Books vs. TV show again

So the book I got in that last lot of stuff from Amazon was one of The Saint books, a later installment in the series, as I thought I'd like to try the ones most like the TV show first. I still haven't had the chance to properly read through it, but I've skimmed a bit and already immediately discovered that even the later Saint differs rather sharply from the television version in at least one way.

In one of the stories, The Saint is talking to a guy who wants his help. He woke up in the middle of the night, discovered a girl he didn't even know was lying naked in bed with him, and somebody took their picture. The Saint exclaimed that it must have been disappointing to have not watched the girl strip down to nothing.

Compare that to a TV episode I just watched on MeTV's website this past week, where The Saint is browsing an outdoor booksale and notices one dude looking at a book with photographs of naked women. He actually looks appalled or surprised, and in voiceover says, "Some people!"

I find it infinitely more appealing for a guy not to be such a perv. Chalk another one up for the TV Saint.

Of course, I also saw an episode where this woman is begging him to stay the night at her place because she's afraid of her stuff being stolen, and he finally consents, and she says she'll have the guestroom made up. Simon says to himself, "Now I *am* shocked." What isn't clear, however, is if he was intending on jumping in bed with her or if he just figured she would try to get him to, whether he actually accepted or not, because after being initially cold, she suddenly came on quite strongly to him after he saved her from kidnappers.

I'd be more inclined to believe the latter, as TV Simon seems to not fall for every pretty girl he sees. Not that the book Simon quite does that either, but I get the impression from things I've read that he's much more likely to have a fling here and there than TV Simon (unless we're supposed to believe that TV Simon is doing such things off-camera, but they don't do a good job of implying it, if that's supposed to be the case). TV Simon seems to feel like "This is just business; I'm just helping her" and it doesn't go beyond that. A few times he and the episode's girl seem to be showing some attraction to each other, but it never seems to go beyond a kiss.

Aurgh!

I am frustrated. I want to be able to go to the store each week when we get groceries. I'll still get to go to Wal-Mart, but Dad went to two of the other stores earlier when he went to the hardware store.

Of course, something went wrong even though he only gets a few items at those places. I'm the one who selects almost all of the food we buy, so even though he actually purchases it, if I'm not there he usually gets the wrong thing on several counts.

Plus, I'd been looking forward all week to going to the non-chain grocery store and reading an article in a magazine they have about Sailor Moon. I tried to read it on Wednesday, but we were in too much of a rush. Hopefully Wal-Mart will have that magazine, but they might not.

It really doesn't save time to go to the other stores without me, though. We'll just have to go back to Smith's to get the right kind of food as well as some other stuff we need that I'd planned to get there, and oh gosh, I just remembered that we've been having to buy some of our juice at the non-chain grocery store because Wal-Mart doesn't have any of the cranberry kinds right now and Smith's is too expensive. I bet he forgot to get a can of cranberry juice at the non-chain grocery store when he was there, so we'll probably have to go back there again! That would put me with the magazine, but oh for goodness sake. Why, why, why. It would have made so much more sense to just wait for me and go to all the stores at once, like usual.

And then I hear about Robin Williams dying today. Only 63, oh gosh. And they think it was suicide. I honestly can't believe that, not when he was planning so many projects. It must have been an accident.

Robin Williams was not a strong part of my childhood, as he was for some. I honestly haven't even seen Aladdin (although I have a graphic novel version I loved as a kid). Nor have I seen Mork and Mindy. But I did see and enjoy some of his movies. It's very strange and sad, even surreal, to think that he's already gone.

Plus, they say celebrity deaths happen in threes. Well, Robin is about the fourth major one just in the past several months. I hope that doesn't mean it's the start of another three. Four for this year is way too many as it is.

I hadn't been terribly affected by the news of Robin's death when I first read it, but as it really sinks in, it's definitely getting to me more. It certainly does nothing for my already-frustrated mood.

It's so sad we're losing so many greats. And it's even worse when they go so young. No one should die at 63.