>>>>>>>>>>What say you, citizens? I would have a hard time deciding.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>The jury decision is expected today.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I'd say if I were an Asian in Florida who owned an electronics or sporting goods store I'd be calling in the cousins right now to lock and load and get on the roof.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>( I have no opinion about the verdict as I, like anyone who was not there including the jury, have very little information about the truth of the matter. But as a student of media drum-beating, manipulating of public opinion for agendas that have nothing to do with the truth, and the idea that being aggrieved - or pretending to be so - is supposed to be a free pass for barbarous behavior I am pessimistic about the result, no matter which way it goes)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>You are more pessimistic than me. Juries get it wrong sometimes but I have faith in the system. I would not bet my life on what happened, either way. As you say, we have very little information about the actual truth of the matter.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>This has nothing to do with the jury. This has to do with a society that tolerates reacting to jury verdicts (or sports championships) with looting and pillaging against people who were in no way involved.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>???
>>>>>>
>>>>>>No offense but this is maybe the dumbest thing I have ever heard you say. For one thing it assumes a guilty verdict, something which is as yet unknown. More seriously, it indicates an unseemly attitude about race.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Out.
>>>>>
>>>>>First, I've said a lot of things dumber than this - you must not be paying attention <s>
>>>>>
>>>>>Second, it would actually assume a not-guilty verdict. A guilty verdict would mean a racist murderer ( according to some aggrieved community leaders ) had been found guilty - though man-slaughter many not be enough.
>>>>>
>>>>>The assumption is the innocent youth was killed because he was black. If his killer is found not guilty, it could be seen as a reason for outrage. If you were around for things like the Rodney King verdict you may remember Los Angeles became a very bad place to be a Korean who owned a store that sold TV sets, as many were liberated by citizens expressing their outrage at the white cops who were acquitted.
>>>>>
>>>>>Again, I have no opinion about the case just as I have no opinion about Jodi Arias or what kind of bassinet the Karashian child should have.
>>>>>
>>>>>I just think media circuses bring out the clowns.
>>>>
>>>>Prepare for explosion.
>>>>
>>>>http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/13/justice/zimmerman-trial/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
>>>
>>>So far I'm delighted to be wrong. That is not to say we won't see Al Sharpton out on a street corner in Liberty City shouting "No justice, no peace" but so far the people who actually have skin in the game - i.e. prosecution, defense, and families - seem to be behaving.
>>>
>>>My fear is that 24 hour news channels with way too much air time to fill and nothing more titilating like Jodi Arias to feed on currently are going to have way too many talking heads committing sociology on the air and telling us how to feel and What It Means and Says about Us as a Society.
>>>
>>>Fortunately my TV has a twit filter. (and I am into my annual summer rewatch of 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix)
>>
>>I read something quite astonishing the other day. Care to guess the most visited web site? Netflix. And not by a little but a lot. It said if you add up the visitation rates of the next half dozen most popular web sites -- YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, cnn.com, a couple of others -- they don't equal Netflix.
>>
>>You are definitely a Buffy fan. It gives you something in common with my daughters ;-) My ex once remarked to me that she couldn't understand why it compelled them so much. I said it's girl power. When they started watching it they were 10-13, somewhere in there, and coming to grips with what it means to be female, including the sometimes unfair sexual attitudes. So a strong, capable female protagonist was catnip to them.
>>
>>Personally I have been rewatching The Sopranos, prompted by James Gandolfini's death. I remember most of the scenes but it's still sensational. I mentioned the other day that my favorite character is Paulie Walnuts. (Played by a guy who was supposedly in the life himself in his younger days). Last night there was a scene where Paulie and Christuffuh are sent to whack a guy and wind up chasing him through the woods. Paulie runs into some poison ivy and becomes infuriated, no longer just out doing a job. "I'm already itching!" They fill the guy with lead until their guns are empty.
>
>Ah yes, the Russian with the shovel. Great stuff.
>
>All Joss Whedon's stuff (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse) are allegorical. The arc of the characters is pretty impressive and there is just enough really cheeseball or self-referential stuff to make it goofy fun at the same time. Whedon is Tarantino level genius but I think even more impressive as the genre he works in - long form TV series - requires a lot more follow through which is where I think Tarantino comes up short sometimes (Pulp Fiction) though when he really hits it (Kill Bill2) he blows the doors off.
>
>About ten years ago I saw Buffy on a couple critics' lists of the top ten TV shows of all time and was so shocked I actually started watching. They were right. Since then if it has Whedon's name on it I'm there.
>
>Newsroom starts the second season tonight on HBO. I think that is one you'd like. WestWingy. Very Sorkin. I'm looking forward to season 2 if only to see the great performances by Jeff Daniels, Olivia Munn and Sam Waterston.
>
>My favorite of the new crop is Ray Donovan on Showtime. Truly impressive.
>
>And the Netflix exclusive stuff continues to amaze. Kevin Spacey in House of Cards, then a whole new season of Arrested Development and now Orange is the New Black. They release all the episodes at once so it is like somebody giving you a DVD set.

We are disagreeing across the board, LOL.

Just to get one correction out of the way, the Russian with the shovel was a completely different episode.

The longer Tarantino goes on the less I like him. As opposed to Martin Scorsese, for example, who keeps coming up with fresh things to say. IMO "Pulp Fiction" was in fact QT's best movie. And I hated both Kill Bill movies. They were like self-parody. He had become quite proud of himself for a former video store counter jockey. The ultimate was when he appeared on a musical talent show as a judge, offering up his appraisals as though playing good music in his movies made him a musical expert.