College Football's Monopoly

As I gear up to wacth this year rounds of college bowls, I will begin the bowl season with my penance. Over at Counterpunch, Ralph Nader addresses the monopoly known as the BCS.

I do wonder at whether or not that at some point in my life I will have to choose between being an academic and enjoying college football. I'll try to give it one more year before I make a decision.

The Science of Free Will

While this seems to be a late-nite coffee-house conversation, an article in The Economist discloses that our brains, and other environmental factors, limit volition. For example:

IN THE late 1990s a previously blameless American began collecting child pornography and propositioning children. On the day before he was due to be sentenced to prison for his crimes, he had his brain scanned. He had a tumour. When it had been removed, his paedophilic tendencies went away. When it started growing back, they returned. When the regrowth was removed, they vanished again.

The article continues to dicuss how addictive chemicals (sugary foods, nicotine) alter our brains and "evolved instincts." If true or discernable, the consequences of this would greatly impact criminal law, economics, and rhetoric-- all of which imply free will to act.

We Can Feel It In Our Fingers, We Can Feel It In Our Toes; The Greatest Pop Song Ever Recorded Is Here; Featuring Triple H and Shawn Michaels

Readers, we've come a long way. And here we are. Now. In order to better understand the allusion Harrogate is about to make, check out the following clip, which remains in line with the Englishness of our Love Actually Countdown to The Greatest Pop Song Ever Recorded.

Checked out the clip??????? Hmmmm???

Good. Then here we go.

readers,

are you ready?

No, Readers!!! Harrogate said

ARE YOU READY??????!!!!!!!!!

Then, for the half dozen or so in attendance, and the millions who would be zealously following this blog if they only knew about it...

(And to Bill Nighy--depicted here--









whose performance as Davey Jones in Pirates of the Carribean II demonstrated once again that you can count on him to absolutely bring it; and who without question stole the talent laden film, Love Actually, with one of the sleeziest, most hilarious, most over the top performances Harrogate can recall; and whose performance here, in The Greatest Pop Song Ever Recorded is guaranteed to offend and amuse people all at the same time; and also to you, the devoted Readers, who Harrogate wishes a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and will count this entire sequence of posts a success if only one of you has been inspired to include a revisiting, this Holiday Season, of Love Actually, a really wonderful movie by any and all accounts)

Llllettttt's Get Ready for

Christmaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!

Billy Mack - Christmas Is All Around

Detroit...Kansas City...Ooowww!

The Rocky Balboa countdown continues in slightly different fashion today. Instead of posting a clip from one of the Rocky sequels, I've decided to post a video of Mr. James Brown performing "Living in America," one of the most memorable moments of Rocky IV.

What is left to say? Except Wooowwww!!!



Just 2 more days left to go. Huh!

Love Actually Countdown Closes in On #1; Wherein Harrogate Poses a Simple Query of Readers

Well, Readers, we have now arrived at the penultimate moment in our Love Actually Countdown to The Greatest Pop Song Ever Recorded. Featured here is Olivia Olson's cover of (and, Harrogate would argue, improvement upon) the Mariah Carey hit, "All I Want for Christmas Is You." There is really no way to extricate Olson's performance of this song from the Rhetorical Situation in which she's performing it; several of the movie's principals are gathered together to celebrate Christmas with the community's children, and the director does a great job of panning across them while still keeping the proper amount of focus on Olson and, of course, the drummer who's painfully, head-over-heels in love with her.
all i want for christmas is you

Last week Harrogate and Southpaw were on their way to see a top 15 college basketball team dismantle their opposition, when Southpaw asked Harrogate what was his favorite Christmas Song? This is a terribly difficult question, there are so many great ones. So now, in dual honoring of Mariah Carey and Olivia Olson (what better dedication could'st there ever be?), Harrogate passes the buck forward to you, his devoted Readers.

As you enjoy this clip, consider what Christmas Song you have found yourself listening to most often over the last couple of weeks. Harrogate has long been an unabashed devotee of John Lennon's "Happy XMAS (War is Over)"; and no matter who's performing it there's something inarguably transcendent about "Noel"-- but for his current favorite he'd have to turn to "Santa Claus is Comin to Town," one of the sexiest and hardest rockin' of the seasonal ditties. And Springsteen's version of it captures it perfectly.

