Sonic, he's the fastest thing alive!

Back in the young days of the early 90's, there was a blue, brave, brazen, boy who was the fastest thing alive. And we all loved him because he was way past cool. Who was this blue, red sneaker wearing fellow? None other than Sonic the hedgehog. With his talking smoother than ice, penchant for catchphrases, speed beyond comprehension and a love for chili dogs, Sonic was one rad dude.
I never really played the video games that much, I was way into the cartoons though. Both the wacky slap-stick, Bugs Bunny-esque antics of Sonic and Tails in The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog as well as the Saturday morning incarnation Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic SatAM to its hardcore fans). With its catchy theme song, slick plots and darker atmosphere, Sonic SatAM was the epitome of post-apocalyptic, environmentalism, nature vs. Machine storyline so common in 90's cartoons, but it was all this at its best and more.
It had sweet supporting characters who made up a team of Freedom Fighters. They lived in Knothole village and used guerrilla warfare against Robotnik who had already taken over the main city of Mobius, Mobotropolis, where Sonic and pals had once lived peacefully. The band of rebels was made up of Princess Sally, the smart, computer savvy love interest of Sonic, Tails of course, the cute little two-tailed fox and "little bro" of Sonic. Rotor, the random walrus (always thought it was weird that there was a walrus among the little woodland creatures) who was the resident fix-it guy, basically he was the Sonic version of Chewbacca. He even had that over the shoulder tool-belt/tool-bag thing. Then there was Bunnie, a sweet southern rabbit whom Sonic saved before she was completely roboticized by Dr. Robotnik, thus she has some robotic limbs. She was always calling Sonic "sugar," and everybody else for that matter. Then there was Antoine, the French Coyote. He was mostly cowardly, annoying and included in missions way too often. Honestly Tails even at his young age would have been more helpful and less annoying than him. I guess you could say Antoine was the C3PO/Lando Calrissian of the show except way less lovable.

Both the serious and the goofy versions of Sonic shows had him just the way we like him: full of attitude, pride, and heroics, chili-dog loving, Robotnik hating, speedy, smooth talking, and voiced by Jaleel White (The guy more commonly known for playing Urkel on Family Matters). But he provided the voice of the Sonic we all know and love.
Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog brought us classic bumbling badniks like Grounder and Scratch. Not to mention the lovable though not the sharpest tacks in the box, Da Bearz! And yes they totally were a reference to those SNL sketch about Da Chicago Bears.
Needless to say, as a kid and hey, even now, Sonic was my hero. Although currently, I no longer don sneakers and run around the backyard to see if I can reach the super speeds of Sonic.

Where is our favorite speedy blue Mobian friend now? He's still hanging around although not quite as popular as he was in the 90's. ABC canceled Sonic SatAM before their 3rd season due to a new president and the competition from Fox's airing Power Rangers at the same time. Seriously yet another reason I hate the Power Rangers. (I wasn't even allowed to watch it back in the day, but I still thought it was pretty lame). I mean lovable blue hedgehog vs. cheesy bad karate acting. I rest my case.
Basically Sonic became more like the Japanese version than the American version as is evidenced by the games. Bleep Bloop addresses that issue here:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

In 2003 about 10 years after Sonic SatAM first aired, a new anime show aired called Sonic X. It had a way past cool theme song. However the show itself was rather lackluster. Although I admit I used to tune in every week. It was still Sonic, even if it was now cooky anime.Basically Sonic and friends had been transported to earth, and was no longer on Mobius.
The episodes focused more on a typical random anime kid, Tails being more serious and innovative than the cute little bro we once new him as, and everyone dealing with Amy Rose's fan-girl drama/obsession with Sonic. She was pink and crazy and her voice was obnoxious especially compared to the intelligent, caring, level-headed Princess Sally of SatAM. I confess, there were times when I kinda liked Amy Rose. Plus when I was a kid, I didn't like Sally much, but she grew on me, whereas Amy Rose just got more annoying.

Where was Sonic in all of this? Off being aloof and and stoic. His attitude became less endearing, and he kept the speed and gained more angst. He went off alone to fight Dr. Robotnik, err... Dr. Eggman, which apparently he was always known as in Japan.

I have, and always will prefer and love the in your face, bold, impatient "I'm waaiitin'" smart-talking, speedy, "Gotta juice" Chili-dog loving, power-ring wielding, catchphrase using, more American-appealing Hero Sonic who wasn't afraid to you know, be a big bro, give Tails noogies, work with others, state how he really felt about evil "Take that Robuttnik!" and wasn't afraid to get the girl.

