Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in. We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.
Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered. We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.
This Medium Cool will be a free-for-all, but not the usual sense, where we recommend stuff we really like.
Tonight, let’s talk about what we’re doing or reading or watching or playing right now.
I’ll start. For daily games, I’m playing Waffle. The Daily Waffle, the Waffle Royale (which is not part of the archives, so if you miss one, it’s gone forever) and the One Word Search they recently added. Getting pretty good with those! Fuck Wordle; they spoiled it for me when they sold it to the NYT.
No political podcasts, which I can’t bear to listen to anymore. No books, though I am getting started with the audio version of Black Pill for our upcoming book club. Listening to some music, but nothing current.
I have subscribed to multiple Substacks and other feeds, but I don’t currently have the time or attention span to read even half of them.
At night when I go to bed I watch (or listen) to movies and TV shows. Netflix now thinks I like romance movies, but I can watch them with my eyes closed and get enough distraction to sometimes fall asleep, so I’m willing to live with that. Some of them are so stupid, and for those I grab my glasses, mark them “not for me” and try something else. If they are just average stupid, then I hope they will put me to sleep. The Noel Diary was nice, good voices and human interactions. Maid in Manhattan with Jennifer Lopez as a single mom was fun.
If I can’t get to sleep, then I watch (listen) to random episodes of White Collar and Castle. If I really can’t get to sleep, then I’ll put on an episode of The Man Inside, which I have already watched. That’s kind of my “break glass in case of emergency”, surely this will put me to sleep show.
It’s crazy. I am not normally a person to read more than one book at once, or watch more than one show at once. (Exception: I have my one “treadmill” show at a time which is different from anything I watch at any other time.) But now? I am literally all over the map. I have something like 10 shows in “continue watching” in Netflix and a few more in Acorn and Britbox, and Prime.
I just finished Season 2 of 19-2, which I think kalakal recommended, and it’s good enough that I decided to stop there for now, watch the first season of The Night Agent so I can watch The Night Agent Season 2 (which just came out) and remember all the details from season 1. That way I have 2 remaining seasons of 19-2. I was bummed when I recently finished Slow Horses.
Oh, and I’m trying to get caught up on all the neglected shows on Tivo, so I’m watching episodes of shows like Queen Sugar, Alaska Daily, and Frequency, flitting from one thing to another in what is probably a hopeless attempt to run away from everything, while settling on nothing.
I’m sure it’s the tangible reflection of my response to the civil war that started in July, losing Steeplejack, losing Ozark, followed by the crushing election results. I do not like this timeline. But you know what they say, “whoever you go, there you are.”
My TV-watching behavior right now may look like a cry for help, but the shows on Tivo, at least, are an attempt to fucking control something, which in this case is getting that down from 97% full and watching all the shows that I was apparently saving for when the apocalypse hit. As we say in my family, when the going gets tough, the tough start organizing.
Well, if you have gotten this far, at least I have probably helped some of you feel really good about how you’re handling things, in comparison!
So what are you guys watching, reading, playing, listening to, dancing to, etc? Right now.
For those new to Medium Cool, these are not open threads.
billcinsd
I’m playing Football Manager 2024, and reading Craig Shaw Gardner’s Wuntvor Trilogy
Princess
I’m taking an abstract painting class.
Steve in the ATl
Dordle
Waffle
Squareword
Squaredle
And, on Apple News, quartiles
West of the Rockies
Finished and loved Lessons in Chemistry. Watched the first episode of The Prisoner… trippy. May not watch the rest since it got canceled after one season over half a century ago
Reading A Traveler’s Guide to the Stars. Fun science stuff.
Starfish (she/her)
I have been playing NYT Connections and squardle.app. I will play Waffle too. I like board games, but I can never remember the rules to anything and sometimes I don’t have the patience to understand the complicated rules of a board game.
I am reading “Unmasking AI” by Dr. Joy Buolamwini, a member of the Algorithmic Justic League working in AI Ethics.
I just started watching Bad Sisters on Apple TV; and I think I may still be watching a short series on the Love Has Won cult, but it is so depressing.
Scout211
I don’t watch or stream movies or series but I will watch mindless television as a sleep inducer right before bed, like HGTV or Magnolia.
I mostly read books, for distraction and for enjoyment. I read lots of Kindle books with happy endings that are definitely not literature.
The two most recent books I read that I’d classify as literature are: Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles, (which was interesting but not up to her News of the World) and Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls (which I really enjoyed but it was very different than her previous two books that I loved, Half Broke Horses and The Glass Castle).
ETA: I forgot to add, I play SpellMania on my iPad. A lot.
prostratedragon
Madame Blanc is on my tv now, which fits my somewhat distracted mood; it’s not bad, but I don’t feel obligated to try focussing on it.
TCM is having Paul Newman day. Hud right now, Cool Hand Luke and Nobody’s Fool later. I can catch up to them later.
NotMax
Netflix has become a desert for me. Lucky if I can find something – anything – there once a month which has appeal.
Prime, MHz Choice and Kanopy are my go-tos, with the occasional foray into the Roku channel and Tubi.
hueyplong
Watching: nominated movies
Reading: A 900 page book on the Napoleonic era, which is light reading after the horrific Bloodlands. Last time Trump won I read two books about the French occupation. Man, I wish our electorate was better. After Biden won, the topics were lighter.
Playing: Don’t really do that. Noting the above, maybe I should.
Listening to: 1966-67 Beatles. Don’t really know how that happened, but here I am.
Dancing to: No one wants to see that.
Phylllis
I usually have two books going at once, one print and one audio that I listen to while I walk. Print is The War Lovers by Evan Thomas. I wasn’t familiar with him; my husband found the book while browsing library shelves. All about Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, William Randolph Hearst and their desire for war with… well, anybody who they could gin one up against. Ok, Spain it is.
Current audiobook is I Was Better Last Night by Harvey Fierstein. I do a lot of celebrity memoirs for my audio book selections. It’s like visiting with an old friend for 30-40 minutes every day.
