Trailer: “Monster University” from Pixar (Summer 2013)
Posted on June 20, 2012 at 7:18 am
Before they went to work for Monsters, Inc.
List: Scottish Movies and Actors
Posted on June 19, 2012 at 3:59 pm
In honor of Pixar’s “Brave,” this week’s release about a Scottish princess, here are some of my favorite films about Scots and Scotland and some of my favorite Scottish performers.
1. Brigadoon
2. Gregory’s Girl
3. Local Hero An ambitious American executive is dispatched to Scotland to buy land for an oil refinery but is soon beguiled by the charm of the community he is supposed to displace.
4. The 39 Steps
5. Braveheart
6. I Know Where I’m Going!
Performers:
Ewan McGregor: Obi-Wan Kenobi in the second “Star Wars” trilogy and a heroin addict in “Trainspotters.”
Alan Cummings: He played opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in “Emma” and now appears on “The Good Wife.”
Billy Connelly: You can hear him as the king in “Brave” and see him as Queen Victoria’s cherished friend in “Mrs. Brown”
Tilda Swinton: An Oscar-winner for “Michael Clayton,” this striking actress was the villain in the first “Narnia” film and the androgynous title character in “Orlando.”
John Hannah: He appeared in “The Mummy” and unforgettably recited W.H. Auden in “Four Weddings and a Funeral”
Craig Ferguson: The late night host was voice talent in “How to Train Your Dragon” and co-wrote and starred in a very funny film about a hairdressing competition called “The Big Tease.”
Gerard Butler: He was the title character behind a mask in “Phantom of the Opera” and fought with a sword in “300.”
James McAvoy: He played the young Dr. X in “X-Men First Class” and provided voices in “Arthur Christmas” and “Gnomeo & Juliet.”
Sean Connery: He’s the first — and many think still the best — James Bond and won an Oscar for “The Untouchables.”
Kelly McDonald: She’s in “Boardwalk Empire” and appeared in “Gosford Park” and “No Country for Old Men.” And she provides the voice for “Brave’s” heroine, Merrida.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O88tBPpSW4Special mention:
The BBC series Monarch of the Glen
They May Look Like the 20th Century, But They Talk Like Today
Posted on June 19, 2012 at 8:45 am
The producers of “Mad Men” and “Downton Abbey” are justifiably lauded for their meticulous attention to period detail in the clothes, furnishings, and world events of the eras they portray. And audiences love seeing the styles of 1960’s New York and early 20th century England. But there is one area where it would be too difficult for the writers and too jarring for the audience to be true to the period, and that is the language. While they may avoid obvious modern expressions like the use of “okay” in “Snow White and the Huntsman,” an alert grad student has documented the anachronisms in these shows and elsewhere and it makes for an entertaining and most illuminating interview on Slate’s “Lexicon Valley” podcast. What year did we start using the term “put him on hold?” When did we first use the word “wartime?” Did we say “more traditional” in eras where traditions had not changed much in decades? And what two-word phrase you need to use nearly every day was hardly ever used until the 1970’s — and what does its rise as the prior phrase fell out of use tell us about the way we view ourselves?
Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival Opens Tonight
Posted on June 18, 2012 at 12:28 pm
In just 10 years, the AFI/Discovery Channel’s annual Silverdocs film festival has become not just one of the best places in the world to see documentaries but one of the world’s leading film festivals in any category. This year’s line-up is brilliant. Tonight, the festival opens with the astounding story of the lead singer in a Filipino Journey cover band who ended up touring with his heroes as their lead singer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISqCjjoOrfwAnd it closes next Sunday with another musical saga.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxDASw6Ry9cThe schedule also includes a tribute to Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, the documentarians who made the trilogy that led to the freeing of the wrongly convicted “West Memphis Three” and the Metallica movie, “Some Kind of Monster,” films about fashion diva Diana Vreeland, artist Marina Abromovic, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, writer George Plimpton, radio DJ Bob Fass, and Olympic weightlifter Cheryl Haworth as well as the story of the couple behind the largest residence in the US, the legendary hackers known as “Anonymous,” competitors for the Miss India title, and a production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle where the bigger drama was offstage.
Congratulations and best wishes to everyone at Silverdocs and let the films begin!
Summer Activity for Kids: Memorize Poems
Posted on June 18, 2012 at 9:00 am
“Whose woods these are, I think I know….” You know how I know? My mother told me that would be a good poem to memorize when I was eight. I still know it by heart.
One of the best things you can do for your children this summer is encourage them to memorize poetry. Children’s minds are naturally open to memorization as any parent of a kid who loves dinosaurs or who can repeat verbatim some promise you made months ago knows only too well. These days, many kids (and their parents) are so used to having all the information they could ever want immediately accessible via Google have given up on the mental exercise of memorizing. But it is an excellent way to challenge their imaginations and a great family project. Jean Kerr’s classic essay about her efforts to get her children to memorize poems is one of my very favorites. And Salon has a marvelous piece by Laura Miller on a proposal by Britain’s education secretary Michael Gove to go back to some of the classic school assignments like memorizing poems.
“People associate it with fusty, old-fashioned teaching styles,” Kauffman told me. “Memorizing anything is associated with rote learning, the mindless parroting of information under an authoritarian teaching style.” Perhaps that’s what Gove has in mind, but it doesn’t have to be that way. “If you want your child to appreciate beautiful writing,” she said, “then memorizing poetry is one way to do that. It’s not just exposing them to it, but actually getting them to take ownership of it.”
It stretches the brain, it expands the spirit, it connects the family, and for the rest of their lives, as they remember what they have learned, it gives your children something to do while waiting in line that is, unlike Angry Birds, soul-enriching.
Have you memorized a poem? Which one?