Girl Detective

#43 in my 2007 book challenge was Re-Gifters from the DC Minx line of graphic novels. Of the ones I’ve read thus far, this is far and away my favorite. Dixie is a Korean-American in LA, who juggles a crush on a fellow Hapkido classmate with school, home, and neighborhood troubles. There’s some good stuff in here about race and socio-economics, and some complex characters. The art is both distinctive and accessible. The book eschews Formula A of YA, which is that the cute popular guy finally comes to recognize the wonder that is the main character. (See Cinderella, Pride and Prejudice, Sixteen Candles, etc.) Instead it goes with Formula B, which is when the heroine realizes that the cute guy is not worthy of her affections, and instead transfers them to the geekier/badder boy who has been inexplicably nice to her. (See Emma, Clueless, Revenge of the Nerds, etc.)

While it is formula, the details are good enough for me to recommend this. I find the Minx line a bit curious, though. I think it’s intended for teens, yet the stories read really “young” to me, more like middle-grade books, especially in their near-total avoidance of sexuality. I did find it interesting that the bad boy in this book was nicknamed “Dillinger” for an unspecified reason, though.

Season 4 of Top Chef has begun to film in Chicago. (Link thanks to The Watcher)

Note to NBC: longer isn’t better, even with something I love, like The Office. It’s just two episodes smashed together, and ones I would rather see a week apart than endure re-runs sooner than I have to. There were many laugh-out-loud moments about a car accident that made me feel both entertained at the show and horrified at myself for laughing. This was combined with the Office’s usual moments that induce horrified gasps, like a “dangling participle”, and cat-clawed frozen-french-fry bags. No matter. It was still very funny, and has more than earned its Season Pass on my Tivo.

As the new season approached, I was feeling indifferent about My Name is Earl, which I’ve always found just entertaining enough to keep watching. It’s best moments almost always come from new Emmy winner Jaime Pressly as Earl’s brash ‘n’ trashy ex. So I put Earl on trial last week during its dragging hour-long season premiere. I didn’t laugh once. Sure, there was a decent jab at Lutherans, and “You’re like an albacore around my neck” was pretty good, but it wasn’t enough for me to keep watching this season. So long, Earl.

My husband G. Grod and I both recognized the name Kay Lenz on the list of House guest stars last week, but for different reasons.

To me, she was David Cassidy’s ex-wife, and thus the target of my pre-teen jealousy. To G, she was the woman with lots of guest appearances and bad movies in the 80’s. In any case, on House last week she looked like a plastic surgery train wreck. After looking up her bio at both IMDB and Wikipedia, I found we both should have known her as the voice of American Maid from The Tick cartoon.

Incorrectly, I thought she was the actress who played Annette Funicello’s ventriloquist dummy in “Mary Ann and Miss Sophisticate“, who Mr. Rourke brought to life on a 1980 ep of Fantasy Island that I remember for its disturbing-to-me-at-the-time combination of sex and violence. But no, the live dummy was played by Maren Jensen, who also played Athena on the original Battlestar Galactica, and had a feature in a Tiger Beat “Girls Rule!” spread.

The other fantasy on that FI ep was “Jungle Man,” starring Dennis Cole, the soon-to-be ex of Jaclyn Smith (Charlie’s Angel Kelly Garrett) at the time. He decided to stay in the fictional universe of his jungle man.

Jaclyn Smith’s Wikipedia entry details why she was the queen of the mini series, and makes me wonder if want to seek out the TV miniseries version of The Bourne Identity.

Can anyone please explain WHY all this is taking up space in my brain 2+ decades later?

Up, up pile the clothes–
Biking, bed wetting, barfing–
Laundry never ends.

We’ve got a Tivo with dual recorders. That should be enough. Three shows on at the same time shouldn’t inspire gynmastics, but rather prioritization. But the Wednesday 10pmEST/9pmCST time slot is troubling to me. I’m watching Top Chef already, I liked Dirty Sexy Money, but I’d also like to check out Life, about a Zen cop out for revenge. TC ends next week, but Project Runway starts (Yay! Finally, indeed, Tim Gunn) Wednesday November 14, so there’s only a few weeks till the time slot is overfull again.

