Tuesday, June 30, 2009

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

Sunday, June 28, 2009

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

Saturday, June 27, 2009

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

Friday, June 26, 2009

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

Thursday, June 25, 2009

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

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

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

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

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

Monday, June 22, 2009

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

Sunday, June 21, 2009

64 days before - When Dads get iPods

So, my father is almost certainly the most technologically behind of anyone in the family. I mean, I'm not going to go so far as to say that the REST of us are technologically saavy, but my dad (and, I would imagine, a large number of dads) has up until recently been dragged into the twenty-first century kicking and screaming.

The other day, I wrote about my mother joining YouTube, and how amusing that was. Well true as that may be, my mother has at least been on facebook for at least a year now. My dad just finally joined yesterday.

And today, for a Father's Day gift, my dad received something he said about a week ago that he wanted, to the collective shock of the entire family . . . an iPod.

Now to be fair, my brother, sister, and I only got iPods comparatively recently, and we don't have the fancy kind. Cassie and I both have a basic iPod nano with 4 gigs. Jeffrey's has 8 gigs, because he got his later and the 4 gig was no longer available. But evidently, Dad's seen the benefits of the technology and has decided to get one himself.

So now I've been helping him get his iTunes set up and all that. He's now uploading CDs. As diffident as my father is about technology, he does like his music. He was introduced to Pandora over Christmas and loves it. And now this. So, I guess that goes to show that there's always an open avenue somewhere.

Happy Father's Day.

-Matt

Saturday, June 20, 2009

65 days before - A Typical Evening in the Guion Household

Item 1: Torpor is a great word that more people should use in everyday conversation. It means apathy. And dullness.

Item 2: The word "spatula" should be Yiddish, but isn't. Also farfetched.

Item 3: My sister is threatening to throw several bottle caps at me, because I keep talking about how I need to arrange a piano piece before next Sunday. And now, because I'm reading this out loud as a write it, she's making fun of me. Mom needs Cassie's help. I don't know why. Cassie has an arsenal of bottle caps, which I'm going to go steal now.

Item 4: My sister is totally anal. Just sayin'. Okay, maybe not totally anal. Maybe just a little bit partially anal. But anal nonetheless.

Item 5: My sister is about to discover that I've taken her bottle caps. She claims that she knew I was going to take them. She just dumped them over my head.he deserved it. My sister typed that last sentence upside down and then hit my brother over the head. Twice.

Item 6: The orange bottle cap is mine.

Item 7: My brother just called us weird, which considering who my brother is, should be quite telling indeed.

Thus concludes a typical evening in the Guion household.

-Matt

Friday, June 19, 2009

66 days before - BANANAS!

We have a fun new game here in the Guion household. It's called "Bananagrams." If you ever find it, you should get it.

You're given a set of lettered tiles with which you have to make a crossword. Like in Scrabble, except you're the only one who plays on it, and you can change it. The object is to use up your tiles before the other players.

When you run out of tiles, you say "PEEL," at which point everyone has to take one more tile from the remaining pile.

You can also "DUMP" a tile . . . but you have to pick up three more.

When there are not enough tiles in the bone pile for everyone to "PEEL" and you've used all your tiles, you yell "BANANAS!" And I really do mean yell, because at that point you will have won.

Sounds fun, doesn't it?

-Matt

Thursday, June 18, 2009

67 days before - The Older Generation

As I type this, my mother is in the process of setting up an account on YouTube. Yes, that's right. My mom is now on YouTube. Watching my videos. Well, actually, right now she's watching a seven-year-old kid named Logan sing Amazing Grace with too much vibrato and a flat tone that everyone, nonetheless, seems to think is amazing. But no matter.

It's interesting watching the older generation try to figure new technology. Things that come so easily and naturally to me and my siblings (and mind you, I am by no means a technological wizard) come incredibly slowly to my parents. It's not their fault, of course. They just grew up with something different. I'm sure that when I have kids of my own, they will be able to operate new technology with unsurpassed ease, while I'll still be struggling with the thing that came out five years before. It's kind of the nature of generations. The world is always changing, and each successive generation grows up in a different environment. This is neither a good nor a bad thing . . . it's just the nature of things.

Which is why it's important for us to adapt to the world, and not try to hold tight to past traditions that have no purpose. We can't stop the world from changing, but by golly we seem bound and determined to try. This is one of the things that amuses me about hardcore conservatives: they always seem to be fighting a losing battle. Historically, liberals and conservatives alike have inevitably bowed to change.

Which is why I have a little more hope in the world than most.

Interesting . . . that went from my mother setting up her YouTube account to a commentary on politics. I'm weird like that.

-Matt

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

68 days before - Holds

Hi everyone! In today's blog, I plan to tell you why the bureaucracy of BGSU makes me want to kill small animals.

So first, a bit of background. BGSU's money from tuition and so on is handled by what they call the Bursar Department. And . . . they suck. Like, a lot. They are completely incompetent at handling money and, just in general, doing their job. The Bursar Department also has the power to place holds on your account if there is a late payment. These holds can render you unable to register for classes, see grades, buy stuff, and graduate, so it's naturally important to take care of them right away.

Here are some examples at the general incompetence of the Bursar in this particular area:

1) My sister received an email stating that a hold would be placed on her account if they did not receive a payment by the 25th of the month. When did she receive said email? The 26th.

2) A hold was placed on my account because of a late payment. I made said payment, at which point I received an email informing me that the hold would be removed within two business days. Two business days pass . . . nothing. Two weeks pass . . . nothing. I send an email basically telling the Bursar to stop sucking and remove the hold . . . nothing. Finally, I call. I ask someone to check into the matter. His response was something like . . . "Oh yeah . . . I guess we should take care of that." YA THINK?!?!?

3) A hold once stayed on my account for a year. No joke. A full year. This was not, fortunately, a hold that kept me from registering for classes, but it did keep me from using my account to purchase my textbooks. Now this was fairly late in my college career when I had already dealt with the hold described in item 2, so I thought, "Okay, let's see how long it takes them to remove the hold if I don't contact them . . . since I really shouldn't have to." I found out.

Okay, so why am I bringing this up now? Well, because I am going to the same institution for graduate school as I did for college . . . and I've already run into trouble.

So, I received an email from the secretary at the College of Musical Arts, who has been sending me information periodically regarding things I need to take care of before grad school starts. This email informed be that during GradSTEP, the week of seminars and classes I will need to attend before the semester begins, I will need to get a photo ID. Before I can get a photo ID, I'll have to be registered for at least an hour of classes. But before I can register for classes, I will need to meet with an academic advisor . . . which I will be doing during . . . GradSTEP.

. . .

I won't get into the stupidity of all that. They're solution is to have me register only for GradSTEP itself, which is technically a class, and that will qualify me for the photo ID. So I went in to do this, discovering along the way that the entire process of registering for classes has changed since I was an undergrad, but I figured it out, got to the final step, and then received a notification.

I had a hold on my account.

You can probably guess my reaction. As it turns out, though, it was (for once) not the Bursar Department's fault, but the CMA's. During my last semester of classes, they placed that hold there. Why? Because I was student teaching that semester, and their policy during the student teaching semester is that no other classes be taken, so they don't actually let you register that semester . . . and place a hold on your account to make sure that you don't. And since I graduated after student teaching, they just never bothered to remove it.

But they have now. So once I'm done typing this, I will go register for GradSTEP. So all is well.

For now.

-Matt

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

69 days before - . . .

There are obvious disadvantages to blogging or vlogging every day, one of the largest being that sometimes, you simply don't have anything interesting to talk about. (As has been illustrated in my last two blog postings.) I guess it does give some kind of weird consistency in my day, and perhaps yours as well, but still . . . Maybe I should do the same with this blog as I did for vlogdriver and just make up some sort of theme for each day. So let me ask you . . . what do you want me to write about?

-Matt

Monday, June 15, 2009

70 days before -

I started my tutoring schedule today. I've been taking music students over the past few summers now, and I always enjoy working with the band kids. Honestly, if it was a viable option, sometimes I'd almost rather do tutoring full time than lead a band. Working individually with students means I can focus more on their individual needs and help them along more. This is also partially why I like working with younger bands, like fifth and sixth grade. You have to split them into smaller groups.

In other news, I got my 100th subscriber on bandgeek8408 just a few minutes ago. So that's kind of exciting.

Also, my sister says I have to read Lamb, by Christopher Moore, which is apparently extremely blasphemous. So I'm looking forward to it.

That's all I got today. Only seventy days to go!

-Matt

71? days before - Oops

I didn't write a blog yesterday. My bad.

