I read this book in high school, a long time ago. The story has stuck with me. It's science fiction but it could be horror. Not because it's gruesome, creepy or morbid. Just because the idea of seeing yourself so clearly and so much better than you had been before - only to then be returned to what you had been... that seems horrifying to me.

The book came first. There are at least two movies created from the story in the original book. I've seen the older movie and I've read the book. The book had more impact and meaning to the telling of the story. It was less like seeing the story through someone else's vision rather than your own.

Algernon is the mouse in a lab experiment. Charlie is the man picked to take part in the same experimental brain surgery. It all seems to work so well at first.

Algernon is exceptional, the experiment seems to work with greatly positive results! So they pick Charlie because he has never been exceptional, intellectually, and this is what the experiment is all about. Can they improve the intelligence and thus the whole life of someone who started out the level of below average? Can they turn Charlie into a genius?

At first Charlie is still being beaten by Algernon, the mouse. Charlie doesn't like that, of course. He has always known he was not as smart as some people but he looks up to people and thinks well of everyone. He believes the people he works with are his friends. One of the saddest parts of the book is Charlie's realization that they were making fun of him, even treating him badly but he never understood enough to know.

Charlie improves, understands more, sees more and begins to want more for himself too. It's not long at all before he is beyond any intelligence level in Algernon, the mouse. Charlie even surpasses the scientists who created and performed the experiment. Charlie falls in love, makes plans for the future... but one day Algernon dies.

Algernon had started losing his super intelligence, gradually. Charlie, knowing he had the same surgery, expects his results will backslide and now, knowing and understanding so much more he knows he is going back to who he was before. the difference being that now he sees a very different picture of who he was before and how he was treated by other people.

If knowledge is power, is ignorance bliss?

How would it feel to have come far, learned so much, changed your life and yourself and then have it all taken back until you are reduced to so much less than you had been even for a short time? I can't imagine living each day as someone who understands the jokes people made about him when he was less intelligent and knowing you would soon be back to that life again.

Of course, there is a movie too. Read the book first.

The Gilmore Girls was a television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel and enough characters to fill a small town. Of course, the town, Stars Hollow, was part of the show as well as the fictional location where Rory grew up and Lorelai went from spoiled rich 16 year old girl with a baby to owner of The Dragonfly Inn with her best friend, Sookie, as a partner.

Rumours about a Gilmore Girls Movie or New Series

Since the show ended there have been rumours about it coming back. So far nothing concrete and the original producers and actors are not saying anything for sure. I would love to see a Gilmore Girls Christmas special. It could tie up loose ends about whatever happened to Lorelai and Rory....?

Did you love, like or never watch it all that much?

Since the show ended I have heard people criticizing it. Some say Lorelai was an awful Mother, prying into everything, not setting a great example and so on. But, I think, that was what the Gilmore Girls was really about: making mistakes, getting things wrong but overall keeping on track and standing by your family, friends and the values you hold especially close. Gilmore Girls wasn't about a perfect Mother and daughter relationship. It wasn't meant to be an icon for single Mothers or small business women or girls growing up. It was about learning from your mistakes and not being afraid to take chances and be who you really are.

Lorelai and Emily

I especially like every scene with Lorelai and Emily, her Mother. They had such a hard relationship, each wanting to be closer and yet neither of them willing to give enough ground to find that middle ground. The actresses (Lauren Graham and Kelly Bishop) made these scenes my favourites during all seven seasons.

Women ran the show. Women were the central characters but the men in their lives were important too. Lorelai dated a few but kept coming back to Christopher (Rory's Father) and Luke (who owned the famous Luke's Diner). Did you ever wish Lorelai had married Max, from season one and stuck with him? I still think he would have been the best match for her, but it just didn't get written that way. Lorelai also had a rocky relationship with her Father. I was happy to see the final episode end with him telling her she had done a good job with Rory and deserved to be congratulated.

Which character was your favourite?

There were so many characters in that town: Sookie and Jackson (Melissa McCarthy and Jackson Douglas) were so much fun to watch as they began dating and then all the years of being married and having children. They created their own show every time they had a scene together.

I liked Dean best of all Rory's boyfriends. Of the town's people Babette, Miss Patty and Gypsy (the car repair woman) stand out for me. Do you remember Babette's little house and her tall husband, Maury?

Then, how can anyone forget Paris Geller? Starting out by considering Rory her competition for excelling at school and going to Harvard. Paris and Rory became unlikely friends. Lane was Rory's best friend but I'm sure Rory was the best friend Paris ever had. If ever the Gilmore Girls gets a come back or a Christmas special, Paris (Liza Weil) must be there.

Gilmore Girls Wiki (Great fan site and knowledge base about the show).

25 other little known facts about the Gilmore Girls (from Thought Catalog).

Missing the Gilmore Girls?

I haven't seen the show come up on Netflix so far. But, I've only been with Netflix since the start of this year. If you need a Gilmore Girl hour or two the best you can do is get the DVDs or take a look at the other options, like the music from the show (see below).

Fan Moments for the Gilmore Girls

Do you remember the last scene, from the last episode of the last season... sitting in Luke's Diner, ordering coffee and breakfast. The camera pulls away as Lorelai and Rory continue to talk. Just the way the pilot episode ended, only they were talking about boys instead of Rory travelling.

Do you remember watching Family? I was just a couple of years younger than the actress who played "Buddy" on the show. Most nights the TV was claimed by someone else so I would only get to see the show sometimes. I liked it. I still see photos from the show and remember what life was like in the 70's as a kid.

A Simple Show about the Lawrence Family

The show was about the Lawrence family: two parents and three children. Buddy, the youngest daughter, always seemed to be on the verge of growing up. I don't remember ever asking awkward questions that way but I did look a lot like that. Same hair style and clothes. Then there was the older brother (the only brother). He always seemed troubled to me but I liked him. Nancy, the older sister didn't have much time for her brother and sister or her parents. She had her own first child and was a single Mother in those days when divorce and being a single Mother were still unusual.

Why Isn't a Stay at Home Mother Enough?

I like the look of the actress who played the Mother in the family. She didn't look like my own Mother (my Mother was younger by at least ten years) but she looked like a TV Mom. She dressed the way I thought a TV Mom should too. You could get away with calling her frumpy, but that's on the mean side. She was a stay at home Mom and she looked after her children, her husband and made her house a home for everyone. At some point the producers must have thought they had to make being a Mom at home seem unattractive and undesirable. I remember her playing the Mom as someone who was taken for granted and ignored and later she want back to school. I don't think it's right in our culture the way women are thought less of if they are Mothers who stay home to work on raising a family and keeping a house. Why isn't that enough?

Anyway, the Father on the show was a lawyer or some kind of professional. He always looked on the verge of a heart attack to me. I don't know why. He was a fairly standard TV Dad, off to work each day and then home in time for Fatherly advice.

Buddy's Mysterious, Quiet Brother

The show was more about Buddy's brother for me. He was mysterious and quiet and yet a good brother. I still like guys like that. Funny, but I had all but forgotten the show. Thinking about it again it is that brother (who's name I could not remember without looking it up online) I can remember watching to see what he was up to and what was the trouble he seemed to never quite talk about.

You can't yet get all the seasons of the Family TV show on DVD. I guess they are waiting to see if there is enough demand for more than the first two. So, if you want more order them and hope for the best. I could not find Family recorded on YouTube. I guess it was a simple show, not something flashing a lot of skin and violence as most of them do these days.

Which family focused TV show did you best like from the 1970's?

• Family
• The Brady Bunch
• Eight is Enough
• The Courtship of Eddie's Father
• Family Affair
• One Day at a Time
• The Partridge Family

I don't think anyone else could have brought the character of Molly Gunn into life the way Brittany Murphy did in Uptown Girls.

Molly Gunn was an uptown Sleeping Beauty fairytale princess who lived a charmed life. Though she was an orphan of a famous rock star Father, Molly had all the money, clothes, comforts, friends and luxuries any young woman could imagine ever wanting. But, her world crashed down while she was sleeping (not literally). Molly discovered the money was all gone. The bills had not been paid in months and her credit cards were all maxed out. Suddenly she went from princess to pauper.

The Uptown Princess has to get a Job

Molly works as a nanny for a little girl (Ray) who is her opposite in temperament. Ray's Father is dying and her Mother is always too busy, so Ray is also alone. It seems things will never work out but, they find common ground (both are afraid of growing up and facing the hard things in life) and become friends. Right about then the bottom drops out, again. Ray's Father died just after Molly encouraged Ray to sit with him for the first time in years. Ray rejects Molly and then runs away. Molly is also feeling heart broken because she had to sell all her Father's guitars (the last thing she had held onto from her Father and her old life).

You Won't Forget Molly Smiles

It all ends well, good fairy tales do. Sleeping Beauty Molly wakes up and becomes an uptown princess with a practical edge and some spine to stand up to life with. The final scenes of the movie are Ray dancing ballet to "Molly Smiles" the song Molly's Father wrote for her (sung by Molly's love interest in the movie who is an up and coming musician).

This is one of my favourite movies. I love Brittany Murphy and she really does create the movie, bringing it from a good story to that wonderful fairytale quality with her zest for life and real emotion. In spite of being a rich princess, Molly Gunn is very lovable.

Beware, "Molly Smiles", the song, will stick in your head for a very long time and likely won't ever really be forgotten either.

Brittany Murphy is Missed

Brittany Murphy (1977 - 2009) had poise, a sparkle and a joy for life which I don't see often in people on film. A shame because where else would such things be best used than the media where everyone can see, and feel good seeing, them.

I LOVED The Courtship of Eddie's Father.

I had to look it up on Wikipedia to see when the TV show was on the air. Turns out it began on TV in 1969 and finished in 1972. I would have been just a kid about the age of Eddie when the show ran on television. From Wikipedia I found out the story was based on a book written by Mark Toby and had even been created as a movie before it was re-created as a TV show which starred Bill Bixby (who was later in The Incredible Hulk, among other things).

The story of Eddie's Father was about Tom Corbett and his son, Eddie. Tom was a single Dad, his wife had died and left himself and Eddie alone. I don't remember much mention about other family, like Grandparents or siblings. Usually the show was about Eddie, his Dad and the women Tom would meet and Eddie would try to decide which were right for his Dad.

The original book by Mark Toby and the movie which was created based on the book (before the TV show).

I found a nice, little tidbit of information which I came across while looking at the information about Brandon Cruz (the actor who was Eddie on the show). Bill Bixby died in 1993 but the actors had been close during and after the TV show. The death of Bill Bixby's only child, Christopher, may have given him a closer feeling to another child who was so much a part of his life as well. In 1995, Brandon Cruz gave his son (Lincoln Bixby Cruz) the middle name of Bixby in honour of Bill Bixby.

Bill Bixby (Tom Corbett was his name on the show) was my TV Dad. The Dad I wished was my own Dad when things were not going so well with my own Dad. Of course, not many real men can compare well with a perfect, scripted TV Dad.