What I watched: The Great (Hulu) If you don’t subscribe but have a free trial, now is the time to use it. If you already wasted it – bully your neighbors, bribe your friends, blackmail your siblings, whatever you have to do to get their code. This is a show worth ruining relationships for. It’s full of humor, intrigue, and beautiful people doing scandalous things. One thing it is not, is factual. Each episode bears the disclaimer * an occasionally true story. The finale was thrilling, I can’t wait for season 2. Huzzah!
What I read: A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman https://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/shortstories/emerald.pdf
Originally released in the 2003 collection Shadows Over Baker Street, its a Sherlock Holmes/Old Ones mashup, available along with several other short stories on Gaiman’s website. This is a very clever story, and a quick, fun read for fans of Conan Doyle and Lovecraft.
What I listened to: Guru, I’m two episodes in on the new Wondery podcast, the people who brought you other feel good tales like Dr. Death and Dirty John.
Subtitled The Dark Side of Enlightenment, it’s the story of self help guru James Arthur Ray and how his extreme methods eventually led to three deaths. Self help? This is why I don’t even try. Available wherever you listen to podcasts and the Wondery app.
And Julianna Barwick In Light. DUAN regulars know I’m a fan of ambient music. This track is off her fourth LP being released on July 10, and it has the same haunting vocals and gorgeous loops as her past work.
Your turn! All work and no play make Jack a crazed, ax wielding murderer. How have you entertained yourselves this week?
Gracious thanks and all the appreciation to Hannibal for this week’s Brain Drain!
Here is Chicos de Nazca is a band from Santiago Chile, Chilean psych rock.
I love this! I’ll be checking out their other stuff. And you’re very welcome. 😊
watching… f1 woohooo! its been like a hundred years since i had me some racing to watch…and now ill get it 3 weekends in a row to make up for lost time… pretty sure the missus will be getting annoyed at it again by the third weekend of me being hold everything! racing to watch!
eh…ill just tell her she should be happy i dont like football….again :p
reading… me mum brought by the wheel of time chronicles a week ago…theyve been sat in my room in her house for about 20 years ish now…figured i’d give them a re read before they go into the attic… im all out of shelf space here
aaaaand listening
still going for the locals here
Nice! I really like the lyrics. I’m all for supporting local music.
Adding another one to my playlist.
How is the sober boyfriend visit going?
lol going okay…. dudes painfully shy….or maybe just a little bit scared of me
cant say ive really got to know him yet…but then hes not here to see me..so i guess thats okay
daughter seems happy…so…im taking that to mean things are going good so far
tbh..ive mostly been leaving them alone and made sure they had food n drinks
Watched: The Cather Was A Spy. A fairly close version of the story of Moe Berg, the MLB catcher who served as an OSS operative during WW II. Well done, and Paul Rudd does better than you’d expect.
Read: Hellhound on His Trail by Hampton Sides. Sides is a great writer, who is probably my favorite history author. This story of how the paths of MLK Jr and James Early Ray crossed is incredible. It also gives a much more detailed account of what King was planning to do in terms of bringing national attention to the cause of poverty eradication than anything else I’ve read about him.
Listened: “Red, White and the Blues” on WGBH’s “The 1A” radio program. A fascinating, albeit brief, dive into some of the greatest blues recordings ever made.
Good list, I don’t know anything about the Moe Berg story. The Sides book sounds very good. But I may need to wait until( if) we get past the trump years before reading it.
The movie was good, but honestly if you’re interested I would recommend a book called The Bastard Brigade by Sam Kean. It’s about all of the nuclear espionage leading up to, and during WW II. Berg’s story is just one of many. The book also takes a deep dive into Joe Kennedy Jr and the mission in which he was killed. There were some crazy-ass dynamics in that family.
I’ll see if my library has the e book, ours are still closed.
Watched Porco Rosso on Netflix.
I really enjoyed this anime about a flying pig. It’s a great movie that can be watched by all ages. The English version of Porco was voiced by Michael Keaton who kind of uses his Beetlejuice voice.
Also watched Deadpool 2. A not so family film.
i’d second porco rosso that one was fun
and studio ghibli always has nice art
…the family that deadpools together…umm…breaks the fourth wall?
I haven’t seen that in years. I’m surprised it’s on Netflix. I thought AT & T had acquired the entire Studio Ghibli catalog for HBO Max.
netflix has most of studio ghiblis stuff atmo
tbh..they seem to be getting quite alot of anime lately
hmmm…think ill watch ponyo again…im in the mood for cute
…my neighbor totoro or kiki’s delivery service were the ones I remember as being high on the cute spectrum
…howl’s moving castle might be my favorite…but the flying islands of laputa is pretty great, too?
…I guess if I’m honest I thought the translation/dub on princess mononoke felt like it didn’t quite do the thing justice…but it’s still pretty great?
Don’t forget Spirited Away! Is the Flying Islands the one about the pirates?
…I think Laputa the flying island island was originally something mentioned in Gulliver’s Travels?
…but in Studio Ghibli terms it’s this one
Yes, that’s the one I was thinking of.
i cant watch howls moving castle here…its my daughters need a good cry movie…lol
also i never watch anything dubbed..im fine with subtitles
(tho..i do know a few people who cant follow a movie and subtitles at the same time….i put it down to not reading enough books)
…I’m with you on the subtitles thing…but iirc disney bought the rights to princess mononoke & then sat on it for like 10yrs or something…& when it was finally coming out I think I read somewhere that the translated dialogue had been worked on by neil gaiman…so I guess I thought it had a shot at really working & got disappointed?
If you’re looking for cute try Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts on Netflix.
ill check it out cheers 🙂
I think I saw that recommended by someone here and gave it a try. I binged basically an entire season last night. Can’t wait to finish the second season.
I was trying to sell it to my bestie and was failing until I me timed the talking Yakuza frogs. That was an instant sold.
It was recommended for me by Netflix and I gave it a pass. Then I heard it described on NPR and the frogs are what did it for me too, lol. I just started season 2 and am enjoying it as much as s1.
Apropos of nothing…OH MY GOD!
That is one patient dog! I’d love to have a bunny, and I think k when Fanny’s a little older she’d be okay with it.
What breed/mix is Fanny?
I thought I replied to this already but I must not have hit post.
She’s a Bloodhound/Coonhound mix. So she does have a strong prey drive. But she can be surprisingly gentle. Once she found a baby bird in the yard and just sniffed and nuzzled at it a bit. She’s fascinated by my daughter’s cat but in a lets play not an I’m going to kill you way. I think if properly supervised it could be okay. I’d hate to be wrong about something like that though. 😬
Fannie sounds like a very good dog. Our golden boxer is as sweet as can be with people and other dogs…but she is a stone cold killer with every other living creature. I fear that she would tear those bunnies to pieces because they are a little too similar to squirrels–which she goes absolutely apeshit over.