Like millions of other morons I settled down last night to watch the return match between Barcelona and Chelsea Within five minutes one of the Chelsea defenders had to be substituted because of injury, then 'Barca' scored a goal, then John Terry, the captain, behaved like an inbred thug and was sent off, and then 'Barca' scored again and we were only 30 minutes into the game! At this point I thought to myself, this is going to be a massacre from which any one of even minimal sensitivity should avert their gaze - and so I switched channels. A couple of hours later I checked the news and heard that Mesi, currently the greatest footballer in the world, had missed a penalty and that Chelsea, with only 10 men, had evened the score to 2-all and thereby earned their place in the final! In other words, I had missed perhaps one of the greatest footie matches of all time. I then did a fair imitation of John Terry until the 'Memsahib' gave me a red card and sent me to bed!
As a consolation I did watch another recorded episode of Justified, a new, well, new to me, series on the somewhat obscure Channel 5 USA. I have watched several episodes and I still haven't a clue what's going on but - it is brilliant! Mostly it is brilliant for the language. It is set in Kentucky and they all speak the way my regular commenter, JK, writes! However, they do it in the most rich and elegant English I have ever heard on an American series. I remember the great Shakespearean scholar, John Barton, once saying that American-English was closer to Shakespeare's than current modern Anglo-English. Whatever, the characters in this story, mostly either cops or robbers, deliver long, complex and beautifully composed sentences that are a pleasure to listen to, er, even if the obscenity count is fairly high. I cannot discover who writes the scripts but he or she deserves a prize. Part of the unexpected pleasure is that these elegant sentences flow from the mouths of some truly hideous-looking hillbillies and the actors are good enough to relish the words without losing their characters. Finally, the series has a superb villain, Robert Quarles, played by Neil MacDonough who manages to scare me even through a TV screen! If I tell you that it is based on stories by Elmore Leonard then fellow afficianados of 'pulp fiction' will know to expect quality. Try it - it doesn't matter if you join it halfway through, I've watched four episodes and I still don't understand the plot - but I love it!
I'll watch the Chelsea highlights tonight. No doubt I'll laugh at the twaTerry.
Posted by: dearieme | Wednesday, 25 April 2012 at 11:27
On a related topic, though it may lack the finesse of 'Justified', can anyone tell me who the murderer was in last night's 'CSI' and why he/she did it?
The Spouse returned at 10.45 from watching the Chelsea match in the pub and insisted on telling me all about it, with the result that I missed the denouement completely.
Posted by: macheath | Wednesday, 25 April 2012 at 12:35
"twaTerry" - love it, DM!
Can't be sure about CSI but the word is that the villain in the piece was some highwayman called Macheath and that . . . ooops!
By the way, Mac, thank you for the post on statins over at your place. I am undergoing such a test at the moment but in my case the quack is hoping that he can take me off them. My opinion of him immediately shot up although whether my cholesterol did the same I have yet to find out!
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 25 April 2012 at 15:57
Don't fall for all this medical rubbish about risk factors - the term is (presumably intentionally) misleading: all it means is positive correlates. Thus a major risk factor for obesity is the consumption of diet coke: a major risk factor for breast cancer is wearing a bra. Consider smoking - it is a cause of lung cancer - no crap about risk factor there. It's causes that should worry you, not risk factors.
Posted by: dearieme | Wednesday, 25 April 2012 at 22:59
Well, you should have watched the Essendon/Collingwood ANZAC Day clash at the MCG instead.
Brilliant game, the lead changed about 5 times in the final couple of minutes and Collingwood ended up winning by one point.
There was rain, sleet, hail, possibly some snow and still the beautiful young Aussie men bounded about in their tight little shorts.
Perfect!
Posted by: Andra | Thursday, 26 April 2012 at 00:37