Future Shock

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 05:09:23 -0400

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”

- Groucho Marx

The Americans - Great Spy Stuff, But Anachronistic Dialog ARGH

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:49:03 -0400

Anyone else here watching *The Americans*, produced by FX Networks? I’m _loving_ this show, early 1980s Cold War spy biz in the U.S. (And so nice to see Matthew Rhys doing stuff beyond the limitations of Brothers & Sisters.)

One of the things I like most about this is revisiting this part of the ’80s again (also it nearly coincides time-frame wise with my own espionage WIP, Site 3). BUT….and yes I have to pick this nit: Why oh WHY do they let anachronistic language slip through? they’re so busy re-creating the era, from telephones to hair styles, to ads and tv news… Why then, does one character suddenly say to another, “Do me a solid…” Suddenly it’s the 21st century again? This hits like a cold splash of water on the face, completely rips me out of the immersion of the show. As does background bar chat, woman talking to another patron (voices only, heard): “He’s such a tool!” Well yay for your ad-libbing bar chat Ms Extra, but TOOL was not used in slang in the 1980s. Twenty years later, yes. Late 90s, even. 1981, no. WTF.

Why are they not vetting the dialog and miscellaneous chat with the same stringent eye to quality they are bringing to the production design? There’s no excuse for this. Feh, I say, FEH! I get really perturbed (obviously) at anachronisms that destroy the “you are there” moment when being fully involved in a narrative. I think that’s one of the cardinal sins any storyteller can inflict on their audience.

OK. That’s my big disgruntlement with this show—and I admit on the scale of things, that’s not the biggest deal. The rest of it is golden, so this show is quite a gem. As long as one is prepared to instantly mental-erase their occasional dialog missteps. _La-la-la-I-can’t-hear-you!_

Have you seen this show? What do you think of it?

#theamericans #spies

http://www.fxnetworks.com/theamericans.

mslorelei: Sir Ian McKellen, playing with himself.

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:42:28 -0400

mslorelei:

Sir Ian McKellen, playing with himself.

Loving this giffy thing. Helen Magnus in Monsoon

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:58:54 -0500

Loving this giffy thing. Helen Magnus in Monsoon

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:34:41 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

Frogs mate in Mijoux, eastern France, on March 19.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:32:40 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

As New York City — and, indeed, the entire nation — marked the 10th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the glorious but ephemeral “Tribute in Light” memorial lit up the night sky.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:32:25 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

Anders Behring Breivik poses in a photo taken from a Norwegian discussion website in this screen grab made July 23. Breivik admitted to the massacre of 69 young people on an island summer camp, and eight deaths in the bombing of Oslo’s government district the same day. He was ruled insane in November.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:32:03 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

Spectators stand in front of a Star Wars-themed, partially inflated hot-air balloon before its flight during the Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Pampanga on February 10.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:31:37 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

Ruins from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, as photographed two months later. The country’s Environment Ministry estimates that the three hardest-hit prefectures — Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima — have generated 24 million tons of disaster waste.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:30:54 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

Sled dogs give it their all during an 11-day mushing race through the French Alps in January.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:27:14 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

A large flock of starlings swoops into an uncannily bird-like formation — a murmuration — off the coast of Brighton, England, on February 22.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:26:32 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

In an incident that sparked widespread outrage — and immediately went viral online — after it was captured on camera, University of California police lieutenant John Pike casually blasts Occupy UC Davis protesters in the face with pepper spray during a November 18 demonstration.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:26:16 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

Space Shuttle Endeavour emerges from the clouds during its launch on May 16 for its final journey into space. The Space Shuttle program ended for good on July 21 with the safe landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:25:07 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

A horse, swimming for exercise in preparation for its next race, cuts through the crystal waters of the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Malta.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:24:22 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

A massive “supermoon” — a full moon that coincides with its closest approach to Earth — silhouettes Lilliputian revelers beside St. Michael’s Tower on England’s Glastonbury Tor on March 21.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:23:33 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

A wild leopard strayed into a village on the outskirts of Siliguri, India, mauling several people — including this forest guard — before being caught.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:23:21 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

A rare, nocturnal web-footed gecko wipes the morning dew from its eyes in the Namibian desert. These geckos collect water on their eyeballs in the early morning; later, they lick it off to have a drink.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:23:11 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

The tall ship Alexander von Humbolt cuts through waves and weather during Kieler Woche, the world’s largest sailing event in Kiel, Germany, on June.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:22:51 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

Wing walker Todd Green falls to his death after losing his grip while performing a stunt during an air show in Harrison Township, Mich., on Aug. 21. Green was trying to move from the plane to a helicopter above it just before he fell.

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:22:21 -0500

2011 Pictures of the Year - Photo Gallery - LIFE:

Inside the Situation Room, Obama, Biden, Clinton, and others watch an update as the mission targeting Osama bin Laden unfolds on May 1. The mission, of course, would prove a success, but the now-iconic photo became briefly controversial as it showed Clinton apparently reacting to something she was watching; she later said she might have been stifling a cough.