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Jim A.

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I will throw in another show that I bet no one has heard of:

Dae Jang Geum . . . If you watch it, you will have to read subtitles, which is not hard to get used to. Also, understand that the original Korean is more poetic and the subtitles sometimes imperfectly translate it, making it too short or altering the meaning slightly. I don't speak Korean, but a good friend of mine does, so I benefited from explanations when this was happening. However, it turns out to be a minor flaw, because the meaning of all the dialogue is eminently clear from the context of the story.

Much else can be said about this wonderful series, which I will do. In the meantime, I commend it to readers of this Forum.

Based on your recommendation, I purchased the first season of this show. I've now watched 6 episodes (in two nights). It is a wonderful story. It takes a while to get used to the Korean context, in which the whole universe revolves around pleasing the royal house. But that is just background for the life and character of Jang Geum. She makes the best of the world she is born into.

I was surprised that there were fully five episodes with Jang Geum as a little girl of 10 or so. But, by the time I got to the sixth episode, I found myself wishing the whole series would be about the little girl, as she is such a winsome, sweet, and bright young lady. Nevertheless, I look forward to developing a similar regard for the adult Jang Geum.

I also agree that the subtitles are not a problem at all. I like hearing the actual actors voices, as you can understad a lot just by tone of voice. Some of the translations were obviously off, as you mentioned. I saw one comment translated as "She thinks she's all that!" As if 16th century Korean girls spoke like modern American teenagers. But it is easy to ignore such anachronisms.

Thank you for the recommendation.

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Topliner,

All I can really say is that I am jealous that you get the pleasure of seeing Dae Jang Geum for the first time. As for the young Jang Geum, I too fell in love with her. She is a remarkable, sweet little actress and the perfect casting choice for that role. Her incredible intelligence just seems to pop out of her big forehead. You wonder whether the adult Jang Geum measures up to her younger self. All I can say is watch and see!

Feel free to email me privately if you wish to discuss further.

Best regards,

GB

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I'm glad to see someone mention Dead Like Me. I purchased the first two seasons and it sucks that there won't be a third.

LOST!

House

American Idol (I just get sucked in...*cries for Danny Noriega*)

Tom and Jerry

South Park

Family Guy

A Different World

I Love Lucy

CSI: Miami

Cosby Show

Seinfeld

Friends

30 Rock

The Office (American version)

(All the old cartoons from Nickelodeon are awesome: Rocko's Modern Life, Ah Real Monsters, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Doug, Angry Beavers, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Ren and Stimpy, etc. Also, Pinky and the Brain and Animaniacs and Bonkers and the original Power Rangers and Bugs Bunny)

Also, recently I was turned on to a cartoon called Snagglepuss. There were a few episodes of it on youtube and I thought it was absolutely hilarious, but I cannot find a DVD of it for the life of me. :(

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House

There's a scene where he's speaking with students and they insist they made a good guess as to the answer. House responds with an assertion that a solution exists, whether they thought of it or not. There are 100+ other moments like that but in general I love the fact that reason and truth trumps everything when it comes to medical life or death.

Futurama (better than The Simpsons... /ducks)

South Park

The Office (US and UK versions both are good)

Angel (and to a lesser degree Buffy and Firefly)

National Geo/Discovery/History Channel shows that don't deal with aliens or our certain death due to global warming

Twilight Zone (B&W version)

Night Court

M*A*S*H (early ones, used to love show more before realization of leftest BS)

Seinfeld

Scrubs

NYPD Blue (earlier the better)

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I don't care what everyone says, I really really like Lost.

I do too. Season before last, they started to lose me, then last season was kinda boring, but this season is really heating up and they are answering some questions, finally!

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I own Season 3 on DVD, but I've yet to watch it. I really hate watching it when it's on TV because of all the commercial breaks. Plus, I always forget when it's on. BUT...I've always loved Lost. It's just so exciting.

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I do too. Season before last, they started to lose me, then last season was kinda boring, but this season is really heating up and they are answering some questions, finally!

Yeah, I think they planned everything out (the best they can, they have to deal with annoying producers, and actors who keep leaving and coming back). This season is supposed to be the second to last, so you can see that it's all building up towards something and some of the story lines are concluding. It's still entertaining to me, and I see value in it. Good written, good acting, good plot, good setting...

