richardco

Hey, that's awesome Akidu. I think we tend to minimize our own problems. Takes a lot of guts to be able to open up to someone! Hope it works out well for you.

Yeah, I remember not being very impressed with most of his TV adaptations. I remember really enjoying Storm of the Century, but I think I saw that in like '99. I have no idea if I'd like it if I rewatched it.

Picked up Under the Dome in an airport. First Stephen King book I've started reading since 2004 when I finished the Dark Tower series. There's an incredible bit of dark comedy toward the beginning. The first 70 pages or so distracted me from a layover and flight, so I'm thankful for that. Not sure if I'll continue with the book. King really needs an editor, but I still have a favorable take on him from basically reading through his entire bibliography in high school. Finished Mark Z. Danielewski's new book and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to the next 26 parts.

I really, really disliked the Ani's childhood thing. And I just don't see the need for it. I don't see its necessity in this season, and especially in this episode. I feel like Ani's knife-arc is so much more interesting. She talks a big game, almost has to resort to the knife in a firefight, finally uses the knife, and instantly regrets it. There's something so human about that and I loved it. Aside from that, another great episode. What I'm bummed about though, is that this could have easily been episode 3. Frank only works--in my mind--when he's playing off Velcoro. I don't really care about any of his personal shit, cause he's just a shithead. And Woodrough's stuff just isn't going anywhere. I don't even know why he's in the show. He's not even plot relevant. The more things I find to enjoy about this season, the more upset I get about all of the wasted potential. I found Ani and Velcoro's partner relationship to be endlessly fascinating. These two people who relating to each other and starting to respect each other despite the orders they've been given to try to fuck each other over. I'm glad Velcoro decided to let go of his son. He's an unfit father, and even though I've come around to him as a character, I actively didn't want him to be in that kid's life anymore. I'm really left somewhat mystified by this season. It was ambitious as hell to try to tell a story with 4 separate POV characters with only 8 episodes. but instead of feeling like there wasn't enough time given to the characters, it feels like there was way too much time spent on nothing. I think Pizzolatto really needs an editor. Hopefully he'll learn a little humility after this season. And I'd really really love for season 3 to not be set in some big Metropolitan. I just really don't feel interested in a Southern California setting. I'm tired of big cities. I want the weird backwoods shit like season one.

This comment from episode 2 stuck with me. Then episode 6 happened. So much for that last bit, huh? They just couldn't resist. And her being raped literally adds NOTHING to her character. She already fucking had a perfectly good arc come to conclusion in this episode with her knives bit.

Far and away my favorite episode of this season. The 2nd half really feels like it has a story to tell unlike the bloated, floundering first. I agree with Sean though. Sometimes these characters just don't behave like people. The scene with Frank and his wife in the basement office felt like I was watching the Newsroom. The dialogue just really feels like the writer talking to himself and having the characters only say things in order to get to a dramatic punchline. Frank and Woodruff still aren't doing anything for me at all. Every time we get character moments with them, I just kind of zone out and imagine how much better the season would be if it were just Ani and Velcoro as the leads. They really better pay off plot-wise! THEY BETTER!

This was a fun ep with some good goofs. But I still miss Danielle The drones with weapons thing has some legs as a comedy video, I bet. Like outfitting drones with things that would inconvenience people in very minor ways. Like knocking their coffee to the floor or touching their shirt with an uncapped pen in a place that no one would really notice--but they'd know it was there and it would bother them all day.

I'd kinda like separate threads. Maybe we could do some kind of organized re/watch in order to space out the thread creation. I just saw Wild at Heart yesterday for the first time!

What are people's takes on the killer, anyway? It seems to me that Frank's 2nd in command is the most obvious pick. He's in a position to know that killing Caspere will fuck Frank over. He's in a position to know that Velcoro is being sent to Caspere's grosshouse. He also fits the build of the crow-mask shotgun dude and the No Face cosplayer who torched the car.

How did the scene where Woodrugh is running away from the press make it into the episode? It was so poorly presented that I just had to actually laugh out loud at what I was seeing. The further we get into the season, the more I hate the first episode. It was so long and bloated. In this episode, we get reintroduced to Ani's family, all the same ground is covered, and both scenes do a better job than the ones in the pilot. Speaking of the pilot, lots of this episode felt like it was shot before the pilot. Farrell didn't seem to understand Velcoro for much of the early episode and he his accent was going wild. Might be my imagination, but his stache didn't seem as full. This season feels bloated in general. Frank and Woodrugh so far aren't adding anything. If they don't have some kind of payoff at the end, I'm going to be really mad at their inclusion in the first place. I was mostly fine with the big shootout at the end. At least it was exciting and some good character moments are bound to come out of it. I'm also fine with the thesis of True Detective as a series being "Cops who can't let that one unsolved case go." (The preview of the next episode alludes to this.) What I'm not really fine with is that I couldn't give two fucks about Caspere or Frank. Who cares if that case get solved? Along the lines of what Chris was saying: This season is trying to do so much, but it still manages to waste so much time. You could so easily trim down the pilot to maybe 10 minutes and literally lose nothing.

play ff14 with me! I'm on Hyperion

I watched one of the original Star Wars trilogy movies before bed each night from ages 8-14. I still really enjoyed the prequel trilogy, even though I was of an age where I should have known better. I feel like my propensity to turn off the critical lens for things that have earned my affection is why I really love anime. Is it ok to be me?

I guess I'm still waiting for the show to feel like it's not going to be a mess. I can't bring myself to care about Frank or Woodrugh, though I do know their names now, so that's something. The show only gets really interesting for me when Ani and Velcoro are sharing the screen. I really like that they growing to trust each other more and more while still trying to keep distanced because of orders from higher ups. The mystery is just not working for me at all. I just don't care about most of the people involved. I don't care that Frank is out money because I don't like Frank. I don't care that Casper got killed because he seemed like a scumbag. Compare this to season 1 where the victims were people that I didn't want to see killed. I'm running into the same problems in this season that I had with Mad Men. I just couldn't watch that show because I hated everyone except for Peggy. With this season, I don't like Frank, I don't like Woodrugh, I like Ani when she's not sharing scenes with her family, and I like Velcoro only when he's around Ani. As far as a TV show feeling like literature, The Wire is that to me. And for the Fukanaga thing, I totally buy it being a Pizzolatto temper tantrum. And what's really irksome about it is that Fukunaga is a much better director than Pizzolatto is a writer.

Really sorry, Tegan. And I'm extra sorry that you feel like you've ruined the friendship by merely being honest. I can definitely relate to internalizing that kind of stuff, but if that friend bails on you, that's on them, not you.

-Ever since it was mentioned in one of the earlier podcast episodes, I really do see how the show is now a writer's show and not a director's show. And it's weaker for it. The first 5 minutes or so--after the Diet David Lynch dream sequence--feel like they were written for the page. "Pissed myself." Yeah, I could see that. "Soundproofing." No shit, I can see it. Now that Pizzolatto is the name, I worry that the alternating stable of directors might not feel comfortable going off script. -There's a lot of this season that I'm just not liking, but there are some things that have really started to work for me. -Ani--in the first episode--I found incredibly boring. But when she's on duty, she feels much more comfortable and in place than she does in day-to-day human life. I like how she just mad dogs people. She feels dangerous. -Velcoro is not a fit parent and I'm actively rooting against him losing custody. But I do still feel bad for him. I absolutely hated him after the first episode. Now I'm starting to like him merely because he seems to be one of the few people who isn't just the fucking worst human scum, like so much of the rest of the cast. -Ani and Velcoro as a pair are far more interesting than Rust and Marty were. Marty was usually just an inept strawman for Rust to talk at. -It's hard to see this series attempt to do some of the things that The Fall did regarding having a woman lead investigator. It's just so gracelessly done here. -One of Ani's superiors played D's mother on the Wire! Finally figured it out this week.

I liked the apology for being assholes for the first batch of episodes. While I don't think the thumbs gang was any worse than most of the gaming podcasts of that era, it was jarring to hear "rape" and "retarded" tossed around so liberally (I recently listened to a couple earlier episodes as well after being fairly late to the party). It's good to grow and acknowledge our past faults! Also takes some guts to own up to it.

Welcome! Her Story sounds sooooooooo good. I want to play it, but I think I'm going to try to get my mom and brother to play it with me when I see them later this summer. They aren't really into video games, but I know they do enjoy mysteries.

Thanks!

I had an awful realization today that I probably know how things are going to shake out between Colin Farrell's character and Vince Vaughn's (if Pizzolatto is as much of a plot recycler as he seems to be).

That nonexistent anime pop star from Japan has a name, Jake! Have some respect for Hatsune Miku. She was on Letterman for crying out loud! Ani and Velcoro are much more interesting sharing a scene together than they are apart from one another. I like their dynamic. Rust and Marty were fine too, but Marty was a little too much of a straw man at times.

I wrote/made a Twine game for a jam. You can play it! http://richard-cochnar.itch.io/the-drowning-house

Thumbs up for the thread title. Can't wait to lose my winter to this game. Though I do hope the playable character's incessant yapping about literally everything they see was for demo purposes only. SUGAR BOMBS YAP YAP YAP.

The Belt Buckle episode of Mystery Show is really, really good.

Yeah, I liked this is as well. It was maybe one of the only things that I was positive on in the episode. I was worried that reading Pizzolatto's book and short stories might have soured me on this second season, but I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone in not really liking this episode. When I finished his solo projects I was left with the overwhelming feeling that the first season of True Detective was really made wonderful by the performances and the direction. Pizzolatto CANNOT resist writing a character with a dead/missing family member who spirals out of control because of it. I had hoped that we'd get through at least this first episode without him trotting out his trick pony AGAIN, but nope, Ani's mom killed herself. I still have hope that this season might go somewhere and that I'll be able to enjoy it. The first season was really something pretty special, and his novel--while largely unimpressive--does have a fantastic, grounded ending.

Also this one.