We have some funny sayings in our culture, and I wonder sometimes about not only origins but also about how they could be envisioned in the real world. Perhaps it’s the result of a project we did back in fifth grade where my teacher (Mrs. Templin – the best teacher I ever had and also my aunt) had us draw some of these sayings. For example, some drew a brick with a beard and little piece of brick next to it to mean, “chip off the old block.” I suppose you could move that forward to nowadays and draw one of J-Lo’s old boyfriends (“Chip off the old block” since she’s just “Jenny from the Block”) but anyway. The one that comes to my mind today is “greased lightning.”
I don’t really know why you want to put grease on lightning, but an educationally responsible kid in Westerville, Ohio decided to take Mrs. Templin’s project to the next level. He didn’t want to just draw a picture of a colloquialism. He wanted to live it out.
According to the news reports, an eighteen year old student at Westerville North High School greased himself with oil to try and elude capture as he ran naked and screaming through the school cafeteria. As if cafeteria lunch wasn’t bad enough, now the other students have to endure the horror of seeing a naked kid covered in greasy oil running around while they try to eat. Unfortunately, for the student this is also the part where he got to be his own visual aid as the officer monitoring the lunch period used his taser not once but twice to stun the student. Greased lightning!
I always thought it was supposed to mean “fast,” but this kid was definitely not living that dream. Once the lightning was inserted into the equation this otherwise slow kid stopped completely. Maybe the lightning interacted with the grease in some strange way and had the opposite effect of what we would expect. One thing is for sure, though, in Ohio “greased lightning” should have a whole new meaning.
For example, if you were trying to tell someone about your drive home from work, you could say that it was like greased lightning: it went okay at first but then I hit a jam and everyone just stopped.
Or you could describe that birthday party for the kid next door that you had to attend. Getting through those two hours was like greased lightning. At first we were all running around the Chuck E. Cheese like lunatics, and then the tokens ran out. I thought my head was going to explode.
Try incorporating it into your daily speech pattern and we’ll see if it will catch on.
By the way, you can read the news report at http://www.nbc5i.com/news/10879220/detail.html?rss=dfw&psp=nationalnews
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
The Fix
The story really didn’t move too much in this episode, but hopefully they are setting us up for a good show next week. Highlight below to see more detailed notes:
Niki/Jessica….still don’t care. Although, I thought it was interesting that Micah is now a criminal, too. I guess that’s what parental influence can do for you.
Peter is still confused, and so am I at this point. What in the world could this new guy, Claude, teach him? And why does Claude talk like he knows a lot of the heroes? There are only 36 names on the list, so how many could Claude have possibly taught?
While on the subject of Peter, it seems that Melissa is right about Peter absorbing powers based on what Mohinder said about him being like a sponge. On the other hand, though, that doesn’t explain why his ability to use the powers fades when he’s not around the person that he absorbed from. He couldn’t fly at all by himself, but he did twice when Nathan was around. He quit being invisible when Claude walked away. He healed himself shortly after Claire walked off, but I’ll be he wouldn’t be able to do it again now unless she came back around. Maybe he has to be around someone for a long time to absorb enough of their power to use it on his own? Or maybe the powers are only triggered when the original owner is around? I don’t know. I think the writers need to clarify this some more.
Nathan still can’t decide what to make of all this. Last week I thought we were moving forward and that he was finally going to embrace the fact that he can fly and that others have similar powers. This week he’s back to denying everything and wanting to “fix” Peter. Somebody needs to make up their mind about this character and move it forward.
Claire is in trouble. I think HRG recognized the wind chime outside her window and now knows that she’s in cahoots with the Haitian. I wonder what he’ll do about that. I think he genuinely loves Claire and wants to protect her, so I think it’ll all come down on the Haitian. Maybe the Haitian will make him forget about the wind chime and all will be rosy.
HRG is in trouble of his own, though. Sylar is not dead and he’s got HRG cornered. I feel sure that HRG won’t be killed, but maybe Sylar will force him to explain his actions a little more so that we can get a clearer picture of what’s going on at PrimaTech Paper.
BTW, I called the number off the card that HRG gave Mohinder last week. It was just a recording saying that you reached PrimaTech Paper and that you could enter an access code. Since we didn’t see a shot of the access code that HRG gave Mohinder, I don’t have one to enter. If you choose “3” from the menu, though, it will give you a code to use online at http://www.primatechpaper.com. If you’re interested, the number is 1-800-PRIMA16.
Also, Claire seems to have found her birth mother. The one short clip of her left no question as to why the apartment burned down. She was probably trying to save her daughter from HRG and set the place ablaze with her fingers. Now, I wonder who the father turns out to be. I read an article about a month ago that was an interview with Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman) where he said that he and Claire would have a very interesting connection. Could this be what he was talking about? I guess we’ll have to find out next week.
Finally, Hiro and Ando. The “Big Boss” is Hiro’s dad? So, is Hiro embarrassing him or something? Or does his dad know about the heroes, too? Interesting stuff. And I loved it when the subtitled: “GULP!”
Niki/Jessica….still don’t care. Although, I thought it was interesting that Micah is now a criminal, too. I guess that’s what parental influence can do for you.
Peter is still confused, and so am I at this point. What in the world could this new guy, Claude, teach him? And why does Claude talk like he knows a lot of the heroes? There are only 36 names on the list, so how many could Claude have possibly taught?
While on the subject of Peter, it seems that Melissa is right about Peter absorbing powers based on what Mohinder said about him being like a sponge. On the other hand, though, that doesn’t explain why his ability to use the powers fades when he’s not around the person that he absorbed from. He couldn’t fly at all by himself, but he did twice when Nathan was around. He quit being invisible when Claude walked away. He healed himself shortly after Claire walked off, but I’ll be he wouldn’t be able to do it again now unless she came back around. Maybe he has to be around someone for a long time to absorb enough of their power to use it on his own? Or maybe the powers are only triggered when the original owner is around? I don’t know. I think the writers need to clarify this some more.
Nathan still can’t decide what to make of all this. Last week I thought we were moving forward and that he was finally going to embrace the fact that he can fly and that others have similar powers. This week he’s back to denying everything and wanting to “fix” Peter. Somebody needs to make up their mind about this character and move it forward.
Claire is in trouble. I think HRG recognized the wind chime outside her window and now knows that she’s in cahoots with the Haitian. I wonder what he’ll do about that. I think he genuinely loves Claire and wants to protect her, so I think it’ll all come down on the Haitian. Maybe the Haitian will make him forget about the wind chime and all will be rosy.
HRG is in trouble of his own, though. Sylar is not dead and he’s got HRG cornered. I feel sure that HRG won’t be killed, but maybe Sylar will force him to explain his actions a little more so that we can get a clearer picture of what’s going on at PrimaTech Paper.
BTW, I called the number off the card that HRG gave Mohinder last week. It was just a recording saying that you reached PrimaTech Paper and that you could enter an access code. Since we didn’t see a shot of the access code that HRG gave Mohinder, I don’t have one to enter. If you choose “3” from the menu, though, it will give you a code to use online at http://www.primatechpaper.com. If you’re interested, the number is 1-800-PRIMA16.
Also, Claire seems to have found her birth mother. The one short clip of her left no question as to why the apartment burned down. She was probably trying to save her daughter from HRG and set the place ablaze with her fingers. Now, I wonder who the father turns out to be. I read an article about a month ago that was an interview with Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman) where he said that he and Claire would have a very interesting connection. Could this be what he was talking about? I guess we’ll have to find out next week.
Finally, Hiro and Ando. The “Big Boss” is Hiro’s dad? So, is Hiro embarrassing him or something? Or does his dad know about the heroes, too? Interesting stuff. And I loved it when the subtitled: “GULP!”
Monday, January 29, 2007
What Would You Do?
A coworker of mine just told me about a situation at home that needed attending. I won’t name anyone here by name because other coworkers may be reading, but I will tell you that the irony of the situation is that at end of this day my coworker will want nothing more than a nice, stiff drink and there won’t be anything to slake the thirst. Let’s see if I can reimagine the dialog that led up this situation:
Coworkers Son (CS): Yo, buddy! How’s it hangin’? You kickin’ it real? Rollin’ it tight in da hood?
[Don’t imagine ethnicity here, you’d probably be wrong. I’m just trying to emulate “cool lingo”]
Son’s Friend (SF): Yeah. That’s right.
CS: Know what, man? I got this crazy teach in second period that’s always blabbing stuff about wars, dead people, and the old days.
SF: Yeah, dog. I got the same chick for third period. I can’t hardly handle sitting in that class.
CS: You know what I need? I just need something to take the edge off; to help me get through the day.
SF: I tell ya, man. You right. Ever since I got into ninth grade I’ve started hitting the vodka and Red Bull pretty hard. You got any of that around here?
CS: Vodka and Red Bull? That’s so seventh grade. You need the real stuff. Let me get you a C&C.
SF: Yo! If my mom found out, she’d kill me. Can you get me one now?
CS: Now? The bus is on the way.
SF: It’s cool man. I can drink it fast.
CS: Alright, but I hate for you to drink alone. I’ll pour myself one, too.
[Drinks are poured and chugged]
SF: Dude! That was awesome! Get me another. We got time.
CS: Yeah! Now I can’t figure out why my parents won’t let me drink this stuff all the time. (hiccup)
[More drinks are poured and chugged]
SF: You know what? You know what? You know what? We ought to just skip school today.
CS: Nah. I gggot that test in aaaalgebbbbra….haha, I said bbbra, and I cccan’t mmmmissss it. (hiccup)
SF: You can’t take a test now. You can’t take a test now. Did you just hear an echo? (BRAAAAP)
CS: SSSSurre I ccccan! I ccccould cccconquer the wwwworld tttoday! Gggget me another ddddrink!
SF: Listen to me. Listen to me. If you’re going to school we’ll have to leave now. You can’t have. You can’t have. You can’t have another drink.
CS: Ssssure I ccccan. Ppppput it in your bbbbbbackpack and I’ll hhhhhave it on the bbbbbbus. (BURP!)
SF: Okay. Okay. Okay.
[Kids leave with liquor and stagger to bus stop and after having a few more drinks arrive at school]
Principal (P): Good morning boys. How are you feeling today?
CS: Gggreat! And by the wwway, I must say that you are looking scorching hot today. Wanna make out?
SF: Yeah, baby! Let’s get it on!
P: Boys! Is everything okay? You seem to be a little woozy.
CS: Naw! It’s all ccccool. Never felt bbbbbetter. Gotta run, sssssexy! I’ll be back after this ccccclass.
SF: I’ll keep you company. I’ll keep you company, baby.
P: Boys, I think we need to call your parents. Come with me.
CS: What’s up wwwwith that? I gggggotta go to ccccclass?
SF: That’s right. That’s right.
P: Well, your class is not in the ladies rest room, and no one’s called me hot or sexy for a couple of decades, so something is definitely not right. Get in my office and wait for your parents.
Sure, I’m making up the dialog, but they really hit the liquor cabinet before school, and they took the liquor with them to school. Unbelievable! As it turns out, the school doesn’t take kindly to kids arriving intoxicated, and they are even less accepting of kids toting hard liquor, so the boys were sent home for a few days to “sleep it off” (aka suspended). I’m just glad that they aren’t old enough to drive or this story could have been really ugly rather than somewhat humorous.
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