Well I'll be....
Sep. 27th, 2008 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mistletoeChampions! Hello by the way. I have been busy at the ant farm alllllll week and wish to draw a veil over the unpleasantness that is my working life. Therefore, here we are Saturday teatime and what lovely weather we have been having, better than the summer hands down. So how appropriate that this was the last day of the cricket season.
On Wednesday, at the start of the final round of First Division matches, Durham were in third place behind Nottingham and Somerset. The points position was so close that any one of them were possible champions although Nottingham were favourites being 8 points clear. They were at home, playing Hampshire; Somerset were at Lancashire, who had to win to stave off relegation and Durham were playing Kent at Canterbury, who were in the same boat as Lancashire. Of the three contenders only DURHAM won. They are Champions for the first time in their very short (16 years) first class cricket history. I can't believe it. Actually they really deserve it, winning the most games, 5, and losing key players to the England team along the way. They ended up 8 points clear with Notts 2nd, Hampshire 3rd and Somerset 4th. They were very close to winning it last year but were pipped at the post by Sussex. I am so pleased for them and especially of course for our man Paul Collingwood. Excellent.
The latest on the comedy stylings of Newcastle. On Wednesday they lost at home in the Carling Cup to Tottenham in front of their smallest crowd since their ground was remodelled, 21,000. Now they have appointed Joe Kinnear as temporary manager for 6 games. Joe was a good manager before his heart attack and hasn't managed since 2004. They lost today to Blackburn also at home. We have got Blackburn in the next round so there's a derby game chance gone. Our Cup game was hardly a cakewalk as the lads struggled to beat Northampton on penalties. Keano went ballistic, vituperating at the players and the crowd. Unheard of? Not for Mr Keane. He never pulls his punches and was famous for remarks about the Manchester United corporate crowd and their prawn sandwiches being more important to them than the game they were paying thousands to be at. I hope he was more satisfied today when they lost but at least tried their best according to the man on Radio 5
Meanwhile, this week Sky 1 started Season 4 of Bones and on second viewing it wasn't as bad although I still wasn't struck by the Grayson/Angela/Hodgins/Cam storyline. I watched Episode 5, on which I have the following thoughts.
This was an interesting episode on several counts. Again, like last week, they seem to be meshing the investigation's theme with the issues of the team. This seems to be working out much more satisfactorily. So, the psychological makeup of main characters was at the forefront of the dialogue and action. With a psychological disorder at the heart of the case it was particularly apt for Zack to make his first guest appearance. This allowed Sweets to actually pursue his role as a psychologist rather than a buffoon and play a key role in both parts of the plot. I have to say though that Booth still has his uses in this area. Just like in The Boy in the Tree in the first series, Booth knew where a key clue would be hidden, through his ability to recognise the behaviour of a murder victim when they were alive. Still, Sweets makes a better sounding board then Brennan because at least he and Booth are on the same page.
With Zack, Booth took a back seat and it was Sweets and Hodgins who interacted with him the most. This was essential for the audience to recognise Zack's motives for doing what he did. He presented Sweets with a dilemma that means Sweets possesses knowledge no one else can ever know. He is almost in the role of a priest here as Zack confesses his innocence in the murder of the lobbyist, but his need to pay for the fact he was involved in the crime at all; an accessory before the fact.
With Hodgins he tried to re-create their partnership even joking about being 'King of the loony-bin'. Fittingly, Sweets provided him with the means to escape albeit inadvertently. It was nice to see Zack though I am disappointed that the show has back-tracked on the culpability of the character. Really, to me, there was little for the character to develop into apart from some outside the box development. They tried with his posting to Iraq, the potential there for interesting developments spoiled by the truncation of the season by the writers' strike. This was also responsible for the fudging of the Gormogon arc that produced a shoddy ending to season 3. This new season's revelation is no doubt a sop to the audience who were incensed by the dropping of Zack's character. I still think there is too much doubt about his sanity for him to come back.
As for Booth and Brennan they were on top form: Booth with his bad back as a result of going down the small slide with Parker and having too much machismo to allow Bones to fix him until the case was over. That allowed us to see more of their symbiotic relationship. She cured him after he had rescued her latest book from the bin because she was more than a sexy scientist. He proved it by revealing he read all her books and reciting her latest review that he had memorised. She certainly is special.
Elsewhere, the intern of the week was OK but I'm not sure of Angela. Hodgins definitely moved on in this episode, deciding he could learn to cope without Zack and so didn't need to move into his station. Angela seems to have lost her focus. Her misreading of the situation between the intern and Brennan was supposed to be funny. It reminded me of vision girl Cordy misreading the scenario between Wes, Fred and Gunn which resulted in a great deal of unhappiness. At least this situation was resolved without too much hurt, but should we read more into it? Are we meant to see this as Angela also misreading Hodgins reaction to Grayson. She said he didn't trust her but her glib reading of this situation may suggest that it is not that simple.
I liked that Zack solved the puzzle to find the murderer.
Shopping in Durham today which was heaving. I got a new pair of smart trousers for work and some cheap jeans. I had to send my dinner back at the Slug and Lettuce as my Thai curry was still frozen in the middle. It came back much nicer. They serve it wrapped in a banana leaf.
