Because of a hectic week at work and just wanting to crash when I get home, I haven't read much this week. I did receive some cds ordered before Christmas, the most exciting fo which are John Coltrane's A Love Supreme and Diana Krall's All For You. Not much to write about except...

I've been suffering withdrawal symtoms from Vic. Vic Mackey. I watched 13 episodes of The Shield in one week, and now nothing till next Tuesday. How to describe this show that has replaced The Sopranos as my favorite? The writing is great, the direction fresh. Excellent acting by everyone invoved, even those who appear just for a few minutes. The music is sparse but striking, especially Coldplay's Trouble at the end of the series. The fact the the lead character is a dirty cop paves the way for some fascinating plots. And as I see him do good and bad things, or bad things for good reasons, there are always moral questions. If breaking the rules saves lives, is it worth it? Basically, this is an exciting show. Don't miss any more of it - I regret not listening to the critics before now. Tuesdays, 10pm EST on FX.
Oh Vic, how I miss you :)

Last night I rewatched This is the Sea. Watch out for this movie - it's played on cable channel WE in the past, and is available on video. It's one of my favorite Irish movies for many reasons. Samantha Morton's breakout performance. The acting talent of some of Ireland's greatest - Richard Harris, Gabriel Byrne, John Lynch, James Nesbitt. An excellent soundtrack featuring The Waterboys and Brian Kennedy. An unfortunately topical story in Ireland about tensions between Catholics and Protestants, Republicans and Loyalists. A sweet love story and a dark tale of hatred and obsession. And to top it off, it's got one of my favorite songs ever - Fisherman's Blues by The Waterboys, which was also included in Good Will Hunting, and Dream With the Fishes.
By the way, there are some good movies to be seen on WE. Some I've noticed on this month's schedule include Heavy (Liv Tyler), Dreaming of Joseph Lees (the excellent Samantha Morton again), Best Laid Plans (Reese Witherspoon), Miss Julie (a Mike Figgis movie), The Nephew (another great Irish movie featuring Pierce Brosnan), and Slums of Beverly Hills (Natasha Lyonne!).


Moving on to TV. Finally, a show I can rave about. I was a little slow to catch on to the brilliance of The Shield, but better late than never. Showing on FX, this is an intense cop drama with a main character who is far from heroic. I recommend you see it. The last 2 episodes of the first season air Monday at 10pm, followed by the season 2 premiere at 10 on Tuesday.

I finished The Amethysts by Frank Delaney, an excellent thriller about the ramifications of Nazi evil in the present day. Can't say much about the plot without spoiling it, but this is a great story, sometimes disturbing, and brilliantly written by one of Ireland's lesser known authors. I look forward to reading more by Mr. Delaney.

Love Like Hate Adore by Dierdre Purcell was another excellent book about a difficult subject - a rape trial from the perspective of the accused's family. It was about much more than this however, about the search for family, about the difficulty of communication, the generation gap, about Ireland in the mid-90's. This is another of those books that is so filled with references to Irish culture that I have difficulty recommending it to people of other nationalities. It is however, the only book I've read that I want to recommend to my mother. Maybe I will.

I went to see Catch Me if you Can yesterday. I can't deny that this is an enjoyable movie. Yet, for some reason I want to criticise it. At times I wished for a less recognizable cast. I pictured Steve Buscemi telling the Knock Knock joke, Scott Foley beling solicited by Jennifer Garner. The movie was too fluffy, too light. It was whipped cream in a can. But fun. So I really should quit my bitchin' huh?