IN WHICH The Girl Grades Papers

So I'm a horrible blogger. I haven't posted in a few weeks. It's definitely not for lack of topics to discuss, but just for lack of time.

I passed another teacher in the hall today, and when asked how he was doing, he replied,"It's that time." My sentiments exactly. It's that time of the semester. It's almost midterms, and the "new year" excitement is long gone. Now there are just tons of papers to grade. Just this week I have graded over 60 papers, received another 30 to grade, and look forward to getting 60 more next week. Oh the joys of teaching five courses of college composition. When I see other teachers run sheets through the scantron machine, I want to start crying and severally regret my decision to teach English of all subjects. Why couldn't I be interested in math??

At about this point in the semester, the number of student excuses increases significantly as well. I can't make class because my car broke down, my sixteenth grandparent died, my cousin is sick, my boyfriend was being stupid, etc. etc.. I can't turn in my homework because my printer is out of paper, I never bought a book, I forgot what the assignment was, I lost my flash drive, I was in jail etc. etc. I had a student, whom I hadn't seen in a several weeks, come in one day and in one breath explain that he had missed one day because his grandparent died, the next because of the funeral, the next because he hurt his foot, the last because he was sick, and then state he had to leave early for a job interview. Say what?

The last thing that occurs about this time is that students start to think they can get away with disobeying the rules more. It's been awhile since those initial syllabus threats, especially about cell phones. Those little buggers start popping up under desks, behind books, under notebooks, or even outrightly on top of desks or held in hands. I'm starting to think the devil invented cell phones, and I would gladly give mine up if it meant never seeing another one in class. One day I'm going to follow the example of the lady in this video. And then I will get sued. It may be worth it.

Anyways, I'm done with my teaching rant for the moment. Despite my complaints, I do generally enjoy my job. I'll be back as soon as possible with some actual posts. Look forward to observations on female television characters chopping off hair, Neil Gaiman's fantasy novels and movies, the new fall seasons of television, my first experiences with comic books, the outside world in dystopian novels, and vampires. Be excited.

IN WHICH The Girl Pits Jess Against Mindy

Fall television is back! Fall television is back!! 

While not many shows have premiered their new seasons yet, we did receive the first round of fresh television this week, including New Girl and The Mindy Project. So which one is better? Last season, The Mindy Project started to rise above New Girl - in my opinion - and the two premieres just confirmed that I'm way more excited by Mindy than Jess today.

Fox airs both shows in aligning time slots on Tuesday nights, and they fit well together. The two sitcoms focus on groups of thirty-somethings, centered around one main female protagonist, trying to figure out their lives. I am drawn to both shows, as well as the sadly departed Happy Endings, because they portray how ridiculous life can still be in your early thirties. Here we have large ensembles of primarily single people, many of whom are still trying to find decent jobs and live with roommates. I just might be able to relate.

New Girl did play up one aspect of this lifestyle in season four's first episode. Jess, the no longer new girl, and her large group of roommates - okay, while I can deal with one roommate, I don't think I could live with four other people at this point in my life - attend the last wedding of the summer. They bemoan the large number of announcements about engagements, weddings, babies, and other accomplishments. Jess wonders, "Why can't I have a party for really dedicating myself to knitting this summer?" I totally agree with this sentiment. I think 80 percent of my friends either had a wedding or a baby in the last year. Yes, I'm incredibly happy for them, but it gets overwhelming. Plus, I want presents too. Just because I haven't met the love of my life yet doesn't mean I don't deserve a set of all new kitchen appliances.

The wedding blues entertained me (along with Nick's tap shoes), but overall the episode left me thinking, "Meh..." I heard this season will amp up the sexiness, and I guess all of the characters tried to find a hook up for the evening, but it didn't really feel "sexy" despite the sex fist jokes. They are clearly trying to move past the Jess and Nick relationship while still acknowledging it, but I don't think the series has entirely figured out how to do that yet. Encouraging each other to go sleep with someone else a few months after they broke up felt awkward and a little cringe worthy, especially since that hook up might occur in the shared apartment. Plus, can they seriously give Winston something to do? He's very funny but has no story lines whatsoever. The past success of the show mainly relied on the group dynamic - Jess on her own takes quirkiness to an annoying level - and this episode did emphasize their friendship: "We're not going home alone." Last season was very hit or miss, and I'm hoping New Girl will return to its former glory at some point during season four.

The Mindy Project, however, has steadily improved over time. It had a rocky start, but by season two had settled into a reliably funny thirty minutes of television. Both Mindy and Jess fit into the "adorkable" mold, but as singular characters, Mindy's personality is easier to digest and her role is more necessary to the show. The show uses and pokes fun at romantic comedies regularly, making Mindy's idealistic views of life and romance, based on watching way too many movies, lead to revamped romantic comedy moments. For example, last season ended with Mindy and Danny, the series' will they or won't they couple, meeting at the top of the Empire State Building, but Mindy had to climb the stairs so she's collapsed in the doorway hyperventilating.

Season three's premiere has Mindy and Danny established as a couple but still trying to figure out how to mix their interests - "What is a relationship if not doing things you hate in between sex sessions?" -  and their personal/professional lives since Mindy keeps telling everyone at the office about their sexual exploits. As they switch from a friendship to a relationship, they also encounter new information about their pasts, such as Danny's stripper (!!) background. And then Danny dances. Yep, this may have been the winning moment for me. Hopefully, The Mindy Project can manage this relationship better than Jess and Nick in New Girl, and the signs look good for an entertaining season.

IN WHICH The Girl Returns to College

If you saw my post about Buffy, you might have guessed that I have a not-so-secret obsession with teen dramas. Oddly enough, my interest does not stem from the most obvious reason: nostalgia for watching these shows as an actual teen. I only sporadically watched the popular shows of my teenage years when the WB aired them, such as Dawson’s Creek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 7^th Heaven, and Felicity. For the entirety of my teen years, I danced until nine o-clock every weeknight, right smack through prime time television. I made a couple attempts at taping shows on my VCR, but I didn't have the time, energy, or ability to tape every episode of a show. Man, do I appreciate the emergence of the DVR. However, my interest in these shows today still has its roots in nostalgia – nostalgia for the nineties, the music, the clothing, high school, and the drama of being a teen that while entertaining I only want to experience vicariously at this point in my life.

