Being Fit In The 21st Century

Being Fit In The 21st Century

What does it mean to be fit in the 21st Century? To me it doesn't mean looking like the pros we see on the cover of fitness magazines, it means looking healthy and feeling good. As consumers in the 21st Century, companies realize we are much more sophisticated in as far as what it is we want, how we spend our money (especially since 2009) and perhaps most importantly in what we know or what we can learn about.

MEDIA

Yes, with everything from health segments in the daily/nightly news, the expansion of fitness clubs, cooking shows, diet and fitness magazines which often provide recipes for healthy alternatives, and of course social media and the PC and Internet, we are much more savvy when it comes to the human body and it's nutritional requirements.

What's more important, is the fact that physical exorcise as part of a healthy diet is just sensible these days. We don't have the excuse "we didn't know better" because living in the information age... we should.

REALISTIC                                                         VS.                                  UNREALISTIC

Setting goals is key when doing anything, but when it comes to fitness, too many people seek to attain that which is unattainable.

We don't take into account the fact that people in the fitness industry are not only professionals, but that fitness and body sculpting is their life as well as their livelihood. Which means a significant portion of their daily routine is dedicated to training in excess, the chief requirement of body builders.



BODY IMAGE

Okay, so you see celebrities with sculpted bodies in movies, TV and print ads and figure that's what you want, but again, most don't take into account the dedication required, or the fact most celebrities don't look that way year round. In fact, most hit the gym (personal) with a professional trainer when hired for a role and more often than not the dedication to excessive training is left behind at the wrap parties.

Unless your name happens to be Arnold, Sylvester, or Dwayne, and a statuesque physique is your bread and butter (or unless you have the time to dedicate to excessive exorcise) you don't need to look like them.

While stars like Ed Norton (American History X), Christian Bale (Batman,The Machinist) Matthew Mcconaughey (Ring of Fire,The Dallas Buyers Club) and Curtis James Jackson A.K.A. 50 cent (Things Fall Apart) have demonstrated the uncanny ability to modify their look for a specific role, there are a few like Jamie Fox, Brad Pitt and Will Smith who appear to have made fitness a lifestyle. But again, take into account a more flexible schedule (not 9-5 year round) financial abundance allowing for personal training and years of dedication (for when they're ready to return to their normal look, and believe me, once you've become accustomed to having a certain look, anything less is hard to live with)

Problem is, we're denizens of a microwave dinner society. We seemed to have lost the very thing that brought this civilization into the 21st Century... patience. Meaning we want everything faster. Cars, Internet download speed, smart phone download speed, we want what we want now... and with the level of body shaping dreamt of, that's just not possible (and remember, we're not being paid exorbitant amounts of money to do so) we're doing it for something much more noble... happiness and personal satisfaction.

HISTORY OF PHYSICAL EXERTION

The great thing is the human body was actually designed for physical activity. It really wasn't that long ago the majority of human beings walked to our destinations, hunted for our food, ran from becoming food, and warred hand to hand for protection and conquest. What happened...? The 20th century. To balance the heavy labour requirements of the Industrial Revolution, a culture of comfort was created.

With TV being the platform used to deliver product advertising, most bought into the idea of luxurious living made for the common man and keeping up with the Joneses, and over the decades we've seen the emergence of the couch potato, the office desk worker, the driver, coupled with the global expansion of the Fast Food Industry. The scales were heavily tipped in favour of little to no exorcise, and as our work becomes less physically laborious in favour of a more cerebral work culture, the need for physical activity will only increase. Office workers and drivers generally seem to notice mobility issues that stem from sitting at a desk 40 hours a week, and while some companies actually implement some form of physical activity for their employees, I'm of the opinion it just doesn't go far enough. Why? Simple... technology makes us lazy, and that laziness is becoming a culture in itself... starting with today's youth.

GADGETS AND YOUTH

Now don't mistake this section as a condemnation of modern technology, it is here to highlight what I feel is part of the problem with our youth today. Too many gadgets equals less inclination to leave the bedroom much less go outside.

20 plus years ago, I used to skateboard... less than five years ago, my step daughter was skateboarding in her bedroom, on a faux skateboard hooked in to her play station while a digital representation of her performed tricks and skated the course... need I say more? Okay, how about the fact the hours upon hours children used to spend playing outside are now spent in front of a TV playing video games.

Like many things that have become important to our culture, education about healthy diet and exorcise has to begin at a young enough age as to make it second nature to the generation of the future.

INSPIRATION

I can't stress more how important having inspiration for weight loss or fitness goals is than the left picture. Body sculpting is a slow process especially if you're just starting out with little or no experience. The flip side of that coin is muscle memory. Regardless of how long a break you take from even the most novice weight training, your muscles will always remember being in prime condition and actually works to stay that way, but you have to get to a certain point for that benefit... you have to take action.

Grab inspiration from anywhere you can find it (when I first began weight training in my late teens back in the late 80s, my inspiration was... Arnold Schwarzenegger (I had this exact picture from his competition days on my wall) did I for a moment dream of attaining what he had...? Of course not, he was a professional body builder turned action hero star.

