Speaking of TV shows, I was wondering if you had the pleasure (depending on your taste) of seeing the Netflix show, "Dark?" You'd probably get more out of it since it is in German and I don't understand a lick of it. For me, that's easily the greatest television show in the last decade but I am also enamored of science fiction. If you haven't, I warmly recommend it. I find it fortuitous or perhaps even providential that I was watching it while reading Maximus for the first time in Jordan Daniel Wood's class he gave online a year ago. As they say in the show, Der anfang ist die ende und der ende ist der anfang. Sic mundus creatus est.
Your musings on Better Call Saul came as a pleasant surprise–it is indeed a masterpiece. I'm both looking forward to and dreading the remaining episodes.
Jimmy really is a fascinating character study. Funny, genuinely charming, creative, intelligent and frequently a sympathetic subject. Even when he uh...bends the rules....you almost can't help but hope he succeeds.
Chuck had him figured out though didn't he? Slippin' Jimmy was never more than a minor setback away from reappearing in all his self-destructive glory. And it was his observation that such self-destruction ruins not just him, but everyone tied to him that really stuck with me, as obvious as it may seem.
I've had far too many run-ins with Slippin' Jimmy-like people. They have an almost preternatural ability to spot the sucker at the table. What a horrible feeling it is when you realize you're the sucker. And what a disorienting experience it can be. Every interaction with them up until the moment of realization is re-interpreted under a dark cloud of bitterness and suspicion. Let it happen enough times and charity begins to sound like a cruel joke.
Bracketing all the dramatic and cultural praise Breaking Bad has received, it's easily one of the most compulsively watchable shows I've ever seen. So well done on every level.
Better Call Saul is not quite as compulsively watchable, but like much (all?) distinctly great art requires some real engagement, genuine focus, patience, and subjective production of intellectual insight and spiritual connection to really see it and appreciate it. I think that aspect of it is more blatantly part of BCS's portrayal than BB's.
I also avoided watching Better Call Saul until a few months ago just because I didn't think they could possibly makes Saul's character interesting. In Breaking Bad he's basically just an empty shell of a human. But I gave in because the show started popping up everywhere and it's amazing.
Jimmy at the beginning was actually a lovable character, and unlike Breaking Bad where I think Walt was already pure evil from the very beginning and just got more opportunities to be destructive as the show went on, Better Call Saul actually shows the depressing moral decay of the main character.
Thank you for your commentary on Rod Dreher's obsequious support for the racist Orban. I find this fascist strain that has infected American Christendom deeply disturbing -- and that might be an understatement.
Wow, thank you for all this. I loved Breaking Bad but never tried watching Better Call Saul. I thought it was some schlock spin-off. But now I'll start watching it right away.
Two questions: 1) Have you ever heard of/read a novel called Tintin in the New World by Frederic Tuten? 2) What do you mean that your career is winding down, or whatever you said there?
Not directly relevant to this post (well, you did mention music once so I guess it's somewhat relevant), but have you ever listened to any Sufi qawwalis? I think you might love them.
Thank you for enlightening me re: Ty Cobb. I love baseball, I love the history of baseball, and I have always thought Cobb to be a monster., albeit a magnificent one. I've shared your paragraphs on Cobb with my baseball -loving sons for their enrichment.
BTW, as a Washington baseball fan, I love that Cobb believed Walter Johnson to be the best pitcher he ever faced. BTW (2), I can't wait for major league baseball to return to Washington some day. BTW (3) Yes, congratulations on the O's ascendance. Enjoy!
Speaking of native Americans and redressing past injustices, I was thrilled to read that Jim Thorpe was reinstated as the sole winner and gold medalist for his victories in the 1912 Olympics. Good things do occasionally happen 🙂
David since you are a great baseball aficionado and seem to know the mechanics of the game well. I wanted to ask you. Based on how the games went, Do you believe The White Sox threw the 1919 World Series?
