What I Watched: Rake, a funny show about an Australian barrister with few scruples and many very bad decisions, beyond Lutheresque. It is based on the life of Charles Waterstreet, “an internationally renowned Australian barrister, author, film producer and a co-creator of the hit TV show RAKE”.
He was a modern-day rake, a womanizing, gambling, drinking, drugging, lying, cuckolding fellow with a charming personality. At one point he asks his PA to find him aspirin; in the entire court and chambers she can only find alcohol and cocaine. At another, three ex-wives or significant others fall asleep in his bed, and he ends up on the couch, totally dismayed. I am not doing this show justice – it is well worth a watch.
Here is a quote from the Guardian: “But I’m surprised by how rarely reviewers note the emotional heart of Rake: the characterisation of a brilliant barrister who is also a brilliant dickhead; who feels the world in brilliant extremes. Though Cleaver longs to be a good man, he continues to self-sabotage: he has messed up his marriage to Wendy, sets a terrible example to his son, falls in love with his sex worker, carries on with the booze and the drugs, disappoints his sisters and betrays his heroic best mate Barney – the all-round good bloke Cleaver will never be – by sleeping with his wife.”
What I Read: Since last posting, I read all the books. I must stress that I read when I can’t sleep, most evenings after dinner, weekends, and am not reading War and Peace, so this really isn’t as much as it may appear. All of these books were fine; the Psychic Solutions was my favorite, as it has moved Patricia Rice’s historical books about the Malcolm family into the modern day.
- The Secret of Bow Lane (A Below Stairs Mystery Book 6) by Jennifer Ashley
- Reckoning: An FBI Thriller by Catherine Coulter
- Holiday Rogue: An Albertini Family Romance #2 (The Anna Albertini Files) by Rebecca Zanetti
- Pink Moon (A Hex Support Mystery Book 1) by Annabel Chase, Tana Grey
- The Duke’s Accidental Bride by Eva Devon
- Pushin’ Up Daisies (Black Swan Historical Romance Book 1) by Carolyn Brown
- From Thin Air (Black Swan Historical Romance Book 2) by Carolyn Brown
- Come High Water (Black Swan Historical Romance Book 3) by Carolyn Brown
- A Ghost of a Chance (Haunted Series Book 37) by Alexie Aaron
- Aura of Night: A Novel (Krewe of Hunters Book 37) by Heather Graham
- The Crystal Key: Psychic Solutions Mystery #3 by Patricia Rice
What I Listened To: Coming Home by Haunted Youth; Polygod by Hayden Thorpe; Geese by Low Era; and Roman Candle by Ruby Haunt.
Thank you for playing Brain Drain! How are you, darling ones? DeadSplinterites, tell us what is up with you!
Watching Gangster Squad (the 2013 film.)
A much stupider version of the Untouchables film and dumb sister to LA Confidential.
The Black and Hispanic cops seem more…. uh insulting modern tokenism considering that the real life Gangster Squad was white as pure driven snow (‘shocking’ I know considering the LAPD.) If you wanted historical accuracy then I might suggest something less fictional like… the Untouchables.
Ah, a bad film warning – thank you!
What I watched: No Time To Die. It was a good film. I’ve always preferred the Daniel Craig era Bond films to all of the predecessors, so I’m hoping they keep up the same vibe with Lashana Lynch. I know some people were super pissed that she was the new 007, but that didn’t bother me because she wasn’t “Jamie Bond.” 007 is nothing more than a marker for a character. What did piss me off was that they killed James at the end–but I’m betting that Daniel Craig insisted on that so that they wouldn’t ask him to come back again. I always loved the idea of James Bond living out a quiet retirement on an island somewhere.
What I read: Still reading the new book, but I’m already 2/3 of the way through it.
What I listened to: Our latest stop on the tour of the best engineered albums of all time brings us to Blue Moon Swamp by John Fogerty. Released in 1997 and engineered by John Lowson and the legendary Bob Clearmountain, this is pretty standard Fogerty fare, musically speaking. Pretty similar in style to his Centerfield album. But, sonically, this is an entity unto itself. It has a open, slightly airy sound stage, with punchy kick drum that doesn’t take over the whole thing. Fogerty’s guitar is clear and not muddled at all–which is no small thing considering his preferred tone. The vocals are a little buried in the mix, but the engineers did an excellent job of picking up his slightly raspy character. This is one of those albums that I came into not expecting much and came out of very pleasantly surprised.
I’ve always liked the theory that James Bond is simply a role that’s adopted by different agents over the decades. When one retires or dies, a new James Bond, 007, is appointed, and all of his ID and whatnot are updated to the new agent’s pictures, fingerprints, DNA, etc. That protects any family the agent has and also creates an air of “invincibility” for enemies. There’s only so many 00 agent slots, and replacement agents rotate through them.
