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Up to the minute notes on the current state of free thinking and free living: Kentucky moonshine - original analysis and reporting from MoreThings, and all round pop culture museum of sight and sound - photo galleries, mp3 and video downloads.
Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
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March 27, 2004
The Shield only gets better
Three episodes into the third season of The Shield, it is clear that the show if anything is even slightly better than before.
This comes as a function of character. After a season or two of setting up the parameters of the characters, we're digging in for nuance and angles. The actors and writers have created a whole little world of people and relationships, and they're now figuring out from a couple years of practice and living with the characters the natural logical trajectories of all this.
The same type of thing has happened with many of the other best tv shows historically. They start out with strong premises and characters that make a great show, but then they're only really hitting their creative peak perhaps several seasons in.
All in the Family makes a classic example. Archie Bunker was pretty funny from show #1, but he only became a full fledged character and icon with time. He was always funny ol' Archie, but he gained dimensions and credibility as a dramatic character over time. Edith likewise. It took a couple of years living the character to work up to stuff like the famous scene baptizing the infant grandson.
Even the Simpsons went from funny Tracy Ullman cartoons to multi-dimensional characters. Bart Simpson became a real boy, so to speak. He passed the mundane status of a t-shirt fad into true icon status by becoming a legitimate literary character with more than a couple of broad strokes of personality. He has moments of genuine dramatic conflict, such as the episode where he sold his soul to Milhouse.
Few shows have enough depth about them in the first place to be developed like this. How much character development are you really going to get from some treacly Touched by an Angel or Everybody Loves Raymond? Ain't going to happen.
This is a beautiful and rare process to watch when it's working, though. Every episode of The Shield brings some new dimension to the ongoing characters and their relationships. Having a principle ensemble of eight gives them lots to work with, but only because they created eight highly distinctive and unique characters to start with.
A couple of seasons in, it fascinates me to see the development of Claudette Wymms, the voice of conscience. The voice of conscience has been given a personal history, children, father and ex-husband, becoming a character rather than merely a representative playing the role of "conscience." Now, see how this character of conscience reacts to a bit of power as she smells the captain's job. The writers get to make some rich dramatic material out of her interests and motivations in power, and her political education as Aceveda and even the chief groom her for the job.
Consider also the depth of character emerging from Shane. He's the redneck cop from Georgia with a bad attitude toward minorities. He's become significantly more than that now, though, especially through the relationship with Vic. Watching the politics and love/power relationships being calibrated between them bears close scrutiny. Now Shane has a new and pregnant wife. How's that going to affect his personality?
And that's just a couple of the characters- not even considering Vic Mackey himself.
Did I mention that this is the greatest cop show in the history of television?
Extensive episodic notes on The Shield HERE
posted by Al at 3/27/2004 10:03:00 AM
Gas prices and the presidential election
Mr. Richard Fetter from Fort Lee, NJ writes in again with a bitter fantasy:
Hey! I'm really enjoying that "peace dividend" that you told me a year ago we'd be getting after the War: That cheap gas!
If gas is even close to being this high, come election time, I guarantee that the peasants will revolt, and vote against Bush, Cheney, and their "rich fat oil company" friends.
Or: Maybe it was that we were going to get that "peace dividend", only after we find Saddam's stash of WMD's. Was that it?
My reply:
Yes, I was just wrong in my guess that gas prices would be coming down, but so what? That's not why we went to Iraq. That's not how it was sold, that's not why I supported it, nor was that an argument made by any supporter of the war. I don't recall ever using the term "peace dividend" in this context, so I don't know why you're putting that in quotes.
In fact, we really went in DESPITE oil issues. The common and more legitimate looking rap has been exactly the opposite- that we had for years avoided getting tough in the Middle East (particularly with the Saudis) because of our dependence on their oil. This would be part of the premise, for example, for Bill Maher's book When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden. It does NOT help Bin Laden nearly so much if we're willing to take the hit in oil prices.
We risked de-stabilizing oil prices and supplies to go into Iraq. If it was REALLY about oil, Dubya could have negotiated all kinds of cheap preferential deals with Hussein- as did, for example, the French. Since we're the ones with an army, we could have done a lot better than they did.
There are a number of things apparently contributing to the high gas prices. One is that production has been held down in Iraq specifically by sabotage. That seems to be coming somewhat under control, but we'll see.
Also, and probably far more significant, there seems to be a big economic recovery worldwide pushing up DEMAND for oil. That is a very good thing overall.
Again, the whole tone of your note suggests bitter, irrational personal hatred of Dubya rather than any rational analysis of the situation.
