Consistency...

Day 11 - A movie that changed your opinion about something

Can't think of one. There was maybe a movie where I decided I didn't like Mel Gibson any more. (And he was so sweet in Tim.)

No, I don't think a movie has ever changed my mind about something. If I dislike it, it wouldn't. And if I like it, it probably reflects my own tastes and values.

Saturday...

Went to IKEA for breakfast - well, brunch; had their meatballs and their delicious vegetable cakes.

Bought a Gravback bookshelf for only $129.00. I was thrilled. Made a deal with explodedteabag that I'd pay for delivery of her furniture if she'd put the bookshelp together. So she did.

Afterwards we sat on the grass bank overlooking the canal, watching the annual flotilla go by. My favourite was the Elvis Boat - with an Elvis singing in the bow. Great fun. Lots of music, lots of dancing kids.

Supper: Chinese food from the Cypress Gardens. We'd never ordered from them before. They were fairly quick, and delicious. Their chicken wings were almost as good as those from Peach Garden.

After supper, we watched the second episode of Sherlock, and enjoyed it as much as the first.

Day 12 - A movie that you hate

Day 12 - A movie that you hate

Again, this one's easy: Forrest Gump. I hated everything about that movie. And I never did like Tom Hanks.

Quantum Teleportation...

Bring on the vortex manipulator.

Rizzoli and Isles...

The new show du jour that I watched while exercising my arm: Rizzoli and Isles.

I liked it better than Covert Action, and will probably watch more. Two problems, though.

First problem: the protagonists are a homicide detective (Jane Rizzoli) and a police medical examiner (Dr Maura Isles), played respectively by Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander. Nice looking women. But to my eyes, they look like actresses, not cops.

So what does a cop look like? Helen Mirren looks the way Inspector Tennison should look. Sarah Shahi looks like a cop in Life and so does Stana Katic in Castle - it'd not that beauty is a hindrance. Anna Torv as Olivia Dunham in Fringe convinces me one hundred per cent that she's a professional law enforcer. Gillian Anderson as Scully. Keeley Hawes in a bunch of shows. Martha Plimpton as Sheriff Mathis? Absolutely.

But Harmon and Alexander? They aren't quite there in their portrayal. I have to work at suspending my disbelief.

The other problem: Rizzoli is a protagonist who will, on a stakeout for a serial killer, get out of the car and wander around the woods alone in the dark with a flashlight, calling her partner's name because he went for a pee and is taking too long. And she knows the serial killer is targeting her specifically.

Later on, a plausible but unknown man lures her into a van at the crime scene. Of course it's the killer. I knew that. Why didn't she? How'd that halfwit with no survival skills make it to the rank of detective, anyway?

The show gets points for passing the Bechdel test. I think I'll quite enjoy it, if I can get used the protagonists, and not mind our hero's low IQ.

Rizzoli's relationship with her mom reminds me of Stephanie Plum in the Janet Evanovich novels, which isn't a bad thing.