Ok. I promise. As you may have noticed, TV is not my life, and I try not to make it a habit of bitching about television shows. I would much rather leave my fantasy life with my fantasies… and, as Bastian’s father told him way back in the day, “keep [my] feet on the ground,” but something is really bothering me about the latest Doctor Who episode… and I think I’ve got to vent. For those of you who don’t care… eh, whatever, skip to something more interesting. For those of you who haven’t seen “Silence in the Library,” or her companion, “The Forest of Death,” I shall endeavor to keep spoilers (AGH!!! EVEN THAT WORD HAS BEEN TAINTED!!!) to a minimum with plenty of warning/preventatives if I can. (Actually… I tried… and I can’t… but I can strike through to make it harder)
So, as most of the Whovians already know… or have been finding out, Russell T Davies- the person responsible for creating Rose, and making the Doctor the wonderful, spunky character we all know and love- is leaving his duties as show runner at the end of this season… and Doctor Who will be taken over by Steven Moffat. Now, unlike many other Whovians who love Rose, and the Doctor and Rose, I actually enjoy Steven Moffat’s stories because they are usually thrillers… and I like spooky stuff. But this episode, while thrilling, has given me a lot to think about, and I’m worried about the direction the Doctor is taking.
1) I admit my Rose/Doctor shipper status, so this “River Song” person is giving me a bit of trouble. Not that I don’t think the Doctor could care for someone like he does Rose. I mean, he’s going to be around a long time, and perhaps, since he may not be able to be with Rose, he might have learned his lesson to not keep his feelings to himself… but does it have to be HER… and played by Alex Kingston. I mean… seriously… the character is arrogant… and so is her description of him.I agree with Elizabeth that I’m not sure I like the way she sees him. Hopefully, it’s just a phase… hopefully, it’s a future that will be re-written.
2) Another point that Elizabeth made, which I also noticed… and does bother me… If she knows him so well, if she cared about him so much why the hell did she let him watch her die!!! What a horrible thing to do! I can’t think of a worse action to do to someone I supposedly cared about… and since she supposedly has spent so much time with him… knows his freaking name bullshit …she’s got to know his guilt complex… I mean, he’s guilty over Rose, guilty over Martha… and we all know the huge blinkin’ guilt chip on his shoulder about the War and Gallifrey… Does she just want to make herself important or something?
3) Who was this Doctor that we saw in this episode? If this is the sign of the Doctor to come, I’m not sure I’m impressed. Granted, he’s been through a lot of pain and suffering. He’s lost his people, he’s lost his home, and the first person he opened his heart to is seemingly lost forever in a parallel universe… and who knows what Davies is going to do to her before he leaves. That said, there’s a little too much arrogance in this Doctor… one who snaps his fingers to open the Tardis, who boasts of being a time-traveler and of his range of skills and abilities to complete strangers of five minutes. So, in short… I’m not sure what to think about an episode which has an interesting, if creapy concept… I’m still spooked by a similar episode from the early X-Files… I believe it was called “The Darkness”… But, instead of welcoming the change of scene… I’m dreading it.
So, I’ve been doing worth-while things with part of my life, which makes me feel somewhat better about my life. Sure, when I get home it’s nothing but working on the online class (which is over on Monday evening thank goodness) fixing dinner and tidying up around the house (Doug actually vacuumed today… I was even thinking about asking him when I walked out the door… but he did it without my asking) but when I’m at work, I’m doing things like helping children learn about how the government works, and getting money and support for military children whose parents are deployed.
However, the best thing I do all day… where I feel the most useful… is the period of time between 2 to 3:30 in the afternoons when I meet with VC. VC is an immigrant from Bulgaria who works as a custodian in Knapp Hall. Most people would probably have never noticed her at all, either that or just assume that she was some “ignorant immigrant escaping to here to get away from an oppressive homeland” nonsense. See, VC… is incredibly smart. She’s got a bachelor’s and a master’s from a Bulgarian university in information system technology… she’s a computer geek, something, from what I’ve heard, this country, especially Louisiana, could use a lot more of. She works two jobs, one at a place that monograms uniform shirts and other material, and then of course, the one at the Agcenter. She is at work from 6 in the morning till midnight before she comes home to do the same things that I complain about not having enough time to do: clean the house, take care of the animals, study for class, make sure that the husband (also a Bulgarian) is taken care of, before going to bed and doing the same thing in the morning.
VC’S dream is to earn her PhD in IT and have a great job using what she’s trained in… and I’m helping her to do that. VC’s not as skilled in English as she would like to be and has to pass an English proficiency test in order to be accepted in the program here at LSU. She would also need to speak English a little bit better so that she can get a better job—and I’m helping her… with my psudo-1337 Engrish grammatical ninja skills. She’s so diligent in her studies. I’m so used to students who want to know just enough to get by, or pass the test, but she wants to know it all and know it well, because in her opinion, it’s worth knowing. Who else is worthy of my time than she? … and she’s so grateful. She thinks I’m some kind of awesome, which I assure her on a regular basis that I’m not.
Anywho, on top of discussions about whatever nuance of grammar she’s studying that day, we occasionally talk about her experiences with the U.S., and how we’re different from Bulgaria. Most of the comparisons are not that great. She tells me about how she knows so many people without pride: people who work a little bit then quit to get welfare, people who take so many awesome luxuries- like larger houses, cars, etc- for granted. She tells me that I am not like the other Americans she’s met because I know about the history of different countries and appreciates learning more about different places. I think that her biggest surprise about me, the one thing that makes her think I’m not like the other Americans is that I acknowledge that we have made mistakes in the past, and that we, as a culture, or at least as a generation, believe that we are owed something. We are not willing to work hard, to earn what we get, and work hard for what we earn. She may be grateful to me for helping her and believing in her, but I am grateful for her insights and her example. I think if more Americans could be like VC, perhaps our country will survive the oncoming hardships.
Lately there’s been a lot happening in my life, I’ve just not been able to write about it. So-while I’m supposed to be getting dressed and watching General Hospital, I’m going to try to compose… and this will wind up being a two-parter.
I got a phone call from Parkview asking me to call the secretary back to set up an appointment to sign my contract.
-This would sound wonderful… right? Yeah, in many ways it’s FANTASTIC: a job… teaching… actually getting a triple digit pay check once a month-with benefits and retirement. Yeah, that’s brilliant. So, why am I not bouncing off the walls? Why didn’t I come racing into the house right after I heard the message on my phone and tell Doug the wait is over; I’ll be a financial contributor to the family.
No, this interview will be on nothing but my personal faith. …Faith… Wow. That’s the one thing I usually can’t talk about with others without pissing them off. I am Roman Catholic… and I’m not… I don’t accept things on the sole basis that I was told it by so called authority. I think. I reason. I absorb ideas from different philosophies and religions to get a sense of what I believe. I even hate to use the word, “believe.” It’s so over-used and misused. “I don’t believe in abortion.” That’s ignorant… it exists whether or not you choose to acknowledge it. You may not “agree” with it, but to say you don’t “believe” in it only shows you as either pig-headed or… well, ignorant. I’ve also been known to point out the Old Testament’s condoning of polygamy and lesbianism to overzealous Biblical literalists But the thing that really gets to most of the religious people who ask me to talk about my faith is that I treat Christianity as a philosophy, not a religion.
Wait… let me explain. Let’s say, bright and early tomorrow morning-Saturday, June 28, 2008- undeniable, irrefutable proof comes down from on high- Jesus wasn’t God. Jesus didn’t resurrect (some elaborate hoax by Peter or some other zealots to subvert the Roman government… I dunno). Would it change everything/anything that you do? Would you still live the same way, hold the same virtues? Does that change the beauty or –forgive the loaded word-“truth” of his teachings? Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we followed the two deceptively simple commandments: love everyone and love God. Most people I’ve asked that to have said, yes. It would change everything. I posit that obeying someone out of fear or performing good deeds to be rewarded is not being a good Christian, but doing something solely because it’s the right thing to do is.
Well, it is WAY past time I stopped writing on my blog. General Hospital is over, and I should have already been dressed and out the door. Heck, I should probably be at work… good thing I’m not on a “you must be at work at blahblahblah time” kind of schedule.
Expect another post soon.
George Carlin
1937-2008
Goodbye, George. May the frisbee of your soul get stuck on a really nice roof.
- Buddha
If only I had read this before I got married and moved down here. I am fortunate that I have friends in Shreveport that “go the same way,” but I left them behind to come here- a stranger in an even stranger land. He is not the same person here among his friends and family as he was when I first met him. I guess we all behave differently out of our own elements. Now that his family lives with us, I’ve little time with the man I married, and lots of time with this new guy that I guess I have to learn love.
I hope to find some kindred spirits in the area, but until then, Buddha’s advice is sound. Why try and contort yourself so that you fit in with your surroundings- that just leads to bitterness and contempt- a fate much worse than loneliness. The only problem with this course of action is that we weren’t designed to be alone. Ah well, questions for another day.
PJ O’Rourke -
And frequently with the same effect- the innocent wind up hurt. I know that we all have our own kryptonite: I’ve got more than a few different ones. (I’d make a lousy superhero, I guess.) The difference is that I don’t think I hurt as many innocent people with my desire for Coca-Cola and carbohydrates.
And sometimes giving whiskey and car keys to our government is like giving the whiskey and car keys to a little boy… just ask Ted.
Yeah… I thought I’d re-post it here.
“OK… I like my Tumblr better (Go here…http://lunartides.tumblr.com)
Anywho… The Batman trailer would have looked great if the download wasn’t all that jerky…
I like whatshisface (Sorry, like him. I just don’t recall his name, and don’t feel like looking it up.) as Harvey Dent (love the closing line “… live long enough to be the villain.” If that doesn’t just smack you over the head with foreshadowing… … … well… … you don’t have a head…)
Maggie… I love her… hell, I love her whole blinkin’ family… and I’m glad she’s replaced Katie… not that I dislike her… but 1) it’s good to not have the “crazytologists” associated with good films. 2)…err didn’t Katie already “do” whatshisnuts in Thank You for Smoking? That would just be too… something.
Heath… what can I say… I think he has done wonderfully, and at the very least, his last performance is one for the ages… unlike poor Raul Julia. I’m torn up.
And … well.. what can you say about this generation’s Laurence Olivier…(with less pretention and probably less of a bi-sexual appetite) Christian Bale… wow. He’ll be breath-taking, heart-wrenching, awe-inspiring, bloody f’ing brilliant… as always. I mean… CRAP… He made NEWSIES good… granted I was all of 14… but I really enjoyed it, and he seemed so convincing-even while singing “Santa Fe”- I honestly believed 1) he was Kelley, 2) he wanted to go to Santa Fe, 3) he wasn’t hating himself for doing a musical. He’s just that brilliant.Ok… I’m done.”
