My Frakkin Blog!

I know this is a little late - but - I’ve been extremely busy this past week.  In case you missed it - Battlestar Galactica started back up again this past Friday 1/16/09 on the SciFi channel.  These are the last 10 episodes before the series comes to an end.  Man, I’m so bummed.  I was hoping this would continue for a while longer.

So - here’s the scoop - BSG and their cylon allies landed on Earth the last episode of the last season.  The first episode picks up where that left off.  They land on Earth on a date not specified.  However, the Earth has been ravaged due to some nuclear event 2000 years before their arrival.  Everyone is now feeling really bummed out.

But - there are some new developments - they find “cylon remains.”  In other words - it appears that the inhabitants of earth were actually decendents of the 13th tribe - which were the human look-alike cylons.  The Four BSG cylons start having memories of living on earth.  Apparently, at the time earth was devastated - they were “downloaded” in to new bodies and reborn on one of the 12 colonies.

What else is revealed is the “5th” or “12″ cylon - depending on how you look at it.  It turns out that Colonel Tigh’s wife is the 5th cylon.  I’m sure we’ll see more of her later on in these last episodes.

The other mystery surrounds Starbuck.  She found the wreckage of her ship on Earth with her charred remains in it.  If she’s not a cylon - then who is she and how the heck did she get back to BSG in the new viper?  Just another question to be answered as this series continues on.

I guess the only down side at this point is that it appears that BSG is taking a really “dark” turn. Lee “Apollo” Adama gets back together briefly with his wife Anastasia Dualla.  After a great evening out - they show her smile - then blow her brains out.  WTFrak?  That caught me completely off guard.  As the episode progresses - we see other crewmembers in fights - morale is just completely on the kibosh - and previously disciplined military members are just sitting around moping.

Let’s hope things pick up later on.

Okay - finally - I was wondering if the frenzy was ever gonna end.  Well, Christmas and the New Year festivities finally ended today.  All the decorations came down and were put away.  The house really looks bare now.

Christmas was a big hit with the kids this year.  As stated previously, Ryan was really in to the whole spirit of it this year.  While I totally expected him to get us up at 5am - he actually woke up at normal time - 8:00 and then got us all up.  Mary’s parents came in and were staying with us - they were actually up before Ryan.

Anyway - he came in all excited about Santa coming and all the presents that were there.  Kylie slept through it.  After Ryan opened up a few presents - we decided we really needed to go wake her up.  She had a great time opening up her presents as well - but - she still hasn’t really figured the whole thing out just yet.

I spent Christmas day doing what I usually do - putting together all the toys that Santa brought.  With the exception of about a 3 hour break when Mary’s Uncle’s and Aunt came for dinner - I pretty much spent the whole day doing that - into the night.

But - I got a Wii from Santa.  After everyone went to bed and after I finished with the last of the toys that needed to be put together - I spent the rest of the night playing Need for Speed and Nerf N-Strike.  Wow - time really flies when you’re playing those games.  Before I knew it - it was 4:30am.  I had to just shut the thing off or I would have been up all day.

I spent some serious time on that thing over the past week - so - I wouldn’t say I’m burned out - but - I’m definitely over it and ready to incorporate blogging back in to the routine.

So - I hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, Boxing Day, etc and a safe and Happy New Year.  I’m really looking forward to what 2009 will bring!

Also - I see that BSG will be on Jan 16th for those of you that are interested.  Unfortunately, it appears it will be the last episode of the series.  Bummer!

Okay - so, it’s not really the camera’s fault.  I guess in a way, it is my fault.  The actual title of this post was supposed to be “Christmas Lights” - but - it quickly changed.  When I went to load up the pictures - the camera would not come on for me to download them.  I guess I probably should have checked to see if the battery was charged.

So - I guess there will be a delay before I get the pictures up of the external Christmas lights.  Sorry!

But - some good news for you other BSG fans - in case you haven’t heard - the final installment of BSG will begin January 16, 2009 on the Sci-Fi channel!  WooHoo!  I’ve been jonesin’ for it to come back.  However, I’m not ready for it to be the final season just yet.

If you’re interested in catching up before it premieres next month - you can watch all of the prior season episodes at the Sci-Fi channel BSG website.

Anyway - pix will be coming soon.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, you will probably come close to being able to figure out my age by the time I finish this…

I was in high school when the first Battlestar Galactica show aired. With that show you knew who the bad guys were (cylons) and who the good guys were (The Galactica Fleet). With this new series, the longer it goes, the less I’m sure. There are religious parallels as well as political parallels happening within this show that really has my mind doing some serious twists and lots of thinking.

I generally don’t like to watch T.V. that really makes me think, but I’m really getting in to this series. Once I got over the character changes from the original series, it got much better. So…here’s what I’m getting out of this series from this season’s episodes..and that are really making me scratch my head.

Religious parallels: In the opening episode, Baltar has been led to another section of the ship by people who apparently see him as a messiah. He is unshaven and wrapped in a tattered blanket. The visual image is that he is somewhat “Christ-like.” The “worshipers” and Baltar believe in only one God as do the cylons. The rest of the fleet worship 12 gods (which just happen to be the Greek Gods of mythology). One could almost consider the Galactica fleet as worshiping pagan Gods. In any case, Baltar miraculously heals a little boy. He prays to his God that his life be taken instead of the boy. Later in the episode he is faced with the possibility of his own death. He is asked by the cylon (number six) who resides in his head whether he is willing to die to save the child. He states he will sacrifice his own life. He has his throat cut, but not enough to kill him as he is saved himself. From this point forward we continue to see more parallels to him and Jesus and Jesus’ journey to gain followers and preach the gospel. In this last episode the Aries worshipers destroy the home of Baltar and his followers. Essentially, he and his followers begin their persecution and ridicule for their beliefs.

Political parallels: With Baltar and his followers claiming religious persecution, President Roslin attempts to “protect” Baltar and his followers by separating them, not allowing them to have more than 12 followers (another religious parallel - 12 disciples) together in any one single location, and by suspending their rights to assembly. While she attempts to suspend the civil liberties of these individuals, Lee Adama forces a vote. In any case, President Roslin is trying to push this through under the guise of protecting the fleet. There are those in the U.S. that believe President Bush has attempted to do something similar with regards to the supposed suspension of civil liberties and surveillance of terrorist communications in this country.

Now - here’s my quandary - the cylons must be evil since they are robots, not of flesh, and they destroyed all of humanity and they are chasing down the remainder of the fleet in order to destroy the last of humanity. The cylons believe that humans are imperfect and need to be destroyed. The cylons believe in one God and that those who worship multiple Gods are worshiping false idols. So, their beliefs parallel Judaism, and with Baltar being portrayed as a messiah, this is similar to Christians. The Galactica soldiers are beginning to take on similarities to the Roman soldiers in that they are enforcing the laws of the fleet as they relate to Baltar and his followers.

Baltar just told his followers that God loves them all because they are perfect. Whereas, our God loves us all because of our imperfections and therefore the reason he sacrificed his own son for our sins and imperfections. More of those mixed messages in this show.

Is this show attempting to bash Christians and Jews through such symbolism? I really can’t tell any more. Or, am I just thinking way too much?

Just wanted to let anyone out there who still might be dropping by that I will be taking a break for a couple of days. I have a lot of homework coming up and due on Sunday…If I get a break in between I’ll come back and post something…in the meantime…gotta get those priorities straight!

See ya in a cupla days!

Make sure you guys watch the new season of Battlestar Galactica on Sci-fi…it’s looking really good!