Catalyst Castle

It started out very innocently. I've been reading the rulebook for an RPG called Primetime Adventures. It is a game where a group of friends get together and roleplay the events of a make-believe television show. It looks like a fun game, and I'd love to play it some time.

However, reading the book also got me thinking about ideas for a television show, and also got me thinking about what makes entertaining television. Meanwhile, my day job doesn't require a whole lot of thought process to carry out, so I found myself thinking about ideas for shows while I worked. A few days ago, I hit on an idea that instantly caused an imaginative explosion inside my head. The more I think on the idea, the more possibilities for entertaining stories pop into my head. I believe I've hit on an idea that has huge potential. It makes me want to quit my day job so I can write this series. I doubt that will ever happen, but I'd still like to write some of the stories this idea brings to mind in my spare time.

I don't want to say too much about my idea yet, as I'm still working out the details. For now I'll just say this: It's a character-driven drama disguised as a sci-fi action series. It involves aliens, superheroes, and an apocalypse - combining those elements in a way that I think will be unique and compelling, while not treading too closely to already existing shows like Heroes or Smallville.

I'll post more about this idea as I continue to develop it.

I'm starting a new regular column in my blog called "Words to Live By". The purpose of this column is to share words of wisdom from various sources that have significant meaning to me. Sometimes it will be serious, and sometimes humorous. For this first edition of the column, I wanted to share some thoughts from my recent Bible reading.

"That YOU should put away the old personality which conforms to YOUR former course of conduct and which is being corrupted according to his deceptive desires; but that YOU should be made new in the force actuating YOUR mind, and should put on the new personality which was created according to God’s will in true righteousness and loyalty."

-Ephesians 4:22-24

Here the apostle Paul was talking about being made into a new person who would be pleasing to God. It's easy to get bogged down in negativity, thinking that you could never please God. This scripture makes me realize that we can change our personality to eliminate flaws and undesirable traits, even to the point of changing how we think. Furthermore, God is the one who creates our new personality. This tells me that He wants to help us make those changes. Also, God creates this new personality, tailor made for each one of us. Putting on the new personality does not mean that we lose our individuality, it just means that we become a better version of ourselves.

"So keep strict watch that how YOU walk is not as unwise but as wise [persons], buying out the opportune time for yourselves, because the days are wicked."

-Ephesians 5:15, 16

Yeah, this one's been on my mind quite a bit lately. Knowing that we are living in the last days of this system of things, it's important that we pay attention to how we use our time. I've been doing this through my weekly time logs. I strongly recommend to anyone that they try logging how they spend their time for a few weeks. It really makes you aware of your strengths and weaknesses in time management, and empowers you to make improvements.


What about you? Please share your thoughts on the quotes above, or share some of your own favorite words to live by.

This post is coming a little late, but I just haven't had a chance to do any blogging lately, mostly due to visiting family.

Last week was GREAT. Once again, I managed to put my theocratic activities firmly in third place (after sleeping and work), and I met a couple of other goals which included getting out in field service twice and doing some personal study each day.

Here are a few more observations:

Sleep was very irregular last week. I still got a little more than 50 hours of sleep through out the week, but it was like, 6 hours two days in a row, and then 10 hours, and then 5 and a half, etc. I'm not sure what that means, it's just an observation.

Reading was a big activity last week with 13 hours devoted to it. That's quite a bit of time, but since my theocratic activities went so well I'm not too worried about it. I'm finding that a big part of balancing my schedule is just making sure I get spiritual activities done instead of putting them off while I waste time, rather than cutting back on anything in particular.

One sad note about last week is that I got no role playing in all week. Oh well. I still had a lot of fun doing stuff with my family.

I haven't posted in a while, but I decided to make some comments on this television season so far.

Heroes is definitely going strong. The last episode was another good entry in the series. Arthur Petrelli is shaping up to be a fine villain, and I can't wait to see how this story continues to progress.

The Big Bang Theory continues to amuse. It seems like they've been focusing on Sheldon quite a bit lately. He's my favorite character on the show, so that's a win for me.

I haven't watched The Office in about 3 weeks now, and I don't think I'll bother to. Unfortunately, that show seems to have lost most of its humor now, and the little story-arcs with some of the characters are no longer interesting enough to keep me involved.

Recently I've gotten little bits of the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon. You can find brief video summaries of all of the episodes so far, and a couple of complete episodes, on Cartoon Network's website. It seems like a really engaging show, and a worthy follow-up to the animated movie. I hope I get a chance to see more full episodes of this series. I think it's a fresh take on Star Wars that really breaths some new life into the franchise.

After watching Heroes last night I feel that once again Peter and Sylar are the stars of the show. Making them brothers introduces an interesting dynamic to their rivalry. Now that Peter has acquired Sylar's power he is also manifesting "the hunger" that Sylar exhibits. While this makes for an interesting development, I'm actually far more interested in where Sylar might be headed. I love the irony in his character right now. Is he really trying to turn over a new leaf, or is he just putting on a good show? His actions would seem to indicate that he's really trying to impove, but then he turns around and does/says something that makes you wonder.

Speaking of the Petrellis, I wonder if Nathan's discovery of his powers being synthetic will cause him to become distanced from Peter. Of course, I'm assuming that Peter and Sylar came by their powers naturally. Maybe we'll learn otherwise later.

I liked what I've seen of Arthur Petrelli so far. The way they're portraying him reminds me of a true villian mastermind. He seems so vulnerable confined to a bed, and yet someone as powerful as Maury Parkman acts as his toady to carry out his plans. I suspect that he'll soon be healed, probably by Adam's blood, so that he can be up and moving around. It was said in the first season that Arthur commited suicide, but that obviously isn't true. I wonder what the story behind that is.

Overall, I liked last night's episode pretty well. Other than a small slip by the writers, forgetting that Sylar has super-hearing, it was a pretty well writen story. I'm looking forward to next week.