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Here's a little trip down memory lane for a lot of you guys who are my age. Anyone remember Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years? I admit, I found Winnie attractive when the show aired--not just cause she was cute, but also because Winnie was intelligent as well. After The Wonder Years ended, Danica McKellar, who played Winnie, kind of dropped off the radar. She did a movie of the week but I hadn't seen or thought much about her except when I'd catch a repeat of The Wonder Years on Nick-at-Nite. Well, she's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.....and boy-howdy is she!  Remember her from The Wonder Years?  That's just one of several photos of Ms. McKellar from this month's Stuff Magazine. You can see more of her here and here, if you're interested. And to think, I surfed over to Stuff looking to find the pictures of Without a Trace's Poppy Montgomery....  Orignally what I was looking for... |
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I don't think it's any great secret to say that I love box sets of television shows on DVD. I probably own more box sets of TV shows than any one person should. You also have to remember I got my DVD player initially so I could collect the single disc, two-episodes per release editions of original Star Trek. (I'd always wanted to have the original, uncut episodes in one complete set and now I've got it!)
DVD box sets can be interesting. For example, Paramount thinks a LOT of their Star Trek releases--$125.00 a season. A bit pricey and hence why I don't have the complete run of TNG and DS9 yet (I've got a couple of sets, but not all of them utnil the price comes down or I find them used for a reasonable amount). Then, there are other shows that seem to be more economically priced--such as season sets of 24, Buffy, Angel, etc. It's been interesting to watch the evolution of the TV show on DVD box set from the early days when Fox took a chance releasing the entire first season of The X-Files which included virutally no extras to now in the day where extras are expected as part of the deal.
There are a couple of TV on DVD sets that are the gold standard by which all others are judged. They are: Futurama, The Simpsons and Doctor Who. Doctor Who has been released so far as single stories and not as season box sets which means I will end up investing far too much money purchasing the same stories I've got commerically releases on VHS over again. But, they make it worth it--at least to me. Every story is remastered and restored with the audio cleaned up. There is always a commentary on each story and we get a couple of extras per disc. In short, even stories I don't care for and question--why are they releasing this when others are in the vault screaming to be released (like the upcoming 60s story "The Web Planet")--I still feel as though it's money well spent and that I will at least enjoy some part of the overall package.
That said, The Simpsons and Futurama are season box sets and are great. Every episode has commentary and there are things like animatics, extra scenes, featurettes and such on each set. Of course, the real gem is having the episodes unedited and commercial free, but the extras really do make the box set. I've got all five Simpsons releases and all four Futurama ones (basically the complete run of the show).
I say all this to show off the new packaging for the next box set of The Simpsons, due out in mid-August. I have to admit, I like it, though part of me is concerned about changing the packaging mid-stream like they are here. I wonder how it will all look on my shelf. Also, I have to ask myself--at what point do I stop collecting the season sets? Is there a season where it just starts to go downhill and it's not worth the investment? (Sort of like my thing on The X-Files--I've got seasons 1-7 and the movie, but am in no hurry to get seasons eight and nine. If they were cheap enough I'd get them just to be a completist...)
 Season Six..coming soon!
According to this news report, each set from now on will be based on a character's head. That could be intersting, esp. the one for Marge. How high will her hair go?
Also of interest--the new Battlestar Galactica first season hits DVD in late July, about two weeks after the season premiere. Can't wait for that one either!
posted by Michael at 6/30/2005 11:58:00 AM |
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The 4400: Suffer the Children
This time, the "44oo of the week" is high school art's teacher Heather Tobey, who was returned with the ability to draw out the artistic strengths in people--from playing the violin to painting and a whole lot of other various artsy things in between. The drawback in her power is that she can only work with what's there and not just magically instill in you the ability to play the piano if you don't have it inside you already. Interesting power, though I'm not quite sure yet of what the ripple effect of it might be--beyond maybe getting some school districts to not keep cutting back on the art and music budget of schools, thus ensuring future generation's appreciate good art when they see it. On further thought, maybe this ability would sound the death knell of all the worst of the crop of the reality shows that are on the air these days and that might not be such a bad thing...
Anyway, back to this episode. Heather's ability to help some but not others causes tension and conflict and she's brought up on child abuse chargers. After she is exonerated, she returns to the classroom where one student in particular is unhappy that he has shown no special artistic abilty. He wants to escape his life and not be like his father, so he comes to school with a gun to force Heather to awaken the artist within. Luckily, Dad happens to be at the school at the time and hears what he's done to his son.
What I found most interesting here was how divided everyone was on the use of the power that Heather had. Those who benefited thought she was the best thing since sliced bread while those who couldn't be helped were less than enthused. Kind of mirrors the Jordan storyline of his warning Sean to only use his powers under certain circumtances and not to let the world know he has this healing ability. Kind of the--what have you done for me lately? mentality. Of course, Jordan's warnings come to fruition with Sean befriends a cute homeless girl and then has to use his power to save her boyfriend. (Showing the difference between Sean and Jordan in a lot of ways...I could see Jordan letting the boyfriend pass away so that he could move in on the girlfriend..because let's face it, Sean and the homeless girl had some chemistry.)
Meanwhile, the mythology of the show takes a baby-step forward as Jordan finally catches up to Lilly, Richard and Isabelle. He meets Isabelle and the world doesn't explode around him or he doesn't double over in pain. Jordan takes this as a sign and offers to use his pull with the NTSC to get Richard and Lilly off their David Banner-like run across the U.S. As we got to Jordan waiting to see Isabelle, I fully expected to see the words "To Be Continued" flash on screen and to have to wait two weeks to see what would happen. That said, I think this is only the calm before the storm with Jordan and Isabelle.
The Dead Zone: Double Vision
Episodes like this one are why I got hooked on The Dead Zone in the first place. The game of cat and mouse and visions within visions, all trumping each other as Johnny and Alex tried to meet was a nice touch for the story. And the plotline of the two working togther to find out whic vision was past, present or future and then how to make the changes needed to save the little boy's father from himself was nicely done. The Dead Zone treaded a dark path, but it did so with some lighter moments that helped it not seem as dour and depressing as the first two episodes of the year did.
Seeing Johnny actually get to have some fun and smile was a nice change of pace and I do hope we get to see Alex back again soon as I liked the give and take between the two of them. Plus having someone in there who can be a bit of a wild card to the show could make for some fun. And if we're not going to have Dana back....I guess Alex serve as good eye candy.
This hour just flew by and at the end, I was left thinking--man, no new Dead Zone next week. That stinks.
The Inside: Everything Nice
Over the years, it's been interesting to watch the development of Jane Espenson as a writer. She started out on Buffy and has written for all three Mutant Enemy shows. The thing about Esponson is when she's on top of her game, she's as good as anyone writing for television today.
"Everything Nice" was Esponson at the top of her game.
I want to say this was a nice hour of TV, but nothing about it was nice. It was chilling and disturbing on many levels, but yet was absoulutely rivetting. The scene in the treehouse as Rebecca confronts the alleged killer (who is a 10-year old girl) was just amazing. The look on the little girl's face as she jumped off the treehouse ladder and screamed that Rebecca had pushed her was chilingly effective. Also, the investigation that slowly reveals that this little girl is behind the killing of the boy in her neighborhood and that she stayed around to hear and see the mother find the body....wow, that's some dark, gruesome and disturbing terrirtory. And to see how she'd framed the innocent groundskeeper, not only costing him his job but maybe his reputation and sanity was a nice touch.
Intersting the way parent/child realtionships play out in this one. We have the victim and his mother, where the mother seems to know something is bothering her son, but she waits too long to find out what's going on and misses the opportunity to maybe save her child. Then we have Madison, the 10-year-old girl who kills the boy and her mother. As we see them interact on screen, her mother is always giving orders or making judging comments. Also, I felt as if Madison were more an accessory child to her parents than a child to raise, love and nurture. Rebecca implies as much about the expensive treehouse that Madison has...I guess it's out of sight, out of mind until you need the picture of the perfect family.
Then, we had Virgil. As the father-figure of the team, he allows the squabbling of his kids in order to solve the case. He pits the two theories as to who killed the boy against each other, even giving them a deadline to make their case to him. And it's interesting how these two diverging viewpoints eventually help each other assist the separate investigations.
I hate to admit it, but I really like this show. Which can only mean FOX will cancel it next week.
posted by Michael at 6/30/2005 10:19:00 AM |
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I watched the SciFi special on the Mercury Theater's 1938 presentation of War of the Worlds last evening. The most interesting part was the recollections of some of those people who actually heard the broadcast when it initially aired and were part of the nationwide panic.
Listening to the snippets of the broadcast that were sprinkled through the episode, I was struck by just how good the story was and can see why it set off a national panic. Part of that is that radio is so much a theater of the mind, limited only in special effects by what our imagination can come up with. I'd argue that most old radio shows are, by far, scarier than most of the gruesome things that pass off as horror and suspense today. (Indeed, I think one of the things that made The X-Files so good was that it knew how to make judicious use of shadows).
I learned a few things I didn't previously know about the broadcast. One was that the writer who adapted Welles' story went on to write a little screenplay for a movie called Casablanca. Also, the music and sound effects were done by Bernard Hermann, who composed some of the great and memorable musical scores for Alfred Hitchcock--including Psycho.
All of this just made me yearn to hear the show again. And luckily, there's a web site out there that has it available for download (the copyrights on it ran out years ago, so no worries). I'm also intrigued to hear the Bergan and McCarthy show that ran opposite it as well. I am not sure if I've heard that or not.
If you've not ever heard the broadcast, I can't recommend it enough. And if you have heard it, it's worth hearing again as you get ready to go see the new version in theaters.
posted by Michael at 6/29/2005 02:58:00 PM |
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There are just some days when have to sit back and go--wow, ain't technology great.
CNN has a story about Katie Williams, a Welsh graduate student who has come up with an idea to help those of us who swim laps--a device that displays the number of laps completed and the time it took to swim them inside a pair of goggles.
As a lap swimmer, this idea is just really cool and I also admit I did a Homer Simpson "D'oh!" for not thinking of it first. And I definitely want to give these goggles a try, though knowing me, I would lose them so fast it wouldn't even be funny.
 I really would like a pair of these googles.
posted by Michael at 6/29/2005 11:06:00 AM |
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I'm infamous yet again. I sent in a question to TV Guide's Michael Ausiello about the lack of the new Doctor Who on our American shores last week. And he actually posted it in today's Ask Ausiello column!
Check it out!
Question: Not to get bitter here, but you answered a question about Tru Calling every single week for months! And yet you won't help out the American Dr Who fans by using the power and influence of AA to let some network out there know that we demand this show start airing in the U.S. immediately! I have to admit I'm becoming a bit disillusioned here. — Michael
Ausiello: You owe me, Mike. Big-time.
posted by Michael at 6/29/2005 10:09:00 AM |
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I promise there will be nothing on this survey about beans, George Wendt or George Wendt eating beans....
posted by Michael at 6/29/2005 09:14:00 AM |
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I have to admit, I'm pretty intrigued by the opening of the Spielberg/Cruise War of the Worlds tomorrow. I like how the previews (so far) have kept hidden what the alien machines and the aliens themselves look like. One thing I've come to dislike about trailers of late is their ability to give away some of the twists and turns of a film or to take away the spectacle and awe of seeing things for the first time on the big-screen.
Of course, I expect there to be some scary moments in the new film. But as I ponder the new movie, I wonder if any of the scares will equal those that freaked out all of America back in 1938 when Orson Welles aired his infamous radio version of The War of the Worlds.
I'm an old-radio buff, so I've heard the original broadcast of War of the Worlds. Many times, actually. It's always trotted out around Halloween for sale and will sometimes be rebroadcast. (In fact, they did an updated version a few years ago with actors from Star Trek, but it just wasn't as good IMHO). I am sure with the movie coming out, it will be available somewhere to listen to or download on-line. Even SciFi is getting into the swing of things tonight with a one-hour special that examines why this show scared America so much. (It airs at 10 p.m. EST).
So, what was it that made this show so darn scary? Cause if you hear it now, you might be like me and go--yeah, it's chilling but surely you'd know it wasn't real.
To understand why many panicked you have to understand something of when the show aired. Not just that it was 1938 and radio was in it hey-dey. You have to understand what aired opposite this show--namely the Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy show. Bergan and McCarthy were the popular radio ventroloquist act (you never saw his lip moves, let me tell you!) of the time. It was a hit show, esp. during this time as McCarthy had a feud going on with W.C. Fields. The show would start out with an opening set of jokes and then go to a musical number--think of tuning in for the Letterman monologue as a modern equivalent.
So, Bergan and McCarthy did the opening routine and then went to a longish muscial number. And people being people channel surfed. Over to War of the Worlds. Which was presented like a news broadcast actually unfolding. Listen to it..it sounds real. The actors are all taking it seriously. It sounded real and it was done with such sincerity that people took it as real. Not having heard from the beginning that--oh, by the way, this is fiction, they panicked.
And one of the most famous incidents in radio history was born.
And as good as the shocks may be in this new movie, I doubt they will live up to that shock from almost 60 years ago.
posted by Michael at 6/28/2005 03:15:00 PM |
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I was in Wal-Mart the other day, browsing the huge block of two for eleven dollar DVDs (I have to check it every time I go in on the off chance I see something I just can't live without), when I saw they had one of my favorite "so stupid it's funny" movies for sale--Hot Shots, Part Duex. (I defy you to watch this movie and not laugh out loud when Charlie Sheen shoots that chicken like an arrow..that, my friends is great comedy! If you can't laugh at that, you just have no sense of humor!) Since I'd picked up the original Hot Shots a few weeks ago at another Wal-Mart, I decided to complete the duology and purchase Part Duex as well.
As I picked it up, I saw a sticker on the outside of the box that gave me pause.
Most of you probably remember that the Hot Shots duology was made back in the early to mid 90's and one of the huge butts of the jokes was Sadaam Hussain. Of course, Sadaam was played by a stand-in in the movie, though the guy did look a lot like Sadaam Hussain.
What struck me on the outside of the Hot Shots, Part Deux packaging was there was a sticker that said, "Sadaam Hussain himself does not appear in this movie." As if anyone out there is thinking--wow, the real Sadaam took a few days off from brutalizing the people of Iraq so he could jaunt over to Hollywood and film a few scenes in which he's portrayed as an imbecile for a movie.
Seriously--if they had to go to the trouble of putting the sticker on the box, you know that means that someone out there watched this movie, saw Sadaam Hussain and thought, "Well, how'd the real Sadaam get in that movie?"
posted by Michael at 6/28/2005 12:52:00 PM |
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Well, I've finished my 50 books for the 50 Book Challenge..but hey, that doesn't mean I've stopped reading. So, I will just keep a running total of what I've read and my thoughts on them. Be warned, I will try to be vague about SPOILERs but I may give away a few. And some of these rantings will be longer than others.
51. The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
A couple of years ago, I joined a sci-fi book discussion group at a local Barnes and Nobel. My logic in doing this was that there was a lot of sci-fi out there and just about all of it claimed to be the greatest sci-fi novel ever written on the cover blurbs. I wanted to branch out and read some new (to me) sci-fi and I figured this would be a good way to do so and also to get recommendations from other fans who enjoyed the genre.
I joined during the summer those two competing asteroid movies came out and to tie into it, we read the novel Lucifer's Hammer by Niven and Pournelle. After reading this book (I forced myself to complete it...and let me just say the best character was the asteroid (yes, you do get a lot of pages from its point of view before it crashes into Earth and stuff starts blowing up real good!)), I was so burned out by the experience that I swore off reading anything by Niven and Pournelle as a writing team ever again.
That lasted about seven or so years, until I decided to participate in SF Signal's retro Hugo and Nebula award project. And wouldn't you know it? Niven and Pournelle were on there with their novel The Mote in God's Eye.
So, I did what I swore I'd never do--I bought a Niven and Pournelle novel and sat down to read it. I kept justifying it to myself, saying that this was supposedly their best book.
The Mote in God's Eye is the story of humanity's first contact with an alien race, called the Moties. And when the story actually deals with humanity encountering the Moties and their secret, it's actually quite good and compelling. As a culture, the Moties are interesting, compelling and alien. Give Niven and Pournelle credit--they do a good job creating the alien civilization.
Alas, it will take you about 200 pages to get to the alien civilization and another 50 or so before you start sensing that things aren't what they seem. And those 200 pages are filled with the exact faults that made Lucifer's Hammer so intolerable for me--shallow characters, pedestrian action sequences and a whole lot of scenes that read like "wow, look at us create a super cool universe for our characters to inhabit." I understand that backstory of where humanity is at the time of our first encounter is important, but does the plot have to grind to a halt so we can hear about where we are in the universe and how we got to there? By contrast, one of the other novels nominated for the Hugo and Nebula that year Flow My Tears Said the Policeman logs in at a short 200 pages but yet creates a richer, more compelling universe and view of the future simply by putting us in it and assuming that we, the reader, can figure out what's going on and how the universe works.
52. Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido.
I have to admit, going into this Star Trek novel, the central hook didn't really compel me--a cross of the Star Trek universe with the West Wing. Honestly, I've watched West Wing a few times and I just don't find it all that compelling, interesting or entertaining. Well written with some great dialogue, sure. But not enough to jump into my appointment TV viewing rotations. So, I have to admit that I wasn't as intrigued by this novel as I was by this year's earlier Titan book. I did pick it up because I've enjoyed the word of Keith R.A. DeCandido up to this point and see him as a rising star in the Trek fiction universe. (Some have compared him to the great Peter David).
Now let me warn you--if you're a Trek fiction fan and you haven't read the A Time to... miniseries and the first Titan novel, stay away from this one until you do. It takes place after both and follows-up on events in each of the series. That said, I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. It took some interesting risks--the concept of giving us an entire story about the first year of a Federation presidency and the political manueverings that go on could have fallen flat on its face or been (worse yet) dull. Instead, DeCandido gives us a good story with some compelling characters. I will admit I didn't love this one as much as many of the Trek reading community have (I swear they're picking out china patterns with the book as we speak), but it was a good story and well told. It was a nice change of pace in the Trek fiction and it's not a novel that I'd mind a sequel to, provided that DeCandido gets to write it and can find enough compelling material for another year (I think he can). Just like Peter David, DeCandido is finding segments of the Trek universe that we can't or don't see shown on the small screen and expanding on them in new, compelling ways. And for that alone, I will encourage him to keep writing these novels and keeping the bar high for all of Trek fiction.
53. Fantastic Four by Peter David
Back in the days before VHS and DVD, novelizations were intended to give fans at home a way to relive the movie over and over again. Over the years, there have been some great novelizations of films I've seen--ones that really expanded the film and the universe in interesting, meaningful ways. Such examples are the original Star Wars novelization and the Vonda McIntyre novelizations of Star Treks II-IV. But as VHS and DVD have become more prevelant, movie novelizations have become more bare bones--just a basic retelling of the story without much added.
Except when you put the name Peter David on it. David has novelized each of the big Marvel super hero films of the past few summer and done a great job with each. His Spider-Man novelizations were great, expanding what were already great films. Even his novelization of The Hulk worked well, but I think part of that was that David wrote for comic version of the Hulk for many years.
Now he turns his pen to the beliguered and much-debated Fantastic Four movie. I will admit I picked up this novel and read it simply because it had the words Peter David on the cover. And I have to admit I enjoyed it. Will it be a great film? Not sure yet. Honestly, it leans more toward the Hulk side of things than the Spider-Man side of things based on what I read here. But again, I think the movie has some potential and it could be a lot better than people are giving it credit for. I will give the book a lot of credit-it's very readable and it's full of David's storytelling style. For that reaosn alone I enjoyed it.
How will it translate to the big screen? Remains to be seen. But after reading it, I can see how it could go either way. The stroy is a good one as far as retelling of origins go and updating them. My biggest beef is that I don't find the Dr Doom plotline all that compelling and it seems as if they've watered down one of Marvel's better villains for this storyline. I also found myself wondering if this might not be a great set-up movie like X-Men was for the superior in every way X2. And then wondering if this movie will make enough at the box office to warrant the sequel that could do better justice to the premise.
54. Dead Folk's Blues by Steve Womack.
Steve Womack is a Nashville-based writer. This novel is the first in a series featuring reporter turned private-eye Harry Denton. Half of the fun of this novel for me was reading about familiar places around Nashville that I see or hear about daily. It's fun to sort of map out the routes or imagine the areas of town that Harry is exploring in uncovering the crime. But, this is a murder-mystery and it must also be judged on those merits. And I have to admit, I enjoyed it for that as well. I've been reading some of the novels in the Hard Case Crime series and I think this one would fit in well there--a hard-boiled detective, a femme fatale, all those elements are here. And the mystery itself hangs together well enough. It's certainly not as strong as one by Minette Walters or Elizabeth George (my gold standard for modern mystery writing), but it's one that keeps the pages turning and did have me guesssing to the end. The real draw is Denton, who tells the story from the first-person. Denton's voice is compelling, interesting and keeps the pages turning even as red herrings and blind aleys are explored.
55. Just One Look by Harlan Coben
Advertised as a thriller, this one is anything but. It starts out well--housewife Grace Lawsonl collects some photos from the local PhotoMat. Included is one that she didn't take that is years old of her husband and some strangers. He sees it and bolts, thus sending Grace into a panic and trying to figure out why he left and what has happened. Turns out, her hubby is harboring a secret from his past and, well, to tell much more would give it all away. Honestly, this one is not as compelling as it wants to be and it loses steam quickly once the husband drives off. The plot is extremely convoloted and it comes with one-wince inducing twist after another (all telegraphed well in advance and seemingly from the "So you want to write a suspense thriller" handbook). By the time we got the revelations of what was happening and why I was just in it to see how it call came out and not because I cared two figs for any of the characters' fates.
56. The Amber Room by Steve Berry
This one is billed being in the same vein as the DaVinici Code and I guess I can see that. It's a blend of history and action adventure and it is a page-turner. It's part legal thriller, part historical novel and part action adventure story. I'm not sure the overall blend of genres works that well and some of the characters are a bit one-dimensional, but it will keep you turning the pages. This is what I'd honestly classify as a smart beach or pool-side read.
57. By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie.
58. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
59. The Labors of Hercules by Agatha Christie.
I guess you could say I was in kind of an Agatha Christie mood since I read these three pretty much back-to-back-to-back (not that they took that long mind you). Of the three, I found By the Pricking and And Then There Were None the most interesting. And Then There Were None is considered a classic of the mystery-genre and its certainly a formula that has been well-copied since in books, movies and television. I had to set aside my familiarity with the concept in order to enjoy it and I did find myself enjoying it. I was unaware of the resolution of the mystery going in and thankfully no one had ruined it for me (as happened with the Murder of Roger Ackryoid). By the Pricking of My Thumbs is the last novel to feature Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, who were in two other novels. I have to admit this one is a bit different than most Christie novels and I enjoyed it for that reason alone. Also, the central mystery is one that works well and hangs together well. As for Labors, I found myself wishing I was enjoying it more. The hook at Hercule Poiroit wants to be like his name-sake Hercules and takes on cases that only bear a resemblance to the 12 Labors of Hercules was interesting. But the mysteries themselves are short stories and some didn't quite have the narrative hook or umph I was expecting. Christie can do well with short stories, but these stories don't show off her skills as much as others.
60. Flow My Tears, Said the Policeman by Phillip K. Dick
All the classic Philip K. Dick elements are here--paranoia, questions about what is real and what is the nature of identity, etc. And yet, this novel never felt dull, tedious or formulamic. If anything, it felt fresh and contemporary, even if some of the references to future technology do date the novel.
In the span of a day, Jason Tavener goes from being the kind of the media world to being a virtual nobody. The story unfolds as Tavener tries to piece back together what happened to his life and identity. He goes from being the most recognized man in the world to nobody in the span of a few hours and he must figure out just who and what he is and what has happened. There's a sense of paranoia and panic that is palatable as the story unfolds. Tavener slowly tries to reconnect with his old life and finds that no one remembers him.
As the story unfolds, Tavener's universe slowly returns to what it was--where he is a household name. Watching as Dick slowly puts these elements back into play is interesting and keeps the pages turning. And seeing how Tavener uses his ability (he is a six, a person created with exceptional personal magnetism and charm) to win friends and influence people is great.
But while Tavener is the focus of much of the story, Dick makes an interesting choice of not making him the central protagonist of this story. That goes to Felix Bruckman, the titular policeman character. Bruckman has a sister, Alys, with whom he has a less than above the board relationship (re: incestous..they have a child together). Alys is a drug-addict who pushes the latest and greatest drugs in her attempts to escape reality. The stories of these characters all cross and spin-off from there.
Weighing it at just over 200 pages, this novel feels richer and more complex than the lenght would suggest. Dick creates a dystopian future that feels authentic and real. He puts characters in it that are products of the universe. He introduces concepts and hooks that could be entire novels in the hands of other storytellers but are just presented as asides here (this society's solution to race relations is chilling). By doing all of this, Dick creates a universe that feels absolutely complete and real and one in which its easy to become immersed. The pages of this story turn quickly and I came away feeling as if the story had ended too soon. Not because the novels climax was rushed but because I was enjoying the universe so much that it seemed a shame that it had to close so quickly.
Make no mistake though--this is very adult sci-fi. There is an incestious relationship at the center of the dilemma that may make some pause. And I will say this--not all the woman come off that well in this novel. Many of them are just there to fulfill men's desires in a physical way and not much beyond that. That said, the sense of paranoia and the questions of what makes reality real are so strong and compelling that you'll find yourself sucked in and turning the pages quickly. Outside of the classic Man in the High Castle, this is Dick's best book.
61. The Skull Beneath the Skin by P.D. James
The second novel featuring James' Cordelia Gray. It's a decent enough mystery though I have to admit I found it shame that we couldn't get more novels with Cordelia in them. Apparently James sold the rights to the character to television and is unhappy with her development there and for some reason refuses to write more. It was intersting to read this and And Then There Were None so close together as they both have simliar elements to them.
posted by Michael at 6/27/2005 08:47:00 AM |
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Last night, we had a family pool party at church. My sister was down with the latest creeping crud (it is not fun and I pray that I do NOT get it) and so I agreed to be there to help my brother-in-law keep an eye on my niece and nephew while in the pool. (It's difficult enough for a person to keep up with both of them on dry land).
Davis did some splashing out in the pool last year at our family reunion and he seemed to like it well enough. But last night, he took to the kiddie pool like a duck to water (he got a bit disconcerted when he fell a few times and got his head under for a second, but otherwise he loved it). He stomped about and splashed and had a good time. And Uncle Michael showed him the fun of dragging him through the pool in circles and making motor boat sounds. Needless to say, this is Davis' new favorite game.
Of course, other small children saw me doing this and so I got to be the motor boat for many of the small ones.
Now, the pool we had the party at had a diving board. I used to be a pretty good diver back in the day, but it'd been years since I'd gone off the board . So, after an hour or so of being motor boat, I figured I'd do a couple of dives, maybe a cannonball or two. I was, however, not flipping as I was traumatized as a teenager when I got three-quarters through one and flattened out doing a back-flop. Yes, I can still feel the stinging to this day.
Anyway, where was I?
So, after ensuring that Brian had enough help watching the kids (there were a bunch of parents nearby watching kids swim), I headed for the diving board. On the way, one of the youth said, "Are you here to join the game of sharks and minnows?" Now, it's been years since I played, but I figured why not. Many trips across the pool and back later and a game or two of water polo later, it was time to go...home and pass out from exhastion.
Did I forget the part where I'd worked out and swum laps earlier in the day?
Yeah, so I was a bit tired...but hey, it did justify that trip to Sonic for one of those new cookie dough blast treats...so hey, it's win-win!
posted by Michael at 6/26/2005 07:07:00 PM |
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Earlier this week, Becky wrote a post about the movie He Said, She Said, starring the most-working man in Hollywood, Kevin Bacon.
Before she posted about the film, I'd not seen it, though I was aware of the hook of the film--the story of a relationship as told through the perspective of both parties involved. (I watched it last night out for the first time and have to admit I enjoyed it) Of course, we're supposed to find some humor in the wildly different ways in which certain events unfold on screen through the different perspectives of the man and the woman in the relationship. One of the most interesting things is how both parties perceive who made the first move--in his version of events, he asked her out while in her version of events, she asked him out.
Of course, in both cases, the stories do diverge a bit, even in relating the same series of events. Which brings up the question--just where does the truth of the matter reside?
Thinking about this question brought to mind one of my favorite quotes from Babylon Five.
"A Vorlon said 'Understanding is a three edged sword.' Your side, their side and the truth"
This quote has rattled around in my brain the past couple of days for a variety of reasons. As has the premise of He Said, She Said and one of my all time favorite episode of The X-Files, "Bad Blood" (that's where the quote comes from that serves as the title for this post). For those of you who may not have seen "Bad Blood" or don't know every episode of The X-Files by name, "Bad Blood" is one of the "humorous" episodes. Mulder and Scully head down to a small town in Texas to investigate what appear to be a cult of people who think they're vampires who are attacking cattle and now tourists.
The story starts with Mulder pursing someone who is, apparently a vampire. He catches up to the kid, stakes him and then finds out that the vampire teeth are fakes. We then go to D.C. a day later and hear Mulder and Scully sharing their versions of the events as they get ready to meet with Assistant Director Skinner to explain their actions.
The humor comes from how each person perceives themselves and the events. In Scully's version of the story, she is the long-suffering one doing all the behind the scenes work while Mulder spouts of partial theories out of thin air, causing eye-rolling by all he encounters. Also in her version, the sheriff (played by Luke Wilson) is an attractive man who flirts with her. In Mulder's version, he sees Scully as moody and combatitive--challenging his every theory and acting bored while he pontificates on the origin and nature of vampires to the sheriff and others, all who appear interested in what he has to say (except Scully, of course). Also, in his version, the sheriff is buck-toothed and has a Texas drawl and Scully is throwing herself at him.
One other interesting note--as Mulder is attacked by the vampire, Scully comes back in. She shoots and from her point of view, misses three or four times. From Mulder's point of view (he's drugged by the pizza), he sees the bullets hit the vampire in question (turns out the whole town is vampires) and he leaps through the air to get Scully and escape.
Now, the concept of having a story told from multiple perspectives is nothing new. It's was done way back in Roshomon and it's a concept that certainly doesn't grow old, if done right. (I do remember seeing an episode of Momma's Family with the same, central premise as it were...only hilarity did not ensue).
What interests me about it is a couple of things. The first is, the perception of ourselves. In each of the stories, it's not so much what happens as how we filter the events through our own perceptions and biases. That is something that I've had to think about when it comes to disagreeing with people--it's not they are necessarily wrong, it's that they don't have the world-view that I do. They don't have the same expereinces I do and so they are going to come at things from a different perspective. Again, it doesn't make it wrong or right--it just makes it how they see things.
I think where the important issue comes to bear is how do these two world views come together. Indeed, I am not a person who seeks out people who radically disagree with what I think or feel. In a relationship, as we see with He Said, She Said, each side has different views, but fundamentally, they agree on the important things and can, thus, have a deeper romantic relationship. Indeed, early on we see that Kevin Bacon's character only wants the physical side and could care less about connecting with someone until he connects with Elizabeth Perkin's character. Even after they've had a major melt-down fight and he could go back to his old ways by having a meaningless tryst with an old girlfreind, he chooses not to because he realizes that he wants more than just a one-night thing.
Also of interest is that in a couple of key scenes, the two see things virtually the same way. There is one defining moment in the relationship and movie and it's presented from both sides and is, virtually identical. Early on, it's established that Kevin Bacon's character wakes up on occasion at 4:15 a.m. with night terrors. We also find out that Elizabeth Perkin's character sleep walks and does wacky stuff that she won't remember later. At a key point, Bacon wakes up with night terrors. Perkins asks what is wrong and he says it's nothing. She then babbles on about cheesecake and he agrees. She lays back down and he realizes she won't remember this later so he allows himself to be vulnerable to her emotionally. She then gets up to get the cheesecake and we later find out that she was actually awake for this, but was faking her insanity to keep him at ease. (Yes, I've just ruined some of the film for you, but since my copy had a preview for Star Trek VI that came out in 1991 on it, I'm not too worried about it).
I found it interesting that as wildy different as these two saw other things, that this one important thing plays out the same in both versions--bascially, Bacon's profession of love is word for word the same in both versions and it's played the same.
Looking at it, we see that fundamentally, this is what makes these two work. Because they see eye to eye on the fundmanentals...it's just that both have a different thought process on figuring out what is important to both of them and different ways of relating it.
We also see that in The X-Files episode. Both Mulder and Scully are right about what happened.
In the end, in any relationship, the truth lies in the middle. It's something I have to remember in my daily interaction with family, friends and others. Just because I fundamentally think its the truth, doesn't mean its necessarily the truth to you. This perspective has certainly helped me at times and the times I've not kept in mind, it's not led to good results.
As The X-Files says, "The Truth Is Out There..."
posted by Michael at 6/25/2005 11:55:00 AM |
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Apparently he got into it with Matt Lauer on the Today Show this morning. First Oprah, now this....make you kind of wonder when he's just gonna snap...
posted by Michael at 6/24/2005 03:38:00 PM |
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I am 55% geeky according to this test. And there weren't even any extra credit questions on Doctor Who....
posted by Michael at 6/24/2005 03:32:00 PM |
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Friday's Feast
Appetizer
What time do you usually wake up each day? If you could choose your wake-up time, when would it be?
