Humberto pointed out a minor flaw in Houston’s hurricane preparedness program. The evacuation plan assumed a three-day advanced notice of a storm. Humberto changed from a disorganized mass to a tropical storm in a couple of hours, and became a Category 1 hurricane a dozen hours later while people were asleep assuming Houston was in for a soaking. Instead, a tightly wound storm zipped along roughly the same track as Rita did a couple of years ago. It was a record setter: no tropical cyclone in the historical record has ever reached this intensity at a faster rate near landfall.
Eurkea remains one of the cuter series on cable. It’s light and fluffy. I guess I just like the flippant way the sheriff handles everything. His IQ is about 25 points lower than the average citizen of the town (his daughter included), but he often manages to see things others overlook. Burn Notice had Lucy Lawless on it this week. Damsel in distress roll, of sorts. If you’re following the show, don’t forget that it starts an hour early next week for the two-hour season finale. I think Bruce Campbell is one of the most natural actors around (Sharon Gless: “You want a beer?” Campbell: “Are you kidding?”) and Gabrielle Byrne is fascinating.
Saw a new Law and Order: Criminal Intent ad on USA last night. The movers come in and drag the corpse out of the crime scene right in front of Goran and Eames. Stuff it in a moving crate. Pick up the beat cop and haul him away, too. “That’s odd,” Goran says. Hilarious.
So the Donatos pulled it off on Big Brother. It was an impressive feat. The first leg of the HoH competition was absolutely brutal. I still get a kick out of Dick, smoking on his way out to a competition where he has to hold his breath repeatedly. He’s twice his daughter’s age and he looks like he’s over fifty and still he managed to outperform her in part 2. No wonder she was mortified! It’ll be interesting to see if the jury undergoes any significant debate over who to award the money to or if they’ll just throw up their collective hands and say, phhht, they’re one and the same as far as the cash goes.
Still working on Adrift, but the end is near. I’m sending out to the editor tomorrow morning come hell or high water. I also wrote the first draft of my Storytellers Unplugged essay last night. I still have to revise the crap out of it and then record it for the podcast this weekend, then post it first thing Monday morning. And mow the lawn.