Posted on 01/11/2005 6:18:33 PM PST by malakhi
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After a nine month hiatus, The Neverending Story, the granddaddy of daily threads, has returned to Free Republic. Originally begun on March 24, 2001, as a religious discussion thread, the NES evolved over time into a daily thread spanning a wide variety of topics. The new and improved Neverending Story will feature conversation on religion, politics, culture, current events, business, sports, family, hobbies, general fellowship and more. We welcome you to hang your hat in our little corner of FR. We ask you to abide by the FR posting rules and, even in the midst of serious debate, to keep the discussion friendly and respectful. Those who wish to "duke it out" are asked to take it over to the Smoky Backroom. I placed this thread in "General/Chat" for a reason, so play nice and have fun! :o)
Some how I miss this it must have been when my computer needed to be Quick Restore!:)
Thanks Dave. I took the kids down to Chicago for the weekend, and we went to Stacy's mom's for the first night Passover seder. It was fun, but not exactly a relaxing weekend!`
Hi restornu, good to see you! :o)
CHLOE ROCKS:)
That was a great episode wasn't it:)
I thought the show was kind of fizzling out a couple of weeks ago, but it's picking back up great now.
I didn't like that first director of CTU this season, and couldn't figure out the story line with her daughter. That was kind of out there. Getting a lot of the old people back is really helping.
Becky
That was a great episode wasn't it:)
I thought for sure she was gonna die. Edgar was praising her, and I'm thinking "Uh oh. Every time they establish what a good person someone is, you might as well set the funeral date."
Instead she kicks butt.
I noticed the Chinese soldiers in the preview. I wonder if they're gonna blow up the Chinese embassy. That would cause a bit of trouble for us, don't ya think?
SD
Did it snow? We had wet snow Sat. night and most of the day Sunday, but it didn't stick. In Cleveland they got 9 inches.
SD
Well I really feel unobservant. After we watched the show I got on the 24 thread here, and noticed everyone talking about the Chinese. I never caught that in the previews. Mack did tho, I asked him, "what are these people talking about, Chinese" He said he noticed it too.
Oh well, I guess I'll figure it out next week.
You should read the thread. It's pretty funny. I think Chloe has become everyone's new fanatsy:), at least for the male viewers. a computer nerd with an M4. But that was a really cool ending.
Becky
Just a few flurries on Saturday. I took the kids to the Field Museum on Saturday. It was cold and blustery, with scattered snow showers. We were at the museum for over three hours, and didn't see a quarter of it. And that was going through at a pretty rapid pace. The place is huge! It has been a long time since I've been there, and I'd forgotten how large it is.
Yesterday was sunny and in the low 60s, but we got rain last night, and it is quite cool again today.
I just did, if you're talking about the "24 live" thread. Chloe was really anoying when she first got on the scene in the 24 universe. Then I grew to love her. Now I just laugh at the way she brings the "is this an awkward moment?" into every human interaction. Even when the girlfriend was first on the phone with her she was very brisk with the "you were telling me his name." And she and Edgar bickering is the perfect comic relief in this otherwise dark show.
SD
I look at the 24 live thread a little after each show just for some laughs:) I find it amusing how some people can connect this show to real current events. Funny/sad that people can't just watch for entertainment value only. It has to be the left trying to brainwash us all the time....
I didn't care for Chloe either at the start, but she grows on you, acutally I tend to feel sorry for her now, she seems so awkward. I like Edgar, but have had a few moments wondering if there is going to be more to him, a surprise.
Well, I'm looking forward to next week.
Becky
Today will be Liliah's birthday:')
I expect pictures! :o)
But the explicit violence and the post-9/11 terrorist anxiety are not the only elements of ''24'' that would have been unthinkable on prime-time network television 20 years ago. Alongside the notable change in content lies an equally notable change in form. During its 44 minutes -- a real-time hour, minus 16 minutes for commercials -- the episode connects the lives of 21 distinct characters, each with a clearly defined ''story arc,'' as the Hollywood jargon has it: a defined personality with motivations and obstacles and specific relationships with other characters. Nine primary narrative threads wind their way through those 44 minutes, each drawing extensively upon events and information revealed in earlier episodes. Draw a map of all those intersecting plots and personalities, and you get structure that -- where formal complexity is concerned -- more closely resembles ''Middlemarch'' than a hit TV drama of years past like ''Bonanza.''
For decades, we've worked under the assumption that mass culture follows a path declining steadily toward lowest-common-denominator standards, presumably because the ''masses'' want dumb, simple pleasures and big media companies try to give the masses what they want. But as that ''24'' episode suggests, the exact opposite is happening: the culture is getting more cognitively demanding, not less. To make sense of an episode of ''24,'' you have to integrate far more information than you would have a few decades ago watching a comparable show. Beneath the violence and the ethnic stereotypes, another trend appears: to keep up with entertainment like ''24,'' you have to pay attention, make inferences, track shifting social relationships. This is what I call the Sleeper Curve: the most debased forms of mass diversion -- video games and violent television dramas and juvenile sitcoms -- turn out to be nutritional after all.
...
The quickest way to appreciate the Sleeper Curve's cognitive training is to sit down and watch a few hours of hit programming from the late 70's on Nick at Nite or the SOAPnet channel or on DVD. The modern viewer who watches a show like ''Dallas'' today will be bored by the content -- not just because the show is less salacious than today's soap operas (which it is by a small margin) but also because the show contains far less information in each scene, despite the fact that its soap-opera structure made it one of the most complicated narratives on television in its prime. With ''Dallas,'' the modern viewer doesn't have to think to make sense of what's going on, and not having to think is boring. Many recent hit shows -- ''24,'' ''Survivor,'' ''The Sopranos,'' ''Alias,'' ''Lost,'' ''The Simpsons,'' ''E.R.'' -- take the opposite approach, layering each scene with a thick network of affiliations. You have to focus to follow the plot, and in focusing you're exercising the parts of your brain that map social networks, that fill in missing information, that connect multiple narrative threads.
Of course, the entertainment industry isn't increasing the cognitive complexity of its products for charitable reasons. The Sleeper Curve exists because there's money to be made by making culture smarter. The economics of television syndication and DVD sales mean that there's a tremendous financial pressure to make programs that can be watched multiple times, revealing new nuances and shadings on the third viewing. Meanwhile, the Web has created a forum for annotation and commentary that allows more complicated shows to prosper, thanks to the fan sites where each episode of shows like ''Lost'' or ''Alias'' is dissected with an intensity usually reserved for Talmud scholars. Finally, interactive games have trained a new generation of media consumers to probe complex environments and to think on their feet, and that gamer audience has now come to expect the same challenges from their television shows. In the end, the Sleeper Curve tells us something about the human mind. It may be drawn toward the sensational where content is concerned -- sex does sell, after all. But the mind also likes to be challenged; there's real pleasure to be found in solving puzzles, detecting patterns or unpacking a complex narrative system.
Interesting. I guess I need to watch more TeeVee. ;o)
I don't know if I buy the thesis that this makes us smarter than other activities; but I can't deny that smart, involved TV is smarter than stupid TV.
SD
In it there is a excellent section on the history of Jewish Messianism. "Messianism" seemed to begin when prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah began to realize the nation would not survive and would suffer the consequences of turning from Torah. The Messianic prophecies in this period of time tended to focus on the coming of a Messiah that would descend from David and rule peacefully over the same kingdom and land that David did. A "physical" as opposed to a "spiritual" Messiah. (for lack of better terms)
The prophecies seemed as though they may be coming to pass with the rebuilding of the 2nd temple. However, the inability to reinstitute a Davidic line of rulership and later on the corruption of High Priests (hasmoneans) made Messianic dreams seem an impossibility to most Jewish people.
With the corruption in the temple and the opression of Rome the "spiritualization" of the concept of Jewish Messianism by the Essenes in particular began. The book of Enoch was the first of such intertestemental writings that spritualized Messianism. That is to say, for some, it looked as if the physical type of Messianism, (a Davidic ruler over a peaceful land free of foreigners) was an impossibility and hence the start of looking beyond the physical type of Messianism began.
In Enoch the concept of "Son of Man" and "the elect" were introduced. The sect of Jesus's followers were very familiar with these writings and concepts. Jesus' brother even quoted from Enoch.
I'm contemplating why NT canonizers surpressed the book of Enoch. I'm speculating that, perhaps, they wanted to attribute to Jesus the revelation that all Jews were wrong about the physical aspects of Messianism and wanted to make it seem that with Jesus began "spiritual" Messianism. Any thoughts?
Remember that the Christian canon was not set until hundreds of years after the beginning of the Christian movement. During that time, the book of Enoch was viewed as scripture by some Christian communities. I'm not sure I agree with your reasoning on why Enoch might have been rejected. It seems to me that, had they kept it, they would have been able to point to the 'spiritual messianism' in there as 'prophecy' pointing toward Jesus. So my guess is, there were other things in Enoch which were contrary to Christian belief as it had evolved by the 4th century, and these other things excluded Enoch from the canon.
The one scientist speculated that the same cave had been used in the 1st century rebellion as well. And that some bronze treasures that were found there in the 1960s were part of the divided up hidden treasures from the Temple.
SD
Off the top of my head, here are some general elements or streams of Jewish belief/thought:
sacrifice
ritual law (kashrut, purity, etc.)
moral law
ethics
social justice
messianism
mysticism
theology/philosophy of religion (rational approach to belief, e.g. Maimonides)
zionism
culture(s)
There are probably other things I am overlooking. I think even individual Jews will put greater or lesser emphasis upon each of these elements, based upon their individual personality, belief and relationship with God.
Interesting. No, I didn't see it.
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