esrosedotblog

I got disc one, season one of Breaking Bad.

I didn't want to miss anything.

I can see the appeal and the reason he got an Emmy. But the whole thing is so sordid that I don't want any more than three episodes.

I am beginning to feel like my parents who found they had aged out of everything new.

I do not want to see the gory aftermath of a body soaked in Hydroflouric Acid even though I can see the humor of the stuff eating out the tub and the whole floor.

I can do without watching someone be tortured in a basement.

And the idea of glorifying meth is pretty hard to take. I know that is not the intent of the thing but I know enough people who were meth-heads to see anything in a drama about it.

They will have to carry on without me but I do wish them well. Somewhere in there is a message that needs to be spread. One way or another.

Jesus. And I thought alcoholism was bad.

Labels: television

I have tried and tried again to enjoy or even be able to sit through an entire Shakespeare play.

Today, no exception. I bailed out at about the half way.

The Hollow Crown series from the BBC: Richard II with Ben Wishaw.

Pretty and wordy. My gods how wordy.

All that drama is too much for me to take.

So once again, I tried to scale the mighty mountain and fell back.

I would not have even written about it but there it is. A pretty production, a good bit of business around the main talking. But all that Elizabethan talking. Too much for me.

I yawn, I fidget, I begin to zone out.

So. I retreat. Alas.

Labels: films, television

I can't stay far away from Beacon Hills/

Today's film was the first part of Season Five for Teen wolf which I am still crazy about.

Other than The Big Bang Theory, this is the only teevee show that I do not want to miss.

I will admit that I came for the bare torsos but stayed for the monsters and killers. The horror.

I love Dylan Obrien who has matured beautifully and even in a very limited role Parker Posey now is an adult and while hard to see as a teen any more commands the screen whenever he is on.

I also think that the monsters are better.

They range from hideous to rather normal with a very evil twinge here and there.

A lot of variety.

And the cast is good throughout.

I will stay to the end. If it ever happens.

Look, Posey will have to give up being a high school student soon enough. But perhaps not. Maybe Twenties Wolf would work.

Labels: teen wolf, television

Third disc of last season's Big Bang Theory.

I have written so much about this great series that I will not go on and on and on about it.

My inner and outer nerds are more than satisfied.

Here, the cast talks about the season.

Labels: television

I am watching the eighth season of The Big Bang Theory

Hence, no other films until I am done.

I am done with the second disk and will go for the third in due course.

I need a break in-between.

The sustained high quality of this series is just amazing. It not only has "legs" it has heart and a soul.

I have known some of these people.

And the others? I would like to know them.

Today, Mrs. Wallowitz died on the show. It coincides with the death of the actress who played her for so long. Carol Ann Susi.

Very touching and, of course, funny. There is comedy in death as much as life.

Labels: DVD, television

Big Bang Theory.

Still going strong.

I love it.

More more more.

Saw the first disk of three today.

I think I will binge,

Netflix5.

Labels: television

I was never a Star Trek fan but I sure am a fan of this guy.

In many ways, George Takei is a role model for gay men and, as it happens, for oriental men. He is a two-fer.

This is made abundantly clear in the film I saw today.

To Be Takei (2014)

From bit Asian player in movies to Star Trek to the Broadway stage, Takei has had a varied and successful career.

This film tells a lot about that and also about what moved him to come out as a gay man.

It is an inspiring film.

Look, he spent some of his early life in an internment camp in Utah or someplace awful.

He has the happiness of a person has has known real pain and has converted it into joy. A character study really.

The makers of this doc have done a very good job. Nothing is in the way of Takei. And that is as it should be. Like a good biographer disappears, so should movie makers.

A 5 out of Netflix5. I will be buying the DVD.

Labels: documentary, films, gay films, television

Gay people never get tired of telling their coming out stories.

And often, it is other gay people who want to hear it. We never tire of listening for how others came out and through the process. Straights are curious but not really into it. I understand that. I don't want to hear about their sexual awakenings either.

The series of the same name

Coming Out: First Season (2013)

was today's "film".

It is made in Montreal and hence needs the subtitles. There are a lot of good films rising out of French speaking Canada and this series is exemplary. You would not see something like this in the States. I think. But then, what do I know about teevee in the US?

There are a lot of characters but the continuity is solid enough that we do not get lost. And they do not do a lot of the aggravating "in the previous episode" shit.

It helps that the episodes are only ten minutes long. It takes maybe 130 minutes to see the entire season.

The other thing about this series is that it has explicit sex, gay sex, which is not on offer here. Leave it to the French.

I liked it very much and will see the second season soon. Maybe even tomorrow.

Incidentally, there is a German film of the same name which we just watched. An unusual duplication in the film business which doesn't like to repeat its names. Perhaps a language issue.

Labels: films, gay films, television

It has been a routine Saturday.

No special events.

A rest.

I am working my way through the fifth season of Teen Wolf and finished another two episodes today.

I am still a fan.

I think what I like about the show is that it simply assumes belief in all the stuff and entities presented and expects that we will too.

I am totally into it and believe all of it while it is happening.

I think this requires a considerable skill in producing across the board.

Everyone assumes that what is going on is completely normal. Of course, this patina of normality is what makes the proceedings scary.

Taylor Posey who plays the Teen Wolf is almost boringly adolescent. Naive and reasonably smart as a kid. But when he becomes the wolf something happens and he is not necessarily superior, he is also learning his powers, but he is competent in a way that he is not as a teen.

All of the cast is satisfying to me. I have not found one member who is out of synch or on a different wavelength.

I also like that while there is some fear going on there is not any terror or hysterics. The people of Beacon Hill, where all this is taking place, are sober citizens who do their duty. Or at least get out of the way.

One surprising outcome of the series is that the one normal guy who is the teen werewolf's friend, Stiles, has become the star of the show. He is the spring that provides the motion and momentum. There are others, some of the adults, who give support, but Stiles is the key to it all. He knows everything the wolves know and is their secret holder. Pivotal.

Dylan Obrien plays this role and while still a bit of the "soubrette", the one who has the comic asides and provides relief from the tension, he is also a/the hero. A neat combination which has to be hard to carry off.

Everything about the show is satisfying and, for awhile, makes it easy to suspend disbelief. I even get scared and hold on to the side of my chair.

Labels: television

For those who follow these things, I watched two episodes of Teen Wolf Season Four today.

Labels: films, television

Jerry Lester, Dagmar, Milton deLugg.

All stars or near stars of the first late night television show Broadway Open House.

I was there.

I was allowed unlimited television time. School was a walk through for me (college not so much), so I had plenty of time and freedom.

I loved this free wheeling show. It had no format. It was talk but it was also play and just plain fooling around.

Jerry Lester was an unreconstructed burlesque comedian and he was more or less uncensored. Dagmar was a statuesque blond with no discernible talent but her big juggs. In fact she was a great personality and played the dumb blond role to perfection with just a hint of a wink that let us in on her joke and that made it just fine. Wonderful.

Milton De Lugg was the bandleader and the first band leader in late night who spoke. He became part of the action. Always funny. Later, many band leaders would become minor luminaries of the late night shows but De Lugg was the first.

He was blessed with a great wit, a funny scratchy voice, a huge nose and a blatant smart ass jew-boy persona that became indelible in my memory.

De Lugg went on to other shows.

And now he is gone.

He sure lasted a long time.

Watch this. It is a fuck lot better than a lot of late teevee. DeLugg is part of the fun.

And, a good look at Dagmar! I couldn't resist.

Labels: nostalgia, obituary, television

Today's movie was the first episodes of a television series.

Parks and Recreation (2009)

I liked it but not enough to keep going with it. I quit on the fifth episode.

Put it down to snobbishness.

It actually did not do very well the first season but was renewed anyway.

Perhaps my test is unfair.

But I don't feel like going back to the well for more.

I will give it a Netflix 2 out of 5.

Well, I can't. I didn't finish it.

Too bad.

I don't think they will give a damn one way or another. They got some success and then some more.

Labels: television

Brian Williams, Under Scrutiny, Will Take Leave From ‘NBC Nightly News’

I have never thought very much of the so called "anchor" newspeople.

Mostly pretty faces, their commentary is vacuous and from another viewpoint than the one I ever hold. Or ever have.

It is interesting when one of them, the most vapid in my opinion, steps on his crank with over inflated ego and bloviation.

Every once in a while they will play a Brian outtake or comment on CNBC which I watch in the gym.

He hovers above the masses and certainly compared to the more rough and ready people who are on early in the day, definitely needs to get his hair messed up. He is the preacher's kid, the holier than thou good boy, the sneak and tattle tale all rolled into one.

Why do I feel that way? Hey, I don't have to justify my views anymore than he needs to justify lying. A lie is a lie. A vicious assessment is so personal as to be a simple rant.

These guys have dominated for a long time. Rather, who actually defends Williams I hear, was not a handsome guy. He worked his way up the ranks and had that rough and ready edge that actually got him in trouble with the suits. Brokaw was able to use the mid country boy look and he was/is smart. Brokaw was less supportive. Old Tom. He can't be happy this is happening to his old seat.

The whole thing is a tempest in a teapot. The dominance of network news is long gone and the impact of one guy on people's opinion of the news is considerably lessened.

I am sure he is stepping down with the idea that it will all blow over in a few days and maybe it will. But he will be the same Brian, smarmy smile and all. An empty suit.

It also seems as though it might not blow over so quickly.

Soldiers in Brian Williams Group Give Account of 2003 Events

They say he was nowhere near the shoot down. Not at all. Oh oh. Eyewitness news!

Labels: news, phony baloney, television

Today's film was the sixth episode of Looking, the gay centric video series.

