Tarantino's Top 20 Movies Since 1992

Some of these I agree with, some I REALLY agree with, and some I have never heard of. Go figure. In any case, here we go...

Quentin Tarantino's Top 20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz4K-Rxx2Bk

-- Rob

Water Proof of Pythagoras's Therorem

'Nuff said.

Neal Adams Painting Technique: Part 01

Now this would have been pretty useful to me 30 years ago!

Michael doesn't want

Michael doesn't want to see Pinocchio, would rather watch Wubzy on Noggin...where did I go wrong?

Andrew Bird as Dr Stringz

I really really like this kid's show on the Noggin channel, and this clip partially explains why.

Macbook Pro Repair 17 Inch - Keyboard Removal

Future Reference...

Arcattack: Faraday Fun- Imperial March

Sometimes words do not suffice...

Testing Michael

Taken about 2 weeks ago, Michael looking thoughtful on the Q64 bus...

Doom

Doom is pretty funny, now...

Watching the 9th Ann

Watching the 9th Annual BET awards, and the Michael Jackson opening tribute got me kinda misty...

RIP, Michael.

The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back

Is running out the clock

Is running out the clock till summer arrives...come on, summer!

And now, the end is near...

(this was cross-posted to my other blog, located here.)

...and so we face, the final Friday. The grades were due in yesterday, so the DOE effectively left us with a day of freedom, complete and absolute, where there was Nothing You Absolutely Had To Do.

What did we do instead?

Some of us gave questionnaires to the students in our classes. Others threw pizza parties, complete with movies (thank heaven for Blockbuster Video and the Queens Public Library). Donuts abounded. Soda too. Teachers' faces - mine included - are beginning to unclench, finally.

Looking back on the semester and the year as a whole, I think that overall, this was a successful year. A lot of kids worked, grew, were pushed to their limits and prevailed. Some didn't, sometimes as a result of personal problems outside of school, other times because of issues with the class or the school, and still others faced some challenging learning problems. Some came back from such challenges and made it through.

What comes next?

I asked for 10th-grade again for next year and got it. The freshman class we got in this past year appears to be exceptional, and I am excited about working with them in September. Hopefully, I won't let them down.

I am disappointed about the handling of summer school situation, but shit happens and you have to move on. So I will be free this summer, while Ting and Michael spend the entirety of July in St. Mary's Hospital. Lotsa free time for me, there...but I am not sure I am looking forward to it. I want to work, to teach, to grow and find new ways of thinking about curriculum and bring it to a group of kids who I might be able to inspire to learn. Math is a beautiful thing, if taught correctly. My goal is to do that, and to be the best at that in my school.

Next week brings us the Awards Ceremonies, certificates of achievement we hand out to deserving 10th-graders, then my Mentee's oral defense -- we are a portfolio-based school -- followed by the Regents (ugh). Then a going away party, and we are done.

It is going to be over suddenly, and I find the summer stretched out in front of me with no thesis to write and no mother to look out for and visit. Right now, it seems like a vast void to fill. I need to find projects to keep me busy.

I will miss a lot of my kids who are moving on to 11th grade, many of whom I have had since they first came to this school, others I met only this year and have come to love. I wish them well, and I look forward to the next batch of kids.

why, oh why

why, oh why, do I find "The Backyardigans" so mesmerizing?

This is perfect (via stickycomics.com)

Link to Christian's Home Page:

Happy Birthday, Mom

My mother would have turned 71 today, leading me to all sorts of cascading thoughts:

• My original family is gone, for all intents and purposes, except of course for Pop, Mike and Titi Anna. I really don't know how to classify my cousins Ralph (with whom I grew up for a time) and Ray.

• On the other hand, my current family, although smaller, is wonderful. This is specifically due to Ting and Michael (my son, who turns 3 in two days). My mom would have been happy with this.

• Tomorrow marks 27 years since first entered the Air Force and changed my life in all sorts of ways irrevocably.
  

• I am close to completing my 5th year of teaching Math. I love my job and consider myself extremely lucky to be teaching at my school, where my mojo runs high, my opinions are valued, and my students are generally great. My methods, admittedly unorthodox, work for me. (I have another blog about this topic alone, which I neglect far too much.)

• There will never be enough time to learn all the things I want to learn, do all I want to do, and relearn all the things I want to remember. Sigh.

• I will never stop missing my mother, but I need to focus on my immediate family. Onwards into the future....and I love you, Mom. Happy Birthday.
  

Backyardigans - Almost Everything is Boinga, Boinga, Boinga - I can't get this song out of head!

