It seems many of you are planning to see (or have already gone to see) the movie 300, so I thought I’d slap together some supplementary information, if you’d like to check out some of the history behind the movie. There’s nothing better than reading ancient history from ancient historians (I always say), so here are the results of my labors: …
Zeus Almighty
Since various aspects of ancient religious practices have come up in class lately, I thought I’d post this: the Associated Press reports that a group of worshippers performed a ceremony in honor of Zeus today at the ancient Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens. The group had been denied access to the temple, but went ahead with the ceremony anyway, …
The Year in Review
In the tradition of, well, everything ever, I was going to pull together a bunch of “2006 wrap-up links” to post. You know—countdowns, countups, reviews, top lists, etc. Turns out that Fimoculous has saved me the time, as usual. They’ve got links to everything you’d expect: movies, music, people, television, books… If you’d like to riffle back through 2006 before …
Ooo, It Makes Me Wonder.
Ladies and Gentlemen: In the year 2000 or so, Swiss film maker-traveler-adventurer Bernard Weber decided it was about time the world had a new set of Wonders, since all of the “ancient” Wonders had long ago fallen over, or been looted, pillaged, and/or burned into obscurity. (Well, except those pyramids. But, man! They’re sturdy.) With that in mind, he started …
The Reader as Musician
I ran across the following quote from author Zadie Smith on Steven Schenkenberg’s blog this weekend, and had to post it here, so you guys could see it. Her insight about the reading process is nicely put, and proves that I’m not the only one who can’t help using musical analogies to talk about reading and writing, which certainly doesn’t hurt. …
Imaginary Influencers
This is an interesting idea — a new book by Allan Lazar, Dan Karlan, and Jeremy Salter takes a look at the top 101 most influential fictional characters in history. The book’s subtitle, “How characters of myth, legends, television, and movies have shaped our society, changed our behavior, and set the course of history,” is a compelling reminder of the …
College Night.
College Night is coming up this Wednesday (Sept. 20th at 6:00), and it’s a pretty good opportunity to meet with folks from different Tennessee universities, who’ve come explicitly to talk to you! If you’re interested, here’s a list of colleges attending, as of today: Hiwassee College Emory & Henry College Tusculum College Bryan College University of Tennessee, Knoxville University of Tennessee, Chattanooga …
Where There’s a Will…
Good news for those of you who complain that you’re “just not smart enough” to get the best grades — Cordelia Fine reports in an article published in The Australian that new research suggests that it’s self-discipline, and not necessarily raw talent or intellect, that makes the biggest difference in academic achievement. (This idea has always been around, mind you, …
Videorama
Okeydokey seniors, I’ve put a copy of the Class Night slideshow online for those of you who asked. If you head over to the Forum, you’ll see a section called “Multimedia.” Look in there. If that’s too confusing, try this link to go there directly. If you’ve a mind to, you can also download a higher quality version, once you’re …
The Last Days
Things have been a bit slow lately, so I wanted be sure to announce that the School, Sports, and Lunch calendars have been updated through the end of school. Huzzah. (You can find links, of course, in the Quick Links box in the sidebar.) Update! The School calendar has been updated to reflect the official changes for make-up days. Look …