Drumline Battle Answer #11 - Big Trouble In Little China

Here's another one of those films that I just can't get enough of for whatever reason. Kurt Russell is so smug with his quotes. Plus you get to see Kim Cattrall back in her Pre-Sex in the City days and back into her Mannequin days. When I saw this in my youthful days, I had no idea how it was just a taste of what I would eventually see at those Thursday Hong Kong film nights.

Drumline Battle #10 - Airplane!

Today was one of those just wanna getaway days...
I've been feeling crappy, exhausted, coughing, congested, so I took time off to recover. Maybe there is some truth in this idea that I work too much... maybe...

All I could think today is that I wish I were on a plane to somewhere exotic and summer vacation had already begun... therefore, this entry is AIRPLANE!

I suppose this film has a lot to do with why I didn't take my first plane ride until I was 20 years old... and it was a 2 part flight... the first 11 hours brought me to Taiwan, where we got to stay overnight... and then the next morning we spent a couple of hours getting to Manila... which deserves a whole chapter in and of itself...

Also, this is one of my favorite comedies. I don't see on cable so much anymore. It used to be on all the time, hmmm.... I like how you can tell what era it's from. It may feel dated to my students, but it brings back memories for me.

Drumline Battle #9 - I cross the line/Tombstone

This entry will upset my brother because it should be his entry in the battle. Tombstone is one of his favorite movies of all time and I found a compilation montage of Doc Holliday scenes. This is probably one of my favorite quotable films.





Enjoy Lance!

Giants Baseball meets Drumline Battle #8 - Jet Li

Before we get to the next Drumline Battle... my family celebrated Dwight's Birthday and we got to meet his family. Woo Hoo!

I took so much abuse this week about the Giants record and season, particularly at the beginning of the week. Then, the Giants won three games in a row, even the KNBR hosts were wondering if that would even be possible. Well, it happened much sooner than many expected. Yet, many of the people around me said that the Giants were just playing over their heads. It will only last so long. Unfortunately, more of the games will be like Saturday's in which the Giants lose in break your heart fashion. The good thing about that is that there is always a chance they will win the game and not just get blown out like many naysayers suggest.

So I decided with this entry in the Drumline Battle, I would share a clip that shows truly what it means to battle over heads. The scene comes from the first Jet Li I ever saw. Thankfully, my buddy Eric use to take me to the UC Theater in Berkeley on Thursdays, when the theme of the night was Asian films (usually action/martial arts films). Eric helped me to discover Jet Li, John Woo, and Chow Yun Fat long before they made their first American films. In many ways, Eric is responsible for helping me to develop any film sensibility/aesthetic (while an ex-girlfriend also taught me more than I ever expected since she was a broadcast media major), which all has led me to being able to teach film lit. Enough of the Digression....

This scene from The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk introduced me to Jet Li and just how much fun and how different foreign films can be than the usual Hollywood fare.




In much the same way, Jet Li fights for pride (and a possible bride) because he is young and talented, yet he discovers he has much to learn and ultimately loses the battle. The Giants may not be choosing to lose, but they will be learning from their mistakes. As long as the games are close as they have been, they will be entertaining. Hopefully, more fans will show up to the park rather than just us true fans. The attendance this week was the lowest in ballpark history.


138 Aside:
I can't believe that during Friday night's game there were some people mad at me for not moving out of my seat for their friends because they assumed I was in their seats. They looked at me dumbfounded that I would deny their request. I stared back and said NO! I am a season ticket holder and my butt has been on this seat since 2000. I'm sorry you assumed your friends had my seats but you're wrong. They all eventually moved a few rows in front of me.

Second horrible thing to happen in 138 Friday night was some fans several feet away from me tried to start the wave. About a dozen people kept getting up trying to begin their wave. However, my section finally shaped up to true Friday night form and booed them down. My 138 family around me made them sit down as we yelled at them that the wave is not San Francisco, but an East Bay or Southern California mentality so go back to from whence you came.

Later we began a Let's Go Giants chant, and those fans who booed sarcastically said "ewww... we don't do that here! we don't cheer for our team!" Those fans are lucky that none of the stupid drunk fans that tend to show up were there and make the situation a bit unruly. It disgusts me when fans who show up to 1 or 2 games a year come to the ballpark and disregard ballpark etiquette and proceed to try to dictate how the regular hard-core fans should act. How can they yell at me and say I'm not a real fan? I haven't seen their faces there before, and I have been to a few hundred games in the last decade.

Opening Night/ Drumline Battle #7

The Giants are starting to stress me out. I survived a crazy opening day. If you want details, you'll have to talk to me in person. But I am a masochist, so I went back for Tuesday night. I suppose I am too loyal, but I cannot give up on my team--no matter how many of my friends think I'm being an idiot.

I brought 45 leadership students to the game tonight, and it was really cold. Most of you who know me, know I rarely get cold. I had 4 layers on tonight. Way too cold. So of course, the night I bring my class, the game goes into extra innings. However, I can't think of too many more exciting things to see live at any event than watching a walk-off home run, especially when your team is considered to be the underdog. Bengie Molina homered for the first run in the 2nd inning and won the game in the 11th... such a warm pleasant feeling to cast away the cold sense of dread. And to celebrate, the Giants did something even more rare... they won a game on Fireworks night. Special thanks to Moller, Sanguinetti, and Sidhu for helping out with the chaperoning duties and freezing their butts off in the process.




So for this next response to the Drumline war... I've decided on Rocky III... mostly for the great pump you up music and reminder that the underdog can come back to succeed.... just like the Giants will this year. Can't get much better than "Eye of the Tiger" and "Training Montage."




Woo hoo! I got another wedding invitation today. That's five weddings so far this year. I'm ahead of last year's pace of 4.

Drumline Battle Answer #5 - O Captain, My Captain

Well, Lance is now posting his answers to the battle. He actually explains how all this started better than me. He went straight to his all-time favorite speech in a film. Therefore, I have no choice but to place my favorite finale to a film (Cinema Paradiso, The Empire Strikes Back and The Usual Suspects rank right up there though). The movie that helped make me what I am.



I remember watching this movie in the theater towards the end of my sophomore year in high school. I think E, M, C, LL, and Emo were with me. I hated the movie when it first began because the Chem book kept popping up all through the film and it was the same text we used in our Chem H class. But the movie brought everything from my Freshman year English class full circle. I knew writing a poem helped me rediscover my identity, yet this film helped me realize I could also reach out to others.

Drumline Battle Answer #4 - My Name is Inigo Montoya

I think this movie has some of my favorite scenes and lines that I can't help but quote. But the famous line here is by far the best. Out of nowhere I'll just start repeating it. Sometimes I will even use it as a mantra when I pitch and I desperately need to get the batter out. This whole movie should be included. I definitely love this movie more than Drumline and the scenes are much more memorable for me -- plus Andre the Giant (just wait until I start picking famous scenes from wrestling).



I particularly also like the battle of wits.

Or how about this tribute video done in lego.
I love lego as much as the next kid in my generation but I've never been able to do this. I was amazed at all the videos done in lego that can be found on youtube.

Drumline Battle Answer #3 meets Lip Sync Rally - Joyful, Joyful

So some of my students asked for suggestions as to what performance they should do for the lip sync rally. Well, the seniors took what of my suggestions to heart and I know many of the teachers loved it, because my young staff grew up with this movie, while most of the students in it were just starting kindergarten.

This scene also happens to be another one of those films my siblings will stop to watch, especially when it gets close to the finale as you will see here.

here's the students version first




and now the scene from the movie




i swear the students should have performed this last. It was my favorite lip sync routine of the whole rally, although the Freshmen composed themselves quite well.

Drumline Battle Answer #2 - Revenge of the Nerds

So the next immediate answer to come to mind was this little scene here...

I know it won't make for an exciting lip sync routine for our students, but I was kinda hoping one of the classes did this one. The costumes alone would have made it great fun at a rally. I'll have to devise some way to see this done in the near future. I will not rest until I can make it happen somehow.

Lance and Derek Drumline Battle Answer #1 - Babysitting Blues

So as Lance and I began the game of what's better than Drumline, there were only a couple of obvious responses in terms of movies. You'll notice that many of them are musical numbers from some of the movies that have embedded themselves into our childhood/adolescent psyches.

I remember trying to hook up my Sony Walkman recorder to my old VCR to record the audio output. We would listen to some of our favorite movie scenes this way, especially on road trips.

So here's one of the first clips we were obsessed with (oh, and for argument's sake, we didn't allow Star Wars into the discussion for it would have been too obvious).




Enjoy the flashbacks!