Flatface

To My Youngers,

As I'm sure I have mentioned on several occasions I like things that are silly. I think silliness in the adult world (aka once you be all growed up) is vastly underrated and criminally under-used and is something that should be included in the daily functionings of all people.

On that note, I would like to present a game I have happened upon in my youtube perusings, and have recently introduced to both K and El. It is called 'The Flatface Game'. and it is the Best. Game. Ever.

Now I know that I said that just recently about Sopio, but these two things are in distinctly different categories. Because Sopio is an actual game. Granted a very silly, simple and aruably pointless game (though aren't they all?), but a game in the regular at least semi-competitive sense of the word.  Flatface is more of a game in the we'll-just-call-it-a-game-so-we-can-pretend-theres-a-reason-we're-doing-this sense of the word... also Sopio is 'best' in the most-funnest-game-ever sense while Flatface is more of a simplest-thing-you-can-do-to-make-yourself-almost-pee-your-pants sort of 'best.'

The rules are (though maybe its more of a goal...?) goal is simple:  try to make your face as flat as possible. Note here the inclusion of the word 'try.' The goal is not necessarily to MAKE your face as flat as possible, but to put every bit of concentration, every bit of effort, every bit of everything you'rve got into the attempt. Squash your eyes, tuck in your chin, eradicate your mouth and, most importantly, pull your nose right back into the middle of your head. (Clearly this last one is the most difficult, hence most vital part of the game.) For extra fun, record your attempts with a camera, then you get twice the fun of laughing at yourself as well as laughing at the person you're playing with!

Play it with your friends, neighbours, random people on the street... they'll likely all think you're weird, but on the bright side, YOU'LL be the one with the flat face!

-E

Sopio

To My youngers,

I have been remiss. A whole week without posting! My apologies, what with the election and working and... well to be honest- a full day of getting caught up on Gossip Girl, I had little time left for the aforementioned blogging... but now I am returned. or have returned. whatever.

In my absence I have also been occupied playing card games. or more correctly one specific card game. (Also I have been doing a remarkably excellent job at converting everyone else who plays this game into massive fanboys/girls). That game. Is Sopio.

It is super lame. And super simple. In fact it is so lame and so simple that it is both confusing and astoundingly awesome at the exact same time, in the exact same amounts. Until you understand how to play it. then its all awesome and zero confusing. Sorry sentence structure, its late, I am tired, and I have to get up in five hours to help my friend paint his house. Deal.

So Sopio is this card game invented by favourite youtuber Alex Day and his cousin Danny (who I'm sure has a last name, which may or may not be Day, but sorry Danny, you may have invented my new favourite card game, but you still have yet to make me wish you would read the bible... sorry again, that was way to confusing to anyone who is not me or K. Or my cell phone, if my cell phone were a person. cuz then it would remember receiving a text which read only (in all caps) "OMG ALEX IS READING THE BIBLE!!!!!!!!!") aaaanyways they invented this game in concept only then spent so much energy trying to convince people that it was a real game that they decided to actually make it into a real game. and it is only the best. game. ever.

I'm not sure if I could properly explain it- well I could, its quite simple really, but it would just sound lame and un-fun and that is the exact opposite of what it is is. Instead I will steal a quote from one of my convert friends (who literally went home after playing and bought his own pack online mere minutes later...) so in the words of Jeff Winter "Its like Magic the Gathering, only with funnier cards, and fewer rules, and its easier to play, and you would actually be able to get girls to play it with you!" So in other words, like Magic the Gathering, in so much as it is a card game, but unlike Magic the Gathering insomuch as it is, well, incredibly fun. and awesome. and won't make you unavoidably single for the rest of your life.

Google it or check it out on youtube, or if you live near me and want to play, just ask. I totally carry it with me in my bag at all times. Because I actually do wish someone would just come up to me and ask if I would play Sopio with them. No seriously though, if someone did that, I might fall over from shock. or pee myself laughing. either way, I guarantee you would be entertained.

-E

Storytelling as ... Everything

To My Youngers,

I was catching up on some vlogbrothers videos yesterday (as I am wont to do) and was struck by a particularly loverly sentiment (as I am also wont to do) expressed by John Green about the purpose of studying/discussing literature: "Its not so much about uncovering secret mysteries for the sake of uncovering secret mysteries, its about using story as a way into thinking about our actual lives and how we're actually living them."

So first off I love the enthusiasm with which Mr Green (ha ;o) states that the true purpose of hearing stories is to learn from them, to apply the lessons within to our own lives and to benefit from the experiences of others, even if those others are fictional. Its seems a rather obvious idea, but also unfortunately one which is often lost on the hoards of students forced to analyze everything from Dickens to James Joyce. I have had so many students beg me to tell them 'What the author means...' as if that will somehow magically provide them with the answers to life, the universe, and everything. Its not about what the author means but about how you relate to the story, the novel, the work. What does Napoleon's take-over of the farm remind you of? Haven't you ever felt like one of the invisible unwashed masses like David Copperfield? What about Holden Caufield- I mean haven't you ever seen a giant 'fuck' spray-painted on the side of a school and just wanted to go berserk? Apply, apply, APPLY these things to the real world! What is the point of storytelling if not to form connections, to bridge the gaps of human existence, to make webs where once there were voids? To make magic out of molehills.

That is part of this sentiment I find, frankly, absolutely fantastic- the idea that a reason to read stories is to discover secret mysteries, to understand the magic of existence! Now of course our esteemed Mr Green  says that discovering said mysteries is not the point of reading books- but wait, no! He says discovering them for the sake of it is not the purpose...  Now that's the magical part. Its not secret mysteries as set out by the author (because "What authors mean doesn't really matter") but instead the secret mysteries revealed to you through your interpretation of the author's words. Definitely more important and, I think I am pretty safe in saying, also much more awesome. The way that something said by Yossarian can make you re-imagine the universe, that something done by Charles-Wallace can make you re-evaluate your perspective, that the world-view of Tyler Durden or Rob Fleming can make you stop, look, and listen...

One of my favourite Nick Hornby moments happens in Song Book when he is discussing his discovery of hidden meaning in About A Boy after hearing the Badly Drawn Boy song about the dead duck day (could that be more cryptic for anyone who is not a Nick Hornby fan? I think not. Read his books, enjoy, then come back and re-visit this post...)  Now I think K has mentioned this before so bare with me, but the idea that someone else's reading of your words can teach you something about yourself that you never knew- totally the very point of story-telling! The push and pull of learning, the 'student becomes the teacher; is mirrored by 'the teacher becomes the student...'  As a teacher I can tell you that my students teach me things every day- I know that sounds corny and trite, but its my favourite thing about teaching and what will keep me enthralled by it for years to come. You can never know everything, you can never even come close, and having a roomful of other experiences informing, changing, and building your perspective(s) is one of the most amazing things in life. Its not just the readers, the viewers, the audience, who experience this discovery, but the authors/creators themselves... it works with books, with artworks, with songs... Hornby says of the experience "I wrote a book that wasn't about my kid, then someone writes a beautiful song based on an episode in my book that turns out to mean something much more  personal to me than my book ever did." It is not only the power of music, the insightfulness of song writing, but the experience of having an author's words mean something to you that the author not only never intended, but which has the power to change how you see things...

Now I could go on here about the insane relevantness of song lyrics and connectedness of melody, about art and seeing things in the in-between, about books changing how I see the world, but I think I'll save that for another time. For now I'll just say that it is never what the creator means that is important, but the connectedness with which you interpret their words/images/ideas and the way in which you relate to them, which allows a book/song/painting/piece of art to achieve its full potential.

That, and that I love John Green...

Aaaaaaand scene.

-E

The Honesty of 90s Lead-Singer Rock 'Dancing'

To My Youngers,

I am an 80s kid, I lip-synced to Madonna and Fresh Prince at sleepovers, I wore neon legwarmers, and I crimped my hair. I watched Sunday morning cartoons and was scarred by Bowie's pants in Labyrinth.  I loved Return of the Jedi best based solely on the Ewoks.

I was a kid in the 80s. But I was a teenager in the 90s, and that's when I fell in love with music.

Recently my room-mate and I went on a 90s-music-video-binge. On this particular occasion it was sparked by the mention of Train's first-time-around hit Meet Virginia, and how much better it was than their recent Hey Soul Sister. Now admittedly this opinion is largely based on Meet Virginia having a time and a place for us, a sense of nostalgia, but it is also because the lead singer just looks creepy in the newer video! No, its not because he is older, its not because he looks like a messed-up version of Uncle Jesse on Full House, its because of his dancing.

