such a fleeting, fleeting moment…

“Play with Passion” – only Billy could even guess who Rex Ryan is – and he wouldn’t really know until I gave him a bunch of hints – so a head coach book is lost on my audience, i get that – still, it was a decent book – he spent 1/2 the book talking about how awesome his dad was as a coach (the dad wasn’t) and how awesome the NY Jets are going to be (they aren’t) – my takeaway activity is this: he allowed the players to speak with the media – no restraints – but they had to mention at least two other teammates when they were interviewed – the players have caught on to the point that they have a game as to who can mention the most people – i thought it was a neat way to get players to realize there are people around them that make their jobs easier – so i’m trying to figure out how that works in the classroom b/c we don’t have that many interviews

“Cosby” – biography on the Jello man – or the Fat Albert man – or the original Noah – any of those work – even in his 80s, Cosby still hits the road and does his stand-up – which is amazing to me – the book brought back memories of my childhood with “the cosby show” – and the tapes my parents had of his stand up – which is brilliantly funny

“Queen of the Slayers” – in the words of a t-shirt i recently coveted “Buffy should’ve staked Edward to the heart” – my final book this week was fan-fiction – from “Buffy: The Vampire Slayer” – the book wasn’t great – surprised, probably not – and i’ll probably end up reading the other books out that go with the series – there are over 100 – so i have a long reading life ahead of me – but not recommendable fiction:)

band preview is when this week???

maf

come see me tomorrow at registration – the secret word is “detective,” and it will earn you fifty billion bonus points for the coming year…

“the greatest show on dirt” – minor league baseball in 1993 – or so – fictional book of life during that time – brought back memories – sadly, the plot line brought back memories of a terrible book:) basically, the plot line included the story of star-crossed lovers – where the lovely, pure girl falls for the world-toughened guy – for once, i’d like to read a story where the guy is actually as morally good – or better – than the girl – so reverse the stereotype that all women have to reel their men in and tame them…

“daddy” – by bob saget – from “full house” – one of the better shows of all time – definitely, not a book for middle school eyes or ears – although, saget makes his point that his humor isn’t harmful or threatening – i definitely understand his life a lot better now – a lot of sadness there – a lot of pain – honestly, his chapter about living alone and failed relationships was probably one i, and hardly anyone else, could identify with

remember, you want a top locker tomorrow:)

maf

media days are finally here – look for me to hang out with the vandy players

“what we found under the sofa and how it changed the world” – elem BOB – i’m now done with elem BOB – my memory working per usual, i think the last two elem BOBs i read weren’t good – but, the great thing about those books is that they’re done really, really quickly (sort of like missing girl:)

“joss whedon” – a biography on him – fabulous – wrote tons of pages of things we can do in the classroom – i’ve now started watching “buffy: the vampire slayer” – and i’m pulling hard for “dr. horrible 2”

“espn: those guys have all the fun” – for an 800-page book, it was pretty depressing – those guys may have fun, but they do a lot of stupid things – not that the talent comes to media days, but i will definitely steer clear of most of them (particularly, the radio guys) – one of the more interesting reads was how they botched getting sunday AND monday night football – i at least now know why most all sporting events are on cable vs. free TV

so there’s this back road behind chelsea park elementary – always deserted – b/c it’s a dead end – and today, a jeep tears out from it – at 6 am in the morning – an overnight adventure i’d probably not like to know about… 🙂

maf

happy 6th – and 5th -and 4th – i for one am very glad that with every passing day, the chances of being kept up all night with blasts are decreasing…

“the monuments men” – there’s tremendous irony that i read books that have been turned into recent blockbuster movies – and that my kids go to movies all the time – and i never do – but i read books all the time – and they never do – so with that introduction, you would think the odds would be good that if i read a book that becomes a hit movie that my kids are sure to have seen it – and of course, they haven’t b/c it’s either “too history-ee” or played opposite some romance humor whatever of the week – or was against transformers 5 – or, and if this is the real reason, i’ll laugh forever, the movie was rated R and so they couldn’t technically go (i doubt it was R – but hey, you never know)

anyway, “monuments” was my only book for the week – it took a while to get through – the scariest part to me is just how many ideas hitler had for transforming europe – in this case, steal major works of art, house them in a secret cave of a mountain in austria – and then flatten his old hometown that he deemed wasn’t “worthy” enough of him and rebuild it just the way he wanted – complete with new artwork – and before he committed suicide at the end, he still went down and looked at his models – that stuff terrifies me

so that said, “monuments” supplemented previous WWII things i knew – just moved the lens closer – in a war where the chase at the end was rescuing people being killed in concentration camps, i’m not sure the rescuing of artwork deserves the same laudatory praise, but those guys did all the good they could with the time that they had – which is all any of us can do, i guess

maf