iApprove: Giulio Cesare Vanini.

History is dotted with bold figures.  Brave, freethinking men and women who rose to the occasion, dared to go against the grain, and paid for it, usually with their lives.  One such man, who receives far less attention than he deserves, is Giulio Cesare Vanini.

Born in 1585 as Lucilio Vanini (or perhaps as Giulio Cesare, depending on whom you ask), he lived a priveledged young life about which further details are unfortunately lacking.  As a young man he studied canonic law and theological philosophy, leading him on two very conflicting paths: he joined the Catholic order and became a freethinking pantheist.

Like many others of his time, he had several both scandalous and revolutionary ideas.  He pointed out that it was impossible for God to create the universe from nothing, stated that he did not believe Jesus to be divine, and made mention of the close similarities between humans and apes, suggesting that humans were not as special as they took themselves to be – that they, like animals, were quite mortal and undivine in nature.

The Church, of course, did not take kindly to this.  In 1618, Vanini was arrested, tried and convicted of atheism and blasphemy.  On the 9th of February, 1619, he was executed as was customary: they tore out his tongue, then strangled him to death and burned his body.  According to reports, his last words were “Jesus sweated with fear and weakness.  I die undaunted.”

Many times throughout history have great men been executed for their thoughts.  Some of them become great martyrs, their stories paraded throughout history.  Others fade into obscurity.  It is my hope that one day the freethinkers of Rome – Giulio Cesare Vanini, Giordano Bruno, and others – will be remembered with the same gratitude and reverence as Yeshua of Capernaum.

iApprove: Doug Marlette.

Once again, I drag myself from the depths of the blogosphere to get some fresh air and deliver some interesting stuff.  (I have got to do that more often.)

Doug Marlette was a political cartoonist who, like many of his fellows, provided much-needed coverage of several controversial topics, as well as a few less-than-controversial but still quite humorous ones.  He was an equal-opportunity offender, mocking with equal ferocity Christianity and Islam, Democrats and Republicans, good guys and bad.  He will be sorely missed, and… wait, I’m not giving the eulogy.

Just check out some of his work at http://dougmarlette.com/pages/cartoons_album_daily.html

iApprove: Mark Vincent.

No posting yesterday.  I got busy working on my novel (rearranging the plot, mostly) and by the time I remembered I hadn’t posted it was after eleven and I was headed to bed.

So I thought I’d share with you today something absolutely amazing that I found last night while, er… working.  Yeah, working.  (Just kidding.  I was just procrastinating bedtime, seriously.)

It was late, and I was tired, so I’d hit YouTube and was watching the recently-uploaded episodes of Australia’s Got Talent. (You may recall that I am a Got Talent junkie.  Or I may not have mentioned that.)  There were some really awesome acts, some really cool acts, surprisingly few but incredibly lame acts, and a whole lot of Red Simons elevating himself to new levels of turdity.

And then there was Mark Vincent.

I was ooooooh so dubious when this kid came out.  After the Neal E. Boyd fiasco on America’s Got Talent last year, all I could think when listening to this kid talk was “great, another operapotamus, fifty bucks says he sings Nessun Dorma.  Another fifty says he does pretty well and they put him through.”

Then he started singing.

Every time I hear someone sing “Nessun Dorma”, it affects me a little differently.  Paul Potts moved me to tears.  Luciano Pavarotti scared me.  Neal E. Boyd didn’t do much of anything, though I noted that he has a beautiful voice.  Mark Vincent floored me.

I could not believe that what I was hearing – this incredibly deep, powerful, smooth voice – was coming from a fifteen-year-old.  He delivered the song like he was driving a horse team (Snowy River reference not intended), with power and passion and a look in his eyes that was not unreminiscent of Pavarotti.

Jaw, meet floor.

My initial thought was “If this kid wins, there’s something seriously wrong with these competitions.”  But listening to his performance again, I’m going to have to retract that.  If the Australian audiences had the same general reaction I did – and initial evidence suggests that they did – and Mark keeps up the high standards in subsequent performances, he is going to be one tough nut to beat.

One tiny quibble: While he sings, he looks like he’s struggling a bit to get his power level up there.  He manages to do it and it sounds incredible, but I wonder at how exhausting it is for him.

iApprove: Connor McGowan’s Speech On Happenstance.

I was browsing The Meming of Life (a blog about, among other things, raising thoughtful, intelligent kids) and I came upon a particularly inspiring post.  It described the writer’s then twelve-year-old son Connor, a very fun and intelligent lad.  It also contained a very inspiring speech that the boy wrote for an assignment back in seventh grade.

What makes his speech so awe-inspiring isn’t just that he demonstrates such enormous insight into the world around him – though he is remarkably enlightened for a man of any age – but the fact that this is a twelve-year-old boy. The topic of discussion: the sheer amount of chance that affects our lives and the lives of those around us.

