The Good Wife - last night's episode...(I don't know the name's of these episodes)

Well, I get tomorrow off - yes, it's weird, I know. Before you envy me, keep in mind I do not get the day after Thanksgiving off. Government work places are odd. Nor does everyone I work with get tomorrow off - depends on which union you are in or if you are management. The reason? It's an election day - and the union dictates that employees should be provided plenty of time to vote. Goes back to the inception of the union, way back in 1940.

Promised a review of The Good Wife, for the scant few who care. But hey, one reader is enough from my perspective. The Good Wife continues to be my favorite series, but it is very female centric apparently, few men I know watch it. A lot of people think it is a procedural, but if last night's episode was any indication? Really not. It is critically acclaimed.

( Last night's episode of the Good Wife )

Great episode. Actually last night was a great tv night - my favorite tv night of the week is turning out to be Sundays - I adore Once Upon a Time and The Good Wife. Two favorite shows on right now, also the only one's I make a point of watching live - so I don't miss them due to DVR mishaps. As much as I enjoy the new tv show Revenge? It just doesn't hit the same chord in me that these two shows do. I don't really know why...mileage varies on this, I know. We all like what we like and that's all that should be said about that. Trying to figure out why we or someone else likes or really dislikes something is well...often impossible.

I've decided and I'm trying really really hard to abide by this rule - to not discuss in my blog tv shows or writers or books or films that I despise or really dislike. No good can come of it. But it is admittedly really hard sometimes, because...hey, it's fun to rant. Just not overly productive or conducive to internet correspondence.

As an aside? I think sometimes that the internet has heightened my tv and cultural geek quotient to an insane level. I wasn't this geeky about tv before the net. Really.

The transformative character in stories or spinning a tale - Once Upon a Time & Rumplestilskin

Watching House - which is obviously about infidelty. But I'm sort of bored. I think House has passed its expiration date...admittedly some people reading this probably thought it passed its expiration date four years ago. Jamie Bamber is quite good though. Can't tell he's British at all. I swear Brits do better American accents than American's do British accents. Not sure why this is? Theater training? Or desperation?

Meanwhile...got curious about the RumpleStilskin Story, had a brief discussion with co-worker, who also loves Once Upon A Time (he's 58 and a huge genre fan and has a Masters in Financial Administration - very bright guy who does cross-word puzzles), about the Rumplestilskin and Cinderella story. In some versions - I vaguely remember the story-teller combining the two. He said no, that was Rampunzel. I don't think so. Looked it up - I think we may both be wrong. But I discovered how fascinatingly complex a character Rumplestilskin is. I think I know understand why Once Upon A Time is rapidly becoming a favorite - I have a minor in cultural anthropology focusing on folklore and mythology and well, a life-long love of the subject matter - in some respects I was more of a cultural anthropology major than an English Lit major, cared more about the topic at any rate. Some of the stories...I even found versions fairy tales in Wales in the 1980s via oral narratives. I'm fascinated by the variations in oral narratives, how they change and get reinterpreted depending on the teller.

The reason stories, oral narratives, variations, et al fascinate is because of the "transformative" nature of stories. Stories can transform the teller and listener. The teller or spinner of a story is in a way a Rumplestilskin - enfolding the listener or reader into his/her world...and changing them as a result. More so when the story resonates in your brain and more importantly your gut, you can in fact become reborn. Some stories transform our culture or comment on it - as do their variations, shifting from one culture to the next.

( Rumplestilskin and Once Upon a Time, spoilers up to and including the third episode of the series and why it is really worth watching )