The SF Bar & Grille: Maverick King's Hole in the Wall (

Presidency class was one of my favorites.

 

What is "Presidency" class? I've never heard of that.

 

A study of the presidency of the US. My major focus in my Ph.D. are the institutions (President, Congress, Supreme Court).

 

Ah, well that was easy enough. I've just never seen that class offered.

 

That is surprising, this will be my fourth class that I have taken on it at two different colleges for three different degrees. Where do/did you go to college?

 

That sounds like a great class to take. I already read about the presidency in textbooks I run across, so I'd probably like that class.

 

Miami University, Oxford Ohio (the Harvard of the MidWest )

 

A fellow PoliSci student, excellent.
What colleges have you studied at?

 

I've obtained both my BA and MA from Sam Houston State University in Texas and am pursuing my Ph.D. at Texas A&M.

You?

 

BS from University of Houston. Trying to decide on where to go for a Masters.

 

Are you trying to stay in Texas? If so, I can probably give you some advice on where to go.

 

In Texas, out of Texas, it does not matter. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Buys Fingorfin a beer
Well, what do you want to do with your degree? If you want to teach at a Junior College (like I do) you can do it with a Masters, but don't expect to find a full time job. We are turning away people with doctorates all of the time.

The trick is to make yourself as marketable as possible. In Texas, if you get a Masters in one field and amass 18 hours in another, you can teach in that second field. I did that with History and Poli Sci. Right now I teach 3 governments and 3 historys.

If you eventually want to go for a Ph.D., skip the Masters, and go full force. I am only one of 3 in my class that have a Masters (there are 17). Everybody else is fresh out of college.

Something to think about. If you want more advice, feel free to email me from the link on information page.

Us Texans have to take care of each other!

 

Will do. Thanks.

Drinks the Shiner Bock.

 

Do you have any freshly baked donuts? I'd like to grab some and share them with Mr. Darth_SnowDog. He's hungry.

I feel like either a chocolate covered or nutty myself. I'm often feeling nutty.

 

So I was riding my mountain bike at this trail near my house, and I made a small four foot jump and lost control of the bike. I bent my back tire like a taco and sent the gears into my right leg. Had to walk home, but it still was fun. Anybody else like to mountain bike ride?

 

I...like to ride bikes. There aren't many mountains in Chicago.

 

For those of you who don't subscribe to farraday's EUCNN service, my weekly rant.

Haven't been here for a while have I. You probably want your daily dose of news. Well, I don't have it, but I can editorialize for a short bit. Let us talk about the wonder that is the critic's world. Or in short, let me rant about pug nosed, elitist candy asses who try and pass off their word as cinema gold.

Early reviews for Attack of the Clones have been coming in. Being spoiled rotten, I check them out to see if my early suspicions are backed up by hot air words and the hollow type of others. We all have our preconceived notions and the reasons for thinking it. Wooden acting in The Phantom Menace -> the same in AotC. That's a logical line for many critics and they try and ram it down our throat. Now let's define that wooden acting and compare it to previous critics. Roger Ebert claimed that for AotC, not for TPM. He also gave Tomb Raider three stars, partially for the acting. If you've seen Tomb Raider, you now know the fat man has lost all crediblity in the eyes of the above average movie going public. Don't trust the fat man; he's trying to blind you with his pudgy fingers and shelf haircut.

Cinematic vision. Who has it and who wants it. I want it. Your mom wants it. Hell, I bet your dog likes it when Lassie is shown as something more than a four legged plot device and. Who has it? We know some people who have the eye for the epic or for scope or for true storytelling or for presenting us with just damn rounded characters with complex desires and emotions. Lean, Spielburg, Lucas, The Coens, Fincher, Nolan. Both TPM and AotC have been received by certian critics as lacking cinematic vision. There is something lacking in the frame, an emotional quality perhaps or directorial competance; the characters do not have complex emotions and desires or if they do, they don't make it onto the screen. That's *********. Each frame of both of those movies has been culled from many like it, the final product of 2hrs and change from hundreds of hours of footage. There is a breathtaking world in each frame, seen through each character no matter how stilted their acting may seem to some; not every person in the real world is all-adrenaline, all-crack-happy-hyped-up-on-methamphetamines, coming from a disfunctional, psychosis breeding background. Not every character has to be a "revelation" or has to revolutionize what it means to be a person. Not every person has to speak in literary, romantic dialogue or Byron-esque poetry in a love scene or a evoke flashbacks to Jesus on the Mount. Some Critics try to make every charcter in every movie fit their mold of the nonconformist, breakthrough character. It sickens me to think that I can't see a decent stereotype on the screen anymore. I want a traditional mentor (give me Obi Wan); I want starcrossed lovers (hey, we've got lots to choose from; start with Adelard and Heloise, center out with Romeo and Juliet and end with Anakin and Padme). Give me a villian with a secret agenda (two for the price of one in AotC!).

Lack of cinematic vision - feh. I see an overabundance of cynicism that has affected the way movies are made and viewed, a loss of innocent, wide-eyed film viewing that we had even a few decades ago.

I guess this should've gone into the Hatred Corner. Hm. I'll wrap this up in a nice little pack-age, as the man says, but I cannot think of a good ending myself. Here's someone elses:

If anyone in this ******** city gave two tugs of a dead dog's **** about the Truth, this wouldn't be happening.

 

hey, we've got lots to choose from; start with Adelard and Heloise, center out with Romeo and Juliet and end with Anakin and Padme

Two of those men survived the star-crossing. One ended up 2nd in command of the galaxy, the other ended up with his balls cut off. I'll take Anakin's tragedy any day. Plus Nat's hotter than either Juliet or Heloise (or at least the actresses who played them )

 

I haven't been around much myself (exam week, ends Tuesday), but I was baking some brownies (chocolate always helps deal with those exams) and thought y'all could use some. Since I can't exactly post a panful, I can post the recipie. It is my own (I've been working on it for 10 years) and I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to modify it (but let me know what works well).

4 eggs
1 c. (1/2 lb or 227 g) butter or margarine (butter works best)
5 T. (74 ml) cocoa (dutch cocoa works best)
2 c. (473 ml) sugar
1 1/2 (355 ml) white flour
1 1/2 t. (7.4 ml) baking powder
1 1/2 t. (7.4 ml) vanilla extract
1 bag (12 oz., 2 c. or 340 g) chocolate chips

Melt butter. Mix eggs, dry ingredients and vanilla in a bowl. Add butter. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour into a flat pan. Bake at about 325 F (163 C or 436 K) for about 1 hour. Serve warm covered in ice cream and hot fudge.

Enjoy!!!

Kimball Kinnison

 

ACK!!!
I still don't have my grades! You would think that a university would allow students to see their grades the moment they are posted (we do at my junior college). I have been finished with my classes at Texas A&M for a week, graduation was Friday and Saturday, but grades still are not posted. I can't even go the back way to check my transcript. This is so frustrating!


Somebody, buy me a beer!

 

Here you go.

Buys Maveric a beer.

 

So, Fingorfin,

What's new with you? You out of classes yet?

 

I am not currently in school, graduated last December, shopping for graduate programs now.
Only thing new here is that I found out I will be seeing AOTC Wednesday night. A girl that I recently met won tickets to a radio station's advance screening and gave me one of the passes. Midnight show will be my second viewing. The only problem with this is that the email address I have for my friend in Virginia is not working, so I cannot gloat.

Are you finished, or do you have more classes to go before you attain your doctorate?

 

...and I'm a sophmore in high school, beginning to lose interest in Star Wars, and working like hell to get into the Air Force Academy. Give me a Sprite!