Lunch break

I'm blogging on my lunch break, so this will be quick.

1) Still liking Swingtown as of week 7. Loved the episode which centered around the Harry Reems/Deep Throat defense fund party, though the actor looked very little like Harry. Storylines remain a nice mix of predictable and unpredictable. The daughter and the teacher: predictable; the straight-laced laid-off insurance salesman (Josh Hopkins, at right) sparking with the stockbroker's wife, a little less so. Also liked the in-joke Chicago reference to Berghoff's, one of the few I would actually get. Sadly, this will almost certainly not survive the summer, but maybe a DVD set will surface?

2) Sludged through all seven episodes of HBO's John Adams. Laura Linney, as always, was transcendent--the woman can do no wrong. Paul Giamatti was solid, though his hooded upward glance got a bit old. David Morse looked freakishly like George Washington. The last episode was unrelieved gloom as everyone got sick and died. Too many close-ups and way too much jittery camerawork. The Blair Witch was nowhere to be seen (which, as we know, doesn't necessarily mean she wasn't present), so the camera should have occasionally stopped and tracked back for some nice ensemble shots.

3) Reading a fun, light mystery, The War Against Miss Winter, by Kathryn Miller Haines. Set in New York City during WWII, with a tough-talking would-be actress who moonlights as a private eye's secretary until he's found dead in his office, an apparent suicide. Lots of fun slang and pop culture references. I read the first hundred pages in one sitting, which is rare for me these days. Looking forward to finishing, and picking up the second in the series.

4) My honey has apparently gone and bought a Wii while on vacation in Maine. I guess I'll have to put Rock Star on my birthday list instead of a new iPod.