Forget about Britain's Got Talent, David Hasselhoff has another TV show on his mind – Lovejoy – which he wants to remake with himself (who else?) in the title role. "I'd like to remake Lovejoy," said the Hoff. "I loved Lovejoy, I think it's great. I think I've got as much talent as the next guy." Yes, Dave, but have you seen the next guy? It would take a big man to fill the shoes previously occupied by Ian McShane in the Sunday night antiques drama, which ran on BBC1 from 1986 to 1994. For viewers who haven't seen it, think Deadwood, but without the swearing. And more grandfather clocks. The Hoff, fresh from opening Nickelodeon Land in Blackpool with SpongeBob SquarePants, also tells Piers Morgan's Life Stories on ITV1 on Saturday that his dad still calls him Michael, after his legendary Knight Rider character. "My dad still calls me Michael, because of Michael Knight. A lot of people do – I even used to be Michael Knight on my answering machine." No wonder the chap occasionally looks confused. But if the Hoff is Lovejoy, then who is going to play Tinker Dill, originally played by Dudley Sutton? Charlie Sheen?

Since One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest this gifted bit-part actor has played the psychopath to perfection – but don't expect him to come out into the light in his new vampire movie Priest

Fans of the vampire apocalypse sub-genre will already be en route to the nachos, but no matter what your taste there is at least one reason to recommend the newly released Priest. That reason, buried as he usually is in the depths of the supporting cast, is Brad Dourif. Because I don't think it would be rash to claim Dourif as king of the character actors – champion of that noble tradition of bit-part players and background colour, a self-confessed "whore" who never fails to elevate even the dopiest hokum, psychotic creeps a speciality but capable of much, much more.

Almost everyone reading will, I imagine, have relished a Dourif performance at some point in their lives, in part because the man is as tireless as he is gifted, in part because among his many jobs have been a number of near-inescapable cultural behemoths (leaving aside Star Trek: Voyager, he reportedly dispensed with his eyebrows to appear in two of Peter Jackson's three Lord of the Rings films). But he's due far more reward than a place for life signing headshots at comic conventions. For all his workhorse tendencies, it would be a mistake to laud them over his actual talent – the waxy delicacy of his features the canvas for a rare, skewed intensity, his unnerving presence never once played as smirky camp.

But his gifts were obvious from the start. Because, of course, when we rewind as far back as 1975, we find him as the very newest of Hollywood sensations, and rightly so – the breakthrough Miloš Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and his pivotal turn as frail, doomed Billy Bibbit, a role he fitted so perfectly it was if Ken Kesey had foreseen a vision of him writing the source novel 13 years earlier. For a boy of 25 it was a staggering performance, deft and touching and every bit as compelling as those of Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher. His Oscar nomination was inevitable; a stellar career was assured.

Except, as it turned out, it wasn't. Instead of an ascension to the upper slopes of the industry, the decades since have provided a hectic route through strange landscapes and scenic backwaters. There were more great performances – shortly after Cuckoo's Nest came some masterful jitters in the prime slice of New York kink that was The Eyes of Laura Mars, after that John Huston's mordant Wise Blood, most recently a lovely moment as a melancholy alien (surely the role he was born to play) in Werner Herzog's The Wild Blue Yonder. There were also roles in a number of grand cinematic missteps: the daddy of them all, Heaven's Gate; David Lynch's Dune, in which he gamely held forth about "the juice of sapho"; Jean-Pierre Jeunet's rickety Alien Resurrection. But while Lynch would hire him again for Blue Velvet, and Herzog has used him as a one-man rep company, the best part of the last 20 years has been spent paying the bills in all manner of horror projects, from the iconic (in some circles he'll be forever best known as the voice of Chucky in the Child's Play series) to the altogether less celebrated – but always performed with respectful sincerity.

In interviews, Dourif himself talks about the shape of his career as simply a product of a working actor needing work, particularly as a father – in the same year Cuckoo's Nest came out, his first daughter was born. But sometimes when I think about him I also find it hard not to picture that otherworldly bearing and remember the example of another thin young man too wispy and off-kilter to be anyone's male lead: Anthony Perkins. But then, much as I love Anthony Perkins, Dourif is by a long way the better actor, both more intense and more versatile. He could always do repellent (as racist wifebeater Clinton Pell in 1988's Mississippi Burning his presence is skin-crawling) – but his Doc Cochran in TV's old west saga Deadwood was a masterclass in unexpected decency, while what made his work in Herzog's Bad Lieutenant so fine was the way he acted as a steadying hand amid the crazed whirl of breakdancing souls and watchful iguanas.

And it's important, I think, not to embrace him just because he's a favourite of Herzog and Lynch, but because he's been fantastic in their films as he has so many others – and because the risk with anyone so reliable is that they get taken for granted, particularly when the wonders they deliver are small in scale. I'm sure Dourif himself would see his career as anything but thwarted for all that he never did get that Oscar, and we should follow his example. Bills have to be paid, and it would be patronising to assume he would have been happier with his name above the titles of wood-stupid action flicks. In any sane hall of fame, his place is safe already.

In March of this year, the show Hell on Wheels, a Western set during the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, started shooting in Alberta. The series is AMC's latest foray into Big Television -- ten episodes have been ordered to begin telling the story of a man seeking to avenge the death of his wife at the hands of Union soldiers. See the first footage, after the break. The cast includes Anson Mount (Hick, the Straw Dogs remake) as Cullen Bohannon, a Confederate soldier in search of revenge; Dominique McElligott (Sam Rockwell's wife in Moon) as Lily Bell, "a housewife caring for her ill husband," and Common playing Elam, a freed slave. Additionally, Colm Meaney, Ben Esler, Eddie Spears, and Philip Burke are cast. You'll see most of them here, in glimpses at least. So how does the footage look? Not bad, so far. There's some good stuff here, but it is difficult to crawl out from under the massive shadow cast by Deadwood. The modern TV Western is so defined by David Milch's show that anything else has to work harder than normal. So let's give Hell on Wheels some time -- it won't be out until later this year. Besides, Common looks like he might be a standout here, and that would be pretty alright. The official site [1] has this info: “Hell on Wheels is a contemporary western about post-Civil War America that focuses on a Confederate soldier who sets out to exact revenge on the Union soldiers who have killed his wife." There's also this: His journey takes him west to ‘Hell on Wheels,’ a dangerous, raucous, lawless melting pot of a town that travels with and services the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, an engineering feat unprecedented for its time. The series documents the railroad's incredible feat of engineering and construction as well as the institutionalized greed and corruption, the immigrant experience, and the plight of the newly emancipated African-Americans during reconstruction. Over time, “Hell on Wheels” chronicles this potent turning point in our nation's history, and how uncivilized the business of civilization can be. Thanks to /Film reader Andrew for pointing this out. [1] http://www.amctv.com/amc-news/videos/amcs-first-look-at-hell-on-wheels

The "f" word was used so frequently in the show it got me to thinking. Was the word actually used in 19th century America or was it's overuse in the show a contrivance for artistic effect?

HBO streaming on the go (in the States)

Sadly, UK readers won't be able to make use of today's App of The Day - it's Stateside only folks.

But we still thought it worthy of inclusion, not only for our American fans - but because even UK fans can appreciate what is, undoubtedly, the biggest Video On Demand app launch to date.

Sure, the BBC iPlayer is brilliant - but does it stream The Sopranos to your smartphone? No. Does it have Curb Your Enthusiasm on tap for your tablet? No.

But this does......

HBO Go

Format

iPhone / iPod touch / iPad / Android

Price

Free

Where

App Store / Android Market

Supposed to officially launch on 2 May, HBO Go for iOS and Android has been floating around the various app stores (see Steve, it is a generic term) for a few days now - so we thought it only right that we give you details of what's on board.

As you'd expect, at the heart of this app is its content - HBO is claiming that there are over 1,400 shows on offer from its vast catalogue. This includes recent smash hit shows such as Treme and Boardwalk Empire, as well as classics such as Deadwood and The Wire.

The app itself is free, but you'll need a HBO subscription, as well as a US network that supports the app. The web is awash with user reviews at present so be sure to check these out as well - especially if you're on Android as not all devices are supported.

The shows stream via Wi-Fi and 3G - which is great because it makes the app truly portable. You can even set up your own Watchlist of your favourite shows or use the Series Pass feature to automatically load your lists.

The app also breaks shows down into genres, including a Late Night section which you'll need to set up a pin to access.

As well as streaming the shows a wealth of info is given on the title, including previews, bios, running times and original aired dates.

But it's the programming that really makes HBO Go a winner. It's an app that US readers with a HBO subscription surely must download at once, and one that makes us Brits very jealous indeed.

?

Tags: HBO HBO Go Apps App of the day iPad apps Android apps iPhone apps Video on demand

       

APP OF THE DAY: HBO Go (iPad, iPhone & Android) originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 03 May 2011 18:00:00 +0100

As anyone who watches Jon Stewart knows, in this degraded media environment, comedians make the best journalists.

You may have heard that last week, the writer and academic Larissa Behrendt sent a rude tweet (ZOMG!) while watching Bess Price on the ABC1’s Q&A program.

By far the best article on Horsegate comes from Tony Martin, writing in the fabulous online journal Scrivener’s Fancy.

Martin does something that everyone else seems to have forgotten: he puts the exchange in context.

The incident happened, he says, when Behrendt had been watching the HBO series Deadwood on ABC2. That was where she’d seen the fellow loving up to his horse. She then switched to Q&A, where she heard Bess Price speak in favour of the Northern Territory Intervention, which Behrendt opposes. Hence the tweet: "I watched a show where a guy had sex with a horse and I’m sure it was less offensive than Bess Price."

Pass me the smelling salts – I may faint.

As Martin writes: "Saying that you watched a show where a guy had sex with a horse and that it was less offensive – to you – than Bess Price’s views, is not the same as saying, apropos of nothing, that Bess Price is worse than watching a guy have sex with a horse."

In other words, two indigenous people had a political disagreement, and one of them said something mildly rude about the other.

Why is this news?

Because over the past 10 days the Australian has devoted some 10 stories - most of them on the front page - relating in some way or another to what Graeme Leech in his Strewth column today calls "the slur of the century, a slur so vile we won't repeat it".

Yep. Not an off-colour joke, but the slur of the century. The biggest insult of the last 100 years.

If you think that sounds, well, a teensy bit crazy, then you haven’t read Keith Windschuttle’s column this morning. Windschuttle heads at once for the low road, grubbing around in Behrendt’s family history and accusing her of not deserving her scholarship to Harvard. She was, he says, "never a brilliant student".

Now, according to Wikipedia, Windschuttle never completed the PhD he enrolled in at Macquarie University in 1978. But that’s probably because he was too brilliant.

For her part, Behrendt was subsequently awarded a masters and a PhD from Harvard, degrees indicative, one would think, that the most prestigious university in the world regarded her academic work as possessing some merit.

Ah, but perhaps they’re in on the conspiracy, too. For the indefatigable Windschuttle has sniffed out a plot.

"Fairfax editors regarded [news about the Behrendt tweet]," he writes, "as such a threat to their world view they imposed a nationwide ban on the story. Not a word about it appeared in the pages of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review or The Sun-Herald."

Why, oh, why, he asks, have other newspapers not devoted acres of coverage to those 140 characters that shook the world?

Oh, oh – pick me! Pick me! I know the answer!

Maybe, just maybe, it’s because editors who aren’t perpetually grinding their ideological axes can recognise a monumental beat-up when they see one.

Windschuttle says that Behrendt’s tweet represents "one of the most damaging scandals yet to have rocked Aboriginal affairs".

Seriously, that is what he says. Two hundred years of dispossession – and the biggest scandal in Aboriginal affairs is one Indigenous woman cracking wise about another.

There is a real story here but it’s not about Behrendt.

In the US, decades of relentless culture war have led sections of the Right into an alternative universe, a place where prestigious universities are dominated by tenured radicals, where scientists are always wrong, where media outlets that are not Fox News spew forth liberal propaganda, and where the only people who ever suffer discrimination are old white men. In that world, politics consists entirely of manufactured gotchas, endlessly repeated and amplified by blogs and pundits and talk show hosts. Barack Obama was rude to Joe the Plumber! A liberal politician didn’t wear a flag pin! Al Gore is fat!

What Horsegate shows is that the same phenomenon is underway here: what we might call the Fox Newsification of the Australian.

If you’re caught up in the bizarro world of permanent culture war, trawling through Twitter feeds for something to be outraged about doubtless seems like tremendously important journalistic research. Maybe that’s why comedians have become so important – they’ve got a finely tuned sense of the ridiculous. A sense that's suddenly so essential.

Jeff Sparrow is the editor of Overland literary journal. On Twitter, he is @Jeff_Sparrow.

 

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Is it possible to create furniture from dead or damaged trees? If your answer is no then you must know what Dennis Milanov did. This artist take dead or damaged trees which hare about two to three centuries old and creates innovative and breathtakingly beautiful furniture out of them.

Nobody want dead or damaged trees. Especially the dead ones. The furniture industry does not know how to make furniture out of dead trees. Because traditionally and conventionally dead trees are only good for firewood. They are cut and sold as firewood. Firewood is consumed by people and industries. For example, firewood is used for hearths, and firewood is used to generate steam in boilers.

But Dennis Milanov has done something that is akin to beating a dead snake back to life. He has given life to dead trees. Taking stumps of such trees, he has created a beautiful collection of stump chairs. The chairs are so pretty, that you will love to own one of them if not all of them.

These chair will add a touch of natural elegance and sophistication to your living rooms. A pinch of naturism in your house will add oodles of energy. You might have tried putting potted plants at corners, or growing a tree in the middle of the house! But nothing beats the natural elegance and style of these stump chairs.

When looking at these chair, you might wonder if they are of this era. Such is the design of these chair. They look like something that was left behind by the Greeks or Romans! Some of the chairs look truly medieval. You might want to add a splash of color to them, but it is recommended that they be kept as they are.

Now you might be wondering, what’s so special about this invention? Well, there are plenty of things special about these chair. Firstly, they are created from very old trees. To retain compactness of these trees, these chair are almost carved out of these trees. Which means that unlike other furniture that are assembled from different pieces, these chair are actually sculptures.

This makes it even more exciting. Now you not only have chairs, but sculptures! So not only do you have furniture, but something of artistic value. Such chairs will really comfortable if you can add some cushioning to them.

The chairs combine appeals of outdoors and indoor. You can place them in your living room or your verandah. They’d look just right. If you have a garden, then you can plonk them in there somewhere. They’d add a lot of aesthetic value to your outdoors.

Via: Dudecraft

I never thought I'd be this jazzed to see a horse-racing drama, but 'jazzed' only begins to capture how I feel after watching the first behind the scenes look at Luck, the HBO show from Michael Mann and David Milch that stars Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte. This video is a relatively brief featurette on the making of the show, but it has enough tiny clips of the actors in action that I think you'll walk away from it wanting to see a lot more. More than anything else, what excites me here is Dustin Hoffman. He's playing a mob figure/e-con/gambler of some kind, and we haven't seen him looking quite this fierce in a long time. Nick Nolte looks great, and the brief look at Richard Kind makes it seem that he's playing a very different character than we're used to. We'll have to wait to get more than tiny glimpses of the rest of the cast, which includes Dennis Farina as Dustin Hoffman's associate, John Ortiz as a horse trainer, and Joan Allen, Ian Hart, Kevin Dunn, Kerry Condon, Tom Payne and Patrick J. Adams. I also love how the music, editing and some of the close-up bits of b-roll in this piece make it resemble the opening [1] of Deadwood in what is probably a very deliberate way. And if Dustin Hoffman turns out to be Luck's very own Al Swearingen? That would be thrilling. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B909njPoX7k

Two more bands will be selected tonight to open for acts on the main stage at Muskegon Summer Celebration 2011.

[M]emory resides in the guts and arse as well as the head and heart – Niall Griffiths

Those of you who, for whatever strange reasons, follow my blog on a regular basis will not be surprised to find that I have never read a travel guide before. The main reason for that is that I’ve never been anywhere where I needed a travel guide mainly because I’ve never really had any great desire to go anywhere. That was not always the case. When I was a young boy I developed a fascination and lasting affection for the country of Australia. I have no idea where this originated (it’s not like we had family there), as Australia was not exactly well represented in the media at that time (Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and Rolf Harris for the most part – perhaps I had a wee crush on blue-eyed blonde Liza Goddard), and yet I had a great big map of Australia on my bedroom wall and imagined that when I grew up I would marry a blonde, blue-eyed Australian girl; the hair- and eye-colour were mandatory. (As it happens I’ve ended up with a green-eyed, grey-haired American – what can I say?) Somewhere along the line I lost any active interest in all things antipodean but it was rekindled in the early seventies when one of my school friends shortly after leaving school packed his bags and emigrated to Australia. Some years later I met his mum in the street and she told me that Neil was back home for awhile and I should pop up for a visit but I never did and I’ve felt guilty about that for a good thirty years now.

Thirty years is a long time. But that’s the time period covered by Niall Griffiths’ memoir Ten Pound Pom. Ten Pound Poms is a colloquial term used in Australia to describe British subjects who migrated to Australia after the Second World War under an assisted passage scheme established and operated by the Government of Australia:

Created as part of the "Populate or Perish" policy, the scheme was designed to substantially increase the population of Australia and to supply workers for the country's booming industries. In return for subsidising the cost of travelling to Australia — adult migrants were charged only ten pound sterling for the fare (hence the name), and children were allowed to travel for free — the Government promised employment prospects, housing and a generally more optimistic lifestyle. However, on arrival, migrants were placed in basic hostels and the expected job opportunities were not always readily available.

Assisted migrants were generally obliged to remain in Australia for two years after arrival, or alternatively refund the cost of their assisted passage. If they chose to travel back to Britain, the cost of the journey was at least £120, a large sum in those days and one that most could not afford. – Wikipedia

On 4th July 1975 the Griffithses – expectant mother, father, sister and two sons (Niall and his older brother, Tony) – clamber aboard BA flight 940 which was waiting for them at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 3 ready to head off to Brisbane, Australia pausing only for two short pit stops at Doha (the capital city of the state of Qatar in case, like me, you didn’t know) and Singapore. I imagine my mate Neil took a similar trip only he’ll have left from Prestwick or Glasgow most likely. Thirty years later, Niall, now a successful writer (novelist mainly but sometime travel-writer) decides to repeat the journey and Tony tags along for moral support and to watch his back – it needs watching:

Accumulations of sight and sound and taste and touch. A life is made then measured in a million drips and drops.

[…]

Certain events we remember vividly, others through a fog of uncertainty, and the clarity of our recollections has nothing to do with the importance of the incident. And we remember things that might not have happened at all.

This then is, it is fair to say, a very personal “memoir, travelogue, rant, paean, elegy and the closest thing to an autobiography that” we can likely expect from Niall although from the sounds of him I suspect that were he ever to go the whole hog and write an actual autobiography it might prove entertaining reading if this short sojourn into his past is anything to go by. The book’s disclaimer sets the scene:

DISCLAIMER: This book is not a work of fiction, but the reader is advised not to assume that every event recounted herein took place entirely within the confines of the real world.

