Deadwood is a peculiar drama series, even by the standards of HBO. It's essentially an unsentimental Les Miserable, set in the American Old West, with Shakespearean dialogs. In other words, it's pure brilliance.

Yes, swear words permeate the script. But so do injustice, insecurity, and violent death. Such was the state of the world that the characters lived in. The frailty and vulgarity of human existence should offend you vastly more than the swearing do.

Season One documents the emergence of order out of unadulterated chaos in Deadwood. The arrival of new residents such as ex-sheriffs Bill Hickok, Seth Bullock, and competing brothel operator Cy Tolliver threatens Al Swearengen's stranglehold on the town's affairs. Crushed by the degrading and torturous death of the reverend from a brain tumor, Al, the doctor, and the ladies at Gem found respite in each other's company near the end of the Season.


If they can find solace in such mundane moments, what is our excuse?

He looks fantastic in a suit. He appears on prime time TV nearly every night. He is a recipient of six honorary doctorates. He moderates presidential debates. He appears frequently on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and once hosted the Saturday Night Life. And he cooks with his wife.

He is Brian Williams.

Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, joins Wait Wait at New York City's Carnegie Hall to play a game called "You are the very worst act ever to play this stage." Williams answers three questions about Florence Foster Jenkins — an American music legend (?) who performed for a sold out Carnegie Hall audience almost exactly 65 years ago, and became known for singing terribly.

(Don't miss the last two minutes!)

It is a complex saga, complete with greedy villains and a geek hero , spanning over six years. Jay Leno, back in 2004, appointed Conan O'Brien as his successor for the Tonight Show. When Leno finally left in 2009, douchebags at NBC thought that letting Leno host a water-down, prime time version of the Tonight Show would be a great way to fill the time slot cheaply (in place of expensive drama series) and to prevent Leno from going to another channel. This new show failed disastrously. So now the same douchebags are pushing back the Tonight Show and placing Leno's sad sad show back in the 11:35 pm time slot. Conan quits and the Internet joins him in condemning NBC and Jay Leno. Again, a man with a strong back bone! Walk tall, man. Walk tall.

In the Haiti earthquake, estimates of the number of dead range from 30,000 to as many as 100,000. The population of Port-au-Prince was around 700,000. Even the palace collapsed and the president was homeless. As there were no effective building codes, it is unlikely that many buildings could have stood through such a strong earthquake. A handy round up of videos can be found at Jezebel.

For those who believe in a benevolent god, I ask you: What good will come of destroying the heavily populated capital of one of the world's poorest country, whose people have been massacred, enslaved, and oppressed for centuries? What good will come of killing so many people who have been living in such dismal condition (per capita GDP: US$790, or US$2 per day) involuntarily or by choice? Where is justice?

I guess you can see the theme of the week. Moving on to more lighthearted topics...

Google announced, in a carefully worded blog post, that it no longer felt comfortable operating in China. They claimed to have been under serious and protracted cyber attacks from the Chinese government, and that Gmail accounts of advocates of human rights activists have been routinely accessed by third parties.
Privacy and security on the Internet are concepts that the Chinese government regard with annoyance and disdain. Would it be better to work within the limitations and hope for a better day, or to distance oneself from such a depressing place and preserve ones integrity? These are problems that have long confronted foreign companies and local dissidents in China. Some of us (yes, myself included) have to swallow part of our pride every day in order to accept the status quo without going insane. It is simply refreshing to see such an influential corporation behave like a person with honor and integrity. I applauded your decision to establish google.cn four years ago. I applaud your decision to exit the China market now. I hope your action will spark a widespread movement in which companies and politicians would rethink their attitude in dealing with repressive regimes, not limited to China.