What I Watched: The 800th season collection 12 of the Great British Baking Show. Improved from last season, too many contestants with vocal fry, but really quite engaging. You either like it or you don’t.
What I Read: The five-book VRC: Vampire Related Crimes series by Alice Winters. Here is the blurb for book one, How to Vex a Vampire:
Finn – Getting into the vampire-only detective unit was the easy part; what’s going to be more difficult is dealing with my new partner, an ancient vampire who keeps threatening to eat me. The unit has never had a human in it, and Marcus—or as I like to call him, Fangy McFangface—would really prefer to keep it that way. He’s grumpy, short-tempered, and broody, but I have a way with words and I know he’s starting to like me, even if he swears he’s not. But what he doesn’t know is that I didn’t join the unit because I was tired of being a homicide detective, I joined because there is someone after me. They’ve already taken enough from me and I’m afraid they’re going to take all of me if I don’t find someone to help. That’s all Marcus was supposed to be, but now, he’s so much more and I can’t imagine my life without him.
Marcus – The moment the pesky human walked through that door, I knew I had to get rid of him. He’s charming and almost everyone else instantly loves him, but he doesn’t understand how risky it is being part of this unit as a human. But as I get to know the stubborn man, I learn that perhaps he’s not as naive as I once thought. And maybe he’s what I needed to realize there is more to life than just work and my dog. A group arises who is threatening to disrupt the alliance between the humans and the vampires, but Finn is the one who shows me how strong that alliance can be and reminds me why it’s worth protecting. When threats hit closer to home, I realize I would do anything for Finn because he’s brought so much joy to my life—and because he’s mine.
This 105k word book contains: A creative use for undergarments, unintentional splits, a wolfhound who just wants to be a part of things, a vertically challenged human who still manages to wrap every vampire he meets around his little finger, the best date ever, possessiveness, really awkward dancing, some workplace revenge, and just a bite or two. Or three.
What I Listened To: Benjamin Booker – LWA In The Trailer Park; James BonTempo & Truth Tables – Nothing Breaks Like a Promise; and Hayden Everett – Hand In Hand (feat. Baseball Game):
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We watched an incredibly paranoid British spy show called The Capture about how you can’t believe anything because of the nexus of fascism and Big Tech. It kept us up really late and put us into a really bad mood.
Fortunately, Season 4 of Astrid is now available so that was something of a palate-cleanser.
That season of the Bake off was surprising, to say the least. I thought it was a bit better than some others about focusing on baking rather than decoration.
I saw the crossover episode of Abbott Elementary where the school was visited by the gang from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It was surprisingly well done. Not the full fledged degenerary of Always Sunny, but it gave a reasonable hint.
…I…watched some stuff…I think?
…not sure what it might have been…some of it was animated…think it was netflix…spy family…might be a bit “marmite”…the whole thing is very much about people not having conversations it would seem wiser to have in a sort exaggeratedly japanese way…but…they’re a psychic little girl who was an orphan…a socially inept lady who went into being an unkillable assassin in order to provide for the younger brother she was left to raise after their parents were murdered…&…the guy who talked both of them into posing as his wife/daughter despite them being strangers to one another…because he needed to round out his cover as a sleeper agent…since he’s the slickest spy in at least two countries…oh…& the dog sometimes sees the future
…so…if nothing else I’d say it scores pretty well on the “diverting” chart…which seems to have been feeling like a significant metric of late?
…also read the latest…or 5th…& semi-concluding (there’s going to be a “back five” when books 6-10 show up) installment of brandon sanderson’s “stormlight archives”…which I still think is my preferred strand of his cosemere stuff…& since he’s managed to put out so many of them I’ve lost count in the time it’s taken george rr martin…& patrick rothfuss…to not finish just one book in a series…what it suffers from in looking like the DC/Marvel model of cross-promotional ways to get folks to buy more of your stuff…it makes up for by actually being delivered…& still in several respects seeming like it’s better writing than a good bit of the genre can boast
…so if it turns out that guy has been running his own homebrew AI chatbot for…a decade or so…I’m going to feel pretty conflicted, I guess?
…oh…& barring disaster I might make it to see that funny-while-around-shit-that’s-not-funny one with the other caulkin & jesse eisenberg…a real pain, I think it’s called…a few people have said it was a few sorts of good & hearing the two of them being interviewed about making it was certainly funnier than I expected that to be?
On the recommendation of @bluedogcollar, I started watching Man on the Inside. It has been an enjoyable show w/ some great characters. I have a few more episodes left.
Listening to Mannequin Pussy…
A Man on the Inside reminds me a little bit of Michael Schur’s The Good Place, with Ted Danson playing a lead, a spiffy place that’s supposed to meet the residents’ material needs but can’t fix other problems, and a lot of thoughts about what makes a good life.
But it’s also pretty different in a lot of ways. It’s not nearly as ambitious as The Good Place, but it’s pretty good.
I watched Sweet Bobby on Netflix about a woman who got majorly catfished.
The middle part is a drag but the last 40 minutes is crazy compelling.
I watched Black Doves (Netflix). It was fun.
I read The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson. It’s outside of what I typically like to read as I tend to avoid stories about puritanical societies and witch trials. It was slow paced and tackles heavy injustices which are very relevant to our times (sexism, racism, classism, the patriarchy, self-sacrifice for the greater good, individual justice which perpetuates systemic injustice etc.). I almost gave up on it. Glad I stayed for the reckoning even if it was a bit too forgiving… I was hoping for vengeance à la Carrie.
Black Doves was a blast.