Greetings!

Greetings to you, fellow frequenters of our lovely Boylan Blog! Hopefully this spell of higher temperatures has not made you ill. But regardless of whether you perspire from fever or a lack of air conditioning, hopefully your sweaty fingers find themselves greasily slipping to the keys on your keyboard which can bring you to our realm of random discussion. From randy same sex activities among the non human animal world to Shelley's depressing world of decrepit monuments of human thought, enjoy! Also, in an attempt to spice up your Monday, is the above picture of the Caribbean Yeti Crab not wonderful for its fabulous feathery natural arm warmers?!

-Ashley Cohen

Image Source: zaxy.wordpress.com

News Briefs

Do you eat 3 to 4 servings of vegetables per day?

If your answer is yes, then congratulations; you aren't adding to the
depressingly high number of adults in America who cannot figure out how to
eat healthily. According to an article published by the New York Times on
the 24th of September, 74% of adults avoid eating their recommended
serving of fruits and vegetables. Worst for all concerned, the number of
nutritionally deficient adults has barely changed since 2000, despite all
the campaign efforts by public health officials and non-profit
organizations. Also, lets not forget the local and federal laws enacted
to limit exposure to unhealthy foods for children and adults alike
(anybody miss those trans fats once common in New York City restaurants?).
The agricultural industry has even launched a series of advertisement
campaigns to sell their healthy products to junk-food consumers. It
appears Americans prefer to reach into a delicious bag of heart disease,
diabetes, and obesity than suffer the bland and sometimes bitter taste of
earth's natural bounty.

But at what cost? Thanks to writers like Michael Pollan, author of the
book, The Omnivores Dilemma, the ubiquity and danger of corn in food is
becoming common knowledge. However, the average American does not appear
unnerved. Are the days of freedom coming to an end for those of the decadent persuasion? Cigarettes are no longer cheap, nor a universal
habit. Perhaps the cost of a bag of chips will soon reflect its
detrimental effects. I remember those lunchables days, where I would gorge
myself on do-it-yourself pizzas. If Americans can't consciously effect
their eating habits, perhaps the children of future America will be
opening boxes of lunchables salads.

-Oliver Lamb

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Jon Stewart Bringing Sanity Back

The Rally to Restore Sanity, led by comedian Jon Stewart, is set to go off October 30th in Washington DC. The rally is for all those Americans who are sick and tired of watching extremist and hyper-partisans turn politics into a freak drama show. You’ve seen the ones; drenched in blood, throwing objects at politicians, yelling obscene remarks, carrying signs of conspiracies, and so on. Although Stewart is part of the “mock political news,” he is very much drawing attention to a serious topic that most people know. There is a large number of Americans who watch the news and feel conflicted seeing the extreme ideas of different political parties just being at war all the time. Our government and leaders needs to be there to work out problems, not create a battlefield because of difference of opinions.

Stephen Colbert will also be in Washington DC October 30th promoting his “March to Keep Fear Alive,” in response to Stewart's rally. This means a lot of Comedy Central fans on the Washington Mall, including some of my friends. However, with one million views, and more than a hundred thousand people set to attend, Stewart's announcement seems to have peoples’ attention. If you are interested in more info about the rally, or the march, just head over to rallytorestoresanity.com, and watch Stewart's announcement on the daily show website.

-Celia Vargas


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Christine O’Donnell versus the Wiccans

If several of us didn’t necessarily vote in last week’s primary we have been filled in on the results nonetheless. Every other story is about Tea Party candidates picking up steam and Democrats possibly losing seats. One of the biggest stories to come out of the election was Christine O’Donnell’s unexpected win. The stories that ensued afterwards; however, had less to do about politics and more about witchcraft, sexuality and other nonsensical tidbits that have no relevance to actual policy. They are mainly distractions thrown at the public by the opposition but hopefully people can wade through them. One group that is currently upset with O’Donnell is the Wiccan community who is insulted by her denunciation of witchcraft. After reports came out that O’Donnell practiced witchcraft she shot down the claims by clearing up an interview she gave many years ago where she said that her high school boyfriend was in a cult. One Wiccan is quite angry at her dismissal of witchcraft saying, "Anyone who equates witchcraft with Satanism is ill informed and is not likely to get the support of people involved in nature religion." This story isn’t necessarily dying down anytime soon so we have much to look forward to once the general election comes. As for now, O’Donnell says that she isn’t upset with losing the Wiccan vote but its whether or not she can keep onto any votes that time will tell.

-Seth Nadler

Culture Corner

HOMOSEXUALITY IN ANIMALS

Animals have been referenced many times in arguments to justify arguments on the cycle of life, what is natural or how the animal kingdom is supposed to function (i.e. survival of the fittest). I, in my time of ignorance and lack of education, was one to say that homosexuality was not natural only because it did not exist within animals…and after my visit to the Museum of Sex not so long ago, I put that theory to rest. R.I.P, “homosexuality in animals does not exist.” Actually, there hasn’t been a species yet where homosexual behavior has not been observed, other than animals that reproduce asexually. Same sex activity has been recorded for the following animals: frogs, turtles, cats, cheetahs, bears, rats, buffalos, elephants, beetles, spiders, moths, flies and even butterflies.

The animal exhibition at the Museum of Sex featured a video about the Bonobos --primates from the chimpanzee family that practice same sex activity and lots of it! Female Bonobos have their organs on the outside and practice genital to genital stimulation by rubbing (g-g rubbing) with other females and in some cases even get to climax. Also FYI, off the gay topic for a second, some Bonobos were even recorded practicing prostitution. One female was caught having sex in exchange for sugar canes; she simply snatched the cane after she was finished and limped away.

However, the part of the exhibition that caught my eyes was the observation of a woman (I cannot recall her name or position, she was probably a scientist or so) of something very surprising. A male duck was trying to rape another male duck, and out of shock or lack of defense skills the victim duck died. In the second picture though (above this article), we see that the aggressor duck still rapes (if you can call it that if the victim is dead) the dead duck.

In defense of the opinion that animals can not actually be gay, is NARTH, The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality whose slogan is:

“NARTH upholds the rights of individuals with unwanted homosexual attraction to receive effective psychological care, and the right to professionals who offer that care.”

NARTH claims animals engaging in these gay activities is a result of clashing stimuli and confused animal instincts, as they easily confuse sensations and objects. The article on their website states that besides confusion and clashing stimuli, since animals lack the ability to express certain states of being (fear, pleasure, pain, desire), they “borrow” the “instinct of reproduction” (sex) in order to represent those states that they cannot display themselves (even with the same sex). (www.narth.com) NARTH even uses to their arguments’ defense, a quote by scientist Simon LeVay stating that “Although homosexual behavior is very common in the animal world, it seems to be very uncommon that individual animals have a long-lasting predisposition to engage in such behavior to the exclusion of heterosexual activities.” Contrary to that statement though, Harry and Pepper two Magellanic Penguins from the San Francisco Zoo sustained a six year relationship and raised a baby together- although Harry later strayed with the next door penguin Linda. To read the full gossip on this love affair use this link: http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-07-14/bay-area/17218309_1_penguins-san-francisco-zoo-magellanic.

Sources:
http://www.narth.com/docs/animalmyth.html
http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-07-14/bay-area/17218309_1_penguins-san-francisco-zoo-magellanic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_displaying_homosexual_behavior

Image- courtesy of my own camera: Kim Kim Lee, and The Museum of Sex

-Mariel Suarez

Poem of the Week

Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), though part of the English Romantic movement, didn’t exactly conform to the ideals of his contemporaries. Whereas poets like Wordsworth venerated the child as a pure being, untainted by civilization and closer to God, Shelley was busy eloping with sixteen year-old girls and simultaneously siring bastard children in an entirely impure lifestyle. However, Shelley’s brilliance has, nonetheless, earned him a spot in many an anthology alongside his contemporaries.
While recently reading short prose works by Borges, one of the issues that constantly appeared in my interpretations was the division between the personal and the private self, and the anxieties we have as subjective, introspective creatures about defining who we are and expressing that to others. The search for something entirely our own, and to express it externally in art, is the only way possible for us to exercise control over the self that the public chooses to remember and leave in history.
I then recalled Shelley’s poem, Ozymandias, which delineates this idea beautifully. In the poem, a traveler tells the narrator about a strange sculpture in a vast, desolate area. The barren sand appears to be infinite and homogeneous—a sort of alienated plane of existence on which it seems nothing beautiful or meaningful is capable of being nourished. However, in the center is stone sculpture, an artistic oasis that breaks the monotonous barrenness. Time has ripped the head from the body, and the torso has been entirely removed.
Though the legs of the figure look odd without the rest of the trunk of the body, the head still remains salient. The facial expression, the aesthetic representation of the mind of the artist, is a sort of mold of the self. It is as if the artist has somehow pushed his private self into a pliable medium and forced its impression upon it to display to mankind. The artist connected with and united humanity through his art, which makes him the “king of kings.” (10) Through suffering in brutal, self imposed isolation, he has discovered some truth, and from that truth erected a monument of self discovery for others on that journey to see. However, it is not the triumph of creation that sets the tone of this poem. Ozymandias is in despair despite his ability to create. Just as parallel lines cannot intersect, this plane of isolation is only his, and he will be unable to bridge other such planes of individual existence with his discovery.

-Ashley Cohen




Image Source: http://www.answersincreation.org/curriculum/geology/images/Sahara_desert.jpg

Currently Reading

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

Before the first moon landing, before smartphones, color television, genetic testing, computer language, audiocassettes, and halogen lamps were even a thought, I, Robot was born. No—not the 2004 action-adventure film—the book.

In 1950, Isaac Asimov foresaw a world where space missions were as common as oil drills and a robot was just another household appliance. To illustrate this vision, he composed nine short stories set over a hundred years into the future. Collectively called I, Robot, they are framed and linked together by a first-person narrator, a reporter who interviews Dr. Susan Calvin, chief robopsychologist at U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men.

