First-week-of-class nightmares

I dreamt I was walking along the street, and police officers drove by and shot the person I was walking with. I didn't know what to do to help. Thanks, brain, for this channelling of being mystified by the systems I must work inside. Plus reading the news. This dream was disturbing.

I dreamt I was visiting a friend in Toronto, and Canada got nuked. We became pedestrian refugees of a senseless attack. All the other pedestrian refugees were very nice, of course, but it wasn't clear where we should walk or who would help us when we got there. Or if the border was even open?
Thanks, brain, for this channelling of a feeling of powerlessness and despair, with generous helpings of the news, plus some flavor added from Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. This dream in no way constitutes spoilers for the book, or indicates any hostility towards Canada.

I dreamt I was called up for jury duty, and when I went, it was held on the top of a cliff. As I climbed the tenuous, slippery staircase, the final section of railing pulled out of the wall in my hands, and I slipped... and caught myself! On the cliffside. Which was not very grippy, so I briefly hung there, thinking "well, let's see if all that climbing helps me now...", then fell to the bottom of the stairwell, which started inside a building (unroofed, evidently). I managed only to sprain my ankles, but the person (also a professor!) behind me on the stairs dislocated one hip, broke the other leg, and had various spinal injuries.

While we were in the hospital, still in the dream, we were anxious that we would be penalized for missing jury duty. Then also the other professor was considering: if you sue the courthouse for injuries you incurred while attending jury duty, how will that be adjudicated? Thanks, brain, for this channelling of anxiety about fulfilling my adult responsibilities, with a little added bonus of "your hobbies are idle and won't help you in an emergency". (Double-added bonus for "and now I can't get back to sleep", which I will combat by "fine, then, let's start the day right now".)

Professors get anxious, too.


This post's theme word is tenesmus (n), "a distressing but ineffectual urge to defecate or urinate." Having a nightmare? Throw in some tenesmus for fun!

Incredibles 2

Any fool attempting to see the Incredibles 2 movie this weekend quickly found that it was sold out, hours in advance, at all internet-ticket-selling theaters. Unfortunately, all us fools discovered this when we tried to walk into the theater and buy a ticket for an imminent showing. (One wiser fool in my party knew of a not-internet-ticket-selling theater, which is where we ended up seeing the movie.)

I went dressed in costume, and I watched family after family be turned away at the door. Truly, a heartwarming scene for supervillains. (My costume was noncommittal on the good/bad axis.)

This high demand was probably predictable. Other things that were predictable:

• major plot points hinged around Bob (Mr. Incredible) keeping secrets from his wife Helen (Elastigirl) AGAIN
• poop/farts played for jokes (it worked: the theater was full of kids who laughed at that)
• the supervillain is a completely non-magical normal person AGAIN
• the supervillain's goal is to destroy the credibility of superheroes AGAIN
• the supervillain is a super-smart technology inventor AGAIN
• plot repeatedly discusses super-suits, and super-seamstress Edna gets several quippy scenes AGAIN
• a character was motivated by the murder of their parents AGAIN, DISNEY? WHYYYY?
• public opinion fully reversed several times during the movie
• plot twists fully predictable to anyone above the age of 10

I liked that there was a subtle moment where a responsible person changed baby Jackjack's diaper mid-action-sequence. Blink and you'll miss it, but it happened.

I also liked that the message of the movie, which will maybe sneak in to the heads of children who repeatedly watch it, is that technology is easy to use to manipulate people, and we should all be aware of that when we use it. The movie explicitly says this, a few different times (mostly supervillain monologues, but still... true).

The movie tried to wink at adults by having plot points and jokes revolve around reversal of stereotypes, but there were just as many setups that relied on tired stereotypes, so for me this was a wash.

Also, a quibble of reality: this is a world with lawyers and class-action lawsuits against superheroes. How is it not also a world of insurance against superhero-level property damage? The characters explicitly discuss getting insurance for the damage their rescues incur. This problem is not very interesting, should be fully solved, and ... for the sake of authorial integrity... why is insurance being used as a motivator in this movie? Insurance and murdered parents are the new Disney tropes.

Overall it was cute and fun, of course, because the style is still adorable, cartoon physics permits anything, and at several points, people wield a laser-eyed baby and say "pew pew" to make him shoot lasers out of his eyes.

This post's theme word is zetetic (adj), "proceeding by inquiry, search, or investigation" or (n) "a skeptic or inquirer." I am a delighted but zetetic movie-viewer.