The Silent Clock

Flipping randomly through my Netflix Streaming Queue, I came upon 24.  The early-to-mid-2000's series about Jack Bauer and the fictional Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU) figured heavily on my weekly must-see shows of that time period.  In fact, I already own several seasons on DVD.

I remember when 24 first premiered, it was only a few weeks after 9/11.  The premiere episode included an airplane bombing - naturally, that the producers considered cutting the sequence or postponing the episode.  Eventually it aired, uncut, and the series went on for another 7 seasons.

24 associated, fairly or not, with the Bush era of heightened awareness of our state of security, and the steps we as a country would take to secure our own safety, both home and abroad.  The producers of the show swung to both ends of the spectrum throughout its run, and the character of Bauer went with it.  Torture, terrorism, two (!) separate nuclear explosions and numerous other attacks from both foreign and domestic ne'er-do-wells served as an intentional/unintentional commentary on our country's own feelings toward its own increased security.

While it can mostly be chalked up to coincidence that the show wrapped up its production only a year or so into President Obama's term (8 seasons is enough for almost any show, especially one that thrives on running constantly in high gear) I wonder what it would have been like during the rest of Obama's term.  With the killing of Osama Bin Laden and the general relaxation of the constant fear of a repeat massive terrorist attack on American soil (not to mention the effects of the Arab Spring), the tenor of the country has changed a bit in that regard.*

Getting back to the original point - in the 30 minutes or so I was on Netflix, I flipped around from episode to episode, season to season, watching bits and pieces and memorable scenes.  I re-watched the assassination of President Palmer, retired spies Tony and Michelle, tragic tech Edward, and others. But, at least at this point, I have no plans to go back and re-watch entire seasons.  This is coming from a guy who went back and re-watched the entire 7 season run of The West Wing (with my son), all 5 seasons of The Dick Van Dyke Show and looks forward to a few years down the road of re-watching all 5 seasons of LOST in their entirety.  I also plan at some point to go back and re-live The X-Files, Picket Fences, Crime Story and probably several others.  Why such an aversion to 24?

I practically lived and breathed the show when it was on - almost as much as LOST.  I can rank my favorite seasons in order off the top of my head (5, 1, 2, 7, 8, 4, 3, 6). I know what "Is Teri died?" means, and was there when the phrase first took off.

I think it relates, in a way, to my ongoing aversion to our annual national Rip Off The Scab Day (also knows as September 11th).  Ever year on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we voluntarily re-immerse ourselves in the glamorous mourning of the events of that day.  Jason Bailey of Slate writes:

These programs and others are a part of our continuing attempt to grapple with 9/11, and they raise a simple but difficult question: Why do we keep doing this to ourselves? We watch that horrible morning play itself out again, year after year, one inevitable event after another, helplessly gasping, crying, or screaming at our televisions, knowing that nothing we think or do or say will change a thing. The second plane will crash into the second tower, which will collapse 56 minutes later, and then the first tower will collapse 29 minutes after that. Watching those buildings crumble and take the lives of thousands of Americans is something akin to watching a snuff film. Reliving it all—our last moments of cheery obliviousness, the confusion of those first reports, the utter despair of watching those buildings crumble—is borderline masochistic. Isn’t it?

I feel the same way.  While I'm all for memorials and the occasional tribute, the constant popular re-airing of the footage of that day serves as a voluntary immersion again in all the emotions of 9/11/01.  Most were negative, some were positive, all were strong.  And I think that's what keeps me from going back to 24 - I've lived that life, I've followed those characters, they've drawn me into their world.  Other than the occasional foray to watch a favorite scene again, I have no desire to rip off those scabs once again.  Let it heal.  And move on.

At the end of various episodes in which a major character died, the producers silenced the traditional ticking clock in honor of the deceased.  I think that's a good idea.



* - It would be an interesting comparison to examine the similarities between The West Wing and how it reflected the Clinton White House, moving into the Bush White House, and 24, moving from Bush to Obama.  And how those two TV series reflected and were each shaped by the person occupying the (real) White House at the time.  For 6.9 seasons of its 7 seasons, The West Wing had one duly elected and re-elected president (Jed Bartlett), and another just elected at the very end (Matt Santos).  24 had a succession of Presidents and Vice Presidents over its 8 year run - from the extremely virtuous, yet unre-electable David Palmer to the villainous Charles Logan, at least 3 others in between of different flavors.  A better political sociologist can tackle that one :)

What??? We Can't Have This...