There’s a lot of critical love for Wednesday nights, (here from Everybody Loves Saturday Night). Maureen Ryan of The Watcher, urges ABC to ditch Big Shots and move DSM to the post-Grey’s Anatomy spot. Entertainment Weekly says Life is likely to be cancelled because of the time slot collision with DSM. Other channels are showing Life at later times, so I still plan to check it out.

Dirty Sexy Money is probably the best reviewed and most promising new show this fall. That’s a heavy mantle to carry; Studio 60 faltered, then fell under it last year. DSM has a deep bench of talented actors (Peter Krause, Jill Clayburgh, Donald Sutherland) and a pilot that defies easy categorization. It’s a drama, but it’s funny. And not just funny, but dark and absurd in the manner of, say, Arrested Development. The pilot was good, but the series has to live up to its hype. Two things bothered me in the pilot. It took far too long for Krause’s ethical lawyer to say “I quit”. And Krause doesn’t seem nearly suspicious enough at the murky facts at the end.

Glowing reviews here from Onion AV Club, Teevee.net, and Entertainment Weekly.

At the end of last season, all of House’s team had been fired or quit. The new season begins, and they’re not back. He’s on his own and desperate for someone to bounce his ideas off of, yet he adamantly resists the pleas of Cuddy and Wilson to hire a new team. In a brilliant move, Wilson kidnaps House’s new electric guitar and sends him ransom notes to try to force House’s hand. Whether it was Wilson’s escalating guitar threats or that House almost killed his patient (several times), there is a team on deck at the end. This is a great twist, and it’ll be interesting to see how long it’ll be till (or if) the old team returns. I was thrilled to read at the Onion AV Club that the next ep is likely to be even better.

As always, the show isn’t shy about drawing parallels between House and Sherlock Holmes–acerbic wit, drug problem, diagnostic skill, and address number. Wilson, kinder but hardly as brilliant as House, fits well into the Holmes role. In an email, M from Mental Multivitamin wondered if others see a Hamlet/Horatio between the two. I think it’s a great comparison. House is borderline mad and alone, while Wilson tries (and so often fails) to influence House through reason and patience. And House leaves both justice, by way of saved patients, and emotional wreckage in his wake.

On a more superficial note, co-stars Jesse Spencer and Jennifer Morrison (Chase and Cameron, respectively) broke their engagement. That return to work will have to be awkward.

Emily Hill writes such a compelling essay on Patrick Hamilton that I think I’m bound to read his work and become one of the readers she identifies at the beginning:

the skimmer, the trash whore, the short-attention giggle-seeker, the populist, the escapist, the wistful romanticist, the book group conversationalist, the academic, the self-improver, the factual addict, the fetishist, the literary stalker.

I’ve been many (but not all) of these over the course of my reading life; they’re not mutually exclusive. Generally, I’m an escapist. Hamilton’s stories sound as if they’d be _outstanding_ in that capacity. (Thanks to Mental Multivitamin for the link)

Roger Ebert’s health has kept him from his show Ebert and Roeper for over a year now. Cohost Richard Roeper has worked with many guests, but with the new season, a few changes were evident. The signature thumb review was gone; films were recommended or not. Ebert co-owns the trademark, and has withdrawn permission for the thumbs, as the contract for the show is negotiated with Disney. The show title is now At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper. My new crush, the meticulously groomed (NB: not code for gay, just an observation), smart and snarky Robert Wilonsky warms Ebert’s seat each week for the foreseeable future. The show continues to be a good weekly update on what’s coming out, and what’s worth seeing in the theater, on DVD, or not at all.

Check out the new, extensive archives at the Ebert and Roeper site.

One of the best and funniest of the fall’s new shows. I’m not the only one to think so: see The Watcher, Everybody Loves Saturday Night, Teevee.net, Entertainment Weekly, and The Onion AV Club. It’s a dark, comedic fantasy about a slacker named Sam whose parents sold his soul to the devil, and the bill comes due on his 21st birthday. It’s a little like Buffy with Boys. Robert Wise is charming with a perfect undercurrent of scary as the devil. Sam is non-threateningly cute, he’s got a less-good-looking-but-funnier friend named Sock, and his love interest is sweet but not (yet) cloying. The first ep was directed by Kevin Smith, and made me laugh out loud several times, mostly at things Sock did. This got an immediate season pass on my Tivo.

There’s been a fair amount of griping about the Bionic Woman reboot of the 70’s sci-fi series. I have fond memories of that show from my childhood, which I dare not test by actually tracking down old eps. (Though there is that one with Kristy McNichol as a telekinetic, now that I think of it.)

The criticism focuses most on English star Michelle Ryan’s lack of charisma, though she doesn’t seem to have much to work with, given the character as written. Jaime Summers is a college dropout, a bartender, and a caregiver for her technologically transgressive little sister, who was left on Jaime’s doorstep by their drunk father. Lindsay Wagner’s Jaime was a famous tennis player, whose athleticism brought her to the notice of the bionic scientists. BW 2007 gets her hardware upgrade courtesy of her mad scientist boyfriend, reluctantly financed by shady government types. Other snarks center on the all-over-the-place pilot.

I don’t disagree on either point. Ryan’s Summers is not compelling, and there’s a lot going on. But Katee Sackhoff, one of my favorite actor’s from Battlestar Galactica, has a treat of a recurring role as Sarah Corvus, the original bionic woman. Miguel Ferrer is also good as the head government baddie, who I kept wishing would be named as Oscar Goldman. And a crowded pilot means there’s a lot to explore if the season pans out.

A cameo by Aaron Douglas, who plays Chief Tyrol on Battlestar Galactica, shows that BW creators are hoping to snare the BG geek audience. They’re at least got me, for now.

Some other opinions at Teevee.net, Onion AV Club, The Watcher.

#65 in my 2007 movie challenge was Nancy Drew. In spite of middling reviews, I felt I had to see it. What kind of girl-detective cred would I have if I didn’t?

The attractive Emma Roberts (daughter of Eric and niece of Julia) plays Nancy, a small-town girl who helps the police solve crime and catch bad guys in small-town River Heights. As in the books, she has a blue roadster, a boyfriend named Ned, and friends named Bess and George. Her father is Carson Drew, played (rather Oedipally in my mind) by Tate Donovan, whose hairline looked suspiciously tidy to me. Nancy and her Dad move to California. While Nancy promised Dad to give up sleuthing, her curious nature can’t rest. She begins to investigate the mysterious death of the previous owner of the house they’re renting. Hijinks ensue; truth, justice, and single mothers triumph in the end.

What I liked: the iconic pencil drawings that framed the film with Nancy in various sleuthing poses. These nicely evoked the hardcover books as well as the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys television show of my youth. The books had a cameo on Nancy’s shelves, and their titles were used in passing to refer to an actress’s movies. The soundtrack was surprisingly good, and Roberts’s retro wardrobe was dreamy. Nancy was a clever, resourceful heroine, and thus a good role model for girls. Ned was a thoughtful, sincere guy, and their pairing was sweet, if strangely prim. Bruce Willis had a clever cameo.

What didn’t work: The film’s tone veered way over the line of goofy all the way into bizarre. It often seemed like the filmmakers didn’t know which tone to pick, so they threw a bunch in to see what would work best. The shrill, round boy who became her sidekick brought Jar Jar Binks to my mind, and his two-dimensional sister and her friend were no better. I suspect the imbalance was because the film was aimed at ‘tweens, but about a girl who must be at least sixteen, since she can drive. The mystery and the characters were very simple. I think the film would have been more successful if it had attempted to satisfy an older audience.

I strongly considered dropping Bones from my Tivo’s season pass list. I liked it last season, but didn’t love it. The eps were uneven, and the mysteries were often boring. What stood out was the ensemble cast, and that’s not necessarily enough to keep me aboard during a crowded fall TV season with a handful of promising new shows. But Entertainment Weekly had only good things to say, and the gals at Everybody Loves Saturday Night liked the premiere so much I knew I might have to give it another chance, and I’m glad I did. The season premiere was funny, icky, and engaging. So Bones remains on my season pass list, for now.

