Pocket notebook sighting

[A star is born. Click for a larger view.]

The notebook above belongs to the Schemer (Wallace Ford), a member of a counterfeiting ring in T-Men (dir. Anthony Mann, 1947). The Schemer keeps his accounts in what might be called pseudo-Greek. That’ll fool ’em, eh? Well, some of ’em. The accounts above are for the Hotsy-Totsy, the Casa de las Nacions [sic], Ditero Polso, the Club Trindad, and Palasi. You can’t fool a junior T-Man.

The Schemer’s trick is enough though to befuddle Chief Carson: “Looks like Greek. I’ll send this to Washington right away,” says he. Much more efficient than looking at the inside back-cover of the dictionary for the Greek alphabet, just in case the Schemer is using a simple cipher, right? Even then, Chief Carson might’ve been befuddled, for the β [beta] of Κλόβ has been turned into an ω [omega].

In addition to this notebook, T-Men offers Reed Hadley’s documentary-style voiceover, John Alton’s stylish cinematography, and a brief appearance by June Lockhart (of later Lassie fame). I never tire of documentary-style crime films.

More notebook sightings
Angels with Dirty Faces : Cat People : Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne : Extras : Journal d’un curé de campagne : The House on 92nd Street : The Lodger : The Mystery of the Wax Museum : The Palm Beach Story : Pickpocket : Pickup on South Street : Quai des Orfèvres : Red-Headed Woman : Rififi : The Sopranos : Spellbound : Union Station

Banned Books Week

It’s Banned Books Week:

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read (America Library Association)

The ALA’s list of the ten most challenged titles in 2010 includes Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America (“drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint”), Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (“insensitivity, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit”), and Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson’s And Tango Makes Three (“homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group”).

Learning, failure, and character

A somewhat misleadingly titled article on efforts to inculcate elements of good character in private- and charter-school students: What if the Secret to Success Is Failure? (New York Times). Those elements include what psychology professor Angela Duckworth calls “grit,” perseverance despite adversity. You can test your grit via her Grit Scale.

When I think of grit and its opposite, I think of students’ reactions to low grades on their first essays in freshman comp. Some students realize that they need to work much harder on their writing, and do so. Others simply drop the course.

A few related posts
Andrew Sullivan on self-esteem
Good advice from Rob Zseleczky
The inverse power of praise
John Holt on learning and difficulty

[Elaine and I each scored 4.4 of 5 on the Grit Scale. Scoring the test, as she points out, requires a bit of grit.]

Lysistratic nonaction in the news

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports that the women of two villages on the Philippine island of Mindanao have brought an end to armed conflict between their villages by refusing sex with their husbands:

Women’s “sex strike” ends fighting in Mindanao villages (ABS-CBN News, via Boing Boing)

The technical term for this strategy: not cutting him off but Lysistratic nonaction. This post explains.

Fees wrecking film’s distribution

Daughter Number Three spotted an article about The Wrecking Crew, Denny Tedesco’s 2008 documentary about the West Coast session musicians heard on countless 1960s pop and rock records. It’s 2011, and the film still has no distribution. Why? The fees for the 130 songs used in the film total more than $300,000. The filmmaker’s response has been to make the film a non-profit, eligible for funding through the International Documentary Foundation.

Nina Paley’s animated film Sita Sings the Blues (2008) was hit with similarly exorbitant fees for the use of 1920s recordings. The initial price: $220,000.

Somehow I don’t think that’s the way copyright is supposed to work.

More
The Wrecking Crew (the film’s site)
The Wrecking Crew (Wikipedia article)
Sita and copyright (Wikipedia article)

[Denny Tedesco is the son of guitarist and Crew member Tommy Tedesco.]

Vito Perrone Sr. (1933–2011)

Vito Perrone Sr., former director of teacher education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, opposed standardized testing:

In Dr. Perrone’s view, which he disseminated for 40 years as a professor of education, first at the University of North Dakota and later at Harvard, the excessive use of such tests warped the education process, inhibited children’s natural interest in learning, caused teachers stress and prevented them from carrying out their real jobs: instilling in children a love of learning and teaching them the principles of citizenship in a democracy.

Vito Perrone Sr., Who Fought Standardized Tests, Dies at 78 (New York Times)

In 1998 he posed these questions:

What if our children and young people learn to read and write but don’t like to and don’t? What if they don’t read the newspapers and magazines, or can’t find beauty in a poem or love story? What if they don’t go as adults to artistic events, don’t listen to a broad range of music, aren’t optimistic about the world and their place in it, don’t notice the trees and the sunset, are indifferent to older citizens, don’t participate in politics or community life, and are physically and psychologically abusive to themselves?

And what if they leave us intolerant, lacking in respect for others who come from different racial and social backgrounds, speak another language, have different ideas or aspirations? Should any of this worry us?

Our Continuing Imperative: Education for Peace and Social Justice (Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue)

A little bathroom humor

A good clue in today’s New York Times crossword, 3-Down: “One spending a long time in the bathroom?” The question mark means that the answer involves some cleverness. I think though that my dad would find the answer quite straightforward: TILESETTER.

[No spoilers here. Highlight the empty space above to see the answer. My dad’s work graces bathrooms, kitchens, and entryways throughout northern New Jersey.]

Music for hard times

Last night Elaine and I heard a great recital by baritone Nathan Gunn and pianist Julie Gunn. Elaine heard much more than I did, as she was well acquainted with virtually all the music on the program: Gustav Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen [Songs of a wayfarer], Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe [Poet’s love], and songs by Charles Ives, Samuel Barber, and Harold Arlen. Schumann and Ives were the knock-outs. But for me the most arresting moment of the night came in an encore, a song from 1931:

They used to tell me I was building a dream,
and so I followed the mob.
When there was earth to plow or guns to bear,
I was always there, right on the job.

They used to tell me I was building a dream,
with peace and glory ahead.
Why should I be standing in line,
just waiting for bread?

Once I built a railroad, I made it run,
made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad. Now it’s done.
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once I built a tower, up to the sun,
brick and rivet and lime.
Once I built a tower. Now it’s done.
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, gee, we looked swell,
Full of that Yankee Doodle-de-dum,
Half a million boots went sloggin’ through hell,
I was the kid with the drum.

Say, don’t you remember? They called me Al,
it was Al all the time.
Why don’t you remember? I’m your pal.
Buddy, can you spare a dime?

“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” (music by Jay Gorney, words by E.Y. Harburg)

I want to call the Gunns’ performance of the song spellbinding, but that’s not it: rather than call attention to the artistry of the performers, the performance invited the listener to think of the world outside the great hall. It was a solemn and poignant close to a great night of music in our own hard times. I’d like to think that everyone got the point.

[Yes, the Gunns are a married couple. And no, this rendering of the lyrics is not definitive. The punctuation, line breaks, and stanza breaks are my best effort.]

Happy birthday, Orange Crate Art

With a little over an hour left in the day, I just realized that Orange Crate Art turned seven today. Orange Crate Art: now more than halfway to puberty!

I never imagined that this blog, which began as a way to collect items relevant to my teaching, would turn into a daily adventure in writing. Thank you, fambly: Rachel and Ben for giving me a big push to get started, Elaine for reading every word. And you — yes, you, the one in front of that screen there — thank you for reading.

Overheard

By Elaine, in Borders: “I hate books that you have to read from cover to cover.”

Related reading
All “overheard” posts (via Pinboard)

[My last Borders purchases: Alain de Botton’s The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber, and Tim Page’s Parallel Play.]