Silence comes in notes.

                                                Simon and Garfunkel

 

My generation, ones who were in their teens and 20s back in the hippy age, Laugh-in, and Star Trek, remember Simon and Garfunkel as voices of our conscience. Paul Simon has such a gift for pulling language together. Such talented young men, writing brilliant meaningful lyrics, Simon and Garfunkel reach into my memories.

YouTube with Simon and Garfunfel

written in 1963 and 1964

My granddaughter Lily recently queried me if I knew "Silence" by a group, Disturbed.  And, "Grandma, have you ever heard of a song, 'Sound of Silence'?"

What?? Sound of Silence? You betcha--Simon and Gar...

"No, Grandma!  By Disturbed?"

I grew silent, as she did magic on my computer and pulled up this video.

 

 

 

 

 Paul Simon endorsed this album. "Really powerful performance on Conan the other day.  First time I had seen you do it live. It is yours. Nice. Thanks."

Few songs have stirred up goosebumps recently.  This performance nailed me to my chair and my eyes to the screen.  As Lily moved to close the site, I pushed the play arrow once more and then once more. 

Simon and Garfunkel's version was one of my youth, where it wove gently through my opinions.  David Draiman, vocalist of Disturbed, sang this version of my adulthood, where life is a whole world in itself.  Our lives were different then, and now so much more by David Draiman.

All that had been seen through decades was reflected by Draiman's voice, singing this song.

This was a post from April 2017. Just heard it played in an ice skating competition. The people in the bleachers watched, gasped, then stood, and then clapped.

Davide Draiman, Disturbed

He talked about this song and recording it. He

remarked that most songs take about thirty minutes or so

to record in studio. This song took

several hours. 

 Paul Simon endorsed this album. "Really powerful performance on Conan the other day.  First time I had seen you do it live. It is yours. Nice. Thanks."

 

Revenge of Killer Robot Grannies

 

Robot Wars

What do children enjoy reading? There are a number of those who do, greater than those who do not.  Part of the problem over the years is keeping students engaged.

My fond memories of Dick and Jane, Hardy Boys, Tarzan, Louisa May Alcott, and so many more are as shadows of the new books that have children reading.

How about this: "Granny's Revenge was a competitor robot in two series of Robot Wars. It was often considered to be a joke robot as it was allowed to qualify for the main series to provide entertainment for the audience and TV viewers. These contests can get nasty.**

But, there is more. It will give more information than I cared to do:

The original Granny's Revenge featured a dummy of an elderly woman sitting in a motorised wheelchair, therefore making it    top heavy. Despite this, the robot was extremely lightweight at 66kg. It had a pneumatic flipping leg as weaponry, which was not seen in action. 'Granny' herself held a chainsaw in her arms, but this was static and for display purposes only. The dummy was extremely flammable, and would torch the whole robot when set alight

There is a better overview: 

"Granny's Revenge trundled around the arena, attempting to dodge its opponent. After some spinning around by both robots, Axe-Awe slammed into Granny's legs with its back, shaking it but generally doing nothing. Granny at that time was avoiding Axe-Awe by steering around it. Axe-Awe nudged it gently before backing off as Granny's Revenge turned around. Granny then drove on the closed pit but then Axe-Awe again used its back to slam into Granny's Revenge, pushing the robot into Sgt. Bash."

Grammy's revenge

The books are a huge hit, mainly with boys. Perhaps they are the sons of the "Captain Underpants" generation. There is also the "Goosebumps" series. Huge hit.

How did I learn about this gem of literature? My eight-year old grandson from Switzerland told me about it. He loves the books, but then he is a reader.

Below is info about 

Both are available from Amazon

These were books that reluctant readers glommed onto and ate it all up. And, it really doesn't matter at that age to read the ridiculous and funny. 

**My husband was the credentialed teacher supervising science teams' contests who spent untold hours creating robots. Not your traditional robots, but there were robots nonetheless. His team's name was "The Cyborg Zombies".