What I watched: We were finally able to have access to Death in Paradise, season 9. This is such a cute show, filled with beautiful scenery, brightly colored sets, and mostly likeable characters. If you looked up the antonym of the TV show Luther, you would find Death in Paradise. The almost kitschy formula works well enough that the show has survived four changes in lead detective. But the actors who have left cited filming on Guadalupe, far from family, and the formulaic nature of the show, prohibiting character growth, as reasons for leaving. That said, we who enjoy it are glad that they have not messed with premise.
Should you watch this? If you want angst, drama, dark undercurrents, and antiheroes (and who doesn’t) then give it a hard pass. If you want a simple, sunshiny hour of TV where the good guy always wins, then yes, you should watch Death in Paradise.
What I read: I dipped into the Book of Love eight-book series by Meara Platt. These are sweet little romance novels, taking place in 1815 England. Ladies and Lords, the random Laird, and a scoundrel or two populate each book. There is also a bit of intrigue, a bit of romance, and a bunch of late Regency social conventions specific to the upper classes. I can read one of these in an evening; they serve as the book equivalent of anti-stress therapy.
Should you read this series? Do you long for happily ever after endings and an escape from reality? Do you need to give your thinking brain a break? Well then, you could do worse!
What I listened to this week: new music from the Earth Libraries curated playlist, including Hot Machine Three – Rubber Band Gun
and Logan Hyde – Solid
and New Love Crowd – Country Boy
So, dashing, smart, kind DeadSplintertarians, what is up with you? Are you doing okay? Maintaining equilibrium? What did you watch, read, or listen to? Please tell us what is going on in your world!
A selection of what I listened to over the summer:
My kid’s top pick:
Type O Negative alumni:
New Hampshire Speed Doom:
Wasn’t wild about this as a whole, but the title track’s a banger:
These guys write great riffs and great hooks:
My wife generally hates my music but doesn’t seem to object to DBT too much:
Keep the metal coming, my friend. You broaden my musical horizons.
I think Scissorfight would be solid middle ground for you and Keitel.
Thank you, we will give them a listen.
Watched: Live Free or Die Hard. Believe it or not, I never saw it and it was in the large shopping bag of DVDs that my oldest stepdaughter handed to us a few weeks ago. I was bored so I watched it. For the most part, it was pretty good, but it took a hard turn into Stupid Action Film territory near the end.
Read: The Boy Who Became a World War II Veteran at 13 Years Old. The story of a kid from Texas who managed to lie his way into the Navy and served aboard the USS South Dakota, which saw some of the heaviest action in the early part of the war in the Pacific. Turns out there’s an entire organization called Veterans of Underage Military Service, which claims over 1,200 members including 26 women. I’d like to read a book about their stories, if one ever gets written.
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-boy-who-became-a-world-war-ii-veteran-at-13-years-old?utm_source=pocket-newtab
Listened: I’ve been spinning some Frank Sinatra this week. One album, in particular: In the Wee Small Hours. This is one of those records that I strongly recommend listening to under a great pair of headphones. It is exquisitely recorded and produced.
My father appreciated Frank and the rat pack; but was old enough (born 1918) to be more if a Bing Crosby fan.
One of my grandfathers lied about his age and enlisted in the Army when he was 14, during WW 1. He got into a fistfight with an officer and they were going to court martial him but discovered he was then only 15, so they just sent him home. When he turned 18 he re-enlisted but by then the war was over. I never knew him but according to my siblings he was quite a character.
reading : safety regulations and maintenance rules for forklifts *yawns*
watching : the liberator
im only a couple episodes in so far…it looks promising..but im a sucker for ww2 stuff like this…and i just love the art style…so i may be a little bit biased there… the animation is a little iffy in places tho
and listening : manassas
(tbh..i found the beat club channel a whiles back and its just fantastic)
https://www.youtube.com/c/beatclub/videos
@Farscythe, look at the video Keitel posted on your DUAN from last evening…fork lifts!
i watched it lol
looks like fun 🙂
probably should have said that when i watched it last night…but i was on me last legs and noped off to bed instead
I started watching The Liberator last night as well. I’d like to know what that technique is. It’s like they filmed parts of it in live action and then drew comic-book style over it. It has the feel of an old Sgt. Rock comic brought to life.
