Live Fast, Die Young

Up next, I am not going to focus on a theme that covers a few different topics. Instead, I am going to look at two or three worlds that I've been thinking about recently. First up is Freaks and Geeks; this has been a long time coming, and after talking about nostalgia and Biff Tannen and Back to the Future, I figured it was finally time (I considered including Freaks and Geeks in the nostalgia series, but realized that it wouldn't fit the way I wanted it to; also, Thomas F. Wilson, who played Biff, is a recurring character, so that is how he enters into it).

Sadly, as happens too often, Freaks and Geeks was an incredible series that had critical acclaim and ardent support from a small group of fans, but was canceled quickly. The show told it like it was for most people in high school (the taglines were, "Everything you remember about high school... that you wish you could forget" and "What high school was like for everyone else"), and it was both extremely funny and extremely sad. I find it very probable that many people shied away from it because they didn't want to be reminded of such hard times they may have had (also, the networked fucked up the promotion).

I also want to look at two movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Shawshank Redemption, both of which have been on my mind lately. Eternal Sunshine is sometimes billed as a romantic comedy, but that is a stretch. It is funny and a love story is at the center of the film, but the film examines what it means to love and what our memories mean. And Shawshank is an incredible tale of what hope can do for you.

Up next: Bad reputation...