Put the Lights on the Tree

Perhaps I shouldn't be posting this, seeing as I'm not a big fan of the cartoon. Still, the song is great!



By the way, Sufjan's doing "The Great Sufjan Song Xmas Xchange!" this year, and while the contest is already over (see above link), they're still offering 2 free songs for download from his Christmas albums: "That Was the Worst Christmas Ever" and "Sister Winter". Enjoy!

UPDATE: It looks like Sufjan has some young fans over in Asia. Watch Taiwanese 4th graders lip sync to "Put the Lights on the Tree"!

"Paper or Plastic?"

Neither.

I do believe the little things can make a difference. In fact, they're often the best way to start making a difference. So, I think I may be buying a few cloth bags for myself and my parents sometime soon...

'Family Guy' meets 'Star Wars'

I'm not a regular Family Guy viewer, but I must say, the new season six premiere episode rocks! You can read about it here.



Or, if you'd rather watch it, check out the Family Guy page over at a cool site called TV Links and click on the link for the first episode listed under season six, titled "Blue Harvest". Enjoy!

Succumbing to the Apple...

No, not that "forbidden fruit" of ancient myths. I'm talking about the computer company. A few weeks ago, my sister loaned me her new iPod (Red) Nano and I've been having a blast playing with it ever since.



Yet what I'm enjoying even more than all of the music I can carry with me are the multitude of podcasts which I can choose from for my listening pleasures.

One of my favorites programs right now is Grammar Girl's Quick & Dirty Tips for Better Writing:



Some of the tips are pretty basic, but others are really fun and interesting, and best of all, she frequently goes into the historical developments of various forms of grammar and words. Having just about caught up with all of her podcasts, I'm about to start on one of the other Quick & Dirty programs, either Money Girl, Legal Lad, or Mr. Manners.

In addition to Grammar Girl, I've also been enjoying (and can recommend) Speaking of Faith from American Public Media and My Daily Phrase German from the Radio Lingua Network (the network also has Coffee Break Spanish and French, among other things, though I must say, the German lessons are very basic, even if well done).

Given all of the fun I've been having though, I was quite surprised to find that well over half the people I've talked to recently who own iPods have never even given podcasts a chance. Naturally, I had to check the statistics on this phenomenon, and while I couldn't find more recent numbers, at least back in 2005, despite as many as 22 million Americans had an iPod or other MP3 player, only some 6 million Americans had tried downloading and listening to podcasts -- less than 30%! (the percentage was higher for those under 29 yrs old -- "nearly half" -- versus those 29 or older -- "only 20 percent".)

Perhaps I shouldn't be shocked by such low numbers -- after all, I'm also well aware that there are many crappy podcasts out there (believe me, I've listened to some of them). Plus, perhaps numbers have gone up significantly since then? Additionally, for all I know, I may be bored of podcasts myself in a week or so, right?

All I can say to those questions is that personally, I have managed to find several really entertaining and educational podcasts. On top of that, I've met a number of people who haven't tried any out at all. And honestly, that's all I'm really asking in this post. How can someone own such a cool (relatively) new technological gadget like the iPod, yet never even try out the related podcasts‽ (By the way, that rarely used question/punctuation symbol is known as the interrobang.)

In hopes of helping to give podcasts a chance then (at least by me, but perhaps by you too), I'd love to hear what anyone reading this post listens to and recommends.

Also, since I'll soon be returning the Nano to my sister, yet also find myself hooked on the little toy, which should I go with if I were to buy one for myself? The iPod Classic or the Nano?

Battle at Kruger video

Most people have probably seen this by now, but if you haven't, it's a must watch--truly incredible footage of the awesomeness of life. From Wikipedia:

Battle at Kruger is a viral video posted on YouTube in 2007 which was widely praised for its dramatic depiction of life on the African savannah.^[1] It is one of YouTube's most popular videos, with more than 13,000,000 views and 13,000 comments as of August 2007.^[2] It was also the subject of an article in the June 25, 2007 issue of Time Magazine^[3] and was featured in the first episode of ABC News' i-Caught, aired on August 7, 2007. A National Geographic documentary is also planned.^[4]

It was originally filmed in September 2004 by videographer David Budzinski and photographer Jason Schlosberg at a watering hole in Kruger National Park, South Africa. The video depicts an unfolding confrontation between a herd of Cape Buffalo, a small pride of lions, and a pair of crocodiles.

