I’m pulling double duty this weekend! [And I’ve been on a zoom playing drinking games since 7:30 and it’s now 11:10PM.]
What I watched:
I’ve been watching Last Tango In Halifax on Netflix.
It’s a family drama starring you standard issue BBC actors Derek Jacobi, Anne Reid, Sarah Lancashire and Nicola Walker. The story centers around a late in life marriage between Alan (Jacobi) and Celia (Reid) which is charming and fun, a la As Time Goes By. The joining of their respective families brings lots of drama. Should you watch this? Yes
Wandavision on Disney+ is a standalone series based in the MCU. I haven’t seen all the Marvel shows and so I wasn’t sure if this would make sense to me, but I don’t think you need all the background to enjoy this show. It’s sort of a mix between old sitcoms and The Truman Show.
Should you watch this? Sure!
What I read:
HA.
No, seriously. How can people read books right now? Ellie burns through these books every week while once a month I show up to book club having read nothing.
What I listened to this week:
So, what do you have for me darlin’ Deadsplinters? Any new discoveries? What needs to go into my queue?
I just binge watched the first season of Snowpiercer – the tv show. It’s set on a perpetual motion 1001 car high speed train that carries the last remnants of humanity through the frozen wasteland of Earth. It’s a pretty interesting take on the inequality of society’s class structure. I really like Jennifer Connelly in it. The new season just started this past week on TNT.
Have you seen the film? Definitely recommend.
I saw the film. I was very disturbed by it, but I don’t like dystopian fiction in general. I will say it was very haunting and it really stays with you. And it wasn’t pulp garbage, it was far more thoughtful and thought-provoking than usual.
Yes, I saw the movie – it was great, too.
The film was good, but a bit limited. I’m probably only saying this because it’s a Bong Joon Ho film and expectations are so high, but this and Okja were my two least favourite of his. He and Tilda Swinton collaborate well together, but his work in Korean cinema works better, partially because it’s relatively free of the Hollywood taint.
I was recently chatting with someone who saw Parasite with me last year, and we’re still salty that none of the cast received acting Oscar nominations. The Academy is so behind the curve.
I am actually prepared for this week with some items!
Watch: Operation Odessa on Netflix.
Do you want to know the inside story about a Columbian cartel trying to buy a decommissioned Soviet submarine in the late 90s? The real story is even more strange than the crazy you think it is.
Listen Cincoriginals by Tobe Nwigwe
Found this on Apple Music. It’s wonderful.
Read: The Oral History of “Emporer’s New Groove” at Vulture
One of my absolute favorite movies. Great read.
https://www.vulture.com/article/an-oral-history-of-disney-the-emperors-new-groove.html
Tobe Nwigwe and his crew are sublime. I loved this track in particular last year.
Watched: Young Frankenstein, which is still hilarious. They did a lot of ad libs in the film, which made it even harder for the cast to keep their shit together. Cloris said in an interview that they had to keep doing takes like 15 times because Gene Wilder would keep cracking up. In the clip below, Cloris ad libs the whole bit about “varm milk” and Ovaltine. Look at Gene’s face when she says, “some varm milk…perhaps?” You can see that he’s struggling not to laugh.
Read: Some rather heartening stories about how the Democrats in Congress are actually learning from the mistakes they made in 2008-9. They remember how they stripped down major legislation to try to bring Republicans on board for literally nothing. So, now they are saying to Republicans that they can either jump on board or be left behind. It’s about goddamned time.
Listened: I’ve been listening to a ton of Sharon Jones this week. She had so much more to give.
Last Tango In Halifax is great. I’d watch Derek Jacobi in anything.
I haven’t read anything either, I spend too much time playing Switch games. Don’t judge me!
I watched Season 2 of Blown Away on Netflix. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a blown glass art competition show. and damn, what a physically demanding art form. I have a lot of respect for the artists. Except the first person to go home this season. How did they even get on the show?
I’m listening to Pokey LaFarge because it’s Saturday and I want to have some fun.
Have you ever seen “Vicious,” a short-lived ITV sit-com starring Jacobi and Ian McKellen? I loved every minute of it. Its short life must have been pre-planned, though, because the series finale definitely wraps things up.
Vicious is great – I imagine that set was a lot of fun. Is Jacobi a “Sir”? He should be!
Of course he is! He was knighted in 1994.
Yes, I’ve loved Jocobi since I, Claudius and watch him whenever I can. Ian McKellan isn’t too shabby either. I loved the jokes about their eldery dog.
