Comparative Culture, Tuesday, Period One

[doubleohblonde]

Today Bond's classroom was set up with a projector screen. However, much like last week, there were pastries and hot drinks set out for the students.

"Good morning," Bond greeted them. "Now, I was going to get you grounded in some theory this week, but my player has plague and cannot brain my notes were lost when ice water fell on me while I was at my desk and shorted out my computer. So instead we'll be watching some episodes of Galaxy Quest then having a group discussion."

"Now, those of you familiar with the show may wonder why exactly I've chosen a science fiction show for this class, but the fact of the matter is that most speculative fiction regardless of where and when it's set, often says more about the here and now than its putative setting. With some examples its because the creators have chosen to engage with the issues of the day while using the distance provided by the setting to slip past censors or viewers' prejudices. While in other cases, it's more accidental and unconscious."

"Now Galaxy Quest has the advantage of it's two incarnations being produced in quite different decades, while still having mostly the same cast. So we'll be watching an episode of both the old and new shows, and while you're watching I want you to look out for both noticeable and subtle differences between the two. Then once that's done, I want you to discuss not only the differences that you noticed by speculate about what larger cultural shifts might have been responsible, if any."

[Class Roster]

Heroic Tales, Wednesday, Period Two

[toteshammered.livejournal.com]

Hope everyone wasn't tired of being (potentially) doused with water yet, because today's class was meeting in the Danger Shop, and as soon as everyone stepped inside, they'd find themselves standing on the deck of a large boat, with- ... was that a rope with an ox's head attached to it? Yes, yes it was.

"Before we begin, I would like to announce that the Lady Blake and the Lady Bearskin are my Teaching Assistants for this class. Should you have any questions or concerns you feel you cannot bring to me directly, please approach them. Also, if I am called away and unable to teach a class, one or both of them will take over in my stead." With that done, time to get down to business!

"Perhaps it is somewhat arrogant of me to begin our exploration of stories with one that I participated in, but," Thor shrugged, grinning. "It is a tale I know well, so here we are. It all started when Aegir decided to hold a feast for all of Asgard, but unfortunately, he had no way of brewing enough ale for there to be enough for everyone. So my brother Tyr suggested we acquire a cauldron from Hymir, which had magical properties which would allow Aegir to brew nearly unlimited ale. Of course, he was not about to let us just have it, so we had to prove our strength to him by attempting to catch Jormungandr here on Midgard, the world-serpent that encircles the globe."

His grin got even wider. "And so, of course, today all of you will be attempting to catch a world-serpent of your very own. You," he pointed to someone at random. "Hurl the bait," you know, the giant ox head, "overboard and see what happens." Of course, what Thor wasn't going to tell them was that even he hadn't been able to kill Jormungandr (yet- there was still that whole Ragnarok prophecy to worry about), but they were welcome to try. And hopefully not fall overboard.

How To Get By In A Hostile World, Wednesday

[suitably_heroic]

Atton, in a stunning display of forethought, had left his jacket at home figuring it would just get in the way of any fast movements, in case the island decided to dump water on him again.

As it turned out, it did; it had taken a series of well-timed flips, dashes and jumps to make it to the school unscathed, but space, he'd made it. Score one for Rand, zero for the island.

Then he found out in the hallway that the water wasn't actually limited to outdoors - which would explain why his arrival in the Danger Shop was punctuated by his feet hitting the ground after a particularly acrobatic leap-- only for another blast of water to drop down out of the sky and hit him straight on.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS--"

Cover your ears, kids.

Once he was done cursing in Twi'lekki (and cursing the fact he'd decided to wear a white tunic this morning nothing good ever comes of white clothing) he turned to the class. "Not one word," he snapped. "Actually, you know what, let's skip the lecture. Today is the second part of introductions - how well do you roll with the punches?"

He jabbed his finger towards two doors. "Left side, regular day. Right side, flight sim. Pick one. Deal."