Back To Work + Tiny Tim, movies, books, music
Been a great week, my blog. Met some of the kids & parents & all the teachers I'll be working with & I'm excited. The teachers are excited, the kids & parents are excited & it rubs off. Three of the teachers I'll be working with are the same, and two are new for me to work with. The air feels good between all of us, so I'm hoping for a very good year for the children. I want our kids in there with other kids, experiencing the same opportunities as those around them, along with the opportunity to build skills they need to succeed in small group situations. I'm feeling the same enthusiasm for team teaching and small group involvemnet from the other teachers, which makes me feel this will be a much better year than last educationally for the students I work with.
Saw a movie called "The Upside Of Rage". The characters were convincing - too convincing. Hit real close to home. Don't think I learned anything real from it, but it did get me depressed, as usual, about the reality of my home life. The movie, of course, found a way to have a happy ending within 3 years. Real life isn't that simple. We're on upwards of 24 years together, and still nothing that feels like it's going to reach that point of acceptance. But skipping the ending, the main character gave a truly scary impression of my wife. None of my kids ever had the guts to strike back the way the kids in the movie do; but the movie did help me see some of what my kids were/are probably thinking about life and themselves as a result of living intimately with anger day-in and day out. Most of the time when they were growing up I was also angry about my spouse being angry - I definitely was nowhere near as compassionate as the male character (Kevin Costner) in the story. I was much more confused - heck, let's face it, I still am. So, the movie hit a lotta nerves - probably mostly just makes me depressed; but to me that shows the powerful acting that happened.
Did what I could on my Billboard project this summer. My big plan was to listen to and sort all the Billboard songs from 1953 - 2004. Well, didn't happen. But, I did finish 1953-1968 - 8,650 songs filling up 5 DVDs!!! If I had to pick a favorite, I'd have to choose 1966, 67 & 68. Luckily I don't have to pick a favorite, because I like lotsa other songs from other years. This week, since I went back to work, I can only work 1/2 a day or so on the project, so I've barely made a dent into 1969. But, if I do a year a month, I shoudl finish the 70's by next summer. I've split the songs so far in 4 categories - Pop (3 DVDs 1953-1968), Easy Listening 1 DVD, Oddio & C & W on a 5th DVD. What interests me the most is the C&W songs. I'm guessing there was a country chart & these were only the "crossover" hits - because I know there were many many better C&W songs that aren't included in this collection - plus, many of these "C&W" are not true C&W artists (Dean Martin, Tom Jones) but the arrangements are C&W. A few are - Buck Owens and Roger Miller are good examples. But my favorites are the Acid Rock & Soul songs that I shoved into a catch-all category "pop", probably best described as the hits purchased by teenagers =:-) The other category, "Oddio" are those songs which sold well, but I really wouldn't want to hear them except on special occasions of my own choosing - like the hits of Mrs Miller, and stray songs like The Ballad of the Green Berets.
Other music news in my life today - I met a guy on ebay who shares my enthusiasm for the artistry of Tiny Tim. From him I learned of some Tiny Tim CDs that I had no idea existed - the most intriguing one being Tiny Tim Unplugged! Who knew? Something new to look forward to hearing!!
Finished the FDR book & have decided not to write much more about it. It was interesting in some places, and boring in other places. I'm not sorry I read it - I learned a lot about 100 years ago that surprised me; but I'm not too keen to delve deeper at this point.
Lotsa political stuff going on these days - kinda expecting WWIII to break out any day now. Seems we can't help but make the world angry at our agressive greed.
Saw a movie called "The Upside Of Rage". The characters were convincing - too convincing. Hit real close to home. Don't think I learned anything real from it, but it did get me depressed, as usual, about the reality of my home life. The movie, of course, found a way to have a happy ending within 3 years. Real life isn't that simple. We're on upwards of 24 years together, and still nothing that feels like it's going to reach that point of acceptance. But skipping the ending, the main character gave a truly scary impression of my wife. None of my kids ever had the guts to strike back the way the kids in the movie do; but the movie did help me see some of what my kids were/are probably thinking about life and themselves as a result of living intimately with anger day-in and day out. Most of the time when they were growing up I was also angry about my spouse being angry - I definitely was nowhere near as compassionate as the male character (Kevin Costner) in the story. I was much more confused - heck, let's face it, I still am. So, the movie hit a lotta nerves - probably mostly just makes me depressed; but to me that shows the powerful acting that happened.
Did what I could on my Billboard project this summer. My big plan was to listen to and sort all the Billboard songs from 1953 - 2004. Well, didn't happen. But, I did finish 1953-1968 - 8,650 songs filling up 5 DVDs!!! If I had to pick a favorite, I'd have to choose 1966, 67 & 68. Luckily I don't have to pick a favorite, because I like lotsa other songs from other years. This week, since I went back to work, I can only work 1/2 a day or so on the project, so I've barely made a dent into 1969. But, if I do a year a month, I shoudl finish the 70's by next summer. I've split the songs so far in 4 categories - Pop (3 DVDs 1953-1968), Easy Listening 1 DVD, Oddio & C & W on a 5th DVD. What interests me the most is the C&W songs. I'm guessing there was a country chart & these were only the "crossover" hits - because I know there were many many better C&W songs that aren't included in this collection - plus, many of these "C&W" are not true C&W artists (Dean Martin, Tom Jones) but the arrangements are C&W. A few are - Buck Owens and Roger Miller are good examples. But my favorites are the Acid Rock & Soul songs that I shoved into a catch-all category "pop", probably best described as the hits purchased by teenagers =:-) The other category, "Oddio" are those songs which sold well, but I really wouldn't want to hear them except on special occasions of my own choosing - like the hits of Mrs Miller, and stray songs like The Ballad of the Green Berets.
Other music news in my life today - I met a guy on ebay who shares my enthusiasm for the artistry of Tiny Tim. From him I learned of some Tiny Tim CDs that I had no idea existed - the most intriguing one being Tiny Tim Unplugged! Who knew? Something new to look forward to hearing!!
Finished the FDR book & have decided not to write much more about it. It was interesting in some places, and boring in other places. I'm not sorry I read it - I learned a lot about 100 years ago that surprised me; but I'm not too keen to delve deeper at this point.
Lotsa political stuff going on these days - kinda expecting WWIII to break out any day now. Seems we can't help but make the world angry at our agressive greed.
posted by Cholla Needles | 5:05 PM
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