Ode to Blume

Ban is for Men, not BOOKS!

If only the teachers could just resume
To read the tales of Judy Blume.
The world would be a far better place
If these stupid fears would just be erased.

Because of a parent, a complaint, or a fear
The children are bored, and a teacher in tears.
Blume's stories are so grand, wonderful, and true.
What's so wrong with a chlid saying poo-poo?

Are you there God? It's me, just a simple young teacher
And I'm frustrated with these legalistic preachers.
They ban a book without a second thought
I hope someday their evils are caught.

Their dumb and wacked rules make no sense
Perhaps it's time for rebellion to commence.
A protest, petition, a march or a song
Anyone can see that their methods are wrong.

What shall we do? What shall we say?
Should we go on continuing to live this way?
Heck no! Open a book, and laugh out some more.
If you don't like it, it's time I show you the door.

Read Across America Day is coming this week
So here's the secret that I'm going to leak
Friday as they all read old Dr. Seuss
I'll read Fudge, yes I will, or bring me the noose!



Join me and read a banned book this week.

Oscar 2007

Pretty much I had a great time today. We had the annual Oscar party at the Shaw abode. It was wonderful. I'm a little tired, worn out, and ready to hit the sack but I love pictures so I must post away. Here's how the night went...

Guests were greeted by the following items...

A lovely sign...


A welcome gift...





A table with clever food choices...



Pictures of the nominees for the occasion as well as fun reading material which accented the evening's events....



I came dressed as Al Gore... I carried a globe with a scarf and beanie on to symbolize Global Warming... Get it? I also handed out pieces of paper to the guests with a variety of "Inconvenient Truths"...



Oh yeah and a surprise Pan's Labyrinth character too..



Carl was snazzy in a Bond-esk Suit, while the lovely Alyssa was from Step Up (I think) and came in warm up clothes...



Jenn was decked out in an Oscar-to-Be flick and wore a rollerdurby outfit... Some Will Farrell thing I think...




The Lycan men surrounded An Inconvenient Melting Glacier otherwise known as Parker...



There were the party goers, Nicole Richie , Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton.... Those three girls sure did party it up...



Superman and Lois Lane made an appearance....




As did some others... Including a cute crossword puzzle...











And the winner (technically) for 2007 is...


No. He isn't special needs, just looks that way in the picture. My love from last year... Alas. This year he came as himself.

But there was something from every film, and here it is:
A Framed Picture of Queen Elizabeth, for The Queen
A tiara, for Little Miss Sunshine
A pack of Asian styled note cards, for Letters from Iwo Jima
A pocket translator book, for Babel
And the Departed DVD, for the Departed

Oh yeah0-- The Dreamgirls' Soundtrack, cause Dreamgirls was given a nod in almost every category so I had to show some love there. Plus there is Beyonce... ah...

Hooray for a great year, great party and wonderful time. I am thankful to the acadamey and all of you who showed up. And shout out to Ellen for being a great host this year. Woot. Woot.

Amazing Grace?

So I think the movie needs to be called "Somewhat-Good Grace" because the movie left me with a bland taste in my mouth. I have to admit I didn't really follow the characters very well, my bad. I guess it was mainly because I thought two separate characters were the same guy... I mean Daddy Warbucks and Dumbledore look the same right? Well it took me until the last scene to realize they were two totally different men. And because of this the movie was even more bland.

Well, despite (or in spite) of my lack of character understanding I really think the director and writers of this film had a much bigger story to work with and decided upon the one which would sell best to the mainstream, white Christian viewers. Boring, boring, boring. The historical, period piece was so typical and wasn't even filmed that wonderfully. I was really frustrated during the first few minutes of the film because I thought people were walking in front of the projector. Low and behold it wasn't the theater's fault, but the directors. He had servants and messengers walking in front of the camera. Perhaps this was to subconsciously reinforce the notion of aristocracy and a class based society, but I don't know.

