'I always get angry when I'm furious' - Bernard Black: the best hater on TV since Basil Fawlty

I like Dylan Moran. He verbalises my thoughts about the condition of the world perfectly. They all rattle in my brain too, but unfortunately, for the lack of any expressive oratory abillities, I can never quite put them the way I want. He does. In this grouchy, pesimistic, tired, deeply European way that is so close to my heart and which is very often misinterpreted, especially by some generally happy nations, like Americans, as the hatred towards all living things. But coming from intelligent and reasonable people, I've always considered this kind of sarcastic outlook as a rather special talent. It does not hide any heavy machinery behind it, no engine designed specifically to take pleasure in offending  others. It's just what it is on the outside. Taking notice of the ridiculousness and hypocrisies of the world and making it lighter for a moment.

'Hi, my name is George, I'm unemployed and I live with my parents' - best Seinfeld quotes ever

I usually end my day with a short episode of something. I got into the habit so deep that never mind if I go to bed at 9pm or 3am these twenty minutes are a must. Lately, I've been working pretty hard and apparently, to unwind after a stressful day, the respectable oldies goldies do the best trick, with Seinfeld being on the top of that list. The last time I had a chance to catch a glimpse of an episode was maybe five years ago, and let me tell you - apart from the clothes and the hairdos, it does not get old. Here are some of my favourite words of wisdom:

1.'You know, I think we really need to be in front of a television set. You take T.V. out of this relationship, it is *just* torture.'

(George to his mother)

What to do with a dream?

I wouldn't write a bad review. I mean, I always find fault in everything, that's just how I roll, but noticing all the imperfections doesn't make me less positive about the whole thing if the thing is good, whatever the thing is. So instead of dwelling on the couple of pointless films I've had a displeasure of watching of late, I've decided to dig up a couple of titles that I just can't seem to get out of my head, never mind how ancient they are, completely blind to any imperfections.

Very loosely paraphrasing Milan Kundera - you can really call something a work of art if it forces you to feel something you have never ever felt before. By this standard, and any other, for that matter, I've always considered 'Fitzcarraldo' of Werner Herzog a work of art.

Al Pacino as Danny Collins: 'It's spring in my mind, but the autumn leaves they fall'

I've said this before - I love a good story. Well, here it goes. An unknown but promising musician  Steve Tilston gives a newspaper interview in 1971. He talks about the doubts about his future in show business and how he's afraid that the demands of the world and fame are going to crash his spirit and sincerity. None other than John Lennon reads the interview and writes a letter to the struggling artist, giving some advice and apparently, his home phone number. He doesn't adress it directly to Tilston, though, and the letter doesn't make it to the recipient. By some twist and turns of the universe, he gets it a couple of decades later and the question hangs in the air - what if...?

True Detective 2: Astronauts don't even go to the moon anymore.

 

One of the greatest pleasures in life for me is to hear a good story. Such a kind that leaves you in a state of a slight shock and with a lot of reflection. Being a pessimistic grumbler far too often, I generally hold a view that everything's been said and done and surprising an experienced recipient borders on impossible. But, every once in a while, upon reading or watching something new, I'm put back in my place quite enexpectedly, and thank god for that.

The first season of True Detective was exactly this for me. It had me hooked from the first minute of the first episode 'till the last scene where one of the most beautiful, simple, meaningful-without-being-overly-dramatic conversations in TV history took place. So I tried to lower my expectations before starting season 2 to prevent any initial resentment rising from the fact that it does not measure up.