Becoming the Antagonist

            I’ve been thinking a lot about the bad guys, recently. Rather, I’ve been thinking about emerging trends in fiction and movies, and I’m a little disturbed. Villains are dastardly, I get that. But we’re seeing a new trend with the heroes in that they are adopting the same methods as the villains.

            In looking at the original fairy tale of Snow White, I was horrified when I read that Snow White locked her wicked stepmother into red-hot iron shoes and forced her to dance until she died. However, at the Comicon panel, the panelists were quite gleeful that the stepmother got what was coming to her.

Summer of Reruns

            It’s summer, and I’m going back through some old favorite TV shows. Since Castle ended, and I wasn’t impressed by season 8, I figured I’d start there. I have to say, season 1 is amazing. And as I’m going through it, I’m trying to figure out what happened. What’s different between 1 and 8. Why did 8 become such a flop, and 1 was so spectacular.

            First, Castle the character is better. He morphs over the course of the seasons to be goofier, who launches into the patently absurd. Yes, he’s a believer of the absurd, or at least a hopeful believer, but what made him so good in the early seasons was that he was smart, and knew what made for an excellent story when it came to crime.

We Need a New One

            Four words to excite science fiction fans. Four words to bring back the sorely needed space opera.

            Space, the final frontier.

            I miss Star Trek.

Ripped

            I’ve gotten into the BBC show Ripper Street, which I think is a top-notch mystery and excellent history. The show’s setting sparked in me an idea exploited in Babylon 5, where Jack the Ripper makes an appearance in the future. I think an idea such as that, where historical figures, especially criminals, go missing is a fun way to bring the history to life.

            I’m not talking about the ultra-famous figures like Lincoln, Socrates, or Shakespeare, whose presence in history is documented and necessary. I like the idea of those figures who abruptly disappeared, who go missing, and all that remains is the mystery of them.

            I think it’s time I go finding just such figures from history to make an appearance in some of my works.

Diagnosing Essays

            I’ve been watching a lot of House, M.D. of late. An entire marathon of all 8 seasons, actually. And one of the things that I love about the show is how integrated everything is. Certain diseases (and yes I’m aware that not all of the medicine is 100% accurate) that are explored on the show are not responsible for all the symptoms a particular patient has. The disease will cause the failure of a certain organ or system, and then that failing organ or system causes other problems, so it’s important to know that not all of the symptoms have a single cause.

            Essays are somewhat like this. Everything in an essay affects everything else. Very rarely is there only one thing wrong with an essay. I have yet to encounter an essay that has excellent support, but no claims. Nor is there one with excellent argumentation, but bad organization. There cannot be an essay with excellent argumentation and indecipherable grammar, either. So many components of an essay are integrated into a whole system that if one thing fails completely, the rest of it will fail as well. The failure of one organ affects another, and so on.

            This is one of the difficulties with teaching essay writing. It’s all connected like the human body, but one failure causes multiple failures. Only when all the components are working well does the essay work.

            Of course, getting there is trickier than it seems, and there’s no one way to teach students how to get there.

            And of course, because everything is connected, diagnosing the true problem is often difficult. Problems in logic hide behind organization. Problems with grammar can mask problems with argumentation. Lack of support can be caused by lack of logic. And so on.

            Unfortunately, much like House, a lot of what I do is experiment and test until I hit upon what a particular student’s condition is, then try and apply the correct prescription.

            It was a lot more fun on House.

Technobabble

            I love Star Trek. Original Series with its camp, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and even Voyager and Enterprise had their high spots. Love them. I’m very much looking forward to the new movie. I’ve even heard there are rumors of a new series (though I desperately hope it will be live action and not an animated as rumor suggests).

            One of the main features of Star Trek is the technobabble. Anyone who has seen even one episode knows what I’m talking about: “Realigning the lateral sensors to detect phase variance.” We understand each word by itself, but put them together and it really doesn’t mean anything. They are words strung together with no real-world meaning. They really don’t need to.

            They’re a form of verbal McGuffin to move the plot forward. The audience doesn’t need to know exactly what it means when the anti-matter injectors have frozen and magnetic containment is at 28%. We can tell by the reactions on the TV that this is something bad, and the problem will need to be solved, usually by some other means of technobabble, such as flooding the injector assembly with Cryomecium in order to render the contaminant inert.

            Unfortunately, this past semester taught me that many of my students treat everyday words like specialized jargon or technobabble. They don’t recognize words such as frontier, wean, or peeks. When they encounter them, they gloss by them. In the fictional world of Star Trek, the nonsense technobabble words can be glossed over. The essence of the story doesn’t revolve around them. But everyday words that appear in stories, newspapers, or in news broadcasts are essential. Sentences hinge on the meaning of just a few words. An entire sentence turns on one word, altering the entire meaning.

            This is a problem that has been very hard to diagnose, and even harder to fix, especially at the level I teach at. I’m trying some ideas, but I have no idea if they’re going to work. It would be nice if this could end like an episode of Star Trek. I could use a bit of technobabble to save the day.

Separated by a Common Language

I've immersed myself in the UK show Top Gear, and one of the things I've been truly noticing are the distinct differences between American English and British English. I'm not simply talking about vocabulary or the Oxford comma. I'm more interested in the colloquialisms, phrases, and syntactic patterns.
I'm absolutely fascinated by these phrases which do more to dictate how language is received more than specific words. I also think these phrases convey more than trying to phonetically reproduce an accent in print.
If I'm honest, I'd say phonetic accents in print are rubbish.

Gearhead

I've been watching a lot of Top Gear on both BBC and History Channel, and I love the show. But I'm not a gearhead. I've spent an extensive amount of time working on my cars through the years, but I'm not the kind of guy that relishes all things car. I'm just not into the ultimate performance some people are. I would never take an engine apart, clean it, then reassemble it. That's not me.
However, I've always been drawn to cars. I couldn't wait to reach sixteen so I could drive, and I've always felt quite at home behind the wheel, even on long drives. And that's probably as far as I go with cars. I want a car I can take on a long, comfortable drive. Like many a teenaged-boy I had a poster of a Lamborghini on my wall, but over time (and reaching a height of 6'8") I know that such cars are not for me. Instead I find myself drawn to high-end luxury cars that offer style over performance. I want the long haul. I don't' need a car that can go 200mph or with the fastest 0-60 time or the ability to drift. I want a car that soars down the road at 80, but doesn't feel like it's moving at all.
I suppose my car choice reflects what I want to use it for most, an extensive road trip. I can't imagine a Ferrari or Lamborghini remaining comfortable after ten+ hours on the road. But a Bentley . . . hey, a guy can dream, right?

Space Opera

     I am in need of a good space opera on TV. I lament not having the days of Star Trek, Stargate, and Battlestar Galactica. I need great space battles and epic quests in the vastness of space.
      Now, I have a solution. With the popularity of Game of Thrones on television, there should be a series based on science fiction books of an equal caliber. I suggest Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series. With a six book series and a second series beginning, there is ample material for a series of at least five season (maybe on up to 10 depending on how it's done). So, networks, bring me the adventures of "Black Jack" Geary!

Legend of Korra

     I am a huge fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender series. There are few animation series out there with the same storytelling moxie, and Legend of Korra looks like a worthy successor. I'm already enjoying my foray back into the world of Bending, and I can't wait to see how it unfolds. I just hope the show creators are in the process of creating a third series. I need to see more Avatars.