Reviews and Recommends

I figured since I’m constantly talking about books anyway, I should review a couple now and then. These are my reviews! Enjoy!

The Boondock Saints

The Boondock Saints has been one of my favorite movies since I first caught it, entirely by accident, on Showcase late one night. I was only planning to watch half an hour of TV before bed (after all, I had class the next morning), but I wound up sitting there until 1:00 in the morning.

Now, having said that, this is not a film for the faint of heart. It’s remarkably bloody, crass, and at times it verges on blasphemous. The plot revolves around two incredibly devout Catholic Irishmen who believe God has given them a mission to eradicate the world of evil — a mission they go about with great glee, complete with final blessings, guns, and rope. The film never resolves the question of whether God really gave the “saints” their mission. They clearly believe it and approach their vigilanteism with devout fervor. The film makes them very sympathetic, likeable characters, but obviously problems remain — significant problems — with the ethicals of what they’re doing.

The film never resolves this issue either. [SPOILER WARNING] In fact, one of my favorite bits is at the ending while the credits roll and a news team interviews people off the streets, some of whom regard the “saints” as modern day heroes, others who think they’re nothing but petty criminals.

Boondock Saints is wonderfully filmed, written, and acted, and it makes you think. In my mind, those are all the qualifications of a great movie!

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Feng Shui for the Classroom

Debra Keller’s Feng Shui for the Classroom is really a wonderful book. First off it’s cheap, which is what really did it for me. Second, it doesn’t expect you to redevote your life to the serious study of feng shui. On the contrary, this is a short, readable book that cuts through all the theory and nonsense to provide doable tips to clear the energy in your classroom. You could conceivably remodel your room in a weekend. Some of the tips I’ve picked up and am using from this book include:

• Keeping a big shiny mirror ball in the northwest corner of the room (the learning direction — shiny objects maximize educational potential)
• Keeping white flowers in the north (to facilitate my relationship with my students)
• Moving 27 small things before attempting any big change (apparently it’s an important number)
• Keeping a ceramic bowl of sea salt to absorb negative energy

Another thing I really appreciated was the emphasis on colours and their meanings. For example, pale yellow is calming and encourages listening, while green encourages activity (thank you very much to whoever decided to make “blackboards” green)!

Some people may thing it’s all nonsense, and maybe it is… but you know, I’ve done enough drama to have seen some pretty wacky things happen with “energy.” If keeping a bowl of salt on my desk will help my students, hey, why not give it a try?

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