It is San Francisco where anything can happen. But it is surprisingly tame and domestic. And not much happens.

Lovers come and go, some stay and quarrel, some are looking for something that isn't there. In other words, normal every day life.

The production is pretty good and Jonathan Groff is appropriately clueless with a little sexiness added. Fortunately he has savvy friends who help him along.

It is supposed to be pretty accurate about gay life these SFO days.

I doubt it. But I have not been there in a long while.

The series is enjoyable with or without the gay slant, I think. It is a soap opera. A genré that has a long history for legs, the soaps. Long running.

I have to remember that this is television. Things do not have to resolve. Nothing has to be too good. Everything is open for debate.

I am not sure I will stay for the next season or even make it through the second one.

A weak 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: gay life, television

A television series is hard to commit to.

There is so much and when I get to it finally on word of mouth, it is a mixed bag. Hard to find the gold nuggets in the pan.

I did hit pay dirt with the first episode of

Looking (2014)

A gay series set in San Francisco, of course.

The first episode of these things is always fraught. They are trying to introduce most of the series' characters so it is a series of short bits. In this case it works. Each has a bite. And leaves the desire to take another taste which I will do as I took a risk and bought the DVD of the first season.

I think that it is an honest depiction of a kind of gay life. A bit broader than bars and bushes. Rather a lot broader.

And yet they have not done much to "normalize" the life of these men. They are gay from head to toe and in-between.

It is nicely chaste, but not too much so. A nice session of making love. The people are appealing. I think that I will stick around.

At least a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: gay life, television

We are well into 2015 and life has become more normalized.

I went to the gym then a Meeting then home and made some phone calls. A nap of course and lunch followed by a "movie".

Today, the fourth season of Big Bang Theory. First three episodes. Nice.

They are getting dressed up for New Year's Eve party at Stuart's video store.

It gets better with time. Earning a rich 5 out of Netflix5. I have a long way to go. They are in their eighth season. Well, is it half full or half empty? Half full.

Some emails are flying today about the condo association and there is a mild scuffle between a new member and the chairman. The new member is a neighbor. In fact there are two near neighbors on the Board. We will own the place! I am not in the scuffle, meaning that I don't much care how it comes out.

I do my job. Count the money, report at meetings, meet with the management company and generally work behind the scenes. I like it.

The weather is very 2014. The late summer or early fall.

This is why people come to Palm Springs to vacation in the winter months. Right now it is in the 80s, the dry 80s. Tonight it will go down to a brrrr-fifty.

Labels: routine, television, weather

No movies for awhile as I watch the first disc of the fourth season of Big Bang Theory.

Surely you do not want to read about each and every episode and I chew through it at three or four episodes a day.

Labels: television

The second episode of Sherlock proves to be as riveting as the first.

The interplay between Sherlock, Benedict Cumbernatch and Watson, Martin Freeman, is pivotal.

They are given equal parts to play in unraveling the mystery and become partners.

There is a homoerotic whisper in the air but today Watson got a date with a girl and, while it took the two of them into deep danger, it did take a bit of the spin off the gay angle. But I will be convinced the day that Sherlock himself gets a girl and we know that is very unlikely.

We are in the first season and I do not think that I am expected to write up the details of each episode. Nor should I as it will spoil the proceedings for anyone else. So, I promise. No spoilers.

Labels: films, television

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

I am not an ardent fan of Stephen Colbert but I have to admit he has great style and surely a lot of friends who are more than willing to go out of the way to say goodbye to him as he leaves the Colbert Report and heads to his new slot on the nightly talk show replacing David Letterman. Good trade incidentally.

There has been a massive attempt to name all the stars and celebrities on this segment. But TPM managed to do it here. They claim. There are a lot of gamers working this today and this seems to be the complete list. I get that the Colbert people are staying mum and letting the fans have their fun.

Very good.

Labels: television

The cliche of the Holmes saga.

He doesn't say it once.

Today's film was the first episode of the television version

Sherlock Holmes (2010)

The first episode in the first season of 3 episodes to be exact.

I am a long time fan of the great man but quit watching as he evolved through many boring versions.

The character is perfectly defined but not always realized as perfectly as he deserves.

They have done him proud here. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are the famous pair. It is the pair after all that defines the character. Holmes himself is so great he must be carried by two actors. One for the deducting, the other to elicit the thinking. Not a novel dramatic device but in this case it works quite well.

I enjoyed the program very much and will watch the whole series, now four years in the making.

The first Sherlock is on the page and the second more visual one is Basil Rathbone. Too young for him, eh?

And then on from there. He has quite a history. Many of his actors have been unable to fill his boots but it would appear that Cumberbatch will do just fine with Freeman's help.

Today's Holmesian puzzle is something about a dead body and a sister and some other business none of which matter at all. It is the action, the deduction, in short, the acting that matters.

I would watch this episode again! But will not now. I need to move on to the others.

I bought this set so that makes it a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: television