And I've decided that I'm going to primarily use Tumblr for a while. Despite the fact that that site is more intended for photo sharing than written posts. Nonetheless, I'm finding it easier to use right now.
Would you mind not stalking this one, Sam?
http://grangerdanger1028.tumblr.com
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Yes, indeed I did just kill off Darren Criss. *protego*
Darren once said that his music was “music you can be friends with.” This explains, I think, the overwhelming, worldwide response to his recent death- his charismatic attitude and passionate music affected not only those he knew personally, but also thousands worldwide who appreciated him for his works, both theatrically and musically, but missed the caring, kindness, and light, cheerful nature that made him such a great person to have as a friend. I consider myself blessed to have been able to support him when he was in need, for Darren was the kind who would never ask, but instead, always give, even in times of personal crisis. Darren’s talent and fame never tarnished his humbleness, instead, they merely allowed him to achieve even greater goals and improve more lives. In response to a fan telling him how meaningful he was to her, he merely said, “If I have touched your heart, then it is only because you have graced me with the opportunity to do so; thank you.” Darren’s passionate melodies will resonate through our hearts long after his death, and his down-to-earth attitude despite great talent and fortune will inspire us all until our own.
Darren Everett Criss has played a variety of roles in his lifetime, and all of them have reflected his personality and abilities. Some of his most famous roles (Harry Potter, Blaine, and Toby) show him in a way I really cannot. In A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel, the real start of his and Starkid’s fame, Darren plays Harry Potter, the famous, talented, and heavily burdened boy wizard. The show was intended as a parody, something to laugh about and move on, but also has several sad, meaningful parts- Darren sings about how he’s never had a home, cries for his mother and father in the Mirror of Erised, and leaves his friends at the end of the Hogwarts school year to go back to his abusive aunt and uncle. If anyone could balance this mix of humor and reality, it was Darren. Always aware of the needs of others (as Harry is of the Wizarding World), Darren used his guitar and his voice to make others happy, as Harry did in AVPM. The only part of Harry Darren doesn’t mirror is Harry’s total acceptance and appreciation of his fame- Harry uses it, tries to get sympathy, and would abandon his friends for it, but Darren, as I’ve said before, was always shocked at his sudden Glee and Starkid fame, and never valued it more highly than his friends and family.
Toby Phillips, from Little White Lie, is equally similar to Darren as Harry is- maybe even more so. We first meet Toby in the back of a record shop, playing his heart out, singing one of my favorite songs by him, “I Still Think.” We learn that he is an amazing musician, but almost unapproachable, but later learn that he is really quite sweet, willing to help someone he knows very little about, and sympathetic to a girl who claims to feel so alone she has to write a love song about herself from the perspective of a love-struck boy. His kindness is at odds with his current girlfriend, a mean, heartless girl who cares just about herself, and others only when they can help her boost her own popularity. Eventually, Toby realizes this, and leaves her, despite his own feeling of deep guilt that he is hurting her. Darren, too, was always very conscientious of how his actions would affect others, as well as being remarkably sympathetic to those who were less fortunate than himself. He was also just as quick to compliment as Toby, and extremely thankful for his fans and everything they did for him.
Blaine, his most recent and most famous character, perhaps echoes his personality most closely- despite the fact that Blaine, is obviously, out and proud, while Darren is most definitely straight. He has said, jokingly, that he’s “had to come out and say, well, I’m sorry, but I think I’m straight.” Darren, like Blaine, however, doesn’t let sexuality determine who he is, nor does he let those who call him names gain any satisfaction from them. In Glee, Blaine acts as a mentor and an advisor to Kurt, who is struggling with bullies and dealing with a new school. Darren’s friends will be the first to tell you that he is the same. Always eager to help others, Darren often extended a helpful hand to younger students during high school and college, and in his adult life, was just as willing to teach someone the ropes of a particular project, club, or theatrical troupe as he was to perform. I know that he was so excited to join the cast of Glee as this character not only to further his career, but also because, in a world so affected by the abuse of non-straight teens and young adults, he had the opportunity to show them that they were “not alone.”
To sum up a man in a few pages, particularly one so complex and wonderful as Darren was, is an extremely difficult feat, and one I can’t even begin to achieve. Everyone here today has different stories of him, different examples of his kindness and humor and ability to say just a few words and make someone smile. My loss is as nothing compared to that of the greater world, for, as the Roman emperor Nero said, and as Darren never would have, “what an artist the world is losing.”
Darren Everett Criss has played a variety of roles in his lifetime, and all of them have reflected his personality and abilities. Some of his most famous roles (Harry Potter, Blaine, and Toby) show him in a way I really cannot. In A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel, the real start of his and Starkid’s fame, Darren plays Harry Potter, the famous, talented, and heavily burdened boy wizard. The show was intended as a parody, something to laugh about and move on, but also has several sad, meaningful parts- Darren sings about how he’s never had a home, cries for his mother and father in the Mirror of Erised, and leaves his friends at the end of the Hogwarts school year to go back to his abusive aunt and uncle. If anyone could balance this mix of humor and reality, it was Darren. Always aware of the needs of others (as Harry is of the Wizarding World), Darren used his guitar and his voice to make others happy, as Harry did in AVPM. The only part of Harry Darren doesn’t mirror is Harry’s total acceptance and appreciation of his fame- Harry uses it, tries to get sympathy, and would abandon his friends for it, but Darren, as I’ve said before, was always shocked at his sudden Glee and Starkid fame, and never valued it more highly than his friends and family.
Toby Phillips, from Little White Lie, is equally similar to Darren as Harry is- maybe even more so. We first meet Toby in the back of a record shop, playing his heart out, singing one of my favorite songs by him, “I Still Think.” We learn that he is an amazing musician, but almost unapproachable, but later learn that he is really quite sweet, willing to help someone he knows very little about, and sympathetic to a girl who claims to feel so alone she has to write a love song about herself from the perspective of a love-struck boy. His kindness is at odds with his current girlfriend, a mean, heartless girl who cares just about herself, and others only when they can help her boost her own popularity. Eventually, Toby realizes this, and leaves her, despite his own feeling of deep guilt that he is hurting her. Darren, too, was always very conscientious of how his actions would affect others, as well as being remarkably sympathetic to those who were less fortunate than himself. He was also just as quick to compliment as Toby, and extremely thankful for his fans and everything they did for him.
Blaine, his most recent and most famous character, perhaps echoes his personality most closely- despite the fact that Blaine, is obviously, out and proud, while Darren is most definitely straight. He has said, jokingly, that he’s “had to come out and say, well, I’m sorry, but I think I’m straight.” Darren, like Blaine, however, doesn’t let sexuality determine who he is, nor does he let those who call him names gain any satisfaction from them. In Glee, Blaine acts as a mentor and an advisor to Kurt, who is struggling with bullies and dealing with a new school. Darren’s friends will be the first to tell you that he is the same. Always eager to help others, Darren often extended a helpful hand to younger students during high school and college, and in his adult life, was just as willing to teach someone the ropes of a particular project, club, or theatrical troupe as he was to perform. I know that he was so excited to join the cast of Glee as this character not only to further his career, but also because, in a world so affected by the abuse of non-straight teens and young adults, he had the opportunity to show them that they were “not alone.”
To sum up a man in a few pages, particularly one so complex and wonderful as Darren was, is an extremely difficult feat, and one I can’t even begin to achieve. Everyone here today has different stories of him, different examples of his kindness and humor and ability to say just a few words and make someone smile. My loss is as nothing compared to that of the greater world, for, as the Roman emperor Nero said, and as Darren never would have, “what an artist the world is losing.”
Friday, December 3, 2010
And the boring part of my math essay, too! Just to show you just how it's mathematical.
To think about what you, personally, think about is, while confusing, a most worthwhile endeavor. However, if you continue on this line of thought, you might end up thinking about thinking about thought, and then thinking about thinking about thinking about thought, and thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thought, and so on and so on until you are very much lost. I spent last Saturday just thinking, not about thought, or about anything in particular, really, but just... thinking. From this “experiment,” I have come to the conclusion that I am insane. We all are really; just look back and try to comprehend the way your mind works. Sitting there on a weekend, trying very hard to focus on a certain math project, for example, one might begin to stray towards slightly more appealing topics, like what you could be doing at the same time: say, going to a concert by a musician you really love, who happens to be performing just one state over. From the concert, you picture the last show the musician was in. From that, your mind strays to a different show and then, a character from this show. Then you recall the actor who portrays him; and then a different movie that actor was in, until, finally, you look up and realize you’re thinking about Harry Potter, and no one around you has any clue why you just started talking about Emma Watson’s new haircut.
I find that, typically, when I allow my brain to wander, I usually end up in a fantasy world or alternate reality as described by the most recent book I have read, movie I have watched, or TV show I have seen. This is, more than any other reason, why I do not watch scary movies- until I see something else that sticks more, that’s where I am. When reading Harry Potter, I attend Hogwarts. The Lord of the Rings, I live in Lothlorion, or maybe Gondor, or perhaps I’m a prisoner of Sauron’s. While watching Doctor Who, I become his companion, and travel through time and space. Thusly, always seem to have my head in the clouds, but more often, I’m really deep underground, hiding from the police as an Unwind, or winding my way through the tunnels of Moria. I believe this properly explains my dislike for realistic fiction- why be stuck in a desk at school in real life and in daydreams, when I could be exploring the Department of Mysteries?
Sometimes, however, my brain doesn’t cause me to be in an entirely different world, instead leaving me someplace entirely random, with hardly any idea how I got there. I often go off on seemingly unrelated tangents, but usually, there really is a set of thoughts that connects the original idea to the later one. For example, this afternoon, I found myself in a coffee shop with paintings lining the walls. Many of the paintings had quotes incorporated into them, and I occupied myself by reading them. At one point, I came across the one, “If ignorance is bliss, then why are so many people unhappy?” I found this highly amusing, as the statement above (one I happened to be familiar with) had been misquoted and misspelled. I then wondered where this person had gone to school, that they had such lovely handwriting but such poor spelling. Was English even the artist’s first language? Maybe she had crossed the border from Mexico so as to pursue a better life, and had achieved it in selling $10 paintings on the wall of a poorly frequented cafe. Maybe she had just never gotten enough education to do something better with her life, or maybe that was the highest she had ever striven for. Perhaps, even, that was all she wanted- who was I to say that her life wasn’t meaningful, or fulfilling, or happy? I had never met this woman; how could I possibly think I was intelligent or powerful enough to make that decision for her? This lead me to people throughout history who have placed themselves in positions that they felt allowed them to make these decisions, or even greater decisions than that, such as who could live, and who must die. In the Lord of the Rings, Gandalf says, “Many who live deserve death, and some who die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not deal out death in judgment, for even the very wise cannot see all ends.” I think this is a very wise quote, and one that should be remembered by anyone with enough power to make decisions that might cost lives. One such ruler, who’s not particularly famous here, but is rather infamous in Madagascar, is Ranavalona I, also known as the Mad Queen of Madagascar. A third of her nation died under her rule. Was she truly evil? What thoughts went through her mind as she made the choices that led to this? No one but she has the answers, and she’s been dead for years. Thus, my rambling thoughts came to an end, and, thus, I managed to go from a quote on a wall to Queen Ranavalona I of Madagascar.
It is rather inevitable that, if one’s mind travels as far and as seemingly randomly as my own, one will, eventually, touch upon the subject of mathematics. Math is, undeniably, a crucial part of life, no matter who you are or what your profession. Besides the typical, uninteresting mathematical thoughts that cross my mind related to school (“How am I ever going to finish this homework?” “I have no idea how I’m supposed to complete this essay; when do I ever think about math for no reason?”), a large number of my thoughts (I wouldn’t claim that it’s the majority, but it’s hardly as miniscule a percentage as, say, video game design) are devoted, or at least involve, some form of math.
For example, the other day, I was sitting in a restaurant, sort of zoned out after eating a lot of very good warm food. It so happened that the thing that I was staring at (or through, I suppose) was the curtain on the window. This curtain was broken up into little squares, and the cord that raised it crossed it. I found myself, almost subconsciously, trying to calculate the slope of the line of the cord. I finally decided that it couldn’t be measured properly or exactly enough from my current position, but I did manage to waste quite a bit of time on the thought.
Another example doesn’t apply so much to me right now, but more as I was several years ago. As a young child, I would often just focus on a certain set of words, somewhat randomly, and just think about the letters in these words in the car or in school. The phrase, “Darren Criss” was unacceptable; the sum of the letters is uneven. I would add something to this phrase, therefore, that both made sense as a sentence or phrase and also had an even number of letters. “Darren Criss” therefore goes to “Darren Criss Street Team: we got him on Glee and Eastwick,” although on days I was being particular, or too bored to find something else to think of, I would count the colon as a letter and need to make another phrase, and then another to add onto that, and another, and another.
