Ode to Firefly (oh, yeah, and the rest of Thursday)

Thursday was the day that I finally felt that I “got” it. Things are slowly starting to make more sense, and the flow of the lecturers and the concepts that are being discussed are becoming more and clearer. I am getting excited about studying the law, and I am not at the stage where I dread coming to classes (that will probably be around exam time!).
Yesterday, I got up at 5 to head to the gym, as I had a training session with David. Unbeknownst to me (but knowst to him…those of your who have seen Spaceballs will get that), he had cancelled our session for the day. I still ended up getting a workout in, and then I was off to Legal Analysis for 2 hours. In Legal Analysis, we are supposed to be learning to think like lawyers. No, not in terms of billable hours! We are learning how to break down cases into their essences and come up with arguments as to why certain situations do or do not break the law. This process is called synthesis, and I can already see where this ability will be essential to anyone in the legal profession. As I mentioned earlier, I am just starting to get it, and I am looking forward to trying my project for next week’s class (actually breaking down a case into rules and a synthesis report). I can’t believe that I am looking forward to my homework!
After lunch, I went to the library to tackle some more Civil Procedure. This is another class where the minutia tends to be the most important part. The professor was in a good mood yesterday, and I know that I am on the right track. As students were struggling for answers when they were questioned, I was able to find the appropriate sections within my own notes. We even knocked off a little early! I went to the library to work on my Contracts assignment for Friday. If you remember, Contracts is my favorite (albeit most challenging) class. Since I had already completed my Torts reading for Friday, I wanted to devote the entire afternoon to the questions at hand in Contracts. After 3 hours, I thought that I was ready for the professor. I guess that I will find out this afternoon.
The trip home was a bit taxing. I had no problem getting on the Red Line train, but halfway through the journey, the train stopped due to a track fire. The train sat motionless for 30 minutes. When it finally started moving again, it did so in fits and jerks. I reached home an hour later than usual. I immediately set about cooking dinner. My plan was to relax (yes!) by watching “Firefly” and eating some chicken curry. My roommate was having a poker game downstairs and generously invited me to play, but I was thoroughly wiped out by the day. I didn’t want to do anything that required thinking. With my chicken and rice in hand, I made my way to the bedroom, settled into the large chair there, and started watching episodes 7 and 8 of “Firefly”
Now, for those of you who might be reading this to get an understanding of my day, you might want to stop right here. The rest of this entry (well, except for my comments on an Ovation channel documentary on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion and Lerner and Lowe’s My Fair Lady) will be an ode to “Firefly”. Of course, before I started watching the series, I had to surf the cable channels to see if there was anything else on. I noticed the aforementioned documentary on Ovation. I switched over and watched. It was interesting how the creators of My Fair Lady took Shaw’s classic and not only created a masterful musical adaptation but also a work that extended and expanded upon some of the themes merely touched on in “Pygmalion”. The overall effect of watching the documentary was one where I am now compelled to revisit the musical and watch it more closely for some of the themes explored in the documentary. At the ripe old age of 34, I have found that revisiting some of my favorite works (books, movies, etc) from my younger days often is a voyage of rediscovery.
I must now turn my attention to “Firefly”. I must first provide a little background on why I am interested in an old Fox television show that only lasted less than one season. This summer, I went to the theater to see “Revenge of the Sith”. Amid the usual dreck of forgettable trailers for forgettable movies, there was a trailer that blew me away. There were fast moving images of spaceships, intrigue, posturing….and horses in a western town??? The name of the film was “Serenity”, a film that was an extension of “Firefly”. Now, I had missed this series when it first aired on Fox. It was on Friday nights and it was an hour long. I have a problem with following weekly hour long dramas nowadays because if you miss one episode (a la “24”), you end up missing some significant plot developments. “Firefly”, however, was created by Joss Whedon, the genius behind Buffy and Angel. He is one of the best writers working in Hollywood today. Those of you not familiar with his television work might be surprised to know that he is responsible (well, story wise, at least) for the genius of the original Toy Story. “Firefly” is the story about a crew of smugglers/cargo movers in space. The premise is that, in the future, a centralized government controls the civilized portions of space, but the outlying frontier pretty much lawless, much like the frontier of the American West of the late 1800s/early 1900s. Each crew member has their own story for why they are on the ship, and several mysteries are hinted at in the early episodes. Whedon is a master of dialogue and storytelling. I very quickly found myself becoming involved with the characters themselves. A hallmark of good writing is how soon this happens, and for me, it happened darned quickly. The drama is balanced by humor that is sometimes nuanced and sometimes over-the-top, but the humor is always relevant to the situations. All 8 episodes that I have watched have been excellent. I am somewhat sad that I only have 8 episodes to go, but I am happy to know that the stories might continue indefinitely on the big screen. If you have not yet experienced the “Firefly” universe, I highly recommend checking it out.