Author Topic: An Open Letter to ...  (Read 159730 times)

Bondo

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Re: An Open Letter to ...
« Reply #1300 on: December 11, 2014, 06:22:17 PM »
My students who generally came to class and got all the work done and still didn't do well, I felt bad about that, I felt that maybe I let them down by not being good enough as an instructor. The students who were spotty with attendance and assignments, I marked those bad grades with a certain measure of satisfaction.

sdb_1970

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Re: An Open Letter to ...
« Reply #1301 on: December 11, 2014, 09:59:05 PM »
Dear Student,

You've only just now realized that that research project that was worth 50% of your grade, the one you didn't turn in, even with multiple reminders, was going to affect your grade so much?

No, four days now, after the quarter has ended, I will not "give [you] an extension."

Sincerely,
Your Big Meanie Instructor

Well, hell, there goes your three jalapeņos on ratemyprofessors.
letterboxd

[insert pithy expression of false modesty here]

oneaprilday

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Re: An Open Letter to ...
« Reply #1302 on: December 12, 2014, 12:01:22 AM »
My students who generally came to class and got all the work done and still didn't do well, I felt bad about that, I felt that maybe I let them down by not being good enough as an instructor. The students who were spotty with attendance and assignments, I marked those bad grades with a certain measure of satisfaction.
Yeah, this student falls in the latter category, so I really don't feel sorry for her.  Her grade is fair, and I gave her every opportunity to do better while there was time.  I do hope it's a bit of a wake up call though - she's a bright kid and could do so much better if she just wanted to.


Well, hell, there goes your three jalapeņos on ratemyprofessors.
;D I shall do my best to bear the loss with dignity.

MattDrufke

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Re: An Open Letter to ...
« Reply #1303 on: June 16, 2015, 03:15:03 PM »
Dear audiences at comedy shows,

Your job is to laugh. Please do not speak unless spoken to. Heckling is the worst. You are not helping the show. You are not impressing your date. You are not showing anyone that you belong to be onstage. What's that? You were completely sober when it happened. Dear heavens... You're a monster.

Sincerely,

Me
@ihatemattdrufke

verbALs

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Re: An Open Letter to ...
« Reply #1304 on: June 16, 2015, 03:34:39 PM »
I went to a show with Stewart Lee, who might not be known outside the UK. He was heckled and went into this long rant about how the heckling had actually ruined his act. How since he appeared on TV the audience had changed, how he wished for those earlier audiences even if he now made loads of money at bigger venues. Eventually he started spieling on how comedians led a lonely life and they committed suicide like Robin Williams; how comedy made them sensitive. At all these turns people were laughing while he stayed dead serious and had a go at the audience for being insensitive. Sometimes people clapped instead and he would say that was the sort of audience he wanted. Basically he making people laugh and then ranting about them laughing.

It was so intricate repeatedly bouncing off how the original heckle had caused all of it. In short it was a genius riff on the nature of comedy itself. A hell of a challenge daring people not to laugh, making them laugh at the most sensitive personal things and then screaming at people's insensitivities. People getting up to go to the loo as he was eulogising Robin Williams and he would melt down in rage.
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

MartinTeller

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Re: An Open Letter to ...
« Reply #1305 on: June 16, 2015, 03:41:25 PM »
I went to a show with Stewart Lee, who might not be known outside the UK.

He is.  Not on the level of, say, Eddie Izzard, but he's definitely known.

verbALs

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Re: An Open Letter to ...
« Reply #1306 on: June 16, 2015, 04:19:26 PM »
I'm glad because talk about challenging art.
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

MattDrufke

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Re: An Open Letter to ...
« Reply #1307 on: June 17, 2015, 08:46:29 AM »
That sounds amazing.

A few years ago, two idiot columnists from the Chicago Tribune teamed up and wrote a piece called, I believe, "In Defense Of The Heckler". I believe their whole point was how when a comedian really lets go and has a great exchange with a heckler that it's so much fun to watch and really shows the skills of the comedians. Naturally, the Chicago comedy community lost it's collective mind. On a great blog, my friend Peter-John Byrnes wrote an amazing response. Check it out if you have a minute:

http://www.comedyofchicago.com/2013/01/strongly-worded-letter-by-peter-john.html
@ihatemattdrufke

Jeff Schroeck

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Re: An Open Letter to ...
« Reply #1308 on: June 20, 2015, 09:36:00 AM »
That sounds amazing.

A few years ago, two idiot columnists from the Chicago Tribune teamed up and wrote a piece called, I believe, "In Defense Of The Heckler". I believe their whole point was how when a comedian really lets go and has a great exchange with a heckler that it's so much fun to watch and really shows the skills of the comedians. Naturally, the Chicago comedy community lost it's collective mind. On a great blog, my friend Peter-John Byrnes wrote an amazing response. Check it out if you have a minute:

http://www.comedyofchicago.com/2013/01/strongly-worded-letter-by-peter-john.html

Did they use examples like comedians telling the heckler to blow them, or blow somebody, or blow themselves, like in Jamie Kennedy's boneheaded movie "Heckler"?

1SO

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Re: An Open Letter to ...
« Reply #1309 on: November 10, 2015, 11:35:01 PM »
To Whom It May Concern,

My life away from the computer must take a greater importance. And so it has reached that point where the Boards have served their purpose and I am now planning an exit strategy.

I will continue to watch movies, only not at such an intense rate, and I no longer see the need to share my thoughts (or update my Director ranked lists) on almost everything I watch. If there is something I really want to talk about, I will probably still post. We shall see.

As for my unfinished projects...
* Noir-vember is over for me. I will continue to update the index and I may still watch some more Noir, but I won't write about each one like I'm in a competition.
* I do not plan to participate in DOC-ember. I very much want to watch Amy and Cobain: Montage of Heck, but I wouldn't count on my writing about them.
* I will not be starting a thread for Once Upon a March in the West, Music of May, Noir-vember or my other monthly projects next year. If someone else keeps them going, I may participate, but it is uncertain.
* By next Shocktober we will know if all of this is bunk. I hope by then to be away from this as well. We shall see.
* I will still participate in the Top 100 Club at least up until the completion of Round 2. The 7 names remaining watched 1-2 titles of mine and I will return in kind. Next on my list for Bondo is White God, which I will probably watch but I wouldn't expect a write-up.
* Most important to me is the Director Ratings Project. I will see this through, though I'm now aiming to conclude collecting data by mid-December. I will then build lists and share them in my available spare time.


I am not being chased off the boards by any of you. I enjoy my time here greatly, but in the desire to create content I have pushed off career goals and pressing deadlines. I don't think it will be possible to walk away completely, but I need to stop trying to be a project manager and simply be an observer. I must put my creative energy into achieving what I hope will be a more substantial, long-term happiness.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2015, 11:49:09 PM by 1SO »