For those of you not in the Eastern Time Zone, note that the National Geographic channel is marathoning the Carl Sagan Cosmos episodes leading up to their airing the new series premiere.
4.
Bonnie
From the tv guide, it doesn’t appear they are going to solve the case. If that is true, what is the point of watching this?
Don’t watch the show, but wouldn’t be at all surprising if things are left unresolved or cryptically loose-ended, as the series’ driving force has admitted a love for Twin Peaks.
Perhaps fans of the show might find this a little interesting:
Can anyone recommend a fairly-easy-to-use site where you can sell your own random stuff that’s not eBay (no auctions) or Etsy (not handmade) or Craigslist (not sketchy-ass creeps)? There’s gotta be someone but Googling this isn’t easy and I’d prefer a recommendation…
(ETA: I guess I could do only Buy It Now stuff on eBay but ugh, that site is annoying IME. Hoping for something else.)
From the tv guide, it doesn’t appear they are going to solve the case. If that is true, what is the point of watching this?
“My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over… Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule. But there is a higher Power, by whatever name we honor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice but mercy.” — Gerald Ford
So the torture and murder of young women continues, and mistakes were made, and it’s time to move on and not dwell on the past.
@gogol’s wife: Yeah, I was just hoping to avoid it, LOL. But I guess without the stupid bidding it’s okay. I’ve just had issues with eBayers in the past…
some good news in Syria. Qatar used its muscle to get our al Qaeda forces to release the nuns they had kidnapped and held hostage for the last 3 months. I guess the rift between Saudi Arabia and Qatar is “for realz” as the kids say.
I’ll probably just do the eBay buy-it-now shit, I’m just lazy as hell and wish someone else would come over and take pictures and upload everything for me :P
21.
the Conster
Ok, this is waaaayyy creeepy. Holy shit, I can’t watch.
22.
muddy
@Alison: I’ve heard decent things about Ruby Lane. There is a monthly “advertising” fee so I guess it depends what you want to sell. I’ve not sold from it myself.
23.
kindness
Holy shit. There is as much blood as GOT.
24.
Pogonip
@efgoldman: The King in Yellow did it, in the conservatory, with the lead pipe.
@Alison: I used Craigslist a couple of times to buy stuff. It was in the town where I lived and I spoke with the women on the phone a couple a times before I purchased stuff from them. Don’t give out your phone number, have people e-mail you.
BTW if you don’t mind sharing what are you trying to sell? Could come up with better suggestions. If it is ongoing business, then you can think of creating your own website.
ETA: The people I dealt with were not sketchy at all, one was a graduate student who lived in the same apartment complex as me and more recently it was a dentist’s wife.
28.
Kay (not the front-pager)
If Matthew McCaughey doesn’t win an emmy for this role there is no justice in this world.
29.
Pogonip
@NotMax: Yes, and they all live in a Yellow Submarine!
30.
raven
I think the light is winning.
31.
drew42
So after all that, it was just 10 hours of CSI: Bayou.
What on earth were those brick ruins the ruins of? Was it an old hospital or asylum or something? It seemed enormous to be in the depths of the back of beyond.
Neil deGrasse Tyson does a great job. Can’t wait for the next episode.
43.
lamh36
@Suzanne: I loved it too. As a person of color who’s always been a science geek, I especially liked the end where Neil deGrasse Tyson talked about how Carl Sagan encouraged him. Just goes to show the importance of encouraging youth to embrace the sciences.
It was pretty cool. If not for the commercials I would never have noticed the time, cause it didn’t feel like it was slow at all.
@Suffern ACE: You lasted a lot longer than I would have.
45.
fleeting expletive
I was wondering too what those ruins were. An irrigation system for rice or sugar cane growing? Viaducts for a water system? Assuming it wasn’t CG effects, somebody did an amazing job with finding filming sites. I liked the episode and the ending, but it had some scary moments.
46.
SuperHrefna
@Tyro: It’s a problem with most mysteries written these days. Writers have lost the discipline necessary to keep track of all the threads of a mystery and weave them together in the end the way they used to back in the Golden Age of detective stories. The only writer today who consistently pulls it off is Jane Haddam.
@muddy: Hmm, but that looks like it’s for antiques and vintage stuff…
50.
Giord
I was expecting much more. After watching LOST all those years, I am virtually numb from watching disappointing endings.
Probably the worst show of the whole series. Excellent directing and acting, but the ending could have been shown on any mediocre crime series. The series deserved better.
@schrodinger’s cat: Definitely wouldn’t be anything ongoing, just looking to unload some stuff and hopefully bring in a little money. Various items – DVDs, handbags, shoes, that sort of stuff.
I don’t know how an actor pulls that many people out of himself. I had marveled at how fundamentally different Rust was the man between ’97 to ’02 and ’12. But he really was a different guy – changed – in the final scene. Marty was a changed man in the more conventional sense in the final scene, but Rust. Wow.
The only good way for True Detective to end is with the revelation that the King In Yellow is a real play, and that the detectives have unwittingly staged it, driving the entire world mad in the process.
56.
p.a.
@Alison: use C-list but block location and accept response only thru the ad. If someone shows interest, ask for THEIR contact info. This clears out the A holes for the most part.
57.
