Tutto su Stephen King should be available tomorrow. My first work to be translated into Italian, to the best of my knowledge.
I finished Djibouti by Elmore Leonard this weekend. I enjoyed the book overall, though there was one decision he made that I wasn’t so sure about. A lot of the story is told by a documentary filmmaker and her right-hand man as they’re going through all their footage, rehashing a lot of stuff that they already know. “As you know, Jim…” dialog, although in this case it’s “Remember when so-and-so…” The concept of writing about the documentary process is interesting because it allows Leonard to discuss what makes a good story, but I would rather have seen some of the events Dara and Xavier discuss than read them talking about them. Full review to come.
Now I’m reading Bad Boy, the latest Inspector Banks novel by Peter Robinson. It’s amazing how much fuss the discovery of a loaded hand gun can cause in the UK. They have to call out the armed response unit and storm the house, whereas over here no one would have flinched. Inspector Banks is on vacation in San Francisco, so we get to see an English-born Canadian writer depict a British subject in America.
I went to see The Town yesterday. Early afternoon matinée, five bucks. Can’t beat that with a stick. I was going to get some popcorn but one teenager managed to get the machine to throw scalding hot kernels all over the place, to the fascination of the remaining teenagers running the place, so the line ground to a halt. Made it through the movie without popcorn, so their ineptitude saved me more than the movie admission! The movie was well done. It’s an adaptation of Chuck Hogan’s The Prince of Thieves, which I reviewed shortly after the book came out. The film is loyal to the book, though it dispenses with or minimizes certain things. The relationship between the FBI agent (John Hamm) and the bank manager is gone, as is Ben Affleck’s sports car obsession. It’s good to see Hamm in a contemporary plot, with a bit of swagger in his step. I laughed when he handed off the note he found on his car near the end. “It’s for you.” The car chase scenes were harrowing, as was the gun play toward the end. My biggest complaint was that I couldn’t make out about half of what Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker) said. He mumbled worse than Brando. Rebecca Hall was excellent as the bank manager.
Did anyone change places during this week’s Amazing Race? Seems to me that they all came in the same way they started. The volleyball team were sore losers when they got to Elimination Station. We didn’t deserve to be eliminated, because we’re better than everyone else, they said. Behind their backs, the others got a good laugh out of that. We’ll, obviously not, or else you wouldn’t be here.
OK, raise your hand if you figured out in advance that Angel was going to blunder into something completely different than what he expected on Dexter.
I have to say that those were the two grossest cadavers I think I’ve ever seen on television. Bugs all over the place. Ewww. Didn’t bother Deb much, though. And what was the deal with the tattoo artist’s secret handshake with Deb? She did it twice, twisting their hands sideways. Some cultural clue I’m not up on? And I had to laugh at Masuka’s leopard print thong underwear.
It was a surprise to see Lumen at large. I thought the season was going to be about Dexter trying to manage a captive. Julia Stiles is so good as the traumatized victim. I was sure she was going to lose it completely during her pat-down at the airport, but it was even more effective that she didn’t freak out, was just constantly on the verge of breaking down. Of course she wasn’t going to catch that flight. Dexter’s about to embark on the Hero’s Journey. Lumen issued the call to action, and he, of course, resisted. Inevitably he will accept.
The funniest bit of the episode, though, was Harrison’s adventures with the other children. “Not even a year old and you’re already destroying evidence and leaving the scene of the crime.” The Irish nanny pooh-poohed his fears. “My little brother used to bite people Now he’s a vegetarian, works for Greenpeace.” Come on, doesn’t Dexter ever trim the kid’s fingernails?
Today’s subject line quote comes from Leon Russell.
