"Tony?!"

Posted 12:00 N by Gerald So

This is a roundup of the returning and new TV shows to catch my eye so far. I had to lead with the twist that most surprised me: Michael Weatherly not only returning to NCIS as Tony DiNozzo, but Tony also succeeding the late Leon Vance as director.

Image by Gerald So

I had guessed Gabriel LaRoche (Seamus Dever) would be promoted, and he was, but the big chair seemed to get to him instantly. I began to think he might not last the full episode as boss, but I never imagined SECNAV would trap Tony into the job.

Tony has matured, but I can't predict how he'll handle this. The choice feels somewhat fresh, not as safe as NCIS usually goes.

Speaking of returns, PRIVATE EYES: WEST COAST brings my favorite Canadian P.I. duo, Matt Shade and Angie Everett (Jason Priestley and Cindy Sampson), from Toronto to Vancouver. Their new series airs in the U.S. on The CW, whose free streaming app also picked up all five seasons of the original PRIVATE EYES.

I'm also in for NCIS: NEW YORK. Yes, I've had enough NCISes I don't believe they exist, but I feel I'm in good hands with LL Cool J, Scott Caan, and Jennifer Beals.

I didn't think I'd like CUPERTINO at all, about an upstart law firm representing victims of Big Tech, but its rye tone won me over.

Comment with your recommendations.

See you, September.

Posted 4:00 AM by Gerald So

I used to spend September blogging about new fall TV shows or season premieres. In recent years, though, shows I'm anticipating premiere in October—like the Canadian spinoff PRIVATE EYES: WEST COAST (Monday, October 5 on The CW), NCIS and NCIS: NEW YORK (October 6 on CBS). So I didn't blog last month. I could've blogged about having my driveway redone or last week's nor'easter, but both went as uneventfully well as could be expected.

Image by Gerald So

Here's another cartoon of myself made with Krita. I think it's my best rendering of sunglasses yet.

Nice to Krita

Posted 5:00 AM by Gerald So

As I continue dabbling in digital artwork, I've begun using the feature-packed painting program Krita. A few weeks ago, I traced a photo of myself as a reference for a new front-facing vector avatar:

Image by Gerald So

I think it's an improvement over the best one I made without a reference following YouTube tutorials:

Image by Gerald So

Here's another vector avatar made by tracing a three-quarter photo:

Image by Gerald So

As well as these turned out, I knew drawing and painting would be easier with a tablet than with a mouse. A generous gift card got me a 2025 Wacom Intuos Pro Medium.