SuperHrefna
@Kay (not the front-pager): I’m with you. Wow is the only word. What McConaughey has been doing the last few years has been hundreds of levels up from the cheese he was putting out before then. How did so much talent stay so hidden for so long? Honestly, it’s an artistic 180 on the level of Justin Bieber’s next release being a heartbreakingly beautiful violin concerto. Seeing McConaughey blossom as an actor has me wondering who else in Hollywood is secretly talented.
Don’t have HBO, but I’ve been watching the amazing French series “The Returned” on Netflix, now being remade as “Resurrection” on ABC. I’d rather read subtitles than watch commercials hacking up the story and emotional tone.
Did you ever read, or see the movie version of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon? If so, did you ever wonder why Spade’s partner, Archer, was shot and killed? The people who were making the movie couldn’t come up with a reason so they called Hammett and asked him. He thought about it for a minute and then replied that he didn’t know either.
I made it through 5 and a half hours. But now she’s a teenager, so I’m going to bed.
As for McConaghey, I don’t have HBO, but I will say that I could tell Colin Firth was a great actor from Pride and Prejudice, and I could tell McC was a good (not great) actor from his romcoms.
@SuperHrefna: Writers have lost the discipline necessary to keep track of all the threads of a mystery and weave them together in the end the way they used to
@Hawes: Agreed. I had some wild theories too, but I liked the ending, since I was fairly sure going in that Cohle was going to snuff it.
They just need to give McConaughey the Emmy now. Game over.
And as a devotee of Twin Peaks, I don’t get the comparisons with True Detective. Okay, so they both mention philosophy — they have entirely different vibes.
I’ll probably just do the eBay buy-it-now shit, I’m just lazy as hell and wish someone else would come over and take pictures and upload everything for me :P
EBay has a “sell it for me” option. There’s a FAQ that explains how it works.
A friend of mine used Craigslist to sell her elderly aunt’s stuff. They didn’t have any problem with the people they dealt with. I think it depends on what you’re selling. If you’ve got phones and tablets you might have a bigger problem than if you have old purses and shoes.
76.
ulee
@Yatsuno: Many months ago I talked about how I was suicdal. Alison said my talking about it was creepy. Fuck her.
Just caught a TV news report where George Zimmermann is still popping up at gun shows to sign autographs. How did he not have a major presence at CPAC last week?
79.
Violet
@Mike in NC: Maybe he needs a year to develop the necessary gravitas. Did Joe the Plumber make an appearance?
Because being a trigger happy racist is insufficiently batshit for CPAC?
81.
SuperHrefna
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: I never rated Hammet much, and I don’t think he was playing the game the way the big leagues were – Christie, Marsh, Sayers, Tey, Crispin, etc. Those books are games, they follow very distinct rules and ends just weren’t left lying around.
82.
hoosierspud
I agree; just give McConaughhey the Emmy now. He can’t be beaten. One thing no one has mentioned is how well that the series used Louisiana as a backdrop for the action. The photography and the music created such a unique setting and little touches like the twig pyramids, antlers, and spiral patterns added lots of creepiness without using cheap scare tactics.
83.
ulee
@Violet: Much better, Violet. I’m not shaking and I can do my job.
Liked it. I was sure they would both die, if not Rust for sure. Might have been less kitchy if they had. Still it was scary, and that the big deal for me.
If so, did you ever wonder why Spade’s partner, Archer, was shot and killed?
Because Brigid promised him a little more than she was prepared to deliver, when push came to shove.
89.
Gin & Tonic
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Funny, but I just read more or less the same thing about The Big Sleep.
During filming, allegedly neither the director nor the screenwriters knew whether chauffeur Owen Taylor was murdered or had killed himself. They sent a cable to Chandler, who told a friend in a later letter: “They sent me a wire … asking me, and dammit I didn’t know either”
Could you be confusing the two?
90.
SuperHrefna
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Verisimilitude was not the point of Golden Age mysteries. I’m serious when I said they were games with strict rules. They even had a club and wrote the rules down and everything. They are logical puzzles, which I think is why I love them so much. ( I’ve literally read thousands of the things).
91.
Tyro
Here is my take on the problem with True Detective, now that this season is over: the way they ended it made so much of what was presented was unnecessary. They could have erased the whole thing about Marty’s inlaws, his daughters’ trials and tribulations from childhood to teendom, the church, etc., and it hardly would have made a difference. Heck, you didn’t even need to involve Tuttle, whose only purpose was to supply the video tape that the plots of the last 2 episodes turned on.
Brigid lived by wrapping men around her little finger. Spade alluded to the fact that Archer was a skirt chaser with a serious weakness for a pretty face in Chapter One of the book. Brigid could have had Archer dancing like a marionette without promising more than she was willing to give him.
@Tyro: @Tyro: Yes that was a serious disappointment. So many lyrical MacGuffins going nowhere.
95.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Gin & Tonic:
Very possible. I have a volume of the collected letters of Raymond Chandler so I may indeed have confused the two. OTOH, I do seem to remember doing some research (Pre-Google) and finding a similar anecdote about the filming of The Maltese Falcon when I realized that neither the book nor the movie explained why Archer had to die. Although I haven’t read the book or seen the movie in some time I believe that Spade never directly asked Brigid, or any of the other characters, why it was necessary to kill his partner.
96.
hamletta
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Wrong movie. It was Chandler and The Big Sleep. They didn’t know who was in that sedan they pulled out of the drink, never mind why.
97.
Mike in NC
@Tyro: Yes, so much bullshit filler that added nothing to the show.
I believe that you may have that one wrong. They identified the driver as the Sternwood’s chauffeur because the car was the Sternwood’s (In the movie a gorgeous Packard) limo. The limo’s registration was in a holder wrapped around the steering column, a practice that lasted in until the early Sixties. .
@Tyro: There’s a reference to that in the hospital. Cohle says, “We didn’t get them all.” And Hart replies, “You don’t in this world, we got our guy. That’s enough.”
I wonder if the basic theme of the series will be that – I thought rather moving – exchange between Cohle and Hart over the conflict between light and dark and the toll it takes on those who would stare into the dark in order to fight it.
So the Macguffins were more the shit every frustrated Comp Lit major read into it, rather than anything the storytellers were doing.
Basically, it’s a story about the light and the dark. And that’s it. Plus Nietzche and Lone Star.
Yup. What more do you need?
105.
Kay (not the front-pager)
@Tyro: Well, sure. You could do the whole thing in a 1/2 hr format with room for commercials, just give the story outlines. But sometimes it’s not all about the ends. The journey is as important.
Not much fun in bed either, huh?
106.
Tyro
@Hawes: I wonder if the basic theme of the series will be that – I thought rather moving – exchange between Cohle and Hart over the conflict between light and dark and the toll it takes on those who would stare into the dark in order to fight it.
“While trying to solve a murder, they discovered the most important clue of all– hope.”
There were too many Chekov’s guns that never got fired. Instead, there were just a lot of symbolic elements strewn throughout the episodes for aesthetic/thematic effect.
If Pizzolatto really wanted to play up the McGuffin aspect of the murders, he should have just had Papania and Gilbough tell Marty in the hospital, “it was a pretty convoluted situation; we’ll explain it to you once you get out of the hospital,” and leave it hanging.
107.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Tyro:
Tuttle’s involvement, at some level, with the cult, coupled with the fact that the newscaster mentioned in the final episode the Tuttle was now a Senator demonstrated to me the extensive nature of the obstacles facing the detectives as well as making Cohle’s statement that “We didn’t get them all,” much more powerful and disturbing. For me, every element in the show, from the music, to the dialog, to the set decoration, to the cinematography, to the minor characters, made essential contributions to the whole.
108.
Marc
@Hawes: For more on that exchange about the light and the dark, check out this Alan Moore comic from 2000 and read the last three pages.
I believe a post here a couple weeks ago mentioned that the series creator is a big fan of Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. I will concede that the dialogue sounds much better coming out of Matthew McConaughey and not a giant talking horse.
109.
cckids
@Alison: Depending on what it is, I’ve had decent luck with Amazon. Not just books, but games, clothing, some household stuff.
110.
Ed in NJ
@thruppence: The Returned was great but the finale left even more unanswered questions than True Detective. And Resurrection is not the US remake. It just has the same premise. The US version is called They Came Back, which like the French series is based on the book and movie by that name.It will be on A&E with Carlton Cuse as showrunner.
111.
cckids
@Alison: I’ve used Ebay quite a lot to unload stuff & had really good luck; fewer than 10 bad transactions out of over 1400. So not bad.
112.
AdamK
Serial killers always have access to large, creepy abandoned buildings where they make stick things straight out of the Blair Witch woods, mummify their victims and collect dolls. But they can’t manage even the most basic housework.
113.
piratedan
spent the time watching the new Cosmos and then caught Resurrection…. I’ll wait for the next iteration of True Detective when they take on New Jersey politics… :-)
Because I’d be all over a show that was about some pizza delivery guy who lived with room mates and murdered low-priced hookers on his day off.
115.
Keith P
I loved the show and really appreciated the feel-good ending, but there is some disappointment in that they didn’t go much into the relationship between Errol and his “flock”. How did he convince the guy in prison to kill himself? Ditto for Billy Lee. And this obvious nutjob had a bunch of followers? Where were they? And what was the spaghetti face about?
116.
CaseyL
I adore Tyson, and would have loved “Cosmos,” but the commercials drove me nuts. Seemed like 5 minutes of program followed by 5 minutes of commercials. Seriously, seriously pissed me off – enough that I’m not even sure I want to watch the rest of the series.
What a difference from the first Cosmos, which aired on PBS with no commercials at all.
Agreed that this was probably the worst episode of the season. Mostly because of the feel-good Rust-questions-his-atheism vibe at the end (highlighted by him obviously being a Christ-figure as Marty dragged him out of the hospital.) If they had both died before the police arrived it woulda been cooler.
The ruins are an old fort, named Ft. Pike I believe, near New Orleans, which along with Ft. McComb across the other way, protected the entrance to Lake Pontchartrain. Use to use it as a hang out in the 70s… Looks the same. I used it once as a backdrop for a school film project.
Ft McComb is restored, closed for a while after the hurricane, but I think its re-opened.
@gogol’s wife: I’m kicking myself for missing the Shirley Temple-a-thon. Didn’t know it was tonight. The only reason I remembered the True Detective finale was because my PVR was set.
I liked the ending, but I could practically hear the moaning and groaning as the actors spoke their last lines of dialogue because it had a slightly (very slightly) positive message with a hint of the supernatural and/or spiritual. I don’t think all the exploration of Marty’s daughters and the in-laws was for nothing, either, because it told us a lot about who he was and who his wife was. It examined the ugliness of how women an children are treated as either expendable or as property in this world. I don’t remember if it was here or elsewhere, but I remember liking something I read about how it all set up how easily someone could slip into the same darkness other killers and criminals slip into.
