Vlog: The Sandinista Revolution in Christian Periodicals (My Undergraduate Thesis)



The Sandinista Revolution in Christian Periodicals Part 2



The Sandinista Revolution in Christian Periodicals



Vlog Playlist HERE

Thor: The Dark World

(Movie Review)

Why I Saw This Movie
This movie came out 5 years ago, so obviously I'm a bit late on this one.
Back in 2013, I wasn't entirely committed to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  I would see the movies if they were convenient, but I would just as happily not see them.
Lately, though, I've been getting more and more sucked in.  (The Marvel movies have really been getting better and better lately.  All of the recent Marvel movies from the past couple years have been really good: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Spider-Man, Ragnarok, Black Panther, and Infinity War--all excellent.)

So, the more I get sucked into these newer movies, the more I want to go back and catch the ones I've missed so I can pick up on the continuity notes.  (Several of the Marvel movies since have referenced events in Thor: The Dark World.  For example Ragnarok, and Infinity War.)
I've been wanting to see this movie for the past couple years now, but kept waiting for it to be on T.V.  (I know in this day and age you can find everything off of the Internet, but I hate watching action movies on my small computer screen.  I preferred to watch it in style on the big television screen.)
For the past couple years I had bad luck.  I would always turn the TV on right in the middle of this movie, or right when it was ending.  But then, this morning, I was flipping channels, and I caught this movie right at the beginning.  So I watched it, and here I am with my review.

The Positives
* The coolest thing about these Thor movies is how they blend Norse mythology with comic books.  The 9 Realms.  The Rainbow Bridge.  Vanaheimr.  The Dark Elves.  When I'm watching these Thor movies, I keep thinking: "What kind of whacked out comic book writing is this?" Only to go to Wikipedia, and discover that most of this comes directly from the original Norse Mythology. 
I'm given to understand this was how Jack Kirby wrote the original comics way back in the 1960s, although--comic book geek though I am--I'm not well read in my Thor.
(I also mentioned this in my review of Ragnarok.)

* The interaction between Thor and Loki was good.

* In retrospect, you can see that even back in 2013 they were setting up a lot of the pieces for Infinity War.  It's kind of cool how intricately they had this all planned out.

Negatives
* Asgard was really visually appealing, but the dark world was really boring visually.

* The villains were really boring.

* I really liked Thor's three Warrior friends from the first movie.  They were played by delightfully quirky character-actors.  Plus I liked the idea of Thor having friends and teammates on Asgard, instead of just being a weird loner.
The good news is that they brought them all back for this sequel, but the bad news is that they were barely used.  (And what's worse is that they got killed of in Ragnarok, after again being barely used.  So... so much for those characters, I guess.)

* Natalie Portman wasn't really interesting in this movie.

The Review
You know, we had had so many really great Marvel movies lately, that I kind of forgot there was a period during phase 1 and phase 2 where a lot of these movies were pretty much just place-holders between the big event team-up movies.  But yeah, let's face it, some of these phase 2 movies were pretty forgettable.
This movie isn't bad.  It's competently done, and has a couple decent action scenes.
But it's not great either.  It's pretty meh.  The craziness of Asgard is under-utilized, and the new Dark World is just really boring.

Rating ;
4 out of 10 Stars.  (Maybe border-line 5 stars.)

Marvel Cinematic Universe Links:
1. Iron Man
2. The Incredible Hulk
3. Iron Man 2
4. Thor
5. Captain America: The First Avenger
6. The Avengers
7. Iron Man 3
8. Thor 2: Dark World
9. Captain America 2: Winter Soldier
10. Guardians of the Galaxy
11. Avengers: Age of Ultron
12. Ant-Man
13. Captain America 3: Civil War
14. Doctor Strange--Haven't seen yet
15. Guardians of the Galaxy 2
16. Spider-Man: Homecoming
17. Thor: Ragnarok
18. Black Panther
19. Avengers: Infinity War
20. Ant-Man and the Wasp

Video Review
Video review HERE and embedded below:



Link of the Day
Noam Chomsky on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Spectacular” Victory & Growing Split in Democratic Party

The Paris Commune: Our First Revolution

Stumbled upon this video, and I thought I'd post it here.  As someone who's read a lot about the Paris Commune over the years, I this was a pretty decent summary.  

In the abstract, the myth of the Paris Commune is pretty simple--the working class revolution against the bourgeoisie.  But once you delve into the actual historical details, it gets complicated quickly.  There were so many different factions and different personalities involved.

I think this video does as good a job as can be expected of making a simple narrative out of the whole thing.

My only criticism... the IWA actually didn't play much of a role in the Paris Commune.  (The association of the Paris Commune with Marx and the IWA is more myth than reality).  To its credit, this video acknowledges that Blanquists, Jacobins and Proudhounists were a much bigger influence than the IWA, but by repeatedly mentioning the IWA, they give the impression that the IWA was more influential than it actually was. 

That small nit-pick aside, everything else looks accurate to me.

Why does Japan care so much about Blood Types?



This is SOOOOO true! Japanese people are obsessed with blood type.  I can't tell you how many conversations I had in Japan about my blood type.  They were constantly asking me about my blood type, or speculating about my blood type. (Like most foreigners, I didn't know my blood type.  Which always shocked Japanese people.)

My Two Cents:
As despicable as Alex Jones is, it's a mistake for liberals to celebrate him being banned.. 
I know, I know--Youtube is not the government, and it has no protection of free speech obligation.
But the scary thing is, we are increasingly living in a world where the corporations, not the government, control what is acceptable speech.
We might live to regret encouraging them to ban people they don't like.

You Are Old, Father William by Lewis Carroll (1865): Poems ESL Listening

(TESOL Worksheets--Poems ESL Listening)
Transcript: drive, docs, pub, Homework: docs, pub
Video HERE

You Are Old, Father William by Lewis Carroll (1865): poems

Video: https://youtu.be/kPjnVYHG0uk

"You are old, Father William," the young man said,

"And your hair has become very white;

And yet you incessantly stand on your head-

Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,

"I feared it might injure the brain;

But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,

Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,

And have grown most uncommonly fat;

Yet you turned a back somersault in at the door-

Pray, what is the reason of that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,

"I kept all my limbs very supple

By the use of this ointment-one shilling the box-

Allow me to sell you a couple?"

"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak

For anything tougher than suet;

Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak-

Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,

And argued each case with my wife;

And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,

Has lasted the rest of my life."'

"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose

That your eye was steady as ever;

Yet, you balanced an eel on the end of your nose-

What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"

Said his father. "Don't give yourself airs!

Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?

Be off, or I'll kick you downstairs!" 

The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them by Robert Southey (1799): Poems ESL Listening

(TESOL Worksheets--Poems ESL Listening)
Transcript: drive, docs, pub, homework: docs, pub
Video HERE





When I was doing this project 3 years ago, I wanted to do "You are Old Father William" by Lewis Carroll, but I thought it would be funnier if the students knew what he was parodying.  So I did the boring version first.  (One of the running gags in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, from which this poem is from, is that characters keep trying to remember classic poems, but mangle them terribly.)  I'll do "You are Old Father William" as the follow-up.

The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them by Robert Southey (1799): poems

Video: https://youtu.be/dbCl_T7CaIU

"You are old, father William," the young man cried,

"The few locks which are left you are grey;

You are hale, father William, a hearty old man;

Now tell me the reason, I pray."

"In the days of my youth," father William replied,

"I remembered that youth would fly fast,

And abused not my health and my vigour at first,

That I never might need them at last."

"You are old, father William," the young man cried,

"And pleasures with youth pass away.

And yet you lament not the days that are gone;

Now tell me the reason, I pray."

"In the days of my youth," father William replied,

"I remembered that youth could not last;

I thought of the future, whatever I did,

That I never might grieve for the past."

"You are old, father William," the young man cried,

"And life must be hastening away;

You are cheerful and love to converse upon death;

Now tell me the reason, I pray."

"I am cheerful, young man," father William replied,

"Let the cause thy attention engage;

In the days of my youth I remembered my God!

And He hath not forgotten my age."

You Are Old, Father William by Lewis Carroll 1865 

(This is a parody of The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them by Robert Southey.  How does the author make fun of the original poem?) 

"You are old, Father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head-
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back somersault in at the door-
Pray, what is the reason of that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment-one shilling the box-
Allow me to sell you a couple?"

"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak--
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."'

"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was steady as ever;
Yet, you balanced an eel on the end of your nose-
What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said his father. "Don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you downstairs!" 

When All the World is Young, Lad by Charles Kingsley (1863): Poems ESL Listening

(TESOL Worksheets--Poems ESL Listening)
Transcript: drive, docs, pub, Homework: docs, pub
Video HERE

When All the World is Young, Lad by Charles Kingsley (1863): poems

Video: https://youtu.be/qoZXnsDRwN4

When all the world is young, lad,

And all the trees are green ;

And every goose a swan, lad,

And every lass a queen ;

Then hey for boot and horse, lad,

And round the world away ;

Young blood must have its course, lad,

And every dog his day.

When all the world is old, lad,

And all the trees are brown ;

And all the sport is stale, lad,

And all the wheels run down ;

Creep home, and take your place there,

The spent and maimed among:

God grant you find one face there,

You loved when all was young.

What-if by Shel Silverstein (1981): Poems ESL Listening

(TESOL Worksheets--Poems ESL Listening)
Transcript: drive, docs, pub, homework: docs, pub
Video: HERE

What-if by Shel Silverstein (1981): poems

Video: https://youtu.be/KnwaRU5uFDE

Last night, while I lay thinking here,

some What-ifs crawled inside my ear

and pranced and partied all night long

and sang their same old What-if song:

What if I'm dumb in school?

What if they've closed the swimming pool?

What if I get beat up?

What if there's poison in my cup?

What if I start to cry?

What if I get sick and die?

What if I flunk that test?

What if green hair grows on my chest?

What if nobody likes me?

What if a bolt of lightning strikes me?

What if I don't grow taller?

What if my head starts getting smaller?

What if the fish won't bite?

What if the wind tears up my kite?

What if they start a war?

What if my parents get divorced?

What if the bus is late?

What if my teeth don't grow in straight?

What if I tear my pants?

What if I never learn to dance?

Everything seems well, and then

the night time What-ifs strike again!

I usually buy anything

(Grammar Questions I Couldn't Answer)

A reoccurring point of confusion in the ESL classroom is the difference between "every" and "any".  For example, when offered a choice of foods in a restaurant role play (e.g. "What food would you like?") a student will often respond, "Everything is okay."

I've been taking a lot of pains lately to correct this.  "No, if you say 'everything is okay', it means EVERYTHING.  You want to eat ALL the food.  If you only want one, but you don't care which one, you can say, 'Anything is okay'."

But the other day, we were talking about online shopping.  The question was, "What things do you buy online?"
"I usually buy anything online," a student answered.

It sounded wrong to my ear.  In fact, I think "I usually buy everything online," would have sounded better, even though this goes against what I had been teaching my students for months about the difference between "every" and "any" .