House of Cards

The U.S. flag code states: “The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.” But Americans have long had their own interpretation of “dire distress.” An inverted flag was used to protest slavery at a July 4, 1854, rally held ...6 Jun 2024

Of names and history 

In my world names mean everything. I am told that the majority of historians have a basis upon which their relationship to the past interpretation of it falls. Mine is names. Not civilizations, not cycles, not religions, not instruments of warfare just names. 

Reinveting ourselves

In this you might come to appreciate the quick transition that many make from acting to getting into producer roles a thing that came to my attention through the 24 Series as well as Prison Break. I mean you can only be an actor for a few episodes before you tire from being told what to do and maybe even chosing to play the role of director.

Give credit where credit is due

With this in mind therefore watch House of Cards not so much the content as much as the credits and see if you can identify some of the names that make up the line up and that feature in the show. 

I find it hard to idenify an episode that stands out, but i think i really like Episode 4. 

On Transitions

This is a transitory episode and one amplified with quite a lot of decision making. A wife having to chose between a former lover and a boring but calculating husband. A father having to select between more manipulation and the loss of a constituency he loves. A story juxtaposing one NGO building wells and marking them out in colors verses a two man team of strategists making choices for democratic votes and republican votes as it seeks to change the top four positions in the country, a son and daughter chosing between mother and girl friend in light of the need for pop tarts or better looking breakfast meals cooked by dad, an office romance who must chose between her seemingly negligent husband and his family in a decision she might end up regreting for being to harsh or a young lady drawn to the mystery of an older man who has made her career and an old firm whose toxic office politics threatens to ruin her.

Can this type of dialogue be matched by A.I? 

It is difficult to see this type of masterly work with dialoge and narration being replicated by a non human. Large Language Models (LLM) build off of systems that already exist. The generative AI tool writes based on a library that you and i have created of our works whose knowldege it then utioizes to create something similar in style to your work. So no. If i can rent some of powerful resources that are available with these supercomputers and use those services to store my works and maybe fish out ideas for future projects then i might succeed but at this point, most of the works thst writers have published exist in some form or another in digitized form. 

Tragedy Strikes 

The style utilized by the show of narrative and direct conversations with the soon to be VP makes it almost feel like a documentary or a journey into the life of a heroic man who is keen to teach us his trade. But this quickly changes when we watch him pounce on his enemies in later episodes with utmost ruthlessness. He is calculating, funny, witty but also quite cruel. After costing up to him as your guide into the complex world of American politics, you are drawn away in disgust that your leader and mentor is after all a man whose ambitions will drive him to a path where no obstacle will survive his rage. But it’s too late you have already taken notes and laughed at his jokes and taken a front row seat in his life and are now an accessory to his acts. While his more laid back wife shows more restraint, she too will stop at nothing to make a point to an appointee who decides to go back on a promise and sue her. Her calculating moves to corner her foe are legendary. But she is quick to calm down unlike her husband. That they make a great team is a fact we are left appreciating and the tolerance for each other’s infidelity is noteworthy. 

 

Is the change really welcome?

A few months ago I posted on my Facebook wondering aloud whether the the presentation of the award to Lupita Nyongo was deserved. 

(http://intas8n.blogspot.com/2013/11/san-quentins-narrative-on-slavery.html)

(http://intas8n.blogspot.com/2014/01/not-so-funny-after-all-dynamics-of-good.html)

There are several layers to this complex puzzle. The first has to do with her emergence from obscurity. But as it turned out she is the daughter of a famous opposition politician in Kenya-Anyang Nyongo. The truth though is that opposition politicians belong in a class of their own.

The second was a concern about her schooling. The press made a big deal about her time at an Ivy league. Perhaps the suggestion was that a young person from Africa could only rise in the ranks of 

Hollywood via the expected route of good schooling. Later on though it emerged that she was one amongst many. The list of incredible possibilities I wrote was endless given the work of groups like the Phoenix Players in Kenya that groomed many more...not to mention the endless school productions that helped create an incredible group of personalities. 

The Third concern was about the director of the film and his background. A few months prior to the award show I had written extensively about some of Mr. Tarantino's work and commented about his skill in getting you to think by making you laugh. I was wondering why an Englishman had to win an award while there were so many amazing works by Americans on a story more familiar to them. 

In response to this third issue, what I did was to attempt to link the above ideas to the existence of the Black Entertainment Television Awards and the Hispanic awards to a lesser extent. 

Perhaps it was driven by the idea that black frustration in the system as it stands means that often it becomes a little simpler to create exclusive systems which celebrate personal and group achievements as opposed to waiting for acceptance from others. 

A deeper look in the idea led me to think again about the election of Mr. Hope and what it meant in African American Circles. Without downplaying the man's amazing oratory skills and his ability to awaken the spirit of the founding fathers, I wondered aloud why all the contenders resident in the U.S...and black had to be by-passed for an African. 

Maybe your victory is my victory and your daughters are my daughters. But a four hundred year separation should have certainly produced a leadership core...and the not from the content of Origin. 

Maybe the deeper question is whether the drive for change will continue in earnest or if it will be stifled. Will the next manifestation of this change bring a woman to the fore in Casablanca?

Will we see the emergence of a Hispanic? Or even an Italian? Does Kerry still have hoop dreams or will our feisty friend from Jersey manage to make his way into the coveted office. 

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