13 days after - The Joys of Working in a College Community Church

So, I don't know if I mentioned this previously on here, but I'm the bell choir director at the church in Bowling Green that I attended as an undergrad. That's one of the perks of returning to your undergraduate institution for grad school . . . everyone at the church knew me and vouched for me and I was offered the position without having to go through the laborious interview/application process.

But anyway, yeah . . . I'm the bell choir director. Now, this is a college community church, so a lot of the people who attend it are either students or, occasionally, professors or staff at the university. Some of those professors are also on staff here at church. For example, the choir director and music coordinator (in effect, my direct supervisor) is one of the choral professors at the nearby University of Toledo. (But we won't hold that against him.) Now the rules between college students and professors are maybe not quite as rigid as the rules between grade school students and teachers. For example, no one in grade school would ever call their teacher by their first name. In college, however, it depends on the professor. Some professors will stay on a first name basis, but others prefer Mr./Mrs./Dr. Whoever. Most of the professors at the College of Musical Arts in BG go by this second rule.

So as a college student, I've grown accustomed to referring to most of my professors as Dr. (usually) so-and-so. The choir director at the church is different, because he was never MY professor, so I never had a problem just calling him by his first name. The organist, however, is a professor at BG, one I've had in class, and one I have in class now. He is also now a colleague . . . a fellow staff member, and the rest of the church staff calls him by his first name. But since I'm still his student, I feel compelled to call him Dr. So and So.

It's a bit like my high school band director. Last year, during marching band, I worked alongside him, as a colleague, not a student. Yet, I always called Mr. Taylor, like I did in high school, and not by his first name, as the others did. But with new members of the staff who I had never had as teachers (at least one of whom was not that much older than I am) I was on a first name basis.

It's weird making that crossover. I spent the last year working at the same school system I attended from eighth grade on, and kept running across teachers I had had, except now I was working alongside them. I stage managed a show for my old high school theatre director. I taught an IEP student with materials I got from my old science teacher. A couple of my bosses were two of my old principals. The nature of my relationship with these old teachers has changed, and yet I can't stop thinking of them in the same way I thought of them then. (Which means I have to be careful when speaking about them casually with students . . . or at least, I had to be careful. I don't work there anymore, so I can say whatever the hell I want now.) But what happens when you cross that line is that you start to see teachers and professors as people, with lives beyond the school where they work, and with virtues and flaws that you never saw in the classroom. And it kind of makes me wonder how it will be when I'm eventually looking at that crossover from the other side, and start to see my old students growing up and getting jobs and, just maybe, working alongside me as a colleague. I wonder how I'll feel then.

Probably old.

-Matt

3 days after - Twenty-two

My dear friend and fellow ShinyHappyVloggyPerson is turning twenty-two today. I don't know about anyone else, but twenty-two seemed like a bit of a letdown after twenty-one. I mean, think about it: twenty-one's a milestone birthday. You get to buy alcohol now! A scant three years earlier, you were given the power to vote and buy nicotine. The year before that, to see R-rated movies, And the year before that, the power to drive. (Or at least the power to get licensed. At least, that's how it used to be. I don't know how it is now.) So all these milestone ages come BAM! BAM! BAM! and ages like nineteen and twenty are mere stepping stones.

But now, twenty-two is . . . what? A stepping stone to being old?

So, for Kaitlyn's sake, I'm going to spell out all the advantages to turning twenty-two.

-Twenty-two is the first palindromic age since age eleven. (And honestly, who wants to be eleven? Unless it means going back and being accepted to Hogwarts . . .)
-Twenty-two is the age of college graduates!
-According to some cultures, twenty-two represents perfection or worldliness. There are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet and twenty-two cards in the Major Arcana of the Tarot. Speaking of . . .
-You can assign each year of your life to a Hebrew letter or a card in the Major Arcana of the Tarot. If, you know, you ever wanted to do that . . .
-There are also twenty-two paths between the Sephirot of the Jewish Kabbalah. But I don't really know anything about that, so . . .
-Um . . . "catch 22" . . . which isn't exactly uplifting, when you think about it . . .

Okay, that's all I could think of. Anyway Kaitlyn, regardless of what age you are, it's still your birthday, so enjoy it, and just be sure to think of me when I'm turning twenty-five . . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MISS W/AKAY!!!

-Matt

2 days after - White Trash

So, I lived in Bowling Green for five years, four years on campus and one year in an apartment in town. It's a college town, and I was constantly surrounded by campus life, which (apart from the drunken revelry on Thursday nights) is pretty cultured. But it wasn't until I moved out here to the fringes of town that I truly realized how much white trash lives in Bowling Green.

I mean, I knew they were here. I'd seen them on occasion. I even made a wrong turn once and ended up driving through a trailer park. (That was scary.) And I knew that the campus was about the same population as the town, (actually a little bigger, I think) meaning that though it SEEMED cultured and liberal and open-minded and forward-thinking, it wasn't necessarily that way when the college students went home for the summer. But now I'm out here at the edge of town, making regular trips to Wal-mart for supplies . . . and wow. Beer drinking, wife-beater wearing, trashy car driving (not that I have room to talk on that score) hicks.

Take one of the maintenance guys for the apartment complex. First of all, in the week and a half since I've moved here, I don't think I've ever seen him wearing a shirt. Plus, he drives this old clunker, bright yellow, huge-ass tires on the back, with a bumper sticker that says, "Burns Gas and Hauls Ass," or words to that effect. I mean, really? It's one thing to drive a gas guzzler, but to advertise it, to take pride in the fact that you're paying twice as much for gas as you could be? Wow.

This is not to say that the apartment complex is trashy. It's really quite nice. The only places that look even remotely ghetto are the laundry facilities. But, yeah. Call me judgmental, but I'm hoping I don't need to call on the maintenance guy anytime soon.

-Matt

The Last Day

My first class of graduate school starts in an hour . . . Directed Research, Jerome Library. So now we'll see what I'll be up against for the next two (or possibly three) years.

I'll probably continue blogging once grad school starts, just not every day. So this'll just be a blog every time I feel like writing a blog. Which may be never. Who knows?

Thanks to all of you who are still reading this. (Is anyone still reading this?) I have to go eat something before class, so I guess I'll sign off here.

Here goes nothing . . .

-Matt

1 day before - Parties

I almost missed the last day . . . oh noes!

Actually, seeing as how my first class doesn't start until 6 in the evening, I'm probably going to do one more of these before I go to said class. So, you're not rid of me yet!

I'm feeling a bit stuffed, because I went to two parties today. The first party was a lunch barbecue at my friend James' house. James is a friend I made as an undergrad five years ago. He's married with two kids, seven and two-and-a-half, both boys, the older of whom I played games of basketball, kickball, and baseball (Wii style) this afternoon. I have a lot of respect for James. He dropped out of college when he was younger, and then decided to start again for the sake of his son. So, he's trying to raise a family and get a Bachelor's degree at the same time, which is no easy task. (I found it hard just maintaining a girlfriend . . . as evidenced by the three I went through as an undergrad.)

The second party was a gathering of the music ed grad students so we could meet and get to know each other. I already knew most of them, because I'd met the first years at GradSTEP, and at least one of the second years I knew from undergrad. (He's also a graduate of BG.) We spent most of our time playing Rock Band, which is an amazing game. I found out I'm actually a decent percussionist. (Better than guitar and bass, anyway.)

It's kind of nice to be able to socialize IRL with people my own age. Don't get me wrong, I love the online community as well. But there's something to be said for real life.

-Matt

2 days before - Tractor Pull

From outside, I can hear the sounds of the Tractor Pull, even though it's clear across town.

For those who aren't aware of what a tractor pull is, I wish I could be so innocent again. But basically, Tractor Pull is what the hicks look forward to all year. The Annual National Tractor Pull is one of the things Bowling Green is know for . . . I'm sorry to say. Basically, you hook your tractor up to a bunch of weights and then push your engine to the limit (and beyond) to try and pull said weights, to see who has the strongest tractor. So the noises I'm hearing are the sounds of those engines revving to the point of exploding. This takes "hick" to a whole new level, this does . . . and this coming from a guy who lived in an area where tractor shows and drive-your-tractor-to-school-day were common occurrences.

This also happened to be move-in day for the incoming freshmen . . . which essentially means that campus was a zoo with the traffic from the highways, the cars parked all over, many roads being made one-way and many others being closed altogether . . . it was not a good day to be driving on campus.

In addition, these incoming freshmen have been visiting the various grocery stores to get supplies. And guess who else has been getting supplies at the grocery stores . . . the Tractor Pull people! (In their case, we're talking beer.) And I have to wonder about these kids who have never been to Bowling Green, who have never heard of Bowling Green, who know nothing about Bowling Green . . . coming here and seeing all these people in camo hats and talking about their tractors and then hearing the noise across town (which is loud no matter WHERE in BG you are) and thinking to themselves "Dear God, what have I gotten myself into?"

Hopefully, they won't leave.

-Matt

<3 days before - Yesterday

My tenuous internet connection (read: borrowed from friends who live a few apartments over) didn't feel like cooperating and letting me blog last night, and I didn't get to a free wi-fi area, so this is a little late. But I don't honestly have much to report. GradSTEP is done, I'm moved in, and now I'm just kinda waiting around.

I did get the stuff I need to direct bells at my church, yesterday . . . mainly information about where everything is, a copy of the music library inventory, a few books of music, that sort of thing. It's going to be an interesting experience directing a bell choir that actually, you know, plays more often than once a year. But I'm looking forward to it.

I get better internet today. I'll finally be able to catch up on YouTube videos. So, yay for that.

Bye for now!

-Matt

4 days before - GradSTEP: The End

Today was the last day of GradSTEP. It was pretty much what I expected it to be: some of it was helpful, mostly the sessions that I actually chose to go to. But some of it was a colossal waste of time, like the hour long lecture on academic dishonesty. (Because, all of us being grad students and having come as far as we have come in our education, it's so very important to talk to us for an hour on the importance of . . . not cheating.)

