Josh

Yojimbo (1961 #123 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055630/ )
I liked this movie a lot. Not only did it give a great story of an anti-hero, loner type, but it is obviously the insperation behind many western movies and also Anime, especially Cowboy Bebop.
The story shows how Sanjuro Kuwabatake, an ex-samurai, takes to a town and plays two differnt warring gangs in order to make the biggest profit to himself. In the end he finds redemtion and shows that the "old ways" are not dead.
This movie would have, however, been greatly enhanced by color and some carefull editing. You can tell they try and set up some great atmosphere shots that lack any beauty. all you see is brown dust. Perhaps one generation to early.
Overall, I give it a 7.5 out of 10.
My wife and I are watching the IMDB's top 250 films of all time. We draw them at random and then review them. Here are the first three.


The Best Years of Our Lives (1946 #175 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036868/ )
This won the Acadamy Award for Best Picture in 1946 along with 6 other Oscars.
It is the story of three World War II vets who come home to a world they don't understand. The three struggle with issues ranging from dealing with newly aquired disablilities, feelings of worthlessness, and understanding the true role the war played in their lives. It also tracks the lives of their families, especially the women who love them.
This is the best movie I've seen in a while. After so many movies dedicated to "The Greatist Generation" it's nice to see a more... accurate picture painted of them. The movie is heat warming and horrifying. It makes your heart ache and soar. I loved it.
I give it a perfect 10 out of 10.

L.A. Confidential (1997 #55 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119488/ )

This film noir picture is the story of... well... cops in L.A. who have to untangle a nasty web of lies that surround the world of organized crime.

Probably one of the best cop films in the last 20 years. It is full of suspense, action, and crazy twists and turns. With Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, and Kim Basinger, and Danny DeVito (along with tons of other great actors) you know it's gonna be good.
I give it an 8.5 out of 10.

I'm kinda freaking out here. I just finnished with the first draft of my first novel. I think the title will be "The Spirit of Humanity" but I don't know.

Here are the final stats:

40 Chapters plus an afterword
337 Pages
101,968 Words
1,114 KB

Now I'm going to write some short stories for six weeks or so, then I'll go back and revise my first draft.

I freakin rule!!!!

My story progression by the numbers:

37 Chapters
321 Pages
97,459 Words
1,064 KB

I think I may finish with the first draft tomorow...

I can't belive I'm this far along in the story. It sounds strange but the characters are really taking me for a ride. I love it.

My book by the numbers

34 Chapters
299 Pages
91,711 Words
1000 KB

I have a good routine now. I write for at least three hours every day. Life couldn't be better.

my book by the numbers:

30 Chapters
270 Pages
83,289 Words
907 KB

I am feeling FREAKIN FANTASTIC!!!! I have just wrote some of the best stuff I can imagine.

My book update, by the numbers:
28 Chapters
251 Pages
77819 Words
847 KB

I'm gonna finish this sucker and then I'm gonna have it published and its gonna be awsome!!!!!

I feel so... so alive. This is a rush like I've never felt in my life about anything.


*breaths* I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight!!!

Current Mood: determined

Joshua Huntsman
English 3220
9/22/05
Fulfilling the Stereotype
I am a pale male and have difficulty understanding the struggle of being a minority. As I read “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” there is one thing that seems to make no sense to me. The Wife does not like to be treated like one of the wicked wife’s in Jenkyn’s books, but she seems to fulfill all the stereotypes that are included. She seems to be, at the same time a champion for women’s rights and a poster child for the chauvinistic majority. This paper will serve as an opportunity to explore this phenomenon.
The most obvious example of The Wife illustrating, at the same time, woman’s rights and a proof of a stereotype is her talk of marriage and sex. Religious doctrine of the time painted women in the red light of temptresses and depraved sexual animals. They also taught that the most holy and pure women were virgins. This presents a very sticky situation for women. Certainly an appreciation for sex, and the natural consequences of sex, motherhood, would be a point of honor, but at the same time a woman who does try and achieve this goal fits nicely into the depraved sexual animal category. Dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t.
The Wife takes a very interesting turn in this situation. In the opening she says, “Wo that is in marriage” (line 3). This “Wo” which could very easily mean the wo for women who, as a wife, would be forced to give up their sacred virginity and become a lower form of woman. Through The Wife’s Prologue, however, she makes it clear that most of the “wo” is suffered at the hands of her husbands. Such an ironic turnaround is at the same time feminist and anti feminist as she has the power of the marriage, but she gains the power by living up to the negative stereotypes of the time. The same might be said of an inner city black youth gaining power by living a life of crime. They rise above their station, but they further cement the ideas that plagued him in his youth.
The Wife was first married at the age of thirteen (line 4). This age may hold some clues as to the situation she found herself in. Even with the differences of our times to Chaucer, one can assume that the marriage of a thirteen year old, especially to men who “were goode men, and riche, and old” (line 197) did not include much of a choice to the woman. In this way she was robbed of her chance to fulfill the higher calling of a holy virgin before she got to choose. In this state then she is forced into either a life of constant inferiority or else fighting for equality with whatever tool she has available. She obviously chose to fight. It is hard for me to see any other real choice for The Wife of Bath.
The problems that face The Wife are many of the same problems women of today face. There is a double standard in society when it comes to sex. A non-sexual woman is considered cold and a prude, while a sexual woman is considered a slut. Again, dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t.
With The Wife’s character, Chaucer seems to paint the inherit problem that face women, and really any minority that falls under the microscope of unfair stereotypes. They can either live down or live according to the stereotype. I find it really interesting, and eye-opening, that such problems that are faced today are at least as old as literature.

