• Nathan Saxton
• Thierry Henry and David Beckham from last year's Desert Diamond Cup

It's weird to think that I wondered if people would show up for two nights of professional soccer two years ago and now FC Tucson is putting on nearly a month's worth of matches early next year, including an international friendly between Canada and Denmark, but it's actually happening.

Tickets are now on sale for the aforementioned international match and the preseason games involving nine Major League Soccer teams at www.fctucson.ticketsocket.com, but if you head to FC Tucson's Facebook page and join their mailing list, you can get a discount code.

If you're feeling superior about your place in the food chain, stare at this for a little bit:

Okay, now resume your meaningless activities, and next time you see a feline make sure to show your future master some respect.

I can't stop listening to this Auto-Tuned remix of clips from LeVar Burton's PBS show "Reading Rainbow," produced by the folks from Symphony of Science. For reference, Symphony of Science is also behind this stellar (pun!) production of Carl Sagan clips, and a few other remixes of PBS classics, such as this wonderful remix of "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood."

But "Reading Rainbow" always held a special place in my heart, and not just because it was hosted by friggin' Geordi La Forge (which blew my mind as a three-year old), as it helped me realize how great reading was as a child. So thanks for this, PBS Digital Studios. It sure washes away the terrible, lingering taste that's been Elmogate.

(One more thing: Burton recently revived "Reading Rainbow" as an iPad app (of all things), which you can find here. It looks pretty great...but you don't have to take my word for it.)

@sophiekstewart treasure hunt motherfluffer. I think they made a build-a-bear at tucson mall. What's your next one finna be?! #needstobeepic
— Kevin Sylliaasen (@KevinSylliaasen) December 3, 2012

Thanks, @KevinSylliaasen. The Build-A-Bear people should give you a gift certificate or something for this bit of viral promotion.

If you didn't visit the Daily Star today, you may have done yourself a bit of a favor. Why? Well...

• This is where a web site manager might say "uh-oh."

It's not often when a browser pops up with this type of message (at least, not if you stay away from the parts of the internet that try to sell you on such in-demand products in the same vein as homeopathic erectile dysfunction remedies), but when one does, that generally means that someone said okay to something they definitely should have turned down.

The problem appears to be fixed by now, but we'll always have the memory.

In an incredibly fun instance of worlds colliding, so to speak, rock star astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has joined the ranks of Batman, the Flash and Spider-Man in teaming up with Superman in the latest issue of "Action Comics." In the issue, he helps the Man of Steel observe his home planet—just before its destruction.

From NPR.org:

DC Comics, Tyson explains, approached him for permission to use the Planetarium — as well as his likeness — in a story where Superman witnesses the destruction of Krypton, since the light from the distant planet is just now arriving on Earth. Tyson told DC Comics that he was happy to help, and that instead of just making up the story of Superman seeing Krypton, he could help them ground it in at least some actual science.

OK, so here's how Tyson explains it: Superman didn't age during his trip to Earth, because he was still an infant upon arrival, meaning he must have traveled here through a wormhole with his little ship. If he's in his late 20s now (the estimate DC provided) and this is the time when he can witness the explosion of his home planet, then the planet is 27 or so light years away.

The story glosses over deGrasse's explanation of the science during the actual interview (which itself was simplified for a drive-time radio audience), but it's fun bit of actual science making its way into a world that's generally filled with improbable, if not outright impossible, happenings. Check out the audio on NPR's website (which I unfortunately can't embed) here.

Today at Tucson's best movie theater: a free screening of The Graduate. It's part of the Loft's Essential Cinema series. From the Loft's website:

“You’re trying to seduce me, Mrs. Robinson ... Aren’t you?” Glamorous, funny, sexy (coo, coo ca-choo, indeed) and sad, The Graduate is an emotional touchstone for an entire generation, not to mention a crowd-pleasing late-‘60s harbinger of the “New Hollywood” studio films that would storm the movie industry in the early ‘70s. Here we have cleverly-crafted student unrest in bourgeois clothing, as young Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin Braddock, adrift after college, is craftily seduced by a woman of his parents’ generation: the fabulous Anne Bancroft’s icily-assured friend-of-the-family Mrs. Robinson (actually only six years Hoffman’s senior). So it’s understandable that Ben’s dream girl Katharine Ross is a bit startled to learn that he’s been sleeping with ... her mother! Arguably, no other movie of the ‘60s — not even Bonnie and Clyde or Easy Rider — more successfully turned counterculture angst into popular culture. The biggest box office surprise of the decade, an Oscar-winner for second-time director Mike Nichols, and a revved-up vehicle for Hoffman’s star-making breakout role, The Graduate darkly and humorously captured the restlessness and ennui of the era. Bouyed by a razor sharp screenplay from Calder Willingham and Buck Henry (who also nails a hilarious cameo as a hotel desk clerk) and a legendarily evocative score by pop duo Simon & Garfunkel, this remains one of the most beloved classics of the American screen, filled with so many instantly-iconic moments (“Plastics!”), it’s almost like a cinematic greatest hits compilation of the counterculture generation.

If you can't make it to today's 11 a.m. screening, you can see it on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.