Let's shake some dust

Working as a part time translator really took up a lot of my time, just as the friend that introduced me to the job said it would. It will eat up a whole day if I have to do two 1/2-hour shows. But I got a break a few days ago when I found out that I don't have anything due and I have 2 days off back to back.


And the timing couldn't have been better because I recently bought 5 games and the complete second season of Carnivale. I know I said that HBO will show the second season shortly after the marathon but after months of waiting I'm guessin' it ain't gonna happen. So I went and bought the dvd.

It's a good thing I did because I finally realized that there may be some stuffs that I will never get to see if I wait for HBO to show it. You see, in US the censorship rules applies differently to different media. For national television i.e. free tv, the basic censorship applies- no cursing, no lewd acts, no nudity etc etc etc. But for cable tv i.e. pay tv like HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, you get to show, do or say anything you please. So series produced by these pay tv have free reign to shape their shows however they want it to be. In actuality, those shows that we have been watching all these years like Six Feet Under and Sex in the City were not really in their full version. Unless you're watching the dvds of course.

To date, I've only watched 8 episodes out of the 12 episodes season and it is such a riveting, out-of-this world mystifying experience. I can't wait to get to the end. But yet the 12th episode is also something that I'm dreading to see because it is the absolute last episode for the show. That damn HBO cancelled it after its 2nd season.


I don't know why HBO canned it. I guess the ratings were not high enough for their standard or they were not getting enough awards for it or the actors are not pretty and thus not worth their air time. I don't know. But fans all over the world (including me) were outraged. I must admit the show may not appeal to the general mass and I guess the number of viewers were not up to par, but it has the most compelling story I have ever seen.

Not pretty enough?
From left: Ruthie the Snake Lady who danced with snakes, one of the hottest acts in town. Samson is a midget who managed the whole act under the watchful eye of 'Management'. Nex is his ex-wife Sabina. Hot huh? Not sure what her act was but she was known as the Scorpion Lady. Oh, did I mention she didn't have any fingers?

I've mentioned before how I love to watch/read stories about the fight between angels and demons, good and evil and thing like that which was the reason why I love Constantine so much, it's the same with Carnivale just stretched a few more hours with more twists, turns and puzzles than the biggest book of sudoku that you can find. It was never clear who was good and who was evil. Who's holding the reigns? What's at stake? What do they stand to gain?

Dan Knauf, the creator did express his wishes to finish the series one day. Picking up the series again would be really nice but since HBO owned the rights, the chance might be pretty slim. Some suggest making a tv movie. But he said that 2 hours is not enough to wrap such a complex story, which I agree. There are hints of making a novel or graphic novel which would be really nice too. At this point, I'll take anything. I just want to know the ending.