Tehanu
Reading American Prometheus, which I requested from the library months ago and had almost forgotten about; not sure what I think of it yet; it seems to spend a lot of time quoting FBI surveillance documents. Otherwise, re-reading various things: Barbara Hambly’s Those Who Hunt the Night vampire books and the Benjamin January mystery series, a number of Rosemary Sutcliff novels — The Silver Branch and The Lantern Bearers most recently — and Gillian Bradshaw’s Hawk of May. Watching very little TV, just All Creatures Great & Small and Animal Control. Only movie I’ve seen in months is Vengeance Most Fowl (loved it!). Waiting for pitchers and catchers to report on Feb. 10! And looking forward to a rewatch of Nobody’s Fool tonight.
BellaPea
I gave Mr. Pea the new Al Pacino autobiography, Sonny Boy, for Christmas. We have both read it, and it was very well done. We followed that up with watching The Godfather I and The Godfather Part II, which we finished last night. It was interesting to watch those two movies after reading Pacino’s insights into the making of those movies, and how it affected his film career. A good distraction from the nightmares going on around us.
sixthdoctor
Watching: Bookie on Max.
Listening: The Last Will and Testament by Opeth.
Playing: Waiting on Civ 7.
Steve LaBonne
Finally got around to reading The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, currently about 60% through. Really amazing book, which I know will not be news to many of you who were years ahead of me. Today after the service at my church our Racial Justice Accountability Ministry (of which I’m a member) hosted a showing of the James Baldwin documentary “I Am Not Your Negro”, also highly recommended to anyone who hasn’t seen it.
Wapiti
In the last couple of weeks I read a few Skalzi novels: Unlocked, Locked In, and Head On. They all deal with the concept of people who are locked into their bodies by a pandemic, and they get chips implanted in their brains so the can interact either online or with C3PO bodies (“Threeps”). The first is an oral history as world-building, and the other two are mysteries, I guess. So science-fiction mysteries. Skalzi’s good, his dialogs make me laugh.
Steve LaBonne
Oh, and I don’t know how many classical music fans there are here, but Simon Rattle’s new Mahler 7 with his Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra is really terrific, one of the very best I have heard.
West of the Rockies
@Tehanu:
I really liked American Prometheus. Read it twice. Oddly, I’ve not yet watched Oppenheimer.
West of the Rockies
@Steve LaBonne:
I’ve somehow never connected with Mahler. Maybe he’s too… remote? Abstract?
TheOtherHank
Watching: just finished the latest Silo, Severance season 2, various animes my sons like
Reading: Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky, the middle book in a SiFi trilogy
Listening: I like to listen to audiobooks when I drive around, currently several hours into the 30+ hours of Fall, or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson
Playing: World of Tanks
Percysowner
I’ve been playing Crossword Club, the New Yorker Crossword puzzles, and Dictionary Scoop. I’m comfort watching Legends of Tomorrow, Flourished Peony, (Cdrama on Viki) I just finished 2 other Cdramas Nirvana In Fire and the Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty also on Viki.
Reading Dear Mothman.
Leto
Spring semester started, so I’m back in school. Classes this semester: Reagan and Gorbachev, and the end of the Cold War; Environmental Philosophy; Greco-Roman Civilization History; and Historiography.
So far enjoying the readings, except for the Reagan/Gorbachev class. The book is from Reagan’s ambassador to the USSR, it’s his first hand account of things. It’s infuriating and I’m constantly yelling at the asshat. There’s language in it that’s a pre-cursor to shit you see coming out of the right now. But like I said, past that so far, 2 classes in, things are good. Currently watch the AFC championship game. Eagles punched their ticket to the Super Bowl with a great performance against the Commanders.
zhena gogolia
I’ve watched six different Uncle Vanyas and am about to finish a seventh (two Russian, five English).
I’ve started a Soviet thriller called Fear of Heights.
I’ve started I Am Love (Guadagnino).
I’ve started Maria with Angelina Jolie.
I’ve started watching the series Sisters from the beginning. I realized how much Sex and the City ripped it off. It’s a very good show.
Meanwhile I’m also working full time.
And the word puzzle addiction that started with Fuckhead’s first term is now raging.
None of this is helping anyone. But I’m done. This election broke me.
Pink Tie
I binged Bad Sisters so hard that I regretted having blown through it so fast! And have been listening to the soundtrack as well — I am a musician but usually listen to podcasts, but like you, Watergirl, have been unable to consume that content since November. We watched all four seasons of Slow Horses and then devoured all of the books, and it was exactly what I needed. Filthy Jackson Lamb, perfectly embodied by Gary Oldman in the show, and gorgeous, elegant Kristin Scott-Thomas, gentle Saskia Reeves, and beautiful Jack Lowden. Recently I was looking for a show to watch at the gym, and have ended up re-watching Rome, another incredible series. It seems like Apple+ has some more good offerings, too. Just started reading The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, but can tell it’s going to require more concentration than I’m capable of at the moment.
zhena gogolia
@Leto: Jack Matlock? I met him.
I will say he spoke very good Russian.
Leto
@TheOtherHank: we really enjoyed Silo, and so glad they dropped Severance right after it!
zhena gogolia
Oh, and books, besides the many, many books I have to reread for work?
The memoirs of brilliant actor Oleg Borisov, Without Punctuation Marks. I don’t usually read in Russian for relaxation, but it’s just beautifully written anecdotes about his life in the theater and film. I fall asleep in 20 minutes.
Then wake up mentally screaming in the middle of the night. Every night now.
TBone
Hud starring Paul Newman on right now! It’s Paul Newman night on TCM and he can rock me to sleep.
Next up is Coolhand Luke, then Nobody’s Fool.
Haven’t had time or wherewithal to pick up my new books and read lately.
zhena gogolia
@West of the Rockies: OMG, you haven’t listened to the right Mahler.
Try Das Lied von der Erde, it will rip your heart out.
kalakal
Watching Will Trent – not totally convinced but it’s growing on me after 2 episodes
Listening – Stevie Ray Vaughn
Playing – Guitar ( see listening above, practicing that shuffle)
Also playing – Galactic Civilizations II
Reading – Orconomics – J. Zachary Pike because I need a laugh so I’m rereading his Dark Profits Saga
MattF
Re-reading Charlie Stross’ Laundry Files novels, more or less in order. Gotten to about 2/3 through The Rhesus Chart. Vampires! Crazy ex-girlfriends! Combat necromancy! Unreliable narrator! Also watching the new season of Severance.
