Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

I am very tired. I think it has something to do with walking around a classroom all day trying to coerce kids into writing. "What?" they shriek. "You want us to write three-fourths of a page?"
"Yes," I reply. "And no double-spacing on those wide rule lines."
I mean seriously. I'm not asking them to do anything hard, but I guess that asking them to do something besides sit and stare at me is unreasonable. It's days like today that make me wonder about this whole thing, days when I realize how much I'm counting down to the end of student teaching, how much I currently can't wait to be done and get my diploma so that I can do this forever. Yikes. I really don't know how I feel about that.
I have to admit that on those rare occasions when I get them writing and they're really writing - excited about what they've thought to write about, eager to share their ideas with me, writing twice or three times the requirement I set - those are good times. It's those kids who look at me like I asked them to drop their pants and walk into the front office who really get under my skin - the kids who scream wasted potential from the tips of their bleached hair to the soles of their inked up shoes. The kids who- when prompted by the promise of candy- give me really insightful answers and prove that some little part of their brain is getting it.
Yesterday I looked at some journals my 8th graders had turned in. One said, "I'm smarter than I act. I talk a lot and people don't think I'm smart, but I get all As and Bs." It makes me want to cry that in middle school it's a unwritten sin to act smart.
And I can't help but wonder what I can do to make learning more interesting, more exciting. Is there a way to make it something they want to do? I can't figure out how to make it more exciting, no matter how much I reference my textbooks and notes. Am I a boring teacher or are they just bored because they choose not to be engaged?
Meanwhile, there is a newly instituted bright spot in every week. My friend Kellie and I started having a weekly movie night and it has now grown significantly. She has several edited movies and we have a list of other things we want to see, and it makes me very happy to gather with other movie fiends to devour one incredible film after another. These are the same girls with whom I frequented international cinema last semester - now we gather in Kellie's living room. So far we've watched Pan's Labyrinth, The Motorcycle Diaries, and tonight The Shawshank Redemption. It's a bright spot of intellectual stimulation, where it's okay to watch meaningful, insightful and beautiful movies. (One of my pet peeves is the frequency- in a college situation, I might add -of comments like, "I'm too tired to think. Let's not watch (insert quality thinking movie title here) tonight." Which is inevitably followed by popping in some inane movie that I've already seen more times than is really necessary (once, in the case of some movies) and talking through it. Watching real movies doesn't make me nearly as tired; it leaves me uplifted and feeling more hopeful about the state of the world. Seeing them with other people lets me know I'm not alone on this, and for that I am grateful.

In my defense...

So yesterday I definitely forgot to call the twins and wish them a happy birthday. I thought about it Tuesday night, and then forgot until I got a funny text from Ty this morning asking if I remembered when I used to love him, and wondering whether having the new Format CD would get him birthday wishes. (Answer: yes.)
In my defense, yesterday was pretty crazy. I had class, work, an impromptu pizza with some high school friends, a couple of hours spent working on my Hitchcock paper on campus, a trip to IC to see As You Like It (with sumo wrestling! Kenneth Branagh really is my hero.) a trip to the gelato place, a fun stint helping a friend with the MLA format of his Italian paper (first time I've worked with another language, but apparently MLA is just as ridiculous no matter what language you use) which all came to an end at about 11:15. It was an exciting day, but I never once thought about the date. Sorry Spence and Ty. I still love you.
A word or two about As You Like It: I know that a lot of people have issues with non-traditional interpretations of Shakespeare. I say, there are hundreds of traditional interpretations going on all the time, and they have been going on for hundreds of years. Since every production is an adaptation anyway, why not make it more fun? I absolutely loved the creativity involved in setting this play (one of my favorites) in 19th century Japan. Instead of sword fighting we got sumo wrestling, and samurai warriors banished the old duke - how can you go wrong? I also love Bryce Dallas Howard, and I am increasingly impressed with Romola Garai (even though she was a little obnoxious in the forest. I suppose she's supposed to be). I liked Alfred Molina as Touchstone, but I didn't feel like there was enough of him - he's by far my favorite of all of Shakespeare's fools, and his presence was scanty in this film. I enjoyed Kevin Kline as Jacques (is he really that old??) and I really liked Orlando even though I didn't know the actor. Patrick Doyle's music was as glorious as ever - so yeah. I thought it was fun. Kenneth Branagh remains amazing in my eyes. (Are we surprised? No.) Side note: it takes a serious suspension of disbelief to really think Orlando doesn't know that Ganymede is really Rosalind, except when you remember that he fell in love with her from seeing her eyes above a fan. But really? She's not even wearing a hat for half of it. She just has shorter hair and is wearing what looks like a sport coat. If he can't figure it out from this, he needs to reevaluate his love.
Tonight - Billy Joel. Hurrah!

The General Specific

Stuff you should probably check out (because I have recently, and you know you want to be like me):

• Band of Horses new CD, Cease to Begin. Fantastic. I particularly like "No One's Gonna Love You" (not depressing, but it sounds like it's going to be, yes?" and "Islands on the Coast."
  
• Ian McEwan's Atonement, which I just finished. The whole book is worth it for the effect of the last page. It was so good, and I actually got my blog's new name from it! McEwan is a lot of fun to read(I have to admit, though it may ruin my credibility, that I enjoyed imagining Robbie as James McAvoy, since he's playing him in the movie. But that doesn't mean I didn't recognize the actual merits in the book - it's kind of like the way To Kill a Mockingbird got better when Atticus became Gregory Peck.)
  
• Enchanted. Adorable, made fun of Disney without really making fun of the good things about it, had two very attractive men. (I'm sorry Jennie, but I think James Marsden is great, and he was hysterical in this one.)
• Let It Snow, Baby, Let It Reindeer - Relient K's new Christmas CD. This is why: "What's a partridge? What's a pear tree? I don't know, so please don't ask me - but I can bet those are terrible gifts to give." Also, the Narnia reference that is track 9.

Things you shouldn't check out:

• Next, starring Nicolas Cage. Sorry friends, but there's a reason you didn't hear about this movie when it came out earlier this year. Just don't even bother.
  

So we have a CD, a book, a movie, and a Christmas CD, plus I steered you away from a waste of time - I think we've covered our bases for today. Yes? Good? On we go.

The cows are barren, the sows are barren, everything's going to ruin...

I've seen some pretty fabulous movies in the last couple of weeks - thought I'd share.


First- Amelie. I've wanted to see this movie for SO long, and they showed it at International Cinema this week. It's so happy and brilliant and wonderful - I'm sad about the number of people that won't see it because of the rating - the editing at IC was a little annoying, but not too distracting. I'm a big fan.


Annie Hall. My first Woody Allen movie. Hysterical, and so true. I put a quote from it in my sidebar. Woody Allen is a little obnoxious at times, but I'm pretty sure this movie hits my relationship issues right on the nose. At least some of them. :)


Cold Comfort Farm. Oh my gosh. I couldn't even believe how much I loved this movie. I laughed out loud several times, but I think my favorite moment was when Stephen Fry presented his thesis that Bramwell Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I want to own this movie. Amazing cast, amazing movie. Yay.

The Godfather. I watched it with my friend Kellie, who just swore off R-rated movies and had it edited, when they canceled the showing of Behind the Sun we were going to hit. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. Um . . . yes. What do you say about that movie? It was amazing.

High Fidelty. I've been dying to see this movie for YEARS because my brothers told me it was pretty much a movie about us - music snobs. I finally found it edited in Kellie's collection and it made me SO happy! Nick Hornby is brilliant, and so is John Cusack.


Marty. I've wanted to see this movie since I saw Quiz Show this summer. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I liked it anyway.

Offside. A movie about female soccer fans in Iran who sneak into the stadiums dressed as boys. Not what I was expecting either (apparently my expectation valve is broken) but really good.


A Room With a View. Saw it at IC a few weeks ago - love love love. E.M. Forster, I love you a lot. Not sad when Kellie told me that what they cut was a couple of minutes of full frontal male nudity.


Stardust. Fun and happy with a very attractive main character and Robert DeNiro dressing in drag. I don't see a down side. (Plus I got to see it twice with a cute boy, and Lindsey and Miri came along the second time, so double bonus plus.)

Volver. Penelope Cruz, murder, ghosts, attempted rape . . . this movie had it all and was funny too. 10 points.

Mustache Power!

Some of you may remember this picture from a few months ago. You thought, what on earth is Megan talking about? Why is she posting this ridiculous picture without explaining it?
Wonder no more friends! Mustache Power Productions is officially in business, and our first video is up on youtube.com, but you can see it here!
I didn't do a lot on this particular movie; I edited the script and offered some suggestions, but I was out of town for every night of filming. However, one of my brothers directed it, and another did the camera work, and we think it's funny. We started (and hopefully everyone will finish) another, less complicated movie tonight, so there should be one about once a month from now on. (I'm in the new one - I have two words!)
For your viewing pleasure:

My Life is Sad, but I am Proud

Last night I played movie trivia games with my family.

I am happy to say that I have finally grown into my Winegar genes.

Final score when the last three Winegars called it quits: Ty: 52, Meg: 45, Treb: 35.

That's right. I only lost to Ty by 7. And if you know Ty, you know this is an achievement, since every other word out of his mouth is a pop culture reference. As for beating my genius brother Treb by 10, all I can say is before I lost my groove when Mom went to bed I was beating him by 15. :)

My wasted youth of Gregory Peck and Jimmy Stewart movies has paid off at last - truly, I am the classic movie authority in the family.

Huzzah.

There's a reason it was a bestseller, and you haven't grasped it yet.

Today I finished reading Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, and it was absolutely delightful. What didn't delight me was that I waited so long to read it because I wasn't incredibly impressed by the movie (and I'd never heard of the book until the movie came out.) It was fun, and the guy who plays Char is quite attractive, but it was kind of silly. Turns out they completely ruined the story! There is almost nothing in the movie that comes from the book, especially not the end. What on earth was going on with the crazy plotting uncle? Seriously!
I've decided that there should be an ordinance against making fantasy movies on low budgets and without someone who absolutely adores the book. (Lord of the Rings was a good fantasy movie because it had the right director/screenwriters and a HUGE budget, plus everyone working on the movie was dedicated to Tolkien's vision. I don't expect every movie to be on this scale, but honestly. If you can't do it right don't do it. And actually, Ella would have been easier the way it was written!) I realize that it's an adaptation, but that doesn't mean you have to change the entire (and already lovely) story.
I'm cringing at the thought that someone might do the same thing to Twilight. It could be good . . . but it could be so bad. Everyone keep your fingers crossed like two crossed things that they do it right or drop the project altogether.