"I believe in science. I believe in evolution. I believe in Nate Silver, Neil Degrasse Tyson, and Christopher Hitchens. Although I do admit he can be kind of an asshole. I can't get behind a supreme being that weighs in on the Tony awards while a million people get whacked by machetes. I don't believe a billion Indians are going to hell. I don't think that we get cancer to learn life lessons, and I don't believe people die young because God needs another angel. I think it's just bullshit."
-Piper Chapman
Orange is the new black
You know I kept hearing about this series so I decided to watch the first episode just to see what all of the fuss was about. Once I started I could not stop until I had watched the entire series.
I loved the whole thing.
I did the same thing, Gryph. Loved Piper's (too bad about her name) rant and wanted to re-watch and write it down. Thanks for doing it for us. Thought it would be your typical "women in prison" trashfest, but it far deeper and more clever than anything I've seen of the genre. Netflix is really taking video to a whole new level. House of Cards was a delicious pleasure and deservedly up for numerous Emmys. Next year will be a big one for OITNB.
ReplyDeleteI was thoroughly bored by ep 7 (would this even be a show if she hadn't been a lesbian?) then I googled Piper Kerman and read the stuff that her fiance wrote for the newspaper and came across the blog she wrote before going to prison. What a self-absorbed bitch.
ReplyDeleteMe too! I watched the whole series in a few days. Really excellent writing, story telling, character development, etc etc. I can't say enough good things about it.
ReplyDeleteThat Pennsatucky character - the meth head who had 5 abortions and then became a religious hero because she killed the abortion staff who said "what is this buy 5 get the 6th free?" ....is really the perfect example of what meth does to your brain.
ReplyDeleteThese actors are just amazing to watch!!
The book was great. The fact that this is based on Piper's actual experience makes it all the more interesting. Her own story was harrowing. Highly suggest the book.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the sentiments in re religion, I couldn't keep watching this program because none of the characters are the kind of people I'd be interested in following: nasty, venal, mean and dispicable. No wonder they're in jail.
ReplyDeleteMy wife watches it and I go onto the porch and continue re-reading Tolstoy's "War and Peace."
Mr Albert Lewis, guess who is running our country into the ground by forcing their religious xenophobic bigoted racist doctrines on us?
DeleteThat's right the nasty, venal, mean, despicable idiots like $arah Palin, Ted Cruz, Jim Demint, Louie Gohmert, and Steve King.
Each one of these militant CHristian Taliban are despicable.
They aren't in jail, but should be.
And not all of the Orange characters are nasty either.
I think you need to read something besides W&P, or get out of the house more.
I agree with you, Mr Lewis.
DeletePiper Kerman worked for an international drug ring helping to ruin countless lives and families.
She deserved everything she got.
Political prisoners - e.g the NUN who chained herself to a nuclear reactor are nasty, venal, despicable?? lol
DeleteDrug addition happens to many , from all walks of life, as depicted in the show, and causes unspeakable horrors to happen by otherwise respectable members of society. Prison graft - and prisons ARE businesses, rife with graft - is depicted here as well.
Go read your Tolstoy if you wish, but if you have kids or grandkids, OITNB will provide more teachable moments than ole Leo these days. But, the sex scenes may be a bit much for youngins!
Really hope you read the book. It's an easy read and considering the subject, a "fun?" book.
ReplyDeleteTEXASMEL
Love Orange/Black. Now watching the political one with Kevin Spacey and Breaking Bad. Wow all three shows are full of nasty, lying, thieves, secrets. Great viewing/escapes.
ReplyDeleteLouAnne/Chicago
Does anyone else think Mr Healy kinda, sort of, has a face and eyes reminiscent of Uncle Gryph, or is it just me??
ReplyDeleteJust the face, not the body or persona, just the face!!!
Hey G-Man, you'll like this!
ReplyDeleteAir Force Offers Secular Oath To Trainees After Atheist Group Challenges 'So Help Me God'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/06/air-force-secular-oath_n_3712926.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
The Woman Who Inspired 'Orange Is The New Black' Reveals The Creepy Side Of Prison Guards
ReplyDeletePiper Kerman's memoir "Orange is the New Black" is way less violent than the addictive Netflix series it inspired, but one part of her year in a low-security federal prison sounds highly creepy.
Several guards at the Danbury, Conn. federal prison groped women inmates with impunity, according to Kerman, a yuppie who bonded with her fellow inmates despite their different backgrounds.
It's not shocking that some guards at the prison got handsy given the absolute powerlessness of women inmates. Kerman's descriptions of pat-downs are still disturbing, though (especially if you've imagined yourself in a federal prison after a marathon viewing session of the fictionalized version of "Orange").
While most guards went out of their way to avoid touching the female inmates too much during routine pat-downs, others relished "grabbing wherever they wanted," Kerman writes.
More from Kerman:
They were allowed to touch the lower edge of our bras, to make sure we weren't smuggling goodies in there — but were they really allowed to squeeze our breasts? Sometimes it was shocking who would grope you — like polite, fair, and otherwise upstanding Mr. Black, who did it in a businesslike way. Other male COs were brazen, like the short, red-faced young bigmouth who asked me loudly and repeatedly, "Where are the weapons of mass destruction?" while he fondled my ass and I gritted my teeth.
There wasn't any point in reporting this misconduct, she writes. Female prisoners who said they were groped were locked in solitary for their own "protection."
http://www.businessinsider.com/piper-kermans-orange-is-the-new-black-talks-about-groping-2013-8
Just try leaving the transit lounge of an Indian international airport when your only crime is being the only person on the plane under the age of 40. The guards are happy to pat you down very slowly and intimately (at gunpoint) while a planeload of your grandmothers looks on. And I wouldn't even get on a train in India while committing the crime of being a woman.
DeleteAnd you want sympathy for criminals?
Just started watching this show last night (coincidence!) and am hooked. It is keeping me busy while I wait for Breaking Bad to return.
ReplyDeleteShe "believes in" Neil Tyson? Maybe she has one of these.
ReplyDeletehttp://boingboing.net/2013/03/22/neil-degrasse-tyson-in-votive.html
HA! I want one!
DeleteI'll have to read the book. I loved Piper's "Non profession of faith" and laughed at the ending. You know what I have to do (sheep shake heads "yes") "She disrespected me, now I have to kill her"
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to "turn the other cheek"?