JoyceH
I was thrilled recently to learn that Prime has all seasons of Dance Academy. I’d seen it before ages ago and really enjoying a rewatch. It’s basically a drama about students at the National Academy of Dance in Sidney Australia. So you have all the Teen Angst of high school/boarding school shows, but with the added benefit of ballet and those darling accents.
Leto
@zhena gogolia: that’s a him! I’m glad he spoke good Russian because his internal logic is fucked up. Concerning the “Star Wars” program: if the US has a missile defense system, then it’ll force the Russians to reconsider a first strike, while also bringing them to the table to help reduce their nuclear stockpile. But if the Russians develop a defense system first, it’ll only embolden them to consider a first strike.
It’s a very Western/American perspective which doesn’t give the Russians any agency. They’re either “oblivious” to things, or it somehow “never occurs to them” in their decision making. I don’t want to derail the thread, but man… this book.
Rachel Bakes
Playing: Globle and Chrono, and 2 variations on Heardle, the Billy Joel one and musical theater songs.
reading: started The Dictionary of Lost Words today and so far, so good. Also rereading Phil and Kaja Fogljo’s novelizations of the Girl Genius comic. Also, whatever random things I pick up at the library, mostly cookbooks and nature books.
watching: we tracked down the first seasons of GBBO on Roku(?) and have started working through the early Mel and Sue years. After those 4 seasons we’ll probably get the other Mel and Sue seasons through inter library loan. May move in to Pride and Prejudice the 1986 BBC version.
zhena gogolia
@Leto: I’m sure he was following the Party line, so to speak!
Still, compared to Fuckhead’s appointments, he was a saint, you know.
TBone
@prostratedragon: you beat me to it!
Here’s a Viewing Guide for 31 Days of Oscar, coming soon
https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/24837/tcm-31-days-of-oscar-2025-daily-schedule-categories-films-stars-titles-turner-classic-movies/
West of the Rockies
@zhena gogolia:
Will do.
Leto
@zhena gogolia: agree, but I’m starting to see how we got to Iraq 2 and Afghanistan, but also there’s shades of what we’re experiencing now. He wrote the book in 2004, so we’re also 20 years past that date and just have a more comprehensive understanding of what happened. I’m trying to keep an open mind about it, but I’ve spent a long time here with the community.
Princess
@Steve LaBonne: Loved that book.
Oh, and I’m also trying to cross country ski as often as possible.
zhena gogolia
@West of the Rockies:
Here’s a taste:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V8HN_P-eBw
zhena gogolia
@Leto: Don’t get me wrong, I would not be able to read it.
Suzanne
I don’t get a lot of free time for entertainment. And I got some very exciting news about my next project that I can’t really talk about, but suffice to say, this year will be even busier than last year. As such, I am going to be traveling this week, and I am planning to dive into The Furniture Wars, which came recommended by Spawn the Elder.
I love reading and I find it so difficult to do at home.
oldgold
Last night I finished the 3rd season Slow Horses. A show about flawed intelligence officers who have been demoted and assigned to dull make work projects at a dismal location called Slough House.
It is excellent. In my opinion the 3rd season was the best yet.
It is well written and the acting is remarkably good. In particular, Gary Oldman, as Jackson Lamb, a sour and disheveled mess of a man, but blessed with a dry wit and spy craft talent, is superb as the boss of the Slow Horses.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Tehanu: I love Eagle of the Ninth. Are the books you mentioned as good? Which would you recommend I read?
TBone
I managed to watch half of the very cool Dorothy Parker documentary that NotMax shared today, before being rudely interrupted by real life.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pWcFCFZFB50
Will watch the other half in a little while.
Oh, and the Green Porn shared by Betty Cracker today is awesome!
Starfish (she/her)
@Suzanne: Isn’t there limited appeal for a hospital in the shape of a raised middle finger right across from Mar a Lago?
eclare
@Rachel Bakes:
Mel and Sue will always be my favorite hosts! I just finished the last season of GBBO, and it certainly had a surprise ending! I need to watch Queer Eye, and then I’ll resubscribe to Hulu to catch season three of The Bear and season four of OMITB.
I’ve had a lot of trouble focusing the past few months, what with losing Steep and the election, and my energy level is sleepy tortoise. So I haven’t been reading or listening to music. Hopefully the days getting longer will help with the energy.
I have never been a gamer, still not a gamer, so no changes there.
geg6
@prostratedragon:
I just LOVE crotchety old Paul in Nobody’s Fool. Still sexy as hell with those eyes.
I am currently enamored of some fun reality tv. The Traitors is a hoot and right up my alley. And cheesy as it sounds, I’m there for Deal or No Deal Island. It’s hilarious and fun and Joe Mangiello is very easy on the eyes (plus, he’s a Yinzer). Also catching up on Hacks. In addition, a new season of Finding Your Roots has begun, so I watch that in real time on my local PBS station.
Steve LaBonne
@Princess: Years ago I tried to learn because I enjoy being outside in the winter, but my feet turn out too much.
Suzanne
@Starfish (she/her): LOL. Maybe they need something Brutalist. (I love Brutalism, but I know that’s not the opinion of most normies.)
I will note that I do not design exteriors. So, if you think contemporary buildings are ugly, you’re not hurting my feelings.
Leto
@Suzanne: coupled with that book is the one I read 10 years ago: Factory Man. I definitely recommend that one as well as it covers similar topics.
kalakal
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
The Silver Branch and The Lantern Bearers are sort of follow ups to The Eagle of the Ninth ( set at different times in Roman Britain. She wrote 2 more Roman Britain ones later but I’ve never read them.
I also enjoyed her Arthurian books that begin with The Sword at Sunset.
Big fan of Rosemary Sutcliff
DarbysMom
I’m a walker (5 miles a day) and a gardener, so podcasts are my go-to for background entertainment. It used to be all political, but I just can’t (yet), so I’m listening to others, some already mentioned here: Behind the Bastards, Smartless, Talking Pictures, This American Life, Ted Radio Hour, Serial and others.