I usually get up at 6 a.m. daily, though of late for some reason I keep waking up without the alarm at 5:45 a.m. If I could choose a time to wake-up, it'd be 7 or 7:30 a.m.
Soup
When was the last time you bought groceries? What store did you go to? Name 3 things you purchased.
Last Saturday. I went to Super Wal-Mart. I got bread, bananas and apples.
Salad
How many books have you read so far this year? Which was your favorite and why?
I'm a voracious reader. This year I've read 57 or 58 books, so for. My favorite--wow, that's a good question. The books I've enjoyed the most so far this year are Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas and With No One as Witness by Elizabeth George. With No One as Witness was great because I love the Lynley and Havers series and it was a return to greatness of the early books. It was also one that I could get lost in for hours at a time. Rats Saw God is by Rob Thomas, the creator of Veronica Mars and the protagonist who tells us the story just really resonanted with me.
Main Course
What is something you consider to be very elegant? In particular, what about that item/place/person conjures up the feeling of elegance?
For my grandparent's 50th anniversary, the family went out to this extremely fancy inn in the Tidewater area of Virginia (which I could recall the name now..it will come to me later!) We were served courses and between each course, the waiters would come and sweep the crumbs off the table for you. I had venison for my meal and it was incredible. The whole experience was elegant because we all got dressed up, went to a fancy place with waiters who hovered in the background but were never conspicious and because we were celebrating my grandparent's anniversary. A great family memory.
Dessert
Who taught you how to drive?
My dad.
Aloha Friday
Where’s the furthest place away you’ve traveled?
Lived in Hawaii for four years growing up--preschool to 2nd grade. Went back to visit several times when my parents were stationed there again in the mid 90's.
What was your best subject in high school? Worst?
Best--English or my journalism class. Worst--Biology.
Spread the spirit of aloha…whom should we visit this week?
Visit Samantha Tippy, blogger and fellow Doctor Who fans (one of the approximately 40 female Dr Who fans in the world...LOL)
posted by Michael at 6/24/2005 08:33:00 AM |
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 The Doctor regenerates
"You know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek homeworld? The on-coming storm..."
--The Doctor
It's interesting that in 40 plus years of Doctor Who, before "The Parting of the Ways" the Doctor's greatest enemies had yet to feature in a final story of a Doctor's era. Yes, they've cropped up to kick-off an era ("Power of the Daleks" but it took until the series' 27th season before they could usher out an era for the good Doctor.
And just as quickly as it began, the Eccleston era of Doctor Who is over.
And while "The Parting of the Ways" is certainly not up there with "The Caves of Androzani" as perfect stories to end an era on, it's no where nearly as abysmal at "Planet of the Spiders." For the end of an era and a season, it did pretty much all it needed to do. Certainly, I went into "The Parting of the Ways" hoping for another out and out instant classic like we got with "Dalek" but we didn't get it.
Instead, what we got was a story that while it competently wrapped up all the season's on-going storylines, delivered on the promise of "Bad Wolf" and generated some excitement for the next season, still suffered from the same thing that every Russell K. Davies story has suffered from this year--an overall lack of pacing. As much as I understand why we had scenes with Jackie and Mickey, it felt like there was too much built around the trio of Jackie, Rose and Mickey trying to pry open the heart of the TARDIS so Rose could go back and save the Doctor and the world. One scene of this might have been good, but the constant cutting back to it while the Daleks were invading the station and Earth and the Doctor worked on his final solution to stop them got a bit old quickly. I was far more compelled by the discussion of the Daleks levelling Australia than I was in seeing Mickey drive a tow truck and tear up his car.
That said, I did like most of the rest of what we got here. I think the previews sold this episode as being something different that it turned out to be. I expected more of a raging battle with the Daleks--a drawn out battle along the lines of what we saw in "Revelation of the Daleks." Instead, Russell Davies pulled a fast one on us--giving us a glimpse of the battle scenes in the preview while masking the fact that the end of the Eccelston era would be one in the mold of the traditional Doctor Who stories of yesteryear. Instead of blowing the budget on huge battle sequences, we got a story that examined fundamentallly who the Doctor is and what he stands for. The Doctor's building of an ultimate weapon that will wipe out the Dalek fleet and as a side effect take out most of humanity as well as nicely done. And for a long while, I fully thought the Doctor would use it--his justification that humanity had colonies in the solar system and would survive was a nice twist. And based on what we've seen of the 9th Doctor this year as a character ruled by his passions at times--the death of Cassandra being one and his outrage that Rose was killed last week being another--I felt for a long time like he would use the weapon.
But in the end, the Doctor hopes there must be a better way rather than sacrificing himself and the innocents on Earth to defeat the evil. Indeed, I wonder if the Dalek's admonition from "Dalek" crossed his mind as he considered enabling the weapon..."You would make an excellent Dalek, Doctor." It ranks right up there with the classic, "Do I have the right?" scene from "Genesis of the Daleks" as a defining moment in Doctor Who.
Interesting that a defining moment of a Doctor would come in his final few minutes on screen.
Thankfully, the series had a third option--one that we hadn't considered. And that was that Bad Wolf wasn't an evil thing, but was instead a warning. We find out the identity of Bad Wolf in the story. Turns out it's Rose, who absorbs the energy from the heart of the TARDIS, returns to save the Doctor (after he sends her away to save her life) and wipes out the Dalek fleet. Having seen the revelation of who Bad Wolf is, I now want to go back and examine if the series sets this revelation up well enough over the course of the 13 episodes this year. Right now, I feel like it did, but it could fall apart under closer scrutiny. Also, I have to admit, I found the glowing Rose full of power a bit derivative of Buffy's season six Dark Willow (which was derivative of the X-Men Dark Phoenix plotline). But that's probably my bias as a Buffy fan clouding things there.
I do admit I found the Bill and Ted nature of Rose creating herself as Bad Wolf by sending messages to herself back in time a bit much.
Ironically enough, I didn't mind as much the get out of death free card that she played for Captain Jack. Of course, that is because it sets up his return next year and he's gonna be pretty upset at being left behind I imagine.
Also, I have to say that we'd better get some consequences to what Rose did next year. In the course of the story, the Doctor sends her out of harm's way and she ignores him. Also, she pretty much throws in Mickey and her mother's faces that her life on Earth is empty and meaningless. It does set up that she can't just go back to her normal life at the end of her time in the TARDIS since she has burned so many bridges. Finally, even though right away she can't remember what she did as Bad Wolf, she should at some point. Or have someone else remind her of what she's done...and see how that affects her.
But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. But it's a good feeling--knowing we have at least two more years of new Doctor Who to look forward to. A new Doctor is installed and we've got the excitement of seeing where David Tennant will take this role. Eccleston has revived it and now Tennant has to run with it. I know I'm along for the ride.
I enjoyed this season and I can't wait for more new Doctor Who next year. It's going to be a long wait for the Christmas special.
posted by Michael at 6/23/2005 10:35:00 AM |
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Last night, we had family over to chow down on some Mrs. Winner's fried chicken. My dad's birthday is today, so we got his cake early and were all sitting around enjoying the sugary goodness that is chocolate cake with whipped butter cream icing.
Before the cake was cut, I'd threatened to give Davis a bit or two of cake and icing to which his mother said absolutely not. (She never lets him have any fun!) So, being a good uncle, I was determined to wait until she was looking the other direction and give him some cake I decided to not give him any.
Now, Davis was running about and mobile because he likes to sit still in is high chair all of 15 seconds after he's done eating. So, I looked over to see Gracelyn happily feeding her younger brother cake and icing. Both of them were giggling like fools, having a good time.
Until Mommy noticed. And then assumes that Uncle Michael was somehow behind all of this. Which I never specifically told Gracelyn to give Davis cake. I can't help it if she's a loving, big-sister who wants to share with her younger brother.
posted by Michael at 6/23/2005 07:15:00 AM |
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While surfing the radio dial the other morning, I heard Steve Gill talking about a little league team in Columbus, Ohio that was kicked out of a rec league for being "too good."
"After hearing and seeing the scores from that group, I called up the
league office and said, ‘No way are we going to play them,’ " said Terry Morris,
who coaches one of three teams from Bloom-Carroll schools in Fairfield County.
"I wasn’t going to subject my players to that."
Other teams started complaining. And canceling. The Stars were pulled
from the league schedule. The team appealed to the league’s commissioner, Joe
Bernowski, to no avail.
So, are we punishing a team for being too good, for being too commited to wanting to play well and practicing hard? The article does go on to say the Stars practice 2 and 1/2 hours a day, four days a week and many of the players have been together for several seasons.
I guess following the same logic, we shouldn't allow the New England Patriots to be in contention to defend their championship next year since they've won three of the last four Super Bowls....
posted by Michael at 6/22/2005 11:52:00 AM |
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The AFI revealed their top 100 movie quotes of all-time last night (pared down from a list of over 400 potential top quotes) Number one on the list was the final line from Gone With the Wind (not a huge shock there).
Looking at the list of the top 100 that made the final cut, I have to wonder about some things.
Such as how did "Luke, I am your father..." not make the top 100?!? Sort of one of those pivotal moments in all of movie history, don't you think?!?
Also, looking at the original list, I was interested in what movies had a large representation on the list. (Casablanca having so many wasn't a huge shock). I was a bit stunned that Ace Ventura had not one but TWO potential quotes that made the list. I mean, I like the Ace Ventura movies as much as the next person, but there were a lot of other movies that were more quotable in my mind.
Looking at both lists, I find there are some quotes from movies that I like that just didn't make the grade.
Such as:
"Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"
"I have been and always shall be your friend."
Both of these are from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
"You killed the invisible swordsman!"
This one is from The Three Amigos
"I suppose you could say that everyone has an El Guapo. For some, shyness may be an El Guapo. For others, lack of education may be an El Guapo. But for us, El Guapo is a large ugly man who wants to kill us!"
From The Three Amigos
"What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the hula?"
From The Lion King
"1.21 jiggawatts?!?"
"Last night, Darth Vader came down from planet Vulcan and told me that if I didn't take Lorraine out that he'd melt my brain."
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious sh*t."
All three from Back to the Future
"I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."
"It's just a flesh wound."
"One day, lad, all this will be yours."
--"What, the curtains?"
All three of the above are from Monty Python and the Holy Grail
"That'll be the day..."
From The Searchers
"I know I'm gonna use good judgement. I haven't lost my temper in 40 years, but pilgrim you caused a lot of trouble this monring, might have got somebody killed... and somebody oughta belt you in the mouth. But I won't, I won't. The hell I won't..."
From McLintock!
So, what are your quotes that missed the list?
Also, extra credit for those of you who can tell me what movies my quotes are from.
UPDATE: Several commentors have figured out where the movie quotes come from, so I've identified those by bold-facing the font and the color change. Also, I've identified the movie they're from as well.
And I can't believe I didn't point out the line that several commentors brought up from The Princess Bride, "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die."
FURTHER UPDATE: Well, two of the quotes stumped people. So, I've indentified the movies they're from.
posted by Michael at 6/22/2005 09:53:00 AM |
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The 4400: Weight of the World
Alright, so who didn't see the twist of Trent Applebaum's miracle saliva having unexpected consequences coming? I figured as soon as the mobster showed back up, having lost 75 pounds in two days that there would be some Twilight Zone like twist to the storyline. And we certainly got it--turns out once the reduction starts working, it's difficult to stop. And then Trent loses his ability in order to save his daughter and everyone else. But not before he's left behind samples of his saliva so that it can be studied and other uses besides rapid weight loss can be discovered.
I enjoyed seeing Robert Picardo in a good post-Voyager role. As salesman Trent Applebaum, he did a nice job and I liked that his overriding concern wasn't just the money but creating a better life for his daughter after all she had to sacrifice for him while he was gone.
Meanwhile, the other plot threads are slowly starting to boil. We find out that Jordan is a user--using those around him and then tossing them aside when they are no longer necessary to his overall goals. The more we discvoer about Jordan, the more I wonder--how long will it be until Sean is more a liability than an asset? (I mean, this is the man who jumps into bed with the singer and causes Devon to attempt suicide because she can't stand the thought of being used and tossed aside) And why is he making claims of grooming Sean as a successor to take over the institute at some point in the future? And is Jordan's agenda actually one that is benefitting the overall plan of the future humans who took the 4400 and then sent them back? And how much does Jordan know that he's not telling us? It seems as if the 4400 were given their gifts and sent back, but I have to wonder just what was Jordan's gift. Was he brought in on the plan somehow? Does he know more than he's telling?
Meanwhile, Kyle is having blackouts and apparently attempting to date his literature professor (which for some reason, she seems way too convient a character to be introduced at this point for her not to have some other type of agenda). And the Richard and Lilly storyline pushes forward. Honestly, of all the plotlines, this one seems the most rushed week in and week out. They've become the David Banners of this show. I found myself sort of wishing we'd seen them settle down for a few episodes before being forced to leave. I'd feel a bit more sympathy for their plight if we'd had time to see them settle down and begin to enjoy their current residence rather than just jamming in the coming into a new place, wanting to settle down, getting exposed and then going on the lam again. All this within the context of one-hour of screen time. There are a lot of other plots going on and I find myself wishing that The 4400 would give into the tempation to have some of the plot threads unfold over more than just one episode. As it is, the series isn't exactly self-contained episode-wise, so why not allow some things to unfold over the course of an episode or two rather than having to wrap up the central conflict in one installment?
The Dead Zone: The Collector
"The Collector" is the first episode produced for The Dead Zone's fourth season and, quite frankly, it was kind of disappointing. Character-wise I enjoyed what was going on, but the main plotline just didn't ever really grab my attention. I guess part of my bias here is that in season two of Buffy we had the brilliantly underrated "Ted" with John Ritter as a robotic monster who was trying to transform the women he dated into his image of the perfect woman/wife. Here we get something similiar but, honestly, I have to say that Buffy did it better. (I can see Barry even now rushing to hit click the comment bar and question my insane, obsessive love of all things Buffy). There was a sense of tension to the storyline but it came in spurts and was never sustained enough. Also, I guessed early on in the story why our pyscho of the week was collecting the women and so that sort of took out the suspense of the central mystery for me.
But while the main mystery of the week plotline left me a bit chilly, I did warm up to what we were doing character wise. One thing I will give The Dead Zone credit for is that these characters never stay static. Last year, we had a resolution of sorts of the Johnny/Sarah/Walt triangle and now we see the producers pushing forward and continuing the growth of the characters. Sarah's sense of isolation with Walt having to work long hours and J.J.'s growing up was nicely done. I also felt like this wasn't something that came out of left field because we've seen Sarah take part in efforts she believes in in the past--such as Stillson's campaign. And the scene in the car as Walt vents his frustration to Johnny was nicely done as well.
But a couple of isolated scenes don't make up for the fact that the central mystery wasn't much to write home about. But then again, every show can have an off episode every once in a while. If there's one thing I've found with Michael Piller involved--there generally isn't going to be a long string of misfires. And even if there are some that just aren't up to the usual standard, I can always find at least one nugget of something to enjoy--as I did here.
posted by Michael at 6/22/2005 07:49:00 AM |
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I helped my cousin Rebecca move Sunday afternoon from her apartment to her brand-new (to her) house. After we'd moved all the furniture and boxes inside her new home, Susan came over with Gracelyn and Davis to see the new house.
Gracelyn was interested in Rebecca's cat Aeryl who was skulking in her litter box, having been traumatized by the move.
"Would you like to go and see the cat?" I asked her.
Gracelyn nodded.
"Would you like me to go with you and hold your hand?" I asked her.
She held our her hand. We started walking through the kitchen to where the cat was hiding out.
I'd gone two steps when I heard the approach of a small person behind me and felt my other hand grabbed. I looked down to see Davis, looking at me as if to say, "Yeah, I'm going too, buddy!"
So, one child on each hand, we went down to see the cat. Gracelyn was a bit tentative at first, but Davis was right in there petting the cat. In fact, he was pretty mad at Uncle Michael for making him leave the poor kitty alone so she could get used to her new home in peace after a few minutes of patient attention by a three-year-old and a one-year-old.
But it's good to know that the sibling rivalrry is alive and well.
posted by Michael at 6/21/2005 03:50:00 PM |
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Apparently, if you want to pick me up, a possible opening lines is....
