Different ways of making a statement...

1) Dutch television created a huge controversy before the broadcast of a new reality tv show:
A terminally ill lady will choose one of 3 patients as the recipient of her kidney.

There were protests for it not to be broadcast. The Dutch donor authority also condemned the show. The Dutch media went on with the broadcast citing their agenda as to highlight reality of the organ transplant situation - the lack of organ donors. And they did...

And they shocked the world...

The show was a hoax. The terminally ill lady was an actress. STILL, the 3 patients who were 'competing' for the kidney were NOT. They are real people who have been waiting for a chance for a new life.

I guess the main thing was that the message did get across... As part of the show, viewers sent text messages to the 'organ donor' to help her decide who she should give the kidney to. And people responded, emphathizing with the plight that the patients were in.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6714287.stm


2) In my time of boredom... I've been watching TOrchwood on You-tube the past 2 weeks. TOrchwood is a spin-off from Dr Who. Both are sci-fi dramas by bbc. The main character was Captain Jack who was the head of a team of paranormal investigators. Their job was to prevent beings from other dimensions from travelling through a time-drift and causing havoc on Earth. They were given the mandate by Queen Victoria in the 18th century (I think). The team was hardly your typical 'Fantastic Four' super-hero characters. They were un-expectedly dysfunctional and unable to cope with the demands for secrecy in their job, the atrocities they see everyday and to have a supposed 'life' outside of work. How Captain Jack worked did not help either. He was a man who kept to himself. Still, he was a good leader in the sense that he always made sure that if he knows his team members had problems, he will be there to support them through it.

Captain Jack was an interesting character in the sense that he cannot die, and he seems to flirt with every single person he meets... man or woman. He was human (he could still be). but SOmething happened to him and now he cannot die.

The last episode of the season gave me a really odd realization. And it made me wonder if the authors meant it to be a message that homosexuality and Christianity may not be that incompatible (an association that's there, but somehow, also not there). The Earth was in peril as the time rift was splitting. The 'baddie' was persuading the torchwood team members to open the rift, which he says is the only way to save them all. He used images of their loved ones to coaxed them into doing so. Captain Jack was completely against that and asked his team to believe in him. His team was in desperation, so went against him and shot him in the head. They then used his pupil image to activate the mechanism to open the time rift. That was when all hell was set loose. A gigantic demon appeared inthe middle of Cardiff, Wales and was sucking the life out of everyone.

Captain Jack, who cannot die, woke up after that. He saw what was happening. This was when his team turned to him again, said their sorries and asked him how to fix the situation. Jack ran out into the city towards the Demon. He figured that since the demon is a destroyer of life forces and full of 'death'. By offering his ever-lasting life force to the demon, it might destroy the demon. So Captain Jack's Life got sucked out of him.

The team mourned Jack. All members of torchwood were cryo-genically preserved when they die. They were about to put him in the cryogenic processor when Gwen, his second in command, and definitely the person with the kindest and emphathic person in the team stopped them. She said to give him a few days to see if he will revive. SO she stood by him and waited for him to wake up... Lo and Be hold he did... all his team members were forgiven... and they were Torchwood again.

An allusion to the bible? there were other torchwood viewers on the web who agreed with me. But in combination with the ambiguous sexual orientation of Captain Jack... It did make me think...

If you are interested to watch the show on Youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=had437