Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Merry Christmas to All

Merry Christmas everyone! I wish all of you a safe and happy holiday season.

I will be taking a bit of a break from my blogging routine to enjoy the holidays. I will post my annual Best and Worst of the Year list next week on Silent Cacophony.

I will resume my regular posting schedule here when school starts back up in January. Until then, peace and warm wishes!

Lots of love,

Chase

Monday, December 22, 2008

Listen More


"If we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two mouths and one ear."

- Mark Twain (taken from Growing Character by Deb Austin Brown)

Friday, December 19, 2008

Life is Complex


"Your life experience is part of a much more complex system, and only you can figure it out."

- Joseph Gold. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 49

photo credit McGun

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Gifts Tell


"Every gift tells a story."

- Indigo Books Store Poster – in the window for the Christmas season 2005

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Too Busy Picturing...



Graham, a father stands on a ladder to reach the eaves trough of his roof. He needs a bit of help and calls to his neighbor's teenage son. The boy waves and rollerblades away.

Graham says, "Gee, thanks, well, I'd like to help you, sir, but I'm too busy picturing your daughter naked."

Funny scene!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Don't Stop!



"He who stops being better stops being good."

- Oliver Cromwell - taken from Growing Character by Deb Austin Brown

Thursday, December 11, 2008

I Must Have Changed



“…and who are you?”

“I—I hardly know, sir, just at present—at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.”

- McLuhan, Marshall and Quentin Fiorce. The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. Penguin Books: Toronto, 2003, pg 153-154.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Fight With a Pen


"So I fight with a pen to enlighten a friend."

- Sweatshop Union "Labour Pains" off the album Local 604.

Please head on over to Silent Cacophony to read the interview I did with Dusty Melodica from Sweatshop Union last week. It was a great interview with one of the best hip-hop groups out right now.

The interview is available as a podcast from Dope FM or you can read it on my other blog and see their videos there as well.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Inspiration From Television


This happens to me often. I am watching a show and a pearl of wisdom jumps out at me. I pause the DVD or quickly find a pen and paper to scribble down a line of dialogue.

Recently I have been watching Battlestar Galactica Season 2.0. They had it at the public library and I am glad they did. I haven't really had a chance to watch this show and I've heard good things about it.

I have been really impressed with what I have seen so far. The show is brilliantly writing and acted, and has a lot of suspense and action. (If you haven't seen this show yet, there are spoilers ahead.)

Science fiction is great for shining a light on real life situations that we face every day. Now, a dark series about war with sentient robotic lifeforms might not seem like it could shine a light on any important issues, but it does. The show is smart.

One scene in particular has really stuck with me this past month. I think we can all learn something from it.

The chief mechanic is working on one of the fighter ships. He puts on a sticker on it that it is “unserviceable scrap.” A captain comes up to him and tells him how important it is that the ship be fixed soon. The key context here is that they are running out of supplies and everyone is weary and tired of their situation in space.

Captain: “Damn it. I need that ship online.”

Chief: “What can I tell ya captain. Engine mounts are shot, cockpit seals are cracked. If it were a horse, I'd shoot it.

Captain: “Chief, come on, work with me here. I need your help.”

Chief: “What'd ya want me to do? Work my crew to death?”

Captain: “No, just do you're best. Nobody's expecting any miracles here.”

Chief “Maybe that's the problem.”

The chief then gets the idea to build a new fighter on his off-duty time. His crew thinks he's crazy and doesn't support him at first. He goes ahead and does it anyway, all by himself. He's overworked, his crew is overworked but the project becomes something that energizes the crew. They come together and get it done.

This is inspirational to me. It makes me think that we can all accomplish great things. This chief went above and beyond the call of duty. He did something that wasn't expected but that was truly needed and useful. I think if we examine our lives, we can do the same thing at home, at the workplace, or in the community. I've already got a few ideas kicking around in my head. Maybe we can all create little miracles.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Feelings are Prelinguistic



"Feelings, in other words, are prelinguistic; we feel before we 'think' in language. Language is thought. Feeling is more basic, more connected to the animal part of us. Language seems to be best for describing the world outside ourselves; it does not seem well suited to describing our feelings."