There are a couple of reason why this might be the case, firstly, the passage of time and the vagaries of human memory, and, secondly, the fact that Niall does enjoy his drink and much of his trip is spent the worse for wear from the previous night’s indulgences. By way of illustrating my point:

I will get drunk tonight, I think. I will drink to dead things, things that rot inside me and the world beyond my flesh, or if not rotting only then also resting under rich soil and pretty flowers, and never to re-awaken in the forms in which I loved them, still love them. […] I feel abandoned and estranged within this skin.

Okay, so this book is not always a riot but what did he expect? As I said, thirty years is a long time. The houses he lived in, schools he attended, places he adventured and misbehaved in were not just going to sit around waiting on his return or if they have they’ve been repainted and appropriated for other uses; chippies have become hairdressers, pubs have gone upmarket. But some things haven’t changed, the distance between Brisbane and Perth for example which he, as did his family before him, decides to drive: he in a rented Britz campervan fully kitted out with “a fridge and a stove and a microwave and a sink and a table and two beds and some overhead storage which can be turned into another sleeping space” and along a new road, his parents in a Holden station wagon along what was not much more than a dirt track back in 1976. The bulk of the book is devoted to this trek, a drive of over 2200 miles.

Since the arrival of Neighbours on our TV sets in 1986 we in the UK have become far more interested in Australian culture than we ever were in its cricket team. I think before that and post-Skippy the only things I’d ever seen with an Australian setting were Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Ned Kelly (1970) and I might have only seen the trailer to Ned Kelly or a couple of clips on Film 1970. I always understood the Australians considered Ned as their version of Robin Hood but I really knew nothing much about either of them. Beechwood is on the brothers’ way to Perth and so both times, in the past and in the present, the travellers stop to get better acquainted with history:

THEN

There’s something about New Kelly that provokes an emotion in the boy which he can only equate with liking something. He’s been told that Kelly was ‘a crook, a killer, a thief, a bushranger’, but there are things about him… the armour, the last words, the last stand, the bullets pinging off his helmet, even the internally-rhyming name… the boy finds a part of him being drawn to all this, slowly, like a houseplant towards a window. He’s heard the Fonz use the word ‘cool’ on Happy Days and he thinks that word, in the way in which Fonzie uses it, might be applicable to Ned. He thinks. He’s very young.

NOW

I’m older now. I still think there’s something of the Fonz about Ned, even though I realise that the ‘natural’ state of enmity between himself and the law that he frequently mentioned was a consequence of his rustling, and that his appeals to Irish emancipation from repression are deeply undermined by the fact that those whose livestock he stole, and the police officers he shot at Stringybark Creek, were themselves Irish-born or descended. Still, the whole story’s seductive, isn’t it? The armour and that. And, by God, what a turn of phrase the uneducated and supposedly subnormal feller had.

Times have changed though, he notes, and Australia’s perception-through-marketing of the whole Ned Kelly myth has changed too:

How different this is to the figure of national shame and embarrassment that Kelly was when I was last here, all those years ago. […] As was his mother, Ellen, a tinker-Irish, bred like a rabbit, Mick harridan carting her clatter of snot-nosed kids up to be thieves and rustlers. Now, according to a leaflet written by Noelene Allen, she’s a ‘woman of sprit and courage’, who, when a child in Antrim, used to love ‘exploring the beautiful rolling hills around her home searching for wild berries, bird’s nests and flowers’, who ‘loved to sing and dance… A free spirit with a strong rebellious streak’.

The town of Glenrowan, Niall notes, would hardly exist were it not for its Kelly connections although he refrains from visiting Ned’s Pizza Parlour, Kelly’s Inn or any of the other establishments trying to claim some connection to the old rogue.

Of the neighbouring towns, however, it’s Beechworth that maintains that it is ‘Australia’s Best Preserved Ned Kelly Town’ but these towns are not the only ones wanting to stake a claim to fame: there’s Holbrook – ‘Australia’s Submarine Town’ – with a huge U-boat half-buried in its centre or Meckering – ‘Australia’s Earthquake Centre’ (that must really pull in the tourists) – or Adelaide – ‘Australia’s Murder Capital’ – or Tamworth – ‘Country Music Capital of Australia’ and ‘Tidy Town Winner 1999’ apparently – or Glen Innes – ‘Celtic Capital of Australia’ with its “pan-Celtic theme park, with rings of stones and a mock-up of Excalibur protruding from another stone” – or Kingston – ‘WINNER 2005 BEST MEDIUM-SIZED TOWN’ – and I have to agree with Niall on this last one: “That’s scraping the barrel till it bleeds.” This, of course, is nothing unique to Australia and it speaks more about how much marketing is now a part of our lives: everyone has something to sell, even those with nothing to sell. Just look at the Scottish towns fighting over which one of them will be the birthplace of Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise.

The things that delighted the young Niall are pretty much the things that delight the adult Niall: Australian flora, fauna and natural features. Essentially these things haven’t changed and, if extinction can be avoided, won’t change much for millennia. Possibly the most magical happens to the young Niall on a “school trip to Early Street Pioneer Village – wells and log cabins and people wearing Victorian attire.” He notices some movement in a tangled bush and can’t resist the urge to investigate:

A dragon is hiding in the leaves. Small dinosaur, a spiked ridge of flesh on its back and a green wattle at its throat. Its claws curl like nail parings and its yellow eyes turn to the boy and a pulse beats lightly in its throat and a heavier one beats in the boy and he slowly removes an Opal Fruit from his packet and offers it to the lizard. Ridged nostrils sniff. A tongue flickers out. Rubber lips open and close and teeth bite. The boy is absolutely absorbed, completely rapt. There is no thought in his thudding skull other than the assimilation of what he’s doing, what is entering his eyes, this lizard chewing on the sweet and the boy takes in the tiny chasms between every scale and the fine mesh of the skin and the silvery claws and the sickle-shaped shadows that mackerel the back and flanks and he wants nothing more in the world, just this.

Other things have changed. The ‘abos’ for a start. At school “[h]e makes friends with an aborigine girl. Two outsiders together.” On his return he is appalled when he comes across her people living as down-and-outs, begging on the street:

These are people in despair. I’ve seen it worldwide; in Arctic Inuits, in native Canadians, even in Celts at home. It never loses its power to perturb, in whatever landscape it takes place.

This is nothing new. It certainly existed when his family were driving across the country. At one point a man at a petrol station warns the father:

One thing to watch out for, the man says, –on the desert. The abos, like. They’ll come running out of the bush towards you, waving for help. What you won’t know is, they’ll have a spear between their toes, dragging it, like. So whatever you do don’t stop.

It happens, just like the man said, and despite his family’s protestations that the man might actually be in trouble, the father doesn’t stop or even slow down.

The boy thinks about this. Ambush. Spear. Robbery on the highway. He’s been warned many times in Oz to look out for the ‘abos’ but he can’t help but find them fascinating. They’re so strange, to him. They have such kind faces.

Niall can’t help but wonder about the mentality of the Australians:

See, the convict strain seethes deep in the collective Oz psyche; it shouldn’t, really – sons don’t need to pay for the sins of the fathers – but it does. It smoulders in the marrow of the Australian Everyman. It means that he really doesn’t trust others, that he feels anger and shame at not being trusted himself. The shallowness of the available history – an 80-year-old telegraph station is seen as an ancient ruin – is reflected in the general mental attitude, which is happy to accept whatever lies on the surface and has an intense aversion to investigative endeavour. In Oz, history is not what you live; history is something other countries have. The aboriginal historical narrative is closed and removed, unless trampling over their temples such as Uluru can bring in the tourist dollar, and the aboriginals themselves, when encountered in cities and towns, are either doing funny dances in face-paint for small change, or have been reduced to wretched drunks. Australian culture is, largely, at your shoulder, right in front of your nose; it’s all immediate. By and large it has no depth...

Now, before any Australians take too much offense you might want to have a look at my review of The Dreams of Max and Ronnie which I read a few weeks back. Especially in the first piece, Ronnie’s Dream, Niall points the finger at the UK and he does not miss us and hit the wall. Yes, it’s easy as an outsider to take a drive through Australia and criticise it especially returning to it after a thirty-year break and seeing it changed, possibly ruined. I never lived there but after viewing TV programmes like Underbelly and films like Samson and Delilah and some of Jane Campion’s work (like Sweetie) I also feel there’s like trouble in paradise. But then there’s trouble everywhere.

It won’t surprise you to read though that by the end of his journey, once they reach Perth, Niall is more than ready to get on a plane and fly home:

I’m out of Oz. Sick to the gizzard of Oz.

Once home he drives to his parents’ house and the first thing he tells them is: “Thank Christ you brought us back from Oz.”

Between 1947 and 1981, more than a million Britons took advantage of an assisted passage scheme introduced by the Australian Government. […] Some people hated Australia instantly and so intensely that they never left the camp, waiting it out until their two years was up. For the 10-pound Poms, there was a 25 per cent return rate but then half of them went back to Australia, realising it had been better after all. – Annie Brown, ‘Scots families tell how they set off in search of a better life and found their dream in Australia’, Daily Record, 30 January 2010

The Griffiths family last until June 1978; Niall was then twelve and had just discovered the Sex Pistols and knew what he wanted to do when he grew up. (Yes, Niall, didn’t we all?) They survived three years: three years of culture shock, three years of intense heat, of creepy crawlies, of pommie-bashing, of homesickness. On the plus side Niall did experience his first kiss and see a girl’s naked bum but 12,000 miles is a long way to go for that and there’s nothing wrong with the good ol’ British girl’s bum let me tell you. Needless to say Niall never managed to become a rock god:

He spent years moving from one short-term job to another, from sorting mail to stacking machine-guns, the worst being a stint "cleaning closed-tank muckspreaders. You had to climb into the tank, dizzy with methane, and shovel it out". He eventually moved to Aberystwyth to study for a PhD, but dropped out.

