The History Boys

I'm just curious, am I the only one who was annoyed by parts of The History Boys? (It came up on remusxsirius, which is why I'm mentioning it. My MRFH review is here, but the relevant snippet of the review is this:

The other thing that bothered me was the expression of homosexuality in this. I am absolutely fine with the fact that Hector was a homosexual pedophile (um, in a non-condoning sort of way). It was a very interesting character choice, and I thought it made for some very complex issues in terms of dynamics between him and the boys. I could understand when Irwin, who was a very young teacher, was very attracted to a student that was blatantly hitting on him. (And when I say blatant, I mean flashing neon lights.) But what broke the camel's back was when at the end, Posner, a student who came out during the movie, made a comment about being a teacher and being very tempted by his students. Every homosexual character in this movie was exhibiting pedophilic tendencies.

Seriously, am I the only one bothered by this? I could have understood one — maybe two — of these characters. And Duckie and I did have an argument about whether or not Irwin could be qualified as a pedophile, given that he must have been about twenty-four and Dakin was probably eighteen, and Dakin was making the very, very obvious advances. But see, here's the thing. I like men. I'm very inclined towards men. And yet, I don't remotely lust after the kids in my youth group. (In fact, one word: EWWWWW.) I am strongly suspecting that many adults, regardless of their sexual orientation, feel this way. They want equals, whether it be for a night or a lifetime. Sure, there's something to be said for a hot young stud — I've drooled over Josh Hartnett enough that I can't deny that. But actually wanting to act on it, especially when that person is in a position where you have power over them… most people I know would not be overly tempted. (Either that, or they all lie to me.) Anyway, the fact that there were three firmly homosexual characters and all three struggled with underage temptation… that bothered me. Way to perpetuate a stereotype.

I mean, I did like the movie. I thought it had some VERY interesting things to say about education, and I especially liked the dichotomy of Hector as a pedophile and as a teacher that, academically, the boys really respected. I thought that was quite fascinating. But I guess I didn't think it was all that and a bag of chips.

I see Heroes should be making it to our mailbox soon. YAY! I didn't watch the first season, because I had a hard time seeing it or something and by the time I knew I wanted to watch, I was too far behind. (Plus, watching on DVD is SO much nicer, especially since a.) no commercials b.) we can watch the next episode the next night, and c.) schedule-wise it's great!) But I'm dying to see it- I've heard so many good things about it. But first, I think we're going to finish Season 5 of Buffy (we only have 1 more disc, hallelujah- I see where it really did go downhill, where's the funny?), Season 5 of Scrubs (won't take long), and rewatch Season 1 of Rome before we watch Season 2, which we haven't seen.

And I'm DYING for Lost to start again, especially now that they have their end date! (I think having an end date will really improve the show, because of pacing issues.)

Hmmm. Suppose I should get writing. Big awkward reconciliation scene between two emotionally repressed men. This ought to be fun :P

Air Force

Okay, heart. Please start beating again.

I just got a call from an Air Force investigator. My brother was/is in the Air Force, and for one wild moment I believed this was about him. Then the man continued and told me that a friend of mine had put me down as a security reference, and could they contact me for a face-to-face interview?

Obviously, I said yes. But just for that moment... ::Sigh:: Of course, it's not really a huge shock it's about her. Her hubby does... well, I don't know what he does for a living, but I know he knows Newt and a lot of other high-up people, and he works for the government. (Hubby and I theorize he runs probability stuff on different attack/defense scenarios.) She works/worked? for a contractor that had a large Naval defense contract. Either the Air Force is hiring her company or she's switching jobs. I wonder if she can tell me.

It's really all quite neat and exciting, and like I said, not that big of a shock. She and I met when we were five or so, so I'm probably an excellent person for her to list. But a little part of me still wishes it was about my brother. (And, of course, my fic-writing mind immediately jumped to my brother making up this scenario to get in touch with me, since they asked for my address, but even if he actually remembers her married last name (doubtful, given how many years it took ME to do it), I'm 90% sure he knows nothing about her job. It makes WAY too much sense that they'd contact me about her, especially over anyone else my brother would have thought of. Plus, if he had my number, he could have gotten my address easily enough.)

I wonder if the investigator will be able to tell me anything? I'm sure not off the top of his head, but if I ask, maybe he can point me in the direction of someone who can? I'm not sure if it would be polite to ask or what. But I'd really like to know.

On an entirely different topic, does anyone have any good sites for world building? Something they've found to be especially useful? Thanks :)