Still Life with Research Paper

This picture was taken in the computer lab in the school of music just before 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday. At that point, I had been sitting at this computer working for about 12 hours straight. I knew beforehand that I would be at the lab all through the night, so I brought a few supplies with me to keep the energy flowing. In the picture you can see two butterscotch pudding cups (I ate the other two later for lunch), a discarded Nutty Bar wrapper (only one pictured, but believe me, there were more), an carton containing the stems from one pound of strawberries, a crushed up mini-carton of Whoppers, and an empty box of Michaelina's Stuffed Rigatoni (not recommended - the rule for Michaelina's frozen dinners is that the ones with red sauce are gross and the ones with white sauce are borderline good), plus a Book of Mormon to read during my Michaelina's break. In retrospect, I can't believe I ate so much crap while I was sitting there, but having all that food around was instrumental in keeping me on task so that I didn't feel the need to get up and wander off somewhere.

They start issuing parking tickets in the music school parking lot at 6:00 a.m., so right after I took this picture I cleared away the mess, packed everything up, drove home, lay on the couch for twenty minutes, took a shower, hopped on the bus, and came right back to this same computer, where I continued to work until 1:30 p.m, twenty minutes after my class started and the paper was officially due. After class I went home, lay down on my bed, and didn't wake up until 10:30 p.m. (Even though I didn't set my alarm, I woke up just in time for the Jazz game - I think that means something). At any rate, the paper got turned in and I feel like it turned out pretty well overall. I don't know why this paper had such a difficult gestation - it's not like I completely procrastinated it because I have been working on it for weeks - but hopefully it's the last school paper I ever have to write. I then took one day to rest and then hit the road, but I'll leave that for another post.

SST: Playing Jacks

SESAME STREET TUESDAY

Today's Sesame Street Tuesday is brought to by my sister Amy, because it was her birthday on Sunday and because she gave me the idea for today's clip. I called her the other day and she said that she had suddenly remembered an old Sesame Street clip when she was doing laundry and a sock fell behind the washing machine where she couldn't quite reach it. Her description of the clip didn't ring any bells, but I looked it up and immediately recognized it. However, when I was little I never realized just how melodramatic and hilarious this whole thing is:



This is so hysterical on so many levels that I feel like it needs to be broken down and analyzed:

0:00 - The organ introduces itself. It will become a dear, dear friend over the next 1:42.
0:02 - That poor boy's New York accent is so thick he can hardly spit out his line.
0:11 - Big sister scoffs from the window! Ouch!
0:17 - That is some serious melodrama, folks.
0:26 - "Use dis!" Love that kid!
0:30 - 0:40 - The organ plays the "dejection" leitmotif as the kids make a beeline for the spots where they had been blocked to sit. Real natural, kids.
0:40 - What do you know? The trash can girl just happened to have a big, honkin' magnet in her back pocket! And not just any magnet, but the most clichéd-looking magnet ever, straight out of Plato's World of the Forms.
0:43 - Why would she think that it is a horseshoe? It's even less likely that she would have an old horseshoe in her back pocket. Plus, these New York kids have probably never even seen a horseshoe in real life before.
0:48 - "So waat?" Everything that boy says is solid gold.
0:50-1:13 - The world's longest knot-tying scene ever, even requiring assistance from big sister, who seems to have lost all her snarkiness. The scene comes to a dead stop, but it is resuscitated by the magnet girl's emphatic mission statement, "I'm gonna get that Jack!" She even put her hands on her waist, so you know she's going to get it done.
1:16 - This is suspense of the highest order. It reminds me of the scene in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train where the villain is straining to reach through the sewer grate to grab an incriminating cigarette case. Too bad he didn't have a big, fat horseshoe magnet on him!
1:22 - 1:30 - Wow, that's quite the celebration, considering the whole Lost Jack Crisis of '77 only lasted one minute and ten seconds. (Yes, I did look up the date that this originally aired, 4/11/77, and yes, I do know that I'm a big nerd.)
1:32 - The magnet girl had to take a few seconds to process the enormity of her achievement before she could bust out her triumphant line, "We got the jack back!"
1:34-1:42 - Wait a minute - isn't it still Magnet Girl's turn? She was on threesies! Maybe losing a jack results in losing a turn. That sounds fair.

