Comments for Know Better

Comment on WTF The Police by readjack

readjack — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:25:58 +0000

LOVE your blog. I’ve got a column coming sooner than later, but for now I’ll just say that I am 100% in agreement that the job of policing needs to be seriously overhauled. As is, it just don’t make the nut. (Well, I suppose it’s set up as it is for a reason, and that somebody is happy with it…but not me, and clearly not you.)

http://readjack.com/08-07-11Cops.html

http://readjack.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/the-godfather-of-television/

Keep talking.
JACK

Comment on I Got My Philosophy: Final Thoughts on Atlas Shrugged by crestech

crestech — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:37:31 +0000

Great Blog…

Comment on In the Shadow of the Statue by marie

marie — Fri, 15 May 2009 01:43:42 +0000

I am intrigued with the workings of your mind, if in fact these are predominantly your musings. If so, then this merely scratches the surface of your creative potential and you should seriously consider inventing some of your own SciFi stories.

Comment on Long Ball by Erskine Fincher

Erskine Fincher — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:50:26 +0000

Rand fails to capitalize on such nuances in her sociopolitical schema, touching on corporate corruption superficially and outright ignoring the possibility of integrity in public service (both roads would alter her political agenda).

You forget Judge Naragansett.

But integrity in public service would have to begin with recognizing that no man has the right to consume more than he produces. When the political system is built around carving up people’s lives for redistribution, there is no room for men of integrity. The only way to get elected is to promise the voters that you’re going to make sure they get more out of the system than it sucks out of them–which in the long run is always a lie.

Comment on About a Blog by Tooty

Tooty — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 07:37:01 +0000

Me? – I just seek adulation – and loads of it. Don’t get it though. But still I persist.

Comment on Weak Tea by Andy

Andy — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:50:37 +0000

an excellent point there by Ross Douthat. I remember being yelled at and spit on in the spring of ‘03 protesting the war in the month after the invasion (in Massachusetts, at that!). But we had a very clear message that time around – the war was a bad decision or shady pretenses.

If I could glean a message from this tea party business I could better address it on the merits. As we stand the best i can glean is “government should not financially intervene in the banking and auto industries,” but I had to go through a lot of terrible hackery to distill that message, and the organizers of this protest should know must Americans will not give them that sort of time and attention.

And a crosscheck with Urban Dictionary might have saved them some embarrassment.

Comment on Two Things About Deadwood by Thumbu

Thumbu — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:32:17 +0000

Good call on the Deadwood influence on PTA, though, I’ve never seen it in print either. A ton of people were mesmerized by that show during its airing (the bassist for Interpol started to dress like a cast member). The thing is, as much as I loved Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance, I thought that Deadwood’s third season, and in fact, all of its seasons, went over and beyond any film before it. At the end of the day, TWBB was more a character study, with thinly veiled allegories of capitalism and religion in tow, whereas in Deadwood, you have a sense of all the forces that produced the West. It’s a shame that seasons 4 and 5, or the promised films, were never made. Instead, we have to watch Swearengen approximations on NBC’s Kings.

Comment on Toying with Dollhouse by Taylor Bettinson

Taylor Bettinson — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:15:29 +0000

I’m definitely with you on exploring the psychology of the clients more. Without that, the episode formula has no depth. I also like the idea of watching a doll get recruited. What if Ballard became a doll? Or whether it was Ballard or not, somebody working with the mole in the Dollhouse gets recruited as a doll, but secretly keeps his/her personality? At the very least, Echo needs to recover some personality and try to keep it secret from her fellow dolls and handlers. Intrigue, a reason to care about the main character, that kinda thing.

Also, Dushkhu isn’t Ingrid Bergman or anything but I think her performance will improve if she’s given an emotional reality to live in that lasts longer than ten minutes, a character she can play across episodes. Plus if she had her own character, who had to play along with her imprints and pretend to be blank without them, her inability to fully sell the material she’s given at least makes sense as part of the story

Comment on Toying with Dollhouse by Laura

Laura — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:35:08 +0000

Oh also, that episode was the first time we really dug deep into the psyche of a client of the Dollhouse. It explored why someone would hire a doll. In this case it was kind of sad and poetic, but then still had a dirty tinge (because obvi he fucks her).

We got little hints of the clients in prior eps (like the guy who played The Most Dangerous Game with Echo). But never to the depths I would have liked. I find the psyche of the clients to be a more interesting realm to explore, rather than the dolls. In the Dollhouse world, the Dollhouse is established (and all over the world, apparently). Learning about its history is relevant, but it’s more interesting to understand what about the human condition continues to maintain a market for its services.

I’d also like them to deal with the issue of slavery/human trafficking more directly (like have an episode where they recruit and brainwash a new doll). But I guess it’s hard to shift a show’s focus when its sole purpose is to be an Eliza Dushkhu masturbation fest (ok I’m totally a hater).

Comment on Toying with Dollhouse by Laura

Laura — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:23:29 +0000

The show’s fatal flaw is that Eliza Dushkhu has no range. But maybe I’m just a hater.

That episode did make me say “Oh shit!” out loud at the flower in the vase part. The show has its moments, but it needs to string those moments together more cohesively and continue to deliver “Oh shit!” surprises to keep me as a viewer.