Thoughtful Cacophony

How Do You Define Art?

2012-02-01T18:24:00.000-05:00

"If art was defined simply by the ability to draw, then my inkjet printer would be a greater artist than Michelangelo."

- Curtis Verdun

Love as a Verb, Noun, and Salutation

2012-01-10T12:00:00.000-05:00

Cover of One Day It'll All Make Sense

I use love to describe my relation to God and to family and to friends. I use it in my music. I use it as verb.I use it as a noun. I use it as a way to say good-bye. I picked up that last way of using love from my guy Dart. I think he started saying it in the 1990s, when it seemed like everyone was saying "peace" - peace this, peace that. Why not say love instead. After all, love is the best means to peace. That idea stuck with me."

- Common from his memoir "One Day It'll All Make Sense" pg 272

Creating Something Delicate and Fleeting

2011-12-20T20:38:00.001-05:00

Cover of Common

"When I'm doing a freestyle, my mind is working faster than my mouth, and my memory is all but shut down. You can ask me what I said three minutes after I finish, and I won't be able to tell you the first thing about it. Sometimes you create for posterity; you create with that sense of timelessness. But sometimes you create something that's so delicate-so fleeting-that it can last only for a moment. To me, that kind of creation is no less beautiful, no less miraculous. It's just its own thing."

- Common from his memoir "One Day It'll All Make Sense" pg 44.

Imran Yusuf Delivers Some Laughs

2011-12-10T00:54:00.000-05:00

Stories Voice What Can't Be

2011-11-30T03:55:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

"I have said that feelings are the hardest of human responses to put into language. Stories express feelings we recognize, and permit us to identify them, to experience them in language."

- Joseph Gold. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 105

Stimulating Conversation

2011-11-23T01:41:00.000-05:00

Cover via Amazon"Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after."

- Anne Morrow Lindbergh from 'Gift From the Sea'

Discover the Treasure in Daily Life

2011-11-16T02:30:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia"Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself."

- Henry Miller

While It Lasts

2011-11-09T04:40:00.000-05:00

Cover of The Razor's Edge"Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy.

- W. Somerset Maugham from The Razor's Edge

Hide Your Sources

2011-11-02T03:39:00.000-04:00

Image via Wikipedia"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

- Albert Einstein

What?

Shouldn't we give credit where credit is due?

I understand that creative people can be influenced by everyting around them, and maybe we can hide those influences in our own creative work.

I guess that is what Einstein meant.

A Story Can't Be Verbatim

2011-10-25T09:34:00.000-04:00

Image by kilo75 via Flickr

"A storyteller is a life poet, an artist who transforms day-to-day living, inner life and outer life, dream and actuality into a poem whose rhyme scheme is events rather than words—a two hour metaphor that says: Life is like this Therefore, a story must abstract from life to discover its essences, but not become an abstraction that loses all sense of life-as-lived. A story must be like life, but not so verbatim that it has no depth or meaning beyond what’s obvious to everyone on the street."

- Robert McKee. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principals of Screenwriting. ReganBooks: New York, 1997. pg 25

Don't Stand By

2011-10-17T01:03:00.000-04:00

"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything."

- Albert Einstein

Happy Monday Everyone! Here's an inspirational quote that will hopefully motivate us to stand up and take action when we see injustice.

I think this would be a great quote to use in the classroom. It relates to bullying and would work well with the prevention programs we see in schools nowadays.

p.s. Found this image on Facebook. Feel free to head on over there and friend me. I haven't used it much in the past but am starting to get more active on that site now.

You Can’t Donate People Out of Poverty

2011-10-13T09:28:00.000-04:00

“You can’t donate people out of poverty.”
- Paul Polak on The Hour 10 June 2008

This quote reminds me of the old cliché,

“Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat forever.”

It's Always About The Adventure

2011-10-08T19:41:00.001-04:00

Image via WikipediaLaura: "Greg, I am so sorry. I really meant to marry you. I did. And suddenly, I put on that wedding dress and I thought, 'Here I go, my last great adventure.' And then I realized, I was only 22 and I've hardly had any great adventures."

Greg: "You don't think starting a family is an adventure?"

Laura: "Why, sure it is. It's just not-"

Greg: "Paris."

Laura: "You still finish my sentences."

Greg: "And you are still the prettiest girl I have ever laid eyes on."

Laura: "You need to let me go."

Greg: "When I was 15, I read a story in Boy's Life about climbing Kilimanjaro. And it seemed about as far away as the moon. But I mowed lawns all summer so that I could make the trek. Saved almost three hundred dollars. It wasn't enough by a long shot but I put it in the bank and I swore that someday that money would go towards an adventure."

Laura: "And what did you spend it on?"

Greg: "A ring. But that's not the point.If what you are leaving me for is-"

Laura: "Kilimanjaro"

Greg: "Then Bon Voyage, Laura. Safe journey."

- Pan Am television series: Season 1: Episode 2 "We'll Always Have Paris"

How to Disarm all Hostility

2011-10-06T17:57:00.000-04:00

Image via WikipediaHenry Wadsworth Longfellow once said, "If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility."

When we’re hurting or angry or betrayed, and we can still find the inner strength to tap into that compassion within our soul to disarm our hostility towards others, then we have made the dream of transcendental love a reality.

- Judy Croome - from an interview on Positive Letters.... inspirational stories

When you're playin' a game of make-believe, are you still you?

