mr. peabody's apples. madonna. (221)

i came across madonna's mr. peabody's apples while looking for books to read with my little friends.  i think i bought a copy back in the day but never read it and its prolly in storage somewhere.  i decided to check it out and finally read it.

i want to add that it made me sad because i think i was the first person to check this book out.  it is in too nice of condition for a kids book.  i know kids don't know who madonna is but shouldn't their parents be excited and check it out for them?  so sad.  and i mean the book was marked 2011, that is  three years! poor book!

mr. peabody's apples is the story of mr. peabody, a history teacher that holds weekend baseball game for the boys in the town.  the boys are not very good at baseball but they have fun and that is all that matters.  one day after a game, one of the boys, tommy, saw mr. peabody take an apple from a market and not pay for it.  he then told the other boys that mr. peabody stole apples.  this gossip then spread to everyone and they then shunned mr. peabody.  the boys stopped going to the games and the townspeople stopped waving hello to him because they thought he was a thief.  when mr. peabody discovered the news via a boy named billy, he took billy to the market and the owner explained that mr. peabody paid for this apple every saturday when he paid for the rest of his groceries.  billy then told tommy, who apologized to mr. peabody.  tommy asked what he could do to make things right and mr. peabody told him to bring a pillow to the baseball field. mr. peabody then had tommy cut it open and shake out all the feathers and then told him to pick every single one of feathers up.  tommy said it is impossible and mr. peabody replied that each feather represented a person from town and that the damage from the thief rumor would be impossible to undo.  he then reminded tommy that "next time, don’t be so quick to judge a person. and remember the power of your words.”

as i was reading, i kept on asking myself, i wonder what the moral is going to be.  madonna was pretty direct with this one, no need to read between the lines.  i also wondered if this story was based on a jewish folktake, because i mean this was written in madonna's kabbalah era.  and i was right there too!  she addressed that the story was inspired by a story she heard via kabbalah.  well in nicer words, i am just paraphrasing poorly.

a nice story though kind of morning.  i mean if it didn't say madonna on the cover, i would have never thought the material girl wrote this.  i mean when she was spiritual she still had an edge, and there is no edge here.  i mean i never thought madge could be boring, but i guess she can.

also the illustrations were nice, very americana.

this one was my favorite:

check it out, because it is madonna, but don't expect it to be amazing.

metamorphosis. franz kafka. again.

i am a bad blogger.  this google doodle informed me that july 3 was franz kafka's birthday.  i then wrote the following blog not realizing i had already done a post on it.  but decided to leave it because though it has the same idea, i do make some better points.  enjoy a rehashing of "the metamorphosis":

i originally read "the metamorphosis" my senior year of high school.  and i actually did read it.  i found the premise interesting, a man that morphs into a cockroach.  the only thing that left a real impression on me was the apple that got lodged in gregor's back (when he was in roach form) after someone threw it at him.  it made me sad to imagine him stuck with an apple in his back for the rest of his life or until it rotted.  and imagine the kind of infection an apple could cause!   i remember drawing a roach with an apple in his back for a project in which we had to draw what was going on in gregor's mind.  in addition to the apple, milk comes to mind when i think of this book but because i think he was fed it.  i mean do roaches find milk appetizing?  but other than that i don't recall any deeper meaning.

upon my re-reading as an adult, the lesson that i learned from this novella, was not to be a slave to your job.  work can alienate you from the people you love and can lead to lonelieness.  this interpretation can also be my millennial point-of-view on work looking for validation.  work should be something that adds to life not takes away from it.  in "metamorphosis", all gregor had was work and that turned him into a monster, literally.  i mean how else can you interpret cockroach?  though i learned on wikipedia that a better translation for the word kafka used is vermin, so maybe gregor isn't supposed to be a roach?  but i think it works best for imagery purposes, so i am okay with the translator that chose cockroach.

prior to gregor's metamorphosis, his life centered around his work.   gregor was a traveling salesman and worked towards paying off his family's debt.  as a result of his traveling, he had no social life or identity beyond his occupation.  gregor realized that his work did not allow him to have friends and all he really had was his family.  his loneliness is demonstrated by his framed magazine picture of the woman in furs.  he is like a teenage girl filled with love but with no real person in her life so it is directed toward whatever teenage heartthrob is popular at the time.     though gregor was lonely, in his human form he could have changed his life, but sadly as a cockroach that was not possible.

