Susan Hated Literature

Edit: cause I can’t be bothered to write a whole new post Over the weekend I caught half an episode of Charmed, but then again it seems to be trying to compete with The Simpsons, what with its being on almost every station. But this was new Charmed. Now, normally I wouldn’t blog about Charmed. It is bubble-gum tv. Not even worth remembering. But, but, Billy Zane, was in it. Now I know he hadn’t been in any big/middling films for a while. But, come on, surely he can do better than Charmed. But^[1] Cole was also in it. Cole is the only reason for watching Charmed. We luvs Cole^[2] and his being the Source of all Ebil. And it even seemed to hint that he may be back again. Is this right? What about Nip/Tuck. I was actually about to flick over when I saw it was charmed on the telly, but then I spotted the names in the credits, and seeing Julian McMahon though, ooh, middling season Charmed. I can watch this. And then Billy Zane, and I was intrigued. When I found out it was a new ep I was a little meh, as I figured that it’d be Cole-flashbacks. Which’d be no fun. But no. Real Cole. All be it non-corporeal, not really there, dead, cursed Cole. But still. Not sure if it is enough to make me try and tune in again though.

sigh. sigh. and sigh again.

I’ve just finished watching all my stolen^[3] episodes of The Inside .

Why, pray tell, do all the good shows die young? 13 episodes is all we got. First Firefly, now The Inside. Okay, not now, because it was last year when it got the axe, but my point is still valid.

Then again, if Firefly hadn’t've been cancelled we wouldn’t've had The Inside now would we?

Anyways, The Inside, a show unafraid of the pain and the dark, the scary places where people are really really fucked up. But also a show that has actual humour, and great dialogue. It even postponed my Veronica Mars watching. But I’m all caught up now. At least that hasn’t been cancelled yet.

And I know, The Inside was another police procedural thingy. But despite its parallels with Profiler^[4] this was a really great show. I mean, where else are you going to come across a show that isn’t afraid to have complicated characters who aren’t all that interested in helping everyone out? Plus it has loads of little shout outs to Tim’s other shows. I especially liked the scene where Paul tells Danny(Adam Baldwin, ie Jayne from Serenity) that he went to see a movie. A western in space to be specific

Oh yeah, and Happy Easter everyone.

13 Episodes:
Created by Tim Minear & Howard Gordon
Dir: Tim Minear, Allan Kroeker, Nick Gomez, Dwight Little, James Contner, Marita Grabiak, Fred Gerber, Karen Gaviola, Vern Gillum, Kevin Hooks & Dwight Little

Writ: Tim Minear, Jane Espenson, David Fury, Ben Edlund, Craig Silverstein, Ahmed Lavalais, Karine Rosenthal, Richard Hatem, Rob Pearlstein & Mark Fish

• Rachel Nichols - Special Agent Rebecca Locke
• Adam Baldwin - Special Agent Danny Love
• Katie Finneran - Special Agent Melody Sim
• Nelsan Ellis - Carter Howard
• Jay Harrington - Special Agent Paul Ryan
• Peter Coyote - Special Agent Virgil “Web” Webster

Does the world really need another crime-fighting show? Maybe not but it definitely needs more Tim Minear shows. And it doesn’t hurt to have more Adam Baldwin around. Unfortunately, ratings, while not terrible were not great, and after only seven episodes it was pulled. Before cancellation 13 episodes in all were made, and recently ITV4 showed the full run, allowing those of us with access to the internet to take a peak.

The basic premise of The Inside was an elite group of FBI agents solving cases, mainly through psychological profiling. Cases that were chosen by the enigmatic Web. The opening episode saw the death of a member of the team, and Rebecca Locke came in as her replacement. But Locke had secrets of her own, as a child she was kidnapped and held for 18 months, escpaing with no memory of how, or what was done to her. Web usually finds some way of manipulating her into using this trauma to help her solve the cases.

So far, so pretty standard. A pretty blonde agent with a traumatic past. Although maybe hers is a little more extreme than other examples. But what makes The Inside work so well is the fact that it isn’t Law and Order or CSI: where-ever. Instead it was a smart, funny, and dark show that had such potential. Potential it never got to fulfil. Damn you cancelling Fox execs!

The Inside does follow a bit of a pattern in some of the episodes, but don’t all cop shows? The bad-guys have to get their come-uppance, but there were the beginnings of an arc there. There were some great characters, some wonderful dialogue. It deserved more than 13 episodes.

There were complaints in the states that it was overly grusome, and not fit for family viewing. And well, duh! I mean, its a show about seriel killers. Do you really expect it to be lightness and froth? But, despite having rapists, arsonists, murderers slashing pregnant women and leaving dolls behind, and general unpleasantness it actually is not that gorey. It hints rather than shows, although the fat dude was unpleasant to watch.

There have been rumours about a dvd release of The Inside, but at the moment this looks very unlikely, so if you want to watch this excellent show you’ll either have to find someone who has copies, wait for it to turn up on your local tv stations, or find the torrents.

IMDb | Tim Minear.net | blog_eric(x) | ModBlog

Inniú I went down to take a look at the military parade we had in Dublin to mark the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Rising. I didn’t make it out early enough so didn’t try to find a space on O’Connell St, it was packed. Instead d’fhán mé on Parnell St. So I didn’t hear the reading of the proclamation, or any of the speeches. Which may be a good thing, I’m not sure. But the parade^[1] itself was a little strange.

We don’t do miltary parades. We haven’t had one in almost 40 years, cause of Northern Ireland and all that.

But if you’ve ever seen any of the British military-type parades on the telly you’ll know that they are all flag-waving, almost triumphalist, displays of pomp and ceremony. Well, there was no confusing our parade today with that. I’m not saying that ours was any better because it wasn’t. Nor any worse. Just that it was clearly an Irish event^[2] It was quite fun. Especially the triúr buachaillí who turned up halfway through and ended up near me. Is dóigh liom they were all brothers, and all under ten. They were delighra to see the guns, tanks and “Bazookas! Look at de bazookas” They were also very impressed with the airplanes and helicopters that flew over.

But they were grinning from ear to ear when a few of the soldiers accompanying tanks shook their hands and others gave them high fives.

So whatever else it may have been, the parade was very much a success from a PR point of view. And it was nice to see ordinary soldiers on parade. The only other time we’d really see them is the marching bands on Patrick’s day, and usually people are more interested in the floats and sweets being thrown from other participants.

RTÉ have a special section on their website devoted to their archives from the Cuimhneachán 1916. That’d be their coverage of the 1966 Golden Jubilee events. The site does seem to be undergoing some work though. I was on it yesterday and some links weren’t working. They’ve been taken down today and its slightly reorganised.

Agus ná rinne dearmad ar LunaNina.
Dúirt sí:

1. Ambition ::
2. Meatloaf ::
3. Celebrity ::
4. Coach ::
5. Slacker ::
6. Reflection ::
7. Original ::
8. Risk ::
9. Saved ::
10. June ::

So I say:

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