A few weeks ago I started re-watching Felicity and it tapped into a specific type of nostalgia for the college experience. The first season of Felicity really revolves around all the firsts of college, which brings back a lot of memories. Watching it, I realized that there are few shows that revolve primarily around college instead of high school. Many shows start in high school and move unsuccessfully to college. Felicity started in college so it didn't have to split up it's main cast or pretend everyone from high school ended up at exactly the same college. The show more effectively portrays the college experience than most teen shows.

In addition, most teen dramas today portray high school students as independent (few parental influences and the ability to essentially do what they want), sexually experienced, jaded towards the ways of the world, and fairly confident, at least by the time the kids graduate school. Felicity does not portray any of these things. I appreciate that here is an 18 year old girl who is totally clueless; she’s naïve, innocent, nerdy, neurotic, impulsive, and unsure of herself. It reminds me of me at that age. She exemplifies the excitement and fear of that freshman year of college perfectly.

Not only is the character of Felicity relatable (for some), the series provides many great examples of the college lifestyle. I read an article that said Felicity’s University of New York "doesn't nail exactly how college is so much as how it seems like it should feel." I agree that it includes many ridiculous elements (have you seen the size of her dorm room), but there are enough recognizable characteristics to make me squeal, “Oh my God, I remember that,” multiple times throughout the show.

Most Collegy College Moments in Felicity

1. Welcome to College

In the show, we see the college first of the firsts, meaning all those things you do the very first week of school. Felicity gets her student ID picture taken, decides what courses to take, sees her dorm room for the first time, and meets her roommate (sort of). All huge moments.

When she's getting her college ID photo, Felicity explains that she wants a good one because she'll have to live with it for the next four years. On that first day, four years of college seems like forever. You can't imagine how fast that time will go. The image catches you at the moment when everything looks bright and hopeful. Well, only for a moment in Felicity's case. While getting the picture taken, she sees the boy from her high school that she actually followed to college. Oh, did I not mention that Felicity is crazy? Her high school crush, whom she's never talked to, writes a nice letter in her yearbook and she up and changes her college plans from Stanford to New York to be near him. Granted, have you seen Scott Speedman's goofy grin? I'd probably follow him too.

Visiting your dorm room and meeting your roommate for the first time is probably the most monumental moments of arriving at college. Even if you have talked to your roommate on the phone, it's a little scary to meet this new person you will spend an entire year with for the first time. You desperately hope he or she will be your new best friend. Sometimes this works out; I luckily had a great roommate and stuck with her throughout all of college. Sometimes it doesn't. Felicity ends up with a crazyass goth chick who thinks she's a wiccan and hides a very mysterious box under her bed. However, Meghan ends up having the most interesting character development throughout the series and provides endless entertainment. She'd be terrifying at first, nonetheless.

2. Dorm Living

Felicity shows a lot of the ups and downs of living in a dorm during the first couple seasons. You really only spend a few hours in class a week; therefore, your main experiences at the beginning of college occur in the dorm. You meet your first friends there, you eat there, you sleep there, and you attempt to study there. In the show, we see lots of floor meetings, resident advisers, students attempting to do laundry and turning everything pink, dorm parties, and the cafeteria, most of which I remember well from college. I never turned anything pink though (and I'm not entirely convinced this happens in real life and not just on television). On Felicity, they even play the assassins game - you get a card with the name of another dorm member and hunt them down with a Nerf gun to obtain their card, continuing until one radiant survivor is left standing - that we definitely played my first semester at school.

The dorm item that cracks me up the most in Felicity is the mini-fridge. The mini-fridge comes up again and again during the first two years. On the show there's a lottery for mini-fridges, meaning not everyone gets one, and this causes tension and conspiracy theories among the dorm residents. I remember how exciting those little fridges were. For some reason, being able to store your own food, and not very much of it, caused all sorts of grown-up feelings. A symbol of independence! I also love Felicity's excitement at putting the first thing in her fridge: an apple. I'm fairly sure our mini-fridge in college mainly contained contraband alcohol. 

I had a very odd freshman dorm experience, living in a Radison Hotel (RadHo!) because there was an overflow of new students without enough dorm rooms. The Radison held five floors of college freshman among the regular hotel guests. God, they must have hated us. While they did move dorm beds and desks into our rooms, we still had the individual bathrooms, the televisions with cable, and maid service every once in awhile. So spoiled. After the first semester, BU moved us onto the regular campus, though we mainly ended up in upper classman housing because those rooms opened up faster due to students studying abroad and graduating early. Overall, I got very lucky in my dorm rooms.

3. It's Nice to Meet You

Now, if you go to a state school near your home, then you would have a bevy of friends from high school to start the year off with. However, Felicity went across the country to school and only knew one person there from high school - as did I. Therefore, the dorm, should you live in one, becomes the meeting ground for most of your friendships. Most of Felicity's long term friendships start that first semester in the dorm: Julie (though they technically met in class, they do live across the hall from each other as well), Elena, Noel, Meghan, and Richard (should you want to call him her friend). Proximity plays a big role in forming friendships, and these people live right next door. Plus, those first few weeks of college are slightly terrifying, so finding a few people to help you through the process is key.

For at least Felicity and me, these freshman year meetings form the core of your friendships throughout college. For me, living in the hotel really bonded our group of students because we were farther away from the main campus and not only lived together but traveled back and forth to classes and dining together. Most of my friends throughout college lived in that same dorm with me the first semester of school, and that goes for the friends I have today as well. I still see two of my college best friends regularly (I'm actually going to hang out with them this afternoon), and we're all RadHo alumni.

What about the romance? College provides an onslaught of potential mates, plus you are still dealing with all those annoying teenage hormones so every crush feels ginormous. Felicity obsesses over her Ben crush to a stalkerish degree, hopefully more than the normal girl, but it's easy to remember how big those feelings seemed. However, she also experiences all of the dating firsts with Noel, which is very entertaining to watch. The Ben vs. Noel dilemma creates much of the show's drama. For me, it really depends on which episodes I'm watching and at what point in my life. In the first season, Noel definitely wins the contest, but later he becomes annoying and clingy and Ben gains character. You can still find plenty of articles arguing for one beau over the other, so clearly the triangle gained a passionate response from the audience.

Lastly, parents can play a big role in your college experience. One of the hardest things to do when starting school is figure out how to mix your past relationships - parents, friends, significant others - with your new relationships. For Felicity, she has the hardest time doing this with her parents. They are understandably worried when she changes her college plans a couple months before school starts. However, they take this too far, trying over and over again to drag her back to California to focus on medicine instead of art (the girl is still going to a good college - chill). We quickly learn that Felicity's decision to move to New York has less to do with Ben and more to do with making a move towards independence from her parents. Breaking away from your parents and trying to determine your own identity away from past influences can be extremely difficult, but it is a necessary part of growing up.

4. Major? What Major?

Art or medicine? Psychology or English? Dance? Some people go to college knowing exactly what they want to study. Most of us don't. Felicity can't decide between pre-med, her parents choice that she also enjoys, and art, a passion she's had for a long time but hasn't seriously studied before. She's even further along than many students, who don't even have two options picked out. One of the best things about college is the array of classes available. You can take anything from The Social Life of Paper to Costumes of Czarist Russia. On the other hand, the number of options might overwhelm students and make it hard to focus. In the end, it often doesn't matter exactly what you studied, as long as you actually studied. Felicity eventually decides on art, but ends up going back to school for medicine after she graduates. I majored in psychology and then went back and got my master's in English later. Things never really go how you think they will.

Felicity does, however, show the craziness of signing up for classes, taking college level courses, and studying. As the article mentioned earlier says, this show, oddly enough, has the students going to class and studying fairly often. This is college after all, and while it does have a lot of fun elements, you still need to attend class and do your homework every once in awhile. Some of the funniest episodes take place during finals. We see Felicity and her friends camped out in the library, freaking out about topics they don't understand, and taking things like smart powder to stay awake. I certainly remember spending hours in the library during finals week and how much stuff people would bring with them. I mean some people had provisions for several days: food, pillows, alarm clocks, insanity. Dorky me today is like, oooh that looks fun.

5. A Brand New City

Lastly, Felicity portrays the shock and joy of moving to a new city at a young age. Now, this element will highly depend on where you went to school. However, even if you stayed close to home, you probably moved to a new town for school. This move involves learning how to get around and all that the new town has to offer (aka the bars). Felicity moves from Palo Alto to New York City, so she needs to readjust to the big city. We often see her out in the city as she tries to figure out the subway system, finds a neighborhood bar to attend regularly, goes on dates to fancy restaurants, and visits museums for class. She finds it overwhelming at first but adjusts quickly.

While Boston isn't nearly the size of New York, when I moved there from Kansas, it still seemed huge. BU, like Felicity's version of NYU, doesn't have a traditional campus, so the city becomes your campus in a way. BU's buildings run along a very long street by the Charles River. Due to laziness, we often took the T train from one end of campus to the other, integrating city and campus life regularly. In addition, Boston includes like 400 colleges, so you can travel from campus to campus for parties and meet college students practically anywhere in the city. It's like one gigantic college party across the city, or at least that's how it appeared at that age. Working adults probably have a different vision of the city.

People claim that the ratings dropped in the second season due to Felicity chopping off all her hair (I definitely do remember that moment from the original airing: everyone freaked out!). While probably somewhat true, the second and further seasons also involve less of Felicity stumbling through the college firsts. She inevitable becomes more comfortable with herself and her life in New York, switching the focus of the show to the relationships rather than the college experiences. I still enjoy the later seasons, but they are never quite as fun as the first season. Felicity vicariously takes me back to college from a slightly more idealized and dramatic viewpoint. Television nostalgia gets me every time.

IN WHICH The Girl Apologizes for Her Technological Ineptitude

Dear regular readers (i.e. the two of you),

Thanks for visiting! Anyways, I'm slowly learning how to use blogging (or just generally computer) technology. I recently realized that you can't actually see the videos in my posts when viewed from a phone, despite their appearance on a computer screen, so I have learned to embed rather than attach videos. Therefore, you can now go back and view the videos from earlier posts on a phone screen. Should you want to. Or not. I understand. Well, the option is now available. Yay!

To show you how much I'm improving, today's video will reward every grammar enthusiast: Weird Al's "Word Crimes"!

IN WHICH The Girl Learns the Killer

Finished Broadchurch last night. Brilliant. Watch it. BBC Night lasted until nearly midnight because we had to finish it. Exhausted. That's all for today.

P.S. Because of the David Tennant connection, I will also provide you with this funny video. I feel the teacher's pain. Can I shrink my own students into action figures using a sonic screwdriver?

IN WHICH The Girl Makes Cucumber Sandwiches

Last week, I discussed my Jane Austen love and how I wanted to watch the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice over the weekend. Well, I followed though, and it even became a party! Cucumber sandwiches, Colin Firth, and alcohol, oh my! Surprisingly, when I mentioned wanting to watch the movie, a bunch of others wanted to join in the fun. So six of us got together yesterday evening for the viewing and a drinking game. My version of a Pride and Prejudice party includes the following:

Food and Drinks

I considered actually cooking and baking, but alas decided that would be entirely too much work. Therefore, it wasn't the most authentic experience. I did manage, however, to obtain and produce some semi-Regency era tidbits. I did make (I mean there was lots of cutting and spreading of ingredients if that counts as making) cucumber sandwiches. I love me some cucumber sandwiches, and these were a hit. I even produced a second batch several hours later after much drinking. One friend also brought over salami and cheese and another came with mini-toasts with a pork and cheese topping that were quite delicious.

For drinks, I mixed up some punch. I had looked up the recipe for the Regent's (Edward IV's) Punch, and while not too hard, it still had too many steps for me. I have no idea what Arrack is. I chose the simpler route, a strawberry champagne punch that only involved mixing champagne, ginger ale, and triple sec together and throwing in a bag of frozen strawberries. Yummy. I think I seriously drank half of the punch. Not going to lie, I sort of want some right now. It's brunch time, right? We also had an assortment of beer for long-term drinking. I discovered a lack of English beer options at the store, so it really just came down to Newcastle.

I also bought a number of sweets that seemed British. I had blueberry scones, milk chocolate and toffee dipped butter wafers, vanilla meringues, and a variety pack of shortbread cookies with chocolate toppings. The chocolate and toffee wafers, from Whole Foods, stole the show. Half the time people were asking for the yellow bowl of them and the other half they were asking someone to take the bowl away from them.

Decorations and Clothing

For decorations, I simply placed all my copies of Jane Austen novels around the room and freshened it up with some flowers. I really wanted to have doilies, but unfortunately Walgreen's doesn't carry them (imagine that) and time was running out.

