The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
30 Day TV Meme – Day 15
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=leartojugg-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00096S45S&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrDay 15 – Favorite female character
I was going to write about CJ Cregg for this one, but I think we have had enough of The West Wing. And I forgot, while I was writing about my Favorite Male Character, of my love for Remington Steele. So I am going to go ahead and lie..and say it was his partner, Laura Holt.
I really do love Laura. She was a real private investigator that “studied..and apprenticed..” and started an agency. The premise of the show was that she understood that she would do better business by putting a man’s name on her door. Then the mysterious Pierce Brosnan assumed the identity of the non-existent Remington Steele and they became partners. They solved mysteries and stuff.
I liked her because she was smart and educated and methodical; where he was all flighty. If he came up with the solve, it was because he saw it in a movie. She was independent and responsible, attractive while avoiding the overtly sexy and generally someone you could imagine being your friend. (Unlike a certain strictly-rational FBI agent with a flighty partner.)
I had issues with her because of her…issues. Big deal Daddy Issues that kept her from trusting Steele. It made sense that she didn’t entirely trust him – he was a consummate liar. I get that she would trust him with her life, but not to forgo a big Payday and abandon her. The trouble was that they would whine at each other about it.
By the end of the series (which was rather rushed), the formula had played itself out. But I still think Laura Holt was a really well conceived female character at a time when women weren’t drawn very well.
Judging Justices
Weekend Assignment #320: The SCOTUS Choice
Recently, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced that he will retire, at the end of his term, later this year, leaving the position open to be filled by President Obama. As you know, Obama has chosen Elena Kagen as his nominee. I would like to hear your thoughts about this. Good choice? Bad choice? Indifferent? Who would you like to see appointed to the high court? Are you happy with the justices currently serving, or do you believe they leave something to be desired? Tell me what you think!
This one isn’t easy. Outside of that Wikipedia link, I haven’t done my homework on Elena Kagan.
The embarrassing truth is that somewhere along the way, when the Health Care debate got really ugly, I stopped watching the news out of Washington.
My politics are rather mixed. I like my judges liberal, my executives conservative and my legislature to be a mixed bag. I have long thought the Supreme Court in need of a shift although interestingly, Wikipedia says that the liberals think she is too conservative and might shift the balance in the other direction.
I am not interested in the conversations about her sexuality. However, I am rather offended that there is so much of it. Apparently, the facts that she never married and she doesn’t look like Madame Sarkozy are a problem for some people.
The interesting question is whether prior experience as a judge is necessary to be a successful justice. Kagan has experience as a law clerk, and I understand a law clerk’s job is to do much of the research to help a judge come to a conclusion. Neither has she tried a case before the Supreme Court. Is that an issue. I don’t have an answer. But I hope those are the questions that are asked during the confirmation process. I hope.
The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown
I found Dan Brown’s new book, The Lost Symbol, on the book swap shelf in my office. Actually, the “book swap shelf” is now starting to take up a second bookcase, which makes me happy, but nevermind that.
So. We have the violent beginning. The mentor in trouble. The smart-chick scientist on the run with Langdon. The bad guy is just like that Opus Dei guy from the other book. Crazy in an obsessed, narcissistic, totally committed way.
Here’s the real problem:
I am not a Mystery Reader. I read mysteries, but I just read them for a good story. I do not try to solve them. I sometimes think, “Oh, damn. I hope you aren’t the real bad guy.” But that’s about it. So if I have pegged The Big Reveal at the 3/5 mark, there is a problem. Also, the climax of the book is a good 50 pages from the end. (I was speed reading before even that.)
The good news is that Brown did some homework on DC, and it shows. That is good stuff.
Side Note: Conversation with My Mother
Me: So it’s talking about how the Smithsonian only displays about 2% of its artifacts at any given time.
Her: We knew it was a low number…
Me: Yeah. Although if you’d asked me cold I would have said 10 – 20%. So the rest of it is stored in a vast underground network of stuff.
Her: We knew that, too! That’s where they have Ark of the Covenant.
Me: Yes! Except that was just a lame warehouse, and this is all climate controlled….
