Kindle 2!

Kindle 2!, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

What I'm watching / reading:

On prompting from several people (including my brother Ed who assured me that the scriptwriters find excuses for Tahmoh Penikett to walk around shirtless every other episode) I finally started watching Dollhouse. The idea of people's minds being wiped and then implanted with skills and personalities to order is intriguing and there are lots of fun ethical ideas to play with, but the first episodes were kind of bland considering it is a Joss Whedon show. But with each episode I'm liking it better. I have only last Friday's to go through.

Which means I saw the episode where every one is affected by that hallucinogenic drug - there were some great Whedonisms in there, like Topher and Adelle sharing his stash of inappropriate starches. Speaking of Adelle I'm so glad Olivia Williams is in this show. The few movies I've seen her in she hasn't really been asked to act much (The Sixth Sense, Below, Rushmore), but now she really has a chance to show her stuff. And she gets to keep her accent! Nifty!

So we've met Sierra, Victor, and Echo, and we know there's and Alpha out there somewhere. Is there a Charlie, Mike and Romeo? Who is Juliet? Do the other dolls make fun of Foxtrot, Golf and Hotel? Have they avoided naming any of their African-American dolls Zulu? Or Yankee, for that matter.

But I digress: Lost is most excellent lately. Jack is still a douche, but I'm liking Kate's progress lately. And Hurley is the man, driving Miles batty with his total inablility to get time travel.

Life is down to one episode, and most likely the last episode ever. It has suffered lately becuase of Sarah Shahi's pregnancy - I joked with my brother that at least the writers didn't have her kidnapped by aliens, but since she was kidnapped and Roman seems to be involved it looks like I was wrong. Shahi's replacement, Gabrielle Union is a find. She plays well against Damian Lewis and if I get my wish of a third season, I hope they keep her around.

The last episode was great, or total win as the kids today say. A politician's wife is shot and some of the suspects are gun manufacturers. I detest gun-control screeds in television shows where someone gets shot in every episode so I was afraid. But the writers steered clear of any stupid gun owners = redneck stereotypes and in the end the story was about politicians who like to manipulate issues to get or remain in power.


I've kind of splurged on my Kindle: I read John Birmingham's first Axis of Time novel, Weapons of Choice. It's about a not-too-distant U.N. Navy task force that is going to do some operations in Indonesia when an experiment sends them to 1942 somewhere near Midway. I know, it sounds like a bad movie starring Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen. I have never faulted someone for taking a good idea that someone used badly and re-working it as long as they do it well. Otherwise I would never have watched Battlestar Galactica. It's a fun, pulpy novel with some horrifying moments, like the fleet from the future (mostly American and British) fighting tooth and nail with the American Fleet on the way to Midway and both damaging the crap out of each other before they realized who they were fighting. Some of the 'character' moments were hilariously over the top, but still I ripped through the novel.

I finally read Phillip Pullman's The Golden Compass and I can safely say though I already knew this that the movie version blew chunks.