Star Wars and awesome stories in general

The entire universe of Star Wars has been a huge love of mine for as long as I can remember.  I also can't actually remember when I started to be involved in the story.  For years, I've watched the films and read many of the novels that have spun off from those movies.  When the animated Star Wars movie came to theaters a few years back, I went and enjoyed it more than I probably should have.  I have literally dozens of Star Wars books in all shapes and sizes and I've read many of them several times over.  My question for this post (yes it does relate to out themes this time) is what makes a story so lovable, so addictive that people follow it for years.

First, I want to look at stories that fit this mold.  One of course is the Star Wars Universe.  Others include Middle Earth (Lord of the Rings) and Narnia.  Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings books from 1937-1949 and Lewis published his Narnia series between 1950 and 1956.  Despite both of these being decades old, the stories are timeless and as appropriate now as they were then.  Like Star Wars, these worlds are absolutely huge.  There's so much going on and so much that can go on. 

This is what these stories, and others, have in common.  It's easy to lose yourself in these worlds and every time you revisit them you may see something new.  That's one of the reasons why I fell in love with Star Wars.  There are so many characters, stories, and worlds that it's almost impossible to cover it all.  Lastly, I felt like I belonged in the universe, that I almost had a personal connection with the characters from these stories.  Does that make me weird?

The Mystery of Teen Lit: An Analysis

Over the past several years, you could hardly walk down the street without hearing or seeing some reference to Twilight, Hunger Games, or some other super-popular series.  What doesn't entirely make sense is that reason that these books have attained the level of popularity that they have.  Although the news one typically hears stems from the movie release of one book  adaptation or another, rather than the release of the book itself, the time, energy, and money for a movie would not be put out if there was an absence of guaranteed success (colossal failure of Mortal Instruments aside).  The enormous success of both the Twilight and The Hunger Games movies attests to that.

Returning to my original point of why Teen Lit is so popular, I'll express some of my own opinions.  Teen Lit capitalizes on several things that make it easy to relate to these books : the desire to "get out of here," heroic themes, and romance, to name a few.  In many of these books, the main character is stepping out of their comfort zone and going to a new place: Katniss to the Capitol, Percy to Camp Half-Blood, and Bella  (back) to Forks.  The protagonist also has to step up and be a hero, much like the Epic Poems of old.  These traits are admirable and allow readers to relate to a protagonist.

Perhaps the real secrets of Teen Lit will never be uncovered, and that's OK.  I for one am able to enjoy both Teen Lit and "grown-up" books and have no problem letting people read whatever they enjoy.  I just really needed a blog topic.

All those holiday tunes...and stuff.

Quick disclaimer: I'm not bashing Christmas or any other holiday, just the time at which people begin/continue to recognize it/them.

'Tis the season and anybody turning on B101 will know, without a shadow of a doubt, just what season it is.  Around the first of December all of the classics start rolling out and keep us Jingle Bell rocking... until March.  I have to ask, why? The same question pops up when I see candy corn on the shelves in Rite Aid or Wal-Mart advertise costumes in August.  Just let summer end first!  Enough whining though, here are my thoughts: people can't get enough of the holidays.  People are more than happy to turn their thoughts to Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas (and leave them there) because of all the happy memories we have associated with these Holidays.
   
Alright, so we can't get enough of the holidays.  The next question is, why does unfeeling corporate America hop on the bandwagon and start up the holiday ads in November (Kmart, I'm looking at you)?  Answer: $$$...$.  Coca-cola in particular has a huge amount invested in being associated with the holidays; they've practically trademarked Santa, with his genial, ruddy face and bottle of Coke.  There have been several market studies that agree with the fact that a consumer is much more likely to spend when there's an emotional tie, says my Marketing class.

Returning to my original point, and having given some serious thought to the matter, there really isn't any harm to come from an early/late celebration of the holidays.  Whatever floats your boat really.  I may just be a cynical person who likes order a bit too much.  Fortunately, we've got the Constitution, which allows me to say whatever I want and you all to do the same, and I sincerely encourage you to do so.

Gibberish or Genius?

We've been told many times that Dante Alighieri is without a doubt a genius.  Why then does he have some of his characters speak in gibberish?  The particular section in question is in Canto Seven, the First Line. Plutus speaks to the poets, saying "Papa Satan, Papa Satan, aleppy."  In the notes for this Canto, Ciardi says that "Papa Satan" is likely a reference to "Il papa santo," (the Pope), making  "Papa Satan"  the Pope's opposite.  This kind of word play is far beyond my comprehension and begs the question: Is gibberish a sign of utter stupidity or absolute genius?

When you check out Dictionary.com, a search for "gibberish" yields "meaningless or unintelligible talk or writing."  In Freshman year I dated a girl whose mother and aunt had created their own language out of what seemed like gibberish.  What I heard fit the above description, and yet the two sisters talked with what appeared to be absolute clarity.  My girlfriend and I were in the back seat and she had a completely straight face, so I believed that I wasn't being fooled.   Though I never asked what precipitated their need for a new language, I was fascinated by the exchanges I witnessed.

Pig Latin is a common example of gibberish that I've always had a huge amount of trouble with.  For those of you who don't know, pig Latin manipulates words according to a set formula: the first syllable of a word is moved to the rear and an -ay is added; the rest of the word remains unchanged.  Thus,  the word "favorite" becomes"avoritefay."  It's so confusing.  My brain can't wrap around the speed at which some can speak this, and I need a minute or two to decode what it is that I'm hearing if I can decode it at all.  Most of the time, it sounds like utter gibberish.  Maybe you just need a different kind of mind in order to comprehend gibberish- neither smarter nor dumber, just different, more creative perhaps.  Either way, I'll continue my struggle with pig Latin and wish all of you the best of luck too whether in a new language or just the Inferno.

Food, Family, and the Kitchen

     Recently, I went with some friends to the local Taco Bell on the White Horse Pike.  I'm sure you all know where I'm talking about.  I've only been there one time before and decided to give it another try.  I really stepped out of my comfort zone, ordering steak quesadillas instead of chicken.  The food was all right, but, as I'm sure many of you who are familiar with "Living Mas," I prayed I wouldn't have any... adverse reactions.
     Fortunately, I was fine, but this really got me thinking: Why on earth would I gamble with my stomach when I have perfectly good food at home?  I continued thinking, about not only quality, but also price.  Sure, fast food has a reputation of being both fast and cheap, but is it really?  Let's take a second to examine that.  I spent about $7 for a sub-par meal that hardly filled me.  If I were to go with my family for fast food, we would likely spend upwards of $8-9 a person, because let's face it, you'll get more food if the 'rents are paying.  For my family, that comes out to about $27 a person.  When we go to Sam's Club or even Wegman's, we can get 3 pounds of incredible steak and a bag of potatoes for homemade fries, all of which would be absolutely fulfilling.
    This brings me to my next point.  Why don't more people cook at home?  Home cooked meals often have a negative stigma attached, like having liver or Mom's got awful pot roast.  But what if people took just a little more time to cook together or at least try to cook together.  There are some of you out there who do cook at home together, and for that I applaud you.  For those of you that don't, I recommend that you give it a whirl.  You don't need generations-old family recipes or a dusty old cook book.  Think of something you like, Google a recipe, and try it out with your family.  It can't hurt and might bring you all closer.
    Lastly, I've always been taught that the kitchen is the center of any home (we're able to eat in our kitchen and this is not a coincidence).  You eat here, talk here, and clean up here, and I'm not talking about a dish-washer.  We wash by hand I know we're closer as a result. Hand washing dishes gives us a chance to talk and simply be together.
    Here's a suggestion for you guys: try it sometime, whether it's cooking, cleaning, or both.  You may be pleasantly surprised with the results.

The Secret World of the Computer

Last week when I was typing a blog comment, I pressed CTRL+U, believing it would give me the ability to underline a particular passage.  What  actually popped up was absolutely astonishing.  For those of you Windows users, give it a go now and press CTRL+U.  Don't worry, you're not going to cause any harm to the computer.  For those of you on an Apple, give it a whirl and if you can't see what I'm talking about, I'll describe it.  What comes up is a window that looks very similar to a Notepad document; no frills, just line after line of text.  When I looked, there were over 1200 lines.  This is coding, programming, the behind-the-scenes stuff that makes computers work.