However, I did make some attempt to wear appropriate clothing. Now, I don't have any full skirted empire waist dresses, but I wore a long skirt that covered my ankles. Polite ladies do not show their ankles. I put on my dancing slippers - my ballet shoes - in preparation for dancing at the ball. I also donned a shawl and floppy hat for a minute to complete the outfit. A bonnet would have been perfect. I wonder where one gets a bonnet today?

The Drinking Game

Now the most important part of the night was the Pride and Prejudice drinking game. You can see our rules, which I mixed and matched from a number of games posted on the internet. Some rules worked better than others. We are a fairly loud group who talked through a lot of the movie; therefore, we missed a lot of the subtler mentions of things like money, esteeming or regarding someone, or Mrs. Bennet calling for Hill. We did manage to pick up on many mentions of Lady Catherine de Bourgh though.

The most popular rules contained visual cues. We loved horses, and there are lots and lots of horses. While I had meant men bending over in greeting by bows, we quickly added fabric bows on dresses and hats to the list as well. Crying, playing the piano (and I learned that a pianoforte is a specific type of piano), and womanly arts all went over quite well.

Our most enthusiastic responses regarded Lydia being slutty and Colin Firth being sexy. We spent a lot of time yelling, "Slut," at the television whenever Lydia came onscreen - I mean she's pretty much always doing something scandalous. We also waterfalled at the lake scene with Colin Firth. We decided that if you really wanted to get drunk, you should drink every time someone goes walking. That may be a new rule in the future. I'm not sure how much those experiencing the story for the first time actually followed it, but we had a lot of fun.

To leave you in a good mood, here's a skit of some guys playing a Jane Austen Drinking Game. The small dogs moments are hilarious. Sadly, Pride and Prejudice doesn't contain as many small dogs.

IN WHICH The Girl Succumbs to Austen Mania

The title is a little misleading as I succumbed to Austen mania a dozen years ago or so. But I'm fully indulging in the craziness this week. I like that both Jane Austen and her novels never seem to lose their popularity. Consider the sheer number of books and movies that involve adapting the novels (dozens but most recently famous, Pride and Prejudice), reinterpreting them (Bridget Jones' Diary and Clueless), following characters obsessed with them (Austenland, Lost in Austen, The Jane Austen Book Club), prequels and sequels (Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife), changes in genre (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Death Comes to Pemberley), and Jane Austen herself (Becoming Jane). Check out this Wikipedia page listing all the literary adaptations of Pride and Prejudice alone. Amazing.

Needless to say, should you want to spend hours, days, weeks, or years reading and watching things related to Jane Austen, you could. Yesterday was a travel nightmare and I ended up listening to the entire audiobook of Austenland. It was decent, not awesome, but I nonetheless tried to find the movie version upon returning home. I didn't find a free version, so I ended up with the Lost in Austen miniseries, which I have continued watching this evening.

Here's where I imagine this journey taking me. Since Lost in Austen revolves around Pride and Prejudice, it makes me want to watch the best movie version of the actual novel - the 1995 BBC miniseries with Colin Firth. I mean how can you not love the famous scene where Colin Firth, as Mr. Darcy, walks out of the lake soaking wet in his white shirt? I think Saturday or Sunday of this weekend will be devoted to watching the whole miniseries.

Watching this version will invariably inspire me to watch Colin Firth reprise his role as Darcy in the modern reinterpretation of the novel, Bridget Jones' Diary.

I could go several different directions at this point. If I'm still in a Pride and Prejudice mood, I may watch the BBC miniseries of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, which is essentially Pride and Prejudice with industrialism.

I may be tired of the P&P storyline, however, so I may switch to Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility. This movie actually started my interest in Jane Austen when we watched it in a high school English course.

On the other hand, I may want to stick with more modern versions and watch Clueless, an updated version of Emma. I do love Clueless.

And so on and so forth until the end of time. This might even devolve into book reading. I'll be back when I emerge from my cocoon of refined manners, bonnets, and endless cups of tea.

IN WHICH The Girl Tries to Solve a British Murder

Once a month, I get together with a couple friends from grad school for BBC Night. To clarify, BBC here stands for British Broadcasting Network, as I've been informed it has dirtier implications as well. Our BBC nights generally involve thai food, a decent amount of wine, and the viewing of a British television show.

You should know that I adore British television. I love the accents, the underhanded sarcasm, the wit (Sherlock), the focus on the past (Downton Abbey and every mini-series of a classic novel), the ridiculous of some (Doctor Who), the darkness of others (Luther), or the overall quality of the shows. I love British literature for many of the same reasons. As a teacher, we are observed in the classroom by our higher ups every once in awhile. Last fall, the person who observed me informed me that I had a very subtle but snarky wit when I lectured (I wasn't really sure if this was a good thing or not, but he seemed to think it was entertaining). He asked me where that snark came from, and I responded that I read a lot of British literature. He just nodded like that was a perfectly acceptable response.

So during the course of our BBC nights, which have now been going on for several years, we have watched a large variety of shows: every episode of Sherlock, Downton Abbey, and Luther, plus some Doctor Who, Coupling, Top of the Lake, and at least two versions of Jane Eyre. Last night we started watching Broadchurch, which I had heard was good but knew very little about. So far, it's excellent. The show starts with the murder of an eleven year old boy in a small close-knit community. Yes, not the happiest of topics, but intriguing. The season follows the investigation of this one murder. We have watched three out of the eight episodes in the first season, and I quite literally have no idea who committed this murder. Like all small town dramas, everyone knows each other, but they all have secrets. Every character is suspicious in one way or another, even the kids. I appreciate the fact that the killer is not instantly recognizable. See the trailer below:

The show has a good balance of suspense, drama, and emotion with some wonderful actors. I'm especially happy to see David Tennant, my favorite doctor for you Whovians. You will probably start to notice a pattern here, but I have two main British loves: Benedict Cumberbatch and David Tennant (Idris Elba ranks pretty high as well). While Tennant doesn't have the effervescence and hyperactivity here that he portrays in Doctor Who, he taps into his darker (and more haggard) side to represent the lead detective on the case. He's clearly struggling with both his own conscience, clues point to a past case gone bad, and some sort of drug or medical issue that hasn't been revealed yet. However, I did question why every lead detective in this type of murder mystery has to be both physically and mentally damaged. Granted, dealing with murder on a regular basis would probably take its toll. Tennant stars in the American remake of the show as well, but listening to him with an American accent seriously disturbs me. I think I'll just stick to the British version.