I hate finale nights because it brings out the whiners. But I still see red when someone mentions the lumberjack Dexter ending, so I’m a big ol’ hypocrite on that issue!
I liked the ending, but I could practically hear the moaning and groaning as the actors spoke their last lines of dialogue because it had a slightly (very slightly) positive message with a hint of the supernatural and/or spiritual.
I liked that Rust’s entire worldview was shaken because there might actually be an afterlife. I think it was a little bit of a poke in the eye to the people who screeched about the “Lost” finale.
But, then, I didn’t mind the “Lost” finale, or the ending of “The Sopranos,” so obviously I’m a television philistine. ;-)
130.
Zeecube
Sorry, got my forts mixed up. he ruins are Ft. McComb. seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Macomb
The other theme of TD was the cost is exacted from the men who have to battle the darkness. The damage that was done to them (the drinking, the philandering, the existential oblivion) was only made worse by the hopelessness of that fight.
As for all the Yellow King crap, isn’t that just the ravings of insanity? I mean insanity isn’t stupidity. So one of the Tuttles read Lovecraft. And created a cult around that imagery.
Pre-Civil War fort? built to defend against whom, I wonder. Pirates?
Well, you could say the British inspired its construction. After the Battle of New Orleans (the War of 1812), President Monroe was convinced that better coastal defenses were needed to protect Lake Pontchartrain and New Orleans from invasion. Fort Macomb is one of two fortifications (Fort Pike is the other) constructed to watch over that eastern water approach.
What a difference from the first Cosmos, which aired on PBS with no commercials at all.
As you know, Carl Sagan and his wife Ann helped create the original. Various versions of it are available on DVD. Carl is gone now (as you know also) but Ann helped with this new series. I have not watched it.
135.
WaterGirl
@Cervantes: I’m not sure I’ve ever seen ulee here in the daytime. So I’ll just chime to say that ulee struggled quite a bit months and months ago. Many people were concerned and engaged with him at the time, but IIRC at least one person said he was an internet fake who was just doing it for the attention. Maybe that was Alison, I don’t know.
But ulee has been here a few times in the past couple of months and he is no longer talking about suicide, and he has a job, and while I don’t know that his life is a barrel of apples just yet, he says he is doing much better.
Biscuits
Me too! All waiting at our house.
cathyx
Thank God for television.
NotMax
For those of you not in the Eastern Time Zone, note that the National Geographic channel is marathoning the Carl Sagan Cosmos episodes leading up to their airing the new series premiere.
Bonnie
From the tv guide, it doesn’t appear they are going to solve the case. If that is true, what is the point of watching this?
raven
@Bonnie: It’s the journey, grasshopper.
lamh36
@NotMax: yeah, I’ll be watching the premiere ep of Cosmos tonight. I gave up my cable for local channels only until I move
NotMax
@Bonnie
Where’s Columbo when he’s needed?
Don’t watch the show, but wouldn’t be at all surprising if things are left unresolved or cryptically loose-ended, as the series’ driving force has admitted a love for Twin Peaks.
Perhaps fans of the show might find this a little interesting:
The Comic Books Behind ‘True Detective’
MomSense
@NotMax:
YES!! Fantastic!
I watched a number of episodes today.
gogol's wife
Into my fourth hour of Shirley Temple now . . . .
It’s kind of like flagpole-sitting.
Alison
Can anyone recommend a fairly-easy-to-use site where you can sell your own random stuff that’s not eBay (no auctions) or Etsy (not handmade) or Craigslist (not sketchy-ass creeps)? There’s gotta be someone but Googling this isn’t easy and I’d prefer a recommendation…
(ETA: I guess I could do only Buy It Now stuff on eBay but ugh, that site is annoying IME. Hoping for something else.)
gogol's wife
@Alison:
eBay doesn’t have to be auctions, does it? I see things sold on there for a fixed price.
ETA: Okay, I see you know about Buy It Now.
mclaren
@Bonnie:
“My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over… Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule. But there is a higher Power, by whatever name we honor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice but mercy.” — Gerald Ford
So the torture and murder of young women continues, and mistakes were made, and it’s time to move on and not dwell on the past.
Sounds like America since 1975…
NotMax
@gogol’s wife
Or being drowned in honey.
Alison
@gogol’s wife: Yeah, I was just hoping to avoid it, LOL. But I guess without the stupid bidding it’s okay. I’ve just had issues with eBayers in the past…
gogol's wife
@NotMax:
You don’t like honey?
Violet
@Alison: Have heard you can set up an Amazon store to sell things. Not sure what their policy is on used stuff, though.
schrodinger's cat
@Alison: Why not use Craigslist?
some guy
some good news in Syria. Qatar used its muscle to get our al Qaeda forces to release the nuns they had kidnapped and held hostage for the last 3 months. I guess the rift between Saudi Arabia and Qatar is “for realz” as the kids say.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/world/middleeast/nuns-released-by-syrians-after-three-month-ordeal.html?_r=0
Alison
@Violet: I did check but some of the things I want to sell, you can’t sell there as an individual, unfortunately.
