good stuff I watched

I've mostly stayed inside this weekend--working on chapter 16 (almost done), reading and watching TV--due to the broiling weather and the barbecue air from the fire. (The Garage Kitty showed up last night, apparently no worse for wear despite the hot weather.) On Friday I did have a lovely afternoon drinking fruit martinis with my old friend Danette at Home Restaurant on Riverside Drive. Friday night I watched the two unaired episodes of Dollhouse (the unaired pilot and "Epitaph One"). As I'd heard, they are vastly better than most of what did air (except, perhaps, for the last two or three episodes of the season). Fox really are idiots. Why hire Joss Whedon and then try to dumb him down? "Sorry, that pilot is just too fast-paced, gripping, intelligent, and multilayered. We want something the audience can watch while multitasking. Also, please don't play to Eliza Dushku's strengths." I do not get it.

Then last night I watched the Spike Lee film of Stew's musical Passing Strange, which is now on cable on demand--and I highly recommend it to all my friends. (It will be on PBS next year, and I imagine there will be a DVD at some point.) I hadn't seen the musical (though I love the CD), and I was completely bowled over by it. Also, it was somewhat mind-boggling to see the work of my old friends Stew and Heidi Rodewald billed as "a Spike Lee joint." Wow.