Letters from the Inside, Michael Swango, #4

Dear KK---

Hi! Received your letter on Friday, so I was able to read your most entertaining stories/slices of NYC life over the weekend. You definitely capture the mood & cadence of "Sex and the City" -- except that yours are much more realistic; because, of course, they are real!

Anyway, several comments on the three stories a bit later. Two quick notes: 1) If I switch to pencil and/or back & forth, it will be because good pens can be hard to find [Much like "good men" in your stories.]
2) good chance another letter will follow tomorrow--this letter is already pretty long in my head. We'll see how it goes.

Well, we have two shows in common--actually more. I believe "Mad Men" could almost be used as a screening device. If someone says the show is awful, I'm not sure a conversation with them would last very long!

Utterly brilliant writing. I started watching it at the very beginning--and have been more impressed with each episode. (There are now 26). Just by sheer coincidence with your letter--AMC started re-running the 2nd Season this evening. (you might recall it begins the the Valentine's Day episode.) Just as good the second time around.

I've read several articles, talking about how exquisitely precise the show's creators are about exactitude in recreating the early 1960s down to the last detail. But of course, what gives the show so much verisimilitude is the smoking and drinking and the place of women in the social structure. In Season 1 we see a pregnant woman smoking--and second-hand smoke everywhere--for the kiddies too.

I totally agree with you that it is an "amazingly good show." It rightly has won multiple Emmy's & Golden Globes--including Best Actor in a Drama for Jon Hamm. I think I heard that a 3rd & 4th season are already "locks." I'm sure you can confirm that with an on-line check. The 3rd Season should be later this summer or thereabouts.

"LOST": Talk about great writing. This is another show I have watched since the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 on 22 Sep 04!

The true genius of this incredibly complex series is that the writers from the very beginning realized that simply staging a modern-day "lost at sea" saga would not be enough. Enter the flashback. And not just a brief image of past life--but entire hour-long episodes creating these characters in minute and striking detail... And they continually up the ante & approach the bounds of creativity. First the absolutely fascinating "Dharma Initiative", --->Kelly: The "Dharma Initiative" deserve an entire show of its own---then "The Others," and then the "flash forwards after the rescue--actually the three-year interlude before the return... Did I mention an island that actually moves through time and space? ! "Complex & confusing" do not begin to describe "LOST."

This is another show that bears delicious fruit upon re-viewing. Watching the earlier episodes again you realize even more how intricately each piece of the puzzle fits together.


If truth be told, the best writing in entertainment today is probably in series television, especially the cable channels.

As you point out, even some of the highly praised films turn out to be notso much. I have heard the same criticism of "Benjamin Button" that you called "shock and disappointment." And regarding Revolutionary Road--you & I simply must read the original 1961 novel by Richard Yates--which is supposed to be simply brilliant and utterly bleak, totally capturing the ennui, disappointment, and tragedy of the shattered "Great American Dream." Yours in an opinion I value, so I am surprised that you found the movie quite uninspiriting. Too bad, with such excellent source material.


Re some of the other show you mentioned: >Love "30 ROCK"--period. Tina Fey & Alec Baldwin are gold. Also like "THE OFFICE". (I've seen some of its British original, and it holds up quite well.)

>Unfortunately, I'm not able to see "BIG LOVE", but everything I've read & heard confirms your opinion. Chloe Sevigny is one of several actresses who I will watch in almost anything they are in. Amazing talent.

>Another of those actresses if Toni Collette. I've read rave reviews of her as a woman with dissociative disorder in "United States of Tara." Have you seen any of that?

>Again unfortunately, I'm not able to see the latest incarnation of Bill Maher's political gabfest. You might recall the cancellation of his "Politically Incorrect" show on ABC in the days after 9/11, when the thought & opinion police were at their peak.

I try to catch Maher whenever he appears in another venue. I don't always agree with him, but he is always "entertainingly opinionated."

>Even though I don't watch "The Bachelor," I could not help but hear about the latest inane "controversy" with the two women (staged, I am sure!) However, if you were on the show I would watch just for the fireworks I am sure you would provide! :-)

Before leaving television, may I recommend another Series, which-coincidentally--just started its second season tonight (8 MAR): "BREAKING BAD"

The story of a high school chemistry teacher who finds out he has terminal lung cancer, and decides to cook crystal meth with a former loser student of his, who is now a low level drug dealer. Complications ensue. Actually---I have a review which I will enclose.

The first season, due to the strike was only about 8 episodes, if you decide to DVD it. There are some quite memorable scenes -- but I'll save my comments for another time.

[By the way, have you ever considered expanding your writing to include TV and/or film reviews/criticism. sounds like you would be a natural*]
*Absolutely best TV criticism ever: Two books long and exquisitely detailed written in the 70s/80s by the outstanding writer Harlan Elllison:THE GLASS TEAT & THE GLASS TEAT II. Ellison spend months watching television almost 24/7. The two books are cultural touchstones of that era. Like so many books, I read them in Africa.

Well, as you can see--give me a paragraph on a subject (television) and I'll give you a few pages! Let me close the TV Guide portion of this letter---BUT I definitely have some more shows to discuss in future letters.

{i.e.--my confession, yes, I addictively watch "Gossip Girl" OMFG!! XOXO. Shameful but true...]

***

Because I need to get this in the mail, let me comment on your first story: "Outside the Box: The Big Bangs Theory." As you would expect from any individual reaction to a particular piece of writing, my comments will be highly idiosyncratic and personal!:

--I will remember the phrase "Asperberger's Cut"! By the way, do you know that Aspberger's Syndrome has popped up in the plotline of seemingly every show on TV.

--"Bad bangs are the leading cause of suicide."

--"Fine line between hip & shortbus." [Ed.: I didn't write that line; Adriana Mole coined that one.]
Great lines, KK!

--Absolutely true: "When I was younger--a slightly older woman taught me all about men shaving their 'nether regions--or rather the highly erotic & sensual shaving of the man by the woman. And at the risk of sounding too personal, [but it is your topic :-)] --I will not discuss the unique "joys" a man experiences when he is with a woman who completely shaves her nether regions. Suffice it say they can be incredible. I'm sure, however, that you know.

--Finally: totally changing from sensuality of hair (of lack there of) to the yeccchh factor. My only "back hair" story. When I was in the Marines--we had a guy in the platoon by the actual name of ZOOK. However, his nickname became "ZOO Freak" when it was discovered he has large, large amounts of the aforesaid.

Even writing this now, I get shudders of disgust. Despite all I've been though & seen since.

Your next two columns, plus some of your other questions & ideas, in Part 2 of this letter---probably tomorrow or Tuesday... Letter-writing in here, Mickey Rourke, Two Lovers, Movies of the 60s & 70s...

Will absolutely tell you all about Africa. Much to say, especially with your cosmopolitan interests.

AND how I cam to be here. Some things I'm not allowed to discuss--but I think I can fill in some gaps.

Your take care, KK. Please do send me more columns and any & all blogs that you post. I really am interested, and will always give you my honest response.

Thanks again. Hope to hear from you soon.

Yours,

Michael