Shaken & Stirred: Busy Week, Glowing Screen

September 27, 2007

Busy Week, Glowing Screen

Yeah, yeah, I know it's been quiet around here, and I'm sorry about that. I've actually been writing this week and, well, as long as that's working I'm inclined to pop in and out of ye olde blogging when there is time. Rest assured, though, that this has not interfered with my experience of the true debut week of the new TeeVee season. Never that.

So far, new shows I'm liking are Gossip Girl (the frothy pleasure of guilt), Reaper (except for the Jack Black impersonator and the fact the only defined female character is the love interest), and Chuck (less focused than Reaper, but charming). We haven't made it through Journeyman yet, and the Bionic Woman is on the DVR. I have to say that none of the premieres of anything--tried and true or new--have caused an utter wow response yet, but none of them have sucked. (I kind of wish they weren't selling the "House must have a teammmmm" thing as hard as they are; Heroes seems to do interstitial episodes better than first and last ones; and I love the girl with Asperger's on ANTM, which ensures she won't win.) But I fully expect The Office to bring the wow tonight. Jim & Pam. Pam & Jim. Wii Tennis beforehand. You can't beat it.

And next weekend we hit Chicago running for the first ever Kidlitosphere Conference; if you're there and won't be at that thing, drop me an e-mail so we can go to the Lush store or something. There will be a visit to the Lush store. Oh yes.

This weekend? Painting and flooring in the kitchen. Probably also the requisite screaming and crying that goes along with that. And Veuve for when it's finished.

Posted at 11:38 AM in Nattering, TV Goodness | Permalink

Comments

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I am ALL OVER the Lush store!

Posted by:Meeks | September 27, 2007 at 04:11 PM

I so have to agree about the lack of TV wowness, but I'm thinking it's a good thing. I'll get more writing done -- though less knitting. Ha! Reaper was okay, same with Chuck, same with Bionic Woman, which I just wish had been COOLER. And Heroes was a big dull drag! Am taping The Office right now for after I meet my damned word count for the day. Does this message count toward my word count? No, I think not. Off I go!

Oh yeah, and I gave up ANTM this year. Phew!

Posted by:Laini | September 27, 2007 at 11:53 PM

Yay, Micol!

I can't write at night, Laini, so I unabashedly watch pretty much everything I feel at all inclined toward. I really adore good TV and sometimes good/bad TV and just okay TV. ANTM has two smart girls this year -- it's like when they have two plus size girls, you know one ain't gonna make it long.

Posted by:Gwenda | September 28, 2007 at 11:32 AM

Read Read

E. Lockhart: Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, The
You might think the world doesn't need any more boarding school novels, but if you haven't read this one then you're wrong, wrong, wrong. E. Lockhart has surpassed herself with this fable of a girl coming into her own and challenging the boy's club at her prep school -- while falling in love with its members at the same time. Lockhart never simplifies or skirts gender issues and power dynamics, and lets Frankie be realistic instead of a treatise disguised as a character. The sly omniscient narrator tells the story perfectly, and leaves hope that maybe one girl can change the world. More novels as funny and true and perfect as this one, please.
Kathi Appelt: The Underneath
Appelt's first novel is a beautiful, magical fantasy for younger readers that will instantly become a classic. Seriously. I can imagine this book being in classrooms right alongside Charlotte's Web in a hundred years. The writing is poetic in the good way, and there's a lamia. Children are going to absolutely fall in love with Appelt's equally kind and brutal universe, where love conquers most, and it can take millenia to come to your senses.
Jincy Willett: The Writing Class
With her second novel, Willett matches the perfect pitch and execution of her brilliant short stories. Every writer will want to read this novel--very little wincing is involved, but expect a great deal of laughter. C and I found ourselves reading pieces aloud, after howling provoked the "what's so funny?" question. As with any good writing workshop or class, the characters become more appealing as you get to know them, and ultimately what she has pulled off is a satisfying mystery, and a satisfying exploration of humanity. Amy Gallup is a character to remember.
Karen Joy Fowler: Wit's End
A new novel by Karen Fowler really is something to be excited about, unlike many of the writers for whom such praise gets bandied about. (If you're smirking because you think you know something about her work from the title--not the book--The Jane Austen Book Club, please go sit in the corner and read any of her novels. You're welcome.) This is an unmystery-like mystery, concerned not so much with dead bodies--though there are plenty--as with the mysteries of healing and the heart, politics and people. How is it that a writer gets a lens on the present that's as revealing as the one she employs in historical fiction? Now that's a mystery. Highly recommended.
Steve Erickson: Zeroville
Steve Erickson novels are often like dreams, or revelations, or discovered artifacts, or written just for you. Zeroville's no different, although it is perhaps the most readily graspable example of his work to date. The Rosetta Stone is there; the secret decoder ring is a film projector. The dizzying Hollywood confidential stylings will make your inner film geek happy, but the uncovering of a truly mythic cinematic story--since cinema has existed forever--of sacrifice and redemption is even more memorable. See also: this review.
Ursula Dubosarsky: The Red Shoe (Neal Porter Books)
Set in Sydney during WWII, this wonderful novel travels between the view from inside each of three sisters. Dubosarsky perfectly captures the differences that come from being the younger, older, or middle child. Perfectly conjuring the period, and yet creating a completely accessible story, the narrative contrasts chapters focusing on the family with interstitials from the Sydney newspapers of the time, stories of polio, the H-bomb, and a defecting Russian spy (who happens to be in hiding next door). Nothing here is heavy-handed. Everything is perfectly balanced. It's a beautiful, beautiful novel. See my full take here.

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