Category: Research

Two websites that shocked me this week: How Many Slaves Work for You? Click here to find out.
Not one of the richest people in the world? Me neither, See where you fit in the global rich list. Click here and you might be surprised.

Best comedian I just discovered: James Veitch. I love his storytelling style. I asked him what tech he used to make his presentations and he said it was Keynote. Now if I could only find the sweet tech for a clicker… Watch this bit on Conan and if you like it, look up his Ted talks!

Quote about the future that got me thinking: Richard Branson said in a recent interview “I suspect … we’ll actually look back on the wholesale slaughter of animals, and the way we did it, and be slightly embarrassed about that.”

What podcast I’m listening to: This interview on Democracy Now! with Muhammad Yunus. He was the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and he talked about his new book, The World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions. His response when asked what we need to do to effect change caught my ear – “We have to teach our children in school that … we [can] live in a way so that our enjoying life will not harm the enjoyment of life of another country or other children… Then children will learn what are the things that I do harms and affects negatively on the children of other countries and so on, so that I become aware that there’s a link between what I do, what I consume, what lifestyle I have, on the other people’s lifestyle.

New You Tube channels I subscribed to: Nerdwriter, Just Write, and Swoozie

Next week a special edition of Five Bullets will be Five Plays. I am attending the Dialog Theater Festival in Wroclaw. There is some juicy art-money-politics background on this event that I will try to write down.

Thing that moved me this week: Story Corps is a national treasure. They consistently remind me how amazing our every day lives really are.

Thing I’m listening to: Louis CK is at the top of his game. This is known. I love this old quote about the years of hard work it took to get there: “give it a minute!” This week I just heard his reflection on being interviewed by a critic who suggested HBO cancel his first show Lucky Louie. He wanted to write a mean letter in response but he didn’t. Listen to this five minute clip from Fresh Air to hear why.

Books I’m reading this week: Sea of Monsters and Titan’s Curse. That’s the kind of week it’s been.

Art work I’m inspired by: A colleague at work let me use some of her sculptures in a few storytelling sessions I had at school for Mad Hatter’s day. So I came up with a 20 minute adaptation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. When teachers see my library sessions they come up to me after and say, “Wow, you could be an actor.” Check out the amazing work of Liudmyla Bezusko here. Maybe this will start a bigger collaboration.

New movie I’m excited for: New Wes. New Wes.

Honorable mention of awesomeness that stands the test of time: I’m in the middle of a Harry Potter home film festival and Prisoner of Azkaban, directed by Alfonso Cuarón is still an awesome movie. I was a projectionist when that came out and I can remember so many frames of that film. It is a beautiful fusion of storytelling and filmmmaking; an emotional roller coaster full of craft and subtlety. As the young child actors started getting better at longer scenes, Cuarón didn’t overwhelm them with carrying too much dialogue in his long takes. It seems as though he put them with some of the older, more skilled actors, and told the children to just listen. That’s a great acting lesson.

[one_third padding=”0 2px 0 0″]Art Making

This month I learned a song and played with the violinist Natalia Czerska. It was for a video project that will be a message to friends at a nearby Jewish school.

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[one_third padding=”0 2px 0 0″]Teaching

I’m clarifying a lot of my ideas of how drama fits in the IB program with a new academic coordinator. Unit planners, inquiry questions, assessments…[/one_third]

[one_third_last padding=”0 2px 0 0″]Producing

Life. I’m producing life. Taxes. Housing update. Passport renewal. Library.[/one_third_last]

What I’m building this week: I got a boat for an upcoming performance of “A Tempest.” The actors and I are going to build it into a vessel which will introduce the story and show. There is also a good chance that I will be directing a number of shows that have a boat or water in them: Pirates of Penzance, Peter Pan, Fisherman and His Wife, O’Niel’s Plays of the Sea…

What I bought this week: I bought the rights to a private city garden. My “dzailka” is very close to my flat. I have been spending most of my holiday outside trying to get it ready for planting. Soon I’ll be getting a grill and relaxing there in the summer time.

New medical fact: I had surgery on a tooth which had developed an infection 8 years after my root canal. A little bacteria was sitting at the root of the tooth for 8 years until it made itself known with a little pimple on my gum. It amazed me that a bacteria could stay alive for that long and win. Patient little bacteria. I won’t describe the surgical procedure. Let’s just say I look like a lopsided chipmunk.

