A Nerdy Teacher's Closet: Week 4 (9/24 - 9/28)

This week's theme was exhausted. I was operating under a constant cloud of physical and mental exhaustion. I had been preparing for our District Family Game Night since the summer and, what I thought I would have help with, I was doing 95% alone. Between the promotions and wrangling up raffle prizes, to organizing permission slips for my club kids and fielding questions from parents... I don't know how I survived. I even had another mental slip-up day where I forgot to wear one of my planned shirts. But things came together to provide a unique week of dress-up.

Week 4: 9/24 - 9/28

Monday, September 24, 2018
Today my students were going to start to investigate how to create a better energy source to help emergency respondents when they go into rough situations. Why worry about their battery running out? Since we had used the Because Science video on the how Captain America's shield works, I decided to wear my blueprints shirt. This shirt came in a Loot Crate.

Tuesday, September 25, 2018
I can't remember exactly why I chose this shirt. Maybe because of our small moment stories and mine has to do with Peter Pan? I was too tired to try to figure out the connection. Maybe I wanted to take a trip so that I didn't have to deal with all the stress building on my plate. You can purchase this shirt through WootShirt!

Wednesday, September 26, 2018
I was extremely exhausted from prepping for the district game night alone, to finding out I was duped by a coworker regarding co-curricular support, then all the normal kid stuff, and also my outside of school. So I felt I needed to remind myself that Goonies Never Say Die. This shirt came from a Loot Crate.

Thursday, September 27, 2018
This day ended up representing how I was feeling, which is reflected in my pathetic face. I felt like I had been broken down into pieces and being hauled off for scrap. I just had so much going on and the exhaustion just doesn't get any easier. Sadly, I also forgot to wear my "literal" shirt, because I was so stressed the word wasn't on my mind when I got up. Oh well.  I got this shirt through WootShirt!

 The Rainbow Dash headband came from the Target $1 area. I was just trying to brighten my day and contemplated a look for Picture Day.

Friday, September 28, 2018
Today was Picture Day, so I had to get at least a little bit fancy. I packed a few shirt options, though, because this was the night of our first District Family Game Night. I had to have a shirt to wear for the event and I wans't sure if I wanted to wear my club shirt or a different game shirt. But before all of that, I had to rectify the mistake from Thursday. I wore my "literal" shirt in honor of the quiz. Sadly, I never changed my shirt and wore my "literal" shirt for the rest of the day. I got the shirt from Snorgtees.com 

IGGPPC Camp: The Great Closet Cosplay Challenge 2018

I have found that I enjoy theming out my clothes. It doesn't mean I want to dress up in full cosplay, but I like giving nods to things. That's Closet Cosplay. It's giving those nods to what you love without going full face paint. IGGPPCamp does a theme each day and I decided to try. Don't laugh. I worked really hard to get to a place where I could do this.

Thursday, August 16, 2018
Total Guardian overload!

Friday, August 17, 2018
My daughter and I did WALL-E and EVE.

Saturday, August 18, 2018
I had to do Fry and Leela! Love it! I know I was excited the wig showed up, but it wasn't for this activity. I felt really bad about it later. I had just intended to be Leela (hello... purple hair).

Sunday, August 19, 2018
I love this shirt and it was all about the troop.

HURRAY! My nerdy clothing challenge is complete. That wasn't too hard. 

Sighting - Robot Connection

I was watching the new season of Futurama on Comedy Central and I had an I, Robot connection. I'm currently reading Asimov's I, Robot, so alot of little things jump out at me as I'm reading. I make alot of what teachers call "Text-To" connections. I connect what I'm reading to the things around me in order to make sense of them, or vice versa. I connect movies to books or art to movies, etc. It's all about "Text-to" connections. All these connections are amplified when you're reading a certain book or invested in a certain TV series. Things just pop up and slap you in the face! When I'm done with I, Robot I'll have a little record on the book. I thought, though, that this was a worthy moment to mention a connection and I totally

In the episode T.: The Terrestrial, Fry and the Planet Express crew go to Omicron Persei 8 (the planet run by Lrrr) to get some herbs. Fry and Bender are by some bushes and Fry asks Bender to let him know when they have to "cheese it." Bender says "that's the first law of robotics, babae." (Watch a 4 minute clip here.) This draws on the connection to I, Robot and the three laws of robotics. Law #1 "a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." Of course, the whole premise of Bender's guilt is fostered in the fact that he did betray his friend and probably did let him come to harm. At the end of the episode he arrives, possibly too late, to save Fry, but he ultimately fulfills the first law by making sure Fry doesn't die. In a roundabout way, but still. . . you couldn't guarantee that Fry would come to harm, technically.

Just wanted to post a little geekup about what I saw. Sure there are tons of other references, but I'm really into the I, Robot stuff right now and this just appealed to me. (Just for additionally funsies, Leela calls Hermes Geordi).

Futurama on the Enterprise by ~obiwankatie on deviantART

Star Trek: The Original Series - Episode 11: The Menagerie, Part 1

Episode 11 - The Menagerie, Part 1

• Shirts look more yellow and less puke. Awesome.
• Something happened to Pike?!?!?! This isn't good!
• Kirk and Pike met when he was promoted to Fleet Captain. (Future reference, Pike is in the J.J. Abrams new Star Trek movies as being a little bit more than just a meeting.)
• Spock has served with Pike for 11 years, 4 months, 5 days.
• Pike Saved kids! He's a hero! (duh.)
• THE WHEEL CHAIR!!! OMG CLASSIC!!! (South Park/Futurama) 

• Christopher Pike would be brilliant at ghost hunting (1 beep for yes, 2 beeps for no).

• It's stuck on No, except for Spock.
• Oh, wait, no, it is still stuck on No. That previous yes was an anomaly.
• It's a five year mission? That's kinda crazy. I guess it's that whole "tour of duty kind of thing."
• Kirk and Commander reviewing if Spock is. . . out of line.
• Oh Spock. . . no . . .betrayal? What are you up to?
• Pike's chair can move based on brainwaves and he can beep yes and no, but that's all... you would have thought a bit more technology would have evolved by then. Such as red and green lights instead of multiple beeps.
• Spock is getting loose with his vulcan neck pinch.
  
• Pike sits, lonely, beeping no, no. Wait... or is that yes, yes.
• Vulcans are incapable of lying. But what about Spock's human side?
• Talos IV: No crew for any reason can go there and no one knows why!
•  Logic and Madness walk a thin line, Spock.
• McCoy cannot be right, because he is not the Logical Spock.
• OH CRAP!!! Mutiny Spock? Oh geez.... 
• "Arrest me." You have baffled McCoy in a moment he could have relished. Was that a slight you designed by making sure he was back on board?
• I'd like to take a moment and say Mr. Scott's haircut is HORRENDOUS!
  
• A COURT MARTIAL! 
• Mendez: "Whatever he's up to, he's planned it well."
• Spock: "This is 13 years ago." So it has been 2 years since Spock served with Pike and, potentially, 2 years since starting to serve with Kirk.
• Those are some incredibly detailed tapes (oh, Kirk agrees!).
• Class M - Oxygen Atmosphere
• (Now we're into The Cage footage.)
• They are sending a transmission of the episode! That... is... awesome!
• To be continued NEXT WEEK!!! (oh thank goodness classic TV is reliable and does what it promises. Additionally, this was NOT a season finale... I don't have to wait all summer to find out what Spock is up to. I think that would have incited the loss of fans back then. They didn't put up with your crazy games.)
• Wait. . . where's Sulu?

I am very intrigued with this episode. It has some great history to it with tons of interesting tidbits. Everything from the history behind the pilot episode, to how Roddenberry came up with the idea for the creation of this episode, to the oft-parodied elements. Even the pieces of information about Vulcan's and Spock's past are notable fodder. Even these formal uniforms are looking really well done and the show is really starting to round out into a consistent groove. I am really quite excited to watch Part II.

As for MST3K connections, there are the same The Cage references, but some new ones with new information.

• John Hoyt (Dr. Phillip Boyce) appears in Episode 208: The Lost Continent as Rostov.
• Peter Duryea (Lieutenant José Tyler) appeared in Episode 204: Catalina Caper. 
• CHANGE: Bob Johnson (voice of Transporter Chief Pitcairon instead of the voice of Talosian #1) was the narrator, among other voices, in Episode 113: The Black Scorpion.
• Adam Roarke (Chief Petty Officer Garrison) was Harris in Episode 104: Women of the Prehistoric Planet.
• Tom Lupo (Security Guard) from Episode K19: Hanger 18 who was a stunt coordinator for the movie.

Star Trek: The Original Series - Episode 10: The Corbomite Maneuver

Episode 10 - The Corbomite Maneuver 

Just to jog your memory about this episode. . .

