This weekend I started and completed a 950-word essay for a new project that should be announced later on this week.
On Saturday, while Irene was bearing down on the East Coast, we tied for the highest temperature ever recorded in Houston: 109°, which was previously seen once in 2000. It will continue to be desperately hot for the next several days and then, unless they are teasing us, we will see a 20° drop in temperature and maybe the first truly significant rainfall in ages. By Friday, the high temp may be under 90°, and thought that sounds hot it’s a relief. And perhaps 3-5″ of rain over the weekend, which we badly need. We’ll see if it comes to pass.
Our daughter was supposed to fly back to Canada today to start university classes, but the flight, via Newark, was canceled. I received the announcement on Saturday morning and immediately tried to call Continental. You know that automated warning that the wait time before your call can be handled might be long? Continental didn’t even try. They simply said that their call volume was so high that they weren’t even going to put me in the queue. Goodbye! However, I was able to get someone from there to call me when I went through the website. I mapped out an alternate flight via Chicago that was available and wouldn’t cost anything. I’d get all the way to the absolute last confirmation step only to be told that they couldn’t process my request. The real live human being who called me back wasn’t the brightest candle on the birthday cake, but she was able to help me reschedule the flight…for Friday.
We went to see Cowboys and Aliens on Saturday afternoon. The theater was surprisingly full for a movie that’s been out for a few weeks. Why did nobody tell me Walton Goggins (from Justified) was in it? Lots of other familiar TV faces among the cast, including Clancy Brown (Lost), Adam Beach (Law & Order: SVU) and Keith Carradine (Dexter, Deadwood), not to mention Olivia Wilde (House), who was mesmerizing. It was fun to see Harrison Ford play sort of a bastard, and I think I’m now in the camp of people who could see Daniel Craig play Roland in the Dark Tower movies. It’s always good to see Sam Rockwell, too. On the whole, I thought the movie was a good summer flick. The aliens were a little too “stock” — we’ve seen their ilk a lot recently, including in Super 8. Their aircraft were cool, and I liked the way their mothership blended into the desert. I had to think that the arm weapon Craig wielded must have gotten tiring after a while. A solid B.
We finished our Dexter marathon and now we have to wait until October for the new season to begin. My wife picked Breaking Bad as our next sampler series. Not sure yet if she wants to stick with it beyond the first season (we’re four episodes in) because she finds it a little on the bleak side and questions a lot of Walter’s actions.
Doctor Who is back. I was a little surprised by the overwhelming love I saw for this episode online after it aired. For some reason, I felt somewhat disengaged from it. It felt like an obligatory “we have to explain a bunch of stuff” episode, necessary for future episodes but not terribly exciting in and of itself. The whole Hitler bit was totally arbitrary and they dropped the ball on resolving their MacGuffin. Not terribly fond of River Song at this point in her existence, either, which may have been part of it, and making the big, morphing vehicle look like Amy felt off. The Doctor also seems to be off his game this season. Making bad decisions and getting bested more than usual.
A rousing episode of Burn Notice last week. Had some nice credible bits, especially the moment when one of the hostages outed Michael. Setting up a straw man to pit the bad guys against was a nifty idea. The missing employee who never was. The Fiona/Sam subplot was a tad thin, though.
Not entirely sold on this whole Twitter tie-in with Haven yet. It worked better when it was more subtle (writing on the chalk board) then when Audrey picks up fliers from her desk that have the Twitter accounts to follow on them. For once, the weirdos living in the compound who won’t allow the cops around weren’t religious nutjobs. They had a legitimate reason for being as cloistered as they were. Duke’s “wife” is hard to pin down. Not sure what side she’s working for. I half expected that barn to vanish like it did after Audrey II came out of the building in the woods.
