Movie Review

Fantasia
This 1940's American classic feautres animated choreography to Nutcracker Suite, and the famous The Sorceror's Apprentice adaptation featuring Mickey Mouse. Perfect to study or fall asleep to.

Domino
A guy's movie that girls can get into. Kiera Knightly joins a team of bounty hunters, gives a lapdance, and takes on the mafia. Women will feel empowered and men will use it as background noise while they drink.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox
I haven't watched this yet.

Dogtown and the Z-Boys


-Spencer Fossier graduated Jesuit High School New Orleans in 2008, and is currently seeking English Degree from Loyola University of New Orleans.

Hardcore Parkour

What gives an object its meaning? One cannot define an object in terms of itself, the definition of an object is a reflection of all the things it isn't. Presence is defined by the absence. Standing is the act of occupying space; walking is to lack a place. A city is designed around movement, walking specifically. Standing on a busy corner instantly outs the offender in society's eye, for he has disrupted the flow of walk-traffic. I wonder how this perspective applies to one of my favorite hobbies, parkour.
The goal of parkour is the practice of of artfully moving from one space to another and generates a unique sense of spatial awareness.
Recently, univeristy police have kicked parkour clubs off campus, and officers of the city have warned traceurs because of their hobby. I find symbolism in the fact that moving through space makes one not have a place, and the police tell them what they're doing is illegal.

Isn't it all filler?

I studied my younger brother’s writing for his senior-level high school English class. I read several of his research papers and essays and what struck me most was the syntax of his paragraphs. I noticed in his writing that the only sentences that have any complex structure or depth of meaning are those which are either series of facts or summarization. This perception also applies to his papers as a whole; they read like straight regurgitation of facts. I asked Blake why he chose not to write anything substantial and he told me that he refused to put sentences in that did not directly support his thesis. He elaborated that his teacher will take points off for any sentence not directly supporting the thesis, which accounts for the lack of originality and sophisticated sentence structure. In order to receive good grades my little brother had been writing for the teacher’s approval, not for the sake of writing or developing ideas. This is the problem that lies within Quintilian’s “set-standard” approach to education. My brother even has an evaluation sheet that his teacher uses to critique his students’ work which lumps specific details into vague generalities. For example, the teacher took points off of his research paper because he only consulted five outside sources instead of the required six. What does this teach? He is also losing points for agreement errors, which, aside from the purpose of grammar, in no way affect the point of his paper. Why should simple errors like that be a factor in the overall grade total of his paper? The only purpose of that it seems is self-discipline, but that contradicts the original motives behind Quintilian’s movement. He wanted people to learn how to express their ideas, not reduce them down to fit a cookie-cutter-mold of a paper. Other possible opportunities for points include, “Clearly Stated Thesis, Convincing Presentation, and General Appearance”. His teacher even admits that the introductory paragraph and the closing paragraph are the most important; everything else is just filler.

Going the Distance

Reluctantly crouched at the starting line. Engines pumping and thumping in time. The green light flashes and the flags go up; churning and burning they yearn for the cup.

Those song lyrics from Cake are what play through my mind before every rugby game I've played since Jr. year of high school. That song, and a few explicit others, rage so hard my body can hardly contain itself. I am a ball of endless energy encased in bone and flesh. I must use my body as a machine, momentum flying at my opponent's shins in full force as my feet leave the field. It's a mentality- you must know what you are capable of and that no other man can stop you. No attitudes, no hero role models, and no excuses.

Our warmups were the scream metal ska songs on Kyle's iPod. The team looked to us to incite terror and panic in the hearts of men, which turned to expectancy and contentness once we started our undefeated streak to regional champions. Logic has its time and place but true rabble rousers allow others to forget their humanity.

political science in todays economy

Hey Pono Ayyeeee

Back in the 90's Disney Channel played some real shit about role models. Smarthouse was about a nerdy boy who tries to win a smarthouse for his family to replace the mother he lost. The Color of Friendship was about the integration of blacks into white schools. The best of these inspiring movies is Johnny Tsunami. A Hawaiian surfer has to relocate to Vermont due to his dad's job in the military. The movie is basically is what originated bossness. The theme of the movie is "Go big or go home," in true boss style. Johnny could have soldout and been a preppy skiier but he chose to remain an Urchin and snowboard his way to bossness. The movie is more about surfing or skiing however. Its about a young adult realizing his indepence, that he can do what he wants when he wants. Whoever told you there were only 24 hours in a day lied to you, slap them in the face. The world is what you make it, be awesome and awesome things happen you just have to open to it.

