Chris Rowe’s Blog

Welcome to my final blog post! I think the progression of my blog posts represents the mindset shift I have had over the course of this year. Recently, I have found television shows enjoyable unless I am completely checked out for the day and in my basement. If it is during the week, I would much rather listen to a podcast before bed. In this post, I will detail a few changes I have made in my life based on what I have gleaned from Andrew Huberman podcasts.

Deliberate cold exposure. Deliberate cold exposure’s primary purposes are to wake you up and increase dopamine for several hours following the exposure. The best way to do it is with a cold tub, but a cold shower serves the same function. Typically, I spend approximately 1 minute and 20 seconds in the cold after a warm shower. It is important to note that I only do this if I take a morning or early afternoon shower because it will be very hard to fall asleep after this. The reason is that your body’s central nervous system gets shocked by the cold water causing a spike in adrenaline. Additionally, your core body temperature drops rather quickly and dramatically in the cold shower. Then, a signal is sent to your prefrontal cortex to warm your body up. This process of warming your body up is the signal for your body to wake up. I have utilized this on seemingly sluggish days to elevate my mood because of the sharp dopamine increase that lasts for several hours. Cortisol is a stress-regulating chemical in your body. Cold exposure causes a sharp spike in Cortisol that leads to decreased stress, increased alertness, and much more. Because of benefits like these and those that I have mentioned, I will continue to do this and ideally, I will be able to increase the time I spend in the cold water. Next, we have the reverse of deliberate cold exposure.https://media.istockphoto.com/id/827324092/photo/interior-of-finnish-sauna-classic-wooden-sauna.jpg?s=612×612&w=0&k=20&c=IEwe317-7WIYWRs0cN8czl1NpfiEdsbdk9DyfXVywjs=
Sauna. I sometimes spend 10-20 minutes in the sauna following my workouts. My skin temperature is driven up and my nervous system is fighting to keep my core body temperature down because the sauna is working to heat it up. Thus, when I exit the sauna, my body will continue to drive down its temperature, and this process of cooling down aligns with the body’s process of falling asleep. I typically work out at night, so this helps me fall asleep more easily at night. Other benefits of the sauna are increased blood flow, thus enhancing recovery, and increased growth hormone production, a key element for growth and recovery. These benefits are just as available if not more so because my primary goals for working out are hypertrophy and strength gain, and the sauna assists both of these.

While it sounds like I have taken the time to optimize my life through deliberate cold exposure and exposing myself to very high temperatures, there are a few things that I have learned will further optimize my life that I have yet to incorporate due to a few factors. These things include morning sun exposure, limiting caffeine intake within 8-12 hours before, and limiting blue light exposure after 11pm assuming I go to sleep within a few hours of that time.

The primary purpose of morning sun exposure is to set your circadian rhythm for the day. Getting sufficient sunlight exposure early in the day sets you up for good sleep at night. Andrew Huberman explains all of this more clearly and in much more detail. I will link some of my favorite podcasts at the bottom of this post. Additionally, it is most ideal to have zero caffeine within 10-12 hours before sleeping. If you consume caffeine six hours prior to going to sleep, fifty percent of the caffeine will remain in your system by the time you go to sleep. For me, I consume large amounts of caffeine prior to working out around 7:00 pm each day. I am asleep anywhere from 4-6 hours after that. While I typically don’t have trouble falling asleep, caffeine operates as an Adenosine antagonist. While I may be able to fall asleep, the amount of low wave sleep I receive that night is reduced. This may not seem very important, but low wave sleep is the portion of sleep where growth hormone is produced, and that is very important to me if my goal is maximizing strength gain, hypertrophy, and overall recovery. Ideally, I would consume no caffeine that late into the night, but I have a much better workout if I have caffeine 10-30 minutes prior, so I typically do. Lastly, I look at a screen typically leading up right until I go to sleep. If I optimized my light intake, I would have zero overhead fluorescent lights before going to bed and zero blue light from electronic devices. If I were to take it to the extreme, I could buy lights that emit red light at night because it is a softer light and at the opposite end of the blue light spectrum.

I’m glad I got to take some of you on a relatively entertaining journey. Here is a list of the podcasts I have enjoyed and gleaned useful information from (I summarized the names and included the podcasts’ numbers. They are on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, and other platforms): 

Muscle growth and recovery – Podcast 22

Leverage Dopamine to Overcome Procrastination – Podcast.

Master your sleep – Podcast 2

Caffiene to optimize mental and physical performance – Podcast 101

What Alcohol does to you – Podcast 86

Sleep optimization and sleep-wake timing – Podcast 84

 

Welcome back to the blog. It has been a while since I last informed you of what I am currently watching. Lots of things have changed since then. I have recently found podcasts to be more appealing and enjoyable than any tv shows right now. With podcasts, I am able to listen to them in the background, in the car, and really anywhere I have my phone. With tv shows, while I did watch Friends in the background at times like when I put away my laundry, I prefer to have time to pay attention to the show.

That being said, I find podcasts more enjoyable when I am able to sit down and pay attention to them, even watching the interview or oration on youtube. I’ve only consistently been listening to podcasts for about a week or so, but my interest in learning has been revitalized. While I do learn in school, choosing specific topics to learn about myself through podcasts is better because each episode is self-selected. 

I have a few podcast recommendations for those of you who will approach them with an open mind. Mind you, I know that it may be too difficult to do so. My dad had actually recommended a few podcasts to me recently. I had heard about podcasts and how they are on the rise but figured they weren’t my thing. A few podcasts changed my mind and allowed me to realize that it is not podcasts that are uninteresting but rather that each person has to find the podcast best suited for them.

There are two podcasts I can currently recommend and one I would like to get into myself. Modern Wisdom hosted by Chris Williamson has an amalgamation of different guests on the show. The topics covered can include relational psychology, optimizing performance physically and mentally, and much more. While I enjoyed learning about an assortment of things, my favorite episodes have been when I learn about how to optimize my own life in different ways. That being said, I found the second podcast that I have grown fond of Huberman Lab by Andrew Huberman. Huberman is a neuroscientist and professor at Stanford University. Because of his specialty in neuroscience, his podcast primarily focuses on bodily functions and how one can use their knowledge to improve their own life. The podcasts I have listened to thus far have been about muscle growth and recovery, leveraging dopamine to overcome procrastination, and mastering sleep. Whether I choose to implement some of these strategies he discussed is still up in the air, but learning about how I can scientifically avoid procrastination, improve motivation, de-stress, fall asleep faster, and be happier is fascinating to me. I often wonder how I could do some of these things, but I was unaware that there are relatively simplistic methods to do each of these. 

I originally heard Andrew Huberman on the first Joe Rogan podcast episode that I ever listened to. Joe Rogan’s podcast on Spotify is one of the largest podcasts online in terms of viewership. Spotify and Rogan currently have a $200 million contract for Rogan to publish his content on Spotify. Joe Rogan was an excellent interviewer and podcaster in the episode, but I found that my interests primarily align with Huberman. Even still, I would like to try and find some other episodes where Rogan has done episodes with celebrities or public figures who I am familiar with.

I find myself at an interesting point in my life right now. I am starting to take more of an interest in biology and general science than I ever have. Unbelievably, learning applicable things in my life is more captivating to me than my favorite television shows (I did finish Friends if anyone was wondering, however). In my next blog post, I think it is highly likely that I will continue with information about podcasts rather than tv shows because I see myself continuing to listen to podcasts in the future. 

Chris Williamson and Andrew Huberman are accessible on Spotify, apple, and youtube. If anything I have described peaks your interest in the slightest, I encourage you to try out an episode. If you are like me, you will find it more appealing than you think. I do not want to oversell it, however. Huberman described how hyping up something sets an expected dopamine release for people. Once one experiences the hyped-up thing, it won’t have nearly the same dopamine release. If it were an excellent book, for example, if your expectations were extremely low, the dopamine release would be far more elevated for the same quality of book than if I told you it was the best book ever. You may already be familiar with this concept but Huberman does a good job explaining why this is the case through science.

Try out a podcast.

 

This week’s blog post will be a new kind of blog post. Instead of reviewing a show after I have finished it, I will review Friends while currently watching it. At the time of writing this, I have finished through Season 7 Episode 6: “The One with the Nap Partners.” Keeping this in mind, even though I have a general idea of how the show concludes, please keep comments spoiler-free.

In the past, I had viewed Friends over my sister’s shoulder in bits and pieces. It is a sitcom created from 1904-2004. Now, I have finally started watching the show myself per the recommendations of numerous people. While I knew that Friends was a successful, popular show, I was unaware of its extent of it. According to Market Place, Friends has been nominated for 62 Primetime Emmy awards and has 10 Golden Globe Award nominations with 6 wins and 1 win, respectively. Emmy awards are the pinnacle for television shows and emerging media, and the Golden Globes are for peak films and television shows. Additionally, NY Daily News reports that Friends is the most-watched sitcom of all time, beating out Seinfeld and Game of Thrones which were second and third place. Unfortunately, because many of the watch hours are through DVDs and methods that cannot be recorded, there is no accurate estimate for how many hours Friends has been watched in total by all persons. If one were to sit down and watch the entire Friends series all at once, it would take approximately 85 cumulative hours. So, it is on the longer end of the spectrum for television shows with ten seasons with roughly twenty episodes each-each episode being 20-22 minutes long.

Now to my own review of the show. Since starting this blog post and taking a break for a couple of days, I have progressed to season 7 episode 14. If that doesn’t convey my fervor for the show, I could include a rather sad statistic about how recently I started the show, but I will allow any commenters to provide a guess. Continuing, I think the basis for judging the strength of a show should be mostly objective and statistically based. While I could dive into an in-depth analysis of the craft and creative elements of the show as I did for the Office and other shows, I have found that I am not watching this show for the quality of production, though I do not doubt it exists. I watch Friends simply for light-hearted entertainment, however.

The beauty of Friends is how easy it is to watch it. This may not be the best way to watch it, but I watch Friends in the background all the time and don’t always devote a given time to sit down and watch it. I can put away my laundry or do a mindless task and watching Friends makes those things more fun and the time passes far more quickly. 

There are two different platforms I watch Friends on. First, I watch Friends on my phone through certain websites. No, I won’t specify which websites. This constant easy access has been a driving force in the prevalence of my sporadic watchings of the show. But what makes it so entertaining, and what keeps enticing me to watch more? 

Let me start by saying that there are only mild tension and pilot lines that carry from one episode to the next. One of the primary hooks was between Ross and Rachel thus far. This was one of the few times that I felt super drawn in to watch another episode after having just finished one. If it is not for consistent tension and suspense, why do I continue to watch Friends? 

The characters are extremely relatable like in The Big Bang Theory. While I don’t live in New York, the friends continue to have interesting problems in their lives that are plausible and entertaining. Characters like Joey are certain people that could be seen in public and meet in real life. If one were to meet him in person, one would be entertained. In essence, Friends provides an opportunity for the viewers to get a glimpse into an entertaining group of people’s lives. From the beginning to where I am now, there have been dynamics between the main characters that continually shift and keep the view on their toes.

For me, Friends is a feel-good show. Nearly every time I watch it, it will be a time I want to relax or before I go to bed because the episodes are relatively conclusive. I am looking forward to watching the rest of Friends, but not looking forward to the end. Most of you have probably seen Friends already, but if not, I highly recommend it.

 

When I first attempted to read anyone lived in a pretty how town, I actually misread the title and the first line twice. As I type this, my computer wants to change the title to read “Anyone who lived in a pretty town.” Funny enough, that is how I initially read it. I had to pause, remind myself that Cummings is an unconventional poet, and then continue to read the poem. I decided that I would assume that my interpretation of the title was along the lines of Cummings’ intent, but I should immediately be open to an alternate interpretation.

Only on the second line, I recognized the parentheses that Cummings likes to include. I had previously analyzed a Cummings poem with parentheses after each line, and while Cummings didn’t use parentheses quite as often as in that poem, parentheses were still included in seven of the nine stanzas. Cummings’ use in this poem is consistent with his other poems, however. Each time parentheses are used, they add a little bit of information about whatever Cummings had just said. Cummings is speaking to the reader, emphasizing what he just said to ensure the reader understands the implications. 

Cummings also uses other devices to reiterate his point: the first being repetitiveness. “sun moon stars rain,” the objects of bells, and “spring summer autumn winter,” are repeated numerous times. It seemed to me that the poem was repeating itself in a loop as opposed to straight repetition. This led to my attempt to understand why Cummings continued to repeat these phrases. First, I looked at each one individually. The sun, moon, stars, and rain cover all the potential possibilities for what can be seen in the sky. At night, the stars can be seen, when it is clear, the sun can be seen, and when it is raining, clouds will be seen, the same as if it were cloudy-the one appearance I originally thought Cummings failed to include. The next repeated phrase was the most straightforward: spring, summer, autumn, and winter are all the seasons. So, I interpreted this as meaning all the time.

Lastly, the Bells. I thought they were only mentioned twice instead of three times which surprised me because I had begun to know that Cummings likes to be consistent in his poems. I had to look deeper to find the third mention of the bells. In the final stanza of the poem, Cummings includes “both dong and ding” in parentheses. What made this find even more difficult was that I did not realize that dong and ding were referring to bells the first three times I read it. Had Cummings written “both ding and dong,” I would have made the connection to bells right away. Cummings is clever. Whether he intended this line to require multiple reads to comprehend, he successfully got me to become a rereader. These re-reads lead to a minor revelation that started when I tried to decipher the meaning from the poem.

For a Cummings poem, I thought this poem was one of the most straightforward poems that he has written. I was quick to understand the literal content of the poem, but it took me a while to draw meaning from the poem. I was finally able to find meaning during another reread of the second and fifth stanzas. The second stanza states that men and women do not care for anyone at all, and the fifth stanza seemed to list ordinary things monotonously. I literally felt myself become bored reading the fifth stanza compared to the rest of the poem.

