and oh yeah, Tom. this is unrelated to the immediate issues at hand, but since it's on my mind, I want to ask if you're aware of Peter Trachtenberg's book "Another Insane Devotion." Peter's an old friend from CCNY days; we share a birthday, although he's four years younger. more to the point, he's a terrific writer whose work has tend…
and oh yeah, Tom. this is unrelated to the immediate issues at hand, but since it's on my mind, I want to ask if you're aware of Peter Trachtenberg's book "Another Insane Devotion." Peter's an old friend from CCNY days; we share a birthday, although he's four years younger. more to the point, he's a terrific writer whose work has tended to be more on the "confessional" side of things, but he's also a cat lover and the book is his examination of his own relationships with his cats and his musings on the larger implications of cat love.
obviously, right up your alley. which could almost be a silly play on words.
and since I'm in my recommendation head, let me alert everybody to two excellent new series on various streaming services. they're both English imports. one is "Slow Horses," about a dysfunctional crew of MI5 agents led by Gary Oldman, doing a brilliant job at being FUNNY, which is not something I usually associate with his work. it's also very exciting, based on a series of novels by Mick Herron. I've started reading the novels, and they're just as good, sort of like Le Carre, but with laughs.
the other series is "Rogue Heroes," based on Ben McIntire's best-seller about the beginnings of the SAS in the North Africa campaign. it's from the same guys who did "Peaky Blinders." initially, I'd thought that using hard rock as background music for a show about WWII was a bad idea, but this first season has changed my mind. going back to McIntire's book (and the PBS documentary based on it), the amazing thing is that the stuff these SAS guys are shown doing on the series is no more insanely outrageous than the reality. I'd be surprised if you (Tom) haven't already discovered these two shows, but this post is just in case you haven't. this obviously applies to anybody out there who reads this.
and which of us can't benefit from some escapist fare?
Where is "slow Horses"? Oh - I see, Apple TV. I don't watch Apple TV.
I tried Rogue Heroes but its method of storytelling turned me off - not just the music, but quite a bit of the rest. I say that having wanted to like it and being familiar with the source material.
Just to be clear: I don't watch Apple TV because of the way Apple does business, which harms most of the people in the creative community by what it takes away. Also the way they stream sucks. Their stuff LOOKS terrible on-screen. I wish this wasn't so, but at least I don't have to worry about missing anything from how Spielberg and Hanks finally decided to do "Masters of the Air."
hey, I feel the same way about Apple writ large, but there ways to subscribe for the free week, watch what you like, then cancel...I've done this quite a bit and all it requires is the ability to remember when to suspend your subscription. I loathe Apple as a company, and also hate doing business with them, but "Slow Horses," with the first two seasons now available, is well worth your time.
for what it's worth, I boycott Apple for most things because of their shitty business model, and find the memory of Steve Jobs (a brilliant huckster, but huckster still) to be a disgusting one.
but you're gonna really dig "Slow Horses." start with the books if you like.
I'm with you there. I've never bought an Apple product, always thought they were poorly performing and very overpriced. I was originally a Commodore Amiga computer owner in the 80s before also building x86 (MSDOS/Linux/Windows) machines.
I actually DID buy the 160gb ipod, but only because Apple's the only company that made one so big, and I'm as much a hoarder of digital media as I am of anything else. not so long after I bought it, Apple stopped supporting it (and when they stop, they STOP), my itunes crashed so that I had to reinstall every individual file. so...no more Apple for me. they're such assholes about building planned obsolescence into their products. at school, I had a choice between Apple desktops and Windows desktops. all windows issues acknowledged, I'd rather use it. and I'll NEVER buy an iphone.
and my first computer, which I used for twelve years was a Kaypro 2X. 64kb of RAM and no more. I used Wordstar (totally command-driven)and zipped along unbelievably quickly because I didn't have to drop everything and use a mouse.
years after I stopped using it, I still had it in my closet and some friends of my wife came who were programmers during the day (dancers and opera singers at night). when they heard I had a CPM machine, they begged me to let them examine it. "wow," one of them said, "this is, like, REAL HISTORY."
