CV Rick

Jane's Battlestar Galactica Questions Answered.

Today I was informed that through my own rudeness Jane's questions about the show I recommended have gone unanswered.  In order to correct that, I'm going to answer them now . . . feel free to ask more questions in the comments.

Question: do they ever address where they get food?

In the fleet there are at least two ships that specifically produce crops and animals.  These were passing references and brief graphics, but they were there and I think it was principally in the episode that dealt with the water shortage.

Jane Espenson, writer of the episode called The Passage, had this to say about the food issue: 

"The research that I really did on my own was about figuring out how the fleet had been making food prior to this crisis. The explanation was cut for length, but in one draft it was stated that the fleet "grew" meat from cloned cells and that it was this system that got so badly contaminated. As for the algae, I think that was already in place when I was given the story... it's just an obvious alternative protein source."

Question: were some humans left on New Caprica? If so, they must go get them, or at least talk about it, right?

There were very few humans left on New Caprica and those were either collaborators with the Cylons or prisoners.  The occupation and subsequent rescue mission ended up decreasing the human population by over 2,000 people.  After the Galactica rescue mission, we can assume that whoever remained is dead or gone from the planet as the Cylons left it as well.

Comment: please do not tell me that Lucy Lawless and #6 are going to be jealous of each other now. Over Gaius. Come ON.

This issue is complicated, but it ends badly.  One of the story segments I liked least in the series.

So is Kasey Starbuck's offspring? They took her ovary and made Kasey, and implanted her in that woman who thinks she's Kasey's biological mom, right?

No, Kacey is not really Starbuck's.  That was a lie used to manipulate Starbuck into buying into Leobon's imaginary family scenario.  When they are returned to Galactica; Brynn, who is Kacey's real mother gets her back.  She had been stolen from her mother right after the Cylon's arrived on New Caprica.

I hope that helps.

 - rick, galactica geek.

The Wire: A Series Review

Rose told me I'd love The Wire.  She was right.  She said it was a great show and that I'd be caught up in fabulous dialogue and I was, but there are three other reasons that this HBO Series haunts my thoughts, three reasons I'm going to explain without giving away any spoilers: 

1. While it's a magnificent modern story, it's told in the classic hero's journey style.
2. It feels real - the setting, characters, situations, and story all feel as if somewhere it's playing out in real life.
3. It fulfills my own obsession regarding the potential transition of the novel as television series.

The Hero's Journey

Joseph Campbell, noted for his study of the monomyth, posited that all the greatest stories from cultures worldwide had similar elements and could be framed by a structure called the hero's journey.  In this journey a reluctant hero, usually an outsider from his own kind, must undertake a hazardous journey where he confronts the demons of the world and the demons in his own mind.  In The Wire there are three separate heroes from three distinct societies in modern Baltimore, Maryland. 

The first is Jimmy McNulty, an Irish detective who has an aversion to authority and doesn't care what bridges he burns in his obsessive quest to close a case. Not just any case though, McNulty must solve the big case, the important case, in order to exorcise his self-destructive internal demons of alcoholism and relationship sabotage.  Throughout the series you get the feeling that he's always on the ledge windmilling his arms to keep from plummeting to his death.  In his journey, McNulty has to fail more than he succeeds and he has to come to terms with the fact that he's not going to make that big score without help.  He has to discover somewhere within his nature the ability to be loyal and he has to accept his own fallibility before he can really do some good.

One More Battlestar Galactica Post

I noticed some of you haven't followed Battlestar Galactica.  Here's a shortcut solution - an eight and a half minute series recap.  It'll catch you up on all the important storylines and events.  Then you can watch it along with me when the series resumes in less than a month.

- rick, fan

Battlestar Galactica Coming Back

I'm taking a week off from Montana Jones.  Here's a great photo from Entertainment Weekly.  The best show on television is set to return - with all its religious references and storylines.

If you can't see it all, click this smaller image.

Saturday Meme - 5 Television Questions

Being sick all week got me thinking about television because it's been on and it's the only thing I didn't have to exert any effort over.  Sometimes, like now, television is the no-brainer noise machine in the background.  Sometimes it's quite the opposite.

Over the course of my lifetime I've heard nothing but bad about television.  I'm rejecting that - television is nothing more or less than any other tool in our lives.  Here's a meme to give each of you a chance to express your own feelings about television.

#1 - Name 3 bad things about television?

    - It encourages a sedentary lifestyle
    - The commercials and product placement injects consumerism directly into our lives.  It creates false wants, masking them as needs.
    - With so much mediocre programming, it encourages accepting "entertainment" that's of a lower value than life itself.

#2 - Why do you watch television, when you do?

    - For the same reason I read.  And for that matter the reason that I write.  For the stories.  Television, like the movies has an important place in our storytelling legacy.  From poetry to prose to stage to the short story to the novel back to the stage to the screen and finally to the small screen, stories are a part of us and will continue to be.  Stories are going to be told and I want to be available to experience them whether that's through attending a performance, playing a great video game or watching it on television.

#3 - Name three television dramas that you like.  What makes each unique.

    - Battlestar Galactica - This is really a classic science fiction novel brought to the screen, told in all a novel's complexity and told well.  It's dark and includes commentary on the human condition, law, technology and morality.  It's challenging in the way entertainment can succeed, by making us want to take a look at ourselves and see how we measure up.
    - Rescue Me - This is a show about a New York City Firehouse in post-9/11 America.  It's funny and sad and examines the mind of a man who lost half of himself in America's worst day.  He lost half of his friends, coworkers, and family, and the biggest question is whether he can keep living with the half that still remains.  It's also a classic novel format made better by being put on the small screen.
    - Deadwood - A Historical drama about the town that brought about the demise of Wild Bill.  The town was dangerous, on the edge of civilization, the product of the gold craze and the quintessential exploitation of all that's human by other humans.  In this story nobody is all good or all bad, but everyone is shaded by the quality of their own self-interest.  It's about what forms a community and how even the most horrible people have a bit of compassion somewhere tucked in with the greed and the cruelty.  The most amazing part of the show is that it's more fact than fiction.  Too bad the series was cancelled.

#4 - What's one of the worst things about television today?

    - Much of reality television is just an outgrowth of horrible daytime television, like Jerry Springer and a dozen "judge" shows.  It's people getting paid to reveal their darkest, nastiest, most ill-educated selves.  It's a parade of commonality, but the common element is juvenilism.  We're watching those among us who never grew up, never learned to control our emotions, never learned to wait till later to satisfy immediate urges.  The people paraded before us are those who fail basic civilization and that's who we exploit. 

#5 - What's one of the better things about television today?

    - Not all reality television is bad, believe it or not.  Some of it shows the reality of hard work and talent striving for the dream of success.  I'm thinking about things like project runway.  People on that show, and some others I'm sure, have the desire and the will and the dedication to hard work to succeed and the reality show isn't exploiting that, but instead is shining a light into a process that would happen whether we're there or not.  This gives them an opportunity to succeed in a field that they'd be striving to succeed in whether the television cameras showed it or not. 

Saturday Meme - The Greatest

This one is from Cele.  It's all about the greatest of each thing.

The Fine Print:
Here are the rules: Copy the meme listed below to your blog and answer the 10 questions. At the end of the questions, add one more question of your making. Let's see where this goes! Enjoy!Oh, please note: These don't necessarily have to be the greatest of all time ever. It could be the greatest whatever at this moment in your life. What's great today, might not be tomorrow. I'm as interested in the present as I am in all time, if you will!****

In your opinion, this is the greatest...
1. Book
2. Song
3. Movie
4. T.V. Show
5. Place to live
6. Place to visit
7. Place to eat
8. Fruit/Vegetable
9. Chocolate
10. Quality I Possess

Xtreme Mormon Missionaries - The Trailer

Here's a trailer spoof for an Xtreme Missionary Movie.  Mildly entertaining:

And here's a different kind of Mormon Missionary video . . . Tackling Mormons:

The Fad of Heartlessness

Many of you may have heard that Ann Coulter was on Hardball with Chris Mathews the other day and Elizabeth Edwards called in to the show.  If you're interested, the clip is at the end of this post.

I've said many times that the representatives of the right-wing get to say anything they want, spout any lies, and poison the political conversation in this country and the so-called media liberals don't confront them on it.  They're followers root them on, cheer them for every disgusting word that they say.  When confronted, people I know will simply say, "Both sides do it." It's simply not true.  It's just not. 

Ann Coulter has repeatedly and personally attacked Presidential candidate, John Edwards.  She has even made fun of Edwards son, Wade, who died in an automobile accident at age 16.  She said that Edwards had a bumper sticker which says, "Ask Me About My Dead Son."  Who on the left has ever made fun of George H W Bush's daughter, Robin, who died of leukemia?  During their respective campaigns, both Bush I and W brought it up as an issue of how death has affected them and how they dealt with it.  No one on the Left ever made fun of it.  We aren't that disgustingly nasty and opportunistic. 

It's considered an asset to be nasty on the right-wing. They view kindness and personal respect as weakness.  They hate actual human beings who behave in unpredictable ways guided by emotions and needs. Sociopaths are cool, psychopaths are understandable, and humans are fucking weak. Don't believe me?  Follow this thread:

Televisions

I'm going to take you on a tour of the house I worked at yesterday, by the televisions:

Television #1 - In the sewing/craft room.  It was a 10 inch color with built-in dvd player set at an angle on the second work table.

Television #2 - A 60 inch wall-mount in the master bedroom hooked to a series of video players, tivo, and dvr machines. 

Television #3 - In the master bath on the counter, a 10 inch color with built-in dvd visible from the tub.

Television #4 - In the dressing room, another 10 inch color with built-in dvd.

Television #5 - Television cable card and exterior player/recorder for laptop computer in the son's room.

Television #6 - Television cable card and exterior player/recorder for laptop computer in the daughter's room.

Television #7 - An enormous (60-inch plus) wall-mount hooked to a major stereo and video surround system in the Great Room.

Television #8 - In the kitchen, a 40 inch wall mount on the main wall visible from counters and island food prep area.

Television #9 - Another 10-inch with built-in dvd in the laundry room.

Television #10 - A 20-inch table top flat screen in the office/den.

Television #11 - In the family room, a 60-inch wall mounted television hooked to 5 video game systems.

Television #12 - In the guest bedroom, a 25-inch table top on the dresser, like in a hotel room.

Television #13 - In the garage, in the Humvee - a television with entertainment center.

Television #14 - In the garage, in the Escalade - a drop down television for the back seat audience.

Television #15 - In the driveway, in the daughter's Jeep Grand Cherokee - another drop down.

- rick, agog.

The Price is Right

Bob Barker is retiring and the Price is Right is 35 years old.  Bob was around no matter where we lived in the world – it was the one show that was broadcast on the Armed Forces Network continuously, and as such it gained a large following among military families.  If you've noticed, there are a lot of service members or service spouses who get on as contestants. 

I knew one, Tony Bell's mother.  When the news came around that she'd gotten on The Price is Right while out in L.A. visiting her mother, we were all excited and raced over to Tony's house to ask questions.  “What was it like?”  “Did you get to spin the wheel?”  “Were you in the showcase showdown?”

She wasn't in the showcase showdown, but she'd been one of the three contestants in the first part of the show and she'd won a refrigerator.  There was something else she'd won, but I don't remember that . . . it was the refrigerator that sparked our awe.  It took them several months to deliver it, but when it came it was beautiful.

Remember, we lived in base housing. None of us owned our own refrigerator.  The units came with the house we lived in, and they were cheap, single door refrigerators with tin freezer doors inside.  Tony's new refrigerator had two full doors, side by side, and shelves in both doors all the way up.  It was a spectacular piece of machinery.  And it had an ice maker.

None of us had ever seen a refrigerator with an ice maker in the door.  We hadn't known such a thing was possible.  Awestruck, we'd go over to Tony's house as a break from playing, a long line of nine-year old boys, smudged faces, dirty hands, and cut off jeans. Solemnly and orderly we'd stand in that line, each with a glass in our hand and wait our turn before that refrigerator.  Pressing the glass in we'd fill it with ice, then to the other dispenser for a shot of water to finish the job, and finally outside to sit in the grass.

We'd all marvel at how the ice came out in perfect crescent slivers and we'd drink the water and crack the ice with our teeth.  She'd been on The Price is Right and she'd won an Altar to technological advancement. 

I don't remember whether Tony moved first or whether I did, but it was sad to be parted from that amazing ice dispenser and it'd be years before I saw another one.

- rick, reminiscing. 

Improper Sundays

The Cat Juggler came up with this:

Of course castration humor makes me laugh.  I'm juvenile, what can I say.

Here's the original Justin Timberlake SNL song, uncensored (not safe for work).

 

- rick, laughing inappropriately

I'm a Believer

I've been having a conversation with Tate Hallaway about Battlestar Galactica.  Last season, after wrapping us up in the characters, the lives of the people of the Battlestars, they just leaped ahead a year and sent the viewers in a tailspin of emotional discontinuity.  Rightly so, Tate was annoyed.  She called me, annoyed.  I develop deep loyalties and was unwilling to buy completely into her anger, but I empathized nonetheless. 

Then I saw the first episode of the new season.

Here's what I said in her blog comments:

I just watched the first episode of the new season, tate.  Wow.  I just have to say, wow. 

Without giving too much away, they've done, more convincingly than John Updike, what he attempted in his new book, Terrorist. I believed more in this show than Syriana ever made me believe. I felt the decision process and the decision and the anger and the hopelessness.

It's darker than my stories and angrier than my rants and has the impact of what I want to say when I can't quite say it. 

The breaking of Kara Thrace makes me shiver.

They telegraphed the episode plot like a slow cross-court pass, an easy pick, but it still worked and I still said, "damn."

I was with you somewhat in your annoyance, but now I have to back out of that tenuous alliance.  I am a believer once again.

Television Addictions

I watch my favorite television shows on dvd because of both the convenience and because they're commercial-free.  Netflix is probably the single most important business model of the last decade.

The downside is that when I find a great show, I have to isolate myself from news about it or people discussing it. 

My two current 'delayed' addictions:  Lost  and Battlestar Galactica.

- Rick the impatient