*woosh* and there Boing Boing once again went over the cliff.

You must have missed that part where her partner in crime comitted suicide because he didn’t want to end up there. So if he wouldn’t have done that they both would have ended up in this “Justice Park”.

Maybe you also missed the reveal during the credits? Yes, this was in part about voyeurism, but it’s also clearly a critique on the “mob mentality” that runs rampant in today’s media. Just read any comment under a crime story that involves someone “innocent” and what people would like to do. Half of those commentators would get season passes to the Justice Park just because.

What I’m saying is that it’s possible to think something is vile without experiencing complete shock and dismay at the mere sight. I don’t think that developing better coping mechanisms necessarily means that one’s ability for care and empathy are also dulled (which is often what I find people imply by the word ‘desensitization’).

Is Disney already involved in the Prison-Industrial Complex?  Follow the money!

I never did look in the “fecal Japan” section.

Eventually I’ll learn, keep up the good fight.

What got me, though — and I suppose I am showing my American here — is how very beautiful Utopia was. I’m aware of PAL and NTSC and all that, but when I was last in the UK and watched programming where the visuals were clearly of importance (The Hour; they loved their design details), it was like a revelation. Watching Utopia brought that all rushing back. It doesn’t feel like a lot of shows bother thinking about color palettes quite so much.

Mixed feelings on a second series, though. Do you think they could carry the story for another six episodes without losing anything? More would be great, but I worry that it might stumble.

That said, I *did* rather like the idea of the White Bear Justice Park. But it would be much more interesting and cost effective were the criminals just forced to fight gladiator matches with each other and/or armoured bears.

I thought Utopia was fantastic. The writing and acting were perfect, and the things that are usually less noticed, like production design and music, were great too.
I really hope there’s a second series.

Yes.  It was Goatse.cx when I was 11.  Me and my friends all started screaming and ran.  The bravest one of us inched back into the computer room and yanked the computer’s plug out of the wall.

Memories

I’m all for the ‘ease-of-access’ argument, but when something is made for a target audience that is not you, it’s not a failure to not make it available to you.