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Recommend good HBO series?

 
 
Thomas
 
  1  
Sat 15 Oct, 2011 11:18 pm
Last weekend saw the premiere of a show titled Enlightened. The heroine, Amy, is a power woman who has had a public nervous breakdown at work, and has gone to rehabilitation in Hawaii. Now she's coming back, all relaxed, all at peace with herself, basically a born-again hippie. Alas, her old stomping grounds, both at her corporation and in her family, are just like she left them. People react oddly to her new persona. I can already see some interesting conflicts forming. Meanwhile, I relish the first exchange she has with her mother on returning. Amy: "Mom, it's so good to meet you." Mom: "But why?"
dlowan
 
  1  
Sun 16 Oct, 2011 12:55 am
@Thomas,
Interesting.

It's like I sometimes say to clients if they're making changes...."we are all the hub of a series of interconnected wheels....if we move, the spokes have to move and it's not easy."
0 Replies
 
Irishk
 
  2  
Tue 22 Nov, 2011 10:44 am
Those itching for the second-season premiere of HBO's hugely-popular fantasy series "Game of Thrones" will get a small taste of what's in store with this just-released "in production" featurette, which includes brief clips from on-set interviews with cast member Sean Bean, series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and author George R.R. Martin, who wrote the novels upon which the T.V. show is based. In addition, you'll get to see a bit of footage taken during production of the second season, which is slated to premiere in April of next year.

0 Replies
 
Irishk
 
  1  
Mon 12 Dec, 2011 10:58 pm
A Handy Guide to Understanding HBO's "LUCK"
http://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/vulture/2011/12/09/09_luck2.o.jpeg/a_560x375.jpg

There are not enough horse-racing fans in the world to sustain Luck, the new Michael Mann–David Milch show on HBO, which had a special premiere after the Boardwalk Empire finale last night (it will return for its first full season on January 29: we'll start recaps then). The rest of us need to tune in, too. But unless you spend a lot of time at Belmont or Aqueduct (and we sort of hope you don’t), Luck was a bit difficult to follow. (It is a David Milch production after all.) We suspect you spent much of last night’s premiere saying, “Huh?” Watch it again and consult our Vulture guide to the questions you probably asked about Luck, in chronological order.

Why can’t Ace (Dustin Hoffman) own a horse?

Ace’s driver, Gus, picks him up outside of California Institution for Men in Chino. Under California law (the series is set at the Santa Anita racetrack, near Los Angeles), the state Horse Racing Board may "may refuse to issue a license or deny a license to any person … who has been convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment in a California state prison or a federal prison."

http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/articles/arts/television/2011/12/111212_TV_luck.jpg.CROP.rectangle3-large.jpg

Why does everyone care so much about the horse’s bowels?

Horses are big, but their intestines are not. When food gets stuck along the many twists and turns of the digestive tract, the horse’s bowel gets impacted. Could you run a race that way? There are several remedies, like Milk of Magnesia, to help the horse along. If that doesn’t work, the lady from Crossing Jordan has to pretend stick her hand up the horse’s ass and clear the poor guy out.

Why is the trainer Escalante (John Ortiz) such a dick to jockey Leon Micheaux (Tom Payne)?

In addition to making horses run faster, trainers also determine a horse’s strategy. Does the horse start slow and then explode along the final stretch? Is it lousy at weaving around other horses? The trainer tells the jockey how to run the horse, but the jockey should keep that information to himself. Plus, Leon is a “bug boy,” or an apprentice jockey. He should just be quiet.

http://img.poptower.com/pic-67092/nick-nolte.jpg

Why is that nice, pretty lady (Kerry Condon) riding horses for scary Nick Nolte?

Rosie is an exercise rider. They run the horses early in the morning for practice. The trainer watches the run and times it with a stopwatch to determine how fast the horse is moving


Okay, but why does Escalante b1tch Leon out to Joey Rathburn (Richard Kind)?

Rathburn (known to meanies around the track as “Porky Pig”) is Leon’s agent. Agents pair jockeys with horses. “There is perhaps no other job in the business of sports that demands such a diverse and eclectic set of skills,” Joe Drape wrote in the Times. "[An agent] must be a sharp handicapper and salesman, a methodical thinker. He also is a full-time travel agent, a part-time shrink and a sometime whipping boy.”

What’s a “Pick Six”?

There are lots and lots of ways to bet on horses. The riskier the bet, the higher the payout. To win a Pick Six, the gambler must pick the winners in six consecutive races.

http://images.hitfix.com/photos/990513/092311-luck-generic-1024_article_story_main.jpg

But if there’s only one winner, why does Jerry (Jason Gedrick) pick so many horses?

Jerry spreads the risk by betting on several possible winners in multiple races. But it costs more, too. Let’s say it costs $2 to place a bet in one race. If you’re betting on six different horses, that’s a $12 bet. In the case of our railbirds, the total cost of the Pick Six bet was $864. (Jerry is very good at this, which is why he sold his picks to that scuzzy security guard.)

That sounds impossible.

Not quite, but almost. That’s why the Pick Six jackpot can get so big. If no one wins today, the pool carries over into tomorrow and the next day.

Why does Kagle the security guard boot those nice degenerate gamblers?

The railbirds, the real hard-core track guys, come in early to see the horses exercise. (Really early — they usually start before 6 a.m.) This research is part of “handicapping," which is how a gambler considers betting the race. (Lots of elements go into handicapping a race, including prior performance, the horse’s lineage, its trainer, etc.) The track is often closed to the public for a couple of hours between training runs and when the first race begins.

Why does Leon get weighed holding a saddle?

There are strict limits about how much weight a horse can carry and a jockey is weighed with his equipment (saddle and stirrups) to determine if he or she fits in that limit. Jockeys, like wrestlers, have to “make weight." They do this in a number of unpleasant ways, including sweating and purging.

http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/hbo-teaser-trailer-luck.jpg

Are trainers allowed to bet on their horses?

For sure! And Escalante just won a ton. Perhaps he knew something we did not. (The horse paid $26.40; Escalante placed two bets, one for $1,000 and one for $2,000.) Jockeys are not allowed to bet on races they are riding.

Why is Kagle so curious about the railbirds’ tax situation?

If you win more than $5,000 at the track in one race, the IRS is going to hear about it. And then anything else you may owe the IRS will be garnished from your winnings. What Kagle is offering the railbirds is a “beard” to collect their winnings for them. In this case, the beard is someone with a clean tax record who can claim the winnings, pay the appropriate taxes, and then give the money back to the railbirds — for a small fee, of course.

Why does the track official want to publicize the winner of the Pick Six?

Have you ever been to the track? What about any of your friends? Your extended family? Horse racing is a sport in big, big financial trouble. Racing authorities want to attract more gamblers, and what better way to do that than have the lucky winner (who, the authority prays, is a clean-looking, clear-eyed person with a full set of choppers) look happy behind an oversize check? It could happen to you!

Did they have to do that to that nice horse?

Yes.
dlowan
 
  1  
Tue 13 Dec, 2011 12:17 am
@Irishk,
I knew most of that!

And I never go near a race track.
Irishk
 
  1  
Tue 13 Dec, 2011 09:06 am
@dlowan,
And, as a commenter pointed out, I think he may be wrong on the tax situation. Winnings of $600 or more are required to be reported, but it may be that the higher $5000 figure is the trigger for the track notifying the IRS. I've only been a couple of times and the most I ever won was $125.

I didn't watch the special, but since it's Milch (Deadwood), I'm prepared to not be hooked until around the 4th episode or so lol. (Sounds like that Joey Rathburn character might steal the show!).

0 Replies
 
Thomas
 
  1  
Mon 6 Feb, 2012 09:13 pm
I may be repeating something I said earlier, but Showtime's Homeland series was outstanding. Enlightened turned out to be just fine. Luck---two episodes out, no spark with me yet.
0 Replies
 
McTag
 
  1  
Tue 7 Feb, 2012 02:32 am

Brits have been enjoying Scandinavian dramas lately, such as The Killing and Borgen, both to be recommended if you can catch them.

I see Steve Van Zandt (ex- The Sopranos) has signed to do a new one, set in Lillehammer, Norway.
izzythepush
 
  1  
Tue 7 Feb, 2012 04:03 am
@McTag,
I'm still watching The Sopranos, I missed it first time around. Season 4 has just finished, and Season 5 starts on Wednesday.
dlowan
 
  1  
Tue 7 Feb, 2012 06:04 am
Thomas and McTag.....interesting, thank you.

Izzy..enjoy.
0 Replies
 
farmerman
 
  1  
Tue 7 Feb, 2012 06:07 am
@izzythepush,
Qre you watching the complete Sopranos or are you watching the "swanitized" version?
Tony Woprano i a master at malaprops and the dark humpor from theor Jersey language is part of what made this series maintain a warm spot in my heart.
izzythepush
 
  1  
Tue 7 Feb, 2012 06:14 am
@farmerman,
As far as I'm aware it's complete and unabridged. It's on Sky Atlantic, a channel that specialised in good American telly. They've been showing it weekly from series 1, it's taken about a year to complete the first 4 series.
farmerman
 
  1  
Tue 7 Feb, 2012 06:39 am
@farmerman,
sorry bout my trocious spelling but im hving a particulrly "bad hand day". I cant seem to move my fingers and its numb clar up to the elbow
izzythepush
 
  1  
Tue 7 Feb, 2012 07:53 am
@farmerman,
At least you know when your spelling not at its best, unlike some. I thought you were trying to evoke the NJ patois anyway.
0 Replies
 
Setanta
 
  1  
Tue 7 Feb, 2012 11:13 am
FM is digitally challenged, in the pre-electronic sense.
0 Replies
 
Thomas
 
  1  
Tue 7 Feb, 2012 02:50 pm
@izzythepush,
Here's an easy way to test if you have the sanitized version: Do they ever say the word "frigg" or its derivatives, like "friggin", "what the frigg?", "motherfriggin", or "go frigg yourself"? If so, your version is sanitized and you better find a DVD of the original somewhere. Real Sopranos never use such a word.
izzythepush
 
  2  
Tue 7 Feb, 2012 05:37 pm
@Thomas,
No, they say ****. We're not as uptight about swearing as you think.
farmerman
 
  2  
Tue 7 Feb, 2012 06:23 pm
@izzythepush,
good, cause you must pay attention to Tony , Christopher and Pauley Walnuts for their malaprops . Have you passed the episode where we see Tony's boat for the first time?
dlowan
 
  1  
Tue 7 Feb, 2012 06:25 pm
@farmerman,
Why Farmer? Are you ok?
0 Replies
 
dlowan
 
  1  
Tue 7 Feb, 2012 06:26 pm
@Thomas,
No indeed, they smegging well don't.
0 Replies
 
 

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