Sampling

It really amazes me how an artistic or intellectual passion feeds opportunities... I'm part of a loose confederation of women who get together every Thursday night to do cross-stitch and embroidery, and I've been doing it for a couple of years now. My friend Jen Core has a degree in Folk History with a specialization in created practical "art", which tends towards antique textiles. Anyway, she has started a survey research project called the Tennessee Sampler Survey, in which she is trying to document at least 150 samplers of Tennessee origin from before 1900. Jen hears about them or people contact her, then she professionally photographs, documents, and researches the samplers. I've attended 2 of her talks on the subject - she shows slides and talks about the similarities, the regional differences, etc. - and it's just fascinating.

Last fall, Jen and I had the idea of creating a sampler that would take elements from some of the prettiest samplers she's collected, and that we'd make it a group project - each month she'd design us a new band, and there'd be 10-12 bands that we'd work on over the course of 2006. There are a dozen women doing it in Nashville, and about that many in Knoxville. Each woman is given the charts and color codes, but you can make any changes in color or stitch you prefer, always keeping in mind that we want to try and keep it within the realm of work typical to Tennessee, but also allowing personal taste and preference. I may be one of the few to actually try and stick to her original design as closely as possible... and even I've departed more than 2-3 times from the original!

Anyway, we've already begun to make plans for a few museum and art guild showings of all of the completed samplers, as well as some of her photos and research of the survey, and I think it could go further as well... I'm hoping some grant money might be forthcoming for the TSS. I'm about 2/3 done with mine, and as you can see there's some blocks I still have to fill in. This is what we call a Band sampler, and it's VERY long compared to modern samplers. I doubt I'll ever be able to frame it, it'll be so wildly expensive! It's funny; individual elements aren't that pretty to most of us - we've all done motifs we liked better - but when you stand back and look at the combined work, it really grows on you (if you LIKE that sort of thing).

A Very Special Day

Today is a very special day for me. "Why?" you might ask, if you cared to; "why is this a special day, Susan?"

Today is the one-year anniversary of my House Calls Computer business! I have survived, I have scraped by, I have learned, I have grown, blah blah blah. It has been one of the best years of my life, although not without it's pains and difficulties.

I have my friend Sally Higgs to thank; it was her idea, and I'm just grateful she told it to me, because I had no thought of it at the time. I called her up today to thank her for having said that it was something she thought I'd be good at, and inspiring me to try it, and she was completely surprised; she didn't realize that she sparked it!

I also want to thank Eric Wyse for letting me work on his office computers when I was still learning my way, and Daystar Counseling for being the most relentlessly appreciative and encouraging clients I've ever had. And if I had not begun this business, I wouldn't have gotten to know the Searfosses, the Granberys, the Epsteins, the Solareks, and the Stewarts. How infinitely poorer I should have been!

I NEED A VA-CAAAAY-TION!

I've been working non-stop since January, except for July 4th. I need a vacation. But how this is to be achieved, I do not know. My dilemma is trifold:

1. Money - don't have any. Won't have any.
2. Time - if I take a week to go somewhere, that's a week without any income. Which, as stated above, I am lacking in.
3. Company - no-one available. This used to be a non-issue since I preferred to go to the beach on my own, but after 10 years of doing so, the novelty has worn off and after 3 or 4 days I get bored on my own. And even if there was a friend available to go, I don't have any friends that I'm close enough to to be confident of a fun time after the first 24 hours. I'd love to go with my sisters and their kids, but they already went to the beach together back in the spring. Without me.

*sigh* I guess I'll take a 4 day weekend and go to my Grandmother's in the Armpit of the Universe, Batesville. There, I will take naps, shop at the Super Wal-Mart, and sit and watch Wheel of Fortune and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire at 6 pm. If there's anything else to do there, somehow, it just won't happen. There's a movie theater there. Do you know how many movies I've seen in Batesville in the last decade? Two. I get in that house, and barely leave it for 3 days.

