Episode 20 Notes:
Let's go!
(I should actually get around to watching this one of these days. I think it's on Instant Watch.)
Joe and I love heists. We love crime. We love all that shit. I am even willing to put up with the three hours of nonsense and yelling that is
Heat if only for the heist scenes. It's all just weird guys meeting in coffee shops and ugly 1970's homes being professionals. It's weird, but in a way the whole heist genre is how I picture adulthood. You look at a guy like
Parker, a guy who is well dressed, immaculately skilled, and, in his own way, is the master of his domain. Nobody questions Parker's competency, they take him at his word and in exchange the world takes him at his word. Also, he has a sap and that's pretty damn cool.
When I was younger I imagined being an adult was a whole different world in which I am suddenly in control and I go to a job I'm great at and make a fine living do it. Obviously being older (being old enough to have grandkids by medieval standards) I realize that isn't all that true. The jobs suck and the hangovers just get worse, but I still love the idea of grown men (or women or genderqueer or lycanthropes or elves or whatever) coming together to execute something only they can execute with a frightening and swift efficiency.
In my mind that's what being a grown up basically amounts to, in a weird way. That and having a cabin in a mountainous state, but that's another discussion for another day.
I love hoaxes-- or at least jokes told so straight that they appear to be lies. "When It's Not Your Turn" is one of those things. But, like Joe said and I agreed, it's a pretty good joke that goes on for much too long. After about five or six paragraphs, the essay loses the plot and we're basically stuck with this lecture that we can't wait to walk out of and catch a smoke.
(Of course it has John Turturro in it. Of course.)
For the record
Homicide: Life on the Streets was created by Paul Attanasio, but it was based off of the
David Simon non-fiction book,
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.
(If you haven't seen this yet, just keep in mind that there's a of Shawshank before you get to the redemption.)
Joe and I disagree about the movie
Punisher: War Zone (page 14). Basically, I'm right and he's wrong. I did see the movie in the best way that you can see a movie as dumb as that, which is blitzed out of my mind. I basically beat the movie to the punch by damaging my brain ahead of time. It didn't work, mind you, but I tried, damnit.
(What a fucking shitstorm that movie was.)
Here's the prison break (or a "self-heist") that started the second half of our program, which I only post to remind you that we're totally fucked and stuck in that crappy country until somebody figures out a way to find something new to replace the national Afghan past time of throwing large rocks at each other until you get bored. It's a strange and ancient country, Afghanistan, but it's a beautiful place, nonetheless.
Lastly, here's a small definition on the idea of
baksheesh. It's obviously a much larger concept than an assumed bribe, but more often than not, when you see this phrase used, it isn't referring to showing your waiter gratitude.
Anyways, I'm out of here. Until next time, remember this--
If you got a good imagination, a lot of confidence and you kind of know what you are saying, then you might be able to do it. I know a lot of colorful characters at home that would make great actors.
--Jason Statham
Wise words, indeed.
