Catch Up on Deadwood Tonight

HBO is airing the first three Deadwood episodes of this season tonight, beginning at 8:00 P.M.

Also, this week's recap coming soon.

Who needs to hear it when reading about it is this funny?

The Sweet, Sweet Sounds of Larry King's Ass.

I need to find a way to use "shooting a bunny" over the weekend.

"All of a sudden, you're Joan Lunden."

How much fun has it been to watch Star Jones Reynolds commit career suicide? Girl should have known - you mess with Barbara Walters, she will disappear you.

The woman, however, just cannot keep her mouth shut, and has now moved from self-immolation to actually
picking up a shovel and digging her own grave.

I love it!

Scary Berries.

Scary Berries.
Originally uploaded by gina64.

The Wedding II

The Wedding II
Originally uploaded by gina64.

Karen and Jim, June 17, 2006

I made this with the intention of printing it and putting it in a frame as a gift for the happy couple, but the maximum good quality print that I can get (because of the resolution) is 5x5. That's tiny!

Damn.

Where the sun don't shine...

A lightbulb will have to do!

Who Is Ken Jennings?

Confessions of a Trivial Mind: "Barbara Walters named him one of the ten most fascinating people of the year. The Christian Science Monitor called him "the king of Trivia Nation" and Slate magazine dubbed him "the Michael Jordan of trivia, the Seabiscuit of geekdom." ESPN: The Magazine called him "smarmy (and) punchable," with "the personality of a hall monitor," thus continuing America's long national struggle between jocks and nerds."

I wonder what he'll wear?

Boy George ordered to Sanitation Dept: "The singer born George O'Dowd, who has struggled with drug problems for years, was ordered to do community service after pleading guilty in March to false reporting of an incident. He called police with a bogus report of a burglary at his lower Manhattan apartment last October, and the responding officers found cocaine inside."

Oh baby when you talk like that...

Hilarious? Frightening? You decide.

You fly back to school now, little starling. Fly, fly, fly...

First Steps.

Prepare yourself, this is awfully cute.

I Was Singing this All Night.

Someone Tell Sam Jackson He's My Bro.

Thanks, Mike!

Disturbing Image Warning.

"Homophobia Makes You Crazy"

Yeah, and if that photo is any indication, so does being gay!

Working Like a Dog.

Working Like a Dog.
Originally uploaded by gina64.

Marty had a pretty good day at the office on Friday. Here you see him balancing one of our accounts.

Even though he got lots of attention and was spoiled by everyone in the office, he was still out of sorts. He couldn't understand why we weren't leaving and after only a half hour looked at me as if to say, "You mean I gotta sit here ALL DAY?" I brought his bed and his babies and he wanted nothing to do with them. If I wasn't holding him, he was lying on the floor in front of my desk, at my door, as if on strike.

Or maybe he was just waiting for Jill to come back with more Goldfish crackers.

Wires and Lights in a Box.

The film Good Night, and Good Luck was bookended by a keynote speech that Edward R. Murrow gave at the 1958 Radio-Television News Directors Association & Foundation (RTNDAF) Convention. Even though it needs to be said just as much now as it did 50 years ago, probably even moreso, I don't imagine there is anyone in the news business today who would have the integrity to say what he said to that room. I've copied an excerpt below.

Murrow Speech:

"We are to a large extent an imitative society. If one or two or three corporations would undertake to devote just a small fraction of their advertising appropriation along the lines that I have suggested, the procedure would grow by contagion; the economic burden would be bearable, and there might ensue a most exciting adventure--exposure to ideas and the bringing of reality into the homes of the nation.

To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost.

This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful. "

Drive Thru Reviews

Good Night, and Good Luck - Very good movie about Edward R. Murrow's fight to take down Senator Joe McCarthy and end his Communist witch hunt in the 50s, that also works well as a warning to us, in the present day, on two fronts: 1) the misuse of the power of television (specifically the news divisions) and 2) the suppression of an individual's right to dissent. I found the film riveting, especially considering our current cultural and politcal climate. George Clooney wrote and directed it (and plays a supporting role). And David Straithairn is fantastic as Murrow.

The Upside of Anger - Gosh this was a bad movie. I should have known, considering it was written and directed by Mike Binder, who couldn't write a decent female character if his life counted on it. And this movie was full of poorly written women. I don't think I liked any of the characters, and so I didn't really care what happened to them. None of the scenes seemed to come from the same movie, and while I think Joan Allen is an excellent actress, I don't think comedy is her forte.

Veronica Mars, Season 1, Disc 1 - I'm late getting on this train and I'm glad I'm finally able to see what all the fuss is about. I watched 4 episodes in a row on Saturday night, and I love it. Combine Buffy with Alias and you get Veronica. The next 3 discs can't come soon enough!

"Change calls the tune we dance to."

I Am Not the Fine Man You Take Me For

It's the following day in Deadwood, and the battle between Hearst and Al is about to turn into a war.

Actually, we begin with Al lying awake in bed in the pre-dawn hours. As he lies there, a drunk hooplehead climbs onto the speech platform and yells out the first words of the episode: "I am not the fine man you take me for." Al listens as he exclaims that he came to the town to make a life for himself but wound up gambling, whoring and drinking it all away. The hooplehead then passes out and falls over the edge of the platform, breaking his neck when he lands. I wonder, is the hoople representative of the 'old Deadwood'? And does his death serve as a warning to Al that the end of his rule in Deadwood may also be coming to an end?

After standing up to Hearst the night before by cancelling the speeches, Al is waiting for Hearst's response. He doesn't have to wait for long. Captain Turner delivers a cryptic note to the Gem, in the form of a crudely drawn map. It's of the inside of the Gem and the Xs represent men that Hearst is sending to kill Al and his men. It's all very complex and confusing, but the gist of it is that Hearst is giving Al a heads up and the opportunity to dispatch these men before they can dispatch Al. As to the specific message he's sending, well, I can't say I'm sure - I can kill you but I won't? I was going to kill you but now I'm not? Al, being the brilliant strategist that he is, does understand the message. He and Dan kill two of the men and send the other two back to tell Hearst that the speeches are back on for that night.

Captain Turner returns to the Gem to deliver yet another note to Al. This time it is an invitation to join Hearst that evening to watch the speeches from his veranda. Hearst has taken up his sledgehammer again, tearing down the outer wall of the hotel for passage to the roof over the hotel's porch. Al accepts his invitation and goes to meet Hearst without bringing a 'second' with him, despite the protests of Dan, Johnny and Adams. Having Dan or Adams along would send the wrong message to Hearst, be too confrontational, I suppose.

As the speeches start, it becomes quite clear that after all of the hubbub surrounding their importance in the forward movement of the camp, they are really inconsequential after all. The real moving and shaking is happening on Hearst's 'veranda' as he and Al talk. He tells Al that the purpose of his demonstration in the Gem earlier that day was to show him "the virtue of consolidating interests." Al will have none of that and he throws down the gauntlet: "What the strong call consolidatin' [is] bending the weak to their will." Oh, Al, RUN! They return to Hearst's hotel room, with Al under Captain Turner's gun. Things deteriorate quickly as Al refuses to help Hearst gain access to Alma Garrett's claim. To my disbelieving eyes, Turner knocks Al over the head and grabs him around the neck. Still defiant, Al refuses to help Hearst and is paid for it by getting a big pick ax brought down on his hand.

Before I get to the fantastic ending, I'll quickly recap the other developments in the camp:

Alma and Ellsworth - Alma has taken a turn for the worse. Doc tells her that she will lose the baby and they need to take action (perform an abortion) before she miscarries and likely bleeds to death. Before the procedure, Alma lets her bequests be known: She names Sophia as her inheritor and names Bullock as the steward now to Sophia's interests, essentially removing any claim that Ellsworth may have to little Sophia, who he dearly loves. Alma survives the procedure, so Sophia's guardianship remains the responsibility of Alma, but I think her dying wishes will breed some resentment in Ellsworth toward her.

Jane - Jane takes a bath! And gives her speech to the schoolkids about her work with General Custer. I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for her to slip into her more familiar colorful language, but Jane does fine. Quite well, in fact. She spends the day sober - could this be turning point for her?

Joanie/Cy/Charlie - Joanie comes back to the Bella Union to look in on Cy again, but can barely contain her distress. She tells the despicable Cy that she tried to kill herself and he selfishly tells her that she feels she should die because she doesn't have anything to keep her busy, like caring for him and the girls. Thank heaven for Charlie. During the speeches, as he and Joanie listen and wait outside Alma's for news about her, Charlie consoles Joanie in the sweetest way, telling her that they way she thinks about herself is not the way that other people see her. The evening ends on a positive note for Joanie, as she tells Lila, "Nothin's over yet." As far as Cy goes, I don't know what to think about his antics. Personally, I thought his entire holy-roller-overcome-by-the-holy-spirit routine was a show put on for Andy Cramed and he would have shot him dead if his stupid cronies didn't barge in and interrupt.

Okay, so, back to the end. As the crowd that gathered for the speeches disperse, we see Al leaving the Grand Hotel looking horrible and with his left hand tucked under his suit coat. Bullock sees him and runs to his side. Al, though clearly in terrible pain, proudly holds himself up and will not give Hearst, who is standing on his veranda and looking down on the thoroughfare the way that Al normally does, the satisfaction of seeing an affect on him. As he leans on Bullock for support, Bullock tells him he wants to go and kill Hearst himself. Al tells him to hold back, and not seek revenge, yet: "I'm having mine served cold. "

And so, as many have already said, it is ON.

Some of my favorite quotes:

"Would you close your flap, that I don't forego my boiled eggs?" ~ Al to Johnny

"Chang ain't looking for friends. Change calls the tune we dance to." ~ Al

"When you speak, I feel like it's the Devil talkin'." ~ Joanie to Cy

"I am, for the day, off the bottle and about to bathe."
"Camp get up a petition?" ~ Jane and Mose

"Could you have been born, Richardson, and not egg-hatched as I'd always assumed?" ~ E.B. to Richardson

"Listen, and you won't get scalped! And don't look at yourself too much in the mirror." ~ Jane's lesson to the schoolchildren

"That'd knock a buzzard off a shit-wagon." ~Johnny

"If he was trailin' water we might get took for ducklings." ~ Adams

"Overturnin' turtles is my specialty." ~ Harry Manning's taunter

"I'm having mine served cold." ~ Al

Feed Me, Seymour.

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What Made The Hasselhoff Cry?

Hasselhoff Defends Emotional 'Idol' Scene: "What moved me was the person sitting next to me is my best friend--he has brain cancer. It was his birthday and this was his present. When Taylor Hicks won I said, 'Isn't that cool? A guy gets the American Dream.' Then I look over at my best friend who says, 'Isn't it great to be alive?' "

Funny, that's exactly what I was thinking at the same moment. It was the perfect way to end the show.

BTW

Expect this week's Deadwood recap tomorrow night. I was going to work on it tonight, but it's just too damn late!