Joshua Huntsman

Lesson Plan for Antigone


This lesson will take place at the end of a course on dramatic texts. The purpose of this lesson will be to help the students in the specific areas where they are struggling. This will be accomplished by having a real production of Antigone. This will not only give them real experience and a deeper understanding of drama, but it will also push them a bit out of their comfort zone to discover talents they may not have known about.

1. Divide the students according to their need. For example, students who have struggled with the idea of characterization can be the actors, students who have struggled with historical context can be prop designers and costumers, students who have trouble with mood and theme can be set directors or light and sound techs. Students may also be grouped with other students who are more proficient in these areas.
2. Students can also be assigned according to general classroom performance. For example, if a student is shy and hasn’t talked out much, they could help direct. Students who are better expressing themselves through art or wood work could help others create set pieces.
3. The teacher will not direct the play, that is the student’s job, but they will direct the students to reach a deeper understanding in their particular deficiency.
4. After the performance the students will write an essay explaining the process of fulfilling their particular roll in the play.
5. The teacher will hand back, along with the graded essay, an individual report on the progress that they have seen the student go through.

Joshua Huntsman
English 3210
9/18/05
Ugly People in the Hands of an Angry Beautiful Society
Imagine how it must have felt like to be a sinner in the middle of a Puritan community. Not just any sinner either, a sinner whose sin is so obvious that there is no hiding it. Indeed, with Puritan’s belief in the total depravity of man, most everyone must have felt like this. Everyone was so scared of their owns sins they found sins in others.
Today, with issues like plastic surgery and eating disorders on the top of many people’s minds, we can perhaps understand what the Puritans went through. Instead of Christianity as our religion, we now worship the Beautiful. This paper will examine the text Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and draw comparisons and differences between the early Puritan obsession with a perfect soul to today’s obsession with a perfect body.
The first similarity that the two periods share is the belief that sin is wide spread. Edwards said that humans are, “… always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction” (Edwards 498). By this he means that all mankind are always in danger of being thrust to Hell. The Angry God he talks about that, “The strongest have no power to resist Him, nor can any deliver out of His hands” (Edwards 499) can easily be seen today as the draw of the temptations of fatty food and a leisurely lifestyle. If you believe what Edwards says then you believe that the whole world is surrounded by sin and will be dammed at any moment. If you believe what people today say about obesity then you believe that the whole world is surrounded by fattening foods and that anyone of us will die of a heart attack if we are not very careful. The universal natures of Evil and Fat are mirror images of each other that cross the dimension of time.
Another connection between Evil and Fat are the constant reminders of the horrendous consequences attached to such lifestyles. Imagine for a moment that the following quote is not spoken by Edwards, but by Dr. Phil and the subject is not hell, but life as a fat person. “It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God (or a beauty obsessed world) one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity.” Perhaps the dramatic attitude seems out of place in today’s world, but a simple change of context, drama in place, and you have daytime self-help television.
One major difference between the attitude of image today and the attitude of sin in the past is the idea of empowerment. Edwards paints humans as small bugs to be trampled on under God’s foot. We have no choice in the matter. Even the best we can do is not good enough for God’s attention. Only through the intervention of Jesus Christ are we able to hope to be saved. How different this is to the attitude of today’s fat people everywhere. While they share the idea that being fat is not their choice, (like being born in sin perhaps) they are always being told that they can take control of their own lives. Not only is a person told they are able to live a healthy happy life, they have various options to chose from to make that life a reality. This empowerment, perhaps a leftover from Calvinist movements, says that it is the responsibility of each person to make their lives a good as it can be, to stay away from the evil and temptations around them and always strive to be like the gods around them who are already skinny and healthy.
While it may be hard to see direct corrilation between the Puritan obsession with perfection in the Spirit to today’s obsession with perfection in the Body, it feels like it is cut from the same bolt. Like cousins, their differences are the exception to the rule. Whether or not the Angry God will burn the sinners in hell, or whether or not the fat people have no place in society, the attitude for both of them remains the same.































Works Cited
Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume A, Sixth Edition, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 2003

It's hard to find any time for me to write nowdays. With school and work and everything else that gets in the way, but I'm still slugging though it.

I now have, by the numbers

27 Chapters
233 Pages
72,391 Words
786 KB


I also think I finnaly have the ending formulated. I'm going to start taking my laptop to school so I can write in the free time I have there.

Current Mood: accomplished

http://www.passthepotato.com/potato-3.php?potatoid=050711081607-349616

The Toilet Zone

(Michael and Deborah are sitting at a table in a restaurant Michael is sweating and Deborah is looking annoyed and bored)
Michael: And so, as it turned out, it was the principal’s wife who was in the tipped over port-a-potty. We had to hose her off for twenty minutes before she could even see.

Deborah: Is this your way of making sure I don’t eat much tonight? That’s gross!

Michael: Oh, I guess you had to be there. Excuse me (he gets up to go to the bathroom)

Narrator: Submitted for your approval, Michael Dungood. Age 23. Occupation, Sales clerk for the “Sans-a-john” portable toilet company. But he might as well be called any boy at this point, this purveyor of portable poop palaces, because he has a problem, and this problem doesn’t stem from the flushing of unflushables. It’s a problem of th e heart, not of the bowels. And for Michael it is one problem that he just can’t unclog. He is, however, about to get some very special help for his desperate heart, the intestinal bacteria kind of help. For he has left his date, and has entered into... The Toilet Zone.

Michael: (sits down on toilet) oh, crap. That went real well. She thinks I’m a total loser now. Oh crap. Oh... ouch. Ouch... (screams) ahhhhhhhh!!!!

BM: (emerges from below) Ahhhhhh... Finally I’m out of that stinking hole! Hey buddy, would it kill you to eat some fiber now and again.

Michael: Who... who are you?

BM: My name is BM, but that’s not important, what is important is I’m going to help you out with your girlfriend out there.

Michael: You are

BM: yep

Michael: a piece of poop?

BM: yep

Michael: and you are going to help me out with my girl friend?

BM: pretty cool hu?

Michael:..... ok then. What do I need to do?

BM: First things first, you gotta lay off the toilet stories.

Michael: But they are so funny!
BM: to you and me, maybe, but you’ve gotta realize that girls do fall for stuff like that. Instead of telling her bathroom stories, Ask her about how her day was.

Michael: But.... would that involve toilets in an way?

BM: No, Girls don’t like to talk about Toilets, unless there is a doily or a fern on it, They like to talk about their day.

Michael: Ok... I’ll try it. Thank you (runs out and flushes the toilet)

BM: No, Micheal noooooooooooo

(Michael return to the table)

Michael: Sorry about that.

Deborah: mmmm.

Michael: so, uh... how was your day?

Deborah: (face lights up) How was my day? Oh, Michael, you are so sweet!!! First off I woke up and... (she talks fast and doesn’t let up)

Michael: (inturupting) Excuse me for one second more. (He leaves to go to the bathroom)... Oh sh.....

BM: (climbing from toilet)Yes, I’m here, hey buddy, next time don’t flush me down, eh?

Michael: oh, sorry.

BM: yeah, yeah, sorry. What do you need now?

Michael: She wont stop talking about her day! She just goes on and on and on. How do I get her to stop.

BM: No, that’s a good thing. If she’s talking that means she likes you.

Michael: well.. That’s good, but it’s pretty hard to endure. How do I make her stop?

BM: well, if you have to make her stop, tell her that you love her.

Michael: Oh, no. I can’t do that.

