Yesterday morning I was awakened at 4 am by what sounded like hail, as part of an impressive rainstorm that heralded a cold front coming through. If the rain had been snow instead, it would have been a blizzard. In fact, they did get snow in North Texas. I wouldn’t have minded seeing a few flurries, too, but no such luck. We’re destined for freezing weather overnight in the coming days, though.
My iPad has gone wonky. Yesterday, it kept losing its WiFi signal, even though the icon showed that it was connected. I could “forget” the network and reconnect, but I had to do it frequently. This morning it won’t connect at all. Without WiFi, the iPad isn’t much good. Not quite sure what to do to fix it, either. It’s not as if there are any user serviceable parts.
I finally finished The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco last night. It took me a while—it’s a difficult book. Now I’m on to The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin, one of my favorite authors. Hearing lots of good things about this one, his latest. I do have to mentally adjust my thinking from time to time to keep in mind that Fox isn’t Rebus.
This weekend I posted my write-up of a conference call interview I participated in with Annabeth Gish, co-star of the forthcoming miniseries Bag of Bones. The interview also has links to the three installments of my interview with Mick Garris. I’m hoping to finish my review in time to get it up before the miniseries airs. It starts on Sunday. My wife and I watched it last week: my wife found it scary and effective, and liked the way it ended.
We also watched Out of Africa, one of the movies I DVRed during the free HBO/Cinemax weekend. I’ve never seen it before and all I knew about it was that it starred Meryl Streep and took place in Africa. I didn’t even remember that Robert Redford was in it. It probably would have been spectacular to see on the big screen. Our TV didn’t quite do it justice. For a nearly three hour movie, I wasn’t bored, but I found Streep’s character a little frustrating. She was so bound by what her definition of what a relationship had to be that she couldn’t make room for Redford’s. I also find that I’m constantly aware that Streep is acting (putting on the Danish accent in this case), which is distracting. I did like the interactions with the various Africans. One character’s reaction to having to wear gloves for the first time was amusing, but in general Streep’s character treated the people she encountered well.
I got a chuckle out of seeing Gilbert Gottfried playing a computer tech on Law & Order: SVU last week. The episode itself was surprisingly good, riffing off the British journalist phone hacking scandal, though it devolved into the cliched scenario of a supposedly conscienceless teenager killing someone for no good reason.
I also got a kick out Deb on Dexter when they got to the abandoned church. “Christ on a stick,” she swears, then looks up at the crucifix and says, “Sorry.” I get the feeling again that they are preparing us for Deb to discover her brother’s secret. Dexter made the observation that Travis’s sister thought he was a good guy, and Deb is calling Dexter her “safe place” while in therapy. All of that would go away if she knew the truth.
A funny Christmas episode of The Closer last night. Fred Willard was great as Santa Claus. Buzz’s sister was a nice addition. “She has opinions,” Sanchez warns. Christmas episodes of Eureka and Haven tonight, along with the season finale of Sons of Anarchy. I wonder how that will turn out.
