Domestic Psychology

Pop culture rambling

// August 8th, 2011 // 2 Comments » // television

Alphas is very much an X-Men and Heroes blend, but their ‘big bad’ this season makes them a different flavor than their influences. As much as I love what they are doing, most people won’t. The first tweet I saw this morning referenced teachers complaining about spectrum students in their classroom. Our state defunded an Autism service provider and said schools should be the providers of the many treatments used to help Autistic children. The comments on newspaper articles about special needs children are vile. Having been personally told by teachers and parents that they think our children should be in institutions, I am fully aware that most people without a spectrum child in their family would like our children out of sight AND out of mind. This bodes poorly for the NT population’s acceptance of the Alphas characters and storyline. Regrettably, I expect Alphas to be a one or two season series. Before they disappear, I would love to know if one of the Alphas writers has a spectrum child because, as the magic 8-ball says, all signs point to yes.

Someone needs to explain to *Eureka‘s Henry that you aren’t borrowing something when you know you are going to break it. Henry owes some children a new baseball bat. Make that bat with Beverly’s bones so that her character will quit coming back to ruin the fun of the sheriff’s physical comedy.

I am sure that the Comic-Con incident with Wil Wheaton was entirely the fault of the stalker/fan, but I can’t help but notice the similarities in Mr. Wheaton’s Eureka character and his Big Bang character. Is playing a jerk his way of countering his true nature or is it revealing his deep desire to be a giant pita?

I’m enjoying the political backdrop and guest stars on this season’s Torchwood. Last week, I saw each of the characters being placed in dangerous situations and knew somebody wouldn’t survive. What happened was still horrible. Torchwood’s tagline should be Gwen’s quote, “It only ever gets worse.” The writers seem to have forgotten who Jack is and they have been giving him awkward and out of character dialogue. I may still be mad at Jack for not telling Ianto that he loves him, but I want the Jack that we know and love back this season.

I understand that Mad Men is AMC’s primary source of ratings and expenses, but I will be very disappointed if AMC can’t scrape together the budget to let Breaking Bad finish putting all the dominos in place for Walter’s complete transformation from caring teacher to Midas who destroys to feed his greed. Then, let the dominos fall to end the series.

SyFy + Monday night = Good tv

*Aaaaand SyFy cancelled Eureka. I guess they needed another time slot for wrestling.

Today’s schedule

// May 23rd, 2010 // 3 Comments » // television

Channel 431 aka ABC
7-9 pm LOST recap show
9-11:30 pm LOST series finale
11:30-12:05 weeping and/or gnashing teeth
12:05-1:05 am Jimmy Kimmel’s Aloha to LOST

Breaking Bad and other stuff

// April 12th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // people, television

If you spend an hour talking to anyone who works in social services, the subject of meth will somehow work its’ way into the conversation. Between that and the presence of meth in the local news, I imagine that I am surrounded by meth labs, dealers and users who are still functioning well enough to blend. They are in our families, offices and neighborhoods. We just don’t know it yet. It’s not just who are they that is bewildering. Part of me is curious how people collect the ingredients to make meth when I can buy alcohol easier than I can buy Sudafed. I am equally mystified that chemistry is being successfully accomplished in a state with an average ACT score of 21 and a 71% graduation rate. The media’s focus on mobile meth labs makes me wonder why there aren’t cars and vans exploding on the Interstate daily.

If I really wanted to understand, I would use my Google-Fu to find answers. Maybe I like being clueless enough about the seriousness of it to be able to say “meth lab blowing up” every time I hear a loud boom in the neighborhood. Maybe I don’t want another thing to worry about. I only know that I am content knowing that I don’t know. For now.

Without enough knowledge to pick at the inaccuracies, I find Breaking Bad a bizarrely fascinating show to watch. Meth is a major character on the show, but it is really a show about people falling down and the consequences of their choices. The characters’ choices ripple across everything and everyone that they touch. The free-fall of their lives from the moment the lead character first stepped off the cliff is like a train wreck that can’t be stopped. If the series happened in reverse, the characters would be vile, but the writers have carefully crafted frail, anti-heroes. At the end of last season, I said that the main character’s wife would have to become bad in order to survive. This season, she is tumbling down a mountain of her own, but she is also climbing to the top of the fire ant hill that is her life. It’s not pretty, but it’s good television.

It’s a lot more fun to watch pretend characters answer the “what’s the price for your soul” question than to see it happening in the real world. Too many bloggers with opinions and ideas grew weary of being hungry and declared themselves social media gurus. Instead of original ideas, those gurus now sell unicorn poo and publish freelance articles in the newspaper for their clients. Too many well-intentioned politicians find themselves strangled by the tightrope of doing what it takes to stay in office under the premise of making up for it with other legislation. Ultimately, we learn that we don’t have one Indecent Proposal pricetag, but a cafe menu of soapboxes that we are are willing to climb down and leave empty for someone else.

Just one LOST thought

// February 17th, 2010 // 4 Comments » // television

Jacob and unLocke are the ones who are LOST.

signed, Captain Obvious

// February 17th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // politics, television

Dear <- insert name of politician here ->,

Do not go on <- insert name of entertainment program here ->. The publicity you get will not help you. There really is such a thing as bad publicity. The show’s host will mercilessly mock you and everyone watching will laugh. I will laugh at you, instead of with you. Carefully edited clips will saturate the web as your name becomes synonymous with clowns or worse. That is not going to help your career.

Every time that I laugh at your appearance on that show, I also feel a pain in my stomach. A pain of disappointment. I don’t want to dismiss you as a politician. I want to believe that no matter what letter is after your name, you take your work seriously. I want to believe that even when I disagree with your political decisions, you are acting with the best interests of all your constituents in mind. I want, no, I need to respect you as a politician and a person.

Have too much dignity and self respect to subject yourself to interviews by comedians. Every minute spent fixing your makeup and bantering for the live audience’s giggles is time that should have been spent working to make a difference. Please do not appear on <- insert name of entertainment program here -> while the working poor are paying your salary. Get back to work on the job you were elected to do.

LOST thoughts (part MDCXLVIII)

// February 16th, 2010 // No Comments » // television

I need to scribble my current LOST thoughts so that I can see how far, far off I am after tonight’s show. They center around an idea that Barry suggested. What if, chosen souls don’t die when their bodies die on Lost Island/ancient floating Tardis. Those souls/ghosts are the whispers that are infrequently heard on the island. They are capable of claiming the bodies of the deceased who, I guess, don’t rank high enough to have their souls become immortal. When Ben’s others burned their dead, it was to prevent the bodies from being claimed. When Jacob was murdered without any struggle, it was with the knowledge that he was only losing a body. The man in black lost his body quite some time ago and has been borrowing bodies the duration of the series. This could make the “help me” figure in the ash cabin, Locke’s soul. It would also explain why Claire is the new CFL. What is the title was not about the plane crash survivors being LOST, but the souls who have LOST their bodies?

The problems with this theory are that the souls don’t seem to be loyal to Jacob. Does Jacob bring people to the island because he wants their bodies while unLocke/MIB claims their souls? Wouldn’t immortal souls win over frail bodies every time? Is Crazy Australian Claire’s body inhabited by the one soul who isn’t loyal to anyone? Why did it seem like Ben could control Smokey when Smokey is clearly not following anyone’s orders? Is there more than one Smokey? The first episode, the crash survivors stood on the beach and looked left, right, left as they tracked Smokey’s movements. Were they watching two? Is the controllable one a collective of all the wandering souls on the island? Is the parallel reality something that was created by the explosion or is it just to bug everyone who wants all the action and answers to be ON the island? When unLocke/MIB says he wants to go home, does he mean a place or a time, because I’m voting for the latter.

How can I even claim to have a working theory when all I really have are questions to disprove my own theories?

LOST thoughts

// January 30th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // television

Finally! After the world’s longest hiatus, LOST is back. The final season promos have been almost entirely composed of scenes from previous episodes. There was ONE shot of a familiar character in a brand new scenario, but that disappeared quickly, so I don’t think we’re supposed to have seen it. It changes that particular character’s group on the island and adds credence to some popular theories about the less explained characters. Today, we got something old and something new. Click here only if you want to see it, but be warned that I am going to talk about it now. If you don’t want to know, stop reading.

Did you watch the last part twice to check the background? Did you read the first few comments? Notice the authenticity of the source? So, my initial reaction was that it’s a tease. A dream or imaginary scenario of what Jack thought was going to happen. This was immediately followed by a disbelief that the show has any time left to waste on dream realities, the history of Jack’s tattoos or Nikki and Paulo. Besides, Jack smugly enjoying his triumph is also the end of Rose’s happily ever after.

My guess for now is going to be that what we saw the very first episode of LOST, was not the very first time that has happened. We just jumped in to watch the latest round of an ongoing game. A game with characters that learn and react differently each time. The latest round may have some of the characters on a plane, but they are still on the board and very much in play. Maybe this season will be the one that finally resolves the game. Maybe I am completely wrong. The show’s creators have promised that at the end of this episode, we will have all the clues needed to understand the big picture and see the finish line. I take that to mean that I will spend Tuesday night formulating a new theory instead of sleeping.

Tuesday night, I won’t be able to start watching until the children are all tucked in bed. That means I’ll be an hour behind everyone else. In anticipation of your live blogging/tweeting/facebooking, I’ll have to power down the computer until I’ve seen the entire LA X. When I return to the computer, I expect several declarations that people have “figured it all out” as well as a lot of confused and frustrated viewers. I plan to be completely entertained and amused for the last section of the LOST roller coaster. Well, unless the show echoes a pessimistic, apocalyptic Cloverfield ending. If that happens, you’ll be watching a video of me burning the series DVDs that we own. I don’t think that’s the direction it’s going. I expect LOST to end with a very open-to-interpretation finale that will keep everyone talking and wondering.

Big Bang Theory

// January 17th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // television

Top five reasons why someone should have told me about Big Bang Theory a long, long time ago:
5. My living room is frequently filled with males interacting via headsets and games.
4. Sheldon’s mom.
3. Inner monologues that aren’t kept inner.
2. The soundtrack to my life is a series of long, intricate conversation about things like the color of light sabers.
1. I once had to make a sarcasm sign.

Monk quickie

// November 29th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // television

It’s the wipes.

Random TV thoughts

// October 29th, 2009 // No Comments » // television

Heroes: When good guys work together, they’re the Justice League. Bad guys together? Carnies.

Monk: Closure storyline checked off for Captain Stottlemeyer, Randy and Sharona. Natalie should be next. I really like the way the series is not quick fixing or forcing happily ever after, but putting in place the possibility for a better future.

House: Still hating where the characters are going this season. Have the writers forgotten that the characters used to be flawed, but likable?