There Are Those Who Believe...

...that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans.  Some believe there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive somewhere beyond the heavens....

-- opening narration to the original Battlestar Galactica series, spoken by Patrick Macnee.  You can find a sound file of the narration here.

Small spoilers for tonight's Battlestar Galactica finale follow.

Consider yourself warned.

That original narration fascinated me as a child.  Patrick Macnee's delivery of it was awesome, and I loved the lyrical quality of the writing itself.  There's also, of course, the idea behind the narration -- which I can't express any more eloquently than the narration itself.

So of course I always suspected that the current BSG's mantra of "all of this has happened before and all of it will happen again" had something to do with that original narration.  When they found Earth and it was destroyed, I -- like many fans, I assume -- figured that the BSG story takes place far into our future, where there have been two additional catastrophic human near-extinctions: along with the one on the original Earth, the one on Kobol, and of course the destruction of the Twelve Colonies.

However.

Mitochondrial Eve.

Mito-frakkin-chondrial Eve.

My science nerd and my sci-fi nerd collided into a rush of ecstatic squee.  That is just too entirely awesome -- whatever you may think of the rest of the ending.

I mean...Mitochondrial Eve.

What the Heck?????

(How often do I resort to multiple punctuation marks to emphasize my point?)

CNN is shutting down its science-tech unit.

No, really.

No, really.

I just...there are no words.

Yes there are.

WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU THINKING?

I am spluttering in incoherent rage over here; I'm sorry.  Maybe someday I'll have a more eloquent post on the subject.

I'm gonna go listen to "Hope Eyrie" and "The Ballad of Apollo 13" now, and remember when science-type stuff united the whole world, even for a few minutes.

It Begins Again

For the uninitiated (ha!), the Harry Potter series consists of seven books slowly but inexorably building to a final showdown between the eponymous (I love that word) hero and the most evil wizard ever (tm).

Before each book came out, there was speculation that it would be OMG DARKER AND SCARIER THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE!  MAYBE OUR LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS SHOULDN'T READ IT.

Um.

Remember that "slowly but inexorably" thing?

Remember how Lord of the Rings started with a relatively innocuous thing (Bilbo disappearing at his birthday party) and ended with "The End of All Things?"

When things slowly but inexorably built towards BAD THINGS, they slowly but inexorably get...

...badder.

This should not be rocket science, folks.

The same thing, of course, happens as trailers trickle out for each subsequent movie, to my continual irritation.

(Surely, if you're going to see the sixth Harry Potter film, you've read the books?  I could forgive, perhaps, having not read the book before seeing the first, but wouldn't that pique your interest?  More to the point, in a (ahem) post-Harry-Potter world, you surely know that....  Oh, never mind.  I give up.)

Anyhow, imagine my reaction when I saw this:

Sinister twist.

A 'darker' Harry Potter.

I just -- I just --

Okay, let me try to be rational.

Kids who grew up on Harry Potter grew with the books.  If they were 11 when they read the first, they were adults when Deathly Hallows came out.  I think adults could handle Deathly Hallows, don't you?

A kid that read Sorcerer's Stone for the first time (yep, I'm American...sorry) at 11 two months ago is in a different spot.

But here's the thing.

YOU'RE THE PARENT.

IF YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT WHAT YOUR KID IS READING OR WATCHING THEN WATCH IT YOURSELF.

I mean, for crying out loud, people.

On another similar but related note, a couple of weeks ago, our News-2-You topic was the Country Music Awards.  Because the paper had a bit on the history of country music, I hopped onto YouTube, violated several copyrights, and made a video showing the growth of country music over time, with 30 second-ish clips from each decade of country music.

Johnny Cash being Johnny Cash showed up in two of them.

Three of my students -- including my youngest, Bart (fourth grade boy P), who just turned nine a month ago -- said, "Oh, that's that guy from the movie with the drugs!"

So we let an eight year old boy (with special needs, but even so) watch Walk the Line, but we angst that the sixth movie in a series of...well, eight, really...movies that are building to a giant confrontation with a REALLY EVIL BAD GUY...is...darker?

Walk the frelling Line.

I weep for society.

