Hard to believe that the original puppets used in the stop-action Christmas movie, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer were almost lost to age and neglect. Of course, at the time nobody knew how popular the movie would become, even elevated to cult-status, sans people dressing as misfit toys.  Even though they have been on recent tours (nostalgia or new markets?) that have not been in or around NYC, they still hold a certain fascination for me.  

Philosophically and culturally speaking:

• Perhaps they hearken back to a simpler time (if there was such a thing?)?
• Perhaps they hold a gentleness for a violent and scary world (when was it never not that way?)?
• Perhaps they remind us of childhood (who really had a happy one, after all?)?
• Perhaps they are simply iconic or even somewhat archetypical (even in a Kantian perspective?)?

Whatever the case, in its simplest, they look good!

I read about this fascinating scientific find in North Dakota, almost nine years ago, where a mummified dinosaur was found. This is the first time an intact dinosaur with its mummified skin has ever been studied. The National Geographic Channel will have a special on this, Dino Autopsy,  this Sunday at 9:00 pm (EST I believe, though they do not state that).

The National Geographic Channel website has a handy email or text notification service for this program, which is a rather convenient feature.

I have always loved learning about dinosaurs, as they seem like such magical and mythical creatures. My mind cannot really wrap around what it must have been like millions of years ago when these beasts moved around the world, and thriller movies and books only heighten the interest in them. I am a member of the American Museum of Natural History, and took some wonderful photos of their dinosaur exhibit when I visited the museum last Fall (though I never seem to have uploaded them for some reason).

I wonder how they became extinct? I wonder if we may, too?

Michael Storrings signed his Christmas ornaments, dessert plates and mugs, coasters, and placemats for the fourth night in a row last night at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Even though it was raining during the 8th Annual Winter’s Celebration in and around the Tree Lighting at Lincoln Center, people still came out to meet with Michael.  

I wish I could have attended the entire event, but I was teaching last night, and attended after my class ended. The few pictures I was able to take are available on Flickr.

Technorati Tags: Christmas, Christmas Ornaments, Metropolitan Opera, Michael Storrings, Winter’s Eve

Michael Storrings will be signing his ornaments and new line of dessert plates and mugs at the Metropolitan Opera Shop tonight. Picked up by today’s Community Affairs calendar of the New York Times as well as News Long Island, Michael will be there during the Lincoln Center Tree Lighting Ceremony and the 8th Annual Winter’s Eve celebration.

Technorati Tags: Christmas, Christmas Ornaments, Metropolitan Opera, Michael Storrings, Winter’s Eve

I was able to help Michael at his ornament signings again yesterday. He again had some of his friends stop by. I wish I would have gotten more pictures, but it was busy!

Technorati Tags: Christmas, Christmas Ornaments, Michael Storrings, Saks 5th Ave., Saks Fifth Avenue

Michael Storrings signed his Christmas ornaments again this year at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City the day after Thanksgiving, and will be there each day over the weekend from 1:00-4:00 on the 8th floor in their Manhattan Flagship location across from Rockefeller Center. Michael creates the original artwork for the ornaments, and then each one is hand blown and hand-painted in Poland. This year, Michael’s designs can also be found on dessert plates and mugs, placemats, and coasters (all made in Germany), which are carried at Saks, Bloomingdales, Bergdorf Goodman, and Henri Bendel (though the items vary by location).

I only took 3 photos of the event yesterday.

Technorati Tags: Christmas, Michael Storrings, Saks 5th Ave., Saks Fifth Avenue, Christmas Ornaments

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced a new reading study today, entitled To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence. From the limited information they released publicly (i.e., without buying their report), the part that I found most interesting was:

Reading scores for American adults of almost all education levels have deteriorated, notably among the best-educated groups. From 1992 to 2003, the percentage of adults with graduate school experience who were rated proficient in prose reading dropped by 10 points, a 20 percent rate of decline.

Hmm, that does not sound too good. It became even more dire when three consequences of this study were described as:

Nearly two-thirds of employers ranked reading comprehension “very important” for high school graduates. Yet 38 percent consider most high school graduates deficient in this basic skill.

American 15-year-olds ranked fifteenth in average reading scores for 31 industrialized nations, behind Poland, Korea, France, and Canada, among others.

Literary readers are more likely than non-readers to engage in positive civic and individual activities – such as volunteering, attending sports or cultural events, and exercising.

I have been a reading teacher and adult literacy advocate both professionally and personally over the years, and I have always maintained that, as the slogan goes, reading is fundamental. It seems the more detailed NEA report is issuing more of a dire call to action, with one of the solutions being The Big Read, a national book-club discussion group in local communities. While I started a local book discussion group with a few neighbors, I think gathering people together to discuss great works of literature (by which I mean enduring texts that speak to different generations about issues in the human condition) is a wonderful idea. While reading is a very personal experience, it becomes richer when the interpretations are shared and discussed and minds are opened to different perspectives and experiences. Let us hope that reading (by which the NEA is primarily not discussing magazines, blogs, peer-reviewed literature, or the like) will be more discussed as a result of this report. By the way, I amongst all the Kant, Harvard Business Reviews, blogs, magazines, journals, and peer-reviewed work for a research project I am working on, I am still reading a classic novel by Willa Cather–One of Ours. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1923, by the way, and is even available full-text freely online at Bartleby.

Technorati Tags: readability, National Endowment for the Arts

I saw the movie Beowulf. Wow! Amazing effects, unexpected shifts in the plot, engaging music, fine acting, mythical content based on some historical works, and did I mention special effects? This was among the more entertaining movies I have seen recently. While not in the spirit of the holidays (the movie is very violent and terrifying at times), it does have the quality of being on a holiday form reality. How better to spend $15?

Technorati Tags: Beowulf, Grendel

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The Oxford American Dictionary has just released their 2007 Word of the Year: locavore. Yes, locavore! The New York Times reported on this today, and somewhat repeated what is excerpted below from the Oxford blog page:

. . . the popularization of a trend in using locally grown ingredients, taking advantage of seasonally available foodstuffs that can be bought and prepared without the need for extra preservatives . . . The “locavore” movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to grow or pick their own food, arguing that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locavores also shun supermarket offerings as an environmentally friendly measure, since shipping food over long distances often requires more fuel for transportation. “Locavore” was coined two years ago by a group of four women in San Francisco who proposed that local residents should try to eat only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius.

Great idea, though difficult to do in the middle of Manhattan. Any locavores out there?

Technorati Tags: locavore, New York Times