Did I Mention Supergirl Before?

I am generally disappointed by comic stories because writers rarely, if ever, have the imagination to reach for the potential of comics. Too often, they succumb to cliches, the same old tropes, the same old ignorance, the same old delusions that humanity accepts as reality and truth. As if it is the only possible reality and truth.

I'll get one of the most obvious distractions from following the story out of the way up front. It is tough to look at any futuristic Sci-Fi with all the 20th-21st century make-up piled on every face. Especially when it's too obvious.

Truth is, I really want to like Supergirl, in spite of it drooling soap opera drama, illogically constructed story lines, and contrived plot twists to resolve conflicts created by the ridiculously blind and insensitive moments that supposedly genius characters create only to pray for some higher power to save them or fix them or guide them or whatever. So rarely do we imagine a reality that is anything other than the standard age old human beliefs. I mean, why do we read books or watch movies or TV, to see the same stories we live around us? Where is imagination?

So I am binge watching four seasons of Supergirl.

I don't know if I can look past the third grade dialogue and not much more mature emotional development of the characters to keep watching. Some of he decisions are just so stupid, so selectively ignorant, so ingrained with ultra-fear-based bible-belt small mindedness, so underdeveloped, contrived, unaware, virtually blindly unconscious. So much co-dependency, it's practically clinical. All the embarrassed giggling, the cluelessness, the self-centered way-too over-emotional ten second attention span. I don't think they are even reaching for a high school audience. It's so prepubescent at times, and maybe it reaches the level of tweens. Amazing, really, most DC comic books are more mature, logical, and better written.

The eye candy is keeping me watching, looking up from time to time, the overall comic story keeping me listening, with one ear. The tweeny soap opera is tough to ignore. Thirteenth Earth birthday is so ironic, I mean, if she was thirteen, she'd be a very immature thirteen. The shallowness is so boringly predictable. Then, sadly, for libbo, it looks like she wears ass-padding. Some of the lines are so appropriate...

Supergirl....: If you hurt her...
White Martian: You'll what?... whine at me?

Did you ever notice that the bad guys almost always have natural teeth, or even bad teeth, except the top villains, of course. You can always tell. The good guys, and the top villains, on the other hand, always have perfect teeth, too perfect, actually, especially the stars. Suspending reality can only go so far.

The most consistent flaw is, in almost every episode, Supergirl fails due to insensitivity, egocentricity, and self-centered-ness and then in the last minute or two, a complete change of character is contrived to save the day. From her own consistent mistakes. And she just loves the applause too much.

Not to mention the typical alcohol dependency.

What may be the most disappointing thing is her immature, insecure, weak, illogical, egocentric mind. So I play games and glance up now and then, pausing, rewinding, stopping, even. Pity to prude who lies about her feelings, for a lying prude stands alone. And the alien in the ridiculously see-through disguise hangs out at the alien bar and nobody, not one human or alien, sees through it. Denial is the human way, but aliens do it even better. So pathetic. Then there's the unbelievable sudden shifts in emotions, again, making them more unbelievable. No depth at all. Before we wander off to some better entertainment, before all intelligence gives way to illogical fallacies, let's not forget about human frailty, of course, the essence of human drama. Naturally aliens have the same guilt, flaws and weaknesses. Duh. But her selfish insensitivity and egocentricity overwhelm the experience of this show.

Besides the self-centered immaturity, he fake teeth are distracting too. lol.

Sadly, the story is seldom good enough to overcome that.

And then they did it, religion, delusion, madness.

People really don't know the difference.

Worse, people think there is one.

Narf :)

CBS Still Sucks

The App is destroying the experience. Watching some shows twice, or more, because the App doesn't remember what I do watch and worse, forcing shows I don't watch to the top of my "Shows You Watch" list... I'm less apt to turn on CBS these days than ever before.

