A Tale of Two Games

New video games in my house are pretty rare outside of a sudden and/or unexpected cash influx, and to get two new games inside of a month is like finding the Loch Ness monster hanging out with Bigfoot. Yet, here we are, as I've acquired both Batman: Arkham City and WWE '12. Both are sequels to popular franchise games, but that's about the only thing the two have in common.

Arkham City takes place a year after the events of 2009's Batman: Arkham Asylum and opens the world to include a large portion of Gotham City's slums, which have been converted to an enormous prison/police-state. It's a tremendous concept, with gameplay that builds on the original and then exceeds it. There's a very defined version of Batman and his outlying universe that Rocksteady is creating with these games. While it's not the version of Batman I envision of the character due to him generally being a jerk to everyone all of the time and how he oddly feels compelled to save a girl he kind of likes instead of the hundreds of people dying at one point in the story, I dig that the creators are forging their own mythos that plays somewhere in between the comic books and the Christopher Nolan movies.

Additionally, the downloadable content provides some awesome alternatives for the challenge maps as a way to keep them from being too repetitive. Playing as Robin or Nightwing makes the game worthwhile since each one has unique gadgets and different fighting animations. My hope is that Rocksteady continues to pump out the DLC on a regular basis, maybe adding a new side mission or two in addition to the challenge maps because I don't want to have to wait another two years for the next sequel, which will be interesting since the next step up would be Arkham State, and I can't imagine what the scope of that game might entail.

WWE '12, on the other hand, feels like a mixed bag of a game, albeit one that's starting to grow on me. THQ, the folks in charge of both the WWE and UFC license, always appear to have the best of intentions but somehow manage to fall just a little bit short in their sports entertainment endeavors. Their latest addition is an attempt at a reboot by turning away from the Smackdown vs. RAW name they've employed for the last seven years. Unfortunately, it's not a reboot that is successful in reinventing the game, but there are some improvements that don't have me completely hating it as much as my initial impression led me to believe.

Let's look at the positives first. The game has the WWE presentation down. It looks about as perfect as fake fighting which attempts to portray itself as real but also tries not to be real ever can possibly get. The entrances capture every nuance of each wrestler, the moves are easily identifiable, and the level of customization has never been higher. As a visual experience, WWE '12 is the best wrestling game ever produced. THQ has also improved the WWE Universe mode, where you can customize and book three different television shows that build to the monthly pay per view, over last year's initial foray. To top it all off, both The Rock and Brock Lesnar are in the game, which is what really sold me on buying it the first week. The latter is an especially popular guy to make as a created superstar, so it's pretty awesome that we get the real deal this time around. Yet, the game is far from perfect.

One of the main reasons why I don't purchase games too often is because the replay factor on the games I like is really high. WWE or UFC games lend themselves to both long or short periods of play time, so playing one match or a series of them isn't a problem. But WWE '12 changes the gameplay to the point that I almost took the game back the day I purchased it. Cooler heads prevailed since the new grapple system clearly requires a learning curve that I was too stubborn to accept. Even though it was a blow to my pride, I switched the difficulty to Easy for the time being until I start to improve.

At the same time, there are still a ton of problems with playing the game. Running strikes and grapples are nearly impossible to vary thanks to the new tap and hold methods of implementation. Most of the time when I attempt the secondary running strike or grapple, I still end up attempting the standard one. For a game touting that players will have to vary their attack when facing the AI, this doesn't help. The reversals are also spotty (or I just stink at them) despite hitting the right trigger at the prompt on a fairly consistent basis.

By far the worst aspect of the game is the new dynamic camera system that's supposed to approximate WWE television presentation. Instead of the standard elevated camera utilized in the past, the game now takes the approach of WWE TV by showing most of the match from the hard camera side. While this works for their show, it completely robs the player of any depth perception and destroys any possibility of a match that flows as a quality wrestling showcase. Instead, there are tons of missed moves and comical pratfalls that makes playing more frustrating than fun. The camera also doesn't adjust when folks uninvolved in the action, like a tag partner or manager, stand in the way. In an effort to portray realism (ironic considering the subject matter of pro wrestling) by not having tag partners become translucent, they wind up interfering in huge way. Additionally, the referee is always in the way of the action in the match, which I don't remember ever being a problem in a WWE game before.

I guess I still need more time with WWE '12. Maybe getting used to the new control scheme will alleviate some of these problems. Once UFC Undisputed 3 comes out in February, though, I doubt I'll continue playing WWE '12.

Frosh
Monday, November 14 - You took the Fahrenheit 451 final and I checked your agendas. These should be entered into the grade book by the end of the week.

Tuesday, November 15 - After receiving a list of words from The Sniper, you worked with a partner to predict the usage and utilize words in context.

Wednesday, November 16 - You continued the work from the day before and also determined the definitions of a new set of words based on the way they were used in context.

Thursday, November 17 - Having completed the assignment from the previous two days, we read The Sniper together as a class.

Friday, November 18 - We read the story called The Last Spin, which served as an introduction to our Juvenile Justice unit we started the following week.

Monday, November 28 - After completing a quick write discussing punishment differences for adults and people your age, we determined the characteristics of a child, an adult and a juvenile. Our goal was to figure out for ourselves the factors that make up a juvenile and how to differentiate between the three different concepts.


Seniors
Monday, November 14 - You completed the final timed writing and turned in your books for the last annotation check. Please make sure to finish reading the book even if you didn't complete the annotations. Missing out on that 25 point annotation check is one thing, but if you don't finish reading the book, it will seriously hinder your ability to do well on the culminating paper.

Tuesday, November 15 - After turning in the final article selection assignment, you received a final work day to complete the CD Creation project.

Wednesday, November 16 - We discussed in-text citations and how to properly implement them in your paper.

Thursday, November 17 - You turned in your CD Creation project. We then continued reading through Beowulf.

Friday, November 18 - We completed reading Beowulf and you received time to complete the dialectical journals, which I will collect on Wednesday, November 30.

Monday, November 28 - You received the guidelines for a properly formatted works cited page.

"Vaya con Dios."

Over the weekend, I took in some live theatre (spelled with the "-re" at the end to make it sound both classy and fancy) in Los Angeles and attended Point Break Live LA. For those unfamiliar, Point Break is Oscar award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow's movie about surfing bank robbers and the FBI agent on a mission to stop them. It's a movie that is both awesome and incredibly ridiculous and not something one would normally associate with a sustainable stage translation, what with so many scenes taking place at the beach or in mid-flight during a spontaneous afternoon skydive.

The other thing Point Break is known for is Keanu Reeves and his ridiculous acting because he is terrible. Everyone else in the movie is either competent (Lori Petty) or having a whole lot of fun (Gary Busey), so their personalities work well with their performances, but Keanu is on another level. His line-readings in the movie, along with his truly awful acting, make for a cult classic performance and a unique stage translation. Instead of having an improv actor/comedian play the role of former college football great turned lawyer/FBI agent Johnny Utah, the crew at the Dragonfly casts the role from the audience members present. The audience member reads the lines from cue cards, which allows the individual to embrace the inner Keanu-ness of the part.

Everything is interactive, as the audience members become part of the play when the actors rob banks or run through the crowd to simulate the truly awesome chase scene. The foot chase between Johnny Utah and the bank robbing, surfer, Zen ringleader Bodhi is my favorite scene in the entire movie because the latter at one point throws a dog at the former, and they recreate that moment as faithfully as they possibly can in a theatre setting.

My only complaint is that, for the sake of streamlining the story and theatrical brevity, the cast and crew cut out a large subplot involving a separate gang of surfers who deal drugs and run guns. Some of my favorite moments come from that subplot, including Anthony Keidis shooting himself in the foot, Tom Sizemore complaining about having to wear the surfer attire and sport a stupid haircut while working undercover, and the fact that there is a character named Warchild. Still, as an experience I would enjoy attending again,
this was tops.

Frosh
Friday, October 28 - We explored irony through Alanis Morissette's song, "Ironic." In groups of no more than three, you took the existing situations in the song and modified them to be truly ironic. See, 'cause the song is only true to its namesake in that the situations described aren't, making the whole thing an exercise in irony. Crazy!

Tuesday, November 1 - After going over direct and indirect characterization, you began finding examples of both for a single character in Fahrenheit 451, taking note to use the acronym STEAL (speech, thoughts, effect, actions and looks) when finding indirect quotations.

Wednesday, November 2 - You finished Fahrenheit 451 and turned in your last batch of annotations, which I graded and returned to you. Meanwhile, the class received a work day for the Censorship Project.

Thursday, November 3 - We read through the afterword of the book and used that to discuss some major points about the novel, including how much ownership an artist has over art after its release.

Friday, November 4 - We continued our discussion and also read through the coda.

Monday, November 7 - You received a day to rehearse your Censorship Project.

Tuesday, November 8 - All students began presenting for the Censorship Project.

Wednesday, November 9 - Lather, rinse, repeat the previous day.

Thursday, November 10 - And after wrapping up the presentations, we reviewed for the final on Fahrenheit 451.