the sadder realization is that gregor's life as a human was not much different than his life as a cockroach.  the only difference is that there was a physical manifestation of his alienation versus the immaterial one of his job.  as a roach, his interaction with his family was limited based on his appearance as a bug. his mother was scared of him, his father was worried, though his sister was in tune with his needs, overall they were primarily concerned by how his condition affected their income.   however, this would have been the same if he was a human, his job limited his interaction with his family since he travelled. also the emotions of his family would have been the same, since gregor was the breadwinner of the family, they saw him more in terms of their income versus a person.  this is demonstrated by the parents immediate fear of the cockroach versus his sister who still considered the cockroach as gregor.  

gregor's sister was the only person who saw gregor as a person in his human form.  this is demonstrated in her giving him milk in the beginning, which was his favorite drink and which he did not like as a cockroach (so to answer my other question, roaches do not like milk). however, even her opinion of him changed because she started to treat gregor as a cockroach.  she fed him scraps and garbage and moved furniture so it is easier for him to crawl around.  it seems sad that his sister's

opinion changed but gregor and his sister's relationship would have probably become estranged even if gregor remained in his human form.  all relationships take work even the ones that we assumed are givens like family relations.  if gregor continued to work as he did, the physical distance would have caused gregor and his sister to grow apart.  gregor initially was happy to work to support his sister however i could imagine him becoming resentful

of it later.  

i think kafka wanted us all to realize that work is not the means to happiness in life.  one needs social interaction with people to be happy. in a sociology class i took at ucla, i read excerpts for the book "working" by studs terkel.  from what i can recall, people's self-identity is very much intertwined with their occupation even though they may not enjoy working.   i remember discussing how the expectation of work as something enjoyable is ridiculous since by definition work is hard physical labor.  the point was made in the book or maybe the class that in the bible, work was initially a form of punishment.  adam was casted out of the garden of eden and focused to labor for taking a bite of the forbidden fruit.  from the very beginning (if you believe in a judeo-christian religion) work was a punishment.  therefore, since work is not a source of joy, it should not be the main focus of our lives.  

i know that this must sound like selfish millennial talk but whereas my generation's view of work is rooted in the fact that everyone got a participation reward regardless of their effort growing up; kafka's novel is a warning of not allowing work to crush the human spirit.  regardless of gregor's physical appearance, he was still gregor.  his mind was not effected by the metamorphosis, he still thought like a human.  granted gregor couldn't communicate like a human as a cockroach (though i think that was to demonstrate how as a human, gregor was never communicated how he actually felt), he still had a sound mind.  and perhaps that is the real lesson of "metamorphosis", regardless of the fact that work can change one beyond recognition, it can never truly change one's soul.  though gregor changed physically he was still the same

person spiritually, he still cared for his family and felt guilty about being a burden to them.  there was still something human about gregor especially since he responded to the music that his sister played.  therefore, gregor serves as a warning to what can happen if you allow work to consume your life.  one must find time to develop their soul and not just work.  i think it is important to point out that kafka didn't view all work as evil.  when the family began working for themselves there was an improvement in their lives.  so maybe kafka just wants us to find a nice balance, work is fine just do not become consumed by it.

truth in advertising. john kenney. (93)

i can't remember how i found out about "truth in advertising", i want to say it was featured in a barnes and noble email or maybe a goodreads one. but i do remember that nick hornby was referenced in one of the reviews. (its actually a publishers weekly quote, i found it on the back cover: "a comic tour de force; fans of nick hornby and jonathan tropper will have a new author to watch for.") since i love, nick hornby, i had to check it out. figured it would be the "high fidelity" of advertising. and it kinda was.

*this entry will contain some spoilers. if you plan on reading the book, read it first than read this blog.

"the truth in advertising" is the story of finbar dolan, the name is odd but i like it, though he goes by fin (love the nickname too, reminds me of "adventure time" . . . and i just realized . . . "glee", hmm maybe not so cute, after all).  fin works in advertising (duh?) and is going through a mid-life crisis.  though mid-life crisis seems like a misnomer, he is only 40, but if you think about it, if the average man lives til 80, than 40 is mid-life.  it's weird because when i think mid-life crisis, i think kevin spacey "american beauty", but i didn't think of fin as that old.  it could be that i was in high school when i first saw "american beauty" and far from 40 and now that i'm a closer to it, think of it as young.  i imagined fin as someone younger, like a not-as-hot-bradley-cooper (though i just googled and cooper is only 38). 

anyway, back to fin's mid-life crisis.  it's not so much a mid-life crisis, but a "what i'm a doing with my life" funk, which i feel is not a product of age, but a side effect of being born after 1970.  i feel like my friends and i are constantly in this funk, not so much because of how old we are, but because we are part of that "everyone gets a gold star" generation.  (this is what klosterman discussed in "the visible man" if you read that entry.)  as kids we were never really awarded for hard work but were constantly given positive reinforcement, as a result our work ethic isn't the greatest.  plus we have always been taught that work should make us happy but the fact of the matter work should just pays the bills.  as a result we end up on this search for work that makes us happy but this search is frivolous because work is never fun no matter how much you think you love your job.  so though fin is in advertising, he is questioning, "is advertising really for me?"

