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A conservative christian scifi fan, who's also a huge baseball fanatic!?! I congratulate you, Mr. Jeffords. You truly are one of a kind. ;)

Thanks. I like what I like.

It is an incredibly fortunate circumstance for ‘The Unnatural” to come up on Opening Day. I am a baseball fanatic, and therefore very much in tune with the mysticism attached to the game. Win or lose, there is something magical about the game. In his rookie outing as a television writer and director, David Duchovny masterfully captures the lore of baseball with some tough social themes, all while tying it all into The X-Files mythology. That is not easy to do in 44 minutes of screen time.

On a random Saturday in his office, Mulder discovers an old photo of the alien bounty Hunter alongside Authur Dales in 1948 New Mexico. Mulder visit’s the man who turns out to be the brother of the dales we know--Darren McGavin was ill and could not reprise his role--and learns the story of how he, as a cop in Roswell, New Mexico, was assigned to protect a Negro League player named Josh Exley.

Exley is secretly one of the gray aliens from the Roswell crash of 1947. At some point after the crash, he watched a baseball game and fell in love with it. He assumed the form of a black man in order to play, believing the color of his skin would keep him out of the big leagues. He was such a success, he attracted the attention of the KKK. (In New Mexico? Eh, maybe.) dales was assigned to be his body guard. The two form a fast friendship in spite of the color barrier and eventually, when Dales discovers what Exley truly is, the planetary barrier, as well.

All the while, the Alien Bounty Hunter hunted for Exley out of fear he might expose the colonization project. He nearly does when he bleeds acid after being beaned by a pitch. The Alien Bounty Hunter discovers Exley. He demands exley change into his true form, but Exley refuses, choosing to die as a man.

I remember back in the day being fearful over how this episode would turn out. Allowing Duchovny to write and direct an episode was a concession to his ever louder grumbling about being stuck on the series. One feared, with his well known overblown ego, this could turn out embarrassingly self-indulgent. Imagine my surprise to find out how well done “The Unnatural” turned out to be.

The script carries the central theme of racism without being preachy. You will have to excuse my shock a white liberal from Hollywood can manage to do a story in which an alien is hated by his own people for abandoning them for a game decides to take on the form of a black man whites hate for his potential to be the next Jackie Robinson all while not getting bogged down in a new writer’s compulsion to Say Something Really Important. The script never gets preachy, nor does the fate of Exley suffer from maudlin overtones. Duchovny decides to contrast the scene of Exley’s death with the famous baseball lesson he gives Scully. Yes, shippers. This is the episode.

Speaking of Scully, “The Unnatural” features the best interpretation of her we have seen in years. She is fun and funny. Confident with being witchy. A very appealing person after many episodes of her either aggressively contrary, or pitifully lonely and ready to fall for the attentions of even the most unappealing men. I am including Mulder in that, as he is often a royal jer--though not here. I once read Ken Levine, a writer for MASH and Cheers, once say it was impossible to writer or direct actors after the fifth season of a series because they swear they know their characters better than anyone. “The Unnatural” confirms theory. Duchovny certainly has a grasp on how to make Mulder and Scully fun, likable characters after a string of some tough episodes.

But what makes ’The Unnatural” great is not all Duchovny. He surrounded himself with a great cast. M. Emmet Walsh plays his usual grumpy old man routine which believably dissolves when recalling the death of his friend Exley. Jesse L. Martin plays the humble Exley, an alien/man rejected by all parties, but thrives through his love of the game. Daniel Duchovny, David’s brother, stars as an opposing team player. Mark Snow turns in a wonderfully low key score full of acoustic guitars to compliment the lazt feel of a minor league baseball game and some soulful gospel twinged numbers. Good stuff.

I like ’The Unnatural” for far more reasons that fondness for baseball. I am not certain the concept fits in well with what we know of the series mythology, but even nitpicky me does not care. “The Unnatural‘ is a wonderful story done fantastically well for a first time writer/director.

Shippers would be upset if I did not include mulder teaching Scully to hit a baseball, so here you go, folks:.Rating: **** (out of 5)

A new episode of The Big Bang Theory means it is Kaley Cuoco Day!

Are you as excited for a new season of baseball as I am?

Think saving the rainforests is paramount? Think again:

These new “secondary” forests are emerging in Latin America, Asia and other tropical regions at such a fast pace that the trend has set off a serious debate about whether saving primeval rain forest — an iconic environmental cause — may be less urgent than once thought. By one estimate, for every acre of rain forest cut down each year, more than 50 acres of new forest are growing in the tropics on land that was once farmed, logged or ravaged by natural disaster."