So here's the blog I would have written yesterday: we had Jeffrey's graduation party today. It was good. Good turnout. All went well. People liked the DVD I put together. There was a chocolate fountain. Pineapple covered in chocolate is quite tasty. You should all try it. It's weird to think that my brother is a high school graduate now.

And like that.

-Matt

Saturday, June 13, 2009

72 days before - Wrinkled Flutes

One of my brother's good friends, Kelsey, had her graduation party today. Kelsey goes to our church and has kind of adopted our family, so we all know her pretty well. (You'll find I have a lot of siblings who aren't actually related to me by blood. Kelsey is one of them.)

Anyway, Kelsey's a very sweet girl . . . and about as flighty as they come. Here's an example of said flightiness that she's never been able to live down.

One day, when Jeffrey and Kelsey were both freshman and my sister, Cassie, was a senior, my dad was taking them all home from marching band practice. Kelsey plays flute, normally, but for marching band this year she was playing cymbals. I don't know exactly what led to this particular conversation (as I wasn't actually there) but the discussion turned to instruments getting wet.

My sister said, "You don't want your flute to get wet." Because you don't. Bad things happen.

And my dad said, "Yeah, they get all wrinkled." Because my dad does that: makes offhand jokes in a very dry fashion. The family is used to this by now, and my dad never thought that anyone would take him seriously.

Kelsey's response: "Really?!?"

Yeah . . . Bear in mind she was a freshman. She's improved some since then . . . though she still doesn't believe some of the things we say, even if they are true.

-Matt

Friday, June 12, 2009

73 days before - The Neighbors

So, I live in a fairly podunk area of Ohio. (That may be redundant.) This afternoon, our next door neighbors invited us all to a neighborhood outdoor-type gathering. Now we live on a cul-de-sac with about eight houses, only one of which has someone living in it who also lived there when we moved here eleven years ago. That may not seem unusual, but you have to understand that we don't usually stay in one place for eleven years. When we first moved here, we were one of the youngest families on the street. I was in middle school at the time. Most of our neighbors were retired grandparents, and the only other family with kids was . . . well, not the "let's invite those guys to our house to play" type.

Our street has almost completely changed now, as there are several families with small children. We are no longer one of the youngest families. So for the past year, we've heard something on our street that we'd not heard in this neighborhood before: activity. Children playing outdoors and having a good time, people having cookouts, socializing . . . much like the gathering we were invited to this afternoon.

One of the other activities seen frequently on our street is a little game called Cornhole. If you've never heard of the game, then you obviously don't live in Ohio. Basically, the purpose is to throw bags full of dried corn over to a slanted board with a hole in it, and either land the bag on the board, or get it into the hole. Like horseshoes, but safer. And easier.

So part of this evening's gathering was a cornhole tournament. My two siblings and I all took part. My brother and sister were teamed together . . . and as they are both, you know, theatre people, they lost spectacularly. I was teamed with a nice young man named Joel whom I'd never met, and we managed to get second place in the tournament. How, I don't know, as I'd only played the game once before, and I'm, you know, a music person.

So, that's how I spent my evening. Our neighbors are very nice, and it's nice to have kind of a social environment in our neighborhood. On the other hand, it's kind of obvious that despite having lived here for eleven years, we're still essentially newcomers to the area, and therefore kind of stand out.

I mean, we absolutely SUCK at cornhole.

-Matt

Thursday, June 11, 2009

74 days before - Computer Stuff

So, exciting things have been happening in the world of Matt and his computer stuff!

Well, okay, maybe not that exciting, but it's what I'm going to write about today, so I thought I'd hype it up a bit.

The portable hard drive that I ordered a few days ago arrived today, so I've spent much of today setting it up for Time Machine and so on. Plus, I'm switching editing software from iMovie to Final Cut Express, which, other than not knowing how to get the sound to play during playback initially, is working quite well. I've already edited two videos on the program, and I'm slowly figuring the thing out. I'll probably expand on things that I like about it in a later blog post, but one thing I definitely like is the options available for text.

See, I've been fairly disappointed with text options on the editing software I've used since Windows Movie Maker. (Yes, I actually think Movie Maker does something better than Vegas.) Vegas' options were okay, but a little more limited, and iMovie's were just abominable. Final Cut comes with a separate program for text stuff called LiveType, which I'm still slowly figuring out, but which I'm fairly sure is one of the coolest things ever.

So, that's all, really. Hope you all are well.

-Matt

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

75 days before - Erm, yeah

Okay, starting to fall behind on this a bit. Gotta keep up . . .

