Calling all Riot Grrls

Ultimate lady date. Let's do it.


Showing at the Ross as of tomorrow.

Math

It's fascinating stuff. As a young student, I always did well. Advanced, in fact. Yet, at some point, it became clear to me that I wasn't really "good at math" so much as I was "excellent at memorization." I was also able to perform half-hour long monologues, after all. Well, Wednesday, I have to suffer through the GRE. I've decided, as somewhat of a principled stance, that beyond one short practice, I am not studying for it. It makes little sense. One thing that revealed itself in the practice exam, though, is that my college-prep curriculum (coupled with Brown's open curriculum) never taught me statistics, the one field of mathematics that would actually be quite useful for me.



Really, though, I wish I'd have had more tangible problems to solve in the math classroom, and more examples like the Eames film above (h/t to Malcolm T, currently teaching 8th grade math in Denver, for sharing).

File Under Short stories told through film

I hope these guys continue to bring the rad.



http://thechive.com/2013/06/17/allow-me-to-present-easily-the-two-coolest-kids-of-this-week-video/

Califone and Poetry

I'm excited to see Califone live for the first time tonight. And I was reminded of the film made by poet-friend Joshua Marie Wilkinson about them.

I'm posting here a little more these days. Growing a bit weary of Facebook and Twitter...

On Happiness

Last night, I saw Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? You have two more days to see it if you're in Lincoln. And it is well worth your while.

Rather than a full review, I wanted to make just one observation. Gondry opens the film with the statement that "film and video are both by their nature manipulative," a premise I've held to both true and quite problematic for me as a filmmaker -- and particularly as a documentarian. He goes on to discuss the ways in which animation of this conversation avoids some of the pitfalls of this manipulation (editing), and yet opens many other problems (visual interpretation).

There is one animated sequence that appears a few times in the film, as Gondry asks Chomsky about his late wife. The illustration accompanying conversation about their happiness is of a man and a woman riding bikes. It even makes it into the trailer.

Never in the interview does Chomsky (nor Gondry) say anything about bike rides. Why is this the image of happiness? Obviously, I agree with it -- it speaks to my own sensibilities. However, it is a fascinating metaphorical choice. Why not a stroll through a meadow, a ride in a convertible, a view from a sailboat, a snuggle on the couch (one of these things is not like the others), etc.?

What is it about bike rides that equates with happiness?

Spring semester commences...

"The ultimate significance of lake, river, mountain and plain is not physical but social; it is the part which it plays in modifying and directing human relationships." -John Dewey, 1909.