Is Niki a great model for those suffering with D.I.D.? Dissociative Identity Disorder? Formerly known as M.P.D./Multiple Personality Disorder?

Here is a myLot disscution where D.I.D. is explained briefly, also in relation to Heroes character, Niki:

Niki - Special Powers or Dissociative Disorder?

I believe that Heroes creators are on to something BIG here! Is there a chance that, by having all the great Heroes charactors mirror Mental Illness symptoms, they could help dispell social constructions and stigma about Mental Illness?

Social Construction (copied from Wikipedia)

"A social construction or social construct is any institutionalized entity or artifact in a social system "invented" or "constructed" by participants in a particular culture or society that exists because people agree to behave as if it exists or follow certain conventional rules. One example of a social construct is social status."

The NEGATIVE beliefs about Mental Illness exist because SOCIETY ALLOWS the Negative beliefs to exist. Society agrees to behave as if Mental Illness is unnatural, weird, awful, dangerous, sometimes frightening, and not acceptable.

The Truth:

Mental illness is a regular, existing condition in society. It is widespread and 'COMMON' - very, VERY COMMON!

People who suffer from Mental Illness are often treated as if they are unnatural, weird, awful, dangers, frightening, and not acceptable.

The Truth:

People who suffer from Mental Illness are NORMAL PEOPLE who have an extraordinary health condition which requires attention and management.

If we keep treating people with Mental Illnesses as awful, unnatural, dangerous, frightening and not acceptable, we are actually treating REAL PEOPLE badly! If we keep treating real people who have Mental Illnesses badly, how will we ever function better?

Maybe Niki is the answer, in part, to showing society that a 'Disordered Personality' has a great, great many uses and abilities.

Niki has E X T R A O R D I N A R Y A B I L I T I E S !!

Does she not?

Doesn't everyone?

What is YOUR extraordinary ability?

Better yet - do you suffer from Mental Illness? What's your extraordinary health condition?

Would you be a candidate for the NBC TV show, HEROES? Would your Mental Illness transform into an awesome SUPERPOWER?

GO NIKI!

Do you think the creators of Heroes on NBC will try to make Niki 'integrate' Jessica into herself?

Do you think that Niki will further 'fragment' and become more personalities?

I'm sure that many people have noticed little quirks of the Heroes characters, which, in real life, might indicate odd psychological problems.

* Niki = MPD/Multiple Personality Disorder, Alcoholism
* Sylar = OCD/Obssessive Compulsive Disorder
* Claire = Self-Harming Behaviors
* Isaac = Multiple Addictions
* Peter = Self Esteem issues, leading to Self-Sabotage Syndrome
* Nathan = Fear of Intimacy and Relationships, emotional detachment
* Hiro = General Reality Perception issues
* Matt = Self Esteem issues, Self-Fullfilling (low achievement) behaviors
* Mohinder = Self-Esteem issues (2nd Child Syndrome) and unresolved Childhood Trauma surrounding the loss of his sister.

Most exhibit signs and behaviors related to low self-esteem, narcissism, some anti-social quirks and other behaviors that people with Mental Illness or Mental Disorders display.

Does it make you think, "Hmmm"?

I'm sure I will return to this topic often!

Okay, I am about 're-run-ned' out now. I watched a re-run of the Heroes Re-Run!

I can't believe that I wasn't more confused the FIRST TIME I watched that, 'cos BOY, does that episode ever back-track, flashback and jump around.

I found myself still hoping that Hiro would keep time-jumping around to save Charlie. I felt very frustrated for Hiro when he ended up back in Japan in the middle of the field where people were exercising. Poor Hiro - totally stuck, eh? Just seconds after Charlie told him about her limited time left to live.

If Hiro hadn't have gotten stuck, I know he would have kept time-travelling until he found a way to save Charlie, perhaps go back far enough to find out what caused her health problem or something.

Anyway - I think that I HEROED myself out a little bit. That was just a really freaky episode, don't you think? It's the episode, also, where the viewers find out a LOT about Sylar - that dirty, deranged RAT!

Whoops, maybe I'm not HERO-ed out yet. Maybe I will go watch the episode where the Hatian renders Sylar unconscious! That might make me feel better about Sylar, anyway.

That might hold me over until next week's Re-Run.