I was enjoying Instinct but watching it a second time shows the poor casting flaws. Too many soft faces with too much make up and staging just does not fit the attempt as serious police drama. Too much wasted dialogue trying to explain the obvious as if a viewer can't see what is going on. The explanatory dialogue breaks the tension of the serious moments.

Contrived, unbelievable, poor TV.

Bad Spectrum, Bad Syfy

It took just ten minutes of browsing Spectrum's guide, after not viewing cable for a couple of years, at least, for me to decide that I miss nothing it has to offer and I would rather not waste my time with it. Not even considering the money. Anyway, staying at Jackson's place allows me to explore the service and I am not even not impressed, I am ignoring it. Seriously background TV, as in, background noise. Then there is Syfy, a channel that has very little to do with Science Fiction, so the name change finally makes sense. I found what might have been science fiction, something called Atomica. Soap opera acting, almost pedophilic, definitely voyeuristic sexism, and a whole lot of scientific ignorance. What can be expected from a pretend Sci-Fi channel that pushes mostly bad horror shtick.

This is the first impression. An hour into the film, not much changed. From the motorcycle helmet to the golf shots, it's just wrong. Dragging a body sideways on sand? Sure, anyone with supermodel muscles (meaning lack thereof) can do that, right? Maybe it was hydraulic, and how long without food or water in radiation? What sort of radiation? Where are these people, anyway? Maybe I was nodding off when they explained what the "Red Zone" is and what planet they are on. And first time at a power plant for the supermodel facilities engineer, but she's also a doctor and scientist and she's whatever else the plot line needs? The people who wrote and made this film obviously were not.

Take her first task, getting the communications back up, seems to be forgotten. Then the guy goes from super creepy mysterious all-knowing to super needy hapless back to super creepy mysterious and in-charge. And back and forth. The men need full-out space-contamination suits, the sexy supermodel wears a skin tight body suit and a motorcycle helmet. So many other contrived situation and ultimately, ignorance. Hold out your finger so I can carefully chop it off and naturally, instant cauterization so no extensive bleeding. The list can go on all night. Suspending believe is part of science fiction. Suspending logic, not so much.

On a cable TV note, I never understood the business plan of cable. I mean, I understand it from the cable company's perspective, but it appears to screw the consumer and there are supposed to be laws and regulations to protect consumers. They charge a heck of a lot of money, yet they still sell commercials like network TV. So they double dip into our pockets and nobody thinks that is wrong? Network TV puts on plenty of shows without charging, so why does cable get to get a by on monopolizing our money?

Anyway, back to the really bad TV,,, so why, by the end of the film, am I at all interested in a sequel? I read Charlese Theron may be in it. Maybe she will insist on more authenticity, logic, continuity, story and character depth, less pandering to male voyeurism, and fewer exploitative sexism, near nudity, and butt-crack shots.

The things we do to pass the time on days off, aye? lol lam...

Narf :)

Indie or Outed (Part Two)

This one is in progress...

RE: E texts and assorted files.



from here


The great American crime continues. The news media said nothing. $24 dollars in trinkets. 30 pieces of silver. $3.4 billion dollars bought trillions of dollars and millions of lives. How can you be proud to be an American? Maybe you didn't know. 100 Years. Nothing has changed.

how can you not be angry?
how can you not scream?
maybe you really didn't know
or thought is was a bad dream

how can it not make you crazy?
do you even know what I mean?
how can you really be proud
of what this country has been?

don't tell me about the glory
don't wave the flag


to there



and all that comes before and after



we shall continue someday...

Innie or Outie? (Part One?)

The background TV for tonight, at least for the moment (it's one of the shows I added to the Amazon "watchlist" as I browsed through the other day. I've already started two or three and deleted them from the watchlist after a short watch. I wish the "History Channel" did not lose it's mind and go stark raving conspiracy crazy. Someone should really put our a real History Channel for the intelligent rational minds who want fact and not convenient coincidences and left field suspicious speculation.

The show's blurb goes like this...