Overall, I'm totally hooked on Broadchurch at this point. Sadly, I need to wait three more weeks for our next BBC night to watch the rest. It's truly considered a betrayal to sneak ahead (though we've all been known to do it at one point or another).

IN WHICH The Girl Gets Lost in Translation

“Do you know what sign fool put up on our dorm door? Speak, friend, and enter. In f—king Elvish! (Please don’t ask me how I knew this. Please.)” 

Yesterday, I finished reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, the latest pick for my book club. We celebrated the completion of the book by going out for jibaritos sandwiches (a delicious combination of steak, fried plantains, salt, and garlic) and then drinking mamajuana (red wine soaked in spices and then mixed with honey and rum) in a 7-11 parking lot. We are a super classy book club. While we purposefully sought out a multicultural experience, Diaz’s book bakes multiculturalism into every aspect of his characters’ lives. The result is a brilliantly told tale of how our families, beliefs, cultures, politics, and even roommates irrevocably mold our lives, for better or worse.

The title, back cover, and even the first chapter all imply that the story will focus on Oscar, the socially awkward, obese, and perpetually love struck Dominican “hero” of our story. But while Oscar serves as a home base connection for all the characters, the book quickly delves backwards into the history of his family, tracing the effects of a fuku, or “the Curse and the Doom of the New World” that may or may not have been placed on the de Leon family by the infamous Dominican dictator, Trujillo. While this family certainly does seem cursed, and at times the book will break your heart, it never becomes truly depressing because of the narrator, a smart-talking, ridiculous, and completely unreliable storyteller:

“Dude used to say he was cursed, used to say this a lot, and if I’d been old-school Dominican I would have (a) listened to the idiot, and (b) run the other way. My family are surenos, from Azua, and if we surenos from Azua know anything it’s about f—king curses. I mean, Jesus, have you ever seen Azua? My mom wouldn’t even have listened, would have just run. She didn’t f—k with fukus or guanguas, no way no how. But I wasn’t as old-school as I am now, just real f—king dumb, assumed keeping an eye on somebody like Oscar wouldn’t be no Herculean chore. I mean, shit, I was a weight lifter, picked up bigger f—king piles than him every damn day.” 

All in all, Oscar Wao provides an entertaining portrayal of some very unique characters while questioning your belief in curses and fate, exploring the cyclical nature of dictatorship, and teaching you the history of the Dominican Republic. However, there are two aspects of the book that might throw some readers off: the mix of Spanish and nerdy pop culture references that pop up on every page of the book.

Almost every character in the book has one foot set in the Dominican Republic and the other in America, including the narrator. Like most bilingual speakers, both the characters and the narrator mix the two languages together in what Michiko Kakutani from the New York Times calls “a sort of streetwise brand of Spanglish that even the most monolingual reader can easily inhale.” I happen to agree that even non-Spanish speakers, like me, can grab most of the meaning from the context and some basic knowledge of languages, but I also know that I’m missing some of the meaning along the way. While the novel includes an unexpectedly high number of footnotes, none of them are translations. There are really three ways to react to the language:

1. Get frustrated that you don’t understand the language and give up. Hopefully, no one does this because you would miss out on an excellent book.
2. Pull up a Spanish/English dictionary and translate every phrase. One reader went through this process and generously put the results online here for other readers. I didn’t actually discover this website until I was almost done with the book.
3.  Just read the novel straight through, figuring the Spanish sections out by context and any words you might happen to know.

I went through door number three for a few reasons. One, I’m a little lazy and didn't want to have to look up every word. I did look up some of the Spanish words that kept repeating and I thought were important, but otherwise I left the dictionary alone. In addition, I think stopping to figure out each Spanish line would have distracted me from the story itself. I would have been so concentrated on the translations that I would not pay as much attention to the characters and plot. Reading this novel is a lot like listening to a friend tell you about his or her life. You want to just absorb the tale without interruption.

However, even more importantly, I believe that I should be left a little in the dark. I don’t know Spanish – through this really did make me realize how much I should know Spanish – and, therefore, I am slightly outside of the culture of the book, as I am in real life. I am the immigrant in the Oscar Wao land. When asked in an interview how he felt about readers who cannot understand the language, Diaz responded:

“I've almost never read an adult book where I didn't have to pick up a dictionary. I guess I participate more in my readings and expect the same out of my readership. I want people to research, to ask each other, to question. But also I want there to be an element of incomprehension. What's language without incomprehension? What's art? And at a keeping-it-real level: Isn't it about time that folks started getting used to the fact that the United States comprises large Spanish-speaking segments?”

But even if you do know Spanish, another language weaves its way through this book, what I’m going to call geek-speak. We quickly learn that Oscar feeds on comics, science fiction, fantasy, and Lord of the Rings. Even the narrator, who claims to be cooler than Oscar, fully understands and uses tons of references to the “Genres,” as he calls them. According to the narrator, Oscar:

“Could write in Elvish, could speak Cakobsa, could differentiate between a Slan, a Dorsai, and a Lensman in acute detail, knew more about the marvel Universe than Stan Lee, and was a role-playing game fanatic. . . . Perhaps if like me he’d been able to hide his otakuness maybe shit would have been easier for him, but he couldn’t. Dude wore his nerdiness like a Jedi wore his light saber or a Lensman her lens. Couldn’t have passed for Normal if he’d wanted to.” 

This geek-speak provides another barrier for those who don’t follow comics and science fiction closely. I consider myself pretty nerdy, but I only caught about a quarter of the references. Again, you can choose whether to look up all the references or just give them your best shot through context. I will say that these references do add to the entertainment value of the narrator though. It should be noted that Oscar’s propensity for speaking oddly keeps him isolated from both friends and family, just as we are isolated from the novel by not fully understanding the languages.

Despite these language barriers, I thoroughly enjoyed The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and highly recommend it to others. There are so many other things I could say about it, but I’m getting tired, so I’ll let you discover the wonders of the book all on your own. Now, I just need to start on my new bucket list of nerdtastic books, shows, and movies referenced in the novel.

IN WHICH The Girl Wants Benedict Cumberbatch to Read to Her

You know what makes reading easier? Listening instead. Granted, I don't really mind reading as an activity; in fact, I love it. However, I've recently started listening to audiobooks, and I actually quite enjoy the experience. If you've never listened to an audiobook, or it has been awhile, I recommend giving one a shot.

