Fringe got renewed for a fifth and final season. I'm not sure how I feel about this, given how suddenly out of love I've fallen with the show. I guess a lot depends on how they handle Olivia. As Olivia Dunham goes, so goes my nation.
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After the game last night, I watched Community, and I have to say, even if you are not a fan and have never watched it, you should check this episode out. Especially if you are a Law & Order fan.
ZOMG THE CREDITS. THE CHUNG CHUNG. "A MAN MUST HAVE A CODE." "OH, INDEED." THE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT WAS PERFECT. As Dean Pelton said, "Awesome." Best use of Michael K. Williams! Shirley as Van Buren! TROY'S SPIDER-MAN TIE. The hot dog! Britta's five seconds: "I can make it look Old Western." Bwah! THE CORONER BEING THE ACTUAL CORONER. MICHAEL IRONSIDE. Weird-head Todd! The Dick Wolf joke in the episode title.
And then that ending! Oh, Starburns, we hardly knew you. I'm so glad it wasn't Leonard.
The only thing that could have made it better is if they'd managed to get Belzer to cameo. So I basically spent that half-hour with a huge smile on my face and my hand over my mouth in disbelief at how awesome it was. Yes.
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This week I read A Free Man of Color by Barbara Hambly, the first Benjamin January mystery. These are set in 1830s New Orleans, and Benjamin January, the protagonist, is the titular free man of color, though his papers don't protect him much when white people want him out of the way. I really enjoyed this, even though it definitely was uncomfortable and often horrifying to read. It's well-written and evocative of its time and place, I liked January and his family, and I liked that while I figured out certain things about the mystery ahead of time, I didn't catch everything, but once it was revealed, it absolutely made sense with what came before.
I would definitely recommend it. I have the second one waiting on my iPad, now, too.
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Today's poem:
Travelogue For Exiles
by Karl Shapiro
Look and remember. Look upon this sky;
Look deep and deep into the sea-clean air,
The unconfined, the terminus of prayer.
Speak now and speak into the hallowed dome.
What do you hear? What does the sky reply?
The heavens are taken: this is not your home.
Look and remember. Look upon this sea;
Look down and down into the tireless tide.
What of a life below, a life inside,
A tomb, a cradle in the curly foam?
The waves arise; sea-wind and sea agree
The waters are taken: this is not your home.
Look and remember. Look upon this land,
Far, far across the factories and the grass.
Surely, there, surely they will let you pass.
Speak then and ask the forest and the loam.
What do you hear? What does the land command?
The earth is taken: this is not your home.
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