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I want to believe (in science fiction)

Creator Chris Carter discusses The X-Files with the AV Club:

But I never thought of it as a science-fiction show to begin with, even though it was labeled as science fiction, because I wanted it to be in the realm of speculative science, the kind of what-if, taking hard science and applying an unexplained quality.

And I can’t help but think, isn’t that science fiction, or at least one definition of it?

But I understand what he’s talking about. The “it’s not really science fiction” argument does tend to get old — really? spaceships, aliens, time travel…and it’s not science fiction? — but the genre label does still scare some people away. (Or scares away studios who think people will be scared away.) On the one hand, playing into those fears doesn’t do the genre any favors; it just adds another excuse for people to dismiss it, to go on fearing it. But on the other hand, you do want to rope in new viewers. And if the way to do that is to say, “this program is a little different than your preconceived notions of science fiction” — even if those notions barely scratch the surface of what science fiction actually is — well okay then.

I also like Carter’s response to whether or not there’s any hopefulness beneath the show’s paranoia and fear:

Yeah, I think the whole concept of “trust no one,” if that was a mantra of The X-Files, is basically a desperate cry for someone to trust. And I think the show has been exceedingly hopeful, and the idea that it’s not is, I think, not looking deep into what the heart of the show is.

Someone told me it’s all happening at the zoo…

I do believe it. I do believe it’s true.

Today was my company’s summer outing. (I’d say “annual” summer outing, but I don’t think we’ve had one before this, in the three and a half years that I’ve worked there.) We went to the Bronx Zoo and had a thoroughly good time. I haven’t been there — or, I think, to any zoo — in decades. It definitely beat a day sitting at my desk — especially since sitting at my desk tends to hurt a lot lately. I had a lot of fun.

Take it to the bank

Have you seen these new Bank of America commercials? The “this is America, where you can do whatever you want and don’t let anybody tell you different” commercials? (Voiced, unless I’m very much mistaken, by Kiefer Sutherland.) They try for playfulness, but they also play into a very American sense of entitlement that’s just a little distasteful. I don’t want to read too much into the commercials, but there’s one I saw last night that struck me in particular.

It was a commercial for their “Keep the Change” program. If you use your debit card, they’ll round up the cost of the purchase to the nearest dollar and throw the extra change into a savings account for you. Leave aside the fact that the change would still be in your checking account if they didn’t do this, that you’re not gaining any money you would have otherwise lost. What struck me were the references to (and camera shots of) loose change lying around, most notably in tip jars or those “take a penny” trays you see on store counters. Don’t waste your hard-earned money on those things, the advert seemed to be saying. You deserve those extra twelve cents more than any local coffee shop clerk! This is America, and nobody tells Americans when or if they have to tip!

Again, I don’t want to read too much into the commercials. They just sort of rubbed me the wrong way, I guess.