Fast Women under Ultraviolet!
I have some good stuff to recommend today.
Jennifer Crusie's FAST WOMEN was great. At least as good as FAKING IT and possibly better. It's a "sparring couple" story, with the romantic leads verbally jousting and falling in love with the one person willing to fight back. It's also a murder mystery, and while that's not the focus of the story it's a pretty decent one. But what makes the book is its large cast of vivid characters and their complex and developing relationships, its willingness to delve into serious emotional issues and dilemmas and treat them in depth but with a light touch, and some extremly funny dialogue. Even the _dishware_ is characterized. Bonus points for a can-you-do-this-in-genre-romance scene between Suze and Nell. It ultimately affirms the heterosexual norm, but all the same...
ULTRAVIOLET is a terrific six-hour British miniseries, perfect for anyone still jonesing for new episodes of the X-FILES from back when it was good. It's horror done in the style of a sophisticated cop show, with hardened police battling somewhat scientifically rationalized vampires. (The word "vampire" is never used.) It's classy, well-acted, extremely gripping, and frieghted with a disturbing moral ambiguity. (The satisfying ending has some open-ended plot elements which suggest a planned sequel which never materialized, but those aren't half as open-ended as the question of whether the heroes are doing the right thing.)
There's an American remake in the works which will undoubtedly reduce or soften the role of the woman scientist and make sure that we know who the good guys are. Available on DVD.
Jennifer Crusie's FAST WOMEN was great. At least as good as FAKING IT and possibly better. It's a "sparring couple" story, with the romantic leads verbally jousting and falling in love with the one person willing to fight back. It's also a murder mystery, and while that's not the focus of the story it's a pretty decent one. But what makes the book is its large cast of vivid characters and their complex and developing relationships, its willingness to delve into serious emotional issues and dilemmas and treat them in depth but with a light touch, and some extremly funny dialogue. Even the _dishware_ is characterized. Bonus points for a can-you-do-this-in-genre-romance scene between Suze and Nell. It ultimately affirms the heterosexual norm, but all the same...
ULTRAVIOLET is a terrific six-hour British miniseries, perfect for anyone still jonesing for new episodes of the X-FILES from back when it was good. It's horror done in the style of a sophisticated cop show, with hardened police battling somewhat scientifically rationalized vampires. (The word "vampire" is never used.) It's classy, well-acted, extremely gripping, and frieghted with a disturbing moral ambiguity. (The satisfying ending has some open-ended plot elements which suggest a planned sequel which never materialized, but those aren't half as open-ended as the question of whether the heroes are doing the right thing.)
There's an American remake in the works which will undoubtedly reduce or soften the role of the woman scientist and make sure that we know who the good guys are. Available on DVD.