YOUCANHASCHEESEBURGER

Spring Break was fun, wasn't it? Mine can be summed up in one word: Youcanhascheeseburger.

YOUCANHASCHEESEBURGER - $5.50 worth
of delectable.

I CAN HAZ?

When I look back on my life and think of how I came to the point of suffering my first heart attack, I'll look fondly on this picture knowing that it was all worth it. This is no ordinary cheeseburger; it's a cheeseburger that replaces regular buns with grilled-cheese sandwiches. Normally, this is the kind of novelty food item that sounds good on paper due to the decadence and pure gluttony involved but ultimately proves untenable when actually eaten.

That is not the case here.

Somehow, the fine folks at The Brunch Box overcame this problem. I'm guessing because they use Texas toast for the bread on the grilled cheese sandwiches. Either way, it's the most delicious burger I've ever consumed, and I plan to make this a ritual of every visit I make to Portland, Oregon.


Frosh
Way back last Thursday, March 17, you spent the period self-editing your most recent draft of the essay using the self-edit guide provided to you. The next day, Friday, March 18, you turned in the final draft of the Character Analysis Essay along with the Character Quote Sheet. We spent time that day discussing what made this particular assignment different and why so many of you chose to complete it and hand in the essay. The rest of our time was spent discussing the final on Romeo & Juliet and what you could expect for it.

Tuesday, we returned from spring break and you took the aforementioned final.

Today, you received the pre-interview assignment for To Kill a Mockingbird. Remember that any interview subject must have read the novel previously and be over 30 years old. Make sure that you ask your subject to elaborate on their answers so you can get enough information to fill out the entire sheet. We then read the article dealing with the Choctaw Three, who were convicted of killing a baby whose mere existence came into question. If you're interested in reading more about them, there's a fairly in-depth article located here that provides an update to their story. You then spent the last part of the period in groups determining what information in the article goes towards their innocence and what information leads the reader to believe they are guilty. We'll continue the article and talk about this some more tomorrow.

Seniors
Thursday, March 17, we continued our analysis of Cool Hand Luke. The following day, Friday, March 18, you took your final on The Stranger and then completed the film.

Upon our return from spring break on Tuesday, we spent the period discussing Lucas Jackson and Meursault. As I said in class that day, I hold no grand notions that every single student fully read The Stranger, which is really too bad considering what an easy book it is to get through. Understanding it's deeper meaning may be a bit tougher, but the prose of The Stranger itself is simple to read. And now that opportunity is squandered along with the points available for the unit. Our next book, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, is much deeper, longer and more difficult to understand initially. It's also the final unit of the year and you're last chance to improve your grade. If you're already in a good place grade-wise, then keep on making that happen and stay the course. If you're not? Skipping the reading won't help.

Today, you read Albert Camus' preface to The Stranger and began answering questions about it with the whole period at your disposal. The assignment is due on Friday.

Book 12 of 2011

I finished this on my iPad while vacationing in Portland.

12) Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell takes a look at what really makes people stand out and achieve success. Surprise, the classic story of the self-made man or woman who brought him or herself up by their bootstraps to become super rich and powerful in their field is often not the case because people don't recognize the opportunities available to them and not others. Things like the cultural landscape of how they were raised, the window of time when they were born and the chance to put time into an interest that will have an impact on society later on all factor into making people outliers.

Gladwell presents his findings and the anecdotes preceding them well, usually starting off with the surface view of the story and then peeling back the layers to reveal the previously ignored circumstances that determined the level of success the person or institution reaches. He creates a puzzle with each chapter because once he explains the first idea of birthdays and hockey all-stars, it's clear that many success stories have more going for them than the narrative presented. Figuring out the true reason of the subject's achievement winds up being pretty fun.

Chapters that specifically stuck out include the idea of the home life's effect on high IQ individuals and cultural language in a global setting. Also, the idea that talent is far from innate is one that I really enjoyed as a teacher because the hard work and dedication needed to become an expert, the 10,000 hour rule, applies to a variety of fields and shows how important hard work is to being successful.

UFC 128

UFC 128 is a card filled with replacement fighters, but those replacements have made for way more interesting contests than the original card presented. Plus, with the Spike special an hour prior to the pay per view and the Facebook specific fights taking place before that, one has the opportunity to watch five hours of UFC on Saturday. Crazy.

The one notable undercard preliminary fight that isn't on the Spike card or airing on Facebook but should probably be on the main card is Joseph Benavides fighting Ian Loveland. Benavides is awesome and will win by guillotine, probably in the first round, so it might make its way onto the main card anyway, but UFC should be striving to get over the newer smaller weightclasses as much as possible and putting this on the pay per view would really help.

Mirko Cro Cop vs. Brendan Schaub - Cro Cop is done. He occasionally shows flashes of the Pride dude that could boast of a left leg that sends guys to the hospital and right that goes to the cemetery, but that's no longer the case. Based on his interviews, Cro Cop isn't taking Schaub seriously either, which is a huge mistake. Schaub should take the win with a first round TKO.

Nate Marquardt vs. Dan Miller - Miller is filling in for Yoshihiro Akiyama, who won't be able to make the show due to the recent earthquake in Japan. Both guys are grinders who have recently lost to Chael Sonnen with Marquardt possessing the edge in the stand-up. Marquardt also joins Kenny Florian by earning the "choker" label. When it comes to important, career-defining or title shot-earning opportunities, Marquardt has a tendency to fail. He did so against the aforementioned Sonnen and more recently against Yushin Okami. Miller is similar to Jon Fitch without the win streak and slightly less boring in that he's talented but not great and known mostly for his tenacity and refusal to ever turn down a fight. Most are picking Marquardt here, but I'm going against the grain when I pick Miller by decision. Nate Marquardt would have probably won against Akiyama because the latter is undersized for the weight division and always gets sucked into having an exciting fight even if it's one that results in a loss. The entire game plan has to change for Marquardt when faced with someone who's entire strategy is the complete opposite of someone like Akiyama. Marquardt is his own worst enemy, and, really, I just like Dan Miller more.

