A Sense of Doubt blog post #1388 - Moses Supposes - THE BEST OF ALL TIME!

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1388 - Moses Supposes - THE BEST OF ALL TIME!

I have to tell the story that I tell in the class room, at the very least to save it for posterity.

But before I start the story, I want to make a disclaimer about my purpose. I have been accused of thinking about my past too much, and this is likely a reasonable accusation. I like to think that I am analyzing my past rather than wallowing in it. I do not feel as if I am stuck in my past or living in my past and not living in the present or being impeded from moving into the future. But I rationalize my actions because I believe that through analyzing my past I am learning from it, growing, individuating because that's all I can do to advance in the process of individuation. I feel that it is important work.

I also want to make a disclaimer for my wife, whom I love very much, the evidence for which is all over this blog and the T-shirts blog, and those feelings have not changed. I hope that this story does not diminish how much I adore my wife in anyone's eyes. Liesel is an amazing human, and I might be so bold as to claim that she is the single most amazing human I have ever known. True, I know and have known many great humans, so maybe I should claim she is "one of" the most amazing, but hyperbole aside, her amazingness is why I married her, so that's a thing. Also, this story is in large part about setting the record straight on some things in my past, showing gratitude for the influence of so many people (one person in particular in this story) who have helped to shape me into the person who I am and the person who I am continuing to become, the self off of which I am unpeeling the layers, barriers, repressions, projections, shadows, and denials.


The point of this story -- because it's always best to share the point first, otherwise there's lots of detail to wait through GETTING to the point -- is that I came to hold dear Singin' In The Rain as one of my top five favorite movies of all time (that whole list another time) and really one of my favorite things of all things of ALL TIME. (Also, the movie Top Hat but that's part of the story.)
There's synchronicity because a Facebook friend posted the image (just above left) the other day, while at the same time friends of mine on Facebook were crediting me with "giving" them things, which out me on this whole thinking track of the influences of our lives and how we have gained the things we love, some through self-discovery, of course, more so now that self-discovery is easier because of the Internet, but also through recommendations, friends who share things that they love and so we come to love them, too.

And so, how I came to value Singin' In The Rain.

At K-College around the time I turned 21 years old, I met an amazing human and because I am going to be somewhat private I will refrain from sharing her name though anyone who really knows me well surely knows who I am writing about.

She was very much a recluse, but I discovered that she was a HUGE David Bowie fan and a fan of the Jam, a band I knew but was not totally into yet, so I figured out a way to arrange an introduction, and we began to hang out, talk, and eventually started a relationship.

I very quickly fell completely and passionately in love with her, probably more deeply in love than I had been yet in my life. She was Japanese and Irish, which I though was a very intriguing combination. She was an accomplished visual artist but had chosen to study biology at K, a practice into which she put the kinds of hours that medical students logged and graduated magna cum laude despite a brief struggle with grades the quarter she dated me. Her mother was a very famous and beloved artist in Kalamazoo and also a truly inspiring, lovable human. Her father was an English professor at WMU and would, oddly, later be the graduate director when I studied there and my professor for two classes.

I was smitten. I could not resist. And she came to love me, too, and so I joined her in reclusion as we began to spend most of our time together.

Around Valentine's Day, the K Film Society hosted a double feature of two of her favorite movies: Singin' in the Rain  and Top Hat. Though we didn't go out much, and mostly stayed in, she asked me to go on a date out with her to see these movies.

Here's the stupid part.

I was a very, VERY stupid young man and times blind, stubborn, and accustomed flights of childish rage, an illness that now I chalk up to raging hormones of someone who entered puberty around the age of eighteen (okay maybe sixteen) rather then thirteen.

I told her I didn't want to go. I may have even alluded to the movies as sounding as if they were "stupid."

I do not remember how much convincing I needed. I remember that she explained how she had found them on TV when she was home with the flu a few years before. She explained why she loved them. And since I loved her, I was not going to refuse to go. I may have been a stupid boy, but I was not a total idiot.

We went to the movies, and I fell in love with both, but more so with Singin' In The Rain, and it's not just me and my then girlfriend who love this movie. It is considered the FIFTH GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME by the American Film Institute.