I don't know why people have such a bad attitude about the show. (Actually I have my guesses, but I have a feeling someone is going to jump in here and make a huge list of complaints, so I'll lay the bait).

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Firefly

House

Two and a half men

Flip that House

Mythbusters

BSG

Jericho

Heroes

Daily Planet (Canadian Science Show)

Mike Duffy Live (Canadian Politics/Political commentary)

Documentaries

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Yeah, I think they planned everything out (the best they can, they have to deal with annoying producers, and actors who keep leaving and coming back). This season is supposed to be the second to last, so you can see that it's all building up towards something and some of the story lines are concluding. It's still entertaining to me, and I see value in it. Good written, good acting, good plot, good setting...

I don't know why people have such a bad attitude about the show. (Actually I have my guesses, but I have a feeling someone is going to jump in here and make a huge list of complaints, so I'll lay the bait).

I'm sure Nicholas Provenzo will soon be writing a column which tells us that Lost is absurd, evil, and irrational because they chose to name a character after David Hume, rather than Ayn Rand.

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I'm sure Nicholas Provenzo will soon be writing a column which tells us that Lost is absurd, evil, and irrational because they chose to name a character after David Hume, rather than Ayn Rand.

Yeah, I know. Or something along the lines of "THIS STUFF DOENST HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE THEREFORE IT IS IRRATIONAL TO ENJOY IT!" The character named after Hume isn't the main character though, so it's not really giving Hume a front and center.

That's another thing I like about lost, all the literally and cultural references. They mention a lot of stuff that's ignored in other shows. You can tell a lot of thought went into making this show instead of something like "We need something to appeal to Audience X and we need to dumb this down because they don't like to think and put a lot of sex and in there to keep Audience X's attention and let them know it's cool because it involves sex!"

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I'm sure Nicholas Provenzo will soon be writing a column which tells us that Lost is absurd, evil, and irrational because they chose to name a character after David Hume, rather than Ayn Rand.

I'm taken aback by this statement, considering how arbitrary and nonsensical it is. I'm curious as to what you base this upon, and specifically what article of Provenzo's you are referring to.

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I'm taken aback by this statement, considering how arbitrary and nonsensical it is. I'm curious as to what you base this upon, and specifically what article of Provenzo's you are referring to.

I've criticized his movie reviews before, because I find them all to be ridiculous. Firstly, I have never once seen him give a positive review to a movie. They are uniformly negative. Two of my favorite examples:

A Beautiful Mind: Bad movie, because the hero is broken and defeated at the end.

Reply: Did we watch the same movie? John Nash was schizophrenic, but overcame his disease and won the freakin' Nobel Prize in economics...by using only the power of his own mind, and completely shunning recommendations that he drug himself. He didn't want to stop his hallucinations, if it meant that he had to give up his extraordinary gift for mathematics, so he used his own mental abilities to overcome his troubles instead.

Saving Private Ryan: The protagonists are on an altruistic mission.

Reply: A fact which they complain about the entire length of the movie. The whole time, they lament the fact that it's bullshit that they should sacrifice their own men for the sake of another.

Generic Oscar complaint: All recent Best Picture winners (except LOTR) feature defeated protagonists. If I recall correctly, he included Bravheart and Gladiator. In both cases, the protagonists win. It also happens that the chief protagonist dies. In Braveheart, this is something called "historical accuracy." In Gladiator, it's called "realism," but shouldn't matter anyway since he dies after liberating Rome from a despot.

There are other of his reviews (V for Vendetta) that I disagree with, but won't go into detail. His problem is that he criticizes the negative aspects of movies (which is fine), but seems to hold the opinion that nothing can redeem a movie that has a single bad idea in it. And we wonder why so many people consider Objectivism to be a cult. It's because some of its most prominent intellectuals have this mindset where, if something isn't in 100% agreement with Objectivism, it is garbage and should be completely shunned. That is the behavior of religious fanatics.

I will not trouble myself to find these particular reviews, but I know they're out there. If you're interested, I'm sure you can find them on capmag.com.

Yeah, I know. Or something along the lines of "THIS STUFF DOENST HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE THEREFORE IT IS IRRATIONAL TO ENJOY IT!" The character named after Hume isn't the main character though, so it's not really giving Hume a front and center.

That's another thing I like about lost, all the literally and cultural references. They mention a lot of stuff that's ignored in other shows. You can tell a lot of thought went into making this show instead of something like "We need something to appeal to Audience X and we need to dumb this down because they don't like to think and put a lot of sex and in there to keep Audience X's attention and let them know it's cool because it involves sex!"

I've actually been pleased with the fact that the show does not rely on sex appeal. I've watched every episode and can only count 2 sex scenes, one of which was clearly intended as a major character development, rather than a peep show. There also aren't a lot of big-breasted girls running around in bikinis...not that I don't enjoy such visuals, but I'm glad that there's a show that relies on plot and character development, instead of sex.

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  • 2 weeks later...

besides those two cartoons i used to watch law and order, the simpsons (earlier the better, trash after season 10), i did enjoy dead like me a lot when i was that depressed teenager, I love tragic funness. Got hooked on 24 a couple of times. Documentaries, I used to really like "connections" and histroy/technology shows but I don't watch tv that often (well don't have one actually, not that i'm proud of it).

But again, don't you see the "deep" moral lessons of almoast each King of the Hill and South Park episodes. I mean c'mon. I can only call Hank Hill a "rational" conservative (if there was such thing) and South Park shouldnt be dismissed for being improperly tagged "Libertarian". Actually South PArk's been HEROIC in the free speech resistence.

furthermore, do you think King of the Hill might approach Romantic Realism?

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Has any one seen the HBO mini series "John Adams"? There are so very few good movies or shows that take place in colonial America.

Yes, I saw it. I just watched the scene where George Washington is sworn in and found it quite moving. It transported me to that time, when everyone knew they had created the first republic founded on the principle of individual rights in human history. Very stirring.

However, I don't understand Thomas Jefferson's characterization, as some sort of smart-alecky dandy. I have read a couple biographies of Jefferson and have visited Monticello several times. Nothing that I saw or read suggested he would have this type of personality. That is the oddest thing about the series.

Overall, though, I am enjoying it. I especially enjoy the opening sequence. The music and the billowing patriotic flags rile me up with patriotic fervor. "Live free or die." "Don't tread on me." and "Unite or die." The struggle of these people, our forebears, was a struggle for life or death -- life as free people, or the death of subservience. I am ever so thankful they fought this fight... and won. This series transports me to that day and helps me see it from their perspective.

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However, I don't understand Thomas Jefferson's characterization, as some sort of smart-alecky dandy.

I wondered about that myself. I know that Jefferson was a bit on the quite side and disliked speaking in public. However, I think they made him a little too reserved. For instance when Adams and Franklin are questioning him about his draft of the Declaration of Independence he just shrugs and says "well that's I feel". I don't think that when he submitted his work he was so tranquil as to act as if he didn't care.

I did notice in the later episodes he kind of opened up and started speaking a bit more firmly and often.

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I wondered about that myself. I know that Jefferson was a bit on the quite side and disliked speaking in public. However, I think they made him a little too reserved. For instance when Adams and Franklin are questioning him about his draft of the Declaration of Independence he just shrugs and says "well that's I feel". I don't think that when he submitted his work he was so tranquil as to act as if he didn't care.

Yes, that particular scene was annoying. I cannot imagine that any man, no matter how taciturn, after presenting his draft of such a forthright and well-crafted document as the Declaration of Independence, would react the way you describe. I almost stopped watching the series then, but I am glad I didn't. Overall, I am enjoying it. In terms of characters, Ben Franklin is my favorite so far. I do like John Adams, but he is the one Founding Father of whom I have read very little. So, it is hard for me to judge him.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Shows that are currently airing that I enjoy are:

Infomania

The Soup

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Shows that are cancelled:

Deadwood-Amazing drama show, one of the only ones I like

Home Movies-My favorite retro-scripted comedy, conversational humor based cartoon, done by the same people that did Dr. Katz

Dr. Katz

Extras

Batman The animated series-I might be a geek for this one, but I like how Batman is one of the few modern day Superheroes that are displayed as such rather than highly flawed sad people like most of the marvel characters.

Justice League-More crime-fighting good vs. bad, great to watch

Upright Citizens Brigade

Strangers With Candy

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