Justin Cecil's Blog

            One of my favorite sitcoms to watch is “Frasier.” It’s one of those that I can easily see multiple times and still laugh at. It’s just good humor with great writing and characters, a show that still works since it premiered back in 1993.             If you don’t know what the show is about, “Frasier” is the story of Dr. Frasier Crane, who moves from Boston (the setting of “Cheers”) back to his hometown of Seattle after getting a gig as a radio psychiatrist. It basically tells of the many adventures and misadventures of Frasier and his friends as he navigates his way through life, dealing with people who clash with his personality.             One of the main and most memorable characters was his father Martin Crane, who moved in with him during the pilot episode and spent almost the entire run of the show doing so. This was beca...

When I teach kids English in my current home in Hohhot, China, I try to include information about different English-speaking cultures into the lessons. I’ll use videos and PowerPoints to not only improve their English, but also show them a bit of culture outside of China. For example, one of our more recent lessons was on different types of music, so the kids had to learn words such as jazz and country. Of course many if not all of my Chinese students didn’t have any clue what jazz or country music sounded like, so I had them watched music videos of Dizzy Gillespie and Garth Brooks, and then had them discuss what they saw in their steadily improving English. More recently I decided to try a little something different. I made a PowerPoint presentation, and told them whom William Shakespeare was. Then I showed them a clip of Kenneth Bragnah portraying Henry V. Granted I didn’t expect these kids, most of whom are no more than ten, to grasp anywhere close to what he was saying. But I wa...

            Currently I am living in China, teaching English to little kids. Despite all of the craziness of the world situation, I have been loving my new job, finding it both adventurous and rewarding. I’ve been trying to keep up with the news in America and the world at large, reading and watching videos on both the virus and the protests back in my home country.             With the tragic and horrifying murder of George Flloyd (I did force myself to watch the video of him being held down by the cop, and yes, I’m going to use the term murder), I decided to take some time off from writing and publishing my blog. I had a few ideas for blog articles, mostly on light topics. I’ll probably write them in the near future, but they seemed shallow in comparison to the news about ongoing police brutality (and quite frankly murder) and people trying to change things. Kind of figured that writing about my th...

            The graphic novelist Scott McCloud has created a bunch of work that I have enjoyed. He’s probably most famous for his book “Understanding Comics,” which deals with the history and influence of the medium. McCloud also wrote his own take on the superhero genre called “Zot!” which is a pretty fun series in my opinion. Along with creating good stories and bringing forth information in a fun and accessible way, he has a good art style. So back in 2015, when his latest graphic novel “The Sculptor” came out, I was looking forward to it. When I picked it up from the local library I was excited to read it.             I think it could have been better. Spoiler Alert             The idea for the story itself is actually pretty intriguing. The graphic novel tells the tale of a man in his twenties named David Smith who is an aspiring scul...

            Werner Herzog is a filmmaker that I greatly admire. I first came upon his works with his film “Grizzly Man,” which I first saw on DVD when I was in high school. Since then I’ve seen many of his movies. Herzog is certainly an original, someone who has truly committed himself to his craft. He’s also the only person to have directed at least one movie on every single continent (and yes, that includes Antarctica).             One time I saw his movie “Heart of Glass” on DVD. It’s one of his earlier films, made in 1976, before he made his legendary and notorious film “Fitzcarraldo.” It takes place long ago in a remote Bavarian village. A glass blower dies, and he was the last one to know how to make a particular type of glass, a ruby glass. The townspeople, especially a rich man, become obsessed with figuring out how to create this ruby glass again.      ...

“For every laugh, there should be a tear.” -        Walt Disney, animator/entrepreneur “The moment that you feel, just possibly, you are walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind, and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself… that is the moment, you might be starting to get it right.” -        Neil Gaiman, writer             I feel like being a comedian is a job that takes a lot of courage. Now to be clear, I’m not saying it’s a job that takes the most courage out of every other job on Earth; that category would be something along the lines of being a firefighter, a police office, a person in the military, or an astronaut. But while being a successful stand-up comic looks like a fun job, there’s a lot behind the scenes. One has to find the right note, almost like a musician, that will make the audience laugh. Fo...

            Getting fired, laid off, or otherwise let go can be an awful thing to happen to anyone. It can feel devastating, losing one’s main or even only source of income, and being cast into an already chaotic and oftentimes crazy world without a lifejacket. Even if one truly hated the job they were let go from, and even if they fortunate enough to not be living paycheck to paycheck, it can be a huge blow to one’s ego. Being let go can make one feel useless and hopeless, and can even make a person question their worth and place in the vast and often unforgiving Universe.             But occasionally, being let go can be the best thing that can happen to someone. Sometimes, it can lead to someone finding an even better path in life. A few examples include… 1)     Guy Laliberté             Laliberté had spent much of h...