I went to see The Hobbit the afternoon of Erev Christmas, expecting it to be crowded as the theatre had warned me to buy tickets well in advance…but it turned out to be 90% empty. Maybe it had something to do with… Read More ›
Movies & (occasionally) TV
Playtime
I’m not quite sure what I think of this 1967 Jacques Tati movie, which I just saw for the first time. It’s a bit slow, a bit French, and a lot jarring. The set is supposed to look like Paris,… Read More ›
The travel(l)ing salesman: a movie?
If you’re into advanced discrete math, you know all about the Traveling (in the U.S.) or Travelling (in other English-speaking countries) Salesman Problem. If you aren’t, you don’t. I won’t attempt to summarize it here; just go read about it… Read More ›
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
For our last movie of the vacation, Barbara and I watched How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, a British comedy from 2008. Being all about celebrities and Vanity Fair magazine, it is not really my cup of tea, though… Read More ›
Two very different IMAX films about nature
For the last weekday of vacation, I spent the entire afternoon at the Museum of Science, including watching two IMAX films. The verdict is thumbs down for Tornado Alley, thumbs up for To the Arctic. So what’s wrong with Tornado… Read More ›
Children of Men
Wow! What an amazing movie! Just don’t see it if you want to be cheered up. Its tagline — “No children. No future. No hope.” — rather gives that away. This 2006 film is an impressively well-made dystopian vision of the… Read More ›
Gentleman's Agreement
A theme seems to be developing here. This is yet another post about a movie that was produced before I was born (though in this case not actually released until shortly after I was born). Gentleman’s Agreement is an effective but… Read More ›
Divorce, Italian Style
Another old movie here — if a film released 51 years ago counts as “old.” I just saw Divorce, Italian Style for the first time, having missed it back in 1961 (when I would have been too young for it… Read More ›
Swing Time
I’m slowly catching up on some movies that were produced before I was born. One of these was Swing Time (1936), a musical starring the inimitable Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, with music by Jerome Kern. As is common in early musicals, there’s… Read More ›
March of the Penguins
I finally saw the March of the Penguins. It’s unquestionably informative and beautifully photographed. Almost everything in it was new to me, and I couldn’t help being astonished and moved by what these birds do in Antarctica. (They’re very different… Read More ›
Professional development/Race to Nowhere
Today we participated in an intense professional development (PD) program and worked on our preparation for NEASC accreditation. NEASC work is often frustrating but often useful as well (more on that later). Today’s PD was quite interesting. The main part of… Read More ›
High School Quiz Show
Be sure to watch High School Quiz Show tonight: Channel 2 at 7:00! The match is between Weston and Woburn, starring Mir Bokhari, Grace Huckins, Jon Birjiniuk, and Matthew Chernick, as seen left-to-right in this brief promotional video.
Invisible children
At school yesterday we had a special assembly sponsored by our local Amnesty International chapter. Here is the official description we were given ahead of time: At the assembly on March 3, Thursday, the non-profit organization Invisible Children will be… Read More ›
Utopia in Four Movements
Saw an absolutely fascinating movie yesterday at the ICA: Utopia in Four Movements. This engaging film, which premiered last year at Sundance, is unusual in at least two ways. First, although it has music and voice-over like most documentaries, both… Read More ›
Alice I Have Been and Dreamchild
I suppose you would have to label it historical fiction, as the novel Alice I Have Been is actually a fictionalized autobiography or memoir. Like all historical fiction, it is faithful to the letter and the spirit of the known… Read More ›
Avatar
What more can I add to all the chatter about James Cameron’s Avatar? Not much, except to share my opinions. You probably already know all that you need to know about this movie, and I certainly don’t want to include any… Read More ›
Harry Potter at the Museum of Science
After spending a totally absorbing 90 minutes at Harry Potter: The Exhibition, I still don’t know why it’s at the Museum of Science of all places — what’s the connection with science? — but I highly recommend it nonetheless. The… Read More ›
Julie and Julia
Julie and Julia has gotten so much publicity that I’m not sure I have much to add. It was a good movie to watch on New Year’s Eve — but watch it anyway if you haven’t seen it yet, New… Read More ›
The Man from Earth
The Man from Earth is a quirky movie that you should see if you like talky films that make you think. Skip it if you insist on visual effects, exciting plot, and a clean resolution at the end. Clearly a… Read More ›
Finally, The Lion King
Somehow this post got delayed from earlier in the year. Oh, well…hakuna matata. Anyway, earlier in this calendar year — but it was last academic year — two of my Weston sophomores were aghast to hear that I had never… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 