And the conversations? *sigh* I love my Grandmother, but...

Could this BE any more of a pity party? I think not.

[cheerfulmentalreinforcement] Be glad you have your health... your home... your family... your friends... steady work... Project Runway... [/cheerfulmentalreinforcement]

Handy Household Hints!

So I got one of those emails with all of the "Did you know that hydrogen peroxide will remove blood from clothing?" tips, and I find them fascinating as well as frustrating, since I know that I will be completely unable to remember any of them when the need arises.

• Candles will last a lot longer if placed in the freezer for at least 3 hours prior to burning.
• To clean artificial flowers, pour some salt into a paper bag and add the flowers. Shake vigorously as the salt will absorb all the dust and dirt and leave your artificial flowers looking like new! Works like a charm!

And then I thought... how do we know that any of these are legitimately useful? What if someone's just messing with us? And I came up with these:

• To remove grease stains from jeans, saturate the area with vodka. The enzymes in the alcohol and the blue dye in the denim will break up the grease!
• To remove unused stamps from envelopes, dip the corner of the envelope in ice water & a small amount of lighter fluid for 5 minutes - the stamp will peel off and float to the top of the water!
• To kill weeds, spray windex all over the affected area, and watch them disappear in 24-48 hours!

I mean, who's to say if any of these tips actually work?! Don't these sound plausible? Yet I made them up as I was typing this. All this to say: don't be willfully gullible.

King Arthur

I was just sitting here watching one of my absolute favorite movies, Dave starring Kevin Kline & Sigourney Weaver. I really love this movie, even more than I love "The West Wing" which is another one of those political "works" where realism oozes into idealism every once and a while. Except that Dave oozes into idealism and stays there.

WHY am I so enchanted by this film? Is it because it's a modern-day fairy tale? I think that may be part of the reason. But I think it's primarily because of an essential longing I have for a King Arthur. I've lived with cynicism about politics my whole life, but here in this basic Prince and the Pauper story, we are given a leader with integrity, compassion, intelligence, and an understanding heart. He is a GOOD MAN, and he wants to do what is best, not what is politically expedient.

It's the same reason one of my favorite books is Avalon by Stephen R. Lawhead. It's subtitled The Return of King Arthur, and is a fictional "what if" story where Arthur returns to rule England in modern times. He's got all the same qualities we wish for in a ruler, and have not seen... ever, I guess.

I guess there've been some enlightened despots along the path of history who have been rulers you could follow and trust with your whole heart - King Alfred comes to mind - but the fact that the word "despot" has a negative connotation indicates that probably 99% of the despots of history were evil or self-seeking. But in actuality, Plato (or Socrates, I forget which) said that not democracy, but an enlightened despotism was the best form of government. Democracy/Republicanism (not the party but the form of government) is only the best form of government that is actually ACHIEVABLE.

CS Lewis often refers to the return of King Arthur in his writings, and I've only come to realize why in recent years... he's the ruler we all wish we had, but won't have until the end of time.

Puffy Foot

I suffer from a rare condition I choose to call Puffy Foot. It means that my left foot & ankle are Perpetually Puffy. It's not an attractive condition although it's painless and I can't detect any disabilities as a result of it. And yes, I've had it checked out and scanned and there's nothing they can find that's causing it. I've had it about 5 years now.

There is one major drawback to this: shoe shopping is a bitch. It is impossible for me to find a pair of shoes that fit both feet well. Flip-flops and other thong sandals are the best solution, but that only works for about 6 months of the year. The rest of the time I am forced to wear a right shoe that is too loose, and a left shoe that is too tight. I have to discard over 75% of the shoes I try on as a result. What I really wish is that I could buy shoes in different sizes - a Size X.5 for my left foot, and a size X for my right. (Yeah, like I'm telling you my shoe size!)

And when I do find a shoe that fits my left foot, there's the problem of "does it look OK?" Certain styles are positively horrific, as they press the Puff upward, leaving a roll of flesh above the leather. (Isn't that a lovely mental image?) Sure, it might fit, but it looks like I've recently eaten a bowl of salt.

I found out recently that my maternal grandmother has the same condition. Just the left foot; not both. Once again, family genetics has "blessed" me with an undesirable trait. Massive quantities of moles? Check. Thin, fine hair? Check. The physique of a 19th C. Austrian farmwife? Check. Excessive fondness for baked goods? Check.

The Cutest Thing EVER

OK, I know you're not supposed to play favorites with your nieces and nephews... but honestly, she's the youngest one - The Last Baby - and she can just be so damn cute sometimes... my other nieces are in Knoxville, so I've never gotten to take care of them the way I have Emma.

Anyway - she was in a wedding this weekend, and with a 3-year-old, that can be Delightful or Dreadful. Fortunately, she was quite the little professional when onstage, and only lapsed into rampant misbehavior when required to sit in the pews during the ceremony.

She's an avid Princess fanatic, with an addiction to the Disney princess product line. She wants to be one, she wants to hear about them, she loves a nice tiara, you name it. So this was right up her alley. More pictures available here.

In Which I Reluctantly Join MySpace.com

So, Friend Frank from my days at Hillsboro High sends me an email today mentioning that there's a number of SophistiCats on myspace, and I should join. (The SophistiCats were a very advanced show choir & chamber singers group I was in throughout high school, and pretty much the only worthwhile thing about high school for me!) Plus my friends Paul et Cherie have occasionally pestered me to join so they can add me to their Friends... apparently one's myspace dignitas is dependent on how many Friends (clients, a la Roman Empire) one can claim.

So I set up my profile (suhouladoo) and begrudgingly wrote a few lines about myself, and made a discovery: one should not fill out one's online profile when one is in a bad mood. One is apt to say things that will not reflect well upon oneself. oneoneoneoneoneoneoneone.

And yet, not off-putting enough, apparently - two total strangers sent me Friend invites within a half-hour of setting up my profile. Apparently my comment that I wasn't there to make new friends or meet anyone had a different effect than I had intended. I shall have to re-edit and be more obvious about my lack of interest in making random Friends.

I really had thought that listing my remorselessly geeky Interests of Ballroom Dance, Bollywood, Embroidery & Cross-stitch, reading and Doctor Who would be sufficient to shake off all but the most Worthy and Perceptive of Friend-wannabes. I guess I'll have to put in the one piece of information that is the kiss of death: my current weight and height.

A Day of Frustrations

I hate not being able to fix things, and I hate failure.

So the last 24 hours have been rather disheartening. Of the semi-Burst-Into-Tears-on-the-Least-Provocation category of Disheartening. I thought maybe if I listed the specifics I might get a sense of the actual scope of my failures, as opposed to a general Everything-Sucks malaise.

1. Can't get my living room TiVo to dial in. I have tried countless times, going so far as to bring it to Elder Sister's house to use THEIR phone system. All to no avail.
2. A web design client from 8 months back went with another designer without any notice (that I can recall) and (very politely) won't pay for the 3 hours I spent on her site.
3. Another web design client isn't entirely happy with what I've done in a beta format, and I sense he wants something more sophisticated than I am capable of.
4. I haven't had time to work on 2 other client websites, and I don't want to right now.
5. I spent 4.5 hours this morning on a home wireless network job that should have taken 1 hour, and the problem STILL isn't fixed; so of course, I don't feel like I can charge them; and I don't know where I went wrong with the whole thing.

That's the gist of it; nothing absolutely devastating, but enough within 24 hours to cause overall melancholia. Oh, and I was unable to go to my part-time job at Vandy since I spent all morning at a job I can't charge for, and therefore lost 4 hours of legit paying work. [invective]Bugger all.[/invective]

Nuhfing in Particular, Part 2

"In our last episode, Susan discovered a certain fascination with an indefinable accent of the charming, working-class Rose Tyler from Doctor Who."

