I just started a new job. I am teaching some classes at Metropolitan Community College here in Omaha. My classes are in the Digital Cinema department, and my students are High School students that get college credit for the class. Classes for Digital Cinema start September 4th. This week, however, I am teaching a two week Career Planning class. Yes, you heard it right. Career Planning. What exactly does that mean? You probably have as good of an idea as I do. I had my first day today. We had introductions and all that. I think it went pretty well. I am really excited to start teaching the Cinema classes though, a topic that I actually know something about and am excited and passionate about.

In other news, Laura came to Omaha to visit. Much fun was had. Details and photos to come.

Jamie, Laura and I saw and The Devil Came On Horseback, a really great documentary. I want to blog more about that, but in the meantime you can go to SaveDarfur.org and contact those in Washington to pressure them into taking action!

A group of us also saw Superbad. I liked it. I could have a lot to say, but I don’t know if I’ll find the time to really expand on my thoughts. I thought it was overall pretty funny, but I had issues with it. I loved Michael Cera in it (as always), and just wish it would’ve used more of his kind of subtle, more sophisticated, intelligent, quirky, off-the-wall, awkward, and humor from pacing and cadence rather than more of the easy, dumb jokes.

And check out this serious bruise from racquetball. There’s one on my elbow too, but it’s hard to take a photo of your own elbow. And it’s not as hardcore as this one. Us serious players sacrifice our body. Or just fly into walls by accident. It’s a dangerous sport.

The place to go for Fall fashion.

Notebooks and pens? I’m reaching for baked papyrus and quills with indigo ink. Thirsty? Don’t spend that $1.25 on Aquafina. Just grab a drink from your handy wooden canteen. Are bullies bothering you? I don’t like to advocate violence, but sometimes a musket or spear is just what you need to show who’s boss. Go back to school in style…Revolutionary style!

These are actual items from space missions, on display at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum.

See: it’s not all fun spacewalks and eating cool frozen food and brushing your teeth upside down.

You can go here to download a free sampler of Saddle Creek’s 2007 releases, including songs from upcoming releases by The Good Life, Art in Manila and recently signed D.C. band Georgie James.

Possibly my favorite purchase from our D.C. trip. I bought it at Mt.Vernon, George Washington’s estate. He probably had this awesome t-shirt in one of his dresser drawers.

Weeds Season 3 airs tonight. I’ll be watching, especially after the cliffhanger ending of Season 2. I’ve said that I thought Weeds is fairly radical in that its premise is basically about a bad mother (JC, your idea has been pre-empted somewhat). It’s not that Nancy doesn’t care for and love her kids (she does) or try (again, she does). She simply fails at being a good parent most of the time. And that is interesting, especially since she is a single mother. Even more interesting because she is white, rich and looks like Mary Louise-Parker.

I do take issue with the show occasionally, but I think it does push the boundaries — and I’m not talking about Showtime/profanity/nudity/dark comedy/”look, a white, suburban woman is selling drugs” boundaries. The show raises questions about motherhood, parenting, maternal instincts. It questions the depiction we so often see of the struggling, yet competent, ultimately unselfish mother. Nancy doesn’t always tell her kids where she is, she doesn’t stress the value of education, she doesn’t set boundaries, she leaves a lot of the parenting up to equally incompetent figures such as her brother-in-law Andy, she makes poor decisions, she says she must sell drugs to provide for her family and keep up their lifestyle, but then she splurges on luxury gifts for herself, she’s unpredictable and unreliable. Most of the time she is trying, but Nancy also straight-up gives up sometimes. She is deeply flawed, and thus comes across more as a real and complicated person. There are very few characters on the show that I actually like, yet in this case, that’s kind of what makes the show interesting.

So I was very excited to read a short review in the N.Y. Times this morning titled, “Is Motherhood Noble Work? Not in the World of ‘Weeds.’” This article pretty much summed up what I’ve been thinking and saying all along. I feel vindicated (though no one was questioning my observations, maybe supported is a better word) and offer this up as further proof that I feel I should be writing for the entertainment section of a newspaper. If I was still in college, I would write a whole essay on this, with concrete examples from episodes elucidating these insights. Maybe I still will. In the meantime, I will be tuning in to see how Nancy is going to get out of the mess she’s in.

Our nation’s first President’s wheels of choice.

An elephant. He/she is not alive.

Kyle and a newly made friend.

The Hope Diamond. Spahh-keling diamonds!

Yikes!

Yikes squared!

The Korean War Memorial.

The majestic Mr. Lincoln.

The Lincoln Memorial.

About to crush the Washington Monument.

There’s a hilarious video parody featuring Zach Galifianakis and Will Oldham for the new Kanye West song “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” Zach also starred in a great video with Fiona Apple for her song “Not About Love.”

I saw him perform awhile back in Ann Arbor with Janeane Garofalo and he was hilarious. Glad to see he’s still got it in him.