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Archive for September, 2009

Her morning elegance

Posted by Anne on September 16th, 2009

From Oren Lavie’s debut album, The Opposite Side of the Sea, which was a part of my rainy summer soundtrack. It’s all a bit weighty and introspective, but it’s intimate, and that’s why I like it. And isn’t she lovely? I just think he could have alligned the movements a little more closely to the [...]

Respect

Posted by Anne on September 15th, 2009

Did you follow the story this week about how Kanye West upstaged Taylor Swift as she was collecting her MTV award, and made a fool of himself in the process? Now, I happen to have have very strong feelings about excited men stealing a woman’s fifteen seconds of fame, as I have four older brothers [...]

Adios, amigo. Patrick Swayze

Posted by Anne on September 15th, 2009

Patrick Swayze has died of cancer. Speaking to other cancer patients a year ago, he said, “I’m just an individual living with cancer.”
I walked out of his hit “Dirty Dancing”, but was completely rivvetted by “Point Break” (1991), which got Swayze and co-star Keanu Reeves various “sexiest man alive” and “most desirable male” nominations. Time [...]

Grammar Guru: I’m used to…

Posted by Anne on September 13th, 2009

Last week the Grammar Guru poll result was

I’m looking forward to seeing you = 4
I’m looking forward to see you = 2

The majority got it right.The other choice is an error. This week’s poll is also about a typical error. For a good way to practice the correct phrase, see http://annehodgson.de/2008/10/28/im-looking-forward-to-hearing-from-you
But not all [...]

On writing

Posted by Anne on September 10th, 2009

I’m in the midst of rethinking an academic writing class to include more fun and motivating tasks. It’s a one-week course, and I want to have them do all of their writing, reading and peer feedback in class, with no additional work at home. That means a lot of clicketty click in the computer lab, [...]

The real Tatort story

Posted by Anne on September 8th, 2009

Opening the New York Times supplement to the Süddeutsche this week on page 4 there is a story by Michael Kimmelman on “German TV Viewers Love Their Detectives“. I was thinking: Great job, NYT, you really pick up on stories quickly. Of course I was thinking of the scandal that hit the presses this weekend: [...]

Jailbreaker and Hank Williams

Posted by Anne on September 8th, 2009

Write a one-sentence summary of this video.

OR: Which sentence best summarizes this video for you?

A sheriff manages to capture a jailbreaker.
A jailbreaker meets an upright citizen who captures him.
A short dog manages to outtrick a tall dog in a striped shirt.
A poor fellow simply can’t win against someone who is already [...]