CanofWorms
11d ago
I miss when our billionaires were fat, drank bourbon, and smoked big cigars. That was the real America.
CanofWorms
10d ago
Done with I, Claudius and onto A Thread Across The Ocean.
A couple thoughts on I, Claudius
- Historical fiction is a very cool concept and I would like to read more of it. It gives the author a nice structure to work with and he can then just make up interesting stories to fill in the unknown. It's fun to read the Wikipedia entries on all the Roman emperors/politicians after finishing the book.
- In the same vein, I'm currently rewatching The Sopranos, and I kept thinking how much the palace intrigue and murder in I, Claudius reminded me of the show. There's a scene in the The Sopranos where a couple mafia guys are torturing a Jewish man who refuses to submit and he says "900 Jews held their own against 15,000 Roman soldiers...and the Romans, where are they now?" Tony Soprano answers "You're looking at them asshole." Great bit of writing from The Sopranos, and I like the idea that the mafia are the descendants of these debauched and violent Roman emperors.
- *Overall, I thought the book was very good, though it did waver a bit at the end when Caligula became emperor. It felt rushed and not fully fleshed out, especially in comparison to the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius.
I'm about a quarter of the way through A Thread. It's about the construction of the first telegraph line across the Atlantic Ocean in the 1860s. It's a pretty interesting bit of trivia.
CanofWorms
9d ago
Surely You're Joking? Funny story about this book. In high school physics, my teacher would offer students the opportunity for extra credit once a quarter. To get the credit, you had to read a book from her pre-approved list and then have a 30 minute conversation about the book. I, as a bookworm, took advantage of this and read Surely You're Joking. I thought it was awesome as well. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I read his second autobiography What Do You Care What Other People Think, which, while not as good as his first, was still worth reading.
I didn't learn much physics in that class, but her booklist stuck with me.
True Detective Night Country
There is a culture war internet discourse happening around HBO’s newest show True Detective Night Country. The discourse can generally be summed up as follows: HBO newest show TD Night Country is the 4th season of an anthology mystery/crime miniseries. The first season came out ten years ago and it starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as two detectives searching for a killer in Louisiana. The plot does not particularly matter, but the show is widely viewed as one of the greatest single seasons of TV ever. Speaking for myself, I agree with this assessment. I return to it every few years and I am still impressed at how good the acting, story, and cinematography are.
Fast forward ten years…two mediocre seasons (2 and 3) were released, and HBO announced the release of True Detective Season 4, co-named Night Country. Season 4 stars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as two detectives unravelling a murder mystery in Alaska and people were very, very excited for this season. Prior to release, Night Country received overwhelming critical reception from TV critics. It currently has a 93% Rotten Tomatoes score (RT can be gamed, but the 93% score shows the general reception).
I was also very excited for this show. Critics were calling it the best season of True Detective since season 1; some were even saying it was better than season 1. With these very lofty expectations, I watched the show as it was released, week by week.
By episode two, I knew this show had problems. By episode four, I knew it just wasn’t very good. By episodes 5 and 6, I was hate watching. Many people have reviewed and discussed the show’s problems much more eloquently than I. This video is quite good and sums up the many many problems the show has:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=y2TCOd_YZF4
What I will say is that the show is simply…boring. It is a six-hour miniseries and at least 70% of the show is filled with boring relationship drama (the remaining 30% being focused on the actual…criminal investigation). The characters are uninteresting, low stakes, and unlikeable. The easter eggs paying homage to season 1 are like a frying pan to the face in their obviousness. The story carries no emotional weight, has major plot holes, and the ending is unsatisfying and bewildering. It’s bad. I would not recommend this show to anyone.
Now here is where the culture war comes into play. Online, fans of the True Detective series are panning the series. Go check out the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, it is a paltry 61%. The True Detective subreddit is especially critical of the show. People are especially disappointed and confused given how critically hyped it was before its release.
But what has happened is that many critics, podcasters, even Issa Lopez, the director, are blaming the backlash on sexism and misogyny. They say that male fanboys of season 1 are brigading review sites and review bombing the show. They are saying that the viewers dislike the show because it features two women lead detectives and that viewers can’t stand the lack of masculinity that was so integral to season 1. Even the professional critics who have dared to post their negative opinions on Twitter are being called misogynistic.
