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

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

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"

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

Better to be Alone

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

- George Washington

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

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

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"

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

Kindness is Never Wasted

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."

- Aesop

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Don't Quit!

"It is always to soon to quit."

- Norman Vincent Peale

Happy Monday Everyone!