Who Run the World? Nerds!

(L to R) Scoot McNairy, Mackenzie Davis and Lee Pace look out of their clandestine offices at IBM representatives who invade their territory with a mixture of defiance and intimidation.

So the highly anticipated series on AMC that's not Mad Men or Breaking Bad premiered this past Sunday. Halt and Catch Fire tells the almost unknown technology story of tenacious and rebellious renegades in the 'Silicon Prairie' a decade before Silicon Valley ever crystallized as the center of the technology revolution, that stole IBM's flagship product; the PC, to basically create some of the most important innovations in the field birthing the Dell computer, and without whom we'd all be staring at a black IBM screen typing in green face letters. I exaggerate, but we'd definitely not be as technologically evolved. 

Speaking for myself I was so relieved to watch the premiere of a new AMC show without immediately thinking; 'well this is pretentious'. Let's face it people, AMC has a weird streak of broadcasting good material on its viewers and then letting it fall into bleakness, pretentiousness, and mediocrity...am I right Breaking Bad? But this series, promises to be new and different, exciting and incendiary, sexually charged and spy-thrillery, throughout, and yes all of that came through just in the pilot. Not to mention how refreshing it is to wax nostalgic about the 80's rather than the 60's.

I wish I could tell you there was a love story between these two characters; Joe and Cameron, but it's more of a hate-sex thing. It's much better!

Faux-rebellious protagonists who turn anti-heroes because of blind ambition like Don Draper and Walter White are out. This show focuses on desperate people with nothing to lose and an enormous thirst for power, legacy, and entitlement. The three protagonists could not be more different from one another nor from any protagonists in scripted television right now. Though they may have certain familiar quirks and characteristics, they are fundamentally unique, and we have the writers and actors playing them to thank for this.

Lee Pace as Joe MacMillan; the ring leader.

Joe MacMillan (played by Lee Pace) seems like your typical 80's yuppie. He drives a cool car, wears a sharp suit, blow dries is hair, and always has something elitist to say to his 'lessers'. But he's not everything he appears to be. Even though he's what's commonly known as a 'closer', he can't seem to catch a break. Sure his job pays well but no one really takes him seriously when his ambition gets the better of him. He might have the appearance of a staunch business man, but he wants more. And the way to get it is to do it his own way and circumvent those standing between him and ultimate power. 

Scoot McNairy as Gordon Clark; the 'brain' and most of the time, the voice of reason.

Gordon Clark (played by Scoot McNairy) is basically his polar opposite. Thin and physically inferior with huge glasses and a face-masking beard, he's the 'misunderstood genius'. There was a time when he had brilliant ideas, but his dreams were crushed, along with his self-confidence when he tried to build his own computer with his wife which turned out to be a pyrotechnic disaster. No one ever took him seriously again until Joe offers him a new means of recognition; not to build a computer from the ground up but to reverse-engineer the IBM computer and make it their own. It's hilghly illegal, and yet extremely titillating. Where would we be today if innovation ideas weren't pirated and nuanced to make that particular product better?

Brilliant Canadian actress Mackenzie Davis as Cameron Howe; the rebel.

And then there's Cameron Howe (played by Mackenzie Davis). Is she ever a loose cannon, and she perfectly rounds out this trifecta of brilliant thieves. She's her own kind of rebel, outwardly and aesthetically punk, extroverted, and defiant, inwardly an enormous genius for someone her age (I'm guessing she's about 21-22 considering she admits she's a college dropout). She's beautiful and spunky and doesn't take shit from anybody. She doesn't belong within a 5 mile radius of an office building, but when called upon by Joe to work on the reverse-engineering plan, she jumps to the opportunity considering all that's on the horizon is 'repairing VCR's for 3.25 an hour'. 

Two enormous egos battle for their time in the harsh glare of the tech spotlight.

The three formulate a plan to take down the biggest and only computer company in existence, but are soon met with opposition not to mention their mutual hate and resentment of each other. There's sexual tension basically everywhere, and if this show teaches us anything it's this: 1) Don't live in Dallas. 2) Be bold and do whatever the fuck you want even when everyone tells you not to, because that's how great people become great. I'm on board AMC, thank you for redeeming yourself with really enthralling material for a change. I have high hopes for this show, I can't wait for the next episode, and it's been a while since I cancelled plans for TV. This is the story never told, and the story we've suddenly become fascinated with thanks to The Social Network (2010). It has a unique point of view, and shed new light on a quiet revolution that happened behind locked doors and curtained windows. It takes a million artistic liberties but who cares? It's not on The History Channel. 

