Hilary Booth... of course!

So Netflix had a perverse sense of humor/timing. For my last batch of 3-dvds-a-day, they sent me a hodge podge of material. I'd actually seen "Next Avengers" already, but the featurettes were amusing if only to see how many young teen groups no longer existed. And to realize how many of that crowd is still working with Marvel in their movies and animation. I had the first dvd of season two of "West Wing" since I've gone on a rewatch binge again. Since my dvds dropped down to one on the 15th, I had to quickly pack first season and then slam right into the second. I still react the same to most of the episodes. It's funny what parts are more dated than others. "What Kind of Day has it Been?" is weird for me because of the Columbia references and having the Newseum in Rosslyn, where it's not located anymore. In some ways, Washington stays very much the same and in other ways time marches on.

I was supposed to get three dvds, but Netflix couldn't get me "Avengers 62" immediately so they sent me wait for it, yes the next one on the list. So suddenly I had to pare down 4 dvds to 1. The next one on the list was the "My Name is Modesty" movie in my attempt see all the versions of Modesty Blaise. I've written about the god-awful 60s spy version over here. I've also "ahemmed" the failed TV pilot with Ann Turkel. "My Name is Modesty" covers her earlier career with the Network and a version of her history. I did like the conceit that that may or may not have been the truth with Modesty pulling a Scheherazade stringing the villain along with her stories. It was closer to the comics/novels, but still missing the mark on several fronts. The story was basically split between the current storyline and the flashbacks. I really missed Willie Garvin's presence. Alexandra Staden was a tall slim Modesty, but she almost seemed too slight for my tastes. She reminded me of someone I can't put a finger on who though. Seeing the New Amsterdam lead actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as a villain was certainly odd. I haven't watched the extras, but I'll try to look at them in my copious free time.

"Avengers 62" is early Cathy Gale/fill-in episodes. Those are fairly slow going so far.

I had dinner last night with confettiofstars last night. Afterwards, we continued with some writing and discussing and nattering. It ended even later than our usual. I hope we don't try to break that record any time soon. But it was good to hear a writing critique from someone not intimately familiar with the fandom I was working in. I still need to do some rewriting to get it perfected, but at least it wasn't a complete disaster. Neither was the CVS critique actually, but those revisions will be far more extensive. As usual I need to have my characters do, rather than think.

So Netflix brought me more Slings & Arrows and West Wing. Slings & Arrows continued to delight and amuse, especially the relationship between Oliver, Geoffrey and Ellen. I've found ways to acquire the second season, so I can continue on with the New Burbage. I do suspect that dvd set will become mine at some point.

( West Wing season 1 discussion )

Bravo has started rerunning West Wing with the pilot episode with a mini-marathon this weekend. I'm happily watching the old episodes in between piles of laundry. It's funny. I live so close to the DC area that I initially looked at the series and said "This is the absolute last thing I want to watch. I watch tv to escape reality, not be reminded of being across the river from it." Then I watched a few episodes. The snappy wit and characters changed my mind. Sad to say, I started talking about doing stuff in terms of a "having a thing". It seemed perfectly normal to have walk and banter at the same time. Two of my favorite music vids from MediaWest were West Wing related: one to Indigo Girls' "Galileo" and the other DC Talk's "What If I Stumble". Some of the later episodes grew a little too pedantic and tiresome and I've lapsed majorly in my watching habits. I'd forgotten how temperamental Bartlett could be in war situations.

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