Breaking Bad

[norton ash]

He's right, you know. How dare we enjoy ourselves with a bit of well-produced-and-acted fiction at the end of the day, while Mulebone's having such a shitty time.

[vince]

I personally don't give a fuck about story telling. Or art.

Don't worry about it. That's a hell of an epitaph, right there.

That reminded me of that guy who did that SNL,"Dick In A Box" video; he said it would probably be on his tombstone.... and that would be true!

[mulebone]

Y'know sNort, I can see your point. After a lifetime living a poorly produced, badly acted fiction I can see how you'd like to immerse yourself in a change of pace.

So, what's your poison?

You seem like the Bobblehead type. Do you have a bouncy topped Walt toy?

Everyone knows that all good "ART" comes with its corresponding line of action figures & plushies.

It's also common knowledge that Bobbleheads & revolution walk hand in hand. Just ask the French. From what I understand they made some awesome Bobbleheads back in the day....

[divideandconquer]

So Lapiderious, do you pull out your Heisenberg action figure when you watch the show?

Or is the Wally Bobblehead more your speed?

Do you prefer the green Haz-Mat suit? Or is the yellow one more to your liking?

Yep, that's some subversive anti-capitalist entertainment ya got there....yessiree bob...

Then again, maybe the Jesse plush is more to your cuddly wuddly liking...

My personal fav is the little Leggo Walt....

Geez, I wonder what sociopathic mood came over Gilligan when he rubber stamped that one....

Maybe he wants to raise enough cash so he can buy back his island....

Get a cranked out 3 way going with Ginger & MaryAnn...

Dress them in crotchless Haz Mat suits...

It'll be awesome...

As far as my dying goes...

You first puddin'....

Did you ever read "The Denial of Death" by Ernest Becker? Becker formulated a theory of human behavior based on the premise that the fear
of death is the motivating principle of human behavior. He saw man as "the animal in nature who, par excellence, imposes symbolic categories of
thought on raw experience" (Becker, 1967: 126). He believed that society is a fiction created by individuals, a fiction which enables them to impose meaning on their lives. The dual task of social theory was to #1: understand the fictions man creates and #2 to point the way toward transcending them and insuring freedom.

Becker said: "this game [society] is the living principle of all civilization" (Becker, 1967: 142). In "playing" at society, man creates a fictional world, a "symbolic universe" that brings meaning to his life. To understand the importance of our fictional creation and, more importantly, the utter seriousness with which we try to sustain and reinforce this fiction. Becker (1971b: 139) wrote

"The world of human aspiration is largely fictitious and if we do not understand this we understand nothing about man. It is a largely symbolic creation by an ego-controlled animal that permits action in a psychological world, a symbolic-behavioral world removed from the bound-ness of the present moment, from the immediate stimuli which enslave all lower organisms. Man's freedom is a fabricated freedom, and he pays a price for it. He must at all times defend the utter fragility of his delicately constituted fiction, deny its artificiality..

Without his fictions man is reduced to his basic animal existence. He sees this as the fundamental paradox of human existence: unlike other animals, man has an awareness of himself as a unique individual; and on the other hand, man is the only animal who knows that he will die (Becker, 1971a: 141). This is man's burden. Because we are so enmeshed in the fictional reality we create, we can never ask in any ultimate sense what is real. Artists like the creators of shows like "Breaking Bad", "The Wire" and others like it, ask this question through their creations, just as painters, musicians, etc. do in a socially constructed world. The fact that the establishment exploit these creations for all their worth, trying their best to o use them as vehicles to brainwash, shouldn't take away from their contribution to society. In other words, we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water.

[norton ash]

Y'know sNort, I can see your point. After a lifetime living a poorly produced, badly acted fiction I can see how you'd like to immerse yourself in a change of pace.

So, what's your poison?

You seem like the Bobblehead type. Do you have a bouncy topped Walt toy?

Everyone knows that all good "ART" comes with its corresponding line of action figures & plushies.

It's also common knowledge that Bobbleheads & revolution walk hand in hand. Just ask the French. From what I understand they made some awesome Bobbleheads back in the day....

Why would I seem like a Bobblehead type? Unless you're talking about 3 a.m. No, I'm not a 'collector', I don't believe in TV programs as a cultural phenomenon or shared simultaneous experience. I'll watch Breaking Bad when I get to it, who cares how many years from now. All the reportedly fine things I've missed so far may be a bulwark against old age and boredom if I'm that lucky, like a good bridge game.

Schopenhauer played the flute. Larkin liked a nice macaroni-cheese and tearing up Monica's knickers. I like The Wire, The Sopranos, Mad Men, and long-form cable TV fictions that go along those lines. So I'm with you as far as 'fuck Breaking Bad as a cultural touchstone' but I will look forward to watching it as (what I hear is) a well-made TV program.

Speaking of TV and docs (and guillotines) makes me wonder about the Queen of Versailles. Not even Jesus would try to save these assholes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdJYzgJ4CwI

[mulebone]

bulwark against old age and boredom

Excuse my silent laughter. Take some advice, watch it now if you're gonna watch it. Old age will offer its own obsessive entertainments such as:

"Why the fuck do my knees feel like they're gonna hinge over the wrong way?"

&

"Who keeps sticking a shiv in my spine?"

&

"Will I ever sleep longer than 3 hours again in this life?"

&

"Where the fuck are my reading glasses?"

Actually, I shouldn't talk. I have my own bulwark against old age. It's comprised of 2 bottles of liquid morphine, 1 bottle of liquid Valium & 200 Vicodins that the hospice staff was nice enough to leave here after my mom died. Hospice folk are extremely trusting.

If that fails there's always my handgun.

A nice blood & brain Jackson Pollock on my bedroom wall should just about say it all.

I will give you RI-ers credit though....I have never seen anyone over rationalize & over-intellectualize their need to be zoned out TV couch potato fan boys/girls.

It makes me wonder how humanity survived for all those generations without a constant influx of prepackaged fictions.

Oh yeah, they had religion.

I think that fear of death may have been Becker's motivating force but I find the idea of being turned out like a light bulb to be immensely comforting.

Sorry.

Sadly, I still don't feel like wasting my time watching the New Adventures of Wally & Jesse.

Or The Sopranos.

Or Mad Men.

Or The Wire.

Although I can be bought.
If any of the writers of the above series care to drop a check in the mail for me, I'd be glad to sit enraptured in front of my TV & gush like a good little fan boy over their cash cows.

Otherwise, they can fuck off.

[norton ash]

Oh, for heaven's sake, Mulebone. Send some of those narcotics my way, it sounds like they're going to waste.

[mulebone]

Sorry buddy.

Rainy day & all.

That's my escape hatch.

Get your own.

[JackRiddler]

Oh, for heaven's sake, Mulebone. Send some of those narcotics my way, it sounds like they're going to waste.

Oh no you don't. I want a share!

[Project Willow]

Willow, you've mastered rhetoric, hyperbole & the science of bullshit laden condescension quite nicely.

I am an artist, it's a requirement of the job, and I'll take that as a high compliment as I never made it to grad school. Thanks for the laugh though, I mean, you're offended that I sound condescending? You are aware of how you speak to us here, right?

I personally don't give a fuck about story telling. Or art. I don't give a fuck about empathy Hollywood style or seeing the world through some overpaid scriptwriter's eyes.
...
Do you honestly think that his fiction will do much for my life?

If you're human, you're soaking in art, artifice, and story telling, whether you like it or not, everyday. It's not really possible to reject it. This culture has conditioned people to think of Art as a self indulgent luxury product, all the while using its power, its central role in human communal relationships, to manipulate and control. You may be incensed by Hollywood schlock, and advertising and so on, but don't they have art therapy at your facility? Frankly, it saved my life. And don't get me started recounting all the times I've witnessed it save or help others, especially those who are marginalized. To quote one famous asshole, art is a lie that tells the truth.

You've created the persona of Mulebone. It's an outlet. Maybe if you tried other forms of creative expression, draw, paint, sing, do crazy little impromptu dances, symbolically smash a television, or do it for real, you'd feel better, and your circumstances would improve.

[conniption]

Well, WTF, you guys?

I wanted to add a little something to your Breaking Bad thread and it's turned into what? the? fuck? Is it even about the T.V. Show?

No.

Watched the last half hour of the second-to-the-last episode last Sunday and I'm hooked now. Will certainly be watching the finale, tomorrow, to see how it ends. (And maybe even catch a few episodes leading up to that bit, since it's been a Breaking Bad Marathon all week.) Like ...who was the guy who climbed out of that underground cage...then had his...nvm. spoiler.

The Guardian

Breaking Bad: 12 ways it could end

The hit TV series Breaking Bad is finally coming to an end. So will Walt go out in a hail of bullets. Will it all be a Sopranos Switcheroo? And what is a Felina riddle?

Jump to comments (271)

[Laodicean]

Hey mulebone, his name was Kevin Cordasco. Maybe you would have bought what he was selling?

[justdrew]

it seems to me the main point of the show is that Ends do not justify Means, and that while pursuing ones Ends the Means can so fuck shit up that the Ends are just Gone.

A simple message really, and one the American People could Do Well to Process.

[The Consul]

Maybe greatest show ever or...perhaps The reason why this idea was put into production is because Breaking Bad is part of the secret subliminal mind fuck war on Teachers and Science, all the while famously glamorizing drugs. dealers the DEA and fried chicken.

[mulebone]

don't they have art therapy at your facility?

You're kidding right?

Actually every day I pick a stranger & walk up & give em a big hug. Usually this is followed by the woman calling the police but still, my heart's always in the right place.

Hon, spare me the mothering advice. My mom's dead & long rotted.

If you're human, you're soaking in art, artifice, and story telling, whether you like it or not, everyday.

Yeah, I know. It's called the evening news.

Y'know, I'm always utterly befuddled when a bunch of fan boys & girls defend their little pet pop culture flavor of the day. I'm sure the creators love you fan types, just not enough to keep security from pepper spraying y'all should you be dumb enough to show up at their house.

Like I said, befuddled but always amused.