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Irish Joe posted:Real life is really boring. That's why we have tv. I have read tons of way more interesting nonfiction books based on way less interesting situations than this.
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Aug 24, 2013 16:42
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I read a lot of nonfiction as well and as far as memoirs written before the age of 40 go, it could have been a lot less self aware and a lot more preachy. I.e. there wasn't much of "I gave a $20 to a homeless person once and I learned so much about how bad non super hot white girls have it." She was in a minimum security federal prison for nonviolent offenders and she was definitely aware of it. It's not summer camp and it had a lot of hosed-up-ness but it's about the furthest thing from Oz you can get in the DOC system. Federal prison is generally much much nicer than state prison or some of the horrific metro area jail systems, and she was on the nicer side of federal prison. It actually even bothered me a little how much she kept saying things like "we all made huge mistakes and that's why we're in prison" when in reality some people were destined to be completely hosed by the system before they were 10. A lot of the book was also about the whole drug smuggling operation, which I thought was pretty interesting and legitimate material to write about. There was no boyfriend/husband drama IRL either but I think we all saw that coming a mile away.
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Aug 24, 2013 17:44
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LSD-25 posted:I read a lot of nonfiction as well and as far as memoirs written before the age of 40 go, it could have been a lot less self aware and a lot more preachy. I.e. there wasn't much of "I gave a $20 to a homeless person once and I learned so much about how bad non super hot white girls have it." She was in a minimum security federal prison for nonviolent offenders and she was definitely aware of it. It's not summer camp and it had a lot of hosed-up-ness but it's about the furthest thing from Oz you can get in the DOC system. Federal prison is generally much much nicer than state prison or some of the horrific metro area jail systems, and she was on the nicer side of federal prison. It actually even bothered me a little how much she kept saying things like "we all made huge mistakes and that's why we're in prison" when in reality some people were destined to be completely hosed by the system before they were 10. She just writes in a very bland and uninteresting style, I can think of books where people told more interesting stories about going to actual summer camp than she told going to prison. She wasn't writing comedy but david sedaris made a more interesting story with better fleshed out characters about standing in line to buy coffee than she did in a whole prison for a whole year.
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Aug 24, 2013 18:53
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Yeah it just makes me wonder how something like that got picked up and made into a TV show.
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Aug 24, 2013 23:15
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the posted:Yeah it just makes me wonder how something like that got picked up and made into a TV show. Basically, Genji Cohen wanted to make a prison show and by basing it on a book she was able to skip a lot of tedious world-building in the development process.
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Aug 24, 2013 23:24
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the posted:Yeah it just makes me wonder how something like that got picked up and made into a TV show. It makes sense it would, "what would happen if a pretty rich white girl ended up in prison" is a pretty good tv plot setup, it's sort of irrelevant that what apparently actually happens is that everyone is super nice and the biggests hardships faced are that one time a work detail took her out of the prison and told her to stay put for a few minutes and she had to stay put for a few minutes and that once a guard said a bundle of wires was like a horse cock and she got him written up and got to change work supervisors and one time there was a gynecologist and everyone said not to get a checkup then she got a checkup and it was apparently somewhat uncomfortable in an unspecified way.
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Aug 24, 2013 23:35
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I think she works for nonprofits now, but at some point she was a creative director for TV, so I imagine she had various connections to get the project rolling. Similar to how Marty Kihn got House of Lies made from his pretty mediocre book about how being a super rich financial consultant is superficial and pays a lot of money.
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Aug 25, 2013 14:07
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The only really "immersion breaking" thing for me (if you can call it that) is that I don't really see how a lot of the crimes would fall under Federal jurisdiction (specifically the shoplifting stuff from two separate characters).
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Aug 25, 2013 17:40
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Why did they have to kill off my favourite and IMHO cutest character on the show 
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Aug 25, 2013 19:52
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The most immersion-breaking thing for me is now knowing that Yoga Jones is Patti Mayonnaise. Patti, you sure fell on some hard times after junior high. 
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Aug 26, 2013 05:39
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Duro posted:Why did they have to kill off my favourite and IMHO cutest character on the show Speaking of cute characters, Laura Prepon is pretty much my 90s dream girl. Sarcasm and dyed black hair were the bomb in the 90s. I remember hanging with my girlfriend with her dyed black hair and just listening to the pumpkins for hours. Its a shame goths ruined dressing in black for everyone, because that was a great look.
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Aug 28, 2013 21:55
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Owlofcreamcheese posted:the weirdest things though are random lines the show uses for no apparent reason, in paris someone told piper it was too cold for margarettas, so in the show that line comes up, for larry in a bar? That wasn't said to Larry, Alex used the line to break the ice with Piper.
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Aug 30, 2013 05:50
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Macdeo Lurjtux posted:That wasn't said to Larry, Alex used the line to break the ice with Piper. I think it was also used by the bartender when Larry orders one at the bar in the front half of the season, but I could be wrong.
