The Butcher Shop

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Another independent comic review of mine is up at the newly redesigned Independent Propaganda. Check it out! This is a review of the upcoming KONI WAVES comic book series by Arcana Studio.

Matt Butcher

posted by Matt Butcher @ 8:00 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

The BOOM! Studios blog quoted me from my review over on Independent Propaganda. Quoted me a bunch of times. That's great! See, pretty soon it'll be my name under that comic or movie title next to Roger Ebert's. Eh?

posted by Matt Butcher @ 8:10 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Good classes

Had an awesome class day. All the classes were excellent. What a great day.

With sophomores, we did a vocabulary activity to replace the made-up words in JABBERWOCKY. They were really cool about it. I think they had fun.

Just wonderful to have this high school level maturity!

JABBERWOCKY

Lewis Carroll

(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 6:06 PM 0 comments

Monday, August 28, 2006

Here's just a picture of downtown, the Arctic Trading Post and the Nome City Hall with the finish line for the Iditarod in its off season home sandwiched right there in the middle. Today was the first day of school in Nome. I am always apprehensive about first days. I don't know the kids and I don't know how the classes will go yet--remember, I haven't really taught the same thing twice in a row yet. The kids come in and I then have to use the first day to really just go through rules and stuff. Today we as a staff went through certain pages of the handbook during certain periods. Boy, there just isn't really a fun way to teach that stuff. The kids were awesome though this year. Leaps and bounds from what I had and what I expected. It's amazing the maturity level from middle school to tenth grade. And my seniors are really adults now, aren't they? That senior English class is going to be a blast this year! I am so excited to be teaching a British literature class. We start Beowulf later this week, in fact. That class is my reason for being a teacher this year. And kudos to the sophomores. They wrote! I mean, I asked for a writing sample, to choose one of the rules out of the handbook and tell why it was either a good rule or a bad rule. They wrote! I get to read those tonight. That's a good 100 paragraphs to read tonight. Small sacrifice after seeing them do their absolute best. If they give me that at least part of the year, I will be happy. Can't wait to get into Shakespeare coming up! All in all, it looks like it is going to be an awesome year!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 7:51 PM 0 comments

Morgan's first day of sixth grade today. We have to snap a picture as she walks out the door. Can you believe she turns twelve next month? I can't.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 7:43 PM 0 comments

I don't think HE gets it. I found this today in my Superman alert email from Yahoo. Seems some people are upset at the one famous Superman line being changed from "Truth, justice and the American Way" to "Truth, justice, all that stuff." It was said by Daily Planet editor Perry White in the film.This guy says that this is an anti-American sentiment. I think that the authors of the movie crafted it to be a more WORLD-oriented statement. The 50s got it wrong. Superman is not just American--he is of the world. And anything less is not true to Superman. I think the authors did a great job there to use the sentiment, a phrase imbedded in our heads, and turned it into a quick worldview.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 9:55 AM 0 comments

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Won $60 at poker last night! Amy and I went to play with two of her coworkers last night. Texas Hold 'Em. $20 buy in. I won out of the four of us. So I guess that means I actuallyonly won $40 because I had to put in $20 and Amy had to put in $20. (Then again, since I regularly don't get money anyway, I could say I won my twenty too!--that's a joke, by the way.) Then I had to buy the guys a beer so I came home with $10 less. But it all works out. And bragging rights are worth far more. Tonight is Trivial Pursuit Challenge night here in our place.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:46 PM 0 comments

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Pluto is no longer an official planet. Forget all those mnemonic devices you used to remember the planets. Pluto no longer technically qualifies.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 9:04 PM 0 comments

Kids come on Monday!

Been busy setting up my classroom all day today. Tomorrow is more of the same. Thank goodness they give us these two work days, and before a weekend!, to get ready for the kids coming on Monday. Perfect set up.

I am excited because I have a new classroom this year. There's a window and everything! Put up some posters I got from the Teaching Tolerance site with good quotations and inspirations. Spent time putting together my first week's lessons too.

This is the best part--the lessons! I get to do literature again this year! I get to do some Shakespeare! And my Senior English IV class is pretty much a British literature class. This will be the first time teaching Beowulf and Chaucer, among others, so I just can't wait. This is the stuff that got me into being an English teacher anyway! The Sophomores will be nice too. Especially now that I have that canned writing unit to supplement with some reading material, I can really focus on the students. I will get to teach them Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet too. Also looking into ordering a set of Lowry's The Giver.