I remember leaving the recital hall, where they showed the films, and kissing in the hallway that led to the exit by Humphrey House. That night and that kiss remain one of the most special memories of that time with her, that relationship.

It was a moment like frozen time. We had been holding hands throughout the movie. We were in love. We had just seen two wonderful movies full of laughter, romance, and joyful feelings, I had the immense of epiphany of casting out my previously stupid opinions and falling in love with my movies like I had fallen in love with her, and she had the pleasure of sharing them with me, watching me love them, watching me realize that I was a very stupid boy and that I needed to be more open minded, especially to the suggestions by those people I loved and respected.

The hallway was empty. It was quiet in that way that institutions become eerily quiet, so that a pin drop deafens. The hall was partly lit. We stopped in the middle and kissed. I do not remember who stopped or who initiated the kiss, maybe it was mutual, maybe it was my thank you to her for sharing those amazing movies, maybe it was her thank to me for opening myself after my initial resistance, maybe it was all of those and things and more. It was a good kiss, sweet and passionate and hungry for more. It was a magical moment. I will never forget it.

And I have loved these movies ever since.

So, on the subject of analyzing my past, part of my purpose is less about regrets than it is about shamefulness. Sure, I have regrets. I wish I had left K to go to film school. I wish I had gone back to New York and continued to work at Marvel Comics and lived with my then girlfriend on a boat on the Hudson. I wish I had been smarter about getting my Star Trek novel published after using it to earn my MFA. And more recently, I wish I had studied computer science (or Psychology) as an undergraduate and not English and Theatre, as much as I love both. As I mentioned, I was young and stupid.

VERY STUPID.

But the regrets are like memories on a shelf. They're in bottles, like biological specimens floating in formaldehyde. They're contained. That do not control me. They do not hold me back. And given that I have moved to the Pacific Northwest, which I LOVE, with my amazing wife, whom I ADORE and love beyond measure and astronomically more so than the early, immature love I have described here, I do not have any real regrets. I love my life. I am happy.

BUT.

I did and said stupid things for which I wish to make amends. If that girlfriend from that time reads this, I want to apologize for all the stupid things I said and did and to thank her for giving me these films; for stoking my fires of love for the Jam; for introducing me to Charles Bukowski and Black Sparrow Press, for sharing with me Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae and more; and for one of the sweetest, passion-filled, and truly cherished relationships of my past.

I am not going to recount the little, stupid things for which I feel stinging, poisonous shame as she surely does not remember them, if she were to read this post, and I don't want to remind her. But the greatest shame is for how poorly I handled the break up, an ending she had to make to our relationship so she could reach her goal of graduating best on our 1985 class (or maybe tied with a couple of others as she might remind me).

Admirably, she tried to remain friends, but all I did was try to argue her back into the relationship. I was so hurt, and I was completely blind to how my actions were unfair to her. Ultimately, she cut off all contact with me for her own sanity and safety. It took me over a year to see the wisdom in that decision. I tried to go tell her that I understood, and I was sorry for how I treated her, and she slammed the door in my face.

A couple of years later, we talked, and I think I told her how sorry I was and how I understood why she did what she did, but if I didn't say all those things, here they are, in print, on the Internet, preserved for all time so that thousands of years from now advanced transhumans will have no idea what I am talking about.

The shame from my actions is not suffocating or crippling. I learn from the shame. I grow because of it, and I work to prevent those types of things from happening again. I evolve.

All of what I have written here is MUCH MORE than I ever share with students in a class room.

In the end, the upshot is that I have played "Moses Supposes" for hundreds of students over the years. And when I play it, I talk about this girlfriend and how one of the greatest things about college is the people we meet and what they come to mean to us, how they give of themselves, giving us things we cherish forever.

One last thing.

There are so many reasons to love Singin' In The Rain and so many things to love about it, but one thing that I want to mention as I close is the sheer ebullient joy of most of it, and you can see and feel that unbridled joy in the video above for "Moses Supposes."

ENJOY.

