consider the lobster pre-post…

okay, i have never before written a “book review pre-post”…i.e. i have not yet finished the book Consider The Lobster by David Foster Wallace…but i have to say something…

there is one problem with Consider The Lobster…i am just not smart enough to read it.  i am enjoying it immensely, and i’m actually learning (a lot actually), which is great, however i feel quite sure that if i finish it i will never write another word again (blog or otherwise).  Consider The Lobster is having the opposite effect on me that reading Soon I Will Be Invincible had.  after reading SIWBI, i felt almost invincible, i felt sure my book could be published, i felt sure that i was not a hack, because other bigger hacks were out there getting book deals (in bidding wars!) and movie deals and second book deals…oy.  however, when i read Wallace i am convinced that i am the greatest of hacks and that it would physcially hurt Mr. Wallace’s eyes to read just one of my horrible mistake ridden evil disgusting sentences. 

i guess this is what comes from aiming too high.  of wanting to be in the company of people you admire instead of people you revile.  to be the best most amazing fish in a barrel of crappy lame limpish fish or to be the crappiest lamest limpiest fish in the barrel of brilliant amazing fish.  oh me.  what to do, what to do?

suggestions?

fyi - in addition to making up words like “limpish” and my new favorite “limpiest” i also greatly overuse the word brilliant.  in some later post i’ll tally up how many times i’ve used it in this fairly new blog.  i think the number will likely be astounding…in an embarrasing way…

big big big love

in honor of the renewal of big love for a third season and the impossibly intense episode from last night (7/30/07) i decided to write a little about this big show.  sorry for the pun.

i am a HUGE Big Love fan.  i fully believe it to be one of the best shows on television now, and possibly ever (competing in the drama category for that title would be The West Wing, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under…i’m sure there are more).  i recently got into a pseudo debate with co-workers who aren’t watching it and apparently gave up on it early in season one.  i can understand why it doesn’t appeal to everyone, but we did get into a little mini-argue-rant thing because they are huge fans of Entourage.  i watch Entourage as well, and i enjoy it, but there is just not a lot there and it is certainly not comparable to Big Love…if you want to compare it to something compare it to the brilliant Flight of the Conchords (which is totally kicking Entourage’s ass in the comedy department if you ask me - which you didn’t).  everything on Entourage is neatly summed up in a quick little half hour and if there is ever any conflict in an episode it rarely lasts more than the single episode’s twenty eight minutes.  and when i say conflict i mean things like not getting laid, or potentially missing out on a blowjob or rimjob, or losing a 5k bet about who can sleep with a woman without emotional attachment in one day, or a character’s son maybe not making it into some posh private school (which is scarily the most “moral” and least ridiculous of the “conflicts”), or heaven forbid a million dollar movie hangs in the balance (for about five minutes).  listen, i’m not trying to whine about the show.  it’s good, it’s fun.  but it’s the fluff i watch on demand AFTER i watch Big Love so that i can go to sleep peacefully without worrying about my Big Love characters. 

here’s what is so great about Big Love.  the characters are not only beautifully played by a really talented crew (i’ve never liked Bill Paxton more in my life) but they are also beautifully developed, all interesting and different and realistic in terms of how a family functions.  as far as the story goes, for anyone who doesn’t already know, it is about a polygamist man and his three wives and many (7?) children all living next to each other in three houses (whose backyards kind of neatly combine together) in Sandy Utah.  i consider myself a feminist.  you would think i would hate any show where a man not only so arrogantly has three wives, but more arrogantly thinks he is man enough to be enough for three women, but what is so brilliant about this show, is that i DO believe it.  it is so well written and thoughtful that i find myself empathizing with these characters in a way i would not have thought possible, and much to my surprise, in a recent episode, even considering how advanced their family is in some ways to my restricted and shockingly conservative thinking.  let me explain.  in a recent episode Margene’s (Ginnifer Goodwin) mother Virginia (played nicely by Bonnie Bedelia) visits and discovers that her daughter is a polygamist.  The episode is fraught with tension and eventually Virginia (an out of work waitress from Nevada) gets drunk and makes a pass at Bill (the husband) and then confesses to Margene that she has it really good and that she should never let another wife (a fourth - which has been much discussed this season) come in, because that wife will likely be new and younger and possibly more attractive.  Virginia goes on to tell her daughter that she is in the “cat bird seat”…and you can see that the mother really believes it.  Margene obviously does not believe it, she just believes she is in a loving relationship with four people, but you can see the confusion in her eyes when her mother says this and you can even see some doubt creep in, but you hope for her sake, and the sake of her family, that she can continue to hold on to the reality, which is that though the relationship is fraught with problems (like ANY relationship) it is essentially good, and about love and compassion and family and not about anything depraved or creepy, as most people, myself included, would assume polygamy to be.  my concern durning this episode was that i found myself relating to Virgina and not to Margene.  here i’m thinking to myself, “Margene - listen to your out of work miserable drunk failure of a mother, because she knows what she’s talking about - you’re the young pretty new one right now, don’t give that away!”  obviously, i’m nuts.  it honestly gave me pause to realize that i was relating to Virginia, rather than Margene, and let me tell you, i’ve been thinking about it ever since.  when a television show makes you think about it for weeks on end and really more importantly, think about yourself, i think it’s doing something pretty impressive. 

also of note, is the fact that i lived in Utah from the age of 13 until 17, and again for a year when i was 20.   My family still lives there and so i go back frequently, including this coming weekend for my younger brother’s wedding.  i find the show to be pretty damn accurate.  i was not good friends with anyone that lived in a polygamist household, so i don’t know how realistic Bill/Barb/Nikki/Margene and their children are, i like to think it’s very realisitc, but i just don’t know.  however, the things i do know about Utah and about Mormons and about Polygamy are pretty dead on accurate in this show, which is pretty impressive, because it’s a complicated pot. 

this is a damn fine show and i’m proud of HBO for renewing it, and i’m proud of such amazing actors (that could easily be doing something easier and possibly “bigger”)  for sticking with it, i like to think the show’s brilliance is what keeps them coming back.  it is definitely what will keep me coming back. 

HBO has finally SLIGHTLY redeemed itself for not only cancelling Carnivale, but for pretending that “the show naturally wrapped up” - it practically ended on a cliffhanger…i have not been pleased with them for a long time.  i’m glad they’ve given me reason to be pleased with them again.