Welcome to Period 7

The following blog entry is for period 7 students only...

Welcome to freshmen English. We're going to be using this blog quite a bit throughout the year, so just to be sure we all know how to use it, please respond to the following quesion:

What is your favorite movie of all time, and why? 

1. Click on 'comments' below.
2. Post your comment. (Try cutting and pasting from word if you like.)
3. Click on 'Name/URL' and type in your name.
4. Click on 'post comment'.

For future reference - Your responses to blog entries needs to be thoughtful and thorough. And yes, grammar and spelling count (even though this is the internet). And yes, you can earn extra credit on these. All you need to do is - after you've posted your own comment - read the comments of others and post a thoughtful reply to someone else's comment.

I've got a few favorite movies myself, and they include...

I love this one because it is so scary and so funny at the same time. It also has lots of monsters in it, instead of just one.

I also like...


You know that old joke about if you're in a car and you hit an old person you get 5 points? That joke is from this movie. And also the cars are awesome.

Welcome to Period 2

The following blog entry is for period 2 students only...

Welcome to freshmen English. We're going to be using this blog quite a bit throughout the year, so just to be sure we all know how to use it, please respond to the following quesion:

What is your favorite music, and why?

1. Click on 'comments' below.
2. Post your comment. (Try cutting and pasting from word if you like.)
3. Click on 'Name/URL' and type in your name.
4. Click on 'post comment'.

For future reference - Your responses to blog entries needs to be thoughtful and thorough. And yes, grammar and spelling count (even though this is the internet). And yes, you can earn extra credit on these. All you need to do is - after you've posted your own comment - read the comments of others and post a thoughtful reply to someone else's comment.

Ask me next time you see me to play you my absolute favorite, all-time song. Until then, here's something to tide you over...


Spiderbait - Black Betty
Uploaded by iori_killer. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

I like it bacause the guy drives around town on his drums, fueled on unleaded rock & roll.

Welcome to Period 8

The following blog entry is for period 8 students only...

Welcome to junior English. We're going to be using this blog quite a bit throughout the year, so just to be sure we all know how to use it, please respond to the following quesion:

What is your favorite cartoon - either now or when you were a kid, and why?

1. Click on 'comments' below.
2. Post your comment. (Try cutting and pasting from word if you like.)
3. Click on 'Name/URL' and type in your name.
4. Click on 'post comment'.

For future reference - Your responses to blog entries needs to be thoughtful and thorough. And yes, grammar and spelling count (even though this is the internet). And yes, you can earn extra credit on these. All you need to do is - after you've posted your own comment - read the comments of others and post a thoughtful reply to someone else's comment.

Here are a few of my favorite cartoons:

You can watch the opening titles to Johnny Quest here. I love this show for the 1960's visual asthetic and for the strange ix of creepiness, adventure, and humor.

"One Froggy Evening" is probably my favorite Warner Bros. cartoon. I'm not sure why. I guess it's because it reminds me of my Uncle Denny. He died a few years ago. We'd watch this on VHS everytime we visited his house. Also, the guy in the cartoon with the mustache is very funny. I know just how he feels. You think you got something great, but nobody can see it, and it ends up getting you in trouble. That happens to me a lot.

Welcome to Period 4

The following blog entry is for period 4 students only...

Welcome to junior English. We're going to be using this blog quite a bit throughout the year, so just to be sure we all know how to use it, please respond to the following quesion:

What is your favorite book you've ever read, and why?

1. Click on 'comments' below.
2. Post your comment. (Try cutting and pasting from word if you like.)
3. Click on 'Name/URL' and type in your name.
4. Click on 'post comment'.

For future reference - Your responses to blog entries needs to be thoughtful and thorough. And yes, grammar and spelling count (even though this is the internet). And yes, you can earn extra credit on these. All you need to do is - after you've posted your own comment - read the comments of others and post a thoughtful reply to someone else's comment.

Here are a few books really like:

This one is about a group of Japanese junior high kids who are forced by their teachers to fight to thte death. I really enjoyed the "what would you do?" mental excercises the author puts the reader through. Believe it or not, it's in the IMC.

This one is an iconic western. I like it for the way the characters talk to each other. I have this one in the classroom, along with about 30 other books by the author.

I like this one a lot, too. Ken Bruen's books are brutal, relentless, tragic, and hillarious. Open one up. They look like poems. They are like poems, only they're better than poems. (Most poems at least.)

Welcome to Period 1

The following blog entry is for period 1 students only...

Welcome to junior English. We're going to be using this blog quite a bit throughout the year, so just to be sure we all know how to use it, please respond to the following quesion:

What is your favorite movie of all time, and why? 

1. Click on 'comments' below.
2. Post your comment. (Try cutting and pasting from word if you like.)
3. Click on 'Name/URL' and type in your name.
4. Click on 'post comment'. 

For future reference - Your responses to blog entries needs to be thoughtful and thorough. And yes, grammar and spelling count (even though this is the internet). And yes, you can earn extra credit on these. All you need to do is - after you've posted your own comment - read the comments of others and post a thoughtful reply to someone else's comment.

I've got a few favorite movies myself, and they include...

...for its man vs. naure manliness...

...for its man vs. man insanity...

and last but not least...

...for the letter Ben Chapman wrote to my son. (Remind me to tell you the story some time.)