Sunday!
The first Dirty Harry movie was a fairly sharp criticism of the criminal justice system and, by stacking the deck, made one heck of an interesting argument about the state of the balance between the need to respect the rights of criminals and what impact that has on the victims of these criminals. Of course, the movie had its thumb on the scale insofar as it came out and told us “THIS GUY DID IT” rather than, say, giving us a fair amount of uncertainty about whether the cops were on the right track after finding evidence of a crime and then trying to figure out where the evidence pointed and what they could prove.
The message resonated a little bit too much, though, and the filmmakers realized that they were not absolutely *NOT* arguing for vigilantism. So they made Magnum Force (“a man’s got to know his limitations”) and made the primary antagonists a bunch of cops who went around shooting the criminals who got arrested and made it to trial… but got off on technicalities. (Those darned technicalities!) And so Harry eventually has to shoot these vigilante cops. By the book, mostly.
Which brings me to the new season of Daredevil.
Season One dealt with the problems of a corrupt system and the ability of really big bad guys to twist it and make it protect them rather than protect the victims of these criminals… and how a guy going out and acting on his own might be necessary.
Which means that Season Two is the a conversation about how, no, we got the wrong message from the first season.
The Punisher is one of the most interesting bad guys in the Marvel Universe. He’s achieved a level of interesting that makes people say “he’s got a point” and then, next thing you know, he morphs into one of the most uninteresting good guys in the Marvel Universe.
The good thing about this season is that Punisher is back to being a bad guy.
![Marvel's Daredevil - Season 2 | Daredevil & The Punisher Featurette [HD] | Netflix](https://i0.wp.com/i.ytimg.com/vi/Ep7UlDRAE58/0.jpg?resize=720%2C388&ssl=1)
So… what are you reading and/or watching?
(Featured Image is “Edison’s Telephonoscope” by George du Maurier from Punch Almanack for 1879)
I’ve been bingeing on American Horror Story: Asylum. Sheesh, it’s like a clean-out-the-fridge stew of disparate horror tropes. It’s certainly interesting, but only just barely sorta, kinda, hangs together. For all that, though, I have to say, for what it is — whatever the hell that is — it’s very well done.Report
I had this amazingly modern experience yesterday that is only possible in the digital age. I’ve been binging on The 100 on Netflix which is another post-apocolyptic story but with some interesting new angles. Finished Season 1 and was starting to feel sad and then realized there was a whole second season I was unaware of. Happy days! So I saved it for my work trip this week where I can watch a few episodes each night guilt-free.Report
From the other side of the technology divide, I’ve been reading bits and pieces of old “airplane novels.” For the youngsters, those are thick paperbacks with some sex, some violence, minimal character development, and a fairly straight-line story that moves along at a brisk pace. Back in the day when Bell Labs (and subsequently, various parts of the dismantled Bell System) were sending me about the country, one of my stops on the way through the airport was at the book store to pick up an airplane novel. My project to replace at least part of the enormous mass of books in our house with EPUBs ran into a double-rowed shelf full of the damned things.
Now I’m wondering just how many trips the Labs sent me on, and why I don’t remember more of them.Report
Savoring, yes SAVORING, Ubik. Limiting myself to a chapter a night, letting the ideas and thoughts it generates wash over me, as opposed to just devouring it a sitting. So, also reading more John Buchan thrillers.
Watched Gods Pocket last night, one of Phillip Seymore Hoffmans last movies. A very black comedy, that doesn’t always strick the right notes for a given situation, but not bad.Report
Been working my way through Person of Interest, now on Season 3.
Sooner or later I need to watch the comic book stuff (Agents of Shield, Green Arrow, Flash, Daredevil, Jessica Jones…)Report
1:48:49!!! Wahoo! New PR! Snow stayed away. Still cold but decent conditions including a run through a car-free Times Square.Report
Congrats@kazzy! My knees would have given out long before that, so I am running vicariously though you.Report
The kids (both home for the break) and I watched the first episode of Louis CK’s Horace and Pete. It’s very much a filmed play, with only one or two sets, and the actors keep going after muffing a line. It’s generally described as a comedy-drama, the first part is only because of Louis’s involvement — it’s not a comedy in any way, The cast is outstanding: Alan Alda (completely different from anything I’ve ever seen him in), Steve Buscemi, Edie Falco, and Jessica Lange. Louis too, though he’s completely outclassed as an actor.
It’s very unpleasant, and may not be everyone’s cup of tea. (It’s set in a bar, but much more The Iceman Cometh than Cheers.) Still, I’d recommend checking it out.Report
I’ve been really enjoying Horace and Pete as well, although I’m a couple episodes behind now. It’s kind of like if Eugene O’Neill directed a season of Cheers. If you get the chance, watch through to at least the third episode: I’m curious to see your reaction to it.Report
Didn’t really read last week, much, and the two things I’m in the middle of are hugemungous.
