Entertaining Weirdness of Fargo

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Just one more episode of Fargo remains, and the show continues to be weird, entertaining and unique, despite being a series reboot of an almost iconic movie.

Billy Bob Thornton never disappoints, and his Lorne Malvo character should prove as memorable as any of his other roles, including his Karl Childers role in Sling Blade.

Colin Hanks has been fun, too, but the real surprise is newcomer Allison Tolman, playing Deputy Molly Solverson. Her Molly is expressive, likable and utterly believable.

This show isn’t for everyone, but those who are okay with more risqué network cable  content and are okay with occasional gore might enjoy this series. Oh, the viewer must also enjoy weirdness.

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By HodgePodge
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Comedy of Errors: Cantor’s Exit

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Political TV and political junkies on the Internet are saturated with the stunning news of Eric Cantor’s loss of his congressional seat in his primary election. This was the first time since 1899 that a sitting House Majority Leader has lost his seat in a primary election.

Word as of now is that there were two main issues. One, is that Eric Cantor seems to have fallen asleep at the wheel of his campaign. Pundits are speculating that little campaigning and only a late push right before the election signal complacency.  Cantor wasn’t even in his district until late in the day when it became apparent he was in trouble.

The second factor appears to be the topic of immigration. The tea party base is so far to the right on the issue that any willingness to even discussion reform at all is taboo, as Cantor discovered. It did not appear to help that Cantor did not manage his message on the issue well at all, too busy playing a game of denying he was interested in immigration reform in any sense.

However it happened, it made for the kind of news night that makes political theater enthusiasts make popcorn.

It will remain to be seen how this shocking event affects the other far right Republicans in their primaries and general elections this year.

 

 

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By HodgePodge
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This Week in Political TV

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Monday June 9 – Sunday June 15

Mon-Fri Meet the Bergdahls
Zany comedy featuring the usual right wing suspects, and starring Fox and CNN. Loosely affiliated psuedo journalists try to piece together a POW’s history from Wikileaks and rumors, to perpetrate another bizarre smear campaign on the Democratic administration they loathe.

Sun Here Comes the Cryptkeeper
Comedy-Drama featuring a weathered, increasingly senile senator from Arizona. Sunday mornings will never be the same after John McCain leaves behind his special brand of old white man bloviating nonsense and hypocrisy. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes baffling, this Senator’s partisan rants amuse and frighten us at once, knowing he sits in a position of power in the US government.

Mon-Fri How I Skipped Your Briefing
Black comedy in which Republican members of Congress and the US Senate take turns skipping classified briefings so they can hold press conferences bemoaning the lack of information disseminated to them.

Sat The Lazy Ones
Drama that highlights graduating college students flipping burgers and making tacos on Saturday nights instead of spending time with friends, because they’re drowning in student loan debt and there are no jobs for them upon graduation. While shoving fries into cartons and getting berated by fat customers for not doing better with their lazy lives, some of their fellow grads look through the window, wishing they could get even that much work.

Mon-Fri Don’t Just Shoot Me
Comedy-Drama with a star-studded cast of NRA die hards and their victims, children and adults. As decimated bodies pile up, the NRA finds increasingly gross ways to justify the lack of regulations on weapons of death. Nonsensical shrieking about the second amendment and bizarre references to the dangers of knives and cheeseburgers are just two of the deranged gun nuts’ tactics.

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By HodgePodge
Also see my Bubblews page here:
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The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

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This melancholy young adult novel is written in the first person from the perspective of a 16 year old girl.  It is so well done that you have to remind yourself that it is, in fact, fiction and not a memoir.   Prepare for an emotional roller coaster, or perhaps more of an emotional dive. There are brief moments of joy that allow you to come up for air.  It reminds the reader, through these young characters, that we are mortal and should live the best life we can, while we can.  The theme of ‘don’t let the disease kill you before it kills you’ resonates.

The author cleverly puts the reader in the shoes (and lungs) of 16 year old Hazel Grace Lancaster.  She meets Augustus Waters, 17, at a Cancer Support Group.  They are immediately drawn to each other and find they have more in common than their disease.  They share a similar rebellious philosophy and cynical humor about life and death.

Much of their relationship revolves around Hazel’s obsession with her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, which leads them on a journey to learn more about the mysterious author Peter Van Houten.

I can’t say I enjoyed it, because I don’t enjoy feeling sad, but it did make me feel.  I did become invested in the story and the characters.

24: Live Another Day 4-5pm

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In the recently aired episode of 24: Live Another Day the Jack and his new accomplice Kate Morgan (formerly of Chuck) sped across the city.  In less than an hour, 4-5pm, they found the lair of the arms dealer they were seeking and got deliberately captured.   Kate got tortured, and just as they were about to succeed in their mission, Britain’s MI5 stormed in and ruined everything.  All this time Chloe was talking in Jack’s ear.

The most exciting part was watching the psychopathic Margot Al-Harazi send her daughter, robotic Simone, on a mission to kill her sister-in-law.  In the given hour Simone finds her victim and joins her for dinner before she kills her (she actually shed a tear).  Simone is ever obedient to Mummy dearest even after the mother showed some tough love by having her daughter’s fingers chopped off and murdering her husband in the last episode.  This is brings dysfunctional family to a whole new level.

The sister-in-law’s daughter, having witnessed her mother’s stabbing, escapes into the streets of London with Simone in pursuit.  The episode ends when Simone gets hit by a bus!