I just watched The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix. I really liked it. Unless you love it, chess for the most part isn’t that exciting, but this show was good at ramping up the tension and sustaining it through most of the episodes.
It’s only 7 episodes and all of them are pretty good at moving the story along. There’s drugs, smoking and drama and every set seemed like a 60’s interior decorators dream and the wardrobe was really cool. I didn’t really like the main actress, Anya Taylor-Joy when she was in Emma – I thought she played her incredibly mean and unlikable, but I really thought she was great in this.
Second that. See below.
My son just recommended Queen’s Gambit, and we discovered that he has never played chess. That gave me excellent fodder for a holiday gift (board and how-to-play book, ordered.)
Watched: The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix. I enjoyed it — some minor plot quibbles. And you don’t need to know anything about chess to enjoy it (my wife never played and had no trouble following).
Watching: Dash & Lily on Netflix. Okay, I’m publicly owning this. It’s an extended Christmas meet-cute set in New York with two kids conducting a scavenger hunt to find each other. It’s a bit Hallmark but way less treacley, and it features lots of New York landmarks/points of interest which I’m enjoying immensely as a sometime New York tourist who was there last Christmas. I read a review and forced my wife to watch it as an antidote to all the fucking pandemic and political bullshit going on. We’re both enjoying it. Trynna get that Christmas spirit going.
Observation: Does anyone else get uneasy watching pre-pandemic crowd scenes? I have to keep reminding myself of what used to be normal. Thanks, Trump.
You own enjoying that show, my friend!!! This is a no-shame entertainment zone. (Heyo, I own up to enjoying romance novels, a genre that is much maligned.) Pre-pandemic crowd scenes fill me with nostalgia and kinda depress me, because I am so isolated now.
My wife, a library director, holder of two master’s degrees, adores romance novels. No judgement here.
Anything recent where I see a restaurant or party scene, I have to check myself from saying to myself that they really should be outside and well spaced apart.
Watching – I’ve been rewatching old favourites on Hulu recently… Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Stargate SG1, old episodes of Chopped, and yesterday I watched all of Firefly (except Serenity, which doesn’t seem to be on Hulu, which is dumb).
Reading – I have a zillion library books, both ebooks and real books, but I’ve been rereading the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman because there’s a new book out and it’s been awhile. Such a great series! I also read Sarah J. Maas’ newest book, House of Earth and Blood, which is an 800 page monster that’s slow as hell to get into, but by the end it was all worth it.
Ohhhh a Library-based book recommendation. I love books starring librarians! I have recently read two series, on about the library in Hell and the other about librarians that save the world from alien invaders. Oh, and a third, about librarians in NYC who protect the city from evil. A few of these were mentioned in previous BrainDrain posts, but I can’t link because I am on my phone and am too old and dumb to make it work.
Watched: Sadie McKee. Criterion Channel’s Joan Crawford collection is getting me through! Also been watching the new DuckTales on Disney.
Reading: Good Omens. It’s so perfect. I really need to get more in the habit of rereading and reading more comedic stuff.
Good Omens is lol funny. It is always appropriate 😘.
Loved Good Omens. The book and the show.
I haven’t been in the mood for reading. Maybe this week I’ll find something to pique my interest.
I watched S4 of Last Tango in Halifax on PBS. It’s a lovely show about a seventy-something man and woman who meet again after 50+ years and fall in love. It’s based on show creator Sally Wainwright’s mother’s 2nd marriage. It’s sweet and a little soapy with a great cast – Derek Jacobi, Anne Reid, Sarah Lancashire, and Nicola Walker.
I’m listening to Luna Aura – Three Cheers For The American Beauty
Thank you Hannibal, always great suggestions!
Watched – Possessor. An assassin inhabits the mind of an unsuspecting host in order to frame them for the murder a given target. The gore was the best I’ve seen in a long while.
Reading – Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda. I bought it expecting Ringu levels of horror but it is only lightly spooky (I didn’t read any reviews for fear of spoilers). I’m enjoying the Japanese feminist perspective and snark.
You will really bring a new voice to these threads with the gore and horror! Carry on (hides eyes and peeks through fingers).
Ooh, I’m going to have to look for Possessor!
My son and I watched 1917. It’s alright. I was expecting an Epic War Movie, and this is more of a quest movie set inside a war, so I was a little disappointed in the plot. Cinematography is pretty interesting though, if that’s what you’re into.
When I watched it 1917 felt really artificial to me, and I later looked it up. The whole setup was pretty bogus.
The big thing is in 1917 they would have just had a plane zip over and drop a message. It would have taken maybe three minutes. They did that kind of communication all the time! There is simply no way they would have staked the lives of so many guys on a pair of messengers sneaking through countryside crawling with the enemy.
Also, in the days of trench warfare big military units didn’t just go wandering off alone like that. It would be like a battleship captain deciding on the spur of the moment to change course for Jamaica for ten days of beaches and rum and fun in the sun.
It would have made sense if Mendes had lowered the stakes and just focused on a couple of guys out on patrol, but he wanted to say…. something, it’s not really clear what… BIG!
Watched “How to Marry a Millionaire”. It’s been one of my favorite movies for years
https://24.media.tumblr.com/3f7a3d5ccdbf16163d9fac9cef7ab5ec/tumblr_mojg795TAQ1s1a3s7o1_400.gif
Listened to this new Xmas tune
I will check both out, thank you C’estLaVie!
Re Read “About Face” because it was on sale as an e-book. It is the autobiography of the controversial US soldier, David Hackworth who spent 24 years in the army, earned a lot of medals in combat, getting wounded eight times and eventually became one of the most outspoken voices against the stupidity of Vietnam. Later he became a journo and lit off the Boorda Affair which US Navy Admiral Boorda committed suicide after being caught wearing a valor medal he didn’t earn thus earning the forever wrath of Navy (About Face was written in 1988 a decade before it happened.)
I enjoyed reading it because it is a leadership primer and character study.
I noticed at work management seems to favor guys who go 900 miles an hour without any sense of direction. Aggression without any semblance of discipline/wisdom is idiotic. A curse from the dumbshit side of Canadian hockey mentality.
This is the same “go go go” mentality without thinking that got intelligent men like McNamara and Westmoreland into serious stupidity causing the deaths of thousands (US and Vietnamese) as Hackworth points out.
That sounds like an excellent nookk, Manchu!
Watched: cute teen rom com Dash and Lily.
Listened to Chris Stapleton’s new album:
Hi MegMeg!
I am going to watch Get Duked on my wife’s recommendation. I am prepared for it being either really funny or incredibly cringey, or both.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_Duked!
I trust you wife to good suggestions (report back please).
Just finished the last episode of Long Way Up; Ushuaia, Argentina to LA on the new electric Harley Davidson LiveWire e-bikes streaming on AppleTV. I enjoyed it. Ewan and Charlie are such good friends, and since it was filmed entirely before the pandemic, it is lovely and optimistic and an excellent reminder of how things used to be in the before times.
If you haven’t seen them, they did two series previously; Long Way Round – London to NYC heading East through Asia, and Long Way Down – London to Cape Town. Both of these are on petrol motorcycles.
One does not need to be a fan of motorcycles to enioy any of these series. They are worth watching for the earth/adventure pRon as much as anything.
Thanks for the suggestion, AdabOfOppo!