The years that followed provided him with plenty of material for novels which would become known for their portrayal of disaffected, marginalised characters living for drink and drugs.

"If you go on these binges sometimes you reach these bright and shining places, where great witticisms roll off people's tongues, but in a sense your life is wasted, because you forget. So I'd go on these binges, and spend a day recovering, then write what I could remember, and gradually the writing became more important than the 'research'. That's where Grits came from.

"I know my parents are proud of my achievements, but I wouldn't actually want them to read my work. When my books are first published, I make sure I send a copy to my mum and dad, but I tell them not to read the contents." – BBC Wales Arts

I enjoyed this book. I’ve only read one other thing by him as I’ve said, The Dreams of Max and Ronnie, but it was because of that that I agreed to have a crack at this one. The style is similar, in your face, confident. It reads more like a blog than most books I’ve read. The language is relaxed, peppered with expletives and honest. His honesty won’t do much to win him antipodean friends but as his publisher says:

Ten Pound Pom promises to attract a lot of attention but’s not likely to win him Australian of the Year or a commendation from the Queensland Tourist board. God Bless Australia?

I have to second that. In between the lines though I think there’s more to this book than you might first imagine especially looking at its cover – just what demographic are they aiming at there? – because if you forget about the fact this is set in another country and simply read this as a man looking back on his plooky youth with predictable ambivalence this is a book that most of us grownups-so-called will be able to relate to. That he had to get on a plane and travel to the other side of the planet to visit it whereas most of us can take a train or a bus or just look out the back window adds some significance to the journey and also to his level of expectations: he probably expects the return to be directly proportional to the effort expended and it is not. Left, right and centre he is disappointed and it’s easy to view his disappointment as being with Australia but I think if his family has spent three years in South Dakota he might have written a very similar book considering the number of times he tips the hat to Deadwood.

Great literature this is not. Great entertainment? I was certainly entertained well enough despite the fact it all felt a bit rushed, especially once they actually get to Perth, and another 50 or even 100 pages wouldn’t have done the book any harm. Perhaps though the book simply reflects his growing need to be done trawling through his past like this. I don’t know. I do know I won’t be rushing out to buy his Real Aberystwyth or his Real Liverpool any day soon. That said if you are planning a trip to either place in the near future I think you might do well to consider them. Because if there’s one thing I can say about Niall Griffiths is that he’s real.

***

Niall Griffiths was born in Liverpool in 1966, studied English, and now lives and works in Aberystwyth.

His first five novels are: Grits (2000), a tale of addicts and drifters in rural Wales; Sheepshagger (2001) – telling the story of Ianto, a feral mountain boy; Kelly & Victor (2002); Stump (2003), which won two Book of the Year awards, and Runt (2006). Grits was made into a film for television, and Kelly & Victor and Stump are also being made into films.

Niall Griffiths has also written travel pieces, restaurant and book reviews, and radio plays. He is currently working on a collection of short stories and a novella.

Last week’s topic was gardening. I am a day late and a dollar short.  More like a week late and a bigger deficit than that, but you get the picture.  I lost track of some of my responsibilities in the chaos of sick kids, traveling husband, ailing dog and hormones.  Can you relate? At any [...]

Nothing is as savage as a horde of starved fantasy fans – as author George RR Martin found out. He tells Alison Flood why a new book and HBO series should sate their hunger – and start a new era of swords'n'sorcery

When does anticipation for a new book turn into something darker? For bestselling fantasy author George RR Martin, that point came when his fans – desperate for the next title in his hugely popular series A Song of Ice and Fire – launched an unprecedented flood of online abuse, berating him for everything from going on book tours to watching football games, just in case the author, self-described as "60 years old and fat", was to die before finishing his epic story.

"You don't want me to 'pull a Robert Jordan' on you," Martin blogged to the circling hordes of hungry readers, referring to a fantasy novelist who passed away before completing his magnum opus. "You don't want me doing anything except A Song of Ice and Fire. Ever. Well, maybe it's okay if I take a leak once in a while?" The resentment was such that fellow fantasy author Neil Gaiman was moved to come to his defence: Martin, Gaiman blogged, "is not your bitch".

So it was with a sigh of relief last month that Martin finally announced that A Dance with Dragons would be out this summer. Before that, impatient fans can feast on Game of Thrones, HBO's much-hyped new drama based on his series and named after its first novel, A Game of Thrones. Pitched as "Lord of the Rings meets The Sopranos", the 10-part show stars Sean Bean as the icily honourable northern patriarch Ned Stark, and looks set to make Martin even hotter property.

Though the author describes his books as "epic fantasy", A Song of Ice and Fire is no magic-and-maidens Tolkien rip-off. Dark and gritty, steeped in sex (some incestuous), it features minimal magic, maximum machiavellian machinations and, as favourite characters are variously beheaded, gored and poisoned, lashings of violence. Loosely based on the wars of the roses, centring around the drawn-out rivalry between the fictional Stark and Lannister clans, the series is set in a world where seasons last for years, and a colossal wall of ice protects the lands from an unknown evil beyond. The most recent novel in the series, 2005's A Feast for Crows, achieved the rare feat for a fantasy novel of reaching the top five of the New York Times bestseller list, suggesting that Martin's books are now attracting mainstream readers, too.

The author admits that there is still "plenty of snobbery" around fantasy. "Yes – 90% of fantasy is crap," he tells me. "And so is 90% of science fiction and 90% of mystery fiction and 90% of literary fiction. But I don't think the mere presence of an elf means it can't be a great book. Faulkner said that the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself, and I agree with that. But I think you can have the human heart in conflict with itself in a fantasy, in a mystery, in a romance novel – I don't think the genre matters."

Speaking from his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the extravagantly bearded Martin – the epitome of what a fantasy author ought to look like – sounds much happier today than he did when we met in person in November, when he was clearly still smarting about his fans' anger. After spending six years writing it, Martin has very nearly completed a book that is whopping even by his standards: over 1,600 pages in manuscript.

This unwieldiness is a familiar problem for Martin. The reason fans have been driven so wild over the six-year delay is because the fourth and fifth books were meant to be one. The sheer size of A Feast for Crows forced the author to split the narrative in two, meaning that some of the viewpoints of Martin's best characters – the scheming dwarf Tyrion Lannister, the dragon princess Daenerys – are missing, to be revealed in A Dance with Dragons.

"I've had fun at certain points [writing it], but perhaps less fun as it got late," says Martin, with some understatement. "Yes, it's wonderful to have thousands of people eagerly waiting for the book to come out. I just wish they'd be a little less vituperative when they write the emails."

As well as the satisfaction of finally getting "King Kong off my back", as he puts it, Martin is looking forward to seeing HBO's reimagining of his work. "They did great stuff with historical drama in Rome, with the western in Deadwood, the gangster thing in The Sopranos. They redefined each of these genres, took it to a new level. So they thought 'we could do that in fantasy, too'," he says. A former screenwiter, he'll be adapting one episode a season, with other writers tackling the remaining nine; this first series, he's taken on episode eight, a particularly bloody part of the action.

"Right now, it's more excitement I'm feeling, but I do have moments of 'Oh God, what if it's terrible, if it's a flop?' I worked out of Hollywood for 10 years" – on shows including The Twilight Zone as well as a handful of pilots that never saw the light of day – "and I had my heart broken half a dozen times, so I know all the things that can go wrong."

Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, Martin started writing A Song of Ice and Fire in 1991. He'd published short stories and novels since the early 70s before getting involved in television, but while he waited to see if a pilot and a film he'd written were going anywhere, he decided to go back to a science-fiction novel that he'd been pondering for years.

"I was writing away merrily on that, when suddenly the first chapter of A Game of Thrones came to me," he recalls. "So vividly I knew I had to write it. So I put the other book aside and I wrote that chapter, and by the time I'd finished that chapter I knew what the second chapter would be, and pretty soon the science-fiction novel was forgotten."

A 50-page cast list

His agent initially sold it as a trilogy: Martin had no idea it would eventually stretch to what will be seven books, thousands of pages and a cast list that, in its latest incarnation, tops 50 pages. He's no Tolkien, who had vast appendices and invented languages lurking behind The Lord of the Rings; these days it's getting harder and harder for him to keep track of his own creation.

"I have no special system," he admits. "I keep it in my head – or try my best to. Maybe I tossed a few too many balls in the air, but I have to keep juggling with them now." So will he try to rein himself in for the sixth and seventh novels? Possibly – though fans probably shouldn't hold their breath.

"Hopefully, the last two books will go a little quicker than this one has, but that doesn't mean they're going to be quick," says Martin. "Realistically, it's going to take me three years to finish the next one at a good pace. I hope it doesn't take me six years like this last one has. I have a million ideas. I have some other novels I want to write. I have a lot of short stories – I love the short story. But I've got to finish this first and then I'll decide what I'm inspired by at that point. If I'm not in some old folks' home." And if he is, no doubt his fans will be haranguing him even there.

• A Game of Thrones will be on Sky Atlantic on Monday at 9pm. For more on this series, read Saturday's Guardian Guide. A Dance with Dragons is published on 12 July by HarperCollins. Discuss this interview with Alison Flood today at guardian.co.uk/books

Five magic fantasy authors

Joe Abercrombie

Dark, bloody and very funny, young British author Abercrombie's writing features barbarians, torturers and conspiracies galore. No bespectacled teenage wizards here.

Gene Wolfe

The fantasy author for lovers of literary fiction. Try his multiple award-winning epic work The Book of the New Sun, set a million years in the future on a decaying Earth.

Stephen King

The horror master's move into fantasy with The Dark Tower series is gripping stuff.

Kelly Link

Criminally underrated, the fantasy short stories of this American writer (below) in Magic for Beginners and Pretty Monsters are creepy and wonderfully fun.