Plus, news of all news today:

My advisor at National University accepted my thesis! I now have a Masters degree in English! I just have to go through the official graduation requirements and I will be able to sign my name like this:
Matthew J. Butcher, M.A. I won't, but it is cool to look at.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 7:58 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Last day of teacher inservice today. Then we have two solid workdays and a weekend before the students come. That's ideal. My first year teaching at South, we went from an inservice one day to kids the next. Harsh. Amy and I saw the final disc of VERONICA MARS season one last night and were giddy over the great ending. Man, now THAT was a season finale! So cool. How can people not be watching this show. If this were on USA network, it would be a huge hit. Other than that, now we just have the beginning of school right now. That's enough to keep anyone buys. Still waiting to hear from my thesis advisor on my rough draft. I'll give it a couple days. I think I will have to rewrite bits at least one more time. Okay, time to go!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 10:09 AM 0 comments

A new webcomic review of mine is up at Independent Propaganda, this one of America Jr., about a small town that wakes up and finds its charter says it is no longer part of the United States. Like a Peanuts comic.Check it out!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 9:49 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

But look at that haul of blueberries tonight! That's a gallon ice cream container there. And those are Madison's hands reaching for the goodness. Of all the containers tonight, Madison's was conspicuosly empty.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 11:44 PM 0 comments

I fell on my big fat ass tonight. I thought I was being funny and was running to tackle Morgan. I never got there. I thought I twisted my ankle, it hurt. The muskeg, bog, marsh, whatever, doesn't give good footing. There can be holes and you never see them coming. Plus, the ground gives under my weight a few inches with each step.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 11:42 PM 0 comments

Almost like a Norman Rockwell painting. We enlisted the Wehde kids from downstairs, some of Morgan's best friends, in our attempt to grab twelve cups for jam. I like how Madison is falling down on the tundra here.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 11:40 PM 0 comments

Today was one of those days in teacher inservices that I remember what the penguins say in the movie MADAGASCAR. "Smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave." Just sit through it. One of those days where I probably could have gleamed all the info off a quick little manual. We learned about the new writing and reading curriculum stuff we bought. I am excited for that stuff. If I had had this writing stuff last year my job would have been a cake walk, so I am glad to implement that this year, on top of the cool lit stuff I will get to do. Then the second half of the day I was in a dark and stuffy computer lab learning the new PowerSchools attendance and grading system. I wish they would stagger these classes per computer ability. Some people in the room, and these are high school teachers mind you, don't know a lot about a computer. I mean, to the point where we had to tell them what a folder for the application was and what a web address was and where to type it. I really like the new program. So I am extremely happy about the actual MATERIAL we received today, but the delivery could have been better.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 8:12 PM 0 comments

The new cafeteria and gym center of the high school is just about done and ready for kids. I will have to take some photos of the new artwork on the gym walls when there are lights on in there. On another topic, I took this picture with a new camera. Pall Mall cigarettes, for some reason, sent me a cheapo digital camera. They have some promotion to send them pictures of relaxing with cigarettes, I guess. I must have filled out that I smoked cigars on a survey somewhere. It only holds about 18 pictures at really low res, about 100K pixels, so it ain't great, but it will do in a pinch. It's amazing how absolutely cheap the technology is now if Pall Mall can afford to send these out for free.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 8:03 PM 0 comments

The coveted blueberry.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 2:08 AM 0 comments

Berry picking across the field.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 2:07 AM 0 comments

Some more berry picking tonight. Morgan needs a ton to make a new batch of jam. Got attacked by swarms of humongous mosquitos! It's like a bog, or muskeg, where the blueberries flourish the best.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 2:05 AM 0 comments

Monday, August 21, 2006

I finally took a look at my volleyball schedule for the upcoming season. Practice should start mid-September. The weekend listed as 'OPEN' on November 3rd actually should have been Hooper Bay on the coast of the Yukon Delta. But they had a bit of a problem several weeks ago. Some kids were playing with matches below the school somehow and 35 buildings went up in flames, including the school. We only have one set of real home games this year, not including the Mixed 6 tournament. The Mixed 6 isn't really our stuff anyway since they raise the net to accomodate the boys playing, so I don't put a whole lot of emphasis on it. We don't field boys during the tournament. This is just another thing I have on my plate, creating a volleyball practice regiment, etc. But it's fun. No Barrow this year, I'm surprised at that. I won't see them until the Far North Conference. They are the defending state champs and this year, we would have to beat them outright to go to state.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 8:12 PM 0 comments

We then went for a nice drive down Nome-Teller Highway for about twenty miles and stopped every once in a while. These neat rock formations are prime candidates for pictures!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 9:57 AM 0 comments

Look at that haul! After less than an hour, we had a good four cups of blueberries. We are going out more this week for Morgan to make some jam that she learned how to make at camp.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 9:55 AM 0 comments

More berry picking yesterday. Fun for the whole family! We had a wonderful blueberry pie last night!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 9:54 AM 0 comments

Boom! Studios reviews by yours truly posted up at Independent Propaganda. This new comic book company is putting out some great stuff. Read the review.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 9:43 AM 0 comments

Sunday, August 20, 2006

News of a NEW mini-series based on The Prisoner is surfacing. Sky One has unveiled plans for a new six-episode mini-series, possibly starring the revamped Doctor Who, Christopher Eccleston.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:54 AM 0 comments

Why I Like The Prisoner

Why I like The Prisoner

It was an accident really. I was never supposed to actually watch it, let alone have it become this mini-obsession of mine.