There should only be a couple more re-run episodes to watch until the next season of Heroes on NBC-TV starts!

I wonder if Claire will have to go to school in season two. I'm not sure how she can go to her old school when people are searching for her, but since the show is about the U.S.A., using American locations, won't the writers have to put Claire in school? I know that America really pushes for teens to finish their high school classes, so I hope that Heroes episodes will continue to promote this American ideal.

Maybe nobody else has worried about this. I have wondered about it, because there are so many American viewers of the Heroes television show that some of the characters are probably role models for teens, right? It wouldn't be a very good idea to have Claire not in school now, would it? Not when the first show of the season is only a week or two after real-time school in the USA starts, right?

I wonder if the writers of Heroes will overlook this completely or not. I guess I will have to wait and see.

Okay, so this is how bad it is, people:

I am a CHRONIC, chronic Heroes fan now. I already watched the re-run episode of Heroes last night. Unfortunately, I was a little sleepy for the Episode "Six Months Ago," so I taped the show on my clunky li'l VCR and I'm going to watch it AGAIN later tonight.

Yep - you read that right!

I am going to watch a re-run of the re-run, Heroes Episode called, SIX MONTHS AGO, because - frankly - a LOT of stuff happened at the Burnt Toast Diner and at other locations last night. I was getting sleepy, so everything was all the more confusing!

KUDOS to NBC and the writers and cast - I am actually going to view this episode ONE MORE TIME because it is still making questions pop up in my head - even though I have already viewed the entire Season One of the series!

I'm off for supper out with friends and then I'm coming back to watch SIX MONTHS AGO.

I'll be back.

P.S.

Did you catch Hiro's "Great-o-Scott!"

Hiro is so cute!

It's Monday!!

Right On!

Like a lot of people, I have never really looked forward to Mondays. This particular day of the week used to be a real 'groaner' for me. Rather, my attitude about Mondays used to be pretty bad, as I crawled out of my relaxing, lowered-stress weekend, and into full-fledged activities for the work/school week.

Now that I've started watching Heroes on Monday nights, my attitude about Mondays has really changed a lot! Now, I look forward to Mondays very much, because I can feel like I am 'rewarded' for getting through the day, completing errands, work, classes, etc.

The reward:

Heroes on Nbc TV, of course!

What a great way to wind down after a full day.

Even a Monday!

Okay, so how much does this suck? You can no longer view Heroes Season One episodes from the NBC TV site!

Now, you have to order the DVD set, available August 28 2007.

You can pre-order right away from Amazon, if you're in a real hurry. There are links on the sidebar here.

Don't worry - the NBC TV website has notifications that Season Two episodes will be available in the same way as Season One previously was, just a short time ago. All we have to do is be patient and wait...

Not so easy to do, eh?

NBC TV will have Season Two episodes online for viewing from their site - at the appropriate time, of course and NBC will be keeping up with their 'interviews' and other on-site attractions, too.

By the way, in case you missed this, Heroes Season Two begins September 24 2007, so we all have about a month to wait.

I'll be watching re-runs on Monday night 'til September 24th. That ought to keep me busy.

Watching Heroes on an actual Television set was pretty cool for a change on Monday night! Heck, I was even able to make some popcorn during one of the LONG commercial breaks and enjoy snacks while watching the show. No worries about getting butter-fingers on the keyboard! LOL

So I noticed something that was said a few times in Heroes Episode #9 (Homecoming), and I'm a little worried about it. I'm worried about Ando, people.

(Yes, I have suspended my reality and am pretending that I have NOT seen all the episodes of the season already. Just trying to take 1 Episode and keep it in its own context here)

Ando says something in kind of a forlorn way, which mirrors exactly something that Peter says about not really being special without others around. Peter says this, and then Ando admits that he isn't really anything special, either, without Hiro.

Hmmmm

With Peter - well, okay, he has acted very nutty in Heroes episodes 1-9, so a 'self-limiting' statement like he made seemed quite natural.

With Ando, however, here we have a guy who is taken from a good job and plunged into the chaos of North America, and he meets up with Peter, only to say basically,

"I am only special with Hiro around." (Not an exact quote, but essentially, this is the statement).

Do you think that Ando is co-dependent and too dependent on Hiro in order to define 'who he is'?

We can already TELL THAT PETER is a little loopy, and we don't wonder why too much. We already know it's the 'little brother in the shadows of high-profile older brother' kind of scenario going on with Peter.

With Ando, however, he seemed like the 'voice of reason,' in clips before he and Hiro got to New York. We, as viewers, mainly got the impression of Ando as a pretty grounded, secure guy who knew his place and who functioned objectively in the world. He seemed to be the stable, reasonable piece of reality standing beside Hiro's excitable, fantasty-obsessed character.

Do you think that 'discomfort' has made Ando co-dependent with Hiro? That is, the discomfort of new perspectives and a new location, has made Ando unable to figure out who he is by Episode #9? No longer can he think of himself as a 'stable,' 'objective,' and reasonably grounded individual, like he was back home.

In America, Ando can only be Hiro's side-kick? In America, Ando relies on what Hiro says, what Hiro does, in order to know his new, America-situated self?

When Peter says something like, "I kind of absorb the powers of other people," then Ando follows with a statement, "I'm not really anyone either." For Peter, he mentions a limit of what he can do or not do, as far as actions. For Ando, his statement is about 'self.'

Just something to think about...

Hey, I'm sittin' back tonight, watching a RE-RUN of HEROES!
(HOMECOMING EPISODE #9)

Wow, it's sure nice to see the episode on a real TELEVISION set. I don't even mind the commercial breaks. They give me time to jump up and refresh my drink.

What do you drink while you're watching re-run episodes of Heroes from NBC TV?

I'm kicked back, relaxing, having an iced tea.

Believe it or not, I watched every single one of the episodes so far on the Internet. At mostly the same sites I provided links for on the blog. I had to wait for 'buffering' time for each episode and really 'plan' to watch, because online viewing isn't nearly as smooth as watching TV.

Anyhow - I'm actually on a commercial break and the show just came back on, so I'm gonna jett for a bit, and watch the show.

Are you guilty of watching re-runs of Heroes, too?

Are you wondering if you are HERO material?

You can find out by taking the "Are You A Hero" quiz over at the NBC TV site.

Find Out If YOU Are a Hero - NBC's "Are You A Hero" QUIZ
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OhMY - apparently I'm like Nathan Petrelli...and should be able to fly.

The Comic Book Contest is over and so is the 'Mash Up' contest

Finalists for the Comic Book Contest are:
Andrew Chandler
Cherilyn Nowak
and
Julion Cesar Viveros Correndor

Finalists for the Music Contest:
Time Unlined
Destiny Calls
Heroes Remix

You can still share your Music and Comic book though the most recent contest is over:

NBC's Comic Con Page

I'm sure there will be many more contests!

Congrats to the finalists!




Feed Shark

International Viewers, catch the final episode of the season, "How To Stop An Exploding Man" - from the TV Links (UK) Site:


Heroes - Episode 23 - How To Stop An Exploding Man - Final Episode of the Season (TV Links+Ouou)

American viewers, catch the episode from the NBC TV site:

How To Stop An Exploding Man, Episode 23 - Final Episode of the Heroes TV Show Season (NBC TV site)

International Viewers, Watch Heroes - Episode 22 - "Landslide" at the TV Links (UK) site, courtesy TV Links and Ouou:

Heroes - Episode 22 - Landslide (TV Links+Ouou)

American Viewers can catch the episode at the NBC TV site:

Heroes - Episode 22 - "Landslide" (NBC site)

American viewers can catch Heroes - Episode 21 - "The Hard Part" at the NBC site:

Heroes - Episode 21 - "The Hard Part"

International viewers, catch the episode at TV Links (UK site):


TV Links
Heroes - Episode 21 - "The Hard Part" (TV Links+Ouou)

Commentary:

* Claire - someone really, REALLY wants you to stay.

* Ted (Mr. Fireball) shows up at the end.

* Hiro meets up with Sylar!

* Sylar and his mother have a li'l spat.

* Ando urges Hiro to kill Sylar - before Sylar kills Ando.

* Hiro and Ando pretty much follow Sylar around, once they get back into 'present day.'

* Suresh has to save a little girl who is 'special,' who had the same sickness that killed his little sister before he was born.

* Oh! For Pete's sake, Hiro was foolin' around and already broke his new sword!

