Monday Update

I'm wrapped up in a couple of TV shows on Monday nights. I don't tend to watch a lot of live TV, since I prefer seeing a lot of episodes back-to-back, but there are two shows that have really captured my attention. If only there were something good to watch in between them, but no one puts a good show on at 8 o'clock on Mondays. (Darn you, Dancing with the Stars!)


First, at 7 pm on NBC, we have Chuck. This show is wrapping up it's 4th season, and it's amazingly hysterical. The nerd we all want to be with a super CIA computer in his brain, fighting crime in the most amazingly awesome geek way possible. High stakes UNO games over possession of a nuclear weapon, disarming said nuclear weapon with a juice box, and this week staging a break-in to a secured location using a plan concocted entirely from Star Wars. I've never laughed so hard watching any show as much as this one, and if you don't fall for the characters after 2 episodes, you may need professional help. If you've ever referenced a sci-fi movie, video game or comic book in regular conversation, this show is for you. Secret weapon: Adam Baldwin's love for guns..


Then, after pretending that I don't watch at least some of Dancing with the Stars, at 9 o'clock on ABC we have my other favorite show, Castle. Nathan Fillion (always watchable, even as Captain Hammer) stars as Richard Castle, a mystery novelist who follows around a female detective to base his book off her. The premise is no less reasonable than most crime procedural shows, and honestly the premise isn't what draws me to this show. The characters are some of the most fully-fleshed out that I've ever seen in a crime drama, and the relationships between them are the real reason to tune in to this show, after the antics of man-child Fillion of course. I'll be honest, I'd watch pretty much anything Fillion does just because I can't see him smirk without laughing. Secret weapon: Fillion's Castle one-liners and fancy toys.

So, now that I've spilt my guts about my TV favorites, let me know what your shows are. Because when the mainstream audience fails to adopt these show and they're canned, I'm going to need something else to watch. And if you are in the business of making TV shows, apparently all you need the please me is an impossible crime fighting premise and a cast-off actor from Firefly. (I'm seeing Alan Tudyk as a schoolteacher who fights crime with history lessons. Make it happen!)

What am I supposed to feel?

Last night, my wife logged onto Facebook and read that Osama Bin Ladin had been killed as a result of a military action by the U.S. in Pakistan. The news has been saying that this is day we'll remember forever, like where we were when we heard about the planes hitting the towers almost 10 years ago. But is this something I want to remember?
Bin Laden lived a violent life, and his actions led to the deaths of thousands of people in multiple countries from various religious and ethnic backgrounds. The lives of others were expendable to him and he had been declared the enemy of nearly every established government in the world. The world is definitely a safer place without him gone. Yet I cannot help but wonder why we are celebrating someone's death to such a degree. The ending of a life is something very saddening to me, whether it is because their death was a tragedy, or because it was necessary.
I am not trying to say that I am not sad that he is dead. I am saddened because this is what had to happen. I feel this way anytime anyone dies who "deserves it." Death for someone who is in that state holds no hope. A person who dies with their heart so firmly rooted in evil is truly lost. And so even though it was necessary, I regret that it was the last option.
In a nutshell, I'm conflicted. I wonder if I'm supposed to feel compassion towards a man whose actions have destroyed innumerable lives, lives of people I know and feel for. I had family in New York who lost friends and loved ones on September 11th, 2001. I felt the fear that war would engulf us and my friends and I might be drafted to fight. I know soldiers who've served in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade. I know that Bin Laden's actions have caused great suffering and pain to these people. I am only lamenting that ending another man's life was the only solution to stop him from continuing to hurt others. Kill to prevent killing is a concept I've never been fully comfortable with.
In short (too late), I am only left not knowing how to react to the news. His death is cause for both joy and sadness, and I am finding it hard to choose which to feel. I'll definitely remember it, though, even though I don't really want to.