Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / There Be Dragons (Open Thread)

There Be Dragons (Open Thread)

by | 185 Comments

This post is in: ,

We saw this medium-sized gator sunning in a muddy spot yesterday. From a distance and through the screen, I couldn’t tell what the spherical object next to it was. But upon application of a long-distance lens, I identified the object tentatively as an apple snail shell, extra large:

Gator sunning with snail shell

There were other snail shells strewn about, with the gator in the center like a dragon guarding its treasure. The muddy spot is a favorite of wading birds like herons, egrets, Limpkins, spoonies, etc., but not when the gator is holding court.

***

Having caught up with “Franklin” on Apple TV, I’m in a show hole. Can anyone recommend some compelling programs to stream? I’ve heard “Deadloch” (Amazon) is pretty good if you like a spoof of atmospheric British police procedurals. I am a fan of that genre so intend to check it out. Also, HBO’s “Hacks” will be back this week. Yay!

Other than that, we’ve been mostly watching baseball, and it’s not going well for our team. It’s still early yet. I am not panicking.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

185Comments

  1. 1.

    john b

    Started Baby Reindeer (Netflix) last night and really enjoyed the first two episodes.

    It’s a British show about a guy who was stalked by woman he had a chance encounter with.

  2. 2.

    frosty

    If you liked Band of Brothers and The Pacific, you should watch Masters of the Air. It’s about one B-17 squadron (the Bloody Hundredth) bombing campaign over Germany, life in England during the war, and Stalag Luft III. I set out to watch an episode or two every night for a week but instead binged the whole thing in one night and went to bed at 6:00 AM.​

  3. 3.

    Jerry

    Since you have Apple TV, please do yourself a favor and check out Slow Horses if you have not already. There is a 9-part documentary series on the Cold War on Netflix that is incredible.

  4. 4.

    Tenar Arha

    If you’ve got Hulu I’d recommend Shogūn. I’m re-reading the book before watching it fully. But I saw the first episodes & it seems faithful to the POV switching between the characters, though obviously an adaptation can’t really give you the characters thoughts in the same way.

    Oh, and if you’ve got Showtime, A Gentleman in Moscow’s first free episode intrigued me so much I went and read the book. No surprise there with Ewan McGregor starring.

  7. 7.

    hueyplong

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Me too.  If I looked out my window and saw what’s depicted in that picture I’d be listing my house. I like having an owl and a couple of hawks.  No interest in what looks like a dinosaur or dragon on my property.

  8. 8.

    Steeplejack

    I liked Deadloch, but people I recommended it to were lukewarm. I like that quirky New Zealand humor—and the accents. You have to go into it prepared to hate all of the characters except for the main female cop. It broadens out from there, but that’s the start. Don’t give up on it.

    I just started watching Ripley, which I’m sure you know about. Gorgeous B&W cinematography.

    Back to New Zealand: I’ve been watching The Brokenwood Mysteries, which is dangerously cozy-adjacent. But somehow it succeeds—again, the humor and the accents.

    Finally, I heartily recommend Astrid, a French detective show on PBS Passport. (You have to be okay with subtitles.)

  9. 9.

    Mike in NC

    @frosty:  I read Masters of the Air by Donald L. Miller just before a trip to Europe in 2010. Thought it was the best book I’d found about the Eighth Air Force in WW2, and we visited a few places in Germany and Austria that the author mentioned. The miniseries did a fine job in showing what horrific losses the bomber crews suffered. Even if they successfully bailed out, odds were about 50-50 of surviving to become a POW, because in many cases the fliers were casually killed by irate civilians or the police (especially if there were any hardcore Nazis involved). It was a struggle until long range fighter escorts became available.

  10. 10.

    Josie

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: ​
     So do people on the Texas coast. My middle son, an avid birder and photographer, casually mentioned the other day that, during the rainy season at a coastal sanctuary, he didn’t like to lie down on the ground to take certain bird photos. At first I thought it was because he didn’t want to get muddy, but he explained that he couldn’t get up and away fast enough to avoid the aliigators.

  11. 11.

    cmorenc

    Suggest “Masters of the Sky”, which is a drama about the airmen crewing the incredibly dangerous  B-17 bombing raids over Germany in WW2.  IMO the series is just as good and visceral as “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific” – and the actors depict real, historical people and at the end of the final episode (either 8 or 9?) the series concludes with a biographical sketch of the real people the seties was based on.  It is the kind of series that will deepen your appreciation of the “greatest generation” and the kind of unified collective purpose that is the diametrical opposite, alas of Trump and MAGa version of current america.

  12. 12.

    Tenar Arha

    @Tenar Arha: I wasn’t fast enough to add this. Driftglass and Bluegal reviewed Monsieur Spade on their Science Fiction University podcast. They seemed very complementary before I shut the episode off to avoid spoilers ;)

  14. 14.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Meanwhile, the only baseball team that matters, the Seattle Mariners, are in first place in the AL West!

  15. 15.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack: I got bored by Ripley halfway through the first episode, although I love Scott and Flynn. Now I’m kind of at loose ends. I too am looking forward to Hacks.

    I’ve been doing a Colin Firth marathon. Master of the Moor, Fever Pitch, and now Bridget Jones. We’re going to watch all three in a row. We’ve seen the original about 50 times but it never gets old. I saw the second one once and cringed, and I never saw the third one, but I’m desperate for some vintage Firth and Grant.