2011-09-30T09:31:00.001-04:00

"Little boys are like doors into the impossible. Like when you're playin' games.When you're playin' a game of make-believe, are you still you? Or are you a spy? Or a cowboy? Or a knight? Who are you when you're playin' those games? And what do you think you're doin' when you play those games? You're telling another story."

- A story within a story from Laura Lee Gulledge's graphic novel "Page by Paige"

Always Pretending

2011-09-19T16:45:00.000-04:00

Cover of The Way to Love (Image Pocket Classics)

"Only the adult human being is able to be one thing and pretend to be another."

- Anthony De Mello. The Way to Love: The Last Meditations of. Image Books, 1991. pg 99

We Are Interesting Parts of a Whole

2011-09-16T09:43:00.001-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

"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."

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

I love this idea. It reminds me of the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy and how we are all here for a larger purpose that we cannot even fathom.

We Need Longer Acknowledgment Pages

2011-09-14T08:57:00.000-04:00

Image by heather via Flickr

"Many people, other than the authors, contribute to the making of a book, from the first person who had the bright idea of alphabetic writing through the inventor of movable type to the lumberjacks who felled the trees that were pulped for its printing. It is not customary to acknowledge the trees themselves, though their commitment is total."

- Rada and Forsyth, Machine Learning

2011-09-10T09:31:00.001-04:00

"I’ve got an idea for this week, an antidote for the fear being foisted upon us by people who want to manipulate and profit from it. An idea that doesn’t involve chest thumping, flag waving, or the naming and elimination of our enemies: Do what the Amish do. Forgive.

- From the article "Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us" from Game Changers

Zig Recommends it Daily

2011-09-06T16:45:00.000-04:00

Cover of Zig Ziglar

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

- Zig Ziglar. Newsletter 2, October 2007

High Value - No Cost

2011-09-01T21:51:00.001-04:00

Image via Wikipedia"Forgiveness is a gift of high value. Yet its cost is nothing."

- Betty Smith. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Perennial Classics, 1943, 1998. pg 157

Monogamy is a State of Higher Evolution

2011-08-27T21:20:00.000-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

Waverly: "I think what he is trying to say is that monogamy isn't natural. The male species is hard-wired for genetic diversity. So, the instinct is to, ya know, fertilize as many eggs as possible - to have sex."

Smash: "Exactly!"

Waverly: "Yeah, but human beings are different. I mean, civilization is based on the repression of instincts. When we act contrary to out instincts, that's when things get interesting. A lot of people would say that monogamy is a state of higher evolution - with the right person."

- Friday Night Lights Season 1: Episode 10 "It's Different for Girls"

Desire to Achieve

2011-08-10T18:26:00.000-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

"A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others."

- Ayn Rand

One Text - Multiple Pictures

2011-08-08T15:42:00.000-04:00

Image by Rick Smit via Flickr

"The reader can apply what is for him an accurate picture to a word."

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

I find it amazing that our minds can paint completely different pictures based upon the same text. We have so many different interpretations. If you doubt that, you've probably never enjoyed a book only to be let down by a movie adaptation.

Language Evolved

2011-08-03T10:26:00.000-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

"Language is what human beings have evolved, over millions of years for conveying meaning."

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

Writers & Readers - Give and Take

2011-08-01T09:08:00.000-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

"Writers provide language that can evoke feeling; we readers supply the experience."

- Joseph Gold. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 107

This give and take between writer and reader is fascinating. We use our experience when reading to identify with the character. The writer hopes that we will be able to do so and thus evoke an emotion in us. This is the greatest form of entertainment. Living and experiencing through each other's stories.

It's All Connected

2011-07-28T09:49:00.000-04:00

"In memory, the images are connected like events and characters in a story."

- Joseph Gold. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 81

This quote reminds me of the book The Modular Brain, in which examples are shown to illustrate how the brain is connected in ways that allow it to function differently according to the patient; perhaps like how stories function through characters.

Fiction is the Best Medium

2011-07-21T23:21:00.000-04:00

"Fiction is the best medium for providing contexts for feelings by using language the reader may not be able to supply for herself."

- Joseph Gold. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 111

I agree. Fiction allows us to experience things we cannot even vocalize. We can identify with a character or situation and this can free us somehow. It is an amazing power that fiction has.

I can understand why Gold uses fiction to help his patients. This book is inspiring in so many ways. I always knew that there was a lot of truth in fiction. Gold shows us how this is indeed the case. It's a great book.

A Funky Introdcution of How Nice I Am

2011-07-20T08:48:00.000-04:00

"Now here's a funky introduction of how nice I am
Tell your mother, tell your father, send a telegram
I'm like an energizer 'cause, you see, I last long
My crew is never ever wack because we stand strong

Now if you say my style is wack that's where you're dead wrong
I slayed that body in El Segundo then 'Push it Along'
You'd be a fool to reply that Phife is not the man
'Cause you know and I know, that you know who I am

A special shout of peace goes out to all my pals, you see
And a middle finger goes for all you punk MC's
'Cause I love it when you wack MC's despise me
They get vexed, I roll next, can't none contest me

I'm just a fly MC who's five foot three and very brave
On job remaining, no I'm chaining 'cause I misbehave
I come correct in full effect, have all my hoes in check
And before I get the butt, the jim must be erect

You see, my aura's positive, I don't promote no junk
See, I'm far from a bully and I ain't a punk
Extremity in rhythm, yeah, that's what you heard
So just clean out your ears and just check the word."

