Commonwealth and the Latter Day Saints

by Brandon Burrup

Introduction:
How much are religious beliefs and political beliefs interlinked? Philosophers throughout the ages have suggested many ideas about how man should govern himself and how governments should rule over men; however, none of these philosophers have been able to come up with a system that is without flaw. One such philosopher is Thomas Hobbes who wrote extensively on these topics in his book Leviathan. In the second part of this book, entitled Commonwealth, Hobbes defines a system of government in which a group of men make a covenant with each other to submit their wills to a sovereign ruler who acts as a figure of their collective will. When compared with the Latter Day Saint (LDS) church’s beliefs, there are similarities to Hobbes and there are differences. This essay will attempt to compare LDS views of government to those found in Hobbes’ writings by discussing first the differences, next the similarities, and the evidence of Hobbes’ theories in LDS scripture.

Differences:
The first thing one must understand when discussing government and the LDS people is that religion and politics are two different things, whereas Hobbes appears to refer to them synonymously. Hobbes’ definition of a commonwealth is:

“…when a multitude of men do agree, and covenant, every one with every one, that to whatsoever man, or assembly of men, shall be given by the major part the right to present the person of them all, that is to say, to be their representative; every one, as well he that voted for it as he that voted against it, shall authorize all the actions and judgements of that man, or assembly of men, in the same manner as if they were his own, to the end to live peaceably amongst themselves, and be protected against other men.” (Hobbes, Ch 18 para 1)

This is very different from the way the U.S government is run and the way the LDS believe it should be. Hobbes’ definition seems to allow for a way into a commonwealth but no way out other than death.

He also demonstrates that he believes that a sovereign receives the authority of God to rule over those in the commonwealth. This is shown in his statement that a sovereign becomes a “mortal god, under that immortal God” and also in what he says about men who try to break the covenant they enter into under commonwealth under the argument that they have a higher covenant with God. In that regard he states:

“And whereas some men have pretended for their disobedience to their sovereign a new covenant, made, not with men but with God, this also is unjust: for there is no covenant with God but by mediation of somebody that representeth God's person, which none doth but God's lieutenant who hath the sovereignty under God.” (Hobbes, Ch 18 para 3)

This shows that he is of the opinion that one receives divine authority through popular consent.

Compare these ideas to what the LDS scriptures and the Articles of Faith state about civil government. The twelfth article of faith states, “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.” (Articles of Faith 1.12) This does not appear to be completely contradictory to Hobbes’ views, but if we look a little deeper we can see a distinct difference. In Doctrine and Covenants section 134, Joseph Smith clearly outlines the church’s perspective on what a temporal government should do. Outlined in the section heading are the following points: governments should preserve freedom of conscience and worship, all men should uphold their governments and owe respect and deference to the law, religious societies should not exercise civil powers, and men are justified in defending themselves and their property (D&C 134). These show that the LDS church believes in supporting and sustaining civil government but at the same time reserve the right to preserve personal property. This implies that we should support leaders but not fully submit to them.

Verse 9 of this section shows how the LDS perspective of the authority of civil government is different from Hobbes’. It reads:

“We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members, as citizens, denied.” (D&C 134.9)

This shows clearly that the LDS do not believe that religion should be a part of civil government. This includes the act of covenanting to uphold a leader and also the idea that by so covenanting we are bestowing not just our will but the will of God as well to that leader. In respect to divine authority the LDS belief is best summarized through the fifth article of faith which says that men only receive divine authority by the laying on of hands by those who are already in authority (Articles of Faith 1.5).

There is also evidence that the LDS do not agree with Hobbes’ idea of having a sole leader over the people. In Mosiah chapter 29, King Mosiah explains to his subjects the reason why it is not fit for a king to rule over the people. He tells them that if it were possible to always have just men rule over them, then it would be good to have a king, but because kings are not always righteous it is better to be ruled by the voice of the people. Hobbes has the right idea when he says that it is necessary that a sovereign be just and truly represent the will of the people, but the problem with this idea is, as Mosiah says, that the sovereign is not always just. If the sovereign is not just then the people are stuck with him according to Hobbes, because they have made a covenant to uphold him. We see that Hobbes and Mosiah follow a similar thought process, but come to different conclusions.

Similarities:
There are some LDS beliefs that are similar to Hobbes’ in the way the LDS church is governed and the relationship church members have with God and with their leaders. In short it would appear that Hobbes’ ideas of civil government are best applied to the way the LDS church is run.

Hobbes outlines the importance of covenants in speaking about the rights of a sovereign. He says that by joining together under a covenant, it is the right of the sovereign to punish them if they should break their part of the covenant and try to leave. This same idea is seen in the church. Once one goes through the covenants and ordinances to become a member, if they then leave the church and are unfaithful to those covenants, their punishment will be far greater than it would have been had they not entered into the covenant in the first place. (Hobbes, Ch 18 para 4)

Another idea of Hobbes’ that seems to reflect LDS doctrine is the nature of man. Hobbes lists our natural passions as “partiality, pride, revenge, and the like.” Hobbes believes that the natural man will serve himself and no one else. In the Book of Mormon, the natural man is described as an enemy to God. Hobbes says that the only way to put off natural tendencies is for us to covenant into a commonwealth under a sovereign power. Mosiah urges us to put off the natural man by making a covenant to submit our will to God. (Mosiah 3.19) This underlines the main difference between Hobbes’ ideas and LDS doctrine. The LDS believe in Hobbes’ theories as applied to their relationship with divine authority and God, but they do not apply it to civil government as Hobbes does.

Hobbes’ Theories in the Book of Mormon:
The Book of Mormon has many examples of ideas that come up in Hobbes’ writings. It is interesting to see how these philosophies were a part of the culture and political ideology of many groups in the Book of Mormon and are even important doctrines of the ancient church.

One example is in Alma chapter 54. The king of the Lamanites speaks to Moroni who is a captain of the Nephites, and tells him that Moroni’s fathers robbed his fathers of their right to the government and for this reason they are at war. (Alma 54.17-18) This shows the importance that the Lamanites gave to the rights of sovereignty just as Hobbes explores in his writings. Hobbes says that the sovereignty has the right to wage war against any who would try to take its power. (Hobbes, Ch 18 para 4) The Lamanites use this idea to justify their own war.

Later on in 3 Nephi, we see how the disintegration of government leads back to a state that Hobbes describes before the commonwealth. Notice the similarity between the following passages—

Passage 1: “And in all places, where men have lived by small families, to rob and spoil one another has been a trade, and so far from being reputed against the law of nature that the greater spoils they gained, the greater was their honour; and men observed no other laws therein but the laws of honour; that is, to abstain from cruelty, leaving to men their lives and instruments of husbandry. And as small families did then; so now do cities and kingdoms, which are but greater families (for their own security), enlarge their dominions upon all pretences of danger, and fear of invasion, or assistance that may be given to invaders; endeavour as much as they can to subdue or weaken their neighbours by open force, and secret arts, for want of other caution, justly; and are remembered for it in after ages with honour.” (Hobbes, Ch 17 para 1)

Passage 2: “And the people were divided one against another; and they did separate one from another into tribes, every man according to his family and his kindred and friends; and thus they did destroy the government of the land.
And it came to pass in the thirty and first year that they were divided into tribes, every man according to his family, kindred and friends; nevertheless they had come to an agreement that they would not go to war one with another; but they were not united as to their laws, and their manner of government, for they were established according to the minds of those who were their chiefs and their leaders. But they did establish very strict laws that one tribe should not trespass against another, insomuch that in some degree they had peace in the land...” (3 Nephi 7.14)

The similarity is uncanny. In Hobbes statement he describes how, without a commonwealth, men work as families or groups to protect themselves and the passage in 3 Nephi shows how this actually occurred in Nephite history.

Conclusion:
Hobbes and Mosiah are an interesting pair to compare. Both agree that the natural man is self serving and fights against good principles. Both understand that the only way to overcome these natural tendencies is to enter into a covenant with a sovereign ruler. Both also can see the benefits of having just rulers over people who serve them according to the laws of God. Both believe in the importance of honoring covenants. The difference between Hobbes and Mosiah is that Mosiah’s beliefs in these regards are applied toward man’s relationship with God and not a civil leader. In this sense the LDS church is quite different from Hobbes while agreeing with his underlying principles as applied to religion.

for further reference:
LDS Scriptures
Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

How Rousseau's Ideas from Emile can be applied in my life.

In Rousseau’s Emile, a number of points of instruction are given as to how to raise and educate a child in order for him to develop into the man that he should be. Many of his ideas were contrary to what was typically taught in his period. The people were “always looking for the man in the child without considering what he is before he becomes a man.” I have seen some of these philosophies used in my own education and growth from a child into a man and others I have seen neglected. Three points in particular are the idea that we are taught by three masters and only when these teachings coincide can we live in harmony, the idea that children should be allowed to solve problems themselves without the answer being given to them, and the idea that children should be taught to enjoy life now and that their years of gaity should not be taken away from them.

The first idea is that we are taught by three masters: nature, man, and things. Nature teaches us through our own body and faculties. Man teaches us through other people and education. Things teaches us through our observations of our surroundings. Rousseau says that if the lessons we learn from these masters conflict, then we will not be in harmony with ourselves. If instead they all work together to point us in the same direction, then our lives will be consistent. Drawing from my own life experiences, I have had times when these three have contradicted each other and times when then have agreed. One particular lesson is when I learned how to ride a bicycle. There was a hill in my neighborhood known as “chicken hill”. Early in my childhood I went with some of the big kids riding their two wheelers to ride down this hill. I had not yet learned to ride a bicycle so I brought my three-wheeled plastic Big Wheel. I saw the other kids going down and decided that if they could do it then I could too. I ended up toppling over and scraping myself badly. Because of this experience, I didn’t learn to ride a bicycle for a number of years after most kids my age. Nature had taught me that riding a bicycle like the big kids results in pain and suffering, but man and things were telling me that riding a bicycle was liberating and fun. I was in conflict over my desire to ride and my fear of pain. Eventually I learned how to ride a bicycle, and one of the first things I did was go down that hill again without crashing.

Rousseau also comes back often to the point that children should be allowed to figure things out for themselves. Parents and teachers should give them guidance when the questions of ‘why’ start coming rather than just giving the answer. I do not know if my mother is a student of Rousseau or if she just couldn’t think of anything to say to my own ideas on nature as a child, but she employed this practice very well. I think I was mostly afraid to ask ‘why’ questions because I didn’t want to bother my mother, so instead I learned to think about these questions myself and come up with answers. I would present my answer to her, and based on her reaction I could usually tell if I was right or wrong. For example, when faced with the question of why the sky was blue, I compared my notes to personal experience and told my mom that the sky was blue because God loved his blue crayon the best. My mother would roll her eyes and smile, or in some way or another let me know that I was wrong. I would then go back to work tweaking my theories until I figured out something that fit. This helped me develop problem-solving skills early on and helped me to learn how to figure out and understand how things work on my own.

Finally, I love Rousseau’s comments about allowing kids to be kids while they still can. He says that we so often try to urge them to grow up so fast and be adults that “the age of gaity is spent in tears, punishment, threats, and slavery.” That is too often exactly the way that many people would describe their childhood. Even if they are exaggerating, it is sad that so many feel that their days of happiness were stolen from them so that they could be “prepared for some far off happiness that [they] may never enjoy.” Too often in life we focus on working now to be happy later instead of being happy now in the work we are doing. This is a lesson that I have learned only recently. As a child I constantly looked toward adolescence and in adolescence toward adulthood as the time when I would finally be free from constant demands of others and be able to enjoy life. I have now learned that the demands and responsibilities only increase as one gets older and the trick to obtaining happiness is not to prepare to receive it but to find it in one’s present state of being.

I think Rousseau’s ideas on raising children are very well advised. I feel that the areas of my life in which my education has followed the guidelines set forth in these readings have been the ones that I have excelled at and have ultimately helped me learn to deal with life as an adult. Our public education system seems to have taken a lot of this into account in the way our grade system works and the subject matter that is taught in school. Unfortunately there still seem to be a lot of lessons that are not taken into account or that somehow fall through the cracks, but I believe that we will learn from our mistakes in these regards. If the study of Rousseau is not currently required in becoming an educator, then it ought to be.

IMDb X-Files DC episode reviews weeks 21-30

Here's part three. Keep in mind some of these are in serious need of a rewrite. I think I wrote a lot of these while I was trying to catch up on like 60 episodes or something like that so they get really short and to the point.


Week 21: Memento Mori

Memento Mori is one of my favorite episodes and is among the better mythology episodes. In this episode we find out for certain that Scully has cancer. It has been hinted and teased at for the past few seasons and finally confirmed. We learn some very important things about the mythology in this episode although if you don't pay attention a lot of it may fly right over your head. I know I still have that problem sometimes. We learn that Scully's cancer is caused by the alien DNA causing genetic mutations in her body. Most likely this is what the implant was meant to stop at least in part and when it was removed the alien DNA was free to work its evil and cause cancer. This is why all the women who had the implants die the same way. We also learn that the women who were abducted are barren because their ova are taken from them in order to create alien/human hybrid clones which we met in the episode Herrenvolk. The little boys in that episode appear again in this one but now as man. These are the ones trying to help Mulder and fight against the conspiracy because they have found out what is happening to their mothers. Great episode with a lot of good explanation and many touching moments between Mulder and Scully and between Scully and her mom. I give it another 10 out of 10.


Week 22: The Post-Modern Prometheus

This is one of the better Chris Carter episodes. After this one it seems like he tries to recreate it. The main things I love about this episode are the scenes with the monster dancing to cher, all the animal people, and the mad scientist. The casting is very interesting on this episode. Originally Chris wanted to have Rosanne Bar play the mom and Cher play herself. Can't remember why Rosanne couldn't be in it but I watched some of the Season 9 Special Features discs recently and on one disc there is a guest star retrospective documentary where they talk to a number of the guest stars. Interestingly they interview Cher even though she declined appearing in the episode of "The Post-Modern Prometheus" and she basically says that she didn't do it because she thought the script seemed corny and she wasn't thrilled about playing herself rather than acting but after she saw it she regretted it and wishes she had done it. That's what you get I say. You don't turn down an opportunity to be on the X-Files unless you are a total moron. Anyway the other interesting thing about casting is how many extras they have in this episode playing the animal people. I would love to be on an episode of X-Files. Anyway, I like this episode and I give it 9/10.


Week 23: Requiem

Requiem is a good ending to season 7 with a few things I wuld have preferred a little different. I like the idea of returning to the case of Billy Miles and reminiscing a little on the Pilot episode. As I watch the episode I can't help but think about all the things that Mulder and Scully have learned in the past seven years about the alien race. It especially hit when they began talking about having seen the toxic blood before as if it were old news and Scully explains it to Billy. I put myself in Billy's shoes and wonder if they knew that last time I saw them or if they've learned about it since then. I also was very glad to see Marita Covarubias and Alex Krycek again. I love that scene when Mulder, Skinner and these two are in Mulder's office and he tries to attack Krycek and then they are standing around talking when Scully walks in. Her face says "what the hey is going on here Mulder?" Anyway probably the one thing that I don't really like is how they put the whole thing in one episode. I wish they could have done it as a two parter. But oh well. Chris Carter mentions in the special features that he didn't even write the end of the episode until they were almost done filming to avoid letting out any spoilers. I respect him for that. I give this episode a 8/10.


Week 24: Kaddish

Kaddish is not one of my favorite episodes. I'm not sure why as there isn't necessarily anything wrong with it. I think the premise of the episode just doesn't really grab my attention or interest. The episode is simple enough. A hasidic jewish man is killed by a group of kids who have been reading anti-semitic Nazi propaganda. The man who is killed was about to be married and his fiance overcome with grief brings to life a golem who then takes revenge on those responsible for the man's death. Mulder and Scully investigate and through a number of twists and turns find out the truth and are able to save the girl's father and get her to stop the golem from hurting anyone else. There are some interesting and entertaining parts to the episode. I do enjoy learning about hebrew culture and have wanted to learn hebrew for a while. I found it very interesting that the word for truth and the word for death are so close to each other in hebrew. I love the scene when Mulder finds the book in the man's grave and it bursts into flames. Its one of those WTF moments similar to when the frogs fall out of the sky in Die Hand Die Verletzt. I also enjoy the philosophy about marriage that is explained by the daughter about becoming kings and queens. All in all I give this episode a 7 out of 10.


Week 25: Fearful Symmetry

Ok this episode if I was rating on teasers would probably win number one if not being in the top ten. I mean seriously you got the salsa dancing janitors getting totally WTF'ed watching cars randomly crush and then the truck driver in the middle of Fairfield, Idaho playing a game of chicken with an elephant that appears out of nowhere. I have never laughed harder than the first time I saw this teaser and it still brings a hearty chuckle. Whoever came up with the idea of "invisible elephant in Idaho" deserves a raise and a promotion and a special ribbon. The story of this episode, if you haven't already guessed, is about invisible animals. Animals who we learn from Byers have never carried their pregnancy to full term. Why do we have all these barren invisible animals you ask? Well its simple. Aliens. X-Files right? Everything is caused by aliens. I'm sorry but this very thing is what lowers my personal opinion of this episode. If not for this I have a number of things about this episode that entertain me and actually make this episode great for trivia purposes. The first time we ever see Mulder communicate with the lone gunmen over a webcam is in this episode. And what a webcam! $150 an hour! Sheesh. I love how Scully, like everyone else in the world, gets pissed off by the animal rights activists. The awesome elephant autopsy and Mulder's comment about MTV sports. And one of my favorite moments for two reasons, when Mecham shoots the tiger and tells Ambrose, "They don't all talk and draw pictures." and immediately after this the music does this little xooden xylophone *plink* *plink* noise that reminds of a cartoon. Finally some of Sophie's the gorilla's one liners. First the "baby go fly in light" and then the philosophical insight to Mulder's mission in life, "man save man." Does she mean that Mulder is meant to save man? Or is she telling Mulder to save himself as she is already done for? We will never know. Poor poor Sophie. Everybody's got somethin to hide cept for me and my monkey! Sorry just had to throw that one in there. This episode is very entertaining but not for the right reasons. This is the best unintentional comedic episode of the entire series. For that I have to give it a higher rating than the episodes I don't like but I can't rate it higher than the respectable episodes either. Verdict: 6 out of 10.


Week 26: Gender Bender

Gender Bender is another great Season 1 episode. I enjoy this one because the story is the kind where you are never really sure what's gonna happen next. It is entirely original. The teaser is very fun with the close up of the eye and the reflection of the disco lights. I really need to learn my that thumb trick the genderbender heshe does. I really like the atmosphere at the Kindred's little village and Mulder and Scully sneaking around in the middle of the night. Its very exciting. This is one of my favorite Season 1 episodes in fact. I think the thing I like about it so much is how they turn out to be aliens in the end and left crop circles. Many people see this as a non-mythology related alien episode kind of like "The Unnatural" or "Space" but I think this could easily be seen as mythology related. Maybe the genderbender was just like the alien bounty hunter and could appear to look like anyone. Huh? Anyway I give the episode a 9 out of 10.


Week 27: Travelers

Travelers is an interesting episode. Interesting mainly because the story not only takes place in 1990 but the actual story takes place back in the late 40's. The best part about this episode is that we get to learn about the origin of the X-Files. X for unexplained. Why not U? Well there's plenty of room in the X-files for all the many unexplained cases that would fit with all the other U files. Interesting. As for the actual case I don't know that it was all that interesting. Basically its about a guy that has some kind of spider crab thing in his stomach that kills other people. I don't know I didn't really follow it too well. But we still get points for Arthur Dales. Both actors that play him are great. Not much else to say about this episode for me. I give it an 8 out of 10.


Week 28: Humbug

Humbug is the first comedy episode of the series written by Darin Morgan who would later bring us a few other great episodes including my favorite overall of the series "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose". A humbug is another word for a sideshow attraction which is exactly what the entire episode is about. The idea of having a trailer park where a bunch of circus freaks all live allows for all kinds of great comedic opportunities. I think one of the things I like most about this is how Mulder's humor is allowed to come out in this episode. In other words, great writing and great actors = great episode. 10/10.


Week 29: Quagmire

Quagmire didn't used to be one of my favorite episodes until I began to enjoy the humor of the X-Files more. I love this episode for the many in-jokes and the great Mulder and Scully dialogue. Especially when they get stranded on the rock near the end and their conversation runs from cannibalism to Moby Dick to metaphors about Mulder and a peg leg. One of the better in-jokes of the episode is the reappearance of the stoner kids from War of the Coprophages. "Oh... No..." Another in-joke which references back to Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose is that Scully brings along the dog Queequeg who she adopted when the original owner dies in that episode. Unfortunately the dog meets its demise in this episode. Interestingly both of these in-jokes reference back to episodes written by the great comedy episode writer Darrin Morgan however this particular episode is not written by him. It is written by Chris Carter and Kim Newton. Possibly a tribute to a good writer or perhaps he was involved with the Story Editing as he was with so many other episodes. While not necessarily one of the better episodes as far as creepiness or paranormal this is one of the funner episodes to watch. It is tame enough to use as an episode to break others in to the show. I give it a 9 out of 10.


Week 30: Drive

Drive was an enjoyable episode with a dark ending. Basically a man and his wife are infected in their inner ear by a high pitched sound wave being emitted by some military equipment. Some favorite parts of mine from this episode are Mulder's dialogue in the car, and the scene where Scully goes in with the Hazmat team and find the little old deaf lady completely unaffected by what they thought was a virus. The ending of course is tragic in its realism because it leads the viewer to believe that they are going to actually be able to pull off this elaborate plan to save the victim but when Mulder arrives the man is already dead. 8/10

IMDB X-Files Discussion Club reviews weeks 11-20

Part two of the (now) series.

Week 11: Biogenesis

As season finales go this was somewhat of a disappointment. I enjoyed greatly the follow up episodes at the beginning of Season 7 but this one did a little too much setting up for that storyline and didn't really leave me feeling it absolutely necessary to see the next two. I think part of the problem may be that I never saw this episode before I watched The Sixth Extinction. So I already knew what was going to happen and the cliffhanger kind of lost its effect. What was good about this episode is we are returned to Mulder's brain cancer whatever thingy which later we find out is happening because of his exposure to the black virus which he has become immune to. Anyway not much else I could say other than 7/10.


Week 12: Pusher

usher is a great episode brought to us by writer Vince Gilligan who has proved himself to be one of the better episode writers. The main character is a man who can get people to do what he wants by the power of suggestion. It is all very Jedi mind trickish. "Pusher" as he is called learned this skill by studying Japanese martial arts techniques and also apparently has a neurological condition which, while killing him, also gives him the ability to perfect this skill. Unfortunately the man is a sociopath and views other individuals as objects. As such he gets entertainment from willing people to kill themselves in terrible ways. He even wills his way out of trial in which he is obviously guilty. The teaser for this episode is another of my favorites as simple as it is. Pusher is grocery shopping and unbeknownst to the viewer but knownst to Pusher he is about to undergo an FBI bust. I love the arrest sequence how he just casually reaches out and pulls down the flap on the guys jacket revealing that he is FBI. Other specific ways Pusher uses his skill in the episode are getting Agent Collins to light himself on fire, sneaking into FBI Headquarters by putting a paper that says "pass" on his jacket, getting Holly to kick the crud out of AD Skinner (poor Skinner has been attacked in the past two episodes I have reviewed consecutively and both times by co-workers), making Frank Burst have a heartattack, and getting Mulder to play Russian roullette not only on himself but on Scully. Trivia for the diehards, look for Dave Grohl, lead singer and front man for the Foo Fighters and ex-drummer for Nirvana, in this episode walking behind Pusher as he enters the metal detector at the FBI. This is a great stand alone episode and I give it a 10.


Week 13: Trust No 1

Terry O'Quinn is awesome and I wish that he could have guest starred as someone more prominent than in this episode. That being said he still did an awesome job as the crazy NSA super soldier. Except he didn't get to punch any holes in cars or anything like that. Oh well. The basis of this episode is that the NSA is watching everything that Scully does through surveillance. The teaser shows this by showing voyeur shots of different scenes we recognize from earlier seasons. Then Scully gets contacted by someone at email trustno1@mail.com. It is obvious that this is Mulder. Well NSA super soldiers of course pick up on this and realize that Scully now has a way to contact Mulder and trick her to setting up a meeting with him under the premise that they are going to give him information which will help him stop the super soldiers when in fact they are trying to find him so they can kill him. My question is if they have surveillance in all corners of the globe why can't they find him themselves? Or email him using Scully's email address? I guess there are plausible explanations but it doesn't seem very realistic. The scene where Terry O'Quinn's character leads Scully to the meeting place is kind of fun but the one problem I have is that after driving west into the night we see that Scully is still on the phone. Couldn't he just call her when she got there? What did they talk about all that time? Wouldn't the battery die sooner or later? My final frustration with this episode is the constant teasing that we might actually get to see Mulder. By the way I noticed in the episode that Scully's email address is Queequeg0925@hotmail.com. I'm not sure if this is a real email address for fans back in the day like the phone numbers on 24 or if it is even still active or not but I sent an email to the address and have not gotten any response. I will edit my review with details if this should ever occur. I give this episode a 6 out of 10.


Week 14: Deep Throat

Deep Throat is another great episode in which we get more government cover up and conspiracies. This time it has to do with UFO technology being used in US aircraft taken from the craft which crashed at Roswell. The pilots of these craft however are unable to handle the pressures and stress of flying them and end up going crazy. When this happens the base takes them to their hospital and erases all they know about what has happened from their memories. After the pilot who's disappearance Mulder and Scully was investigating is returned and after being stopped by two cars full of Men in Black and their evidence destroyed, Scully is adamant about leaving and ditching the case. Mulder then takes off without her to the military base where they had seen UFOs flying around the night before. He arrives at the base where one of the UFOs stops right above him. I'm not sure what his plan was at this point but it wasn't a very good one because he immediately apprehended and put through procedures to take away the memory of what he has seen. Scully bargains for his release and they go back to DC. The title of the episode has to do with the introduction of Mulder's source who they call Deep Throat. Deep Throat warned them to stay away from the case early on and frankly they probably should have followed his advice. Then we get the famous meeting of Deep Throat and Mulder at the track and Deep Throat's classic response to Mulder's accusation that there are aliens working with the government, "Mr. Mulder they've been here for a long long time." While it is well known that the mythology didn't really take shape until later in the series this to me says that Chris Carter always had the idea of aliens returning to a planet that they had once inhabited. Deep throat is another 10 out of 10 for me.


Week 15: Pilot

In the words of Julie Andrews, "Let's start at the very beginning; a very good place to start." The Pilot episode is a wonderful beginning to the greatest television series of all time. It perfectly captures the feel of the show and it is a feeling and atmosphere that is built upon throughout nine more years. The story is about kids who are being abducted by aliens in a town in Oregon. Scully is assigned to work with Mulder on the X-Files as a means to "debunk" his work and prove scientifically that there is no basis to Mulder's claims. Scully seems somewhat put off by this assignment and shows her integrity by deciding that she is not going to take sides straight off but rather is going to find the answers. She soon finds that with the X-Files things don't usually work this way. I love Mulder's line about finding the answers and knowing where to look. "That's why they put the I in FBI." Scully is led to believe that there is definitely something going on with this case and while she doesn't believe that it is aliens she can't disprove any of Mulder's theories based on science being as most of the evidence is destroyed. All except the implant she pulled from the exhumed body which she had kept in her pocket. Finally we get the classic scene at the end of CSM walking through a giant warehouse of evidence and filing the implant with others like it and walking out the door with the pentagon evacuation procedures on it. There are so many great things in this episode including many more well known one-liners which are familiar to any diehard X-Phile. I also really like the music in this episode done by Mark Snow. I thought it was interesting that Mark Snow's first work on the music of the show did not include the show's famous theme. It mainly consists creepy piano sequences backed by resonanting string sounds. I thought it was interesting also that there was another person in the basement when Scully went down the first time. We see a man drinking coffee leaving Mulder's office. Its not too often in the show that we ever see anyone else in the basement unless they are either friend or foe of the X-Files. The Pilot gets an easy 10/10 from me.


Week 16: Improbable

So Reyes is really into numerology. And because of this she is able to make connections to a number of unsolved murders and tie them all to one serial killer. I love the part where she makes a total moron out of herself by explaining to everyone her numerological profile of the killer. And then answers her phone all proud of herself completely clueless that everyone there now thinks she is a total moron. It is kind of a shame too because numerology and this sort of thing actually are quite interesting to me. But this episode takes an interesting topic and turns it into filler material for the series.

I don't really like this episode. The main reason is I just am not a fan of Burt Reynolds. Everyone always rants and raves about how great he is but everything I've seen him in he just bugs the crud out of me. Another problem I have with the episode is that it is not very obvious what the crap Chris Carter is trying to say with this episode as he explains in the commentary. Apparently Burt Reynolds is supposed to be playing God. This makes the episode make a little more sense but doesn't exactly improve my liking of the episode as Burt Reynolds is the exact opposite of what I would imagine God to be. And I'm sorry Chris but I doubt God would wear a bunch of tacky clothing just because he likes nature. And I doubt he follows serial killers around trying to teach them how to gamble.

I have one good thing to say about the episode but even this is kind of bittersweet. I like the music used. The problem I have is the part where Burt Reynolds does the lip sync. This entire scene could have actually worked really well without his terrible attempt to lip sync. He looks like some dork in the car trying to pretend like he really likes a song but he's not even sure of the lyrics. And at the end although the whole Italian festival is kind of humorous to watch it seems like Chris Carter just didn't have any idea what else to do with such a lame story because this honestly has nothing to do with the episode. Oh and of course if you ever want to make a character mysterious just have them be able to disappear out of a parking garage. How predictable was that? Oh man what a bad episode. 3 out of 10.


Week 17: Home

"Home" has to be the best contribution that Morgan and Wong gave us for this show. Every moment of this episode is disturbing and it is definitely no wonder that this got banned from television. I guess we can just thank our lucky stars that it got past the censors in the first place. And then if you get the DVD you can watch the stuff that got taken out. I think one of the creepiest scenes of any show that I have ever seen is the Peacocks going to the sheriffs house. I love how it is dead silent through out the entire town and how the lack of music accentuates this and also gives more emphasis to the Jimmy Mathis song playing in the car. I also love during this scene how Mulder is so determined to watch tv that he is willing to watch some nature show with a terrible picture rather than just go to sleep. Morgan and Wong seem to have a certain group of actors that they love working with and in this episode the special actor happens to be the Sheriff played by Tucker Smallwood and he does a great job as always. There are many other pluses for the episode. Easily 10/10.


Week 18: X-Cops

Very creative idea for a cross-over. There are so many things I like about this episode that I won't even try to name them all. All I can say is there is some violence on this episode that I doubt they would actually play on Cops. Kudos to the gay black couple and the old Mexican lady. "You catch" as she points to the sketch of Freddy Krueger. I think I kind of like the idea that those who are so prone to panic over little nothings are the ones that get killed in this episode. Good riddance to most of them I say. Like the lady at the morgue when Scully is doing the autopsy. Man was I glad when she finally shut up. Anyway, 9/10 for me.


Week 19: all things

All things is a very good episode even if it is not so much an X-File. While it is not necessarily my usual choice of entertainment (ie a little too new age-ish) I still enjoy learning about Scully in this episode. They way I see it there's some kind of guardian angel that is causing seemingly random events so that Scully can learn a lesson and realize what she is supposed to be doing with her life. I love that part where the ponytailed girl turns into Mulder and he's wearing the Stone Henge Rocks cap. What a nerd. This also serves as a confirmation for Scully that she is doing the right thing with her life since she is led back to Mulder at the end. Another high point for this episode is the awesome "The Sky is Broken" by Moby. I love that song and I love the scenes where they play it and show Scully walking in slow motion down the street with the flowers dangling at her side. I give this episode an 8/10.


Week 20: Leonard Betts

Leonard Betts sits up there with Pusher, Squeeze, and other great monster of the week episodes. It begins with a great teaser of an EMT getting decapitated and taken to the morgue only to have his body jump up and walk out. That's right he is a worm man who can regenerate not only limbs but any part of his body up to and including his entire body. There are some great scenes in this episode. I love when Scully is digging through the bio-waste without flinching as Mulder is obviously disturbed and when she tells him she needs his help because he has longer arms. Another great scene is when the head of Leonard "winks" at Scully and Mulder is teasing her about it. In fact all of Mulder's paper-weight jokes about the head are great. I love the ripping off of the thumb in order to escape the handcuffs. I love the random Simpsons-esque explosion of the car when Mulder and Scully shoot a couple bullets at it. And I love when Scully takes the defibrillator to Leonards head. Man she's such a bad A haha. Anyway, for one of the better monsters and stories including the mythology teaser about Scully's cancer I give Leonard Betts 10/10.

Reopening the X-Files podcast.

Let me start out by saying that I love podcasts. I have so many podcasta that I am constantly struggling to keep up. I'm always about 2 years behind on episodes. Since I have discovered podcasting and the many topics that are covered, I have been waiting for someone to start an X-Files podcast. Finally someone has. "Agent" Donald has started the "Reopening the X-Files" podcast in which he is going through and doing an episode of the show each week. I would encourage any Philes out there to subscribe and help keep our community growing. I sent him an email and he was nice enough to plug my blog and even read some of my long boring reviews in an episode. Check out his podcast at http://xfiles.mypodcast.com. Since I've been plugged now I'm going to start trying to keep this up a little more than I have. Look for reviews and random Brandon stories along the way. :)

My Review of The X-Files: I Want To Believe. Contains Spoilers!

The X-Files: I Want To Believe is exactly what it promised to be, a supernatural stand-alone thriller. Anyone expecting more than this will probably be disappointed. The plot was kept under wraps until I finally saw it for the first time. The story deals with a Russian scientist who specializes in reanimating organisms. An organ transporter whose employer/lover has cancer, join forces with this Dr. Frankenstein in order to find a new body onto which the man's head can be grafted. The realization of this fact for the first time was very disturbing indeed. It ranks up there with other disturbing stand-alone episodes such as Home and Irresistible. There are so many elements of the movie that stay true to MOTW's from the series. One such scene is in the public pool when Janz is sitting underwater watching his next victim. He watches them from underneath the water because he is only interested in their bodies and not their heads. Like a crocodile stalking its victim he raises his eyes above the water and sinks back under with a creepy smile. There are other elements of the movie that would be taken away from a TV episode due to censorship. I don't think this story could have been told quite as effectively. One being the scene at the ax post with the decapitated woman's body. Another being the head in the organ cooler. This scene I am sure was inspired by the similar scene in Se7en which Chris Carter has mentioned before as one of his inspirations for many of the stories he's told through television including the entire premise behind the show Millennium. There are other items that should be addressed in this review that I have listed in the sections that follow.

Mulder's search for Samantha

Mulder keeps a picture of his sister Samantha pinned to his door, surrounded by clippings of stories about UFOs and the like. It is this picture that gives Mulder his final inspiration to give in to the FBI's request to help them in the case. Scully's persuasion was not enough apparently but when he sees the picture of his sister it awakens that old sense of duty that kept him searching and working on the X-Files for so many years. So Mulder begins to help on the case and is soon back to his old self. He quickly gets wrapped up in the case and begins to obsess over the case like old times. Scully recognizes the old obsessive behavior and calls him on it at one of the scenes telling him to stop looking for his sister. Even when Mulder defensively proclaims that his sister is dead, Scully is able to call him on it by telling him that it hasn't kept him from looking for her. It turns out to be more than just the search for Samantha that bothers Scully. She apparently has more unpleasant memories than happy ones from FBI days.

William

Scully faces some of her own demons in this movie. She has taken up work at a catholic hospital working with terminally ill children. One of her patients, Christian Fearon is suffering from an untreatable disease. At least according to the experts. However, Scully is insistent on helping this child because of something said to her by Father Joe at the same crime scene after she lectures Mulder and searching for his sister. He says "don't give up". The meaning of this phrase for Scully can best be summed up in a parallel I thought of during one of the scenes. The scene when Christian's parents confront Scully and tell her that they've decided not to go forward with the treatment and to instead put their faith in God. Scully speaks to them about their decision and Mrs. Fearon says to her "if you were a mother you'd understand." At this moment we see an expression on Scully's face that makes us realize that she is a mother and she understands all too well. She made a similar decision before in giving up William for adoption. It is a decision that has haunted her and she sees her son in Christian as Mulder points out to her in the bed scene. The parallel between Scully giving up William and Scully not wanting to give up on Christian is very powerful to me.

Mulder and Scully's Relationship

All speculation about whether or not Mulder and Scully are together still has been solved. It takes a little while into the movie to be sure just how strong their relationship has continued but it is evident early on that they have at least stayed in contact. The bed scene is the clincher for me that they have been living together the whole time but are not married obviously because Mulder had to remain in hiding. Scully worries about the effects of long term isolation on Mulder, but soon begins to worry about what the case is doing to Mulder in that he is turning back into what he was before. She says that he looks into the darkness and brings it home with him and that it scares her. She has gotten used to a normal life and doesn't want to return to monsters and aliens. I guess its understandable but Mulder points something out that is more important for Scully to understand in my opinion and that is that this is who he is. He can't be anything else even if Scully should selfishly ask him to. Luckily, in the final scene we see that Mulder and Scully are together for the long haul no matter what. Mulder tells Scully that he will take her away from the darkness and for those who stayed until the end of the credits know, they do make it away for a while until the darkness finds them in a row boat heading to a desert island. I thought the relationship was wonderfully handled. I always felt somewhat awkward throughout the show when it was addressed but there was nothing awkward about it in the movie at all.

Lingering Mysteries

There a couple items in the movie that linger in my mind as questions that could be addressed in another movie. Actually it mostly has to do with two characters who act the same and look alike. One being the red headed SAIC Agent Fossa played by Sarah-Jane Redmond and the other being the blond haired doctor at Scully's hospital. Both of these characters have few lines but they seem to be keeping tallies on the Mulder and Scully. Always kind of standing in the corner looking as though they know something they're not sharing. I don't know what can be said for these characters. Are they super soldiers? I doubt it. But there seems to be something else there to me. Who knows?

I loved the movie. It worked as a better finale to the characters of Mulder and Scully than the series finale if it comes to that and another movie is not made. If it does not come to that then I greatly look forward to more of the same including a look into the mythology once again. The central message and even of the movie for me was Don't Give Up. This works on a number of levels. Don't give up on the sick boy, don't give up on Mulder and Scully, don't give up on finding the missing women, I think the message applies to fans as well. The movie may not be doing as well as some of us may have hoped but we shouldn't give up. Chris Carter didn't give up, Frank Spotnitz didn't give up, David Duchovny didn't give up, Gillian Anderson didn't give up, so many other didn't give up. And because of this we got another movie. I'll never give up on this show. 10 out of 10.

Best Buy, Worst Service.

So anyone who knows me pretty well knows that I don't have a very high opinion of retail service agents or "experts" when going to buy electronics or music or movies etc. There are a number of reasons for this. The main reason however is that I used to work retail and I know that the majority of retail agents know nothing about what they are selling even though they are "experts" and I usually know more about what I'm looking for than the person who is trying to "help" me does. Because of this I rarely ask questions and if asked if I would like assistance I politely say "no thank you".

Best Buy is near the top of the list of such stores. The Geek Squad is a joke. I have co-workers who go to Best Buy on their day off to amuse themselves by finding easy questions that the Geek Squad does not know the answer to and repeating the made up answers to us at work the next day. Its not just the Geek Squad though. Its all their sales people. They supposedly have this rigorous training process and tests you have to pass to be able to get your blue shirt and keep up with the product info. I don't understand how that can be true and you can still have employees who think a CD player will play DVDs.

That leads me into my story. My father and I went to Best Buy this afternoon to buy a new DVD player as our old one had finally given up the ghost. Best Buy for what its worth is usually still a great option as far as prices go. I mean they usually live up to their name. So we went and found the aisle with DVD players. There were combos (DVD/VCR), single DVD, and Blu Ray players. And there was one 5 disc DVD changer. This was what we wanted but we were kind of hoping for a little more variety than just one model. About the time we are discussing this a sales expert comes over to offer his assistance. The following conversation is not exact but gives a general depiction of the actual events.

Sales Guy: Can I help you find anything?
Dad: Do you have any other multiple disc DVD players?
Sales Guy: We have some other ones over on this other aisle.
(we walk over to the other aisle)
Sales Guy: Here are some more 5 disc ones like the one you were looking at and some that do even more (there was one that was a 400 disc changer!)
Dad: (interested in two models of 5 disc changers that are similar to what we were already looking at and pretty similar to each other) What's the difference between these two?
Sales Guy: Uh... I don't know. Um... I think they're the same because this one says "with remote" and this one doesn't.
Dad: Well this other one has remote listed as included it just doesn't say it on the sales tag.
Sales Guy: Uh... oh yeah thats why I thought that.
Dad: What does SACD mean?
Sales Guy: Uh... I don't know... um... I don't know... uh... I don't really know...
Me: Um... are these DVD players?
Sales Guy: Yeah they are.
Me: Well they don't say they play DVDs, they only say CDs.
Sales Guy: They are DVD players.
(Conversation continues for a couple minutes with my Dad asking more questions and the sales guy continuing to tell us how much he doesn't know, all the while I'm still pretty skeptical about the DVD players thing but I don't want to embarrass the kid so I figure I'll wait til he leaves and alert my Dad to the fact that said "expert" is selling us a CD player instead of a DVD player. Soon my Dad is sold on one of these however and I decide to act)
Dad: (still trying to figure out the difference between the devices is looking at the back hookups on both with the Sales Guy) Well I think this is the one we want.
Me: Where is the video output?
(on one there is only a left and right RCA audio output and the other has more outputs for use with a surround sound system)
Sales Guy: Um... I don't know.
Me: Yeah these aren't DVD players.
Sales Guy: Oh... I thought they were. Um... is there anything else I can help you with?
Me and Dad in unison: No!

IMDb X-Files Discussion Club Weeks 1-10

I have been participating for that past year or so in an online Discussion Club on the X-Files' IMDb discussion board. Each week everyone writes a review about a particular episode and debates the good and bad points. As such I have gained quite a collection of reviews for the episodes and thought I would share them here with those of you who like the X-Files but don't visit the IMDb page. I am quite proud of some of these reviews and other not so much. Here are weeks 1 through 10. More to come.

Week 1: Folie a Deux

This is by far one of my favorites. The episode is about a creepy buglike creature that can change its appearance into a human being by "hiding in the light". A man who works at a call center realizes that this his boss is this bug and the bug is killing the employees and turning them into zombies who also look normal in the light but zombie like in the dark. Somehow this man has learned how to see them for what they are. This episode reminds me of a Goosebumps story. Not a specific one but I can see one being like this. I like the scenes where the manager is calling each employee in to meet with them and the man can see that it is a bug and not a human. It seems very comical yet at the same time terribly creepy to see this bug welcoming his unsuspecting employees into his office. I also love the part where Mulder is taken to the mental hospital for attacking the man in Skinner's office. This is one of those wonderfully comical yet creepy scenes. I use the following dialogue as example:

NURSE: There we go. (closes the bed curtain) Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.
(NURSE turns off light and leaves the room. MULDER starts to relax, then hears insect sounds. Through the curtain he sees the shadow of the insect creature in the window)
MULDER: Nurse. Nurse! Nurse! It’s here! Nurse! It’s here! (NURSE opens the curtain.)
It’s here! It’s at the window!
NURSE: What’s here?
MULDER: (trying to sound calm and rational) There is something … there is something at the window and it’s trying to get in here. Please unstrap me so that I can stop it.
NURSE: We’re three floors up. There’s nothing at the window.
MULDER: Undo my straps so I can check.
NURSE: (turning on light) I can show you …
MULDER: No, don’t! No! Just please …! Please.
NURSE: See? (taps closed window) Nothing’s going to get you.
MULDER: Okay. Just, uh … just untie me anyway please.
(NURSE looking spooky unlocks and opens window.)
MULDER: What are you doing?
NURSE: (sounding spooky) You just need some fresh air.
(As MULDER stares at her, NURSE tightens the straps holding MULDER and closes the curtain again.)

We later find out that the nurse is also one of the bug's zombie slaves. Wonderful episode. 10/10.


Week 2: Triangle

What a great episode! For me this is a very different kind of X-Files episode. It is a lot more Sci-Fi rather than horror and supernatural. There are many great comical moments. I believe that this is the only other episode along with "Bad Blood" that cuts off Mulder saying the SH word.

Basically Mulder is shipwrecked somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle only to be caught onto a boat from 1939 that is being invaded by Nazis. I really enjoy the Nazi Skinner and the 1940's Scully. Very spunky. There's also a lot of kissing in this episode based on X-Files standards. Scully kisses Skinner and Mulder kisses the 1939 Scully. Both are very comically well done. Skinner seems quite flush after Scully's kiss and Mulder gets a punch in the although not with the left hand as he was expecting. I truly love the camera work of the scene with Scully running around FBI headquarters how the camera follows her the whole time. And finally the final scene in the hospital where Mulder tells Scully he loves her and all she can reply is "oh brother". This is a very entertaining episode as far as developing relationships. I give it a 9 out of 10.


Week 3: Small Potatoes

Ah... Not only is Darrin Morgan one of the better episode writer's but he also portrays two of the better MOTWs in the famous Flukeman and Eddie Van Blundht. The teaser for the episode is very well written by Vince Gilligan. Another of those episodes that completely confuses you. A baby is born who's father is from "another planet" and the child has a tail. Not only that but the doctor who delivers the baby laments that there is another baby with a tail. Confused? Well turns out the father of the baby is Luke Skywalker. Yeah that Luke Skywalker. turns out all of the babies all have the same father. And the father is not actually Luke Skywalker but Eddie Van Blundht. But Eddie looks nothing like Luke Skywalker. I'm still confused are you? We find the father Eddie has a tail too and what's more... Eddie can shape shift! Oh so he made himself look like Luke Skywalker and the other women's husbands and they all had his children. Because Eddie can changed his appearance he is able to escape pretty easily and ends up locking Mulder up and returning to D.C. with Scully as Mulder. Right before Scully is about to do the wild thing with Eddie Van Mulder the real Mulder shows up and saves Scully. There is an interesting commentary at the end about Mulder being a loser by choice. There are a number of humorous moments in the episode that make it not only intriguing as to the plot but enjoyable and entertaining to watch. I give this episode an easy 10.


Week 4: Space

ou know this episode gets a bad wrap and not without good reason but I personally don't necessarily hate it as much as some people do. I like the idea of the episode. As a stand-alone it works well enough but my main problem is the stupid mars ghost thing that looks like the Mars Face. Lame. And then the mission control lady. After she flips her car she goes running into the control room with blood all over her face. Holy crap at least go get a wet towel or something. Anyway those are just the main things I don't like but I do like the focus on mission control procedures and the focus on NASA and space and astronauts. Like Mulder I too used to want to be an astronaut and space shows always bring out the kid in me. I give Space a 6 out of 10.


Week 5: Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man

Here it is... another of my favorite episodes of the series. Once again a great Morgan and Wong script and once again as I have mentioned they use an actor that they would later use in Space Above and Beyond, Morgan Weissman. He plays a somewhat insignificant character but there he is. Anyway, I really like this episode because of the depth that it gives to CSMs character. I honestly find myself feeling sorry for him by the end of the episode. This is a great reflection on William Davis' acting talent but also on Morgan and Wong's ability to write when they really want to. Unfortunately they don't always impress this way. I didn't quite understand the part with Lee Harvey Oswald being framed for the assassination attempt however but I probably just need to watch a little closer. I really like how he doesn't want to kill Martin Luther King but has to because of the job and how affected he is emotionally and joins the country in mourning. Finally I love how he is constantly trying to be a writer and gets all kinds of rejection letters and finally his box of chocolates monologue after his final rejection at getting published in a low quality magazine. 10/10.

EDIT: I almost forgot! Yet another strong hint at the fact that Fox Mulder is CSMs son. Why else would he have a picture of Mrs. Mulder and her baby boy?


Week 6: Anasazi

This is the first episode in my favorite 3 part mythology series. The story is quite entertaining and engaging and is everything about the mythology that got me hooked on this show. It starts with a character known as The Thinker who if I remember right his character was based as a tribute to an online fan of the show. The Thinker by pure chance is able to hack into the DoD database and download a DAT tape, a holy grail to any conspiracy theorist. All of the top secret files that Mulder mentions in the Pilot that someone had been blocking his access to. The Thinker hands this tape over to Mulder trusting that he will do what's necessary to make the information public. We start off somewhat confused at Mulder's behavior in this episode as well as another strange moment early on. First there's his reaction and insulting of the Lone Gunmen calling them the 3 Stooges and accusing them of defacing library books, then an old lady down the hall in the same scene shoots her husband for seemingly no reason. Later Mulder flips out when he realizes the files are not English and immediately thinks its a joke, then he hits Skinner in the hall, he mentions he's been having trouble sleeping and is running a fever, then he becomes overly paranoid of Scully. Something is going on. It turns out as Scully later finds out that someone had been injecting his water with LSDish drugs. Scully is really on her game in this episode. With Mulder's psychosis she keeps a cool head and does everything right in order to keep Mulder from getting into trouble even to the point where she shoots him to keep him from killing Krycek with the murder weapon that killed his father. I'm getting ahead of myself. Mulder leaves his apartment while waiting for his informant to go see his father. During this time there is an attempt on Mulder's life which we realize because of how nearly the bullet grazed Scully. Thinking Scully to be Mulder the shooter aimed for the head of Mulder which is above Scully's. Then Bill Mulder is killed in his home by Krycek. The only real sense I can make of these events are that they wanted Fox Mulder dead because of the DAT tape and they wanted Bill Mulder dead because he would have been tempted to come clean to Fox now that he was going to find out the truth anyway from the files. What was in these files that was so worth hiding? Merchandise. Or in other words, human tagging. Including Mulder's sister and including also Scully. Scully takes Mulder to New Mexico to meet Albert Holstein who can show Mulder the proof he needs in a boxcar in a remote quarry on the reservation. While at this car Mulder receives a call from CSM who is able to track the signal and arrives in a helicopter as Mulder is checking out the inside of the car. From here we don't know what happens to Mulder. The army guy says he's not in the car but we didn't see him leave. And then they blow up the car! This is a great cliffhanger. I remember feeling like I definitely needed at least another episode of story to figure out what exactly was happening with that tape. Luckily we get two.

One thing I noticed this time watching that I had never seen before and I'm not sure how. Chris Carter is in this episode. He plays one of the interrogating agents when Scully is being questioned about Mulder's bizarre behavior. I had never noticed this before. Strange. Good trivia to know though. Last thing about the episode that I would like to say is how much I love the scene where Mulder beats the crap out of Krycek screaming about how he killed his father. It actually reminds me a lot of the scene later on in the episode Apocrypha when Scully catches the man Luis Cardinal and starts screaming at him how he shot her sister. Very similar emotions coming from Scully as we se coming from Mulder in this one. Anyway, I really like this episode and give it a 10/10.


Week 7: Jose Chung's "From Outer Space"

Jose Chung's "From Outer Space" is the episode that got me watching the X-Files regularly. I loved how they used humor to tell the story and I loved the comic book cartoony feeling of the alien story with men in black and all. One thing that I really like about this which is also present in the other great episode "Bad Blood" is that you get to watch the episode as a part of someone's side of events which allows for easy comic moments. Like when Mulder yelps when he sees the dead alien body and the sheriff constantly saying blankety bleep for everything. I really like the story with the greys being airforce in costumes and the double twist with the real alien showing up. I mean seriously that is a GREAT idea. I also love the way the story is told with revisiting certain scenes in different ways with different characters. I mean there are literally scenes with the exact same lines but with different characters saying them. The interrogation scene, the hypnosis scene, and others. And the Jose Chung character is wonderfully acted by Charles Nelson Reilly. I give the episode a 10.


Week 8: Shadows

Shadows is a great episode from Season 1. It seems that lately most of the season 1 episodes have kind of gained a soft spot with me as even the ones that I used to hate have become enjoyable for me. I think its the atmosphere that comes with the low budget kind of filming that they had. I like Shadows for a number of reasons. I like the corny acting, it is entertaining. Like the kids that find the bodies in the dumpster. "Hey... I know a great place to crash... up that fire escape." Haha this line is so terribly delivered. I enjoy Mark Snow's music as many of the classic tunes from the series are first used in these episodes and this one included. I like the creepy scenes like the blood in the bath tub and the hitman floating in midair being choked. I guess its not the fact that this is anything really special but that fact that it is a classic that makes me love it. 9 out of 10.