For the rest of my life, I am going to wander around Washington wondering what, exactly, is beneath my feet. So that’s fun.
But this book?
I am not the first person to dub a book “The DaVinci Code of…” The Historian 
Brain candy for a holiday weekend. And maybe it will give DC tourism a boost. Here’s hoping.
30 Day TV Meme – Day 14
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=leartojugg-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001QE99AQ&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrDay 14 – Favorite male character
To pick someone new, I’m going with Gregory House.
Dr. House is a terrific anti-hero. Besides the typical brilliant, cranky, abrasive, etc., he is also addicted to painkillers. He is the head of the diagnostic department of a teaching hospital, where he is sent the cases that the mere mortal doctors can’t figure out. He is such a rock star that he picks and chooses the cases he wants to take, has a team of fellows do all the leg work for him, and has a budget for all of the lawsuits filed against him. His motto is “Everybody lies.” Oh, and, “It’s never lupus.”
House was meant to be a modern day Sherlock Holmes. From the Unbelievable Powers of Observation to the drug use to the amiable sidekick played by Robert Sean Leonard. But while Holmes is sometimes kind of an ass, House actually has a mean streak. I find it really funny to watch, but I’m not sure I’d want to know him in real life.
And that, my friends, makes for good TV.
30 Day TV Meme – Day 13
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=leartojugg-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00028G7LG&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrDay 13 – Favorite childhood show
And here is where it starts to get ugly, folks.
The answer is Dallas. I’m very sorry, but if I deny it, my mother will brand me a liar before God and The Internet. It was my first serial drama and I think I was drawn in to the concept that a story doesn’t get tied up with a bow at the end of each episode.
First we have the epic Texas scope and more money than sense. We have the star crossed lovers in Bobby and Pamela. The bad guy you love to hate in his brother J.R. Ewing. Sue Ellen, JR’s bitter alcoholic on-again off-again wife, who you knew would be fine if she could only stay away from him.
So the Ewings were a family of oil barons. Well – their daddy was an oil baron. Their mama Miss Ellie was the daughter of a big deal rancher. Southfork was actually her home. It was the first time it entered my consciousness that a multi-generational family might live together in the same house. Aunts and uncles and cousins. Now it was a big house. But I still found it weird.
Tangent: I remember a moment in the 1980’s when JR lamented that the price of oil was down to $1.00 a barrel. It came back to me like a smack in the face a couple of years ago when it hit $100.
Anyway. Obviously, I loved Bobby. But I also got a kick out of looking for signs of humanity from JR. At age 9 or whatever, I didn’t know the term “Daddy Issues”, but it was clear that JR had them. He did bad, bad stuff. And when he was famously shot, he totally had it coming. That’s what made “Who shot JR?” so compelling – many people had reasons. But he had his moments. We understood every time Sue Ellen went him. Heh. I imagine the first time I ever shouted at a television was to tell Sue Ellen “Don’t do it! Don’t let him kiss you! Get out of there!”
By the time the show ended, I had long since abandoned it. Pam was gone, Sue Ellen was gone. I didn’t want to see Bobby with anyone else and by high school, Fridays were not for TV anyway. But for a few years there, I planned my weekend around that show.
Airfare
I thought I noticed the cost of airfare climbing, but I had written it off as my business travel being on rather short notice lately. Turns out, this summer’s travel is shaping up to be rather expensive. 24% more expensive, t be exact. An AP article noted:
“In raising fares, the airlines are employing a tactic first used for Thanksgiving travel last year. Most of the big carriers added $10 to $30 ‘peak travel’ surcharges each way on nearly every day between June 10 and Aug. 22, according to an analysis by FareCompare.com.”
I didn’t have too big a problem with the surcharge over the holiday weekend. I don’t even think of it as a “surcharge”, because in the end it is simply a part of the regular fare. Supply and demand says that on days when everyone and his dog is trying to travel, it should cost more. Not like the extra dollar I pay to take a cab just because the price of a gallon of gas goes above $3.