You know, my great uncle (or something like that) Nixey Callahan pitched the first ever no-hitter in the American League (for the White Sox). But though my dad is a Cubs fan & I’ve seen two games at Wrigley & one at Coors Field, which I found a pleasant enough way to while away an afternoon, I have never been interested in baseball. College basketball is my temple. Well, the creaturely hypostases are metaphysically individuated.
I love baseball, but it has two main flaws as I see it. One intrinsic to the game, and one that perhaps owes more to it's evolution than the game itself:
1. There is a disproportionate importance placed on what amounts to a series of 1 vs 1 battles. Yes there are baserunners and fielders and catchers and so on, but it is essentially one pitcher vs one batter, with everyone else providing just (barely) enough of a backdrop to keep the game from becoming a glorified tennis match.
Basketball and football and American football are more "brutal" sports for all the reasons you've made clear in the past, but the process by which teammates must work together to become greater than the sum of their parts is a beautiful spectacle that baseball simply can't replicate. The greatness of a player like Ty Cobb is reduced to mere individual achievement (with team success ultimately outside of his control), whereas a Magic Johnson or a Xavi Hernandez or a Tom Brady is judged according to his ability to elevate the play of his teammates.
2. Somewhat related to the first point, there is no longer any "mystery" as to the value of any given player. Given that the game is ultimately a series of discreet 1 v 1 events, assigning value to each event is a relatively straightforward process. How well did Christian Yelich play last year? Just look up his WAR and you'll know (almost) everything you need to know. There is no impact on teammates to consider, no questions of fit or chemistry, little use for discussions of leadership or anything approaching the intangible. And so the game becomes a monotonous race to add as many high WAR players as possible before they become too expensive and are shipped out for prospects whose future WARs are still blessedly indeterminate (are there any other types of trades even made these days?).
Speaking of TV shows, I was wondering if you had the pleasure (depending on your taste) of seeing the Netflix show, "Dark?" You'd probably get more out of it since it is in German and I don't understand a lick of it. For me, that's easily the greatest television show in the last decade but I am also enamored of science fiction. If you haven't, I warmly recommend it. I find it fortuitous or perhaps even providential that I was watching it while reading Maximus for the first time in Jordan Daniel Wood's class he gave online a year ago. As they say in the show, Der anfang ist die ende und der ende ist der anfang. Sic mundus creatus est.
https://libredd.it/img/8dpj7j7k76u41.gif
Your musings on Better Call Saul came as a pleasant surprise–it is indeed a masterpiece. I'm both looking forward to and dreading the remaining episodes.
Jimmy really is a fascinating character study. Funny, genuinely charming, creative, intelligent and frequently a sympathetic subject. Even when he uh...bends the rules....you almost can't help but hope he succeeds.
Chuck had him figured out though didn't he? Slippin' Jimmy was never more than a minor setback away from reappearing in all his self-destructive glory. And it was his observation that such self-destruction ruins not just him, but everyone tied to him that really stuck with me, as obvious as it may seem.
I've had far too many run-ins with Slippin' Jimmy-like people. They have an almost preternatural ability to spot the sucker at the table. What a horrible feeling it is when you realize you're the sucker. And what a disorienting experience it can be. Every interaction with them up until the moment of realization is re-interpreted under a dark cloud of bitterness and suspicion. Let it happen enough times and charity begins to sound like a cruel joke.
Bracketing all the dramatic and cultural praise Breaking Bad has received, it's easily one of the most compulsively watchable shows I've ever seen. So well done on every level.
Better Call Saul is not quite as compulsively watchable, but like much (all?) distinctly great art requires some real engagement, genuine focus, patience, and subjective production of intellectual insight and spiritual connection to really see it and appreciate it. I think that aspect of it is more blatantly part of BCS's portrayal than BB's.
