Tag Archives: film/television/photography

Black History Month 2019: Coda

Posted on February 28, 2019 | Leave a comment

Earlier this week, NBC News ran this surprisingly frank and cogent piece on Black History Month. Under any circumstances, and particularly those in which I’ve spent the past 16 years working, I’ve never found satisfying the idea of a single month for Black History; as this feature rightly observes, in the not particularly humble opinion of Mark’s Text Terminal, Black History is United States History.

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Looney Tunes

Posted on January 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

Their characters are American icons at this point, and people (well, at least I do) still watch them, so here is a reading on Looney Tunes and its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. For some reason, it still surprises me that this particular reading is of very high interest to students. In the ten years I’ve used this material in the classroom, kids regularly ask for it.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Graphic Novels

Posted on January 29, 2019 | Leave a comment

OK, moving right along, here are a reading on graphic novels and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Kids in my classrooms over the years have always asked for these documents, so I think based on my experience with them, I’ll designate this high interest material.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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This Is Spinal Tap

Posted on January 14, 2019 | Leave a comment

“A spoof documentary (1984) written by Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Rob Reiner about an ageing British heavy metal band on a disastrous tour of the United States. The accuracy of this satire about the rock business fooled many people into thinking that Spinal Tap was a real rock group. The wheel turned full circle when the band actually conducted a US tour with their second album Break Like the Wind in the early 1990s.”

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

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2001: A Space Odyssey

Posted on January 11, 2019 | Leave a comment

“A science-fiction novel (1968, from his own screenplay) by Arthur C. Clarke (b. 1917). While the novel demonstrates Clarke’s ability to extrapolate from known data, it also represents a philosophical quest for the meaning of life and an investigation into the evolutionary process. 2010: Odyssey Two (1982) is a sequel; it was followed by 3001: the Final Odyssey (1997). The film version (1968), directed by Stanley Kubrick, was a masterly blend of technical wizardry and obscure symbolism, criticized by some for its tedium but praised by others for its moments of striking imagery. The music was by various composers, but most memorable of all was the ‘Sunrise’ opening of Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra (1896). The film acquired a cult status as a vision of the technological future, even if space exploration had not advanced nearly as far in reality by 2001. It inspired a sequel (1984) directed by Peter Hyams under the title 2010, but fans of the original movie were not impressed and gave it the alternative title Ten Past Eight.

David Bowie’s song ‘A Space Oddity‘ plays none too subtly on Clarke’s title.”

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

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Doctor Zhivago

Posted on January 5, 2019 | Leave a comment

“A novel (1957) by the Russian writer Boris Pasternak (1890-1960). Set against the background of the Russian Revolution and the ensuing civil war, it tells the story of poet and physician Yuri Zhivago, whose love for the beautiful Lara causes pain for all involved. In Russian, zhivago means ‘the living’, and the word has strong religious connotations: the Russian version of ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead’ (the question the angels ask the women who come to see Christ’s tomb in the Gospel of St. Luke) is ‘Chto vy ischyote zhivago mezhdu myortvykh?’ In addition, Yuri is the Russian version of George–the dragon-slaying saint.

The book brought Pasternak himself little happiness. Following his award of the Nobel Prize for Literature, he was pilloried by literary rivals, who accused him of plagiarizing other works, and his companion Olga Ivinskaya, on whom Lara was based, was thrown into prison by the Soviets. The first Russian publication of the novel did not take place until 1987.

David Lean’s epic film version (1965) lasts over 190 minutes, and stars Omar Sharif as Zhivago and Julie Christie as Lara. Maurice Jarre’s haunting ‘Lara’s Theme’, played on the balalaika, has become a favorite in all places where muzak is played.”

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

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War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Posted on December 24, 2018 | Leave a comment

“An epic novel (published serially, 1864-9) by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910). He originally planned to call it 1825, then, as he realized the core of his story lay during the Napoleonic Wars, he called it 1805, and this was the title used in the initial published episodes. At one point he re-titled it All’s Well That Ends Well, conceiving at that point that it would end happily. But as Tolstoy became more and more immersed in developing his philosophy of history, and his theories on the nature of war, he settled on the final sweeping title.

There have been two film versions. The first (1956) is a Hollywood production, directed by King Vidor, and lasts nearly three and a half hours. The second (1967) is a much-admired Soviet production directed by Sergei Bondarchuk; it was originally in four parts, totalling nearly nine hours, and was shown in the UK in two parts totalling over seven hours, reduced to something over six hours for the USA. The BBC TV serial of the novel, adapted by Jack Pulman and with Anthony Hopkins as Pierre, was broadcast in 1972-3. Tolstoy’s novel also formed the basis of the opera, opus 91 (1941-53), by Prokofiev (1891-1953) to a libretto by the composer and Mira Mendelson.”

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

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The World According to Garp by John Irving

Posted on December 22, 2018 | Leave a comment

“A novel (1978) by the US writer John Irving (b. 1942). T.S. Garp is the son of Jenny Fields, who is generally repelled by men but who as a nurse in the Second World War decides she wants a child. She chooses as father of her child a terminally brain-injured airman, whose only utterance is the meaningless syllable ‘Garp’; the ‘T.S.’ of the son’s name stands for ‘Technical Sargeant’. When Garp grows up he becomes the author of a novel called The World According to Bensenhaver, while his mother, retaining her nurse’s uniform, becomes a charismatic feminist leader. Both are eventually assassinated. A film version (1982), directed by George Roy Hill, starred Robin Williams in the title role and Glenn Close as his mother.”

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

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Dog Day Afternoon

Posted on December 18, 2018 | Leave a comment

“A film (1975) written by Frank Pierson and directed by Sidney Lumet about a bisexual man (played by Al Pacino) who stages a bank robbery to fund a sex-change operation for his transvestite lover (played by Chris Sarandon). The plot was based on a magazine article about a real incident. The ‘dog days’ have been identified since Roman times as the hottest days of the summer, between early July and mid-August, when Sirius, the Dog Star, is reputed to add its heat to the sun.”

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

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Book of Answers: One Hundred and One Dalmatians

Posted on December 15, 2018 | Leave a comment

“Who wrote One Hundred and One Dalmatians? The source of the popular Disney film was Dodie Smith’s 1956 novel.”

Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

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