What is Indie?

This question seems to be asked a lot lately. Much like the SNL sketch, What is Burn Notice?, it's a question that has yet to be answered definitively, even by Ashton himself (the starter of the inane trucker hat trend). The term Indie generally is applied to independently published or produced music, books and movies. However now the term seems to be loosely applied to music with an "indie" sound, quirky movies with an "indie" feel or look to them and even people who live an "indie" or hipster lifestyle and listen to "indie" music and watch "indie" movies. Gah! How confusing is that?
I recently read an insightful article on pastemagazine.com entitled "Is Indie Dead?" Nietzsche analogies aside, this article attempts to answer the question of what Indie really means today and questions as to whether it really is, like much of the English language today, a word that has lost its original or true meaning.
Part of this is because a lot of originally indie bands are technically no longer indie since they signed with mainstream record labels. One of the biggest upsets in indie music was when the Prince of Indie, Ben Gibbard and his band Death Cab for Cutie signed with a major label. Fans everywhere questioned whether they can truly be called indie anymore. Especially since they did a song for the Twilight soundtrack which is most certainly a more mainstream move. Perhaps Ben Gibbard's marriage to Zooey Deschanel, the Queen of hipsters, was an attempt to keep up the band's indie image. (On a side note Zooey Deschanel has her own indie-pop type band, She and Him, which has a sound like old 60's pop). Isn't the whole point of being Indie that you are just a bunch of regular Joe's making music for music's sake with no aim towards mainstream publicity and success? I mean of course they want to be successful but not so much into it all for the money and glory like mainstream artists right?

But shouldn't everyone be happy that such new and innovative music styles are becoming more popular? Shouldn't we be happy that indie is the new cool? Isn't that what hipsters have been trying to tell us?
The paste magazine article also examines how quirky became the trend with movies like
Napoleon Dynamite and Juno. Both of which are hilarious, artsy and have incredible soundtracks. Who knew these set a gold-standard for quirk? I certainly didn't. I love those movies for their quirk and individuality and I thought I was being cool and unique by listing them as favorites. I guess I was just buying into another trend just when I thought I was escaping from one.
But honestly I think that if you enjoy this quirky indie trend embrace it. Don't worry about whether people think you are a poseur or just buying into a trend. Because honestly I love indie sounding music because it's different. It's what I like regardless of whether or not it's legit indie made and produced. (and regardless of whether or not I get labeled a hipster for listening to it). Some of these bands even have a similar sound to some of the greats. Peter Bjorn and John are Beatles-esque and Josh Ritter is like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen combined into one magical musical wonderful package. But Arcade Fire sounds like no one else on the planet. I could write a whole other post on their trippy, slightly creepy, post-modernism-ish sound. Why else would they have used their music for the "Where the Wild Things Are" trailer.
But what all these bands have in common is that they are unique. They each make music in their own way regardless of what the public: mainstream, alternative, indie, or otherwise thinks. And that's what I think is what makes them truly authentic and truly indie in my eyes.

There's 104 Days of Summer Vacation and School Comes Along Just to End It.

"So the annual problem for our generation is finding a good way to spend it."
Thus are the immortal words of the Phineas and Ferb theme song. And they couldn't be more true, even for a college student. Free time is on a premium especially in college, and now that the semester is over I have all this time on my hands that I definitely do not want to squander. In addition to doing re-writes and editing of my book. I have an ever increasing stack of books I'm hoping to accomplish reading over summer break. And oh yeah, start working on my thesis. That would be good too.
Currently my reading list consists of these titles in no particular order:

Bone, Fae Myenne Ng

Caramelo, Sandra Cisneros

Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis

Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis

Perelandra, C.S. Lewis

That Hideous Strength, C.S. Lewis

The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde

The Jane Austen Book Club, Karen Joy Fowler

A Sound Of Thunder, Ray Bradbury

The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Salman Rushdie

I'm sure it will be added to as I find more books, but I think right now this is a manageable list and I don't want to get too distracted and not finish some of them like last summer. (some of these are actually left over from last summer's reading list).
I've tried to keep a balance between more literary titles, short stories, and fluff books. I do want to keep up on reading good literature but also it is summer break, so fun silly books are a nice respite. Plus I have a good amount of more serious books to read as I've received several books from Professors this semester.
As a writer and an English major it's important to read a wide variety of genres and not just get stuck in the rut of what you are more interested in. For instance, I write fantasy, so I try to read some current and classic fantasy just to keep up with the trends and tricks of the genre, and because I enjoy it. However, I also try to read outside that genre in more literary or general fiction type books. Recently I've been on a kick of reading books that are retellings of stories from classical mythology. I think reading Orpheus Lost by Jeanette Turner Hospital sparked that interest. As the title would suggest, that novel is a modern take on the Orpheus tale. Two of the books on my list also retell myths, Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis retells the myth of Cupid and Psyche and The Ground Beneath Her Feet, by Salman Rushdie is another retelling of Orpheus. Needless to say I am really excited to start tackling this book list.

Five Iron Frenzy, they were really, really, really good.

Once upon a time in a Galaxy far far away at the turn of the millennium, there was a great ska band known as Five Iron Frenzy, or FIF.
They were a great band that gave us the gift of six years (1997-2003) of awesome, goofy, humorous, and trumpet filled ska songs. They were even sillier than Relient K. Like wayyy sillier. One of their best EP's, Quantity is Job 1, includes "These are not my pants" (The Rock Opera). This goofball song series is about the epic saga of pants without an owner and is done in different styles of music ranging from Meatloaf to heavy-metal. There is an awesome youtube rendition of it where some teenagers with too much time on their hands re-enact the entire opera.

One of FIF's best songs is also found on this EP, My Evil Plan to Save the World. Probably one of the catchy-est songs ever.

Relient K did a tribute to them on their last B-sides/EP: "The Bird and the Bee Sides." Their tribute consists of two songs: "Five Iron Frenzy is Either Dead or Dying" and "Five Iron Frenzy is Either Dead or Dying (Wannabe Ska Version)."
Both are full on tongue-in-cheek Relient K-ness which is truly an homage to the great FIF.
Thus with Relient K, I say: "Five Iron Frenzy, they were good, they were good, they were really really really good. Five iron frenzy And when you see them
We really really think you should Thank them for being so cool and so awesome And thank them for being so neato."

C.S. Lewis wrote poetry?

Honestly who knew? I didn't. I was doing some research for my Senior thesis on Tolkien, Lewis and their contribution to the fantastic genre via the Inklings circle and I stumbled across an entire book of poems by Lewis, published posthumously.
Looking through it, I found this awesome little wonder which is quite good. He basically is writing about how he is not like the great poets. Best of all, he harshes on T.S Eliot and Wordsworth a little.
Here it is:





A Confession, By C.S. Lewis
I am so coarse, the things the poets see
Are obstinately invisible to me.
For twenty years I’ve stared my level best
To see if evening–any evening–would suggest
A patient etherized upon a table;
In vain. I simply wasn’t able.
To me each evening looked far more
Like the departure from a silent, yet a crowded, shore
Of a ship whose freight was everything, leaving behind
Gracefully, finally, without farewells, marooned mankind.

Red dawn behind a hedgerow in the east
Never, for me, resembled in the least
A chilblain on a cocktail-shaker’s nose;
Waterfalls don’t remind me of torn underclothes,
Nor glaciers of tin-cans. I’ve never known
The moon look like a hump-backed crone–
Rather, a prodigy, even now
Not naturalized, a riddle glaring from the Cyclops’ brow
Of the cold world, reminding me on what a place
I crawl and cling, a planet with no bulwarks, out in space.

Never the white sun of the wintriest day
Struck me as un crachat d’estaminet.
I’m like that odd man Wordsworth knew, to whom
A primrose was a yellow primrose, one whose doom
Keeps him forever in the list of dunces,
Compelled to live on stock responses,
Making the poor best that I can
Of dull things…peacocks, honey, the Great Wall, Aldebaran
Silver weirs, new-cut grass, wave on the beach, hard gem,
The shapes of horse and woman, Athens, Troy, Jerusalem.

When finding a poem like this I can't help but get ecstatic. So of course I had to read it at the Annual Poetry Bash at OU. It was fun times. The Poetry Bash is always great but I was a tad disappointed there were less people there this year. Maybe it was the wonderful weather. Which makes no sense because nice weather makes me want to read more poetry and literature. Anyways it was still a great time with the people awesome enough to show up.
So now I think this is going to be one of my favorite poems ever. Definitely going on the list along with Ballad of the White Horse, The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock, and The Eve of St. Agnes.

T.S. Eliot love.

And now we shall delve into the world of another literary friend, T.S. Eliot. I seem to be finding that I long to read whatever literature I'm not actually studying at the moment. Last fall I was longing for Dickens, and now I'm ironically taking Victorian Lit.
But anyways T.S. Eliot is one of the insane literary geniuses of the modernist period. No he wasn't literally insane, his writing is just so crazy awesome I like to call him insane. I wish I could be him! No not really, I just really admire his style and genius. He wrote "The Wasteland" among other things, I read Wasteland last Fall. It was so mindblowing that the first time you read it, it hurts your brain and you have no idea what is going on. But then you re-read it, discuss it in class, and it becomes one of the most complicatedly awesome original, intelligent thought-provoking piece of poetry you have ever read.
The other reason I love T.S. Eliot, he makes up his own words. Polyphiloprogenitive. Basically it is composed of latin root words and means extremely prolific.
The word is found in his poem "Mr. Eliot's Sunday Morning Service." The line is: "Polyphiloprogenitive/ The sapient sutlers of the Lord/ Drift across the window-panes."
And if that doesn't give you a pretty good idea of just how epically insane he is, then I don't know what else will, unless you read more of his poems.

The other reason I love T.S. Eliot, he is oft quoted by one of my most favorite heroic male fictional characters: Fish, or Benedict Denniston from The Fairy Tale novel series by Regina Doman. Definitely some of my favorite books ever. I could go on forever about them, but I'll have to save that for another post. Let's just say that Fish is one of the best fictional heroes I have ever read about. He definitely knocks Mr. Darcy out of first place in my book.But Mr. Knightley did that already I guess so Fish takes 3rd or 4th place after Han Solo and Westley. He quotes literature, that's pretty attractive if you ask me.

But I am diverging, basically if you get the chance, read T.S. Eliot. You will not regret the choice to read one of the best literary geniuses of the 20th century. And now I must go back to my homework on Literature from the 18th and 19th centuries.

As American as Apple Pie

It's the fourth of July! The day our country declared that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

So today I am going to list a few things that to me are just American-ness at it's best. Now these are not the stereotypical things people think of when they think of America. There's definitely more to this country than eagles, George Washington and loud tourist clothing.

So what do I deem filled with Americana?

#1. Bruce Springsteen.
Now I know most people think of genuine American music as country, but Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is THE American Band. All of his songs just have an American feel to them and fill you with that fervor that makes you feel glad to live in this country. Even if he does sing about the grittier side of our country, it's still super American. The song that epitomizes this feeling the most, is I would have to say, "Born to Run."

#2. School House Rock
Where else did we learn not only grammar and math, but American history? It's one of the only chances we had as kids to see our cartoon Founding Fathers dancing like chickens and pursuing happiness.

#3 1776-the musical
Here we also get to see dancing and singing Founding Fathers. Not to mention that they weren't all that different from us. They had tempers, emotions and crazy personalities. And that Congress wasted just as much time back then. Plus it made politics look really fun. Not to mention I fell in love with John and Abigail Adams and how sweetly their marriage was portrayed.

#4 The Music Man
This movie is just the epitome of small town America. Which is why I love it. Of the times on family road trips, when we have driven through Gary Indiana, or Iowa, we always think of it fondly.

#5 Norman Rockwell Paintings
He captured the hometown family feel of America perfectly. His iconic images portray a simpler and happier time, but I think that it still exists in America today.#6 Will Smith
Because he is little Willie from Philly, the All-American boy. And he also is the hero in many films, particularly Independence Day seems rather relevant.


#7 Liberty's Kids
Because this show was just awesome. It was funny, cheesy, and taught us lots of cool things about the American Revolution. Not to mention it had a wicked theme song.

#8 American Girl, by Tom Petty
This song is just plain awesome and pretty full of American-ness.

#9 Chuck Taylor Converse All-stars
Because these sneakers are so comfortable, just plain awesome, and superly American. And they come in lots of different colors so you can get red, white and blue if you so desire.


#10 Wizard of Oz
This is THE American fairy-tale. It had the best characters and who didn't want ruby slippers after watching it? The little Kansas farm girl going on a strange and wondrous adventure. Very American.

#11 Star Wars
I couldn't resist doing a #11, and if the Wizard of Oz is the American fairy-tale, Star Wars is the American epic mythology. It's the American ideal, a small-town farm boy going up against the evil Empire. That's what's great about America, we fight for the little guy.

Happy Independence day to all! God Bless our wonderful country, the United States of America!