Nabokov is a bit like Orson Welles in that reading his dismissals of other books/films and writers/actors is just so fun.
http://wmjas.wikidot.com/nabokov-s-recommendations
I also avoided watching Better Call Saul until a few months ago just because I didn't think they could possibly makes Saul's character interesting. In Breaking Bad he's basically just an empty shell of a human. But I gave in because the show started popping up everywhere and it's amazing.
Jimmy at the beginning was actually a lovable character, and unlike Breaking Bad where I think Walt was already pure evil from the very beginning and just got more opportunities to be destructive as the show went on, Better Call Saul actually shows the depressing moral decay of the main character.
Thank you for your commentary on Rod Dreher's obsequious support for the racist Orban. I find this fascist strain that has infected American Christendom deeply disturbing -- and that might be an understatement.
Do you consider "The Magic Mountain" to be Mann's finest work, David? seen some argue that "Joseph and his Brothers" is his magnum opus?
Wow, thank you for all this. I loved Breaking Bad but never tried watching Better Call Saul. I thought it was some schlock spin-off. But now I'll start watching it right away.
Two questions: 1) Have you ever heard of/read a novel called Tintin in the New World by Frederic Tuten? 2) What do you mean that your career is winding down, or whatever you said there?
Not directly relevant to this post (well, you did mention music once so I guess it's somewhat relevant), but have you ever listened to any Sufi qawwalis? I think you might love them.
Have you ever read Rudolph steiner and is he a mad man.
Thank you for enlightening me re: Ty Cobb. I love baseball, I love the history of baseball, and I have always thought Cobb to be a monster., albeit a magnificent one. I've shared your paragraphs on Cobb with my baseball -loving sons for their enrichment.
BTW, as a Washington baseball fan, I love that Cobb believed Walter Johnson to be the best pitcher he ever faced. BTW (2), I can't wait for major league baseball to return to Washington some day. BTW (3) Yes, congratulations on the O's ascendance. Enjoy!
Speaking of native Americans and redressing past injustices, I was thrilled to read that Jim Thorpe was reinstated as the sole winner and gold medalist for his victories in the 1912 Olympics. Good things do occasionally happen 🙂
David since you are a great baseball aficionado and seem to know the mechanics of the game well. I wanted to ask you. Based on how the games went, Do you believe The White Sox threw the 1919 World Series?
You know, my great uncle (or something like that) Nixey Callahan pitched the first ever no-hitter in the American League (for the White Sox). But though my dad is a Cubs fan & I’ve seen two games at Wrigley & one at Coors Field, which I found a pleasant enough way to while away an afternoon, I have never been interested in baseball. College basketball is my temple. Well, the creaturely hypostases are metaphysically individuated.
I love baseball, but it has two main flaws as I see it. One intrinsic to the game, and one that perhaps owes more to it's evolution than the game itself:
1. There is a disproportionate importance placed on what amounts to a series of 1 vs 1 battles. Yes there are baserunners and fielders and catchers and so on, but it is essentially one pitcher vs one batter, with everyone else providing just (barely) enough of a backdrop to keep the game from becoming a glorified tennis match.
Basketball and football and American football are more "brutal" sports for all the reasons you've made clear in the past, but the process by which teammates must work together to become greater than the sum of their parts is a beautiful spectacle that baseball simply can't replicate. The greatness of a player like Ty Cobb is reduced to mere individual achievement (with team success ultimately outside of his control), whereas a Magic Johnson or a Xavi Hernandez or a Tom Brady is judged according to his ability to elevate the play of his teammates.
2. Somewhat related to the first point, there is no longer any "mystery" as to the value of any given player. Given that the game is ultimately a series of discreet 1 v 1 events, assigning value to each event is a relatively straightforward process. How well did Christian Yelich play last year? Just look up his WAR and you'll know (almost) everything you need to know. There is no impact on teammates to consider, no questions of fit or chemistry, little use for discussions of leadership or anything approaching the intangible. And so the game becomes a monotonous race to add as many high WAR players as possible before they become too expensive and are shipped out for prospects whose future WARs are still blessedly indeterminate (are there any other types of trades even made these days?).