orichalcum

69% of _college graduates_ in the U.S.A., as of 2003, are not proficient in literacy, meaning that they are unable to read lengthy, complex English texts and draw complicated inferences. 14% of college graduate can only read and understand short, commonplace texts, and 3% can't read at all.

I mean, I know my students have lots of trouble writing coherently, but for heavens' sake, 16 years of education ought to mean something! Something! Heck, _6_ years of education ought to mean something. I can only imagine what the average college graduate's knowledge of history, math, social science, or science is.

I hope you can't get a Ph.D. without being proficient in literacy, cuz that would be really depressing.

Spoiler-free part: Well, it's a Peter Jackson movie. That means, in this case, that there were a bunch of "wow, that's amazingly cool" moments and "wow, that looks realistic" and "wow, this movie is going on forever and we're only at Lothlorien, oops, I mean, Manhattan."

Other important spoiler-free notes:

If you are at all squeamish, and in particular if you are squeamish about slimy and/or crawly things, I strongly recommend that you be prepared to close your eyes and, if possible, have a hand to grip tightly. I would say that I spent about 15 minutes of the movie, at least, Not Watching. That said, A. said they were really cool and nifty slimy and crawly things.

The other Big Amusing Spoiler-free thing (well, unless you haven't seen any of the teasers or buzz at all) is that the first two acts are _totally_ a Cthulhu module. I swear you can point out some of the San check failure moments, and I could write the character background and relationships page for each of the "PC" main characters. And it does a remarkably good job of solving the classic Cthulhu problem of "why the heck aren't we turning around and going home right now?" without having to resort to dodges like "because you're in the middle of the siege of Stalingrad" or "you're in a nuclear submarine." Piratecat, if you're reading this, KidCthulhu will love at least the first two-thirds of this movie. Take her.

( Spoilerific comments for those who have seen the movie or don't mind spoilers )

Erk. jendaviswilson, now I see what you mean. Braincleaning needed. And Ensign Ro grows up to be...._that woman_?

I think I want to join the Cylons. They're nicer.