Ambition of Wannabe Millionaires

I was created and captured in my analog form. A portion of memory was preserved for the entertainment of earthlings. I am among many parts of data that will form the scene of a drama series. Luckily, I am an audiovisual micro-entity of a scene that the actor captured to perfection. Someone will eventually stare at me in awe and suspense on the other side of the globe.

Welcome to the era of technocrats, bootleggers and couch potatoes. The world is changing at a fast pace that only the connected get to become a couch potato for a whole weekend for an understandable reason. I usually get a bootlegged drama series before it officially hits the silver screens of America. 24, Lost, The 4400, Prison Break etc. are among a list of the super series blazing the airwaves of television.

It all began with 24 Season 1. It set new extremely high standards expected from a drama. It had picture-freezing suspense; a jigsaw fit cast, a thickly layered story with twists and virtually 3-D imagery. Other new drama series got their roots from this groundbreaking beginning from Prison Break to Lost.

 It is a fictional story that takes place in real time and stretches over a 24-hour period. Each single episode theoretically lasts for 1 hour. The story revolves around Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland) a Counter terrorism agent hot on the trail of Osama followers in the form of terrorists. The threats issued by the axis of evil are bound to materialize within the 24-hour period and Jack Bauer is the agent with the rogue skills, character and drive to save the damsel in distress. In this case, it is the U.S Superpower. He breaks necks, stabs, shoots, robs, hi jacks and kidnaps all in the name of anti-terrorism and ends up as the hero of the day.

I must say that every 24 season gets better and hotter. But according to me, season 4 tops all the others. Season 5 was full of twists but the bad guys were not well crafted. Their mission was shadowy and lacked passion as far as I was concerned. In season 4 , I clearly recall Habib -a bad guy worthy of being Jack Bauer’s arch enemy. The Anwar terrorist family was an original creation from the programs writers. It was split due to the conflicting views of the parents and their son towards so called infidels. The ending of season 5 though was very juicy. In the 6^th season, Jack will be at pains to find a way of dodging the Chinese government. I am sure it will top the rest since it picks up from the ending of season four (my personal best).  My thesis as a professor of 24 is that the 5^th season was written in a hurry and did not have to be aired. It only serves to establish additional background of season 6, has unnecessary twists and one never knows the origin of the bad guys who controlled President Logan (who is strangely a President George Bush-like character). May be the frustrated writers will squeeze them into season 6.

Some people are saying that Lost has surpassed 24. That is bull-crap! I am yet to see a single drama that keeps me at the edge of my seat like 24. As you already know, there are millions of fans so it was no surprise that it scooped another Emmy Best Drama award for 2006 and that is just for season 5. This is the most prestigious award a drama series can receive. It is the equivalent of Oscars for T.V.

Anyway, no thanks to the B.A (bootleg addicts) degree holders, I still have more drama series to prevent me from walking out of home during the weekend. These days I do not waste my cash on the highly priced EABL monopoly products, I just get into the couch potato club with my pips and watch a well-compiled series. Movies are no longer a priority unless my eyes accidentally fall on one that my friends are watching. There was a time when I had watched so many movies that when I went to the video library, I was used as reference material to grade the best and the worst. I presently just get an empty DVD and burn a whole season of a gripping drama series. At the Snap of a Lil Jon finger, I have approximately 24 hours of entertainment.

Most guys in the city are now acquiring comps at throwaway prices. The flash disk is quickly replacing bling as an accessory. If I get wind of someone with new music or videos in their computer, I use the flash disk to download and take it into my own machine. There are even DVD Players that have a slot for flash disks. Entertainment is becoming cheap and quick for those not in the circle but free and at light speed  for those within the circle!