I'm Only A Mirror! Look And See!
Then stay behind, Skrull! The petty bickering of your two races does not concern me.
That line from X-Men #137 -- the issue I expect best known in and out of Marvel Comics for the death of Jean Grey as Phoenix (cover date September 1980) has been running through my mind for the last day or so. Not sure quite what's causing that reaction though; I suppose Facebook persons saying you can't be my friend if you're this person's friend at the least or the Arabs and Israelis (and each side's respective friends and allies) at the most -- by the way, a Skrull is a humanoid reptilian shape-changer that at the time of this story has been at war with another humanoid race, the Kree, for millennia. And there's my pop culture reference for the day, BAZINGA!
You will be the same person you are five years from now that you are today except for two things: the people you meet and the books you read. That's more true every day; however, with the plethora of books that remain in my possession for me to finish reading, I have to wonder sometimes if that means I'll live forever! (I don't mind that, just not in this body. Eternal life wouldn't be much to look forward to in an aging envelope of flesh and blood and bone!) But seriously, Lincoln Peirce's third Big Nate book (Big Nate On A Roll, ISBN 9780062091529) about a middle schooler who draws cartoons of his life and holds the record for detention at his school competing to win his Timber Scout troop's Grand Prize of a skateboard is fun to read and look at.
I was hoping Jeffrey would be into it, for he was reading several Big Nate books over the course of the school year, but it seems Diary of A Wimpy Kid (another cartoonish kids' book series set with a older kid -- and THAT'S gotten movies mined from it, so far Big Nate hasn't that I'm aware of) appeals more to him. Which is ok. Both Jeffrey and Sarah are getting a kick out of doing Sudoku puzzles, finding hidden objects in books and puzzle games, and -- most of the time -- solving my riddles. Which reminds me of the one I gave them last night: "I turn you around and I don't even move. What am I?" Hint: see the title. And today's post title is also a line from the David Gerrold novel When H.A.R.L.I.E. Was One, where the artificial intelligence, the Human Analog Replication Lethetic Intelligence Engine, becomes a most benevolent despot ... I really must reread that book, particularly the second edition.
Sunday I was out at Main Street books for a bit where I could take advantage of their buy-one-get-one-free used book section, and one incredible deal I picked up was Prestel's Photos That Changed The World edited by Peter Stepan (ISBN 9783791336282) spanning the twentieth century from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and ending with an aftermath photo from 2005's Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. I brought this along when we were getting the freon filled at my brother-in-law's house Sunday, and the kids recognized people in some of the pictures. Marilyn Monroe from 1954, Elvis Presley from 1960, The Beatles from 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. from 1968 -- it's a start that they recognize them. And as for me, I like to review famous photographs, since it's not only like I will not take one but also it's a useful teaching tool. IF I can sit down with them in an enthusiastic moment.
We do need to spend part of summer learning too.
David
That line from X-Men #137 -- the issue I expect best known in and out of Marvel Comics for the death of Jean Grey as Phoenix (cover date September 1980) has been running through my mind for the last day or so. Not sure quite what's causing that reaction though; I suppose Facebook persons saying you can't be my friend if you're this person's friend at the least or the Arabs and Israelis (and each side's respective friends and allies) at the most -- by the way, a Skrull is a humanoid reptilian shape-changer that at the time of this story has been at war with another humanoid race, the Kree, for millennia. And there's my pop culture reference for the day, BAZINGA!
You will be the same person you are five years from now that you are today except for two things: the people you meet and the books you read. That's more true every day; however, with the plethora of books that remain in my possession for me to finish reading, I have to wonder sometimes if that means I'll live forever! (I don't mind that, just not in this body. Eternal life wouldn't be much to look forward to in an aging envelope of flesh and blood and bone!) But seriously, Lincoln Peirce's third Big Nate book (Big Nate On A Roll, ISBN 9780062091529) about a middle schooler who draws cartoons of his life and holds the record for detention at his school competing to win his Timber Scout troop's Grand Prize of a skateboard is fun to read and look at.
I was hoping Jeffrey would be into it, for he was reading several Big Nate books over the course of the school year, but it seems Diary of A Wimpy Kid (another cartoonish kids' book series set with a older kid -- and THAT'S gotten movies mined from it, so far Big Nate hasn't that I'm aware of) appeals more to him. Which is ok. Both Jeffrey and Sarah are getting a kick out of doing Sudoku puzzles, finding hidden objects in books and puzzle games, and -- most of the time -- solving my riddles. Which reminds me of the one I gave them last night: "I turn you around and I don't even move. What am I?" Hint: see the title. And today's post title is also a line from the David Gerrold novel When H.A.R.L.I.E. Was One, where the artificial intelligence, the Human Analog Replication Lethetic Intelligence Engine, becomes a most benevolent despot ... I really must reread that book, particularly the second edition.
Sunday I was out at Main Street books for a bit where I could take advantage of their buy-one-get-one-free used book section, and one incredible deal I picked up was Prestel's Photos That Changed The World edited by Peter Stepan (ISBN 9783791336282) spanning the twentieth century from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and ending with an aftermath photo from 2005's Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. I brought this along when we were getting the freon filled at my brother-in-law's house Sunday, and the kids recognized people in some of the pictures. Marilyn Monroe from 1954, Elvis Presley from 1960, The Beatles from 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. from 1968 -- it's a start that they recognize them. And as for me, I like to review famous photographs, since it's not only like I will not take one but also it's a useful teaching tool. IF I can sit down with them in an enthusiastic moment.
We do need to spend part of summer learning too.
David
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