Sarajevo ljubavi moja

Yesterday I saw an amazing film, Grbavica, winner of the Golden Bear (i.e., Best Picture) at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival, among other awards. The story takes place in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, where a single mother and child are trying to get by after the devastating Yugoslav wars of the 90s. It's a moving mixture of the mundane and the breathtaking, resulting in a heart wrenching tale that is certainly one of the better films I've seen of late.

The movie also closes with a beautiful song, "Sarajevo ljubavi moja" ("Sarajevo Love of Mine"), by Kemal Monteno. Here's a live acoustic version of it from YouTube:



Additionally, a studio cut (the version used for the film credits) choreographed to a slide show of Sarajevo photos:



The song alone is also available from Imeem:

And in case you want to see the lyrics:

Sarajevo ljubavi moja Zajedno smo rasli grade ja i ti, isto plavo nebo poklonilo nam stih, ispod Trebevica sanjali smo sne, ko ce brze rasti ko ce ljepsi biti. Ti si bio velik a rodio se ja s Igmana uz osmijeh slao si mi san djecak koji raste zavolio te tad ostao je ovde vezan za svoj grad. Bilo gdje da krenem o tebi sanjam putevi me svi tebi vode, cekam s nekom ceznjom na svijetla tvoja Sarajevo ljubavi moja, Pjesme svoje imas i ja ih pjevam zelim da ti kazem sta sanjam radosti su moje i sreca tvoja Sarajevo ljubavi moja. Kada prodju zime i dodje lijepi maj djevojke su ljepse ljubavi im daj setaliste tamno uzdasima zri neke oci plave neke rijeci njezne. Sad je djecak covjek i zima pokri brijeg park i kosa bijeli al otici ce snijeg proljece i mladost ispunice tad Sarajevo moje jedini moj grad.

Sarajevo, love of mine We grew up together city, you and me the same blue sky gave us rhymes under Trebevic we dreamt dreams who will grow faster who will be nicer You were great, and I was born From Igman with a smile you sent me my dreams A boy growing up fell in love with you then He stayed here, connected to his city Wherever I turn, I dream of you All roads lead me to you I wait with some longing for your lights Sarajevo love of mine You have your songs, and I sing them I want to tell you what I dream The pleasures are mine and happiness yours Sarajevo love of mine When the cold passes and fine May comes The girls are nicer, give them love Walk the walkways with sighs in the dark Some blue eyes, some tender words Now the boy is a man and the winter covers the mounatin The park and hair is grey, but the snow will go away Spring and youth will then fill my Sarajevo, my only city

Finally, if this has wet your appetite for all things Bosnian, you may want to check out the following blog, a great resource especially if you plan to travel there one day:

http://www.beyondsarajevo.com/

Louisiana Pictures...at last!

Photos from my New Years trip (12/30/06 - 1/8/07) down to see some friends from Louisiana, traveling all over the state from Baton Rouge to Lafayette to New Orleans...

The Costs of War Remembered...

Yesterday marked the anniversary of the first atomic bomb dropping on Hiroshima 62 years ago, with the second bomb hitting Nagasaki 3 days later on the 9th of August, 1945. Mitsuyoshi Toge,* a survivor from Hiroshima, left us with the following haunting poetic images of his experience:

How could I ever forget that flash of light!
In a moment, thirty thousand people ceased to be,
The cries of fifty thousand killed
At the bottom of crushing darkness;

Through yellow smoke whirling into light,
Buildings split, bridges collapsed,
Crowded trams burnt as they rolled about
Hiroshima , all full of boundless heaps of embers.
Soon after, skin dangling like rags;
With hands on breasts;
Treading upon the broken brains;
Wearing shreds of burn cloth round their loins;
There came numberless lines of the naked,
all crying.
Bodies on the parade ground, scattered like
jumbled stone images of Jizo;
Crowds in piles by the river banks,
loaded upon rafts fastened to the shore,
Turned by and by into corpses
under the scorching sun;
in the midst of flame
tossing against the evening sky,
Round about the street where mother and
brother were trapped alive under the fallen house
The fire-flood shifted on.
On beds of filth along the Armory floor,
Heaps, and God knew who they were …
Heaps of schoolgirls lying in refuse
Pot-bellied, one-eyed, with half their skin peeled
off bald.
The sun shone, and nothing moved
But the buzzing flies in the metal basins
Reeking with stagnant ordure.
How can I forget that stillness
Prevailing over the city of three hundred thousands?
Amidst that calm,
How can I forget the entreaties
Of departed wife and child
Through their orbs of eyes,
Cutting through our minds and souls?

