nomadreader

All of the networks have now announced their fall television schedules, and I'm more excited about pilots than I've been in years. Thankfully, for once, there are rarely more than two shows I want to watch scheduled for the same time. Laurel's TV Picks has a fantastic (Central time) grid for each day of the week. There are good-looking new shows, the return of almost every show I like (goodbye, Jericho ) and an ingenious plot development for One Tree Hill . The senior class of main characters will graduate from high school this spring. When One Tree Hill returns in January, our gang will be out of college. Gone is the awkward transition that has killed far too many teenage-based shows. It's a win-win situation. The stars get to be their own age on screen. I think this development is brilliant, and if it's successful, I daresay other shows will follow-suit. I also hope CBS and the other networks have learned their lessons with quality new shows like Jeric...

I absolutely enjoyed last night's Academy of Country Music Awards. I have a love for country music that I cannot explain, but I do believe the new crop of stars are improving modern country music. Although the new crop are still ridiculously attractive, most of them are writing their own songs. I often disagree with politics of country music, but I do enjoy the camaraderie of the genre. When someone accepts an award, he or she usually goes to shake hands or hugs the other nominees on the way to the stage. The awards shows are quite meaningless, but they're a fun outlet for the stars to perform and all be together in one room. The performances were especially strong last night. It did strike me, however, that although country singer-songwriters are emerging, the genre still lacks any back-up musician who is female. If they're out there, I want to see them. Perhaps it's not just country music, but I have far less experience with other genres. I'm sure ther...

As I boycott the long-winded results show for Dancing with the Stars , I did a quick Google news search to find out who was voted off last night. I happened to pull up CNN 's story on Ian Ziering's demise. They casually threw in "The 43-year-old actor...". Ian Ziering is 43? After a little research at imdb , I was still flabbergasted. Immediately, I had to find out how hold Gabrielle Carteris is (she's 46!). I remember being aware that the stars of 90210 were not high school age, but somehow my youthful mind couldn't grasp the fact that they're all much closer to my parent's age than to my age. No wonder Luke Perry is looking so rough these days (he's 42). What I find even more odd now is that Gabrielle Carteris is eleven years older than Jennie Garth. It's one thing when all of the actors are too old for their roles, but how oblivious was I to not realize that the faux high schoolers were from different decades?

As the faithful readers may recall, I have an odd fascination with Ashley Parker Angel. I admit to watching O-town videos, although I always drew the line at listening to the music in a purely audio format. I revered his reality tv show, There and Back ; I'm still holding out hope for a second season. Wouldn't it be fun to see Lyric grow up and realize he has an even more feminine name than his father? Am I the only one who wonders how Tiffany handled the model to mom transition? What ever happened to her mother? I would love to see backstage at Hairspray . I digress. My beloved New York Times had this fantastic piece on Ashley Parker Angel by their writer Ashley Parker. This guy remains endearing; it makes me wish he would be a star.

Yesterday's New York Times offered this fascinating glimpse into what makes a bestseller these days. A snippet: Eric Simonoff, a literary agent at Janklow & Nesbit Associates, said that whenever he discusses the book industry with people in other industries, “they’re stunned because it’s so unpredictable, because the profit margins are so small, the cycles are so incredibly long, and because of the almost total lack of market research.” The inevitable follow-up question: how to you factor all the readers at libraries? Are we as irrelevant in the minds of moneymakers as DVR watchers?

The New York Times has this article about Venice's first female gondolier today. I adore Venice, and as a normally rather observant feminist, I was shocked to realize that there has never been a female gondolier. It surprised me to learn that it was only eight years ago a woman was first permitted to wait tables in St. Mark's Square. I was relieved I never deigned the Florian with my money or presence, as they still only allow women to wait on tables indoors, not on the piazza itself. Perhaps I was too blinded by the beauty of Venice on my vacations there to stop and notice the rampant sexism.

I've just started reading Arnaldur Indridason's follow-up to Jar City (loved it), Silence of the Grave . It's hard not to love a smart Icelandic mystery, and after finishing Jar City , I promptly made my father and nomadreaderboy read it. I imagine I'll continue to read Indridason's wonders as quickly as they're translated into English. I only had to read as far as the first sentence to get my first treat in this novel. "He knew at once it was a human bone, when he took it from the baby who was sitting on the floor chewing it." It's simply divine.