In certain circumstances, I find reading an actual book most inconvenient, say when driving a car. During the school year, I spend a lot of time transporting myself from one school to another. Last fall, I worked at four schools in four completely different cities throughout the Chicagoland area (oh the joys of adjuncting). I spent several hours a day driving and the radio gets real old after about a half hour. And even when I don't have to drive, I usually spend multiple hours on public transportation, hopping from bus to train to bus to walking etc. etc. During all of these activities, it is simply easier to listen to a book instead of read one. I even started listening to books on the beach because I can never seem to comfortably manage reading a book while lying on my stomach.

Technology, oh that wonderful and frustrating set of toys, makes it incredibly easy to use audiobooks today. While you can certainly still buy the big packs of CDs, those only really work if you have a permanent car - which I don't - because otherwise you have to keep finding your spot in the story over and over again. Plus, it's not like I still have a discman to carry around when I'm not in a car. But if you have a smart phone, you can just download an audiobook to your phone. It's fast, you don't have to go anywhere, and it will save your spot for you. In a car with bluetooth, you can then listen to it though the radio. Or you can just plug in your earphones during all sorts of activities. Science!

To make it even better, you can find tons of free audiobooks to download from the library. Audiobook CD sets are actually fairly expensive otherwise. There are also resources like Audible from Amazon for audiobooks, but they charge a fee as well. I think I give a spiel about the library to every person I know. To my understanding, people seem quite terrified of libraries after they graduate school. However, just like everything else, libraries have evolved with the times. You can now get thousands of ebooks and audiobooks from the library website without ever having to step foot in a physical library, should you not want to deal with those crazy book people.

There's even an app called OverDrive Media that will connect to your local library website and let you download your ebooks and audiobooks through it. From my experience, you can actually find more audiobooks instantly available from the library than ebooks because people don't check them out as often. Plus, even if some mean person got to the book you want first, you can put it on hold and have the website automatically check it out for you once it's available. On the opposite end, the book just disappears at the end of your lending time, usually 21 days, so you never have to worry about late fees. If you then check the book out again later, the program also saves your spot in the book. How much more convenient can it get? I strongly feel that people should both have access to and take advantage of free books. I once passed the public library in Boise, Idaho, which had an exclamation point after the name of the library, and I thought, "Yes, that's the kind of enthusiasm we need for our libraries!"

While this audiobook business is all fun and games, there are a few things to keep in mind. One, it can be hard to do two things at once, for me at least. Therefore, I tend to choose light books that I can follow even if I miss a line or two while I'm paying attention to traffic or listening to a train announcement. You don't want to have to keep rewinding to catch an important detail. In the last few months I have listened to The Great Gatsby (having read it several times before so not needing extreme powers of attention), one of the Matched young adult books, and several murder mysteries. I, nevertheless, declined to download the audiobook version of The Sound and the Fury for this reason. In addition, it can be odd to listen to a voice other than your own read the story. Sometimes the speaker's voice annoys me or doesn't fit with what I imagine in my own head, but most of the time he or she has a pleasing timbre. Why can't Benedict Cumberbatch read every book? Lastly, downloading the books can use an incredible amount of data, so always download them when you have wi-fi unless you have some amazing data plan.

Now I just need to decide which book to download for the flight I'm taking this weekend. Choices... choices...

IN WHICH The Girl Wishes for Happy Spies

Oh, the woes of watching summer television. Yes, I know: first world problems. Obviously, our tv watching options become extremely limited during the summer. Beyond reality television (of which I will only watch So You Think You Can Dance), only a few stations produce new episodes between May and September, mainly USA, TNT, and ABC Family. Since I rarely watch TNT and I’d like to keep the number of ABC Family shows I watch on the DL, let’s talk about the USA Network.

Overall, USA has dominated summer television, producing a number of interesting and fun concepts that work well for short runs of ten to twelve episodes over the summer. The shows tend to involve silly but entertaining premises – burned spies, lawyers without law degrees, snarky criminals and/or psychics helping the police, and concierge doctors in the sunny Hamptons. I have watched and enjoyed many of these shows over the years, but I recently started to notice a trend in the USA shows. Over time, the shows turn darker, more serious and more involved, switching from episodic plot lines to season-long stories. While this narrative evolution would be a great thing for normal television, I believe it’s the downfall of the summer series.

My favorite summer shows over the last couple years have been Covert Affairs and Suits. They both started out with fairly simple set-ups. In Covert Affairs, a new spy, Annie Walker, starts working with the CIA and deals with learning the ins and outs of being a spy while trying to hide her new job from her family. Suits begins when a hot shot lawyer, Harvey, hires Mike, a young genius, but one without a law degree, who accidentally ended up in the firm’s interviews while running away from cops. We follow the progression of both Annie and Mike’s careers from the beginning, watching them solve a case a week and enjoy the excitement and danger of their risky jobs while juggling duel lives. Ultimately, the characters’ friendships and love lives evolve from episode to episode, but you never had to follow any complex plot developments and if you missed an episode here or there, no problem.

Lately, Suits has become a little more serious. Over the last couple years, the writers introduced season-long stories that one must follow from episode to episode. Also, Mike left the firm at the end of last season, putting the best part of the series, watching Mike and Harvey outsmart the opponents together, on hold. Mike’s personal life has also fallen apart, so it’s even more depressing. However, the show still includes some light-hearted elements, namely Donna and Louis, and it looks like Mike and Harvey will be fighting on the same side again soon. Suits appears to be following the darkened path of earlier USA shows, like Burn Notice, but still has time to redeem itself.

Covert Affairs, however, has been on the air longer. While still a good show that I continue watching, it’s not nearly as light or fun as it used to be. The previous couple seasons have provided complex season-long stories that I barely cared about, such as the take down of Henry. My favorite part of the show has always been watching Annie hop from country to country on missions, and dishing about these events to her handler, Auggie. But recently Annie’s goal changed from feisty spy craft to revenge, living undercover, and now hiding her medical condition. I can’t remember the last time she genuinely smiled or enjoyed her job. The only thing that looked promising was her relationship with Auggie, which also went kaput. I’m not sure I see a happy light at the end of this tunnel, but I keep hoping.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe that television shows, like any story, must develop over time. You can’t stay static forever. Usually I enjoy watching characters evolve and deal with serious conflicts. Nevertheless, when you start a show off with the promise of an exciting hour of entertainment with little commitment, you should stick to that promise. That is all I want during the summer. I want to watch Annie sleuth through a cocktail party, beat up the bad guy, and then laugh about it before making out with Auggie. I’m taking a break from Lost-style television because in theory I have all sorts of fun summery things to do outside instead (in theory). So please, USA Network, turn the light back on.

