Of note is the lack of specifics in her resume. Instead of actual assignments her background is "Patricia has spent the majority of her career in the narcotics and intelligence world." Which probably means the reality is "did a lot of coke with govt types".
1: And then very discreetly killed them?
Had sex with them, and then killed them, if Hollywood is to be believed.
It's good to see Hollywood sticking to films that support traditional values.
1. If she had really spent her time doing something unspeakable for one of the dodgier "security" outfits, her resume would read like that too.
Being able to say "I can't tell you what I did" and leave a vague impression that you might have been murdering dudes is probably one of, if not the main, reasons why people join the CIA; it's certainly one of its great benefits. I had a colleague who was ex-CIA before law school, and despite being the sweetest, nerdiest guy ever, and despite the fact that the most dangerous thing he probably did at the CIA was to operate a stapler, the mere existence of the CIA reference on his résumé created a certain aura of mystery that had to be well worth whatever the paid him. Was he murdering dudes? Who knows? This lady sounds like she figured out a way to do the same thing without taking an entrance exam.
To be clear, the considered rational position of T"R"O is that the CIA has sucked it at intelligence in general and covert ops in particular for a long time, particularly given available resources, so working for them shouldn't be considered some innate mark of badassery. Still, you never know -- was he murdering dudes?
1: Other vague background info, presumably meant to suggest an International Woman of Mystery:
"While working abroad, many issues came up at home that brought her to Washington DC, where over the last 9 years she has developed strong relationships in the House, Senate, and the White House."
Abroad? home? issues? relationships? What does any of this mean?
5: Most people get into that work though via prior law enforcement or military experience. I'm a bit suspicious that there's not a single concrete govt job mentioned.
Isn't the National Clandestine Service the only part of CIA that does covert stuff? But maybe they don't let you put the specific department name on your resume.
many issues came up at home that brought her to Washington DC
Her mother became ill and her brother dropped out of college. They happened to live in commuting distance of Washington, so she got a job there.
that the most dangerous thing he probably did at the CIA was to operate a stapler
True fact, but in his hands, the stapler was a deadly weapon.
Those heavy old staplers would be deadly weapons in anybody's hands.* But, keeping the office supplies theme, how could one kill a man with a vintage '80s Trapper Keeper?
* Present company excepted, of course.
Those heavy old staplers would be deadly weapons in anybody's hands.
That reminds me, anyone else watching "Agent Carter"? (The first episode includes an assault with a '40s-era stapler.)
14: I watched the pilot and 1st episode. I vaguely recall the stapler incident. I'm usually either half-asleep or completely passed out when I watch TV at night -- given that it was passable entertainment.
how could one kill a man with a vintage '80s Trapper Keeper?
I think the main utility of the Trapper Keeper is as a convenient place to organize and store your deadly weapons, rather than as a weapon in itself.
Assassinations are ordered by doodling really dreamy likenesses of the target over the Trapper Keeper figures.
Only slightly less plausible than the Colin Firth/Savile Row concoction.
an evening gown splattered with blood and other matter
My first thought: maybe she was having an affair with a butcher. Or a clumsy phlebotomist.
15: We watched the pilot and 1st episode last night. It's pretty good, but different than I was expecting; I thought it was going to be more "The Adventures of Agent Carter and the Howling Commandos" and less "man, Rosie the Riveter got screwed after the war".
A paper cutter is basically a machete attached to a go board, easy to undo the little spring and then unscrew the blade.
Vintage glue: threat or menace?
Ink blotters! Or those albatross neck lamps made of romex and lead, and that's before you get down to the mailroom where there's a box stapler and an array of reprobates ready for any kind of shipping action.
19: It's starting to drag a bit. I can tell 'cause I'm starting to surf while it's on. I do love the period settings tho', those are right out of my childhood.
This would make a really good couple of episodes of Archer.
I keep meaning to consider watching an episode of Archer.
23: you would like it. Your wife will not.
I watched the first episode of Archer and couldn't get into it. I did watch it with my wife, but still. I'm in what must be the target demographic (male, youngish, somewhat educated) and maturity level (low). Is there something deeper going on that I'm missing, and will become apparent if I watch more?
25: Maybe you're more mature than you realize.
25: It's both witty and crude, and the characters have wildly ranging arcs that reward long-term investment. Maybe your maturity level isn't as low as you think?
25: I can imagine two reasons for not finding it funny; being too offended/repulsed to get into it, or just not having the humor click. If your eyes are rolling too hard at the crudity to laugh at it, you're a better person than I am, and it's not going to get any funnier to you. On the other hand, if you're not offended, you're just not laughing, I'd try a second episode and see if it sneaks up on you.
25: Yes. Like most comedies, it doesn't get really great until season 2. Pam and Cheryl don't really come into their own as characters until season 2.
19: I had the opposite reaction. I thought it would be 100% Rosie the Riveter, based on the Agent Carter DVD extra, but I didn't expect the double agent plot. I thought it would be more comic, with Carter saving the world while the boys in the office congratulate themselves for doing nothing.
I wasn't trolling for compliments, but thanks! Anyway, I know a bunch of people more thoughtful than I am who are into it.
So clearly, I should watch it, without my wife, while buzzed. Got it.
I didn't start really liking Archer until the 2nd or 3d episode.
