Category: Popular Culture

Castle, Yes or No?

Anyone watching Castle? I started watching it and liked it. But I don’t usually watch cop shows (okay, Castle’s a writer, but he works with a cop in this series), so the format—opening with the murder, then they solve it—grew a bit tiresome. Although, I must say, I love the characters, Castle and his mom in particular. Kate Beckett, the detective with whom he verbally spars, I’m not as sold on.

Two weeks ago, the DVR glitched and the episode didn’t record. I realized I didn’t miss it. Last week, the episode recorded, but I grew bored watching it and deleted halfway through. Then I discovered that Lee Lofland, a member of one of my writing lists and author of Police Procedure and Investigation (great reference book), is reviewing Castle each week on his blog, The Graveyard Shift. Okay, now I have a great reason to start watching again.

I’ve been meaning to plug Lee’s blog for some time now. If you write mysteries or romance mysteries or romantic suspense, check it out.

Lee watches Castle each week, then corrects the procedure mistakes in his blog. Here’s the entry for last night’s episode, and here’s the link for the Archived reviews of the previous episodes. (The review for last night’s episode is at the top of the Archive listing, last week’s is next, and then you’ll have to hit the Older Entries link to get reviews to earlier episodes).

If you read the reviews, you’ll quickly realize that Lee spots tons of errors in the writing of this show. An excellent resource and opportunity for learning.

Okay, how about Southland? Anyone watching that? I’ve watched the first two episodes and am intrigued enough to keep checking in. Yes, the episodes follow a pattern so far, just like Castle does. In the case of Southland, the first two episodes opened with a scene from the ending, then started from the beginning and worked their way back to the ending. I don’t mind this technique, but if done every time, again, it will grow tiresome for me. I have no idea if Southland portrays the police accurately or not. Wish that I could find a review of Southland each week on Lee’s blog (hint, hint, Lee). (P.S. If you’re already doing the reviews, let me know where to find them; my time is short these days).

Anyone remember Annie from Men in Trees? She’s in Southland. Totally different character. She’s great to watch.

Let’s Talk AI

American Idol, that is. Do you watch it? What did you think of this week’s show?

If you’ve watched American Idol before, but haven’t been watching this year, they have a new thingie this season called The Judges’ Save. There’s ONE opportunity in the entire season for the judges to decide to save a singer America has voted out.

This week, the judges used The Judges’ Save on Matt Giraud. I was glad they did. There was only one week remaining to use the Save, and Matt is a talented singer. The only thing that bothers me now is what if next week talents like Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey get voted into the bottom 2? Erk. Next week 2 singers will get ousted to make up for no one being turfed this week. Remember when Chris Daughtry was in the bottom 2? The Judges’ Save didn’t exist, and he was booted off. Erk. Yes, it could happen again.

I do think Matt’s deserving, though. My fav this season is Adam Lambert, with Danny Gokey running a close second, sometimes running a tie. I went into the season with Danny as my fav, because of his back story (his wife died shortly before he auditioned). I can’t remember seeing anything about Adam until his first performance post-auditions. He blew me away, and he’s been blowing me away ever since. Shades of Freddie Mercury, anyone?

I also love Alison Iraheta. Her voice reminds me of the Canadian band, Heart (which I had the privilege to hear perform when I was far too young to appreciate it).

After Alison, I’m a Matt fan.

Kris Allen…I just don’t know about this guy. I can’t deny he’s a talented singer, but his performances don’t grab me. Is anyone out there a Kris Allen Must Win! type of fan? Because, despite how the judges seem to love him, I’m not getting it.

Anoop Desai and Lil Rounds…I really thought Lil would go this week. She came out super strong in the beginning rounds, but seems to have floundered ever since. And Anoop—another great voice, especially the last couple of weeks, but I can’t see him lasting longer than Adam, Danny, Alison or Matt. We shall see.

The thing about Anoop and also Matt is that the judges have already saved them each once. Both were members of the Wild Card trio. The public had already voted them off the show, but the judges brought them back to make up the Final 12. So, when the public voted Matt off the show a second time, should the judges have used the Save to keep him? Aren’t they ignoring the public by bringing him back twice?

I think they made the right choice, but it will definitely be interesting to see what happens next week.

Oh, in case you’ve been living under an Internet rock and haven’t see the clip of Susan Boyle from Britain’s Got Talent yet, wander on over to YouTube and take a boo. The look on Simon Cowell’s face is priceless.

MetaWhat?

In case you missed the Amazon brouhaha over the long weekend, you can read about it here. The Twitter nation got involved, and Dear Author also raised a commotion. A little entity called The New York Times chimed in, too.

Penny’s books were affected, although they’re appearing again now, sales ranking intact. (Hint, the first link leads to Penny’s first book, the second link to the second). If you’d like to increase Penny’s sales ranking in protest against the “glitch,” be my guest! (Hint, purchasing the volumes increases the rankings).

Frankly, the entire episode ranked. However, for many book buyers (like those who live in the boonies), Amazon and entities like it are the only option. Yeah, there’s Barnes and Noble…if you’re American. In Canada, we have Chapters and Amazon.ca. I order from Chapters when I can, but they don’t have as big a selection as Amazon.ca. Chapters doesn’t carry Penny’s books. Neither Chapters nor Amazon.ca carries my books. If you want the paperbacks, Amazon State-side is the only game in town.

What do you think about the brouhaha? Did you buy the “glitch”?

Bye-Bye ER

I watched the series finale of ER last night. Hard to believe the series started when Youngest Son was three or four years old. I’ve watched ER from the first episode, and I don’t think I’ve missed more than a handful of episodes in the last fifteen years. The series retrospective and finale was worthy of my favorite TV show. Yes, even when Grey’s Anatomy made an appearance, as much as I love that show, if I’d had to choose between the two, I would have chosen ER. Well, now I don’t have to choose, because Grey’s is the only medical drama I’m watching now. I tried getting into Private Practice and couldn’t. Okay, that’s not really fair. I watched the first episode and it didn’t catch me. I like my medical dramas set in hospitals. Plus, I was never truly enamoured of the character of Addison Montgomery while she was on Grey’s, so why would I follow her spin-off?

Boston Legal wrapped up in the fall, and Men in Trees was cancelled last year. With the ending of ER, I’m three TV shows down in my weekly line-up! My PVR could use the break. I’ve added Castle to the line-up, frankly because one of the main characters is a writer and I like seeing how his profession influences the story. Haven’t decided yet if I’ll stick with it. I’m enjoying it, but if it disappeared, I wouldn’t miss it. And, what the heck, I’ll try Southland next Thursday. I haven’t watched a cop drama since Hill Street Blues, so I’ll give it a whirl.

I really enjoyed the ER series finale. After suffering super disappointing finales when Seinfeld and Will & Grace ended, both NBC shows, I admit I was a little worried. But the story lines and relationships all wrapped up nicely, and the introduction of Mark Greene’s daughter, Rachel, as a newbie medical student was a  nice touch that brought the series full circle. Okay, so Doug Ross and Carol Hathaway were missing from the finale, but I loved how the series caught up with them last week. And, after all this time, I think the character of Dr. John Carter has finally grown on me.

So, bye-bye ER. I rarely buy DVD box sets of TV series. In fact, the only one I do have is Sex and the City, because My Liege and the boys saw fit to buy them for me. But I think I sense an ER collection in my future. And I love the idea of watching the series from the beginning again, see if I can catch any guest stars making double appearances as different characters (naughty, naughty). And who wouldn’t want to watch Dr. Romano lose his arm to a helicopter blade again? The arrogrant twerp.

Did you watch ER? Will you miss it? Which character(s) did you enjoy the most?

Alpha or Beta?

This is too cute not to share. There’s a quiz after you watch it, so don’t hurry off!

Okay, romance writers, testing your knowledge of All Things Hero-Like:

Is this guy an Alpha or a Beta?

If you fail, I’ll have to revoke your writerly credentials.