Dr Strangelove

We are studying the cold war in my history class. I thought that Dr. Strangelove would be an excellent choice to show my students the spirit of this age. I assume that anyone who reads this blog knows this move. It is a hilarious dark comedy and one that was very controversial when it was released.

Stanley Kubrick apparently became obsessed by the bomb, read about sixty book then chose a dramatic novel to turn into a comedy. The makers of Fail Safe were afraid that Dr. Strangelove would compete with it and so release their movies nearly 6 months later. I am amazed my the similarities between the two films.

Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove, that loveable Nazi, is of course my favorite character. Sellers was slated to play four roles instead of three, but a broken leg rendered him incapable of fitting into the cockpit of the simulated B-52. It reminds me of when the Russians first shot the Sputnik into space. I asked my dad how the Russians did it first. He said, "They got the smarter Germans." I thought that was a great reply and always remembered it.

I am reluctant to point out much of the sexual innuendo of the movie from the sexual intercourse of the B-52's to Sterling Hayden's "bodily fluids". The students really don't find the film very interesting or funny. To begin with the film is in black and white. It's a bit of turnoff to adolescents. My hope is that a few students actually appreciate the film.

Computer Karma

It's my computer karma again- bad karma. Last year almost all of my documents were trashed by our computer support person. I'll mention no names. The greatest loss was my grade book for which I had a paper back up but had to re-enter them from the beginning of the semester. It took me maybe 30 hours to complete it. Then mounds of lost curriculum, digital photos and personal items.

This year during the testing I had a few extra minutes, so I decided to clear out some of the "useless" programs. One of those useless programs deemed my keyboard and mouse non workable. This same computer support person assured me that she could save all of my data. Unfortunately she doesn't count what is on my desktop as part of my data. Fortunately I had some backup this time. I only had to reenter a month's worth of grades instead of three months.

I must give tech person some credit. She gave me the Adobe Suite as a sendoff. I have loaded both in the upstairs PC and my Mac Mini. She called me and asked if I still had the laptop that I had purchased with the tech funds. I have it. "It's more than five years old." I said. "I don't think so." She answers. In fact at this moment I am thinking of purchasing a mini pc- 2 and a half pounds for my trip to Italy.

To round out this computer ramble just two weeks ago our local market sponsored a computer recycling day. The place where monitors are taken then shipped to China to build up landfill there. I brought them one monitor, one purple imac, an old PC and miscellaneous electronic junk. I save the hard drives for posterity.

Polka Punk

There is a new punk culture. Frankly I am not sure how new it is or how widespread. I probably should do more research before I, an old guy, comment on it. As one thinks about punk as mean, rebellious and loud. This punk is happy, campy and loud- JD, the accordion player in the Hubbub Club, plays an electric accordion and wears a fake red nose. The band dresses in mock turn of the century Victorian Black. Their 3 dancers do mock Burlesque. In one sketch they dance seductive and in coordinated fashion remove clothing, but costume "cartoon" clothing- down to the "last" layer a white bra with glowing nipples.

The style resembles the orientation of the Handcar Regatta. It is dark culture that celebrates the dead and thumbs its nose at it at the same time. So the style becomes a quaint affirmation of life. When I say punk, I guess that I mean modern Gothic (or Goth) styles.

The band played fast growling songs with words that seems full of humor and lightness. It is an ironic twist from the angry punk of the past. Perhaps it tell something of the culture of escape that we live in these days.

Hubbub on Youtube

I just loaded a few of these videos on to youtube. I hope that you enjoy them.

Goodbye Marge.m4v
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjWfW94GJZk


Mere Hathan Mein.m4v (37.9MB)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCXqky8rbvo



Watermelon Man Jam.m4v (32.7MB)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQWB9auxUHg



Weird Lunch.m4v (36.8MB)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSwjSaKhpK0

Apple Blossom Festival

Sebastopol, California began as a redneck lumber town after the civil war. Lumberjacks would fell and cut large redwoods all day then come to Sebastopol to get drunk. In those days the town was called Analy after the city founder's daughter. In the 1890's the town was so packed with bars and taverns that fights in those establishments were a daily occurrence. According to legend, someone in the town once remarked that "This town is another Sevastopol, the center of Crimean war with daily news reports of the intensity of the fighting there. Hence the populace began to call the place "Sebastopol" and eventually the name stuck.

With the help of Luther Burbank Sebastopol eventually flourished as a small farming community with the Gavenstein apple as its principal product. Even when we arrived here twelve there were thousands of acres of apple orchards surrounding the city. Since that time most of the orchards are gone being replaced by large vineyards.There are two annual events in the spring, the Apple Blossom Festival and in the fall, the Apple Harvest Fair, with the former being the largest. In addition to a parade, there is a giant fair on the park grounds.

In recent years large flocks of over "twenty-somethings" consume vast quantities of alcohol at the fair and make a general nuance of themselves. They serve mainly beer and wine. I remember last year in particular the overwhelming presence of these "drunks" made the fair unpleasant for everybody. So this year I read that the city is banning alcohol from the fair. As much I like a couple glasses of good wine on the occasion, I am happy for the regulation.

doppleganger- complete frivolity

Maybe I am running out of subjects to write about. But one of my students said the other day: "Mr. Lynch, you look like that guy in Distrubia." I had not seen the film, but now I have put it in my Netflix cue. And perhaps it is better that if I do look like anybody, it is a relatively obscure actor- David Morse. I hope that he doesn't mind that I have said this. Also I had never given much credence to looks. But I guess for my age that I am not doing too bad. I have always thought that David Lynch and I were at least related. If he does not look like me, he has a close resemblance to many of my cousins and uncles (when they were younger.) Nothing deep here...

Social Host Ordinance

Sebastopol has a new ordinance called the Social Host Ordinance. It targets teen drinking parties of which there are many in this little town. The ordinance states: "It is unlawful and a public nuisance for any person to knowingly host an underage social gathering on private or public property within the city. A person knowingly hosts an underage social gathering whenever the social host is aware that an underage person has consumed an alcoholic beverage or reasonably should have been aware had the social host taken reasonable steps to prevent consumption of alcoholic beverages by underage persons. Such steps include, but are not limited to : controlling the quantity of alcoholic beverages present at a gathering, verifying the age of the persons attending the gathering by inspecting drivers' licenses or other government-issued identification cards, and supervising the activities of underage persons at a gathering.

The fine for an infraction is $300. It would be treated in the same way as a traffic ticket. It does not limit those who would be charged but the police will definite target underage drinking parties especially when a neighbor has complained. We received a four page question and answer sheet from the police department a few days ago.

I decided to read the handout to my sophomores. There was an immediate reaction. "The Sebastopol police do that only because they are bored. They have nothing better to do." "The police here are always picking on us." "Why don't they go out and solve some real crimes." They asked a bunch of questions all dealing with loopholes to the law. In my sixth period class a couple of student at least acknowledged that alcohol abuse by teenagers might be a serious problem. But on the whole they gave an emotionally filled reaction of entitlement. "We should have a right to do to our bodies what we want to do." I blame it on years of them getting what they want in almost every situation. Also the an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex.