The Greatest American Novel

I read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time when I was 25; I saw the movie for the first time when I was 27. What have I been doing with my life? The first time I read TKAM I fell in love with the book--dropping Harry Potter down to second place. It is "The Greatest Novel" ever written. And the movie . . . . is amazing! This movie is an American treasure, and should not be remade, cuz who could play Atticus better than Gregory Peck, and Boo. . . .

Nobody told me that Robert Duvall played Boo Radley, my respect for the man has shot up 100%! I love Boo (and Duvall)!

I should start a Boo Radley fan club.

Sometimes I Wish I Were Mean

Today a person came into work and asked for some help. Being the nice person that I am (and because it is in my job description) I helped him. The problem with this guy is that he is really polite, so I would look like a rude annoyed [insert expletive here] person. Said person has been into the office at least 3 times before concerning the same thing. He's talked to the department chair, and the adviser about the same question, and every time he's gotten the same answer, which is exactly what I told him every other time he's come in. Get this, he wants to be a surgeon! hahaha

I had to explain to the distressed individual how to look up classes online, and I did it off the top of my head and explained it perfectly without having to open up the web browser, and the person still didn't get it. He said "I'm sorry I don't understand what you're saying. . . you're not clear." Was I speaking Chinese?! I told the person when you do a class search, look for the class that you want to take that is not located in these rooms[classrooms given here]--as if I didn't explain it clearly, how transparent do I have to be? So then I had to take the helpless person through the registration process step by step.

This person is a fully grown homo sapien with a fully developed brain, at the top of the food chain, not some 18 year old that needs their parent to hold their hand and wipe their nose (this type also annoys me, the student and parent), he's been doing the college thing for awhile, so I'm the one that's confused, about how he managed to get this far! It was really hard for me to control my facial expressions. When his back was turned I rolled my eyes, hit my forehead, and made nasty faces at him (it's really good that God didn't give us eyes in the back of our heads, or I would be in serious trouble, but I already am with Him--I'm so driving the bus). He thought I was being nice to him . . . he has no idea (and even if he read my blog, which he wouldn't, he wouldn't know I was talking about him)!

You probably think I am a mean person, which I am, but I would never be mean to your face. I don't have the guts!

The 21st Century Titus

The other day I watched Four Brothers with Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese, Andre "3000" Benjamin, and Garrett Hedlund. I was thinking to myself this is a pretty decent revenge story, and how can I relate it back to Shakespeare (what can I say I idolize the man). Of course he is a man "not for an age, but for all time," according to Ben Jonson. The one good thing about my English degree is that I can relate anything back to Shakespeare. So, after watching it I seriously contemplated how "Shakespearean" is the movie?

It's totally Titus Andronicus, one of Shakespeare's bloodiest, revengiest, coolest plays!

In Titus, Titus comes home from a war with the Goths bringing with him their queen Tamora (vile woman), her two sons (I personally wanted to kill them and put them in a pie, like in Fried Green Tomatoes "Secrets in the sauce"), and Tamora's lover a Moor named Aaron (he is so warped and would do anything for love, but not the healthy kind of way, but criminal style). While Titus is at war (for 10 years) the emperor dies and his two sons, Saturninus (the oldest) and Bassianus, fight over the throne and Titus' brother, who happens to be the Roman Tribune, decides to wait for Titus to come back to make the decision--that's good thinking to have the war hero decide who the next emperor is-- and he picks Saturninus (duh!), Saturninus ends up marrying Tamora, very poor strategy on his part considering she is the enemy, a slave, spoils of war, and the bad guy. Titus ends up sacrificing Tamora's oldest son, Tamora's justification for revenge, and she, along with Aaron, plot revenge against Titus, and then Titus seeks revenge on Tamora, and it goes back and forth 'til they're all dead (no one is off limits), but of course it's way cooler than that (the details are not G-rated like most of Shakespeare). Aaron doesn't die though, he just gets buried up to his neck and starves to death.

Doesn't that sound like the basic plot to Four Brothers? The brothers' mother is murdered, they seek revenge, the murderer is like a Union boss or something (he has people doing his dirty work like Tamora), innocent people die along the way, and there is a big fight scene at the end. Shakespeare is more tragic, in that the main character dies, and it has more of a Renaissance feel to it; whereas, Brothers has a happier ending and a 21st century feel, the main character, Mark Wahlberg, doesn't die (a lot of unhappy ladies would have left the theater very sad that night). Another reason he couldn't die in the movie: he was Marky Mark (the pants dropper) that carried a cane with an 8 ball on it(I wonder if it told the future), and one of the few white guys in Hollywood with "real street cred."

I highly suggest reading or seeing Titus Andronicus. There is a pretty cool movie with Anthony Hopkins just titled Titus, that's how cool he is, he doesn't even need a last name!

I wonder if I could teach Titus in Utah schools?

Links to images (taken from google images):
Titus BBC
Four Brothers, cinemashelter.com

An Uneventful Event

I know it's been awhile since I posted, but nothing, wacky, crazy, zany, traumatic, exciting, or eventful has happened the past week. (I know)! So, keep holding your breath until I get back to ya'll!

I Finished! (Finally)

I finished reading The Host, and I love it! At first I didn't care for the ending, but now I realize that it fit the rules of the world that Stephenie Meyer created.

I highly recommend it!

Macbeth Movie

This is the video I made for my media class. I will be teaching Macbeth this fall, so I am really excited to have something cool prepared for it! Enjoy!

Speculating the Twilight Saga Outcome

I am really bugged by the new cover for the upcoming Twilight book Breaking Dawn. It's ugly, and lame. It was a total let down, and a waste of $13 (I got it on sale), [sigh] oh well, Iguess I can put it in my classroom. To me it feels like it deviates from the theme of the other covers--minimalistic . . . symbolic . . . you know--I just don't get what chess has to do with vampires (maybe Edward goes to a chess tournament and meets Bobby Fischer, who, according to Wikipedia, died this year, but he is immortalized as a vampire because Victoria made him a part of her vampire army--obviously before he died--and Bobby is her new love interest after the death of James, and Bobby manages to escape before the Volturi sweep in and clean things up, and then, this is where the plot gets good, because he's supersmart, you know, and is a good tracker, and hunts Jacob down after the big battle, and he holds Jacob hostage until Edward and Bella come to save him, because Bella convinces Edward to help Jacob, and Edward would do anything for Bella ["love"] and the "chess game" begins). But then again, I don't know how to play chess, and what it has to do with the Twilight saga is all speculative right now. I guess I will have to wait until August to read it; hopefully I will be able to make the connection.

I like the covers for Twilight and Eclipse, but New Moon and Breaking Dawn are just . . .I don't know, not relevant (and confusing). So, I guess the even numbers get the sucky covers, which is sad because I like even numbers.