IN WHICH The Girl Discovers a Pot of Golden Lectures

And now a word from our sponsor... Kidding, but I am going to promote a website.

Several months ago, a friend introduced me to Open Culture, a collection of free course lectures online. It's wonderful. The site features hundreds of courses ranging from Hannibal to car design to game theory to the Lord of the Rings. At first I figured these would just be lectures by some randos who think they know everything about string theory, but they are all taped lectures by professors at legitimate universities, mainly elite universities like Yale, Princeton, and Berkeley. To top it off, this is the advantage of school without any homework or deadlines. You can randomly pick to watch one lecture on a topic you like - say The Birth of Jazz - or you can go through an entire course of lectures on Jazz and Culture at your own pace.

A few of us decided to start the course on Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner. While we were originally going to read and watch the lectures on the same time schedule, that plan quickly disintegrated. Now, we are all just going at our own pace (I'm definitely the slacker of the group). This set up gives some structure to my reading, which other than book club choices tends to jump all over the place. It also has forced me to try some new books, like Hemingway's In Our Time, and re-read others, like Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. In addition, the lectures provide background and analysis by a Yale professor that I probably wouldn't search out on my own. So seriously, go check it out.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

IN WHICH The Girl Remembers a Hero

It’s Thursday, and that means throwback pictures of childhood adventures are circulating social media by the dozen. I have decided to take a slightly different track: throwback television. Today, we will discuss Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Everyone has comfort foods. Well, my television comfort food is Buffy. She’s a kick-ass girly-girl fighting Big Bads with an odd assortment of friends. Love it.

The focus today, however, will be on Buffy’s heroic journey. You may have studied the hero’s journey, developed by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1973), back in grade school. Campbell developed a monomyth of the hero – the idea that heroes from every era and culture share similar characteristics and develop their greatness though a series of parallel stages. The usual class will follow the path of Moses or Prometheus (or even Star Wars), but I always choose Buffy. I have done this presentation in class before with varied results (heavily influenced by this article). Most of my students are too young to really remember Buffy (“Wasn’t that on in like the 90’s??”), but there are always a few who have watched it on Netflix and enjoy it. They ALL think I’m a dork, and it’s true. But she's a hero, you see.

Stage 1: Separation/Departure

      The hero starts in an ordinary world, say a nice normal high school. The hero is called to become a hero, but he or she usually resists the call at first. Buffy’s first call actually happens in the 1992 movie with Luke Perry (I thought he was so dreamy as a child). 

Let’s focus on the television show though. Buffy receives the call again when she arrives in Sunnydale. She's just as unhappy about it the second time around.

Eventually the chosen one gives in, and receives some form of aid from a mentor. Buffy has a Watcher, named Giles, who serves as her mentor throughout the series. He’s part of the Watcher’s Council, a group that has trained and assisted slayers throughout history, though both him and Buffy eventually break away from the stuffy old council. He’s a lovable British dude who tries to keep Buffy and her Scooby Gang - her other helpers Xander and Willow - focused on the task at hand.

The chosen one crosses the first threshold, which is the first task of the hero, taking him or her from the normal world to the unknown land of danger and adventure. There could be a number of first tasks for Buffy, such as first killing a vampire in the movie, but for the show her first Big Bad is the Master, a very old and gross vampire who wants to open the Hellmouth below Sunnydale and take over the world. He’s also, incidentally, prophesied to kill Buffy.

Lastly in Stage 1, the chosen one must enter the belly of the whale, in which he or she usually faces an abyss – a dark night of the soul – and then a rebirth as a full blown hero. Buffy, understandably, quails at the idea of dying at 16, her abyss. She fights the Master, who actually does kill her, but Xander brings her back to life through CPR, the first of several rebirths for Buffy. Buffy, of course, then goes on to kick the Master’s ass. After this experience, Buffy becomes a little darker but more dedicated to her mission.

Stage 2: Initiation

The hero embarks on his or her quest, enduring many trials. I.e. Buffy fights a lot of vampires, demons, robots and even other slayers to protect us poor, vulnerable humans. Hiyahh!

The male hero usually meets the goddess who fosters love and inspiration in the hero. He also faces a woman who tempts him with lust and is a dangerous shadow figure. But Joss Whedon doesn't stick with those stuffy, old archetypes and flips everything around. Angel, Buffy’s vampire-with-a-soul boyfriend, fulfills all of these roles for our hero. She falls in love with Angel, but when they have sex for the first time, he loses his soul and becomes evil. Now if that’s not a lesson to all young girls about men, then I don’t know what is. Sadly, Buffy must kill Angel, performing a hero’s sacrifice for the good of the world. Don’t worry, he comes back later though. This is a supernatural world, after all.

Next comes atonement with a father figure or powerful force of life and death. There are a few possible options here. Buffy’s mother dies during this period, forcing Buffy to make peace with both her mother and her death. Giles also feels out of place as Buffy ages, sometimes feeling unnecessary and at other times feeling like she depends on him too much. Most of this tension comes in the next stage of the story, however. My choice of “father figure” is the First Slayer, who gives birth to Buffy’s superhuman qualities. In addition, she inspires Buffy to learn about the slayer’s history and forces Buffy to re-examine her role as a hero. She explains to our weary hero that she is still capable of love: "Love is pain, and the Slayer forges strength from pain. Love, give, forgive. Risk the pain; it is your nature. Love will bring you your gift." Oh and what is that gift? “Death is your gift.” Cheery.

At the end of this stage, the hero faces his or her ultimate challenge, usually victory over death. As a result, he or she is awarded some form of apotheosis – a heroic vacation where the he or she can rest in peace - and a reward. At the end of Season 5, Buffy fights an actual god, Glory, who opens a portal to a hell dimension that will bring all sorts of beasties into the world. Only one thing will close the dimension: Summers’ blood, meaning either Buffy or her sister must die. Buffy makes the ultimate sacrifice and gives up her life for the sake of humanity – death really is her gift. As a reward, Buffy goes to heaven. Now, if only her friends knew that.

Stage 3: The Return

After a nice rest, the hero returns home from the apotheosis and vanquishes evil. Most heroes resist the return, wanting to stay in their peaceful place forever, because who wouldn't? He or she is pursued by enemies on the return who must be killed. Thinking Buffy has ended up in a hell dimension, her friends bring her back to life with magic. Obviously, she is a little confused by the circumstances and wishes to be back in heaven. A demon also hitches a ride on her return, and Buffy must defeat it in her perplexed state.

