- Faced with her own forgetfulness, former NPR correspondent and author Barbara Bradley Hagerty tried to do something about it. She's written about her efforts in her book on midlife, called Life Reimagined. To her surprise, she discovered that an older dog can learn new tricks.
There's a movie I remember watching just once when I was little that I haven't seen again since. It's called Twins. Arnold Schwarzneggar and Danny DeVito play twins that were separated at birth. I don't want to spoil the movie, at least the "twist" that I remember, but you learn early on that DeVito's character is a filthy though streetwise hustler, and Schwarzneggar is a near-perfect physical specimen who grew up on an island with the world's smartest teachers to instruct him, where he exercised on the beach and ate the healthiest foods. Scenes later in the movie have him performing feats of strength, being readily helpful with esoteric facts and knowledge, all testifying to his magnificent genes and upbringing. The reason the movie stuck with me is because the depiction of Arnold growing up with an ideal set of inputs really appealed to me. I wanted that. I still want that. Wake up early, run on a beach, then eat breakfast near loved ones. Advanced classes of some sort, then martial arts or gymnastics, then cooking class. Then lectures from more smart people, etc. A Spartan school. Stuff like this reminds me of the Spartan school that never was.
Your comment reminded me of this : http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/the-pencilsword-on-a-plate
Things like Batman getting trained by a master in a wooden palace on top of a mountain, man. Mr. Miyagi training while getting his cars waxed. Ender's Game before the twist. I'm such a sucker for that sort of thing. I think it's the combination self-improvement and guilt-free success while still unrivaled by the main antagonist. It's unfortunate that leading a balanced life is so difficult, especially when the opportunity skews against the proles. Because your job is... your job..
Yessss, to all those. And another: I got really into the Halo universe backstory, based on the video games, in middle school. There were a few books and collections of stories, some of which became plot lines for future games in the series. A massive part of most of those books were -- wait for it -- the Spartan school. Where Master Chief and the other Spartan super soldiers were trained. It's totally a cribbing of Ender's Game, but I couldn't get enough of it.
I played CE religiously, we had X-Box LAN parties, and we got this 3rd party client to emulate a LAN over the internet, "xbox connect", it was called. My friends were kind of into the back story, but I just liked the game. I have serious issues with willing suspension of disbelief though. I cannot seem to find a method for wedding physics and fitness. Ohhh, a tactical game of "jogging trajectories to simulate the gas-liquid phase transition for a monatomic species"? Or maybe the classic "lecture whilst jogging, whilst pretending jogging is the speed of light"? I really miss having time to work out. Major atrophy, but hey, it's the worst year of my life! Guaranteed. But getting these classes I'm taking out of my way makes it all worthwhile.