Tag: School

4 Days = 4 Chapters (Reading)

Word Cloud for Multimodal texts: Multimodal, learn, student, texts, create, words, knowledge, language, ideas, develop
Image Source: http://scalar.usc.edu/works/digital-writing-portfolio1/concept-2

So, I don’t have lot of time today, so this post will be on the shorter side. I didn’t get a chance to blog yesterday because I don’t have internet at my apartment anymore and since it rained and downpoured most of yesterday, I decided not to get out in the mucky weather since I didn’t have to do so.

Multimodal Composition: A Sourcebook by Claire Lutkewitte

I’m reading/rereading a book that I was given to help me with my Prelim exam–more on that at another date. The book in question is Claire Lutkewitte’s Multimodal Composition. Some of you with eagle eyes or elephant’s memories may notice that this book has been in my “currently reading” section down on the side of the blog for a long while now. I haven’t forgotten about that “widget,” but since I rarely log in to Goodreads nowadays (I just don’t have the time), I don’t really get a chance to update it like I should. Well, I told myself that once summer started, I would read a chapter a day from the books on the reading lists in order to be ready for the next preliminary exam and dissertation and so far, I’ve stuck to that plan. I’ve read 4 chapters from the book and will start on Chapter 5 on Monday. As there are 29 chapters total, I will be reading this book through the most of May.

Reading and Writing: Summer Edition

There are, of course a number of things that I want to read/write over the summer. I won’t take the time to enumerate them here, but as I start on them (and most importantly, finish them), I will most definitely list them here and do a small blog post about them. There are a ton of things that I hope to accomplish over the summer, but I know that if I start talking about them, so how they won’t get done, so it will probably be better for me to wait and talk about them once I’m deep into them, like I am with Claire Lutkewitte’s book. I need to remember what works for me, which is starting small and then working my way up to bigger and more extensive projects. Finishing a book may seem hard, but at a chapter a day, well, that’s not quite as hard and who knows, if I have extra time on the weekend, I may be able to squeeze out an extra chapter or two, meaning that I can finish sooner, and if not, then I’m still on schedule to finish by the end of the month. So my goal for this summer = break down as many projects as I can into smaller chunks and get as much down as possible (while still enjoying the summer sun)!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

  • Current Work-in-Progress–February 2019: Project Dog  (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 1st Draft — Character Draft “Finished”)
  • Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)

One Shoulder or Two?

Man carrying ac backpack on one shoulder walking next to some rails in a city on a cloudy day.
Image Source: https://www.filmsupply.com/clips/man-carrying-a-backpack-on-one-shoulder-walking-next-to-some-rails-in-a-city-on-a-cloudy-day/99647

Question . . . do you wear your backpack (if you actually wear a backpack) on one shoulder or two? This is something that I’ve noticed over my years at school. If you wear your backpack over one shoulder then you are (probably) of an older generation (Gen X or early Millennials), but if you wear it over two shoulders then you are (probably) are of a younger generation (late Millennials or Gen Z). Now, obviously this is a gross over-generalization, and not at all scientific but this is just something that I’ve picked up on lately.

One Shoulder

When I was in college, starting in 1991 (& early when I visited college campuses in the late 1980s), the standard placement of backpacks was slung over one shoulder. It really didn’t matter whether it was over the left shoulder or right (probably corresponding to the handedness of the person wearing it), but I found that this was pretty much the standard. I think, at the beginning, I experimented with wearing the backpack with both straps, but it felt so unnatural to me, at the time, that I pretty much slung it over my right shoulder and that was that. As long as I didn’t overload the pack with too many books for class, it wasn’t really an issue. This pretty much was standard all the way up through 2008 when I started my 2nd Masters Degree in Education at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga (UTC). However, I think that began noticing that some students (maybe 40% or so), now wore their backpacks over both shoulders.

Two Shoulders

Fast forward to 2016 and then I came here to MTSU to study for a PhD in English. Now, pretty much EVERYONE wears their backpacks on both shoulders. The style of wearing the backpack on one shoulder is pretty much non-existent. I do see one or two people, every now and again, who wear their backpacks as I do–on one shoulder–but I would say this percentage is very, very small (sub 5% and probably closer to 1%), and (generally) consists of “older” students (students not in the 18-22 age range). Again, none of this is scientific, but as someone who remembers what a lock the style of “one shoulder” had on college campuses (the ones that I visited at least), I can say that the turn around is quite surprising and just shows that generational differences can be real.

What does it Matter?

In the great scheme of things, not much. However, it does have implications as it means that the style (norms) have changed and that differences that ascribed to different generations may have validity–that these differences are not necessarily made up. While actual research would have to be done on the attitudes and norms that people have in various states of their lives (and as they age), one can’t simply assume that one generation will think the same (act the same, do the same things) as another generation. Knowing what values, norms, and attitudes informs one generation could be helpful in ascertaining and predicting the ways in which another generation might act. For instance, I’ve tried the “two shoulders” regime when I first noticed this in 2016/2017, but it doesn’t work for me. Even though the weight is evenly distributed with two straps, because I didn’t get use to walking with this distributed weight, the bouncing of the book-bag actually throws off my stride and makes it uncomfortable to walk. Although all the weight is on one side with the “one shoulder” approach, I’ve learned how to walk so that it doesn’t affect my gait. As such, no matter how “uncool” it might look in today’s society, I will never move to the “two shoulder” approach. Such a difference marks me as “out of step” with my younger contemporaries, but so be it–I’ll put comfort over style any day.

This, I’m sure, isn’t an earth-shattering revelation, but it is interesting to note that generational differences are out there and may actually affect the way people of one generation may act in regards to other generations. Just something to be mindful of as we all try to coexist through this thing we call “life.”

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

  • Current Work-in-Progress–February 2019: Project Dog  (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 1st Draft — Character Draft “Finished”)
  • Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)

Weekend Round Up #15

Image Source: https://www.rocketcitymom.com/weekend-roundup-november-8-11/

This blog entry is me formalizing a format that I started earlier in the year of just giving a quick rundown of some of the highlights of my weekend. As I tend to do most of my writing, gaming, and media consumption on the weekends, it makes sense to give a brief summary/overview of some of the more important aspects of my weekend life, considering they all have relevance to my life in general, and the blog, in particular.

Gaming

Nothing major to note. I got closer to finishing the driving game Gravel. Actually, I’ve already finished it (seen the credits roll after completing the main campaign, but I’m hopeful that I can earn the ultimate reward for my dedication, a Platinum Trophy, in which I complete all the required conditions. I’m currently sitting at 97% complete on the game–needing only 2 online trophies to finish the game. However, that might be a hard task based on the fact that no one is really playing the game online anymore that I can see (on the PS4 anyway). We’ll continue to see, however.

Writing

Managed to send off a story (reprint–Faerie Knight) to a YA podcast looking for Halloween, Christmas, and Dinosaur stories (Faerie Knight falls firmly in the Halloween category). I’ve had very little luck (none at all, if I’m honest) in the reprint category–none of my stories have ever been reprinted in a different magazine from their original publication, but since FA was a Halloween story (it takes place on Halloween night), I thought I’d give it a try. In other news, I started planning a short-story “duology” over the weekend. I’ve actually already written the first story (I, Magi) and I now have a “sequel” for it in mind. I will be working with it over the week to get a “rough draft” down on paper and then put it on hold until I finish Project Dog, Project Skye, and Project Independent. I feel as if I have too many outstanding projects and I really need to finish some of them off before moving on to others.

Media

Not much to see here this week. Not into Game of Thrones. I hate the whole “Bad things happen to Good people” sub-genre, no matter the genre (fantasy, sci-fi, etc.), so I refuse to be a part of the cultural conversation here. I did start the Amazon Prime show Hanna, but didn’t actually finish the first episode–although I will. I don’t think it would be right for me to give my impressions until I do, however.

