Archive for August, 2009

weird vacation (sort of) and work before classes start

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

I spent the week in Waynesboro, MS, from August 9 – 15th. The radio station I co-own with my brother and mother is there, and I was pulling the morning show so the regular host could have a vacation. I was also fixing the computer(s) after a virus mis-hap and some errant “fixes,” re-writing the web site for football (105wabo.com), producing football promos, formatting the automation log for football – basically being a network admin, traffic manager, program director, and operations. Some vacation. I don’t think I will do that again – I have too much going on with the PhD trip to waste a vacation. I had initially planned to go to Chicago to take in a Cubs game and to hit the town again, but it did not work out.

Classes start Wed. the 19th, I believe, for a new year at USM – 3 semesters left, and I am out the door. Dissertation and life starts again.

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FLM 170 – writing syllabus and working on outline/notes

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

I am preparing a syllabus and gathering my notes, comments, thoughts together for a class I am teaching this fall: FLM 170, Film Appreciation. I am torn with how to organize the class, but I believe I am going to get the lectures out of the way in the first four weeks of class, and leave ten classes open for viewing films and discussion. When I consider teaching a class in appreciating film, I am reminded of the Steve Martin quote, “Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.” It seems the best way to go about this is to develop a framework for critical analysis of the film and put the framework into action by watching and discussing some films.

I will discuss a bit about movies, the production aspects and the what character plays what role on a movie production, i.e. what does a producer actually do?

I toyed around with alternating a class discussion/lecture one week and watching a movie the next, but I believe it is better to have all of the tools available for film analysis THEN watch films for students to totalize their knowledge.  If that doesn’t work, I will alternate next time and go at it in that manner.  I am looking forward to the class, so that people can get out of their comfort zone and expand how they consider film art and hopefully life, too.  A friend just says I am teaching them to be film snobs, and I guess that isn’t too far off of the mark.  Is snobbery in art all that bad a thing?  I will not physically prevent anyone from seeing The Transformers movies, no matter how ridiculous they are, but that does not mean that I have to watch them, too.

So far, I am considering these films: Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt, Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, Polanski’s Chinatown, Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, Speilburg’s Schlindler’s List, Luc Besson’s The Professional, Cohen Brothers’ Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, and Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth.

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wheelchair softball – a lot of fun

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

I got to play wheelchair softball today – first time since I lived in Ohio. Some potential good players out there; with some good coaching and attention, could be a lot of fun.  We will have to get good and beat the Columbus Pioneers (the team for which I played) next year.

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Baseball and major league trades/screw-ups

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

I like National League baseball – I am old school, I admit, but I want the pitcher to hit the ball, or at least stand up there and hold a bat.  No matter, and not the point, but it does play into some of my current gripe.

I am not a fan of the Cleveland Indians. They lose. That is not the point either, but what is the point is some of the stupid things they have done this season – the front office must want to lose.  Get rid of Cy Young winner Cliff Lee for 3 prospects?  And, of course, Lee’s first outing with Philly was superb, leaving me to scratch my head. Lee, along with Ben Francisco to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald, Jason Knapp and Lou Marson.  Three pitching prospects, one of which (Knapp) looks great on paper and a very young catcher, Marson, with a .235 average in 17 at bats with Philly earlier this year.  They had to get a catcher because they dealt Victor Martinez away.  What?

I get it, they need pitching; they need young pitching.  Cliff Lee is a young star, however, and a star pitcher in your hand is worth at least two in the bush league.

Mark DeRosa – Cleveland traded to St Louis for Chris Perez and Jess Todd. Perez is 1-1, with 1 save, 4.50 ERA. Todd has pitched 1.2 innings, with 2 strike outs, 2 walks, and a 10.8 ERA.  I sort of get this – DeRosa, journeyman utility player 10 years into a major career, for 2 solid but underperforming pitchers.  It has been a building decade for the Indians; how many more prospects do they need to win some games?

Victor Martinez, arguably the best hitter in the spate of 2009 trades, was traded to Boston for Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone, and Bryan Price. Masterson is 3-3 with a 4.5 ERA; Hagadone looks ok on paper, with a 2.52 ERA in 2009, but Tommy John surgery in 2008 might give him a short shelf life; Price is a young Texan that looks fair on paper, but will need a year or so to grow.

Cleveland ditched the solid pros for a catcher and a lot of maybes in the bullpen.   Nice try, Tribe, but it takes offense, too.  Looks like another in a string of bad trades for the Indians front office.  Sorry, Cleveland fans.

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