My social networking has slowed down lately. I’ve been lax about updating this blog, I spend almost no time on Facebook and I’ve completely ignored Google+ after signing up for it. Twitter is about the only medium that I’m keeping up to date with. That and e-mail, of course.
That may be my modus operandi for the fall. I have a book due at the beginning of December and that’s going to take all my spare time. I made good headway on it this weekend, about 5000 words, and that’s a pace I’m going to have to keep up. No short story writing at all between now and D-Day.
My wife took a picture of that license plate yesterday morning. I don’t think I’ve ever posted a photo on Facebook that has attracted more comments and “likes”.
Speaking of vanity plates, we watched The Lincoln Lawyer this weekend, based on the novel by Michael Connelly. It was a decent adaptation and an enjoyable movie. The quandary Mickey Haller finds himself in is interesting and the way he skirts his legal and moral obligations is cleverly done. Good seeing Marisa Tomei again, too. There was enough chemistry between her and Matthew McConaughey for my wife to wonder why they weren’t still together.
Things are taking interesting turns on Breaking Bad. Plenty of developments in the Gus story, including a nice chunk of backstory that gives some answers while posing an even bigger question: who was he in Chile that he merits the modicum of respect the cartel showed him while murdering his partner right in front of him? Mike seems to think that Gus’s secret is safe, since he hasn’t been able to discover it, but Hank may have more resources and persistence than they give him credit for. He can be a goofball, but when it comes to his job, he’s a bulldog. Got a kick out of Skyler hiding their ill-gotten gains in those clothing storage bags that you attach a vacuum cleaner to to minimize their size. So much money that it crashed the closet’s hanger rod. The ironic bit in the episode was Walt giving a lecture to one of his fellow chemotherapy patients about how he wasn’t going to let anyone else run his life. He had taken charge of everything, including the cancer. Cut to Walt going back to work at the drug factory, putting in another day for Gus. Who’s he trying to kid?
I’m liking Gavin, Brenda’s lawyer, more and more on The Closer, played by Mark Pellegrino (Jacob from Lost). He is close to being campy gay, but his sexuality isn’t an issue in the story at all. He was hooked on the young Rebecca Black-esque internet sensation’s song. My favorite line came when the young girl’s manager was told about the pepper spray. “Sorry we can’t offer you any,” Chief Pope said with a straight face. There was one moment that seemed odd that didn’t pan out, when the victim’s father-in-law handed over the dental and medical records.
Sensitivity and sexism was the theme of this week’s Rizzoli and Isles, when a woman was murdered at the union-run waterfront. Rizzoli was harassed by longshoremen a couple of times and had her ass grabbed by one of them, who she later harassed by telling him he had “moobs.” Her boss is after her to take sensitivity training and she makes a deal. “I’ll do the training if you don’t do Brando imitations.” I liked the moment at the ending when Jane surprised Maura by ending the chess game she was playing with Jane’s brother. “Who do you think taught Tommy how to play? He isn’t the only Rizzoli with a beautiful mind.”
Is there really only one episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day left?
The world is in the midst of a depression (can a depression happen in two months)? Rex is still trying to find any trace of the family. I thought they had a good idea about tracking a witness to Jack’s adventures in the 1930s down through fiction. A person who witnessed his repeated murders used that as fodder for a pulp short story. Then they went and ruined it by casting aspersions at pulp fiction as if what they’re doing is so elevated! Rex is trying to identify the author by running style comparisons against other works and his job is made harder by the “fact” that all pulp writers write the same.
Oswald Danes shows up at Gwen’s place, too, and is the catalyst to get Jack back to Wales. He’s quite proud of the fact that he has the most recognizable face in the world. “Not any more,” Gwen says before whopping him in the face with a metal pot a few times.
They figure out that Jilly is part of “Harry Boscoe,” a process by which translators change words in news stories to get rid of things they don’t want reported. They trace it back to Vietnam and demonstrate it in action on footage from Shanghai, where a reference to the Blessing is massaged into something else. Turns out “the blessing” is some sort of power field that runs directly through the earth from Shanghai to Buenos Aires (Hey, Rhys figured something out!), and the logo of Phi Corps has been demonstrating this fact all along. The family members believe it is alive. “We have a theory. We say the Blessing shows you to yourself.” Getting close to it makes you feel worse and some people have killed themselves after getting near it. The really cool part was the fact that it attracted a drop of Jack’s blood like a magnet attracts iron filings. So I guess it’s a good thing they have a suitcase of his blood. Because I think they’re going to need it. For something.
I wonder if that guy Jilly met in Shanghai was supposed to remind us of Mark Zuckerburg, the founder of Facebook. Because he did. Favorite line from Jack, who was pointing a big gun at the guy who was watching Gwen’s apartment: I can leave you with no place to put your hat or you can drink this. Option 2 is better.
