WISDOM OF THE SAGES
EPISODE XII
DECEMBER – WINTER 2011
Hello People of the World;
I hope this month’s edition finds you in cheerful weathers. And speaking of weather, to those who like complaining about how the weather snuck up on you, it seems there have been dire predictions of Worse Blizzard in History set for Chicago. Then if it hits you can act all surprised. Or be a fakey and pretend you like it. Whatever, I’ll allow it.
December also marks the Return of Native Pride, my beloved cap that causes folks to get mad at me for talking to people. Sheesh. I usually don’t wear it because of November’s lip service to Native Americans and in more a social experiment than mute protest, I put the cap away. Nothing major happen, so it is as it should be.
Let’s get started, shall we?
1:[ First item of the month: Well, now I am at the end of the semester at the University of Wisconsin Parkside and my first university teaching gig comes to a close. “No One Ever Sees Indians: Native Americans in Media” has been an interesting experiment in testing my own knowledge as well as introducing a few media concepts to non-Native students. It’s all about expectations.
I had a pretty nice time there mostly due to the fact that I have to commute via rental car to Kenosha every week. It has been a nice weekly road trip that I looked forward to. Oh yeah, the teaching was good to. (I know, they let me teach on Native Americans in Media, getting self-righteous and angry over my victimization every week! Gasp!)
We are in the midst of finals as I post this and the students, all in all, have done pretty well so far for me yelling at them for 45 minutes and showing them “Star Wars” every week….
2:[ Have you ever noticed, that when you are hunched over packing a suitcase or a briefcase that sits on your bed and you realize you need to pack something that is on the nearby desk or table and when you walk over to grab it, you walk over still hunched over?
No, me neither….
3:[ More MOVIE TIME ADVENTURES:
One more thing about Chicago I enjoy, other than the buildings of downtown (One of the best downtowns in the world. Yeah, I said that.), is the sheer availability of second-run theaters here. For a movie lover like myself, it is very cool to be able to see films like “Citizen Kane” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” on the big screen every once in a while. I had the opportunity to see Raiders of the Lost Ark at the Music Box Theater recently and went with my great friend Mike. It never gets old. “Raiders” is really lightning in a bottle and there is no way to recreate it.
The first time I every saw Raiders was at the Acme Theater back home, when my dad took us all. He really wanted to see it. My dad had a passion for films that I have never explored before. He used to collect 8mm films of movies he loved. I still remember the short reels for “The Ten Commandments”. Now, every time I go into Half Price Books and see the cabinet holding 8mm films from “Blackhawk Films”, I think of my dad….
Mike and I were on a movie-watching jag there for a while and the week after “Raiders” we went to see “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and “Jaws” at the Portage. I never saw “Godzilla” in its entirety before and decided seeing it on the big screen would be the best way to do so. The Portage Theater is a mom & pop second-run theater that is jam-packed to the rafters with ambiance. It is simply a cool and spacious theater. (I would daresay it is much cozier that The Music Box.)
It was much fun to see “Godzilla”. It had been years since I saw “Jaws” but was disappointed to see that it was projected from video. They will have a screening of “Star Wars” but I have to wonder if that will be from video as well….
In the madcap that is the Holiday Movie Season, Charlotte and I found our selves in Evanston for the day without a coherent plan for a movie. I wanted to see “Hugo” and she wanted to see either “Happy Feet 2” or “Arthur Christmas”. We went in the Century Theater and both saw the poster for The Muppets. We looked at each other and asked, “Why don’t we go see that?”
We got our tickets for the screening that just started and was treated to a warm, funny and sweet return of the Muppet Gang. Jason Siegel was a writer and his charm and humor show through and meshes with the Muppet brand of humor. At its core is a story of a Muppet trying to find his place in the world. With funny songs and dance numbers it charmed Char and me….
4:[ I have notice when riding the bus that rain really make a difference as it seemed the bus I caught stopped at every stop and about 500 people would get on just to get out of the rain. Now, that doesn’t happen for snow. For some reason people tend to think of snow as dry water. Weird.
So, as expected, the bus filled up quick. And boy, people are just not getting the whole, make-room-in-the-aisle concept. Dude, you’re the same size front or back, simply spinning around to face the other way does not make you somehow smaller and out of the person’s way who is trying to get by you on this cramped bus. You just turned a circle for no reason. I had to laugh out loud at that guy….
5:[ Ah yes, settle in Readers for more of:
Adventures at the Coffee Shop!
+ I know that the coffee huts in the Barnes and Noble are NOT Starbucks, but simply “serve Starbucks coffee” but could they at least have some consistency in serving Starbuck’s drinks? At this one particular B&N coffee hut, I have to ask for and describe a steamed apple juice is not the same as a Caramel Apple Spice and, no, I don’t want syrup and no whipped cream. When I ask for a steamed apple juice in a Starbucks regular, they know, and even have a separate price for it. I know, “Stop asking for specialized drink at a Barnes and Noble you dummy.” But then what would I complain about?
+ Lately I have been steering away from coffees in the late afternoons, finding that my body is adjusting to getting some semblance of sleep at night. So, I have been hitting the “Dunky Donuts” as my Boo calls it for their “Hot Chocolate Mint”. I am so enamored of this that it hit me that I could simply buy it instant and drink that. I’ve also switched to Steamed Apple Juices because a warm drink in cooler weather is something I enjoy….
