Today after RPM one of the youth was teaching me the Bootie Scratch. I'm sure that some of you are thinking that bootie scratchin' should be pretty self-explanitory, not much instruction needed, however what I am talking about is not itching ones buttox, but a rather fast paced dance that this big boy can hardly do, but let me tell you something, it is fun!
Brianna was kind enough to transcribe the dance steps into words, since I was the only one that got the instructions and that there were several other pupils who wanted a copy I will post them here so those people can print them off. This won't help anyone who has not seen the dance done.
The Bootie Scratch
as transcribed by Brianna
[My own notes in brackets]
Cross-step, cross-step [reminds me of a grapevine step]
Boxstep (cross, back, out, together)
Turn left four [quarter turns] Turn right four [quarter turns]
Rock forward twice, rock back twice
Rock forward once, rock back once
Brush step step (turn left)
Step clap, step clap
Knee clap [pray that you can get back up] knee clap [pray that you can get back up]
Kick out, back turn around step step
Rock front, rock back, brush, step, step
Turn right, turn left
(Repeat previous two)
(Feet together) right, left, right, left
Kick out back, jump out, together
(Repeat previous four times)
Rock back left step step
Rock back right step step
(Repeat previous five)
I don't think I remember how to do all that. *Sigh* Just typing it makes me tired. I'm too fat.
It would be fun to teach my students.
Class dismissed!
Okay, can't pull the wool over your eyes can I? You guys saw through my desception.
No I'm not giving up blogging, I just had to pull a prank becuase I outlawed in my class. I told the class that I would smite them if they tried anything today. One did try a harmless prank, and then tried to lie his way out of it. He has been smote.
Hope you had a great and safe April Fool's Day!
____
Fun story from the front lines today. A stray dog was out on the playground today. Of course the kids were drawn to it. I was talking to one of my former students at a later recess. Here is the conversation.
Student: That was a cool dog.
Me: You think so?
S: Yeah. And it was a girl dog. Do you wanna know how I know?
M: (Thinking: No, no I don't) How?
S: That dog had milkers.
M: I think you need to go play.
Class dismissed!
Well, that blogging thing was fun but alas, I must move on.
So long and thanks for all the fish.
*Heart-tugging music swells* CLASS.... DISsssmissed!!!! *Music swells to a fevered pitch as we fade out to black*
I just got back from the grocery store. While standing in the check-out lane I was reading some headlines.
According to the "sensational double issue" of The Sun... The Prophets Agree: The END OF THE WORLD IS BEGINNING.
Just thought I would let ya'll know.
Class dismissed!
Well I am excited about a new movie coming to a theater near me. No it's not the Matrix sequal (though I can't wait for that either), it's certainly not the next Star Wars movie, and it isn't even the next Harry Potter movie. It is Holes!
Holes is based off of the wonderful book by the same name by Louis Sachar. It's sooo cool that it is coming out April 18 because I just finished reading this book the kids in may class last week. They LOVED the book too and they were SOOO excited to hear that there was a movie coming out. I've had almost the same exact conversation with about 10 of my students now:
STUDENT: Guess what! Guess what!ME: The ceiling caved in on the boy's bathroom and Jimmy is trapped inside and I need to go save him.
S: NO!!!!! They made a movie about Holes!!!!!!!!!!!!
M: (Feigned shock) No! Get out of town! You're pulling my leg!
S: Really, I saw it on TV last night!
M: So when does it come out?
S: Uh... well... this year?
M: That's a good bet.
S: You know what?
M: What?
S: Stanley looks nothing like he should. He's not fat enough.
M: Really? So is his nickname still Caveman?
S: I don't know. Aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnddddddddddd the lizards are ALL wrong.
M: The yellow spotted ones? Those no good, dirty rotten, pig-stealers (those who have read the book will understand that joke.)
S: Yup. They didn't make them right.
M: (Shakes head in disapproval)
S: So can we see it?
M: I don't know, can you?
S: May we watch it?
M: As a class?
S: Yeah, like we did with Balto and The Littles?
M: No.
S: But...
M: No. But I would love for you to tell me all about it when you get to see it. I bet I see it before you.
S: No way!
M: We'll see.
Parents are going to hate me. 
I downloaded the trailer and it SEEMS that they have said close to the book which will be difficult becuase the book is very densely plotted. Everytime I read the book I would have to do a "Last time on Holes..." There are parts of the book that are making connections to other parts of the book that would require alot of explination and reminding, but it was well worth it. Everday it was, "Are you going to read Holes? Are ya? Please, pppppppllllleeeeaaaasssssseee!"
After seeing the trailer, I would have to say my students are right, Stanley isn't fat enough and the lizards are all wrong.
I am a little nervous, this was the same company that did the Tuck Everlasting movie. So I guess I will see on April 18. Bet I see it before you!
Class dismissed!
P.S. The title of this entry comes from Holes. Mr. Sir is always telling the campers that. After seeing the movie website, it sounds like Mr. Sir (played by Jon Voight) says something similiar, "We ain't kindergarteners playing in a sandbox!" Well the messes up one of the ironies at the end of the book. *Sighs*
P.S.S. I just read on the website that Louis Sachar himself wrote the screenplay for the movie!!! Things are looking up!
While surfing the Internet today I came across some information about one of my favorite Stephen Sondheim musicals, Sweeny Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Why is it one of my favorites? Several reasons actually. One, the show is so dark and not what you would think of to write a musical. Two, the idea behind the show is so... interesting, did a thing like this every really happen, could it ever happen? Third, some great music. Finally, it opened on Broadway on my 1st birthday. Oh, and another reason, Angela Lansbury originally played the part of Mrs. Lovett, an unlikely part for her.
The show is about a man, Sweeny, who is driven insane by a crooked judge. The judge rapes Sweeny's wife, sends Sweeny off to jail on a fake charge and then becomes the gaurdian of Sweeny's only daughter, with plans of marrying her in the future. Sweeny returns to London with revenge on his mind. He sets up a barder shop above Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie Shop on Fleet Street. He kills the occasional customer with his razor and uses a trapped door to send the bodies down to the basement where Mrs. Lovett chops and minces the bodies to put in her meat pies. The show has a dark sense of humor that is wonderful showcased in the song, "A Little More Priest."
My question about whether something like this ever happened was answered today by a very interesting and informative article about the inspiration for this musical and other plays like it.
The main premise of the show is based off a man named Sweeny Todd that did have a barber shop on Fleet Street. The real Sweeny was insane to begin with, not from an evil judge. He used a contraption that would flip the barber chair around and the fall is what usually killed the customer, however, occasionally he would have to go down and finish a few off. He would stuff the bodies in a church catacomb that connected to his basement.
Later, he did meet up with a Mrs. Lovett who owned a bakery (her basement also connected to the catacombs). Sweeny would clean and gut is victims and then Mrs. Lovett did use them in her meat pies. Her shop became popular after she started using humans in her meat pies by the way, evidently they were tasty. The two were finally caught because of the stinch that went up into the church from the decaying corpes under the church. Amazing, truth really is stranger that fiction sometimes.
The stage show is great if you ever have an opportunity to see it.
Into the Woods and Assassins (NOTE: Assassins is a very contriversal musical and certainly not for everyone) are also great.
Mr. Wright (who will be paying extra attention to that mystery meat sandwich in the cafeteria next time), out!
Hot on the heal of the Razzies come that other award. You know that little golden statue. The nominations are out for Mr. Oscar. Let's have a look at a few categories and my picks. NOTE: I have not seen all of these movies.
DIRECTING
CHICAGO X
GANGS OF NEW YORK
THE HOURS
THE PIANIST
TALK TO HER
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
ABOUT A BOY
ADAPTATION X
CHICAGO
THE HOURS
THE PIANIST
WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
FAR FROM HEAVEN X
GANGS OF NEW YORK
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING
TALK TO HER
Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN
VISUAL EFFECTS
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
SPIDER-MAN
STAR WARS EPISODE II ATTACK OF THE CLONES X
BEST PICTURE
CHICAGO X
GANGS OF NEW YORK
THE HOURS
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS X
THE PIANIST
See the rest of the nominations here.
___
The Roller Coaster takes another dip...
