That's entertainment!

I see quite a bit of television, and I go to my share of movies and I'm always amazed at the Hollywood special-effects wizards. They can make you believe that anything is possible, and when the lights go on it's time to go back to real life and that's when the disappointment sets in.

Well, not always, don't get me wrong, sometimes it's a relief to go back to real life. Some of these movies are so lame that they make you wonder if the producers think the general public is really that stupid. I remember a movie my cousin forced me to go to a long time ago where some mutant had his head slammed in a car door and then kept putting it back in the door to get slammed again over and over! I mean really, do they think we're going to believe even a mutant is that stupid?

However, there are the other times when you would like to just get up and jump in that X-Wing fighter and help Luke blow up the Death Star. Or fight the Nazi's with Indiana Jones. Or go on a date with Kate Hudson. That's when you wish you could live on that screen forever!

The thing is, they make it look so easy. Look at "MacGyver," now that was an AWESOME television series. Richard Dean Anderson took stuff that we have around the house and was able to do so much with it! I watched it religiously, to the point where every time I had to fix something I would be there thinking, "What would MacGyver do?"

That's what I like in movies, when they treat the audience with the respect they deserve. We know some guy or gal cannot jump in the air and just hang there for two minutes while they kick a couple of dozen guys in black robes in the face before they come down (one of the Matrix movies, don't ask me which one, probably all of them!). And then they started doing that with all of the martial arts scenes. If I went to a karate studio and asked the sensei (I think that's it) if he could teach me to float in the air while I kicked people he would probably tell me I'm nuts! Give me a break people, it's impossible and we know it! Not without wires or a jetpack, anyway.

So yes, I am based in reality. I like the movies and shows where the heroes do get hurt and bleed, where if they fall two stories they are going to the hospital, not just get up and walk away like nothing happened. I know if someone punched ME in the face I would be bleeding. And if I fell two stories I would be in traction for two weeks.

The only problem is, sometimes I wish I could live in that fantasy world because reality can be too harsh. I think we all do. But unfortunately, in real life, there is no different channel and no on/off switch. We just have to make the best of what we have.