Category Archives: Worldview

Thanksgiving James Bond

As I prep for the upcoming culinary storm, I find that James Bond is playing on TV. This really brings me back. The movie is Octopussy with Roger Moore, a flick I grew up with. I glanced over while making breakfast and saw the scene in the casino where James borrows the lucky dice from Kamal Khan.

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Here’s a link to the scene.

I love that James rolls the dice and doesn’t even glance down. He knows that it’s double sixes. What’s more, backgammon is my favorite board games, so I get double enjoyment from this scene.

The icing on the cake is the final line, as Kamal writes a check for 200,000 rupees. James has the audacity to say, “I prefer cash.”

Yes. That’s the James Bond I recall.

Tim Kane

The Fall of Twinkies a Signal of Armageddon

A tear falls from my eye as I foresee a world with no Twinkies. Forget the Mayan calendar. This is it people. the end is neigh. I mean this was the food Woody Harrelson enjoyed in a zombie filled America. How can I enjoy the little things now?

Zombieland Movie Poster – Redesignby ~ppuntel

In case you haven’t heard, Hostess will close its doors and that means all its tasty snacks, Ding Dongs, Zingers, the whole lot, gone. I survived on this food in college. I mean if you look at the wrapper, a Twinkie doesn’t have that many calories. It was respectable.

What about the Twinkie defense? How will murders secure that not guilty plea with no snack food to blame. This event undermines everything that we call American.

I need to store up on Twinkies. Now.

Tim Kane

Everyone Needs a Nametag

Me plus names equals epic failure. My brain just doesn’t work that way. I can recall obscure math facts or trivia from films, yet ask me the name of an actor or a character and I shut down. I end up saying, “That guy that was in the film with the sword who cut off the head of the guy that turns into a snake.” (Conan)

What’s worse it that I’m a teacher. I have to remember about a hundred names a year. I rely heavily on seating charts. It’s not to say that I can’t remember names. They do come. Yet after the students move on, I can only recall that I know the person. Not the name.

Some people view this as rude. Don’t. It’s not that I don’t remember you. I do. I simply can’t recall the name. It’s like those kids I work with that simply can’t remember how to add fractions. It has to do with multiple intelligences. You see there are different ways that the brain understands the world. I have the logical spatial and the linguistic. I don’t think I have the naturalist. But my daughter does. She can recognize and categorize animals in a snap. My theory is that this is linked with names. Or perhaps it’s the interpersonal intelligence, as she it sensitive to what others feel.

So don’t blame me for forgetting your name. I just have a deficit in that intelligence. You can’t be perfect at all of them, can you?

Tim Kane

teacher.

Junk DNA of Your Soul

I was reading about how scientists are now reevaluating junk DNA. It’s all that DNA that doesn’t build proteins. Instead, they now are finding that these “non-coding” DNA are controlling the rest of our genes.

It makes me wonder if there is some junk DNA in our everyday lives. Maybe there are things you do all the time that don’t produce anything. Habits. You know, the way you prepare your coffee or make your bed. These routines serve no useful purpose. They don’t contribute to any work that you do. Yet are these habits totally without merit? Imagine if all your habits were gone? You don’t eat the same, sleep the same, or dress the same? Would you be productive? Probably not.

It’s the little bits of your life, these “non-productive” habits, that oil the machinery of your soul. They bring you bliss. Mostly because they ease the mind of thinking. You can’t be “on” your whole life. Your brain needs down time. That’s what habits are for. As you stroll through the routines of your life, they give your soul time to cleanse and your brain time to work out problems. Then, when it’s time to get to work, you’re ready to go.

Don’t shun the little things. Those habits you’ve built up, may actually make you more productive.

Tim Kane

Wonderland

I am an Alice in Wonderland nut. Strange to say, coming from a guy, but I think it’s a terrific world begging to be explored. Most of my love is visual. I’m excited by the fantasy and, well let’s say it, the wonder of it. My recent manuscript echoes this in that I strive to create a magical world with it’s own rules.

As inspiration, I continue to snatch up images that speak to me of Alice.

A wonderfully creepy image of the dormouse drinking tea. This is from a series called ‘Almost Alice’ by Maggie Taylor. There is a whole series of illustrations you can view at Retronaut.

I have no clue where this image came from (I found it here). I simply love the gritty, almost textural feel of the walls and stockings. I also love that we only see her legs. She’s that tall.

Look at the detail in this queen. This screams “pissed off.” This is created by character designer Michael Kutsche.

Finally, I just finished watching Face Off on Sci Fi channel where the effects artists created zombie versions of Alice in Wonderland characters. The concept was Alice in Zombieland. Few photos were available.

This was the winning design. It showed a mutated Red Queen whose bones are growing into a crown.
What a fabulous movie this would make. If only.

Tim Kane