I'm Going to England, Baby!

Dear UGA at Oxford Applicant,

Thank you very much for your application to the Summer 2007 Grady at Oxford Program. We are very pleased to inform you that you have been chosen to participate in the Grady program.

These were the first few lines of the e-mail I received last night letting me know that I've been accepted into the Grady College's summer program at Oxford. I'll admit it--I jumped up and down and called at least 10 people within a 20-minute time frame when I found out. And now I can send in my passport application and reread my copy of Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson in preparation for my trip.

"Perhaps I'm too hard on poor old Oxford. I mean it is basically a wonderful place, with its smokey pubs and bookshops and scholarly air, as long as you fix your gaze on the good things and never go anywhere near Cornmarket or George Street."

Stay away from Cornmarket and George Street--check.

"I like wandering up St. Giles to immerse myself in the busy conviviality of Brown's Restaurant--a wonderful, friendly place where, perhaps uniquely in Britain, you can get an excellent Caesar salad and a bacon cheeseburger without having to sit among pounding music and a lot of ersatz Route 66 signs. Above all, I like to drink in the pubs, where you can sit with a book and not be looked on as a social miscreant; where you can be among laughing, lively young people and lose yourself in reveries of what it was like when you, too, had energy and a flat stomach and thought of sex as something more than a welcome chance to lie down for a while."

Thanks Bill.

The Final Chapter

I can't believe it. It's the beginning of the end of the Harry Potter series as we know it. J.K. Rowling and Scholastic announced yesterday that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released July 21, 2007, just one week after the fifth movie (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) premieres. Wow. I can't believe it. You can already preorder the book at Borders or Barnes and Noble.

I really didn't think it would be released so close to the new movie, or even released this summer. It's bittersweet...I want to know what happens in the final book, but then it will be over. For good.

For more information, you can see the New York Times article
or check out Mugglenet.com.

What's the Story, Wishbone?

"What's the story, Wishbone? Do you think it's worth a look? It kinda seems familiar, like a story from a book..."

It's been argued that child literacy has grown drastically since the release of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, but I wonder if the PBS series Wishbone had any effect on literacy for people in my generation.

For those of you who never watched it or haven't heard of it, the Wishbone series follows Joe Talbot and his Jack Russell Terrier, Wishbone. Joe lives with his mom (his dad passed away when he was six) in Oakdale, Texas, and spends most of his time playing basketball and hanging out with his two best friends, David and Samantha. As the kids deal with situations in their day-to-day lives, Wishbone relates what's going on in their lives to a great literary classic, like Great Expectations, The Odyssey, and Robin Hood. The show switches back and forth between the real action in Oakdale and the action in the book. Wishbone would usually play one of the main characters in the book and don a costume to complete the look.

I remember watching the show every afternoon and wanting to read the books they featured on the show. In fact, I chose to read The Red Badge of Courage for a book report in middle school simply because the book was used in an episode. I'd be willing to bet that other kids felt the same way. Now, I enjoyed reading to begin with (mostly Nancy Drew books at the time) but I think that watching the show fueled the fire, so to speak. And I think they should definitely put it back on tv (and not just so I can watch it again).

There's a Wishbone website and a Wikipedia entry that discuss the show, and now even a facebook group called "No, I haven't read that great literary classic--but I've seen the Wishbone!" I think that's true for a lot of people, including myself. There were lots of books on the show that I've never read (like Ivanhoe and Silas Marner) but whenever I'm about to read one in a class, I try to remember if there was a Wishbone episode that explained it.

Over the Shoulder

Kronk nervously glanced around, flooded with indecision. What to do with the emperor? But help arrives conveniently on both shoulders.

Shoulder Devil: Don't listen to him. He's trying to lead you down the path of righteousness -- I'm trying to lead you down the path that ROCKS! Listen up, big guy. I got 3 good reasons why you should just walk away. Number 1: Look at that guy [referring to the Shoulder Angel] -- he's got that sissy, stringy music thing.
Shoulder Angel: We've been through this. It's a harp, and you know it.
Devil: Oh, right. That's a harp, and that's a dress.
Angel: Robe!
Devil: Reason Number 2: Look what I can do! [does a one-armed handstand] Ha ha!
Kronk: But what does that have to do with me?
Angel: No, no -- he's got a point.

As I watch The Emperor's New Groove, I have to wonder: where did the proverbial shoulder angel/devil come from? I did a Google search, and of course good old Wikipedia had an entry about it.


"A shoulder angel is a plot device used for either dramatic or humorous effect in animation. Often accompanied by a shoulder demon, the angel represents one's conscience while the demon represents temptation(s). They are handy for easily showing inner conflict of a character. These are derived from Sigmund Freud's concept of id and superego, where the id stands for basic instinctual desires and the superego for unrealistic adherence to universal morals.

The shoulder angel often looks like stereotypically angelic version of the character, with wings, a robe, a halo, and sometimes a harp. The shoulder demon likewise usually looks like stereotypically demonic version the character, dressed as devils with reddish skin, horns and (sometimes) cloven hooves."

The entry doesn't really say who first used it, but it does mention several instances when it's been used. The Simpsons, Family Guy, several Looney Tunes shorts, some comic strips, and other tv shows have utilized it.

Today's Lyrics (from the Beatles)

A Hard Day's Night
It's been a hard day's night
And I've been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night
I should be sleeping like a log
But when I get home to you
I find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright

You know I work all day
To get you money to buy you things
And it's worth it just to hear you say
You're gonna give me everything
So why on earth should I moan
'Cause when I get you alone
You know I feel okay

When I'm home
Everything seems to be right
When I'm home
Feeling you holding me tight
Tight, yeah

It's been a hard day's night
And I've been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night
I should be sleeping like a log
But when I get home to you
I find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright

This is how I've felt lately. Swamped with work (schoolwork, work for the paper, more work that I'm probably forgetting but will think of eventually...). Ergo fewer posts. Lo siento.

King Quotes

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, agression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

Cultural Events in 2006

Slate.com never lets me down--there's always some offbeat article, interesting critique, or review of the papers for me to delve into at my whim. This time, it's an article entitled "The most amazing--and disappointing--cultural events of 2006." I know technically we're 3 days into 2007, but I still feel the need to mention this article.

The premise? "Slate asked a number of prominent writers, thinkers, and other luminaries to answer the following question: What cultural event most amazed or disappointed you this year?" And thus, a very amusing, 6-page article was born. Here are some of my favorite events (with subsequent critiques) from the article:

1. Art critic and professor Christopher Benfey said, "The demotion of Pluto disappointed me." The AJC's obituary writer did the article on the subject in the style of an obituary, which I thought was a clever spin for a science-related piece. But yes, I would agree with Mr. Benfey--I, too, was disappointed when I heard that Pluto was no longer a planet. And we weren't the only two--several Facebook groups were created to show the shared disappointment. One of the groups currently boasts 753,189 members. No joke.

2. Author Laura Kipnis discussed "the minor scandal involving hard-punching literary critic Lee Siegel who was suspended from the New Republic after it turned out he'd been anonymously writing glowing tributes to himself on the magazine's Web site." Wow. What I think was highly entertaining about this story was that he blogged those tributes under the name sprezzatura, which means "studied carelessness" in Italian. He also claimed to be "constitutionally childlike" and uses this title as part of his defense. Too funny.

3. Author Megan Marshall was most interested in the "reunion of Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne—after a 142-year separation." Nathaniel was buried in America while Sophia was buried in England, but now they reside side-by-side. Awwwww.

4. Executive producer and former reporter David Simon touched on a subject that directly affects me--"the clearest indications yet as to the future of the daily newspaper in America." There were several clashes between the newsroom's desire for accurate, dispassionate, fair reporting and corporate's desire to increase profit margins. The LA Times was the perfect example: the chief editors refused corporate's demands to cut costs and shrink the newsroom staff and were promptly fired because of it. I'm glad they stood up for themselves (and subsequently for others around the country).

I could keep going, but then I'd have to comment on everything in the article, which would take far too long. But I highly recommend reading it...it's very interesting.