True Detective<\/em> is a new HBO series getting rave reviews<\/a>. This bit<\/a>, I am told by Karl White from whom I first learned about the series, is from the first episode. It's good. I'll leave it to you to sort through the sophistry of Rust's spiel.<\/span><\/p>\n Here<\/a> is some TD dialog about religion. I'll say this about it: it is well done and stimulates thought.<\/span><\/p>\n The scriptwriter, Nic Pizzolatto, is a very interesting cat who abandoned a tenure-track university gig to try his hand at writing for TV. It takes balls to give up security for a long shot. Especially when you have a kid. At that point nothing-ventured-nothing-gained risk-taking begins to taper off into irresponsibility. If I had had young children I wouldn't have quit my tenured post. Conservatives are cautious and responsible, fiscally and otherwise. <\/span><\/p>\n Pizzolatto earns a place in my Mavericks<\/a> category. <\/span>Bio and interview here<\/a>. Excerpt:<\/span><\/p>\n Do you think part of the reason why television had so much appeal for you was that you knew you\u2019d be able to reach an audience? Everyone has a TV in the living room. Not everyone reads literary novels.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s a great point. I think, with myself, growing up in rural Louisiana but having TV\u2014TV jumps all these class boundaries. For a kid to even have a disposition to be willing to sit down and read literary fiction and not regard it as a waste of time\u2014that requires a certain amount of cultural influence and education. But TV sneaks in, no matter what. I really like that. And the idea that you could put your heart and soul and every bit of yourself into it, the same way you could a novel, and stay there and make sure it was done right? That was all appealing.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That reminds me of my old entry, Books and Reality and Books<\/a>, which begins:<\/span><\/p>\n I am as confirmed a bibliophile as I am a scribbler. But books and bookishness can appear in an unfavorable light. I may call myself a bibliophile, but others will say 'bookworm.' My mother, seeing me reading, more than once recommended that I go outside and do something<\/em>. What the old lady didn't appreciate was that mine was a higher doing, and that I was preparing myself to live by my wits and avoid <\/span>grunt jobs<\/a>, which is what I succeeded in doing.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
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