Mediaverse

Figure I'll do a quick and dirty mediaverse post at the beginning of the month, just to show y'all what's been entering these eyes and ears recently.

Sandbaggers on DVD. I'm on the last disc of this excellent BBC spy series. And did you realize that Roy Marsden (who plays Director of Ops Neil Burnside) made an appearance in the most recent season of Doctor Who? He's the smug hospital trainer in the first episode with Martha Jones.

Weeds on DVD. Just starting this series, on the recommendation of a number of friends. Good shit.

The West Wing on DVD. For some reason I practically freebased this series over my week's vacation, watching about a dozen episodes from seasons 1 and 2 while I was home. I didn't start watching until late in season 3 (maybe four) so these are mostly new to me.

On real TV, I've recently turned onto the Late Show with Craig Ferguson. He's a really personable, goofy host, and I'm happy he's back on the air (with writers! hoo!). Looking forward to Lost starting up again, too.

Movies. Not much there. Saw The TV Set, and didn't dig it.

Books. I finished Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold last month -- it's a fun, sometimes moving piece of historical fiction along the lines of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Magic tricks, old vaudeville, and President Warren G. Harding being dismembered on stage hours before his death? I really liked this.

Now I'm dipping into Born Standing Up, Steve Martin's retrospective of his standup comedy career. I find I'm rarely interested in behind the scenes celebrity stuff going on now -- but put some years on it, and I love tales of old showbiz. Martin's one of my favorite writers and performers, so getting me this for Christmas was remarkably intuitive for my secret Santa coworker.

I'm also listening to William Gibson's Spook Country on Audiobook -- and since I do that when I work on the guest room, and the first coat of stain on the windows is dry, I should take that as my cue to go apply the second. So here's a brief list of music currently in my earbuds:

Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings: 100 Days, 100 Nights
Richard Thompson: 1000 Years of Popular Music
Frank Zappa: Weasels Ripped My Flesh
Anders Osborne: Ash Wednesday Blues
Tom Waits: Small Change

Gotta Stain!

Rob