"Sex and the City" class

English school I work for has "counseling weeks" a few times a year.
In those weeks, we don't have regular classes, but we have irregular classes to figure out what kinds of classes will be popular among students.
Beside customary TOEIC preparation classes, the irregular class I had was...
"Sex and the City" class!! ...Correction...it was named "movie and drama without captions" class, but I picked one episode from the season 5 of this monster TV show.
Because everyone (especially girls) likes the show once they start to watch, and I thought language learners could enjoy the main character, Carrie's sense of humor in English.
Also, we could learn American culture through the TV show.
I dictated the whole lines from the episode (it took two hours and a half!) and explained them to my students.

For example, I made come comments about blue parts, cause if they will not guess the exact meaning unless they know only the literall meaning

Carrie, Narration(N); Meanwhile, Miranda is back at the office. She was politically incorrectly, happy to be there.
Carrie, N; Meanwhile, Charlotte was working on her perfect plus one. Justin Anderson the Third.
Carrie; Oh’ that’s great. You have a wildly successful career and a relationship. I was worried we.., you know, women only get one or the other...But you have it all!


Also, I interpreted some jokes an punning, like red parts.

Carrie, N; When your career is better than ever, it’s hard not to get a big head.
Carrie, N; Miranda and Walker had shared one night of great sex BC-before child.
Carrie, N; She invited him to be her plus one at the book party since she knew she’d be conveniently minus one(she meant Miranda's baby).
Carrie; Justin was just in time. Because Charlotte was finally ready for a new relationship.

The class actually worked well. Everybody in the class seemed enjoy.
I would like to continue the class at the time o f the next counselling week!
There was a 82 year old decent lady in the class...was it really OK to teach her the "Sex and the City class!??
...I guess it's fine! She has a very young spirit, and she said she enjoyed the class!!

American Idol

Here comes this season again...yes, American Idol new season has started!
In America, it starts in January every year. Since I moved to America in 2003, I watched the reality show & voted the year's my favorite. Carrie Underwood, Katharine Mcphee, Jordin Sparks... After I came back to Japan, I've been still excited to keep watching the show from Japanese FOX channel!

Because the Japanese FOX channel airs the show one month later from America, I usually check the American Idol's website, checking who stays the show and who is kicked out.
However, when I watch regional auditions, I can say who is going to Hollywood or not without confirming the results from the Website, because it's obvious the difference between contestants who can sing or not!!

When I watched an audition in Nashville, there was one really interesting guy.
He didn't look "American Idol" type. He looked a "professional wrestler type," with a lot of tattoo on him. He didn't sing "American Idol" way. He sang a local heavy metal concert way.
So, it was apparent he is not going to Hollywood... But he became the most impressive contestant for me, so far.

When the judges said "no" to him, he smiled and said.
"It's cool. We're all just who we are. I love criticism. If you tell me," no, I'm not feeling you,"I just gonna make me get home and practice ten times harder.
Even the greatest musicians all times fail auditions once or twice in their lives.
There's a reason for everything in this life. So...thank you, guys!"

Isn't his great!?
I just couldn't stop my feeling that I want to fly to Nashville soon to see him!
Yeah, we're all just who we are. And, there's a reason for everything in our lives.
These two are like big two philosophies we should keep in mind!
I love to find those "heroes" next door (he is not my next door actually, he's in Nashville..,) that's why I love reality TV shows!

glee

Although a popular high school musical TV drama, glee 2, has been aired for 5 episodes in America, I only could watch the first two episodes as the Japanese FOX's preview, last Sunday.

I love this show not only because the actors' performances are outstanding, but also it shows American society's hierarchy.
In the glee club, most members are minorities. Blacks, Asians, Latinos, single-parent kids, physically challenged, and...gays. They are facing the situations of being bulled, but they don't stop expressing themselves. In the club, there are some members who are supposed to be the top of the hierarchy in a high school, like football players and cheer leaders. There was a conflict between them first, but they became understanding each other, practicing performances.
I really like their ways of mixing the traditional hierarchy.

Also, adults around the high school kids are so attractive in the show.
One of my favorites is Burt, Kurl's father. Kurl(a boy) is gay. Burt (a single parent) is an old-fashioned American guy, who loves football, but he tries to understand who his son is.
It's very nice the way he loves his son the way as he really is.

Here is my most favorite scene from a episode of glee 1.
In this episode, Burt starts to see Finn's mother, Carole, also a single parent.
Burt invites Carole and Finn to his house to live together. Finn and Kurl ended up to live in a same room. Kurl(a gay) was excited to live with Finn( a quarterback star player) because Finn is also a glee club's member. However, as a star foodball player Finn, it seemed humiliating to live with "a gay." After Kurl decorated their room up, Finn just yelled at Kurl, saying, "everything is faggy in this room!"
...Burt heard what Finn said, and here is what Burt told Finn.

Burt;Did you say faggy? Is it OK to say my son FAGGY!?
Finn;..No, sir, I didn't mean so...
Burt; I know what you meant! You think I didn't use that word when I was in your age?
I did! When some kids were caught in practice, I told them, "Shake it off, stop being such a fudge!" We meant exactly the way you meant it, "being a gay is wrong. It's some kind of punishable offense."
...I thought you were different, Finn.
I thought you've been a glee club, and being raised by your mom...
You're some new generation dude who thought this differently. You came in the world, knowing, what is taking on me years of struggling to figure it out.
I guess I was wrong.
I'm sorry, but you can't stay here. I love your mom, and maybe this is causing me hurt.
But my family comes first.
I can't hide the poison around. This is my home. He is my son.
I don't know what you want, but not under my roof.

If I'm in his shoes, I don't think I can say those words on the spot!
Finn is his girlfriend's son, and they just started to live together.
However, Burt protects his son, Kurl. Also, his words are honest and sound thoughtful even to Finn. Burt is the man of men!
So, Burt and Carole broke up because of this happening!?
...I don't know yet, but I'm thrilled to know what is going on between two of them, while everybody cares for young couples' updates.

See you on the FOX!!

Social Network

Even the movie, "the Social Network" has been sweeping lately, I personally don't trust people who contact me through a social networking site.
If I haven't met the people "in person," they seem like virtual for me.
Without meeting in a real world, I don't think we could build a real friendship.
However, there is an exception.
If we have a common thing, especially, if we have a similar passion, we might contact together.

These days, I've been trying to expand my "MC network."
That became one of my resolutions this year.
Last Wednesday, I had dinner with three MCs. Two of them are originally my friends from my former MC office, Nozomi and Hanako. The other is from my current MC office, Ms. M.
Actually, Ms. M was the reason why I belong to my current MC office.
When I was looking for a new MC office, Nozomi recommended Ms.M's official blog to me.
Nozomi has sympathized with Ms. M's professionalism as a MC, and I felt the same when I read her blog. Therefore, I joined the MC office she belonged to.
And Hanako heard about Ms. M's blog from Nozomi, then she has shared the same passion with Ms. M, like Nozomi.
I could say, Ms.M has been our "MC guru" in a virtual world.
...So, what was I doing!??
I said I couldn't trust people whom I haven't met in person, but I entered a company because I believed a person on a computer!

However, I finally met Ms.M last month, so she became my MC guru in a REAL world.
VEry fortunately,I found out she is a really nice person & very professional MC in a REAL world as well. Therefore, I asked her to be a "real guru" for Nozomi and Hanako .
I mean, I set up the meeting of four of us.

We had dinner together in Shinjuku.
We shared each other's stories of professional ones, and personal ones.
That was the day when my virtual network turned out a real, solid network.

On the same day, I had lunch with Yuko, also a wedding MC, whom I met at the conference of Bridal MC Alliance. Bridal MC Alliance is an organization I found virtually, I meant on the Internet.

Whenever I talk with other MCs, I learn a lot from their experiences, passions, the actual ways of their jobs, or how to communicate with clients.
My mentor, Ryoko, built bilingual MC's network and it's a part of her job...but I thought, I could develop my "private" network with my professional peers.
They could be MCs, could be English teachers, or translators...
To do so, I might use my "virtual" relationships on a social network site, and so on.

But, just a correction...the movie, "Social Network" based on a true story of Face Book.
As you know, Face Book is based on not a virtual network. On the site, you can see your "real friends" information, that's why it became really popular.
It's a complicated world!!