Flying Penises

Former chess champion and would-be politician Gary Kasparov is buzzed by a helicockter, in this video I found from Stingray at Atomic Nerds.

Things Change?

People don't really change, just the times we live in. It seems there will be more enlightened and idiotically foolish people in every generation, as there have always been.

Here is an 1844 description of a horrible disease. Unfortunately, no-one told Joycelin Edwards. Don't know what she was thinking, trying to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancy.

Summerhill, Teaching Theory, and Accepted

Summerhill is a school founded in the UK in 1921. It could be said to have begun the "child centered" education movement. Children at Summerhill were not required to attend lessons, and could choose to take only the classes that interested them.

Almost simultaneously with reading about Summerhill, I happened to watch the 2006 Justin Long flick Accepted. Long plays world-wise but grade-average Bartleby Gaines, who strives to find parental and societal acceptance by forging documents showing him to have been accepted into a local college. In the process of convincing his WASPish parental units of the legitimacy of the school, he and societally challenged brainy friend Sherman Schrader (Jonah Hill) accidentally create physical facilities and accept hundreds of students.

Accepted has uneven writing, varying from bad, b-movie-ish to excellent, and acting shows a similar range. The big innovation of the movie is a Summerhill-style student-led focus, only with fewer teachers. The second biggest innovation is Maria Thayer. I'm sure we'll be seeing much more of her in the near future. Two of five stars.

Lonely Hearts

Last night, Jordy and I watched Lonely Hearts. This 2006 flick stars John Travolta and James Gandolfini (in a good guy role, for once) as cops tracking the real life "Lonely Hearts Killers". This is a sordid (though engrossing) movie about sad people that ultimately uplifts. Jared Leto and Salma Hayek skillfully play badly damaged people, though Hayek is thankfully considerably more attractive than real-life Martha Beck.

Strong violence, nudity, language and sex, though I will argue they are not gratuitous. Three of five stars.

Summertime

...and the livin's easy.

So they say. But, so far, it hasn't been bad.

Saturday night, we had a birthday shindig for Jordy. It was delayed, since her family was down the prior week for her birthday and graduation ceremony.

While we were waiting for folks to show up, I invited my landlord to join us for a beer. He came over just before Davis and another guy in his PA program, David, showed up. Mr. Jackson actually stayed long enough to drink two PBRs with us, and we enjoyed his company. When I offered Bud Light or Michelob Ultra Amber, he said "After the second swallow, it doesn't matter anyway."

We fired up the grill about the time Mr. Jackson left. I had bought sausage, chicken thighs, Angus burgers, Nathan's hot dogs, and Red Hots. I brought out jalapenos, mushrooms, onions, and the kielbasa, and bamboo skewers that had been soaking in water with a little whiskey and dash of sesame oil, and we made kabobs. Mmm. Those went over quite well.

I took some KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce, and mixed in a little freshly ground black pepper, whiskey, lemon juice, and Dave's Ultimate Insanity Sauce. The chicken was delicious.

Hell, everything was delicious. And the company was good, almost all of it, with perhaps a single exception. Eh.

I made Nuts and Berries, Hunch Punch, and a shooter I called a Fruit Cocktail to cool everyone after all the spice. Good times.

Prepare to Blast Off

New Mexico continues with plans to open the world's first commercial spaceport in 2010, according to a 10 May 2008 Washington Post story. Virgin Atlantic already says it has 375 customers willing to fork over some serious change to fly to the edge of space on Burt Rutan's White Knight Two and SpaceShipTwo.

If you'd like Virgin to keep you informed/spam your email, contact them here.

The U.S. Lumbers On

Saturday I sat in the James Brown Arena at the Augusta Civil Center, and watched as Jordy and several hundred other students walked in their graduation ceremony.

And I thought, as many of them rolled across the stage: God, we've got a lot of fat people in this country!