Trailer below: 

Free Pussy Riot. End of Transmition.

Clandestine members of Pussy Riot

I usually blog about the media here, so this is stepping out of bounds a little bit but not really because there was a documentary made about the whole Pussy Riot fiasco called Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer (2013) released by HBO films so I can basically tell my grievances through that if you're really that uptight about it.

I'm writing this today because today is the 1 year anniversary of the incarceration of three key band members of Pussy Riot by the Russian government, two of which are under 25. Some back story coming up. 

the thee members on trial; Nadya Tolokonnikova, Katya Samutsevich, and Masha Alyokina, mocking the courts for the ridiculousness of the situation. Good for them!

I'm a first generation immigrant, born in Russian (thankfully not into the Putin regime of totalitarian dictatorship) and immigrated to the United States at 7 in 1991 as communism was falling apart all over the place. Now what Russia has is a very close environment to Stalinist communism bordering Fascism with Putin's reign as supreme fucktard of the universe. Pussy Riot are a punk band made up of angry chicks with the most hilariously bizarre ironic and iconoclastic attitudes. They are vehemently opposed to Putin (as most people in Russia and all over the world are) and were arrested when they performed in one of Moscow's most famous cathedrals in February of 2012 and charged with get this 'public hoolganism'. That must have been some shit Putin invented when fishing shirtless high on Desomorphine and vodka. 

Lead singer, Nadya Tolokonnikova always put on a brave face even when behind bars to show the world, and more importantly her captors that they weren't about to break her any time soon.

Three of the band's key members, Nadya Tolokonnikova, Katya Samutsevich, and Masha Alyokina (I'm calling them by their informal names as a symbol of my solidarity) stood trial in Russian court (which is an oxymoron in itself) and were eventually (of course) convicted because unlike the good ol' US of A, where we just let killers back on the streets despite damning evidence (whole other blog post, some other time) in Russia, you're guilty until proven innocent, and if Putin himself is trying to put you behind bars, honey you are going to spend time in Siberia doing hard labor, away from your family, your children (Nadya has a 2 year old daughter) and be thankful that the government is not going after them as well, which it very well might do. 'Public hooliganism' carries with it a mandatory 2 year sentence term, so let's think about this objectively as intelligent people with brians; a few girls performed some punk music in a cathedral, condemning Putin. They didn't get naked, burn the Russian flag, or run through the streets armed with Molotov cocktails threatening to overthrow the government. For that, they are now in prison for two years. And while we as Americans could go into any denominational church or synagogue for that matter, put on some Bush and Cheney masks (I don't know how relevant that would be...ok Anthony Weiner masks) and do the exact same thing and our rights would be protected under the 1st amendment, not so for these three very young chickas.

So seriously, be thankful you live in a country where the highest act of treason is burning your country's flag, and even then if you have a good lawyer you stand a fairly good chance of being acquitted on all counts. And be thankful for all your freedoms like being able to watch the Daily Show's correspondents make fun of congress's incompetence and the ability to shout whatever the fuck you feel about Obamacare out of your car window to any passing stranger. Because in Russia, you breath a nasty word about Putin and you're lucky you're not tasting cyanide in  your tea the next day. Am I right Alexander Litvinenko? 

The balaclavas worn by Pussy Riot have become an international symbol for the fight for freedom of expression.

This insanity has to end. People are marching daily chanting 'Rascia bez Putina' which basically means Putin go fuck yourself, or in the literal sense; 'Russia without Putin', I'll go a step further and say 'Mir bez Putina'; World without Putin. Get him on a big jet plane and set him as our first live test subject to Mars. He can be ultimate dictator over their many craters and waterless river beds. He'll love it, and we here on earth will all live in a better place. Fight the power! Free Pussy Riot! And in the words of their leader, Nadya I'd like to end with the following: 'Open your doors, take off your uniforms, come taste freedom with us.'

Below a trailer for the aformentioned documentary: