skippy the bush kangaroo

Prisoner of Love

2009-11-20T20:55:00.000-08:00

Skippy the Bush Kangaroo here, and thanks to the magic of DVR, I have just finished watching the AMC reboot of the seminal 60's show "The Prisoner."

I was all ready to hate it, and strangely enough, I found it quite intriguing.

Big caveat to start: No, it's not as good as Patrick McGoohan's orignial paranoia. No one can touch his startingly original premise (the show was his idea, and he wrote several episodes, and was executive producer on them all). Nor can this new version come close to McGoohan's great defiant approach to the character of Number 6. Also, we must needs give big props to the marvelous actor Leo McKern, who was one of the better Number Twos in that version.

However, as I watched the AMC remake, it occurred to me that, taken on its own merits, this new version had plenty to recommend it, and was quite engaging.

The new version has many of the same tropes as the old: A man wakes up in a new place, the Village, and is told he is Six (no prefix of the word "Number" is used to denote characters in this version; an interesting twist). The man in charge is Two. The inhabitants seem mindlessly content, but totally unable or unwilling to help Six either understand his situation or escape it.

The old standby giant white bubbles ("Rover" as it was known in the old version) keeps folks from leaving the Village, though this time with some sort of Electro-Zap ray. And Villagers leave each other with a hearty "Be Seeing You."

But there's a lot of new ideas and set pieces as well. There's one consistent love interest for Six, a doctor in the Clinic named (or numbered) 313, who appears through out the entire program. And this Village is in the desert, not by the sea shore (the show was shot in Africa, and the endless sand dunes make for a surreal landscape, giving the feeling that even if you get out of the Village and run and run forever, you'll never get anywhere).

Another change: The Villagers all have amnesia, and don't remember (or even believe) that there is any where else in the Universe ("There is only the Village"). And most radical of all, we are shown snippets of Six's back story in civilization (where he worked as an analyst for a large corporation, rather than as a Secret Agent Man like in McGoohan's original). These scenes are intertwined into the current story of Six in the Village.

If I explain any more of the structural changes, I'm in danger of giving away major spoilers of the show. And actually some commentors on the AMC forum point out that this new version owes at least as much to Ursula La Guinn and Jorge Luis Borge as it does to McGoohan.

It was not without its problems, of course. Many commentors online correctly pointed out that it moved slowly, especially in the first episode "Arrival" (quite a bad thing to do. You want to start out grabbing your audience by the throat and pulling them into your world at a rapid clip. This program, alas, did not).

Also, be forewarned: this is not easy-listening television. No multi-tasking, reading the paper, conversation or web browsing while you watch. You've got to pay attention. I'd suggest, as I did, recording it for repeated viewing.

(Another problem mentioned on the forums: the audio frequently is muddled, whether it's the accents, or deliberate "surreal" mixing of tracks, often times I didn't understand words and sentences. One viewer suggests watching with the Closed Captioning feature turned on.)

But if you were willing to stay along for the ride, a definite sense of creepy paranoia and confusing dread evolved in the second episode "Harmony." By the time Six and his supposed brother "Sixteen" have switched sides in their argument about whether they are related or not, you realize that not only is Six unsure of who's who, so are you. And then, when Six tells Sixteen's family of his death, and the family laughs uproariously while they watch the Village's soap opera on TV, a real sense of surreal horror has taken over the whole proceeding.

Two of the greatest things about this new version happens to be the stars: Jim Caviezel and Sir Ian McKellan. I was happily surprised at Caviezel's performance. While McGoohan brought a defiance in his tour-de-force as Number Six, Caviezel's quiet intensity served this new version well. Matching the tone and atmosphere of the Village, with its undercurrent of unseen forces roiling throughout, Caviezel brought the suggestion of violence and rage, rather than surface exposition. All in all it was a quite impressive performance that fit the overall production well.

And what can be said about Sir Ian McKellan, that hasn't been said by more erudite fans than myself? The man who brought us Magneto and Gandalf, as well as one of the more insane Richard III's, and a host of other stand-out performances, was at the top of his form here. A slight smile, hinting at the destruction that he could reign down on those who cross him, a wistful stare into the horizon as he struggled to maintain his control; this man is a genius in his craft (so much so that he got top billing; imagine, Number Two getting his ~~name~~ number over Number Six!).

Bottom Line: Is it as good as the original? No. Is it better than 99% of television now? Definitely yes. And kudos to AMC, home of Mad Men (which underwhelms me, but is the darling of Blogtopia, and yes, I coined that phrase) and Breaking Bad (which I love), for taking more risks in a time of Reality doldrums and Jay Leno cop-outs.

