How I Met Your Mother

     A couple of years ago my friends introduced me to How I Met Your Mother and I continued watching until it ended. At first, I was upset it would be over, but they'd reached a point where ending it was better than hoping you could continue talking about a partying forty-something group of friends, especially when they were already slowly going their separate ways.
     The show definitely mirrored my college friendships: We were unbelievably close in school, but now that we're out and about on our own we develop different friendships and value different things. All of us are working on re-building that friendship but sometimes it's time to let go.
     That said, I found an article that pretty much sums up my opinions on the ending. The series worked to diligently to build a relationship between Ted and Robin which is more than that of most exes. The last season was a cop-out: Ted and his children's mother had a few short years, but the writers killed off the mother (she's such a brief character I don't even remember her name). How they did it was heart-wrenching, but Ted turns around and, as his children point out, finds solace in Robin.
     Ted's entire journey is to find the love of his life, but he found her at the beginning of the show and we, the audience are jerked emotionally from girlfriend to girlfriend only to come back to Robin. I enjoyed the show, but it would have been perfectly acceptable to end when Ted meets the mother at Barney and Robin's wedding.

Madam Secretary

I recently decided to check out the show Madam Secretary. While I enjoy the political intrigue and how the Elizabeth McCord controls the situation and makes it work to her advantage, I especially enjoy watching the relationships play out. The relationship between the Secretary of State and her husband seems unique in comparison to what we see on television. Similar shows are more focused on relationships which have deteriorated and are fraught with betrayal and spite; it’s a relief to see a marriage closer to what I see in real life.

Bess and Henry regularly assert that they are a team. They share their daily challenges and triumphs. They worry about their children as parents worry. And they have fights, disagreements, and misunderstandings just as any other couple does. Through the highs and lows Bess and Henry support each other and their relationship is one I admire.

I have only seen about six episodes of the first season, but I’m looking forward to the rest of the show. Looks like it’s time for a marathon!

Firefly

     In 2006 Fox Broadcasting ran a series about cowboys in outer space. Joss Whedon produced it and they called it Firefly. The story follows Mal, Captain Malcolm Reynolds of the ship Serenity, class firefly, and he and his crew sail the skies from planet to planet conducting both legitimate business transactions and smuggling to survive.

     Mal and Zoe were the last of the Independents to surrender to the Alliance--two weeks after the high command. This fierce loyalty to his beliefs is apparent in how Mal runs his ship and crew. Mal's second-in-command, Zoe, has been with him since the war against the Alliance. The Alliance fought the Independence to bring all of the star cluster humanity has colonized and to give the border planets civilization. The Independents were pushed either to join the ranks of the Alliance or to move outward to the edges of the known universe.
     Zoe is married to the ship's pilot: Hoban "Wash" Washborne, a crazy driver who knows his wife can kick his ass but loves her even more for it. Sometimes it feels as if Wash is jealous of Mal and Zoe's relationship, but his wife is so in love with him he can't help but realize it.
     The engineer is Kaylee Frye. She has a childlike enjoyment of life and, though she hasn't had any formal training, keeps Serenity flying in one piece. Kaylee genuinely loves everyone on Serenity: the crew is her family. She even has a crush on Simon, the doctor.
     Simon Tam is a brigand who started his privileged life as a top surgeon. He gave all that up to steal his sister away from the Alliance and the two are hiding from the authorities on Serenity. Simon seems somewhat socially awkward, makes a mess of any relationship with Kaylee and doesn't understand the reasons behind some of the things the crew does.
     River Tam is her brother's focus--when her brilliant mind is attacked and the Hands of Blue try to piece her apart Simon steals her away. But something happened in the Alliance center and River is a killing machine--one sometimes even she can't control. River's mind functions on a level of logic that cannot always incorporate intangible things like faith.
     The dichotomy of River's inability to understand and have a spiritual faith yet trust completely in ber brother is pitted against the Shepherd's religious faith and utter lack of trust in human nature. Shepherd Book begins as a moral compass for the crew, yet as they journey together the blending of pasts and beliefs is managed by Inara, or courtesan who rents a berth on Mal's ship, and challenged by Jayne Cobb, a mercenary who can be trusted to only fight for "number one".

