Reading: After seeing Children of Men, I was curious about the book that it was based on. Whenever I see a movie that was adapted from a novel (well, a good movie), I’m interested in seeing the original source material. What was changed, what was cut, what was kept, and what bears absolutely no resemblance to the original. I’m not all that far into it…so far, it’s moving pretty slowly…but I’ve decided to save any in-depth comments about either the book or the movie until I’m finished.
I’ve also been reading the collected Mutts comic strips. I *heart* Mutts. How had I never read it before?
Other than that…student essays. Sigh.
Watching: Ok, so my favorite show on the air right now is Heroes. This week’s episode was amazing, and I can’t wait to see what happens next! We learned a great deal about HRG this week, and his relationship with Claire is reminding me a lot of SpyDaddy and Syd; there’s no black and white. He operates in shades of gray, and Monday night, it became clear that he’s motivated by his love for his daughter.
I’m a week behind on both Lost and Veronica Mars. I’ve watched some of MASH season 2 with Rand…Trapper John is less annoying this season. I’m finding it interesting that so many people put MASH on their list of greatest sitcoms ever, because it’s hardly a sitcom. We’ve been watching with the laugh track removed, and I can’t figure out who thought a laugh track was a good idea in the first place. See, I think MASH is a half hour drama with occasional humor. I also think Aaron Sorkin owes a lot of the tone of his shows (Sports Night in particular) to MASH. That’s just my $.02.
Listening: So Rand bought a shiny new iPod, and I’ve taken control of the old one. I haven’t had much time to play with it, so I’ve mostly been listening to the playlists he’s created that I enjoy.
The one I seem to be listening to the most is called Mellowmodern…This is filled with mostly indie musicians, some the current hipster trends, and some more or less unknown stuff that Rand likes. I started out with a mental block against Sufjan Stevens, because my God, could he be any more pretentious? But he’s starting to grow on me a little. Anyway, the list is generally good for mellow background music.
I’d really like to check out the new Dixie Chicks album, and I still want KT Tunstall’s Eye to the Telescope.
And as usual, I’m open to any suggestions. 🙂
Heroes is really astonishing. It’s TV that has me changing my schedule to make sure I don’t miss it.
Hee Hee. I know Sufjan is outrageously pretentious, but I like him. “Casimir Pulaski Day” is one of my favorite recent songs, though as depressing a song as could possibly be written.
I’ve long thought the same about “M*A*S*H” — from what I understand, the creative team did NOT want the laugh track, but they lost that battle, though they were able to eke out a compromise: No laugh track in the OR. (And then they set a few episodes entirely in the OR.) Trapper never annoyed me, except insofar as the writers seemed to keep him a bit of a cipher; Hawkeye got most of the character development and Trap is kept very much the sidekick. That’s mostly alleviated by season 3, but by that time Wayne Rogers was tired of the role’s limitations.
I came a touch late to the “Heroes” table, as I do most television tables (I didn’t start watching “Lost” regularly until Boone’s demise, f’rinstance), but now I’m hooked hooked hooked. Every episode has something that makes my mouth hang open for minutes at a time.
Hmmm…seems like the bad ideas are always coming from the network suits. 😉 That doesn’t surprise me at all.