HBO's John Adams.

John Adams at 89

Last weekend, I watched the first 5 parts of HBO's video production of the David McCullough book, John Adams. It was well done. The little things look right, the horse carriages are worn, and the paint is peeling on the homes where it should be. This is not a visually romantic view of life in the 18th century. Clothes are not always pressed and ironed, fields have weeds, and makeup appears to be minimal -- except with the French, where it is exaggerated, as if the make up artist for the Joker moved over to the John Adams set. The white powder faces in one scene were eerie.

Here's what I liked and disliked about the series:

Liked:

• The relation between Franklin, Jefferson, Adams and Washington. It's hard to summarize a 10 year period into 5 hours. The characters have to be reduced to some generalized persona, but I think they hit the mark fairly well.
• I liked the distinction made between the French and American Revolutions even if I would have preferred it to be explained a little more. The Americans were able to control the passions of the mob, the French glorified those passions and manipulated them as can be seen in the words of Jefferson. The French rejected the Western tradition, the Americans appealed to it. (okay, I'm a bit of a homer, I admit).
  
• Abigail was lovable as I imagined her to be, and influential as history indicates. John and Abigail's love for each other was enjoyable. Laura Linney is pleasant to watch as Abigail.
  
• I like the frontier spirit of the Americans and how the Europeans "looked down their nose" at them.
• The difference in political philosophy of Adams and Jefferson.
  

Disliked:

• Paul Giamatti gets slightly annoying as John Adams, and whether that's Giamatti or John Adams I don't know. At one point I thought I was watching Bilbo Baggins.
• I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing old Ben Franklin and older French lady in a bathtub playing chess. It may have happened but I certainly don't need to see it.
• My idea of Washington is as a greater figure than portrayed, which was tall, quiet, oafish, and sometimes easily led by factions. Washington, though not a classicist in the sense of Hamilton, Jefferson or Adams, was nevertheless an on-the-field military leader who knew his classics. Washington was verbally quiet but was a daily writer. His letters, essays and commentary take about 20 volumes of large books and indicate a man of broad learning.
• That Adams was not mentioned as a contributor to the Declaration of Independence.
  

Disclaimer: I did not read the book.

Comments? Kenny? Mary Ann?
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After the Post Edits on 08/11/08:
It was embarrassingly pointed out to me that the Giamatti was Paul not Bart which I corrected in the post.

Verizon Ad / Art / Coming to America

Main Street Arts Festival



The Main St. Art Festival starts today. It costs nothing to walk around and look and you get to see some really good art. There is a long line of artists who want to display at this show and very few are selected. This is one of my favorite Fort Worth events of the year. Remember, it's good food, entertainment and art, too. http://www.mainstreetartsfest.org/home.aspx

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Hey Brad!

It's official. After one year of posting, the one post to receive the most comments is the Verizon ad post. I still get about one comment a day. The last comment, in case you're not keeping up with it, asked about the background music. I like it, too, but don't know where it's from. I love the tuba.

Commentor Anonymous, I'm sorry, you're wrong, this is a great advertisement (hey, my weblog, my rules).

The ad doesn't play much anymore. Too bad, for me. If you didn't get enough of it, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gpxEdRPttk&feature=related

Last thought: today the post received three comments, for a total of 24. if you want to read them go back to April's posts.
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A comment on Pope Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected by the College of Cardinals to lead the Roman Catholic Church this month 3 years ago. He succeeded a Pope who had served for over 25 years and who almost single-handedly threw the burden of the Church on his shoulders and carried it through the troubles of the post modern age. It's difficult to talk about John Paul II without using words like greatness and saint, both as person and as a man of accomplishment.
Cardinal Ratzinger was by JPII's side as head of the Prefect for the Congregation of Faith for 24 years. When he was elected Pope he did so with respect for his immediate predecessor's calling, and with a vision of addressing the consequences of modern theology and philosophy, especially in Europe. Read his address to the Italian Parliament reprinted in a book titled, Without Roots. John Paul 2 was a very bright man, few will attempt to match wits with Pope Benedict in theology, philosophy, Church doctrine and history, and especially European history. That given, his first papal encyclical was Deus Caritas Est, (God is Love). Thanks for coming to America Pope Benedict XVI.

TV Ad Talk and a Request to Help Find One.

I like a good advertisement.

Some of the best work of television, print and radio, is done by advertisers. Marshall McLuhan, philosopher, Roman Catholic convert and social critic, said, "Advertising is the greatest art form of the twentieth century." I doubt he meant this as a compliment, but rather, as a matter of sad fact. That is, we are not producing art any better than our ads. Sad commentary of modernity, or not, I like advertising. Here are a couple of my TV favorites of late:

Apple Computer commercials are almost always good, though I am not a fan of the PC dork vs. Mac cool guy ads. I understand why they work, I just find the cool guy's smugness annoying. Apple's iPhone ad was perfect, and their current ad for the light and thin Air Mac notebook is almost as good. Apple understands the cool medium that is television. Less is often more. The ad communicates, what they want it to: lightness and smallness. The television ad doesn't tell you that that the notebook is about 9 inches by 12 inches, and only 1/2 inch thick. It shows you by showing one hand sliding it smoothly out of a document envelope. The red string on the envelope that is wrapped around the fastener is slowly unwound, creating the slightest bit of tease. If you want to watch it online: http://www.apple.com/macbookair. The "New Soul" song in the background is No. 7 on Billboard and the top phone ringtone, thanks to this ad, which means Apple is selling it's notebook and making money selling the song on iTunes.

My other favorite ad is by Verizon. A very attractive brunette charges out of an office building with her Verizon phone, her chutzpah and her daily mission of chatting with friends on the phone. I absolutely love the commercial, the copy, her attitude and it's movement towards me in perspective. Good stuff. But I don't know what she is saying when she looks at the guy and says "not Brad."

If you have a link to a transcript let me know. I can't find it.

Survivorman Talk. And a Hypothetical.

I like a couple of TV shows. One of them is Survivorman (SvM), another is, Man Against Wild. I prefer the former.

Last week SvM had two shows back to back on Discovery Channel. In the first he was in Labrador, Newfoundland. Think very cold. He was dropped off in the most desolate section of the area with a team of dogs, some dog food, one match, a hatchet and a rifle. I'm not sure what purpose the rifle was to serve, the only life out there was them.

Like all his shows he has to survive alone for a week. Which he did. But what makes the show so fascinating is, of course, the way he survives, but also that he draws you into the experience. I like the way he is there with his cameras alone, and that he doesn't hide his frustration, hunger and pain. When he looks into the camera at 3 in the morning, his face reflecting the eerie green light, and says how difficult the last two days have been, you believe him.

He did survive the snowy cold somehow but because he couldn't catch anything to eat he had to make broth out of some of the raw-meat, dog food. I won't go into all the gross things about that.

The following show he was on the Amazon river for a week. He pointed to a harmless looking ant and said, "these can kill you." He had every conceivable bug crawling on him, fungus on his feet from the damp, and was in constant fear of man-attacking jaguars.

Man I love this show. He survived there, too, but I was uncomfortable watching those bugs crawling around on him.

Here's the question -- if you had to survive for a week in either the hot Amazon, or the frozen Labrador area, which would you choose? I think I'd take the cold. Those bugs would drive me crazy.

Alias Talk ... yes, I said Alias.

I'm watching the first season of Alias. Charlie's Angel meets Jack Bauer. I am about 5 0r 6 episodes in. So far: This is written for girls, right? I can't imagine a guy getting into it.

Here are my problems:
1. The good guys are too gay.
2. The Mission Impossible style, "here's your mission" at the start of each show is stupid and unbelievable. Plus, at least half the episodes have started with "oh, the last mission where you almost died was a setup by the bad guys, the real mission is this..."
3. Mr. Gadget guy is getting real, real old.
4. The main character girl is attractive and likable but a little more heaving breast, a la Michelle on 24, would be nice.
5. Wait a minute . . . they kill your fiance' and and then they believe you when you say you want back in. Hmmmm? This super smart leader doesn't suspect anything, he listens to every conversation in L.A., hears the word "spy", nabs the doctor boyfriend and doesn't listen to main girl and dad talk. Oh, he trusts them.
6. The father: nobody is that big of a jerk.
7. The Leader: somebody shoot his ass and end the whole miserable thing.
8. If the black girl friend and the main character say, "I love you" to each other one more time I'm out for good.
9. Is it campy? Am I missing the joke? What's with the Bruce Lee sound effects after each karate chop?

My wife and I like watching a TV series on DVD. 24 was the last success, since then we have tried:
Rome, HBO edition: I liked it too much for the wife.
Battlestar Galactica -- probably good, but couldn't find the first year, so I couldn't figure out who was good and who was bad.
The Shield -- the end of the decline of the cop show. Too bad. Starting with Dragnet where the good guys are always good, to Kojak and Hill Street Blues and now this. The only difference between the good guys and the bad guys is that the good guys have bigger guns. Machiavelli would be happy. I had hoped that things weren't this bad.
Lewis & Clark, Ken Burns documentary -- I had never seen this. Love it.
Foyles War, BBC -- this looks promising

Andrew, I know you have a comment . . .
Becca, you were 2 for 2, now just 2 for 3 . .

Ken Burns' World War II

I am watching by videotape the first night of the Ken Burns series on World War II, broadcast on PBS. I am requesting your comments and opinions. Most of us are fans of Burns' work, Civil War, Baseball and Jazz. In the Civil War series he had Shelby Foote's books to work from (and his presence, voice and demeanor in the show). The writing is always the foundation of a documentary even a visual one. I hope this one is as good. I called my father, a WW2 army infantryman, and suggested he give it a look. His opinion of "war movies" the the last 20 years , including Saving Private Ryan, has not been good.
I'll be commenting from time to time on the series and hope you will, too. I will post any thoughtful commentary from this readership.
The War on PBS webpage: http://www.kera.org/tv/thewar

Jack Bauer’s Man Purse and Other Accoutrements of World Savers.