I always tried to watch Doctor Who on late Sunday nights on WTTW, the PBS station in Chicago. It came on right after Monty Python's Flying Circus. They played three episodes of Doctor Who all meshed together so it was like a little movie and not a silly half hour. I taped a bunch of them, usually just to tape and watch. (Actually, Doctor Who was an accident too. My family borrowed a Fawlty Towers tape from the Baltas that had a Doctor Who episode on it, "The Robots of Death" with the fourth Doctor. I thought I would try watching it one day when I was told that it was sci-fi. Although they compared it to silly stuff and I think I remember it being compared to the 1985 Dune movie. That sparked a little Doctor Who obsession.)

WTTW changed up their lineup a little bit. Whether it was because they didn't make their donation quotas by hawking their little Doctor Who mugs, I don't know, but they decided to play something else in its place. It was at least comparable to the genre. I remember putting a tape in, thinking to catch a show at the beginning. I did it at the last minute-I know it was the last minute because the tape (I still have it) was recorded at SP and not SLP. That ain't like me. I have filled up tapes that only had 15 minutes left on SLP just to get stuff on them. I still have a couple of tapes that are halfway blank queued and ready to be popped in at a moment's notice. I could get six+ hours on a tape rather than just two. So taping something at SP tells me it was a last minute decision. Remember, I am a penny-pinching bastard on the weirdest of things.

I was blown away at the first episode. It was strange. It was intelligent. It was bewildering. It was a concept I had never seen before. I was born in 1973, way too late to really be a part of the sixties counterculture that The Prisoner was filmed in. Luckily, when I first watched it in the very late 80s, I still knew of spies and basic Cold War stuff.

It seemed to stand for something. It wasn't just about some guy trying to escape from a prison. It had themes that were greater than the individual characters. When I watched it, I saw that he was fighting for me. He resisted the machinations of the Village because the greater good needed him to. This show taught me concepts of freedom of elections, questioning your surroundings, staying true to your convictions, the honor of standing tall, and the idea of individuality versus group dynamics. It came at a time when I was first hitting these concepts in high school. In a way, The Prisoner was an education. I simply would not be the same without the seventeen episodes in this series. They have become a part of my psyche, part of what makes up Matt Butcher. Cut me open, and copies of The Prisoner would fall out.

I taped all seventeen episodes off WTTW. I'm going to go through the episodes again. I have watched them so many times now that I can almost quote them. I used to put a tape of six episodes on in the background as I would sit at the computer and do my homework from college at my parents' house. I want to think about all seventeen episodes as individual entities and gleam the concepts and the benefits from them.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:45 AM 0 comments

We also went to a little barbecue today with Amy's coworkers. Madison got to hold little Gabby, the new sister for Miss ANB.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:42 AM 0 comments

Morgan blueberry picking with the mountains in the background. This picture really intimates how huge Alaska is, and how devoid of trees it is.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:39 AM 0 comments

Went blueberry picking today. You pretty much just pull over to the side of the road and get out. Blueberries as far as the eye can see. Madison ate twice as many as we saved in the container. Fresh blueberry muffins and pancakes, coming up!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:37 AM 0 comments

My wife bought the Keane debut album a couple years ago and we liked it. We heard the new single on the music service the other day. Amy remarked how much it sounded like early 80s U2. Oh my God, is she right. I listened to a ton of BOY, OCTOBER, and especially WAR and UNFORGETTABLE FIRE. This fights right in there.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:35 AM 0 comments

Thursday, August 17, 2006

First day of teacher inservices. Nice to see my name above a high school designation. Today is a bunch of data to compare and go over in preparation for the new school year. They are allowing much more of a teacher-to-teacher discourse this year instead of just listening to some presenter. This is wonderful. There are too many times when teaching is a solitary experience so having the discussions with my fellow teachers is amazing. Very encouraging too. My goal is to have nothing but positive thoughts. I want to turn off any negativity I might feel and just meet the challenges head on. When it comes down to it, especially comparing it to last week when I was stripping the wax off a grocery store floor at 3:30 am, this is a wonderful job. Plus, I get to visit my passion in Shakespeare more this year than last year. Sophomore English alone will probably see Julius Caesar and Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet if they didn't have it in ninth grade. Gotta find out. I just think that if a kid can decipher Shakespeare, he or she can decipher any written text. Lots of hands on and acting invloved in it too. 06-07 school year coming up!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 3:25 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

We have new neighbors. Planets, that is. There is a new definition for PLANET that will cause us to all of a sudden go from nine planets to an even dozen. This includes Ceres, previously one of the asteroids in the belt after Mars; Charon, also known as Pluto's moon, and 2003 UB313, the one without the name.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 4:47 PM 0 comments

Madison as Braveheart. Don't ask...

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:21 PM 0 comments

Look at those fish! Our downstairs neighbor was putting his catch for the day away and I just had to snap this picture. They say that during the season, you catch your limit in well under an hour. There are times when all you have to do is throw your hook in. We've had a few as people round here try to give some away because you just can't eat it all. I mean, look at the size of those!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:20 PM 0 comments

SUPERMAN may be too broke to return. Speculation is abundant as the people-that-be look at the financial possibilities of a sequel to SUPERMAN RETURNS. My question is: How much SHOULD it have made? It made over $200 million, before DVD sales.Yes, its budget was astronomical, but is that the fault of viewers that wanted to see it? Was there a way to make it more cheaply and get it done? For instance, I think they didn't need to rebuild a Kent farm from scratch as it was barely in the movie! This is another case of a movie production company having eyes way too big and greenlighting everything. I'm betting that it could have been done cheaper if director Bryan Singer was told to make it cheaper. So we fans are going to be the ones that get hurt here.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 11:33 AM 0 comments

Marvel here is listing out all their recent properties that are being developed for cinema. '07 will see Spider-Man 3, Ghost Rider, and Iron Man movies. There is also a Fantastic Four tv show in the works. Other properties are being developed for movies.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 11:19 AM 0 comments

I say we should have to board planes in our underwear and airline-provided flip-flops. Enough dicking around with this. Don't board the plane with anything mother nature didn't provide but our skivvies. That would stop all this crap. If that's what it takes to stop this heartache and commotion, then just do it.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 11:06 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Today marks the one-year anniversary of The Butcher family's move to Nome, Alaska. We have learned some amazing things and met some amazing people. We have experienced a whole other slice to life that has been different from what we lived before. This experience makes us cherish so much more, quite more in-depth than any other life we have ever led. Simple things. Some things are more precious just because they cost a bit more. Food tends to get used more and not just thrown away as leftovers. People are quieter here, and that's a good thing, as if they do not have to fill the void with noise or even unnecessary speech. It has been a grand experience actually living here, more than just a tourist on one of those cruise ships. We have mingled with the people, taught them, coached them, played with them.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 11:00 AM 0 comments

It is, according to the weather at Yahoo, four degrees warmer in Nome, Alaska, right now than in Somonauk, Illinois.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 1:48 AM 0 comments

Monday, August 14, 2006

Webcomic review up at Independent Propaganda. This one is of ROOK CITY.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 9:41 PM 0 comments

She told me to make sure I call her sometime today on her first day. I'm all choked up. She's growing up. In 15 years, I will be celebrating her high school graduation. Sniff.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:23 PM 0 comments

Leaving for her first day of pre-school.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:21 PM 0 comments

Daddy's little girl on her first day of pre-school!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:19 PM 0 comments

Madison's first day of school at Kawerak today!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:16 PM 0 comments

Sunday, August 13, 2006

If this doesn't make you chuckle, then you must never have seen one of the greatest movies of all time: A Christmas Story. Here is an actual ad for the Red Ryder carbine BB gun! And it was only $2.99!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 9:11 PM 0 comments

A staple in all old comic books--The Charles Atlas ads. This one even has the classic little comic strip showing how the 98-pound weakling has sand kicked in his face. He takes the Atlas program and then wallops the bully!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 9:08 PM 0 comments

Underoos! How many pairs did YOU have? I especially remember my Yoda underoos.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 9:06 PM 0 comments

I'm sharing some old ads from some old comics. Part nostalgia, part coolness. Imagine seeing this ad for the first Star Trek way back when.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 9:03 PM 0 comments

Didn't wake up until 2:30 pm today. I guess that's okay when you factor in that I worked until 5:30 am. Thank God that last night was the last of these night shifts. No more scraping floors for me. Even for $18 an hour. Good thing I didn't quit my day job! :)

I drove Amy to the airport this morning. She is in Anchorage until Tuesday morning for some banking training. You can never learn too much. They pay for just about everything and Amy gets to do some real shopping, like Wal-Mart and JC Penney in the mall. It's just two nights.

Madison starts her preschool tomorrow! She is so excited. She's going to feel like a big kid. I promised Amy to take lots of pictures.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 7:32 PM 0 comments

Underdog. My new toy. A vinyl figure about 8 inches tall that I got from Entertainment Earth. I remember rushing home to watch Underdog after school.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 11:52 AM 0 comments

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Morgan's newspaper picture is available in color from the Nome Nugget's webpage.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 6:18 PM 0 comments

Friday, August 11, 2006

New Superman Returns action figure. This one is the Truck Lifting Superman! The car is supposed to break apart and everything. Just damn cool for any Superman fan.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 8:49 PM 0 comments

Night Shift

I had a little job last night. Amy's friends at the maid service place where she has worked a few hours here and there has this new contract to strip the wax on the floors at the AC grocery store. I couldn't resist--$18 an hour! Only bad part is that it doesn't start until 10 pm. I didn't get home this morning until about 5:20 am. I wanted to start making sure to wake up at 6 am this week, getting prepared for school starting on the 17th (for teachers). Now my internal clock is really going to be off. This job is only supposed to last two more nights but I don't envy anyone that works nightshifts. Especially when everyone else around you works and lives regular hours. I simply could not pass up $18 an hour, even if I am on my hands and knees sometimes in order to scrub the floor along the sides where the machine can't reach. I think I would have balked at it for anything less. Not $18. I just made $126 last night. That goes straight into savings, although I may take a bit and get a few comics.

Digressing, I like this picture that I took at the park a few days ago. Madison climbed up those chains all by herself.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 8:17 PM 0 comments

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Morgan is appearing this week in the Nome Nugget newspaper!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 9:44 PM 0 comments

Possible stops on our trip cross country from Seattle to Chicago, Summer 2007

Reptile Gardens and Dinosaur Park in South Dakota

Presidents Park in Lead, SD

Corn Palace in Mitchel, SD

World's Largest Bull in Audubon, Iowa

Devil's Tower in Wyoming

Custer's Last Stand in Montana

Wall Drug in Wall, SD

1880s Town and Skeleton Man Walking Dinosaur in Murdo, SD

Samhill's Stonehenge in Maryhill, WA

Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska

Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa

House of Clocks in Waukon, Iowa

International Vinegar Museum in Roslyn, SD

Mammoth Hot Springs, near Yellowstone in Wyoming

Mount Rushmore

posted by Matt Butcher @ 2:40 PM 0 comments

Hey! I won!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 1:47 PM 0 comments

Superman contest at Quaker Oats. If you don't want it, enter for me, willya?

posted by Matt Butcher @ 1:44 PM 0 comments

Brodie's Law. A review of issue #7 and the preview of #8 from Markosia and Pulp Theatre Entertainment. Review at Independent Propaganda.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 11:39 AM 0 comments

Already talking sequel to SUPERMAN RETURNS, Jude Law may come back as General Zod. Remember the Kryptonian from SUPERMAN II?

posted by Matt Butcher @ 11:36 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Boom!

Boom! Studios has a nifty website and blog. http://www.boom-studios.com/blog/wp-trackback.php?p=59

posted by Matt Butcher @ 7:06 PM 0 comments

Today

Rainy and kinda chilly here in Nome today. Almost have to wear a coat. In August. I actually put a coat on Madison to take her to get her arm read after her TB shot on Monday (oh, THAT was fun going through shots!). Morgan said she was chilly.

I got a bunch of new comics to review from the Big Cheese at Independent Propaganda. These are all from new powerhouse Boom! Studios. Keith Giffen writes a bunch of them so I'm excited. I just got free comics, how could I not be excited! $28 cover price alone on what was sent to me! Reviewing is well worth it for that alone. All in all, I have received several trades and other comics, plus a few digital copies of comics to review. Lots of new stuff. This is what being a reviewer is all about. I'm not even looking to make money. Free comics will do it for me! I even won a signed copy of The Super Naturals #1 from Jam Packed.

I am about 28 pages into my thesis now. Now comes the real synthesis of the whole piece. I am about done going through the entire work of Tennyson's In Memoriam, all 133 poems, and how they relate to Kubler-Ross' stages of loss from her books On Death and Dying and On Grief and Grieving. Now I have to do some research on how Kubler-Ross' work is/was accepted and why it is universal. Then I have to make sure it is all cited perfectly according to MLA standards. Upon submission to the advisor, I have to be ready to re-do it after her edits. As many times until it gets right. I expect to re-write it at least, at the very least, twice. Gotta be done by the last day in October. Then I will have my masters degree in English. Whew.

Amy and I have a new show together! I just wrote about having my new show in Battlestar Galactica. Amy had watched a couple of episodes of this VERONICA MARS show and told me to get the DVDs from Netflix. I did. After two discs, I am completely hooked now too. It is awesome having a show together. The only previous show we watched together really were my videotapes of the 1970s "I, Claudius" mini-series starring my all-time favorite actor Derek Jacobi as well as numerous other fantastic actors like John Hurt as Caligula. Amy and I also watch, don't tell anyone, the Flavor of Love show on VH1. We are a little too excited about this new season of it. It is hilarious to watch those people to me. It is the ultimate voyeurism. Almost as good as watching the opening episodes of American Idol when it comes on, when they make fun of all the bad singers.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 6:47 PM 0 comments

Review of FORESHADOW by Creative Elamentz. I actually had this hard copy mailed straight to me for review. Available at Independent Propaganda.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 11:24 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 6:54 PM 0 comments

I'm working on updating the template for this blog. Working on it. If anyone who knows HTML could look and notices anything goofy about the code, please let me know. Thanks!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 6:46 PM 0 comments

Floating Bed

Floating bed. Done by magnetic forces. The stuff of science fiction and comic books. However, I guess we'd finally have to clean up under the bed, huh?

A floating bed created by Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars in an illustration released August 5, 2006. (Janjaap Ruijssenaars/Handout/Reuters)

Yahoo news

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:45 PM 0 comments

Uncollected writings of J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye. I have read a handful of these and they are fascinating, especially if you are into short stories and the short stories of Salinger in particular. Salinger never collected these already published writings. The power of the internet! Although he would probably shut down the site if he knew about it! Also includes entire text of The Catcher in the Rye and other books by Salinger.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 11:39 AM 0 comments

Comic review. New comic review. These were copies of issues #1 & 2 of this independent series mailed straight to me for review. While I ain't getting paid for this, the perk of free comics alone is worth doing. It is fun for me to write reviews. This comic is called WALL OF ANGELS by Tony Garcia and the Jimenez Brothers. Cool stuff. Check it out!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 11:17 AM 0 comments

Monday, August 07, 2006

I have...

I have graduated from Somonauk High School, Class of 1991.
I have a bachelors degree from Western Illinois University.
I have seen the winner of the Iditarod cross the finish line at 1:30 in the morning in Nome, Alaska.
I have seen a Cubs game at Wrigley Field.
I have seen White Sox games at the old and new Comiskey Park.
I have seen Blackhawks games at the OLD Stadium.
I have seen a Mariners game at Safeco Field.
I have seen Ben Folds Five in concert (opened by Train).
I have seen Big Ben and Parliament.
I have seen Mount Saint Helens.
I have been to Tijuana. Twice.
I have ridden a camel at the San Diego Zoo.
I have seen Wilco in concert, once in Chicago and once in Seattle.
I have been to Disneyland.
I have seen the Corvette Museum in Kentucky after driving with buddies all night to see it.
I have gotten a speeding ticket in Montana for doing 100 miles an hour.
I have tasted fresh crab at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.
I have seen the Jayhawks, Belly, and Matthew Sweet in concert for free in Chicago, at that time, the busiest the park had ever been.
I have been to Barrow, Alaska. Twice.
I have seen a Seahawks game at the old Kingdome.
I have seen Shakespeare's Birthplace. Twice.
I have spent the night in Butte, Montana.
I have gotten a tattoo in Carbondale, Illinois.
I have been to Portland, Oregon.
I have seen the Venus de Milo statue.
I have driven to Wisconsin Dells for a vacation with friends.
I have been to Phoenix, Arizona.
I have seen Bob Dylan and Paul Simon in concert. Together.
I have been to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
I have seen the graves and monuments in Westminster Abbey.
I have stood atop L'Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
I have literally touched three oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic.
I hit a bucket of golf balls in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
I have been to Dillingham, Alaska.
I have seen John Hiatt in concert.
I have walked the cobbled streets of Brugge, Belgium.
I have never, not once, taken an illegal drug.
I have been to Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
I have seen the Roman ruins in Koln, Germany.
I have been to Blackpool Tower in Blackpool, England.
I have been to Anchorage, Alaska.
I have seen Stonehenge for myself.
I have been to Universal Studios and Knott's Berry Farm in California.
I have seen the White Cliffs of Dover from a ferry on the English Channel.
I have seen the Mona Lisa with my own eyes.
I have touched the Space Needle in Seattle.
I have seen Mount Rainier.
I have dipped my hands in the Rhine River in Germany.
I have been to Orlando, Florida.
I have used my first credit card ever at Ron Jon's Surf Shop in Florida.
I have seen Chris Isaak in concert.
I have been to the top of the Sears Tower and did a "Ferris Bueller."
I have driven to Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, just to see Bryan Adams in concert.
I have been to Bethel, Alaska.
I have seen the Hollywood sign with my own eyes.
I have seen Mount Rushmore.
I have seen Devil's Tower in Wyoming.
I have driven through the small country of Luxembourg (well, actually, Dad drove).
I have spent the night in Murdo, South Dakota.
I have ridden in a bus from Illinois to Florida.
I have personally driven cross country between Illinois and Seattle three times. So far...
I have also seen the very first glimpse of my daughter even before she took her first breath in this world.

That last one is tough to beat.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 2:05 PM 0 comments

The Archimedes Palimpsest. More modern imaging techniques are shedding new light, literally, on ancient manuscripts with knowledge once thought lost to all time. I am fascinated about the new unveiling of these ancient texts.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 1:02 PM 0 comments

This is going to seriously hurt Alaska. BP is shutting down the Prudhoe Bay oil field on the northern border of Alaska. This is one of the main reasons that the pipeline was built. They are talking about building another one. Alaska will reel from this news for months to come.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 4:43 AM 0 comments

Susan Butcher, four time winner of the Iditarod, died on August 5. It was one of those pieces of news that raises my head because she is probably the only famous Butcher I've ever heard of. She is known all over here in Alaska, from the sled dog race and from her valiant fight against leukemia. I had heard of her before moving to Alaska, probably mainly because the last name caught my attention. What I have read of her this past year alone has made me realize what a powerful person this was.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 4:19 AM 0 comments

Sunday, August 06, 2006

I gave up pop this weekend. I'm going cold turkey. This is my last can of pop. I admitted my addiction and Amy is helping me stop. I've been having three or more a day. That's too much pop, man. I should be drinking something that's at least good for me. It's going to be hard for me. I love that carbonation. Drinking this Tang doesn't feel the same. But I will get over this hump. I will be better off for it. Amy said we won't even buy any more. Good.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 4:16 PM 0 comments

Friday, August 04, 2006

I still say that digital photography has changed my whole perspective on taking pictures. I now snap pictures all the time, all over the place, for anything. I don't have to think about wasting film, or development costs, or setting up a picture. I just snap snap snap. I catch great stuff, but I also delete quite a few goofy ones too. That's the bonus, I can delete bad ones. I probably never would have taken this picture of Madison all bundled up if I had a regular camera. And if I want to send pictures away for print, or for one of those memory books, I can do that, and choose the good pictures I want for it. I don't know how many rolls I have developed with bad lighting, poor exposure, etc. When I first climbed Anvil Mountain when we first got here, I took my camera but the pictures were horrible. The pictures I took a couple weeks ago were great.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 3:00 PM 0 comments

Amy hates getting her picture taken and always pulls away. I still got a good shot in!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 2:55 PM 0 comments

Morgan now has one of those eye shade things to keep the light out. Luckily, we are finally starting to see some dark once again here in Nome, even if it does come about 1 am or so. Today is 53 degrees and sunny so we are going to play in the park at the elementary school. If we were in Somonauk right now (wink wink), it would be 86 degrees.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 2:54 PM 0 comments

Don't I look gorgeous with blue eye shadow applied by Madison?

posted by Matt Butcher @ 2:51 PM 0 comments

She thinks blue looks normal on the cheeks. And if you try to tell her differently...oh, man! At least here she hasn't put on a whole tube of lipstick...yet.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 2:50 PM 0 comments

Madison got one of those toy-makeup-kits at the grocery store yesterday. She had to do my makeup too. She applies anywhere. My beard was blue for a few hours.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 2:47 PM 0 comments

Thursday, August 03, 2006

When I Read the Book

} When I Read the Book

When I read the book, the biography famous,
And is this then (said I) what the author calls a man's life?
And so will some one when I am dead and gone write my life?
(As if any man really knew aught of my life,
Why even I myself I often think know little or nothing of my real life,
Only a few hints, a few diffused faint clews and indirections
I seek for my own use to trace out here.)
--Walt Whitman

posted by Matt Butcher @ 2:24 PM 0 comments

Narratology

from one of my Masters classes...

Narratology

Narrative structure is storytelling. We are used to a beginning, middle, and an end. We have learned to accept flashbacks and flashforwards as long as the basic narrative structure is intact. However, there are places where time seems to stretch and not remain constant. Descriptive passages in text seem to hang in mid-air, perceiving the events as a tableau vivant. This is the difference between story-time and discourse time.
Story-time is the “sequence of plot events” and discourse time is “the presentation of those events in the text.” For instance, a flashback would be listed early in the story-time even if it came late in the presentation of the actual story. It would be listed late in the discourse time due to its late presentation. This is effective for storytelling, especially when the author wants to keep secret some early events for a revelation later.
Text stories and film differ in this regard. Film is such that the audience takes in description in an instant. For example, describing Captain Ahab in text may take a full page in Melville’s colorful prose. In a film, this picture of the Captain is seen in an instant. Also, Melville possible could only focus on three or so specific images in his description, concentrating on those three images alone, letting the reader fill in some of the normal, inconsequential details. In a film, it must all be taken care of. For instance, the text of The Lord of the Rings does not go into the minute details of Orc armor and swords. The film production of The Lord of the Rings does, to the point of obsession, which is evident in watching the documentary material. Text then has to “assert” itself in the specific communication of these details. A hidden element has to be specifically mentioned in text where film has to simply show it. Films then are not for description. If time is spent in description, the audience tends to think of it as some kind of important story element. “It is reasonable to argue that films do not and cannot describe.”
This narrative does not work in painting because painting gives it all in one shot. Breaking up a painting to constituent elements could be wrong chronologically and forced. This is why I believe that comic strips and books started.
I believe the cinematic narrator to be important for focusing a film on certain themes and perspectives. For instance, camera angles can help us see how a male character is looking at a female character, giving the male perspective and all the innuendo, sexual or whatever, that it entails. It would be different from a female perspective. Sometimes, the narrator can be a voice, helping us read inner thoughts that could not otherwise be interpreted. I think here about the TV show The Wonder Years and the movie Stand By Me. The voiceover is necessary to help the audience in these films. I couldn’t think of them without it. If they ever make a movie of The Catcher in the Rye, I believe that will have to use voiceover.
Rear Window uses narrative structure to focus events to one overwhelming effect. As Stewart looks at the other apartments, they are framed as individual TV boxes or movie screens, showing and understanding only what Stewart sees. He has to fill in the gaps, and does so with what seems to be the insane notion of the man killing his wife. We see the distraught in Miss Lonelyhearts not by being told her predicament, but by seeing her lay her head down and cry, with some “narrator” effect used by Stewart. The maid, Stewart, and Grace Kelly act as an audience interpreting the different channels before them. We are looking at Stewart look at others. Is the real action what happens in the windows or what happens to Stewart? This is how it transcends the parts of narrative.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 2:19 PM 0 comments

First feedback on thesis

I sent my advisor the first very rough draft of my thesis the other day. She emailed me back and said I was coming along.

Hi Matt, I read the halfway point draft of your thesis, and I am happy to see that you are coming along with your analysis. One thing that I am sure you noticed is that you need to change the title of the thesis that is mentioned twice on the signature page. Also on the signature page, please change School of Arts and Sciences to College of Letters and Sciences. Chapter 2: Review of the Literature needs to include summaries of what every other scholar has ever said about the stages of mourning in In Memoriam.

