We have threads on what we are reading,blogs,etc. us old folks still watch TV. So what are you watching?
Bill Maher show on HBO, link to newest episode which has USMC ret. General Anthony Zinni as one of the guest panelists.
http://www.hbo.com/apps/schedule/Sch...OCUS_ID=694051
Also there is a funny clip in there where he thanks the Socialist medicine countries of the UK and Canada for helping us fight 2 wars when nobody else would show up
Last edited by slapout9; 08-16-2009 at 09:00 PM. Reason: fix stuff
Just starting on the Rome series (DvD). I have a soft spot for NCIS too, but mainly have the History channel on most of the time. I'll pass on Bill Maher
How about Chinese Soldiers Dancing in the street by the 7-11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbWun4cLEwM&NR=1
Some of my bookmarks...
-al-Jazeera English
-Fareed Zakaria GPS
-Mosaic - News form the Mideast
-This Week in Defense News
In my dvd player, I always keep South Park and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Always great after a long day at work. If you have not seen the "Day Man" episode of Philadelphia, you have not truly lived.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0iKzrqblqQ Trying to explain the story behind this clip would not do it justice.
"What do you think this is, some kind of encounter group?"
- Harry Callahan, The Enforcer.
I'm gonna be watching one thang and one thang only.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sQhTVz5IjQ
by the worlds greatest living director.
Tonight on the History-International ch. "The Crumbling of America" 7-9pm local time. Documentary on the crumbling infrastructure in America and what it will cost to fix it.
As a fan of the comic/graphic novel I had initally stayed away from the movie version fearing the inevitable "Americanisation" syndrome that most treatments get (the creators were British and infused Watchmen with that cynicial sarcasm we are taught from an early age). Having already denounced Danny Cannon as a traiter for his abysmal Judge Dredd I feared the worst. I should not have. It was brilliant. As film adaptations go this is got to be one of the best. Watch it if you can and then re-watch it again. Now I hope Hollywood does the same with Dune (i.e, respect the material and honour the narrative). Although, that said, I have always been a fan of the David Lynch version! I also hear that Amtrak Wars is doing the rounds...here's hoping.
but I've really got "into" Israeli films recently. I can recommend, for what it's worth, the following.
Close to Home (I think I have a soft spot for Naaama Schendar now)
Waltz with Bashir Truly mind-blowing.
Beaufort (Not entirely succesful IMO although that could have a lot to do with nuances being lost in translation. The way I approached it was to view it as a study of Israel as such rather than aparticular action/mission/unit.)
Good thread. My latest was:
Four Lions. Very funny, and approached some more meaningful issues (martyrdom) before going back to the laughs.
Going to rewatch Restrepo, Taxi to the Dark Side, and maybe Battle of Algiers in the near future to decide their suitability as platoon PME.
Recently finished rewatching the best television ever filmed in the U.S. - The Wire. The lessons for COIN, organizational dysfunction, the futility of applying tactics without strategy, etc. are myriad and well done.
Also bought the Criterion version of Ride with the Devil, an unappreciated Ang Lee film about Confederate guerrillas in Missouri during the Civil War. This one has it all for COIN study - the process of radicalization, the effects of civilian deaths, the relative importance of personal ties and group identity in a civil war context, the empowerment of radical elements over moderates - all in a well done story.
The wife and I are working our way through this as well (just started season 4). I can definitely see what you're talking about. FWIW, my wife works in a prison and claims that she can't watch The Wire during the week because "it feels like I'm back at work". Don't think you can get more authentic then that. Possibly my favorite TV show.
Also, started watching The Killing on A&E. If police dramas are your thing, it's worth a look. First one of those where I'm not sure I really like either of the detectives (no Lenny Briscoes or "Bushy Top" McNulty's here). Some pretty heartbreaking scenes in it, but good stuff so far.
Currently finishing the last 2 seasons of lost. Non stop. Addicting
Glued to Mad Men
: x
The Showtime series Homeland which premiered Sunday night has gotten a passel of reviews calling it the best new show of the 2011/12 television season. I watched the SFW online pre-release a couple of weekends ago and liked it so much I made it a point not to miss the unedited version Sunday.
There’s a nice trailer that gives the gist and the excerpt below from the NPR review does the same via text. If you count yourself as a fan of 24 and/or Band of Brothers, Homeland is executive produced by the pair who did the same for the former and stars the chap who played Richard Winters in the latter.* There are some did not do the research moments, of course, but fewer than I expected given the genre.
*For me, 24 is only worth watching from the peanut gallery to see the next implausibly stupid thing the writers create for Kim to do and the majority of the actors in Band of Brothers—Matthew Settle being a notable exception—played the atmosphere rather than a character (i.e., they played ‘a guy from the ‘40s’ rather than a human being in a story occurring in the ‘40s). I don’t think BoB was bad by any measure, but count me as one of the few who finds The Pacific to be the vastly superior of the two. And no, I do not kick puppies.One new show premiering Sunday, following Dexter on Showtime, has a narrative path all its own, one I’ve never seen before in a weekly TV series, and that’s saying something.
It’s called Homeland, and stars Claire Danes as Carrie Matheson, a CIA agent who becomes obsessed with Sgt. Nick Brody, an American POW located and rescued after years of brutal captivity in Iraq. Nick, played by Damian Lewis from Band of Brothers and NBC’s Life, is about to return home to a hero’s welcome. But Carrie, acting on a scrap of vague information, suspects Nick may have been turned while held prisoner, and is now a double agent for al-Qaida. Carrie takes her suspicions to one of her bosses—played by Mandy Patinkin, in a very welcome return to TV—but he’s not buying it.
If Carrie is right, she’s the real hero of this story. If not, Nick’s not only the victim—he’s the hero, too. For the first few episodes of Homeland, our loyalties are split, and we don’t know which character to root for, only that they’re both played by incredibly likable and sympathetic performers. And watching Carrie pursue Brody, without being certain of his true motives, puts a fascinating new twist on an otherwise familiar tale.
Eventually, we will discover the truth, and the series, and the drama, will continue from there. But for right now, Homeland is offering something unique to television. And when you’re talking about television, that’s a phrase you don’t hear very often.
Last edited by ganulv; 10-04-2011 at 09:16 PM. Reason: typo fix
If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. – Mark Twain (attributed)
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