I don’t watch much network TV. I have the TV on a lot as background, but it tends to be history or politics or nature or sports or Iron Chef America or comedy. I don’t go for soap operas; I don’t need a five year story arc or even a two episode story arc – maybe I just don’t want to commit. Whatever, I’ve been catching up with some of the new shows this season, having DVRed a few things.
It’s an eclectic bunch, ranging from spy frolics to science fiction to super powered families and a new show based on an old show (Hawaii Five-O for those of you playing at home). What I am struck by is how much these shows remind me of TV from 30-some years ago. Maybe this is typical, or maybe it’s because I’ve been away from this type of show that I am surprised by it.
I am surprised that there are shows that are so episodic. OK, the pilots hint at long running subplots fraught with conspiracy and conflict. If it turns out that way I may not be so interested. I’m shallow, and complex – I want basic entertainment with good writing and strong characters.
So far I’ve watched Hawaii Five-O, UnderCovers , The Event, No Ordinary Family and Law & Order: Los Angeles. Admittedly light stuff and L&O:LA was just out of curiosity, I didn’t expect anything different there. And Hawaii Five-O is a restart using the same names, locales and opening sequence and theme. It could be just like the original and still have a recurring nemesis (anyone remember Wo Fat?). So no surprises there.
It’s the other three. TV recycles things all the time, I have seen so many reused plots lately I can’t keep track, but these shows are right out of the 60s and 70s. UnderCovers wants to be something it can not be: I Spy. Nothing can be I Spy. This show manages to be an holistic level dilution of that show though - not as cool as Kelly and Scott, not as cool as Sheldon Leonard, but fluffy fun. But No Ordinary Family could be a script directly from the 60s – and I mean script-found-in-an-old-filing-cabinet-just-blow-off-the-dust directly from the 60s, with the parents’ jobs reversed. As for The Event, well, it couldn’t possibly live up to the hype, but the only thing missing to make it a show from 1968 is the Quinn Martin Production voice over. All we need is for Roy Thinnes to show up. Now that I think of it, he should. And is it just a coincidence that one of the lead actors is named Innes? I ask you.
These shows remind me of stuff from the 70s, and I mean that in a good way. It’s a naiveté that makes for a lighter feel. Yeah, it also leads to superficiality and I need to see these shows after the pilot to see if they’re any good, but I found this similarity to old TV interesting.
Like I said, I like entertainment. I like good writing and acting, I like well-rounded characters with depth, but I don’t like angst for angst sake – it’s a poor substitute for real characterization. Also, I hate stupidity as a plot device but I hold out little hope for that disappearing any time soon.
I haven’t watched much network TV in recent years. I need a break from reality so maybe I will this season. I’ll try to ignore the plot holes and such, after all, it’s TV and is meant to numb the mind. Maybe I’ll be entertained.
Keep your irony meters turned off, I realize that this post lacks any depth.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Happy Birthday To Me
A friend of mine knows someone (else) who almost died and they started counting their birthdays from that point in their lives. By that accounting I am five years old today.
I picked today because it’s the day I came home from the hospital five years ago.
Does this mean that I should start kindergarten now?
I know it means it’s time to start something new.
I picked today because it’s the day I came home from the hospital five years ago.
Does this mean that I should start kindergarten now?
I know it means it’s time to start something new.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
About those plans
In case there might be someone out there who reads this (people have contacted me based on the topics/content) and may wonder about that line about sabotaging my own plans, I wanted to add to that. File this under sharing an experience so someone else can see that they’re not the only one going through something.
One of the problems I have is following through on things (and admitting that isn’t easy). So my plans are not always fully realized for a variety of reasons and sometimes I sabotage myself. This was not one of those times. To my credit I did get this whole thing planned out – with some snags; it was just that there were reasons why it wasn’t the thing to do. So I got the first step down. It’s a start.
If you have a problem with plans, well, I make no claims to being able to recommend treatment, I just say what I’ve been doing.
Plus I read a book.
One of the problems I have is following through on things (and admitting that isn’t easy). So my plans are not always fully realized for a variety of reasons and sometimes I sabotage myself. This was not one of those times. To my credit I did get this whole thing planned out – with some snags; it was just that there were reasons why it wasn’t the thing to do. So I got the first step down. It’s a start.
If you have a problem with plans, well, I make no claims to being able to recommend treatment, I just say what I’ve been doing.
Plus I read a book.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Just one thing
Regarding that last post: I don't read very fast these days and I type 9.5 words per minute. So reading and writing increases will be relative.
Just sayin'.
Just sayin'.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
I make plans
And of course they fall apart. Well, I deconstruct, disassemble and destroy them. I had plans for later in the week for something different, sort of a test of myself, but for a variety of reasons it will not come to pass. Instead I will work on some other way of expanding my horizons. It might not be as easy to do, but the other plans had flaws – nothing’s perfect, eh?
Oh well, let’s hope this falls under live and learn. I know I am being vague here – it’s to salvage some ego.
Instead of doing anything in particular, besides a week literally full of doctor appointments, I intend to kick up the reading and get down to writing.
Any suggestions on ways to beat the heat that I need to be out in, or tests of personal fortitude – or at least self-improvement – will be considered.
That is all.
Oh well, let’s hope this falls under live and learn. I know I am being vague here – it’s to salvage some ego.
Instead of doing anything in particular, besides a week literally full of doctor appointments, I intend to kick up the reading and get down to writing.
Any suggestions on ways to beat the heat that I need to be out in, or tests of personal fortitude – or at least self-improvement – will be considered.
That is all.
Monday, July 5, 2010
July 5th (such a creative title)
The holiday was yesterday, the day off is today. Yeah, it still feels like a day off. After too many years of having that behavior ingrained in my system, I still feel these days as holidays and can usually give myself a chance to do nothing and not feel guilty about it.
Of course, since guilt abounds, holidays – especially the Mondays after the real date – can invite the guilt in to play. Not so much today, fortunately, since I got some stuff done earlier in the weekend I felt like I had accomplished enough. So today I slept late and only did a few things that I would have done on any Monday off when I was working.
I have also eaten way too much, but then it is a holiday for eating, and yesterday I saw a movie. We saw Knight and Day, a spy farce with its tongue planted very firmly in its cheek. I enjoyed it.
One more movie and we will exceed our typical annual film count.
That’s all for now.
Of course, since guilt abounds, holidays – especially the Mondays after the real date – can invite the guilt in to play. Not so much today, fortunately, since I got some stuff done earlier in the weekend I felt like I had accomplished enough. So today I slept late and only did a few things that I would have done on any Monday off when I was working.
I have also eaten way too much, but then it is a holiday for eating, and yesterday I saw a movie. We saw Knight and Day, a spy farce with its tongue planted very firmly in its cheek. I enjoyed it.
One more movie and we will exceed our typical annual film count.
That’s all for now.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
IN CONGRESS. July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.
WE hold the Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness – That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that when any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Rights of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.
He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.
He has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.
He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.
He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislatures.
He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.
He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy of the Head of a civilized Nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.
Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.
WE hold the Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness – That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that when any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Rights of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.
He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.
He has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.
He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.
He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislatures.
He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.
He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy of the Head of a civilized Nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.
Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
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