21 June 2009
Sacrament Observation
It has bothered me for as long as I've known what a shot was that some people drink the sacrament water in the same way.
Andrew Jackson
I know the man is controversial, but I still agree with almost all of what he did politically. Flipping through the channels last night, I found another reason to admire him: Andrew Jackson was the only president in history to pay off the national debt. This is especially admirable given the current financial status of the nation. Someone forgot to tell our current president that printing more money doesn't really make more money, at least not money with value or power.
03 June 2009
Breaking News
I have a new calling....
Get ready for it....
I am....
the Sacrament Meeting Bulletin Coordinator.
Get ready for it....
I am....
the Sacrament Meeting Bulletin Coordinator.
16 May 2009
"Music for Manic-Depressives"
I found this Listmania on Amazon when I was trying to do some research on another health problem. I'm not familiar with all of the music, but I wonder about it. I may have to try some of it out and see if it impacts me in the same way as this other listener. We'll have to see if taste and medication change the way I respond.
07 May 2009
Literary Snobbery
1) What author do you own the most books by?
Jane Austen or CS Lewis. I didn't go count things up.
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
Jane Eyre.
I also have two copies of The Mill on the Floss.
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Not really.
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Joseph in Little Drummer Girl, Will Ladislaw in Middlemarch.
5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
Little House on the Prairie series.
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Little House on the Prairie series.
7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
The first half of Wicked. It sucked too much to even attempt the second half.
8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Love in the Western World, Denis de Rougemont
9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Villette, Charlotte Bronte. But it's a problematic choice.
More realistically? Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell: the Victorian novel for those who hate Victorian novels.
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
I certainly haven't read enough contemporary literature to make an informed decision.
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Most of the books I enjoy resist interpretation into film.
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
See 11.
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
An affair with Paul Celan. I stopped him from suiciding.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
Angels and Demons, The Nanny Diaries.
15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Fiction: probably Peter Hoeg's Borderliners.
Non-fiction: at the time (I haven't revisited the text in 8 years), probably Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy's The Literary Absolute: The Theory of Literature in German Romanticism; more recently, probably Kierkegaard's Repetition.
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I don't think I've seen an obscure one.
17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
In terms of novels, I've read slightly more of the Russians; in terms of poetry/drama, more of the French. I don't have enough data for a statistical analysis of preference.
18) Roth or Updike?
To be quite honest, I haven't read either.
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
See 18.
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Shakespeare. He offers the most variety.
21) Austen or Eliot?
I don't know if you can make a very good comparison between the two. Their motives are completely different and their styles are miles apart. I enjoy both of them, but I have a hard time placing them in the same hierarchy.
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
My brother would say fantasy. I know I'm lacking in 20th century literary experiences.
23) What is your favorite novel?
The one that has impacted me more than the others, at least currently, is Villette by Charlotte Bronte.
24) Play?
Medea, Euripides; The Three Sisters, Chekov.
25) Poem?
Very hard to say. Here are four I've admired:
"since feeling is first," e e cummings
"Sonnet 116," Shakespeare
"Dirge Without Music," Edna St. Vincent Millay
"Haelfte des Lebens," Friedrich Hoelderlin
26) Essay?
"A Room of One's Own," Virginia Woolf.
27) Short story?
"The Horse Dealer's Daughter," DH Lawrence.
28) Work of non-fiction?
The Machine in the Garden, Leo Marx.
Love in the Western World, Denis de Rougemont.
29) Who is your favorite writer?
Three I always find myself going back to are Jane Austen, Ray Bradbury, and John Le Carre.
30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Dan Brown (can't get anything like a fact straight), JK Rowling (redundant metaphors, sloppy overall), what's-her-butt that did the Twilight books (I can't even read summaries without wanting to vomit).
31) What is your desert island book?
I have to go with Zach and choose scripture.
32) And... what are you reading right now?
Nothing, but Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is on the top of my pile.
Jane Austen or CS Lewis. I didn't go count things up.
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
Jane Eyre.
I also have two copies of The Mill on the Floss.
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Not really.
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Joseph in Little Drummer Girl, Will Ladislaw in Middlemarch.
5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
Little House on the Prairie series.
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Little House on the Prairie series.
7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
The first half of Wicked. It sucked too much to even attempt the second half.
8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Love in the Western World, Denis de Rougemont
9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Villette, Charlotte Bronte. But it's a problematic choice.
More realistically? Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell: the Victorian novel for those who hate Victorian novels.
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
I certainly haven't read enough contemporary literature to make an informed decision.
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Most of the books I enjoy resist interpretation into film.
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
See 11.
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
An affair with Paul Celan. I stopped him from suiciding.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
Angels and Demons, The Nanny Diaries.
15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Fiction: probably Peter Hoeg's Borderliners.
Non-fiction: at the time (I haven't revisited the text in 8 years), probably Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy's The Literary Absolute: The Theory of Literature in German Romanticism; more recently, probably Kierkegaard's Repetition.
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I don't think I've seen an obscure one.
17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
In terms of novels, I've read slightly more of the Russians; in terms of poetry/drama, more of the French. I don't have enough data for a statistical analysis of preference.
18) Roth or Updike?
To be quite honest, I haven't read either.
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
See 18.
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Shakespeare. He offers the most variety.
21) Austen or Eliot?
I don't know if you can make a very good comparison between the two. Their motives are completely different and their styles are miles apart. I enjoy both of them, but I have a hard time placing them in the same hierarchy.
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
My brother would say fantasy. I know I'm lacking in 20th century literary experiences.
23) What is your favorite novel?
The one that has impacted me more than the others, at least currently, is Villette by Charlotte Bronte.
24) Play?
Medea, Euripides; The Three Sisters, Chekov.
25) Poem?
Very hard to say. Here are four I've admired:
"since feeling is first," e e cummings
"Sonnet 116," Shakespeare
"Dirge Without Music," Edna St. Vincent Millay
"Haelfte des Lebens," Friedrich Hoelderlin
26) Essay?
"A Room of One's Own," Virginia Woolf.
27) Short story?
"The Horse Dealer's Daughter," DH Lawrence.
28) Work of non-fiction?
The Machine in the Garden, Leo Marx.
Love in the Western World, Denis de Rougemont.
29) Who is your favorite writer?
Three I always find myself going back to are Jane Austen, Ray Bradbury, and John Le Carre.
30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Dan Brown (can't get anything like a fact straight), JK Rowling (redundant metaphors, sloppy overall), what's-her-butt that did the Twilight books (I can't even read summaries without wanting to vomit).
31) What is your desert island book?
I have to go with Zach and choose scripture.
32) And... what are you reading right now?
Nothing, but Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is on the top of my pile.
15 April 2009
Defense Playlist
Hopefully this does the trick
- AC/DC - Back in Black
- Backstreet Boys - Everybody (Backstreet's Back)
- Bad Religion - 21st Century Digital Boy
- Beck - E-Pro
- Bif Naked - I Love Myself Today
- Bon Jovi - Livin' on a Prayer
- Bon Jovi - Have a Nice Day
- Britney Spears - Stronger
- Christina Aguilera - Fighter
- Def Leppard - Armageddon It
- Elton John - Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
- EMF- Unbelievable
- Foo Fighters - I'll Stick Around
- Garbage - Push It
- George Michael - Freedom '90
- Gloria Estefan - Get on Your Feet
- Green Day - Walking Contradiction
- Guns & Roses - Welcome to the Jungle
- Heart - Barracuda
- Hole - Celebrity Skin
- Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
- Joan Jett - I Love Rock and Roll
- Joan Jett - Bad Reputation
- Journey - Don't Stop Believin'
- Journey - Any Way You Want It
- Junior Senior - Move Your Feet
- Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone
- Kiss - God Gave Rock and Roll to You
- Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song
- Lenny Kravitz - American Woman
- Lostprophets - Rooftops
- Michael Jackson - Beat It
- Pixies - Head On
- Queen - Another One Bites the Dust
- Queen - We Will Rock You
- Quiet Riot - Bang Your Head (Metal Health)
- Republica - Ready to Go
- Saliva - Ladies and Gentlemen
- Scandal featuring Patty Smith - The Warrior
- Jill Sobule - Supermodel
- Superchick - One Girl Revolution
- Joanna Pacitti - Watch me Shine
- South Park - What Would Brian Boitano Do
- Sprung Monkey - American Made
- Tenacious D - Tribute
- The Pixies - Cannonball
- The Offspring - Come Out and Play (Keep 'Em Seperated)
- Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet with Butterfly Wings
- The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
- U2 - When Love Comes To Town
- U2 - God Part II
- Van Halen - Jump
- Van Halen - Hot for Teacher
- Knockout - Survivor
- Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
- The Living End - Prisoner of Society
- Veruca Salt - Volcano Girls
- Weezer - Teenage Victory Song
- Yellowcard - Lights and Sounds
14 April 2009
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