August. The slow news month. Makes February look interesting - well, almost.
There's Huricane Katrina, sure. But other than writing a couple checks and sending off some dry goods, there wasn't much to do from sunny Colorado Springs.
And the blog? Well, this is (was, nearly) the slow news month, so I've been catching up on reading. David McCullough's 1776, the new one from Ralph Peters and Tom Friedman (and don't they make a pair).
Just when I thought it was safe to blog again, I broke down and ordered a little something else from Amazon.
I'd seen Lileks rave about HBO's Carnivale for a year or two, but missed it when it first aired. And that's the problem with Appointment TV. Miss the first one, and you're pretty much screwed until the DVDs come out. Oh, I could have TiVo'd the re-runs, but it's not the same. Not the way HBO does drama. Until I get a TiVo that can record in Hi-Def, I'll either watch HBO's shows live, or buy the DVDs.
Long story (kind of) short: I'm hooked. Carnivale is all that and a bag of bearded ladies. Watched four episodes today, and I'm hoping to get in a fifth before bed.
NOTE: Kudos to HBO for packaging just two one-hour episodes per disc. It costs them a few pennies more to make and package, but allows 50-100% more bandwidth for enhanced picture quality. And it shows. Not even The Sopranos got that kind of royal treatment.
Here is a link to the harshest, funniest book review I think I've ever read:
http://www.nypress.com/print.cfm?content_id=12841
Taibbi's a jerk, but he really nails Friedman in this one.
Brickbats to HBO for cancelling Carnivale after the cliffhanger seconds season ender! grrrrrr
Also, there are only 24 Carnivale episodes, so 2 per disc is still only 12 discs. Not too bad for two seasons.
Yeah, took HBO off my channel lineup anfter they cancelled Carnivalle.
You should have seen the bullshit statement about it from the network exec responsible "We feel the two seasons we had on the air told the story very well and we're proud of what everyone associated with the show has accomplished." The last episode was a total cliffhanger. Sorry if you are hooked. I guess I would still watch it all even knowing I never get to know how it ends.
Anyway HBO is worthless to me now. Even before Netflix, video rentals pretty much made it so I only ever watched it for their original programming, and that is going down the toilet as network execs are willing to take fewer and fewer chances, i.e. cancel something at the drop of a hat whose numbers even look like they are dropping. It makes one afraid to 'get hooked' on any show.
I love the first season set. Too bad it was only 12 episodes.