Still play Wordle, Connections and the newest, Strands, every night before bed.
This time of year I always have the Big Bear Bald Eagle nest cam up on a tab (Youtube link). Even if nothing is happening on the nest, the view is amazing and soothing for the soul. Momma Jackie just laid her second egg, so now the question is whether there is a third egg (rare) or we move to ‘Pip Watch.’
Suzanne
@DarbysMom: “Past Present Future” and “99% Invisible” are also fantastic podcasts.
eclare
@geg6:
Oh I need to start The Traitors too. I found the first two seasons to be fascinating, and Alan Cumming is delicious and totally in his element.
And yes Joe M. is very easy on the eyes although I haven’t seen the show you mentioned. But just in life, yes.
Marc
It wasn’t cancelled, McGoohan was only willing to make one short season as he was starting to have a lot of movie commitments. Keep watching, it’s a bit more than just trippy, although you’ll probably be annoyed with the finale. One of my all-time favorite TV series along with Danger Man / Secret Agent , which was kind of a prequel to The Prisoner.
dm
@West of the Rockies: The Prisoner was not cancelled after a season, it had a story, it told it, and the story was over. If you think the first episode was trippy, just wait until you get to the last couple of episodes.
The Village (Portmeiron) continues to be a tourist destination to this day.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@geg6: Thank you for mentioning the new season of Finding Your Roots! Just added it back into the DVR schedule.
Old School
Play: Wordle, Quordle, Octordle, Waffle, Squareword, Connections.
Watch: Recently enjoyed the film My Old Ass on Prime. An 18-year-old starts communicating with her future 39-year-old self.
zhena gogolia
@geg6: I am constantly quoting Newman’s line when Jessica Tandy offers him a cup of tea: “Not now, not ever.” He delivers it so beautifully.
mvr
Reading Marianne Fairthful’s Autobiography after reading another book about mostly her and Anita Pallenberg.
Also working on projects fixing up tools in order to work on machinery (a metal lathe) to make a tool to make sure that the next non-tool thing I make actually works as it is supposed to. Researching some musical instruments (uke and guitar) that are forthcoming restoration/build projects. And thinking about tying some flies.Oh yeah, also listening to a bit of Lilly Hiatt, Kris Kristopherson and the Paranoid Style.
(Now I’ll skip back to read what others are up to.)
zhena gogolia
@geg6:
I couldn’t find the tea scene, but I love that this one on YouTube is labeled “Proof that Bruce Willis Could Act.” That’s exactly what I thought when I saw this movie.
Phylllis
@Suzanne: Adding Furniture Wars to the list. You may also find Beth Macy’s Factory Man interesting.
zhena gogolia
God, I feel like even People magazine headlines are getting Trumpy.
Trivia Man
Duotrigirdle – wordle on steroids with 3 daily varieties.
jigsaw puzzles
NYT Crosswords (i convinced her to drop tge news subscription, she uses tge games as her man source of mental stimulation so i take advantage)
Raven
DarbysMom
@Suzanne: Thank You! Always looking for more.
Rachel Bakes
@eclare: agree! We keep trying the newer seasons but Noel and …what his name try to hard to be funny that they detract from the show. My opinion, but hard to get past.
WaterGirl
@kalakal: Hope you stick with Will Trent; I really like the show a lot.
He plays the character so well, I had no idea how hot the actor is until episode 1 of Season 3 (just aired a couple of weeks ago).
I won’t share the reason why, but he is wearing jeans and t-shirts in that episode and he is hot, hot, hot.
mvr
@geg6: Yes, that was a good movie (Nobody’s Fool). Eventually (years later) got me to read the book and then the sequel and then all the novels by Richard Russo. Some are better than others but I tended to enjoy them all. Typically the ones that were less about academia I liked better.
WaterGirl
@JoyceH: Is that show kind of like Glee?
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@TBone: Thank you so much for this link about the TCM lineup.
eclare
@Rachel Bakes:
None of the newer hosts compare, although Noel doesn’t bother me as much as he used to. The pale bald guy, as the yoots would say, was cringe. Glad he only lasted a few seasons.
WaterGirl
@oldgold: Yeah, when I started watching a month or two ago, I thought “4 seasons, 32 episodes, that will last a long time!”
The first episode was slower than dirt, as was the first part of episode 2, and I only stuck with it because so many BJ peeps were saying how great it was.
Then suddenly it really was great, and it felt like I blinked, and I was suddenly at the end of season 4!
Marc
Currently reading How To Mars by David Ebenbach, a story about six people who go on a one-way trip to Mars for a reality TV series. Then the series gets cancelled, there’s a baby on the way, and one of the marsonauts is slowly going insane. Lots of fun.
Watching Severance season two. I have to say I’m a bit disappointed, so far. The first two episodes seem a bit empty while they recap what happened since the end of last season and position the players for whatever weirdness awaits them. I hope it gets moving soon.
NeenerNeener
Tried watching Season 2 of Severance and it’s just been too long since I watched Season 1. Plus I’m not in the mood, I guess. Currently watching Vienna Blood on PBS…Cop and Psychologist working cases in Vienna in the run up to WWI I think.
Reading something called Lightfall, a fantasy about a planet with vampires, werewolves and magicians but no humans as far as anyone knows.
Woke up in the middle of the night with a song verse in my head but I couldn’t place the song so I got up, grabbed my laptop and googled it: “There’s a light at the end of this tunnel, you shout. But you’re just as far in as you’ll ever be out”. Turns out it’s a song by Anna Nalick from about 2004, that I haven’t heard in probably 15 years. I found a YouTube video of a concert she did where she came down with laryngitis and because she couldn’t sing it the audience sang it to her instead:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DycI9CXwltc
WaterGirl
@DarbysMom:
Yes! I hadn’t thought about that… I play one game of what is basically mahjong on my iPad every night when I get into bed.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: That’s how I felt about Tom Cruise when I saw Born on the 4th of July.
He’s not the kind of good looking that appeals to me, and I never really got the hype about him, thought he was just a pretty boy (though not to me) but damn, I saw that movie and realized he could act.
