Dangling Modifiers

The dangling modifier, a persistent and frequent grammatical problem in writing, is often (though not always) located at the beginning of a sentence. A dangling modifier is usually a phrase or an elliptical clause -- a dependent clause whose subject and verb are implied rather than expressed -- that functions as an adjective but does not modify any specific word in the sentence, or (worse) modifies the wrong word. Consider the following example:

Raised in Nova Scotia, it is natural to miss the smell of the sea.

The introductory phrase in the above sentence looks as if it is meant to modify a person or persons, but no one is mentioned in the sentence. Such introductory adjective phrases, because of their position, automatically modify the first noun or pronoun that follows the phrase -- in this case, "it." The connection in this case is illogical because "it" was not raised in Nova Scotia. You could revise the sentence in a number of ways:

Raised in Nova Scotia, I often miss the smell of the sea. (the phrase functions as an adjective but now automatically modifies "I," a logical connection)

For a person raised in Nova Scotia, it is natural to miss the smell of the sea. (the phrase no longer functions as an adjective)

the phrase no longer fxns as an adj bcs it has its own subject.
ok that's what I was confusing myself about.
if the dependent clause has an (explicit) subject, that subject does not need to be the same as the the subject of the sentence.
useful to note that dependent clauses can have a subject "For a person raised in Nova Scotia" or not "Raised in Nova Scotia", and the latter is a subcategory of dependent clauses called elliptical clauses. good name.
some but not all dependent clauses are elliptical clauses. gotcha.
so rg's "While it was difficult, I found the challenge motivating." is fine. it =neednt= I.

by-rg:
i hate myselfstop thati dono you dontright now i dowell that doesn't help anyone. let it go.

Tom Waits (1988): "What we tried to avoid is having a concert film that felt like a stuffed bird. I tried to film it like a Mexican cockfight instead of air-conditioned concert footage. Some of it felt like it was shot through a safari rifle. You forget about the camera, which is what I was trying to do. But when you see yourself in concert, it rarely looks like the way you feel when you're up there. I thought I was much taller. I thought I looked like Robert Wagner ... if we had more money, we would have done the Rangoon gladiator sequences. And the shot of the audience holding up their matches and all that. We could have gotten the underwater ballet sequences, but it really would have been a different film, I think ... Now that it's completed, I would not have had my underwear coming out of the back of my pants like I did, but there's always something you want to change after it's over."⁽⁵⁾

Tom Waits (1988): "The idea was, you put the film out there, the film can go on the road, and I can stay home. That was the idea, but then I end up having to go out and do interviews. [Big Time is] getting mixed reviews. I guess that's what they call it - mixed reviews. One reviewer said, 'Piano teachers will be shocked,' which is one of my favourite reviews. Another guy said it looked like it was filmed in the stomach of a very sick animal. Now those were the good reviews. I recommend it."⁽⁶⁾

Tom Waits (1989): "We tried to give it a little bit of that infrared Mondo Cane feel so that ...

keeslau.com/TomWaitsSupplement/...bigtime-frameset
Big Time is one of the sidebar list items
under performer-interviewee
keeslau.com/TomWaitsSupplement/index
under filmography

keeslau.com is site of an architechtural firm in the netherlands?
Architektenburo ir. Kees Lau BNA
Pieterskerkhof 24
2311 ST Leiden

I don't quickly see how to get from their frontpage to the Waits supplement, I mean I don't see how it is related... anyway remember and look around this site. and maybe see if "Big Time" is available to purchase?

Well I broke down in E. St. Louis
On the Kansas City line
and I drunk up all my money
that I borrowed every time

and I fell down at the derby
and now the night's black as a crow
It was a train that took me away from here
but a train can't bring me home

What made my dreams so hollow
was standing at the depot

with a steeple full of swallows
that could never ring the bell

and I come ten thousand miles away
with not one thing to show
well it was a train that took me away from here
but a train can't bring me home

I remember when I left without bothering to pack
you know I up and left with just the clothes I had on my back
now I'm sorry for what I've done
and I'm out here on my own
well it was a train that took me away from
here but a train can't bring me home

All right. Actually I get asked... Well... look, I think the question I get asked the most is... I mean, it happens a lot. Enough that I would remark on it. A lot of people come up to me and they say, Tom, is it possible for a woman to get pregnant without intercourse? And my answer is always the same. I say, Well, listen. Were gonna have to go all the way back to the Civil War. Apparently, a stray bullet actually pierced the testicle of a Union soldier, and then lodged itself in the ovaries of an eighteen year old girl, who was actually a hundred feet from him at the time. Well, the baby was fine. She was very happy, guilt free and... Of course, the soldier was a little pissed off. When you think about it, its actually a FORM of intercourse, but... not for everyone. Those who love action maybe.

a little late, I am only now falling for Tom Waits.
just saw on the Daily Show. I like listening to him talk (as with tracy chapman, it's almost more special than hearing the singing. almost.). he said that in Iraq you can't have a guitar in a store window, it's too sexy. he has aone that's a 2x4 so thought maybe could take that there and do something. Jon said, maybe that's all we need to solve things over there. a 2 by 4, tom waits
"it's probably something that simple." says Waits.

and he sang, beautiful.

I've always liked on my tape the Train Song, and the intro he gives before it, "I'd say the question I get asked the most- well, I get asked a lot- enough that I remark on it - is 'Tom, is it possible for a woman to get pregnant without intercourse?' and I say, now- we're going to have to go all the way back to the civil war for this. - A stray bullet pierced the testicle of a Union soldier and then lodged itself in the ovaries of a woman, who was actually twenty feet from him at the time. - Well the baby was fine, she was guilt free - The soldier's a little pissed off though. It's actually a form of intercourse, if you think about it. But not for everyone. those who like action maybe.
...well I was drunk outside the depo ... that I'd swallow for a day
must have been a train - took me away from you
but a train
can't bring me
can't bring me
home."

well Nip/Tuck is winning me on all counts, leaving Boston Legal to commercial breaks, easy. but Alan Shore still has it. walks in "what's going on?" we think lincoln has shirley but the police have no way to get a warrant. "well. Lincoln told me in a phone call that he has her. I'll sign an affidavit, the police will get a warrant." everyone looks at him. "I'll go have that phone call now. you'll have my signed affidavit in a minute."


oh. back on Nip/Tuck: you're not a beggar. you're not an asshole.

the best is Christian with baby boy Wilbur, greeting him and being called daddy and telling him he loves him so much. oh.

oh no. this is the saddest I've been at this show. sean packs suits into a box, puts a ribbon on it, puts it under the tree and writes the name "reefer" on it. but he's not coming. I hate when hurt is done to the hopeless, someone all alone. I can't forgive it.

Wilson: "Beckett was going to call his play Waiting for House's Aprroval but decided it was too grim."

wow and then Wilson went to Tritter so that Chase couldn't? so he can say to House "no, I did". protecting Chase from what?

earlier House to the judge (he said they're who killed Copernicus. she said Galileo, and they didn't kill him they just put him under house arrest) "and nobody likes a show off." his is a personality that pleases me. like F Scott's "I will be a correct animal" but no more. no more of the renaissance man, the pleasant man (in the Crack-up). like Lorrie Moore's narrator in WhoWillRunthe: I said what I thought to everyone. it was like I had been in hit on the head.

"web 2.0 is people" ggl search...
Why Web 2.0 will
Search for 'cat', and Flickr will record the most popular photo clicked. By associating the colour and picture data within photos with keywords used to search, Yahoo is slowly building a database of human identification. It has often said that the differentiator between Yahoo and Google, going forward, is that Yahoo wants the web processed by humans and Google wants it done by robots. Google uses algorithms to generate anything to do with its business. Yahoo, with its acquisition of Flickr and Delicious and whatever else is on the horizon, wants people - and social networks - to define how it does business.