Seniors
Friday, October 27 - We started reading Beowulf with an eye for focusing on how it serves as a transition between pagan and Christian cultural beliefs for the Anglo-Saxons while also demonstrating Anglo-Saxon heroic ideals. As such, during our reading, you'll keep track of the truncated version of the story through a dialectical journal. On the left hand side, you'll summarize the section we completed in three to five sentences. On the right hand side, you'll write down the section of the heroic journey that the story falls under and two sentences dedicated to either how the section serves as the transition between the two cultural beliefs or how the section demonstrates the heroic ideals.

Tuesday, November 1 - We continued reading Beowulf because that guy is pretty cool.

Wednesday, November 2 - In an effort to better incorporate quotations into your writing, we went over TLQ guidelines, which stands for transition, lead-in, quote. The idea is that quotations should not just get dropped into your paragraphs because that's lazy. Instead, since quotations are meant to back up whatever point you're trying to make, they should be integrated seamlessly into your writing as a way to strengthen your argument.

Thursday, November 3 - This was our third timed writing day, and I asked you to incorporate a quotation into each of your three paragraphs using the TLQ guidelines from the day before.

Friday, November 4 - You received a work day for annotation or your CD Creation project.

Monday, November 7 - We continued reading Beowulf and discussed the battle with Grendel.

Tuesday, November 8 - You received the guidelines for the culminating paper, which is due December 6. The prompt asks you to trace a theme throughout the course of your novel, making sure that you support it with outside sources and valid thesis statement.

Wednesday, November 9 - We expanded on the idea for thesis statements, discussing the ATC3(or 4) format that leads to a valid thesis statement. The catch is to make sure the sentence flows and makes sense. The easiest way to figure out if it does is to read the sentence aloud to yourself after the fact.

Thursday, November 10 - You earned a work day and I forgot that your final article selection was due, so I pushed it back to the following Tuesday.

"I've made a huge mistake."

As the journalism adviser over the last few years, setbacks have come to be commonplace. No matter how great the staff -- and each year's staff has been great in its own way -- various things have happened, some the fault of the students, some the fault of me, some through nobody's fault but the fallibility of living in a technological age, that have forced the Brave Times to publish an issue after the scheduled deadline. It stinks, and nobody is ever happy when that occurs. This is why getting an issue out on time is considered a celebratory event. Everyone pulls together to create a product that close to 3000 people see on a regular basis and it takes a ton of hard work and dedication that doesn't always come together, so we rejoice when it does.

This is a result of a Google Image search for
"I've made a huge mistake." I don't understand
GOB Bluth's use of the Apple or Microsoft logo.

This year, I've had the most motivated group in all of my years as the Brave Times adviser. Part of this motivation exists intrinsically in each member of the editorial staff, as they are creative go-getters destined for success and great things. However, the other aspect of their motivation exists because I made a short-sighted promise, which is the reason for the Arrested Development quote that serves as the subject line. See, I knew these students were motivated, and I figured I could play on that by promising that if they made each of the first semester deadlines that I would do a backflip.

Adhering to a fairly regular work out schedule for the last five years or so has allowed me to get into decent shape, but the last time I played organized sports was back when I participated in Little League when I was still in middle school. Little League isn't really demanding or rigorous either, at least not the one in which I participated. Suffice to say, I am in shape, but I'm not athletic. Backflips are something athletes due: gymnasts and stuntmen and acrobats and mixed-martial artists after winning a fight; those guys do backflips. I've never attempted a backflip in my life save for when I was standing in a four foot deep swimming pool. Granted, it's been on my bucket list for awhile, but it's a frightening endeavor, what with paralysis a viable consequence of the attempt.

The staff of the Brave Times have been aware of these circumstances, and yet they've still hit every single deadline for the semester right on schedule with the final issue of the calendar year due to be put to bed tonight and published tomorrow.  This has never happened before in my tenure as adviser to the Brave Times. Ever. There were years that the staff stuck pretty closely to a schedule, but not one staff has managed to follow through on an entire semester's worth of deadlines. It's a commendable feat, and I'm pretty proud of them, even if their motivation has been to see me commit to a comic pratfall that might make me lose the feeling in my extremities. They've even gone so far as to label the checklist for the issue the "Backflip Deadline." Now I have to follow through with a backflip attempt. My wife is worried about me.

I've made a huge mistake.

Frosh
On Monday and Tuesday, you presented your individual mythology research projects. I was impressed with most, not so much with some, but never disappointed with the results.

Wednesday, we began to discuss the qualities of an epic in anticipation of reading excerpts from Homer's Odyssey. You needed to finish reading the introduction (ending on page 908) at home, which includes information on the build-up to Odysseus' journey back to Ithaca.