Most of us have never seen coding before, let alone worked with this language.  And that is what coding is.  Just like a trombones, pianos, and other instruments have sheets of music to help them "talk," computers have their own set of languages.  The most astonishing part of this is that someone had to not only create the language, but also create a device that would "speak" said language.  This is even more incredible than creating a language for humans, as the "hardware" already exists in people in the form of a voice box.

Coding and programing have always fascinated me with how vast they are.  In Eighth grade I was given an assignment in Computer  class to create our own website.  To do this we learned a computer language known as HTML which is fairly common in creating websites.  It was astonishing the powers I possessed when I began creating something out of nothing.

Computers are all around us and as we move into the future they will continue to expand into our everyday lives.  Much like math, computers will be involved in everything we do, whether you decide to be a doctor, architect, or farmer.  Knowing how to code will be a huge leg up on any of your competition.  For more information check out the video below.  It's under 6 minutes and well worth your time.

Oh, He Just Passed On

Almost every day you will hear someone using a euphemism.  According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the word is "a mild or pleasant word or phrase that is used instead of one that is unpleasant or offensive."  Whether people are talking about weight ( he has a few extra pounds) or pornography (adult material), euphemisms are a huge part of our life.  The question I have is simply why?  Humans have shown an enormous capacity for evil, particularly murdering (excuse me, "erasing") our fellow humans, not even to mention our atrocities against wildlife, so why say things the way they are, for better or for worse?

Sometimes these euphemisms make it easier for us to accept the cruelty or unfairness of everyday life.  For a religious Christian, it may be consoling to think of a loved one (particularly a child who's died before his/her time) as "sleeping with Jesus" rather than dead and six feet underground in a pine box.  On the other hand, euphemisms can be even more sinister than coming out and saying "he was killed."  Looking to mob slang, saying that a rival is "sleeping with the fishes" or "on the wrong side of the grass" gives one anything but warm or fuzzy feelings and makes you think twice about messing with the Corleones down the way.

 Using this type of figurative speech can also be even more funny than being blunt.  Why say that you had to pay your taxes when you can say you voluntarily redistributed wealth?  People are likely to know what you're talking about, and if they don't you're given the opportunity to explain.  Either way, they get a laugh and may even pass it on.

In the end, maybe euphemisms just give us humans an outlet for our creativity, something like art,music or poetry, and allows us to express ourselves.  And just like any of these outlets, I bet you can judge what's going on in a person's mind by the euphemisms he or she uses.

Rosalind's Revenge

When you're reading a book by James Michener, there's one detail that you can't help but notice: there are a huge number of characters.  In case you're not familiar with Michener's work, I can briefly summarize how they typically go.  A book will begin several hundred (or thousand) years in the past and gradually work its way to the present, telling the stories of many families in one area.  Chesapeake is no different.  This particular tale centers around the Chesapeake Bay and, as in his other works, characters come and go as the years pass.  However, there is an exception to this rule.  Within the bay, there is an island that is large and  beautiful. In the first "voyage" (as sections are called in Chesapeake) a Native American named Pentaquod comes across this island after fleeing his village.  Upon inspecting the island, Pentaquod decides to move on, knowing that at some point, the island will be torn apart.  This observation never left me and hung over me like a specter.  Soon after, Pentaquod leaves and another takes his place: Edmund Steed.  The Steeds live on this island and in the surrounding area for the centuries to come.

The island takes on a personality of its own.  Michener describes the island in great detail, speaking about its trees, animals, and  the stream that runs through it.  The island is transformed from and uninhabited paradise to a cultivated home.  Weddings, funerals, and scandals all occur here.  Midway through Chesapeake, the Steeds are attacked by pirates and the matriarch, Rosalind, takes matters into her own hands and tracks down the men responsible.  It is from this section that the island gets its name: Rosalind's Revenge.  The naming of the island endears it even more to the reader.  Near the end of the book, the Steeds realize that their beloved home is literally falling to pieces.  The Steeds spend a great deal of time and money trying to save Rosalind's Revenge and  I could feel their panic through the pages.  In the final pages of the book, the bay is assaulted by a monstrous hurricane.  The Steeds evacuate their home and watch with their friends as the bay reclaims its dirt and sand.  The loss of the island is felt as strongly as the death of a beloved character.  Through the Michener's writing, I looked on alongside the Steeds as Pentaquod's prophecy came to pass.