A fifty to one ratio? Sounds like the rainforests are doing quite well without environmentalist intervention.

(Via: American Digest)

Is that Lily Cole 40 seconds in? I believe so.

When asked to list one’s favorite episodes of The X-Files, “Milagro” 9Spanish for “miracle’) is inevitably near the top of the list. It is, by the way, the only sixth season on episode to be so honored. We are on the slow decline towards the end of the series already, folks, with only a few truly bright spots left. The cynic in me believes “Milageo” is highly regarded because it “reveals” for the first time scully is in love with Mulder. It is also one of the few episodes to sex her up. But I would like to think there is a better reason.

“Milagro” is a novel--pardon the pun-- piece of television. We just do not get much in the medium quite so creative and existential. A writer who moves next door to Mulder is working on a murder mystery novel in which a killer removes his victims hearts with his bare hand. Somehow, the writer has managed to resurrect a Brazilian psychic surgeon--the kind who allegedly removed illness from people, but is actually removing bloody chicken entrails or some such.--who is committing for real the murders he is writing about.

The writer is on the periphery of the murder investigation when he meets Scully in the apartment building’s elevator. He immediately becomes enamored with her. She seems strangely drawn to him as well because he has such a skill at sizing her up. As with Eddie van Blundt as Faux Nulder, scully’s profound loneliness draws her to anyone who seeks to understand her. She is added to the novel as a character, which puts her on a collision course with the killer.

She is saved from death at the last minute by the writer destroying his manuscript before the surgeon can rip her heart out. Or does he do all the right things, but she survives because clyde bruckman once told her she would never die? It is not made clear, but it is also irrelevant. The issue is lost in the tearful embrace she and Mulder share when he discovers her alive, and the suicide of the writer near the building’s incinerator by the removal of his own heart.

The above summary does not do the episode justice. It is a story within a story, where the writer’s imagination tragically comes to life with the resurrection of the Brazilian psychic surgeon, but still demonstrates the often fat separation between life as we dream it--he is in love with Scully--and how we are forced to live it--she is in love with someone else. Sometimes even our fantasies betray us, so as when the psychic surgeon goes after Scully. The writers destroys his work and then himself to prevent her murder.

It is easy to get a Fight Club vibe from “Milagro,‘ sans any of the film’s whiny theme that modern men cannot all be rock stars, so they must destroy society in revenge. “Milagro” takes the best elements--the existential bits about creating a person to allow one’s id to ru unrestrained--and plays it out in a fascinating manner.

I rate ‘Milagro’ highly because of its uniqueness. One suspects a television executive would scratch his head if such an existential concept were pitched today as a regular episode of a television series. Further proof television is rapidly going downhill. There is very little this daring on the idiot box these days.

Rating: **** (out of 5)

Are you in mourning now that Reese Witherspoon is hitched again?

Nah. The whole "stalking Reese Witherspoon" bit has run its course. Even I do not enjoy joking about it any longer. She is still hot, though.

Even a headshot will not stop this guy from playing in the NFL:

Don’t discount the possibility of Brett Favre, who turns 42 in October, returning next season, but not with the Vikings. Maybe Carolina."

It is not like the Carolina Panthers could become an even bigger humiliation on the field, anyway. off the field, too. is there another team in the NFL with as many murders, spousal abusers, and drug users among their ranks as Carolina? I think not. What is one creaky old fart in that motley crew?

(Via: Troglopundit)

I have complained about the post-Vancouver episodes shift away from dark horror and weird science towards a lighter, more relationship oriented tone. Overall, that has been prominent in the sixth season, but the back half has made an effort to slide in some classic themes. “Trevor” is a case in point. The episode is an obvious effort to create a memorable villain in the mode of Robert “Pusher” Modell. Pinker rawls does not quite measure up to Modell, but I will give the writers a ’B” for effort. Emotional impact trumps science, but it is not done well enough to elevate “Trevor” to the top tier of The X-Files.

Pinker Rawls is a prone to violence prisoner in Mississippi serving time for stealing $90,000. He assaults another inmate while they are preparing the prison grounds for an oncoming tornado. He gets put in the hot box for the duration of the storm. He gets struck by lighting, which grants him the power to walk through solid objects. The hot box is blown away by the tornado, and Rawls is assumed dead. No one can explain how the warden who put him in the hot box wound up subsequently split in half.

Mulder and Scully investigate, and quickly decide pinker is still alive, but now has the ability to pass through objects, though he changes their composition by doing so. The agents assume, by following a trail of horribly mangled bodies, Rawls is looking for his ex-girlfriend under the assumption she has the stolen money. In fact, she gave birth to his son shortly after he went to prison, but did not tell him. She gave the kid to her sister so she could start a new life. Rawls goes looking for his kid.

Fortunately, the agents find him first. Surmising rawls cannot pass through glass since his abilities are based on electricity, Scully hides with Trevor in a phone booth. Desperate, no? they are saved by Trevor’s mother, who runs Rawls over with her car. He passes through the car, but not the windshield. In other words, he gets chopped in half.

The major flaw of “Trevor” is poor writing. The script wants us to sympathize with the characters, but throws too much at us. Rawls is a psychopath we could not care less about at any point, even in the brief moment he attempts an emotional connection with his son. We have a tough time caring about trevor, too. He is not introduced until the final act, and is therefore on screen for less than seven minutes. It is bad form to introduce a major character out of the blue so late in the story. His mother is the worst. She abandons her son entirely, takes rawls’ stolen money to build a new life, and then loses her new husband in a flash when he discovers what she really is. Exactly who is it we are supposed to feel for here? They are all hard luck cases to the point of absurdity.

“Trevor” has some logical problems, too. Rawls visits his ex-girlfriend’s sister at a time when we still think he is looking for the money. At no point in the confrontation is any indication given he is looking for anything but the money. He is there late at night, however. Why would a seven year old boy not be home at that time? The revelation should have come then. On a scientific note, there is inconsistency on exactly how Rawls’ abilities work. Supposedly, his clothes cannot go through solid objects with him, but at one point, scalding soup thrown at him passes through his shirt. He also chases Scully and Trevor in his boxers. I guess that is a disturbing enough image as it is without him being nude as he should be.

“Trevor” has flaws, but it is still an entertaining episode. I probably appreciate it because it reminds me of older episodes. The script does not resonate with all the emotion obviously intended. There are some serious logical problems, too. But if you can mindlessly be entertained, it is a decent view.

Rating: *** (out of 5)

I skipped over Barack Obama's actual speech because I had a hamburger with my name on it waiting in the dining room, but I have since read the text. One safely assumes I have the substance down, but if I have missed anything by not watching Obam-uh live, blame the hamburger. It was tasty.

The main thing I notice is how similar the argument for Obama’s fighting Muammar Qaddafi are to Bush 43’s mission to oust Saddam Hussein, save for Obama’s false comparison that we are not going it alone in Libya like Iraq. Progressives have repeated that “going it alone” line about Iraq so often, they genuinely believe it. The coalition for libya is smaller than that of Operation Iraqi Freedom with no clear leadership. Obama essentially said in his speech that America was leading by following. At least we have finally settled on following the Canadians into war.

There are a few other differences with Libya besides a smaller coalition and a game of hot potato for which country is going to take responsibility. Most notably, there was not months of lead up to convince the American people the war was a good idea, Congress was not consulted before the attack, and Obama fumbled around for nine days before addressing the nation in this lackluster, clear as mud speech.

Oh, and Europe is far more heavily dependent on Libyan oil than the United States, so this really is a war for oil--on behalf of European people who are protesting war mongering Americans for fighting it. As an added bonus, many of the Libyan rebels are al Qaeda operatives, so at least European peacenikds can take some solace we have found common cause with the enemy, even if it is due to Obama’s profound lack of leadership skills and savvy in international affairs. Maybe he is creating another junior year abroad for radical Muslim freedom fighters like Afghanistan in the ‘80’s. That eventually worked out swell for us, did it not?

The administration cannot even decide if there are American interests at stake. Clinton says there are; Gates retorts no, there are not. You can debate whether the free flow of oil from Libya to Europe is in America’s best interest as adamantly as you can debate whether france blowing up tanks ought to be part of a no fly zone mission. What you cannot debate is Obama’s one track mind. In his speech, he used the word ’hope” four times and “change’ a whopping nine. You see how well that turned out for the united States. Maybe Libya will fare better with it.

Let us not even get started on what kind of regime may replace Qaddafi when he is finally dislodged. Since Obama has set forth no discernable goals for the kinetic military action which looks suspiciously like a war to force regime change, much less a timeline to achieve said goals, I think we are playing this one by ear. Or waiting for the Canadians to come up with something. I am not really sure.

The sad bottom line here is that elitist progressives, generally deadest against military campaigns and incompetent in how to either sell or fight them, start them, anyway. No leadership. No clue objectives. No interest in the American peopled approval. Really no interest in fighting it at all. What is this, then? You cannot be a real president, even the most progressive one in history, without launching a war of your own? Hope and change for Libya, indeed.