Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Speaking of Frogs

Speaking of Frogs

Went searching for content and found this gem, a blast from my past. Enjoy the wry social commentary. Or just the music.

Posted by Unclejbird @ 5:04 PM :: (0) comments

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

The Summer of Al

Going tonight to see the Al Gore film "An Inconvenient Truth." Truth be told, this is one I probably wouldn't be going to of my own accord; friends invited my wife and me to come along with them. In fact, she was shocked when I told her I accepted the invitation, owing, I think, to my pained reaction (Yawn, another Al Gore lecture) when we saw the trailer before "A Prairie Home Companion." (OK, raise your hands if you saw PHC and are planning on seeing the Gore film. Theatres might as well make this a double feature for all the liberal NPR synergy here)

Extra points will be given if Gore says the word "lockbox" or does the Macarena.

Interesting C-SPAN moment over the weekend. I was flipping around and found video of Gore's book signing at a D.C.-area bookstore a couple weeks ago. So there's Al signing his heart out with people coming up and telling him they voted for him in 2000, etc. Then, who walks up but Ralph Nader!! If I had seen this anywhere but C-SPAN, I'd think it was rigged. This was something you definitely wouldn't trust if you saw it on a reality TV program. So Ralph apparently bought a book and brings it up to have it signed. Gore stands up and shakes the man's hand and asks how he's been. Then there was some unintelligible dialogue, then Gore sits down and signs the book. They shake hands again and then Nader shuffles away.


So I'm thinking, "What the fuck was that about?!" I would've given about a million dollars to be inside that wooden head of Gore's just then. If his eyes were darting around to see if the cameras were still on, I didn't catch it. At very least, I'll bet under his breath he cursed Nader's mom.

So after that I was thinking about Gore's charm offensive with the book and the movie, book signings, talk shows, etc. Could it be he's positioning himself among a presently weak 2008 Democratic candidate crop? Granted, the interviews I've seen with Gore have been pretty sharp. He rips Bush for being incurious across the board: global warming, long-term effects in Iraq, etc. Of course, maybe that's just piling on at this point. He's also demurred when it comes to his candidacy -- probably a smart move for anyone at this time. At any rate, he came across as classy, understated and intelligent.

Flashback: Remember the days when people chose the "unintelligence" and steadfastness of Bush over the slick smugness of Clinton/Gore? Seven years after the 2000 election, who among the voting public still feels like Bush is trustworthy?

But when I see Gore, I can't get past that patrician air of his. I think it's his nose. The guy looks like Roman sculpture from the neck up (below, not so much). And the problem is, I think people who are undecided, or would be, won't vote for this guy just because -- because they remember his petulance from 2000, because he still looks like a snob, because they still associate him with Bill Clinton. (Remember Gore's disappearing act during the Clinton impeachment trial? In those innocent days, a "secure undisclosed location" was anywhere Clinton wasn't).

I hope the party can do better.

Posted by Unclejbird @ 11:21 AM :: (0) comments

Sunday, June 25, 2006

What'd You Do This Summer?

So what do teachers do during the summer?

Everything they can't do during the school year because they're grading your kids' crappy research papers and worksheets.

Personally, I've been filling my time by sleeping in late, rebuilding up miles on my running regimen and watching World Cup soccer. And, I've resolved to catch up on all the films I've meant to see but haven't over the past year. This includes re-viewing some of my favorites from the recent past and there's no better place for this than one's local public library. The library system here in Norfolk is blessed with a pretty good DVD and VHS collection. You get them for a week and they're absolutely free. So, if you want to see "American Beauty" again, but can't justify the rental to yourself or others, or if you really can't decide if you want to commit financially to "Paradise Now," this is perfect.

Along these lines, we re-viewed "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" last night. If you missed it in 2004, check it out. It's worth the price of a rental at your locally owned video store (NO film is worth going to Blockbuster). If you liked Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura, rent that instead. He's great in "Sunshine" and understated, even by "Truman Show" standards. Practically everyone else in the cast is good too: Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo (shout out to Virginia Beach's First Colonial HS, Mark's alma mater), Elijah Wood, David Cross.

This is a drastic oversimplification, but the plot goes like this: Carrey plays sadsack Joel, who meets and falls in love with Winslet's Clementine. They have a falling out and she pays a doctor to erase Carrey from her memory. Everything's fine until Carrey finds out, gets pissed and decides to have HER erased from his mind, only to remember why he loved her in the first place and then trying madly to hang on to the memories of her even as the doctor (Wilkinson) and his colleagues are doing their work. (Great Dialogue: Joel: Is there any risk of brain damage? Doctor: Well, technically speaking, the operation IS brain damage, but on a par with a night of heavy drinking. Nothing you'll miss.)

