Flight and Flying [Tuesday, August 11, 4th period]

[sith_happened]

"Today you're going to avoid flying into black holes," Anakin said when the students arrived. "You're going to make the Kessel Run, though if I hear of any of you becoming drug runners--which was what this particular route was used for--you will be very, very sorry."

He flicked his hand towards the wall, where a two dimensional map of the 18-parsec run was illuminated. "The route takes you around The Maw--which is a series of black holes--and leads you through an uninhabitable—but far easier to navigate—area of space called The Pit. The Pit is an asteroid cluster encased in a nebula arm, which makes sensors and pilots go virtually blind. There's a high chance that pilots, weary from the long flight through real space, will crash into an asteroid."

He arched up an eyebrow. "And yes, I know that parsec is a unit of time. If you swing closer to the Maw, you can cut the distance, and thus the time of the flight. But more likely, you'll get sucked into a black hole and be crushed."

Anakin waved his hand, and the map was replaced by a picture of the ship they'd be flying. "This ship and its," he swallowed back an "irritating" "pilot, along with my son, made the run in just under 12 parsecs, which stands as the fastest time through. Climb into the Falcon, try not to hit asteroids, black holes or the ships that are chasing you."

Debt! And How to Get Out of It- 1st Period- Class #6

[slapbetcommish.livejournal.com]

Lily was still a little weirded out even on Tuesday, but she was putting on a good show as she waited for her class in the computer lab. Because she'd totally sent out that E-mail telling them to go there, yes.

"Okay, so," she said, getting right to it. "You owe money, you've had your puppies, now what? Well, the most obvious step to being able to pay off your debts is to find a job. I know, I know, it might be scary and no one wants to deal with this sort of thing over their summer, but it's only one class period so you can just suck it up." ...Yep, still in a mood. "If you look at your computers, I've brought up a little website for you guys. All I want you to do is browse. Go ahead and just do a little search for some job you might be interested in, just to see what's out there. Please don't apply unless of course you have your video resume for Barney's class done in which case, good luck to you. You're not supposed to get actual responsibilities on break."

Wow, she was curious what some of these kids might find as a job prospect.

Photography [Week Six]

[marsheadtilt.livejournal.com]

It was a somewhat sheepish but smiling Veronica who was waiting for her students today. Once they had arrived, she spoke.

"Last week, I asked you all to take photos that portrayed sensuality in some way. We'll get those developed and displayed. But first, I want to talk to you about your final project. Next week is our last meeting and instead of giving you a theme, I want you to take photos that make you feel something. Anything. And we'll display them and discuss what emotions we think the photographer was trying to convey."

That taken care of, she let them loose in the dark room though she was working on developing her own photos from the weekend.

Library [8.11]

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

The library was open today, although it might be a bit hard to find a library aide anywhere.

There was massive crashing and cursing from Special Collections before Anemone emerged, clutching dusty tomes to her chest with pride. Someone was teaching today, and wanted to make sure she had the history right before getting up in front of the class. Just in case.

Anyone stopping by after Mythbusting would encounter a giddy girl doused in glitter, twirling about the library with her little wooden ship.

They'd totally pulled it off. If the crew of the Izumo could see her right now, they'd never believe it. She'd taught, and no one ended up maimed.

Today was a very good day.

Film Through The Ages, Tuesday, Period 3

[chosehumanity]

"Last week, I said we'd be talking about genre film," Mitchell told the class, his hands firmly set on the couch itself. "The word genre means 'a stylistic category'. That means that genre film, by its very nature, is stylised. Prior films also had genres of their own, of course, but in the 1930s, all the new technical changes meant that a couple of very important genres were born. Musicals, screwball and horror, most prominently. This is the dawn of 'ScreamYell' and of 'The Red House'." He glanced around the room to see who actually recognised those titles. Yes.

"Obviously, the innovation of sound brought the musicl into the world. It started off a bit--" He searched for a word, "Stilted," he said, finally, "With revue musicals, which were just songs upon songs strung together on film. But quickly, new kinds of musical started to appear: backstage musicals, taking place behind the scenes of an actual musical, operettas, and integrated musicals, like the Red House, where the songs just... flowed into the narrative. You saw Swinging Time last week: that's a backstage musical. 'Adore Me This Eve', which we'll be watching later, is an operetta. You can tell, because it takes place in a fantasy world."

He took a breath, and glanced through the class. "Another big genre that came to be in the sound era was horror. It did exist before the time of sound, but it didn't really take off-- at least not as a genre in and of itself. 'The Vanishing Man', 'The Mummy', all of these films were born in this age, one after another. It was a genre that quickly found its stylistic footing, to the point where studios would just give their directors a title to work off, and see what they got. That's how we got 'Ran with Zombies', for example." He gave the class a quick grin. "On the less supernatural end of things, this time also brought us gangsters." He seemed too amused about that.

"Scarred Face, that famous mob movie, was one of them. That came out in 1932. Film has a habit of covering the issues of the time that just came before it, so the time right at the end of, and after, the prohibition of alcohol was rife with these kind of stories. People started to put their fantasies on them, as gangsters wore fancy clothes and bought big cars with little issue. Most of the time, they followed the same basic pattern. Two men who were utterly different but close friends would choose different pathways in life, one of crime, and one of the straight and narrow. And in the end, one of them would die violently, usually in a shoot-out." He made a gesture with his hand. "Of course, at the time, the public had trouble dealing with all the violence, even if it seems nearly tame by modern standards. The studios tried to cope by making their stories milder, or to turn them around, make it about redemption, like Feathered Wings, Filthy Faces."

He pushed himself down against the couch. "Out of mob movies came Film Noir," he continued, "Which took all the dark edges the studios had rubbed away and fashioned them into something new. Finding new paths to tell these stories. They were detective stories, set mostly in the 1940s, full of femme fatales and treachery and coldness and death. These weren't good people. The films weren't supposed to be about good people."

He scraped his throat. "To end this class on something lighter," he said, "We have the screwball comedy. Sort of like a romantic comedy now, it'd be about two people in love with enough money to act like complete idiots." He grinned again. "Take 'Past the Ninteenth Century', for example. It's the love between a theatre entrepeneur and the lady he romances, and they both start to act more and more like twats as the movie continues. Or 'The Night It Happened', where a heiress flees to marry a playboy but falls in love with the long-suffering reporter who follows her. The genre mostly died in 1945 at the end of the war, but there's been attempts to revive it long after."

He finally took a pause to breathe. "I want you all to pick one of these genres, and write a short summary for a fictional film. Get creative. It'll be good for you."

[[ and ocd up! ]]

Creative Writing [Tuesday, 5th Period]

[cuff-me-once.livejournal.com]

Today there were coffee and pastries laid out on a trestle table at the side of the classroom, and the caption '7 DAYS TO DEADLINE' written on the whiteboard in large letters.

"Okay kids, next week is our last class, and you're going to be presenting your finished stories to the rest of the class," Rick said, leaning against his desk. "That means that we're going to spend today buckling down and doing some intensive work on them. If you need to make that last trip to the library or computer lab for research, get going. If you're having trouble or if you need a fresh pair of eyes to look over things, talk to me or ask a classmate for help. I'll be holding office hours for last minute hand-holding later in the week but if you want in-depth critique I'm going to need your current drafts by the end of the class."

He gestured towards the trestle table. "There's coffee and snacks if you want them, and you may listen to music on headphones provided it's low enough not to be distracting for everyone else. Otherwise, let's get writing."

[OOC: OCD up.]

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