Here’s a sample of his speech (and, in my opinion, the  best part):

On April 23, 1862, a 19-year-old Confederate soldier was shot through the neck by a Yankee bullet. He lay on the battlefield, bleeding profusely, then was found and taken to a Yankee field hospital as a prisoner of war. The doctors were able to stop the bleeding just in time to save his life. If the bullet had entered his neck one inch further to the left, he would have died. I’m glad he didn’t, because if he had, I wouldn’t be giving this speech. That nineteen-year-old boy just happened to be my great-great-great grandfather.

The rest of the essay can be found at http://parentingbeyondbelief.com/blog/?p=269.  It’s excellent reading for anyone of any age.

DoNotWant: Attitudes of Failure.

Failure is not something that bothers me.  Sure, I’d rather not fail, but it’s my general philosophy that if you do your best and end up failing anyway, there’s no point in being too upset about it.  That’s just the forces of nature for you.

What really irks me is when you don’t even try.

It seems to me that this is where the average person ends up.  Try to talk to them about anything that seems to be a problem (the environment, toxic cosmetics, consumerism – just pick something) and they’ll listen to you, nodding occasionally, and at the end shrug and say “Oh, well; what can you do?”

The problem isn’t in the question.  If it were sincere, I would be quite pleased with this individual.  But it isn’t a sincere question.  It’s a brush-off.  When someone asks “what can you do?” what they really mean is “well, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Even more frustrating is that the kind of people who are going to ask this question are frequently those in the greatest positions to help.  Perhaps they work for an offending company, or perhaps they regularly purchase the products that contribute to the problem.  Being in this position means that they have a great deal of power that they could use to change things.  Unfortunately, it also means that they’ll probably be less willing to make waves and risk losing these things.  Why speak out about your company’s toxic products and risk losing your job?  Why go out of your way to buy higher-price locally grown or fair-trade products?

So many people have it in their heads that their comfort or convenience should always come before other problems.  If they percieve a risk associated with trying to make a difference, they just won’t do it.  Oh, sure, they’ll do the little things; the easy things, like recycling their soda cans or buying low-output cars.  But get into any zone that requires them to give up something familiar to them, and oh well, what can you do?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and talk about politics for a moment.  Specifically, about President-elect Barack Obama.  I’m not going to tell you what I think of his politics, because that’s entirely irrelevant to this entry and I’m not sure where he stands on some issues.  But take a look at this man.  Listen to the things he’s said.

Here was a man who was at the bottom of the food chain.  Shuffled about for most of his childhood, never had a very good source of income, that sort of thing.  Now first we have his mother and grandmother.  Neither of them were very well-equipped to raise the future President of the United States.  They could have, like so many people in poor conditions, settled for getting by, pushing the kid through school and then turning him loose in the hopes he’d get somewhere.  Instead, they put forth the effort and raised a bright, mature and quite motivated individual.

Now we come to Obama himself.  I remember stories of his early Presidential lobbying.  Due to his limited political experience and short resources, he had a great deal of trouble finding supporters; he had to resort to going house-to-house in the hopes of obtaining donations to put toward better publicity.

This guy didn’t have to run for President.  He really didn’t.  As a legislator and later senator, he was already taking huge strides in encouraging changes.  Sure, being President would give him more influence, but take a moment to look at this from the perspective of a citizen.  Running for President is a monumental task.  You’ve already gotten this far, and you’ve worked your butt off to do it.  If you want to make it to President, you’re going to have to pull off an enormous campaign, travel the country, insult other politicians (the only real fun part) and generally shoot the moon.

Well, he shot it, and he shot it with all the tenacity of a tracker hound.

Despite the monumental work involved in becoming President, though, it could still be argued that he really didn’t risk anything.  I mean, the worst that could happen is that he’d fail and have to settle for a smaller position, right?  Yeah.  No biggie.  Even doing what he did – getting up and actually expressing the viewpoint of someone who had been on the bottom – wasn’t all that scary.

Okay, how about refusing public funding for the general election?  (Or, in layman’s terms, giving up free money.)  True, Obama was getting a considerable amount of funding privately, possibly more than what public financing would have fetched him.  Or maybe – on a serious out-on-the-limb guess that may make me look like a total idiot – he did it as a way of showing the American populace that yeah, he does actually care where the government is spending your tax dollars.

I don’t know for sure.  What I do know is that he got himself elected President.  And I’m not even asking that you do that.  All I’m asking is that if you see a place where you are helping to support a flawed system, take some risks.  Don’t intentionally cut your own throat, but do try stepping out of your comfort zone and see where it takes you.

iApprove: My Aunt & Uncle.

Specifically, the ones who sent me beautiful clothes every Christmas for more years than I can remember, and every year before and since have given generously to each of their nieces and nephews.  They absolutely love children, which makes it all the more unfortunate that they have never been able to have their own, but they’ve done a wonderful job of treating the rest of us and I appreciate their yearly gifts more than they can probably imagine… I really need to send them a card or something.

Recently, they switched from clothes to gift cards for Target.  Ordinarily, this would constitute a huge faux pas in my book (QUIT TELLIN’ ME WHERE TO SPEND MAH MONEY, DARNYOU!) but I think I can let it slide.

