Olympic Finish and Olympic Start

Posted on July 31, 2012 by awtraughber

EVERY SPRING SEMESTER I spend time asking seniors open-ended questions.  One question that I always look forward to involves the senior going back in time and getting to say one thing to their first-day-of-freshman-year self.  In almost every class there is at least one student who would go back and tell their earlier-life self to take his freshman year more seriously.  Those comments became a big reason that I started working with our school’s freshman advisory program in 2010.  I can’t wait to show the following video to this year’s freshmen in a few days as they start their high school journeys.  It’s not just about finishing well.  It’s about starting well, too.

 

I really love watching the Olympics.  Kellogg’s?  Haven’t eaten much from them in a while.  But I like their video.

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New Song Saturday: Jason Gray’s “Easier”

Posted on July 28, 2012 by awtraughber

JASON GRAY has had some good musical moments over these last few years.  His 2010 album brought us “I Am New” as well as my personal favorite, “Holding the Key.”  Last year’s A Way to See in the Dark gave us “Remind Me Who I Am” plus a number of other thoughtful tracks.  Now it looks like he’s putting the finishing touches on a forthcoming Christmas album.  The mark of a great holiday album, of course, is if it somehow transcends the calendar moment.

The kind folks at The Rabbit Room have posted a track from Gray’s upcoming album.  The song, “Easier,” looks at things from the perspective of the Wise Men.  And, honestly, I think it has a strong chance of transcending that calendar moment.

Take a few minutes and check out “Easier” here.  Once you hit The Rabbit Room, scroll down and click the ‘play’ button.  You’ll be glad you did.

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Greenwald and a Killer(s) Concert

Posted on July 27, 2012 by awtraughber

ANY CONVERSATION ABOUT THE KILLERS is a good conversation, I think.  I linked to the band’s newest song (“Runaways”) a few days ago.  Turns out that Grantland’s Andy Greenwald caught the band at Webster Hall in the gear-up for the release of their new album.

I especially like the last paragraph of the article, where Greenwald references one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite songs from Day and Age.  “You’ve gotta be stronger than the stories,” Flowers sings from “This is Your Life.”  That’s true of all of us, even rock bands who write and play in a place bigger than most of us can imagine but closer to our collective imaginations than we might care to admit.

You can check out the quality article here.

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Things Kids Write?

Posted on July 26, 2012 by awtraughber

I UNOFFICIALLY STARTED my tenth year teaching yesterday.  We have about a week of prep time built into the schedule.  So it was a little funnier when I came across a Buzzfeed post of “23 Insightful Journal Entries from Elementary School Kids.”  And while I do not teach elementary kids, I cannot help but laugh.  Here are my two favorite.

Makes you really wish that a Jedi Council really existed.  And then there’s this one:

The site had it titled “Zombie.”  That might be true, but I’d like to think there’s something a little deeper going on their than simple reanimation and brain-appetite.

You can see the rest of them (be warned, kids can say really inappropriate things) here.

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Trailing the Life of Pi

Posted on July 25, 2012 by awtraughber

YEARS AGO I READ AN ARTICLE about movies that hate their audiences.  It was around the year 2000, and there had been a string of quality, thoughtful movies: The Matrix, Fight Club, Memento, and especially The Six Sense.  All of them pushed the envelope in storytelling and the use of “big reveals” to make sense of their stories.  The local movie critic would have none of it: those kinds of movies, which often turned into completely different stories before the credits rolled, showed a real contempt for their viewers by changing the game so late.

That’s how I felt with the ending of The Life of Pi novel.  I won’t give that ending away.  Many see it as a work of genius.  As a literary critic I can appreciate it as a storytelling device, but as a reader, I found myself angry and frustrated at a book that I really really wanted to like.
I’ll be curious to see what Ang Lee does with that ending in his movie adaptation of the novel.  They just released the first trailer for the story, which will float our way this holiday season.  Visually stunning.  Could be good.

(original link to the movie via aintitcool.com)

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New Music Sunday: Andrew Peterson’s “Carry the Fire”

Posted on July 22, 2012 by awtraughber

CAN’T BELIEVE THAT I MISSED THIS, a video of a new song from Andrew Peterson.  Like me, you may be eagerly awaiting his newest album, Light for the Lost Boy.  Until then, here’s a song recorded a few months ago and posted at The Rabbit Room called “Carry the Fire.”  It’s a great reminder of the kind of music a quality musician can produce.

 

 

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Tom Bissell and Something Like Gaming Ethics

Posted on July 17, 2012 by awtraughber

SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDST OF FOURTH QUARTER, some of the students that hang out in my room before school started playing a new iPhone game: Kick the Boss.  I couldn’t help but ask about the game as their laughter had piqued my interest.  “It’s a game where you torture your boss,” they said.  I wasn’t quite sure what to say: torturing my boss wasn’t something I had ever thought about in my two decades of having one.

I’ve not been a huge game-player in my life.  Sure, I enjoy your basic arcade game.  My iPhone games consist mostly of plants and zombies and birds.  But there are a lot of games out there full of people killing other people, and that’s become something of a bother to Tom Bissell, a writer and game-player who writes often about the field.  Last week Grantland posted Bissell’s thoughts on the newest games and how they deal with torture PLUS all of the regular violence of “shooter” games.

If you’re a gamer yourself, it’s definitely worth the read.  And if you simply like good writing, it’s definitely worth the read.  You can check out the article here.

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Joss Whedon Says the Darndest Things

Posted on July 14, 2012 by awtraughber

I’VE BEEN A JOSS WHEDON FAN for a while now.  Firefly then Buffy then Dollhouse.  The Avengers?  I was one of those that saw it not so much as “hopefully the best Marvel movie ever” but as “Joss Whedon’s best chance at finally having a major cinematic hit.”   And so, while the movie was great, it was even better seeing America respond well to a guy whose television work has twice gotten the axe early.

Whedon made an appearance at Comic-Con this weekend . . . had a panel all to himself, which is quite the accomplishment.  And while I wasn’t there, he did say a couple of things I thought worth passing on.

More than just directing, Whedon is known for writing well.  Some might call his writing shiny.  And while there was a time he could write a lot, he now relies on others to help with things like movies and comics, all who try to employ the power of witty banter.  His thought: When I can I love to write it…but in the main I am very grateful now I have this extraordinary stable of people I can trust.  That’s a real sign of good investment over time, something to strive for in the world where profession meets passion.

He went on to name-check one of his tried and true writing crew, Tim Minear (of most of his show but Buffy).  Of Tim and his ilk he said: once you assemble them, clutch them to your bosom and never let them go.

But it was his response to his love of writing and directing in multiple genres and, really, why he does what he does: That’s the only thing I want to do with my life, create emotional moments, and I don’t care where.

The creation of emotional moments.  The man is a master of them in every genre and every story he touches.  It’s great to think that maybe, even after so much great work, that he’s just getting started.

You can read more of the original write-up from Comic Book Resources here.

(artwork courtesy of Comic Book Resources)

 

 

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The Real Lesson from Jeremy Lin

Posted on July 13, 2012 by awtraughber

I WAS AT THE GYM Wednesday when the ESPYs were on.  While I was there, Jeremy Lin was being interviewed as everyone was waiting for the show to begin.  I was curious to hear what he had to say; he has quite a bit of credibility but hasn’t been in the news much since the tapering down if “linsanity.”  I was really impressed with what he said was the best thing that had happened since he “found fame.”  I was especially impressed when he said it twice.  Here’s the clip:

Of all of the good things that had happened to him in the past year, what was the best thing?  Getting to play ball well.  Getting to do his best at the thing he seems love the most.  How good it is to hear someone say such a true and good thing is a worthy reward!  And it’s no solo show for the basketball player: it’s about playing the game well with others, being a team.  That’s a strange thing to think about if you do things more on your own, which is often the case for teachers.  And yet there’s always a bigger team that you work with.  It’s by no means an easy connection, teaching, especially when you’re more comfortable as king of your classroom.  Lin, though, is a great reminder of what is possible, what is better, when you connect well who share your passion and play well.

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Movies, Movies, Movies

Posted on July 12, 2012 by awtraughber

WE’RE HALFWAY THROUGH 2012, and so the question of the quality of movies out this year has popped up over at Grantland.  It’s been a good six months for me and the movies, really.  I’ve only seen a tiny handful of duds (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter?  Seeking a Friend? Even then, they had good moments), but that doesn’t mean that the good ones are Oscar-worthy.  Prometheus?  Maybe and yet not.  Avengers?  Only in a world where the popular vote matters.  Even still, the guys at Grantland have a fun time talking things through.  You can check out their “Summermetrics versus Oscarmetrics” article here.

And, thanks to ComiCon going on this weekend, we’re getting all kinds of hints for movies a little further down the line.  One of those creating buzz is Sam Raimi’s “prequel” to The Wizard of Oz:  Oz, The Great and Powerful.  Could be interesting.  Trailer below. . .

 

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