So now we know where Joss Whedon got the idea for the Hellmouth... "If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody hell hired the director?" -- Charles L Grant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com From: tdli...@multiculturaladvantage.com Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:27:58 -0700 Subject: RE: [scifinoir2] "Eureka" Thoughts As I said, I live in such a place. Redmond AKA Microsoft city is such a place and to a lesser degree Bellevue is too. The company is HUGE and dominates everything here. My sister-in-law says its kind of creepy seeing all the Microsoft buses, cars, signs, vans, coffee shops, the mall, the downtown shopping district, townhouses,childcare, apartments, beauty salons, restaurants, etc and people with the ids on car windows everywhere we go. The place has influence or actually runs pretty much everything here. So, I do not really need a history, I live it. All I have to do is step outside the house Perhaps, what we disagree that TV Fiction rarely portrays settings, industries, career specialties, etc. intentionally take out many aspects of realism in them to accommodate the story From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:scifino...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Mr. Worf Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 2:09 PM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] "Eureka" Thoughts A little more history: Back when they started the Xerox parc concept, it was basically Stanford university, and the people that worked there on one side of the freeway. On the other side was poor black and mexican folks (and hippies) that cleaned their houses and worked as janitors and did their yard work. In the late 70s "they" decided that the black and mexican part of Palo Alto was too much of a drain on the city's resources and created East Palo Alto. (known to anti drug agents everywhere) Here is a little info on Xerox Parc:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Parc Per capita, the majority of folks in Palo Alto, has the largest amount of MA degrees. But yes, you probably won't see anyone doing nano fusion energy experiments in their backyard anytime soon. :) But I think it does change the general flavor of the town considerably if everyone is well educated. For example, they may have a noble peace prize winner reading at their local barnes and noble. On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 1:27 PM, Tracey de Morsella <tdli...@multiculturaladvantage.com> wrote: I live in one of those towns. OK one town over. Microsoft is in Redmond. The whole town – practically everything, is set up around Microsoft . The existence of Eureka is not what I find unrealistic. How it operates is. That is necessary for TV. Fiction must be bigger, brighter, larger than life. I understand that. That was my point. That to expect that they would have a realistic representation of who would live in such a town is .. unrealistic of me. Most industries and settings are portrayed unrealistically on TV, so I should not expect a show like Eureka to do so. All those towns you mentioned, no matter how technically advanced, are likely to have regular folks—most likely more regular folks than geniuses. That being said, many may be the best of the best, but most of them are not geniuses. From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:scifino...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Mr. Worf Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 12:59 PM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] "Eureka" Thoughts The premise of the show is based on reality. A few large companies have towns similar to this. Palo Alto, California for example was the home of Xerox Parc back in the 1960s-70s. Xerox, IBM and others spent a large amount of money creating a live/work/play space for geniuses to co-mingle and create. A lot of the technology that was created there we are using. For example, the mouse, keyboard, monitor, font, network, Apple's GUI were all created there and promptly placed in their basement. :) There are similar places in Japan, and Europe. The combination of Xerox Parc and the surrounding companies and infrastructure helped to spawn the rest of the Silicon Valley. There are also "company towns" for example like Hershey, Penn. On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 9:56 AM, Tracey de Morsella <tdli...@multiculturaladvantage.com> wrote: I thought about that. Based on how they present the show, I think there are very few none-geniuses in the town. While that is unrealistic, the whole premise is unrealistic. Other than Joe and Carter and an rare visitor, they never show acknowledged normals. In all of Zoe’s school scenes they painted her as the only unidentified genius. The janitors, baby store owners, restaurateurs, all are painted as geniuses. If there are non-geniuses in the script, they are less than red shirts. They do not even get lines and also do not get dramatic deaths. Never thought there would be anything less than a red shirt From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:scifino...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Keith Johnson Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 7:00 AM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] "Eureka" Thoughts good point. I guess the question is, how many people in Eureka are geniuses? Even in a small town you have a lot of basic services that don't require scientists and engineers. I mean, i know they love to show that even the people who collect trash or work in sewage plants are geniuses who use high tech devices to do their work. But, even if the heads of waste management, water works, HVAC, etc., were big brains, would *all* the people who work with and for them be so? Just as Jo and Carter, who serve the people, are not geniuses, wouldn't there be a decent number of people in jobs who are just normal in intelligence? I know there was one dry cleaner--a brief love interest for Carter--who had some kind of high tech cleaning system. But if she needed a couple of workers to help her with the clothes, would they have to be geniuses too? Are all the assistants at pizza parlors, doughnut shops, flower shops, HVAC repair, the movie theatre, etc., big brains? Is every janitor at GD--and I see alot of them, slinging those buckets and mops, 'cause they're almost like Star Trek redshirts in being used for cannon fodder--brilliant? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tracey de Morsella" <tdli...@multiculturaladvantage.com> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 11:58:48 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: RE: [scifinoir2] "Eureka" Thoughts Actually, I do not think that her being a normal teen is necessarily more interesting. I had a problem with them making her a genius for the purpose of ridiculing her father or to create conflict between them. I liked the conflict they had between them fine before they mucked it up. Why I am okay with them making her a genius has to do with me over thinking it. Taking a child who is normal and putting her in school with others who are geniuses in my view would be isolating, and a self-esteem killer. No loving parent who is aware of their child’s needs would subject their child to that. Some of the Zoe storylines that involved her interacting with the braining kids while she was the only normal kid, made that issue stand out for me. When they made her smart, they stopped having those types of episodes. So the mom and former teacher in me was not irked From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:scifino...