+ I worry for my girls because I have noticed that no matter the age or marital status, the stupid hipster baristas will always become babbling idiots trying to charm any young Asian woman that crosses their path; customer or co-worker, makes no difference….
6:[ New Science Stuff: It appears that scientists are closer to finding out why our universe is made of matter rather than antimatter. (Yes, antimatter is real!) When smashing atoms they found particle that do not behave like antimatter. Fascinating stuff that I cannot, nor, have the ability to explain. Read this article instead. It is said that this could re-write how physics work.
It also appears that we are getting closer to finding the Higgs Boson particle that gives mass to everything in the universe, the so-called “God Particle” (As if…. Actually, scientists state that that label is misleading.). This particle will explain why everything that exist has mass, from large organisms to subatomic particles. Anyways, let the smarter people explain it. I think this is cool stuff….
7:[ And now Wisdom of the Sages presents:
“An Ever-growing List of Things That MUST Stop!”
+ You Idiots jaywalking into the streets? Come on, you’re not that important…. One of these days, someone will not be able to see you and stop in time….
+ Have your fare or fare cards out!!! The bus gets late waiting for you to set down all of your stuff, rifle through your purse or backpack looking for change or fare cards and then you have the frickin’ gall to complain that the busses are running late….
+ So, there was this Lady with a cart on the #22 bus. She had a seat but for some reason she got up and stood beside the driver complaining about the man who sat by her. He accidentally bumped her cart or something. She gets mad, calls him a rude asshole and then becomes a rude asshole herself standing at the front of the bus with her cart bottlenecking the aisle. Of course this caused other riders to turn on her. They talked her down and made rude comments about her needing to sit her ass back down, or something.
This made me aware of how much people simply do not sit the f*ck down even though they are right next to an empty seat, simply because then, they would have to sit NEXT TO someone. That guy who turned a circle I mentioned in the earlier item? He was on this bus AND standing next to an empty seat!
Of course, I myself was judging all this from a position of having a seat…. I need to stop that….
+ Today on the bus we passed an accident scene where someone was lying on the ground for being HIT BY A F*CKING CAR!!! I could not see clearly and did crane my head to see. But it looked like a woman in the crosswalk was hit and the people around her were simply standing around prodding at her. She looked really hurt and people were just seeing if she could get up again so they could get on with their day. People need to stop being ignorant of people in the crosswalks….
8:[ So, there I was, standing at the bus stop in the blustery cold. When this guy comes out of the train station, sees me, then walks up to me and points to the logo on his cap and says “We own you Indians now! Blackhawks forever! An’ it’s gonna stay that way….”
Oh, I should have been mad. Sports logos represent one the toughest fights Native Americans have had to deal with in modern society. Many will say that there are more important things to worry about, like the education of children, but no one sees how one connects to the other. Or, rather, they choose NOT to see how it connects. They want to be fooled, as the movie stated. Also, the Blackhawk logo also represents one of the Great Native American Hypocrisies today. (Of which there are four.)
Yeah, I should have been mad. (And self-righteously so.)
Instead, I just laughed and said, “Um, you’re wearing a Bears cap, sir….”
His eyes widened in surprise and he immediately shut up and walked off without looking back….
9:[ From the “This Just In” Department: Here we are as 2011 winds down. Oh’s no! Guess what comes next? Yep, 2012. END OF THE WORLD! Want to hear some funny things about that Mayan prediction? Well, for one: Mayans still exist today; and two, I was TOTALLY right: it predicts that it is TIME TO BUY A NEW CALENDAR! This article (There are more article about this if you search "Mayan calendar 2012".) states that after decoding the calendar once December 21, 2012 arrives, “…after which the calendar shifts to the next 144,000 day cycle…”.
Told you.
You’re welcome….
10:[ Last Item of the Month: Sorry folks, I just cannot get behind a sequel to “The Incredibles”. I know every geek fanboy out there is clamoring for one and Brad Bird stated recently that they are sifting through ideas. Please, Mr. Bird, don’t cave in to fanboy expectation. You owe us nothing. Mr. Lucas did, and look what we got: the prequels. “The Incredibles” is a unique take on the superhero genre and a special story about discovering and utilizing your talents. Don’t cheapen it by giving in to the “we want more” mentality that has ruined so many other franchises; Star Wars, Indiana Jones (supposedly), Aliens, Predator, The Terminator, Star Trek…. Please, Brad Bird, leave “The Incredibles” alone….
That will do it for this month.
Yep, there are only 16 days left to 2011 and you know what? I still wonder where the time went? December also marks an important birthday. Did you know? So, remember, say, "Happy Birthday" to Jesus the weekend after next. It’s still okay to do so, despite what the Press says.
Oh yeah! Keep an eye out for my annual “Best of” Lists coming soon to the WOS Reviews page. I know you all want to know what I thought were the Best Things from this past year. Feel free to comment, contradict or correct any of the items here on Wisdom of the Sages. Also, simply let me know how you are doing.
See you next year!
Until Next Time, “I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control everything really are.”
© 2011 Ernest M. Whiteman III