Guy Gavriel Kay

From the Arthurian-flavoured Fionavar trilogy to the medieval Provence of A Song for Arbonne, the Canadian author ticks all the right fantasy boxes. AF

A week ago, Wayne Kramer walked away from the director's chair for the film Headshot, in which Sylvester Stallone is slated to star. Blame creative differences; in other words, there was a staredown over material and the star won, as tends to happen. Shortly afterward Sylvester Stallone wanted [1] Walter Hill to step into the job as director, and that is now happening. In other words, the director of The Warriors, 48 Hrs. and the Deadwood pilot is on his way back! Stallone told AICN [2], It's official. We've got Walter Hill on board so would love for you to let the world know. We've been on the same track since The Driver, then 48 Hrs didn't happen so here we are almost 35 years later, I'm finally driving with Walter Hill. First thing from this email: Sylvester Stallone could have been in The Driver and/or 48 Hrs.? That's good trivia. Beyond that, I'm now really curious to see Headshot, just because of Walter Hill's involvement. I like Wayne Kramer, but this hire turns the movie into something potentially landmark. In reality will it be a landmark movie? Probably not, but that tiny sliver of potential is enough to keep me hooked. The film has Sly's character “[teaming] with a young NYPD detective in a high-stakes investigation that leads from the dingy back alleys of New Orleans all the way to the power corridors of Washington, D.C. The unlikely duo, brought together by two vicious murders, take on all who stand in their way, and are willing to sacrifice everything to exact revenge.” The next step is casting the young detective, but there's no word on that part of the process yet. And let's go back to Sylvester Stallone's explanation for Wayne Kramer's departure. I'm sure this is only part of the story, but having seen Running Scared I can see how Wayne Kramer might in fact have been wanting to make something far more violent than was originally envisioned. Initially, Mr. Kramer was hired to direct a dark comedy; however his vision was much darker and exceptionally more violent than how the project was originally conceived. It was decided that it would be better for everyone to move on and consequently Mr. Kramer was dismissed by producers earlier this week. There were no volatile clashes, it was simply a professional parting of the ways. [1] http://www.slashfilm.com/walter-hill-talks-direct-sylvester-stallone-headshot/ [2] http://www.slashfilm.com http://www.aintitcool.com/node/49233

Have you ever wished you could scientifically test your resume — tweaking it a bit and then sending out the new and the old versions to see which got more responses? But of course, in the whirlwind of job seeking, that is near impossible. Plus, with only so many applications and a variety of types of positions, it’s hard to know whether it’s your resume changes or some other factor that determined whether you got a call.

But in theory, if the data set were big enough, an experiment into which words are resume winners — and losers — is possible. Handily, Experience blog had just such a data set in the form of a survey of hiring managers in which they were asked to grade the quality of resumes. (Even better for ELR readers, all the resumes were for entry-level work).

The blog asked resume scoring firm RezScore to apply a nifty bit of math known as term frequency–inverse document frequency to the resumes to figure out which words were unique to each resume and then looked to see if these words were correlated with high approval ratings from hiring managers. So what words were guaranteed to get you noticed straight out of school?

• Fluent
• Honors
  
• Led
• Achievement
• Dean’s List

Check out the complete post to learn exactly how big a boost you get from each word. And once you’ve added as many of these killer terms as possibly to your resume, what then? According to MonsterThinking, you’re not done yet. The blog argues you also need to cut the deadwood out of your resume, removing all the bland, meaningless terms that litter most CVs and reduce the impact of your carefully chosen phrasing.

What are some examples? MonsterThinking has a full list but a few examples are self-evident space wasters like “References available upon request” and mind-numbing cookie cutter phrases such as “proactive, hard-working and team player.”

Come on, admit it, some of those snooze inducers might just have made it to onto your CV. Time to start trimming.

This post originally appeared at BNET.

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See Also:

• If You're Feeling Lucky, You're Probably Courting Disaster
• 3 Ways To Tell Which Of Your Ideas Is Most Brilliant Of All
• If You're Doing This You're Sabotaging Yourself

Uh-oh. I was just reading this very silly fundy Christian piece, in which the pious author is bemoaning all those terrible, awful, un-Christian things on the television and radio, and saw this explanation.

While listening to a preaching by Pastor David Wilkerson, he said something that stuck with me "What are you going to do if you are watching profanity and Christ returns at that moment? We think, but I will have time to repent. I'm sorry, but I don't think it will work out that way."

And then I realized…what if some nice goody-goody Christian were reading Pharyngula when Jesus showed up. Do you realize how much trouble you'd be in? We already know I'd be going to hell, but you…you would have blown it entirely by getting caught watching porn or reading Pharyngula or perusing old Deadwood scripts, and there you go, damned by a moment's weakness.

So please, just in case, go away. I don't believe in hell, but if there is one, I really don't want you prissy-pants prudes showing up and being a downer at the wild party we'll be having down there.

Read the comments on this post...

$44.99 Postage:$16 Availability: In stock Minimum Purchase: 1 Weight: 0.85 kg Condition: New Boxset: Yes Display Format: Full Screen Region: Region 0 Belongs: Thrillers/Crime/Myst | Drama

The ax is falling and heads are rolling in Egyptian media to rid once stodgy state-run organizations of deadwood noted for hampering professional and balanced news reporting.

Earlier today we reported that the Sylvester Stallone film Headshot needs a new director [1], as the previous hire, Wayne Kramer (The Cooler) walked due to creative differences. Now we know there are a number of contenders to replace him, with Sylvester Stallone's key choice being Walter Hill, director of films like 48 Hours and The Warriors, and an early participant in Deadwood. Deadline [2] initially reported that Walter Hill was in talks to direct, then rolled that back after the film's financier, IM Global, said they company is considering a few other choices, too. And that's easy to see; while Walter Hill is a legend among action film fans, he hasn't directed a theatrical feature since Undisputed in 2002. He's been prepping St. Vincent for quite some time, but in general his name doesn't have the same cachet it once did. For his part, Sly said, ""I completely respect Walter's incredible body of work and hopefully this legendary director will become attached to the project." Regardless, I'd be quite happy to see Walter Hill get back in the game with this film, in which Stallone’s character “teams with a young NYPD detective in a high-stakes investigation that leads from the dingy back alleys of New Orleans all the way to the power corridors of Washington, D.C. The unlikely duo, brought together by two vicious murders, take on all who stand in their way, and are willing to sacrifice everything to exact revenge.” Sylvester Stallone also offers his perspective on the situation that led to Wayne Kramer's departure: Initially, Mr. Kramer was hired to direct a dark comedy; however his vision was much darker and exceptionally more violent than how the project was originally conceived. It was decided that it would be better for everyone to move on and consequently Mr. Kramer was dismissed by producers earlier this week. There were no volatile clashes, it was simply a professional parting of the ways. Wayne Kramer may look at the situation differently, but that's a good, polite statement from Mr. Stallone. And knowing a movie like Running Scared, it isn't entirely surprising that Wayne Kramer might have wanted to go more violent and dark. [1] http://www.slashfilm.com/craig-gillespie-direct-pride-prejudice-zombies/ [2] http://www.deadline.com/2011/04/walter-hill-in-talks-to-join-sly-stallones-headshot/

Most publicly traded utilities have the distinct advantage of paying investors a dividend. This dividend significantly enhances the equities' total return over time.

As I've stressed before, every portfolio should include dividend-paying stocks as part of a diversification strategy. So when I came across a diversified energy company that was paying a 4.4 percent yield to investors, I had to write about it.

This regulated power business is an oil and gas producer, but it also dabbles in coal and some energy marketing too.

The company is Black Hills Corporation (NYSE: BKH) and it just finished the first quarter with a comfortable 13 percent increase in share price, as you can see in this chart.

Black Hills, which now has a market cap of $1.3 billion, grew out of the partnership that first brought electric lights to the legendary gold rush town of Deadwood, South Dakota, in 1879. The company

4/5/11

I'm on the next-to-last paragraph of the outline of a new script, which means two things: I can shave half my beard off, and I can stop spending every night drifting to sleep conjuring ways of making it more complicated. When I'm writing a script, it's more like I'm wearing it, a smear of words and ideas hanging off me like dryer lint. It's a mode where you're never quite "not working"; even in a rest state, you're background-processing the piece for flaws.

one of the rooms at our manager's office in Beverly Hills - you could build a house out of these scripts

The beard thing is especially liberating, as I swore I wouldn't shave until I got these two outlines done, and I'm starting to look like one of the murderers in "Deadwood". I figure being half-complete means shaving something, so I'm thinking of going with an Abe Lincoln.

Some creatures, like giraffes, come out of the womb looking relatively normal; others, like kangaroos, begin life as misshapen globs of blind Play-Doh, squirming the millimeter miles from womb to pouch. The first crack at a script is more like the latter than the former.

So I ask... and of you got anything exciting half done right now?

Colorado was ablaze throughout March, with 27 wildfires erupting across the northern Front Range during the month. Unusually hot, dry conditions and gusty winds combined to make the beginning of spring an anomaly the number of fires was nine times the 15-year average for March. While state, county and federal agencies, including the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, work hard to extinguish Colorado wildfires and save homes and infrastructure close to forested public lands each year, their efforts contribute to an ironic national situation. The legacy of land managers working for over a century to suppress about 98 percent of the more than 70,000 wildfires that ignite across the country annually has created a climate where wildfires tend to be worse than they would be if more fires were left to burn out naturally, because of the buildup of deadwood and other fuels. Historically, in the Rocky Mountains, frequent fires in low-lying ponderosa pine forests would thin out small trees and scour out dead material on the forest floor, ensuring large trees remained widely spaced, explained Bill Romme, professor of fire ecology at Colorado State University, in a telephone interview. Even under extreme weather conditions fires would generally stay on the ground and likely not climb into the crowns of mature trees, protecting the forest from severe damage, he said.

