the_vulture

Yes, it's time, once again, for ysabetwordsmith 's Poetry Fishbowl and this month's theme is military science fiction! Go check it out (and leave a prompt)!

This week, most of my feelings and other higher brain functions seem to have been replaced by a homocidal urge to rend my pupils limb from bloody limb. Yep, I must be infected with the T-Virus from Resident Evil; it's the only rational explanation... aside from my pupils being total bastitches. So if you've missed me this week, I do apologize; I was spending a lot of my mental energy resisting the urge to bite the heads off of my 'little darlings.'  

Speaking of Resident Evil, I got to see RE: Extinction last night. For those unfamiliar with this film series, based on the popular video game of the same name, the premise is based on the escape of a highly contageous mutagenic agent, the T-Virus, from a bio-weapons research division of the shadowy Umbrella Corporation. This virus, despite desperate (and exceptionally violent) attempts to contain it, renders the planet into a barren wasteland where the last remnants of humanity battle for survival against hordes of mutagenically created 'zombies'. This film takes some of the best elements of films like Romero's Day of the Dead and post-apocalyptic classics like Mad Max and The Road Warrior and fuses them into a vivid, gritty, tension filled and action packed nightmare. The film is further enhanced by brilliant cinematography as well as good acting and a complex narrative. The creators of the film set out to generate serious innovations for this film genre and, IMHO, they've succeeded brilliantly! If you're a fan of zombie, horror, and/or post-apocalyptic films, you will thoroughly enjoy this one. Quite simply, IT ROCKS!!! 

Resident Evil: Extinction Trailer: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fkaAi2yQou 0   

The creators of the film The Zombie Diaries also set out to revolutionize the genre by utilizing a cinema verite approach in telling a series of interconnected short stories about small groups of people attempting to cope with a world in which a rampant virus has transformed most of the human population into blood thirsty zombies. The cinema verite approach, like The Blaire Witch Project, assumes a documentary style in which video cameras carried by the characters record their actions and dialogue. 

Unfortunately, the film simply lacks energy and pace and is only really watchable as a curiosity at best. In fact, I was quite zombified by the end of it. If you're looking for an entertaining zombie flick (either for chills or laughs), give this one a miss.  

The Zombie Diaries Trailer: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fx3sfLhXo w

Yep, I haven't posted in a while. 

A couple of weekends ago, I went to the Star Wars Celebration Europe convention in London with a friend. 'Twas my first sci fi convention of any kind and it was, ummm..., interesting... Clearly, it was an event for collectors, though the die hard fans dressing up costume made the thing quite entertaining. The Force was strong amongst them (as well as the Farce).  ;) Clearly though, if you had any form of Star Wars (or any other sci fi) merchandise to sell, this was the place to sell it. Amongst interesting things seen were: a venue selling a host of original props from a variety of films (I saw one of G'Kar's face prosthetics!), storm troopers of all shapes and sizes, the actors for both Hollys from Red Dwarf, and a fun costume competition hosted by Warwick Davis (Wicket the Ewok). The day was topped off by dinner at Chillie's with my friend. 'Twas a good day!

As for the nerfs I am herding, they're still pretty wretched. Two of my classes are shaping up a bit, but the other two are proving quite problematic. One class is filled with kids who seem wholly immature both mentally and emotionally. There is something seriously wrong when about a third of the class demands C-V-C (consonant-vowel-consonant words like cat, dog, etc.) spelling sheets because anything else is too difficult. And two of them even struggle badly with those! As for their behaviour towards one another, let's just say that the first few weeks of the next term will be spent purely on conflict resolution and anger management. 

I'm not trained as a primary teacher!

It hasn't been all bad. As I discover what does and doesn't work with my classes, I've had some better lessons with them. And yesterday proved to be an entertaining distraction. Courtesy of some additional funding made available to the school for the purpose, we celebrated cultural diversity. We had workshops on steel pan playing, Indian dance, music, French bowling games, batik and even an introduction to didgeridoo playing (led by yours truly!), amidst other events. 'Twas good fun! 

The remaining two and a half days of next week will likely be taken up by worksearches and other light stuff. I'm certainly not going to fight to get really productive lessons out of this lot! *chuckle*

There will be some improvements next term: I will no longer be in a crappy room with crappy furniture as the crew is just about finished knocking two small rooms in the English department to make a large one, I will regain use of a projector and white board setup, support will be more consistent, and I've been told that the new year 7s I'll be receiving, whilst still being pretty damn weak ability wise, are much better behaved than the lot of year 8s I now have.

Still, we're running low on TAs (they're not being as readily replaced when they leave or retire) and we're losing a vital member of the staff, our current deputy head, who is retiring this year. THAT is going to be a blow that may send the school spiraling downwards. There isn't a lot of confidence in our new head teacher. A lot of teachers are saying that they'll see how things go this term/year and, if it gets really rough, they'll be leaving. I'm currently of the same inclination. My plan will be, during the next term, to save up a ticket to anywhere and, if this ship starts sinking too fast, jump. I've already done three tours of duty in this country and I don't need to prove anything to myself; if my job gets too crappy, I'm gone.

In other news, this weekend will be spent doing a lot of cleaning, laundry and such, in preparation for my departure to Canada (east coast, not west - sorry!) near the end of next week. Yep, I'm headed back to spend time with immediate family and my grandfolks. I imagine that revisiting many of my childhood haunts will likely prove to be quite restorative to my spirit. I'm certainly going to enjoy spending some lazy days camping on the beach! 

Courtesy o' dancingwriter...


You are Professor X!

You are a very effective teacher, and you are very
committed to those who learn from you. You put
your all into everything you do, to some extent
because you fear failure more than anything
else. You are always seeking self-improvement,
even in areas where there is nothing you can do
to improve.


Which X-Men character are you most like?
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