PS. The Mama Martian is voiced by Alicia Keys.

PPS. I really like this Noggin show.

A video for my birthday, from Karl

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Happy Birthday/Anniversary/Homecoming

Well, we managed to converge three events into one day, creating a perfect storm of activity: my birthday, Ting's and my anniversary, and Michael's homecoming after surgery. I am going to be leaving soon to get them home...then I will go to sleep.

China, 1996-2009

(Ling Ling and China, a peaceful moment between fights)

She never was really friendly, not really.

That was not to say that she couldn't have been if things had gone differently. I don't believe her personality was like Billy, who was really independent and not at all reliant on human company. China, I think, was simply a product of her early life.

We first ran across China on Sunday, July 28th, 1996, right after a trip to New Jersey to pay respects to Ting's father on the anniversary of his death. On the way back home from the cemetery, we stopped off in Chinatown to do some shopping. At the corner of East Broadway and Catherine Street, while buying some oranges, I saw a gray and white flash among the myriad legs of the shoppers and pedestrians, followed by a wail of terror.

As I watched, wondering what the hell had just gone by, I saw a kitten dash underneath a parked car. I immediately alerted Ting as to what I had seen and asked her to ask around in case anyone had just lost a kitten out of a car, or maybe a cage, but no one claimed her. I peered underneath the car and the little black shape was huddled directly underneath the center of that car - where no one could get at her. She was making that high-pitched mewing that kittens make. Her head darted around, and her too-large ears darted around, looking for a way out of this mess.

I tried to get her to come out from underneath the car, beckoning to her, but she wouldn't move. Eventually, I knew, the owners of the car would come by and try to drive off, so the clock was ticking and I wanted to get her out of there before that happened. Other people tried to help, but the kitten wouldn't budge.

At some point the owners came in and tried to enter the car, but we told them what was going on and the driver helped me shoo her out from under by coming at her from the front while I waited, arms open, at the back. This filthy, wriggling creature flew into my arms, mewling loudly in terror, and we got her into our car and drove home. As we went, we were trying to decide how to find her a home. Needless to say, that did not happen, because she was cute and affectionate - at least for that one first night, she was - and seemed to sense that her fortunes had changed, for better or worse.

There was one problem, however: fleas. Lots of them. And once they got into our place, they got onto Billy and Ling Ling, then into our furniture - you get the picture. The place became infested, forcing us to clean out the entire apartment and to take all three cats (for now there were three of them) to the vets for de-infestation. A week it took, before everything settled down, and by that time China was now a member of the family, albeit a terribly shy and skittish one. Ling Ling hated her on sight, but Billy was fascinated by her and the two of them became fast friends. Although she never opened up to us again, she was always well-behaved, with only the occasional hairball problem to clean up after.

Thirteen years go by before you know it. Ling Ling passed in 2004, and then Billy in 2006, and now China, who left today at between 1:45 and 2:o0 pm this afternoon. I am sad, as I have been after each of them, but I know that for whatever it is worth, that she was more comfortable here, at home, than whatever fate might have befallen her had we not been there to catch her that Sunday, and that provides a measure of comfort.

So does the fact that, at the very end, at last, she allowed me to wrap my arms around her and place my head again hers. She did not struggle this time. She let me do it. And I heard her purr, faintly, deep inside her, from whatever mechanism there is that makes cats purr. Knew that, at the end, she found comfort in my presence. And I leave her with that memory.

Goodnight, China. Sleep well. Play with Ling Ling and Billy, and may you always have enough to eat and have a warm cushion to sleep on. We love you....


('Night, China...)

Confessions of a Superhero

I fell across this interesting documentary on those sidewalk performers on Hollywood Blvd who dress up like our beloved icons for a few bucks per day. Panhandlers? Performers, or both? Morgan Spurlock ("Supersize Me") puts a human and humane face on these unsung dreamers.

The Manhattan Bridge, 100 years ago

Courtesy of The Bowery Boys website, a site devoted to NYC history - an amazing photograph of the Manhattan Bridge being built in 1909:

This photograph was taken from an angle roughly around the heart of the Lower East Side, currently the boundary of Chinatown where it blends into the old Jewish neighborhood.  My wife's family lives near that spot today, so it is fascinating to see it as it once looked.  And best of all, there's not a luxury condo anywhere!  Check out the original website if you're into history in general, New York in particular, and subscribe to their podcast.  It's great!

A nice quotation

"Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in. That everyone may receive at least a moderate education appears to be an objective of vital importance."

- Abraham Lincoln