I did hate advanced English at first, but we appear to be finally moving out of the 'Listen to Murray talk for the whole lesson' stage and into the 'actually do something' stage, so it's not too bad now.
Extension is pretty good, except that I seriously disagree with our teacher's choice for what Dracula movies to watch. Rather than watch the 1931 Universal horror Dracula, we had to watch Nosferatu (which I wanted to like, I really did, but it was just so boring!), and to top it off, now we have to watch Francis Ford Copola's 1990's film, which possibly would have been decent, if he had just done a better job casting! I mean seriously, are there any two actors in the world who are more over-rated or more annoying than Keanu Reeves and Wionna Ryder? I suppose it could have been worse though. She could have made us watch/read Twilight...
I think we all know my feelings on St. Mary's English teachers! When the three schools became All Saints College it was in order to rotate teachers regularly from junior high school to senior school, giving all teachers experience at the Stage 6 level.
This plan went the way of the Dodo very quickly as the old, tired has-been teachers at St. Mary's complained, terrified of going back to teach 7-10. I have personal experience talking to these dinosaurs on staff days in which they gladly express that they will quit teaching if they were ever forced back to a junior high school.
I wanted to smack them in their stupid, selfish, outdated mouths. This is the very problem with a senior campus like St. Mary's: teachers who are WELL PAST their used-by date digging in like Alabama Ticks, refusing to leave and open the doors for people like me.
So, don't get me started on the English teachers at St. Mary's.
Oh, and what's this about my 'cool, non-teaching style?' Is this an insult? Are you saying I taught you bugger all, but I was cool nonetheless?
What about the world famous "Goodwin's So-What Rule?" Invaluable!
Oh, and Josh, you must be trying to get me to bite with some of your film comments. This is one fight you don't want to pick, laddie!
Nosferatu IS dull. Agreed. But what a creature! And the scene with the plague-infested cargo ship! Controversial and nasty for its day. I would love to know what your 'non-teacher' is saying about it.
On the subject of Coppola's 1992 version, it has its strengths and weaknesses. I'm willing to overlook Wynona and Neo Matrix for the inspired (and just beautifully hammed-up) Gary Oldman. I'm an Oldman fan. He knows EXACTLY what type of film he has signed up for and he adjusts his performance accordingly. This film is the pre-cursor to Twilight, with its melodrama and moody, Gothic settings and miserable "Oh look at me, I'm an Emo!" type characters.
This is Oldman's way of saying, "You pathetic Mills and Boon loving non-intellectuals. You think because we put 'Bram Stoker' in the title that you can claim to be literature boffins?"
I hear they're about to make another version with the Aussie dude from Avatar. Because, you know, he was obviously the single most reason why people went to see Avatar! He must be a genius! Move over Johnny Depp!
I can agree that Orlock (was that his name?) was quite creepy looking, and there were quite a few shots of him that deserve praise, however, all in all the film was just so boring... Also, and I'm not a hundered percent sure why this was, but the way that all the transitions were like a circular fade out, and the close ups were just a circle, and how it kept switching from blue to brown rather than just be black and white really annoyed me.
Your absolutely right, Oldman plays Dracula perfectly in Capola's version, but that just really doesn't save the film for me. Also, does anyone else think it's a bit silly that they called it "Bram Stoker's Dracula" as if to say that this stays completely true to the book, and yet they added in all of this unnecssariy 'Rob Zombie like' back story to try to explain why he was evil? Dracula shouldn't need an explanation, that's just the way he is...
And I haven't heard about a new one, but I must say, I'm finding Sam Worthington's appearence in every single movie that comes out now really annoying.
Your "non-teaching style" refers to all those lessons where we just talked about stuff and yet we walked out thinking "wow I actually learnt something!" and when it came to exams we knew all the answers but weren't sure how!
Ergo: You have a very effective teaching method. =)
Alex said the same thing i said but in about 1/100 of the lines.
ReplyDeleteThese English teachers SUCK!
If You cant come to Marys can you at least try and get Ms Merideth, god damit i'd even take Cornwell!
I did hate advanced English at first, but we appear to be finally moving out of the 'Listen to Murray talk for the whole lesson' stage and into the 'actually do something' stage, so it's not too bad now.
