Another MUSE-ical Evening

Yesterday, as soon as I got done with lecture and biscotti pass-outs, I hit the door running. Literally. I was chunking it across the bridge to the parking lot as fast as I could because I had a date with amazingness. Yes, once again, Caitlin and I spent our evening with the rock phenom known as Muse. I know, we just drove to Atlanta less than two weeks ago to see them. Why in the world would we do it again so soon? BECAUSE THEY ROCK, duh!

I was hurrying because I knew that all the construction on Broadway in Nashville could negatively impact my getting a parking place that didn't require me hiking 3 miles in the 3 inch black boots I was wearing. But it was a pleasant surprise when we got off the Interstate and found an open parking area right behind the Nashville Arena/Gaylord Center/Sommet Center/Bridgstone Arena (seriously, that place is having a major identity crisis).

The bad part of getting there easily was that we had a 2 hour wait before the concert started. As we were standing in line, I figured why not make a few new Museaholic friends. We struck up a conversation with a cute guy from North Carolina, a young couple from Illinois and a mom and 2 daughters from Kentucky. Nice folks. Talking to them made the time pass a whole lot quicker.

When we got inside, I was tickled pink over our seats. I thought the seats we had in Atlanta were good but this time we were sitting just to the right of the stage, close enough to get great pictures. Unfortunately the guys who sat behind us looked like a couple of Jolly Green Giants meet the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. I thought I was going to have to smack the shitake mushrooms out of one of them because he thought it was funny to keep pulling my hair. Reminded me of flirting in the 3rd grade- I didn't like it then and can't stand it now. Luckily our section wasn't completely filled so once the lights went down, Caitlin and I were able to move to different seats- about 4 rows closer (see, silver lining!)

Holy moly! I didn't think Muse could have been any better than they were in Atlanta but I was oh so wrong. I can't hear or talk still because I screamed and sang the whole 2 hours that they played. Caitlin has a pair of sparkly Converse just like Matt, the lead singer, was wearing. She thought it was cool- they have the same SuperMassiveSparklyShoes! At one point, he grabbed a spotlight on the stage and shined it around the crowd, looking for the loudest group of fans. Yup, you guessed it- it was us!!!! He kept the lights on us and the people in front of us for about 15seconds while we sang and danced in the aisle. Oh yeah, we're famous!

It was also really cool at the very end when Dom, the drummer said "Thank you Nashville for letting us rock in the home of country music." Well, Dom, just come on back ASAP! I can't wait to see them again! I guess I'll just have to settle for their cd's and the 150 or so pictures that I took.

Spring Forward; Fall Back

Arghhh, I hate Daylight Savings Time. I have to remind myself 50 million times to change my clocks. Half of them change on their own, half don't. So if you know me very well, you know that it might be next weekend before my lazy butt actually makes the change. Since we "Spring Forward" tonight, we'll lose an hour.

I guess the question there is why? Why do we even make this completely annoying change that messes with our internal clocks twice a year? Anybody who's seen National Treasure can tell you that the blame lies with Benjamin Franklin. In 1784, he proposed making the change to help cut back on candle usage in times when it gets darker earlier. Whoda thunket, Benjamin Franklin was the original environmentalist!

It actually didn't become official until the World War II era when the US Government was looking for ways to cut back on energy usage at home while our boys were in Europe fighting against Hitler. There have been a couple of government acts that legislated what days each year the changes were to be implemented. And did you know...states do not have to participate in Daylight Savings Time. Arizona and Hawaii do not. Who says state's rights are dead?

Was Ben right; does changing the clock save energy? According to an article I found on Discovery.com, yes it does. One 1970's study said that we save 1% in energy costs because changing the time cuts back on the amount of time people in warmer climates have to run their air conditioners. I know, 1% whoo-hoo! We're rolling in the dough there! But hey, 1% is better than nothing. A more recent 2007 study said that the number of evening car crashes decrease 10% during the Spring and Summer months thanks to the clock change.

So it might be annoying but I guess it does save a little on energy costs and 10% fewer auto accidents sounds good to me. Therefore, I bow to you, Mr. Franklin. Good idea.

Blast From the Past

I know that history is not everybody's cup of tea but seriously folks, can you really hear about all the archaeological stuff that has been going on over the last few weeks and not get a little excited? It all makes me drool like one of Pavlov's pups.

King Tut lived over three thousand years ago but we are still finding out more about him every year and are always clamoring for more. Egyptologists have recently announced that thanks to DNA testing, one of the unidentified mummies from the Valley of the Kings has been proven to be Tut's mother. How cool is that?

Egypt doesn't have the market cornered on archaeology though. People working in England at the site of the 2012 Olympics discovered a cache of 50+ bodies, obviously the victims of a massacre. Untouched site like that?!? Now I have the drool and the shimmies. Today, CNN and Discovery.com are blowing up the net with the findings from the burial site. The massacre happened about 1000 years ago and the 50+ men were Vikings, all from their late teens to early 20's. (Go ahead and imagine Eric from True Blood here- I did) They must have been the losers in a battle because all were beheaded before they were thrown into the mass grave. To make it cooler/creepier, one of the guys also had his hands cut off. Forensic historians think that even though his hands were bound for his beheading, he somehow managed to try to stop the blade, hence the loss of hands and head.

You gotta admit, even if you aren't into history like I am, this is interesting. Creepy, yes. Gross, yes. But oh so very cool and interesting!

Spring Break Blues

Spring Break...a whole week off to reboot, rejuvenate, any "re" word you can think of. Sounds so good when you are APPROACHING Spring Break. Not so much when it's coming to a close and it's time to think about the stuff that I intended to do but didn't get done. Waaaaay too much. ***deep sigh***

I guess I need to put my teacher had back on and address a couple of things- directed at my Columbia and Clifton students only (Franklin babies, you're off the hook for this one). A student emailed me to ask about test #2. I announced in class that we would be having in on the Wednesday after we get back. I know, I know- it's not what's on the revised schedules I gave out. But like I said in class, I think that everytime I try to plan out a semester, the schedule gods laugh and say "hey, let's send a freak snowstorm to completely screw her plans up."

The reason that I chose to do it this way is because the last day to drop with a "W" is fast approaching. Some folks wait until they get a 2nd test grade to make that decision. I want to make sure everybody has 2 test grades and 1 paper grade under their belts before drop day arrives. And seriously, if you decide to drop a class- mine or anybody else's- please, Please, PLEASE fill out the required paperwork and officially drop. Don't just stop coming to class. You'll get an "F" and it might screw up your financial aid from here on out.

On Monday, we'll finish discussing World War I (Ch 22). I'll also give back papers and we'll discuss your research findings. And by "we" I really do mean you guys have to talk too. Before I get the "Oh what horror, I have to talk in class" thing, remember, part of your grade depends on participation. Some of you need to be speaking up. Just because I haven't thrown a marker at you doesn't mean I haven't seen you texting. I keep up with that kind of stuff.

What I want to do is brainstorm out loud. Throw out ideas that you found in your research on the changes for women from 1877-1920. I'll type them on the screen so you can write them down as we go along. This will make it easier on you when it comes to doing that part of the essay on the final.

So to sum it up, start studying your notes beginning where we left off for test #1 (somewhere around Coxey's Army) and come in Monday ready to participate! As always, post a comment here or email me if you have any questions.

Happy rest of Spring Break!

Movie Review: Alice in Wonderland

Those of you who know anything about me won't be surprised to learn that I headed to the theater to see Tim Burton's interpretation of Alice in Wonderland this weekend, along with about a million of my closest friends it seems. I know, I know- I would spend good money and a lot of my much-needed book writing time watching a movie where Johnny Depp was sitting in a chair staring at a wall watching paint dry. Oh Johnny!

However, I was pleasantly surprised to note that this wasn't the Johnny show. I went into the theater thinking "just let it be OK." What was I smoking? OK? OK??? It was SOOOOO good. This was the sort of movie that kids of all ages can get into. The best part about it was that Alice held her own. Mia Wasikowska was great as the titular character- sweet and unassuming when she needed to be, strong and vocal at other times. I especially loved two parts of the movie. The first one was when she chastised everyone for telling her that saving the Hatter wasn't in the plan. She was all like "screw the plan, I'm making my own plan as I go along." (Not in those words of course, but you get the gist) The second was when she came back from Wonderland to confront all the guests at the engagement party and just wailed on all of them. It almost reminded me of the scene at the end of Waiting where the shy, sweet guy lets everybody have it.

The special effects were great. I didn't see the 3D version because I'm not particularly partial to 3D (Lasik and 3D don't work too well together). The voiceovers really got me too. I loved how Tim Burton and the animators didn't make the characters look like the people doing the voices. It wasn't Michael Sheen doing the White Rabbit, it was the White Rabbit speaking with Michael Sheen's voice (Sheen's another guy who makes me drool BTW). Same thing with Alan Rickman's Blue Caterpillar.

And you know I can't end this post without a little bit about the man himself. Seriously folks, who else but Johnny Depp can make a poisoned lunatic look sexy? He's getting good at it though- lunatic yet sexy pirate as Captain Jack, cowardly yet scholarly police investigator as Ichabod Crane, emo science experiment as Edward Scissorhands. The futterwacken scene after the battle- priceless! Even if the rest of the movie had been crap (which of course it wasn't!!!) just seeing Johnny futterwacken was worth it!

Attn: Franklin Students- The Curve

I love it when students give me ideas for blog-stuff that I haven't even thought about. Keeping in mind that I do not discuss grades over the internet, I was asked if I would at least post the curve for the test. That I can definitely do.

So for yesterday's test in my Franklin class...drum roll please...the curve was...

*** 7 points ***

Congrats to the 3 folks who set the curve this time. I'll brag on you personally when we come back from Spring Break.

Where did the snow go?

I'm almost hesitant to post this but...it's Wednesday and the threat of the "Earth-shattering biggest snowstorm in weather history that's going to shut down the worlda and make us all lose power for weeks and months and have to huddle against each other might have to resort to cannibalism to survive" fell to the wayside like many other predictions by the weather folks. One of these days, they are going to get it right. I'm hoping that when they do, the prediction will be something on the lines of "tomorrow's going to be sunny and mild, Ramona needs to break out the flippy flops." See, if I get to break out the best footwear in creation, it's good for us all. I'm thinking about everybody here.

Now, two things about the missed weather prediction. #1- if the weather folks were just off by a day or so and it hits late, IT IS NOT MY FAULT!!! I did not jinx things with this post. And #2- I won't have to do a 2010 reenactment of the Donner Party because I took my own advice. The pantry is full of Kit-Kats and Barnes and Noble has left a box o' books on my doorstep.

Let's just keep our fingers crossed and hope that the snow is gone until next year and Spring really is on the way.