My final example of math invading my thought relates, predictably enough, to time. The TV series I’m currently enjoying the most is one British show called “Doctor Who.” It’s been around for 47 years; I however, have only been watching it for the past month or so. As it’s British, the show is rarely shown on American television, and even then only on BBC America, a channel I previously didn’t know existed. Therefore, I watch it online. The website I use to watch it limits the amount of time one can spend watching their videos; after 54 minutes of viewing, one must wait 54 more minutes before continuing, at which point your place has been lost and eight pop-up windows have magically appeared onscreen. Thusly, my video watching experience and the continuity is generally affected by constant pausing and checking the time passed so I don’t have to start all the way at the beginning again. Also, as someone who doesn’t regularly watch a lot of TV besides this, I find it intriguing how an hour watching television (or the computer screen, in this case) can pass by so amazingly quickly that I’m shocked to have to wait, while the hour spent waiting is so slow and remarkably dull, while the same amount of time has passed in both instances. The phrase “time flies when you’re having fun” never seemed particularly true to me, but here it does seem rather applicable.
The extract from “Beyond Numeracy: Ruminations of a Numbers Man” by John Allen Paulos that we were given to read states the importance of using mathematics education for something more than just imprinting facts in a student’s brain. Mr. Paulos says that the memorization and regurgitation of individual ideas, while important, should not be the focus of a mathematic course. Learning how to think mathematically and view situations with a logical mind is, in his opinion, far more important, especially for a person not pursuing a career as a mathematician.
I agree with Mr. Paulos on this. Learning and remembering a certain theorem or property might be useful at some point in my life, but as a general rule, knowing how to deal with a problem mathematically will be far more beneficial. The typical complaint of a student of any subject is, of course, “Why do we need to learn this? I’m never going to use it,” but if their classes focused more on math as John Allen Paulos describes it in his everyday life, and less as a list of definitions and postulates, a stack of notecards gathering dust until final exams come, more pupils might find the subject at least slightly interesting. For me, at least, an essay giving real examples of how someone thought and how it related to math is much more intriguing than a formula with variables and numbers and symbols, for I’ve always been more of a literary minded person. I also appreciate that when talking about math being used practically, the author avoided what seems to me to be the most common example, and also the most dull: word problems. “If Georgie has one math essay to write, and Sarah has two, then how many hours will it take for Sarah to complete hers if...” I must admit, I don’t care about little Georgie and Sarah’s math essays nearly as much as I care about my own.
I find that, typically, when I allow my brain to wander, I usually end up in a fantasy world or alternate reality as described by the most recent book I have read, movie I have watched, or TV show I have seen. This is, more than any other reason, why I do not watch scary movies- until I see something else that sticks more, that’s where I am. When reading Harry Potter, I attend Hogwarts. The Lord of the Rings, I live in Lothlorion, or maybe Gondor, or perhaps I’m a prisoner of Sauron’s. While watching Doctor Who, I become his companion, and travel through time and space. Thusly, always seem to have my head in the clouds, but more often, I’m really deep underground, hiding from the police as an Unwind, or winding my way through the tunnels of Moria. I believe this properly explains my dislike for realistic fiction- why be stuck in a desk at school in real life and in daydreams, when I could be exploring the Department of Mysteries?
Sometimes, however, my brain doesn’t cause me to be in an entirely different world, instead leaving me someplace entirely random, with hardly any idea how I got there. I often go off on seemingly unrelated tangents, but usually, there really is a set of thoughts that connects the original idea to the later one. For example, this afternoon, I found myself in a coffee shop with paintings lining the walls. Many of the paintings had quotes incorporated into them, and I occupied myself by reading them. At one point, I came across the one, “If ignorance is bliss, then why are so many people unhappy?” I found this highly amusing, as the statement above (one I happened to be familiar with) had been misquoted and misspelled. I then wondered where this person had gone to school, that they had such lovely handwriting but such poor spelling. Was English even the artist’s first language? Maybe she had crossed the border from Mexico so as to pursue a better life, and had achieved it in selling $10 paintings on the wall of a poorly frequented cafe. Maybe she had just never gotten enough education to do something better with her life, or maybe that was the highest she had ever striven for. Perhaps, even, that was all she wanted- who was I to say that her life wasn’t meaningful, or fulfilling, or happy? I had never met this woman; how could I possibly think I was intelligent or powerful enough to make that decision for her? This lead me to people throughout history who have placed themselves in positions that they felt allowed them to make these decisions, or even greater decisions than that, such as who could live, and who must die. In the Lord of the Rings, Gandalf says, “Many who live deserve death, and some who die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not deal out death in judgment, for even the very wise cannot see all ends.” I think this is a very wise quote, and one that should be remembered by anyone with enough power to make decisions that might cost lives. One such ruler, who’s not particularly famous here, but is rather infamous in Madagascar, is Ranavalona I, also known as the Mad Queen of Madagascar. A third of her nation died under her rule. Was she truly evil? What thoughts went through her mind as she made the choices that led to this? No one but she has the answers, and she’s been dead for years. Thus, my rambling thoughts came to an end, and, thus, I managed to go from a quote on a wall to Queen Ranavalona I of Madagascar.
