No Line On The Horizon review

I'll begin by saying that in the past couple years, after the How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb hype died out and U2 began to just show up occasionally to do a duet with Green Day or Mary J. Blige, I have been less impressed with some of the new songs. "The Saints Are Coming" was a joke of a song that was only good to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims from mindless fans like me who bought it anyway. And "Windows in the Skies" or whatever it was called was alright but I honestly haven't listened to it since I bought the album of 18 songs that I already have on four other U2 compilation cds. And then there was U23D which was an awesome cinematic experience, but musically was about as boring as any other U2 featured documentary since 2003 has been (which basically means it was 90% songs that I can hear at any time of the day or night on the radio instead of some of the great classic songs that you don't often hear live anymore). Then, about a month or so ago the new single was released. Get On Your Boots gave me flashbacks to the first time I heard the song Vertigo. I liked the excitement I felt when hearing it but I didn't like the song at all. Kind of lame, nothing special, etc. Needless to say, I bought this album, mind you as a HUGE U2 fan, but with somewhat low expectations and even some hesitation and anxiety that my days as a fan of all and everything U2 might be at an end.

I am indeed happy to say that this is not the case :)

No Line On The Horizon, after one listen, has already proven itself to me as a good album. I don't know at this point whether it will become a favorite but I will say that with HTDAAB and ATYCLB, other than a couple songs, I only pretended to love them in the beginning before they slowly grew on me as an album. The difference with NLOTH is that each and every song fits prefectly into place in context of the album. HTDAAB was an incredible album in this manner but the difference between it and NLOTH is that I still hate the song Vertigo and I do not think it belongs on that or anyother album for that matter. In contrast, Get On Your Boots fits perfectly on NLOTH in context of the album and I actually find myself enjoying the song.

Enough comparison. As a standalone album, ignoring this band's amazing musical history, NLOTH is a very good album with enough catchy songs that I immediately enjoy. Specifically I enjoy the songs "Magnificent", "White As Snow", and "Breathe". There were others but those are the three that I remember for certain after just one listen that I especially enjoyed. Unfortunately I don't think the album measures up to the status of Achtung Baby or Joshua Tree or even Pop for that matter*. And with that, my rating for NLOTH is 4/5 stars.

*=Unlike a large majority of people, I really like the album Pop, I give it 5 out of 5 stars. Therefore me thinking Pop is better than NLOTH is not a commentary on NLOTH being so low in quality that it doesn't even match up to Pop.

My Review of Seven Pounds. Best movie I've seen in years ***Spoilers***

This movie is definitely not one of those you want to go see if you don't like "depressing" movies. I put quotes there because I know a lot of people who use that classification for any movie that is specifically designed to make you feel sober and reflective at the end. They usually tend to have bittersweet endings. I think its interesting that so many people take this attitude and refuse to go see these types of movies yet you look at the types of shows that have lasted through the ages and a LOT of them are tragedies. Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Citizen Kane, etc. My point I guess is that just because the hero dies doesn't mean its a bad movie. In fact it usually drives the point home to the audience. I have nothing against happy endings but sometimes its nice to see a show that really makes me reflect on my own life and inspire me to want to be better. Well "Seven Pounds" is just that type of show.

The show is about a man who spends the last few weeks of his life searching for deserving beneficiaries of his vital organs. His eyes, his heart, his liver, bone marrow, even his beach house. There are a number of story lines but the two prominent ones are those of Ezra, a blind vegan jewish meat salesman, and Emily, a single woman with a big dog who suffers from heart troubles and has a rare blood type. We follow Ben Thomas on his quest for redemption and watch him struggle, especially after he falls in love with Emily and is forced with the decision of staying alive in order to be with her or go through with hi plan and save her life.

The movie gives you only enough information along the way so that you don't figure out exactly what circumstances have led Ben to make the decision to do what he does until the end of the movie when the beneficiaries find out themselves. This method of writing seems to make me as a viewer among one of the beneficiaries as well. At first I am unsure what to think of him when he very harshly insults the blind call center employee and goes around doing IRS audits of various individuals with medical problems. As we learn more we soon find out that he is not an IRS agent and is only interested in finding people to help.

On a personal note, I have had a number of people close to me pass away and have their organs donated, the closest being my sister. The final scene in which Emily and Ezra meet was extremely powerful for me as I couldn't help putting myself in Emily's place and react to seeing the eyes of someone I dearly love through someone else. Seven Pounds is a must see in my book and I give it a 10 out of 10.

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. :)