Outsourced

It is interesting that the three shows I posted about at the beginning of the season I no longer watch. Which show is that I don't miss? NBC's Outsourced on Thursday night. Originally a 2006 movie, the show is in its first season on the small screen. At first, I didn't think the show had staying power. Since then, I've become addicted.

Occasionally, the humor is pretty bad TV humor. It is often mildly racist humor that your "Uncle Larry" would tell at Thanksgiving dinner. (To be fair, the writers do Indian jokes of Americans, too.) But there are always a couple big laughs in every episode. The name of the show gives away the premise: an American company's call center is outsourced to India and the call center manager (Todd) is transferred to Kansas City, Missouri to Mumbai to run the show. He has two love interests - the quite randy Australian and the beautiful Asha (who is in the process of selecting her husband for an arranged Indian wedding). The office contains members of different castes which adds to the shows complexity, though in a harmonious way all seem to get along (except for the assistant manager). Really, it is a lot like The Office but with curry and without those "interviews".

Dracula by Bram Stoker

I'd never read Dracula before, though if it had been assigned me in high school I wouldn't have read it anyway. I always hated having a forced reading schedule of a classic. Sometimes the books would drag, sometimes they would move fast and sometimes they were downright difficult to read.

Dracula, which was first published in 1897, is written in a very different style. Apparently the word is "epistolary" which means that it is written as a series of letters, diary entries, etc. written by the various protagonists. We all know the general plot: a man goes to visit Count Dracula at his castle in Transylvania to deliver a deed to the Count. The County then goes to his new home... in England. The protagonists - including the esteemed Professor Van Helsing of Amsterdam - go through a number of anti-vampire measures to protect the people of London (and their friends) from the unDead.

The book was quite good; I read it fairly quickly. It was a free download for my Nook and I again must say I'm reading more with my Nook than I was without.