Tag Archives: netflix

What I’m Watching – The Foreign Edition

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Time to round up some of the things I have – and haven’t – been watching.

  • Quite a while ago I finished the French documentary To Be and to Have (Etre et avoir). The description on Netflix said it was dealing with a school that was bucking the trends. As a teacher, I was intrigued. I wasn’t quite sure, however, that this is what the film really said to me. It was touching to see this one room school house in rural France where a single teacher worked with students of varying ages, but did it reinvent what education should be? No. If you read the Wiki article it also brings up some other issues about documentaries and makes me wonder if – and how much – the participants were compensated for their stories. How much is your story worth?
  • Speaking of foreign productions I also watched the Vietnamese film Owl and the Sparrow which almost had a documentary feel to it. I almost gave up on it about half way through because it is a very quiet movie. The main actor, the small girl, kept me engaged though. You just feel for her. You hardly even need the subtitles in this one.
  • I tried to watch a Bollywood movie but I’m not a big fan of musicals so I didn’t make it very far into it before I said – eh – not for me.
  • And finally I watched about 6 episodes of a Canadian show called Lost Girl. This Canadian show has just made its way to SyFy after having a good 1st and 2nd season on what I assume is the Canadian equivalent of Showtime (not cause there are – like shows like “Weeds” quite a few sex scenes). I really wanted to like this show because it is such a unique concept, but I don’t think the characters engaged me (well except Dyson – whew – just looking at Dyson is a treat) enough to keep me watching. I think other Sci-fi/fantasy type shows keep me coming back strictly for character. I hung onto the new :Battlestar Galactica” even when they had a few weak storylines and I’m doing the same with “Supernatural” (up to season 4 now!). If you are really into Sci-fi/fantasy and/or mythology in this case “Lost Girl” might be one you want to check out.

Well that’s it for this current round up. I’m thinking of making my night class (if my schedule stays the same and things are constantly in flux at school!) themed around film since we have a long class period. The class itself is Comp 2 – Argument Based Research – and I already use a lot of video in that. I think it’d be great to bring a foreign film into the mix. Maybe to even take one like “Let the Right One In” where there are American and Foreign versions to do a compare/contrast . . . hmm

What stories are you watching?

Wednesday Link-Up

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Regular readers of this blog will know I first consider myself to be a poet but I also LOVE non-fiction. I wish I was taking this class that Melanie Faith is teaching online this summer. I have worked with Melanie on my own poetry and non-fiction so this class comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from me. Starts June 25th and you can still sign up!

Now, moving on to fiction even though I’ve probably been saying too much about PANK magazine lately so I am limiting myself to one link in this post. Enjoy.

I have a few shameless shout outs for myself. First, is a review of Paper House in the online journal Prick of the Spindle. And then Folded Word put up a new interview about my book touring habits. But, finally, I also have a guest blog that I wrote about Poetry and Comics for another online journal Splinter Generation.

In print I finished the chapbook CASA MARINA by Candace Black.  This 2009 Winner of the Ropewalk chapbook prize is the perfect example of what a chapbook should be. It is printed on beautiful paper with a simple cover art and design. The poems inside link well together without being heavy handed.  One of my favorite poems was “The Jewish Cemetery” where Black writes, “The dead end of our longing / made it all the sweeter, the sad / / knowledge of one commandment / we’d have to honor.”

If you don’t already have enough to read. I read some more good stuff this week through my lovely blog reader which is now down into the 80′s YES! First up is a story over at Girls with Insurance and this next one is a poem in JUKED. I really need to get around to submitting something to Juked.

Outside of reading, I have been watching some TV at night but not my normal TV. No, we are enjoying the switch to Netflix streaming and disks and the move away from having a dish. Still haven’t canceled the dish yet but think we are very close to doing so. I finished the first season of WEEDS which was pretty good and have enjoyed documentaries like “What Would Jesus Buy?” but less enjoyed “Princess” a Danish animated film that is for mature audiences only and was ok but I felt the ending was a bit odd. I also tried to watch “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men” because I like Jim from The Office but, like the book of the same title, I was underwhelmed. I finished the book but did not finish the movie.

I was getting fairly caught up on reading and watching things but just received a bunch of items for potential review and all the new stuff in my Netflix queue! I might soon need a vacation from anything involving words :)