The problem with this read is that…the show sucks. It’s just not good for all of the reasons I’ve listed above. It’s extremely frustrating to see people called misogynistic and “anti-woke” for criticizing a show with two women leads. I find it particularly unfair because other detective shows with women leads, such as Mare of Eastown or Sharp Objects, were fantastic. It didn’t receive the critical backlash because those shows were actually good. We now exist in a bizarre universe where a magazine like Rolling Stone overwhelmingly praises the show while a magazine like Forbes pans it.
I’m not one who normally gets involved in the culture war, but I found this discourse particularly egregious. I don’t know what the future of this series holds, but I’m hoping someone at HBO sees the light.
Update: Issa Lopez has been hired to write and direct season 5 of True Detective. Whoosh.
CanofWorms
8d ago
I agree. I kept waiting and waiting for Claudius to finally become emperor and realized about 50 pages from the end that the book would likely end right at the point where he did become emperor.
I think my issue with the book is that once Livia died, the intrigue and backstabbing and villainy became far less subtle and interesting. Caligula was indeed a villain, but a far less interesting one than Livia. His villainy was right up in your face while Livia’s villainy was in the shadows.
CanofWorms
9d ago
Thanks for the rec, I've got it saved in my cart.
CanofWorms
23d ago
Probably the Duomo in Florence. I lived next to it for a time and walked by it everyday. It always looked like a movie set.
CanofWorms
1mo ago
Glad you’re back, I was wondering what happened.
CanofWorms
12d ago
I believe they call these questions the human condition. If you find an answer, please let the rest of us know.
CanofWorms
1mo ago
Cops are not the only blue collar workers who make good money. Electricians, plumbers, welders, surveyors, electrical infrastructure maintainers, oil and gas workers…these guys make bread and the list goes on and on.
are there enough middle class jobs available? No, we have too many retail and fast food jobs because we are a service economy and no longer build things in this country. But construction, energy, and manufacturing is still well-paying for those who can get it.
Part of the problem seems to be that everyone wants to be an influencer these days. People watch others make hundreds of thousands of dollars on social media and think “why the hell would I want to work in an oil field when I can just shoot movies with my friends?” It’s this ability to compare ourselves to the most successful Americans that fucks us up. And not only are we able to compare ourselves, it’s piped directly into our brain without us even asking for it.
CanofWorms
19d ago
My after-work routine depends on the day. I'll usually do one of the following:
-Hit the gym
-Go to the driving range
-Go to the movie theater (solo)
-Meal prep (almost always a home-made caesar salad with chicken)
-Group therapy (every thursday)
-Softball team (spring and summer only)
-Hang out with my girlfriend
I'm lucky that I only need to be in the office two days a week, so I have a lot of flexibility in my after-work regiment. I spend a lot of time (too much, tbh) by myself during the week, so I really try to stay active instead of sitting alone in my apartment.
CanofWorms
19d ago
This sounds like a good, social life.
CanofWorms
1mo ago
I, Claudius.
I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s interesting to me how older books (I, Claudius was written in the 1930s) tend to have much longer paragraphs compared to todays ADD-riddled one and two sentence paragraphs. I’m thinking particularly about NYT articles where you hardly ever reach four sentences in a paragraph. But modern books are written that way as well.
Reading these older books takes some getting used to, but I find they can be just as compelling and page-turning as the modern stuff.
Anyway, the book itself is quite interesting and I’m looking forward to finishing it.
CanofWorms
29d ago
Agreed. By the time I got to the 60 page speech at the end of Atlas Shrugged, it was a battle of willpower to finish the book.
CanofWorms
1mo ago
QS Watermelon (also known as Suika game) on my iPhone. It’s like a slower version of tetris. Highly addicting.
CanofWorms
1mo ago
Damn, that's a nice chunk of money.
The Inca Trail is super cool. It might be difficult to get a ticket in the next few months, but it's worth looking into. If you can't get a ticket for the "traditional" Inca Trail, you can also look at the Salkentay Trail, of which I've heard good things. I used Action Trek Peru for my hike and they were terrific.
CanofWorms
1mo ago
Lots of things.
Audition for a play/musical.
Pick up golf and play 3x a week.
Take classes (cooking, mechanics, woodworking, etc.)
Go get SCUBA certified and visit the Great Barrier Reef.