He was born Feb. 16, 1955 and raised in the Black Hills of South Dakota, graduating in 1973 from Lead - Deadwood High School.

A key role for Fringe‘s Season 3 finale will be filled by Deadwood alum Brad Dourif.

He will play a mysterious character named Moreau in the sure-to-be-intense installment airing Friday, May 6. The interesting wrinkle regarding this casting move?

Producers sought “well-known Japanese actor who speaks English” to fill the role.

Dourif is not a Japanese actor, but he does have a long resume filled with fright film credits, most recently playing the sheriff in Rob Zombie’s Halloween redos.

He also played The Lord of the Rings‘ Wormtongue, and since Fringe fave John Noble was Denethor ... well, that doesn't mean much, but it's a fun coincidence.

Any thoughts on what this mysterious new character could be and what his role could be in the Fringe season-ender? Sound off with your comments below.

Geri Jewell is the standup comedian with cerebral palsey who went on to fame on The Facts of Life (as Cousin Geri) and more recently on Deadwood. Well, I've gotten my paws on her memoirs, I'm Wal...

Over the weekend there were three articles each covering vastly different ground that I believe are good make you think posts--make you think for completely different reasons.

The first article is the more typical investing-related commentary written by Barry Ritholtz and published in the Washington Post. The primary focus is about pre-planning for large market declines. He talks about getting defensive, avoiding large declines and several other things that I have been writing about, although with no claim of originality, since I started this site.

There have been a couple of times recently where I've mentioned confirmation bias and Barry's article fits the bill for validating my thought process but as you consume content from me and others (hopefully including Barry) it can be useful to see certain types of ideas repeated in multiple places.

If you read my blog then presumably you have some regard for how I try to navigate through market cycles (otherwise you'd be wasting your time) and you probably understand the importance I place on avoiding large declines (the math is incredibly compelling) and I've been seeing more and more content from other sources either coming to realize the value here or they've simply begun to talk about it openly but either way this is something that can't be studied enough.

The next article was written by James Altucher titled 10 Reasons You Need to Quit Your Job. I know James, more acquaintance than actual friend, but I cannot figure him out. He appears to not believe in going to college or owning a home which I can't condemn but I am on the other side of those ideas. It is quite clear that he is a lot smarter than I am which obviously contributes to my not understanding where he is coming from.

I can relate to the second half of the above linked post however. The first half of the article reads as though he is a neurotic mess who has self-sabotaged every professional opportunity he's ever had. I don't know if this is the case, just how it reads like this little snippet about his time at theStreet.com; I was afraid to go into the office. There were too many people I didn’t want to run into. I would do videos outside every morning in front of the New York Stock Exchange. But I refused to go up into the office for meetings.

And there are more examples just like that. The second half of the article however I can get behind. He essentially gives permission to quit a job you don't like. He says that the fear that this could create would be good thing (I would add a good thing for certain people) and that one way or another you would figure it out.

If you continually wish away your week to get to the weekend then you probably need to figure out how to change jobs. This can be difficult and take time, especially now but if life is about the journey then wishing away most of the journey makes life far more difficult. I've made a couple of job changes over the years and each time there was a lot of planning and building up of a war chest. I am one who does not need the fear or "abyss" as Altucher referred to it. No income doesn't have to be scary with a few months of expenses socked away.

The final article was even more removed from how I process everything. It was titled Against Happiness and written under a pseudonym by someone who is not only unhappy but does not actually believe in happiness. He strives for nobility he says which, citing a philosopher, would put him in a position to deserve happiness but because of the state of the world he cannot be happy. Like Altucher, it is obvious that the author is much smarter than I am so it is possible that I cannot hear some or all of this conversation (paraphrase of a quote from George Hearst from an episode of the shockingly profane Deadwood) but superior intellect does not mean he draws the correct conclusions about anything but you may have better luck with the post.

I believe that for most of us, our happiness, or lack thereof, is in our own hands. This requires self awareness but we can learn to be more self aware and use that self awareness to make our lives happier.

As a sort of hierarchy of happiness I think people need to address their own issues first. If you have ever watched the show Dog Whisperer you know that a big part of helping the dog is wearing them out with exercise. Dogs have various types of frustrations with limited outlets. Wearing them out with exercise solves a large portion of most problems. I believe the same can apply to people as well. Exercising has the obvious benefits of weight loss and better stamina but there are of course psychological benefits too.

Personally I don't ever want to worry about money. It is a lot easier to reduce your overhead and employ some discipline in your spending habits than it is to save millions of dollars. If you can afford to buy a house then you can afford to buy less house than you can otherwise afford. If you can afford two $500 car payments then you can afford the two or three $500 repair bills you would otherwise have per year for the cars from years 5-10 of ownership (after paying the cars off).

The other leg of this stool might be things related to self-confidence and esteem. We probably all know people with little to no confidence or esteem and other people with far too much. I don't have much input here other than if you can make fun of yourself, or learn how to, then you probably will have an easier time of things. I would also add seeking happiness in the things you do in your life. The picture is from yesterday's hike. These are the neatest little creatures and we see them here during the warmer months. There can be happiness in a good meal, book or movie. There can be happiness in going to the gym, strike that, there can happiness finishing at the gym or taking your dog for a walk. This is your life, you either enjoy it or you don't.

The second hierarchy for happiness begins to get to the Against Happiness idea of solving the world's problems. Remember the author can't be happy given the state of the world today (although from 50,000 feet is it really any different?) but getting involved in volunteerism near where you live contributes to making your little piece of the world a better place. Chances are you're interested in something and chances are there is a way to volunteer for an organization related to your interests. In addition to helping other there are obviously great personal benefits too.

Truly great people will go on to be part of the solution for many many people, like Lance Armstrong and all the money he's raised for cancer research.

Apologies for being preachy here but woe is the world articles offer little to no value and I felt motivated by this one to reply.

On a sports related note, this weekend offered a cornucopia of different sports including the Red Sox getting pounded by the Rangers and the Tour of Flanders cycling race on Versus. The various races shown on Versus have been a popular topic here over the years so as a public service announcement I offer the following; any coverage on Versus should be watched through your DVR so that you can fast forward through the Jonathan Vaughters segments. I fear he and his peculiar facial hair situation will be featured prominently again this summer. Cycling fans consider yourself warned.

TSX-V:  GOM FRANKFURT EXCHANGE: 3G8 VANCOUVER, April 4 /PRNewswire/ - GOLDEN DAWN MINERALS INC. (TSXV: GOM) (FRANKFURT: 3G8) is pleased to announce continued excellent results from four additional diamond drill holes from ...

TSX-V: GOM FRANKFURT EXCHANGE: 3G8 GOLDEN DAWN MINERALS INC. (TSXV: GOM) (FRANKFURT: 3G8) is pleased to announce continued excellent results from four additional diamond drill holes from an ongoing drill program at the Wild Rose-Tam O'Sh...

GOLDEN DAWN MINERALS INC. (TSXV: GOM) (FRANKFURT: 3G8) is pleased to announce continued excellent results from four additional diamond drill holes from an ongoing drill program at the Wild Rose-Tam O'Shanter properties in the Greenwood Mining District, BC. In the fall of 2010 Golden Dawn initiated a drill program to test the Wild Cat and Wild Rose vein systems and their apparent strike extent to the northwest known as the Deadwood Gold Zone. Golden Dawn has now completed 12 holes totaling 1,877.8 m of drilling. Golden Dawn had previously reported upon the results from holes 10WR01 to 10WR06 (Golden Dawn news releases dated January 12 and January 24, 2011 [http://wp.goldendawnminerals.com/2011/01/golden-dawn-receives-excellent-gold- and-copper-values-from-initial-drilling-on-greenwood-targets-british-columbia- canada/ ]).

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TSX-V:  GOM FRANKFURT EXCHANGE: 3G8

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Should we sell Cesc Fabregas in the summer? Could we cash in on Gael Clichy? Will Arsene Wenger wring the deadwood? Will Jack Wilshere become lethargic? To be honest with you, I couldn’t give a flying frisbee about those matters right now. All I want is a win. I want Arsenal to record a victory [...]

