I haven't updated on LJ for seemingly ever. I do read my friend's page nearly every day though so that I at least feel somewhat up to date with what people are up to.
So what has finally gotten me to post again? Well, I am super excited to say that in the spring I will, for the first time, be teaching a class that isn't English 101-freshmen writing. I will be teaching a 200-level literature course. He's the course description I wrote:
Milton in Popular Culture From Wordsworth to Phillip Pullman, from Abraham Lincoln to Malcolm X, from William Blake to Captain Kirk, the works of Milton have been read, criticized, and appropriated for various causes for more than three and a half centuries. Even today, Milton is quoted as an authority on free speech, religion, government, and literature. The first goal of this course is to develop your ability to read, understand, and analyze John Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost. Once we have finished the poem, we will spend the rest of the semester examining the appearances this poem has made in varying forms of popular culture. Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy draws intensely from Paradise Lost and we will be reading the first book of the series, The Golden Compass. But did you know that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan can be considered a science fiction retelling of Paradise Lost? And how do the villains in The Lord of the Rings echo Milton’s depiction of Satan in Paradise Lost? We will be examining these examples and more as we chart the influence of Milton’s epic poem in the books and films of today’s popular culture.
That's right. I'm going to be teaching Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan. KHAAAAANNNNN!!! Oh, and Paradise Lost too, which I really am excited to teach as well. But getting paid for my Wrath of Khan expertise will be a highlight of my life, I am almost certain. I'm pretty sure we'll be watching David Fincher's Seven in that class as well. Now I just need to finish researching and writing my syllabus.
Other than that, I'm still just chugging away at the doctorate. I'm about 3 and a half years in, and I'd say that I have about another 3 and a half to 4 years left. So I'm looking forward to having my first real job, as in my career, when I'm about 32 or 33. Awesome! Oh, and Hilary and I bought a super nice HDTV and I have then proceeded to be unable to stop watching LOTR since then. I've memorized the hobbits' drinking songs and look forward to singing them annoyingly and off key the next time I get drunk.
(Your film will be 62% romantic, 33% comedy, 25% complex plot, and a $ 25 million budget.)
With few films under her belt (The Virgin Suicides, Lost In Translation, Marie Antoinette) as a writer/director, she's already highly respected and connected -- her dad, Francis, directed all The Godfather movies and Apocolypse Now. Sofia's good at making the romantic drama that is your life with poignant sullen moments of introspection. You saw how she stylishly handled Marie Antoinette's life, no? And who didn't have at least a lump in the throat at the end of Lost In Translation? She's already won one Academy Award for her writing, now she'll be the first woman to receive one for directing -- YOUR FILM!
Well I just finished helping Hilary trim her kitties’ claws and I have the bleeding scratch marks to prove it. Other than the blood, everything is pretty good right now. The syllabus I’ll be teaching this fall is pretty much all set, I’ve still got this Spinoza paper hanging over my head but I’ve got another week and a half to finish it, and of course Hilary is great.
We saw Stardust this past weekend. I recommend it as a slightly darker version of The Princess Bride. Do I want to see The Simpsons movie? Somebody tell me if I should. I’m indecisive.
Semester starts pretty soon. I wish I had just a couple more weeks of summer so that I could finish this paper and then actually relax for a week or so before things go crazy. Oh wells. At least my syllabus is in good shape and I’m happy with it.
Oh, and did I mention that Hilary is great? She makes me great stir-fry and gives great back rubs. Great great great… and one more for good measure… GREAT.
PS: Matty and Gizmo sitting in a tree, K. I. S. S. I. N. G.
Well everyone, it’s long update time. I’m in Wisconsin right now, seeing friends, hanging with the rents, spending a couple days with my brother. A good time all around. Right now I’m at the one local bar and it is the place to be on a Monday night in a town of around a thousand people. I came down here to have a few drinks and read some awesome 17th century philosophy (Spinoza in the house!). I’ve now drank enough that I can no longer do real work, so I’m sitting at the townie bar on my macbook pro looking like a pretentious douchebag, I’m sure. That’s ok though; supposedly that’s what I often look like so I guess I can deal with it. Some old guy tried to make fun of me for my lip ring earlier. He got served.
I finally saw the zombie movie my brother starred in and I have to say that it is pretty damn awesome. I recommend you go order yourself a copy here: http://www.myspace.com/better_off_undead
The movie is short (and excellent), but the dvd is packed full of awesome. Multiple commentary tracks, gag reel, making of, drinking game, alternative beginning (let’s call it that), and tons of other sweetness. I’ll have copies with me in Pitt to sell, so ask me about it.
