MI-5 again

I know I've plugged it too much, but I can't stop myself from praising it again. Tonight, we watched the final (tenth) episode of season five, and it was amazingly good and tense. The show manages to take over-the-top concepts and execute them so well that you fall for them and find them believable. I can't wait for the next season.

On the RPS front, last night Sarah broke my five-long winning streak, but I regained the advantage tonight with a brutal four-hit, two-game win. Ouch.

One redundant expense

later, and we are back in the MI-5 business. Episode 5 was amazing. This is easily the best season yet of what is probably the best show on television--and certainly one of the top five. Because anything can change, tension is higher than on most shows, and the sense of political nuance that pervades the events is extraordinary. Wow.

Plotting proceeds apace on Overthrowing Heaven, though the pace is too slow for my taste. The good news is that the story keeps getting deeper, richer, and more complex as I understand more and more about all the players and their agendas. My notes must appear positively insane--odd snippets of barely legible arguments with myself--but the process is working. I think.

Yesterday, Sarah showed me the Leeroy Jenkins Youtube video, making me one of the last Americans to come online about this particular bit of hilarity. I mean, sheesh, it was even a Jeopardy question. I couldn't help but recall some of the many times I've been on projects with someone who behaved essentially like Jenkins.

Lessons, like magical moments, are everywhere.

Frustration is

watching the fourth episode of the fifth season of MI-5, seeing the preview at the end of it, planning to watch the next one after dinner out that night, and finding the disc is bad. Tomorrow, I must buy another copy of the box set.

Dinner, on the other hand, was extremely tasty, courtesy of Fins, a restaurant that the Raleigh News & Observer food critic, Greg Cox, chose as his best of 2007. My appetizer, the foie gras sandwich, was the only misstep of my meal, a dish rendered so-so due to the too thick, too plain bread overwhelming the perfectly prepared foie. The sashimi we all shared was lovely. My scallops entree blended perfectly cooked scallops with bits of pork and a lot of grilled onions. The tiramisu desert, which arrives in a tall thin glass, was the best I've ever had. Definitely a keeper. If you're in the Triangle area, check it out (though do plan to open your wallet wide; it's not cheap).

Dieting would be so very much easier if I did not love good food so very much.

MI-5 Season 5 has arrived

on DVD via Amazon, so we know what we'll be watching the next many nights. We had time for only half or so of the first episode tonight, but it was dynamite. After watching the last episode of each season, I conclude that the show simply cannot sustain that level of quality--and then the next season gets better. I recommend this wonderful British series highly.

Speaking of watching things, Saturday night we caught Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. The movie demonstrated a fact I've always found to be important: great writing, great directing, and great acting are not enough to make a film enjoyable. The work must provide a story you want to see. I'm glad I saw this movie, and I appreciated its virtues--particularly the acting of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who executed his role flawlessly. I just didn't like a single of the major characters, and as their lives crumbled around them I found I didn't care enough to make the tragedy as profound as it should have been.

Check it out to admire the acting, but don't expect to have a good time.

Recent recommendations

In no particular order, here are bits of media I commend to your attention. I'm sure I've mentioned some of them previously, but I felt like doing a brain dump, so here you go:

Book: Black Man, Richard K. Morgan
The U.S. version bears the title Thirteen, presumably for the same reason the U.S. version of the British TV show, Spooks, bears the name, MI-5. If you don't know Morgan's work, give him a try. This one is a fine place to start, but so is Altered Carbon. Think Gibson of the Neuromancer era sharpened to a finer noir edge.

Video: Hustle
This British show won't strain your brain or teach you major life lessons, but it will keep you tracking the plot and entertain you enormously. A family favorite here.

Movie: Curse of the Golden Flower
Mara brought this over for Chinese and Chinese tonight, and it was big fun. Part court intrigue, part costume drama, and a small part martial arts flick--who could resist flying monkey men screaming down from the sky?--I enjoyed this one from start to finish. Its sets are amazingly beautiful, as is the framing of practically every shot.

Video: MI-5
I mentioned it earlier, and I've probably mentioned it here before, but for my money this is one of the best shows going. Start with the first season, and you'll quickly buy all the box sets.

CD: Stand in the Fire, Warren Zevon
I miss Zevon. The last song on his last album can tear my heart apart, but sometimes I have to listen to it anyway. This CD is a new issue of a live show that was hard to find for a very long time, and it showcases many of Zevon's best-known songs. I never got to see him live, so this is as close as I'll get. His hair was perfect.