Infinite feedback

If I write a blog entry about a blog entry that references my blog entry, will I tie the internet in knots?

I’m getting back into my routine after the trip to WHC and the long weekend. Hit the pool and managed six laps after a two week hiatus, which isn’t bad, since my all-time record is seven. I also started a new short story this morning and got nearly 1000 words written. I’ve had this on my to-do list for a while, and I had the set up running through my mind for a while, except only in that vague, undefined way in which I think “I want to write a story that features X.” Then I came up with the opening lines, which is the middle of an argument, always a good launching point for a story. And then just yesterday I understood who the characters were and what they were on their way to do when they encounter X. Except I made a last-minute modification this morning when I actually got to the keyboard. Instead of bickering spouses I realized they were bickering siblings. I’m about 1/3 of the way through the story and I think I know where it’s going.

Last night’s Castle was worth watching if only for the opportunity to see Beckett say “ruh roh” a la Scooby Doo. It was very much a Scooby Doo episode–even the characters realized that, with a hint of The Mummy and Indiana Jones tossed in for good measure, and a blood splatter test that looked like something out of Dexter. Castle is a great character–half the time he’s so over the top as to be a cartoon, and half the time he’s a real human being. It’s a fun mix.

Breaking Bad is running strong again in its third season. Walt’s gambit with Skyler was fascinating. I’m pretty sure he knew that she wouldn’t turn him in because of Walt, Jr. At last he pled his case with her instead of quibbling about what he did. Flawed logic and all, it was the most honest he’s been with himself or anyone in a long time. Of course, Skyler’s payback was something he didn’t expect, and the way she dropped the f-bomb on his was devastating. Well played. Not quite sure what’s going on with Hank, though. It seemed like he had a death wish, taking on those two guys in the bar without his gun–deliberately without his gun. Is he that scared about going back to El Paso? Loved the pizza on the roof gag from last week that continued into this week. And those two hombres with the skulls on the toes of their boots–seriously bad dudes. We didn’t even get to see what they did with the little old lady whose van they coveted, but one can only imagine it didn’t end well for her.

An interesting episode of Fringe last week. Almost a parallel to the Richard Alpert episode of Lost (which one pundit wittily dubbed “Richard, Prior”). All backstory this week. No case to solve–only an old sin to confess. The story of how Peter came to be Anti-Peter.

I missed the news that Robert Culp passed away while I was in Brighton. I always liked him, especially in the four episodes of Columbo where he was the killer of the week, but also in I, Spy and The Greatest American Hero.

I’m about 85% of the way through Snow Hill by Mark Sanderson. Set in 1930s London, it’s a surprisingly claustrophobic and unflinchingly brutal novel about a reporter who catches wind that a police officer has died, but no one will confirm this rumor, which is supposedly inspired by real events. If I didn’t know a priori that the author was gay, I might have been disturbed by some of the attitudes towards homosexuality expressed by characters in the book (including the protagonist). Undoubtedly typical of the time period but a little hard to read all the same.