Kamal Shalorus vs. Jim Miller - This is a fight that can have some huge title implications once Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard determine the champion at the end of May and after Anthony Pettis and Clay Guida settle things in June. Since Sotiroupolus lost, Miller has the most convincing record to challenge for the title. He's only lost twice in his 21 fight career, both times by decision, to Edgar and Maynard. While he's facing an undefeated opponent in Shalorus who is a tremendously powerful wrestler, Miller has much more refined punching and great jiu-jitsu. Shalorus swings wildly and could probably knock out a horse if his punches ever connected, but most guys are smart enough to know how to avoid them. Miller will get the win with a submission, probably a choke or a leglock, and hopefully move into title contention in the eyes of both the UFC brass and the fans.

Eddie Wineland vs. Urijah Faber - Before I start, let's make sure everyone agrees that Eddie Wineland is no joke. He's a former bantamweight champion on a four fight win streak who's quick and able to knock people out with one punch. Most guys should not mess with Eddie Wineland.

Urijah Faber is not most guys. Urijah is a ball of energy that has a gas tank that lasts for days. He's well-rounded and his butt-chin isn't just for show: taking a punch is no problem for him. Urijah is mentally tough and has a ground game that takes out most guys who are renowned for their submissions. Urijah was the biggest fish of the small pond that was WEC, and all signs point to him shining brighter in the UFC...provided he wins here. Make no mistake, the pressure is on Faber to win and win impressively. Considering that the next season of The Ultimate Fighter features featherweights and bantamweights and that the only person Faber has ever admitted to disliking is current UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz, it only makes sense for UFC to name those two the coaches. But the only way that can happen is if Faber wins here, which isn't guaranteed. 

However, Faber can and, I think, will win this fight. Wineland is a good enough wrestler to be an MMA fighter but it's not a part of his game that stands out. Wineland relies on speed and power, something at the lighter weight class that Faber has in spades. I suspect that Urijah will manage a takedown, definitely by the second but probably in the first, and secure a guillotine or a rear-naked choke. Then expect Urijah Faber to attain the level of fame of a GSP or a Rampage because the guy has charisma enough to be tied for my wife's favorite fighter.

Jon Jones vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (c) for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship - There is so much to say about this fight that it's hard to figure out where to start.

Shogun has long been considered the best light heavyweight in the world and yet he gets the least amount of respect. The blame can partially rest on his long track record of injuries. He lost to Forrest Griffin in his UFC debut and was out for a year and half with a blown out knee. He looked terrible in beating Mark Coleman, defeated a declining Chuck Liddell and then found himself in a controversial loss to Lyoto Machida. When he avenged that loss to capture the Light Heavyweight Championship, Rua did so on a second busted knee; he wasn't expected back until the middle of the summer. Yet, here he is again, supposedly healed and ready to fight sooner than expected after a ten month layoff. 

The champ has a vast arsenal with a brutal submission game and even more impressive muay Thai skills.  With his opponent's long, skinny legs, it's natural to assume, and Rua stated as much on the Countdown show, that the leg kicks will be part of his game plan. Rua is also not afraid to bum rush his opponent to get inside and utilize his powerful striking like he did against a much more versatile and refined striker in Lyoto Machida. One need only look at his fight against Kevin Randleman to see the kind of damage Rua's leg locks can do. This is a guy that has a long and storied list of fighters that he's defeated, many in the first round, yet he's the underdog in the fight. This is madness. How can a guy that has the pedigree and skill at the level of Mauricio Rua be so under recognized in his first title defense?

Because he's facing Jon Jones.

Picture the most perfect example of an MMA fighter: a long reach, unheard of strength, elite wrestling skills, unorthodox striking and flexible, versatile limbs to apply a variety of submissions. This is Jon Jones, and he's only been fighting for just under three years. He's only 23. In fact, there are a lot of parallels between Jones and Rua. Rua was the same age as Jones when he started to set the MMA world on fire, earning the best light heavyweight in the world moniker. And like Rua at the time, Jones is only getting better every time he fights. 

Is this the fight that shows that Jones can hang at the elite level? That he can handle the pressure of the spotlight and deliver a championship to his mantle at home? Should Jones be able to utilize his immense 84.5 inch reach, an 8.5 inch advantage, with an effective jab, that should counteract Shogun's leg kicks. He won't want to get into a clinch with Shogun, despite that working wonders against the other fighters he's faced in the past because Shogun has effective striking in that position. And if he bum rushes Jones, Shogun is only asking for a takedown. 

The takedown in this fight is key; the last Machida fight showed that Shogun is not someone who prides himself on takedown defense as much as he relies on his grappling ability to allow him to stand when he is taken down. Machida has terrible wrestling for an MMA fighter whereas Jones is one of the top three, and an argument can be made for him being the top, wrestlers in the entire sport. His reach allows him to be an effective, brutal striker in his opponent's guard and his ground grappling is at a level that allows him to take on side control and mount with ease. 

Ultimately, that's where I see this fight going. Shogun can win should he keep it standing because, while Jones has unorthodox strikes with his spinning back elbows and kicks that come out of nowhere, he still looks like he's trying to incorporate things that he saw in a video game into a real fight, and that can be dangerous. However, Jones appears to be as smart as he is talented, so I expect Jon "Bones" Jones to win by TKO in the second round due to a barrage of powerful elbows that overwhelm Rua in his guard. 

It does a body good.

As the journalism adviser, recruiting new talent each year is a constant struggle. For the third year in a row, I decided to represent the Brave Times at Alta Loma's 8th Grade Welcome Night to attempt to entice eager, incoming students to write for what I consider to be the best newspaper in the district. It's always an interesting sight to see the people who show up, parents and students alike, all on their phones, with earbuds securely in place and video game devices at the ready. Just about everyone was attentive during the presentation, but very few of the people waiting beforehand spent the time interacting with those around them. I was also just as guilty of this, too, so don't think I'm placing myself above the fray. The experience left me thinking about a video I recently caught on YouTube, similar to one I posted back in December. This one, though, is directly related to education and what reform for it might truly look like.

Tell me what you think of the video. I'm curious about what students would have to say about it.

Frosh
This past Monday, you turned in your final review and study guide for Romeo & Juliet. I answered your questions about the essay and then gave you the rest of the period and the whole of Tuesday to focus on getting as much writing done as possible. Always remember that writing an essay out of order whenever you have the opportunity is actually the ideal way to get the best possible outcome. My experience shows that writing the thesis first should be the goal, followed by finding concrete details and evidence, and then writing the body paragraphs. Introductions and conclusions, while important, pale in comparison to the body of an essay. Speaking of which, below is the layout of your body paragraph, using the Jane Schaffer format.

1. Topic Sentence - State a reason why the character(s) you listed is/are to blame relating to one of your sub-topics in your thesis statement.
2. Concrete Detail (CD) - Incorporate a quotation from the play that supports the topic sentence with a proper citation. Your second semester ORUs demonstrate how to incorporate quotations.
3. Commentary (CM) - Explain how and why the quotation in your CD supports the TS using at least two sentences.
4. CM
5. CD
6. CM
7. CM
8. Transition Sentence - Write a sentence that allows you to flow from this paragraph to your next body paragraph. You won't need this sentence in your final body paragraph.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. Concluding Sentence - Conclude your body paragraphs in order to flow into your conclusion.

Today, you focused on peer editing. Tomorrow, you may use this marked up draft or modify your existing draft for the purposes of self-editing. My suggestion is to do whatever work now as opposed to later so you can save yourself the headache of having to do everything the night before. If you wrote it out, type it; if you chose to type it, put it in MLA format.

Seniors
We discussed a few terms on Monday that will hopefully inform your reading of part two of The Stranger. Keep these terms in mind as the magistrate questions Meursault and also wonder where the focus is during the trial.

Yesterday, we took a look at the idea of savior symbolism in comparison to our discussions on existentialism. In order to properly study this idea, we're taking a look at Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman. Keep in mind that you're taking notes on this for the purpose of seeing how Luke fits into either idea: savior or existentialist.

Book 11 of 2011

I finished this while my wife folded laundry, watching an episode of the Real Housewives.

11) The Imperfectionists: A Novel by Tom Rachman
Tom Rachman's first book is the (relatively) present-day story of an American newspaper in Rome and the people it employs. Each chapter focuses on an individual involved with the paper in some capacity with interstitial chapters detailing the history of the paper from its inception through the current period the regular stories inhabit. Additionally, the chapters all have a headline from an actual event dating when the chapter takes place.

Monopoly!

Zuffa purchases Strikeforce

Look, I know that I post about the world of MMA more than a teacher on his teaching blog probably should, but this is pretty substantial news that broke today, so it feels timely and poses so many questions that there was no way I could ignore it. Sure, I COULD have ignored it, but I don't feel like ignoring it. I promise to write something non-MMA related prior to my UFC 128 rundown.

In fact, click on the link for all of the available details because rehashing them here isn't my goal. My concerns center around the two big questions this purchase raises. 

Question #1: Does this purchase make Strikeforce the UFC's farm league?

I can't see any other alternative. Dana White claims that it's "business as usual" over at Strikeforce and that all contracts will be honored. The idea is that it will be run as a separate brand, independent of Dana's influence, especially since he has had some choice words for many of the fighters, commentators and several decision makers over at Showtime. And there has been some precedent set before when Zuffa (UFC's parent company) owned WEC. The latter was run as a separate group with its own matchmakers and separate television deals. But now all of that has changed. If the rating of UFC on Versus 3 tells us anything, it's that more fight nights ultimately means that fewer of the live TV events are special and people can pick and choose what they want. If this is diluted even further with five more championships, all that does is create more market confusion. My prediction is that once the existing television contracts run their course, which could be as far out as three years from now, Strikeforce and any existing contracts will be folded into the UFC. What does this mean for guys like Josh Barnett, Paul Daley and Dan Henderson? By that time, Barnett and Henderson could be retired so it may be a moot point, but guys like Daley, a guy fired and banned "for life" from the UFC by Dana White for throwing a sucker punch at Josh Koscheck after the end of their fight? Or Frank Shamrock, a commentator who has never had a great relationship with UFC management? I guess it's no fun to be them.

Question #2: With the only viable alternative North American league now under the same corporate umbrella as the number one promotion, does this make the case for a fighter's union all the stronger?

There's a lot of talk about unions in the news lately, and that's another discussion for another time. But theses fighters are now under, for all intents and purposes, a monopoly. They are at the whims of Zuffa. For all of the talk about Scott Coker and Strikeforce operating under their own jurisdiction when it comes time to negotiate contracts with free agents, I can't see that working out well for the fighters involved. Is the solution a union? If Dana White doesn't think so, then I can't see how a fighter's union would ever get off the ground. Major League Baseball has a union, as does the NFL, NHL and the NBA. A union could provide security, pensions, health insurance and insure that fighters have security and negotiating leverage. The examples I've cited aren't sports that operate in the same fashion as MMA operates, and I'm far from an expert on labor practices. I definitely don't have the answers here, but I think the question is worth exploring by those who study these things a bit more closely than me.

Frosh

This past Monday, you received the R & J Timeline assignment, which is due on Tuesday, available on School Loop and soon will be here on this site also. 

Wednesday, you received the Character Quote Sheet which you can use as a method of pre-writing for your previously assigned Character Analysis Essay. This will be due when you turn in your final draft.

Thursday, I gave you the Act IV/V Review, which is due on Monday along with your Act IV/V Study Guide. We also reviewed thesis statements on Thursday, something I hope everyone remembers, but if not, well, that's the whole point of review. To reiterate, please remember that thesis statements are ONE sentence, located at the end of the first paragraph and establish the main idea of your entire essay. If you needed to answer the prompt and could only do so with one sentence, the thesis statement would be it. Utilize the ATSO(3/4) formula (author, title, subject, opinion with 3 to 4 sub-topics) to guide you:

In William Shakespeare's play, Romeo & Juliet, ______ and ______ are the most responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because _____________, _______________, and _________________.

