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jasonc

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  1. jasonc
    This is the thread to discuss the 2013 NL East champions (The Nationals were second place).
  2. jasonc
    Go Braves!
  3. jasonc
    they missed this one: "Mimicry For Money: Behavioral Consequences Of Imitation" by Rick B. van Baaren et al in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
  4. jasonc
    I can't tell you how much I enjoyed reading this. And how interesting I think the life of a spy is. If I was in the area, I'd be there tonight.
  5. jasonc
    "The Broadcast" Writer: David Farr Season 6; Episode 7 Grade: B After a really weak sixth episode, this David Farr-written episode marked a return to the status quo. The plot was, of course, convoluted, but I think I have a general grasp on what is going on. This was a classic bottle episode, taking place primarily in a BBC studio, where delegates from Iran, the US and the UK were doing a townhall to announce their new peace accord. The peace accord was engineered by the Americans and British in reaction to Iran gaining nuclear capabilities. They realized that Iran was now a player, the time for aggression was over, and it was time to appease them. Much to my chagrin, I'm now drawing a blank on why this deal had to be announced publicly at a townhall meeting. I think it was meant to send a message that this was strictly a peaceful accord, so no suspicions would be raised. They managed to convince the Iranian special counsel to do it because they had custody of his wife and promised to put her into hiding in Vancouver BC. Well, things went terribly, terribly wrong (natch). It turns out that a the underground movement called Yalta had more or less engineered all of the season up until this point. They got the nuclear triggers to Iran because they felt that a check was needed on the Americans, just what this agreement would achieve. In fact, they knew everything about what the Spooks were up to even before they turned Ros. What they didn't expect was that one of their own moles within MI-5 would go rogue and attempt to uncover the whole plot. He hired some racist group to infiltrate the BBC broadcast and force the officials to tell the truth. Fortunately, the Spooks had put Adam Carter and Ros in the audience. A journalist ally of theirs was also there for reasons I never really grasped (he hooked up with Jo earlier in the season). They defused the situation. But of course Yalta had bugged Ros so they went to kill the Special Consul's wife at the end (who Adam was led to believe was already dead, because he loves her?). They managed to save her and she went on to beautiful Vancouver. At the end Ros and Adam went in for the kiss. As far as a Spooks episode goes, this episode was more-or-less straightforward. I can't say I have a strong idea of what is going on at this point, but it was certainly exciting. I'm less of a fan of the burgeoning relationship between Adam and Ros. They hooked up at the end of the last season, but that inexplicably stopped. Then Adam banged the special consul's wife and may or may not have gotten her pregnant. Ros was CLEARLY upset about this but couched it in terms of Adam losing his perspective and not being trustworthy anymore. Now that she's out of the picture, Adam wasted no time in getting on top of Ros again. After losing his wife a couple of seasons ago (and his son apparently getting written off the show), I can see how he might have lost his moorings. But this is exactly what they did with Tom as he lost everything held dear and eventually went off the rails. Perhaps because it's been done before, or perhaps because Adam is more a of a classic action hero hunk, it lacks the gravitas it did when it happened with Tom. Maybe I just never liked this character. Why am I writing about this?
