TV - Montalbano: Il Senso Del Tatto

Pretty good episode. Blind guy dies, big black guide dog Orlando ends up outside. Montalbano immediately sniffs out something odd. Leads him to a 'vacation' with Livia to outlying island where he uncovers a desperate hotel owner, a fisherman who catches nothing but has state of the art computers and multiple TV setup. Turns out to be a sordid ring of drug smuggling by the blind guys who hide the product in their canes, with a barking seeing eye dog as a distraction. Orchestrated by a very respectable advancing political figure. The scene where Montalbano asks where Orlando is, and gives the guy a choice of 2 guns/scenarios was really good. They find him in an undercave dog fighting ring at the end. Catarella is so cute in his outrage at the dogs' treatment. Nice.

TV - Les Vacances de Maigret

Really liked this one, pretty good. While visiting his in-laws in Belgium, wifey gets ill and ends up in hospital. While there, a mysterious patient, along with a slipped note in Maigret's pocket piques his interest. Sordid tale of doctor, who tried to kill sister-in-law, kills little red-haired girl, and imprisons wife. Maigret steps on everyone's toes while 'not' investigating. Hilarious.

So annoyed the ending was cut off, just as Maigret's turning the screws on the good doctor.

Visited The Legion, Had Some Fish

After a miserable Christmas, Hubby insisted we go out. Mainly to distract me, and maybe lift our spirits a little. Fine, we dropped by the Legion. Always nice to see the ocean, and the museum grounds. Spent a little time inside, couldn't enjoy anything. Did see my 2 favorite pieces, and picked up a few art books.

Afterwards had an early dinner at the fish place around the corner. Good, cozy family-like ambiance, but subpar food.


Masterworks of European Painting In The California Palace of The Legion of Honor.














Legion of Honor: Selected Works

TV - Maigret: La Vente à La Bougie

Was I not in the mood? French references we didn't get? Hubby even wanted to watch this with me, mostly to keep me company while we were mourning our boy.

Whatever. This one just plain sucked. Incredibly boring, thin story that was just repetitive. Maigret's in town to check out an "ex-con" now managing a small hotel. Meanwhile there's a candle auction to sell some old lady's house that has a story of hidden treasure in it. Guy gets stabbed to death in bed, all the guests become suspects. Another guy dies. Maigret still investigates even while sick in bed. Turns out to be the 2 cousins.

Movie - Quantum of Solace

One shitty day - After his flight, taking Mozart to the vet one last time for his autopsy, getting the results, Hubby decided we needed to get out of the house for a distraction. We hadn't seen the new Bond film yet (I'm a fan), so he insisted we go.

Apropo title - there was no measure of comfort for us because of Bubby. When the lion logo roared, I cried. We always joked that that was Mozart, that's how he saw himself.

The movie: AWFUL. What an awful mess. There was no coherence to the overwrought, messy story. Awful bad guy who wasn't conceivably close to being a bad guy. Bond was actually pretty good, almost scary. Didn't have anything to do other than pretend to be Bourne, though. The entire movie stank of Bourne. If I wanted to see that, I'd just pop in our DVDs. Fer crying out loud. Hubby thought it was quite entertaining. Lots of action. That was good for him.

Mozart Passed Away

Our beloved little furrboy died suddenly last night. I was playing with him, then turned around to get their dinner, when he suddenly collapsed.

Our hearts are broken.

Book - Rounding The Mark

Good read. Most brooding book so far in the series, though not as dark as Aurelio Zen. Camilleri's seriously outraged with the establishment and taking it out in this book. His disillusionment with the 'establishment' starts to reach a breaking point. The most character development yet, including his own physical limitations.

The police force's excessive use of force and frame-up job at the G8 summit gives law enforcement a black eye, which Montalbano takes as a personal affront to his own professional reputation. While he's taking his usual swim, he bumps into a corpse. In addition, he also crosses paths with a illegal immigrant boy whose behavior puzzles him. These two people intersect in the course of his investigation, thru a sordid world of human trafficking, to a 'blockbuster' kind of ending, which was a little letdown. Doesn't matter, though, excellent book overall.

Book - Rituals of The Season

Haven't picked up a Margaret Maron in several years. I enjoyed The Bootlegger's Daughter, Up Jumps The Devil, and a couple more after that, then the interest faded.

This was 50 cents at a book sale, so why not? Holiday theme, Deborah Knott, sure. Meh. Nice piece of fluff, decent light reading. The writing's ok, I was kinda bored with it, and it didn't help that it was so obvious right at the beginning who the killer was.

Pretty Novica necklace

Just got this in the mail from Overstock, and wow, it's a really cute piece! Even the box is really nicely crafted, although I would have preferred a cheaper container, since I just toss this stuff away.