Despite their recent rebirth, Train is a 90s band. The lead singer is a 90s singer. He should dance like he's a 90s singer in a 90s band, not all choreographed and slow and smooth! The 90s, especially Alternative Rock in the 90s, was not about smooth dance moves (unless you were the Backstreet Boys, whose dance moves were... well slightly more smooth I guess?). 90s Alternative Rock 'Dancing' was all about the grab-the-mic-walk-back-and-forth. Simple? Sure. Kinda dumb looking? Usually. Honest? Most definitely. These guys were singers, not spokesmen, not fashion models, not marketing creations. They were there to sing- not the most groundbreaking, innovative, creative songs in the world, but songs that were about what they were about. Songs about speeding down the highway, songs about recreational drug use, songs about breakin' up and feelin' bad about it. Songs about life. Average, everyday, un-choreographed life.

That's what everyone says right- about the music of their generation? That it was so much more honest, so much more awesome, so much more than 'this crap kids listen to now-a-days.' Except that that's not what I'm saying at all- I like much of the music 'kids listen to now-a-days,' in fact I absolutely adore quite a lot of it! Kate Nash wasn't around when I was a teenager, nor were the Decemberists. Most of the bands I listen to hadn't even met each other pre-2000. But most of them are also magical- they tap into the deeper unseen bits of the dust of the universe and turn it into melancholia, beautiful, and heart-pounding odes to the wonder of everything. That is not what 90s music was about. It was about Rock. It was about fast driving, and parties, and stealin' your best friend's girl. It was about being a 90s teenager, even if you weren't a teenager like that at all.

And it was about honest dancing. It was about mosh pits and jumping and waving your hands in the air while you got covered in sweat that wasn't yours, and ducked so you didn't get an errant shoe in the face. You can see it in all kinds of 90s music videos (from back when Much Music actually still played music videos...), the kinds of videos teenyboppers like Miley Cyrus and Justin Beiber try to replicate all the time. Promise by eve6, Third Eye Blind's Semi-Charmed Life, or The Oaf by Big Wreck all fit the bill- awkward rock dudes with guitars (or basses) stomping around, grabbing their mic stands, taking two steps forward and two steps back, singing their hearts out, lookin' kinda dumb and surprisingly sexy.

Maybe it isn't super-innovative. Maybe it isn't magical, or beautiful or awe-inspiring. But it is honest. Simple, straightforward, and honest. Its my music as much as any of what I listen to now, and I still love it every bit as much as I did back then. Which is a lot.

-E

Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!

So this is a blog (that I'm hoping you have already figured out...). "A blog about what?" you may ask (which would be a pretty good question, seeing as how the title doesn't give too much away). "Well I'll tell you!" (says I,  since you're doing us the favour of reading it I suppose I owe you at least that much...).

It comes from a few places:

Recently having moved back to my home province, I now find myself in much closer proximity to my family. To some this would be a horrible thing to be avoided at all costs, but I have found it pleasantly excellent- a chance to have more visits, more conversations, just more time together, and ironically a chance to miss them almost more than before since I am more often reminded of how awesome they are!

This past weekend marked yet another visitation and greatly contributed to the blog you are presently [hopefully] enjoying! Just before heading off home for a few days I had re-read High Fidelity and was filled with a longing to discuss things (music, movies, ideas....) and maybe even to make a few top five lists along the way. Normally this isn't difficult; these conversations happen naturally when we are together, but when returning to our three respective cities it presents much more of a challenge....

So the other night, after having watched  a slightly untoward number of vlogbrothers videos, I was inspired to follow in their entertaining footsteps and set us three a challenge: to communicate through the internets on a weekly basis, to respond to each other, to get to know each other better, and to share our sum knowledge of silly, entertaining, and sometimes stupid factoids, thoughts, and ideas in a way that can be looked back on fondly (or with embarrassment) in the coming weeks-months-years.

It only took some mild convincing, but I got A and K on board. All that was left was to come up with a title... This last read of High Fidelity I took to circling paragraphs and underlining quotes, and this one jumped out as particularly appropriate:

"[Things happen,] it's just that none of us had the wit or talent to make them into songs. We made them into life, which much messier, and more time consuming, and leaves nothing for anybody to whistle."


I hope this experience will leave us with something to whistle.
Get ready A and K, for the journey begins....

-E