30: I think it was mostly not clicking. I wasn't offended but there was some eye rolling, more at it going too much for easy jokes. (I think; been a while.) Will definitely give another try.
I mean, I think decent people should be horribly offended by lots of it (an unfortunate number of jokes involving rape/murdering prostitutes/what have you). I am amused in spite of my better judgment.
35: I think I originally watched it because you and some other people here liked it, and were simultaneously embarrassed by how offensive it was. It actually wasn't as offensive as you made it sound. I think it's because most of the offensive things are said by Archer himself, who is an asshole, and routinely punished for his awfulness as a person.
Well, right, you could probably edit it to something I wouldn't be sanctimonious about pretty easily. Mostly, all that actually bothers me is the rape/murdering prostitutes as comedy, and that's not a huge part of it. Nonetheless, if someone were horrified that I found the show funny, which I do, I would be shamefaced rather than thinking they were a humorless scold.
He's not that much of an asshole. He's just a fuck-up at every phase of life that doesn't involve being a spy.
He's not that much of an asshole.
What? He's an enormous arsehole! His only redeeming qualities whatsoever are his competence and spycraft, when he's not being too much of an arsehole, and his love of ocelots. Everything else is utter arseholery.
Meanwhile, I'm pretty much the world's biggest Archer fan now, but it took an entire season for it to really gel for me. It's not until then that you appreciate a) that the gratuitous offensiveness is actually in aid of something larger, and b) the amazing callbacks and silly in-jokes start to kick in. It's basically an animated Arrested Development (at its best, anyway).
b) the amazing callbacks and silly in-jokes start to kick in.
Yeah, it's really good with the running gags.
I watched Frisky Dingo, so I think I've already been punished enough by the Archer creative team.
40: He's not as much of an asshole as Cartman, who fed somebody his own parents, tried to kill his own mother, and started a cult to murder all people with red hair.
40.last: I was actually thinking about Arrested Development as the humor that works best for me--the individual jokes are often very immature, but they're delivered very well and wrapped in this web of self-reference that (although immature in its own way) is so complex and interesting. So yeah, definitely giving it another try. (AD is the only show I've binge-watched the entire of twice. In the same week.)
Archer is terrible at spycraft. He only excels in melee fighting, which usually results from his terrible spycrafting.
Archer is terrible at spycraft. He only excels in melee fighting, which usually results from his terrible spycrafting.
This isn't entirely true, it's just that outside of combat he can rarely stop being an arsehole long enough for the spycraft to reach its conclusion. But when he's actually doing his job, he's very good (and even luckier) at things other than fighting.
Yes, Archer doesn't start to get really good until the 2nd season.
Well, he's sort of an idiot savant -- he's presented as having all sorts of impressive skills in isolation, but being such an incredibly self-absorbed moron that he mostly screws everything up despite the skill level.
It amuses me that the discussion on the peculiarities of the assassination labor market is not occurring in "Hired Assassin."
Archer (the show) gets so much mileage out of characters (even the nicer characters) being callous and awful, but it's still warmhearted somehow; it has a moral center - it's remarkable how they pull that off. That's maybe less apparent in the early episodes.
That was a lot of different punctuation marks.
Driscoll had left that night in camouflage and boots. She returned later to the hotel at which he was staying wearing a trench coat. Under it she was wearing an evening gown splattered with blood and other matter, Busch testified.
Love the "other matter" detail, as well as the wardrobe changes.
My S.O. is forever surprised that I was unable to get into Arrested Development. "It's like non-stop puns! You love puns!" she'll say. And it feels like a show I'm supposed to like, but it's just too...contrived or something. Which is also how I feel about Curb Your Enthusiasm. In conclusion, I probably wouldn't like Archer.
57: Archer is very different from AD or CYE, which are very different from each other. What do you like? Is it SWL approved?
The closest comparison to Archer is probably It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It also has pronounced Adult Swim DNA, though it's evolved in a more sensical direction.
I hate puns. But I love Arrested Development. But I don't like Curb Your Enthusiasm. I've never watched Archer, but if it has dumb humor, I'd probably like it.
Meanwhile, I'm pretty much the world's biggest Archer fan now....
[Woodhouse joke.]
I'm contemplating the seductive potential of "coming back in a gown splattered with blood" & refusing to talk about it & I suspect it's pretty high. Although my friends who had that kind of girlfriend in their 20s assumed heroine shooting galleries, IIRC.
57: Archer and AD are both clever but I find Archer vastly more entertaining. Archer has a having-cake-and-eating-cake thing that AD is a little too droll for IMHO.
funnier with the e. narrative is a hell of a drug.
Science Officer. Guess which commenter is Spock to Stanley's Kirk.
I love Arrested Development but feel like the lame Netflix revival kind of retroactively suckified it. Just leave well enough alone, and don't listen to organized groups of fans, is what I say.
that the gratuitous offensiveness is actually in aid of something larger
What? Make no mistake, I love Archer and just want a rationalization for my affection.
So is Halfordismo still a thing? What is it now? "Owensism"?
So is Halfordismo still a thing?
I think so. I've seen it invoked very recently at that other place.
That sounds like when the Amish kids got nuts before a life of farming and wind power.
And this is to try to get the personal info re-remembered.
