The main script writer is Craig Mazin, best known for creating the HBO miniseries Chernobyl. Mazin was college roommates with Ted Cruz — whom he now despises.
Episode 3 was amazing. One of the greatest in TV in history.
Mazin watched if over 200 times — and cried every time.
I’m thinking Nick Offerman as Bill, a gay survivalist, and Murray Bartlett as Frank, the love interest, are the roles those actors will be associated with for the rest of their lives.
Murray is gay. But Nick’s wife had to talk him into doing the role. It worked.
I listened to an interview with the video editors. The goal of this TV series was to emphasize the relationship between the characters, and treat the zombie action sequences as secondary.
Bella Ramsey was a genius choice to play the critical role of Ellie. Quirky and potentially violent. Over 100 others were considered for the part. I’m sure her weirdly compelling role as 10-year-old Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones won her the job.
Episode 7 was partly shot at my alma matter – University of Calgary.
The Happy Hippie Foundation, founded by Miley Cyrus, “is a nonprofit organization that rallies young people to fight injustice facing homeless youth, LGBT youth, and other vulnerable populations.”
I’ve not yet cancelled J.K. Rowling though her legacy won’t be Harry Potter — it will be her weird transphobic attacks on transgender people.
I say weird because for most of her life Rowling has advanced philanthropic causes. The charity Lumos. She worked for Amnesty International documenting human rights issues.
In fact, 95% of her works have been for the greater good.
I’m not a fan of reality TV — but this show is good.
10 amateur climbers competing for a cash prize of $100,000 and $100,000 prAna sponsorship.
Less hype, more reality than similar shows. Plenty of respect. Not much faux outrage. No phoney drama.
No psychological warfare or sabotage.
The elimination round each episode is entertaining.
If you can only watch 1 episode, watch the last ➙ #10.
It’s upbeat and positive. I recommend it even for those who have no interest in rock climbing.
This show is presented for the non-climber. I learned a lot.
In fact, as I hiker my tendency is to dismiss climbers — especially mountain climbers — as egomaniac masochists. They get far more media attention than hikers.
Jason Mamoais 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) — 250 pounds. Not really the right build. But the man loves climbing anyway. He makes celebrity appearances. And this show is Jason’s baby.
Host Chris Sharma is legend in the sport. And they brought in another legend, Meagan Martin, to assist him. Meagan’s famous for American Ninja Warrior, Pole Vault, and Climbing.
Cat Runner, one of the competitors, is small. Light is good. But short doesn’t help in climbing. Cat identifies as transgender, one reason he’s a climber — an activity where gender doesn’t matter.
I was cheering for him before finding out he was trans. I was cheering for Cat because he was shortest in a sport where it helps to have long limbs. Reach.
Cat’s from Kentucky, one of the many U.S. states where ReTrumplican politicians are proposing anti-LGBTQ and/or anti-trans legislation in an effort to prove they are more horrible human beings than their next GOP primary challenger. Intolerant A-holes all.
Tom Lehrer only recorded 37 songs. Performed only about 100 times.
The songs were FUNNY. Way ahead of his time.
In fact, Tom preferred teaching mathematics, lecturing at Harvard University and later at other schools.
His songs were intended to amuse himself and friends. Left leaning, he enjoying making fun of both left and right.
He paid $15 (equivalent to $152 in 2021) for some studio time in 1953 to record Songs by Tom Lehrer. The initial pressing was 400 copies. Radio stations would not air his songs because of his controversial subjects, so he sold the album on campus at Harvard for $3, equivalent to $30 in 2021.
Tom’s still with us. Now age-94. Born 1928 to a secular Jewish family, growing up in Manhattan.
the number of people older than 80 is expected to increase sixfold by 2100
while being less productive, seniors also consume substantially more public resources
USA already spends 40% of total tax dollars on people 65 and up
China, Japan, Germany, Italy, Greece, Portugal, and many Eastern European nations are shrinking in 2023. Researchers project the global population will peak in 2064.
Net population growth requires a fertility rate slightly greater than two births per woman. America’s fertility rate is 1.8; the average for high income countries. And dropping.
It’s increasingly difficult for young people to be able to afford to get married, buy a house, and have kids.
The obvious solution is to increase immigration of young people. Galloway feels increased immigration still won’t be enough to solve the problem.
What a great idea. Short vignettes of the funny, romantic, heartfelt, inspiring and unexpected lives of immigrants in America. Based on true stories.
In an era where ReTrumplican Americans are against immigrants, this show is timely.
In fact, filming of episode 8 had to be moved to Canada when Trump placed a 90-day restriction on entry to the U.S. by nationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
Shaun Toub as Faraz was maybe my favourite character in the season one 8 different episodes.