That last scene, though, with Brennan and Booth on a bench was seriously undermined by the painfully fake DC Mall backdrop.

I feel like a bad geek that I don’t love, or even sometimes like, Heroes. With all the media blitz and the love from places like Entertainment Weekly, I feel like a curmudgeon that I can’t join the chorus, especially because it’s so connected to, and respectful of, one of my favorite media mediums, comic books. I mean, Tim Sale did all the Isaac paintings last season; how cool was that?

The problem with a team show, though, is that there are going to be weak links. The more characters I like, the more I like the show. And here’s how the numbers stack up, for me:

Like: Claire, her dad HRG, Peter Petrelli, Hiro, Ando, Sylar

Don’t like: Parkman, Molly, Mohinder, Nathan Petrelli, Mrs. Petrelli, Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Muggles.

Meh: Nicki and Micah, new characters Maya and her brother

The season premiere didn’t do much for me. Last year I watched the first few eps, got bored, stopped watching, and started again toward the end when my husband G. Grod said it got good again. I don’t want to miss good stuff, but I dislike at least half the characters, and those aren’t good odds. Perhaps the addition of Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) will turn the tide.

Other opinions from The Onion AV Club, Entertainment Weekly, Everybody Loves Saturday Night, and The Watcher

Hilarious, and Neil Patrick Harris is full of awesomeness as womanizer extraordinaire, Barney.

I started watching this past summer in reruns. Like most comedies, it wasn’t necessary to know all the backstory to enjoy it. I’ve laughed out loud multiple times during each episode. Harris shines, but the rest of the ensemble cast does good work, especially Jason Segal, a member of the Judd Apatow crew. Highly recommended, this has a season pass on my Tivo.

Check out reviews from The Onion AV Club, ALoTT5MA, and The Watcher. And watch a 3 minute recap at Youtube that fills in a fair amount of history.

From Persephone Books:

To celebrate The Fortnight in September, the extraordinary novel by RC Sherriff (extraordinary because it is not really ‘about’ anything except a family on holiday in Bognor Regis, and yet it is impossible to put down - or forget) we thought we would tempt you with a special September offer.

If, before Monday morning, you order two books on the website, and one includes The Fortnight in September, we will send you a third book free of charge: just pay the normal amount for two books and write in the Additional Information box which book you would like free. (This offer also applies in Europe and America; although the third book will be sent surface mail and may take longer to arrive.)

Persephone resurrects out of print books by or about women’s lives and reprints them in lovely softcover editions. If you’ve thought about ordering before but didn’t know where in their impressive catalog to start, I recommend Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, a sassy tale of mistaken identity reminiscent of a 30’s era Hollywood romantic comedy, something that would have starred Clark Gable or Cary Grant. I also loved The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, about a family forced by circumstance to take on non-traditional roles. It helped me make the decision to resign my job after I had Drake, and four years later the memory of it is urging me to move back in the direction of paid, professional work.

But if you’re still not sure, give them a call (minding the time difference in London). The women of Persephone would be happy to help you find something suitable.

I thought last night’s finale part 1 of Top Chef was very satisfying. The least talented chef was eliminated for making some poor choices, while nice-guy, hanger-on Dale finally stepped up and won a challenge. Best of all, he did it by learning from past successes and mistakes.

I’m out of time, but for more commentary, see Anthony Bourdain and ALoTT5MA.

I wasn’t thrilled with Maybelline’s Define-a-Lash mascara, in spite of its lovely, metallic green tube. The weird, plastic-hedgehog brush didn’t prevent clumps. And the Neutrogena Clean Lash Tint, while good, only comes in black.

On the advice of my sister Sydney, I tried Maybelline Full n Soft mascara, and I think it’s a winner. It has a big, dense brush and a range of colors. It’s not one they’re pushing; product was on floor level. It’s more thickening and darkening than lengthening. Since that’s what I was looking for, I’m happy so far.