Ugh, it is that last sentence there about Chapter 2 that makes me cringe. Not only do I have to do my analysis, I have to list "what every other scholar has ever said about" it. That's actually more work!

I remember my Shakespeare class back at Western Illinois University. It wasn't the plays that gave me difficulty. We had to read one a week or so throughout the semester. The real challenging thing was finding a scholarly article about some aspect or critique of the play and then writing a five-page analysis of that scholarly article. You have to interpret how appropriate or how well, for instance, the scholar proved his or her analysis of The Merchant of Venice from a feminist viewpoint. Or the famous one of the utilization of the Oedipus complex in Hamlet. It was really a synthesis of two complete things. I did a ton of those and actually posted a bunch earlier on this blog.

Now I have to still do a ton of research on Tennyson and find out other scholarly opinions while fitting in my own analysis. Ugh. Anyone know where I can get a ton of Tennyson research??

posted by Matt Butcher @ 2:07 PM 0 comments

Stretchy superheroes! Superman and Batman as some kind of mega-plastic man. Why you would have your superheroes elastic beats me. But they were fun.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:25 PM 0 comments

This is another comic book ad for those Corgi Superman vehicles from the 1970s. I actually just looked them up on eBay and you can get them for under $10 apiece including shipping. Not too bad. Maybe one day. We are saving though right now. No extraneous purchases! So I look at the old ads and pretend!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:22 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

New comic review. This one will be released by Diamon Distributors in the next few months. FIREBLAST from Masterpiece Comics. Only on Independent Propaganda.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 12:07 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Join me in playing Fantasy Football!

Matt Butcher has invited you to join a CBS SportsLine.com
Fantasy Football league! To accept this invitation and join
the league, click the link below (or cut and paste the link
into your browser's address field):
FOOTBALL LINK!!

Keep in mind that each CBS SportsLine.com Fantasy Football
league has a limited number of spots, so it's possible the
league could be full before you have a chance to join. If
that happens, or if you're interested in a different type of
league, you can easily scan other open leagues or even
create a new league at:
http://fantasy.sportsline.com

We hope you enjoy CBS SportsLine.com Fantasy Football and
have a great season.

The Fantasy Sports Team

posted by Matt Butcher @ 3:56 PM 0 comments

New fantasy football league

I've always wanted to run a real fantasy football league. But I ain't paying for it.

I've started a new league at CBSsportsline.com for those that read The Butcher Shop. This means friends and family really. No money, no fees, just competition.

This always increases my joy of the season. Usually, I have only tried to pick winning teams for the week. This year I want to do all that statistic stuff.

I've set it up with an automated draft. You don't have to know a thing about football besides naming your team.

Join! Have some fun with me! Compete! Email me with questions.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 3:36 PM 0 comments

Toys!!

posted by Matt Butcher @ 3:12 PM 0 comments

The Last Days of Summer

August 1. This is the month that starts new things and ends old things at the same time. New school year; end of the summer break. This has been our first real summer break for quite awhile. Moving to Nome last year made our summer really short, with Bremerton’s school year ending June 22 and Nome starting up mid-August. This year, we got from the tail end of May to…

August 17. That’s the new day for teachers. And then we have, ugh, FIVE days of teacher inservice days and two work days before the kids come back on August 29. I just wish that the inservice days would be spread around more. Anything more than two in a row and they all start to blend together. Implementing new ideas from five days of inservice is a bit difficult.

But it does give us plenty of time to get things in order for the school year. I like that. The first year I taught, at South Kitsap, I started actually the second day of inservices so I missed a bunch of time. I was behind the eight-ball to start with. If anybody understands how much work a teacher has to do even before the kids ever walk through the door knows that time is a major factor, especially a new teacher. I’ve gotten a lot better those first days of school. I really have to thank Harry Wong’s book The First Days of School for a bunch too. Just setting up a new school year is a lot of work.

I’m excited coming up here because I get to teach sophomore English and one section of senior English. So I am really dancing about teaching some real Shakespeare again. The sophomores are going to do Julius Caesar because that is one where I really only have to do the first three acts and the last bit of the fifth act. It’s nice and short that way since the fourth act really just has Brutus and Cassius fight each other verbally anyway. Romeo and Juliet too. Which to do first? I am going to have them do their Shakespeare memorizations too again because that is the part of English that I really love—so, yes, I force them to do it too.

I don’t know what novels to do yet because I don’t know what novels are taught “above” me in junior English yet. And I don’t know for sure how much I can do with senior English literature-wise because I thought it was named Business English or some such. I hope it’s not just that. They don’t have a real British lit here like I am used to.

Volleyball starts in mid-September too. That’ll be nice this year because of the new gym and having two nets at practice so I don’t have to go through that whole split up again. Cohesive.

So I will enjoy these last couple of weeks.

posted by Matt Butcher @ 1:07 PM 0 comments

Random thoughts about all that I can muster. As William Shatner once said, "Get a life!"

The Butcher Shop

Name: Matt Butcher
Home: Normal, IL, United States
About Me: An English teacher with a zest for life. Family. Comic books. Stuff.
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