I spent some of the weekend working on an essay that’s part of a non-fiction project I’m participating in. My task consists of four essays, two at 1000 words and two at 500. I’ve already done one of the short pieces, but that was many months ago, and I’ve put this on the back burner for a while because the deadline isn’t until the fall. However, since I had a gap in my workload and I’m caught up with short-term deadlines, I decided to get back to this. I have a very rough draft of one of the 1000 word items. Now it’s time to whip it into shape.
There’s no end in sight yet to the number of ways the Bernie Madoff scandal can be mined by the various Law & Order enterprises. Last night’s Criminal Intent episode was probably obligatory, given the new character played by Jeff Goldblum. Every CI cop has to go head to head with a psychologist at some point, a battle of fierce wits, and eventually the psychologist has to go down, succumbing to the cop’s superior intellect. Goldblum’s character took the mickey out of it a little by spouting a bunch of psychobabble and then claiming that he’d heard it on a TV show. However, the fact that his father is a psychologist gives him some interesting baggage. The bit at the beginning where he and the Captain debated their detecting skills vis-a-vis his partner’s condition was amusing, too.
Cold Case took on the “it was all a dream” conceit in an interesting way, creating an episode that consisted entirely of Lily’s unconscious meanderings after her car went into the water. They did a good job of it, making it seem like she was suffering from after-effects of the accident. Of course, the fact that everything she put together while she was unconscious proved to be true was a little too convenient, but it was an effective way to close out the season.
I was a tad disappointed that Margie and Luke didn’t win The Amazing Race. After doing so well carrying the pig at the luau and getting a decent lead on everyone else, it looked like Luke had it in the bag. The funny thing was that he got all the early stuff right but stumbled on the two most recent legs. Still, the winners were deserving, as they persevered through some challenges of their own and made some excellent decisions along the way, too. And as strong-willed as Jamie could be at times, I still liked her, unlike some other players in the past who have been vicious and without redeeming qualities.
I’m currently reading The Rules of the Game by Leonard Downie, Jr. It’s a political thriller about a shadow organization with major influence on American politics. Downie is a retired Washington Post journalist, and his protagonist is also a political reporter who’s on the track of some nasty business related to the White House and its newest occupants. The story is decent enough, although the plotting is a little bit simplistic at times, and it seems like just about every meet-up in the first several chapters leads to a bedroom scene. Not as compelling as All the President’s Men or Primary Colors, but not bad.
I posted my review of Elmore Leonard’s newest novel, Road Dogs, last night. Classic Leonard, which means fun, smart, and deadly.