I’m done with my German translation course now and I think I did pretty well. I’m starting over with the textbook we used and going through it again for the rest of the summer since we went thought it so fast that I learned a lot, but I’m sure I glossed over a shit-ton and I would like to actually learn to read German, not just sorta read it. I bought the second Harry Potter book in German and I’m hoping to get to the point that I can read that. Right now I just don’t have the vocabulary. But I totally can translate Hegel and Benjamin with the help of a dictionary. Woo!
My personal big news right now: I’m not single. I know! It’s amazing and difficult to believe! I’m dating a fellow doctoral student at CMU named Hilary and she’s wonderful! The only reason I’m excited to get back to Pitt is to see her. Otherwise I’m totally having a blast in Wisconsin seeing friends and family. I wish she could come to my cousin’s wedding this upcoming weekend. I’ll post a picture of the two of us whenever I have a good one.
Thanks to school being so stressful and time consuming, I’ve been horribly sedentary for the past year and gained some weight, so I’ve decided to stop taking the bus to school and to instead ride my bike everyday. I know it’s not a magical solve all solution, but it should at least help.
School update: Bachelors: DONE. Masters: DONE. Doctorate: in progress. The entirety of my doctorate is 2 years of course work, one year of exams, and then my 2-300 page dissertation. I just finished my first year of coursework, so I have a good 4 years left before I am officially Dr. DJ; aka… Dr. Deej. It looks like I’m the oddest 20th century ass ever and my dissertation is going to be a crazy combination of early 20th century modernism, mid 20th century neo-marxism, mid-20th century myth criticism, and 17th century British epics/poetry/plays (aka: Shakespeare and Milton).
I fuckin’ rule. ☺
Oh yeah, I forgot about Pierre Bourdieu. He the bomb.
Did I mention that Hilary is gorgeous and awesome? Cuz she is.
So yeah. Life feels pretty good right now. I have a good job teaching that I usually like, I work with good people, I live in a cool neighborhood, I’m reading and writing about fascinating things and getting paid for it, I’ll be teaching a course on the role of comics in American culture 1945-current this fall, I’m thoroughly having a great time with my family back in Wisconsin, my brother helped make a totally kick ass zombie movie and has a better apartment than I do, and best of all… I’m dating a brilliant, beautiful, and incredibly caring woman. I feel like a fucking winner right now. Holla. ☺
Listening to: the new 3 Inches of Blood, Black Dahlia Murder, the new Ryan Adams, the new John Muther (which is excellent!), The Fountain soundtrack, Explosions in the Sky, Jets to Brazil
Watching: Futurama, Better Off Undead, Band of Brothers
Reading: Part of Nature: Self-Knowledge in Spinoza’s Ethics by Genevieve Lloyd (and it’s the best non-fiction book I’ve read in a while)
Studying: German. My class my be over, but that don’t mean I don’t want to stop learning German.
Missing: Hilary (cuz I’m a happy, sappy bastard, I don’t care what you say)
Thinking: Spud should move to Pittsburgh (even though I know it will never happen, therefore he should come visit again: holla!).
Finding delicious: spicy buffalo wings. OMG so good!
So some of yous all may already be familiar with this fucking hilarious Orson Welles frozen peas commercial. First off, here is the mp3 for the original from back when. Listen up. Now that you’ve heard that, you need to watch this. Comedy gold.
I seem to have once again succumbed to my nocturnal desires. No, not blood drinking. But today I've been sleeping from 1pm to 8pm and then going to German at 10am in the morning. Hurray for nocturnity! I made that word up! Yay!
Also... I'm still the kwisatz haderach.
In your depths of your ignorance, what is it you want? Whatever it is you want, I can’t deliver it because I just don’t see it.
Well, I'm closing in on a thousand pages of Dune read since Thursday. This is why I am the kwisatz haderach. These are but a mere glimpse into the powers of the kwisatz haderach. The ability to read fast and eat shitty, high calorie food while ingesting lots of caffeine... oh yes, these are amongst my powers. Doing four loads of laundry today is also within my ability. Oh, and watching a bunch of movies too. So far the one thing that has escaped my oh so powerful grasp is the ability to sit down and concentrate on my german homework. This still eludes me, but soon... soon I will have this at my disposal as well... and on that day the universe will open up before me and I will be able to read the time threads of prescience and then I will probably order more chinese take out.
I spend so much time reading literary theory and philosophy, that I’d forgotten how fast I can rampage through fiction. Thursday I decided I didn’t want to do any real work, so instead I sat down to read Dune Messiah. Later that day, I took a break to nap, then eat, then grocery shop, and then I finished Dune Messiah. I was just casually reading and suddenly I’d read a 300+ page book. Felt good. I need to read more fiction this summer, especially if I can read a book in a day without really trying. I think I’ll read Children of Dune tomorrow.
