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When Your (Brown) Body is a (White) Wonderland
Everyone should read this piece by @tressiemcphd and if you aren’t following her on Twitter, you should be.
Under the Dome – Missing Frank
If I remember correctly, when Under the Dome first came out I was working in a bookstore that no longer exists. I’ve never been a big enough King fan to pay for a hard copy of his books (even with employee discount), and as I waited for the soft cover of Under the Dome I got busy with grad school, and it just dropped off my radar. Recently, all the hype about the television show reminded me of the book. I had an audible credit available, so I decided to listen to the book before watching the tv show. From what I have heard, I don’t think I will be wasting my time with the tv show.
There is a new series of Law & Order: UK on BBC America right now. That, plus Hell on Wheels, have all my television time wrapped up. Any extra will be devoted to watching The Fall on Netflix. In short, since I no longer have to worry about a dissertation I now have brain space for good television, which limits my tolerance for bad television. Really, I haven’t watched a single episode of Rizzoli & Isles this season. Posts about each of those shows will probably follow, but this one is about a book.
My feelings about Under the Dome could be summed up like this … eh.
The book certainly isn’t King’s worst, but I wouldn’t rank it among his best either. Even if you limit your best of list to King’s epic door-stopper genre, Under the Dome is just there, not fantastic, but not bad enough to really complain about either. Once you meet all the characters, which takes a good portion of time, the rest of the story is fairly predictable.
In all fairness, however, I have to admit Under the Dome had a hard row to hoe. Because I didn’t really read it, I listened to it and, while the narrator was passable, he was no Frank Muller. Muller was the first audiobook narrator that made me pay attention to his name, and then go find other things he read. I can’t tell you any more which came first, my decision to listen to/read Stephen King & Peter Straub’s Black House, or my love of Mr. Muller’s voice. Muller’s voice and characterization are the standard by which I judge all other narrators, and while many get close, few make me want to listen and re-listen to books the way Muller does. At one time I actually owned Black House on cassette, and when I lost one, I used an Audible credit to download it. Even having paid for it twice, I have gotten more than my money’s worth from Muller’s recording. Seriously, go check out Muller’s narration list. I guarantee you will find something you like on there.
Black House is not such a great story that I want to listen to it over and over, it is that Muller makes me love the characters, makes me ignore the faults in the story. Under the Dome’s narrator is fine. He does an okay job, but he is never quite able to make me love the character’s enough to forgive the plot twists I could see coming/the canned story arcs/or King’s obligatory unnecessary sex scene. All of this is just my long way of repeating my initial review — Under the Dome, eh.
Vacation Details
My mother-in-law sent me a few of her pictures from vacation. Eventually, there may even be a picture of me being towed behind the boat. Thankfully, my sister-in-law’s phone was running out of battery, so there is no footage of my header into the lake. Your imagination will have to suffice. My father-in-law described my performance as the epitome of “ass over teakettle,” if you needed any help.
The in-laws are known far and wide for their love of lawn games, so one afternoon an Olympics course of corn-hole, ladder golf, horse shoes, bocce ball, frisbee toss, and football toss was set up. The other thing the in-laws are known for is how long it can take to get an activity started. From conception to the start of the first event, the family yard Olympics took over 2 hours to get started. Eventually, though everyone gathered in the back yard.
- Yard Olympics waiting area.
Given that I spent more time in airplanes than on the ground in the week before this trip, I unsurprisingly developed a head cold during our time at the cabin. I served as the Olympic crowd/dog & baby wrangler. It was pretty fun. Whoever had the least amount of points at the end had to go down to the lake, shout loud enough for the whole lodge to hear “I’m a fish. I’m a really big fish. Come and get me,” then jump in the lake.
He’s a really big fish
To make sure the loser didn’t feel too lonely, everyone got to vote for someone to jump in the lake with the loser. Since no one had ever seen the Captain’s (my father-in-law) perfectly coiffed do, known as the “dome,” wet, he was of course picked to accompany the DH into the lake. Some one did get a video of the big moment, which I will share when it comes my way. Amazingly enough, the dome looked just the same wet as it did dry.
As we left Wednesday morning my mother-in-law got a few pictures of us with our little nephew. Of course, there isn’t one in which we all are looking at the camera.
The DH is skeptical.
Everyone look stage left.
