Wow. This should interest my former students. The current prime minister of Britain is comparing himself to Heathcliff! It's now being used in Parliament as a mark of derision against him. One minister said, "It's time for Heathcliff to come down from dithering heights."
Check out the video on the website. It's why British people are such better public speakers than Americans - their parliament requires it! The video shows a relatively calm day. Here's a more typical day, where you can actually see Heathcliff in action.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Collegiate Play Photos
Just put this together. It's a collection of photos of plays at Collegiate since I've been here. They look pretty impressive when all put together. Check it out!
You can also feel free to poke around the rest of the site while you're there. I'm putting all my classes online, and I'm pretty happy with it so far (though it will be tested in the fall...).
You can also feel free to poke around the rest of the site while you're there. I'm putting all my classes online, and I'm pretty happy with it so far (though it will be tested in the fall...).
Monday, July 7, 2008
Hannah's Lunchbox
No doubt many people think this family is crazy. I think if more people in our culture had conversations about need vs. want, we'd live in a very different world. Click here for the CNN video and article.
Here's the video Hannah's brother made about it.
Here's the video Hannah's brother made about it.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Google 411
This has been around for a while, but I had no idea how versatile and easy it is. You can get the address and phone number of any business or restaurant, driving directions, sports scores, movie listings, product prices, or even flight information for a specific flight.
Watch the video below, and if you're interested, check out this website for all the different things you can do with it. It's much cheaper and more efficient than a phone call!
Watch the video below, and if you're interested, check out this website for all the different things you can do with it. It's much cheaper and more efficient than a phone call!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Boston and Journey
Maybe I'm behind in hearing about this. The bands Boston and Journey both have new lead singers, and both of them were discovered through MySpace and YouTube. It's a completely new paradigm! Here are the stories.
Tommy DeCarlo with Boston
And here's Arnel Pineda with Journey
I'm not sure how I feel about the emphasis on sounding exactly like the original singers. Musically, it seems like we're labeling everything now. But these guys are pretty amazing technical singers, and it does show that we're living under an entirely different set of rules these days.
Tommy DeCarlo with Boston
And here's Arnel Pineda with Journey
I'm not sure how I feel about the emphasis on sounding exactly like the original singers. Musically, it seems like we're labeling everything now. But these guys are pretty amazing technical singers, and it does show that we're living under an entirely different set of rules these days.
Friday, July 4, 2008
From Juba to Hoofin' and Beyond
One of the primary projects I'm working on this summer is revamping my classes. British Literature is no longer offered, and so I'm teaching semester-long courses in the Hebrew Bible, World Mythology, and Literary Nonfiction. I taught the Bible and Myth courses once 2 years ago, but the Nonfiction course is entirely new. Allen Chamberlain and I received an innovation grant to work on the course this summer, and I've been having a pretty amazing time with it. The course will deal with both written and audio nonfiction, and the preliminary ideas are on a wiki I'm developing over the summer, which will eventually become a platform for the whole class to work in.
Today, I was reading one of the essays in our textbook, and got really excited about a possible project that I may work on while the students work on their own individual projects. The essay mentioned Juba dancing, and since I didn't know what that was, I looked it up. It's a form of dance that slaves did on plantations when slave owners outlawed any musical instruments, thinking music would cause unrest and riots among the slaves. In 1848, "Master Juba" (William Henry Lane) was taken to London by P.T. Barnum to dance before Queen Victoria. While he was there, he combined Juba dancing with traditional Irish dancing to create tap dance. Reading this reminded me of one of the most astonishing Broadway shows I've ever seen - Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk - starring Savion Glover. The rest of the brainstorm - and several videos - are on the wiki, which you can check out here. It's still in rough form, but I think the videos are sufficiently amazing to justify the incompleteness of the thought process.
But just in case you don't know Savion Glover, here's a 2 minute video that ought to inspire you to look at the rest of it. But if you have time for nothing else, watch the video of him and his group (Not Your Ordinary Tappers) at the White House, which is the 2nd from last on the page.
Today, I was reading one of the essays in our textbook, and got really excited about a possible project that I may work on while the students work on their own individual projects. The essay mentioned Juba dancing, and since I didn't know what that was, I looked it up. It's a form of dance that slaves did on plantations when slave owners outlawed any musical instruments, thinking music would cause unrest and riots among the slaves. In 1848, "Master Juba" (William Henry Lane) was taken to London by P.T. Barnum to dance before Queen Victoria. While he was there, he combined Juba dancing with traditional Irish dancing to create tap dance. Reading this reminded me of one of the most astonishing Broadway shows I've ever seen - Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk - starring Savion Glover. The rest of the brainstorm - and several videos - are on the wiki, which you can check out here. It's still in rough form, but I think the videos are sufficiently amazing to justify the incompleteness of the thought process.
But just in case you don't know Savion Glover, here's a 2 minute video that ought to inspire you to look at the rest of it. But if you have time for nothing else, watch the video of him and his group (Not Your Ordinary Tappers) at the White House, which is the 2nd from last on the page.
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