Kseniya Simonova’s Amazing Sand Drawing

My sister sent this link to me and it’s remarkable. I remember a few years ago there was a commercial with this woman’s artwork on it. I have no idea what the ad was for, but I still remember the hypnotic beauty of it.

What do you think?

Abolish 12th Grade

Republican State Senator Chris Buttars has proposed removing 12^th grade from Utah high schools because “sometimes the 12^th grade is spent fooling around,” and it would save the state $102 million.

I think this is an excellent idea. It shows depth of intellect and imagination as well as a clear, cogent worldview. Ideas like this are what make a nation great. Well, that and camouflage Snuggies for the troops.

While they’re at it there in Utah, they should consider abolishing the internet, if they’re really concerned about goofing off and saving money. Utah would be even more fabulous without that stupid YouTube and online shopping for caffeinated beverages.

They should also prohibit alcohol sales and consumption. That’s an idea whose time has come.

My son thinks it only makes sense for Utah to get rid of all paper. There are waaay too many dangerous paper cuts happening to the gentle folk in Utah. Heck … across these entire United States! Where are MY state senators? Why don’t they care about me and my fingers??

Maybe Utah should be abolished. After all, I’ve heard people often travel there to see canyons and spires and other natural geologic places for extreme goofing off. Think how much quicker and cheaper it would be for Coloradans to get to Nevada. Plus, it would save Utah gobs of money without having to transport or house or feed all those tourists.

My son also asked, “What about Friday and Saturday nights, Mom? They are horrifically dangerous and unproductive and should be eliminated.”

He’s absolutely right. The list goes on and on … Sunday football, movies, slumber parties, bowling, bubble baths, after-school sports. (Have you SEEN those people? They just sit there in the stands, occasionally waking from their stupor to yell inanities like “Good job!” or “Look out for the lineb—ohhhh!”)

Just think … if we skipped straight from Thursday to Monday every week and eliminated the time kids goof off, we could have them grown up and ready to become Senators before the Metamucil hits Grandpa.

I mean, if it’s gonna hit the fan anyway.

What else should be abolished?

Catcher in the Rye Video Game?

I read this column by Mike Littwin after JD Salinger’s death.

He poses the question, “Would today’s teenagers still get Holden Caulfield?”

It made me wonder about my friends and their relationship, if any, with Holden Caulfield.

Personally, I don’t have a relationship with Holden. For some inexplicable reason, like I didn’t want to, I never read it. Maybe I just preferred my own particular brand of angst to his.

So here are three questions for you …

1. Did you read The Catcher in the Rye?

2. Did you relate to Holden’s angst?

3. Would you play a Catcher in the Rye video game where you and Holden together fight ennui and phoniness with wicked awesome swords and swashbuckling heroics?

Notre Dame Marching Band

I know this was already posted, but thanks to Her Awesomeness, MJ, I have better video of the Notre Dame marching band doing OK Go’s treadmill music and have edited the original post. Whether you’re a band geek or not, you will enjoy this!

Also, note that the OK Go video is one continuous shot. Impressive, eh?

Are MJ and I the only ones who love this??

Passive Yet Aggressive

How much do I love passive aggressive notes?

I’ll tell you … I love them so much I’ve added them to my blogroll. Here are some of my favorites …. Enjoy!

Favorite? Got any of your own?

Excellent Writing Advice

Five minutes of excellent writing advice, regardless of your genre.

Agree with it? Disagree? Any advice to add?

Full Body Scanners At Airports

I’m sicksicksick of newscasters testing the security machines at airports big and small. Walk through, raise arms, stand still, fuzzy image. Yeah, we get it. Of course they always add to the “drama” by strapping some weird arsenal all over themselves and pointing out their hidden weaponry. I haven’t seen one yet who hid explosives in his undies and showed us THAT on the machine.

Personally, I’ve had three kids so I’m woefully lacking in modesty. Scanners, pat-downs, wanding, invasive body cavity search — none of it bothers me.

Maybe we should turn it into a lemonade moment, though. Maybe we should be a little bit proud that anybody — even if it is a machine — wants to see what’s under our clothes. My guess is that’s not the case for most of us.

And if the scanners make it so we don’t have to take off coat, belt and shoes, empty our pockets and measure out our hair gel, well, then I’ll give ‘em a hearty hip hip hooray.

Do you have qualms about full body scanners? What kind of security devices would you like to see at airports?

The Audacity To Win

I love to be backstage. I love all behind-the-scenes drama. I loved the movie “Every Little Step” which was a documentary about the 2008 Broadway revival of “A Chorus Line.”

And I loved “Man on Wire” the documentary about Philippe Petit who walked a wire illegally strung between the Twin Towers when they were being built.

And I loved THE AUDACITY TO WIN by David Plouffe.

It’s the story of the Obama campaign from the exploration of the feasibility of running all the way up to 11:00 pm on November 4, 2008 when Barack Obama was declared the forty-fourth president of the United States.

