FAIL

I'm finishing out the year with my freshmen by reading THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. ALthough its not the most fascinating book, it is still, nonetheless, a book rich in literary value. I'm having the students focus in on the idea of a "Hemingway Hero;" that is a hero who learns and perseveres in the face of failure. I'm leading our discussions toward the idea of the American obsession with "failure,"and how our television shows and entertainment pursuits to a great deal focus on the failures of others. For example, from my own research going into this unit, I've found that if you google "Jon & "Kate + divorce" you get more than 600,000 hits. Likewise, do it for "A-Rod + steroids" and you get about 600k as well. The most fascinating one, for me, involved googling "American Idol + fail" and finding close to 1,300,000 hits. Obviously, we love to read about and watch others struggling. Why is that??

At any rate, my idea is really taking off, and as I was doing some other work on a powerpoint presentation, I checked out "failblog.org," which is a funny site to check out--lots of pictures and videos of others "failing." There's a link entitled "look-a-likes," and, for kicks, I clicked on it. ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS stuff, and once again made me ask the question: Why didnt John, Jay, Tim, and I go into this business a long time ago? We could totally do this stuff. (Do I hear "Hard Hats" in the distance??)

These dont necessarily substantiate the whole "fail" thing, but are funny nonetheless. ENjoy....

For you, Jason.....