Listmania!
One of the more fun aspects of light reading is the plethora of lists that exist in the media these days. There is even a Wikipedia article about lists in popular culture, which could probably use a better word: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listicle. Wikipedia says that a listicle is a "generally used in journalism and blogging to refer to short-form writing that uses a list as its thematic structure, but is fleshed out with sufficient verbiage to be published as an article." From time to time I will be posting the interesting lists that I've come across, as well as maybe sometimes posting some of my own. If you ever feel like expanding upon the lists, feel free to either contact me or throw your recommendation into the comments section. Without anymore delay, here is the first list from UnrealityMag, "The Eight Strangest Looking Actors in Hollywood."
Oh. My. B'god.
So a few years ago my buddy was in an introductory philosophy class, and did poorly on one of his papers. What follows is the correspondence with his teacher concerning his grade. For what will become obvious as you go about reading this, I have concealed the actual names in the messages.
I tried to meet with you during your office hours today, but you were unavailable. I would like to speak with you about the grade on my final paper. The grade that was given to me brings my A to a C in the class. Why is my grade so terrible? Please respond to this e-mail. Thanks.
Student
From: student@vandals.uidaho.ed
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Student,
There is no way to say this diplomatically. Your paper was a sprawling incoherent screed. There was no discernible point, let alone any argumentation for it. Sadly, your ending caveat cannot rescue you.
This was for a philosophy class and it was judged as a philosophy paper. I gave explicit instructions regarding what I was expecting and you apparently decided to disregard those. While this is commendable in spirit, I cannot in good conscience give you a good grade as it was not what I wanted from you.
Professor
From: student@vandals.uidaho.ed
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Professor,
You're right, this paper was for a philosophy class..... a philosophy 103 class. "Spawling incoherent screed"? You need to quit taking this so seriously, a simple "wrong" would have done just fine....... dick.
Student
From: student@vandals.uidaho.ed
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CONGRATULATIONS *******, YOU'VE JUST FAILED PHIL 103!!!!!!!!!
From: professor@vandals.uidaho.ed
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Professor,
I apologize for the last e-mail, my roommate got into my vandal account and decided to play a nasty trick. I understand the reason for the grade I recieved on my final paper. I guess I will have to do well on the final exam. Please don't fail me for my roommate's actions.
Sincerely,
*******
From: *******@vandals.uidaho.ed
--------------------------
Student,
You must think I'm a fool. I should have failed you at midterm for the mindless contributions you were submitting to our disscussion board. With that said, I must tell you that not only will you be failing my PHIL 103 class, but I've also been forced to report you to the Dean of Students for classroom misconduct.
Professor
From: professor@vandals.uidaho.ed
--------------------------
Professor,
I'm extremely excited to fill out my teacher evaluation form this semester! Hopefully it will be one of the many poor evaluations you will receive. As a result of this, I hope you lose your job as an educator and are forced to the street due to your unemployment. A year from now I hope to see you behind Winco, weighing 78lbs, and blowing truck drivers for crack-cocaine. Thanks for the lovely semester and I hope to see you next fall!
Student
P.S. Your lectures sucked and made less sense than my shitty philosophy paper.
From: student@vandals.uidaho.ed
He is the first person I know to actually go through with what many of us have fantasized telling our professors. ******, we are all living vicariously through you at this moment, and we thank you for never failing to continuously inspire, entertain, and appall us all.
Finally Had Something Personal to Say
In the spirit of Valentine's Day, here is a short clip from one of the few romance movies I have ever really enjoyed, Chasing Amy. For those of you that don't know, Chasing Amy is written and directed by Kevin Smith and takes place in the Jay and Silent Bob universe. The film is a refreshing twist on the boy-gets-girl story, filled with Smith's signature witty dialog and laugh out loud moments. It is also Smith's deepest movie and explores such complicated topics as how far love alone can keep a relationship together, the power of forgiveness, and how a few simple acts and emotions can radically alter the path of one's life. Lying in the middle of the movie, in this scene we see Holden (the boy) confess his love to Alyssa (the girl), and her immediate reaction.
Yessir
So I started a blog for a few reasons.
- I've been going to a university where the standard that the teachers have for writing in the College of Business and Economics is an affront against what college graduation represents in America. I feel I need to start writing on a more regular basis so that I will not have my writing skills diminish to a completely pedestrian level.
- I know nothing about how write, read, or understand "code", html, or similar formats. This is going to become a more and more important skill as time progresses, and I feel that I might as well get started learning now before I may be tasked with it during the course of my career in the future.
- I like to write down many of the things that I experience as I go through my life. This includes nearly everything whether it be something I find humorous or profound. I'm going to use this site as an online repository for the things that I come across that I want to be able to reference in the future; or to look back upon as I have forgotten about them altogether. Furthermore, I enjoy sharing with my friends so this will be a great way to allow me to do so on a permanent basis.
- I'm vain.
Kanye West Cares About Black People
NBC played this video before opening ceremony last night. One of the most ridiculous portraits of my generation that I've ever seen. Skip ahead to 1:30 for the awesomeness to begin. Kanye is in there, which I'm assuming was only allowed because the filming wasn't live.
Do try and donate though, that place is crazy-screwed without international support.