officetemp

I was relieved that Fuji had a kinder fate in this series compared to the character's fate in the novel. I seem to remember that that character spent the entire novel wanting to commit seppuku after the death of her spouse and infant child, but Toranaga wouldn't consent until he had achieved his aim (of preventing Blackthorne's departure from Japan), after which he gave her his permission and she killed herself "off-camera," so to speak. I've been kind of wondering how old Fuji was supposed to have been? As with other feudal/medieval societies, women were married off early, sometimes almost as soon as they experienced puberty. I assume that the child who was killed had been her first. So maybe she was in her teens? But, having grown up in a Noble house, she would have been trained since infancy in what was expected of a wife and/or consort of a samurai lord. Becoming a nun would give her some measure of peace for the remainder of her life. I thought Blackthorne showed a lot of thoughfulness and great kindness in helping her scatter her loved-ones' ashes while he also commended Mariko's cross to the seas. Enjoyed the series immensely.

Why is the Agent Torres character still on this show? I thought Wilmer Valderrrama was going off to be Zorro? Still liking Gary Cole a lot and happy to see the better interaction between Parker and Teri Polo's Vivian. I guess she's now on the "recurring character" roster. Also like that Knight doesn't take any crap from Torres despite still being no-drama, matter-of-fact, and easy to get along with, while at the same time being a fiercely accomplished agent. I have to admit that I didn't pay as close attention to this episode and the connecting NCIS Hawai'i continuation episode as I should have, but it seemed to me as if McGee didn't have much screen time last night. Did notice that Mark Harmon is still executive-producing despite not appearing (finally!) in the cast credits in the beginning. When the agents went to see Maxwell in prison, I told my husband that the character was either going to end up with a bullet through his forehead while they were transferring him, or that he, in fact, was the big bad mastermind of the whole "Raven" thing.

Thanks! Yeah, makes sense. Wasn't paying enough attention to the NCIS HI episode. And, yes, those photos were pretty clumsily photoshopped. One would think whoever did them would have been more skilled.

Since Parker showed up as the bad guy's "driver" at the very end of the "crossover" episode with NCIS Hawai'i, I'll be very disappointed if he shows up at work next episode without a few dozen malasadas from Leonard's Bakery. (Not sure, though, if Parker was supposed to be in Hawai'i or still back in DC? Anyone know definitively? Whatever . . . Knight can bring some malasadas back as a surprise for Parker, if he wasn't in Hawai'i.)

I think Sawyer was one of the agents that filled in for the regular team when the team were all on suspension after lying about Gibbs' assault on that guy that was running the dog-fighting ring and killing the dogs for whom he had no further use. Couldn't stand Torres this episode. One of the reasons was that I really couldn't accept that he'd been pining that much for Bishop ever since she left. It really didn't seem that that potential relationship had gotten to the point where either one of them would have considered it a serious thing. Torres just kind of reminded me of a sulky and resentful adolescent, actually. If/when Torres does leave, I wouldn't mind another female agent being brought on board, instead of Sawyer, if only just to even the numbers on the team. After all this time, it kind of seems as if the female agent is just a token. Continuing to enjoy Parker. Seems quite creative in his approach to solving the case/catching the bad guy(s)/saving the day, in that he knows what he wants the outcome to be and just kind changes methods according to the obstacles he encounters on the way.

The "Kasie considers arming herself" story line had me concerned that the show was setting her character up to shoot/kill someone in a future episode. Don't especially feel that it would be good for that character psychologically and don't especially feel that a plot point of that nature is necessary to the show in general. Glad she decided just to target shoot on occasion when she needs to vent. I've always liked Gary Cole so I'm enjoying his Parker character. Don't miss Gibbs at all, to tell the truth. I also like Knight. Yeah, I know the series is supposed to be a DRAMA, but it's kind of nice to have characters that are not especially over-the-top and/or "quirky." It also helps that both characters are portrayed as being good at what they do, despite being low-key.