To pick up Big Orange Michael: I'm good at math: U + I = 69
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or you could go with this one..."Hi will you help me find my lost puppy? I think he went into this cheap hotel room across the street."
posted by Michael at 6/21/2005 09:14:00 AM |
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Sometimes it takes a crisis in your life to remind you of just who your friends really are. This happened to me last year when I was going through a bleak situation. For some reason, I got the idea in my head that I was all alone in the events and that my close friends and family might not understand or accept me for what I was going through. I couldn't have been proved more wrong and I found out when the chips were down, I had more support than I could ever know what to do with. Instead of judging glances and harsh words, I was met with hugs of support, words of wisdom, offers of help and, most importantly, ears that listened without judging and never said, "Yes, but we've heard this part approximately 17,000 times today."
Now, I wouldn't compare that situation I'm going through right now to what I went through last year, but I am being reminded of the same lesson again--that I do have an amazing group of friend and family members who will rally around me when I need them.
To say it's been an interesting 24 hours is an understatement. I've got several e-mails from parents of the youth in my class saying that they support me and that their teenagers liked the class. Also, they talked to their kids and found out that we actually did open up the Bible and talk about it during the infamous incident on Sunday. Mary Anne's blatant attempt to ambush everyone at the meeting has drawn attention to her pattern of not having a kind word to say about anyone or anything. One of the nicest guys I know, who could find something good to say about Hitler, mind you, has come out and said he think she is just a mean lady and he she never has a kind word for anyone.
I talked to my dad and told him that I'd sent home a note, which I've provided him with a copy of. He said he intends to go to the next SPR meeting and calmly tell Mary Anne that her criticisms weren't accurate and that she didn't have all the details. He intends to present notes of support from the youth and parents and ask Mary Anne to apologize to the Sunday School teacher publically for these unfounded accustations. I took it one step farther and said that he could tell her that my Sunday School door is always open and that I understand her concerns and if she'd like to visit the class and see what is going on, she is welcome to do so.
I don't expect her to take me up on it, but part of me hopes she does. I want her to see what I see in these young adults as people.
I've given it a lot of thought in the couple of days and I've decided a couple of things. One is that I am not going to step down as Sunday School teacher. The second is, I am going to keep going with the study in question. As many negative comments as it's raised, it raised a lot more positive ones. And I had young people who enjoyed it. Now, I am not niave enough to think that next week they could be bored by it, but for now, I am going to go with what is working and getting some good response. The third is that I am going to talk to the education committee about getting some help for me in teaching the class. It's not that I don't love it, but I think having another adult, maybe a female, might help. I can relate well to the teenage guys, but I think the teenage girls might feel more comfortable having a female as a leader that they can relate to. Plus, it will be helpful should either of us have commitments and want or need to go out of town on a Sunday--as I will have to do a couple of times this summer for weddings, family reunions and the corporate day out at the zoo. A lot of the the youth I have in my class are kind of in and out, due to divorce and visitation, travelling in the summer, etc., so I think it'd be good for them to at least know who will be teaching Sunday School week to week.
And make no mistake here--when I talk about those who rally around you, I am not just talking about people I know in the "real" world. I am talking also about all of my blog-friends who took the time to thoughfully comment on what I had to say here. I can't thank you enough for the words of wisdom and support yesterday as it meant a lot to me.
posted by Michael at 6/21/2005 07:59:00 AM |
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I love 24, but the idea of making a big-screen version of it just doesn't seem like it will be all that successful. Or that it wouldn't somehow go against the basic conceit of the show of having each hour of the show unfold in "real time" (though I think many of us will agree that the reality of the real time concept flew out the window early in season two).
Also, the show needs to learn from the example of The X-Files. Season five of the show set up the movie and it did it fairly well, but there was no huge payoff at season's end. And the movie had to tread a fine line of not being so convoluted that long-time fans didn't feel like it was watered down too much and new fans would understand just what in the name of heaven was unfolding on screen.
posted by Michael at 6/20/2005 02:39:00 PM |
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I helped a cousin move from her apartment to her new house yesterday and despite the fact that I feel like I'm in pretty good shape for a 32-year-old guy, I can still feel some muscles that aren't always used in my usual regiment of excericse bike, cross-training and swimming laps this morning. It just means one thing--I am looking forward to getting to the pool this afternoon to work out the aches and pains in my muscles.
I'm also looking forward to it so I can work out some frustration I'm having. Some of you may remember that I posted last September about a woman at church who I locked horns with over the youth being in the sanctuary unattended. Well, needless to say, we've crossed paths again.
In the past couple of months, I've taken over teaching the senior high Sunday School class. The first couple of months, we've done a series of lessons reviewing some of the basic Bible stories, which went over OK at first, but the teens started to lose enthusiasm for it after the first month and a half or so. So, for the summer, I decided to go in a new direction. While browsing at the bookstore, I found a book called The Gospel According to The Simpsons. I picked it up and the companion study book, took them home and thought that this might be a good, interesting way to look at Scripture in a new way that the youth might find interesting, fun and relevant.
Let me also say this--I read and studied the book before I brought it our youth director as an idea for Sunday School. So, it's not like I just thought--cool title and went with it. I did my homework.
And you know, after just one lesson of the new material, I think we've got a solid hit on our hands. I announced to them weeks ago that we'd be doing this material and I also sent home notes to parents in case there were objections. In this note, I listed the material, the author of the material as well as my home and cell phone numbers and an e-mail address to contact me if you anyone should have any questions, objections or wanted to review the material before hand. As of this posting, I haven't heard a peep of objection from anyone.
Yesterday as we started the study, one girl informed me that her parents didn't want her to participate. She left and as some of the youth started to make fun of her as she left, I took a teaching moment and said, "No, don't. She's obeying her parents and we shouldn't make fun of her because her parents make a choice like this. They may have some very good reasons for choosing this and we should respect them." But, that left me with about a dozen senior high youth who settled in and enjoyed the study. We started off reading Scripture, watching an episode and then discussing the Biblical principal that was highlighted in the story.
I have to admit, we had some good discussion going and good participation. More so, I've had requests from some of the eighth grade youth to want to jump up and join the class now becuase they're enthusiastic to take part in the study. I left feeling a bit bad that we'd had to alienate one person, but feeling good that maybe, just maybe we'd reached some of the youth in an interesting, relevant way. I promised them at least five more weeks of the study and was kind of hoping this might be a catalyst for them to invite a friend or win back some of the youth who don't come to Sunday School thinking it's dull or boring.
Which that bubble burst last night. My dad is on the staff parish relations committee. And it seems that my Bible Study has raised an eyebrow at the church--that of my long time nemesis, Mary Ellen Rogers. Basically, she came into the meeting with her husband, screaming about that all the senior high youth do in Sunday School is sit around and watch The Simpsons. I know that she feels I am not a suitable teacher, lacking the "maturity" to teach the senior high youth. Basically, I am not fit to teach Sunday School to anyone, anytime, anywhere.
As you can tell, this is not the first time we've crossed paths. At first, when she started complaining about me, I shrugged it off as--well, if I'm annoying her, I must be doing something right. See, a lot of the church leadership--both the clergy and the lay people--come under her criticism. As my Granny used to say, "She wouldn't be happy if you hung her with a new rope." So, to be in the group was kind of a badge of honor, at first.
Now, it's just becoming a pain in my rear. She complains that her two daughters aren't made to feel welcome when they come to Sunday School. Well, I took over teaching this class just before Easter and the only time they've shown up for Sunday School was on Easter. And I treated them like I do anyone else in the class. I try not to play favorites and to give everyone a chance to participate. I know that at this age, some are more willing to particpate than others and that some are just here because their parents are making them be there. So, you have to be sensitive to those situations.
Also, in my defense, I sent home several notices about this study. Again, I included my contact info, so for someone to stand up and go, "Oh, I had no idea," just annoys me. This is not some subversive thing I came up with to get out of teaching Sunday School. Instead, I saw it as an opportunity to reach some young people in a new way. I know that this study will appeal to some but not others, hence why it's a short term thing.
And the thing that gets me is--if you've got a problem with me, come and talk to me. Have the f****** courage to come up to my face and say it to me. Or call me on the phone. Or e-mail me. Hell, I gave out my contact information, so why not pick up the damn phone and call me. Have the guts to confront me face to face instead of running to the SPR, who really has no jurisdiction in this matter other than my dad is head of it, and tell them that I am teaching an "unGodly" class and that it's not in the Book of Discipline. I seriously wonder if maybe sitting around and reading the Book of Discipline to them is what she feels would reach them.
Honestly, I'm a good Methodist and I appreciate the Book of Discipline. But it's not something I grab off the bookshelf and read for pleasure. It can be a bit cut and dried at times.
So, now I'm sort of at a crossroads. I enjoy teaching the youth and it's been rewarding, but this constant barrage of criticism at me--a volunteer leader, mind you--is getting a bit old. To the point that it's dragging in my family members as well and making their lives at church a bit unbearable. So, I'm struggling with a decision here.
I mean, I don't want to be Sunday School nazi and say--it's my way cause I'm the teacher. But I also don't want to be a patsy and just lay down. Also, I don't want to just sit there and take it, but I also know that giving into the tempation to tell certain people off only means they win and I only reinforce their view of myself as not "mature" enough to teach Sunday School or have any type of leadership role in the church. The thing I hate most is that my dad gets knocked around with this crap. Part of it is that belittles me as an adult--as if running to my parent and telling them to stop me will make me change in some way. Like I'm a three-year old making too much noise during a service and it's up to Mommy and Daddy to keep me in line.
Last time I checked, I was 32-years old. I just wish some people would wake up and realize that...
posted by Michael at 6/20/2005 07:31:00 AM |
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Friday's Feast
Appetizer
What's one word or phrase that you use a lot?
"I'm just saying..." or "Remember that Seinfeld where...."
Soup
Name something you always seem to put off until the last minute.
Getting the oil changed in my car.
Salad
What was the last great bumper sticker you saw?
My car may not look like much, but I've got treasure in heaven.
Main Course
If you could be invisible for one day, how would you spend your time?
Huh, huh..hey Beavis, we'd be invisible.
Sorry, I don't know where that came from. I'd probably enjoy driving my car around, freaking everyone out. That and I could get near Sarah Michelle Gellar again and she'd not know it...stupid restraining order!
Dessert
Describe your hair.
I've got more cowlicks than any one person should and it has a mind of it's own most days. I've tried to tame it with gel, but it just refuses to cooperate. It's generally neat and nicely done for approximately 10 seconds after I comb it and then it runs amok. I do keep it short since I swim laps and if it gets too long, it gets brittle and dried out.
Aloha Friday
What are your favorite pizza toppings?
I like just about anything on a pizza, except anchovies. I have to admit I do like a good supreme pizza every once in a while.
Have you served on a jury before?
::knocks on wooden surface:: I have not yet served of a jury nor have I yet been summoned to jury duty. Wait...what's this that I got in the mail today....
Spread the spirit of aloha…whom should we visit this week?
Pay a visit to Aaron and Tami over at He Says, She Says. Aaron posts more often than Tami does and he's a self-professed Lego addict, so that should be some fun for y'all.
posted by Michael at 6/17/2005 12:16:00 PM |
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USA Today has an article this morning comparing the toy lines of the original Star Wars trilogy with the toy lines for the new Star Wars trilogy. Being a young 'un at at the time the first Star Wars movie came out, I had a good collection of Star Wars toys, which were well played with. I know that I had a Millenium Falcon toy that I think took approximately 17 days to put together and weighted approximately 70 pounds. It was also pretty much two times the size of the Tie Fighter and X-Wing toys I had, thus making the space battles I'd imagine in my head a little unfair.
I had a whole assortment of action figures. I know for a fact that first two I got were C3-PO and R2-D2. I remember them having a lot of adventures out in the backyard, a lot of them involving going down the slide on the swingset. I also had a wide variety of what I call the "background characters" from the films--basically the guys who weren't Luke, Han, Leia, Darth Vader, etc. The cantina scene in the original Star Wars was just great for this and I still get a bit of an excited rush when I see a guy lurking around the background of the scene that I had as an action figure way back when.
Of course, not that it really mattered after a while. At the peak of my Star Wars action figure mania, I lived in Hawaii. Now, if you've lived in Hawaii, you know that the red dirt there can stain. Well, while living on base, they dug a ditch in our neighborhood. Let me just tell you, that a ditch was a great place for Star Wars action figures to have tons of adventures. But it also led to a lot of them getting stained with red dirt and after a while, you I just took on faith that I had Luke Skywalker and not Darth Vader when I was making up my adventures for them on the desert planet Red Dirt Ditch. (I am sure I made up some more elaborate name, but I can't recall what it is right now). And just to be cool, I kept all my Stars Wars figures in an old metal Star Wars lunchbox. (I had several, but would get a new one each year).
Of course, now I realize that if I'd kept all my Star Wars guys in better condition (as in never played with them), I could sell them all for a good sized chunk of change. But then I remember that part of the point of toys is to play with them. And honestly, I would rather have the fond memories of red-dirt stained Star Wars toys than having a pristene collection of them today that I could sell for a ton of money.
posted by Michael at 6/17/2005 07:53:00 AM |
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This morning, while getting ready to face the day, I was flipped over to FOX 17's Morning News Program (Sports Center was in commercials!) One of the stories was about how Larry Flint is opening a boutique here in downtown Nsshville that features lingerie, magazines and novelitites. I then heard this report again during the news update on a couple of local radio stations on the drive into work. So, I figured I'd at least be able to somehow find some independent confirmation of this fact to post here and then make sarcastic comments about it.
Alas, I've looked at a couple of the media outlets throughout the day for the Nashville area, and there's no mention of it anywhere. So, I guess y'all are just gonna have to take my word for it. And no, before you ask, I don't know where this local tourist attraction nor am I willing to go by and take pictures of it for the blog. Ok, maybe I will go by at some point, but not today....
But one of my first thoughts was--yes, that is what we need to announce on the tourist bureau web site to attract potential tourists and/or residents to come to our fair city. Pro football team, check. Musuems, check. Minor league baseball, check. No income tax, check. Larry Flint has a store here--well, that's it...gotta move to Nashville!
posted by Michael at 6/16/2005 06:08:00 PM |
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So, I go into handbell practice last night and one of my fellow ringers Donna comes in and says, "I saw you on the news the other night! Only they didn't have your name right."
I quickly explained why I was on the news (I knew the press would uncover my secret identity as Spider-Man eventually) and chuckled that now I was a celebrity in my own mind and must, therefore, become unsufferable to be around. So, at random moments, such as trying to find a time when we could all ring, I would point out that we could just pick a time to ring as since I was now famous, my adoring public would show up. (I was joking, of course).
Of course, my friends were quick to burst my bubble pointing out that I wasn't even credited correctly with my comments....
posted by Michael at 6/16/2005 07:49:00 AM |
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"The Dalek strategem nears completition. The fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene!"
"And why is that?"
"We have your associate. You will obey or she will be exterminated!"
"No...."
(dramatic pause as music swells and builds)
"Explain yourself!"
"I said, no..."
"What is the meaning of this negative?"
"It means no!"
"But she will be destroyed!"
"NO! Cause this is what I'm gonna to do. I'm gonna rescue her. I'm gonna save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet and then I'm gonna save the Earth and then just to finish I'm gonna wipe EVERY LAST STINKING Dalek out of the sky!"
"But you have no weapons, no defenses, no plan!"
"Yeah and doesn't that scare you death! Rose..."
"Yes Doctor?"
"I'm coming to get you!"
Dalek, The Doctor, Rose, Bad Wolf
It only took until the penultimate episode of the new season of Doctor Who to get the cliffhanger that every Doctor Who fan has been waiting for and anticipating since it was announced the series was coming back and it would feature the Daleks--the one with the Daleks running about, shouting "Exterminate!" It's a standard Who cliffhanger for just about any story featuring the Doctor's arch nemesises. And it's been 12 episodes in coming.
Was it worth it?
Yes. As a good friend in college used to say, "Oh my, my...oh hell yes!"
At last the wonders of modern special effects technology are put to their best use as we get the Dalek cliffhanger we've always wanted. Not just four to six Daleks in a room shouting "Exterminate" but instead a massive space-ship full of the metallic monsters, shouting their catch phrase, getting ready to attack Satellite Five and open hostilities with the Doctor. And then the stinger hits and we realize that we now have to wait seven long days for the pay-off. Seven long days for the ultimate battle between the Daleks and the Doctor.
It was five minutes or so of specutacular, fist-punching-the-air Doctor Who. It may be the best five minutes the series has seen so far. And if the final episode of the season lives up to the promise of the last five minutes of "Bad Wolf", we may be looking at another instant classic from the new Doctor Who.
But beyond those five minutes of down to the tips of your toes thrilling, was the rest of "Bad Wolf" worth the effort? Yes and no. Since the previews and the press gave away that the Daleks are behind the reality show nightmare on Satellite Five, it wasn't so much a matter of wondering who was behind it, but as to when the big reveal might take place. But I will say this--I was never bored with the surreal nature of the reality shows gone wrong that we found the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack involved in this week. The tension that once you're elminated, you die was nicely done.