Beyond that, suffice to say that the rest of the film consists of the characters' present-day selves reappearing in Joel's memories as they are falling apart or disappearing. It's really touching stuff, especially for those who have loved, lost and wanted to scrub their consciousness of certain people. Would you if you could? The film says that even if you did, certain things can't be erased. Wilkinson's character at one point had an affair with Dunst's and her memory was erased, but she is STILL attracted to him. Joel and Clementine, in a twist that disappointed some on the movie critic site rottentomatoes.com, end up together because they realize they were in love at some point.

Posted by Unclejbird @ 4:15 PM :: (1) comments

God Save the Queen!

Just finished watching England's 1-0 triumph over Ecuador in the World Cup. This sets up a probable quarterfinal matchup between the men of St. George, including Wayne Rooney, left, and the Netherlands, provided the Dutch can get the job done later today. Note: the English haven't made it to a World Cup final since 1966, so let's not upset Cubs fans everywhere with talk of how long-suffering English soccer hooligans are.

The match was an example of everything I love about the World Cup and soccer in general. Two pretty good teams (at this point in the Cup matches, they're all pretty good by virtue of surviving the round-robin portion of the draw), a lively crowd (soccer fans are the only ones I have seen who sing LOUDLY during a match -- nothing better, by the way, than a rousing chorus of "God Save the Queen" by 50,000 or so fans. I figure you have to be pretty damn loud to be heard on a TV broadcast) and spirited play all around.

A few words about England's David Beckham: No, he's not the soccer stud he once was, but he can still deliver on occasion. Witness his stellar free kick in the second half. The thing went up and over a group of defenders, then down quickly, curving away from the goalkeeper as it found the back of the net. Still, the weak-ass American announcers made a big deal until then of saying how Beckham didn't belong on the field and that he slowed the game down too much. But still, there he was bringing home the breakfast meat for his side. Even after that point, the commentators kept up their assault. Beckham is still too old and slow, despite remaining a threat during set plays. Pity the man who's considered washed up in his thirties!

It'd be interesting if, as I've heard a few times recently, Beckham retired from his club team in Madrid and came to play in the states. As said before, he's not the player he once was and, if anything, he's now a more consistently known pop culture figure than a world-class football star. My guess is the American celeb watchers (I just can't call them the PRESS) would have a field day with Becks and his wife, the former Posh Spice, but can anything top the tabloidal bashing these two have received in their home country? See the following story, titled "Beckham orders pink mobile phone." Link: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32448. Regardless of its full meaing, check out the last sentence: "Becks has history with mobile phones, of course. His steamy text messages to Rebecca Loos eventually turned her into a pig-pleasuring media star." Even Inside Edition wouldn't do this type of thing.

Posted by Unclejbird @ 1:37 PM :: (0) comments

Sunday, June 11, 2006

End-of-Year Fun

Fun is pretty hard to come by this tie of year, so you take it pretty much where you can find it.

For example, I'm grading personal essays written by my 10th-grade English class, and I come across one about one of my favorite topics: music. The kid writing it is pretty cool by 10th-grade standards and we've had many short conversations about AC/DC, Zeppelin, etc. I was heartened as I read that he also likes bluegrass and his dad gave him an old Rickenbacker guitar.

OK, so he's writing this time about his flirtation with grunge music, which I think is pretty funny for someone who's 16 years old. In other words, he was in diapers the first time Eddie Vedder rolled his eyes back in his head. So I'm reading along and I come upon the following phrase:

"Me and my friends would just sit around and listen to Temple of the Dog, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees and Sonic Youth. We used to go around with long hair, plaid shits (sic) and Converse All-Stars."

Now, I never met any of those bands, but in pictures they all LOOKED like they smelled a little funky. Now I know for sure.

I've also had a good time recently reading student evaluations of my teaching. Some of my more senior colleagues have apparently given up doing this because when I asked for samples of a form I could use, they just shrugged their shoulders. Kudos to my history and English peeps who came through for me.

Notable responses thus far:

Q: What should your teacher do LESS of?
A: Look funny

Q: Did you find this class challenging and/or interesting?
A: No, because it was to (sic) easy.
Apparently a little TOO easy!

Q: What should your teacher do MORE of?
A: Sit down and take a chill pill.