- Joseph Gold. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 102

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Stories Make Themselves


"My basic belief about the making of stories is that they pretty much make themselves."

- Stephen King. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Scribiner: New York, 2000. pg 163

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

JAG


BEARER "How did you sabotage it?"
HARM "With a Navy issue, thirty-four inch, brass tip cinch."
BEARER "What the hell is that?"
HARM "My belt."

- JAG
taken from Great TV Quotes

Monday, December 1, 2008

Time + Effort + Imagination = Good Relations

"Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing."

- Kim Rohn

I found this quote here

http://www.heartsandminds.org/quotes/kids.htm

I'm not exactly sure who Kim Rohn is but I like what she had to say here.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Friday, November 28, 2008

The Earth is Alive


"According to Margulis and Lovelock, the earth can be understood as a giant living organism, attending to its own needs – an organism of which we, for the moment, are interesting parts."

- Leeming, David. Myth: A Biography of Belief. Oxford University Press, 2002 pg 46

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Jesus knew



"Jesus knew this value of stories as related to experience very well, and put his moral instruction into story form."

- Gold, Joseph. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 163

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Try


"I'm trying to get up, get out, and get something
and still live up to what I've said
What's important to me's not a fortune please
Still don't feel I need a Porshe, Beemer to fulfill my dreams
Cuz I remember the reason that I got into this thing in the first place
wasn't ever to be rich
All I wanted was to say my peice
and make enough at least to have a place to sleep
'til I'm done that I won't sit down
And I can't quit now
I'm addicted to the drum kit's pounding
And now and then it might feel like I'm running in circles
I just gotta keep jumping the hurdles and

Try
Hard as ya' can
To understand
This running in circles
Got me wondering
I- I- I don't know why
We pay it any mind
Baby I'm blind
How would we know
If we don't even
Try..."

- Sweatshop Union "Try" from the album "United We Fall"

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Be Happy - Don't Just Pretend


"Sometimes I think if my mother wasn't so good at pretending to be happy she might be better at actually being happy."

- Angela on My So-Called Life

Monday, November 24, 2008

Better to be Alone


"It is better to be alone than to be in bad company."

- George Washington

Friday, November 21, 2008

Easy to Control a Population

"A population can be controlled by careful screening of the kind and quantity of information it receives."

- Joseph Gold. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 253

Thursday, November 20, 2008

When Things are Visible

"Most people find it difficult to understand purely verbal concepts. They suspect the ear; they don’t trust it. In general we feel more secure when things are visible, when we can 'see for ourselves.' We admonish children, for instance, to 'believe only half of what they see, and nothing of what they hear.' All kinds of 'shorthand” systems of notation have been developed to help us see what we hear.'"

- Marshall McLuhanand Quentin Fiorce. The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. Penguin Books: Toronto, 2003, pg 117

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Grow Up


"I used to think fuckin' up was cool

I Loved to ditching class til I didn't pass high school

My dad always said, "It's easier to keep up than it is to catch up,"

but all I did was mess up

roll around the streets, get drunk and shoplift

freestyle, meanwhile, continue to bullshit

A teenage life, what you think, you know everything

About everything and don't know a damn thing

...

(Chorus)

You not a kid no more (Nah)

I think it's time to grow (Yeah)

Homie, you better know (Tell 'em)

You know it's time to grow way up (Up, up, up, up)

Way up (Up, up, up, up)

- Bishop Lamont "Grow Up"

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Best Thing About Snow


"The best thing about snow, other than snowballs, is that it has an equalizing effect. Snow can take any object or situation and make it pretty just the same. Couldn't care less what's underneath...It's not just that snow makes the world pretty. Snow gives us all a second chance. Snow cleanses. Hiding the sins of all with no prejudices, favour or blame. Everything gets to be pure again. If only for a little while. Which might be all you need."

- Narrator on Everwood

Monday, November 17, 2008

Friday, November 14, 2008

Process the Unprocessible



"Metaphors are a way to help our minds process the unprocessible. The problems arise when we begin to believe literally in our own metaphors."

- Brown, Dan. The DaVinci Code. DoubleDay: New York, 2003. pg 341-342

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Myth: A Biography


"But, for the most part, myths are created by the collective imagination as metaphorical projections of the way things are in life. Myths emerge from our experience of reality, from our instinctive need to clothe that experience in mimetic story and concept."

- Leeming, David. Myth: A Biography of Belief. Oxford University Press, 2002 pg 18-19

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Kick Push


"First got it when he was six
Didn't know any tricks
Matter of fact first time he got on it he slipped
Landed on his hip
And bust his lip
For a week he had to talk with a lisp
Like THISSSSS
Now we can end the story right here
But shorty didn't quit there was something in the air
Yea, he said it was something so appealing
He couldn't fight the feeling
Something about it
He knew he couldn't doubt it
Couldn't understand it
Branded, since the first kick flip he landed
Uh, labeled a misfit, a bandit
Kakunk Kakunk Kakunk!
His neighbors couldn't stand it so
He was banished to the park
Started in the morning wouldn't stop 'til after dark
Yea, when they said, "It's getting late in here...
... so I'm sorry young man there's no skating here"

[Chorus]
And so he kick, push, kick, push, kick, push, kick, push, coast
And away he rolled
Just a rebel to the world with no place to go
And so he kick, push, kick, push, kick, push, kick, push, coast
So come and skate with me
Just a rebel
Looking for a place to be
So let's kick... and push... and coast

[Verse 2]
My man got a little older
Became a better roller
Yea, no helmet, hellbent on killing himself
That's what his mama said, but he was feeling himself
Got a little more swagger in his style
Met his girlfriend she was clapping in the crowd
Love is what what was happening to him now
Uh, he said I would marry you
But I'm engaged to these aerials and variels
And I don't think this board is strong enough to carry two
She said Bow, I weigh 122 pounds
Now, let me make one thing clear
I don't need to ride yours
I got mine right here
So she took him to a spot
He didn't know about
Something odd in the apartment parking lot
She said I don't normally take dates in here
Security came and said, "I'm sorry there's no skating here"

[Chorus]
And so they kick, push, kick, push, kick, push, kick, push, coast
And away they rolled
Just lovers intertwined with no place to go
And so they kick, push, kick, push, kick, push, kick, push, coast
So come and skate with me
Just a rebel
Looking for a place to be
So let's kick... and push... and coast

[Verse 3]
Before he knew he had a crew
That wasn't no punk
And they spitfire shirts
And SB dunks
They would push 'til they couldn't skate no more
Office building lobbies wasn't safe no more
And it wasn't like they wasn't getting chased no more
Just the freedom was better than breathing they said
Any escape route they used to escape out
When things got crazy
They needed to break out
They head to any place with stairs
Any good grinds
The world was theirs
Uh, and their four wheels would take them there
Until the cops came and said, "There's no skating here"

[Chorus]
And so they kick, push, kick, push, kick, push, kick push, coast
And away they rolled
Just rebels without a cause with no place to go
And so they kick, push, kick, push, kick, push, kick push, coast
So come roll with me
Just a rebel
Looking for a place to be
So let's kick... and push... and coast."

- Lupe Fiasco "Kick Push" from the album Food and Liquor

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Laughs from an Alien


Do you remember ALF? I used to love this show and was reminded about it today from one of my favourite blogs In Search of Isis.

The show is about a furry litle alein that crash lands into a house. His rocket is beyond repair and the family takes him in. The show is hilarious and can still be found on reruns in some areas.

Not much wisdom here today, but it is worth a laugh. Brain, the father in the show, is talking to Alf, the alien.

Brian said, "You'll have to chew with your mouth closed tonight, ALF."

ALF said, "All right, but on my planet, that's considered very rude. People think you're hiding something.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Reading Isn't Complicated


"When universities made literature part of their curriculum, they had to turn it into something very serious and professional in order to justify its inclusion. . . . In other words, they created an “expertise” of reading; they cornered the market in “understanding” literature, and they made reading seem very complicated."

- Joseph Gold. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 313

Thursday, November 6, 2008

No Middle Ground


"We stretch toward the “bests” and “worsts” because story—when it is art—is not about the middle ground of human experience."

- McKee, Robert. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principals of Screenwriting. ReganBooks: New York, 1997. pg 207

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Multi-syllable Brilliance!


When I first heard this lyric by Eminem it blew my mind. The multi-syllable rhymes here are just beyond amazing.