WaterGirl
@NeenerNeener:
So touching!
RevRick
Every day, the first thing I do is make a mug of coffee, and then work on four puzzle games in the local paper: two sudoku, a cryptoquote, and word game, in which you are given a word and challenged to see how many words of four or more letters you can make out of it. Saturday’s word was granule and the challenge was 48 or more words.
I’m currently reading This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley, for which I am leading a book discussion for our Racial Justice Team. And I am also reading Preaching in the Purple Zone by Leah Schade for a Community of Practice, a clergy mutual accountability group.
Guilty pleasure: the Eagles schmotzing of the Commanders.
Our son comes over Thursday night and we watch an episode of Bad Sisters and Severance.
WaterGirl
@RevRick:
I had no idea that schmotzing was a word.
I had to google it.
RevRick
@WaterGirl: I grew up in the NYC metropolitan area and Yiddishism and coinages were stuff you just picked up.
Just look at that parking lot
Just finished up a short story collection of Elmore Leonard’s, which was enjoyable.
Been listening to banjo music. Found an album by Bill Evens titled, appropriately, The Banjo in America. It’s a history of the banjo going back to the 1700’s to present.
Merriam-Webster has a Word of the Day email that includes lots of word games. Just sign up, no cover charge.
After another day of the New American Shit Show currently playing, I need something inane, absurd and of no possible value. So I’m tuning into a Mystery Science 3000 episode or two. The on demand station Tubi has a whole library full.
Shalom
pajaro
Watching: We just finished Say Nothing, which is really great, but pretty grim (about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, based on a book that’s even better than the TV show.> I’m also finding sports is helpful.
Reading: My big project is Middlemarch (I’m about a quarter in)
Listening (and playing). My community orchestra is doing the Pastorale Symphony (Beethoven’s 6th), which is just a fabulous piece of music.
Suzanne
@Phylllis: @Leto: Two recommendations for Factory Man!
I have a lengthy backlog right now. LOL. Reading is so hard in my house.
Suzanne
@pajaro: Say Nothing the book was fan-fucken-tastic.
Craig
Watching Kevin Can Fuck Himself, I think on maybe you’re recommend WaterGirl. Great breakdown and subversion of The Great American SitCom. I think it’s really good. It got me thinking of such kind of things when I was young, like Maude. But went to my back brain for SOAP. Found it on TUBI. HOLY SHIT! I don’t see how this got on TV, this shit is more transgressive than any thing coming out of Lower East Side NYC at the time. Billy Crystal as a gay/trans character just dealt real forward. Katherine Helmond is so good. I’m only on ep4 amd blown away.
Marc
By the way, for those of you in the Bay Area, Robert Townsend, writer/director/star of ’87s The Hollywood Shuffle is doing a one-man show called Living the Shuffle. I don’t often go to live performances, but we’ll be making it to this one. And, watch the movie if you haven’t seen it, he absolutely skewers Hollywood’s weird attitude towards casting black actors. It cost him, though, it was a long time before he got more work there.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: He’s good in Eyes Wide Shut too (I know it’s a “polarizing” movie). Otherwise I’ve hated him.
JoyceH
@WaterGirl: Huh. I watched some of Glee, but that was ages ago and I can’t remember a lot about it. There’s a lot of getting boyfriends and breaking up with boyfriends and also friends and rivals and insecurities, etc. It’s not a comedy but the episodes are half an hour and I find it strangely addictive. Everyone’s main goal is a job offer from The Company, which is the ballet in Sydney that’s co-located with the school.
WaterGirl
@Just look at that parking lot:
Just signed up. Thanks for the tip.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Oh, for a second I thought you were talking about the actor who plays Will Trent.
Whew! Glad you were talking about Tom Cruise.
geg6
@mvr:
I’m a Russo fan, too. I think he writes characters very well. I can always picture the characters when I read his stuff. That does not always happen for me and is probably my problem with the majority of science fiction/fantasy. It’s all too surreal for me. There are exceptions but not many.
TBone
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): I like how they tell the winning categories in the daytime as well as the actors’ in a character type for nights and what each new day and night February will bring! Switching things up keeps it interesting.
Their 31 Days last year was amazing.
Craig
@Marc: I saw him in a minor role in The Bear and said, Hey man, where you been Robert Townsend? Solid actor
Citizen Dave
A song that simply exaults Knowledge, by the Scotsman Edwyn Collins:
https://youtu.be/wS6P7B0t9G4?si=Xn5uy3W-N0ZYdr6B
In my life I’ve met so many people
Some are good and some are bad
The more I know of this old world
I don’t feel safe, I don’t have faith
geg6
@Craig:
Man, I loved that show at the time. Has it aged okay? It was a huge scandal when it first aired, what with Jody (Billy Cristal) being all icky gay and all. I thought it was hilarious.
Spanish Moss
I swap scores with my family on Wordle, Connections and Strands. On my own I play Squaredle, Quordle, and Waffle.
Like so many here, I loved Slow Horses, can’t wait for a new season. We don’t watch much television, but when we do it tends to be a limited series. Just started The Sticky, about a maple syrup heist in Canada, really enjoyed the first episode.
I’ve been rereading Dorothy Dunnett’s The Game of Kings series, and I am finishing up the last one, Checkmate. With all of the horrors in the world of politics, I wanted to immerse myself in something that would take me away from it all. This may be the fourth or fifth time I’ve read them, some of my favorite books ever.
eclare
@Marc:
Great movie.
“There’s plenty of work at the post office.”
Trivia Man
@Suzanne: Revolutions podcast. All previous seasons were actual revolutions, this was nevis a hypothetical Martian revolution. Reminds me of The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress but this is much dryer. Excellent echo of actual historians discussing old stuff – but all fiction.
lowtechcyclist
@zhena gogolia:
“I’m writing Das Lied von der Erde, but she only vants to make love!” – Gustav Mahler, according to Tom Lehrer
WaterGirl
@Spanish Moss: : I love Margo Martindale.
I loved her in Justified. I think I would watch her in anything.
zhena gogolia
@lowtechcyclist: And she didn’t even use Pond’s.