Star Trek Gripe

I've jokingly said from time to time that one of my worries about the new Trek movie was the casting of Karl Urban as McCoy.

Why?

Well, here's the thing.

I first saw Karl Urban on Xena, playing Caesar-Julius-Caesar (how he always introduced himself...hey, it was a campy show, especially at the beginning) and (gulp) Cupid.  When he played Eomer in Lord of the Rings, that was marginally okay, because he didn't look like Caesar.

But...the pictures...the new pictures.

Good Lord, it's McCoy-Leonard-McCoy.

Allow me to explain graphically.

1.   equals .

2.   does not equal 

But  equals .

Now, other actors have gotten past this barrier.  For instance, in no universe anywhere does Bester = Chekov even remotely compute.  And yet, I never got past Archer = Sam Beckett either.

That said, Zachary Quinto bears an eerie resemblance to a young Leonard Nimoy.

In short: the jury is still out.

You Keep Using That Word...I Do Not Think it Means What You Think it Means

That is one of my favorite quotes from The Princess Bride -- delivered by Inigo after hearing "Inconceivable!" one too many times.

I found this today.

I just...sugarless Peeps.

Think that through.

Sugar-free Peeps.

The illogic...it burns.

I had the same reaction when I first saw sugar-free caramel sauce.

I mean, caramel is basically sugar, water, and milk.  "Caramelized," or the darkening that happens when you cook things, is mostly 'cause you've messed with the sugars in something.

Sugar-free caramel.

(For the record, neither is really sugar-free.  They are simply different forms of sugar.)

Birthday Weirdness

So, just for fun, I often check the birthdays on imdb.com.  One of the birthdays today was Bruce Gray, whose face I kinda recognized from the picture.

A quick check of his page confirms that he was Ian's dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding (a.k.a. the quiet lawyer dad, not the roasting-lamb-in-the-yard dad).

However, as I page-downed my way through the page, my eye caught the usual filmed-in-Canada stuff (Outer Limits, Stargate, etc.) -- which is, incidentally, where MBFGW was filmed.

Anyway, I'm paging down, and I see Star Trek: Enterprise.

I stop.

I boggle.

Surak?

Ian's dad = Surak of Vulcan, Father of All They Now....

SURAK?

That is almost...almost...as bad as Winona Ryder playing Amanda.

Or...oh, good Lord, I can't stop looking....

Weepy Girl (Cameron?) from House playing Kirk's mom, conveniently enough named Winona Kirk?

And we've already ranted about McCoy-Leonard-McCoy.

(Why I'm stuck on him being Caesar-Julius-Caesar and not Eomer, I don't know, but there you have it.)

And, explain to me Bruce Greenwood as Chris Pike.  Chris wasn't that much older than Kirk and company....

And we're not even going to get into Zachary Quinto saying that Sylar and Spock have some things in common, 'cause he doesn't think about good or evil when he plays a character.  Dude, sociopath-emotionless so does not equal Vulcan-Passion's-Mastery.

Seriously.

However, to give credit where it's due, it's nice that Christopher Doohan gets a cameo.

Yay for Anonymity

You may have noticed that there are no references here to my last name, the town or school where I teach, other teachers' names (especially last names), kids' names....

Basically, there's no identifying information.  It allows me to share some of my funnier stories, as well as some of my dramas, without fear of compromising my kids' privacy.

And, today, it allows me to make a comment regarding last spring's CAPA testing.

Apparently, most kids in our district did well.  I saw a few of my kids' scores, and they all held even from prior years (which, given how much harder the test got, is a more impressive feat than it sounds like it should be), and a couple of kids improved.  Bulldozer improved from either Below Basic or Far Below Basic to Basic.

In MATH.

CAPA was really, really hard this year.  There were things like addition problems with calculators and manipulatives, identifying two-digit numbers, graphing, and identifying parts of a cube (face, vertex, etc.).

Bulldozer is lucky to count to three.

This is actually an improvement for him, as he came to me counting to two, lost that skill when he stopped having to bring two $1 bills to buy lunch, and regained it slowly and painfully.

However.

I gave him that test.  I gave all the kids' their tests.  I talked to the other teachers who gave the test.

