Ender will save us all...

Here we are kids, the last hurrah!  We are exiting this school year with an amazing novel, Ender's Game, the only novel to date that has won both the Hugo and Nebula Award for a Science Fiction Novel.  Here is the reading schedule in case you didn't have the chance to copy it off.  More good Sci-Fi stuff to follow.  Cheers!

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“Third”, “Peter”, and “Graff”: p. 1-26	Read on April 30
“Launch” and “Games”: p. 27-53	Read on May 3	Literature Circle Role #1 due May 5
“The Giant’s Drink”p. 54-65 “Salamander”: p. 66-96	Read on May 5
“Rat”: p. 97-119	Read on May 7	Literature Circle Role #2 due May 10
“Locke and Demosthenes”: p. 120-152	Read on May 10
“Dragon”: p. 153-172	Read on May 12	Literature Circle Role #3 due May 14
“Veni Vidi Vici”: p. 173-199 “Bonzo”: p. 200-226	Read on May 14
“Valentine”: p. 227-254	Read on May 17	Literature Circle Role #4 due May 19
“Ender’s Teacher” part 1: p. 255-277	Read on May 19
“Ender’s Teacher” part 2: p. 277-304 “Speaker for the Dead”: p. 305-324	Read on May 21	Literature Circle Role #5 due May 24

The Play's the thing...building the 10 min scripts.

Writing an original script can be something of an undertaking.  Scriptfrenzy, sponsored by our good friends in the S.F. Bay Area is a monumental task of 100 pgs of script in 30 days.  As attractive as that sounds for the writer in me, I know that if I throw that out there I will be hung by my heels from the flag pole.  Last time we attempted a feat of that magnitude so late in the year their was much grumbling and dissent. Not that I mind that part so much as that script writing takes on its own unique skill set that deals with format as much as story.  SO, with that in mind, we will be narrowing our scope from 100 pgs into the best 10 pgs that you could ever possibly read or see in the history of humanity...ok, that may not happen, but we will give it our best shot!  Cheers!
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The Game is Afoot...

During the next few weeks we will be spending some time reading one of the great detective fiction writers, Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle.  His seminal character of Sherlock Holmes has had a revival of late and I thought it would be a natural fit for the amount of time that we have left in the year.  Here are the notes in case you missed it!  The first story that we are going to look at is "The Adventure of the Speckled Band".
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From Paper to Presentation...

Here are the 10 tips for the PowerPoint presentation that you might want to consider when making the presentation.  More to follow!
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Free Comic Day...May 1st...Excelsior!

Free comics day is in fact a real thing.  I am not advocating that you go rip off your local comic shop and it is not subversive way to get you into trouble...

Comic Store Owner: "Whadya Mean FREE comic day kid!  That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard for stealin!"
You:  "But my English teacher said it was free!!!...='''(

In order to avoid the above situation and tremendous embarrassment, let me share with the the beauty that is "Free Comic Day".  Every May 1st participating comic book stores will give out single copies of various best selling titles.  These often are special prints done just for this day so you can get some unique books that have single run or "0" run stories in them.  If you are interested in being a part of Free Comic Day, just cruise by your local comic shop and ask on May 1st.  Odds are they will have the books out at a display and you can pick the one you want.  Consider it a special "pre-screening" of the next Hollywood blockbuster (lota films in the last 5 years have come exclusively from the comic community!).  Either way, it is a lot of fun and a cheap way to pick up a good new habit.  I have gone for several years now and take my kids at home.  There is a good mix of titles for older readers with several "kid friendly" titles like Sonic the Hedgehog, Owly, and Archie Comics.  If you are planning on stopping by, here are some Google directions to my two favorite shops, both in Modesto!
Bonanza Books and Comics

Krier's Cards & Comics

Here is my good friend Hugh Jackman to tell you more about it!



See ya there!
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Guerrilla Poetry...not Gorilla Poetry...Jeezsh!

Spring always brings with it the sensation of new things just on the horizon.  I have been gearing up for the Guerrilla poetry event that will be coming to the school after the break.  I found this wonderful poet, Kate Tempest.  Her stuff is really moving and amazing.  For the longest time I have believed that poetry, real poetry was about the best possible words at the best possible time.  Hearing poets like Richard Roberts, Kate Tempest, or Peter Neverland remind me that this is still very true.  There are some moments and ideas that are best expressed and shared through the spoken word, to do any less with them belittles the idea's that go into them and surround them.  Richard Robert's The Word is a great example of how we as creative people struggle and wrangle the right word from the experience and it still is not the actual moment of parallel, it falls short.  The underlying goal of the Guerrilla Poetry Project is to bring poetry back to it's roots, not in some stuffy classroom, but in the hands of people, everyday people.  Kate Tempest poem Teen Speech is a great example of the "shared experience", one of being a teenager and the perception of what it means.
enjoy,
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Adding to this is Peter Nevland's "No One Told Me".  This guy is so awesomely dynamic and not what you would expect.


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Rube Goldberg would have liked 451...

I found this fun video from the band O.K. Go that uses a super elaborate Rube Goldberg machine in their song "This Too Shall Pass."  Rube Goldberg was an engineer and artist that created machines to do mundane tasks.  You have seen his cartoon ideas everywhere including homage pieces like those found in Bugs Bunny cartoons and Wallace and Grommit.  He did them as a response to the encroachment of technology into our everyday lives.  Here's the video, its super fun, the link to the making of the video and a great article about it is at the end.
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OK GO Rube Goldsberg machine and article!