Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

This blog will pay for itself.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

When we show up, we win.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Let’s finish the job.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Second rate reporter says what?

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

You are here: Home / Medium Cool / Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Finding Solace in Culture

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Finding Solace in Culture

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In case you’re new to Medium Cool, BGinCHI is here once a week to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in.

Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools unsuffered.  We hope it’s a welcome break from the world of shit falling on our heads daily in the political sphere.

Tonight’s Topic:  Finding Solace in Culture

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Finding Solace in Culture 1

Take it away, BG!

In this week’s MC, let’s talk about solace.

It’s the first week of classes, it’s hot out (I know, I know: it’s the humidity), the kid and the dog need exercise, and I’m trying like hell to finish a book. First World problems? Yes. But even the fortunate need some solace, some amelioration, when pressures mount.

For me it might be watching The Big Lebowski or Moonrise Kingdom or The Third Man for the thousandth time. Or, my current crutch, reading a hard-boiled novel by Charles Williams (A Touch of Death), who I recently discovered.

What’s your go-to cultural comfort? A favorite film? TV show? Book?

And no, you can’t just say “Ice Cream.”

Reader Interactions

111Comments

  1. 1.

    Shana

    Either P.G. Wodehouse – creator of Jeeves and Wooster, Blandings Castle, Mr. Mulliner, Psmith, etc. etc. etc. Some of the funniest stuff you’ll ever read, and there are 97 books of his stuff out there!

    Or Anthony Trollope – much better than Dickens in my opinion, lots more books too. He has two major series of 6 novels each, The Pallisers mostly about British politics and surprisingly relevant to today, and the Chronicles of Barsetshire mostly about British church issues and politics because even church matters are political. Trollope is largely concerned with love. There is at least one proposal per book and usually more. More than love however is his concern about human nature in all its variety. He’s particularly good writing his women characters. Much more subtle than Dickens – no characters with names like Mr. Gradgrind or unrealistic coincidences to solve the difficulties of the plot. His characters also are not usually either all good and noble or horrible and evil.

  3. 3.

    Mary G

    Jane Austen is always good, and when I was so horribly sick last year, I listened to Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan  novels from Memory to Cryoburn an embarrassing number of times.

  4. 4.

    TaMara (HFG)

    I binged on audio versions of Janet Evanovich and Jennifer Crusie on my long drives this past month. I just pulled To Kill A Mockingbird off the shelf and will enjoy it before sleep for a week or so.

    Television sees me revisiting Longmire, Adam-12 (don’t judge) and Eureka.

    My newest obsession is Duty/Shame on Netflix. And I’m waiting for shorter days and cooler nights to binge on HBO’s Perry Mason.

    My taste, is nothing, if not eclectic.

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    Anyh number of 30s and 40s films but not going to open that box as am sure to leave out a favorite or six.

    Can watch The Stunt Man over and over again. Probably have seen it thirty or more times and am still finding little things interspersed within it which are new.

    TV-wise, the first ones which pop into the brainpan are Wonderfalls, Rumpole of the Bailey and maybe the Prime original series Patriot.

    And no, you can’t just say “Ice Cream.”

    Okey dokey, then. Gelato.

  6. 6.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Lonesome Dove and the Godfather I can fall into any time I chance across them on cable.

    I’m not a huge baseball fan, and I’m still not convinced restarting was a good idea, but I do find the games make for relaxing TV, until they show the players un-masked in the dugouts (dumb ass kids!)

    Earlier in the summer I was re-reading PD James. Audiobooks and history podcasts were successful distractions up until about two weeks ago. I’m hoping once the cooler weather comes I can actually focus on some actual books.

  7. 7.

    piratedan

    cultural pleasure delivery systems vary… if I want to smile I usually deploy..

    Books – Stephen J Martin’s trilogy of musical discovery with Superchick, Between Rock and a Hard Place and Ride On.

    Music – has to be Power Pop, Raspberries, Marshall Crenshaw, Shoes. Alternatively, its also hard to beat the goofball Americana of Southern Culture on the Skids.

    Film – Notting Hill or Galaxy Quest

    Anime – Mysterious Girlfriend X or Bakuman

     

    naturally ymmv

  8. 8.

    A Ghost to Most

    Music, particulary with lyrics that speak to the times. For Everyman by Jackson Browne is on heavy rotation “These Days.”

  9. 9.

    Heidi Mom

    I rewatch battle scenes from Game of Thrones–Hardhome, Bastards, Frozen Lake, Winterfell. Yes, it’s a very odd choice for an almost-70-year-old woman.

  10. 10.

    WV Blondie

    Well, since my husband and I share the TV, we have a handful of movies from which we both gain solace. First is O Brother Where Art Thou? – hubby regularly quotes lines, and the music is wonderful.

    Then there’s LOTR, of course – in part because it does serve to remind us that no matter how bleak things are, character, perseverance and luck (luck is important!) are what count.

    Books? I’m the reader. I’ve been enjoying trying to read an entire series of books in order by different authors (most of them rereads, of course). For instance, I have mostly finished John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport novels. It’s interesting to see the evolution of both the protagonist and the author over the 25 years or so that he’s been churning them out.

  11. 11.

    FelonyGovt

    Music- Paul Simon’s An American Tune is very, very timely but somehow soothing.

    And for movies- I can watch Local Hero, Lost in Translation, and The Station Agent over and over.

  13. 13.

    tokyokie

    My go-to author of pulp fiction is, of course, Jim Thompson. But his work is the opposite of uplifting, so much so that after making it through A Hell of a Woman, I couldn’t stand to read another of his novels for several months.

    As for movies, I can watch any Sergio Leone or Akira Kurosawa film countless times. Well, maybe not Red Beard or Madadayō. But I probably need to rewatch Ikiru to reinstill my confidence in the good side of humanity.

  15. 15.

    bluefoot

    Another Wodehouse fan here, though I use Wodehouse more for distraction than solace.

    For solace, it’s usually music for me. All kinds, genre and era depends on my mood. But usually something melodic for solace. My most frequent go to’s are Miles Davis, the Bach Cello Suites, and some old school house music. Also Prince, who reminds me that in the 80s we thought the world might end through the stupidity/venality of Reagan but we still found ways to dance through the horror and the fear. I recently discovered the group I’m With Her, which has been in heavy rotation as the world persists in chaos.

    Movies too – old screwball comedies, Strictly Ballroom. Some classics.

    I wish art galleries were open.  Looking at art always soothes my soul.

     

    ETA: I could go for some gelato too.

  17. 17.

    BGinCHI

    @Heidi Mom: Speaking of, with a twist.

    Re-watched Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky last night, which is so damn fun and funny. There’s a GoT gag in it I hadn’t noticed first time through and it’s super, super funny.

  25. 25.

    TomatoQueen

    Movies need to be well-structured, uplifting, and at least a little bit funny, so The Paper, The Post, All the President’s Men, The Sting, and My Cousin Vinny; TV is any/all Animal Planet offerings (or Nat Geo or whoever has big cats this week) or all British alla time the more obscure the better; Richard Attenborough doing whatever; Music  is wildly varied but nothing jarring and preferably on original instruments so at the moment the American Epic Sessions or The King and I or well HAMILTON.

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    Queued up on Netflix but not yet viewed is the Egyptian version of the top-notch, addictive period soapy series from Spain Gran Hotel (on Netflix as Grand Hotel*), this one called Secrets of the Nile.

    Reviews are excellent, hoping they pan out.

    *Turned Mom on to it and watched it a second time (it holds up on rewatching) with her when I was there a few years back; she came as close to binge watching as possible. Fans of stuff like Downton Abbey ought to also become hooked.

    Oh, also a note that if a supernatural thriller floats yer boat, one short season and done BBC series The Fades has come back on Prime. Maybe not a diamond but certainly a sizeable semi-precious gem.

  27. 27.

    Shana

    @piratedan: Amazon Prime. I know what I”m doing tonight!

    Forgot to mention: we’ve been watching Korean dramas for the last few months. Highly recommended.

  28. 28.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @TomatoQueen: The Post. I think I’ve been watching it once or twice a month all summer to remind myself that truth does come out.

    I’m actually pretty much on board with any of Tom Hanks feel good films. Watching him make it safely back to earth, land a plane on the Hudson or take down the WH makes me feel better.

  31. 31.

    K488

    @Shana: The Way We Live Now is both a terrific novel, and was made into a mini-series with David Suchet.  Very relevant to today.  And the writing is wonderful!

  35. 35.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Shana: I find Trollope absorbing. I finished the Barsetshire chronicles a couple of years ago, and I’ve been meaning to dig into the Palliser books. Maybe this fall

  37. 37.

    narya

    @WV Blondie: I am reading LOTR for maybe the 35th time (halfway through Return of the King right now). I don’t read it every year, but I rarely go two years w/o a read.

    @Shana: I love Trollope! As a first year in college in the late 70s, we had to read “The Warden,” and I think I mostly didn’t fully get it. But the image of him playing air cello stuck with me, and I went back in my mid-30s and found that I loved him–read it all. And, it turned out, a guy w/ whom I played handball had done a lot of work on Trollope, so post-handball beers occasionally had discussion of Trollope. I keep thinking I need to reread.

    Let’s see; what else? Hockey is good. I have an unread Neal Stephenson I’ve been saving. This summer I did a reread of the Dresden files, in prep for “Peace Talks.” Food and cooking shows, if they’re not too competitive and focus more on the actual food (I don’t much like Chopped or Beat Bobby Flay, for example; too much chest-thumping).

    Basically, respite. I want to read Tom Levenson’s book, but am afraid that non-fiction will bum me out too much. And I have a plot for a novel that I would write if I could write fiction, and the outline of a book that would have been the successor to my dissertation if I’d gotten an academic job all those years ago.

  39. 39.

    Brachiator

    Love Hitchcock. I think The 39 Steps is a delightful concoction of suspense and wit.

    Recently have rediscovered The Thin Man, and love the interplay of William Powell and Myrna Loy.

  40. 40.

    Ken

    I’ve re-read the Terry Pratchett Discworld novels, and am working my way through Kage Baker’s Company novels.

    Side question: The cover of A Touch of Death makes it look a lot like Dial M for Murder. Is there any resemblance? Possibly the publisher was using The Asylum‘s mockbuster strategy to drum up sales?

  41. 41.

    Miss Bianca

     

    @Omnes Omnibus: Dorothy L. Sayers, Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, Rafael Sabatini, Alexandre Dumas…I’d add Patrick O’Brian to that list, but I usually find Aubrey/Maturin challenges more than soothes me.

    Just discovered Lois McMaster Bujold, thanks to this joint, and she also hits that sweet spot of “elegant writing + well-rounded characters + good plotting + wit” that I find I have to turn to against the briars of this workaday world. (Hmm, I guess O’Brian would be a “solace read” then, by those criteria.)

  42. 42.

    Hob

    I’m having a hard time answering the question because I think I’ve fallen out of touch with my comfort reading/viewing things over the years, so there are times when revisiting those things would probably help me feel better but it just doesn’t occur to me.

    However, right now I’m getting a kick out of having learned that there’s a hard-boiled crime writer called Charles Williams, because it makes me wonder what a hard-boiled crime novel by this other Charles Williams would be like.

  43. 43.

    narya

    Maybe we should do a blog Trollope read?

    Also: finally started watching Schitt’s Creek and damn, it makes me laugh out loud. I hate watching Chris Elliot (he doesn’t bother me as a person, but the only movie in which I can stand him is Groundhog Day), and I can even deal with that. And I’m looking forward to a rewatch of The Good Place before the final season hits Netflix.

  44. 44.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @Shana:

    Trollope is largely concerned with love. There is at least one proposal per book and usually more. More than love however is his concern about human nature in all its variety. He’s particularly good writing his women characters.

    He’s particularly wonderful at conveying the emotional complexity behind every seemingly simple person or act. I read much of Trollope’s oeuvre when I was in my early 20s, and I can honestly say that he taught me that men are capable of feelings other than anger, boredom, and disappointment at a time in my life when I had little other evidence of that.

    My escape, always, is back into the fascinatingly fraught and beautifully evoked world of 16th C Europe with Dorothy Dunnett’s great Lymond Chronicles. (Don’t read the summaries of later books in the series before you’ve read the earlier books!)

  45. 45.

    BGinCHI

    @Ken: I honestly don’t know. Hard Case does have blurbs on all their illustrators. They take their covers really seriously.

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    @shana

    If you haven’t already seen it, the 2009 Korean series Iris is still on Netflix, I believe. Not to be confused with the movies or sequel series of the same title.

