Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Possible (probable) SPOILERS ahead!

I've seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens (TFA) twice in theaters now.  I may watch it again, or just wait until I can get it on DVD to continue to watch it.  I loaned my set of the first 6 to a student, and she hasn't given them back, so I might have to buy them all over again!

Anyway, it's safe to say that I love TFA, even though I do see some places where there's a little too much missing information, or improbable coincidences.

There are several reasons why I love it.  It's action-packed and funny.
But more importantly, it's a Star Wars film.  The universe is the Star Wars galaxy, unlike the prequels.  Those were so CGI'd and glossy that none of it felt like Star Wars.  This one does.  The gadgets are similar, the machines are worn, it's just Star Wars.
It's also a pretty similar story to the original (A New Hope); there's a hero(ine) who lost their parents who is stuck on a desert planet and is untrained and mostly unknowledgeable about The Force, who goes on an adventure with the resistance to save the galaxy.  There's a villain who's taking orders from a more evil villain.  There's an unnecessary cantina scene.  There's a feisty woman who saves herself.  There's a crazy scary monster scene.

But I do have some problems, or questions.  Here they are:

1. Why does Finn's conditioning not work?  Does this happen often?  Is he special in some way?
2. How convenient was it for Han to find the Millenium Falcon at just that moment?  
3. Why didn't R2-D2 wake up when BB-8 first came to him with part of the map?  Why did it only happen after the Starkiller was destroyed? 
4. Is Rey just a random girl who is strong with The Force?  Is she an Organa-Solo?  Is she Luke's daughter?!  
5. Why can Rey speak every language?!
6. Did someone take care of Rey when she was first abandoned?  Who?  Was it that old guy with the map (Lor San Tekka is his name; I looked it up)?
7. How convenient was it that Han took Rey to the place where Luke's lightsaber was?

After watching the movie, I have read some things about it.  People have interesting theories about Rey!  I hope that Disney figures out that people (adults, boys, girls) want Rey merchandise!

I can't wait for Episode VIII!!!

Auntie Day 2015

I took some pictures on my own this year, so this Auntie Day post won't be late!

This year's theme was CHEESE!!  It was also Gary's first Auntie Day with us!  It was one of our more mellow celebrations, but that was fine for all of us.

We started off watching an episode of the TV show Chopped because all of the courses had cheese in them!  What's really cool is that one of the contestants is from Portland, Atalua, and we're going to his restaurant in a few days!   They also got me a giant container of cheese puffs to eat while watching it.  They were all mine!!  Okay, I did share; I just can't say no to those kids!

The big event for the evening was going to a local fondue restaurant, Urban Fondue.

We skipped the meat course to focus on melted cheese and melted chocolate.  So yummy!  I was happy that they offered sausage to dip in the cheese so we really had the best of both worlds!  In pairs, we got to pick the type of cheese we wanted, and extra sides, as well as the type of chocolate we wanted.  We tasted everyone's, and I think that Gary and I chose the best cheese (brie and gorgonzola) and chocolate (dark chocolate with no additions)!  Gary hadn't had fondue since it was hip in the '70s, so that was fun!

Another great Auntie Day!  I'm happy that my family invented this day for me, and we keep celebrating it!  We're trying to convince Gary's daughters to start their own Auntie Day, but they might choose the commercially-set date in the summer.  That works better for them.

Auntie Day 2014

Since we just finished Auntie Day 2015, I figured that I should post about Auntie Day 2014.  Even though I only have pictures from my Mom's disposable camera*.

That year's theme was the hobbies of the kids.  We started with Adam, and he drummed for us.  He's so good!

Drew is really interested in sports, so we played a very short game of basketball for his hobby.  Us adults are getting old!  But we're still competitive and aggressive.

Kylie's hobby was photography, so there were a bunch of props out and we did a photoshoot!



















From the photoshoot, I kept the tiara when we went to dinner.  :)  We went to a German place that had a fancy cheesy fondue appetizer. I love to tell the waitstaff why we're celebrating!  This time, they thought that it was my birthday, but I let her know the real reason!

Another great Auntie Day!  I appreciate all that my sister does for me, and how wonderful my niece and nephews are!

Fifty Shades of Gray

Ugh.

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I can't finish reading this.  It makes me too angry.

I get why it's so popular, though.  This is the first non-lesbian book that I've ever read in which the woman's sexual pleasure is described in the first-person.   For those who don't read fac-fic or women-centered erotica, this can really be an exciting experience.  Plus, Christian seems really good at pleasuring her.  I think all people want a partner who knows how to make them feel that way.

