecturing (what on!)? Being some
sort of US representative? (Oh, would that go well.) Doctors w/o Borders? WWOOFing?
3.
Gradually and incidentally learn how math
applies to nature and everyday life.
4.
Over time take some courses in: Psychology, Art
(watercolouring, oil paints, pastels, drawing, speed-sketching), European History
(particularly Norse, and English/Irish/Scottish/Welsh), Languages,
Paleoanthropology, Anatomy, Geology, Poetry.
5.
Bring the number of projects that I start and
the number I finish to a par.
6.
Make my mark on history.
7.
Help people and animals, somehow.
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