Typically, Cummings writes in an intriguing manner. Some poems won’t even seem like a poem, but with a close look, turn out to be a super creative way to describe a cat. Other poems will have their own interesting features. This poem, however, is written more straightforwardly than I have seen before, all in lowercase, and repeats itself as I’ve said. This poem seemed so unlike Cummings, and I couldn’t figure out why Cummings wrote this poem that way. This led to the overall meaning that I arrived at. Cummings ordinary diction and lack of emphasis on anything interesting and, instead, emphasis on things that are continuous like the seasons, suggested that life is ordinary, monotonous, isolated, and cyclical.

Once I understood the purpose of the repetition and monotony included Cummings included, I had to look into the few parts of the poem that strayed from the rest because it didn’t sit right with me that the message of the poem was that life is not unique and that I am just part of the cycle and will eventually decompose (something directly mentioned in the eighth stanza). The only parts of the poem that did this were when “noone” was talked about. These parts of the poem were difficult for me to grasp because while I understood that “noone” was actually a woman, it took much longer for me to realize that “anyone” is a man, the main character of the poem. They give each other meaning. Noone “laughed his joy she cried his grief.” At the time of his death, she gave him a kiss farewell. My research concluded that the bells that rang and the time of anyone’s death are a continued symbol for the start, and in this case, the end. The bells are unpreventable but life can be given meaning before they ring one final time.

Cummings never contradicts himself, but holds firm that life is a cycle, starting with bells, ending with bells, starting with birth, ending with death, and decomposing back in the soil. Life becomes meaningful simultaneously when nooone loves anyone and anyone loves noone.

I Recently Went to Maui… Here’s What I Can Tell You

Welcome. Presumably, you are interested in learning more about Maui or maybe you just want to hear my op-ed about my recent vacation. In case you didn’t know, Maui is one of the primary islands that is closest to the Big Island, the island labeled Hawai’i in this image. 

Just recently, I vacationed in Maui with my family. In this blog, I am going to take you through my trip and give my recommendations should you travel to Maui at some point.

First, we have to start with the flights. I had a 4.5-hour flight to LAX, about an hour-hour and a half layover, and then an eight-hour flight from LAX to Maui. If you are able to sleep on the plane, I advise that you sleep according to the Hawaiian time zone. In my case, I stayed up extra late in Illinois the night before because 2 am in Naperville is only 10 pm in Hawaii. Then, I slept on the first flight and stayed up the entire second flight because it would be daytime when I arrived. This strategy proved effective as I suffered zero jet lag in Hawaii. Using the same sleeping strategy, I suffered no jet lag on the way back to Illinois either.

Now you’ve successfully reached Hawai’i. Hopefully, you have planned far ahead with reservations at restaurants. My family decided to take a last-minute trip to Hawaii because we realized that winter break was sixteen days long. We missed out on some opportunities and prices ended up being higher than they should have been because we waited so long. My friend’s family booked their hotel and many of their restaurant accommodations six or more months in advance. Even if you don’t plan far in advance, you definitely can enjoy your time in Hawaii. But what should you make sure you do and see while in Maui?

The Road to Hana.

The Road to Hana is a day-long adventure that you have to do at least once in your life. I won’t go over all of the details, but my two favorite stops were the waterfall off of Honokohau Falls and Hamoa Beach. First, the waterfall. You must hike two miles from the parking lot to the waterfall, but it is worth it. If you would like to see pictures from my trip including a picture of the waterfall, you can ask me anytime, but I took too many photos to narrow it down in this post. The waterfall is 400 feet high and the flow rate varies all the time. When I visited the waterfall, the picture wasn’t nearly as impressive because the waterfall was drier than usual, but because the waterfall was drier, I was able to hike up beyond the intended trail with a few other people, and I was able to stand in the base of the waterfall. This picture above does not do the waterfall justice, either. It is far more impressive in person. That aside, entering the waterfall was so refreshing and I highly recommend moving beyond the trail and going towards the waterfall. Note: Only do this if the waterfall is very dry. If it is flowing, people have been swept away and have died. Next, Hamoa Beach. This is the best beach I have ever visited. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to reach unless you take the long journey on the Road to Hana, but if you are already on the Road to Hana, this is a must-stop location.

The beach is relatively private, small, and frankly, perfect. The water is sparkling clear, the waves come crashing against the shore, perfect for surfing, and even the sand is soft. If you enjoy beaches, this is your place.

Hawaii is known for its sunsets and for good reason. One of the most well-known places to view the sunset is at the top of the central dormant volcano. While the sunset is spectacular, I don’t think the hour(s) it takes to drive up the volcano is worth the 10-15 minutes of beauty. Criticize me if you want, but the sunset on top of the volcano wasn’t that much more beautiful than the sunset over the beach.

Hawaiian snorkeling is the best. I say this with some recency bias, and, well, I’ve actually only been snorkeling in Hawaii. I recommend renting snorkeling gear as early as possible because the mornings are going to be your best bet, and you never know if the day will be perfect or terrible for snorkeling because of the tides. Trust me, just rent some equipment and wake up early enough.

My last note for this blog will be about whale watching. Whale watching can be boom or bust, but for my outing, we were blown away by the whales we saw. You should take into consideration when whale season is in Hawaii, but don’t be afraid to go whale watching a little bit before whale season as I did. You won’t regret it. My tour was two hours long and felt like the perfect amount of time, maybe a little short just because whales surrounded us at the end!
Overall, I don’t think anyone will discourage you from visiting Hawaii or Maui, and I hope you take some of my recommendations should you decide to visit. Mahalo.

Senior year has been an interesting year. Thus far, I have acted more maturely this year than in the other three years combined. I have learned to love the pain more this year than I have in the past, too. During physics and APUSH last year, it was as drag and I had no motivation to put in work other than the A. After one of my AP tests didn’t turn out as well as I wanted, I have begun to pay attention and do things all good students should, not that I wasn’t a good student the last three years, but I could have certainly been better. Side note: my parents told me I was very immature last year and this year, they like the new and improved version of myself. I think I was perfectly pleasant last year, but that’s besides the point.

I would give incoming seniors the same advice that I would give myself if I were to restart senior year: develop the habits for college. At this point, your colleges won’t really see your stats anymore and your grades senior year are primarily important just for you. So, do senior year for you. Join the clubs you want, do the things you like, heck, quit the things you don’t like. My current plan is not to play baseball my senior year. Why? Don’t worry I won’t go into the semantics of it, but the are an array of reasons that lead me to believe that I will be far happier if I spend that time that I would have devoted to baseball on lifting or other things like working a job. Next, take and pass your AP tests. If you plan on going to college, passing AP tests your senior year will be a huge relief for your wallet or your parents’ wallets. You have plenty of time; don’t kid yourself.

I’ve spent last six months in the gym. I’ve applied the same mentality to school and everything I do now. The gym has had a super positive effect on my life. I go about five days a week, and I’ve recently started going to the sauna too. The sauna feels great. I think in the process of maturing, I don’t just go to the gym, but I also care about stretching and things beyond how much weight I’m moving. The sauna has been a good place for me to decompress after a long day, improve blood flow and the health of my skin, and start my week the right way if I do it on Sunday.

Next semester, I plan to keep along with strong grades. Hopefully, I will comprehend everything next semester, pass my five AP tests (might be six actually), and have an enjoyable final year of high school. Then, I get to escape to college. Before then, I have many grad parties to attend and lots of scholarships to apply for. 

Senior year has largely been clouded by college applications, but that has gone well so far. I’ve gotten into four out of the four early schools that I applied to. I hope that more money comes when I receive their emails for merit-based scholarships and such, but as of now it is just a waiting game. I think that I have evolved since college applications: I don’t procrastinate as much or as often anymore after procrastinating my applications nearly backfired. I’m glad I got all of my applications in and on time, however.

To conclude, I hope that incoming seniors pay attention during senior year. They should get something out of it! Microeconomics is a good example of that. I have done my work diligently in that class. I can easily see myself having gotten a B or worse in that class if I weren’t as on top of it as I am right now. I’m looking forward to the rest of senior year!

 

Today’s blog will be different from the past blog posts. As we are approaching winter break, I have become more and more excited to do all of the holiday activities. In this post, I have a short list of things you can do with your family this holiday season.

Go see the Chicago Christmas tree

The tree was put up November 18 and will stay up until January 9. To see this 55-foot Colorado Blue Spruce, visit Millennium Park. This extravagant set up is located near the intersection of Michigan Ave. and Washington St. You can stay and look at the tree for an extended period of time or stop by quickly and enjoy the sight with many other people. While in Chicago, I recommend you also check out…

Christkindlmarket

There are locations in Chicago, Aurora, and Wrigleyville. Some of you may be familiar with Christkindlmarket as it was located in Naperville from 2016 to 2018. Or you may be asking what is Christkindlmarket?

Christkindlmarket is a German Christmas event held Sundays to Thursdays: 11am – 8pm and Fridays to Saturdays: 11am – 9pm. Known for the quality gifts, holiday cheer, and the food that you can smell down the block, Christkindlmarket is an event for everyone. This year, the Chicago location is located in Daley plaza. Check it out if you want a fun European Christmas experience!

Morton Arboretum Tree Lights

I have done the previous two activities before, but I haven’t seen the Tree Lights at the Morton Arboretum yet. The Morton Arboretum is in Lisle, and the closest event I’ve mentioned thus far! I will try to bring my family to come see the lights this year, and I will make sure to watch out for sales. There are certain dates that  are discounted, so make sure to check those out using this link: https://mortonarb.org/explore/activities/exhibitions/illumination/#ticket-prices.

