Best TV Finales

I am begining to think TV Finales are improving with time. I feel as if this year alone, and 2 shows that actually inspire an emotional response and not just entertain, should go on the list. So I'll make a brief list of what I consider to be the best FINALES of all time.

1) M*A*S*H*. Umm, is there any question? Kept true to the series in the end of the war push, fire induced bug out, truce, celebration and finally the indviduals saying goodbye to each other.

2) BattleStar Galactica. It took the best of M*A*S*H*'s ideas, applied it to itself.

3) Newhart. While the rest of the episode isn't that memorable (they all move out of their sleepy Vermont town because a Japanese developer bought it and will make a golf course), everyone knows the last 2 minutes or so. Bob wakes up from a dream in his 1970s sitcom show with his 1970s sitcom wife.

4) e.r. What is it about anything related now to the character of Mark Greene that makes me cry? How about after 15 years finally getting to see the building in the very last shot? The cliched use of a certain Beatles song? Duplicating the shots/actions of the pilot episode? No, it was Ernest Borgnine's character letting go of his dying wife. That was us, the fan/viewer, and our show. Finally letting it go and dying with dignity.

5) Buffy the Vampire Slayer. GIRL POWER!!! How do you stop the armies of hell from being unleashed? Basically be releasing the one constraint we had by allowing the Slayer's power to go to all potentials.

6) Star Trek: The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine. Each had slightly different things. But both brought a nice end but let us all know there are many more things left for them to do. Trek has never been the same.

All the rest were either cancelled so a rapid rewriting was needed to create a finale, not that memorable, changed the meaning of the show, or set up spin offs that sucked.

With e.r. ending, the two longest running "scripted" shows I'm watching now are CSI (the Las Vegas one) and Smallville. One is going down in its ineptitude, while the other still brings the quality. So that leaves me with 24, House, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, Smallville, CSI, and Clone Wars as the only shows I'm still watching. 24 and Smallville seem to be the next likely ones to go. I'm sure I'll add Caprica and Stargate: Universe when it arrives, but whether they'll be worthy to stand on the shoulders of those that went down this year, who knows.

So long Galactica, we hardly frakkin' knew ya!

Battlestar Galactica ended Friday night. I know I'm sad about it. And I just can't figure out why beyond its over. The ending was done in a style that is very much like MASH's final episode. Everyone got their 5 minute send off, even the smaller parts, and not in the way you expected either.

The saddest has to be Lee's. He wants to go off exploring, about to invite Kara, and she vanishes. Equally sad 2 weeks after the fact is just how alone he is. He's no friend of the Tighs. His father is mourning Rosalyn and all the opurtunity and living he lost by not acting sooner (and probably taking relief from the burdens of the Fleet). Helo and Athena have a kid to raise, he despises Baltar, and with Dee killing herself just weeks before he's all alone.

Sadder still that I just remembered Dee. That's what losing all hope comes to, but also a cold warning to not place too high expectations on anything. But will we repeat the mistakes? Who knows. We'll soon find out about the Plan and Caprica soon enough.

CSM, my guilty pleasure paper

I read the Christian Science Montitor and probably brought about its demise as a daily paper. That's because I only read the online version. IT has decent reporting, good guest columns and from time to time, interesting blogs.

I'll take 2 that appeared on my iGoogle page today:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0312/p09s01-coop.html
Is why can't we teach critical thinking if it is the most essential skill. I think I've said a lot on that the past few weeks, but agree that I've been sloppy, incomplete and maybe prejudiced. But I realize that, so does that make it any less critical?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0310/p09s01-coop.html
This is some critical thinking by an Evangelical, the irony there. I could've told him most of that. But than you took a 1600+ old heresy of the Gnostics, used it to justify slavery, and have pushed everything from Temperance/Prohibition to faux-science and even religion without even having a theology. Bad ideas die for one simple reason, they're bad ideas.

Worst Senate Leaders Ever?

This idea actually first came from Charles Krauthiemer of all people, Harry Reid is the most inefectual Senate leader ever. I'd also add that Mitch McConnel should be added to that list. Both these guys deserve each other. They're afraid to bring any debate or policy fights to the floor of the Senate.

Reid is constantly out maneuvered by both the House leadership (on both sides), the White House (Da Chimp Shrub 43, and Big Ears Big Ideas 44).

McConnel has been made impotent because now only 1 person needs to break ranks on a party line vote, and there will always be between 3-6 who will break ranks because they're not as kooky as the base of his party.

Both fail to grasp that there is a coalittion of about a dozen (Gang of 14 anyone?) who really run the Senate. It is bipartisian, most of them fairly popular outside of their states and not with the bases of their parties. These are the Democrats favorite Republicans and the Republicans favorite Democrats. I'll ignore Republicans dropping the "ic" when referring to the Democratic Party where as the person of the party is a registered Democrat for now.

So Mr Inept leader, and Mr Impotent leader, enjoy each other. You're the only Senate leaders we go. God save the country.

Not State of the Union and the Big Budget

So 44 with the big ears dropped the budget on us this week. I don't know what is shocking me more, that he had the balls to include all things we spend money on or that he's being attacked for doing it. I mean, are Republicans so dillusional that they didn't think all these suplamental bills for Iraq, Afghanistan and disasters flew away into magic fairy land and not add to the national debt, deficiet and everything inbetween?

How does the human mind come to grips with trillions when concepually we can't get our minds around millions (fyi it is believed that 10000s are about what we can last understand because that's what it takes to fill an areana).



He also gave a hell of a good pep talk on Tuesday. What followed shows well total miscalculations. Obama gave us hope, optimism, longing for tomorrow. Jindal's response was at best read poorly and factually incorrect in places as well as fear mongoring. An idea has to be viable if it is something beyond, not what that guy says. We've been fucked over for so long, that any honesty is going to be shocking, if not overwhelming.

Gandalf the White said, "He maybe a fool, but he's an honest fool."

Facebook backs down from treason...

Read the last post if you want to know exactly what is treason. Oh, and the only time treason isn't a capital offense, is when you give up your co-conspirators and take life in prison.

Next, many users on facebook were upset with the change in the Terms of Service/Usage agreement. The crux was that anything posted to Facebook became Facebooks and deleting or revising it would mean that it still was Facebooks.

That upset enough people to make them change it back. After all, ideas are the property of the originator or the group that paid for the originator to come up with the ideas.

So anyone doubt that ideas and intellectual property doesn't matter anymore?

Ideas, Intent, and Civilization

"Pick a side," Adm. Adama. "I didn't know we were picking sides," Lee "Apollo" Adama.

Yes, we all have to pick a side. But this is probably the most insidious and vile thing imaginable and has been going on for far too long. I'm talking about the taking of an idea, incorrectly interrupting it, and than people propagate the mistake because they're too lazy to question or investigate on their own. This is happening in art, in politics, in science, and just about every facet of life. It is grotesque and it is an offense to civilization as we know it.

Ideas and their intent are the basis of a great deal of civilization. Where would we be without Jefferson, Locke, Hume? After all tyranny is the suppression of ideas and reason according to Kant, Bjerkley, Berkley and Kjerkergaard. But also, to those men, distortion or misinterruption of ideas makes one an offense to the very civilization and removes them from humanity. After all by distorting what makes us unique, they diminish themselves to the realms of animals, losing all potential to make them human.

I mean, what can be more simple? The thought of the creator is of an idea is that immutable. IT cannot be incorrect when compared to a third degree or fourth degree analysis especially when it contradicts the original basis or interruption of the creator's original thought. But those that claim the tertiary or quatenary thoughts are correct when there is a blatant contradiction are holding to a phallacy that assaults civilzation. No longer can the orignal thought or intent be correct, the incorrect assumption is correct. The creator of the original idea/art/work was wrong.

Imagine not talking about Mona Lisa's smile but instead whether her frown follows you like her eyes. Imagine some one saying Heart's Crazy On You isn't a response to critics saying the Wilson's were lesbians but how Nancy or Ann committed murder. Just wrong. That's just art. The assault hits science, particularly by uninformed supporters of evolution; the deniers assault all science but they also assault religion too. It attacks religion by the use of fundamentalism/literalism of scriptures. Soon, the ideas that are great will be diluted out and replaced by sheer idiocy and paths of least resistance.

What we'll have is a bunch of lazy, dishonest, and intellectually vacant discourse in all creative fields. The analogy would be letting Paris Hilton set national policies. We'd all look good and have online pornos, but it would be meaningless and contribute nothing to the greater good.

"The first duty is always to the truth. Personal, moral, scientific truths," so wailed Jean-Luc Picard.

I live in a country and society that is based on idea, as it seems to be said more than once here. Assaulting ideas especially with incorrect ones is treason. Treason has only one punishment in any society. Who's to blame? The people who do the first offense or the people who run with the offense and propagate it as truth? I cannot say. Often, the intial offender when pointed to their mistakes, retracts and appologizes. That leaves the person who continues with their treason to thought and ideas in the face of the truth!

There is no greater good than to generate a work of art of logically viable idea. But those who would distort it are an afront to all this greatness. They are traitors to our species, to our civilization, to our culture. Sadly, they'll claim ignorance but ignorance is no defense in the law except for those with diminished capacity. They will cling to their belief that they are fully awares, but they can be only one of two things. Blatant traitors, or people with such diminished capacity that they should be pittied on for not getting to enjoy the full extent of the human condition.