The new short story is at the upper limit in length of what I can review in a normal morning editing/writing session. I made it through the whole thing again today, whittling away about 200 words in the process, so it’s now down to 5400 words/18 pages. Still holding together, so it’s just about ready to send off.
This month’s Storytellers Unplugged essay is a revamped version of one I wrote five years ago: A Taxing Situation. I revised it a fair bit, but the most notable fact that changed between now and 2006 is the price of a postage stamp, which has increased by 5¢.
Ken Jennings wrote a fascinating essay about his experiences competing against Watson on Jeopardy. It has one particularly nice phrase (“This was to be an away game for humanity”) and one hilarious observation: “Watson has lots in common with a top-ranked human Jeopardy! player: It’s very smart, very fast, speaks in an uneven monotone, and has never known the touch of a woman.” Jennings made it a stronger contest in the final day of competition. It was interesting to read about his strategy, essentially mining the board for the daily doubles, knowing that there is some logic to where they are located. As someone who played the game over 70 times, if anyone would get a chance to learn that, he’s the one.
The second episode of Mr. Sunshine wasn’t quite as strong as the first. Allison Janney’s quirkiness is quickly becoming arbitrary. I liked the gag with the guy in the animal suit. I was certain both times that he was going to find someone dead inside it, but they played two different tricks with the same setup. Line of the night: “Larry King is so old he had to retire from sitting in a chair.” Nick Jonas’s character was pretty funny: the rock star (not pop star, mind you) who’s a spoiled brat and knows it, even apologizes for it, but takes no action to change. “I’m a nightmare. I’m sorry it has to be this way.” The bit with Ben reading the set list off the wall was good, too.
Not terribly impressed by this week’s episode of Criminal Minds. The show is getting close to my chopping block. If there was something else on against it, it would be gone for sure. I have the spin-off episode on DVR, but I didn’t hear anything very flattering about it, with the possible exception of a decent performance by Janeane Garofalo.
Another stellar episode of Justified. Smart shows let the secondary characters get in some cracks of their own. It would have been so easy for Raylan to pick the apricot, but why not hand that pleasure off to his colleague? Raylan isn’t the only crack shot in the U.S. Marshals. He may be a fast draw, but Tim already had his weapon out, so that wasn’t an issue. Raylan had already deferred to Tim by telling the prison guard that his partner would hit him in the face if he didn’t shut up. And it was a mutual admiration society: Tim gave Raylan credit for getting the perp to leave his fingerprint on the handcuffs.
I also liked it that we didn’t delve straight back into something with the Bennetts. They kept their toes in the water, and we got a hint that there’s some serious history between them and the Givens clan, but it doesn’t seem to be straight animosity. Raylan’s father seemed defensive of them. A little bit of Mags goes a long way. Added to the list of things a wise person would never want to hear her say: “Do you want some cider?” and “I never had a girl.” And you just know that watch is going to come to light at some point in the future.
Lots of honor and dishonor among crooks. The scene where Raylan and Tim confront the prison guard in front of his wife was excellent. Nice shout out to Elmore Leonard when the pregnant inmate (“Don’t knock foster care. Look where it got me”) says, “My baby shouldn’t have to ride my rap.” More tension between Raylan and Gary (“That’s not a real safe way to approach an armed man”) and some mysterious belly rubbing involving Winona. My favorite line came early on, when Raylan met up with Boyd outside the mine. “I’m not afraid of heights, snakes or red-headed women.”