There is one vibratory field that connects all things. It has been called Akasha, Logos, the primordial OM, the music of the spheres, the Higgs field, dark energy, and a thousand other names. Many of history's monumental thinkers have come to the threshold of this great mystery. It is the common link between all religions, all sciences, and the link between our inner worlds and our outer worlds.

and opens with the opening of Auguries of Innocence from Blake, you know...

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour

And ok, I can buy into the opening, the link is energy, but I am hearing way too much religious dogma already and the premise is this is fact, not simply reasonable logical theory or merely something really nice to believe. So we are selling the word akasha as whatever anyone else calls the things they worship, bow to, believe in, and/or blame for everything that is. Ridiculous manipulatons in the first ten minutes have my finger reaching for the delete button. Tell me something new.

The embedded intelligence of the matrix of time and space.

Lots of clever words, but so repetitious.

Lots of quoted truths, but so repetitious.

My instinct says the endless sales-pitches that ultimately asks for money, control, or belief (which is control, even if it doesn't seem like it because it feels given more than taken), something it does not come right out and say up front is strong in this one.

And I come to the same question.

What's the point?

Everything is connected.

So?

Everybody seems to need something to believe in, some explanation for their existence, some godhead. This one is selling akasha.

It's so much fun, for those who love words as I do, to put power into words, but the fun ends when we start believing the words matter more than we do, and by we, I mean everything, everything, all.

Logos, aye?

So I watch and listen and I wonder, real connections or optical coincidences? Everything is illusion, after all.

Until people accept everything without ego, there is only pointless repetition. Embedded intelligence? If you are not laughing, you are not here. Who believes this is true because it is true, and not because they need to believe it is true, understands.

A question?

a statement?

Both?

What's the word for both? lol.

So this long winded movie appear to want to convince the viewer that all religions are of the same origin.

It is stating the obvious.

The true crisis in our world is not social, political or economy. Our crisis is a crisis of consciousness. An inability to directly experience our true nature. An inability to recognize this nature in everyone and in all things.

In the Buddhist tradition, the Bodhisattva is the person with an awakened Buddha nature. A Bodhisattva vows to help to awaken every being in the universe, realizing that there is only one consciousness. To awaken one’s true self one must awaken all beings.

There are innumerable sentient beings in the universe
I vow to help them all to awaken.

My Imperfections are inexhaustible
I vow to overcome them all.

The Dharma is unknowable
I vow to know it.

The way of awakening is unattainable
I vow to attain it.

What do you do when this is no longer a revelation and you are left with sadness and loneliness for you've found no one for who this is not either a revelation or simply, above their heads?

Repeating the truth becomes boring for one who knows the truth.

What's next?

Maybe he knows.

This is happening in real time!

lol.

It is.

Did I emotion (emote?... I think I meant mention) it was a bacon ritz cracker?

Can we go out to play now?

Narf :)

CBS Sucks

Ok, so I watch mostly CBS shows these days because I have CBS and Hulu on my computer and no other TV access. Actually, except for a few days spent watching friend's homes, it's been more than two years. I miss some show on BBS America and Syfy and a few others, but there are more than enough shows on CBS and Hulu to fill the limited time I have for TV. So when I say CBS sucks, I am mostly reacting to "CBS Cares" and the simple fact that they are canceling three shows I watched. That's not caring. Canceling shows is the suckiest thing a network can do. It's disrescpectful to artists and audiences to not invest a few more dollars (relatiely) to create at least once finale so the show, the artists, and the audience can feel the network has an ounce of respect for them, or us, even.

No network is better, but I only have CBS to bitch about these days.

So Scorpion is the one I'll miss. Dorky geniuses and the eye candy were fun, even though the writers flat out sucked and relied on a formula that required so much suspended logic it was a cartoon. I'll miss Zoo because it had an interesting premise even when the plot was forced to typical super-villian proportions. I wish they'd have just tried to actually deal with an evolutionary shift without personalizing an evil mastermind, because the shift is going to come eventually anyway.The writers did not have enough imagination to enter that reality, alas. Then there's Wisdom of the Crowd, which also had a good premise and was failed by writers with limited imaginations. Unfortunately, even the best shows stink sometimes.

Ransom is still on the chopping block and I won't miss it much, but I am watching it because there's nothing else among the shows I d watch on except Instinct, which is another new show with a touch of Elementary, but it breaks the mold with a gay lead character and I like expanding the rigid norms (why do you think science fiction is my favorite genre?). The writers are not bad. either.

So what do I watch?

Of course you just must know, right?

Insist a little? lol Big Bang Theory, Bull, Criminal Minds, Elementary, MacGyver, NCIS, NCIS:LA, NCIS:NO, Star Trek: Discovery, Young Sheldon and more gone and then, primarily thanks to curiosity and self-induced boredom, new ones I'll check out are God Friended Me, Happy Together, Murphy Brown, Magnum PI, FBI.

Well, you asked.

I may check out Salvation, though the title suggests religion and there's way too much religion in the physical (or what we call real) world for me to want to watch it in my fictional entertainment. I don't enjoy watching war movies either. I push past the macho nationalism, blind faith patriotism, and self-righteousness (and ignore the religious references as well as I can) in order to relate to characters and let them become family in my mind. It doesn't happen often, but it's fun when it does.

Sure, I could go on and on about why I watch what I watch and how I relate in my mind, but then, the title of this entry doesn't point in that direction, now does it? Besides, I'm distracted by Hamilton's Pharmacopeia. I remember Qualudes. You know I do, because of the capital Q. Humans minds are so clogged with fears.

The serpent in the bible is an alien? (wha Lilith fair?... blame Hulu lol).

Not just abalone!

Narf lol :)

X-Files Revisted

So I watched The X-Files from the beginning through the 9th season, a season I did not really get into because the show was about Mulder's obsession for a truth about aliens among us and without Mulder, the show was less interesting, less fun to watch, and less believable. It required Scully to switch gears and put her skepticism aside and take on the Mulder obsession, which she did not do well.

So now I am watching the new X-Files and once again, right off the bat, Scully is as inconsistent as ever. Her know-it-all skepticism is back with a vengeance and I'm ready to turn off the show in the middle of the first episode of season 10 because tat feeling of poor writing and betrayal of character is back with a vengeance too. I watched episode 1 through to the end and sure enough, Scully does another complete 180 (how can anyone take her character seriously, the inconsitencies in her character reduce her to little more than a sail in the wind attached to Mulder's tail). Then, as if to flaunt viewer stupidity, the smoking man returns as the enemy when he was looking out for Mulder in the last few seasons and burned alive on camera in the last episode of season nine.

It'll be interesting to see how they explain this. The super soldier DNA, perhaps. So why is he aging into decrepitude like any ordinary human?

First, though, There'll be some odd semi-comedic horror stories.

Losing Basketball

I used to be able to lay and loved to play, but I haven't had anyone to play with for a few years and that's sad, but this meaningless complaint is more about losing interested and enthusiasm about watching professional basketball. I still sometimes watch college, but the pros lost me when the game turned into a ridiculously inconsistently controlled contact sport and the bullies took over. It's the way our culture has always been to some extent from early school days trough middle school and high school. It's finally reached the White House, but the bully culture was not in professional sports much. In fact, most sports were a refreshingly bully free and the bullies were booted out. Talent, finesse, skill, and above all else sportsmanship and a consistent enforcement of the rules made sports a level playing field.

Maybe money changed that. Or simply the culture shifted and ignores the unfairness, inequality, inequity, immaturity, and bias in order to cheer the flavor of the moment The Lebrons, the Trumps... cheered as heroes no matter what they do (and if really observed, they do very immature, arrogant, entitled, unsportsmanlike, and unethical things that few if anyone else would ever get away with). The real winners who win with skill, finesse, and talent on a level playing field are disrespected and constantly accused of cheating.

