Summer is here. High of 92° today and very humid. Little chance of rain for the week. Drought now covering most of the state. Other places are getting more than their fair share of precipitation. Why can’t we? Sometimes I wonder if the sky has forgotten how to rain.
I posted my review of A Drop of the Hard Stuff by Lawrence Block. A new Matt Scudder is always cause to celebrate.
Dead Set, the anthology that contains my story “Zombies on a Plane,” received a bronze medal in the horror category of the IPPY (Independent Publisher Book) Awards. Thrillers: 100 Must Reads was nominated for an Anthony Award in the Best Critical/Non-Fiction category. Winners will be announced in September.
A thrilling end to the Amazing Race. At first I thought the Globetrotters were out of it because they missed that train and had to wait 30 minutes more, but they caught up. Zev and Justin’s final fatal flaw was choosing the bikini challenge instead of the drink-making one. They were already a tad behind and got the worst of it in the Brazilian waxing challenge, by far. Taxis once again governed who would win, putting Gary and Mallory out of it in Miami. It was almost a foot (or tricycle) race at the end, but Keisha and Jen were just far enough ahead on Seven Mile Bridge to out-pace the Globetrotters. I wouldn’t have picked them as the winners at any point during the contest, but they won when it counted.
I’m am really pleased that Law and Order: Criminal Intent is back. It’s long been my favorite of the franchise, and Goran and Eames are my favorite TV detectives. It’s interesting that they are plowing straight into the show without spending much time explaining how they ended up back at work. Goran was fired and Eames resigned after turning down a promotion, but there they are, back at their desks with a new boss, Captain Hannah, played by Jay O. Sanders. One character said “welcome back” last week, and the new boss thanked them for returning this week, but we haven’t yet seen how or why that came about. I got a big kick out of Goran’s tricky phone call last week where he pretended to be a campy gay designer. Eames stared at him with bemusement as he flounced through his dialog, and then he made a self-deprecating face when he was finished. Too funny. I suspected the son last week, so I was pleasantly surprised when it didn’t work out that way.
This week we got to see Goran in therapy with Julia Ormond, who looks like she might be his match. “You are exceptional at analyzing others,” she says. “What is it you think will happen if you start looking at yourself?” The sessions are part of the conditions of his return because “some people upstairs” still think he’s crazy. He doesn’t help himself when he accuses Captain Hannah of being a moron, but he’s still got game. D’Onofrio looks like he’s lost some weight, and his voice seems a little different from before, too. He poses the infamous “guy who always lies” vs. “guy who always tells the truth” riddle to his therapist, but she doesn’t answer right away. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. Funny reference to Piewacket the cat and to the Jimmy Stewart/Kim Novak film in which the cat appeared: Bell Book and Candle, which is apparently the precursor to Bewitched, though from the movie stills I saw it looks more like That Darned Cat.
The Law and Order shows make interesting use of lawyers. In this week’s episode, the priest’s lawyer was very aggressive. If you don’t charge my client soon, we’re out of here. Goran took him to task, asking “how much time do I have? Tick. Tock.” On the other hand, the actual culprit’s lawyer sat there passively while he confessed to murder without once stepping in.
I got my first hint last night that AMC might flinch a bit when it comes to some of the story developments from the Danish series that is the basis for The Killing. I haven’t seen all of this week’s episode yet, but in Forbrydelsen the murdered girl’s father beats the stuffing out of the school teacher. Knocks him unconscious, breaks several bones and puts him in the hospital. The only thing that stopped him from killing the teacher was the last-minute arrival of the police. He’s arrested and spends some time in jail. I hope that isn’t an indication that they’re going to step away from some other things that happen in the original.
