So the blonde widow and our anti-hero Protagonist on his way to Redemption, after hot-eyeing each other for most of two seasons, get it on. More, they are in love! She's killed by a religious nutwinger -- a Lutheran Swede, no less, who also hoped to be Angel of Death for the Souix as a White Indian. She was killed because she was evil slut -- or really, to punish Our Protagonist whose wife and children were killed in the Waw by Union soldiers -- or, more likely, just because he wanted to, because he's a crazy Swede on the prairie.Actually, the love interest was fridged* to keep Protagonist free of those pesky inconvenient to plot attachments (particularly if attachment be female, because, as you know bhob, We Have No Idea What To Do With A Female except to make her be evile, holy, pregnant and / or a whore) and to provide yet another round of Hunt For Evile Bastards Who Killed My Wife - Mistress - Love of My Life, i.e. story = quest-movement. How non-creative and lazy writing is that? Plus Hell on Wheels bites continually from Deadwood in every way, including the music -- not original at all.Starting with the confederate anti-hero protagonist, with whom we're to identify.This whole set-up is so manufactured as opposed to growing out real history. And even worse, the characters are always leaving and then they're back! Again! And again! And yet again! How much failure of imagination can you have in a room of writers?Though I don't find a lot of good in Hell on Wheels, it does have magnificent landscape shots, some of which are as poetical as anything Terrence Malick did in Days of Heaven. I always get a jolt of delight from scene in which the horses are left to themselves in the lush (Canadian) prairie grass, while their riders posture and bluster at each other, and plunge ear deep into the delicious stuff, biting and chewing, tails swishing, the very picture of contented equines. And -- it is a western. I do like a good western.
Last couple of weeks my workouts have been accomplished to the audio accompaniment of Philip Kerr's first Bernie Gunther novel, March Violets (1989), set in 1936 Berlin. Under cover of cynicism (which is certainly a plausible characteristic of a Berliner with a brain during those eras) Bernie despises everyone, particularly gay people and women, interrupted by brief hiatuses when his dick runs him, and when it is over he humiliates the gorgeous female too, because she deserves it.As well, these attitudes come through as the author's deliberate choices,rather than rising organically from the narrative. Instead they rise organically out of the author's sense of superiority as self-identified with his first person protagonist narrator.A naked demonstration of plot as men waving their dicks in each others' faces for no reason at all, is the Howard Hawks - John Wayne movie, Hatari, big game trappers. In the course of the opening scenes, they beat down a rhino in their jeep, followed by a new guy entering a room, and all the men within seconds insult each other and start swinging. And the girl? What else can writers do with a girl in a John Wayne movie, even if she's Elsa Martinelli? 
Testosterone poisoning! Like Hell On Wheels (and so many more such as the relentlessly ugly masculine grey Boss), the Bernie Gunther Berliner private dick series, this movie is suffocating in the Sea of Testosterone -- and the writers have no idea what to do with women if they aren't being f&cked, f&cked up, f&cked over, or killed---------------------* Or could it have been the actress, tired of having nothing to do on this series except quiver posture weakly, decided to move on?Source:http://foxessa-foxhome.blogspot.com/2013/08/testosterone-poison-hell-on-wheels.html
Testosterone Poison: Hell on Wheels + Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series + Hatari! Images
The Blackhawks returned to Chicago, Thursday night for their first chance at moving on to the second round, since the spring of 2010. We all remember how that went. Anyhow, the Blackhawks seem to be the recipients of some fortunate opponent injuries, more specifically, the Wild goalies. In game 4, their original backup, Josh Harding, was hurt and their 3rd string goalie, Darcy Keumper, was forced into action. The Wild never really stood a chance after that. The Blackhawks played just well enough leave St. Paul splitting the two games there 1-1. That's good enough for me. First try at elimination tonight. Live from the United Center in Chicago, it's the Blackhawks and the Wild.The Wild came out with an honest and great effort, tying the Blackhawks in shots 10-10. Even with their effort and a stupid Hawks penalty, the Wild weren't able to put anything into the net. The Hawks, on the other hand, scored the only goal in the first period. On the way to round two or a Wild comeback?The wheels fell off the cart, and it burst into flames, for the Wild in the second period. They were able to score a goal to break the shutout, but the Blackhawks scored THREE goals to break any momentum. That is just a hole that an 8th seed can't recover from. The Hawks out shot Minny pretty handily, 13-8.The third period was really academic, because the Hawks were well out in front and in control. They actually didn't take their foot off the gas, though, and were still able to add a 5th goal on 10 shots while holding the Wild to a measly 4 shots. The Wild were like a beaten dog all period long, and I can't say they were ever a threat in the series. On to round 2.The GoodEl Capitan decided to make an appearance for game 5, chasing down a Seabrook dump in, and dropping it off to Hossa at the left dot in the Wild zone. Hossa immediately snapped the puck past Harding on the short side. Bang bang play with about 5 minutes left in the first period, and the crowd was sensing a celebration.Dream Warrior Marcus Kruger raced into the Wild zone and beat the defense to a dump in behind the net, just over three minutes into the second period. He immediately wrapped the puck around the far post and beat a very late late to the post Josh Harding. You have to think that Harding's tardiness had to do with his injury from the previous game because he was not moving well at all.Hossa scored his second of the game just over three minutes after the Kruger goal. Hoss just took the puck from behind the net and strongly drove across the crease with a defender all over him. His first shot was saved by Harding, but the rebound was pushed around Harding's left leg. He is Marian Hossa, and you simply are not! Again, Harding looked to be limited by his mysterious injury from the previous game. That ended Josh Harding's night and season. The boy named Darcy then entered the game, for the Hawks to feast on.Thirty five seconds after Mitchell broke the shutout, Shaw picked up a puck that was shot to the short side of the net by Bickell. The puck shot back out past the far post where Shaw was camping out. I'm not really sure why Kuemper slid to follow a puck that was going 2 feet wide of the net, but thank you. This made him very slow getting over to the far post, and Shaw had an open net. Might have been the biggest goal of the game, with the Wild just starting to gain some momentum.Mr Handsome fought El Capitan in front of the Wild net for a third period 5-on-3 Duncan Keith rebound, in front of Darcy Kuemper. Once he finally got a hold of the puck, Sharp chipped it into the net over Kuemper. If the game wasn't iced already, and it was, this goal was the final nail in the coffin.The Blackhawks were 17 for 17 on the penalty kill in the series. That is huge!For the second time in the series, Bryan Bickell freight trained a Wild player. This time the unfortunate victim was Tom Gilbert. Where has this Bryan Bickell been, and why are we just now meeting him?Following the STUPID faceoff violation penalty, Crawford made an enormous save on Koivu sliding across the net and kicking out what looked like a sure goal.Carcillo played his second game of the series and was slotted where he belongs, the 4th line. That I can live with, even though Ben Smith would bring more to the table.The BadThe Wild's Torrey Mitchell broke the shutout about halfway through the second period immediately following another successful Blackhawks penalty kill. Handzus and the rest of the crew fell asleep after patting themselves on the back following the PK, and let Mitchell sneak into the soft spot in the slot. Crawford really didn't have much of a chance to react. Meh, whatever. All that Wild fun and excitement would last exactly 35 seconds.Kruger and Handzus were bitch slapped at the dots once again, helping drag the team totals under the 50% mark. This Handzus thing might have run it's course, which would be a perfect time for Bolland to get his ass on the ice and do something other than suck the life out of his linemates.The UglyI need someone to ask Quenneville just how in the hell the Hawks have gotten TWO faceoff voilation penalties this year. I have NEVER seen that called before this season. Ridiculous rule, completely subjective, and pointless. The Wild spent all of game 4 cheating the faceoffs, and weren't even as much as warned, but Stalberg moving a half second early earns them a penalty?Mouth breathing cementheat Mike Rupp earned himself a 2 and 10 after the game was well out of hand. There is that sandpaper, again. Did a helluva lot of good didn't it, eh?Here are the video highlights:
Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty ImagesBy Kenneth Teape (@teapester725)Friday, April 26th, 2013Game 3 Post Game RecapFinal Score: New York Knicks: 90 Boston Celtics: 76The Knicks are one win away from sweeping the Celtics and winning their first playoff series in 13 years after giving the Celtics a thorough whooping tonight in Boston. Unlike the first two games in the series when the Celtics were able to make some noise in the first half, they were taken out of the game right from the start tonight as the Knicks led basically the whole way. The Knicks dominated right from the opening tip and took a commanding 3-0 lead in the series, basically guaranteeing themselves a visit to the second round as no team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in a seven-game series.-PositivesThe Knicks defense was dominant in the second halves of the first two games and tonight they brought that effort for the full four quarters. The Knicks played suffocating defense throughout the night, holding the Celtics to 40 percent shooting and forcing them into tough shots all night. The defense the Knicks have played against the Celtics in the series has actually been historic, as the Celtics have never previously scored less than 80 points in three straight games in the shot clock era. The Celtics have scored only 225 points in the series thus far, the least amount scored in a three game playoff stretch in the history of the team. Tonight the Knicks ratcheted up the defensive pressure on the perimeter especially, forcing 18 team turnovers, including 14 steals, and converting those turnovers into 26 points. The two biggest weapons for the Celtics in Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett struggled, shooting a combined 11 of 28.Carmelo Anthony once again led the Knicks in the scoring department tonight, pouring in 26 points on 12 of 25 from the field. Anthony was sharp tonight on the offensive end, scoring in a variety of ways from all over the court. He knocked down a couple of jumpers and was on the receiving end of a nice alley-oop pass as well. The Celtics, like many teams in the NBA, do not have a player capable of contacting Anthony and it has shown throughout the series.Raymond Felton continued his strong series tonight with a solid double-double, scoring 15 points and handing out 10 assists. Felton said earlier Friday that this was one of the best seasons he has had in his career and it showed tonight as he led another strong Knicks performance. Felton added two rebounds, two steals and one block as well, only turning the ball over twice. If Felton plays as well as he has throughout this series and down the stretch of the regular season the Knicks will be extremely hard to beat.Pablo Prigioni set the tone early for the Knicks tonight by knocking down three long balls in the first quarter. Prigioni was a menace on the defensive end as well tonight, nagging the Celtics perimeter players all night and exposing the fact that they do not have a player capable of playing point guard as he had five steals in the game. The Knicks have looked much better in games 2 and 3 with Prigioni in the lineup after he missed Game 1 with an ankle injury. Jason Kidd didn’t let Prigioni be the only elder statesmen to have a strong game, as he added six rebounds and assists of his own in addition to two blocks and great defense once again on the likes of Pierce.Tyson Chandler looked most like himself tonight as he has at any time in the series. Chandler played 30 minutes tonight and grabbed eight rebounds while scoring six points. Kenyon Martin offered the usual relief for Chandler and performed well also, bringing the intensity on the defensive end the Knicks lacked last season when Chandler would sit on the bench. Martin finished the game with five points, four rebounds and one block.Steve Novak showed up a little bit in the game tonight and added some meaningful minutes for the Knicks. Novak had a sequence in the game in which he gave great help defense on Garnett and then came back down the other end and knocked down a three pointer, basically putting a dagger in the game for the Knicks. On the night Novak scored eight points, grabbed two rebounds and had one steal. -NegativesJ.R. Smith was having another strong game for the Knicks scoring 15 points, grabbing four rebounds, dishing three assists and getting two steals before he let his emotions get the best of him. Jason Terry had a hard swipe at the ball while Smith was holding onto it in the fourth quarter and Smith did not appreciate it, retaliating with a hard elbow that connected in Terry’s face. Smith was thrown out the game with a flagrant-2 foul and could possibly be suspended for Game 4. If Smith is indeed suspended it will be a big blow to the Knicks second unit as Smith has been important to the Knicks success. Even if he is not suspended for Game 4 he will have to watch his cool for the remainder of the playoffs as another flagrant foul will result in an automatic suspension.The Knicks did not get to the foul line often tonight and when they did the results were not positive. They took only eight free throws and made three of them, an unacceptable number for both categories as they need to get to the line more often for easy points and convert the chances given to them.
