BR 2-06: Wagon Wheels

Mrs. Sadler and Mrs. Hickman said, "That Ed Muldie must be off his head to leave you poor babies all alone."
I told them, "I am no baby. I am eleven. And Willie is eight. We can take care of ourselves. Little Brother is only three, but we can take care of him, too."

Wagon Wheels is based on the true story of the Muldie family who traveled from Kentucky to Kansas in a wagon. After they had arrived in Kansas, the father left the boys alone to find better land to stay. Then he sent them a letter and a map, telling them to walk to join him.


Brenner, B. (1978). Wagon wheels (I Can Read, Level 3). New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Vocabulary

prairie: 大草原

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A Most Violent Year, Clouds of Sils Maria, and other matters…

Today, we saw two movie trailers: A Most Violent Year and Clouds of Sils Maria. In Japanese, they are called American Dreamer and Actress. Actually, what we saw for A Most Violent Year was not a real trailer but a short clip, and we used it to practice pronunciation.

Have you been following Premier League news recently? Chelsea lost again on Saturday, and many reporters are speculating that the manager, Jose Mourinho, may not be there much longer. The Aston Villa manager has already lost his job. Manchester United and Manchester City played a goalless draw yesterday. Liverpool drew with Southampton. Manchester City, Manchester United, and Arsenal are probably the favorites to win the title now.

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A Most Violent Year, and other matters…

Today we watched the trailer for A Most Violent Year. It's a movie starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain. The Japanese title is "American Dreamer". It's coming to Denkikan on November 14th. Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain are considered two of the top American actors these days, so I'm very interested in seeing this movie. It costs 5,500 yen for a card for five movies at Denkikan, so it's not too expensive. Denkikan has lots of good movies. Currently, Nightcrawler is playing, and next week Clouds of Sils Maria ("Actress" in Japanese) will start. The following week, they will start showing "American Dreamer" and A Little Chaos (ヴェルサイユの宮廷庭師).

At the major cinemas, Insurgent (ダイバージェントＮＥＯ) is now playing. I recommend it!

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My common errors

Prepositions

I went Tokyo  >>  I went to Tokyo

Articles

I ate apple  >>  愛得他菜pple.
I stayed at Japanese-style hotel >>  I stay打他 Japanese-style hotel.

Using Kanji by mistake

愛得他菜pple.  >>  I ate an apple.

Using because incorrectly

I want to go to Mongolia. Because it is a beautiful place.  >>
I want to go to Mongolia, because it is a beautiful place.

Using know incorrectly

I knew about Jake Gyllenhaal today.  >>
I learned/found out about Jake Gyllenhaal today.

Mistakes with -ing and -ed adjectives

I was boring  >>  I was/felt bored; It was boring
I was fun  >>  I had a good time; It was fun

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Janis: Little Girl Blue, and other matters…

Today we saw the trailer for Janis: Little Girl Blue, a biopic about Janis Joplin, the famous blues star who died tragically at the very young age of 27. We couldn't really understand a great deal about her from the trailer, which seems to be aimed more at people who already know a lot about Janis and are waiting for the movie with great anticipation.

Last week, I saw Attack of the Titans Part 2. To be frank, it was a little disappointing after Attack of the Titans Part 1, but it was still kind of fun. I saw it at Toho Cinemas, which wasn't a good idea because tickets there are more expensive than at other cinemas. But I had a honey latte at Tully's before the movie, and a sandwich afterwards, so I had a good time.

Do you know what other movies are playing or coming soon? I haven't checked the latest listings, but I believe that Night Crawler and Al Pacino's latest movie are both playing now. I would like to see them, especially Night Crawler, which I heard features a great performance from Jake Gyllenhall.
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BR 2-05: The Drinking Gourd

"But right now the law says Jeff and Vinnie are another man's property—property same as a horse or a cow, property worth $2,500."
"But Jeff and Vinnie are people," said Tommy.

In this story, a family help slaves to run away to the northern states or Canada.

Monjo, F. N. (1993). The drinking gourd. South Burlington, VT: HarperTrophy.

Vocabulary

gourd: 

slavery: 奴隷制

abolish: 廃止する

58 words

Bone Tomahawk and other matters

Today we saw the trailer for Bone Tomahawk, a movie starring Kurt Russell. It's a western, and the story revolves around some men who go to look for a woman who's been abducted. It looks super-violent, but I want to see it, because I like Kurt Russell very much, and he rarely appears in movies these days. The movie tagline is, "Death waits for no man." I can't find a Japanese translation of that phrase.

In the English Premier League, Chelsea appear to be recovering from their malaise. Liverpool played their first match under Jürgen Klopp, and the result was a scoreless draw. Sunderland played their first match under Sam Allardyce and the result was a loss. But Newcastle won their first match in a very long time, so everyone is happy up there.

I saw the second and final part of Attack of the Titans last week. It was a bit ridiculous but kind of fun to watch. I want to see Library Wars Part 2 soon.
166

The Iron Giant: Signature Edition, and other matters…

Today we saw the trailer for The Iron Giant: Signature Edition. It's a partial remake of the original Iron Giant from 1999. I'm not sure exactly what has changed; I'm guessing it's just been reedited. But it was fun to see some key scenes from the movie.

Have you heard any news about the Euro 2016 qualifiers? Northern Ireland, Wales, and England have all qualified. I'm particularly impressed by Northern Ireland, because their population is less than 2 million but they came top of their group. Scotland lost a key match and are out. Ireland have to play a play-off match to qualify.

Have you seen any movies recently? I've heard from some students that they have seen the latest Library Wars movie and that it was very exciting. What else is playing?
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The Iron Giant: Signature Edition, and other matters…

Today we saw the trailer for The Iron Giant: Signature Edition. As the name suggests, this is a remake of the classic movie, The Iron Giant, which was made in 1999. As with the original, the director is Brad Bird, but the cast has changed a little. I read that the movie is based on a 1968 story. It won many awards. I'm not sure exactly how the signature edition is different apart from the voices.

Have you heard about the change at Liverpool FC? Jürgen Klopp has taken over as manager, and everyone in England is very excited about it, because he had great success at Dortmund in Germany. Let's hope he has some success in England.
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葉亞戸場 dog and other matters

Did you hear about Brendan Rodgers? He was the Liverpool manager, but he was fired yesterday. It is a pity because two years ago he almost won the Premier League with Liverpool but in the end Liverpool came second, and then after that their level dropped dramatically. Maybe the main reason was that Luis Suarez left for Barcelona.
We watched the trailer for Heart of a Dog today. It was "philosophically astute", according to a famous film critic. It looked rather interesting. ผมอยากดูหนัง
81 words

I'm hungry now!

ตอนนี้ผมหิวข้าว

Heart of a Dog, Good Kill, and other matters

Today we saw the trailer for Heart of a Dog, a film by Laurie Anderson. It was philosophically astute and beguiling! It was a very meditative experience. I wonder if it will come to Japan.
A few days ago, I saw Good Kill, a movie based on true events about drone warfare. It features a good performance from Ethan Hawke, whom you may remember from Boyhood or Before Midnight (or perhaps Predestination?). Other actors in the movie are Bruce Greenwood, Zoe Kravitz, and January Jones.
In football news, did you hear that the Liverpool manager has been fired?
96 words

My summer vacation and other matters

Let me tell you about a few interesting movies.

Wild is a movie starring Reese Witherspoon. It is based on the true story of a woman, Cheryl Strayed, who had many troubles in her life and decided to walk the Pacific Crest Trail to find peace with herself. The Pacific Crest Trail is more than 1000 miles long, and she took about three months to walk it. The walk includes a desert, mountains, and forests, and she came across rattlesnakes and other animals.

Attack on Titan is a Japanese action movie about people living in a city that has been walled off to protect the people against giants who eat them. I saw the first part, and I believe the second part is playing now.

Ant-Man is very funny and very exciting!
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My summer vacation and other matters

The summer vacation began in the 2nd week of August and finished yesterday. It sounds like a long time, but there were many things to do. At my university, we had many meetings the first two weeks of the holiday, and we also had an English Camp for two weeks at the end of August and the beginning of September. There was also a conference at KGU and then I had another conference in Osaka. In the end, I only had two days of real holiday.

Anyway, I managed to see some movies and get a lot of work done, so I feel pretty good about the holiday overall. In particular, I enjoyed the conference in Osaka. It was held in the new Osaka-Ibaraki campus of Ritsumeikan University, which is very attractive and has good facilities. I also found time to see the first Attack on Titan movie in Osaka Station City. It was quite an interesting movie.
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Welcome to the new semester!

Hi, everyone, and welcome to Writing IV! Writing IV will be similar in some ways to Writing III but different in another way. First, the similarities:

• We will continue to write on our blogs.
• In particular, we will continue doing Juppun ha Juubun.
• We will continue to do some reading and write book reviews.
• I'd like you to continue to write diary-type posts whenever possible.

It will be different in one major way:

• While continuing to emphasize writing fluently and in reasonably large quantity, we will focus more on accuracy. (That means that several people who got a high score in Writing III will get a much lower score in Writing IV, unless they make a great effort to improve their accuracy.) We will do this mainly through the use of writing models. You will use the models to find words, phrases, and sentences that you can use in your own short essays.

A general piece of advice:

• The 2nd semester has a few interruptions, especially the campus festival and the winter holiday. Every year, several students lose their way during those times, some getting a low passing score and some failing. Please be aware of those dangers. I suggest that you write a lot of diary posts and book reviews in September and October to cover any missed classes or assignments later in the semester!

218 words

Jack Strong, and other matters…

Today we watched the trailer for Jack Strong, the story of a Polish spy and the CIA agent who worked with him. According to allcinema.net, it hasn't been shown in Japanese cinemas. In Poland, it was released in 2014, and it's coming to American cinemas soon, so maybe it will come to Japan one day.

Looking at the denkikan.com website, Selma (Glory, in Japanese) is coming on August 1st. That movie won some Academy awards, I believe. On August 8th, Turner, about the British painter, is coming. Those are movies that I would very much like to see. In addition, I believe that Mission: Impossible is coming soon, too, of course to the major cinemas. After that, I don't really know what's coming for a while, though in December, Spectre (the new 007 movie) and the new Star Wars movie are coming.
141 words

Jack Strong, and other matters

Today we saw the trailer for Jack Strong. It's about a spy in Poland, I think, and connected to the dissolution of the Soviet Empire. It stars Patrick Wilson as Jack Strong, a CIA agent working with a colonel in the Polish army. It looks pretty exciting and tense.

Talking of exciting, I saw The Avengers: Age of Ultron. It was entertaining, but a bit stupid sometimes, and nothing really remains in my memory from it. I wonder how long the series can continue. Two of the trailers shown were Spectre, the new James Bond movie, and also the trailer for the new Star Wars movie.

The transfer market in the Premier League is quite active. Manchester United have bought many players, including some midfielders, and Manchester City have bought Raheem Sterling from Liverpool. As they did last year, Liverpool have bought a lot of players who probably won't help them much.

End of semester

Just a few reminders about the end of the semester.

• Make sure you've written 25 book reviews, and make sure they all have the Book Reviews (or Books) tag.
• Tidy up your tags in general: make sure you don't have two similar tags for the same thing, and make sure that there aren't posts without an appropriate tag.
• Check the deadline (and any other important details) for the Midwestern US essay.

Rio (Scholastic Popcorn ELT Readers)

That night the door opens.
"Can I go home now?" I shout.
But someone puts me in a small cage with Jewel.
"Where are we going?" asks Jewel.
Suddenly a man and a white bird look into the cage.
"Look, Nigel," says the man. "Not one, but TWO blue Spix's Macaws!"

Blu and Jewel are trapped. How can they get out of their sticky predicament? Luckily, Blu has the skill of opening cages. But unfortunately he can't fly. Fortunately, Luiz the dog has strong teeth and can bite through chains. But Marcel and Nigel are persistent and keep coming after them.

Paulo Coelho's Best Story

Paulo Coelho's Best Story looks quite interesting. Hopefully, it will come to Denkikan sometime, though it isn't yet listed on allcinema.net. But, looking on allcinema.net, I found two movies called Veronika Decides to Die which are based on his book Veronika Decides to Die.

The first one is a 2005 Japanese movie starring Yoko Maki, and directed by Kei Horie. I remember seeing the poster for that movie but I don't know anything about it. The second one is an American movie directed by Emily Young and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. That movie was released in 2009 in the US but has never been released in Japan.