When I picture this movie in my mind I see something more along the lines of The Red Violin, Crash, or Amores Los Peros. It could have been as good as all of those. Something with multiple story lines all happening at once, culminating in the words of the song being expressed. Think of how moving it would be to watch the composer begin to write the words, watch the politician fight the words, watch a slave live the words, and maybe throw in another example of the words being passed on to another. This would be so much more amazing than what we were given.

Alas, the acting was ok. Nothing worthy of great kudos, and yes there were some moving brief moments in the story, but all in all I felt the movie was bland, typical, and while the story was good, it didn't flex it's cinematic muscles enough to be a work of art.

Plain Rice Cakes for Grace. What a shame.

Frrrrreaky Frrrrrriday

OK so I have been feeling ill for the past 36 hours..;. But I slept like a lion in the jungle last night. I'm pretty sure I took a two hour nap after work yesterday and then got to bed about 9:45. So yeah. My body is still a little congested but my joints don't ache. Hooray for sleep.

Today I sub again, and we're having a party in class. I think I will bring in Duck Tales and something else to watch so we can just chill all afternoon. Good plan? I say yes.

This weekend is the big event. You know... The Oscar Party. I have yet to find a costume, however I think I have some big ideas. Last minute costumes always work out well. I suppose I will get one tomorrow afternoon. Anyway here's the picture of the day. And the answer is yes---he is one of our new friends.

Oh my life.

So pretty much today has been me taking over my class at the school. It has been really fun to do all of the direction for the day. Some of the intresting things we have done today include dancing the the digerydoo, saying G'day mates, reminding studnets to only talk in a "whisper, whisper, whisper", comparing ourselves to wombats and dingos (maybe the dingo ate your baby), and observing plants growing in a dark closet.

Yeah, pretty much fun stuff. Anyway. Tonight should be fun we plan to go out with K-and D-dawgs. Should. Gosh, it has been a long time since I wrote one of these. I think I need to take an intesting blogging class where I will learn how to make these posts more intersting. Humf.

Alas, I will now go and enjoy my fudge brrrrownies.

Letters from Iwo Jima

Well here's how I feel about it. Let me premise this blog with a few statements on my life:

1. I love movies
2. I hate war
3. Foreign Language films really grab my attention

Ok with all this said I have to say I really didn't jive with this film. I know! SHOCK! An Oscar pick Michael didn't care for. Maybe it was the saturated green hues of the movie that made me tired, or perhaps it was the awkward camera angles but I just didn't get into it. I have to say I don't really care for war movies (oh bad memories of Gods and Generals--sorry Swenson family --who, by the way, I just found out may have multiple family members who read this blog.) Well, back to the movie--

It was a pretty interesting concept to look at the war one sided from the Japanese perspective, but I felt it fell a little short of my expectations. Also, I have this theory that Clint Eastwood's life goal is to spread the word that killing yourself is ok to do. He's all about euthanasia and suicide in the line of duty. Oh well, that's how the west was won.

Overall this movie left me wanting more. More of an established rhythm, more bonding, more insights, just more. So why the Oscar? Two reasons 1-the varied perspective on a war we know very well and 2-Clint Eastwood.

My grade: Rice Cakes all alone, no peanut butter and absolutely no Diet Coke.

Ghost Rider

Let me just say there are sometimes when I believe you can justify seeing a movie and other times where you are on your own. Well this time I guess I can justify seeing this one because I saw it with my soon-to-be brother-in-law Eric. He really wanted to see if so I caved and said sure. He's great so why not?


Anyway to the movie stuff...

So this movie wasn't disappointing because pretty much my expectations for the movie was for another Fantastic 4 Debacle. Honestly, it wasn't a great movie, and I don't think I could stretch it to be a "good movie" but I have to say it wasn't that bad.

The imagery was pretty sweet at times, the plot moved along so I wasn't bored, and the story wasn't horrible. GASP. This isn't the negative post I expected to write. But there was SOMETHING horrible in the movie. Yes... You guessed it Mr. Coppala himself, Nicholas Cage. Ok, horrible may be a bit too strong. I think the word for it is annoying. What the heck is up with his mouth! I can't stop looking at it and wondering if his teeth and lips are real. Actually if I didn't know him before this movie I may have thought him to be funny or perhaps have good timing, but nope. Can't do it. I guess this blog falters in equality. He is ripped like a GI Joe in this movie, so he looks the part. But something just doesn't click for me.