- Phife Dawgs verse from "Check The Rhime" by A Tribe Called Quest

TV doesn't allow Deep Understanding

2011-07-18T09:03:00.000-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

"Television can’t sit still. In fact, it can’t even slow down, which makes any sort of deep understanding or involvement in issues almost impossible because the average person requires time to contemplate issues like education or the economy or the environment or health care in order to fully understand them. And that’s the problem. Because what most people don’t realize is that contemplating or reflecting deeply gets you to insights that you can never get to if you’re just rushing through a question or an issue or from one topic to the next."

- Gordon J.H. Leenders. May Not Appear Exactly As Shown. pg 92

Mystical Consequences of Karma

2011-07-15T15:04:00.000-04:00

"Advocating for story architecture is like teaching your kids about the world—tell them to do as you say, not as you do, you tell them about the golden rule and the law of attraction and the mystical consequences of karma, and you do your best to explain that good things happen to good people who live by these creeds.

And when it doesn't . . . well, that's life, and it's not always fair. Doesn't mean it's not a valid principal."

- Larry Brooks. Story Engineering: Mastering the 6 Core Competencies of Successful Writing. Writers Digest Books, 2011. pg 216.

It Was A Good Day

2011-07-13T10:13:00.000-04:00

"Just waking up in the morning gotta thank God
I don't know but today seems kinda odd
No barking from the dog, no smog
And momma cooked a breakfast with no hog
I got my grub on, but didn't pig out
Finally got a call from a girl wanna dig out
Hooked it up for later as I hit the door
Thinking will i live, another twenty-four
I gotta go cause I got me a drop top
And if I hit the switch, I can make the ass drop
Had to stop at a red light
Looking in my mirror not a jacker in sight
And everything is alright
I got a beep from Kim and she can f*ck all night
Called up the homies and I'm askin y'all
Which park, are y'all playin basketball?
Get me on the court and I'm trouble
Last week f*ck around and got a triple double
Freaking niggaz every way like M.J.
I can't believe, today was a good day

Drove to the pad and hit the showers
Didn't even get no static from the cowards
Cause just yesterday them fools tried to blast me
Saw the police and they rolled right past me
No flexin, didn't even look in a niggaz direction
as I ran the intersection
Went to Short Dog's house, they was watchin Yo! MTV Raps
What's the haps on the craps
Shake em up, shake em up, shake em up, shake em
Roll em in a circle of niggaz and watch me break em
With the seven, seven-eleven, seven-eleven
Seven even backed on little Joe
I picked up the cash flow
Then we played bones, and I'm yellin domino
Plus nobody I know got killed in South Central L.A.
Today was a good day

Left my niggaz house paid
Picked up a girl been tryin to f*ck since the twelfth grade
It's ironic, I had the blunt she had the chronic
The Lakers beat the Supersonics
I felt on the big fat fanny
Pulled out the jammy, and killed the punanny
And my dick runs deep, so deep, so deep
put her ass to sleep
Woke her up around one
she didn't hesitate, to call Ice Cube the top gun
Drove her to the pad and I'm coasting
Took another sip of the potion hit the three-wheel motion
I was glad everything had worked out
Dropped her ass off, and then chirped out
Today was like one of those fly dreams
Didn't even see a berry flashing those high beams
No helicopter looking for a murder

Two in the morning got the Fatburger
Even saw the lights of the Goodyear Blimp
And it read Ice Cube's a pimp
Drunk as hell but no throwing up
Half way home and my pager still blowing up
Today I didn't even have to use my A.K.
I got to say it was a good day."

- Ice Cube "It Was A Good Day" from the album "The Predator"

An Essential Relationship Between Play and Pleasure.

2011-07-11T15:17:00.000-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

"There are four distinct phases of the playing experience: brooding, attachment, immersion, and satisfaction.

Play begins in brooding, in the brooding moment. It can be a moment of absolute horror. The uninitiated experience the terror of a formless moment . . . The brooding moment is not only the child who tugs at your sleeve saying, “I don’t know what to do,” but also the writer staring at a blank sheet of paper . . .

The second movement is attachment. Out of brooding comes attachment, a spark of intensity. Attachment requires the ability to recognize what has intensity, to feel the resonance. In the midst of brooding, although it remains unseen and unconscious, and important process unfolds. Pattern and form circulate until the structural resonance finds alignment. Then the writer finds the sentence . . .

And then comes immersion, the moment of being lost in play. This is the transitional state, a different state of consciousness . . . Immersion is the sense of fantasy activity becoming “real.” Then the writer feels the story writing itself and hours are lost . . .

Finally, there is satisfaction—a sense of resolution and release. There is an essential relationship between play and pleasure. Enactment releases the tension. The satisfaction in play, I think, is a result of the sense of completion, not necessarily of achievement."

- D. Stephenson Bond, Living Myth: Personal Meaning as a Way of Life. Shambala, 1993 pg 113-114

Books are Natural and Beautiful

2011-07-08T08:25:00.000-04:00

Image by henry… via Flickr

"A truly good book is something as natural, and as unexpectedly and unaccountably fair and perfect, as a wild flower discovered on the prairies of the west, or in the jungles of the east."

Henry David Thoreau. Walking Part 2 paragraph 31

What is Archplot?

