The Urban Docent
Urban Docent
Wow. Really?
It's been way too long since I've done anything here.
Shameful, really.
Shameful, really.
Mike Vick and You
The ever-marching cults of fame, wealth and entertainment often place too much importance on the personal lives of those in the spotlight.
And last week, certain segments of the news cycle are taking a keen interest in the release of one Michael Dwayne Vick, previously know for his on-field antics as an NFL quarterback with the Atlanta Falcons.
Vick is just one of many who ended their official behind-bars incarceration this week in favor of other arrangements. Mike is only different in that you might have known him prior to his indictment, trial, guilty verdict and imprisonment.
According to whichever sets of numbers you consider, there are in excess of 7 million individuals in our nation’s corrections system even as you read this copy. For the sake of comparison, the state of Virginia’s population is now right at 7.7 million, according to the U.S. Census.
How many of those prisoners are going to be released in the next 30, 60 or 90 days? Who can say …
Are any of these soon-to-released criminals as famous (infamous) as Mike Vick? Possibly …
Are you willing to categorically declare that none of these former prisoners should be allowed to return to the non-criminal careers? I hear some of you saying, “Well, maybe not all of them ...”
So what is different with Mike Vick?
Vick maintained a high-profile position within a multi-million dollar industry. He made a lot of money and, some would contend, Mike was rewarded for not working all that hard or fully utilizing his talents for the team.
But Mike also make some seriously flawed choices about how to spend money, who to consider friends, what you allow to happen around you and how you conduct your personal life. He has since recanted and “paid his debt to society,” as the old saying goes.
Now comes the true test: What is the harm in re-instating Mike Vick and allowing him to compete for a job with a squad interested in his abilities?
While there is no sane or rational way to justify the cruel and criminal acts that Vick perpetrated, there is no reason that he shouldn’t be allowed to pursue his original career path (or a variation thereof) within the NFL or similar professional sports organization.
If you committed a crime – any crime – punishable by fines and prison time, wouldn’t you want an opportunity to prove yourself again?
Your future employer should be the one to decide if they can deal with any negativity your prison time might bring to the table. If your abilities outweigh the downsides, wouldn’t you like to get back to work and get some portion of your old life back?
My point is this – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you wore an orange jumpsuit for a while, I doubt you would really want everybody to think of your only in those terms forever.
People make dumb choices … and sometimes, they pay dearly for their decisions. Mike Vick is no different. He has lost much and he has done his time. He still has much to do to help "make things right," but that shouldn’t keep him out of the game.
Mike deserves the opportunity to prove that he can earn a second chance. Likely, some team will find a way to use his speed and his adaptive nature … heck, they may even get him to cooperate fully with practice regiments and game prep procedures.
At the end of the day, the best Mike Vick can hope for is another opportunity on the gridiron. And perhaps he will finally silence many of his critics with winning performances and a winning attitude for a change.
Lost 5.1 "Because You Left"
COMING SOON .....
"24" -Day 7, 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Bauer does exactly what you're never to attempt at home - mixing household chemicals to produce an oxygen-depleting gas cloud
Bauer almost pulls another Ryan Chappelle, but ends up only wounding Renee Walker (Cool buried alive angle as the bad guys get ready to depart.)
Collateral Damage:
Emerson continues to deliver a beating to a compound guard, but he never pulls the trigger (He was so quick to ice one of his own would-be henchmen, but he lets this guy off?)
Mr. Taylor, the First Gentleman, is drugged and readied for a murder-suicide set up (This is one of the more interesting subplots of the yet-new season.)
Other Happenings:
This week was one of those moderate place-holding installments. The overall plot is added to slightly, but there are pockets of other intense occurrences to keep you watching. All in all, not a bad effort.
This season is outperforming last year's crapfest by gradually becoming better with each new addition. This is easily setting up to be a much stronger outing when compared with seasons 5 and 6. I hope they don't take a sudden nose dive in the next couple of weeks.
Watch for Renee to get herself out of her "grave" and contact the FBI by the middle of the next episode. Of course, her call will trigger the insider to basically blow Jack's cover, and we've already seen a spoiler-ish preview that sort of sheds light on next week's action.
"Matrix" questions
Every time I see parts of the “Matrix” franchise, I find myself asking
more questions about its foundations. Having just watched the kick-off
flick again only recently, I have a new point or two to ponder.
Essentially, Tom Anderson (aka Neo) and Morpheus meet inside the matrix as Anderson distinguishes himself through his hacking skills. Or at a minimum, Neo's choice for extra curricular activity makes it easier for Morpheus to single him out for personal contact.
Suppose then that Neo wasn't “working” as a programmer with hacker tendencies. Would he still have the inherent skills or personality or strength of will or whatever to be “the One”? If in the matrix his “profession” and mental frame of reference revolved around serving food or pouring concrete, could Neo have “woken up” and learned to be the matrix-bending hero Zion needs?
Along the same lines, Neo's world prior to his rescue is nothing more than a computer-supplied dream (the matrix itself). And we learn later that as Neo, he does what he does as part of a reoccurring glitch in the matrix program – the Merovingian says he will outlive Neo has he did Neo's predecessors.
So here is my though or question:
If the “world” Neo grows up in is nothing more than the greatest simulation ever, and his choice of career/lifestyle in this machine-controlled environment helps distinguish him as “the One,” and presumably others have done the same … Why don't the machines simply craft a world that is not based on late 20th century earth? Why couldn't the matrix be viewed as the old west, the moon or a non-existent fantasy world divorced of a former reality that none of its occupants ever witnessed before?
Why does the matrix itself – time and again – generate the perfect scenario for the creation of its own demise?
Essentially, Tom Anderson (aka Neo) and Morpheus meet inside the matrix as Anderson distinguishes himself through his hacking skills. Or at a minimum, Neo's choice for extra curricular activity makes it easier for Morpheus to single him out for personal contact.
Suppose then that Neo wasn't “working” as a programmer with hacker tendencies. Would he still have the inherent skills or personality or strength of will or whatever to be “the One”? If in the matrix his “profession” and mental frame of reference revolved around serving food or pouring concrete, could Neo have “woken up” and learned to be the matrix-bending hero Zion needs?
Along the same lines, Neo's world prior to his rescue is nothing more than a computer-supplied dream (the matrix itself). And we learn later that as Neo, he does what he does as part of a reoccurring glitch in the matrix program – the Merovingian says he will outlive Neo has he did Neo's predecessors.
So here is my though or question:
If the “world” Neo grows up in is nothing more than the greatest simulation ever, and his choice of career/lifestyle in this machine-controlled environment helps distinguish him as “the One,” and presumably others have done the same … Why don't the machines simply craft a world that is not based on late 20th century earth? Why couldn't the matrix be viewed as the old west, the moon or a non-existent fantasy world divorced of a former reality that none of its occupants ever witnessed before?
Why does the matrix itself – time and again – generate the perfect scenario for the creation of its own demise?
"24" - Day 7, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Bauer almost breaks Tony's neck during a make-shift interrogation ("Save yourself some time and some pain." - Classic Jack line)
Bauer puts a nice choke hold on FBI agent Renee Walker
before stealing her gun and security pass ("Don't fight it!")
Bauer leaves FBI agent Larry Moss with a bloody nose while facilitating Tony's escape from the really slack FBI HQ
Bauer beats an unknown gun-for-hire by slamming him through a cheaply constructed basement railing
Bauer uses a handy chunk of lumber to beat on another unknown gun-for-hire ("You need good men, not these two traffic cops." Traffic cops?)
Collateral Damage:
Jack and Tony cause all kinds of property damage and mayhem at FBI HQ, including the smashing of a window for quick exit, firing numerous rounds at their pursuers, ramming a car through a guard rail and smashing/shooting parked vehicles
Agent Renee Walker tries to play Jack Bauer, humorously mashing the injured sniper's wound and depriving him of oxygen ("Open your eyes Mr. Tanner.")
Minor league-super baddie Emerson pops the unknown gun-for-hire Jack whacked with a chunk of lumber, shooting the man while he's down
Entry to the prime minister's compound is made by blasting a guarded doorway (a guard is downed by explosion)
Two compound guards are gunned down - an interior shooting from , an exterior shooting from Tony
Another guard is beaten as Bauer begins to dig through a wall with a handyman's first choice of tools - a golf club
Other Happenings:
Even if Tony's story of a bad guy with a heart of gold turns out to be true, there is a serious implication or two about what apparently happened to CTU.
It seems that all other government agencies are so corrupt that only a disbanded lot of former employees can pull off the single-most important job on the radar (no pun there). And they intended to do so without Jack? I'm not sure that I'm buying the whole Jack-just-happened-to-be-in-town coincidence of this situation.
But all things being equal, it appears that Jack was left holding the bag for CTU. It seems he was in the hot seat and ready to take all the public scorn for those extra-legal activities of his former department.
I'm not for certain at this point that Jack isn't going to have to kill Tony, Bill and/or Chloe. They doubtlessly know who they're up against, but they better not be screwing with him too much as he will pop them if need be ...
"24" - Day 7, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Direct Assault:
Bauer threatens an enucleation by cheap ballpoint pen
Bauer delivers a seemingly incapacitating beating to an unknown sniper,
but then he gets the guy shot
Bauer destroys a surveillance camera, drawing the attention of the not-dead Tony Almeida
Collateral Damage:
A bang-up car crash with a traumatized little girl and a kidnapped father (who was also injured)
Masked gunmen cause a traffic calamity and fire weapons in a sensational manner,
apparently not killing anyone
Sniper kills a potential informant and henchman (basically Jack's fault;
the shooting wouldn't happen if Bauer didn't show up with the FBI)
Tony Almeida forces a near-collision for the sake of proving a point
The FBI agent "assisting" Bauer is good with a pistol, taking down two baddies
Other Observations:
Ok. We all knew Tony Almeida wasn't really killed at the end of season 5, episode 13. Now he's a "bad guy" using crazy terrorism to punish the world for his wife's death? Really? I mean, really?
Only time will tell the truth about Tony, but there is obviously more than meets the eye with his apparent reluctance to bring together GSA 117 and SRI 035.
An insider in the FBI is bearing out, but maybe not in the sinister manner in which it was first perceived. Perhaps Almeida has not turned someone as much as he's been serving someone .... Again, we'll see.
In the meantime, Tony forces a "runway incursion" as Bauer indirectly gets a bunch of people around him killed. In what may be a continuity flub, the FBI agent-in-charge informs Janeane Garofalo that there are "three bodies" at the site of the sniper shooting. I only recall two in the room with Bauer and the FBI chick, so we'll have to review that scenario later ....
As a side note, "24" makes reference (if only in passing) to a potential 911 anomaly. To determine for yourself whether there's anything to it, Google the phrase "911 war games" and see if you find any correlation between the season 7 opening sequences and what supposedly happened that day. (I'm not saying anything did or didn't happen that way - I'm just saying make up your own mind)
Coming soon - The Jack Bauer Hour of Power "24" Recap
Stay tuned .......