Also, seeing the Doctor's actions not produce the consequences he intended worked well. Turns out the Doctor's assistance in shutting down the Satellite Five newsfeed at the end of "The Long Game" only created a vaccum the people of Earth wanted and needed filled. So, they created these reality shows in which contestants fought for the ultimate prize--to continue to live. Doctor Who has done some shows that are rather surreal in the past--"Web Planet", "Greatest Show in the Galaxy", "Mind Robber"--and all have worked fairly well. And the rather surreal premise holds up farily well here for the length that it's on-screen. (I'm not sure having the actual voice of Anne Robinson a the evil android version of herself on The Weakest Link segments was all that necessary, but it was kind of fun).
Watching this episode, I slowly started to realize who much I'm going to miss Eccleston as Doctor. His work here is nothing short of superb. His reaction at finding out that Rose has been killed was perfect--the slow burn and then over the top anger that was replaced by child-like joy at finding out that Rose was still alive all worked. And his work in the final scene as he tells the Daleks "no" and that he won't surrender to them or be pushed aside and then tells Rose he's coming to rescue her. Eccleston shines in the story and it's a real shame that his time as the Doctor is coming to a close. He's stepped up and owned this role ever since "Dalek" and his continues to do wonders with it here.
If there was one thing that frustrated me about "Bad Wolf" it was the lack of promised answers. All season, we've had an arc building and it seemed as if the first half of "Bad Wolf" was bringing those threads together into a tapestry. We still don't know the identity of "bad wolf" though we do know that the phrase is following the Doctor through time. We do get some idea of why the stories this year have been centered on Earth as opposed to the rest of the universe. We also get to see the results of the Doctor's actions in "The Long Game." Certainly "Bad Wolf" helped to give a bit more credibility and importance to the events of "The Long Game" but I'm not sure if it was enough to redeem the episode as a whole. I have a feeling I am going to have to rewatch the season again to make that call.
But then again, this is not the season finale, but rather the lead-up to it. So, there could be answers right around the corner for us. I will implore Davies to not drag out the Bad Wolf thing more than one season. It's been interesting but it could easily become an albatross around the series neck should it be drawn out too much longer. It's been fun to watch and speculate, but I really would like some answers in "The Parting of Ways."
And just like last week, I am counting days until I see it. And just like "Bad Wolf" I have a feeling that at the end of story, I will be going--no, that wasn't just 42 minutes! It only felt like five.
posted by Michael at 6/15/2005 11:27:00 AM |
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So, Michael Jackson is likening his acquittal yesterday the same historical significance as things like the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr. To quote Ace Ventura, "Alriiiiiiiiighty then!"
Far be it from me to argue with the King of Pop, but I have to think that some of these historical events he compares his verdict to are bit more, well, important to the history of the world as a whole. I can fully understand that he must be feeling like he is King of the World at this point, having dodged a bullet with the outcome of this trial. (Not like he'd've gone to jail for a while as we'd be having appeals drag out for years to come.)
But as I think about the Jackson trial and its outcome, some thoughts come to my mind.
- One is that I feel sympathy for the alleged victim in this case. I feel for him in that he got up on the stand and talked about something that might have happened that was deeply shameful and then he was ripped apart in the court and the media for it. I can't say if what the victim alleges did or did not happen and apparnetly there wasn't enough evidence to get a conviction of Jackson, but it took courage for a kid to get up there and re-live this awful incident on the stand in front of the whole world. I also have to wonder if this verdict of "not guilty" will discourage others who might have been abused in a fashion simliar to what the victim alleges fro mcoming forward. They may think--well, I can't handle the scrutiny and it's not like the person who did this to me will be brought to justice.
- I also have to wonder about the prosecution's tactics. I find myself wondering if they should have taken a bit more time to gather all the evidence they could to convict Michael Jackson on these crimes instead of trying to paint him as a serial child molestor with a pattern of such behavoir. I can't help but wonder if they rushed to trial because it was Michael Jackson. Had it been just Herman NoName, would they have taken longer and built a stronger case? Or did they feel that with the intense media scrutiny they had to hurry up and deliver some type of results?
- Every time I hear the jurors talking about how they didn't like the mother of the victim and her comments on the stand, I can't help but wonder--yes, but what did you think about the evidence presented? What happened to the concept of juries deciding cases on the evidence presented and not on how the witnesses presented themselves on the stand? It seems as if there is a lot being made of the mother's attitude and demenor on the stand than in whether or not what she presented as testimony was valid or truthful. Sad to say that in our culture of today, it's not whether or not you say what is the truth, but it's how you say it and present it that seems to get noticed more.
- Watching the coverage of the verdict and seeing all the fans gathered there gave me pause. Now, as some of you know, I am a big fan of William Shatner. I enjoy watching his work as Captain Kirk. (Not a huge T.J. Hooker fan, I will admit). But as much as I like Shatner and his body of work, I can't imagine that if he were on trial for something being blindly loyal to him. Not even to the point of thinking--you know, he might have done so and so. I'd take a chance and weigh the evidence for and against him and make a decision. But it seems as if in this case there was a huge following that was blindly loyal and saw this as a conspiracy to destory Jackson for whatever reason. And then, these people have time off in the middle of the work day to run down and hold up signs in a vigil for Jackson. I just don't quite get being that big a fan of anyone or anything.
- Finally, I hear an interesting point about all this on Steve Gill's show this morning. Michael Jackson is free and can go on a world-wide concert tour to celebrate and make money. The jurors and lawyers involved can write books, be media darlings and make money off the case. We, the tax payers, who funded this circus are left footing the bill for this. And I think I'd be irritated by that fact no matter how the trial turned out.
posted by Michael at 6/14/2005 12:42:00 PM |
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Hallelujah, summer is here and that can only mean one things--repeats of old Tennessee football games Monday nights on CSS. (Comcast Sports Southeast, for those of you who might not know.) Last night, after watching the latest episode of Doctor Who (and going nuts at the cliffhanger, which thrilled me down to my pinkee toes), I was surfing and came upon the UT vs South Carolina game from 2003. The one that went to overtime. The one that where on third and one, down by three in the first OT, Casey Clausen threw a beauty of a pass that is reeled in and we win the game. Ah a thing of absolute beauty.
Sad thing is, I knew exactly when the play was coming and how it would all turn out, but I still got excited watching the game--hearing the crowd go nuts, seeing South Carolina and Lou Holtz walk off the field once again humilated that they can't beat the might of the Big Orange, hearing the band play Rocky Top. I tell you, it gets the blood pumping.
Can I just say--I cannot wait for football season to start!
posted by Michael at 6/14/2005 08:19:00 AM |
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Today is International Webloggers Day. I think all of us with blogs should get a paid holiday or at least a free lunch of some kind. Anyone else with me?
posted by Michael at 6/14/2005 08:08:00 AM |
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So, the Michael Jackson verdict is back and he's been found "not guilty" on all counts. I wasn't overly shocked by this--well, at least not after the first verdict came back "not guilty."
I got to the Y this afternoon as the verdict was getting ready to come back. I got kind of amused by the radio coverage in which they kept talking about if the audio feed would work or not..this went on for about five or so minutes. Translation: we have nothing else to talk about yet, but we came on the air so we could be the first with the live coverage.
I walked in and noticed a TV crew at the Y. All the TVs in the Y were tuned to the local NBC affiliate and the sound was turned up. This in itself was unusual as you have to have earphones on to listen to the audio feed of the TV. Everyone was kind of gathered about, staring at the TVs while working out. It felt a little eerie--in a way it reminded me of how we all gathered around TVs following the events of September 11th.
I went up and got changed into my workout clothes, went down and started on the exercise bike. Figuring that every TV in the building was tuned to it, I knew I wouldn't miss anything.
I didn't. I hear it unfold. I sighed a bit and shook my head and listened to some conversation around me from various members about the verdict.
Then, as I'm riding--and let's face it, while working out, I don't look my best--the reporter comes over to me with a camera. Ask me my name and if I'd answer some question. I say sure and do so. I don't remember exactly what he asked me, though my answers included "If they didn't find OJ guilty, I'm not sure why they thought they'd find Michael Jackson guilty." and "It just proves that if you are a big enough celebrity and have enough money, you can get out of anything."
Not sure if Channel 4 will use that footage or not. Who knows how I might come across on TV. I'll let y'all know if I see myself on the news tonight.
posted by Michael at 6/13/2005 06:12:00 PM |
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Becky has been blogging about her adventures in the fair city of Nashville. I know that she's told y'all about the adventures we've been having exploring the city and that it's was rainy and damp all weekend. Well, today turned out to be a glorious summer day in the great city of Nash-vegas and as we were driving back from lunch, I took a picture of the Nashville skyline and the infamous Batman building to show off to all the bloggers who've been reading her adventures and wonder if it's every bright and sunshiny here in the great state of Tennessee.
 Look kids--the Batman building!
I also have to admit, I found it amusing some of the comments we've got in our blogs and via e-mail wanting to know all the great details of our meeting live and in person. So, I decided to have a little bit of fun with y'all and describe our meetings. But, there's a catch. Some of what you will read here is real, some of it is fabricated. My challenge to all of our blog readers is to figure out what I made up and what actually happened (OK, yes, I'm shamelessly trolling for comments, but come on! You gotta admit this is fun!)
Friday afternoon, Becky rolled into the great city of Nashville. Seems when she planned her trip and asked me what a good time to visit might be, I failed to observe that CMT Fan Fest, Bonarro, a race and a Star Trek convention featuring William Shatner would all be in town. I decided to surprise her and stop by her motel on Friday evening to get the initial face-to-face awkwardness meeting out of the way first. Plus, the buttless chaps I'd threatened to wear were starting to chaff a bit and I couldn't imagine wearing them another day. I was getting some awfully strange looks from the people at work. I called her and told her I was on my way. Now, I'll admit I was a bit nervous. Meeting a strange woman at her motel was like something out of a Bond novel, only I'm not even close to Pierce Brosnon. I'd have to say I'm not even in the same area code as George Lazenby. When I told her I was coming by, she said, "Right now? You're kidding? I've only just changed into my UT Vols t-shirt and shorts." So, I have to admit I was pretty intriuged by that.
I went into the lobby, stopping by the lobby computer to check my e-mail and see if anyone had commented on my blog. Then I took the elevator up to her floor and nervously walked down the hall. I knocked on her door, took a deep breath and then the door opened. I saw her for the first time outside the pictures on her blog and being the typical idiot I am, my brain thought "Wow, I thought she'd be taller." Alas, my mouth thought this sounded like a great opening line to say to her and it slipped right out. Becky then snarked back at me and the ice was broken.
I went inside and we talked for a while. We discussed what she wanted to see, beyond the buttless chaps. I couldn't believe she'd already had time to buy a UT t-shirt. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "They gave me one at the visitor's center when I crossed the border into the state." Take that you states without an income tax! We figured out the plan of attack for the next day and then I left to head home and begin my night life as Spider-Man.
The next day, Becky called me, telling me she'd slept in and was getting ready to head out for a day of seeing the city that is Nashville. I started thinking--if I were visiting Nashville, what would I want to see first? After deciding that maybe a trip to Stephanie's Cabaret was out, I then decided to give her the tour of my Nashville, which would include used bookstores, antique malls, furniture outlets, a flea market, movie theaters and the Opry Mills area. I went up to her motel and again went inside, this time taking the stairs. Becky was ready and we set out on our adventures.
Little did I know how adventerous she was. Almost immediately, she asked if there were any restaurants around that specialized in a combination of Thai and ancient Aztec delicacies. Luckily I had been to one just the week before and we had a nice lunch there. We visited a used book store where we found several copies of the new Harry Potter book for sale. OK, only one and I wanted it but Becky fought better and she got it. She laughed at me the whole way to the car on that one.
We saw some of the scenic areas of Brentwood and Franklin, even driving past Garth Brooks'. Trisha Yearwood had her U-Haul out front and was moving her stuff in, in anticipation of their upcoming nuptuals. We chatted a bit and I displayed the disconcerting tendency to want to look at her while she was talking and then nearly driving off the road or out of our desginated lane. Becky, alas, saw through my attempts to cover this up, by joking that I was used to my other car the Porsche. As we got into downtown, Becky said she'd like to do something different. I happened to recall that there were hang gliding lessons being given off the top of the Bell South (aka the Batman) building and asked her if she was up for it. I was hoping she was bluffing..but again, she was not. Let me say this--you really can see a lot of Nashville from a hang glider.
After that, we headed to Opry Mills where apparently half of Nashville had gathered since it was raining. We wandered by the Aquarium Restarant and debated seeing a movie. I wanted to see Star Wars Episode III on the IMAX and Becky was dead-set on Mr and Mrs Smith so we comprimised and saw Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Part 27: Really, We're Just Beating a Dead Horse Here. I like it, but I bet Becky will deny seeing it as she said something about two hours of her life she'll never have back after the film. Personally, I can't wait for Part 28.
We ended up a long day, going back to her motel. I dropped her off, walked her to the door and gave her a hug goodbye. We tried to take photos of us together for the blog, but couldn't since for some reason the buttless chaps had welded themselves to my body from nervous prespration and let's face it--no one really needs to see that photo. Plus, I'm a gentleman...
Alright, some of that is true, some of that is b.s....You tell me what is what.
UPDATE: (6/14/05): So, some of the less than truthful parts of this story have been outed by my faithful readers. But there are still some half-truths and all-out non-truths in there. I've bolded the fiction that's been found.
posted by Michael at 6/13/2005 03:33:00 PM |
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The 4400: Voices Carry
Before I launch into my usual ranting and raving about the episode, I have to say this. One thing that strikes me as funny every week is that in the scenes at the NTAC headquarters everyone other male character has their shirt buttoned all the way up and wears a tie except for Tom, who always goes around with the GQ model, no tie, top two buttons undone look. And Diana's outfits aren't exactly what I'd call blending in with the overall fashion of the rest of the office as well.
That just cracks me up every week.
But onto this week's epiosde. Boy, this one was heavy in the exposition, wasn't it? Was it just me or did there seem like there was a whole lot of plot and information crammed into 42 minutes of screen time?
We had Kyle enrolling in classes and sticking his foot in his mouth with the new 19th Century novella professor (gee, who didn't see that little plot twist coming a mile away?). We had the continuing mystery of Isabelle--this week she opens the cash register for Lily to steal some much needed cash and causes Richard to have some type of heart attack or something (which got me thinking--are the ills that Richard is having because of Isabelle?) We had Diana's sister showing up in town and attempting to follow the stereotypical black sheep aunt plotline in spoiling Maia.
And then, we had the story of Guy Navarro, one of the 4400 whose returned and can read minds. Which, if you watched season three of Buffy and saw the (at the time) controversial epiosde "Earshot" you've seen this plot done a whole lot better. Navarro washes out of baseball becuase he can hear the thoughts of everyone around him. He finds medication that will control it for a while and agrees to help NTAC find out what Collier is up to. He goes in, loses the medication, finds out Colier is helping some extremist buy an island and...well, he has to be extracted at this point. By Tom and Diana. Which makes me wonder--did it make sense to have them go into Collier's HQ and thus blow some of their cover? Collier may know he's under investigation but now with the leads on the case--or at least your most effective investigators, as established last week--have had their cover blown completely out of the water. Wouldn't it make sense to send in some lower level agents to get Guy out of harms way?
The Dead Zone: Broken Circle
About ten minutes into the season premiere of The Dead Zone, I found myself wishing that I'd found the chance to re-watch last year's season finale before I started watching "Broken Circle." Of course, if USA had aired this episode last year when it should have aired (they held the final episode of season three for the first episode of season four) this wouldn't have been as big a problem. You could tell that this episode was designed to air right after the events of "Tipping Point."
But once I got back into the grove of things, I have to admit I liked what we got. It was a fairly effective end of the storyline the season-three arc of who killed Rachel. Finding out the Stillson lackee who did it was Stillson's father was a nice little twist in the storyline and one that actually works in the overall context of what we've seen developing back story-wise in the series, so far. And there was a lot of running about, finding out clues and piecing them all together. I loved Walt punching the guy to get blood on his hand so Johnny could touch it and get a vision (how much would it stink if that had not worked?) And while we did get a bit of touching in on the long-term consequences of Johnny's vision on his health, I felt like this was swept aside a bit too quickly. Of course, we do have an entire season left to explore this now and if there's one thing Michael Piller is good at it, it's bringing up plotlines and following through on them.
Of course, it should be interesting to see where the series goes now that Johnny is trying to sever ties with his future self. Johnny seems to want to forge his own way now, even if he no longer has Rebecca in his life. (Though I did find it a bit odd that once her sister's killer is brought to light and she no longer needs Johnny, she finds it less desirable to have a long distance relationship with him. I wonder if Johnny might not feel a bit used after this?) Also, Stillson is free of the person controlling his future and it should be interesting to see where he goes. Will he continue down the path that leads to the visions of armageddon (not the movie, thankfully) or will he be able to be redeemed somehow?
Either way, season four should interesting.
posted by Michael at 6/13/2005 02:47:00 PM |
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Flipping around the radio this morning (curse you Star/Oldies 97.1 for dropping Rick and Bubba, I heard on Steve Gill's morning show that it's take your dog to work day.
Now, I don't have a dog to take to work at this point in my life. But thinking about taking a dog to work, cast my memory back to the dog that I had growing up. When we lived in Herndon, Viriginia (a suburb of D.C.), we lived next door to a couple of that no kids and two dogs. They liked my sister and I and felt it was a crime that our family had two kids but no dogs. So, when their dogs had puppies, they told us we could have any puppy we wanted. (I am not sure if they ran this idea past my parents first or not.) The puppies were Cairn Terriers, which if you think ToTo from The Wizard of Oz, you're on the right track. Only our dog was blonde, not dark haired like Toto.
We named the puppy, McTavish, though we called him Tavish for short. Being a military family, Tavish travelled the country with us, though while our family got to ride cross-country in the car, Tavish went in the lap of luxury by getting to fly. Basically, we'd fly him to either set of grandparents who would care for him until we got moved and settled and then he'd fly to join us.
We first got Tavish a couple of months before it was time for us to move from Virginia to Alabama for a year while my dad attended a training school. Since my grandparents live outside of Williamsburg, Virginia (way outside, but that' s a whole other post), they volunteered to take care of Tavish. They lived out in the country and thought he would enjoy having some room to run and enjoy himself while we rode in the car to Alabama. So, we took Tavish down to my grandparents and began the long trip.
Turns out Tavish got a little spoiled while there. To say Tavish was a picky eater is a bit of an understatement. After a day or two of turning up his nose at the Puppy Chow or whatever we were feeding him that he was supposed to eat, Granny got a bit worried about him. So, she decided to make him something that she knew he'd eat. Hence, she fixed him a cheese omlette. Well, Tavish wolfed this down and was pretty excited about it, so the next day she did it again. This continued daily for the time that Tavish visited with my grandparents. Now one thing you have to bear in mind here is that my dad had never once in his life had my grandmother make him a cheese omlette. So, yes, the little dog got spoiled.
Just like the grandchildren, you might say. (Having both parents be single children and my being the first grandchild born into both sides of the family...yeah, just a little spoiled. My grandparents thought I could do no wrong and let's face it--they were, for the most part, right).
Tavish was with our family for 14 years. I'd take him for walks and he enjoying going on runs with my father (it was funny to see them head out, Tavish ready to tear off at the end of the leash and then come back dragging behind, tongue practically dragging the ground with a look on his face like, "And why did I think this would be fun?!?") He was always very loving and loyal. And he was extremely overprotective of my sister.
When my sister started dating, Tavish was a good judge of character. If he liked the guy she was going out with and would wag his tail or let them pet him, that meant the guy was OK. If Tavish didn't like the guy--and there was one in particular in which his insticts were DEAD ON--that meant he was all around bad news.
Also, Tavish felt that my sister needed lots of protecting. One night living in California, a racoon got on our roof. Tavish nearly went through the window to get out on the roof to drive off this invader because it was near my sister's room. Also, one time in California, Tavish was out in the front yard with my sister when a doberman pincher came around the corner and into the yard. Tavish got between my sister and the doberman and barked at the other dog. The other dog blinked and ran off. The owner of the doberman came by a few minutes later to complain that our dog scared his dog.
Toward the end of his life, Tavish began to slow down. He got a bad case of athritis and was slowly losing sight in one eye. He would sleep days in the sun, trying to help his old muscles feel better in the warmth. It was a struggle sometimes for him to come running to see you, wagging his tail when you got home. But, he'd do it--especially after my sister and I both left for college. I really think that once we left for school, he felt like his job helping to raise us and protect us was done and he kind of lost some of his zeal and zest for life.
In the end, we had to put Tavish to sleep. His arthritis was bad, plus my parnets were having to move to Hawaii. We weren't sure if he'd survive the plane trip and even if he did, he'd have to be in quarentine for four months. My mom could go and visit him daily, but we sort of thought that it'd kill him a little each day to see his people coming to visit him but not being able to go home with them. So, we did the humane thing and had him put to sleep, rather than suffer any more.
I will admit that for a long time, when I'd come home, I'd still look for him to come running when I'd open the door. Or more likely to hear his dog tags rattle as he jumped down off the couch, where he'd curled up to sleep in a sunbeam while we were gone. And sometimes, I still find myself looking for him when I come in the door at home, even though he's been gone for a number of years now.
He was a good dog and a good friend. No matter what happened, he was always glad to see him and there is just something comforting about petting a dog when you're feeling down in the world. I remember him as a puppy, when we'd be out at Granny's house and running. He'd put his little ears back and just run. I remember his being overprotective of my sister and to some extent me. I remember him getting very excited on Thanksgiving as he'd walked around the house all day with his nose going a mile a minute as if to say, "What is that wonderful smell?" (Tavish always got his own Thanksgiving meal of turkey giblets cooked just for him).
He was good dog and there is not a doubt in my mind that he's up in doggy-heaven right now, chowing down on a cheese omlette or taking a nap in sunbeam.
posted by Michael at 6/13/2005 07:27:00 AM |
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Just a few random things that have interest me, but don't actually quite add up to a "real" post.
- I'm always amazed reading the sites that refer to me. I always kind of get amused to see that I get a lot of hits from "Site Not Found" or "Sorry, Web Page Does Not Exist." Very humbling to know that when you can't find what you really want on-line or you get to a dead-end web site or page, that the next thought might be--speaking of nothing, let's surf over to Michael's blog.
- I am intrigued by how easily we can get used to the city or area we live. Becky is in town this week, exploring the great city of Nashville to see if she might be interested in moving here. We met up and I gave her the Michael tour of Nashville, which consists of, among other things, a trip by the Smyrna flea market, stopping at various used books stores, driving by the Titan's stadium and seeing a quick tour of downtown Nashville. I also drove her past Stephanie's Cabaret, home of the world-famous Friday afternoon totally topless car wash (apparently the first one was a huge success as they've had about two more. The past two have featured one of the entertainers standing outside in basically the Hooters girl uniform trying to entice you to get car washed. Yeah, except that apparently life has been rough as her face looked like Jack Palance's). We drove near the world-famous BellSouth Building or as we refer to it "The Batman Building." (Becky has pictures of some of these sites that I assume she'll post in her blog at some point). So, this has been a kind of long-winded way of getting around to saying how it's interesting how all this stuff has become sort of every day to me, but seeing it through her eyes, it's new, exciting and different. Of course, the weather in Nashville has not cooperated at all the past few days, being cool, rainy and not at all the warm, humid days I told her usually happened this time of year. But yet, she's still speaking to me and we had a pleasant day yesterday getting to know each other and touring Nashville.
- Along those lines, I am really happy that meeting up with Becky is going as well as it is. I mean, sure I didn't show up in buttless chaps like I promised, but hey....did y'all really think I would? Becky is the first person I've met via the blog that I've actually met in the real world (I knew Barry before we started blogging). And like I said, going well and enjoying getting to know her. I mean, we'd talked on the phone and chatted, but it's much cooler actually getting to meet in person, my lack of driving skills not withstanding. (I am sure she'll post about it at some point and she can tell the story far better than I can, so I refer you to her blog)
- I'm sort of amazed that some of the youth at church are starting to get this delusion that I'm cool to hang out with. I mean, it's flattering and cool to be like a big brother to them. Last week, I saw one and lamented that we had to start handbell practice this week as I wanted to sneak off and see Batman Begins on opening day. He went nuts, saying when I go, he wants to go. So, now it's turned into myself and a couple of youth going to the movie next Saturday because they think it'd be cool to see the movie with me because they have this illusion that somehow I'm cool. I mean, I'm no Fonzie...but at least I'm not a Malph.
So, that's really it for now. Maybe I did have enough material for a real post after all. What do you know?
posted by Michael at 6/12/2005 05:53:00 PM |
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The Tennessee Vols are headed to the college world series in Omaha! The Vols swept the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets out of their super regional yesterday to earn the berth in the series. Our first game in the CWS will be against rival Florida.
Congrats to the Vols and good luck. Pretty exciting times when the baseball and softball teams make it to the college world series. And the softball team looks like it's primed for a Lady Vol basektball like run in the softball world for the next couple of years.
As if it wasn't exciting enough to be a Vol's fan as it was....it's time like this when it's even more rewarding and exciting than usual.
GO BIG ORANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by Michael at 6/12/2005 11:59:00 AM |
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So, I finally got around to seeing Napoleon Dynamite last night.
And, after seeing it, I've determined that I'm too "old" to get why so many people out there love this movie. I just didn't quite get what the point of the whole thing was. About the only laugh I got from the film is when the guy shoots the cow in front of the bus full of school kids. That was moderately amusing, but one laugh does not a comedy make.
I kept thinking--maybe it's so stupid it's funny, but that didn't seem to work.
I just don't get it.
And to put this in perspective, this is the guy who finds humorous value in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.
So, if any of y'all out there could try and help me out here--help me see what I missed--I'd appreciate it.
posted by Michael at 6/11/2005 09:04:00 AM |
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Last night at church, I was having a conversation with my friend Sarah and at one point, I said to her, "Oh, well I can e-mail that over to your tomorrow, if you want." At which point she gives her the e-mail address to send it to and then drops that it's her b'day tomorrow.
So, typical me, I write down her e-mail addy so I won't forget and say to myself--birthday, Saturday, send an e-card.
And then this morning promptly forget why I was supposed to e-mail her in the first place. I tell you, I'm gonna need those pills to enhance your memory sooner than I thought....
posted by Michael at 6/10/2005 04:00:00 PM |
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Friday's Feast
Appetizer
Name one thing that made you sad this week.
That the new season of Doctor Who ends in two weeks.
Soup
What was the last object (not person) you took a picture of?
I took a picture of a toy basket. Of course, my nephew happened to be in it at the time.
 One basket, one nephew.
Salad
Who do you talk to when you need help in making a decision?
My family.
Main Course
If you were a weather event, what would you be, and why?
A snow storm because you bring such happiness to all the kids when they get to stay home from school.
Dessert
Suggest a website that you think your readers would enjoy visiting.
Hey wait...don't I have to do this for Aloha Friday as well. Which leads me into...
Aloha Friday
Make up a sentence using the letters of the city where you were born.
Random Oxygenation Made Easy!
What books are on your summer reading list?
"Flow My Tears, Said the Policeman" by Phillip K Dick
"By Blood Written" by Steven Womack
"The Italian Secretary: A Further Sherlock Holmes Adventure" by Caleb Carr
"The Children of Men" by P.D. James
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
"The Dispossed" by Ursula K. LeGuinn
"A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle
"DragonFlight" by Anne McCaffrey
"FireTime" by Poul Anderson
"The Lunatic Cafe" by Laurell K. Hamilton
Spread the spirit of aloha…whom should we visit this week?
Since a lot of my books for the summer reading are part of the SF 1975 Retro Project as part of SF Signal, it seems like a good week to link over to them. Also, they have a lot of interesting stuff posted daily about the universes of sci-fi.
posted by Michael at 6/10/2005 08:10:00 AM |
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I saw this little fill in the blank game over on Genuine's site and thought I'd give it a try. Why am I suddenly very afraid of the answers I might get?
I ____ Big Orange Michael
Big Orange Michael is ____.
Big Orange Michael thinks a lot about _______.
When I think of _________, I think of Big Orange Michael.
If I were alone in a room with Big Orange Michael, I would _______.
I think Big Orange Michael should _____.
Big Orange Michael needs ______.
I want to ____________ Big Orange Michael.
If I could describe Big Orange Michael in a word: _______.
posted by Michael at 6/09/2005 03:23:00 PM |
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Can I just say how much I can't wait for this week's installment of the new Doctor Who?!?!
Good grief, I am becoming such a fan-boy for this. I think I've watched the preview (I've got a better copy than this tiny little Real Player one, but you can at least get an idea of why it looks so darn cool) about 17,000 times this week in anticipation of the beginning of the season finale. The return of the Daleks en mass, the Doctor trapped in some kind of realty/game-show hell, finding out who or what "bad wolf" is...I tell you I don't think I've been this a twitter for an episode of any show since "Best of Both Worlds, Part 2." back in the fall of 1990.
Only a couple more days...only a couple more days....
posted by Michael at 6/09/2005 03:08:00 PM |
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Looks like former state senator John Ford is taking the Han Solo defense ("It's not my fault") in response to the charges brought against him.
"The government has tried to show me and others as being corrupt and villains when, in essence, they are the ones that are corrupt. They're the villains," Ford said after his arraignment in federal court.
"They're the ones that have been disingenuous all along. They're the ones that set up a fictitious, phony, illegal apparatus," Ford said. Yes, John, it was the government that forced you to take the money, fold it up and put it in your pocket. The government was wrong to tempt you to do such a horrible thing. Were it not for their tempation, you'd be on the straight and narrow. Next thing you know, Ford will allege that he took the bribe in question in order to expose the evil government plot against him.
The sad part of all this is that Ford probably believes he has done nothing wrong....
posted by Michael at 6/09/2005 02:14:00 PM |
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The Inside: The New Girl In Town
You'd think with the pedigree of so many former Mutant Enemy writing and production staff, combined with the talent of Howard Gordon (one of the unsung heroes of the early season of The X-Files) that The Inside would be a lot more thrilling and exciting than it actually turned out to be. Not that I'm really disappointed with it, per se, but I was just expecting a lot more of it going in.
I think the thing that worked against it most was the time constraint. In the course of an hour, we had to introduce all the major players in the team, give Rebecca some back story and catch a serial killer. We had to find out that the boss, Virgil Webster, has some kind of weird agenda for Rebecca and that he plays by his own rules. Indeed, he has an almost Cigarette Smoking Man-like interest in her and her career (anyone want to take bets now if if he turns out to be Rebecca's father down the road, should the series continue that long). We also learn a bit about Rebecca--she was abducted as a child and held prisoner for at least a year and a half in which horrible things happened. She is channeling that now into her career at the FBI. Maybe she is looking to save others from sharing her fate, maybe she wants to find who did this to her. We're not quite sure as to what her motivation is, but I am sure this will be explored as the show goes along.
And that still hasn't taken into account that we have to stop the serial killer of the week. Which it turns out is two guys working together. One is the brains behind the operation (The Brain, if you will) and the other is the unwitting servant (the Pinky, if you will). We see the servant side taken out about 10 minutes before the show closes and we see Webster set Rebecca up to be the next victim. Again, not breaking a lot of new ground here.
Not that there weren't some gripping moments here. The killers sending out the tape-delayed Internet feed of the victim was chilling. And the early set-up of one of the team who is bi-polar getting too far inside the mind of the killer was effective as well.
And the cast is good. You've got Peter Coyote from The 4400 and Adam Baldwin of Firefly fame. And Rachel Nichols as Rebecca has that early seasons of Buffy Sarah Michelle Gellar like quality to play tough and vulnerable all in the same scene.
So, the premiere wasn't a home run. But I will say it was a solid double. And certainly there's one thing I've learned from watching the former Mutant Enemy crew over the years--things can always get a lot better quickly. And I'm hoping that The Inside gets better quickly. There is some good promise here and it could be one of the more interesting summer time series in a while. I just hope FOX doesn't screw it all up and pull a Keen Eddie on this one.
Doctor Who: Boom Town
Having an entire season of your television show filmed and in post-production before the first original episode airs can be a duel edged sword. It can be a good thing to have the entire season arc locked, set and complete and thus free from interference from outside forces such as a network or fans. But then again, there are times when maybe having a bit of feedback might help you avoid certain pitfalls a second time around.
Certainly it would be interesting speculate that had Russell T. Davies known the fan reaction to the Slitheen would be so lackluster would he have wasted yet another hour on an episode entirely focused on them?
Because I think the fan reaction to the Slitheen cropping up yet again here was probably the same reaction fans had back in the early 80s when the Master showed up again in season 19 in "Time Flight" - "Oh no, not again."
Honestly, I'm not sure what point there was to bringing the Slitheen back. Davies' script seems to want to humanize them a bit, to make us feel a bit more sympathy for them and their plight as characters. But since "Dalek" did this earlier and better this season (add in that we've had 40 plus years of development and back story to the Daleks), I can't help but wonder just what the point of "Boom Town" was.
Maybe it was to tease the fans a bit. I mean, we do have Jack, Rose and the Doctor sitting around telling Mickey about all these fantastic adventures on other planets they've had. And sitting there watching it, I honestly wished we'd skipped this adventure with the TARDIS refueling for an episode and seen some of those adventures on ice planets and dangerous worlds as opposed to large chunks of screen time devoted to the female Slitheen sitting about debating the Doctor's morality.
As I've said before, it's more shocking to hear a Dalek debate morality with the Doctor than it is a Slitheen . For one thing, we've known the Daleks for over 40 years, thus giving us some sense of history and understanding of just where each side is coming from. Also, it's a bit more chilling for a Dalek to tell the Doctor that his morality has become skewed based on what we know about them as killing machines than it is an alien who runs about with faulty gas regulators that make it sound flatulent.
Or maybe the point of the episode was to show just how far Rose has grown apart from her old life in her travels. Or just how left out Mickey really is from Rose's life now. Again, these are things the series has dealt with before and in a much better way in previous installments. I'm not sure why we had to bring Mickey back on screen again, other than to remind fans that he is slowly becoming the Adric of the new series. I guess we do learn that Mickey wants to move on but can't because he still has strong feelings for Rose (which you have to wonder if this is becoming a one-way street and a bit pathetic for Mickey really since Rose seems to flirt with a new guy in every episode and we get the feeling she's only been away from Mickey a few weeks or months in her timeline as opposed to years for Mickey). Maybe this is setting something up for the final two episodes where Mickey becomes the Master or some such other plot twist. But I honestly doubt that is going to happen.
Instead of feeling like an episode in which season-long continuities were brought to together, this one felt like a primer in case you'd missed any of the episodes leading up to it. The phrase "bad wolf" is following the Doctor about...check! Rose left Mickey and he's mad about it...check! We faced an alien race called the Slitheen who are not the nicest aliens about...check! There is a rift in time and space in Cardiff...check! But instead of doing anything interesting, new or different with these season-long elements, "Boom Town" is more content to tread water. Indeed, my great fear from last week - that "Boom Town" would be little more than a space holder until the big season finale came to pass here.
I have to admit the preview for next week's "Bad Wolf" did more to excite me and have me on the edge of my seat than all of "Boom Town" did in 40 plus minutes.
Indeed, there is no "boom" in "Boom Town." I kept waiting for something to blow up, explode or do something. Instead, we got a lot of sitting around and talking, ending up with the nature vs. nurture debate for the Slitheen. Can Bonn be redeemed now? The TARDIS has aged her backward to before she hatched and she'll be dropped off with a different family. She gets a second-chance, but will it make her a better Slitheen?
But here's a note for season 28 for Davies-I don't care. Please do not have an entire story that takes place on the Slitheen home world in which find out if Bonn turned out for the better this time. I think we've driven the character and the Slitheen into the ground about as much as we can and, honestly, I can't imagine spending another 40 plus minutes with her.
Overall, my reaction to this one wasn't that it was especially good or that it was especially bad. It was just sort of there. Interesting how the last couple of Davies stories when surrounded by stories by other writers, have just been sort of OK. He started off well but with "The Long Game" and "Boom Town" his writing has been a bit off. The stories aren't necessarily the weakest of the series (I mean, let's face it, this is still light years better than "Web Planet" will ever be), but they aren't exactly thrilling me down to the very last fiber of my being like "Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" and "Dalek" did. Instead, these stories seem content to fill time and take up space while big, exciting events happen in the stories around them.
In the end, "Boom Town" lack the "boom" I'd hoped for. It was widely different than what the preview made it out to be which may be part of my disappointment. I was expecting a good old "Doctor takes on an evil alien with a megalomaniac plan" story and instead got a debate about the death penalty and the Doctor's morality. It might have worked better as a novel, quite frankly. Indeed, looking at the story, I wished this one had been a novel and we'd got to see rather than hear about one of the TARDIS crew's fantastic adventures on a strange, alien planet instead.
posted by Michael at 6/09/2005 08:10:00 AM |
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It is just me or does Hump Day (aka Wednesday) seem a bit longer than usual?
To help make the time go by a little faster, here's an amusing link. Be warned, the animation does contain adult language, so if you're at work, you might want to be careful. But it's worth it.
posted by Michael at 6/08/2005 03:16:00 PM |
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Mandy Weaver, Nashville's contestant on the new season of The Real Gilligan's Island, has been all over the media here the past couple of days. She was interviewed on a couple of local sports call-in shows yesterday, featured on FOX 17's morning news program to name a few. And she's also getting a lot more exposure in the current issue of FHM. If you're interested in that kind of thing, you can find the interview and photos here.
posted by Michael at 6/08/2005 12:20:00 PM |
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I was beginning to think that Becky and I were the only people on the planet who saw how pedestrian and poor the season finale of Alias was. I will say it again--the final two minutes with the memorable and intriguing cliffhanger do NOT excuse how poor the forty or so minutes leading up to it were. But yet, every where I turn, people are gushing about how great it was...
Then I dropped by Peter David's blog this morning. And he has his belated review of the season finale of Alias--and I couldn't agree more. Is it any wonder that this man is one of my favorite authors? He gets right to the heart of just why the season finale--indeed, the entire season--of Alias was just disappointing all around.
Here's a sample of what David said:
I mean, I know this program has had its occasional dalliance with science fiction/fantasy elements through the incessant obession with Rimbaldi, the combination Da Vinci and Nostradamus about whom we've learned little and--ultimately--cared less. And yes, I suppose you can say I was surprised, which in the case of LOST is a good thing. Surprise is good. The unexpected is good. But I absolutely cannot parse what was going on. Now I admit, I missed an episode here and there, so there may be key pieces of information that I don't have. But as near as I can tell, Rimbaldi's endgame was to transform the entire world into zombies? Again, I say WTF? A giant red corona of energy hanging over the city transforms the finale into Night of the Living Syd? It was like watching somebody else's finale. I kept waiting for Sydney to run around a corner and crash headlong into Buffy or Angel.
Preach on, Brother David! Preach on!
posted by Michael at 6/08/2005 09:22:00 AM |
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One of my favorite authors, Stephen King, has a regular column for EntertainmentWeekly. EW has finally been kind to the fans and made the archives of the column available on-line at no cost.
One of the columns addresses 14 things you can learn from 24. Please note: this column was written around mid-season of day four. Also, if you've not seen the first three days and haven't heard any SPOILERS about them, you may want to wait and read it after seeing all of day three.
posted by Michael at 6/08/2005 09:14:00 AM |
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The Tennessean this morning has a profile of Mandy Weaver. Mandy's claim to fame is that she is one of the two Mary Annes for the second season of TBS's The Real Gilligan's Island.
From reading the article, it sounds like Weaver is out there for a little while and may make it far into the series.
I think my real question is this--beyond the first episode, did anyone watch any of the first The Real Gilligan's Island? And do we really need a second series?
posted by Michael at 6/07/2005 01:50:00 PM |
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Today's City Paper has an interesting article by Jimmy Hyams about the best players in the past 20 years at the University of Tennessee. Reading the list of great players from UT brings back a lot of great memories of a lot of great seasons by one of the premiere programs not only in the SEC but the nation.
About the only ommissions I see on the list are there is no mention of Tee Martin in there and I wonder if Chuck Webb might not rank above Jamal Lewis as the greatest UT running back of the past 20 years.
Man, this just whets my appetite for football season....
posted by Michael at 6/07/2005 12:28:00 PM |
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No, I didn't actually head out to one of those funny places where you sit in a dark room with a big screen and watch a movie, but I did catch a couple of movies over the weekend that I thought were pretty interesting. I watched two movies that are classified as comedies. But to be quite honest, both were on pretty much the opposite ends of the comedy spectrum. I watched Sideways, which is not exactly what I'd call a fall on the floor laughing until your sides hurt type of movie, but is, instead, one of those movies where you establish characters and have the comedy sort of flow out of chuckles but not a lot of belly-laughs.
Now, I read the novel Sideways a few months ago when the hype for the movie was going strong. And I liked the book a good deal. I really identified with the protagonist Miles and his attempts to try and put his life back together following his divorce and finding out his ex-wife has moved and is now remarried. (It also brings up the debate in me--is it better to know or not know?) The book was a good, quick read and I looked forward to seeing how it might translate into a movie. The book and the movie both examine two guys at various points in their lives--one is Jack, who is getting married and having some doubts about he. He's gone on a week-long wine-tasting trip with buddy Miles to help cheer up Miles and to have his one last great fling before settling down into marriage. Meanwhile, Miles is looking to try and move on with his life, but not always succeeded. He's a writer whose book can't find a publisher and he's having a hard time letting go of his ex-wife. In fact, he holds out hope that mayb they will get back together. These hopes are dashed when Jack tells Miles that not only is his ex-wife coming to the wedding, but she got re-married the month before.
The guys head up to a small town in California for some wine tasting and doing guy stuff like playing golf and picking up women. They meet Maya and Stephanie. Maya knows Miles from his previous visits and happens to be good friends with Stephanie. The story follows how each man pursues his perspective conquest as it were. To Jack, Stephanie is his final conquest before he gets married. He pursues her with reckless abandon, lying to her, connecting with her and her son and setting himself up for a fall later when the truth comes out. On the other hand, Miles is the one pursued more by Maya and it's far more subtle. Both are hesitant, having gone through a divorce. Miles is depressed of the other situation in his life, but feels a deep connection to Maya due to their mutual interest in wine. Miles actually goes as far as to be honest with Maya about the sitation with Jack--but only after he's slept with her. Maya is upset and tells Stephanie who gets upset as well.
Now, this is not what I'd call a roll on the floor, clutching your sides with laughter type of film. If you're looking for something outrageous along the lines of American Pie, you probably want to look elsewhere. But if you're looking for a movie that is character driven with some lines that will make you smile and seeing how the characters get into and out of situations, then this is an enjoyable enough movie. I do think that it's been extremely overhyped by various critics and while I can see that it's well done, I'm not sure it was worthy of an Acadamy Award nomination. It was good, but I'd not say it was great. It's not a movie that after seeing it, I feel compelled to run out and buy the DVD.
Part of that may be that they altered the ending a bit. (Just so you know, I'm giving away the ending to the book and the movie here) In the book, Jack and Miles stay on their wine-tour a bit longer--I think the wedding takes place on Sunday as opposed to Saturday. In the ending of both, Maya sees his ex-wife at the wedding with her new husband. In the novel, Miles is rescued by the fact that Maya shows up after the wedding and says that Jack told her about the wedding and she wanted to come and be there for him. In a lot of ways, it helps to redeem Jack just a bit in the end because he cares enough about Miles to try and help his friend in what will be an awkward situation. As the novel ends, Maya tells Miles they should skip the reception and they wander off into the sunset together, hand in hand.
In the movie, Maya doesn't show up at the reception and Miles goes out for fast food. Time passes and a few days or weeks later, he gets a call from Maya. It's a message praising his new book that he let her read and saying that she's finishing school and may be leaving the area. She says if Miles is in the area, he should drop by the restaurant she waitresses at to say hello. The movie ends with Miles getting in his car, driving up to her place and knocking the door. Fade to black--we have no idea if she's there or not or if she'll even answer.
Now, certainly that's a better Hollywood type ending, but I'm not sure it's as satisfying. As I said before the ending of the book redeems Jack a bit, but the movie ending does give some better substantial character arc to Miles. In the end, he makes the decision to move on and to take the chance on going after Maya rather than letting her slip away or wallowing in self-pity and wine any more. In either case, we're not sure how it will turn out but we're giving hope for the characters involved. I guess there's just part of me that finds the book ending a bit more satisfying in the long run.
The other movie I watched was The Replacements. It was on cable and it's one of those that I've been wanting to watch since it came out, but never quite got around to doing so. Now, if Sideways is a movie that acutally requires some intellectual thought, The Replacements is the exact opposite end of the spectrum. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
It's not exactly what I'd call a falling on the floor funny movie, but it was still enjoyable enough. It's a sports comedy about a bunch of football players who cross the strike line to play as replacements. The story is fairly forumalic and predictable, but honestly, it doesn't matter that much. It's still fun, diverting and entertaining which is sometimes all I ask of a movie. I was entertained for the two or so hours I watched and that's all I wanted. You can predict some things that will happen--such as Kenau will show up in the end to save the day and that he'll get the cheerleader who doesn't date players in the end. But like I said--still fun.
I did find some things that didn't quite gel for me. In the first game the replacement players play, they go for a field goal on what should be first and ten. Not quite sure why. Also, the team has to find replacement cheerleaders, though why this is done is never quite spelled out. Did the cheerleaders go on strike with the team or was the head cheerleader just really overworking herself the first eight to 12 games of the regular season? Turns out, she hires a bunch of exotic dancers to be cheerleaders and they help spice things up on the sidelines and, at times, distract the other team. That said--some of the best moments come from the cheerleader tryouts and a couple of typical air-head blondes who join the team.
Again, it's not ground-breaking new comedy..but then again, it doesn't have to be. It kept me entertained for two hours and again I'm not running out to buy it on DVD but I enjoyed it.
Also, I have to admit that each movie had an attractive female lead that kept me interested in the film. Sideways has Virginia Madsen and The Replacements has Brooke Langton. Both were appealing not only physcially but also the character they played. Both characters had this cute, vulnerable side to them that both actresses did very well. I will give Madsen a bit more credit as her character was more complex than Langton's was.
So, that's two wildly different ends of the comedy spectrum. But yet, both are enjoyable. I think with each movie, you have to be in the right mood its own particular brand of comedy.
posted by Michael at 6/07/2005 08:04:00 AM |
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Yesterday was free community swim day at the YMCA. It was also the warmest day of the year (to date), which is a recipe for overcrowding of a pool. I went to the Y to work out yesterday afternoon and there was a plethora of people lining up for their chance of a free afternoon of swimming and frivolity in the sun. I looked at the pool at one point and I swear there was no water in it--just a mass of human beings in there jammed close together.
Even the indoor pools were crowded--a seeming mass of humanity. There's just something about the thought of a free dip in the pool that brings out the crowd.
But then, we had a disaster in the indoor pool. Some one either tracked in some poop or someone pooped in the pool--they weren't sure which. Which means you have to shut down the whole kit and kaboodle while you figure out if any got into the pool and then shock it with chlorine back into submission. Needless to say, I was less than thrilled as I'd waited until right at the time when the guest time was over and had just begun my laps. Well, by begun I mean avoiding every small child who sees a pool for swimming laps used by adults and thinks--man, you know, I need to jump in there.
I swear, what is it with people sometimes? You've got two good sized pools that you can jump in, splash about and have all kind of frivolity in, but you see a lap lane or a pool for laps only and it's suddenly the most tempting thing in the world and you just have to be in it!
Or maybe it's just that I'm getting old and becoming a curmedgeon.
posted by Michael at 6/06/2005 03:01:00 PM |
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The 4400: Wakeup Call
For five weeks last summer, The 4400 was built around the central question of where did these 4400 people go to and why were they taken? In the finale, we got the answer--they were taken to the future in order to stop the world from destroying itself. How they were supposed to do this or even if they were being succesful in creating a new, better world were left up in the air.
I have to admit I was a bit skeptical to see if The 4400 could carry a second season. Not that they are going to run out of stories any time soon--if you focus on one abductee each week, that's 4400 possible episodes right there (never mind that we seem to have a central focus on a core of about five of those abductees). But with the central mystery of the show answered, I wondered just what the show would do to keep luring viewers in week in and week out. Would the new questions raised by the knowledge of where the 4400 went during their disappearnce be worth the ride?
The answer is--so far, yes.
The second season of the show kicks off in an oddly simliar place to where season two of The X-Files kicked off...at least from the standpoint of where Tom and Diana are. The two agents are separated, there's a new boss in town who may or may not be on their side. Diana goes to bat for Tom, getting him re-instated, but only after he gives the new boss an undated letter of resignation so that if he screws up in the field, he can be let go immediately. I figured this would be something that would come into play later in the season, though they do make references to it in the episode. Just as Tom gets reinstated, he and Diana head out to investigate goings on at a mental institution where one of the 4400 lives.
Turns out it's a girl named Tess played by Summer Glau, who is apparently trying to corner the market on playing the crazy girl on sci-fi themed shows (she was River on Firefly, basically playing a simliar character). Tess has visions of a tower of some type that everyone who comes into contact with her suddenly feels compelled to build. Tom and Diana figure it's some type of transmitter to contact the future. Before you know it, they are drawn into Tess's spell and pick up a hammer and go town. The device is activated, sending off a pulse that cures one of the patients there, played by Jeffrey Coombs. Now, I guessed (incorrectly it turns out) early on that Tess's freind was the one actually controlling things somehow. Instead, we find out that he was a doctor that studied opening up unused areas of the brain before he went crazy and had to be put into the institution. Now he's cured and can presumably return to his work, thus helping the agenda of the people from the future. Interesting ripple effect and not one I saw coming. I have a feeling this will continue to be a theme as the season progresses, espeically if Jordan Collier gets wind of things.
Speaking of Jordan, he's continuing his own agenda for the 4400. He offers out Sean's services to help cure people of diseases for donations to his foundation. He also publishes a tell-all book about the agenda of the 4400 and why they came back (someone inside leaked him memos). He's also relentlessly searching for Richard, Lily and Isabelle. Seems Isabelle had quite an effect on him at the end of last year--inflicting skull-shattering headaches upon him that only Sean's power can cure. Now, watching the story, I began to wonder something about Sean. Sean can cure people, but is there some type of long term negative effect on him? I mean, is he drained from an energy standpoint? Does he suffer some of the symptoms? Is he intende to only cure certain people per the agenda of the future people? Or is there some specific disease he's intended to cure?
Meanwhile, Lily and Richard are married now, on the run. They are trying to stay one step ahead of Collier. Honestly, as much as I wanted to care about their plight, this one had the least overall interest for me. Yes, we got some ideas about Isabelle and her powers, but all the scenes with them just failed to hold as much interest for me.
Not nearly as interesting as the Maia and Diana plotline. Diana adopts Maia and we see Maia trying be part of the real world again (though my first thought was--it took her a year?!?). While it was cute to hear Maia have a crush on Frank Sinatra, it didn't make as much sense as it would have last year. Maia's been back a year and she's been with Diana at least four months. In all that time, she missed the gazillion and one cable channels? Also, Maia claims she's not having visions of the future, but she is and is writing them down--including another foreshadowing hint that things will not go well at work from Tom and Diana.
So, for now, I'm hooked back into The 4400. I'm not sure it can sustain the wonder that it had last year with the cental mystery solved. But it's managed to at least take the next step in asking some new questions that could be interesting as the season goes along. Also, there are some lingering things from last year--such as just what is Jordan Collier's real agenda?--that will have me tuning in to find out where it all goes. Make no mistake, this is not a great series like Lost or Battlestar Galactica (which they had a preview for last night during The 4400 and can I say that July 15th can not be here soon enough!), but it's a fun, entertaining summer series that will help the long, hot repeat-filled summer a bit easier to bear.
posted by Michael at 6/06/2005 08:29:00 AM |
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Two stories in the world of sports caught my eye this weekend. First up, the one that can only count as absurd.
A couple of weeks ago, former Miami player and now Cleveland Brown first-round draft pick Kevin Winslow II was in a motorcycle accident, tearing his ACL. He was in an empty parking lot, trying to learn how to pop wheelies from what I recall. You may remember some of the debate about this incident since Winslow's contract with the Browns expressly forbids him from riding a motorcycle in order to cover this type of injury from occuring. There was a lot of debate on sports call in shows about should Winslow be required to pay back some of his salary and/or signing bonus since he would not be able to play for Cleveland this year. It was a pretty big debate here in Nashville, so I can only imagine how it must be in Cleveland.
Now, as a Vols' fan, I have no love lost for Winslow. He was the idiot after the Vols went down to Miami in 2003 and took care of business, blasted the media saying he didn't know what a Vol was and he was a soldier. (Well, except that part where no one shoots at you and odds are there aren't snipers on the football field..but other than that, Kevin, totally the same!) For a while, it looked as if beloved Redskins might pick him up in last year's draft but thankfully Clevleand took him, thus saving this humilation from being a part of my team.
Now, I understand that he's young and made a mistake. But then again, it is forbidden by his contract. Also, he should have a bit more sense.
And the story seemed to be going away until Friday evening when his father went out of his way to talk to the media. It was caught on tape and it's been playing all weekend.
"It's a long career," he said. "I played nine years in the National Football League. Technically, I played six years — two strikes, two major injuries and I came out OK. We look at it as a long-term career. "You guys look at it as a moment in time and you blow it out of proportion. This Jerry Springer mentality of journalism, you guys are better than that. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Presidents make mistakes. Senators make mistakes. Journalists, if you still call yourselves that, make mistakes." Those are just some excerpts. The whole blasting runs about three to five minutes. I love how Winslow Sr blames the media, Jerry Springer and society. He also spends a lot of time talking about his great accomplishments, as if to remind us all of who he was. He also claims to have talked to the Cleveland fans about the sitatution, which I don't think any of their camp has done.
Honestly, it just all makes me laugh. I mean, I understand the guy standing up for his son. And I'm sure the sports talk shows in Cleveland have been a bit brutal. But I think Winslow has only made things worse for his son, not better. The story was starting to go away and now it's back on the front burner.
Again, thank goodness the Redskins didn't draft this guy. We've got problems of our own with Sean Taylor who refuses to do something simple like call back his coach. What is it with Miami players going to the NFL and acting like idiots?
On a totally different note...
Congratulations to Kelly Bradshaw on becoming the first female drum major for the world-famous Pride of the Southland Marching Band (best marching band EVER!) Bradshaw, 19, beat out four other finalists who were all male for this honor.
In 90 days, Bradshaw will make her world debut when the Vols play host to UAB to kick-off the 2005 season. Man, I cannot wait for football season to start and hear the Pride play the greatest fight song of all time, "Rocky Top!"
posted by Michael at 6/05/2005 12:05:00 PM |
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What is your least favorite household chore?
Ironing. Hence why I'm happy to pay the dry cleaner to press all my shirts. Best $6 a week you can spend.
Which of your parents would you say you’re most like?
I can honestly say that I take after both.
Spread the spirit of aloha…with a twist. What website should we visit this week?
Oh sure, I spent all week reading blogs and noting ones that would be good for Aloha Friday and you have to go and change the rules....
OK, spleen venting done.
Now, to the sites. Yes, I've got two.
Oceanic Air's web site. That's the airline from the hit series Lost. If you go to their web site and enter Hurley's numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. in the "Travellers" section, it will take you to a seating chart for the plane. Once there, click on the numbers on the seating chart in order and you'll find a hidden little Easter Egg.
Doctor Who Ratings Guide: By Fans, For Fans. I've written a bunch of reviews for this site on my favorite show of all-time, Doctor Who.
posted by Michael at 6/03/2005 08:52:00 AM |
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Appetizer
What comes to mind when you hear the word bizarre?
The most obvious answer is Michael Jackson.
Soup
Using just a few words, describe your childhood.
Air Force kid, moved a lot, close to family, happy, content, diverse.
Salad
Name one thing you do each day that you feel improves your appearance.
The chlorine in the pool is just murder on my hair. So, I will use the UltraSwim shampoo to wash out the chlorine and then Nuetrogena shampoo and conditioner to make it relatively manageable. (Relatively being the key word here as my hair has a mind of its own sometimes)
Main Course
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how would you rate your self-confidence?
I'm gonna go with a firm 6.
Dessert
Where did you last find a bargain?
At a garage sale, I recently found a UT umbrella for only a dollar. I was pretty excited about it.
posted by Michael at 6/03/2005 08:14:00 AM |
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A couple of months ago, a friend buzzed me on-line, asking me if I wanted to see the plot breakdown for one of the two-parters of the new Doctor Who. Being weak and also overcome with curiosity about the new show, I quickly succumbed to temptation and got the plot breakdown for "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances."
I read it immediately, nodding my head at each plot twist and revelation and having a feeling the production staff was going to do it—they were going to get it "right" when it came to returning Doctor Who to the television screens.
But words on paper don't always translate into a good television story. There is so much more to it than that. And I have to admit that after being stunned by how great "Dalek" was, I was becoming more and more wary of the upcoming two-parter. I knew how good it could be—but would it live up to my expectations?
Last week, "The Empty Child" hit all the right notes and left me feeling very, very good about the new series. Then, this week "The Doctor Dances" not only delivered on the promise of last week, but it exceeded it. It did what the second half of a story should do—expanded on what we saw in part one and resolved the main conflict—in this case, undoing the damage done by Captain Jack when he opened the alien ambulance and released the nano-probes upon an unsuspecting London.
Indeed, it's interesting to sit back and compare "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" with the earlier two-part story of "Aliens of London" and "World War III." Whereas I liked what they tried to do character wise with Rose's mother and Mickey's reactions to Rose's traveling in time and space with the Doctor, those character moments felt like they brought the action plotlines to a screeching halt. Add in that a lot of the story felt like it was full of padding with Slitheen changing in and out of human skin at will, and it felt like some of the old six-part stories of the original series—a good plot but not enough to fill it all out in a satisfying way.
Then, we get "The Doctor Dances" and "The Empty Child" where the opposite feeling occurs. The story is narrative driven as the Doctor must try to find a way to stop the zombies in gas masks but it does have some slower moments of character and character reflection. But at no point does it feel as if the momentum of the story is coming to a screeching halt in order to have some character development stuff. Instead, the growth and character moments come out of the situation. For example, we spend a good amount of time in "The Doctor Dances" with the Doctor and Rose locked in a room, trying to escape. The two trade banter back and forth, about not only the situation but how each of them is reacting to it. Rose's assertion that the Doctor needs to learn to dance more was nicely done.
One interesting element of the story was the contrast between Jack and the Doctor. Jack is the suave, man about time and space, who thinks only in the moment. He sees things for how they can help or affect Jack and not the long-term consequences. Contrast that against the Doctor who is called in to clean up the mess and hhas a dark streak to him. He wants to enjoy life, but only after the work has been done. Indeed, we see this with Jack dancing with Rose during the crisis in part one but the Doctor not cutting loose and dancing until the crisis is resolved in part two. Also, it's interesting to see the Doctor be jealous that someone else is stealing Rose's attention. It only reinforces my assertion that he chose her to travel with him for some reason. (Lines about being Father Christmas to her aside).
Also with the Doctor and Jack, we saw a contrast in attitude. Jack is a bit more selfish-beaming himself away from the bomb when things look bad. The Doctor, on the other hand, stays to see things to through to the end—even if it means his own demise. And it's because of that the Doctor is so able to celebrate in the end. The sheer delight he feels in that no one has to die today was a nice touch. The intensity in his voice as he urges the nanoprobes to figure out where they went wrong and put it right was a delight, as was the delight at figuring out that he'd won with no deaths involved.
Emotionally, we see the Doctor dancing, as he will later do literally with Rose in the TARDIS.
All of that was delightful and infused the episode with a good sense of fun and
movement.
That's not to see it was all fun and games. There was still the pervading sense of atmosphere from last week. The sense of doom was throughout the episode—from
Nancy begging the soldier to set her free so she wouldn't become a gas mask zombie was good.
I liked Nancy and finding out that she was the child's mother gave us a good explanation of her motives in taking care of everyone. In a lot of ways, she reminded me a bit of Kathleen Dudman from "The Curse of Fernric."
I also like that the series is poking fun at itself. The Doctor points out how Rose has managed to pick up yet another suitor in her travels. I liked the give and take between the Doctor and Rose. It was similar to the give and take of some of the best Doctor and companion teams in the course of the original series.
So, all in all, "The Doctor Dances" was a fine conclusion and one of the better episodes of the new series to date. The series is starting to pick up some good momentum—it really has been hitting on all cylinders since "Dalek" (well, that is if you exclude "The Long Game") and I can't wait to see how the final three episodes of the season unfold. If it's as good as this two-part story was, we're in for a treat…
posted by Michael at 6/02/2005 02:50:00 PM |
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"Rest assured, Commander. We will be victorious, at whatever the cost."
"Worf, it's just a game, a friendly little competition. You work up a sweat, you have a few laughs and you make new friends."
"If winning is not important, then Commander, why keep score?"
-- Worf and Riker in Star Trek:The Next Generation "11001001"
I've always enjoyed this little exchange between Riker and Worf from the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It's one that made me laugh the first time I heard it and it still amuses me to this day.
But I will admit that this little snippet of dialogue from Next Generation also highlights a bit of a truth about myself--I hate losing. I'm not a big fan of it all. I don't really think any of us are. At no point, do we go into a competitive situation and say, "You know, I think I'm going to work hard and lose today." In most cases, all of us go into a competitive situation wanting to win.
Now, I have met people in my life who are more competitive than I am. My friend Debby and her brother Bob are among them. Right after I'd first met them, we all played a friendly game of Monopoly. If by friendly you mean devious. I made a mistake that day...I sat back and let the two of them duke it out for the power and control of the game while I flew under the radar and ended up winning the game. I honestly don't think either one of them has forgiven me for this and I blame my winning the game early on in our friendshp as the reason that Debby never really was all that interested in dating me seriously.
But I do have that competitive instict. I like to win. I far prefer it to losing. Like Worf, I wonder why if winning isn't important, why do we keep score?
This may be why I like Captain Kirk and why Star Trek II resonates with me so. I mean, other than it just being one heck of a great film. In the movie, we find out that in his Acadamy days, Kirk was faced with a test that presented a no-win situation. Instead of accepting that there was no way to win, Kirk changed the rules, thus ensuring he could win. This was consistent with the Kirk we'd seen in the series, who no matter what the situation was, he could pull a win out of the hat at the last possible moment, thus saving the Enterprise every single time. (OK, he lost a lot of red shirts, but you get what I'm saying here). As the movie progresses, we see Kirk put into a real-life no-win situation and how he deals with it. In the end, Kirk wins the day but loses something more--he loses his friend Spock who sacrifices himself to save his ship and crewmates.
In the end, it's not winning that defines us, it's how we win.
One of the great things that organized sports teaches us as young people is not only how to win but also how to lose. We learn how to be good sports, how to give our all on the field and how to walk away proudly. We learn how to be gracious in victory as well as defeat. In fact, I'd almost argue that sometimes learning how to be a gracious winner is just as important as learning how to be a gracious loser.
I remember a couple of years ago, after years of struggle, the church's softball team I played for went undefeated over the course of a season. I was proud to be part of that team. Not because we were undefeated but because of the way we won. Everyone had a role on the team, everyone got playing time, everyone supported each other. We were not the best individual talent out there, but we were the best team. I remember observing other teams and seeing how they had good individual players who tried to drive for the fences every time they were up, but missed the team concept. As a batter, I know I don't have the power I'd like to drive one to the fences. But I'm happy to get on base and see what happens from there. I am content to help my teammates and to let them help me. And in the field, our team played well together. We weren't a well-oiled machine, but we did the small things right so that we could get the outs we needed in order to play. We were a team in every sense of the word and I loved it.
Now, I'm playing softball again and, quite frankly, it's not the same. Different church, different league. And yet, I honestly feel as though this is just a collection of guys who are, for the most part, more concerned with individual accolades and achievement than being part of a team. And while we're at .500 for the season, I'm not sure winning is worth the price. People are feeling aliennated and bitter. Several of us are left to sit the bench while ringers are brought in to run up the score and make plays. Certain players get preferrential treatment because they have greater ability than others of us who are out there just to have fun. We complain about the officiating, which I admit can be bad, but it's easy to forget these guys are human too. All of our games are double headers so there is ample opportunity for guys to get into both games. But I get a bit upset and angry when guys who I've never seen before show up and get to play both games while I sit the bench. I can keep score from my days as sport editor, but honestly I can sit at home, watching a Braves game and keep score. I didn't come out to keep score. Don't get me wrong--I want to help out and be a team player, but I came to play not to be score keeper.
I've been having a debate with myself of late. Am I ticked off that there are people who are just better than I am? Yeah, sure I will admit part of me hates not being the best. But I think what I dislike more is that I'm not given a chance to play any type of role with the team. I see other guys out there, making flubs and mistakes like I would and can do. So, I think--why not me? What do they offer that I don't? Why are they given priority of playing over me? Is it that they've been members of the church longer? And why is it that when I'm put into a game I feel like I'm being thrown a bone? (Well, he did come out so I guess we HAVE to use him somehow).
Which is why I've asked myself--is winning really worth it? Would I take being winless and having a team attitude over being .500 and having division within the team?
Also, I have to seriously assess--am I having any fun? And the growing answer is, "no." Instead of being fun, the games are turning into two hours of anger, bitterness and resentment, leading me to consider quitting the team. Which pains me as I'm not, in general, a quitter. If I give my word, I want to come through and make good on it.
We've only got two more weeks left of the season. And yet I have a nagging suspicion in that we're still bringing in players to an allegedly closed roster (and if I had to pay money to play and they didn't I will be really upset), my playing time will be less and less. So, I may not play next season when the call for softball goes out. Which really sucks as it's something I enjoy doing and I'm having to give it up.
posted by Michael at 6/01/2005 08:26:00 AM |
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