Falling all over the place

Summer's finally over my friends. And you know what? I'm ready. So far, this fall has been good to me, working our way gradually into the winter. Seasonably warm days, cold nights. Just like should be the case when you live in Maine. The steadily shrinking days are going to be a problem though, as they are already starting to cramp my golfing schedule. I mean, at some point I have to go to work, right? Right?

Anyways, a few random things today.

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Read a couple good books in the last few weeks.

The Bridge of Sighs, by Richard Russo - For those who have read and enjoyed anything else by Richard Russo, this is a must read. For everyone else, I would start with Nobody's Fool or Empire Falls, both of these are better books. Still, if this is not Russo's best effort, that still makes it better than most any other books out there right now.

The Soul of Baseball by Joe Posnanski - For baseball fans, this is a must read. Joe Posnanski is one of, if not the best sports columnist out there, and this is his story about taking road trips with Buck O'Neill, a former Negro League player and manager. O'Neill loved three things, baseball, jazz, and women, and in many ways this this book serves as on ode to all three. Like I said, a great read for anyone loves baseball.

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As always, there are a bunch of new tv shows out there this year, a few of which have actually captured my attention.

Pushing Daisies - Wednesdays at 8 - Don't read any reviews of this show, as a description doesn't do it justice. Don't worry yourself about the plot, as that is largely irrelevant. This is a show about tone and look. The tone of this show is overtly light-hearted, with a dark, dark sense of humor as a backdrop. Visually, Pushing Daisies does remind me of Amelie, or of Pan's Labyrinth possibly. (If you haven't seen either of these, go rent them today.)

Life - Wednesday's at 10 - I know, I know, yet another cop show. This one throws some curveballs, and has a structure that works for me. The main character of the show, Crews, is a former cop turned convict who spent 11 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit, was found innocent, and as part of his wrongful charges settlement was reinstated as a detective. Each episode focuses both on one "smaller" crime, as well as some portion of Crews' ongoing investigation into how he was wrongly convicted. The acting is good, the writing is good, and for you Replacements fans out there, Crews' lawyer is played by none other than Brooke Langton.

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Maybe if I have time tomorrow, I'll throw something out there about the returning shows we have been watching, and how some of them better get their shit together.