Speaking of BBC Dramas starring former cast members of The Wire who are surprisingly British:

I am perplexed by why people who write about The Hour, a six part BBC drama series, can't seem to avoid comparing it to Mad Men. (Now here I go, calling the kettle black.) Truly, the only comparison I can see is that it's set in the past. Well, and I guess that I enjoy them both.

Early reviews from the UK were pretty critical, The Telegraph and the Guardian both found fault with the script and the overt internal criticisms of the racism and sexism of the mid 1950s. American reviewers, given the benefit of watching the first four episodes (not the pilot alone) were much more gracious in their reviews, though still perseverate on Mad Men comparisons. Yes, people (in the UK and the US) smoked a lot in the 50s and 60s. Yes women had a harder time carving out careers for themselves than they do now, yes, men wore suits and parted their hair on the side. Didn't we already know these things? How is this so distracting?

A couple actors I don't know star alongside Dominic West (McNulty from The Wire [I already knew he was British]) he, along with the other two leads, kills it. The cast in general is pretty great, and after a clunky start the writing evens out and is good if not great after is hits stride. The Hour's plot is jumpy and scattered moving where Mad Men's is plodding and deliberate, it involves murder, spies, journalism, extra-marital affairs, unrequited love. Stuff that Mad Men (rightly) wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole, I mean, excluding the extra-marital affairs, those are mother's milk for Mad Men.

Anyway, I suspect people who can't get into Mad Men because they find it boring and lacking direction will probably like The Hour. While those who love Mad Men for its subtlety and attention to detail may not love The Hour, certainly not for the same reasons. The Hour won't be the last show to be judged against AMC's flagship series, Mad Men has been that important to the television game. But to be honest, I was hooked by The Hour in a way that I never have been by Mad Men, I wanted more after every episode, and was a bit sad to realize the first season only consists of six parts. A couple weeks ago I recommended Luther with an enthusiastic thumb up. The Hour is a lot better. You should watch Luther if you have some time to kill. You should make time to watch The Hour.

How Do You Like Them Apples.

As everybody seems to be recounting their poignant anecdotes of Steve Jobs, I thought I would share one of my own:

When I was working as a cashier at the Borders in Palo Alto in 2005, Steve Jobs purchased Season 1 of Monk on DVD from me.

He paid in cash. And he did not want any coins back as change.

[He also bought something else from me another time but I forgot what it was. True story.]

Casting call.

Our shareholders and our 9 followers (3 of whom I think are not just spam-bots) demand content. With Mark leaving, we need to find someway to rejuvenate the blog.

We need a totally outrageous paradigm. Something edgy and "in your face." And of course proactive.

I'm thinking animated GIFs and embedded MIDI files.

But I'm open to ideas.

The cat's away.

Now that Mark is retiring from blogging, I am finally free to post all the best late 90s fake-tronica without fear of ridicule.



"Those dreams are tied to a horse that will never tire..."

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So, about that blog

I’m now 30 years old.

I’m not upset about it. In fact, I’m mostly indifferent. 30 isn’t really that old, and it’s hard for it to even feel old when I’m constantly explaining that, no, I’m not 18. I’m 30.

I’ve been telling people I’m 30 for long enough that it’s impossible to have any kind of quiet, sad feelings that it may inspire in others.

Now for the twist of this post: I doubt I’ll be blogging much anymore. Although, thanks to Logan’s insistence, I won’t be deleting all of my old posts.

Why? Well, Logan wanted to keep a sort of historical record.

Oh, you mean about why won’t I be blogging at all or much anymore.

Honestly, it’s mostly about how I just don’t have much to say. Or, at least, I don’t have much to say that I think anyone on this blog would like to hear. (Long dissections of the structure and dramatic choices of popular movies and books just doesn’t keep people’s attention for long.)

This isn’t all bad news though. I’m happy to announce that we have a new writer joining hideouslywrinkled: Kristofer Ratchet. Kristofer (or just Tofer) is a friend from work that I think can be pretty funny and I'm sure you'd all laugh at him if you met him in real life.

He'll be filling the gaps with his thoughts on movies and TV and video games and music and Apple electronic devices — including those he's never seen, read, played, touched or heard. Probably never politics though. (Unless it's the politics of eating Arby's in a McDonald's world.)

A Utah state of mind.

I don't think a Republican can win the nomination, let alone the presidency, without Evangelical support so I was a bit clueless as to why Huntsman would stick his neck out like this. Polling at barely 2%, Huntsman clearly has little to lose but his comments seem to be endearing him more to left-leaning pundits than to his own base. In fact, I only saw this because it was retweeted by Roger Ebert who I doubt will be voting in the primaries next year.

I thought for a second that Huntsman might be angling for an Obama VP spot (similar to the rumors that Kerry was courting McCain in 2004). For a brief span, Huntsman encapsulated all of his tweets in quotation marks which made everything he wrote tinged with sarcasm -- like he was spouting off Republican talking points to appeal to his base but keeping his fingers crossed behind his back for the Moderates in the room.

But on further reflection I realized there is no way a potential lame-duck president without an obvious successor would give such a prized position to the opposing party.

Furthermore, before more liberals start swooning over Huntsman's "reasonable" positions, I think they should start investigating his fiscal ideas. While Huntsman seems to be surrendering a few fronts on the culture wars, his opinions on tax reform are quite conservative. I had no idea Utah had implemented a Flat Tax until I heard Huntsman speak on ABC this morning. A little investigating uncovered this little nugget on in a Salt Lake tribune op-ed:

According to this report, the state ran a near $400 million revenue\expenditure deficit in fiscal 2008, followed by two $1 billion deficits in fiscal 2009 and 2010.

So what is Huntsman's endgame here? Simply carving a losing niche? Surely these comments aren't going to endear him for a VP spot from the Republican frontrunners.

Any ideas from the Utah crowd?

Idris Elba

Stringer Bell is not from the Baltimore Projects. He's not even American. The actor Idris Elba, also known as DJ Big Driis, who played Bell on the best TV show ever made is from London. Hackney to be exack(nee). I made this stunning discovering when I gave the BBC cop drama mini-series "Luther" a try and there was Stringer. . . Elba, and he was talking all funny.



DCI John Luther is a bit like Mel Gibson from Lethal Weapon, he plays a little loose, his life is kinda falling apart, and he's only really on his game when he's chasing bad guys. But where Gibson was something of a caricature playing Russian roulette in the Lethal Weapon series Elba's Luther struggles with his own troubles in a way that feels intimate on screen. Kind of an Andrew Wyeth to Gibson's guy with an easel at the Farmer's Market. (Maybe I'm being too hard on Mel, I mean, I did enjoy Lethal Weapon.)

Anyway, Elba WAS Stringer Bell to me. The Wire was so gritty, so real, so well written and acted I wouldn't have thought it possible to separate the actor from the character. That's why my reaction to seeing Elba in a different role was shock. It's a testament to Elba's strength as an actor that I was quickly able to get past the connection. Within about 15 minutes it wasn't a distraction at all.

If you enjoy reasonably good writing and strong acting I suggest checking out Luther. It's slightly formulaic, but still pretty inventive and compelling. And you don't have to commit too heavily, season one is only six episodes (it's on Netflix streaming), and I think season two is four. I give it an enthusiastic thumb up.

And Suddenly It's Morning

7 am. My recently purchased biscuit sandwich disassembled on the asphalt.

After I sleepily explain that I had dropped my breakfast while fumbling to open my car door, the cook nodded and offered me a "hall pass." He meant to say "free pass" but I understood.

It was 7 am after all.

Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case

July 28, 2011: Nintendo announces a net loss of $324 million between April and June and slashes the price of the Nintendo 3DS by $80.

August 9, 2011: Apple surpasses ExxonMobil as the most valuable public company in the world.

Coincidence?