Just finished watching the 10-episode show of the Unusuals which I thoroughly enjoyed.

In brief, it’s about NYC’s 2nd precinct, its quirky cops, and their equally quirky cases.  The stories are good and there are some very funny lines and scenes.

The best part is the actors.

Amber Tamblyn, as Casey Shraeger, is trying to become a good cop without the help of her parents and their financial clout.  She kind of plays the straight character so she doesn’t get all the bizarre tics the others do.  On the other hand, she’s very sweet and likable.  Her new partner is Jason Walsh.

On why she wouldn’t be a slut: “not interested in seeing that many penises.”

Jeremy Renner, as Jason Walsh, is the experienced detective whose partner recently died in suspicious circumstances.  Walsh is a mysterious character but it is clear he is loyal to his fellow cops.  His romantic relationship is the most charming of the bunch.

Commemorating his murdered partner:

This is how it works: We pass the badge down ’til it kills you… and then we hang it on the wall. So let’s raise a glass. Because a cop is dead, and he most certainly will not be forgotten.

Adam Goldberg, as Eric Delahoy, is ill with what we soon discover is a brain tumor.  We don’t find out much more about it, as he refuses to go to a doctor.  He’s a tragic and sympathetic figure and also gets some funny scenes with his partner Banks.

Harold Perrineau, as Leo Banks, is terrified because he’s 42, and that  is the familial age to die.  Bottles of hand sanitizer stack his desk.  He always wears a bullet proof vest, even to bed.  I rooted for the guy to get over his phobia.

Kai Lennox, as Eddie Alveraz, is insufferably arrogant which causes him to be the butt of the pranks and quips that the other characters throw his way.  You find out some of what motivates him later in the series.

Monique Gabriela Curnen, as Allison Beaumont, never got enough focus on her character to know her.  But she was tough and wryly humorous.  Her partner is Henry Cole.

Joshua Close, as Henry Cole, is the pious prude with the nasty secret. I could not like this guy. He was humorless and hypocritical.  I think the writers didn’t give Cole enough humanizing touches.

The show is great fun and should not be missed.  It makes me want to rent everything these actors have been in because I want more of them.

Excellent recaps here.

I need to figure out a way to embroider her.  She’s a adorbs.

In July 2011, Michael wrote these words, which summarize his goals and his lasting legacy: “One thing about eBooks that most people haven’t thought much is that eBooks are the very first thing that we’re all able to have as much as we want other than air. Think about that for a moment and you realize we are in the right job.”

Beautiful Things.

The Hunger Games (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Things I liked:

• Katniss – actress I liked how athletic and real she looked and her braids were great.
• Lenny Kravatz as Cinna.
• The 1930s era clothes for the District 12. Is this right?
• Action part – the actual games – done very well.
• The opening scene was very tense and scary.

Things I didn’t like:

• The shaky cam at the beginning. It went on too long.
• The flaming capes were more dramatic in my imagination.
• Peeta came off as emo and wimpy rather than compassionate and smart. Kat didn’t like him at all from the movie version. They skimped too much on the bread saving Katniss backstory.
• The big ending was a little lacking in tension because they undercut it earlier.

I’ll watch the film sequel which might be more fun than the second book – Catching Fire.

Other adaptations are a TV series called Turnabout – an early body-swapping comedy; Passionate Witch – prototype for Bewitched ; the Stray Lamb – a man named Lamb transforms into different animals; Skin and Bones – a man and his dog turn into walking skeletons frightening all but those who truly see them; and the Glorious Pool – a fountain of youth in a swimming pool.

And then Night Life of the Gods in which a man can make stone into living creatures and heads off the the Metropolitan Museum of Art to turn the Greek Gods alive. They wreck funny havoc.

But coming soon is a fantasy movie, Gods Behaving Badly with Alicia Silverstone. It doesn’t say so but you bet your boots it’s inspired by Thorne Smith.

So many of our light fantasy films owe him much.

March Madness no longer figurative.

Love the life you live, Live the life you love.

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