I'm really loving the new version of V.  As much as I love the original series, this version really feels like it's very own show and I don't find myself really comparing the two when I'm watching now.  Just two episodes in and it has me hooked in a way that few TV shows manage to do.  Although very much it's own show away from the original source material, I can't help thinking of it as a Earth bound version of the Battlestar Galactica remake in it's approach and the similar who can you trust dilemna.

V 1.2 SPOILERS!

I liked the fact that there was an action continuation from the massacre at the end of the last episode.  It was quite a effective moment when you saw that a visitor was the one actually receiving Erica's 911 call and then one of their probes show up.  I like that with some of the characters you're not sure which path or decision they're going to ultimately take as there is a conflict of interests or instincts within them.  Elizabeth Mitchell is tough and sexy as Erica.  Laura Vandervoort is pretty cute and sweet in her role as visitor Lisa (if I've learned one thing though it's to never trust a Lisa!) and I liked her little "What makes you think I'd want to go anywhere with you?" joke.  Rekha Sharma is still that same old evil Cally killer though, no matter how much she tries to pretend to be a different person *g*  LOL, when Alan Tudyk woke up on the mothership at the end, I wasn't sure if he was simply somehow rejuvenated or... if he was waking up with his consciousness transferred to another body ;)

MILK 'N' COOKIES

And now I have to take a serious look at some of the trite that passes as words of wisdom (no offence to the friend I saw posting this previously but I believe this is worth addressing in a post):

Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.
Wrong!  Life is good for some people but there is a LOT of genuine suffering, disease, war and loss out there that isn't going to be swept away with those words.  If life was as simple as this little piece of milk 'n' cookies pseudo philosophy, there would be no one falling into deep depression or committing suicide.  It's easy for someone else to sit in a cosy rocking chair and tell others that life is good but there's so many different ways that this is often not the case for people and saying it doesn't make it so.  If you think life is a gift or that your life is somehow "blessed", fine!  But don't assume that you speak for everyone's experiences or that how you handle something is how everyone can or should.

When in doubt, just take the next small step.
Not always possible.  Sometimes there are no small steps or a small step could be just as disastrous and committing as a larger one.  Generalisations often aren't helpful and should not be mistaken for real wisdom on any given situation.

Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
Forgive everyone for everything.
Hating may not be good for you but like a lot of things it's often inevitable and can't be helped.  Some people deserve to be hated or thought less of because of their own actions or attitudes.  You can't force yourself to forgive or not hate and often it wouldn't do any good with unworthy people who would hurt you again and again and again and again and again.

It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
Railing against an imaginary entity who doesn't exist, usually means an injustice or suffering that isn't just going to go away or resolve itself.  And yeah, when you get angry at someone, the thing you're most concerned about is whether or not that person can take it.  That helps :P  Also I'd say to those people who believe in magic men in the sky (or magic women for that matter): How do you know?  What authority do you speak from?  Where's your proof?  Are you just mistaking your own little fantasies or theories for actual facts?  Are you just getting your "ideas" from other sources without questioning them or looking at them in a rational manner?  There is no proof for any all powerful, all knowing entity out there (while delusions, the brain making mistakes and mental illness are shown to be very real parts of nature) so how can anyone seriously claim any authority at all on something they don't really know anything about?

Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
Falls under the easier said than done department.  Often if someone's not done this kind of thing already it's not necessarily because they didn't think of at least trying.  Feelings, depression, messed up pasts and brain functions are very real things that don't necessarily respond to waving a magic wand and deciding on the spot like your magic man in the sky does in your own mind.

Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
If the person who wrote all this took this one to heart, maybe they wouldn't think themselves such experts on how good everyone else's life is, how easily a vague, general problem can be solved or how what works for them will work for everyone else.

Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
No idea what this even means.  But it's just about a fictional fairy tale character so no matter *shrug*

Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
If that works for everyone else, I must really be broken and one of nature's mistakes.  Because I've been hurt and stressed many times over in life and it doesn't get any easier to take and I don't feel anymore prepared for the next one.  Things that affected me in the past can still have an effect on me.  My super Olympian abilities must have got lost in the post.

When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
Needless to say, I can see a lot of criminally minded or selfish people taking to that one with great relish, no matter who they have to fuck up in the process (well, the people who like to crash planes into buildings certainly don't take no for an answer).

No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
No one may be in charge, but unavoidable, unpredictable, uncontrollable things like natural disasters, disease, poverty, bullying, depression, loss, a serial killer coming at you with a knife, someone you love not loving you back for example can all certainly have as much as a say in the matter as you do.

<[[iframe]] every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'..
Well, the loss of loved ones can still matter.  Some 'so-called' disasters don't give you a chance to have a five years later and some are still very much still affecting the present of five years later.  Now admittedly this one does help a bit if you burst your bag of Maltesers before you get home ;)

What other people think of you is none of your business.
It's alright for people to judge what doesn't concern them or act on hateful natures but you're still the villain?

However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
Where various diseases, famine, poverty and other harsh situations are concerned, I hope this one is true.  But we'll see, eh?  So, if you're alive and having a good life - that'll change!  Charming, will sleep so much better tonight.

Believe in miracles.
Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
So called miracles are by definition against the observable laws of nature and there's no evidence of them happening.  Many so called miracles are simply statistics.  Is one person surviving a disaster that killed hundreds or thousands really that impressive a miracle?  Even to all the relatives and friends of people that didn't survive?  The whole "believe and your dreams will come true" thing is a fallacy.  SOME people's dreams come true.  Others end up as hit and run victims, homeless, junkies, prostitutes or victims of abuse because they dared to believe that a fairytale was out there waiting on them and they just had to want it enough.

God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
Seeing the way this supposed "god" treats good people at every opportunity - it can shove it's "love" (a word that must have a different meaning from how I always understood it).  Remember kids, the Daleks, Cybermen and evil Empire really "love" you too!

If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
If a famine or horrible burn victim saw my problems, they'd grab their own back?  Er... how am I supposed to feel about that revelation? ;)

Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
A loveless existence or other people always getting the attention or love is all you really need?  On envy, I'll just give some real advice that you shouldn't hate or blame others for having something you don't or judge them harshly for it.  Being an asshole is what makes someone an asshole, not how much money they have, what size of house they have or what new DVD they just got.

The best is yet to come....
You know that how?  Ah, right!  We just have to keep waiting until it's too late to harangue you about the advice being wrong ;)

Yield.
Give in, submit to others, accept defeat.  Yes, that's what the totaltarians and religious extremists would want us to do.  Ha, ha, ha!  Thought you'd subtly slipped that one past, didn't you :P

Time and time again when other people are trying to lay down their versions of how things should be done or expousing their own "authority" or "wisdom", I find that the real wisdom comes from that title song to Diff'rent Strokes: "What might be right for you, may not be right for some".  If that was one of the first pieces of real wisdom I ever heard in my life that truly stood up to mean something true... it was probably also the last.