Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

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

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

Cole is on a roll !

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

If marriage is the equivalent of selling yourself into slavery, women with self respect should reject the offer.

In after Baud. Damn.

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

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Not all heroes wear capes.

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

T R E 4 5 O N

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

You are here: Home / Medium Cool / Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Recommendation Week

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Recommendation Week

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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:  Recommendation Week

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – It's Recommendation Week

It’s Recommendation Week at Medium Cool.

We’ll make this a recurring series, so those of us who have things to share can save up, and those of us who are looking for a good recommendation know where to find one (or ten).

So give us a good TV show, or a book, film, or anything cultural that might tickle someone’s fancy.

 

Reader Interactions

115Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    Currently watching “Raised By Wolves” on HBO (produced and some episodes directed by Ridley Scott).

    It’s really interesting sci-fi. I’m not sure I love it, but it’s really compelling.

    Anyone else watching it?

  3. 3.

    Kifaru1

    I have been so worried about Allie Brosh! Glad to see she is back. She posted on FB last night and I preordered the book today. Hyperbole & a Half is my son’s favorite book.  I would recommend books by XKCD’s Thing Explainer.

  7. 7.

    Ivan X

    Hanna, on Prime, is proving to be a good diversion.

    I also am delighted to have just discovered novelist Ross Thomas, and enjoyed his incredibly entertaining and well written yarns The Cold War Swap, which was sort of like a less dour Spy Who Came In From the Cold, full of 1966 Berlin intrigue, and also The Fools In Town Are On Our Side, about cynical political machinations in a fictional Southern city in the late 60’s/early 70’s. Be warned that reading these requires tolerating the prejudices and stereotypes of the eras in which they were written, and are mostly about hard-drinking, hard-fighting, emotionally inexpressive men who speak in clipped sentences. (Sometimes I wish I was more like that. Not really, but sometimes.) But the author obviously knows his stuff, which gives the books a credibility amidst the wild storytelling.

  8. 8.

    William D

    • My wife stumbled upon Staged on Hulu…a quarantine lockdown comedy starring david tennant and Michael sheen and some Very Special guest stars….it was like spending an afternoon with them…very british and very funny
  11. 11.

    raven

    We’re watching “Away” on Netflix it’s stars Hillary Swank and it’s ok. I’m trying to read Cast but, goddamn, I’m sure is is accurate but it is painful.

  12. 12.

    MattF

    I’ve reread a couple of recent faves, and they are both still very good.

    The Rook by Daniel O’Malley is in the ‘secret UK government organization does secret supernatural stuff’ genre and is excellent. Very funny with an excellent concept and engaging characters. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is your ideal ‘lesbian necromancers in space explore haunted house’ novel, and the author has a quite impressive knowledge of anatomy.

  13. 13.

    tim not so posh

    Just discovered The Gone Wrong Show. (British) Amateur theater plagued by Murphy’s Law. It’s like all of Carol Burnett’s film and tv parodies plus Benny Hill x 10. The gags are so thick and fast it’s almost exhausting. O you will larf.

  14. 14.

    Scout211

    If any of you are interested in book group type of books, two we read this year were just amazing and truly wonderful.

    The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

    The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

  15. 15.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @BGinCHI: I’m ambivalent about it so far. The overall concept is good, but it as a parable it seems too heavy handed. Typical Ridley Scott.

    Liking Lovecraft Country, although it has a tendency to some of the same heavy handedness.

    Also too, new Archer episodes in a couple of hours.

  19. 19.

    BGinCHI

    @Viva BrisVegas: Watched the first two Lovecraft Country eps. Liked the first a lot and the 2nd just overdid it to the point that I doubt I’ll go back.

    Too much horror and monster stuff and not enough character and plot, for me. Not my style.

    Really wanted to like it, esp as a show about the horrors of race in America, etc.

  20. 20.

    narya

    @Yutsano: @BGinCHI:  I had read the books, and liked them, so was looking forward to the show. Loved THAT, too–and then it went to Amazon instead of SciFi, and I refuse to do Amazon. But I thought it was well-cast.
    And as long as we’re talking about that: the Expanse books are quite good–but the Dagger & Coin series by just Abraham is outstanding. Alert Tom Levenson–it also talks about banking and money systems. And the long price quartet is also good.

  21. 21.

    RSA

    @MattF: I enjoyed The Rook. Good world-building, characters, and a mystery from the very start. I have the sequel on my ebook reader but haven’t been able to get into it as quickly.

  23. 23.

    geg6

    I like documentaries, especially documentary series, a lot.  Loved, loved, loved “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” from HBO.  Patton Oswalt is poignant in it.  It’s a love letter to his wife, strange as that is to say about a documentary about a serial killer.  Am currently obsessed with “Love Fraud,” a Showtime doc series about a conman who finds women online and takes them for all they have.  The women have a blog, a crazy, scary, hilarious female bounty hunter and a burning desire to track him down.  Real life is stranger than fiction.

  24. 24.

    Erin in Flagstaff

    @BGinCHI: The Expanse takes commitment to get to the MUST WATCH stage. Get to episode 4 for the first big “I love this!” and then later in season 1 things get exciting.

    It’s really in season 2 that it is hard to stop watching. Season 3 is amazing. Season 4 slowed down but offered great moments.

    I’ve read book 5, and if the next season can do half of what that book does it will be hard to not binge. I hope it comes out in December.

  26. 26.

    CaseyL

    Allie Brosh is back?  Allie Brosh is back!  She went radio silent for such a long time, I wondered what had happened to her.  Excellent news!

    I haven’t been reading much – my attention span is completely shot – but before my brain exploded, I very, very much enjoyed “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel.

    It’s set along two time tracks: one just before a pandemic wipes out most of the global population, and one in the years after.  (Yes, a particularly timely book!)  Really well written – so well written that one trope common in post-apocalypse books only bothered me a little bit.

  27. 27.

    MattF

    @RSA: I thought the sequel was OK, but less fun than the first one. O’Malley had a great concept for The Rook but didn’t really have one for the sequel.

  30. 30.

    martha

    I am still trying to find a series that I love as much as The Bureau (French subtitles). I ended up subscribing to Sundance Channel so I could watch all 5 seasons. Deadwind on Netflix is pretty good. The latest Chefs Table about BBQ makes me hungry and want to visit those places.

    Thanks to whoever recommended The Last Policeman by Ben Winter…despite the pre-apocalyptic setting (ummmm), his writing is so good! Finally just started The Mirror and the Light. Yes I know it will end badly for poor Thomas Cromwell but Mantel has sucked me in anyway.

  32. 32.

    Ken

    @RSA: The sequel (Stilletto) is good, and also has women as (strong) central characters which is one of the things I liked about The Rook.

  33. 33.

    RSA

    I’ll put in a good word for the Twenty Palaces series, by Harry Connolly. I think I’ve mentioned it before. It’s an urban fantasy series beginning, in publication order, with Child of Fire. Magic is real, rare, and dangerous (Vancian magic, for fans of Jack Vance). The Earth is surrounded by predators searching for worlds to strip clean. Ray Lilly is an at-first unwitting soldier in the battle against them.

    I found the writing as good as any in the genre. The stories are engaging, the semi-Lovecraftian horrors creative. Connolly was going for a hard-boiled character in a series of adventures, and I think he was largely successful. Unfortunately the series is now defunct (on hiatus, in my wishful thinking). I suspect that the evolution of the urban fantasy genre in the direction of romance left Connolly behind, which is a shame.

  35. 35.

    BGinCHI

    @geg6: I SO wanted to like that show, and I did, but it scared the absolute shit out of me. I couldn’t sleep the first night after I watched Ep 1. I want to go back and watch, but am afraid to.

    My imagination? A bit too active…..

  37. 37.

    WorkingOnaNym

    @BGinCHI:

    The premise of The Vanishing Half was pretty far-fetched but that didn’t keep me from enjoying the book. It’s a multi-generational family yarn of re-invention and identity that’s well-written and sucked me in. Definitely  in the light genre – (not that’s there’s anything wrong with that…)

  39. 39.

    Leto

    @BGinCHI:

    esp as a show about the horrors of race in America

    You basically gave up too soon. There’s more horror, because that’s what this is, but the plot/character development picked up quite a bit. This past Sunday’s episode was really good as it concerned race/gender issues.

    @Erin in Flagstaff: Apparently you’ve got two episodes, max /s

  40. 40.

    BGinCHI

    @jeffreyw: I think that’s smart. We’re caught up as of last night, and now it’s gonna be agonizing.

    At least we have the TDF. Amazing Tour so far!

  41. 41.

    narya

    I’ll also throw in a plug for Jim Butcher’s stuff. I like the Dresden series (it’s set in Chicago, though some of the geography is off)–it’s brain candy. For that matter, I liked his Codex Alera series as well.

  43. 43.

    BGinCHI

    @narya: I was really disappointed in that as a TV show, though I never read the books. It had so much potential, but fell flat for me.

  45. 45.

    Leto

    @geg6: I enjoyed “I’ll Be Gone…” more than I thought I would. Not to the point to where I’ll start listening to true crime podcasts, but the entire process that Michelle utilized was just enthralling. As well as finding out who she was, what drove her, and her relationships with her family. Listening to the victims, realizing that I sort of knew about the guy because my parents would talk about “The Night Stalker” out in California (early 80s), listening to how this event helped shape the victims lives, how they reclaimed a part of themselves with this process… it hooked me from the beginning even though I knew how it was going to end.

  46. 46.

    narya

    @BGinCHI: I didn’t realize it had been made into a show until I was deep in the series, and then so many folks were “meh” about it, and I knew it didn’t cover much ground, so I’ve never tried to track it down. I have such a strong image in my head of the characters that they’d have to get it Just Right. Apparently some of John Scalzi’s stuff is “in development” as well–if it’s the Old Man’s War series, it could be fun. Or the recent trilogy.

  47. 47.

    Boussinesque

    Going to add a +1 for The Expanse–got my dad to start watching it, so I’m getting to go through it again and it’s still excellent the third time.

    Books I’ve enjoyed recently have been Revenger, Shadow Captain, and Bone Silence, a new(ish) trilogy by Alastair Reynolds. Sci-fi with some interesting world-building and a vaguely gothic/noir atmosphere to it. I’ve been listening to the audio book versions, and the reader on the version I have is amazing, so I’d recommend that version if you want something for the road/gym.

  48. 48.

    mali muso

    Just watched a lovely documentary on Netflix this week called “Islands of Faith”.  They profile 7 different communities in Indonesia and show how they are responding to local impacts of climate change, interweaving how their faith traditions (Hindu, animist, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, etc.) inform their responses. It’s beautifully filmed across a country that has such diversity in both the natural world as well as ethnically and culturally. (I’m a wee bit biased as I spent my entire childhood in this country so it made me a bit homesick.) All said, it’s inspiring to see people working together in community to do something positive and chips away at your cynicism and despair. A splash of hope in these dismal days.

  49. 49.

    RSA

    @narya: I really liked the TV series! It wasn’t as rich in some ways as the books, but the TV stories were solid and the actors very appealing. Part of my reaction may be that Butcher was finding his way at first, and the writing in the earliest novels is in some places pretty terrible. Also, I didn’t actually care much if Dresden carried a hockey stick instead of a staff and drove a Jeep instead of a Beetle, or whatever.

  50. 50.

    thruppence

    I’m rewatching the first incarnation of Penny Dreadful with Eva Green as the central tortured soul of many.

  52. 52.

    Peale

    I’ll make 3. Because I’ve been waiting for a thread like this for awhile.

    1) The Tasting History Vlog Each week, host Max Miller cooks up a recipe from the annals of cookery from ancient Rome to 19th Century Europe and the Americas. Now, he does choose recopies that will somewhat fit with the contemporary palate, but that’s the point. I’ve made several of these recipes to break up the monotony of WFH and isolation. The episode I’ve linked to is for Farts of Portingale, which actually do seem like they would be tasty. I think they could be become our official blog dish. I was thinking of having y’all sign a compact to make them in November. A Fart Club as it were, which I will not discuss further.

    2) The Ingredients Mini Series and Food Design Vlog. Food Design is a cooking vlog sponsored by Tops Markets in Thailand and showcases actor Garnpaphon “Gameplay Rabbit” Laolerkiat cooking up, well, global food that can be bought at that grocery store. So its not the vlog where you learn how to cook Thai delicacies, but one where you learn to cook healthy Western food. And some less than healthy western food. I know, this isn’t exactly the type of show that would interest cultural aficionados and promote an escape to the far off land. But I find it interesting to watch him explain “farm to table” and “superfoods” and the ins and outs of various cheeses to his audience.

    Ingredients is a sort of Behind the Scenes series to promote the vlog. In that series, Gameplay plays the character of “Tops”, kind of a stand in for the market sponsor who develops the vlog during Covid lockdown with his roommate Win, played by the singer Jeff Statur. Not much happens on the show, per se. Its a light sit com in which a problem presents itself each week that can partially be resolved by cooking healthy food and talking things out over a meal. That said, it does try to present a positive vision of what life under COVID could be like. No one complains about the things that are closed. No one tries to Own the Libs. Instead it can be a time when people spend time taking care of each other and looking after each other’s health well being. Very visible use of hand sanitizer. Little to complain about. And lots of questions about the status of these guys’ relationship. Just friends? Or is something more developing between them? I just find it calming to watch a show that makes COVID central but that doesn’t appear to be inspired by “Contagion”. No, we aren’t all going to die and with a little effort, we could end up being better for this experience. If the “New Normal” ends up making us valuing people who are kind and caring over those who are selfish, well please make the new normal happen soon.

    3) Gameboys Finally, the Filipino web series Gameboys concluded last weekend. Yes, it falls under the unfortunately named “Asian BoysLove” genre that I have a soft spot for. I thought it adapted to the current situation quite admirably and presented a light “Love in the Time of COVID” story. Mostly told through a series of text and Zoom Meetings. LOL. I think this show risks being dated by the constant references to quarantines, lockdowns and passes. But is does hold up well against the other web series like it being produced while stars are locked out of the studios with nothing to do. The COVID milieu takes the cliched Asian romance question of “Will these two just kiss already” and makes it interesting again for a time. Their first socially distant date is a hoot.

  54. 54.

    beth

    Recently watched the movie “Blindspotting”.  Tackles some of today’s pressing issues wrapped in a buddy flick. Lots of adult language but pretty impressive.

  55. 55.

    geg6

    @Leto:

    Exactly!  It’s fascinating and scary and freeing (those survivors are just the most awesome people).  It’s so great at the end that I got teary eyed.  I also teared up when Patton found her dead.  Not many serial killer docs do that to me.

  58. 58.

    piratedan

    @MattF: seconded, his follow up Stiletto is also good imho…

    been trying to catch up on my old anime backlog….

    Ore Monogatari! – yes, if you’re into sweet romance stories, this is a lovely little tale.

    Amagami SS – developed from a sim dating game, premise is a case of what could have been based on random chance, decision and reaction… one relatively generic but unobtrusive teenage male protagonist with mini story arcs that show what could have been, depending upon life and its decisions that cause him to end up with a different heroine.  Different as each arc is independent of each other.  There’s a shorter follow up series that is called Amagami SS+ (Plus).  YMMV

    Books – Got the new Hiaasen ordered and hope to have it in hand soon.  Have a big backlog of books to read but no inclination to sit down and get immersed.   May have to re-read something to get back into the swing of it.

    online – been following the Twinsisthenew Trend channel and Try….

    Manga – following Komi-San Wa Komyushou Desu online….

  59. 59.

    narya

    @RSA: Huh! Good to know! I agree that some of the early books were . . . not as good as later ones, and the loooooong wait for Peace Talks was kind of a pain, especially because, IMHO, it’s really a preface to the next book, which will be released this month. OTOH, it did inspire me to do a re-read of the series, starting in early spring,  and, because I joined a group, I was able to get a bunch of the ebooks for a couple of bucks.

  61. 61.

    germy

    I really wanted to like Richard Russo’s novel, “Nobody’s Fool”

    The first Russo book I read was his memoir about his life with his mother. I liked it. I found it honest and sensitive. So I bought “Nobody’s Fool” and about halfway through it I just got tired of the characters. I finished it, but I think I’m done.

    The only Black character is named “Roof” (short for “Rufus”) and he’s one of the few characters the omniscient narrator doesn’t explore internally. He quits his job as a short order cook and moves down south. But then he returns, uses the “N” word a lot, and complains about his lazy nephews who can make more money not working than working. (I guess Russo thinks welfare is really good down south.)

    Yeesh.

  63. 63.

    germy

    Tonight on PBS

    NOVA
    Secret Mind of Slime

    New research on extremely primitive life forms called slime molds, which navigate through life without a brain, could reveal the fundamental rules underlying all decision making.

  64. 64.

    Mary G

    @Yutsano: I’m a huge Expanse fan, both books and show. Impatiently waiting for the 9th and final book, Leviathan Falls. Coming sometime in 2021. Especially love how they’ve let the characters age more realistically than most.

  65. 65.

    germy

    I love these paintings

    Mummy portrait of the boy "Eutyches, freedman of Kasanios". Like most Fayum portraits this uses encaustic technique, mixing pigments with hot or cold beeswax, egg or resin – achieving a startling naturalistic effect similar to modern oil paints. 2nd century, Roman Egypt, The Met pic.twitter.com/kHmC2ZHqNI

    — Gareth Harney (@OptimoPrincipi) September 12, 2020

    Important to remember when we look at the face of young Eutyches, with its delicate brushwork and three-dimensional shining skin and eyes – this was painted over a 1000 years before the Renaissance. #art #history pic.twitter.com/InmjuTuZZ3

    — Gareth Harney (@OptimoPrincipi) September 12, 2020

  67. 67.

    Bex

    The Gibson Vaughn series by Matthew Fitzsimmons.  Vaughn, a hacker on the run with a group of fellow outcasts bring down the bad guys in this series of five thrillers.  Start with The Short Drop.

  68. 68.

    geg6

    @debbie:

    You really should.  Learning her process was amazing.  And just understanding who she was and how she came to be that person.  And I cannot say enough about the survivors.  Bravest people I’ve ever laid eyes on.  It just made me happy to see them get justice.

  69. 69.

    narya

    @germy: That novel is my favorite–and I agree that that is jarring; there’s also the man who repairs Mrs. Peoples’ chair, whose casual racism (and her horror at it) is clearly going to affect his biracial grandson. You might like Empire Falls–especially if you can get your hands on the mini series, which included Paul Newman (who also played Sully in Nobody’s Fool), Joanne Woodward, Dennis Farina, Philip Seymour Hoffman (also shows up in Nobody’s Fool), Helen Hunt, etc. I also really enjoyed Everybody’s Fool, though I couldn’t help but be sad that neither Newman nor Hoffman are around to reprise those characters.

  70. 70.

    germy

    The amazing Jockey of Artemision – a life-size Hellenistic bronze of a young jockey straining to control his galloping racehorse. Dating to around 150 BC, the sculpture was part of the rich cargo of a shipwreck discovered off Cape Artemision in 1926. Athens Archaeological Museum pic.twitter.com/7jHf6YJzk3

    — Gareth Harney (@OptimoPrincipi) September 16, 2020

  71. 71.

    craig

    it’s a bit old now, but Safety Not Guaranteed is on Netflix. Quirky story with Aubrey Plaza about magazine writers, conspiracies, crazy people, and time travel.

  72. 72.

    germy

    @narya:

    I’ve had unfortunate experiences with bad and dishonest contractors, and about halfway through the book Sully and Rub started to remind me of the two men who did a half-assed job on a fence gate, leaving it worse than it was when they first consented to show up.  The nephew of the furniture repair guy was portrayed as lazy, and someone who would become lazier.  I think Russo has some personal issues he hasn’t explored.

    The only character I liked was the retired widow schoolteacher.

  73. 73.

    Spanish Moss

    @WorkingOnaNym:

    I read The Vanishing Half recently and I loved it. The idea of having a southern black community where each generation has lighter skin isn’t realistic but I knew that at the outset, so I was fine with it. As a mother of identical twins raised in the south, I wanted to see where she went with it. I was surprised to find that the story became even more engaging when she got to the youngest generation. I found myself thinking about it for several days, always the sign of a good book.

  74. 74.

    RSA

    @narya: 

    I was able to get a bunch of the ebooks for a couple of bucks.

    Nice. I may complain, but the series is pretty addictive. I bought and read at least a dozen of them, and then gave them away to someone I met casually, just because he expressed interest.

  76. 76.

    narya

    @germy: We agree on that last thing: Beryl Peoples is an awesome character, and in many ways I think of the novel as being about her, and how she affected the trajectory of so many lives, and, in many ways, saved Sully’s life. Her conversations with Driver Ed–with everyone, really, including herself–remain a highlight for me. I can totally see how Rub’s and Sully’s work habits would be triggering–I suspect that Sully worked differently for Kenny Roebuck than he did for Carl. And I find it disturbing that I know these characters so well I didn’t even have to pull my copy off the shelf. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it, though, because I know I’ve been one of the people jumping up and down about it.

  78. 78.

    jeer9

    If you’ve never seen it (the film is 20 years old), my favorite feel-good comedy is the Australian gem, The Castle. 

  79. 79.

    Sally

    @Omnes Omnibus:

     

    @Omnes Omnibus: It took me a couple of episodes to engage, I persevered due to someone here recommending it. It is worth the effort. I have a Swedish friend who hates anything Involving Swedish corruption, she hated Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and she hates this too. Systemic, class based corruption “doesn’t exist in Sweden”, apparently. I love shows that take me into a country, culture, that is different in many ways, and jarringly similar in others.

  80. 80.

    germy

    @narya:   Russo is a master at his craft.  It’s just most of the characters I disliked.

    I actually would have preferred more time with Beryl Peoples, with Sully and Rub and Wirf, etc. in the background.  I loved her.

    I looked at his book of essays on writing, and he admits he was bored with “being inside the head of an old lady”  which is why he moved on from her after beginning the story with her.

  81. 81.

    narya

    @Mary G: I really liked it a lot. It has the aforementioned banking system stuff in it, and good world-building, and interesting characters. I don’t always go back and re-read things, but that was one I totally did. I’ll also note that one of the things I really liked about the series is that a subtext (IMHO) is that everyday, apparently small, actions or personality quirks can have wildly large consequences.

  82. 82.

    narya

    @germy: Needless to say, I hesitate to recommend Everybody’s Fool. :-) I liked that, too, but I don’t see how recommending you spend more time with the characters you don’t like is a good thing.

  83. 83.

    zhena gogolia

    @germy:

    Everybody’s Fool is really good. I loved Nobody’s Fool the first time I read it, but I tried to reread it after reading Everybody’s Fool, and I couldn’t get through it this time. I do love his reply when his landlady asks him if he wants a cup of tea and he says, “Not now. Not ever.” Paul Newman does that really well. And Bruce Willis actually acts in that film.

  84. 84.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Just finished season one of the Swedish mystery/crime show Rebecca Martinson on Amazon Prime. Very good, dark, moody crime show.

    Just finished season four of The Wire and WOW! What a season. Probably my fave so far. The child actors were absolutely amazing.

    Enjoying Lovecraft Country but it is up and down. Still very fun and interesting and makes great points about racism in America. It’s still not as good as Underground (producer of LC was show runner for Underground) Imo.

    Been really enjoying I May Destroy You, though it’s a very uncomfortable show because it tackles the murky areas of some very heavy topics (sexual assault) while also being pretty funny.

    Started Van Der Walk on PBS last night and enjoyed everyone except the main character. But we will stick with it because we mostly enjoyed it.

    Enjoying Netflix’ Aggretsuko season two, which is still one of the oddest anime series I have ever seen. Very funny and weird.

    Also still loving Youtube video makers KraigAdams and NorwegianXplorer who do some great hour-long videos of multi-day hikes in the mountains. 4K video is stunning, and they both let the scenery do most of the talking.

  85. 85.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Oh and HBO’s documentary The Vow about the NXIVM self-help/sex cult that involved several Hollywood actors (three from Battlestar Galactica).  Kinda fascinating.

  87. 87.

    Spanish Moss

    I really enjoyed James McBride’s “Deacon King Kong”. Who can resist a book with a name like that? It is set in 1960’s Brooklyn with a fascinating cast of characters from intersecting communities. It tackles some serious issues but it is leavened with humor and some great storytelling. Moving and funny and I couldn’t put it down.

  89. 89.

    cope

    Since my last recommendations we have watched “Social Dilemma” on the Netflix. Also, tomorrow, I am doing a curb side pick up at the library of my two next books, “Tycho and Kepler” by Kitty Ferguson and “Evil Geniuses” by Kurt Andersen. The Andersen book is an account of how big business has been allowed to trample our culture, economics and politics.

    Tycho and Kepler were each fascinating in their own ways and the symbiotic nature of their work is one of histories great science stories. Having developed his three Laws of Orbital Motion, Kepler was tantalizingly close to realizing the equations of force and acceleration that would not be revealed until the time of Newton.

  90. 90.

    Geminid

    The Rainmaker (1956) is a nice positive movie. It closely tracks the 1953 Broadway play by Harold Nash. Katherine Hepburn won an Academy Award for her role as Lizzie Fletcher, a single farm woman living with her father and brothers. Burt Lancaster deserved an Oscar for his role as the traveling conman Billy Starbuck, but his character was maybe too subversive for the 50’s.

  91. 91.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @germy: Yeah, and Mackey was a pretty major player in it all.  It’s a wild story though somewhat expected if you’ve watched any cult documentaries before.  They all follow similar patterns.

  93. 93.

    germy

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    There was a local blogger up here in my neck of the woods who is in jail now, because he tried digging into their personal computer accounts.

    He says they planted illegal porn into his computer as retaliation.

    I don’t know if he’s mentioned in the documentary, or if they really planted it, but he was hounding them daily for a while before he was taken away.

  94. 94.

    prostratedragon

    @UncleEbeneezer:
    Second on I Will Destroy You. An added pleasure is the glimpse of Ghanaian London society it offers, with a definite style of personal interaction.

    Also thanks for the reminder about season 4 of The Wire. I somehow missed all of that and the first half of season 5 when they ran, but it’s one of my all-time favorite shows. Available on Prime or dvd.

  95. 95.

    WaterGirl

    @germy:

    NOVA
    Secret Mind of Slime

    New research on extremely primitive life forms called slime molds, which navigate through life without a brain, could reveal the fundamental rules underlying all decision making.

    Extremely primitive life forms, navigate thru life without a brain, reveal the rules underlying decision-making… So basically another show about Trump.

  96. 96.

    NotMax

    While can’t quite bring myself to recommend it, working my way through the BBC series Getting On on Prime. Interesting experiment in hospital dramedy, although the affectation to simulating cinéma vérité using handheld cameras is way overdone. Jo Brand’s deadpan delivery is phenomenal enough to keep me aboard thus far. A sampling.

    One exchange that tickled. Another nurse is reading to Brand’s nurse character one of those hokey romance quizzes.

    “Are you single and in search of love?”

    “I’m married and in search of cake.”

  97. 97.

    eddie blake

    @narya:

    amazon saved it.

    the expanse is SUCH a sweet show. no joke. best poly-sci-fi since babylon 5 imo.

    we’re watching stargirl in house blake as well as another runthrough of the legend of korra. excellent stuff. waiting on several books in the mail, including money for nothing. but yeah, dreadstar omnibus, the deadly embrace, the man called intrepid and war in european history all en route.

  103. 103.

    Pappenheimer

    RWBY is my guilty pleasure d’an and volume 8 is set for release…Nov 7. Razzafrazzin’ lack of reliable time travel….

  105. 105.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    There have been several great theater responses to Covid that I happened to hear about and watch, now I’m going crazy trying to remember enough clues to find links to them.

    One is a set of plays about “The Apple Family”. They first were live performances, but have continued into lockdown. We saw this one, but I don’t think it’s online anymore as far as I can find. The only one I found was the current one, the third of three lockdown plays, “Incidental Moments of the Day”. They are performed on Zoom of course, and depict Zoom calls.

    The other one I’m trying to remember also came out of the New York theater scene, a bunch of solo one-act pieces performed on Zoom. Will update if I can find it.

  106. 106.

    Searcher

    Authors I evangelize to my friends because I’ve never had other people recommend them to me: Julie Czerneda, a biologist writing space operas; Dakota Krout, a millennial writing some of the better LitRPG; Rachel Aaron, another millennial writing a variety of SF&F.

    (Honestly they’re also some of my favorites, but there is not much point in recommending *all* of my favorites when 9/10ths of them are just popular authors.)

  109. 109.

    Hidalgo de Arizona

    @Crashman06: I haven’t tried Spiritfarer – my relaxation gaming lately has been Ostriv.  It’s *really* soothing to spend hours carving a 18th century settlement out of the Ukranian frontier, especially in the current shitshow we’re all living in.

    On a similar note, I’ve recently been going through the BBC farm reenactment series, starting with Tales From Green Valley, and then Victorian Farm, etc.  It’s really great old (‘aughts) British television, and the hosts are all extremely intelligent and skilled archaeologists who are obviously enjoying every second of their reenactments.  I’m pretty sure the series are available on youtube if anyone else here interested in that sort of thing.

    I’ve also been reading A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, which tracks along well with the gaming and the television choices.  Bret Devereaux knows his shit and is a damned good writer.

    So, yeah, just about all my entertainment has been centered around pre-internet society of late.  I wonder what might be causing that…

  111. 111.

    BethanyAnne

    @Kifaru1: I’ve been worried about Allie Brosh, too. Have you read any Jenny Lawson? “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened” is pretty great.

  112. 112.

    JAFD

    @Hidalgo de Arizona: Second the recommendation for acoup.blog (A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry).

    Will have to try Tales from Green Valley, etc.  BTW, have you ever played the boardgame Agricola ?

    (And why doth the BJ spellchecker think ‘boardgame’ as one word is misspelled ?)

  113. 113.

    tandem

    @BGinCHI: The dialogue was inaudible the first season;that made the show hard to follow even if you had read the book.  Despite being a fan of the books, I gave up. The second season was much better.

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