Great American Road Trip Day 3: Badgertown

Today,  was the first official college visit: University of Wisconsin – Madison. With the Cube still sounding like a poor man’s Harley (we have a 7:30 appointment tomorrow morning to get it fixed), we headed for downtown Madison.

In the morning, we sat through the obligatory Admissions presentation and then did a 90 minute walking tour around campus. Here are a few of the sights along the way:

Here is the view from campus towards the Wisconsin State Capitol Building:

This is Bascom Hall; one of the three oldest building on campus and site of the annual snowball fight:

This is Van Hise Hall which is the language building and probably the place my son will spend the most time if he decides to come here:

Here’s Washburn Observatory which I photographed because I thought it was cool

After the tour, we ate lunch on campus and made use of our coupons at the Daily Scoop, an ice cream shop where the ice cream is made by the Agriculture Department. It was excellent ice cream and we enjoyed it greatly. But if there were any doubt about the existence of the Agricultural Department, here’s a photo I took in downtown Madison:

Yes, Virginia, there is a silo in downtown Madison!

I found the whole trip very fascinating. According to US News and World Report, my alma mater, Clarkson University has an undergraduate enrollment of 3,247. University of Wisconsin – Madison has an undergraduate enrollment of 31,289 – nearly ten times the enrollment of my college. My wife and I were discussing this and remarked that in New York, we don’t have very few giant schools. Interestingly, the average class size is around 27 – which I find remarkable for a school this size.

I envy my son in many ways. While I don’t think I could ever go back to living in a tiny college dorm room (which the tour reminded me exactly how small those rooms were), I envy him all of the opportunities that await him in college. I have very few regrets about my own college experience, but I just envy the opportunities and experiences that are available now. Like even considering a college nearly halfway across the country. When I went to school, the guidance office pretty much could only get you information on schools in your region – mostly New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Thanks to the internet, you can find out about any college anywhere.

Now, we’re just relaxing in the hotel room – the wifi seems to be a little more cooperative tonight. Tomorrow, after a quick stop to get the Cube checked out, we’re off to South Dakota!

Happy Journeys!

Mike

 

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The Great American Road Trip: Day Two, or One Does Not Simply Drive Through Chicago

As Day Two dawned, we left Toledo and headed west.  Unfortunately, we seemed to have ran over something that seems to knocked something loose under the car and now the Cube sounds like it’s auditioning to be a Harley.  But once we get under motion, it returns to normal.

We left Ohio and after driving past fields of soy bean and corn, we entered Indiana:

The morning saw us cruise past more soy and corn and drive by the alma mater of Professor Harold Hill:

And before we know it, we were in Chicago (no “Welcome to Illinois” here – just straight – You’re in Chicago):

And now the fun began. My wife had the misfortune of driving and the great progress we made dwindled to nothing as we hit construction and traffic.  The stop and go traffic was great for me to get pictures, not for my wife who had to deal with the noise the car made overtime it stopped and stress of dealing with the drivers who insist on switching lanes when there isn’t necessary space.  But I got a few good pictures of the Chicago skyline:

And finally, the most intriguing shot:

Are we in Chicago or Morder?

I’m going with Morder personally, because I found the Illinois section of Route 90 to be the worst we’ve dealt with so far! We complain about how expensive things are in New York, but we’ve got nothing on Illinois! We must have paid over $30 in tolls (I wish we’d actually kept track) for the pleasure of driving through Illinois.  And instead of doing something sensible, like give you a ticket and pay when you leave, if you don’t have EZ Pass, you have to exit off the highway, pay the stupid toll and then get back on. And you get to do this a bunch of times.

Thanks goodness we accidentally got off when we didn’t need to because we eventually found a park where we could get out and have a nice picnic.  We then circled around forever trying to get back onto Route 90 and finally got on the way.

And we finally left Illinois and made it to Wisconsin:

And we had the enjoyment of more bumper to bumper traffic, this time as a result of an accident.  We finally made it to our hotel and we were all glad to get out of the car!

A great meal at the Great Dane Brewing Company was a great way to end the day.  However, crappy wifi at our hotel has not been any fun.

Happy journeys!!

Mike

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The Great American Road Trip: Day One

Today, we left on our Great American Road Trip today. Here is the odometer at the start of our trip:

And then we started to drive…and drive…and drive…

We left New York and entered Pennsylvania:

and then into Ohio:

We drove past Lake Erie:

And past Cleveland:

It’s the best I could capture while I was a passenger.

And now, here we are at just south of Toledo, just over 500 miles from home.  Tomorrow – it’s on to Madison, WI!

Happy Journeys!

Mike

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To Boldly Go….

The countdown is on for the Great American Road Trip at the Tefft household. Five more days of work (which can’t finish soon enough) and we are on our way to Seattle and back.  I’m intending to blog every day to document our travels and I hope you watch the pages for the riveting details of spending 6 – 7 hours in a car every day :). With content like that, how could you not want to stay?

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I haven’t done anything yet because we haven’t had vacation yet.  But what I’ve mostly been doing is working my day job…..ALOT. This was the first weekend in several weeks that I haven’t worked at least part of the weekend.

And I’ve been playing trumpet. Twice a week in local community summer bands and the big band group I play in did a concert in the park that is literally across the street from my house.  Couldn’t really ask for a closer gig!

I have managed to catch a few movies this summer. We say  Star Trek Beyond (which I loved – my personal opinion is that it’s the best of the reboots) and today we just saw Suicide Squad which I also liked quite a bit. Truth be told, I liked it much more that Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Maybe it’s a better written and directed movie, but I found the horrible villains of Suicide Squad far more sympathetic; I cared about them more than Batman or Superman.

AND I WROTE!!!

I finally had a couple of free hours on Saturday so I hammered out the completion of a very tough scene. I know what I wanted to accomplish, but I wasn’t sure how. I’ll still have to rewrite it, but I’ve got enough there to keep moving forward.

This is the last update before the trip. Stay tuned for adventures on the road…I’m sure it will be riveting!

Happy journeys,

Mike

 

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“Space…The Final Frontier….”

Anyone who knows me or has read any of the posts here knows I am a major fan of Star Trek in nearly all of its incarnations.  When I was in college, my roommates and I would watch WPIX at 11:30 every weeknight and have a contest to see who could identify the episode first during the one minute scene before the main credits.  I watched with the same college friends when Star Trek The Next Generation debuted. We didn’t like the shape of the new Enterprise (D that is) and thought it looked like a bathtub (I will say that I did learn to love the shape). We cheered when Wesley Crusher was stabbed with a bayonet and then depressed when it was all magically reversed (on the freak chance that Wil Wheaton is actually reading my blog, I respect your work now and am a huge fan, but I REALLY hated Wesley Crusher. I can, and do, separate the actor from the role). I’ve been to three different Star Trek conventions and have autographs from several cast members.

So, it’s safe to say…I like Star Trek.

As you can imagine, I’m very excited for the opening of Star Trek Beyond. I must say, I was hesitant because the early trailers were all action and no character. I’ve been intrigued by the more recent trailers that focus more on the characters than explosions.  And I’m now REALLY excited because it seems to have, at this writing, a very good score on Rotten Tomatoes.

If you have read my blog, you know that I submitted a story for the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds fan fiction contest earlier this year. Much to my disappointment, it was not selected.

So, in honor of the premiere of Star Trek Beyond, I give you my humble contribution to the Star Trek universe:

“If My Grandmother Had Wheels, She’d Be a Wagon”

The story takes place during the start of Star Trek II: The Search For Spock and of course, features Scotty.

So from one Trek fan to another, I hope you enjoy the story!

Live Long and Prosper!

Mike

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What’s The Story, Morning Glory?

It’s been way too long since I’ve updated the blog, so I thought I’d give a little recap of my life, already in progress….

Book Signing

On June 11, I set up my little tent in the rain at the Sherburne Arts Festival to sell and sign my book. It was a typical Central New York day…it started with a thunderstorm, was cold enough for me to see my breath later in morning, and by the afternoon, was really hot.  And I actually managed to sell some books; making this infinitely more successful than my foray at Barnes & Noble. I was happy with how it went and got to talk to many people.

How’s The New Book Coming?

The answer to that is…slowly. The last few months have been brutal in my day job and I’ve found myself working late, some evenings, and the weekends. That means almost no time for writing and I’ve been too stressed out to focus (although I did get a couple of hours of writing time on Father’s Day!). My wonderful wife is sending me on a homemade writing retreat. In the Fall, I’m going back to a camp we stayed at last year near Woodstock and I’m going to have a cabin to myself for a long weekend and I just plan to write and write and write.  I’m so looking forward to a concentrated push on my novel so I can get the first draft finished.

But Why Can’t You Finish It Before the Fall?

Later this summer, we’re going on a cross country tour of colleges, with a number of stops along the way. I’m planning on turning this blog into a journal of our cross country adventure, so stay tuned for the “Great American Road Trip” edition of the blog.

Anything Else?

It’s summer band season, so I’m off playing in two area bands. Although you would think playing a concert of music you don’t see until the night you play it might be stressful, I love it and it almost always revitalizes me when I finish. It’s often hot and crowded, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Enjoy your summer and Happy Journeys!!

Mike

 

 

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What Do Creators Owe Their Fans?

In case you hadn’t heard, Issue #1 of Captain America: Steve Rogers came out this week.

BIG SPOILER – IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW SKIP TO THE NEXT HEADING!!

The very last panel of the comic tells us that Steve Rogers aka Captain America is an agent of HYDRA (the Nazi like evil agency that hopes to liberate the world by subjugating it under its control). And according to Nick Spencer, the new writer for Captain America,  Cap has always been a HYDRA Agent and it’s not the usual comic book trickery (mind control, alien duplicate, etc.).

WTF ?!??

The Internet was outraged by the new issue and I have to say, I was too. I had planned to pick up this issue, but now I won’t.  The question came up on Entertainment Weekly Radio this week “What, if anything, do Creators Owe Their Fans?” This got me thinking since I now am a creator and have characters who have a definitive image in my mind.

What Do Creators Owe Fans?

In a a word, nothing.  The characters, plot, and setting come from the mind of the creator; he/she is the final arbiter off what is and isn’t in world.  That doesn’t mean the creator is infallible and won’t make stupid decisions, but it’s his/her stupid decision to make. Everyone laments that George R.R. Martin constantly kills off characters just as you get to like them and that is his prerogative.  In order to finish anything (music, fiction, art, movie), you have to have a singular vision for the piece.  We’ve all seen films that seem to completely lose their voice and tone and it’s not surprising when we hear after the fact, the studio made numerous changes to the story in order to please the audience.  I’m not saying that creators are immune to any suggestions of improvements – authors have editors, directors have producers, etc.  But such suggestions have to be incorporated in ways that don’t compromise the integrity of the piece.  Which brings me to my point:

Creators Owe A Responsibility to the Integrity of the Work

This is what makes me mad about this whole thing. Marvel and the writer are pulling a huge publicity stunt that shits on the integrity of the work. There is seventy five years of back story that now pretty much makes no sense whatsoever. Captain America is defined by his ideals; they are in direct opposition to what this twist represents. It’s almost like saying Batman murdered his parents or Spider-Man killed Uncle Ben.

I’m not saying that you can never make a huge (apparent) change in a character. But it has to be earned. You have to see that the seeds of the change are planted well in advance. The most masterful example I can think of this is the character of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter books. J.K Rowling did an exceptional job of posting clues that made you wonder whether Snape was really aligned with Voldemort or Dumbledore. Yes, there’s a big reveal at the end, but it puts every single one of the clues she had laid out well in advance in proper perspective.

Compared to other comic book stunts in the last two decades (The Death of Superman, Bane Breaking Batman’s Back, The Death of Captain America), this one does not feel earned. In each of the three events I mentioned, they were set up well in advance and were logical conclusions of the events. Captain America’s death at the end of the Civil War, while shocking, was logical; the stakes in Civil War were high with superheroes losing their lives or imprisoned. Shooting the symbolic leader of the Anti-Registration side was a logical consequence. Again, in each case, the “twist” was earned through a multiple book arc.  And each of these were reversed in an equally (well, almost – there’s a bunch of comic book “magic” that justified the events) earned arc.

If you really insist going down this ridiculous plot line, we should have at least seen points where something didn’t happen the way it should have, shadowy conversations with hidden people, or even an investigation. Anything that could plant a clue. This twist is the worse and cheapest trick. It’s the comic book equivalent of  the “It was a dream” season on Dallas in the Eighties. It’s lazy, sensational story telling simply aimed at making a buck or generating buzz.

Who Cares? It’s Just a Comic Book.

That’s true; it is just a comic book. If Marvel wants to shoot themselves in the foot, so what?

The fundamental truth is that the stories we read or the shows that we watch are a huge part of who we are and who we want to be. The human race has been telling stories almost from the time we invented language. Our perception of the world and our role in it are shaped by stories. Stories give us frameworks for morality or social mores. The characters are either role models or cautionary tales. Captain America has been a role model for so many people (myself included) and messing around with role models should not be done lightly.  It’s a sad commentary on our society that we can’t seem to have any truly good guys any more. Look, I love anti-heroes as much as the next guy, but do we really have to drag all of our heroes into the muck? Can’t we have a least a few heroes that are honestly good and not morally adaptable?  Must everything be about shocking people or creating buzz? Can’t we have nice things? Can I stop asking rhetorical questions?

In true comic book form, this will probably resolve itself down the line (it better!), but I’m deeply disappointed in Marvel. I was thinking about picking up the comic book again, but now I absolutely won’t do that. Sure, they have created some really bad plot lines in Captain America (Cap-Wolf or the one where meth basically bonded with the Super Soldier formula), but while they were bad ideas, at least they made sense in the plotting of the comic and the result of a logical progression. This twist is the equivalent of ending a story with “And then, I woke up”

I just hope that I wake up from this horrible plot twist soon.

 

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