Another Media Ramble

Or, as an alternate title, "This many things make a post." A rambly one, without any half-decent transitions between topics. But it's a weekend, and I have an hour to kill (for once) so hey. Post.

For starters, how about a little pimping? Here goes - real quick: The Con or Bust auction is sitting on three books from yours truly (kindly donated by Tor, as I couldn't scare them up in time) - Boneshaker, Dreadnought, and Ganymede. Go check 'em out, and bid. Support an excellent cause and, I should hope, pick up three books that won't make you want to poke your face with a stick.

So. Have at.

Next. Last week I made one of those, "What I've been watching while my brain recovers from deadline hell" entries and it proved rather comically popular, so what the heck, I'll give it another go.

Ahem.

Last night, the husband and I went to see The Woman in Black, and holy shit you guys, Hammer can set a tone. It was great to see a true Gothic story done so beautifully, so creepily, and so earnestly - and all in all, I enjoyed it quite a lot...though the longer I thought about it after the fact, the more I felt that the pacing of the mystery reveal was a little odd.

(Also, I kept wanting to yell at Daniel Radcliffe that he needed to ask some freaking questions, already ... rather than just assuming that turn-of-the-century rural English people were all quacking mad. I say that, but hell. For all I know, maybe they were.)

Regardless, WIB is chock full of outstanding visuals, and built with a fine-tuned sense of the slow-burn scare. I'm not going to lie to you - it gave me a very good feeling about this studio handling Boneshaker.

And now back to the smaller screen.

I didn't catch Grimm last night - see above re: going to a movie instead - but last week's episode was both the best and worst I'd seen yet. The first twenty minutes had some truly terrible dialogue ... the kind of dialogue that makes me want to throw shoes at our perfectly innocent television ... but then it picked up with the kind of fan service that actually made me laugh.

Someone, somewhere, went wandering around the internet and noticed that (a). Monroe is vastly more likable than the eponymous detective, and (b). people feel that Grimm is too much of a goddamn altar boy. In last week's episode, voila! We got both a Grimm/Monroe supper chat, ("What's my favorite color?"), and Grimm's first lie - even if it was by omission. ("You ... you killed him?") Better than nothing, but might be too little too late.

On a brighter note, the husband and I have recently - after copious suggestions from numerous friends - started watching Justified. I'm a little sorry it took us this long to get around to it, frankly - it has some of the best scripting I've seen on American television in awhile. Maybe I'm biased because I've lived in Kentucky, have family from Kentucky, and still have family in Kentucky ... but I'm always amazed when Hollywood manages to treat Appalachia with any degree of fairness, accuracy, or respect.

I'm not saying it's perfect, mind you. For one thing, Kentucky isn't actually, technically the south - and the show doesn't seem to notice. Still, it isn't lazy like that very often, especially once you get past the first few episodes.

(One major side-kudo I have to give Justified: All the secondary, just-passing-through characters are marvelously drawn. No one's a throw-away, and if you've spent any time in the region, pretty much everyone rings true. That's no mean feat.)

Also new in my queue, there's Alcatraz. I'm in love with the premise, if not the entirety of the execution; but I adore the cast and am willing to give it a bit of room to grow on me. The pilot was impressively tight, though it would've been a better sell if they'd given it two hours instead of just the one. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong.

Speaking of 2-hour pilots, I caught The River and was ... mostly keen on it. Much like Alcatraz, I adore the set-up but I'm iffy on some of the production. Even so, I'm glad to see thoughtful suspense and horror finding its way to pop culture as of late, and I think this can be a good example of a traditional story told in a non-traditional manner. Let's see where it goes.

Hm. What else? Oh yeah - the vintage/retro/noir episode of Castle was ridiculously charming. Thank you, and please give me my Captain Obvious badge. I'll put it on my WRITER vest.

All right, folks. That's all I've got for now.

I'm a little sick, and getting sicker (of course! Because it's right before Valentine's Day!) and I think I'll settle in for the afternoon with a pile of books, a box of decongestants, and some notes. And maybe a nice, comforting glass of wine. Or two. Have a good one, and enjoy the rest of your weekends.