Author: xeyeti

The Search

| xeyeti

I’ve been a teacher for five years. I really enjoy the act of teaching; I like imparting information and knowledge to young people, I like watching them learn how to ask questions and think critically (and since I’m a history teacher, critical thinking is basically the gig), and I like getting to do something different every day. I’m not fond of the procedural side of things; I hate paperwork, I hate grading, I’m not fond of writing lesson plans, and I wish I didn’t have to be involved in so many meetings. It’s a tricky balance to strike; while the procedural stuff is necessary and has to happen (especially in special education, where you have to have meetings and documentation of everything), you don’t want it to interfere with your ability to get into the classroom and teach the kids (which should always be the focus). And, of course, there’s the damn standardized tests that have become the bane of every teacher’s existence since No Child Left Behind came into effect (“teaching to the test” is a concern administrators have, but everyone basically teaches the students what they need to pass the standardized tests because that’s just what you have to do). But, despite all that bull, I still like teaching.

I’ve spent my teaching career working with students in special education. For four years, I worked at a school for students with learning disabilities. I loved my time there, enjoyed that student population immensely, and really only left because it wasn’t possible to continue surviving on the pittance the school paid. The sad fact of the matter was, I needed to make more money. I switched this past school year to a different private school, one that works with students who have emotional disabilities. It’s a different environment, one that is more restrictive than what I was used to. That in and of itself wasn’t a problem. Sure, I had more rules I had to know and enforce, but that’s a minor thing. I had to learn how to do restraints (or “therapeutic physical interventions,” as they’re called), and I’m only teaching one history class (which is my area of expertise; I’m not real good at math, yet that’s what I spend most of my day teaching), but I still rather enjoy my time in the classroom (even the math classes). Actually, teaching things outside of my area of specialty has been a benefit; I’ve gotten better at planning and thinking about how I actually teach, which is great.

What I don’t like is the attitude of the administration at my school. There’s a negativity there about the students and about the job we do that wasn’t present at my first school. It drags me down, makes me feel negative myself, and generally casts a pall over my time there.

So I’m looking for a new job. I’m sticking to small private schools, primarily in the special education area because that’s what I’ve got experience with and it’s what I’m comfortable with. I used part of my spring break this week to craft cover letters and send them and my resume off to a few schools, and I’ll send a few more before the week is up, I’ll wager. We’ll just have to wait and see what the effort yields.

The Pull List – March 31st

| xeyeti

Spring Break means getting comics on the day they come out! Huzzah! Get ready, here come the comics!

Detective Comics #863: The end of the Cutter storyline gives us a decent-enough resolution to the arc, with more of that parallel storytelling between what happened in the past with Batman and Batwoman in the present. Both get their man, we get a nice little moment between Batwoman and her cousin at the end (though I’m still not sure if we’re supposed to know what costume Bette’s wearing). Jock’s art is great, and Rucka’s writing is solid as usual. The backup feature with the Question is great as usual, with the revelation of the big baddie (though when did he get that weird burning sword cross thing on his forehead?) and some solid banter between Rene Montoya and the Huntress. Good stuff all around.

Wonder Woman #42: Wonder Woman is only featured in half of this issue, really, with the first half focusing on some Green Lanterns and setting up the conflict for Wonder Woman in the second half. We get a nice bit between Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor and a great Etta Candy moment (“You think you could maybe go get my guns for me? Oh, and maybe some pants while you’re at it?”). The enemies seem truly dangerous and malevolent, but why is it her enemies are always women? It’s strange.

Trades this week: third volume of Fables, Wonder Woman: Ends of the Earth (which felt disjointed the first time I read it; maybe reading it all in one shot will be different. Also, it includes the great two-part story about a Wonder Woman movie), and the third volume of Mark Waid’s The Brave and the Bold (which seems slighter than the previous two volumes, but it’s still good fun).

The Pull List – March 24th

| xeyeti

Pretty light week this week, but hey, today’s my birthday, so you get a present!

Deadpool #21: This particular story just hasn’t been doing anything for me, so thank goodness it’s over. Maybe it’s just the presence of that horrible thing known as Hit-Monkey, or maybe the conceit of Deadpool running around “trying to learn to be a hero” has just worn thin for me, I dunno. I’m gonna give the book another few issues before I decide what to do, but I seriously hope this title picks up a bit. On the positive side, there were a couple of decent gags in this issue, and it was definitely stronger than the last couple of issues. The art’s still solid (though I’ve no idea why Carlo Barberi draws Spider-Man with such broad shoulders. Isn’t Peter Parker supposed to be more…I dunno, wiry? Not built like a guy who lifts weights and downs protein shakes?)

I also picked up two trades this week: the third volume of Brian Wood’s excellent Northlanders and the Deadpool: Suicide Kings collection. Suicide Kings was alright, though it relied a little too heavily on a couple of crutch-like jokes throughout (the whole “imagine some ‘wacky’ situation then snap back to reality and realize he was daydreaming or whatever” thing was used, like, at least once per issue, and most of the supposedly-wacky situations weren’t all that wacky), but it was okay. Northlanders was great, a collection of some of a couple of the shorter stories from the title so far (two two-parters, “Lindisfarne” and “The Shield Maidens,” and a couple of one-shot issues, including the excellent “Sven the Immortal,” proving that an old man who is pissed off can take a bunch of insolent young idiots anytime). Good times.

When Did THAT Start Blinking?

| xeyeti

It's a Logan's Run reference, yo! They all, like, disappeared at the age of 30 when that little thing in their palm started to blink. Remember?

I turn 30 today. I do not feel like I should be 30 yet. I don’t feel much like I thought adults would be like when I was growing up. But here I am, 30, and while turning 30 doesn’t really scare me the way it does some people, I do find it strange and foreign to not be in my twenties anymore.

On the positive side, I’m doing better at thirty than I was at twenty-nine. Or twenty-eight, for that matter. Really, better than I was for a lot of my twenties.

You know what? My twenties sucked. Screw the twenties! I’m glad I’m thirty! Up yours, traditional interpretation of getting older in this stupid youth-obsessed culture!

She & Him – Volume Two

| xeyeti

“Sometimes, lonely isn’t sad,” Zooey Deschanel croons in the album opener, “Theives,” over instrumentation that wouldn’t have been out of place in a Roy Orbison tune. That sense of optimism in the face of failed love in “Thieves” carries forward throughout the album; there’s a genial, conversational tone to her lyrics and stories, and while the thematic content of the songs hasn’t change much (or, really, at all) from Volume One, but Deschanel and Ward are mining such a rich, comfortable source that you can always draw from.

Volume Two builds on the sonic palette from the first album, adding new sonic touches such as old-school countrypolitan strings and more electric guitar (both of the warm, 1950s Patsy-Cline style and Ward’s more typical spidery electric leads) to the warm, strummy acoustic base. There are touches of steel guitar and some piano and keyboards as well, and Ward surrounds Deschanel’s voice with a Phil Spector-ish wall of sound. While Deschanel’s voice is limited, it’s limited in a charming way, and she manages to work around her limitations in such a way as you don’t notice or mind so much.

Volume Two is a great continuation of the Deschanel/Ward collaboration, and hopefully the two will continue making comfortable, warm, sunny pop music for a long, long time.

The Pull List – March 17th

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St. Patrick’s Day was indeed a day for green, as the second of five (!) new Green Hornet titles from Dynamite came out. Apparently my LCS guy thought I might enjoy it, so I found a copy of Green Hornet: Year 1 #1 in my box. Here’s my thoughts on it and the rest of the stuff I pulled this week.

Green Hornet: Year One #1: I really dig Matt Wagner’s stuff set in the 1920s/1930s (really, the only other thing I can think of off the top of my head is his work on Sandman Mystery Theatre, which is absolutely fantastic), so I’m down with this. The Year One subtitle is a little bit of a misnomer, as Wagner bounces around between the early childhoods of Britt Reid and Kato and their early efforts as masked heroes. What we get is the beginning of a nice little examination of how Green Hornet came to be, and some solid moments of characterization for each character. We haven’t seen how the two will get together just quite yet, but hey, this is just the first issue. I may not have originally planned on pulling this book, but I’m glad it made its way into my box and I’m definitely looking forward to the next issue.

Joe the Barbarian #3: This book just keeps getting more awesome. Sean Murphy’s art is easily the best thing about this title, but that’s not to say Grant Morrison’s script isn’t cool as hell. The parallels between Joe’s hallucinations and the real world are well-done and add some great depth to the story, and things are starting to blur together in a pretty exciting way. Plus, we get a new addition to the group, the rather large son of a pirate guy who brings some fun to the proceedings. This is one of the funnier books I’ve ever read by Morrison, and I’m enjoying it immensely.

Hercules: Fall of an Avenger #1: So we get a nice little send-off for Hercules here, with folks getting together and telling stories about their experiences with the Prince of Power. Thor’s tale is pretty great, a couple of solid little jokes about Herc’s sexual exploits, and an interesting set up at the end of the issue. I do have a couple of problems with the book: first, the art is just bland and boring. Things look washed out, and the women all have the same exact face. The Agents of Atlas backup works pretty well, featuring Venus going around and closing out Hercules’s accounts in what ends up being quite funny and warm. The book’s worth picking up, if for no other reason than to set up the new Prince of Power book that’s starting up in a couple of months.

As for trades, I picked up the new Hellboy trade, which admittedly came out last week, but which I could only find this week. Huzzah for Hellboy!

The Pull List – March 10th

| xeyeti

I don’t let a little thing like having some bad RAM in my laptop stop me from bringing you a rundown of the comics I bought this week! I’m just that dedicated, really.

Batman and Robin #10: New story arc, new artist (Andy Clarke). And damn if this issue doesn’t kick some ass. There’s some great interaction between the two title characters (and a hint that there’s more to Damian than petulance), and a lot of fun clue finding in the Wayne family mansion. This comic is consistently fun and awesome (we’ll even give a pass to the arc with Phillip Tan on art chores), and the setup here for the Return of Bruce Wayne miniseries is handled pretty well. I’m definitely looking forward to next issue.

Batman: Widening Gyre #5: I’m still not sure what to think of this miniseries. It seems like it’s trying to do too many things at once: Bruce Wayne’s efforts to let go a bit, and the introduction of a new player in Gotham named Baphomet. It’s interesting, but the intrigue of who Baphomet really is and why he’s doing what he does and the love story with Silver St. Cloud just…it all seems like it should be in two separate books, not smooshed into one.

Doom Patrol #8: This feels more like what I was expecting out of this series from the beginning. It’s quirky, fun, and manages to maintain a frantic, excited pace throughout. Not to mention Keith Giffen’s use of lots of weird ideas from other incarnations of the Doom Patrol. It’s fun, which is something I always appreciate in a comic. More, please!

Secret Six #19: Another new arc in Secret Six, too. The issue plays a little too formulaic, but the characterization is as solid as we’ve grown to expect from the book, and the ending is pretty awesome (plus, there’s an old man in a tuxedo coat, shirt and tie, and khaki shorts, which is fantastic). This issue promises some crazy antics in the next couple of issues, so I’m still excited to see what happens next.

In terms of trades, I got the Batman: Heart of Hush trade, which was pretty good. Paul Dini’s run on Batman was pretty solid, and this was probably the best use of Hush I’ve ever seen (granted, it’s still Hush, so that’s damning with faint praise, really). Worth checking out if you’re a fan of Dini’s work or Batman in general. I also wanted to pick up the latest volume of Hellboy, but my LCS didn’t have it in stock, unfortunately.

Holy Crap, the Music!

| xeyeti

I’m something of a music fanatic (as anyone who’s been around me for any more than five minutes is probably aware), and looking at the upcoming releases for the next few months has be extremely excited.

And with good reason: new releases from She & Him, The Walkmen, Band of Horses, The National, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Josh Ritter, Jakob Dylan, The Hold Steady, The New Pornographers, Ra Ra Riot…it’s like a season of music specially-designed to make me happy. The only thing that could make the next few months of new releases better would be if Bob Dylan announced he had a new one coming out, too.