The Beast (TV Series) on Netflix

Today's venture was watching the premiere of "The Beast", a drama about harder-than-nails FBI undercover agents. The older lead agent is played by Patrick Swayze and the younger, newly-assigned protege and partner is Travis Fimmel.

If the first episode is anything to judge by, this series will depict a dog-eat-dog environment where undercover officers have to play their cards very close to the chest and protect their own and where the bad guys will go to any lengths to get them.

In order to get the job done, they'll also have to play fast and loose with their own safety and the rules. But in the end, it will be about getting the job done.

I think I'll like this series - there is tension, their is a form of controlled chaos, and their are some machiavellian manouvers. This show's leads try to show that undercover officers have to be able to concoct a story and play to it, no matter the stresses or situation - improvising as necessary.

Patrick's premature demise in 2009 ended the series early, but if the remainder of the season follows on with the level of dramatic excitement of the premiere, one could easily say it was a decent final gig for the old pro. Unlike many of his nice guy roles, this is him at his mean, gritty best, with retained elements of the tough guy and the thinker from other roles.

I'm imagining this series would cost $30 or more on DVD and I'm watching it for free. Even if I was paying $8, it still seems like good value. The more I look at what Netflix offers, the more I understand the fear that is motivating Bell, Telus, Shaw, Rogers, etc. to want to see Netflix subjected to Can-Con rules and so on.

I think that would be one of the more tragically stupid steps if the CRTC follows it. It would seriously begin to change my mind away from supporting the CRTC's existence.

The CRTC should be about enhancing competition, enhancing consumer choice, protecting consumers from predatory oligopolies and from predatory pricing. It should be about pushing Canadian TV, radio and internet technology forward and opening up new and disruptive avenues that lead to new industries and shake up the pricing structures of the old.

Netflix is definitely disruptive and the oligopoly players of conventional TV should be scared. They've been living high off the fatted calf with the collusion of the government for some time now. Netflix and Vudu from Walmart when it gets here will be tearing up the marketplace with a new assignment of valuation and with a new value proposition declaring that cheap, available content is the route to everyone making money.

I think they ought to have a boatload of consumers. And the closed-subscription systems that will drive Showtime and other major TV players with such 'flagship' shows as Twilight (ha, ha ,ha!) are doomed to crumble. Their idea of a value proposition won't stand up i the face of $8 for all you can watch combined with bitTorrent of the things people want to keep from being under that regime.

People will pay $8 a month to Netflix for their wide service offering. They'll watch a bit of news and weather on the net and they'll watch movies and series on Netflix.

Eventually the oligopolies of the TV world in Canada will either get it, realize their business model and margins have to change, or they'll go extinct like the MPAA and RIAA appear to be working hard at.

TV and movies are no longer worth $60-80 a month. That ship has sailed. On Netflix, you can watch what you want, when you want. That beats the heck out of even time shifting.

Anyone who hasn't tried it out should give Netflix' 30 day free trial a test drive. Even $8 a month doesn' seem like a lot for what is on offer and the more subscribers the get, the better they can balance off the oligopoly tactics of Bell, Shaw, Telus and Rogers. That alone makes $8 a month worth spending IMO.

Check it out! And check out the beast, if you like gritty undercover law enforcement stories.

Cargo - European Scifi on Netflix

Cargo is European scifi and less cliched than a lot of Hollywood work. A reasonably good cast (for all I know, famous in their own lands), an interesting story with some twists and turns and a moderately ambigous ending, suspenseful at point, and with a good budget for effects.

I particularly enjoyed this movie. Subtitles I much prefer to voice dubs because the dubs rarely match the dialog and the voices sound wrong for the shape and size of the actors and actresses usually. Besides, I enjoy hearing foreign languages and reading along does not even reach the threshold of noticable  for me.

Seeing a movie with a cast of decent actors and actresses that I've never seen before was pleasant; We become very used to certain Hollywood personas, but I think we miss a lot of good work being done out there otherwise.

Being European, the film also was not an excuse to film a first-person shooter. It did have moments of conflict, of suspense, of tension, revelation and differences in approach and viewpoints between characters. There were enough things going wrong to make for good levels of tension and interest.

In they end, they tackled concepts like truth vs. the media spin, the challenges of off world colonization, the motivations of people (some want to 'take the blue pill' and others want to face the truth), and the idea that characters can go head-to-head while seeming to believe in something.

I found the lead actress to be pretty, but in a very natural way. I thought the character she played was interesting to watch and subtle in ways. She had a great interaction a family member throughout and that made her very human.

 In the end result, probably worth one month's subscription to Netflix on its own, or at least half that even if I was being critical. I hope they bring much more foreign scifi to our attention.

I'd give it about a 4.3 out of 5 rating. It was good, it had few flaws, and the actors and actresses were mostly strong enough for their roles. You could tighten it up (or expand it) here or there, but you don't need to. It would just contribute a few finishing touches.

I would buy this film if I ever saw it in a Region 1 DVD format.

Netflix Canada

Well, today I signed up for Netflix. I have wanted to subscribe for some time, but of course there is the issue of my ISP and bandwidth caps (how I look to go to a much higher cap so I can stream TV... hopefully one day some of the BBC racing coverage...).

What pushed me over the edge? The cunning marketing campaign that is "Free for a month!" and "$8 a month afterward for unlimited viewing".

Okay, I admit I've been missing something TV like since I've watched through most of the available TV I wanted to see (B5, Blackadder, Crusade, part of Andromeda, SG-1, SG:Atlantis, SG:Universe, bits of Clone Wars, bits of Doctor Who, Ghost In The Shell and GITS:Second Gig, Appleseed, BSG (old), BSG (new)). I admit I do have Space 1999 to see yet, the rest of Andromeda, and possibly Farscape. Maybe Space:Abort and Begone if it gets really, really cheap. But options were getting a bit thin on the ground.

So I've been contemplating TV. Walking Dead has my attention on iTunes. And then there was this Netflix thing. "Free!", it sez. "Free....", I sez. And I can drop it whenever I want? Time to try it out....

First Movie: Kung Fu Hustle. About 100 minutes of surreal Kung Fu madness and about 375 Mb of DLing. At that rate, my bandwidth cap would be good for 240 hours (assuming I did nothing else in the month). Now, that surely is not HD, but I'm not even convinced Roger's cable can stream HD without one hell of a buffer.

So, I've tried it out and there look like a bunch of things I'll enjoy watching. I've got in mind Heroes (Seasons 1 - 4), a few movies (I just saw a new one about the Malmedy Massacre in WWII which was made for about $1 M dollars, for instance), and maybe a documentary or two. Just mostly something to fill an hour or so at night as warm-down, since they tell me playing shooters late at night disrupts your sleep patterns.

For free, I've already had at least $4 worth of entertainment. I feel certain that by the end of a month, I could make that $50 worth without too much bother. That makes the $8 seem pretty good. Now, if Netflix has issues with keeping growing the things I want to see faster or if Rogers' decides to go all throttle-happy, maybe that $8 won't make sense.

But right now, it seems like it makes a hell of a lot more sense than the $70 a month my folks are paying Bell Expressview (given, they do get Nascar and other racing, and I'm jealous of that). But the $8 -> $70 distinction is sizable and Racing and Stargate don't justify that. I can get a season of Stargate for $50... less than a month's TV. And I can always torrent the racing or get Mom to PVR it and I can watch it when I visit.

So: Netflix so far, happy with it. I'd give it an 8/10 so far with room to continue to impress me.

Maple Glazed Salmon

Since I recently had confirmed that my systolic pressure is higher than is desirable, something I've suspected for some time, I've been trying to cut out the sodium in my diet.

This is harder than it seems for someone living alone because there is surprising amounts of sodium in pretty much any canned food, most stored or preserved meat or fish, soup or canned pasta, and even in breads. Even some vegetable dishes, if they come in the preserved variety, are laden with sodium. Even cereals, loaded with healthy whole grains, can have horrific amounts of sodium as do most nuts (hard to find non-salted nuts, but it can be done).

In trying to reduce my sodium, I have had to watch what I drink (Canada Dry Soda Water should be banned - 20% in a can vs. 2% in PC Soda Water). I have also had to try to eat more fresh food.

Watching what I eat includes shifting from canned beans, lentils, and so on to dried versions for my chili, shifting from normal bread to ancient grain or sunflower or flax bread with less than outrageous amounts of sodium (there is actually a couple of low sodium breads, but you have to search for them). There are also low sodium crackers, but again a bit of effort to hunt down. Low sodium soup? I think this must have to be made fresh because every preserved soup I see has a minimum 18% of your daily salt. Low sodium tuna is available in some rare places.

I am going to try making crockpots full of soup and freezing it, since I have a freezer out in the country now. That ought to help let me enjoy soup without the salt.

All of this leads to my new diet involving more vegetables (watching for the ones that have salt in the freezer bags or preserved cans), salad (with low-sodium dressing), and things like fresh fish. PC Salmon fillets (not smoked, not coated with seasoning) come in at around 4% of the day's allocation. Low sodium diets want you to shoot for 50%, something I just can't manage anytime soon. If I can get to 65-70%, I'll be pretty happy.

Anyway, I threw one of hese lovely boneless salmon fillets into the frypan and thought 'how am I going to flavour this' - last time it was some pepper, mustard, and hot chili. That was tasty enough.

This time, it was maple syrup and sesame seeds. I wasn't sure how it would work out, but I just cooked it for 3 - 3.5 minutes a side at medium heat, with a liberal application of maple syrup and an encrustation of sesame, and it worked out okay.

I think it would have been better if I had pre-toasted the sesame seeds, but this was quick and tasty enough. The maple syrup left a good glaze on the fish and the remains made a somewhat thickened sauce.

There must be something about having the sesame there though, because that plus the thickened syrup cooled rather quickly into something like a maple gum or soft taffy. That just added to the flavour and did a great job with the fish, but there is probably a more formally correct way to prepare this dish.

I should have got a picture as it even looked good on the plate! Easy to make, tasty, and very low sodium.

Confronting Hobson's Choice

On January 7th, my father was admitted at 0600 to the Ottawa Civic Hospital. Before noon, the surgeons had removed the right leg below the knee and stitched him up. This was done under and epidural because of his assessed high risk under a general (stroke risk, poor heart, bad lung, infection, etc.). The surgery went, according to the vascular surgeon, well. Nonetheless, Robert had one less foot and lower leg by mid-day.

This truly was a Hobson's Choice - antibiotics being ineffective, infection growing, with the possibility of necrosis not that remote, versus a surgical risk, the challenges of learning to walk with a prosthetic, the risk of stroke, and the challenges of healing at 78. Not the sort of choice anyone has to make.

I found myself unable to make a recommendation as both choices seemed perilous and uncertain. My father faced the choice with a certain sans peur sang froid. His calculus was that chronic wracking pain made life not worth living and this offered some remote hope of surcease and some quality of life, however challenging, in the future.

Father is home now and we're into dealing with the day-to-day impacts and trying to get him well and the pain controlled and the house fully adjusted to his needs. That's a big challenge, but I'm hoping we have some luck because he was brave enough to face the surgery and lucky enough to get throgh it unscathed (well, down a lower leg and foot, but that was the plan after all). If we can get his pain moderated, the sutures healed, I think he may well walk again on a prosthesis. He's a tough old bird and so is my Mom who is his support and who enables him to carry on.

He is human enough to have been worn down by the chronic pain, to have fear of this operation and losing his leg, but that was only a few moments and passed. He faced the whole process with an aplomb and courage that I honestly would be hard pressed to match.

At times like these, your mind tends to look for mechanisms to deal with the worry, the stress, the fatigue, and the possibilities. Mine took me down the line of thinking of what I might say at a eulogy for my Father. Grim stuff, but when you can't sleep, sometimes your mind makes up its own course rather than heeding your direction.

I may yet write out that eulogy, both as a preparation and perhaps to let my Father see what I would have said.

My father is no saint; He has flaws and shortcomings and views with which I vehemently disagree in some particulars. Yet, at the same time, he is the man who defined for me the words Integrity, Diligence, and Honour. (In my teens and early twenties, I might have added Intransigence, Provincial Mindset, and Rigidity, but I'm older now and think that assessment at least a significant exaggeration).

My mother has lives her values: Honour, Professionalism, Personal Responsibility, and Compassion. From her, I learned to care about people and to be willing to work hard and do a creditable job of whatever task I attempt. I learned and integrated the credo of personal responsibility. And I learned about Honour over Opportunity and Doing The Right Thing.

But from my Father, I learned about Integrity and Honour in an even deeper sense. By example, he demonstrated that the corruption prevalent in parts of our society, although too large to defeat, can be opposed. His actions showed that because others abuse a trust, even a public trust, to their own benefit, that does not justify you doing the same.

Personal Gain is nowhere near as important as personal ethics and the value of your Word and your Commitment. I often wonder how he resisted the opportunities to become corrupt and profit when it was so easy and systemic, but that is part of the core of his personality.

He sets a high bar of expectation from those with whom he deals (and that included me, to be honest). He expects them to do what they say and follow the terms of an agreement. But he will not cheat someone, even if it were an option and they were naive. His sense of Fairness and Rightness extend to dealing equitably with others as long as they too will do the same.

I've loved my Father and Mother for all of my life; Love is the natural state of a child for the parents. As I have aged, I have cultivated a more balanced, warts-and-all perspective on both of them as people. In doing so, I have come to greatly respect each of them for the things they have done, the stands they have taken, and for the way they have carried themselves in situations where it would have been far easier to do the wrong sort of thing, the easy and possibly profitable thing. But they did not.

And thus, in addition to my Love, they have earned my lasting Respect. And above and beyond that, they have become my Friends. I am very fortunate to have both around and to benefit from their advice (even Mother's reminders 'it's cold outside, better put on some mitts!' and the like). I'm also incredibly fortunate to have had two such exemplary role models to measure my own character against.

I may have inherited Stubborn, Intransigent, Independence from both sides of the family, along with the "Gift of the Gab". But along with that, I inherited a firm sense of Integrity, Duty, Responsibility, and Compassion.

I'm no angel either, as my parents before me, but whatever I am, I owe to them. And I'm very, very glad to still have both, in whatever decrepit form, around to share their wisdom with me.

My cup runneth over with blessings and I try hard to remind myself of this while tossed too fro on the Sea of Troubles. Most people will never have such good fortune at any point in their lives.

Have a good weekend. Hug the people who matter to you - never take them for granted. our spans are finite and our duration unpreditable.