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OverviewLittle Sutton Mountain 6654' is located on a long, boomerang-shaped ridge nestled in between the two highest summits in NW Montana's Salish Mountains, Sutton Mountain 6872' to the NE and McGuire Mountain 6991' to the NW. Ironically, Little Sutton is the 7th highest summit in the range, but has been, by far, the easiest summit to obtain of the Salish Mountains we have summitted to this point. Views from the summit are somewhat blocked by trees, but if you're in the area to see the McGuire Mountain Lookout, it just makes sense to summit Little Sutton, either going to or coming from McGuire. We actually did the latter, being pressed for time due to incoming weather, we definitely wanted to do McGuire first.
Getting There
Route Information
The bushwhack is short and extremely easy through open forest. As stated earlier, summit views are limited due to trees, but you can get glimpses of McGuire on the way up that we took, and also of Sutton...pictured below... from the summit, when you arrive.
|One-Way Mileage
|Elevation Gain
|Trail 446
Camping and RedTapeLittle Sutton Mountain is located in the Kootenai National Forest which is bear country. Don't hike alone, make noise as you hike, and carry bear spray and know how to use it. Although we saw no bear sign specifically on Little Sutton Mountain, the Salish Mountains are chock full of healthy-sized black bears and the occasional grizzly.
There is no water available on this hike. A map of the Kootenai National Forest is helpful in negotiating the many Forest Service Roads. Bug repellent is an absolute necessity in Montana in June and July.
The closest campground is at McGuire Mountain Lookout.


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Paul Ryan, Anti-Poverty Warrior
On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal review section gave Rep. Ryan a chance to offer his opinion about the proper policy to fight property. Brilliantly, Mr. Ryan put his finger on the key problem: the teachers' union. Who else has done so much to reinforce poverty than those dastardly teachers?
Questions regarding Gov. Brown's multi-billion Twin-Tunnels Water Project
Is it not true that virtually every large public works project suffers from serious cost overruns? Will the ballot initiative inform voters about the actual probable costs of this project?
Is it not true that the first Governor Brown, Jerry's father Pat, constructed the first California Water Project with the understanding that large recipients of water would repay the state for the costs of delivering water? Is it not true that they reneged on that promise? Will the greatest recipients of water really pay their fair share this time? Without some certainty, should the ballot initiative reflect the risk that the state will not be able to collect adequate repayments for its water?
Without guarantees of adequate repayments, should the ballot initiative reflect the risks? For example, in light of the first reneging of the payment obligations, the state had to turn to other sources of funding. It took money from the Tidelands Oil Fund to cover the failed promised payments, which required the California State system and the University of California system to initiate tuition hikes, which set off decades of spiraling tuition.
Does it make sense to send the water to the Central Valley to grow crops that would be unprofitable without huge federal payments and subsidized water? For example, cotton is not particularly suited for semi-arid land. Besides, such federal and state subsidies seem to violate trade agreements such as the WTO and NAFTA.
Could one make the case that importing cotton from Africa, where farmers have trouble competing with highly subsidized American growers, might help to stabilize parts of the continent, which would reduce the incentives for continually increasing the costly level of the US government's military entanglements in that part of the world? Might cutting back on subsidized cotton production in the Central Valley be the first step in reducing military involvement in Africa?
Such a suggestion might admittedly seem to be a stretch but it serves as a reminder that the consequences of such a huge undertaking as the twin tunnels will have significant unintended consequences that will be unlikely to be presented to the voters in a ballot initiative.
The questions disregard a much larger question regarding the need to conserve water supplies, both locally and statewide.
Beijing Paper: Constant Capital, Accumulation, Sustainability, and Economic Theory
I would appreciate any comments about a paper I will present in Beijing. I hope that the title describes the content.
Pity the 1%; The Ressurection of Ayn Rand
With the popularity of Vampire culture, you will certainly appreciate this over the top call to give back to the 1%.
Standing on Principle
I am continually amazed by the rhetorical use of principle and probability. States' rights are a perfect example. To begin with, this concept first evolved as a tactic to protect the rights of slave owners, hardly a noble objective. Since then, it has become almost synonymous with freedom. States should have the right to determine who can and cannot get married. The federal government has no business sticking its nose into such matters. On the other hand, states' right to legislate on marijuana use is routinely overruled. Similarly, states' right to control business abuses, such as the spreading of pollution, are routinely overruled by Congress, including strong upholders of states' rights.
The probability of somebody being injured by a consumer product or an industrial process, such as fracking, are typically dismissed out of hand. On the other hand, protection against terrorism is treated differently. Richard Cheney offers an excellent example of that approach: "If there's a one percent chance that Pakistani scientists are helping al Qaeda build or develop a nuclear weapon, we have to treat it as if it is a certainty in terms of our response," Cheney said." Of course, the kind of actions that Cheney proposed greatly increase the probability of terrorism, which might be desirable in the sense that it offers a welcome pretext to build up the bureaucratic powers justified by such threats.
Appeals to probability are especially interesting because of the ease with which measures of likelihood can be easily manipulated. Here is one of my favorite examples concerns Richard Thaler's measure of the value of a statistical life, a measure that Thaler soon realized was a wildly underestimated. This underestimation, meant that the cost-benefit analysis of workers' protection was far more likely to prove unfavorable. Here is a snippet from my Invisible Handcuffs book to show how creatively such analysis could be applied:
"John D. Graham, a fervent opponent of regulation, who became President George W. Bush's head of the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, even went so far as to claim that spending money on regulations instead of vaccinating children is tantamount to "statistical murder." Ironically, I know of no case when the anti-regulators came out in support of any program to actually vaccinate children, perhaps preferring to be able to recycle vaccination as a straw man to wield against all regulation."
How Greedy Workers' Pensions Destroy the Economy, Or Not.
Let's begin with one of these greedy workers. Or maybe he was one of the people who fret about the workers' pensions?
Maremont, Mark. 2013. "For McKesson's CEO, A Pension of $159 Million." Wall Street Journal (25 June): p. B 1.
"Executive pension plans sometimes grow to a hefty size, amounting to tens of millions of dollars, as extra retirement cushions for long-serving CEOs."
"Then there's the record $159 million pension benefit of John Hammergren, the current chairman and CEO of drug distributor McKesson Corp. MCK –0.93% That's how much he would have received in a lump-sum payment had he voluntarily departed on March 31, McKesson disclosed in its annual proxy filing on Friday."
"Compensation consultants say it's by far the largest pension on file for a current executive of a public company, and almost certainly the largest ever in corporate America. It's also more than double the value of the 54-year-old Mr. Hammergren's pension six years ago.
"Mr. Hammergren has been at McKesson for 17 years, 12 of them as sole CEO, so he is significantly younger and has a shorter tenure than most other executives who have accumulated large pensions."
"A giant pension plan was at the heart of a controversy a decade ago over the pay package of Richard Grasso, former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. An outside investigation found that Mr. Grasso had amassed pension benefits with a lump-sum value of $126 million."
My mistake. He was probably one of those who groused about workers' pensions
Or How About the Big Money People who Handle their Pensions?
Braun, Martin Z. and Chris Christoff. 2013. "Detroit's Pension Funds Dogged by Bad Deals." Bloomberg Businessweek (28 July): pp. 42-44.
They detail how the Detroit pension plans have lost more than $10 million on each of several deals with shady characters.
California also got snookered by similar crooks.
Apologies regarding Muscular Christianity, Eugenics, War, Football, and Imperialism
I do now know why my attachment did not work with the blog.
I have posted a link here:
Muscular Christianity, Eugenics, War, Football, and Imperialism
In the late nineteenth century, a fear about the softness of American society raised doubts about the capacity of the United States to carry out its imperial destiny. This problem was associated with the final settlement of the frontier. As important as the development of open space was to the expansion of the territory of the United States, the completion of the continental expansion brought an attendant fear that traditional masculinity was on the wane and would bring about a withering of the individual and the national body. This fear spread to the church as well, where the result was thought to be a moral softening (Miller 2011, p. 38). To make matters worse, waves of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe were flooding American cities with foreign cultures. This concern became so pressing that talk of "race suicide" became common.
Here is the complete section:
Is Obama falling into a trap that he set for himself
The Sarin WMD red line rhetoric together with the news that Iran is supposed to be sending troops to Syria might open the door to the long-desired war with those evil-doers.
Wall Street Journal exposition of Marx's Theory of Crises
Overcapacity Fuel Costs Hit Shipping – WSJ
This article parallels the analysis that I used in Railroading Economics to analyze the Great Depression of the late 19th century. Overcapacity and new technology combine to force companies to invest in technologies that have even greater economies of scale with the effect that they swamp the market even more.

subset: commoncrawl


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|Bible in Basic English (BBE)
|New International Version (NIV)
|10 Then let my wife give pleasure to another man and let others make use of her body.
|10 then may my wife grind another man's grain, and may other men sleep with her.
|The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain. (The Bible in Basic English Version Online)
|Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online)


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Timberwolves offer useless max contract to Eric Bledsoe
The Minnesota Timberwolves have offered restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe a max deal that the explosive Phoenix Suns guard has been looking for all summer. There is just one problem. The Timberwolves are over the salary cap and thus, would need the Suns to agree to a sign-and-trade. Minnesota is offering ...Read More


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Teens at the Library
by Amber Keck, Children's Librarian
Teenagers in Manhattan and surrounding areas have many opportunities to be a part of Manhattan Public Library. Not only can teens have access to materials and activities, but they also have the chance to log community service hours and connect with other teens and adults in the community. With their parents' permission, teens may own their own library card and have access to any unrestricted materials, including comic books, video games, fiction and nonfiction books. Programming for teens include Yu-Gi-Oh dueling, After Hours parties, crafting afternoons, and much more. Any activity or program for teenagers is free, but they do sometimes require pre-registration because of high attendance.