Take the last game of the NBA season for one small but undeniable example. Curry s called for a technical in the first quarter for almost nothing, at least nothing the video could show. Lebron chases a around the court referee arguing a call verbally and with gestures and the ref ignores him. The immature and entitled baby they call king of the nba is why this game is the only game I watched all season. I may have watched part of one last season, but I stopped watching pro basketball. It is nice to see a throw back team is dominating once again.

Unfortunately, the nba and the media still gave a lot more time to the bully that they did to the classy winners and they even tried to provoke division and controversy when interviewing Durant and I was impressed at how well Durant cut the question off and shot down the attempt with a firm and direct response. That is what deserves respect and air-time. Only Steven A and Rachel Nichols pointed out the truths, that Lebron and Cleveland quit, pulled a "No Mas", and showed no class or respect for the fans or the game. Curry, Durant, and the Warriors showed unprecedented class and sportsmanship.

Most of the media blitz focused on how amazing their king has been and was even in getting swept in the nba finals and sure enough, the excuse was already scripted, Lebron played the last three games with a broken hand. That he broke it by punching a wall during a antrum after the first game was downplayed. Instead of pointing out how immature, selfish, poor sport, stupid, and self-destructive the poor king really is to the impressionable children who have been convinced to idolize the him, the party line ignored that important life-lesson fact. No wonder the bullies are winning.

Good to see one lose for a change.

Good to see his arrogant boast to win 9 championships failed. Oh, he did make it to 9 championship games with a lot of help from very biased referees, but he lost 6 of them.

Better than Mike, yeah right lol.

So maybe most people ignored how he pushes people around on the court and gets away with it almost every time. How he gets extra points every game because he's sent to the foul line on so many soft touch foul calls. How he throws tantrums on the court and gets away with challenging officials way more than anyone else. How he apparently throws tantrums off the court and can be self-abusive with a dangerous temper. I blame the nba because they let him get away with never having to live up to the standards of play and sportsmanship enforced for most everyone else. Just look at what's ignored n the White House.

I don't watch the news, I seldom watch sports, I don't watch basketball anymore.

I miss the sports.

Remembering the X-Files (I and II)

Watching the episodes of the original series from one to the last, I am slowly, gradually, subtly reminded of just how much religious referenced I had to ignore just to keep watching the mysteries beyond that one explanation so many people seem to so easily buy into. Patronizing. Pathetic. Poor writing. Even Mulder invoked god for the story line, breaking his character's agnostic presentation. The writing is really very inconsistent sometimes, which destroys the illusion of characters and leaves the same old discussion in almost every show. The writers probably think it is mandatory to reach a larger audience and keep them from throwing the towel in on all the paranormal, but that sort of pandering to the ignorant frightened masses is the antithesis of a intelligent science fiction or fantasy.

I just admit, it is getting a bit too soap-operatic for me and I am not following the story line closely enough to know what is going on in the back stories (or some of the front stories, even). This was especially true as season eight rolled along and Mulder's incorrigible drive to find the truth was missing. I think that was what drew me to the show in the first place. Season eight found Scully playing the Mulder role and a new guy who, unfortunately for him, is forever unappealing to me because he tried to be Scully. It just didn't work for me. It's sad when people don't seem to fit their characters anymore. Even worse, as with too many shows, the characters have to be stupid to get into the dangers they get into.

Even Mulder stopped following his "trust no one" creed, probably because the writers were not smart or creative enough to write better stories.

Maybe if I watched it with someone who'd discuss it, it would be more fun.

Discovery

Why in all the logical progression of the Star Trek stories does Discovery resort (revert?) to referencing souls?. Throughout the series the writers were always very philosophical, virtually agnostic. They pointed out how so many different species have so many god concepts just as so many different civilizations on Earth have ad and still have so many different god concepts. Yet Discovery poignantly mentions losing souls when people are killed.

That could be a very bad sign.