Peer pressure

It's been pointed out that I haven't updated my blog in a very long time.

So here comes a series of short updates. [And look for a CD review in few days, too!]

What I've Been Watching

• Last night, my Bigshot Critic friend scored us some tickets to a production of Little Shop of Horrors at the Long Center. It was the first time I'd seen a live version of Little Shop, and the experience was highly enjoyable; the acting and singing were a few steps up from what I'd expected, and there was a good sense of comedic timing overall. Definitely a play to check out, although I hear that the show's been sold out recently.

• Leverage! TNT has a good summary of the program:
  
  

  [Timothy] Hutton stars as Nate Ford, a former insurance investigator determined to bring down the kind of corrupt bigwigs whose neglect led to the death of his son. His highly skilled team includes Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman – Coupling), a grifter who uses her acting skills to corner her marks; Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane – TNT’s Into the West), a “retrieval specialist” with bone-crunching fighting skills; Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge – Friday Night Lights), a gadget and technology wizard who keeps the team connected and informed; and Parker (Beth Riesgraf – Alvin and the Chipmunks), a slightly off-center thief adept at repelling off buildings or squeezing into tight places. Together, the team puts their energy, quick minds and keen intellects toward securing justice for society’s underdogs.

  
  
  Thanks to Netflix I was able to catch up on Season 1 before the summer season started three weeks ago. In addition to some fantastic writing, Leverage has an amazing cast and chemistry going for it. I don't watch tv much anymore, but I catch enough to know that Leverage is easily one of the smartest shows on TV at the moment. And you can find most of the cast and writers on Twitter. For example, Hutton posted this photo today, which I may use as my new desktop background.

• A-Team (finished season 1, now on season 2), and CSI: NY (finished season 5, working on season 1). These shows are completely unrelated, except for the fact that I'm watching both through Netflix. Well, Netflix actually only had the most recent season of CSI: NY available, but for $12 I got the season 1 box set from ebay. After the horror that is CSI: Miami (it has so many drama units per square inch that I can't finish an entire episode), I'm not sure what made me try the NY version, but I'm glad I did. While occasionally farfetched, the plots are always interesting, and I could watch Gary Sinise act all day long. As far at the A-Team is concerned, I missed a lot of the show when it was on tv, since it started its run three years before I was born. However, I am definitely enjoying the catching up. It might just be the soft spot in my heart for almost everything 80's (except the fashions), but I'm hard pressed to just watch one episode at a time.

Check back tomorrow for What I've Been Reading