As in SHUTTER, not NEARER

The Closer is a new detective show on TNT; it managed to sneak onto the schedule before I was aware of it, so I managed to miss the first episode. Caught the second, and I think I’ll catch at least a few more of this one. Kyra Sedgwick plays an ace detective just transplanted into the Los Angeles Police Department, where she investigates homicides in her quirky manner while working under a man she had an affair with. She brings to the job her own strong ability to notice the details, her own quirky foibles (she has trouble finding her way around Los Angeles), and her willingness to go off on odd investigative tangents that confuse her coworkers (a bit of a female Columbo in that regard, although by the time we saw Columbo, his coworkers knew what to expect and that he’d get the job done; this gal is still a discovery for those around her, and they don’t all like her.)
They feel the episode with slow-moving music, which may be intended for mood but just seems to similar to too many cheap cable drama series that it makes the show seem abit cheap. But the actors are good and interesting to watch, and at least judging by this episode, it’s more about how the interaction of the cops go and about the oddness of the investigation than it is about the solution to the case.

Not something that has changed my world yet, but something worth capturing on the ReplayTV while the summer doldrums are here.

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In other news, I thought that they intended to run through all of Veronica Mars in order over the summer, but it looks as though they’re skipping around. Too bad, as I’m trying to hook some friends on the show (hi Sky!), so I guess I’ll just have them watch the pilot. If they like that, the DVDs should be out toward the end of the summer.

I want Insider trading cards

The Insider is a new crime drama that tries to take its tone from beyond TV; the initial episode seemed to fall somewhere between Silence of the Lambs and Se7en in an attempt at a relentlessly dark texture. The focus is an FBI team focused on mass murderers, always a chipper subject, and they are setting up for some intrigue within the group, in addition to the murderous monster of the episode.

The team behind this has some good links for going beyond the episode-by-episode concerns; both Tim Minear and Jane Espenson from Joss Whedon’s Mutant Enemy productions (plus one member of the Firefly cast in front of the camera). But at least as of the first one, there’s no visible indication of any fun (intended or otherwise) to be had in this series, and fun underlies even the darkest stuff in the Mutant Enemy work.

I’ll still watch some more of this; at the very least, I’ll try catching the episode that features the comic book art of my pal (and occasional collaborator) Tone Rodriguez.

Meanwhile, the summer season is quite dull. At least next week we start getting new episodes of Rescue Me. But in general, the things that I thought I might catch in reruns aren’t around any more, and there’s not much to comment on. Let’s see…. I was surprised to see what a traditional awards-show monologue came out of Jimmy Fallon at the MTV Video Awards. It was nice to see that Ally Sheedy is still a spirited-looking pretty gal. Watched an episode of Beauty and the Geek (the Lovely Lara’s choice; she was curious). Surprised me a little to see that it’s game show rather than dating show. Not particularly a compelling one, despite the presence of some rather pretty ladies. Still, while it’s not a show I’ll likely watch again, it’s one that I wouldn’t mind having been on back in the day (although I suspect that by the time I was of age, I was too romantically experienced to quite qualify as a geek for their needs, although believe me I was quite a geek.) (And still am, mind you. Not trying to distance myself form the geekhood.)

At the moment, I’m watching the Breaking News on CNN about the Jackson verdict. For the past hour, the breaking news has been that there will be news. That’s really what I’m watching for; to laugh at a network trying to cover nothing happening. “They’re driving in their SUVs to the courthouse!” Can’t say that I care about the verdict one way or another. So as they announce the jury is seated, I’ll post this.

Mistreat Me Baby

Am watching Hit Me Baby One More Time, which may not something that I’d watch… but I actually like the concept at base. It takes once-hit musicians and gives them a chance to perform two songs (one of their hits, and one current hit from someone else), put forth as a competition for charity money. Don’t really care for art as a competition, but the idea of giving folks another chance at exposure is a good idea. In many forms of art, particularly music, we are quick to set aside and forget those who once entertained us, or simply to view them as quaint oldies acts.

However, the actual handling of it leaves much to be desired. The camerawork involves a lot of fancy fly-ins, a lousy way to showcase a performance. The stuff seems badly miked to me. The performance of their hits is all kind of by-the-numbers. There’s been no looking at the reality of the bands, of how many people beside the lead singer actually date back to their hit days (there are bands out there for whom the answer is “none”.)

Plus, it’s all bouncy-and-loud forms of pop. I think that the quieter, more intimate stuff in an a more intimate setting would be more interesting.

Still, every artist gets exposure, reminds people they’re still around. They all win, and that’s good.

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Sorry if I’m falling behind posting, responding to email, and such. Life was already quite busy when something else got thrown in. About a week-and-a-half ago, I got involved with answering some questions about the Amazon.com image server, and did a little bit of exploring about how to do interesting things with the images. I reworked the posts that I’d written for that conversation and posted them here, under the title “Abusing Amazon Images”. A couple of folks involved in the conversation (which was on a comics retailer board) posted links on their blog.

On Wednesday, it was the most bookmarked item among the geekarati, accoring to del.icio.us, a site which tracks such things. Around 60,000 people have visited the page, and it’s been blogged in all kind of odd corners of the Web, in various different languages and by people with various different fascinations. Some folks seem to think that I’ve struck some kind of hacker blow against the Man, while others think I’ve demonstrated just how strong Amazon’s underlying code is.

Everyone seems to think that I spent far more time on it than I actually did.