Ducky

I'm reading a bit of everything right now, which is kind of exciting. (One of the perks of no longer being a student, I guess. Free time = reading time.) [I]Gilead[/I] by Marilynne Robinson has been feeding my craving for fiction. Anything by Marilynne Robinson is a nifty read, mostly because she writes with a kind of unassuming thoughtfulness and attention to language that I don't see in most fiction these days. I find myself pausing after certain sentences or paragraphs to absorb the writing. [I]The Palm at the End of the Mind: Selected Poems and a Play[/I] edited by Holly Stevens has been filling the poetry quotient. It's a collection of Wallace Stevens' poetry, and... it's very trippy. I'm a bit torn on Stevens. I like him and I loathe him. His poetry can be pretty long-winded and unnecessarily obtuse (in the sense that you can sit with one of his poems for an hour and [I]still[/I] have no idea what he's talking about), but his mind works in such interesting ways. He has a preoccupation with the abstract that most philosophers have. I feel like I'm seeing his thought unfold on the page. That part is cool. [I]The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry[/I] edited by Norman Wirzba is what I've been reading when I don't feel like reading anything else. I pretty much adore Wendell Berry in any genre, so this one is fun for me. Next on the agenda is to find a new fantasy book that I actually like...

Why do men have nipples? This is a question that will forever nag me...

[quote name='Sangome' timestamp='1282520610' post='699745'] [color="#9932CC"][font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]... [b]Recess[/b], [b]Pepper Ann[/b]...[/font][/color] [/quote] Massive brownie points to you for remembering the classics. As for me, the cartoons that will always have a place in my heart are: Beast Wars ([I]technically[/I] 3D, but still very cartoony) Spiderman (the good old 90's version) Batman Beyond X-Men Evolution Avatar: The Last Airbender (I figure this falls in between the Cartoon and Anime categories) Doug Aaahhh! Real Monsters As Told By Ginger The Wild Thornberrys Hey Arnold! Loony Toons Reboot Madeline Garfield The Weekenders EDIT: Oh, and Danny Phantom, because I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. :V

I refuse to root for the Bears, because they beat my beloved Seahawks. I would rather have my teeth pulled than root for the Steelers. (They are a pimple on the face of sportsmanship.) So really, any team that brings down either of the above has got my support. :D

[quote name='oxic_berry' timestamp='1287673483' post='701212'] never try to offroad when you're drunk >.> [/quote] I think this should be, "Never drive when you've been drinking period." My number one life lesson is probably: Do not assume that oncoming traffic will stop for you just because you're a pedestrian and you have the right of way. Especially when you're in Britain.

[s]This year, I'm finally going to assassinate Paris Hilton.[/s] My New Years resolution is to write something substantial. I have a tendency to write in spurts: infrequently and somewhat insubstantially. I'm hoping, by this time next year, to have finished a novella that's been under my belt for awhile.

I recently read this [url="http://chronicle.com/article/The-Shadow-Scholar/125329/"]rather disturbing article in The Chronicle of Higher Education[/url] about the increasing amount of ghost-writing (i.e., cheating) in academia. If this article is indeed true (I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt, but it may or may not be authentic), then yikes. Essentially, it means cheating has infiltrated nearly every tier of the educational system -- even tiers that should be impenetrable to such cheating. What, then, does that mean for the future of education? Is it the fault of educational institutions? Professors? Individual students? Or is there something awry with our society's very understanding of what education -- of what [I]learning[/I] -- even is? For my part, I thought "Ed Dante" had some interesting insights; relevant insights that need to be considered. For instance, the fact that our educational system is more focused on grading and evaluation than on genuine learning. The fact that higher education has become a business model whose goal is to turn a profit rather than to teach and mentor. [I]However[/I], even given these insights, I thought the article stank of hypocrisy and self-aggrandizement. "Ed Dante" may point the finger at our educational system, and blame [I]it[/I] for the mass of students turning to ghost writers to do their work for them, but really? Ghost writers like him share just as much -- if not MORE -- of the blame. The fact is, corrupted and flawed though the educational system may be, as much as it may need reform, it has a way of dealing with cheaters: it fails them. It expels them. It doesn't help them move up through the system and propel them into a world they will absolutely be unprepared for. If ghost writers didn't exist, students would have no recourse to cheat on papers. They would have to do the work, and if they did badly they would fail. That would mean either retaking the course, and possibly actually [I]learning[/I] something the second time around, or avoiding it altogether. Either way, the system could actually keep these people from passing classes they don't deserve to pass (the danger of which "Ed Dante" explains very well). But, the Ed Dante's of the world do exist, and so cheating goes on under the noses of professors and administrators; undeserving students pass classes, and write theses, and earn degrees they're unqualified for, and what will the affect be on the world? (Just imagine, if you will, going under the knife of a surgeon who paid a ghost-writer to help him through med school.) Ed Dante can make a fuss about the educational system, but the fact is that he's perpetuating the very behavior he blames higher education for.

[quote name='Dragon Warrior' timestamp='1293511908' post='703373'] Well, they did The Lion King which was a story from China. So there's another 2D film. But even so, it's true. They don't always have to do fairy tales. [/quote] There's also the argument that The Lion King was a Disney adaptation of Hamlet. :O

[quote name='Shinmaru' timestamp='1278348176' post='696579'] Just a few pictures from my jaunt to Anime Expo over the weekend. [/quote] You beautiful son of a *****.

[quote name='Soji47' timestamp='1292990234' post='703109'] [font="Book Antiqua"][size="2"][color="#0000ff"]My only question is: what fairy-tales are left for Disney to recreate? Or will they simply start making them up from here?[/color][/size][/font][/font] [/quote] Answer: a lot. There are a heck of a lot more fairy tales out there -- both classic fairy tales (of the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson variety), and more modern fairy tales. Not to mention all the lore and mythology of non-European cultures, which Disney has largely left unexplored. (Mulan is the only 2D Disney movie that really branched out from the Western European tradition.)

Yeah. I'm not exactly a car expert, but I feel like [I]setting it aflame[/I] is just slightly dangerous, as the gas tank is full flammable liquid. But then, if he had gotten his face blown off, he may have learned a lesson.

I agree with Rachmaninoff. In fact, my immediate thought after reading the link (not even the article, just the link) was that there may be something developmentally wrong with the kid. Though if Rach has the link(s) to any further articles discussing that issue, I would like to read them. Most people, even if they aren't particularly intelligent, don't do things like guzzle gasoline out of sheer stupidity. Even if the kid [I]was[/I] stupid, the body's natural reaction to [I]gasoline[/I] entering its system would be for the brain to inform the body, "Hey. This is bad. Maybe you should stop now," by way of its gag reflex, or even just the bad taste. I get the feeling a child being stupid would have stopped pretty quick once he tasted the gasoline, or it hit his stomach. So the fact that he kept doing it over a long period of time leads me to believe there's some other (serious) reason that this happened. I certainly hope that help can be had for this child, and that the parents learn from their mistakes.