Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Eudora Welty's "Death of a Traveling Salesman"
http://writing2.richmond.edu/jessid/eng423/restricted/2welty.pdf
Monday, October 27, 2008
Well-Read People Laugh More
Check out all of the references in modern day television to Death of a Salesman. Read the play, get more jokes! :)
Source: Wikipedia
***Death of a Salesman is alluded to in the Seinfeld episode "The Subway". Jerry Seinfeld reminds George Costanza not to whistle in the elevator (the same advice Willy gives Biff). Jerry then continued to call George "Biff" (This can also be seen in "The Boyfriend, Part 1" when Jerry mocks George's idea of becoming a buff, saying, "So Biff wants to be a buff."). Furthermore in "The Boyfriend, Part 2" George's date Carrie refers to him as Biff Loman; and at the end of the episode Jerry says to George, "So Biff, what's next?"
****In the Seinfeld episode "The Summer of George", after accidentally winning a Tony Award, Cosmo Kramer tells his new friends of a discussion with "Arty" that he should have called his play Life of a Salesman. Life of a Salesman is also the name of a song by the band Yellowcard, narrated by a boy looking up to his father
In the movie Soapdish, Kevin Kline's character, a formerly-famous soap actor, stoops to playing Death of a Salesman to near-deaf senior citizens in a dinner theater.
****In an episode of Family Guy, Meg Griffin plays the part of Linda, reciting the line "Willy Loman never made a lot of money, his name was never in the paper, but attention must be paid to such a person." Then a hitman, playing the role of Happy Loman, recites the following lines before attempting to assassinate Lois Griffin, the wife of the show's protagonist.
****During an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Richard Lewis asks Larry David "Who are you, Willy Loman?", whilst Larry is selling cars at a car dealership. Larry David was the executive producer of Seinfeld, which also includes character references
****In the movie American Beauty, Carolyn Burnham (Annette Benning) tells Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) that "'the Lomans just moved out next door" - alluding to the family in Death of a Salesman.
****In "Burns, Baby Burns", the fourth episode of The Simpsons' eighth season, Mr Burns opens a door to a theatre in his home, an actor is saying "You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away - a man is not a piece of fruit." --- Willy Loman, Act 2, Death of a Salesman
****In another episode of The Simpsons Goo Goo Gai Pan, the family travels to China and sees a Chinese interpretation of the play, which includes dragons and Chinese opera. After the curtain closes, Homer says that he finally understands the play.
****In Stephen Sondheim's Assassins, John Wilkes Booth uses Linda's line, "Attention must be paid..." while talking to the suicidal Lee Harvey Oswald. Samuel Byck also uses Willy's frequent exclamation of "The woods are burning!" in one of his monologues.
****In an episode of Roseanne, a traveling salesman dies in the Connor's kitchen and Dan refers to the corpse as "Willy Loman."
****In the 1997 film Orgazmo, Mormon missionary Joe Young (Trey Parker) gets a job as a porn star and lies about it to his fiancée Lisa (Robyn Lynne Raab) by saying that he is starring as Biff in a Hollywood remake of Death of a Salesman. Later on in the film, Young continues the lie and claims that a sequel to Death of a Salesman is being made and that he will be playing Biff's evil twin brother.
****In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode 'Restless' Willow dreams that she and her friends are in a production of Death of a Salesman, although it appears as a parody - Riley is dressed as a cowboy and says : "I'm lookin' for a man! A sales man!"
****In the Jimmy Neutron episode Birth of a Salesman, Jimmy Neutron enters a candy bar selling competition in which he battles his archrival, Cindy Vortex, so that he, Carl, and Sheen can get tickets to Retroworld. After Goddard recommends creating a smarter salesman in order to outsell Cindy, Jimmy creates a sales robot which he calles the Willy Loman 3000.
****In the Arthur episode Buster's Sweet Success, Buster fails at selling chocolate and says "What happened to me, Mom? I used to be someone in this town. I was well liked!"
Source: Wikipedia
***Death of a Salesman is alluded to in the Seinfeld episode "The Subway". Jerry Seinfeld reminds George Costanza not to whistle in the elevator (the same advice Willy gives Biff). Jerry then continued to call George "Biff" (This can also be seen in "The Boyfriend, Part 1" when Jerry mocks George's idea of becoming a buff, saying, "So Biff wants to be a buff."). Furthermore in "The Boyfriend, Part 2" George's date Carrie refers to him as Biff Loman; and at the end of the episode Jerry says to George, "So Biff, what's next?"
****In the Seinfeld episode "The Summer of George", after accidentally winning a Tony Award, Cosmo Kramer tells his new friends of a discussion with "Arty" that he should have called his play Life of a Salesman. Life of a Salesman is also the name of a song by the band Yellowcard, narrated by a boy looking up to his father
In the movie Soapdish, Kevin Kline's character, a formerly-famous soap actor, stoops to playing Death of a Salesman to near-deaf senior citizens in a dinner theater.
****In an episode of Family Guy, Meg Griffin plays the part of Linda, reciting the line "Willy Loman never made a lot of money, his name was never in the paper, but attention must be paid to such a person." Then a hitman, playing the role of Happy Loman, recites the following lines before attempting to assassinate Lois Griffin, the wife of the show's protagonist.
****During an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Richard Lewis asks Larry David "Who are you, Willy Loman?", whilst Larry is selling cars at a car dealership. Larry David was the executive producer of Seinfeld, which also includes character references
****In the movie American Beauty, Carolyn Burnham (Annette Benning) tells Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) that "'the Lomans just moved out next door" - alluding to the family in Death of a Salesman.
****In "Burns, Baby Burns", the fourth episode of The Simpsons' eighth season, Mr Burns opens a door to a theatre in his home, an actor is saying "You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away - a man is not a piece of fruit." --- Willy Loman, Act 2, Death of a Salesman
****In another episode of The Simpsons Goo Goo Gai Pan, the family travels to China and sees a Chinese interpretation of the play, which includes dragons and Chinese opera. After the curtain closes, Homer says that he finally understands the play.
****In Stephen Sondheim's Assassins, John Wilkes Booth uses Linda's line, "Attention must be paid..." while talking to the suicidal Lee Harvey Oswald. Samuel Byck also uses Willy's frequent exclamation of "The woods are burning!" in one of his monologues.
****In an episode of Roseanne, a traveling salesman dies in the Connor's kitchen and Dan refers to the corpse as "Willy Loman."
****In the 1997 film Orgazmo, Mormon missionary Joe Young (Trey Parker) gets a job as a porn star and lies about it to his fiancée Lisa (Robyn Lynne Raab) by saying that he is starring as Biff in a Hollywood remake of Death of a Salesman. Later on in the film, Young continues the lie and claims that a sequel to Death of a Salesman is being made and that he will be playing Biff's evil twin brother.
****In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode 'Restless' Willow dreams that she and her friends are in a production of Death of a Salesman, although it appears as a parody - Riley is dressed as a cowboy and says : "I'm lookin' for a man! A sales man!"
****In the Jimmy Neutron episode Birth of a Salesman, Jimmy Neutron enters a candy bar selling competition in which he battles his archrival, Cindy Vortex, so that he, Carl, and Sheen can get tickets to Retroworld. After Goddard recommends creating a smarter salesman in order to outsell Cindy, Jimmy creates a sales robot which he calles the Willy Loman 3000.
****In the Arthur episode Buster's Sweet Success, Buster fails at selling chocolate and says "What happened to me, Mom? I used to be someone in this town. I was well liked!"
Friday, October 17, 2008
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain
Please share your responses to this poem by leaving a comment on this post!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Visit These!
www.collegeboard.com (So much information for you!)
http://www.queenslibrary.org/index.aspx?page_id=45 (Get a library card!)
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/001.html (A poem a day keeps boredom away!)
http://www.bookcrossing.com/ (Find free books all over the city!)
http://www.poetry.com/ (Visit here for a chance to win $$$!)
http://www.ala.org/ (Find books you love!)
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/index.html (Stay on top of current events!)
http://www.pathwaysprep.org/
http://www.queenslibrary.org/index.aspx?page_id=45 (Get a library card!)
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/001.html (A poem a day keeps boredom away!)
http://www.bookcrossing.com/ (Find free books all over the city!)
http://www.poetry.com/ (Visit here for a chance to win $$$!)
http://www.ala.org/ (Find books you love!)
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/index.html (Stay on top of current events!)
http://www.pathwaysprep.org/
AP Meeting
AP Family,
We held a meeting today to discuss the benefits and challenges of our AP program. We discussed our expectations of the program and the rigor of the course. Thank you for those who attended and we missed those who could not be there. Here is a synopsis of the meeting:
*The course is designed to expose students to college level English. All students will be required to take a freshman writing/composition/literature course regardless of majors. If students do exceptionally well in this course, they will have the opportunity to take an AP exam. The exam is graded on a scale from 1-5. If students get a 3,4, or 5 on the very challenging exam, they may be offered 3 credits at a college. This equates to saved time and money! Even if students do not take or pass the exam, this is an extremely awesome opportunity for students to be exposed to this level of work. Being in this class will help students to succeed when they enter college, simply because they have been exposed to similarly challenging material.
*The course requires a great amount of independent work. I will provide students with 1/2 of what they need in the classroom, including shared texts, guided reading, skills, and strategies. However, students that will truly succeed will be those who go beyond the classroom. For example, students who choose to read the "classics" that are often referenced on the exam will have a higher likelihood of success than those who do not. Students who practice writing and take our exercises seriously will also have a higher likelihood of succees. The motto for AP will be "meet me half way!" Your education is in your hands! Empower yourself!
*The only requirement for the course was a willingness to participate. Congratulations for taking the first step! If you have any questions or concerns, you can email me at edaly@schools.nyc.gov
We held a meeting today to discuss the benefits and challenges of our AP program. We discussed our expectations of the program and the rigor of the course. Thank you for those who attended and we missed those who could not be there. Here is a synopsis of the meeting:
*The course is designed to expose students to college level English. All students will be required to take a freshman writing/composition/literature course regardless of majors. If students do exceptionally well in this course, they will have the opportunity to take an AP exam. The exam is graded on a scale from 1-5. If students get a 3,4, or 5 on the very challenging exam, they may be offered 3 credits at a college. This equates to saved time and money! Even if students do not take or pass the exam, this is an extremely awesome opportunity for students to be exposed to this level of work. Being in this class will help students to succeed when they enter college, simply because they have been exposed to similarly challenging material.
*The course requires a great amount of independent work. I will provide students with 1/2 of what they need in the classroom, including shared texts, guided reading, skills, and strategies. However, students that will truly succeed will be those who go beyond the classroom. For example, students who choose to read the "classics" that are often referenced on the exam will have a higher likelihood of success than those who do not. Students who practice writing and take our exercises seriously will also have a higher likelihood of succees. The motto for AP will be "meet me half way!" Your education is in your hands! Empower yourself!
*The only requirement for the course was a willingness to participate. Congratulations for taking the first step! If you have any questions or concerns, you can email me at edaly@schools.nyc.gov
Summer Reading
Dear AP Students!
REMINDER: You have been asked to read J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye over the summer. Please be sure to have read the text by the first week of school! You will be asked to complete tasks that require having read the novel.
I'm looking forward to seeing you!
REMINDER: You have been asked to read J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye over the summer. Please be sure to have read the text by the first week of school! You will be asked to complete tasks that require having read the novel.
I'm looking forward to seeing you!
AP Literature Recommended Titles
When choosing independent reading novels, please refer to the list found on this website. These are titles that you will be able to use on the AP exam.
http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/AP/APtitles.html
http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/AP/APtitles.html
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