Grief in The X-Files

Jul 282008
 

I finally saw the new X-Files movie today. I’ve been in a Reiki class all weekend, so today was the first day I could get out to see it. It wasn’t what I expected. I was hoping for the old wonderful feel I would get from quick witted, funny dialog and the intrigue of bizarre cases. What they gave us was a movie about grief.

To start, I should mention that I’d forgotten about the abomination that were seasons 8 & 9. I saw them when they originally aired, but while they were on, I mostly raged at the TV (maybe even threw a few things at it too). I hated them so much that I did my best to ignore that they ever existed.

This movie picks up years after season 9 ended. Mulder is still wanted by the FBI and while in hiding, sits in a room clipping stories from newspapers and taping them to the wall. He mourns the loss of his quest. Scully is a doctor at a Catholic hospital. She mourns the loss of her son (having given him up for adoption).

In a rather illogical fashion, the FBI needs Mulder to help them find one missing agent. They are willing to forgive everything that’s happened basically to get him on the case. I mean really, people, one agent goes missing and that’s reason enough for Mulder to come on board? It was a flimsy attempt at giving him purpose and a connection to the FBI again. And the agent, played by Amanda Peet, seemed to really only want him on board because of the hint of a school girl crush. *eye roll*

Meanwhile over in the land of doctors, Scully is obsessing over the care of a boy, who happens to be around the age her son, William, is. She aims to find a treatment for him, even through radical methods. She does continue to help Mulder on the case some too though.

The FBI case itself was a dull attempt at Frankenstein testing being done on dogs and humans. Even the snowy setting upstaged that plotline. The plot was really more about the grieving process Scully and Mulder are going through. They’ve lost so much. They question if their relationship works and if they will be able to make it together. It’s unsettling seeing them so broken.

From the bleak, snow covered setting to the to the sadness that permeated from the characters, I really can see this movie as nothing more than a look at grief. If this is what they intend to keep bringing us with future X-Files movies, I would ask that they just stop. It’s breaking my heart. I miss the fun of X-Files. The gloom isn’t working. I think the entire franchise would have been better suited by ending with Season 7. Mulder is abducted. Scully finds out she’s pregnant. The Lone Gunmen and all my favorite characters are still alive. Tra la la. It’s over. It would have been a great ending indeed. Where they’ve since taken things… I choose to disbelieve…failed saving throw, please.

Owls!

Jul 182008
 

I always keep an eye out for when new owl photos appear on Bruce Yolton’s Urban Hawks blog. All his photos are wonderful to see, but it’s the owls I gravitate toward most…naturally. :P

Today, his photos are featured in The New York Times: In Urban Wilderness, Tracking Hoots in the Night There is also an audio slideshow that includes some of his photos too.

My favorite image to date has to be that one featured in the article with the three owls. So, that’s that. Head on over and check out the pics.

Enjoy! :)

Simon’s Cat ‘TV Dinner’

Jul 182008
 

A new Simon’s Cat animation went up the other day. I’ve been watching it a lot ever since and so I share. Hah! Enjoy. :)

Daily life, etc.

Jul 172008
 

Yes, I added a new category called Daily Life. No worries. I won’t yammer on about personal stuff. I plan on keeping it to keeping it to things like current reading, writing, and web projects, plus just general amusements here and there.

I think it will help swing this blog on over to a more casual tone, in effect making it easier for me to keep up with. If I wait until I finish reading a book to talk about it, I’ll rarely get back to posting about it—especially if I’ve already slipped into reading the next in a series. As is, I already have a habit of starting too many books at the same time. (See my current reading list in the sidebar and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.)

Plus, there are manuscripts to read too. I can’t help it. I try to not take on too many of those to read, especially since I read slowly. Much too slowly. But as it is, we are currently in the process of starting a new season of books. The way it works for us on the marketing side of things is that we start by having the editors present their titles for that season to us. And wouldn’t you know it? I already jotted down two manuscripts I wanted to see. Steampunk. It couldn’t be helped, you see?

As to my current reading list, I just started reading The Somnambulist. I’m about 50 pages into it and am already enjoying it a lot. :) There are some rather quirky characters that have already endeared themselves to me. I’ve had that Dresden book on my currently reading list for a while and really, I should have finished it by now. But here’s the thing, it’s got horror film characters in it. I love horror, but it feels like I should be reading it in the Fall. Or at least if it’s a little cooler out. So, although I’m a chunk of the way into it, and loving the story so far, I think I would enjoy it more if I read it with the right setting.

And since this ramble is already long, I’ll just head right into Hoody-Hoo!  I’ve been reading a lot of Knights of the Dinner Table lately. I’ve plowed through Bundles of Trouble volumes 1-21 and am currently reading volume 22. They only have 23 volumes out at the moment, which means I just may have a meltdown after I read that one. I don’t read the monthly magazine since, to put it bluntly, it sucks. I have no interest in the peripheral mumbo jumbo. I just want to read the comics!

All right, all right. Guess I’ll stop there.

Later! :)