T-shirt #14: Lighten Up!

T-shirt #14: Occupy Sesame Street

I like to mock.

Most things are mockable. There are a few exceptions. I don't want to bring you down by listing the exceptions. I bet you can guess some of the taboo mocking topics.

People can be so serious.

LIGHTEN UP.

Just because I mock does not mean I do not care. Occupy Wall Street was a very exciting and important political movement. And yet, it is easy pickings for mocking.

I once saw a great motivational speaker named Sandy Queen, whose main message was "lighten up!"

Read about her in the Winona State University Student Newspaper.

There's also a good You Tube Video if you need some laughs: Sandy Queen at Cornell.

I tried out some of Sandy's comedy routine to my captive audiences (IE my classes) back in the 1990s and early 2000s. One part of her speech stuck in my head. It was what people said to her when she told them to lighten up and how she responded:

"You don’t understand what you’re asking.  If you had my husband, my wife, my kids, my job, my supervisor, you wouldn’t ask me to be a well person.  I am under such stress.  Please remember one thing.  The first and only day in your life that you’re going to be stress free is the day they look at you and say, my my, doesn’t she look natural.  That will be the very first day in your life that you are stress free.  Now if that’s true, we need to start treating stress as our slave and not as our master."

So, really. Lighten up.

Now, join me in linking arms and singing "Kumbaya." You'll feel better. I promise.

- chris tower 1304.04 9:48
Photo courtesy of Liesel MK Tower

T-shirt #13: The Unlucky Red Shirt

T-shirt #13: The Unlucky Red Shirt

"He's Dead, Jim."

Star Trek: The Original Series featured the deaths of 59 crew members (out of 430 total or 13.7% of the crew) of those fifty-nine crew personnel forty-three of them wore red shirts.

For more statistical analysis of death rates and other incidents aboard Captain Kirk's Starship Enterprise, check out ANALYTICS ACCORDING TO CAPTAIN KIRK.


Red shirts die.

Wear a red shirt and be prepared to sign a waiver for ASSUMPTION OF RISK, as explained by the Legal Geeks (No, really, they have a web site and everything).

The fact that red shirts die is bad news for my father, Bob Tower on Facebook, who loves red and owns many red shirts. One could not claim that he wears a red shirt every day, but he does wear them several times a week, which makes him at great risk IF HE LIVED IN THE STAR TREK UNIVERSE, which, luckily, he does not.

If you have read to this point, then you are to be thanked. Whether you are a new reader or a returning reader, I am thankful for your patronage and for following my project. I promise not to keep you too much longer.

Scrolling back through the blog, you will find T-shirt #4 (The Gold Command shirt) and T-shirt #11 (The Blue Science/Medical shirt). As I confessed in those blogs, when the ad from NoMoreRack on Facebook snared me, I bought all three shirts. And, so, today April third, I feature the red shirt.

This shirt has special importance as I am just now finishing the audio edition of John Scalzi's Red Shirts, which is  narrated by Wil Wheaton. The novel has been nominated for one of SF's most prestigious awards: the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Scalzi is an excellent writer. With a fusion of influences from Star Trek to Heinlein, he is a funny, original, entertaining, and deftly-skilled writer of some of the best science fiction being published today. He is releasing his latest novel, The Human Division, as a multi-part series of episodes released via Kindle each week on Tuesday. I am also reading those and enjoying them immensely. Check out my Good Reads page for more information and mini-reviews.

Red Shirts, the novel, is hilarious on its own. Wil Wheaton's narration amps up the hilarity to 11 (on a scale of 1-10). If you take my recommendation and check out this book (and audio), then you may also love the retread of the inspiration for the Ewoks: Fuzzy Nation (also by Scalzi and also narrated by Wheaton).

Back to red shirts: I am following in my father's foot steps to some extent with a plethora of red shirts. I do not own quite as many. Okay, maybe that's not true. I do not wear red as often, though this may be changing now that I am past 50 and need more color in my life. You will see many of my red shirts posted this year. Not counting the more maroon or wine-colored King Crimson shirt posted on March 27th, this is my first truly red shirt. Not all of them are so unlucky.

Since I first posted this blog entry, Scalzi won the HUGO award for Best Novel.

There's good information on the book and Scalzi in the next link from science fiction's premier publication.

JOHN SCALZI REDSHIRTS in Locus


FROM JOHN SCALZI'S BLOG WHATEVER:

I’m going to bed. Tomorrow (actually, today) is a travel day, so there may not be any substantive update. Don’t worry, if I don’t post anything Monday there will be a full report on Tuesday. In the meantime: Wheeee!

SCALZI'S Final Hugo Thoughts

Not everyone felt that Scalzi deserved to win: Why Redshirts should be first to die – book review.

But then, some people are just assholes.

To understand the awards better, check links below.

HUGO AWARD

NEBULA AWARD

Redshirts is a great book. Try it for yourself if you don't believe me. Because you don't want to take my word for it. I am starting to be convinced that writers cannot be objective about the work of other writers. So my promotion for Redshirts is no more compelling or objective than the asshole's review linked above. Though note, that I am not evolved enough not to call that twerp an asshole three time.

Lastly, check out Jonathan Coulton's theme song for Redshirts. Awesome.

New original song by Jonathan Coulton - "Redshirt"

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OTHER RED SHIRT FACTS AND NONESUCH

• David O Rogers made a parody film, Redshirt Blues, that was well received at the 2000 Boston Film Festival. I will provide the video at the bottom of today's entry.
• Entertainment Earth has created a Red Shirt Cologne with the tagline "Because tomorrow may never come." Ostensibly, the cologne was meant to promote the new Star Trek film (being released May 2013), but the cologne was announced prior to Christmas in 2011.
• The Red Shirt is a featured entry in TV Tropes along with other true and amusing motifs, such as Black Dude Dies First and The Worf Effect.
• I had trouble with this blog as I kept typing "red shorts" and not "red shirts." I was tempted to leave in at least one "red short" to amuse you, dear reader.
• I am more than a bit pleased that this worked out to be blog #13. If only it was a Friday, too.

Redshirt Blues

Here's the video:

What do those hapless Redshirts talk about when Kirk isn't around? Starring Erik Hill Jack P. Dempsey

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- chris tower, 1304.03 10:29
Photo of me courtesy of Liesel MK Tower
UPDATED - 1403.12 - 19:36

T-Shirt #12: Sigur Rós: The impact and the awe

T-Shirt #12: Sigur Rós: Vibrating at a new frequency

Sigur Rós is an indescribable  musical experience, but I am going to try anyway. The Wikipedia Sigur Rós page calls the band "an Icelandic ambient/post-rock band from Reykjavík, who have been active since 1994. Known for their [sic] ethereal sound, frontman Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto vocals, and the use of bowed guitar, the band's music is also noticeable for its incorporation of classical and minimalist aesthetic elements. The band is named after Jónsi's sister Sigurrós Elin."

But these lines are inadequate to explain the power and majesty, the spiritual awakening, rekindling, and rejuvenating that is a Sigur Rós musical experience.

I have been to a lot of concerts. And I have used the word "transformative" before to describe some of my experiences with shows by artists, such as Erykah Badu, Peter Gabriel, David Bowie, and U2. However, Sigur Rós stands in a class all its own. The music, the experience of the live show, is ineffable.

I am transformed. Something has changed. Paradigm shift. I will not be the same after this experience. I will not look at the world the same way anymore. Like a flower that has opened, petal after petal, slowly and tenderly, I am opened.

I am also pretentious as all Hell. Okay, okay... So what was it REALLY like?

A video will not help. But I can always try. This one captures some of what I am talking about.

Sigur Rós "Varúð" - Live @ Zénith, Paris - 27/02/2013 [HD]

The entire concert experience is unlike anything I have ever experienced before. In part, the venue accentuated the experience. The Fox Theatre is a temple, a cathedral, a pantheon. Filled with sound, it transported me into another time and space, a different wavelength of energy, vibrating at a new frequency.

Vibrating at a new frequency. - chris tower: 1304.02 19:32

T-shirt #11: Star Trek Science Officer

T-shirt #11: Star Trek: "What is logical?" No foolin'.

At some point, the T-shirt blog will be a bit repetitious. I have three of these Star Trek: TOS shirts as I confessed in T-Shirt #4. And you're going to see all three.

I count Star Trek: the Original Series as one of the most important pop culture influences on my life, and Mr. Spock and Leonard "Bones" McCoy among my favorite characters. Both Spock and Bones wore the blue shirts as science or medical officers.

Today's blog is not so elaborate. But it is a good time to celebrate a few choice quotes from this beloved series that I have probably watched more often and more repeatedly than any other television program.

SPOCK
"After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true." - Spock, "Amok Time," Star Trek: the Original Series.


"I am endeavoring, ma'am, to construct a mnemonic circuit using stone knives and bearskins. " -Spock, "City on the Edge of Forever," Star Trek: the Original Series.

McCoy
Contrary to popular belief, Dr. McCoy did not say "I'm a doctor not a ..." type quotes in every episode. He only had such lines in a dozen of the seventy-nine episodes.

My favorite is definitely the one from "Devil in the Dark," in which McCoy is "curing" the Horta by troweling silicon into its wound, about which he quips: "I'm a doctor not a bricklayer."

Brilliant.

- chris tower
1304.01 - 9:01
Photo courtesy of Liesel MK Tower

T-shirt #10: The Walking Dead

T-Shirt #10: I LOVE THE WALKING DEAD

I did not start reading The Walking Dead comic from the beginning. Contrary to popular belief, I do not buy and read every comic book published. I do not even manage to obtain all the comics by the major companies each month. I struggle just to read what I do buy, which is arguably much too many comic books.

Image Comics never impressed me all that much. I read early issues of things like Savage Dragon and WildC.A.T.s. I must confess to even buying Youngblood #1. (Hey, Rob Liefeld was in a fanzine APA club I was part of!) But I was not inspired enough to keep up with too many of the titles. Comics like Astro City, Godland, and The Darkness caught my attention. I liked many of those plus Wanted and anything by the Luna Brothers. But generally speaking, I steered clear of Image Comics.

Then one day on the Ultimate field, as often happens, I started talking comics with someone, in this case Darrough West (who has since moved to Chicago; miss you, brother!), and he recommended very highly a comic I had seen in the Previews solicitation catalogue but had resisted buying any issues, as I had to resist so many comics that looked interesting simply to keep the titles I bought each month under 50. (Not succeeding at this goal. I ordered 77 titles for May 2013. Damn Marvel Ultron event!)

At Darrough's urging, I bought the first trade of The Walking Dead, and gave it a try. Within days, I was hitting the comic store for the other (at that time) seven trade paperbacks and buying other not yet collected individual issues to catch up.

By the time the TV series hit the cable airwaves, The Walking Dead  comic would grace the top of my stack each week (meaning it was the first comic I read, usually the same day I bought it). The stories have continued to remain fresh, original, and engaging. I like that Kirkman is in it for the long haul. What does the world look like ten years after a zombie apocalypse? What about twenty years?

As for the TV series, I thought the first season was a little weak at the end (though I liked the first few episodes very much), but the second and third seasons have been excellent.

We have a dilemma in the Tower household tonight, March 31st, appropriately, Easter Sunday. The Walking Dead hosts its season three finale, HBO's Game of Thrones premieres its season three debut, and Liesel and I have discovered a new show, Top of the Lake, which also conflicts with the times of the other two.

For those only watching the TV show for The Walking Dead, you are missing out on some of the best comics published since the turn of the century and millenium. For those not even catching the TV show, if you like to think you are a discerning geek, then, for shame. (If you're not geeky, or cannot stomach flesh eating zombies, then never mind).

- chris tower
1303.31 14:56

T-shirt #9: The People's Food Co-Op

T-shirt #9: I love my co-op

I had the pleasure of serving on the board of directors of the People's Food Co-Op of Kalamazoo from 2006 - 2010. Recruited by Hether Frayer, I wanted to help the PFC move from its location on Burdick Street to a new, expanded location. The search process and the preparations for the expansion (debt to equity ratios among other issues) proved to be great fun and immensely satisfying work.


Now that the co-op has moved into its own building on Harrison Street and has grown exponentially from its space/size, membership numbers, and revenue levels of 2006, I am proud and very honored to have played a role (albeit small) in the process.


Along the way, I met some great people who are part of the growing group of individuals in Kalamazoo not only dedicated to healthy living (especially in terms of how food impacts healthy lifestyles) but also invested in the business model of the co-op.

I won't extend this daily blog entry too much with an explanation of the cooperative business model, but a few words will emphasize the importance of how I represent these principles when I wear my PFC gear.


I am an owner. The People's Food Co-op is not a club. It is a cooperatively-owned business, whose ownership has grown from a meager 400+ in 2006 (when it was a "membership" structure) to over 2000 owners today (March 2013) who have invested their money in this business, owning it, cooperatively.


The model is not unique to Kalamazoo, and it's hardly a new idea. The first co-op dates back to the Rochdale Pioneers in England in the 19th century. There are great co-ops in Ann Arbor and Traverse City as well as throughout the country.


Anyway, for those who clicked my link and spent some time reading this entry (Thanks!) and who live in Kalamazoo (or nearby) and have not visited the Harrison Street People's Food Co-op of Kalamazoo, get down there! It is a beautiful, full-service grocery with a deli and even a commercial kitchen run by the local non-profit organization Fair Food Matters.


Own up.


Represent.


- chris tower

1303.30 - 8:08

T-shirt #8: University of Michigan: Dri-Fit

T-shirt #8: University of Michigan: I love Dri-Fit!

Dri-Fit shirts with moisture wicking properties are one of the best inventions of the late 20th century. Moisture wicking fabrics have been a revelation to me. I recommend very highly products made from these fabrics. They do "smell funny" to those with sensitive noses, but the properties allowing for perspiration moisture to be wicked away from the body to evaporate from the surface of the garment rather than being trapped between the body and the fabric or in the fibers of the garment itself allows for such comfort in the heat that I wear them year around (I am almost always hot), though most often in the summer.

When I saw a Dri-Fit University of Michigan logo shirt, I had to have it. I bought this shirt last week after starting this blog and after UofM won it's second round NCAA game to enter the Sweet Sixteen.

Big game tonight against the Kansas Jayhawks.

GO BLUE!!

- Chris Tower
1303.29 14:58