First off, nothing rhymes with orange. But this brilliant emcee manages to rhyme every syllable in orange juice THREE TIMES IN A ROW. Wow!

After that he rhymes every syllable in "chocolate milk" with "dropped and spilt."

Absolutely brilliant rhyming and delivery.

Think what you want about Eminem. I know that his subject matter turns a lot of people off but he is an amazing artist. The things he does with words is nothing short of brilliant.

Here is the lyric that made me a fan. The rhymes are in bold.

"kicked the door hinge loose and ripped out the four inch screws
grabbed some sharp objects, brooms, and foreign tools
'this is for every time you took my orange juice,
or stole my seat in the lunchroom and drank my chocolate milk.

every time you tipped my tray and it dropped and spilt.
I'm gettin' you back bully! now once and for good.'
i cocked the broomstick back and swung hard as i could
and beat him over the head with it til i broke the wood"

- Eminem "Brain Damage" from The Slim Shady LP

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Secret Promise


"They say that from the instant he lays eyes on her, a father adores his daughter. Whoever she grows up to be, she is always to him that little girl in pigtails. She makes him feel like Christmas. In exchange, he makes a secret promise not to see the awkwardness of her teenage years, the mistakes she makes, or the secrets she keeps."

- Narrator on Everwood

Monday, November 3, 2008

Don't Quit!


"It is always to soon to quit."

- Norman Vincent Peale

Happy Monday Everyone!

Friday, October 31, 2008

On & On Constructing Beauty


"In the face of all the horror, the small-minded stupidity, the endless bloody wars, and inevitable death, people have gone on and on constructing things of beauty."

- Kieran Egan. Teaching as Story Telling. The Althouse Press: London, 1986 pg 109

Have a safe and Happy Halloween Everyone!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Story Plays to the Universal Desire


"Curiosity is the intellectual need to answer questions and close open patterns. Story plays to the universal desire by doing the opposite, posing questions and opening situations."

- Robert McKee. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principals of Screenwriting. ReganBooks: New York, 1997. pg 346

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

This is My Hit


"What happened to KRS-1's philosophy?

When did hip-hop become hypocrisy?

Consuming flock of sheep - that's society.

We need to change our media immediately.

They breathing shallow words, you gonna swallow what you heard?

Who's leading the leaders, who follows followers?

The world is a pitch for corporate advertising.

My thoughts ain't a bitch switching commercializing

Sky is falling, the earth is erupting

Don't believe everything you hear kid trust me

Analyze. Gotta question, ask it

Or be a market pitch for a specific demographic

Fourteen and a girl, you're the number one target in the world

Question even me gonna believe a catchy hook

Have I got substance?

I don't know take a look."

- Kyprios "This is My Hit" from the album "Say Something..."

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

It's Enough


"But there are sometimes in my life where being me, right now, where I am, is just like, enough."

- Angela on My So-Called Life

Monday, October 27, 2008

Do Just Half


"You've got to pat attention to the fundamentals. You have to work hard. You have to study. You have to pay attention to real things in life. If you do just half of what your parents tell you, you'll probably be twice as far ahead."

- Tom Brokaw

Friday, October 24, 2008

Stop at the Surface


"In life our eyes tend to stop at the surface. We’re so consumed by our own needs, conflicts, and daydreams that we rarely manage to take a step back and coolly observe what’s going on inside other human beings."

- McKee, Robert. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principals of Screenwriting. ReganBooks: New York, 1997. pg 254

Thursday, October 23, 2008

We Need Story


"We need other people’s well-composed stories and insights to free us from our own habits, and we also need to see that we can read consciously, that there is a conversation between literature and life, our life."

- Joseph Gold. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 99

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Welcome to TC!

Welcome to Thoughtful Cacophony, my on-line commonplace book.

I run different features here every weekday.

Motivational Mondays are the days where I share inspiractional quotations.

Tube Tuesdays I cull wisdom from television and movies

What Wednesdays!?! highlight great song lyrics.

Storied Thursdays explore my vast collection of quotes on Story.

Anything Goes Fridays are just that - anything goes.

If this is your first visit here, please visit the sidebar to search quotations by theme or label.

You might also want to check out

My Welcome Post

and The Entry that Started It All

Thanks for visiting. I hope you enjoy my ever-growing collection.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Is It Wallpaper We're Talking About


Brian tries to get some fatherly advice from the father of his crush.

Brian: "Let's say you're deciding between two particular patterns, and one of them you definitely know that you really like. And the other one is nice wallpaper and all, but you're not sure if it's really..."

Graham: "For you."

Brian: "Exactly. But the really great wallpaper, let's say, is like totally out of your price range. So, do you take the other wallpaper, even though you don't, let's say, desire it that much? Or do you wait until the really great wallpaper is cheaper."

Graham: "Well, I guess it depends on how badly you need wallpaper."

Brian: "I would say pretty badly."

Monday, October 20, 2008

You'll Always Miss If You Don't Try


"You miss 100% of the shots you never take."

- Wayne Gretzky

Another motivational quote for you. This one from the most prolific athlete Canada has ever produced, the famous Number 99, Wayne Gretzky.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Friday, October 17, 2008

We Are Predominantly Extroverted

"The danger of modern life is that we are so predominantly extroverted that we think our energy should always be outer-focused, and so we fight this push into ourselves."

- Bond, D. Stephenson, Living Myth: Personal Meaning as a Way of Life. Shambala, 1993 pg 83

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Seemingly Disparate - Imaginatively Poised


"Our time is a time for crossing barriers, for erasing old categories—for probing around. When two seemingly disparate elements are imaginatively poised, put in apposition in new and unique ways, starting discoveries often result."

- McLuhan, Marshall and Quentin Fiorce. The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. Penguin Books: Toronto, 2003, pg 10

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

One Day


"Ever wonder how one day's a blessing, the next a curse

What you do in a day affects the whole universe.

It's mysterious but here it is, energy swells

From lands full of sand to the liberty bells.

From advanced organisms to single cells

From those livin' in heaven to those dwellin' in hell.

Yesterday talkin' to self I told Prevail,

The power in 24 hours can change and compel,

Listen closely yo it gets stranger still.

One day a child's born with a brain to build

One verse at a time, I live mine through music

One day a teacher but always a student

One day."

- Prevail of Swollen Members on Kyprios's song "One Day" from the album "Say Something..."

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Time Grants Us Something


"When things are working right in the universe, a loss of innocence is usually followed, in time, by an increase in humanity...Time is funny like that. For everything it robs us of, it grants us something. Sometimes it's a new friend, sometimes it's a better understanding of ourselves. Sometimes, it's just a perfect day."

- Narrator on Everwood

Monday, October 13, 2008

Discover Ability

"It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test."

- Elbert Hubbard

Friday, October 10, 2008

We Always Believe in It


"Science, once the great explicator, garbles life with complexity and perplexity. Who can listen without cynicism to economists, sociologists, politicians? Religion, for many, has become an empty ritual that masks hypocrisy. As our faith in traditional ideologies diminishes, we turn to the source we still believe in: the art of story."

- Robert McKee. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principals of Screenwriting. ReganBooks: New York, 1997. pg 12

Thursday, October 9, 2008

No Escape From Ourselves

"When we read, we do not truly escape—there is no escape from ourselves; there is relief from our chaos; we reorganize and regenerate."

- Joseph Gold. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 331

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Why


"Why do you always do this to me?

Why?

Couldn't you just see through me?

How come, you act like this, like you just don't care at all.

Do you expect me to believe I was the only to fall?

I can feel, I can feel you near me, even though you're far away.

I can feel you, I can feel you baby

It's not supposed to feel this way

I need you, I need you, more and more each day

It's not supposed to be hurt this way,

I need you, I need you, I need you."

- Avril Lavigne "Why" from the My World CD

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

8 Minute Time Travel


"Even just glancing at the sun, you're looking at the sun as it was eight minutes ago. If the sun were to wink out right now, and I assure you as an astrophysicist that's not gonna happen, but if it did, we wouldn't know about it for eight minutes.

Forget about living every day as if it's your last, live every eight minutes as if it's your last."

- Jaymie Matthews "Layman's Guide to Time Travel" bonus feature from Stargate: Continuum DVD.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Build Something on It

"Whatever your lot in life, build something on it."

- taken from "443 character quotes and words of wisdom" from Deb Austin Brown's Growing Character.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Friday, October 3, 2008

Motivation Doesn't Last


"People say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing. That's why I recommend it daily."

- Zig Ziglar. Newsletter 2, October 2007

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Language Fails

"Language is more efficient than any other form of human communication except in one or two special cases, where a touch might be the most efficient signal."

- Joseph Gold. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 68

Sometimes language fails. It's at those times that a hug is the only thing you can say. Great quote.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The Man I Ain't Yet

"If you're the queen, maybe there's a king behind the joker...
I hate I can't do everything that I'm supposed to
My life is but a dream in view, I see I'm getting closer,
But what that mean to you?
You feel I need to grow up and get a scenic view
instead of try to blow up and do what real people do - work until they croak
'cause two and two makes four and that's what makes sense.
Thanks for waiting for the man that I ain't yet."

I really felt this song and this lyric. I don't know who it is by though. If you do, please help me out and respond in a comment. Thanks.

The song came from WFMU's Coffee to Go podcast from 26/08/2008 and the song was 5 minutes in.

This is a good podcast that plays only hip-hop demos from up and coming groups. They often put up the playlist so you know what songs they played. They didn't do this for this episode so please help me out if you know the name of this song and artist.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

You DO need her


"It's like you think you are safe or something cause you can just walk away anytime, cause you don't need her - you don't need anyone. But the thing you didn't realize is, you're wrong."

- Jordan Catalano from an episode of My So-Called Life

Monday, September 29, 2008

Always Do Right

"Always do right. This will gratify most people and astonish the rest."

- Mark Twain

Happy Monday Everyone!

Friday, September 26, 2008

Buy This, It's Nothing!


"The fact that nowadays people are so desperate to be seen with the latest ‘whatever’ that they’ll buy almost anything, which is exactly what that Fiona Jack woman proved when she got some billboard company in New Zealand to start advertising this totally non-existent product called, ‘Nothing.’

What? I never heard about this.

Ya, this Fiona Jack woman designed these billboards that said, ‘For the person who wants nothing,’ and tons of people ended up calling the billboard company and asking where they could buy Nothing.

That really happened.

Yep."

- Gordon J.H. Leenders. May Not Appear Exactly As Shown. pg 204

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Say & Do Vs. Think & Feel

“We say and do what we feel we should, while we think and feel something altogether. As we must. We realize we can’t go around saying and doing what we’re actually thinking and feeling. If we did that, life would be a lunatic asylum.”

- McKee, Robert. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principals of Screenwriting. ReganBooks: New York, 1997. pg 255

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Will You Remember Me?


"I'm so afraid to love you, but more afraid to loose

Clinging to a past that doesn't let me choose

Once there was a darkness, deep and endless night

You gave me everything you had, oh you gave me light

And I will remember you

Will you remember me?

Don't let your life pass you by

Weep not for the memories."

- Sarah McLachlan, "I Will Remember You"

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

A Teacher's Lunch


“Seeing a teacher's actual lunch is, like, so depressing.”

Angela on My So-Called Life

This quote has been running over and over in my head whenever I have to eat lunch with my students.

It comes from a TV show where a teenage girl is asked to stay after class by a teacher. The teacher asks her if she minds that she eats while they talk because she doesn't get a lunch on Tuesdays.

I wonder if my students think the same thing when they see my lunch.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Third and Fourth Tries


"Character is consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries."

- James a Michener

Friday, September 19, 2008

Externalized Memory

"The one thing that differentiates human beings from all other creatures on Earth is the externalization of subjective memory – first through notches in trees, then through cave paintings, then through the written word and now, through databases of almost otherworldly storage and retrieval power."

- Coupland, Douglas. Microserfs. HarperCollins Books: Toronto, 1995. pg 359

Thursday, September 18, 2008

What Stories Do

"Stories can give us ways to arrange what we see and experience, can give us the material for conversation, can help us to make contact with our grandchildren by reading to them."

- Gold, Joseph. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 330

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I Show Love


"The mind is a terrible thing to waste,
I show love 'cause it's a terrible thing to hate."

- Gangstarr "Peace of Mine" from the album "The Ownerz"