Henry Imler November 29th, 2007
— Saw the first rip off of Christmas songs to sell commodities - and then I promptly became sick to my stomach.
— Saw an AMAZING Celtics/Knicks game. 104-59 and through most of the 2nd half the Celtics had the Knick’s score doubled.
— TNT needs to mix up their commercials. I have seen the MJ/OverActorTMHanes commercial about 342 times in three hours. Does anyone notice that the Hanes commercials all kinda make MJ look like a jerk?
— It was good to get some exercise - played basketball for an hour with some random cats at the Rec Center - worked out next to guys that curl me (always fun) - and then capped it off with a nice run.
— The Garnett/Craig Sager interview after the Celtics/Knicks game was priceless. Not only did Sager ask Garnett if the Knicks had quit as a team on Isiah Thomas (he said yes), but Garnett also called Sager out on his wardrobe choice. Garnett basically ridiculed the man on national TV and Sager just took it. Sager’s wardrobe is so bad, there is even an NBA Basketball blog named after his choice of suits: “Donning Craig Sager’s Suit - breaking down the nba like craig sager’s suits: colorfully”
Henry Imler November 29th, 2007
Today
has been a good day so far. My 8AM section went well. It was the last section of the year for this class. I teach my other section for the last time tomorrow. After Greek I hung out with Travis. As dorky as this sounds, we had a pleasant time talking about Hume, Kant and the pros and cons of ways of looking at the cross. He actually agreed with me about the need to view the cross both as a relational restoration
and as a penal substitution. I went back to the office for a bit, talked with the other TAs about some office developments, such as changes in staff and the next semester’s TA assignments.
At about 11:30, I headed out for the day. When I got home, I played one round of Halo 3. I kicked but. Was the team leader in kills on the winning team (check out the stats). I never do that well. Just ask Jake, Grant, Q, Hank, or Andy - they will tell you. After that round, I picked up the house, did the dishes, and made myself lunch.
Then I responded to a few emails (although not all) that I was needing to catch up on and made a spectacular purchase on Amazon.com.
All solid purchases, I think. You know what, for the first time in along time, I spent my allowance on books instead of video games. I guess, I did buy come comic trades last month, but this time I bought an actual book with only words.
I still have a couple of things to do:
- Do my Greek translations.
Memorize the different ways the perfect and pluperfect passive/middles can be conjugated in GreekGet to the gym for the first time in a long whileFinish grading (7 papers) and enter in grades
The best part of the day is there is no big projects hanging over my head!
Oh and this weekend should be fun as well. Meredith and I have a clothes-folding-date while watching the “Razor” the 2 hour, made for TV Battlestar Galactica movie tomorrow. Saturday we are going to the Nutcracker. Should make for a fun weekend.
Henry Imler November 27th, 2007
Sometimes I can’t find anything to complain about - so I go find things to complain about. What is it this time?
I turned in a final paper over the Rgvedic Frog Hymn the first day of break. I got that paper back today. Allow me to repeat all of the comments on all 20 pages of the paper:
A.
Excellent Paper.
That’s it. Why does this frustrate me? Shouldn’t I be ecstatic that I received a great grade and a wonderful compliment from my professor? Well, I am - I am jumping up and down on the inside all day today.
However, firstly, I am not that smart; I am not that good of a writer (as the content of this blog attests to). This is not my subject area. I know jack about the Vedas. The whole reason I took this class on the Vedas was to remedy that deficiency.
Now, a week from now I am giving that paper in to a mock conference consisting of the professors in the department and some of the graduate students. After I give that paper, these professors and graduate students will ask me questions about the paper - stuff that I most likely will not be able to answer. I was hoping that the professor that graded my paper would have pointed out potential problems - things that I should anticipate having questions asked about.
Anyway, that is my complaining for the day.
In other news, I finally have all of my big projects over until finals week, where I only have to do a Greek final and grading a bunch of tests. Beyond that, I just have to give a paper workshop on my first copy of my paper comparing a Baptist parade float to a reformation era woodcut and “defend” my Veda’s paper. For the first time in three weeks, I look up and I can’t see good ole Damocles’s sword.
Maybe I will now update my fantasy basketball roster and email everyone back!
