THIS is a CLOSE-UP?

Almost 25 years ago, the run to Ann Arbor began. And it was almost derailed before it even started, by a scrappy gang of kids from Lake City. During my senior year at Roscommon High School, I finally decided to go out for varsity basketball.  Basketball and I never quite connected; I went out for the freshman team, had one day of practice, and then missed the entire month of December with mono.  I didn't go out my sophomore year, and I spent my junior year on the practice squad with my dad's freshman team.  So when my senior year rolled around, and I was tall enough to be dunking a basketball off one leg pretty easily, I decided to take the plunge and try out. So during one scrimmage early in the first week of try outs, I awkwardly landed on Craig Sisco's foot and broke my right ankle.  But I still wanted to be part of the team, so after some deliberation, the coach let me know I could join the squad...but as the 13th man on a twelve-man team.  I would be pa...

Hollywood Swinging It was a damn fine year for mainstream big-studio filmmakers, with high concept ideas ( Lincoln, Flight, Argo ) rubbing shoulders with strong franchises ( The Hunger Games, Skyfall ) and auteur projects ( Ted, Django Unchained ) and pulling in worldwide audiences in the process.  While the push and pull of sweeping tension and relative minutia of Lincoln and Argo revealed layers of compelling drama, it was nice to have moments of levity as well, be they the rich wet veins of Ted or the drier, more subtle streams of Skyfall and Django Unchained .  Although Skyfall clicked off all the Bond boxes and more (get ready for that Oscar, Adele) and Ted showed a surprisingly well-rounded capacity for full entertainment, the film I keep thinking about the most was Django Unchained , for showing us a world that never existed, yet was the closest thing to truth with respect to that peculiar institution that I ever will see.  It was laugh-out-loud fun...

Let’s See Action I’d like to talk about the resplendent emotional landscapes that anchor you to the characters, but I CAN’T STOP SCREAMING ‘CAUSE THAT DUDE JUST GOT SMOKED! AND THERE’S ANOTHER ONE WHO JUST GOT HIS ASS HANDED TO HIM!! HOLY SHIT!!! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! --ahem-- The Raid: Redemption and Dredd both featured similar plots – heroes work their way up cramped apartment complex levels and deal death in various jaw-dropping ways to our scummy villains – but they both did it so well that (a) it reminds you how sadly engaged one feels when ultra-violence is portrayed on screen with an artful sheen & (b) how bad such films without such artful details can be, which occurs in the vast majority of cases.  For example, if The Expendables 2 actually had even an ounce of vision as to how to manipulate such an awesome cast, it might have joined the ranks of high low art rather than being, well, expendable. Indie Interiors Really, what makes a film “indie” anymore is ...

Strange Powers How difficult is it to make a fantastically kinetic and enjoyable super hero flick?  (Ask the talent behind the failed film versions of The Fantastic Four…and Daredevil…and Elektra…and the two Punisher movies…and Green Lantern…and the first Judge Dredd film…and so on.)  So what’s the secret for the great comic book explosion of 2012?  Turns out you need great actors and a great director, and then it’s not so hard at all, which means the following four films fit the bill nicely. While The Amazing Spider-Man was solid if unnecessary (after all, the only reason it was made was to allow Sony to keep the rights to the character’s films away from Marvel, which is why we won’t have a Spidey/Avengers crossover any time soon), it’s hard to beat the one-two punch of the beginning of a saga ( The Avengers ) and the end of one ( The Dark Knight Rises ), and the global audience clearly agreed, with enough staggering cash to guarantee still more super hero fil...

I found an old salary schedule from NCMC dating back to 1984, and I found out what I would have been paid back then for two Master's degrees and fifteen years of experience: $31,232 It is safe to say, almost thirty years later, that I make more than that.  (Although $31,232 is only a bit more than what I made during my first year at NCMC in 1998, with only one Master's degree.  It's also more than my grandfather made in 1984 after working for the Roscommon school system for over 40 years, for additional perspective.)  In this time of rising acrimony for teachers in any domain, it's nice at least to say that we've made some strides on the pay front. At least, for the remaining eighteen months of our existing contract, when the battle begins anew to justify our existence and our income.

That's right -- actual albums  (well, mostly CD's, to be honest) with a push-and-pull ebb-and-flow that kept me playing them more often than normal.  And I own physical copies of all of the following, which marks me as an old guy clinging to 20th Century media consumption habits to those digital natives out there.  Me?  I like to think that if I actually paid money for these albums, then they are worth my time and efforts on some level more meaningful than a barely considered MP3 of some hook-free "intensely artistic" existential examination.  But maybe that's too harsh.  Here are some of my faves, in no particular order, each followed by a first-draft haiku extolling virtues through verses. Scott Walker - Bish Bosch like Lynch for your ears / nightmarish vapors and ash / deliquescent pop Hot Chip - In Our Hands autistic swagger / these English nerds kill dance floors / with infectious glee Chromatics - Kill For Love swelling and e...