ROTTEN TOMATOES - SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

More images

Singin' in the Rain

G

 1952 ‧ Romance/Musical ‧ 1h 43m

8.3/10IMDb100%Rotten Tomatoes99%Metacritic

90% liked this movie

Google users

Description

When the transition is being made from silent films to `talkies', everyone has trouble adapting. Don and Lina have been cast repeatedly as a romantic couple, but when their latest film is remade into a musical, only Don has the voice for the new singing part. After a lot of practise with a diction coach, Lina still sounds terrible, and Kathy, a bright young aspiring actress, is hired to record over her voice.

Release date: April 11, 1952 (USA)

Directors: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen

Music composed by: Arthur Freed, Nacio Herb Brown, Lennie Hayton

Screenplay: Adolph Green, Betty Comden

exam study session Friday December 07th 2018 - Concordia University

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1812.09 - 10:10

- Days ago = 1254 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1387 - Watership Down - Netflix - December 23

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1387 - Watership Down - Netflix  - December 23

I have been trying to be more organized with the blog. Though I am planning the posts over a week at a time, I want to remain open to possibility, and it's often the original content that is not ready yet and must be delayed.

And new content always presents itself.

And so there's this.

And my plans, which began maybe a year and a half ago, to read this book WATERSHIP DOWN -- that I read while in junior high -- has not made it to fruition yet, and now, is there enough time to re-read it before the NETFLIX SHOW COMES OUT???

Please.

I need more time...

https://nerdist.com/watership-down-netflix-first-trailer/

NETFLIX’S WATERSHIP DOWN GETS AN EPIC FIRST TRAILER

POSTED BY MICHAEL WALSH ON DECEMBER 4, 2018

Anyone who has seen the original 1978 adaptation of Watership Down will tell you that, just because it features talking rabbits, it is not like most–or really any–other animated film about anthropomorphic animals. You can really only have so many bloody bunny deaths before you realize you aren’t watching a traditional kid’s movie. For those who have never seen the original though, the first trailer for Netflix and the BBC‘s new remake of author Richard Adams’ bestselling novel shows just how epic and thrilling a story about rabbits can be.

Adapted by Tom Bidwell and directed by Noam Murro, the series’ first trailer, via Entertainment Weekly, offers a tense glimpse at a “tale of adventure, courage and survival,” as the four-part mini-series follows “a band of rabbits as they flee the certain destruction of their home.” It stars James McAvoy and Nicholas Hoult as brothers Hazel and Fiver, who go on a difficult journey full of dangerous obstacles and enemies to find their group a new place to live. They aren’t the only big names in the star-studded cast though. The series also features performances from John Boyega, Ben Kingsley, Daniel Kaluuya, Rosamund Pike, Gemma Arterton, Taron Egerton, and Peter Capaldi

We’ve written before that we hope this new adaptation will embrace just how epic the original story really is, and that it will focus less on the violence, which is what the original film is most remembered for. This first trailer has us very optimistic on both accounts.

Even though we know we’re still going to see lots of dead bunnies.

Watership Down scurries to Netflix on December 23, and on BBC One in the U.K. on December 22 and 23.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1812.08 - 10:10

- Days ago =  1253 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1386 - The SWITCHEROO - Return of Wolverine, Justice League, etc.

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1386 - The SWITCHEROO - Return of Wolverine, Justice League, etc.

Time for me to write about comics. Given how much I love them, you would think I would manage to write about them weekly.

So, here's a thing. It's the old bait and switch. Marvel starts with one artist, an artist that fans are hungry to see work as he doesn't come out with too much and it has been a long time since he did a monthly book.

Steve McNiven is the artist and the much heralded return of the "real" Wolverine is the comic. Charles Soule is an up and coming writer, and so this broke my new rule in which I am not buying into any (or not many) limited series, preferring to read thgem in trade when they are done.

BUT I loved McNiven since Meridian for Crossgen, and then of course Civil War and Old Man Logan; AND you would think I would pay more attention to writers on comics first and foremost being a writer myself, but I don't, so Soule hit my radar as I am loving his Inhumans work in 2014 and 2015, but then really caught my eye with his run on Daredevil, which he started in December of 2015 (so basically 2016).