In a couple of days, Readers, you'll be brought face to face, on this very blog no less, with the Greatest Pop Song Ever Recorded. Until then, let's talk Christmas Songs.

A clip posted in honor of my newborn daughter...

who was introduced to Van Halen yesterday and loves 'em. Listening to their '78 debut LP, she especially seemed to enjoy Ice Cream Man. But then again, who wouldn't?! The guitar solo on this song is one of Eddie's best, yet it's never mentioned in any top-100-guitar-solos list.

Here is a live clip of Van Halen performing the song at the US Festival in 1983. Enjoy! All at our house will.

"To all my love slaves out there..."

Today's Countdown to Rocky Balboa features a clip from the third installment in the Rocky sixology. As always, there were many clips from which to choose. Here are the one's considered for today's post: the opening montage revealing that Rocky has acheived celebrity status (or, in the words of his long-time trainer/manager, Mickey, "become civilized"); Clubber Lang challenging Rocky at the unveiling of the infamous Rocky statue at the Philidelphia Museum of Art; Rocky learning that his title defense bouts have been selected to ensure victory; the scene where Mickey passes; Apollo's motivational speech to Rocky, where he tells the champ that he's lost the Eye of the Tiger; Paulie's emotional meltdown; Rocky's admission to Adrian that he's afraid "for the first time in his life"; the training montage; the final bout where Rocky defeats Clubber; and, of course, the charity match between Thunderlips and the Ultimate Meatball.

I chose the charity match for today's countdown--and only because brother Harrogate is a big wrestling fan, as you may have gathered from his Monday Night Raw reviews (temporarily put on hold until he finishes a paper). In this scene, Rocky fights Thunderlips, aka The Ultimate Male, a professional wrestler played by none other than Hulk Hogan. While I always prefer seeing Hulk play a good guy, he does make a good heel.

So without further ado, and in honor of Harrogate, here is today's countdown clip: the charity match between Thunderlips and Rocky that raised $75K for a youth club.



Just 3 days left.

Who "owns" Santa?

As Christmas approaches, Santa is everywhere. This is something to be expected -- there's the mall claus, the parade claus, the holiday party claus, movie claus, tv special claus, etc. All have varying degrees of "realistic" (if a fictional character can be realistic) appearances. Yet, as a recent BBC article attests, who IS the "official" Santa and who LOOKS like Santa can be an issue.

Disney officials recently scolded a man with a natural beard and red shirt for confusing children at the park. Rather than disappoint numerous children who thought he was Santa, the man played along and in doing so made officials mad.

But Disney officials descended, telling him to stop the impersonation or get out
of the park. They said they wanted to preserve the magic of Santa.

Santa at Disney parks is apparently a Disney character and not the Santa of kids' imaginations and popular culture. Which leads me to ask, who is Santa? Who owns Santa? Is Santa soon going to be a copyrighted and trademarked image? Of course, given the commercialization of Christmas, perhaps he already is.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6189521.stm

"What are we waitin' fer...?" The Rocky Countdown Continues with a Double Montage from the First Sequal, 1979's Rocky II

As I stated on the first leg of this countdown, I love a good montage. And those which appear in the Rocky movies are among the best and most motivating of any training montages ever put on film. In this clip from ROCKY II, we get two for the price of one.

The two montages here appear within seconds of each other. They are only split by a short scene of Rocky putting his newborn son--aka Kid--to sleep in his crib. I guess Sly couldn't figure out how to bridge the two "montage songs" musically so he had no other choice than to break them up with short clip that further reveals our hero's gentle side.

Let it be known that while I enjoy both of these montages, I think the time span in which they occur in the film is sure to push any audience into motivational overload. Hence Sly's attempt to bring us down with a clip of what I like to call "soft Rock." But, alas!, it doesn't work. It takes a whole lot more than a few seconds and a baby to bring me down from the first montage, one that leaves me--from almost the very beginning--ready to conquer the world. The bell: dong...dong.... And then Mickey: "What are we waitin' fer?" The silhouette of Rocko against the morning sky doing one-armed push-ups. The music....

All I can say is it gets the blood flowing.

Rocky Countdown Continues (Also Sans Cowbell)...

With less than a week remaining until the theatrical release of Rocky Balboa, countdown efforts must be doubled. Keep an eye out for daily updates.

Today's countdown celebrates one of cinema's most memorable first kisses. Rocky brings Adrian back to his apartment to show her Cuff and Link, his two turtles. In a somewhat creepy move, he immediately locks the door behind them. I understand that he isn't living in the nicest of Philly neighborhoods, but his move here is sure to make any young woman a bit uncomfortable. Nonetheless, Adrian sticks around and gets a kiss. As a bonus, she even gets to see a picture of the Italian Stallion's parents--both of them!

This clip is my tribute to Adrian. And while I don't want to give away any Rocky VI movie spoilers, I am inclined to say that I will miss her come Friday.

When education is left to politicians

The Government of Japan decided that it will teach children "Patriotism." According to CNN, the new:

Education measure, the first change to Japan's main education law since 1947, calls on schools to "to cultivate an attitude that respects tradition and culture, that loves the nation and home country."

The new education law will allow children to acquire a good understanding of their heritage and become intelligent and dignified Japanese," ruling party lawmaker Hiroo Nakashima said during the upper house debate.

Critics, however, attacked the move as harkening back to Japan's war-era education system, in which children were instructed to support the country's imperialist military and sacrifice themselves for the emperor and nation.


Opponents on Friday voiced fears that the changes could lead to schools grading students on their patriotic fervor -- possibly as a prelude to making Japan an aggressive nation once again.


"The government is putting the future of Japanese children at risk and turning Japan into a country that wages war abroad," said Ikuko Ishii, a Communist Party lawmaker.


The call for more patriotism in the schools coincides with a push by some local governments to crack down on teachers and students who refuse to stand for the national flag or sing an anthem to the emperor at school ceremonies.

Let's teach patriotism at the expense of freedom of speech and freedom of association, since neither of those qualify as patriotism. In fact, maybe they should bring back the loyalty oath. Another good idea.

Feeling It In Our Wrists And Ankles: The Love Actually Countdown Continues, (Sadly) Sans Cowbell; More on the Rhetoric of Soundtracks

Harrogate is delighted to bring you Lynden David Hall's rendition of one of The Beatles most wonderful songs, "All You Need is Love," as we get just a bit closer to The Greatest Pop Song Ever Recorded. Despite the absence of cowbell, Hall with this cover joins a long and proud line of artists who have masterfully covered a Beatles classic.

One of Harrogate's fondest cinematic memories, in fact, comes from Michael, starring John Travolta: The Scene where Travolta, Andie McDowell, and William Hurt are driving down the road singing "All You Need is Love." A truly great moment in what was, Harrogate must say, a pretty bad film overall.

Other great Beatles covers? Harrogate thinks Ben Harper's rapturous "Strawberry Fields" may be the best of the bunch. He also saw the Grateful Dead in Chapel Hill close out their set with "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," and that was pretty awesome.

Phish covers the entire White Album , and if ye haven't heard it, ye need to.

Fiona Apple's version of "Across the Universe" is one of the most sublime things you'll ever hear period. Ditto Elliot Smith's haunting "Because". Interestingly, both of these two songs, as well as the supreme Harper cover, come from Soundtracks to very good movies. Harper~I Am Sam; Apple~Pleasantville; and Smith~American Beauty.

Perhaps there is something to getting a good Beatles cover in there if you want a rockin' soundtrack!

Anyway, Readers, Harrogate leaves ye wondering, what is your favorite Beatles song? (Harrogate's is "Hey Jude")

And what is your favorite Beatles cover?

Until next time, enjoy the Hall ditty, and the accompanying Montage of scenes from Love Actually:
love actually - music video


And remember, The Greatest Pop Song Ever Recorded is less than a week and a half away!

A Countdown Projection

I have it on good authority that Harrogate's next countdown video to the Greatest Pop Song Ever Recorded will have more cowbell.

Once again, you heard it here first.

All I want for Christmas Is....

