Letters to the Editor
mattwa33186
Published Letters: 395 Editor's Choice: 41
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I liekd this show
[Read the article: When you're strange]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It didn't capture me the way the first episode of The Wire did, but there is enough raw material there to make something special.
I agree to a certain extent about the language. It serves no real purpose, almost completely gratuitous. Nothing like Swearingen and the chinaman screaming cocksucker on Deadwood, or the 10 minute scene on The Wire of McNulty and Bunk using the word fuck (and only the word fuck) in every conceivable way, both of which raised swearing to a high art form. But it is realistic...
On another topic, I think the Buffy movie was killed by Serenity - ironic since that was a great movie. Fox now understands that fanbase is ambiguous in the Internet age, and what seems like 20 million fans could actually be only 100,000. Serenity lost scads of money for them, and they probably don't want to go through that again.
But back to JFC. Milch has always created extremely strong female characters, so I don't think feminism (or anti-feminism) plays a part here. It's only one episode, so lets wait and see how the characters develop as they are introduced. I think saying that Rebecca De Mornay (who is, indeed, the hottest grandma ever on televison) standing on the beach watching while the men surf has anti-feminist overtones is a reach. Legend has it that Michaelangelo's teacher, himself one of the greatest painters of his day, put down his brushes forever when he realized he could never approach the talents of his student. That's how I see Cissy - someone who was a great surfer herself, who found herself in the presence of transcendant talent, realized that she would never be that good, and gets more joy from watching the masters than she would by surfing herself. This is made clear by the bitterness she displays at her husband's refusal to let her watch him surf. This isn't a male-female thing. When Mitch forbids Shaun from competing, he isn't speaking as a family patriarch, but as King of the Surfers.
John, at least so far, doesn't seem to be a prophet, just some sort of supernatural being who can give people whatever they ask for. The surfer who wants to stop being defined by a 30 year old knee injury, the junkie who wants the respect he once had but threw away, the kid who wants a friend, the lottery winner who wants to confront his past, the retired cop who wants to matter again, the semi-coyote who wants to rescue poeple (but feels like he has to be paid for his trouble), the grandmother who wants to be the center of attention again. More like a good-hearted Djinn than a messiah. The things he pulls out of his pocket aren't the important thing. Having everyone come together in the parking lot and at the jail are what's important. Maybe he will be a prophet, and Milch is playing off the fact that western prophets are almost always retarded or insane. Or maybe he is just a Djinn, and his good-heartedness won't last.
One thing I can say with absolute certainty is that the acting is superb, as expected of Milch and of HBO. That alone makes it worth watching.
The Sopranos is a tough act to follow, as is Deadwood, so some backlash is to be expected. But I hope enough people will give the show a chance that it will have time to reach its potential.
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The joys of middle aged relationships
[Read the article: Why won't my boyfriend introduce me to his daughters?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The ultimatum was a bad idea, because it probably won't give you what you really want. You will meet his kids, but you won't get his inviting you into the most important parts of his life because he wants to share them with you (and you with them). If this wasn't important to you, you probably wouldn't have given the ultimatum, and because of that you should just recognize that the 2 of you want different things from the relationship, end it, and move on.
A man in his mid-forties who gets engaged but isn't sure he made the right decision has problems. If I had to guess, I'd say he still loves his wife, or is still mourning their marriage, and is trying to either replace what he had (the engagement) or fill the time (you). What he is not doing is moving on. He isn't open to something new that doesn't have anything to do with his marriage, because he is still defined by that. That's what makes introducing you to his kids such a big deal - he'd be acknowledging the fact that that part of his life is over, and he isn't ready to do that.
Unless he is still married :)
Maybe introducing you to his kids will be the kick in the ass he needs to get him moving again, and things will start moving forward for the 2 of you. Maybe it will be the kick in the ass he needs and he will dump you to go find the relationship he really wants. Or maybe he will handle it so badly that you will wind up dumping him anyway. Regardless, if you were what he really needed in his life you wouldn't have to threaten him to get him to include you in it.