Just back from the 12:01 show at the Court Square Cinemas in Brooklyn.
In 1957, Indy is kidnapped and forced to lead the Russians to a crystal skull and a legendary city of gold. He escapes with the help of motorcycle-riding Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) who has ties to Indy's professor friend Harold Oxley (John Hurt), himself driven mad by exposure to the skull.
When Indy and Mutt find Oxley, they also find Marion Ravenwood. Unfortunately both Ox and Marion have been captured by the Russians. A series of chases and narrow escapes ensues.
I was concerned I would compare every aspect of this movie to the previous three. I had read headlines calling it "charmless" and "a mess." There was a lot of action, some of it scattered, but also enough charm and homage to the series that I sat back and enjoyed Skull as a bonus for Indy fans.
My favorite exchange:
Indy, Marion, and Mutt argue while riding in a Russian truck.
MARION
There must have been women after me.
INDY
There were a few, but they all had the same problem.
MARION
What was that?
INDY
They weren't you, honey.
MUTT rolls his eyes.
MARION smiles, smitten.
The Season 6 set includes no extras, but does feature several of my favorite episodes presented in glorious widescreen:
"Flight Risk" - Harm investigates whether a crash that killed two Naval aviators was caused by upgrades done by a private contractor.
"A Separate Peace" - Up for a plum command, Adm. Boone (Terry O'Quinn) is accused of a war crime dating back to Vietnam.
"Touch and Go" - Caitlin Pike's (Andrea Parker) return to JAG Headquarters leads to a sexual harrassment case against her former CO.
"Iron Coffin" - Harm is torn between duty and his friendship with Russian Capt. Volkonov (Alex Kuznetsov) when a Russian submarine explodes with a U.S. submarine in its baffles.
"To Walk on Wings" - A timely case involving a mishap aboard an Osprey helicopter.
"Past Tense" - Harm must look into the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Lt. Cmdr. Jordan Parker (Susan Haskell)
and Part 1 of "Adrift" - Rushing home for Mac's wedding, Harm is forced to eject and gets lost at sea.
While hunting a fortune-telling soul, unsuspecting Sam helps Tony build an underground cage where he and his father (Andrew Airlie) are trapped. In other news, Sock gets it on with a succubus, but blows it when he tries to share her with Ben.
The most compelling aspect of the season finale were the lies between Sam and his parents. What exactly was their deal with The Devil? Is The Devil Sam's real father? I'm glad we have a shot to find out.
The pending publication of my poem "Grandpa's Mythology" in Red Fez made me think of the above line from Jayne Cobb upon receiving a gift from his mother.
Red Fez will also be reprinting "Night School", the poem that launched my freelance career.
At a retired agent's funeral, Director Shepard intercepts an old codename linked to a ten-year-old mission in Russia. Misleading DiNozzo and David and then refusing their help, Jenny takes on the responsibility of protecting herself and Gibbs from an unknown assailant.
As the show had hinted at Jenny's death since the end of the writer's strike, her murder was not the big shocker of the episode; that came when new director Vance informed Tony, Ziva, and McGee they were being reassigned and presented Gibbs with the dossiers for his new team.
So things are about to get interesting. I just hope the shakeup works better on NCIS than it did on House.
A recording error cost me much of Part 1 of the House finale, but I caught on pretty quick with Part 2. The usually uncompromising House bends over backwards to respect Wilson's wishes in the wake of Amber's trauma, going so far as to electroshock himself into lucidly remembering the details of the night leading up to the bus crash.
I don't think this season entirely worked—bringing in dozens of candidates while Cameron, Chase, and Foreman hovered like phantoms—but I have to praise the writers for ultimately making me care about Amber.
I didn't get into the season-long Gormogon killer arc, but that may be because the season was interrupted. More interesting to me, the finale started with everyone except Brennan planning to attend Booth's funeral. As always, Brennan/Deschanel manages to sound spoiled and utterly practical at the same time. I didn't know where Booth was or what shape he was in until the camera caught him in uniform. I think they could have played the possibility of Booth's death for even more drama (He's shot badly enough to go into shock, and two weeks later he's fully mobile with only a patch to show for it?) but anyway, episode writers Hart Hanson and Stephen Nathan hinted at and hid the identity of Gormogon's apprentice well. As often as it's been done, you don't expect the character who takes the hardest hit near the beginning to be the killer. In the end, the apprentice showed the typical traits of a weak personality seduced by a stronger one. Still, I wouldn't have believed the character could be seduced.
UPDATE - SPOILER (5/21/08): In an interview with TV Guide, Eric Millegan revealed he had no plans to leave Bones; Zack's turning killer was purely a creative decision to make a more dramatic end of the season.
Tricia Helfer voiced Spidey paramour Black Cat in the latest episode of The Spectacular Spider-man.
Patti Abbott came up with this one:
Write a story 750 words or less incorporating the sentence, "With gas prices rising, their plans had to change."
Post your story on your blog or website on June 15, 2008. Sign up for the event by leaving a comment with your URL. Good luck to all.
Four of my poems, two old and two new, will appear in The Journal of Asinine Poetry in the coming months.
The tag: (from Patti Abbott)
1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.
A Meme about Various Things
What were you doing ten years ago?
Finishing my Master's in Creative Writing at Queens College.
What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?
Answer this meme, attend Mass, eat, edit, read.
What are some snacks you enjoy?
Abuelita tortilla chips, granola, raisins, dried apricots.
What would you do if you were a billionaire?
Buy the New York Knicks and hire Jerry West as my GM.
What are five places where you have lived?
Queens and Long Island are it, really. I spent three weeks in Baton Rouge in 1991. Does that count?
What are five jobs you have had?
Teacher, editor, writer, H.S. volleyball team manager, H.S. basketball team manager.
What were the last five books you read?
Check my blog.
What are five web sites you visit daily (in no particular order)?
Crimespot, The Rap Sheet, Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, IMDb, Crimespree Cinema
Tag 5 People
Dave White
I recently decided not to renew my subscriptions to Writer's Digest and The Writer magazines. The former has always seemed more commercial and basic to me. The latter is more craft-centered but still perennially offers 8 Steps to Better Screenwriting, 10 Ways to Make Your Characters Come Alive. More experienced writers might appreciate the reminders, but that's all they are. You have to navigate a large part of writing on your own. At the very least, writers have to take a formula (10 Steps to Etc.) and make it seem organic.
Frankly, another reason I didn't renew was to free up cash. $81 isn't much over three years, but renewing every three years is a great temptation. Giving up two magazines, I can subscribe to two others more focused on what I write for pay and read for enjoyment. How-to magazines are useful for tracking trends, but so are fiction and poetry magazines.
My biggest subscriptions currently are Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Mystery Scene, Crimespree, and Poets & Writers.
Knowing of Michael Rosenbaum's and Kristin Kreuk's departures and Allison Mack's possible departure, there wasn't much drama left to be played in last night's season finale. The biggest surprise to me was Brainiac's masquerading as Kara while the real Super Cuz was trapped in the Phantom Zone.
The episode ends in a climactic Lex-Clark battle with the Fortress of Solitude crashing down around them. Does anyone doubt how that turns out?
