ENTERTAINTMENT

'Dog' Focuses on Logic
Jason York | Staff Reporter

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is a fascinating glimpse into the mind of an autistic boy living in England. A combination murder mystery and case study, the novel delves into a pattern of thinking and reasoning that most people never experience.
The story, written from the perspective of15-year-old Christopher Boone, provides a glimpse into a mind alienated from society. The incidence of autism has risen quickly in the last two decades, and science is only beginning to understand the disorder. Some autistic children are excellent at math and also have unexplained quirks and preferences.
Christopher has memorized every prime number up to 7,057. He knows all the countries of the world and their capitals. He hates the colors yellow and brown. One thing he can’t understand is human emotion, and metaphors are nothing more than lies in his way of thinking. Christopher also hates being touched.
It is precisely this unique way of thinking that makes the murder of a neighborhood dog such a huge event in Christopher’s life. He likes animals and thinks that people who own animals can’t be bad people. When Christopher finds Mrs. Shears’ poodle, Wellington, stabbed with a garden fork, his life changes forever.
Mrs. Shears comes outside and finds Christopher with her dead dog. She assumes that he’s killed her dog and calls the police. The police take Christopher to the station and call his father, who comes to take him home. Between Christopher’s autistic fits and inability to reconcile what has happened, Christopher decides to investigate the murder of Wellington.
One of his favorite books is “Sherlock Holmes,” and he decides to do detective work to solve the mystery of the dead dog. Christopher’s processes of deduction are remarkable demonstrations of rationality, even in an autistic boy. At times Christopher is even more rational than the “normal” people around him. He keeps a journal of his findings, which he begins formulating into a book.
His father tells him to stop trying to figure out who killed Wellington and hides Christopher’s book. When Christopher searches for the book, he finds a box of letters his mother has sent him from London. His father had told him that his mother was dead, and Christopher has a terrible time dealing with the fact that his mom is still alive.
In his way of thinking his father has lied to him and can’t be trusted again. When his father comes home to find Christopher lying on the bed in a puddle of vomit and sees that Christopher has found his mother’s letters, he confesses to his son that he killed the dog. When Christopher’s mind finally calms down, he decides to run away to London, to his mother, because he’s afraid of his father.
Christopher’s trek to London is a marvelous example of the human spirit overcoming incredible obstacles. Not only does Christopher manage to remain calm enough to take the train to London, he also manages to brave the subway ride across town to his mother’s apartment.
The book reads very quickly and leaves no loose ends. As an example of creative writing it stands out with its honest treatment of the realities of autism. People who like math and science would like this book for its use of prime numbers in place of standard chapter numbers, its many mathematical equations, and its dependence on logic and reason.

*three stars

Jason York


'Firefly' DVD box set Makes for Great Television
Richard Carter | For the Wichitan

People sometimes ask me why I don’t watch TV anymore.
Plain and simple, there’s too much dross and not enough gold. And it takes a little too much silver to afford the premium channels and cable necessary to see the few good TV programs.
For example, “Six Feet Under” required an HBO subscription. What’s the point when you can borrow the DVDs later (and every television show under the sun is on box sets anymore) and watch them at your own
leisure.
Even the so-called “free” major networks cancel their few good programs too early, anyways. Consider “My So Called Life” and “Freaks and Geeks” lasted one whole season. Acclaimed “Buffy” and “Angel” director Joss Whedon’s brilliant “Firefly” didn’t last that.
Highlighted by the recent movie “Serenity,” “Firefly” sandwiched a wealth of good characters between two seemingly contradictory genres: westerns and science fiction (see Susan Sontag or any lit prof for details).
Anywho, the former creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” had the cool idea to conflate these two genres in a pirate-like universe 500 years in the future. He put together a solid cast to play a group of nine interesting characters on the run from the almost all-powerful Alliance (see the original “Star Wars” trilogy).
The crew of the space freighter Serenity literally steals from the rich, and profit from crimes conforming to a certain moral code. In so doing, they help poorer people. There’s also a back-story that involves a failed war against the Alliance and a race of cannibals.
So, getting back to DVD box sets, “Firefly” is a great way to appreciate some good writing, fun suspenseful adventures, and worthwhile humor and drama. Still, despite all the good things about the show, it’s really comes down to the crew.
Led by Mal, the ship’s captain, he’s funny and an alternatively strong and somewhat morose leader who keeps the ship flying despite numerous wounds and distractions.
His second in command, the reserved warrior Zoe is married to the hilarious and painfully weak pilot of the boat, Wash. It’s a strange marriage that works.
The always chipper Kaylee is the ship’s engineer, and she’s got it bad for the newly arrived doctor, Simon, who is obsessed with looking after his genius younger sister River, who was mentally abused by the Alliance.
There’s the reserved Reverend Book who seems to know too much about weaponry. And there’s the fascinating Inara, a companion or a hetaira (if you studied classical Greek history).
The ill-named Jayne is a brilliant fighter who’s always looking for a better deal. Not a smart guy, he gets hilarious lines but is also the most likely to stab the crew in the back.
“Firefly” episodes follow the crew working for good people and also crime lords, running from the Alliance and discovering what makes the crew function so well as a group.
The episodes benefit from the old west and sci-fi concept (a mix like the noir and sci-fi that made the “Blade Runner” world so fascinating). The shows are also good because of character mix, dialogue and
camaraderie.
“Firefly” was seriously good television. No wonder it didn’t last. Still, at least TV’s are good for something: watching DVDs of cancelled programs that don’t appeal to the lowest common denominator.