5 For Friday
– My students have been pestering me for candy and it’s not even Halloween yet. I’ll likely make some blood and guts Samhain Neopagan powerpoint illustrated with Large Marge animated gifs (… or something) for Monday and we’ll make origami pumpkins (… or something). Chance of mayhem? High.
– Speaking of classroom mayhem, I had a dream Johnny Cash was in my class. He sat in the back, wore black, and was a shitty student, making fun of every word I said.
– Why’s it that when someone tells you a ghost story it’s always a rambly twitchy guy? I suspect it’s for the same reason my cousin who saw the banshee also saw snakes crawl out of his TV during an attack of the DTs.
– I started reading The Last Wish, the first of Andrezj Sapkowski’s Witcher novels. It’s more a collection of loosely framed short stories than an actual novel. My wife loves them and has wanted me to read them. This one works as a sword & sorcery Spaghetti Western with the occasional twisted fairy tale added into the mix. He just killed Snow White (after sleeping with her, of course).
– We have a home scanner now so I’m likely to make a heavily illustrated post about Andy-si.
I Went Hiking Again
I’ll spare everyone the stories of bus karaoke. Let’s just say I have new found fear of some of my coworkers. This hike was part of a school trip where all the teachers rent a bus and have “fun” together. “Fun” meaning hiking, meaning walking up a mountain and down again and then eating so much food as to be near to bursting.
That’s “fun”.
Anyway, we went to Mungyeong and walked through the mountain gates would-be Confucian scholars would have to pass through when on their way to Seoul to take their civil service exams. The whole area makes much of its pre-20th century Korean history, which isn’t surprising considering its 20th century history might not be so cool.
Help Me, Ken Watanabe. You’re My Only Hope.
I still get stressed out whenever I have to get my haircut.
Last year I made the mistake of going to one of my student’s mom’s place to get my haircut. This was a bad idea. The woman’s “face” ended up being on the line, so basically she cut two hairs, fled across the room, made me some coffee, and then ushered me out. After that I stuck with the woman who kept the place beside the headstone seller. She was not related to any of my students and didn’t have to worry about what might happen if *gasp* the English teacher got a bad haircut.
The guy I go to now looks a bit like Rick Hunter from Robotech except with glasses.
I start panicking when he hands me the “Style Book”. The book’s full of handsome guys like this:
Hmmm. Maybe next time I'll ask for the Tony Leung.
And, when I need a haircut, I sort of look like this:
But I’ve figured out a method now. So when Rick hand’s me the book I pretty much flip through it and find the picture of Ken Watanabe. This is my go-to haircut at the moment. It’s not bad and as it grows out it becomes like two other decent haircuts.
Though I’m still lazy as shit about getting my haircut regularly and spend far longer looking like Robert Donner than any guy really should.
Oh, Look. Pretty.
Hand-colored Lumiere Brothers film from 1896 of Loie Fuller dancing with (modern) music by Raph Regan.
Things I Learned From Watching Public School Musicals All Day
- Save the planet by remembering the three Rs: R-something, R-something, and Recycle!
- Never give up on your dreams even when your father beats you.
- Husbands wouldn’t kill themselves if their wives cooked for them more often.
- Don’t be a jerkface especially if you’re Cinderella.
- People listen to reason. It’s really quite simple. Like this:
Villain: I’m going to do this evil thing.
Hero: Don’t do that evil thing. It’s bad and will hurt people.
Villain: Oh, you’re right. How foolish of me. Let’s sing and dance together instead!
- Everyone loves kids with nunchucks!
Everything I Know About Science Fiction I Learned From Reading Comics
So…
I’m having a weird fit of nostalgia. Most specifically for late Bronze Age Space Opera/Post-Apocalyptic comics. Off the top of my head I can remember reading:
1. Dreadstar (My dad read this comic and didn’t want my brother and I to know.)
2. Atari Force
3. Scout (going to put Dragon Chang here too.)
4. The Marvel Star Wars Comic (Do you remember Den Siva?)
5. The Micronauts
6. Stark Future (Has anyone else heard of this let alone read it?)
7. Alien Legion (really should be #1 on this list. Never got into the reboots.)
8. Rocket Raccoon (Like the Secret of NIMH with laserguns and early Mike Mignola artwork. Also the Boba Fett character was a black rabbit with red eyes…)
I’m not counting manga, Legion of Superheroes, or stuff I didn’t read like Grimjack/Border Worlds or found later like Kamandi and Magnus: Robot Fighter.
Anyone else remember others?
El Hombre
It’s a strange courage
you give me ancient star:
Shine alone in the sunrise
toward which you lend no part!
– William Carlos Williams
And Another Quick One…
I was walking back to my classroom yesterday when I passed three of my students carrying a box full of dirt and test tubes.
These three are a rather nerdy trio, so I like them. The dirt and test tubes made me curious and I asked what they were doing. They froze, looked at me, looked at the box, had a quick whispered conversation in Korean, and then one finally looked me straight in the eye and said in the loudest voice I’d ever heard her use, “SCIENCE!” before they all ran off.
It was the best answer ever.
You know what I forgot sucked? Puberty.
Here’s a Wednesday check in. My hay fever is raging fierce and mean so don’t expect much in the way of segues.
You know what I forgot sucked? Puberty.
Holy shit does puberty suck. You go from playing with GI Joes, drawing rainbows, and unicorns to crying uncontrollably for five hours and breaking out in zits all in the span of one week. And that’s just the early stages. Give it a few years and you’re a sanctimonious twit outraged because the book kiosk in the mall doesn’t have a copy of Naked Lunch.
But anyway, I bring this up because right before my Tuesday afternoon class (the one I teach alone) the 6th grade alpha couple (he’s a dope, and she’s a smart bully) had a big fight and broke up. Then it came time for my class. He’s not in it, but she is, and, well, the tears, my friends, the tears and I’m the “adult” in the room who, you know, has a lesson plan and wants to teach some English—but fuck all if that gets done when the season finale of Dynasty is going on in the classroom.
You know what’s really popular in Korea? “The North Face” athletic gear.
It’s so popular there are tons of knock off North Face gear. My dress sweat pants have a The Novella Face logo on them and my sneakers are The Red Face. Which only means I think of the Gas Face whenever I put this stuff on:
If I had a segue to the next part it would be here.
Mary Renault’s The King Must Die is one of the best fantasy novels I’ve read this year. No fooling. First, there’s the language:
“Then I saw why Apollo had sent a bard. Cretans do not know everything, though they think so. They know how to raise stones, but not men’s hearts. The people were afraid. So I understood why I was there, and called upon the god; and he put the power on me, to feel the work and make it music. I sang his praises, and gave the time. After a while, the seven kings with their sons and barons came forward and pulled for Apollo’s honor, standing among the people. Then the stones rose up slowly, and slid into the beds the Cretans had made for them. And they stood fast.”
Second is the world building, which is Ancient Greece seen through the eyes of a person who believes himself the son of Poseidon. If you’re a fan of Gene Wolfe or Catherynne Valente it’s worth checking out. Even if you always thought Theseus was a bit of a douche for leaving Ariadne on Naxos after she helped him escape the Labyrinth. It’s still worth it.
Yesterweird 