Early Wednesday Thoughts
- Eli Wallach has passed away at the age of 98. What a great character actor. Who better, it seems, to play Mexican banditos in classic Westerns than a New York Jew? I am sure much better film fans than I will have a lot to say today.
- Speaking of which, if you are a film buff, I highly recommend The Dissolve, a relatively new website started by the best writers from The AV Club. The reviews and essays are fascinating, and the discussions by the readers are very intelligent.
- I am doing something I never thought I'd do: returning a Terry Pratchett book to the library unfinished. Raising Steam is fitfully well written, but it's otherwise a slog. Whether this is a sign that Sir Terry's Alzheimers has affected his ideas, or just a sign that dictating a book into a computer is not the same as typing it, it's still a sad thing that we might be at the end of the Discworld as we know it.
- Seriously, Luis Suarez, biting someone? For the third time? Hoping that FIFA throws the book at him, but not sure it will happen.
- Loving that ESPN has unleashed British soccer broadcasters on an unsuspecting American audience. They are not what we are used to, at all. Sometimes a bit crude, and unsurprisingly even a bit racist, but also less predictable and reserved and more fun than the usual talking heads. Can't say I would want to watch them all the time, but for a month it works.
- So, supposing an American wants to try out the Premier League, anyone out there have any suggestions about how to pick a team to follow? I make no promises that I will do this, but it seems worth considering.
- Speaking of which, if you are a film buff, I highly recommend The Dissolve, a relatively new website started by the best writers from The AV Club. The reviews and essays are fascinating, and the discussions by the readers are very intelligent.
- I am doing something I never thought I'd do: returning a Terry Pratchett book to the library unfinished. Raising Steam is fitfully well written, but it's otherwise a slog. Whether this is a sign that Sir Terry's Alzheimers has affected his ideas, or just a sign that dictating a book into a computer is not the same as typing it, it's still a sad thing that we might be at the end of the Discworld as we know it.
- Seriously, Luis Suarez, biting someone? For the third time? Hoping that FIFA throws the book at him, but not sure it will happen.
- Loving that ESPN has unleashed British soccer broadcasters on an unsuspecting American audience. They are not what we are used to, at all. Sometimes a bit crude, and unsurprisingly even a bit racist, but also less predictable and reserved and more fun than the usual talking heads. Can't say I would want to watch them all the time, but for a month it works.
- So, supposing an American wants to try out the Premier League, anyone out there have any suggestions about how to pick a team to follow? I make no promises that I will do this, but it seems worth considering.