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In this episode of Heads Down Two Thumbs Up, Bill and Carla discuss Almost Famous. Written and directed by Cameron Crowe, this semi-autobiographical story is NOT set in a school, but it is about learning. When high school student William Miller gets the chance to follow his passion of music journalism and is invited to […]

• episode transcript (click to read) In this special edition episode, we focus exclusively on the music of movies. The soundtrack. The score. We love this quote from Underground Press:  As music can tell the story and explain the plot, filmmakers use it very carefully to build the tone and mood of a film. Also, […]

Travel back to 1988 with Bill and . . . Carla, as we have a MOST excellent adventure together taking about another favorite movie that talks about school. When two disengaged high school students, Theodore Logan and William S. Preston, Esquire, are faced a failing grade in history class, they have just one option left […]

You watched the movie, you listened to the podcast, and now it’s time to listen to the B-Side from The Karate Kid. Bill sits down with Jesse Lubinsky for an extended interview. If you’re completely lost, go back and listen to full episode of The Karate Kid, and then listen to this. It’ll make more […]

This month, Bill and Carla talk Karate Kid, the iconic 1984 movie staring Ralph Macchio as the young Karate student of Mr. Miyagi played by Pat Morita.  We discuss the relationship between master teacher and student apprentice, the Dojo as school for life, bad fashion, and the many filming locations of the film.  If you […]

It’s our first episode of the 2021-22 season.  We’re talking about Stand and Deliver, the true story of high school teacher Jaime Escalante who finds himself teaching math in East LA. He finds a group of students who find his less-than conventional teaching methods to be inspiring and he takes them all the was to […]

We’re back!  After our pandemic hiatus, it felt great to be back in the studio to record Episode Six. Coming off of one of the craziest elections seasons in American history, we made the obvious choice.  Election was released in 1999 and starred Matthew Broderick as Jim McAllister, a high school civics teacher, and Reese […]

You watched the movie, you listened to the podcast, and now it’s time to listen to the B-Side from Rushmore. Carla sits down with Greg Bamford for an extended interview. If you’re completely lost, go back and listen to full episode of Rushmore, and then listen to this. It’ll make more sense.

If there is one thing Max Fischer loves, it’s his prep school Rushmore.  “I guess you’ve just gotta find something you love to do and then… do it for the rest of your life. For me, it’s going to Rushmore.”Although he is the king of extracurriculars, has the ear of the administration, and befriends a […]

If you ever went to school – so basically everyone –  you knew a pack of Mean Girls.  Gretchen Wieners, Karen Smith and the ultimate Queen Bee, Regina George, rule the school. They wear pink on Wednesdays and are SO Fetch.  When homeschooled Cady Heron moves from Africa to the Chicago suburbs, she becomes “mainschooled” […]