I spent most of today ripping clips from various shows that my brother's been in for his hypothetical graduation commemorative slideshow thing, that may or may not exist. (That's all for Jeffrey's benefit, as he might be reading.) I also pretended to be Hugo Young for a while, made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and . . . some other stuff.

But I most definitely did not go running . . . because after yesterday's run, I hurt. A lot.

That's all I got today. Byes!

-Matt

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

76 days before - B2.0/Workout Playlist

So, I made an interesting discovery today.

A couple years ago, I put together a playlist of Brotherhood 2.0 songs . . . not songs that Hank wrote, but songs that somehow factored into their videos. The whole thing consisted of nine songs and was about half an hour long. I usually listen to it on car trips.

Today, I went running. I haven't been running for about a year. Normally, I ran without listening to music or anything, but today I decided to try running with the iPod. I put on the B2.0 playlist, and discovered that it actually works pretty well as a workout playlist.

TRACK 1: Brothers on a Hotel Bed, otherwise known as the B2.0 theme song. Nice and slow, for stretching.

TRACK 2: Thank You (For Not Being One of Them), Mr. T Experience, played during the "Put stuff on your head" project. Upbeat. Started running on this one. Song's about two minutes long.

TRACK 3: Why Does The Sun Shine?, TMBG, the slow children's song version, so I walked on this one.

TRACK 4: 500 Miles, The Proclaimers (who the Green Brothers evidently resemble), good for a slower run.

TRACK 5: White and Nerdy, Weird Al, doesn't really lend itself to running, so this is a walking one.

This is where I stopped running, but . . .

TRACK 6: Dance, Soterious Johnson, Dance, fast tempo.

TRACK 7: Tetris theme song, also fast.

TRACK 8: Theme song from something, slower.

TRACK 9: Love, Love, Love, the Mountain Goats, cool down song.

So there you go.

-Matt

Monday, June 8, 2009

77 days before -

I asked my sister what I should write this blog about. (I know ended that sentence in a preposition. Forgive me.) She told me two things. 1) Wanting an elephant for Christmas. 2) 13, the musical.

So, first . . . I would like an elephant for Christmas . . . except, you know, not really . . . because that would involve an awful lot of poop. Maybe a puppy-sized elephant. Speaking of which, Natalie and Calvin are just adorable.

And second, Cassie introduced me to a new musical by Jason Robert Brown, who also wrote the music for Parade, The Last Five Years, and Songs for a New World. It's called 13. Or possibly Thirteen. I'm honestly not sure. Anyway, it didn't run long, and it isn't touring (yet) but it's basically about . . . well, turning 13. It's the type of story you'd find in a young adult fiction novel, and the music (as you would expect from something by Jason Robert Brown) is amazing, the lyrics more so. I've only listened to half the soundtrack at this point.

Anyway, yeah . . . it was the first official day of break today, I had nothing much to do except work on my brother's hypothetical graduation present. It was muggy and rainy and very, very Monday. I was planning on running today, but . . . well, it was muggy and rainy and very, very Monday, so I didn't. Maybe tomorrow.

And that pretty much exhausts blog topics for today. I'm going to go eat ice cream and then be Hugo Young. Byes!

-Matt

Sunday, June 7, 2009

78 days before - Tony Awards, Graduation, and Henry V

Hey all. It's half past midnight, so this is going to be a quick one. It comes in three parts.

PART 1: My brother is now officially a high school graduate. The ceremony was short, due to the lack of speeches. (No one submitted one.) So anyway, yeah . . . the last of the Guion siblings has passed through Hillsdale high school. And my parents are old enough to have three high school graduates as kids.

PART 2: The Tony Awards were tonight. I wasn't terribly enthusiastic about anything this year. I'm thrilled that Angela Lansbury won her fifth Tony, I enjoyed the juxtaposition of "Tonight" and "Luck Be A Lady" at the beginning, and Liza Minelli still can't sing. Oh, and Neil Patrick Harris was an amazing host, but local news cut off the end of his song, so I'm kinda pissed about that. Oh, well . . . I'm sure I'll find it on YouTube.

PART 3: My sister berated me for not mentioning that we saw her in a production of Shakespeare's Henry V a couple nights ago . . . so I'm doing so now. She was in Henry V. We saw it. It was good. There.

I'm tired and going to bed now. G'night!

-Matt

Saturday, June 6, 2009

79 days before - Something, somewhere went terribly wrong . . .