A celebrity actually taking responsibility for the wrong things they do? And thinking of their coworkers and the people who depend on them? Scandalous!!

Sutherland to jail, but '24' OK

"24" star Kiefer Sutherland will serve 48 days in jail, but that is not going to affect production on his hit Fox series.

After reaching a deal with prosecutors, Sutherland pleaded no contest Tuesday to a charge of driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit a week ahead of his Oct. 16 arraignment.

The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office on Tuesday recommended a 48-day sentence for the actor to be served in two installments -- 18 days for the probation violation beginning Dec. 21 and 30 days for the DUI charge to be completed by July 1.

The schedule allows Sutherland to serve his time when "24" is not in production -- during the Christmas break and after the show wraps its seventh season.

"I'm very disappointed in myself for the poor judgment I exhibited recently, and I'm deeply sorry for the disappointment and distress this has caused my family, friends and co-workers on '24' and at 20th Century Fox," Sutherland said.

Now, it's no excuse for getting drunk and getting behind the wheel of a car. Sutherland's gone down in my estimation of his character just for that. But standing up for his actions and taking responsibility show he's got a little bit of maturity. I've always liked him, even though if you've ever seen or read interviews with him, he seems pretty quirky.

At Last, Our Long National Nightmare Is Finally Over

05:59:57

*bleep bloop*

05:59:58

*bleep bloop*

05:59:59

*bleep bloop*

06:00:00

*bleep barf*

Enhancing the User Experience

In order to keep up with emergent technologies, we would like to announce a breakthrough by our staff of Information Technology gully dwarves:

Inn of the Last Home will now be broadcast using Cisco Telepresence© technology.




If it's good enough for the Russian-American relations, it's good enough for me.

Separated at Birth?

If you watched 24 the other night, you were treated to see Jack Bauer be a nice big brother to autistic Brady:


As I watched, something kept gnawing at me regarding the character of Brady. No, not that he talked exactly like Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man", but that he reminded me of somebody.

Then a couple days later it hit me....(see below)












It's Knoxville's Sports Talk host and local sports writer Jimmy Hyams!

The Men and Women....and Children of CTU

Ladies and gentlemen, your new Field Ops Director at CTU:


Little Ricky Schroder from "Silver Spoons" and "The Champ" (pictured)!

But this is just the latest in a series of former child actors on "24" - consider:


Sean "Goonies" Astin was CTU OverLord that took one too many breaths last season and:


Sara "Darlene Conner" Gilbert was a CTU tech that got blowed up good in Season 2...not to mention:


Lukas Haas, the kid from "Witness" as another witness who gets wacked early in Season 4, and another innocent bystander:


C. Thomas "Ponyboy" Howell was Kim Bauer's unlucky boyfriend/shrink named, interestingly, Barry that almost took a whiff of Sentax nerve gas last season. Then there's this obscure former child actor who play a minor role on "24":


He played Ace Merrill in "Stand by Me" and,


A bloodsucker in "Lost Boys". Too bad nothing more came of his career...


Anyway, look for Corey Feldman, Kirk Cameron and Tina Yothers to make appearances in upcoming seasons...

My Life Thus Far

I'm typing this from my new work HP Laptop, delivered today, viewed on the new 19" flat-screen monitor. Mighty sweet. Laptop has wireless access and CD/DVD burner. Double sweet.


Brainyboy's team made the State Finals in his Destination Imagination competition this past Saturday. The State is in mid-April in Nashville. The Nationals/Globals, should they make it that far, are Memorial Day weekend back here in Knoxville. Ironically enough, that's the weekend of my brother's wedding in Austin, TX. Do well, BrainyBoy, just not too well....


24 and Battlestar Galactica are dead to me.


Good thing I still have Lost, The Office and 30 Rock. If Studio 60 comes back I'll be a happy camper. I haven't seen a single episode of Heroes - those of you in the know, has it progressed thus far as a good enough show to rent the season 1 DVD when it inevitably comes out in the fall?