Book I’m reading this week: “Sideways Stories from Wayside School” by Louis Sachar. This could quite possibly be future source material for Character Studies. Each chapter is a different character from this sideways school. It was supposed to be a school with one floor and thirty rooms. But the builders were holding the blueprints sideways and so there are thirty floors with one room each floor.

What I’m listening to: Lin Manuel Miranda demos. Recently a friend (that I recommended Hamilton to) just discovered how great it is. So I went back to watch the original video of the Poetry and Spoken word event at the White House, and I cried. One of the first people to tell me about Hamilton then sent me the Soundcloud demos. Now I have spiraled and back on the habit of nonstop listening. Check the demos out. Hamilton will definitely be a part of any future unit I teach on musical theater.

What I’m reading this week: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by David Eggars. I got it for 2zl at the Wroclaw International School book fair. It has been on the list for a long time.

TV show I watched this week: Girls Series Finale. There were times that I thought this TV show was about four young women who really didn’t like one another. There were episodes in which the characters were so angry at one another and that bothered me. When I discovered the show Broad City I found a show about young funny women who really love one another and support each other. But at the end of Girls, I remembered how bold and daring a writer Lena Dunham is. The series regulars (actors who are on the show regularly) were all fantastic. While there were stretches of the series that I found hard to appreciate, in the end, it is a pretty amazing body of work. “What is a normal day, anyway?”

What I’m eating this week: Well, it was Easter and Poland has a lot of delicious traditional food around the holidays. My favorite – I’m not sure what it is called – the salad with carrot, peas, corn lots of mayonnaise and pickles, or pickled herring.

More stuff I’m watching: Charlie Chaplain’s Modern Times. Meyerhold (see week before) was such a big fan at the end of his career that I thought I should watch it for a refresher.

Best compliment I got this week: “Nice deck!” I made my first power point presentation (only not with Microsoft Power Point). I gave an informal presentation and I think it was an effective tool. I don’t think of myself as a power point kind of guy but maybe I’ll use it more often to express my ideas.

What I’m looking at this week: The Best Polish Press Illustrators. Artists like Tomasz Broda, Joanna Concejo, Paula Dudek, Jan Kallwejt, and Rafal Szczepaniak.

What theater maker I’m studying this week: Vsevolod Meyerhold. He lived in Russia (1874-1940) during turbulent times. He was quite fascinated with the traditions of commedia del arte. The ideas of stylized, grotesque, music hall, were early inspirations for him. Eventually he based his entire system of acting on principles connected with silent films and its masters like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Meyerhold loved music and was quite provocative in his choices and style. He worked in a laboratory setting to develop his ideas. He was a pupil of Constantin Stanislavsky and worked with Anton Chekhov and Dimitri Shostakovich.

What I’m reading this week: Alice in Wonderland. The edition I am reading is beautiful and filled with artwork by Yayoi Kusama.

Poem I’m reading out loud this month: (It is national poetry month) The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti.

Movie I want to see: Mr. Gaga

Tip of the week: After reading dozens of responses to questions such as “What does it feel like to breathe? What parts of the body move when we breathe?” I suggest you actually try it out. Breathe. For five minutes. And then answer the question in your own words. Answers that felt authentic received the highest marks.

What theater I saw this week: I went to the Wroclawski Teatr Pantomimy to see Batory trans directed by Martyna Majewska. The music was great. There were a few interesting images and moments but I cannot recommend this performance. Hopefully we will find something spectacular to go to.

What music I’m listening to: I’ve been listening to come contemporary classical music this week looking for new sounds to bring to class. I like John Laurence Adams “Like Ocean.”

What play I’m working on: The Tempest by William Shakespeare. I am adapting this story with 7-11 year olds. We have been working since October and the kids have just been given their parts.

What app I’m using: Overcast is an iOS app for podcasts. Podcasts are one of my favorite things about the Internet. Since I live so far away from home they are my main source of news, entertainment, and culture. A few websites say Overcast is the best podcast player. I agree. My most played podcasts are Democracy Now (a progressive news channel), Song Exploder (each episode is an inside how popular songs get made), The Business with Kim Masters (a behind the scenes look at Hollywood business and movie making), and Design Matters with Debbie Millman (interviews with lots of different artists and designers). What podcasts do you listen to? Tell me after class someday