School

So, this is where the bulk of my writing time went this weekend. I had a school assignment due at 11:00 pm Sunday night for my Victorian Literature class (on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol). I finished it right around that time (after working on it since approx. 7pm). I really feel the Sunday night time-frame is a good writing time (when I’m not writing until 11:00pm or 12:00am), so as soon as school’s out (i.e., I’m finished with my classes, I would like to use this time-frame to actually work on some of my (many) “Projects.”

Well, that’s my weekend for this week–hope this week is a good one for both you and me!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

  • Current Work-in-Progress–February 2019: Project Dog  (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 1st Draft — Character Draft “Finished”)
  • Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)

The Big Squeeze

Bearded man with a Foot on his Face
Image Source: https://www.nojitter.com/big-squeeze

One of the most frustrating things about graduate school (well, there are many which I’ll probably do individual posts about for the next month or so) is the fact that it is my writing time that gets squeezed in the process of “becoming more educated.” I’m not very appreciative of the fact that, as writer, my time for writing every week gets slowly wittled away as I have to complete more and more assignments which touch on, ironically, writing and the theories and applications of the writing process. My Master’s Degree is in both Rhetoric and Writing and my Bachelor’s Degree was in English: American Language and Literature (with a Concentration in Writing), which just means that I took extra Writing courses on top of the required literature courses. Writing is instrumental to pretty much everything that I am and/or do as an individual and citizen.

We Want You To Write–Just Not What You Want To Write

One of my greatest sources of frustration with the educational process in general, and the way Rhetoric and Writing is treated in particular, is the fact that we privilege the teaching of writing as something that is both special and magical in terms of allowing students to find their own voices/means of expression, but also a craft and requires work through revisions, and yet, the program I’m in does not actively privilege my creative writing endeavors. Only a handful of people in my “community” know that I “Dragonhawk” was accepted for publication and not a ONE of them is a professor. Not to appear boastful or braggadocios, but this is a success that pretty much all my professors of writing should be happy about. I’m able, at a high level, to use the techniques that we teach our students (inspiration, brainstorming, drafting, revision, consideration of audience, and perseverance to see it through to publication) to create and shepherd a work to fruition.

No Conferences = No Credentials

No, I’m not talking about the conferences professors hold with their students. I’m talking about conferences that academics attend to present papers and the like. That’s really the only true measure of graduate student’s success. How many conferences did you attend? How many papers have you presented at a conferences. I both understand and am appalled at the process at the same time. Conferences, let’s be honest, are built for the extroverts who love being with other people. Sure, if you’re an introvert, you can (sorta’) get by just attending panels for the ideas and information. But, to use an old analogy–there’s as much noise (socializing) that occurs at a conference as there is signal (information/ideas). Conferences, while stimulating and fun, are not the end all and be all of an academic’s existence–which is what they are at the moment that I write this.

Value ALL Academic Expression

The main reason why this blog has been spotty this semester and that I’ve had very little time to concentrate on anything writing related, is because I’ve been fully committed to writing, reading, and working for class and for both of my jobs. I’m not really happy as the results for all my hard-work have not materialized the manner that I would have expected after giving so much of myself–and foregoing so much of my creative output in order to do all of this work. I think that if I felt that I could talk to (and get praise from) my professors for the creative work that I have done (and am doing), this would go a LONG way to assuaging the dissatisfaction I feel in that others are being treated better because they are playing the “academic” game, whereas others, who are not, seemed to be “looked down on” (and I’m not okay with this. I’m using the exact same techniques in my own writing life that are good practices (using brainstorming methods to come up with ideas, engaging with the material, drafting–including multiple drafts, getting feedback on my writing, incorporating feedback through revisions, and persevering through multiple rejections until I find a market who is willing to accept the story). The fact that I’m made to feel that my writing endeavors are not worthy in lieu of someone else who simply attends a conference is very distressing to me as a writer.

