Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

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

I was promised a recession.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

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

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

The words do not have to be perfect.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

This really is a full service blog.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

He really is that stupid.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

You are here: Home / Medium Cool / Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Recommendations

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Recommendations

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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.

With the changing of the season comes new TV series and films, new reading and listening material, so for this week’s MC, let’s hear your recommendations.

What are you watching, or reading, or listening to?

*if you are recommending a show that is streamed, please take a minute and say where it can be found (Netflix, Amazon).  And if it’s a podcast that is only available in certain places (eg Spotify) please share that with us, too.

Reader Interactions

129Comments

  1. 1.

    gwangung

    Doom Patrol on HBO Max.

    Watched Raya and the Last Dragon on Disney+, and shelled out the bucks, because I know one of the screenwriters and am very into pumping up my writing friends.

  2. 2.

    BGinCHI

    The image is from “The Investigation,” which is on HBO.

    It’s a Danish series based on the Kim Wall case, which I won’t say more about to avoid spoilers. Terrific series that explores grief and process (investigative, professional, personal) and the way these intersect.

    Such quiet, devastating beauty & sadness in that series.

  5. 5.

    p.a.

    Been enjoying Justified, basically ‘new sheriff in town, and it’s his hometown’ 2010-2016 based on Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty) work. Well acted. Kentucky hill country meth etc. Hulu

  10. 10.

    PJ

    I’m in the middle of reading Robert Gordon’s It Came from Memphis, which has stories on Memphis musicians and characters from the ’50s through the ’90s, and which was reissued in an 25th anniversary edition with updates last year. Some of the stories are hilarious, some are heartbreaking, but they are all compelling, and Gordon is a phenomenal writer.

    As far as music goes, I just got Neil Young’s overpriced ten-CD Archives II, which I’m slowly working my way through, and which has reminded me how many great songs he was writing in the early-mid ’70s.

  12. 12.

    namekarB

    “Heaven’s Garden” (Korean series – Netflix) An in depth look at life in the Korean countryside. Wonderful cinematography. Has it all, family, drama, comedy, wisdom, sadness, anger, divorce, struggle and much more. Suitable for all ages. It is about a family but all the people in the village have a big part

  13. 13.

    dexwood

    Just finished Irish writer Tana French’s The Searchers which I liked quite a bit because of the language, characters and story.

  15. 15.

    BGinCHI

    Also highly recommend “Nomadland” (2021, dir. Chloé Zhao).

    It’s on Hulu. Starring Frances McDormand in a fabulous performance, and along with many non-professional actors. Honest, brutal look at a slice of the American economy.

  17. 17.

    JoyceH

    I’m watching Buffy on Prime. I watched the show when it was in first run, and I might have watched it on disk a few years after the show ended, but I haven’t watched it for years, so I’d forgotten a lot of it. It’s fun. Though man, season six is a downer! But when I watched the show the first time, the adult characters were pretty much my age cohort. So when I started watching again, I was all, “Oh, they’re so YOUNG!” Not talking about the kids, who are twenty-somethings pretending to be teenagers, but Giles and Buffy’s mom and Jenny. Time has PASSED!

  18. 18.

    aliasofwestgate

    @Major Major Major Major:  I love Demon Slayer. I watched it as it aired on Crunchy Roll.  What i’m currently watching is Jujutsu Kaisen.  Curses, violence, complicated friendships but actual friendships without being inevitably toxic.  Very bloody, but top-tier fights too!  Also, the biggest troll of a teacher character i’ve seen since Kakashi Sensei! XD

    All of it gorgeous besides. *grins*

    I’ve been on a minor space opera kick while reading. So Megan O’Keef’s Protectorate series. (Velocity Weapon, Chaos Vector, book 3 is pending release later this year.) I quite like it, because it deals well with AI and politics with some amazing battles besides. Plus, representation without being intrusive about it. Including a non-binary character in the 2nd book more fleshed out.

    I am absolutely loving the diversity showing up in SFF as of late. This is stuff i rarely saw growing up as a mixed girl fan in the 80s. Seeing it everywhere now? Makes me even happier for the newer generation of fans nowdays!

  21. 21.

    Elizabelle

    @BGinCHI:   I remember the Kim Wall case.  Recent history.

    FTF NY Times, fer sure, but roundup of a lot of really good and currently free movies on Amazon Prime.  “Ace in the Hole” by Billy Wilder, which I would love to see.  Lot of classics not seen before, or time to discover them

    I would like to see Carole Lombard’s films, particularly those that were social satires or considered ahead of their time.  (General comment; she’s not in the Amazon Prime roundup, but will see if some of her films are available through them.)