With 50 acres of lights, visiting the Morton Arboretum this winter break would be an excellent opportunity for you and your family or friends to kill some time at the very least.

Good news… you don’t have to leave your house to have a great winter break! You can…

Make cookies!

My sister has already started doing this, believe it or not. Her Honors English 1 project includes making many cookies that have information about first-generation immigrants on the packaging and then selling them to other students at Naperville North. So far, she (and her groupmates) have made  sugar cookies, snicker doodles, and peanut blossoms. I’ve tried a couple, and wow, I’m getting super excited to eat many more cookies more towards Christmas. The process of making cookies is fun for all ages, even the little ones can just use a cookie cutter to make their own cookies without doing any of the cooking. Everyone can spend time decorating, enjoying the smells, and then devouring. Hopefully, all of your cookies will turn out well, but if not, simply the experience of baking cookies can be a great Christmas time activity  (can heat the house too).’

Hot chocolate too

Hot chocolate is good. It is better when it is cold outside and even better yet when you are surrounded by your favorite people. I am fortunate enough to be taking AP Environmental Science right now. We are going to have a chocolate bar right before finals. Ms. Katsenses has built up the hot chocolate bar for us, so hopefully, it is as good as she says! Up until recently, I hadn’t heard of the APES hot chocolate bar, and I have not heard of any other teachers doing anything special for winter break or finals. The closest celebration I have had was the Halloween demonstration put on by Mr. Farrell and the science department. The other departments need to step up because the science department is up 2-0 for thematic celebrations as of now. I’d like to thank Ms. Katsenes prematurely and hopefully inspire Mr. Williams if he reads this post! When I’m posting this on December 1, that marks 24 days till Christmas, 12 school days until finals, and 15 school days until our longest winter break yet: 16 days! Why is it so long? We would normally come back on a Friday but that was made into an institute day so now we get that Friday and the weekend!

This holiday season, try some or all of the things I’ve mentioned. I hope you enjoy your winter break! Happy Holidays.

This will be the first part of two posts where I talk about Game of Thrones. You either have seen the show, heard of it, or don’t have access to the internet – there are no other options. It has 160 Emmy nominations and is the second most-awarded television show of all time, the first being Saturday Night Live. Game of Thrones is HBO’s most successful series by a long shot, and you may have heard of the recent spin-off called House of the Dragon. Mustafa wrote his last blog post about House of the Dragon. I am sad to say that I have not seen the HOTD, but I have seen Game of Thrones twice.

My post will only scratch the surface of the show and will be free of spoilers, do not worry. 

Game of Thrones is a TV show that premiered on HBO and has been viewed millions of times. Season 5 (of 8) had 68 million viewers. Additionally, 

Game of Thrones generated $2.2 billion in profit for HBO. Talk about a hit television series! Because HBO was the sole platform to view Game of Thrones, people flocked to buy HBO max, a subscription service, to have access to be the first ones to watch the new seasons as they came out. HBO has slowed down since Game of Thrones concluded in May 2019, but the huge increase in viewership because of Game of Thrones has resulted in return customers and people who continue to pay for HBO max and watch HBO shows. The most well-known HBO show since Game of Thrones, besides House of the Dragon, is The White Lotus. I admit it: I haven’t seen a single show on HBO other than Game of Thrones. I was introduced to Game of Thrones by my parents after they watched it on DVD when the Naperville Public Libraries had access to it. This is because Game of Thrones is tailored towards a mature audience, so my parents did not let me watch it until I was fifteen years old. After watching the show, I understand why they did this, but I think that everyone reading this blog is mature enough to handle the violence, sexual content, and brief language.

Sorry, I know you want to know more about the show. It was filmed in ten different countries including Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Morocco, Malta, Spain, Croatia, Iceland, the United States, Canada, and Scotland. Northern Ireland was the primary filming location, but the producers were creative with choosing their filming locations. The scenery in the show reflects the creativity and purposeful locational choices of the producers. Additionally, the introduction before each episode is brilliantly made and has been awarded. Here is a Link to the season 1 intro, but what is neat is that the intro changes episode to episode ever so slightly based on how the actual setting changes in the show. For example, if a clock tower was burned down in the prior episode, the clock tower would be a ruin in the following episode’s intro.

What is Game of Thrones about though? I will go into greater detail in the following post, but here is a general synopsis of the series: Set in the past (with swords, bows and arrows, and ships being the primary weapons) many families co-exist in a world made up of 7 kingdoms. Most conflict originates from strife between families because one family wants control of the Iron Throne (the Throne to rule all of the other kingdoms) and other families want the Iron Throne too or simply don’t want that family on the Iron Throne telling them what they can and can’t do. Through betrayal, secret alliance, magical beasts, and unexpected twists, the viewer gets to see how the seven kingdoms evolve because of the choices powerful people make.

