Reminders and updates:

1. The Brilliant But Canceled tournament (still to be renamed) will commence Monday. If you have suggestions, please comment or send them along. Thanks to all of you who've given input so far, even if I've been lousy at emailing you back.

2. Next week also sees the start of Euro 2008, so if you've not joined my Euro Pick 'Em group at ESPN.com, get the lead out. Password is cornerkick.

3. While it's in one of the more, uh, "transitional" parts of the South End (SoWa, or South of Washington Street), I'd recommend Gaslight if you're looking for a casual semi-fine dining experience. The food is French bistro, and is very good if not great, but there's a good-sized parking lot next door where you can park for free. That makes up for a lot.

I won't comment on the SoWa name. You can guess what I think.

Book Log 2008 #24: Schultz and Peanuts by David Michaelis

I'd always heard that Charles Schultz was not the happiest guy, and this book confirms that in voluminous detail. And for what could be depressing reading, given how often we hear about Schultz feeling depressed, isolated, or powerless, the story of how Shultz achieved his one life's goal - the creation of a daily newspaper comic strip - and the impact that had on the world at large helps to balance out the gloom. It also helps that several strips are reprinted that reflect how Schultz mined his life for story ideas.

Set aside some time and dig in.

Book Log 2008 #23: In Spite of the Gods by Edward Luce

With all the focus recently on the growing economic clout of China, I was interested to delve into this book, which examines similar growth - and the myriad challenges to it - in India. The book starts by looking at India's growth in the tech sector and lack of growth in manufacturing, comparing it to China's more traditional growth path, and then starts to deal with the problems that could derail India's success.

Luce is a long-time India journalist and has married into a local family, so he's able to bring professional and personal perspectives to the issues, which helps to give greater depth to the discussion. Most of the book dwells on the problems, which by the end makes you wonder how India managed to get as far as it has. I wasn't crazy about the ending, which uses four particular issues as measures by which one could chart India's progress (such as how the country will address a growing HIV problem). I'd have appreciated something more conclusive. Even so, this book goes a long way towards explaining modern day India for those of us who only get the occasional piece on the news.

So I'm mulling running a tournament here over the summer. The basic idea is Brilliant But Cancelled: The Tournament.

(Note to any NBC Universal legal counsel: I'll change the name when it starts, save the cease and desist letter for someone else.)

I don't have much of it planned, but it would generally follow the format used by Craig (among others) - each day would feature a number of match-ups (likely four to start, fewer as we move along), with multiple days allowed for voting in the comments and by email. At this point I'm thinking of limiting it to broadcast network prime time shows that lasted no longer than two seasons or 50 episodes (to cover older shows that had longer seasons or ran more than once a week), but am open to argument for including cable and/or non-prime time programming. Field size is open, too, but would likely be 64.

I'd probably start this in early June, though I'd really want to end it by August 1, so it's finished before our big graduation that month.

I'm working on shows to include now, but nominations are more than welcome, especially as I may miss some of the more recent shows that the kids watch.

I survived my brush with jury duty yesterday, getting excused about mid-day. I went farther this time than when I did state jury duty a number of years ago, as this time I actually went to a courtroom. There were only two trial starting yesterday, so they took fairly large groups to both. I made it through the judge's initial questioning in voir dire, but did not survive the peremptory challenges.

We were asked a few times to not discuss the case with people until it's over, which I'll honor here until I see news of a verdict (it should make some level of local news, and the way the judge was talking it'll likely wrap this week).

Generally, there would be many worse places to serve jury duty than the federal courthouse in Boston. Between the waterfront views and the well-maintained courtrooms, there's a lot to like. The only negative I can come up with is that the bathrooms were clearly not designed to handle large groups of jurors on a break.

Book Log 2008 #22: New England White by Stephen Carter

I really enjoyed Carter's first novel The Emperor of Ocean Park, so I was very happy to tuck into his follow-up effort, which takes two of the first book's minor characters - Lemaster and Julia Carlyle - front and center.

Julia is the main character, a dean at an unanmed Ivy's divinity school, while Lemaster is the school's new president. An economics professor at the school - a former lover of Julia's - is killed near their home in a nearby town, and she becomes wrapped up in solving his killing when it is linked to the death 30 years earlier of a teenager, a murder that Julia's daughter Vanessa has become obsessed with, either a cause or a sign of some underlying mental health issues.

As with the first book, the mystery that frames New England White is at times secondary to any of the book's various themes, from mother-daughter connections to the internal politics of academia to the inter- (and intra-) relationship of the "paler" and "darker" nations.

It all comes together in a pretty engrossing whole. I actually missed a subway stop while I was reading this book, which I don't think I've ever done before. I've read some complaints that the book is too long and that there are too many ancillary characters and subplots to keep things straight, but I'd have to disagree. These can be challenges (I'll admit to some flipping to remind myself about certain characters), but without all the detail I don't think the book would have been as complete. If you go into it expecting some complexities of detail (and if you read the first book, you were probably going to do this anyway), you'll be fine. Recommended, but not for a casual browse.

Fans of the beautiful game (and people who like to choose winners in international sports based on flag colors or whatever) are welcome to join the group I set up on ESPN.com for their Euro 2008 pick 'em game.

Group Name: Go England! Wait, what?!?
Password: cornerkick

So first, the good news. It appears that federal jury service does get you excused from state jury service, as I got my postcard from the state yesterday telling me I was excused. That was a nice surprise.

Now for the bad news. I actually do have to go to the federal courthouse on Monday. However, this does work out a little bit for me, as the missus and I have a pass to see a preview showing of the new Indiana Jones movie, which means we'd probably drive in to work. Now the feds are going to pay for me to drive in and park. So there's your silver lining.

Sorry for the hiatus, work picked up quite a bit with our May graduation on Sunday, where we added 108 new alumni to the rolls. It went quite smoothly, but given all the other stuff we have to along with graduation it's a tough week to do anything extra.

This week isn't much better, but I have found a little time to blog about the network TV upfronts on Tube Boob, which should now be linked on the right. I've posted there more this week than I have in the last three months.

Not much else to say right now, sorry to say.

Book Log 2008 #21: The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America by Joe Posnanski

In a way, I liked this book for the same reason I enjoyed Let Me Tell You a Story: there's a wealth of entertaining anecdotes, which in this case are all the more interesting given that they take place at a place and time that most Americans couldn't have been given their skin color. But I think the more valuable part of the book comes from seeing how Buck O'Neill took the discrimination and missed opportunities and turned them into a powerful, positive driving force for Negro Leaguers and baseball in general.

The writing flows freely and often puts O'Neill's words into poetic form, which more often than not enhances the quality of what's said. It's also clear that the author has a demonstrable love for his subject that is refreshing at a time when sports biography tends towards the sycophantic or the combative.

At some point soon I'll have to read I Was Right On Time, O'Neill's autobiography. In the meantime, I'd highly recommend this book.

Book Log 2008 #20: Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo

If you've read any of Russo's other works, the themes here - the clannish nature of small town life, the regret of advancing age and the difficulties of intergenerational family life - will be familiar. But it says something about his skill as a writer that he can continue to mine these topics (as well as the setting of upstate New York) without being repetitive or dull. That he does this while writing what is his grandest novel in scope - it covers three lives in depth over the span of 60 years - is icing on the cake.

That being said, the book does unfold in a very conversational way that doesn't have the sort of concrete resolution that may be expected. In that way it's actually more like life, which rarely has the sort of denoument that allows things to wrap up nicely. But it also makes it a little harder to feel like you can get your head around what the book is actually about. The shifting of time in the narrative can also cause a little whiplash, but it's a small price to pay for a novel this endearing.

It's probably one of the best novels of the year, but I can't help but think that some folks will find it disappointing.