a super post, a veritable cornucopia, a lollapalooza . . .

Wow, it's been a while, as life & School Loop have taken over.

By the way, if you haven't seen it on my board, you will all be onboard School Loop February 22 or 23.

It is a really (REALLY) cool communication device, 1 that will allow you & your parents to be in that proverbial "loop" in terms of assignments & grades.

(In other words, the stuff that you see here, on the TeacherWeb site, on the white boards in room 57, & such . . .)

I am pretty excited.

(& I don't get too excited . . . )

Anyway, to the music!!

Lots o' catching-up to do, so feel free to skip down past the album covers to the school work . . .


Linus of Hollywood, Triangle

Saw him play bass w/ Paul Gilbert several years ago, & the dude rocks.

This album is quite mellow, poppy, top-40 stuff (anybody know what top 40 is anymore?!?)

Really good melodic rock, & a really cool album cover, no?

Also . . .


Hum, You'd Prefer an Astronaut.

(Seems like they'd prefer a zebra, yes?)

Excellent post-grunge rock from a truly underappreciated band

& then . . .


Collective Soul, hints allegations & things left unsaid

An English teacher's nightmare in terms of grammar--at least the punctuation.

I really like these guys, & this, their debut, might be their best effort.

(Side note: I seem to like bands w/ "soul" in their name, like Collective Soul, Soul Coughing, Soul Asylum . . & each may have a better name than band, but they are all cool.)

Acoustic-based pop rock, "Shine" being the lead single back in '93.

So, how about 1 you all know:


No Doubt, Tragic Kingdom

"Just a Girl" was the 1 I heard 1st, but my love affair w/ Gweng began w/ "Don't Speak."

I'm a sucker for those catchy ballads.

1 for Jamie:



Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

1 of the all-time great voices as well as a durn good songwriter (yes, w/ Bernie, I know).

This has to be his best studio record, right?

I mean, come ON:

"Funeral for a Friend (Love Lies Bleeding)," "Candle in the Wind," "Bennie & the Jets," " the title track, "This Song Has No Title" . . .& that's just side 1 . . .

& finally . . .

The B-52s, Cosmic Thing

Let's just say that VHS footage exists of my karaoke performance of "Love Shack" (w/ the help of 1 Elissa Stewart)--on the quad at good ol' ALHS, as I won (or "lost") the "Alta Loma Idol" contest.

& we'll leave it at that

Juniors:

Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, by Jonathan Culler.

Chapter 2: "What is Literature, & Does It Matter?"

This book is so amazingly cool that I put it up there w/ my man Thomas C. Foster's How to Read . . . pair of books as the near-perfect intros to reading & thinking.

& yeah, I love to think even more than I love to read.

I'm glad some os you do, too.

Anyway, get these points for filling in the skeleton outline, so you can support yourself if something goes wrong on that big ol' project.

Speaking of which, you got your official due dates & handout for The Proposal & The Annotated Bibliography, so you are thinking, reading, working, researching.

We hit the library this Tuesday & Wednesday, so be sure to be present & ready, as you can print & make your copies.

Let's do this!!!1!1!


Sophomores:

Grammar--parts of sentence & of speech.

Vocabulary--unit 7 done, unit 8 nearly done, quiz this week.

No Logo got us thinking about product placement, surrogate relationships, the political machinations in effect behind the companies whose products we consume.

& speaking of that, Consuming Kids--& yes, that 1st word can be a verb or an adj.--will make us look more deeply at the issues in the culture we have helped to create.

Obviously, this is all preparation for the Consumer Research Paper, for which you will have 2 choices, as covered in class . . .

(1) the actual comparison-of-products paper, in which you will examine 3 possibilities for a major purchase--e.g. "college education," OR "desktop/laptop/notebook/netbook," OR automobile, OR musical instrument, OR "phone/provider/plan," OR anything else that you can fit into that category of "major purchase."

(2) ad analysis, in which you choose a campaign (check tonight's game for examples, if nothing else), & you analyze the demographic, the theme of the ad, the suitability thereof, & you make your statement on the relative ad campaign's success

yeah!!

let's get in the loop!!

be cool

ya know, what the heck: I'll even risk embarrassment for all my family by providing this . .

me: Pitt 30 GB 28

Aodhan: Pitt 27 GB 21

Finbar: Pitt 41 GB 21

Cedric: Pitt 40 GB 14

& the lone female as well as GB-chooser . . .

Linda: Pitt 17 GB 31, w/ a call for a Roethlisberger injury

note: this may be deleted if we ain't close

so,

be cool