Fill in the first two blanks with who you believe to be the most to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. The three (or four) final blank spots should be short phrases (between 5 to 10 words long) that serve as reasons why the one or two people you choose are most to blame. Keep in mind that you can pick anyone in the play but be very careful in choosing because the whole point of the essay is to support your choice with evidence from the text.

The essay will be the main focus of the week prior to Spring Break since we also spent the majority of Monday through Thursday to finish reading the play. The tragedy finally unfolds almost exclusively due to a breakdown in communication: Capulet never listens to what his daughter truly wants; Romeo doesn't listen to Friar Laurence's warnings about taking things slow, Tybalt never listens to Capulet about letting Romeo's party crashing go; Juliet doesn't listen to herself about not wanting to get married; the letter never gets to its intended target explaining to Romeo the plan to let the star-crossed lovers live happily ever after. And so on. The lesson here is to never fall in love. Wait, no. The lesson is to listen. Or maybe the lesson is something else entirely for you to determine. Still, that listening part is still a good idea.

Seniors

On Monday, we read "The Myth of Sisyphus" by Albert Camus and toiled endlessly to understand it. HAH! See what I did there? Camus' take always reads to me as an optimistic view of existentialism. Your results may vary. Tuesday, you spent the period answering questions dealing with Camus' impression of Sisyphus as well as your own impression of the guy destined/doomed to push a rock up a hill.

Wednesday, my wife was sick, so I allowed you the period to read The Stranger.

Hopefully, you took advantage of that opportunity because Thursday, you had a quiz on part one of the novel. Remember to have the whole book finished by next Friday, March 18. There'll be another test on it, this one a bit longer and a bit more difficult.

Book 10 of 2011

I finished this on a Sunday afternoon as my wife was breaking in our new oven by baking caramel cups.

10) The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
Atul Gawande is a renowned surgeon who discovered that checklists ensure good communication between individuals working together and create an environment in which it is more difficult to make mistakes. He details situations where checklists would have been beneficial, his own experience creating and implementing a checklist in his own field and the success of utilizing a checklist in a wide variety of occupations, from investment banker to rock star.

Unfortunately, this book was a chore to get through, initially. I found myself wondering where my personal "cut bait" point for a book lies. Had I not pledged to read at least 25 books this year, I just might have given up on this one. Since this was another non-fiction book with a large notes section detailing the author's citations, the text only took up 193 pages, as opposed to the 224 listed, and by the time I was considering giving up, I felt I had come too far. The first half just feels repetitive and boring. It's filled with numerous medical stories that are so filled with technical jargon that I quickly lost interest.

However, the second half picks up when Gawande starts to include stories about creating his own collaborative checklists and his tales of other people successfully utilizing them, most notably aviators who needed them to safely fly complex planes. It's also surprising to learn how resistant he found people to be to accept checklists into their vocations despite the anecdotal and statistical success they bring. I am curious how I can bring the idea of a checklist into my own profession. We spend so much time on reflection and have so many things thrust upon us to fix it, I feel like it might be difficult to figure out where a checklist can apply. Situations do exist, though, and I'm glad to have the "Checklist for Checklists" appendix towards the end.

Top Numbered Somethings: Recent Video Game Experiences

With a few things on the back burner that I'm currently in the middle of writing but aren't quite ready for public consumption yet, I figured I could discuss some recent video games I've played. I suspect that once my wife and I have children, the limited time I make for video games will disappear altogether, but, in the meantime, I enjoy pretending that I am a digitally rendered avatar of a popular licensed or real-life figure of which I have total control.

3) Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - The most surprising aspect of this really fun multiplayer update of the great Assassin's Creed sequel is that the story mode is so deep. While the point of the game is to engage in the multiplayer mode for which it was designed, I haven't done so yet because almost everyone in the world beats me at any kind of multiplayer game except when it comes to UFC Undisputed 2010. Even then, I still have a hefty losing record. I imagine I might have more time for some of the multiplayer experience when summer comes around.

2) Marvel vs. Capcom 3: The Fate of Two Worlds- Once upon a time, I played Street Fighter 2 exclusively on an arcade machine and excelled with Ken, Ryu's blonde-haired red gi-wearing counterpart. Eventually, though, the Capcom world passed me by because it became about the number of combination hits a person could get while juggling their opponent in the air. I thought I might have a seizure because it became so frenetic. However, with the inclusion of Thor, Deadpool, and M.O.D.O.K. (Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing), I couldn't resist this game. This is another one that I wouldn't dare ever play online, but it's really fun watching the Hulk smash things up.

1) EA Sports MMA - Ugh, this game is so frustrating. There was a ton of hype for this game prior to release because EA is considered the standard bearer of sports games, and UFC president Dana White famously denounced EA in the press because before UFC Undisputed 2009's development, EA refused to even meet with the company, calling UFC "not a real sport." Once THQ's first UFC game became a hit, EA changed their tune and started to develop this title.

Here's the thing: I have two go-to games that I always return to once I either beat or grow tired of the latest game. Either I go right back to playing the latest WWE or UFC release because for each one I can play one or two matches, not stink, and then turn it off. My standards for this type of game, then, are going to be fairly high. EA Sports MMA does not come close to measuring up to those standards. Since the reviews were poor and sales from the week of release were in the toilet (and because I am cheap), I waited for a significant price drop before buying it but I wish I had just stuck to a rental.

However, there are a few things that work and I note these in the hopes that THQ will swipe them to use in the next installment of UFC Undisputed. The one aspect of MMA that EA got perfectly right is submissions. The spinning the right control stick debacle that THQ calls "the shine" makes submissions nearly impossible in Undisputed. EA created a system that fits organically with how each submission works in the context of a fight: finding a sweet spot to apply a choke and working to hyperextend a joint for a limb attack. It makes sense because each type of submission requires a different approach by a fighter, unlike the same approach each time that THQ employs. Other things that work: facial damage and the aftermath of such damage looks as devastating as it does in a real MMA fight and the career mode is fun to play instead of a chore.