One integral feature of this collection is Asimov’s famous “Three Laws of Robotics”:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Robots, created in man’s image, are programmed to follow orders. However, as flawed beings, man will be physically, intellectually, and psychologically challenged to create the perfect robot. Thus, Asimov tests the reader with themes of morality, ethics, human-robot relationships, responsibility, and what it means to be “living.”

After reading I, Robot, I realize: With each passing year, we come closer and closer to making Asimov’s vision a reality. We “advance” technology for the sake of convenience; however, we must ponder the potentially harmful consequences Asimov highlights.

- Sun Mei Liu

Asimov, Isaac. I, Robot. New York: Bantam Books, 1991.
Image Source: http://www.bookstellyouwhy.com/pictures/11918.jpg

Currently Listening

"Hocus Pocus" by Focus

I was hoping to find something obscure, new, and ready to explode off the charts, but the soundtrack of a recent Nike commercial has forced me to bask in my usual nostalgia for the period when rock music peaked: the very early 1970s. So I bring you, dear reader, Focus, featuring their hit single “Hocus Pocus.”

One of the only bands born out of the Netherlands to be acclaimed rock by progressive rock enthusiasts, Focus began their preeminent career in 1969, founded by front-man Thijs van Leer. His talents include virtuosic singing, piano playing and, believe it or not, flute playing. In fact, the band bears quite a few resemblances to the orchestral, rock music of Jethro Tull, where Ian Anderson also highlights the flute quite prominently.

Van Leer's signature vocals in “Hocus Pocus” will both bust your gut with laughter and leave you in complete awe: his high-pitched whistling and yodeling are beyond imitation. Van Leer looks and sounds like a folksy mountain man of the Netherlands, but his instrumental context screams of hard rock.

I caution the listener not to engage the music in tight spaces: severe cranial damage has been known to occur due to the compulsive head-banging the music is guaranteed to incite. Just take a look at the way “Hocus Pocus” has been featured in the Nike sponsored representation of the World Cup:


And here is a live version of the song:


Always reminding the world of the hearty roots of rock,
Oliver Lamb

Currently Watching - Outsourced

Outsourced

The end of September is here and most of our favorite series are returning for another season. Some of my favorites “Big Bang Theory” and "Glee" have gotten off to expectedly hysterical and thrilling starts. Along with the usual crowd, bunches of hopeful new series are also springing up and one of them catching my attention is NBC’S new comedy “Outsourced.” This show is quite similar to NBC’s two other hits “The Office" and “Parks and Recreation” in that it focuses on workplace humor. What sets this series apart is its far away location in Mumbai, India where an American novelties call center has been outsourced. Much of the humor is based on the cultural divide that the Indian workers and the American boss must face. “Outsourced” has a largely Indian cast but there are some critics who are claiming that the show is somewhat offensive in its stereotypical portrayal of Indians. From watching the pilot alone there are dozens of jokes about Indians on every issue ranging from food, clothes, religion, and names. I would argue that the show is balanced in that the portrayal of Americans is just as offensive. At the Indian call center Americans are calling in to order novelties such as fake vomit and singing moose heads from one of those cheesy gift catalogues we have all seen. The Americans are portrayed as dim-witted rednecks. While I understand how some groups might be offended by the portrayals, in the scheme of things each group is just as silly as the other which is probably the point. While cultures might seem worlds apart we are not as different after all. Politically incorrect humor is quite prevalent these days so the audience won’t find anything outstandingly shocking or risqué. Check it for yourselves Thursdays on NBC.

-Seth Nadler

Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e7DndFck-k
Image Source: http://sharetv.org/images/outsourced-show.jpg

At this Moment

As of late, the public library systems of Manhattan and Brooklyn have been struggling to maintain their funding. With the internet being such a convenient tool, and a book rental requiring at least two visits to the library, The Boylan Blog asked Brooklyn College students:

"How would you rate the Brooklyn College Library? Does it accommodate your needs? Are you comfortable using it?"

Darrell: I think the library could use better hours and on the weekend too.

Caitlin: The library never seems to have the book I need for class but that is something the teacher should check first.

Carly: 6/10.

Andrea: could be better

Joe: Other than the cold treatment that students receive from the doorman, the library is a wonderful feature of our campus. I hope to see it continually expand.

Ashley: we have a librbabry?

Greetings!

The omnipotent cosmic forces of the universe have once again yanked the earth along its orbit, and the human species, in its never ending attempt to sway the chaotic and nebulous fourth dimension, has declared the effect Monday: So here we are, at the second day of our week. Salutations reader!

Have we got quite the set of news reporting and cultural tidbits for you: From the power games have over the brain to the morbid realities of a sack full of rats (known by its less juvenile but original title mice in a bag).

Hopefully the postings of this week will expand your awareness of the world around you... Or at least distract you from the harsh realities of the hard work you're compelled to do this semester. Shy away from those dreadful looming projects, and enter the Boylan Blog!

Image Source:
http://www.nialler9.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/cosmic-disco.jpg

-Oliver Lamb

News Briefs

Game For Your Brain

Gamers, rejoice! A new study published in Current Biology found that gamers make faster decisions than their non-gaming counterparts. While brain training games aren’t exactly new, some studies have found that they only boost performance on tasks similar to the brain training exercises. According to Current Biology, however, standard action games have been found to improve a number of different skills ranging from visual tracking to decision making.

Researchers found that the improved performance of these tasks were rooted to probabilistic inference, where decisions must be made based on incomplete information. Participants in the study were asked to track seemingly random arrays of dots on a screen, as well as subtle tonal differences in sound. Both gamers and non-gamers performed just as accurately, but gamers responded noticeably quicker.

Authors of the study attributed this improved performance to the novel nature of action games. Because scenarios in these games are rarely repeated, the brain is believed to become better at processing new information and making accurate inferences.

As if gaming wasn’t tempting enough.

-James Rodriguez

Source: http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/09/gamers-make-faster-decisions-than-nongamers-are-just-as-accurate.ars

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Tall Tales

In a world where you can be judged as too skinny, too fat, too slow, and too ugly, you can now be too tall. We often associate height with people we “look up” to and heads of the household- traditionally men in less modern times. In the United Kingdom, height is and was, like coughs, sore throats, rashes, and fevers, a “symptom” to be treated. Yet, like most other deformities and abnormalities that society has deemed “weird,” it seems that everyone, except the actual person being judged, treats being taller or shorter than average like a controllable disease.

Tom Wyllie, standing a proud 5 ft. 2 in., is aspiring to be what society would forbid him from being, one of the most beauty-centric of vocations- an actor. According to Alcock, “One classic reason for families wanting their girls to reach a shorter adult height has been that parents were worried their daughter might never marry.” If we shall, for a moment, fathom a world where Tom would need “treatment” in hopes of becoming an actor or we would need to stunt a girl’s growth before she could marry, we would suddenly feel the need to treat those who don’t need medical treatment or regard everyone as weird until there is no norm.

Imagine being told that your relationships and career would be controlled by the mere factor of your height rather than intelligence, kindness, or sense of humor. Oh, the extreme heights we would go to…

George Aiken said it well: “If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed, and color, we would find some other causes for prejudice by noon.”

- Sunny Liu

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11261760

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Pope Part II

So we meet again, Benedict. Continuing my dogged pursuit of the pontiff from last semester, I have chosen to report on the newest batch of comments made by the pope concerning child abuse in the church, but to do this, I must first address the provenance of the comments: The pope’s trip to England.

Queen Elizabeth extended the invitation, rather than the church of England. The trip marked the first time since 1982 that any pope has visited the country, and the trip illustrated why the U.K. is not a top priority on the church’s itinerary.

Benedict’s visits drew crowds that were much smaller than anticipated. Additionally, the pope remarked about the region’s “great history of anti-Catholicism.” Pettiness aside, the pope did offer some reassuring words about the church’s fight against child abuse. He has been increasingly outspoken on the issue, as I reported some months ago, but he went further this time, extending “material, psychological, and spiritual” aid to victims.

This is a promising statement from a group that has long remained taciturn about a very serious crime committed by some of its members. Hopefully, the discourse around ecclesiastical abuse will continue to open itself to secular law. Oh, and as for the “material” aid promised by the pope, let’s hope it comes to a bit more than the fifteen million tax dollars that his visit cost citizens of the UK.

-Joseph Fritsch

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11313328

Culture Corner-Balinese Ramayana Chant

The monkey warrior, Hanuman

Balinese Ramayana Chant: “Monk”-eying Around

If asked to provide a stereotypical image of eastern monks, the average American would likely answer with descriptions such as: “grave,” “silent,” “patient,” or “ascetic.” Wild gesticulations accompanied by semi-coherent screeching seem to be antonymic to these ascribed attributes. However, The Ramayana “Monkey” Chant performed by groups of one hundred or more loincloth-clad Balinese monks in places of religious observation is quite a rowdy spectacle. By a combination of well organized dramatic movements, synchronized chanting, and drumming, the Balinese monks reenact a battle from their Nation’s oldest preserved epic poem, the Ramayana.

The hero, Rama, and his four siblings are all instilled with the Spirit of Vishnu, born as blessings to a previously impotent king. Upon his retirement from the throne, the king attempts to pass the crown to Rama, much to the chagrin of one of his several wives. She succeeds in achieving the exile of Rama and his wife, Sita, upon reminding the king that he once promised her two wishes. While in exile, Rama aids the monkey king, Sugriva, in the repossession of his kingdom. In turn, Sugriva’s warrior, Hanuman, storms the kingdom from which Rama was banished. When the new king Ravana sets Hanuman’s tail on fire, the monkey warrior turns this injury into a battle weapon, wielding it like a torch to burn down the palace and defeat his enemies, resulting in the restoration of the throne to the righteous.

The ritual performance associated with the modern Monkey Chant was originally intended for the practice of exorcism. However, German musician Walter Spies, who saw this ritual first hand while staying in Bali, convinced the native chorus to infuse the performance with more elements from the Ramayana and tour to amuse Western audiences. Though inspired by elements of authentic Balinese culture, the synthesis of these elements into the current Balinese tradition was catalyzed by Western influences.

-Ashley Cohen

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T880ah7clnA (Watch a video!)


http://www.suite101.com/content/kecak---the-ramayana-monkey-chant-a269374 -Source

Poem of the Week

Bag Of Mice

by Nick Flynn

I dreamt your suicide note

was scrawled in pencil on a brown paperbag,

& in the bag were six baby mice. The bag

opened into darkness,

smoldering

from the top down. The mice,

huddled at the bottom, scurried the bag

across a shorn field. I stood over it

& as the burning reached each carbon letter

of what you'd written

your voice released into the night

like a song, & the mice

grew wilder.

How uncouth it has become! The dream. The suicide. Absurdity. Why, what then should be spoken of, after the critics and the aesthetes have sanctioned and restricted the interests and motivations of poets?

I read Nick Flynn on occasions when I desire the impossible, the surreal. However, much is attached to those words too. This is not the surreality of Breton. Instead, the curious moments come from expressing a synthesis of events that is unmanageable.

Imagine a bag, full of mice, that is at once burning and bearing an entirely legible message, as it is transported across a field. And then imagine trying to read and communicate the sound of the voice of a friend, a lover, who has just taken his own life. Yeah, they are both difficult to wrap one’s mind around.

Additionally, Nick Flynn will be reading at Poets House in Lower Manhattan on October 2^nd. I would recommend attending.

-Joseph Fritsch

Currently Reading

The Jew Store by Stella Suberman

“For a real bargain, while you’re making a living, you should also make a life,” (56).

As the semester comes to a start and we English majors embark on Beowulf, Brontes, and the like, you might want to add a little nonfiction to your pile and check out The Jew Store by Stella Suberman.

The year is 1920 and the setting is Concordia, Tennessee, but this is far from your average “American” memoir. Suberman talks in vivid detail about the struggle her parents face when they move out of the Lower East Side and into the Midwest to open up a dry goods store. In early twentieth-century America, many Jewish immigrants moved westward to find opportunities and set up smaller shops that wouldn’t have to compete with the major department stores of the big cities. Since most Midwesterners would never see a Jewish person unless one opened up a shop in their rural community, these stores aptly became known as “Jew stores.”

This book is full of hilarious anecdotes that play off the relationship between Stella, who is somewhat rebellious, and her domineering mother. Stella’s mother was born in Russia, so nothing confuses her more than fried chicken and lemonade, which she finds utterly strange.

The Jew Store is perfect for anybody that has ever felt different from the mainstream, but has faced that adversity to become a better person. Suberman’s writing moves right along and the characters are all so relatable that it is hard to put the book down. This story is a heartwarming memoir, a gem for anyone interested in American, Judaic, or immigration studies.

- Seth Nadler

Excerpt Source:
Suberman, Stella. The Jew Store. New York: Algonquin, 2001.

Image Source:
http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173901923l/343067.jpg

Currently Listening

Sexy Web

Sexy Web is one of the most amazing instrumental songs ever! As part of the Cirque Du Soleil ensemble, Sexy Web is sung live by a band dressed in insect costumes to blend into the storyline of OVO, one of the many shows that branched out of the Cirque Du Soleil franchise. OVO is centered on the busy lives of insects as they sing, dance, play etc within their environment. Not to mention that these are some very impressive insects that can perform awe-inspiring acrobatics. The show is broken up into separate acrobatic acts without a strong storyline and each act has its own associated song. Sexy Web is the name of the song that was performed by an incredibly flexible “spider”. The song went perfectly with her performance because her body movements matched the rhythm of the relaxing instrumentals: the “spider” made it look genuinely easy and relaxing to bend over backwards. Sexy Web was a compliment to the spider’s performance because as the instrumentals increased in intensity, the spider performed her more difficult pieces, and it made the whole performance more entertaining.
Many times while watching a show, viewers are only drawn to the basic aspects of the performance and not the effort that went into the scenery, music, and special effects. But this song was just as captivating as the performance and captivating enough to make me buy the CD.

Image Source:
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/03/28/spider_wideweb__470x356,0.jpg

-Mariel Suarez


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_GdY7NQFKDq0/TJeZMSPJopI/AAAAAAAAAe4/fILuaaKurak/s400/spider_wideweb__470x356,0.jpg

Currently Watching - It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

It’s Always Funny in Philadelphia

What do you get when you cross Seinfeld, Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Friends? It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a crude, over-the-top, laugh-riot.

Now entering its sixth season on FX, the show has a way of making viewers giggle and cringe simultaneously. This can be attributed to the five zany main characters, collectively known as “The Gang.” Twins Dee (Kaitlin Olson) and Dennis Reynolds (Glenn Howerton), their father Frank (Danny DeVito), and high school friends Mac (Rob McElhenney) and Charlie Kelly (Charlie Day) own and operate the worst Irish bar in Philadelphia, Paddy’s Pub. With the bar closed during the day, The Gang has plenty of time to get into trouble.

Don’t feel sorry for them, though. The trouble always results from their own antics because what brings The Gang together is their selfishness and self-absorption. Episodes usually begin with the five characters discussing various schemes to better their own situations, almost always at the expense of other people and sometimes at the expense of other members of the group. Their attempts to manipulate and leech off of anyone that has the misfortune to be around them end in hilarity because their own flaws derail their plots. Dennis’ vanity, Dee’s egocentricity, Mac’s volatility, Charlie’s idiocy, and Frank’s insanity combine to create a cast that shocks, disgusts, and entertains viewers.

Storylines are both nonsensical and current, addressing issues such as the gas crisis, viral videos, and, in the season six premiere last Thursday, gay marriage. Some of the crazier, off-color jokes are not for everyone. The series features some running gags, but new viewers can easily catch on to this quirky sitcom, if they can learn to appreciate the humor of this band of lovable miscreants.

- Brigida Pirraglia



Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6TXdldX7ws&feature=related
Image Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_QFsFfdFJM1w/TE4vjmQwMCI/AAAAAAAAAyE/qw_r9sP6dvw/s1600/tv_it_s_always_sunny_in_philadelphia01.jpg

At This Moment

Ashley Cohen and Celia Vargas asked Brooklyn College students:

How do you feel about Conversion Day?


“I liked it, cause I didn’t have to come in.” -Nicole C.

“Most of the time, I feel it is a waste of time.” –John B.

“I think they suck.” –Chris R.

"When I get the day off I love it, but other than that I hate it." Ashley L.

"Not a fan." -Michael K.

"Conversion days are like the black abyss of the week; already set in your grooved pattern of going to school day to day, a little curve ball like that is known to throw you off unnecessarily." Kate C.

"I hate them." -Shannon C.

"I pretty much think they are pointless...you always forget, it's irritating to have to change around your schedule, and you end up missing a day anyway...if there's a holiday, there's a holiday..they need to stop fiddling around with schedules." -Holly L.

"Well, conversion days are good, cause that means you had no class some other day. Yes, you might have to remember that Tuesday is a Monday schedule, but in exchange for getting a day off, I never really minded." -John V.

"Unexpected days off are always fun!" -Michael M.

"I think they provide a good balance in the school year to make up for the off days. I use them to catch up or get ahead in my schoolwork." -Anastasia S.

"Hmmm....this question sounds familiar." -Rachel W.

"It makes me feel like somebody is trying to steal my soul..." -Oliver L.

Greetings!

Bienvenidos all old and new Brooklyn College Students! Happy 2010 fall semester! This semester we have much coming your way with new interns to share us with their writing style. Allow me to introduce our new interns: Sunny, Celia,Seth, Brigida, and Oliver. Then of course, there are the older interns Ashley, Joe and James, and obviously the beautiful intern Mariel Suarez. I hope everyone had an amazing summer and ready to get all straight A’s this semester or for those who are close to graduation I hope you get into all of the classes you need to graduate. We all know how that goes. Anyways, we have an amazing blog for you this week covering: Harvey Milk (the band), Drones, Poem of the Week: Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog, Animated Series, Currently Reading: Beloved, Volcanos, E-dating, and the age old question…..What does labor day mean to you for At This Moment.

Happy Reading!

-Mariel Suarez

News Briefs

Drones: Unmanned and Out of Control

One of the most fearsome tools at the disposal of the United States Air Force is something officially called an “MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing unmanned aerial vehicle.” Also known as “drones,” these aircrafts are essentially helicopters without pilots inside of them. They are utilized by the Air Force both to gather intelligence and to carry out air strikes in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Counterterrorism officials consider drones a great asset because they are remote-piloted, thereby eliminating the risk to members of the U.S. armed forces. Imagine, however, that a drone somehow malfunctioned and flew to a location the Air Force never intended it to go. And what if it then deployed an airstrike upon thousands of innocent civilians? This could never happen, you may say. Don’t be so sure.

On August 25th, the New York Times reported that the U.S. Navy lost control of a drone they were testing. The drone flew into the restricted and heavily monitored airspace surrounding Washington, D.C. on August 2nd and Naval controllers did not have any communication with the unmanned vehicle for 30 minutes. Thankfully, operators were able to reconnect with the drone and land it safely at its base in Maryland without any injuries. The Navy claims this malfunction was the result of a “software issue.”

This particular craft had never had a problem prior to this occurrence, but this is not much of a comfort when one considers what could have happened. When a device as potentially dangerous as a drone relies so excessively upon computers, it becomes necessary to contemplate the decision to develop semi-autonomous weaponry. Is it moral for the military to jeopardize the lives of civilians in its efforts to protect soldiers? Do the benefits of this technology outweigh the risks associated with testing it?

Of course, these topics are open to debate and most likely will be for quite some time. The more pertinent questions that arise from this incident can be drawn from its peculiar details:
o Is there a possibility that the drone’s computer-controlled system was infiltrated and that it was not a coincidence that the craft headed for Washington, D.C. instead of Maryland?
o Why did it take 23 days for the New York Times to report this story?
o Will our technological innovations and our misuse of them result in a new arms race, and, consequently, a new age of destruction?

As we struggle through this time of war, we must stay informed and think of the future from standpoints national and global, immediate and far-reaching.

- Brigida Pirraglia

Article Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/us/26drone.html?src=mv

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An Explosion into the Gambling World: The Volcano Market

In times of economic hardship, once- respectable citizens have been known to resort to the OTB walk of shame more quickly than the objects of their wager can gallop. Thus, the gambling community has often been associated with shabby-clothed, middle-aged to elderly men who, whether extremely malnourished or over-nourished (there doesn’t seem to be a grey area), have all been up for nearly 24 hours at a time. However, Irish bookie Paddy Power has introduced an unexpected novelty to the upper echelon of the betting market: volcanoes. The idea was conceived of after the eruption of Mount Mayon in the Philippines in 2009. The ratio of bet to payout varies, the more regularly eruptive volcanoes being on the safe “penny slot” end of the spectrum, dormant volcanoes paying the equivalent of the high stakes poker pot. Probabilities of eruptions are determined using “the Volcano Explosivity Index…ranging from zero (non explosive) to eight (megacolossal)” (Holland, 27). Currently, bets on the United States’ very own Mount Rainier have a 16:1 pay to bet ratio, thus paying the client 16 English pounds for every English pound wagered. Power’s idea has given rise to myriad wagers of natural phenomena, such as which species will first become extinct in 2011. Unlike casinos, in nature, the house doesn’t always win. The unpredictability or sheer magnitude of time involved in natural processes is a shuffle by the hands of Mother Nature fairer than any dealer could offer. However, opposition from casinos may cause this to be a rather “volatile” investment.
-Ashley Cohen

Source: Holland, JS. (2010). An Explosive wager. National Geographic Magazine, (Nov 2010), 27.

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Culture Corner

Adopting Anime

Beginning in the 1960‘s, Japanese animation spread across the United States with successful franchises like Speed Racer and Astro Boy. Boasting a distinct art style not yet produced in the West, Japanese anime carved out it’s own genre, separate from the Disney/Warner Brothers era of animation that assumed popularity in the 30s. Japanese anime continued to extend its reach through feature films, books, video games and even larger phenomenon franchises like Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z.

This increasing amount of Japanese anime appropriated and dubbed for Western audiences gave rise to a number of anime-influenced programs. Shows like Batman Beyond, Teen Titans, and more recently Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Boondocks make use of traditional anime conventions, despite coming from Western creators. More than just the borrowing of an art style, these shows are genre-blending, culture-clashing pieces of television. These hybrids allow familiar stories to be told in unfamiliar ways, and they’re all the more interesting for it.

-James Rodriguez

Poem of the Week

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Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog
an epithalamion by Taylor Mali

First of all, it's a big responsibility,
especially in a city like New York.
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain't no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable.
Who knows what love could do in its own defense?

On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.

Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don't you ever do that again!

Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise.
It runs you around the block and leaves you panting.
It pulls you in several different directions at once,
or winds around and around you
until you're all wound up and can't move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

Slam poetry is a baby when compared to ballads, sonnets, and even song. On the same note, the spoken word reaches as far back as Homer’s Odyssey. Taylor Mali, one of the forerunners in defining “slam poetry,” overlaps two incredibly different experiences in life. Yet, the seamlessness of this overlap helps us to realize that Love, an epic subject in the world of poetry, is not as abstract as we may think. Upon listening to this poem for the first time, I was captivated by both the rhythm and connection that Mali creates.

Mali creates the idea that Love has the potential to protect you, keep you warm, return to you, challenge you, and bring you to new places. And one could speculate that if people gave love as much of a chance as they do a new puppy, there would be far less pain in the world. But before we get caught up in the romance of it all, can love really do that? Can love be your full-time body guard? Your cup of hot cocoa by the fire? A boomerang? The Rubik’s Cube of life? And the ultimate tour guide?

As Mali says, “Think long and hard before deciding on love.” And if you ever decide that love is worth that which “leaves you panting,” “may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,” “makes messes,” and “wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs,” I guess all you have to do next is … take the leap.

- Sunny Liu

Source: http://www.taylormali.com/index.cfm?webid=14

Currently Reading

Beloved and Magic Realism



While reading Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, I was approached by a woman who wanted to speak to me about the book. She said something to the effect of, “I appreciate literature, but I hated that book.” When asked why, she replied, “Because it doesn’t make sense.”

Morrison belongs to a select group of authors who possess the courage to present their readers with a story that is a suspension of convention and realism. Morrison does not fill Beloved with abstruse prolixity, nor does she rely on especially convoluted grammatical constructions. Instead, Morrison infuses her writing with seeming impossibilities that challenge the modern reader.

Properly, this sort of writing has been called Magic Realism. With writers like Gabriel García Márquez and Isabelle Allende as some of its practitioners, Magic Realism handles fantastical events with a serious, even mundane, sensibility. A text written in this style assumes its readers’ wholehearted participation in its fiction.

Specifically, in Beloved, Morrison offers the reader a world of characters who had to suffer the great horrors and atrocities of American slavery. The story is in progress, and has been for some eighteen years, when the actual narration begins. Morrison introduces her style of writing quickly with this scenario:

“Her Past had been like her present—intolerable—and since she knew death was anything but forgetfulness, she used the little energy left her for pondering color.

‘Bring a little lavender in, if you got any. Pink if you don’t.’

And Sethe would oblige her with anything from fabric to her own tongue. Winter in Ohio was especially rough if you had an appetite for color.” (4)

This is a perfect example of this style of storytelling. Here is a woman, Baby Suggs, who is, quite frankly, sustained by color. As a former slave, this is significant allegorically, but it is also stunningly creative and challenging to accept. The difficulty, then, of reading Beloved is accepting the explicit: a foreign act for contemporary criticism.

- Joseph Fritsch

Excerpt Source:

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Knopf, 1987.

Currently Listening

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Though the use of the name of a famous San Franciscan homosexual politician doesn’t particularly shout “Obscure 1990s metal band from Athens, Georgia,” such is the case of recently reunited band Harvey Milk. The thriving underground music scene of the 1980s had, by the 90s, fizzled into the infrequent, tepid “blip” on the local house party radar. The few staples of the rather inglorious music scene maintained a fan base by catering to the nostalgia of washed up participants in the 80s scene. Though not “true” cover bands, they may as well have been due to liberal stylistic “borrowing.” However, the heavy and sometimes eerily abstract creations of the dynamic trio (Creston Spiers, Steven Tanner and Paul Trudeau) were an exception.
In addition to elaborate percussion compositions which heavily use “white space,” Harvey Milk incorporates everything from the sledgehammer solo to the armpit fart. The album Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men was recorded in 1995, which, along with a stray single here and there, left a breadcrumb trail behind the band that vanished shortly thereafter. To describe the unique sound of the album is quite difficult: It is a nebula of opposing worlds with parallel sounds. Individually, the quintessence of each sound seems to be the antithesis of its sonic neighbor, yet somehow they seem to parallel one another- following the same overall aesthetic. Critic Henry Owing writes a rather lucid description: “A monument to unfettered originality on all fronts, Courtesy and Good Will Towards Men is at times fragile, minimal, and achingly beautiful; other times it suffocates with tar-black, crushingly heavy dirges that bend time.”

-Ashley Cohen


Article source: http://www.relapse.com/artist/artist.aspx?ArtistID=10052

Currently Watching- Adventure Time

Adventure Time with Finn and Jake

“What time is it?”

Adventure time of course! A new addition to the Cartoon Network headline, it premiered April of this year, and it’s awesome. I’m the biggest fan of cartoons (derp, who isn’t?) but I’m also a big nerd, and Adventure Time is the epitome of nerd culture in cartoon form (check the image above, remind you of a certain Star Wars poster?).

The show is set in the fantastic place of Ooo, and equally as bizarre are the residents of said Ooo. The main protagonist is a 12 year-old kid, or humanoid figure, named Finn and his best friend Jake, a 28 year-old dog with magical properties. Finn, despite being quite brash, has an inordinate desire to be a hero and an envy worthy sense of responsibility. His buddy Jake (voiced by the famous John DiMaggio, Bender from ‘Futurama’) on the other hand is more of a laid back type, happy just playing the viola for his girlfriend Lady Rainicorn.

The thing that really draws me to this show is that every action and word is extremely animated (no pun intended). The episodes are really fast paced and the dialogue is fascinating. Finn has these instances where he yells words such as, “algebraic,” “rhombus,” and “mathematical” and then proceeds to sprint into the air and back-kick into the evil Ice King’s face. Then Jake has said things like “don’t squeeze me, I’ll fart,” and it’s hilarious. The auto-tune songs and the words like “noob” and “pwnd” also reveal that this show is completely Internet inspired.

It’s an animated show that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The first Youtube video posted here went viral recently and it’s of a guy who saw a rainbow and was moved deeply. His reaction was entertaining. The second video is a spoof of the first from ‘Adventure Time’ and it is also entertaining.

Lately, Cartoon Network has been airing really captivating cartoon shows, like ‘Chowder’ or (one of my personal favorites) ‘The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack,’ and now with ‘Adventure Time’ it’s just becoming a total enjoyment to watch. Pendleton Ward, a relatively new name to cartoons, created ‘Adventure Time’ and has also done work for Flapjack. Ward nicely integrates the bouncy, lovable cartoon style that people know, and the Internet culture that permeates the media and life.

I say kudos to ‘Adventure Time’ for being awesome.
“In the dark recesses of the mind, a disease known as Fear feast upon the souls of those who cannot overcome its power…And so Fear is forced deep within the soul of a hero. Conquered at least for now.” –Adventure Time, Ocean of Fear

-Celia Vargas

Original Double Rainbow Meme


Adventure Time Double Rainicorn Spoof: