The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Richard Day's picture

    LOSERS

    The secrets of the universe might be found in a drop of water.

                                                                                             (me)

     

    Now my understanding of Platonic Thought; if there is such a thing, is that there are ideal models in the universe and then there are the real 'things'. The real things are only bad copies or reflections of the ideal models 'hiding' somewhere in the cosmos.

    If one came across the perfect tree (and I have thousands of times), one would have found God.

    The same concept would apply to bears and frogs and hookers I suppose.

    Which is one reason that I believe in a multitude of gods in this universe—when I am in the mood.

    Another Neo-Platonic ideal involves knowledge.

    If you discovered everything there was to know about the mysteries contained in a drop of water, you would have uncovered many secrets concerning this universe; in fact you might actually have discovered THE secret to the universe.

    It is the mundane that most often attracts me.

    A really great plumber in my mind could be thought of as an artist; or at the least an artiste or artisan.

    Without getting into the theoretical wars between architects and engineers; a lot of the arguments surrounding art seem silly to me.

    I never was attracted to the Mona-Lisa. The painting always looked as if a man were attempting to dress up and pose as a woman. That was my first reaction at age six and is my current reaction.

    I never really liked Picasso's work with some exceptions. I can at least understand his earlier works where people look like people. I certainly loved some of his homages to cave-paintings. I just do not understand the so-called 'modern art'.

    How are we to 'judge' art, after all?

    People will spend tens of millions of Euros or Dollars for one painting. A painting I might or might not admire and with the millions of wonderful paintings out there, why concentrate on one anyway?

    Is that how we judge a painting?

    Or do we judge art from a populist perspective?

    Do we just add up the number of tickets sold in movie theaters over a week-end and accept that Transformers or Hangover is the greatest film of all time?

    I cannot do that. I might take ratings or money value into consideration but I have just become more judgmental in my old age...or perhaps less so. I suppose it is how you look at it?

    I do not watch reality TV. I just don't.

    I find no reality in reality TV.

    But there are reality shows that get fine ratings!

    There was some comic who complained that although he has a college degree, every time he finds himself in a book store he is confused by the section-title 'non-fiction'.

    If fiction means 'not true' then non-fiction must mean not-not true! Ha

    There is certainly less truth in reality shows than in good dramas!

    I had this opportunity to sign up with Netflix for free for a month. There are old and new TV programs as well as old and new films.

    However they limit access just like Hulu.

    What they want you to do is pay double for greater access.

    The Brits had this series called 'Life on Mars', so Americans put together their own version.

    Irony: Netflix will not let me view the British version, but I was able to view all episodes of the American Life on Mars that ran from October of 2008 to April of 2009.

    Jason O'Mara (someone I never heard of) stars as Detective Sam Tyler and Harvey Keitel stars as his boss in a NYC precinct. Michael Imperioli from the Soprano's shows up as another detective.

    Any time you can catch an entire series with the likes of Keitel it has to be a wonderful experience.

    Sam Tyler is a detective in NYC in 2008 and whilst he is in the midst of an investigation he gets hit by a car and wakes up in 1973. When he awakens in that ancient time he has not idea what is going on. He finds himself walking down the street and looks up to gaze at the Twin Towers.

    He concludes after awhile that he is in a coma as a result of the car mishap and that everything around him is fictional.

    But the laws of physics apply most of the time and it is fun to be in 1973. There is the hair and the atrocious leisure suits and the music and the big cars and the...well you get the point.

    There are also issues surrounding the lack of civil rights enforcement, the lack of application of the Bill of Rights to the suspects, the lack of political correctness and rampant sexism; but these issues become a real source of comedy, believe it or not!

    As an aside, Madmen just bored me to death and I could give a damn about 1962 or at least the manner in which 1962 is treated in Madmen. I think I watched two episodes and gave up. You cannot drink that much alcohol during the day and not pass out by noon unless you take a hell of a lot of uppers—I think Louie CK talks about this.

    There are other continuing themes throughout the 17 episodes of this brilliant allusion/allegory/paradigm/drama.

    The Wizard of Oz is constantly referenced...there is no place like home.

    Nixon is either on the TV set (with rabbit ears) located at the precinct house or in the discussion of things.

    Sam's main rival (Imperioli) makes him double down on a bet for the outcome of the 'Norton fight'. haha

    There are neat twists and turns as in any time travelogue. I mean he meets himself as a small boy along with his mums and dad. Pop is a felon who takes off for good when Sam is six. Sam confronts him and arrests him as an adult. And Sam spends a lot a time helping out his mums. So you can add Oedipus into the mix.

    At one point his love interest—a female cop assigned to the detective squad in her blues—knows his birthday and inquires how old he is going to be.

    “Four” hahahahah

    But Sam confides in this love interest the truth of his time travel and she just keeps viewing him as a lost puppy.

    He attempts to change this new world he finds himself in although he understands that it is useless to 'splain' the way things should be.

    All his co-workers call him 'Spaceman'. Hahaha

    Sam has a hippie lady rooming in his apartment building where the floor shares a bathroom. He first meets her as she approaches the bathroom naked just as he is coming out. Pretty funny scene.

    At one point she fixes him lasagna and he discovers shortly thereafter that it is laced with THC.

    Now this series was a loser. It began with about 12 million viewers and ended its run with half that many. ABC canceled it even before its final episode--which is lots of fun by the way.

    But I loved the entire series run when it ran. And I was disappointed when they killed it. But I think of it now like a 734 minute movie.

    I stated before that I never heard of O'Mara but it turns out that he is a Shakespearean taught actor from Northern Ireland and you would never guess it from his role. I mean his American accent is American!

    There is this other Scottish actor by the name of Gerard Butler (Law Abiding Citizen) who has a terrible American accent—he talks like he has marbles in his mouth and his mouth is always skewed and he always sounds like he has just taken a big bite out of a hot dog.

    Turns out O'Mara is a very successful actor and has appeared in many movies besides appearing on stage on both sides of the Atlantic.

    I just decided that I would report on some losers.

     

     

    Losers that I liked.

    And it is fun to see these episodes once again!

     

     

    Comments

    The trouble with losers is that, although they can be mutually agreed upon, their designation really is all in the eye of the beholder.   A loser designated and agreed upon by 10 million people is no better a loser than the loser designated by one and only one person.  He's just more popular, which kind of tarnishes his loser status. 

    Re: plumbers ... Do artistic artisans create artesian wells? And if so, how well?

    Mona Lisa:  Duchamp put a moustache on her.    

    I discovered the secret of the universe once.  It came to me when I was a Senior in high school.  Unfortunately, it came to me right in the middle of being yelled at by my mom for doing something stupid.  I had this wonderful epiphany for all of ten seconds, and then when my mother said, "Are you listening to me?" for the second time, instead of asking her to wait a minute while I wrote the secret down, I turned my attention back to my mother chastising me for being a stupid teenager. By the time I had apologized and promised never to do that stupid thing again, and my mother had left me alone to think about what I done... I had totally forgotten the secret to the universe that had been revealed to me.  I sighed and went back upstairs and had some ice cream.  I hate when that happens. 


    Marcel Duchamp!

    I would have done a lot better in life with a moniker like that.

     


    You're telling that to a guy named Smith ...


    You're complaining to a guy named Dick… and my real first name is arguably worse as far as schoolyard taunting goes! (Which is why I use my middle name.)


    hahahahahahha


    Smith I forgot.

    At the end of this month I am visiting NYC.

    I really would like to meet you.

    I am traveling through the generosity of TPC.

    I am at [email protected].

     


    I would be honored, sir. 


    So, you signed up to Netflix for free.

    But now they want you to pay double that.

    Given their American audience, I can see how this would dissuade many.

    - Qnonymous

    I'm willing to pay double the price of free. I really think they're worth it! (Maybe even more!)


    I know. But I get basic cable for free in my apartment. I added Stars for a few bucks and it was added to my internet bill and now my internet bill has gone from 20 bucks to 70.

    I can cut out Stars and the silly machine that goes with it and watch on my PC far more flicks and videos.

    I bring this up only because many millions have discovered that the net is going to take over everything from telephones to TV. This is an important issue.

    As a matter of fact i will be asking TPC how to hook up my pc to my 31" TV that is eight years old.

    Consolidation I guess might be the answer.

    But Netflix (maybe i should make them pay me for the ad) for eight bucks a month provides stuff I would never ever see. And I get to choose when it comes on!

    The ruse is to get us to add another eight bucks to get to another tier of selections.

    The point of this silly blog--which I may follow up on--is that there are movies and old TV series that provide really good entertainment and they are lost in the battle for copyright.

    And the entertainment available that has lost that fight contains real cinema of genius that is somehow lost through the capitalistic models available.

    Boy am I boring. hahahahahah

    the end


    Jokes aside, I, too, have paid for NetFlix in the past, but I won't pay for cable. For my personal viewing needs, I find that Hulu works just fine for me, but compared to cable, NetFlix is a much better deal.