Saturday Morning Brain Drain [16/12/23]

16/12/23 Elliecoo 36
Image via Rotten Tomatoes

What I Watched: The Killer, as discussed by other DeadSplinterites. I thought it was . . .OK. Directed by David Fincher and starring Michael Fassbender,  Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, and Tilda Swinton, RogerEbert.com really liked it:

One can sense Fincher’s passion for this project in every frame as he returns to themes that have long interested him: obsession, perfectionism, and power. It helps a great deal that he brings along several of his most accomplished collaborators, including cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt (“Gone Girl”), editor Kirk Baxter (“The Social Network”), and even Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross to handle the score. On a technical level, “The Killer” hums like few films of its type in recent years just because of the pedigree of the team behind it. One senses they all have the same perfectionism as the notoriously detailed filmmaker, and this is the kind of production that rewards that sense of detail. It’s not a film that should be rough around the edges—it succeeds because it’s as finely tuned as one of The Killer’s jobs.

Trailer

What I Read: (I have not yet read these books, writing this post on 12/02/23.) However, I have a bunch of inexpensive Christmas romances lined up:

Christmas In Cumbria: A Regency Romance Collection by 13 authors for only 99 cents.

Mistletoe Christmas: An Anthology, by Eloisa James, Christi Caldwell, Janna MacGregor, and Erica Ridley. This is four books by more famous authors and is a bit pricy at $9.99.

I’ll probably reread The Twelve Dukes of Christmas by Erica Ridley, a 13-book series of “heartwarming Regency romps nestled in a picturesque snow-covered village. The first three are on sale for free or .99 cents, as is the last book. The remainder are $3.99. This series is, for me, comfort reading.

What I Listened To: Ryan Ritual and Mating Ritual. Old Disco – Mating Ritual; Ryan Ritual – Slip Away; and Ryan Ritual – Where Did Love Go.

Thank you for playing Brain Drain! How are you, dearhearts? Darling DeadSplinterites, what’s going on? Please do share with us!

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About Elliecoo 602 Articles
Four dogs, one partner. The dogs win.

36 Comments

  1. Watched:  The Name of the Rose, a 1986 murder mystery which takes place in a monastery in the…middle ages, I think?  Anyway, it has Sean Connery as a Franciscan monk, of all things, and his sidekick is an impossibly young Christian Slater.  Good film, great acting, solid pacing.  Recommended.

    Listened:  I’ve been on a Staple Singers kick lately.

     

    • The Name of the Rose was a very well-received novel by Umberto Eco when it came out. You could try the book if you liked the movie. And can I ask, for the umpteenth time, did Sean Connery, Lyford Cay’s most famous resident/tax exile, ever turn down a role? What hadn’t he been in? I don’t even want to look at his iMDB page. I think it would read like the old NYC Bell Telephone White Pages. And that was not a quick read.

  2. I saw The Killer too and liked it even less. I thought the whole Tilda Swinton sit down committed the unforgiveable crime of making her inert. If you have Swinton, you need her Tilda-ing to the max.

    The rest of the movie semed that way too — the main character was just too good at his job and the movie was too many straight lines.

    • …not disagreeing…but the thing that over-rode my ability to ride the competency-porn version of suspending disbelief was the fact that from the first of the many repetitions of some line about sticking to the plan the fact the entire thing was clearly about not sticking to the plan…to the point of there being several times he could have not made it worse but seemed to choose to instead…by the time tilda swinton barely got a wine & dine the only reason I hadn’t switched it off was akin to “I’ll hear you out but I’m pretty sure I’ve made up my mind” on that one?

  3. Watching my favorite internet scientist to learn about The Rise of the Kitten Snake!

    Reading the longest Xmas letter ever.  My friend’s wife writes a longer letter every year, this year’s was 4 pages front and back!

    Listening to Federation of the Disco Pimp

  5. @elliecoo I read a book that you may like (or may have already read). Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. It’s all the rage this year because they are turning it into a TV series. Two out of five books have been published. It’s a spicy fantasy novel about a realm whose army of dragon riders protect its borders from griffin riders. The protagonist is forced to join the dragon riding academy where she must prove her worth or die/be killed in the process. One of her mortal enemies is the hottest most dangerous guy in the academy of course. The author is a prolific romance novel writer. This series was her pivoting to the fantasy-romance genre.

    My only complaint is that to me it seems like she (and or her editing team) throw in diversity because it will get them Brownie points. There is no exploration of different cultures and the power structures between them based on race. I know that I’m asking for a lot from a fantasy-romance novel but it really irks me when white people do the bare minimum to diversify their product and receive high praise and acclaim. Also all her previous books seem to be about white couples, so this one’s diversity stands out as a strategic marketing tactic. That being said, my moral qualms didn’t stop me from devouring the book in two days (and forfeiting much needed sleep).

    https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/61431922

  6. Been watching True Crime videos on Youtube.

    The channel is Coffeehouse Crime

    It doesn’t linger on the gory details, but more the why it happened which is why I don’t mind watching it.

    To counter the gloom, I ended up watching Newhart episodes that someone posted up. I liked it as a kid and had a crush on Mary Frann, but I realized now that Newhart had a lot more subtle adult humor than just Larry Darryl and Darryl.

  7. Yesterday, I was in the rural South and today I’m in Chicago.  My brain is drained just from the adjustment of being a country mouse turning into a city mouse.  I’ll be fine tomorrow once that one-hour time zone adjustment has kicked in.

    One thing that I identify with being older now is that after a two-day drive it takes me a day to recover.  The dinner I’m planning for tonight will take me a long way toward being myself again.

  8. What I watched: The final bifurcated season of “The Crown,” of course. And cried my eyes out during every episode. I don’t know what the Hell is wrong with me. I know this history and I’ve never met a Senior Royal and I’m an American, for God’s sake, so why am I so invested in this?

    But that family, aside from being tabloid fodder since Edward VIII’s abdication 80+ years ago, has really really seen its share of tragedy. Nothing that we haven’t seen ourselves, I suppose, deaths of family members and consequences of things really out of our control.

    The first half of the series is all about Diana, and the actor, Elizabeth Debicki, is uncanny at it. The second half is all about Prince William (sort of; not to the extent that the first half focused on Diana, because the Windsors have other stuff going on) and that actor, Ed McVey, is also amazing.

    Imagine what it’s like to be one of them. Yes, there are palaces, those are fine, and tons of servants, fine, I guess. But you’re never left alone. Your every move is questioned and dissected by the media. You don’t really own half the stuff you’re living among. Wills is at St. Andrews trying to have a dating life and he has a security officer shadowing him. At all times. And apparently he got up to Hazza levels of drinking, but not the pot. Which, he describes to his Granny, QEII, as “wacky backy.” Priceless.

    But of course made up, because if anything, unless they’re on an unsecured cellphone line to their mistress talking about being a tampon (thanks for that, Chuck) they’re extremely discreet. Well, not Randy Andy, or Hazza, or even Prince Philip, who used to release howlers on the reg.

    I will say one last thing. This series gets an MA rating. Why? “Language.” Which, the f-word is deployed more often than you would think, mostly by Hazza. And then, “Smoking.” Oh for Chrissakes. I used to smoke in the 1990s, everyone I knew did, and it wasn’t pot, not by me anyway, just good ole-fashioned fine Virginia tobacco. Now, of course, there are three pot shops on every block, it feels like, and fentanyl is more easily procured than a Marlboro. I understand none of this.

      • From what I’ve read, because I’m an obsessive, what he meant was that he loved Camilla so much that he wanted to be inside of her, part of her, never leave her. And now he’s gotten his wish and Camilla is their Queen.

        I have so much to say about this final series of “The Crown.” Catherine (“Waity Katie”) confronts her mother at one point because she, like me, is a total yenta and engineered it so that Cath would take the same gap year and go to Chile and try to help out the underpriveledged, just like Wills, and then head off to St. Andrew’s. But things go awry (spoiler alert, maybe?) when she hooks up with this hot guy named Rupert, and brings him home to the Middleton residence, and the mother (Carole) (who, again, the actor looks nothing like her) is a little disappointed. But then Cath gets together with Wills. Wills has an audience with his Granny, QEII, and tells her that now he’s been invited back to the Middletons. And, in one of the best lines from the whole series, Wills says, “Apparently they all eat together in the kitchen.” “Don’t they have a dining room?” “I’m sure they must.” “Then why do they act like servants?”

        Bazinga, Lillibet, bazinga!

        And there’s the flashback scene to VE Day where Princess Elizabeth jitterbugs with a Black American GI in the basement nightclub of the Ritz hotel, which can’t possibly have happened.  I mean, she and Princess Margaret did sneak out, and probably did go to the Ritz, but that seems like it was a stretch. It really has to be seen to be believed, the entire series. I am a richer man for it.

        And don’t get me started on Tony Blair.

        • ALSO, according to “The Crown,” although this is a little inconsistent, the family members actually do nod and otherwise show respect depending on where people are in the pecking order. The staff of course is respectful to the point of obsequiousness. I loved and respected my parents very much, but I can’t imagine bowing my head in front of my mother. Although then again she never had an entire Commonwealth who would have done the same, so I guess it just takes a little getting used to.

  9. Watched a documentary on HBOMax Great Photo, Ugly Life. This was a really good one but holy fuck trigger warnings for child sex abuse. She’s a photojournalist doing a piece about her grandfather who molested a ton of girls, including several family members.

  10. also forgot to say……currently playing this

    is good……i fucking hate wolves now tho

    $2.99 on steam when i got it tho……cant fucking complain about that….

    tho….thinking on it…..is a lil wierd to pay 3 bucks to get savaged by wolves repeatedly

  12. I forgot that I also read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. It’s about a friendship that spans decades from tweenhood to their late thirties. Their friendship is founded on gaming and leads them to video game designing/publishing. I appreciate that it shows the story telling side of video games which gives games more respect as an art form. But you don’t have to be into gaming to enjoy this book. Ultimately, it’s about friendship and platonic love and symbiosis for lack of a better term.

    https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/58784475

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