  16. 16.

    Steeplejack

    @Tenar Arha:

    I liked the first two episodes of Monsieur Spade and then got distracted and haven’t watched the rest. Need to get back to it.

  17. 17.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Start watching Deadloch now. Another way I’ve described it is “Newhart” (2nd show where he’s the innkeeper in Vermont) tries to solve a murder.

    It is a brilliant show.

  18. 18.

    Poe Larity

    Sugar is ok, there’s a hint of weirdness that I’m not sure what is going on. I had to check if David Lynch was somehow attached.

    Am really looking forward to The Penguin.

  19. 19.

    Mike Molloy

    I also liked Deadloch quite a bit, and I don’t even watch much of the kind of thing it was spoofing.  It has a certain zany element, and it leans into the zaniness increasingly toward the end, but to me it remained a lot of fun all the way through.

  20. 20.

    Shalimar

    Watched the first 4 episodes of Dead Boy Detectives on Netflix yesterday. It’s Neil Gaiman so it is good, but the constant arguing between the main characters gets grating.

  23. 23.

    Old School

    @zhena gogolia:

    I’ve been doing a Colin Firth marathon. Master of the Moor, Fever Pitch, and now Bridget Jones. We’re going to watch all three in a row. We’ve seen the original about 50 times but it never gets old. I saw the second one once and cringed, and I never saw the third one, but I’m desperate for some vintage Firth and Grant.

    If you hadn’t seen, they are working on a 4th Bridget Jones film.

  24. 24.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    I ended up watching part of Christmas in Connecticut the other night. A lot of it is terminally corny, but, damn it, Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan are so great together that I can never resist. I did turn it off shortly after Sydney Greenstreet arrived because I had to get up early the next morning.

  25. 25.

    Nelle

    @Steeplejack: The first epsiode of the new season of Brokenwood has just dropped on Acorn streaming.  I also highly recommend Recipes for Love & Murder, a South African series that will have you in love with food and with a surprising twist in the murder plot.  A second series is now being filmed.  We liked Madame Volpe, too.

  26. 26.

    3Sice

    Let Jerry Uncommitted speak!

    Joe won the PR primary yesterday.

    Current delegate count:

     

    Biden 3293

    Uncommitted 27

    Palmer 3

  27. 27.

    Mike in NC

    Hulu has a series called “Under the Bridge” about the murder of a teenage girl by several of her classmates in British Columbia in the 1990s. Stars Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) as one of the investigating police officers.

  28. 28.

    hells littlest angel

    Ripley is beautifully photographed, and is the best telling of Patricia Highsmith’s story I’ve seen (I’ve seen them all).

  29. 29.

    RandomMonster

    How big is an apple snail? You have all sorts of primordial things down there in Florida.

  30. 30.

    trollhattan

    Deadloch is excellent. Hope there’s another season coming.

    Under the Bridge has been good so far, Sugar as well. Shogun’s finale was so good, and the show itself has enough eye candy for any cinephile.

    Carol Burnett is reason enough to watch Palm Royale. You’ll see.

  31. 31.

    Barbara

    I am going to start watching Under the Bridge on Hulu this week — it features Lily Gladstone, and it’s based on a true story, about the disappearance of an indigenous woman in Canada.   I have been enjoying “Will Trent” on Hulu.  It’s not a must see, but it’s enjoyable, set in Atlanta.

  33. 33.

    sab

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I am 70 and I still haven’t recovered from poisonous snakes hiding everywhere.

    The gators are mostly avoidable if you don’t do anything stupid and remember that they can run as fast as a pony for very short distances.

  36. 36.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @zhena gogolia: Fyi, Ripley really picks up once you get to the third episode.  But it still is a very slow series (which I love but can understand many people being turned off by that).

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    @Barbara: Victim is the daughter of Indian immigrant Jehovah’s Witnesses. You know, the usual. :-)

    Alaska Daily with Hilary Swank dealt with missing indigenous women and because it was cancelled, leaves one hanging, twirling in the breeze. Ugh.

  43. 43.

    raven

    @frosty: It’s ok but they way they threw the Tuskegee Airmen in was near criminal. No context or background and a dopey storyline about the stalag.

  44. 44.

    narya

    I’ve been binging on Brooklyn 99. It is very lightweight, but (a) Andre Braugher and (b) occasionally, Marc Evan Jackson and (c) Mike Schur is involved as a producer or something. It’s amusing to have on while I’m doing needlework or something like that.

  47. 47.

    spiderink

    Girls on the Bus streaming on Max. Focuses on four female reporters, all from different media outlets, covering a Dem primary . Political wonks will probably like it more than others, but I’m hooked.

  48. 48.

    UncleEbeneezer

    The Sympathizer, on HBO/Max, is pretty good so far.  It’s based on Viet Than Ngyuen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel set in 1970’s Vietnam and America.

  49. 49.

    Barbara

    @UncleEbeneezer: Did you read the book?  I confess once more that I did not like the book nearly as much as everyone else I met did.  How does the series stack up if you did read it?

  50. 50.

    cain

    @Tenar Arha: I watched the 3 episodes and it has been wonderful. But goddam the dispute between protestants and catholics is just annoying. Each of them talking like they worship different Gods.

    When you realize how Protestant branch of Christianity started – you can’t help but shake your head and maybe shake the protestant guy – “MF! Protestant only showed because the King England wanted to marry someone other than who the Pope wanted him to marry” and in the end, I think he ditched that gal too.

    But you know colonists gotta colonize.

  51. 51.

    trollhattan

    Combine Peter Thiel and some Kardashians and what do you get? This kind of thing, evidently.

    A recent report on women who contracted HIV after receiving a “vampire facial” has raised questions about the safety of some cosmetic procedures.

    At least three women were infected at a spa in New Mexico in 2018, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ireport that said the cases shed light on new ways the infection can spread. They are believed to be the first-ever HIV transmissions related to a cosmetic procedure documented in the US.

    But what exactly is a “vampire facial”, and how did the women contract HIV after receiving it? And what can people do to keep themselves safe from infection when getting cosmetic treatments? The term is a colloquial one for platelet-rich plasma – or PRP – facials.

    It involves drawing a patient’s blood and then separating out platelet-rich plasma from it using a centrifuge. The plasma is then injected back into the face through tiny needle punctures. The procedure is said to help repair the skin’s barrier by stimulating the production of new collagen and elastin, which can reduce the appearance of wrinkles and acne scars.

    It has been around for a while – reality television star Kim Kardashian shared a selfie post-procedure in 2013 where her face appeared bloody. A few years later Ms Kardashian said that she would not get the treatment again, writing on her website that it was “really rough and painful for me.”

    The treatment could cost anywhere between $1,000 to $2,000 (£1,600) at a licensed medical spa, according to estimates from providers online. [Licensed by, say, Rand Paul?]

    In summer of 2018, the CDC became aware of an American woman, aged between 40 and 50, who tested positive for HIV while she was abroad. The woman reported no history of injection drug use or recent blood transfusions, and did not have recent sexual contact with anyone other than her current partner.

    She did, however, report getting a vampire facial earlier that year at a spa in New Mexico.

    A CDC investigation into the spa – which also provided other injection services, including Botox – later revealed that it was unlicensed and that it had “multiple unsafe infection control practices.”

    This included “unlabelled tubes of blood and medical injectables” that were stored in a kitchen fridge next to food, as well as “unwrapped syringes” scattered in drawers and on counters. Some of the blood vials also showed signs of being reused, and the CDC had identified at least one client who had tested positive for HIV before visiting the spa.

    [Did you think we were kidding when we named it the Wild West?]

    The health agency has since tied the spa to five cases of HIV, including four women who had all received a vampire facial treatment between May and September of 2018 and a man who was romantically linked with one of the women.

    The spa was forced to close in late 2018, and its former owner, 62-year-old Maria de Lourdes Ramos De Ruiz, is serving a three-and-a-half year prison sentence. She pled guilty in 2022 to practicing medicine without a license.

  52. 52.

    Steeplejack

    @Barbara:

    I have liked the few episodes of Will Trent I have caught on the network. Good to know they’re all on Hulu.

    My most recent embarrassing watch is Elsbeth. I started it with something like horrified fascination, but it sort of works! I’m three episode in.

  57. 57.

    sab

    @Steeplejack: Midwestern nice meets NYC. I still feel like she should be from the Twin Cities, not Chicago, but my husband says we don’t inow her backstory. She might have come to Chicago from elewhere.

    I keep getting distracted ( in a good way) by her wardrobe.

  58. 58.

    TVD

    Slow Horses on Apple TV. Gary Oldman as a an extremely crusty, slovenly but genius spy in change of a crew of well intended misfits. Extremely entertaining.

  60. 60.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Barbara: I really enjoyed the book but mostly because I read it after we visited Vietnam in 2016.  Likewise, I’m enjoying the series but it’s probably because I enjoy that period for the style/vibe etc., especially stuff that takes place in SE Asia.  I wouldn’t say it’s must-watch, but it’s good.  One thing that irritates me is that Robert Downey Jr. plays multiple roles using different make-up/costumes, and to me it kind of comes off as a gimmick.

  61. 61.

    Citizen Dave

    @Villago Delenda Est: Did the Pilots change their name?   :

     

    We’re watching Under the Bridge.  My wife likes it I guess but I think it’s boring.  They must have misinterpreted the memo about indigenous victim.  It’s an Indian, yes, but…

  62. 62.

    Miki

    Mr. Bates vs The Post Office on Masterpiece/PBS (4 part mini-series) is pretty good. British Post Office screws hundreds of sub- postmasters and they fight back. True story.

  64. 64.

    Betty Cracker

    @Cacti: What I found mindboggling about that story was that no one told her not to walk near a pond with an 11-foot gator in it! Everyone knew the gator was there — they named it! But they took no precautions. There should be an orientation for new residents. I’ve successfully avoided gators all my life. It’s not hard.

  67. 67.

    Steeplejack

    @sab:

    I keep getting distracted by Elsbeth’s multiple tote bags. I could see the point in the first episode, where she was literally just stepping out of the cab on arrival, but now that she’s found a short-term rental I don’t see why she has to carry all that stuff around all the time. I want an explanation!

  69. 69.

    bjacques

    @Miki: Starring the always excellent Terby Jernes! I loved him in “Berberian Sound System”.

    Just finishing “Ripley”. Andrew Scott is always fun to watch. He did a pretty good Hamlet a few years back.

  73. 73.

    TheOtherHank

    Brooklyn Nine-nine trivia for people of a certain age: The guy who plays Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) played one of the fighter pilots in the Black Sheep Squadron show back in the 70s.

  74. 74.

    rikyrah

    Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) posted at 6:02 PM on Sun, Apr 28, 2024:
    A person who I love and respect, a champion both at the collegiate and professional level, is retiring from the game – @Candace_Parker!

    You said that you wanted to leave the game better than when you entered it – and your time at Tennessee, and 16 years in the league, have been nothing but historic in women’s basketball today.

    I’m so blessed to have witnessed your greatness first-hand in your 13 seasons with my Sparks, including our 2016 WNBA Championship! You are leaving this game as a legend with so many things to be proud of; The first player to ever win three championships with three teams, 10-time All-WNBA honoree, two-time Olympic gold medalist, two-time league MVP, and the first player to win MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season. We can’t forget your two NCAA championships with Tennessee!

    Your achievements off the court have been just as impressive as your time on it. You have excelled as an analyst, businesswoman, wife, and mother, and have been a tremendous friend to Cookie and I over the years. I’m so excited to see you put the dedication you gave to the game into your next business ventures!

    Thank you for 13 incredible years in purple and gold. Thank you for being an amazing role model and staple in the basketball community. And thank you for leaving the game better than when you entered!
    https://t.co/8ZWXB87Q0M
    (https://x.com/MagicJohnson/status/1784719762813300948?t=k1QuCJRj5gJpjww9SbkVXQ&s=03)

  75. 75.

    HumboldtBlue

    @brendancalling: ​ 

    I watched that back-to-back-to-back. Brilliant short series.

    Lots of excellent suggestions already, and if Blue Eye Samurai hasn’t been mentioned, it’s a beautifully crafted anime.

  76. 76.

    sab

    @Betty Cracker: Yes. I spent six years of elementary school in Florida and I always felt I knew how to avoid gators, and we lived on a river. Snakes were harder because it limited so many activities.  Gators it was just don’t go too close to gator occupied bodies of water.

    In Ohio we use the same rules for snapping turtles. Easy to avoid, unless you are a do gooder assisting a snapper crossing the wrong road.

  78. 78.

    rikyrah

    Kenny Akers (@KeneAkers) posted at 10:13 AM on Sun, Apr 28, 2024:
    White racists — Blacks are lazy; none of them work. Stop mooching off the system we built, and I’m tired of paying for their welfare.

    Black Americans — we are doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, teachers, politicians, daycare workers, city employees, blue-collar workers, accountants, physicians, psychologists, and so much more.

    White racists — you didn’t earn any of those jobs; you are a bunch of DEI hires who only got put in the position because of the color of your skin, and the opportunity could have been given to someone more educated and worthy of those positions, like white people.

     

    MelissaJPeltier (@MelissaJPeltier) posted at 2:49 PM on Sun, Apr 28, 2024:
    What they mean is, “I’m a mediocre White guy who would’ve gotten those slots ahead of you, had it not been for racial progress & your own hard work & excellence. Now I’m going to have to work as hard to be as good or better than you, and I know there’s no way I can hack that.”

    PapaDboy (@DboyPapa) posted at 7:39 PM on Sun, Apr 28, 2024:
    And I’m going to do what I can to keep you out of certain positions and professions. I need to reserve those for my friends and family. I certainly don’t want you to be able to afford a house in my neighborhood.
    (https://x.com/DboyPapa/status/1784744307229855982?t=3JWrH_ZTrI8zKoi9W9XpOA&s=03)

  79. 79.

    Cacti

    @HumboldtBlue: Lots of excellent suggestions already, and if Blue Eye Samurai hasn’t been mentioned, it’s a beautifully crafted anime.

    Agree with this one. Visually beautiful and well written story. I hope there is a season 2.

  80. 80.

    sab

    @Steeplejack: If you were watching her weird clothes and brooches you wouldn’t even notice her tote bags.

    How many really weird winter coats does she have? I usually have two, the casual one and the dressy one, and maybe a third outdoorsy one. But her back story is that she used to make a lot of money in her defense practice

    Her wardrobe is one of her endearing characteristics for me. So like her, and her actress makes you feel this is indeed her, and not just a stunt.

  81. 81.

    Betty Cracker

    @sab: I am one of those turtle road-assist do-gooders and have had snappers crawl halfway out of their shell to try to bite me! Now I get them to clamp onto a broom handle for removal.

  82. 82.

    FelonyGovt

    Since you have Apple TV, try The Big Door Prize.  It’s billed as a comedy but it’s kind of thought provoking and the acting is good.  Essentially, a mysterious machine that purports to tell you your “destiny” appears in a small Midwestern town.

  83. 83.

    sab

    @Betty Cracker: You are braver than me. If I move a snapper it will be because I was too stupid to recognize it as a snapper.

    I carry a broom handle in my car also, but only to shove the front bottles away in the community recycling bin. It is so much fun to throw those bottles in towards the back. Why do some people insist on dumping a load in to block the door?

  84. 84.

    Steeplejack

    @sab:

    Yeah, I saw the episode last night where she said she wanted to buy a unit in the ritzy building—for cash—to get access to the board’s information for her investigation, and apparently she had the financials to back it up.

  88. 88.

    zhena gogolia

    @Barbara: I didn’t like it either, but Firth’s performance is magnificent. For anyone who thinks he’s only Mr. Darcy.

  90. 90.

    Tenar Arha

    @cain: I always remembered that like even years later in college when I was taking Art History (& an English survey course & another significant Rome-early 20th century texts course). Very clear from majoring in Art History that this was a huge separation between cultures, though it makes no sense from our perspective.

  92. 92.

    Anyway

    @Steeplejack:

    NZ fan and enjoyed both Deadloch and Brokenwood

    Recently finished a book set in NZ -Pet- by Catherine Chidgey. It was interesting, not great.

  94. 94.

    Tenar Arha

    @Barbara: Me too! JSYK You can watch the 1st episode free on Pluto or even Amazon without signing up. Then you can decide if they’ve changed too many things & decide ;)

  96. 96.

    Anyway

    @zhena gogolia:

    ’ve been doing a Colin Firth marathon. Master of the Moor, Fever Pitch, and now Bridget Jones.

    I like Colin Firth but couldn’t finish Bridget Jones

  97. 97.

    Roberto el oso

    I watched a number of Scandinavian neo-noir series back to back a few months ago. I enjoy the procedural aspects far more than the scenes with the creepy serial killers, all of whom seem to have the same quirks and traumas. By the end of my binging I the stuff I found most interesting were all the little mundane details, like the fast food the cops are always eating (lots of kebabs and overstuffed, delicious-looking wraps, and the omnipresence of Chinese food cartons (just like American cops LOL)).

    Most recently, my wife and I have watched “3 Body Problem” (very good, and I say this as someone who usually doesn’t care that much for subplots that involve circles of quirky friends), and also “Shogun”, which was also very satisfying (Cosmo Jarvis makes me think of a cross between Tom Hardy and mid-period Russell Crowe), but Anna Sawai (Mariko), Hiroyuki Sanada (Toranaga), and Tadanobu Asano (Yabushige) are very much the heart and soul of the series. I do have fond if very vague memories of the Richard Chamberlain version.

    I’m kinda interested in “Fallout” (Cole’s shout-out made me prick up my ears) … I’ll watch anything with Walter Coggins.

  101. 101.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Art Historian here who had a complete career at a museum and retired with a pension!  Caravaggio is my favorite European painter – Roman Catholic style with a Protestant sensibility.  So I loved “Ripley” –  the visits to the Pio Monte in Naples, the Contarelli Chapel in Rome, where the altarpieces are still in situ, the black and white reminiscent of Fellini, the Bernini statues in Rome, all lushly and lovingly depicted.  I hope the show gets a second season.

  104. 104.

    becca

    Coming back out of my shell to recommend Deadloch. It’s funny and Tasmania is beautiful. The Tourist is really good. The Gentleman, a Guy Ritchie production, is worth watching. Resident Alien is a personal favorite. Alan Tudyck is ridiculously funny in it. If you have Britbox, No Offense is good, and I unashamedly loved Hope Street. Hell, I will watch anything filmed in Cornwall or Northern Ireland. Have you seen Derry Girls? If not, you must, Betty. You will love me forever if I am the first to turn you on to it.

  105. 105.

    rikyrah

    @Steeplejack:

    My most recent embarrassing watch is Elsbeth. I started it with something like horrified fascination, but it sort of works! I’m three episode in`

    I was curious. I thought they were pushing her as a female Monk. But, she’s ok. Smart. Quirky. Using her talents as a defense attorney to solve crimes. It works.

  106. 106.

    prostratedragon

    Recently rewatched Foyle’s War, after maybe 3 years, and it’s even better than I’d remembered.

  107. 107.

    sab

    @cain: Henry VIII didn’t start Protestantism. He wasn’t even really a Protestant. He was schismatic: broke with the Pope not with the underlying theology. He just wanted more political freedom for the monarchy, like the king of France and the Holy Roman Emperor had.

    Protestantism started more in the Low Countries (mostly the Netherlands) and Switzerland. Also too Scotland, but they didn’t influence anyone but themselves.

  111. 111.

    rikyrah

    @sab:

    don’t have any feelings towards her, one way or the other. I never saw her on the other show that she was originally on. So, I have no Chicago-based context for her.

  112. 112.

    Martin

    @narya: I had someone who worked for me who was real-life Amy. Looked like her too. Every time my daughter watches that show I get happy memories.

  113. 113.

    frosty

    @Villago Delenda Est: ​ No no no, the best team in baseball is 2nd in the AL East. Sorry to break it to you, but with the Mariners’s W-L percentage, they’d be in 4th place in my division.

    Give us a little time and we’ll put the FTFY in their place again.

  114. 114.

    frosty

    @raven: ​That’s a legitimate gripe. Historically though, I read that the only way they were together was in the Stalag. Tuskegee Airmen didn’t fly escort with the 100th.

    I thought the POW experience was a significant part of the story.

  115. 115.

    cmorenc

    @cmorenc: In my post, i inadvertently mis-named “Masters of the Air” as “Masters of the Sky” – whups.

    As to Raven’s complaint about inadequate portrayal/context regarding the Tuskegee Airmen, the focus of the series is the experience of the B-17 bomber crews, including the POW experience of airmen who were lucky enough to successfully bail out of fatally crippled airplanes and  were captured.  It would have been disrespectful not to include how once the Tuskeege airmen did come along, how much their addition to bombing raids crippled the Luftwaffe and increased the odds of bomber crews surviving their missions, but that was very secondary to the series focus on the bomber crews’  harrowing experience, and the series length might have grown to unwieldy length and lost focus to include a fuller presentation of the Tuskeege Airmen.

  116. 116.

    Old School

    Way behind on my TV shows, but I enjoyed watching this:

    PELOSI: Trump has the worst record of jobs loss of any president

    KATY TUR: There was a global pandemic

    PELOSI: He had the worst record of any president. If you want to be an apologist for Donald Trump, that may be your role

    pic.twitter.com/4cXkZKjPWO— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 29, 2024

  120. 120.

    cain

    @Old School: That is the kind of response, I’m here for! Bring that sass, nancy!

    ETA Katy Tur doesn’t know what it is like to be in a federal building where a rampaging crowd howling for your blood, putting your life in serious danger and the republic in danger – let’s just say it puts some extra sizzle when it comes to dealing with Donny Boy.

  121. 121.

    sab

    @rikyrah: The actress is from Macon Georgia and she has midwestern nice down to a fine art, which is just southern white girl without the accent.

    Being a hick from Ohio myself, I never thought of Chicago as midwestern nice (a perjorative to me, nice to your face,  knife in your back. ) I thought Chicago was more openly edgy.

    ETA Big city people who know they live in a big city.

  122. 122.

    NotMax

    With the snarky sensibilities of this crowd in mind, a quick note that 13 seasons of Archer drop back onto Netflix on May 13.
    ;)

  125. 125.

    hueyplong

    @Old School: “If you want to be an apologist for Donald Trump, that may be your role.”

    Sorry, just wanted to see that in print again.  Did not have Pelosi slapping Tur on my Monday bingo card.

  126. 126.

    sab

    Alligators are kind of cool looking in a reptilian way, but they really stink. They will eat almost anything  however late the demise.

  127. 127.

    Scout211

    @TheOtherHank: Brooklyn Nine-nine trivia for people of a certain age: The guy who plays Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) played one of the fighter pilots in the Black Sheep Squadron show back in the 70s.

    And of course, his dad was the late Dan Blocker, (Hoss on Bonanza for the olds).  

    Brooklyn 99 is definitely a fun cast of characters.  I was never a fan of Andy Samberg but the cast around him in Brooklyn 99 really elevates the child-man character that he always seems to play.

  130. 130.

    rikyrah

    @sab:

    Being a hick from Ohio myself, I never thought of Chicago as midwestern nice (a perjorative to me, nice to your face,  knife in your back. ) I thought Chicago was more openly edgy.

    ETA Big city people who know they live in a big city.

     

    No such thing as ‘ Chicago nice’.

    You are just ‘ Chicago.’

  131. 131.

    piratedan

    @hueyplong: what’s really ironic, Tur had the Trump Campaign beat, where all the national reporters were cordoned off in an area where the rally attendees could jeer/curse/threaten them.  I can’t tell if she’s clueless, ignorant or believes that the one guy who breaks all of the norms will somehow spare the press.

  132. 132.

    Gvg

    @cain: No. The king of England only had that option because enough people, both regular and noble really wanted to be apart from the Catholic Church.
    The reasons mostly come from how truly corrupt the Catholic Church had become due to being a monopoly IMO and the fact of the printing press and more people reading the Bible themselves, lead to them noticing that the Church was not following what the Bible said.

    England had been resisting the European trend. Protestantism began in the Germanies way before England and there were several flavors. England and most of the other countries also had the beginnings of modern nationalism reasons for breaking with the control of the Catholic Church.

    There would have been a civil war if he had not had a boy heir too, and since the prince died young, it only put that off. But the succession wars were going to bring the religious issue into it quickly.

    Protestanism came out of lots of people reading the Bible for them selves plus a lot of other issues.

  133. 133.

    rikyrah

    @sab:

    @rikyrah: Does she seem out of place, our people couldn’t behave like her?

     

    I could see her as an attorney. Living on the North Side. Life all carved out. Never going south of downtown.  She’s not a Hyde Park Chicagoan.

  136. 136.

    hueyplong

    @piratedan: I used to wonder the same thing about Tur, but now I don’t care anymore.  She seems to be biding her 40 years to become Andrea Mitchell.  We don’t really care what made Andrea Mitchell become Andrea Mitchell.  We just want her to retire.

  139. 139.

    DaddyJ

    Since somebody mentioned Toby Jones, I highly recommend The Detectorists for a mellow, low-stakes (mostly) but endearing comedy about two somewhat beta males who like messing about with metal detectors. Available via Acorn subscription and I think the Roku Channel if you don’t mind the occasional ad.

  141. 141.

    Gvg

    @rikyrah: They aren’t that aggressive to people. You have to know the rules and not be stupid but they are just not a very big deal. Grizzly’s and moose are also dangerous and roaming around other places.

    you have to be careful of dogs. Gators will attack dogs, especially small ones. Don’t leave a dog outside while you go to work, always keep an eye on them and be careful where you walk them.

    I think gators are sort of boring. They don’t do much.

  142. 142.

    Elizabelle

    @Old School:  I watched the clip, which is much longer.  Tur says at the end “I don’t think anyone can accuse me of that” with a superior smile.

    Oh yes they can.

    Further, the Covid pandemic became such in early 2020.  Third year of the Trump occupation.

  143. 143.

    sab

    @rikyrah: That is what I thought. My few brief trips to NYC the midwestern nice really worked. I came back from  junior year in Europe during some sort of airline slowdown. They weren’t letting passengers into the gates. Everyone else was bitching. I was 22 and exhausted, so I went to the gate and just burst into tears. I got on that plane to home.

    ETA I wasn’t being manipulative. I was that exhausted and at the gate they saw that, and that I hadn’t been rude.

  144. 144.

    Gvg

    @Cacti: this is the something stupid. “Residents were encouraged to feed the alligators” Inevitable that someone was killed. That is outrageous. Naming the Gator probably didn’t help. It’s always been a public service announcement and a news story emphasis that people should never feed gators. I mean that is just stupid.

    the management is going to get hammered IMO.

    Gators can climb chain link fences but rather slowly.

  147. 147.

    sab

    @Gvg: Seriously? Yikes!!! Residents encouraged to feed those smelly beasts who can catch their own critters.? I cannot see any point other than to keep the gators around, to be what ? Picturesque? Dangerous?

  149. 149.

    Elizabelle

    @Steeplejack:  It felt like eight, didn’t it?

    I think the morons in the news media are a lagging indicator.  They are generally the last to pick up on something real, and so they deliver up Trump Trump Trump all of the time.  It is exhausting.

  150. 150.

    NotMax

    If you have Apple TV+ and in search of something amusing to just sit back and veg out with, may I humbly suggest Schmigadoon. Musical meringue piled high atop the TV pie.

    If you can tolerate ad breaks, both A Touch of Frost and the Helen Mirren Prime Suspect are available on the free FilmRise streaming channel.

  153. 153.

    NotMax

    Italics fail. Fix.

    If you have Apple TV+ and in search of something amusing to just sit back and veg out with, may I humbly suggest Schmigadoon. Musical meringue piled high and fluffy atop the TV pie.

    If you can tolerate ad breaks, both A Touch of Frost and the Helen Mirren Prime Suspect are available on the free FilmRise streaming channel.

  154. 154.

    JCJ

    @rikyrah: I really like her as an analyst in addition to her game.  On Inside the NBA on Tuesday nights during the season she more than holds her own with Shaq and Jamaal Crawford.  During the NCAA tournament she was as sharp as anyone on the studio shows, including Jay Wright.  I was so glad when she won a title with the Sky.  Best wishes to Candace!

  156. 156.

    cain

    @Gvg:

    I appreciate the time you took to educate me. Thank you.

    and the fact of the printing press and more people reading the Bible themselves, lead to them noticing that the Church was not following what the Bible said. 

    In the day of hyper information – it seems that we no longer do this.

  157. 157.

    mrmoshpotato

    @frosty:

    If you liked Band of Brothers and The Pacific, you should watch Masters of the Air. It’s about one B-17 squadron (the Bloody Hundredth) bombing campaign over Germany, life in England during the war, and Stalag Luft III. I set out to watch an episode or two every night for a week but instead binged the whole thing in one night and went to bed at 6:00 AM. 

    Who’s streaming Masters of the Air?

  158. 158.

    Martin

    @Old School: No president has a job record that wasn’t influenced by external factors. How you respond to those factors is what matters. Trump could have gone to a Democratic Congress and said ‘yo, shits bad, we gotta find a way to keep everyone employed’ and Democrats would have come up with something.

    That never happened. FDR just fucking made up things for people to do. That’s a 100% valid solution.

  160. 160.

    sab

    Anyone have much experience with sunscreen? I avoid it because it stings my eyes. I also avoid the sun except I drive, and I have periodic bouts with skin qwcancer. So much nothing much but my dermotologist is not impressed with my skin.

    She recommended a “mineral based sunscreen at 50 spf with only zinc and titannium.

    Husband tried it mowing the lawn today. I had to laugh when he went out covered in zinc oxide like my childhood. But whren he came back he wasn’t covered in zinc oxide, and he wss still a bit greasy and apparently coverd in sunscreen.

    Facing skin cancer who are  you going to believe, your own comfort concerns, or your own dermatologist?

    ETA I am still dermatologist.

  161. 161.

    opiejeanne

    @Villago Delenda Est: I used to be very good at avoiding all three, lions, tigers, AND bears, but now that I live just outside Seattle we have had a bear wandering through the neighborhood (spotted across the street!) and a mountain lion in our garden last summer. People didn’t believe I’d really seen one, kept telling me it was a bobcat (not with that long tail) until they saw the same big cat. This one was young, maybe a 2 year old. There’s a mama and cubs that frequent a yard about a quarter mile down our street.

    The mountain lion excited me but didn’t really scare me, as it was trying to move away from me, wanted nothing to do with humans. What really made me nervous was the full-sized deer, a big buck with antlers (3-point? or is it 6?), that we had in the same garden the year before.

