Saturday Morning Brain Drain [2/9/23]

2/9/23 Elliecoo 28
Image via Latest Series

What I Watched: The newest season of London Kills, season four. And I am so very over angsty, irritable lead characters who specialize in bad decisions. Especially when they are old enough to know better. That said, it is your basic police procedural and an acceptable way to kill a few hours.

In this mystery-crime drama’s new season, Rob (Bailey Patrick, The Nest) wakes up in his car next to a dead body and is arrested on suspicion of murder. As the team fights to clear his name, David (Hugo Speer, Britannia) and Vivienne’s (Sharon Small, Trust Me) past comes back to haunt them.

I didn’t find a season four trailer, although full episodes of various seasons are available on YouTube.

Season 3, Episode 3

What I Read:  Only Good Enemies: A Galactic Bonds Book by Jennifer Estep. You should read book one first, Only Bad Options.

The Galactic Bonds series focuses on Vesper Quill, a seer and lab rat who works in the research and development lab of a corporation run by a powerful Regal family. When Vesper uncovers a deadly conspiracy, she crosses paths with Kyrion Caldaren, a psion and an Imperium Arrow who is one of the most notorious killers in the Archipelago Galaxy. The series is perfect for readers who like space operas, soul mates, and enemies-to-lovers stories.

The Galactic Bonds series is a mix of science fiction and fantasy. There are psions — people with mental abilities like telekinesis, telepathy, and telempathy — along with seers, spelltechs, siphons, and other folks who can wield magic. The series also features spaceships, planets, blasters, and other technology.

What I Listened To: Bonaparte – Untitled #3; Dekker – Too Young to Die (lovely tune); and Shelter Boy – Messed Up Kids.

Thank you for playing Brain Drain! How are you, darling ones? Dearest 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.

28 Comments

  1. …I finally watched all of poker face & maybe it’s just that’s it’s my speed…but I think of all the stuff I’ve seen the lead in it my be my favorite

    …am liking the start that ahsoka is off to

    …also found another not-very-disney anime thing on the disney app in the piloting-giant-robots genre called synduality: noir…which seems not bad if you like that sort of thing enough to be able to distinguish it from other piloting-giant-robots manga?

    …other than that & a book about “extinction trials” by a.g. riddle…I’ve mostly been trying to get back up to speed with the various things I’ve neglected for most of the last few weeks…which I’ve at least partially succeeded in doing…except for the parts where unanticipated things that happened in my absence that are urgent to other people has…complicated that process?

      • …I have a soft spot for the two literal murder droids that accompany dr aphra like a mirror universe C3-P0 & R2-D2…but chopper seems pretty cool…even if I’m a little light when it comes to knowing what happened in rebels?

        • It’s very worth watching, and was created by the guy who’s running Ahsoka. Ahsoka is picking up after Rebels ended, and many of the same characters from Rebels are featured, albeit in live action  (which is pretty fascinating to me). Anyway, Rebels focuses on the rebellion (duh) and Chopper engages in a bunch of sabotage and warfare against the Empire and racks up an extraordinary body count. Plus his smart-ass attitude (conveyed in chirps, like R2-D2) is a ton of fun.

  2. My entire brain drain schedule has been upended due to the Dr Mrs having COVID and us not being able to be in the same room.  I’ve got her sequestered in an upstairs bedroom and am slipping food and mash notes under the door for her.  She’s getting better but we’re trying to avoid me getting infected.

    So, it leaves me free to watch some utter trash for a few days.  I’m trying to find something appropriately violent or super-heroey.  Maybe some old kung fu movies.  I’m going to have to do some serious research to find the appropriate time-waster.

  3. I finished the latest season of What We Do in the Shadows. It’s still funny, although it probably could probably stand some retooling if it continues. With the strikes, who knows with a lot of ensemble shows if they will keep casts together when there’s a sudden rush all over.

  4. I just started The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna that was recommended by @elliecoo? It’s perfect cozy fluff reading for travel. Thanks for the rec!

    I watched Mech Cadets on Netflix because my inner child forced me to. I enjoyed it but it is very PG. Some of the aliens are gross and I loved that.

  5. Another nice set of Saturday morning tunes. 🙂

    I finished the Telemarketers docuseries. It’s only three episodes and worth every minute spent watching. It has a couple of the most unlikely heroes and has a few genuinely eye opening moments. Sen. Blumenthal comes off really bad and I hope some journalists ask him about his all too brief appearance.

    I finally got around to reading Drew Magary’s The Hike. He’s a good storyteller but I was a little disappointed. It’s entertaining but there doesn’t seem to be much point to it. There are some  lessons about how we are our own worst enemies kind of thing but they’re very obvious. It would have been a great game though, maybe that’s what Drew should be doing.

    I listened to the podcast Who Shat on the Floor at My Wedding. It’s ridiculous in the best possible way.

  6. So, one of the cinematographers I worked with last weekend was good friends & classmates with Danny McBride, writer/producer of The Righteous Gemstones.  He convinced me I “had to watch it”.  He was right, it is a great show.  I am still in season 1 but every episode so far has been quite fun.

    and I’m listening to a song that was used in the show that was new to me but quite different and good…

     

  7. summer returned here….so im still on my didnt read or watch anything streak…..the book has made it to my bedside tho…..just waiting for when i can close the window to avoid the mothpocalypse that would occur if i turn on my reading light

    fat wreck chords is a fantastic record label…..fat mike is really giving some oddballs the chance they deserve

      • tbh…..if they were just flapping around minding their own business they wouldnt bother me

        but they make so much noise hitting the lamp and lampshade….makes it hard to pay attention to what im reading

        • Farscy, do y’all not have Mosquitoes over there, the way we do here in North America?!?