Henry Imler November 27th, 2007
The use of persuasion by Reformation-Era Christians and their Spiritual Successors
Public displays of images used in conjunction with lines of symbolic rhetoric are powerful tools of propaganda. As moving as printed propaganda can be, they are unintelligible and therefore without power unless the viewer has access to the proper context. Propaganda seeks to encapsulate and communicate a group’s worldview in a compact space. Necessarily, the propaganda pieces boil down the presenting group’s worldview to the components that are most important to those seeking to foster change. Two such instances of religious propaganda are a 2007 Baptist parade float and a 16th century Lutheran woodcut entitled The Contents of Two Sermons. This paper will seek to explore each of these images and to structurally compare the two. Structures work to create effective propaganda through spatial and relational juxtapositions; these structures are reliant on their situation within larger, over-arching structures for meaning, and serve to expand or restrict the presenting groups’ social borders.
On Relations: A Guide to Structuralism
Structuralism is an approach to the study of phenomena that places the emphasis on the relation between objects as its primary source of analysis. Jensen, in his chapter entitled “Structure” in The Guide to the Study of Religion, describes structure as “…a set or network of relations which gives a phenomenon an identity as a closed system or interdependent parts.” Structures are rule-laden; internal rules govern how elements within the structure behave and are defined against one another. Continue Reading »
Henry Imler November 25th, 2007
For all of those ip addresses that watch TV and read this site, go vote in Brendoman’s poll for which show you will miss the most. The poll is located in the left-hand sidebar.
Henry Imler November 25th, 2007
As screwed up as some of Rand’s philosophic ideas are, David Bernstein points out a redeeming quality of her work:
First, she indirectly persuaded me that caring about the
success of strangers on sports teams that happen to carry the name of
my city or school is a waste of time. This freed up thousands of hours
for other endeavors more directly related to my own life. (I’m not an
evangelist about this; if you enjoy rooting for sports teams, and think
the opportunity costs are worth the enjoyment you get out of it, more
power to you.)
That about sums up my thoughts on it.
With that said - GO HEAT and MU BASKETBALL TIGERS! (don’t you just
love contradictions? everyone wants to get rid of them, but they are
everywhere - actually, my opportunity costs of following the Heat and
select college basketball teams are worth the enjoyment I get out of
them, so I don’t really think there is a contradiction here.)
Henry Imler November 21st, 2007
Yesterday at 10pm: Clear, 72 degrees.
Today at 5pm: Snowing, 34 degrees.
Do I live in Missouri?
Henry Imler November 21st, 2007
The Darkness is fast approaching. What will you do once it hits?
My family and I are thinking of stocking up on used episodes of
Firefly and maybe starting up some Arrested Development. Oh yeah, there
is that two hour Battlestar Galactica DVD movie coming out soon.
Beyond that, there is something called “inter-personal
relationships.” We are thinking of trying that out. I don’t know what
channel its on. I hear that you might not even be on TV anymore, but
that it is a series of scripts that one has to act out at home.
Henry Imler November 21st, 2007
I glanced at the search log this morning and found this gem:
WHAT IS THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR PANTS
I am number three on that search list, by the way. Anyway, the dude(te) found “Top 5 Reasons a Man with no Pants breaks into your Apartment and Grabs Ahold of your Wife’s iPod.” I just have to wonder what prompts a person to ask this question.
Henry Imler November 21st, 2007
We all know that Peter Petrelli
has the ability to mimic the powers of those he has been around. What
you did not know is what his other base power is. My friend Jake and I
figured it out over lunch Monday - it is the power of gullibility.
Seriously. Much like River Tam, Peter has certain words that key
certain responses. For River, the Russian phrase: “Это курам на смех”
(Eta Kooram Nah Smech - That’s Laughing for Chickens) would cause her
to fall asleep if she ever had a relapse. Peter has a different safe
word and a difference embedded response. Peter’s safe word is “save the
world.” Yup, all one has to do is mutter that phrase, preferably in a sweet as honey English accent, and Peter will automatically do whatever proceeds the safe word. An example:
Anyone: Peter, lets go murder your family out of spite.
Peter: My moral compass always points true north, just like broken nose Mohinder - can’t do it.
Anyone: Ok, point taken… say, hey Peter… uh… lets go “save the world.”
Peter: I’m in - what do we need to do?
Anyone: …. Murder your family.
Peter: We had better get a move on.
Hopefully, Peter will find a way to disable this power, just like he was able to disable his ability to have terrible hair. Most likely he will have to come into contact with Noah to absorb his power of GNB.