Nothing much to say today other than I definitely know I made the right choice in switching to Mac. I've been using my old Dell computer to edit my brother's graduation slideshow thing (because despite the limitations of the computer itself, it still has Vegas Movie Studio, which is an infinitely better piece of editing software than iMovie 09) and I can pretty much only work on the thing for ten minutes at a time. After that, the computer starts slowing way down, because apparently I'm working the poor thing too hard.

Speaking of crappy editing software, I've finally ordered Final Cut Express and the external hard drive that will be necessary to run it, so that maybe I can make my videos without having several minor aneurisms during the process.

I have very little patience when it comes to computers and technology doing what I want them to. That's probably something I should work on.

That's all. Hope everyone's having a good weekend!

-Matt

Friday, June 5, 2009

80 days before - My Opinion of Angels & Demons (the movie) YES, SPOILERS!

Okay, time to organize my thoughts. Yesterday, we all went to see Angels & Demons, the movie. And like my sister, I had to take some time to figure out how I felt about it.

First of all, if we look at the movie on its own merit--that is, if we look at the movie without any sort of comparison to the book--it was excellent. It was very well done overall and, had I not read the book, I would probably have very little bad to say about it. Actually, even having read the book, I have very little bad to say about it. I thought they captured the spirit of the novel very well, which is really what I look for in a movie based on a book. I understand that when a book is made into a movie, changes have to be made. Things that work well on paper don't work as well on the big screen. Books can be as long as they need to be, whereas movies need to be around two hours in order to suit the attention span of the movie-going audience. (As it was, this move lasted two-and-a-half hours. I know . . . I had to pee the whole time.) So things have to be cut, streamlined, simplified . . . and sometimes the story can completely change. I'm usually able to look at the book and the movie as two separate entities, so as long as the essential spirit of the novel is there, I'm not bothered by the changes.

That being said, the spirit of suspense was done very well in the movie. (Suspense is something movies do very well.) And one of the major themes of the book--the battle between science and religion--was also done well.

However . . .

In looking at the changes that WERE made, I notice that they follow a somewhat disturbing pattern.

If you've been following my book reviews on YouTube, then you know that one of the things I like about the novel is that Dan Brown is able to present both sides of this contentious debate between science and religion without allying himself with either side. He presents both sides objectively and equally, in both good and bad light, and the conclusion he comes to at the end is that science and religion are, in fact, not contradictory, and that the world needs both.

The movie comes to the same conclusion in the end . . . but it doesn't present the two sides quite as objectively. I began to notice that many of the changes made have the result of erring on the side of the religious side of the debate. Consider some of these changes . . .

SPOILER ALERT!!! If you've not read the book or watched the movie, and don't wish to have the story spoiled for you, don't read past this point!

-The elimination of Max Kohler, Director of CERN, who in the book is pretty much the poster boy for the scientific side of the debate. He is in a very outspoken advocate of science over religion, and sounds quite anti-Catholic at times. It is he who finally exposes the camerlengo and dies for it. His character is completely eliminated from the movie, and it is the religious commander of the Swiss Guard who exposes the camerlengo.

-The surviving Cardinal. In the book, all four of the kidnapped Cardinals are killed, which is why there is even a question of the camerlengo becoming Pope. In the movie, however, the last Cardinal is saved by Langdon, and eventually becomes Pope, so the "Illuminati" doesn't have a completely victory in that area.

-The Assassin's character is completely different in the movie. In the novel, the Assassin thinks he's working for the Illuminati, is very anti-church, enjoys killing, and has a bizarre sex/death fetish that leads him to kidnap Vittoria with the intent of raping and killing her when the ordeal is over. In the movie, the assassin is a religious man who believes he is doing the work of God and only kills when it is necessary or when he is ordered to.

-The fact that the murdered physicist at the beginning is also a priest is barely touched upon in the movie. It's mentioned briefly at the end as an explanation for what led the camerlengo to eventually do what he did. But in the novel, the fact that he is a priest AND a physicist is learned at the very beginning AND is made into a much bigger deal. As a result, the religious implications of the collider and the creation of anti-matter are never fully explained, and the anti-matter is mostly only described as a destructive power, making the scientists of CERN look merely reckless and naive. Only brief mention is made of any benefits of this project.

-In the novel, what eventually led the camerlengo to act was the revelation that the Pope had fathered a child. It is eventually revealed that he did this through in vetro fertilization--through science--and that the camerlengo was, in fact, the child in question, which is what led the camerlengo to set himself on fire on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica. In the movie, this entire story line is dropped. (Which, incidentally, kind of eliminates both the reason for the camerlengo's initial actions and his suicide, making him just look like a crazy person, and thereby writing off any religious explanation for his actions.)

And let's not forget the endings. The movie ends with the newly elected Pope appearing to the crowd in St. Peter's Square. The book ends with sexual innuendo.

So it seems to me that the deciding factor of many (though not all) of the changes was an attempt to tame the movie for religious audiences. Because Hollywood doesn't care so much if a bunch of scientists get up in arms, but if the Catholic church gets up in arms . . . that's a problem.

I'll admit that I'm a little disturbed that we feel the need to do this, but on the other hand, I recognize that movie makers spend a lot more money on their product than book writers do, and therefore have a bigger need to make sure the product is marketable. What disturbs me is not so much that Hollywood does this . . . but that because of many narrow-minded religious groups ready to pounce on anything that seems even the least little bit blasphemous, that Hollywood NEEDS to do this . . . that we need to placate them in order to get any kind of word out.

Which, when you think about it, was kind of the point of the book.

Question: What do you think of Angels & Demons? (Either the book or the movie.)

-Matt

Thursday, June 4, 2009

81 days before - Thursday

Today's Thursday. Which means it's my day to make a video for ShinyHappyVloggyPPL. And, as sometimes happens, I have barely any time.

Today was my last IEP tutoring sessions with my fourth grade student, Megan, who suffers from muscular dystrophy. I plan to tutor her in music over the summer, because she really wants to play drums in the band next year. At the moment, her biggest obstacle in achieving this goal is the fact that the band room is located on the third floor of the middle school.

Anyway, I had that all morning. It being the last day, we didn't do much . . . colored a bit and played a game of chess that ended in stalemate. Then I met with my brother and his friend Kelsey so we could pick a song for them to sing this Sunday when they recognize the graduates. After that, I had a window of about an hour or so to eat lunch and quickly edit and upload the video I had filmed on the drive to Megan's, because in the afternoon I had a two hour rehearsal for a show/presentation I'm in in a few weeks, followed by a reading lesson, followed by the family going out to see Angels and Demons. (Full review forthcoming, but first impression is that it's basically a watered-down version of the book, though with the same amount of suspense.)

The video did get uploaded . . . somehow or other, it always does. But it's been a long day, and I'm quite glad that my schedule tomorrow is comparatively light.

So . . . how was your day?

-Matt

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

82 days before - Me and stuff

It occurs to me that this is my fourth blog post, and I haven't officially introduced myself. I mean, most of you who are actually reading already know me from YouTube and/or real life, but still . . . I suppose I should give you a brief rundown of who I am.

I'm Matt. I talk stuff. That about covers it.

Okay, for reals. I'm a substitute teacher/home tutor . . . or at least I was. I'll still be tutoring over the summer, but the substitute teacher stint is pretty much over now, unless I get called in on one of the last two days of school. And the home tutoring to which I was referring is through the substitute program at the school, so it's the school that pays me. I'll be doing private tutoring over the summer . . . so the parents pay me.

I'm trained in music education. This is also what I will be majoring in in graduate school. However, I've done very little actual music teaching in the past year. I worked with the marching band some in the fall, and I've been teaching one of my IEP students how to play drums, but that's about it. My IEP students have no other teaching other than me, so I give them a bit of everything. I actually returned their textbooks today. There were a lot of them, and most of them were pretty worthless. (The textbooks, I mean, not the students.) Most of my students over the summer will be music students, though I will also have a few reading students.

That pretty much covers my career, such as it is.

The other errand I ran today (other than returning the books) was to make a trip to the library, because I books were due. I finished reading I Am The Messenger, by Markus Zusak, which is an amazing book that you should all read. I also finished reading The Battle of the Labyrinth, by Rick Riordan, the fourth book in his Percy Jackson and Olympians series. Book five is also out, and I need to find it and read it. It's not at the library and I didn't see at our bookstore. The series is a good one, and I'll probably talk more about it once I've read the fifth book. I also checked out three more books, because I totally need more to read. (I have a habit of reading four or five books all at the same time, especially in the summer when I actually have time to read.) I checked out Bound, by Donna Jo Napoli, The Year of Secret Assignments, by Jaclyn Moriarty, and Son of a Witch, by Gregory Maguire.

