the passenger seat

Today an astronaut came to visit our school. Yes, a real life astronaut! His name was Greg Chamitoff, and he has logged an astounding one hundred and eighty three days in space on the International Space Station.

I don’t know about you, but seeing someone who has spent half a year in space and in zero gravity amazed me. Not only had he been in space, but there were also a few other amazing things about him. Sure, all of us here are pretty proud with our 99+ UAIs and Medicine or Law or whatever, but he has two Masters and a PhD. Genius. You know that saying “It’s not rocket science…”? Well, he’s a rocket scientist. And on top of all that, he was a great speaker and an overall nice guy. His speech about his time in space and the process to get there and the things he did was informative, entertaining and inspiring- all at the same time. Although he often went into the technical side of things, it was still interesting and hey, what isn’t cool about space? Every kid goes through their “I want to be an astronaut” phase and even now I still wonder what it would feel like, but unfortunately I will never have the opportunity. The video he showed us was really captivating and it was mind-blowing to see the sorts of things that were possible in space. Of course everyone’s seen the typical videos of astronauts swallowing droplets of water and floating around, but he showed us juggling, magic tricks, acrobatics, two people carrying a huge box, and of course his Superman flight through the entire Space Station (with his buddy Buzz Lightyear), which is a lot larger than I imagined. Just, wow. I was enthralled by his whole talk, and I’m pretty sure many others were too, judging by the silence in the hall for the entire time he was there. But anyway, I’m pretty sure I’m just repeating what you already know, since everyone that reads my blog saw him as well, but at least I’ll be able to come back to this post in the future and remember the day I saw a real life astronaut. Awesome. For all those who think my fascination with him may seem like childish fantasy and wonder, here’s a quote:

“Only someone with the mind of a child says they’ll grow up.“

I mentioned Greg’s Superman flight earlier, and that brings me to my next topic. This year I started reading comics and graphic novels (as I mentioned in previous blogs) and I’ve really gotten into the different experience of reading illustrated stories, as opposed to watching a movie or reading a novel. Most of these comics are about superheroes. Actually, come to think of it, I wonder why so many comics are based on superheroes? Anyway, my question is: Who is your favourite superhero? I know this may sound lame to some, but bear with me.

For me, it’s a toss-up between Wolverine and Batman. Although Batman is technically not a true superhero (he is a man in a mask with lots of money to buy cool gadgets), his comics are amazingly written and illustrated, and his story is great as well. He’s also got some mean villains (the Joker, Scarecrow, Ra’s Al Ghul, The Riddler, Two-Face, Ventriloquist) which makes the story even better, the Joker probably my favourite villain (see The Killing Joke and Arkham Asylum). Wolverine, on the other hand, is a true superhero- born a mutant with animal instincts, retracting bone claws and accelerated healing. After reading a few of his comics and seeing the new movie (however inaccurate it is) I’ve developed a liking to his character- he is definitely the fiercest and meanest superhero. A mention is required for Rorschach, too. He’s just awesome in Watchmen. Check out Empire Magazine’s “The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters“. Batman is at #2 while Wolverine is at #4 and Rorschach is #16.

That’s all for today’s blog. My next one will most likely be art/media/design themed, unless something really interesting happens, which I doubt since school is so boring. See you on Thor’s day.

“Touch The Sky” is by Kanye West, from Late Registration.