I’m not a political junkie but when I watched David Plouffe on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart I thought he was so well-spoken and earnest that I just had to read his book. (Keep that in mind, all you writers!) Plus, how many times does a campaign manager for a major campaign (or even a minor one) not go on to have a seat at the West Wing table? I had to know more. And see how earnest he looks?

I think you’ll find it a great read, regardless of your political affiliation. It laid out the nuts-and-bolts of an almost perfect campaign. It seemed to be a very honest portrayal of the daily activities and headaches of a presidential campaign. All very fascinating.

He talks about mistakes he, his staff, and Obama made as well as parsing the mistakes he thought the other campaigns made. I remember many of the events he discussed and it was fascinating to see how/why the press got it wrong. I remember that I was one of those completely not understanding some of the decisions the Obama campaign made and feeling anxious about it. Now I understand better why they did what they did and how the media often misses the big picture and/or feeds on each other’s stories and/or just plain gets their facts wrong.

Now, I’m looking forward to reading GAME CHANGE by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. It sounds similar, but the authors are journalists, not campaign insiders. But we’ll see. Do you know of any others I might be interested in?

Here’s the Jon Stewart interview with David Plouffe.

Now go read the book!

Does a book like this interest you? Do you like behind-the-scenes stuff?

OK Go Notre Dame

The alternative band OK Go heard about the Notre Dame marching band performing their fun and intricate treadmill video — unfortunately sans hundreds of treadmills — on the football field during halftime one season, so they asked them to be in their next video. Note it’s one continuous shot. Impressive, eh?

Here’s excellent video of Notre Dame’s halftime show doing the treadmill song which got OK Go’s attention. I’m such a band geek I cried when they made the two guys walk on the treadmills. You GOTTA see this!

For some reason, YouTube isn’t letting me post this directly, so here’s the link …. http://www.youtube.com/user/notredameband#p/u

It’s less than two minutes and it will make you SMILE! I guaran-dang-tee it!

And just for fun, here’s OK Go and their treadmill video via the Wayback Machine …

Still a hoot after all these years.

Movie Reviews I Wish I Wrote

The two blurbs below are copied in their entirety from the fabulously entertaining Southern Review of Books, edited by Noel Griese. If you’re not a subscriber you absolutely should be.

Mr. Griese is the author of 17 books and numerous articles on various subjects, he’s been a newspaper reporter and editor and has taught English and journalism at the Universities of Wisconsin and Georgia. Elected to both Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi, he holds three degrees in English and journalism.

To add your e-mail name to the subscriber list, send an e-mail to custserv@anvilpub.com

5. Books to Movies Department

“New Moon,” the second movie based on Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series about teenage vampires, has been panned by critics, but like the book on which the movie is based, is a big hit at the box office. Early numbers put the film’s opening night gross at more than $72 million, which translates to just under $20,000 for every theater that was showing the movie. Despite early reviews that said the film was drawn out and slow paced, advance tickets were bought up as quickly as they became available. But even the critics that were willing to give the movie a chance were disappointed by it. Rotten Tomatoes gave it 4.9 out of 10 and one review summed up the entire film in just a couple of sentences: “If you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest you don’t, and continue to mock the twihard fans… The movie is about Bella being depressed, and two monsters saying how bad they want her but can’t have her. The film drags on, and on… basically no action. If you’ve seen the previews, and behind the scenes, you’ve already seen the best parts!”

6. Glenn Beck’s book to movie bombs in Big Apple – and Boston and DC

Glenn Beck’s new movie The Christmas Sweater – A Return To Redemption, released for a viewing on Dec. 3 in hundreds (167, actually) of theaters across the country, met with less than spectacular ticket sales, according to an article by Sahil Kapur in the “Raw Story” blog.

While it performed better in the south and in rural, more conservative areas, his ability to draw viewers in major U.S. markets was a failure.

The inspiration for the film is Beck’s 2008 memoir, from which he reads in the film, when he talks about how the book has inspired some formerly troubled souls who say it touched and changed their lives forever.

The movie runs two hours and 15 minutes.

In New York, Beck sold 17 tickets. In Boston, another 17. And in Washington, D.C., his tearful film drew only 30 admissions.

Beck, who reportedly pulls in around $18 million a year from live events and his TV, radio, and book deals, is charging attendees $20 a ticket. One wonders if, at that price, the “little guy,” who Beck often claims to stand up for, can afford tickets.

The movie fared better in rural, conservative areas. Rockwall, Texas, had 94 ticket-buyers out of 193 seats. In the suburban West Jordan, Utah, 170 tickets were sold.

In the film, the Fox News host shares his childhood memories, along with his philosophies on life, love and happiness. Some highlights:

-        In the guise of a 12-year-old version of himself, Beck cries on the stage floor in the fetal position while a large black woman sings hymns to him.

-        The bulk of the evening consists of Beck acting out every role in his book, with a limited repertoire of accents and pantomime filling out the ‘cast’.

-        Near the end, Beck talks to the wrong camera for a solid minute.

-        Spittle, sweat, and tears ooze out of him constantly

Did you know Glenn Beck had a movie? Or a book? Or cried a lot?