Season 3 of "Sherlock" - Sheer Genius!

As with the last couple of seasons of Downton Abbey, I was able to watch Season 3 of the BBC hit series, Sherlock, before the rest of the U.S. (thanks again to my brother and some computer magic) and it is a gem. I promise not to give away any spoilers, therefore this review will be brief.

When we last left Sherlock at the end of Season 2, Sherlock had just confronted his arch nemesis, Jim Moriarity. Moriarity blew his brains out and Sherlock jumped from a building to his demise. John, in visiting Sherlock's grave, asks Sherlock to not be dead and we, the audience, see a very much alive Sherlock observing John. <gasp> 

Season 3 picks up two years after Sherlock's "demise" and someone is convinced that he's still alive. That someone is Anderson, the forensics tech from Seasons 1 and 2, who has lost his job due to his obsession of proving Sherlock is alive (see the Christmas mini-episode below). I suppose it's not a spoiler to say that: Yes, Sherlock returns to 221B Baker Street. Do we find out how he faked his death? I'll never tell. How has John dealt with the loss of his best friend? Has he moved on? Well, sort of. This season is definitely on par with the past seasons and did not miss a beat.  As with past seasons, it is only 3 episodes long ("The Empty Hearse", "The Sign of Three", and "His Last Vow") and just when it starts, it's over. <sniff>  While all three episodes are brilliant, I would say that the most entertaining (read: hilarious) one is "The Sign of Three", with the last episode ("His Last Vow") being the most suspenseful, with a heart pounding ending.

But fear not, fellow Sherlock fans, Seasons 4 and 5 are in the planning stage and we will not be without our favorite detective and his sidekick for long. Whew, thank goodness. In the meantime, you can catch Season 3 when it returns to the U.S. next Sunday, January 19 at 10:00 pm as part of Masterpiece on PBS.

When Apathy Strikes!

Apathy is most commonly defined as "a lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern. It is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation and/or passion" (Wikipedia). What do you do when apathy strikes?! I assume most people go through some sort of "lack of interest" phase on occasion.

A few days ago I came to a realization: I am completely apathetic about everything these days. Here are a few of the many things of which I am completely indifferent: my 75% student failure rate, the fact that there is a high probability that my cancer is growing, that I'm weeks behind on work commitments, that I just spent a ridiculous amount of money on auto repair which nearly wiped out my savings. These are all things which should be upsetting, frustrating, and distressing. But I am feeling...erm...nothing. I don't really care what's going on in any of my favorite television shows (except Sherlock). I'm even apathetic about writing this post (case in point, it's taken me 4 days to write it).

For most of my adult life, I have been someone who gets fired up about all sorts of things: politics, sports, injustice, human rights, etc. But lately that passion has just dissipated. In the past, this thing with Gov. Chris Christie would have got me on my high horse and protesting what a liar and scumbag he is, but I could not give a rat's ass that he is lying through his teeth about "Bridgegate". Although, I am moderately content that this scandal might kill his presidential dreams.

It's very strange: I'm not depressed, sad, bored, worried, anxious, happy, excited, optimistic, etc. I'm just indifferent. I'm trying to figure out where my passion has gone, did someone steal it? Is this lethargy a temporary thing, and what caused it? Is there anything that can be done about apathy or does it just run its course? Is it exhaustion? Is it the weather? Is it burnout because I've spent the past four months cajoling, entreating, threatening, and fighting with students? Is it a combination of all the different stressors (weather, work, exhaustion, and health issues)? I wish I knew... sort of, except, well, y'know... I kinda don't really care.  Hmmm...

I am not so apathetic that I couldn't thoroughly enjoy Jon Stewart hilariously skewering Gov. Christie! See below:

How to Remember the Little Things in Life!

Are you someone who forgets all the small yet good things that go on in your life? I definitely am! We know that the big wonderful things in life are easy to remember - that trip abroad, the birth of a child, etc. Additionally, we also know that the bad things are way easier to remember than the good things, which I'm not quite sure why. So what's the best way to remember the all those little fantastic every day things? Things like the hilarious joke that a friend tells you, the compliment that your significant other gives you, the goal that you finally accomplished, etc. I've struggled with how to keep track of those small but precious items. Diaries are probably the most tried and true method, but I've never been much for keeping a diary (too time consuming and boring).

Then I saw a Facebook posting of a high school friend of mine. The posting was of the picture below and I think it's a great idea for remembering those little things in life:

In case you can't read the instructions, here's a reprint:

Starting January 1st, write good things that happen to you on little pieces of paper [and place them in a jar]:

     - surprise gifts

     - accomplished goals

     - the beauty of nature

     - "LOL" moments

     - memories worth saving

     - daily blessings

Then on December 31st open the jar and read all the amazing things that happened to you in [2014]! 

Okay, clearly this picture is something that was re-posted from the year before so I updated the instructions to say "2014".