The good parts end there, though. Everything else about the game feels superficial and one-dimensional. UFC Undisputed does a great job of making each fighter feel independent and unique with striking, takedown and submission animations that are unique to that fighter. None of this exists in EA Sports MMA. The striking, employed by utilizing the right control stick, is basic and difficult to manage, not to mention limiting. Even if the creators had made unique animations for each fighter, they would only have what feels like three strikes per limb compared to the what feels like twelve to fifteen per limb of UFC Undisputed. Considering EA managed to procure every name fighter not under contract to UFC AND Randy Couture, you'd think they would take the time to make the fighters feel unique during gameplay and not interchangeable. Where is Nick Diaz's pitter-patter boxing style or Bas Rutten's liver kicks? Nowhere, that's where. And while it's nice that the creators gave the game and the sport its worldwide appeal by including different rules and arenas, there's no real difference in gameplay between fighting in a ring or a cage, which is the entire point of including the two.

And, yet again, I've written way too much about MMA in my teaching blog.

We have almost two weeks of catching up to do! Yikes! Plus, this entry is getting long, so I'll hide the whole purpose for this blog under a cut.

Book 9 of 2011

I finished this early Sunday morning after staying up late the night before attempting to finish it but ultimately succumbing to sleep.

10) Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins
The final installment of the Hunger Games trilogy is bleak. It's a country song without the steel guitar. It's your dog dying on the day your significant other leaves you because you got fired from your dream job. Mockingjay is Aron Ralston's situation but with both arms. It's bleak is what I'm saying. The one ray of hope and sunshine occurs in the final two pages and that undercuts much of what the character represents.

What's a grown up?

Why is Chris Rock's body
half-destroyed by the waterslide?

"Remember when you were a kid and you thought there was such a thing as 'real grown ups'? You were crying because you got sent to your room and said, 'You know what? One day, I'm going to be a grown up and everything is going to make sense.' Then one day, you're 25 in the supermarket and the bag boy calls you sir. How did that happen?"

- Joe Rogan

At 31 years old, I'm often confronted with the fact that I am considered by most to be a grown up. This is an odd notion with which to contend because there are too many occasions where I feel the opposite. Sure, I have a career as a teacher, but my walls are covered with superhero decorations my wife and I bought at Party City. We pay our cable bill each month, but at least a third of our DVR is filled with cartoons, yet we don't have any kids at the moment. Far too much space in our house (MY WIFE AND I OWN A HOUSE!) is devoted to comic books, DVDs, CDs and video games. Yet, by most accounts, especially those of my students, I'm considered a grown up, and I'm definitely expected to act like one.

This idea is astronomically mind-blowing because the more I learn, the less I realize I know. We (the collective 'we' or the royal 'we,' in this case) come away with the idea that grown ups are the ones that know things, the ones that keep the world working and in order. Grown ups raise us and prepare us for the world. However, what no one tells anyone else, and what comedian Joe Rogan alludes to in the above quote, is that not a single person ever realizes they've become a grown up.

Allow me to pull the curtain back on the grown up experience for a second here. "Grown ups" are a figment of our youthful imagination. No one knows what they are doing and those that say they do are just smart enough to fake it. There is no such thing as a grown up. As much as I questioned myself as an adolescent, as a teenager or even as a little kid, wondering what it is I'm supposed to do with my life or when it will be that I will have it all figured out, I can honestly tell you that I am no closer now than I ever was then. Sure, I have some answers; marriage made sense to me because I found a wonderful lady, and over the course of time I started figuring out that paying bills, for instance, leads to the rest of my life being easier. But those answers only brought more questions and more concerns. Will my wife someday get tired of my antics? (Probably not, if she hasn't already.) Will the pressures of maintaining my preferred lifestyle weigh me down and prevent me from growing as a person? (Yikes, that's just a scary question to even ask.) No one has anything figured out to any degree of certainty, and that's something that makes life amazing and frightening. Everyone pretends to know the answer but that's only because they're too scared to admit that they have no idea what is going on. No one is excluded from this, either; me, your neighbor, the President of the United States and everyone else in between -- they're all in the same boat.

And the horizon? Holy jeez, folks, I'm planning to have kids one day. Figuring myself out and coming to terms with being a grown up is one thing, but trying to get somebody else prepared for a world I hardly understand but find to be insane and fascinating all at once is an entirely crazy proposition.

What's even crazier is that all of this came about not because I saw that terrible Adam Sandler movie but because my wife and I went to buy an oven this weekend. That's a decidedly grown up action and one that could only be mitigated by purchasing a new video game.

With that out of the way, let's take a look at last week's antics.

Frosh
For Monday through Thursday of last week, we focused our energy on Act II of Romeo & Juliet. These two crazy kids meet, fall in love, and get married in the space of about 12 hours, something that usually only happens in Las Vegas. Now, two questions remain. How will this affect everyone else in the play and what will the consequences be of their rash action? Here's a hint: poorly and death.

Friday, we moved forward.

Yesterday, you turned in your act II study guide and review. We assigned roles for act III and started reading it. The third act, and the first scene in particular, serve as a real turning point for the rest of the play. Things will go from largely comedic to incredibly tragic very quickly.

Seniors
Monday of last week, our guest from Everest College gave a presentation on professionalism for job interviews. Much of what she discussed consisted of common sense information, but it's always important to revisit and remember those ideas.

Tuesday through Thursday saw us finish Macbeth and see the titular bad guy foiled due to his own hubris and faith in the equivocal prophecies. Also, his head was chopped off, so that must have made an interesting 17th century visual on stage.

Friday, you worked on the Metaphor in Macbeth assignment dealing with Macbeth's lamentations on the meaninglessness of life. Keep that speech in mind as we enter our next unit on Albert Camus' The Stranger.

Yesterday, you turned in your act V paragraphs, received the final Macbeth paragraph assignment and began working on the Film Interpretation questions for the Polanski version of Macbeth. It was a busy day. Keep in mind that the questions will be due Monday, February 28 and the final paragraph is due Wednesday, March 2.

Book 8 of 2011

This was my SSR book for the last few weeks, and I finished it just before the journalism class' story idea meeting.

8) NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

There's a common cliche that has always bugged me about parenting books and the people who read them: the readers share their knowledge with parents who are in the thick of raising kids, and the former attempt to school the latter on what they're doing wrong. And while I was reading this book, I didn't want to be that guy, especially considering more of my friends that I talk to on a regular basis have kids now than don't. Thankfully, this doesn't quite count as a parenting book but more of a child psychology book. Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, NurtureShock's authors, take many of society's normal preconceived notions about children -- from infants to teenagers -- and debunk the thinking surrounding them.

Top Numbered Somethings: Awesome Songs by So-So Artists

Most of my favorite songs are by bands or artists that I also consider to be my favorites. If I were to name my top five favorite songs, they'd probably almost exclusively be by two or three of my top five favorite artists.

Both of those are lists for another day, however. Instead, I was curious about another facet of favorites: songs a person absolutely loves by artists towards which they are completely ambivalent. This is not to say that the artists are in any way bad. In fact, it's very possible that someone could see any of the following musical acts as a huge deal and their personal favorites because they're talented and have storied careers, but that's not the point of this list.

For me, I don't care one way or the other about these artists; they just have songs that hit me where I live. There's one other caveat, too: no one-hit wonders. For some reason, choosing a one-hit wonder (for example, The Proclaimers and their song "(500 Miles) I'm Gonna Be") shouldn't be an option because that's the only thing from them that you could really pick. I figure that this is a list where people could possibly be insulted by the fact that I chose their favorite band but appreciate the fact that I at least really dig one of their songs. Here are my top five in this very specific category:

5. "Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis
4. "Halo" by Beyonce
3. "Crooked Teeth" by Death Cab for Cutie
2. "Nine in the Afternoon" by Panic! At the Disco

1. "Story of My Life" by Social Distortion

I provided links to audio samples of the songs if you are not familiar with them, but my tastes in this arena are pretty mainstream. It's not hard to fathom that you've heard them before, but, just in case, you can click on the link and give it a go. Feel free to post your choices in the comments, too.

Frosh
Due to a miscommunication issue, I was caught by surprise by the registration assembly on Monday. It threw me off my plan for the week, but you were able to figure out your classes for next year. Sophomore year is a tough one because so much of your schedule is picked out for you and there's not too much in the way of choice. My only advice is to power through, make the best of it and know that the high school world is your oyster during your junior and senior year should you stay on track with your given courses.

We began act two of Romeo & Juliet on Tuesday and continued in that vein through Wednesday, allowing us to cover almost the entire balcony scene. While it's considered by the world at large to be the most famous scene in all of Shakespeare as well as romantic as all get out, we instead focused on how creepy it is that this dude was listening to the object of his affections inner-most thoughts right after they met. Romeo's actions would qualify him for stalker status by today's standards, and he's pretty lucky that Juliet is as taken with him as she is at that point.

Despite some technical difficulties on Thursday, we managed to get through two different versions of the balcony scene for media analysis. The media analysis sheet is due, appropriately enough, on Monday, February 14. It's Valentine's Day, you see.

Seniors
Macbeth's act four is done and out of the way as we covered it for the entire week. While it's the shortest act in the entire play, leading many to believe that it's the one that has been most ravaged by the fact that an original Shakespearian script has never been found, it does contain one of the longest scenes. Malcolm and Macduff really hash it out, giving us a clear view of Malcolm and his claims to have never lied before that moment (forcing us to ask if he's even telling the truth with that statement) and Macduff making the case for his dogged patriotism at the expense of the lives of his family members.

More importantly, we get Macbeth's second encounter with the witches, which is itself up for debate. Did Macbeth really find them? If so, how does Lennox and whoever else is there at the end not see them? Are they truly supernatural and fantastical or did Macbeth's insomnia-induced brain conjure them up? These are the kinds of ideas you could really explore pretty deeply in your dichotomy paragraph that is due Monday, February 14.

Book 7 of 2011

Finishing this on my iPad's Kindle app made me glad that I bought Mockingjay at the same time.

7) Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
The sequel to The Hunger Games finds the political intrigue merely hinted at in the first book become more of a focus here. Katniss' actions at the end of last year's Hunger Games makes her a target of President Snow and the rest of the Capitol, the city that represents the oppression present in all 12 of the districts.

Today was that Sports Ball match!

SPORTSBALL!

There's some kind of game on today, right?

People are always confused by the fact that I don't care at all about football or any other team sports. My explanation for my apathy doesn't help, either. In my formative years, I played baseball (as a southpaw, I served as a mean first base) and dabbled in soccer when I was 10 (perfecting the art of the flop in my sole season) and flag football during middle school (a savant in the one play of one game where the coach put me in at safety). The descriptions above shouldn't be read with bitterness, but with the knowledge that the feelings towards the sports were mutual; I spent the most time playing baseball and performed the best there, but even the novelty of it ran its course while the other two were one and done occasions.

Jon Jones may be able to add
Spider-Man to his list of defeated
opponents if he keeps this up.

Here's how it breaks down as a friend reminded me earlier today: all sports are a metaphor for fighting, so I don't waste my time with the metaphor and stick to straight depictions of fighting, whether they be real or imagined. Back when I played baseball, soccer, or football, I always wanted to be back on that Saturday afternoon in time to watch WWF Wrestling Challenge or WWF Superstars. And while the now WWE has become more of a source of embarrassment in terms too numerous to explain at this point in time, getting into UFC and MMA in general back in 2002 has provided the appeal of two dudes fighting without the constant accusations of the "How can you like it if it's not real?" crowd.

Speaking of fighting, for those of you at Kings Ball last night who were unlucky enough to miss the action at UFC 126, there were some huge news items coming out of that show. First and foremost, with the exception of the Forrest Griffin/Rich Franklin fight, I called all of the winners and even most of the methods. Besides proving myself to be the greatest man among all men, the other big news was Jon Jones getting a title shot in just six weeks. This has taken a card that I wasn't feeling too strongly about to  a must-see event come March 19. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua is a dangerous dude, but he'll be coming off a nearly year-long layoff due to a knee injury to face a guy that has the potential to be an all-time great while making it look easy.

In the meantime, I've been out of the blog-writing business for too long, so here's the last week's rundown.

