I started Broken by Karin Slaughter this weekend. I read the first two or three of her Grant County books, but I’ve missed some, so I have to catch up with past events. Fortunately, Slaughter does a very good job of filling in the blanks for anyone who might be new to the series. The book also brings in characters from her Atlanta-based novels.
When it got down to the final three in The Amazing Race, I didn’t really have a favorite to win. I guess if pressed I might have chosen the cowboys, since they played with the least amount of drama. However, that wasn’t meant to be. The drama at the mat, I could have done without. In a snippet on the CBS website that didn’t air, Brent addressed Brandy, saying, “Surely you’re old enough to realize this is a game,” which I thought was the best dressing down anyone could have given her. Grow up, in other words. Sheesh. The stuff at ILM was awesome–can you imagine what it would be like to be able to play around there for a while?
I like the Jesse Stone movies, adapted from the Robert B. Parker series and starring Tom Selleck. Selleck, who has co-written the last couple of installments, has Stone down cold, and there are plenty of fascinating secondary characters to keep things interesting even when the plots aren’t all that original or surprising. Apparently Parker got to see this movie before he died and gave it his stamp of approval. One thing I really enjoy about the series is the setting–they’re filmed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which is where I spent most of the 80s. They do a decent job of disguising things (a blurred out Scotiabank sign in the background, for example), but other things that are less distinctive slip through. Like the “Barrington” sign visible from the parking garage (see photo). Barrington is the main street in downtown Halifax. Since a lot of this episode was outdoors in “Boston,” I got to scan the screen for a lot of familiar sites–the historic properties on the waterfront, the shops on and close to Barrington Street, etc. It’s one of my favorite cities. There were a couple of neat Jesse Stone character developments in No Remorse. The bit with him doling out his new cell phone number to an ever widening circle of people, always admonishing them to not share it with anyone else. The developing relationship with his dog.
I finally got to see the film version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo this weekend. This is the Swedish adaptation of Steig Larsson’s novel, and it bears the book’s original name (Men Who Hate Women). It’s a terrific adaptation. I was amazed at how much of what I saw on the screen was exactly as I imagined it when reading the novel. The filmmakers were also clever enough to bring in a few elements from the two subsequent books (some of Salander’s background) to help motivate her actions. The sexual assault scenes were brutal, but redeemed by Salander’s subsequent (equally brutal) actions. The attack on Blomkvist was pretty hair-raising, too. They left out a few things from the novel–Blomkvist’s unusual relationship with the Millennium publisher, for example–but nothing that is greatly missed. There’s supposed to be an American remake at some point, but why bother?
We’re getting close to the end of Ashes to Ashes–just two more episodes. Some unexpected developments this week, and Jim from Complaints is starting to look more and more like he’s the Angel of Death. Looks like answers are close at hand, especially concerning the disfigured cop who has been haunting Alex all season.
Another awesome episode of Breaking Bad. How do you top something like the legless Mexican hitman crawling out of his bed, leaving a trail of blood behind him in an attempt to get at Walt, who is surrounded by about 100 police officers? He was like a rabid dog (and he got put down like one, too, ultimately). When the audience knows more than the characters, you get scenes like the one where Marie accuses Walt of being partly responsible for Hank’s injuries. Skyler talks her down, and she apologizes, but we know that Walt is very much responsible for Hank’s injuries. Almost exclusively. I was sure that bored Jessie was going to do something terribly stupid as he goofed around in the lab, but the worst thing he did was get caught in his inflated clean suit. It will be interesting to see how Gustavo’s power play will impact things in the future. I have no doubt now that it was either him or the dodgy PI who warned Hank that the scary cousins were a minute away.
It was cool seeing “Mr. JLB Matekoni” from The #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency on Doctor Who this week. And next week the guest star is someone I spent an interesting 45 minutes with a few years ago: Toby Jones, who I interviewed in his trailer on the set of The Mist. This week’s episode started off with
They look like vampires, they act like vampires, but of course they aren’t. “Makes you wonder what could be so bad it doesn’t mind us thinking it’s a vampire,” the Doctor observes. The episode has a nice blend of scary and funny (Rory’s lighter versus the Doctor’s portable sunlight stick leads to the obvious “yours is bigger” joke), and a good observation on Rory’s part about how the Doctor is dangerous to people because he makes them want to impress him. Nice banter between the Doctor and the villainess, who proposes a “full partnership,” to which the Doctor replies, “I’m a time lord, you’re a big fish. Think of the children.” I especially liked the Doctor’s delivery of his thoughts about the diabolical plan. “Ew. I mean, I’ve been around a bit and that’s…ew.” The Doctor take’s Rory’s observation to heart and orders Amy back to the TARDIS when things get rough. Fat lot of good that did. Interesting, though, that Rory will apparently tag along for at least another adventure. Mickey never had it that good back in the Rose days.
