Watching Olive Kitteridge starring the magnificent Frances McDormand (most famous for her Oscar winning performance in Fargo but don’t forget her in Almost Famous) and the even more lovely Richard Jenkins (unfortunately totally overlooked for what should have been an Oscar winning performance in The Visitor – Netflix it today!) is a testament to television to bring back the mini-series, but further proves that network television will never go that route. Continue reading “Olive Kitteridge – Pulitzer Prize to HBO”
Tag: hbo
Lena Dunham Doesn’t Deserve a Book Deal
Publishing world please! Show some respect. Not only have you been trolling the Internet for somewhat successful self-published authors so you may pick them up thinking you don’t have to spend a dime in publicity (never mind that those books are mostly crap, riddled with typos, and require no more than 60 IQ points to comprehend), but now you think a young lady, the daughter of very well to do parents, who couldn’t even vote before 2004 is deserving of a 3.7 million dollar book deal so she can write some utter dreck on what she’s learned about life so far? Please! As if she could possibly talk about anything that a young woman in the real world has had to deal with. Perhaps if she sticks to sexually frustrated, weight conscious, can’t bear to be alone (yes, I’m describing her terrible show GIRLS on HBO) women she’s got a chance. But for the publishing world to compare her to Tina Fey? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Let’s get this perfectly clear – Lena Dunham is NOT Tina Fey. She will never be Tina Fey. And as hard as she tries she to depict herself as someone who has come up the ranks as other very talented, funny women have she will never be in that category.
Random House and the other big houses – stop being lazy. Go through your massive slush piles and find other authors that are much more talented, and deserving of being published.
End of rant.
Game of Thrones Sticks To Its Book Roots
Now that the series Game of Thrones on HBO is at episode 7, the viewer gets a really good picture of how fantastic this new original program is. Based on the best-selling books by George R. R. Martin, HBO once again produces television that brings forth a whole new world. Even if you’re not really into sci-fi/fantasy work, the political intrigue, sexual escapades, and created languages make it totally worth tuning in. Not to mention, the fantastic brooding ability of actor Sean Bean (Return of the King Fellowship of the Ring) and the marvelous debauchery of Mark Addy (The Full Monty, Still Standing). But it’s the performance of Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent) that really stands out. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it doesn’t earn him an Emmy nomination.
Adapted for the screen by producer/writers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the show is reminiscent of the richly refined series Rome that ended in 2007 in its superb art direction and costuming. But the show stays true to its book roots – a very hard task taking into account the author’s enormously descriptive language and the very complicated world full of medieval intrigues and mythical creatures. But the expert storytelling navigates easily amongst all the characters and clearly introduces and carries all plot points. Genius.
Adaptations are difficult. This is a good one.