Jump

Happy Thursday! In good ol' So Cal, it's summer again! I couldn't be happier. Could do with a bit less wind, but I'll take what I can get. Although it may rain again soon. Ohs well.

The week rundown is still pretty sparse, containing (as you might expect) predominantly BSG and work. But there were at least a few diversions that I can mention.

Last Saturday, me and Carolyn went to the LA zoo. I hadn't been there since like fourth grade, so it was new to me. She had a zoo class a while ago, so she was super knowledgeable. It was a nice day, at the start of this warm period. We walked and walked and walked all the day long. We saw many many animals, also some non-animals, and animals we could see in our own back yard (like the alligator and the monkeyowl).

My favorites were the forest god and the wolf and the cat otter and possibly the prairie dogs. I have pictures, but they're still on my camera (along with stuff from months ago when my computer was dead). You can see hers, though, on Facebook. Where things might start to look like goats, deer, and fossa instead of the items listed above. Well, I don't remember what the wolf actually was. Looked like a wolf to me.

There were also tigers! Which are great. And a creepy man in barbershop quartet attire and a cup of liquor wandering about with his cane. Got some pictures of him, too. My least favorite were the alien deer.

And then we used my FORMIDABLE knowledge of LA roadways (in addition to helpful street signs) and made it to downtown and went to the Famima!! we discovered during the AX. Parking was too expensive, and there's a lot of one-way streets. But it was fun. Not too many people in the world can just go to LA and hang out for a day.

And then I think on Sunday me and the folks tripped up to Ojai and looked at antiques and bought overly expensive hippie food and ate it in the park next to hippie drummers. My favorite thing about the antiques was the box of old photos. There was one that opened up and inside there was a picture of a nice-looking young man, possibly a red-head. The inscription read, "To keep reminding you of that tanker full of martinis. Dan." I almost bought it.

On the trip I also listened to some podcasts about screenwriting, so it was fun. The organic store also sold weird non-soda soda, and there was such a thing as "Dr. Becker" with like four ingredients, which was probably one of the best Dr Peppers I've ever had. And for 89 cents!

And literally other than that up until today, I've either been watching BSG or at work. In order to catch up before the new season airs tomorrow, I ended up renting nine dvds on Tuesday, from two different stores. (Razor and season three discs 2-5 for free at my store, season three discs 1 and 6 and season four discs 1&2 and 3 from the other store--cost me $10.06 altogether. I love working the system) Aaaaaaaand as of now I've watched every episode on all those dvds. Just got three episodes left in season 4.0, but those are online. And I have until 9 PM tomorrow to fully catch up. I can do it!

So today I broke out of my entrenchment and went to Carolyn's house for some socializing. We looked at her new hamster and then hung out in the park after dark. But when we returned, I was informed that the OFFICE and 30 ROCK were in fact new tonight, so I abandoned her and jetted home literally in time to turn on the tv and start watching. Neither episode was bad, but neither really hit home for me. I think BSG may have spoiled me for any other narrative entertainment.

Season three of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA has turned my world upside down. I remember at the end of season one, lamenting the changes I knew to be upcoming, hoping I wouldn't look back at the initial season with a melancholy nostalgia. And I started two, in season 2.0 and 2.5, and don't even get me started on Razor (inauthentic and irrelevant, I wish I hadn't watched it). Season two was that "worst-case scenario" that I'd seen in my past that made me not want to watch the show. The oppressive darkness that I once used as a comparison for that future episode of HEROES, where I said that HEROES jumped to that dark place with a hope that it could be avoided, where for BSG that's just all it is. (I admit to not having enough information to make a statement like that)

But season three? Turned back my way. Of course better than season two, and, shockingly, much better than season one. Better, I dare proclaim, than pretty much anything I've ever seen. Different than season one, of course. But different in a this-is-what-must-come, a natural progression and a necessary evolution. Which is thematic on so many levels. I'm one who tends to grab a hold of something and not let it go, like a brilliant season one, but in this matter I have no choice but to succumb to the unrelenting poetry and vision of this show as it barrels onward and upward.

I learned in sci-fi class that the point or trend in great science fiction is the way it tackles contemporary issues in the safe arena of someone else's circumstance. BSG hits hard on so many things, unconditional love, the nature of identity (personal and cultural), the relativity of good and evil actions--what it means to stand for what you believe in, the idea that surviving at all costs may be a flawed articulation. What does it mean to love someone when they suddenly turn out to be something you hate? How do you justify the crimes of some and judge the same of others? What does it mean to fight for survival if in the process you become unworthy of success?

Guys, I love pure entertainment, I love the ridiculous and the inconsequential. But I think, at this point in time, this sort of transcendent program is what I want to focus on. I think that there's a place for both, both entertainment for entertainment's sake as well as three dimensional narratives that push the envelope of human conscience.

That's why I get so distressed when inane questions or interruptions distract me while I'm watching this show. I'm not watching it to pass the time. This is not a show to me. This is an experience. And it's one I wish more people would give a chance.

-Stephanie