* doh!

American Viewers, here's the NBC website link to watch Heroes - Episode 20 - "Five Years Gone":

Heroes - Episode 20 - Five Years Gone (NBC site)


International viewers, try the TV Links site and Ouou:

Heroes - Episode 20 - "Five Years Gone (TV Links+Ouou)

Commentary:

* Ando hanging out with Future Hiro is not a good idea. Nobody is getting anything done.

* Sylar, Sylar, Sylar.

* Yay! Five Years in the Future, Claire is going to get married! (Sorry guys, it's true - she even asks her boyfriend to ELOPE and NOT have the big, expensive wedding! What a gal!)

* I still DO NOT LIKE SYLAR!

* More good cop, bad cop - mostly very, very bad cop!

* Ando meets up with someone in the future who is very, VERY surprised to see him - because Ando is supposed to be dead 5 years into the future hmm...I saw it right - it's definitely ANDO in the future. What shocking news for him, eh?

* Issac's apartment is STILL THERE, 5 years in the future - but I didn't see Isaac at all. Wow, his apartment is a real mess. What's up with Isaac's apartment - people still insist on visiting there, uninvited. Everyone ends up at Isaac's - what a crappy host - he's nowhere to be seen.

Watch Heroes Episode 19 - ".07&" (Point 07 Percent) at the NBC TV site:

Heroes - Episode 19 - .07% (NBC link)

International viewers who cannot get the show to play through the NBC TV site can try this alternate link:

TV Links (UK site):

Heroes - Episode 19 - ".07%" (Tv Links+Ouou)

The "Ouou" site plays quite well, however, a warning:
DO NOT click the 'pause' button. Sometimes this will make the video stop and re-start from the beginning of the video.

Usually - if I absolutely have to 'pause' the video, I click on-screen. This usually pauses the video without making the video re-start from the beginning.

Just click again on-screen to let the video finish running when you're ready.

Commentary:

* Hmm .07% of something is expendible...

* Point zero seven percent of something is a good strategy and a fair loss...

* Hiro is now in trouble for going back to the present. Geeze - Hiro cannot WIN!

* Nathan needs to be a good daddy.

* Peter.....
...didn't survive last episode. (Sorry for the spoiler ... )

* The Cop and Mr. Fireball are teamed up again.

* I hate the new character - I hate the new character - I hate the new character. The new character is causing A LOT of troubles - especially for Niki and Micah. Geeze. leave the boy alone! He's just a boy!

* Isaac should lock his darned door - and get a new apartment. All the bad guys know where Isaac lives. How is he ever going to finish painting with people showing up all the time?

* Claire displays some kick-a** common-sense, which EVERYONE ELSE MISSED... Oh, let's see. What is this glass doing here?

DOH!

* Hiro and Ando are in some serious Japanese trouble at the end of this one. I was going to cover my eyes, but suddently the episode was over.....

Here's the NBC link

NBC Video Rewind - Heroes Episode 10 "Parasite"


Here's the TV Links/Ouou link:

Watch Heroes Episode 18 - "Parasite" Through TV Links/Ouou


Commentary
In this episode:

* Whoops! Hiro screws up and transports himself, along with Ando - into a ruined future!

* Thank goodness (for Nathan) Niki gets free for a few minutes.

* There is a new person with a new ability here - I don't think I like this one!

* Look out Suresh! *shaking head* You're in BIG TROUBLE NOW!

* Sylar, Sylar, Sylar. Nobody is safe. Nobody.

* Stop being difficult, Claire.

* Peter is having a really hard time with his powers. He says that nobody is safe around him. He puts everyone who he comes in contact with - in danger. He is right.

* Isaac is still a nut. A deadly one.

* That is NOT your wife, Mr. Company Man.

* ummm - Claire - be careful if you go inside there.

* OMG - Peter! I am sooooooooo worried about Peter - but the show ENDED!

The line I remember most:

"Now I am not going to share my pot-pie with you." (Linderman)

Or - it's a toss up between what Linderman said and Peter's "Ahhhhhhhhhh, Ohhhhhhh."

Needless to day, Peter is in excruciating pain. Or painfully dying.

I don't like Sylar!

DO NOT MISS THIS EPISODE!

Wow - this episode explains a LOT of things that you might have been wondering right from Show #1!
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American viewers can watch from the NBC TV site:

Heroes - Episode 17 - "Company Man" (NBC site)

International viewers, watch through TV Links (UK) + OUOU!

Heroes - Episode 17 - "Company Man" (Tv Links + Ouou)

If you've missed a few episodes, this is the one to catch up on - if you can't get to the others until later. This is an excellent episode. You'll find out A LOT about some of the character motivations.

I daresay, one character that I intensely disliked before this episode...well, I'm a little more lenient about now...

If you're an American Fan of the NBC TV series "HEROES" - you can watch past episodes over at the NBC TV site. Here's where you can access Heroes - Episode 16 - "Unexpected":
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Heroes - Episode 16 - "Unexpected" (NBC site)

If you cannot access the American viewing site, don't worry - TV Links out of the UK has links for the episodes. It outlinks to "Ouou" which has been a very reliable site.

Heroes - Episode 16 - "Unexpected" (TV Links+Ouou)

This is a great episode!

American viewers can access the replay of Heroes TV Episode 15 - "Run!" through the NBC TV website.
(links open in new window)

Heroes - Episode 15 - "Run!"

International viewers who would like to see the 15th Episode of Heroes, called "RUN!" can access Episode #15 through the TV Links (UK) site:

Heroes - Episode 15 - "Run!" (via TV Links site and Ouou)

Enjoy!

American viewers can access the Heroes "Distractions" Episode (#14) at the NBC website:
(links will open in new window)

Heroes - Episode 14 - "Distractions" (NBC site)

International viewers should be able to access Heroes Episode 14 "Distractions" from the TV Links (UK) site, outlinked to Ouou:

"Distractions" Episode #14 - Heroes TV Show (Tv Links sute and "Ouou")

Use firefox browser, let the show buffer about half way - then ENJOY!

American viewers can catch Heroes - Episode 13 - "The Fix" at the NBC site:

Heroes - Episode 13 - "The Fix" (NBC site)

International viewers can access Heroes - Episode 12 - "The Fix" at TV Links (UK). This is out-linked to the "Ouou" site, which works fine. Just let the video buffer a bit.

Heroes - Episode 13 - "The Fix" Tv Links (UK) and "Ouou"

Enjoy (Use firefox).

Here's where you can view Heroes - Episode 12 - "Godsend" at the NBC Site:

Heroes - Episode 12 - "Godsend" (NBC Site)
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And here's where International viewers should be able to catch up on Heroes - Episode 12 - "Godsend" over at TV Links (UK site - combined with "OUOU" site)

Heroes - Episode 12 - "Godsend"
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The TV Links site works okay. Just watched part of this episode earlier today (works best in 'flock' browser or firefox). It's a link through the TV Links (UK) site.

Here's the link for viewing Episode 11 'Fallout' over at the NBC TV website:

Heroes - Episode 11 - "Fallout" (NBC TV)

Remember - only those living in the US are able to view the NBC TV episodes.

The site where I just watched this episode last week - is not displaying the episode 11 link at the moment, so I will check back later and update the blog once the links are working again.

Do You Want To Win The Simpsons Movie Contest? I DO! So I'm entering the official The Simpsons Movie Contest as soon as I finish posting.
More Information - The Simpsons Movie Contest
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Fox TV and Opera launched The Simpsons Movie Contest last week. It started July 13th and runs until July 27th! That means there are 7 more days that Fox and Opera will take entries for this contest.

July 27th is the day that The Simpsons Movie will premier! A winning entry from The Simpsons Movie Contest will be announced on premier day!

I have one more email to send out about this contest, so I'm logging out of the blog now - but I'll be back.

More Information - The Simpsons Movie Contest
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My studies have finished and yesterday I just got back to check on the blog. I realize that most of the videos are now not working. Sorry about this. I did some hunting and researching yesterday and have found a site that has full episodes for legal viewing, but I'm still testing it out. I have many errands today but by this evening I will start cleaning up the blog, posting 'commentary' and summaries, finding 'viewing' links to direct readers and viewers to.

Thank you for being so patient.

I'll be back soon.

Sorry - will get back to work on this blog soon and get it updated wih vids and comments.

Just takin' a holiday from the blog while I finish up some heavy-duty literature classes.