Wednesday, February 25, 2009

LOST Season 5: Episode 7: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

We've been bamboozled! Hoodwinked! We were lead to believe that Locke killed himself and all the while Ben killed him. Very clever those LOST writers are. This didn't happen until after 10 pm...the show went to about 10:06. What other show is so good that they can bogart time from the next show that's coming on?

Episode 7 was very informative. I'm leaning more towards Charles Widmore being a "good guy" after this episode. That is, until the true nature of the original Hostiles is revealed or we get a little more information on how he became as powerful as he is.

Matthew Abaddon was killed by Ben also. If he was a bad enough guy for Ben to kill him, was it just to finish getting rid of all of Whidmore's constituents or is Widmore just as equally immoral and "bad" as Ben [who is most probably likely maybe definitely bad] and they're just two bad guys trying to outdo each other at the expense of the Losties?

I guess I was wrong in assuming that Ceasar, the new guy, is of Middle Eastern descent. He had a Spanish accent and Ceasar is to Latinos as Day-Shawn is to African Americans. Lana, the woman who was escorting Sayid, seemed kinda Spanish too. It's unclear whether their leadership roles are accidental or if they're key characters for the remainder of the season. Next week, Kate and Sawyer will reunite. Can't wait for that...or will they get glimpses of each other at the very end of the episode as the screen fades to black?

Question: Why didn't Locke survive Ben strangling him just like Michael couldn't die when he returned to New York?

I love this show, but the locations in Santa Monica, California and New York City in this episode were unmistakenly Hawaii. You could see mountains in the background during the car crash scene. They were tropical moutains, not North American ones. And there's no white colonial style edifice on 67th Street and 8th Avenue! [By the way, Walt looks about 21 years old now.] They did a much better job making Hawaii look like the Middle East when Sayid went to bury Nadia. I'm just saying...but LOST is STILL the best show ever!!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Ms. Charles Went to THE ISLAND!!!




Over the break, Ms. Charles visited Hawaii and got a chance to see where LOST is filmed. It's safe to say she didn't get there the way that the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 got there. I'm pretty sure these very shots have appeared at some point over the course of the first four seasons of LOST. She was kind enough to share these photos from her excursion. Looks like she and her husband had a great time. Me personally, well I just went to Staten Island and Long Island over the break...
I wonder if she ran into any of The Others such as Ethan or Ben?
Thanks for sharing, Ms. Charles!

Friday, February 20, 2009

LOST Season 5: Episode 6: 316













Episode 6 was incredible as expected. We learned how the Dharma Initiative found the island in the first place. Desmond decided not to return to the island. 5 out of six returned on a flight to Guam with Aaron being the only one left behind. Who knows where he is. Even Locke's corpse is on the flight. Mrs. Hawking's advice was correct in that they had to best recreate the original conditions that brought them to the island in the first place. Ben was assualted in some way and sustained injuries. Jin greets Jack, Kate and Hurley when they arrive back and is shocked / happy / surprised to see them. We don't know where Sun, Sayid, Ben and the 2 new characters wound up.


I'm sure there are some interesting plot twists and developments related to the 2 new characters. One is escorting Sayid as a prisoner much like Kate was being escorted in the very first episode. The other is another Arabic/Middle Eastern dude who was a passenger on flight 316 to Guam. Next week's episode answers the question of Locke's death/suicide. LOST is the best show ever!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

High School Musical Rehearsals

We covered a lot of ground today at rehearsals. Ms. Piton worked on Start of Something New with the cliques and Traven & Leandra. I worked with Shae and Abraham on Bop to the Top. Both pieces are looking really good so far. Ms. Hall worked on the backdrop. We're out next week for some much needed R&R so everyone be sure to practice what we've learned. Tomorrow, I will get scripts to those who have lost theirs.

Please join me in wishing Leandra lots of luck in her audition for the 2009 Summer Arts Institute at Stuyvesant High School for which she applied today.

Thanks everyone for a great day of rehearsals. Check out a quick video of the action.Add Video

LOST Season 5: Episode 5: This Place is Death

Last night's episode of LOST was very well done. The flashes were happening right and left. We found out a little more about Danielle Rousseau and what happened to her team of scientists. Turns out she shot them, which is different from the "sickness" that she said they got when she recorded the sixteen year old message. Ben continued to try and rally up the Oceanic 6. They all wound up at a church to meet Mrs. Hawking (pictured here). Desmond showed up too? Does he have to return to the island as well?

I enjoyed the scene in which Jin struggles to communicate with the French...very well written and executed.

Turns out Mrs. Hawking is Daniel Faraday's mother. Charlotte is the first casualty of the season. We did learn that she was indeed born on the island. This was hinted at in season 4 when she said she spent a lot of time "trying to get back." Locke found his way to the wheel where Jack's father was waiting for him. Locke turned the wheel and will probably wind up in LA next week.

This was an excellent episode. Mrs. Hawking turned out to be much more important than we probably figured when we first met her in London and she told Desmond not to buy the engagement ring for Penny. I particularly enjoyed last night's episode in High Definition. The colors seemed to pop a little more than usual. All in all, excellent episode. Can't wait until next week when we're off from school. Mrs. Hawking is going to explain how to get back to the island. Best show ever!

Your Cell Phone is Gone for Good!


Once it's lost or stolen, your cell phone (or other coveted electronic device) is gone for good. One of the main reasons why personal electronic items aren't allowed in the building is to prevent loss or theft. The funds used to purchase these robotic, futuristic, George Jetson type contraptions should have been spent on books for your home library anyway.

From this day forward, I will not attempt to assist you in searching for your lost or stolen cell phone, PSP, iPod, Blackberry, iPod Touch, iPhone, G1, digital camera, Sidekick, Game Boy, mp3 player, Milo or any other electronic device. It's too much of a headache and often, the item is never recovered. There are about 1200 students here. We can not and will not search all those students. And don't ask Ms. Harry to look for it either. So the moral of the story is, once it's lost or stolen, your cell phone (or other electronic device) is gone for good.

Friday, February 6, 2009

St. Louis Guest Stars on the Second Floor

Thanks for stopping by...

Class 281 went to Harlem















Class 281 went to Harlem with Ms. T. Hall to visit the Schomburgh Center for Research and Black Culture last fall. When they returned, they wrote a reflective piece that interpreted what they saw and experienced and that mirrored the writing of the author they were studying at the time, Walter Dean Myers. Thanks, Ms. T. Hall for putting this trip together and thanks, Ms. Jones for accompanying them last minute.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

LOST Season 5: Episode 4: The Little Prince


Tonight's episode was awesome. The time travel twists just keep on coming. The sky flashes and their effects were prevalent once again this week. Next weeks's episode looks amazing as well. JIN IS ALIVE!!! The next question is Is Michael alive too?
I knew Ben was behind the men showing up at Kate's house to get blood samples from Aaron and her the moment they arrived at the door. But that doesn't explain who's trying to tranquilize Sayid. If it's Ben, why is he going to such lengths?
Danielle's crew arriving on the island was also kinda predictable, but that doesn't take away from the creativity factor of the writing thus far this season. How brilliant to have Jin, of all people, meet up with the French crew 16 years ago!!! And will we see what actually happened to the French crew that left Danielle all alone (well, kinda) on the island? If time keeps jumping around the way it has been, this is unlikely. Either that or we'll see bits and pieces here and there out of chronological order and have to configure it ourselves. Could this season rival season 3? We'll see...

Monday, February 2, 2009

Push: Based on the novel by Sapphire

I've seen many a middle school student reading Push (1996) by Sapphire. This novel is disturbing and raw...definitely, in my opinion, not for the reading pleasure of sensationalism-hungry adolescents. The book was recommended to me by a colleague during my second year of teaching. I found that the end of the novel suggested that siempre hay esperanza (there's always hope) and that we as teachers sometimes take the magnitude of our impact lightly. Sapphire also reminds readers through her dark and unapologetic prose that there's always someone out there who has it worse than you do! Educators who aren't touched and affected by this novel shouldn't be teaching.

But then again, the drive, fortitude and determination of Sapphire's heroine who is an illiterate, morbidly obese, HIV positive sexual and physical abuse victim pregnant by her father for the second time, is rare with your average middle school teen. Hence, they shouldn't be reading the text if they aren't mature and literacy-savvy enough to appreciate the author's message and purpose. Well with all that said, I CAN'T WAIT for the film version to be released. Directed by Lee Daniels, who is probably known best for producing Monster's Ball, Push was screened at Sundance last month and won the most awards (3) of all the entries. Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry have green lit the distribution. There's already talk of an Oscar nomination for comedienne Mo'Nique. Yes, you read that correctly. Word is that she's phenomenal as the abusive mother. Let's just hope it comes out sooner than later.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Slumdog Millionaire


All I can say is go see it if you haven't already. The film was excellent...quite inspiring and superbly acted, designed and photographed. 4 stars.

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