Fall Television Preview

So kind of in response to Jack's post with a television preview, I have decided to list the shows that I am looking forward to and why. Unfortunately, with school (most of my classes are nights), work and studying, I doubt I will be able to be religious about it. But with a combination of iTunes, downloads, and DVR - I hope to set with keeping up my favorite shows. Thus, instead of placing them by date/time, I have ranked them as best as I could with my interest.

1. Battlestar Galactica - I blogged about this show previously, but I cannot emphasize what a good show this is. It meets the scifi genre but does not go overboard. In fact, there is a distinct effort to focus on the drama and writing rather than trying to explain or create geeky things. The concept of life after the apocalypse is fascinating and the survival, military, and war nature of the show provide many compelling story lines from the strain of endless combat missions, the perils of a new planet, resistance versus occupation and more. Not to mention, the writers have done an amazing job creating believable characters. Yes, none of them are A-list stars and some of them clearly are outmatched by some of the more brillant actors/actresses they work with, but the writing is amazing. It inspires, it challenges, and it keeps the story moving and changing so that there is always a drive to know what happens next. However, this drive is less of the thriller endings employed in 24 and Prison Break - but being so drawn into a story and characters, that you want to know whats next and not hows it going to end as in the former.

2. Scrubs -This is one of my favorite comedies and its dirty little secret was that it made me start thinking about medicine as a career. The show follows the antics of a new doctor with a vivid imagination and active inner monologue. The humor is geeky and sometimes slapstick but it is a unique show as it does not have a laugh track and leaves nothing sacred. And yet, it also strives to have a good message. The fascinating part to me is with my limited experience with medicine and skills, this show is actually very accurate, does not try and pump up the drama with extraordinary cases, but focuses more on the everyday lives and not the adrenaline pounding scenes.


3. Veronica Mars - I have only seen the first season and I have to say that I was tossed around on the whirlwind. The show managed to keep the season long mystery that provided the thrill of wanting to know how it ends and whodunnit?, but the characters again in this show are drawing. The draw to this show other than the plot is Kristin Bell and her character Veronica Mars. She plays the teen detective who with wit, charm and brains manages to stay strong in the face of personal challenge. But at the end, it is a detective show with an amazing arc. I cannot wait to catch up on the second season DVDs, but I doubt I will be able to follow the third season live.

4. House - The beauty of this show is House. He is an arrogant asshole doctor who really drives the chemistry. Some of the discussions and procedures do make me cringe when I watch them inaccurately, but the enjoyable aspect of the show is that it does not have many connecting plots. Thus, each episode can be view independently at any time rather than consecutively like many of these other shows.

5. Lost - I think this is the show that has met the hype. It is amazing watching it and then realizing that I could not explain or say anything to my little brother who had only seen season 1. The show moves rapidly, demands a high intelligence, and is so intricately plotted that it really drives the viewer to keep watching. I would like to see more of the survival nature of being marooned on the island, but I cannot wait for its return.

6. Prison Break - I missed this show while it aired, but caught up with it over the last week. It is amazing. The show does not forget that its protagonists are cons, but has created a very compelling cast of characters - with varying shades of grey, an overwhelming conspiracy, and has shown a committment (as seen in the 2nd season premeire to change things dramatically and not be wary about bloodshed.) I highly recommend it. In many ways, it is a show very similar to 24 with a lot of time factors, tense moments and plot points. However, 24 is constrained by the 24 hours, whereas Prison Break effectively utilizes the increased time and avoids what I dread in 24 - the twist in the last 5 minutes of every episode. The show as my little brother say is very "gangsta".

7. 24 - Which brings us to 24. This show is great. I do not know if I could do a season, with a week between episodes. I missed last season, cannot wait catch up, but am really looking forward to seeing where they are going with. Oh and Jack Bauer is a badass.

8. My Name is Earl/Office/Everybody Hates Chris/How I Met your Mother - four comedies that I have only caught one or two episodes of. Would like to catch up, have no idea when. BTW - when did Neal Patrick Harris become a badass.

10. The Unit/Numb3rs/Bones - two CBS dramas and a Fox Drama that are great to catch when I can. But that do not have to be followed religiously like the ones above. These are like the Yuengling of TV shows, good enough on a regular basis, but I would not miss it or get it if I was treating myself.

New Shows that I am considering adding:

1. Psych - started watching it over the summer. Humorous. Witty. Worth it.

2. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - will wait to reserve judgement. Has extreme potential.

3. Heroes - SAA

4. Jericho - could be very very much up my alley as far as interests. Read Pat Frank's Alas Babylon.

5. Vanished - saw the premeire. Interested but will not go out of my way to follow.

6. Standoff - has Ron Livingston who I like as an actor. Could be good, then again, this has the potential to be awful.

brainpower in the use of the powers of good

so i consider myself to have a great memory. i remember names, conversations, subjects and facts. granted - i dont have a picture perfect memory. if i remember the lyric of a song, it is probably not the exact words but generally the overall meaning. if i remember something i read in a textbook, i generally grab the overall meaning of the passage rather than the exact terminology. (this tendency does not work for me in subjects that call for blatant memorization like molecular biology, but it works wonders in history, politics and those fields.) in medicine - the thing i am not looking forward to is the blatant memorization needed. i know that i can talk to anybody, exude confidence and deal with emergent situations very quickly. but being able to exactly cite the dose, side effects or other minutiae is going to suck. now, most doctors do not memorize that crap either. they walk into the room after the looking at the chart already filled out by the nurse, do their assessment, then walk out of the room and look up in their PDA or textbooks or even google search it to find out treatments. now sure - i like this - i dont think it is possible or safe for one person to try and recollect everything from their memory. however, the really scary thing is that many of the residents i see have to do this for simple stuff. my example of this is this man with uncontrolled a-fibb - a very readily recognized cardiac dysrhytmia that needs to be treated quickly. the attending has diagnosed it, called for the drugs and is waiting for it. then this resident (off service - Internal Medicine i think) walks in sees that it is a cool case, takes the 12 lead and proceeds to break out his calipers (a measuring tool that is very useles in the ER and really is useless even upstairs unless you are a cardiologist and you have to do all your diagnosing by a 12 lead) and a book on rhythm interpretation and tries to make the argument that this might be something else. to which the attending laughed.

i bring up my memory to highlight one of my strongest skills. i am an encyclopedia of pop culture/entertainment information. you know that game you play where someone names a movie, the next person must name an actor in that movie, followed by another person naming another movie that actor was thus creating a string of movie, actor, movie, actor till someone gets stumped. i am very good at that game. in fact, the times when i play it - while on camping trips, i often get so frustrated with the other participants and start playing by myself. i do not know how i become such a repository of information for when i first played this game on my frosh orientation camping trip, i did not half the actors. but i guess it was through the magic of the internet and easily downloaded movies that i have been able to really see a lot. now having a blockbuster membership for 3 movies at a time doesnt hurt either. currently i have Patton, Freeway, and Taxi Driver out.

i also have a freakish knowledge of pop culture. i may not know a lot of the old stuff such as music of the 60s and 70s, but i know way too much of current people. i am in no way a magazine reader and stay as far away from the tabloids as possible, but i retain information about what movies people are in, what movies are coming out, what came out and how it was rated and what i thought about it very readily.

and yet i can come across as a very serious person. or at least i think i do to some people.

my blog motto

i find it amazing that a fair number of hits to my website are for people searching for "losers always whine about doing their best...". is there really that many people who search that phrase? and why am i so high up there? or are they weeding through dozens of samples and get to my blog. i cannot get an accurate view of it, nor can my friends, since google is super smart and automatically places close web pages (ie web pages you have visited, etc) at the top of the search list.

now the quote is from the Rock. Which is quite possibly the greatest action movie ever. It was the first movie directed by Michael Bay who had largely done music videos before. Moreover, it has everything. A thriller plot, a car chase scene, big explosions, undeniable tension (if the standoff between the marines and the SEALS in the prison shower is quite possibly just awesomely tense), and got a good bit of quippy humor. Frankly it is a shining candidate for Most Awesomely Action movie.

Now many movies follow in the Rock's line and are really little more of a music video with a longer plot. I like to term these movies Awesomely Bad. They are awesome to watch and can be watched repeatedly and repeatedly. Another characteristic movie would be Top Gun. The rewatch value of Top Gun is simply amazing though i usually fast forward both the homoerotic volleyball sign and unnecessarily long sex scene. Independence Day also fits into this mold. however, independence day is filled with multiple cringe moments like the "up yours" that played really well in theaters but is tough to stomach. However, Bill Pullman's patriotic speech is good. (hmm, another topic for another day are best movie speeches).

My final overall comment on movies is my Vietnam War primer through movies. The Vietnam war was the first american war following in the modern age of movies and really show where we are today in view of society's interpretation of Vietnam then and now. Please tell me of movies that I am missing:
(these are the movies I feel people should watch to grasp the war.)

Start with:

The Green Berets - this is a classic John Wayne movie made at the beginning of the war that was very feel good and hero worshipping, uncharacteristic of all the latter movies.

Apocalypse Now - this was among the first dark protrayals of Vietnam on film following the young officer (Martin Sheen) as he goes into the jungle. It really shows the warped nature of the war.

Platoon - this has more combat than the previous movie and follows a young well educated soldier as he descends into the hell of vietnam with his two sergeants "fighting for his soul"

Full Metal Jacket - well known, warped but classic in both its boot camp and its later combat scenes.

Born on the 4th of July - about a soldier's return.

First Blood - an explosive show of the disconnect encountered on the soldier's return

Good Morning Vietnam - a humorous yet deep looking movie at Vietnam's non combat roles for soldiers.

Finally - We Were Soldiers - Mel Gibson's revisit to Vietnam done in the early 21st century that paints the war again in a patriotic light akin to Green Berets and far from Platoon.

Enjoy

10 things i hate about people

1. people who put up AIM away messages and still talk to people behind their away message. its a total abuse of the away message system.

2. people who pop their collars. seriously why? and even worse are the guys who wear a popped collar shirt under their popped collar over shirt.

3. people who grub for grades. if you didnt do well, you didnt do well. unless there is a legitimate error, the reason you didnt get the grade you wanted was because you probably didnt get the grade you deserved. i'm not saying you cant complain about your grades, but dont whine to the professor/teacher about it.

4. the whole tip system in general. i hate how tips are expected at restaurants. if i'm paying, i should expect good service and not have to leave a bribe to get it. if i want to give a tip for exceptional service, that should be the only time i add extra money.

5. people who actually buy faded and torn jeans for $70 bucks to get that worn look. seriously.

6. people who cannot enjoy things sober. did you really need to drink to go to that concert? did you really need to pregame that dance? you should use drinking as a means not an end of itself.
7. people who come to class, work, or social events while really sick. take the day off rest, get better, dont infect everyone around you.

8. most people who have blackberries and other mobile email devices. you really are not that important. and do you have to wear it on your belt??? and leave the sound alert on?

9. people who talk to you only to sell something in their business. especially on airplanes. if you want to have a conversation, i'll talk to you. dont try and sell your business to me. tell me somethign interesting, anything.

10. people who read blogs but dont leave comments.

woah there

so yesterday was the kind of day that you get the patients and calls that reaffirms your desire to stick it in in EMS and medicine in general. Without bogging this blogging down with details, I participated as low man on the totem pole in a level 1 trauma while at work, lead a COPDer call in respiratory failure, and actually got a save on a code (pulse to the hospital, got him to the cath lab, but he passed away last night).

which brings me to my short topic of the day, i slowly see myself descending into tool dom. i am going to be focused on grades and obsessed with getting A in both my upcoming post bacc program and whenever i end up in med school.

now the saving factor is that it will all be relative. i think. i hope. then again a good friend of mine from high school, who was as un-asian as you can be. a huge slacker and yet when he headed off to a guaranteed med program, he has become asian. like i think even his eyes got squintier. (low blow, ouch)

so is there hope for me? how can i save myself from becoming a pre med tool and still do well?

what i cant say in an application essay

So i feel like everyone has some sort of justification for their life. Everyone has some ethos, principles, or guiding principles. I think it gives meaning to their life. But i dont think some has to realize their dreams or even adhere to their principles to have them. In fact, a significant aspect of the adult psyche is justifying our lives and choices against what we hope it would be.

My justification is based out of a childhood fascination that has continued into my adulthood. I find it weird to talk about as I truly believe it offers a competent lens through which I judge my life. I stumbled on this part of my psyched over the past year when I have been truly on my own and grappling with what I am going to do with the rest of my life.

I measure my utility in life by what skills I could bring to the survival of a group when faced with trying and dire circumstances (ie. the apocalypse, nuclear holocaust, plane crash). To survive after such an incident requires knowledge of multiple practical subjects and creativity in divining solutions that I aspire to. I know that I am not the only one to be drawn to the subject. The success of Lost (about survival after a plane crash) and Battlestar Galacatica (a scifi epic about survival after an apocalyptic war) suggest that I am not alone. One TV show that I really enjoyed in its brief run was Earth 2 about the colonization of a new planet. But my infatuation continues into other mediums as well. The Stand (about survival after a virus), Alas, Babylon (about survival after a nuclear war between the US and Russia), Swiss Family Robinson (about survival after a ship wreck), and Battlefield Earth (about survival after an Alien invasion) are among the books I enjoy reading over and over and over again.

The unique combination of practical skills and knowledge in medicine, engineering, leadership, and other aspects propels me to diversify my studies. I wonder sometimes whether my recent decision to enter medicine stems from an attempt to mimic the characteristics of the character Jack on Lost. There he is a doctor who is propelled to the leadership of his fellow plane crash survivors purely on the basis that he is a doctor. I also wonder wehther that is why I have an interest in joining the military. I have no real desire to experience comabt or kill people, but the military does combine a lot of technical skills within the context of leadership. Plus the military is the primary agency that would act after any such event.

Now I have to say that I am not obsessed with survivalism. I do not have a fall out shelter built nor have I stockpiled food, medicine and water. But I have to preface this with a big yet. My internet searches have revealed this useful wiki about Survivalism . And I find that my dreams are part of a larger movement. I doubt I will join but it is very interesting.

Maybe this will help you understand who I am.

Johnny Cash

As a child of immigrants and not a good surveyor of music, I readily admit that I am nowhere near close to having heard many of the classics.

But thanks to Hollywood through Walk the Line I have discovered Johnny Cash. Couple that movie with the music video "Hurt" that Johnny Cash made in 2003 and I have really really begun to enjoy his music.

I even bought a CD of his from iTunes and I dont buy music.

I guess I really like his story. The story is so ordinary and he comes across as a genuine person and not a made for the movies biopic. His music is of course good, but the story behind it is inspiring.

Watch the movie, watch the music video and tell me your thoughts.