Apologies for the long silence. Been quite busy and not finding the time to write much prose.
Consumptive delights of late:
Sara and I have been getting into Foyle's War. Talk about understated. Michael Kitchen as Foyle is fantastic. His facial expressions, mannerisms, and overall reflective nature remind me of a decade-older version of one of my favourite British actors who I had the great fortune to work with in a touring one-man version of Macbeth from 2004-06, Stephen Dillane. Check Foyle out. Masterful British drama, unhurried quality-over-quantity mystery-laden narratives.
Seasons 4 and 5 of The Shield blew me away, with Glenn Close (4) and Forest Whitaker (5) as respective guest stars. Though I love Forest, particularly in the understated Jarmusch masterpiece Ghost Dog, Close is the stronger of the two featured guests, going for a simmering, you've-come-a-long-way-since-boiling-rabbits-baby police captain.
Nearly read the entire published oeuvre of George Pelecanos.
Best known for writing/producing HBO's seminal The Wire, Pelecanos dozen plus books have kept me engrossed throughout 2008 so far. In keeping with the quality-over-quantity theme, I appreciate Pelecanos' brevity. Each book is around 300 pages, none have broken the 400-mark. Characters and narratives appear and return throughout the books, and its just been a treat to watch Pelecanos' prose get more and more airtight with each outing. If I had to pick, I think my favorites are probably the Derek Strange/Terry Quinn salt-and-pepper private detective team, but then again maybe the Dimitri Karras/Marcus Clay combo is the one. Hard to pick. An embarassment of riches in Pelecanos' work, thats for sure. Anyone have any suggestions who I should take up next?
