Saturday, May 12, 2012

A-Scoring Fans?

My friend Doc Holiday, who doesn’t get mentioned on here all that much (by no reason other than circumstance) has a crazy dream:
The Magic Scoreboard.
That’s what he calls it. What does it do? Well, it can answer any question. ANY question at all, so long as the query can be put forth numerically. Doc Holiday claims that it’s possible. If one knew how to phrase “The Meaning of Life” in terms of Mathematics, all would be revealed. (42?)

But the real reason to have this “Magic Scoreboard” is to be able to know certain odd things as they arise. Like, say you’re wondering how many pitchers have had a perfect record in the history of baseball. Voila. Answer appears. Okay, perhaps the internet would tell us... but he thought of it long before the internet, folks.  Consider, though, that the query doesn’t even have to be plausibly able to be discerned (after all, it is a MAGIC Scoreboard!) For instance: How many people seated in a car [at the time of asking] are wearing purple in their outfits? Voila, it would know and display. Granted, who would need to know such a percentage? {Shrug} Not the point... stuff just arises in curiosity, ya’ know?

So, okay, I’m mentioning the Magic Scoreboard because I have a question to pose it:

What percentage of devout fans of the original (or TV reboot) of Dark Shadows are up in arms about the new Tim Burton version? Really. I’d like to know!  For you see, I do sympathize with them. How could I not, purist that I am?

Okay, it’s true that I haven’t been, nor am I now, a fan of the show. [Vampire. See this post.] But that isn’t to say I haven’t seen it (both versions) a little. I make no judgment calls on either one.  But I did get enough of a gist to know that a Fish-Out-of-Water Screwball Comedy is NOT the nature of the series. So, again, how many purists of Dark Shadows are disgruntled about such a depiction?

Note that I am not saying that one cannot or should not make such a deviation in a film version. Done right and with purpose, a parody or the like can be welcomed for sure. Had that been the intent? If I had anything invested in it other than this cheap curiosity, I’d look into it. But as it stands, I don’t have to do so. However, that does not negate my utter sympathy for those who are upset by the treatment.
But how many are there?

If only the Magic Scoreboard could say....


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