15 May 2012, some miscellaneous notes

I have made some notes of things which the class might be interested in but which we haven't talked about in class so I'm just going to make a special blog post about them:

This past weekend a rising star musician, Kina Grannis (info), played in Seattle. I didn't see her concert.  But her video for "In Your Arms" (video, lyrics) is very creatively done, with art made of jelly beans in the background.  I know how many of my students like both music *and* food, so this is a good video for you!  Here's a clip about how they made the video.

If you are in Seattle over the Memorial Day weekend (25 - 28 May), definitely go down to the Seattle Center for the NW Folklife Festival.  It is free and there are lots of good local musicians and artists who play.  Here is the schedule. 

I have been asked what are some films which are about American youth culture.  Here is a link to Entertainment Weekly's list of the "Top 50 High School Movies".  If you are looking to learn more about American culture and you have Netflix online, check out a film or two.  (I particularly like "Ferris Buehler's Day Off" (info), but that's an old movie.)

Speaking of films, I recently saw information that the Korean Film Archives provide over 70 Korean film titles through YouTube. Access the films here.

Also on the subject of films, there is a movie currently out called "Jiro Dreams Of Sushi" (Seattle Times review). It is a very nice documentary about this man who has made it his life mission to make the best sushi possible.  But there is a Seattle connection to this movie!  The Seattle restaurant Shiro's (website) is owned by a man who was an apprentice to Jiro many years ago.  Additionally, one of the apprentices shown in the current movie about Jiro now works at Shiro's here in Seattle! Here is an article about the Seattle-Jiro connection. 


Those are just a few things I had noted to myself to share with my class, but which didn't really fit into the recounting of the weekly sessions.