Currently, I'm reading The Sorceress, which is the third book in Michael Scott's The Immortal Secrets of Nicholas Flamel series, another excellent series that is, unfortunately, only half published, and the remaining three books will come out in the subsequent summers of the next three years. Every book thus far has ended in a cliffhanger, and I very much doubt that this one will be an exception to that rule.

And . . . that's it. That's me: a teacher and a reader. I write some too. And of course, I vlog on YouTube . . . but you probably already knew that.

Talk atcha later!

-Matt

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

83 days before - Computers, Technology, and the Internets (oh, my)

So, I learned something new about computers yesterday. Maybe you all already knew this and I'm just technologically retarded--it wouldn't be the first time--but apparently, you don't want to leave laptops, cell phones, and other things that have a chargeable battery plugged in when the battery is fully charged. This will, according to the guy at Best Buy that sold my brother his computer, drain the battery more quickly. To prolong the life of the battery, you should only have the thing plugged in if it's actually charging. I don't know how true this is . . . but if it is true, it's another example of what a pain in the ass technology can be.

Technology and I don't get along very well. Things have eased somewhat since I switched to using a Mac computer, but still we have a pretty turbulent relationship. I think my main frustration is that because technology is incapable of actually thinking, it doesn't always see the easiest solution to a problem. (The whole planned obsolescence thing bugs me too.)

Like last night, for example. YouTube was, as it is wont to do, preparing to go into Maintenance Mode starting at 10:00, making it impossible to do . . . well, pretty much anything on the site, but in this instance, I needed to upload a vlogdriver video . . . which I hadn't had a chance to edit yet. So edited the thing in a hurry and started the processing and uploading at about 9:55, not thinking it would be able to upload the video in time and that I would have to wait until the next morning. But about fifteen minutes later, iMovie--which uploads videos directly to YouTube--told me that the video had uploaded. Of course, I couldn't verify this, because maintenance was still going on . . . but why would iMovie tell me that the video had uploaded if it hadn't?

So this morning, I checked, and guess what? It hadn't. My video was no where to be seen, and yet iMovie was still insisting that it was published to YouTube. Well done, guys. Well done.

The thing with iMovie 09 is that they've basically dumbed everything down. So if you're just learning how to edit for the first time, it's . . . well, I won't say great, because I think even then it sucks pretty hardcore . . . but it's easy to use. However, I've been editing videos for a year now. I started on Windows Movie Maker (which also sucks, but not quite as much as iMovie, I'm discovering) and then progressed to Vegas Movie Studio (which barely sucks at all.) So basically, iMovie is a step down for me . . . or more accurately, a jump off a cliff. I'm looking to get Final Cut Express, which from what I can tell is like Vegas, but Mac compatible.

Speaking of which . . . I've got a vlogdriver episode to edit.

Today's Question: How does technology suck out loud for you?

-Matt

Monday, June 1, 2009

84 days before - End of the Year

You may think, given that I am counting down the days until I begin graduate school next year, that the current school year is over. It is not, at least not for me. My brother, Jeffrey, is done with classes and graduates from high school this coming Saturday. As such, we attended the Senior Breakfast/Award Ceremony (very) early this morning. It's exactly the sort of thing you want to attend at seven in the morning, because it's basically the presentation of about forty or fifty scholarships presented by people with speaking abilities ranging anywhere from fair to abominable. And because I live in rural Ohio, about half the scholarships are agricultural. We even have a Coon Hunter's Club Scholarship. I love my area . . .

I have two IEP (Individualized Education Program - basically students with special needs who require outside tutoring) students, one of whom I finished with this past week, and the other I will be finishing with this week. So I've been working now to make sure things will be ready for them next year when I'm gone. I attended a meeting this afternoon to start to plan things for the student who is beginning fifth grade next year, and I'm hoping to get the other student set up for high school.

Unfortunately, while I have support from the parents of the students and the school, the members of this community seem to care very little for these students. If you follow my vlogs, you know this already, but the school system that these two students attend is horrible for students with any kind of physical disability. The elementary and middle school are both three story buildings built in the twenties with absolutely no handicap accessibility. The middle school is especially bad. We've been trying to get a bond issue passed to get new buildings, but it has received little support from the community, most of whom clearly did not benefit from any kind of education. They figure that since the schools were good enough for them, they should be good enough for these kids.

Grrr. So, how are you wrapping up the year?

-Matt