BM: Why not?

Michael: well, I’m... I’m afraid to do it!

BM: your afraid? What are you? A man or a mouse? Listen, you just gotta be cool. You gotta be smooth, like me. Listen to me. You are the man. Who’s the man?

Michael: you’re the man

BM: no, no, I’m the excrement, you are the man

Michael: I’m the man?
(Continue on like this, Micheal picking up bm in his excitment)

BM: Good, now get out there and tell her you love her. Go on! Scat! Scat! (Micheal leaves)

BM: hmmm... he should have washed his hands, really.

(Deborah greets Michael’s return with a smile and a wink)

Michael: (taking Deborah by the hands) Deborah, I.. I have something I want to tell you.

Deborah: (sniffs) oh.. What is that,

Michael: I know this may sound sudden, but... I

Deborah: whats that brown stuff all over your.... oh no.

Michael: I love you!

Deborah: (ripping her hands away) this is. (Sniff) this is.. Oh you dumb piece of (slaps him) That’s it, I could handle the toilet stories, but this! Good bye! Forever! (She walks out. Michael returns to the bathroom. For having a girl slap him, he is in high spirits)

BM: how did it go?

Michael: She walked out on me, but it doesn’t matter. You’ve showed me the way to impress girls. I can handle anything now.

BM: well.. That’s good, but you might want to...

Michael: No, No, it’s ok, BM. I think I can handle everything now.

BM: well, you should know...

Michael: (flushes the toilet) goodbye!

BM: NO!!! You’ll be sorryyyyyyyy

Michael: Now, to ask out that blonde waitress.

Narrator: Behold Micheal Dungood. He thinks he has the world on a string of toilet paper, but he forgot a few simple rules: First, what you learn from one girl is worthless on another. Second: Don’t flush away your best sourse for advice. And third, before you ask the blonde waitress to go out with you, make sure your hands are washed or you may find yourself the most lonely member... of the Toilet Zone.

A small piece of poop teaches the children the true meaning of Christmas. A rabbit, to avoid being hunted, dresses like a woman and seduces the hunter into a cave which contains TNT. A mouse gets so drunk that he mistakes some guy as his girlfriend and kisses him. Some chipmunks try to steal food from a farmer and eventually blast him out of his chimney and the resulting crater caused the grand canyon to form. Are these American Indian Trickster tales? No. They are stories from South Park, Loony Toons, Mickey Mouse, and Chip and Dale, but they all seem to be descendants of Wakjankaga, Coyote, and Ikto.
This paper will examine the possibility that many of today’s cartoons can be seen as the natural evolutionary result of the Native American Trickster stories. We will look at different qualifications and instances that the Tricksters have and see how they correlate with many of the cartoons of today.
One feature of the Trickster that is obvious is the fact that, despite his excessive nature, despite his tendency to cause very serious trouble, he is a sympathetic character. I think one reason for this is the fact that he makes people laugh. Oral tradition has a very strong tie to humor. I really enjoyed reading the Navajo tale of Coyote, Skunk, and the Prairie Dogs. Here you have the very unsocial act of urinating into peoples eyes and it is answered by open laughter from the audience (Navajo, 153) The Coyote makes us laugh, and as a reward, he is seen sympathetically. He is also more likeable because he usually gets his just deserts in the end as in the same tale when he is left with only a very few Prairie Dogs to eat.
Perhaps this humor does not seem enough to warrant such popularity, but consider the case of Donald Duck. He has a very short temper and is always causing very serious problems for those around him. He swears like nothing else and he has been known to hit around his nephews and even his girlfriend, but in the end most people like him. And he, like Ma’ii, usually get very little reward in the end for all their treachery and scheming.
Perhaps Coyote and Donald’s lovability come from the fact that they are allowed to do the anti-social things lots of people would like to do. We can see their reactions as the natural way that we have to control. They carry out our dark endeavors and then we can see from a safe distance the natural punishment of their actions.
The Clatsop Chinook story where Coyote learns the fishing taboos shows another instance where the Trickster lives out the worst parts of our lives for us. In the story, the Coyote wants to catch fish but doesn’t know the many rules that regulate the trade. In a humorous mockup of consulting the spirits for advice (Clatsop, 145) Coyote consults with a piece of his own poop in order to know the proper ways to fish. This story is actually quite close to a story from the cartoon South Park where a piece of poop called Mr. Spanky acts as a supernatural guide to the children of the town and teaches them the proper way to think about a number of topics from Christmas to drugs. The children act as Coyote did, trying one method and another without success. It is not until they follow all the advice of Mr. Spanky that they are able to succeed. It is hard to believe that two stories about gaining wisdom from ones own waste are not related.
Speaking of excrement, the Winnebago tale numbers 23 to 25 show a very interesting tale of Coyote not taking sage advice and paying a very dear price in the end. Pun intended.
Despite, and perhaps in spite, of the warnings from the bulb that, “He who chews me will defecate; he will defecate” (Winnebago, 128) Coyote eats it and waits to see the result, never believing that the bulb could have been telling the truth. After discovering the gradual nature of the bulb, that of explosive gas, he has some fun with it by scaring a group of people and then scattering their belongings by blowing them away with his gas.
The initial fun effects of the bulb turn dark when he does begin to defecate. He defecates so much, in fact, that he is almost killed by it and it is only through the providence and luck of talking trees that he is saved.
It is easy to see why this story would be important to the American Indians of the time. The forest was full of many dangerous things that kids just had to accept the danger of without testing it. There are many cartoons that have similar themes that are more focused on our day and age. A Goofy cartoon comes to mind where, despite the warnings of his friends, he decided to drink a mysterious booze. He is told that it would cause him to have hallucinations, but he doesn’t believe them. He believes them when he is put on trial for basic stupidity by a court of flowers and bumble bees. When he wakes from this dream, he swears off drinking for good.
While the concepts may be a bit watered down from their American Indian roots (imagine Elmer Fudd copulating with Daffy Duck, or Mickey Mouse drowning in a sea of shit) they are still very strong examples of the Trickster tales. While this paper is not long enough for an exhaustive analysis, it has covered some general areas and examples of the similarities between the trickster tales of old and the cartoons of today. They all give us humorous and over the top examples of humanity. They teach us lessons and show us the other side of life. They entertain while warning. They awaken the trickster in us all.

Current Mood: numb

The good teacher is flexible. They are able to change their lesson plan to better facilitate the situation of the moment. They will be familiar enough with the subject to see a wide variety of possible variations and paths that the students may wish to explore while still getting the core base of the topic covered. A bad teacher has a set lesson plan that they have used over and over and will continue to use again and again. They are not accessible to students and often ignore or don’t realize that students may have different interests that could be used to their advantage.
A good teacher is able to use whatever resources they have to teach. They can use technology to their advantage, but in the absence of technology they are still able to teach an effective lesson. A bad teacher depends so much on technology that when that technology is absent they are paralyzed. They don’t think they can teach an effective lesson without a wish-list of products and tools.
Bad teachers are teachers by defacto. They are there only because they can’t see themselves doing anything else with their lives. They have no sense of duty or responsibility to creating the future. A good teacher thrives on the craft of education. They see themselves as the architects of tomorrow and they take that calling very seriously.
The best teachers are bards for their subjects. They can keep a class interested in anything they have to say by playing to their audience. They are old men sitting in barbershops while all the boys from around the block gather around to listen to their stories about the great depression. They are there to help students understand just how big and interesting their world really is. They are the ones who show them what life outside their familiar backgrounds. They expand minds.
The worst teachers make students hate their subjects. They exclude people without even realizing what they are doing. They see themselves as part of an academic elite with teaching as just a necessary side effect. They seek not to teach, but to massage their own ego.

I'll give you a hint... it starts with a D and ends in an isneyland.

The best thing about being an adult is I can go to disneyland whenever I want. We are going on Monday and I'm just as excited as I can be.

Only got a little bit of writing done today. Wife and I went to the midevil fair thing they have. It was ok. Yesterday we saw Bewiched. It was much better than I thought it was going to be.

Writing by the Numbers

22 Chapters
188 Pages
59,085 Words
640 KB

Current Mood: accomplished

I had to just walk away from my computer for a while today and let more of the story sink into my mind. I only got a little done, but I think it's good. Just finished a major transition scene which I find the hardest to write.

by the numbers:
21 Chapters
184 Pages
57,969 Words
628 KB

AND I have tomorow off work as well. Life is good.

Current Mood: accomplished

I've been to Disneyland a total of 4 days in the last two weeks. I love being a AP holder....

Book update!

I now have:

21 Chapters
178 Pages
56,526 Words
611 KB

moving along nicely

Current Mood: accomplished