Got a lot done on the novella in progress this weekend. I have until the end of next weekend to finish it off. Looks like I’ll make it after all. I’ve been away from it for a while, but when I got back to it, everything seemed to fall into place.
I finished The Snowman by Jo Nesbø and read more than half of Pacific Heights by Paul Harper, which is the pen name of crime writer David L. Lindsey. He’s from Austin and I was introduced to his books shortly after I moved to Texas. His earliest books are set in Houston, so it was fun to see local scenery and points of interest in the novels. His breakout book was Mercy, which garnered a lot of attention because it was billed as a psychosexual thriller. That “genre” is pretty traditional these days, but it was notable at the time. The pseudonym probably represents his decision to relocate his setting from Texas to San Francisco. It’s a good thriller about a guy who preys on women by reading transcripts of their sessions with their therapist and using the information to manipulate them. But there’s more to it than that, of course.
We went to see the Houston Symphony on Saturday evening. The first part featured a cello soloist doing Dvorak, which was quite good. The second half was Rachmaninoff, which went on too long. It kept feeling like they were building up to the grand finale, but it was only the end of a movement, and on it went. I was getting a little drowsy by the end. An enjoyable evening, though.
Watched the new Jesse Stone movie last night. Innocents Lost. It wasn’t the best of the batch but it was pretty good. Introspective. Not much happened during the first half hour other than some soul searching on Stone’s part and the discovery of a dead girl. The Paradise PD seems to be falling apart, with a new chief and Suitcase’s decision to leave. Always good to see William Sadler, who I met on the set of The Mist, and William Devane. Even though Parker didn’t write this story (Tom Selleck co-wrote it), it feels very true to him. Gino’s new assistant is definitely a step up from his previous aide. Stone’s dog deserved co-star billing. He was in almost every scene with Stone and he said a lot without even so much as barking.
Another good episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. As before, the best part was the scene between Goran and his therapist. She’s making progress with him, in spite of Goran’s reticence. Another callout to previous seasons with a clip of Roy Scheider as Goran’s murderous father. The crime of the week was cleverly constructed, too. I suspected the father, to be honest, but I knew that his “murder” was a put-up affair to coerce the daughter’s cooperation.
The most recent SVU (the season finale) had its moments. My favorite part was when the FBI agent was arrested for providing the gun and not only did his boss not protest, he offered to shake the cops’ hands. Too often a stereotype is used for the relationship between cops and federal agents, so it was good to see a case where the Feds didn’t put up a stone wall. The stuff about the cigarette taxes was ripped from the NY headlines, but stretched a little too much. There was the usual preaching message about too many handguns and even the daughter go in her angle on the message as she lay bleeding on the floor. Who didn’t see that shooting coming? All three perps nicely bottled up in the same cage. Easy hunting.
Doctor Who was the first of a two parter. It had some interesting moments. Nice to see DC Chris Skelton from the UK version of Life on Mars. There was one scene where they were looking for gangers like cops searching a crime scene. “Clear,” he said, and it was just like he was with the police all over again. There were some genuinely creepy scenes and the concept of someone who not only was identical but equivalent bore some consideration. Identical twins have some shared experiences but the acid workers and their dopplegangers have exactly the same experiences. They’re uber-clones. The Doctor was very cavalier about how disconcerting this was for the workers. It’ll be interesting to see how he handles what transpires at the very end. Alas, we’ll have to wait two weeks for that answer since BBC America is pushing back the conclusion because of the Memorial Day weekend. Next week: A Who Marathon. (Am I the only one who activates closed captioning for this show? I feel like I miss a lot of dialog when I don’t!)