Suzanne
@Trivia Man: Thx for the tip! The host of “Past Present Future” did some past podcasts on the history of ideas, and now he is doing a series that I just started listening to on Friday “The history of revolutionary ideas”. Timely!
mvr
@geg6: Yes, I kind of read for the characters which has a lot to do with dialogue. I like certain mysteries but the plots are secondary mostly. So I like Hammett and Chandler because they paint characters well. There is a lot more I like, but I don’t seem to get gripped by what grips lots of other mystery readers.
I read a great fishing book recently that fits the pattern: The Earth is Enough, by Harry Middleton. Got it cheap used because the cover looked good. I found it pretty moving. The author has been dead for a while and his other book is a thousand bucks on the used market. I hope to find a cheaper copy.
Almost Retired
@Spanish Moss: I am on the second to last book of Dorothy Dunnet’s House of Niccolo series. The Los Angeles public library had the first five books in the series but I had to order the last three online. Can’t figure out why the library wouldnt have the whole series, but whatever.
Kayla Rudbek
@Wapiti: yes, Scalzi is good, and he can convey a sense of place a lot better than most SF writers can. You can tell that he’s lived in DC and California and the Midwest.
Trivia Man
@Just look at that parking lot: Jerry Garcia- bill Monroe tried to hire him on banjo fir a tour. Jerry thought it was too rigid an instrument.
wonkie
For visual media, I am immersed in Black Sails and totally want the pirates to fight back against England (even though I know what actually happened.)
I’m watching Bridgerton for the clothes, hair, and furniture.
I’m reading and rereading my Ben Aaronovitch urban fantasy police procedurals because I wish they were true and I am reading and rereading my Caimh McConnell Irish comedy/thriller/ crime books because I wish I was Irish,
trollhattan
Hmmm
In response to my typical “What’s that?” following the Oscar noms, watched A Real Pain. If you think a tempestuous buddy road trip to a death camp with Roman Roy might be in your wheelhouse, go right ahead.
Happy People: A year in the Taiga by Werner Herzog was more to my liking, stumbled across that last night.
Caught up with Shrinking and it hits a lot of high notes for me. Very well done and extraordinary cast.
Final My Beautiful Friend season is heartfelt, gut-wrenching, well executed. One of the most lovingly crafted dramas I’ve seen and the cinematography {Italian chef’s kiss}.
Reading Traveling: on the Path of Joni Mitchell by Ann Powers. Because Joni. This fits nicely with others I’ve read, exploring other angles and timelines.
Heidi Mom
I just started reading The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. It’s 476 pages long! But that’s OK–I like big complex novels and I enjoyed her earlier book, Long Bright River. I’m also rereading Huckleberry Finn because I want to read James (the new book that tells the story from Jim’s point of view), and my memory of the original was pretty distant.
Suzanne
@trollhattan: I haven’t seen a single Oscar-nominated movie this year. I want to check out “The Brutalist”, but three-and-a-half hours….. hot damn. Will wait for streaming. Will get a shrimp platter.
trollhattan
@Spanish Moss:
Oh ha, stumbled across The Sticky last week and binged. Basically the Fargo season we didn’t know we were missing and Margo Martindale can do no wrong. Love it, eh?
Spanish Moss
@WaterGirl: This is the first time I have ever seen Margo Martindale in anything. She is mesmerizing! Her character got us hooked, just waiting for a family member to return from vacation to resume the series. I will have to look up more of her work.
Torrey
@Raven: Linda Greenlaw is the captain played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in The Perfect Storm. The book makes clear she’s a top of the line fishing captain. I read and enjoyed The Hungry Ocean. Interesting to find out that she majored in English.
ETA I’m currently reading David Mitchell’s (the actor/comedian, not the writer, author of Cloud Atlas and many other things) book Unruly. He was a history major in college. Very witty and informative. Focused on the people in sparkly metal hats, as he says, up through Elizabeth I, at which point the people in sparkly metal hats became less important. Podcasts, including BBC’s History Extra, avoiding any modern topics. Part of the way through listening to Karen Maitland’s Company of Liars, about a group of pilgrims of various sorts as the Black Plague starts to spread through England.
eclare
@trollhattan:
I googled My Beautiful Friend and got My Brilliant Friend. Is that it? Sounds like something I might like.
Starfish (she/her)
@eclare: I think so. The novels are by Elena Ferrante. The television series is very beautifully done.
Trivia Man
@WaterGirl: you mean renowned character actress margo Martindale? What is this, a crossover episode?
Kayla Rudbek
Reading: a reread of Lynn Kurland’s Nine Kingdoms books, and I may do a reread of R.J. Blain’s magical mayhem series (I like having the CDC issuing bounties and/or kill orders on lawbreaking werewolves)
Crafting: green shawl done and lots of likes on Bluesky/Knitsky, blue and gold shawl in progress (I should probably consider giving this needle away as the tips are sharp enough to hurt my fingers), three-color neck gaiter in progress, need to pick up the brass/camo mystery knit along shawl, and playing around with the idea of either a red-orange and black shawl or a three-color shawl most likely in gray/red/yellow or gray/red-orange/yellow. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/terza-shawl would be the three-color shawl, https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/scottish-nightmare as the red-orange and black shawl. Then I have various embroidery and stamped cross-stitch projects in progress as well.
Music: Hearts of Space, of course.
Trivia Man
@Spanish Moss: Try her in Bojack Horseman
eclare
@Kayla Rudbek:
Very pretty patterns!
Another Scott
Speaking of music …
Best wishes,
Scott.
trollhattan
@eclare: Oops, you found the right one.
They’re both beautiful and that’s my defense. :-)
geg6
@Heidi Mom:
Ha! I was just talking with my sister, the literature professor, about re-reading Huckleberry Finn for the exact same reason.
trollhattan
@Spanish Moss:
She’s in Justified for a couple seasons and holy hell, does she make an impression.
Then, she’s in The Americans playing a vastly different character and still wonderful.
Those two are among the best teevee dramas in my personal book of Best Teevee Dramas.
Craig
@geg6: it is nuts. So far great. Susan Harris went on to create The Golden Girls
trollhattan
@wonkie:
Could not make it through even one Bridgerton episode but for sumptuous costuming and palaces and such, The Great hits all the high notes and is a compelling tale, to boot.
Craig
@trollhattan: the Stickey was great little TV. Another Margot Martindale triumph.
Spanish Moss
@Trivia Man:
@trollhattan:
Thanks for the recommendations, I will put them in our queue!
Sure Lurkalot
@Heidi Mom: Yeah! I’m doing the same thing, re-reading Finn and sometimes listening to it on an audiobook and following along. So I can read James with the proper context.
narya
Watching: with my friend, we started Severance, a nd intersperse with a rewatch of The Good Place. By myself, I watch the evening MSNBC crowd, season 2 of Slow Horses, and I need to finish Only Murders and Inside Man.
reading: sister Fidelma novels, Freya Marske’s latest, on waitlist for the next two Cork O’Conner novels and the second Slow Horses novel, and started Anne Hillerman’s continuation of her dad’s series. Liking Krugman a lot.
listening to podcasts—I’m being picky. Mostly looking to learn legal stuff from good political casts, or find nonpolitical stuff.
contemplating a new needlework project. Baking a lot of bread with my newly revived starter. Using up scraps of this and that in the cupboard and freezer.
i love Richard Russo, and Dorothy Dunnett (I prefer Niccolo to Francis), and I’ll get back to rereads of the Dresden novels soon. Probably the Sanderson novels too, before reading the latest.
WaterGirl
@Trivia Man: I’m not catching your meaning?
Spanish Moss
@Almost Retired: I enjoyed the Niccolo series too, but I haven’t reread them, when in the mood for Dunnett I have always chosen to reread the Lymond Chronicles. The storytelling in both is excellent, I think the competition plot point in Niccolo was just a bit too much of a stretch for me. The fact that I read Lymond first is probably a factor as well, I had never read anything quite like it. I ended up getting the Dorothy Dunnett Companion so I could read the full texts of some of the quotes. Not that I looked up most of them. Presumably Lady Dunnett has read all of that literature, it boggles my mind.
TBone
@Heidi Mom: mu Aunt gifted both of those to me as a set recently and I haven’t had time to read them yet (well, reread Huck Finn which I have in my Twain collection). Life has been hectic…
khead
@Marc:
Attack of the Street Pimps! Now, that was a good movie!
NotMax
@Suzanne
Recently did some reading up on the architect Julia Morgan, who was a whopping success in the field at a time when women architects were scarcer than the hairs on a combover.
Mr. Bemused Senior
Having read all the Liaden novels I’m rereading the short stories in Liaden universe constellation
I love their writing and the stories fill in background beautifully.
Still working so that keeps me busy. Also piano.
BigJimSlade
@Steve LaBonne: Good to hear – I’ve been on a Mahler kick for the last year (I’ve listened to all the symphonies and most of the song cycles a couple times each during that time) :-)
Sister Golden Bear
As mentioned downstairs, I’m re-reading my way through The Murderbot Diaries. It’s definitely a page turner, so I binge read thrugh the first time. Probably going to re-watch Andor shortly, it definitely seems apropos.
I’ve also been distracting myself with nerdy science, nature and history videos on YouTube in evenings.
Spent this weekend focusing on photography again, which I’ll doing going forward. Also scouted out some locations for drone photography.
Suzanne
@NotMax: Julia Morgan was a fantastic architect. If you are in the Bay Area, you can see a lot of her work. I recommend Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland.
Kayla Rudbek
@eclare: I have to decide which combination of colors I’m going to use for the Terza shawl, and I’m not sure if I have enough left over from the various Stunning String Studio kits, or whether I will be using the Knit Picks Stroll instead. The problem being that the Stroll in firecracker heather is just enough to be one of the colors in the Terza, or for the main color in Scottish Nightmare. I don’t have enough of it for both shawls and I’m trying to knit down my stash. I do probably have enough Stroll to do a really loud 1980s three-color combo (neon pink, a green, and then the gray). Since it’s officially past 10:30 pm there will be no further knitting decisions tonight.
jowriter
@Heidi Mom: Doing the same, though Huck has become something of a slog. About two-thirds of the way through I’ve skipped to James and it’s great from the first page. I will say that it helps my understanding of Jim’s character in James to dive into the original book first.
Trivia Man
@WaterGirl: It’s a running gag in Bojack Horseman. Margo is a recurring character playing herself. They often refer to her as “renowned character actress margo martindale.”
The “crossover episode” line also happens a lot.
Professor Bigfoot
Re-reading David Weber’s “Safehold” series.
It’s kinda cheesy but I just keep turning those pages- and it has a properly nasty villain who reminds me of You Know Who. When I finish it I haven’t decided if I’m going to re-read “The Expanse” series or the Aubrey-Maturin series.
Oddly, I’ve kinda gone back into the time tunnel- I’m listening A LOT to Paul Simon’s “Rhythm Of The Saints.” Somehow I’m hearing a lot more meaning in those lyrics, while still seduced by the rhythms… it may have just surpassed “Graceland” as my all time favorite album.
Trivia Man
@Spanish Moss: Bojack is not everyone’s taste. The absurdist humor always made me laugh, even when the plot lines got stupid. Also shockingly poignant several times. Dealing with good/ bad people, self reflection, addiction, the meaning of life and so forth.
The main schtick is that it is a world with humans and human/ animal hybrids. Bojack is a horse – body of a man head like a horse. And a former TV sitcom start trying to find happiness with all of his wealth and fame.
FelonyGovt
Playing: Quartiles on Apple News. Scrambled Maps on Tripgeo.com. Sudoku.
Watching: Prime Target, a new Apple TB show about a brilliant math student; Darby and Joan, a sweet show about an older couple in Australia on Acorn TV; Cassandra on MHZ.
Reading: Creation Lake. Just finished Polostan by Neal Stephenson, which I liked, and The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Murakami, which was good but kind of slow.
bluefoot
@NotMax: when I worked in the SF Bay Area, both my employers had their annual scientific retreats at Asilomar. Made me really appreciate Julia Morgan.