The reason is that Target is a really, really neat store to go shopping in.  Among other things, they sell Puzzle Pirates doubloon cards (using a card to buy a card… I know, lame) and natural, non-murderous shampoos and soaps.  They’re environmentally conscious in other ways, too: the paper that my card came in is both 100% recycled and completely recyclable.  I don’t know about the card; I plan on asking the store employees.  Now, I’m sure that there’s plenty of corporate stink still wafting around their organization, but this is a lot more effort than most retailers (a la “Big Box Mart”) care to exert.  Much to my surprise, they’re also starting to carry fair trade products – perhaps more a marketing ploy than from genuine concern, but if I can buy it, I’m not going to complain.  The fact that they’re affiliated with Starbucks – a huge player in the Fair Trade market, as I understand – indicates to me that they may be on the road to something larger, though only time will tell.

Regardless, out of all the retailers in our area, Target is my number-one pick for gift card shopping.  And so, my dear aunt and uncle, thank you.  And enjoy your olives.

DoNotWant: Twilight Fangirls.

So, you may have noticed that I seem to be on a bit of an environmentalist kick. Which is utterly fascinating for me, but probably not that interesting for you. So I decided to come back to your regularly scheduled random topic.

The point of discussion for today is a huge risk to intellectuals everywhere: Twilight fangirls.

Believe it or not, people who do not enjoy the book Twilight have been attacked by its fangirls – on more than one occasion. Ranging from a simple verbal assault to being stabbed in the eye, honest intellectuals are at serious risk from these individuals.

What the blazes persuades these girls to act this way? I honestly couldn’t say. Maybe they’re PMSing, or maybe they’re just jerks. Maybe the only people who like Twilight are complete idiot craptards, just the sort of people who are likely to think that it’s acceptable to assault someone based on their literary tastes. Or maybe there’s some kind of subliminal programming in the books, forcing readers to join the Squealing Cult of Stephenie Meyer Fans.

Either way, if you or anyone you know is an anti-Twilighter, know that extreme caution must be exercised when dealing with these individuals. And if you are a Twilight fan who has recently assaulted someone for their failure to appreciate your taste in literature, you owe them one devil of an apology.

iApprove: My Red Letter Day.

Everyone has their off days.  Days when we just don’t feel like going on, either because circumstances seem determined to keep us from succeeding or because we don’t feel like we’re doing enough to get there.

How we get past these times varies between episodes, between individuals.  Sometimes we need a cold slap in the face; sometimes we need a motivational piece of music or a quiet place to cry for a few hours.

And sometimes we just need a few kind words.

“My Red Letter Day” is an illustration by KinkyAzianKitty, based on a quote from someone who was having such a day.  “When crying in a bathroom stall,” the quote goes, “covered in blood after slicing up my arms, I looked up and saw that someone had written ‘Everything Will Be Okay’ in red lipstick on the door.  This moment changed my life, and gave me more hope than anything else has thus far.”

It’s weird how that works.  Sometimes all you need to feel better is a bit of reassurance from an unknown source.  They have no face or name, but they always seem to know the way out of a dark place.

http://commonties.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/myredletterday.jpg

iLOL’d: Dave Barry.

Strange how much noveling eats up your time.  Normally I’m a pretty funny person with a well-developed sense of humor, always looking for a new laugh (and sometimes finding one when I’m not).  Lately, though, it seems I haven’t really had time to chase down funny things.

One thing that’s always funny, though, is Dave Barry (except his novel; I know exactly what went wrong and it wasn’t humorous).  Rain, snow, sleet, hail or NaNoWriMo, I love his columns.  He has such a fresh and sometimes highly exaggerated outlook on things that is just hilarious.  It helps that he blogs – er, excuse me, writes columns – on some of the more humorous subjects available, such as frogs, cows and politicians, but there’s no denying that what he writes is pretty darned funny.

You can read his columns online at http://www.miamiherald.com/davebarry/.

DoNotWant: Skipping TV show episodes.

Not just any skipping of TV shows, mind.  To be specific, what annoys me is when a person who has collected and watched all the boxed sets of a TV show decides that, for fun, he’s going to watch the whole show over, except that he’s going to skip the ones he didn’t like.  To make matters worse, said person is inclined never to finish this endeavor, so he ends up starting and restarting the show.  Now, I realize it’s really his business which episodes he watches; I’m cool with that.  But the end result is that if I ever decide I’d like to sit down with the guys and watch an episode, my choices are pretty limited.

Which reminds me of something I want even less: skipping over the “boring parts” of a movie.  Yep, I’ve known some people who would only sit through an entire movie once.  Any time they wanted to watch it afterward, they’d skip through the slow bits and only watch the cool parts.  My problem with this is that I watch a movie for the story, not just the eye candy, so it’s kind of jarring to go through huge timeskips.  I’d much rather sit through the “boring” parts; otherwise it doesn’t even feel like I’ve watched it.  The same thing goes for skipping certain episodes when you watch a TV series; I feel like I’m missing out on half the story.

Thank you for letting me gripe.