Down With the Sickness

I already fucking hate swine flu. Really, I have nothing but sympathy for anyone truly impacted by it and take its danger seriously, but I'm already worn down by the rampant paranoia I run into over it: people demanding to know why cashiers at work aren't wearing rubber gloves, the massive increase in personal space around anyone who has the audacity to let loose with a sneeze, the hypochondria attached to any sudden feeling of less-than-perfect well-being. Drink some orange juice or something.

Heroes finally ended its season (and if you don't like spoilers, turn away fast and go no further). For the briefest of moments I was intensely happy: when I thought our heroes were going to form the Justice League (or something equally geeky and Hiro-appropriate for a team name) at the end. This glee was killed by their decision to stick with the inherently dull "Company." OMG WTF, right? Does the Company have shareholders? What does it sell? Yawnage. Ali Larter coming back as Hydro-man; I called that one when she "died" this last time. Unlike Ian, I was actually hoping they would reveal she's got like 100 twins and would kill her off and intro a new one with new powers every season--and they would all sleep with Adrian Pasdar's character. I loved the moral hit Parkman had to take this episode (I should say "had" since it wasn't necessary and I actually think he should have refused, like Hurley in Lost season 4 re: lying). Herein is why the Sylar fix is s-t-u-p-i-d stupid. Sylar/Nathan, among all his other powers, has the power to "read the past" of anything he touches (a la Longshot). How long before he touches Angela, Noah or Matt and remembers who he is? What about when Claire's stolen regenerative powers simply heal his brain damage until he remembers who he is? The episode previous introduced a far superior plot device for turning Sylar good--something I'll call (and true X-Fans should get this) Rogue Syndrome. The more psyches he incorporates via shapeshifting, the more fractured and "externally" influenced his psyche becomes--so get him to shift into more and more morally good people until the good guys outnumber the not-good guys in his head, forcing him to change his own moral compass; this idea made his sparing of Micah actually believable and palatable to me (and really, how disappointing is it that we finally get Nathan killed off, violently and graphicly, only to have to deal with the bad stilted acting again in future seasons?). Meh.

Contrary to everyone else, I love that Kal Penn's Dr. Kutner killed himself. I dug him the most of all the new House minions, but still was very down with that storyline (not so much the "imprint Amber/Cutthroat Bitch onto the devil-on-my-shoulder story of last episode). When I learned some months ago someone was going to die, I expected it to be Thirteen and really, really hoped Omar Epps' character would reprise his e.r. exit by jumping in front of a subway train, so I was more surprised than anyone when it was Kutner and I liked it. Yay.

Whitest Kids U'Know is on and it beckons. Later gators! OMG, "The Grapist" is going to "grape you in the mouth."

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday, dear Denise,
Happy Birthday to you!

I love you, dear.

Starjammers

When I was a wee one, I was a big fan of Battlestar Galactica (that and Dukes of Hazzard were my main live action shows), so between my general disdain for remakes and some not-stellar initial reviews I had from trusted friends, I gave the BSG remake/next generation a big miss when it first came out. I'm not sure why, but now that it's finally over, now that I've other trusted friends who apparently liked it, I've begun putting it through the Netflix rotation and am about half-way through the season one/mini-series as I type this. I'm afraid my accursed Tyler Durden Detector has already gone off, which is going to bum me out a little, as I hate when my Tyler Durden Detector goes off too early, but something seems too convenient about the lady who gets to inherit the Presidency when everyone else died in the beginning. I'm resisting my urge to Google, but tell me, she isn't one of those "human" Cylons is she? And why the hell is Starbuck a person? Shame. Olmos seems an unnatural fit for sci fi to me; I am however finding him to be pretty decent at it. And hey, the guy who plays Agent Ballard on Dollhouse is a cast member, so that's cool. Not giving up just yet, but I hope my Tyler Durden Detector behaves itself a little better.

Dollhouse is the Most Intellectually Complex Show on Primetime Television

There, I said it.

I'm about to be lambasted by friends for this, especially those who are fans of Whedon's previous tv series, but I'm coming to the point where I think Dollhouse is his most ambitious show, and his best-crafted. This is where I duck Ian's flamethrower.

I don't even want to address the louder, less reasonable cross-section of feminists who haven't even really watched the show and have condemned it as an extreme objectification of women, but of course I have to. First they obviously aren't truly familiar with anything previously created by Joss Whedon and his stable of writers--as I challenge anyone to provide an example of a female character of theirs who isn't strong, capable, competent. . .who isn't either equal or superior to all of her male counterparts. These people have been providing us with powerful, intelligent, strong women to watch, enjoy and respect for years. To say that this show is just the masturbatory fantasy of every basement-dwelling socially awkward male out there is both a disservice to the show and its creators, but a clear indicator that someone really hasn't been watching the show.

The one thing this show doesn't do is hit its viewer over the head with a message. It doesn't shine a light on how skeezy someone is to pay for a programmable playtoy for the weekend; it doesn't spend all of itstime questioning whether it's appropriate to use a technology just because we have the ability to use it (though both instances do occur in the show, neither are dwelled upon to the point of preachiness). If there's a moral to take away from the show, part of its perfection is that we each have to come into it on our own, navigating the many layers of ethics and morality the show has put forth to come into our own understanding of what this show has to say about our society, about our humanity.

For me, the greatest joy in this show is the debate it brings me, internally and externally with fellow viewers (most particularly Denise). I think the show completely turns the idea of good and evil completely on its head--as I don't believe there's a single character in this show who could fit the definition of a good guy. There are no saints here, only varying degrees of sin, of immorality and amorality, of ethical complexity. Again, I welcome someone trying to proveto me otherwise, because from where I stand there are no good-guys on Dollhouse, only varying degress of better guys. I think the ethical discussion this show demands is the most intriguing, makes this show the most complex of Whedon's to date, and is perhaps destined to be its very downfall. Too many of us want our entertainment simple and to the point and absolutely brain dead. For every Arrested Development and Veronica Mars that falls, ten Big Bang Theories, Two and a Half Men and Tyra shows rise.

Peaces

Just chilling out enjoying some Long Way Down on dvd. These locations are amazing.

Last night's Lost. . .as much as I hate Kate-centric or Jack-centric episodes, this one really worked for me, had a lot of multi-layered allusions back to past events, lots of loose-end tying. Not shabby at all. And glee @ predicting how young Ben would get healed in advance. Looking forward (how very much not the appropriate emotion) to what I expect to be Ben's killing young Charlie next week in order to spur Desmond back to the island. I miss him calling everyone "brother" every thirty seconds.

Had a bad day--am having a pleasant night. Thanks to everyone who's sent all their kind thoughts and well-wishings this past week. You rock.

Venting

First up, the cardiology results:
1. I have a larger heart chamber than normal, but one that he says is actually the right size for someone my height and if I were at my ideal BMI.
2. I have a small leak in my pulmonary valve.
3. I have ventricular hypertrophy, which because I don't have high blood pressure problems, he says is not regular but nothing to worry about.
4. My PVCs went away entirely during the treadmill test, showing that activity is not a risk on my heart, but rather the opposite.

The end result was him saying I'm fine enough and that as long as I don't have new or worsening symptoms, I don't require any surgery or medications. Afterwards, he reminded me that I'm overweight and should improve my diet and exercise.

This last has led to immediate and recurrent pressures from one front that I should undergo surgical options I neither want nor feel at all necessary at this point. It's increasing my stress load a great deal though responding to these pressures. I don't need them. And it's beginning to upset me enough to make me want to isolate myself from them.

A week from today I see my general practitioner again and plan to be going over all of these results, plus the results from my yearly lab work-up with him then.

The nutshell: if you've been worrying for me, thank you, now feel free to cease doing so. And a very big thank you to the Taylors for all the help they've given us recently with watching kids while Denise and I deal with so many doctors' visits these past few weeks.