"Touch" Revisited: I nailed it.
Earlier in the week, I wrote that the FOX television drama Touch was an "intriguing show."
I quote myself:
In every episode of Touch, Martin Bohm is challenged on his ability to be a "good father" to Jake. His success or failure as a father is questioned because very few people understand what Jake really is, and therefore focus entirely on the wrong thing. Martin's antagonists continually make the faulty assumption that Jake is simply a disabled child with a talent for math, basically equating him with autistic children who excel at music. They further assume that Martin cannot possibly be a good father to Jake, because his responsibilities as a widowed breadwinner preclude him from "providing a suitable environment" for a boy the system has marked off simply as having "special needs." Such naysayers are repeatedly and frustratingly incorrect, because they never even consider Jake's true identity.
Jake Bohm is not a child; he is a fully-formed prophet in a child's body.
Touch is about a man realizing that he is the steward of a prophet.
Jumping ahead...
Furthermore, Jake does not require "therapy;" his intolerance of physical touch is not as quantifiable as an autistic "sensory defensiveness." Touch never shies away from a spiritual reference or metaphor, and in this spirit Jake's refusal to be touched is an echo of the Biblical Nazarites.
And...
Call it a divine plan, call it the will of the universe, Jake passes on glimpses of some ultimate plan to a fresh group of people every week, helping them understand that everything happens for a reason. Just as the Nazarites sought a closer connection to God by not allowing alcohol to cloud their minds, Jake's intensely focused mind cannot by distracted by touch. His manifestation as a child is inconsequential to his ultimate purpose, which is to provide hope to individuals.
I write most of my posts a week in advance. I also watch most of my television shows on Hulu a week after they broadcast. My post about Touch was one such post; drafted a week before it was posted. I had no idea that I would be vindicated the evening I wrote the post.
I literally just watched the most recent episode of Touch on Hulu; episode nine, "Music of the Spheres." I almost had a coronary upon hearing a character speculate that Jake is "one of the 36 righteous ones" who exist to "provide hope" to the rest of the world. Furthermore, Martin ends the episode by accepting that Jake might not want to talk at all, and he should stop forcing the issue. Don't believe me? Read the recap.
And read my post--written long before the episode aired and published before I saw it.
If anyone from the FOX writing staff happens to read this, I am currently open for employment.
Internal Links:
"Touch" and the raising of a prophet.
External Links:
Nazarites - JewishEncyclopedia
Touch "Music of the Spheres" Recap - TVRage
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBshqWuaAWM]
Bob Dylan
"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"
When you're lost in the rain in Juarez And it's Eastertime too And your gravity fails And negativity don't pull you through Don't put on any airs When you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue They got some hungry women there And they really make a mess outa you.
Now if you see Saint Annie Please tell her thanks a lot I cannot move My fingers are all in a knot I don't have the strength To get up and take another shot And my best friend, my doctor Won't even say what it is I've got.
Sweet Melinda The peasants call her the goddess of gloom She speaks good English And she invites you up into her room And you're so kind And careful not to go to her too soon And she takes your voice And leaves you howling at the moon.
Up on Housing Project Hill It's either fortune or fame You must pick up one or the other Though neither of them are to be what they claim If you're lookin' to get silly You better go back to from where you came Because the cops don't need you And man they expect the same. Now all the authorities They just stand around and boast How they blackmailed the sergeant-at-arms Into leaving his post And picking up Angel who Just arrived here from the coast Who looked so fine at first But left looking just like a ghost.
I started out on burgundy But soon hit the harder stuff Everybody said they'd stand behind me When the game got rough But the joke was on me There was nobody even there to bluff I'm going back to New York City I do believe I've had enough.
Thought for the weekend: on simplicity.
I was initially going to open this post with a quote from William of Ockham, the progenator of "Occam's Razor." However, when refreshing myself on the history of Occam's Razor, I learned that the original quote was hardly as pithy or strongly-worded as its modern incarnation.
Ockham originally wrote "entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily." He said this in reference to the impossibiliy of proving the existence of God through pure reason.
The contemporary interpretation of Occam's statement is applied much more broadly as the "Law of Parsimony" or "Rule of Simplicity:"
"Other things being equal, a simpler explanation is better than a more complex one."
We live in a complex society. And, sadly, it's easy to reject simple explanations when they might actually be the way to go. I tend to harp on weight loss and nutrition, but it's hilarious how people seek out complicated answers when they simply don't want to make the changes necessary to change their lives. "Blood type" diets? Come on!
Relationships have become too complicated. I don't want to always be blaming technology for everything, but a lot of the people I talk to on a regular basis allow for Facebook and social networks to influence their assumptions and interactions of and with other people more than actual, spoken conversations.
Let's not allow our perceptions of life to get in the way of life itself. Be objective. Be clear-headed. Keep feelings and memories partitioned so that we can learn from our experiences instead of rewriting them in our minds.
Perhaps the best modern-day interpretation of Occam's Razor is the KISS Principle:
Keep It Simple, Stupid.
"They discovered fire."
Rowan Atkinson as Doctor Who, Richard Grant Jonathan Pryce as the master. It doesn't get much better than that. One-liners abound.
Also, a pretty good parody of the kind of loop-the-loop writing that Steven Moffat has been doing lately.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do-wDPoC6GM]
My favorite meal.
I'm a man of simple taste. I might not eat wheat any more, which rules out all derivative products such as pasta and most fried foods, but I still crave me some soul food now and again. And it just so happens that my favorite feel-good meal is the perfect post-workout spread.
And what do I love so much? Eggs and a sweet potato! The eggs are usually fried, and the potato is always split down the middle with a shake of cinnamon and a big pat of butter in the middle. I augmented my eggs with some homemade guacamole this evening. My plate was a playland of protein, healthy fats and good carbohydrate. So, so satisfying.
The meal was especially welcome today as it was my fast-breaker after a semi-unintentional intermittent fast lasting around twenty-eight hours. I finished out the day with a ninety-minute martial arts workout at my home dojo.
I'm writing again about fasting because I also just wrote a "just the basics" Hub on the subject. If you want to help me make some money, I'm trying to get back to India this summer, and every click counts: