The Pill-Poppin'est Road Trip Movie You'll Ever See

I can't believe I waited this long to see Vanising Point, the godfather of all car-chase movies (yes, there is a car-chase genre) starring Barry Newman, the budget Dustin Hoffman. It also has Cleavon Little, the sheriff from Blazing Saddles, as Super Soul: the blindest, rockin'est small town disc-jockey in America.

It's a pretty amazing trip into the heart of a gear head speed freak with a rippin' soundtrack to boot. I recommend it heartily.

Other great car-chase movies:

• Two Lane Blacktop (1971)
• Death Race 2000 (1975)
• Cannonball Run (1981)
• Bullitt (1968)

Life is Just Bowl of Chariots

I just finished watching "the Fall of the Roman Empire," which is essentially "Gladiator" but was made 35 years before. In the first half we witness a protracted and harrowing chariot bout between the two main blokes, Livius and Commodus. The two chariots careen along chasm edges and crash through a sloped forest. All in all, a truly enjoyable spectacle. This got me thinking about films that boast truly amazing chariot battles.
Ben Hur (1959 - Charleton Heston)
Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925 - Ramon Navarro)
the Fall of the Roman Empire (1964 - Alec Guinness) No video available
If you know of any other good chariot races in film, leave a comment.

Just as a joke...

At school today I overheard a few boys talking while they picked their top ten class choices for an upcoming parent-taught day of activities.
"We should all put cheerleading down as our tenth choice. Just as a joke..."
The other boys continue putting their choices on the sheet.
Thinking that the others must not have heard he repeated, "guys, just as a joke we should put down cheerleading as our last choice."
After the third time I couldn't help but notice a little bit of disappointment in his manner when no one responded to his suggestion.
Don't worry. Someday you'll be able to put down cheerleading as your first choice. And it won't have to be a joke.

Thanks to my good friend Pliska, I have been watching a lot of the '70s television show Ironside lately. If you have never watched it, the first episode starts with curmudgeonly alcoholic Chief Robert T. Ironside (Raymond Burr) getting shot through the spine and ending up paraplegic. From that point on it's a detective show with the main bloke confined to a wheelchair. He subsequently puts together a crack team of investigators and comrades to help him diagnose the cause of various crimes throughout San Francisco.
Fast forward a few decades and bring in House M. D. If you have never watched it, the first episode starts with curmudgeonly pill-popping Doctor Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) revealing his cripplingly painful leg condition that renders him a virtual paraplegic. From that point on it's a detective show with the main bloke confined to a cane. He subsequently puts together a crack team of investigators and comrades to help him diagnose the cause of various ailments throughout New Jersey.
Now let's compare these two teams.

• Grumpy, disliked, chemically dependent leader - Check
• Cocky and angry white dude - Check
• Black guy with criminal record - Check
• White gal for the men in the audience to be attracted to - Check

The pieces are all starting to fit together. In fact, I am surprised that no one pointed this out before.

When you watch the two shows and start to figure out the plot formula (after about two.... make that one episode) you'll notice similarities as well.

• Each episode starts out with an illness/crime and the rest of the episode is spent figuring out the cause/culprit.
  
• There are several suspects, all the characters except the leader think it's the most obvious one.
  
• Ironside/House is convinced he has figured it out
• The case is solved and, what do you know, it was the one that no one suspected!

You be the judge. get a few episodes of each and give them a watch and let me know what you discover.

This one'll break your heart

and so it begins

Just got back from a meeting in which my principal informed me of my teaching position for this year. I am currently assigned as a fifth-grade social studies and language arts teacher for half the day and as a technology coordinator for the other half. This means that I'll spend my morning in the classroom working with 18 or so students and then spend my afternoons designing staff development activities, training other teachers on how to use equipment and basically dragging my school (kicking and screaming) into the modern age.
The more I ponder the opportunities I will encounter in this position, the more excited I get. For instance, the students in Room 208, under the tutelage of Bob Sprankle, have created a very helpful video on how to produce a classroom podcast. In addition, Mr. Sprankle sets up individual blog pages for his students so that they can post their work online and leave comments for classmates. Pretty cool set-up and I am considering borrowing some ideas for our school web page.
In addition, I spent last quarter using a SMART Board in my classroom


I knew that the technology skills I have developed over the years would come in handy someday and it is quite exciting that I get to focus on developing useful classroom tools and resources.

Secret Plans Revealed!

A few days ago I was shocked to discover what appears to be an al Qaeda artist's interpretation of possible attack plans on 9/11. In all truthfulness, I can see why they decided to scrap these three approaches.

• Space Shuttle? Too rickety.
• Jupiter? Too gassy.
  
• Volcano? Too geology.

Wait... actually it's just a math textbook from my school... a simple mistake anyone could make.