Ripprezzatura has all of the manifestations of Halfordismo but with the outward pretense that those wielding the levers of power are artfully concealed.
76 gets it right. The ideology of Halfordismo is even more powerful now that Halford himself has become, like Lenin, a canonized figure. The ideology is now decoupled from the potential flaws of an individual personality (not that there were many of those, you understand, but I'm speaking hypothetically). But that does not mean that the ideology of Halfordismo does not exist, just that its most prominent exponents will now be major, if secondary, thinkers like Tim "Ripper" Owens and Glenn Tipton.
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Firmly grabbing the handle of a skillet that just came out of a 450 degree oven proves to be a bad idea. I'm going to be typing left-handed for a couple of days.
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Did you hit the counter assassin masquerading as a temporary super with it?
(Ow. Commiseration.)
If I'm going to make a pan sauce in a skillet that just came out of the oven like that, I find that I need to put on an oven mitt right away and leave it on, because I will definitely grab the handle of the pan at some point.
Ouch. Did you keep it in cold water?
Sorry to hear this. You do know to ice burns, grabbing an ice cube in this case? I'm sure you do but not everybody does.
77 is why I can never stay mad at you, whatever your name is.
Aren't you supposed to never ever ice a burn? Or did that change after I got old?
We aren't supposed to butter them any more, either. (I think the current warnings are against freezing tissue. Blue Ice, etc, directly on the skin is bad.)
67 is kind of right. There are some very good things about Season 4, but it's clearly not The Real Arrested Development (mainly because they couldn't get the 7 principals in the same place at the same time for more than, what, 1 or 2 days?) and it does mar the legacy a bit.
It's 8 principals. I forgot Tobias. In other David Cross news, Bob Odenkirk is now too much of a bigshot to do a Mr. Show reunion.
It annoys me that _Chuck_ jumped the shark by having most of the spies be hereditary (among other leaps).
Bowl of cold water yes, ice no. Hurts like blazes; lots of nerve endings in the hands apparently.
We just finished Peaky Blinders. You can do worse.
Also, I'm very unambidexterous. Typing is slow.
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CCarp-- If you ever get to Big Sky, can you tell me about it. My Colorado relatives are being a pain in the ass, and I am sort of afraid that they will tell us that we can't stay at the house they own. They just said that we can't stay in the cabin, because my uncle injured his leg and needs quiet. But they have been so bad about communicating that we are afraid they will completely cancel.
Next year I am just going to stay in a hotel somewhere, and that means that I need to go somewhere cheaper than Colorado.
Oh, I've been there before. There's a lot of skiing to be done, at Big Sky and at Moonlight (on the backside). Lots of places to stay, it's well equipped for tourism. I guess I like Whitefish Mountain (many of us still call it Big Mountain) better, but that might just be familiarity. Price them both; I think both will have all the skiing you want to do.
From Whitefish, it's easy to take a day off and go to Glacier. You can go to Yellowstone from Big Sky, but that's a much bigger production, both getting there and once you're there. (I'm not actually sure you can have a meaningful day trip to Yellowstone, since you'd want to go to Old Faithful and all.)
You'll find Whitefish much much easier on your lungs, because of the lower altitudes.
Feel free to pose -- here or by email -- any specific questions.
98: nice to see Lodge branching out, but is the base flared enough?
89: Do you suppose that means there WILL be butter in hell now that its use is no longer advisable? I've wondered!
there is butter in hell, but it's frozen so hard that it gives you chilblains and always tears the toast.
I have a batch of buns coming out in 20', am now reminded to put some butter on the counter to soften a bit. Not hell.
Mmmm, Featherpuff that came out according to its name, from this year's summer wheat that I mostly ground today. You know how new-crop rice tastes more vegetal, almost grassy? Kind of like that.
I don't think I've ever had new-crop rice, unless that's French for Minute Rice.
|| Five Yemeni prisoners released from GTMO today, so the population is just one more than half what it was when O was sworn in: as of now there are 54 cleared; 58 awaiting clearance; 10 in the commissions system. |>
Blind book summary: The gardener did it.
From Whitefish, it's easy to take a day off and go to Glacier. You can go to Yellowstone from Big Sky, but that's a much bigger production, both getting there and once you're there. (I'm not actually sure you can have a meaningful day trip to Yellowstone, since you'd want to go to Old Faithful and all.)
Wait, what? Big Sky is like 50 miles to West Yellowstone vs the 30 miles from Whitefish to West Glacier. A day trip to Yellowstone from there wouldn't be bad at all so long as someone is down with doing a good bit of driving.
109 is assuming non winter months but even in winter I would still think Yellowstone might be the better option with a snowcoach tour. In winter they only plow the roads in Glacier up to the upper end of what, Lake Mary?
109 Yeah, but just getting to West isn't going to be any big deal. To have any kind of quality experience at all over there, you're snow coaching it to Old Faithful. Have you been to West in the winter? Snowmobile hell just doesn't seem like our Bostoniangirl. OK, maybe she could spend the day with the Buffalo Field Campaign.
Of course, they would have a fine time going in to Y'stone at Gardiner -- dip at Boiling River, XC at Blacktail, wolf-watching in Lamar, dinner st Chico, but that's a long drive around.
(Glacier, unlike Yellowstone, completely bans snowmobiles. Huge difference in quality of life.)
Based on this bread, fresh wheat should be a thing.
New-crop rice is already a thing in Asian markets. I like the calendar stamps that estimate how much more water you'll need to cook it each month as it dries.
110 They plow to the end of Lake McDonald on the west side of Glaier, and not really at all on the east side. (Or at Walton, if BG and FE end up at the Izaak Walton for a night.) You go in with XC or snowshoes. And it's quiet, with no two stroke fumes.
113: Yeah, I meant Lake McDonald. I've never done the winter thing at either, I like to be able to flyfish on those trips.
Just in case anyone is unclear: putting butter on burns is a very bad idea. Immerse the burned area in cold water for ten minutes. If you can't, run cold water over it. Don't immerse the entire body because hypothermia. Once you've done that,cover lightly with a dry dressing. Administer morphine if required. Consider use of clingfilm to exclude air from a partial thickness burn.
Butter, oil and ointment will all make the burn worse: don't use them.
Having followed those instructions almost precisely (cold water, dry dressing, didn't have any morphine, but did divert one of Newt's leftover Percocet so the pain didn't keep me awake), everything is much better this morning. The blisters are still there, of course, but it hardly hurts at all.
Wow, that was a bad idea though. I got a good, solid, firm grip on the handle before the temperature hit -- blisters on all four fingers and right across the top of my palm.
I got a good, solid, firm grip on the handle before the temperature hit
You know Fräulein, zis is wery painful, but it has zee fortunate side effect of enabling you to find zee location of zee Lodge headquarters.
77. The recent evolution of Halfordismo reminds me of the old SF trope of an immortal "dying" and after a decent interval, coming back as his "son."
And, just for shits and giggles, sometimes as his son's friend Glenn.
Speaking of abominations, it's been a bad week for Ohio. There's the guy who threatened to kill Boehner, the guy who threatened to blow up the White House, and Boehner.
But no one there gives a shit about any of that because football.
Football and, in the case of the Secret Service, worries about how new leadership will make it harder to hire prostitutes while they are traveling.
99: oh, I'll e-mail when I make real plans. Is Big Sky better if you want to skip renting a car and just take a shuttle to a resort and plunk down there and ski, which one is better? Local buses?
Utah looks cool, but the resorts seem to be aligning themselves with Vail, and only Aspen is more expensive than Vail.
People on ski forums (epic ski) complain about fig at Big Sky. People on the women's forum skidiva don't say that you have to make a day trip to Canada to keep things interesting, like they do on the male-dominated ones.
Tim is a more advanced skier and enjoys trees but only with an instructor who knows the terrain well. I don't think he cares for rocks much. He did get bored on some small mountains in Colorado, but those were a lot smaller than Big Mountain.
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Reminiscent of a previous thread: a medical student who blew the whistle on his PI for fraudulent statistical modeling. It looks like he eventually agreed to let it be "investigated internally" (it wasn't), the university supported him in getting the fellowship funding him to let him switch labs, and the investigator was only recognized as a fraud later after being weakened by a discovery of CV falsification. Not sure how the student ended up.
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I saw about that on a tweet from Kieran Healy.
Anyway, those wacky genetics project. We don't have so many variables.
On the basis of this thread, I have now added both Archer and Arrested Development to my Netflix queue. I've never seen either.
I'm refusing to watch Arrested Development until Jason Bateman apologizes to me for Teen Wolf Too.
My wife wants to get Netflix, but I don't see why we should spend any more money for TV,when she plays with her phone the whole time the TV is on, and I'm sleeping .
Last year, season 4 of Archer came out on iTunes right after I finished my... third? go-through of the show, and I actually ponied up $20 or so even though it would be on Netflix soon, but not soon enough. This year I'm willing to wait a few months.
I have yet to find anything remotely as targeted to my funny bone. Couldn't do "Always Sunny." "Bojack Horseman" is moderately amusing, but I'll not be rewatching.
My wife wants to get Netflix, but I don't see why we should spend any more money for TV,when she plays with her phone the whole time the TV is on, and I'm sleeping .
So pay less money. Ditch cable.
I have yet to find anything remotely as targeted to my funny bone. Couldn't do "Always Sunny." "Bojack Horseman" is moderately amusing, but I'll not be rewatching.
If you like Archer, you might like some of the Adult Swim shows. Especially, I'm thinking, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. Maybe Venture Brothers too, although it's not remotely the same style.
126: Wow, fascinating. Looks like Perez came out OK. He seems to have gotten his oncology residency at Duke Cancer Institute and has published a few papers since the incident. Lucky guy. Duke could probably have done a lot worse to him.
132: Maybe Venture Bros? It's the same kind of mash up of genre (in this case Johnny Quest rather than James Bond) and characters that are fuck-ups. The first three episodes are fucking terrible, however.
Fig?
It's a long way into town from Big Sky -- if you go there without a car, you're not leaving. Whitefish is a fun little town, and with better food and more possibilities.
They say you have to go to Fernie to keep from getting bored? That's just silly. Write back that anyone bored enough for that should rent some AT gear and ski the west face of Great Northern Mountain (in the Great Bear Wilderness, a short ways east of Whitefish.)
Fog! You can get that anywhere, I think. Big Sky is in a sunnier and windier part of the state than Big Mountain. Weather is always a crapshoot for a planned ski trip.
Sealab 2021 from the same creator has pretty much the same format but much, much lower production values. Unfortunately, it's only available on discs.
I've never gotten into Venture Bros. It apparently requires an AD-like commitment to start picking up all the threads of brilliance.
I'm a huge fan of both Archer and The Venture Bros. Both are shows about failure. Glorious failure.
Speaking of Venture Bros, the new special is airing on Monday
Fish & Game wants GSwift to visit
133: That's what I should do, but my stepdaughter would lose the will to live without Nickelodeon(Spongebob, etc).
I don't mean to be a dogmatic cord-cutter or anything, but the only legit reasons to hold onto cable are: live sports, awards shows and HBO. (And the last is very steal-able.)
137: "Fig" should have been "fog".
As I see, on preview, that you got in 138.
Pre-1950 or so movies, too. If you're not a pirate.
148.last: FIOS has been desperate to get us to add cable ever since we signed on, but it's not even worth a small upgrade for us. The only outcome where it's not a waste of money would be us spending a lot of time in front of the TV, which doesn't seem like a life improving thing. We only sporadically watch Netflix.
I'd add that the only sports I'd bother watching is the Pirates, and that would be an additional charge (I think? Now that I think of it, I don't know if that's true. Sportschannel was extra in the NYC market 25 years ago is my only basis for that assumption).
And live sports will soon be available to cordcutters à la carte when ESPN launches its standalone subscription service (though it's not yet clear what compromises the sports fan will have to be prepared to accept until the service is unveiled).
For reasons I don't fully understand, the "watchespn" app does not let me watch espn (which makes sense because I don't have a cable subscription), but does let me watch espn2, espn3, and espnU. Internet searches have suggested that it is maybe not supposed to be letting me do this, but that at least some other people have the same outcome. Regardless, there has not yet been a single live sporting event that I haven't been able to watch (although I've had to watch quite a few being broadcast in spanish, which doesn't really bother me and which I could probably fix if I really wanted to by muting the tv and turning on internet radio). Anyway, ever since I discovered this, it has completely removed my one source of cord-cutting regret.
I'll add to the legit reasons to have cable: wanting to watch TV shows when they actually air instead of dodging spoilers while waiting for them to appear on the streaming sites (or stealing them). I've definitely gotten spoiled a bit on various dramatic developments by being a day behind. (Luckily, I've read all of the Game of Thrones books, so I'm unspoilable in that regard.)
Awards shows?
I'd add that the only sports I'd bother watching is the Pirates, and that would be an additional charge (I think? Now that I think of it, I don't know if that's true. Sportschannel was extra in the NYC market 25 years ago is my only basis for that assumption).
MLB.tv is pretty great in general and if you're out of market, it's fantastic.
141 Thanks GY! I didn't know and would have missed it.
Some people like to watch the Oscars. I'm not that into them, myself, but I may have accidentally married someone who is.
Are the Oscars not on a broadcast network? (Genuine question.)
I'll add to the legit reasons to have cable: wanting to watch TV shows when they actually air instead of
There is no question that if you legitimately want to watch a lot of tv, or care about being up to date on series as they air, then you should keep your cable. The cord-cutting crowd is just suggesting that those are perhaps base desires that you should try to rise above.
156: Of course they are, but so are local sporting contests. I was implicitly (and wrongly) excluding over-the-air TV from the discussion. (Though we have an antenna and we can't get NBC ffs.)
Also, peep's comment which started the whole discussion suggested live TV wasn't a huge priority
Re Big Sky, Whitefish, etc:
Why not Jackson Hole? All sorts of terrain, if you stay in Teton Village you don't have to leave, and close to Grand Teton NP and the south entrance to Yellowstone if you want to sightsee. Added bonus: not Colorado. Added penalty: expensive (all skiing seems expensive) and it's getting more popular.
People who don't want to watch a lot of TV are morons. What other art form is as flourishing right now? Is your entertainment time really better spent watching cat videos on YouTube or commenting here? No. If you really honestly are doing nothing but reading Greek tragedies in the original language or whatever then I'll give you a pass but I know that none of you are.
And live sports will soon be available to cordcutters à la carte when ESPN launches its standalone subscription service
This is shockingly Americocentrist from you, kr.
161: Is watching the Rockford Files OK?
I also can't figure out the goals for BG's ski trip. Is it to go to Montana, or to maximize some combo of good skiing, cheap, and sightseeing?
161 No love for Aristophanes, Ripper?
Watching the Rockford Files is ALWAYS OK.
MLB.tv is pretty great in general and if you're out of market, it's fantastic.
Grumble grumble. I envy my sister, a Mets fan living in CO. As it is, I'll often watch the games the next day while at my desk - when I already know the outcome, it's not especially distracting (from straightforward drafting tasks, at least), and it actually keeps me mostly off the rest of the internet.
People who don't want to watch a lot of TV are morons
I kind of agree, but that doesn't mean you have to watch it right away. Or rather, pay extortionate amounts for the privilege of doing so. For much less than a cable bill* you can watch almost all the great TV that's more than a year old, and a lot of the newer stuff. And if there's something you absolutely must have now, you can buy it on iTunes or whatever. Sport is the only thing that most people can't substitute fairly easily, and if you can get OTA then you even have that covered. Plus Sling may or may not have it covered in a few months.
* Obviously if you can only get good internet from your cable company for not much less that changes things.
161, 166: Even more so because even though I have no interest in watching lots of TV, I'm not going to cut the cord (because I love my Mommy? Don't get confused now, peep) because that would mean figuring out some other technology that would be sure to be a pain.
I work, I exercise or interact with my children, I make dinner, I eat dinner, I put kids to bed and/or clean kitchen, I walk dog, I go to bed, where I may stream TV. I'm not really sure where I'm supposed to squeeze more TV in.
I'm pretty sure TRO thinks it's unbearably pretentious to raise children.
170: Neither Roku and Chromecast are much of a pain. The worst part about cord-cutting at present is figuring out which of a half-dozen different services actually have the specific content you want. That's what canistream.it is for. (Netflix's preferred solution is you just watch whatever random crap they happen to have.)
148: I'm locked in to some deal with my cable company where it's actually cheaper for me to have Internet + basic cable than Internet alone. It feels wasteful not to have a TV, even though I know that makes no sense.
161: I'm not suggesting that there aren't quality shows on tv, but the idea that I'm still supposed to make a goddamn weekly appointment just to watch a show and then spend half my time listening to inane commercials just seems impossibly anachronistic. I haven't known what actual time any show aired on television since probably 2001. I realize many people these days have DVRs so that they can just watch whatever they want to watch when they want to, and skip the commercials. That's how I did nearly 100%* of my television watching over the last decade or so that I had cable. (Every time I didn't do that, and just flipped through channels to "see what was on", I was gravely disappointed.) And if you are consuming television exclusively in this manner, you can reproduce the experience very accurately at a small fraction of the cost with an apple tv or similar device and some combination of iTunes/netflix/hulu etc.
* With the very notable exception of live sports. See discussion above in the thread.
I work, I exercise or interact with my children, I make dinner, I eat dinner, I put kids to bed and/or clean kitchen, I walk dog, I go to bed, where I may stream TV
See, right there there are three things that could easily be replaced with watching television, and one more than can be done while watching television. So I'm not sure I see the problem here.
What other art form is as flourishing right now?
German architecture, duh. Are there current shows that are Wire-good; dealing with grand themes and compelling characters and doing it well? If it's just one or the other or just very clever, I can't really be bothered.
does let me watch espn2, espn3, and espnU
A lot of ISPs will give you access to the lesser ESPN channels as part of your internet access.
I saw the first few episodes. Looked good, but I never did finish it.
I should really watch The Wire. I've heard good things.
There was a moronic exhibit on "The Blues" in the Wexner Center( http://wexarts.org/exhibitions/blues-smoke), and part of it was a TV playing The Wire continuously. I watched it for a minute or two -- I wasn't impressed.
I once saw Mr. Center walking through his downtown mall. But now the mall doesn't exist and the center still does. Capitalism is losing.
I've grown increasingly skeptical about whatever the current "prestige television" shows are. There's a really recognizable aesthetic going on with them, and it's not necessarily one related to their quality.
This isn't to say that we aren't in the golden age for television, of course, just that the really good stuff is not necessarily the Oscar-bait-equivalent television that gets the most SWPL prestige. I'm willing to grant that some of them are absolutely amazing, and I'm told that The Wire at least is one of them. But I watched the first season of House of Cards and it's really just not that good. It did inspire me to rewatch the original, though, so watching it turned out well.
House of Cards is generally recognized as mediocre. It gets a lot of attention because of the budget and the talent and the distribution scheme. (Also, it's solid trashy fun.)
I enjoyed the weirdness of Carnivàle and was disappointed when it was cancelled after 2 seasons. On the other hand, the writers would probably painted themselves into a corner before long, so maybe it was for the best that it ended when it did.
Oh, sure - but the budget/talent/etc. really does mimic all the standard tropes of those shows, and it was clearly intended to be one. (And mediocre is kind given the source material. Seriously people watch the original.)
160:
I'm not advanced enough for Jackson Hole. Steep Terrain is a turn-off for me.
Also, I was looking for relatively less expensive.
I was planning to spend a lot of time at Winter Park this year which is cheap, but housing (a cabin in Georgetown) fell through, so I may get only a day there.
I will be going to Copper for at least 2 days, because that's covered in my pass. But we';ll be driving 90 minutes each way to get there. Last time I was there was a President's Day and I didn't like it. Mid-week it may be better. My ski instructor also sucked.
And then 3 days at Crested Butte (which I love) staying right at the resort.
Also, relatively inexpensive (it's all relative) is part of what we want.
149: A lot of the Turner catalog isn't on DVD and doesn't stream. Amazon and Warner have picked up some coverage of old movies but it's still not great. Also when there are DVDs it's cost-prohibitive to buy what you're not sure you want to own and there's often no rent option.
I'm not willing to pay for a cable package with TCM, so I've basically stopped watching old movies.
I also can't figure out the goals for BG's ski trip. Is it to go to Montana, or to maximize some combo of good skiing, cheap, and sightseeing?
Montana sounds like a cool place to go with fewer crowds.
But primarily, it's about good skiing with a decent ski school so that I can take a lesson or 2, cost, and a decent vibe in the town. Not having to load skis into a car every day is also a plus. True ski-in ski-out, while fun, is not necessary.
186: Tim was an avid watcher of House of Cards the first season, but he wasn't at all interested the second.
Ripper-- I don't watch much TV, because there are no good shows on the basic cable we get. Pawn Stars is not my idea of fun.
I'm also too lazy to explore a bunch of new shows.
Utah looks cool, but the resorts seem to be aligning themselves with Vail
That's Park City, but you've got four resorts up Big and Little Cottonwood canyons that are actually closer to downtown. If you're not real advanced Brighton has a lot of blue level terrain and is only about 70 bucks for a day pass.
But I watched the first season of House of Cards and it's really just not that good.
House of Cards is entertaining junk food with great production values, it's not prestige TV like the Wire or Breaking Bad.
191: I didn't know that. There's still lots and lots of good old movies on DVD and streaming. Can you give an example of a notable movie that's only available on TCM?
Netflix has the most unecessarily infuriating user interface ever devised.
I enjoyed the first season of Extant, but that may have been because I was completely stoned throughout and was inventing my own storylines, so YMMV. Solid exploration of some sci-fi premises, but rather thin characters (through some combination of not great writing and acting).
197: I reject the notability criteria. Also, not going to research this at work. I suspect a lot of movies I've looked for in the past few years are on Amazon, if not included in prime. Like the original Brighton Rock or the John Garfield The Breaking Point, which Warner should have but didn't the last time I checked, except for as DVD on demand.
The thing with Amazon availability is that if it's not in a subscription the rentals can really add up, but I guess that's how the world used to be.
Is there much of a difference between the free streaming libraries of Netflix and Amazon (in-house projects excepted)? I never use Netflix's mail service anymore, so I would just cancel except I'm letting someone freeload off my account and would feel bad.
I reject the inclusion of non-notable films, Mr. "Let's Save Everything Just to Preserve Our Cultural Heritage" (whatever). A lot of what they show on TCM are B pictures; they might have some appeal for serious film buffs but are generally kind of tedious. Given the finiteness of human life and the sheer quantity of Good Stuff in the world, I'm generally content to be restricted to the top 1-2% of Hollywood's 1930-1960 output. (I'm saying this as somebody who adores the Marx brothers and His Girl Friday but can just barely stay awake through a John Ford Western.)
202: There's a pretty big difference. Streaming rights are being negotiated studio-by-studio and title-by-title these days.
A lot of what the streaming services have is crap. Most of Warner Instant' available stuff is actually b-movie crap. I'm not concerned with these movies being preserved. They're generally in vaults somewhere. I just think it would be nice to see them.
Bizarrely, with the new espn/tnt option, my main obstruction to cord cutting is network television... It's really annoying living in a market that doesn't have network television. I don't understand why SlingTV doesn't include actual ABC among its Disney-owned offerings. But between "events" (e.g. Oscars) and big live sports (Olympics, NBA Finals, tennis majors, etc.) going without network TV is annoying enough to keep me with cable.
195: Alta?
Right now we have $450 season passes, so that's $63/day at 7 days of skiing.
Whitefish had some combo lodging/lift deals.
This is all speculative. Flight cost also matters. From Boston, Denver wins on that one.
And Tim is much better than I am, so a combination of terrain is good--preferably set up in a way that we can meet up for lunch.
My little brother swears by Powder Mountain, near Ogden.
208: Alta is world class and a total destination for the purists. Also one of the last resorts in the country that doesn't allow snowboarding. If you can comfortably ski blue then you'll be fine but the majority of the runs are black. And yeah, I imagine flying to Kalispell isn't cheap.
206: you can't just put a free antenna on your tv?
I get something like 22 free stations with an antenna (in my basement!), although only I think about 7 of those are in HD. But still: free. And it's all the networks, and actually the broadcast HD really is a noticeably better quality picture than we got with cable.
Nope, we're in a dead zone for network TV. We get PBS and the CW, but for ABC/NBC/CBS/Fox you need a very good roof-mounted antenna (most likely with rotator) and some luck (location of house, hills, trees, etc.).
206,211: Or the live stream on the website?
On what website? The networks don't livestream.
We've been talking abut getting an antenna. The question is whether any of that shit is worth any money at all. I'm not convinced.
Kalispell does cost more, but you make some of that up with a free shuttle (into town), and I'd guess a lot more on lower costs for food and lodging. I personally assign real value to having the hotel less than 20 minutes from the airport (and 20 from the hill on the shuttle) but obviously hundreds of thousands of people enjoy I-70 regularly.
Tim should come ski with us for a day. He'll like Snowbowl.
214: ABC does. And didn't NBC stream the Olympics?
No they don't. "The WATCH ABC live stream is not available in your area."
Also, they require you to have a cable subscription even if you are in the (very few) cities that have it.
215: See, that would be awesome. Will post pictures from Crested Butte (not on I-70) to the flickr pool!
For the Olympics, NBC did have a bunch of supplemental streaming coverage. That's certainly nice, but it doesn't include their actual prime time coverage with the big events and so doesn't substitute for actually getting network TV.
Oh, whoops: I went away for many hours.
What do you like? Is it SWL approved?
I've been watching a lot of Broad City. And I just finished season one of True Detective. What's "SWL" stand for?