so normally if your work life isn't stellar, it's okay because you can fault your home life.  however, fin's home life is non-existent.  he was engaged but he got cold feet.  about eight months prior to when we meet him in the novel, he had just called off his wedding.  it's kinda sad but really not that horrible because better cold feet than a nasty divorce.  there is also a beautiful story about him calling off his wedding and a gravy boat.  it was sad and lovely and could be a great short story on its own.

so this is fin when we meet him.  i would like to say that things get better for him, but since this is a novel, it gets worse before it all sorts out in the end.

lets start with the advertising, because the title includes the word advertising. fin is a copywriter and his big account is diapers, think huggies but not cos kenney prolly couldn't get the rights to use their name so came up with "snugglies" to use.  so the big news is that snugglies designed the first flushable, biodegradable diaper and decided to launch this new product with . . . a SUPERBOWL COMMERICAL!!!!  this is exciting for fin, cos it is the superbowl.  however, he has a family emergency that makes this even more of a challenge. but before that, a word on superbowl commercials.

superbowl commercials used to be great but now they kinda suck.    they used to be clever and funny and now they are just lame.  in the novel, they came up with two pitches.  the pitch i liked most was based on "an inconvenient truth".  the commercial would show babies being born all over the world but with al gore heads, to show how green they were.  i thought that was clever.  the other commerical, the one they went with, i thought was a horrible idea and would have never worked in real life.  it was based on the apple 1984 ad.  i mean why even try to mess with that?  that ad is classic and any kind of spoof or parody would be bad and should never be attempted.  i know this was novel but still no one in their right mind fictional or non-fictional would ever give this commerical the green light.  (do you green light commericals, like show?)

back to fin's family emergency, sadly his father dies.  well not really that sad because fin hadn't spoken to his father for about 28 years.  without giving too much away, the father was abusive and there was an incident with his mother.  but the bottom line is that fin does not view his father as his father.  to add to this, fin and his siblings are not that close.  this actually broke my heart, i have my ups and downs with  my family but i can't imagine being in contact with none of my family members.  it must be really lonely.

so fin's father's dying request was to have his ashes spread in pearl harbor, near the spot where he was when the war ended.  fin's siblings nor fin himself,  want to do it because they all hate him.  and i hate to sound heartless, but i get it.  i found it odd how all of fin's friends kept telling him that he needed to do it because it was dad.  but the fact is, it wasn't his dad.  i think it's hard for people who grew up with both parents to grasp how it is to have an absent parent.  that person is a stranger.  the only connection you have to that person is your DNA and maybe some facial features.  that man is not your dad.  he didn't look under your bed for monsters, or taught you how to ride a bike or took you to your first baseball game.  he is not a dad that was there to help you when scraped your knee or had your heart broken.  he is not that dad from the google ad that always makes me cry, a dad who sends his daughter encouraging emails when times get tough. he is simply a man who helped create you but didn't really want much to do with you after, kinda like god in the old testament.  he is essentailly a stranger?  would you do it for stranger?  probably not.  or you would but not out of love but respect for a person's dying wish.  but you get my point.  (please note i'm not bitter about living in a single parent home, i think i'm better for it.  but i just feel it's unfair to assume that i owe my dad something when he was never really there for me.)

to not spoil one of the main themes of the book, i will not tell you what fin ends up doing.  you have to read to find out.  i'm also not going to tell you how the superbowl ad went.  you have to read that for yourself.

when i first started reading, i thought fin would become one of my book crushes. he is witty and has a great sense of humor. he also did this cute thing when he first moved to new york. he read "here is new york" and "traced the steps". he then "reread 'catcher in the rye' and did the same." this was kinda perfect cos the last time i went to new york i read books with famous new yorkers (i found a list online). i read "franny and zooey", "stuart little", and "from the mixed up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler." i also read "extremely loud & incredibly close" because it was set in new york. so totally fell in love with him for that. (i plan on retracing "catcher" on my next nyc trip.). however i didn't fall complete. sure he was hip, he referenced a bunch of cool things but he was weird at times. like i hated his sarcasm. i was annoyed reading it so i could only imagine having to deal with it in real life. and i'm sure it was some defensive mechanism but still would be a dealbreaker for me. also his whole internal dialogues of convos with talk show host was not attractive either. though i loved how he framed life like a commercial and how he scanned through life. like on his first date he goes through a whole life with her. it's a lot to type out here but if you read it, i'm allison to page 145. he also flashbacks about his dad and sister, he sees them doing all of these mundane things but realizing the beauty and simplicity of each thing. it reminded me of charlie from "the perks of being a wallflower".

though those last two things just really mean that i enjoyed kenney's writing. how he captured life in an instant  he was clever and had excellent pop culture references.  i mean he called gwyneth paltrow, mrs. coldplay, kinda cool.  he also quoted f. scott fitzgerald. there were some other references that made me smile but didn't mark them so can't share them but i am sure kenney and i could be friends in real life.

also if you are in advertising you should read this. you will prolly get a kick out of the rundown of fin's agency.

oh last but not least, in the story there is a character keita, who i adore. he is the son of this super rich japanese shipping company owner and in charge of fin's agency. he was sweet and kind and for some odd reason i pictured him in my head as PSY. lol

selected stories of franz kafka. franz kafka. (2)

trying to revisit my high school years, i decided to read franz kafka's "the metamorphosis" next.  also i had read haruki murakami's "kafka on the shore" and had been meaning to pick up some kafka.  all i remember from "the metamorphosis" was that gregor turned into a giant cockroach and of course that apple getting stuck in his back.  for some odd reason, that apple stuck on his back really stuck with my group of high school's friends (we were dorks remember). i think my friend mona in particular was traumatized by its occurrence.  i personally can't think of metamorphosis without picturing a large roach with an apple.  (this would make a good halloween costume . . . my friend chrissie has a cockroach costume, i am going to recommend that she does it.)

back to the novel.  on my second reading, i still felt bad for gregor.  bad enough he turns into a bug but his family is frightened of him.  (quick side note:  but apparently gregor doesn't necessarily turn into a cockroach, the word kafka uses doesn't translate into cockroach, in fact it is closer to vermin, so it's kinda open to interpretation, for me personally i use the cockroach one.)   it even sadder how his family abandons him, especially since he spent his human life supporting them. his sister does start off helping him, but then she grows tired of the task and disgusted by him.  and which makes it even more heartbreaking is the fact that he was working to help support his sister in her violin playing.   if my sister or brother or even close friend turned into a giant bug, i wouldn't abandon them like, but would take care of them. bugs don't gross me out so am confident i could do it. i would be like geena davis in "the fly".  though in the end, she does kill him, but wasn't it as he requested?

i hate to brag but i was good student in high school yet i don't remember the analysis that was presented to us. now as an adult, i take it as a warning that if you become a slave to money and work, you'll eventually end up a cockroach. prior to turning into a roach, gregor had a sad life (possibly sadder than being a bug), he was a traveling salesman and all he did was work. he did not have a social life and only interacted with his family. this need or demand to work is not healthy for an individual. and in turning gregor into roach, kafka was critiquing the capitalistic emphasis on labor. i guess kafka was a marxist? (i googled but found no definite answer.) marx did have his theory on alienation of workers as a result to their laboring as part of the capitalist machine. and how much more alienated can one get then turning into a cockroach. greogr was alienated not only from his family but also from his own self-identity, he was a stranger in his own body. he turned into something beyond his own recognition. and if kafka wasn't a marxist, he does prove the harm of devoting one's life to work.

in college, i took a soci class and was assigned excerpts from "working" by studs terkel. our professor had us read it to demonstrate how a person's identities is tied into their occupation. it's interesting and true. when meeting someone for the first time, one of the first questions asked is "so what to you do?" this is definitely an american thing (it's due to our capitalist economy). when i was unemployed, i noticed just how frequently this question was asked. when working one doesn't notice but there was a bit of embarrassed me when i answered that i was unemployed though i did start to answer "hanging out" or "enjoying life".

during my two years of unemployment, i had one conversation frequently about this issue of one's work being one's identity. i have a friend who is the model of a worker bee, he is also a capricorn. and he couldn't stomach me when i was not working. but as i often reminded him, i do not want to be defined by my work but by my life. to demonstrate this point, i often said when i die, my gravestone will not list out my work resume, but will instead list if i was mother or wife. furthermore, people will talk about my quality of life at my funeral instead of my salary history. i mean when i am old and going senile, i want to think "wow! what fun i had!" versus "wow! wish i worked less!"

and let me clarify, work is important especially if you want finer things in life. and money is needed to have fun and experiences. however it should not be the source of your identity. and maybe instead of being a marxist statement, this could be what kafka was trying to explain. you should enjoy life because once its gone, you are going to regret that you spent your best years working.

i only read "metamorphosis", i tried to read some of the other works in here but they seemed like a snoozefest so i didn't.