Let us never cease seeking after the peace that our broken world needs ever so badly.
____________
* "Mitsuyoshi Toge, born in Hiroshima in 1917, was a Catholic and a poet. He was in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped on the city on August 6, 1945, when he was 24 years old. Toge died at the age of thirty-six. His first hand experience of the bomb, his passion for peace, and his realistic insight into the event made him a leading poet in Hiroshima. This poem is from Hiroshima-Nagasaki: A Pictorial Record of the Atomic Destruction (1978)." (www.sojo.net)

Surprise, surprise...Wal-Mart found to be exploiting poor kids in Mexico.

A interesting story comes from Newsweek recently about thousands of unpaid teenage "volunteer" workers in Mexican Wal-Marts:

Wal-Mart is Mexico’s largest private-sector employer in the nation today, with nearly 150,000 local residents on its payroll. An additional 19,000 youngsters between the ages of 14 and 16 work after school in hundreds of Wal-Mart stores, mostly as grocery baggers, throughout Mexico—and none of them receives a red cent in wages or fringe benefits. The company doesn’t try to conceal this practice: its 62 Superama supermarkets display blue signs with white letters that tell shoppers: OUR VOLUNTEER PACKERS COLLECT NO SALARY, ONLY THE GRATUITY THAT YOU GIVE THEM. SUPERAMA THANKS YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING. The use of unsalaried youths is legal in Mexico because the kids are said to be “volunteering” their services to Wal-Mart and are therefore not subject to the requirements and regulations that would otherwise apply under the country’s labor laws. But some officials south of the U.S. border nonetheless view the practice as regrettable, if not downright exploitative. “These kids should receive a salary,” says Labor Undersecretary Patricia Espinosa Torres. “If you ask me, I don’t think these kids should be working, but there are cultural and social circumstances [in Mexico] rooted in poverty and scarcity.”

Even if Wal-Mart is "going green" and efficient in many good ways, this type of exploitation is still downright despicable.

Colbert and Harry Potter

Rowling reads the opening chapter of Deathly Hallows...

Here's a link to a video of Rowling and fans at midnight BST in London's Natural History Museum, where she read them the entire opening chapter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, titled "The Dark Lord Ascending." Yes, you can listen to it all right now!

Given this, I decided to download the PDF version of the so called leak, and I must say, this reading matched it almost verbatum, minus 10 words or so. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the "leaked" image files of the book's pages that are out there, so I can't compare it to those. At this point then, it's hard to say whether the entire thing is legit or not. It's already off by a number of words -- several that shouldn't have resulted from a copyist error and also didn't seem likely to have been accidentally skipped over by Rowling in her reading -- which makes me wonder why the mistakes were there. Did this copy not come from the final draft? I'm not reading any more of the PDF version, but I will do some comparison after I pick up my book tonight, though by then I'm sure the full scoop will already be all over the web. Oh well. For now, enjoy Rowling's reading.

One more Rowling Q&A before Deathly Hallows release...

A few more questions were answered by Jo today in a Q&A with children on the BBC show Blue Peter (it was actually recorded back on July 5th)...

Part 1:


Part 2:


Note that she's also doing a midnight reading of the Deathly Hallows at 12:01 BST, which is supposed to be available in streamline format on the British publisher Bloomsbury's website. I'll post a video/audio file if I come across one before midnight EST.

The Deathly Hollows, Alchemy, and the Simpsons

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Well, we're just about a week away from the final Harry Potter book and I'm sure every fan of the series is in a state of frantic anticipation. Here are a few things to hopefully tie you over until the 21st. Let's start with some tantalyzing quotes from Jo Rowling herself.

ROWLING ON THE OCCULT AND CERTAIN CHRISTIANS

First, to dispel the wild idea coming from various Christian and Wiccan corners that suggests these books are seriously intended to encourage and/or will greatly entice children to practice real witchcraft:

"I don’t believe in witchcraft, though I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been told I’m a practicing witch. Ninety – let’s say ninety five percent at least, of the magic in the books in entirely invented by me. And I’ve used things from folklore and I’ve used bits of what people used to believe worked magically just to add a certain flavor, but I’ve always twisted them to suit my own ends. I mean, I’ve taken liberties with folklore, um, to suit my plot.

"Witches and wizards are a huge part of children’s literature. It’ll never go away, I don’t think it will ever, ever, ever go away, 100 years, 200 years time there’ll be another kind of wizard’s story...

"Not once has a child come up to me and said, ‘Due to you, I’ve decided to devote my life to the occult.’ People underestimate children so hugely – they know it’s fiction.

"When people are arguing from that kind of standpoint I don’t think reason works tremendously well. But I would be surprised if some of them had read the books at all."

"Harry Potter and Me," A&E Biography, 13 November 2002.

And one more Jo quote from 2000:

"I don't believe these things and I'm certainly not encouraging any child to take an interest in the occult... In America, I've had practising witches coming up to me and saying thank you. I tell them not to. I don't consider them evil but I don't believe in what they do."

Anne Johnstone, "The hype surrounding the fourth Harry Potter book belies the fact that Joanne Rowling had some of her blackest moments writing it - and that the pressure was self-imposed; a kind of magic," The Herald (Glasgow), 8 July 2000.

ADDRESSING CATHOLIC & THE SO-CALLED PAPAL CONDEMNATION

And for those Catholic that think Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) actually came out against Harry Potter, I strongly recommend reading the following John Granger article for the full story on those unfortunate and silly events that ensued a couple of summers ago: “Pope Opposes Harry Potter”? Hardly.

Now, on to the fun stuff...

REAL PROOF FROM THE AUTHOR HERSELF THAT ALCHEMY IS KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE STRUCTURE AND SYMBOLISM OF THE BOOK SERIES:

"I’ve never wanted to be a witch, but an alchemist, now that’s a different matter. To invent this wizard world, I’ve learned a ridiculous amount about alchemy. Perhaps much of it I’ll never use in the books, but I have to know in detail what magic can and cannot do in order to set the parameters and establish the stories’ internal logic."

Anne Simpson, "Face to Face with J K Rowling: Casting a spell over young minds," The Herald, 7 December 1998.

So, just where is this alchemy? Well, the best introduction I've come across to this topic has to be the 2-part essay, "Alchemy and Harry Potter" (click here for part II) by Arianhrod, located over in the Leaky Cauldron's Scribbulus essay archives.

After that, you may want to check out another Granger article, "Alchemy: Jung, Burckhart, or McLean?", as well as anything else found within the "literary alchemy" category on his blog, hogwartsprofessor.com (though not positive, I'm pretty sure Granger was the first to key in on the alchemic influences).

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, VIDEOS GALORE TO KEEP YOU ENTERTAINED

“Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter” A&E show:

The 1st part (of 5, all available on YouTube) from a recent documentary speculating on what will happen in the 7th book:



This second video clip is part 1 (of 2, again, both on YouTube) from a fun British interview of Jo regarding the new book and movie:



"J.K. Rowling" A&E Biography (the title says it all):



Click on here for parts 2, 3, 4, and 5 of this special (all about 9 1/2 minutes long). There are some neat sketchings of her own visions of what certain characters look like at the beginning of the second clip, so you know.

The Simpsons "Wiz Kids" Potter Parody:



And if you liked that one, be sure to also check out these other two Simpsons clips:

"Flanders Reads Harry Potter"
"J.K. Rowling Appears on the Simpsons"

PREDICTIONS ANYBODY?

Let me just close this post with two predictions: (1) sadly, Hagrid will die; (2) trust Snape (he's not as bad as he so often seems to be).

Feel free to share your own speculations and findings.

About the blog...

This is all you need to know. My name is Chris and I’m the one running things here.

“Geistkreis” is the German word for “intellectual” or “spiritual” (Geist) “circle” (Kreis).* I chose the word simply because I envision this blog as a place where my thoughts on just about anything can be thrown out into the blogosphere and ruminated upon by myself and a circle of passersby (i.e. what will most likely merely be my close friends) who will likewise share their own thoughts, the result hopefully being a fruitful exchange of ideas.

The goal then, is an online Geistkreis. Voila. It all sounds quite nice on (err, digital?) paper, but let’s see if it actually pans out in practice…

* My source for the title comes from the Autobiographical Reflections of the 20th century political philosopher, Eric Voegelin. If you really desire looking the passage up, see the reflection “University of Vienna.”