My 12th grade English class studies Macbeth. My favorite production to show them has always been the filmed minimalist stage production with Sir Ian McKellen as Macbeth and Dame Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth. Granted, it can be a little boring for some students who are used to flashy and colorful video games and movies,…
On August 25th, Pottermore released this announcement: Duel bravely, brew well and help lead your house to glory in the last House Cup, which will be awarded on September 9. Soon after the final House Cup is awarded, prepare for a new journey to begin. As J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World expands, so too will Pottermore. We’ll…
It’s September 1st, and I don’t know about you, but my social media feeds were pretty well saturated with posts about missing the train to Hogwarts for the Nth year in a row, or some who claimed that they had boarded the Hogwarts Express (“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why…
James Sirius Potter (or James Potter II), Harry and Ginny Potter’s firstborn son, boarded the Hogwarts Express at King’s Cross station today. This makes James two years older than his younger brother, Albus Severus Potter, who we know from the Deathly Hallows epilogue, “Nineteen Years Later”, will board the Express to Hogwarts in 2017. We know this,…
Even though I need another dinosaur movie in my life, like, yesterday, I (or we) have to wait another three years to see another one, at least one from the Jurassic franchise. That’s right—Jurassic World 2 (which has no official title yet) will hit theaters on June 22nd, 2018. Sigh. That’s a long wait. But why announce…
Paper Towns was released this weekend! Hooray! I’m so exited to see this movie, because Paper Towns is probably my favorite John Green book, though The Fault In Our Stars—last summer’s hit John Green book-to-movie—doesn’t fall very far behind on my favorites list. But as Paper Towns‘s opening weekend now draws to a close, how do the two movies’…
Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. Commonly attributed to John Lennon, this quotation suits this game perfectly in my opinion. Time that I spend playing LOTRO is certainly not “productive”–nor is playing any game very “productive”–but I certainly enjoy it, more than most other video games that I’ve ever played. In fact, I…
One shivering second of silence, the shock of the moment suspended: and then the tumult broke around Harry as the screams and the cheers and the roars of the watchers rent the air. The fierce new sun dazzled the windows as they thundered towards him, and the first to reach him were Ron and Hermione,…
Recently, I gave one of my English classes a “Who is your hero?” writing prompt. Some students wrote about their parents, their grandparents… Some even wrote about Jesus Christ. For me, if I were to be given that prompt, I would have to seriously consider writing about Peter Hollens. I’m not even remotely kidding. Peter…
The word geek is a slang term originally used to describe eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast or a person obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit. (Geek – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) Geek was once a term that was meant to be used pejoratively (disapprovingly).…