Friday, 27 Sep 2002

An interesting and intelligent article from a suprising source (Christianity Today) that details some of the appeal of a show (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) it is hard for some of us well-post-20-something adults to admit we even watch, let alone like. And, to show how ingrained the culture of the show has become, here’s a paper from the Center for Strategic and International Studies called “Biological Warfare and the Buffy Paradigm”.

Friday, 27 Sep 2002

The world is not always the way we would like to perceive it. Sometimes it’s not even the way everyone tell us it is. Need proof? Unless your view of the world includes demons following children and threatening their lives, and children in “satanic trances” trying to kill their siblings, check out this story about some children who were abused by an alleged satanist. The kids all describe a demon they have seen following them, and mother and children have had other disturbing experiences as well. [update: More stories can be found in Demon News]

Friday, 27 Sep 2002

This has been a week of TV Season Premieres - Caught both Buffy and West Wing, two shows I have enjoyed in the past but I didn’t find the season premieres all that interesting. Perhaps my expectations are just to high and I anticipate things too much and should just enjoy having familiar characters back in my life instead of looking for something “bigger”.

I also caught the last half of the “Crossing Jordan” season premier . I want to say that this is a horrible show - unbelievable and inconsistent in plot elements and people’s reactions, characters whose motives (when they have any) are rather flat and unexplained - but as formulaic as the show is with the likeable side-kick coworkers and the bristly but loveable boss, there is something I like about the show. I do like forensic detective work, and they deal wish the issues without going for the gore aspect least not as much as some other network crime shows) so that could be part of it. The main character is so flawed it’s almost absurd to think that she would have any friends to say nothing of coworkers who would even be willing to be her friend to say nothing of going out on a limb for her on a regular basis - but even though it’s not that well written a show the main character’s imperfections make the show seem more 3 dimensional than a lot of more well written or polished shows. Of course even these things don’t make it memorable enough for me to actually remember when the show is on or want to watch it regularly, but if it’s on the TV when I am flipping I generally end up there. (Maybe I just like it because the main character’s boss is a Twin Peak’s alumnus)

[Rant Alert]

Also, it may be just me but I am finding it harder to get immersed in television stories - to see them as anything more than plays - an ensemble of people putting on a performance. I want entertainment to be engrossing. Part of it is the incessant advertisements that break up the flow and knock me out of that space of absorbtion - it doesn’t help when an ad comes on featuring an actor from the show in question. It’s pretty hard to forget a character is an actor when the actor comes on as him/herself hawking some product in the middle of the show. (ala Sarah Michelle Gellar doing makeup ads during Buffy). Also, I hate the guest hosting things - how can I get into Spike as a scary vampire when he is all warm and human and announcing the evenings shows and urging people to stay tuned? Sheeesh.

Friday, 27 Sep 2002

written : Minority Report and other short stories by Philip K. Dick

TV Season Premieres - Buffy, West Wing, Crossing Jordan, Angel

Movies : Brazil, Prophecy, Last House on the Left, Hollow Man, Army of Darkness

online : Google News,Various “The Sims” download sites and how-to tutorials

Friday, 20 Sep 2002

Astronomers have always wanted to know,
About all those things in the sky that glow…
Discoveries don’t come very fast,
This new one’s from the far distant past -
They call it a big bang echo!
[story]