Teens can be a part of the brainstorming and implementation of programming in the library, as well. Keri Mills, MPL's Young Adult Librarian, hosts a meeting of the Teen Library Advisory Board (TLAB) every month. During this time, TLAB plans activities and programs, discusses the library's young adult book collection, and keeps Keri up-to-date on topics of interest to teenagers in the community. These meetings are held on the fourth Thursday of the month from 3:30-4:30 pm. The next TLAB meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 23rd in the Friends' Room. Anyone is welcome to attend these meetings.
Rebecca Price, a summer teen volunteer and consistent contributor to TLAB, likes that she gets to meet a lot of new people through the volunteer program and TLAB. As a lover of the library, being an active member of TLAB is important to her. Over the years, she has had the chance to plan a number of different programs and activities, but the Catching Fire After Hours was by far her favorite.
During the summer months, teenagers can also be a part of the teen volunteer program, in which they assist library staff in presenting programs and giving out prizes to summer reading participants. During the summer of 2014, teen volunteers logged in 520 hours! The children's staff simply could not pull off the extensive programming and awesome summer reading incentives without the help of the teen volunteers. Spots for this program go fast, so be sure to start inquiring about it in the wintertime.
At Manhattan Public Library, teenagers have a space to share their ideas, connect with the resources they need, and make a positive impact on their community.
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Final Fantasy XIII-2
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Walkthrough - Sunleth Waterscape 300AF - Part 007
Link contributed by fuzzfinger01
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KCET airs a new Season 2 episode of "Inspector George Gently" this Sunday, April 28, at 9 p.m. If you're eager to get to the bottom of this week's whodunit early (or if you need to play catch-up once the end credits start rolling), then this recap is for you. Prepare for spoilers and answers aplenty.
(Need a refresher on the other installments of this detective series? Then check out our previous "Investigating 'Gently'" recaps.)
So is this the last "Gently" KCET will be airing?
For now, yes. Next Sunday, it's "I, Claudius," but rest assured that this is not the last you'll be seeing of Inspector Gently.
Who's the unlucky stiff this week?
Patrick Fuller, an employee at the local mill. In fact, that's where he's found hanged, but the lack of a suicide note make Gently and Bacchus suspect that Fuller could have been murdered. There's some evidence to support this: In the room where Fuller's body was found, there was also a woman's earring on the floor and a thread from Fuller's coat stuck to a nail.
Are any of the other mill staffers suspects?
Most that we meet seem fairly broken up by Fuller's death. The mill manager, Henry Blythely (Nicholas Jones), was once best friends with the dead man, and the manager's wife, Mrs. Blythely (Anne Hornby), seems shaken as well. And then there's Julie (Kate Heppell), the pneumatic 17-year-old secretary, who can't stop gushing about how kind Mr. Fuller was to her.
Who doesn't seem so upset?
Two people in particular: First, at the mill, there's Sam Draper (Tom Goodman-Hill, a real KCET MVP whom you may recognize from "Doc Martin," "Hustle" and "Foyle's War"). He's a rotten excuse of a foreman who seems interested in neither doing his job well nor grieving for the late Mr. Fuller. There's also Mrs. Fuller, who doesn't seem the least surprised when Bacchus arrives with news that her husband has died. She long suspected that Mr. Fuller was having an affair with Julie -- she had often smelled Julie's perfume on her husband -- and furthermore, her husband had gotten himself into a great deal of debt, despite the fact that he had fairly recently sold ownership of the mill to Geoffrey Pershore.
And who is Geoffrey Pershore?
A major component of this episode's "B" plot, Pershore (Tim McInnerny, of "Mi-5" and "Black Adder") is running against the conservative "authority" candidate, Nicholas Mundy (Trevor Cooper) in a local election. It's all anyone's talking about, aside from Fuller's death. In fact, one of the mill employees, an eager lad named Jed Jimpson (Justin McDonald), is a key player in Pershore's campaign.
He's... um... eager, and the actor seems intent on expressing this as physically as possible.
What can Pershore tell us about these suspects?
Gently first presses Pershore about why Fuller hired Draper. Pershore can only offer "We all make mistakes." As for the overeager Jed Jimpson, Pershore explains that he has been acting as a father figure for Jed, who lost his biological father several months ago. Finally, there's Fuller. Not long ago, Pershore called Fuller into his office to discuss the disappearance of £1,500 from the office safe. Fuller couldn't explain it. And on the night of Fuller's death, Pershore had gone to the mill to discuss the matter with him. Fuller wasn't there. Neither were the accounting books. What Pershore did find, however, was an envelope containing £500 in bills bearing sequential serial numbers. Pershore, however, decided not to pursue the matter in an effort to protect his campaign.
Was Mrs. Fuller correct in believing that her husband was having an affair?
Yes and no. When Gently and Bacchus ask Julie this directly, she's horrified. An actual quote: "I'm gonna tell my dad you said that. And copper or no copper, he's gonna come down an thump ya." Julie is as innocent as she is naïve, and swears up and down that she's never been with a man. Additionally, Julie explains that the earring found on the mill floor couldn't be hers, as she has pierced ears and this earring is a clip-on.
So if Mr. Fuller actually was having an affair with a woman...
The only suspect would be Mrs. Blythely. In fact, Gently stops to interview more mill workers -- including the Blythelys -- next. And although Jed is the one lacking an alibi -- on the night of the murder, he left work early to campaign for Mr. Pershore after having a shouting match with Mr. Fuller -- it's Mrs. Blythley who comes off as the most suspicious. And soon enough, she is in an interrogation room, admitting to a long-term affair with Mr. Fuller, her husband's best friend. The reason he would come from smelling like Julie's perfume is that Mrs. Blythely once noted how young and beautiful Julie looked. Mr. Fuller subsequently bought her Julie's items -- her perfume, her earrings (but in clip-on form) -- so that she'd also feel beautiful.
Did anyone else know about the affair?
Mr. Draper might have, as he once stumbled into the room when Mrs. Blythley and Mr. Fuller were embracing. But if Draper did know, he's surely not telling anyone now, because Soon enough, Gently and Bacchus are pulling his corpse out of the water. He's been bashed in the head, and the first suspect in this second death is Mr. Blythely, who's standing by watching as Gently and Bacchus examine the body.
Okay, did Mr. Blythely know his wife was sleeping with his best friend?
Yes. He says he could "smell it on her." But he doesn't mean Julie's perfume. He means happiness.
You know, Bacchus hasn't done anything stupid yet.
That's not really a question, but I'll answer it anyway. After more or less reaching a dead end in the case, our detectives learn that Fuller was a member of the Freemasons. Furthermore, his Freemason brothers are largely all political conservatives who wanted him to dig up dirt on his boss, the liberal Pershore. Figuring that infiltrating the notoriously tightlipped Freemasons could offer him a new lead, Bacchus goes to his father-in-law, the chief constable, and requests membership. He doesn't tell Gently, because Gently explicitly told him that membership in such a club would prevent an officer from being impartial as an investigator. And Bacchus also doesn't tell his wife, instead offering her the story that he's working late. In undergoing the initiation ritual (which awkwardly involves wearing an noose, much like Mr. Fuller did), Bacchus actually manages to identify one new suspect -- Maurice Hilton (Alan McKenna) a health inspector -- who may know something important.
That... actually sounds fairly shrewd. Where's the boneheaded aspect?
Gently and Bacchus's never-before-seen-onscreen wife, Lisa (Melanie Clark Pullen) run into each other in town.
It's a good scene. We learn that Lisa hates policemen. She married Bacchus anyway. She loves him. She feels he hides a lot. She just found out he votes Tory. She supports Pershore. She thinks he's honest. She asks Gently if she's losing her husband. He can't answer. (That could be in part because Bacchus did have an affair, as we learned two episodes ago.)
And what does the health inspector tell our detectives?
When they bring him in for questioning, he explains that when he examined the mill, he found it to be filthy. Fuller being a fellow Mason, however, Hilton couldn't shut him down. This reprieve allowed for Preshore to sweep in, buy the place and clean it up without the mill getting the bad publicity of health code violations. Given that the mill was working the whole time, however, tainted flour got out and made people sick. Everyone recovered, save for one person: a man who died of liver problems. Pershore got a closure notice, but had been paying Hilton off ever since. Hilton had also been squeezed by his fellow Masons to let the story go public.
Please, put this in context of the murders.
It's coming. Gently and Bacchus take this information to Pershore's campaign office, where Pershore admits that he should have shut down the mill but didn't on account of the workers whose livelihoods depend on it. Gently points out that the closure notice was nowhere to be found among the items in the vault. That's where Draper comes in. After leveraging his knowledge of the affair with Mrs. Blythely in order to get a foreman position, Draper continued to blackmail Fuller. When Fuller was unable to pay, Draper got into the mill's vault, looking for cash. He found the closure notice, and therefore began blackmailing Pershore as well. Pershore and Draper were in the middle of a cash exchange, in fact, when Jed happened upon them. Incensed with Draper for his treatment of his political role model, Jed decked Draper... who then hit his head. Draper died. At Pershore's advice, they tossed Draper's body into the river.
Say... what about that one food poisoning death?
It was Jed's father. Jed assumed alcoholism killed his dad, and he's enraged to learn that his role model and substitute father figure is responsible for his actual father's death, to the point that he actually holds a broken bottle to Pershore's neck. Ultimately, he declines from taking an additional life.
And who killed Fuller?
Fuller killed Fuller. The suspicious-seeming suicide was just that, and in the end it seems that Fuller truly killed himself to end the stress caused by his affair and his debt.
Finally, what's with the episode title?
Yeah, "Gently Through the Mill" seems too pleased with itself at having realized that Gently's last name is an adverb to realize that it's not the most enticing episode title ever. But while the episode titles have been having fun with Gently's last name, none of the characters on the show have seemed to realize that Gently's name is odd. You'd think someone would have pointed out this at some point. Or at least made a joke about it.]]>
KCET airs a new Season 2 episode of "Inspector George Gently" this Sunday, April 21, at 9 p.m. If you're eager to get to the bottom of this week's whodunit early (or if you need to play catch-up once the end credits start rolling), then this recap is for you. Prepare for spoilers and answers aplenty.
(Need a refresher on the other installments of this detective series? Then check out our previous "Investigating 'Gently'" recaps.)
So who's the unlucky stiff this week?
That's the thing: This episode doesn't begin with the discovery of a corpse, "Law & Order"-style. Instead, Gently and Bacchus are staked out in a South Shields cemetery, watching a masked man nervously check his watch. Eventually, the cops make their move, but following a scuffle with Bacchus, the suspect gets away. The only thing Gently and Bacchus can show for their efforts? The suspect's suitcase... which is full of expired passports.
Huh. That's decidedly less compelling than a murder, isn't it?
Just hold your mystery-solving horses. When Gently goes into the local passport office to chide the staff for being so careless with a shipment of old passports, he meets the clerk in charge of the order, Maggie Alderton (Robyn Addison). Despite the fact that she identifies herself as a miss and not a missus, she has a photo on her desk showing her holding a baby. Bacchus eyes her suspiciously.
Certainly, Bacchus has put together that a single mother might need additional income, and therefore Maggie could be behind the passport scheme. No?
That's part of it. But the baby Maggie is holding is very dark-skinned. Ever the foil for the enlightened Gently, Bacchus makes the remark afterward that Maggie "likes a bit of the tarbrush." Gently, who worked as a policeman during the racially motivated 1959 Notting Hill riots, rebukes him, explaining that racism has no place on the force.
Is the race of the baby going to be a major plot point for this episode?
Most assuredly. The suspect from the cemetery, Jimmy Cochran (Andrew Lee Potts) walks into a bar populated almost exclusively by Arab-British youths. He and the apparent leader, Hamed (Tariq Jordan) trade insults -- about Maggie, about each other, about the paternity of Maggie's baby.
What's up with Jimmy's hair?
Yeah, it's kind of distracting how he looks like Meat Loaf from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
That particular hairstyle is known as a D.A. -- or "duck's ass." It's an easy visual shorthand for rebelliousness.
Why isn't anyone dead yet?
Hold on. Subsequently, Cochran goes to Maggie's apartment. We don't see what happens once he gets there, but in the immediately subsequent scene, Maggie is dead, her body washed ashore. The basket in which she was carrying her son is found at the top of a hill -- presumably the spot from where her body was tossed into the water. The baby is suffering from exposure to the night air, but he's still alive.
So Jimmy must be the prime suspect, then?
Only briefly. Neighbors also saw an Arab man at Maggie's apartment earlier that night. Either could be the killer. But Jimmy seems a less likely target once Gently and Bacchus find a bouquet of flowers at the spot where Maggie was thrown into the sea. A note attached swears revenge.
What, exactly, is the history between Maggie and Jimmy?
They were high school sweethearts, as Maggie's parents explain when they come to identify the body. Maggie fell so hard for Jimmy, in fact, that she abandoned a promising academic career to be with him. Maggie became pregnant out of wedlock. When she gave birth, however, the child was very dark-skinned. That day, her parents never spoke to her again -- "We don't know any colored people," her mother explains -- and Jimmy, feeling betrayed, left Maggie.
Was Maggie involved with the passport scheme or not?
She didn't seem to be enjoying any additional income. In a C-plot that I'll just tie up now, there's some suspicion that she and her boss, Mr. Saint (Joe Simpson), may have been involved together -- either criminally or sexually. It doesn't pan out. Mr. Saint was approached by Jimmy directly about making some extra money with old passports. And any strangeness between Mr. Saint and Maggie resulted not from him wanting to be with her, but him wanting to be her. He's a transvestite who would collect certain feminine articles of Maggie's to keep in his private box of femininity.
Where's Jimmy during all this?
Oh, you know -- conveniently offscreen, evading the cops. Hoping to gain insight about Jimmy, Gently and Bacchus visit his mother, Mrs. Cochran (Catherine Terris -- Mrs. Spalding from "William and Mary"). Only she's not his biological mother. That woman died when he was a child, from the same fire that gave Jimmy a rather butch-looking burn scar on his neck. But Mrs. Cochran was only his guardian for a short period. He misbehaved and she shipped him off to a boarding school. She can, however, identify the handwriting on the revenge note as being Jimmy's.
So Mrs. Cochran wasn't that much help, then?
No, but the audience sees one additional clue. After Gently and Bacchus leave, an 40-something Arab man (Stewart Scudamore) knocks at her door. She clearly recognizes him, but tries to prevent him front entering.
And what's Jimmy's connection to the South Shields Arab community?
There's none that we know of. He's antagonistic to the Arab youths, and doesn't shy away from using harsh language when confronting them. These tensions come to a head shortly in the parking lot of the bar that the Arab guys frequent. Jimmy and Hamed tussle, but when the cops appear on the scene, that same 40-something Arab man shows up and urges Jimmy to flee. The cops arrest Hamed. During Hamed's interrogation, he reveals that the older man -- the one who appeared at the rumble and the one neighbors saw at Maggie's house is Thomas Ali. Also, Hamed recently crossed paths Maggie with at a boarding house where many Arab men live. Maggie showed up, passport in hand, searching for Mr. Ali. When she couldn't find him, she handed a letter to Hamed's associate. The next day, Mr. Ali approached Hamed and asked for a ticket on a boat to Yemen. He had his passport, meaning he presumably saw Maggie.
Is Thomas Ali the same person as this Thomas Jamil Ali we've been hearing of?
Nope. The investigation turned up a birth certificate bearing the name Thomas Jamil Ali, but we're not clear who that is. But we find out soon enough. Gently and Bacchus return to Mrs. Cochran's house and ask about Jimmy's parents. It turns out Mrs. Cochran is actually Jimmy's aunt. She only told Jimmy that his father died at sea because the family never approved of him... because he was Arab. Because Jimmy was light-skinned, they eventually changed "Jamil" to "Jimmy" and moved him where his father couldn't find him.
Does Mr. Ali know he's Jimmy's father?
Yes. Maggie informed him of this in the letter, prompting him to meet her at her apartment. Having access to various passports and birth records, she realized the truth about Jimmy's parentage. That's why Mr. Ali acted so protective toward Jimmy throughout the episode. In fact, while Gently is learning all this information, Mr. Ali approaches Jimmy and explains this himself.
So Maggie's baby then...?
It's actually Jimmy's. It's just that while Jimmy was light-skinned, his son took after his father's side of the family. Maggie was, in fact, faithful to Jimmy. It's just that no one knew enough to figure out how she could have conceived a baby that looks Arab.
Great. So who killed Maggie then? And why?
Gently seems to be zeroing in on one of Hamed's lackeys as the killer -- his tire treads match those observed at the site of Maggie's murder -- and even brings Hamed into the interrogation, presumably to get Hamed to coax a confession. The lackey can't take the fall, however, and blurts out that Hamed borrowed his car on the night of Maggie's murder. Finally, Hamed confesses. Having learned of Maggie's search for Mr. Ali, he thought that she and Mr. Ali were lovers. And if Maggie was willing to sleep with an older Arab man, she might also do so with a younger one. He picked her up, telling her that Mr. Ali needed to see her again, but drove her out to the beach. When she resisted his advances, he raped and strangled her -- then set her baby out in the cold before driving off. In the episode's final scene, Hamed is hanged for his crime.
And what of Jimmy and the baby?
Finally reunited with his son, Jimmy has seemingly decided to be a good father to the boy. And while he seems to have established a relationship with his father, we see Mr. Ali trying in vain to find a place to live in spite of signs reading "No Irish / No Coloreds / No Dogs." Maggie's parents attend her funeral, but they don't speak to Jimmy nor acknowledge their grandson.
That's not exactly uplifting.
No, but didn't we all learn a valuable lesson about racism?
KCET airs a new Season 2 episode of "Inspector George Gently" this Sunday, April 15, at 9 p.m. If you're eager to get to the bottom of this week's whodunit early (or if you need to play catch-up once the end credits start rolling), then this recap is for you. Prepare for spoilers and answers aplenty.
(Need a refresher on the other installments of this detective series? Then check out our previous "Investigating 'Gently'" recaps.)
So who's the unlucky stiff this week?
That would be Audrey Chadwick (Sian Breckin), a bonnie Newcastle lass whose body Gently finds laid out on the altar of a local Catholic Church. She's dressed in her '60s mod best, but she's also suffered a stab wound to the head. Audrey's parents are devastated, of course, because she had been pursuing a promising career as a nurse, but Det. Bacchus knows that Audrey had a less parent-pleasing professional life...
Uh oh. Has Bacchus done something stupid again?
What would an episode of "Inspector George Gently" be without Bacchus's chronic case of stupid serving as a plot point? Bacchus knew Audrey from the Rakes, a gentlemen's establishment that is essentially the Playboy Club with fox ears in place of bunny ears. (Lest we forget, the Playboy Club was more than just a failed NBC series.) Audrey "performed" there as Blaise. Bacchus attended as "John." And while he claims that he didn't go frequently, he's nonetheless warmly greeted by another fox girl, Fawn (Nichola Burley), when he and Gently arrive to ask questions.
How seedy is this Fox Club?
It's not a house of prostitution, strictly speaking. The women, though scantily clad, are paid to entertain customers but not have sex with them. Gently and Bacchus soon meet with the proprietors, Patrick Donovan (Brendan Coyle, now playing Mr. Bates on "Downton Abbey") and his wife, Helen (Clare Calbraith, also of "Downton" fame), who recall that Audrey was a model employee. (A flashback reveals that she picked the name "Blaise" for herself as a nod to the "lady James Bond" comic book character Modesty Blaise, only she dropped any pretense of "Modesty." Ha.) Three weeks previous, however, Audrey quit without any explanation. Suspicious, Gently and Bacchus interview Fawn, who shared a dressing room with Audrey. She only cries when Gently asks her whether Audrey was seeing a man she met at the club.
Is it surprising at all that there'd be a thriving "tease" club in a less-than-metropolitan North England city such as Newcastle? And back in 1964, no less?
Maybe. At least how "Gently" portrays the town, Newcastle seems small. Certain locals are so displeased with the presence of Rakes that they've taken to Sunday evening protests. As Gently and Bacchus leave, the crowd of Bible-thumpers chant "shame." One particularly vocal woman, Margaret Bishop (Tracey Wilkinson), even asks Gently, "Where is your wife?") He doesn't respond, the missus being dead and all. Mrs. Bishop claims that Audrey's death would be an example of God taking "a life for a life" because Audrey had had an abortion before her death. Mrs. Bishop has clearly been keeping an eye on a back-alley doctor's clinic specializing in services for girls "in need."
Did Bacchus really have something on the side with Fawn?
Yes. We soon learn that it was more than a "professional" relationship: He also had sex with her. Gently is incensed by this, Bacchus being married and all. However, it's apparently not enough to pull Bacchus from the case. Fawn, meanwhile, is hurt that he never told her that he was married or that he was a cop. Shortly after Bacchus tries to speak with her, she worriedly packs a bag and hightails it out of town.
When Gently and Bacchus are visiting Audrey's apartment, why does Audrey's landlady exclaim, "She was married?!"
When Gently and Bacchus visit Audrey's apartment, they find birth control packaging discarded in her wastebasket, prompting the landlady to say that she didn't think Audrey was married. As Gently explains moments later, back in the England of 1964, it was illegal to prescribe birth control an unmarried woman. And while that's a telling clue about the era of this show's setting, it's even more interesting to the plot at hand that the detectives find in the same wastebasket a prayer card dedicated to Audrey... and the child she aborted. A check of fingerprints on the card matches those on the anti-sex club leaflet that Mrs. Bishop handed to Gently.
Why did Audrey have an abortion? And did anyone else know her motivation?
As Bacchus finds when he shows up at the clinic of the doctor performing these procedures, Audrey had been raped. In fact, the doctor mentions rape as one of the circumstances that make abortions necessary -- even ethical. Very few people knew about Audrey's procedure, only Fawn (to whom Audrey told everything) and Mrs. Bishop (who was protesting outside the clinic).
Mrs. Bishop seems heavily involved in Audrey's personal life. But surely even the most ardent church lady wouldn't kill for God, right?
It's even more complicated than you initially think. Not only did Mrs. Bishop resent Audrey's work at Rakes and her visit to the abortion clinic, she refuses to believe that her own husband (Mark Williams, best known for playing Mr. Weasley in the "Harry Potter" movies) also visited the club. While Mrs. Bishop waits in police custody, Gently heads to the Bishops' home, whereupon he finds an ice pick that may have inflicted Audrey's fatal wound. Furthermore, Mr. Bishop spills his guts about Audrey. They were lovers, at least as he recalls it. He was "given" Audrey by the Donovans when he agreed not to blab about a blackmail conviction abroad that could have gotten Mr. Donovan kicked out of England. The capper to all this? Mrs. Bishop knew all about the relationship, but she simply was in denial. "Margaret has a way of denying anything he can't deal with," Mr. Bishop explains. And the capper to this capper? Margaret was unable to conceive, meaning that she had all the more reason to be furious about the abortion.
So, essentially, Mrs. Bishop would have had quadruple motivation to kill Audrey.
Yep, and a search of her purse at the police station reveals not only Audrey's keys but also film that, once developed, shows images of Audrey's corpse in the church.
So it's obviously her...
Mrs. Bishop even confesses. But her being the perp wouldn't explain away Audrey's rape. On the night of the murder, the Bishops claim they were both at home -- Mrs. Bishop working in the darkroom and Mr. Bishop downstairs watching TV. They dined together, and then retired to separate beds. However, Mr. Bishop would have had access to his wife's purse and camera the whole night...
Oh no.
With Mrs. Bishop in tow, Gently, Bacchus, and other police race to a chalet that Audrey and Mr. Bishop once used as a romantic getaway. The camera cuts to Fawn, dumbly walking about, looking cute and helpless as she nears the chalet, which she's using as her safehouse. Unfortunately for her, Mr. Bishop is waiting there for her. He knows that Audrey told Fawn of their relationship and of his fathering the baby, so he'd like to preemptively stop her from ever implicating him in Audrey's murder. Mr. Bishop and Fawn struggle, the police arrive just in time to scare him off, with Fawn only suffering a knife wound to her hand. Mr. Bishop, meanwhile, flees through town and into the ocean, police and wife in hot pursuit. His wife finally gets him to stop.
What was Mr. Bishop's reasoning in all this?
Audrey never loved him, despite his best efforts, so he raped her. Audrey went to the Donovans, and they gave her money to start a new life elsewhere. She used part of the money to abort the child conceived as a result of that rape. When Mr. Bishop confronted Audrey one last time, and she swore that she'd go to the police -- and that Fawn knew everything of their relationship. In a moment of rage, Bishop struck Audrey. In his words, that's when he realized that he'd have to kill her, and he ultimately dressed up his crime so as to frame his wife, an ideal prime suspect.
And what of Fawn?
Injured but ultimately fine, Fawn forgives Bacchus and leaves, hopefully now wise enough to never have an affair with such a buffoonish sort again.
It's a new season of "Inspector George Gently," and KCET is airing the first episode of it this Sunday, April 8, at 9 p.m. If you're keen to get to the bottom of this week's whodunit early, or if you need to play catch-up once the end credits start rolling, then this recap is for you. Prepare for spoilers... and a lengthy rundown, because this episode in particular boasts a great many twists and turns.
(Curious about previous episodes? Read the "Investigating Gently" recaps for episodes one, two, and three.)
Whoa! What's with the music?
Groovy, right? If you caught the first three episodes, you'll notice that this one features new opening credits, with a theme song that sounds like a cross between British folk music and something you might hear at the start of some stereotypical '70s cop show. Check it out here:
And the episode itself is punctuated by a '60s rock-inspired score that I totally dig.
So who's the unlucky stiff this week?
Alfred Peachment, an older man who was living alone in a decaying mansion on the far side of town. Cora Davidson (Jill Halfpenny), an attractive woman who wouldn't look out of place on "Mad Men" and who was planning to buy the place from Peachment, finds his bloodied body in the garden.
And what do we know about him?
Gently and Bacchus soon learn that the house was once a school where the dead man's wife taught, thanks to an informative, locally raised policeman, Sgt. Blacksmith (Mark Stobbart, who looks remarkably like a cross between Tobey Maguire and Daniel Radcliffe).
Mr. and Mrs. Peachment separated, however, and the school ceased to be as a result of the Children's Act of 1947, which enforced regulations on educational institutions with which mom-and-pop schools like the Peachments' couldn't comply. Also, Mr. Peachment couldn't keep up the gardens on his own. That work was done by Harry Carson (Matthew McNulty, of the popular BBC series "Misfits").
Who's the prime suspect?
Bacchus zeroes in on the money-grubbing Miss Davidson. She wanted to raze the house and redevelop the land, though to do so she'd need an inspector's approval that the building was in danger of falling down. And while it's old, it doesn't seem that bad off.
Davidson, who also grew up in the area, claims she has no ulterior motive in buying the property, and that there's no conspiracy to wrestle ownership of the land away from Peachment. She says flatly, "I have no friends here of any kind." Regardless, our detectives suspect that Davidson may have obtained her demolition order in an underhanded way. Had Peachment discovered this, he might have made a fuss that would have prompted Davidson to murder him.
Only we saw her find the body.
Yeah, that kind of takes her out of the running for being the killer. Gently and Bacchus agree that Davidson is hiding something, however. Gently returns to Peachment's house, where he finds a distraught-seeming Sgt. Blacksmith and Dr. Philip Morgan (Paul Copely, recently of "Downton Abbey") rummaging about in the study. When Gently stops this, Dr. Morgan explains that he was searching for papers that might have embarrassed Peachment -- something about crazy allegations involving the demolition order, but Dr. Morgan is reluctant to go into detail. Incensed, Gently orders the doctor out and forces Sgt. Blacksmith off the case for letting the doctor snoop. At this point, Bacchus races in and tells Gently that the gardener, Carson, has arrived at the house.
Ah! Surely he will offer some much-needed insight as to the state of the Peachment house, no?
Not at all. He's mute. And he's simply going about his gardening work, though the bloodstains on his shirt arouse suspicion. It can't be determined if the blood came from his own wounds -- possibly gardening related -- or from Peachment's fatal wounds, but Carson is still arrested. Upon being interrogated, he can't or won't even relay any information via writing.
What of the alleged real estate conspiracy?
That's the only lead. A look into the Peachment family reveals that Mr. Peachment's estranged wife, Enid (Georgine Anderson) supported the demolition. Additionally, she is Dr. Morgan's sister and the inspector who issued the demolition order is yet a third Morgan sibling. When Gently and Bacchus question her, she admits that she did not divorce her husband -- "That's not what you do," she says, all primly and Britishly -- but she also clearly despised him and seemed to blame him for the fact that their only child, a son, moved to Tasmania and never returned. She was happy to sell her share of the home to Miss Davidson.
Does Mrs. Peachment just want money? Or is there something more that's motivating her to want her old house destroyed?
Gently clearly suspect the latter. He and Bacchus look through medical records from when the house operated as a business -- and it wasn't a school, per Blacksmith's eager explanation, but an orphanage. And both Miss Davidson and the gardener, Carson, boarded there as children. One medical report in particular -- of a young girl "bleeding in the night" -- troubles Gently. Gently's pediatrician friend suggests that the type of frequency of injuries might indicate abuse, perhaps sexual abuse. And Dr. Morgan, upon being questioned again, says that he wouldn't have examined the bleeding girl. Only Mrs. Peachment would have.
And so Miss Davidson is the mysteriously injured girl, right? And therefore she's a suspect again?
For the moment, yes. Gently and Bacchus find her, and after much cajoling she admits that she, Carson and two other children at the orphanage were among "the lucky ones," a group who received special, unwanted attention. (The second girl was adopted away. She says she doesn't know what became of the second boy.) She won't elaborate, but she suggests the detectives search for a sealed room in the house. Upon returning to the mansion, they do so and find the hidden area: a miserable dungeon-like cellar. When they bring Mrs. Peachment in, she claims not to remember why it was sealed, but she is clearly disturbed by the space and keeps glancing nervously an one corner.
Hey, remember earlier in this recap, when you made a note of a certain British government reform about school regulations? Why'd you mention that?
I'm so glad you asked. That information came from Sgt. Blacksmith. But it's wrong, like other "facts" he fed Gently and Bacchus. The law passed in 1948, not 1947, and therefore couldn't have caused the Peachments to stop boarding children. Blacksmith, as we have learned by now, is the son of a cop who once investigated crime in the very same city where Gently and company do now. His father -- a friend of Mr. Peachment's -- also committed suicide some years ago, creating a cloud of suspicion around the whole Blacksmith family. And when Bacchus goes to look though the orphanage's adoption records to find out what happened to the last children to be adopted from the orphanage, the desk clerk tells Bacchus that Blacksmith already took them. Bacchus retrieves these records, and shortly after Blacksmith resigns from the force. Gently, sensing a solution is at hand, orders Bacchus to bring both Blacksmith and Davidson to the cellar.
Finally. So what's the revelation?
Given how Mrs. Peachment kept glancing into the cellar corner, Gently and Bacchus assumed that the fourth "lucky one" might have been buried there. With Blacksmith and Davidson still not talking, the detectives begin to dig. Blacksmith stops them, and reveals a document he removed from the adoption records: his own. He, in fact, was the remaining "lucky one." Mrs. Peachment was looking not at a burial site but the spot where a bathtub once stood, and in it children were dunked in freezing water if they didn't behave properly.
How awful.
That's not the half of it. The "lucky ones" were, in fact, sexually abused -- the girls by Mr. Peachment, and the boys by his high-powered pedophile friends. Until he grew too old, Carson was abused by the elder Sgt. Blacksmith. Then the man turned his attention to a younger boy, whom he eventually adopted as his son. When the Peachments' biological son was selected to become a "lucky one," Mrs. Peachment left, effectively ending the orphanage, though it's never explicitly said whether she also understood the extent of the abuse suffered by the orphans.
One again, this show is dark.
Yes. There's rarely a sunny day in Northumberland, it seems. On the day that Miss Davidson arrived to inspect the house, she thought Mr. Peachment would be gone. He was there. He recognized her and accosted her in the garden, whereupon Carson attacked him with a trowel to defend her. Carson is the killer, but whether the killing constitutes murder is debatable.
So who gets charged in all this?
No one. Blacksmith and Davidson refuse to testify about the abuse. Mrs. Peachment and Dr. Morgan would never admit to what they knew, if anything. This leaves Carson, who's still in jail. But Gently elects not to press charges, simply because the blood could be from him or Mr. Peachment, given their shared blood type. There's scant other evidence to tie him to the crime.
Is justice done?
That's for you to decide, honestly. The worst of the pedophiles are now dead, and Davidson, Blacksmith and Carson stand and watch as a wrecking crew tears down the site of their childhood abuse.
It's suggested, at least, that they might be able to move on, now that they've destroyed the greatest lingering symbol of their pain.]]>
The third episode of the BBC detective series "Inspector George Gently" airs this Sunday, March 25 at 9 p.m. on KCET. And if you're keen to get to the bottom of this week's whodunit early -- or if you need to play catch-up once the end credits start rolling -- then this recap is for you.
First up, what's all this "key side" business I keep hearing?
Not "key side" but "quayside." While some of us Yanks might pronounce that word "quay" like "kay" or "kway," the Brits say "kee" -- and they say it a lot this episode. They're referring to the river and the immediate surrounding area.
Good to know. So who dies this week?
An eyeball. Well, the person who formerly owned the eyeball also dies, but it's the eye that shows up first, snagged by a fisherman just offshore. It's quite the scene. Once the rest of the body is dragged from the ocean, it's determined to be that formerly owned by Gunther Schmeikel, a German pharmaceutical tycoon visiting town. His back was broken, and Gently concludes that he was alive, but paralyzed, when his assailant tossed him into the water.
And is the deceased somehow a minority in Northumberland society?
Yes. Following the pattern begun in the first episode, where the deceased was a gay man, and continued in the second, where the deceased was an Irishman, this week's victim is a German and therefore not necessarily received kindly by the residents of Northumberland, many of whom fought the Germans just two decades earlier in World War II. (Isn't it curious how the show would take place in rural England but repeatedly focus on outsiders to English culture?)
Why would a German visit rural England, then?
Herr Schmeikel is an especially unusual case, because he was a prisoner of war in Northumblerand when his bomber plane was shot down nearby. He was then billeted at the home of a local pig farmer, where he worked hard and worked happily. Gently and Bacchus visit this pig farmer, Mr. Hardyment (Tim Healy) and his wife, Mabs (Gillian Hanna). As far as folksy old couples go, they're perfect -- stout and hardy like some wonderful British root vegetables. See?
I honestly think these actors should play every rural British couple ever. You can see what manner of hominess and hospitality would tempt Schmeikel to relive his days on the pig farm. As for the rest of the town, they mostly take the Hardyments' word that Schmeikel is good people.
Well, as we see in a flashback to the night he was murdered, Schmeikel bought round after round of drinks for bar-goers. Most saluted him. He politely brushed off the ones who made Hitler references. Some resent his wealth, and included among those is Bacchus, who's in debt and selling his prized car, the iris blue MG, for the suspiciously low price of £100. Gently disapproves. "A copper in debt is open to temptation," he decrees.
And who are our suspects?
Here's your rundown.
First it's Chick Shavers (Paul Broughton), the burly bartender who urinated in Schmeikel's drink three times, "once for every Reich." A former professional wrestler, Shavers had the ability to break Schmeikel's back. He even set out to harass Schmeikel after the latter left the bar to return to his boat to sleep, but he was spotted by a car. He hightailed it away.
Could it have been... Jimmy Hardyment (Kevin Wathen), the pig farmer's son? At the bar before the murder, Hardyment pocketed Schmeikel's wallet, but only to see if Schmeikel had a photo of his mother, Molly. She had been taken in by the Hardyments while pregnant with Jimmy, and then she killed herself when Jimmy was young. For years, no one knew for sure whether Gunther could have been Jimmy's father. Alas, Bacchus searches through Molly's old love letters and determines that the father was actually a British soldier who died at war. Jimmy, meanwhile, only stole the wallet to return it to the nightstand in the room where Molly committed suicide -- a grim family reunion of sorts.
Could it have been... Wilhelm Schmeikel (Christian Oliver), Gunther's son? He hates pig farming, he hates visiting Britain with his father, and he was so angry about his father disinheriting him that he had begun embezzling. When Gently's investigation zeroes in on him, Wilhelm splits in hopes of reaching Germany to avoid England's death penalty. Bacchus intercepts Wilhelm, however, and Gently's advice about policemen in debt turns out to be true when Wilhelm offers Bacchus a tidy sum to ensure that he gets extradited to his homeland. Bacchus agrees, ostensibly to use the bribe to show Wilhelm's guilt. (We're never completely clear on his motives with the bribe. He may not have been himself, honestly.) Gently, of course, is furious at Bacchus's latest harebrained scheme. Wilhelm swears his innocence all the while.
Wait, the murderer was none of these people?
Correct. In investigating Schmeikel's final moments, Gently interviews Robert Stratton (Kevin Doyle of "Downton Abbey"), a birdwatcher who initially claimed that he didn't know who Gunther Schmeikel was. Later, Gently learns that the Hardyments introduced Schmeikel to Stratten. As the investigation progresses, Bacchus learns that Stratten was a celebrated war hero who killed German soldiers with his bare hands. This would seem to conflict with man Gently interviews: a meek sort who spends his day caring for his invalid second wife and his autistic daughter. Soon enough, Bacchus ends up at Stratten's house, where he finds the wife dead -- smothered with a pillow. Stratten has taken his daughter up on the hillside, where he's giving her the old "Of Mice and Men" treatment, distracting her with happy thoughts while he's preparing to mercy kill her in order to spare her a life in an institution.
Gently, however, talks him out of it.
You're serious? He was going to snap the neck of his developmentally disabled daughter? This show is a lot darker than you'd expect from something with the word "gently" in the title.
What motivation would Stratten have to kill the German guy?
Schmeikel was a bomber, and the cash-strapped Stratten just couldn't handle seeing a wartime adversary come so far in life. So after a brief altercation following the Hardyment's introduction of Stratten to Schmeikel, Stratten lied in wait and killed Schmeikel on the dock. He specifically paralyzed the guy so he would drown. It was an act of revenge for the fact that his wife and child died during a German bombing -- trapped beneath masonry in a basement where a water main burst. They too drowned.
That is... bleak.
It's heavy stuff, for sure, but take solace in the fact that those amazingly benevolent Hardyments elect to take in Stratten's daughter. She'll have a good life after all.]]>
Last week, KCETers met "Inspector George Gently," with the series pilot airing on Sunday and the first edition of "Investigating 'Gently'' running here on the site, introducing you to this BBC crime procedural and walking you though the twists and turns of the inaugural whodunit. This week, it's episode two. Read on, if you don't mind spoilers, and check back if this week's episode -- airing Sunday at 9 p.m. -- leaves you with any lingering questions.
So this week's episode title is "The Burning Man." Like the concert?
Thankfully no. The show does still take place in 1964. No, that title references the murder of the week, a charred body found in a verdant North England meadow that makes for one of the most picturesque crime scenes ever in a TV show. See?
So who's the unlucky stiff?
Good question. With "CSI"-type technology decades off, Gently and Bacchus have only the following as clues to the deceased's identity: teeth and the contents of his stomach, which include a ring engraved with the name "Wanda." Our heroes are about to contact the only Wanda who works at a diner in the greater Northumberland area when they're met by a third investigator.
Oh, so they have special help this week?
Not quite. Det. Empton ("Prime Suspect" alum Robert Glenister) makes no friendly explanation for his presence in Gently's jurisdiction. Suspicious, Gently sics Bacchus on him, but Empton soon enough charms Bacchus with cop tales and the vague promise of help in securing his promotion to a big city department.
He's a real dope, that Bacchus.
That's not really a question, but yes. Gently, meanwhile does real detective work, seeking out Wanda (the improbably named actress Pooky Quesnel) to ask what her relationship to the deceased might be. Through a series of Wanda-centric flashbacks, we see that she and the dead man, an Irish local named Ruairi O'Connell, were lovers, but Wanda lies, telling Gently they weren't especially close. She then attempts to seduce Gently, who declines, citing his wife's recent death.
And who is this O'Shaughnessy character?
The second twist in this increasingly Irish plot involves the fetching Carmel O'Shaughnessy (Charlotte Riley) stopping at the police station to state that her father is missing, raising the possibility that the burned body was his. When Gently and Bacchus check his place of employment at the local Air Force Base, they find no sign of him... nor any sign of a cache of government firearms. Mr. O'Shaughnessy apparently disliked the British, and both O'Shaughnessy and Ruairi O'Connell had ties with the I.R.A. In fact, O'Connell is an I.R.A. sniper and the paramour of Carmel O'Shaughnessy.
This Northumberland types lead complicated lives, don't they?
Invariably yes. But to the surprise of Gently and Bacchus, tailing Carmel Shaughnessy leads them not to her lover, O'Connell, but to her father, who promptly gets picked off by an unseen sniper.
The famed I.R.A. marksman Ruairi O'Connell!
Nope! While Gently and Bacchus regroup, poor Wanda gets a visit from Doyle (John Kavanagh, "The Tudors"), a third Irish Republican Army member demanding a parcel that Ruairi might have stashed in Wanda's home. Wanda plays it cool -- it's clear that she's had practice with rough men -- and Gently and Bacchus show up just in time to see that Doyle has taken Wanda hostage. This time, Gently displays the expert marksmanship by taking Doyle down with a shot to the head.
Okay... Three dead Irish guys. But who killed whom? And who was the original body?
Empton finally spills his guts. He only showed up in Northumberland after a rookie cop disappeared while investigating a tip about I.R.A. activity in the area -- a tip made by Wanda, who was angry about O'Connell leaving her for I.R.A. duties abroad. O'Connell killed the officer, and that's when Doyle, a senior I.R.A. operative but also Empton's informant, killed O'Connell. O'Shaughnessy, whose I.R.A. involvement was minor, got roped into burning O'Connell's body, then split until the heat died down. He would have stayed hidden, had Gently not led Doyle straight to him, whereupon Doyle shot O'Shaughnessy dead. Worst of all, Empton condoned Doyle's murders of O'Shaughnessy and O'Connell, because Doyle's evasion from Gently would mean his continued service as an informant.
Oof. That's a lot.
Yes. In fact, I had to rewatch the denouement scene to get the facts straight. Gently, by the way, is appalled at Empton's willingness consent to murder for the greater good of monitoring terrorist activities.
The scene where the older, wiser Gently disagrees with the younger, brasher Bacchus's belief that cops can use violence to get information that could stop terrorist plots... That's social commentary, right?
Seems like. It's hard not to read it as Europe-versus-America debate on torture in Iraq and the Middle East. Layers of meaning!
So none of the characters on the show think that Inspector Gently's last name is funny?
Apparently not. Maybe it's normal for people in Northern England to have adverbs for names? I still maintain that "Inspector Gently" sounds like a set-up for a dirty joke.]]>
First up, the pilot, "Gently Go Man."
Who is this George Gently?
He's a veteran London detective who's retired from the force after the recent death of his wife. He has spent the better part of his career attempting to dismantle a London-based crime ring, but his work is what caused the death of his wife.
How does she die?
Gently and Mrs. Gently are returning home from a night at the opera when she's run down in the street. This scene, intercut with the funeral service, opens up the series. His retirement, however, is short-lived, when his informant tips him off that a murder in Northumberland could have a connection to Joe Webster, the crime kingpin who ordered the murder of Mrs. Gently. Our investigator hightails it north post-haste.
So he's a rather morose fellow?
No, surprisingly. The lead actor, Martin Shaw, plays Gently with a very human mix of humor and sadness. Make no mistake: He's very serious about his job and his ultimate end goal, but he's not above cracking a joke -- especially about the moral or mental failings of the various crooks and shady characters he runs across. Shaw strikes a proper balance.
What's the murder of the week?
Billy Lister, a member of a Northumberland biker gang, dies when his motorcycle slams into the pavement on a rural road. There's enough evidence to suggest that a second party caused the accident, however, and there's no shortage of suspects. Foremost among them is Ricky Deeming, a fellow member of the gang whose scarf is found at the scene of the crime. But Gently suspects that the item could have been planted to avert suspicion away from the real killer. Billy, you see, was running dexamphetamine throughout the countryside and had reason to make some dangerous enemies. Furthermore, his home situation is suspicious. His young mother, Valerie, claims to be a widow of a merchant marine, yet the Listers live rather more comfortably than a widow's pension should allow. Finally, there's the matter of Billy being gay. It's no secret, but it didn't endear him to the locals, including some of the fellow gang members. Gently, it should be noted, has a rather progressive attitude toward homosexuality for an older man living in 1960s England.
So it's a period piece, then?
Yes, but it's no "Mad Men." Aside from an abundance of tobacco, there's not too much about "Inspector George Gently" to make it a product of its setting, at least in the pilot. The fact that it takes place in the 1960s probably results from the creators' desire to keep the show true to its source material, the 1961 Alan Hunter novel Gently Go Man.
And Gently is alone in all this?
No, he's paired with an ambitious local cop, Det. Sergeant John Bacchus (Lee Ingleby, who played Stan Shunpike in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"). Bacchus thinks aiding Gently in this case will get him a promotion to the London force. He's not untalented, but this son-in-law of the local chief constable hasn't fully developed his detective skills. Gently cautiously takes Bacchus under his wing, both because he seems to enjoy mocking Bacchus's fumbles and because Gently eventually trusts that Bacchus isn't one of the many British cops on the crime syndicate's payroll.
What do Gently and Bacchus find?
Lawrence Elton, a third member of the biker gang also gets killed -- tossed off a cliff, minus an eyebrow and a fingernail. He'd been tortured. Another new face in town also seems to have roughed up Gently's informant, so they conclude that Webster's syndicate is interfering with the investigation. The same shady character shows up at Valerie Lister's house, making threats before fleeing when our detectives show up. Valerie admits that Billy's father is still alive: It's Joe Webster, who has funded Valerie and his son all this time. And that new face in town? Again, it's Joe Webster. Gently concludes that Lawrence Elton caused Billy's accident, presumably because Lawrence resented Billy's homosexuality, and that Webster killed Elton in revenge.
Oh. Well, that's a lot.
There's more. Webster meets up with a female acquaintance of Billy's who spills the news that Billy liked boys. Mr. Webster is less than understanding. After icing the poor lass, he goes searching for Ricky Deeming, his late son's boyfriend, believing that Ricky's perversion ultimately cased his son's death. Webster finds Deeming and prepares to torture Ricky in the same manner he did Lawrence Elton. He almost gets to him with the blowtorch when Gently arrives at the scene and shoots Webster in the shoulder. Despite Bacchus encouragement, Gently refrains from firing a killshot.
So it's case closed?
Almost. Before the cops take Webster away, Bacchus spins a tale specifically designed to haunt Webster during his prison sentence: He tells him that Lawrence Elton, Webster's first victim, was Billy's twin and therefore his son as well. Webster heads off thinking that he lost not only Billy but also another son... that he himself killed.
Wow. That's pretty twisted.
Yep. The show can get dark.
So that name... "Inspector Gently"...
I know, it sounds like the set-up for a "That's what she said" joke. Hopefully when we check in on Gently and Bacchus's adventures next week, the puerile humor of the phrase "Inspector Gently" will have worn off.
Foretold of his death by his servant, Leonard Quinton asks Father Brown to look after his estranged wife following his death. Soon after his poetry recital, Quinton is found hanging in the conservatory. Father Brown knows better when everyone else suspects that he committed suicide.
Watch full episodes here and find out what eps of "Father Brown" are airing next by clicking here.
Amjad and Meir are working on an article about an Arab woman crowned Miss Israel. Meir stays behind to take pictures in her village and ends up being kidnapped by a taxi driver and his cronies. Amjad and his father set out on a rescue mission to free Meir.
Click here to watch more full episodes of "Arab Labor."]]>
Amjad enrolls his daughter in an Islamic kindergarten with a good reputation in town. When the little girl becomes religious, Amjad decides to look for a strictly kosher Jewish school instead.
Click here to watch more full episodes of "Arab Labor."]]>
Amjad moves from the news desk to the magazine. When his editor asks him for a colorful piece, he decides to profile a sheep who can "understand" soldiers. Amjad makes up an interview with the animal and becomes a hot item on all of the local and international TV networks.
Click here to watch more full episodes of "Arab Labor."]]>
Amjad thinks he looks like the average Israeli so he doesn't understand why he's stopped regularly on the road for a security check. Meir tells him it's because the Subaru he drives is considered an Arab car. So he decides to trade in the vehicle, but runs into trouble with the shop owners.
Click here to watch more full episodes of "Arab Labor."]]>
Father Brown attends a tea party for the unveiling of a new church clock tower, presided over by his friend Reverend Bohun. Just after the bells chime for the first time, Bohun's dishonorable brother Norman's body is found behind the church, the back of his head bludgeoned with a hammer. The local blacksmith is immediately suspected, but his wife, who had an affair with Norman, confesses to the crime and is arrested by Inspector Valentine. Father Brown must find the real killer before an innocent woman is hanged.
Watch full episodes here and find out what eps of "Father Brown" are airing next by clicking here.


text:
Eighty years ago, just like today, a fiscal crisis almost totally dominated the nation's capital.
Tagged: New Deal
Yesterday's ideas about curbing the ultra-rich's power remain just as relevant as ever.
Boosting it would help our lowest-paid workers as well as the entire economy.
We are trying to prop up an economy that is a giant Ponzi scheme.
The new president will inherit the financial meltdown that has begun to reach beyond the "developed" countries and into Russia, Korea and Brazil.
FDRs campaign against economic royalists lived onand triumphedafter his death. But not where he would have expected.


text:
creosote bushSyllabification: cre·o·sote bush
Definition of creosote bush in English:
A shrub native to arid parts of Mexico and the western US. Its leaves smell of creosote and when steeped in boiling water, they yield an antiseptic lotion.
- Larrea tridentata, family Zygophyllaceae
Example sentences
- A creosote bush can live as long as one hundred years, but the unique propagation method employed by this shrub may arguably extend its life much longer.
- The most common shrubs are creosote bush, ocotillo, and bur sage.
- Soil samples were collected from beneath the canopies of creosote bush shrubs and from areas between shrubs in each of the three zones: mound, enriched, and intermound.
Definition of creosote bush in:
- British & World English dictionary
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Word of the day snarf
Pronunciation: snɑːf
eat or drink quickly or greedily


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Get the Facts: 10 Weight-Loss Myths Debunked
With so many misconceptions about weight loss floating around on the internet, on TV, and even in print, it's hard to separate fact from myth. We got the skinny on 10 commonly held yet completely inaccurate weight-loss myths.
Looking for healthy, tasty, and filling foods? Check out recipes that follow the Mediterranean diet.
Myth: Your genes determine your metabolism and body weight.
Fact: Only 25 percent of your body weight is determined by your genes the rest is the result of your behavior. At any time in life, you can drastically change your body weight by combining low-calorie eating and exercise. And you can increase your metabolism at any age by performing strength and resistance exercises.
Andersen Ross/Getty Images


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What else would "current generation" be, if not the ones listed?
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Recent Comments
Only as big as Twilight Princess... I hope this is just expectation management at work here, because with all they've been hyping about this massive open world and how long it takes to go end to end on horseback, something the size of Twilight Princess would be hugely disappointing. It would be easier to fill it with interesting things to see and do, for sure, but that game's scope, while originally impressive, has been far outclassed and on weaker systems. I was hoping for something at least Xenoblade-sized...
Kiddy is my favorite of the three playable Kongs. He and the overworld are the only parts of this game that to me stand out as better than the other two. The environments are different, and I like the greater presence of water to set the feel apart, but all in all, it doesn't have QUITE the same level of quality as the other two.
But, as the review says, that doesn't mean it's not a MUST-HAVE for any and all platformer fans.
I'd buy this in an instant if it were real. I just find it so hard to believe.
But maybe, just maybe, there can still be some magic left in this world?
Considering I mounted my Lucina as a bow knight in Fire Emblem: Awakening, I would, indeed have to buy the horse, as well. Hmmm...
If I step back from my personal tastes and look at what it does to appeal to the market as a whole, then I have to agree it's sorely lacking in all areas and probably earns a solid C. Power, library, install base, online, extra features... some areas are better than others, but overall, it's not quite up to snuff.
But just going by my own experience, it's an A+ system. I will concede that my gaming time is rather limited by my job, friends, other interests, and familial obligations, so the Wii U's relatively small library isn't much of a factor. There are enough games I want to play to fill all my available gaming hours five times over in a year. And the ones I've picked have been incredible experiences. Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101, Super Mario 3D World, Bayonetta 2, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, Mario Kart 8, ZombiU, Child of Light, Little Inferno, Trine 2, BIT.TRIP Presents RUNNER 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien and Cloudberry Kingdom are all games that will stick with me for a very long time and games I found myself involuntarily smiling at over and over again. Games like these remind me why I love gaming and choose this medium as my way of winding down as opposed to all the other things friends and family are into.
The Wii U has supplied more of my favorite gaming experiences of all time than any other console, and for that, I am grateful. I just wish it was doing more to sell itself to the world at large, so more people could feel what I have in these games.
I'm going to start referring to my wife as my "adventure pal."
@MegaBeedrill: (With some unfortunate exceptions) An 18-25 year-old's kid isn't going to be old enough to properly enjoy a game with the complexity of Super Smash Bros.
On topic: I LOVE the music from almost all of the new tracks, but especially the three posted here. In fact, these are my new favorite versions of both Mute City and the Zelda overworld theme.
@Kaze_Memaryu: I agree with you on a few of those, but only a few. I don't think the Hyrule and Mute City tracks quite captured the feel of their sources.
There's a little bit of it in the beginning, but I was really hoping the Hyrule track would feature a good stretch of wide open field. A few small hills and potholes, trees to dodge and maybe a couple freely moving peahats, but for the most part, lots of room to line up a green shell shot or to blaze through with a golden mushroom. I wanted it to capture the awe of Hyrule Field.
As for Mute City, they got a little closer, but I was hoping for even more boost pads. Really just send karts soaring down the track. There are plenty, but there are also a few stretches where they're suddenly missing and I was wanting to see it all but filled with them. I also, like you wanted them to take the anti-gravity to its fullest extreme like F-Zero, in fact, did way back on the N64. Give me a fully-traversible cylindrical track to race 360 degrees around. I was immediately disappointed the moment I saw barriers on the side.
As for the others, yeah, I think they could have done a little more to make Wario's Goldmine and Dragon Driftway stand out, but they aren't bad additions, while Yoshi Circuit and Excitebike are big changes of pace with the tight turns or jumps/straightaways. And I appreciate Rainbow Road's simplicity in a game of such otherwise wild proportions.
Bring on Operation Skyfall!!!
The Virtual Console rerelease of Duck Hunt will use the Wii Remote for the point & shoot functionality.
The Smash Bros. character named Duck Hunt controls via button presses with every controller, including the Wii Remote, the same way as all the other playable characters. The zapper in the video was just for effect.
No multiplayer? Didn't the newest trailer show several sequences of multiple characters acting independently on screen at once?
I'd love to do 4 v 4 matches. In fact, it was my first thought when 8-player was finally announced.
That's Brawl.
He was never in any of the top tiers to begin with, but for some reason, they took a good big away from him in the new game. He was my best character in Brawl, but now he has fewer Pikmin and, while his tilts are quicker and much stronger, his smashes are slower, which were one of his best features, prior. And his up special no longer has any offensive capacity (though it is better for recovery, that wasn't a desperate need for the character to begin with).
In short, 3DS/Wii U Olimar is bad. Still one of my top characters, just because I like his style, but he's been given a hard shove down the forthcoming tier list.
I just want some Palutena buffs...
Aside from the background, is there any way that we know of in which the Miiverse stage is any different from Battlefield?
Am I the only one reminded of Shin Megami Tensei IV's SUPER CREEPY labrynths when they showed off Master Fortress? Especially after struggling to make it through the rest of the fight, this sprawling maze could really put me on edge. Super hyped for that, actually, even if I probably won't be good enough to ever actually reach it, let alone finish it.
NintendoLife developed Art of Balance???
@LittleIrves You cheeky fellow.
The concept of touch screen combat in a platformer worries me. I can't quickly switch from D-pad + button controls to pulling out the stylus for accurate taps and swipes.
It looks interesting other than that, so here's hoping for some alternate control schemes or something.
I hope each of these karts also comes with wheels or a glider, too. The more customization, the better. Especially if we could get some gliders with a third set of stats.
But there's only one specific thing I can say that I want to be in there. To coincide with Link and the Zelda track(s?) would be to complete the package with an Epona bike or ATV and either a Triforce or Kaepora Gaebora-themed glider.
No, make that three things: I also want Waluigi Pinball and Baby Park as retro tracks.
Can anyone explain to me how this is supposedly worse or more divisive of the fanbase than releasing an entirely new console? I mean, they're giving the people that want/can afford it a significant upgrade (which is THE SAME THING that happens when a new system launches), but they're still including everyone who can't/doesn't want to upgrade (which NEVER HAPPENS when releasing anew system). Literally, everybody wins here. Plus, it still feels just a little early for a brand new system. If they were to cut of 3DS support in favor of making games for the new, HD, time-traveling Nintendo 4DS, fans would throw their hands up in rage at Nintendo abandoning their system so quickly. This New 3DS, instead, gives people what they want without penalizing those that don't want it.
The games people play on normal 3DSes will be exactly the same as the games that would have been made if the New 3DS never existed. The games people play on the New 3DS will be made the way its adopters (like myself) feel they ought to have been made in the first place. Nobody loses.
What's the difficulty like? The first was so much easier than the series that inspired it; how does this one stack up?
And how's the level design? The Game Boy original had some thoughtfully designed levels (though nothing to write home about), although I felt that the small screen led to a few too many leap-of-faith jumps. Does the NES afford this sequel better, larger and less unfair stages?
@Trippinator : Yeah, I get that. It's why I don't believe DLC is coming. But I disagree with the reasoning and the accuracy of the leak and Nintendo's increasing acceptance of DLC (see Mario Kart 8), give me juuuuuuuust enough to hope against hope it comes true.
I'm with everyone else here. It's really lame they're not in at least the Wii U version and there's no reason they have to have exactly the same character list. So you can use your 3DS as a controller if you have the game. They already cut Mii Fighters from the list when you play With Anyone online, why can't they cut Ice Climbers out if you're playing with a 3DS on Wii U. It's a small sacrifice for a high-profile inclusion.
I HIGHLY doubt it, but I hope the DLC rumors that accompanied the factual roster leak turns out to be true. If I have to pay extra and download my Ice Climbers later, so be it. I want them in.
The character icons and placement in this demo build completely confirm the validity of the leak, if anyone was still questioning it.
I'm excited to see interesting new items, so I'm voting Galaga. Takamaru was close, though.
On that note, why don't they resurrect Takamaru's Ninja Castle as a series so they can use him as a full character in the future? It should be revived as a stealth/action game and, judging by my (admittedly limited) knowledge of the original, has a lot of potential to be great.
I'm surprised by the lack of reference to Pacman when talking about sources of inspiration for the game. The trailers feature a lot of maze-running and dot-grabbing. Is it not a fair statement to say it takes a little from the arcade original, albeit in a 3D environ? I haven't played it yet, so it's an honest question, not a suggestion.
I don't think this looks THAT bad. We've got a lot of things coming up on Wii U, but no other "space" shooters that I can think of. It could be all right. Not the best trailer, but the game isn't necessarily garbage just for that.
But... I don't understand why they would be fighting a cake. Shouldn't cake be on their side?
Does it include a glider?
This makes me sad. I was hoping they would announce Splatoon as the leader in dual Gamepad support. I am still very interested in that game, but my hype would be 10 times what it is if I knew I could play online with my wife on my same team sitting next to me on the couch. That's how I prefer to play Halo or Call of Duty when I'm with friends, and that's how I'd MUCH prefer to play Splatoon. I like the real human interaction mixed with my online gaming.
And it seems like a game that would lose too much, if they decided to allow a second player to use the Pro Controller instead. The real-time map and touch screen teleporting will be critical aspects of the gameplay.
I kinda hate the "everybody together" theme of Mario Party 9... Wii U is the perfect platform for a great Mario Party game, but that really turns me off of it.
This sounds, honestly, like GREAT fun, but it's actually the opposite of the Star Fox game that could have made gamers flock to the Wii U. I am both excited and disappointed by this review.
I think it's great that even when Nintendo's got it's back against the ropes, it still focuses on fun experiences, rather than the surefire sellers it could create. But at the same time, I'm somewhat disappointed this won't be the system seller a safer, traditional, action-packed Star Fox could have been.
@HugoSmits : Honestly, I love games like Tappingo and I loved Tappingo for its creative puzzles. There are really only two things I want in the sequel (besides new puzzles, of course).
1. The ability to navigate the menu with D-pad and buttons. I do most of my 3DS playing in bed, and using the stylus while laying on your side is difficult. I played the puzzles using buttons, but why can't I also choose the next puzzle using buttons, too?
2. Like Picross does, I want to see the name of the picture pop up after I complete the puzzle. Usually it's easy enough to tell, but there are a few occasions I'll complete a puzzle, it will spin triumphantly around and then I look at it going... o.O ... O.o ... "What is that???" Like in the screenshot posted above. I know it's not completed, but it looks like... maybe a corn stalk? Or a blowtorch? I don't know. It would be great to have just a little "Corn stalk" flash up on the screen after it does its little victory spin.
Nintendo's not dumb enough to make separately purchased figures mandatory to enjoy the game. That's the opposite of how Nintendo has always done business.
But it does mean that now, not only will I get to enjoy a new Smash Bros. game for years to come, but there is also the potential I'll get to line my bookshelves with the displayed figurines of the game's entire roster. Great news, indeed.
I'm gonna be the one guy here who comes out and says this is awesome news and I couldn't be more stoked for this game.
"La Wii U avait souffert l'an passé d'un manque de jeux, avec des sorties très espacées. Le début d'année 2014 a lui aussi été calme, qu'en sera-t-il après la sortie de Mario Kart 8?"
Beaucoup de sorties de jeux seront officialisés lors du salon de l'E3, mais vous savez déjà que nous allons sortir le jeu d'action Bayonnetta 2. D'ici à la fin de l'année, il y aura également le nouveau Skylanders, le nouveau Disney Infinity, Sonic Boom, Watch Dogs ou Zelda Hyrule Warriors. Et du côté des sorties de jeux produits par Nintendo, il y aura évidemment le jeu de combat Super Smash Bros. L'E3 sera aussi l'occasion de montrer l'utilisation de la technologie NFC [technologie utilisée dans Skylanders et Disney Infinity, permettant d'utiliser des objets réels - ici, des figurines - dans des jeux vidéo] dans les consoles Nintendo. Le NFC sera utilisé dans la version Wii U de Super Smash Bros.
I'm really excited for this game and will probably get it at launch if I can find the money.
BUT — I really hope they settle on an art style. The brand new, detailed, realistic dodongo is great. I'd love a game modeled like that. And I liked the bokoblin look in Skyward Sword and would really enjoy an action game in that style. But mixing realism and superdeformity makes for a really awful overall look that seems cheap, incohesive and confusing, in my eyes. A game isn't all about visuals and I may end up loving it anyway, but if the game launches looking like it does right now, that aspect will be a MAJOR disappointment for me.
We can all agree that "Pink Gold Peach" is stupid and should never be included in anything. It's not even a person, it's just three colors they some how threw together.
But names aside... she's supposedly made of metal, and yet her hair's blowing in the wind? How...?
Me? I'm still hopeful. Perhaps baselessly so, but hopeful nonetheless. I'll say this, though. I work for a mid-level. American newspaper and we've been collecting kids' letters to Santa for cute articles. Not every kid asks for a new system, and I'm sure plenty already have one. But about 50 percent of those asking Santa for a new system want a 3DS, 40 percent want a Wii U and the rest want an old system. I realize it's not any kind of reliable data, but it is nice to see a somewhat random sampling of kids preferring Nintendo and not a single one asking for an Xbox One or Playstation 4.
I never played Bayonetta, but I have it on good authority my mind will be blown to bits if the sequel is nearly as good. I hope it is.
That said, after finishing The Wonderful 101, I slipped it into my top three favorite games ever. I loved every single bit of it. So if Kamiya not directing Bayonetta 2 was the only way he could have produced that, I don't mind one bit.
Bit, bit, bits...
I'm actually really upset at the lack of a ZombiU discount. I was excited at seeing the substantial temporary and permanent discounts in Europe, but North America's is pretty shallow. I really want to play it and in a download version, but when I can buy the disc used for $12, I'm not spending almost $50 for the download.
That said, I am excited for Wii Sports Club and Toki Tori and a $2 game is AWESOME. We need more following that example.
Isn't there another James Pond reboot being made, too, though? Am I nuts or did I actually read two NintendoLife articles within a short time span about James Pond, one being the kickstarted game and the other by a more financially sufficient developer?
My only question for the writer: can you set the gamepad down on, say, a coffee table and compete against another person without having to pass the controller back and forth? Or does the design mean that passing the gamepad back and forth is the more natural turn progression?
I'm just curious why this is just now being reviewed.
I've almost dropped money on this more than once on the merit of its source's reputation. I'm very glad I didn't, but NintendoLife was nowhere to be found as the guiding light I needed. :/
Definitely looks better than Mutant Mudds, but I was so unimpressed with that one, I'll be checking out several reviews before putting money on this.
He looks cool, of course, but these mega evolutions are starting to look a bit haphazard and simply determined by how popular a given pokemon is. I guess I can't fault anyone for a business decision, but I really want it to make sense in-game and outside.
Mewtwo kinda made sense (in real life, it was the first big legendary, and in-game, it's the only legendary that was man-made, so why couldn't two forms of Mewtonite also be made?), but all the rest, no. I like that all three starters were chosen from the original (in-game they're just regular pokémon that happen to have mega forms), but then choosing Blaziken makes me just wish they gave ALL starters a mega form. Why keep me from a Mega Serperior?
And then if one non-legendary randomly has two mega forms, that seems a little unfair to all the others, too. I dunno. This bothers me more than it should, but it bothers me nonetheless.
The new elements of this are really cool... the online "club" thing in particular sounds like a phenomenal use of Miiverse.
But I agree with everyone else that the pricing is WAY too high for these. I also don't have any idea why they couldn't also include more games. At least some from Wii Sports Resort, if not new games altogether. It seems like a cop-out to me.
I would have them include 10 games or more. Each can be purchased for $5 or you can get them ALL for, say, $30 or $35. That seems much more fair to me and with a LOT more value for the consumer.
I also hope you can go online and join a stranger in sports like doubles tennis. I don't know anyone else who owns a Wii U, so the Miiverse teams aspect is lost on me.


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