First Week

The state of Michigan added five days to the school year without adding money for it, so the school year now starts the week before Labor Day instead of the week after.  (And my salary didn't go up to take the extra days into account.)  However, here we are--first week!

This year, I have two sections of English 9, two of English 12, and a section of mythology.  This is much better for me than last year, when I had three 12s and one 9.  When I collected an assignment from 12, I got smashed flat, and I tended to put off grading my 9 homework because I "only" had one section, and there were so many 12 papers to grade.  Now it's more balanced, with two each of 9 and 12, and I like it a lot better.

Interestingly, my day ramps up slowly.  I have first hour prep, which I like.  It's nice to start the day out quietly and slowly.  And if something happens that makes me a few minutes late for work, it's not a problem.  Then I have mythology, which is a mellow class, behavior-wise.  Myth students are almost always well-behaved because they =want= to be there.  Then I have a section of seniors, but it "only" has 25 students in it. They're a little more boisterous, but relatively mature.  Next comes a much bigger section of seniors--35 students. This class gets louder still because they're so big.  After that come two sections of freshmen, all very talkative and harder to keep on task.  Sixth hour has 35 freshmen in it.  So my day starts quiet and gets louder and louder.

The first week is always exhausting.  Not only are we shifting from the slow pace of summer to the fast pace of a school day, but I also have to do a lot more talking than usual.  Giving speeches for five hours a day wipes you out, believe me.  I'm glad for the long weekend!

 

Murder on the Orient Express: A Very Late Review

I finally got around to watching Ken Brannaugh's MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS on DVD.  It got mixed reviews when it was in the theaters.  I fell on the side of those who enjoyed it.  I was watching it to see what Brannagh would do with this famous story.  Darwin, it turned out, didn't know the book or previous movie at all and had no idea who the killer was, so he watched to see a murder mystery, and it was interesting to hear his speculations on the outcome.

But none of the reviews, even the laudatory ones, talked about the care and balance put into the screenplay and shooting.  Let's take a look.

The theme of the movie is balance and symmetry.  When the world is going properly, we get symmetry.  When a crime goes unsolved, the world is thrown out of balance.  In the opening scene, Poirot orders two boiled eggs, and he despairs when they aren't exactly the same size.  Then he solves a crime and stops an innocent execution.  That done, he boards the Orient Express, where we watch the train crew precisely placing every conceivable object in its correct place with utter precision.  Poirot receives his breakfast--two perfectly-matched boiled eggs.  Symmetry and balance are restored!

(By the way, I very much liked the lush cinematography of the equally lush setting as we board the Express.)

But later--a murder!  Immediately afterward, an avalanche derails the train, and it goes cockeyed on the tracks.  Symmetry is lost!  Poirot must restore order.  Right after he uncovers the real story of what happened, we get a shot of the train landing back on the tracks with a big CLUNK.  Symmetry is restored!  I love a good theme, well-presented.

The cinematography itself reflects the symmetry and balance theme.  The beginning shows us Poirot nearing the end of an investigation.  He solves it, but an official in a suit asks for him to come onboard the Orient Express to deal with another crime.  The official's tie is crooked (out of balance--crime, you know), and Poirot asks him to straighten it before reluctantly agreeing to the trip.  Poirot walks the length of the Orient Express on the inside, and the camera follows him by peering through the windows from the outside.  This scene is masterfully shot as one long take.  (Did you notice when you saw it?)  The scene ends when he arrives in his room.  The end of the movie is a mirror-image of the beginning.  Poirot has just solved a crime, and he leaves the train by once again walking its length.  This time, however, the camera follows him with one long take on the inside--a mirror image of the previous shot.  Off the train, an official asks him to come to Egypt (a reference to DEATH ON THE NILE) to investigate a crime.  The official's tie is crooked, Poirot asks him to straighten it, and off he goes to the next investigation.  The entire movie is a mirror image of itself--balance and symmetry.

Another theme is the idea of cracks.  A crack in a painting provides Poirot the solution to the first mystery case.  The symmetrical eggs are cracked and eaten.  The frame containing a photo of Poirot's tragic lover cracks when the train derails.  Another well-presented theme.

If you watch the show, look for this stuff.  It makes movie-watching even more fun!