Favorite Album - Count Basie

How Do I Love This Album. Let Me Count The Ways. Masterpiece.

Camera Broken

In keeping with the theme of electronic crap conking out, my camera is malfunctioning. Must spend much money to get new one. Been reading all the reviews researching. Extraordinarily frustrating. Utterly pathetic: apparently the 5-6 year use of my devices is considered an exceptional lifetime. Apparently anything I buy these days have a 2-3 yr lifetime, and I should be happy. Are you kidding me?!?

Me no happy. Me very angry. Me Homer. Homer smash things.

Up a little (very little) on the happy meter: got my (cheap $) Simpsons DVDs in the mail today. Yay.

Continuing Comcast Troubles

Got a very nice and COMPETENT guy out today! The second competent guy in a row - will the universe explode? Getting very tired of the continuing signal problems, the moronic phone people who try to insist it's our problem, and the wrong people they send out to waste mine and their time. Wasted visit for the poor guy who came out Tuesday - I knew that, he knew that, but *that's* what the idiot phone guy had insisted on. So he looked at the DVR, looked at our wiring inside the house, nope, no problem. He was very nice and knowledgeable, unlike the string of other idiots. Identified right away as a signal/network problem, *like I said*, and flagged it for the appropriate guy.

But still no fix as of today, and had to call again. Competent phone guy *gasp*. Sent out the right technician, who theorizes that it's a bad connection between the hub and our house, since his meter readings indicated problems in the higher cable numbers. The wiring in the hub is new, but the wiring leading to our house is still old. The message I'm getting is that the idiot that "upgraded" the service area a year ago was too freaking lazy to upgrade that hub's old wiring to any of our houses, which is why we've all had intermittent problems since the "upgrade".

Great Price on The Simpsons DVDs!

Woohoo!! Hubby decided to buy his bluetooth off Amazon, so I took a quick look at a few things I was planning to buy later, and excellent! - Simpsons seasons 9 & 10 both going for $17 each!! Now I'm almost done with the collection - can't decide whether to get 11 or not. It was already downhill by season 8, I had to get 9 for "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson", and there were enough decent episodes in 10.

It's really sad to see the brilliance of the first several seasons, then see the embarassing drivel of the current seasons. It really should have been stopped. I still remember the first time I saw a short of the Simpsons at an animated festival - so freaking funny and memorable.

Music Collection on Zune (I Think)

Got a new hard drive, the Freeagent (the second one) also conked out within days. So far so good for this one (My Book). Finally have enough room to rip all my music, and load it into the Zune. All during the last month. And the last one was ripped tonight. Woohoo!!!!! All my beautiful operas, symphonies and other music are on the little device. Only CD that wouldn't read anymore was La Forza del Destino, so I have to buy a new one. Pretty pissed about it, but no time for a rant about the whole industry.

I've got the home system hooked up so I just plug the Zune in. Now all I need is a car adapter to play it in the car, and I'm set.

Movie - L'Homme du Train

Another excellent movie for our Thanksgiving movie marathons. A leisurely paced character observation. The developing relationship between the gentleman retired teacher Manesquier and the bank robber Milan is mesmerizing. It was an excellent reflection on that 'road not taken'. The understated performances of both actors really emphasized the scenes and highlighted the dialogue in a way an overwrought performance couldn't have.

One evocative scene was the two of them quietly sharing a meal, and Manesquier asks Milan if he's really going to rob the bank that day (yup), then expresses his wish and disappointment that he can't participate cause he really can't reschedule his appointment. All delivered in a matter-of-fact, typical conversational tone.

Movie - Cinema Paradiso

WE LOVED THIS MOVIE!!!!! Saw the director's cut, which was about 3 hours long. What a thoughtful, almost perfect movie. A loving tribute for cinema history lovers, but also accessible to the rest of us - a poignant love story, the evolution of cinema along with the evolution of a small town, a culture and a fading way of life. Beautiful storytelling.

A few days later I watched the theatrical release version. Also wonderful, but I think I prefer the other version. More satisfying.

Book - The Patience Of The Spider

Very ambivalent about this book. Can't decide whether I like it or not. Merits a second reading later.

It's definitely the most introspective one in the series, and departs significantly from previous books. For the first time, Montalbano's not solving a murder, but a kidnapping. And he's not really supposed to be solving anything. He's recovering from a gunshot wound, Livia's come to nurse him, and Mimi's taken over his duties temporarily. He's instead consulting with the investigative head.

His disillusionment is strongest in this work, as he tries to understand a hatred and revenge so naked that it overrode all other considerations.