This concept is a really good way of remembering all the small, yet wonderful things that happen in the course of a year. Of course, I'm starting this endeavor a few days late, especially since I have yet to buy the glass jar. I suppose I could use something else. I've got a couple of tin cans that once housed Christmas cookies/candy, which apparently do not magically refill no matter how long you hold onto them. Maybe I'll use one of those instead.

Unsurprising, for the high tech geek, there's an iPhone app called "Little Memory", which is for this specific idea, but that seems a little too impersonal for me. I'm going old school - pen and paper.

Jury Duty Reminiscence!

I've been a slacker for the past few days. Instead of lesson planning and grading for school, I've spent a good portion of these last days before heading back to work watching a marathon of one of my favorite shows, Law & Order. I'm talking about the original series which ran from 1990-2010 and starred one of my favorite actors, Sam Waterston as EADA/DA Jack McCoy. For some reason, my thoughts turn to jury duty whenever I watch this show. I suppose it's because I often wonder how I would rule on these cases.  

See I'm a rather unusual person - I love jury duty! I've been fortunate enough to be called for jury service three times and all three times, I was placed on a jury - once as an alternate juror and the other two times ended up being the jury foreperson. Why do I love jury duty so much? Perhaps it's my theatre background. There is no better theatre/performance art than the justice system - particularly the criminal justice system. 

I'll give you a prime example. The first jury that I served on (as an alternate juror) was a criminal case with two defendants accused of 23 different charges each of rape, sexual assault, false imprisonments, etc. The two dirtbags held three people (two women and one man) hostage and abused them in all sorts of ways. I'd go home each day wanting to take a shower to wash the disgust off my body from listening to the testimony. The twist to this case is that the three victims were less than stellar citizens. They had gone into the building to score crack cocaine and ran into these scumbags; not that the victims deserved what happened to them - no one deserves what happened to them. See what I mean? Theatre at its best! Even though I was an alternate and couldn't deliberate on the case, I found out that the jury found the defendants guilty of 22 out of the 23 charges. Good!

The other two cases were a medical malpractice which we (the jury) found that the doctor and hospital were not negligent and the other was a slip and fall against the City of New York which got settled before it went to the jury.  The medical malpractice case was fascinating and made me a little angry because the plaintiff got excellent care from the doctor and hospital and had the nerve to sue them. The last time I was on a jury was 5-ish years ago, so I'm about due to be called again. Fingers crossed. 

Yes, I love the justice system. Is the American legal system perfect? No! But it's the best we have and it's certainly better than some countries - like countries in the Middle East - which enforce capital punishment for: adultery, homosexuality and apostasy. Yemen recently made headlines for its “child bride” case in which a 10-year-old girl was raped and beaten by her 30-year-old husband. In this case, the abusive husband was compensated for “losing” his wife through divorce while avoiding prosecution for rape. If you're interested in reading about the top 10 harsh legal systems, check out this article from AskMen.com. Truly frightening.

So yeah, I'll take the American legal system any day and twice on Sunday.

My Worst Enemy...

In trying to come up with a post for today, I was fooling around on the Random Topic Generator, looking for a subject on which to write. I ran through about a dozen random topics which were uninspiring, that is until 'Your worst enemy' came up. I thought: "Hmmm, that's interesting. Who is my worst enemy?" 

My initial knee jerk reaction was to say that I am my own worst enemy, but when I gave it more thought I realized that's not entirely accurate. Yes, I am unbelievably critical of myself. I downplay any and all accomplishments and obsessively examine and negatively critique my past failures. I have a general discontent with how I want my life to be, instead of accepting the limitations with which I've been presented. And the list of self-destructive thought processes goes on. Despite these foibles, I still would list myself as number 2 on my enemy list.

No, my #1 enemy is Chaos! The complete randomness and unfairness of life is the one thing that that negatively affects my life more than anything else. I've touched on the chaos theory in a previous blog and I wholeheartedly embrace the concept that our lives are controlled by a combination of chaos and free will. But what can you do about an enemy that you cannot fight, cannot negotiate with, cannot conquer? When chaos is your #1 enemy, I'm starting to realize you have to learn to love your enemy because there aren't any other choices. If you're enemy is a real living being, there's something you can do about it - confront them, conflict resolution, ignore them, what have you. But an entity which has no ears, no eyes, no brain, etc., you cannot contend with. While I hate my #1 enemy and will never understand it, I will have to strive to accept this enemy and deal with it the best I can.

Who is your worst enemy? How do you contend with them?

"Ender's Game" - Not Worth the Time...

I'm not the biggest fan of science fiction/fantasy novels, but have read a reasonable amount in that genre. There are some sci-fi/fantasy novels that I really like (i.e., Frankenstein, The Handmaid's Tale, The Princess Bride), some I dislike/loathe (i.e., Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Animal Farm, Slaughterhouse Five). Within the sci-fi/fantasy category, I do enjoy a good dystopian novel (i.e., the Hunger Games series, the Divergent series, Fatherland). So even though it's not my favorite genre to read, I do try to at least read the most popular and well-regarded novels, which brings me to Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. Published in 1985 and often at the top of the list as being one of the best sci-fi/fantasy books, I finally got around to reading this book and I wish I could have that time back to do something better... like picking fleas off my cat, watching paint dry, counting grains of rice, etc.

Synopsis: "Young Ender Wiggin thinks he is playing war games at the Battle School, high in orbit, but he is engaged in something far more desperate. Ender may be the military genius Earth desperately needs in a war against an alien enemy seeking to destry all human life. The only way to find out is to throw Ender into ever-harsher training, to chip away and find the diamond inside, or destroy him utterly." (from the back cover)

Review:  This novel is considered by some to be one of the best books, but I can't figure out why it's such a classic. Most reviewers seem to have really enjoyed Ender's Game. Others, such as myself, didn't care for the book at all. What's amusing is that when negative reviewers express bewilderment at all the rave reviews, the enthusiasts often respond by accusing those who didn't like the book of being narrow-minded. But I really don't think narrow-mindedness is the problem. My problem with this book boils down to three issues: Plausibility, target audience, genre fidelity.

Star Wars was far-fetched. When you start out with Wookies, the Force, talking/thinking droids, etc., you pretty much suspend rational rules and adopt an "anything goes" mentality. You know you're watching fantasy. However, Ender's Game doesn't position itself that way. The storyline is that Earth is in the battle of its life against aliens. Desperate to survive, Earth has created a highly specialized training program to groom new military talent. This program searches for young children with a profile of aggression, high intellect and adaptability. Once identified, these kids are taken from their families, loaded onto a floating battle lab where they're trained to fight aliens.

Now the idea that six year old kids, like Ender, would spend four years training and then get shipped to the front lines is a bit of a stretch. And when you factor in that Ender is not only supposed to fight when he arrives, that he's actually supposed to command an army, credulity reaches a snapping point. Would Earth really appoint a ten-year old to spearhead an invasion? Worse still, Ender Wiggins military training is essentially nothing more than laser tag in a zero-gravity chamber. And this training goes on and on and on, dominating nearly two thirds of the book. I just couldn't see how this was turning young Ender into the next George S. Patton.

And then there is the issue of the target audience for the book, which appears to be squarely aimed at 10-15 year olds. Many will stridently deny this but the juvenile banter between characters clearly seeks to emulate the thoughts and emotions of children. There is a lot of silly name calling, talk about pubic hairs, etc. And while this may be fine for a young preteen audience, many adult readers will be turned off.

Finally there is the issue of the genre. As a sci-fi book, I didn't find it speculative or original enough. It was an action-driven book with a relatively simplistic inter-species war theme, and a less than surprising "surprise" ending. I don't want to give it away for those who might actually enjoy this book, but I'll just say that the whole thing was just not very sophisticated sci-fi. Additionally, sci-fi is more of a backdrop to Ender's Game than a foundation. It's true, they do fight aliens at the end, but that's a very minor part of the book. And, yes, they are on a spaceship. But the same scenes could have been played out practically anywhere. All you need is a zero-gravity chamber, some dorm rooms, and a cafeteria. The ship feels like a prop so that Card can tell a coming of age story (with a subtext on the innate violent nature of humankind tossed in). All of that is well and good but I find it confusing how Ender's Game won two science fiction awards (the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award) when it barely seems to fit that genre.

All in all, I found this novel to be dull and tedious. I certainly will not be reading the rest of the series.

Rating: 1 out of 5stars

Note: I have not seen the movie adaptation of the novel so I have no opinion on the film. Due to my dislike of the book, it's highly unlikely that I will watch the movie.

This Year's Winners Are... Top 10 Posts of 2013!

A year ago today, I posted a list of my top 10 posts of 2012 and thought that I'd revisit that this year. In 2013, I wrote 198 posts, which ran the gamut of many different subjects and ideas. As with last year, I am surprised which posts garnered the most visits and am sincerely humbled by the amount of visits that my blog receives each year. In 2013, over 6100 visitors stopped by my blog. Nearly three times more than 2012. <smh> Wow! That's a lot of visitors for a nobody English teacher living in Massachusetts.

Here are the top 10 posts of 2013:

1. Remembering "Columbine" - 14 Years Later
2. Animated Movies Are the Bomb!
3. Best Declarations of Love in Literature!
4. The Return of the Big "C"!
5. Reading is FUNdamental!
6. Latest Cancer Update...
7. Stop Being Contrary Just to be Contrary!
8. End of Life Options...
9. The Surgical Consult - Just When You Think It Can't Get Worse...
10. The Best Underrated Female Vocalists...

Thank you, my faithful readers! 2013 was a crazy year. Here's hoping that 2014 is a little less exciting.

Best,