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Breaking patterns

So away we go...

Last Five
All from "The King is Dead" by The Decemberists
Posted by towniebastard at 11:13 am 3 comments: 

The guy in front

So, funny thing...I went to a press conference and I had this guy sitting in front of me. Yeah, so that was unexpected. Went to the press conference, grabbed a chair and next think I know the prime minister of Canada is sitting in front of me. Gotta confess, the urge to noggie him just hit me and was almost overwhelming there for a few minutes. Thankfully it passed. I suspect that goes into the books as one of those "five seconds of amusement, several years of pain" ideas.

So yeah, there he was. Oh, and for the person who asked on Facebook, no, he didn't smell evil. The woman speaking is Nunavut's premier, who is a touch on the short side.

This is actually the first time I've been around this prime minister. I've meet/been around two previous ones - Martin and Chretien - but never Harper. It's interesting in that he really does not come across well in photos and video. In person he didn't come across as stiff and awkward. There was a warmth and charm there. It's very odd. Something clearly gets lost in the transition from real life to video.

The other amusing thing was after the press conference myself and the people I went to the press conference with were stranded because none of us had our cars today. So along walks the mayor, notices we're waiting for a taxi and offers a lift. So we all climb into her pick-up and get a ride. She was also apologizing for the dog fur as I was climbing over a piece of baleen from a whale that she had in the back seat. Gotta love the north...

1. Missionary man - Eurythmics
2. The crooked line - Elvis Costello
3. Whose gonna ride your wild horses - U2
4. Prison grove - Warren Zevon
5. You won't succeed on Broadway (if you don't have any Jews) - Spamalot Cast Recording*
Posted by towniebastard at 10:22 pm 4 comments: 

Eskimo Pop

On a scale of 1-10 how wrong (with 10 being deeply, catastrophically wrong) is it to order this t-shirt from Threadless to wear around town? 1. Lines on palms - Josh Pyke* (seriously the album "Memories and Dust" is well worth buying)
2. Rock problems - The Hold Steady
3. The spell that you cast - Elvis Costello
4. Immersed (live) - Allison Crowe
5. Green onions (live) - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Posted by towniebastard at 11:31 pm 7 comments: 

Funny women

This is a touch dated, but I recall thinking at the time that I wanted to write about how stupid it was, but couldn't figure out how to do it. Then inspiration struck...

The story in question was this particular idiot, Edie Brill. Eddie got himself in some trouble recently by saying that women aren't particularly funny. Which might be fine if he was another shmuck mouthing off online. The problem was he was (note the tense) the comedy booker for the David Letterman Show. His comments didn't go over well, as he is now the ex-booker.

I understand he's talking about professional comedians here, but there is the implied statement in there that women overall aren't very funny. It's not the first time I've heard this and it is, of course, insane. I wouldn't have married Cathy if she didn't have a sense of humour. And if I had to pick the three funniest people I know, two of them are women.

The one guy is Seamus, who is actually a semi-professional stand-up comedian. He's performed at Yuk Yuks, made it to standup finals in Newfoundland, carried a notebook to jot down ideas (probably still does) and worked to polish his set. He could actually be a very, very good stand-up comedian, but in order to do that you have to actually suffer years of rejection and torture before making it. I think he ultimately took a look at that and decided it wasn't the life for him. Which, you know, fair enough. For every Chris Rock, Louis CK and Patton Oswalt there are thousands of stand-ups who go nowhere, no matter how much sweat they put into it.

But he's a hell of a funny guy. He quoted me one of his routines, which bombed because the audience was totally wrong for his humour, and he had me crying I was laughing so hard.

As for the women, well, first we have Andrea...Andrea has been killing me for years. Whenever I go back to St. John's these days, time conspires against me and I don't have time to visit everyone. I always make time for Andrea, because she's brilliant. It's just dry, sarcastic humour, but it's awesome stuff.

We became friends during the mid-90s...I've never been much of a drinker, but I still liked going to bars for the social aspect. I loved going out to bars with Andrea because she would sit on her favourite stool at the Duke, men would buy her drinks and then she would just eviscerate them...I mean it was a Masters class in male ego destruction (if I'm honest, it probably was indirectly responsible for my miserable luck with trying to ask women out at that point in time because I just assumed they could all do what Andrea did). And they would keep coming back for more. Several times a night, some idiot would buy her a pint, she would take it, they would hit on her and then she would crush them with her wit. I would just sit next to her, keep my head down and try not to fall off to stool from laughing so hard.

It's always been that way. She's smart, quick and priceless. Last week was a pretty miserable week for me and a lot of my friends. It was genuinely hard to find some laughs. After a funeral service and an impromptu wake on Middle Cove Beach, several of us retired to the Ship for a drink. During the course of chatting, we had a conversation that went something like this:

Me: Are you working tonight?
Andrea: Yeah..
Me: So who's playing?
Andrea: Some fucking wanker DJ playing with his Macbook on a stack of milk crates...
Me: (head on the table laughing)
Andrea: And the only thing worse than the DJs are the crowd of assholes they attract. Is it really so hard to find clothes that fit? The guys all wear baggy shit and the girls are barely wearing anything. Christ...

On a bad day, where humour was scarce, God love her for finding a laugh...

I'm going to hold back the name of the other person, just because she works in the courts. But her stories from the courts crack me up. I can't even relate them because I'm reasonably sure I could get her in trouble. But whenever I need a laugh I can just ask her how court was and she can reliably relate something that seems too impossible to be believed.

A recent example.
Me: How's court today?
Her: The usual band of miscreants. The courthouse smells like chip fat and Belevedere tobacco.


Her: I am an evil bitch who takes joy in the suffering of others. It's a career strength.


Me: Dealing with any criminal retards today?

Her: Alleged criminal retards...

I seriously pity anyone who has to go up against her in court. Again, smart, quick, devastatingly cutting and absolutely hilarious. I swear to God, if I ever get back to writing again seriously, there is a TV show waiting about her court adventures that would be some bizarre mutant hybrid between Republic of Doyle, Night Court and Ally McBeal...

Could the two of them be stand-up comedians? Probably, but it would be a serious waste of their gifts.

Look, if you're saying you don't know any funny women, then you just must not know many women or have your head up your ass. Men should be frankly scared of how funny women are.

Lord knows I should be, but I'm normally too busy laughing to be too worried...

1. Nothing more to say - Joel Plaskett Emergency
2. Firecracker (live) - Elton John and Ryan Adams
3. Amazing Grace (live) - Ani DiFranco
4. Long time comin' - Bruce Springsteen
5. The boy who could explode - Matthew Good*
Posted by towniebastard at 11:51 am 1 comment: 

In requiem: Glenn Banfield

Rest in peace, my friend...
Posted by towniebastard at 11:18 pm 5 comments: 

Review: Republic of Doyle, Season 3, episode 6

So, let's try some writing again before this becomes one of these things were I get out of the habit. Although honestly, this is the first day I've felt half way human. The last week has been absolutely brutal. I've actually written something about the last week, but I'd like a friend of mine, who has had a far, far, far worse week than me, to take a look at it before I post it.

Anyway, onto more frivolous matters, this week's Doyle episode.

Not exactly a secret that I had mixed feelings about the first four episodes of the season (I missed last week's, although I heard it was all right). The problem was that they were slipping back into lazy habits with some of the characters. Plus bringing back annoying ones. It felt like a show slipping back into its first season rather than striking forward into its third.

This one had a bit of this as well, diving back into the Jake/Leslie storyline, but considering she spent most of the season pissed off with him it had to be dealt with at some point. What brings them together is perhaps the stupidest armour truck robbery in history, coupled with criminal so stupid I actually have no problem they're from St. John's. The city is not exactly filled with criminal masterminds.

In subplot #2, Dez bumblingly tries to figure out what to do with the hot med student and fails to understand that med students basically don't sleep or have a life for about 6 years. In subplot #3, we find out at least partially what's going on with Kathleen, Mal's daughter. Short answer, she's a skank. As I noted before, Mal's a nice guy. Crap dad, but nice guy.

The main story was actually pretty straight forward. Dumb criminals (I mean, seriously dumb criminals) rob an armour truck. Leslie and Jake just happen to be there, intervene and then get stuck in the back of the truck.

The fun thing isn't the plot itself at this point. What is fun is the Leslie/Jake interaction. There's some seriously sleezy attempts on Jake's part to win her over. It's hilariously awful and she's having no part of it right up until he gets shot. But the dialogue really works between the two of them and there is nice chemistry between the two of them.

It's also nice to see that Jake wasn't in charge when they were trapped in the van. She's a cop, she's the one that's in charge and she let's him know it. Although the line about how good a shot she is would be more impressive if she actually managed to hit someone when firing at the crooks. The scenes between the two of them are the highlight of the show, even if you have to accept the fact that the cops in St. John's are deeply stupid (of course they would never think of going to the apartment of one the crooks, even after he's been identified. Only Jake and Dez would come up with that idea). Then again, it's not like Doyle has ever really portrayed the cops in town as being anything other than marginally brain dead.

So yeah, that worked. Not the greatest mystery of the week, but I'll take a slightly dumb, but amusing, mystery if the actors are crackling, which Jake and Lelie were this time around. This has been a decent turnaround season for Leslie, considering how awful last season was for her. Pity about the reset at the end, but hardly unexpected. Tune in next time when Jake will do something stupid with another woman and Leslie will walk in during an unfortunate moment, leading to a Three's Company situation...

As for the Dez subplot, it was all right. Cathy was cracking up, but a little Dez bumbling goes a long way for me, and this evening there was a lot of Dez bumbling. But it did give a few amusing moments, including the scene where Jake tricked him into being handcuffed to the bed.

As for the Kathleen is a skank subplot, well, it did give Rose something to do, offered up one crackling piece of dialogue and managed to make Tinny look sympathetic. So I guess it worked, although it would be nice if Mal would clue in at some point the spectacular amount his kids are fuck-ups.

Quotes of the week:
"I'll do worse if you don't shoo"
"Did you just shoo me?" - Leslie and Jake

"Where's Jake. It's the second Friday of the month"
"Oh my God, half price whiskey tasting..." - Mal and Rose, beginning to realize there's something deeply wrong if Jake isn't around.

"I didn't do anything wrong."
"I don't care. That's irrelevant information. Go. Now." - Kathleen's latest winner and Rose, laying the smack down.

"I'm trapped in the back of an armoured van with you and I'm lucky." - Leslie

"I should have gotten shot a long time ago." - Jake

"Honestly, I like you better half naked, but that jacket looks good on you." - Jake

"Walk it off. Oh, and for the record, I'm glad you're not dead." - Mal, father of the year.

"Sleep well, son, because I'm going to murder you when you wake up. Stop being an idiot." Mal, father of the year.

1. Miles to go - Allison Krauss and Union Station
2. Some boys - Death Cab For Cutie
3. Rise up with fists - Jenny Lewis*
4. Lonely lonely - Feist
5. Grey day - Madness
Posted by towniebastard at 11:45 pm 5 comments: 

Potter review 

No Doyle

No Doyle review this week. Cathy and I are back in St. John's for personal reasons and reviewing TV shows is pretty low on the priority list right now. Blogging resumes on Sunday. Doyle reviews continue next week.
Posted by towniebastard at 9:50 pm 1 comment: 

Graphic review

Time for one of my infrequent graphic novel reviews. Nothing quite like a nice batch of them showing up from Chapters to put a smile on my face. And just so that people aren't completely lost, I'll mention whether or not I think they're suitable for general readers or the more dedicated fan. They're also not going to be huge, lengthy reviews...more of a general overview.

1. Captain America: The Trial of Captain America - When it's all said and done writer Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America is going to go down as one of the best the character has ever had. Well plotted out, dramatic, espionage with a ton of action and good use of supporting characters. Aside from massively overblown events like the Death of Captain America, the series has held up pretty well.

But it's been struggling for awhile now, pretty much ever since the Reborn (when the original Captain America got better after being dead. It happens) series. It's just not felt as tight. As if Brubaker had a story in mine, completed it, but is still sticking around. That coupled with the inability to keep a regular series artist is really dragging it down. I'm collecting the series on momentum as much as anything else, and that only carries you so far.

I can't really recommend it, for either hardcore of casual fans.

2. Wolfskin: Hundredth Dream - I'm a huge Warren Ellis fan and will buy anything he writes. Having said that, Ellis does misfire from time to time. Welcome to one of the misfires.

This is his take on Conan the Barbarian. But since it's an original character - meaning he doesn't have to worry about what the copyright holders think - and he's with an small independent publisher, the violence is completely over-the-top. Which is fine because I knew that going in. It's when Ellis tries to wedge in conversation about the changing of the world and the harsh realities of technology into the mix that it really goes off the rail. It actually feels clumsy, which Ellis never is.

I love his work, but his heart wasn't in this and it shows. Not recommended for casual or hardcore fans.

3. FreakAngels, Volume 6 - It's the sixth and final volume of the FreakAngels series, so if you haven't been reading it, I'm not sure I can recommend buying this one book. But I do recommend going and getting the series. And in case you weren't sure if a series about 12 strange British kids who destroy the world (or think they do) and what happens next, you can actually read it online, for free, here.

