If you’ve ever been a fan of detective stories or murder mysteries it’s a must see. The film is a comedy wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a comedy. The plot revolves around an eccentric’s invitation to the top 5 detectives in the world. The recluse invites the best in the biz to his creepy old mansion to solve a murder that’s about to be committed – if they don’t all kill each other first.

The cast is first rate. I have to give mad props to the late Peter Falk’s work, but David Niven was good and Truman Capote was exceptional. Nancy Walker was even in this one and – as always – was fabulous. This work is Simon at his finest which is mighty, mighty fine indeed.

The ending will have every mystery fan screaming, “Yes, Yes. That’s true. That’s absolutely true.” And just when you think it’s solved – perhaps it’s not, not quite.

This one is a must see and you will love it. That’s a guarantee.

Of course, this is the Crazy Duck Lady’s opinion and everyone knows – I’m quackers.

Boogle on over and quack out your thoughts!!!

The video is a Kensington romance novel covershoot and includes some great comments from industry pros at the publishing house.  About the second or third time you watch it, you might be able to pay attention to the comments.  Don’t even try to take in the dialogue the first time around. The first time is a feast for the eyes and spirits of all who find returning to work after a holiday a real downer.

And like the headline says:  You’re Welcome.

The last episode aired was titled “Dark was The Night” and there’s a good summary here  and here to tickle your memory cells – if they need tickling.  Personally, I’m up for a good tickle most any time. But that’s for another blog post entirely.  For this one, I’m doing one of my most favorite things – I’m donning my Swami Cap and guessin’ Grey’s.  Keep in mind, my POV is from way over the top and Sunshine Shonda Rhimes is as likely to have written things the way I see ‘em as I am to win the powerball lottery.  Okay – it’s more likely that I’ll win the powerball.

The whole thing was dark and stormy.  Lots of bad things happened to the characters, with one of the worst undoubtedly being the death of Henry on the OR table during a fairly routine procedure while his wife, Teddy, was operating on an emergency patient.  So Teddy wasn’t there when her hubby died and new-Chief Owen didn’t tell her. By epi’s end she still didn’t know.  And Cristina didn’t know the patient she was called to do a heart procedure on was Teddy’s hubby.  She was rushing through becausec she’d been practicing for a procedure on her “dream list.” And Owen didn’t tell Cristina that the patient was Henry.  She found out after he died.

There was lots of trauma to go around.  Mer and Karev were called out to pick up a newborn infant who is having trouble breathing and must be transported to Seattle Grace.   On the way back the ambulance stalls on a narrow mountain road and a paramedic goes off to get help after warning Mer and Alex that if anything hits the ambulance it’ll explode b/c of all the oxygen tanks.  The paramedic tells the pair to get out but neither will leave the baby. They’re connected to the hospital for advice from Arizona who is in the middle of a procedure with Derek and Mark. Mark tells one of ‘em to leave. Alex tells Mer to go but she refuses to leave the baby. While they argue, something hits the ambulance, they’re thrown around and the OR loses the connection to the phone.

Der is finally struck by how much his wife means to him and he gets all jittery and teary and Jackson has to take over the surgery. (Maybe now he’ll even stop trying to destroy Mer’s career – you think?)  In the closing scene Alex and Mer crawl out of the ambulance – apparently okay – and see a car tipped over and dead bodies thrown around. It’s a tough scene and yeah – I wonder what it portends.  Maybe I’ll blog about those guesses later. The Duck Lady’s over the top thoughts on that scene would likely be far more horrific than whatever Sunshine’s crack writers dreamed up.

But that’s not what this blog is about.  This is about the call Mer/Der got from the social worker indicating that she didn’t think they’d get Zola.  She basically told ‘em to move on.  Der tells Mer that it’s not over – they’ll fight for Zola or get another baby. But Mer refuses and says Zola was their baby and she’s gone.  Mer says she doesn’t want another one and for now McDreamy is feeling a little guilty that he pushed Mer towards motherhood before she was ready. 

But one way or another, the pitter patter of little McDreamy feet seems inevitable, doesn’t it?  So – what route will the stork take to deliver a McDreamy bundle?

In the ambulance, Karev suggests surrogacy.  Now, that’s a thought.  But who would the surrogate Mom be? 

A surrogacy with a mom from outside the cast is one possibility.  There would still be complications aplenty with that, and it’s the most likely surrogacy scenario.  But lets take it a little more over the top and look at a couple of other intriguing surrogate Mom candidates.  First, let’s consider a surrogacy by little sister Lexie.  She’d be a likely candidate.  She’s a do-gooder at heart.  But a Lexie surrogacy makes me wonder how Mark would react. If Mark and Lexie were to get together, Mark would likely start to feel all fatherly towards the little bundle and Lord knows, Lexie would be apt to feel motherly.  That would lead to sparks between Der and Mark and Mer and Lexie now, wouldn’t it?

How about a surrogacy by Cristina? She isn’t ready to be a full time Mom yet. But everyone can see that Mark’s baby sharing arrangement with Arizona and Callie seems to be working out fine.  Cristina might not want to be a full time Mom, but she might think a baby sharing deal with Mer and Der sounds fun. Or it could start as a straight surrogacy but meld into a sharing arrangement by a battle between Owen and Der.  Owen might see such a deal as the only way he’ll have the kid he so desperately wants.  That would be interesting, right?

But this is the Duck Lady – so let’s push it a little.  Mark’s baby with Calzona wasn’t created by any darned artifical process, now – was it? No sir. Mark fathered his kid the old fashioned way.  Wouldn’t that be more natural all the way around? (I’m feeling a “Big Chill” moment.  In my head, the Stones are singing about how you can’t always get what you want but that if you try you might get what you need.  How fitting.)  So that would mean Der doing the dirty deed either with Lexie - his attraction to her was noted in her introductory epi – or with Cristina - we saw those sparks fly when Der was coaxing her back to the OR after the crazed gunman’s attack. 

The Der/Lexie scenario is even a little icky for me to imagine.  I’ll pass on that one. And if it’s too crazy for the Duck Lady, well –  I doubt that Grey’s team of much saner writers would’ve cranked it out.  But – you never know, do you? Back when Der/Mer were sort of together and sort of apart, Der first met Lexie at Joe’s. There was a spark and when he found out who she was, he said it figured that the first lady he’d been attracted to since Mer would be her sister.

But the Derek/Cristina thing – I could see that happening.   Mer and Cristina are close enough to delude themselves that it wouldn’t matter and Owen would at least get a baby who was a little Cristina.  But it would take a bit for even McDreamy sperm to hook up with Super Surgeon’s egg. So there would be more than 1 hook up. Mer and Owen would know the other two were together and what they were doing – unless Cristina went all crazy, upside down sexy on Der and they started slipping off just to slip around.   But once the baby took, then it would be a little being created by Der/Tina.  There would be tenderness and possessiveness, jealousy and giving, sunshine and clouds.  Owen and Der together would smother the heck out of Cristina who’d want to give birth while performing heart surgery. And wouldn’t the kid be destined to be one heck of a surgeon? He or she would probably be born wearing a surgical mask and holding a scalpel.

There’s another route to a McDreamy infant and it’s much, much more likely.  What if DER ALREADY HAS A BABY? The nurse Der dated and slept with could’ve given birth to their child by now.  I’m not exactly sure how Grey’s time runs.  The nurse could have an attack of conscience (or an attack of something) in the delivery room and call for Der. And wah lah – ready made family – just add a Daddy who is more than ready for the job.  Now there would be seeds for conflict, sure enough.  Not much would make Der leave Mer, but to create a family for his child?  That might do it.  He’d at least be mighty torn. 

Okay, it’s also possible that Mer/Der get Zola.  But I can’t see Sunshine just leaving it at that. I’ve handled enough adoptions in my law practice to know how often having a baby relieves the pressure to make one. And once that pressure’s off, Mother Nature steps in and does her job. Yep, I’ve handled a number of adoptions where a Mama who was unlikely to ever get pregnant showed up for the hearing about ready to deliver.  And wouldn’t Mer be conflicted then?  Der would want her off her feet because of how high risk the pregnancy would be.  Mer wouldn’t want to give up her career but even more she wouldn’t want to stop parenting Zola.  And Der would have to play Mr. Mom the neurosurgeon.  Yep, lots of conflict there too.  But it’s not nearly over the top enough for the duck lady so that probably means this scenario is the most likely.

We can all mull over the stork’s route to the McDreamy home on Grey’s.  Mulling is fun – out of that comes everything from fine wine to fine literature and TV.  BTW – if you’re missing Grey’s, don’t forget to check out my tribute to the show. My book, “Griffin’s Law”is available in ebook and paper form just about everywhere.

I think the stork is headed for Mer/Der.  Or maybe it’s not a stork a’tall.  Maybe it’s a DUCK. And we all know how crazy they can be.

Friday he was in the Homecoming Parade at school – thanks to John for being an ace driver and to my boss for loaning us his Miata so Sam could sit on the back, holding a SHS towel and wave it at the screaming crowd. And they were screaming – his name. Of all the Prince candidates, Sam had the most crowd support at the parade. So it shouldn’t have surprised me so much at the football game halftime ceremony on Friday night when Sam – WON.

Yes, Virginia, my youngest is the most popular kid in his HS class. It’s hard for me to relate to that. I was never popular at all. I wasn’t even important enough to be unpopular. I was just sort of there. So having my youngest enjoy such popularity is just sort of – surprising. He does share 1/2 my gene pool, you know? And yet he achieved so much. Way to go Sam!

Other than that – I’ve been working on my new one: The Office Ink Spells Murder. It’s coming along well, but needs some intense periods of work. Next weekend I’ll be working on my blog for All Day, All Night Writing Divas - it goes up at 1 am or so next Sunday night – 10/17/11. So for my post next week, I’ll give you a little taste of The Office Ink.

But this week, I thought I’d give you a different kind of taste – PIZZA. John found this great video showing a pizza vending machine. It makes you a fresh pizza while you watch. It reminds me of the Jetsons.

I only have one question. If pizza vending machines have arrived – then where’s my flying car? George Jetson had one, dang it. Maybe the flying car is next.

Researches say that there’s a sliding scale – the  more decisions women make on their own, the less likely they are to have sex. 

This premiere was different.  This time, I had people in my twitterfeed who were Grey’s fans and I used a couple of different hashtags.  There are probably a bunch for the show, but the 2 I used were #Greys and #GreysAnatomy.

Through the vast twittersphere, narrowed to focus on one little segment – Grey’s fans – I was able to experience the show in the virtual company of tweeps who love and understand the show.  Since my household is all male,  I’ve never had the chance to get insights from interested, knowledgeable peeps while I watched before.  It makes Grey’s an interactive event.

One of the folks I follow is bestselling romance author Carly Phillips.  And when Owen and Cristina were separated, while Owen blustered because Cristina didn’t want to have the baby she was carrying, Carly tweeted this: 

 #Greys Go Meredith! It’s like Brenda and Sonny #GHshe knew who she  married! So did Owen.  (@CarlyPhillips)

 Well, that jumpstarted the little hamster that (sometimes, when I’m lucky) runs the wheel that passes for my brain. Of course, I’d been thinking about Mer and Der.   They were separated too. Derek’s been off pouting and whining since Mer rearranged his clinical trial so that the Chief’s wife, Adele, would get the real Alzheimer’s drug instead of the placebo. Mer and Cristina have been taking care of baby Zola. 

Yes, Zola.  You know, the same baby that Derek suggested he and Mer adopt.  The same baby that prompted the “post it” couple to make it legal – because that would be better for the adoption.  Yet Der walked out on his wife because she switched drugs to help the wife of the closest thing to a father Mer’s ever had.  He’d paint it noble, of course.  She deceived him. She damaged the trust at the core of their relationship.  Balogna.  Big, stinky balogna – with cheese.  What Mer did that Der can’t forgive is – outprotect him.  Der was playing knight by trying to slay the dragon Alzheimer’s before it fells Mer like it felled her mother.  Instead of standing by like a simpering maiden, Mer reached out to help the Chief, protect Adele and hid her deed from Derek.  Why?  To lie to him? To destroy their union? No, to protect him. And that’s what he can’t forgive.

Even if he couldn’t forget or forgive, Der owed it to Zola to keep his McDreamy hiney right in the marital home.  But that’s Der’s biggest flaw.  When the going gets tough, Der gets going.  He didn’t stick around to try to work past Addison’s infidelity and he doesn’t stick around now to work through his issues with Mer.  He doesn’t even stick around now to be a father to the baby he supposedly wanted so badly.  Being a father isn’t as important to Derek as being right.  And he is right.  He must be right. Just look at what Mer did.

But you know what I tweeted back to @CarlyPhillips? Remember – she tweeted that Cristina knew who she married and so did Owen.  I tweeted this:

 And So did Derek, right? (@quackingalone)

Because that’s when I got it.  That’s when I got the whole theme of the premiere.  It was all about loving a leopard, spots and all.  Mer helped Owen figure it out, but Der couldn’t see the truth even after Mer hid Zola away rather than let the social workers remove her from their home.  Der wouldn’t fix his need to be right even when it cost him Zola.  At the end of the episode, all Der could still see were the spots.

Derek knew Meredith was a rebel who made her own rules. He knew she was loyal to a fault and would never let a rule keep her from trying to help a friend. He knew that before Addison left.  He knew it before the post it wedding. He knew it before he urged Mer to adopt Zola.  And he sure knew it before their “legal” wedding.  So he’s punishing Mer for being who she is.  Based on the previews for the next episode, it looks like Der will still be running away from his commitments instead of honoring them.  And that’s too bad. Really, too bad. 

Here are some other thoughts of viewers about the Grey’s Anatomy Season 8 Premiere:

@putasinghonit – So #greys is starting the season with a finale style episode? Amaze.

@Clairetastic – Seriously #Greys is like #Oprah.  Makes me cry EVERY SINGLE TIME.

@miekhead – Okay… I was never a Cristina/Meredith shipper.. okay, maybe a little one but my heart  just went boom then #greys

@shay_eh – Don’t have much sympathy for Meredith. Still don’t get why it wasn’t a double blind study.

@cyn_kat – #nowwatching #greysanatomy season premiere: O first 5 min and I’m already… O…MY…Gahh!!

@PRHOPE- Wow poor Meredith. And she finally got her hair color and cut under control.

@obyntusA- McDreamy is a prick. Forgive Meredith already.

@HolMad826- I love Bailey and Webber’s rship. Truth be told though, Bailey is the backbone of that hospital.

@decafavailable – Seriously, Mer, who hides in the same place they kidnapped someone from? You’re supposed to be a genius.

@LeQueTeEncanta – McDreamy is being a McAss to Meredith.

@nityawitiasmoro- the season premiere of #greys= WAY TO KICK OFF THE NEW SEASON. intense, hilarious & made me cry a bucket.