I see no sign that the American public wants to turn Bush out because gas prices are too high at the pump. They're not that stupid. If part of the cost of stopping terrorists from KILLING US is that we pay a little more for gas at the pump, then so be it. There are lots of good reasons to crappy about Bush, but gas prices aren't among them.
Further, Kerry would certainly be FAR worse on this count. Mostly, the president doesn't have much control over oil prices. As you well know, there is a thing called the market- supply and demand- that plays the biggest role. The one big part of gas prices the president and congress DO have direct control of is taxes, and Kerry has been on record wanting HUGE increases in federal gas taxes.
Do you intend to argue that the voters will be mad about gas prices, and then respond by voting for the candidate who wants to directly slap on an extra 50 cents or more in taxes? I don't see it.
And if the American public turns out the guy who is actually doing something to protect them and hands the reins over to a pinko hack who's all over the map because they're paying a little extra for gas, then they deserve whatever they get.
posted by Al at 3/27/2004 01:36:00 AM
March 24, 2004
Nick Lowe turns 55
Born March 24, 1949, Nick Lowe turns 55 today. Happy birthday!
Nick Lowe has had quite a career in his own special "keepitasahobby" way. He's probably made his living off of having written "Peace, Love and Understanding." Just having the thing on the damned Bodyguard soundtrack probably banished the wolf from his door forever.
He's a producer, of course, drinkin' buddy and right hand man to Elvis Costello.
He managed to marry into the Carter family long enough to insert his genetic material into the family tree. June's last (and very peculiar) original published song was "Tiffany Anastasia Lowe."
Most of all, Nick Lowe has written a lot of KICK ASS songs. He wrote "The Beast in Me," one of Johnny Cash's best American recordings.
He's also come up with a few really interesting outside songs, notably including "Failed Christian." I note FREE DOWNLOADS of his excellent "Faithless Lover" at Amazon.
Dig My Mood would be a good overlooked album for part-time Nick Lowe fans to dig up.
If'n you don't know Nick Lowe, you might start with some of these top classic recordings:
Marie Provost
Failed Christian
Cruel To Be Kin
So It Goes
Heart of the City
36 Inches High
I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass
Little Hitler
Peace, Love and Understanding
Faithless Lover
Nutted by Reality
The Beast in Me
posted by Al at 3/24/2004 04:31:00 PM
March 22, 2004
Thank you, Israel
On behalf of the civilized world, I thank the Israelis for finally killing the evil cleric Sheik Ahmed Yassin, founder, spiritual political and military leader of Hammas. The world is a little better for the extermination of this particular vermin.
Naturally, there are many who do not approve of this act of public hygiene. Besides those who just openly hate Israel, even some who at least claim to be against terrorism think this was a bad idea- though I fail to understand how someone could honestly think that killing terrorists is not the best, most direct way to fight terrorism.
I responded to one such person at Blogcritics who says that "it's a very short-sighted act, ruinous" thusly:
Absolutely any possible thing the Israelis do or don't do will be ruinous, causing Palestinians to want to kill them. If the Israelis said, "Hi, Palestinian neighbor, sure is nice weather today, huh? Would you like some ice cream?" the Palestinian would most likely respond, "DIE JEWISH SCUM" then blow them both up.
I appreciate that a lot of Israelis are weary to death of the struggle, and I respect the right of the Israelis to show as much forbearance as they wish. I would not propose to tell them how they HAVE to act.
However, in their place, Americans would have goddam destroyed these people years ago. What, they should let this guy Yassin sit there year after year personally sending suicide bombers to kill more Israelis?
If you kill enough of them bastards, the rest of them WILL take a hint. And if they don't, they can get roasted too. Remember, a dead terrorist can't hurt you. You got more people who want to kill us now? That's ok, we've got plenty of ammo.
It boggles my imagination what the Israelis are expected to tolerate. The Israelis have every right in the world to stop people from killing them- by any means necessary. They're right, and the Palestinians are wrong, at least 99.9%.
Screw Kofi Annan and any other jackass in the entire world who says they should just sit there and take this. How would (or should) Americans react if we whack Bin Laden and the rest of the world condemns US?
Despite great efforts over some years, nothing that the Israelis can do will convince the Palestinians to quit killing Israelis. In practice, the one thing that has halfway worked and minimized the killing of Israelis has been kicking ass, and killing as many of the specific perps as they can track down.
Short answer, Israelis = Good Guys. Palestinians mostly = Evil Death Cult
You may object that this description is not nice or that it is "racist." I will counter simply that it is ACCURATE, which I rate as a much more important value than niceness.
Some people absolutely DESERVE their oppression and misery. The Palestinian people have largely absolutely brought their current suffering on themselves. As long as they insist on killing, they should expect to be held down and have their evil leaders whacked.
posted by Al at 3/22/2004 08:02:00 PM
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