    Caveat: First episode, though necessary to get a handle on the characters, is mostly a saccharine slog that gives next to zero indication of the action-packed ride to come.

  49. 49.

    RSA

    @NotMax Wonderfalls is so charming! What a great show.

    My comfort reading these days is somewhat by-the-numbers crime thrillers. Lee Child, David Baldacci, Karin Slaughter. etc.

  50. 50.

    Yutsano

    That kind of dovetails with mine: plane crash simulations. I don’t know why I find them compelling but I do. Probably because I have a friend who is a pilot, although he does cargo.

  51. 51.

    stinger

    @Shana: Trollope for the win! I just went 6 days without power or running water. I was in the middle of a couple of other novels but set them aside and read 4 Trollopes during that time (sometimes by candlelight or flashlight). It was all I could handle, and I knew I could rely on him for humanist, non-judgmental characterization and plots. I don’t usually read him with this in mind, but he is rather soothing in many respects.

  52. 52.

    Mary Ellen Sandahl

    That cover art is fab. I assume it’s the original for the paperback of the noir-pulp era; there were some great illustrators working then (speaking as a quite different sort of illustrator myself).
    To temporarily ease away from our current darkness, I’m enjoying a slow progress through Ron Chernow’s massive Washington. With maybe some Debussy or Vivaldi or Scott Joplin in the background, courtesy of NYC’s classical radio station, WQXR.

  53. 53.

    piratedan

    @Miss Bianca: congrats on discovering Bujold, she’s simply masterful and her world building (in multiple worlds via multiple series) is pretty stunning.

  54. 54.

    FelonyGovt

    Have you seen Comfort and Joy written and directed by Bill Forsyth (who wrote and directed Local Hero)? A radio DJ with a broken heart around Christmastime coupled with warring ice cream truck gangs. @BGinCHI:

  55. 55.

    Elizabelle

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:

    @ narya:     First I’d ever heard of Dunnett was from you jackals a week or two ago.

    Does a new reader read the books in sequence?  In the order written and published?

    Our library has maybe 3 or 4 of them; thinking I can find them online elsewhere, too.

  57. 57.

    narya

    @Elizabelle: Definitely in order! I tend to read Lymond then Niccolo, in part because I’m a save-the-best-for-last person and in part because that’s how they were written. The time periods in which the series are set is reversed, however. I did not/do not find that that matters, though. I also recommend the two companion books (Elspeth somebody, maybe?) to help sort out the fictional and non-fictional people and references. ETA: “in order” within each series, I mean. Don’t skip around within a series.

  58. 58.

    aliasofwestgate

    hrmm.

    Books: So far i’ve been working my way through Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles which are entertaining af. I do need a reread of Discworld but need to get ahold of some digital copies first.  Oh, the Dune Saga is something i love to reread semi regularly.

    TV: Been doing a year long rewatch of the One Piece anime. Absolutely uplifting and crazy good plots, along with one of my fave themes of Found Family used. It’s comfort food for me in a lot of ways.

    Movies don’t reallly appeal to me hugely right now, but a few go to for me are The Dark Crystal and The Last Unicorn.

  59. 59.

    eddie blake

    i get a lot of mileage out of anime. right now watching tomino’s re-working of zeta gundam. really good stuff.

  60. 60.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @Elizabelle: @narya:  Yup, absolutely read in order of publication! Start with The Game of Kings, but be warned – that first volume has lots of untranslated quotes in multiple (mostly Romance) languages, most of which you can skip without losing the plot. Dunnett settled down and stopped doing that quite so much in later books. Narya is right that Elspeth Morrison’s Companion books are very helpful, but honestly I’d forego them and just quickly search online for any phrase or historical event you can’t understand until you get through the first book or two. Don’t get bogged down.

    If I could erase my memory and choose any book to read again for the first time – but with the benefit of all the experience and education I’ve gained since – it would probably be Pride and Prejudice, but Game of Kings would be a close second.

  62. 62.

    SFBayAreaGal

    Television: Deep Space Nine, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Perry Mason (original), Vera and any British mystery, The Science Channel, National Geographics

    Movies: LOTR, Sci-fi movies (arrgh having a mind freeze at the moment), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and other classic movies, Back to School, The Natural, Enchanted April and any movie that makes me feel good,

    Books: LOTR, East of Eden, Cannery Row, Louise Penny Mysteries, Jane Austen, any mysteries and of course sci-fi

  63. 63.

    stinger

    Movies: Much Ado about Nothing. If I really need solace and nothing negative, I just watch the first ten minutes: the poetry reading on a sunny Tuscan hillside, the soldiers galloping over the hill, everybody stripping and jumping laughingly into communal baths, then (dressed) they all stride into the courtyard for the official welcome. And then the Beatrice/Benedick banter starts and I generally can’t turn it off!

    ETA: Oh, and every moment of Enchanted April! Thanks, SFBayAreaGal for the reminder! The book is great, too!

    Music: Anything Baroque, especially the Brandenburgs. The Lark Ascending. Nessun Dorma by Pavarotti or John Hagen. Sloop John B by Sanctus G.C.  Sixteen Tons by the Red Army Choir.

  64. 64.

    UncleEbeneezer

    The only thing comforting we watch are cooking shows: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat and Parma Lakshmi’s Taste of the Nation and Brittan’s Best Home Cook. Can’t take the US overly produced ones.

    We also found some great hiking videos on YouTube. Nordiktrekker is one of them. And they do hour long HD videos of some truly amazing trips. Very soothing in this dreaded heat.

    On tv we have been digging Lovecraft Country and I May Destroy You. We are in the final season of The Americans and The Wire. Both are superb.

    We’ve also been on a disaster movie kick and really enjoyed The Wave and The Quake which are both fun but ridiculously tense films from Norway. We also loved Train to Busan.

  65. 65.

    TomatoQueen

    @TaMara (HFG): Exactly. I think Tom Hanks should get an extra subsidy or statue as Best Public Servant (entertainment) Since Jimmy Stewart.  He and Rita even did solid work in the beginning of Covid!

    Whenever the sheer volume of general effrontery incurs my wrath, I calm myself down with Jacques Pepin giving what-for to an onion. Finest Kind.

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @UncleEbeneezer

    Years ago a friend and I somehow got on a kick of watching underwater or on water disaster movies.

    One evening he knocked on the door, excitedly waving a videotape the rental store had gotten in of one we hadn’t yet seen.

    At the exact same moment the same movie was beginning on a cable movie channel on my TV.

    :)

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    @TomatoQueen

    Shame the original Japanese Iron Chef isn’t available on streaming. Goofy melange for foodies and the food curious.

    American version? Yuck-o.

  70. 70.

    stinger

    If you like Local Hero, The Commitments, and suchlike, you’d probably enjoy War of the Buttons.

  71. 71.

    Miss Bianca

    @narya: I’m going through Schitt’s Creek Seasons One and Two right now, and I am finding it LOL funny. My friend D not so much – the odd, quizzical chuckle now and then – but tough. I’m planning to watch Halt and Catch Fire for him.

  72. 72.

    AM in NC

    The Aubrey/Maturin novels by Patrick O’Brian – like visiting with old friends.

    And recently I binged watched The Great British Baking Show on Netflix. It was such a positive, uplifting antidote to all the shit going on in our world.

  73. 73.

    prostratedragon

    Compressing as much as I can, lately all the British mystery tv (Hidden is in Wales, Shetland is, well, …). The whole Twin Peaks cycle a couple of times a year. For old-shoe comfort, Perry Mason, The Andy Griffith Show, The Twilight Zone, Hitchcock tv, and of late, Black-ish.

    Music, well, it’s quite a range. Basically jazz, classical, new tango, old soul. Also some other stuff. I went through a period in my life, fortunately rather brief, in which everything, music included, sounded like a bitter joke of some kind. It’s worth the work needed to get out of that place. Crash therapy: “Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror” or “Ambient 4: On Land”, Harold Budd and Brian Eno.

    Haven’t read for pleasure as much as I used to –this and that have taken a toll on that kind of attention for me– but I might start again, maybe with Toni Morrison,  P.D. James, or LeCarré, all both re-reading and getting up to date.

    “Sixteen Tons by the Red Army Choir.” Goodness, I have got to check that out.

  74. 74.

    bmoak

    I used to love long, complex shows built around amoral characters like Sopranos and The Wire , but I just can’t anymore, especially this year. Since I’m usually doing something else while the TV is on, I’m tending do either watch or rewatch stuff where I won’t get lost if my attention wanders for a minute or two.

    I’m watching a lot of cartoons lately. The fact that both Avatars (The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra) have just shown up on Netflix brings me some comfort.

  76. 76.

    tokyokie

    @BGinCHI: 天国と地獄 is a great film as well. (Sorry, I had the kanji title in a Word file I had open. But the literal translation of the title is Heaven and Hell.) But Kurosawa directed more movies that I consider all-time classics than anyone other than possibly Robert Bresson.

  78. 78.

    Miss Bianca

    @UncleEbeneezer: I just rewatched Jaws, for the first time since seeing it in the movie theater at age 12, and was astounded all over again at how good it is – and Lord, what a commentary on our times! Just substitute “COVID-19” for “shark attack”!

  81. 81.

    ThresherK

    If you enjoy book covers such as the one at the top, there is a Twitter account called PulpLibrarian which shows lots of print ephemera like it, and discusses their place in cultural history.

  82. 82.

    Narya

    @Miss Bianca: my friend had heard an interview w the Levys and it turned out I’d already added it to my queue (and we finished Grace and Frankie), so we tried an ep—and laughed multiple times.

  83. 83.

    tokyokie

    @Shana: I love contemporary Korean movies and find them far more interesting than Hollywood fare. One multiplex around here has been showing some Asian films (lots of Indian, about the same number of Chinese and Korean, a few Philippine rom-coms, all of which suck), and I’ve been trying to catch all the Korean ones that come through. Except I haven’t seen a movie in a theater, Korean or otherwise, since the first week of March. Sigh.

     

    Oh, and try to track down Memories of Murder (살인의 추억 Sarinui chueok), a movie Bong Joon-ho made before Parasite.

  84. 84.

    prostratedragon

    @stinger:  Thank you!

     

    (Moments later) Wow, what a bass! And sings it like he means it. Reminds me that a lot of those miners in Appalacia were immigrants.

  87. 87.

    Tim Now Sir Simon Poshlord

    Cougar Town. Community. Working my way back to 30 Rock and Parks.

    The collected Sturgeon. All Sandman. Bits o’ Bukowski.

    My extensive thrift shop surf guitar record library.

  88. 88.

    FelonyGovt

    If you have Acorn TV  and enjoy gardening at all, check out The Instant Gardener. Delightful.

  89. 89.

    James E Powell

    Paul Newman’s movies, William Kennedy’s Albany novels, Rolling Stones’s albums.

    If there were a cable channel that just showed all the TV shows that Noam Pitlik had anything to do with, I would subscribe.

  91. 91.

    Feathers

    @Ken: Hard Case Crime’s been around since the early 2000s and using painted covers in the style of old school pulp fiction since the start. They even republished some old school stuff and hired artists who worked in the 50s-70s, included Robert McGinnis. Interesting side note, McGinnis turned in a cover which met the standards of the covers he had done in the 50s/60s, only to have it rejected as too risque by Walmart.

    I’m going to be rereading Sara Gran’s Claire DeWitt books. I’ve been thinking about it, but Laura has convinced me to jump in. The first book is Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, about Claire’s search for the least corrupt Assistant District Attorney in New Orleans, who disappeared during Katrina. Gran lived through Katrina, and the book feels haunted. All of her books have an almost occult feeling, on the border of urban fantasy. Claire is a follower of Jaques Silette, the world’s greatest detective, who mysteriously vanished, leaving acolytes who study his only book Détection. Silettians collect clues and read Détection, looking for tarot-like patterns to solve their case. Gran’s DeWitt books are really not like any other mysteries out there and I highly recommend.

    The night after the 2016 election I started watching Poirot, in order, which got me through to March. I found that the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes episodes are on YouTube, and expect I’ll be watching them all.
    Other recommends: On Amazon Prime the Waldemar Januszczak art documentaries. Anti-snobbish, making arguments for both overlooked and overrated art. making an argument for art as pleasure, both for the viewer and the artist. The ones on Islamic art should be required viewing. Lucy Worsley does British history (including a series on British mysteries). Most are on Prime or one of the British steaming services. Some are on YouTube.

  92. 92.

    There go two miscreants

    OK, you folks have sold me on Trollope, who I keep thinking about and not getting to! In return let me recommend a companion book for him, also for Austen: What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew, by Daniel Pool (note: not “Poole”). Helps immensely in keeping all the titled folks sorted out, as well as other aspects of life back then.

    Now that it’s getting dark earlier, time to start a re-watch of the entire set of Emma Peel episodes of The Avengers!

  94. 94.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @stinger:  Agreed! 19th (& 19th) century novels are great escapes. They were written to be escapes; they were the (very expensive for the time) equivalent of blockbuster movies. And since everyone is living without electricity, and most without running water, they’re not bad for reading when you’re without either.
    I’d be up for a Trollop thread (or in general a 19thc novel thread)
    However, if anyone here is looking for escapism via Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, let me give you all this “Bane Outtakes” (wear a mask) perspective on the coronavirus (which I found hilarious):
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQpfYAxfiak

  97. 97.

    Feathers

    @There go two miscreants: That box set was one of my best DVD purchases!

    @NotMax: Try to track down the Stephen Chow film God of Cookery. It’s a kung fu comedy spoof of Iron Chef. I actually saw that before I saw the actual Iron Chef. Friends were having to explain that, no, this is a real show.

    @bluefoot: There is a documentary series on Netflix about child ballroom dancers in the UK. Lots of fun.

  98. 98.

    NotMax

    @Feathers

    Also on Prime are a few Mary Beard documentaries on the Romans. Nice stuff.

    Some people become simply apoplectic over them, without creditable rhyme or reason. I honestly think it’s because (a) she’s a woman and (b) she wears casual attire and traipses about in sneakers.

  99. 99.

    Feathers

    Forgot a new podcast. Phoebe Judge (from Criminal) is doing a coronovirus podcast Phoebe Reads a Mystery, where she reads a chapter from a classic (AKA public domain) mystery every night. She has a very soothing voice and it has become my goto quiet fall asleep to podcast. She does have an odd pronunciation of Poirot at times and can fall into that turn prose into blank verse audiobook readers often do. But she is reading a chapter a day for us! She started with The Mysterious Affair at Styles and is currently reading Dracula.

  100. 100.

    Feathers

    @NotMax: Yep. I pointed out to a friend once that the only older women you see paid to be on TV with the faces god gave them have tenure. He protested, but then admitted I was right a few months later.

    There is a huge amount of racist authoritarianism tied into the British pride in their Roman heritage as well. Her pointing out that the “Romans” who ruled over Britain were largely Polish, Spanish and North African must drive them up the (Hadrian’s) wall. There was a traveling exhibit of Greek and Roman statuary painted in their original colors. Imagine how different the world would be if all those Greek and Roman statues were painted brown, as they would have been in ancient times. I went to it and couldn’t help noticing that because all of the colors came from natural sources, ancient Greek temples had the pretty much the same same color palate as a Mexican restaurant (plus blue). Link: True colors

  101. 101.

    Jess

    Well, Dexter is doing it for me these past few weeks. So many people I’d like to see him take out…

  102. 102.

    andy

    i had a week of vacation scheduled when the lockdown started here in Minnesota. i found myself sucked down the historical costuming youtube rabbit hole when i watched this Bernadette Banner video while searching for a video about making masks. her weird musical accent has been part of my mental soundtrack ever since.

  103. 103.

    Tim Now Sir Simon Poshlord

    @Benw: 
    I’ll take that.
    Weird that I’m 60 and that song is my world?
    As a punk Rock OG I own shares of stock in everything that followed.

  104. 104.

    Tim Now Sir Simon Poshlord

    Know what I just did? 10 pm, front porch, coffee with choc. syrup and Splenda, dug Springsteen “Hard Times Come Again No More” 2009 Hyde Park. Wept like a stepchild, got thru it, now happier than I’ve been in 3 days. Solace!

  107. 107.

    The Mugster

    For music, the angelic harmonies of Ian & Sylvia.
    For reading, the elegant fiction of Robertson Davies.

  110. 110.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @NotMax: 40 Meters Down is a pretty fun, water disaster flick if you can just take it for what it is.  We just watched Piranha for the first time, omg, so crazy bad but fun.

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