Let's root for the creepy guy

I just watched Win a Date with Tad Hamilton (2004), and am bothered by the ending. Main character Rosalee dates celebrity Tad Hamilton while her best friend Pete pines away. At the end of the movie, she finally finds out that Pete is in love with her, and that she loves him back.

Sure, the underdog wins and that's usually great, but this best friend is creepy:

• He tells Rosalee (in a misogynistic way) that Tad only wants to sleep with her, and that she's “asking for it”

• He looks up movie times to check when Tad and Rosalee finish their date, then calls Rosalee's dad so see if she's home yet

• He calls the police on Tad and Rosalee (illegally parked) so their make-out session is interrupted

• As Rosalee's boss, he tries to make her work the late shift so she can't go out with Tad

Verdict: wtf.

Talking Heads

I use to idolize documentaries. They investigate pressing social questions whose answers affect all of us. You see places you might not otherwise see, you meet people you wouldn't otherwise meet. PBS documentaries were the pinnacle of film as a medium, in my eyes.

My high school students think documentaries are boring. They see old “experts” talking and using big words, and it doesn't bring topics alive for them. So they don't get excited when I bring film into the classroom by showing a documentary.

They've helped me see that, yeah, documentaries are kind of boring. Most of them follow a standard format in presenting their subject, even a standard aesthetic. If you can predict the shots that go into a film you've never seen or even heard of, it's not very artistic.

Rebel is a documentary that goes beyond the typical components of a PBS documentary. Instead of blurry re-enactments where you can't see actors' faces, you get high-definition, color scenes where actors actually talk. Not perfectly accurate historically, maybe. But traditional documentary storytelling needs to evolve, or people like my students are not going to find them relevant or exciting.

Teaching with Technology

Attended a workshop today about using technology in the classroom. One of the coolest discoveries was the Student News Action Network, an online journal run by high school students from six international schools. Very impressive work!

Also discovered TeacherTube, a video resource for teachers. They have things like this video about two people on an escalator:



If only my school had more technology available to both teachers and students...