Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Website Wednesday

I'm really getting worried about the national election next Tuesday. The worst possible scenario would be the ascent of the Republicans or their shadow arm, the Tea Baggers. The second worst possible scenario would be that Democrats retain control of both houses and stagnant us in a capitalistic nightmare.

Oh well. What, me worry?

On a local note, I'm beginning to write down all the topics covered in the boy's math packets. I missed the first packet because I didn't realize the math curriculum had changed. But here are the topics I copied down from the second packet:

Basic math: addition, subtraction, etc
Fact triangles: product at one angle and factors at other two
Multiples of numbers and factors of number
Mystery numbers: If you add me to 12, I’m ……; If you subtract me from 5, I’m ……. What am I?
Number Sentences: 3 + 4 = 2 + 5, etc
Open Sentences: math sentences with a variable: 5 + 3 = 4 + n and Find for n
Order of Operations: use of parentheses in equations
Rule problems: 5, 10, 15, 20….. What’s the rule? Answer: +5
T or F math sentences: 7 +2 = 5 + 3; T or F; if F make it T
Word problems with extraneous information

Now, as I see it, they work on these packets for about two weeks and then take an all inclusive test on all the topics. Great for 4th graders who are getting grades for the first time (no more check, check plus, or check minus) plus complicated math! Good planning, Curriculum Director.

But I do have a website, Brilliant at Breakfast:

http://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com/

I've been reading this blog for some time. I particularly liked the October 10, 2010 entry:

We are a profoundly ignorant. People don't know anything about their own religions. We know little of our own history, let alone our history in context with the rest of the world. We worship sports heroes who torture dogs, but we point at scientists and laugh. A profoundly messed-up woman like Christine O'Donnell can run on a platform of "See? I can't manage my finances either. I'm you." We had eight years of a dry drunk as president because people thought he was the guy they'd want to have a beer with -- as if that were ever going to happen. Now there are people who would vote to give the nuclear codes to an aging high school mean girl because they'd like to fuck her -- as if that's ever going to happen. Smart people are regarded with scorn as "elites." Ignorance is regarded as a virtue.

This is how an empire dies. And we are going to be around to see it.

We are all so fucked!

No lists here; no cute pictures; no fun. But definitely worthwhile reads. Don't forget to click on the other "Brilliant Bloggers" in the right column. It might take you weeks to get through all of them.

But don't forget to take time out to vote.

Back soon.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Movie Monday - well not really, but I do get to a movie - finally

I have been so bogged down lately that I even have the draft of Knitting Friday post for last Friday which never got past that stage.

What has grabbed my attention? Without any notice or announcement, they changed the math and language arts curricula in our school district. NJ is now part of a national Core Curriculum program (TX, VA, all of the north-west states, and others are still not on board - if they ever will be - state's rights, you know.)

I first got drift of this when I read the parent's math answers for the 4th grade which comes home weekly so parents will know the answers of their kids' pesky math problems. This time, the sheet had a backside with all sorts of math terms and a line which struck me: We will be introducing algebra. Now, most of you expect algebra in high school but it's part of the 4th grade curriculum. Holy shit! (No, that last sentence fragment was mine, not theirs.)

Well, I should have figured out something was a-changing since just days before we were working with mean, mode, median and range problems (To digress: I have no problem with introducing more complicated conceptions in early grades. I do have a problem when one day is spent on probability and statistics, the next on addition problems and the next on geometry. This rapid fire approach to math is not suitable to 4th graders [I'm talking regular kids, not savants] who are still grappling with times tables and need an in-depth, not "Boy, will this look good when we send this to the NJ Dept. of Education" curriculum.)

After this eye-opener, I happened to be cruising the school web site (hoping they had a weekly parent's sheet online since I had misplaced ours) and I clicked Academics, then Mathematics...... and the rest is history.

Reading the delightful concise wording of some Doc, or post-Doc Ed.D. (that's sarcasm), I learned just what was now involved with the new, improved (and sorry-assed) math curriculum.

So for the last week, I have started to play catch-up with the boy's math homework. No longer do I view it as a steady progression of a typical 4th grade curriculum. This stuff is now wicked. When the homework on polygons comes home, I'd better be sure that he understands all that's involved with those pesky little creatures; all their characteristics; be able to identify all types; and, of course, be able to spell those little devils.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Just three years ago, I remember with the girl in 4th grade measuring geometric objects in the house and vandalizing magazines for pictures of shapes. That exercise is probably taught in pre-school now. (And, the girl is a real math whiz now; so go figure.)

That's the long version of "How I Have Been Spending My Days." Studying math. Did I tell you that I love math but lack the brain cells to grasp that age-old problem: If an airplane leaves from CA and a train leaves from NY....... ? You know the famous distance, time and rate one. I just don't get it. This year should be interesting.

OK, enough palaver. I also have a newsletter to punch up today.

Let be leave you with a movie pick I'll review next Monday: Pirate Radio. Take a look at it. It's not perfect but I just loved it. It hit all the right buttons for me. In fact, I'm going to compare it to Invictus, which is so sincere, like watching sincere paint dry.

More next Monday.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Movie Monday: The Lovely Bones directed by Peter Jackson
(contains spoilers but the movie really gives away the plot very early on)

More apologies for my dearth of Knitting Fridays. I just seem to be knitting but not blogging about it. Tonight is my Needlework Group and perhaps I'll pick up some ideas there.

On to the movie. You know you're having trouble with a movie when 1: you have to will yourself to sit through it because you want to blog about it. 2: You misread the running time as one and a half hours (it actually runs over 2 hours) and at 70 minutes into it all you're thinking is: Well, at least I have only 10 more minutes to watch this.

The Lovely Bones:a first-person narrative by a murdered girl who looks down on her grieving family and the killer.

Let me begin with what I liked:.......waiting.....waiting

Oh, the CGIs! No, they went on and on. Unlike Jackson's early Heavenly Creatures which had a lovely CGI section, TLB stretched all this loveliness (and some nastiness) on and on. Stop already! We get that WETA studios is cutting edge. Stop showing off! I know Jackson got the slew of Oscars for The Return of the King but I thought that last movie of the LOTR trilogy was his weakest since he was so enamored with his special effects that he only served up the human emotions among his characters as a side dish.

And that's a big problem in TLB. It's like: OK, here's a magical realism story about a child's murder and her grieving family, let's see how many special effects I can cram in.

Unless you're dealing with straight entertainment (Iron Man, Terminator, etc.), your movie will fall flat if you don't connect with your audience; if you don't have your audience make an investment in what they are watching.

And I made no investment in this film. I watched a narrative; I was never caught up in it. The acting didn't help but perhaps the script contributed to this.

Some issues I had: 1: Before Susie is killed, Ray, a typical student in a high school in PA - an English accented, well-dressed boy!!! - makes a date to meet her at the mall. After Susie is killed, Ray mourns her and writes a poem to her. What? They just met! 2: After Susie dies and her mother flees her grief-obsessed husband, floozy Grandma comes to live with the family. Played by Susan Sarandon (no acting light-weight), she struts through her scenes, cigarette smoking, full liquor glass in hand. All stereotypical of the Rake's Progress until her daughter returns and she appears sober as a judge. 3: Susie, now dead, "wills" her father not to accost her killer. Instead, dad winds up mistakenly accosting a girl at a lovers' tryst and is beaten to near death by her boyfriend who misinterprets the situation. This is protection from beyond? 4: At the end of the movie, when Susie is ready to finally enter heaven, she returns because there is one more thing she has to do on earth. OK, I'm thinking, she's going to help them catch her killer. No, she morphs into a living girl so Ray can give her one last (and presumably first) kiss. WTF????

Now I know that The Lovely Bones was a hot best-seller/reading group selection so I'm thinking: Jackson must have had pretty bad source material with which to work. I think it's safe to assume that some scenes were iconic to the book and he put them in for the fan base. I'm also thinking that I going to take a pass on Alice Sebold's writing based on this movie.

Even giving Jackson a pass because he had some "rules" he had to follow; I know that lousy lit can make great movies. Good acting helps. Except for Rachel Weisz as the distraught mom, I felt no empathy. I did feel excitement and suspense in a well-crafted scene (but also a typical suspense motif) when Susie's sister discovers evidence of the killer's guilt while the killer is ascending the stairs to confront her.

One commenter said about this movie: What a mess! That's it in three words.

I think this is the first movie I have reviewed here about which I feel so negative. I know I would have be kinder to a lesser director. But Peter Jackson should have known better.

Some trivia: Some of this movie was filmed in PA, not far from where I live. and in areas I've driven through too, too many times. I recognized at least one shot. Also, the development right across from me contains the houses Jackson used. One car garage splits built in the 1950s. Small rec rooms, small bedrooms, all around compact. I do think Jackson only used the exterior of these homes and when the audience went into they were in a different floor plan.

And, one final question: As I remember it, once Lindsey runs off with the killer's journal, he leaves town with the safe (containing Susie's body) from his basement in the car. Even assuming, he didn't leave immediately: how did he ever get that safe up the cellar stairs and into the car - alone?

Edit: I'm starting to read the reviews of the book. Wow! I guess now my question is: I read that Jackson really wanted to make this book into a movie and owned the rights for some time. Why?

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Website Wednesday and Multiplication

First, a word about math. Last week, we had a boil water alert and I was checking the local TV channels for information. (Only a local rag, The Trentonian, had online info though I think they were implying the problem was politically motivated.)

In my channel clicking, I came upon a presentation (didn't catch it but she was probably the Curriculum Director) to our local Board of Education re: the complaints about the math curriculum from parents and teachers. Well, the good news is that they know the problem; the bad news is it may take years to fix.

Which leads me to an extra website for you this Wednesday:

http://www.multiplication.com/

Now, the boy is in the fourth grade and still hasn't picked up the entire multiplication table. God knows, I've tried every teaching trick with him but he just can't commit it to memory (and this kid has a memory like a steel trap - if it goes in, it doesn't come out.)

Then, in one of those Eureka moments I thought: What about those BBC education sites I used to play with him when he was still light enough to sit on my lap.

I didn't use those sites but I did find the one listed above. I clicked on "Games" and we have been sailing along for over a week.

Here's what I did:

1. I reviewed about 30 multiplication games and picked out about 22 which were suitable. (It's not a good idea to use timed tests or those where you move the cute cartoon character to catch the right answer in a basket - too stressful.)
2. I picked out games which had short rewards after each section (a Mario-type game; a painting scene, etc.)
3. I used only one times table at a time starting with times 2.
4. I sit with him for the 15 - 20 minutes he plays the games, not giving him hints but sometimes saying the answer after he clicks it.
5. After he is proficient in a times table I test him verbally (2 -x 9 = ?) and with a worksheet.

You probably realized from #4 that these are multiple choice games. I think this takes the stress out of the exercise.

The results: He has times 2 and times 3 tables down pat! I know, you say: So what? But it is a big deal. Forget that the U.S. is losing the race in higher math to the rest of the world; we're losing it in lower math. We, parents, have to take the small victories where we find them.

Check on the Multiplication.com site; there's a lot of learning there.

And now on to my regular pick for Website Wednesday:

http://www.mentalfloss.com/

I can't believe I missed this site. Remember, how your ancestors used to turn on the TV in the morning and watch Morning Shows? Well, Mental Floss in a web Morning Show. Today, under Morning Cup Of Links, you have the news of the Chilean miners with a live feed. (They're bringing them out alive! Go Chile!) You have a diagram on how cut a bagel so it links. They have cats which talk when they eat. (So there, Mom! I can talk while I chew my food!)

Check out 10 Amazing Costumes for Halloween. They are amazing, and spooky, and gross.

Need some mental stuff. Check out Amazing Facts, Trivia and Quizzes.

The About says:

For the record: mental_floss magazine is an intelligent read, but not too intelligent. We're the sort of intelligent that you hang out with for a while, enjoy our company, laugh a little, smile a lot and then we part ways. Great times. And you only realize how much you learned from us after a little while. Like a couple days later when you're impressing your friends with all these intriguing facts and things you picked up from us, and they ask you how you know so much, and you think back on that great afternoon you spent with us and you smile.

And then you lie and say you read a lot.

And that about sums it up. Grab your coffee and that linking bagel you just made and enjoy.

Final note: As I'm scrolling through the Mental Floss site I'm getting such strong deja vu vibes. I can't believe I didn't use this on another Website Wednesday. So, even though my "Find" in Word Perfect didn't discover this on my list of sites used (Yes, I keep a list and I'm amazed it's such a long list) I scrolled through all the sites the old-fashioned way - using my eyes. And, I still didn't find this site. Could it have changed its names? Did I use just a section of the site another Wednesday?

Oh well, whatever. It's worth a first visit or a repeat visit.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Movie Monday: Splendor in the Grass (1961) and Cheri (2009)

I'm reading more and more about the mess the Democrats are in as they face the mid-term Congressional elections. To put the blame on one man is really silly in a representative government but it is in keeping with Truman's desk sign of "The Buck Stops Here." I think I'd trace to origin of the problem to Obama's refusal to understand from the get-go that in a poisonous political climate (which we have now and have had plenty of times in U.S. history) you take no prisoners. Now, bullies understand this all the time as witnessed in the the antics of our NJ Gov. Unfortunately, reasoned, intelligent people see the world as it really is, a "darkling plain" we all share, and try to act rationally and inclusive. It looks like, once again, it ain't going to work.

But I did see two movies in the last week which are separated by almost 50 years: Splendor in the Grass (1961) and Cheri (2009.) SITG has been on TV so many times but amazingly, I only saw it last week. And, it is very, very good. I really don't like movies from the 1960s and 1970s, though I guess you could rattle off a boatload of classics from those decades. I just think that movies from that time were more to be seen than felt, admired not empathized with.

But reaching back almost 50 years, I felt the agony of Wilma's (Natalie Wood)despair when teenage lust (probably hardwired in all of us for the propagation of the species) ran into the wall of the "good girl" model of the times. That one scene (probably played out so, so many times in teen girls' fantasy ) where Wilma walks with Bud (Warren Beatty) through the halls of the school as lower middle-class, pretty girl and super rich, handsome jock. Wood captures the joy (I'm with him!) and the confusion (Why does he like me?) perfectly.

