Mind of Migg

There’s a couple quotes floating around about what to shoot for, but I find it best to stick with the original:

“If you shoot for the stars and hit the moon, it’s ok. But you’ve got to shoot for something. A lot of people don’t even shoot.”

This quote is saying that if you aim as high as possible, you can still end up hitting something pretty big. The other version is:

“Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars.”

This one is saying to aim for something big and far (but not the biggest or furthest) and you’re bound to hit something large.

The original gives a sense of having a plan, the other sounds like throwing ideas out hoping to strike it rich. So it should be no surprise that the original comes from Confucius and the latter comes from a motivational speaker. When you aim as big as you can, you can hit nice big things along the way, but if you aim big, hoping to hit anything and become a star, then you’re bound for failure. You have to have a plan, especially when you have big goals.

Don’t expect one swing of the bat to get you there

There’s nothing wrong with singles. So don’t step up to your first major league at bat, or even your first AAA at bat for that matter, thinking that all it will take is one swing to hit the longest shot out of a stadium. You’re not going to write the most epic script ever your first time opening Final Draft. You’re probably not going to make the highest grossing film of all time in your first attempt.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t expect a home run. But even if you do, hitting a single home run doesn’t guarantee you a spot in the Hall of Fame. Maybe that night’s highlight reel, but not much else until you produce over many seasons.

My point is, you can’t swing for the fences from the start without appreciating the ability to get a lucky slap single, hit a nice double to the gap, or even be the ultimate team player and take a sacrifice. If you think all or nothing, you’re likely going to end up with nothing.

Know what it takes to have a successful swing

Worse than going for nothing short of a long bomb is doing so without knowing how to swing a bat. You can’t assume that just by reading up on how to swing a bat means you know what you’re doing. This is true even if you think all the other players are swinging it wrong. They’ve still spent countless hours taking batting practice. Sure the theory of your swing may be genuis, but you won’t know until you take a couple of live pitches. When you stand in that batter’s box for the first time, don’t lower your expectations, but respect what it takes to simply get a hit.

There’s no shortcut to the moon.

It’s a long way up there. Further even to the stars. Moving away from baseball analogies and into NASA, think about it this way: we can’t get the stars until we get out of our solar system. We can’t get to Mars until we can comfortably get to the moon. And we couldn’t get to the moon until we could make it out of orbit. There’s a path to greatness. Yes, you should aim for the targets way out there, but have a plan for the steps along the way.

Shooting for the stars doesn’t mean you take one giant whiff after another. It means you have a plan to lofty goals. You need to have the guts to take the chance, but you also have accept that it’s a long process. That’s why it’s not so bad to wind up hitting the moon, when you realize how far away it truly is.

Goodbye Tennant, hello Smith!

David Tennant was my Doctor. Sure, Christopher Eccleston paved the way for the reboot, but I saw most of season 2 before season 1. So I was all about Tennant. I was skeptical heading into series 5 that things would never be the same.

Then Matt Smith made me smile after a tragic regeneration scene to finish the 2009 specials. I tried to stifle the smile, not wanting to appear a traitor to Tennant. It nearly worked, except that the series 5 teaser trailer blew me away. I found myself excited for Doctor Who all over again.

The season premiere episode did a great job of defining the new quirks of the Doctor and companion as well as paying homage to the previous Doctors. It was a strong episode and had the Steven Moffatt flair for adventure that I was hoping to see in the new season. It’s hard to describe how I felt about this season – it was familar, but different. Actually, I guess that wasn’t so hard.

Moffatt appears to go more for entertainment value, less for dramatic epicness the way Russell T Davies did. I love both approaches so it’s hard to choose a favorite, but I do miss some of the moments where Tennant’s Doctor would stand up and save the universe with a wink and a nod. Smith’s Doctor prefers to point out he’s brilliant in smaller doses and is much less cheeky about his actions while saving the universe. Still, he has that Doctor charm.

My favorite episodes, in no particular order:

• The Eleventh Hour – Great intro to the new Doctor and new companion.
• Amy’s Choice – The Doctor holds a mirror up to his darkest side.
• The Hungry Earth – Excellent characters and lots of suspense and adventure.
• Cold Blood – A strong finish becomes tragic with a crazy surprise ending.
• Vincent and the Doctor – One of the most touching episodes of Who I’ve seen. I dare you to not choke up a little at the end.
• The Pandorica Opens – All kinds of epic. Sets up a great finish to the first season of the Matt Smith/Steven Moffatt era.

Of course, there’s things I didn’t like about this season. Sometimes it felt like the ‘science’ aspect of the ‘science-fiction’ was sacrificed in the name of entertainment. A few of the episodes felt a little to rushed, or problems too easily solved, like in “The Beast Below”, “Victory of the Daleks”, and “The Lodger”. And don’t get me started on the finale.

I think paradox’s are fun when used sparingly but I felt the paradox used to get the Doctor out of the Pandorica was a huge cheat. For all the setup of the outstanding previous episode, I was let down by the finale. Strange too, that I had no problem accepting that one word, connected by a psychic link can defeat the Master, but when Amy uses her memory to bring the Doctor back I was disappointed. Maybe the entertainment over science? Maybe the low key epicness? Maybe I’m not fully connected to these characters yet? Maybe a lack of execution? I can’t decided so I’m going to go with all of the above.

Make no mistake, despite my criticisms I loved this season. It has a strangely nostalgic feel. The way so many shots were framed and just the overall vibe of the show feels like a throwback to the older seasons. I’m excited that the mystery of “the silence” wasn’t solved this season and along with the mystery of River Song, will unfold over the course of next season. It’s nice to have a sense of continuity with all these new characters. And one more thing…bow ties are cool!