It's re-running starting this Sunday, Nov. 22, on AMC (two hours a night at 10 pm for three consecutive Sundays). If you're game, check it out.

Til then, Be Seeing You.

sometimes these things just write themselves

2009-11-20T18:33:00.001-08:00

seriously, how can we hope to compete with this kind of comedy? thinkprogress:

utah lawmaker claims he doesn’t ‘mind’ gays, but ‘i don’t want ‘em stuffing it down my throat all the time. certainly not in my kid’s face’

write your own punchline here.

worst idea ever

2009-11-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

tax the students!

pittsburgh mayor luke ravenstahl, just seven years out of college, is igniting ire with his plan to levy a 1 percent tax on tuition collected by the city’s 10 nonprofit colleges and universities.

pittsburgh depends upon its corporate owners; we should give them a break after all.

hoppy kangaroo blogging friday

2009-11-20T07:28:00.001-08:00

Inquistive Wallaroo
Originally uploaded by J T Morling

well..."wallaroo" actually.

while the bankers are raking in the big bonus bucks again

2009-11-20T07:10:00.000-08:00

the rest of the country is hurting. bad.

u.s. mortgage delinquencies reach a record high

the delinquency figure, and a corresponding rise in the number of those losing their homes to foreclosure, was expected to be bad. nevertheless, the figures underlined the level of stress on a large segment of the country, a situation that could snuff out the modest recovery in home prices over the last few months and impede any economic rebound.

unless foreclosure modification efforts begin succeeding on a permanent basis — which many analysts say they think is unlikely — millions more foreclosed homes will come to market.- nytimes

when is it free speech...and when is it a threat against the country?

2009-11-19T21:21:00.000-08:00

when you sell products that “entreats god to destroy the president”....i think you have crossed the line. you listening cafe press?

the newest far-right craze is an anti-obama slogan that is making its way onto t-shirts, bumper stickers, mugs, and even teddy bears: “pray for obama: psalm 109:8,”

...diana butler bass at beliefnet explains that psalm 109 is one of the “imprecatory” prayers, “a lament in the form of petition to destroy one’s enemies.” while perhaps intended to be a joke, she notes that the psalm actually “entreats god to destroy the president” - think progress

i find it hard to tell you, i find it hard to take...

2009-11-19T19:48:00.001-08:00

when people run in circles it's a very...

mad world.

dedicated to badtux. he knows why.

enjoy...

bass cadet

2009-11-19T09:09:00.000-08:00

empty head

2009-11-19T07:34:00.001-08:00

DIY Sarah Palin Mask
Originally uploaded by billypalooza

faux rolls wrong video

2009-11-19T07:20:00.000-08:00

and they say that heads will roll. but you know they will list the names of those they fired and then put a (d) beside their name.

fox has done it again, and this time, once again, fox says its misplay of the wrong crowd video was another regrettable mistake. - the
swamp

yeah..."regrettable" mistake. like giving the right wing talking point channel a broadcasting license in the first place?

our bloggy buddy, john amato, over at crooks and liars, is filing an fcc complaint against faux for this obvious manipulation of fact.

one more, and then it's bed time...

2009-11-18T22:45:00.001-08:00

alice in chains, post-layne staley. pretty good.

enjoy...

melanie...

2009-11-18T21:51:00.001-08:00

i've always loved her. if only i were straight and twenty years older...

enjoy...

question of the day...

2009-11-18T20:55:00.000-08:00

Something that should have occurred to me a couple weeks ago, when Virginia Republicans made a clean victory sweep in this state on election day...

If the biggest reason the Democrat lost in double digits to the Republican is because a large chunk of the Democratic base stayed home on election day, then why are these no-show folks even thought of as a large chunk of the Democratic base?

I showed up at my polling place. I voted Democratic. And I've called myself an Independent voter since the day I turned eighteen -- I may blawg a buncha smack about Those Goddamned Jackasses, but I still vote for them. What's the so-called base's problem?

(no) thanks for the mammaries

2009-11-18T20:01:00.000-08:00

our good friends jill @ brilliant @ breakfast and blue girl both take issue w/the obama admin's recent 180 degree turn-about on preventative mammagrams.

jill wonders why more feminist bloggers aren't concerned:

pregnancy hasn't been a concern for me since 2005, but i still write about the importance of access to abortion and contraception. reproduction is an issue in my past, that i will never have to worry about again, at least not in this particular incarnation. but for the feminist bloggers in their twenties and thirties, this latest assault on women's health care is in your future -- and that future is coming faster than you can even imagine.

so why the silence? is it because this plan to ration health care services to older women is coming directly from barack obama's department of health and human services and you're afraid to criticize it? is this what we've come to, selling our own sisters down the river rather than criticize a democratic president?

and blue girl sez she's the exception that disproves obama's rule:

it took me a day to process the news that the guidelines for breast cancer screenings were being changed, nudged upward as we prepare to step into the era of health reform and cost controls. we are testing 1900 women unnecessarily in order to save one, the argument goes, and it just isn't worth it.

okay. tell it to the other 1899, but as for me? i don't care to hear it.

wanna guess which one of the 1900 i am?

i am the poster child for early detection. my brush with the disease was a non-event that cost less than ten grand to treat because of early detection and screening.

we agree. an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of chemotherapy. we hate to even appear to seem like we think the repubbbs are making sense, but in this case they've seized upon this crappy (and ultimately sexist) decision to make their own looney points about rationing health care:

republican women house members, who convened a press conference this afternoon, see a dark side to the recommendations. “this is the wrong approach,” said rep. cathy mcmorris rodgers (r., wash.). “especially as we have been debating health care reform in america, it is concerning to us that these recommendations mirror policies in single-payer nations like england.”

of course, this logic is full of straw (wo)men and false binaries, but on the surface the gop could get some traction.

Life Imitates Art--or at least a Commercial

2009-11-18T18:20:00.000-08:00

The real life version of That Jameson's Ad:

A beverage company has asked a team to drill through Antarctica's ice for a lost cache of some vintage Scotch whisky that has been on the rocks since a century ago.

The drillers will be trying to reach two crates of McKinlay and Co. whisky that were shipped to the Antarctic by British polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton as part of his abandoned 1909 expedition.

And, since Skippy already noted that Ken Ober is not Canadian, his most notable appearanvce:

rip edward woodward and ken ober

2009-11-18T17:11:00.000-08:00

two of our favorites from 80's tv, wildly different, but both incredibly solid in their approach to entertaining their audiences, have passed recently.

it's quite ironic that as we enjoy the remake of the prisoner on a&e this week, we find the news that another of our favorite tv ex-spies, edward woodward, has died at age 79. seattle pi:

edward woodward, who had a long career on stage and in movies but is probably best remembered for the tv series the equalizer, died monday at 79.

his agent, janet glass, said he had been ill for several months and died in a hospital in truro, england, with family members around him...

woodward won a golden globe and received five emmy nominations for his star turn in the equalizer, which ran on cbs from 1985 to '89. the british actor, who had a heart attack during the series, played an ex-spy who helped regular people even the odds against anyone with whom they had a problem.

mr. woodward, who studied acting under laurence olivier @ the national theater, was also the star of the iconic australian film breaker morant, and the first (and best) version of the wicker man.

we loved watching mr. woodward as ex-secret agent robert mccall in the equalizer during the 80's. his tortured determination to help those in need of his services made what could have been a cheesy robin hood update into a fascinating character drama, w/loads of revenge fantasy heaped on.

also passing, on the opposite end of the seriousness scale, ken ober, the host of mtv's old 80's game show remote control. e! online:

ken ober, who hosted mtv's pop-culture-centric game show remote control for five seasons beginning in 1987, was found dead in his home on sunday, the network reports. the 52-year-old's cause of death has yet to be determined.

ober began his career on star search but spent recent years behind the scenes, working in production on comedies like the new adventures of old christine and mind of mencia.

"kenny ober was and always will be the quickest wit in the room," fellow funnyman denis leary tells mtv news. "he was fall-down funny from the moment he was born—a smart, fast and hilarious human being who made many of us, including myself, laugh until we cried. as the star and host of remote control, he was a welcoming ringmaster who helped to kick-start the careers of numerous talents, including adam sandler, colin quinn and myself. he will be remembered always by each of his friends not only for his massive talent but for his true, deep and enduring friendship."

the cause of death has not been determined, but mr. ober complained of flu-like symptoms earlier in the weekend.

this is quite distressing. we loved the zany, meta, in-your-face anarchy of remote control, and are also fans of the new adventures of old christine.

we enjoyed greatly the work of both mr. woodward and mr. ober. rest in peace to them both.

Select Short Subjects

2009-11-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

In 2009, the Romance Writers of America (RWA) gave RITA awards for Best Contemporary Series Romance and Best Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure to writers published by Harlequin.

Following a dubious business decision (Carina) and now a Bad Business Decision (Horizons), Harlequin "no longer meets the requirements to be eligible for RWA-provided conference resources." With the full implication that their books are also not eligible for RITAs.