ReplyDeleteExtension is pretty good, except that I seriously disagree with our teacher's choice for what Dracula movies to watch. Rather than watch the 1931 Universal horror Dracula, we had to watch Nosferatu (which I wanted to like, I really did, but it was just so boring!), and to top it off, now we have to watch Francis Ford Copola's 1990's film, which possibly would have been decent, if he had just done a better job casting! I mean seriously, are there any two actors in the world who are more over-rated or more annoying than Keanu Reeves and Wionna Ryder? I suppose it could have been worse though. She could have made us watch/read Twilight...
I like Nosferatu, but that 1992 version is repulsive!!!
ReplyDeleteI like both of them...
ReplyDeleteOr maybe thats just my mild obsession with the gothic genre coming through?
Though I must agree with Josh on the Keanu Reeves comment. Blah.
I think we all know my feelings on St. Mary's English teachers! When the three schools became All Saints College it was in order to rotate teachers regularly from junior high school to senior school, giving all teachers experience at the Stage 6 level.
ReplyDeleteThis plan went the way of the Dodo very quickly as the old, tired has-been teachers at St. Mary's complained, terrified of going back to teach 7-10. I have personal experience talking to these dinosaurs on staff days in which they gladly express that they will quit teaching if they were ever forced back to a junior high school.
I wanted to smack them in their stupid, selfish, outdated mouths. This is the very problem with a senior campus like St. Mary's: teachers who are WELL PAST their used-by date digging in like Alabama Ticks, refusing to leave and open the doors for people like me.
So, don't get me started on the English teachers at St. Mary's.
Oh, and what's this about my 'cool, non-teaching style?' Is this an insult? Are you saying I taught you bugger all, but I was cool nonetheless?
What about the world famous "Goodwin's So-What Rule?" Invaluable!
It's been a long day...
Oh, and Josh, you must be trying to get me to bite with some of your film comments. This is one fight you don't want to pick, laddie!
ReplyDeleteNosferatu IS dull. Agreed. But what a creature! And the scene with the plague-infested cargo ship! Controversial and nasty for its day. I would love to know what your 'non-teacher' is saying about it.
On the subject of Coppola's 1992 version, it has its strengths and weaknesses. I'm willing to overlook Wynona and Neo Matrix for the inspired (and just beautifully hammed-up) Gary Oldman. I'm an Oldman fan. He knows EXACTLY what type of film he has signed up for and he adjusts his performance accordingly. This film is the pre-cursor to Twilight, with its melodrama and moody, Gothic settings and miserable "Oh look at me, I'm an Emo!" type characters.
This is Oldman's way of saying, "You pathetic Mills and Boon loving non-intellectuals. You think because we put 'Bram Stoker' in the title that you can claim to be literature boffins?"
I hear they're about to make another version with the Aussie dude from Avatar. Because, you know, he was obviously the single most reason why people went to see Avatar! He must be a genius! Move over Johnny Depp!
I was being sarcastic, by the way.
I can agree that Orlock (was that his name?) was quite creepy looking, and there were quite a few shots of him that deserve praise, however, all in all the film was just so boring... Also, and I'm not a hundered percent sure why this was, but the way that all the transitions were like a circular fade out, and the close ups were just a circle, and how it kept switching from blue to brown rather than just be black and white really annoyed me.
ReplyDeleteYour absolutely right, Oldman plays Dracula perfectly in Capola's version, but that just really doesn't save the film for me. Also, does anyone else think it's a bit silly that they called it "Bram Stoker's Dracula" as if to say that this stays completely true to the book, and yet they added in all of this unnecssariy 'Rob Zombie like' back story to try to explain why he was evil? Dracula shouldn't need an explanation, that's just the way he is...
And I haven't heard about a new one, but I must say, I'm finding Sam Worthington's appearence in every single movie that comes out now really annoying.
Your "non-teaching style" refers to all those lessons where we just talked about stuff and yet we walked out thinking "wow I actually learnt something!" and when it came to exams we knew all the answers but weren't sure how!
ReplyDeleteErgo: You have a very effective teaching method. =)
like in modern history, we have wrote 2 pages of info and the guy has just talked every other lesson but god damit ya learn something!
ReplyDeleteSt Mary's english teachers have serious issues...
ReplyDelete