Watched some movies and tv on the planes. Carol was wonderful, In Their Own Words: Jim Henson was only mediocrely made but b/c Jim Henson, was still super-interesting, and The Muppets (new one) was… difficult. Sometimes it was High School Musical-y or The Larry Sanders Show-y (neither of those things are good), sometimes it captured the spirit of the old Muppets perfectly. I went back and forth from “ugh, must stop watching,” to swooning with delight many times, in 4 episodes. Might watch more episodes or might not. One technical note: WAYYYYYYYY not enough stuff blowing up!!!Report
I started watching season 4 of Homeland. Was curious to see where the show was going to go post-Brody.
I am having very confusing feelings about the show. On the one hand, much of it is incredibly ham-fisted. At the same time, there are moments where I realize that I am watching the best fictional critique of the war on terror that I’ve seen yet. The former makes me wonder if the latter is a complete accident. I’m only five episodes in, so I guess that I will find out.Report
I watched the first three seasons. Rarely has a show combined “very good and intelligent” and “completely preposterous and stupid” to the degree Homeland is capable of.Report
The fourth season was a bit of a mixed bag, IMO, but I really enjoyed the recent fifth season, which relocates the show to Berlin. It’s worth checking out, assuming you’re still interested after Season 4.Report
Is “outro” a real word?
My friend the musician thought he had just made up a word, and people were just humoring him…
But then it appeared on a TV show we were watching (by some of his friends, so they might have picked the term up from him…)…
Wikipedia says: yes, real word. still a portmanteau, of course, but it’s got more widespread usage than just a dude and his friends.Report
Your friend the musician never heard of the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DUEAG5eO6cReport
I interrupted my re-watch of Breaking Bad (of which I’m about 2/3rds of the way through) to watch the new season of Punchlord (which is what I call Daredevil). I was excited about Jon Bernthal as the Punisher when his casting was first announced, and he’s proven to be even better in the role than I’d imagined — he is absolutely killing it on this show, both literally and figuratively (I’m pretty sure he’s racked up an on-screen body count in the triple digits by the time the season is over); he basically steals every scene he’s in. The first season I’d give something like a B+, but this new season is absolutely an A in my book, evolving the themes the first season presented and really taking the storytelling and production to the next level, along with the fight cinematography.Report
One, I’m totally stealing Punchlord.
Second, I can’t think of the Punsher without this popping into my head.Report
Bernthal brought an energy and intensity to early Walking Dead as well. I’m interested to see him here.Report
I am only two episodes in, and have been told that it is in Episode 3 that the show reaches a whole new level, but so far I have two beefs with Season 2 (only minor spoilers):
(1) They hit you over the head with the Daredevil caused The Punisher narrative, and
(2) Perhaps my favorite aspect of Season 1 was the brutality and chaos of the fight scenes. There was no romanticism in that violence: it was dirty, sweaty, bloody violence. When Daredevil fought even ordinary tough guys (as opposed to superhumanly tough guys like Kingpin or Punisher, it was a real struggle with every part of their bodies. It was almost difficult to watch (and I almost stopped watching), which is how violence should affect us, I think.
In Season 2, the fight scenes feel highly choreographed, and look as much like dancing as fighting. Those involved in creating them are clearly fans of kung fu movies and the recent Batman trilogy, and the fights have completely lost the edge they had on Season 1. It is not at all off-putting. They kept the thrill and lost everything else. I find that disappointing. Report
Ugh, the fight scenes get even more blatantly choreographed, and the hand feeding us the “you created me” narrative with respect to Punisher gets even heavier, in episode 3. This season isn’t bad, but 3 episodes in it has a long way to go to catch up to Season 1.Report
Are any of the lawyers here knowledgeable about copyright across international borders? A. Merritt’s old lost-world fantasy novel Dwellers in the Mirage passed out of copyright in Australia, but remains covered in the US. If I read a public-domain copy from a server in Australia, surely someone is breaking some law somewhere. But who, and where?Report
Merritt’s pretty cool. Love the Moon Pool and the Ship of Ishtar. Haven’t read Dwellers, but I’ve run across this situation a lot in pulp fiction from that era — public domain there, but not here. I assume its solely a matter of international treaty. I don’t like to read fiction on-line, so don’t follow that aspect too closely.Report
What I know about international copyright law is this.
1. Most European nations and their spinoff colonies subscribe to something called “moral right,” which substantially inhibits the creation of derivative works without the artist’s permission. So if you read something credited to Merritt chances are really good it’s what Merritt wrote.
2. There is a global clearinghouse of copyright registrations, called the World Intellectual Property Organization. If you’re going to market a work of art globally, you need a WIPO registry to keep track of where your works are really protected and where you only think they are.
3. For the love of fish, don’t violate a copyright in the UK. Her Majesty’s legal system will come down on you hard. No, if you’re going to violate a copyright, do it in the PRC. Which ostensibly has robust IP laws of its own, but for some reason they don’t seem to get enforced for works deriving from outside the PRC’s borders.
Aaaaand that’s it. Maybe one of my sister or brother lawyers can supplement this.Report