But an extra $10 to $30 “on nearly every day” all summer? If the cost of a ticket is going up, then it is going up. I just wish the airlines would stop looking for new ways to hide it. I find it insulting.
30 Day TV Meme – Day 12
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=leartojugg-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00008WJE5&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrDay 12 – An episode you’ve watched more than 5 times
I am embarrassed to say there are several episodes of several television shows that I have watched more than five times. I watched the Christmas episode to Studio 60 three times just this year. I have probably watched the Lost pilot five times already. But for sheer quantity, I am thinking it is the Season Four Premiere of M*A*S*H.
It is the one after Henry Blake dies, but before Colonel Potter arrives. Hawkeye comes back from R&R to find that Trapper John went home – about two hours before. Radar is going to pick up the new guy (that would be BJ Hunnicutt), so Hawkeye hitches a ride with him to see if he can catch Trapper and say goodbye. Oh! It’s called “Welcome to Korea” I think.
It is a very extended episode that bonds Hawkeye and BJ right away, which was completely necessary since they are all BFF for the rest of the series. It does well by the character of Trapper John, as the writers did not know that the actor wasn’t coming back at the end of Season 3. And in the last 20 seconds, we get the introduction to Potter. It was fabulous.
30 Day TV Meme – Day 11
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=leartojugg-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00023BKMC&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr Day 11 – A show that disappointed you
This didn’t take too long to figure out: V.
Remember the mini-series from the 1980’s? Marc Singer, Michael “Jester” Ironside, Robert Englund…that was good TV. The V books actually became a bit of a franchise in that the mini-series focused on the struggles of the resistance movement in Los Angeles and the books covered the adventures in many cities.
It was so popular that they launched a regular series. Lasted one season. When these DVDs came out, I was all over it. For perhaps half an episode. In my head, it was pretty good until Elias died and Ham Tyler (Ironside) left. It was actually terrible.
Oh, how terrible. I had a bad case of what I now know to be called “Red Dawn Syndrome” – when the thing was soooooo cool when you were a kid, but when you watch it as an adult you can’t take it.
Subsequent to this horrible experience, rumors flew that Ken Johnson, the creator, was trying to reboot the franchise. Rumors further flew that the actors were on board. Apparently, Johnson had something entirely different in mind in 1984 when the network took over his work. He published a book that was set 20 years in the future, declaring that only the first part of the mini-series was canon. So Ham Tyler did not exist. Um. That sucks. But I read it. It was ok.
I was incredibly excited when it came back to the air..until I understood that absolutely nothing was the same. And even my sci-fi geek friends had mixed reviews. Another disappointment.
I guess some things should be kept locked away in our little childhood memories and never approached again.
Sh*t My Dad Says, by Justin Halpern
Justin Halpern is a writer for Maxim.com who moved home after a break up. He starting quoting his dad in his Twitter updates and became so popular, he got a book deal. And a sitcom pilot, actually.
Each chapter is broken up into a Dad Story from his youth, followed by some of the quotes that made him famous. I’d find one for you, but they are all filled with four letter words and my mother reads this blog. Oh, wait. Here’s one:
“Your mother made a batch of meatballs last night. Some are for you and some are for me, but more are for me. Remember that. More. Me.”
OK, the swear words make it funnier.
Halpern does a really good job with mixing up the “my dad is such a character” with the illustrations that people in general (and fathers and sons in particular) show affection in different ways. It was a good read.
30 Day TV Meme – Day 10
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=leartojugg-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000EWBNMI&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrDay 10 – A show you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
NCIS. A couple of years ago, USA became the after-work network in my house. I loved House and my mother loved NCIS.
So. Very. Formula.
Cranky, badass, middle-aged Navy cop. Doesn’t like anyone, but is very kind to puppies and small children. His field crew consists of the goofy Number 2, the techie geek and the girl. Then you have the wise old coroner and the…wait…is that a Goth chick in the lab? Cool.
In my head, it was “that Mark Harmon show my mother watches” until it became “that Mark Harmon show with the Goth scientist” until one day I realized I had seen this episode before. Twice.
It’s more addictive than pistaschios.
The Next Dark Age 