           

          Because I’ve read & heard about how homes in much of Europe *don’t* have screened windows (and lived in Southwest Utah, for two summers, where is was simply “too dry” for them–so THEY had unscreened windows in most residences!), and it’s always both boggled my mind, AND been completely *fascinating,* to realize there are places where screens on windows *aren’t* just *EVERYWHERE* like they are here!😉💖

          • oh no…we have loads of mosquitos here

            im immune to them tho…. no reaction whatsoever….just get annoyed when they buzz around my ears

            but its true….most of us dont have screened windows….we just live with the bites

            • Daaaaang!!!

              I didn’t realize that!

              I dunno if I could handle it like y’all–i think I’d probably be either ordering screening online & staple-gunning it to my window sills, or going aaaaabsolutely batty, from the lack of sleep from *that buzzing noise*😉😂🤣💖

  8. Mostly lately again, I’ve either been reading stuff online (news-ish things), listening to NPR/MPR, and occasionally drifting across the random research paper on kids, ASD’s, or both.

    But a bit over a month ago, my NP put me on a *tiny* dose (5mg) of the generic for Lexapro, for my anxiety, and it’s WORKING!😉😁🤗💖

    I noticed it a few weekends back–because with the end of summer at the “Summer before/after school program,” we ran SUPER short on staff (some was medical stuff, others were due to staff’s previously-known “back to college” and “back to work *elsewhere* in the district”, and a few “mandated trainings, because we’re state-fundee childcare” things….).

    *Previously* with allllll that shifting around, short-handedness, the kids getting so escalated *so* often because of the heat & tiredness at the end of the summer, etc, i would’ve been a WRECK from my anxiety…

    But I *WASN’T,* instead, I’d managed to break out the Lisa Frank coloring book & the *other* “Grown up coloring book” I’d *intended* to work on, when I started dealing with Dad’s stuff–to help me unwind–but had been too exhausted & burned out to actually START in.

    Since I was spending literally *hours* “1-on-1ing,” a little girl for the last 2/3 of the summer, and she had “free choice” time during the rest of our group’s quiet time that *often* meant we were just chillin’ in the air-conditioned “quiet room” as she watched pre-k songs on you tube (i watched & sang SOOOOO much Baby Shark with her!😉😆💖), I decided to get out the coloring books & Gel Pens I’d gotten, for up at Dad’s, and I’ve ACTUALLY been using them!!!🤗😃😁

    One of the super SWEET & adorable things about it, is that LOTS of my kiddos have wanted the pictures I’ve colored–so I haven’t had to simply throw ’em out when I finish😉

    It’s *also* been pretty cute, to be able to model “persistence & PRACTICE!” to my little dudes & dudettes–they’ve been *SHOCKED,* when I tell them (honestly!) that some of the pictures in the Lisa Frank coloring book have taken me 3+ days (coloring part-time, of course!) to finish!

    This is the Lisa Frank one–i got it at Wal-mart iirc, *sometime* early last fall?;

    https://www.google.com/search?q=lisafrank+coloring+book&oq=lisafrank+coloring+book&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDc0MjhqMGo3qAIAsAIA&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=reviews&oshop=apv&oshopproduct=cid:10905844759904554875,oid:10372447383069465433,iid:11345747575180295087,rds:Q0lEXzEwOTA1ODQ0NzU5OTA0NTU0ODc1fFBST0RfQ0lEXzEwOTA1ODQ0NzU5OTA0NTU0ODc1,pvt:hg,pvo:3,laoid:10372447383069465433&piu=ps:12&pvs=0

    And this is the other one–i got it during the fall of 2021, for up at Dad’s apartment, for a dollar, out of the Clearance section at Half Price Books, because the person who originally had it had colored a couple tiny spots in it😉;

    https://www.johannabasford.com/book/worlds-of-wonder/

    The Lisa Frank book really IS as good as those top reviews say, imo–the paper is GREAT, nice & thick so that  regular crayola-style markers DON’T soak through, and as long as an adult tears the pictures out, the pages don’t tear easily.

    It’s DEFINITELY not “little-kid friendly,” because there ARE tons of tiny lines & details to color–but that’s why *I* enjoy it so much–a few days on one picture is sorta “meditative” to me, after all those years I spent in the performance-wear industry, where it often took us 2-3 *weeks* to rhinestone a collegiate or Pro team’s uniform order–and I used to *like* that part of the job–so a couple days coloring is fun to me!😉😆🤣💖

    It’s SO nice, tbh, to feel like I’m getting back into my old groove–that I had *found* back in my last living situation, when I had those few months of solitude with Lily, and that had slipped away, between Dad’s needs & the roommate craziness that’s happened on & off here.

    That my NP prescribed the Lexapro & it’s helping SO much, even at that *little* dose, is something I’m feeling really grateful for, and I’m SO glad I’m starting to feel creative ideas again, *especially* this soon after hitting burnout, this past spring!💖💞💝

     

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