[1] We've got a mixed bag of TV bits for you today, from some pretty sci-fi artwork for TNT to possible envelope-pushing on NBC, so let's get started. First off, HBO's treatment of In Treatment: It was widely reported last night that the premium cable network had canceled its ratings-challenged psychiatric drama starring Gabriel Byrne. Today, however, HBO has released a statement suggesting the show might not be dead after all: It’s true that we have no plans to continue with ‘In Treatment’ as previously formatted. However, we are in continued conversations with the executive producers to find another way to continue telling these rich stories. The show currently has a somewhat unusual format. Instead of one episode per week, In Treatment airs multiple episodes in a week. It seems plausible that HBO's plan is to streamline the show somewhat by consolidating or cutting some of the episodes, but the network has yet to officially announce its strategy. (Edit from Russ: HBO also planned to continue Deadwood in a different format, and that never happened. That, however, was a far more expensive proposition. Hopefully this will work out better.) [Zap2It [2], The New York Times [3]] After the jump, posters, nudity clauses, and possible superhero casting news. Some poster art has been released for the Steven Spielberg-produced sci-fi series Falling Skies, showing a presumably alien structure in the middle of a city, mysterious aircraft flying through the sky, and a boy with a glowing spine. [gallery columns="2" exclude="101468"] While they're pretty enough, I'm still not totally convinced the series will have anything fresh to offer the "alien invasion" subgenre -- but only time will tell. The glowing red spine should look familiar to fans of Battlestar Galactica, which, as it happens, Falling Skies co-executive producer Mark Verheiden wrote for at one point. As you might recall, an early scene showed a Cylon's spine glowing red during sexual intercourse -- before the series dropped that notion, probably because it would totally undermine the entire conceit of Cylons being indistinguishable from humans. Falling Skies will kick off with a two-hour premiere on TNT Sunday, June 19 at 9/8c.[Ain't It Cool News [4]] Over at NBC, it's been revealed that a nudity clause was included in the contracts that actors signed for The Playboy Club, a series set in 1960s Chicago. As you might guess, this is highly unusual for a show on broadcast television, which has much stricter standards for decency than cable television. However, the odds of us seeing anything truly salacious on NBC remain low. More likely, the clause would be used to shoot graphic scenes that won't make the broadcast cut, but could appear on DVDs or on cable syndication. Though there's still a chance that NBC could use this opportunity to "push the envelope in primetime," as ABC did with NYPD Blue oh-so-many years ago. For what it's worth, the pilot reportedly does not contain any nudity, and the clause was probably put in by business executives, not producers. It seems more like a case of The Playboy Club keeping its options open than a declaration of intent to show us as many boobies as possible. [Variety [5] via Vulture [6]] Finally, a small update on the forthcoming FX series Powers, based on the graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis. Variety is reporting that Friday Night Lights and Super 8 star Kyle Chandler has met with executives to discuss the lead role. Though the story does not name the character, it's probably reasonable to assume that Chandler is up for the part of Christian Walker, a superhero turned homicide detective and the protagonist of the series. Chandler has yet to commit to the role is said to be weighing his options. As a huge Friday Night Lights fan, I'm definitely biased, but I think Chandler would make a great fit for the role. He might have to beef up a bit, but he's shown on Friday Night Lights that he can play strong and tough quite well. The role would make him one of a handful of Friday Night Lights alums who've gained superpowers -- former co-star Adrianne Palicki is starring in the new Wonder Woman series, and Taylor Kitsch played X-Man Gambit in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. [Variety [7]] [1] http://www.slashfilm.com/tv-bits/tv-bits-header-image/ [2] http://tvovermind.zap2it.com/cable/hbo/hbo-cancels-treatment/53275 [3] http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/future-of-hbos-in-treatment-is-couched-in-mystery/ [4] http://www.aintitcool.com/node/49084 [5] http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118034698 [6] http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/03/playboy.html [7] http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118034686.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

 

Ohio dentist, Dr. J.T.Russell, of Yellow Springs Ohio,has been informed

that he in the final selection group for the 2011 Prix d’Or

by the Federation Dentaire Internationale at the Annual Meeting  April 1, 2011, in

Geneva, Switzerland, for his work in identifying a form of periodontal

disease spread by the use of toothpicks manufactured using wood

from “Downers”--elm trees felled by Dutch Elm Disease.Lumber Jacks help Spread Dutch Elm Disease by selling infected Dutch Elm Trees to Illicit ToothPick Trade

 

Dutch elm disease was first found in the United States in Ohio in

1930. It has now spread throughout North America and has

destroyed over half the elm trees in the northern United States.

 

Dutch elm disease is caused by the fungus Ophiostoma ulmi (syn.

Ceratocystis ulmi) which is transmitted by two species of bark

beetles, The smaller European elm bark beetle (Scolytus

multistriatus) and the native elm bark beetle (Hylurgopinus

rufipes) or by root grafting. They are important elm pests

because they carry the Dutch elm disease fungus as they move from

infected breeding sites to feed on healthy elm trees.

 

Some time during the 1970’s the disease breached the natural

species barrier to infect human gums. Dr. Russell recorded his

first observation of the human form of Dutch elm disease in 1982.

 

Using wood from infected trees to make toothpicks is officially

deplored by the Forest Products Industry Association. But

tainted wood is still widely used. Dutch elm deadwood is

legitimately used for papermaking, furniture, and fence post

manufacture.

 

However, Dr. Russell noted that using Dutch Elm

Wood Toothpicks can introduce the disease directly into the mouth,

under the gums, and between the teeth.

 

What to Do? It is impractical to monitor the origin of each

individual toothpick. Dr. Russell encourages people to read the

label on their toothpick containers.

Reputable manufacturerslist the variety of wood used. Steer clear of elm. Color-dyed

toothpicks undergo heat processes that render the fungus

inactive, but they still contain the fungal residue.

The long

term solution will be passage of the Department of Agriculture

sponsored legislation for toothpick inspection along the lines of

protections employed for our meat, dairy, and poultry supply.

Dentists are on the  frontline of the health care workers who protect our Public Health.

 

Dutch Elm disease in human gum and periodontal tissues is easily

Controlled by the routine oral hygiene regimens suggested by the

American Dental Association to include tooth brushing and the use

of dental floss

Jeff Saut quoted a couple of investment luminaries this week including one I know personally. From Ken Fisher in 1989 was;

Here’s the paradox: the odds are overwhelming I will end up richer by aiming for a good return rather than a brilliant return – and sleep better en route.

And from Benjamin Graham;

The essence of investment management is the management of RISKS, not the management of RETURNS. Well-managed portfolios start with this precept.

From John Serapere I would add;

75-50

I don't remember hearing that when I worked at Fisher (for a few months in 2002) but long time readers will know that the above, even if worded differently, are cornerstones to my approach. The 75-50 refers to a portfolio strategy that targets 75% of the upside of the market and only 50% of the downside (do the math, it works).

In terms of people who read my site or others like it, many of you are do-it-yourselfers but may not necessarily be expert stock pickers (and you don't have to be). The idea of going along for the ride during the up phases of the cycle and then being devoted to learning and understanding what causes large declines and seeking to take defensive action fairly early in the decline to avoid the full brunt of down a lot as I call it is not only valid, but I would say easier and places even less emphasis on stock picking which seems to be something many prefer not to do.

Another aspect to avoiding the full brunt of down a lot is it places less importance in being specifically correct while the market is going up. Generally speaking, I still believe that global equities (so choosing some countries correctly, and correctly avoiding some others) combined with a proper savings rate can get the job done for people with realistic ideas about spending. So if well selected countries can return 8-10% annually over the long term, that will include the booms, busts and everything in between. So just going long and holding on no matter what could work. For people, though, who do not want to see their portfolio cut half every so often who can take defensive action and either outperform by knowing when to get back in or can get to the same long term result with a much smoother ride even if they get back in "late."

After a big move up people tend to discount the value of smoothing out the ride but I am telling you first hand (because people really do forget) there is panic at the bottom. If anyone is ever going to do the wrong thing it will be after the market, and by extension their portfolio, has cut half. For many people, avoiding the panic that goes with being down 50% could be a life/portfolio saver.

Yesterday after we parted ways with Pep (pictured with me at the ATM) we went to the town of Roslyn which is where the show Northern Exposure was filmed. This was one of my two all time favorite shows (the other being the shockingly profane Deadwood). The town is very much as it was when the show was in production. We got a bunch of pictures, needless to say. Dr. Fleischman's office looks the same from the outside but is a gift shop inside. The guy who works there moved to Roslyn from New Jersey eight years ago because of his love of the show. I thought I was a fan until I heard that story. As a bit of hindsight bias, of course there was someone who rearranged his life for the love of the show.

We also got into Seattle and did some walking around. We hit Cafe Ladro at 801 Pine Street and they made a hell of a mocha.

Remember Misty's epic red dress juxtaposed with Corbin's casual outfit in the tuxedo alternatives post? Here's the whole haunted, old west-style wedding WITH a peek at Misty's fantabulous, vintage underthings!

Click here to comment →

Actor Timothy Olyphant stars in the FX series Justified as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a present-day lawman with Wild West instincts. Olyphant also starred in HBO's Deadwood as sheriff Seth Bullock.

A few days ago Seeking Alpha ran a Q&A about 2011 that I participated in. There were really a lot of negative comments which surprised me in that after six years of doing this I've observed that comments get nastier when the market is doing poorly but then lighten up as the market does better. As 2010 was a pretty good year for the stock market the vitriol was indeed surprising. Please don't take this as a boo hoo comment about me but as more of an anecdotal observation about sentiment--when you write a lot about the stock market you are going to piss people off and six years is enough time to have done that in spades.

One reader seemed to vaguely take me to task about my 2010 predictions, it turns out I was wrong about some unspecified prediction about commodities--not sure if he meant 2010 or some other period. It would be reasonable to expect that anyone who makes market predictions will get some right and some wrong, this is pretty obvious and speaks to the folly of forecasting as I believe Barry Ritholtz has referred to it. As a more practical matter the notion of a given forecast fitting neatly into a calendar year is also difficult.

As an example a reader pointed out that I predicted a 10% decline for the S&P 500 for 2010. Clearly this turned out to be incorrect, 180 degrees so in a manner of speaking. Although at mid year the S&P 500 was down 9% at one point so would it be right to say my timing was off? Probably not but you see the point made.

More directly to prioritizing this sort of thing in the big picture; what is your goal, what is the reason you endeavor? I have made it clear many times over that in the context of my job and my own financial planning the top priority is having the best chance of having enough money when it is needed-- whatever the purpose. Next priority is to smooth out the ride as best as I can so as to minimize the chances of clients (or myself) doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.

As a matter of strategic preference I think it makes more sense to target the entire stock market cycle. Heeding imperfect warnings like when the SPX breaches its 200 DMA helps with avoiding the full brunt of down a lot when it happens. As an example, if a stock market cycle is five years long, if you can go along for the ride in the four bull years and miss a large chunk of the year the market is down a lot (by heeding the 200 DMA or some other indicator) then you should outperform by quite a bit over the entire cycle and smooth out the ride some. If you are lucky you might outperform in one of the up years and really have a good cycle versus the benchmark. We got lucky in 2007 with in this fashion with emerging market stocks.

Clearly this is not for everyone as people have commented here that each year does matter to them, or some folks want to make a killing every year with no regard to volatility. It is silly to say that a given approach is wrong but wrong for you is a different matter altogether. The notion of living quarter to quarter seems to make the task much more difficult in my opinion so I don't do this. In our own personal finances I hope to have enough money whenever we might need it like if one of us needs an experimental toe nail transplant that is not covered and costs $150,000 (trying to make light), I don't want to have to think twice about it. As I want this personally it logical that this philosophy plays into how I choose to manage accounts.

My philosophy probably should mean very little to you other than you should understand your own priorities as well I as understand mine. From there then, for me, the importance of one year predictions is minimal and can rotate back to the thought process behind the conclusions allowing you to take little bits of process from many places and form your own process.

The picture is a screen shot from an episode of Northern Exposure I watched over the long weekend. We own most of the series on DVD, it is one of my two all time favorite shows with the other being the shockingly profane Deadwood.

Target Coupons

Target Coupon Codes

Target offers Deadwood: The Complete Series on DVD (pictured) for $69.99 with free shipping. That's $2 under our February mention and the lowest total price we could find by $10. This series features 19 discs in widescreen format.

Of note, Barnes & Noble still offers Deadwood: The Complete Series on Blu-ray for $104.99. Coupon code "C3N8F7W" drops it to $89.24. With free shipping, that's tied with our Christmas Eve mention and the lowest total price we could find by $11. Sales tax is added where applicable. This set features all 36 episodes, featurettes, Q&A; with cast and creative team, Al Swearengen audition reel, and more.

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On November 2, the people spoke. Many of us are hoping this will be a different kind of Congress - less selfish, arrogant and out of touch. It will be several more elections cycles before we can get rid of the deadwood, but we have certainly started to turn...

Barnes & Noble offers Deadwood: The Complete Series on Blu-ray for $104.99. Coupon code "C3N8F7W" drops it to $89.24. With free shipping. That's an $8 drop from four days ago and the lowest total price we could find by $6. Sales tax is added where applicable. This set features all 36 episodes, featurettes, Q&A; with cast and creative team, Al Swearengen audition reel, and more.

Of note, this coupon can only be used once per account.

It's been too long since anyone made a really good western. I guess the last one was "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," but few people even got to the end of the title, let alone that stultifyingly beautiful movie. What else comes to mind? The HBO series "Deadwood"? Slim pickings.

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Early on in the Coen Brothers’ True Grit, the 14-year-old Mattie Ross has a negotiation with a cunning stupid merchant in the town where her father has just been killed. It concerns money, horses, legal threat, and language, and it is the surest signal of where this lugubrious but charming picture is headed. The merchant, Colonel Stonehill (played by Dakin Matthews), is devious and calculating, and for a moment you may believe his dainty language is a fair approximation of educated gentility in Fort Smith, Arkansas, in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The talk is fussier than anything we know from Western movies, yet far less rough than the foul-mouthing that fertilized the TV series Deadwood as much as the mud and the shit in its streets. This True Grit is actually less interested in grittiness or authentic sub-soil than in making a picaresque flourish.

The proof of that is Mattie—intense, cunning herself, and more articulate than any 14-year-old of today would dare to be. Is she in emotional shock from the loss of her father? Not at all. Instead, she seems to have found a purpose in life, a voice not far short of garrulous and a “character” to play. This 14-year-old may be the coolest kid since Dolores Haze, though the Coens and the actress, Hailee Steinfeld, have stripped away any hint of sexuality or coyness. You’ll never meet anyone like this in life, in the last century or the next, but try not paying attention to her. The conversation with Colonel Stonehill could go on forever, and I daresay some viewers will feel it comes too close to that already. That early on, it indicates how this weird road film has not too much interest in getting anywhere. But it likes the drift of its own circuitous voice.



In a few moments, on the search for a U.S. marshal with grit enough to join in the hunt for her father’s killer, Mattie visits a courtroom where Reuben Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) is being cross-examined over his habit of killing so many men. Modest, or wary, he reckons the number is a dozen or so, but the attorney has a list of 23. The scene establishes Cogburn’s character, if you like, but Bridges is an actor who could manage that adequately in 23 seconds. No, the prolonged courtroom scene is there for its own sake, for the artful, melodious language (which more likely comes from the Charles Portis novel than reliable records of Arkansas in that period). The real impact of the scene is to stress how leisurely the film means to be, how vague about narrative, yet how giddy with words. The other mark of this—in the versions of the film I’ve seen—is that a viewer has to work hard to hear all of what Bridges says. If you’re obsessed with language, record it furtively.



The original film, made in 1969, was famous for the exuberant rascality of John Wayne’s Cogburn (it won him his Oscar) and the crush-worthy allure of Kim Darby as Mattie Ross. (Darby was 22 when that film opened. Hailee Steinfeld is actually 14.) Wayne’s performance in True Grit was good enough, granted the broad sweep of Henry Hathaway’s film, but Wayne was a good deal nastier or more unsettling in Red River and The Searchers. Wayne’s Cogburn is unduly lovable; that’s how he got a second run at the part in Rooster Cogburn, where he was helping Katharine Hepburn. By contrast, Bridges’s Cogburn is a credible psychotic—you feel the loneliness of life in the West and the creeping dementia of guns. He is so effortlessly well done (there is a tour de force drunk scene) and so uninterested in being ingratiating that it leaves Bridges’s Oscar role in Crazy Heart looking specious and one of the few commonplace films this great actor has made.



Not that a general audience today will remember the 1969 film or is likely to know what the Coens are doing. Their True Grit is not just slow, it’s blithely stagnant, waiting for the opportunities for idle talk and unimproving incident—a triple hanging; a horse crossing a river; another man strung up in the forest; a wandering fellow wearing a bearskin. The advertised villains—Barry Pepper and Josh Brolin—are not really dates with destiny so much as further idiosyncratic excursions along the trail. Matt Damon’s intriguing Le Boeuf is superfluous, yet memorable. Mattie does get her heart’s desire, but then there’s an ending that feels extraneous and sentimental and not as tough as the Coens need it to be. It has always been their best way of working to play off genre expectations, with humor, outrage, or both. They love their actors, but they do not like to embrace or trust their characters.



True Grit is not as sharp as recent films by the Coens—Burn After Reading, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man—but it will suffice for those ready for an off-beat Western that talks not like the real life of 1880, but like a book. Whether in the forlorn dryness of the chat between security men in Burn After Reading or the ruminative lamentations of Tommy Lee Jones in No Country for Old Men, the Coens are our film-makers most in love with words. Don’t worry—the wintry landscapes are pristine and heroic (thanks to cinematographer Roger Deakins), and the few action scenes are sipped with fervor, like men in the desert finding a puddle of water. It is a movie. But you may want to do no more than listen. With your eyes closed, is it easier to hear everything being said?

David Thomson is the author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film and The Moment of Psycho: How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder.

This deadwood caught my eye along the river road.  Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to stop an

Amazon is offering an incredible deal in today's gold box, The Wire: The Complete Series is available for only $74.99 [1]. That's 63% of the current MSRP of $250. Pick it up quick, because at the end of the day, the deal is done. This is a ridiculously cheap price for what some believe is the greatest television series of all time. If you have never watched the show before, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up. You can listen to the /Filmcast's 3.5-hour long review of the entire series of The Wire by clicking here [2]. [3]Blu-Ray Deals: The Bourne Trilogy Blu-ray collection [4] for only $34.99, 50% off the list price of $70. Back to the Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy Blu-Ray (+Digital Copy) [5] for $38.99, 51% off the $80 msrp. The Wizard of Oz (70th Anniversary Edition) Blu-ray [6] for $13.99, 44% off the $25 msrp. Gone with the Wind 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition [7] Blu-ray or DVD for $44.99 Breaking Bad: The Complete First Season Blu-ray [8] for $13.99, 65% off the $40 msrp. Amazon's TV Deal of the Week is The Larry Sanders Show: The Complete Series [9] for only $59.99, 60% off the $150 msrp. Insane HBO Blu-Ray Deals: Deadwood: The Complete Series Blu-ray [10] for $93.99, 55% off the $110 msrp. Rome: The Complete Series Blu-ray for $63.99 [11], 54% off the $140 msrp. Band of Brothers Blu-ray [12] for $36.49, 64% off the $100 msrp. True Blood: The Complete Second Season Blu-Ray [13] for $28.99, 64% off the $80 msrp. Hung: The Complete First Season Blu-ray [14] for $19.99 [1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004BZ5AFU?ie=UTF8&tag=film-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004BZ5AFU [2] http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/12/10/filmcast-ep-29-hbo-the-wire-series-review-guests-alan-sepinwall-and-myles-mcnutt/ [3] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00388PK1A?ie=UTF8&tag=film-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00388PK1A [4] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003H6KRIE?ie=UTF8&tag=film-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003H6KRIE [5] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00198X0UO?ie=UTF8&tag=film-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00198X0UO [6] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00388PK1A?ie=UTF8&tag=film-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00388PK1A [7] http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref_%3Dnb_sb_noss%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3DGone%2520with%2520the%2520Wind%2520%252870th%2520Anniversary%2520Ultimate%2520Collector%2527s%2520Edition%2529%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Ddvd&tag=film-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957 [8] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003274QH6?ie=UTF8&tag=film-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003274QH6 [9] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003NHMYJW?ie=UTF8&tag=film-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003NHMYJW [10] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00129AJFO?ie=UTF8&tag=film-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00129AJFO [11] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0028RXXFC?ie=UTF8&tag=film-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0028RXXFC [12] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00129H7VS?ie=UTF8&tag=film-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00129H7VS [13] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00280LZAO?ie=UTF8&tag=film-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00280LZAO [14] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BWP2DU?ie=UTF8&tag=film-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002BWP2DU