Today, you participated in a small group quiz by summarizing in 3 to 5 sentences an assigned section of last night's reading. We then went on to discuss your summaries. Next, our coverage of The Odyssey began. The layout of the story is surprisingly non-linear, as the first half is told in flashback as we join Odysseus towards the end of his journey home. We'll only be reading excerpts, the first of which is the one dealing with Polyphemus, the cyclops.

Seniors
You received the portfolio guidelines for the lit project on Monday. Hopefully, everyone has held on to their assignments from the lit project over these last few months as it was one of the big points I've harped on since its inception.

We then continued to read Beowulf, concluding it on Tuesday. Beowulf experienced the thrill of victory  by defeating on Grendel's mom and decapitating the already-dead Grendel and then experienced the agony of defeat by losing to the dragon. The guy deserves some slack, though, as he put up a valiant effort in his mid-70's and FOUGHT A DRAGON. It's pretty remarkable, really, and easy to see why the Anglo-Saxons revered the dude. Also, there's always the possibility of a Wiglaf spinoff. That guy has franchise potential written all over him.

There is a bonus assignment dealing with Beowulf on the Files page called Beowulf Revisited. It'll be due December 13 and have a value of up to 40 points. Last year, a student completed this assignment by re-imagining Beowulf's adventure as a series of tweets. Thinking outside the box like that is the best way to go.

Wednesday was reserved for peer editing. I gave those of you who brought a draft the Peer Edit Guide. Those who didn't bring a draft were labelled disappointments. Let me clarify here, too. This is not a difficult paper and should represent your best possible work. I would hope that bringing a draft to class is not completely out of the question, especially since the sole purpose is to improve what you have before turning it in for a grade. It's disappointing to me when students don't take advantage of the opportunities they have to improve, especially after hearing the question "How can I improve my grade?" so many times prior to the fall break. It's also the reason why I'm now more disinclined to offer bonus assignments through the blog. The Beowulf assignment will be a litmus test to see which students are really serious about improving prior to the end of the semester.

Today, we went over last minute questions for the big culminating paper due tomorrow. I am genuinely looking forward to reading these as it's as much a reflection of me as it is you. My goal is for everyone to  have improved over the course of the lit project, whether that's as a reader or a writer, preferably both. The plan is to get these papers graded by December 13, if not beforehand. My wife will be gone all day on Saturday for a work training, so in between stretches to limber myself up for my backflip attempt next week, I want to read as many of the papers as I possibly can that day.

After the Q&A, we started talking about Chaucer. He's often compared to Shakespeare, and I enjoy my basketball analogy enough to repeat it here: Chaucer is to Shakespeare as Dr. J is to Michael Jordan. The former introduced something to his respective fields (iambic pentameter and poetry to English, the slam dunk to basketball) while the latter perfected said something. While we won't be spending much time on Canterbury Tales, I really hope you take a liking to it because fart jokes never get old.

Been hit with a few shells, but I don't walk with a limp.

Spider-Man is not as
adept as 50 Cent at
surviving wounds
unscathed.

After a nice getaway weekend where Angela and I spent time with my parents, we picked Spider-Man (the dog) up from his pet hotel stay. Like always, he was very annoyed that we left him anywhere else in the first place but ultimately glad to see us.

We played around with him, and he managed to pass out early like he always does when he's spent a few days away from home. Unfortunately, after an uneventful morning, I came home to find that he looked like he was walking diagonally. After a few minutes of trying to assess the situation, I noticed that Spider-Man (the dog) began to favor his left forepaw and had a distinct limp.

My better half was still at work, so I took him to the emergency vet clinic where the doc diagnosed him with soft tissue damage. Basically, he sprained his ankle. Or dog ankle. At least, it was the dog equivalent of an ankle. My guess is that he did it while chasing a bird that he thought was playing with him or by being too nosey around a portion of our chain link fence and getting caught in it. There weren't any "deformities" like a cut or a bruise or noticeable broken bone anywhere, and his neck had the full range of motion, which are all good signs. She prescribed some (expensive) pain medication and we have to keep our boy confined while we're gone for the next week to insure that he doesn't start running and jumping around too soon and do more damage to himself. Seeing my spry, three and a half year old dog limping, though, was not a pleasant sight, so I hope Spider-Man (the dog) is back to normal really soon.

Frosh
Last Wednesday, you completed the second research day for the mythology project. This doesn't mean that your research is done, necessarily, just that we won't spend anymore class time researching in the library.

Monday, you completed the quiz on Poseidon, Hades and Demeter. We then read about the birth of Apollo and Artemis and followed that up with a detailed look at why Artemis is a perfect fit for MTV's My Super Sweet Sixteen.

