Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion

Documentaries are a great way to understand geo-politics.  A documentary will usually explain the historical context that led up to the current situation, more so than what you can find in the news.  Reading articles and research will do the same thing, but who has time for that?  What’s more, the visuals and real-life footage brings a much more coherent understanding of the situation.

Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion brings the situation in Tibet up close and personal.  It is one thing to know that China is in Tibet and another thing to understand that China is destroying all that is Tibet.  It is a film well-worth your time.

The movie reminded me of the Jewish diaspora, it reminded me of what we did to the American Indians.

The film brings up the question of how do the spiritually evolved deal with those who aren’t?  Can you really fight a war of resistance using forgiveness and love?

The film reminds us that whatever our national/political/economic suffering happens to be pales in comparison to what others are going through in other countries like Tibet. It reminds us to be thankful for our own blessings and to care about others.

TV: Breaking Bad

You know you often think about different kinds of sins and how maybe doing such a sin could be justified in various circumstances?  Like murder, from the commandment, “thou shalt not kill.” War and self-defense becomes a justification, but it’s not okay to kill your neighbor even if they do party ’til 3am on weeknights.  But in your mind, you come up with these little plots of how to do it, even though you would never actually in real life do the deed.

Even though there is the commandment, “thou shalt not steal,” sometimes you can’t help but to figure out how to pull off a heist that would net you millions of dollars.  Of course, you don’t actually do it, but you come up with all the justifications that might make it okay.

Well, Breaking Bad, is about the justification to break the commandment that says, “thou shalt not make or sell crystal meth.”  This shows comes up with a reasonable and justifiable reason to do just that.  But instead of just thinking about it as a creative mental exercise, the main character in the show goes through with the plan.

This show takes the viewer step by step down the path of destruction.  I’ll tell you something, I don’t like shows or movies about drugs, and I rarely watch them, because quite frankly drugs and the people who take them are sad, pathetic and boring.  What’s more, there is not one single character in the show who I particularly like or could even remotely identify with:  the characters and their interaction is that believable.  Yet, in spite of these two elements, I am absolutely gripped by this program.  It does not create an adrenaline rush like 24, and sometimes is not fun to watch; and yet I find myself caring about these characters that are not particularly likable.  Good programming!

Television: Baggage

Baggage is the best show on TV.  It even beats out Grey’s Anatomy, which doesn’t say much. Although it appears the nice lesbian couple are breaking up so one can leave the show and go work in Africa or in real life do other gigs or — more likely —  remain unemployed.  I wonder if actors who lose their role qualify for unemployment, or is their job considered contract labor and would not qualify?

Oh yeah, Baggage is a game show created from the sick mind of Jerry Springer.  It’s a dating show where a beautiful woman or handsome male gets to choose from among three potential dates.  Before selecting, the dates reveal three pieces of baggage about themselves: small, medium and large.  The baggage range from things like: I eat my skin, I don’t have any testicles, I slept with my girlfriend’s mother, I only bathe once a week, I’m a porn star, I’ve slept with over 300 people, I go both ways, I pick my nose, I gambled away my house…you name it, people have all kinds of baggage.  What’s more these people are revealing some pretty big baggage on national television, well the Game Show Network.

I sit there and try and think which of my baggage I would be willing to reveal to an entire nation of game show viewers.  Hmm, I’m not even willing to reveal my baggage through the anonymity of my blog that nobody actually reads.

It’s fun to try and predict who the picker will select.  This show has a twist, the medium baggage is used to eliminate one of the potential dates.  The picker must select from three pieces of baggage without knowing to whom it belongs.  At this point, the picker may inadvertently kick out somebody they may have been interested in.  Now it’s down to two and the biggest baggage is revealed.

I’ve noticed something interesting.  When a man is the picker, he always selects the woman who was introduced first (unless he inadvertently kicked her out during the anonymous baggage round).  Quite frankly, I haven’t watched the show enough to determine if this is always the case without exception, which seems impossible.  But ever since I noticed this phenomena, I have only seen one exception and her baggage was so big only an idiot would have picked her.  Women, on the other hand, will select a date regardless of the order he was introduced.

Then comes yet another twist to the story.  Once the date has been selected, s/he gets to hear a nasty piece of baggage about the one who picked them, and then can choose whether or not to continue with the date.

It’s a great show if you like psychology and trying to figure out how people will react to things.  You can see who is insecure and who isn’t.  You can see who has boundaries and who is desperate.  Fascinating stuff.