And so Marvel hooked me with this GREAT creative team and so overcame my waning interest in adding to my monthly pull for more limited series that may not be that earth shattering after all. But even more than writers, I follow artists, which is why I am buying Infinity Wars, which is not all that great, but, um, DEODATO is.

Anyway, the first issue looked SO DOPE, and it read well, too. I was intrigued.

Check out this interior art from issue #1 by McNiven:

I am not the only who loved this stuff.

https://www.monkeysfightingrobots.co/return-of-wolverine-1-hes-back-bub/

Monkeys Fighting Robots gave it a 4.5 out of 5.

Mysteries are something that Charles Soule is very good at crafting and unraveling. Readers will be right there along with Wolverine as he tries to navigate and piece together his surroundings and just what hell is going on.

Who are these scientists suffering around every corner? Who is this villainous devil, Persephone? Who are we supposed to trust and how does Logan fit into it all? Is that Omega Red?! There’s plenty of questions being asked and knowing that Soule is behind the wheel means the answers will most likely be satisfying ones.

Return Of Wolverine #1’s biggest hits come from the phenomenal art team. It’s great to have Wolverine back, but the way he’s depicted here is what blows the doors off of the hype-bus.

Steve McNiven and inker Jay Leisten are the MVPs of this issue. It’s not just that we get a great looking Wolverine, but we get the best Wolverine possible. He’s a bloody, shaggy,  hairy mess. He’s not a handsome or slick stud superhero, he’s a rugged animal that wears his experience all over his body.

and then issue two.......

McNiven is gone.
Enter Declan Shalvey. And it's not just a filler as Shalvey helms the art on issue three, also.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Shalvey. His work with Warren Ellis and Jordie Bellaire on Injection is some of my FAVORITE comic work of the last three years.

And the covers continue to be by McNiven, which is part of the SWITCHEROO, the ol' bait and switchy.

Now, I don't know. I am not a fully tapped in rabid, Reddit-reading, Internet-trolling, massive alerts set on my phone, fingers on the pulse of the comics industry comic fan. For all I know Marvel was completely transparent that McNiven was on issue one only, and then Shalvey would take over. Or for all I know, McNiven's wife is ill or something. I don't know.

BUT this is the kind of series that Marvel should have had and probably did have in the can for a long time leading up to its release. Hell, they probably banked the "return" series while they released the "Death of Wolverine" series.

Still, despite the fact that there was no drop in quality, I feel cheated. I felt like I was promised McNiven for the entire run, and then Marvel reneged.

Check out this interior art. It's great stuff; Declan rocks, but it's not the same.

YOU DON'T READ COMICS gave issue #2 an 8/10:

https://www.youdontreadcomics.com/comics/2018/10/25/return-of-wolverine-2

The art by Declan Shalvey and Laura Martin isn’t as uneven as McNiven’s art in the last issue. The action scene is dynamic and exciting, and Martin’s bright coloring matches what one could expect from a fight under a cloudless sky on a boat. However, as good as the art is, it doesn’t have the big feel that Steve McNiven’s does. It’s more consistent, but going from McNiven’s more realistic style to Shalvey’s almost cartoonish style is a bit jarring, and doesn’t really fit the tone of this book. That might have more to do with Martin’s bright colors than Shalvey’s pencils, but the stylistic change in art in this book feels strange.

Return Of Wolverine #2 is a better comic than the first issue because it focuses on a well-drawn, well-written fight, instead of the cliche early-90s Wolverine story that Soule is laying out in the book so far. The end of the issue sets up a reunion that many fans have waited years to see, but that’s really the only thing to look forward to with this story if you’re a long time fan of Wolverine. This one still has a few of the same problems as the last issue, but it also does a few more things well.

But

Monkeys Fighting Robots gave it a 2.5 out of 5.


https://www.monkeysfightingrobots.co/return-of-wolverine-2-debuts-the-hot-claws/

Writer Charles Soule continues his epic story bringing our classic Logan back into the scheme of things with Return Of Wolverine #2. This issue really heats up in the claw department, but not there’s not much else going on.

The first issue of this series was a brutal, bloody masterpiece that turned the hype up on Logan’s return in a major way. Artist Steve McNiven checked all the boxes needed to get readers even more excited than we already were. Return Of Wolverine #2 is a different story.

A lot of the tonal shift falls on the shoulders of artist Declan Shalvey. Sometimes a brilliant artist gets put on the wrong title, that’s the case with Shalvey. He’s a spectacular comic book artist but the unpolished cartoon style we’re exposed to here just doesn’t stack up to what McNiven established in Return Of Wolverine #1.


So, that's a good way to put it. TONAL SHIFT.

Yeah, that.

HERE'S the collected round ups for all the issues:


https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/marvel-comics/return-of-wolverine/1

https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/marvel-comics/return-of-wolverine/2

https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/marvel-comics/return-of-wolverine/3

Same sort of thing with DC's The Justice League.

https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/dc-comics/justice-league-(2018)

I had dropped the book because I had too many titles that kept falling into the back log as they did not get read each month.

And then, JIM CHEUNG.

I am always going to buy a book drawn by JIM CHEUNG.

So when DC shares the cover art for the new Justice League for 2018, I was all in IMMEDIATELY, especially once I saw that Scott Snyder was helming the scripts.

Issue One was great!

https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/dc-comics/justice-league-(2018)/1

And then, the SWITCHEROO.

As of issue two, Jorge Jimenez helms the art. And though this is definitely a tonal shift, it's also a bit of a step down in quality. Jimenez is a fine artist, but he's no CHEUNG.

Both Snyder and Jimenez are replaced by Tynion and Mahnke, which is much the same in terms of two creators who are fine in their own right,  but are hardly on the same level as Snyder and Cheung.

https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/dc-comics/justice-league-(2018)/7

And then Cheung is back for issue seven the difference is remarkable.

I see Cheung is the solicited artist for #17, and so this may be the dangling carrot that keeps on the title.

Still, like the Wolverine issues, some very fine artists have had a go at the new Justice League for DC, such as Mikel Janin (#8), whose work I loved on the too short lived Grayson title. Also, Francis Manapul and Guillem March, both of whom are fine artists, but still, not in "league" (heh) with Jim Cheung.

This is an interior from issue one by Jim Cheung:




Still, the praise for this run of the Justice League has been high.

https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/dc-comics/justice-league-(2018)

8.3	#8	James Tynion IV	Mikel Janin	26
8.4	#7	Scott Snyder	Mark Morales	24
8.5	#6	Scott Snyder	Jorge Jimenez	27
8.4	#5	James Tynion IV	Doug Mahnke	28
8.9	#4	Scott Snyder	Jorge Jimenez	31
8.8	#3	Scott Snyder	Jorge Jimenez	30
8.6	#2	Scott Snyder	Jorge Jimenez	36
8.6	#1	Scott Snyder	Jim Cheung	47

This is an interior from issue #2 by Jimenez:

The art is very good in both, but the differences are clearly visible.

I mean, come on, CHEUNG IS CHEUNG. Others are not.

And that double page spread from issue one I shared above is more amazing than the reduced image shows. DOWNLOAD it and blow it up on your machine!!

Don't make me promises and then renege comic book universe.

Here endeth the lesson.

Word.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1812.07 - 10:10

- Days ago = 1252 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #1136 - Introversion collected and t-shirt reprint - Throwback Thursday for 1812.06

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #1136 - Introversion collected and t-shirt reprint - Throwback Thursday for 1812.06 - sense of doubt #1385

Hi Mom, I know I have shared this photo before, but it seemed to go so perfectly with the subject of introversion (read on) that I felt a re-share was warranted. Plus, I did not add data about it to the title lines.

You brought me up with protection for my introversion. Not sure where this extraverted, gregarious bloke came from -- what my wife calls my Mr. Aloha personality -- but there he is, standing in the class room, probably talking much louder than he needs to.

Those who are quiet can move mountains without making a sound. Those who talk a lot might yell and yell and never move the mountain.

I just made that up.

I am multi-tasking today, and I am still using the blog to jump start content for school. I already gave a final exam this morning (with donuts! or doughnuts... I have seen it both ways), and now I am fighting the adrenaline let down and nap attack as I have been up since about four a.m. for the fifth day in the last seven.

But I am hanging in there and crossing things off the to do list.

This post is the usual gallimaufry, but it starts its stewy goodness with music and a contemplation of introverts, of which I am part of the club, though I don't always act like it.

MUSIC GOODNESS


CHRYSALIS - Chronotope Project





Wait.... what's this???

PHANTASMAL MUSIC WORD PRESS

For all Ghostly Dark Fans
I’m Valery Dronia fan of paranormal and ghosts.

This blog was created for make some register of dark music artists  inspired who inspired their works on paranormal and ghosts stuff.  You can find here my selection of creepy, ghostly unknown music with links to each artists and albums.

For future reference. Believe me, I will return to this one. I am leaving it here as a big reminder.

I am listening to CHRYSALIS - Chronotope Project as I compose.

INTROVERSION

So I ran a final exam review game in class yesterday, and I noticed something that I should have planned for.

The extraverts excelled, raising their hands even before they were sure they knew thew right answer. But the introverts did not do as well, and two teams did not score any points at all.

NOTE TO SELF: Next time I run such a game, rotate the questions team-to-team. Those with slower hands to raise to answer a question might do well if it's their turn and they have a few seconds to think. Also, control the hand raising before students know the answer, with enforcing my one wrong (two wrong in a row and lose a point?), and you cannot answer next.

But hey, I have not run such a game in a while. I am a little rusty at anticipating how the system will work.

The game did get me thinking about introversion, which is a subject that my Concordia students (and the LCC students for extra credit) will be contemplating for their exam next week.

And so, I decided to offer the Concordia students who are interested extra credit for examining Introversion with these resources, watching Susan Cain's TED talk and exploring these links.

That is all for today. Time to slip into the womb and do introverted things.

Susan Cain: The power of introverts

Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

TEXT FROM SUSAN CAIN'S SITE: Taking the reader on a journey from Dale Carnegie’s birthplace to Harvard Business School and from a Tony Robbins seminar to an evangelical megachurch, Cain charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal in the twentieth century and explores its far-reaching effects.

She talks to Asian-American students who feel alienated from the brash, backslapping atmosphere of American schools. She questions the dominant values of American business culture, where forced collaboration can stand in the way of innovation and where the leadership potential of introverts is often overlooked. And she draws on cutting-edge research in psychology and neuroscience to reveal the surprising differences between extroverts and introverts.

Perhaps the most inspiring part of the book is where Cain introduces us to successful introverts such as a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks or a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions.

Finally, she offers invaluable advice on everything from how to better negotiate differences in introvert-extrovert relationships and empower an introverted child to when it makes sense to be a “pretend extrovert.”

This extraordinary book has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how introverts see themselves.

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #1058 - Listen to the power of QUIET people

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #323 - More on introverts

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #161 - Introversion - Reprinted T-shirt nonesuchery pt.3

Original blog on introversion

SOUND AND VISION - "Blue, blue, electric blue, that's the color of my room, where I will live, blue blue."

https://365-tshirts.blogspot.com/2013/08/t-shirt-161-blue-in-sport.html

T-shirt #161 - "Blue, Blue, Electric Blue, that's the Color of my room, where I will live..."

"Blue Blue."

Immortal words by David Bowie from "Sound and Vision" a track off his 1977 album Low part of the Berlin trilogy. Arguably, his best album. Definitely, the one I find that I keep coming back to and listening to again the most over the years; it was produced by Brian Eno.

When Bowie released his boxed set career retrospective, he called it Sound and Vision. He also named his 1990 tour "Sound and Vision," a greatest hits tour in which he intended to play his hits for the last time and then retire them. This has not happened, strictly speaking.

All of which I have shared because this shirt is blue.

Just a blue shirt made by InSport. Wicks moisture.

No logo or design. (Well, there is one on the sleeve but I decided to leave it off the picture.)

"Don't you wonder sometime about sound and vision?"

I spend a lot of time thinking.

This may surprise some people, but I am more introvert than extrovert.

It's true.

I can play the part of an "extravert" (to use Carl Jung's spelling), but it's playing a part, and it can cause me enormous anxiety. My base line state of existence, my preference, my natural state is solitude and quiet.

For example, for many years, I took solo vacations up north at the Neahtawanta Inn (as described best in T-shirt #85: Up North). Though sometimes I had a guest with me for a short time, the majority of the time I was alone. I would read, write, run, bike, swim, eat great food, and go see movies at night (sometimes two in one night). These vacations were just what I needed to recharge and prepare for the assault of another Fall-Winter college school semester of teaching classes.

Another example, I like to go to bed early and read. This is something that my wife likes to do as well. Though last night, I had the Tigers game plugged into one ear, for the most part, we had quiet, reading time in bed with each other and the puppy. I could have gone to the KUDL draft, but I was not feeling well, still not fully recovered, and I needed time at home, time alone with my wife and dog. This is what introverts need.

For me, time alone is crucial. My blogging all began during what I used to call "Bloggy Friday" when my parents would leave for my mother's beauty shop appointment (back when I lived them and later when I was there helping out while Liesel was at work) and I would have the house to myself. Peace and quiet and solitude so that I could do whatever I fancied. I liked this time best around the holidays when I could turn on all the lights on the Christmas decorations as the sunlight outside faded away.

I can be a social creature. I am actually a bit more of a social creature than my wife. But I crave alone time, and if I do not get enough of it every week, I start to go a bit bonkers.

from Fight Club

Why am I writing about alone time and introversion?

Well, last night after dinner, my wife asked me to watch some videos with her. They are TED talk videos. If you have not heard of the TED conference and the TED Talks video podcasts, this is something very much worth your time. Do some exploring on YouTube. Or better yet, start with these three videos included farther below.

First, we watched neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor's talk on what she learned about the brain after the stroke she suffered, and the message she has for all of us about our brains. Later, we watched a second video by Jill Bolte Taylor on brain development and the teenage brain, but first, we watched a wonderful talk by Susan Cain on the power of introverts.

I am including all three videos here on today's blog, plus a video for "Sound and Vision" by David Bowie, as my blog always needs more music. I give my wife credit for finding the videos and sharing them with me. My wife is remarkable. This is also further proof that she is perfect for me.

All three videos are extraordinary and very enlightening. However, I was deeply touched by the Susan Cain video about introversion.

Blue seems the right color for quiet time and introverts. Susan Cain's video touched me deeply because I always feel that I am a misunderstood introvert. At one time, my wife teasingly called me "Mr. Aloha" because of my propensity to chat with cashiers or food vendors. But I am an introvert as my previous examples should illustrate. I prefer quiet time, and, out of my element, I tend to keep to myself. But I do like to spread the sunshine. I think that "farting around" and making connections with the people in our community is an important part of each day, or at least that's what I learned from Kurt Vonnegut.

The Jill Bolte Taylor stuff is fantastic for understanding the brain, especially the "Stroke of Insight" video with her description of the gap between right and left brain functions and the world of peace and tranquility she discovered when her left brain shut down.

Grading Robot is in full swing today and thinking a lot about brains and introversion.

I hope you have time watch these videos and think about these things, too.

If so, PLEASE share comments. I would love to have discussions about these ideas.

Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight

Susan Cain: The power of introverts

JBT TEDxYouthIndy

DAVID BOWIE - SOUND AND VISION - LIVE TOKYO 1990

- chris tower - 1308.29 - 8:18

THESE NEEDED REPEATING

As I have written before, I am going to just keep sharing this Mogwai video until it strikes lightning with enough people.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Khalil Gibran pic.twitter.com/TmQ9gtqgvk

— Dr Adi MacArtney (@Science_Hooker) December 6, 2018

Researchers have discovered new details about the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole. Learn more in @sciam: https://t.co/fiL8i3RTey

— John Templeton Fdn (@templeton_fdn) November 14, 2018

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Reflect and connect.

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you, Mom.

I miss you so very much, Mom.

Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 1251 days ago

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1812.06 - 10:10

NEW (written 1708.27) NOTE on time: I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of your death, Mom, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of your death, Mom. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom.