She wouldn't be torturing that animal if she knew which island this is...

I don’t watch a lot of TV. But when I got an email from Fancast this afternoon asking “Whose week is it to die?”, I had to find out. Which is how I ended up watching Harper’s Island.

My first impression wasn’t favorable, as anyone who follows me on Twitter knows.

Seriously, I know it’s difficult to introduce a score and more new characters, many of whom have complicated, interlocking backstories, but you can do better than this:
Abby Mills: Looks at fancy, engraved invitation in her lap, while one-eyed cabbie examines her in the rear view mirror.
Cabbie: Who’s getting married?
Abby: The groom is my best friend from growing up.
Cabbie: You look familiar.
Abby: I grew up on the island.
Cabbie: Right! You’re Sheriff Mills’ kid. What a shame. All those people? Terrible.

Or this:
Henry Dunn (that would be local poor boy Henry Dunn, groom-elect of the wealthy bride-to-be, and not to be confused with English actor Henry Dunn, whom I know from the SF Fringe): “I’m really glad you came, JD. Since our parents died, you’re my only family.”

But then the wedding party reached the eponymous island, and I noticed something.

I checked IMDB.

As I suspected:

Compare:

Here’s Abby, walking the old home road.

And here’s what’s left of poor Mr. Skinner’s Bug, after the giant rats were finished with him.

NovySan was amused.

Maybe so, but I had to point out that it’s a narrowly targeted skill.

So now I’m watching the show with an eye to spotting more locations from one of my favorite films. And yes, I’ve signed up for the contest – predict each week’s victims correctly, win $1,000. (My guess is the fat guy dies next. It’s either him or the black man, because I know how these things work.

But I’m really hoping that this blonde, whose role in the first episode is to fill us in on the serial killer who strung up Abby’s mom, gets eaten by a giant snail.

I’m off to breakfast with the choir (just because I’m still too hoarse to sing doesn’t mean I’m passing on Panera!), Easter Sunday service at St. A’s, a brief stint in the church bookstore, then home and work and maybe something tasty for brunch, before NovySan and I head off to a friend’s Masquerade party tonight.

You might notice I’ve made some changes to the blog – I’m still moving tags and categories around, but I’m kinda likin’ the new theme.

As anyone who talked to me at the party for Be the Boy’s suit Friday night knows, I lost my voice last week. It hasn’t come back yet. But at least on Friday and Saturday, I felt okay. In fact, I felt fine. I just sounded awful. Saturday night, though, my cough got worse, and at some point early Sunday morning, I rolled over and tweaked my neck. So now I’m voiceless, sinus-headachy, goopy-eyed and mildly feverish and unable to turn my head more than a inch or two to the left. (Though I will say it would have been worse if I hadn’t saved the Vicodin they gave me after my Lasik!)

And yes, I’m going to the doctor tomorrow. But I’ll have to have NovySan call for the appointment, because I can’t talk. (And unlike the fine folks at Rocket Matter, who did a demo for me today via telephone, Glance and Skype chat, so that they could talk and I could type, Kaiser doesn’t seem to do IM.)