I also just read The Living and the Dead by Jason and Plain Janes from the Minx line. I enjoyed them both quite a bit.
Maybe eventually I’ll get back to German so I can pass this summer course, but I’m really not feeling in the mood for it. I just want to read stuff I actually want to read, not that I’m supposed to read.
Oh, and I watched the 6 hour Sci-Fi Channel Dune miniseries, and the 6 hour Sci-Fi Channel Children of Dune miniseries.
This shit is cracking me up. I can't stop watching it and I can't stop laughing at it. Fucking brilliant.
I do have to say though that I'm surprised neither Schiller nor Fichte are on the German team. WTF is up with that? But on the other hand, it was good to see Democritus on the Greek team. Epicurus was a sure thing, but Democritus shows a willingness to go all the way.
Summer is in full swing now as I am watching many, many movies and am halfway through my summer german translation course. I read the first trade of DMZ this morning and it was awesome. I give it 2 war-torn thumbs up. Also just watched season one of The Tick cartoon series and I'm glad to report that it stands the tests of time well... unlike Thundercats which now sucks very, very hard.
Nietzsche has just been booked. He accused Confucius of having no free will, and Confucius he say, “name go in book.”
Ok. So I haven't done a real update on LJ forever. I've mainly been using it to keep tabs with friends instead of as an actual journal. So here's a quick recap. I just finished my first year of phd work in English: Literary and Cultural Studies AND my first year of teaching english composition. The year kicked my ass it feels like, but I came out learning a lot and with good grades... and a few extra pounds. Curse this sedentary lifestyle! This summer I'm taking a class in german translation, reworking an article on Spinoza and Marxism, and trying to get back into a decent running schedule. I got my lip pierced months ago and will hopefully get a new tattoo very soon. Oh, and if you're from back home, I'll be in Wisconsin from July 5-16.
So, you want to make the world a better place? Too bad it's never gonna happen.
Of all the types, you have to be one of the hardest to find fault in. You have a selfless and caring nature. You're a good listener and someone who wants to avoid conflict. You genuinely desire to do good.
Of course, these all add up to an incredibly overpowered conscience which makes you feel guilty and responsible when anything goes wrong. Of course, it MUST be your fault EVERYTIME.
Though you're constantly on a mission to find the truth, you have no use for hard facts and logic, which is a source of great confusion for those of us with brains. Despite this, in a losing argument, you're not above spouting off inaccurate fact after fact in an effort to protect your precious values.
You're most probably a perfectionist, which in this case, is a bad thing. Any group work is destined to fail because of your incredibly high standards.
Disregard what I said before. You're just easy to find fault in as everyone else!
Luckily, you're generally very hard on yourself, meaning I don't need to waste my precious time insulting you. Instead, just find all your own faults and insult yourself.
*****************
If you want to learn more about your personality type in a slightly less negative way, check out this.
Man, this quiz is actually dead on. Way to be, quiz!
What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Inland North
You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
I think I can deal with being a modern, cool nerd. Though I do tend to think of myself more as a geek.
Modern, Cool Nerd
73 % Nerd, 73% Geek, 30% Dork
For The Record:
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd.
Nerds didn't use to be cool, but in the 90's that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn't quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eked out for themselves a modicum of respect at the very least, and "geek is chic." The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the one you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)!
Congratulations!
Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in any of the following:
While I am more than happy to be Spiderman, I am a bit disappointed that I have so few Flash and Batman attributes. They're both pretty far down there.
My Latin studying has suffered a near death lately, primarily because I haven’t touched my book in almost 2 weeks. My reading schedule is now also way, way behind too. On the upside though, I’m doing 4 mile runs fairly consistently now and I upped the rest of my workout regime as well as part of Operation: DJ Workout More. Catchy title, isn’t it?
This morning I was reading a book and the narrator was thinking about questions he couldn't remember the answers to, and one was, "what are the names of King Lear's 3 daughters?" I thought, jeez, I dont know that, there's Cordelia, but that's the only one I can remember, I can never remember Goneril or Regan... wait, that's three!!! WHOO HOO!!The whoo hoo was actually loud and vocal and included a bit of a jump. It's a little sad how that is the highlight of my day so far, yet even a tiny victory is a victory.
Reading has been slowed down by a lot, just a couple chapters a day recently, but the Latin is coming along ok. Today I ordered a book of fairy tales in Latin and Harry Potter 1 in Latin. I won't have the vocab to read them till the end of summer probably, but I'm pretty excited to get there now which will help keep me motivated.
I picked the newest Mastodon album, Leviathan, recently. It's based off of Moby Dick and is pretty awesome. Also been listening to alot of Respira and the Suspiria soundtrack by Goblin.
I wish there was a taco bell near me. I sure could go for a chicken grilled stuft burrito right now.
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