So I was watching the first episode of Season 2 titled "New Earth," and a bit of slang was used that made me (and my QuickTime software) pause. Rose, being temporarily "possessed" by a snobby spirit named Cassandra, took a look at herself in a mirror and burst out with a dismayed "Oh my God, I'm a chav!"

A chav? What on earth is a chav? I was mightily intrigued. I dashed to my computer, and once again, Wikipedia served me far better than I could have imagined. Read on:

The description fits Rose to a T, and goes into all sorts of detail about accent, fashion, cultural tendencies, etc. Absolutely fascinating - sortof like a British version of a Jersey Girl, I guess...? So when I resumed the episode and several minutes later, Cassandra re-assumed Rose's body, looked down at herself, and sarcastically snarled "oh, Chavtastic!" my pop cultural anglophilic joy knew no bounds, and I clapped and squealed, since I know knew what she meant.

Damn, I love the Brits.

7/15 Mike in MI has directed me to a far more alarming series of definitions about what "chav" is on urbandictionary.com. Not so funny anymore...

Travails with Tivo

I love my Tivo very much, as anyone who knows me well should be aware of. Like many of my other passions, such as:

• Bollywood,
• Haayo Miyazaki movies,
• Doctor Who,
• Ballroom Dancing,

I am prone to evangelistic fervor. I want everyone to share my enjoyment of said entertainments.

Well, I have been having difficulty with my TiVo of late... ever since I switched to the ridiculously cheap Vonage phone service which runs over my cable modem, I have had problems getting my TiVo to successfully dial in to download updates. Because Vonage can't seem to work with the phone wiring in my apartment, I have had only one functioning phone in my living room, with a very thin 20 foot phone line running across the floor from the phone router under my desk, through the sliding door, onto the porch, and back in through the bedroom porch door. This line is for my TiVo; I watch more TV in my room than I make phone calls.

So I've had the Vonage for a few months now, and was able to get the TiVo to dial in successfully overnight most of the time. Since it stores 2 weeks of upcoming programming data, it's not been a real problem, but a couple of days ago it started warning me that it would run out on Saturday the 15th. I tried everything to get it to dial in and download - called Vonage, tried their online help tips, etc. - nothing worked.

Then I went online and did a search for work-arounds, and found a vast sea of discontented and frustrated former Vonage customers who had found out which I was just learning - Vonage does not play well with TiVo. By typing in a ridiculously long string of dialing prefixes and forcing it to dial a NYC #, I was finally able to get it to make one download. However, the TiVo in the living room, which is newer, still can't get through. It gets halfway into the call and then gets interrupted; by what, I do not know!

So I'm now on the phone with BellSouth (as I have been for over 45 minutes) switching my service back to them. Just a few days ago they sent me the 3rd or 4th "Please please please please come back to us... we'll give you low rates/cash/our first-born child" Letter of Desperation, and so last night I dug it out from under some rotting raspberries and various gooey things in the trash can. They will drop my rates to almost half of what they used to be, which is pretty darn good for the various difficulties Vonage has caused me. The rates will go back up in 12 months, but who knows what advances in technology will happen by then!

Bottom line: If you love your TiVo, don't get Vonage unless you have TiVo with broadband or wireless service.

Yes, I'm still here...

Vacation weeklet! WOOOOOOOOOOOOT! Granted, it's only Friday-Tuesday, and I worked some on Friday, and I sing for about 5 hours Sunday morning EARLY, and I'll probably see about getting some computer work on Monday... but still! Whooooooooo!

I still wish I could have a whole week of vacation... *sigh* Pity poor, poor Susan.

If you're in Nashville and you wanna see something cool, go to the Belcourt Theater @ 3 pm Sunday and get a ticket to Krrish. You'll be glad you did.

Bollywood Suggestions

Mike in MI asked me to recommend a Bollywood film he could check out on Netflix, and I thought others might like my suggestions as well:

hmmm... that's tricky. If you want a dramatic/semi-tragic love story with fantastic visuals & music, check out Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (trans. "I Have Given You My Heart"). If you want something more fun yet still really well made, check out Bunty Aur Babli ("Bunty and Babli") - it's a con-artist comedy.

Now that I consider it, get Bunty - it's just such a funny and sweet movie... less chicky-flicky. (Do NOT get Bride & Prejudice, which was actually shown in the US but sucks terribly - Netflix may recommend it.) If you want to get acclimatized first, do check out Monsoon Wedding, which is an Indian film but not Bollywood, in that it's not a musical. I am still very moved by it; I find some neat analogies to the Bride of Christ and the book of Hosea (although I'm sure it wasn't intended by the filmmaker!) It's much more realistic in its portrayal of Indian life than a Bollywood film, and yet you start to get a sense of how the culture works, and Bollywood seems a logical progression afterwards. This is the first Indian movie I ever saw, and the critics really loved it, with good reason.

I don't expect everyone to enjoy Bollywood, but I went into it hook, line & sinker after a decade of passionate devotion to anime, and there are parallels - it's so reflective of its culture, same as anime is to Japan. It wouldn't look the same anywhere else. And the interesting thing is that in 98% of the movies, there's no sex or kissing, which makes it safe for entire families. B & B is an exception to this rule, but even it is quite tame in comparison to US films. The culture disapproves of PDAs and promiscuity (although it does happen in the big cities), and when one Bollywood starlet was *gasp* reported to have been seen kissing her boyfriend in public! she filed a libel suit and released a statement that she would never do anything so immoral.

So, in order of recommended viewing (not in quality, necessarily):
1) Monsoon Wedding
2) Bunty Aur Babli
3) Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam
4) Kabhi Khushi, Kabhie Gham

Va, Va, Va!

iTunes is finally carrying Bollywood music! Finally, I can get decent copies of some of my favorite tunes! I would say the bulk of actual music on my iPod (apart from the entire Harry Potter canon, Sarah Vowell, and podcasts on Doctor Who) is from Bollywood, and I listen to them more than anything else. And a lot of them are from somewhat questionable sources; my only excuse is the difficulty of obtaining the CDs, and that fact that usually I want only 1 or 2 of the songs from any film. A saving grace of Bollywood music is that the CDs are wicked cheap.

But it's weird; some unbelieveably obscure music is available there from movies that apparently no-one liked but me, while some of the top movie soundtracks are nowhere to be seen. I mean, for heaven's sake, Krrish starring the delectable Hrithik Roshan and bound to be the #1 film this year in India, has only a Telegu version of the soundtrack available, when the movie was made in Hindi! I mean, honestly, Telegu? It's like only listing the soundtrack for a Spanish-dubbed version of the next Spiderman film!

When I can't get the soundtrack for the blockbuster Fanaa (made by the top studio in Mumbai) on iTunes, but I can get songs from the delightfully cheesy but ultimately bombed Doli Saja ke Rakhna, then someone at iTunes is really bad at their job. Patience, my little ladoo, patience... give them time to learn and grow...

And to that end, and for the benefit and delight of anyone who comes here, I offer this tidbit of the most delightfully catchy song I've heard in a while - "Aaja Soniye" from an otherwise weak film, Mujhse Shaadi Karoge (Will You Marry Me?). You can't listen to it without smiling. And bouncing.

Nuhfing in Particular...

... just wanting to say hey to my tiny bevy (can a bevy be tiny?) of readers. There's nuhfing more annoying when a favored blog is never updated, RACHEL.

Pardon the colloquial "nuhfing;" been re-watching loads of Doctor Who on my Tivo and on YouTube (which is a MAHVELOUS site, btw) and his companion Rose has the most adorable accent. "th" comes out as "f" or "v", and it's quite infectious. Despite my partial knack for accents, I can't pick hers up entirely; I spent too much time as an "Oliver!" urchin-wannabe in junior high choir, and traces of cockney keep interfering. I don't even know how to classify her accent.

More latuh.

Who Were the Geeks in Olden Times?

It just occurred to me, as I am doing some contract work for a web design company - over 100 years ago, what would a true Geek look like, sound like, be obsessed with? What was the Star Wars equivalent of the day? Would it have been Jules Verne, and if so, did people build their own faux time machines? Did they dress up like Morlocks?

I also wonder who were the Geeks 200 years ago - we're talking 1806, and despite my fascination with historical popular culture, I have no idea. I do know that "The Da Vinci Code" of the late 18th century was a French romance novel called Paul and Virginia which was all about Rousseauean ideals of letting the wonders of nature teach us how to truly live, and the inequities of an outdated class structure... plus had 2 young hotties on a South Sea island with remarkably lax mothers who let them wander about a la Blue Lagoon.

It was wildly popular in its day, and I actually dug up a copy and read it many years ago - I say Dug, because I had to get it through InterLibrary Loan from another state, and there are practically no copies left - it's long since out-of-print, and for good reason... it's really, really bad, except for a few vaguely naughty bits. (Naughty, in the context of late 18 century, so Not Very.) Long, loooooooooooong passages about the flora and fauna of the island that do nothing to progress the story.

Apparently this was one of those books that shook up the women of the day - readers of Madame Bovary may recollect a reference to Emma having read it when young, and apparently it was part of the formation of her flawed character.

It may seem that I have Strayed from my initial question, but I promise, it ties in. A Geek is, in one part of the Wikipedia definition, "A person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream. This could be due to the intensity, depth, or subject of their interest." Geeks are not necessarily Nerds, whom I associate more with social ineptitude. A Geek is very passionate about something, and the most obvious ones are passionate about Stories.

So, if today's Geeks are fond of Star Wars/Trek, LOTR and Joss Whedon, then what were they fond of 100, 200 years past? It would have to be something that wasn't within the cultural norms of the day, but eventually became commonplace. "Paul and Virginia," with its rebellion against class structure and regimented society, might well have been one of the Points of Fixation for Geeks of the Day. I know that Ann Radcliffe's gothic novels were probably Geeked over, but primarily by women. But what would have regained the Geek fascination of men?

Obviously, I need to do a bit of research, Geek that I am.

Friday the 9th: Ooh, Paul and Virginia is available on Project Gutenberg!

Sometimes I Am So Stupid...

So this week I have been working all over the map, it seems; I feel like I have put more miles on my car this week than in the last month. The phone just started ringing a lot, and everyone needs my help at present. Which is fantastic and much needed/appreciated, but I'm appalled to find myself getting cranky that I don't have as much free time as I did. When I was Perpetually Whining about how I couldn't get enough work for the last 4 months! I'm feeling a trifle overwhelmed, yet obligated to do it all since I have no idea when the next wave of work will crash my way, and I badly need to put more clients in my boat.

Finished a website I'm inordinately proud of, despite the relative simplicity of it - I know HTML, and not much else. My friend Renu has just moved to Denver and is going to start teaching Bollywood Dance there, so we've been frenziedly whipping a website into shape to help drum up students (hopefully!) It's got lots of info on it, since part of the job she has to do is educate people as to WHAT Bollywood Dance actually IS. Since I love Bollywood and it's my second biggest hobby, it's been a joy to work on the site. Not of much use to my Faithful Readers unless they live in Colorado, but the Bolly-What? and Video pages are fun AND educational.

Mid-Life Crisis

OK, there's something fishy going on here... I just went to the doctor yesterday with an irritated and sore left eye, only to find out that I probably have a minor case of conjunctivitis... in other words, Pinkeye. I find it odd that after 2+ decades, I've now come down with 2 of the ailments I had as a child - Pinkeye in 1st grade, Strep in 3rd grade.

I've been so healthy for years, never getting anything nameable beyond various bugs or allergy-related nastiness, that I find this arresting. Almost as though I'm reliving my childhood, but not through any choice of my own.

Doctor, Doctor

I am now prepared to share my absolute fascination with and obsession for the new Doctor Who series on the SciFi Channel. I was an occasional viewer of the series back in high school when our local PBS station was showing the Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, and Peter Davison versions of the Doctor, and I wasn't obsessed with it or anything because the FX were fairly crap, and on occasion the storyline was of no interest to me. But it stuck with me, and one of my favorite trips when I was in London back in my 20s was when I visited the Museum of the Moving Image and saw the Doctor Who exhibit.

Rather, my favorite souvenir. I brought back a t-shirt and a mug with a text version of the theme music that I still find hilarious - "Dum de dum, dum de dum, dum de dum, diddly-dum" repeated 3 times... which is only amusing if you are familiar with the cheesy theme music and can recognize it. But it had the Tardis on it, which is what I loved most. That comforting old blue police box that the Doctor travels in through time and space...

I always wanted to time-travel, but in relative comfort and convenience. I didn't particularly want to travel like the Doctor and his companions did because it always seemed quite Fraught with Peril, and I'm not big on Peril. But sometimes their adventures were lovely and romantic and those stuck with me.

The new series is rather much improved, to my mind. They've really upped the budget significantly - gone are the days where you'd see a space slug slither by, and say to yourself, "That's bubble-wrap they've spray painted green!" Now they have respectable FX and, to my mind, phenomenal casting and writing. Christopher Eccleston is playing the Doctor, with Billie Piper playing his companion du jour, Rose. Their chemistry is delightful and significant; whereas before the Doctors and their companions were asexual and positively detached. This Doctor cares about Rose a great deal, and it shows. I adore Mr. Eccleston, and am only sorry he's only doing the first season, to be replaced by David Tennant for the next.

I was surprised to find out that apparently the show is known for it's scariness; I never was scared by it, else I would have avoided it like the plague - horror and scary stuff is anathema to me. But in England it was well established that certain recurring villains such as the Daleks and Cybermen were enough to send you racing to hide behind the couch, and the show was initially designed for children. But after 40 years, the viewership is all over the demographic map, and there's a new comedic sophistication and nuance to the series, reminiscent of Joss Whedon's shows. Witty banter is all over the place, and a healthy dose of flirting.

I find it irresistable, and am only sorry that there are only 13 episodes in the first new season (it was cancelled for about 15 years, but with recurring audiobooks and other media still being produced). They're in the midst of the second series in England now, and since it's steadily winning awards and having high ratings, it should remain on the air for a good long time. I highly recommend it, although the last 2 episodes of the season are airing in the next month, and it might be better to wait for the reruns so you can start at the beginning. There's a definite story arc, although some of the episodes can stand on their own. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Survival

I have quite faithfully watched Survivor ever since it started, and have also watched myself become cynical and jaded by how each season ends up. Each person eventually reveals the flaws in their personality and says something unforgivably stupid/cruel/selfish, or else they doggedly maintain the illusion that they are playing the game with "integrity" (boy, if I don't hear that word in context of the show again it'll be too soon...) and think they've persuaded us of their worthiness, which is a joke. The Mediocre almost always triumph on this show, because anyone with any qualities of strength, understanding, or intelligence are recognized as a threat almost immediately and are eliminated.

Everyone always claims to have loved the experience, to appreciate what it taught them about themselves and what they were capable of, blah blah blah, and how they're changed forever, yadda yadda yadda, and it's given them a renewed sense of purpose, la la la. But big maturing experiences, as grandiose as they may seem at the time, always diminish down to a small kernel in the corner of your character and personality... not without value, but only a tiny part of a bigger whole.

I'd give a great deal for someone on the show to say this: "Being on the island has shown me how unbelivably arrogant yet vulnerable I am, and I don't even begin to know what to do about it," or "Nah, I really hated it and it only made me realize how annoying other people can be." THAT would be worth seeing.