After his or her return, the hero needs help adjusting to the new world and facing reality. Knowing the Scooby Gang brought her back out of love, Buffy refuses to tell them about her sojourn into heaven. She feels isolated from her besties and some resentment as well. Therefore, Buffy turns to Spike, a previous Big Bad who has become a reluctant ally to the slayer. He helps her in all sorts of ways - boom chica wah wah – starting a fairly messed up but entertaining relationship of fighting and sex. Eventually, the hero comes to terms with the return and becomes a master of two worlds, stronger than ever. Despite Season 6’s depressing tone, Buffy does eventually adjust to reality, accepting that she’s not entirely human any more, and continues to fight the good fight.

Ultimately, the hero ends his or her quest and obtains the freedom to live a peaceful life. Buffy fights one last apocalyptic Big Bad by creating more vampire slayers. After the slayers defeat the “first evil,” Buffy is no longer solely responsible for protecting the world and can do as she pleases. The series ends with Buffy smiling as the Scooby Gang discusses all the things they don't need to do tomorrow.

For anyone who is paying attention to details, this was a simplified and not necessarily perfect version of the hero’s journey. For more accurate descriptions, try this thing called a library. 

IN WHICH The Girl Falls In Love With a Paperman

By day (and often night), I work as a college English instructor, mainly teaching composition. Last semester, I was looking for a video to show in class that the students could analyze together in preparation for writing a film analysis paper. Usually I would use a television episode, but I knew there wouldn't be enough class time for a whole episode this time around. I went looking online for a short film to use instead.

Personally, my knowledge of short films is pretty limited, as I would guess it is for most people. We seldom see them in theaters unless you happen to go to the rare children's movie that shows one before the feature starts. Television does not show them often either. So, unless you go looking for short films specifically, the opportunities to see them are scarce. However, I found out that a lot of wonderful short films are available on the Youtube and other websites. For the purposes of my class, I wanted an animated short film that wasn't too childish. I ended up with a wonderful 7 minute film called Paperman. 

Paperman is quirky and adorable. The story follows George, an accountant in 1940's New York City, who meets a beautiful girl, Meg, at the train station when one of his business papers blows into her face, leaving her red lipstick on the page. Unfortunately, she boards the train before he can make her acquaintance. When George arrives at work, he happens to see Meg through the window in the office building across the street and tries, through hundreds of paper airplanes thrown at the window, to get her attention. No luck. Already in trouble at work, George makes one last attempt by forming an airplane out of the sheet with Meg's lipstick. The wind sweeps the paper away before he can even throw the last airplane, and George leaves work feeling defeated. But this is a Disney film, so both magic and fate intervene. The paper airplanes, led by the lipstick sheet, come alive and pull the two protagonists together. See for yourself:

Paperman by videobash

Beyond the cute story, I love that Paperman has an old-fashioned feel but is mixed with some modern elements. Everything is in black and white, which seems appropriate to the era, but the lipstick is red, drawing your attention and foreshadowing the paper's significance. According to what I've read (and barely understand), the animation is a mix of 2D drawings and 3D computer animation, which gives the film a more traditional look but with modern movement. Paperman also initially seems like a silent film because no one speaks. Nonetheless, you can actually hear sounds, such as the train, the papers swishing, and cars honking. In actuality, there isn't really any need for talking in this film. George's job requires him to work silently and he never gets a chance to speak to Meg. The film seems both black and white and silent without completely succumbing to those traditional elements.

The music really steals the show though. At first the music is light and in the background, but corresponds directly to George's mood. As the plot reaches its climax and the paper airplanes gain life, the music also gains momentum. The tune becomes happier and almost motivational. From the music alone, we know that George and Meg will meet again soon. The film also uses a mickey-mousing technique (look I actually learned something when I taught film); it is a Disney film after all. Mickey-mousing means that the music and the actions on screen are synchronized, just like in old Mickey Mouse films. When the planes start to come to life in the alley, the music parallels their actions precisely. This musical action adds another whimsical and traditional element to a lovable film. 

Now, I just need to go out and watch some more short films to expand my horizons.

IN WHICH We Are Introduced

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

A.A. Milne starts his story collection, Winnie-the-Pooh, off with a dedication reading:

Hand in hand we come

      Christopher Robin and I

To lay this book in your lap.

          Say you're surprised?

          Say you like it?

          Say it's just what you wanted?

               Because it's yours - 

               Because we love you.

So here I am - not the wordsmith A.A. Milne or even the delightful, knowledgeable Christopher Robin - but the Winnie-the-Pooh of this blog. I present my lines to you, nonetheless, and I hope of all hopes that you like them.

Why the Winnie-the-Pooh theme? How old are you anyways? Good questions. I was at my childhood home last Christmas, because, at least in years, I am considered an adult now, and I found a very old hardback copy of Winnie-the-Pooh hiding on a bookshelf. While I have always loved Winnie-the-Pooh, it had been quite some time since I had sat down and read the stories. I was delighted again by the rambling adventures of a naive but inquisitive "bear of little brain." Pooh constantly investigates the world around him. He searches out the source of honey, he hunts down mysterious Woozles and Heffalumps, and even tries to find the North Pole. Despite his best efforts, his adventures are usually undermined by his own actions, often his desire for food, which I can understand. Pooh, however, never gets upset about his own shortcomings, often acknowledging his lack of brains, and continues along his merry way. He joyfully travels about the Hundred Acre Wood singing songs, making up poems, and meeting up with his ragtag group of friends. 

Side note: If you've never read the Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff, I highly recommend you check out his description of Winnie-the-Pooh as the exemplary Western Taoist who is in tune with nature and just goes with the flow of life.

Well that sounds wonderful, but what does it have to do with this blog? As you can see, just like Pooh, I get a little off track sometimes. While reading, I started to identify with the little bear. Like him, my head is often in the clouds, I get excited by ridiculous things, I love poetry, I often lack common sense, and I tend to take life in stride without getting too stressed. 

Therefore, in the manner of A.A. Milne, I plan to share my adventures of the mind with you. These adventures will mainly consist of mutterings about stories of all kinds, both written and filmed; I'm an English teacher after all. However, don't be surprised if I meander off topic. Sometimes when you plan to go to Piglet's house, you end up at the bee tree. 

Say it's just what you wanted?