True Detective on HBO is fantastic. Matthew McConnaughey's and Woody Harrelson's performances alone are worth the price of admission. There's an all-time-great long action scene, lots of philosophizing in a Schopenhauer/Nietzsche direction, references to classic weird fiction, and gorgeous scenery-porn of rural degradation.

Intelligence is an action series about a noble and handsome intelligence agent with a brain-augmenting microchip running around saving people and the world, with the help of his beautiful and capable female sidekick (well, bodyguard). Yes, it's that cheesy. It also has a 24-style conservative bend and is full of plot holes. However, the acting is good, the chemistry between main characters is excellent, and the pace is fast enough to avoid boredom. Amazingly, the show manages to touch on many transhumanist ideas, although "touch" is probably not the right term. "Rape them", more like. X-risks, what it means to be human, unpredictable effects of brain augmentation, intelligence explosion, gray goo, you name it. I think the main positive effect of the show is that it brings the transhumanist ideas to the mainstream viewers, so they are no longer seen as something only wacko singulatarians talk about.

Film:

• All Is Lost: if the WP description of a 1.5 hour dialogue-less film about a small-boat disaster & survival sounds like something you'd enjoy, you probably will; Redford does an excellent job and it is interesting to watch his character think & improvise and try to master the situations he finds himself in
• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: not nearly as awful and sentimental tripe as one would expect given the setting of a retirement home in India, and particularly interesting for depicting some of the struggles elderly people experience these days (not something I see much of).

Anime:

• Silver Spoon
• Uchouten Kazoku
• Genshiken Nidaime (review)
• Iblard Time

I am greatly enjoying Super Sonico The Animation. I expect approximately no-one to agree with me. I like the lead whose personality has enough contradictory elements - and whose approach to live is passive enough - to seem like a real person. I like the mundane optimism of the plot - life goes on, nothing particularly special happens, but the little things make people happy. I like the absurdity that permeates every episode but rarely quite bubbles over.

Given the general reception for this show, I only feel confident recommending it to people who liked Busou Shinki Moon Angel.