If you have watched the TV series 24, you have noticed, no doubt, Jack Bauer’s cloth carry-all slung across his shoulder, kind of “Johnny Appleseed” style. . . . . I don't like it. . . . . Frankly, the addition of the man purse to the Pantheon of Batmanish tool belts is a bit discomfiting to me. It is hip, but too hip for one so adept at killing. It does carry the tools necessary for the trade and in that way is in the tradition of other world savers like James Bond, Jack Ryan, and even in some ways John Wayne (notice any similarity in the names?).

Bauer, Bonds and Ryan have other things in common,

• The world’s survival is always in-balance in their mission.
• Their bosses reluctantly tolerate them and their methods.
• The bad guys are either heads of state or counter heads of state.
• The good guys are either heads of state or counter heads of state.
  
• They all work for an intelligence branch of government.
• They are all left to die in some alligator infested way in stead of being forthrightly shot.
  
• They escape through their wits and a few handy tools hidden from sight.

And they have differences. Ryan, is the bookish analyst forced into hand combat by bad luck, not unlike Chloe in 24. Also, he is a reluctant hero, unlike Bond and Bauer who relish in their vocations and its perquisites. Ryan yearns to return home to make pancakes for his daughter on Saturday morning. Bond is never seen anywhere near something we might call home, unless you consider the Baccarat table in Monte Carlo home. Bauer's Odyssean hope is reunion with daughter Kim, a hope no sensible watcher can understand. Self-consumed she is, Penelope she isn’t. Ryan, good looks notwithstanding, is a family man. We know Bond's habituations with femme-fatales and femmes-not-so-fatale. Jack is more sensitive, he falls in love before consummating his love affairs. An annoying and disingenuous quality.

But to the Bauer method of carrying his tools of trade. Unlike Bond's uber gadgets, brief cases, watches, pens and cars, Bauer’s tools of the trade are more subtle, a utility knife, lock smith picks, the all seeing eyes and brains of the CTU computers, a "unocular", and the occasional, visiting tool, the last one I recall was a infrared device that countered the motion detector of an alarm system. It was pulled out of the purse.

Come to think of it the Kung Fu guy slung the soft travelbag. But he wore sandles and karate garb and projected the softer tough guy image. A kind of feminine quality consistent with his style. And John Wayne? The morning star of world savers. He saved towns not worlds -- but instead of a man purse, he carried rawhide saddle bags, pulled off the horses back and thrown over his own. I always liked that part.

24 Talk and Now What?

I am usually 5-7 years behind every trend. So, if it's too late for readers to be interested in commentary on 24, the television series of now six seasons, I understand. I just got hooked a few months ago. My wife and I, who tend to buy or rent a television series instead of watching it during the year, got introduced to 24 recently. Before that we were introduced to Lost, and liked the first two years of that and lost interest during the third. I think it was my daughter who suggested both.
We're almost done year five of 24, with no flagging interest and I'm sorry year six is the last. Here are some general comments and a few criticisms.

• Year 1 is fantastic. Palmer is great as is Jack.
  
• Note to Kim: Men = Lock down in cave, car, or jail cell. Consider other sexual orientation.
  
• Seriously, there has been no year when the "daughter thread" hasn't annoyed me. Even now in Year 5. Here Jack has just kept her alive by keeping anonymity and she's "needing time" before she can forgive him. Of what? She annoys the hell out of me, big boobs and all.
• Chloe is a favorite character.
• Tony's tilted head twitch is annoying.
• Why are a lot of the bad guys gay, slightly gay, or metrosexual? Kims latest boyfriend, a lot of the terrorists, Kay's assistant in Year 5.
• I disliked the Year that had the blood nose dripping disease. That was gross.
• I liked Michelle's low cut dresses and heaving breasts. I miss them, I mean her.
• Jack doing the paddle heart shock treatment to Audrey's husband was "jumping the shark." I can understand him flying airplanes and all the acrobatics but where in CTU training do you learn that?
• Year 4 is my favorite, especially the end, when Jack is cast off, James Dean style. Righteous and rejected rebel. Great stuff.
• Year 5 is good. Is the Secret Service agent cool, or what? The President is a great character, because you have to dislike him, but you sometimes pity and almost like him. He is a complex character not often seen in TV. I do see flashes of Nixon, or the public perception of Nixon.
  
• The Department of Defense guy (Audrey's father) was out of character when he attacked Jack. All along he had been the cool, sensible one, then he turns into Mr. Politician, zaps Jack in the neck and runs off leaving his daughter behind. Not believable.
  
• How many woman can Jack fall in love with in a six year period? He's had more soulmates than a squad of high school cheerleaders. James Bond made no such pretense.

Please, I am at the end of 24 and need suggestions for a similar television series? 24 has about all the soap opera type element I can take, and at times Jack gets a little too in touch with his feminine side, so Desperate Housewives is out for me, as is anything with a hospital in it. Suggestions? Jeromey? Andrew?