Gripers United

Update

2009-04-26T08:43:00.001-05:00

Hey gripers, sorry I haven't been around for a while. I promise I'll be posting real soon!!

Better Late Than Never

2009-04-11T19:01:00.006-05:00

This post comes to you a little late. It's been bugging me for a week now, however. I thought, "What better place to go to get it out there." There are a lot of blogs out there about today's subject so why nor join them?

One of the few shows that I follow is House. Last week I was surprised that Kal Penn was leaving the show. Actually, I was not as surprised that he was leaving as in the manner he was written off. Show creator David Shore had the character Kutner commit suicide. There were a lot of options available to the writers but, they chose that.

I have to DVR House because of my work schedule. Before I could watch it my daughter told me that she had read online that Kal Penn was leaving acting to pursue politics. My wife replied, "So that's why the killed Kutner off." Knowing how a show will end is not a gripe. This sort of thing has happened since the beginning of TV.

Anyone who has been affected by suicide knows that this is not any worse than losing someone but, it is a lot darker time. Anyone who watches House has come to "know" the characters. I know what you're probably thinking. "It's just a show!" I know this but, in the same way that we watch to escape reality we also, as part of human nature, search for little pieces of reality in what we are exposing ourselves to.

I have had to deal with losing someone to suicide. I never wanted to have to relive that dark time in my life. This episode made me do just that which, I think is not fair. I, by no means am trying to convey that I'm a professional writer. Having said that, I could think of a dozen ways to write this character out of the show.

I will give credit where credit is due. The message was very clear. It brought awareness to this horrible thing. Sometimes there are no signs. It is something that anyone might have to deal with and everyone deals with it in their own way. The fact is however, that we watch these shows to be entertained and to escape reality as much as possible for an hour. We have enough problems to deal with in this world today.

This character's suicide does have a lot of similarities to the real thing. It was done and there is no way that they can take it back now. (Set aside being Hollywood they could write in a dream sequence.) Now, it has to be dealt with. People have to think about it. To face it. To find a way to move on.

To sum it up, I didn't like how this message was forced on us and drudged back haunting memories of the past that were dealt with and could have stayed in the place that they were kept.

My Inaugral Gripe

2009-04-05T03:45:00.000-05:00

To be honest with you. I have been sitting here running a huge list of gripes I have through my mind while my dog Maggie snores away in dream land. I'm thinking, "What would be an awesome gripe to kick off this blog? I have quite a few to list." Then I thought, "I have a lot of posts to make so I'm not going to go nuts trying to think of something that will out do everything." As I thought of this gripe, my neighbor pulled into his driveway with his car stereo booming and rattling the walls. Bingo! ("No Maggie, I never thought of naming you Bingo.") Anyway, I know you the reader have had to experience this at one time or another. You pull up to a red light. A song that you like is playing on your car stereo. All of a sudden this car pulls up next to you and your car starts shaking from the booming sub woofers as part of the stereo this person has, which are usually worth more than the car. In my case I'm sitting here at 2 am. I work a weird shift starting late in the afternoon until early morning. Sucks! So here I am just dozing off when my walls start to shake. I hear boom, boom, boom. It's getting louder and louder and louder and as sudden as it starts... it stops. I get up in the early afternoon. I'm watching a show that I DVR'd. I've been waiting to see this for a week and a half. Right about the time Peter is taking care of Sylar and he's about to fly away with the cheerleader... BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!!! I'm thinking, "The bass on my home theatre isn't that great." I go outside and look next door. Goober sees me, turns his clunker off, it backfires, he looks at me, gets out and waves, and goes inside. I stand there dumbfounded. The thought that keeps running through my head is "What if I don't like the music you're forcing me to listen to. You're sharing your like for this music with me without my permission! I can't wait until that rust bucket breaks down. I hope your battery dies!" If you seen this piece of junk you would know it's close to clunking out. The good news is Goober is moving out of his aunts house soon. I have to admit this, though. When a song I really like is playing in my car, I sometimes turn it up until I pull up next to another car or by someones house. The volume goes down at that time. Goober helped me always be aware of that. Funny how that works.

That's my first post. Hope you liked it. Let me know. Send me your ideas on gripes that you'd like me to respond to or that you'd like to blow off some steam about. One at a time please. Eventually, I'm going to do pod casts, also. Maybe I'll do some with your gripes.

Until next time remember: There's a place where you can come and complain all you want and there will always be someone to listen. You'll never hear, "You complain to much!" That's what this is all about.