Sad to hear of the passing of Paul Newman. He made some magnificent films that I enjoyed: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; The Hustler, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting in particular. Sometimes he was a bit too much of a method actor for me. I wasn't a fan of Cool Hand Luke for that reason. However, he was an actor from the old school of Hollywood stars and for that, as well as his charity work, he should be remembered.
On Wednesday, at the start of the final round of First Division matches, Durham were in third place behind Nottingham and Somerset. The points position was so close that any one of them were possible champions although Nottingham were favourites being 8 points clear. They were at home, playing Hampshire; Somerset were at Lancashire, who had to win to stave off relegation and Durham were playing Kent at Canterbury, who were in the same boat as Lancashire. Of the three contenders only DURHAM won. They are Champions for the first time in their very short (16 years) first class cricket history. I can't believe it. Actually they really deserve it, winning the most games, 5, and losing key players to the England team along the way. They ended up 8 points clear with Notts 2nd, Hampshire 3rd and Somerset 4th. They were very close to winning it last year but were pipped at the post by Sussex. I am so pleased for them and especially of course for our man Paul Collingwood. Excellent.
The latest on the comedy stylings of Newcastle. On Wednesday they lost at home in the Carling Cup to Tottenham in front of their smallest crowd since their ground was remodelled, 21,000. Now they have appointed Joe Kinnear as temporary manager for 6 games. Joe was a good manager before his heart attack and hasn't managed since 2004. They lost today to Blackburn also at home. We have got Blackburn in the next round so there's a derby game chance gone. Our Cup game was hardly a cakewalk as the lads struggled to beat Northampton on penalties. Keano went ballistic, vituperating at the players and the crowd. Unheard of? Not for Mr Keane. He never pulls his punches and was famous for remarks about the Manchester United corporate crowd and their prawn sandwiches being more important to them than the game they were paying thousands to be at. I hope he was more satisfied today when they lost but at least tried their best according to the man on Radio 5
Meanwhile, this week Sky 1 started Season 4 of Bones and on second viewing it wasn't as bad although I still wasn't struck by the Grayson/Angela/Hodgins/Cam storyline. I watched Episode 5, on which I have the following thoughts.
This was an interesting episode on several counts. Again, like last week, they seem to be meshing the investigation's theme with the issues of the team. This seems to be working out much more satisfactorily. So, the psychological makeup of main characters was at the forefront of the dialogue and action. With a psychological disorder at the heart of the case it was particularly apt for Zack to make his first guest appearance. This allowed Sweets to actually pursue his role as a psychologist rather than a buffoon and play a key role in both parts of the plot. I have to say though that Booth still has his uses in this area. Just like in The Boy in the Tree in the first series, Booth knew where a key clue would be hidden, through his ability to recognise the behaviour of a murder victim when they were alive. Still, Sweets makes a better sounding board then Brennan because at least he and Booth are on the same page.
With Zack, Booth took a back seat and it was Sweets and Hodgins who interacted with him the most. This was essential for the audience to recognise Zack's motives for doing what he did. He presented Sweets with a dilemma that means Sweets possesses knowledge no one else can ever know. He is almost in the role of a priest here as Zack confesses his innocence in the murder of the lobbyist, but his need to pay for the fact he was involved in the crime at all; an accessory before the fact.
With Hodgins he tried to re-create their partnership even joking about being 'King of the loony-bin'. Fittingly, Sweets provided him with the means to escape albeit inadvertently. It was nice to see Zack though I am disappointed that the show has back-tracked on the culpability of the character. Really, to me, there was little for the character to develop into apart from some outside the box development. They tried with his posting to Iraq, the potential there for interesting developments spoiled by the truncation of the season by the writers' strike. This was also responsible for the fudging of the Gormogon arc that produced a shoddy ending to season 3. This new season's revelation is no doubt a sop to the audience who were incensed by the dropping of Zack's character. I still think there is too much doubt about his sanity for him to come back.
As for Booth and Brennan they were on top form: Booth with his bad back as a result of going down the small slide with Parker and having too much machismo to allow Bones to fix him until the case was over. That allowed us to see more of their symbiotic relationship. She cured him after he had rescued her latest book from the bin because she was more than a sexy scientist. He proved it by revealing he read all her books and reciting her latest review that he had memorised. She certainly is special.
Elsewhere, the intern of the week was OK but I'm not sure of Angela. Hodgins definitely moved on in this episode, deciding he could learn to cope without Zack and so didn't need to move into his station. Angela seems to have lost her focus. Her misreading of the situation between the intern and Brennan was supposed to be funny. It reminded me of vision girl Cordy misreading the scenario between Wes, Fred and Gunn which resulted in a great deal of unhappiness. At least this situation was resolved without too much hurt, but should we read more into it? Are we meant to see this as Angela also misreading Hodgins reaction to Grayson. She said he didn't trust her but her glib reading of this situation may suggest that it is not that simple.
I liked that Zack solved the puzzle to find the murderer.
Shopping in Durham today which was heaving. I got a new pair of smart trousers for work and some cheap jeans. I had to send my dinner back at the Slug and Lettuce as my Thai curry was still frozen in the middle. It came back much nicer. They serve it wrapped in a banana leaf.
Sad to hear of the passing of Paul Newman. He made some magnificent films that I enjoyed: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; The Hustler, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting in particular. Sometimes he was a bit too much of a method actor for me. I wasn't a fan of Cool Hand Luke for that reason. However, he was an actor from the old school of Hollywood stars and for that, as well as his charity work, he should be remembered.