@schrodinger’s cat: As I said, sketchy people abound on Craigslist. I’d rather not use something that has so little regulation.
Alison
I’ll probably just do the eBay buy-it-now shit, I’m just lazy as hell and wish someone else would come over and take pictures and upload everything for me :P
the Conster
Ok, this is waaaayyy creeepy. Holy shit, I can’t watch.
muddy
@Alison: I’ve heard decent things about Ruby Lane. There is a monthly “advertising” fee so I guess it depends what you want to sell. I’ve not sold from it myself.
kindness
Holy shit. There is as much blood as GOT.
Pogonip
@efgoldman: The King in Yellow did it, in the conservatory, with the lead pipe.
NotMax
@Pogonip
LOL.
Does his court’s entourage include Yellow Pages?
Suzanne
I don’t have HBO, but I am thoroughly enjoying Cosmos!
schrodinger's cat
@Alison: I used Craigslist a couple of times to buy stuff. It was in the town where I lived and I spoke with the women on the phone a couple a times before I purchased stuff from them. Don’t give out your phone number, have people e-mail you.
BTW if you don’t mind sharing what are you trying to sell? Could come up with better suggestions. If it is ongoing business, then you can think of creating your own website.
ETA: The people I dealt with were not sketchy at all, one was a graduate student who lived in the same apartment complex as me and more recently it was a dentist’s wife.
Kay (not the front-pager)
If Matthew McCaughey doesn’t win an emmy for this role there is no justice in this world.
Pogonip
@NotMax: Yes, and they all live in a Yellow Submarine!
raven
I think the light is winning.
drew42
So after all that, it was just 10 hours of CSI: Bayou.
I should have watched Cosmos.
the Conster
Wow. Incredible ending. Well done everybody.
raven
@drew42: You’re fucking brain dead.
drew42
@raven: Stay classy.
Kay (not the front-pager)
@Kay (not the front-pager): McConaughey. Damn you autocorrect!
DCLaw1
Underwhelmed.
NotMax
@Pogonip
Official snack food: Screaming Yellow Zonkers?
(Gee whiz, haven’t thought of those in decades.)
Tyro
That was… well, it could have been much, much worse.
It was the best way to leave it unresolved while still resolving it.
But kind of a highbrow “Lost”– lots of puzzles they just left hanging but still providing an “ending.”
Ah. Now I remember the phrase a friend used from a previous series: “Ended without being finished.”
SuperHrefna
@Kay (not the front-pager): Yes, he was transcendent, especially in the last scene tonight.
What on earth were those brick ruins the ruins of? Was it an old hospital or asylum or something? It seemed enormous to be in the depths of the back of beyond.
DCLaw1
@drew42: CSI + literary pretension.
Suffern ACE
Bah. I can’t watch no moar Shirley Temple movies.
hilts
@Suzanne:
Neil deGrasse Tyson does a great job. Can’t wait for the next episode.
lamh36
@Suzanne: I loved it too. As a person of color who’s always been a science geek, I especially liked the end where Neil deGrasse Tyson talked about how Carl Sagan encouraged him. Just goes to show the importance of encouraging youth to embrace the sciences.
It was pretty cool. If not for the commercials I would never have noticed the time, cause it didn’t feel like it was slow at all.
WereBear
@Suffern ACE: You lasted a lot longer than I would have.
fleeting expletive
I was wondering too what those ruins were. An irrigation system for rice or sugar cane growing? Viaducts for a water system? Assuming it wasn’t CG effects, somebody did an amazing job with finding filming sites. I liked the episode and the ending, but it had some scary moments.
SuperHrefna
@Tyro: It’s a problem with most mysteries written these days. Writers have lost the discipline necessary to keep track of all the threads of a mystery and weave them together in the end the way they used to back in the Golden Age of detective stories. The only writer today who consistently pulls it off is Jane Haddam.
NotMax
@hilts
No spoilers, please.
Got money down on the universe being older than 6000 years.
:)
NotMax
@SuperHrefna
*cough* The Big Sleep *cough*
Alison
@muddy: Hmm, but that looks like it’s for antiques and vintage stuff…
Giord
I was expecting much more. After watching LOST all those years, I am virtually numb from watching disappointing endings.
Probably the worst show of the whole series. Excellent directing and acting, but the ending could have been shown on any mediocre crime series. The series deserved better.
Belafon
@NotMax: Hint: It’s more than 10,000 years old.
Alison
@schrodinger’s cat: Definitely wouldn’t be anything ongoing, just looking to unload some stuff and hopefully bring in a little money. Various items – DVDs, handbags, shoes, that sort of stuff.
Kay (not the front-pager)
@SuperHrefna: Yeah.
I don’t know how an actor pulls that many people out of himself. I had marveled at how fundamentally different Rust was the man between ’97 to ’02 and ’12. But he really was a different guy – changed – in the final scene. Marty was a changed man in the more conventional sense in the final scene, but Rust. Wow.
Knight of Nothing
True Disappointment.
PaulW
The only good way for True Detective to end is with the revelation that the King In Yellow is a real play, and that the detectives have unwittingly staged it, driving the entire world mad in the process.
p.a.
@Alison: use C-list but block location and accept response only thru the ad. If someone shows interest, ask for THEIR contact info. This clears out the A holes for the most part.
SuperHrefna
@Kay (not the front-pager): I’m with you. Wow is the only word. What McConaughey has been doing the last few years has been hundreds of levels up from the cheese he was putting out before then. How did so much talent stay so hidden for so long? Honestly, it’s an artistic 180 on the level of Justin Bieber’s next release being a heartbreakingly beautiful violin concerto. Seeing McConaughey blossom as an actor has me wondering who else in Hollywood is secretly talented.
schrodinger's cat
@Alison: You can list vintage stuff on Etsy.
thruppence
Don’t have HBO, but I’ve been watching the amazing French series “The Returned” on Netflix, now being remade as “Resurrection” on ABC. I’d rather read subtitles than watch commercials hacking up the story and emotional tone.
Renie
@SuperHrefna: @fleeting expletive: On Behind the Scenes on HBO, they said it was a pre-Civil War fort.
Hawes
Lovely ending to True Detective. Unexpectedly optimistic.
But it basically gave a fuck you to everyone who invested time in creating these elaborate theories, So that’s a plus.
Basically, it’s a story about the light and the dark. And that’s it. Plus Nietzche and Lone Star.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@SuperHrefna:
Did you ever read, or see the movie version of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon? If so, did you ever wonder why Spade’s partner, Archer, was shot and killed? The people who were making the movie couldn’t come up with a reason so they called Hammett and asked him. He thought about it for a minute and then replied that he didn’t know either.
Golden Age of detective stories my ass.
Alison
@schrodinger’s cat: I don’t have anything vintage.
fleeting expletive
Pre-Civil War fort? built to defend against whom, I wonder. Pirates?
mainmata
@NotMax: Yes, I really like this show but I agree it most reminds me of “Twin Peaks” without the dwarf.
ulee
Alison is just looking for attention. She is a creepy individual.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@mainmata:
It most reminds me of the Quay Brothers’ 1984 release of “The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer” with overtones of Jean-Luc Goddard’s 1965 film, “Alphaville.”
Sure it does.
gogol's wife
@Suffern ACE:
I made it through 5 and a half hours. But now she’s a teenager, so I’m going to bed.
As for McConaghey, I don’t have HBO, but I will say that I could tell Colin Firth was a great actor from Pride and Prejudice, and I could tell McC was a good (not great) actor from his romcoms.
Yatsuno
@ulee: Is it Hug-A-Troll Sunday again?
Gin & Tonic
@SuperHrefna: Writers have lost the discipline necessary to keep track of all the threads of a mystery and weave them together in the end the way they used to
Like they did in The Big Sleep?
As HBM says, Golden Age my ass.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@fleeting expletive:
Could be an abandoned sugar mill.
moonbat
@Hawes: Agreed. I had some wild theories too, but I liked the ending, since I was fairly sure going in that Cohle was going to snuff it.
They just need to give McConaughey the Emmy now. Game over.
And as a devotee of Twin Peaks, I don’t get the comparisons with True Detective. Okay, so they both mention philosophy — they have entirely different vibes.
ulee
@Yatsuno: no, it’s exact a score sunday.
lamh36
ICYMI, President Obama’s introduction to the premier of Cosmos tonight. My local Fox station cut into the clip so I found the complete version.
COSMOS: Presidential introduction
Violet
@Alison:
EBay has a “sell it for me” option. There’s a FAQ that explains how it works.
A friend of mine used Craigslist to sell her elderly aunt’s stuff. They didn’t have any problem with the people they dealt with. I think it depends on what you’re selling. If you’ve got phones and tablets you might have a bigger problem than if you have old purses and shoes.
ulee
@Yatsuno: Many months ago I talked about how I was suicdal. Alison said my talking about it was creepy. Fuck her.
Violet
@ulee: I hope you’re doing better now.
Mike in NC
Just caught a TV news report where George Zimmermann is still popping up at gun shows to sign autographs. How did he not have a major presence at CPAC last week?
Violet
@Mike in NC: Maybe he needs a year to develop the necessary gravitas. Did Joe the Plumber make an appearance?
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Mike in NC:
Because being a trigger happy racist is insufficiently batshit for CPAC?
SuperHrefna
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: I never rated Hammet much, and I don’t think he was playing the game the way the big leagues were – Christie, Marsh, Sayers, Tey, Crispin, etc. Those books are games, they follow very distinct rules and ends just weren’t left lying around.
hoosierspud
I agree; just give McConaughhey the Emmy now. He can’t be beaten. One thing no one has mentioned is how well that the series used Louisiana as a backdrop for the action. The photography and the music created such a unique setting and little touches like the twig pyramids, antlers, and spiral patterns added lots of creepiness without using cheap scare tactics.
ulee
@Violet: Much better, Violet. I’m not shaking and I can do my job.
Anton Sirius
@gogol’s wife:
What??? And skip the Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, my favorite unheralded Cary Grant movie?
master c
Liked it. I was sure they would both die, if not Rust for sure. Might have been less kitchy if they had. Still it was scary, and that the big deal for me.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@SuperHrefna:
A book wherein the goal is to tie up all of the loose ends completely lacks verisimilitude for me.
Violet
@ulee: Glad to hear it. Sounds like a vast improvement. Wishing you the best.
Anton Sirius
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Because Brigid promised him a little more than she was prepared to deliver, when push came to shove.
Gin & Tonic
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Funny, but I just read more or less the same thing about The Big Sleep.
Could you be confusing the two?
SuperHrefna
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Verisimilitude was not the point of Golden Age mysteries. I’m serious when I said they were games with strict rules. They even had a club and wrote the rules down and everything. They are logical puzzles, which I think is why I love them so much. ( I’ve literally read thousands of the things).
Tyro
Here is my take on the problem with True Detective, now that this season is over: the way they ended it made so much of what was presented was unnecessary. They could have erased the whole thing about Marty’s inlaws, his daughters’ trials and tribulations from childhood to teendom, the church, etc., and it hardly would have made a difference. Heck, you didn’t even need to involve Tuttle, whose only purpose was to supply the video tape that the plots of the last 2 episodes turned on.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Anton Sirius:
Brigid lived by wrapping men around her little finger. Spade alluded to the fact that Archer was a skirt chaser with a serious weakness for a pretty face in Chapter One of the book. Brigid could have had Archer dancing like a marionette without promising more than she was willing to give him.
MikeJ
A song for Neil deGrasse Tyson.
SuperHrefna
@Tyro: @Tyro: Yes that was a serious disappointment. So many lyrical MacGuffins going nowhere.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Gin & Tonic:
Very possible. I have a volume of the collected letters of Raymond Chandler so I may indeed have confused the two. OTOH, I do seem to remember doing some research (Pre-Google) and finding a similar anecdote about the filming of The Maltese Falcon when I realized that neither the book nor the movie explained why Archer had to die. Although I haven’t read the book or seen the movie in some time I believe that Spade never directly asked Brigid, or any of the other characters, why it was necessary to kill his partner.
hamletta
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Wrong movie. It was Chandler and The Big Sleep. They didn’t know who was in that sedan they pulled out of the drink, never mind why.
Mike in NC
@Tyro: Yes, so much bullshit filler that added nothing to the show.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@hamletta:
I believe that you may have that one wrong. They identified the driver as the Sternwood’s chauffeur because the car was the Sternwood’s (In the movie a gorgeous Packard) limo. The limo’s registration was in a holder wrapped around the steering column, a practice that lasted in until the early Sixties. .
Hawes
@Tyro: There’s a reference to that in the hospital. Cohle says, “We didn’t get them all.” And Hart replies, “You don’t in this world, we got our guy. That’s enough.”
I wonder if the basic theme of the series will be that – I thought rather moving – exchange between Cohle and Hart over the conflict between light and dark and the toll it takes on those who would stare into the dark in order to fight it.
So the Macguffins were more the shit every frustrated Comp Lit major read into it, rather than anything the storytellers were doing.
hilts
CPAC is just a supersized steaming pile of CCRAP
gnomedad
True Detective Finale Crashes HBO GO
hamletta
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Whatever. TBS is not one for mystery fans, like its homage, the great Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
It’s the journey, not the destination, man.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@hamletta:
Agreed. The dialog in the movie was some of the best ever written in a screenplay.
Citizen_X
@Hawes:
Yup. What more do you need?
Kay (not the front-pager)
@Tyro: Well, sure. You could do the whole thing in a 1/2 hr format with room for commercials, just give the story outlines. But sometimes it’s not all about the ends. The journey is as important.
Not much fun in bed either, huh?
Tyro
@Hawes: I wonder if the basic theme of the series will be that – I thought rather moving – exchange between Cohle and Hart over the conflict between light and dark and the toll it takes on those who would stare into the dark in order to fight it.
“While trying to solve a murder, they discovered the most important clue of all– hope.”
There were too many Chekov’s guns that never got fired. Instead, there were just a lot of symbolic elements strewn throughout the episodes for aesthetic/thematic effect.
If Pizzolatto really wanted to play up the McGuffin aspect of the murders, he should have just had Papania and Gilbough tell Marty in the hospital, “it was a pretty convoluted situation; we’ll explain it to you once you get out of the hospital,” and leave it hanging.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Tyro:
Tuttle’s involvement, at some level, with the cult, coupled with the fact that the newscaster mentioned in the final episode the Tuttle was now a Senator demonstrated to me the extensive nature of the obstacles facing the detectives as well as making Cohle’s statement that “We didn’t get them all,” much more powerful and disturbing. For me, every element in the show, from the music, to the dialog, to the set decoration, to the cinematography, to the minor characters, made essential contributions to the whole.
Marc
@Hawes: For more on that exchange about the light and the dark, check out this Alan Moore comic from 2000 and read the last three pages.
I believe a post here a couple weeks ago mentioned that the series creator is a big fan of Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. I will concede that the dialogue sounds much better coming out of Matthew McConaughey and not a giant talking horse.
cckids
@Alison: Depending on what it is, I’ve had decent luck with Amazon. Not just books, but games, clothing, some household stuff.
Ed in NJ
@thruppence: The Returned was great but the finale left even more unanswered questions than True Detective. And Resurrection is not the US remake. It just has the same premise. The US version is called They Came Back, which like the French series is based on the book and movie by that name.It will be on A&E with Carlton Cuse as showrunner.
cckids
@Alison: I’ve used Ebay quite a lot to unload stuff & had really good luck; fewer than 10 bad transactions out of over 1400. So not bad.
AdamK
Serial killers always have access to large, creepy abandoned buildings where they make stick things straight out of the Blair Witch woods, mummify their victims and collect dolls. But they can’t manage even the most basic housework.
piratedan
spent the time watching the new Cosmos and then caught Resurrection…. I’ll wait for the next iteration of True Detective when they take on New Jersey politics… :-)
Higgs Boson's Mate
@AdamK:
Because I’d be all over a show that was about some pizza delivery guy who lived with room mates and murdered low-priced hookers on his day off.