I watched Blown Away last week and I loved it. I can’t get either of the guys into it, unfortunately. Glass blowing has always fascinated me and it’s something I always wanted to try but never had a chance. Watching the way they work and the fantastic creations they come up with is really something.
I took a glass blowing class with some friends one afternoon. It was super fun and interesting. I made a paperweight and a glass that is so thick you can’t drink out of it. But they both look super cool.
We stumbled upon “Citizen Kane” last night so at my insistence we watched that. “What? You’ve never seen this? You’re not even sure what it is? It’s only one of the greatest movies ever made. I can’t believe–” “Stop it. You sound like one of those insufferable film studies majors. Go get a job reading scripts at MGM or something.”
Ha. At least you weren’t feigning indignance that someone hadn’t seen a misogynist film from the ’70s, like most insufferable film studies majors do. If you’re going to gape, at least do it for the classics. I’d do that for the likes of All About Eve or Some Like it Hot as well.
Watched: I’ve been on a b&w movie binge, so I’ve watched Casablanca & It Happened One Night. It was actually the first time I’ve watched Casablanca but I was surprised at how much of it I knew.
Read: Finished The Princess Bride. I know now for sure that I had read the entire thing before. But it was a fun easy reread and it’s been years so I’m glad I did. And for who asked, I think I like the book best over the movie. The annotations and side notes add so much to the story that is lost in the movie.
Listened: I have been listening to a lot of broadway tunes on a Spotify channel. I need more musicals in my life.
…pretty sure that was me…& I’m with you on the annotations bringing a lot of added value
…still love the film & all…but some of that stuff is just great & it kind of adds an extra dimension or two that I don’t see how they could have got onscreen
Yes, I loved the film first and it was perfectly executed. Truly it is one of my favorite movies. But the book has so much more to it. The amount of extra detail in each character’s development and personality were so much more elaborate as well. However, like you said, I don’t see how they could have properly incorporated it into the movie without losing 2/3 of the audience’s interest.
i watched night stalker
i dont typically care for this kinda stuff..but i guess i was in the mood for it..it was pretty good and actually held my attention for all four episodes
i also watched jiu jitsu
it was terrible and i want a refund…lol…it had a few moments that were fun tho
I loved the Night Stalker show. I never grew up in an era/area where people left doors unlocked so that must have really been a mindfuck to live thru. Not to mention how his victim profile was all over the place. It’s very rare for killers to go outside their preferred demographic and it’s almost like he had no preference at all.
I’ve been watching lots of basketball and the stupid DVD to build this fucking greenhouse.
I’ve been reading the terrible manual to build this fucking greenhouse!
I’ve been listing to this to relieve stress…
…I know I’ve watched some other stuff this week but the only thing that springs to mind is clue
…if you haven’t seen it (it came out in the 80s but somehow my folks hadn’t & I felt the need to insist they rectify that gap in their understanding of pop culture) it’s well worth it…it’s a tad dated but the cast is superb & it’s still great if you allow for the dated thing
…it seems like they might be doing some sort of remake with ryan reynolds which I guess could be great & avoid the stuff that hasn’t aged so well…but I dunno…it might also be not nearly as charming as I find the 80s version…& who knows when (or if) it’ll see the light of day?
How do you top the cast of Clue? It seems impossible.
Clue is amazing and I will accept no remake
Failed to mention I’ve also been watching too much (is there such a thing) of Letterkenny!
Love them Letterkenny boys.
Love it. But it’s CBC, NOT a Hulu original. It irks me how streaming sites claim non-American programs as their own.
I think I said this over on Kinja, but Letterkenny often soars into dialogue that plays like a rural Canadian riff on Beckett.
Not much time for anything the last couple weeks, wand ahat with classes & both jobs…
there was a major mix-up at the Grocery store, with my scheduling, and I was getting scheduled for both my class nights, and NOT on most of the other days I’ve usually worked, because they thought *somehow* that my classes were during the day, and, apparently that I *don’t* (magically!🙄) now have my dayjob?!?….
It finally got fixed, after I spoke with my assistant store director, who had me talk with both my grocery manager AND our payroll/scheduling person–the scheduler understood when I explained how my old grocery manager & i used to work out my schedule (Thursday evening for 5 hours, then Friday & Sat evenings/night for 7, with either an every-other Sunday shift, or the occasional Monday 5 hour evening), and after this week, I’ll actually end up with some time to breathe & do homework & housework again. Rather than going ALL day, from 6-ish in the morning until 10-11+ at night, with just the 2 hours from 3-5 to commute home, eat something, walk Lily, & get ready for work *or* go from 6-ish, have those 2 hours, then have class via zoom.
The one thing I’ve managed to do a few days was catch a bit of news online… and this from HuffPo today was frustrating but simultaneously hilarious in it’s absurdity…
From Mo Brooks (R-Alabama), “There is some indication that fascist antifa elements were involved, that they embedded themselves in the Trump protests…”
That little gem was about halfway down this article;
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_60147e49c5b653f644d3be1a
I just can’t even, with the absurdity of “fascist antifa”😳🙄😆😂🤣🤭🤭🤭🤭
I’m guessing that Brooks is yet another of the numbnutz who must think “antifa is short for anti-FAMILY!!!” Or “antifa means Anti-First Amendment!!!”😖🙄😱🙄🙄🙄🙄
Apparently this is a *thing* in right-wing-stupid-people land.🙃🙃🙃
I mean, I KNOW that there are DUMB folks out there, and PLENTY of numbskulls who only get their info from the right-wing trash sites like infowars, breitbart, fauxnewz, oann, etc….
But DAYUM it’s a leap, to manage to twist *AntiFa* into some sort of “fascist” organization.🙃
Next thing ya know, ‘ol Moe will be trying to claim that tall pointy white hoods are what Covid Masterson want us all to wear, and that it just “isn’t right!” when folks want to protest against “our good community helpers!” who wear SS regalia, because he thinks *those* folks are some sort of new “community-police partnership organization!” 🙄🙄🙄
Been watching Sinner on Netflix (originally from the USA network, but i never heard of it). For some reason, Netflix dumped me into season 2 first, but you don’t seem to need to watch them in order. There’s a murder, an obvious killer, but a whole mess unravels soon enough.
Watching – my friend and I watched season 2 of Blown Away this week, which I loved. We also watched a few episodes of The Warrior Nun, which is both ridiculous and interesting, and rewatched Bridgerton.
Reading – still working on The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman (book 5 of the Invisible Library series). I love this series! I’m cheating on that one with The House on the Cerulean Sea (can’t remember the author and am currently being held down by a sleeping cat so I can’t go look.) I’m really liking this one… the writing is weird and stilted, yet somehow endearing.
@HoneySmacks I really almost bought House on the Cerulean Sea when it was on sale last month. I’m interested to hear more about what you think of it & if I should get it after all
@CestLaVie I actually finished The House In the Cerulean Sea last night. It was really good. It’s whimsical and odd and interesting, and I enjoyed every bit of it. It did take a little bit to get into it, due to the writing style, but once I found the flow of it, I loved it. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes gentle fantasy.
Watched: Kajillionaire. Miranda July’s latest film was one I missed when it was released last summer (what are film releases anymore, honestly?), but I generally appreciate her works. This film had much more layered and complex narrative structure than her previous ones (both of which I also liked). Evan Rachel Wood carries the film–though her parents, Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger, are terrific as well–in an awkward characterization that is as often comical as it is heartwrenching. Gina Rodriguez, whom I normally don’t enthuse over, was also great in her role. It’s more of the slightly surreal world of odd characters than toes the fine line between eccentricity and believability that July inhabits, while the messages of LBGTQ+ identity and the family you choose are wonderfully woven into this strange universe.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvHmayokC4M
Read: Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips. Erin Ryan raved about this on a podcast last year and I’ve been interested in it ever since. I’m still in the process of reading it, but it’s clever and subversively challenges the narrative of “missing girls” stories.
Listened: Uh, it’s guilty pleasures time, I suppose.
On a lark, I’ve started listening to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s back catalogue again. She emerged as a sophisticated foil to Kylie in the Aughts and I’ve loved her unique voice ever since. During quarantine, she started doing Kitchen Disco parties on Instagram Live. She covered “Wuthering Heights” and, listening to her version, I found myself saying “Ah, so those are the lyrics?!?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWZz2a-_bQ0
In a completely different direction, I’m also plunging back into the brief oeuvre of Josef K. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xezXvodR6M
Aw, nuts. Here are the “listening links”:
Sophie Ellis-Bextor covers “Wuthering Heights”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWZz2a-_bQ0Josef K’s Peel Session
Third time’s the charm [or not]:
Sophie Ellis-Bextor covers “Wuthering Heights”
Josef K’s Peel Session: