I started the short story I “dreamt up” yesterday morning. I wrote 450 words in a burst and thought I was done for the day. Then I wrote 500 more. One sign that a story is working for me, on some level at least, is when I continue to write the story in my head after I leave the computer. And that happened with this one. So that’s good.
I looked at the radar on Weather Bug, one of my favorite apps, this morning. There were these huge bands of rainstorms, one about 20 miles southeast of us and one about 20 miles northwest of us, streaming northeast. It was like an oasis in the middle of the desert, or being in the eye of a hurricane. The storms did eventually reach us, though, and have persisted throughout the day.
Last night’s NCIS was one of the most brutal episodes since the cliffhanger at the end of last season. It had some nostalgic moments as the gang sifted through some of the gear they’ve worn on past stakeouts, but it got darker and darker until, boom, just like that, two major-ish characters are gone. To Be Continued.
Justified is back for its fourth season, which promises to be a little different. No one big bad guy (or gal), but an over-arching mystery, presumably to do with the diplomatic bag and the inept skydiver. A bunch of new characters (Sheriff Bob, Preacher Billy, former Sargent Colton). I loved the air bag gag. Totally unexpected. Sheriff Bob is a hoot in small doses. “I guess I’m going to have to choose my words more carefully” around Colton. Boyd and his explosives. Ellie May and the bear. The scene with Arlo and the trustee turned out exactly the opposite of what I expected—I guess the actor playing Arlo won’t have to show up to try on new outfits much this season. His color will be orange. Nary a sign of Winona in the season preview trailer at the end—that’s not good. I gather we haven’t seen the last of the boob-flashing teenager, either. Interesting that both Boyd and Raylan are squirreling away cash. Raylan’s is sort of understandable, but what’s Boyd’s plan?
I’m caught up with The Walking Dead. While I still maintain that it is a series with a lot of problems, I did like the first half of Season 3 better than the previous shows. The Governor is an interesting and massively twisted character. Michonne is intriguing, too, though a little too stubbornly silent for my liking. Makes her seem more cartoonish than the other characters. And it stretched credibility just a bit to have Meryl be part of the Governor’s version of Pleasantville. Too convenient, though it set up an interesting scene where Audrey and Darryl are shooting at our good guys (and vice versa) without either side knowing that they could be killing former allies or family members. For a while, I expected the Governor’s team to invade the prison while the prison gang was invading the town at the same time. I see a cage match pitting Darryl against Meryl in the near future. As they kill of regulars, new blood is injected, including the guy who played “Cutty” on The Wire. The apocalypse is changing certain characters. Glenn is stepping up, becoming a bit of a hard ass. And Carl is turning into a little Rick. Which is better than what he used to be, which was just annoying. I wasn’t as much of a Lori-hater as some people who write about the show. I was surprised at how her story ended.
