Sight and Sound: April 2008 Archives

Started off the day off in a bit of a funk with a couple of issues at the Job What Pays The Bills weighing on my mind.  I get into the car and pop in one of the driving CDs I put together, a la Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets.  What's that?  A Jerry Reed guitar lick?  Yes, it's When You're Hot You're Hot!  Steve Martin once noted this fact about playing his favorite instrument:  "You can't be sad when you're playing the banjo."  Well, how can you possibly feel down when you hear those great guitar licks and Jerry Reed singing:

Well, when he took us inta court I couldn't believe my eyes
The judge was a fishin' buddy that I recognized
I said "Hey, judge, old buddy, old pal"
"I'll pay ya that hundred I owe ya if you'll get me outta this spot"
So he gave my friends a little fine to pay
He turned around and grinned at me and said
"Ninety days, Jerry, when you hot, you hot"
'N' I said "Thanks a lot"

When It Was A Game.  Attention baseball fans or for that matter, you history fans as well.  This little gem was broadcast on HBO back in the early 90's.  Up to that point this 8 and 16mm color film footage had been rarely seen.  This documentary has some very interesting and entertaining footage of baseball players and ballparks all the way back to the 1930's.  Put it in your Netflix queue.

The Viking Funeral by Stephen J. Cannell.  Yes, that Stephen J. Cannell -- the creator and producer of The Rockford Files.  I've always loved his style of writing and I've found that it translates nicely into this series of novels that revolves around L.A. Police detective Shane Scully.  The first in the series was The Tin Collectors.  I've spent so much time the last few years reading book after book about the Civil War and Lincoln, these novels make for a nice change of pace.