Frosh
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and and our rally-shortened Friday were all spent reading through act one of Romeo & Juliet. We witnessed Romeo being emo as all get out, Juliet appearing more practical than most her age, the Nurse embarrassing everyone in sight, and Mercutio providing lots of moments for actors to ACT in the Jon Lovitz style. You should be keeping up with all of the ins and outs of the act with your study guide. It and the act one review are both due on Wednesday, February 9.

Tuesday, we focused on media analysis. Having watched two different versions of the same scene, you compared them both to our own reading of the play, noting the differences in the characters, setting and action. You then focused on one or two details that stood out to you and wrote a paragraph on how and why those details mattered most. This is something I think is really important to do when we study Shakespeare since they were plays meant to be seen. Reading them alone doesn't do them justice.

Seniors
Monday through Wednesday were spent reading through act three of Macbeth. We see Macbeth slowly declining into madness due to committing regicide and doing everything he can to cover it up. The dichotomies are ripe and ready for the picking on your part, so remember that your act three paragraph is due on Monday, February 7. The plan is to finish act four before the end of the week and that paragraph will be due on Monday, February 14.

Thursday was an utter failure. The plan was to watch act three from the perspective of Orson Welles, but right off the bat in fifth period we witnessed how thoroughly he decided to leave his mark on the production by the sheer number of changes present. We discussed this in sixth period as well, accounting for the mismatched lines, the lack of a feast and Banquo seeming to think that Macbeth was king literally minutes after Duncan was discovered murdered and Malcolm taking off. I did manage to right things a bit, and we took the act three quiz a bit later.

Friday, I managed to free my VHS copy of the Royal Shakespeare Company's version of Macbeth, which is thankfully a lot more accurate, so we watched act three as it is meant to be shown. Notice that their choice for the third murderer, Lennox, will be different than the choice for other versions, most notably Polanksi's version.

UFC 126

UFC 126

This is the deepest card UFC has put in ages. Top to bottom, there are fights and fighters I want to see. Heck, there are a few of the prelim fights that aren't going to be airing on SpikeTV that could probably headline a Fight Night on their own. Kid Yamamoto vs. Demetrius Johnson, I'm looking at you.

Chad Mendes vs. Michihiro Omigawa - This is Omigawa's reintroduction to the UFC, who previously fought at lightweight, but I don't like his chances against Mendes. Omigawa has lost to wrestlers in the past, and Mendes, making his UFC debut after finding a lot of success in the featherweight division of WEC, is tremendously good. I expect Chad Mendes to win by decision in an excellent three round war.

Donald Cerrone vs. Paul Kelly - Donald Cerrone's SpikeTV prelim fight is representative of a lot of things for all of the former WEC lightweights that are hoping to make the transition from the old company to their new UFC home. Cerrone has to be able to rise above the fact that he's no longer the big fish in the small pond. The UFC's lightweight division is now packed with talent thanks to the WEC merger, to the point that name fighters who don't win are more likely to get cut. There's also the added pressure of proving that WEC's lightweight division wasn't second rate, that Cerrone, a guy on top in the WEC, belongs in the big leagues of the UFC 155 pound weight class. Paul Kelly is a brawler, much like Cerrone, but he doesn't have the ground skills Cerrone possesses. I suspect that Cerrone will tap Kelly out in the second round of an exciting fight, since the Cowboy has a tendency to start late.

Miguel Torres vs. Antonio Banuelos - Torres is a former WEC Bantamweight Champion who hit a roadblock in 2009, losing two in a row. He won his last fight in decisive fashion and appears to have turned the corner on his comeback; this fight will cement whether or not that's the case. Banuelos is always known as a guy that has great fights but often chokes when it comes to getting the win when it really matters. This will be the first time that the bantamweights get to really show off in the UFC, and I expect it to be a slobberknocker of epic proportions. Torres has the better ground game and a bit of an edge in the stand up. As long as his chin holds, I expect Torres to win by decision but expect a fight of the night calibre battle.

Jon Jones vs. Ryan Bader - Man, this fight! Almost two years ago, there was talk of a Shane Carwin/Cain Velasquez bout that seemed ludicrous at the time since a loss for one of those guys essentially eliminated a high-profile name from title contention for a long time. That fight never happened, to the benefit of the UFC, but Bader and Jones are facing off. One is an unmovable object: Bader has had an impressive eight finishes out of his undefeated 12 fight career. He's a wrestler that doesn't spend much time on his back and can knock another guy silly with just one punch. The other guy is about as close to an unstoppable force as anyone will ever see in MMA: Jones has grown by leaps and bounds, growing from an elite wrestler transitioning to MMA to a well-rounded fighter who can strike with the best of them. He's also literally still growing -- the guy is only 23 years old. Jones has pinpoint accuracy with his knees, elbows and fists and an ability with his long limbs to out-grapple anyone. Short of Shogun Rua (current light-heavyweight champ) or Rashad Evans (Jones' training partner that he refuses to consider fighting), I cannot imagine anyone in the light-heavyweight division giving Jon Jones a problem, let alone a challenge. At the same time, his performance here will really show how far he's progressed. Stranger things have happened, but Bader, in my mind, doesn't stand a chance. Jones will take the win by TKO in the first, and hopefully move on to face the winner of the semi-main event.

Jake Ellenberger vs. Carlos Eduardo Rocha - There are occasions where I don't know enough about the fighters to give a proper breakdown. This is one of those times. So I flipped a coin. Ellenberger will win by split decision.

Forrest Griffin vs. Rich Franklin - In the interest of full disclosure, Forrest Griffin is my wife's favorite fighter. Unfortunately, he's been on the shelf for a year due to a shoulder injury. Franklin is also coming off a long layoff since he broke his arm in his knockout victory over Chuck Liddell last June. To me, this is the toughest fight to call of the entire night. It could easily go either way, and largely depends on which version of Forrest Griffin shows up. Will we see the guy that is patient and picks his spots, capitalizing on the mistakes of his opponent en route to victory? Or will we see the reckless Forrest that makes clumsy mistakes out of stubbornness and stupidity? Forrest has largely been his own worst enemy in the cage. He's a guy that can beat himself long before the fight ever starts. Franklin, meanwhile, always approaches his fights with a solid game plan, and it's the skill of Franklin's opponent that determines if he is effective in implementing it. My gut says that Franklin will win by split decision, but my wife and I will be stoked if Forrest can pull it off.

Vitor Belfort vs. Anderson Silva (c) for the UFC Middleweight Championship - There are people that live and die by Anderson Silva fights. Either they're cheering for his demise because they see him as a cocky guy who feels he's above the sport, or they view him as a dude whose talents as the pound-for-pound king of MMA excuse his sometimes lackluster performances in the cage. I'm not either of those guys. Granted, I lost my mind during the build-up to his fight with Chael Sonnen, but, fortunately for everyone involved, Sonnen lost in the last half of the fifth round and we later found out he was a dirty cheater. That fight revealed that gigantic holes exist in Anderson Silva's game. He's susceptible to the takedown, and while Silva is adept at finding a submission off his back, a fighter who can avoid or defend said submissions has a strong chance of beating the premiere middleweight in the UFC.

But Vitor Belfort? Does he have that takedown ability? No. Is his ground and pound among the best in the world, let alone the division? Not even a little bit. Vitor Belfort is the best one-round stand-up fighter in the world, probably at any weight class. He might even have the wherewithal to beat Silva at the stand-up game...but only in the first round. I mentioned earlier that Forrest Griffin can be his own worst enemy; he's got nothing on Vitor Belfort in that department. Belfort, probably due to the hype he received when he was younger, has never had the mental strength to make a dent in the sport. He consistently breaks during fights, and that's where he is beaten.

Anderson Silva plays the mental game in both subtle and obvious ways, and should he not respect Belfort, which is a distinct possibility considering the latter has never even fought at middleweight in the UFC before, Silva will destroy his opponent. Belfort is one of the quickest and most accurate strikers in the game, but Silva is just as good, and he's shown the ability to last through adversity. Belfort folds faster than a chair when put to the test. I suspect that Silva will clinch the victory with a third or fourth round submission.

Humble Pie

In the before time...

When I was a lot younger than I am now, a pie in the face was the funniest gag I had ever seen. The Three Stooges, I Love Lucy and countless other old timey, slapsticky programs all provided countless examples of why a big pile of cream and filling -- whether thrown from a distance or slammed up close -- is the height of comedy. I started making it known that getting a pie in the face would be a dream come true. Come Thanksgiving, my Uncle Tom snuck up behind me and waylaid me with  a tin full of whip cream. It wasn't quite a pie, but it was a pie equivalent and the sentiment behind it was the thing that really counted.

The aftermath

For those of you unaware, I volunteered to be eligible for the Pie a Teacher in the Face fundraiser that the International Awareness club held Friday during lunch. The group's efforts raised money for Invisible Children, a group designed to help end the combat that utilizes child soldiers in northern Uganda.  People who donated money to the club chose a teacher from those eligible and the top four teachers from each lunch received a pie in the kisser. The sticky hair and sour smell in my nose for the remainder of the day was worth it because the cause is something I can get behind. Plus, it was a nice reminder of days gone by with my family.

I included the video of the pie-facing at the bottom underneath the cut.

Frosh
Monday through Thursday were all focused on reading through the first two scenes of Romeo & Juliet. The beginning always takes awhile, but we did manage to get through most of the second scene. We detailed the idea of spectacle and how Shakespeare uses it to engage the audience who might not be all that interested in a teenage love story otherwise. Plus, we get our first look at Rom-emo, but you'll get annoyed with him before too long. Mercutio is where it's at but we haven't met him quite yet.

Friday, we moved forward.

Seniors

On Monday, you received the Act I post-reading questions and spent the period working on those.

Tuesday, you turned in those answers. We then started our look at the rest of act II, which took us through Wednesday and part of Thursday. The summary of the act is located on my Files page here, but the big news is that Macbeth kills King Duncan, and his sons get the blame since they run out of fear for their own safety. There were a bunch of dichotomies that we discussed in conjunction with these events. Your goal in completing the paragraph that is due (as of this writing) tomorrow is to make sure that the analysis for whatever evidence you find explains why it fits for the dichotomy you choose. 

We dealt with my busted DVD/VCR situation by watching Orson Welles' version of Macbeth as opposed to the Royal Shakespeare Company's version, since the latter is stuck in the broken combo. Orson Welles made some weird choices, and, after reading up on the history of the production, his was only the fourth adaptation of a Shakespeare play ever filmed with sound and the first ever adapation of Macbeth as a big screen movie. The fact that Welles changed so much of the play was scandalous at the time to many critics, but it's since become common practice. There's a third version that the library has, so perhaps we'll watch that one for act III. 

You also took a quiz on act II on Thursday. 

Speaking of quizzes, everyone took the retest on the Macbeth terms on Friday, and we got a few lines into act III.

Book 6 of 2011

I finished this during SSR at work while most of the students were off taking a group picture.

6) Countdown to Lockdown: A Hardcore Journal by Mick Foley
Countdown to Lockdown is former WWE (and TNA) champion Mick Foley's fourth memoir that attempts to chronicle the six week journey to his match with Sting at the TNA pay per view, Lockdown. Attempts is the key word here because Foley takes the approach of alternating every third or so chapter as a "Countdown" to the match, while the rest of the chapters focus on various and sundry topics, from his short stint as a WWE announcer to his charity work all with lots and lots of Tori Amos. Seriously, this guy loves him some Tori.

Book 5 of 2011

I finished this at the gym while lamenting that I was riding the stationary bike instead of running.

5) Zombie Spaceship Wasteland: A Book by Patton Oswalt
Patton Oswalt's first book differs from most comedian books. For the most part, I've stopped buying comedian books because they are inevitably disappointing. If I like a comedian enough to follow their work to the point that I want to purchase their book, I am usually pretty familiar with their material. Unfortunately, my experience has shown that comedian books, especially initial comedian books, consist entirely of their stand-up material written down along with some book exclusive funny lists. But Oswalt is clearly a writer first and comedian second, and that makes all the difference.