The Computer Comes Home....

Why is it that, when my computer is being repaired, I feel as if I should be sending flowers and a get-well card?

The Brave Little Computer came home again last night. I was going to carry it in a shopping cart, but was persuaded that the jolting and vibrations (even if it was wrapped up in blankets and pillows) would not be good for it. Alternate plan: get a taxi. The taxi was slow in arrival. I am not good at waiting. I had Patti to help. We walked back to the apartment; she carried the printer, I carried the computer.

I set it up. The computer admitted there was a printer attached for the first time in several months. But when I went to a WordPerfect document and tried to print, it failed to find the printer. When I went to a webpage and tried to print - same result. I was distressed. It was supposed to work now.

This morning I fiddled with it, and discovered that the last remaining problem was simple to figure out and simple to fix. Voil&##224! The printer works at last!

I was filled with triumph that I'd figured it out - that one last thing. And pleased too that over three months of trying to get the printer to work - the problem wasn't something I could have figured out on my own; it was faulty drivers for the USB ports.

Isn't it wonderful when technology works?

The only problem is that my hard drive had to be reformatted. They were able to save the important stuff - my stories - and restore the basic, important programs like Outlook Express and WordPerfect.

I'm thrilled to have the computer back. I missed it. Missed the LJ community, too, and I'm glad to be back!

A Body to Die For...

A Body to Die For is a mystery novel by Kate White. It was to its disadvantage that I listened to it on audiotape after the brilliant and imaginative mystery Masquerade by Walter Satterthwait, and it compared badly.

See, the protagonist/sleuth Bailey Weggins was a bit of a bore. Worse, the plot pulled a twist that I've pretty much hated every time I've come across it. For those who don't mind spoilers... ( this twist was that... )

At the end of the tape there was an interview with the author Kate White about how and why she wrote the book, how she identifies with rime-journalist Bailey, and so on. I always enjoy interviews with writers. This one annoyed me by not giving a capsule bio of the author but talking about her career as an editor and so on. Now, I had no idea who Kate White is or was: it finally emerged that she was the editor of Cosmopolitan. I thought they should have mentioned that before they talked about how she juggled writing and editing careers, what high-profile work she has, and so on. Maybe everyone knows Kate White's name but me. I noticed that in the book she occasionally mentions celebrities I've never heard of; on the whole, I did much better in recognizing the names of personages in Paris in 1923 in Masquerade than the 21st century Americans in A Body To Die For.

I didn't like the voice of the woman who read the novel, either. Kate Walsh. She had an oddly flat intonation. I might have enjoyed the book more if I'd read it in print.

Smallville: Shattered....

Wow.

Okay, I liked "Shattered". How can this episode be so good when last week's episode was so uninteresting? Is this show done by the same people? Is this the "sometimes a hit, sometimes a miss" school of plotting?

In any case, no complaints from this end. Like some of the other great episodes of this show (e.g., "Rosetta", "Prodigal", "Hourglass") I loved every minute - and couldn't predict what was going to happen. And I cared.

How did Lex get to be so beautiful? This isn't a new thing of course, but due to good lighting or direction or something, he had moments of being unusually exquisite. Michael Rosenbaum's acting was at its best: defiant, vulnerable, confused, loving, angry, going from one strong emotion to another and making them convincing all the way.

And the tender, concerned way Clark was looking at Lex as he rocked the delusional baby.... It nearly broke my heart.

And then to see Lex tell Clark to choose between him and his parents, and for Clark to simply follow Lex - well. I was speechless with joy.

Chloe and Clark also looked wonderful. I wish I could believe that Lana really will stay away from Clark in future. (Please.) I can only hope.

I thought the scenes between Lionel and Lex were nothing less than... magnificent.

Patrick Bergin is not Rutget Hauer, but then, who is? Anyone would compare badly. I still like Morgan Edge, and I hope and believe he is not dead.

Carnivale: Hot and Bothered

Carnivale this week had me mesmerized. Many plot threads are getting very thick indeed. Things I like:

1. The affair between Jonesy and Rita Sue, with a tip of the hat to Sofie. Looks to me like more evidence that Sofie is pregnant. And what more trouble will Stumpy cause?



2. Ben ending up sleeping in Ruthie's bed, and Ruthie throwing Lodz out so energetically. I like Ruthie. She has gumption. Will she also have Ben?



3. Samson being demoted by management. I wonder why. Something to do with Ben?



4. I've always thought Brother Justin was scary, but I always believe Iris is the worse of the two. We shall see. I like Dolan, and wonder if he'll survive knowing them.



5. Loved it when Scudder spoke to Lodz in Ben's dream. (It was Scudder, wasn't it?) We've had chases in mining tunnels, trenches, cornfields and now fields of sugar cane - what's next? What do the labyrinths mean?