Saturday, September 30, 2006

Starbucks and tobacco companies

Starbucks has 50% more caffeine than a regular cup of coffee found at restaurants; so just like the tobacco companies, Starbucks will be a company that will be tough to get rid of.

I'm not against Starbucks, but I just had a thought: caffeine is addictive. With the high dosage of caffeine in its coffees, Starbucks is insuring its longevity by creating addicts... just like the tobacco companies.

It's just a thought.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Get Over It and Move On!

When the Tick leeches on, it can't accept change.

There's an important meeting taking place tomorrow, and the Tick is rallying up a battle cry. Everything the Tick does is for the memory of a beloved leader. It reveres this person like African-Americans admire Martin Luther King, Jr. and how Irish people still hang up portraits of John F. Kennedy.

The leader is gone. The leader has a new life. Stop dwelling on the past, Tick, and move on.

The new sheriff in town is a leader for this year, and he has some pretty big shoes to fill, but who says he's not trying?

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Parental Pressure

I met a parent today who also happens to work at the school. The parent's kid is in my class. The student is good--in behavior and academics--but it's still difficult to say if he's innately good or pressured into being good.

I get the feeling that he's pressured into being good. Given his parent's approach to asking about his grades, how I teach, my grading standards, I feel that the parent is trying to pressure me into giving the student an A. "He's an A student. If he's getting B's and C's, then we've got some problems," the parent said.

I don't know what the parent meant by the use of "we." We, as in the parent and me are going to butt heads and have issues; or we, as in the parent and child are going to have a long conversation at home?

If I was a first year teacher, I would totally succumb to that pressure. Now that I'm seasoned, I feel much more confident in standing by and defending my grading policies. A's are earned, not given.

If the parent's got issues, well, the buck stops here. I'm also department chair.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Typical Hollywood

When my comic-reading friends would gripe and groan about Hollywood making film versions of beloved graphic novels, I never really understood their "pain," so to speak. My friends would get into long discussions about the politics of comic writers and how their visions become misunderstood when Hollywood is at the helm.

I now share that pain.

My graphic novel: Priest.

A movie is in the works, expected to hit theaters in 2008.

It's a long way off, but I already read a plot summary, courtesy of Internet Movie Database: "A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. " First of all, Ivan Isaacs, the title character, was adopted when he was a child. He has no niece.

I shudder to think about this movie. Just the plotline already tells me that I will not be satisfied. There are no vampires in the graphic novel. The comic is about a renegade priest who is possessed and bent on revenge. The story is chockful of Biblical references, good versus evil, fallen angels, heaven and hell, God, forbidden love; not to mention it's total blasphemy to all Christians.

In 2008, I don't want to see a remake of John Carpenter's "Vampires", nor do I want to see a movie that is full of CGI, regardless of how well it will be done. I want a movie that has the same elements of the graphic novel.

I want religious blasphemy, horror, and unattainable tortured love. I want the priest who sins, and a devil who dares to do good. I want beautiful angels who commit murder and savages who salvage humanity.

And not that looks matter, but I want someone else to be Ivan Isaacs. As much as I like Gerard Butler, I think he's too mature and too hunky to play a man of the cloth. Ivan was a young man who became a fighter against his will. He wouldn't have had time to work out and be hunky.

Damn you, Hollywood!

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Summer Vacation 2007

Summer 2006 is not even officially over yet, and already I got an email and a call regarding my next summer assignment for another international trip.

Spain, Italy, Southern France, and Monaco--here I come in 2007!