The Devil In The Details

The God In The Details, I should better say, as long as we talk about Robert Goren. So far we have already seen his brownish black leather folder, blue pen, Motorola cell phone and IBM laptop. We have even mentioned the squad car our detective somehow can't drive because of his partner Eames:) Come, let's remember some more details about Bobby.

His Switchblade

His White Hanky

His Laceless Black Shoes

His Magnifier

Now that he's got a magnifier, all he needs is a pipe, a hat and a Chinese man servant who will attack without warning to keep him alert. Oi! Stereotyping is bad. Ai! I'm bad. And late, as usual but all the same better late than never. Law And Order: Criminal Intent is back! Our amazing detective by the name of Robert Goren is back! I think I'm gonna cry! Meanwhile please check the link, if you like, for Season Premiere of Criminal Intent April 19: Playing Dead.

Audition

The Unblinking Eye (S04E21) is a 4th season episode of the LOCI and a bit evokes, at least for me, the crime of notorious teenaged thrill killers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, more commonly known as Leopold and Loeb Case. Considering that this episode is kinda bizarre and creepy, not as creepy as Takashi Miike's Audition though. To make a long story short, in this episode, our detectives investigate the murder of a young actress gunned down on the street after an evening out with her boyfriend. At first, they focus their attention on a woman who had previously shown an unusual interest in the victim's boyfriend, also an actor, who was wounded in the shooting. But further evidence leads them to realize other people could have been involved. The list of suspects include the grieving boyfriend, who seems too good to be true, as well as his best friend, who never excelled in auditions as an actor. As for me, in this episode Robert Goren absolutely looks gorgeous as he wears a dark blue shirt with a bullet proof jacket and thank God, most of the time he smiles. Little or big, any smile on his cute face just makes my day.

I almost forgot! We also learn that Fern Hill, written by Dylan Thomas was Bobby's father's favorite poem.

Mr. Goren Goes To Toy Shop

In the episode Collective (S04E12) Robert Goren and his partner are investigating the death of an expensive toy collector who was accidentally shot by the police. At first, they suspect that the victim might have fallen prey to a conniving woman who trolls sci-fi literature and vampire conventions in sexy outfits celebrating the work of vampyric horror writer Carlotta Francis and after further investigation they find her connection with a death-obsessed secret society that may be involved with the murders. Carlotta Francis, who's mentioned as the author of a series of books published in the 50s about a vampire named Lord Fantomas, is a not real author but her books discussed in the episode seem to have a lot in common with both Twilight and Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. In fact, Fantomas, one of the most popular characters in the history of French crime fiction, is created by French writers by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, approximately in 1911 and appears to be a gothic villain rather than a vampire. Thus Carlotta Francis And Lord Fantomas look like inspirational but another reference mentioned in the episode, which is Hans Ruedi Giger is a real life academy award winning Swiss painter, sculptor and set designer best known for his design work on the film Alien. Well, this episode is kinda weird, I can say that. Nonetheless our detective gets fun out of it, especially while questioning the owner of the toy shop. Oh yes, don't get between a guy and his toys!

The Moment Goren Sees Johnny Seven: The Seven Weapons In One

Shot 1 Grenade Launcher

Shot 2 Anti-Tank Rocket

Shot 3 Armour Piercing Shell

Shot 4 Anti Bunker Missile

Shot 5 Machine Gun

Shot 6 Repeater Rifle

Shot 7 Cap Gun

The Cutism Manifesto

There are so many things to be said on cutism. Cute is the adhesive of our mass media cultures of adolescence. It's so basic to the functioning of everyday life in groups and yet, at the same time, it is our most repressed constant point of contact with our others, our selves. Cute names the death-driven meta. Whatever needs to be eliminated or mourned, must first be suffused with our capacity for love, as Sigmund Freud once defined as libido, and thus made attractive, cute, for one last libidinal upsurge. Cute is the adolescent type who makes the in-group of moving targets of mass libidinization. Cute gives children and teens a kind of tabooizing protection against the abuse that's thus ultimately, eventually, and just as forcefully, invited in, attracted, confirmed. Cute takes on a surcharge, embodies an access or excess of assimilation that becomes the one who's similar. If you're cute, you like to be different, like everyone you like, to be like. Our relations with cuteness always pass through this relay and delay of likeability, all the way to a same difference that's only as close as it is so far away. Speaking of farness; ladies and gentlemen, you are just about to become a witness to the cutest move of history as you find yourself seeing the Goren Lean once again. Yes, we've seen that famous lean as two dimensional before, in this blog. Now let's check what it looks like as one dimensional in the hope of seeing it as three dimensional one day. From my lips to God's ear:)

I Woof You

I can barely remember watching Lassie on TV but I definitely know that famous line 'Lassie is trying to tell us something'. Honestly what was the problem with that dog? What was it that she was so desperately trying to tell us? Was it 'Woof! Feed me! Somebody feed me' or 'Grrr, Ruff! Stop standing on my tail, you idiot'? Or maybe, just for fun, it was 'Are you talking to me? Welcome to the dorkside' or 'Adriaaaan!' or 'I know kung-fu'. How about 'Soylent Green is people' or 'Look out! Ash is a robot'? Whatever it is, I know one thing for fact. Dogs sleep alot, almost 13-14 hours per day. And considering the conditions at the time the Lassie movies were made, probably poor dog was just trying to say 'Cuuuut!' Yep, simply lost in translation. Anyway according to the book I read couple of months ago, dogs can develop regional accents. As a matter of fact language rules apply to all the animals:) For instance, in English dogs go woof woof, in French it's a ouah ouah and in Turkish it's a hav hav. The Albanian dogs go ham ham, the Chinese dogs say wang wang, the Greek dogs go gav gav, the Slovenians hov hov and the Ukrainians haf haf. In Iceland it's a voff, in Indonesia it's a gong gong and in Italy it's a bau bau:) Also to the same book, dogs mimic the behaviours of the people they love. Allright let's see. In the picture below Bobby is smiling and the cute, little pup he's holding is also smiling! Aaah, it's nice to see a dog who appreciates a remarkable man:)

Live Alone Die Alone

There are an endless number of possible variations in chess, even after just a few moves have been played and The King's Indian Attack is one of the most common chess openings for white, most notably used by Robert James Fischer, the greatest chess player of all time. The following game from 1967, where Bobby Fischer (White) is playing against Lhamsuren Myagmarsuren, also known as A Night In Tunisia, illustrates the potential of KIA.

1.e4 e6, 2.d3 d5, 3.Nd2 Nf6, 4.g3 c5, 5.Bg2 Nc6, 6.Ngf3 Be7, 7.0-0 0-0, 8.e5 Nd7, 9.Re1 b5, 10.Nf1 b4, 11.h4 a5, 12.Bf4 a4, 13.a3 bxa3, 14.bxa3 Na5, 15.Ne3 Ba6, 16.Bh3 d4, 17.Nf1 Nb6, 18.Ng5 Nd5, 19.Bd2 Bxg5, 20.Bxg5 Qd7, 21.Qh5 Rfc8, 22.Nd2 Nc3, 23.Bf6 Qe8, 24.Ne4 g6, 25.Qg5 Nxe4, 26.Rxe4 c4, 27.h5 cxd3, 28.Rh4 Ra7, 29.Bg2 dxc2, 30.Qh6 Qf8, 31.Qxh7+, Black resigned.

In the episode Gone (S04E11) Robert Goren enters the mind of a paranoid man who may be involved in the murder of the woman and discovers the chess strategy of the suspect, that happens to be KIA, who is later discovered to be a former chess grand master turned fugitive. Close to the ending, our detective matches wits with the disturbed man in the same place as he started his fame at an early age. It's really confusing yet really interesting, especially for those who are into chess and apparently this episode reveals many resemblances of the life of Bobby Fischer though he was never associated with any of the sordid activities attributed to the paranoid man of this story. Nonetheless the connection is obvious as Fischer, before his dead, was shown in interviews abroad to have acquired Anti-Semitic views and Anti-American statements after 9/11. Nothing justifies racism however I could never get really angry at Bobby Fischer. His whole life was a tragedy. He had a dreadful childhood with a hateful mother who set up tournaments so she could exploit his incredible talents for money. Well, they say, the reason they call it chess is that all the four-letter words were taken. On January 18, 2008, Bobby Fischer, a genius, a talent and a very sick man (probably a paranoid schizophrenic, very much like John Nash) died at age 64 (the same number as the number of squares on a chessboard) in Iceland. He was always alone, he always wanted to be left alone and eventually died alone. It's always easier to hate than love. As I said, it's a sad case, all in all.

Bobby Goren Against Bobby-Fischer-Like Chess Master

Stop Me Before I Kill Again

It's commonly believed that serial killers can't stop because their compulsion is so strong that they're literally addicted to murder. The most famous example of this is William Heirens in 1945. While he did not actually turn himself in, he did leave a message on the mirror of one of his second of three victims, written in lipstick: 'For heaven's sake catch me before I kill more. I cannot control myself.' In other words, he appeared to be horrified by what he was doing when he shot and stabbed a woman, leaving her body draped over a bathtub. In accordance with this information, Want (S04E03) is a fourth season episode of the LOCI that won the 2005 Edgar Award for Best Television Episode Teleplay and the personality of killer John Tagman, a shy, lonely man who can't control his primeval urge to kill, closely resemble those of serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Edmund Kemper. And suprisingly this deeply sick man who performs Trepanation (homemade lobotomy in other words) to prevent his victims from leaving and is driven to cannibal murders gains empathy from Robert Goren. Our detective shocks his colleagues with a passionate plea that the man be spared the death penalty and engineers the confession that could save his life through a plea bargain. Goren urges ADA Carver to seek life in prison rather than the electric chair. After he coerces Tagman into an emotional confession Ron Carver arranges a deal. However in the end, it is revealed that Tagman has been beaten to death by another prisoner, prompting Eames to remark to both Goren and Carver: 'It looks like now everybody has what they wanted'. In general, I can say that this is one of the most tiresome episodes for our detective in every way. Well, first he eats tofu then chili beans and later on watches an adult movie with a serial killer. Hot chocolate with porn on the top! Ugh!

Still My Sunshine

I've not been blogging much lately as my life has gone crazy! Whatever. But there's good news, at last the sun is shining brightly over NYC! God, I love sun. It's about time to go out, buy a new training shoe and explore every inch of Central Park once again. Ah yes, I'm a casual dresser person. Well, it all depends on where we're going however I can spend all my money on sportswears and most of the time I do:) Speaking of outfits, our detective is a guy who likes to wear suits and looks absolutely good in it. So let's remember those rare moments Robert Goren gets casual episode by episode.

Smothered (S01E03)

The Third Horseman (S01E11)

Homo Homini Lupus (S01E14)

Tomorrow (S01E07)

Cuba Libre (S02E16)

The Posthumous Collection (S04E02)

The False Heart Judges (S04E23)

Prisoner (S05E03)

Acts Of Contrition (S05E05)

Vacancy (S05E17)


The War At Home (S06E08)

Psycho Killer

The season premiere episode Semi-Detached (S04E01) is about a controversial and self-destructive radio djay who is found dead of asphyxiation. When our detectives broaden their investigation, the clues lead them toward a creepy nurse who terrifies me to my very soul named Nelda Carlson with a Borderline Personality Disorder. She's a kinda 'separated not married but not divorced yet' nurse who enjoys to make gifts from dead men's hair. And she also seems to enjoy flirting shamelessly with our detective throughout the episode. Let's see; Goren carries her grocery bags, calls her, gives his badge for the case of emergency. In return Carlson prescribes an alternative antipsychotic for his mother and presents an old photo of Robert Goren from academy. Ai! Excuse me but what am I watching? Which show is this? In all seriousness, how could you Bobby? Wasn't it enough that you had fun with Nicole? Has this become a regular thing? Honestly, quest que cest? Of all things, let me give you a hint: Nicole Wallace and Nelda Carlson? Whatever can the connection between these two women be? Bing! There you go. Thank God, another cold case file solved. Obviously psycho killers are your type and from now psycho killer I will be:) But before I become a text book case let's recall the rest of the episode. We learn that Robert Goren's mother was 25 when he was born and also find out that she's on Ziprasidone (Geodon, Zeldox) to control the symptoms of her schizophrenia. Our nurse instead recommends a relatively old antipsychotic named Risperidone (Risperdal), supposedly with fewer side effects for her medication treatment. Ah Nelda, you screw up everything psychopharmacology stands for. You should have known better. Didn't your teachers in the med school teach you the golden rule: Don't you dare touch Bobby! Ah also, drugs should never be prescribed as a result of an inadequate consultation.

Bobby And 'Shoot-At-Sight' Nelda Carlson

Sniff, sniff... Allright, needless to say, I'm heartbroken but I will survive. As a true scientist who only believes in tangible and material things, I certainly know how to handle this unpleasent situation smoothly and tame green eyed monster within me. This is for you Nelda Carlson! This is for having a cup of coffee with Bobby... This is for holding his jacket... This is for sharing the same planet with him...