  23. 23.

    Elizabelle

    @BGinCHI:   I am reading the book it’s based on, and then will watch Nomadland.

    Frances McDormand.  Has she ever been in a bad movie?  Maybe not, because she would elevate it, even so.

  24. 24.

    dexwood

    @Elizabelle: Shot in Albuquerque. When a new release was issued a few years ago we attended a fund raiser showing of it at Albuquerque’s historic, downtown Kimo theater. A fun night and an entertaining movie.

  25. 25.

    piratedan

    Have been enjoying Resident Alien over on the SyFy Channel and as for musical interludes, my latest earworms have been whipsawing between Southern Culture On The Skids new release At Home With and some shoegaze albums from the group Cigarettes After Sex and their albums Cry and their self titled debut.

  27. 27.

    Wag

    Also watched the Trial of the Chicago Seven last night.  A great movie about an event that I was only vaguely aware of as a kid.

  28. 28.

    HumboldtBlue

    As for what I am watching, I found Narcos: Mexico (Netflix has a whole slew of Narcos at this point) a helluva history lesson and a look at the absurd war on drugs from the other side.

  29. 29.

    brendancalling

    Netflix: “Rompan Todo: the History of Rock n Roll in Latin America,” “Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun,” “Astronomy Club,” and “Nobody’s Looking.”

  30. 30.

    evodevo

    @BGinCHI: thought that pic looked familiar…we are binging The Investigation right now…just watched the penultimate episode…very good – Jens is pretty deadpan and driven…

  31. 31.

    jeffreyw

    “Sweet Home” on Netflix Korean monsters. It’s a series with 10 episodes iirc. Well done. Some of the screamers I would gladly off myself if I could be sure they wouldn’t turn.

  32. 32.

    RSA

    I’ve been re-watching episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000. tubitv has most of the ones I remember, and it’s free. The topical comments haven’t aged well, and a lot of the allusions will make sense only to Gen-X and older viewers, but the shows are still very funny.

  33. 33.

    brendancalling

    Netflix: “Rompan Todo: the History of Rock n Roll in Latin America,” “Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun,” “Astronomy Club,” and “Nobody’s Looking.” 

    in terms of music, Pat Reedy and the Longtime Goners are always on. Lately I’ve been digging Mexican Ape-Lord (really good metal) and Nat Freedberg’s solo material.

  34. 34.

    Yutsano

    If we’re doing anime recommendations…I’ll throw out (again) Ascendance of a Bookworm. It’s been called isekai but I would call it a subversion of the genre. But trust me: you don’t forget when the souls switch places.

  35. 35.

    Nelle

    I’m quite fond of Brokenwood, a police procedural set in New Zealand on Acorn.  The next season will show in the US in late March.  I dont know how it translates to those who don’t know NZ (I lived there nearly a decade).  If anyone else has seen it, let me know what you think.

  36. 36.

    jeffreyw

    “Sisyphus”  on Netflix  Time travel action thriller superhuman agents.  Another one from Korea   I’m 3 eps in and liking it immensly

  37. 37.

    dexwood

    A cool music documentary I highly recommend is Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World. Streaming on Amazon Prime.

  38. 38.

    Chief Oshkosh

    Listening: Clancy Brothers and Dubliners. I didn’t know anything else was available this week. ;)

    Watching: Call My Agent!  French series on Netflix. Funny.

  39. 39.

    evodevo

    @Nelle: ​
      Love it…watching it on Netflix DVD right now…only up to season 5 so far – have to put on the CC for some episodes – that NZ accent gets pretty thick

  40. 40.

    Phylllis

    @BGinCHI: That is on my list, once I finish Call My Agent * on Netflix.

    *French soap/dramedy with terrific acting and writing. Great guest shots from lots of French stars ‘playing’ themselves, such as Monica Belluci and Isabelle Huppert.

  41. 41.

    Feathers

    Had HBOMax for a month, now catching up on Criterion Channel – Japanese Noir and New Korean Cinema.

    On YouTube, I’ve found a cooking channel: Aaron and Claire. He’s an incredibly enthusiastic Korean home cook, dedicated to giving his viewers quick, easy, and cheap versions of Asian (via Korea) dishes. Claire is his wife, appreciative taster, and dishwasher. One of the great things is how Aaron organizes the videos. He starts with the easiest version, and then moves up through 4-5 difficulty levels. I would put them all in the easy category, the difficulty level is usually a few extra steps or ingredients. He encourages substitutions, “Use oyster sauce, if you don’t have that you can use soy sauce, or chicken stock.” An example: Egg Fried Rice. At the easiest level, he has you take two eggs, add oyster sauce, then add your cold rice and mix with the egg. You then cook the eggy rice in a frying pan, throwing in whatever you want to add when the eggs are no longer wet. Is the more complicated version I used to make “better”? Of course, but when I just want food in my stomach with the least amount of effort, this is damned tasty, and Kraft dinner level of time and effort. Aaron and Claire do make a trip to the grocery store, to point out ingredients you may want to pick up if you have access to an Asian grocery store. Highly recommended, especially if you want to expand your improvisational cooking.

    Podcast – I’ve gotten back into Craftlit. It’s a podcast designed for crafters (hostess is a knitter, so craft discussions are inevitably knitting based). The host, Heather Ordover, was an actor before becoming a high school English teacher in NYC. The podcast is basically annotated audio books. Public domain books are read, with introductions and follow ups for each chapter(s). She is a great reader, when she’s not reading, she passes the torch to a fellow actor, so the quality is always high and not that sing-song audio book narration that I find annoying. It’s what you’d expect from a great teacher, historical context, a bit on themes, explanations for things which you can’t be expected to know about, and definitions of words general readers may not know. Current book is Northanger Abbey. Book before that was Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The reader was an actor from Yorkshire, read in his natural accent. Really a great Bronte experience. She does talk about what has been going on in her life to start. There is a book talk starts at X time, so you can skip ahead if you aren’t interested. It’s been around for 15 years, so there are a lot of books to catch up on. It’s on her website and also all the various podcast hosting services.

  43. 43.

    Tony Jay

    @BGinCHI:

    Happy to second Gwangung’s nomination of Doom Patrol. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll think “What in the actual fuck was that?”, then you’ll laugh again. There’s not a duff performance from the cast, half of whom don’t actually have faces to emote with, but special mention has to go to the exceptional Diane Guerrero as ‘Crazy Jane’, she’s simply amazing in the role(s).

    And after seeing Timothy Dalton in this and Penny Dreadful I so very much want someone to cast him and Pierce Brosnan in a movie about aging secret agents brought out of retirement to alternately glower and charm their way through a final mission. With Patrick Stewart as their elderly and foul-mouthed handler. Someone should write that right the hell now.

  44. 44.

    BGinCHI

    @Wag: Really worthwhile watching “Judas and the Black Messiah” after that (HBO). Fills out the story a lot.

    And maybe also the namesake of this joint, “Medium Cool” (1969, dir. Haskell Wexler).

  46. 46.

    Phylllis

    @BGinCHI:  “Nomadland” reminded me so much of “Loving”; the director and actors let the stories tell themselves. Both also have the feel of Victor Nunez’ work, particularly “Ulee’s Gold”. Which if you haven’t seen, you should, because Nunez pulls the most incredible performance out of Peter Fonda.

  47. 47.

    zhena gogolia

    Trying to get through Nabokov’s The Gift. It’s much more boring than I remembered. I wish I had the Russian version on hand. Maybe that would be better.

    We’re so boring. We’re now on the very last episode of Downton Abbey, after watching all six seasons. Then we’ll watch the movie (which we saw in the theater when it came out).

    Then it’s back to, “What is it tonight? Morse? Jonathan Creek? Perry Mason?”

    Although my husband wants to see “Coming 2 America,” and I also bought The Black Church because I missed it when it was on PBS (since I was watching Downton and couldn’t stop, it’s like a Trollope novel when you watch it all at once).

  48. 48.

    Tony Jay

    @JoyceH:

    You’re not wrong. I recently did a watch through of Buffy and Angel and enjoyed them even more this time around. The gloomy bits that dragged as a youngun made much more sense to me now that I’m an old fart who’s since had to step up and be an adult, only without all the smart-mouth vampire ass-kicking.

  51. 51.

    zhena gogolia

    @Feathers:

    I love The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Such a pioneering depiction of alcoholism. Based on experience (her brother).

  52. 52.

    Nelle

    @evodevo: I can’t hear an accent so I wondered about that.  Season 7 is coming on Acorn later this month.  We went for Acorn over Brit Box for more Commonwealth programs.

    We also enjoyed The Indian Doctor, about a doctor and his wife settling in a small town in Wales (also Acorn).

  53. 53.

    BGinCHI

    @Phylllis: “Ulee’s Gold” (and “Ruby in Paradise”) are two huge favorites of mine.

    That director should have been huge. That he didn’t have a big career says WAY more about Hollywood than it does about him.

  55. 55.

    Starboard Tack

    Georges Simenon Mysteries and Maigret on MHZ Choice. It’s comfort food entertainment and I learn un peu de française.

  56. 56.

    gwangung

    @Benw: It was for me, but I’m kinda biased.

    I don’t think it’s quite top tier Disney, but it’s solid in the script. GREAT martial arts fights, overseen by my friend, and the animation is lush and absolutely gorgeous.

    And the food shown is on par with the scenes in Crazy Rich Asians (not surprising since the other writer was a co-writer on that), and you’ll be googling for various SE Asian restaurants to try out the foods.

    (Oh, if people are interested, I was interviewed for a Western Washington University podcast……)

  58. 58.

    Dan B

    @Wag: The opposite for me.  I was in Chicago during the trial, did some organizing with the girlfriend of Rennie Davis.  She was a founder of W.I.T.C.H. the Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell.  She was great, Ronnie was quiet and I don’t believe he cared for Abbie Hoffman or Jerry Rubin’s showboating.  The judge, Julius Hoffman, was a monstrous bigot.  It was a terrible time with the attack on the Black Panthers and many mass arrests of protestors egged on by provocateurs.  When Gay Liberation visited the FBI about 3 months into our activism t our file was 500 pages.  J. Edgar Hoover and the McCarthy’ites put the paranoid in charge of government, for sure in Chicago.

  60. 60.

    Tony Jay

    I really enjoyed The Haunting of Bly Manor. Once I got over the fact that it wasn’t the throat-clenching horror that The Haunting of Hill House had been and was more of a Gothic Romance, I totally fell in love with the whole thing and want Amelia Eve’s character to be my new best friend.

  62. 62.

    Starboard Tack

    Miles Davis. “Birth of the Cool”. I’m doing a harmonic analysis of “Boplicity” that’s going way slow because of my pandementia.

  63. 63.

    Tehanu

    I’m going to recommend reading the same thing I always recommend, Daniel Abraham’s amazing The Long Price Quartet, fantasy for grownups: A Shadow in Summer, A Betrayal in Winter, An Autumn War, and The Price of Spring. “These are books about love and death and power, about gender and cultural expectations, about parenting and fertility, about growing up and growing old.” They’re set in a world that isn’t the same old medieval Europe, and with magicians who are poets, not wizards. They cover the protagonist’s entire life, from childhood to old age. I’m something of an expert on fantasy (having written a bibliography of it) and I really think these are the best fantasy novels written between Ursula K. LeGuin and N.K. Jemisin.

  64. 64.

    Eljai

    I watched Behind Her Eyes on Netflix because of David Bianculli’s review on NPR.  It’s a limited 6 part series that ends up in a much different place than where it begins, with little clues being dropped along the way.  I mostly agree with David Bianculli but, for me, the ending was not satisfying.

  67. 67.

    NotMax

    Recent reading? Fiction: Darwin’s Elevator. Non-fiction: Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World.

    Recent watching? On Netflix: Toc Toc. On Prime: TV – Captain Marleau, Collision, Little Coincidences, Cosmic Vistas. Movie – The Panic Is On: The Great American Depression as Seen by the Common Man, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, Chance of a Lifetime (1950), Journey’s End, Chaplin, Charlie Wilson’s War, Howard Zinn: A People’s History of the U.S.

    Had the strangest persistent earworm the other day. Song I hadn’t heard in more than 40 years, New Riders of the Purple Sage’s Somebody Robbed the Glendale Train. Only seeking it out online and listening to it all the way through served as incentive to vacate where, unbidden, it had taken up residence in the cortex.

  69. 69.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Phylllis: And she married a very-French Frenchman (I think…), so there’s that. And regardless, as you note, a fun, funny drama. There are many, many scenes that remind me of various professional Gallic engagements I’ve had.

  71. 71.

    Alison Rose

    I’ve just read Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell.

    As some of you know, I read a lot. A LOT. I don’t say this lightly: It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. Before this, if you asked me what my favorite book was, I’d be like “Sure, here is a list of 20, and then another 10, and these 3 or 4, too” but now…I think I can say this is my favorite book. The achievement of it, the singular quality, the poignance, the inventiveness, and the ABSOLUTE GUTTING IMPACT on me…yeah. You can see my babbling heart-eyes-emoji review here.

    It’s historical fiction exploring the death of Shakespeare’s young son, Hamnet. There’s not a ton of factual information out there about it, but the author took what facts we do have and wove her own story around it, and it’s just fucking beautiful. The focus of the story is more on the mother, Agnes; Shakespeare himself is in the whole book but is never named at all, not by last name nor “Will” or anything, which I think was a brilliant move because of course he has remained a massive figure of history, whereas his family was just “here are the names who were around him.” It’s so exquisitely written and it made me cry multiple times, with how starkly she presents their grief on the page. It won the Women’s Prize for Fiction last year and 1000% deserved it.

  72. 72.

    BGinCHI

    @Alison Rose: I just started it (for professional reasons I wasn’t sure I’d want to), but on a strong recommendation from a friend I’m 20 pages in and it’s fabulous so far.

    I highly recommend Germaine Greer’s book Shakespeare’s Wife. I can already tell O’Farrell has drawn on it quite a bit. I won’t say more, but trust me. It’s a very, very sharp take on re-reading the source/archival material on women in EM England, and especially Anne Hathaway.

  73. 73.

    arrieve

    @JoyceH: I’m watching Buffy too! I’m still early in Season 4, and I can’t watch every day, but it’s a perfect show to fall asleep to. It’s been many years since I saw it, and I remember the basic stories but not the plots of individual episodes.

    Very entertaining show. And yes, everybody in it is much younger than me now, except for the vampires and most of the demons.

  75. 75.

    TheOtherHank

    I just started reading the first book in the Bobiverse series: We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis Taylor. So far it’s the story of a guy (Bob) who had his head cyrogenically preserved. Instead of being brought back to life, he is brought back as an AI in a society where he is property. His job is run a space exploration ship looking for habitable planets orbiting nearby stars. It’s pretty entertaining so far.

  76. 76.

    AliceBlue

    We’re re-watching “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” starring the incomparable Jeremy Brett.

    Lately I’ve been into movie soundtracks, especially Bernard Hermann’s “Vertigo.”  Over an hour of some of the most gorgeous music ever written.

  77. 77.

    arrieve

    @Nelle: I love Brokenwood. I think I heard of it on an earlier thread here on police procedurals, which are one of the things that got me through lockdown.

    It’s another soothing show to watch before falling asleep, unlike most of the British police procedurals I like, which tend to be much darker.

  78. 78.

    Bex

    Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March.  Great mystery set in 1890s Bombay.  A Tip for the Hangman by Allison Epstein.  Christopher Marlowe as a spy for Francis Walsingham.  Veritas:  A Harvard Professor, A Conman and the Gospel of Jesus’s Wife by Ariel Sabar.

  79. 79.

    NotMax

    @AliceBlue

    Was awestruck by the over the credits music for a film mentioned above, Chance of a Lifetime. Totally unexpected for a semi-serious movie about labor goings-on at a British factory. One of only two films for which the celebrated pianist Noel Mewton-Wood composed music. Ahead of his time as a composer (IMHO), sadly he offed himself at age 31.

    Every few years I fall into a phase of listening to Nino Rota’s soundtracks for Fellini films.

  80. 80.

    Heidi Mom

    @Starboard Tack: I’m almost finished with the seventh and final season of A French Village–not comfort fare but very good drama, and I’m learning French pronunciation as well.  But a few of the characters wore out their welcome with me some time ago . . . .

  81. 81.

    E.

    I am listening to Anton Lessor’s reading of Tristram Shandy on Audible. It’s the best performance I have encountered in any book. It’s sublimely done.

  85. 85.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    I’m reading Bertie Wooster Sees it Through by PG Wodehouse.

    I’m also watching Resident Alien. And we’re part way through WandaVision.

    Listening to Mike Duncan’s The History of Rome podcast on Spotify.

  88. 88.

    Starboard Tack

    @Heidi Mom:

    I tried watching that when it was on PBS and found it a little too “soap opera” for my tastes. I’ve also been watching Le sange du la  Vigne for the Gallic humor.

  89. 89.

    Pittsburgh Mike

    Watch “Call My Agent” on NetFlix.  French w/subtitles.

    Imagine the settings of Emily in Paris, only witty and fun.  With lots of cameos with famous French actors, some of whom you’ll recognize (some aren’t French).

    Highly recommend.

    Also, Outnumbered, all 5 seasons, are available on Amazon Prime, and you must watch it.

  91. 91.

    Starboard Tack

    @AliceBlue:

    Vertigo is two of the best movies ever made (actually the first half of it is equal to anything Rembrandt, Cezanne, Manet, Monet, anyone ever produced) but it’s incomprehensible without the music. I wish I could see it again for the first time.

  92. 92.

    Damned_at_Random

    @piratedan: The spousal unit and I LOVE Resident Alien. Adam Tudyk is an amazing comedic actor.

    I’m reading Ordeal by Hunger by George R Stewart about the Donner party. Nightmarish stuff and they haven’t even gotten to the Sierras. The book was written in the 1930s and my copy has a foreword warning about the casual racism (about the Irish in particular). as the descendant of a long line of bog-trotters, I was amused

  95. 95.

    Gravenstone

    @Yutsano: A couple of current series that happen to be available on Hulu as well as Funimation. Mushoku Tensei : Jobless Reincarnation is sometimes called the “godfather of isekai” because its source material created a lot of the tropes that have now become commonplace. It’s currently nearing the end of its first cour and will return in July. Horimiya is a very well written rom-com about a pair of high school students who look discover that what lies behind their in school personas is far more interesting and valuable.

    For music, I’ll toss out an upcoming collaboration (think the album drops next week) from Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (Winery Dogs plus an extensive solo career). They have three videos available on YouTube. Another band I’d love to recommend is Quadratum, which is a side project featuring four of the instrumentalists from the Japanese power metal band Unlucky Morpheus.  They have released an album of instrumental covers. The unique feature is one of the instrumentalists is a violinist and it just plays so well with the selected songs. Unfortunately they aren’t available on iTunes or Spotify. You can find five videos (so far) on YouTube if you’re at all curious.

  96. 96.

    Other MJS

    Superman and Lois on the CW is promising. Breaks new ground (they have 14-year-old twin sons) and focuses on characters rather than McGuffins.

  97. 97.

    Falling Diphthong

    Netflix: Watching Ginny and Georgia, on recommendation of my 20s daughter who thought it resonated very strongly re being a kid in a wealthy New England suburb. 30 year old mom, running from a past that unfolds in flashbacks; 15 year old mixed race daughter navigating being neither black nor white enough and always the new kid; 9 year old sweet brother they both want to protect. I have had many flashbacks to my elementary mom days re the minefield of classroom snack.

    Amazon: Recently finished Humans, about robots becoming sentient. Very well done. The characters (human and machine) are not static, and it’s nice to be annoyed with someone one week and empathize with them three episodes later. I like that the robots are most clearly human when they insist on doing something that doesn’t make a damn lick of sense, because they just really want to and it’s important to them.

  98. 98.

    Falling Diphthong

    Books:

    Dread Nation and Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland. Alternate American history in which the Civil War is diverted by the rise of zombies trying to eat everyone. From the point of view of a black girl training at the School for Negro Girls to be a body guard. Revanchist as all get out, and what I was reading on 1/6. This is technically YA, but like Hunger Games in the sense that the protagonists are young rather than because they aren’t about to kill off a whole slew of people. The characters and society really shine.

    Rereading the Meg Langslow mystery series by Donna Andrews. Meg is a very organized blacksmith with a large and wacky family, and it’s just fun to check in on everyone. Surprised how many details I had forgotten. Starts with Murder with Peacocks, in which Meg is maid of honor in three (3!!!) weddings in 2 weeks. I will specifically cite the realistic cell phone use–whatever the norms for cell phone having at the publication date, that’s what the characters do. (People who should know damn well by now that they’re going to be trapped somewhere before the end of the book nonetheless just “not liking cell phones” are one of my pet peeves in mysteries.)

    Same author, I recommend her You’ve Got Murder series with an AI detective. Truly unique and different.

  99. 99.

    trollhattan

    “Unorthodox” (Netflix) is fascinating. A young woman raised in a Hasidic community in the Williamsburg section of New York walks away from her arranged marriage and escapes to Berlin (as one does) in hopes of a new life. It’s a German television production from a script based on the book, which is an autobiography. Also the first Yiddish language (with subtitles but if you know some German you’ll understand quite a bit) series I’ve watched.
    Highly recommend also watching the half-hour “making of” documentary, which adds useful background.
    The lead actress is sublime with this very challenging role.​

  100. 100.

    Nelle

    It gets harder to meet people in a new setting the older I get.  So when we knew we were moving to Des Moines two years ago, I went to Meet Up to find a book group.  The one that worked out the best, time wise, was called Real Lives (biography, memoir, and autobiography).  We’ve read some great ones, but also some I would never choose.  I just finished Dolly Parton’s autobiography that came out in the mid-90’s.

    That just happened to be when my husband finished reading the new Eleanor Roosevelt bio by David Michaelis out loud to me.  I would never have put those two women, Dolly and Eleanor, together in any category but it struck me that they were/are both women with unorthodox marriages and a drive to meet life on their own terms.  Interesting juxtaposition.

    My husband, a non-talkative engineer/pilot type, read aloud to both our kids most nights until they left for college (probably the only person in the world who read The Count of Monte Cristo aloud twice (the kids are over six years apart in age).  I would say that my husband doesn’t have a big emotional vocabulary but he traveled with them via the books through a range of countries, events, and emotions.

    When they left home, he began reading aloud to me while I embroider or crochet.  The words just get hooked in with the yarn or thread.  We started Wilkerson’s Caste yesterday – she wowed me with her sense of structure, sentence style, and analogies in The Warmth of Other Suns.. This looks to meet that standard. Some of what he has read aloud during the pandemic – The Splendid and The Vile, Dead Wake (Erik Larsen), Call Them by Their True Names, Recollections of My Nonexistence  (Rebecca Solnit), How the South Won the Civil War (Heather Cox Richardson).

    Mostly, in this past month, I’ve begun to read books again.  I’m not anxiously doomscrolling; I can focus and think.  I was afraid I’d lost that part of me forever.  As a former English teacher, that was terrifying.

  101. 101.

    Brachiator

    Started watching random episodes of the 90s tv series Highlander on YouTube. Have to skip through commercials, but otherwise the show has held up fairly well.

    Also watch occasional episodes of The Saint on YouTube. Fun and sometimes edgier than a lot of tv from the era. Roger Moore is quite good.

  103. 103.

    wvng

    @BGinCHI: The Investigation is amazing on every level. Not to offer any spoilers, but I’ve swum in the ocean a few miles north of the search area. I swam a bit until I realized it was so cold I couldn’t breathe. Searching for months over vast areas in that water is astonishing.

  104. 104.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @schrodingers_cat: Amazing show. My husband and I must have watched it 5x all the way through. Great sci-fi, a meditation on what it means to be human, great battle scenes (with drumming soundtrack), the whole Gaius and his Cylon in his head, etc. etc.

  106. 106.

    Denali

    I am currently reading Mysteries of Life and the Universe, a collection of essays edited by William H. Shore. It includes a very perceptive essay by our own Tom Levinson about the 1991 eclipse of the sun. I am not a science person, and these essays are a great introduction to what scientists have uncovered about the universe

    I also just finshed The Phantom Tollbooth, thanks to this very site. Don’t know how I missed it when my kids were growing up. It is a classic and I just bought it for my grandson.

  108. 108.

    Sloane Ranger

    McDonald and Dodds. She’s a young, ambitious Afro Caribbean Detective Inspector with a strong outgoing personality. He’s a pudgy, balding, middle-aged guy who’s so self effacing people forget he’s there. Together, they solve Bath’s most difficult murders. Shown in the UK on ITV. Currently in its 2nd season.

  110. 110.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Sheila in nc: I still have about 100 episodes until the fall of Rome but I was planning on giving Revolutions a try at some point

  111. 111.

    NotMax

    @Falling Diphthong

    Hard to find but if you ever do, the original Swedish series Real Humans (Äkta människor) that one is based on is (does rough math) 10,000 times better.

    Just checked – both seasons currently seem to be available on Hulu.

  116. 116.

    NotMax

    @BGinCHI

    Tough call but if pressed to pick which one to start with I’d probably choose Un mundo maravilloso (A Wonderful World).

  117. 117.

    billcinsd

    @Falling Diphthong: I too quite enjoy the books by Donna Andrews. I did not realize the Meg Langslow series was up to 30 books. That may explain why it’s been like 15 years since the last Turing Hopper book

  118. 118.

    Craig

    @piratedan: wow, I had no idea that Southern Culture was still putting out records. I used to see them at a tiny basement bar in Blacksburg Va in the 80s. Really nice people.

  120. 120.

    Craig

    Watched The Bad News Bears on Prime. Walter Matthau is incredible.

