Dailies #63

– Mystery trader buys all Europe’s cocoa.

– White House demonstrates American commitment to free speech by shutting down 73,000 blogs in one day.

– Last month was the hottest June ever recorded on Earth, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday.

– Wedding from hell: Ringbearer has a seizure, the groom’s mother collapses, a guest learns his father has died and two children suffer head injuries. Suddenly your best man getting drunk before the toast doesn’t seem so bad.

– The state’s youth detention agency was ripped as incompetent in a blistering report yesterday for allowing three murderers and a robber to attend a sex-soaked “social dance” at a facility in Orange County with less security than one would find “at a high-school prom”.

– China Mieville • The City & The City – l-am asteptat atata vreme, am citit atatea recenzii sclipitoare, si totusi e doar o dezamagire crunta, un rateu pe care l-am oprit putin dupa jumatate. Suna mai bine cand o spun in engleza: there was no fantasy, the case a boring procedural of typical historical fiction, the characters flat and paper thin, the dialogue stilted and terrible, the plotting tedious. What a waste.

– Amintindu-mi cine navigheaza nava – acum ca Steven Moffat, geniul din spatele Coupling, Jekyll si al episoadelor timpurii perfecte din Dr Who, e la carma, i-am mai dat o sansa noului sezon din Doctor Who. Pustiul care-l joaca pe noul doctor ma enerveaza la fel de tare ca prima oara cand am incercat sa-l vad, dar am reusit sa ignor asta restul sezonului – pe care l-am vazut intr-un maraton tipic intr-o duminica plictisitoare. Scenariile sunt absolut fantastice, in special episoadele 3, 4, 5 si 10 (scris de Richard Curtis), iar sfarsitul sezonului – duetul 12 si 13 – e o dovada incredibila de story-telling combinand tot ce-am iubit vreodata si in special sezonul asta la Dr Who, ba chiar aruncand si chiuveta in ecuatie, pentru a realiza un arc de poveste nemaipomenit, comparabil cu sezonul 4 din Angel si sezonul 5 din Supernatural, realizand o apocalipsa cvasi-perfecta. Noua asistenta, Karen Gillan, asa cum am mai zis, e excelenta – se pare ca nu am fost singurul naucit de Carey Mulligan in Blink. Hello, nurse. Atot-perfecta Lizzie Corday Alex Kingston ne onoreaza cu prezenta in cateva episoade. In rest… ce pot sa zic? Cel mai bun sezon al serialului a fost saturat cu povesti bune, toti inamicii posibili si foarte mult umor.