Volvo's website -watch the commercials yay

I love the little girl's story: "and it has legs .. but it's head is so tiny.. "

"WHO WOULD YOU" VOLVO "LITTLE GIRL" ggl search

-What a cute commercial, this one is. Cute little girl, sweet and handsome father, with a comfortable smile on his face. He is feeling good about his daughter being protected by his choice of vehicles. Good work Volvo! Convincing soft commercial. It makes a person "feel" good.

« Meet Rosie, scourge of the new advertising [--This Blog Sits at the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics -- I remember landing on this site early ago, maybe post re drive thru drinks?]
Now to the good news: a Volvo ad called "Rosie" that features a little girl chattering away as her Dad buckles her into the back seat of the family car.
This is advertising as we used to make it. Someone sat down and thought about the value proposition of any car from a father's point of view (something like "safe passage"), the standard feature of the Volvo value proposition ("really safe passage"), and then looked for a way to propose this proposition in a manner that is interesting and powerful.
Sweet Jerusalem, they hit this one so far out of the park, it's still traveling. Rosie, a little girl of about 5, is talking, talking, and talking (as above, complete with visual aid). We can't tell what she is saying. She could be reporting a story, she could be making one up. Dad hesitates to close the door for fear of interrupting yes , but it's clear to us (and to him) that there is no interrupting this great spill of detail, enthusiasm and fluting talk. aw yes- enthusiasm. and fluting.
One of the things I love about the ad is that "Dad" is played with restraint. yes yes me too. It would have been easy to have him "mug" his reaction or signal how achingly sweet this moment is. yep exactly, I love that he is not sentimental adoring. he is going about the business of getting her in the car and on way. But, no, that would have been patronizing. Rosie is plenty because Rosie is everything. We know exactly what is going on here. No additional indexing, no additional "viewing instructions" are necessary. What we get from Dad, at the end of the spot, is the littlest smile as he drives away. Rosie, of course, is still talking.
Rosie is safety made vivid, actual, human and urgent. It is when we see a little girl telling a story from her Dad's point of view that see how much safety matters.
There are several ways to express the value augmentation, the meaning manufacture, taking place here. Here's one: Rosie's story > (augments)> Rosie's charm > Rosie's vulnerability > Dad's responsibility and solicitude > Volvo's safety. ok not bad. Actually, we could parse it a couple of ways. And this too is the measure of a great ad. It has a kind of semiotic redundancy built into it. We can see it several ways but we always up back in the same place.
...If advertising (and marketing and anthropology) learned anything in the 1990s... Find the value propositions and tell its story with all the creative power and cultural knowledge the agency has at its disposal.

Volvo Campaign Misleading? Seems More Like User Error To Me. I agree.
My two cents on the campaign: It is brilliant. It enages consumers and gives them pause. It elevates the brand to more than a four-wheeled gasoline-powered piece of machinery, and says to consumers: we know we build cars for humans--for people like you. This is a wonderful evolution of the "safety" brand campaign of decades past. I agree.

maybe I like this campaign bcs reminds me of how my dad wanted me to get a volvo, so I'd be in a big safe car that would win in a crash

Adweek: Volvo Defends Purported Giveaway ...
"...I did want to let you know how much I enjoy your commercials, especially the one with the little girl telling the story and the one with the dad teaching his daughter how to drive," said one. "No matter what I'm doing at home, I always stop to watch them. They are really great. I don't know much about advertising, but I do know that I rarely remember ads or even bother to watch them. I do watch yours. Thanks for a commercial that brings back good memories and focuses on what really matters."

The Closer: Fatal Retraction -TV.com just saw on TNT Marathon, of 1st season it seems. this one was very good, bcs the bad guy Croelick was so compelling to watch. he sounds much like... Kevin Spacey, yep. but rather different face, more of a looker ~

The Closer - TWoP Forums p33
-mrsdalgleish(whose cmmts & recaps recently re Kidnapped I've liked)-Fantastic episode. Saw the shrink-as-perp coming a mile away (as did we all, I'm sure) I did see the shrink as a bad guy, he was what's the word? creepy, squeamish, sortofsexuallyicky I think there's a word I can't think of, but the actual psycho was so twisted I'm watching the replay at 11 just to catch all the clues he was throwing. And Provenza-cam as he avoided the ruckus and arrived in time to cuff the shrink. And Flynn! I really did not see that resolution of conflict coming before tonight. Love it. "I'm requesting a permanent transfer to her department." LOVE IT.
-Provenza continues to grow on me, it was great how the camera stayed with him ah "Provenza-cam" when the shrink tried to run, as he leaned back and then casually strolled over to the guy to cuff him. ..And this has to be one of my favorite lines, my mouth fell open at the end of the show when the woman burner confronted Brenda in the parking garage: Bill - "Do you smoke after sex?" "it's an old joke. you know it? do you smoke after sex?" Brenda - "I don't know. I never looked."
--Brenda has such a unique confidence, especially when she is dealing with the most clever, dangerous criminals. Remember Dennis, the arrogant rich guy from a couple episodes back? He was smitten with her, and she, in turn, indicated they might meet again - when she pursues his past murder of an old girlfriend. Now we've got a truly sadistic psycho with a testosterone rush for her. When Brenda donned the cheapslut outfit for that first interrogation, I was scared that she'd underestimated her opponent. KS was great at letting us see Brenda's realization that she might be over her head... but she maintained control even when he hurled one of the chairs onto the table.
-Speaking of looks, what about Brenda when the DA was describing the Psycho’s type (after Captain Wuss told her that SHE was the Psycho’s type) as blond and pretty in a common sort of way. Her face just fell. Then Flynn chimed in that the Psycho went for trashy types. Loved her expressions. KS is the best.
-I loved that whole bit. A lovely subtle shift of acting by KG, and nice working in of the humor by the writers again. This show really does a nice balance between the dramatic and the comic moments. ...I think her unique confidence and can-do spirit is what I find most appealing about her. She's easy to underestimate by outsiders; but she's actually extremely competent and tough, without being bitchy or invulnerable.
-The woman-burner was enough to keep me creeped out. He had a bit of the Ted Bundy charm, a good-looking sociopath that kept popping up everywhere.
- . . . the psycho we love to hate: handsome, smart, scary. Did you notice all his double meanings delivered with complete nonchalance and straight face? "You're fiery, and a little too bossy" was so smoothly delivered that I almost missed it. he has set victims on fire.

---------
earlier twop cmmts about the show p31-2:
-I'm glad the boys have accepted Brenda. And Provenza cracks me up. Bang, bang, bang!
-mrsd- It seems to me that every time Fritz says, "Will?" looking all suave and debonair and the-one-whom-Brenda-is with, the chief's weenie shrinks. Kudos to JKS for playing it like that, too.
-I think Brenda is very assertive and authoritative. Why should the burden be on her to prove herself to every new asshole she meets? Her title and position of authority should be good enough. She puts these assholes in their place very nicely without turning into a raving lunatic. Is it judo where you are supposed to use the opponent's weight as leverage in self-defense? Well, Brenda is praticing judo. yeah that's apt. I wish I could be more like her.
-I get a kick out of her accent changes. I know her deep southern accent annoys some people here, but I love the way she uses it to get people to trust her or underestimate her intelligence. I’m from Virginia and have been known to alter my accent when needed. Sometimes a sweet southern drawl gets better results than a more clipped mid Atlantic one.
..p34-mrsd-When she's focused on the task, her people skills (those that she demostrates in interrogations) disintegrate. Then she does this reflexively "southern" politeness and apologizes for interrupting, not because she's really sorry, but because it's habit from her upbringing, and/or effective.I like the fact that her crew just jumps up and gets to work now when she does that. Gabriel doesn't try to manage her, no one complains about her being too picky or detail oriented. They're converts to The Church Of Closing More Cases.
-Note to TNT: More Pope, please! Thank yew. Thank yew very much.
yeah the actor JS is good, just like people said
-------------
haha just heard on the following episode: "Cpt Taylor, I suppose I shld apologize to you for not being born in Los Angeles. However, having observed your work for several months now, I can think of no fair and reasonable system in which I wouldn't outrank you."
and then the closing scene where Brenda throws away each sheet of paper representing the resignation of every member of her team is she is fired or transferred. and she does this saying each name and asking them to do something (I guess to file the finished case). and then says she hears they sometimes gather at omalleys after a successful case and "under the circumstances" she'd like to buy them drinks. "If - you're available. and if.. you would like that." aw.
-mrsD- Best. Opening. Ever. Provenza's "Thank yew!" imitating Brenda made me wish the DVDs for this were on sale already -- I would have bought them that instant. this was the season 1 finale. And sure, the ending was just all wish-fulfillment, with her smack-downs of everyone, and the squad turning in their resignations, but I don't give a damn. I loved it. Flynn's compliment (!!) Brenda said she was most surprised by his resignation, the whole time she's been there, he has never once complimented her.he steps forward, pulls toothpick I guess out of his mouth, says "Chief, you have really nice legs." JKS looking dapper, and finding Brenda hilarious despite himself. Fritz continuing to be the Best Boyfriend Ever (another wish-fulfillment that I don't mind in the least). Kittie! I love Kittie, did not notice her in this.
-Delurking to say that another nice touch was the scene where Brenda threw away the staff's resignation letters one by one. It made me recall earlier in the season when Brenda did the same thing, only then everyone threatened to resign because they did not want to work with her.
-This one had me literally laughing out loud, especially at Provenza's imitation, and when Brenda said her piece in the meeting. Pope's face was priceless, but he really should have seen that coming. I liked that they ended the finale in the same way they ended the first episode, with Brenda just joyfully indulging in a ring ding, like it's just the greatest thing ever.
-I really loved what a great sense of humor Brenda had in this episode, especially in the beginning with Provenza; that little flick she gives the hairpiece as she's holding it in his face was priceless. I think that's one of the reasons why her squad has come to feel such loyalty to her, and I think it really belies the lable of "bitch" that keeps getting attached to her. I also loved the look on her face as she was tossing the resignations in the trash; the huge smile she gave each person as she addressed them made me so happy for her. I think she really earned this respect from her squad members - this episode may have been wish fulfillment, but it was damn good wish fulfillment, and that's all I can ask from a show.

These TNT marathons are coziness to me. I felt so cozy the day I watched much of the season 2 marathon.

Boston Globe: 'Will' brought attitude. But more important, it changed ours ... May 2006
"Will & Grace" mainstreamed a way to laugh about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and straight sexual politics from a place of pure affection, not fear and hatred.
The show never lazily mined models of gender and sexual identity already in existence; we had ''Everybody Loves Raymond" for that.
Over the years, the show made light of a gay man trying to be a straight man (Neil Patrick Harris), a straight man posing as a gay man (Matt Damon), a straight man who acted like a gay man (Richard Chamberlain), a closeted gay Republican (Leslie Jordan), an older lesbian couple (Michele Lee and Chita Rivera), a younger lesbian couple (Edie Falco and Chloe Sevigny), a lesbian mom (Rosie O'Donnell), and many other variations. These were guest characters who challenged assumptions while they kept the farce going.
For straight viewers with no gay friends, ''Will & Grace" provided a chance to spend time with gay men (and one bisexual society lush) without awkwardness or oversensitivity -- and with lots of serious laughs. And for straight men, in particular, it was an opportunity to watch straight male characters (played by Woody Harrelson, Harry Connick Jr., Gregory Hines, Sydney Pollack, Alec Baldwin) relax around gay male characters, even be outnumbered by them, and not feel discomfort. The show let straight men see straight male actors play gay men (Eric McCormack, Patrick Dempsey, Michael Douglas) without much to-do. It even delivered Damon as a straight man willing to pretend to be gay to sing in a gay chorus.
Did ''Will & Grace" change the country politically? Not obviously, of course, but it did help create a climate where the ''gay debate" has changed from ''Should gays be visible?" to ''Should gays have equal rights?"

The show set out to be a traditional, popular American sitcom complete with a loud laugh track, stagy choreography, and the kind of exaggerated comic stylings that reached back to the sitcom's vaudeville roots. At times, the cast seemed to be dancing across the set of Will's apartment. The socioeconomics -- white, yuppie, affluent, pop literate -- were created to fit neatly beside ''Seinfeld," ''Friends," and all the other NBC sitcoms. The gay milieu was meant to be the big surprise, the switch.
As a conventional sitcom, it traded in stereotypes for sure. The magnificent cast -- McCormack, Megan Mullally, Debra Messing, and Sean Hayes -- brought great distinction to their characters, but their characters were built to be familiar. Just as ''Friends" gave us a typical dumb womanizer with Joey, Hayes's Jack was the quintessential flamboyant gay flake.
He was a type, but then name any sitcom character that isn't based on a type (except, of course, Kramer). huh.
The show depended on its many guest stars and semi-regulars to bring in images of diversity (Hines, Taye Diggs, Wanda Sykes).
...And then there was Mullally. She took the fusty cliche of a rich bitch and made it into one of TV's funniest characters ever. She merged a Betty Boop voice with the snobbery of an Alexis Carrington Dynasty and the self-delusion of a proud substance abuser, and came up with a hysterically amoral monster. Her love/hate treatment of her maid, Rosario, played gamely nice - gamely by Shelley Morrison, upended yep political correctness, and her sexual voraciousness was quietly scandalous. She made even the small throwaway gags sail, such as ''You say potato, I say vodka." she sure did. cmmts that might not be that funny? very funny from her.

good article. by Matthew Gilbert

Moonlight Mile (2002) - on tv, just turned on to a scene where JakeGyllenhal is at a dinner with parents and girl being set up with, it appears. nice turn Jake. here it is:
June Mulcahey: [referring to Diana's death] He didn't tell me that you were [pause] still tied up in all that? Joe Nast: Really? June Mulcahey: No.
Joe Nast: Well, you know, it was kind of a deal, the whole thing. The clean-up alone took days. You'd be amazed at what a mess a high-caliber weapon can make, an in a restaurant, all those little pieces of - all of - well anyway, let's just say it was pretty time-consuming. Then you got the whole burial to deal with. This whole coffin business - much more complicated than people think. Standard sizes? Dream on! Had to custom-fit the whole deal. Had a tailor come out, do her size right then and there. Do you know how hard it is to have a tailor come out to do house calls? And on a school night? I mean.. [laughs] ...this is pulling teeth, you know what I'm saying? And then, you know, of course you got the house to deal with, and that's a whole other ordeal, you know? Cause who wants her stuff around, right? I mean, that's a valuable room, why waste it? So, you slog through that and, yeah, next thing you know a couple of weeks have gone by and your thinking to yourself "man oh man, am I still tied up with all this? Where did the time go?"
and, I expected, yes there it is - the daughter Jillian, who he is being set up with, who came in uncomfortable and embarassed, smiles at him at this.
and who was this June Mulcahey, mother of Jillian? very familiar.Roxanne Hart and I know her from where? she was in one episode of GreysAnatomy, can't be that. I remember her as a mother similar to here. huh, same year 2002, she was JakeGyllenhal's mother in The Good Girl. still doesnt seem like that's where familiar to me from.
I like Dustin Hoffman. don't seem to like Susan Sarandon. but she's good.
I really like Holly Hunter, who is lawyer here - prosecuting the gunman?
and look at this pretty barmaid, turning the heads of the older guys at the bar. it's Ellen Pompeo pre Meredith. ah, she and Joe have a thing.
imdb post: Anyone notice similarities in the cinematography in "Moonlight Mile" to that of Hal Ashby's "Harold & Maude?" Lots of really nice wide angle shots, putting the beautiful-but-gloomy scenery in the center and the characters off to the side. And I guess the vague 1970's implications, morbid subject matter and the soundtrack make me think of "Harold & Maude" as well. huh that's interesting. his speech above reminded me of the kid in Harold & Maude, I thought, maybe it was the setting of the stiff formal dinner and parents and the kid making a scene. and I even wondered if that's where I knew the mom from.
and the soundtrack. ending with Van Morrison singing Sweet Thing worked for me, sentimental:

We shall walk and talk
in gardens all misty wet with rain.
And I will never, never, never grow so old again

Oh sweet thing, sweet thing.
My, my, my, my, my sweet thing.
And I will raise my hand up
into the night cloud's sky.

I will never grow so old again.

And I'm younger now - (history my dear friend. years away you say my name, I'm settled down and I won't give up again.) richard buckner

And I feel so much lighter now
Than in my younger years.
Because I’m younger now, history (my dear friend),
Years away you say my name,
I’m settled down, but I won’t give up again.

– from Richard Buckner’s "Settled Down" on Bloomed (reissue)

Buckner @ McCabe’s: stunning -- I was fortunate to see Richard Buckner perform a solo, acoustic show at McCabe’s last weekend...
Thursday, 25 July 2002 post on musings @ musicandmeaning.com - but not currently extant? error 404 and 'july 2002' not listed in sidebar archives - viewable only cached.

I've got TVZ live at McCabe, and maybe seen clips of him there, did not know where it was & is -- 3101 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405
Check out our WORLD-FAMOUS CONCERTS!
See who's played here over the years.

New York books - socialite novels

Elements of Style by Wendy Wasserstein (Hardcover - April 18, 2006) huh it's been out for months, just picked up galley fr napoleon room, maybe someone read and then brought it back. nah seems unopened... surprisingly not good, at lst not in regards to what matters to me. surprise bcs I know Wasserstein's name - playwright, esteemed right? well won the Pultizer. well is that th award that I realized most of the list seems to be unimpressive? ~ middling. to include Middlesex, recent winner.
this may be entertaining enough to read, sort of in a genre of books like the genre of tv that includes greysanatomy and menintrees and maybe most shows on abc. much liked I guess.
but to me fluffy and flippant, un-deep. maybe just an extroverted sort of story.
-----------11/25 well I read through most of it, last 100 (of 300) pages backwards to speed up, and actually all of the characters were somewhat likable - Judy is silly in her aspirations and efforts, but like Samantha and Clarice, I start to find her sincerity endearing, and she tells her husband she wld stop throwing all these silly dinner parties if he wanted her to, just dont pull the rug out fr under her, this family is the most important thing to her in the world. Adrienne Strong-Rodman seems the other candidate to be simply unlikeable, but she is saved by her wryness about her daughter's extracurricular activities of sexual favors to all the 8th grade boys and then her turning lesbian with the 25yrold gym teacher at new school, who at least has gotten her to stop drinking, she's a bisexual ex-alchoholic at age 11.
so these are Upper East Side (wh Wkp tells me is the most gentrified NY) socialites, wealthy married women in their late 30s or 40s. are there really women like this whose names are known, who are featured in magazines?------------------
oh also - galley had regiment for regimen, weary for wary. that last seemed remarkable to me, though it's ungenerous to remark on it in an uncoreected proof, still: "he was weary of her at first"-------------------

reminds me of (my reaction to):
The Good Life by Jay Mcinerney (Hardcover - Jan 31, 2006) also had in galley, hardly skimmed, really did not find even lightly entertaining, and gave copy away with little ambivalence. and also knew this author's name, thought to be esteemed -wrote well know book right? Bright Lights Big City-. maybe both he and wasserstein are popular, successful, wh is not the same as esteemed? semcoop provided bks for big event for him, on a sunday, on north side? jc had asked me to go but then l went with him instead wh was fine.
was this the book with a mother who hardly cared for her kids and was doing hair and husband was a decent guy who she rebuffed? ...yes I think that's Sophie
and in which novel was the mother whose kids were biologically her sister's? that may have been likable characters, was that here? ...yes I think that's Corrine
...the story of two Manhattan couples around the days of the events of September 11th.. Luke and Sasha, wealthy Upper-East side socialites , and Russell and Corrine, a downtown literary editor and his wife a scriptwriter.

Wasserstein also mention 9/11 quickly, maybe is likewise centrally about New York after.
in contrast, I don't remember it being much part of (but maybe wrong? -must have at lst been mentioned):

Morningside Heights: A Novel by Cheryl Mendelson (Paperback - Jul 12, 2005) also got galley, and, I kept it bcs I liked this one. surprisingly a lot. well written, as I remember I enjoyed the writing. I liked the little boy who asked about 'falling in love' and when his mom explained that 'falling' was just a metaphor, he said to her "I'm falling in love with you." oh no here's how it goes, p78-9
"In fact, I wonder if anything could soften up Morris. Maybe just falling in love."
"Has he ever been in love?" Anne asked.
"I'm not sure. I've seen him when he thought he was in love, but he was always so in control, I had my doubts."
Stuart smiled at his mother. "I'm falling in love with you." Then, climbing into her lap, he confided happily (aw), "That's just an expression," and Ellen and Jane laughed, and Anne had to protect his dignity.
"Stuart is quite right that it's just an expression. You don't really fall, do you, sweetie? People say that because sometimes being in love happens very quickly and excitingly. But actually, sometimes it also happens quietly and slowly."
"Oedipus," muttered Charles, who, having raised only daughters until Stuart arrived, was surprised that he felt slightly disgruntled by Stuart's amorous declarations. He wondered whether they should ask to be told whether the amniocentesis showed a boy or a girl. With the others, they hadn't wanted to know.
was this novel about a different class of people? maybe should be obvious that they were less rich, more artsy intellectual. but I dont remember well, and I think some of the characters in The Good Life were also... and maybe Dr.Frankie in Wasserstein's book fits that description too. so it's more about the sensibility of the writing? well I wld think that. it probably is just as much a difference in the neighborhoods and the economic class of the characters. am I strangely ignorant of...

Morningside Heights: A Novel (1st edtn, hardcover) Jun03 was supposed to be first in a trilogy. and yes, looks like the following July, another came out in paper, and a third expected this coming July:
Love, Work, Children: A Novel by Cheryl Mendelson (Paperback - Jul 11, 2006) hardcvr Aug05
Anything for Jane: A Novel by Cheryl Mendelson (Hardcover - Jul 31, 2007) expected Jul07 ok so been published 2 yrs apart

pubweekly re Morningside Hts: The busy, intersecting lives of a group of Manhattanites living in the staid but rapidly changing Upper West Side neighborhood of Morningside Heights near Columbia University are the focus of this talky, occasionally stilted debut novel by Mendelson (Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House). Opera singer Charles Braithwaite; his wife, Anne, a pianist; and their three (soon to be four) children are the novel's ostensible protagonists. The book's real hero, however, is their beloved neighborhood, which they fear they will soon have to leave, unable to afford their cramped apartment. They are surrounded by a large cast of the sort of people commonly found on Manhattan's Upper West Side-independent scholars, professors, eccentric neighbors, with rich stockbrokers huh invading the haunts of the original residents. Mendelson's tone can be stuffy-as befits her subjects-they are stuffy artists? highbrowers? but the accumulation of day-to-day detail, social commentary and emotional insight eventually yields a consistent picture of a rarefied milieu.
and re Work, Children, Love: Mendelson returns to the well-to-do residents of Manhattan's Upper West Side ...different characters this time... a deliberately old-fashioned novel of manners, morals, character and happy endings, reality be damned. A certain kind of reader will be eager for Mendelson's third.what kind of reader? I don't think it's me, I was surprised to enjoy MorningsideHts bcs I am not much for manners novels wh I guess this is right? it's not about inner life ~ but I liked it bcs it did not repudiate depth, what inner life was suggested was insightful?
Booklist: The overambitious gentrification so they are the non-gentry? plans of their co-op's new board of directors and the impending birth of their fourth child have pushed the couple's precarious finances past the breaking point. Charles, an opera singer, and Anne, who has turned domesticity into a deeply creative act, must now seriously consider a dreaded move to the suburbs. ...Mendelson's radiant optimism ... creates a world in which people naturally find and follow the arc of their true talents, lovers' defenses miraculously melt away, and decency and compassion are richly rewarded.
and re the sequel: The author again homes in on the Manhattan neighborhood surrounding Columbia University, populated by an arts-loving community with a high tolerance for the unconventional. In a deeply satisfying story, told in fluid, elegant prose, Mendelson artfully champions the triumph of whimsy over avarice.
customer rvs:
-The review just above mine compares Mendelson's writing to George Eliot and Jane Austin. I'd like to add that, perhaps, some of the writing of the late, great Laurie Colwin has influenced Mendelson's view of polite New York society.
- Mendelson's application of a type of storyline (complete with a mystery, a buried treasure, and everyone getting exactly what they deserve in the end) derived from classic children's literature to adult literary fiction is absolutely inspired.

Kidnapped episode 8 GONE FISHING what does that title refer to?
twop p28 catperson-
I loved that they left King standing - literally - without his car and without Virgil, by taking his car! oh see I missed that, must have shown him coming out and finding the car gone. Wonder where they'll take the Accountant to do the...interrogating? Wonder if they took the blowtorch?
I'm kinda leaning toward some international cartel kind of thing as being behind it all. Notice how Conrad told Roger he was buying up his own stock? There's something going on in the business end, probably has something to do with those Chinese guys.
I hope that they're not planning to sell Leo into white slavery, like King alluded to when he brought up that story about the kidnapper who sold his victims. Calico Jim -was that this episode? yep first part, its where I started taking notes bcs DelroyLindo as King is not easy to understand and I like the way he speaks - boy feels like a long time ago I watched that - indeed it was four hours ago, whew. It actually would make good sense: get rid of the kid to someplace he'd never escape from or be recognized in; terrorize both him and his parents, once they find out; send a message to Rand or Cain or whoever this is aimed at...plus it would make for a great Leo scene, as they start carting him off in chains onto some ship, as he realizes what's about to happen to him. Then Virgil and Knapp swoop in and rescue him, he gets thrown overboard but he's in chains so he can't swim and has to hold his breath (voila!) right long enough for them to find him and rescue him. Eureka! I just finished the show!
...if "Joseph" is really Leo's long-lost uncle who was kidnapped and sold off to someone as a child (or lived in a commune ?? thereby meeting and knowing Knapp?), it really may just be about him getting revenge for getting stolen himself. Just like in the Bible story of Joseph who was kidnapped and sold into slavery; Joseph may have told Leo to call him Joseph.
-I didn't notice that the car with Virgil was gone until I went back and took a better look at the computer screen in the storage room. oh. we dont see King walk out, we see him look at the camera shots on the laptop and then close it. I guess if paying attention we see on camera that the car is no longer out front. (knapp wld have seen on camera when king was coming in, ok.)
-I'm clueless about a lot of stuff, but this week, mostly I'm wondering about the book in the mailbox. Knapp didn't keep it. He didn't take time to photograph it. Did he put a note in it before putting it back? Something like "Come to the light side"? lucien..
--I didn't understand that either. I thought he was going to wait for whomever to pick it up, but I guess it took too long. I think he put a tracking device in it; I believe that's what he was looking for and Turner told him exactly where it was in his wallet. Ha. Behind his Amex card. She's good; I think that surprised him.
--Knapp did take a picture of it with his cell phone camera and Turner deciphered it as they spoke. Then he stuck the "thing-a-ma-bob" tracking device into the book before he returned it to the locker. ...Knapp said "It's personal" when he was talking to Turner about the kidnapping - video cameras, etc. Anyone else think that this has something to do with a company Conrad Cain closed down that put guys - like Bill - out of work a year ago and now they're working for the kidnappers? Other things I picked up on the last 3 eps (in no particular order):
What was in that secret file Conrad has on Daddy Rand? Must be some powerful blackmail material.
Knapp and Kellogg sure know how to push each others buttons! I love it! Knapp: "I think I'll have a steak tonight ... and sex." Kellogg: "You're seeing someone?" Kellogg: "I keep all my secrets up here [points to head] while you keep yours in there [points to Knapp's heart]."
Knapp's imaginary childhood enemy: Archibald Dillinger! And he's still around!
The emails Leo received were from "Sanjuro" which, if I have it right, is the name of a samurai character from a Kurosawa movie played by Toshiro Mifune. It makes sense because Virgil is a modern-day samurai.
Roger may as Virgil suspected be the inside mole in all this. He hired Virgil, he referred the Cain's to Knapp. oh right. He would likely have had access to the Cain's home to allow the installation of cameras. What is the motive?

GONE FISHING part six - final two scenes. Virgil, MrsCain, Knapp, then King at storage locker. Connie at irish bar.


Ellie and Virgil at storage. why do you have all this? I'm a pessimist.
Accountant on way in. they can see him on camera on laptop. that's the man who's trying to kill me. why? bcs I can identify him.
you're such an expert, how come he found you? you tell me. you used us as bait? I told you not to come.
he gives her a gun, you know how to use one of these? the safety, the trigger, the..
yeah, yeah, I know how to shoot a gun.
(she takes it and is quite competent with it. ok that's kinda cool.) my father's a republican. I like virgil nodding -all: okay.

the accountant disappears fr camera. ellie -where is he? virgil tells her to cover the door, wh she does. he reclines with gun ready. (so, she's pretty much going to have to shoot him no?) the accountant in hall sees opened padlock. ellie watching the door: it opens, a gun enters, then pop-woosh, accountant topples into the room, knapp (who shot) right behind him. cool.

first thing knapp does is ease the gun away from mrscain and comfort her, it's okay. it's okay.
the accountant is gagged and, I guess, bound. knapp's got what is that? a blowtorch? (what is a blowtorch?).
he says, time to go home mrs.cain.
but she sees on the camera someone pulling up in a car, so knapp and virgil stop and come look.
virgil -you got this?
knapp nods. boy, let these two work together I think a lot wld get done.

virgil goes outside, it's king -this your home away from home? -how did you find me? -lo jack. that's what's in a car that makes its whereabouts traceable right.
king: I gotta take you with me.
he handcuffs him in the car, and goes in with his gun at the ready (is he expecting knapp and mrscain there? or what?) but it's dark and no one's there. huh. knapp snuck himself, ellie, and the captive accountant out?

-----------------------
5 minutes in and first real scene change. I guess twd end of episode get that kind of longer continuous action scene
--------------

at the irish bar. connie enters bathroom where
that was such a pretty speech, connie.
well thank you, jer.
you may have them all fooled but you don't fool me. I dont believe a single word that comes out of your mouth. 'cause,you know, every single one of us that was ever dumb enough to be good to you - well, we got the short end. like Claire. ah. man, she loved you. didnt matter you married uptown, she was there for you. hey wha - do you know whatever happened to claire?
I dont know.
you kill her?
no, I didnt kill anybody.
like I said. not a single word.

I guess I'll see you around says jerry then throws a surprise punch but connie seems to have expected it and calmly with no fuss dodges and gets jer up against the mirror. wow, this Connie. watching the conversation, I'd have thought he in his suit wld be the vulnerable one in a fight. I think. you wanna know the truth? I dont know what happened to clare and I dont know who killed sully, I intend to find out, not bcs there was any great love lost btw him and I, as far as I'm concerned he died a long time ago, but bcs whatever he knew about my son he took to the grave. what I do know, somebody in this bar, this neighborhood, knows something. right jer?somebody knows something. and I'm gonna find out what that is. I'm gonna come down here every day, waving my wallet and holding this gun, until I find that person. and somebody talks, and I get my son back. you understand?

Connie walks out of the bar, tough tough.
---
ROLL CREDITS.

GONE FISHING parts 4 & 5.

part 4.

Cain house. gf: I can't confirm that sandur is virgil.
knapp & ellie tgthr: it's virgil.
then we hear roger come in, upset, talking to conrad. what happened? virgil happened. blah blah he's gone crazy, he thinks I'm the inside man, he threatened to blow my brains out, I can't even go to the fbi since the head agent is his brotherinlaw, I'm telling you I looked in his eyes, they were dead.
ellie says she doesn't believe it, apparently meaning she doesn't believe that virgil is crazy. bcs, she tells conrad, they found emails virgil was sending to leo and he really cared.
knapp -excuse us- pulls gf back to the other room to ask why she got the emails open for mrscain. 'she said please.' next time you say no and you show them to me only. are you getting too close to her? no. good, because we already have enough of ?them - what does he say here?
don't apologize, just go back in time and make the right decision. then find out everything about senator bill ross. -is that who she's? -he picked me up today.
I'll start you off - middle name is xavier. I read a magazine while I waited for him.
heh so the knowledge the senator was impressed by --'I underestimated you knapp'-- was gained just about entirely while sitting in the limo.
ok now see a bit of less-than-totally-likeable from Conrad. talking to ellie. -Virgil was ex-military, black ops (?), assassin, who got a cushy job and got sloppy doing it. if he wasn't sloppy, leo would still be with us today.
ellie shakes her head at him and walks away. -oh good, leave the room. I'm actually on her side here.

----------
King going into a house, confronting Trish, who must be his wife the stock trader who makes lots of money, about paying off virgil's mortgage. yes, she did it for her sister.
..she wld have told him the next time they were in a room tgthr and not asleep. he can't argue with that. they kiss, intterupted by Atkins walking in the font door.
King -what part of stay in the car didn't you understand.
sweet atkins who is holding grocery bags just gestures toward the person coming in behind him.
King -Ella..
it's his daughter. she says hello to dad and then 'hey Trish' so I guess this is not her mother? King maybe had an earlier marriage. Ella's apt is being painted, remember? King, holding his head -oh right, right.
going into the kitchen, atkins says it's nice and there seems to be some interest btw him and daughter.
King -Ella, you didn't have to bring groceries.
Please. when do I ever get to cook in a kitchen like this?

phone call from fbiAndy to report the restraining order roger took out on virgil. we need to bring him in for his own protection. king says he'll bring him, you don't hand it out and don't do it yourself. wife heard virgil's name, king tells her virgil's nt in trouble as long as he gets to him first, he's got to go.

------------------
cut to Virgil walking down a residential street, cell phone call from Ellie at home - I need to see you, its crucial, about Leo.
he says -30 minutes, take a walk, I'll find you. cool.
--
Conrad's office, roger telling him not to go to Sully's funeral, cops think he did it.
nah the cops don't think I did it, look, there's a thousand guys with ?2 reasons to kill sully, half of them named O'hare the other half of them with family on the force. couple of irish badges think Why go after our own, we got a billionare judas on a park avenue platter.
I'm going to pay my final respects.

--
Ellie heading out, Knapp behing a flower bush.

------------------------------------------------------------
part 5-----------------------------------------------------

vance in park -how was the King house?
atkins -you tell me
vance -some might say it's lavish.
atkins -his wife's a commodities trader. she makes 7 figures a year at the Hong Kong desk at goldman.
...I have found no proof that agent king has laundered money or done anything outside the purvue of his job.
...I gotta go.

-------
ellie walking, virgil bumps into her. -I read your emails to leo, I didnt know you were so close to him or that he was so close to you, I know you'll do anything you can to bring him back, whatever you need you have it. ok liking her well enough here.
virgil holding his arm, ellie -you've got to get to a hospital, no I've got get to my car. scruffle for the keys, he lets her drive him to a 'better place' he knows.

------
kidnappers gathering things to leave?

---
bill has redfingernails at gunpoint. nice surprise from behind the door after she walked through it, talking to him on cell phone: I think we have a problem. I think you think too much. I think I'm offended -- gun to her neck.
-yesterday you made a point of showing me I can be gotten to. well guess what lady. and if you ever threaten my family again- pushes her with the gun. ...you said brighter minds than ours are handling things. well that doesnt make us stupid. we're the ones taking all the risks. ...now that I seen your face, you're one of us, you got me?
good scene. this guy's good.
the boys in mexico need to relocate immediately, if your brighter minds can't figure it out they're gonna do it on their own. -I'm on it. -and while you're on it, the heat's been turned way up on us, we want a bump in pay.

---
bk answers phone ... a change in plan, what does that mean? yeah I want more money. I wanted a lot of things, I wanted my mommy to love me, but that's never gonna happen.
huh. I like this guy too. what a show. the bad guys are all totally humanly interesting.
well how's this raise gonna get to us down 'ere?
...meanwhile leo talking to otto, you went to church? you believe in hell.
Otto -yeah. ah Otto, this one is hardly even bad.
leo -me too. bk -c'mon, quit flirtin with the kid and make yourself useful. ...and to leo -just remember, richie: he ain't never gonna like you more than he fears me.


----------------
Conrad crashing the barroom wake for James Sullivan.
...I know I'm not liked here. I know that. but my son was taken from me. and maybe there's some cold comfort for some of you in that, but I'm in a lot of pain and this is my home no matter how far life takes me. this is my home. so if I could just stay here, for a moment with all of you and remember the better part of James Sullivan.
bartender -you can stay. a long as you pick up the tab, you rich sonofabitch.
he raises a glass toward Connie.
...who picks it up after he sets it on the bar.
nice.

GONE FISHING part 3.

"Senator and Socialite Shacked up while Son Suffers. not a good way to win votes but makes for good alliteration." says Knapp, walking with the senator, who is saying that the last thing he or Ellie needs is tabloid headlines and they are just friends but their conversations taken out of context blah. is there anyone in your life that you trust completely?
knapp- yeah, but he's dead.
I couldn't survive without Ellie. I feel for you, Knapp, that you don't have that in your life. ech what a sleazeball, fits maybe with Ellie who has been pretty unlikeable. that monologue at end of first episode that everyone agreed was the main flaw of the show - apparent bad writing - maybe was right for the character. sort of histrionic, overwraught, cliched in what she says. and bff with this guy.

-----------
redfingernails talking to ?Bill on phone, while pulls off wig in front of mirror. he tells her the kidnappers are suspected in cnnxn to murder of doctor blah blah sherriff talked to one of them -the caucasion or the hispanic -the mexican. well. -tell them to stay put.

--------------
cool: Ellie is playing Leo's game and *Leo, you have 78 new email messages* ..."Turner!" good, Ellie goes right to gf. leo was trading emails with someone called sandur or sth, Ellie is sure it is Virgil.leo writes that his father writes him checks instead of listening to him, and virgil replies that father is trapped by money and it is up to leo to heal the distance btw them as in this regard he is the man and father is the child. huh, Connie doesn't seem to me like he'd have been so unknowing a father... I dont mean this as a complicatn in the plot, more an observatn about the show, fr what it has shown me about Conrad I am impressed and therefore don't easily imagine him as neglecting his son emotionally bcs caught up in money. Ellie re virgil, "I thought he was just a wall with a gun." see what I mean about her? annoying.

-----------------
"Jackie, it's Latimer. It's really important that I talk to Virgil, please, call me as soon as you get this." King walks into office, Atkins shows him a photo. This is Claire Phillips, she's been missing for a year, mom says she's dead. -based on anything? -she says she and I quote Can't sense her presence in the universe anymore.
King -Case closed.
toad-Latimer? you got a minute? I've just been doing some research, now don't get upset, we don't want this internal review blindsiding us.
King -Spit it out Andy. ok his name is andy. I dont quite like calling him toad, he's not so bad, just more of a company man, but not in the worst way, I dont think. I dont think he's underhanded or ill-intentioned, he's just someone who worries and tries to play by rules ~
anyway he's found that Virgil payed his mortgage in full three weeks ago.

----------------
oooh, cut to Roger (Conrad's assistant) being grabbed by the neck. by Virgil. Why did you hire me? -we needed a bodyguard for Leo. -Why me? -you were recommended by security trust blah.
Someone is on the inside and I think its you. count of three your brains are wallpaper.
he counts, cocks gun, then turns and leaves elevator. Roger left in corner barely able to stand.

GONE FISHING part 2.

Conrad Cain preparing to go to Sully's funeral. and going to play cards with Alice who says she has cabin fever.
-----------

bk (bad kidnapper - the mean one, caucasion) gets very angry upon hearing from good kidnapper Otto --and the news, which is on the tv, showing the fire-- that what they blew up was 40 million dollars. drags Leo in the room for a moment, see this? that was our 40 million! Otto says we've got other problems, sherriff asking about dead doctor, I saw him at the church. what were you doing at a church? I was praying. is that a problem? You're seeking absolution in the middle of a crime we're committing and you want to know if that's a problem?
he calls someone, is that Bill?, who says he can't explain about the money. can't or won't? can't. alright then, we have a problem.
and we and King have qstn, yeah what does whoever-it-is want, why blow up the money?(the two 'kidnappers' holding the kid fit the profile, they were in it for money.)

-------------
King with toad- IA is turning place upsidedown, not just the Ramon case, looking into the Cain case now... whether you like it or not Virgil is a person of interest: everyone on the ground floor of this thing has turned up dead, now there have been two attempts on his life but no one has gotten to him yet. oh huh, right, makes sense for that to be cause of suspicion. what was the 2nd attempt on Virgil's life, I must have missed that, did someone try to kill him while he was in the hospital?

--------------------------
Vance is watching Virgil. and we see Virgil confronting someone ok this must be at the security agency he works for, about where his stuff is (the guns from the storage locker?). the FBI took them, oh and took his file, and wanted to know why he requested the job at the Cains. Virgil-Reguested? -That's what it says in your file. -Why was my file altered? -First I saw it was this morning.
...and the guy who hired Virgil is away. in Feluja?

-------------------------
Knapp was picked up by limo (earlier, after 1st Conrad scene?) and now we see politician get in, introduce himself, "I'm the man you think is sleeping with Ellie Cain."

I see you're driving a cadillac.

And I see you're doing the very same.

Welcome to the world of gentlemen, Gentlemen.

the something something....room for four gentlemen.

I kinda like this ad.

GONE FISHING. episode 8. (or, "107")

nighttime.
gf trying to sleep on couch. (gets up to look at drawings.)
ellie in leo's room. (I think). gets call on cell. brief. "my schedule is very busy, and public." -please just for a minute can I see you before I completely break down blah. "I'll make time." thank you. "don't thank me, you know how important you are to me."
gf listened, heard ellie saying knapp has phones bugged -"including your cell?" -he works for Leo, my privacy doesn't matter.
gf calls knapp, who is picking lock on pobox (having already broken in the store I guess). his hood up shielding him.
banter about her being up, him being slow at this lock, did he forget anything, where's th thingamajig, I put it in yr wallet behind yr amex.
"ellie got a phone call fr her special friend." didn't get a trace, only on a few seconds. she says you're gettting suspicious. who? you. you - me? oh everyone's worried. mrs.cain's worried about me, cain's worried about virgil. why's cain worried about virgil? I'm not sure.
and what about you? why wld Cain be worried about me.
knapp has finished closing the pobox (he got the book fr it and maybe did sth I missed w the thingamajic).

-----------
king in fbi office with toad. looks at photos, says 'calico jim', toad asks, king tells story.

-----------
ah, young faced atkins is simply colluding with vance about IA (internal affairs) matters, not the kidnapping...
twop will be happy, didn't like the possible reveal of atkins who they called from the beginning as a likely bad egg (too predictable), and also they'd started to like his earnestness.
in car, vance at driver's seat.
vance- Got something?
atkins- Nothing to suggest Agent King stole 20 million dollars fr the Ramone drugbust, except for the word of some psycho drug dealer.
What do you know about Virgil? -He's King's brotherinlaw, he was Leopold Cain's body guard, he took a bullet the day of the kidnapping.
atkins is likeable, seems totally earnest here, which is to say loyal to King. so, last week was a fakeout, he were supposed to doubt him and now have faith restored. that's cool. I like him.
vance- Conrad Cain's a billionare. he's got a good deal more money than a psycho drug dealer.
atkins- Where are we going here? Am I investigating drug money or the kidnapping?
Both.
-----------------------

virgil at busy intersection, longish shot of watch. 7:39.
remembers the shootings, and through near-shut eyes after being shot down himself, a glimpse of ... the accountant.
knapp walks up, Nostalgia's not what it used to be huh?
You following me?
I didn't have to. It's 7:39 the exact time Leo was taken. same light, same temperature.
...(you got anything? yeah, sepsis. is this knapp asking if virgil is remembering anything, and virgil being evasive?)
...some people worried about you. not you though? not me. there are some very experienced people out trying to kill you. I'm counting on that.
--------------------------------------end scene and end 'part one' of nbc.com video's six part division. in sum: Cain house (Ellie on phone, gf on phone with Knapp at po bx place). King at FBI office. Vance and Atkins in car. Virgil and Knapp at scene of the kidnapping.

Calico Jim.
guy ran a saloon,
san francisco, 1890s.

saloon was a front.
he'd drug his customers, you know,
and sell 'em off to see captains.

guy gets drunk, wakes up on a ship.
--pull your weight or walk the plank...

calico jim became the focus
of a police investigation
they send in six undercover cops.

--huh. ...they get him?

mmm (no). they all disappeared.
ended up on a ship.

true story.

--why we talking about calico jim?
I was thinking back over cases, you know
trying to find a parallel - can't find one.
a motive in every kidnapping is defined by demands.
these guys don't seem to have any.

--well, in the end, always comes back to money.
yeah, we'll see.

--so what happened to calico jim?
policeman catches up with him in chile
and shoots him dead in the street.
one bullet for each of those six cops who went missing.

-I can't imagine the show having any more tension or suspense, but here we go.
-They were right, when they said every episode would have you thinking in a whole new direction once you got more clues.
-- cmmts about current episode -- for me, next to watch -- start on p28 twop thread

-A funny story from last night:
We were getting gas and the kid sweeping up the place looked EXACTLY like Leopold Cain. I had to force myself to stop staring so that he wouldn't think I was a wierdo.
I am not a shy person, so on my way back to my car, I said, "Hey, Leo. Glad to see you escaped." I figured that he would just look at me confused, but instead he grinned and said, "You're the third person who has told me that. I guess I'll have to start watching the show."
--That's awesome! Awesome that he looked alike, and awesome that so many people have seen the show that he'd be told that many times. I hope everyone's writing emails and postcards to people in high places, like HBO or USA or something, asking them to pick up the show before all the people disband and get other jobs after filming these 13 episodes. I just think Knapp is one of the most fun characters I've seen in years, and I don't want to give him up.

twop p27 dandy1 -Kudos to the wardrobe people for how they dress Timothy Hutton. Very streetsy or very classy. And he pulls them both off so well. yes he does.
Conny and the disappearing lover. and Sully dead. Maybe he did kill them both, and he just has so little conscience as to be cool as a cucumber about it afterwards. Maybe 'I got really pissed off because he crashed my party so I killed him' was the truth.
About our young agents plot twist----I kind of feared that the need to wrap this up in a short time might lead them to make some moves they would not ordinarily. I've decided to cut them alot of slack for that. They are under tremendous pressure. It seems to me like they are far from a resolution to this thing, but this is one show I can't really predict. I love that about it and how good they are at revealing character slowly. The creators have obviously thought a lot about their characters and they really know who they are and they know how to slowly and subtly reveal them. So good. The greatest mystery is, "Who are these people?" So good.
-I was just wondering if The Tibetan Book of the Dead and Conny's big Chinese deal have any connection---I mean China supresses Tibet, lots of accusations of human rights violations, etc.--sort of ties in with the kind of little man laid off kind of speeches we've seen. Just a thought. unlikely but smart interesting observation.
Leo is an extreme activist? Enough to plot his own kidnapping? this bcs the note to Kellogg giving phone number was in Leo's favorite book. and signed Jaynes, name of the author of the book we saw him reading that big white bicameral mind or whtvr book right? right: The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes

catperson, top p28 -Did I point out yet here that my new suspect is Aubrey? She's being passed over by Grandpa for the "grooming" that he's forcing on Leo, since she's not a male, probably. She's probably mad about that, she's selfish, she's wild, she smokes (they use that in film these days to show who's wild and possibly bad; notice the good people rarely smoke, and the one time Ellie does, she's doing what she's not supposed to). Mind, I don't think she did it all. I think they looked for a weak link, even went up to Leo in the park to see if he was amenable (he wasn't; he got a bodyguard), and settled on Aubrey and her anger. And milked it to get the Cain's personal phone number, etc.
p27-It said, "Dear sir, thank you for your past kindness. Let this be a small step towards repayment. 212-555-0133. I remain etc. Emerson Jaynes." Someone who reads British literature would recognize this kind of talk as the way they wrote in the 1700s and 1800s, not so much the 1900s. But the rich people still learn it. And! The key here is that the "payment" for the person's kindness was to give Kellogg the private Cain phone number!

so, recapping the recap for myself:
-Girl Friday found Leo's journal
-Virgil has drawing by Leo of guy who told Leo he wld come for him, and Virgil is ~ going to get him?
-Knapp has found out that Kellogg is using books in the prison library to communicate with 'Emerson Jaynes' --receiving, it appears, a message giving him the Cains' private phone number-- and the floor guard is involved.

Conrad had an affair with a woman who is now dead.
MrsDalgleish: "Oooh! Even more Dun Dun DUN!!!!" and
"'I may have something for you' says King. 'Oh yeah?' says Knapp. 'You first, mine's better.' Heh. King: 'Conrad Cain has a dead ex-girlfriend." Knapp: 'Actually that's pretty good.'"

(WithoutFeathers at twop points out that) the scene showing TheVoice/Bill meeting Devere --
MrsDalgleish: "someone once had a beer in a town by a bay" -- was "a flashback to one year earlier (and it's the same bar in queens, and the same bartender that the Irish mob uses.)" huh so Bill and Devere are in proximity to whatshisface old 'friend' of Conrad's who was shot a few episodes back, night of the big Cain party.
oh and Bill & Devere conversation about being screwed by "the Conrad Cains of the world" suggests that the answer to "Who are the kidnappers after - Rand (Ellie's dad), Conrad, or Knapp?" is Conrad. but I suppose the people involved in orchestrating the kidnapping might have had various motives...

and Atkins is up to something or in on the kidnapping, together with Vance from internal affairs, who interrogated King about Virgil.

and good/weak kidnapper Otto got talked to about the missing Mexican doctor by the sherriff.
MrsDalgleish: "They wrap it up, but Otto, trying to be genial, says 'I hope you find your friend. It sounds like he was a great man.'- 'I should hope he still is,' says Espinosa. oops."

and the Cains appearred before the press, oh and Ellie MrsCain punched the reporter who leaked her story
MrsDalgleish: "Ellie is out of there. 'That was assault,' says Maureen to the agent. 'You're a witness.' Ok, TWoPers. You can write the agent's response yourself. Trite, but satisfying." wait did the agent really say sth, siding w Ellie? will the twopers take up the challenge? no. I guess MrsD just means it was obvious?

additional recap, comments, qstns in the good longish post fr catperson... twop p 26

-Knapp grew up in a commune? WTF? I totally loved that he found the clue, and the book that was used! Leo's! Is Leo involved? Whose copy was Conrad reading the other day? oh..Conrad was reading it? TibetanBookoftheDead

-Best line: Rand: They blew up $40 million. I mean, that's still a lot of money, right?
--I was amazed at that line. It boggles the mind to think how much money you must have to ask that question.

-Holy Bazooka! Virgil's secret arsenal! It's better than Mission Impossible's! Who is this guy?!
-Who could Virgil be gunning for?
--I know, He seems pretty focused, while nobody else seems to have the faintest idea who's involved. Shouldn't King and Knapp just drop everything, follow Virgil, and see who he shoots? that's funny, and yes.

from mrsdalgleish's recap of Front Page:

As the episode starts, the firemen are at the drop site, hosing down the remains of the SUV, the $40million, and DeadDevere. Daddy Dearest is a bit shaken -- after King asks him what was said ("we don't want your money"), DD gestures towards the fire and asks, "That's still a lot of money, right?" (As if maybe he'd lost touch and $40mil was chump change). ..King gets a phone call and says "I'll be right there." He gets in his car, discovering that Knapp is in the back seat ("Why aren't you in your car?" "I can't think in my car.")

...Knapp sees Aubrey as she's flouncing up the stairs. "I'm fine, thanks!" he calls out after her. "Even with the rubber bullets, and the exploding..."
Girl Friday appears, snitting that she's not going to share "her outlets" with some newbie agent from Quantico. She snits off, as Knapp mutters, "I'll take care of it."
He goes into the study and finds all hell breaking loose with agents running around under the direction of Agent Toad. He shakes his finger at them and lectures, "Now, now, if everyone's in here, who's looking for Bin Laden?" Heh. He brushes off The Toad and addresses "the troops," telling them that if anyone gets in Girl Friday's way that he (Knapp) will be "very disappointed -- and for those of you who don't know, 'disappointed' is crazy for 'I'll punch you.'"

Latimer King, addressing reporters. "On the morning of March 15th" (really?? why, ides of March? Caesar), "Leopold Cain was abducted, at gunpoint, at 59th and First" Blah blah, hotline number blah.

Latimer is back in the apartment, giving orders (like talking to "all the people we kept in the dark" and finding out how they got Conrad "out of state.") Toad comes up. "Saw you on TV. Looked good." This is apparently just the small talk before telling King that "Vance" is looking for him. Agent Atkins (young agent from Alaska with quick trigger finger) appears to tell King the same thing. I like the writing here, efficient recapping.
Vance is internal affairs, and he's in the dining room. He's played by Giancarlo Esposito.
"I don't have time for you today, Vance." - "Make time, Agent King." (Oh. Writers. C'mon.)

Oh, get this -- Knapp is asking the question we've all been asking. "Tell me again why Leo had a bodyguard?"
Here's the deal. Ellie says that "about a year ago" Leo came home spooked because he'd been approached by a man in Central Park who he called 'Joseph' ("I think it was from a book or something," she says). Knapp questions, Conrad tries to blow it off, Ellie keeps talking. Turns out Conrad thought it was all crazy talk -- it was Ellie who got Leo the bodyguard. "Why?" Knapp asks her. "Because he said he was coming for him," she says.

Leo is watching a Mexican game show; that is, he's watching until Bad Kidnapper walks by and sees that Leo's open door is allowing him to do so. He shuts it. Such a nice guy, isn't he? "Anything?" he asks Good Kidnapper. "Nothing." "What the hell is taking so long?" Cue phone. It's The Voice (re-identified correctly on the forum as Robert Clohessy -- still a repeat offender from L&O, but nevertheless, not Michael O'Keefe.). again I like the recapping.

...Suddenly, Vance gets all chummy. Turns off the digital recorder, gets up, offers King a soda, tells him he saw him on TV..."Quite a case!" etc.
Then, "but wait...I heard your brother-in-law, Virgil Hayes, is involved? That's really interesting."
Close up shot of Delroy from the side to the back. His neck out-acts people on several other network shows. hehee.
Recorder goes back on. "Tell me about your brother-in-law, Agent King." huh.

..recap continues very good. fun reading. hope keeps it online indefinitely...

Well, lookee at these two, having a drink together in a "hard to find" bar. It's Atkins and Vance. "You think they suspect anything?" asks Vance.
End. well twoprs certainly called that one - "RookieMcSureshot" Atkins as untrustworthy.

and, what a show. seems like that wld be darn difficult to write, put together. so much happening. all those scenes.

......what did I like so much about the previous episode, Heart belongs to Daddy ?
-Conrad. I like seeing him all tough.a lot. after Knapp, watching Connie may be the next best part of this show.
-Devere. he's interesting, telling his story of finding his old lady w another lady, and then remarrying and then he's on his honeymoon and thinking things are maybe back on track and "this little Mexican number who's massaging me says You need to go to the doctor, Mr Devere" and he does her accent...