roundup

Anna countdown: 3 days.

There was a partial student stoppage today, of just the third-years, followed by the fourth-years. I'm not entirely sure what it was about, because I didn't have the patience to try and communicate with people, but at the very least, there's a teacher they really don't like, and they barricaded themselves inside a classroom to say so. There is also an all-day student protest tomorrow, which is nice since I get to both not get up early, and not teach, neither of which I'm a big fan of this week. I do need a haircut, and a replacement phone, since mine disappeared on the trip home this afternoon.

I went and saw Inception on Sunday. Several of my friends have raved about it, and I wanted to see it before someone spoiled the ending (which is perfectly reasonable to do maybe 4 weeks after theatrical release). It is a fine film, and I recommend it: good acting, good script (mostly), stunning special effects. It's a realized original vision, I guess, and engrossing. I found the lack-of-resolution ending to be unsurprising. I don't think it's a super-shiny amazing thing, but maybe if I were into "let's think about levels of reality" philosophical wankery, rather than a "sit down, shut up, watch your breath, reality will become apparent" spiritual practice, I might find it more compelling.

When I got here I started watching True Blood, which I hadn't gotten around to, and after seeing seasons 2 and 3, I just watched season 1. The characters are incredibly annoying at that stage, but it's nice that they grew out of it. Its civil rights analogies--vampires have just revealed themselves to humanity, and there's a debate about giving them equal rights--wears pretty thin in several spots. For the most part, vampires in the show are, in fact, evil; and while I'm a big fan of equal rights for all, I do think there's a sound moral case for discriminating against your predators.

I've been reading more of the case law around the Prop 8 trial, including the proponents' Motion for Stay Pending Appeal (link has PDF and brief commentary), which is interesting reading. On the one hand, Prop 8's proponents have shown themselves incapable of honesty (since just saying "I think gays are dirty and should be second-class citizens" is no longer a viable argument); on the other, they seem to cite some reasonable possibilities that they have standing to appeal, and there is a nationwide body of court decisions around same-sex marriage that Judge Walker sidestepped in his decision. He seemed to argue from first principles, which is great and all, but not how the system works. I think this has now reached my level of legal ignorance, so I'll just give The Onion the last word.

Good thing Anna will be here soon.