Keith P
I loved the show and really appreciated the feel-good ending, but there is some disappointment in that they didn’t go much into the relationship between Errol and his “flock”. How did he convince the guy in prison to kill himself? Ditto for Billy Lee. And this obvious nutjob had a bunch of followers? Where were they? And what was the spaghetti face about?
CaseyL
I adore Tyson, and would have loved “Cosmos,” but the commercials drove me nuts. Seemed like 5 minutes of program followed by 5 minutes of commercials. Seriously, seriously pissed me off – enough that I’m not even sure I want to watch the rest of the series.
What a difference from the first Cosmos, which aired on PBS with no commercials at all.
Alison
@ulee: Um, wtf?
Alison
@ulee: Um, wtf?
Alison
@ulee: Um, okay.
Uncle Ebeneezer
Agreed that this was probably the worst episode of the season. Mostly because of the feel-good Rust-questions-his-atheism vibe at the end (highlighted by him obviously being a Christ-figure as Marty dragged him out of the hospital.) If they had both died before the police arrived it woulda been cooler.
Alison
@ulee: Way to misrepresent the hell out of something, not to mention bringing it up out of nowhere just to be rude. What the hell, dude.
Alison
Also too, FYWP, multiple comments, bleh.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Mnemosyne:
No, thank you. I’ve taken enough tests.
Mnemosyne
So FYWP hates “True Detective” theories so much it won’t let me post mine?
Mnemosyne
I’ll try to be oblique: “A Study in Scarlet” is the archetype the writer was using for “True Detective.”
Zeecube
@SuperHrefna: @SuperHrefna:
The ruins are an old fort, named Ft. Pike I believe, near New Orleans, which along with Ft. McComb across the other way, protected the entrance to Lake Pontchartrain. Use to use it as a hang out in the 70s… Looks the same. I used it once as a backdrop for a school film project.
Ft McComb is restored, closed for a while after the hurricane, but I think its re-opened.
Steeplejack
@Renie:
That’s what I guessed. I have seen similar ones along the Mississippi-Alabama coast.
YellowJournalism
@Alison: One word: Projection.
@gogol’s wife: I’m kicking myself for missing the Shirley Temple-a-thon. Didn’t know it was tonight. The only reason I remembered the True Detective finale was because my PVR was set.
I liked the ending, but I could practically hear the moaning and groaning as the actors spoke their last lines of dialogue because it had a slightly (very slightly) positive message with a hint of the supernatural and/or spiritual. I don’t think all the exploration of Marty’s daughters and the in-laws was for nothing, either, because it told us a lot about who he was and who his wife was. It examined the ugliness of how women an children are treated as either expendable or as property in this world. I don’t remember if it was here or elsewhere, but I remember liking something I read about how it all set up how easily someone could slip into the same darkness other killers and criminals slip into.
I hate finale nights because it brings out the whiners. But I still see red when someone mentions the lumberjack Dexter ending, so I’m a big ol’ hypocrite on that issue!
Mnemosyne
@YellowJournalism:
I liked that Rust’s entire worldview was shaken because there might actually be an afterlife. I think it was a little bit of a poke in the eye to the people who screeched about the “Lost” finale.
But, then, I didn’t mind the “Lost” finale, or the ending of “The Sopranos,” so obviously I’m a television philistine. ;-)
Zeecube
Sorry, got my forts mixed up. he ruins are Ft. McComb. seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Macomb
It’s a cool place.
Hawes
@Mnemosyne: Hell, I liked the finale of Seinfeld.
The other theme of TD was the cost is exacted from the men who have to battle the darkness. The damage that was done to them (the drinking, the philandering, the existential oblivion) was only made worse by the hopelessness of that fight.
As for all the Yellow King crap, isn’t that just the ravings of insanity? I mean insanity isn’t stupidity. So one of the Tuttles read Lovecraft. And created a cult around that imagery.
Cervantes
@fleeting expletive:
Well, you could say the British inspired its construction. After the Battle of New Orleans (the War of 1812), President Monroe was convinced that better coastal defenses were needed to protect Lake Pontchartrain and New Orleans from invasion. Fort Macomb is one of two fortifications (Fort Pike is the other) constructed to watch over that eastern water approach.
Cervantes
@ulee:
What did that mean, and are you feeling different these days?
Cervantes
@CaseyL:
As you know, Carl Sagan and his wife Ann helped create the original. Various versions of it are available on DVD. Carl is gone now (as you know also) but Ann helped with this new series. I have not watched it.
WaterGirl
@Cervantes: I’m not sure I’ve ever seen ulee here in the daytime. So I’ll just chime to say that ulee struggled quite a bit months and months ago. Many people were concerned and engaged with him at the time, but IIRC at least one person said he was an internet fake who was just doing it for the attention. Maybe that was Alison, I don’t know.
But ulee has been here a few times in the past couple of months and he is no longer talking about suicide, and he has a job, and while I don’t know that his life is a barrel of apples just yet, he says he is doing much better.
Cervantes
@WaterGirl: That is all good to hear. Thank you.
Like many miracles, life is fragile.
Rob Eberhardt
A really good review of the series here