     They are a motley crew, but the adventures on Serenity depend on each piece of the puzzle: without Inara they would be barbarians, without Kaylee cynical beyond reason, without Zoe flighty and prone to ridiculosity, Wash gets them in the air and Mal keeps them there; without the Shepherd they would give up hope, without Simon and River they would have continued in their same path, and Jayne is along for the ride.

Ancient Aliens

     I absolutely love listening to people talk about the "what-if". I got hooked on the History Channel show Ancient Aliens and it now feeds my hypothetical frenzy. There is also the one speaker (Giorgio A. Tsoukalos) and his crazy hair that makes me laugh because he's so passionate about his subject and doesn't notice his unruly hairdo. He's probably my favorite character to listen to on the show.
     I think it's funny how Ancient Aliens looks into the mysteries that abound throughout history and draw conclusions that point toward not only the existence of aliens but their interference as well. Images that could be anything from misshapen clouds to glow sticks become batteries and electric light bulbs, cogs and joints become technology beyond comprehension, gods and mythical creatures become alien life forms: things we would brush off as something someone ahead of the time created become things humans couldn't have developed without assistance.
     While I won't discount the possibility of advanced life forms interfering with our development, I think when people believe these developments came from elsewhere we're discounting the ingenuity and creativity of the human race. Who is to say we couldn't develop these magical inventions? Even if the ancients had alien assistance, more modern times have created those things we compare the mysterious images to.
     Ancient Aliens is a fun show and I enjoy it because it poses some entertaining theories to the questions in our world and, despite sometimes depressing me with their portrayal of the human race's potential for creativity, I come away from each episode considering how we got to where we are and what would have changed had one thing gone awry in the path.

Just a thought...
Stephie

MASH

     I started reading like crazy this summer, to make up for all that time I spent on required readings, and in looking for something interesting found M.A.S.H: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. This was exciting for me because I've been watching the television show since I was a kid. It was fascinating to see the transition of the story: the movie, and television show, were based on this book. I hadn't noticed when I saw the movie or in watching the show--I guess they didn't credit the author unless he or she was associated with the screen production too--so I was surprised when all three of the renditions were similar.
     The show follows Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, a Captain in the US Army stationed at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital situated near the front lines. He lives in "The Swamp" with a rotation of four other officers and makes it through the Korean War by drinking and flirting outrageously with any and all women he comes across. Yet, he is still one of the best doctors in Asian campaign, with an honest care for the well-being of the people around him. Hawkeye and his friends' hi-jinks illustrate the futility of war while still showing their humanity: their pranks and shows of temper are how they maintain dignity in the midst of one of the most brutal situations man faces.

     The movie is a precursor to the television show and based on the novel. A dark comedy about the same characters and problems as in the novel and television show. The 4077 MASH calls in two replacement doctors and gets Hawkeye and Captain "Duke" Forrest. The two encounter their new tent-mate, Major Frank Burns, who is extremely religious and an inferior surgeon to Hawkeye and Duke. A new surgeon arrives, "Trapper" John, whom Hawkeye knew in college. Hi-jinks ensue and Burns is sent stateside. Meanwhile, the unit's dentist confesses to the chaplain that he is considering suicide. He comes to the Swampmen (for they again live in a tent named "The Swamp") for a quick and easy way to finish it. The three men suggest a "black-pill" quick acting poison and prepare a Last Supper-like going away party for the dentist. The black-pill is a sleeping pill and the dentist's confidence is renewed when he spends the night with one of the nurses, negating his worry of inability to perform. The movie then includes Trapper and Hawkeye's journey to Japan to save a congressman's son. Through blackmail and political implication they escape court-martial and run into a friend of Hawkeye's from college. The story ends with a football game between the 4077th and 325th MASH units. Both sides have ringers and the 4077th manages to win through a combination of cheating and trickery. Soon afterward Hawkeye and Duke are discharged and sent home.
     The book is much like both the movie and the television series. Character outlines vary and some characters are combined to create those who appear in both the movie and television show. I found the personifications between the book and shows enlightening. Alan Alda as Hawkeye in the show has always struck me as the perfect character, but in reading the book I realize how much the two are intertwined. Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye in the movie is a good imagining, but he doesn't have as much of the carefree rake in his personification as Alda's Hawkeye does. Yet the Hawkeye of the book isn't quite as much of a womanizer as in the television show. The relationships between characters, though, are spot-on. How they interact and react to each other, in both the show and movie, mirrors a relationship in the book that creates the community the characters can exist within.
     Despite the differences in characterizations between mediums, the MASH characters are powerful examples of humanity in times of trouble and chaos. I enjoyed all three tellings of Richard Hooker's story. What if all franchises had this similarity threading through them?

Just a thought....
Stephie

Heroes

     When it first started on television, I wasn't all that interested in watching Heroes. Since, I've started to see the various shows that have similar theories behind them like Eureka and Warehouse 13.  There is something behind the idea that humans have the power and ability to achieve more than we think we can.

     It's kind of entertaining how strongly we cling to this idea that we can be more than the average person. Escapism culture has taken on a new element--not only can we escape whatever events in our lives are bothering us, but we can start to escape from the elements of ourselves that have negative connections. By knowing or thinking that we can achieve more than the average person - that we each have some sort of magical super power - there is no longer that moment of looking at the self and criticizing it. Instead we each look at the self and only see the superpower--the positive side of it. 

     There are so many different powers in this show - a teen-aged cheerleader who is indestructible  an underachieving Japanese man who can bend space and time, an american who can fly - his brother is running for Senate, and the brilliant Indian biologist who ties them all together. The characters haven't had many adventures yet, I've just started watching Heroes, but they're just learning that they have powers. I'm excited to catch up with the show and all its spin-offs. 

Just a thought...

Stephie

New Obsessions: BBC America

     This last week was Spring Break for my university so I've had some free time on my hands, actually I've had a lot of free time on my hands. I started watching Doctor Who this evening--it's the first new episode since Christmas--but got caught by the new shows that followed.
     Orphan Black and The Nerdist were interesting: Orphan Black is about a woman who watches someone who looks just like her jump in front of a train. She takes on the woman's identity and strange things start to happen in the dead woman's life. The Nerdist is about all things nerdy. The host, Chris Hardwick, described the show as a place where any thing that people can obsess over, talk about, argue about, then talk about more can be explored and talked about. I thought it was an accurate description of being a nerd; it's also a description John Green used when talking about nerds and nerdiness in his vlog. But it's also an accurate description of Tumblr, so The Nerdist is Tumblr in a television show.
     It looks like we, as a society, are becoming more interested in talking about our interests in an informal and impersonal manner. What happened to book clubs and other organizations where people meet up in real life and talk about things?
     I know I'm a culprit of this same anti-social mingling; I am, after all, talking to you from my computer while you're out there on your computer or smart phone, but what happens outside of these glowing boxes? Will we revert to finding meeting places and talking about things just as people have started writing letters again? Or will we stay tethered to the magic box that allows us to travel to an alternate world where all the other people are traveling to talk about their obsessions.

Just a thought....
Stephie

Lizzie Bennet Diaries

     Lately a lot of my friends have been talking about several different vlogs, my favorite has been the "Lizzie Bennet Diaries" which is produced by Hank Green. (I'm fascinated by pretty much anything Hank or John Green make--even though I haven't gotten to the books--right now.) The premise is that Elizabeth Bennet is a graduate student making a video diary of her life, it essentially follows the arc of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in the modern communications field.
     The episodes are between two and eight minutes long and a new one comes out each Monday and Thursday morning. Recently they released the 94th episode, but there are rumors going around that the series will end on the one-hundredth episode. One friend and I are following the story pretty closely and we are a little confused how so much of the book will be squished into only six episodes. Yet, if they boil it down to the essence of the story, all they'll have to do is get Lizzie and Darcy together, and they'll be done.
     I'm super stoked about the next few episodes, but will be sad to see such a good show go. I wonder if the producers will be willing to continue with other classic books?

Just a thought...
Stephie

Sherlock Holmes

     I watch a lot of British television. It all started with Doctor Who, and spread from there. The most recent show I've been watching is Sherlock and it's a modern take on the myth of Sherlock Holmes. There are so many different variations of the story--movies dating back to the seventies, and probably before, television series, and even fan-fiction based on the original tales.
     There are two different shows running right now based on the myth: BBC's Sherlock and CBS's Elementary and I really enjoy them both. Elementary is one of the first non-British shows to portray Doctor Watson as an actual partner in Holmes's investigations (at least, according to an article I read somewhere). The combination of Lucy Liu and Jonny Lee Miller is an antagonistic relationship, but the male-female interaction has a different tenor than the male-male relationship.
     When Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman come to the screen the relationship is much different; they maintain the antagonizing interplay, but also have a difficult sort of friendship to describe. They don't seem to interact except when on a case, yet they know an uncanny amount about each other's habits and likes or dislikes. I've only gotten through the first two episodes, but when there are fewer episodes than there are seasons of other shows, two is numerically a lot. My sister and several of my friends are completely infatuated with both the men on the show and the show itself; I can see the draw, but it isn't going to be my life's blood, watching a show that doesn't have another season until next year.
     What I really want to do about this Sherlock Holmes obsession everyone seems to have is to read the books. There are plenty of them to keep us all entertained until the newest season of Sherlock comes on, so who is going to? Every comparison I've heard places these two new adaptations high on the list of "best" but we won't know until we've all consumed the entire canon.
Congratulations Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; you've managed to keep us all entertained for centuries after your death. I wonder what he'd think...

Just a thought...
Stephie

New Year's Eve

     Every year I celebrate New Year's Eve with my family, everybody does their own thing while keeping the dogs calm as our neighbors set off fireworks. Occasionally my sister and brother and I will go over to the neighbors' house, but for the most part we don't do anything more than watch the fireworks and listen to the music on the news--kind of like the Fourth of July. But this year is going to be different.
     This year I am going to attend a party for the first time, well, a party that isn't a family get-together. And that's just kind of sad. Our party is going to be New Years themed, and I'm sure there will be an insane number of people being idiots, but what's a better reason to be silly than the end of the year? There will be music, movies, and the requisite game of beer pong. We've all made the decision to have fun and ring in the new year with some of our favorite people.
     I'm excited, Happy New Year!

Just a thought...
Stephie

School Shooting--Make Your Own Decisions

     This past Friday, there was a terrible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut: a classroom of kindergarteners and fourth graders, as well as some of the professionals at the school were killed. Now everyone is taking stances on the American Constitution's second Amendment--the right to bear arms. We seem to think because there is gun violence and people are going to abuse their right to protect themselves that taking away the ability for the average person to have a weapon is going to stop the people breaking laws.
     Here's my question: If people are going to use guns in the process of breaking the law, what makes our society think that the illegality of possessing a gun will stop gun violence and the breaking of law? If someone is going to break the law, making gun ownership illegal is not going to stop them. For example: one of the main arguments for why pot (marijuana) should be legal is that people are not going to stop using it.
     Yes, what happened Friday in Connecticut was a tragedy, twenty-some people lost their lives, parents lost their innocent children, and there will be a generation of children terrified and traumatized because of this experience. But, as sad as it is, this happens every day around the world: that same day 22 children and an elderly woman were stabbed in China outside an elementary school; July 20th of this year 12 people were killed and an additional 58 were injured when a gunman released teargas in a crowded theater release of the new Batman movie, then fired shots into the audience; a man near Newport Beach, California opened fire at a mall both Saturday and in a similar instance November 16th; and December 11th a man opened fire at the Clackamas Town Center mall near Portland, Oregon killing two people and severely injuring another.
     We live in our own little worlds, ignoring all the unpleasant things in our society until the media brings them to our attention. The local news may pick up on more of the tragedies that effect us directly, but this "head-in-the-sand" method of dealing with the dangers of life in a world where people don't respect each other is what will get us into real trouble. Be aware, not only of the 'crazies' that are out there killing people, but the people who are doing good in the world. Be aware of where you are and what you're doing. Be aware that the greatest dangers are of letting someone else make up your mind for you.

Just a thought....
Stephie

Sasquatch

     I live in the Pacific Northwest, I have my entire life, and I still don't understand how people can't believe that there is something out there that we don't understand. I'm watching whatever this is on the History channel about Bigfoot. They keep talking about skunk apes and mutant gorillas, or even the missing link between humans and the apes. They've gotten a group of "experts" together to look into whatever the sightings might really be.
     They wonder what Bigfoot eats, where he lives, why he is secretive or hides, where did he come from, and what is he doing? They look at what Bigfoot had to evolve toward in order to survive. They mapped out where sightings have been reported, they're focused along the western coast in North America, and the experts compared that to what they believe to be the best climate for a large omnivorous ape. Supposedly they match almost perfectly. The sightings describe a tall, broad, hairy-looking man that walks on two legs, can run like a man or an ape, makes calls into the night and hunts in the forest.
     The scientists compare the Bigfoot sightings they're researching to the Loch Ness monster and to the Yeti as mythic creatures. When they compare the Bigfoot to creatures we know to exist they usually compare them to humans or to chimpanzees or gorillas. They talk about the Yeti living in the snow fields and being compared to the Mande Burung and the Yeren in Asia, and to the Oreng Pendek in Indonesia. These are creatures that have been seen for thousands of years and match a human ancestor called Heidelbergensis.
     The name Sasquatch is a native american term and the tales match up with each of these different ancient human examples. There is another theory that the Bigfoot creature is a modern human that has become the "Wild Man" and evolved to live in the wild. It wouldn't necessarily be a future example of humans, but a parallel species. They cite the similarity to humans in diet, shape, possible rituals, and purported sexual desire (apparently Sasquatch has an attraction to human women and the tribes of the Pacific Northwest take care to protect their female guests) to draw lines between human ancestors, giant apes, modern human cousins, or even modern homo sapiens.
     I'm just interested in what's out there. Is it a spiritual location for the native tribes where the shamans become wild people and transform into a completely different kind of person? Is there a cousin or ancestor to modern humans wandering the forests? Or is it just a trick of the eye? I think there is something out there; I know of at least one person who has seen something like the typical image of Sasquatch, and I'm sure there are more.
     There is some magic in the mystery of Sasquatch and the other Bigfoot, as well as in the Loch Ness creature. I don't understand why we, as a human collective, insist that there isn't something in the forests and waters of the world. One day we might know what's out there, but I hope that we still have some of the mystery that pervades our planet when we do discover what it is.



Just a thought...
Stephie

Vanished!

     When I started watching Warehouse 13, I fell in love with the acting style of Joanne Kelly. Then, when my friend and I were surfing Hulu we came across another show starring, well almost starring her. It's called Vanished.
     In the show Joanne Kelly is the wife of Georgia's Senator Collins. She is kidnapped from a gala celebrating her charity work and the search begins. The series chronicles the search for her and the secrets that come with the investigation.
     So far I like the show, but there are some characters that drive me nuts. The reporter for one, all she cares about is her story no matter who it might destroy. She strikes me as a "Regina King" from Mean Girls.  She uses the people around her to get what she wants, and that isn't necessarily Sara Collins found.
     The daughter is one of those whining brats who thinks her parents hate her. Yes, there are things her father and stepmother, and mother, aren't telling her, or letting her do, but there are more productive ways to go about getting attention or her way.
     The brother isn't high on my list of favorites, but neither is he the clueless dupe everyone else seems to think--he held on to his relationship with his mother when no one else would give her the time of day, he kept his sister's secrets, and it doesn't seem like anyone has noticed anything he has done - pretty well flying under the radar.
     I don't really have an opinion on the senator one way or another. He loves his wife and yet they kidnap her, at first we don't know what for. But as the story continues he appears to hinder the FBI investigation more than help it. I'd hope if I were married and missing my husband would do more to help.
     My favorite character is probably the FBI agent, Kelton. He cares about his mission and wants to get Sara Collins back to her family. When the audience meets his family you can understand how he feels so deeply for the Collins family.
     It's an interesting show and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of it.

Just a thought....
Stephie

Inheriting Music

     I was listening to the introductory music of Copper, the new television show on BBC America, and something about it spoke to me. It sounds like a mixture of bagpipes and a fiddle, in the Irish style. It's a beautiful tune, and I wish I knew why it speaks to me.
     Is there something about the music someone's ancestors listened to that can speak to them? My parents haven't ever really listened to Celtic music, but I've discovered that I enjoy it just as much as the pop and country and classic rock I find on the radio. Maybe I should mention that my family is most significantly Irish, there is English and Scottish mixed in, but is definitely Irish.
     There's something to be learned from the diets of families--over years of not eating grain, people lose the ability to digest gluten and their descendants become gluten-intolerant or allergic. I wonder if the same happens with music. Over generations of listening to the same music, does a family develop a preference for it?

Just a thought....
Stephie

Lights, Popcorn, Action!

     I recently saw the new Avengers movie--LOVED IT! It was a great blend of the hilarity I've expected from Joss Wheedon since Firefly, and the action adventure that comes with creating a movie based on comic books. I'm not much of a comic book aficionado, but I did have some of the back story from the earlier movies. My next question is: Will they make a movie for the Black Widow and Hawkeye?

     The combination of various directors' vision to create the one movie was really interesting to watch, at least for me. The producers and Wheedon did a wonderful job of staying true to the characters that were portrayed in other movies (I really liked the cameos of Black Widow and Hawkeye in Iron Man and Thor).
     I just wish that Hollywood would take such care with other movies and follow the standard they've already created in this grouping of movies. I'm looking forward to watching The Dark Knight Rises.

Just a thought....
Stephie

Patriot Day

     Today was an interesting day: eleven years ago four air planes were hijacked in flight and used as weapons in an attack on the United States. Now, I know that most of what I truly know about 9/11 is filtered through a childhood lens and what I've since been told by the media and my parents, but I did live through one of the most traumatic events of the last thirty years.
     Everyone says you remember where you are when it happens. It's true: I had just turned eleven years old,  my sister and brother and I were at daycare while my dad was at work and my mom was in Turkey on a trip for work. We were just getting to the "big kid center" when our supervisor/teacher got a call. It was the daycare's main base--where the younger kids stayed while the school-aged kids waited for time to leave--telling her to check the news. She turned on the television and the image of the smoking towers was everywhere.
     We stood in shock: what happened? What did that mean for a bunch of kids living three thousand miles away? What was going to happen next? It was a bigger question for my sister and me; what would happen to us? Both of our parents were in the military and any attack on the United States meant they could be sent anywhere around the world. The most difficult part for us was that neither of our parents could be reached... All military bases were on lockdown--nothing goes in or out (people, equipment, non-military communication)--and even they couldn't get a hold of some places overseas.
     It turned out that my dad wouldn't be going anywhere (he had three children at home and his wife was overseas) but my mom wouldn't be coming home either. Mom ended up coming home several weeks later than expected, and no one knew how long anyone was going to stay. My siblings and I ended up going to school as normal, going home, and staying with an aunt while Dad worked.
     We later learned that there were more than just the two planes we'd seen on the television: one landed in the Pentagon wiping out thousands of lives, and another was commandeered by the passengers, who diverted the plane from its destination in the White House to a field in Pennsylvania. Those passengers are now considered national heroes and are remembered for the lives they saved.
     It's sort of terrifying to think that all of those events, events that have driven our country into a decade-long military conflict and caused a significant change in how we live our daily lives, were so long ago. I am now twenty-two and have spent half my life living in a world where the people are scared to death of anyone different. If the attack on the United States hadn't happened, would we have moved beyond caring about what a person looked like or where their ancestors lived? Or would we still ignore the actions of truly amazing people just because they look or speak or come from somewhere different than us?

Just a thought....
Stephie

Superman!

     It's summer break. I am taking the time to laze about and watch television and I just rediscovered a show I loved back when I was a kid. It wasn't a cartoon (while I loved them too), or even a kids show; it was Lois and Clark: the New Adventures of Superman.
     I always loved how they're friends, how Clark has more of a character role than in the movies, and that someone other than his parents know that he's Superman. I didn't see the movies until I was in high school, so everything I knew about Superman was based on this TV series. It's kind of amazing how I could have grown up knowing so little about the quintessential American hero.
     I've made up for my ignorance since I discovered that Superman isn't the only one with a TV show: Batman, Wonder Woman, The Green Hornet, The Six Million Dollar Man, The X-Men, and Spider Man have been popular over the last few decades. While they're not always my first choice to watch, I prefer a superhero show to the dramas like Desperate Housewives and reality shows like Big Brother and Survivor.
     Lois and Clark is still one of my top superhero shows, and I'm thrilled that it's back on the air.

Just a thought....
Stephie

Sliding Doors and Alternate Universes

     I watched a movie the other day called Sliding Doors. Gwyneth Paltrow played the main character, a young Englishwoman who has been fired, but it's right after that when the two worlds separate. In one she makes it onto the tube (the subway) and meets a charming man, then reaches home in time to discover her boyfriend in bed with another woman. In the other she misses the train and is mugged on the street trying to take a cab home, she doesn't discover this other woman at all.

     From there the stories take two completely different paths. In the first, she befriends James (the charmer from the Underground), their relationship grows, she develops her own business, and life goes on. In the second she stays with the boyfriend working pointless jobs to support him while he writes a novel, and cheats on her over and over. 

     In the end the two lines re-converge, but it reminded me of Doctor Who and that got me thinking: What happens every time we make a choice? If it's a yes/no sort of choice and we choose yes, does a separate world split off where we chose no? 

     I'd like to think so. I guess my conception of time is a little strange, but I see time like a tree where the branches split into different paths, but where they touch you can still hop from one path to another. Some people view time like a one-way road. Other people see it as a river where choices create only one reality. And still even more people think that there isn't really a choice, that everything is pre-ordained. I kind of get frustrated by that viewpoint because it takes away the individual's ability to change, either for the better or the worse.

     If time is pre-ordained, does that mean that Charles Manson was destined to be a serial killer from birth? Or that Mother Theresa couldn't help but be the model of a saint? I don't like the kind of world that theory creates. It's a world where we can't hope to be better people, or accomplish anything through effort--it all depends on what was decided for your life. It's depressing! I like the idea that every time someone makes a decision, a little bubble appears off our universe parallel to their decision where somewhere along the line you could jump back into the other universe, change your decision, or merge the two. It's hopeful and opens a world of possibility.

Just a thought....

Stephie

Imagination

     It's amazing to see how pop culture can take literary references and make them popular once more. I was watching Doctor Who this afternoon and Charles Dickens featured. Some of the greatest minds of all time re-imagined by our standards--Dickens starts out as a close-minded fool but learns to accept that the world is not as it has always seemed. The implication is that it wasn't until after he opened his mind to the possibility of angels and aliens and more that his writing took off.
     What does that mean for us? Sheldon, or probably Leonard, makes a comment about how science is focused on facts. We live in such a science focused world that we don't take into account the mysteries of the supernatural or just the unknown. And the people who do are considered crazy. Why can't we understand science and still allow our imaginations to explore the unknown? We've started to allow our minds to explore with shows like "Life After People," "Mega-Disasters," shows like "The Tudors," "Merlin," and even "Doctor Who," but they're mainly based in what we already know, or in myths from centuries ago.
     What happened to humanity's imagination? Will we ever be able to let our imaginations run lose, or will we be trapped between our nightmares and science forever? Shakespeare wrote: There are more things of heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. I hope we learn to accept that there will forever be things people don't understand, and things we don't need to understand.

Just a thought...
Stephie