With the advent of cable and increasingly sophisticated content, television is no longer just for "boobs." In fact, new shows featuring great female characters mean that boobs are now making headway in front of the camera. In general, these boobs are clothed, though on HBO's Girls, writer/director/star Lena Dunham frequently strips down, both figuratively and literally. You've probably heard plenty of rants and raves about this show already (including from me at the tail end of this post) but let me just reiterate that you don't have to be 25 years old or even female to enjoy it. It's illuminating, poignant, disturbing and hilarious. Whether or not Dunham is the voice of her generation, she's an original and one to watch.
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Breaking Bad is back with a vengeance, and we're still making our way through the original Swedish Wallander, but we also stumbled across Inside Men, a new BBC One series that I submit for your viewing pleasure. It's really quite gripping. It's about a brutal armed robbery that takes place at a secure money counting house, the events that lead up to it and the aftermath. I especially love the performance of Steven Mackintosh as the milquetoast manager who finds his inner bad-ass. I confess that after these grueling days spent sweltering at my desk, in the garden and in the kitchen, I like nothing better than stretching out on my Society linen sheets, popping open a bottled Americano and being amused. No more reading, no more surfing, no more writing, no more cooking—but certainly not mindless entertainment, no chick flicks or idle fluff for me. I like something truly engaging, full of believable characters and smart dialogue. Don't you? Here are some more worthy distractions for you...
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This weekend, we're heading north to visit friends who have a farm near the Vermont border. They've just bought a load of Angus cows and are going to start producing grass-fed beef. The weather is meant to be clear and crisp and I'm so looking forward to being outdoors and exploring the area a bit. Last time we were there it was springtime and I bought the most gorgeous bag of emerald-green fiddleheads. I'm sure good things are in store, and I'll definitely write about them next week. In the meantime, I leave you with some entertainment recommendations, a list of resources that will have you surfing the far corners of the web,  and a gentle reminder that the holidays are right around the corner. Let's all get a jump on things, shall we?
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It's Memorial Day weekend. The start of being outdoors all the time. If only the torrential rains would stop we might start working on our tans. (Not.) Or our gardens. But still, the sun will go down (if it ever comes out at all), and then you may be looking for a way to while away a few evening hours not spent on your porch drinking wine and watching the fireflies. As you may remember, I am addicted to fond of high-quality, commercial-free television drama and I have recently been enjoying two new shows that I can recommend without reservation. The Killing is yet another AMC winner (they also have the incomparable Mad Men and Breaking Bad). Adapted from a Danish show of the same name, it stars the laconic and lovely Mireille Enos (above)—whom you may recognize from Big Love, where she played the much-abused twins at Juniper Creek—as a Seattle detective investigating the murder of a high-school girl.
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Television: opiate of the masses or educational medium? Depends on how you use it, I guess. We prefer our entertainment commercial-free, so that means Netflix or downloading content from iTunes. (Although I was riveted by an episode of American Idol the other night when we were staying at a hotel in the city. JLo looked like an extra from Scorcese's Casino...) There have been some incredible shows on in the past few years, thanks in no small part to HBO. If you didn't catch The Sopranos, you missed out on a culturally defining moment. It's not too late to start from the beginning; you can buy the complete series here. If you missed The Wire, you may want to consider treating yourself to some of the greatest television ever made. It's where I first became aware of the up-&-comer Pablo Schreiber, brother of Liev and an acting force in his own right. He's now part of a powerhouse ensemble on FX's Lights Out, a fantastic new show that I await eagerly every week. I don't understand why there isn't more buzz about it.
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