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Last Saturday was Sesquicentennial Day at my high school alma mater, Lowell High School in San Francisco. Yup, that’s one hundred fifty big years, making it the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi.

I got the invitation to the event from the Alumni Association but I couldn’t make it. It was the 3-year death anniversary of my wife’s mother and we had a little get-together. It would’ve been nice to have gone though. One of my old friends said in an e-mail that it would be neat to show our kids where we went to high school.

Three years ago I lamented that Lowell didn’t make it to Newsweek’s 100 Best High Schools in America list. Well, this year it made #26. When I went there many years ago, I believe it ranked #7 (not on account of me, btw!).

Lowell is a magnet school that has produced three Nobel Prize winners (more than most countries), several captains of industry and many other alumni of note. Among them are:

• William Hewlett - yes, of Hewlett-Packard
• Carol Channing - of which our auditorium was named after
• Charles Ginsberg - “The Father of the VCR”
• Donald Fisher - founder of GAP
• Dian Fossey - she who paid the ultimate price protecting the gorillas in the mist
• Bill Bixby - yup, Dr. Banner himself
• Naomi Wolf - feminist writer
• Benjamin Bratt - one-time apple of Ms. Julia Roberts’ eye
• Daniel Handler - Lemony Snicket’s alter ego (previously blogged about here)

Even Lowell’s misfits manage to make a name for themselves. Margaret Cho is a Lowell drop-out. Adrian Lamo, a world-famous hacker, is a Lowell graduate.

Perhaps out of all the famous Lowellites, Rube Goldberg would be my favorite. (Notice how in the Lemony Snicket movie, a Rube-Goldberg contraption was featured in the opening scene?)

There are other notable alumni that didn’t get into the online lists. Here are a few of them:

• Paris - the Black Panther of Hip-Hop
• Emil Guillermo - Fil-Am columnist and former “All Things Considered” host at NPR
• Tess Uriza Holthe - Filipina author of When the Elephants Dance
• Carlos Villa - Filipino artist and educator
• Orvy Jundis - Philippine Comics historian, writer and martial arts instructor
• *just added* Alex Tse - screenwriter of the Spike Lee-directed Showtime movie Sucker Free City

Oh and how could I forget: the actress who played Teek in the 1985 Star Wars spin-off Ewoks: The Battle for Endor was in my class.

With an impressive roster of alumni like that, you’d see why I hadn’t gone to any of our reunions. What’s my claim to fame?

I was walking back and forth in front of the TV (as it is in between the home office and the kitchen) while my two-year old son was watching Sesame Street, when something on the screen caught my eye. I turned to the TV and lo and behold, I see Elmo, in a full-body shot, riding his tricycle around Sesame Street. With the camera shooting from a high angle, Elmo is shown pedaling - yes, pedaling - while singing a tune. Now, how can this be? Where is the person who’s supposed to be controlling Elmo’s mouth movements?

There’s no way this could’ve been one of those scenes taken initially with a green screen background. I mean, Elmo was weaving in and out of the area between Hooper’s store and the apartment’s front steps, all the while being surrounded by other kids in tricycles. With the camera on a crane moving about and following Elmo around, this would’ve been a difficult scene to put together. This couldn’t have been CG work, either (does PBS have the budget for that?). It would’ve been overkill (unless there’s some sort of charitable CG work that Lucasfilm has meted out to Sesame Street in appreciation for Frank Oz’s contribution to the Star Wars franchise over the years, but I doubt it. Too far-fetched.).

Has Elmo finally gone fully remote-controlled? I can’t say. No matter what muppet wizardry the CPB has come up with, Elmo on wheels has certainly impressed this dad who himself grew up watching the muppets. But back then they were only shown from the waste up.

Just got back from watching SWEIII:ROTS! Thanks to Fandango, the wife and I were able to get tickets for the 9:10 a.m. show at the local cineplex. We breezed right in at 9:00 a.m. and got some decent seats. I had the misfortune, however, of sitting beside one of the loudest guys in the theater (he was even humming along to John Williams’ score!). It’s good he quieted down eventually.

Did I like Revenge of the Sith? Let me just say this: don’t believe the hype! This way, with lowered expectations, you may actually be floored by the film.

Pre-movie bonus: the trailer for The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was shown. It can be seen here (it’s not up on Quicktime.com yet). Our sons will surely love the movie adaptation which is set to start showing on December 9. I read the book to them - a chapter a night - just last month (with a fake British accent and all, heh).

Filipino and Danish researchers “have found a way to generate helico-conical, or spiral-shaped light beams.” Hmmm, will this lead to Lasik surgery being an even quicker procedure? Maybe Lucas should delay the release of Star Wars Episode III and insert a scene featuring spiral laser whips. Oh wait, the Balrog got there first, didn’t he?

(via geekpress)