  162. 162.

    dnfree

    @Jerry: This shows how much tastes differ.  I detested Slow Horses for the much same reason I didn’t like Yellowstone.  I don’t need to be dragged down by what is intended to be entertainment.  I get enough of that in reality.

  163. 163.

    dnfree

    @sab: I’ve already had melanoma, and I hate sunscreen.  What I do is wear long-sleeved shirts like the ones from Land’s End (they call them “rash guards”) that are SPF 50 and long pants from for instance Eddie Bauer, also SPF 50, and a sun hat with a wide brim, any time I’m going to be in the sun for more than 15 minutes.  Sure, it looks nutty when temperatures are over 80, but I prefer it to sunscreen.

  164. 164.

    Scout211

    @sab:

    This is what I use.  Banana Boat Kids 100% Mineral Oil SPF 50.

    The link is to Amazon but you can buy it at most stores.  I switched to kids’ version sunscreens a long time ago because most adult sunscreens  have extra ingredients that cause a skin rash on my arms and legs. Even “sensitive skin” ones caused a rash.

    ETA: yes, it can be messy, but it’s effective.

    ETA:  This one is one I’ve used also.  Banana Boat Kids Mineral 50 spf

  166. 166.

    artem1s

    @Villago Delenda Est: ​ 
    good luck facing Atlanta this week. Seattle’s gonna need it. Meanwhile the Guardians are still leading ALL of the AL and only 1 game behind Atlanta for the MLB lead. They get to face the Astros (sad trombone sound) and the Angels this week.

  168. 168.

    WaterGirl

    If you want to be an apologist for Donald Trump, that may be your role. ~Nancy SMASH

    Please please please let there be a video clip of that!

  172. 172.

    MazeDancer

    Reminder that Fallout is gruesomely, relentlessly violent. If you don’t like violence -and I don’t – you won’t like Fallout. And I didn’t. Bailed early.

    Thought Deadloch, the bit I saw, was boring. If you like quirky characters, who are actually endearing, in an amusing location, you are much better off, IMHO, streaming the wonderful Northern Exposure.

    Will Trent is lightweight but very good. Season 2 is better than Season 1.

  174. 174.

    sab

    @Scout211: My dermatologist recommends that. ” Mineral based zinc oxide or titaneum” were her magic words. We smeared it on husband and he shrieked because it looked like the zinc oxide white smear of his youth.

    By the time he came back inside after mowing the lawn it was still a bit greasy but not a whole white smear. And his eyes did not sting and no signs of sun exposure. Success in my book.

  175. 175.

    Eyeroller

    @cain: A major instigating factor for the development of Protestantism on the Continent (Martin Luther in particular) was the corruption of the Catholic church at the time, in particular the selling of “indulgences.” These were “get out of jail” cards (though not free) for serious sins.

  178. 178.

    Steeplejack

    @Ned F:

    Set in Tasmania. And, oops, I have to correct myself—it’s an Australian production, not from New Zealand. My bad.

  179. 179.

    thruppence

    Blue Eye Samurai doesn’t really strike me as anime – it’s beautiful animation, emotionally harrowing, and firmly grounded even though pure fantasy. Anime has its own esthetic but it ain’t this. But watch it! Damn. Now I’ve motivated myself to watch it again.

  180. 180.

    JustRuss

    @MazeDancer: Hard to do post-apocalypic-wasteland without violence.  But sure, it’s not for everyone.

    I enjoyed Deadloch, but it did take a few episodes to get into it. My mom loved Northern Exposure, I took her to the town in Washington where they shot the exteriors, which was fun.

    For a more traditional Brit detective show, Whitechapel is pretty good.

  182. 182.

    RandomMonster

    @Betty Cracker: Thank goodness. I couldn’t tell much from the context of the picture, and was thinking I was looking at a shell the size of a grapefruit!

  183. 183.

    Ha Nguyen

    I’m rewatching Babylon 5 because there’s a rewatch of B5 going on at the TOR website. They’re currently on Epsiode 3 of the first season, but I couldn’t wait so I’m on Season 3. It’s as good as I remember it.

    I know people say that Captain Sinclair was wooden and not very good. I really liked him though in this role. His voice was deeper and his mien was naturally more haggard and haunted than Sheridan’s appearance so Sinclair looked the part of someone who had gone through war. And, with his voice, oh, it made him appear so much more ferocious than Sheridan.

  184. 184.

    Frank McCormick

    I’m enjoying “The Spiderwick Chronicles” on The Roku Channel and can heartily recommend it IF YOU DON’T INTEND TO BINGE ALL 8 EPISODES.

    Each episode is essentially the length of a theatrical movie (90 minutes to 2 hours), something I didn’t really notice until the first two episodes ended.  I had been assuming that several episodes had autoplayed each time, perhaps when I was distracted buy a chore or the dog?  Nope.

    Note that this is not a complaint but an observation.  I’m thoroughly enjoying the series.  But I know that my partner, for instance, will not have the time or the patience to commit to the whole story.

  185. 185.

    NotMax

    Late entry for Apple TV+, The Last Days Of Ptolemy Grey . Samuel L. Jackson struts his non-action hero side with aplomb.

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