What I watched: Keitel and I are catching up on season two of Hidden, a Welsh crime drama. “From Bangor, overlooking the churning waters of the Menai Straits, to the abandoned quarries of Llanberis, this is a landscape DCI Cadi John knows well.” The cinematography and focus on the land are riveting, the police drama/family drama is okay. We are starting season two, which aired in November and December of last year. The show has Welsh speakers and heavy accents; I spend a good bit of it asking Keitel, “What did they say?”
What I read: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. I read it as an allegory for our regimented, prejudiced, unkind, and oft-soulless society, especially as espoused by the current regime. Empathetic depictions of non-human children, easily relatable by any “square pegs”. Bogs down a bit in the middle, made up for by a sweet and satisfying ending.
“1984 meets The Umbrella Academy with a pinch of Douglas Adams thrown in.” —Gail Carriger, New York Times bestselling author of Soulless
What I listened to: Lewis Del mar, 14 Faces: “Its so nice of you to steal your mother’s car and act eternal.”
And a two-fer, Lewis Del Mar, Puerto Cabezas, NI: “High my blood, heavy like hot rain, I’m drown in you, colors mixing on a hot day, a hot day”
How about you? What did you watch, read, listen to, or otherwise fill your brain up with this week? Hmmmm??? Do tell, dear DeadSplintertarians!
…kind of cheating again since I don’t actually watch them myself but in terms of detective shows featuring regional accents that might have passed the US audience by there are a couple that went down well with various relatives (if you can find a way to watch them)
…first up being Vera
…Northumberland is easier that the lilt of the Welsh valleys (& I’d maybe guess Ellie might approve of the protagonist in some other ways, too?) but it does tend to be fairly grim in terms of what’s investigated
…so if you want a lighter touch maybe try Jonathan Creek
…stage magician who lives in a windmill doing the Miss Marple thing…generally pretty not-grim…moments of discernible whimsy, even
…or if you want to get into the nostalgia stakes there’s always Morse/Endeavour or even Bergerac (which I remember my mother being fond of) or David Jason as Frost (perhaps better known for Only Fools & Horses…or for the truly discerning as the voice of Dangermouse)
…but there was a recent(ish) spoof of the genre that went by the title A Touch of Cloth as a deliberate callback to A Touch of Frost with John Hannah as the eponymous detective if you’d rather dial back the serious another couple of notches?
Thank you most sincerely for your recommendations, and those of your relatives.
currently watching the second little thunderstorm of today…they are fun things…near continuous thunder and lighting and loads of rain…now if one could stop over head that’d be grand…they last maybe 30 minutes and then its sunny again…watching the puddles evaporate after is making it just a little bit humid here
reading…nothing….bedroom is an oven
and listening
such a pretty song
Love watching thunderstorms. When my son was small, we used to sit on the porch and watch Mother Nature have at it.
samesies….tho one time lightning struck a tree right outside the house…close enough i could hear the lightning zoom with lectrickery…. decided to nope out of that one and go for watching inside
I like to watch them from my porch, but I had a downspout blocked which caused a huge splashout every time we got a thunderstorm. So I’d make a mental note to clear it out every time, but it was in a really hard to reach spot and I’d procrastinate when the rain stopped.
I finally dealt with it by leaning way out of an upstairs window and poking at the clog with an extendable pole and blasting it with a hose I’d pulled up to the window with a string. Knock on wood and the water goes down the spout during the next storm, and not spraying on to the porch floor.
Our son comes over once or twice a year and holds the ladder for Keitel to attack the gutters with an old street hockey stick. That curved end works wonders. Best wishes on your next storm, may you stay dry and enjoy!
just a little bit wet here….that was a few miles up the road
I’m watching Murder City (on Prime) with Kris Marshall. It’s pretty good, a little grittier than Death in Paradise, but I do like my redheads.
I’m making more banana bread this morning too because my neighbor gave me some sad bananas. So not only do I have the Mr. not eating bananas in hopes of banana bread, old sad bananas are being IMPORTED into the house. My neighbor is leaving for Florida(!) today and HER husband won’t eat bananas either. It’s definitely a conspiracy.
That made me snort and laugh. The banana produce association has you on speed dial! I had to make chocolate chip cookies to use up 3 partial bags of chips this morning. You know, had to . . .
We had an unexpected show last evening from the second floor’s little porch. Apparently the local ballpark has some fireworks to use up!
And these:
I got a Phantom Fireworks flier in the mail, and they’re the closest major outlet near me, about a 45-60 minute drive.
I was tempted, but something was nagging the back of my brain, and it wasn’t the photo of Jason Pierre Paul (do NOT do an image search).
So I looked them up, and then I remembered. The owner is a big MAGA guy, he donated a huge bunch of fireworks to the idiotic July 4th DC rally Trump had last year where he whined endlessly about his parade and tanks. And then by total coincidence, fireworks companies got tarriff relief the very same day in a totally not corrupt move.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/july-4th-fireworks-donor-lobbied-president-trump-tariffs/story?id=64108794
Gotta find a different source.
Thank you for voting with your dollars, and only using ethically sourced fireworks! 🤭
What I watched – Season 1 of Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts (Netflix) An optimistic romp through the post apocalyptic world. Our hero, Kipo, a burrow girl, finds herself stranded on the dangerous surface. But her kindness and open heart help her out of and into various jams with mutant music playing animals.
What I read – I finished Barkskins and moved on to the 3rd Witcher book, Lady of the Lake, that I promised my daughter to read months ago. I’m slogging through it, but wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re a fan of the games.
What I listened to – Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways It’s good but the hype has left me a little underwhelmed. I think it will grow on me.
I fuss with my hair, and I fight blood feuds
I contain multitudes
I appreciate “don’t read this” as well!
Bob Dylan is a poet.