As someone who remembers writing all those commands in DOS, the one Apple invention I love is the mouse, and I am glad Bill Gates stole, er, I mean imitated, it - imitation being the sincerest form of flattery.
My wife is a die-hard DOS commands person. I have to admit (as not an instinctive computer user) two things: one is that DOS commands save me when my laptop decides it can't do the things (it can); the other is that Apple products are NOT "intuitive". I tried and failed miserably to learn how to use the Apple platform. NopeNopeNope.
I think I'm more on the other side...I LIKED learning all those commands. actually, I think that CPM was older than even DOS. in fact, I know it was...no "environment" at all...just command lines. but I sure did zip along. Rochelle could do over 110 wpm in Wordstar. but once she got used to the mouse, she was pretty speedy on THAT. but she was great at EVERYTHING.
Jeri, you can get most of Jon Stewart on UTube AND even the older show which was just absolutely excellent! I dont get Apple but I have been able to watch his podcasts etc on UTube - check it out.
you should give "Rogue Heroes" another shot. the first episode or two turned me off as well, but it became very absorbing a bit later on. and I like Jack O'Connell a lot as an actor. he starred in that really good Netflix western, "Godless" about five years ago...the one in which Jeff Daniels, usually Mr. Affability, played a completely terrifying Old West psychopath and got an Emmy for it (not that I've ever actually watched an Emmy Show).
Cheers for your tip David, I'll try to find Slow Horses.
I second your nomination for Rogue Heroes too. Expecting it to be a rather corny fictionalisation, I was very pleasantly surprised by the portrayal of the Englishman with daddy issues and the mad Irishman who physically created the SAS. The prominent use of rock music (1970-80s Australian pub rock included) did work extremely well, didn't it?
and oh yeah, Tom. this is unrelated to the immediate issues at hand, but since it's on my mind, I want to ask if you're aware of Peter Trachtenberg's book "Another Insane Devotion." Peter's an old friend from CCNY days; we share a birthday, although he's four years younger. more to the point, he's a terrific writer whose work has tended to be more on the "confessional" side of things, but he's also a cat lover and the book is his examination of his own relationships with his cats and his musings on the larger implications of cat love.
obviously, right up your alley. which could almost be a silly play on words.
and since I'm in my recommendation head, let me alert everybody to two excellent new series on various streaming services. they're both English imports. one is "Slow Horses," about a dysfunctional crew of MI5 agents led by Gary Oldman, doing a brilliant job at being FUNNY, which is not something I usually associate with his work. it's also very exciting, based on a series of novels by Mick Herron. I've started reading the novels, and they're just as good, sort of like Le Carre, but with laughs.
the other series is "Rogue Heroes," based on Ben McIntire's best-seller about the beginnings of the SAS in the North Africa campaign. it's from the same guys who did "Peaky Blinders." initially, I'd thought that using hard rock as background music for a show about WWII was a bad idea, but this first season has changed my mind. going back to McIntire's book (and the PBS documentary based on it), the amazing thing is that the stuff these SAS guys are shown doing on the series is no more insanely outrageous than the reality. I'd be surprised if you (Tom) haven't already discovered these two shows, but this post is just in case you haven't. this obviously applies to anybody out there who reads this.
and which of us can't benefit from some escapist fare?
Where is "slow Horses"? Oh - I see, Apple TV. I don't watch Apple TV.
I tried Rogue Heroes but its method of storytelling turned me off - not just the music, but quite a bit of the rest. I say that having wanted to like it and being familiar with the source material.
Just to be clear: I don't watch Apple TV because of the way Apple does business, which harms most of the people in the creative community by what it takes away. Also the way they stream sucks. Their stuff LOOKS terrible on-screen. I wish this wasn't so, but at least I don't have to worry about missing anything from how Spielberg and Hanks finally decided to do "Masters of the Air."
you're right about how bad the stuff looks on Apple. why is that?
They over-compress it to make it "easy to stream."
hey, I feel the same way about Apple writ large, but there ways to subscribe for the free week, watch what you like, then cancel...I've done this quite a bit and all it requires is the ability to remember when to suspend your subscription. I loathe Apple as a company, and also hate doing business with them, but "Slow Horses," with the first two seasons now available, is well worth your time.
for what it's worth, I boycott Apple for most things because of their shitty business model, and find the memory of Steve Jobs (a brilliant huckster, but huckster still) to be a disgusting one.
but you're gonna really dig "Slow Horses." start with the books if you like.
I may just do that.
I'm with you there. I've never bought an Apple product, always thought they were poorly performing and very overpriced. I was originally a Commodore Amiga computer owner in the 80s before also building x86 (MSDOS/Linux/Windows) machines.
I actually DID buy the 160gb ipod, but only because Apple's the only company that made one so big, and I'm as much a hoarder of digital media as I am of anything else. not so long after I bought it, Apple stopped supporting it (and when they stop, they STOP), my itunes crashed so that I had to reinstall every individual file. so...no more Apple for me. they're such assholes about building planned obsolescence into their products. at school, I had a choice between Apple desktops and Windows desktops. all windows issues acknowledged, I'd rather use it. and I'll NEVER buy an iphone.
and my first computer, which I used for twelve years was a Kaypro 2X. 64kb of RAM and no more. I used Wordstar (totally command-driven)and zipped along unbelievably quickly because I didn't have to drop everything and use a mouse.
years after I stopped using it, I still had it in my closet and some friends of my wife came who were programmers during the day (dancers and opera singers at night). when they heard I had a CPM machine, they begged me to let them examine it. "wow," one of them said, "this is, like, REAL HISTORY."
As someone who remembers writing all those commands in DOS, the one Apple invention I love is the mouse, and I am glad Bill Gates stole, er, I mean imitated, it - imitation being the sincerest form of flattery.
My wife is a die-hard DOS commands person. I have to admit (as not an instinctive computer user) two things: one is that DOS commands save me when my laptop decides it can't do the things (it can); the other is that Apple products are NOT "intuitive". I tried and failed miserably to learn how to use the Apple platform. NopeNopeNope.
I don't know if I remember how to do DOS. :-)
🤣
I think I'm more on the other side...I LIKED learning all those commands. actually, I think that CPM was older than even DOS. in fact, I know it was...no "environment" at all...just command lines. but I sure did zip along. Rochelle could do over 110 wpm in Wordstar. but once she got used to the mouse, she was pretty speedy on THAT. but she was great at EVERYTHING.
Sad because I need to see Jon Stewart
Jeri, you can get most of Jon Stewart on UTube AND even the older show which was just absolutely excellent! I dont get Apple but I have been able to watch his podcasts etc on UTube - check it out.
you should give "Rogue Heroes" another shot. the first episode or two turned me off as well, but it became very absorbing a bit later on. and I like Jack O'Connell a lot as an actor. he starred in that really good Netflix western, "Godless" about five years ago...the one in which Jeff Daniels, usually Mr. Affability, played a completely terrifying Old West psychopath and got an Emmy for it (not that I've ever actually watched an Emmy Show).
Apple TV is the only streaming service I've been able to locate it on so far. Guess I won't be watching that series for a few years.
Yep.
Cheers for your tip David, I'll try to find Slow Horses.
I second your nomination for Rogue Heroes too. Expecting it to be a rather corny fictionalisation, I was very pleasantly surprised by the portrayal of the Englishman with daddy issues and the mad Irishman who physically created the SAS. The prominent use of rock music (1970-80s Australian pub rock included) did work extremely well, didn't it?