It looked to me as if Dad went down to the front desk and asked the night clerk if he could have some "aluminium" foil [as the Brits pronounce the word]. Then it looked as if he carried a Costco-sized box of the super-heavy duty stuff back up to his room and unrolled lengths of it on top of his bed. Wasn't it stated--can't remember by who--at some point during the episode that he had been reanimated from the dead and whatever did the reanimating had to go through his eye to do it? I would imagine that waking up suddenly and being told that one had died but had been brought back to life (after being dead for more than just a few minutes) would cause most people to freak out. I have to admit that I haven't been watching this show consistently. Watched the first three or so episodes then watched some episodes without my full attention and skipped some episodes altogether, mostly because I got impatient with how silly/stupid/nonsensical a lot of the writing was, with the severe lack of rational explanations for why things were they way they were. Will have to read synopses of the missed episodes and start watching again, plus watching all the ones I missed once the series goes into repeats.

If there is a Season 2, I hope they show Season 1 again before the start of the new season. I started watching the series and ended up missing several episodes. Anyway, I like the series. I like the characters, especially Ernesto. I like that all the people on the local police force seem to be badass martial artists. I like how the relationships are all evolving and I like how the locals have seemingly come to accept and care for Alex as "one of us." The writing for the Evelyn character seemed to be a little heavy-handed to start with; I liked that everything wasn't all unrealistically "sunshine-and-roses" at the end. I did wonder whether she was really in the Peace Corps after Alex asked why she needed to know martial arts in the Peace Corps. Maybe she's in US Military Special Ops? I thought it was great when Alex described Kai as "one of my best friends" while his ex-partner was holding him at gunpoint.

I'm sure Smithfield Foods was pleased. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the teams show up with sponsors' logos on their face masks this weekend at Charlotte. (It looked like some of the pit crews had patches on their masks, but the patches were too small to see what they represented.) Yeah, Denny Hamlin's mask was so weird! It made him look as if he were a computer simulation or something. I was so disappointed with how Darlington II (on Wednesday) finished. I was all "Yeah, yeah! C'mon Chase! Do it!" then Kyle Busch takes Elliott out. Small wonder Chase gave Busch the one-fingered salute. I think Jeff Gordon was right about the race being entertaining, though. Really impressed how well the drivers are doing given that they haven't had a chance to train or test since the lockdown went into effect. I was interested in seeing also how the pit crews would perform, since--I presume--they haven't been practicing all this time either. Wanted to see how long the pit stops would take, can't recall seeing any timers on screen during the pit stops, though. The Cola-Cola 600 should be interesting, anyway.

Watching the pre-race coverage for tonight's Darlington Race. My husband just remarked that none of the face masks that the drivers/crews are wearing have sponsors' advertising on them. Strange that NASCAR would have missed an opportunity to get more money in that way. It would be perfect for the drivers to have sponsorship stuff on their face masks.

I don't really keep up with what's on TV anymore, but just happened to catch an ad for this special yesterday morning. Watched the two re-creations; didn't watch the discussion after. Overall, thought it was interesting, especially from the perspective of how much things have changed vs how much things haven't changed in our world since the two original series were on the air. Thought the actors were actually pretty brave to take on such iconic characters on such iconic shows, especially since viewers would always be comparing what happened last night to the originals. Was it a good idea? Who knows? It's done. Good experiment. Everyone did their best, with varying degrees of success. Wanda Sikes did a good job with Weezy, though the way she played the character was much different from how Isabel Sanford played the character; I did miss Isabel Sanford's deep, deep voice. Jamie Foxx was a little twitchy; liked how he acknowledged his mess-up--"it's live television!"--openly, while the rest of the cast tried to keep from cracking up. Woody Harrelson and Marisa Tomei had almost impossible tasks, I thought. Good effort, though. Norman Lear looked ancient. And sometimes seemed as if he was losing the thread of what he was trying to say.

Glad that this show is back. I'm confused, though. I thought that Woody had sacrificed himself during the dream confrontation with Bill in last season's finale in order that Tess and the boy could escape? More later when I've had time to digest. New actress playing Sabine!

I think I may be more-or-less insane by saying this, but I'm kind of wishing that Burns and Novick & company had made an even longer film. Maybe even up to six hours longer. Both Episodes 8 and 9 felt somewhat rushed to me, in contrast to the more detailed documentation in the earlier episodes. I would have liked to have had more interviews with the Vietnamese soldiers--both South and North--and some of the South Vietnamese leadership and the Viet Cong. I know most of the people who were in power at the time (in the North and the South) are now dead, but I feel that discussing events during the "Vietnamization" process from the perspective of the Vietnamese, especially members of ARVN, would have been both informative and eye-opening. I also wish that the film makers had interviewed some of the National Guard troops and/or law enforcement personnel who were there that day at Kent State. What was going through their minds at the time? How did they deal with what they had done after it happened? What do they now think about their own actions on that day? The Wall: I've only visited it once, a few years after it was dedicated and I think prior to the installation of the accompanying sculptures (unnecessary, I thought, but installed to appease those who wanted a more traditional war memorial). I think what makes The Wall so powerfully effective is that it doesn't try to mold the visitor's opinion, as other memorials do. It's just a collection of names. But it's a collection of names of those who died and that's what makes it personal. Each individual who visits the wall knew somebody or several somebodies up there on the wall. Small wonder that it's turned into a de facto shrine, with people leaving letters, medals, photos, flowers and other offerings along the length of its base. I think I read a few years ago that the National Park Service is planning on opening a museum to house and display all those offerings that have been left at the wall since it was dedicated. The main takeaway, so far, that I've gotten from this documentary is that the failure of leadership has devastating consequences. From the presidents on down to whoever the genius was who decided it was fine to issue live ammunition to the NG and law enforcement at Kent State, there was such a massive lack of leadership, with politics determining policy. In this film, it seemed as if the persons demonstrating leadership at its finest were the geology professor at Kent State who begged everyone to disperse in order to avoid further bloodshed, the helicopter pilot who shielded and saved those villagers whom he could at My Lai, the soldiers who led some to safety in the same place, and the platoon and squad leaders out in the field who never demanded anything of the men under their command what they themselves would not be willing to honorably do. Emotionally drained, but looking forward to Episode 10.

Kurt, Jonathan and Jeff [awestruck]: "Whoa--Don's got Skills. . ." Cracked me up. Don's still pretty naive, though, even though he's got Ninja fighting skills. And now he's possessed by Eric the flying cube. There ain't no justice. So, is a kiss on the mouth from a loved one the cure-all for every ill in the People of Earth universe? Maybe Kelly can kiss Don on the mouth and that will cure him of the Eric possession. That's what I was wondering, too! I really like Agent Foster's sister. She's so serene and accepting of the circumstances of her life. And no psychological issues at all even though their Mom has basically been hiding from the Aliens ever since the twins were born. (Hoping she doesn't turn out to be some kind of psycho. . .) Still hoping that Ozzie will be resurrected. They still have his body on the ship, so it's always possible. Who'd be the one to kiss him, though? Why must we wait until 2018 to get a new season?!! Actually, I'd love it if they did a Christmas special.

With the way the war was conducted on the US side, I really wonder if the senior leadership ever bothered to talk with any one below the battalion command level. The orders coming down to the companies, platoons and squads seemed consistently contradictory; a lot of the action described seemed as if everything was done for symbolism and for show, and not for tangible goals that would have actually led to some advantages in the field. Maddening. The reveal that most of the North Vietnamese leadership sent their children out of harm's way while urging the ordinary citizenry to commit everything to the "Revolution" should not have surprised me, but it did. The contrast in the images of the Party Elite offspring comfortably passing the time in Moscow, etc., while the ordinary North Vietnamese struggled to ferry supplies down the Ho Chi Minh Trail while under constant bombardment by US forces was so stark. Also, the decadence displayed by the South Vietnamese elite class demonstrated how little regard that class had for the ordinary citizenry in the South. Add to that behavior the widespread profiteering (by so many different parties), the breakdown of societal norms, the exploitation of the most vulnerable. So ugly. And in the meantime, the ordinary South Vietnamese citizenry were the ones making the most sacrifice and doing most of the dying. That photo of LBJ and Lady Bird lying in bed watching the Democratic Convention proceedings on TV was so odd, especially since Lynda Bird and Luci Baines were in the picture, too, along with staffers and presumably Secret Service agents. (And Lynda Bird in baby-doll pajamas, no less. . . ) Where did the film makers get that picture, I wonder? Had it been taken by the official White House photographer? Nixon. Jeez. I don't know why, but I felt incredibly happy and relieved when we found out that both the Viet Cong truck driver and her fiancé survived the war and were able to reunite and get married a few years later. I guess maybe it was because it was a small bright spot in an overwhelmingly bleak story.