What I Watched: The latest season of Sweet Tooth, as per Netflix, “On an epic adventure across a post-apocalyptic world, a lovable boy who’s part human and part deer searches for family and home with a gruff protector.” On the upside, we learn more about the backstory and the relationships between initially unrelated characters. On the downside, it is beginning to feel a bit repetitious, and really, I was glad for the demise of several characters.
What I Read: As per @Hannibal, the Jackaby series by William Ritter (Good stuff!). I especially enjoyed the descriptions of Jackaby’s ways of existing as a person who sees beyond the veil of normalcy while living in 1890’s New England. Here is the Amazon blurb:
Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary–including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain the foul deeds are the work of the kind of creature whose very existence the local authorities–with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane–seem adamant to deny.
What I Listened To: Slower stuff, including, Bastille – Blame (MTV Unplugged); Matt Costa – Wind Overture; and Benjamin Amaru- der turm der unendlichkeit.
Thank you for playing Brain Drain! How are you, dear hearts? Darling DeadSplinterites, what is up with you? Please do share your status!
I watched The Woman King, now on Netflix, about an all-women fighting force in 19th Century Africa.
It’s loosely historic — the kingdom of Dahomey actually had this unit — but it obviously takes a lot of liberties. It’s a good action movie. Viola Davis is great as the leader of the unit, and the young woman who plays the new recruit is also really good. But don’t take it too seriously. There are a lot of well done battle scenes, but they’re highly stylized, sort of like what you’d see in a martial arts or sci fi movie.
Braveheart sucked at a lot of things, but one thing they didn’t pull punches on was the brutality of hand-to-hand fighting.
It is always good to hear about a show available on a streaming service I do subscribe to!
Does Viola Davis actually engage in hand-to-hand combat? Now I’m intrigued. I bet she could do it, though, without a stunt double. She looks so much younger than her age (she’s 57!) and when my late, sainted mother-in-law was 57 I bet she could have gone a few rounds in hand-to-hand combat. My own mother, actually…well, I think I’ll save that story.
She definitely seems to have gotten in shape for the role, although there must have been stunt actors doing the trickier stuff.
It shows even in scenes that are incidental to the action, like one where she is just running down a road. Since Hollywood almost always does multiple takes of every scene, I’m guessing she spent a few hours that day redoing the same running over and over.
I’m pretty sure I saw an interview with her where she talks about how she has had to force herself to be out of shape for most of her roles because of racist and sexist views of what Black women should look like. So her normal state is actually quite fit. Maybe not Woman King level of ripped but pretty close.
I’ve watched two episodes of American Born Chinese, which is based on a graphic novel. The graphic novel is far more focused on the realities of being Chinese here (from what I remember — it’s been a few years). The series is focused on Chinese mythology and is a really fun adventure about a war of gods and them coming to Earth to find things they need for the battle. Plus Michelle Yeoh.
I’d probably like the mythology parts. I have an interest in Feng Shui, etc.
My apartment is not only ADA-compliant (a feature that we didn’t even consider when we bought it, but quite handy now!) but also has a lot of Feng Shui. I don’t think the Feng Shui was intentional, but my unit, and all the ones on my line, occupy a corner position, and there’s this hexagonal “great room” thing going on, with other rooms…
Anyway, there aren’t a lot of straight lines or right angles. This sounds very disturbing but units on my line are the most desirable in the building. Lots of Manhattan apartments are cookie-cutter walk in/room/bedroom/bedroom/”chef’s kitchen”/bathroom or two.
The last time we refinanced the idiot appraiser came in with that cat toy light-beam thing they use to measure layouts and said, in barely intelligible English, “The walls are not right and you have so many.” I said, “It’s basic trigonometry, and if you or your phaser or whatever it’s called can’t figure it out, I can.”
That’s a distraction. The best thing is that completely unbeknownst to me I’ve arranged things so that the focal points are in the Commanding Position. This is not difficult to do when you don’t have a cookie-cutter prefab apartment layout. The little nook where I put the dining room table, the way I positioned my built-in wall-length table/desk in the (self-designed, by me) office, our bed, the bedroom itself, it’s all very Feng Shui.
And I only became aware of this after I was released from the physical rehab facility. What happened was I got approved for three visits a week from the Visiting Nurses (I cannot sing their praises loudly enough). When you go through this process, most people in the rehab are then transferred to the nursing home. Not me, though. I was on the road to recovery, had a loving spouse waiting to serve as my 24/7 home health care attendant, a Faithful Hound probably wondering where I was, and a spare room we had converted, at great expense, into a home gym, once Emperor Andreus Marcus Maximus shut down the gyms and there was a run on home gym equipment. The rehab staff was very impressed to hear all of this.
So someone showed up, I can’t remember if it was one of the Visiting Nurses or one of the Occupational or Physical Therapists, and I took them on a tour to reassure them that I was well taken care of. They pointed out all the Feng Shui elements I didn’t know I had. They were very approving.
I’ve been a little under the weather and haven’t really watched or read much of anything. I didn’t know Season 2 of Sweet Tooth was out, thanks!
I’m glad you’re enjoying Jackaby. 🙂
Yikes! And you have to travel in few days . . . hope you feel better soon. And remember, should you detour to the east, we have a room available for visitors!
Watched: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. It was…fine. Not nearly as bad as so much of the post-Endgame content, but not nearly as good as Loki.
Listened: Ben Jones & Scott McKeon
Thank you (and others) for bringing the Marvel content reviews.
ive been tempted to start the next sweet tooth….but so far my dislike for the kid being a moron that fucks everything up for everyone by being….well..a moron…has been holding me off
i did enjoy season one tho….just kinda find myself rooting for the kid to get killed…solving everyones immediate problems…
The death of one annoying and one cloying character should please you . . .
welp guess i know what i am watching once the weather remembers we do not in fact live on the sun
Speaking of the cloying/annoying:
I cannot tell you how happy I was that my made-up fiancée, Lavinia, was carried off by the Spanish flu, but disappointed that my mother-in-law, Cora, somehow improbably survived it.
You know who isn’t aging very well IRL is Barrow. Actually neither am I. I used to be hot and clean-shaven with a dashing blond forelock/flipover and piercing blue eyes but now every time I appear in public it looks like I just spent the night on a bench in Bognor Regis or somewhere.
But everyone loves a raconteur!
i know i do!
Everybody, they love a winner!
I’ve been wanting to re-watch Christopher Titus’s sitcom. I just discovered he posted all the episodes on his YouTube channel. It’s every bit as good as you remembered,
I don’t remember his show, but then I had a decade long hiatus from television viewing. I’ll give it a try, plus free is good.
3/4 of the way thru FUBAR.
Reminds me of a less pop culture centric Archer. Plus side the relationship between Ahnuld and Monica Barbaro has no awkward quasi incest relationship like the one between Archer and Mallory.
The guy who plays the fiance reminds me of Cyril Figgus while the butch lesbian character reminds of Pam.
I am familiar with neither Archer or FUBAR. Thank you for new info!
Mrs Luigi is still up in Chicago with our daughter, so besides the NBA finals, I’ve been watching Montalbano, which is a long-running detective show from Sicily about a detective who hollers a lot. It’s very entertaining.
After that’s done, I’m considering starting Johan Falk which is a long-running detective show from Sweden about a detective who beats people up and gets results.
Does he wear rich Corinthian leather?
Please give the critters a snuggle from me. Especially your very smart dogs!
*tunes into his local small city radio station*
fuck me…i was expecting classic rock…..
its actually getting heavier…lol
https://www.omroepassen.com/
dunno if itll work for yous…but if it does…theres a media player in the top right for listening
me likey!
I’m sooooo late to posting. Been busy with the kiddos. Never Have I Ever is back (Netflix) and I’m binging it in my free time.