Watched Today:

* DCI Banks: Strange affair
This is good. The trick is to have situations and characters that are so interesting that you forget that it is actually the same incident room, interrogation room and crime scenes as in any number of police series. I have only read one book by Peter Robinson, which is good because reading the book first tend to take the interest out of the necessarily simplified television adaption. My Dalziel and Pascoe viewing suffered from that. I have read everything by Reginald Hill, and seen them all.

* MM: Foghorn Leghorn: “Crockett-doodle-doo” USA 1960 McKimson  with Egghead Jr
Most of the really good MM & LT are from before 1960 and if you have seen so many of the films as I have, it is very difficult for the later ones to live up to the memory of what has gone  before. Only 95 more films to come.

Finished reading:

* Insight Guide: Chicago
I collect guide books. And use them on my travels. I like to know the background to what I see when I walk around cities. Usually I have two-three books at the same time, with different aspects. One of the series is Insight Guide. It’s written by a group of people, different for each book, so the quality varies. The first half of the book gives general background to the place, history, people, music, architecture etc. The second half desrcibes different areas of the city or the country. It’s not detailed enough for my purpose. If I’m going to a place I read the book in advance, jotting down ideas, but it is too heavy to bring along. Copies of this book series are often found for a few kronor at flea markets and I usually buy them if I find the area interesting, like Chicago, even if I have no plans to go there.
Here is a list of what I have. An asterisk means that I have visited the place.

Amsterdam*
South East Asia
Southern California
Berlin*
Crete
Edinburgh*
Waterways of Europe
Glasgow
Great Britain*
Greece*
Hamburg*
Istanbul*
Malta*
Miami
Munich*
The Netherlands*
New York State
Norway
Provence
The Rhine
Rome*
Soviet Union*
Sweden*
Taiwan
Tuscany*
Umbria*
Vietnam
Wales*

Started Reading:

* Insight Guide: The Rockies
* 1001 comics you must read before you die
Normally I wouldn’t bother with this type of book. 1000 films, I have seen most of them and many more, 1000 books, I have enough books to read. But when it comes to comics I thought that the book could give me some suggestions, especially about later comics. As with films my preferences when it comes to comics are with earlier works. My favourites are Krazy Kat, Polly and her Pals, Gasoline Alley. We live in happy times, because never has the reprinting of the classics been so intensive. Now and then I find something really good from later and present times, but it is an jungle, with a lot of weeds. So I hope the book will be a help.