Dexter s06e05. "The Angel of Death".

After a week off my Dexter's reviews, I'm back right after the episode to avoid procrastination. Last week's episode, A Horse of a Different Color, pictured a clear image of a killer dichotomy that this season wants to set. On the one hand, we have the killer who is absolutely  a-religious, whose morals are questionable, but with whom, nevertheless, everyone of us will sympathize. i.e. Dexter. On the other hand, we have Professor James Gellar, an extremely religious man, who believes is following God's directions. He will end up losing all our support, which he still may have since he is Edward James Olmos. Obviously, this dichotomy is going to develop to a more sympathetic image of the religious kind with the help of Brother Sam.
In tonight's episode, this mechanism of redemption has been set in motion at full speed right at the end of the episode, when Brother Sam is shot three times in cold blood.
This show is so amazingly crafted that we were given the chance of expecting Brother Sam's death for a while, without being an imposition on us (because you were also expecting it, weren't you?).
Going on with another thread, I'm not sure if I like too much how the sexual tension between Deb and Quinn is developing with Detective Anderson in a teaser role. However, Quinn's screw up with the ex-vampire professor is going to be fun to follow.
For the closure tonight, I have to appeal to my sadistic side, since I can avoid thinking on how much fun is going to be when Dexter put his hands on Brother Sam's shooter.  The sad thing is that we are not going to be able to enjoy Mos Def's acting (or I should say Yasiin Bey) any longer, but that's life!

St.Louis Cardinals: World Champions!

They did it, and today I'm not even questioning why they call it the World Series or why the Cardinals are the World Champions. They just are. If the Rangers would have won, this post will be longer and will try to find a reason for this bunk. Today it just makes sense. Go Cards!

Cardinals: one game away from the World Series

If all baseball games had half the intensity and quality of tonight's game, baseball wouldn't have another sport that could claim being the number one sport in the world. That, to be completely honest, if far away from happening, but if you watched last night's game I'm sure you feel like the excitement of the game makes you think baseball is the game. What the St.Louis Cardinals have done this season, independently of the final outcome, has no comparison in baseball history. After clinching the Wild Card in the last game of the season to the expense of the Atlanta Braves, the Cardianals have disposed of the Phillies and the Brewers to get to the finals against W's team the Texas Rangers. We are only a few hours away from the last game of the season, and tomorrow a huge part of the country will have its eyes focus in this great city of St.Louis, whose son David Freese gave the country the chance of enjoying the national past time for a few more hours.

Dexter s06e03. "Smokey and The Bandit"

I saw Smokey and the Bandit a life ago, so I don't remember details about it. My question is why they named the episode like that? I think it must be the writer's obsesion with the car that Batista ends up driving. Suggestions are welcome.
In this episode, Dexter identifies the Tooth Fairy serial killer, who eventually becomes his victim. This serial killer is now an old man retired in Florida, who still manage to commit his horrendous crimes, or at least try to. When Dexter finally catch him, and is about to finish him, the old guy makes Dexter think deeply about his future. Is he really going to end up as the Tooth Fairy, whom by the way used to be one of Dexter's obsessions when he was a kid. Would Dexter be a lonely old craby man unknown and ignore by everyone?
Well, if Michael C. Hall doesn't sign up for a next season we may not even discover a tiny part of Dexter's future. So far, 4 million per season is what separates the actor and Showtime which offers 20 million instead of the 24 required by Hall.
I really hope they reach an agreement soon!

Dexter s06e02. "Once upon a time..." Debra and an interesting shepherd"

Dexter is, slowly but sturdily, moving forward! After six seasons of overflowing accumulation of stunningly well-calculated plots, I am content with the way the series unveils. I would complain with any other show, but Dexter has my unconditional support to move at it's own pace. Little by little different subplots start developing toguether with the main one. Debra, Dexter's sister (and recent Michael C. Hall's ex), is experiencing a turmoil in her life. Her boyfriend, and Dexter's most dreaded officer Miami metro, Quinn proposed to her, and at the same time she is promoted, over Batista, to everybody in the department's surprise. While she refuse one, she accepts the other... guess which one!
Another exciting trend is the one about Brother Sam, a redeemed criminal, on whom Dexter is keeping an eye. Mos Def, who always deliver in whatever the role he is representing, may be reserving a surprise for us, and maybe not be as redeemed as he seems to be.

O'Hare International Airport. Only English please!

I have flown numerous times from and to O'Hare airport in Chicago. I have never had a problem, in fact, it has always been a smooth transitional airport. However, while I'm waiting for my parents to arrive from Spain, I couldn't avoid noticing something extremely surprising. There are no signs whatsoever in any other language than English. I would expect at least Spanish, and wouldn't be surprised to find more languages, as in any other decent international airport. On the other hand, I have to say that everybody that I have spoken to today have been very helpful (and I have made an effort to ask around for the simplest things to find, just to see if it worked). Also, some of the workers that I have talked to were most likely bilingual. So, if you are flying to or from O'Hare be ready to deal with some issues if you don't speak any English. However, don't be afraid to ask around, workers are nice and helpful.

Tomas Tranströmer, Nobel Prize for Literature 2012

...and obviously, the prize didn't go to Bob Dylan! The winner, Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, was totally unknown to me. For some reason, there's not many contemporary poets that I read, and that's unfortunate. I always find myself re-reading poetry rather than discovering new one. Maybe, this will be an opportunity for me to change that trend. According to the Accademy, he's been awarded the prize because "through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality." His poetry books are supposed to be short, which I like in poetry. I find out that the only large poem that I go back to, is Paradise Lost, otherwise it is always a pocket book.

Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for literature 2012!

I know, I also like Dylan, but I believe that's not going to happen. However, according to The Guardian he leads the bets over Adonis, Murakami, or Pynchon. Well, if it happens people are just not going to make as much money as they would have betting for him the day before. The odds went from 100/1 to 5/1 almost overnight. In any case, don't you have anything better to do than wasting your money in this kind of betting?

Dexter. The new season is on!

My favorite series of all time, head to head with The Sopranos and maybe The Wire, is back on with a promising new season. Our serial killer comes back with what looks to be a take on religion. Not only because the criminal that the Miami police department is after (Edward James Olmos) uses cryptic religious messages, but also because Dexter finds himself wondering about his non-existent religious beliefs. Can a person who needs to tie all loose ends for his own existence's sake have faith? Sergeant Batista's explanation of what believing in God means comes down to faith, which does not seem to be good enough for Dexter.
Now, I wish I knew more about religious mythology to anticipate, or at least try to anticipate, some of the events waiting for us in the next eleven episodes.

On a different page, following Dexter, Showtime is showing a new series called Homeland, which I doubt it will get to the level of Dexter, but it seems entertaining enough for me to follow it. It tells the story of an American marine (Damian Lewis) that returns home as a hero after eight years MIA in Iraq. The twist is that he secretly seems to have been turned into the Taliban side... I may blog about it too, it depends on how the series develops.