I told myself that I was not going to post on this again, but... I was told today that part of the money that was going to the Palm project was going to be used on something else. Thankfully, it is for a good cause. The librarians are buying videos that align with our curriculum. My principal did not tell me this so she still may have something up her sleeve.
It feels like this ride is quickly coming to and end. If I don't get the program, I don't think I will be all that disappointed. It won't change the reason that I teach.
___
Cheryl took a quiz to find her top spots, so did I. Here are some of my top spots to live according to the quiz:
Also on the list:
What cities do you belong in?
Mr. Wright, out!
It's time again to honor those special movies that give us hours and hours of horrible viewing sickness. It's time for the Razzies. Let's take a look at some of the Razzie nominations. The X indicates my choice for the Razzie.
Worst Picture:
THE ADVENTURES of PLUTO NASH (Warner Bros.) X
CROSSROADS (Paramount)
Roberto Benign's PINOCCHIO (Miramax)
STAR WARS: EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES (Fox/Lucasfilm)
SWEPT AWAY (Screen Gems)
WORST Supporting Actor:
Hayden Christensen/STAR WARS/EPISODE II: YADA-YADA-YODA X
Tom Green/STEALING HARVARD#
Freddie Prinze, Jr./SCOOBY DOO
Christopher Walken/THE COUNTRY BEARS*
Robin Williams/DEATH TO SMOOCHY*
MOST FLATULENT TEEN-TARGETED MOVIE (New Category!)
ADAM SANDLER'S 8 CRAZY NIGHTS (Sony/Columbia)
CROSSROADS (Paramount)
JACKASS: THE MOVIE (Paramount)
SCOOBY DOO (Warner Bros.) X
XXX (Sony/Revolution)
NOMINATIONS PER FILM:
CROSSROADS: 8 Nominations
STAR WARS EPISODE II and SWEPT AWAY: 7 Nominations Each
Roberto Benigni’s PINOCCHIO: 6 Nominations
THE ADVENTURES OF PLUTO NASH: 5 Nominations
MR. DEEDS and I SPY: 3 Nominations Each
DIE ANOTHER DAY and SHOWTIME: 2 Nominations Each
Check the Razzie site for a complete list of nominations.
Mr. Wright, out!
Last Friday was theater night. As a gift I got season tickets to The St. Louis Repertory Theatre. Last night's show was Copenhagen by Michael Frayn.
When I got to the theater Friday night and started looking through the playbill I could tell it was going to be one of those plays that made you think. Minimal set, only three actors... it can only mean one thing, they want you to think. I am one of the few in my theater group who likes "thinking" plays; in fact two of them didn't even go.
Copenhagen is rather difficult to describe. The play takes a look back at a controversial meeting between Niels Bohr (fission expert for the Allies during WWII) and his protege Werner Heisenberg (then a head of Hitler's scientific research program, he saw Bohr as a father figure.) This meeting took place in Copenhagen at Bohr's house in 1941 and very little is known about what was said between these old friends but paradoxically new enemies. The show plays the "what if..." game. Did Heidenberg come back to his mentor to find out what the Allies knew about atomic power? Did he, as his character claims, come back to persuade Bohr to convince both sides that the study of fission was futile in order to save the lives of millions of people? Or what would have happened if Bohr would have posed a question that would have helped Heisenberg that much closer to the answers that he may have been seeking. There is very little action in the play, just three characters talking and debating ethics, quantum physics, wave theory, and what really did happen that day in 1941. One of my fellow theater goers complained afterward that they just basically walked around in circles. I suggested that that was done on purpose, mimicking the inner workings of the atom that was being so heatedly discussed.
One interesting aspect of the play for me was the look into the humanistic worldview. The characters in the play suggested that the humanistic worldview came back into popularity because of rise in probability of quantum mechanics.
BOHR: You see what we did in those three years, Heisenberg? Not to exaggerate, but we turned the world inside out! Yes, listen, now it comes, now it comes... We put man back at the centre of the universe. Throughout history we keep finding ourselves displaced. We keep exiling ourselves to the periphery of things. First we turn ourselves into a mere adjunct of God's unknowable purposes, tiny figures kneeling in the great cathedral of creation. And no sooner have we recovered ourselves in the Renaissance, no sooner has man become, as Protagoras proclaimed him, the measure of all things, than we're pushed aside again by the products of our own reasoning! We're dwarfed again as physicists build the great new cathedrals for us to wonder at - the laws of classical mechanics that exist whether we exist or not. Until we come to the beginning of the twentieth century, and we're suddenly forced to rise from our knees again. HEISENBERG: It starts with Einstein. BOHR: It starts with Einstein. He shows that measurement - measurement, on which the whole possibility of science depends - measurement is not an impersonal event that occurs with impartial universality. It's a human act, carried out from a specific point of view in time and space, from the one particular viewpoint of a possible observer. Then, here in Copenhagen in those three years in the mid-twenties we discover that there is no precisely determinable objective universe. That the universe exists only as a series of approximations. Only within the limits determined by our relationship with it. Only through the understanding lodged inside the human head.
One of the issues that this brought about was when you put yourself in the center of the universe, you can clearly see all that was going on around you, you could really know the people around and the only person that you couldn't know, was the person you couldn't see, the one in the center of the universe, yourself. The only way to know yourself was to look at a reflection of what you thought other people around thought of you. I say all that to say this: Can someone who is in the center of their own universe truly know themselves? Could they really understand their own motives?
This is probably really boring to read. Sorry. If you enjoy discussion on philosophy, ethics, quantum mechanics, and the Uncertainty Principle, like I evidently do, I would recommend Copenhagen.
I am going to go back and read this and it will make no sense whatsoever, I can feel it. Oh well.
Do you want to know more?
Mr. Wright, out!
What are you doing on June 21, 2003? I know what am I am doing. I'll be reading the fifth book in the Harry Potter series: The Order of the Phoenix.
Here is the offical press release from Bloomsbury:
J.K. ROWLING'S HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF PHOENIX TO BE PUBLISHED ON JUNE 21, 2003 IN THE UNITED STATES, BRITAIN, CANADA AND AUSTRALIA
The World's Most Anticipated Book Is Over One Third Longer Than Previous Book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
NEW YORK, NEW YORK: LONDON, ENGLAND: January 15, 2003 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling, the fifth in the bestselling series has been scheduled for release on Saturday, June 21, 2003 in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia, it was announced today by Scholastic and Bloomsbury publishers. The companies also announced that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is over a third longer than J.K. Rowling's extraordinary previous book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
In making the joint announcement, Barbara Marcus, President of Scholastic Children's Books in the United States, and Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury Publishing in Britain said: "We are thrilled to announce the publication date. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is absolutely superb and will delight all J.K. Rowling's fans. She has written a brilliant and utterly compelling new adventure, which begins with the words:"
The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive.....The only person left outside was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in a flowerbed outside number four.
Later in the novel, J.K. Rowling writes:
"Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses.
'It is time,' he said 'for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry.
Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything.'"
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is over 255,000 words compared to over 191,000 words in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The new book is 38 chapters long, one more than Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Bloomsbury will be publishing their standard children's hardback edition (ISBN 07475 51 006) and in addition an adult hardback edition (ISBN 07475 69 401, the same text but with a different jacket) at the same time, both editions to be 768 pages long and priced at £16.99.
Harry Potter Countdown:
For more info and speculation try a Harry Potter Blog, The Leaky Cauldron
An excited Mr. Wright, out!
Well since Pressed can share about his needless spending, I can share about mine. I have been think about getting a gadget like this for a little while, and Pressed's quest for the largest TV in Bourbon gave me plenty of time to look and them and I finally got what I have dubbed the Gadget of 2002...
Behold, the ReplayTV!
The ReplayTV is a Digital Video Recorder (DVR). The easiest way to explain it is it is everything you wished your VCR was. The ReplayTV will record TV signals on its internal hard drive. You can select the quality of recording, on the standard quality, on my machine, it can record 40 hours of TV programing. The features include:
-Commercial Advance - with a decent accuracy it will automatically skip over commercials during replay. NO COMMERCIALS!
-You can program it to record all episodes of a series through a TV listing. To program just push a few buttons.
-If I forget to program the ReplayTV and I have an internet connection I can program it over the internet.
-I can swap video with other ReplayTV users.
-Progressive scan output.
-It can pause live TV and replay that while still recording.
-The feature that sold me on the ReplayTV rather than the TiVo was that the ReplayTV can access TV Guide info over a broadband connection rather than dialing in, incurring possible long distance fees, depending on where you live.
So far I really like it, and after all the rebates and gift cards it will only cost me $5 for the actual box. I like my ReplayTV.
Mr. Wright, out!
It is not 2002 anymore, but I didn't get to finish up my year in entertainment. In this post I will take a look at cool and not so cool stuff from television.
Here is the post on 2002 in Movies in case you missed it.
BEST
Feel free to tell me what I have wrong in the comments.
Mr. Wright, out!
Every year Entertainment Weekly has their critics take a look at the past year and list their favorite and least favorite movies, books, momments in TV, music, etc. I have decided to take a look back at the year as well. This time I will look at movies.
Mr. Wright, out!
Okay, if you don't watch the super cool show, 24, why in tarnation not? This is simply one of the best shows in television, bar none, including Buffy, Angel, and Boomtown. This is the only show that consistantly keeps me guessing, on pins and needles each and every week. It is also the only show that makes me talk, and at least one time per episode, yell out loud when there is now one else around. I just had one of those yelling momments becuase [inviso-text on] NINA HAS FRICKIN' ESCAPED!!!! Oh, wait Jack caught her and really wants to kill her. [inviso-text off]
The show is so multilayered that there is no down time in the story and that is the reason that I have to take a short nap after every episode before I can actually get ready to go to bed.
Here are some of the plot lines that are up in the air right now and I will probably miss some:
1. There are terrorists in Los Angeles with a nuclear bomb.
2. Agent, Jack Bauer who has been on leave after the death of his wife at the hands of his former partner/double agent, Nina, is called back to help with this new threat at the request of the President.
3. Jack's daughter, Kim, is working as a nanny in a home with a very abusive father. Kim has basically kidknapped the girl that she works with to help protect her with psycho father on their tale. Kim and her boyfriend steal pop's car and get pulled over for speeding. [Inviso-test on] The cop find the body of the girl's mother in the trunk. [inviso-text off]
4. Nina is given a Presidential pardon to help with the case becuase she has been linked to the terrorists. Jack, of course, would like to see Nina dead.
5. President Palmer has had trouble of his own, including staff that have not been honest with him causing the death of many people at CTU. His EVIL ex-wife has show up with possible information of an uprising within his own staff against him. The man in charge of the NSA being on of them. Of course, as mentioned. Sherri is EVIL. Sherri and the President's personal aid have come into conflict. Probably becuase Sherri is EVIL.
5. Mason, current director of CTU (Counter Terrorism Unit) literally stumbled into a bunch of weapons grade Plutonium and has around a day to live. He has tried to contact his estranged son.
6. Finally the Warner family, the younger Warner is getting married to someone who appears to have ties to a terrorists. When CTU gets wind of it the send Tony to investigate. It now appears that Poppa Warner is also involved.
7. I didn't mention that CTU's headquarters was blown up.
Now that you are up to speed you need to watch the show on Tuesdays!!!
___
I have been taken by the mini series Taken. The mini-series follows three different families over three generations and their involvement in alien activity. All this is set on a historical backdrop starting in World War II and will end in present time. We have seen Roswell, the Cuban Missle Crisis, and several presidencies. The show reminds me of an interesting mixture of the X-Files, the defunct series, Dark Skies, and several alien abduction movies. Tonight, the Sci-Fi channel showed the sixth episode in a series of ten, I am taping the sixth episode right now. If you are interested in the show, check out the website to decipher the family trees and previous events.
___
The newest Star Trek film, Star Trek: Nemesis, opens this Friday. I am very excited about this film, I hope that it will be the best of the Next Generation films. I suspect that the film will have a different look and feel than the other Star Trek film because of script writer John Logan (Gladiator) and director Stuart Baird (US Marshals) are new to the franchise.
Hope to see you opening weekend.
Mr. Wright, out!