There were however, some nice pictures of us individually.
snuggling Uncle DH
Enough pictures! Put me down already!
There was even a rare picture of the DH and I. Given that it was 7am and we were about to drive 1800 miles home, I don’t think we look too bad.
Day light’s wasting … let’s go!
Vacation Round Up
It’s been quiet around here lately for a couple of reasons. First, a long shot of a job application resulted in a sudden campus visit. While that was the only thing on my mind for a bit, it was also not something I thought I should be writing about. Then right after that visit I went on vacation. The vacation was at a lovely cabin in the wilds of Wisconsin where I didn’t have access to internet or phone. It was great.
I kayaked for the first time, and I loved it. In fact, I loved it enough to give myself blisters going out as often as I could. It was also great to see all my in-laws. At nearly every family vacation a story emerges at someone’s expense. For example, at our reception party my father in law tried to open a can of cashews and ended up throwing them all of the room. He has to this day not lived down the cashew incident.
This trip it was apparently my turn for such a story. In addition to kayaking I also tried tubing for the first time. It all went well until my ride was over. No one told me that when the boat stopped I would need to reposition my weight backward. The result was that in exquisite slow motion I felt the tube slipping forward more and more until I went head first into the lake. As I spluttered my way to the surface all I could hear from the boat was laughter and gasps as they asked if I was okay. Apparently the look on my face as I went in the water was priceless.
Between time on the boat and game nights we all had such a nice time I don’t mind being the entertainment for the week.
Magical Thinking
Although this flies in the face of all the dog training rules that say “Do Not Make A Big Deal About Leaving,” we’ve always had a leaving ritual that the dogs seem to enjoy.
We get ourselves ready to go, gather up a Kong filled with treats and a little peanut butter, or just a little biscuit or two, and then we say, “Where do good dogs go?” Or, some variation like, “Who’s going to show me where good dogs go?” Sure enough, Yasser and Moshe head off to their crates, or as we call them “boxes,” and wait for their treats. From all the evidence, they both enjoy this process. Well, when there are too many long days in a row with both Bradley and I working, Moshe often leaves his treat for later to come stand in the hall and watch us walk out the door. It is pathetic and heartbreaking – like when he watches me drive away…
Moshe is our sweet dog, but perhaps not our smartest dog. Occasionally, we will find him in the middle of the living room doing this:
The kong is empty.
When Yasser knows the kong is empty, but wants something more, he picks it up and does the doggy equivalent of throwing it at you. As if to say, “I want some more, damnit!” Moshe apparently believes that if he stares hard enough new treats will magically appear in the kong. Seriously, I’ve seen him hold this stare for a good 5 minutes.
Unexpected Pleasures
Remember Christmas? Birthdays?
I mean the real excitement of Christmas or Birthdays when you were between 5-8? The anticipation for everything you said you wanted and the surprise as you opened presents. More specifically, do recall that joy of opening a present and getting just what you wanted – only you’d asked for it so long ago that you’d forgotten it, or you’d just recently realized you wanted it and hadn’t remembered to ask for it. It’s easy to forget about those moments, about how joyous it can be to get the “perfect” present. I’d really and truly forgotten what it was like to be so surprised.
Then today I got a box in the mail. Last week a friend asked for my address and told me he was sending a graduation gift. Completely unnecessary I told him (and meant it), but he said he’d ordered it months ago and was sending it anyway. Since items have a tendency to go missing from our porch I’d been keeping an eye on the mail, but had pretty much forgotten it. (This is the same friend it took me two years to give a present.) I figured the next time we saw each other would be soon enough.
Then, like I said, when I walked in the door there was a small box on the book shelf. Sure enough, the return address was from the ‘boro. When I opened the box I am pretty sure I was grinning like an idiot.
BSG “Elite Pilot” Flight Pin
For those of you who weren’t around for the previous incarnation of this blog. I LOVED the new Battlestar Galactica. Perhaps, even, I was a wee bit obsessed with the show. (Viewing parties at my house, incessantly pressuring friends to watch.)There is even a colonial fleet propaganda poster currently hanging in my office. (Another gift from a good friend when I passed my comprehensive exams.)
I had to blow this up and lighten it. Not the best picture, but this is what I have instead of a window.
I didn’t even know these pins existed, but this is by far the best present. Anything that makes you feel 8 again qualifies as the best ever!
The watch Bradley let me pick out as a graduation present is nice, and sweet. (And he says he will eventually engrave it with something.)
The story of how I picked it is a different post, but I do love it.
The Keurig machine the DH’s Brother & Sister & their respective spouses went together to get me is definitely the most useful graduation present I received.
These wings though, these wings are by far the most fun present I’ve received. I’m still smiling like an idiot.
I didn’t even know I wanted them.
Writing Prep
When the alarm went off at 5:15 this morning I quickly silenced it, spent a moment thinking about what I would write, and then rolled over to sleep for another 45 minutes.
Early morning is definitely my most productive writing time, but I am just not sure I am ready for early morning again.
What I did get done today is some good writing related reading. This fall our writing center will expand, and by expand I mean basically become two centers. Of course I get to run both without an increase in salary, but … well, that’s a different conversation. As we put together this new program, I am trying to be more deliberate about what the assessment of this program will look like.
Now, I know there are people out there who like to think about programmatic assessment because I am reading their books; however, I am not so excited about this topic, and sometimes it makes for some slow reading. The book I’m currently working my way through, Building Writing Center Assessments That Matter is good, and I am finding helpful information. The only problem is (and this is my issue with most assessment discussions) as I read I keep asking myself, “When? When does all this happen?”
Maybe it is just that with the addition of this new center I now run three different programs throughout the year. Maybe it is just that I have not become a Pomodoro master yet and therefore have not reached the zenith of my productivity. Whatever it is, I am left unable to imagine squeezing one more thing into my day.
NBC’s Hannibal pt. 1
In Red Dragon Hannibal Lecter has already been apprehended and tried. He is a bit character to whom Will Graham turns for help as he searches for this new killer. During their interactions the reader/audience learns that Lecter had served as a consultant for the FBI and that Graham was instrumental in catching him. The television show functions essentially as back story for Red Dragon by showing the audience Graham and Lecter’s relationship while Lecter was killing. As such, by choosing to make Hannibal Lecter the titular character and focus the show on his relationship with the FBI the writer’s have built in a finite timeline for their show. Eventually, within a season or two, Lecter has to be caught and the show either risks having to re-tell/revise Red Dragon, or trying to re-tell an already established book and movie. While Will Graham is certainly an essential element of this show, had the writer’s chosen to begin with him, to make his character or Jack Crawford, the central element of the show, they could have bought themselves a longer time line.
The other thing the writer’s have done is contemporized the story. Characters have cell phones and iPads, and that has led to other important changes that are problematic, and make the show a prime example of embedded feminism. Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs were products of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, and while it might not seem that long ago, the period is important to their stories. Red Dragon is a boys club of a novel. Jack Crawford entices Will Graham back to the FBI to solve one more case. Graham visits Lecter, consults with psychologist Dr. Alan Bloom, and works with a reporter Freddie Lounts to help entice the Red Dragon to attack in order to catch him. The only major female characters in Red Dragon are Francis Dolarhyde’s dead domineering Grandmother and his co-worker Reba McLane. This boys club is important for two reasons – one it is an accurate representation of the time, and two it lends importance to Clarice Starling’s appearance on the scene in Silence of the Lambs.
Starling’s struggle to break into this boys club is one of the most essential elements of Silence of the Lambs. For me, the two most striking scenes in the film the opening shot of Jodie Foster making her way to Jack Crawford’s office and entering the elevator with a crowd of men towering over her, and when she explains to Crawford that how he treats her in front of local law enforcement officials matters. His treatment of her is important because it demonstrates to the other men how to treat a woman in a male dominated field.
NBC’s show is populated by a nearly equal number of men and women. Dr. Alan Bloom has become Dr. Alana Bloom, Hannibal’s own psychiatrist is a woman, Freddie Lounts is also now a woman, of the supporting cast of technicians a woman has also been added, and in the FBI classes Will Graham teaches also represent a gender parity. This parity in representation functions as embedded feminism, making it appear that women have at the very least achieved significant representation in the work place. This is problematic for me because the universe this show is establishing does not pave the way for Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs. Starling’s gender set her apart from the rest of the investigators, and it is what gave her the insight and ability to find Buffalo Bill. In the world this show is creating, those elements would not be essential in the same way.
D5 Creation