Kingdom of Fife Film School . . . February

Here is the seventh installment of the Kingdom of Fife Film School. These are the films Dudeboy watched during February with his ratings. The asterisks are for films (documentaries to be specific) which I failed to list in previous posts.

• The Testament of Dr. Mabuse 9 stars [1933; GER; watched 2.28.11]
• The Naked Prey 8 stars [1966; SA/US; watched 2.19.11]
• The Hunchback of Notre-Dame 9 stars [1923; US; watched 2.18.11]
• Times Ain't Like They Used to Be 8 stars [1993; US; watched 2.16.11]
• Art21 Season 3 4 Episodes 8 stars [2005; US; finished 2.24.11]
• Art21 Season 1* 4 Episodes 8 stars [2001; US; finished 10.27.10]
• Art21 Season 2 4 Episodes 8 stars [2003; US; finished 2.13.11]
• Creation 7 stars [2009; UK; re-watched 2.11.11]
• The Rhythm of My Soul: Kentucky Roots Music 7 stars [2006; US; watched 2.2.11]

Where in the world is Dudeboy?

In our never-ending desire to better ourselves (ha!), Dudeboy, Dr. J and I have decided to try and address our pathetic lack of geographic knowledge. And we challenge you (specifically Adonis) to join us. For this endeavor, we are using the geography quizzes from this website. Specifically, these quizzes:

Country quizzes for . . .

• Africa
• Asia
• Middle East
• Australia/Oceania
• Europe
• Central America & part of Caribbean
• South America

And state and provinces quizzes for . . .

• The United States
  
• Canada

Now we have decided to do a pre-test on each of these quizzes without studying or cursory looks (no cheating on this point). We then take note of our score. These quizzes are not timed, and if you miss one it allows two more chances. Of course, fewer mistakes garner higher scores. Here are the results of our pretests (click on the graphs to enlarge) . . .

Dudeboy . . . 77% correct


Dr. J . . . 84% correct


Merkin . . . 85% correct

It should go without saying: Oceania killed us. But here is the deal . . . the winner will be the person whose percentage of correct answers increases the most from the pretest score. We will focus on different region for a two-week period before we retake the test for that particular region. So, is anyone game?

The Troggs

Last night Dudeboy, Hooch, Terry and I explored a cave located in Metcalfe County. As my poor photos will attest, this cave is loaded with exceptional formations. The entrance of the cavern is situated above the site of an old mill. Both the cave and waterfall are located on private property. I'd be hard pressed to think of a better way to spend a Tuesday evening.


For scale, look for Dudeboy in top right corner of the photo (he has on a pale yellow shirt). He is sitting on the remnants of the old mill.

One of the many massive formations in the cave.

We emerged from the darkness into darkness . . . but it was a beautiful moonlit night.

Happy Darwin Day!

Happy Darwin Day (and Lincoln Day) from the Kingdom of Fife!

Our celebrations included readings from Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary and the facsimile book The Darwin Experience. Last night we watched the 2009 film Creation. And tonight we plan on engaging in a rousing game of Parasites Unleashed. But the capstone of our Darwin Day is/was our Darwin Day Cake (brownie).

Our cake is based on a caricature of a young Darwin riding upon the back of a giant beetle by fellow beetle enthusiast Albert Way. In his autobiography, Darwin exclaimed "no pursuit at Cambridge was followed with nearly so much eagerness or gave me so much pleasure as collecting beetles."

2 Milestones . . .

This week Dudeboy achieved two goals.

He advanced to the Blue Belt level in Tae Kwon Do . . .


. . . and he received his Arrow of Light, which symbolizes his advancement to Boy Scouts from Cub Scouts.

Belle Meade Plantation

Dudeboy and I went to the Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville for their homeschool day program Slave Life at Belle Meade Plantation.

Slave quarters . . .

Dudeboy at the pump in front of the carriage house and stables. Belle Meade was different from most plantations in that its primary enterprise was thoroughbred breeding. In fact, many contemporary Derby horses (including Secretariat) can trace their bloodlines back to super stud Bonnie Scotland.

"Squeal like a pig" . . . Dudeboy standing next to a pig scalder.

Pennies From Heaven