It is rather inevitable that, if one’s mind travels as far and as seemingly randomly as my own, one will, eventually, touch upon the subject of mathematics. Math is, undeniably, a crucial part of life, no matter who you are or what your profession. Besides the typical, uninteresting mathematical thoughts that cross my mind related to school (“How am I ever going to finish this homework?” “I have no idea how I’m supposed to complete this essay; when do I ever think about math for no reason?”), a large number of my thoughts (I wouldn’t claim that it’s the majority, but it’s hardly as miniscule a percentage as, say, video game design) are devoted, or at least involve, some form of math.
For example, the other day, I was sitting in a restaurant, sort of zoned out after eating a lot of very good warm food. It so happened that the thing that I was staring at (or through, I suppose) was the curtain on the window. This curtain was broken up into little squares, and the cord that raised it crossed it. I found myself, almost subconsciously, trying to calculate the slope of the line of the cord. I finally decided that it couldn’t be measured properly or exactly enough from my current position, but I did manage to waste quite a bit of time on the thought.
Another example doesn’t apply so much to me right now, but more as I was several years ago. As a young child, I would often just focus on a certain set of words, somewhat randomly, and just think about the letters in these words in the car or in school. The phrase, “Darren Criss” was unacceptable; the sum of the letters is uneven. I would add something to this phrase, therefore, that both made sense as a sentence or phrase and also had an even number of letters. “Darren Criss” therefore goes to “Darren Criss Street Team: we got him on Glee and Eastwick,” although on days I was being particular, or too bored to find something else to think of, I would count the colon as a letter and need to make another phrase, and then another to add onto that, and another, and another.
My final example of math invading my thought relates, predictably enough, to time. The TV series I’m currently enjoying the most is one British show called “Doctor Who.” It’s been around for 47 years; I however, have only been watching it for the past month or so. As it’s British, the show is rarely shown on American television, and even then only on BBC America, a channel I previously didn’t know existed. Therefore, I watch it online. The website I use to watch it limits the amount of time one can spend watching their videos; after 54 minutes of viewing, one must wait 54 more minutes before continuing, at which point your place has been lost and eight pop-up windows have magically appeared onscreen. Thusly, my video watching experience and the continuity is generally affected by constant pausing and checking the time passed so I don’t have to start all the way at the beginning again. Also, as someone who doesn’t regularly watch a lot of TV besides this, I find it intriguing how an hour watching television (or the computer screen, in this case) can pass by so amazingly quickly that I’m shocked to have to wait, while the hour spent waiting is so slow and remarkably dull, while the same amount of time has passed in both instances. The phrase “time flies when you’re having fun” never seemed particularly true to me, but here it does seem rather applicable.
The extract from “Beyond Numeracy: Ruminations of a Numbers Man” by John Allen Paulos that we were given to read states the importance of using mathematics education for something more than just imprinting facts in a student’s brain. Mr. Paulos says that the memorization and regurgitation of individual ideas, while important, should not be the focus of a mathematic course. Learning how to think mathematically and view situations with a logical mind is, in his opinion, far more important, especially for a person not pursuing a career as a mathematician.
I agree with Mr. Paulos on this. Learning and remembering a certain theorem or property might be useful at some point in my life, but as a general rule, knowing how to deal with a problem mathematically will be far more beneficial. The typical complaint of a student of any subject is, of course, “Why do we need to learn this? I’m never going to use it,” but if their classes focused more on math as John Allen Paulos describes it in his everyday life, and less as a list of definitions and postulates, a stack of notecards gathering dust until final exams come, more pupils might find the subject at least slightly interesting. For me, at least, an essay giving real examples of how someone thought and how it related to math is much more intriguing than a formula with variables and numbers and symbols, for I’ve always been more of a literary minded person. I also appreciate that when talking about math being used practically, the author avoided what seems to me to be the most common example, and also the most dull: word problems. “If Georgie has one math essay to write, and Sarah has two, then how many hours will it take for Sarah to complete hers if...” I must admit, I don’t care about little Georgie and Sarah’s math essays nearly as much as I care about my own.
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