What I Tried to Watch: Queer Eye Season 10 (final season).
The ensemble cast reached the apex of their entitled boy band era, where petty rivalries cause final break ups. Caveat: I am aware that this Netflix show is performative character trope reality TV with no actual relationship to reality.
We were unhappy that Bobby Berk left the show two seasons ago (he was the only person who did actual work); however, his replacement, Jeremiah Brent, was talented and pleasant. My only complaint is that his décor color palate is white, off-white, and more white: not adaptable to real life.
But nepo-friend rivalries, strong mean girl energy, and an infamous hot mike incident caused a cast implosion. The actual TV show content has, over the years, moved from nifty home, wardrobe, and personal style makeovers to angsty, dramatic, and annoying talk – too much talk, talk, talk.
Anyway, we watched ten minutes, and Keitel left to play Fallout 4. I lasted another ten minutes but stopped when it became apparent that a better choice to rot my brain was with paranormal romance books.
What I Read: The Fierce Scotsman: A Historical Romance Mystery (The Notorious Nightingales Book 6) by Wendy Vella. This is a formulaic historical romance, perfect for when distraction from (waves hand wildly in air) everything is required. Here’s the Amazon blurb:
A troubled Scotsman. A determined spinster. And a kidnapping that forces them to confront the past they thought they’d left behind. When Mungo Fraser’s young niece is kidnapped, his estranged brother unexpectedly arrives in London, reigniting family ties that Mungo thought were long severed. With time running out, they must work together to rescue her. Enter Eliza Downing, the new governess at the Nightingale household, who refuses to be ignored. Fierce, unyielding, and independent, Eliza challenges Mungo in ways no one ever has. The undeniable tension between them is thick—yet when Eliza too becomes involved, Mungo realizes that what lies between them is far more than he could have ever anticipated. As Mungo and Eliza join forces to uncover the truth behind the crime, they’ll discover a love neither of them expected—one that could change everything.
Tropes: Enemies Turned Lovers, Forced Proximity, Slow Burn, Anti-hero, Heroine in Danger
What I Listened To: Ummet Ozcan X Otyken – Altay (@Farscythe: he is a Dutch DJ); Bayone – Multiphase (quite pretty) and Lauren Auder (his voice is smooth) – praxis:
Thank you for playing Brain Drain! How are you, Darling DeadSplinterites? What’s going on, dearest ones? Please do share with us!
Still watching the Rookie. So far so good.
Kudos to the author for going with a less common name for a romance hero. Nice change from the usual Scots, we’ve all read enough Alistairs, Ewans, Frasers, Douglasses, and Ians.
I figured this was Scot Romance.
…ok…think I mentioned the one thing that is sort of like if the one with the rock & dave bautista as estranged brothers fucking shit up was…french…& one of the brothers is the guy who was in the one about “ex-con that can build a renault clio that you can drive through walls, plural”…so…that was fun…but…to quote our illustrious post-mistress of the day
…on that note…I guess I might have held off on the louis theroux meets the manosphere one on netflix…but it’s probably still the way you’d imagine that might go
…meanwhile…let’s see now…in the determinedly un-realistic stakes that go on for a while…maybe not the kind of while bleach or naruto or something would run you…but…a bunch of downtime for most of your brain, I guess…if you can roll with the anime thing…variously…there’s new(-ish for the animated but fresh for the live action) one piece…& a couple of silly-but-sorta-interesting riffs on the sort of thing the one punch man ones or the one with the uber-psychic kid taking instructions from the charlatan with no powers & a hidden moral compass?
…gin tama…is set in a sort of…samurai/steampunk bonkers-verse where physics is barely a thing & anything you don’t recognise is “aliens” but the lead is sort of exaggerated-for-comedy-purposes disaffected & too-cool-for-school & shallow…& one of the sidekicks is sort of a pint-sized manic pixie space-ninja or whatever…but the whole production is so tongue in cheek it gets pretty direct about the 4th wall stuff
…&…KenIchi (the mightiest disciple) is about 6 parts another by the numbers one with schoolkids doing the battle-royale thing like inter-mural rivalry is feudal warfare with superpowers…but the protagonist is the guy that tries to step in to defend the girl from the bully in the first episode only to get knocked on his ass…before the girl beats the punks hollow…& then takes the kid to meet her grandpa the giant kung fu badass who raised her at the dojo they live in with a muy thai behemoth with the personality of a sweet kid & a stacked karate streetfighter guy & a borderline-offensive chinese kung fu adept & a ninja lady…& an akido master…all take the kid on like a project so that the trajectory of fighting his way up the chain of the “ragnarok” crew he got the wrong side of at the beginning can all play out while at any time none of the “biggest stakes so far” fights he gets in seem like ones either the girl or the masters would be in danger of losing…it’s…probably more fun than I’m making it sound & also more bonkers…there’s a guy who’s at the school that’s like iago in othello but sort of a pointy-eared forked tongue alien that everyone just treats like another teenager & is frenemies with the protagonist kid…anyway
…to round out the anime hat-trick there’s one called “windbreaker” which probably worked better pre-translation…in that one the kid turns up in episode 1 all determined to be this ultimate loner badass outcast “strongest” like it’s afro-samurai & he’s chasing the #1 headband…so…orphan with some chops & a massive chip on his shoulder who transferred on purpose to the town with the school gang-culture problem & in particular to the worst school with all the rejects in to punch his way to being top dog there & onwards to having the whole town under his fist to show ’em all
…in this one he doesn’t get his ass kicked & does protect the girl…who promptly hits him up with a bunch of home truths…& after that he does sort of do the thing so the formula stays on its usual track…but…by way of him learning a bunch of “can’t do it on your own” stuff from the examples being set by the current crew at the top of that pack…who are in full robin-hood beloved-of-the-people mode
…also pretty sure I mentioned the stray season of no-2nd-season-coming good cop/bad cop thing that was actually pretty fun
…but the other one that’s pretty odd but also I kinda enjoyed was translated as “strangers in the park”…it’s “parque lezama”…it’s argentinian…pretty much the whole thing is two old geezers that talk to one another mostly while sitting on benches in the same part of the same park…one of whom has a bit of a walter mitty/baron munchhausen/don quixote thing going on…I dunno…at some point I’ll watch one battle after another but I might not be surprised if it turns out I like strangers in the park better?
I watched the America’s Next Top Model docuseries on Netflix and WOW did viewers and producers and everyone just overlook all sorts of heinous things to make that show.
Because that docuseries is just promo for her new show wrapped in a fake apology
I watched War Machine last night & as much as I like Alan Ritchson, it was pretty bad. The good thing is with character development of anyone else, you really don’t care too much when other characters die. I then watched Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere which I really enjoyed. He does a good job exposing how awful these fuckers are in my opinion.
I’m reading The Last American President by Thom Hartmann. Just started but I enjoy all his books.
I couldn’t stop laughing when I ran across this…
Listening to SNAYX
I’m officially addicted to Pokopia. I dream in cubes now, CUBES! I wonder if children who play Minecraft or Roblox experience that too.
i didnt have anything to say…just wanted to say hi the only wayi know how
also i just caught that line at the end…about him being a dutch dj
yeah i know…this is edm land…:)
and ummett is good