I bet they don't show this clip on Sesame Street anymore because today's kids wouldn't even know what jacks are. But maybe there's a jacks game on the Wii or something. Hey, that idea has potential - a Wii game with jacks, marbles, four-square, tetherball, and all the recess classics. Much controller-waving fun to be had.

Luckily, my sister's story also had a happy ending. She was able to retrieve the lost sock with much patience and a pair of tongs. However, she forgot to mention if her ordeal also had a melodramatic organ accompaniment. In any case, if would have been a lot easier for her if only the sock had been made of metal.

Last College Paper?

Greetings from one of my many unscheduled diversions from working on my research paper for my musicology seminar (Heitor Villa-Lobos: A Journey Through Modernism - it's a corny title, I know, but hopefully I'll think up something better before I turn it in on Tuesday). I've been spending several hours a day for the past several days in the computer lab working on this thing, and I having been taking pretty regular breaks from writing simply because I'm having trouble staying on task. Writing this paper has been a challenge because a part of me knows that this is very likely the last paper I will ever have to write as a college student, and after eight years of writing similar research papers, my brain is wondering if it can muster up the effort one last time. I feels like I spend most of my time here in the computer lab trying to psych myself up to work, rather than actually working.

On the plus side, I have already finished up all my other final projects and tests for all my other classes and Friday was my last day of teaching for the semester, so this paper is all that stands between me and the end of my doctoral coursework. I still have one more year until I am finished with the degree, but from here on out I shouldn't have to take any more classes, and hence no more research papers. But don't you have to write a gigantic dissertation, Brian? Nope. Since I am in a performance-based degree, instead of a dissertation I have to pass a comprehensive oral examination given by my yet-to-be-organized committee, followed by three recitals. However, I will have to write program notes for each of the three recitals, but I find writing program notes really enjoyable.

Don't get me wrong - I love to write. Otherwise, why would I have two blogs? It's just that I much prefer writing about Sesame Street or the Utah Jazz or T.V. or my dreams. You know, the important stuff.

Okay, break's over. Back to Mr. Villa-Lobos.

P.S. - The clock just struck 12:00, meaning that it is now my sister Amy's birthday (at least in my time zone - she can't begin her celebration proper for another three hours). Parabéns pra você, Amy!

P.P.S. - If you haven't already, check out my latest dream post.

P.P.P.S. - GO JAZZ!!! It's a rough time to be a Jazz fan right now, but I still believe that D-Will can snap them out of their slump so they can at least make a respectable showing in the first round of the playoffs.

SST: You're Alive!

SESAME STREET TUESDAY

This is one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite acts on Sesame Street, Chrissy and the Alphabeats. While I am an admirer of Little Chrissy's solo career, I think his best work came under the stabilizing influence of the Alphabeats. This version of the clip cuts off an opening bit of narration from the original song, which I have reproduced here:

"We've received quite a few letters recently because a lot of you out there just don't seem to know what's alive and what's not. Well, for one thing, you're alive, and we've got a little song about it, so come on and hit it boys!"



I think they give a pretty good definition of being alive, even though there are a few holes in their argument. A jacket or a pair of sneakers can breath, a vending machine can eat your quarter, and those little dinosaur-shaped sponges that come in capsules or icicles can grow. But I guess Sesame Street has chosen to let kids learn those lessons the hard way.

Selling Out

After 10+ years of operating the Brian Presents: film lecture series with complete independence with an uncompromising artistic and cultural mission, I have decided to sell out. I was contacted by a potential sponsor a few weeks ago and they made me an offer I couldn't refuse: full refreshment coverage. How could I say no? So this Saturday evening will be the first time that Brian Presents: is being presented by someone else:

Fridge for Thought Presents: Brian Presents: Brief Encounter

All of those colons make it a little confusing, don't they? Don't worry about the integrity of Brian Presents: - I will maintain full artistic control of Brian Presents:, sponsors or no sponsors. I learned a valuable lesson about not bowing down to the demands of sponsors from the very best:



Speaking of selling out, the other day when I was updating my blog I noticed a new link besides the familiar blog options: Monetize. My interest was immediately piqued (we are talking about getting money for something I normally do for free), so I read through the info. Based on what I read plus what my friend Brady told me, on a low-traffic blog such as mine, it will take approximately forever before I see any money from it. They won't send you a check until you hit a hundred dollar threshold, which could conceivably take years. But hey - wouldn't it be great if in a few years I got a surprise check out of the blue for a hundred bucks?

So I signed up to monetize my blog and at the end of it there was a message saying that they would review my case and email me back in a 1-2 days to tell me if I have been accepted. Huh? It's been a few days already and I still haven't heard back from them. Upon reading through their policies I saw that they will not let you advertise with them if you post copyrighted material on your blog, which could possibly mean, say, Sesame Street clips. If that's the case, I absolutely refuse to sell out Sesame Street Tuesdays. That is, unless some big corporation wanted to come in and sponsor the series. I can see it now - Tostitos Presents: Sesame Street Tuesdays. Norelco Presents: Sesame Street Tuesdays. Energy Solutions Presents: Sesame Street Tuesdays. Cash4Gold.com Presents: Sesame Street Tuesdays. NASA Presents: Sesame Street Tuesdays. The possibilities are endless.

So if you are the head of a corporation and you've been tantalized by the possibility or sponsoring a feature on my blog, please leave your contact info in the comment space below and we can start hammering out a deal.

P.S. - Check out FridgeForThought.blogspot.com - it's an excellent product that I fully endorse!

Keeping Up Appearances

While I was working on Albert Herring I wasn't allowed to make any unauthorized changes to my appearance, but in the few weeks in which I've been living in a post-Herring world, I've tried to switch up the old look a little bit.

'Stache:

This is the last incarnation of the Mayor of Loxford mustache before I gave it the old fires-of-Mordor treatment (a.k.a. my electric razor). I wanted to try out a Clark Gable-style pencil mustache [Editor's note: the preferred spelling from the poll was "mustache," so I shall use that spelling henceforth]. Whadaya think - which of us would Scarlett O'Hara pick?

V.S.

Hair:

The next big change was buzzing off all my hair. I hadn't had a haircut since December and I was just sick of dealing with all that mess on my head, so I grabbed a pair of clippers and just buzzed it off (yes, I did it myself - Todd just evened it out a little bit after I was done). It's a very liberating experience to take a razor to your head and just get rid of all that hair - I get why Britney did it. Here's a picture of me with the buzz cut where I don't look like an alien.

Teeth:

I have always wanted to whiten my teeth by I never feel like I could justify the expense thereof. But when I saw that slightly slashed-open box of Kroger-brand Whitening Trays on the manager's special table, I knew that the experiment was definitely worth $10.99. The process is supposed to take seven days, but I stretched it out a little bit longer than that because it was actually a little bit painful and after the third treatment the chemicals were making my gums bleed a little bit. I was about to stop altogether, but my nearly-graduated Dentist roommate Micah told me that I wasn't doing any long-term damage to my periodontal health and that I should just power through the remaining treatment.

Here's the 'before' picture:

Here's the daily progression:

And here's the 'after' picture:

While my teeth are not exactly blindingly white now, I can see enough of a difference to justify the $10.99 price tag (you get what you pay for, as my dad is fond of saying). What do y'all think - any whiter?

P.S. - Seems like a great deal of my 2009 posts so far deal with either facial hair or teeth. I hereby declare a moratorium on both subjects until further notice.

SST: Cooperation (Makes it Happen)

SESAME STREET TUESDAY

My calling in the church is to be the co-chair of the Spiritual and Temporal Welfare Committee. You might ask, "What does that mean?" Good question. Our committee is in charge of a smattering of responsibilities, including service projects, the ward newsletter, emergency preparedness, employment services, housing aid, and sports night. However, one responsibility that can be easily overlooked is setting up chairs at the beginning of church and then taking them down at the end. Although there are people assigned to take care of the chairs, it seems that Elizabeth (the other co-chair, no pun intended) and I end up taking care of the chairs by ourselves.

A couple of weeks ago, Stephanie R. saw me putting up chairs all alone after church and went out and recruited a bunch of people from the lobby to help. Within thirty seconds, the job was done. It was great. As everyone was working together, I started to sing the "Cooperation" song from Sesame Street, but I got no looks of recognition from anyone in the room. That's a shame, because this song makes any group project or service activity more fun:



And as an added bonus (mostly for the benefit of my sisters), here's an all-time classic clip from Reading Rainbow that also promotes cooperation (or as they like to call it, "teamwork"):



Now everybody go out and cooperate on something! Go team! Take State!