I have concluded that the whole thing was either curved (by state, district, school...who knows) or the threshold levels for each score were lowered from previous years.

(For the record, there is Far Below Basic, Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced.  I'm fairly certain No Child Left Behind requires everyone to score proficient or advanced at some point, which means those are technically "passing" scores.)

There's just no other explanation.

I am pleased, on the one hand, and slightly boggled on the other.

However, this does not change the additions I have already added to the kids' journals heavily emphasizing certain skill sets on the CAPA.  I don't believe in teaching to the tests -- the rest of their day will be math, reading, etc., as usual -- but this daily practice should help.

Seriously.  Counts to three and scored Basic on the math section of the CAPA.  I frelling kid you not.

I will be very disappointed if The Boss, who came to me counting to three and ended the year counting to nine, scored anything less than proficient.

Also, very confused.

...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.

Bwahahaha

I often jokingly say "D'oh!"

But this one deserves a real d'oh.

Hee hee.

Opening Ceremony Comment #9

The cauldron lighting.

Holy cow.

HOLY COW.

First off...how utterly freaking terrifying.

Second...man, he was even "running" to the rhythm of the music.

And the way the flame spiraled up?  How awesome.  Gorgeous.

Just wow.

Awesome.

You don't build a 4,000 mile long wall by thinking small, and whatever you think of Chinese politics, you have to acknowledge that they dream big, and they deliver.

That was freaking awesome.

(Also, Yao Ming holding the little boy up so he could see?  Very cute...and probably just as planned as everything else, but whatever.)

ETA:  Um.  Wow.  I wonder how much NBC had to pay Fox to use the David Cook song at the end?

(Yes, I know who David Cook is, and, yes, I recognize (and like) the song, and just shut up, kay?)

(I feel like such a sell-out.)

(I might maybe own some Daughtry and some Kelly Clarkson...but in my defense, I liked the song before I knew who she was.)

Opening Ceremony Comment #8

That little boy walking with Yao Ming looks like he's about 3 years old; hard to believe he's nine.

And, of course, who knows how much of his story is propaganda, but assuming it's true...what a story.  Good for him.

Opening Ceremony Comment #7

The peoples' footsteps adding to the painting is just too cool.  Very symbolic.

Opening Ceremony Comment #6

As a word nerd, can I just say that I am very ecstatic to learn that the Chinese version of alphabetical order is to count how many strokes it takes to make the characters that go in the word?

Nifty.

Opening Ceremony Comment #5

The globe...and the stars....

So, so cool!

Opening Ceremony Comment #4

The little girl with the piano player is adorable.

Also, I like that the kids are just average kids plucked from Beijing schools.  

While it might not be true in practice, it's a lovely nod to the (supposedly) egalitarian nature of Chinese communist society.  (I've always said that communism is a nice theory; the problem is that it goes hand in hand with totalitarian governments.)

Or, it could be a nod to China's egalitarian past, when anyone could advance, say, to bureaucracy through education.

Opening Ceremony Comment #3

The music and the lighting is awesome.

But all those people up in the nosebleed section with their flashes going are driving me nuts.

Opening Ceremony Comment #2

Okay, the moving moveable type thing?

Oh.  My.  God.

(Say what you want about the Chinese government, but these guys dream big.  I feel bad for the sweating guy amidst the Confucius dancers they keep showing, though.  I don't know a lot of Chinese, and I don't read lips very well, but I'm pretty sure he's desperately counting to the beat.)

ETA:  There were people in there?  How cool is that?

Opening Ceremony Comment #1

That scroll is freaking awesome.

Olympics Opening Ceremony

Wow...the pictures are awesome.

Without getting into a political debate, I just have to say that the pageantry is gorgeous.  But, a thousands-of-years-old society has had lots of time to practice.

ETA:  About one of the pictures above.  I don't even watch Avatar, though being in fandom, it's hard to avoid it.  So why, oh why, do I look at these guys and see only...uh...(quick google search) Aang?  I mean...what the heck, brain?

Packaging Ridiculousness

Just to clarify, the little box from Canon came in the big box from Amazon.