Hopefully, after this (very) disspiriting semester is over, I can get back to writing (and enjoying the things that I write) more frequently. Right now, I can say that irregularity of the blog is simply a symptom of a larger set of issues and hopefully, regularity will return when I can address the larger problem of being made to feel that my worth as a creative writer is less than someone who just enjoys playing the “academic game.”

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

  • Current Work-in-Progress–February 2019: Project Dog  (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 1st Draft — Character Draft “Finished”)
  • Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)

Preliminary Exams

Image Source: https://grad.ucdavis.edu/resources/graduate-student-resources/academic-information-and-services/degree-requirements/doctoral
(While this is from the UC Davis Grad School website, it is the closest thing that I could find that simply and accurately explains the process — just change Qualifying Exam to Preliminary Exam and you’ll have a pretty good idea of both where I am in the program and what is still left to be done.)

It seems as if I’m always apologizing for stepping away from the blog for various reasons (illness and the like). For the past two weeks, I’ve been in “crunch” mode for reading trying to prepare for my Preliminary Exams. So, what are preliminary exams? Well, they work differently at different schools, but essentially they are the “final exams” that one takes before moving on to the dissertation phase of graduate work.

PhD Student

So a PhD student is much the same as any other Master’s level student as we attend the same classes. The primary difference is the amount of work we have to produce for those classes. Generally speaking (with some few exceptions), PhD students are required to produce longer works and provide more in-depth analysis for scholarly materials. There are other things that we are supposed to do that is more than a Master’s student might have to be responsible for, but in general, we simply produce more volume and are required to use more sources and go into a topic in far greater depth. At the end (or close to the end) of one’s classes, there is some sort of “gateway” (usually in the form of some sort of test) that one has to pass. For me, this is the Preliminary Exam.

PhD Candidate

Once one passes the Preliminary Exam (again, this specific to my program, although it can be somewhat generalized to other programs), one moves from being a “student” to a “candidate.” This means that one either has passed all of the preliminary stages (or in my case, will soon pass) all remaining requirements. For me, I have a couple of more electives that I need to take as I am finishing the last of my “required” courses this semester. My next major responsibilities will be coming up with a Research Proposal/Prospectus for what I want to do my dissertation on and putting together a committee to direct my dissertation. I’m planning on locking this down over the summer.

ABD

ABD = All But Dissertation. Unlike the previous two headings which are official, there’s a third, unofficial heading. When one has completed everything (classes, submitting dissertation proposal, putting together committee, etc.) and all one has left is the actual writing of the dissertation, we informally call that person ABD (All But Dissertation). While technically still a PhD Candidate, ABD just communicates the fact that the dissertation is the last remaining hurdle to complete before that person can graduate.

Right now, I am still waiting to hear back my results from my two Preliminary Exams. I’m hoping to move from the first stage (PhD student) to the second stage (PhD Candidate). If successful, I will use the summer to put together a strong research proposal/prospectus and will try to have a committee in place before the middle of the Fall semester (Sept./Oct. 2019), so that I can spend the rest of the year and the first part of 2020 writing the dissertation.

I know that’s probably WAY more than you wanted to know about my school life, but I hope that it, in some small way, explains why the blog has had to take a backseat for the past two/three weeks due to these Preliminary exams and illness. Well, that’s all I have for right now. Have a good day!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

  • Current Work-in-Progress–February 2019: Project Dog  (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 1st Draft — Character Draft “Finished”)
  • Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)

Weekend Round Up, February 25, 2019

Image Source: https://oscar.go.com/news/winners/oscar-winners-2019-live-updates-to-come

So, here (in no particular order) are some of the things that I’ve done over the weekend.

Writing

  • Finished the “Opening Incident” section of my 2nd Draft of “Starlight, Starbright.” (2 of 5 sections). It looks like I’m not going to make my deadline of finishing by the Feb. 28th for the deadline of the anthology where I was hoping to send it. Still, it looks (& feels) far better than it did under the old story of “The Rocketman.” Even if it doesn’t “light up the world” (pardon the pun–starlight, starbright), it is still a fun story with a character that I understand.
  • Re-outlined my graphic novel which has been at a stand-still for about a month. I realized that, while the first issue, was supposed to be an adaptation of the short-story, I didn’t really have a clue of what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go after I finished with that section, so I finally sat down and wrote out a beginning, middle, and end for the story. Now I just need to do the breakdown again for each individual issue and then I’ll start working on it again.

Gaming

  • Didn’t really do a whole lot of gaming this week, but here are the highlights:
  • Cancelled my preorder for Anthem and moved the money over to Days Gone. I won’t reiterate my disdain for EA’s current “slash and burn” strategy towards its core audience, but I vote with my wallet, rather than just continually talking about it. I said it before and I’ll say it again: “fool me once (Mass Effect Andromeda), shame on you, fool me twice (Anthem), shame on me.”

School

  • This is where the majority of my time went this weekend:
  • We had an assignment (class/group) that was due at 11:30 pm last night. Trying to coordinate this while this was Oscar Sunday was very difficult. We got it done, but it was pretty stressful–I won’t lie.
  • I still have a Biography project due for class (in addition to the above assignment), so these next two days are going to be very “fun.” Yeah, not so much.

Oscars

  • So, since I’m taking a test in film this year, I felt obligated to watch the Oscars (which I have a love-hate relationship with) this past Sunday. I loved the Oscars during the George Burns (1970s/1980s era) and (Billy Crystal (1990s) era, but have disliked it recently due to its continued snubbing of popular films (I was shocked that Lord of the Rings: Return of the King won (& won big) and I guessed that would be the last popular film for a long while to win (and with the rise of “comic book movies,” it turns out that my fears were well founded). I watched last night pretty much out of deference to The Black Panther, but I knew it wouldn’t win (neither Chadwick Boseman nor Michael B. Jordan were nominated in their respective Actor/Supporting Actor Roles which is nearly always a bad sign of things to come for a picture’s Best Picture hopes). Still, I wanted to at least get a sense of the filmic landscape for this year just in case a question came up on the test.

Well, I think that’s all for today. Not sure if I’ll be able to blog tomorrow because of my assignment, but we’ll see and I’ll play it by ear.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

  • Current Work-in-Progress–February 2019: Starlight, Starbright (Sci-Fi Short-Story — 2nd Draft — “Opening Incident” (2/5 sections)
  • Current Work-in-Progress–February 2019: Project Dog  (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 1st Draft — Character Draft “Finished”)
  • Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)

Wednesday = Grading and a Movie

topic-fac-online-grading.png

Okay, so I know that this is primarily a genre (SF/Fantasy) related blog as well as blog about the writing life and while I do have some posts that I need to write in that arena, school has been monstrously busy and I’ve just not been able to get a handle on it as I have in previous months in order produce consistent posts.  As I write these words, there are no less than 200 discussion posts awaiting grades, in addition to a fairly in-depth presentation due Monday, along with a teaching observation on Wednesday!  Ugghh!  I’m usually able to clear papers/assignments much faster, but I’m having significant problems these days, so I thought I’d quickly talk about a movie that I just finished watching for class: All About Eve.

Wednesdays = Grading and a Movie

So, it looks like the only day that I really can do the majority of my grading is going to be on Wednesdays.  I’m going to have to really make sure that I print out all my students’ assignments and go to town on grading on Wednesdays.  It is truly the only viable day that I have to do a ton of in-depth grading.  I can do a little on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as it is too difficult to concentrate fully on grading.  So Wednesdays, which used to be a movie day where I watched the movie that we were supposed to watch outside of class are now going to become my in-class movie watching days and I’ll watch the outside of class movies on the weekend (probably Sunday night before I go to bed).

Clearing the Backlog

So, I would really liked to have completely cleared one of my classes today–but I’m probably going to have to work hard to clear them both tomorrow and completely dedicate myself to my own presentation for Friday and Sunday.  I know of no other way of getting everything I need done because they turn in their 1st major project on Sunday night and then the smaller Daily/Weekly work starts again next week, so I really need to get caught up and stay current or else I’m going to have a torrent of stuff to grade by mid-terms.

Well, that’s all I have for now.  Going to sign off now–wish me luck that I can get up early tomorrow and really knock out my grading so that I can work on my presentation for Monday.

Sidney

  • Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)
  • Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)
  • Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue #1, Currently on Script Page 28)

Driving on Sunday Evenings is worse than driving on Monday Mornings

kisspng-aggressive-driving-clip-art-5afb47f09bd371.1836466315264173926383
Aggressive Driver Clipart.  Image Source: https://www.kisspng.com/png-aggressive-driving-clip-art-2121001/

Hard Driving

So this is going to be a shorter blog entry, but one that is surprising.  Do you know that the Sunday evening drive up to school is worse than driving up on Monday morning?  I don’t know why (unless it is people trying to get home to get ready for work).  All I know is that people are very aggressive on Sunday evenings when I would have thought that would be one of the most passive days.

Taking Your Life in Your Own Hands

Between aggressive drivers and the rain last night, it was a hard drive, but it was also a dangerous drive due to a person who would not follow the rules.  Speeding is bad, yes, but so too is going to slow and hindering the traffic flow.  There was a car that was afraid to pass a semi-trailer truck, but he was in the fast lane.  He created a situation in which all three lanes were packed with traffic going up the mountain in a torrential downpour.  I understand being cautious, but do so in the lane with slower traffic.  Hindering the traffic flow is not just irresponsible, but also dangerous.  When the middle lane finally passed him, I was closing in on the truck in front, I switched names and hydroplaned a bit.  Luckily, the car’s traction control kicked in, but I had a real death-grip on the wheel for a moment.  Again, all because the person would not follow the rules of the road.

Night Driving

I made it safely to school–the drive’s not really long, just challenging due to the aggressive nature of the drivers or the refusal of some drivers to follow the rules.  One other thing I don’t like about Sunday evening driving is that night generally falls as I’m driving and I lose the ability to see the scenery.  Still, so long as I make it safely and am able to get my work done, that’s all that really matters.

Have a good day.

Sidney

  • Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)
  • Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)
  • Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue #1, Currently on Script Page 25)

 

 

 

 

Stop Signs, Part II

stop signs
Stop Sign (United States)

Graduate Teaching Orientation

So, apologies to all for not posting to my blog all week and especially for not letting you know about my (unintentional) mini-“vacation” from blogging. For those who don’t know, as part of my studies as a PhD student, I also teach introductory English classes here at Middle Tennessee State University (in addition to being a Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer). Every year, the English Department sponsors a week long (Monday – Thursday) Orientation for returning and incoming Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs for short). I really enjoyed my time in these, this year especially, but they do take a lot of time. They start at 9:00 am and don’t generally release until 3:30 pm or so (although they do feed us as lunch is provided!) 🙂

However, unless you plan ahead, it is difficult to blog either in the mornings or afternoons.  My evenings are now pretty much filled, so this week has been a “wash” in terms of writing (either on the blog or my own creative works).

Stop Signs

So, I’ve written before about “Stop Signs” and times when life just tells you that you need to take a break for some period of a time. That was what this week was for me. I knew that I needed to get up early for the Orientation sessions and I was asked to co-present with another GTA on “Multimodality” (text with images, video, etc.). I realized Monday night that I probably wouldn’t be able to really work on the blog in any meaningful way for a while, which is why I wrote the quick blog entry earlier this week.

However, in this case, learning takes precedence over creative endeavors (including blogging). I learned quite a bit during the sessions, and since school (classes) start on Aug. 27, I need to firm up my syllabus and assignments during this upcoming week (so I may touch on that in a blog post at some point).

Currently Reading & Writing

I’m also in the process of updating the way I communicate what I’m currently reading and writing (word count on projects). It may live at the bottom of the post now (like this). I like the immediacy of having it at the top, but it interferes with the blog topic. I could give a weekly update, but then that doesn’t hold me as accountable as I’d like. I’m not sure quite what I want to do with this yet (so stay tuned).

I will also be redoing my Signature Line at the bottom of the page. Why? I didn’t make enough money for Amazon.com under their Amazon Associates Program during the 6 months trial period, so they’ve stopped allowing me access to the program. Ce’st la vie. I don’t work for Amazon, so I’m not going to go out of my way to sell their wears on my site. If people click on them (and quite a few of you did–Thank You!), then that’s awesome, but to ask people constantly to buy my work smacks of “selling out.” I may look for other ways to promote my work, but for now, I’ll settle for a redesign of the signature at the bottom.

Well, that’s all I have for now. Regularly scheduled blog posts should resume on Monday (hopefully), so have a great weekend!

Sidney

Waiting a Week for Avengers Infinity War

avengersinfinitywar_imdb
Avengers Infinity War Movie Poster with Marvel’s Avengers and Thanos.  Image Source: IMDB.com (Click Image for more info.)

No Avengers Infinity War for me this Week

So, as most of you know, I tend to go to the Marvel movies as soon as they are released (with some exceptions–I still haven’t had a chance to see Thor Ragnarok yet, although I’m hopeful that I will be able to see if for the Memorial Day Holiday at the end of May (fingers crossed).  While I haven’t looked to see if its being shown in Imax 3D at my local theater–pretty much the only way I’ll go to the AMC theater these days as I’m perfectly willing to wait the extra time until it is available for purchase due to the movie industry’s  desire to maximize profit by charging more for the Imax experience, but not offering movies in the 3D format as often as they used to–AMC still charges a premium price when showing movies in 2D when they’re Imax vs standard 2D.

EDIT: Did some quick googling and found that AIW was NOT shot originally in 3D.  However, it was shot using Imax cameras, a choice that happens rarely in the movie world, so it should look spectacular on the Imax screens even though the image will be 2D and not 3D.  I’m not sure how that will affect my movie going–2D is a much harder sell based on the prices at AMC.  At least with 3D, I can justify the expense by telling myself that it is something that I can’t replicate on my home theater.

It Isn’t All About the Money–Sometimes its about School

So, lest people think that I’m a poor college student (which I am at the moment, if truth be told), the expense of going to the movies (ticket prices & concessions) isn’t the primary driver of what’s keeping me away–this time, it’s school.  For the first time during my tenure as a PhD student, I have a Monday class with both a Final Exam and a Final Paper due after right as the AIW releases.  If Disney hadn’t moved up the movie by a week and kept it in its first Saturday in May release spot, then I probably would be going–2D or no 2D.  I have too much work to do and too much time and work invested in the class to throw it all away by not getting studying done or working on my paper over the weekend.

First rule of thumb for students (I tried to tell my 6th graders this time and again, but only a few listened), do your work first, then you have time to play.  This is a lesson that has been “hardwired” into me since my earliest childhood with daily “homework checks” at home.

So, all that to say that if the movie is still in Imax and it is a really good 2D movie, then chances are good I’ll try to see it next week, but I’m not going to risk my grade in my class (Plays Before Shakespeare) just because Disney moved the movie up a week in hopes that AIW would get 3 weeks to make money ahead of the mid-May release of Deadpool 2.  Something tells me that even if it isn’t in Imax, it will still be playing next week if I really want to see it.  Or–there’s always BluRay at the end of the summer.  Whenever I do see it, I’ll be sure to do a Mini-Review & add it my Marvel Movie Ranking Post.

Have a great weekend!

Sidney

 

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