My favorite comic book series of the last decade, 2001-2010, was Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim. Instead of being serialized in monthly single issues, it came out in larger paperback chunks approximately once a year. There are six volumes: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness, Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the Universe, and Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour. The story is about a kinda-dumb Canadian slacker, Scott Pilgrim, who wants to date mysterious American Ramona Flowers. To do so, he must defeat her seven evil exes. Hilarity, action, romance, and even poignancy, ensue.
The movie, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, came out last year. It was too beautiful for this world, and was a complete box office disaster. Hardly anyone heard of the movie, much less saw it.
Yesterday almost none of the seniors showed up for school. Perhaps they wanted to begin observing Veteran's Day early, and were out performing good deeds for the veterans in their community. Whatever the case, I only had a few students in each Creative Reading class. I showed them the Scott Pilgrim books, and then we watched the first 45 minutes of the movie (basically volume one). I long ago learned that my students have tastes completely different from mine, so I had no idea how they would react, but they seemed to enjoy it. The second class in particular even laughed at all the right times. When I told them how badly the film had performed when first released, they were puzzled, and one student said, "But why? It's really funny." That warmed my heart.
Today there's no school, which is a welcome relief. Next week is a full week, but then we only have two days of school and time off for Thanksgiving, and then we're only a hop, skip, and a jump from December, and everything goes crazy in December . . . so basically I need to hurry up and finish Persepolis soon, if I want to have time for that final project I had planned.