    Rewatching The Knick on HBO Max, Clive Owen is perfect as a brilliant surgeon, coke fiend/hop head in a Victorian NYC hospital. Pretty gory. Steven Soderbergh directs all the episodes, getting great performances from a stellar cast that includes Jeremy Bobb, Juliet Rylance, and Eve Hewson. Didn’t realize that Bono’s daughter was such a good actor.

  121. 121.

    TomatoQueen

    Last night I finished Spy Called Orphan, about Donald Maclean, and written by the grandson of the last responsible party to see Maclean on British soil, the weekend of the escape. Full of fascinating detail but with two major flaws: as the long-standing managing director of a publishing firm, the author should’ve known better than to engage in flights of fancy without evidence, but such speculations (must’ve, could’ve, would have) are a major feature of the book. The other flaw has to do with access, there’s quite a lot of Maclean as a married man, and a good portrait of Melinda, an American, prior to the escape. But there’s not enough of her in fact, and a lot of her in speculation, and considering the escape happened as a last minute improvisation at the end of Melinda’s last pregnancy, we actually know very little of how she got through those last days. That time was the most important in her life, and she managed it, but our author has some bare bones but little insight. There is not enough material to make the Soviet years fully fleshed out, but you do get a clear picture of the individual lives in Moscow in the end. Philby was an asshole.

    Next up starting tonight is The Woman Who Smashed Codes, about Dorothy Friedman.

    This week public television around here is demanding money, so they’re showing some of their better stuff from Masterpiece (Endeavor finale tonight, in which he pronounces on Venice: “The streets are full of water.”) and I’ll be looking for a clip of a rumored tribute at the Emmys to John Prine.

  122. 122.

    BigJimSlade

    Thanks to the jackalariat, I recently read Small Gods by Terry Pratchett – my first Pratchett book – what fun!!! I must read more.

    Just bought, today, John Coltrane’s Both Directions at Once (a ‘lost’ album) – great so far. And I recently enjoyed revisiting some Schnittke (for you classical music lovers).

  124. 124.

    Jean

    Thanks to these entertainment threads, I began reading Louise Penny’s Gamache series, and am currently on #11.  I have enjoyed them immensely. Someone told me that Hillary Clinton read the series after losing the election and later met Penny and they became friends.  Clinton is featured in the latest novel in the series– in what way I don’t know.

  125. 125.

    leeM

    Years and Years (HBO) this is already two years old, but as a look at the (near) future it does a pretty decent job. Won’t be doing any spoilers, but if you’re a fan of Emma Thompson you’ll be delighted by her performance here.

    Also another endorsement for Nomadland. It’s everything others have said. Astonishing filmmaking.

  126. 126.

    soup time

    A little late to this bash, but I’ll throw in my 2 cents.
    I watched season 1 of Rocco Schiavone (Italian w/English subtitles) on prime and got hooked. Signed up on Walter Presents channel (via Roku) to watch seasons 2 and 3.
    I had previously watched a few Walter series on PBS (labeled Walter’s Choice there) and they were good. All are non-English with subtitles. So now binging through the other shows on Walter Presents channel. Mostly good, a few not to my taste. A couple more recommendations: Dead Beautiful (French), Seaside Hotel (Danish), Thicker Than Water (Finland/Sweden).

  127. 127.

    Nelle

    @Jean: Late and probably not going to be read, but anyway, Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny are writing a book together, to be out in autumn.  I group Gamache and Foyle (of Foyle’s War)  together as deeply moral men who fight corruption within and outside of governmental structures.  They aren’t rigid and are quite humane but both have clear boundaries when dealing with those who betray their responsibilities and the public trust.  And they have a moral courage we’ve sorely missed in American politics.

  128. 128.

    Jean

    @Nelle: I never thought of the Foyle connection, but I agree!  Loved Foyle’s War because of the main character and secondarily because of how the crime investigation and WW2 timeline intersected.  Thank you for explaining the Clinton/Penny project.

  129. 129.

    Falling Diphthong

    @billcinsd: While disappointed that the Turing Hopper series ended, I really appreciate it when authors are like “Okay, this idea is wrung out for me.” Rather than publishing three more books after that point, until I’m really wishing they’d called it quits a few books back.

    (Most pronounced in the last Jane Jeffries mystery, in which by the end I was reconsidering whether there was some secret background where she was behind her first husband’s oh-so-convenient death in a car accident just before the series started.)

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