Fast Five, Michigan Football, and the Classroom Helmet Cam…

1. Easy A – No talking, no copying, no cell phone usage, no leaving the room – those are the Cambodian exam rules in theory, but in practice it’s pretty much a free for all. During the fifteen minutes I was at school yesterday I saw every one of those rules being broken and nobody even trying to hide it.

It’s not like people here don’t realize that this a problem, but when every school in the country is competing against each other and everyone knows that the other schools are cheating, the last thing anyone wants to do is penalize their own kids. Until the Ministry of Education steps up and the school directors are given some sort of incentive to stop it, it’s unlikely that anything’s going to change anytime soon.

2. Wetting the Bed – You can add my leaky roof to the list of things I won’t miss about Cambodia. It’s poured here for the last three days, and every night I’ve had to wake up and move my bed to avoid getting soaking wet. On the bright side, the bats have left and I haven’t seen any mice in my room in weeks.

3. Family Photos – A few shots from Emmett’s graduation last week at Deerfield. If you look at the first picture you almost forget that someone’s missing. All you have to do is superimpose my head on Terence’s body and it’s a perfect Knowlton family christmas card.

4. Michigan Football - Just bought my season tickets so if you have any interest in coming to Ann Arbor in the fall, here are the days you should try to schedule your visit…

• September 3 – Western Michigan
• September 10 – Notre Dame
• September 17 – Eastern Michigan
• September 24 – San Diego State
• October 1 – Minnesota
• October 29 – Purdue
• November 19 – Nebraska
• November 26 – Ohio State

5. Helmet Cam – One minute of video taken during the class I teach every night out on my porch…

MVI_4141

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6. Here’s MITTT - This can’t be good news for Obama. A new Post-ABC Poll shows Obama leading five of six potential Republican presidential rivals, but in a dead heat with Mitt Romney. Among all Americans, Obama and Romney are knotted at 47 percent each, and among registered voters, Romney is numerically ahead, 49 percent to 46 percent. Uh oh!

Romney also released a new video today…

I don’t know about you, but I’m pumped up about America.

7. Fast Five - I’ve been waiting months for Vinn Diesel’s latest piece of work to arrive in Cambodia and after finally getting my hands on a copy of Fast Five I can assure you that it was well worth the wait. The movie might not have made any sense and the dialogue might have sounded like it was written by an eight year-old, but with three of America’s brightest starts (Vin Diesel, The Rock, and Ludacris) you really can’t go wrong. Throw a couple of awesome car chases into that mix and you’ve got yourself a modern classic.

8. Keith Olbermann - Keith Olbermann is all over the news this week. Rolling Stone (Olbermann on why he left MSNBC and how he plans to get even) and the Hollywood Reporter (The Confessions of Keith Olbermann) both have lengthy features about his departure from MSNBC and the launch of his new show on Al Gore’s network, Current TV. Oddly enough, both of these articles have almost identical first paragraphs…

Keith Olbermann hobbles into an expensive seafood restaurant in Manhattan on a recent afternoon with the assistance of a long, retractable cane. Maneuvering past startled diners, the former Countdown host mutters over his shoulder, “The joke is, it’s apparently not as easy to leave NBC as it looks.”

Keith Olbermann hobbles into the cavernous Highline Studios in Manhattan’s Meatpacking district. A black collapsible cane in his left hand, he carefully picks through jumbles of wires and gingerly sidesteps an equipment cart. A brace on his left foot protects a healing second metatarsal, the long bone in the foot. Asked how he was injured, he jokes, “I broke it on Glenn Beck’s shiny metal ass.”

If you don’t have time to read anymore, here’s all you need to know — Olbermann’s a control freak, a pain in the ass to work with, and never got the freedom he wanted at MSNBC. That being said, a lot of people still love him and he’s really excited about his new show. He’s no longer friends with Rachel Maddow and he still hates Glenn Beck. You’re welcome.

9. Picture of the Week- 21-year old Brigette Depape, who silently protested at the opening of the Canadian Parliament this week. “Harper’s agenda is disastrous for this country and for my generation. This country needs a Canadian version of an Arab spring, a flowering of popular movements that demonstrate that real power to change things lies not with Harper but in the hands of the people, when we act together in our streets, our neighborhoods, and workplaces.” Here Here!

10. Weiner Tweets - And finally, because I seemed to have joined Twitter when Anthony Weiner was the only thing anyone was talking about, here are five of the best Weinergate tweets…

1. “STEVE MARTIN IS REALLY OILED AND BUFF. OMG, my Twitter account was just hacked.” – Steve Martin
2. “Just my luck! On the same day I find out it’s bad to tweet dirty pictures, FedEx shows up w/ all that penis make-up I ordered!” – Andy Richter
3. “Anthony Weiner skipped the Israel Day Parade. It’s ok–he’s already supported Israel by showing everyone that he’s Jewish. #weinergate” -Joy Behar
4. “Tattoo it on your chest, MEMENTO-style, Weiner: ‘The Internet is forever.”" -Patton Oswalt
5. “A historic day for trivial Twitter fame. Charlie Sheen has called Anthony Weiner to offer his concession.” -Arianna Huffington