1. I subjected myself to the trailer for Andy Serkis's Animal Farm, which looks incredibly bad in itself and to be a flat-out insult as an adaptation. The only joy in the experience came from looking at the video numbers: In case you can't see it, it reads: 7.15M subscribers113,000 views641 upvotes. At this point, … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: ‘Animal Farm’ Trailer and ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’
Thoughts
Friday Flotsam: Miscellaneous Thoughts and RIP Scott Adams
1. I fell ill this week and stayed home Wednesday and Thursday. 2. Appealing to man's baser instinct may be morally dubious, but it is nevertheless more wholesome than attempting to re-write his baser instincts. 3. I've heard it said that we shouldn't make judgments about other people's looks. The trouble is, whether we should … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Miscellaneous Thoughts and RIP Scott Adams
Sunday Sundry: Mostly ‘Cells at Work’
1. My newest anime discovery is Cells at Work, a lighthearted edutainment series that personifies the cells of the body. The main characters are a rookie Red Blood cell, who delivers oxygen and nutrients throughout the body, and a stoical White Blood Cell, who defends against germs. We also meet other cells, like the Platelets … Continue reading Sunday Sundry: Mostly ‘Cells at Work’
Sunday Sundry: End of the Semester and ‘Animal Farm’ Hypocrisies
1. Another semester done at last! And exams were mostly pretty fun this year. For my English students (all high schoolers this time around), I opted for a discourse method in which students had to give a verbal answer to a question regarding one of the books we read, followed by a general class discussion … Continue reading Sunday Sundry: End of the Semester and ‘Animal Farm’ Hypocrisies
Sunday Sundry: Principles of Unity
1. A bout of insomnia this week left me only half-rational, hence why this is extra late. 2. Unity – ‘Oneness’ – is one of the transcendentals: qualities of Being that transcend the Ten Categories. It is the ability to speak of something as a single unit or concept. Coupled with this is Distinction: that … Continue reading Sunday Sundry: Principles of Unity
Friday Flotsam: ‘The Running Man’ and ‘Epic’
1. Last week's movie night was The Running Man, starring Ahnold. It was more or less your typical action-sci-fi film of the 1980s: over-the-top violence, bitingly funny satire, mounds of creative energy, and a charismatic cast (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonzo, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown, etc). It's not brilliant, but solidly … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: ‘The Running Man’ and ‘Epic’
Friday Flotsam: Mostly Politics, with a Godzilla Chaser
1. The supreme law is the well-being of the people. It is not the well-being of the economy. 2. The Right Wing - Left Wing dichotomy is a product of Revolutionary politics and does not exist outside them. They mean the same thing today as they meant in 1793: Right Wing means favoring a limited … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Mostly Politics, with a Godzilla Chaser
Payoffs and Ripoffs at Noble Cobra Magazine
As promised, the written version of the talk I gave (to a tiny, self-selected audience) at Legend Haven is up at Noble Cobra Magazine: There is a passage in C.S. Lewis’s seminal essay On Stories which has informed a lot of my approach to fiction. It comes when Prof. Lewis is trying to describe what he calls … Continue reading Payoffs and Ripoffs at Noble Cobra Magazine
Saturday Sundry: US History, Politics, Strategy
1. There are two possible readings for the American Revolution: either it was a matter of sincere, but politically incompetent idealists blundering their way into civil war or it was a matter of men who had settled on rebellion from the start taking every opportunity to deliberately escalate the situation (or, most likely, a combination … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: US History, Politics, Strategy
Friday Flotsam: Last Week, Sabaton
1. Came down with a bad cold this week, leaving my classes as something of a Nyquil-fueled haze. 2. Legend Haven was mostly a success and a good time. My small talk was sparsely attended and even more sparsely participated in, but I was able to get some good industry information and hopefully spark a … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Last Week, Sabaton
Serpent's Den 