Hike the Inca Trail.
Visit the best National Parks.
Out of curiosity, how much were you getting paid at your email job?
CanofWorms
1mo ago
Deciding whether to start I, Claudius or The Darkness That Comes Before. The latter was recommended to me by my brother, but I’m always hesitant to start a long fantasy series. The older I get, the more I want to read books that are one and done. I don’t need to spend thousands of pages in the same world.
I finished MJ and while an interesting chronology of Michael Jackson’s life, it really didn’t give me any insight into what made Michael tick or his core personality. It was a lot more of “this event happened, then this event happened, then this event happened, etc”. It has helped me get more into MJs music, which I have to say, is really really fucking good. Do I feel any guilt about enjoying a kid diddlers music? Not really. Im able to keep the two separate in my mind, but I wouldn’t judge anyone who can’t listen to him.
So many books, so little time!
CanofWorms
2mo ago
I fucking hate those tolls. I understand what they’re trying to do in keeping cars off the road and encouraging alternative transportation, but if the government is going to do that, they need to offer alternative transportation that does not take 2 hours for what would normally be an hour long drive.
I rarely skirt the tolls, but I have done it on occasion. I know that what I’m doing is wrong, but at times, I simply do not care. The other reason I feel comfortable doing this is that there is almost no way I can get caught. Cops do not patrol my commute route in the slightest; if I saw them cracking down, I’d rethink ever trying to avoid the tolls.
CanofWorms
4mo ago
Bless me, I have finished The Count of Monte Cristo. I really admire the writing and vocabulary of Dumas (and, moreover, the anonymous translator), but I cannot in good conscience recommend this book. The imprisonment, escape, and discovery of the treasure are terrific, but the remaining 600 pages, comprised of palace intrigue, upper class French political and financial discussions, page-long descriptions of gardens, and all the rest make for a bit of a slog. I understand now why there are so many abridged versions of this book. I do like how the book ends, and I do like Dumas last sentence. He specifies two words that all humans should live their life by: Wait and Hope. Interesting bit of wisdom from the French master.
So. I am happy to be moving on. I have a handful of books that have been in my backlog. I plan to start with Dreamland which is a chronicle of the opioid epidemic. The opioid epidemic is a bit played out in the sense of literature and documentaries (it reminds me of the flood of books and movies about the Great Recession), but I always enjoy a good book about rich aristocrats taking advantage of the poor and vulnerable. Hoping it goes a bit faster than Monte Cristo!
CanofWorms
2mo ago
Did she allow something like 10 men to gangbang her at the same party? Absolutely bizarre and pretty disgusting behavior.
CanofWorms
2mo ago
Quite a few outlets have right criticized it, but quite a few have not. Rolling Stone for example:
CanofWorms
2mo ago
I applaud you and your wife’s resolution to the argument, very mature and thoughtful.
Valentines Days is an interesting and tricky day. Most men (including myself) do not give a shit about Valentines Day. It is a capitalistic holiday that society has tricked women into thinking their man should spend money and time on them to prove the strength of their love and relationship. And if the man doesn’t live up to their expectations, then perhaps he doesn’t actually care about her and the entire relationship may be doomed.
Valentines Day has become especially pernicious in the social media age. With every woman posting the surprise gift/dinner/experience/proposal on Instagram, there is so much comparison and expectation and letdown. I’m not, and never will be, a big Valentines Day celebrator. I will buy my partner roses, a card, and either cook her a nice dinner or take her out somewhere nice. I think that is more than enough.
CanofWorms
3mo ago
I finished up Beloved, which I thought was an astonishing work of literature. The main theme is about how slavery obliterates everything it comes into contact with, and specifically, the identity of the enslaved.
It’s a strange, metaphorical book. There is so much that is open to interpretation that a reader could spend hours thinking about the books true meaning. I see now why it was so popular in high school English classes; it’s an endless ocean for critique and analysis.
I’m onto King Rat by James Clavell. I tried reading Shogun a couple years ago, got about 50% of the way through it, and gave up. I found the plot very slow and the tendency of the Japanese to commit sepuku at the drop of a hat off-putting. King Rat seems much tighter and more interesting so far.
Did you ever finish Monte Cristo?
Well done, I’ll give you an 8/10 for this.
More options
Context Copy link