IF you're intelligent, and IF you really understand subtlety and irony, you'll find a lot to admire in the film "The Lives of Others" at the Maple theater. It's about an East German secret police (STASI) agent who is spying (via a totally bugged apartment) on a famous playwrite and his companion, a famous actess. The agent, a typical mindless "drone'of the communist state, as he observes all the intimate aspects of these people's live, comes to know them as humans, and gradually discovers his own humanity. A critic calls it a vivid exploration of moral conduct and the price of principle. I won't spoil the plot, but the last two minutes are extraordinary!! It's very NOT american (as opposed to UNamerican) as it avoides a typical "sewing up the ends" style of most popular cinema.
The acting is superb, but subtle. The photography is....OK...it actually mirrors the bleak life people lived in a corrupt totalitarian state. The overall effect is fantastic. go see it
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
you gotta see this
I went to see "Freedom Wriers" at the Commerce (no free passes...hint hint) and want to recommend it to all of you. Yeah, it's another "Teacher changes kids lives" kind of fantasy, as a bunch of gang-banging, drug taking, pistol packing L.A. kids friom the 'hood --in one short year- learn to love school AND clean their lives up, but hey, you gotta have faith in the human spirit, don't you?
good acting, great cinematography, an all around nice film. There was an old T.V. series called "Welcom Back Kotter", staring a young John Travolta,that improbably had this bunch of comic "losers", the cool white kid, the goofy comic black string bean(dyn-o-mite!!), the sexy Puerto Rican (Mario what's hisname from dancing witht the stars) a foxy bimbo, a fat girl, etc who all actually pay attention to the teacher and say stupid things like"Hey, that Socretes guy, he REALLY was cool"...Not THAT was stupid. Freedom is a much more sosphisticated and kind of inspiring film. Again, the Camera work is great and the chatracterizations are generally awesome. The tight a_ _ department chair (ie: Hillary Swank's nemesis) will remind you of several teachers you've known.
here are my favorite quotes...they'll only be meaningful if yousee the film:
"Wherever you are, speak their names"
"I was home" ( I almost cried for this one!)
"YOU are the heroes"
"Paco shot him"
"I can SEE you...and I won't let you fail"
"nice pearls"
good acting, great cinematography, an all around nice film. There was an old T.V. series called "Welcom Back Kotter", staring a young John Travolta,that improbably had this bunch of comic "losers", the cool white kid, the goofy comic black string bean(dyn-o-mite!!), the sexy Puerto Rican (Mario what's hisname from dancing witht the stars) a foxy bimbo, a fat girl, etc who all actually pay attention to the teacher and say stupid things like"Hey, that Socretes guy, he REALLY was cool"...Not THAT was stupid. Freedom is a much more sosphisticated and kind of inspiring film. Again, the Camera work is great and the chatracterizations are generally awesome. The tight a_ _ department chair (ie: Hillary Swank's nemesis) will remind you of several teachers you've known.
here are my favorite quotes...they'll only be meaningful if yousee the film:
"Wherever you are, speak their names"
"I was home" ( I almost cried for this one!)
"YOU are the heroes"
"Paco shot him"
"I can SEE you...and I won't let you fail"
"nice pearls"
Friday, January 19, 2007
welcome to the 21st century!!
These last four months have been positively seismic (sp?) I got my first cell phone, dropped my land line computer for dsl, actually BOUGHT my first items on line ( shoes, CDs, and a round trip ticket to Europe for the summer), and am now blogging for the first time (when did blog become a verb?). Considering that I grew up thinking that an electric typwriter was the zenith of technological innovation, that's quite an accomplishment.
I feel kind of like my grandfather must have felt when he realized that the Model T in the barn did not need to be fed twice a day, didn't need to be brushed and watered, didn't produce an ocean of horsesh..t, and would't get sick and die! Ain't progress grand!!!
With help from Judy Miller, Shanell Eastman and a couple STUDENTS who know a crap load more than I do, I'm proud to have set up this blog site for students in Creative Writing to form what we arrogantly call a "Writing Community." (although I did spend an hour-really- last night screaming at the computer because I forgot my password and needed my password to get to the site that would remind me of my password so that I could enter this darn site)...three minutes with a 16 yr old know-it-all, and the problem was solved.
This Creative Writing class is, in itself, a new thing for me. I used to teaching clases where a) I know it ALL, b) I plan and the kids work, c)students do specific things that I grade, and d) we have tests. This class ain't gonna be that way. The plan is (teachers ALWAYS plan) that students will work, each in his/her own w ay to write better, write more, and discover how to write, what writing is, and maybe something about themselves. For those as daunted by this UN-structure, I do have a pikle of "assignments" to fall back on---their choice. Giving students CHOICES is pretty uncomfortable for control freaks --which, of course, is what ALL tgeacher are all about.
installment 2: Andre Waters-age 44 , 11 years in the NFL, stopped counting concussions at #15, killed himself in November, autopsy discovered the brain of an 85 yr old man
I feel kind of like my grandfather must have felt when he realized that the Model T in the barn did not need to be fed twice a day, didn't need to be brushed and watered, didn't produce an ocean of horsesh..t, and would't get sick and die! Ain't progress grand!!!
With help from Judy Miller, Shanell Eastman and a couple STUDENTS who know a crap load more than I do, I'm proud to have set up this blog site for students in Creative Writing to form what we arrogantly call a "Writing Community." (although I did spend an hour-really- last night screaming at the computer because I forgot my password and needed my password to get to the site that would remind me of my password so that I could enter this darn site)...three minutes with a 16 yr old know-it-all, and the problem was solved.
This Creative Writing class is, in itself, a new thing for me. I used to teaching clases where a) I know it ALL, b) I plan and the kids work, c)students do specific things that I grade, and d) we have tests. This class ain't gonna be that way. The plan is (teachers ALWAYS plan) that students will work, each in his/her own w ay to write better, write more, and discover how to write, what writing is, and maybe something about themselves. For those as daunted by this UN-structure, I do have a pikle of "assignments" to fall back on---their choice. Giving students CHOICES is pretty uncomfortable for control freaks --which, of course, is what ALL tgeacher are all about.
installment 2: Andre Waters-age 44 , 11 years in the NFL, stopped counting concussions at #15, killed himself in November, autopsy discovered the brain of an 85 yr old man
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