Literary Dreams

A colleague working at a remote office has requested that we provide him with photographs of the inner workings of the letter 'Y'.   He is convinced that there are wires inside the letter.  It was news to me and I consulted my co-workers as well as the boss.   I learned that there isn't anything inside letter 'Y', but that several letters of the alphabet do indeed contain things. For example, one of the letters, I don't recall which at the moment, contains garlic.   This morning I composed a polite letter to our remote colleague explaining the situation.

Argentinian Threads

I have been watching on Netflix an Argentinian soap opera-mystery  and last night after seeing episode 5, I noticed the uncommon complexity and depth of the plot.  There are two principal characters and about six main characters and as many regular supporting characters.  The two principal characters each pursue their projects one of which converges in this episode, while at the same time we follow the plot threads of the remaining six main characters who are in one way or another related to one of the principal characters. You'd think that following the plot and subplots would be annoying and confusing but the series flows smoothly and engagingly.

I compare this to a Scandinavian mystery series I saw recently where there are half as many characters and the story could not be more confusing (as noted by several viewers in  the series' reviews.)  This is because much happens offscreen and is described by the onscreen characters referring to the absent characters  whose names are confusing enough to the viewer.