RWA Did the Right Thing, as noted by Jim MacDonald at Making Light.
Walter Jon Williams notes that Errol Morris's 2001 television series, First Person, includes CIA operatives working undercover—as location scouts for a film version of Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light—to smuggle hostages out of Iran. With film clip. (Suddenly, last night's NCIS seems even more reasonable.) More details at the Lord of Light website.
FIFA officials aren't even trying to hide their incompetence, leaving most of us to assume malice aforethought:
[French] Skipper Thierry Henry controlled the ball with his hand before picking out his team-mate in front of goal, but Swedish referee Martin Hansson and his assistant saw no offence.

Suddenly, the Irish have sympathy for the English—and vice versa.

in lak'ech

2009-11-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

i am another yourself.

how to stay alive

2009-11-18T07:53:00.000-08:00

without killing the planet

sex sells

2009-11-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

even "so called" newsy rags like newsweek. on their november 23rd cover, they have a cheesecake photo of "the sarah." the photo taken in it's original context, for a piece in a running magazine, is not a problem, but when used on the cover of a journalistic based rag, it takes on a whole new context.

there are a lot of legitimate reasons to criticize sarah palin, her new book, and her policies, but you don't have to stoop to sexism to do it. newsweek's november 23 issue, however, does just that by publishing on its cover a photo of palin in short running shorts and a fitted top, leaning against the american flag. making matters worse is the equally offensive headline newsweek editors chose to run alongside the photo -- "how do you solve a problem like sarah?" -- presumably a reference to the sound of music song, "maria," in which nuns fret about "how" to "solve a problem like maria," a "girl" who "climbs trees" and whose "dress has a tear." - media matters

i agree with media matters. there are a bazillion reasons to criticize the sarah. she and the republicans tried to use sex to sell her candidacy. "coldest state hottest governor" was seen bandied about on signs and in talks. the winking...winking...winking... when was the last time you saw boe biden winking into the camera? the constant little girl flirtacious act, which seems to be de rigeur of all the bubble headed beach blondes on faux channel.

leave the selling via sex for the vogue, playboy, etc. we need to have a serious conversation on what is ailing our country. we don't need to give this shallow creature anymore airtime. we certainly don't need to go down the road of selling our candidates through beauty contests. the thought of newt gingrich in a bikini on the cover of time is nightmarish image.

Just in case you thought All Economists were Stupid

2009-11-17T13:40:00.000-08:00

Garth Brazelton, at least, gets the end of the Colts-Patriots game correct, in the process correcting Professor Mankiw.

Problems abound

First, Romer analyzed 1st quarter attempts, NOT 4th quarter attempts with 2 minutes remaining. Behavior and optimal choices are and should be different in toward the end of a finite game, than early on when one failed risk taking measure might hurt you but not doom you. The risk is substantially greater at the end of the game.

From Romer himself:
"I am implicitly assuming that a team that wants to maximize its chances of winning should be risk-neutral over points scored. Although this is clearly not a good assumption late in a game...

Second, Romer actually used third downs to estimate what 'would have' happened on fourth downs since fourth down attempts are so rarely attempted. The assumption of course is that third down plays and results would be similar to fourth down plays and results, which I don't necessarily agree with.

His third correct is arguably a technical matter, but his conclusion is clear:

Make no mistake, Bill Belicek made a dumb move.

As Brazelton is about twenty years younger than I (or Brad DeLong; Thoma, Mankiw, and most of the Chicago school are even older), the future of economics looks brighter.

Assuming there is one, that is.

something about this music video...

2009-11-17T07:46:00.001-08:00

it's good. it just works. i like it, what the hell.

enjoy...

15 years in prison

2009-11-17T07:29:00.000-08:00

for cutting in a line at wal-mart?

verizon customers take note

2009-11-17T07:21:00.001-08:00

you might be paying more in services soon. verizon needs to make some cash...quick.

jury awards $12M in verizon toxic waste lawsuit. - two men who became seriously ill after working at a hicksville magazine distributor located atop a former nuclear fuel plant have been awarded $12 million in a federal negligence lawsuit against verizon communications inc. - ny newsday

bow gate

2009-11-17T07:07:00.000-08:00

thousands of americans are dying because of lack of healthcare...and cluster fox is freakin' out over observing social graces while visiting another country?

this morning on fox & friends, former bush adviser karl rove appeared on the program to bash president obama for paying a respectful bow before the japanese emperor. leading into the segment, co-host steve doocy claimed that there is a “long-standing precedent going back to the founding” of the u.s. that “american presidents don’t bow to anybody.” doocy might want to do some research on president eisenhower.- think progress

they have some "ugly americans" over there on rupert's hatespeech network.

where is the cluster fox friends outrage over a japanese mafia (yakuza) boss being allowed into the u.s. by the bush administration and obtain a liver transplant ahead of americans on a wait list?

they probably think the proper way of showing respect to japanese leaders is to barf in their lap.