Same question, but different response from another student...
A: Tell unfunny jokes
Note to self: make sure to break out A-list material next year. I'll start with "The Aristocrats"






Posted by Unclejbird @ 7:53 PM :: (1) comments

Monday, June 05, 2006

It All Started Here

One of the coolest things about the part of Virginia where we live is the high concentration of historical sites. Within an hour's drive, one can check out the beginning of the colonial period -- where English settlers landed at Cape Henry and the first permanent English settlement in the New World at Jamestown -- and the end of the colonial period at the Yorktown battlefield, where George Washington (sorry, Mr. Holman) finished off the Brits in the Revolutionary War. Note to our British friends...sure, we had help from the French. But we still kicked your collective ass.

In case you've been living under a rock for the past few months, next year marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. A certain Associated Press correspondent recently waxed poetic on the topic of the quadricentennial for AP's travel Podcast series: http://www.idiotvox.com/Travel/PodCast_Review_AP_Travel_Tips_and_Trips__13730.html

What a voice! I think I'll marry her.

And she makes a good point: the reason Plymouth, Mass., gets all the pub for being the first settlement, despite being founded 13 years AFTER Jamestown, is because it's a sexier story. They have the whole religious freedom thing going for them, along with the first Thanksgiving and charming pilgrims in funny hats and buckled shoes. Jamestown was pretty much a commercial venture. And while people know the story of John Smith and Pocahontas, that tale -- albeit a tall one -- never resonated with people the way Plymouth did.

Posted by Unclejbird @ 8:29 PM :: (1) comments

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Gimme a Break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Basic cable on the weekends can be a hit-and-miss affair. But there's always something interesting on C-SPAN2, which on Saturdays and Sundays turns its programming over to BookTV and its continuing series of conversations with nonfiction authors on all sorts of topics. Favorite programs they've done in the past include Tim O'Brien and Sarah Vowell.

Ordinarily, I'll give a few moments during my strobe-like channel flipping if I see someone I recognize (today I saw "Blackhawk Down" author Mark Bowden being interviewed wearing sport sandals and an open-collared shirt. Has this guy not been cashing his advance checks?). But I stuck around anyway yesterday when I looked in and saw Super Tool John Stossel of ABC's 20/20. If you don't know who he is, consider yourself fortunate. But maybe you do anyway. He's the creator of the "GIMME A BREAK" segments seen on that show. They routinely feature Stossel and his Tom Selleck castoff mustache shedding light on scams and schemes that are fleecing Americans of their hard-earned dollars. The 'stache, I suppose, gives him some sort of gravitas with the 75-and-over set who watch 20/20. They're thinking Clark Gable; I'm thinking Magnum P.I.

And the guy has written not one, but two books. The latest is called
"Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel—Why Everything You Know is Wrong." This should have been my first clue to find something else. Clue No. 2 -- the lecture on his book was given at the Cato Institute. But watch I did. Stossel was making a point about how the education system needs to be more like the business world; competition would make our kids smarter and our schools better. Seldom does something I see on TV leave me slack-jawed, but the following passage did so:

Another myth is that teachers are underpaid. Under what? What does that mean in a free society? In America, you have 5-10 applicants for every teaching job. Teaching isn't underpaid. It's a joyous job. Lots of people want to do that. You get to help children. Plus teachers make $7,000 above the average wage in America. And don’t forget they get lots of time off. They get the summers off, so the government says that if you do an hour-by-hour comparison, teachers make more than chemists, psychiatrists, registered nurses, computer programmers.

Pay particular attention to the blue part.
I'm not sure about how many people apply for teaching jobs these days, but is he kidding about teaching salaries? Lots of time off? For someone who purports to be busting myths, he's subscribing to a whopper of a misconception that people have about teaching. Granted, at one point I shared his view before I took up the calling. And sure, on paper it looks like long, luxurious summers of rest and relaxation. But what doesn't show up in Stossel's calculation or those done in the minds of the public at large are the hours I and my colleagues spend at home at night and on weekends, writing lesson plans and grading essays and other assignments. Trying really hard not to play the martyred teacher here, but it really irks me when people flat-out get things wrong about what goes on inside schools like mine. Unless those registered nurses are rolling their patients home in their hospital beds and the chemists pack their beekers and Bunsen burners home on the weekends, as far as I'm concerned there is no comparison. I'm not seeking sympathy or special attention on this, nothing save for simple accuracy. It's this simple: at the end of the year, when you weigh the nights and weekends against the summer, it all comes out in the wash.

Apparently, Stossel's readers aren't the only ones who need to read "
Why Everything You Know is Wrong."

The rest of the Stossel screed is available in MP3 and RealAudio streaming formats at:
http://www.cato.org/events/060523bf.html.

Posted by Unclejbird @ 8:55 PM :: (1) comments