started Game of Thrones. Finished Season 1 and 1 episode into season 2. Season 1 took about half the season to pick up (was good before then, but the story lines didn't have enough time to suck me in until later). Unfortunately, I already know a bit about some of the spoilers from overhearing things. Though I actually don't care much for John Snow at this point.

has anybody else checked out mr robot?

Deadwood:

Last Summer I ventured into the world of HBO through The Sopranos and while there were many really strong episodes and great performances, after a while I had to quit. The darkness of it got to be too much. It seemed that the characters were losing more and more of their humanity as the show went along. Perhaps that was the point, but it left me feeling depressed and began to effect my thoughts so I left it in search of other art forms. About a year later I have returned to another of HBOs acclaimed series in Deadwood.

Deadwood shares some similarities to The Sopranos. For one they are both blest with incredibly talented actors. They both tend to have plot structures that focus on slow burns that eventually erupt in action. They both feature long takes of conversations capturing all the nuance of emotion painted on their characters faces. Also they both feature quite a lot of violence and swearing. With all these similarities it would seem that I had once again found myself in a show that while it is difficult to deny the virtuosity with which it is executed, would ultimately lead me to a bleak mood. However, that did not happen. Underneath all the violence, swearing, and unpleasantness there is a core of hope and optimism that runs through Deadwood.

This core might not seem so obvious in the opening episodes as we are introduced to our ensemble of characters in the first issue. It seems like we have our main protagonist in Seth Bullock, a former sheriff who sets out for Deadwood to start a hardware store with his partner, and our main antagonist in Al Swearengen, a local saloon and brothel owner who will go to great lengths to ensure his interests are protected. This seems clear cut enough, but a funny thing happens over the course of the show; these early impressions while never proved completely false manage to shift.

In fact as time goes on it is difficult to call these two the main characters when there is a broad cast of characters, many of which get as much screen time as Seth and Al. I don't believe I have seen a cast as fleshed out as the one in Deadwood. There are a few scenes through the corse of this show that bring together the whole town and it is amazing as the camera pans across just how many people in the crowd have played a part large and small in the proceeding episodes. Even minor characters like Richardson, a buffoonish character who works at the hotel, is shown to have a richer inner life than one might imagine in which he worships with antlers and juggles. By giving us access to so many characters, Deadwood manages to be a show that feels incredibly vivid. It feels like this is a living organism composed of many bodies each working towards their own goals but ultimately these goals intersect.

It is at this intersection where the core of optimist shows up. In the first season Deadwood is shown as a filthy mining camp composed of some shady figures. People are pouring into this community for one simple reason, and that is gold. Everyone is fairly selfish in their want to earn their fortune whether by getting the gold themselves or profiting off those who are. But as the show moves along Deadwood begins to become less and less of lawless camp and becomes more like a town. The people who inhabit Deadwood begin to realize that they aren't just a bunch of individuals, but they are a community. The show makes the case that the natural order of people is towards organization, towards law, and towards community. No matter their differences people can come together to work toward a higher purpose. That is a fairly optimistic message.

Overall, I can not praise this show enough. The acting is incredible all around but particularlyIan McShane and Brad Dourif have amazing performances throughout. They didn't do it alone though, because they had some of the best dialogue ever to hit the small screen to work with. It is amazing the amount of quote worthy material is said on an episode by episode basis. If there is one nit to pick it is that Season 3 became a little unfocused. The cast became perhaps a bit too wide especially with the introduction of the Theater troupe. Jack was a good character, but he never really got to reach his full potential, and the rest of the troupe were completely inconsequential. It is also disappointing how the series ended. I don't think it necessarily needed a fourth season, although you really couldn't go wrong having more episodes, but the actual final episode didn't feel like a solid enough ending. I almost wish it would have ended with Amateur Night. Amateur Night is a fun episode and it does a great job of showing us that even when the main characters are locked away there is still a story in Deadwood. There are all these amazing characters we will never meet again like a man who can cry on cue and man who can balance a beam on his chin. I think that would have been a good place to end it. Even when there is such a large cast there are still characters whose stories we will never know and although Deadwood must end the story still goes on in this town no matter what history may say.

yurp, seen i think the first three eps, pretty enjoyable so far. really like watching rami malek

oh man, he's great. i've seen him in a couple of things as a minor supporting guy for years so i'm glad he's finally getting to lead a show. have you noticed how much darlene looks like skylar white? it's seriously crazy.

Btw great review Adequate Gatsby

*fist bump*

It was... adequate.

Never Apologize, A Personal Visit with Lindsay Anderson
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/movies/15ande.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024965/
Have y'all seen If?

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Ghosts of the 7th Cavalry, a war documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqR6g4wpvH8

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvan ... US-TV.html
British actresses, us TV shows
I am a fan of Kelly Reilly. At 19 she was drop dead gorgeous, and she's pretty splibby in True Detectives.

anybody watch the badly named "Mozart in the Jungle"? Been watching select epis on amazon prime. Kinda wild, but I like the concert music bend of it. Funny too.

Yeah she's definitely got that.... comment dites-vous... fuck face.

Charming language.

Hub is attempting to get me to watch 'Hung'. So far I am not amused. But liking the Black Keys.