To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I didn't read this in high school. I was in honors English my entire time in High School and I didn't read this. I guess I slipped through the cracks. I mean I had heard a lot of love for this book and for the movie, but it was always that book that people had to read in school. To me this put it in a category with the Scarlet Letter. If it was great, it was great compared to other forced reading.

I have read this book of my own accord after people, whose opinions I respect, have said that I should. It is an amazing book. Scout, Jem, and Dill are real kids. They think like real kids and play games that real kids play. These characters are very real and fit perfectly into the very fleshed out setting of Macomb, Alabama. The plot is simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting and is probably the best description of the time period and the conflicted feelings that came with it.

It is an excellent book. I have recommended this book to my 12 year old as I am quite sure that she will like it.

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I guess that is why it isn't called the Men's choice awards

Scanning channels last night, I noticed that Spike had their Guy's Choice Award show on.  Curious, I Stopped  in to check it out.  An hour later, I felt dumber and a little dirty for watching that little of it.  It seemed to just be an excuse for actors and actresses to cuss and be irreverent. Not a lot of substance there.  It seemed like it was run by and for frat boys.  Some may argue that Spike TV itself fits that bill itself. 

Maybe that is the problem.  Physiologically, I am a guy.  I don't happen to be a dude/bro.  Sure, I can be mysoginistic, crude, rude, and enjoy watching violence on a screen.  But, I am not a frat boy and too much of that stuff really turns me off.  Jennifer Anniston was trying to say the "F" bomb as much as she possibly could.  Hey Spike,  after a certain age, cussing is no longer funny.  Jennifer, cussing doesn't make you seem like one of the guys, it makes you seem like you are trying too hard to be one of the guys.  Also, I find women cussing unattractive (see mysogeny above).

I think my main problem with the show are the people that voted.  Maybe Spike as a channel attracts a lot of dude/bro types, but normal guys like to tune in to stuff like Ink Master and 1000 ways to die from time to time as well.  I don't think these normal guys visit the spike website and vote.  I mean, most grown men I know don't really think Seth Mcfarlane is funny.  I mean, he has the ability to be funny, but I am not watching 30 minutes of cringeworthy jokes on family guy for that one zinger.  Ted won best guy movie.  Ted!  It is basically all the bad parts of Family Guy rolled into a Teddy Bear.  I watched the movie.  I laughed at some things, I will admit, but the majority of the movie was horrible.  Who the heck voted for that. 

In closing:

Spike, please change the name of your award show to more accurately describe what it is.  Guy awards would make it seem like it was for a guys guy.  Maybe the frat boy awards would be better.  By calling it the Guy's Choice Awards, it unfairly associates all guys with the show.  I am not saying you have to have a stuffy award show, but maybe a less immature show would appeal to more people.  It can still be guy centric.  I love that idea, it is great.  I just don't think being a guy means being a guy in Seth Rogan movie, outside of college frat houses, I know very few people that live or would even enjoy that kind of life. 

P.S.  How can you do a career montage of Vin Diesel without including the Iron Giant?  Not cool, Spike.  Not cool. 

Doing summersaults in his grave

As a reader of Thoreau's Walden, I felt that it was my duty to make a pilgrimage to Walden Pond.  Being as it is a 30 minute drive from my house, the question should be asked as to why I have never done it before.  I guess, deep down, I knew what I would find. 

Walden Reservation is a state park and the upkeep is great.  It offers a public beach with on duty life guard and swimming is allowed at your own risk at many other places around the pond.  Parking is $5.  The beach is free.  I think it is the beach that is my problem.  There are so many people there.  Walden is no longer a tranquil place, it is not a place one can go to be alone. 

I don't think that this is what Thoreau wanted the place to be like when he left it.  Of course, he never had any ownership of it to begin with.  I am sure the state makes a pretty penny on parking and from the gift shop.  I imagine Thoreau is currently doing summersaults in his grave.  He will enentually break through to the surface and people being in loud crowds at Walden Pond will be cause of the Zombie Apocalypse. 

That said, there are some nice swimming holes off of the beach.  The girls want to go back for more swimming and less educational stuff, and I will likely cede the point.  I guess we will be going to Walden to swim deliberately. 

Summer Reading

Over at the scifi book club on good reads we have two books already selected for summer beach reading.  We are currently looking at Battle Royale and next month we will look at Ender's Game.  We also have a poll up for the August book. 

I am going to give my 12 year old some challenging books for the summer.  I plan on having her pick two off of a 9th grade honors English recommended reading list.  Since I am already reading To Kill a Mockingbird, I will also have her read that. 

I am wondering if I should have her invite some of her friends to discuss the books with us.  Most of her friends aren't as advanced in reading, scheduling such things can be tricky, and finding an accomodating venue would be the challenges.  Maybe I will suggest it, but keep the invite power for myself. 

Has anyone ever tried this with kids?  I do the library's parent child book club, but those kids generally don't know each other very well.  These books are going to be more challenging and have less general reader appeal (for their age, at least). 

An Epiphany

I spent the first 25 years of my life proving to myself that I was invincible.  I have spent the last 10 years disabusing myself of that belief. 

I saw some children running around a fountain in a park today.  Their parents kept telling them to stop running.  These kids were playing and aged around 2-4.  They will never feel invincible.  While it may seem that they are ahead of the curve, a lot of my successes and triumphs have stemmed from the belief or the memory of the belief that I was invincible and could do anything.  These children are being crippled.  When I have proven myself mortal those where humbling times that I also learned from.  There is a difference in being proved mortal and assuming it from the get go.  Every child should face that test themselves.

Secondly- In a nation where obesity in children is become epidemic, should we ever tell a child to stop running?  I think not.  Run children!  Scraped knees heal and chicks dig scars...Well... they used to.