The problem I really had with this movie (other than Roxy's shirt popping open in every scene--honestly it was a little much) (and the whole cheese factor) (and the whole Texas factor) was the ending. I have a much better ending which is far more tragic and believable, but would still lend itself to sequels to satisfy the companies behind the Benjamins.

For those of you looking for a grade, I refuse to put a grade on this movie out of principle. But if you went and saw it I wouldn't hate you for it.

Choo Choo to the Zoo Zoo

Kind of the best date yet. I surprised Farah with an early pick up that lead to a train ride to Santa Barbara. I threw her off the scent so she wouldn't suspect the train. It was great.


On the train we did a little bit of writing... Yes. It was awesome, so Harry-esk.




Once there in the SB we walked to the Zoo where we saw lots of cute little characters.









We spent sometime at the Zoo reflecting on the Beauty of God,




followed by a ride on the Waterfront Shuttle. I love that song.




After a ride, then a walk down State we jumped in Rusty's Pizza where Faufen had her first pizza in 9 months! No cheese obviously but still. Amazing times. Then it was to the train, Guad style, and back home. An amazing adventure I do say.


Ahhh Nintendo... Wonderful...



Yes. A wonderful date, says I.

Found my Camera

Well my camera was lost at my parents house, and today I happened upon it. So here is my pictorial update.

My Mission? To bring the girlfriend to her lover. Here are the steps.

The Driver.


The Car.


The Flowers.


The Girlfriend.




The Loverbirds Unite.



Aww. and now they're engaged. Mission Accomplished.

Ode to Joy

I had to get worse to get better.





What a wonderful weekend. It was my Reality. There it is.

Ode to Oscar

This blog is to be prefaced with the idea that I don't consider Documentaries and Shorts to be in the category of "must see before the Oscars" (mainly because they are hard to find in this dumpy little town).

So here are the list of movies I still want to see before the 25th.
Venus
Little Children
Curse of the Golden Flower
United 93
Letters...
Poseidon
Borat

If I see those movies I will have seen 95% of all of the Oscar Nods--in every category! I know 7 movies is a lot. But here's the list of movies I have seen. It's a little bigger, but for both lists I just looked at the Oscar ballot. So there it is.

Blood Diamond
Half Nelson
The Pursuit of Happyness
The Last King of Scotland
LIttle Miss Sunshine
Dreamgirls
The Departed
Volver
Notes on a Scandal
The Queen
The Devil Wears Prada
Babel
Cars
The Good Shepherd
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates: Dead Man's Chest
The Prestige
Children of Men
Marie Antoinette
An Inconvenient Truth
Superman Returns

Notes on a Scandal

Notes on a Scandal Review:



Ok, this movie dealt with some heavy, and dirty, stuff. It was hard to be so challenged when watching the movie because of its gritty stuff it dealt with. The Dame (The Muffin Lady) was really, really freaky and amazing in this film. She captured this evil, depraved, love-starved woman who was obsessive and fragile very well. Almost too well. A little freaky I'd say.

I love Cate Blanchett, but this wasn't her best role. She was good and believable but I have seen her do better work. Quite possibly the three best attributes of the film are as follows:

1. The intense, lovely musical score. This movie was framed in gorgeous, menacing music which complimented the mood and drive in the film. Kudos to the composers.

2. The script was well crafted. The details on "the Scandal" and the flow of the words was, in my opinion, near impeccable.

3. The contrast of the two lead actresses and their disorders. I like the subtle way the director contrasted the two characters but inevitably showed both of their sicknesses. Love it.

Overall, I'd give this movie a Rice Cake with Peanut Butter, due to the grittiness of the film, I'll hold the Diet Coke but enjoy a Granola Bar with the meal.

Ode to July

Wedding night oh, ooo.
Potter on the twenty first.
July, I love you.