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Aug 30, 2013 07:11
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Now that I finished this show, when is season 2 coming out? My mind was blown when I found out the Yoga lady was the voice of Patty Mayonaise. But then again I also didn't recognize Kate Mulgrew either...
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Aug 30, 2013 18:16
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The Warszawa posted:I think it was also used by the bartender when Larry orders one at the bar in the front half of the season, but I could be wrong. Yeah that is what I mean, the show has a ton of lines directly from the book, but in a really odd way where the context, setting and speaker is totally different.
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Aug 30, 2013 19:17
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The Warszawa posted:I think it was also used by the bartender when Larry orders one at the bar in the front half of the season, but I could be wrong. It wasn't, she just sort of rolls her eyes.
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Aug 31, 2013 13:14
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Irish Joe posted:Speaking of cute characters, Laura Prepon is pretty much my 90s dream girl. Sarcasm and dyed black hair were the bomb in the 90s. I remember hanging with my girlfriend with her dyed black hair and just listening to the pumpkins for hours. Its a shame goths ruined dressing in black for everyone, because that was a great look. I hate to break this to you, but she sounds like she was goth.
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Sep 1, 2013 03:10
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Or Daria / Jane Lane.
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Sep 1, 2013 18:18
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Watching with my brother in law, when Jason Biggs wes masturbating silently in frustration, he remarked that he had the weirdest type casting.
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Sep 2, 2013 01:14
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RacistGuidingLight posted:Watching with my brother in law, when Jason Biggs wes masturbating silently in frustration, he remarked that he had the weirdest type casting. He will always be the insufferable guy who hosed a pie.
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Sep 2, 2013 02:00
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xeria posted:The most immersion-breaking thing for me is now knowing that Yoga Jones is Patti Mayonnaise. Patti, you sure fell on some hard times after junior high. Son of a bitch I KNEW she was a cartoon voice. So I watched a lot more of this since the thread started and I am really digging it, about halfway through at this point. A lot of my friends that watched it had issues with the way this season ended but I guess I'll see what I think when I get there. the posted:I haven't seen the last two episodes. The show makes it pretty clear that this is prison lite though, the girls are wandering around all the time and allowed to get books and stuff. When Piper talks about how she went outside and the weather was nice and she had her tea with her and a book for a second it sounded like it wasn't too bad. I have no idea how you can get away with being there if you killed someone though.
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Sep 2, 2013 08:24
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I haven't read the book, but from what I'm understanding it's only based off of it, not a recreation of it. I can appreciate that much without going into semantics about what's completely true to the story or not. As far as it being accurate as far as living in a prison goes, I think it's an interesting backdrop for a drama about a bunch of women living together. I'm not too critical of the televisions shows I watch, I guess.
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Sep 2, 2013 09:44
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Shnooks posted:I haven't read the book, but from what I'm understanding it's only based off of it, not a recreation of it. I can appreciate that much without going into semantics about what's completely true to the story or not. From what I've read I gather it's a reasonably acceptable approximation of life in a low security prison for women.
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Sep 2, 2013 10:12
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Shnooks posted:I haven't read the book, but from what I'm understanding it's only based off of it, not a recreation of it. I can appreciate that much without going into semantics about what's completely true to the story or not. The show could take place as an all girls boarding school and fundamentally still be pretty similar. Not like the shows Oz, I still dig it.
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Sep 3, 2013 02:30
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I went to a women's prison on a trip for one of my criminology courses. The way the inmates get to walk around sort of freely in the show was sort of accurate to it. We even got shuttled around in a van by one of the inmates, and there was one doing some janitorial work in the front office where she could easily leave the prison. This prison was particularly more open than the one in Orange is the New Black, but that might be because it was an AZ state prison rather than a private New York prison. I sat in a death row cell. It was tiny. 
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Sep 3, 2013 02:59
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Astro7x posted:Now that I finished this show, when is season 2 coming out? Next summer I believe.
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Sep 3, 2013 14:56
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Detective No. 27 posted:I went to a women's prison on a trip for one of my criminology courses. The way the inmates get to walk around sort of freely in the show was sort of accurate to it. We even got shuttled around in a van by one of the inmates, and there was one doing some janitorial work in the front office where she could easily leave the prison. This prison was particularly more open than the one in Orange is the New Black, but that might be because it was an AZ state prison rather than a private New York prison. Did you have your own gang of handicapped girls?
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Sep 3, 2013 16:09
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Just finished blitzing the season. Great show, far better than Dexter, which I also marathonned recently. It's nice to see such a developed cast of female characters. You don't see that often. It's great to see some characters who really feel like people, and also happen to be female. Sophia and Crazy Eyes are definitely my favourites, along with Poussey. There's something to enjoy about everyone, even if it's just loving to loathe them in the case of Pennsatucky and Pornstache, though I find myself feeling the tiniest amount of sympathy for him being duped so hard by Daya. I knew right off that poo poo with Daya and the guard was not going to go down well. So much so that it made those scenes almost cringeworthy to watch. Sophia's story and struggle to just survive as who she is was really meaningful to me. Tricia looks exactly like a girl I knew when I was homeless, to the point where I find it a little disturbing. She was called Faith. One thing that irks other than Jason Biggs' whining about how it's soooo haaaaard for him having her in prison for 15 months is the complete inability of anyone to acknowledge that bisexuality is a thing. Piper's not "gay now" and she didn't "stop being gay" when she got together with Larry. She's bi. It's really not rocket science! As someone who's bi that pisses me off.
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Sep 18, 2013 00:51
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uglynoodles posted:One thing that irks other than Jason Biggs' whining about how it's soooo haaaaard for him having her in prison for 15 months is the complete inability of anyone to acknowledge that bisexuality is a thing. Piper's not "gay now" and she didn't "stop being gay" when she got together with Larry. She's bi. It's really not rocket science! As someone who's bi that pisses me off. He is literally privilege incarnate to the point that if you don't hate him, there's something wrong with you.
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Sep 18, 2013 00:54
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computer parts posted:He is literally privilege incarnate to the point that if you don't hate him, there's something wrong with you. I skipped all of Bigg's scenes, but I hate his character on principle for going on NPR.
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Sep 18, 2013 01:19
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One thing I thought was maybe Claudette got brought down there for exceptionally good behavior? She seemed like a pretty compliant inmate and the guards seemed to like her. The big thing I'm waiting for is to see just what Red got caught for. She clearly was good with the gang leaders, but how far did all that go? I really love this show, the casting is great. Alex and Crazy Eyes just kill it for me.
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Oct 9, 2013 21:48
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Loving the show, but are criminals in women's prisons really allowed as much freedom as this show suggests? I had less freedom than these inmates while in USMC basic, so it feels like the show is exaggerating the amount of leeway the inmates are given. EDIT: Nevermind. I just got to the chicken episode and this show is obviously not meant to be taken too seriously. Esroc fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Oct 13, 2013 |
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Oct 13, 2013 01:55
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Esroc posted:Loving the show, but are criminals in women's prisons really allowed as much freedom as this show suggests? I had less freedom than these inmates while in USMC basic, so it feels like the show is exaggerating the amount of leeway the inmates are given. Minimum security prison is like that, the real life Piper was treated way better then tv show Piper.
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Oct 13, 2013 03:04
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I did an internship at a [men's] minimum security prison and sometimes when you went outside on the grounds it looked like a summer camp. They're able to mill about and hang out like at a school yard. They were also offered an array of classes ranging from getting their driver's licenses (for trucks, too) GED and other specialized stuff. Then again, this particular prison really emphasized reduction of recidivism (and in Florida--who knew?!). I worked with the elderly population and they had a specific program that helped with counseling and obtaining skills to assimilate into normal life once they were released. Working with that population was an absolutely amazing experience, as they were all incredibly appreciative and willing to learn.
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Oct 13, 2013 03:31
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Just finished the first season of this. I love the show but I can't help but feel that the writers are intentionally putting Piper in a lot of illogical bullshit for no reason. The violence parts I get, but her entire relationship with Jason Biggs is set up on so many wobbly premises that I never get the sense that she's making any progress on the show. It's always two steps back for one step forward and every time it's because of something out of her control.
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Oct 13, 2013 16:23
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A lot of it is in her control, by the end of the season you're supposed to have the distinct impression that Piper is one the more horrible people in the prison.
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Oct 13, 2013 17:02
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Macdeo Lurjtux posted:A lot of it is in her control, by the end of the season you're supposed to have the distinct impression that Piper is one the more horrible people in the prison. I think this is totally wrong, honestly. Alex is the one who says this; Alex is a selfish, manipulative monster who lies to Piper and puts her down as a method of keeping control. She says this specifically to sabotage Piper's chances at reunion with Larry, because, again, she's selfish and bitter. Piper's not an absolute saint but taking Alex's word as gospel re: her character development is a misreading imo.
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Oct 13, 2013 17:22
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Android Blues posted:I think this is totally wrong, honestly. Alex is the one who says this; Alex is a selfish, manipulative monster who lies to Piper and puts her down as a method of keeping control. She says this specifically to sabotage Piper's chances at reunion with Larry, because, again, she's selfish and bitter. Piper's not an absolute saint but taking Alex's word as gospel re: her character development is a misreading imo. If we hadn't had the scene where Piper literally goes "oh your mom died? well, I'm still leaving cya" then you might have a point.
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Oct 13, 2013 17:24
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uglynoodles posted:Great show, far better than Dexter
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Oct 13, 2013 17:25
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computer parts posted:If we hadn't had the scene where Piper literally goes "oh your mom died? well, I'm still leaving cya" then you might have a point. I mean she was being used as a drug mule. No poo poo she's gonna say cya when the person tries to control her into staying.
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Oct 13, 2013 17:25
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