To date, this is in my top five favorite television series of all time, probably top three. The show is full of extremely compelling characters such as Tyrion Lannister played by Peter Dinklage, and incredible scenes that keep you entertained right up until the end. I highly recommend you watch Game of Thrones when you have some free time. You will not regret it. If you don’t watch it, you will regret it now and always.

Thus far, I’ve covered two different shows I enjoyed watching. This blog post will be a little different. Per Evelyn’s request, this week’s blog post will be about the show Community. In the initial seasons, Community is an excellent comedy TV series. After a certain point, the episodes’ quality slowly starts to decline and eventually has a sharp drop off.

Community is a show about a group of students (from age 18 to 68) and their lives at Greendale Community College. The creativity of the writers separates Community from other TV shows. Dan Harmon, the primary writer, went on to write the Rick and Morty TV series after Community. The first three seasons were partially written by Anthony and Joe Russo, the directors of the Marvel movies, too. With such talented writers, it is no surprise that Community is an extremely creative show. One episode may be acted traditionally, while the next may be a musical, and the next, animated. It isn’t just the types of episodes that make Community special, but the unique, strange, and oddly effective plot lines. For example, one episode is a hypothetical situation in which the Greendale Community College was converted into a subway station. You may be thinking that that sounds like a strange concept for an episode. You would be right.

Nonetheless, the episode received high ratings, and I remember enjoying the episode, myself.

Notably, Community has an impressive number of guest stars. From Betty White to Jack Black, Community never shied away from surprising the audience with celebrities having one-time or recurring roles.

Next, friendship was a key element in keeping the audience engaged. Meaghan Darwish from TVInsider writes that “Unlike some of the more heartwarming comedies of the era like Parks and Recreation and The Office, some characters from Community were far less redeemable, which makes their kinder moments towards each other all the more sweet.” While I wish she didn’t elevate Community above The Office, she makes a fair assessment. Community is less of a feel-good show and after the inter-relational drama and conflict, seeing the friends come back together at the end of the episode is satisfying. While that may seem cliché or predictable, the show is still written to leave the audience guessing until the very end; even then, the writers may throw you for a loop. Strong friendships have been key components of successful TV series in the past, most obviously Friends, and Community is no exception.

The cast was especially good. Having a strong cast is crucial for any TV

 series to excel, and Community is no exception. The cast includes big names such as Donald Glover 

(known to the music world as “Childish Gambino), successful comedian, actor, and doctor Ken Jeong, and many others. Each member of the cast has continued to make names for themselves since the show concluded in June 2015. Additionally, multiple of the members remained connected to Anthony and Joe Russon and landed minor roles in Marvel movies. This special cast’s future success is a testament to the success of Community.

After three successful seasons, the show tanked straight into the ground. The primary writer, Dan Harmon, was fired because of sexually harassing one of his writers, and both the Russo brothers exited too. Joe Mchale, the lead actor, said in an interview that “The show is in Dan’s brain – and he’s by far the only person that can do it.” Viewers noticed a clear distinction between Dan’s Community and David Guarascio and Moses Port, the replacement writers. 

With the new writers, the style of writing changed. Community lost its depth and morphed into “feel-good tv,” an aspect that Meaghan Darwish had said Community had separated itself from. Furthermore, the special relationships among the main characters lost their charm and began to feel forced. 

While Harmon returned for season five as NBC became desperate to revive Community, the episodes still fell flat. In some circumstances, episodes seemed to fall back on prior successful plot lines, and other episodes seemed over-the-top and unnecessary. One episode was just puppets and voice actors! Community no longer even had a compelling antagonist and any conflict between characters seemed unnecessary or unrealistic so audiences were unable to connect to the characters.

Community. The show that was and was not. Brilliant for three seasons. Abysmal for the rest.

I recommend you watch ​​Community with an open mind, but realize when it’s time to stop and never ever watch another episode. Trust me.

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Bath, Dave. “Community: 10 Major Flaws That Fans Choose to Ignore.” ScreenRant, 12 Mar. 2021, https://screenrant.com/community-flaws-fans-ignore/#:~:text=The%20popular%20series%20Community%20has,becoming%20a%20hit%20for%20NBC. 

Darwish, Meaghan. “Why ‘Community’ Is Still One of TV’s Best Comedies 5 Years Later.” TV Insider, https://www.tvinsider.com/gallery/best-tv-comedy-community-series-finale/#3. 

Roy, Ujjainee. “Community: 10 Ways the Show Got Worse & Worse.” ScreenRant, 9 July 2020, https://screenrant.com/community-ways-show-got-worse/. 