Neither Wilma nor Bud get what they want in life and both must live with the regrets and move on. Wilma pays a severe, immediate consequence but it is Bud who must endure a more permanent "fall from grace."

Go see this movie and then take a look at modern day angst-filled teen love movies. It's worth the comparison.

And also, there is Cheri. First, what a brave actress Michelle Pfeiffer is. She is a physically beautiful actress who could easily look much younger than her 50+ years, but she plays the older woman in Cheri and in the last scenes, she allows the camera to portray that age starkly. Second, Rupert Friend. I like Rupert Friend. I consider him an Orlando Bloom who can act. I liked him as Albert in The Young Victoria and was pleasantly surprised to read that he was Ludovic in Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont. He plays a young, pampered, kept young man in Cheri with a believable emotional depth the role must have.

The plot of Cheri? When I read about modern day "cougar" romance, I want to gag. Old women and young men. Ewwww! (I feel probably more strongly about young women and old men.) I get the lust; I just haven't figured out the frame of reference for conversations. (OK, I'm naive; you say, What conversation?)

I mention this because I came upon Cheri as just a sexual romp between an experienced courtesan and the 19-year old son of another courtesan; a relationship which lasts 6 years. I've heard of these affairs before; classic lit is full of them But at the end of Cheri, at the bitter end when they, like Wood and Beatty in SITG, must part, I really did understand that the societal view on age can be transcended by love. As the narrator says: Lea was born too soon.

Take a look at both these movies. Separated by almost 50 years; acted so well; both telling similar stories; I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Website Wednesday

I thought about changing my banner from time to time but I decided that like "Carthage must be destroyed" which Cato (from memory, have to check that name again) said in every Roman Senate speech till it was, it will probably take a very long time before the Western world takes a long, hard look at the downside of capitalism.

Enough of the soap box. No Movie Monday because it was a traveling day and almost a "being wiped out on the Garden State Parkway because the guy is the right lane was texting, driving and swerving" day. I did learn that when you see a guy in the slow lane going a really, really "this guy must be passed" slow it is not necessarily that Pops is driving but rather some asshole who thinks that slow driving means you can text on the device you hold on your lap. What a putz!

I do have some good websites today. First, an easy one, just for fun:

http://blastr.com/

This is a product of the SyFy Network which has changed from a great Saturday Mystery Science Theater morning network to a parade of original movies which should really be parodied on the now defunct MST.

Blastr seems to be mainly movie news (like articles about The Hobbit - a movie about short people (hobbits) and even shorter people (dwarfs) which is going to take all the magic of Peter Jackson to "stand tall." There are also some games on this site, some of which don't need registration.

Take a look at it for fun, and movie information.

Now, with my second choice I'm returning to my "happy place" - lists:

http://www.smashinglists.com/

OK, you say: Lists, that should be the fun pick. But Smashing Lists isn't. There are some of your typical lists like best movies or cars but even those come with interesting blurbs. If they think Die Hard is the best action movie, they'll tell you why.

Once you get beyond the easy stuff, it really gets interesting: the oldest photographs, flowers that bloom on at night, the first timekeeping devices, or amazing tricks to play with your brain (you may be interested in downloading the 18000 Hz Sine Wave - I have no idea what I just wrote!)

That last item triggered the thought: Who's writing this stuff? How accurate are their facts?

Unfortunately, my feeble detective skills could find no "About Us" on the site so I engaged my Google skills and this is what I discovered:

From Alexa at http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/smashinglists.com:

Smashinglists.com's three-month global Alexa traffic rank is 24,739. The site's visitors view 1.3 unique pages each day on average. Relative to the overall population of internet users, the site's users tend to be under the age of 35, and they tend to be childless Caucasians and men browsing from home who have no postgraduate education. Visitors to the site spend about 85 seconds on each pageview and a total of two minutes on the site during each visit, and Smashinglists.com has a bounce rate of approximately 78% (i.e., 78% of visits consist of only one pageview).

How do they find out this stuff? I'm a childless, Caucasian male apparently. Or I have the tastes of a childless, Caucasian male. You learn something new every day.

Technorati at http://technorati.com/blogs/www.smashinglists.com says:

Smashing Lists is an entertainment as well as educational blog compiling the top 10 lists on various topics ranging from lifestyle to entertainment, science and technology.

But outside of one site saying they are located in Texas, I'm not getting a handle on "who makes them." (There are a few hyperlinks of "Source" with some of their lists.) However, I know I'm impressed with the Sine Wave blurb and their Flesch reading ease score seems about a senior in high school level.

So take a look at my two choices this week and plan to spend some time with Smashing Lists; it can be addictive.