SCREEN: The Queen's Gambit

The Queen’s Gambit (a 7-episode limited series on Netflix) is an enthralling look at the sometimes fuzzy line between genius and demons, in this story about an orphan girl who becomes a world-class chess prodigy during the 1960s. A series of other chess champions are the nominal antagonists, but the real antagonist is the protagonist herself and her self-destructive impulses rooted in her troubled childhood. Anya Taylor-Joy’s brilliant performance brings Beth Harmon to life, conveying her guarded character as much with looks and movement and tone as words. (I first became acquainted with Taylor-Joy last year in her charming performance in Emma.) The American 1950s/1960s are vividly rendered in costume, color, sets, style, and speech, which really enhances the production. There’s a Cold War undercurrent throughout, with the Soviets being the chess world superpower of that time period, and the US State Department and various organizations interested in helping Beth succeed as a show of American superiority. And yet that whole trope is a clever contrast to an underlying theme of the limits of individualism: Beth can succeed if only she can find people who will support her and if she can learn to trust them. Like a great chess game, I really wanted to see how this story played out, and like a great chess game, I could watch it all over again right now to see how the early moves built to the ending.

TV: Romil and Jugal

I blame our friend Nitin. He started me on this. While everybody else is binge-watching The Crown or Stranger Things, what have I got hooked on? Romil and Jugal. It’s loosely inspired by Romeo and Juliet, except the star-crossed lovers are two college boys in a hill station town in northern India. Their families aren’t so much feuding, although the fathers are rivals at work, and there’s a north/south Indian culture thing I’m just learning about, with Romil’s family being flambuoyant northerners while Jugal’s family are buttoned-up “Tam-Brahms” (the highest caste from Tamil Nadu). But of course the real crossed stars are the love that dare not speak its name. Sodomy is still a crime on the books in India (though the Supreme Court may reconsider the infamous “Section 377” this year). Romil and Jugal was originally planned as a feature film but they feared it would be butchered by the censor board that regulates films in India. Instead it was produced for streaming media which is less regulated. Not that it’s very racy at all, certainly by American standards. It’s a light-hearted soap opera, a little goofy, sweet in its earnestness, the boys are adorable, and it’s hard not to root for them. Of course I would think that, but judging by fan comments I’ve read, it really appears to be winning over a new generation in India. I saw many comments from people confessing they’d had negative attitudes about homosexuality but seeing this show helped them realize that love is love. This is exactly the sort of thing that turns tides, recognizing that love transcends arbitrary human bounds. Speaking of love stories crossing boundaries, there is one little hitch I should point out if you’re tempted to check it out. I’m watching it in Hindi. You can also get it in Tamil, Telugu, or Malayalam, but not in English. Not that I understand any Hindi, but it turns out that the way a lot of people naturally speak in northern India is more like “Hinglish”, Hindi with a lot of English mixed in. Between the action, expressions, tone, and the partial English, you can follow along enjoyably enough without knowing any Hindi. Love is love in any language. (Also, the first five episodes are free, but then you have to spring a few rupees.)

(Update: After watching 9 episodes without translation, I discovered there's an option for English captions by hitting a button on the lower right corner of the browser.)

Six Feet Under

My latest "TV" binge watch (on my iPad) has been Six Feet Under, to catch up on the last two seasons that I never saw. Fittingly, on New Year's weekend, I watched the series finale. I had heard that it was extraordinarily well done, and that is so true. It was an amazing ride with the barely functional Fisher family, and I have to admit that there were times that I wondered whether I really liked any of these characters, even to the penultimate episode. But then in the final episode, life found a way to go on after a death that had affected them all, and it was so organic and so affirming. And then the final montage was simply wondrous. Structurally it combined two cinematic cliche endings — a ride off into the horizon and a roll call of every character and what happened to them — and yet it did it in such a fresh, profound way that it was extraordinary and luminous. The whole premise and structure of the series has been one long memento mori, a family-run funeral home with each episode beginning with a death, with characters often imagining conversations with the dead, constant reminders that life can be fleeting and death can be senseless. So it was brilliantly fitting that in the final montage we see the deaths of all the major characters, some sooner, some later. This span of lives over decades is telegraphed in flashing glimpses, interspersed with shots of Claire driving out of Los Angeles, away from the only home she's known, into a frightening, exciting, beckoning unknown future unfolding like the highway before her disappearing into the horizon, and all to the beautifully haunting song "Breathe Me" (Sia Furler). She's just learned her job offer in New York has been rescinded, but her dead brother urges her to go anyway, not to live in fear. And as she takes a farewell photograph of her family, Nate whispers in her ear "the moment is already gone, you can't capture it." Moments and lifetimes. What an exquisite piece of television, and what a perfect note on which to begin a new year.

American Idol - America Blows It

So far this season, the voting on American Idol hasn't been too unreasonable, but last week, the voters went totally off the rails when they booted Michael Johns, and tonight was one of those nights where we really wanted to throw a brick at the TV. Sending Carly Smithson home this week was just wrong, wrong, wrong. She totally deserved to be in the final three with the Davids. And this week of all weeks, when she totally rocked, and when a couple of the other performances were notably obviously weak. And neither did Syesha deserve to be in the bottom two. If there were any merit to it, it would have been Jason and Brooke in the bottom two, and Jason going home. I think Brooke is really talented and unique, but she's been losing her nerve lately. Last night, even after the false start, she just didn't connect with her song. (I think it was tacky that in the recaps and stuff, all they focused on was her false start.) But Jason, ugh. Simon was right, he was like some wedding singer being asked to sing a song he doesn't really know and doesn't really like. It was just painful. In general, while I think Jason's got a certain distinctive style to him, a lot of his performances are just kinda flat for me. He was awesome doing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" way back when, and his Israel Kamakawiwo'ole-style "Over the Rainbow" was good too, but there's been a lot of flat in between. It should have been Jason this week. Carly, we'll miss you, we'll download you, and hope to hear more of you!

American Idol: Top Ten

Winnowing down from Top 24 to the Top Twelve, I think American Idol was working unusually well this season, and the right choices were being made. I've blogged before about how the way voting works on Americal Idol is inherently messed up. The run of good decisions was too good to last, and last week America seriously blew it when David Hernandez got voted off. (I just really hope he didn't lose because it got out that he was a stripper at a gay club, but I can't help but wonder.) My top three had been the three Davids. Hernandez has been awesome from Hollywood week (Love The One You're With), and I bought his singles of Rolling Stone and Midnight Hour from iTunes. Last week I was stunned when he was in the bottom three, and even more stunned when Kristy Lee Cook got to stay. (She's had some good performances, but last week wasn't one of them. Simon was right - it was Dolly Parton on helium.) This week I was okay with the end result -- I liked Amanda's spunk but her music wasn't really my taste -- but we were nearly throwing objects at the television when Ryan said that Carly Smithson was in the bottom three. That was just crazy. Despite Simon's not getting it, Carly's Blackbird was the performance of the week. She shouldn't have been anywhere near the bottom three.

I still hold that David Archuleta is going all the way. Though this week's performance wasn't my favorite (I thought he was trying just a bit too hard to embellish), he's been consistently amazing, and has a really distinctive charismatic voice. But he'll get a tough run from David Cook, Brooke, and Carly. And with the top six rounded out by Syesha and Chikezie. Them's my predictions. That is, if America does the right thing. Big if.

American Idol: Top of the Top 24

Now that we've seen the Top 24, I think there are some clear contenders here. On the boys side, David Archuleta's performance of "My Mama Told Me" last night was one of those where you just go, "Wow, that's it. That boy is going all the way." He has an amazing voice, with a really distinctive husky soulful quality to it, he's got an on-stage presence and charisma that just holds you rapt. And he's got the musicality that the judges are always looking for, the ability to interpret something and make it your own. Plus it doesn't hurt that he's so cute and sweet, the same kind of innocent vulnerability that won people over to Sanjaya last year, except this boy has the voice to go way beyond Sanjaya. So if I had to make a call now, he would be my prediction for the top. He will, however, get a good run for his money from Michael Johns and Jason Castro. And if he can get his confidence back, David Hernandez is very good too. (I loved his "Love The One You're With" last week.) But we may already know who our top three boys are.

On the girls' side, the "Wow, that's it!" award goes to Carly Smithson, whose awesome performance grabbed my attention even before I discovered that she had been suffering from the bronchitis bug that was hitting several of the Idol contestants. (It's been going around LA in general, and it's nasty, my husband and I have both been suffering.) If she sings like that when she has the flu -- damn, there's no stopping her. However, she has some fierce competition from Ramiele Malubay (the cute little Asian girl with the unexpected powerhouse voice) and Syesha Mercado (this girl has serious pipes). And close on their high heels are Asia'h Epperson (this girl is a natural performer), Alexandrea Lushington, Brooke White, and Kady Malloy (if she can find her own voice). And I liked Alaina Whitaker too. Hmm, the girls got a real competition on.

What's Wrong With American Idol

Tonight's American Idol results show had us spitting at the TV with disgust. I was still smarting a bit from last week when AJ got booted off and Sanjaya went forward. AJ's "Feelin Good" was the bomb, and it's unfathomable how Sanjaya's uninspired "Steppin' Out With My Baby" was favored. No offense to Sanjaya, who's got a decent voice but not an Idol voice, and is way outclassed here. This week, it was apparent on his face that Sanjaya was expecting to go home, so he was shocked, the judges were clearly shocked, and we were all shocked when he went forward again, denying a seat to the far more deserving Sundance, whose "Jeremy" rocked. And on the girls' side, we thought it was pretty clear cut which two should be going home, and one was as expected, but our jaws hit the floor when Haley took the spot that totally should have gone to Sabrina. Her jazzy, powerful "Don't Let Go" was so far and above Haley's pallid "If My Heart Had Wings", it's just so wrong.

As I stewed over this gross miscarriage of justice, I started thinking to myself, what's wrong with American Idol. And for some reason, I started musing "what would Steven Levitt think?" Pondering the incentives and the system, it occurred to me why it is flawed. For starters, of course, it's not explicitly a search for singing excellence, otherwise it would be determined by qualified judges and not by 37 million Americans voting by phone. But beyond that, even assuming that all of the voters were honestly voting for the best performers (as opposed to the best looking, most popular, favorite song genres, etc, which is a big assumption), the one-person-one-vote system could be expected to determine the top performer, but should not be expected to determine a qualified rank order for the rest. In these earlier weeks, we're being asked to vote for the best, but the decision being made is who are the worst. Think of it this way. Suppose that 75% of the voters have reasonable taste and judgment, and 25% don't. The 75% of the voters who do have good judgment will have put their one vote toward those who truly are the top performers. But in these weeks, those votes don't matter. What matters is who got the most votes among the bottom half of the class. And those are being determined by the 25% who lack judgment. Thus, one would expect that in these intermediate winnowing rounds, the decisions of who gets sent home are going to be rocky and spurious. And so they have been.

A better system for these elimination rounds would be for people to vote for the bottom rather than the top. Or if that seems too mean-spirited (what? Idol mean-spirited?), each person should get to vote for as many contestants as are going forward.

I also think there's some amount of game theory that enters into it. I'm suspecting that an appreciable chunk of voters may vote based on song choice and genre, as there are a variety of genres being represented. For instance, there are probably a good number of country music fans watching the show (see Carrie Underwood for proof), and perhaps a lot of them don't have an appreciation of other genres, and may not have appreciated Sabrina's sophisticated rendition of an En Vogue R&B tune. Perhaps they voted for Haley just because they prefered a country song. I'm not slamming country here. I appreciate country music, and I really like the Faith Hill song. Which was all the more reason Haley was a disappointment. She's a pretty girl and she can sing decently, but we need more than decent here. Her interpretation was uninspired, a bit fast yet lacking drive, and when she got to the chorus, where the song just wants to soar, well, Haley's voice just didn't have wings. And yet she'll be back and Sabrina goes home. So wrong.

In honor of Paula, I'll find something nice to say about American Idol. Kudos to them for the highlight on charity that they announced tonight. The money that they will probably be giving toward the needy in Africa and here at home is admirable, and the attention they will be bringing to charitable efforts will be invaluable. Looking forward to hearing more about that. Charity is sweet music indeed.

American Idol

It was a tough call, but after seeing Carrie Underwood singing with Rascal Flats, I think she deserved to win American Idol. She was so natural on the big stage, and at the same time a sweet down-home all-American girl. Of course, Bo Bice was great as well, and I think in a short while they will both be as well known as Reuben Studdard and Clay Aiken (and to be honest, I can't recall whether it was Reuben or Clay who actually won a couple seasons ago). And I think there was a lot of great talent on that stage, as most all of the "top ten" are incredibly talented. Vonzell was totally awesome singing her number tonight - a phenomenal voice and she is so beautiful! We've seen some great performances this season from Anwar, Nikko, Anthony, Mikhaila, and Constantine too. But I do have to quibble with the judges' repeated comment that this is the best season they've had. I think they had an all-round strong final group this year, making it hard to winnow. But while there were many really good performances, I don't think that there were any truly awe-inspiring gobsmacking performances like we saw in the past seasons. Fantasia Barrino singing "Summertime" was absolutely galvanizing, and we didn't see its equal this season. Overall, we really enjoy the show, and think it's doing a great job of bringing attention to some great young talent across the country.

And, as a technologist, I have to say, it's quite impressive that the show drew 500 million votes this season. The spring 2003 Idol drew 24 million votes, with 2.5 million text messages sent on the final show alone. The 2004 Idol had 7.5 million text messages sent in its final show, with tens of millions of votes through the season. Sponsoring American Idol was a stroke of genius for ATT Wireless, since in 2003 (the first year they used text message voting), one third of the 2.5 million voters were using the text message feature for the first time. That was a heck of a lot better marketing than the $120M they dropped on their m-Life campaign. (Remember m-Life? Nobody else does either.) I'll be interested to hear the stats for Verizon Wireless this year.

Reality Round-Up

Though I've gone through years of my life without paying much attention to TV, our home does have a few favorite shows lately, including some reality TV. Our favorite reality show is the Amazing Race, which is probably the only reality show that I would have the faintest desire to actually be on. All that world travel to such interesting places, challenges of navigation, communication, brains, and brawn -- sign me up! This season we were glad to see Meredith and Gretchen make it to the top four. At their age, they are inspirational for that. Now we're cheering for Joyce and Uchenna, who are the nicest couple. And we want to see Rob and Amber go down - they're the most devious couple and we'd love to see what goes around come around to them. As for Ron and Kelly, well if they end up stumbling into an ill-advised wedding, Ron should take a cue from that girl in Georgia and stage his own kidnapping.

Then there's our second favorite reality show, American Idol. The show really does attract some great talent, and it's (mostly) a pleasure to watch them especially in the final weeks. (Well, okay, there's also a schadenfreude kind of pleasure to be had from watching some of the more pathetic performances in the early weeks.) Not sure what's up with the voting lately. It's amazing to me that Scott lasted this long and that Anthony is still there, while Anwar and Constantine are gone. I think when you get this far in the finals, it's more about who does a better job of telemarketing as much as singing. (Remember Jasmine Trias? I mean she was good, but not top three good, not better than Latoya London good. But she had the whole state of Hawaii working the phones for her. And on some level, both in the contest and in real life, that's what counts.) My money's on Bo, but I'm not giving any long odds.

Oh, and I'm glad that Fox has finally stopped that nasty disrespectful habit of cutting off the dismissed contestant's farewell song.