Week 9: Milagro

Milagro. This is an interesting episode. While Scully is the main focus of the episode we get yet another episode where there is a strange creepy guy that Scully gets woo'ed by. I quite enjoy scenes where they have voice-over of what the author is writing to narrate Scully's emotions and thoughts. Very interesting. I also like the actor that plays Padgett. While this episode is a little slower than I am used to I have to say that overall I still enjoyed the story. It only loses 2 points for slowness. Oh one other thing. Is it just me or does every single Scully-falls-for-a-psycho-killer-man episode end with a furnace? Anyway 8 out of 10.


Week 10: Badlaa

Badlaa is not for the very squeamish. The best description I have ever heard for the monster in this episode is "butt-monkey". He is indeed a butt-monkey. The teaser is mediocre unless you realize what actually happened to that poor big guy. Makes me never want to visit India. The idea of the story comes from the idea of a little man with no legs that can travel inside another person by climbing inside them. He also has a sort of spiritual ability where he can appear to others as something or someone else. This is very interesting and it seems that the only ones who are able to see around this are two 12ish year old boys who take it on themselves to hunt this little guy down. I like how the bully in the story and the kid he picked on end up teaming up. While this is quite good in its creepiness and has a good gross-out factor its not really one of my favorite episodes. I give it a 7 out of 10.

The wonderful world of stealing my money.

I hate college politics at my university. There are many reasons and examples, but today I am specifically referring to the "textbook buyback" thing they do at the end of every semester. I put that in quotes because it is literally a crap shoot whether you will actually get any money back from your books. I take that back. It isn't a crap shoot. It is more like a rigged carnival game. Let me just tell the story of the three books I tried to sell back today.

Book 1: Technical Writing
This book is available from normal people as one written by a guy or a couple guys (or gals) who wrote a book about how to do technical writing. My university decided that in order to better serve their purposes they needed to customize the book and have it published as a proprietary resource for my class. What does this mean exactly? What customizations were made? They took Chapter 3 and moved it to the end of the book even though its still titled Chapter 3, and they added a useless 12ish page appendix of examples of term projects that have been done in the past for the course. Since it is a proprietary publication now they are allowed to charge whatever they want for it and so they charged twice as much as the original book. I went back today to sell it back and was told they were not accepting that book for buybacks. I asked why and was told "I don't know". Well maybe you wouldn't mind finding out since I literally losing out over a hundred dollars here for a book I'm never going to use again.

Book 2: Stats
So I pull out my equally useless Statistics book next. Let me give a little backstory for this one first. I bought this book a year ago when I took the class the first time and failed. I kept the book because I knew I was going to have to take the class again. What I didn't think about at that time was what if they change the version of the book that they are using. Well when I got to class the first day of this semester and saw all the books that everyone had, they all looked pretty much the same as mine did. I checked all the problems and everything was the same. There was one small difference. I noticed a little yellow seal on the others that wasn't on mine which stated something like "super duper crap website version". I went up to ask my useless professor if there were any major differences between the book I had and the book they had and he stared at me stupidly and said... you guessed it! "I don't know." Do you not read the stupid book that you are forcing us to read? You really can't tell me if there are any major differences between them? I showed him my version and he looked at it as if he had never seen it before in his life. I mean I may as well have been showing him an orange and asking him if it was similar to an apple. You required me to buy this book less than a year ago don't you remember? Do you wash every memory of each semester out of your head when it is over? Sigh... Anyway so after further investigation I found that the ONLY difference between the books is that mine didn't have little star things on some of the problems telling me to go to said super crap website for more info. When I tried to sell this one back I didn't quite expect to have any success seeing as how they have a policy that they don't buy back books that are later than the current version the course is using. And I mean even if you bought the version that they were using THIS semester and NEXT semester they are using a different one then you are screwed. I didn't have success with that one but I did at least think that the lady would say something other than "I've never seen this one before" when I handed it to her seeing as how it has the EXACT SAME COVER AS THE CURRENT VERSION!

Book 3: Biology 100
Another of those wonderful customized books that the college sells to you at an outrageously inflated price since they have a monopoly on availability of the book. This one is interesting because it is more like a giant packet sold to you in shrink wrap and then you have to buy also a three ring binder to put it in. Its not bound at all. My sister took this class last semester and they wouldn't buy her book back then so I just took hers and used it. I decided that I'd go see if I had better luck selling it back than her. So I pull this one out and ask the lady if they are taking it back and she says no. I asked her why and was surprised when she didn't say "I don't know". Instead I was told that they were not buying these back because they are unbound... You SOLD IT TO ME THAT WAY!

Book 4: Calculus (not this semester but a must hear)
Another book that I am now stuck with is a gigantic useless piece of crap Calculus text book. This book is written actually by the head of the math department at the college which is why they use it. I bought this book when I took Calc I and was told at the end of the semester "if you are taking Calc II next semester then you should just keep your book because it uses the second half of the same book". So I kept it thinking I would just sell it back at the end of the next semester. So next semester rolls around and guess what... There's a new version of said crap text book that they now want me to buy. The differences? The new one has just as many mistakes and typos as the old one they are just in different places. Also they decided to change all the page numbers so that instead of the teacher being able to say "turn to page #" he would have to say "turn to the section on [topic]". The book is huge and outrageously expensive and almost 100% useless as a tool of education. We only used the book as a method of getting problems to do but never as a reference on how to do them. The explanations and proofs given in it make absolutely no sense and leave out the important steps that actually show you how and why the thing works. What makes me the most angry about this one is the pinche math department buttlicker knew that he had a new version of his book coming out but didn't tell any of us. Instead they were telling us to keep the old one even though they knew it was going obsolete just so they could make some more money. I still fantasize about smashing the monstrous thing over his fat little head.

When I ran out of books to sell back and had struck out on all three the little lady at the register gave me this pitiful little look like she was actually sorry for me and offered condolences in the form of a funsize Kit-Kat bar that I would have gotten anyway. I am considering going downtown and selling them to the homeless as fuel for their fires and padding for their coats. Too bad its Spring now and not Winter. So the moral of the story is: to avoid frustration over what to do with your textbooks at the end of the semester, may I suggest having a bonfire.

Superman vs. Catwoman vs. Donald Duck

You guessed it. Another weird dream. In this one I'm Superman and I'm walking down the street with my girlfriend who doesn't know that I'm Superman but does know that I have "history" with Catwoman. There is a lot of drama there. We have been having a bit of an issue with me getting upset everytime the subject of "The Catwoman Incident" comes up because apparently my girlfriend feels rather insecure and thinks that I would prefer to be with Catwoman and not her. So finally I explain to her that my feelings of regret and reminiscence when that comes up is not because I wish I was with Catwoman but that I wish nothing had ever happened with Catwoman and that things could be fine again with my girlfriend. She seems to think that this is like the sweetest thing I could ever have said and it appears to clear things up between us and I feel pretty smooth. About at this point I end talking to some fat villain guy whose evil superpower is that he has a bluetooth headset surgically installed in his head. I have just beaten him and am consoling him over having lost the fight between us because he is pretty upset and I end up telling him that he needs to fight against The Man who installed him superpower and use it for good instead of evil like it was intended and he accepts this and leaves happy. Oh yeah the reason I realize that he has superpowers in the first place is that he has an "aura" which is kind of like a Patronus charm thingy from the Harry Potter books. His is a bull and I see the bull so I know that he has super powers. So then I see a patronus cat and know that Catwoman is about again. I go to pet the cat at first not realizing its a patronus thing and the cat is really friendly. So it starts like nuzzling against me and I go to leave but it starts grabbing into my hand with its claws. I don't remember how I finally got the stupid thing off but since I hate cats we'll say I smashed its head into the corner of a brick building. So about now the police show up and start investigating a crime scene and I'm like casually talking to them about the case trying to get info but trying not to appear too interested. The person that did it is apparently some other villain I've been after for a while. I think it was Arvin Sloan from the show Alias which doesn't really make sense to me but oh well. So I leave and I go to a house that is full of cartoon characters. I enter and there is a receptionist desk with Donald Duck sitting behind it and I'm supposed to go up and hit him in the face with a pie. So I go up and I throw the pie and I totally miss and it hits over in the corner. So now Donald starts laughing and there's a bunch of canned laughter too like in a TV show and I'm basically in a blooper reel or something. So I take another pie and in shame smash it over my head and go back to try again. The pie is chocolate and I start eating some cuz its good.

Lost and Zombies

Another strange dream. I haven't had a zombie one yet so I was excited that I had one last night. Unfortunately I don't remember too well exactly what happened but I know that there were zombies and then I transitioned into a Lost dream. As for the zombies, well I'll just have to eat a Snickers and Dr. Pepper before bed again after 10 hours of Diablo and see what happens. But not tonight.

So I was stuck on the island with all the Losties and everyone kept dying. For some reason Ben was one of us and none of us suspected him of killing anyone. We thought that is was the Others and that Ben was OK. All of us except for Locke that is. Locke gathered us all together and started telling us that Ben had personally killed every person on the island up to that point. Boone, Shannon, Kate, Jin, Charlie, and some others. I know that these aren't all really dead on the show but its a dream ok. We were finally convinced that Ben was a bad guy when Locke was able to produce a seashell bracelet that Jin always wore and for some reason Ben's possession of it proved that he had killed everyone. So we decided to kill Ben. Unfortunately Ben got away though. Everyone but me and Locke decided that with Ben gone we were ok to go about things as normal. Locke told us that we needed to prepare for a war with Ben and the Others. They were going to come back to our harbor with a big cement battleship and kill us all. In order to prepare for this for some reason we had to dig dirt out from under the water to make it deeper. For a while I helped Jack and Sawyer swim down to the bottom and grab boulders and swim them back up onto the shore. Then I went over to help Locke. He had found a way to fold up the beach like a fold up chair but as he was folding it up, he started folding people's stuff into it like sunlotion and bags and stuff. I told him to wait so I could grab the stuff and throw it up out of the way so it wouldn't get lost. He became very upset with me for this. We had a huge argument about how it didn't matter if we saved the things or not and I was telling him I knew that but that a few seconds to throw it out of the way wasn't going to cost us anything either and then we wouldn't lost it in case we needed it. Anyway he was unwilling to see my point and I ended up leaving very frustrated and saying stuff like "I respected you". At this point I went from being me to being Desmond. I'm not sure entirely what happens between but I eventually end up on the front line of battle on the beach with a little girl who is doing some kind of performance when the big cement battleship shows up. I tell her to get down but she doesn't. I tell her again and she doesn't. I finally grab her and sheild her with my body. Interestingly this is the second dream I've had recently where I've been shot and it was felt the same in both dreams. It feels like getting hit by air. I expected it in my dream somewhat because the way the gun worked was on a big cement wheel and little holes aroung the circumference. As the wheel turned, each hole that reached the top would shoot its bullet. Kind of like a gatling gun (not sure how you spell gatling). Anyway after being shot a number of times I woke up.

VERY IMPORTANT!

More pictures! The first one is very interesting indeed. If this in Mulder's basement office? Or are we just happy to see that the poster has survived through it all as well? I'm so excited!

Tom Morello's solo album is AWESOME!

I randomly found out about this while trying to figure out what the next project would be for the ex-Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave members would be. On Tom's site it said he had come out with a solo album under the pseudonym "The Nightwatchman". So I checked out some of the samples on iTunes and was impressed enough to where I decided to buy the CD the next day. This is nowhere near anything fans of Tom may be used to from his previous two bands however it is a great album nonetheless. I have it classified in my folk/country rock genre because that is just what it is. Acoustic guitar and soulful singing with wonderful lyrics and stories in the songs that are akin to Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. In fact I was constantly reminded of the latter the entire time I listened to this the first time.

I wouldn't call this genius perhaps. The guitar is pretty simple and the melodies aren't very complex. But frankly the simplicity and energy that went into the making and recording of these songs is what makes it so great. You can tell that Tom had a great time making the album and I had a great time listening to it. Full 5 stars from me.

To read more of my album reviews go to my Rate Your Music profile.

Drug dealers and dead animals

Ok so I had another really vivid dream yesterday morning. I woke up at 7 but didn't have to be to class until later so I went back to sleep for literally another hour. I was startled awake at 8 am. Anyway the dream went as follows.

The dream starts out at a family reunion in Idaho. I am trying to leave with my little sister but for some reason she is acting like my nephew and completely ignoring me and acting like a 4 year old. So finally I get her into the car and I lock her in the glove box so she won't leave. I then have to go back inside for something (can't remember what) and I'm worried about getting back quick so she doesn't suffocate. So I hurry back and I look in the glove box and she isn't there. So I'm all worried now that she is gone forever but I figure there's nothing I can do about it cuz its a dream and I leave. I then think "hey I bet she's in the trunk". So I look in the trunk and there she is. She's kind of upset that I left her in the trunk so long but I tell her to get over it because its my dream and she is just my imagination anyway. So she does.

Here the dream transitions somewhat. I don't remember the details of how we get there but somehow we end up part of a group of kids that make a living by stealing drugs from other drug dealers. Oddly the drug dealers in my dream aren't really drug dealers they're just like pharmacists but they are mexican and spend the entire night unpacking little baggies of cocaine in this old warehouse. The way we steal the drugs is to silently walk through the warehouse and grab what we can without being noticed. You have to go quick otherwise they find out quick that you're there and start shooting. When they start shooting you have to kill them before you can leave. This group has done this successfully a number of times and are pros. Unfortunately on our first try the main guy that's supposed to kill the first mexican gets killed instead and then my sister and the other guy run out without me. So I'm stuck behind a crate without a gun and with about 5 mexican guys shooting at me. I raise my hands in surrender and they decide to shoot me anyway. So they literally shred me to bits with bullets. I can kind of feel them hitting me but its more like airguns than bullets although I can see my body being ripped to shreds. At this point I have a total out of body experience where I'm there but they can't see me and I can see my body. They decide to celebrate their victory by mutalating my face. They skin my face off and then put it on inside out so it looks like this really gross monster mask and start going "wah wah wah wah," with it and laughing hysterically. So I get mad and re-enter my body and escape.

So I run out and everyone else is out there except my sister and we're waiting for a getaway car. So my sister shows up with her car which is a Honda Element for some reason and stops to let us in. Except this car is flat and needs to be folded out. So as I'm trying to fold out the car I realize its not my sister in the car but its a trap by the mexicans trying to kill us again. So we run away and go and meet Christian Bale who is our ringleader. He tells us that he has a perfect way that we can get the mexicans back and get the cocaine too. We start flying over a field of animals and I realize that's the answer! Use animals as a decoy when we run through. So I'm like yeah great idea. Except that is obviously not what Christian Bale had in mind. We go to the warehouse again and start dousing animals in kerosene and stuffing them in the cracks so we can light the place on fire and burn it down. Someone else showed up about then and started trying to explain to us how illogical this was but we ignored him and kept stuffing the animals into the cracks. That's about the point where I woke up.

Tech Forums drive me CRAZY!

I can't stand it when I'm trying to find an answer to a tech question and the only resource I have is forums. Why? The people who start the threads rarely know a thing about what they're trying to do and they have their terminology completely off so a search on something relevant to your problem pulls up millions of irrelevant forums topics.

Example: I have a Belkin 54 G (FSD7230-4) router that I use for my wireless connection at my house. I recently set up our old desktop pc in my room and have it connected to my external hard drive so I can listen to all of my music on there. Problem is the PC doesn't have a wireless PCI card. But I happen to have a Linksys BEFW11S4 wireless B router that still works. I thought hey wouldn't it be great if I could just set that up as a Client AP and setup my Belkin to send a wireless bridge signal to it and therefore get my WAN connection on the PC in my room from that bridge link. So I set about setting it up and trying to figure it all out. I've gotten into the settings for the linksys and been able to try all kinds of customizations. I also tried messing with the Belkin and the only thing I've succeeded at so far is completely screwing up my network twice. So I've actually had to reconfigure my network twice so that I can just get my internet access back again.

I've been searching and searching for somewhere that would say how to set something like this up. Something to tell me just what settings I need to set up on the linksys including what IP address and gateway to use as well as any other settings such as the IP for the PC and stuff. There is a guide on how to configure the bridge in the Belkin which is really easy. But I haven't been able to find anything on setting up the Linksys that way. I have found a couple of forums on the topic but they all deal with using a Linksys 54 G with some special third party firmware that I can't use on either of the routers I have. The terminology and skill of most of these thread starters is insane. I am wondering what most of these people are doing trying to set these things up in the first place. One guy in particular kept calling his wireless router a "bridge mode AP" even though the router he had wouldn't do bridge mode and he didn't know how to find out the IP address of his computer or to a trace route from the command line. Another guy kept talking about B-mode and G-mode for wireless APs. There's no such thing as B-mode and G-mode. These are standards my friend not modes. There was one that I could have answered easily had I been around to read it when the guy first started but there were about 5 pages of debate as to whether or not the linksys B router supports WPA or not. Simple, it does not.

Then you have the responders who instead of trying to find a simple solution to the problem want you to change all of your network settings and do a hard reset on your device and then do a little rain dance. Either that or you get the people who have nothing more useful to contribute other than "your device sucks buy a new one" or something similar. The non-simple replies usually tend to give very little assistance as far as helping you figure out just what they want you to do either. They give a huge list of instructions that assume you know exactly what program you are supposed to be using or what config or batch code you are editing.

I am very frustrated. I also hate when you type support or setup or troubleshoot into the search but you still get price comparisons and reviews in the results. The only things I've found that even talk about what I want to do don't at all explain how to do it. They just show a pretty diagram and say "look you can do this with it!" I'd like to tell them what else they can do with it...

P.S. HP has probably the worst support website in the world.

Yes another XF post

I found out about the official X-Files sequel site being up and when I tried to go there I got a 403 server error. It looks like the site is somewhat unstable right about now but I was able to get through just now so I got some screenshots. The site is www.xfiles.com in case you want to try to check it out yourself. There's not much there yet but will be soon.