Dirk Gently is the character created by Douglas Adams, famous for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I had almost forgotten I had read about the ‘holitic detective’ in Adams’ book Salmon of Doubt. Only recently I discovered Netflix runs a series on this character. The series is pretty awesome.
Fran Lebowitz is a native New Yorker, has strong opinions about everything, and is funny. Martin Scorsese made a series about her for Netflix. For this series, he interviews her, and she gets all the space she needs to showcase her opinionated views. In itself, it is a nice idea.
I watched the first episode. Martin Scorsese laughs way too hard and unreal at Lebowitz’s jokes. Instead of stepping back, Lebowitz also seems to find herself increasingly funny. The concept culminates in an adolescent banter between Scorsese and Lebowitz that soon becomes unwatchable. Too bad because what could have been a fun program with genius flap-out Lebowitz becomes a smug ‘crack-a-joke-or-else’ show.
Hey Nostradamus van Douglas Coupland. Geweldige boek over een ontspoorde Amerikaanse familie. Rode draden zijn Columbine High-achtig high school massacre, religieus extremisme, eenzaamheid, uitzichtloosheid. Vertelt vanuit het perspectief van vier famililieleden. Verrassend genoeg komt de vader, een tyrannieke, religieuze fanaticus, die het gezin jarenlang terroriseert nog met de minste