Archive for April, 2010
My Salute to Jack Bauer
Posted by William in Uncategorized on April 19, 2010
There’s been a lot of talk about how the latest Bourne movies outsold the latest James Bond movies, especially last few with Mr. Brosnan. Now I don’t think it was Pierce’s fault, it was definitely the writers sticking to the tried and true Bond formula. Gary Hamel talks about how nothing kills off a business quicker than the drag of old mental models. Bond was clearly a relic of the cold war, and audiences were bored by the no-scratches after a fight, Bond gets the girl and the the getaway at the end of the movie. Jason Bourne was the anti-bond. No cool gadgets, not really any women to speak of, and he definitely took a beating, and audiences loved it. Soon and very soon Jack Bauer will be going off the air, and I think Jack deserves a round of applause and a special blog to him.
As much as some fans want Jack to have that happy ending, it ain’t going to happen. From the moment when we realized Nina shot Terry at the end of season one to Renee’s being shot by a sniper in a recent episode, Jack just isn’t going to be happy. Perhaps it is this relentless pursuit of some kind of peace, some kind of joy that drives Jack to do the things he does. Perhaps it is the unrelenting love of President and Country that drives Jack to make the kinds of sacrifices he does. And then again, perhaps its just good television.
I first met Jack mid-way through season 4. I wasn’t quite sure who Jack Bauer was, what he was doing, but he sure was shooting a lot of terrorists. He sure was saving the day and stopping a nuclear threat in Los Angeles. I thought I needed to get to know Jack better. Over Christmas break that year I blew through the first four seasons of 24. In that time I met President David Palmer(the only democratic president outside of Josiah Bartlett I would have voted for), Tony Almeida, Kim, Jack, Terry, Audrey, Chloe and countless other red-shirts that have come and gone. I grew to love 24 as no show before. It was pure mindless escapism at its finest.
Jack is not meant to consumed alone. Jack is like fine wine or a great single malt scotch, you need others around you to fully take in what is taking place. That person was Josh. While I was watching 24 in my room, Josh was my faithful companion. We would talk about plot twists, what we hoped Jack would do and how much President Logan was a tool.
It’s funny, most of the seasons of 24 end with some sort of heartbreak. Season 2 was about as close as we came to a happy ending. Season 3 ended with Chase in surgery and Jack in tears. Season 4 ended with Jack running from the law assumed dead. Season 5 ended with him on a slow-boat to China. Season 6 ended with him on a cliff, alone. And season 7 ended with him having a life threatening condition. Who knows where season 8 will leave us before the movies come out.
The thing about Jack is that is a true hero. He’s my kind of hero. He displays a love of those around him, a love of country and a devotion to the cause that many of us wish dearly and would gladly be tortured by Jack in order to come across. Well maybe not torture, he did inadvertently kill his brother while torturing him. So Jack as you go off the air, we know you do not go silently into the night, you will not go without a fight and you will forever be with us. Thank you for 8 great seasons of television and a lifetime of memories. Previously on 24…
My Flooded Backyard
Posted by William in Uncategorized on April 17, 2010
(this was not written this morning…just so you knew)
Waking up at 4:05 is hard to do. It’s not one of those things that people like to do often, for whatever reason. All of a sudden whatever you were waking up for become less important than the next 2 hours of sleep you wish you could get. I’m pretty sure that is why God didn’t intend for us to wake up at 4:05 in the morning often. He knew there would be a great too many people who would trade sleep for whatever the heck you would be waking up for at 4:05 in the morning.
I woke up at that pagan hour this morning. Now normally when I go on trips, dis-organized is what would characteristically describe me. I’m tossing things in the bag at the last second, dashing down the stairs, crashing into the door…you get the picture. However, for whatever reason I was calm, cool, collected and organized this time around. I neatly had packed my suitcase last night, I had put them down by the door to avoid the inevitable door crashing in the morning, and also had laid out my clothes in a neat fashion at the foot of bed. Everything was all set. Then I woke up.
I woke up before God this morning to find he had left the water running. I woke up to a torrential downpour that had woken up my wife too. Now under normal circumstances this would be no big deal. However, the brainiac that engineered my backyard only left one drain. So when that drain clogs, I immediately have a flash flood in the backyard. Yesterday I had a little bit of a flood on my hands, and that was only after an afternoon of consistent rain, never mind 5 hours of the leaky heavenly pipes. So you guessed, flashflood time in Will’s backyard.
I will say this, thank God I wasn’t traveling with anyone else outside of the guy who married me. There are certain other people who like to arrive at airports before the desk attendants are there, who have an affinity for the blue-carpet clubs, and are treated as foreign dignitaries only hope they could be treated on an airplane. Because of this flash flood in my backyard I was around 10 minutes late to pick up my traveling companion, which had it been someone else, my trip would have gotten off to a not so good start.
Waking up at 4:05 is not fun to do. But when the floods come a floodin….waking up at 4:05 is still not easy to do.