Henry Imler November 20th, 2007
Henry Imler November 19th, 2007
Henry Imler November 18th, 2007
An Interpretation of RigVeda Hymn 7:103
One of the more fascinating Vedic hymns is the The Frogs. It is interesting because of the multitude of complex issues that the hymn touches upon. Essentially, the hymn compares the chanting of frogs with the chanting of Vedic Brahmin priests. Is this a positive comparison? For a modern American reader, the meaning is not clear. At first light, one can easily imagine this hymn being composed by either a rival group of priests or disgruntled laypeople. If so, it seems as though the composer, if he was a non-Sanskrit speaker, could have been lampooning rival Vedic priests and comparing their nonsensical chanting, i.e. in Sanskrit, with those of frogs. Perhaps stanza five speaks to the perception among the composing community that Brahmin priests and all Vedic followers are mindlessly repeating what has gone on before them without truly understanding it.
Is this really the case? The transmission and content of the hymn question this surface analysis. In the poems, the Brahmin priests and the frogs were responsible for the upkeep of the world. They are both inspired by Parjanya, the god of the rainstorm. Through the chanting of the frogs and the Brahmins the people receive real-time benefits. Therefore, the hymn is can be seen as one of reverence, comparing the sacred and sustaining sounds of Sanskrit with the sacred and sustaining sounds of the frogs; each is drawing off of the power of the divine sound. In addition, stanza six emphasizes the frogs’ particular variety and essential unity, hardly a tactic of the lampooner. All content aside, the transmission of the text must be considered. No matter the identity of the composer, the hymn was definitely transmitted through successive generations solely by Brahmin priests orally. Because the hymns were in the sole possession of the people potentially being critiqued, it is unlikely that the Brahmin priests would include a hymn that was overtly antagonistic towards them. It is even possible that the use of frogs is a rhetorical device designed to hook the listener with humor and hammer them with truth. So perhaps it is the case that the hymn was a positive one. The gulf of time, culture, and worldview is too great to bridge with the tools that accompany a surface reading of the text.
In order to unravel the meaning and function of the hymn, several things must be accomplished. First, the authorship of the hymn needs to be addressed. For instance, did the author speak Sanskrit? Was he from a rival group of indigenous priests? Understanding the author is crucial to understanding how he intended to affect his listeners. Next the perception of frogs in Vedic culture needs to be identified, in order to open a window as to how the listener would have understood the hymn. Once these preliminary questions are answered, the hymn can be analyzed in light of its context. Continue Reading »
Henry Imler November 17th, 2007
Ok, so… perhaps I got bored at times back in March of 2003.
Perhaps my friends and I made some silly hair style choices… Does
that mean that people have to post them four and a half years later?
Brendoman.com :: From the Archives
I had curly, curly hair for a few weeks… well that and a general lack of respect from the people in my life.
Ah Brendan, those were fun times.
Henry Imler November 16th, 2007
When I am taking notes, I sometimes interject my personal
observations of the reading or lecturer. When something is especially
“noteworthy,” I’ll write out HS. You know, Holy Smokes!
This past Monday there was a guest lecturer presenting in the class I TA for. She was giving a practitioner’s perspective of Taoism. During her presentation, she mentioned that she was a fencer. This tiny woman was a fencer.
This basically means that if we were both given swords and only one
of us could have that last can of food left over from the zombie
apocalypse - she would kill me.
HS!
Henry Imler November 15th, 2007
In our Gospels as Literature
class last year we came up with various Jesus’ for each Gospel. I am talking about all the Gospels, mate, from the Canonical ones to the less popular but wildly fantastic noncanonical Gospels, such as the crazy docetic Gospel of Peter, which was the most popular Gospel for a long while, and the E! expose of Jesus’ childhood that is the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.
The Gospel of Mark was dubbed Comic Book Jesus because of its “and then” narrative style. Just about ever paragraph opens with και. Jesus doesn’t say much in the Gospel of Mark - he is just constantly going and doing things. Poof! he is over there; poof!, he is over here - look at Him go. If you have ever read a comic book - kinda the way the narrative is told there as well.
Given this, imagine my surprise coupled with delight when I came across Manga Messiah sitting at the bookstore this evening. Lets just say I had to change my pants. (Because I spilled my drink on them - what?) I actually found Comic Booked Jesus I was to become the envy of all my friends - both of them were going to think this was seriously cool.
Anyway, I have only browsed through it quickly since I brought it, but I gotta say that I love it. It is definitely done in manga style, with Peter’s purple hair and overly obvious spelling out of facial expressions. Maybe I will give it a real review later - right now I am too pumped up.
Henry Imler November 15th, 2007
Yeah, that hits a little too close to home… I am a grad student and grew up on a farm.
However, I wonder if that is the employment profile, for an ENTJ like myself.
Henry Imler November 14th, 2007
… Then another preacher, the legendary Punkin’ Brown,
who was known among other things for wiping his sweat away with
rattlesnakes bunched in his hand like a handkerchief, reached into the
serpent box, pulled out a “big yellow-phase timber rattler, which he
slung across his shoulders like a rope.” As he does so, Punkin Brown
makes a sound that Covington records as “haaagh,” an explosive, angry
grunt, and as he bears down into his nasty, woman-hating sermon, the
preacher uses this sound to set the cadence of his attack and to
underscore the rage…
Incredible - the dude wanted to intimidate this reporter from the
Times that was having an argument with Brown over the presence of a
camerawomen with the reporter’s crew. What does he do? He freaking
slings a giant rattlesnake over his shoulder like a sash and begins to rant and rave, the whole while punctuating his points with a thunderous boom.
That would intimidate me, that is for sure. You don’t want me to repeat what I wrote in the margins next to this paragraph.
[Note] Orsi included this story in his book to underscore
how not to approach the religious other when one goes to study them. He
was right to spend time among the Georgian Snake Handlers in order to
learn their ways, to allow them to have a part in the conversation
rather than to box them up and carry them home in his book. Given this,
when Covington’s religious sensibilities were challenged, he should not
have immediately otherized the Snake Handlers. He should have suspended
his moral evaluation of them. I could go on and on about this, but
you’d be better off reading the book for yourself.
Henry Imler November 14th, 2007
Being blah….I am beat, but things are looking up.
I have been getting up before 5:30 to work on school work all this week
and have not been getting to bed at 9:30 like people that get up at
five should. Took two major tests today. Did very well my Modern
Perspectives final and decent on my Intensive Greek test. Now I just
have to teach my two sections and I am done till the 26th of November.
I say done. What I mean is that I am done with going to classes during
that stretch. I an no where near being done with work. I have a final
paper to finish up on the Vedic Frog Hymn by this Friday and write my
paper in Modern Perspectives during Thanksgiving break. I am just beat,
but the bulk of my semester’s work is over.
So, between all of that and the unending saga of Meredith’s health
(finally had the ultrasound done, but currently waiting on the
results), it just leaves one with nothing at the end of the day. All
categories of life are getting resolved, but after having all of them
stretched and tested during the month of October and early November, it
does not leave much in the tank. That is another reason I am really
looking forward to break.
Looking forward to Grading? While I have 50 papers
to grade over break, they should actually be enjoyable this time. The
students were asked to visit a religious ceremony from outside
their tradition and conduct an extended interview with a practitioner.
Just from reading a few rough drafts, I know that they will be an
interesting set of papers. I have seen a variety of approaches of the
project.
Some have decided to play reporter, and report the events from an
unbiased third party point of view and to incorporate the contents of
the interview into the same reporting style.
Others have decided to take a narrative approach. These have been
much more lively drafts. The student typically is giving the reader a
first person perspective of what it was like to enter into the
religious world of an other. If they are able to pull an Orsi
and refrain from translating religious uneasiness into moral judgments,
then the paper turns out to be quite good. Otherwise, the slope gets
slippery awfully quick.
listification Things I hope to get done by the end of break:
- Reply to the question of why I believe that I was recently asked
- Translate chapter seven of the Millionaire’s Dinner Party.
- Finish up an interpretation of The Frog Hymn, RgVeda 7.103
- Caught up on my Greek
- Grade 50 papers
- Read the Knights of the Old Republic omnibus that my friend Jake is letting me borrow tomorrow
- Write a 25 page structuralist comparison of a Baptist Parade Float and a Reformation era woodcut.
- Play me some video games!
Henry Imler November 12th, 2007
Jessica - oh man. I totally understand.
Peter - oh my - such a BadA.
Adam - ……? For good or evil?
Mohinder - Only a voice over… close enough.
Nathan - is there a larger, more square of a jaw while standing somewhere in the rain and filmed from the waist?
The previews - boomgoesmyfaceandthenirunintothestreetbecauseitissofreakingaweseome.
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