Shutt, Mike. “The Conversation That Got Dan Harmon Kicked off of Community.” /Film, SlashFilm, 7 July 2022, https://www.slashfilm.com/919911/the-conversation-that-got-dan-harmon-kicked-off-of-community/#:~:text=After%20the%20show%20wrapped%2C%20we,it%20would%20hurt%20the%20quality. 

“When Good TV Goes Bad: How Community’s Fourth Series Failed to Make the Grade.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 20 Aug. 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/aug/20/when-good-tv-goes-bad-community. 

 

The Big Bang Theory. Last week, I received a comment that I loved even though it stated that The Office was a terrible show that he could just not get into. This week, I am going to take TV shows to a whole new level: how an unlikely show became the most popular and simultaneously hated thing on television.

If you are unfamiliar with The Big Bang Theory, it is a show about four nerdy friends, reading right to left from the picture above: Howard Wolowitz, Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, Raj Koothrappali, and Penny, a girl who is almost the polar opposite of the group of guys.

It was originally released in September of 2007, but the show did not become popular for a few years after. The show is more popular than you may think, however. In 2011/2012, it was the top-rated television show and was the eighth most-watched program on TV. The Big Bang Theory generated $1 billion for Warner Bros and close to $2 billion in ad revenue in 2016 alone. Additionally, the show and its cast have received fifty-two Emmy nominations and have won ten.

I hope you believe that this show is popular before I share two conflicting opinions about the show.

When researching this topic, I came across an article titled “Here’s why The Big Bang Theory is one of the worst TV shows in human history.” I’m not kidding. I will link it here. That article is extreme and crudely written, so read at your own risk, but the theme is shared among many people.

One of the most common points is that the show simply is not funny. From beginning to end, the writers crammed jokes into unnecessary spots, wrote jokes that were not funny, and the show became saturated with the number of jokes. Take this as you will, awesome or sickening, the show averages about three and a half jokes per minute. 

Surprisingly enough, The Big Bang Theory doesn’t have a laugh track. The set is in front of an audience that laughs along with the show. Even many fans agree that the audience laughs too frequently, loudly, and unnecessarily, throwing off the rhythm of the show.

The only other valid criticism is that some think it is critical and makes fun of geeks and nerds. This criticism is not as fruitful as the first because a large portion of the audience is the nerdier crowd who are interested in the same types of things the main group of guys is interested in. While the show may throw in the words “Game of Thrones” or “Star Trek” for an easy laugh once in a while, the show normalized nerd culture. The passions of the main characters were showcased in a validating way.

Now that you’ve heard the arguments against the show, you may be wondering how on earth a show, a comedy no less, thrives with poor humor. Other than the laugh track, the strength of the humor is in no way objective. 

What makes the audience come back with millions of viewers per episode? The Big Bang Theory has something that few other shows have: strong female scientists casually thrown into the show. There is not a show out there that has two primary characters as female scientists who are not cutting up dead bodies in the hospital. Exactly. You haven’t seen one. Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch, the actresses for Amy Farah Fowler and Bernadette Rostenkowski, have talked on air about how they take pride in their roles and wish to show that women are capable and can succeed in a male-dominated space. That empowering message is highlighted throughout the show and even has episodes designated to their scientific contributions.

Another draw to the show is along the same lines. The science used in the show is real science. Mayim Bialik is a real-life neuroscientist and the equations used within the show raise the show above others that make up the science, knowing that the audience likely won’t know otherwise. While some may criticize the show for Sheldon’s over-the-top personality and speak in such a highly educated way to the point where you may not understand what he said, the principles discussed in the show are real and have been closely researched by the cast. Of course, except for Mayim Bialik, the cast wasn’t scientists, but the acting is good enough to fool the audience. 

That leads to the last draw of The Big Bang Theory. The acting is phenomenal. Well, Jim Parsons’ acting is. While the cast is extremely close-knit and talented, making the show their acting that much better, the most notable character from The Big Bang Theory is without a doubt Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons. Without Jim Parsons acting, the show most likely falls flat. Still today, Sheldon Cooper clips on YouTube are receiving millions of views. Jim Parsons had nine nominations and won four Emmy Awards for his superb acting performances on the show. Now on Netflix, CBS’s Young Sheldon has gained lots of support already. A spinoff of the original show, it is continuing the legacy of the Big Bang Theory focusing solely on the most interesting character.

In this entire blog, I never explicitly shared my opinion about the Big Bang Theory. After watching the entire 12 seasons and 297 episodes twice, I can see the merit in the side that thinks the humor can get stale and the laugh track overused. That aside, The Big Bang Theory is a brilliant show and everything you could want in a feel-good show. Give The Big Bang Theory a watch if you have not already. I won’t be upset if you are not a fan, but it is certainly worth watching with an open mind!