Pages

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Samuel Beckett's Favorite Teen Movie*

Zander and I have had the pleasure of working with Walden Media recently to produce educational books that coincide with Walden's films. Walden is the company behind movies like the Narnia series, Holes, and Aliens of the Deep, and they have a deep commitment to educating students about the science and history behind their films.

For example, when Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D came out recently, Walden hired us to design and illustrate a 20-page booklet that explained everything from earth science to Jules Verne to how 3D optics work. The film clearly has little to do with reality, so these booklets -- printed and mailed out to schools across the US -- serve as a nice educational supplement.

Anyway, we recently wrapped up a book for Bandslam, Walden's new teen rock & roll coming of age comedy. Our book explores the history of American music as well as the history of recorded sound and spotlights of various musicians. So if you're looking for something to do this weekend, why not go see Bandslam in theatres? I doubt that anyone reading our blog (with the exception of Shad) is into teen dramedies, but I've read the script for this one and it's actually really funny, and the soundtrack is supposed to be pretty great. I haven't see the final cut yet, but Rotten Tomatoes has it hovering around 80%, which bodes well.

You can read pdf versions of our booklets online:


Journey to the Center of the Earth


Bandslam


* ... And I'll give a prize to anyone who can make sense of the title of the blog post.

4 comments:

Steven Stwalley said...

Courtesy of:
http://tweenmusic.blogspot.com/2009/07/reminder-of-why-bandslam-is-intelligent.html

"As you watch Bandslam, remember, the band derives its name from a “reader” by Irishman Samuel Beckett. That’s the intelligence level this movie operates from. It is not explained in the movie. Samuel Beckett is also the main character’s name in Quantum Leap, so there are many hidden things in this movie."

..courtesy of Google. I cheated. Do I still win?

Steven Stwalley said...

Also, from http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=174914&section=review:

"As the school's annual battle of the bands competition - Bandslam - looms, Will becomes manager and musical mentor to Charlotte's slightly crummy group, eventually turning them into, well, a slightly less crummy but actually still quite crummy group whom he names I Can't Go On I'll Go On, a phrase lifted unacknowledged from Samuel Beckett's 'The Unnamable'. A joke there, of sorts, for English students."

Kevin Cannon said...

I guess that was too easy! Your prize is that I'll buy you a beer after the meeting tonight. Maybe an Irish beer to stay on theme.

Shad said...

Thanks for outing me.

The trailer makes it look hilarious. "The 5 is silent"

I'm not a big fan of Vanesa Hudgson but when she said "It's Texas High School Football" big and then Scott Porter showed up....I laughed a lot.

You can have your Waiting for Godot, I've got my Friday Night Lights.