Jolly news! I got an email this weekend alerting me to the fact that my new laptop is on its way! Woohoo! Two weeks ahead of schedule — and, since I paid for overnight shipping, I might even receive it today or tomorrow.
Soon I shall be back in the land of the living — virtual reality.
That’s how it feels anyway. This being off-line is really weird. I feel…lost.
This weekend I went so far as to try writing in long hand. I don’t like it anymore. Sure, I spent the first thirty years of my creative life writing in long hand, but now that I’ve made the switch, now that I can actually compose (as it were) at the keyboard…I can’t seem to do the long hand thing anymore. For one thing all those arrows and those teeny illegible notes (insert #C here!) I can hardly make sense of them — even when I only wrote them the day before.
And rather than make good use of my time as planned — shoveling out the office and catching up on my reading — I watched TV. Yes. Me. There was a Criminal Intent marathon on USA yesterday, and I spent the afternoon watching that (and writing in long hand). I felt like I was staying home sick from school…er…when I wasn’t really sick! Okay, it WAS sort of fun, but I’m desperate to get back to the comfort of my routine. To get back on my frantic and impossible schedule.
However, speaking of CSI: Criminal Intent, I used to dislike that show even more than I dislike the other CSI shows (which is saying something). I know I’m in the minority here. CSI in all its many incarnations is apparently one of the most popular TV franchises going, but I’ve always found them cliched and formulaic — and, eventually — inevitably — derivative. True, they were deriving from their own selves, but still…
Anyway, either I’ve changed or the show has changed, but I don’t find Vincent D’Onofrio’s Robert Goren nearly half as annoying as I did before. All those tics and twitches — just a little too too. If you know what I mean? But in my numbed state yesterday, I watched him with only a couple of twitches of my own. And the Alex Eames actually seemed to have moved beyond her initial By-Jove-that’s-simply-amazing-Bobby! role to doing some actual detecting.
Although, honest to God, what is with her HAIR this season? Does moving to USA mean the show can no longer afford stylists for the cast? Sheesh. That lank hank is not only unprofessional looking, it’s constantly falling in her eyes. Who the hell can detect with her hair in her eyes all the time?
And enough with their personal lives. I. Just. Don’t Care. Solve the damn crimes and shut up about your annoying mother. If I wanted to know about a sleuth’s personal life I’d read a cozy mystery. Maybe something with a cat.
Truthfully, I find an afternoon of these shows a bit wearying — sort of depressing really — and I went to bed in a somewhat dispirited mood. There’s something about a marathon of watching family members turn on each other and lovers betray each other that just…brings me down. Too sensitive, I know.
Anyway, that’s it for me in my currently computer-inhibited state. I’m now off to have lunch with an old work pal. May as well get some use out of of this off-line hell.
So what are you watching on the telly? What are you reading? Turn on any family members recently? Betray a lover?
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I think you mean Law and Order: Criminal Intent. (?) I liked the show and hated it when they ’split’ the episodes with another team. Ah well, it takes all kinds of tastes to fill up so many channels!
After not watching the first season, and then watching intermittently last season, I really wanted to watch Numbers this year, but sadly, fell asleep before it aired this Friday - and it had Val Kilmer (one of my faves on it). I like the idea of solving the crime using mathmatics, even if I really don’t understand the equations in the least.
As to your other questions, a little book about the sadly maligned dandelion, and no, and no. 
by Kate Hathway
on October 1st, 2007 at 11:27 am
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I once loved CSI. The original. Can’t stand any of the spin-offs and I don’t watch the original anymore either.
Since you started the week with a blog about TV shows, I’m going to continue the trend, but I can’t let the cat out of the bag here. Tune in on Wednesday for details. Currently reading the new Cruise/Mayer book “Agnes and the Hitman.”
Haven’t turned or betrayed anyone.
Yet.
by Sara
on October 1st, 2007 at 11:56 am
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Yes, you mean “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”. I always thought Goren’s cerebral and psychological talents in detecting were wonderful. Bringing Chris Noth back in the L&O franchise killed that show. JMHO!
I love how the three CSI’s are totally different: Las Vegas dark and at night, Miami bright sunshine and daylight, New York a combination with more character development. If they do a fourth show (CSI: Miami is the most popular show in the world, btw) I think they should try Alaska or the Colorado mountains. Somewhere where highways converge and serial killers can toss their victims out truck doors and make tracking them difficult.
As for new TV crime shows, I’m watching my taped premieres and will reserve judgement. However, INTELLIGENCE, which takes place in Vancouver, Canada, is one of the most realistic crime shows going right now.
And I haven’t turned or betrayed anyone myself. I just love crime shows and books! 
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I’m waiting for the new season of The Wire.
I’m reading Piece of Cake, a terrific book about the RAF. Damn good.
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Kate, I saw Numbers on Friday, and Val Kilmer was a sad, sad sight. Like Marlon Brando was a sad sight in his middle age. Bloated and old. Sorry. My husband, who’s feeling his own middle age threaten, put it thus: “Whoa! Val Kilmer’s really let himself go, hasn’t he? He wouldn’t look so good in that bat-suit anymore.”
Like Sara, I enjoyed the original Law & Order, at least for as long as Jerry Orbach was on it. After he died, I just couldn’t get into it anymore, and I don’t much care for the spin-offs, either (although Chris Meloni is somewhat yummy, I must admit).
by JennieB
on October 1st, 2007 at 3:58 pm
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Never got into Criminal Intent myself. I was a fan of the old L&O, but I also stopped watching after Jerry Orbach died. (Who, btw, was a hell of an actor, as well as a damn fine singer - if you’ve never seen him on Broadway, try and catch an old clip.) I also catch some of the L&O - Special Victims Unit from time to time.
Lately, I’ve been watching more football and baseball than anything else, but I try to catch the Crossing Jordan reruns on A&E during the day. I’m not reading anything right now. I just finished a series of historical romances set in Scotland. Hunky clansmen. Next up is a mystery my CP sent me. No betrayals here either. Sorry. ;o)
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Orbach rocked. Yes, he was a damn fine singer, as well as a hell of an actor. Farina just couldn’t hold a candle to him. I miss Jerry Orbach. (As well as Benjamin Bratt, for different reasons.)
Funny you should mention hunky clansmen… I’m reading about Scotland too. The Burning Glass, by Lillian Stewart Carl. Third in the Jean Fairbairn/Alasdair Cameron series. Anyone here who hasn’t tried her, especially if you like Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels - and I know several of you do - should give her a read. Sorry for hijacking your blog, Diana. How’s the Poetic Death book coming?
by JennieB
on October 1st, 2007 at 6:56 pm
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Diana,
I’m with you about the shows being cliched and formulaic. To me they seem like a bad whodunit murder mystery dinner.
Of course, as I type this, I’m watching Dancing With the Stars. Yeah, I’m a man and I can admit it. I love the dance shows.
Oh, and I’m reading “Never Suck A Dead Man’s Hand” by Dana Kollman. Its a memoir of a CSI telling the way it really is in the world of Crime Scene Investigation.
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Ah, Kate, I believe you’re right. I did watch a few Law and Orders too during my off-line stint — and actually I prefer the old, very straight L&Os to almost any of these new-fangled crime shows.
Can you tell I had a birthday recently?
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Haven’t turned or betrayed anyone.
Well, you’re just not trying Sara!
Of course, you are still unpacking book boxes, I imagine, so you’re excused.
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Hey, Laurie, you make a convincing argument for the CSIs. I admit I get so caught up in loathing the characters — and the splashy and scenic gore — that I forget to pay attention to the finer points.
Oh, I sort of like the Chris Noth episodes of CI….
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You and Mr. Thrilling both, David. He keeps telling me it’s THE best crime show on TV these days.
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I’m reading Piece of Cake, a terrific book about the RAF. Damn good.
I’ve always wanted to read this! So it’s as good as I’ve heard? I’m quite partial to the RAF.
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Like Sara, I enjoyed the original Law & Order, at least for as long as Jerry Orbach was on it. After he died, I just couldn’t get into it anymore, and I don’t much care for the spin-offs, either (although Chris Meloni is somewhat yummy, I must admit).
I think one of the things I liked about the original L&O was that it spared us much or any of the characters’s personal lives — and so I found myself wondering and intrigued. But now we get way too much information, IMHO. And their lives are all so…dreary and predictable. I just want to focus on the crimes and the solving of them.
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I just finished a series of historical romances set in Scotland. Hunky clansmen. Next up is a mystery my CP sent me. No betrayals here either. Sorry. ;o)
Hey, BE, would these be the Gabaldon franchise? Although I suppose there are plenty of other series about hunky clansmen.
Please work on the betrayal thing, okay? You’re all really beginning to disappoint me.
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Sorry for hijacking your blog, Diana. How’s the Poetic Death book coming?
These blogs are made for hijacking!
(Now why does that sound like it should be a song?)
Actually this is the month that I start Docketful of Poesy. I’ve been catching up on some other obscure projects over the summer, and I’m now feeling ready to spend quality time with Grace and Peter.
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Oh, and I’m reading “Never Suck A Dead Man’s Hand” by Dana Kollman. Its a memoir of a CSI telling the way it really is in the world of Crime Scene Investigation.
Now there’s an intriguing title. It could work for so many genres, oculdn’t it?
Will, I like a man who’s not afraid to confess his love for bad TV.
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