Sidebar Update

Once again, in what seems to have become a tradition round these parts, after a week or so of building up interest in this hyar blog, as measured in links and comments, I disappeared without explanation for several days. Well, I'm back! Hope some of you newbies are still visiting. (Cricket, cricket.)

It's time for my Weekly Saturday Sidebar Update! Which this time out is neither weekly (it's been a full two weeks) nor on Saturday. Or, as Nelson might say, "I can think of at least two things wrong with that title." Well, it's here now. So suck it.

This week's Object of My Affection is the lovely Lisa Edelstein, best known these days for her role on House. But I've been a fan since the days of Relativity, a great, cancelled-too-soon series on which she played a lesbian. Gee, Tom was attracted to a hot woman who liked kissing other hot women. What are the odds?? (Answer: 1 to 1.) Then she played a transsexual on Ally McBeal, which, I'll be honest with you: not quite as much of a turn-on. She also was in two excellent episodes of another cancelled-too-soon Hall of Famer, SportsNight, plus she was the voice of Mercy in the Superman animated series. What's not to love?

Reading: Speaking of House... who knew Hugh Laurie could write? Following in the footsteps of his oft-time acting partner Stephen Fry, Laurie wrote hisself a novel about ten years back: The Gun Seller. And it's pretty darn good. It's a thriller, with a good deal of comedy. I've been calling it Wodehouse meets Elmore Leonard. It actually gets fairly dark. There's a lot of stuff about terrorism, which now seems in parts tremendously naive, and in parts chillingly prescient.

Watching: I should keep the House theme going, but no -- actually I've rented several discs of the first season of HBO's The Wire. I've never seen it, but now that my local video store has finally gotten it in stock, I plan on getting caught up. I know it's supposed to be a great show; I know some people who say it's better than The Sopranos or Deadwood. Well, we'll see about that, I guess.

Listening: Amy Ray's Prom. Ray, better known as one half of the Indigo Girls, apparently likes to rock out when she's not all folksy and acoustic. And on this album, rock out she does. This is a great album, much better than the last two or three Indigo Girls releases.

Hating gets the week off. In honor of the anniversary of my nation's independence, today I am giving bonus love to America. I know it's got a lot going wrong with it right now -- a LOT -- but I still believe it's strong enough to recover from the giant backward strides it's made over the past six years. And it still beats the pants off anywhere else. That's right! I said it!!

Lyric of the Week is from my man Hoyt Axton, and the song "When the Morning Comes." I had a couple days like that this weekend. On Sunday morning, in particular, I wondered how I was going to find my feet, let alone my shoes. Ouch. Don't drink, kids! It's too late for me, but save yourselves!