So now I've got some free time before classes officially start, and then . . . we're off and running.

-Matt

5 days before - Schedule

I have a schedule!

Well, sort of. I'm finally registered for classes, though I still need to check a couple things. But I'm fairly sure I know what I'm doing this semester at any rate.

Actually, I'm only taking three classes. (Well, four, if you count this week. Technically, GradSTEP is a class. But after this week, I'll be done.) On Monday nights, I'll be in a two hour class for Directed Research in music education . . . I'm not sure what this entails yet, but I assume it involves figuring out the best way to research for a thesis or a project. (Depending on what I decide to do . . . more on that later.)

On Tuesdays, I'll be in the University Choral Society. I found out to my delight that my ensemble credits do NOT have to be instrumental, like they did when I was an undergrad. I was not particularly looking forward to returning to the drama and childishness of the band audition and was hoping I would be able to join a choir. (Yes, Kaitlyn, you read correctly . . . I would rather be in a choir than a band.) Anyway, University Choral Society is a group that's open to students, faculty, and community members, and they're performing Messiah this year. So, yay for that.

On Wednesdays I don't have a class, but I do have bell choir rehearsal. I've been hired by the church I attended as an undergrad to be the bell choir director, so that'll be a little extra income coming my way. Moreover, it'll be a job I actually, you know, enjoy and am trained to do. I'm slightly wary of working jobs in which I have no training whatsoever.

On Thursdays nights, I'll be learning about History and Philosophy of music education, which means that, sadly, I won't be able to be in church choir rehearsals this year. (I'll have another Thursday night class next semester if I'm still on track.) Bill will not be happy, but that's the way it goes.

And then Fridays are free. I'm trying not to let this deceptively easy schedule lull me into a false sense of security. I know that the workload will be ridiculous. I bought a desk calender and a planner this afternoon.

At this point, I have a choice of two different directions I can go: thesis or non thesis. I don't need to make a decision quite yet, because I'll need the classes I'm taking no matter what I choose. In fact, my advisor told me that most people decide based on their directed research class what would be best for them. Basically, I have to decide whether I want to write a massive paper or do a massive project. So, we'll see.

And that's what my semester is going to be like. And it starts in five days. Almost there . . .

-Matt

6 days before - Exams

Well, I think I can say with some degree of certainty that I bombed my music history placement exam. It's a pretty bad sign when you're looking at a multiple choice question and don't recognize ANY of the given names. There were roughly seventy multiple choice questions on the exam, of which I was able to answer five confidently (i.e. without guessing.)

So, that's nice.

The other part of the exam was to look at these scores and figure out what period the piece was likely written in, what the style, form, and genre was, who might have written it, and what sort of stylistic things they used, all backed up with musical evidence from the score. I think I did all right on this one, because that's basically what I do in my book reviews all the time . . . find things to analyze, and then geek out over them. But I very much doubt that this will counterbalance my abominable performance on the multiple choice section. But all that really means is that I have to take a remedial music history course, and from what I heard from my fellow grad students, I surely won't be the only one there.

Yesterday's music theory exam, however, I'm reasonably sure that I passed. I remembered the stuff better than I thought I would, even the twentieth century twelve-tone crap, although if I messed up anything, it was that. But this is where my true nerdiness comes out . . . again, analysis. I've been spending the last year analyzing choir pieces and driving my family nuts. Fun! =)

Tomorrow I get to schedule my classes. Yay! We'll see how that goes. I just hope the remainder of grad school isn't going to be as boring as the seminars I've had to sit through thus far. Otherwise, it's gonna be a loooong couple of years . . .

-Matt

7 days before - Scheduling

I'm sitting in Panera, using their free wireless, and I just gave up on trying to plan my schedule. Why? Because BGSU sucks, that's why.

Okay, some explanation. First of all, classes start in one week . . . and I don't yet know what classes I'm taking, because the powers-that-be don't want me registering for classes until I've met with an advisor, which I don't do until Wednesday. (Ironically, they didn't put a hold on my account like they do for undergrads, meaning that they trust me not to register for classes, but they don't trust me to know what I'm doing when it comes to registering.)

Many college students at BGSU, and particularly in the College of Musical Arts, universally agree that an academic advisor somewhere has royally screwed them over, and extended their college career by at least a semester, and sometimes a full year. But, okay, fine. At the very least I can browse the classes and figure out what classes I want to take, right?

Wrong. First of all, the CMA doesn't seem to be quite sure what plan I'm on, because I've received two checklists: one for Comprehensive Music Ed (which includes a thesis) and Instrumental Music Ed (which doesn't.) Second, they've changed, completely, the way in which we register for classes, making it more like an online shopping network than a scheduling program (and further increasing the view of education as a business.) This new method of class registration also makes it very difficult to figure out both which semesters the classes I need are offered (only that they are or are not being offered next semester) and what time the classes meet, particularly if you're looking for a class that isn't offered this semester. Now, if I'm trying to figure out which classes I need to take this semester, would it not stand to reason that it would be helpful for me to know when other classes are being offered, so that I can roughly plan all two years of grad school and save myself much pain and aggravation?

Then, could someone please explain to me why BGSU seems to have not planned any classes past this coming semester?

I hate dealing with crap like this. It makes me want to kill small animals. Hopefully, though, by Wednesday, everything will be made clear.

Hopefully.

-Matt

8 days before - Required Reading

It occurred to me recently that a lot of the books on my favorites list are books that I HAD to read in school at some point. There are essentially two types of reading: reading for your own personal pleasure, and reading because someone told you to. I, along with most readers I imagine, am an advocate of the former kind of reading. In fact, I have frequently complained that required reading gets in the way of my pleasure reading.

So, how do you explain that so many of my "Favorite" books were required reading? Dear Mr. Henshaw. Number the Stars, The Giver, Fahrenheit 451 . . . these are books I had to read in school at some point, and you probably did to. And yet, I enjoyed them. Granted, I probably would have enjoyed them more had I read them for pleasure, but still I enjoyed them.

The reason for this is that in addition to being books that people think that kids should read . . . they are also enjoyable books to read. They have a lot to analyze and explore, but they are also fun to read. This is a balance that many authors don't find, and it's one of the criteria for my favorites list: is it possible to write a book that is both an enjoyable read AND good literature? Authors like J,K. Rowling, John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Rick Riordan can do that. Authors like Stephanie Meyer . . . not so much.

-Matt

9 days before - I stole $2 worth of silverware from Wal-mart

So, I had to make a trip to Wal-mart today, to sell my soul for some apartment supplies, like a shower curtain and a dish rack . . . and knives. I discovered that somewhere during my last major move (from my old apartment to my parents' house) I managed to misplace all but two of my knives, while keeping all eight or nine of my forks and spoons. Weird, right? Anyway, I needed knives, so among the approximately $155 dollars worth of stuff I bought today, I picked up two bundles of knives for a dollar each.

When I was giving all my stuff to the lady checking me out, I forgot to include the knives. They kind of blend in with the material of the cart, see. But I didn't realize this until I had already swiped my card, and I didn't really want to make her redo everything, so I just left them there and kept quiet, and she didn't notice. So yeah, I stole two dollars worth of silverware from Wal-mart. Seeing as how I've given them over two hundred dollars over the past couple days, I'm not feeling terribly bad about it.

My apartment is looking more and more like an apartment. I finally finished unpacking everything this morning. I still need to pick up a few things, but most of them can wait. (Like, until I have some more money.) Still no internet, so I'm posting this from a coffee shop in town with free wireless. I might be making nightly trips here until I get around to calling Time Warner. Unfortunately, their office won't be open until Monday . . . which is also when my boring seminars start. So, we'll see.

-Matt

(Not Quite) 10 days before - UNpacking!

. . . is oddly something I have no problem with whatsoever!

So, I couldn't blog last night due to lack of internet. I'm "borrowing" a friend's at the moment, but I am here, typing this in my new apartment! I spent most of yesterday unpacking, decorating, making the place actually look like someone lived here. I've unpacked and shelved all my books. I've still got a few miscellaneous boxes left, and then I have to see about setting up cable and internet. But I'm here! And I'm very happy about it.

Something that occurred to me this morning: while I have been counting down the days before classes start, I have also, inadvertently, been counting down the days until John Green's birthday, as they are both August 24th. So, maybe you can think of this countdown in that way, if you want.

Anyway, we're into single digits now, and I've got some more unpacking to do. Talk atcha later!

-Matt

11 days before - Packing continued

Well, the three vehicles we are taking to Bowling Green tomorrow are packed with all the crap I'm taking to my apartment. It took the better part of the last couple hours packing it up, and there was a lot of dust, and therefore a lot of sneezing. But it's packed, and tomorrow we head to Bowling Green. So, that's done, and I have nothing else to say. I'll be writing tomorrow's blog either from my apartment or from Panera's. (I likely won't have internet yet.)

-Matt

12 days before - I Still Hate Packing

That's all I have to say about that.

-Matt

13 days before - Packing and Epilogues

I haven't done any. Packing, I mean.

My possessions, normally only here for the summer and than repacked, have had a full year to spread throughout the house. So the task of packing them up is a little daunting, and I haven't actually started yet.

I have, however, finished reading the Harry Potter series, and would like to talk about one aspect of my analysis. This part of the analysis is entitled:

WHY THE EPILOGUE OF HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS DOESN'T SUCK. (SPOILERS AHOY.)

So, here's the deal: while Campbell's hero's journey could be applied to different aspects of the series depending on where the journey starts, the journey always ends the same, with the last two steps being "The Master of Two Worlds" and "Freedom to Live."

The second to last step, "Master of Two Worlds" is usually used for heroes like Jesus or Buddha who kind of transcend death, which Harry also does. But for more mundane heroes, it refers to the hero finding a balance between the material and the spiritual, and balance that Harry achieves when he comes to a full understanding of how to destroy Voldemort, of the failings of Dumbledore, and of what needs to be done with the Elder Wand. In other words, when Harry finally gets it, which he does at the end of the final chapter.

But, that is not the end of the hero's journey nor of Harry's story. The last step is Freedom to Live, where the hero is freed from his fears and is allowed to live "in the moment" without regrets of the past or anxious anticipation of the future. Without the epilogue, we have no idea that this has happened with Harry. We need to see Harry, years removed from the battle, the deaths, the trauma, to a time when he has finally achieved what he always wanted: a normal life. A time when the biggest thing he has to worry about is if his son will be okay at Hogwarts. A time when "all was well." That is Harry's "Freedom to Live," and it is a necessary component in the story. Thus, the epilogue.

If I'm honest with myself, I think the real reason certain people have such hostility towards the epilogue is because they don't want the story to be over. But I know that the story had to end. If it kept going, people would get sick of it. So . . . get over it, people.

That's all!

-Matt

22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, and 14 days before - Stratford

SUNDAY: 22 days before

I hate Pachelbel and want him to die . . . except he's already dead.

We finished with the VBS program at church (thank God, I hate that music so much now) and took off for Stratford, Ontario, Canada. As it's approximately a seven-hour drive, we made a stop in Bowling Green to visit with the family that was staying there, and also picked up my apartment key. The apartment is nice enough, a one bedroom with a fairly claustrophobic kitchen. The landlady is nice. She let me pick up my key and handle a lot of the paperwork about two weeks before the lease officially begins, and she gave me a bottle of sparkling cider as a welcome. I think this is going to be a nice place to live for the next couple years.

We arrived at the Forest Hotel, which is run by a nice couple who do this as a second career, much like bed and breakfast owners. Our room was in a cabin in the woods by a lake. A trail, which I walked while filming some vlogs, wound around the area. It was a nice area.

MONDAY: 21 days before

Monday was our day to just relax, as we hadn't gotten to do for a while. We spent the morning wandering the hotel, and the afternoon wandering the shops of Stratford. Monday is dark for the theatre, and it also happened to be a civic holiday, so about half the shops were closed, but we managed to hit all of them in subsequent days. We also met the police officer who, indirectly, led Mom to finding another one of her long lost Canadian cousins, who we met Tuesday.

TUESDAY: 20 days before

We spent the morning in Stratford, and the afternoon with the cousin of Mom's who, despite being a part of the well-to-do part of Mom's side of the family, many of whom felt the Matthewsons to be on the "wrong side of the tracks," was a very nice guy. Although I have to say, this is distinctly unfair. Mom has now met two cousins, their families, and a police officer that she encountered in her genealogy work, whereas I, the guy who's on YouTube, have met none of the people I've met online.

WEDNESDAY: 19 days before

Our first show, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum, was tonight. We also met my dad's sister and her family who live in Ithica and are up here for the first time. Forum was quite funny. It's all very slapstick and ridiculous. This production employed a lot of physical humor that was very well done, and the actors playing Senex, Hysterium, and Hero were all incredible. It was all very over-the-top, which works with this musical, though there were times when I wish the jokes had been a little more subtle. One thing I noticed: the sexual innuendo that runs fairly rampant in this show is much more overt in Canada than it was in the productions I've seen in the States.

THURSDAY: 18 days before

We saw a matinee performance of The Importance of Being Earnest today, which is vastly different from Forum, other than being a comedy. The humor in Earnest is very dry, the most ridiculous lines being delivered with utmost seriousness. It was all very well done, well directed and well acted. Brian Bedford, the director, also played Lady Bracknell (as is traditional in Stratford, evidently) and did it so well that had I not known beforehand, I probably never would have guessed it was a really a man wearing all that Victorian garb.

In the morning, we were taken on a tour of the costume and prop warehouse in Stratford, the third largest in the world and the largest in the continent. It was exceptionally cool to see the vastness of the place and the rows upon rows upon rows of costumes that filled it. We also saw some props from other shows, including some familiar ones like the pool table from Music Man. Then at the end, we got to try on some of the costumes. I was put in a coat which would not have looked out of place in Lion in Winter to be shown how heavy it was. It must have weighed about ten pounds or so. And under all those lights . . . yikes. The sacrifices we make for theatre . . .

We also had to check out of Forest Hotel today and go to a perfectly ordinary Comfort Inn in Ingersol, which is nearly an hour away. Sad.

FRIDAY: 17 days before

We woke up early to go on a backstage tour of the Festival Theatre, which is Stratford's thrust stage, and also the place where we would see Midsummer that evening. What impressed me most was the use of space. There's not a great deal of room backstage, and there are three or four shows being rehearsed and performed here at one time, so there has to be room for sets and props and so on. Props are hung on walls, put in spare rooms, any place they can go. We also got to see a sped up video of one of the changeovers, where the crew came in, tore up the set for one show and completely replaced it with the set for the next show, all in about ninety minutes. We also got to see a rehearsal room, which had a replica of the permanent part of the thrust stage and which was spiked in different colors for the sets of the four shows. Cassie geeked out for pretty much the whole thing.

We did some last minute shopping, returned to the hotel for a bit, and then set off to see A Midsummer Night's Dream. This was a premiere preview performance, meaning that we were the first people to see it that weren't involved with it. The difficulty with doing Shakespeare now, and especially something as popular as Midsummer, is finding new and fresh ways to perform it. We knew it was going to be different, but we didn't know how . . . and we certainly weren't prepared for the gun battle that opened the show.

The show was done in a fifties motif. The setting was still very much ambiguous, but the clothing style was fifties. So the fairies, who are the rebels and troublemakers, were dressed in artfully ripped leather, fishnets, heavy eye make-up, wild hair . . . like rock and roll icons.

The opening set was basically the Festival stage, in its normal state. Then when we moved to the forest, what had been the balcony tipped forward and fell onto center stage, floorboards splintering and flying up as though it had actually fallen, and that fallen balcony became trees and hedges and everything else you might find in the woods. Cassie was geeking out again.

It was incredibly well done, and I really enjoyed it. The person playing Bottom was about the best Bottom I've ever seen. Helena was terrific as well.

After the show, we got to hear panel of five of the actors answer some questions, and that was enjoyable as well. The we went back to the hotel. It was very late, and we had a seven hour drive home ahead of us.

SATURDAY: 16 days before

We drove home and then attended a wedding! My sister's best friend from high school (and also my younger band sibling from high school) was marrying his girlfriend of . . . I don't know, but several years. It was by far the most informal wedding I've attended. It took place in a swamp, the reception at the MOB's house. The bride wore a simple blue dress, because she didn't look good in white, and the groom was in khakis and a nice shirt. They went up the an observation deck, exchanged vows, and it was done. As simple as could be. I think I'm going to opt for that sort of wedding when I get married. Either that or just elope.

SUNDAY: 15 days before

We're still technically on vacation, so Mom didn't have to preach and we didn't go to church. My siblings and I drove to Panera's to eat lunch with some of the cast members from the production of Godspell we were in three years ago. (I was Jesus.) We try to get together as much as possible. When we did the production, half of us were still in high school. My brother was the last one to graduate, and now several of them (myself included) have graduated from college, one of them has moved, and (I was informed during the reunion) one of them is going to be getting married. So it's been getting harder and harder to meet when all ten of us can get together, and I actually don't think it's happened for quite a while. But we got to see the girl who's moved, and a couple of people that we won't be seeing for a bit when we all take off for Bowling Green, so it was nice.

MONDAY: 14 days before

And now, I'm caught up! I'm almost done reading Deathly Hallows and, therefore, almost done with my complicated hero's journey analysis of the book. I was back to "work" today, although I'm done with private tutoring, for the most part. This week, I'm helping out with band camp at my old high school again, working with the trumpets to get them sounding better. I've also got to spend some time packing, as I leave on Friday to move into my apartment. Lots to do, lots to do . . . But on the other hand, just four short days, and I'm outta here.

Oh, I almost forgot! I'm going to be the bell choir director at the church in Bowling Green that I attended while at college. I got the call while in Canada. Apparently I got recommendations from the choir director and the former bell director. It's nice when they already know you. =) So, I'll have a job, of sorts. Not a high paying one, but something. And something I enjoy doing, moreover.

And, that's all. Hope this makes up for the week I didn't post. Until tomorrow!

-Matt

23 days before - Happy (Belated) Birthday, Harry, Heidi, and Jo!

I figure I should do this now, when I'm not half asleep. This is likely to be my last blog for a little while while I'm on vacation and while my internet connection will be questionable. I'll still write the blog posts, I just may not be able to post them until after I get back. Anyway, I'm going to use this, my last blog post for about a week, to talk about . . . Harry Potter.

I just finished book 5. As books 6 and 7 are, by themselves, a whole different analysis, I'm waiting a bit to start them. (And by "a bit," I mean, like, a day.) Book 5 remains the hardest book for me to get through, but every time I read it, I like it just a little bit more. Book 5 is an important step in Harry's journey. Looking at the series as a whole, the last chapter of the book represents the central part in the hero's journey, the Atonement with the Father, the part where Harry has to come to terms with the thing that holds power over his life, or in this case, the prophecy that says he must kill Voldemort or be killed by him. Also, in a more literal sense, Harry has to come to terms with the fact that both his father and his godfather were not, as he had perhaps always imagined, always perfectly good people. (Something he must also come to terms with book 7.)

This book also marks to other "meetings" in the hero's journey: the meeting of the goddess, and the meeting of temptation. The goddess, in this case, is Sirius. He is the person that Harry feels unconditional love, as a child to a parent, because Sirius is really the closest thing to a father he's ever known, or at least the closest thing to HIS father he's ever known. Technically, this started in book 3, but the relationship really meets its peak here. The temptation, then, is Harry's pride, his desire to protect those he loves, or as Hermione puts it, his "saving people thing," which causes huge problems for him in this book, and his the center of most of the angst.

If we're looking at the hero's journey as it applies to only the latter half of the series, this books represents the first crossing of the threshold into adventure (when Harry and Voldemort both realize that Harry can be possessed by him), followed closely by the "Belly of the Whale," or the point of no return into the adventure . . . also, the point where Harry must come to terms with the prophecy, though it could be argued that this doesn't truly happen until book 6 when he finally informs Ron and Hermione about it.

Anyway, now we get into book 6 and start yet another analysis. I'm just kind of a fun guy to have around at times like this, aren't I?

-Matt

24 days before - Meh . . .

I have to get up at about 5:30ish tomorrow. My brother was in a production of Cinderella a few months ago, and I was in the pit playing trumpet and second keyboard. Snippets of the production are going to be performed tomorrow at the OCTA (Ohio Community Theatre Association) competition, and I've been asked to play. The competition is in Columbus and we have to be there by 8, which means we have to leave the house by 6:30.

That evening, I'm driving both siblings to Huron (about an hour away) to see a production of Secret Garden. Then on Sunday I play piano for the VBS thing at church, and we leave on vacation.

So yeah . . . that should be fun.

-Matt

25 days before - The Hero

I'm gonna talk about Harry Potter again. Just to forewarn you. Oh, and there will be spoilers.

It's looking like this Hero's Journey analysis thing I've started is slightly more complicated than I originally thought. I've found that there are a number of different ways to apply it. I've been looking at the series as a whole, but that's not the only way I could look at it.

See the thing is, the whole process starts with a transforming moment: that is, the moment when the person realizes that his life as he knew it is about to completely change. Thing is, with Harry, that happens about four times: 1) when he learns that he's a wizard; 2) when Voldemort returns; 3) when he learns about the prophecy; and 4) when Dumbledore dies and Harry resolves to leave Hogwarts to find the Horcruxes. And the hero's journey could then proceed from any of those points, and could conceivably cover the entire series, the latter half of the series, the last two books, or just Deathly Hallows.

You see the dilemma.

But that's never stopped from ploughing on through before, right? So, here's what we're looking at for the first third of the hero's journey, analyzed all for ways. (Obviously, I'm still in the middle of book five, so the last couple are just my best guess.)

1. Call for adventure: see above.

2. Refusal of call: 1) Harry doubts his ability to be a wizard. 2) Not so much Harry's doubts here as those of the wizarding world, but Harry does spend a good chunk of time sulking in the months after Voldemort's return. 3) Harry has to adjust to the idea that he has to kill Voldemort, but it doesn't take long. 4) Harry returns to the Dursley's, because Dumbledore wanted him to.

3. Supernatural Aid: 1) Hogwarts itself, and Dumbledore. 2) Dumbledore's Army represents Harry finally doing something. 3) Dumbledore (surprise) giving Harry private lessons. 4) Dumbledore again, albeit retroactively.

4. Crossing the First Threshold: 1) Harry starting his adventures at Hogwarts. 2) Battle at the Ministry. 3) Going to the cave with Dumbledore and get the Horcrux. 4) Leaving the Dursley's for good and returning to the Wizarding world.

5. The Belly of the Whale: 1) Harry's first fight with Voldemort. 2) Learning the prophecy. 3) Dumbledore's death, and Harry's commitment to finding the Horcruxes. 4) The trio's escape from the wedding to being on the run.

So, yeah. This is becoming more fun by the day. (And no, that wasn't sarcasm, I actually mean it.)

-Matt

<26 days before - Yeah . . .

Yeah, didn't blog yesterday. I've been feeling more tired than usual, because for some reason, I haven't been sleeping well. So largely because of that, by the time I remembered to blog, I didn't feel like writing anything.

Meh. Oh, well.

-Matt

27 days before - Sigh . . .

My sister and I are the music leaders for my church's Vacation Bible School. We've selected the four songs out of the book that are the least objectionable and are teaching them to the kids. One of them is a Pachelbel song, or a song that has the same basic chord progression as Pachelbel's Canon in D. This song being typical of most contemporary Christian songs, it's also extremely repetitive. And we worked on it for all four groups today.

I'm doing piano for VBS, and I gotta tell you, I was getting a wee bit tired of this song by the end of the evening. (And by a "wee bit" what I mean is . . . well actually, this can pretty much sum up my feelings.)

And it's only been two days . . . Sigh . . .

-Matt

28 days before - A blog that isn't about Harry Potter . . . or really much of anything

I'm too tired to make any kind of quasi-philosophical insight today. ('Cause I totally always do that.) But I only ever said I had to blog every day before leaving for grad school. I never said anything about the blogs being long or interesting. So, yeah. There you go.

I will mention that my vacation starts next week and I still have a lot to get done before that happens. Oddly enough, most of it seems to involve my life on YouTube. It seems this vlogging thing has truly taken hold. Not that there was any doubt, you understand.

Hokay, that's all for today. 'Night all.

-Matt

29 days before - Children's Authors

We watched Matilda this evening, the movie based on the children's book by Roald Dahl, an excellent book that I haven't read for quite a while and should probably pick up again. It gets me thinking about how much inspiration J.K. Rowling must have gotten from children's authors like Dahl. We tend to believe, I think, that something like Harry Potter just sort appeared one day, but Dahl's influence is fairly obvious, particularly in the beginning of the series. It reads very much like the child-empowering sort of literature that a lot of good children's authors have written, which may have been one of the things that drew kids into it in the first place. And then suddenly BOOM!, in Goblet of Fire (the book I'm nearly finished with now) it becomes abruptly serious, somehow without losing that feel.

Okay, this is what, the fourth blog in a row I've done about Harry Potter? Maybe I'll write about something else tomorrow . . .

-Matt

30 days before - Another blog about Harry Potter

Cassie and I have been talking this evening about Harry Potter (as both of us are rereading the series at this time. I'm on book 4, she's finishing book 1.) We've been talking about things like character development and so on, and remembering how back before the series was finished, there were a bunch of essays being written about it, analyzing it from a literary point of view. But now that the series is over, relatively few have appeared.

The problem with that is that NOW is the time when we SHOULD be analyzing the series from a literary point of view. The series is finished, and we've got the whole thing laid out in front of us, we know what happens to all the characters, we can see all the parallels. We have the complete story to analyze now, and yet hardly anyone seems to be doing it. Last year, I analyzed the various parallels between the books. This year I'm looking at the hero's journey. I didn't try to do any analysis before the series was finished, because I had no way of knowing where the story was really going.

Maybe it's because, back before the series was finished, people were more interested in analyzing the thing for purpose of figuring out what was going to happen next, whereas now the story's done, so there's nothing to figure out. But that might just be the cynical side of me talking. In fact, it probably is. I hope I'm wrong.

-Matt

31 days before - Singing

We went to see Tom Chapin and John McCutcheon perform. These are children's/folk songwriters, and they are very good. You know, the types of writers that make me wish my own songwriting abilities were, you know, better.

Anyway, these guys know how to perform. It's not so much performing as sharing a good time with the audience. They were up there, sometimes just kind of screwing around . . . when they messed up or forgot a lyric, they just went with it. They invited the audience to sing along. It was great fun. This is one of the many reasons why I love music; it can bring people together who don't know each other and allow them to share something.

Down to one more month before classes begin. I'd better start thinking about packing . . .

-Matt

32 days before - Another Open Letter? Really, Matt?

Dear YouTube,

I uploaded two videos to you today.

The first was for ShinyHappyVloggyPPL. It was three and a half minutes long and took roughly an hour to upload.

The second was for vlogdriver. It was only thirty seconds longer and took over two hours to upload.

How does that work, exactly?

Your friend,

-Matt

33 days before - Another evening with the Guions

1. This is a nice pen. Okay, you can't actually see the pen, but take my word for it. Or rather, my sister's word for it. It's a nice pen.

2. The power went out for an hour and a half last night for no particular reason. I didn't wake up until it came back on, but both my siblings were up when it went off at about one in the morning.

3. My sister has love for Cliff Calley, who is a Republican character on West Wing. One of the good Republicans.

4. Jeffrey has big feet and claw-like toes. Both of which are extremely dirty. He also has a strange follicle pattern on his legs. And he's loving this conversation.

5. I've finished book 2 of the Harry Potter series. No further news on the hero's journey analysis as of yet.

6. Cassie has a copy of the Deathly Hallows which includes snarky annotations from Cassie, Cassie's friend Maggie, Jeffrey, and me.

7. It's a trap, Harry.

8. Spell check on my MacBook doesn't like the word snarky. It doesn't like my sister's name, either.

9. My siblings are quoting the Firefly and Serenity blooper reels, which is just about as nerdy as you can get.

10. Emily doesn't like potatoes. She's been told that's strange. Is that strange?

Wasn't that fun, kids? What shall we do now?

-Matt

34 days before - Our story so far . . .

I'm midway through the second book of the Harry Potter series and my analysis of the story based on the hero's journey is coming along nicely. Here's what I've got.

Altogether, there are seventeen parts to the hero's journey, but they're divided into three sections. The five parts in the first section all come to pass in the first book.

1. The Call to Adventure, where the hero is first given notice that everything in his life is changing. This is (obviously enough) the sequence between the arrival of the letters to the arrival of Hagrid.

2. Refusal of the Call, where the hero resists the notice. Harry doesn't resist, exactly, but he does have serious doubts about himself, and really right up until classes begin, he doesn't believe himself good enough to be a wizard and fears the dream will come crashing down around his ears.

3. Supernatural Aid, where the guide or magical helper shows up. The helper is often an old man, so obviously that's Dumbledore, but in this story it's really Hogwarts itself . . . of which Dumbledore, of course, is headmaster.

4. Crossing of the First Threshold, where the hero first ventures into the unknown adventure. Obviously, this happens throughout the book, and Harry's trip to Diagon Alley or his arrival on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters could both be seen as threshold crossing. But since Hogwarts is the place where everything happens in this book, the first real adventure comes when Harry begins attended classes and learning how to be a wizard.

5. The Belly of the Whale, where the hero is completely immersed in his new world and severed from his last one. There's a point in the novel where Harry truly gets what Voldemort is all about, and that's when he knows he has to fight him. At this point, there is no turning back for Harry. Also, although he returns to Dursley's every summer, he now sees Hogwarts as his true home.

The second section, from my brief skimming, seems to encompass the events of books 2 through 6, so we'll see how that bit goes.

-Matt

35 days before - An (Extremely) Random Thought

What do you suppose ever happened to Dick, Jane, and Sally after the events of their books?

Also, it seems that the Dick and Jane readers provide quite possibly the most hilarious "in your pants" results.

Consider:

Jump and Run . . . in your pants.
Go, Go, Go . . . in your pants.
We Play . . . in your pants.
Something Funny . . . in your pants.
Guess Who . . . in your pants.

And of course, when you're getting back to basics:

We Look . . . in your pants.

Do you now?

-Matt

36 days before - The Hero's Journey

I've begun my annual reading of the Harry Potter series. Last year, I looked at the series in a bit of a different way. I wanted to look at the parallels between the books in the series. The series is built like a triangle, with parallels existing between books 1 and 7, books 2 and 6, and books 3 and 5, with 4 being the turning point of the series. So to analyze these more closely, I read the books in the following order: 4 first, and then 3 and 5, 2 and 6, and 1 and 7. I reviewed the series in this way on vlogdriver.

Since this is on my favorites list, I'm doing another review, and I wanted to look at the series from another direction. So I'm comparing Harry's journey to the hero's journey, as outlined by Joseph Campbell. So far, from my quick reading of the steps and what I remember of the series, it seems to match up pretty well. But I'm going to see what this year's rereading of the series turns up.

If you'd like to join me in this fun little endeavor, a summery of the steps in the hero's journey can be found here.

I know. I'm a nerd.

-Matt

37 days before - He still sucks

I saw the Harry Potter movie for the second time earlier today, and my conclusions on it haven't changed that much.

The directing was (mostly) fantastic.

The acting was the best I've ever seen in a Harry Potter film.

Up until the last half hour of the movie, I was thinking this was all pretty good (with one notable exception.)

But by the end of the movie I realized the three fundamental flaws of Steve Kloves' writing.

1) Bad characterization. The characters he writes have very little nuance or subtlety, as evidenced by Super Hermione, Sidekick Ron, "Why's it always me?" Neville, Interchangeable Fred and George, and Ladies Man Harry, though this isn't so much evidence of a lack of nuance as it is just a bad choice for the character.

2) Inability to write a series. Kloves seems to be unaware that this movie is a part of a series, ergo it would be nice if there was some connection between the story. Like, more than a passing reference to the rather traumatic events of movie five, and maybe something to set up the major climactic events of movie seven. But he doesn't write series, he writes individual movies, and tries to wrap everything up neatly at the end, which isn't the way this movie should end at all.

3) Inability to write subplots. Admittedly, he did better with subplots in this movie than in movie, when just kind of threw random bits from random subplots in with little or no connection between them. Again, for much of the movie, he was introducing subplots and weaving them together quite nicely. Then he just dropped most of them. Let me make this very clear, because people seem to misunderstand me when I criticize the movies: I DON'T CARE ABOUT CANON INACCURACIES. I really don't. Some of my favorite scenes in this movie were not canon. If things have to be cut, things have to be cut. If things have to be changed or added then, as long as they actually add something to the story (unlike a particular scene that we won't mention here), that's perfectly fine. HOWEVER, if you're going to cut a subplot, then just cut it. Don't introduce it and then drop it. That leads to a little something we call anticlimax, which is very bad.

So, while Steve Kloves did improve slightly in this movie . . . he still sucks.

-Matt

38 days before - HP the musical

Find it. Watch it. 'Nuff said. =)

-Matt

39 days before - I'm a bit creepy . . .

I spent most of today working on my video for SHVP, where the theme was to write a love song to this girl. So rather than talk about anything you might find even remotely interesting (or not) I'm just going to show that video to you. Enjoy!

-Matt

40 days before - When Irony Attacks . . .

So, the Bursar department of BGSU (the people that send out the bills) has announced that they are going green! They are no longer going to be sending out paper bills, but rather will be sending out all bills electronically in an effort to preserve the environment! This is news we've already received, by the way, by e-mail, but they decided to remind us today. How?

By sending three (count 'em, three) identical paper letters to each of the three BG students that live in this house.

Sigh . . . once again, Bursar . . . epic fail. Congratulations.

-Matt

<41 days before - Harry Potter and the HBP

It's nearly 3:30 in the morning, and I've just come home from seeing the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And as I haven't blogged yet today, I thought I'd share my thoughts and impressions now while they're fresh in my mind. Just to warn you, these thoughts might not be the most coherent in the world, and I'll probably leave a number of things out.

Let's start with things I liked. Surprisingly, there were quite a few.

(This format, by the way, was stolen from my sister.)

THINGS I LIKED

-The directing: I love David Yates' directing. He has a good feel for the story, for what needs to be emphasized, and how to call attention to things. There was also a fair amount of little symbolic things thrown in, which was nice. Also, I don’t think I saw a single instance where a scene was stuck in for the sake of showing off their way cool special effects. In fact, on the whole, the special effects were pretty simple, just what was needed to tell the story and nothing more.

-Alan Rickman and Tom Felton: These two were phenomenal. Their acting was absolutely superb in this film. You could see the anguish and the divided loyalties of both Snape and Draco. Snape, of course, continues to be morally grey professor you love to hate. And after years of being the snotty little git that you want to punch in the face, Tom Felton actually enables you to feel a little bit sorry for Draco in this film. No easy task, that.

-Young Voldemort: Incredibly creepy! Which is as it should be.

-Harry/Ginny moments: Okay, I'll admit it . . . I'm a bit of a sucker for these. There were a number of nice little moments between Harry and Ginny, and also Ron and Hermione, of course. I did enjoy the scene in the Room of Requirement, though it may not be strictly canon. (Hang on though . . . I have more to say about this in a later section.)

-Harry/Hermione moments: I am not a Harry/Hermione shipper and never have been, but I do like the moments that these two had. Considering that Harry and Hermione were both having their hearts broken at about the same time, I think moments like these might have been natural between the two. I like exploring Harry and Hermione's relationship, though I do not think they ever should have paired up.

-Harry/Ron awkward moments: Harry, Ron, and nice skin. That's all I'm gonna say.

-Dumbledore's death: The whole thing. I have never in my life sat in a theatre that crowded and had it be that silent. That alone speaks for this scene's impact. It was the shining moment in the ending scenes. (More on that later.)

Okay, now on to some things I didn't like so much

LITTLE THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE

-Invisibility Cloak?: Throughout the movie, I found myself thinking, "Gee, if only Harry had some sort of article of clothing that would render him invisible . . ." I find it strange that they went to great lengths to find ways to hide Harry when the cloak is a perfect and non-complicated way to do this. Plus, in the book he uses the cloak ALL THE TIME! One of Dumbledore's instructions is that he keep it with him at all times. In the movie, he used it, like, once. Why didn't he have it with him? Your guess is as good as mine. (Also considering the prominent role it plays in the seventh book . . .)

-Harry and a waitress?: Really? I mean, it was cute and all, but not really conducive with Harry’s character. He’s not a lady’s man, or at least he doesn’t want to be. He has two crushes and two crushes only: Cho and Ginny. That’s it. No passing fancies with waitresses. No being tempted by Romilda Vane. No “but I AM the chosen one.” This isn’t Harry. Yeah, it’s funny, but I’m looking for more than funny.

-Dumbledore surprised: “I never imagined anything like this.” “I didn’t realize until just now.” Um . . . yes, he did. He knew, or at least suspected, what Voldemort had done. The final memory just confirmed it. Dumbledore knows everything, remember? And speaking of . . .

-”The locket, the cup, the snake, something Ravenclaw’s or Gryffindor’s . . .” Remember that mantra? Dumbledore fails to explain a number of key things about Voldemort, even though he has the opportunity to: he collects trophies, he’s fascinated by Hogwarts and the Founders . . . so how exactly is Harry going to know what he needs to be going after to find these Horcruxes? True, he had little to go on in the book . . . but in the movie he pretty much has NOTHING to go on.

-Advanced Potions: Would someone explain to me how it is that Neville, Seamus, Crabbe, and Goyle all managed to get into Advanced Potions? Okay, sure, they’re familiar faces, but c’mon. It is not necessary that all the kids be together all the time.

-Harry/Ginny, revisited: The bits they had in the movie were cute. It’s the bits they left out that bothers me. There was no closure to this particular story line. One of the things that speaks to the urgency of the end (more on that later) is when Harry breaks up with Ginny to keep her out of danger. First of all, Harry and Ginny never even STARTED dating in the movie, so couldn’t break it off. Also, the break up showed just how much he cared for Ginny. By not finishing it, Ginny just seems like another passing fancy of Harry’s . . . you know, like the waitress. (And on a brief side note, there had better be some serious snogging come movie seven! I want to see them get to first base, at least!)

-The return of Sidekick Ron: He’s not quite as obvious as he has been, but he is back. Ron’s role in the movie seems to be purely comic relief . . . and Hermione’s love interest. This movie was still very much about the Harry and Hermione . . . oh, and their good buddy Ron. To be fair, Super Hermione didn’t see a similar reemergence. But Ron has some serious character development in book seven that has roots here, and we never really see it. This is especially obvious in the last scene when Hermione is the one saying, “We’re with you Harry, we’ll help you find the Horcruxes, we’re behind you all the way!” . . . and Ron just sits there. No lines or anything, he just sits. Which kind of reflects Kloves’ attitude toward Ron in general . . . he’s just kind of there.

-”Why’s it always me?”: Neville’s character was reduced to comic relief again. Now admittedly, he doesn’t do a lot in book six, but he does fight in the Battle of Hogwarts . . . oh, wait . . . So yeah . . . after his kickass moments in movie five, it was kind of a letdown to see him pushing tarts at Slughorn’s Christmas party.

-Dumbledore in the cave: They didn’t really play up Dumbledore’s anguish upon drinking the potion, which is supposed to lead naturally into the things Harry discovers in book 7.

And then, there were these . . .

BIG THINGS I LOATHED AND DESPISED

-The Attack on the Burrow: I knew this was coming, and I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about it. I thought maybe with the rewriting, there’s a place for it in the plot. But my doubts, unfortunately, were justified here. There was no place, no purpose, no earthly reason for this scene to even exist. It didn’t forward the plot, it didn’t reveal anything we didn’t already know, and most importantly . . . IT WASN’T IN THE BOOK!!! I think it’s obvious just how little effect this had on the story in the fact once its over, Ron and Ginny seem to be showing absolutely no emotion over the fact that their HOUSE WAS JUST DESTROYED!!! Seriously, in the scene immediately after the destruction of the Burrow, we see Ron playing with Lavender as if nothing happened. And it’s never mentioned again. I can’t think of any reason why they felt the need to include this scene. None at all.

-The End: Everything from the cave onward needed to be done better (with the exception of Dumbledore’s death, which I mentioned earlier.) I didn’t get the feel like this was the point that the movie had been building toward. The above attack on the Burrow helped facilitate this, because that was their major battle scene. There was no Battle of Hogwarts at all, meaning that a number of things were lost, including some kickass Neville scenes (see above), but more importantly, a feeling like a major safe zone had been breached. Dumbledore’s death did this some, but there needed to be more . . . something that gave a sense of urgency, the sense that something now needed to be done, now that Hogwarts has been breached, there is a traitor among us, and our leader is dead. These last two things in particular were not played up enough. Books six and seven, more than any other books in the series, cannot be seen as separate stories. They go together. They are practically the same book. You can’t look at them as individuals. By the end of the movie, I should have been on the edge of my seat thinking “OMG, what happens next?!?” like I was with the book. I wasn’t. I felt like just another ending to just another movie, not a natural lead-in to the next movie, which is what it should have been. There was too much closure, in this case.

Overall, Steve Kloves deeply disappointed me. I was hoping that, now that he has the whole series laid out before him, he would write a better movie that reflected the spirit of the overall story. But he still writes his screenplays for Harry Potter as individual movies, chunk, chunk, chunk, with nothing really to indicate that this is part of a larger story. And he’s still falling back on his old bad habits of putting humor in just for the sake of it, reducing the importance of certain characters, and seeing the golden trio as Harry, Hermione, and that other guy with the red hair.

Also, Steve Kloves has not yet mastered the art of multiple subplots. Rowling's writing is made up of multiple strands that interweave and come to a conclusion together. At the same time as Voldemort's rise to power and the whole backstory with Draco, we also have trust issues, Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione intrigue, Quidditch, classes . . . a number of things that were introduced in the movie . . . and then just kind of dropped. The main strand and Draco's strand were the only ones that were carried through to the end, while everything else was left by the wayside. If you're going to introduce a subplot, you have to carry it through to the end. Otherwise, we're left with kind of this empty feeling. And I don't know whether Kloves did this because he's just incompetent, or because he felt movie audiences wouldn't be able to keep track of everything, but either way, it's annoying.

The redemption for this video was most definitely its directing. The screenwriting was what kept this movie from being as good as it could have been. I think what my sister said at the end of the film pretty much sums it up: it wasn’t as bad as it could have been . . . but it wasn’t as good as it could have been either. At the moment I’m ranking this somewhere toward the top, near one and five, though I can’t say exactly where yet.

So . . . what did you think?

-Matt

42 days before - The Answer

Point 1: My sister finished reading Rick Riordan's series today, meaning she read about 1800 pages in two days. Just sayin'.

Point 2: If you'd like to see my review of the series, then mosey on over here and check it out.

Point 3: I just finished recording the vocals for my love song to Miss Withakay. If you don't know what I'm talking about then . . . well, it's probably just as well.

Point 4: Christopher Moore is a hilarious man.

Point 5: It's very late and I should be getting on to bed.

Point 6: There is . . . no . . . point 6.

Point 7: Don't you know it's not polite to point?

Point 8: Yesterday's blog post got an unprecedented 2 comments yesterday. I know, crazy, right?

Point 9: The answer is 42. That is the answer is 42 if you ask how many days I have until I go to grad school. And that's only if you had asked me at any point during the previous day. Probably by the time you read this, it won't be the answer to that question anymore. But it was still, regardless, be the answer.

Point 10: Going to bed now. 'Night.

-Matt

43 days before - My sister is a freak

My sister is working her way through Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series of which I spoke a couple days ago. The book has five and a half books altogether, and she will likely finish the series sometime tomorrow. As I started this blog, she finished reading book 3. Earlier today, she finished 1 and 2.

Remember how I talked about how I'm able to read a bunch of books at once? So is Cassie. The difference is that she's able to read a bunch of books at once because she reads freakishly fast.

On the other hand, as far as books read this year, Cassie and I are about even. I think just those books she finished today pushed her past me. I've read 45, and I think Cassie just finished 47. So figure that one out.

-Matt

44 days before - Flies

There are flies in our house. More than a few of them. It's entirely possible that flies have bred in our living room. Cassie has an obsessive and quite possibly unhealthy vendetta against them. Well, not just the flies in our living room, but all flies everywhere. She's vowed not to rest until every last one is dead.

Yeah. And like that.

-Matt

45 (except not really) days before - Books, revisited

Hey. I didn't post yesterday. That's because I became totally engrossed in the final chapters of The Last Olympian, which I finished close to two in the morning. It was incredible, by the way. If you've not picked up the series, you really should. Start with The Lightning Thief.

Kaitlyn asked how I can read so many books at once. I get this question a lot. Most sane people read one book at a time, but people like me (and my sister, for that matter) read three or four at once. Usually, I start several books and just read whichever one I'm in the mood for at any particular time, until one of them draws me in to the point where I can't put it down. (Much like The Last Olympian did last night.) And then once I've finished that one, I'll return to the others, until another one draws me in, and so on. People often ask me how I'm able to keep all the stories straight and not get them mixed up, and honestly . . . I really don't know. I just am.

Yay for books!

-Matt

46 days before - Books

Okay, so for today's blog, I'm gonna give you a run down of the books I'm reading right now.

Christopher Moore's Fool, which is a retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear from the point of view of Lear's fool, Pocket. Quite tongue-in-cheek, of course.

Clive Barker's Abarat, which I actually just finished this afternoon, so I'm moving to the sequel, Days of Magic, Nights of War. It's a story of a magical group of islands, one for each hour of the day. So on one island it's always three in the afternoon, and on one it's always six in the morning, and one it's always midnight . . . and like that. The creatures on these islands are quite imaginative. These books are reminding me of why I like fantasy.

Rick Riordan's The Last Olympian, the fifth (and I believe last) book in his Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which puts the Greek myth characters in the twenty-first century and follows Percy, a young demigod trying to save the world from the Titans.

Piers Anthony's Hope of Earth, third in the Geodyssey series, for the next favorite books review. It's about the history of mankind, told from the point of view of a family reborn throughout history.

Scott Westerfeld's Extras, fourth in his Uglies trilogy, about what happens to the world after the events of the first three books.

And . . . like that.

-Matt

47 days before - Firefly is Awesome

So, Cassie often comes home from college babbling about something that she discovered that year that we should all watch/read/experience. This summer, it was Firefly, this show created by Joss Whedon that was on Fox several years ago and has recently inspired a fervent following. Firefly is kind of a combination sci-fi/western about a band of space thieves in the twenty-sixth century. It's one of those smart shows that certain networks (like Fox) don't know how to handle. So basically, Fox ruined it while it was on, because . . . well, it's Fox. And the show was cancelled after something like half a season.

Once it came out on DVD, however, people rediscovered it, and now it's a thing. Cassie got the season DVD for her birthday, and is now introducing us to it. It's quite fun. If you've seen Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, it's the same intelligence in the dialogue. Also, Captain Hammer is the captain of the ship, so that's an adjustment.

Anyway, if you've not experienced Firefly, you should. Find the episodes and watch them. You will most likely enjoy it.

-Matt

48 days before - I Need to Write Another Letter

Okay, so I'm in the process of catching up on the story in the letter game I mentioned in yesterday's blog, because of how long it's been since we started this thing. So . . .

Leigh Stanley (my character) is going to be a high school senior at Paradise High School in Paradise, California. (By the way, yes, it does exist.) His English teacher, Ms. Donaldson, is having her class participate in a penpal project with an English class in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Enter Emily Donovan (my blood sister, Cassie's, character). Unfortunately, Leigh's class has one more student in it than Emily's class, and Emily is the lucky student who gets two penpals. So in addition to Leigh, he's also writing to Kat Gelhys (my not-blood sister, Anne's, character). The problem? Leigh and Kat hate each other.

That's the premise, anyway. Each of them kind of have their separate stories. Leigh gets dragged off to the remote town of Eden, Texas (another place that actually exists, though probably not in quite the way I describe it) and has to deal with a crazy society who thinks the written word is evil. Emily has some sort of something or other coming after her and has to be protected by a young man who will more than likely end up being her boyfriend, or something similar. And Kat is involved with something that involves magical forests and elf queens and something I don't completely understand. That's the thing: none of us really know where the other's story is going . . . just like in, you know, real life. Where there are actual book burning societies and elf queens, you know, that sort of thing.

Oh, and there's another fairly regular character in the story, also mine: Leigh's sister, Garrett (yes, it's a boy's name . . . long story) who tacks on a message on the end of one of Leigh's letters, and so Emily starts writing to her too.

Also, Leigh and Kat stop hating each other at some point in the story.

Confused yet?

-Matt

49 days before - I Need to Write a Letter

So, two of my sisters (one related by blood, the other by everything but) and I are playing the Letter Game. Actually, we've been playing it for over a year. Basically, it's a game where you create a character, and then exchange letters with another character, and tell some sort of story through those letters. Normally, it's done with just two people, but because Cassie, Anne, and I are all a little bit crazy, we decided to try a three-way letter game. It's been going on for over a year because as work mounts, some of us don't always find time to write.

But it's summer now, and I have a letter to write. So I'm going to go do that now. Also, there's a fly in here. And it's getting on my nerves. That is all.

-Matt

50 days before - S P E L L Y O U R N A M E

I usually just put these things on facebook, but I don't really have much else to blog about today.

S P E L L Y O U R N A M E !

It’s harder than you think.

In songs:

Magnum Opus, by Kansas
Accio Deathly Hallows, by Hank Green
Time, by Pink Floyd
They Might Be Giants, by They Might Be Giants
Hello City, by Barenaked Ladies
Eff This, I'm Going to Hogwarts, by Lauren Fairweather
War Is A Science, from Pippin, by Stephen Schwartz

In Disney movies:

Mulan
Alice in Wonderland
Toy Story
That Darn Cat!
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
Enchanted
WALL-E

In books:

Mary Called Magdalene, by Margaret George
An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green
Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes, by Maureen Johnson
To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Hope of Earth, by Piers Anthony
Extras, by Scott Westerfeld
When Christ and His Saints Slept, by Sharon Kay Penman

In authors:

Maureen Johnson
Audrey Niffenegger
Terry Pratchet
T.A. Barron
Harper Lee
E. Lockhart
Walter Dean Myers

In actors/actresses:

Maggie Smith
Amy Adams
Tom Hanks
Tom Felton
Hayden Panettiere
Emma Thompson
Wayne Rogers

In foods:

Meatballs
Apricot
Turnips
Tomatoes
Ham
Eggs
Water Chestnuts

In places:

Mansfield
Afghanistan
Texas
Tel Aviv
Holland
England
Wooster

N O W
Tag 10 friends.
They can’t use your answers.
The harder it’ll get for them!

I'll just tag whoever wants to do this. I'll be tagging specific people on facebook.

51ish days before - The Fourth

Hey all. Missed yesterday because I was gone for a lot of it. We went down to Lancaster to visit with my mom's side of the family and to watch the fireworks. We were pretty much right in front of where they were launching them, which is great if you've got a fear of loud noises like I do. The fireworks were great, though maybe a wee bit overkill. They were launching them from three different places (usually not at once) and their final hurrah was a little louder and lasted a little longer than I normally like.

Then we went back to the house (it was about 11 by this time) and had cake for my sister's 21st birthday, which was the day before. And then around midnight, we started our almost two hour drive home. So that was fun.

And that's why I didn't post yesterday. Because I was being patriotic and such. Happy Fourth!

-Matt

52 days before - Fandom Meme

I got this from my sister, and she chose Harry Potter, West Wing, and Star Trek. Surprisingly, she didn't have to do any stalking at all!

Fandom meme: Comment and I'll find (up to) THREE FANDOMS you apparently love. And then you answer these questions about them!

01: What got you into this fandom in the first place?
02: Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?
03: Favorite episodes/books/movies/etc.?
04: Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?
05: Do you think that more people should get into this fandom?

What got you into this fandom in the first place?

Harry Potter: My sister. Well, the whole family, really. I think I was the last one in the immediate family to actually read the books. My sister kept telling me "You've gotta read these books, you've gotta read this books!" So, I did. At that point, only the first three had been published, but by the time I got finished reading Prisoner of Azkaban, I was hooked.

West Wing: I didn't start watching this until mid-way through the second season. It was one of those shows that I had seen promoted, but didn't have much interest in seeing, mostly because it appeared to be a show about politics. But my aunt in Columbus and her family convinced us to watch an episode. ("Shibboleth," I believe.) And we realized that this was an intelligent show about politics with engaging characters and witty dialogue. Who would have thought?

Star Trek: My parents used to watch Next Generation when I was a kid, and sometimes I'd watch it with them. Some of the episodes freaked me out, but a lot of the ideas in the episodes intrigued me. By the fifth grade I was a complete Trekkie (or Trekker, depending on who you listen to) and wanted all Star Trek merchandise I could get my hands on. (Well, okay, mostly just the books, like the chronology and encyclopedia, but still.) I pretty much wanted to know everything about the fandom, even when I couldn't see all the episodes that were on for whatever reason.

Do you think you'll stay with this fandom or eventually move on?

Harry Potter: I think I'll stay with this fandom for as long as the fandom lasts. I've gotten into the habit of reading the series every year, and will most likely continue to do that. (I would love, if I ever have the opportunity, to buy the British editions of the books, just because.) Wizard rock has, thanks to my sister, become one of the main music genres I listen to, and as long as the music continues to be good, I'll keep listening to it. I've dabbled in fanfiction, but I haven't done any recently. I kind of drift in and out of that aspect of the fandom. And every so often I'll visit fansites. So I probably won't be as intensely into the fandom as I have been in the past, but I'll still be a part of the fandom. And at the very least, I still be discussing the movies and what sucks/doesn't suck about them. Also, I would love to go to an HP convention at least once.

West Wing: To be honest, I've already kind of drifted out of this fandom. I still watch the episodes . . . in fact, we're in the process of introducing my brother to the series. (We've made it to season 3.) And my sister and I continue to quote our favorite bits of the show to each other on a regular basis. But I don't write fanfiction and, now that the series is over, I don't really visit the fansites or forums. It's still a great series and I still love watching it and talking about it, but that's pretty much where it ends.

Star Trek: Up until the most recent movie, I was kind of on my way out of this fandom as well. But the new movie kind of rekindled my interest, and so now I'm watching a lot of the old episodes again. I think I may eventually drift away from the intense portion of the fandom, but I'll always be a Trekkie. Nothing will change that.

Favorite episodes/movies/books/whatever?

Harry Potter: My HP phone number is 367-1542. Basically, when pressed, I say that my favorite book is Prisoner of Azkaban, but really, Azkaban, Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows are pretty much in a three-way tie for first place. But obviously, I don't hate any of them. Movies are a little bit of a different story. I'm deeply frustrated with many aspects of the movies, mainly because in the eyes of many misguided fans, the movies ARE the books. (In other words, they believe Ron to be as big an idiot in the books as he's made out to be in the movies.) My favorite movie is still the first one, as it actually stayed true to the spirit of the book. The . . . zip code, I guess it would be, since only five are out . . . is 15234. And unlike the books, I pretty much loathe movies 3 and 4.

West Wing: Ah, geez . . . okay, here we go. Season 1: "Pilot," "Take This Sabbath Day," "Celestial Navigation," "20 Hours in LA," "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet," "Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics," "What Kind of Day Has It Been;" Season 2: "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen," Parts 1 and 2, "The Midterms," "And It's Surely To Their Credit . . ." "Portland Trip," "Shibboleth," "Galileo," "Noel," "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail," "Stackhouse Filibuster," "17 People," "Two Cathedrals;" Season 3: "Isaac and Ishmael," "Gone Quiet," "The Indians in the Lobby," "Bartlet for America," "Night Five," "Dead Irish Writers," "Stirred," "We Killed Yamamoto;" Season 4: "20 Hours in America," "Debate Camp," "Game On," "Election Night," "Process Stories," "Holy Night," "Long Goodbye," "Inauguration Day Part 1," "Inauguration Day Part 2: Over There," "California 47th," "Privateers," "Angel Maintenance," "Evidence of Things Not Seen," "Twenty-five;" Season 5: "Separation of Powers," "Shutdown," "Slow News Day," "The Supremes," "Access," "No Exit;" Season 6: "Liftoff," "A Change is Gonna Come," "In the Room," Impact Winter," "Faith-Based Initiative," "365 Days," "King Corn," "The Wake-Up Call," Freedonia," "A Good Day," "In God We Trust," "Things Fall Apart," "2162 Votes;" Season 7: "Here Today," "The Al Smith Dinner," "The Debate," "The Wedding," "Running Mates," "Duck and Cover," "The Cold," "Election Day" Parts 1 and 2, "Requiem," "The Last Hurrah," "Institutional Memory," and "Tomorrow." (Whew!)

Star Trek: Okay, I'm not even gonna try. I will say that my favorite series are Next Generation and Voyager. Some favorite Next Generation episodes include "Disaster," "Cause and Effect," "Parallels," and "All Good Things . . ." Some favorite Voyager episodes include, "Caretaker" Parts 1 and 2, "Deadlock," "Twisted," "Basics" Parts 1 and 2, "Future's End," Parts 1 and 2, " "Day of Honor," "Infinite Regress," "Timeless," "Shattered," "11:59," "Drone," and "Endgame." Favorite movies include Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek Generations, Star Trek First Contact, and Star Trek (the most recent one.)

Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?

Harry Potter: I have written some fanfiction. I've also written a few songs. I participate in discussions when they're not completely inane (eg someone explaining to me at length why Draco and Hermione should have gotten together.) I have a lot of HP discussions with my sister. I have made a few HP graphics with a collage maker on my computer. And as I said before, I listen to wizard rock, and would love to go to an HP convention some day.

West Wing: Not really anymore. Only in the sense that I watch the episodes and occasionally discuss them with my sister. I have also been known to use certain episodes for school assignments. But that's about it.

Star Trek: Occasionally. As I said, I still watch the episodes and occasionally will discuss the benefits of one series/movie over another. I've been doing that more lately with the release of the most recent Star Trek movie. But the last Star Trek book related thing that I bought was about seven years ago. I will occasionally browse the bookstore for anything new, or check out the Star Trek website . . . but that's about it.

Do you think that more people should get into this fandom?

Harry Potter: Yes, mainly because I think more people should be reading good literature. Harry Potter isn't really just a fad. The books became popular for a reason: they are good books, and people should read good books. I think there are people who would legitimately enjoy the series, but are reluctant to join because they believe--not unreasonably--that anything this popular can't possibly be any good, or at the very least that it won't live up to the hype. At the very least, more people should read the books. I recognize that the fandom isn't for everyone, but really the fandom has kind of become part of the Harry Potter experience. So while people don't necessarily have to jump into the fandom with both feet, I think more people should dabble in certain aspects, just a little.

West Wing: Again, I feel like more people should watch West Wing, because it is (for the most part) good television. Most of the episodes balance substance AND fluff very well, and I think it's wonderful that there is a TV series that is able to do that. Now whether they should be involved in the fandom or not is another story. Honestly, the fandom has kind of dwindled since the end of the series, so I think at this point, it's probably just enough to watch the episodes.

Star Trek: The trouble with the Star Trek fandom is that it's pretty widely fragmented. Star Trek is over forty years old, and so you've got fans in multiple generations, fans who grew up on Kirk and Spock and think it'll never get better than the original series, and fans that grew up on DS9 and Voyager and can't understand how people could not favor those over William Shatner's abominable acting. I do think more people should be involved in the fandom . . . but for the right reasons. The Original Series was incredibly innovative for its time, which is what attracted people to it, I think. But the recent series and movies have done a lot more with character development than the older stuff, which I think makes them better quality shows. Unfortunately, they kind of have this Star Trek stigma attached to them, so people are reluctant to watch them if they have, in fact, experienced Shatner's abominable acting. So if people are going to become involved in the fandom, I hope it's because they enjoy watching and discussing the complex character developments of Data or Seven of Nine, or discussing the implications of certain events in an episode of DS9 or Voyager, and not because those special effects are so freaking cool.

If you'd like participate, leave a comment, and I'll pick three fandoms that you appear to like. (Obviously, this won't work if you comment anonymously.) Hope you enjoyed my geeking out!

-Matt

53 days before - Back to Open Letters

Dear Technology,

Anytime you'd want to stop sucking would be just fine with me.

Love,

-Matt

***

Dear Final Cut Express,

You're a great piece of software . . . but for the love of God, LIGHTEN UP!!!

Love,

-Matt

***

Dear KeepVid.com,

See above letter to technology.

Love,

Matt

***

Dear YouTube,

Okay, seriously? You say the video must not be more than two gigs or ten minutes. Mine is neither. So, could you see your way clear to stop being bloody bitch and just upload the damn thing? Thanks.

Love,

Matt

54 days before - Not an Open Letter This Time!

At my sister's behest, I've opened an account on LiveJournal.

I know, 'cause I don't enough social networking sites, right?

Anyway, here's the deal. A lot of writers give advice, and a lot of it kind of contradicts, because they're basically telling you what worked for them, and that might not work for everyone. However, two pieces of advice are pretty much consistent. 1) Read a lot, and 2) write every day.

I read a lot. No problem there.

It's the "write every day" thing where I kind of fail.

So, I've opened a LiveJournal account and launched WRED (WRite Every Day), which is kind of a combination of B/Vlog Every Day [insert month or event here]--oh, Maureen Johnson, what have you wrought?--and NaNoWriMo. But instead of blogging, I'll be writing stuff. Maybe a portion of a larger work, maybe fanfiction, or maybe just some fun story that occurred to me. Every day. Notice it's just write every day, so there's no ending point to it yet. We'll see how this goes.

If this interests you at all . . . you can go here and check out the kind of weird stuff that goes on in my head.

That's all. Just another shameless self-promotion.

-Matt

55 days before - Two open letters

Dear Brothers Chaps,

YAY!

Your friend,

-Matt

***

Dear Ohio Construction Administrative-type People,

So, is there some rule of which I am unaware that says that the people you hire need to be completely stupid? Are your people aware of the fact that they are currently doing construction in a TOWN, with an INTERSECTION, so they should probably let a line of cars go down the one lane you've provided, before it gets BACKED UP to it? Does is make any sense to completely shut down that intersection when you're currently not doing any work ANYWHERE NEAR IT?!?!? Does it make sense to have lines backed up FIFTY CARS DEEP (no, sadly, not an exaggeration) before letting them go? Isn't that just asking for trouble? I understand that times are difficult, but would it kill you to hire people that have a MODICUM of INTELLIGENCE, and not just anyone who can use a freaking jackhammer?

I think that construction workers should be intelligent. Why don't you?

Frustratedly Yours,

-Matt

56 days before - Another open letter

Dear self,

Remember how you said you were gonna blog every day before leaving for grad school? Well, first off, you're very foolish, and second, you kinda . . . missed a day. Yeah. You might want to get on that. Cool? Cool.

Yourself,

-Matt

57 days before - An Open Letter

Dear Anti-Science Religious People/Anti-Religious Scientists,

SCIENCE AND RELIGION ARE NOT CONTRADICTORY!!! STOP WITH THE NEEDLESS BICKERING ALREADY!!!

Your friend,

-Matt

58 days before - Oddities

Every town has its oddities. Ashland, Ohio is no exception. We have two big ones.

The first is a man who, as far as I know, is like any other Ashlander, with one exception: he regularly wears a skirt. Now, this fact alone doesn't make him an oddity, but the fact that he has been doing this in a very conservative area of Ohio without being shot is.

The second is the Mountain Man, an extremely eccentric man who has taken on this persona of an old Appalachian mountain climber who preachers his own (very) odd brand of Christianity.

These are the folks that the people of the city talk about, try not to look at, and in many cases, try to avoid. Every city has them.

What I noticed, however, is that both of these men (as far as I know) still showed up for each night of the Chautauqua presentations this week. They listened and enjoyed the performers, just like the other citizens of Ashland who were present there.

Just goes to show that, despite their oddities, they still have the same interest in history and their community as everyone else.

-Matt

59 days before - Hugo Young

Just got done being Dr. Hugo Young, the historical figure I was portraying this week, for the last time. Ordinarily, local history isn't really something that interests me, and I still definitely prefer looking at national or world history. But I still love hearing stories about local happenings, and that's basically what this was. It was interesting to look at the stories of these young men who started their careers with essentially nothing, and seeing how they grew over time. Tomorrow, I'm going to be seeing a man perform as Benjamin Franklin, which I think I'll enjoy.

Have a good weekend!

-Matt

60 days before - Michael Jackson has passed away

You already know this, I'm sure. And not having ever had a real opinion of him one way or the other, I'm not going to talk about him specifically. Farrah Fawcett, one of the original Charlie's Angels, also died earlier today. It's always kind of a strange feeling when a celebrity passes away. It starts me thinking about which celebrity might die next. I know that sounds rather morbid, but consider this: eventually, most of the adult celebrities of today will have died, and I am likely to be around when they do. More and more, the names are familiar ones. It's kind of an indication of the passage of time. And I can't help but wonder how other celebrities will be remembered . . . but it's kind of interesting to be observing their lives and the things for which they will be remembered.

Random thought for the day.

-Matt

61 days before - And Water's My Grave . . .

Saw another historical character today: Julia Child. Before tonight, all I really knew about her was that she had a cooking show and a funny voice. Now, not only am I kind of hungry for a beef stew cooked in red wine, but I kind of want to watch some of her cooking shows.

She was very good. That's all I've got for today. Tootles!

-Matt

62 days before - Disney's Mommy Issues

Every year, our town invites historical performers--the kind that act as some character from history--to come for week of performances. So tonight, we got to see Walt Disney telling his story.

I learned something about Disney that I didn't know. His mother, Flora, had a great influence on his life, while his father, Elias, was often at odds with his son. And yet, Disney mentions his mother very little, and there are not many tributes in commemoration to her, while there are plenty to his brother and even some to his father.

Apparently, Disney bought a house for his parents in California. When his parents moved there, there was some kind of furnace malfunction that led to his mother's death. Disney blamed himself, because he felt he hadn't checked the house properly, and from then on he kind of shut her out of his memory. We wouldn't talk about her, even with his own family.

My sister thinks that this might be why there is a distinct lack of good maternal figures in many of his movies. If a parent is referenced, it is almost always a father. The mother is either not in the picture at all, or barely mentioned. It makes a certain amount of sense, in a way. Any thoughts?

-Matt

63 days before - My face is cold

So those of you subscribed to my YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/bandgeek8408) know that I shaved my beard off yesterday.

When I was in high school, one of the dress code rules was that you had to be clean shaven. No beards or mustaches, and they've recently started cracking down on sideburns too. Yes, recently, as in the rule is still in effect. It's a ridiculous rule for many reasons, not the least of which being that given that the point of the dress code is to limit distractions, and given some of the things people wear to school (particularly girls) and how distracting THEY are, the LAST thing they should be worrying about is facial hair. (Particularly considering that most guys of high school age can't even grow facial hair.) But that's just it: most of the dress code rules are not enforced. Why? Because if a male teacher tells a female student that her skirt is too short, the response could be, "Well, what was he doing looking in the first place?" The facial hair rule is easy to enforce because you can't get into any kind of trouble for telling a guy he needs to shave. So what ever problems Hillsdale High School is facing, at least they're keeping their guys clean shaven. Well done, Hillsdale. Well done.

Anyway, off my soapbox now. Back to the beard. It is a common trend among male graduates of Hillsdale to have beards, after four years of being forced to shave. I was no exception, and I was also one of those guys who was able to grow facial hair fairly quickly in high school. I also discovered that I look older with my beard. Without it, I still kind of look like I'm 15.

So, I've kept the beard. The only time I shave it is for shows, which I have now done four times since high school. Five if you count the production of 1776 I was in immediately after graduation. (So I had to postpone the growing of the beard for a couple weeks.) In 1776, men of influence such as the members of the Second Continental Congress didn't have beards.

After that, I was in a production of a completely crappy play with took place in the 30s and 40s, where I played a rich man of breeding who certainly would not have had a beard.

Three years later, I played Ching Ho in Thoroughly Modern Millie. Chinese men are not known for thick beards.

A few months after that, we took Thoroughly Modern Millie to our district OCTA (Ohio Community Theatre Association) competition, and I had to shave the beard off again. (A few months after that, we took same production to state OCTA, but that time I was able to get away with just trimming the beard really closely.

And now, this time. I am portraying a figure of Ashland County, Ohio history named Hugo Young. I doubt you've heard of him. But he did not have a beard, so it is gone once again.

But it will be back again in a few weeks. Oh, the sacrifices I make for the theatre . . .

-Matt