Paul Theroux is a jerk — but still my favourite travel writer of all time.
He’s age-81 as I post. Still going strong.
Theroux says he’s mellowed. And I’d admit his most recent books are much more positive than his scathing critiques of the past.
In 2015, he published “Deep South” detailing four road trips through the southern states of the United States. Excellent.
In 2019 he published OnthePlainofSnakes: A Mexican Journey, his account of his extensive travels in his own car throughout Mexico.
In some ways it was a continuation of his Deep South investigation.
Near the start he recaps the deaths and damage done by the drug trade. The insatiable American market. The brutal competition in Mexico to supply it.
He does a terrific overview of illegal immigration before the pandemic. Mexico a net zero. Now mostly more desperate folks from Central America as well as many from India, the Caribbean, and even China.
Over the decades it’s gotten more and more difficult to cross the border illegally. And not because of any wall. Walls are considered a joke in Mexico.
In another instant, his comments come across as self-serving, as when he longs for a simpler Mexico with “inexpensive meals that were delicious, cheap motels that were comfortable, and friendly people who, out of politeness, seldom complained to outsiders of their dire circumstances: poor pay, criminal gangs, a country without good health care or pensions, crooked police, cruel soldiers, and a government indifferent to the plight of most citizens.” …
I was amused to read of all the time Paul paid bribes to crooked cops. An conspicuous car with Massachusetts licence plates — a sitting duck.
Theroux is mostly critical of ReTrumplicans. I like that too, of course.
“The per capita income in Oaxaca is the same as in Kenya and Bangladesh,” Theroux says.
“You’re dealing with people who have very little money and get very little help from the government. But they have a great culture they’re very proud of, their family values are very strong, and they’re very self-sufficient and creative. They mend their clothes; they fix their shoes; they’re actually able to take something that’s broken and repair it; they have a lot of cottage industries.
I admire that, and I admire the ones who pick up and go to the border. Most of the people I’ve met who crossed the border just wanted to earn some money to send back and then go home; they weren’t here to go on welfare or be the parasites they’re identified as.”
In fact, Theroux says, “the book was inspired by everything that Donald Trump and other people were saying during the presidential campaign about Mexico, Mexicans, and the border—their uninformed opinions and stereotypes.”
He adds, “One of the great reasons for traveling is to destroy stereotypes, to see people and things as they really are, to see the dynamics and the complexity of a country. As soon as he started saying things like, ‘There’s too many of them, they’re coming over the border, they’re rapists,’ I had a great reason for taking a year or two to get to the bottom of it.” …
It’s very good. One of my favourite TV series of 2022.
Of course there are many things that fans of the books will criticize, especially the cast.
Too few francophones for a village in Quebec.
Most miscast was Tamara Brown as Myrna Landers. Myrna should be bigger, happier, and older.
Initially, I was disappointed in British-American actor Alfred Molina as Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Too anglo. And he doesn’t look how I picture Gamache — BUT I was wrong.
Molina really does convey the unique philosophical approach to solving murders that we read in the books. Warmth and gravitas.
Yes this TV series has absurd, ridiculous plot lines. There are no grizzly bears in Quebec — but that’s my main complaint with the books, as well. The book plots are absurd. The show consistent with that.
If you are generous, you could say there are traces of magic realism.
Of 150,000 children placed in those by the Canadian government over 100 years, estimates range from 3200 to over 30,000 who died there.
Many more lived having been abused. During a penitential pilgrimage to Canada in July 2022, Pope Francis reiterated the apologies of the Catholic Church who administered many of them, including the fictional one in Three Pines, Quebec.
First Nations Canadians are still suffering from that evil legacy. And that’s spelled out in this show.
As a person of wealth and power, Rowling’s inevitably punching down when she engages with critics.
Rowling does a lot of charity work. Is a good person. And should simply stay quiet online — like MacKenzie Scott.
As a big fan of Rowling’s books, this one wastes too much time describing the good and bad of online fandom. Not enough on the painful but entertaining relationship between lovely Robin Ellacott and gruff, unlovable Cormoran Strike.
My best guess is that her mind was not on Robin & Cormoran while writing — but on personal grievance.
And after all this — I still don’t understand her position on those few individuals (0.1% to 0.6% of the population) born with gender identity or gender expression that does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth.
Personally, I don’t care if you are trans, from Transylvania, or choose to medically transition to another sex.
Everyone should have equal opportunity.
OF COURSE when it comes to what sport to play there should be rules. And each sport should set those to be as fair as possible to all participants.
Rick McCharles 