One of my best friends is having surgery as we speak for a herniated disk in the back which will lay him up for several weeks. Please remember him and his young family in your prayers. This could be the best thing in the world for him, as he's a major workaholic and needs to take a break.


My directing job fell through. Nothing more till music directing Suessical in late April.


Atomic Horns gig on Saturday was a pretty big hit, unfortunately nothing more with them until mid-April.


What's everyone else up to?

Nature vs. Nurture

There's an age-old argument regarding how children are raised, and whether the paths they take in life are determined by their own genetic dispositions or the quality of attention and love given by their parents.

Wikipedia defines it:

Nature vs Nurture is a shorthand expression for debates about the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature") versus personal experiences ("nurture") in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits. With the development of human genetics, many important human traits have proved to be partially or mostly genetic.

Three recent media events I've witnessed brought the concept to mind and got me to thinking. I'll be as brief on their descriptions as I can.

First was the movie "Matilda" I watched with my daughter, Tink, on ABC Family last week. It's a 1996 movie based on the 1998 novel by Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach). The story is about a little girl who develops extraordinary powers controlled by extraordinary sweetness, while being raised by parents who are extraordinarily obnoxious. The first line in the movie says:

Everyone is born, but not everyone is born the same. Some will grow to be butchers, or bakers, or candlestick makers. Some will only be really good at making Jell-O salad. One way or another, though, every human being is unique, for better or for worse.

Somehow Matilda develops a fantastic intelligence, a love for books, a desire for learning, life skills, maturity and - oh yes - telekenetic powers, while growing up from birth to about age 7 in a house where her parents almost completly ignore her and are rude, obnoxious, self-centered boors. How is such a thing possible? How can a child develop his or her own sense of independence and maturity in an environment where such things are violently discouraged? Interesting question.

Next is a story few people are unfamiliar with, Harry Potter. Since being protected by his mother from evil Lord Voldemort, infant Harry was raised by his aunt and uncle, the Dursleys, who had their own pampered son. We've seen in the movies and in the books how the Dursleys didn't tell Harry of his powers and kept him basically as an indentured servant in their own home, housing him in a small room under the stairs and rarely speaking to him with any kindness whatsoever. (In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if J.K. Rowling didn't dip into Roald Dahl's bag of tricks for this living arrangement, as it's eerily similar to Matilda's family.) Somehow Harry develops an innate sense of kindness and generosity, once again independent of his aunt and uncle's personalities. Their own son Dudley is a complete doddering, doted on mess but Harry is so completely out of place he might as well not even be related.

It's interesting to note that both Harry and Matilda have supernatural abilities, which may explain part of their ability to resist the influence of their respective households. Yet I don't think even in the literary world the possession of magic powers specifically endows a character with innate "goodness". Two cases in point.

The last media example I noticed is the American TV series "24". Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland) is the knight in not-so-shining armor who has saved America time and time again from nefarious bad guys, evil-doers, terrorists, ex-lovers, former bosses and wandering daughters. This season we meet Jack's brother, Graem and his father, Philip. Both men are high up in a multi-national corporation that has brokered nuclear weapons and nerve gas to terrorists, assassinated ex-presidents and controlled a sitting president. I believe it's safe to say these are not nice men. So how can ultimate good guy Jack grow up in a house where his father and brother were so mustache-twirlingly evil and not see what's going on, much less stay good himself?

The Bauer story is a much grayer area (no pun intended) than the two previous tales, because we've seen Jack use methods that would make even the worst "good guys" turn pale. Decapitation, shock torture, cold-blooded killing - none of these tactics would be considered "good guy" tactics, yet since Jack's motives seem to be (mostly) pure and done when they had to be done, he is forgiven. Only brother Graem, under Jack's torture in this past week's episode, reminds Jack that they are the same - two men fighting for what they believe to the best of their ability. They just happen to be on two different sides - neither good or evil. Just grey. This may be what Graem thinks, but Jack's loyalty to President Palmer I and his devotion to his friends, wife and others speaks volumes for the character Graem lacks.

Speculation abounds that Jack's deceased mother must have been a saint to counterbalance the influence of his father. That remains to be seen... There is no evidence at this point to suggest Jack's early home life was anything but ideal - perhaps later this season more details will emerge, in fact it's very likely we'll learn a lot more about Jack's history with his father and brother. I doubt, however, his home life was anything like Matilda's or Harry's - if Jack had been kept under the stairs, he would have broken out years before. Yet, Graem's assertions aside, there's no doubt Jack Bauer is a fundamentally very different person than his father and brother.

So there are three fictional examples of people brought up in homes where the families are horrid yet the children turn out to be moral and upright citizens. How is this possible? How do these children actually learn what it means to be loyal, to be kind, to be fair and understanding and patient and studious when nothing of the sort is taught to them? In fact, the opposite is taught. Matilda's parents hate reading, love TV, are crooks and can't believe she's a prodigy. Harry's aunt and uncle fear his his witchcraft heritage, ignore him, insult him and try to keep him from learning who he is. Jack's past, as I say, is a bit murkier but it's safe to say his father and brother were completely business and money-oriented, and while there's obviously a strong connection between Jack and Philip (witnessed by "The Look" Philip gives Jack during the torture, in which Jack backs down guiltily), it can't be a connection with a lot of love and mutual respect.

It's easy to explain these away as fictions - in fiction you can do whatever you want. 24 frequently plays fast and loose with logic (from Central to Southern California in 5 minutes???) and if Roald Dahl or J.K. Rowling wanted their creations to sprout third arms, know all the verses to "Rocky Top" or have a small colony of gnomes living under their bed that wear purple stockings and recite bedtime stories, that's all within their power. Do the family, "nature vs. nurture" assertions translate to real life, though?

Here's the real question: If one is to accept as an axiom the possibility a "good" child can grow up in a "bad" family, is it equally possible that a "bad" child can grow up in a "good" family? Is a child's innate, genetic nature independent of whatever influence a parent might have on them? Or do they have any actual choice in how they turn out?

I consider ours a "good" family. My wife and I love each other and don't fight too much :) We have two smart kids that are kind to others and mostly kind to each other. Laura and I are educated, teach right and wrong and Tink and BrainyBoy generally respond positively to discipline and instruction like most kids do. They're smart, creative, talented... they're not exposed to cruelty or ridicule except on an abstract evening-news scale. I have no real fears either will turn out to be anything different than well-adjusted, happy members of society.

But I've seen too many instances where families may also think they're "good families." They provide for their kids monetary needs. They give them opportunities for education, sports, extra-curricular activities, amusement - anything a kid might want. But is the emotional connection there? One but has to turn a jaded eye to deep West Knox County and the million-dollar homes with the business-obsessed dads and the status-obsessed moms (and vice versa). Witness the debate over relieving overcrowding at Farragut High School by rezoning Farragut kids to the new high school being built nearby - the outcry from Farragut parents that our kids might have to leave the safe halls of FSH and mix with their kids (the heathens at Karns and Bearden also being rezoned to alleviate overcrowding) was too much for the status-conscious to take. That kind of attitude reflects a greater desire for status and superiority than truly looking to create the best possible school environment for their children.

It's those kinds of things - nurturing aspects that on the surface seem commendable but when you dig deeper turn out to be selfish on the part of the parents, and don't care for the kids at all - that present a danger when raising kids. I go through the same thing at times, wondering time after time if my playing in a band or music directing plays takes precious time away from my kids to satisfy my own creative needs. While it brings in extra money and keeps me sane, does it always justify the time away? It requires constant attention and vigilance to ensure one's kids are being raised the best way possible, with enough love and caring and attention to who they are, not who you are.

I am concerned about all the kids whose parents don't provide the right environment for them in the home. Whose own situation in life is more important to them than their kids'... Maybe it's possible for a Matilda or Harry or Jack to come out of a home where the parents are neglectful, uncaring or cruel. I certainly hope so.

But it could equally be just a fiction. I'd love to think that some kids in bad homes will turn out good. It's up to us, though, to make positive childhoods a reality.

And In Economic News...

Stock in Bluetooth wireless communication devices took an unexpected dip yesterday in heavy trading. Analysts contribute the fall to a projected decrease in overall nationwide usage, mainly due to the death of this man:


Graem Bauer, 45, was discovered dead yesterday of an apparent drug overdose. His brother Jack and father Philip was unavailable for comment.