Sundown begins one of the more important Jewish holidays of the year, Yom Kippur. For those of you not familiar with Jewish beliefs, Yom Kippur is basically the Day of Atonement. Jews fast for 24 hours, and it's their time to face God and be absolved of sin.

Judaism, of course, is part of the roots of modern-day television science-fiction thanks to the influence of both Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner on "Star Trek," both Jewish themselves. The Vulcan salute had a basis in what Nimoy saw at temple as a child as something the kohanim (the descendants of the ancient Jewish priests) would do to symbolize "almighty God" during Orthodox services.

Of course, Nimoy wasn't Orthodox (he identifies as Reform, the religion's largest and most liberal sect), but his grandfather was, and he would go to synagogue with him as a boy. Another phrase, "Live long and prosper," is said by some to be a variant of the Hebrew greeting "shalom alacheim," or "peace be upon you."

But this isn't a column about Jewish traditions and influences, but there are some related themes from Judeo-Christian beliefs and what I am going to talk about here. And it all starts with the Golden Calf.

You remember this thing from Sunday School, right? In the Torah (or the Old Testament, depending on your beliefs), Moses climbs up Mount Sinai with Charlton Heston-like grace to get the Ten Commandments. While he's gone, the people sitting below get impatient, and to pass the time, Moses' brother Aaron decides to keep everyone happy by making a big calf out of gold. Everyone is happy, and worshipping begins until Moses makes his way back down, and is so angry, he drops the tablets, shattering them.

The story gets a bit gruesome from there. Moses himself melts down the calf, spreads its ashes through the water, and forces everyone to drink of it. Then he has 3,000 men killed. On top of that, he has to climb Mount Sinai again to get a replacement.

The whole idea of idolatry is something that transcends religion. While we don't give them divine status, for the most part, we as a society have our own idols. These are people we think highly of, who might be famous, who might not. Heck, mine to this day remains Michael Jordan. He could gamble like the best of them, and still score 50 points.

But idolatry is ever-present in today's society, and while it's nowhere near the level of the Golden Calf, there are some who make some of these people out to be the Second Coming.

This is nothing new for this Web site, however. I've written several columns over the past decade talking about how people should treat Gene Roddenberry as a genius, but don't act as if he was some perfect deity. People don't like other people smashing their idols, even if the smash is honest. And that's understandable. These people, however, are human beings. Which means they have good sides and bad sides. They do things that are good, and do thing that are bad. And on top of it all ... they are not always right.

Raising celebrities on pedestals doesn't end with Roddenberry. Look at some of the big names that fell hard because they became the Golden Calf. M. Night Shyamalan. He did two amazing movies, "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable" which had a tremendous amount of studio input, and were culled from various ideas he pitched to the studios. Yet, when his films became hits, the studios stepped back and declared Shyamalan a genius, giving him a blank check to do whatever he wanted.

What happened? Shyamalan is about as forgotten now as Nikola Tesla.

With the advent of the Internet, there is now a newer form of idolatry that comes from constant interaction with fans through online means like message boards and blogs. There are people who will do anything and everything to be a groupie for these more famous names or those associated with famous names, and they take everything they say as gold, no matter how outlandish it is. And if someone dares disagree with them, they are practically excommunicated for their heresy.

That's just crazy. I consider Edward James Olmos from "Battlestar Galactica" one of my favorite actors of all time, to the point that I would defend him fiercely. But if he did something questionable, I would set those feelings aside and call him on it. That doesn't make me or him bad people ... it makes us human.

Sure, many famous faces are larger than life. But paraphrasing that passenger-side mirror, objects (of our affection) are actually smaller than they appear.

In the end ... isn't one Chris Crocker in the world enough?

SyBits
And as mentioned already, for all of our Jewish readers, yom tov. I'm having Carrabba's before sundown so hopefully I'll get through this one a lot easier than past ones.

In any event, let's get to letters.

I just read your article about spoilers and I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I don't wish to be spoiled on certain shows because it ruins it for everybody else. On the other hand, there are shows like "Battlestar Galactica" where I don't mind about the spoilers. I guess in "Galactica's" case, it doesn't matter because the story was once told back in 1978, so it's kind of fun to see how Ron Moore's "Galactica" will turn out by comparison.

-- Julian Schecter

My question to you is how would someone else choosing to read spoilers ruin it for you? I guess it's the same question that always comes up in terms of gay marriage -- which is, if you're a happy heterosexual, then how does two girls getting married really affect how you live your life?

There is an audience for everything out there, and spoilers are a bit part of entertainment reporting. Not because journalists like me made it one, but because readers like you want them, and when there is demand, all of us are here to create a supply.

Three small points to come up from your column this week.

1. On spoilers, I do like having the option of choosing whether or not to read them. Sometimes Airlock Alpha has the spoiler right in the headline! That takes the choice out of readers' hands whether or not they wanted to know. Can we at least have zero spoilers in headlines at SyFy?

2. A big thank you for your Web site. I only found it by accident because I was sick of other sci-fi Web sites that confused news with hype. I don't get hype garbage from this site, and I love it for that reason -- with the added bonus of acknowledgement that when something's crap, it's crap.

3. Don't retire.

-- John Bartolomeo of Weston, Canada

Great letter, John. We really try to keep spoilers out of headlines, and sometimes one or two slip through. If we get a few complaints about a headline, we try to change it as quickly as possible, so please know we recognize that happens sometimes, and that we are trying to fix it.

Also, thanks for the kind words about the site. I know I talked about retiring last week, but those who have visited the site for a long time know I say that every year about this time ... the stress from the start of a new television season, and the simple fact that it's Rosh Hashanah, and I tend to like to see how I want the next year to be better than the last. So it's more of a running joke than anything else. No worries. I ain't going anywhere.

Normally, this is where I would say good-bye, but let's be rebellious, and read one more letter. This one is really taking me to task.

Of all the articles which have kept me coming back time and time again to your Web site, this one [on spoilers] was definitely the most thought-provoking.

As I read through your diatribe on the pros and cons of spoilers, I couldn't help agree wholeheartedly with your take on the effectiveness of them marketing wise. Although I only found your site after years of only Dark Horizons and Ain't It Cool News, I was much appreciative of the globally relevant content of your more "pure" genre columns.

-- Regan Strukoff

Regan, your judgments are so harsh, so painful! You have broken my morale, my ... oh wait, that was good stuff. Sorry about that, Regan. And thanks! And I hope you still visit Dark Horizons and AICN. Those are the grandaddy sites of the net, and I visit them every day. But please, make sure you keep visiting us every day, too. We'll be watching.

Send me a letter, and if you're lucky (or you suck up enough), it could appear right here! Just e-mail me at mhinman@airlockalpha.com.

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Have a great week, and don't be a stranger!

Michael Hinman, a 22-time winner of the British lottery and heir to three Nigerian fortunes, is the founder and site coordinator for Airlock Alpha, writing out of Tampa, Fla. He can be reached at mhinman@airlockalpha.com