The return of Hairy Otter.

Yesterday, one of my conversation classes at a private school came up with the idea of reading a book together. Some students brought in some English books they had lying ’round. The Great Gatsby (wouldn’t mind reading again) The Catcher in the Rye (oh gawd) 1984 (oh not again) something by Hornsby… But these books would be way to frustrating for these folks… Just the week before, we slogged through a two page article from the Old Farmer’s Almanac about Washington’s teeth. Fascinating, really. I mean, did you know that at the time of his inauguration he only had one tooth left, and the dentures he had made for the occassion used carved hippo ivory as well as real teeth from cadavers? Almanac articles are at any rate light reading meant for perusal on the shitter.

So I thought about the authors I read when I was learning German. Michael Ende was by far my favourite, but who could… Oh, I know.

“Has anyone ever read Harry Potter?” I haven’t, and as it turns out, neither has anyone in that class. And it was settled like that. We’re gonna read a chapter of Potter over the week and talk about it in class.

So I’m getting paid to read Harry Potter. I’m going to have a great flight in July, I bet. God, I love my job.

Beyond the Euphrates began for us the land of mirage and danger, the
sands where one helplessly sank, and the roads which ended in nothing.
The slightest reversal would have resulted in a jolt to our prestige
giving rise to all kinds of catastrophe; the problem was not only to
conquer but to conquer again and again, perpetually; our forces would be
drained off in the attempt. - Emperor Hadrian AD 117-138

Hmmm.

Dude. I can’t believe I made an analogy with the anti-open source “fragmenting” argument to the formation of the Roman-Catholic church on Wednesday. Still, you gotta admit that it kind of fits.

That got me to thinking about the presentation in the earlier class. I believe Maya, the CGI industry standard, was mentioned. Now, I’m not sure about this, but I would suspect that the name comes from the Hindu/Buddhist vocabulary, meaning all that tangible stuff that distracts one from true enlightenment. That would be to say, the reality we see — objects, desires, tables and chairs etc — are but shadows that hide existence’s true form.

‘Twould be truly fitting, after all, seeing as Maya creates realistic 3D worlds that are really nothing but the shadows of ones and zeroes.

Vicki sez ow my head.

I should have some more pictures up soon. But not today.

Welcoming esteemed colleague Skreeder to the blogosphere.
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