2011-07-06T10:32:00.000-04:00

"Classical design is not a Western view of life. For thousands of years, from the Levant to Java to Japan, the storytellers of Asia have framed their works within the Archplot. . . . The Archplot is neither ancient nor modern, Western nor Eastern; it is human."

- Robert McKee Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principals of Screenwriting. ReganBooks: New York, 1997. pg 62

There's a Spirituality to Math

2011-06-29T08:26:00.000-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

“There's a spirituality to math that a lot of people don't understand. It isn't just numbers and equations. There's a world out there that we're all surrounded by at every given moment that we can't understand. There are true intricacies and details to every moment and very piece of matter. Everything!”

- David Krumholtz from Numb3rs Season 1 DVD commentary.

Smallest Decision or Slightest Inaction

2011-06-01T12:24:00.000-04:00

"The smallest decision, the slightest action or inaction, can change the course of his/her/our / their/my/yourstory."

- Gordon J.H. Leenders. May Not Appear Exactly As Shown. pg 38

Our Important Role

2011-05-24T20:21:00.000-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

"Like the parts of the body, we humans have a particular role to play in the larger body."

- David Leeming. Myth: A Biography of Belief. Oxford University Press, 2002 pg 50

The Most Important Tool We Have

2011-05-17T21:00:00.001-04:00

"Language is, however, the most important tool human beings possess for producing consciousness. Language, in other words, is an organized report of what is going on – a report that can be stored in memory and retrieved by hearing or reading other relevant language cues."

Joseph Gold. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 117

Not Everything Needs to be New

2011-05-03T15:37:00.000-04:00

"It's almost impossible to start something new nowadays. Hip-hop is like a [slam] dunk contest. There's not too many dunks left that someone can do. You can only jump from the free-throw line so many times, you can only put it through your legs some many times, windmill, whatever. All we're doing right now is preserving. We're not claiming to start anything new or try to be something new. I'm just preserving the shit that I used to listen to and the era I grew up in."

- The Left, hip-hop group

This is a section of an interview from The Scrunch Face Show: Episode 24

Such a Thing as Personal Responsibility

2011-04-25T08:40:00.002-04:00

"What Ida does says, nothing about my character,

What Gary does, says nothing about Ida's character.

There is such a thing in America as personal responsibility."

- Laws of Motion DVD

I completely agree!

Kindness is Wiser

2011-04-21T20:32:00.000-04:00

"Sometimes kindness is wiser than truth."

- Lieutenant Columbo

"I don't know why I always remembered that line."

- Laws of Motion DVD

I know why,

because stories are powerful,

because a line in fiction can speak volumes,

because collecting quotations is awesome,

because it says a lot about how we should act and live,

because,

just because.

Conversation Conceals

2011-04-03T12:53:00.000-04:00

"Conversation was invented by humans to conceal reality. We use it to sweet talk our way around natural selection."

- Community television show

Best Method of Teaching

2011-03-23T10:06:00.000-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

"Christ adopted the teaching procedure of close personal contact because that remains the best method of teaching. Cold print separates precept from example, the style from the man; the greatest teachers convey their knowledge on a person-to-person level, and leave the books to the scribes."

- Dennis Duffy. Canadian Writes: A Subseries: Marshall McLuhan. McClelland and Stewart Limited: Toronto, 1967 pg 24-25

Three Ways Media Exerts Power

2011-03-09T00:39:00.001-05:00

Image by Nick J Adams via Flickr

"Media exert their power over our kids in three ways.

First, kids are born to copy, and media provide ready models for our kids to imitate.

Second, media define social norms.

Third, stories are powerful and the media have become the dominant storytellers in our kids' lives.

What's more, media keeps evolving, getting more and more powerful over time."

- David Walsh, PhD. No: Why Kids - of all Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It. Free Press, Toronto. 2007. pg 41

Parents and Teachers - A Good Team

2011-03-02T00:32:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

"Do parents have a role in backing up teachers?

Absolutely.

Adults should act as a team if kids are to learn the lessons of self-discipline and self-regulation.

The traditional teamwork between parents and teachers has deteriorated in the past generation as society has become more adversarial.

While it is appropriate for parents to advocate for their children, they should do it in a way that does not undermine the teacher.

It's most helpful if you can go into these situations expecting teachers and other school professionals to be part of the team for your child.

Our kids need to see a more unified front.

- David Walsh, PhD. No: Why Kids - of all Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It. Free Press, Toronto. 2007. pg 41

Doesn't Need a Response

2011-02-25T00:23:00.001-05:00

Image by angel_shark via Flickr

With an older child, a certain amount of mouthiness is to be expected.

Just don't respond, or else say, "I know this is hard for you, I don't expect you to like it, but the family rule is..."

- David Walsh, PhD. No: Why Kids - of all Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It. Free Press, Toronto. 2007. pg 41

Nice Advice!

Teachers can use the same script but replace "family rule" with "class rule."

Know The Ledge

2011-02-22T00:16:00.002-05:00

Image by antonychammond via Flickr

"Kids with brains that make self-regulation difficult or impossible cannot control themselves once they get past a point of no return. I call this point 'the cliff.'

Once they go over the cliff they are incapable of managing the free fall.

The goal, therefore, is to prevent them from going over the cliff in the first place."

