I had one of those interesting phone calls yesterday afternoon, the kind that I can’t talk about and won’t be able to talk about for months. It was about an interesting project unlike anything else I’ve ever been a part of, and I won’t be able to reveal anything about it until it is complete. So this paragraph contains no useful information whatsoever, but I felt compelled to write it because it sounds like it will be very, very cool.
This has been one of the strongest seasons of The Closer to date. Now that Brenda doesn’t have to worry about getting married (nor, apparently, very much about being married) she can devote most of her attention to her job. Except, that is, when she’s trying to keep her niece, Charlie, from committing another cross-border offense. What makes this scenario even more amusing is the fact that Sosie Bacon, who plays Charlie, is Kyra Sedgwick’s daughter with Kevin Bacon. Maybe acting chops are hereditary, because the young woman (17, according to IMDB) holds up pretty well against her mother.
The third season of Mad Men got off to a rousing start. Now that the firm has been purchased by the British and they’ve laid off 1/3 of the staff, there are plenty of nervous people around the office. More drinking than usual, and that’s saying something. I wasn’t sure what the British accountant (played by Jared Harris, who you might recognize as the bad guy from Fringe) was up to in telling two guys they were the new heads of accounts, but of course it was the sort of thing designed to drive Pete nuts. Every good thing that happens to him is tinged with something he dislikes. Backhanded compliments. And poor Salvatore, who is finally getting the chance to explore his repressed sexuality with no frills has the opportunity interrupted by a fire alarm. Of course, Don Draper sees what’s happening from the fire escape, which terrifies Salvatore, but Don has more secrets than the rest of Sterling Cooper combined.
Instead of writing for the past couple of mornings, I’ve been cleaning my office. I missed the spring cleaning phase, but I figured it wasn’t too late to start now. Clutter builds up until it reaches a critical threshold and I have to do something about it. Stacks of paper in front of the filing cabinet that need to be filed. Stacks of books that need to be shelved–despite the fact that the shelves are already bulging. Stacks of empty boxes that need to be broken down and put into storage. I feel like I’ve regained about 40% of my office’s floor space.
I have accomplished exactly nothing in terms of writing, but it’s a necessary part of the process. If I’m not comfortable in my work environment–if I feel the stacks of paper and books crowding me in–then I’m not going to get anything done anyway, so I might as well take care of it. I’ve been trying to get started on a short story, but it’s a familiar situation: I’m not quite ready to begin, even though I want to write it. I created a new Word document, set up the title page and the headers and footers (I do know the story’s title, at least for now) but it’s still a blank document. Maybe by the weekend I’ll have worked out everything I need to get started. Or maybe not. If not, I have another story to revise, an old one that has been around the block many times. I recently received two insightful critiques that I’m going to use as guideposts to revamp the tale.