This really is Ellis in better command of his considerable storytelling abilities. It's fun, clever, has plenty of laugh out loud moments and Paul Duffield does a good job on the art duties. I recommend the series for both casual and hardcore fans.

4. Jim Henson's Storyteller - For those of you with a good memory, once upon a tim Jim Henson did a network TV show involving puppets trying to tell classic stories. It was quite good and entirely too smart for network TV, which promptly cancelled it. This book is a collection of stories and fables with the Storyteller recounting the stories to his dog.

Like any anthology, there are hits and misses. For example, I have big crush on Colleen Coover and her artwork, so her story "The Milkmaid and her pail" is simply gorgeous and a ton of fun. "Puss in Boots" by Marjorie Lui and Jennifer Meyer is beautiful and touching. But others fall kind of flat. But for the most part, it's still a fun little book, pretty kid friendly and reasonably priced. Recommended for casual and hardcore fans.

5. Atomic Robo and the Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne, Volume 1 - With a title like that, how can this book be anything other than awesome? I picked this book on a lark after reading some online reviews. Good move on my part.

In the 1920s, under mysterious circumstances Nikola Tesla created a robot with an artificial intelligence who then proceeded to have all manner of adventures over the decades. Including fighting Nazis. One of the book's blurbs said imagine taking an Iron Man suit and sticking Indiana Jones inside it and you have an idea of what the book is about. I'd throw in a bit of Hellboy for flavour. Oh, and the art is lovely too. A perfect match for the kind of swashbuckling action/adventure story being told.

It's just a hellacious amount of fun - Nazis, giant Nazi robots, giant ants, wandering pyramids and an explanation as to why Stephen Hawking is a bastard. Irresistible. Go and buy it now.

6. Hitman: Tommy's Heroes - This is volume 5 of 7 for the Hitman series, so buying this book alone is going to leave you just a touch confused. But the series as a whole remains one of my favourites from the 90s. Tommy Monaghan is, well, a hitman. Kills people for money. But this the DC Universe, which means he has super powers (x-ray vison and telepathy) and he'll only kill bad people or super-villains (and the occasional escapee who gains powers from the nearby nuclear power plant).

So yeah, it has it's deeply silly moments. But it also hits on writer Garth Ennis usual themes of loyalty and friendship. This volume features Tommy and his friend Natt dealing with the fallout of a screw-up when they were soldiers during the Gulf War (accidentally killing SAS is a bad idea), an attempt to go to Africa to try and do the right thing (and make money) and a bit of an origin which is, of course, quite tragic.

It also has, no kidding, one of the best Superman stories ever written. Go figure. Recommended for hardcore fans.

7. X-Factor: Scar Tissue - This is volume 12 of the series and it's buried in X-Men storytelling, so really, if you're not already reading it, or the X-Men titles you're going to have a hard time understanding what's going on.

Having said that, it's still a fun little title. Writer Peter David is one of the most unappreciated writers in Marvel's stable. All he does is consistently write a good book, come up with clever ideas and juggle a large cast. It's good enough that I have all 12 volumes of the series at least. Recommended for hardcore fans.

8. Chase - I bought this because it was one of those cult classic series of the 90s that DC launched and promptly cancelled. It's being reprinted now because the co-writer and artist on the series is J.H. Williams, who is one of the hottest writers and artists being published now. This came out when he was new and relatively unknown.

Wish I could recommend it, but it's a clunky series and you can see flashes of what Williams ended up becoming, but he's not there yet. And while the character of Chase - an investigator with the Department of Extranormal Affairs which monitors super hero activity - is interesting, the stories do nothing for me. The whole book is kind of all over the place. Not recommended.

9. Batgirl: The Lesson - Let us ponder for a moment, the general idiocy of DC Comics editorial decision making policy. This trade features a new Batgirl, Stephanie Brown. She's had a trouble past, what with being the daughter of one Batman's villains, became a super hero called Spoiler, became Robin, died, then came back (it happens) and took over the role of Batgirl, an identity that everyone opposed her assuming, including the previous Batgirl, Barbara Gordon.

Yet the series was tremendous fun. She's smart, determined, trying to make amends, occasionally screws up, but learns from her mistakes and tries to do better. And the dialogue just crackles, no other word for it. Barbara Gordon acts as her mentor, also known as Oracle. She's in a wheelchair, yet is also smart, determined and highly dangerous. The series was beloved by many, but especially women, who loved the two leads. It was a girl friendly comic. It was a comic that showed people with a disability can be strong and make a difference.

So naturally DC cancelled the series during it's massive reboot last fall, got rid of Stephanie altogether, cured Barbara and made her Batgirl again, succeeding in pissing off just about everyone.

sigh The Lesson is the third and final volume of this series. Buy it after you've bought the other two. Enjoy this fun little book. Then curse DC. A lot. Highly recommended for casual and hardcore fans.

10. Batman: The Black Mirror - Speaking of weirdness, there's a couple of things off the top you need to know. First, Batman is in the story, but not Bruce Wayne. At the time, he was dead (he got better) so this Batman is Dick Grayson, formally Robin, stepping into he breach. Second, it features a character I have literally wondered what had happened to him for 25 years - Commissioner Gordon's son, James. And third, this is quite possible one of the best Batman stories I've read in years, if not decades.

What we have here is several stories - a broker selling Batman villain gear to the rich, how a killer whale got inside a bank, a Joker story - all mixed together with the larger story of who is James Gordon and is he as dangerous as some people think he is.

Scott Snyder puts together a hell of a story, ably assisted by Jock and Francesco Francavilla (Jock is going to win awards for the cover he put together featuring the Joker). It's the easiest thing in the world to not expect much from this story. It's not the "real" Batman, it's as much a character piece for Commissioner Gordon as it is a Batman story. But it's a hell of piece of work. Christopher Nolan, if he was doing a fourth Batman movie, would rob material from this. It's that good. Highly recommended for casual and hardcore fans.

1. Nutune - Drive
2. I was meant for the stage - The Decemberists
3. Panama - Van Halen
4. Hallelujah (live) - Leonard Cohen *
5. Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out) - Arcade Fire
Posted by towniebastard at 5:13 pm No comments: 

By air or by sea

If you were to ask people in Nunavut nagging inconvenience (not to be confused with actual major life and death issues like the high suicide rates, for example) the quality of internet services available in the territory would certainly make most people's top 5 list.

For example, I'm watching a friend of mine, who lives just up the road, venting on Facebook as I write, about her internet speed this evening. Her download is 40.4 mbs, and her upload is 127 mbs. For those of you with any tech savvy living down south, you're probably doing a spit take. But numbers like that, even for those on "high speed" internet are quite typical. She's also probably paying more than $100 a month for that with harsh limits on how much she can use it before the rather severe financial penalties kick in for exceeding it.

But what's interesting is in the last few weeks, we're seeing a bit of a battle for what the next generation of internet servicing the north is going to look like.

In this corner we have Doug Cunningham who is pitching, no kidding, a $600 million fibre-optic cable stretching from Tokyo, Japan to London, England via a route that takes it through the Canadian Arctic. And since it's going through the arctic, well, why not connect it to a bunch of communities along the way, giving the north it's first real taste of what people down south take for granted.

I have to admit, the first time I heard this my finally tuned Sprung Sense went off. Sprung Sense is something all Newfoundlanders have, whose name comes from the disastrous Sprung Greenhouse. Basically, it's the ability to spot a businessman who is pitching something awesome, that people in an area really want, but may well just be someone looking to get a hefty government loan before vanishing into the woodwork and screwing everyone in his wake. Over the decades, Newfoundlanders have had ample experience in dealing with con men promising the moon and the stars, before fleeing with taxpayer dollars.

I'd never heard of Cunningham before and the fact he was talking about running a cable from St. John's to Iqaluit by 2013 and there had been no discussion that I had heard of regarding an Inuit Impact and Benefits Agreement (Article 26 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement) which people here A. Take very, very seriously and B. Aren't normally completed in a few days (try years) my Sprung Sense was going off like crazy.

Except maybe there is something to it. Telesat, who supplies satellite internet to the north now (My internet is through Telesat) comes out today at the Northern Lights Trade Show and says it's willing to invest $40 million. So I guess they're taking Cunningham somewhat seriously.

Of course, $40 million sounds good, until you realize they're saying $160 million is needed, so that governments will have to pony up the other $120 million. And, oh yeah, that will double capacity over the next 10 years. If you doubled capacity tomorrow it still wouldn't be nearly enough, so I'm not exactly wowed by plans to double it over 10 years.

Although at least there are plans floating around. I should be happy for that much. At some point there has to be a commitment to improve internet services in the north. By air or by sea, I don't care. As long as it happens soon and as long as the improvements are significant.

1. Black helicopter (live) - Matthew Good*
2. Threshold - Beck
3. Before destruction - Spoon
4. Sun in the empty room - The Weakerthans
5. Albatross - Fleetwood Mac
Posted by towniebastard at 10:59 pm 1 comment: 

Review: Republic of Doyle, Season 3, Episode 4

I've made it pretty clear over the past couple of seasons of Republic of Doyle that there is no character I hate more than Garrison Steele. I mean, Jake's ex-wife Nikki is just awkward because it's no easy thing to write an ex-wife as a regular character of a TV show because most men don't have much interaction with their ex-wife. And Tinny is just being screwed by the writers who have never been able to figure out what to do with her.

But Steele is just such a....douchebag. Which is fine. You want to introduce a reoccurring pompous douchebag as a character, go crazy. But the problem is, the main character knows he's one, the audience damn well knows he's one, but no one else on the show can spot the blindingly obvious. Which makes them deeply stupid. And it's kind of hard to like anybody on a show with a douchebag and a cast of idiots.

Even if he got some kind of punishment at the end of the show...maybe. But no, he walks away smelling like roses and leaving the lead, who we like, frustrated and annoyed. I can only assume Victor Garber is a drinking buddy of the producers, or has incriminating photos, or possibly a summer home in Newfoundland, which are the only conceivable reasons they keep brining him back.

As it stands, this was the least annoying appearance on the show, which is pretty much the way of saying I've just had my least painful root canal. I guess the advantage is that at least he got punched a bunch of times. He didn't die, though. Pity. Maybe next season, and I'm sure they'll torture us again with him then.

Steele is back and is, well drunk. He's drunk pretty much most of the episode, actually. He's also in trouble with two different groups of people trying to kill him. And rather than doing the sensible thing like stepping out of the way and letting them actually do it, Jake agrees to help Steele...for a cut of his next book.

What follows involves more drinking, something rotten in the state of Denmark...literally as it turns out, and an angry porn producer. On the upside, at least the plot wasn't riddled with holes. On the downside, it wasn't very funny, and unless I missed something I have no idea how Jake knew where the stolen item was and, of course, Garrison Steele was in it.

In subplot #2, we have Jake dealing with the fall-out with sleeping with his ex. Again, no idea why this story was introduced, at all other than for a brief scene with Mal reminding Jake that the ex is not the one he's in love with, and to get his act together. Fine enough, but I'm not really sure why we had to drag back the ex, who was so nicely barely around in the second season.

In subplot #3 Tinny's mom returns from Alberta. Now, as likeable as Mal is in the show, and he's kind of the heart of the beast, there really is something to be said for his parenting skills when Jake is clearly the one who appears to not be a total fuck-up. Christian fought a drug problem and lies like he's breathing oxygen. His daughter appears to have shitty taste in men, had no problem abandoning her daughter for a couple of years, and is carrying around a gun.

If nothing else, they finally might be able to make Tinny sympathetic and give her something to do. I guess we'll find out what's happening next week.

Despite Steele not being as annoying as he could have been, I'd still call this a miss. Four episodes in and the show is batting 500.

One of the comments on my review last week indicated that I might be too hard on the show and I should just roll with it and accept it for the genre show it's aiming for. Which I understand, really. I'm not comparing this to The Wire or The West Wing or anything. The acting and production values of the show are pretty good, all things considered. The problem is the really inconsistant writing. It's always been my problem with the show.

I don't understand how they don't see the massive plot holes in some of the episode's this season. I fail to see how they can't grasp just how bad a character Garrison Steele is (note, I'm not shitting on Victor Garber who is, by all accounts, a hell of a nice guy and unfortunately a really good actor, because he succeeds too well in making Steel so annoying).

It's the deeply erratic writing, which is capable producing belly laughs one moment, and head-smackingly stupid ones mere seconds later, which is really stunting the show. Maybe if they brought in some outside help. Nothing to kill the local flavour or humour, but perhaps just point out when they've done deeply off the rails. Which seems to be happening again.



"You love? Like a human?" - Jake to Steele

"It would be different if she was the one, but we both know she's not." - Mal, to Jake about Nikki

"I'm like the Banksy of Newfoundland."
"More like the Bellhead from Outer Cove." - Des and Jake

1. You don't see me - Keane
2. Picadilly sand farewell - Ron Hynes
3. Hold my hand - Gramercy Riffs*
4. Runnin' with the devil - Van Halen
5. When I grow up - Garbage
Posted by towniebastard at 11:04 pm 3 comments: