That zone thing that's kinda twilight-y...

"The Obsolete Man" waiting for his termination
http://sharetv.org/

Last week, I bought "The Twilight Zone" on DVD, the entire series with a bunch of awesome special features.  It was a sort of special treat using some of the tax refund I got back (since I used most of it to pay bills, I felt the need to splurge some).  It's a great show and I'm thoroughly enjoying watching old favorites and seeing episodes that I knew nothing about.  So far, I'm about halfway through the first season and already I've seen one of the most famous episodes of the whole series:  "Time Enough at Last" with Burgess Meredith (I know, right, I'm obsessed).  It's pretty amazing that such a memorable episode, one that is considered by many to be the best of the entire run, would be early in the very first season.  Usually shows don't hit their stride until at least the second season, but there you go.  Actually, though I like the episode, it's not really my favorite; it's not even my favorite of the 4 that Burgess appeared in.  My two favorites are "Printer's Devil" where BM plays Mephistopheles (sp?) himself, and "The Obsolete Man" where BM is a librarian who lives in a Dystopian society and is sentenced to death for being insignificant.  I'm not sure which is my "favorite" favorite; I kinda go back and forth.  Nevertheless, it tells a lot about the quality of the series when you have classic episodes that occur throughout the series run, from first to last season.



 



"Printer's Devil" hard at work
http://www.twilightzonemuseum.com/

 



"Mr. Dingle, the Strong"
I don't really like this episode but it was the only
one of BM's episodes I didn't mention, so felt the need
to include it anyway.
http://mylifeintheshadowofthetwilightzone.blogspot.com/

Anyway, I did have another point to make in doing a post about "The Twilight Zone."  In watching these shows lately, it's made me think about moments that I've had that smack of the eerieness of being in the Twilight Zone.  Very often, I'll be walking from the parking lot to my office or walking in the mall by myself (and other such occasions) where I'll get a really strange feeling out of nowhere.  It's a feeling of being completely outside myself, almost like I'm in a movie and watching myself from a distance.  I become hyper-conscious of how I'm walking, if other people are around me, if my clothes are straight, and so forth.  Then I'll have something like an inner monologue going, like narration.  Very strange.

I also have moments where I'll start to wonder if my reality is the same as other people's.  For instance, I'll think about what I see and if it looks the same to everyone else.  Maybe what I see as the color green is completely different from what you see, but the way it fits with other colors is the same.  The relationships between objects and people are exactly the same for everyone, but the images are different.  Like literally seeing things with different eyes.  Does this make sense?  I know what I'm trying to say but I don't know if I'm explaining it very well.  Perhaps someone could let me know if this is at all comprehensible.  :)

I believe that every person has these alternate reality-Twilight Zone moments.  They may not be the same for everybody but each person does probably have an experience where he/she isn't sure if what they're seeing/hearing/doing is quite real.  I kinda like these moments, even though they're disconcerting.  They make me think about my surroundings and try to understand them in different ways.  It's like another level of consciousness...I think we all need these moments to help us relate to the world and all the possibilities of the mind.  This is really getting hippie-dippie and I apologize, but I'm finding that writing like this does get me to think about things from another perspective.  Weird, weird...but hopefully it does make some kind of sense.  Maybe I should just watch NCAA basketball and not think so much about existential crap.

"Time Enough at Last," at least until the glasses break
http://revmocat.blogspot.com/

Adieu, for now.  :)