  6. jasonc
    Spoiler Alert I just finished season 6 episode 6 "The Courier." This episode was penned by George Tiffin, the only writing credit of note on his IMDB page. It's a continuation of the season long plot about Iran attempting to become a nuclear power. It's convoluted as hell and sometimes I can't follow it. But I think the idea was that the Americans arranged a sale of a fake nuclear trigger in order to create a justification to invade Iran. Actually, now that I think about it, this whole plot line started in season 6 episode 1, in which the Spooks detonated a train in order to prevent an Iranian terrorist from entering the UK. But it turns out that he was carrying a virus that was released because of the explosion and caused a great deal of damage in Iran. There are suspicions that the British were indeed behind this, but I don't think it was ever proven. This is somehow related to the nuclear trigger issue, but I'm not sure how. Regardless, the Iranians were onto the fake trigger ploy and arranged to buy a working trigger (if it's this easy to get working triggers, one wonders how preventing this one deal would really help in the long run). The spooks worked this out and attempted to stop the eponymous courier from reaching Tehran with the working trigger. Agent Adam Carter was on the plane working with two main restrictions. (1) He didn't know which of the 85 passengers was the courier. (2) He couldn't act because the Iranians had rigged the UK water supply with a poison that would be released if the British tried to stop the plane. The resolution reminded me a lot of episodes in the earlier seasons in which the spooks completely botched the job. The poison was stopped from reaching the water supply by a matter of seconds. The plane was forced to land just before leaving European airspace. Unfortunately, when disembarking, the courier was able to slip the plans to man who drove off before the spooks could stop him (Adam Carter's efforts were frustrated by some Syrian soldiers). This was really just a confounding episode. The spooks were completely reckless in stopping the poison to the point that their bumbling efforts nearly killed millions. The British government managed to stop the plane and arranged to have all the passengers detained. Still, they weren't told not to arrest Adam Carter and to make sure a hand off didn't happen, which it clearly did. I should also say that some agents from a different branch were sent in to sweep the Spooks' HQ for bugs, because of some worry about a mole. Indeed, Ros (one of the main characters), recently turned double agent for a secretive group of Anti-American British. She had some bugs set up but in a moment of GROSS OVERSIGHT failed to disable them all before the sweepers came despite being warned about them. Well it turned out at the the end, in a "twist", that the sweepers were part of the shadow organization themselves and thus Ros was off the hook. One wonders, of course, that if these agents were working for the shadow organization, why they needed Ros to plant these to begin with.
  7. jasonc
    I'm not going to fight you there. I've heard great things.
  8. jasonc
    Ostensibly, only the ones that attack their detractors.
  9. jasonc
    I'm about halfway through season six now. It has gotten a lot better. At this point I can say that seasons 1-5, with a couple of exceptions that I won't get into now, were simply not good TV. They aren't worth your time. As I mentioned above, it was largely procedural, poorly drawn characters, confounding motivations, and huge plot holes. I suspect it only got that far because it was almost certainly impressive as being the British-made of its time with the highest production values. I think it's also noteworthy that prior to season six the show produced precisely zero breakout stars. Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield from Peter Jackson's The Hobbit) is introduced at some point later in the series and I'm greatly looking forward to that. Season six has been a remarkable improvement on previous seasons. The primary difference is the show has gone from one-offs (and really, there can only be so many terrorist bomb scares before it gets redundant), to a serialized format. Episodes build on each other with a series of loose threads that actually pay off. At the point I'm at there is at least one mole in the team, one agent in the wind, and one agent a hostage to a terrorist group. I'm still not a fan of the Adam Carter character, who was always too much of a boy scout for me to find interesting. I think it's also interesting to note that six is the season that saw Neil Cross (who would go on to create Luther) take the lion's share of the writing duties, penning four of season six's ten episodes (up from just one in season five). There are many similarities between Spooks and Luther - his magnum opus. Primarily, they are both exceedingly unoriginal shows executed with extreme technical precision. Luther is a carefully constructed stew consisting of very specific portions of Silence of the Lambs, The Shield, and Sherlock. The difference, I suppose, is that Luther features a transcendent talent in Idris Elba, while Spooks was never able to find that star. Still, I'm excited about seeing how this all ends.
  10. jasonc
    The main set piece was the gift shop, but like pretty much any show there were a fair number of scenes at a bar.
  11. jasonc
    So for the recent record four* have enjoyed China Star and one has not. *one of those four is a dog
  12. jasonc
    I started watching this show because I tend to enjoy British TV (the shorter seasons generally make for a higher quality per episode product) and because it came recommended by some sources I trust. I also tend to like spy stuff. I think the conceit is that it's about domestic spies in England with a focus on how difficult it is to live a normal personal life when you are in the business of deceit. Overall, I think the pluses of the show are the great acting, and surprisingly high production values for a British series, and the willingness to kill of any main character at anytime, which lends a sense of urgency. There are some characters that I particularly like, such as the Tom Quinn character. It was almost a science experiment of things they could put him through the see if he would eventually break down. Other characters, like Zaf, are just poorly drawn shells of humans. My biggest beef with the show, however, is the sheer carelessness with which some episodes are written. It's painfully easy to tell at times that the writer was in a corner and had to throw in a convenient mechanism to get out of it. For instance, there is one episode where the protagonists had no leads until a government official attempted to sneak out of a meeting with several files, and subsequently admitted treason within ten seconds of suspicion being placed on her. There also another episode where one of the protagonists was framed by another branch of the security services. This was done by a recording from a subway ("tube") security camera showing her standing next to a guy that eventually jumped in front of a train, framing her for his murder. At the exact moment of him jumping, the "security footage" cut to a closeup of two hands pushing someone. The spooks were nonplussed as to how to disprove this damning evidence. I have an idea: Maybe tell the authorities there is no security camera in the world that zooms in at random times. I'm currently on season six (of ten seasons) and feel as if I should see it through.
  13. jasonc
    Wonderfalls was built around a gift shop.
  14. jasonc
    I want to go!
  15. jasonc
    What about your reservation at Scion?
  16. jasonc

    Italy

    jasonc replied to susan's topic in The Intrepid Traveler

    I'm continually inspired by your passion for life, Joe.
  17. jasonc
    I'm enamored with the idea of living a whole other life in a dream. What a blessing.
  18. jasonc
    I'll second that. Don is easily the best food writer in the DC-area and among the best in the US.
  19. jasonc
    I'm trying to blast through BBC's "Spooks" but may join you on this journey when I finish that. My favorite TNG episode of all time is "The Inner Light"
  20. jasonc
    I would go with KD to start a team with because he's four years younger. In terms of being an all-around player right now though, I think LeBron definitely has the edge. I believe this for two reasons. 1. LeBron is ridiculously efficient. He's shooting 58% compared to KD's 51%. 2. Defense. It hasn't been as clear this season, but when LeBron wants to he is a shut down defender who defends every position on the court. KD is not there and never will be. In terms of the GOAT comment, I think LeBron will never have MJ's (pathological) competitiveness and killer instinct. And it was quite late his career (after the loss to Dallas in the Finals) that he figured out the balance between being a team player and when it's on him to take over. It's just not something that comes as naturally to him as others. For that reason, I don't think he'll ever get to six titles and for some people that's a dealbreaker in the GOAT conversation. In terms of physicality and athleticism paired with b-ball skills and finesse, I think LeBron is unmatched. If he had MJ's psychology, we'd not be having this conversation.
  21. jasonc
    LeBron is still the better all-around player (although he admittedly slacked off defensively earlier this season). But KD has the narrative and I think MVP voters prefer a first time winner.
  22. jasonc
    I'm currently puzzling over this trailer: From what I can tell, Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler go on a blind date where she chugs french onion soup because the buffalo shrimp sauce she tried was too spicy. The date, quite clearly, is disaster. They agree not to pursue things. A few days later Adam Sandler shows up at Drew's house to return the credit card she left at the restaurant. Then in a completely unrelated turn of events, it turns out their bosses know each other (but this was NOT how they met in the first place). Both bosses, for unrelated reason, are also not going on a trip to Africa. So both Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore manage to get the tickets to this Africa trip for their respective families. Side note: it seems unlikely both bosses would have exactly the same sized families as Drew and Adam's respective families. They both end up on this Africa trip where a lot of bizarre jokes are made. Adam Sandler calls his son Frodo. Does this sound right?
  23. jasonc
    jesus christ man, you are an artist.
  24. jasonc
    Lucky Pomegranate?
  25. jasonc
    How about Ravi Kabob III? (I kid, I kid, Seb)
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