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Keith Johnson Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 8:10 PM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] "Eureka" Thoughts I hear you. I just agree with Tracey that Zoe as a "normal" teen is more interesting. Her becoming another supergenius rolling her eyes at her dad was going to be too much. I like that they've minimized focusing on her smarts and instead focused on her as a daughter and young woman. Lexi was another cliche that irritated me: the whole organic food, yoga, etc. angle was so incredibly cardboard I groaned at first. But like Zoe and others as they expanded her role a bit she became more interesting. i actually hated to see her leave. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Baxter" <truthseeker...@hotmail.com> To: "SciFiNoir2" <scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 6:16:24 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: RE: [scifinoir2] "Eureka" Thoughts Tracey and Keith, Zoe being a genius really didn't strike me as all that contrived, within the story line, considering all of the complicated e-scams she'd pulled off early on. I wasn't keen on Lexi at first, but I warmed to her, seeing her as sort of his antithesis, as freewheeling as he was tightly-wound. "If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody hell hired the director?" -- Charles L Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com From: keithbjohn...@comcast.net Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:47:52 +0000 Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] "Eureka" Thoughts Agreed, Tracey. I was stunned when the daughter became a genius, and I didn't like his sister either. Again, they try way too hard to manufacture conflicts for Carter, when they could simply just let the show flow! I didn't like Lexi at first. But you know what? Like his daughter, had they moved her out of Carter's house and let her function on her own away from him, away from the daily spats, I'd have liked her to stay. She added normalcy outside the nerds that populate the town. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tracey de Morsella" <tdli...@multiculturaladvantage.com> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 1:30:41 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: RE: [scifinoir2] "Eureka" Thoughts OK Keith, don’t get me started on they need Hewitt producing again to prevent them from destroying the show rant. I do not like Jo’s boyfriend either. Even though it was weird, I kinda liked Jo better with Max headroom (Matt Frewer). Jo and the boyfriend have no chemistry and their lines kind of fall flat. I daughter started to irk me when they decided to make her a genius and join in on the dumb jokes. When the aunt came and they tag teamed him it got worse. I think moving her into the café was a good move From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:scifino...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Keith Johnson Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2009 9:19 PM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] "Eureka" Thoughts A couple more thoughts: * I'm actually glad Nathan Stark is gone, at least in terms of the contrived rivalry he and Carter had. I was tired of that angle too. I guess I just like Carter's character, and feel the character needs more development to stand on his own, outside of angles like the battles with Stark or the "he's the dumbest guy in the room" thing. * I don't care for Jo's boyfriend--too generic cool genius--but do like that she has a boyfriend. Nice to see some softer angles to her... * After all this time, the voice of the computer Sarah (named after Sarah Michelle Gellar) still cracks me up. Everyone relizes that that "female" voice is actually done by the actor who plays Fargo? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Keith Johnson" <keithbjohn...@comcast.net> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2009 11:52:34 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canad a Eastern Subject: [scifinoir2] "Eureka" Thoughts Everyone watching the new season of "Eureka"? I must saying I'm enjoying it, even more than last season. I think that's because Carter is noticeably more instrumental in solving cases than last year. Every ep so far, as the big brains discuss string theory, M-branes, and quantum mechanics, Carter's always the one guy in the room who cuts through the superficial coverings to get to the heart of a problem. Indeed, one wonders how the scientists can do anything: as smart as they are, they seem to exemplify what my mom used to say about "Book sense, but no common sense". Fortunately they have also toned down the Carter-is-kinda-dumb thing too. Tracey mentioned that last year that had gotten out of hand. There are still some moments like that, but I frankly don't think they're needed. Carter's obviously not a supergenius, so let's lose the "Uh...English please? I'm clueless" scht ick. A couple of weeks ago, for example, Allison spoke of the space object coming to Earth in 126 hours, and Carter looks confused. Allison then had to amend and say "five days"! Give me a break: you telling me Carter, an intelligent and highly competent man of the law, can't figure that out? Again, good thing that angle is being minimized. Some other thoughts on the show: * I like the new lady brought in, who runs Section 5 (?) At first she irritated the hell out of me by belittling Carter's intelligence, but I like the tender side and sense and humour she has. * Good to see that Carter is falling for the new scientist. For some reason I never really liked his love for Allison, and it's less appealing to me this season for some reason. I say let that angle die, and let him move on. * Anyone know why the guy who played allison's ex- and new-husband left the show? I thought he was coming back, but here he's on "True Blood" now. < b r>* When is Henry going to get a life and a love? I hate what they did by killing off his love, and this recent--spoiler!--storyline of bringing back a computerized copy of her, then killing it off? WTF?! And speaking of that, Henry is mayor now, but doesn't seem to do any mayoral stuff. He basically still sports the mechanics' garb, when he's not at GD running experiments. Does he even have an office at city hall? * Carter is sheriff, charged with keeping all law and protecting everyone in the town, including those at Global Dynamics. Yet he doesn't have a high security clearance. Allison refused to discuss the oncoming spaceship with him because of that, and that top secret section that's been reopened is off limits to him without an escort. Okay, I guess I'm confused: if he's "only" the sheriff, maybe he wouldn't have top secret clearance to everything at GD. But, more times than I can count, Carter risks his life by entering some high dangerous lab to fight a creature of living ooze, gravity wells, etc. In fact, Carter's the *only* person who consistently tackles these dangers, which usually means he's finally brought in to these top secret discussions. Is it logical, therefore, for his clearance to be relatively low? Windows Live: Make it easier for your friends to see what you’re up to on Facebook. Find out more. -- Bringing diversity to perversity for 9 years! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- Bringing diversity to perversity for 9 years! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ _________________________________________________________________ With Windows Live, you can organize, edit, and share your photos. http://www.windowslive.com/Desktop/PhotoGallery
