Like Simone, I'm not that much of a movie person, but this looked like fun, so I'll give it a go.
1. One movie that made you laugh
Amelie
2. One movie that made you cry
It's a Wonderful Life
3. One movie you loved when you were a child
Star Wars (that would be what is now known as “Episode IV”)
4. One movie you’ve seen more than once
Run Lola Run
5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it
Perhaps Shrek?
6. One movie you hated
The sequel to Clerks. (I hated it so much I didn't finish it.)
7. One movie that scared you
I don't watch scary movies. I was so scared by the opening sixty seconds (all I watched) of Aliens that I couldn't sleep! (Come on, I was a teenager at the time.)
8. One movie that bored you
Don't remember any (so boring I've forgotten them, I guess).
9. One movie that made you happy
Barfuß
10. One movie that made you miserable
In a manner of speaking: Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage
11. One movie you weren’t brave enough to see
I dunno about not brave enough. Not stupid enough perhaps…
12. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with
Laetitia
What? She isn't a movie character? Oh right. Well then, how about Cinderella in Ever After?
13. The last movie you saw
The Black Balloon
14. The next movie you hope to see
Something funny or moving.
15. Now tag five people: I tag Laetitia, Ruth, Allison, Scott, and you!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
The Black Balloon
It's $8 for any movie, any session this weekend, so we had to go see something. After more than one recommendation, we chose “The Black Balloon”, an Australian movie about a family with an autistic son. The other son struggles to come to terms with what that means for him and his relationships with other people.
I found it very touching, and it really made me reflect on just what the parents of some of my students must go through at home. I did have trouble at times believing that the two boys were as young as they were supposed to be. The humour and romance were typically Australian, which is to say delightfully understated. I especially enjoyed the long poignant silences and meaningful looks. (And don't blink too much during the opening credits, or you'll miss the only black balloon in the whole movie!)
Highly recommended.
I found it very touching, and it really made me reflect on just what the parents of some of my students must go through at home. I did have trouble at times believing that the two boys were as young as they were supposed to be. The humour and romance were typically Australian, which is to say delightfully understated. I especially enjoyed the long poignant silences and meaningful looks. (And don't blink too much during the opening credits, or you'll miss the only black balloon in the whole movie!)
Highly recommended.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Ready for Term 2. Bring it on!
Well it's been a good break: relaxing, but also productive. I've planned out most of my subjects all the way to the end of the term, and prepared most of the extra things I had in mind.
Yesterday night our billet arrived. Suzy is studying Education at CHC, and is here to do her first teaching prac in grade 2. She'll be staying with us for the next four weeks—unless my vegan cookery kills her first!
Yesterday night our billet arrived. Suzy is studying Education at CHC, and is here to do her first teaching prac in grade 2. She'll be staying with us for the next four weeks—unless my vegan cookery kills her first!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The other Boleyn girl
This afternoon, it being Tuesday and me not having to be at school, we went to the movies. We saw “The Other Boleyn Girl”.
I liked it, although I would have enjoyed it just as much with less sex scenes. (The ones there were, were done relatively tastefully, and a few were merely implied; but I'd have preferred more of the latter.) An exciting storyline, convincing characters, and a very dramatic historical setting. Considering that you already know who gets it in the end, they did a marvellous job turning it into a gripping movie.
Whether Anne really was that sly and conniving (and whether she really did commit incest) will remain a mystery, but I had no trouble suspending disbelief for the sake of being immersed in the storytelling.
We found the very end of the credits rather odd. There was the usual notice about “entirely a work of fiction, and any similarity to any real persons alive or dead is purely coincidental and unintentional”. Unintentional? Surely not!
Recommendation: See it, if you're over 18. (If you're not, you may not even understand it.)
I liked it, although I would have enjoyed it just as much with less sex scenes. (The ones there were, were done relatively tastefully, and a few were merely implied; but I'd have preferred more of the latter.) An exciting storyline, convincing characters, and a very dramatic historical setting. Considering that you already know who gets it in the end, they did a marvellous job turning it into a gripping movie.
Whether Anne really was that sly and conniving (and whether she really did commit incest) will remain a mystery, but I had no trouble suspending disbelief for the sake of being immersed in the storytelling.
We found the very end of the credits rather odd. There was the usual notice about “entirely a work of fiction, and any similarity to any real persons alive or dead is purely coincidental and unintentional”. Unintentional? Surely not!
Recommendation: See it, if you're over 18. (If you're not, you may not even understand it.)
Another (beautiful) wedding
On Saturday we (Laetitia and I) were official photographers at the wedding of one of my fellow teachers. It was a morning wedding up at Eungella (at the top of the range an hour's drive west of Mackay). As part of our “fee” we got to stay the night up there, at Broken River Resort. (This saved us from an otherwise very early start on Saturday morning!)It was a lovely day. The bride had done a great job; everything was very well organised. It is always a pleasure to attend weddings of committed Christians, and these two are both from strongly Christian families. God provided the beautiful weather. But we still didn't see a platypus. (Apparently they're seen frequently in the river there.)
The ceremony and reception were both held in the park there at Broken River. A string trio played at the wedding, which was interesting for me: pieces I'm used to playing at weddings myself, only this time that wasn't my job. After the service, family photos at the edge of the clearing, then we went away with the wedding party for formal photos in three other locations nearby. Back to the park for the reception, which was a full-on picnic: blankets, umbrellas, fancy baskets full of food.
I took over 700 photos, Laetitia over 400; as I think I've said before, I've decided I like shooting weddings with a digital camera. You can see a few of my favourites on Flickr.
End of Term 1
*Phew*! Made it to the end of term 1. Much easier than last year, but still hard work.
The last day of term 1 was the cross country. I enjoyed running the course; the plan was I'd run just a quarter, in a relay of teachers in my house, but by the end I'd done the whole course. (They even gave me a point for my house!)
Now I get two weeks without students. I have three main jobs to do in that time, to prepare for what's ahead. One of those things is to get ready for my maths enrichment classes. Yes, I've volunteered for more work—because nobody else around here is doing it, and it really does need to be done. I will have weekly after-school meetings with half a dozen of our best maths students from years 8, 9 and 10. I will be introducing them to some interesting ideas from the rich history of mathematics, and challenging them with some tricky problem solving activities.
The last day of term 1 was the cross country. I enjoyed running the course; the plan was I'd run just a quarter, in a relay of teachers in my house, but by the end I'd done the whole course. (They even gave me a point for my house!)
Now I get two weeks without students. I have three main jobs to do in that time, to prepare for what's ahead. One of those things is to get ready for my maths enrichment classes. Yes, I've volunteered for more work—because nobody else around here is doing it, and it really does need to be done. I will have weekly after-school meetings with half a dozen of our best maths students from years 8, 9 and 10. I will be introducing them to some interesting ideas from the rich history of mathematics, and challenging them with some tricky problem solving activities.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Computers and board games
Yesterday morning Laetitia's computer died. It failed to load a stack of drivers, including for the trackpad and USB ports, which made working out what was wrong painful (no mouse). In the end we booted into Linux off a CD to copy off what had been changed since her most recent backup, then reinstalled from the “Recovery” DVDs. I really wonder about that term; somehow “recovery” has come to mean “wipe the slate clean and start again”.
Over the weekend I also did some programming. It was good fun to get back into “the zone”. I used Microsoft's Visual C#, their new(ish, in programming language terms) language based loosely on C++. I'm actually impressed: already knowing C++, C# made it quite easy to build a functional and usable GUI-based tool. Indeed, contrary to what I expected before I started, the hardest part was not the GUI at all, but rather the all-pairs-shortest-paths algorithm, for which I had to go back to one of my old programming textbooks.
What I created was a ticket generator for one of our favourite board games, Ticket to Ride: Europe. I was so impressed with the “1910” expansion for the USA board that I wanted to do something similar for the Europe board. And besides, playing with the same set of tickets every time gets predictable, and personally I prefer more variety.
So now I can print off a new set of tickets for every game. I get to choose a standard game, a “Big Cities” game or a “Mega-Game” (you'll understand those terms if you have the 1910 expansion), for the Europe board. Yippee!
Over the weekend I also did some programming. It was good fun to get back into “the zone”. I used Microsoft's Visual C#, their new(ish, in programming language terms) language based loosely on C++. I'm actually impressed: already knowing C++, C# made it quite easy to build a functional and usable GUI-based tool. Indeed, contrary to what I expected before I started, the hardest part was not the GUI at all, but rather the all-pairs-shortest-paths algorithm, for which I had to go back to one of my old programming textbooks.
What I created was a ticket generator for one of our favourite board games, Ticket to Ride: Europe. I was so impressed with the “1910” expansion for the USA board that I wanted to do something similar for the Europe board. And besides, playing with the same set of tickets every time gets predictable, and personally I prefer more variety.
So now I can print off a new set of tickets for every game. I get to choose a standard game, a “Big Cities” game or a “Mega-Game” (you'll understand those terms if you have the 1910 expansion), for the Europe board. Yippee!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