The Left Behind video game where I can learn the true meaning of Christmas and Christianity. The goal of the game is to save the world from the anti-Christ by killing, er I mean converting-- I hate it when I make that mistake--, non-believers. According to the games description, you get to, "Wage a war of apocalyptic proportions in Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a real time strategy game based upon the best selling book series created by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Conduct physical and spiritual warefare, recover ancient scriptures and command your forces through intense battles."

For more info go here and here.

This game reminds me of religious groups that stand against violence in media, except on The Passion.

My favorite quotes from the second article:

"The Rev. Tim Simpson, a Jacksonville, Fla., Presbyterian minister and president of the Christian Alliance for Progress, added: 'So, under the Christmas tree this year for little Johnny is this allegedly Christian video game teaching Johnny to hate and kill?'"

"Players can choose to join the Antichrist's team, but of course they can never win on Carpathia's side. The enemy team includes fictional rock stars and folks with Muslim-sounding names, while the righteous include gospel singers, missionaries, healers and medics. Every character comes with a life story."

"When asked about the Arab and Muslim-sounding names, Frichner said the game does not endorse prejudice. But "Muslims are not believers in Jesus Christ" -- and thus can't be on Christ's side in the game."

Maybe we can get a group together, play the game, and sing Christmas Carols: "Joy to the World, the end is Nigh. Let evangelicals and fundamentalists sing!!"

Maybe I will go and play DOOM now.

Books for Congress--

Based on some comments at the end of my last post, what five books would you want your representative to read?

A Surprise on the top ten conservative book list

I am perplexed. One of these things is not like the other. The Top Ten LIst of Conservative books from 2006 (from Human Events, which one of my conservative professors described as being to the right of Ghengis Khan)> Here is the list (my comments follow):

10. Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Dr. Meg Meeker - The list starts out well-- Dads, be there for you daughters. Though I guess the target audience knows this and won't read it.

9. 365 Manners Kids Should Know by Sheryl Eberly: Train you kids early; supplies are running out.

8. The Truth About Muhammad by Robert Spencer (The authoritative text on Islam by someone who doesn't believe in Islam. I wonder if there were a book, say The Truth about Jesus, as written by a Jew or Buddhist or Atheist or (fill in believer whatever faith here) would sell well. Also, while it is hard to believe, but from the description, it seems the author claims everyone who is Islamic is violent.)

7. Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies by Gregg Jackson: 241 facts or arguments or values or something to reply to liberals who lie to you. Why would you want to discuss anything with someone who lies do you? Shouldn't you possess enough sense to avoid a covnersation or argument with someone who lies? And, of course, all liberals must lie by definition-- except libertarians, who are kinda like liberals except they place a higher value on the economy, which is good, as long as you neglect the libertarian view n religion, aboriton, privacy rights, and all other social problems.

Here is the description of the book from Human Events. It must be great for parties: "It happens to all of us: we’re debating some liberal friend or colleague when he makes an unsupported claim we’re just positive is false – but we don’t have the hard facts to prove it. Or we’re confronted with slick arguments for, say, legalizing “gay marriage,” but aren’t quite ready with the strongest counter-arguments. Now there’s help. In "Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies," Boston talk-radio host Gregg Jackson provides tightly argued, fully documented responses to no fewer than 241 of the most common claims made by the Left on all the most important political, social, and cultural issues of our day.

There is nothing like a book that possess the entire truth in 241 common arguments. Plato would definately favor this book- all you need to do is memorize facts and you can win arguments.

6. America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It by Mark Steyn (It is the US versus THEM book because the rest of the world is either drinking wine, eating cheese, or just too apathetic. Sure to make you the life of the party.)

5. The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) by Robert Spencer (Notice the dualism: you are either PC. a propagandist, and support the "mortal enemy" or you are a patriotic and Christian. No black and white in there.)

4. The Heritage Guide to the Constitution by Edwin Meese, ed.(A Conservative clause by clause reading of the Constitution. Who needs the Founding Fathers? The Heritage Foundation and Edwin Meese, former Attonery General for Reagan, will tell you what they thought so you don't have to look it up. FYI- did you know the second amendment is brought to you by the NRA?)

3. The Trivium by Sister Miriam Joseph Rauh..... huh? This isn't a polemic

2. Godless: The Church of Liberalism by Ann Coulter (If you purchase number three you'll be able to identify the fallacies in Godless).

1. The Life and Religion of Mohammed by J.L. Menezes (written by someone that converts individuals to Christianity. I think this will be an apt description of Islam, don't you?)

The book that is out of place is of course, The Trivium, which is a good book that is sitting on my desk. You could use it for a high school, maybe freshman rhetoric book. Here is the description:

"The Trivium" is a rigorous and utterly delightful presentation of the three areas that form the basis for all learning: logic, grammar, and rhetoric. Sister Miriam Joseph Rauh, a professor of English at St. Mary's College for thirty years, helps you see the unity and harmony of these three areas as she gives you solid and easily-grasped explanations of even their most abstruse elements: not just general grammar, but also propositions, syllogisms, enthymemes, fallacies, poetics, figurative language, and metrical discourse! Attractively laid out to maximize clarity, this book is also packed with lively examples, exercises, and illustrations drawn from the works of Shakespeare, Milton, Plato, and others. The examples are so rich that they're a literary education in themselves.

The Trivium is interesting choice since, first, it was not published in 2006 and, two, while the other books on the list imply that dialogue with your "enemy"-- and all of the books imply an enemy-- is either bad or impossible, this book needs a neutral to positive relationship between speaker and audience.

In fairness the site, there is a top ten list that is a good idea: Top Ten Books Every Republican Congressman Should Read. There is a good deal of intellectual honesty in these books (well, except numbers 9, 8, and most of the honorable mentions).

Any thoughts? What is missing?

Rocky VI Countdown and Prediction

Given the popularity of Harrogate's countdown to the greatest pop song ever recorded, I have decided to offer a countdown of my own. Today I am announcing a Countdown to the most anticipated film of the year (and, for some, the decade):

Rocky Balboa
Yes, I understand that the sixth installment of the Rocky series will be viewed by many as a joke, as Rocky never seems to go away. Many thought that three Rocky's were too many. I mean, who can forget that scene in Airplane II: The Sequal, depicted left, where Sonny Bono purchases a bomb from an airport gift shop, a poster promoting Rocky XXXVIII over his right shoulder. While I find this scene hilarious, I do not find another Rocky movie a joking matter. I'm glad Stallone has written another sequal, and I'm willing to make a bold prediction about this movie here today, one that will likely earn me another Peabody nomination: Rocky Balboa (aka Rocky VI) will be the best Rocky movie since the original.

Scheduled for release on December 22th, the new sequal arrives exactly thirty years after the original film debuted in 1976. But will the Rocky sixology come full circle in this final installment? I think it will. That is to say, just like the original Rocky, I anticipate that our hero Rocky, "Philadelphia's favorite son," will lose his final bout in a 2-1 split decision. That's right, devoted readers, you get two predictions for the price of one with this blog post.

Now on to the countdown. Here, from the original Rocky is one of the greatest training montages ever put on film:

MLA and Tenure

Inside Higher Ed published an article on the prospects of MLA and a change ot the tenure process. Being "outside" of English, it amazes me how the discipline of English is vastly different than Speech Comm, especially in regards to the number of graduate students and the potential to get jobs after graduate school.

I am curious as to how others on this site think about the potential for change. How do you see your discipline, especially in light of finding a job when you are through with school?

A Rare Anecdotal Revelation from That Renowned Abstract Thinker, Harrogate

Harrogate is in the midst of trying to finish a piece of writing and it's hard.

He is therefore having to lay down certain laws for himself. One of which is that there will be no future entires from Harrogate on The Rhetorical Situation until he has completed this task.

The one exception to this will of course be the Love Actually countdown to The Greatest Pop Song Ever Recorded, which is very near completion and which he will continue on Monday December 11th. The countdown is excepted because it is Seasonally Based and therefore must be brought to completion despite attenuating circumstances.

For Harrogate's sanity, he hopes to be back on here in full capacity sooner rather than later, because this will mean he has finished his current task.

Until then, faithful readers, Adieu.

Philosophy

For some reason, I am in a poetic mood. Here is one of my favorites. I enjoy it because it is haunting and tragic.

"Philosophy" by Dorothy Parker

"If I should labor through daylight and dark,
Consecrate, valorous, serious, true,
Then on the world I may blazon my mark;
And what if I don't, and what if I do?"