It did provide the inspiration to work to look and feel better than I ever could have before fitness became a lifestyle, and 20 plus years later, I still work out, not anywhere near what I used to (3-4 hour sessions 3 times a week) and being experienced I know exactly how to target the muscles I want to grow, and with muscle memory, I can break for the winter (3-4 months) hit the gym in the spring and regain what I lost by early summer.

PLAIN TRUTH

Good enough. No two words are more important to understand with health and fitness training. Too many reach for that unattainable brass ring, then the few that do (non professionals that is) end up allowing it to become an obsession. The rule should be, if you feel good, then that's good enough. If changes in lifestyle provide you with more energy, good enough.

If you're no longer gasping for air when you do something as simple as climb a few stairs, good enough. If you can play with your kids and not feel pain or stiffness afterwards, that's good enough. If you can finally fit into clothing you haven't been able to in a decade or two, that's certainly good enough.

Although I am long past the days of 9-12 hours per week workouts in order to maintain 155 pounds of solid muscle, 8% body fat on a 5'5" body, I have been feeling the urge to mass load again, mostly due to two forms of inspiration, Dwayne Johnson "the Rock" who is two years younger than me and the biggest he's ever been (even as a pro wrestler...)

I've been hearing so much (too often in fact) about how much muscle mass we loose the older we get, and I didn't start to have doubts about my plan to be a healthy golden ager... but then I found my second inspiration...




... and proof I can (and will) be working out into my golden years. If the senior in the picture below left can look like that at 74 years old, what possible excuse do I have? What excuse do you have?

Maybe that's a special case?

A one in a million shot finding a picture of a one senior in a million .

Well, 74 year old Ernestine Shepard may say otherwise. So may 74-year-old Tsutomu Tosuka and Bob Delmonteque, who happened to be 84 at the time the bottom right picture was taken.

Okay, so perhaps you'll use the excuse that they are muscle heads and you don't like weight training. Is it possible to be fit without using weights? Ask the Australian aboriginal males, ripped and muscular without the use of a gym, calorie counting, or fat-burning supplements.

How then? Simple... they are contemporary hunter-gatherers. The way of life replaced by the machine of progress is what keeps them healthy. Now am I asking Westerners to cast off civilization as we know it in order to get healthy? Of course not. But living in the 21st Century, I'm certain we could come up with a world of alternatives.

21st Century Culture

21st Century Culture


21st Century Culture is very different than all that came before it. Now if you ask a senior about the state of the world today, more often than not you would likely hear how "things ain't the way they used to be", and in all honesty they would be right. For the 20th Century Culture, the future has brought forth a lot left to be desired, but being on the hill (as opposed to over) I have the unique position of being a middle child of the centuries (old enough to remember the 70s, 80 & 90s, but young enough to appreciate the differences of living in the 21st century)

I can not argue things have all changed for the better, less TV stations meant more family activities, children used to spend significantly more time outdoors, the world seemed much safer,  I recall gas as low as .30 a litre (before my teens) traditional movie sets were still being built, toys were fully functional (as opposed to just looking good today) and some would argue the world's moral fibre has diminished since the transition into the new century.

Being a middle child of history offers those like me a nostalgic appreciation for 20th century plus a level of gratitude for being present in the early 21st century. But in all honesty, despite the 21st century culture being very different, the 21st Century is the most exciting time to be alive.

THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE

Defined as the spirit of the current age, the 21st century boasts a number of sophisticated differences which effect society, most are good, some not so much, and others we can leave to the philosophers. With everything from mobile devices and the world wide web to reality TV and selfies, the most definable difference in my opinion would be the availability of information/technology. Digital technology, in its early stages of mainstream use in the 80s and 90s became widely accepted by most of the world, though many experts express concerns about increased stress from the overuse of mobile phones, the Internet and related technologies.

THE COMPUTER

No other device invented in the latter half of the 20th century has had as great an impact on world culture than the personal computer. Defined as any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals. Unlike it's predecessors, the PC is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator (this contrasted with the batch processing or time-sharing models which allowed larger, more expensive minicomputer and mainframe systems to be used by many people, usually at the same time) and unlike the large data processing systems, PC's didn't require a full-time staff to operate efficiently.

Early PC owners usually had to write their own programs to do anything useful with the machines lacking an operating system (I remember my early frustrating experience with the Commodore Vic 20 and 64 turned me off computers for a good 20 years) whereas today's users have access to a wide range of commercial software and freeware, which is provided in ready-to-run or ready-to-compile form (plug and play)

Today's PC also offers connectivity to almost all aspects of human life, music...? Simple. Film and video...? A cinch. Cable TV...? No sweat. Video gaming...? Please. Education...? Duh. Set to be the primary threat to the library, bookstore and news print, the speed at which information is processed, shared, and stored offers a world of information at ones fingertips. But while the computer (PC) had a fundamental impact on today's culture, it goes hand in hand with perhaps the second 20th century invention to change the world...

THE INTERNET

Like what mashed potato and gravy is to a t-bone steak, like what tomato meat sauce is to spaghetti, like what gravy melted cheese chunks are to french fries, like what fried dumpling is to ackee and salt fish, the Internet and the PC go hand in hand like a twix bar. You could have one without the other... but why would you want to?

Especially when there is a global system of interconnected computer networks that exists to serve billions of users worldwide. The Internet is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, all linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies.

The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email and let's not forget the biggest and fastest growing aspect of the world wide web...

SOCIAL NETWORKS


The term is used to describe a social structure determined by on-line interactions between individuals, groups, organisations, or even entire societies. What began with a simple place where friends could share stories and pictures grew to be a cultural phenomenon, branching out to interconnect like minded individuals, groups with common interests, on-line dating and hook up sites, in everything from hobbies to employment, education, Charity and disaster relief and organised protests, social networks have become as important a part of today's culture as wheels to a car. But like everything else that has a flipside... it's not all good.

CYBER-BULLYING

I know as a writer I'm supposed to reflect a certain level of dispassion, but when it comes to this particular aspect of 21st Century Culture, I don't know... it just brings it out of me. In case you've been living on the moon, in a cave, with your ears plugged and your eyes closed you've heard of Cyberbullying. How it differs from the good ol' days of bullying is the use of the Internet and related technologies to harm other people, in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile (and often dangerous or tragic) manner.

In the very least the issue has brought bullying to light in a way never seen before, the main difference between the 21st and the previous centuries is the fact today's culture has at lease opened a dialogue (due in large part to seemingly unending news reports of our young taking their own lives as a direct result of the cowardly practice) With Cyberbullying, the victim never arrives at an opportunity to stand up to their tormentor, to confront and expose the person as the coward they really are. There is no glimpse into the bullies private world to arrive at the conclusion they were in fact bullied themselves (by a parent or sibling) No, the cyberbully can remain anonymous, or go public and draw attention from many who could perhaps lack the stomach to join in otherwise.

The best thing about being a young person in the 21st Century...? Dialogue. And as cyber bullying has become more common in society, particularly among young people, legislation and awareness campaigns have arisen to combat it. Cyber bullying also shed light on another topic that has waited a long time for honest conversation...

SAME SEX ISSUES

As a Black man I recognise a civil rights issue when I see it. I was raised to be accepting of all peoples, genders and cultures, and while I respect people's religious beliefs, I have always struggled with the many human characteristics God seems to have. All loving and all forgiving while simultaneously being an angry and jealous god sounds too human to me. We've tried to determine what it is God wants for thousands of years, shed the blood of billions and are apparently no closer to the answer.

The difference between the 20th and 21st Century however, is that the up and coming generation has shed yet another layer of social inequity (like the civil and women's rights in the 60s) understanding they are free to recognise their culture's edicts without being bound by them. The world is shrinking, cultures are merging, and most importantly we have dialogue. Citizens of the 21st Century talk about social issues. Create pages on social networks dedicated to discussion.

The Same Sex issue is just another stumbling block to overcome on the road to a unified culture and peaceful world ready to truly take on understanding the human condition and purpose of life. Unlike in my high school experience where there were only rumours of who might be gay, today teens are generally comfortable enough to come out before their 20s (depending heavily on geography though) There are all sorts of shows and movies celebrating sexual freedom, the fact celebrities are also coming out in support of same sex rights hasn't hurt the cause at all.

CELEBRITIES

Society has never had such a fascination with celebrity life and lifestyle as it does in the 21st Century. I think it was said best in an episode of Supernatural when a ancient demigod remarked (negatively) on the fact humans used to worship gods, now they worship celebrities (making his job of helping corrupt humanity easier)

We are so intrigued by what celebrities wore on the Red Carpet, tabloid reports on who's cheating, who's breaking up, who's in rehab, who has been arrested, who went on a wild rant, who was captured in a compromising photo, what starlets look like without makeup, who said what about something we probably wouldn't otherwise care about because we love the fall from grace arc, and celebrity quotes often demonstrate how dumb people can be and how much of a divide there is between us and the pedestal we place them upon.

Celebrities carry a lot of weight with culture, fashion, civil and human rights, politics and what's hot. Question is... why? Celebrities are just people. They have extraordinary gifts, have taken advantage of career building opportunities, and are wealthy. THAT DOESN'T MAKE THEM AN AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING (except in what it is they do for a living, and most are very humble in that regard) Yes, many are well educated or cultured and passionate about their interests/causes and as such can offer a unique perspective, but that's it.

We see these people driving the cars we want, sporting the expensive clothing we'll never wear, living in large houses we'll only see on TV in a music video, we love them for the songs they sing, the characters they portray, the five minute interview where they don't take off the mask of the well constructed public image until the cameras or tapes stop rolling (and we all wear masks BTW, anyone who's been for a job interview or stood in front of a judge knows this well) and that's part of the problem.

We expect our celebrities to be the people we admire for the things they do instead of who they really are. We envy their lives while they envy our privacy. Ever wonder how a celebrity can feel lonely with all the people constantly around them? Ever hear the saying careful what you wish for?

We need to appreciate what celebrities do for their living and stop fixating on what they say, think and do, what they're wearing, what they have or what kind of trouble they've gotten into and take time to consider how we feel about our social issues and what our own role in 21st society is. Remember, the downturn in which millions lost their livelihoods (and homes) to didn't affect celebrities or their spending habits much, lol.

NERD ACCEPTANCE

Now I can say I've almost seen it all. Growing up in the ladder half of a century where Nerds were looked upon with great disdain, I never thought I'd witness such a turn around. Nerd is the new N word, meaning what was once a derogatory name is in the process of a (positive) revamp. It's so okay to admit to being a Nerd these days that Nerds are now coming out accusing people of being fake nerds.

What a world. I've written three blog posts on the 21 Nerd, no need to go over it all again, but I will say this, you know something is cool when it has it's own style niche in the fashion industry and is being promoted by none other than... celebrities.





REALITY TV

An interview on Space with the actors who play Sam and Dean Winchester where they were asked to give choose one answer on a variety of subjects, when asked Vampire or Werewolf, Dean answered "ugh... Jello". That's what I think about Reality TV.

There is nothing real about Reality TV, if viewers think that the drama doesn't get played up when the cameras are on, or if they think Producers and staff aren't offering tidbits of making things more interesting (conflict) then they should go back and watch Jerry Springer. And regarding the effects on our young?

When a child not much older than a toddler can turn the TV on Saturday or Sunday morning and instead of watching cartoons tune in to a show to hear every other word spewing from the gateways of hell (the player's mouths) having to be be censored it should be a problem. We're seeing people of all ages yelling, screaming profanities, and being disrespectful to each other for our entertainment and we are somehow left wondering why our children have such negative behavioral issues. Really?

SELF SHOTS

Believe me, I had a world of images to choose from, females from older women to surprisingly young looking girls are taking unabashed part in this cultural phenomenon. My view of riske self shots...

Ugh... jello (I think the picture says volumes more than any more words need to say)












CELEBRITY UPSKIRTS AND WARDROBE MALFUNCTIONS

 
Being a man who spent his teenage years in the 80s, I`ve seen my share of adult movies that glorify the male need to peek.

You know something is part of our culture when otherwise professional photographers strive for the perfect position to capture the most compromising and distasteful shots. It's when you turn on your computer and the latest Red Carpet Nip Slip highlighted as being in the popular videos section of any web site.


You know that something is a part of the culture when it has it's own category on porn sites. How did the current fascination of underwear peeking explode...? I'll leave it to your imagination.


LIVE AMATURE CAMS

The Billions of Dollars a year industry has made significant advances with respect to the PC & Internet. The current sexual revolution and sexual freedom is a double edged sword. More exposure to porn sites has engendered a new form of sexual exploitation in Live Sex Cams. Today the average (young) woman can earn a buck as long as she's connected to the Internet via PC and high speed modem.

 As long as there are horny men with money to spend on their fantasies more and more inexperienced young women will engage in activities that would probably make most parents burst into tears.



COSPLAY

With the rise in popularity with all things Nerdy (Sci Fi, comic books, anime, gaming) and living in an age where you can research how to do/make... well just about anything, and add to that the latest cultural declaration of sexual freedom since the 60s and 70s and you have Cosplay. 

I didn't know it was a cultural phenomenon until I did research while writing a post on it, like most (despite my love of Sci Fi) I dismissed cosplay as Star Trek fans with too much time on their hands (or no life like is commonly portrayed in media) there are thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions who have a passion for dressing up in their favorite characters.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES

I don't actually. Like most people overindulging in Internet usage (and who happened to be a fan of X Files) it's not hard to get caught up in the nonsense (and I did for a while) Conspiracy theories, secret agendas, clandestined activities, doomsday prophecies all seemed to be designed to do one thing (mainly) make money. But since December 21 2012 came and went without incident, I think many are waking up to this reality, after all, if not for this cultural phenomenon, 2012 the movie wouldn't have done half as well on it's own merits (not that it wasn't entertaining)

The internet is abuzz with all sorts of accusations against the music and film industries, analysing secret hand signs, secret handshakes and not so secret public displays of hand gestures, symbols, clothing and accessories which have many concluding involvement in some sinister plot to install a New World Order. As if the world and living in the 21st Century isn't complicated enough.

911

The beginning of the 21st Century will be forever linked to what is perhaps the most painful chapter in late 20th century American history. It installed increased safety measures, the War on Terror and wars in the Middle East. It did unite the U.S. in a way not seen since Pearl Harbor, and garnered much sympathy from countries the world over. Those lost and the loved ones left behind should never be forgotten.




THE WAR ON DRUGS

Nuff said really.










Global warming

Climate scientists have postulated that the earth is undergoing significant anthropogenic (human-induced) global warming. They say the resulting economic and ecological costs are hard to predict. Some scientists argue that human-induced global warming risks considerable losses in biodiversity and ecosystem services unless considerable sociopolitical changes are introduced, particularly in patterns of mass consumption and transportation.

My opinion...? The difficulties of living through the ice age is deeply ingrained in our cultural memory. Most people aren't aware the Earth has in fact had as many as a dozen ice ages. The Earth is billions of years old, has endured the never ending cycle of life, death and rebirth. Continents have fractured, drifted apart and are expected to drif together and reassemble again.
First, most experts spent most of the 20th century scoffing at the idea of Global Warming, then pulled a 180 now that going green is an industry. I'm not saying our civilization's soon to be post military industrial lifestyle isn't effecting the environment, and it's good our society grows more concerned with the succeeding generations, like everything else we need balance.

MASS ANIMAL DEATHS AND EXTINCTIONS

Many attribute mass animal deaths as a key indicator something worrisome is happening in our world, but again the truth is species indicative of a specific age have been known to become extinct. We haven't been around long enough to know if mass extinctions begin with mass animal deaths.

Is it tragic? Whether you love animals or not the answer may be yes. Is it part of Mama Nature's normal birth pangs moving from one age to the next? Let's hope we're here to find out (it's estimated there may have been as many as twenty major events when over 50% of animal species died in the past 540 million years. Is that tragic?

Global warming is seen as a cause of mass extinction is supported by several recent studies, the most dramatic example of sustained warming is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, which was associated with one of the smaller mass extinctions. It has also been suggested to have caused the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, during which 20% of all marine families went extinct. Furthermore, the Permian–Triassic extinction event has been suggested to have been caused by warming. From what I understand, human industry, mass consumption and transportation weren't in existence during those periods, but that's not to say we shouldn't reevaluate our consumerist lifestyle.

PROTESTS FOR CHANGE

An expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations. Protesters may organize a protest as a way of publicly making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion or change government policy. They may undertake direct action to directly enact desired changes themselves.

Where protests are part of a systematic and peaceful campaign to achieve a particular objective, and involve the use of pressure as well as persuasion, they go beyond mere protest and may be better described as cases of civil resistance or nonviolent resistance. And in the 21st Century our culture has had plenty of reasons to make our voices heard. From Occupying Wall Street to the Arab Spring and the effort to stop Violence against Women, our well informed and empowered society has no reservations about taking to the streets to make our issues known.

Use of Acronyms & Text Message Shorthand

OMG, I am S2D (sick to death) of texting short hand and acronyms being substitued for everyday language. S2S I am finding it increasingly difficult to lol when I hear SOWM say things like OMG when they can just say Oh my god. In less than a decade the English language is going to require some QC B4 TWT SUB 2 DA SA LU AALFW and DTACOUP. (ok, I making up my own now but you get the point right? FOMCROFLCOPTERUTSMBHPM)

BIG BOOTIES

Anyone old enough to recall might remember that up until the present time, mostly women of colour had ample behinds (predominantly Black Women) with men of colour being the primary lovers of "thick women" and white men generally being more interested in women's breasts, there was never a rush to change the paradigm

White Women being posteriorly challenged was widely known (due in the largest part to the fashion industry's impressing the idea of the waif look being what women and therefore young girls) should strive for.

Enter sex selling hip hop videos, hip hop music glorifying large booties, the spread of (young) women engaging in on-line booty shaking and the prevalence of interracial dating all coupled with women reshaping the idea of what beauty looks like for the 21st century, making healthier choices with regards to diet and excorcise (even White Women are developing the kind of booty one only used to find on Women of colour

However, my research has uncovered a not so startling truth explaining the phenomenon... implants, padded inserts and chap-like cut out panties. hope I'm not giving away any trade secrets, lol.

Globalisation, Overpopulation, Abortion, Atheism, Gun control, Human Trafficking, Child Abduction, economic concerns, declining empires and rising competitor super powers also make up some of the features of 21st Century life, but living in the information age, I believe the human race has never been more awake, and never more empowered by knowledge and ready to help change the world for the better, making 21st Century Culture the best in history.


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FRINGE:A DAMN FINE SHOW

 A DAMN FINE SHOW

My interest in this Damn Fine Show is 100% attributable to my Fiance. You see, it was because of her interest (actually more like cult fandom) that I eventually got into Fringe myself, and like any other Sci Fi show worth watching, I became hooked. I have a tendency to be far more discriminating with new TV shows (I don't usually give new shows a serious look until the second season) not just because it gives the creative team and cast time to work out all the elements/characters, but because these days new shows pop up as regularly as weeds without the staying power (remember Heroes)

What happened to the days when TV shows lasted as many as 8-10 seasons? Never mind that, what happened to the days when the Fall Season actually started in the fall instead of January or even February? Remember when the only hiatus was in the summer? Times really have changed. Is it that today's viewer lacks the attention span to continue following good shows? Perhaps the average, non Sci Fi viewer doesn't, but lovers of Sci Fi are loyal viewers and will follow good shows right into the Friday Night Death Slot and ache for more despite the inevitable "Final Season" warnings.

THE PLAYERS

The show follows the casework of the Fringe Division (a Joint Federal Task Force supported primarily by the Federal Bureau of Investigation) which includes Agent Olivia Dunham, Dr. Walter Bishop, Peter Bishop (Walter's estranged son) and are supported by Phillip Broyles (the force's director of operations) and Agent Astrid Farnsworth.

The Fringe Division investigates cases relating to fringe science, ranging from transhumanist experiments (an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities) gone wrong from the prospect of a destructive technological singularity to a possible collision of two parallel universes.

The Fringe Division's work often intersects with advanced biotechnology developed by a company called Massive Dynamic, founded by Walter's former partner, Dr. William Bell, and run by their common friend, Nina Sharp. The team is also watched silently by a group of bald, pale men who are called "Observers", but we'll get to them soon enough. Let's look at thedriving force behind the characters motivations.

Olivia Dunham

Olivia is a FBI Special Agent assigned to a multi-agency task force of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (the Fringe Division) after her partner and lover, John Scott is exposed to a flesh-dissolving agent. Both Agent Broyles and Nina Sharp consider her to have much potential and talent, (with Nina even hoping to bring her on as an employee of Massive Dynamic)

Olivia was one of a group of preschool-age children who served as subjects of the Cortexiphan experiment in her childhood home of Jacksonville, Florida.  The drug Cortexiphan was developed by William Bell, which supposedly allows children injected with it to retain higher brain functions which would normally deteriorate with age. As a result, Olivia is capable of unspecified psychic abilities (including the ability to discern if an object originated in the alternate dimension due to a "glimmer" that only she could see) as demonstrated when she shuts off a series of lights wired into a bomb as a kill switch simply by thinking it (I did see that episode and found it intriguing but wasn't quite hooked yet)

Close to the end of the first season, Nina Sharp arranged for Olivia to meet William Bell, who at the time resided in another dimension, with his office in the World Trade Center's South Tower (Leonard Nimoy as William Bell? Alternate realities? I'm hooked)

Peter Bishop

Peter Bishop is a jack of all trades who despite his his genius level I.Q. of 190,^[and fluency in English, Arabic, Farsi, Latin, Greek, Cantonese, Russian, and Spanish, Peter became a college drop-out with gambling debts and a master con artist.

Peter was born in the alternate universe, to parents Walter Bishop (also known as "Walternate", and his wife Elizabeth Bishop) In 1985, Peter acquired an extremely rare and savage genetic disease. His father, a brilliant scientist (in both universes), worked around-the-clock to save him.
After Walter watched his own son die because of the disease, he would frequently watch the other Peter living in the alternate universe via a "trans-dimensional window", then eventually formulated a compound and opened a doorway into the other universe, with the intentions of saving the other Peter from death.

When the vial containing the compound shattered on his way over to the Other Side, Walter was forced to kidnap Peter bringing him over to the prime-universe to cure and then return him. But, after curing Peter on our side, he and his wife could not find themselves able to return him, so they raised him as their own.

Despite having no memory of the kidnapping, the impression left on his subconscious coupled with the fact Walter experimented on him caused Peter to grow up despising his father, and the feelings remained much the same throughout the first season, until he comes in contact with The Observer known as "September", who appears to read Peter's mind. Following this incident, Peter realizes that "The Pattern" does actually exist, and vows to remain in Boston until he discovers the truth, becoming a civilian consultant for U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in the area of fringe science.

Walter Bishop

Walter and his friend William Bell conducted numerous experiments in the area of fringe science, including developing highly advanced weapons for the Army. At some point during 1970s, Walter and Bell discovered the existence of another universe, through the heightened use of LSD, among other drugs.

They constructed a "trans-dimensional window", a portal which could view the other universe, which was more technologically advanced than our own (in "Peter", the Other Side appears to have already created digital cell phones by the year 1985). They began copying the advanced technologies they saw over there, and sold them to the Army to benefit this world. They spent much time sending objects over to the Other Side, including Bell's car, and discovered that the "multiverse" requires balance. If a car goes over the Other Side, then a car of the same mass must be sent into our universe.

In 1985, the now seven-year-old Peter contracted a rare and savage disease. Walter attempted numerous methods to cure him, ranging from trying to build a time machine to bring a researcher who specialized in these cases from 1930s to the present, to watching his alternate self, dubbed "Walternate", work with advanced medicine to cure his own Peter in the alternate universe, who was also ill. But Walter could not save his son, and he died in his arms.

Walter became consumed with watching Walternate work to save the other Peter (through the trans-dimensional window) Walter discovered that Walternate had formulated the correct cure for his son, but did not notice as he was distracted by The Observer known as September. Knowing that Walternate would not be able to cure the other Peter, Walter created the correct compound and built a doorway into the other universe, with the intentions of curing Peter there, and then to return home.

On the journey to the Other Side, the vial holding the cure was destroyed, forcing Walter to kidnap Peter, cure him back in our universe, but on the way back, they fell through an icy lake, were rescued by September, who warned Walter that Peter could never return to the alternate universe. After he cured Peter, he and Elizabeth could not find themselves able to send Peter back, so they decided to raise him as their own.

Astrid Farnsworth

An FBI Junior Agent who serves as Olivia's assistant  is stationed in the lab with Walter, who can never appear to remember her name, calling everything from "Asterix" to "Astro"). Though her work is mostly clerical, she has a number of skills which come in handy during their cases: cryptanalysis, knowledge of Latin, linguistics (speaks five languages) computer hacking, (the Alternate Universe version of Astrid Farnsworth is autistic and is a computer and statistics specialist, within their Fringe division.

No one (Except Peter) seems to understand Walter's quirkiness better than Astrid. She understands what he's like when in a mood and what it takes to soothe him (if she's able) She's aware of his propensity to experiment with/indulge in hallucinogenics without judging, her function aides in bringing order to Walter's often chaotic methods, helping harmonise his ideas. Despite never seeming to takeWalter's outbursts personally, Astrid's personal life and past were never examined in depth.

Phillip Broyles

Broyles!!! is what I would yell at his first appearance in every show. Like William Adama (BSG) it must be something in the eyes that demands respect. That stone cold look that says I'm in charge, I'm a stickler for the rules (but willing to bend or break if called for) It's the look that says I'm well seasoned in the art of combat and I don't mess around. He'd be the stern uncle keeping the kids in line while the cats (parents) are away.

Broyles is a Homeland Security Special Agent and head of the Fringe division, which was established to investigate a series of unexplained phenomena. While he comes off as professional and by-the-book, he is surprisingly flexible when it comes to dealing with the unusual circumstances of Pattern-related cases.We know he has been involved in the military,was once married to Diane and had children (his obsession with a case broke up his marriage) He initially harbors resentment for Olivia as she was responsible for prosecuting his friend Sanford Harris, but comes to respect Olivia's aptitude. He knows President Obama, who he thinks dislikes him because Broyles beat him at golf. He in the end comes off as the type of commanding officer who will allow a certain latitude with those serving under him due to the knowledge there are very few people with the ability to see what his team has seen and continue to not only keep it together but function harmoniously in the face of the greatest threat to humanity (and there are several)

Nina Sharp

Nina Sharp has run Massive Dynamic as the executive director since William's departure to the parallel world. She has had long personal ties with Walter and romantic interactions with William. One of her forearms is a highly-advanced prosthetic arm, having lost her arm while trying to prevent Walter from crossing over to the parallel universe in 1985. 

Nina is often cryptic and cautious of interacting with the Fringe members; though she will provide Massive Dynamic's services when necessary, she does not always reveal the full truth of the situation making you often wonder who's side she's really on.

Nina arranged for Olivia to be taken to the parallel universe to meet William Bell, while in the season 2 finale, she alerted William to the plan to rescue Peter. After Bell's death, Walter is left in control of Massive Dynamic but chooses to leave the majority of the control day-to-day workings of the company with Nina, and she later becomes his confidant during his despair at having possibly caused the universe to unravel.

William Bell

William Bell (played by Leonard Nimoy) is the founder of Massive Dynamic and the former lab partner and friend of Walter. William is mentioned throughout season one, showing several ties with Walter's past and the study of the parallel world, including participating in the Cortexiphan tests.

Sometime after Walter brought Peter from the parallel universe, William convinced Walter to allow him to remove pieces of his brain and implant them in other patients to keep the knowledge of dimensional travel safe; this process led to Walter's mental instability and institutionalization. The two parted ways, William going on to form Massive Dynamic.

In his first onscreen appearance, William brings Olivia acrossto the paralell world to warn her about the oncoming storm between universes and reveal the identity of the shapeshifter Newton. In the second season finale, he helps Walter and Olivia to evade capture (by Walternate) in the parallel universe, and then assists Walter in preparing equipment for them to return to the prime universe; William and Walter reestablish their friendship when William reminds Walter why he had removed the brain pieces.

When Olivia returns with Peter, Bell is unable to cross over again due to repeated travel (his atoms would split apart and no trace of him would remain in either universe) Because of this, he sacrifices himself to provide the means for Walter, Peter, and Olivia (in actuality, the alternate Olivia) to return to the prime universe. With William now dead in both universes, Walter discovers that William left the whole of Massive Dynamic to him in his will.

The Shapeshifters

The Shapeshifters are inorganic human hybrids from the Alternate universe able to take the form of any person by using a device that plugs into the roof of their mouth and that of the target. This process occurs after the shapeshifter has killed the target prior to the transformation, without the device, the shapeshifter is locked in its current form.

The "First Wave" were created with the aid of William Bell (who had moved to the alternate universe) to infiltrate the Prime Universe and lay the groundwork for a full scale invasion that would result in the destruction of the Prime Universe in favour of saving the alternate. It is believed that Walter's initial actions of creating the doorway between the universes is the cause of the Fringe events causing devastating effects and the precursor to a coming war that would see one of the universes destroyed (with Walternate at the forefront of the efforts to destroy the Prime Universe his son Peter was kidnapped to)

Shapeshifters may be programmed as sleeper agents unaware of their unusual nature until they are activated. Their primary characteristic is the large quantity of mercury in their blood, and the presence of a metallic data disc at the base of their spine making them able to withstand travel between the universes.

The Observers

The Observers are hairless pale men that typically wear grey suits and fedora hats. They are quiet, tending to mind their own business and interact only minimally with others.  They tend to appear before significant events in history (captured in works of art throughout history) using advanced equipment, such as communication devices and compact binoculars, and they employ an alien written alphabet. A distinguishing trait is their diminished emotions and diminished sense of taste (it is often shown that they can only taste very spicy food)

The Observers are able to  travel in time across universes without difficulty and predict future events because of their advanced technology. In "The End of All Things", it is revealed that the group of Observers seen in the first four seasons are a team of scientists from one of humanity's many possible far futures. This group of Observers traveled to their past to observe the events that led to their creation.

The group of Observers seen in the show during the first four seasons had designated code names with each individual referred to as a month of the year: September appears in every episode in the first four seasons, even if only in a cameo shot, while December and others appear with less frequency. One episode a rogue Observer named August sought to try to change the fate of a young woman contrary to the Observers' practice.

September is seen in both universes during the episode "Peter", to cause Walternate to miss a critical observation for the cure for Peter's illness in the parallel universe, and to rescue Walter and Peter after they fell through the ice in the prime one.

A series of events were temporally engineered by September to force Walter to make a choice regarding Peter's safety and to prepare him for a future event. After Peter's disappearance in the third season's finale, the Observers remain aware that Peter has vanished, claiming he has been erased from existence.

A later episode reveals that the Observers wreaked environmental havoc on the Earth in the far future then decided to travel back in time to colonize the planet before the environmental destruction occurred. In the year 2015, the Observers invaded from the future, instituting "The Purge" and killing many humans. Although humans continued to resist well into the year 2036, the Observers largely succeeded in conquering the planet and beginning the process to make the earth's more "pure" atmosphere more toxic (paving over Central Park to build an atmospheric processor)

The fifth season focuses on events in this future, where the Observers commanded by Captain Windmark, maintain control on the remaining humans through their own abilities and the assistance of human Loyalists.

A rogue group of humans (the Resistance) fight against the Observers, and have come to learn much about the Observers' abilities, including that many extend from an implant in the back of their neck that expands their mental processing power at the cost of emotions.

September explains that the Observers were born out of an experiment performed by a Norwegian scientist in 2167. The experimenter modified human genes to displace certain emotional facilities for improved mental abilities, and the success of the experiment eventually led to the development of near-emotionless humans with high levels of intelligence that became the Observers. Without emotions, there was no urge to procreate (guess that's why we never saw any female Observers) and thus developed technology to artificially grow new Observers using Observer DNA.

During the growth process, developing Observers were fully matured into adults. Sometimes, the growth process would create genetic anomalies which the Observers would typically destroy.

However, using his own DNA, September intentionally created such an anomaly by stopping the growth process of an Observer while it was still in the child stage. The resulting child Observer possessed both human emotions and Observer-level intelligence. September then hid the child in the past, and the Fringe team later came to call the child "Michael".

In the series finale, December explains that all twelve members of the science team had begun to experience varying degrees of human emotion (one shows a slight appreciation for music) and that they had all agreed to keep these emerging emotions to themselves, in order to remain undetected by the other Observers in the future. They were also unaware that their mission of observation was also a precursor to the invasion that would see the Observers take over in 2015.

Timeline Deviation

On the night Walternate would discover the cure for Peter he was distracted by September (who went to witness the pivotal moment) causing him to miss the indicator. September deemed this event significant to the Observers evolution as it set off the chain of events (the Pattern) that September was told should never have happened beginning with Walter's fracturing of the universes causing a deviation of the timeline and the basis of the show's premise.


Henrietta Bishop

Born in 2012 to Peter and Olivia, she was separated from her parents when "The Purge" began in mid-October, 2015. Her parents spent more than two decades in Amber after they failed to locate her in the aftermath of the invasion, and after their plan to defeat the Observers failed had to be aborted. 

"Etta" becomes a Fringe Division Agent charged with policing the Native population beyond the scope of typical Loyalist Security operations. She is an active member of the Resistance forces that have challenged the oppressors since The Purge. 

She has had an active 'work order' on request with her contacts for sometime and in 2036 it paid off. Her family was discovered in Amber and she was able to retrieve and release them. After a brief period with her family, she was shot in the chest by Captain Windmark in her time distracting him allowing her family to elude capture, becoming a symbol for all to resist and the driving force behind her families efforts to put the plan in motion and defeat the Observers resetting the timeline.

What Made Fringe A Damn Fine Show

Put aside the fact Leonard Nimoy was in it (we didn't actually find out he was the Bell character till the end of the first season)  and consider the fact the series has been described as a hybrid of The X-Files, Altered States, and The Twilight Zone. Week after week the show balanced serious issues with a quirky and often daring humour. It was dark in many of it's concepts and intense with it's makeup and special effects to bring the paranormal to life.

It's Sci Fi made for the post 9-11, war on terror world of the current civilization, ultimately making a statement on the possible dangers relating to genetic engineering and transhumanist experiments in the attempt to improve on nature's work the similar way BSG warns of the perceived danger of applying human thought processes to Artificial Intelligence. 

It had outright monstrous genetic mutations,  human-machine hybrid shape shifters from the parallel universe, episodes that alternate between the two universes, alternate universe characters, universal rips, Amber, alternate timelines, objects merging into shared space, theories of the first people, Destruction through Advancement of Technology, Observers and villains driven by their goal of advancement or self preservation, Fringe, like X files was not for the faint of heart. It wasn't the usual bubbly wubbly humans in space Sci Fi show (excluding BSG) it was real, a little gritty, and very entertaining.