Wednesday TV stuff

Today is a combination of insanely taking care of last-minute packing stuff for Arisia, and insanely taking care of last-minute work stuff before I travel. Fun.

A few TV notes:

Desperate Housewives: Probably the best episode this year. A few weak spots near the end, but overall, damned strong. Notice how much better the show gets when the four leads actually get scenes together?

House: Damned fine, as always. In spite of the continued existence of Annoying Lawyer Ex.

Medium: Wow. Best use of both of the older daughters in ages. Also, a hell of a nice sequel to the episode from last year.

CSI: As I continue to watch Season 5 reruns, I find I hate Louise Lombard's inability to hold an accent more and more. I honestly don't see how she managed to hold this part without sleeping with a producer.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: An all-Togusa episode! Rock on! Not even one shot of Kusanagi. Now if we're only lucky enough to get a similar epiosde for Batô, I'll be real happy.

Monk: Go to the iTunes TV store -- there's a free episode!

Gilmore Girls: Man, is ASM phoning it in. Some very good moments, combined with way, way too many moments of monumental stupidity. Oh, hell, let's call a spade a spade -- if the scene didn't have Paris or Lane (who is, incidentally, really starting to look the age of the actress who plays her), it pretty much blew. The Luke/Anna scenes were okay, but otherwise, what a waste. It says volumes that we ended up watching House first.

Three Amazon Deals: Two fine small films, and Static Shock

A few more Amazon deals:

Ripley's Game, a damned fine Patricia Highsmith adaptation starring John Malkovich, is on sale for $7.97 (60% off). It's a great companion piece to The Talented Mr. Ripley (which is on sale for $6.99, 30% off), showing an older Ripley dealing with a situation in which his past comes to haunt him. There's a great supporting job by Ray Winstone here, too.

State and Main is also sale for $7.97 (60% off).: David Mamet proves that he can make a movie about nice people (or, more accurately, a couple of nice people amidst a sea of jerks). It's a tale about a movie being filmed in a small New England town, but as is always the case with Mamet, it turns a simple plot into something special. Philip Seymour Hoffman gives a great performance as the nice-guy screenwriter, and Alec Baldwin (as a movie star who likes teenage girls a little too much), Julia Styles (as a teenage girl who likes Alec Baldwin a little too much), Sarah Jessica Parker (as a high-maintenance bimbette-turned-star), and William H Macy (as the director of the movie) all give great performances. Other than Rebecca "Nepotism" Pidgeon, there's not a bad performance in sight.

Static Shock Volume 1: The New Kid is $7.97 (47% off), and is a damned fine intro to one of the less-appreciated shows from the last few years. This show managed to cross over with Batman, Superman, Batman Beyond, and Justice League, but even the solo episodes are a blast. Tons of concepts from the original Static comic are here (although lots of others are dropped or changed), and it's a show that manages to work for all audiences (amongst other things, it's the only show set in the animated DCU (Teen Titans is definitely not in the same continuity) that Elayna has actually watched religiously). You get six episodes on this DVD.

Nerd/non-Nerd interactions

theferrett gives good advice for nerds interacting with non-nerds.

The advice also applies to nerds who are thrust into a group of different-abled nerds.

Outta here

Assuming the hotel has connectivity, the next post of mine will be made from Boston (not from Arisia, unless it takes over 24 hour to get online)!