A FRINGE BENEFIT

Fringe snagged me in such a way that it proves in most unholy ways that I am an utter TV geek. I tell you how in a minute.

I've been conflicted about this show from well before it came on the air. When it was announced, I, like many others thought "I watched this when it was The X-Files." I kinda still think this at points. I was also a little wary of it being another heavily serialized show, Though both Alias and Lost have straddled that line able, I thought Alias was constantly losing its way and then finding it again, until the fifth season...it never got it back. And Lost (in good and bad), well, there's not really a lot of J.J. there. That's all Cuse and Lindelof going on there.

When I got the script for the pilot I was, first, unmotivated to read it and, second, not entirely thrilled with it. There were little moments I loved, but they were very little moments. Then the pilot leaked and my opinion was unchanged. I still thought I'd watch it anyway. It's not bad. It's not.

Also, despite my indifference to the series as a whole, I liked most of the characters quite a bit and thought that this would be a great show to spec. It's got such a broad sandbox, the word Mojave comes to mind. I'd still like to spec this. We'll see how things shake out. Too early to tell if it's going to gain that elusive "specable" status.

Second episode, "Same Old Story" didn't do a lot for me. Title didn't help.

Third one, "The Ghost Network," I thought was an improvement, but it still felt, as did the previous two, slow rolling.

It got me, though in the first few minutes. Maybe this was here in the second episode and I just didn't notice, but this has me on board for the foreseeable future.

Yeah. Darin-fucking-Morgan. It's starting to look like maybe he actually want to work in TV. Since this guy has only ever written six hours of produced television (each one an outstanding example of the series in was part of)...and, as I understand, had to be cajoled into it to some extent. He won the X-Files' only writing Emmy. In fact, the only sci-fi writing Emmy in all of the nineties.

And this is the first and only time he's not working on a show with his bro, Glen. They were both on the ill-fated Bionic Woman. No matter what you may think of that show, any Darin-written episode would have rawked hard, and likely have some degree of self-parody.

I hated the Night Stalker remake, but his unproduced script for "The M-Word" was good.

So until he quits or the show is cancelled, I'm hanging out for Fringe.

WAITING FOR THE NOVA

BARTLET MEETS OBAMA

Missed this the other day. Aaron Sorkin in Maureen O'Dowd's column.

AWESOME COMBO #7,421: TINA FEY + PIRATES + MUPPETS

JIM GORDON

It may not seem like much, but I think I just found my favoritest Alex Ross painting ev-ar.

Clicky for embiggenment.

Yes, I have an unholy love of Commissioner Gordon.

Note to Nolan, I would watch a whole movie with Oldman as Gordon and no Batman anywhere in it.

BELGIUM!

So this Eoin Colfer chap presumes to continue and/or conclude the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy with a sixth book. Or is it seventh? Are we counting The Salmon of Doubt?

He writes the Artemis Fowl books. Fine tomes, to be sure. But to this development, I say thee nay. As in "fuck, no!"

This is new for me. I've never had some book series I hold dear undergo the money-grubbing continuation by people who presume to be able to be a dead author (even when they're related to them). I liked the Dune series, but it had already gone past me by the time Frank Herbert kicked, so no great thing there.

I will not spend money or so much as flip though this...wrong thing. I would say I wouldn't be in the same room as it, but that would preclude me being in bookstores, so a line is drawn there...but no further.

What's worse is that Colfer says he will try to capture Adams voice while injecting some of his own. Uh, no. Hitchhiker's books are pure Adams and any deviation from that will just feel off anyway.

I know there is a tradition of mutation in the H2G2 stuff. That what amused me most about so-called die-hard fans that complained that the movie wasn't true to the book. Yeah, well the book wasn't true to the radio series...and Adams wrote both.

But this...I just...I...

BELGIUM!!!

MAD MEN: "Vostok" - PAGE 27




• INT. STERLING COOPER AD AGENCY - DAY
  
• Paul (shaking out a smoke), KEN COSGROVE and HARRY CRANE are not-very-discreetly ogling Joan as she walks to meet up with Hildy, Allison and Marge on the other side of the room. Salvatore notices this as he walks up to join the guys, taking out his lighter for Paul.
  
• SALVATORE
  
• Those heels. Like she’s walking on two Chrysler buildings.
  
• Salvatore holds out his lit Zippo. Paul lights his cigarette from it. Joan confers with the girls.
  
• KEN
  
• I’m not sure I understand that.
  
• PAUL
  
• I have this theory about redheads.
  
• SALVATORE
  
• I think we all have a theory about redheads, right?
  
• KEN
  
• I’ve tested that theory.
  
• SALVATORE
  
• If you mean Tammy from traffic services, I seem to remember her being a blonde before last Easter.
  
• PAUL
  
• Yeah. She’s not a blonde either.
  
• Gets questioning look from Ken.
  
• HARRY
  
• What’s your theory?
  
• PAUL
  
• It’s a stop sign from God. He’s saying “this one is out of your league, move along.”
  
• KEN
  
• If that were true, there wouldn’t be any redheads.
  
• PAUL
  
• There’s always the guy that can run the red, no pun, and never gets a ticket. Right, Sal?
  
• SALVATORE
  
• I suppose.
  
• KEN
  
• (amused)
  
• He supposes.
  
  

N S F W

This about sums me up for the week.

"WISH"

nine inch nails
los angeles
9.6.08

THE OTHER SARAH PALIN SEX TAPE

I promise I'm not turning into a political blog, but...

I'm getting really tired of the the liberal media and various left-leaning entities (OMG. Channeled O'Reilly for a minute there, feel dirty) jumping all over this idea that McCain's camp didn't adequately vet Palin.

I look at this more - I dunno - strategically. So far, I've scarecely seen a thing that has popped up in Palin's supposedly unvetted record that doesn't serve a particular and occasionally admirably wiley purpose.

Pregnant daughter gets you undecided right-side progressives. Her censorship views gets help nail down the ultra conservatives who don't like McCain actually having a sense of humor and stuff. The investigation aspect means she gets to play the victim without being whiny about it. Republican base reads anti-polar bear as being pro-people. The base wants ANWR opened up, this is a non-starter. I'm also sure that her having a Down Syndrome child was even a selling-point in their backroom meetings. I don't put it past them.

She appeals to the RNC in her views and appeals to the right-leaning undecideds in being a hot chick. There is not a single thing about her doesn't scream "political choice."

She's vetted. She's too vetted.

Even if there were a Sarah Palin sex tape they didn't find...it would probably only get a few more votes.

This troubles me because I think maybe we (tree-hugging, bleeding-heart liberals) have lost our teeth. We've spent a lot of time relying on Bush and buds to basically look stupid, say dumb things and contradict themselves to make our points for us. (i.e. Daily Show). And that's been working really well, hasn't it? McCain is a politician, yes, and can be counted on to say and do stupid things, but not with the same volume. We need to get back in it.

Now, also, we're getting all Hope-y. I look at my pro-Obama friends and colleagues and fellow internet entities and when I take a step back and look objectively at it, sometimes I'm thinking "could you step into the bleeding-heart liberal sterotype a little more?" In some other cases, I'd swear it's getting downright cult-like. I also see a lot of preaching the converted (in this case, the converted holding DNP cards). All of this sunshine and rainbow idealism, I see as being a turn off to the undecideds. That's who it's all about now. With Obama anywhere between 0 and 4 points up in polls, this is a neck-and-neck race and conversion is a pipe dream.

Screw Hope. Hope is what we have after the election. What I have is want.

This attacking the vetting stuff seems like it's just...naive. Hit harder, hit policy. Hit economics. And start finding ways to turn language against them they way they've turned liberal into a words I don't even like using anymore.

SARAH PALIN SEX TAPE*

Look at this.

It seems very familiar to me.

You don't suppose...

Also, don't forget what Liz Lemon said in the 30 Rock episode "Fireworks."

• LIZ
  
• There is an 80% chance that in the next election I will tell all my friends I am voting for Barack Obama but I will secretly vote for John McCain.

*Oh yeah.. just wanted to see what kinda hits that gets.

THAT WAS A LOAD-BEARING ACT OUT...

Returned from a fun jaunt upstate to find my house in ruins.

Not my actual house...and not my physician. My pilot. The Black House.

Five days were were quite possibly the longest time I've gone in what feels like ever without actively thinking about writing anything at all. And that space away from pilot showed me that, damn...I'm really good at convincing myself that things work when I'm writing them.

Big logic problem. Overpowered my bad guy. And also made him a little stupid too.

If this guy existed, the United States would be a smoking hole in the world.

So...alternately trying to work out how to solve this problem and considering taking the character I took from another pilot back to the pilot she started in. Some time away from that has opened some doors in that one's plot.

So nothing from me in this week's writer's group...probably. There could be a burst in the next couple of days.