HOWEVER, I have friends in the BDSM community, and from my impression of what they do, their BDSM activities are mostly focused on sex, not their whole lives.  In fact, I think that people who have more power and responsibility in their public lives tend to like to be submissive, to just let go.  What this book describes is a Slave relationship.  That's very atypical for people in the BDSM community.


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Vincalis: The Agitator

Review from GoodReads:  Vincalis the Agitator by Holly Lisle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The book started with one-dimensional characters, with the women being one-dimensional AND stereotypical.  One woman's main motivation is love, and the other is portrayed as slutty (and punished for it later with severe domestic violence).  A sub-plot of sadistic pedophilia is totally not necessary.
Based on this, I probably won't read the series.  The story itself was mostly interesting, but it was hard to get through the stereotypes.


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Black Widow & Avengers: Age of Ultron

Ultron "spoiler":

I still can't get over that Black Widow's biggest emotional struggle is not being able to have children.  How stereotypic is that?!  I was happy as can be to have my uterus ripped out so that I never had to worry about the possibility again!  Her memories showed her shooting an unarmed man in the head.  How is that not worse than no birthing of your own?!  And what about all of that red in her ledger?

I also hate how Natasha basically threw herself at Bruce.  For frax sake, that is so not her style.  It's not Joss's style, either.  From my experience of his writing (which is somewhat extensive), he hints at least 3-5 "episodes" ahead about anything like that.  But I don't remember ANYTHING in Avenger's that would support her desiring Bruce.  And even if it was there, she wouldn't be so obvious and assertive about it.  Not that she's not assertive, but she's a spy, for goodness sakes, she would be much more subtle.

The handling of Black Widow's character was so bad in this movie that I won't own the movie.  I'd like a Captain America set, but it won't include this one.
Which isn't so bad, because Captain America's character didn't really do anything, either.  You can't see any change or growth from his dismantling of SHIELD and Hydra in his last movie.  He's just a stock character.

The whole movie was really a let-down.  Marvel had been doing such a great job of building the movies, the universe, and then this movie lost all of the characters and their arcs, and was just a mess to show them all together.

Addicted to TV

Tonight, I left work early because the schedule changed for Finals. The family that I stay with was watching TV when I got there. I got sucked into Pitch Perfect, until a commercial came on, thankfully, and I went to the gym. When I got back, the movie was just ending, so I watched the ending. Then Lip Sync Battle came on. I've heard of the show, but hadn't watched it. So I watched it. And another.
And ANOTHER. Until after 11pm.
I just can't stop watching. It's like I'm worried that I'll miss something, and it's only on right now, so I HAVE to watch it.
This is why having cable would be so dangerous for me. Sure, Netflix and Amazon Prime are addicting, for sure, but I don't have to worry about missing anything. The next episode will wait until I can watch it. It'll still be there hours, days, months, years from now. Just waiting for me. That's a lot less pressure than shows that are live, and I don't know when the episode will play again.
Anyway, this weekend I'll curse myself for wasting tonight on TV instead of grading. :/

Return of the Fibroids

Remember when my uterus was so tough and full of muscles that I had to have it ripped out? Turns out, even that was not enough. Some of the fibroids clung on, and have developed into a new muscle baby. This muscle baby seems to be holding on to an ovary, and sometimes makes the ovary do back flips. Let me tell you, that is painful!
The pain started a few months ago, but I thought that I had gas and was a wimp.
The next time it hurt, I went to urgent care. They said that I had a UTI, and gave me antibiotics. 

A few days later, I went to my beloved gyno, and she said that I had an infection from my surgery 9 months ago, and gave me different drugs. Her ultrasound saw something, though, so I got a CT scan. The CT scan also saw something. I had blood tests, and everything points to "probably not cancer."
This past week,  the pain got bad enough that I went to the emergency room.  They gave me drugs and sent me away, saying that a real doctor had to deal with my muscle baby.
Yesterday, I met with this real doctor, and he will take out the muscle baby on May 21st. Unless the pain gets bad enough and I have to go to the ER again. In that case, the ER will call the real doctor and he'll take it out.
I'm in minor pain now, and wondering how I can finish the semester either in pain or on vicoden. Neither options sound good, so hopefully the pain will decrease this week.  I had planned to go to a conference, so most of my classes were already covered; I can stay home and rest this week.

McFarland, U.S.A.

I just watched McFarland last night (trailer).  I left the theater feeling so proud of my students, the same kind of students whom Coach White helped.  It was a great movie to show how engagement with school activities or staff can turn a child's life around.

Then today, I realized that it was another White Savior movie.  :(  The white guy comes in, and changes the lives of all of those poor people of color. 
I also realized that the movie probably failed the Bechdel Test.  There were several women and girl characters, but they mostly were background for Coach White (his family or colleagues).  I guess this is not unexpected for a movie about a (men's) running team. 

Still, I really liked the movie.  I loved the representation of Hispanic culture.  Although the movie definitely exaggerated the friendliness and inclusiveness of small towns or Hispanic families, the "fish out of water" experience of the White family going to a small, Hispanic town in the central valley of California in 1987 was pretty funny. 

I look forward to hearing the responses of Hispanic people, especially migrant workers and their kids.  So much of the movie seems realistic to me, but that's no my background.  I've lived near migrant communities for much of my life, but "near" and "in" is a vast difference. 

Questions for the Professor: Spring 2015 Edition

Every semester, I have students ask me questions on the first day of class. They often start out related to the class, then get to my background, and sometimes to my personality and interests (Star Trek!  Star Wars! Sci-fi!!).  It's fun.  I try to do something similar in my online classes.  Pasted below are some of the questions, and my answers. 

Q:  I read on your syllabus you are fascinated with the study of teaching, when did you become interested in this?
A:  I've thought about teaching since I was in high school, but I got really interested in STUDYING teaching in graduate school at University of Nebraska.  As part of my research assistantship, I observed faculty and classes and realized that teaching is a process that you can always improve on.  I like that teaching is always a challenge that I both succeed and fail at every semester. 

Q:  What do you think is the most important and most useful thing we will learn about psychology?
A:  Wow, that's tough.  Although not everything in the textbook or notes is IMPORTANT, almost all of it is USEFUL.  The thing is, the course is about people.  And each of you are a people.  And each of you will work with people.  And each of you will have friendships or romantic relationships with a people.  So, I think that pretty much everything is useful in some way or another. 
But that doesn't really answer your question.  ;)  So, I think that understanding what the fundamental attribution error is, and then working to not do it, is the most important and useful thing discussed in the class.  I'll save the description for the notes, but the attribution and the fundamental attribution error is in chapter 10 (Social Psychology).

Q:  Do you own any pets? 
A:  Yes, I have one cat:  Piggie Piggie Poopy-Pants Wickersham Oja.  I call her Piggie or Piglet. 

New Year Completion: 2014 to 2015

v  My accomplishments, wins, and breakthroughs this year were:

Ø  Dating Gary.

Ø  Continue as instructor, and keep improving.

v  My unmet expectations, failures, and breakdowns this year were:

Ø  Not losing weight.

Ø  Not living new Gary

v  I learned this year: I could give up teaching full-time and be happy.

v  What am I doing that’s working for me?

Ø  Visiting family.

Ø  Dating Gary

v  What am I tolerating?

Ø  Grading too much.

Ø  Skipping workouts, or not working out hard enough.

v  The breakthrough that I would like to have next year is: living near Gary, & balance grading and the rest of my life.

v  The judgment, philosophy, or belief that I’m willing to let go of to support that breakthrough is that: I can’t accept a cut in pay. 

v  What I can count on myself for is:

Ø  Loving my kids

Ø  Intelligence

Ø  Humor

Ø  Trying

Ø  Trying new things

Into The Woods

I watched the 2014/2015 released movie Into the Woods this past weekend.  I've seen the live version a couple of times, but was really impressed with the singers.  Especially the kids.  And Meryl Streep!!!  I did not know that she could sing like that!  [I hope that it was really her singing, and not dubbed.  I'd feel pretty let down if that were the case...]

But the reason that this movie, out of the many that I watch, gets review is not just the great singing by all of the actors.  It's because the movie was surprisingly sexist for modern standards.  I get that it's supposed to be in medieval times or whatever, but so was Frozen and that movie didn't kill off many of the women characters.  One even died after kissing someone who wasn't her husband in Into the Woods!  Talk about traditional violence against women who like sexuality!  From my memory, only one man died.  And he wasn't a main character.  But two women who were main characters died, and one important-but-not-main character who was a woman also died.

I just don't understand why Hollywood can't see by some of the big money-making movies of the past few years that the public WANTS female characters, and not ones that die easily and quickly.  Especially after kissing someone!

I guess it's good that the story shows after "happily ever after," and how what you wish for may not be what you really want.  That's an important message, especially for so many Disney movies in which the one woman character only wants to marry a man (whom she probably just met, or hasn't met yet!).

Also, everyone was white.  :(

So, I guess this is one of those movies in which there are a lot of strong female characters, but they still are treated more harshly than the male characters.