Craig Bond films are hit and miss with me. It seems his every other Bond was good and the following one was horrible.
I’ve seen Quantum of Solace and Spectre on mostly Fast Forward because I fell asleep through much of it and they didn’t feel worth watching on real time.
I was raised on Mr. Connery, the groundbreaking, trend-setting Bond.
I think someone here recommended Reservation Dogs and I watched the first three episodes of the first season. It’s really good, with a great cast and relaxed but smart direction.
I started to watch the British show The Outlaws by Office creator Stephen Merchant, but it didn’t click. It may be cultural, but it feels stagey, which isn’t necessarily bad, but stagey in uninteresting ways, which isn’t good. Of course that’s a reaction after only one episode, so it may not be fair.
I keep forgetting about Reservation Dogs – thank you for the reminder.
…I believe a second season just recently came out, though I’ve not got to it yet…looking forward to it, though…reservation dogs is/was pretty great
I finally have something to contribute. I read Mercury Pictures Presents, by Anthony Marra. It’s hot off the presses. It’s historical fiction centered around a woman who leaves Mussolini’s Italy and makes her way to Hollywood, but not as a starlet.
It combines two of my interests, what it was like to live in a Fascist country and the Golden Age of Hollywood, but there’s so much else besides. It has a large cast of characters, as it must. It’s also very funny and very moving, both in surprising ways. Five stars. Since Hollywood likes making movies about Hollywood I hope they make a movie out of this, or maybe a Ryan Murphy limited series like “Feud,” but I think Ryan Murphy always has many projects going on so I don’t know whether he would ever get around to this.
Ohhh – and can you replicate any of the dinners or foods for FYCE????
I’ll have to go back and reread a part of it again. There’s only one Italian meal described that I remember (it’s homemade and is named after one of the characters) but I can’t remember how detailed the description was. It’s a plot device to get some of the characters talking.
My friend also suggests Love, Victor – he says that between that show and Uncoupled he is very happy “I never expected to have such options”.
Finally finished The Boys, and whew. That’s a ride. If you can’t tolerate graphic violence, steer clear. There are some interesting satirical takes on current events, though.
Started watching Sandman last night, and I am optimistic. It looks pretty good so far, so I have hopes that it will be an interesting take on the story without being a slavish recreation of the comics. Which, as I’ve stated before, is my preference. I can reread the comics if I want to see the same story again.
Also started watching Uncoupled, which comes across initially as a gay Sex and the City. Okay so far, but not terribly funny just yet, for something billed as a comedy.
The “satirical takes on current events” kept me watching The Boys, albeit from behind my hands at times. Sandman is on the watch list, thank you for the affirmation!
…haven’t seen all of it yet but have been low-key dreading the sandman…&…it’s not bad?
…I can’t help that some things land poorly with me…or feel lacking…the density of references & background detail that are available in the comics rather than a live action format can’t help to sell some stuff short…at least to the likes of me…& though I get why they’ve made some of the changes they have & I can’t fault the cast or the performances for the most part…if anyone watches it & likes it I can’t recommend the version you read enough
…it might actually top v for vendetta for buried references to this or that but if literature or mythology…& it makes for a great read whether you get bogged down in that kind of things or just burn through the pages chasing the narrative…& with the possible exception of his collaboration with terry pratchett on good omens is very probably the best thing neil gaiman will ever write…& I say that as someone who likes a fair bit of his other stuff?
Okay then! Sandman it is, for all the reasons that you wrote!
I am mostly through Our Flag Means Death and it’s been a fun ride.
I’m mad at Stede Bonnett for being more pissypants over his family declaring him dead than actually running off to play pirate LARP with Blackbeard.
Also, wow Karl the Seagull. I don’t even like seagulls and that had me very sad!
Rats, another HBO show…sounds quite good, especially with the multi-talented Taika Waititi.
HBOMax is merging with Discovery+. So I wouldn’t be surprised if shows started being available across platform sometime in the future!
i kept quiet for this long coz the only thing i watched was fistful of vengeance
it was terrible…bad acting…plot a toddler could predict….soundtrack that doesnt match the movie…tho the songs aint bad
it is pretty easy on the eyes tho….kinda wierds me out when something looks like an a lister but is actually just a random hobo you found out back come showtime
apparently its the sequal to wu assassins… a movie i skipped coz it looked kinda terrible
the sequal confirms my beliefs…. but also turned up at a moment of peak boredom for me….so i watched it
oh and listenting to emerald sun
seems im in the mood for some meaty power metal today
also this one looks like it may be real good
READING
LISTENING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otdxVuSFRYk
WATCHING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjDnJBq_Quc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmxKUwB8VFQ
Apologies — not sure what’s going on with the YouTube links.