- David Walsh, PhD. No: Why Kids - of all Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It. Free Press, Toronto. 2007. pg 207

Kids Need Stress

2011-02-16T04:22:00.001-05:00

Image by timojazz via Flickr

"Good stress is energizing and motivating. We know this when it comes to muscles but we somehow forget when it comes to building self esteem.

Muscles grow more powerful when we use them. Each time they recover from stress, they get stronger and more responsive.

Self-esteem works the same way. Kids need some stress to develop their psychological muscles of resilience, stamina, determination, commitment, confidence, diligence, and perseverance."

- David Walsh, PhD. No: Why Kids - of all Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It. Free Press, Toronto. 2007. pg 41

Lola is Free Falling

2011-02-08T19:51:00.000-05:00

I like the sound of this performance a lot. I hope the finished record sounds this nice!

Here it is, Lola Maxwell "Free Falling."

Disappointment Isn't Always Bad

2011-02-07T04:12:00.001-05:00

"Disappointment, discouragement, and frustration help build character and self esteem. Life deals disappointments to everyone and at some point children have to stand on their own two feet. They have to learn how to handle setbacks and get through tough times of feeling discouraged.

How will kids ever build the internal resources to cope with life's ups and downs if they never get any practice?

When you shield your kids from everything that hurts, you are not doing them any favours."

- David Walsh, PhD. No: Why Kids - of all Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It. Free Press, Toronto. 2007. pg 64

Inspiration

2011-02-02T08:15:00.001-05:00

This song has a beautiful and tragic story. When I spoke to Classified about it last year, he told me that it was true as well.

- Classified "Inspiration" from the album "Self Explanatory"

Don't Rush In and Rescue

2011-02-01T03:06:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

"Kids need to figure things out for themselves. When parents rush in and rescue them, thinking that we are helping them on the road to success, we are actually teaching them a kind of helplessness"

- David Walsh, PhD. No: Why Kids - of all Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It. Free Press, Toronto. 2007. pg 63

I completely agree with this sentiment.

Kids need to make mistakes.
They need to find their own path.
If we help them too much, they will never be able to do so.

Chance Needs to Be There

2011-01-29T09:32:00.000-05:00

"It's important for me to have some element of chance or surprise when I'm doing (my art)."

- Josh Brand from an episode of Arts & Minds

I completely agree with this thought. I don't like to plan out every single detail of any endeavor, whether it be writing, teaching a lesson, or a vacation. I need to let things unfold as they will. I am often surprised at how things work out, for the best.

Of course, I do have a plan before I set out. Sometimes, however, it is only the bare bones of one so that element of chance or surprise can perform its wonders.

Windows of Opportunity for Readers

2011-01-24T04:57:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

"This window of opportunity also explains why one of the strongest predictors of a child's reading ability in school os the amount of one-to-one conversation between caregiver and child in the first three years of life.

The ability to differentiate sounds is the first crucial step to the path to associating sounds with letters. Kids who don't learn to distinguish sounds during that time usually have trouble learning to read later on.

Reading's first lessons don't happens in school: They happen in the crib during that important window of opportunity."

- David Walsh, PhD. No: Why Kids - of all Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It. Free Press, Toronto. 2007. pg 45

An Idea Can Power a Light

2011-01-19T04:47:00.000-05:00

"The brain is basically an electrical system. In fact, right now your brain is, on average, generating enough equivalent power to light a twenty-five-watt light bulb. It turns out that the old cartoon image of a light bulb appearing over the head to signify an idea was a lot more accurate than anyone imagined."

- David Walsh, PhD. No: Why Kids - of all Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It. Free Press, Toronto. 2007. pg 41

I like the idea behind this quote but at the same time it doesn't give the original artist enough credit. There is usually a lot more going on in a piece of art than is possible to see upon a casual glance or even repeated viewings.

You Can Set it Down

2011-01-18T04:48:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

"Everyone has a part of themselves they don't like, Joan. You carry it around like a weight. The lucky ones realize that when it becomes too heavy. you can choose to set it down. That's when you can see things the way they really are."

- God in an episode of Joan of Arcadia

Music is Magic

2011-01-16T20:42:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

"Music is the strongest form of magic."

- Marilyn Manson

Emotions are Winning Out Over Reason

2011-01-11T04:35:00.001-05:00

"There's nothing wrong with selling stuff, just as there is nothing wrong with buying stuff. But what has happened over time is that advertisers have become more sophisticated and more effective at bypassing the simple, straightforward type of message they used to deliver, which generally appealed to reason or common sense.

Advertisers have learned that it is more effective to bypass the rational part of the brain and instead target the emotions, crafting messages that appeal to pleasure, or give you a feeling of need you never knew you had, or take advantage of your weakness for convenience and instant gratification."

- David Walsh, PhD. No: Why Kids - of all Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It. Free Press, Toronto. 2007. pg 26-27

We Need To Manage Ourselves

2011-01-09T21:47:00.000-05:00

Here's a great quote to start your week. It comes courtesy of John Bates from his Twitter account.

"The challenge is not to manage time, but to manage ourselves."

- Steven Covey.

The Duck Song

2011-01-07T13:33:00.000-05:00

One of my students wanted to play this during music class today.

I was reluctant to play it since I didn't know exactly what to expect from it.

But it's clean and kind of funny.

Enjoy!

- The Duck Song by Bryant Oden

Music Hits You Without Pain

2011-01-04T07:25:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

“One good thing about music, when it hits- you feel no pain”

- Bob Marley

I stumbled upon this site - http://www.copiousquotes.com/bob-marley-quotes.html

and was surprised to see that Bob Marley said this quote. I thought it was Dead Prez. See, it's good to know your history.

The Future Belongs to the Hungry

2011-01-03T05:27:00.002-05:00

"It is clear that the economic future will belong to hungry kids, not entitled kids. It will belong to kids who know how to work hard, delay gratification, make sacrifices, and discipline themselves."

- David Walsh, PhD. No: Why Kids - of all Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It. Free Press, Toronto. 2007. pg 18.

A New Direction for the New Year

2010-12-30T13:44:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I love quotations and although I have posted over 600 of my favourite ones here on this blog, I have not exhausted my collection. In fact, my collection has only grown since started this site.

My original goal here was to organize my collection. I wanted to be able to find quotes quickly and easily. I have done that by adding labels to the posts. The handy search bar at the top of the page is also quite the asset.

I have been able to pull up my favourite quotes wherever I am. The are no longer confined to a file on my computer or a printed out copy in a binder.

I love that I have created a rich resource here over the past few years. This past year though, I haven`t been as motivated to update the site on a daily basis. As such, I have decided to do away with my weekly themed posts.

I used to run these features

Motivational Mondays - quotes to inspire
Tube Tuesdays - quotes from television or movies
What Wednesdays - quotes from songs
Storied Thursdays - quotes of and about Story
Anything Goes Fridays - the one day I didn`t choose a theme for my posts

The new focus for 2011 will be to update this site with quotations, images, songs, or videos whenever I feel like it. I may still stick to these theme days. I may not.

I don`t want to be handcuffed and I don`t want this to seem like a chore.

I hope you enjoy the site. I hope you dig through it and find quotes that are useful to you.

Thanks for visiting!

Stormtrooper Skateboard Art

2010-12-29T12:41:00.000-05:00

I really love this art. Skateboarding, graffiti, and Star Wars all in one.

Plus I love the photography here. Pretty awesome!

Reblogged from http://scriptedbackyard.tumblr.com/post/2393511428

Back to December

2010-12-22T19:09:00.003-05:00

This song is beautiful to begin with but what Taylor Swift does live here is mind-blowing. She truly deserves to be on my Top 10 albums of 2010.

Back to December - Taylor Swift.

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

2010-12-14T19:33:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

"I love it when a plan comes together."

The A-Team television show

Comedy for Your Friday

2010-12-09T19:58:00.000-05:00

I love this bit from Abbott and Costello.

As a teacher, I have often seen some pretty impressive reasoning in my math class. This one takes the cake though. 13 x 7 = 28 and it makes sense? Weird and funny.

Jeremy Hotz is always good for a laugh!

Hope you enjoy the comedy. If you're in the mood for a mixtape, go to chasemarch.com

It's December 10th after all - comedy and mixtapes! What more can you ask for?

Kadyelle - Diluted Shadows

2010-12-08T11:31:00.000-05:00

Kadyelle is my new favoruite emcee. I absolutely love her album Earthworthy and if you like this track, you can go over to her bandcamp page to get it.

Not Done Talking

2010-12-07T17:42:00.000-05:00

Doctor Who: "Anyway, that's not the plan."

Dr. Song: "There's a plan."

Doctor Who: "Not yet, I haven't finished talking."

- Doctor Who Series 5 Episode 5 "Flesh and Stone"

This quote speaks to the power of speech and how it can be used in the process of thought. It hearkens back to another favourite quote of mine,

“I have to engage in endless dialogue before I write,” McLuhan explains, “I want to talk a subject over and over … I do a lot of my serious work while I’m talking out loud to people. I’m feeling around, not making pronouncements. Most people use speech as a result of thought, but I use it as the process.”

- Fitzgerald, Judith. Marshall McLuhan: Wise Guy. XYZ Publishing: Montreal, 2001. pg 58-59.

I like to talk over ideas too. I find my best ideas actually come through in conversations. I don’t know why this is, but it does seem to be the case. When I read this quote, I knew that I wasn’t alone in this.

I have solved problems in my class by talking. I have come up with lesson plan ideas through speech. I have come up with behaviour management techniques, routines, and countless other useful things through the process of speech.

Cool, eh?

We Are All Teachers

2010-12-06T10:17:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

"We are all teachers: anything we say, at any given moment in time, can affect another's life--forever."

- Lonnie B. Hodge

I hope you enjoy this pearl of wisdom that was posted by one of my followers on Twitter.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Slow Down

2010-12-01T09:19:00.000-05:00

Happy Wednesday Everyone! Let's bump this tune. It's a good one!

- Eighttrack Mind "Slow Down"

Light and Dark

2010-11-30T09:16:00.002-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

"My father often reminded me that despite the power of the sun, it's always night on half of the planet. For all the good you do, there will always be darkness."

- Patricia Swan, character on Smallville from Season 7 Episode 14 "Traveller"

It's Not A Deal

2010-11-29T07:49:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

"It's not a deal if you don't need it."

- Rubina Ahmed-Haq, Newstalk 1010

This one is for all of us that are working on our Christmas shopping. It's so easy to get caught up in sales or deals.

That's why it's important to adopt this motto. I know that I've bought stuff I didn't really want or need because it was on sale. Hopefully I won't get so easily caught up in that now.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Manchild

2010-11-24T15:15:00.000-05:00

Today's What!?! Wednesday features the amazingly talented Amanda Diva.

This song is from her upcoming (and apparently last album) Boo! I love her music and want her to keep producing it.

Bounce Back From Mistakes

2010-11-23T05:10:00.010-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

"We all make mistakes. I'm living proof of that. It's how we come back from the mistakes, that's what matters."

- Clark Kent on Smallville Season 7: Episode 8

How Special You Are (and aren't)

2010-11-18T18:38:00.000-05:00

Cover of The Way to Love (Image Pocket Classics)

"When someone tells you how special you are, all that you can say is: This person given his particular taste and needs, desires, appetites and projections has a special desire for me, but that says nothing about me as a person. Someone else will find me quite unspecial and that too says nothing about me as a person."

- Anthony De Mello. The Way to Love: The Last Meditations of. Image Books,1991. pg 139

Crates to Concrete

2010-11-17T06:39:00.000-05:00

"From my beginnings as a studio rap tunes
Kids cut class but I'd be rapping in my high school bathrooms
Clap boom with freestyle and mix while
thick tiles, reviberatin' sounds I kicks wild
Whatever worked I rearanged it right
Putting my brain in tight flows
remained in night mode,
it strained til light glows til sunrise,
burnin' my eyes til I'm close so I finished it right,
Yo put up the mic, ah one two, check it check
and yo don't step I keep my memory set
maintained and do I screwed up to get ahead, but like my man said
it's gonna turn from green to red
so bring the breaks for the lyrics tapes so they can hear it
thinks they don't fear it wait til they can clear it
with tapes and the emcee at the mix shows thinkin' in quick flows,
I'm waitin' for my chance to flip prose
Save the drama for your baby mama
I wrote a comma at the end of ninety one
I'm back to bomb ya kid
you better come correct to streets save the week,
cause we're brining it from crates to concrete.

- Kish "Crates to Concrete" from the 1994 album A Nation of Hoods.

Check out Silent Cacophony today to see the autograph I got from Kish back when this album first dropped.

Being Me is, like, Enough

2010-11-16T07:23:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

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

- Angela Chase from My So-Called Life

Of course, she is played by the gifted and talented, Claire Danes.

I so love her!

Donkey in the Well

2010-11-14T21:34:00.000-05:00

I found this parable on Twitter and loved it so much. It fits in with the Motivational Monday theme too.

Surf on over there and check it out.

http://thechrisvossshow.com/donkey-in-the-well-story-life-parable/

Happy Monday Everyone!

Best Date Ever

2010-10-10T12:37:00.001-04:00

Reblogged from http://samuraifrog.tumblr.com/post/1279029408

Sincere Apologies

2010-09-23T20:25:00.000-04:00

Sorry that I haven't been updating this blog on a regular basis. I love it, I really do. It's a great collection but I just find myself so bogged down with things lately that updating this blog just hasn't been a priority.

Bear with me, I plan to return here with a vengeance really soon. Until then I will continue to post sporadically. I have been keeping Silent Cacophony running quite well though. Come see me over there in the mean time.

Love is Fire!

2010-09-14T08:21:00.003-04:00

"They say love is friendship set on fire. And if you're lucky enough to find someone you can give yourself to, mind, body and soul, you should hold on, and hope like hell you don't get burned."

- Being Erica Season 1, Episode 9 "Everything She Wants"

Lost Sight

2010-09-08T04:33:00.000-04:00

Here it is, Muneshine's favourite track from the legendary emcee, D-sisive.

- D-sisive "Lost Sight" Remix

If you like this old school track, check out

D-sisive Then - The university newspaper article / interview I wrote from nearly 10 years ago.

D-sisive Now - The radio interview I did with him earlier this summer.

Why Artists Give Back

2010-09-07T06:35:00.000-04:00

"In terms of giving back, Art is not a charity. It's a way of life."

- Marcello Cabezas from an episode of Arts & Minds

Musicians Tell Stories

2010-09-02T20:38:00.000-04:00

"I really haven't had that exciting of a life. There are a lot of things I wish I would have done, instead of just sitting around and complaining about having a boring life. So I pretty much like to make it up. I'd rather tell a story about somebody else."

- Kurt Cobain

Life is Long

2010-08-31T08:09:00.000-04:00

"Some people say,

'Life is short,'

that you could get hit by a bus at any moment

and that you have to live each day like it's your last.

Bullshit!

Life is long.

You're probably not gonna get hit by a bus

and you're gonna have to live with the choices you make

for the next fifty years."

- I Think I Love My Wife

(transcribed from the motion picture)

Character - Build It Daily

2010-08-30T18:57:00.002-04:00

Image by nimboo via Flickr

"Character isn't inherited. One builds it daily by the way one thinks and acts-thought by thought, action by action."

- Helen G. Douglas

Happy Monday Everyone!

Non-Retrievable Memory

2010-08-27T21:53:00.000-04:00

"God only knows how many trillions of memories are stored inside us-memories we’ll never retrieve simply because we don’t have a device that allows us to browse them properly."

- Douglas Coupland The Gum Thief. Random House, pg 193.

The Entire Human Community

2010-08-26T19:53:00.000-04:00

"Thomas Berry writes . . .

Any human activity must be seen primarily as an activity of the universe and only secondarily as an activity of the individual. . . .

For the first time the entire human community has, in this story, a single creation or origin myth."

- David Leeming. Myth: A Biography of Belief. Oxford University Press, 2002 pg 161

- Original quote taken from Lonergan, Annie and Caroline Richards. Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology. Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 1988. pg 37

Teachers Suck

2010-08-25T19:06:00.000-04:00

- Tom Green "Teachers Suck"

It's almost back to school time.
Thought I'd share this with you.
Love this track (which is weird since I am a teacher)
But it's funny.

Tails You Lose

2010-08-23T06:40:00.001-04:00

"In life you are given two ends - one to think with and one to sit on. You success in life depends on which end you use most. Head you win, tails you lose!"

- Senator Conrad Burns (Montana)

Even The Big Man is Still Writing The Story

2010-08-12T07:01:00.004-04:00

"God built the world, and on the seventh day He rested. And on the eighth? Perhaps things started to evolve, to change - perhaps God started an endless revision in search of a final story."

- Bryan Russell from the Alchemy of Writing

The Right Way

2010-08-09T18:10:00.000-04:00

"The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character."

- M. C. Smith

courtesy of learnthesecret on Twitter

Happy Monday Everyone!

Eternia - Struggle (f/ Wordsworth & Kenn Starr)

2010-08-04T10:05:00.000-04:00

I so love Eternia. Check out this older video of hers today. Then go check out the interview I did with her two months ago.

Happy Wednesday Y'all.

"Mom, I Can Babysit"

2010-08-03T21:11:00.000-04:00

Angela: "Mom, I've been alone with Danielle before."

Patty: "Yes, and I can't help but recall the time you put her in the dryer."

Angela: "Oh Mom! That was so long ago. I can't believe you're still talking about that...Anyway, she begged me to do it."

Patty: "Whoever's idea it was, I don't want to come home and find anyone in an appliance."

- transcribed from the excellent TV Series My So-Called Life

Don't Give Up

2010-08-02T03:23:00.000-04:00

"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there's love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong."

- Ella Fitzgerald.

Happy Monday Everyone!

The Truth is Hidden Within Us

2010-07-29T08:32:00.001-04:00

"Maybe there is a universal truth embedded in everyone's soul.

Maybe we all have the same story hiding inside
like a shared constant in our DNA.

Maybe this collective truth is responsible for the similarity in all our stories.

Truth has a power
and if we all gravitate towards similar ideas,
maybe we do so because those ideas are true,
written deep within is
and when we hear the truth,
even if we don't understand it,
we fell that truth resonate within us,
vibrating with our unconscious wisdom.

Perhaps the truth is not learned by us,
but rather

REcalled

REmembered

REcognized

as that which is already inside us."

- transcribed from the audio book presentation of "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown

Stay Cool

2010-07-26T08:40:00.000-04:00

"The trouble with letting off steam is that it gets you into more hot water."

- Anonymous

Happy Monday Everyone!

Stay cool out there!

Silent Cacophony: Eternia Interview

2010-07-23T19:32:00.001-04:00

Just testing out the new reblog feature from Blogger...

Silent Cacophony: Eternia Interview: "DOPEfm has always shown Eternia love. She's dropped some classic jams over the past ten years and we always spin her music. I finally got t..."

Thoughtful Cacophony

How Do You Define Art?

Love as a Verb, Noun, and Salutation

Creating Something Delicate and Fleeting

Imran Yusuf Delivers Some Laughs

Stories Voice What Can't Be

Stimulating Conversation

Discover the Treasure in Daily Life

While It Lasts

Hide Your Sources

A Story Can't Be Verbatim

Don't Stand By

You Can’t Donate People Out of Poverty

It's Always About The Adventure

How to Disarm all Hostility

When you're playin' a game of make-believe, are you still you?

Always Pretending

We Are Interesting Parts of a Whole

We Need Longer Acknowledgment Pages

Zig Recommends it Daily

High Value - No Cost

Monogamy is a State of Higher Evolution

Desire to Achieve

One Text - Multiple Pictures

Language Evolved

Writers & Readers - Give and Take

It's All Connected

Fiction is the Best Medium

A Funky Introdcution of How Nice I Am

TV doesn't allow Deep Understanding

Mystical Consequences of Karma

It Was A Good Day

An Essential Relationship Between Play and Pleasure.

Books are Natural and Beautiful

What is Archplot?

There's a Spirituality to Math

Smallest Decision or Slightest Inaction

Our Important Role

The Most Important Tool We Have

Not Everything Needs to be New

Such a Thing as Personal Responsibility

Kindness is Wiser

Conversation Conceals

Best Method of Teaching

Three Ways Media Exerts Power

Parents and Teachers - A Good Team

Doesn't Need a Response

Know The Ledge

Kids Need Stress

Lola is Free Falling

Disappointment Isn't Always Bad

Inspiration

Don't Rush In and Rescue

Chance Needs to Be There

Windows of Opportunity for Readers

An Idea Can Power a Light

You Can Set it Down

Music is Magic

Emotions are Winning Out Over Reason

We Need To Manage Ourselves

The Duck Song

Music Hits You Without Pain

The Future Belongs to the Hungry

A New Direction for the New Year

Stormtrooper Skateboard Art

Back to December

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

Comedy for Your Friday

Kadyelle - Diluted Shadows

Not Done Talking

We Are All Teachers

Slow Down

Light and Dark

It's Not A Deal

Manchild

Bounce Back From Mistakes

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