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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

The Force is Strong in Him

My 8-year-old son has become a huge Star Wars fan over the past several months, without overt encouragement, as he’s now seen all seven movies, and the new Clone Wars animated series has become appointment viewing for us almost every Friday night.

He has three lightsabers, two of which he bought with his own allowance; Lego Star Wars, which has dominated his weekend Wii-time since Christmas; several books and graphic novels; plus, we were both eyeballing the Star Wars edition of Electronic Battleship a couple of weeks ago at Toys R Us, and he’s already asking about a Darth Vader helmet w/voice changer for next Halloween!

Interestingly, Revenge of the Sith (which I reluctantly let him watch after months of begging) and Return of the Jedi are his two favorites in the series; Anakin Skywalker — and by extension, Darth Vader — is his favorite character.

It’s been fascinating rediscovering George Lucas’ remarkable universe, that I was initially introduced to at around the same age and was similarly enthralled, through his completely unjaded eyes. I’ve even come to appreciate his take on Anakin, who was so clumsily brought to life by the lethal combination of Lucas’ hamfisted scripting and lazy directing and the amazingly awful acting of Hayden Christensen, but so completely revitalized by the voice acting of Matt Lanter. While Christensen was unable to convincingly portray Anakin’s tortured, fast-forwarded evolution to the dark side on-screen, Lanter is having a ball voicing the cocky, impetuous Jedi whose successes in battle lay the foundation for the fierce Sith Lord I grew up with, and has made me a fan, too.

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Spindle: New Content for March

Just in time for our impromptu open mic/party tonight -- Spindle gets a little bit LOUDER -- I've posted another round of great content up on Spindle for your reading pleasure! * New poetry by Celeste Doaks, Don Pomerantz and Jacob Rakovan * New short fiction by Diane Simmons and David Winter With this latest update, I've now published over 100 poems, stories, articles and photos by 62 different contributors! Stop by and check out the latest contributions, and poke around and catch up on any you might have missed. I'll be reading a couple of my favorites at the…

Continue ReadingSpindle: New Content for March
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Everything’s amazing, nobody’s happy

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus] "We live in an amazing, amazing world, and it's wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots that don't care." [1:30] I've never seen Louis CK in action before, but my favorite humor is the insightful observational kind and this clip is hilarious, primarily because it's all so true. I say burn it all down and start over. (h/t @torrento)

Continue ReadingEverything’s amazing, nobody’s happy
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

When in doubt, follow Frank’s lead

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl95eDA_uR4]

…and do it YOUR way.

ETA: Okay, I hate posts of videos with no real content, especially on a day Seth Godin challenges everyone to blog something interesting.

I woke up this morning with Sinatra’s “My Way” stuck in my head on repeat and it was a good thing. A timely reminder to clearly know what you stand for; know when to compromise, when to hold your ground and when to simply walk away.

It’s an especially timely reminder in light of the economy and the sense that having a job is the new merit raise.

It also reminds me of one of my favorite poems, one of the first “personal narratives” I wrote as I was moving past my initial ranty political phase, and the one that I most often get random emails from teachers or students about, informing me that it’s been used in a school performance.

Breathless

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Let’s Go Mets! Let’s Go…Knicks?

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QRZnGEjNvQ]

I’m thrilled that the Brett Favre fiasco is officially over and I can look forward to being a 100% Jets fan again, but right this minute, I am so ready for Spring and the baseball season to get started!

Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog.com has been whetting my appetite the past few days with his great on-field reports and video clips of the early days of spring training as Jerry Manuel puts the team through their paces with an emphasis on a “Team First” mentality. The last two seasons have ended in huge disappointment, but I don’t believe there’s any question that the Mets go into 2009 as the frontrunner again, not just for the NL East pennant, but the League Championship, too, and Manuel’s upbeat personality is a big part of the reason why.

No disrespect to Willie Randolph, but his Zombie Joe Torre impersonation just wasn’t the right fit in Queens — just like it wasn’t the right fit in the Bronx once Torre had to stand on his own two feet and actually build upon what he’d inherited from Buck Showalter and Gene Michaels — particularly because he was never able to develop the same rapport with the media and turn them into drooling sycophants like Torre did. Manuel loves talking to the media, and the media loves a good Manuel quote, so I think the “collapse” meme will be relatively muted in comparison to last Spring, especially with A-Roid hogging the spotlight and having zero acting ability to spin the moment to his advantage.

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Continue ReadingLet’s Go Mets! Let’s Go…Knicks?
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Spindle: New content for February

I had a productive day off from the 9-to-5 yesterday, and in between DVDs of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and Throwdown with Bobby Flay (along with a shark jumping new episode of iCarly), I posted another round of great content to the site yesterday, including poetry and fiction by Aaron Bair, Lawrence Clayton, Jessica Colley, Jane Flett and Joanna Hoffman. I don't like to play favorites because everything I publish over there is a favorite by definition, but in light of how difficult good micro-fiction is, I'm particularly excited about Clayton's El Rey del Taco. In fact, I've got a…

Continue ReadingSpindle: New content for February
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Garden Photography, Writing and Planthropology

I went to the Frelinghuysen Arboretum a few weeks ago to check out Ken Druse give a presentation of his amazing new book, Planthropology: The Myths, Mysteries, and Miracles of My Garden Favorites, and took my wife’s fancy new camera with me to take pictures.

After the presentation, I wandered the snow-covered grounds of the Arboretum and took a few pictures before heading over to Greenwood Gardens for a rare tour of the grounds and took a ton more pictures. While far from the level of Druse’s work, I think I did pretty good for the first time, while also realizing I’m more of a tree, statuary and structural person than plants, though the time of year could have had something to do with that. Check them out on Flickr (plus a few below the cut).

Speaking of Druse, if you asked him what his favorite plant is, his answer would most likely be “whichever one I’m looking at. Every plant has an incredible story.”

In Planthropology, he proves his point, engagingly bringing plants of all kinds to vivid life with entertaining and enlightening stories that will intrigue gardeners and non-gardeners alike. It’s a visual feast that will make waiting for warmer weather to return more bearable, and it’s not just inspirational reading for avid gardeners, but also an ideal gift for helping family and friends get a better appreciation for your own passion, perhaps even inspiring them to get outside and join you.

My second stab at garden writing for Horticulture came out of this trip, too, along with a whole new appreciation for gardening and gardeners themselves.

 

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