| Top Favorites of the 00's - Part 2: Movies, Music, and TV |
[Jan. 1st, 2010|01:28 am] |
Write Your Own List in the Comments.
What were your favorite movies, music, or TV shows of the decade?
Here are mine:
Favorite Movies
About A Boy (2002)
Almost Famous (2000)
C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008)
Fight Club (1999, though I saw it in 2001)
Idiocracy (2006)
(A) Knight's Tale (2005)
L'Auberge Espagnole (2002)
Moulin Rouge (2001)
Serenity (2005)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Why We Fight (2005)
Favorite Music Albums
Black-Eyed Peas - Elephunk
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More With Feeling
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords
Heap, Imogen - I, Megaphone & Speak For Yourself
Martin, Charlotte - On Your Shore
(The) Killers - Hot Fuss
M.I.A. - Kala
They Might Be Giants - Dial A Song
Weird Al - Poodle Hat
Favorite TV Shows (15 was as low as I could go)
Angel (1999-2004, though I started watching in 2000)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003, though I started watching in 2000)
Battlestar Galactcia (2004-2009)
(The) Big Bang Theory (2007-present)
Coupling, UK version (2000-2004)
(The) Daily Show
Firefly (2002-2003)
Friday Night Lights (2006-present)
Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)
Mad Men (2007-present)
Sex and the City (1998-2005)
Supernatural (2005-present)
Torchwood (2006- ?) |
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| Top Favorites of the 00's - Part 1: Books |
[Dec. 31st, 2009|08:15 pm] |
I obsessively archive my life into lists and charts. (Yes, it's a sickness) But it makes remembering everything I read, watched, and listened to over the decade just a matter of looking at my lists. The hardest part is picking out only a few favorites.
Favorite Fiction Reads:
While I read a handful of books written for adults, my favorite books of the decade turned out being either middle grade or young adult fiction. Yeah, I sort of cheated by dividing the fiction books into a series list and a singles list. There were just too many good books to narrow the list to only ten.
MG= middle grade fiction (for around 9-14 years or 4th- 8th grades)
YA= young adult fiction (for around 12 years and up or 7th grade and up)
Favorite Fiction Series I Read
Bartimaeus Series, by Jonathan Stroud (YA)
Gemma Doyle Series, by Libba Bray (YA)
Gregor the Overlander Series, by Suzanne Collins (MG) - I've finished 3 of 5 so far.
Golden Compass Series, by Phillip Pullman (YA)
Harry Potter Series, by J.K. Rowling (MG/YA)- Read 1-3 in 1999, 4th book came out in 2000.
Hunger Games series, by Suzanne Collins (YA) - The third one hasn't been published yet.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Series, by Ann Brashares (YA)
Favorite Single Fiction Books I Read
Boy Meets Boy, by David Levithan (YA)
City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau (MG) - It's in a series but this first one was the best.
Graceling, by Kristen Cashore (YA) - There's a prequel, but I haven't read it yet.
Holes, by Louis Sachar (MG)
Kiki Strike, by Kristen Miller (MG) - There's only two so I'm not counting it as a series.
Looking for Alaska, by John Green (YA)
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan (YA)
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson (YA)
Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli (YA)
The Two Princesses of Bamarre, by Gail Carson Levine (YA)
Favorite Non-Fiction Books I Read
(All these were written for adults, except Eleanor's Story.)
(The) Dance of Anger, by Harriet Lerner
Eleanor's Story: An American Girl in Hitler's Germany, by Eleanor Ramrath Garner
German Boy, by Wolfgang W.E. Samuel
Guns, Germs, & Steel, by Jared Diamond
How to Learn Any Langauge, by Barry Farber
Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage, by Stephanie Coontz
Setting Limits, by Robert Mackenzie
Techniques of the Selling Writer, by Dwight Swain
Uncommon Sense for Parents and Teachers, by Michael Riera
Woman: An Intimate Geography, by Natalie Angier
What were your favorite reads of the decade? I love reading these kinds of lists. |
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| October & November 2009: In Brief |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|07:05 pm] |
Highlights
Lessons I Learned About Kidney Stones:
1) The staff at my local emergency room is super nice.
2) Almost everyone I know has either had a kidney stone or knows someone who had one.
3) It's pretty much like going through labor but without the baby at the end. Though my body seems to have more trouble with simple illnesses than most people. Instead of passing the stone after a couple of days of pain, like most people, I had my stone for over 4 weeks until I had to have a procedure to remove it.
4) When the doctor said, "You might have some irritation after the procedure", what he really meant was that if my stone was really stuck -- which it was-- I'd have a week of searing pain that I could dull by taking pain medication every 4 hours.
5) Watching Being Human is an excellent way to spend a week living on the couch and taking around-the-clock pain medicine.
6) Filling a tube sock with rice and nuking it in the microwave for 60 seconds makes a wonderful heating pad.
7) In conclusion, kidney stones are more fun than any human should be allowed to have. ;)
Sprinting Back Into Regular Life:
The minute I was well I subbed almost every day. On the last day of my job before Thanksgiving the principal told me that Ms. D. had broken her ankle on her trip and asked if I could sub all next week too. I said, "Sure. Why not?" Then I spent Thanksgiving weekend making fun, educational lesson plans, cruising the library for good books, and designing samples of the projects we would do. Whew!
Fiction Books Finished:
The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart (** 1/2) - Talented orphans are recruited into a secret society. While the beginning pulled me in, I found the middle a bit slow. The book has a good message about advertising and seems to be quite popular but for some reason I didn't enjoy it that much. [Ages 9 and up]
Gregor the Overlander & Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, by Suzanne Collins (*** 1/2) - When eleven-year old Gregor tries to stop his two-year old sister "Boots" from falling down a laundry chute, the two of them are sucked down a wind tunnel and land in the world of Underland. There he meets giant bats, cockroaches, rats, and the nearly translucent Underlander humans who believe Gregor just might be the warrior they've been waiting for. This is a great middle-grade fantasy series. Underland is a fascinating world full of appealing characters. It would make a good classroom or family read too. [Ages 9 and up]
The Cabinet of Wonders, by Marie Rutkoski (***) - When the Prince of Bohemia steals a clockmaker's eyes, twelve-year old Petra decides to steal her father's eyes back. This middle grade fantasy-- set in a slightly magical 16th century Prague-- starts out slow but builds to an exciting conclusion. [For ages 10 and up]
Non-Fiction Books Finished:
Woman: An Intimate Geography, by Natalie Angier (*** 1/2) - An enjoyable book on the female body. Angier describes menstruation, fertilization, and menopause in ways that not only explain but inspire. Her chapter taking down evolutionary psychology is especially welcoming.
Teaching Outside the Box, by LouAnne Johnson, (*** 1/2) - The movie Dangerous Minds is based on LouAnne Johnson's first teaching experience with low-income at risk high schoolers. Since then Johnson's had a wide range of teaching experiences and gives good advice for teaching reading and English to students from upper elementary school through high school and college -- emphasizing both strong class management and how to motivate students to learn.
TV- Top 5 Favorites of the Month (In A,B,C Order)
(The) Big Bang Theory, current season 3 - I like the way Penny and Leonard's relationship isn't the focus of the show.
Being Human, series 1 - is an enjoyable unique supernatural story about three twenty-some adults sharing a flat together in Bristol. Instead of the usual save-the-world plot, this story about a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost is mostly a story of new adults dealing with the day-to-day dramas of adulthood, relationships, and coming to terms with who they are. [ I watched the 6 episode series on itunes.]
(The) Good Wife, current season 1 - Out of the dozens of new shows I tried this season, The Good Wife is the only one I've stuck with. Julianna Marguilies is wonderful as a woman trying to breath life back into her law career after her husband has been jailed in an Eliot Spitzer type situation. The legal cases are interesting and I like the way this show doesn't spell everything out for the viewer.
Mad Men, current season 3 - turned out to be my favorite season so far. It started out slow but built to a series of satisfying conclusions.
Supernatural, current season 5
Sub Jobs:
1/2 day- Art teacher at another school
1 day- Media teacher at my regular school
1 day - Ms. D's 2nd grade
1/2 day - 1st grade reading at another school
1/2 day - 1st grade reading at another school
5 days - Ms. D's 2nd grade |
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| September 2009: In Brief |
[Dec. 29th, 2009|03:09 pm] |
Highlights:
Learning to Love 6 AM Again - I dreaded the change of going from our 3 AM summer bedtime to our new 6 AM school wake up time. I shouldn't have worried. We made the change like we had been getting up at 6 AM all summer.
Dr. Horrible At Neighborhood HS - Our local high school did a fantastic job turning this into a play. They had two actors-- who looked almost like twins -- play Billy and Dr. Horrible. The best part was the video that played on the screen above the stage during the song "My Eyes". Billy stalks Penny and Captain Hammer around the local sites of our town while the cast sings at the park on stage.
Mold, Basements, and the Flu - Martin fixed the pipes, then cleaned, grouted, and repainted the bathroom, while I lived in the basement-- the only mold-free part of our house. Around that time I also got the N1H1 flu and coughed so much I was pretty sure I might cough up an alien. Why yes, I did rewatch Torchwood while I was sick. Why do you ask?
By the end of September, our house was mold-free and I was finally healthy. Yay!
Fiction Books Finished:
Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins (*** 1/2) - The sequel to Hunger Games starts off slow but once it picks up; the story is tense and gripping. Collins has a talent for creating varied interesting characters. The story cliffhanges in a major way though and now I can't wait until the next book. [YA for ages 12 and up]
Movies:
Amar Te Duele (***) - This Mexican Romeo-and-Juliet story starts when Ulises from the barrio meets wealthy Renata at the mall. Though I could have done without all the fancy camera tricks at the beginning of the film, once those stop, the story of these two kids coming to terms with social pressures is sweet. While I sort of knew how wide the gap between social classes is in Mexico, this movie really makes that point concretely. As an American, I couldn't help wonder if this is the way we're going too. [Saw on DVD; for teens and older]
TV- Top 5 Favorites of the Month (In A,B,C Order)
Castle, current season 2- has become one of my favorite shows. It's a light murder mystery starring Nathan Fillon (Firefly) as Richard Castle, a famous murder mystery novelist.
In the pilot, Castle is called to help the NYPD solve a case where a serial murder seems to be recreating murders from Castle's books. Castle is so impressed with the lead detective, Kate Beckett, he decides to use her as a model for the star of his next mystery series. (She's a huge secret fan and has read all his books but doesn't really want him to know. ) The mayor is a friend of Castle's and so Castle is given permission to work with Beckett on cases.
The writing and characters have come a long way from the troubled pilot. Castle and Beckett's relationship is dry and witty and his relationship with his levelheaded high school daughter and his spotlight-seeking mother are especially fun to watch.
Fringe, current season 2- has become another of my favorite shows. Since the season 1 finale revealed secrets about the main characters, Walter's quicks make a lot more heart-breaking sense. Now I fear for what will happen to him, Peter, and Olivia.
Mad Men, current season 3
Skins, current series 3- does something unusual; it starts over with a whole new group of students at the Bristol school. Effie, Tony's younger sister, is the only returning character. The first two episodes are unfortunate as they focus on Cook, the most unlikable member of the new group. Things pick up at the third episode when the story begins highlighting the more likable members of the new group.
Torchwood, rewatched series 1,2,3 - When I'm not feeling well, rewatching my favorite TV shows beats eating chicken soup any day.
Sub Jobs:
1 day- Media Center Teacher
5 days- Ms. B's 2nd grade class |
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