My time off from blogging takes a one week break.
Of all the Spring Breaks I’ve had as a teacher THIS one was the most looked forward to. I made the most of my time off which included the following:
Home Repairs– While I handle most basic maintenance jobs in my home, when it comes to real ‘fix-up jobs’, it’s best to turn to the experts. I follow Andy Griffith’s pleas to Aunt Bee when her old freezer went on the blink; “Call the man! Aunt Bee, just call the man!”
I had a plumber come out to clear the drain pipes in my kitchen. Several decades of gunk and mess were excised. What a relief! Then I hired a tree trimming service to prune my silver maple tree. That shade bearing behemoth had not been properly shaped in several years and it looks much better now. Finally, I tried lining up a carpenter to re-build my front stairs but the guy who was recommended to me had too much of a workload to take my business. So, I’m looking for other help on that job. I also did some major toss-outs of unused junk. My home possessions are really becoming streamlined and it feels great to do that.
MOVIES- Despite being vaccinated for the COVID virus, I still don’t feel safe going to movie theatres so I caught up on some films via HBO, Netflix and Amazon Prime.
“Tina”– HBO brings us a detailed documentary on the legendary Tina Turner. While you think you know her story from the biopic “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, there is much more to know in details. “Tina” was as good as last year’s HBO doc on the Bee Gees.
“One Night in Miami”– On the same night when Cassius Clay (soon to be re-named Muhammad Ali) won the heavyweight title over Sonny Liston, he had a post-fight hang-out with NFL star Jim Brown, singer Sam Cooke & Malcom X. It’s a fictional account of what COULD have been talked about. The actors playing Clay (Eli Goree) and Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) are especially good in this one.
“Sound of Metal”- A punk rock drummer and recovering drug addict suffers sudden hearing loss and gets help from a special program for the deaf. Oscar nominations are in for lead actor Riz Ahmed and supporting actor Paul Raci. It’s a visual and auditory trip. By the way, if someone ever makes a movie about protesting former NFL QB Colin Kaepernick, Riz Ahmed is dead ringer for Kaepernick and could play the lead.
“Promising Young Woman”- Another Oscar nominated film (for Actress Carey Mulligan along with Best Picture and Director). The trailer for this one makes you think it’s a trashy ‘woman gets revenge on men who take advantage of her when drunk’ story. “PYW” goes WAY beyond that. I really enjoyed the ride in this mind-bending film, which is an amalgam of “Fatal Attraction”, “Heathers” and “The Usual Suspects.” In fact I liked it so much, I watched this film twice!
BOOK CLUB– While off, I read a whole 400 page book cover to cover. “Rock Me on the Water,” written by Ronald Brownstein does a remarkable job covering the cultural aspects and ramifications of movies, music, television and politics in the pivotal year of 1974 in Los Angeles. One line from the start of the book notes how at that time in L.A. ‘you could throw a rock and easily hit a genius’ on the brink of a social or cultural breakthrough.
Finally, there was time for intermittent naps, some TV channel surfing and catching up with some friends on the phone. I also worked on a load of half written blogs. Once they’re edited, I’ll get back to weekly postings. No hurry on that task.
So, it was a good Spring Break but it’s great to be back online with my students. Oh, and yes, ALL of us are counting down to less than three months before our summer vacation!
