Boardwalk Empire 1.10: Arnold Rothstein, Media Theorist

"It's the age of information," Arnold Rothstein tells Lucky Lucianio and the D'Alessios just before he takes the bros to task for bungling the assassination of Nucky last week.  And - wait, I thought ours was the age of information - I've written half a dozen books on how the Internet and the media it offers (including blogging) have changed our world - but, you know, Rothstein was right, as well, about his age being the age of information, of the dawn of news by wire, of radio, as he said.  They're still miracles even today.  (I wrote about that too in The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution.)

The other scene I really loved in Boardwalk Empire 1.10 was the bar mitzvah in Chicago, with Al and Torrio as guests.   The ceremony and talk in the synagogue was something the Coen Brothers would have enjoyed, replete with a congregant giving Al a great explanation of yarmulkes, and why he should wear one in the synagogue.

Ok, there was another fine scene - of repressed Agent Alden finally getting some - of course, not with his wife.  Don't get me wrong, I like nothing about this guy - which is the way we're supposed to feel - but credit where credit is due for a hot scene.

Other fine scenes -  Margaret's kindness to her disfigured bodyguard,  Jimmy's boy showing him "Mommy's kissing friend" - this episode was chocked full of fine scenes, which is the case with every episode of this primo series.

Only two episodes left.   We know, in our reality, that Arnold Rothstein gets killed - but that's a few years later than where we are now on the boardwalk.  With Nucky gathering his forces, it will be fun to see where Rothstein winds up in two weeks of series time.


5-min podcast review of Boardwalk Empire

See also Boardwalk Emipre on HBO ... Boardwalk Empire 1.2: Lines and Centers Power

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The Plot to Save Socrates




"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

Coen Bros A Serious Man - You'll Laugh Til It Hurts

My wife and I saw the Coen Brothers "A Serious Man" last week and loved it. We laughed until there were tears in our eyes, and had tears in our eyes at other times during this profound film.

The short preface of the movie - itself worth the price of admission - was entirely in Yiddish. I can't remember the last time I heard mitten derinnen at the beginning or for that at any time in a movie. In fact the last time I heard it at all was from my parents, years ago. (It means, roughly, "right in the middle of everything" - as in, everything was going great, and mitten derinnen he or she walked in.) Same for plopple - meaningless or loose-lipped chatter - one of my all-time favorites. As in, I was trying to leave, but he was ploppling his head off. Or, she can't keep anything to herself, once she starts talking she'll plopple out the truth...

And the rest of movie was a flat-out masterpiece of Jewish and academic culture. Anyone who has ever tried to get clear-cut advice from a rabbi will recognize the rabbis in this movie. My father, for example, once went to a rabbi and asked- nope, I'm going to resist ploppling about this.

Francesca Maximé interviewed me about A Serious Man last week, and we definitely didn't plopple. Well, maybe a little. But we covered a lot the highlights of the movie, with no spoilers, and I even told one of my favorite rabbi jokes about the husband and wife who- well, watch the video clip.

Here's the takeaway - after the interview, go out and see the movie. You'll laugh till it hurts.

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