>>My S.O.
Wait, what?
I'm seeing someone. Come to think of it, will met her.
My memory is that both TCM and the MGMHD channel, of all things, frequently show movies on cable that are not available anywhere streaming or on home video, and in some cases have never been available on home video, period.
One example on TCM, I think, is "Fireman Save My Child", the 1932 movie with Joe E. Brown. Coming this March 15!
For MGMHD, there are a LOT of movies that were on Netflix until ... December 2012, maybe? That were part of the MGM library, which were available ONLY on Netflix streaming as part of the Starz deal I think. Now you have to find an old VHS of, for example, "Order of the Black Eagle". But tomorrow they might show up again on some streaming service.
What's "SWL" stand for?
Typo for SWPL. WPL Broad City. Do you like Louie? It's the arithmetic mean of Broad City and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Louie's okay. I can do maybe one episode at a time, but it's not something I'd binge-watch.
Since when did binge-watchability become the standard of quality?
The difference between American media (even talking just recently and not the historical library) and the world is summed up in the differences between Wild and Two Days, One Night.
I will grant an exception for Selma (which has different but comparable problems) and perhaps others, but the maniacal obsessive narcissistic individualism pervades every facet of American production and ruins every artistic endeavor. I can't even listen to American voice actors anymore. The arrogance and privilege is inescapable.
You can hear our arrogance in our R's.
I will grant that American media does have a fuckton of money and likes to flash it onscreen. But I don't think Americans and American-wannabes can even conceive what it means to be part of a group with unchosen obligations anymore.
But it takes a long time of immersion in global or foreign media to get away from seeing groups as more than an aggregation of individuals. I strongly suggest dropping cable and getting your head out of this world-historical empire of assholes.
Two Days, One Night, I left out the italics. I'll take the Dardennes over weeks of "prestige tv." It isn't all that, folks. It isn't.
See Vice for an insight into the world of the contract killer, with price data! And issues around reliable contracts!
See Vice for an insight into the world of the contract killer, with price data! And issues around reliable contracts!
See Vice for an insight into the world of the contract killer, with price data! And issues around reliable contracts!
||
Bleg for the poetic minds
In Rurouni Kenshin anime series, our hero, Himura Kenshin, not a samurai, but a reformed manslayer murderous fucking beast, now nearly a saint, constantly uses some archaic syntax and vocabulary with ultimate expressive humility as the aim.
"de gozaru" for example is just an ancient form of desu "to be." The article linked calls it informal but very polite, but I suspect it is a form the lowest peasant would use toward a lord.
In order to catch the idiosyncrasy, the subtitles, well without much Japanese
"I am just trying to protect the poor"
"Oro* wa ....de gozaru."
Subtitles:"I am trying to protect the poor, that I am."
Oro* is also maximal self-effacing.
"That I am" obviously doesn't capture the humility. Anybody think they could do better? "This lowly worm..." might be closer to what he is saying, but we need a humble verb.
|>
So, Norway is where I should start my crime spree.
234 In Istanbul I once met an American Sufi Muslim convert who kept referring to himself as "this fuck." It was very disconcerting.
I watched The Honourable Woman on Netflix last weekend, which may or may not be prestige television and does seem to have assassins, plus Maggie Gyllenhaal and a whole one hot interesting Palestinian character. I was sort of surprised I hadn't seen others here talk about it, but I'm not saying it's worth recommending either.
237 More like, "When this fuck first met the shaykh he was completely lost..." It took me a while to figure out just what the hell he was saying. The particular Sufi order he was a member of was well known for their emphasis on etiquette and proper comportment adab which made it all the stranger. He gave off strong hippie acid casualty vibes.
Meant to put parens around (adab), like so.
This show Archer is funny on some base level but feels profoundly unedifying.
Yes, I would not call Archer edifying in any respect.
If you both agree, then I won't give it a try.
If you feed them a fish, they turn into a cat.
I would probably like it better if I had been drinking. I find unedifying humor more enjoyable when I've been drinking. But then I would probably feel ashamed of myself in the morning. And also vaguely depressed.
248 was me and I know I typed my fucking name.
Hearing good reviews of Amazon's Main the High Castle. Any one seen it yet? (Jut a pilot out?) Would seem to lend itself to compelling visuals, not so sure on the story line.
249: Is it as good as your drinking name?
I really really really like the book. For some reason the scene where the fake replica gun is successfully used as a gun loomed very large for me for a while.
John Dillinger escaped from jail, but he had a fake real gun.
Oh wait maybe I won't, since flash on linux whether firefox or chrome appears to be too fucked for amazon's player to work.
But I decided not to watch it now anyway! ha!
I 100% for real learned from Archer that helium is nonflammable.
Science! That they teach in sixth grade!
For some reason, against all better judgment I've continued watching Archer.* I've mostly been disappointed with myself for watching it, because it's not even that entertaining and it feels like a colossal waste of time. But just now, maybe it's just the bourbon, but the line "it's like Meowschwitz in there" just literally doubled me over with laughter. That may have been enough to redeem the entire show.
* actually I know the the reason perfectly damn well, it,s easy, I'm bored, and angry at my spouse so not wanting to spent time with her, work has been slow, so I've got a ton of time on my hands.
Adding Bluetooth Headphones to HDTV