The coolest thing I watched in April technically wasn't a movie, it was season 3 of Battlestar Galactica. TV on DVD is worse than potato chips, you can never watch just one episode. This may just well be the best Sci-Fi TV show ever - well written, excellent special effects, not afraid of having a continuous story line with characters who grow and change. (Firefly is still my favorite, though. I can only imagine what it would have gone on to do in its third season. Sigh.). Gaius Baltar is my favorite character; the man just can't catch a break. The downside of catching TV on DVD: I have to wait a year to see what happens next. This is particularly tricky if one wants to avoid spoilers. This isn't always possible: Quin and I both revealed after the episode where Starbuck dies that we already knew that was coming (and had each kept it secret from the other quite unnecessarily as it turned out). And with so many NBA play-off games airing in ABC, I have to cover my eyes and sing real loud every time a commercial for Lost comes on, because just seeing what actors are still there is a spoiler in itself.
I also saw Live Free and Die Hard, which I liked. I like all the Die Hard movies and this was a worthy addition to the franchise. Kevin Smith had a cool little part (although it took me half the film to finally figure out that the kid with McCain was familar because he's the Mac in the Mac vs. PC commercials).
I'm still working my way through a stack of Bollywood films. Duplicate was an early effort from Karan Johar, before he started directing. The movies he writes and directs are all terrific, really intricate character studies that stand apart from the rest of Bollywood. So Duplicate was a bit of a disappointment. It steals lines and scenes from Dirty Harry and Desperado, and I swear I've seen the same plot in a Jackie Chan film (although I may be mashing two together in my head. But didn't Jackie play a chef who had an evil twin who was a gangster?). It was a fun enough film, and Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chalwa are cute together. Still, it wasn't remotely a Karan Johar type of film.Kal Ho Naa Ho was. This is another one he wrote but didn't direct, but it's more recent and might as well have a Karan Johar trademark stamp on it. Very much a "you'll laugh, you'll cry" type of film. This is the third thing I've seen Saif Ali Khan in (he did the most brilliant Iago in the Hindi Othello, Omkara) and I'm quickly becoming a fan.
Maa Tujhhe Salaam. This one was in the 99 cent section at Eros (I'm a sucker for a movie that's less than a dollar). Quin wanted to watch this one, on account of Malaika Arora being in it (for one dance). It stars her husband Arbaaz Khan (Salman's younger brother. Moviemaking in Mumbai is very much a family affair). His first scene he is barechested, tying his hair back with a headband, looking for all the world like Charlie Sheen in Hot Shots 2 (I loved Hot Shots 2). Gradually I realized this movie was reaching for the same source - Rambo (it became clear when Arbaaz whipped out his impressive hero knife). The movie concerns the fight for Kashmir, a fight with three sides (those who want Kashmir to be part of India, those who want it to be part of Pakistan, and those who want it to be its own country). I think the filmmakers were intending a Band of Brothers type salute to the Indian soldiers freezing on the frontlines, but alas it was not quite that. It was more like Rambo, fun enough but not terribly deep. (And Malaika's dance was a hit around here. So were the ones Tabu was in. In general, I think my husband enjoyed this one more than me. Not as a movie, though, just as a vehicle for songs). Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai and Yeh Hai Jalwa: For diehard Salman Khan fans only. 'Nuff said. I mentioned Bollywood is a family business. Salman Khan is a second generation guy himself; his father was a screenwriter. His most successful films were when he wrote as half of the Salim-Javed duo. I've already seen two of their films: Sholay (their most popular film, and it really is very cool. It's sort of India's answer to Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven. I'd highly recommend it) and Don (which I picked up when I couldn't grok the plot of the remake. It turns out everything that made no sense in the remake was something changed from the original. Yes, the original was very low-budget, very 70s, but at least it made sense. Plus Roma in the original kicks ass. She's clearly stunt-doubled by a short man, but it's the thought that counts. Roma in the remake disappears from the climatic fight entirely). Being one who likes to track the careers of writers more than actors, I've been frustrated by the lack of prominent screenwriters in Bollywood. Salim-Javed are one of the few who actually had a track record (and were coincidentally key players in getting the screenwriters names put on the movie posters). They worked decades ago, so their films are dated, but the stories are all good. Trishul was a bit frustrating; the subtitles started out fine, but as the movie progressed they started disappearing for a few lines of dialogue, then coming back, then disappearing again. The last half hour of the film had no subtitles at all. Which was frustrating. I've been learning a little Hindi (1771 words right now, according to my flashcard program). I could catch enough to follow the story, but all the nuance was gone. And the scene where Amitabh Bacchan talks about what life as an unwed mother was like for his Mom - well, that was probably all about the nuance. I can't really say, all I know was he was talking about his Mom. Shame, really; it seemed like a good film.I really loved Seeta Aur Geeta. Remember how I said that the original Roma kicked ass? This one has another great, strong woman. It's about twin sisters separated at birth. One grows up poor, a total tomboy running with the street boys. The other starts out rich, but when her parents die she ends up in a Cinderella situation, working as a maid for her evil aunt who keeps all the money that the parents left her. When Seeta runs away from her evil aunt (and her lecherous brother) the police pick up her twin Geeta by mistake, and Geeta terrorizes the whole evil family, while Seeta settles into life in the poor part of town, cooking and cleaning for people who actually appreciate her efforts. Cool to see a movie where two women rescue each other rather than leaving it to their love interests to do. The last movie I saw in April was Shaan, Salim-Javed's answer to Bond. It's not about an Indian spy or anything (the two characters are two-bit hoods trying to make good after their older brother the cop is killed). But it has lots of Bond elements in it: the evil villain with the secret fortress on an island who kills his enemies in overly elaborate ways. Quin felt I enjoyed this one a tad too much. But you be the judge. Doesn't the evil villain, Shakaal:
Look a lot like sci-fi writer John Scalzi:
...or is it just me?
I made the WOTF honorable mention category again this quarter. It's alphabetical, so scroll about halfway down to find me. The story in question is already in the next slush pile on its journey to publication. Also, I've been very negligent in mentioning that the issue of Beyond Centauri with my story "Trifle" in it is now out in the world (and can be purchased in places like this). I really love the cover, and not just because it has my name on it. 
I finished off Heinlein in April with two collections: Expanded Universe and Off the Main Sequence. Expanded Universe is an apt title; it contains some non-SF Heinlein stories and tons of nonfiction pieces which I found very interesting. It was a nice way to wrap him up, to listen to him talk directly rather than through story. He occasionally comes off a bit curmudgeonly, particularly when he hits on the age-old "kids these days have it so easy" type arguments (although his piece on how to get a college degree without actually having to do any work or even learn anything was sharp and amusing). His story about going by the curtain to Cold War Russia was interesting as well. Off the Main Sequence largely collected stories I had already read, but I really appreciated the way this book was put together, with citations under the titles of where and when each story was orginally printed. I love that sort of information, but most anthologies either make you dig through the fine print on the copyright page to find it or leave it out entirely. 
My Opposite of That ended up being Nick Hornby, largely because my brother handed me a stack of his novels and said "read these". Since I've already seen About a Boy and High Fidelity, he just loaned me the ones which haven't yet been made into movies. I liked the female protag in How to be Good (and parts of that book were almost painfully familiar), and his YA story of teenage pregnancy Slam was a good read. I like Hornby's way of avoiding the obvious mega-happy endings (although I think with Slam he could have gone a bit more bittersweet; it all worked out a shade to nicely in the end). But my fave of the three was far and away A Long Way Down, about four people who meet when they all go up to the roof of the same building on New Year's Eve intending to kill themselves. I understand a movie is already in the works ; it will be interesting to see how they cast it, and if they manage to get the tone right. 
I also read the latest from Neil Gaiman, Odd and the Frost Giants, which took about half an afternoon. It reminded me of George RR Martin's The Ice Dragon which I read last year; ostensibly for children (younger than YA), but the language is too lush to miss just because it's for kids. (Actually my favorite Gaiman book is arguably The Wolves in the Walls, which is a picture book, so I read much younger than YA). I of course loved the use Norse gods. It was a nice way to spend an hour and change.
I also read a couple of sumo books, The Big Book of Sumo by Mina Hall and The Joy of Sumo by David Benjamin. Research for the WIP. If you're looking for a book on sumo as an art form, pick up Mina Hall's; if you are interested sumo purely as sport, go for Benjamin's. Both were full of useful information for my purposes.
The last book was another one I finished off in an afternoon, Bellydancing by Keti Sharif. Another of my too numerous interests. I was looking for a book that would help me differentiate which sorts of dances come from which regions originally, and this book does a beautitful job of that. Plus it also breaks down different dances by the four elements, so I can do my own Avatar: The Last Airbender at home where I control the elements through dance rather than kung fu. Cool!
We homeschool year-round, but the end of April/beginning of May is unofficially when we transition. Most of what we do just sort of plods on at its own pace, so grade levels are pretty meaningless. But this is the point when Aidan finishes one math book and starts the next (Oliver is about six months off, though; we ditched the last half of kindergarten and jumped right into first grade six months early). And this is when we finish up one year's worth of history and science and move on to the next. So we usually take a few weeks off here, or rather they do. I have a year's worth of planning to do.There are lots of different ways of homeschooling, from completely boxed curricula like Calvert where you complete and mail in assignments to be graded (I looked into this early on but decided it was too constrictive for me. I have mentioned it to Quin as his best choice if something happens to me and he still wants to homeschool. He loves those sorts of conversations). Some parents practice unschooling, which has no curriculum at all (so not for me. You have to be willing at any time to take advantage of a teaching moment, to be spontaneous. I can't do that. Even if I didn't have to work for half the day I still wouldn't be able to unschool. I would find my own way to fill the day and then get irritated at being interrupted. It's a matter of temperament; I have to have a plan).We mostly follow the suggestions in Well-Trained Mind. Mostly. Their history curriculum Story of the World we absolutely hated. Aidan was so, so bored, and although it was a global history like I wanted, I was displeased with the way certain culture's traditions were treated as myth where others were treated as history. So we ditched it. History Odyssey from Pandia Press works wonderfully for us, and the few times it references SOTW, we just skip over. Actually, the course is very reading and writing intensive, so we skip over things a lot or it would take us two years to cover a one year text book. Science is more of a challenge. Not surprisingly, it's hard to find good science curricula for homeschoolers, particularly in biology. There are other homeschoolers like us who teach evolution, but we are definitely a minority. So the bulk of my prep time is made up of deciding just what we are going to do with science. This year for Oliver I'm trying a curriculum package for the first time, REAL Science from Pandia Press. I'm hoping it works out as well as HO, but we'll see. They don't have anything in Aidan's level, so he's getting the usual Mom grab bag of books and experiments (although he does the actual experiments with Dad when I'm working; he likes to do that sort of thing more than I do). After much internal debate I decided to let Aidan stop Latin even though he hadn't yet finished book one of the two book set. It is, after all, very dry. I did talk him down from pursuing Hindi next. Although Quin and I both like the idea of learning along with our kids (like Professor Bernardo de la Paz did with his students in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress), I'm not sure if a foreign language is the best subject for that, or if with my current work load (part-time in name only) would allow for it at this point. So we'll be learning Spanish, something I took in high school and college so I'm a bit more confident I can't ruin him too badly with it. Latin is good for reading, but tough to be conversational in. I think he's going to like Spanish a lot more. But again, I'm not widely enthused by the curricula I've found so far so he's getting the Mom grab bag of lessons (which is fun for me anyway). All that starts on Monday. I've been doing a bit of writing, but not as much as I'd like. My days of getting 1000 words down before dinner time are in the past, I fear. I'm lucky if I squeeze in 500. Still, it's not a full stop, and I'm liking the way this new WIP is shaping up. It's coming along slowly but I don't think it sucks. So that's good.
