Book Cover

My question for you today is, is it really so horrible to judge a book by its cover?

Now, before I go on, don't get me wrong. I don't believe it's right to "judge" in the literal meaning of the word. But I believe the power of human observation is stronger than many give it credit for. A lot of the time, the cover of a book reveals more than we normally think it would. It gives the name of the author, the publisher, maybe even a few quotes of critics.

It's the same with people. Not always, but sometimes. We see what they wear, how they act, what their movements are like. Many times this can tell a lot about a person, and it only takes a few seconds of talking to someone to learn some basic facts about that person. They're name, where they're from, and what they act/talk like. I'm not saying we can learn every intimate part of that person just by looking at them and saying hello to them, but I think we have the human ability to discern whether they are generally trust-worthy or not.

I do believe, however, this is an ability that is built up from childhood, and the strength of such ability is created depending on past experience. If one has lived in a world that some would call naive, filled with people you can trust, and you have never been betrayed, then maybe you aren't so good at judging a book by its cover, because you've only ever seen one type of cover. It's the same for the opposite: if you've been surrounded by no one but people who've betrayed you and lied to you, then you'll have a hard time having an instant bond with someone. It's those who have had both that I think have the strongest ability to judge people based on an initial reaction.

Anyways, that's my thought for today. I was thinking about it the other day, and I felt like writing a little about it, so there you go.

-Phil

The Sunken Ship

A fish nibbles on the bow,

Its scales shimmering in a glow

So bright that water clears

To show the spears

And tears

Of long-ago battle.

The ship the bow belongs to sits,

Deep in the shallow’s pits

‘Twere dug deep by the blasts

That cast

A haze of smoke in sea-fresh air.

It has such strong hist’ry,

Covered in an air of mist’ry

From which began

The legend and

The story now long told.

Poetry

So I'm starting to get back into writing poetry. Not really sure why, but I am lol. I used to write quite a bit...I think I had a collection of about 40 poems from 6 months of writing them. And I know that's not all that impressive, but I was like, 12, and had never written a poem before, so give me a break. :P

Anyways, in those 6 months I learned a ton about poetry, and practically memorized the section on poetry in the book Writers Inc. (which is a really good book if you want to learn about writing, btw). Actually, not too long after that I made an hour-long presentation all about poetry for my freshman english class, and loved it! That's actually one of my fondest memories from freshman year. haha

But after that I basically didn't really pay attention to poetry for a really long time. Until now, that is. All of a sudden, I've started writing again! So hopefully I'll post a couple things soon.

Oh, and yay for rhyming dictionaries! they may be cheating, but cheating gets it faster sometimes lol :P (that's a quote from a Jimmy Eat World song fyi)

-Phil

Adam

So I just got back from seeing perhaps one of the most incredible movies I've ever seen. Definitely in my top 5. The name of the movie is "Adam." It's about this 29-year-old with asperger's syndrome, which is basically just an extreme form of autism. People with asperger's have trouble in social situations, have very little ability to read body language, meaning they can almost never guess what another person is feeling or thinking emotionally.

Anyways, in this movie, Jason, the guy with aspergers syndrome meets a young woman who has just moved into his apartment building. Keep in mind, this is just after Jason's father died, so he is trying to learn how to survive basically on his own, except for the help of one of his dad's old war buddies. Pretty soon, the young woman makes friends with Jason, and eventually they form a very unique relationship, turning the movie basically into a love story.

So ok, ya, it was a chick-flick. But I think a lot of guys would really enjoy this movie, just because a lot of it focuses not only just on the relationship, but just in general the life of this man who has asperger's. I found this extremely interesting to learn about and watch. There were parts where it became so sad I came close to crying, which is really rare for me in movies (the only three movies that have made me truly cry cry before are The Last Samurai, LOTR, and Marley and Me). It was such a powerful film, and I'll probably end up buying it when it comes out on dvd, just so I can watch it a couple more times and show it to everyone i know lol. Well, anyways, if you get the chance to see it, I definitely give it 5 stars and an A+, so GO SEE IT! haha

-Phil

MAHLER 2!!! :D

So over the summer, my awesome brother set up an awesome stereo system which can play all of my awesome music awesomely loud! For example, one of my favorite things to do right now is listen to the last 15 min. of Mahler Symphony No. 2 with my epic new stereo system on what is actually a pretty low sound level but, because of the awesomeness of my speakers, is incredibly overwhelming sound-wise!

Allow me to further explain the awesomeness of said speakers. 2 panasonics (very nice panasonics) acting as main speakers. Besides those are Revlar speakers acting as an extra surround-sound-type umph to the sounds. Ending result: awesome.

Have I said how awesome it is??!

Oh and on top of all that, he has these stereos hooked up to my five-disc-holder cd player, tape player, my record player, and a hook-up for my ipod. So I can listen to just about any recording on the planet I can get my hands on in the highest-quality listening situation possible. It's truly hard to express in words how happy this makes me. :D oh and I forgot to mention that it all comes with a remote control, so i can be reading in my king-size bed and decide I want it louder or softer or I want to listen to a different cd and just click a button and it happens!!! hehe I'm so happy happy happy! I love my room.

Yes, I am spoiled. But I mean, I'm the youngest brother of three guys. I lived with the smallest room, the smallest bed, all that all my life until now. I think deserve to be able to live it up at least a little bit. lol (not to sound selfish or anything)

Next step, plasma screen with xbox 360.

Phil

I don't sing!

This last weekend, I was at my Youth Symphony's kick-off retreat, and every year they have a weird little talent show that involves a lot of really bad jokes almost no talent at all, but still, it's pretty fun and it's enjoyable to watch people make fools of themselves on a stage...especially when you can get in on the action!

So ya, that's what I did this year. Last year I did a strange improv stand-up that wasn't really that funny, but I think it got the show going again at a low point. maybe.

This year, on the other hand, I decided I would try my voice out a little bit and sing. Problem is, I can't sing. Still, I picked one of my all-time favorite songs, Hear You Me by Jimmy Eat World (below) and decided to try it out. One of my friends had brought a guitar with him to the retreat, so I got him to figure out the generally correct chords to go along with the song. Then I got my other friend to figure out the bass line and play it on his violin. So we had a violinist playing bass. pretty epic. :)

Anyways, although we sounded nothing like the real thing, it was fun and I think it was fun for our audience too. Still, I think I'll stick to violin.

Poem

On the branch, a bird

Sits calmly, unstirred.

But wait, it sings!

How its voice rings!

In the stillness of the trees,

One lonely voice rings so free!

But then another, and another:

a friend, a stranger, then a brother.

The singing fills the whole wood,

Showing what is true and good.

The music is hope,

Free of binding rope.

On the stage, music fills

All the minds, hearts, and wills.

The hearts of those playing and list'ning

Are all alight, and in the music glist'ning.

-Phil

So booorrreeddd...

So I'm listening to my physics elluminate, and I am BORED!

Oh yeah, you don't know what an elluminate is.

so elluminate is one of the many wonderful things that comes with my cyberschool! And although that last statement is somewhat sarcastic, it is actually a pretty cool tool. Basically all it is is an online private chatroom for people in whatever class they have one set up for. In my school, they have one 1-hour elluminate every week for each class. A lot of teacher's make the elluminates required, but unfortunately the students can't always make it to them. This is what happened to me! So they make recordings of the elluminates that we can watch later. It works, it's effective, sometimes I even learn something in them.

Right now tho, I'm just plain bored. The teacher is talking about either material that I already know well or material that I have no idea what the heck he's talking about because I haven't read about it yet. Of course I'm picking up a few things here and there. Actually I think I'll find physics pretty interesting. The whole idea that there is no such thing as deceleration, just negative acceleration, is crazy to me! I find that pretty awesome. I'm kinda waiting for the day now that someone will say "I'm slowing down!" and I can say "No! You're negatively accelerating! jeez, learn your basic physics..." lol :P

Anyways, got bored so I thought I'd post something. And I'm pretty sure this recording is going to go on for another 30 min even tho it's already been going for an hour...ugh! oh well, I guess it still beats sitting in a classroom for 7 hrs every day! haha

well, I think I'm going to go find a dumb facebook quiz to take...I'm almost tempted to join farmville I'm so bored right now! but farmville is dumb, so I don't think I'll do that haha (I apologize to anyone who might have that app right now...but seriously?? ok i'm done)

Phil