Tyson Chicken Strips

Pretty fucking tasty. Pretty fucking cheap. This perfect college food sustains me on a regular basis. 425 degree F. Cook for 15 mins then flip for another 15, extra crispy.In order to take down this protein regularly I need to mix the recipe up. bake original, and dip in sauces? Ranch, honey mustard, or BBQ? Progress a level. After cooking the chicken, sprinkle shredded cheese on the breasts and place back into the oven warmth to melt that cheese. One more level? Add sliced jalepenos on top the chicken before you add the cheese. Add sauces now? Wait. Before you cook it. Basil? Garlic powder and olive oil? Tony Chash? Now ya talking. Sauces now? Ok. I've got some thai peanut thoughts in the works. Anyone have a favorite way to prepare these?

I had other cars, sure. I remember back as a highschool junior, the first van I drove was eliminated early as I was merging on to the interstate - the grill of the truck behind me is still perfectly imprinted on its trunk. But this car, this '92 previously-owned-by-old-people naked interior, is the first one i felt was truly mine. I whipped that dirty grey piece of metal through the decomposed roads of the 50' til the steady click-click-click-clack of my steering torqued hard enough to fishtail off of Carolton on the way to rugby practices. It is the same car I straight used as a college sophomore with parking garage hookups, drunkedly busing friends to downtown adventures and extensive roadtrips to Lafayette and Slidell. I lost this machine of freedom one night last summer, driving to LSU pick my own mushrooms. My friends and I had tested formula to know when the boomers were ripe for picking- the morning after a rain. It had rained that morning so we set out on our hour journey.
The mission was a fail. The fields were waterlogged and preventative of growth. Having wasted my time, I sped the entire way. Crossing the spillway, I heard a pop and the sound of metal being scraped across concrete. I heard a pop and sparks flew from the bottom of my car as I saw something shoot off. "Hope I didn't need that," I laughed it off. Then my steering locked up. I inched over to the side of the road and popped my hood to find it on fire.
Long story short, I had left the overdrive on and it burnt out my cooling fan which overheated my engine causing a cylinder to burst off and through the engine itself. It was awesome. But also not awesome.

The Three Gardens

In response to Roland Barthes' "The three gardens" I believe he uses the gardens to symbolize the stages of his life from child to adult. He opens with a description of the house "anything but large...it looked like a toy model" which I interpreted as him reflecting how small one person is in relation to the size of the earth. He then further describes the house "like a castle in a story" which could represent the unique and beautiful traits personalized by each living individual. Barthes then states that the "garden, though continuous, was arranged in three symbolically different spaces (and to cross the boundary of each space was a significant action)," which can be compared to the stages of childhood, puberty/adult, old (as approaching these stages in one's life is significant action). He describes the first garden as "worldy" much like a childs innocent perspective of his surroundings. Barthes includes "taking tiny steps, pausing often" which could reference what he personally did as a child. The next garden lies in front of the house, symbolically domestic, and consists of "narrow paths curving around twin lawns" which I took to mean the twin lawns as parents with the narrow paths being their simple path through their own lives. In this garden grew many flowers which I believe represent either people in Barthes' family or specific memories. The roses as representing the loves of his life, hydrangeas the awkward cousin maybe or a bad memory, kitchen herbs that he has a fond taste for, and "a big magnolia whose white flowers bloomed on a level with the upstairs bedroom" maybe representing the memory of his deceased father watching over them from heaven. There the B. ladies did there knitting, perhaps to occupy themselves while Barthes himself was off living his own life. The last garden, the final years of ones life, has a tiny orchard to represent the few memories one has left of this stage filled [sweet] peaches and [tart, or sour] raspberries. Except for that orchard the garden was undefined (maybe the feeling of unaccomplishment), fallow (land that has undergone plowing and harrowing and has been left unseeded for one or more growing seasons; maybe the lonely feeling one may feel after being abandoned when one turns old), and vegetables that need no tending like when you're old and your children are adults and no longer need their parents in the way they once did and you don't visit often and when you do its just to their house for a few hours. What does this interpretation say about Barthes' attitude on life?

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