1985's corporate satire Head Office is one of those frustrating films that has flashes of brilliance undermined by conventionality and substandard writing. The first ten minutes or so are bitingly hilarious, then the rest of the film mostly settles into predictability and tedium, going completely off the rails by the third act. After a stale … Continue reading Quick Words on “Head Office”
Author: DBreitenbeck
Poem – “The Outpost”
When evening cools the yellow stream,And shadows stalk the jungle’s ways,Zimbabwe’s palace flares ablazeFor a great King who fears to dream. For he alone of all mankindWaded the swamp that serpents shun;And struggling toward the setting sun,Came on the veldt that lies behind. No other eyes had vented thereSince eyes were lent for human sight—But … Continue reading Poem – “The Outpost”
Friday Flotsam: ‘A Separate Peace’ of ‘Lilo and Stitch’
1. I re-watched Lilo and Stitch the other night (since the abomination of a remake recently came out) and was reminded of just how a good a film that really is. It's one of those odd, ultra-creative, personal-seeming projects that blends elements that really don't seem like they would work together, but through skillful handling … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: ‘A Separate Peace’ of ‘Lilo and Stitch’
Poem – “While Hunting Night is Falling”
While hunting night is falling,So from the Weaver MaidLet us beg lodgingFor to the Riverbank of HeavenHave we come!-Ariwara no Narihira
Saturday Flotsam: Life, ‘The Big Combo’, etc.
1. I'm pretty much fully moved in to the new and improved apartment. There are the usual issues, like trying to get the internet working (I don't think I've ever moved anywhere without having internet issues), but those are slowly starting to be smoothed out. 2. Had a bad depression day this week: worst one … Continue reading Saturday Flotsam: Life, ‘The Big Combo’, etc.
Poem- “Arithmetic on the Frontier”
A great and glorious thing it isTo learn, for seven years or so,The Lord knows what of that and this,Ere reckoned fit to face the foe—The flying bullet down the Pass,That whistles clear: "All flesh is grass." Three hundred pounds per annum spentOn making brain and body meeterFor all the murderous intentComprised in "villainous saltpetre".And … Continue reading Poem- “Arithmetic on the Frontier”
Friday Flotsam: First Year of Teaching Over and a Word on Audrey Hepburn
1. My old apartment is almost bare, and my new one is nearly looking like something livable. Furniture goes tomorrow. 2. My first year of full-time teaching is officially over! Some takeaways: 3. It took me a while to figure out what I could actually ask of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, and I'm still … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: First Year of Teaching Over and a Word on Audrey Hepburn
Poem – “Fact and Fancy”
How dull the wretch, whose philosophic mindDisdains the pleasures of fantastic kind;Whose prosy thoughts the joys of life exclude,And wreck the solace of the poet’s mood!Young Zeno, practic’d in the Stoic’s art,Rejects the language of the glowing heart;Dissolves sweet Nature to a mess of laws;Condemns th’ effect whilst looking for the cause;Freezes poor Ovid in … Continue reading Poem – “Fact and Fancy”
Sunday Flotsam: New Apartment and Classics
1. Last week I took possession of my new apartment and have been moving in piecemeal ever since. I won't be able to get most of the furniture until next week, unfortunately, but I have almost all of my books moved. In the meantime I live among chaos, my worldly goods vomited out upon the … Continue reading Sunday Flotsam: New Apartment and Classics
Friday Flotsam: Habemus Papam, Herzog’s Mindset, and Woodstock
1. Habemus Papam! Short hours ago, I would have taken it as axiomatic than an American Cardinal will never be elected Pope. We exert so much power and influence over the rest of the world that I took it for granted the Cardinals would never willingly give them the Papacy as well. I have no … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Habemus Papam, Herzog’s Mindset, and Woodstock
Serpent's Den 