High School is Hell

This article really gave me a better understanding for what the show was about. I remember watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer when it first came out, but to be honest I don’t really remember it at all. I haven’t watched the show recently, but now I am interested to watch it. I am excited to see how the writers incorporate both the supernatural and natural into a show that it seems is mostly just about high school life. I like how the article talked about the use of metaphors and how by making metaphors real, the writers hoped to accurately capture high school life. I also found it interesting that not only did the show include metaphors in each episode but also that there were also extended metaphors that spanned entire seasons. Also I like how the article discussed the use of irony in the story and the use of irony along side the metaphors makes for a show with many levels of depth that is entertaining and mentally stimulating. However, one of the things about the article that I did not like is that it contained some spoilers. If you have not watched the entire series up until the third season this article may spoil some of the episodes for you. The article contained many references to episodes in order to support what it was saying about metaphors and irony but the details contained in the references could serve to spoil episodes for those who had not already watched the episodes.

War Stories - Firefly

The episode I watched today was titled “War Stories” and was the tenth episode in the Firefly series. The episode begins with Wash and Zoe arguing about Zoe’s relationship with Mal. Wash is jealous because of all of the memories Mal has with his wife and he sometimes feels as if Zoe is closer to Mal than she is with him. This causes Wash to request that he accompany Mal on a mission rather than Zoe. After arguing for a short period of time Mal finally allows Wash to accompany him on the mission. During this mission Mal and Wash are kidnapped and tortured by Niska as retribution for the events that took place during the episode titled “Train Job”. After learning of Mal and Wash’s kidnapping Zoe pools all of the crews money together and attempts to buy them from Niska. Niska says that he will only let one go and Zoe chooses Wash because she knows that Mal stands a better chance at surviving longer. After Wash and Zoe return to Serenity they come up with a plan to get Mal back and all aboard Serenity arm themselves and prepare to storm Niska’s ship. The underlying theme in this episode is trust, and loyalty. Wash is questioning Zoe’s loyalty to him because of how he perceives that Zoe blindly follows Mal’s commands. Also, the people aboard Serenity show their loyalty to Mal by attempting to recapture him from Niska even though they now that it is dangerous and Niska’s ship is full of well armed men.

Train Job Revisited

During this episode of Firefly Mal and his crew are contracted by a ruthless crime boss to steal cargo from a train. After stealing the cargo Mal and his crew realize that what they have stolen is medicine meant to cure a planet full of diseased people. After discovering that the medicine was stolen the local sheriff asks for help from the Alliance and even though Alliance agents were on the train that the cargo was stolen from, and are currently in Pandiso, which is the planet from which the medicine was stolen, the Alliance refuses to help the local authorities with the recovery of the medicine. Although governments are supposed to uphold the law and protect their citizens, the Alliance was clearly indifferent to the plight of Pandiso. Even though Alliance agents were already on Pandiso when it became evident that the medicine was stolen they did not help the local sheriff recover the medicine. Why could this be? Is it possible that the Alliance is only concerned about larger communities, or was there a legitimate reason for them not wanting to help Pandiso? Based on the information from this episode, as well as information gleaned from other episodes regarding the Alliance and their treatment of smaller planets/moons, I believe that it is the former of the two theories. Because the medicine that was stolen was not Alliance property, nor were the soldier aboard the train directly responsible for protecting the medicine the Alliance viewed the theft as not their problem.

Angel

For today’s bog I watched the fourth episode from season one of Angel titled “I Fall to Pieces”. This episode was about a woman who was being stalked by a doctor that had the ability to detach and reattach certain body parts while still maintaining in full control over these body parts. This is first seen when Dr. Ronald Meltzer detaches one of his eyeballs so that he can watch Melissa, the woman who he is stalking, while she is in her home. I found this aspect of the episode extremely intriguing, not only because Dr. Meltzer could detach body parts without any visible damage done to him or the body part, but also because he was able to reattach the body part without any tools, and he was able to control the body part while it was separated from his body. One part of he episode that did not seem consistent, was that although Dr. Meltzer could detach his hands, when the hands were detached they would crawl around to get from place to place, and to reattach the hands he would either pick them up and reattach them, or they would crawl up his body to his arm. This was attributed to his psychic skills, which allowed him to control his nerve endings, as well as perform psychic surgery. However, when his eyeball was detached it floated around the room on its own. Also, during the episode the hands are seen climbing over obstacles and navigating through air ducts to gain entry into Melissa’s apartment, it would seem that if Dr. Meltzer could levitate his eyeball he would do the same with his hands. Overall though the episode was intriguing as it was entertaining and I look forward to watching more of this show.

Firefly Again

Based on the title of this blog post it is probably clear that I chose to watch another episode of Firefly. The episode that I watched was titled “Bushwhacked” and was the third episode in the series. Much like the last episode I watched, “Out of Gas” , this one took place solely in space. During this episode Serenity comes in to contact with another ship, aboard this ship they find that all but one of the ships passengers were killed by Reavers which are kind of like space zombies. Reavers are said to have be men who traveled to the ends of the galaxy only to be driven mad by the vastness of space and far removal from any civilization. The appearance of the Reavers is similar to that of normal humans with the exception of tattered clothing and scars. Revears are similar to zombies in the sense that they used to be humans and feed off of flesh but they differ from zombies because Revears are not dead, nor can they transform humans into Revears by biting them. The Reavers do however appear to have some form of intelligence because of the tactics that they use. When Serenity attempts to disengage from the other ship the crew finds that the Revears have booby-trapped the other ship so that when they disengage, the other ship will blow up. This will serve to damage Serenity so that when the Revears return Serenity will not be able to flee, making the crew easy targets. This was by far the scariest and most exciting episode yet, I cant wait to see what they next one will be like!

Out of Gas

For this assignment I decided to watch episode eight of Firefly titled “Out of Gas”. This episode was a lot different than “The Train Job” because all of this episode took place aboard the ship and therefore had extremely little of the Western theme incorporated into it. Although the episode was almost entirely science fiction rather than a hybrid of sci-fi and Western I still enjoyed it very much. The episode is mainly comprised of flashbacks from the captain’s point of view. These flashbacks show how many of the crew members, including Hoban “Wash” Washburne, the pilot, and Kaywinnit Lee "Kaylee" Frye, the mechanic, came to be living and working aboard the ship Serenity. The flashbacks take place while the captain, Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds, is stumbling around Serenity trying to fix the engine while bleeding out from a gunshot wound inflicted by attempted hijackers. I found it very interesting that the director chose to wait so long into the series before going back to reveal how some of the crew members came to be on the ship. Not only did the flashbacks provide insight into some of the characters pasts but it also served to make the view more curious about the characters whose origins on the ship were not revealed. Even though, as I previously stated, the episode was primarily science fiction it still touched on many universal themes such as trust, camaraderie, and guilt. This made the episode easy to relate to, and even easier to watch and enjoy.

The Train Job

That show was a lot better than I had expected! I’ve had mixed experiences with science fiction in the past. Although Dr. Who is one of my favorite shows I’ve seen Star Trek and Stargate and I can honestly say that those shows are not for me. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the episode of Firefly. My favorite facet of the show was how the western theme was mixed within the Sci-Fi genre. Its similar to what I imagine it would be like if someone combined Bonanza with a show like Star Trek. Although the two themes, Western and Sci-Fi, seem incompatible the show does an amazing job at combing them both to make a show that would be easy to follow for both Western and science-fiction fans. The one part of the show that I found a little bit corny was the weaponry. It looked like they had regular handguns but during the gun battle aboard Serenity it sounded as if they were using laser guns. Other than that one minor detail I really enjoyed the show. The train robbery was the perfect plot to incorporate the two themes. The train seemed futuristic and the ship that was used to transport the stolen cargo was definitely not akin to the ‘Wild West’, but train robberies are a staple of the Western genre. I thought the show was well made overall and the actors seemed pretty good. I can’t wait to watch the next episode.

Who am I?

Hi everyone!

My name is Harris Cohn and I’m Jewish. I grew up in Mt. Lebanon, a suburb of Pittsburgh PA, and when I was 13 my family moved to Columbus where I have lived ever since. I enjoy playing poker, fishing, soccer, hanging out with friends, swimming, working out, watching movies, and listening to music. My top ten favorite bands/singers/artists are: Billy Joel, Mac Miller, Slightly Stoopid, Wiz Khalifa, Aerosmith, Bare Naked Ladies, Blind Melon, Elton John, Franz Liszt, and Sam Adams. My top ten favorite movies are: Boondock Saints, Forgetting Sarah Marshal, I Love You Man, The Shawshank Redemption, Goodfellas, Fight Club, The Usual Suspects, A Clockwork Orange, The Big Lebowski, and A Beautiful Mind. I’m not a big fan of science fiction except for Doctor Who, which is one of my favorite TV shows along with Weeds and Desperate Housewives. I used to be extremely interested in photography but not so much anymore, although I do still enjoy it. I really like international foods, especially Indian and Sushi, but I don’t really care for Mexican food with the exception of Chipotle and occasionally Taco Bell. I generally try to avoid fast food because I feel gross after eating it but sometimes it’s the only thing that I have time to get. During the school year I work at a cell phone recycling company, and in the summer I work at an overnight camp that I’ve been going to for over a decade. If there is anything else that you would like to know about me feel free to ask!

Thanks for reading,

Harris Cohn