Beowulf via
BetterBookTitles.com

Today, we discussed creating a proper MLA formatted works cited page. The handout gives you the proper punctuation and information needed. The first entry is for a book; the second is for an online resource. Remember that all entries need to be listed in alphabetical order according to the author's last name. If you need further assistance, I always use Citation Machine. We then discussed Apollo, who went on to eventually get his own theatre, and some of his progeny. Expect a quiz on these folks tomorrow.

Seniors
On Wednesday, you finally got the chance to turn in your CD Creation projects. I graded them the following day, and it's hard to put into words how truly impressed I was on a whole with everyone's work, especially compared to last year. My first attempt at doing this project didn't go very well and I'm glad that the tweaks and changes myself and Ms. Windt made to it worked so well. Of course, you folks were also a vital component as well, and for that I thank you. Good job.

That day we also experienced the big showdown between Beowulf and Grendel. We'll resume the story of the Danes' favorite outsourced exterminator when we return from the fall break.

Monday, we discussed thesis statements and my version of the ATSO3. Utilize the ATC3(or 4) (author, title, claim and 3 or 4 sub-topics) correctly, and you will have yourself a thesis statement that is pure analysis. At least, that is, if it's written well and flows as a sentence. Just including the parts and not paying attention to the whole will hurt your thesis. Make sure that anything you write in the paper can tie back to your thesis, as it serves as the road map for the entire paper. I'll be hammering this point home in ways that will ultimately annoy you, but it's my hope that everyone gets the idea that a thesis is the most important sentence in your entire paper.

Today, you completed the final timed writing and turned in your fully annotated books. The optional revision, which will take the place of your lowest scored, previous timed writing, is due Friday. If you opt to not complete the revision, the in-class portion will still be due that day. And Thursday, you will turn in your final article selection. We're in the home stretch now. Keep December 3 on the brain in the meantime.

Top Numbered Something

McBride writes his own classroom blog called The Active Voice, and he brought up a cool idea when he listed his ten favorite soundtracks. Here are mine.

Angus: Music From
The Motion Picture

10. Wayne's World 2
9. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
8. Orange County
7. Garden State
6. Scream 2
5. Songs in the Key of Springfield - The Simpsons
4. Once More, With Feeling - Buffy the Vampire Slayer
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
2. Mallrats
1. Angus


Please note that the soundtrack to Orange County is not my fancy way of fitting in one of the many soundtracks to the popular FOX teen dramedy, The OC, but is instead a Colin Hanks/Jack Black movie from around the same time.


Frosh
You went to library to conduct research for the mythology project. Remember that the note chart I gave you is for your benefit. I won't be collecting it, but it's a great place to keep all of the information you need for your final product. Tomorrow will look a lot like today did, so come prepared to make the most of your time.

Seniors
In pro wrestling, when someone "cuts a promo," they conduct an interview or monologue as a means to advance a feud that ultimately results in a big time match. Back in the 80's, Hulk Hogan told kids to eat their vitamins and say their prayers while Ric Flair talked about being a wheelin', dealin', kiss-stealin' son of a gun. The 90's saw Steve Austin yell about opening cans of something or other, and The Rock...well, The Rock wanted people to just bring it. Now, John Cena insists that not seeing him is the biggest jab he can hurl at his opponent while Randy Orton usually glowers menacingly while the announcers call him a viper. Cutting a promo has a long and storied history which I think can be traced all the way back to the Anglo Saxons. The whole point is to get people to want to see that final battle between the two opposing forces. What's a better battle than the embodiment of evil and the personification of all things that the Anglo Saxons hold dear? And that is what we get to tackle tomorrow...or possibly Wednesday since we'll also be going over the culminating paper tomorrow and that might take a little while.

Skatescapades

Jealous...?

It sometimes amazes me that there are so many physical things for which I have the capacity to expand my talent and how much those same things can be completely useless. To wit, you'd never know it by looking at me, but I am a terrific roller skater. I'm okay using in-line skates, but my slap a pair of four wheel roller skates on my feet, and I take off like a man possessed, no matter the amount of time that's elapsed since I last tried my hand (or feet, as it were) at the matter. This because there used to be a Roller City skate rink where the Albertson's on Foothill and Vineyard now resides, and just about everyone I knew growing up, myself included, had at least one birthday party there. I honed my skills during those formative years, and it wouldn't surprise me if I would have an easier time riding around on some skates as opposed to trying to ride a bike again.

Like most things in my life, I have my wife to thank for skatescapades. A friend from back in her high school days had a 30th birthday party on Saturday at a roller rink. Coincidentally, the last time I skated was at Ms. Miller's 30th birthday party at a different roller rink. The morning of the event, I could barely contain my excitement to the point that I annoyed Angela with my own version of "Shake Your Booty" by KC and the Sunshine Band, replacing the word shake with skate. This was something that got very old, very fast. Regardless, I was on fire skating in that circle on Saturday. I knew in advance that I didn't even need to work out that morning because of the afternoon plans. During the entirety of the two hours, I only fell once as I attempted to spin to a stop coming out of a turn a little too fast. But my jeans didn't tear and I didn't bleed, so I got right back up and started again. There's a metaphor for life in there. Also, the birthday girl's husband is a bit of shutterbug, so he captured this awesome shot of me mugging for the camera...on skates.

I really think I missed my calling for being a server at Sonic.

Frosh
Last Tuesday, we picked up The Greek Gods from the library and began reading the first three chapters, which you then finished for the quiz that took place on Thursday. It's a no-frills book that provides some pertinent information about the Pantheon as well as several nature myths. Feel free to read ahead, but know that we will be reading portions of some of the stories in class.

Wednesday, we watched a video about the Greek Gods to allow you to figure out which mythological figures interested you the most for your research project. You turned in a page of notes on the video at the end of the period.

Thursday, you took a quiz on Zeus, Hera and Athena. We then discussed your mythology research project. This is the first time I'm doing this particular version of the mythology research project as I am adapting an assignment originally designed by Mrs. Batdorf. I look forward to seeing what you guys produce. Half of the grade depends on your presentation of your final product for which you have to dress up.

Friday, we moved forward.

Our plan for today and tomorrow is to go to the library where you will start your research on your mythological figure. The project is due November 29, and presentations will take place that day and November 30.

Seniors
We finished discussing theme statements on Tuesday and then tackled TLQ guidelines. This will be a pretty vital component to your culminating paper, so get used to utilizing this format.

Finally, after much deliberation, we began reading Beowulf on Wednesday. While we didn't get very far, those first few stanzas are a wonderful set up because the Hrothgar's subjects exemplify everything the Anglo Saxons are not, allowing Beowulf to really shine as the ultimate embodiment of a hero when he arrives. Keep in mind that we are not reading the Seamus Heaney version, nor is it the full text, so I encourage you to check those out if this interests you in the least because it's a fun story buried underneath all of that pesky literature.

On Thursday, you completed your fourth in-class timed writing and turned in your annotations and fourth Aritcle Selection.

For Friday, I informed you that I would not be collecting a revision for the fourth timed writing due to an abundance of factors coming together that we don't need to get into here. Suffice to say, we're both getting a break. You also used the period (and I mean that in the loosest possible terms) to work on your CD Creation project, which is still due Wednesday, November 10.

Today, we continue reading Beowulf and tomorrow, you'll receive the guidelines for the culminating paper.

And mustard! Honey mustard, at that!

Dynamic Duo!

Yes, Brock Lesnar lost. I still had a great time at UFC 121, though. There are lots of fighters that I will always pay money to see, Brock Lesnar chief among them, but I'm really a huge fan of the sport. The show demonstrated the sport pretty well, both good and bad but more the former than the latter. Even though Jake Shields stunk up the joint and should write a thank you card to the two judges that gave him the win, the rest of the fights were entertaining enough that I still had a great time despite my guy losing.

The night also served as a welcome distraction from the previous two days as things with the dog we adopted did not work out. My wife and I were very disappointed and saddened by the turn of events but feel we made the right decision for us and, hopefully, for her.

Halloween was also pretty fun, and I enjoyed seeing the costumes of the folks who decided to dress up. I included a picture of my wife and I as Batman and Robin. And before I get any snarky remarks (he says as he laughs at the idea of actually getting any kind of comments on the blog), there was a female Robin at one point in the Batman mythos. Her name is Stephanie Brown who started her career under the alias of Spoiler and served as the fourth Robin (there have been five total) for a brief period of time before Batman fired her. She died, came back to life and now has taken on the mantle of Batgirl. Comics are awesome and confusing. A hearty high-five to the person who can name the other four Robins by their secret identities.

By the by, my Xbox came back from its repair trip today and I promptly fired up the Netflix to find that Batman: Under the Red Hood, a direct to DVD animated release from last August, is now available in their Watch Instantly section. If you're a fan of Batman or good (animated) action with an intriguing and at times heart-wrenching story, I'd definitely recommend checking it out. To my mind, it's the best DC animated release so far, even edging out Justice League: New Frontier.

Now it's time to play catch up.

Frosh
On Friday, October 22, I was gone and you moved forward.

Monday, October 25, you took the Elements of Lit test and turned in those notes, which took up most of the period. I've since added those tests to the gradebook. It's definitely a more difficult test than you may have anticipated because there were no multiple choice options and instead relies on your ability to remember your notes. But keep in mind, there was nothing on the test that wasn't also in your notes. That's how I like to operate for your tests so you know how best to prepare for them.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, October 26 and 27, you worked on the Root Words vocabulary worksheet. We went over why root words are important (what with them allowing folks to more easily define new words if able to correctly identify the root) and turned our focus to how many of the roots find their origins in Greek mythology (e.g. narcissist, herculean, titanic).

I collected the assignment on Thursday, October 28, which is when we began our mythology introduction. If you take away nothing else from this beginning portion of our unit, at the very least understand that myth does not automatically equate to something that is untrue. Keep in mind that myths merely explain that which is unexplainable in an attempt to get a better understanding of the world or universe at large.

After moving forward once again last Friday, we concluded the mythology introduction notes today by defining and discussing a few key terms:

• fairy tale
• parable
• legend
• myth (It's kind of redundant, I know...)
• epic
• folk tale

We will be reading some of these in class, and others may or may not show up on a test. (Hint: that usually means they WILL show up on a test.)

You need your student ID cards tomorrow and have an ORU due Friday with a section four that includes a theme statement.

Seniors
Last Friday, October 22, I was gone and you worked on completing the Anglo Saxon laws worksheet in anticipation of our Beowulf reading.

We shifted gears slightly on Monday and Tuesday (October 25 and 26) when we examined the hero journey and hero archetypes, respectively. However, the concept still applies to Beowulf because he's an epic hero. When we start reading the actual (translated) poem this week, it'll make some more sense, but understand that he's the manliest man up to that point in the history of storytelling. If there were a way for me to finagle a reference to The Rock as a manlier man right now, I'd do so, but every attempt I made sounded really weak. Also, neither of these guys stand a chance of losing to Cain Velasquez, so there's no way I would have to eat crow later. Additionally on Monday, you were assigned the theme worksheet which was due today, but I pushed it back one more day so that I could continue checking your theme statements. But more on that in a second.

Wednesday and Thursday, October 27 and 28, we explored evil and all that entails. See, Grendel is the living embodiment of evil and an all around jerk. We're looking at both sides here, but, spoiler alert, the good guy is going to win in the end. At the same time, too often we (in the big picture, humanity sense of we) tend to define things by what they aren't when it comes to difficult concepts like evil. You are all to be commended for attempting to define it on your own, and I look forward to reading the varied definitions you wrote.

Friday, October 29, I began checking your theme statements and continued to do so today. This took a lot longer than I thought and will continue into tomorrow when I plan to really finish checking them. The important idea to keep in mind is that a theme statement needs to be universal and not tied to the text in any way. Remember that just because we framed theme statements as the main idea (or lesson, as some put it) of a story doesn't mean that it needs to be positive. Too many of the theme statements I'm seeing refer to what characters should do or labeling actions as evil. Some of your books are dark and have pessimistic views of the world. The theme needs to reflect that.

I'll collect the theme worksheet tomorrow. On Thursday, November 4, you have your fourth annotation check and Article Selection 4 both due. Don't forget that next Wednesday, November 10, is the due date for your CD Creation project. Finally, your annotations need to be complete by Tuesday, November 16. This is a lot of work, but if you've paced yourself out well, it should be manageable.

Why Brock Lesnar never kept a beard during his WWE run will forever elude me.

With Veronica Mars arriving tomorrow, I'm left to wonder how Spider-Man will handle having another dog in the house. He's always had the attitude of a much bigger dog. Whenever he's hung out with them, he likes to put the bigger dogs in line by rough housing in an attempt to get the larger canines to chase him around. Dogs his size or smaller are another matter. He's always had a rough time with those dogs, getting a distinct growl going or just walking away from them altogether. It's going to be quite the adjustment for him tomorrow, but I'm hoping he figures it out.

Frosh
We continued reading The Scarlet Ibis. The older brother can be a bit of a jerk, but you haven't seen the worst of him yet. Keep track of those details and their larger meaning on the story chart. You are getting plenty of time to do this well since it isn't due until Tuesday, October 25.

Seniors
You worked on the Anglo-Saxon laws worksheet, which will be due at the end of class on Friday. Remember that examining the laws a society enacts is the best way to analyze the values that society holds dear. Tomorrow, the the third Article Selection is due, and I'll be checking your books for the next sections annotations. Be prepared to dive deep into the timed writing because there's more asked of you on this one than on any of the previous writings we've done in class before.

BROCKTOBER COUNTDOWN
Here's a video of Brock Lesnar giving an F5 to a shark.

Introducing Veronica Mars the Dog

Say hello to Veronica Mars (the dog).

My wife has never been able to solely name a pet. She's the youngest of three kids, so the pets her family had were named by her older siblings. When we first discussed getting a dog, I jokingly said that we should name it Spider-Man, and the name stuck once we met the undersized dude. Ever since we bought our house, we've been in the market for another dog. Angela, throughout all of the talk of adding a new furry friend to our household, has been insistent that she get to name our new addition. For a long time, she had her heart set on French Fry, no matter the dog we inevitably get. I fully supported this because of my love of the cartoon show, Futurama, as I could call the dog Fry. Once the naming pendulum swung back my way, it would make room for me to add a Bender to our brood, allowing the two to have intergalactic adventures. Never mind that I'm thinking two dogs in the future, I wanted the opportunity for matching names.

We were also waiting for the right time to add a new pet. One of the many things life has taught me is that there's never a right time for anything. Things just happen because the universe is equal parts random, beautiful and ugly. Which is why, despite the fact that we've had a weekend trip in place to attend UFC 121 for months, we still decided to adopt a three year old tricolor beagle from Rancho Cucamonga Animal Care & Services, which is a local no-kill shelter. We've been checking the site regularly for the past few weeks, and "Sadie" popped up. The moment my wife saw the picture (which is not the picture above, unfortunately), she immediately thought the dog was on some sort of caper. When anyone thinks of capers in the Talbot household, Veronica Mars, a short-lived detective show that launched the career of Kristen Bell, immediately comes to mind. The name suits her well, another reason that my wife is awesome in ways that words can't fully describe.

How Spider-Man will react to Veronica Mars back at our house will be another matter for another day. The two met and didn't hate each other, which is a promising sign. The shelter has to spay Veronica Mars before we can take her home, and the earliest that can happen is Thursday.

Frosh
We began reading The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst. While reading the tragic tale of Doodle and his older brother, you'll be on the look out for details that lend themselves to larger meanings. The story chart, which is due Tuesday, Brockctober 25, will need to have ten of those details along with the larger meanings in order to receive full credit. Additionally, you'll need to create a theme statement for the overall story; hopefully the chart will aid you in doing so. Look for patterns and motifs, especially Hurst's use of color.

Seniors
Today we started our unit on Beowulf by looking at a brief history on Anglo Saxons. It was a pretty tumultuous time in what is now known as England, but it makes for some fascinating bits of information. We'll look a little bit more at the historical context of the time period in the coming days. The key thing to remember is that Beowulf represents a transition between the pagan ways of the past to the newer ideas Christianity represents.

BROCKTOBER COUNTDOWN
As excitement for Brocktober 23 continues to build, let's take a look at Brock Lesnar's debut fight in the main event of K1 Dynamite USA's show at the LA Coliseum back in 2007. Just three short years later, and Brock is the UFC champ. The amazing thing about this show is that the guy made his MMA debut in the main event of a major non-UFC pay per view. Sure, it did lousy business because any company not named UFC has a hard time doing anything right when trying to market a big event. Still, Brock Lesnar's debut!

Finals Day (for me, that is...)

Today is the last day my ULV class meets for the semester. I stayed up way too late writing my paper, which was a minimum of two pages, but I managed to write enough to almost fill up the fifth page. The focus was an interview with Charles Rose, ALHS' school psychologist, who is a heck of a guy and really opened my eyes to everything his job entails. Hint: it's tough.

Frosh
First period managed to finish off part one (as designated by our textbook) of The Odyssey while fourth period still had about a page and a half left, which they now need to read for homework. Odysseus sacrificed his men to the Scylla, avoided the Charybdis only to have the boys betray his trust for their stomachs by eating the cattle. I'm still very disappointed that this textbook doesn't include the cooked and skinned cattle rising from the dead to freak Odysseus' men out because nothing beats a zombie hamburger. Remember that all notes will be collected for points with each section getting a designated amount to be determined later. Also, the Mything in Action (say it out loud!) final draft is due tomorrow. Everyone needs to have three in-text citations and a Works Cited page.

Seniors
Everyone turned in their portfolios (hopefully) and then received a day to work on the Beowulf Revisited assignment which is due Friday and worth 100 points. Many of you asked some really good questions about how to apply your own experiences to the story. I was also impressed at how many of you are making the attempt to look at the Beowulfs and Grendels that exist in the world symbolically. These should make for some fun reading.