• Spinning Rubik's Cube of Color (We've never been out this far before).
• Lt. Bailey tries Spock's Patience
• Oooo... Captain Kirk working out. Really amping up the sex-appeal.
• Spock recommends Lt. Bailey have his adrenaline gland removed, because it is hindering his work performance.
• Woah! First whole-ship rockin'! First Phaser Fire.
• OMG those ear things are bothering me! 
• Constantly questioning Spock gives Kirk emotional security. (A personal connection.)
• So when McCoy is bored, he comes and hangs out on the Bridge? 
• OH! Lt. Bailey was promoted too quickly. Wants to be too much like a young Kirk. 
• Success rate 94%. . . Let's try for 100%.
• Wait... wait... I thought pounds didn't matter.
• Hey, hey, the gang's all here! I think this might be a first for everyone being together in an episode.
• McCoy is just as smug as Kirk about things. Then again, so is Spock... Maybe Smugness is par for the Bridge. . . but not the women on the Bridge.
• FASCINATING!
• Screen can zoom out or in on objects. That is kind of cool.
• United Earth Ship - Enterprise
•  Commander Balok of the Fesarius. A flagship of the "First Federation".
• OH! It was a Marker Bouy.
• Huh. . . what do you do when you encounter others who do not fall under the FFF? If they are beyond the understanding of what their doing.
• Shirts are looking a little more yellow, but still kind of a puke-yellow.
• Chess vs. Poker
• McCoy and Kirk love Poker. ha!
• Women. . . serving coffee when you don't realize you need it.
• Omg. . . watching people try to shake themselves is HILARIOUS!!! Effective, but McCoy wins the prize for Best Shake. (Even though, Spock looked a little masturbatory at one point.)
• THE DUMMY looking Alien REALLY IS A DUMMY!  
• TRANYA!!! 
  
• It was a test? A test for Friendship? huh. I don't think it works like that.
• But at least they found a place for Bailey.

Just a cool fact that learned. The little alien guy is Ron Howard's brother, Clint Howard, who was only 7 at Futurama, in the episode that draws directly on Star Trek, "Where No Fan Has Gone Before." In Venture Bros., episode "Assisted Suicide," Henchman No. 21 pours a drink for himself and Dr. Mrs the Monarch, calling it tranya. She responds with "I hope you relish it as much as I" before mentioning how creeped out she was by Ron Howard's little brother. Awesome!
the time. Kind of a cool bit of info. Also, this episode has ties to both Futurama and Venture Bros. The dummy alien is in an end still for

Star Trek: The Original Series - Episode 1: The Man Trap

Episode 1 - The Man Trap

• The velour is gone! Zapp Brannigan has Kirk's smugness, but Pike's velour! Already my geek is in high gear.
• A blue shirt dies...Where are the red shirts?!?! Hanging out on the ship, I guess. Not cool enough to be part of the landing crew? Lots of yellow shirts dying here. Final count is 2 blue and 2 yellow.
• Sulu: Botanist. Sulu: Bridge
• Woah.... Swahili spoken on TV? With no subtitles! That was pretty nifty.
• Truth serum! 
• Vulcans have green blood. . .I did not know that. Spock explains (is that sarcasm?) it is because of different blood cells due to spawning in a another ocean than Kirk's ancestors. 
• Blue phaser = kill. Purple phaser = stun.

A conversation that spun off of this episode involved Stardate. Apparently Stardate was chosen at random, to some extent, by the show writers. Stardate is unreliable, but you can still count earth years, which are more reliable. This was further referenced in an episode of Family Guy that was airing on Adult Swim when we had stopped watching Star Trek for the night. In this episode, Peter is watching Star Trek and, in exaggerated fashion, Kirk is saying the Stardate and it is just a bunch of random numbers that aren't even close to the actual rough numbers on the show. It was a proud geek moment for me that was way funnier because, well. . . I never got that tiny bit before.  (NOTE: A question I still want to pinpoint. The origin of the spastic/pausing Captain Kirk?)


The velour conversation also took a turn for the interesting after this episode. We wanted to know what the shirts in this episode were made of. Well, apparently there are different types of velour. It is a fabric or textile, not a material. It can be made from cotton or polyester. So in the pilot episode, it was a "robe velour." We speculate it was made from cotton to be more plush-looking. Season 1 velour is probably "craft velour" to make it more spandexy and breathable.


Wow! Only two episodes in and I'm feeling imbued with relevant and valuable geek knowledge.