Incoherent Spluttering

Okay...so...there will be Romulans in the Star Trek movie.  They made up a language.

Good for them.

But...but...the comments. Oh, the comments.

"We’re space pirates,” Collins explained. “Think of Johnny Depp as a Romulan.”

Pardon me over here while I gibber in a corner.

Are you frelling kidding me?

(Note to self:  Stop sounding like a rabid fan girl.  Thank you very much.)

Romulans aren't pirates.  They -- they -- they're an Empire, for the love of....

I can't....

Okay, seriously?

NOT PIRATES.

(Hello, self?  This is your other self.  Seriously.  Stop sounding like a raving fan girl.)

You don't have to be the cos-playing nerdy Trekkie at a convention, lugging around your well-worn copy of The Romulan Way** (see how I snuck that in?), to know that the Romulans aren't pirates.

And to invoke Johnny Depp-type pirates....

(Self?  This is your not-insane self pointing out that Battlestar Galactica is very good and Baltar isn't a weirdo sitting on a really tall chair.)

...

I must quote.  Other people's words actually make sense.  "Oh Great Bird . . . guide our Trek on its course."  (Go here and download "Born Again Trek" if you need a visual -- even though I wasn't with the "midwest crowd" and actually have only ever watched Wrath of Khan once, because of the earwigs (ewww) and Kirk watching Spock die (sniff).)

** Written by the very, very good Diane Duane, who wrote two of my other favorite 80s-ish era Trek books:  Spock's World (awesome, awesome exploration of Vulcans) and Doctor's Orders (freaking hilarious except when I felt bad for how scared Bones was).

***  Also?  While I was googling for "Born Again Trek," I found Pigs in Space!

Olympics (Gymnastics Spoilers)

Whether you watch the Olympics or not, if you get a chance to see the footage of Bela Karolyi watching Nastia Liukin's floor routine that NBC aired after the competition was over (and, I think, after the medal ceremony, but I stayed up way late to watch the whole thing)...you should.

I don't always agree with him, but you can't doubt his passion.

(Also, Bob Costas's reaction -- making a quip about journalistic objectivity after Bela grabs his arm and shakes it -- is almost -- almost -- as funny.)

ETA:  Ha!  Video here.

I normally root for the 'home' team during the Olympics (with a few exceptions, like the poor Romanian girl a couple of Olympics ago who had a cold, took Dimetapp...or possibly Sudafed...as prescribed by her doctor and was disqualified for doping), because...well, imagine how awesome it would be to win in front of a stadium packed with people pulling for you.  Especially in a group-oriented culture like China.  So I did feel bad for an obviously disappointed Yang Yilin, who tried very hard to be stoic but whose facade cracked a couple of times.

And So, It Begins

There have been several campaign ads during the Olympics the last two days.

Bleh.

This Should Not Be Funny

I made a sound like a giraffe getting run over by a train while they're both hit by a meteor.

Actor...word-smith...actor...word-smith.  He's both.

And he's really, really funny -- even though it so shouldn't be.

...Seriously? (Olympics Comment, No Spoilers)

The Greek doctor for something (not sure which; I'm at Data and not watching) is seriously, swear-to-God named Herakles.

I'm not sure whether to boggle at his parents -- I mean...seriously?  Hercules? -- or to feel bad for him...especially if he was the stereotypical weak nerdly type.

Wow...Go Me!

Turns out I took two of the required classes for CLU's level two program as an undergraduate.

Way to save a lot of money on four credits.

Cool.

Go me.

Now I just have to convince them that since I did BTSA already, I shouldn't have to take their class that is done in collaboration with BTSA....

Oh My

I just drew an absolute, total blank on my own cell phone number.  Yikes.

Olympics (No Spoilers)

The Chinese girls' second floor routine was very neat.  I liked the music a lot, and it helped that Jiang Yuyuan looked like she was having a lot of fun.

Hitting the Wall

People talk about hitting the wall a lot.  I only really remember a similar experience once or twice before.

Once was at Glendale Galleria, when I was about...15ish....  I had nearly broken my left ankle the year before ('cause bad things happen when you stand on the joint and not your foot) and had been slowly rehabbing it on my own (no insurance, ya know).  I was walking around and all of a sudden...no more.  There was some pain, yes, but mostly this deep, instinctive knowledge that with every step I took, the joint was getting more wobbly and unstable and if I didn't get the heck out of Dodge RIGHT THIS SECOND, very bad things were going to happen.

Once was shopping at a Costco off the 101 freeway before my...junior year of college, I think.  I was shopping with two of my roommates for random stuff, when something about the Costco hit me like a ton of bricks.  I got pasty, clammy, and flushed.  (Imagine that combination.)  One of my roommates went and got me a drink.  I've since figured out that it's got to be some combination of the swamp coolers they use and the flicker from the lights.

Anyway, I took Patrick to Disneyland last night.  One minute, I was fine, though kinda sticky and gross because the weather was...well, sticky and gross....

The next?

"Why, hello, wall.  Allow me to smash face first into you."

Quite an experience, that.

But the best part?

I muttered something to myself about hitting the wall -- which, apparently, is a saying Patrick had never heard before.

"What wall?" he said.  "You didn't hit a wall."

"It's a saying.  It means I'm really tired."

"Oh," he said.  "You're pooped!"

Olympics (No Spoilers)

I watch two events in the summer Olympics, generally: diving and gymnastics.  I typically prefer women's gymnastics because I find two of the men's events less than interesting (rings and pommel horse).

However, watching men's gymnastics last night, this one Chinese guy did a parallel bars routine that was just spellbinding.  It's a cliche, yes, but he made it look effortless -- even though the commentators pointed out that every routine leaves deep bruises (which you could see as he untaped his biceps after wards).

Also?  It was neat watching synchronized diving and seeing Wu Minxia again.  She's always been awesome to watch.  I didn't expect her back at this Olympics.

And finally -- I am so, so glad that the women are doing release moves from the lower to upper bar again on the uneven bars.  For several years they just kinda stood on the lower bar and reached for the top one -- even though I remembered watching earlier Olympics (and footage of Nadia) where they did swings from the lower to the upper and more interesting moves.  Yay for it being back.

(Oh, and, to be honest, most of the Chinese girls actually do look 16 or better to me, except for one whose name now escapes me.  (Deng Linlin?  Looking at the pictures, I think that's her.  You have to remember that gymnasts are often very small for their age, and mature physically later due to the exertion.)

Oh...and one more thing.  I realize I have very little interest in sports most of the time -- and therefore have no sports packages on my TV...but I wish it weren't only at Olympics time that it's easy to find gymnastics and diving on TV.

Yikes

Note: I have not read Twilight, nor any of its sequels. Yes, I did read the whole Harry Potter series.

However.

Ouch.

I kinda laughed at the review in a few places, but...ouch.

Quotes of note:

"Educators, readers and parents have all made much of the fact that the Twilight series promotes a wholesome version of teen love for its dreamy, predominantly female readership, citing how the books' protagonists practice abstinence (as opposed to, say, the lewd excesses of Harry Potter's cohort, or those out-of-control Pevensie kids)."

Um.

Lewd excess? I hope I'm right in reading that as hyperbole for effect.  'Cause I kinda remember Ginny having a couple of romances, and some talk about...Dean?  Seamus?  And, of course, there was some snogging, but none of the descriptions went past, well, snogging, which is what 16ish year olds do.

I student taught at a high school.

Trust me.

However, this cracked me up. Possibly because it's late and I'm tired and yet trying to get myself to write a little.

"It gets worse: Breaking Dawn has a childbirth sequence that may promote lifelong abstinence in sensitive types."

I feel kinda bad for the author, except that I've read some examples of the prose in the stories, and it reminds me of stories I wrote in high school that -- for a reason -- are no longer available on the Internet for your reading pleasure.

Which is not to say that I have the talent to become a published author, so I probably should shut up where I'm ahead.