Henry Mancini

$hopping $pree

Lately, we’ve been spending money right and left.  All in the name of academics, of course.

        

$ – We bought a geological era poster because we were reading –

Why We Went Extinct, by Tadaaki Imaizumi and Takashi Maruyama.  How did these authors take a sobering topic and make it so readable?  59 extinct animals are showcased, each species presented on a 2 page spread.  But wait!  The final section celebrates 10 species who AGAINST ALL ODDS managed to adapt and have a presence today (we have new respect for the opossums that traipse across our back yard…these guys have dealt with rather a lot in the past 65 million years).   A mountain of research went into this book.  We learned a LOT, we smiled a LOT, and I said, “this is hilarious” a LOT.
So, on each 2 page spread:
– a lengthy, highly amusing explanatory quote from the very voice (ranging from streetwise to “not the sharpest knife in the drawer”) of each animal (my son and I are sort of fans of anthropomorphizing)
– a “regret” or “key to success”
– an illustration
– a factual paragraph
– a tiny era/period chart (which is why we had to buy a poster sized chart), showing when said species bid farewell

$ – We bought a periodic table poster because we were reading – 
Marie Curie (for Kids), Her Life and Scientific Discoveries, authored  by Amy M. O’Quinn.  What a role model:  focused scientist (2 Nobel Prizes), devoted to family, brilliant contributor to the French cause in WWI (master-minded how to get mobile x-ray units to wounded troops).  Grabbing our attention:
– Marie’s husband Pierre Curie was killed when he was mowed down by a horse-drawn cart!
– Marie hid all of her intensely toxic radium in a secured lead box during WWI.  How much?  ONE HALF TEASPOON FULL  (my son and I examined my measuring spoons.  1/2 tsp.  Whoa.).
– Marie Curie passed away at age 66, her daughter Irene, also a Nobel Prize winning scientist passed away at age 58, but daughter, Eve, journalist and pianist, made it to 102.  Message received:  write, play the piano, keep a safe distance from radioactive metals, live long.
– we needed to see where polonium and radium (for which she received Nobel Prizes) were positioned on the periodic table (which is why we bought the poster).

$ – We bought a half pound of Chinese fortune cookies because we were reading – 
Top Story, 5th in an important series by Kelly Yang (engaging story lines that weave in an awareness of the meanness and (HELLO) the short-sightedness of racism).  This book finds protagonist Mia Tang attending journalism camp in San Francisco….once there,  she makes friends with someone who helps out at a fortune cookie factory (my son was not familiar with fortune cookies, so that was reason enough for the purchase).  But there is so much more to the story.  The book has a triumphant conclusion and we are looking forward to the next in the series (Chef’s Secret). 

Because my son and I were impressed by the community support in Yang’s depiction of San Francisco’s Chinatown, we read San Francisco’s Chinatown – and the tight community spirit came through on every page with text by Kathy Chin Leong and vibrant photographs by Dick Evans.  For us, most eye-opening essay:  SRO (single room occupancy) Apartments.  Our favorite essay:  Red Envelopes.

Story Problem:  It is “Strawberry Spree” time at Farmer Brown’s roadside stand.  The stand is selling strawberries of course, but also their strawberry glacé pie and strawberry jam (both of which recently earned blue ribbons at the state fair!).
Sold separately:
– the pie sells for $15
– a jar of jam sells for $6
– a small box of strawberries sells for $4
– a “Strawberry Spree” basket with a pie, a jar of jam, and a small basket of strawberries sells for $20.
Last Saturday, the roadside stand sold:
– 10 pies
– 10 jars of jam
– 30 boxes of strawberries
– 15 strawberry spree baskets
Did the roadside stand make more money from the items sold separately or from the “strawberry spree” baskets?  (answer at bottom of post)

Orchestral Music Time – 

$ – We bought a harmonica because everyone should have a chance at making music with this pocket sized marvel –
1) I was hopeless on our harmonica and 2) when I tried to hand it over to my son he reacted as if I were offering him a poisonous snake.  We settled for listening to some harmonica pros – 

Sigmund Groven:  Strawberry Fair –  this old English folk song (first published in 1891) is just the very thing to accompany our “strawberry spree” story problem.  Sweet and well played – 

Jack Harrison:  Moon River – from Henry Mancini’s motion picture score for Breakfast at Tiffany’s, winning the 1962 Academy Award for Best Original Song.  This is a lush adaptation –

Stevie Wonder:  Isn’t She Lovely – his sensation from 1976.  I had no idea that Stevie Wonder was a harmonica virtuoso.  His harmonica playing starts about a minute into the recording.  My son was vigorously tapping his toes the whole way through.  Wonder performed the song for Queen Elizabeth II at her Diamond Jubilee Concert in June of 2012 – 

Welcome to the best part of my day!
 – Jane BH
(story problem answer:  the roadside stand made more money from the “strawberry spree” basket sales)

The Call of the Wall

What if there was a blank wall?  Then all of a sudden:  Street art!  Graffiti!  Spray paint us interested.

Book:  Banksy Graffitied Walls and Wasn’t Sorry, by Fausto Gilberti. Talk about timing:  the minute my son and I finished this informative book (with its fabulously whacko illustrations) – LIKE MAGIC –  a new Banksy statue appears in London!   We are in awe of Banksy’s nerviness, we are aligned with Banksy’s message, we now have a Banksy poster up on the wall.

Book:  Hey, Wall, by Susan Verde and John Parra.  This quick reading, almost sweet book clarifies the difference between graffiti and street art.  Excellent notes from both author and illustrator at conclusion of book.

– from the sarahknightwriter.com website

Website:  Graffiti on the Berlin Wall – we read through a simply excellent essay, “How Nikita Khrushchev Turned Berlin into a Happening Art Scene” on the sarahknightwriter.com website.  (HIGHLY RECOMMEND).  Superb, organized writing (with a comprehensive definition of graffiti).  After reading, we had maps out, looking at Germany after WWII.  We spent time considering the mean-spirited wall constructed around West Berlin in 1961.  Anyway, the “western” side of the wall ended up covered in graffiti….some of it still preserved.  SO INTERESTING.

Up close and personal:  Street Art in San Pedro, California – back in 2018, one of my best friends from UCLA days, Miss LynnDee, invited me to come see what was about to happen in her hometown of San Pedro:  the community was coming together to create a 2,000 foot mosaic mural (master-minded by artist Julie Bender) on a retaining wall that faced the Pacific Ocean.  Oh boy!  A completely fun day was spent in a ceramics lab (note my tiny tile effort, obviously critical to the wall’s artistic statement).  The mural was completed in 2021.  What fun to share photos of this San Pedro treasure with my son.  He was so focused when viewing the mosaic interpretations of fish, sea birds, and boats.  He is familiar with the concept of mosaics from our study of the Vatican (see “Holy Zucchetto!” from September 2015 if ya want proof).

     

Because it’s not all about the call of the wall:

Our Tom Gates Marathon –  My son and I have our grin machines turned on if we are ending an evening’s study with a dip into a Tom Gates book.  Over the years, we have read Liz Pichon’s Tom Gates books here and there, but we decided to give these books a serious re-read, starting with book 1, The Brilliant World of Tom Gates, straight through to book 24 (and hopefully, book 25), no stopping.  Here is what we like about the Tom Gates books:  

the cast of characters 
(who drains us the most?  Tom’s sister Delia? Uncle Kevin? Marcus Meldrew?)
– the pickles Tom gets himself into – the oodles of doodles – the British vernacular –

So the marathon has begun.  We have finished book 1 and are half way through book 2 (Tom Gates – Excellent Excuses).

Story Problem –  The local diner is hosting a sidewalk chalk art experience for kindergarteners.  The diner will provide chalk, complimentary refreshments (their famous “not too tart” lemonade), AND the diner has contracted with multi-talented town photographer, Miss Diane, to take photos of the sidewalk art, create a poster from said photos, and print up loads of copies that will eventually be available for sale – as an impulse buy – right next to the diner cash register.

The diner has budgeted $50 for their lemonade and $75 for the chalk.
The posters will cost $10 to print up and will sell for $15.

– How many posters will need to be sold to recoup the cost of the chalk and the lemonade?
A)  25     B)  50     C)  75     D)  100

– If 40 young ’uns participate in the sidewalk art experience, and all of their moms, 4 teachers, and 15 grandparents purchase a poster, how much profit will the diner see from the event?
A)  $40     B)  $59     C)  $170     D)  $295 (answers at bottom of post)

Orchestral Music – a Banksy soundtrack!  My son and I agreed that we would LOVE to accompany Banksy on a stealthy midnight art installation.  We did not agree on background music for for sneaking around with Banksy – 

  • My son picked The Pink Panther Theme, composed by Henry Mancini for the 1963 film.  Nominated for Academy Award for best original score (but lost to Mary Poppins).  Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky.

  • I picked Anitra’s Dance, from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, composed by Edvard Grieg in 1875.  Sneaky and sly, fast tiptoeing.  (Oooooh!  Look at the intensity of Thomas Dausgaard, the conductor.  No wonder the performance is so A+!)

  • …but we both agreed that the boldness of Banksy’s art is well matched with Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, composed in 1942.  This particular video, featuring Leonard Bernstein as conductor, spots Mr. Copland seated in the balcony.  (I shed tears.)

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers:  A)  25 and D) $295)

It’s all about the triangle

We played “Quiz Show” last night – last week’s studies were so jam packed with quirky facts, they seemed to beg for a quiz.

Did my son know about Euskara?
Did he know about blackout curtains during WWII?
Did he know about altitude sickness?
Did he know about Robin Goodfellow?
Did he know about monsoons?
Did he know which were the fastest muscles in the human body?

quiz

Yes, yes, yes!  And the prize for getting a correct answer???  Wait for it – wait for it – wait for it:  for every correct answer my son got to ding a triangle:  1) the fun never stops at our house, and 2) who wouldn’t focus more diligently, knowing that the merry ding of a triangle was only one correct answer away?

Current studies and books – 

basque books

The Basque Country – first of all, the few books available on the Basque Country seem to be  oriented toward the angry plight of Basque citizens and grievances against their host countries (France and Spain) (mostly Spain) (Hey! I get it, but that is not the direction I want to head – I try to keep the “man’s inhumanity to man” themes away from our study table – my son has enough to deal with).  So, that left us with hardly any books from which to choose (and most of them were cookbooks).  Nonetheless, we are happily reading, “A Basque Diary” by Alex Hallatt (my son really likes the casual reflections in this small book) and the cookbook, “The Basque Book” by  Alexandra Raij.  Both are giving us a feel for this 8,000 square mile area of the western Pyrenees.  By default, we are learning a LOT about Basque food and we are so not eating periwinkles (cute tiny snails) no matter how well seasoned.

midsummer books

Another Professor Astro Cat book – We LOVE the Professor Astro Cat books.  Every page teams non-boring information with turbo-charged graphics.  This book, “Professor Astro Cat’s Human Body Odyssey”, is the fourth book we’ve read on human anatomy and our attention has finally been captured.  We read two pages a night and end up with more than enough to mull over for the next day.  Last night we had to be grossed out about DEAD SKIN CELLS floating through the air.  Tonight, nose mucus.  Life is good.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – we are re-reading an adaptation, “The Young Reader’s Shakespeare – A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Adam McKeown, for one reason only:  to enhance our enjoyment of Felix Mendelssohn’s ridiculously clever “Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.  We can hear the beating of the fairy wings and Bottom with his donkey head braying, what else can we hear?  This piece was composed in 1826 when Mendelssohn was SEVENTEEN – music scholar George Grove wrote of the overture: “the greatest marvel of early maturity that the world has ever seen in music”.  So there.

An outstanding performance of the overture by Leipzig’s Gewandhausorchester – where Felix Mendelssohn served as director from 1835 through 1847:


Dinner time at Farmer Brown’s (story problem) – to summon the farm hands to supper, Farmer Brown needs to purchase a new “Cowboy style” triangle dinner bell.

triangle dinner bell

He can purchase a cheapy at a well known discount warehouse for $20 or he can commission the local blacksmith to create a heavy duty hand-forged iron triangle for $60.  The $60 triangle is what percentage more costly than the $20 model?  A)  30%     B)  150%     C)  200%     D)  300%  (answer at bottom of post)

 

roosterethics

Ethics Corner – OK, right after I yammered on about staying away from themes of man’s inhumanity to man, I am ambushed with a variation (man’s inhumanity to animals):  in the excellent Lonely Planet “The Cities Book” (the 7.5 pound tome we are almost through) we came across COCKFIGHTING while reading about Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  Well.  First I had to explain what cockfighting was to my son.  Did I try to hide my heartsickness from the explanation?  No.  So, question to my son:  what do we think about cockfighting?  Is this an OK thing?  NO!  Are there any circumstances where this would be an OK thing?  NO!  Thank you.

Our music last night – we were so enthused by the the magic of the triangle during our quiz show that we decided to listen to compositions showcasing this simplest of instruments:

triangle

  •   Beethoven’s “Turkish March”, composed in 1809.  This short piece is played at a very fast clip (we LOVE this pace) by the Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra.  The sound of the triangle is woven throughout the piece to evoke the sound of exotic Ottoman Janissary Bands (oh my gosh we learned what Janissary Bands were!):

  • Brahms’ “Symphony No. 4 in E minor”, movement 3.  This symphony premiered in 1885.  We have listened to this movement several times, enjoying how it alternates between sounding like a wild west theme and a royal fanfare.  The triangle sparkles throughout the piece:

  • “Theme from The Pink Panther”  written in 1963 by Henry Mancini.  Nothing but the sound of the triangle was good enough to introduce this piece:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
story problem answer:  D) 300%

The Larger Picture

Looming Large:  Hannibal and Elephants

elephant with hannibal

“Hannibal Crossing the Alps on an Elephant” by Nicolas Poussin (1620-ish)

About Hannibal – we are reading from the Wicked History series, “Hannibal – Rome’s Worst Nightmare”.  Hannibal Barca:  an ambitious warrior with strategy skills perhaps surpassing history’s most effective military leaders.  We are currently reading about Hannibal’s most outrageous achievement – crossing the Alps with 100,000 soldiers and 40 elephants.  Interesting fact – when all was said and done – the Alps crossed and the war with Rome over (this would be the second Punic war – and isn’t PUNIC is such a weird word?) – only 1 elephant remained.  (HEARTBREAK)  (but isn’t the painting elegant?  We LOVE it and we’ve ordered a poster of it.)

My son and I wanted to know more, so we also read “Unsolved Mystery: Where did Hannibal get his War Elephants?” from the Ancient Origins website (ancient-origins.net).  This excellent short article: highly recommended.

hannibal

About Elephants – we are reading from Cheryl Bardoe’s book, “Mammoths and Mastodons – Titans of the Ice Age” (titan – vocab).  Absolutely text-book worthy.  A mini-mini sampling of what we’ve learned:

  • elephant (mammoth/mastodon) tusks are “ringed”, similar to a tree trunk.  Layers of ivory are added every day and reveal all sorts of stuff, like the elephant’s age, whether the female gave birth, food consumed, and the climate.
  • The remains of Columbian mammoths have been found in Texas!  It seems so strange to us that these prehistoric creatures have walked where we walk.  Crazy.

goldberg calendar

Large Pictures – Here is an abrupt change of topic:  my son and I love looking at the ridiculous inventions of Rube Goldberg.  However, Goldberg’s illustrations are so detailed, it is difficult for two people to absorb everything while sharing a book.  So, we have found a most useful vehicle for enjoying the engineering shenanigans of Mr. Goldberg:  a wall calendar!  A big calendar page is the perfect size for us to appreciate every nuance of Goldberg’s contraptions.

waitress in frame

And more large pictures! (at Le Fictitious Local Diner) – A large picture frame (3′ x 4′) has been installed on the wall next to the cash register at Le Fictitious Local Diner to showcase EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH.

If the diner employs 3 excellent cooks and 5 efficient and really nice waitresses, over the course of 4 years, how many times might each employee be designated as “employee of the month”?  If the recognition comes with an honorarium (vocab) of $50,  how much will the diner budget for this per year, and how much should each employee accrue (vocab) over the course of the 4 years?  Lastly, if the diner spends $15 to get a glossy print of each EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH, how much will the diner spend on the photos in a year? (semi-trick question:  some employees may be declared EOTM more than once in a year, and there is no need for duplicate photos, no sir, not at $15 a print).  (answer at bottom of post)

elephant brown

The Elephant in the Living Room – music to celebrate the largest terrestrial (vocab) animal:

  • Baby Elephant Walk, composed by iconic American composer Henry Mancini in 1961 for the movie “Hitari”.  This piece won a Grammy in 1962.

  • Pink Elephants on Parade, from the 1941 Disney movie, Dumbo, composed by Oliver Wallace and Ned Washington.  This movie segment received a bit of bad press, as many thought a film for children should not glorify hallucinations resulting from the mixing of the elephant’s water with champagne.  Ya know, this footage IS sort of disturbing.

  • The Elephant, from Camille Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals”, composed in 1886.  The orchestra’s double bass perfectly matches the heavy lumbering steps of the elephant.

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH

(story problem answers:  6 times,   $600,   $300,   $120)

Inventors Invent

rube goldberg

Patents and Inventions – every night for the past few weeks my son and I have looked forward to opening Travis Brown’s book, “Popular Patents”.  We’ve read about patents issued for the adding machine, barbed wire, the moveable-frame beehive, billiard balls, bottle caps, cannons, the safety elevator, fertilizer, frozen foods, glass bottles, helicopters, and the zipper.  What we love is that each story has some crazy angle (like how zippers were called “hookless fasteners” until an order for 150,000 units were  placed by the Goodrich Company for their “Zipper Boots”).  And we continue to notice how EVERY single story reveals inventors that carry patents for MULTIPLE non-related items.  They cannot seem to stop: inventors invent!

patent books and toilet

Speaking of Fertilizer (first US patent for artificial fertilizer granted in 1859) – we read through (OH MY GOSH) “TOILET – How It Works”, meticulously illustrated by David Macaulay.  This is a quick little book that can give EVERYBODY a basic knowledge of their toilet and a HUGE appreciation for every city’s wastewater treatment plant (on behalf of all clueless citizenry, thank you wastewater treatment plant workers) (possibly a type of employment that might be worse than being a middle-school bus driver).

AA006323

Yoohoo!  Vikings!  We are reading through another Graphic Library (think glorified comic book) offering, this one about the Vikings, “Lords of the Sea – the Vikings Explore the North Atlantic”.  My, these were a hardy people.  We are finding it interesting to put the Viking explorations to North America in timeline context with the likes of Christopher Columbus and the Mayflower Pilgrims.  And BTW, we’ve learned that Vikings never wore helmets with horns.

falcon book

Reading for fun – My husband and I enjoy the screenwriting of Anthony Horowitz (think “Foyle’s War”), so when I found out that he wrote for the young adult level, I knew my son and I would want to give this a try.  We have started his book, “The Falcon’s Malteser”.  Lots of things to explain to my son as we read along (starting with the title), but this is a very fun, very clever detective novel. Perfect level for my son.

chef hatchef hatchef hat

Who’s Cooking at Le Fictitious Local Diner? (story problem) – in August, the diner is offering two week-long (Monday through Friday) cooking camps; one for 7th and 8th graders and one for high school students.  The class fee is $200 per student and includes lunch every day and a chef hat. There is room for 10 students in each camp.  If it costs the diner $4 for each lunch, and $50 for cooking materials for each student for a week, and a chef’s hat costs $6 each, how much will the diner spend on each camper?  At the end of camp, how much will the diner have netted? (answer at bottom of post)

Only Fun Music Allowed (our classical music theme last night) –

  • “Dance of the Hours” (note:  this piece has a LONG 2 minute intro –  the high voltage fun begins about 7.5 minutes into piece), from the opera “La Gioconda” (1880) by Amilcare Ponchielli.  Even though this music was hilariously and successfully used in Disney’s “Fantasia” and Allen Sherman’s “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah”, we were sorry to learn that “La Gioconda” is actually a heart-wrenching tragedy.  But anyway:

  • “Chicken Reel”, written in 1910 by Joseph Daly (and used in several animated cartoons to depict rollicking farm life), and arranged for orchestra by LeRoy Anderson in 1946.  Anderson had so much fun with this – beginning with the ridiculously grand aggressive Paso Doble introduction. Great piece:

  • “The Pink Panther”, the iconic Henry Mancini piece composed in 1963. (My son and I love the triangle action.) This short film clip showcases Henry Mancini as conductor, as well as bits of Pink Panther cartoon magic:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
Jane BH
(story problem answers:  $76, $2,480)