CaseyL
Movie: Saw “A Real Pain” and liked it a lot. Almost a classic idea of a “little movie” – a story about cousins working out some stuff against the cringe background of a Holocaust Tour. It’s naturalistic to the point that I felt like a voyeur (coming from a Jewish family probably helped; the personalities were all too familiar to me).
Reading: These days, I’m reading two or three books at a time and, since I’m a fast reader anyway, I go through them with lightning speed. I did finish the book on Spinoza, which I count a win as I found it pretty heavy going.
Today I did something I haven’t done in years: went to what was my favorite bookstore back when I bought books by the armload, browsed for over an hour, and bought five books. It was heaven. Here are the books I bought:
The Body – Bill Bryson (have already started this one)
Entangled Life – Illustrated Edition – all about fungi. I have the original version, but couldn’t resist the photos in this edition.
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. – Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland. A farcical/serious scifi novel with time travel. I first read this a few years ago, from the library, and liked it enough that seeing it on sale I snapped it up.
The Song of the Cell – Siddartha Mukherjee. He writes about science and medicine so lyrically. I loved his “Cancer: The Emperor of Maladies,” and am looking forward to reading this one.
A Walk in the Park – nonfiction account of two guys who decide to hike from one end of the Grand Canyon to the other. The Grand Canyon is on my bucket list, so I figured this would give me some good information on the place.
UncleEbeneezer
Watching:
100 Years of Solitude (Netflix)
The Breakthrough (Netflix) -Scandinavian crime noir
Silo (AppleTV)- just finished 2nd season, first was better
Strange Angel (Paramount)- story of Jack Parsons/JPL. Sex cult for the win!
Joan (Britbox)- Sophie Turner as a jewel thief in the 80s. Great costumes and soundtrack and it’s wild to see Sansa Stark in all the 80’s hairdos!
Reading: Court of the Vampire Queen, a trashy, reverse-harem, vampire novel. Unabashed smut with vampires. Fun.
Craig
@Suzanne: that place is beautiful. I went to an event at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in The Merchants Exchange building in downtown SF a couple years ago. Gorgeous ceilings, fireplace, and general layout of the whole floor. She was badass. Built a lot for the Hearsts, working sometimes with Bernard Maybeck. Love her stuff, and lots of it still lasts. If you’ve seen a show at The Greek Theater at UC Berkeley then you got her to thank.
Craig
Watching Bookie on HBO. Thought it would be dumb. It’s not. I love the 23 min. format, boom, on to the next problem for our heroes(?). It’s about an LA.
eclare
@CaseyL:
I used to work for a guy who did the rim to rim to rim jog. You start at the south rim, jog to the north, then back to the south. Sounds insane to me.
When my ex and I went there, we made it to Plateau Point, which is about six miles down from the south rim, IIRC. That was a good turnaround point for us.
I hope you get there!
pieceofpeace
Playing: a favored tune, “Ripple” by Grateful Dead, almost every day. More music than usual these days.
Plan: Signed up for 2 Watercolor classes and expect plenty of time consumed with this.
Watching: Ted Lasso-1 episode and Shogun- also 1 episode per night with my son and daughter in law, right after dinner, both new to me. The shows, not the companions….
Reading: Plan to reread “Man’s Search for Meaning,” mentioned by others this week and yes, it was a salve and will be a welcome mindmap for coming days and nights.
CaseyL
@eclare: That does sound nuts, but kudos to them for doing it. I have no such lofty ambitions: a few hikes will make me happy.
The physical endurance things people do is amazing. A few months ago I watched videos of a guy who participated in the “30 Hours to Walk 100 Miles” event in Colorado. I swear my feet got sympathy blisters!
cain
@NotMax:
I think what netflix doesn’t have is that kind of b-movies action/horror/romance that you always end up watching because it is bad that it is entertaining. Prime has that opportunity.
But that’s not really netflix’s fault. Netflix is the leader of the pack so they are trying to tear it down. But Netflix’s real power is the ability to build audiences across the globe.
Every other streaming option is really just an export of American culture and movies. But netflix is making movies that are culturally local. I’ve been watching a lot of the hindi/tamil language netflix movies and they make a lot. Korean movies. I mean these folks know. They are the first streaming service that put non-white/women/lbgtq+ first.
cain
@Trivia Man: That’s how I feel about South Park, but I haven’t watched it in years. But I always felt that they had some great satire going.
BigJimSlade
@Steve LaBonne: Good to hear! I’ve been on a Mahler kick for the last year, listening to all the symphonies and most of the song cycles at least twice. And I’ll be hearing the LA Phil playing Blumine, the Adagio from the 10th, and Des Knaben Wunderhorn in a few weeks :-)
rikyrah
@kalakal:
I love Will Trent along with High Potential and Irrational
cain
@narya: I got a bundled apple tv+ subscription with my tmobile service. I’m kind of meh about it. I doesn’t seem to have anything interesting on there that I want to watch. So I’m glad I’m getting it free. Ted Lasso was the only thing interesting and likely wouldn’t have watched it if it wasn’t for my wife.
Llelldorin
This anime season is quite strong, so I’ve been watching a lot more anime than usual.
rikyrah
I told Peanut that I would watch an anime.
Started a new one called Sakamoto on Netflix.
About an assassin who falls in love and goes straight.
Runs a convenience store with his wife and kid, but the old life can’t leave him alone.
I like it
eclare
@CaseyL:
Have you watched the doc on the Barkley Marathons?
https://barkleymovie.com/
The internet says it’s on Peacock and Sling. I used to hike some in Frozen Head State Park which is in the general area, I cannot imagine doing this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons
pieceofpeace
@West of the Rockies: All-time favorite of mine. Give it at least a few more episodes. Patrick McG. is so terrific in this.
Trivia Man
@cain: So many shows i just enjoy scenes. Simpsons, West Wing, Friends, Seinfeld, Office, Roseanne, Odd Couple – an individual scene just NAILS the cadence, inflection, word choice, subtle references and makes a memorable 20 second bit. I am usually bored and annoyed by story arcs. Characters get flanderized, writers try to get clever, shocking plot twists are common as dirt.
But i can watch some scenes over and over.
prostratedragon
“Ollie, you know my feelings about arming morons.” — Nobody’s Fool (1994)
CaseyL
@eclare:
Wowsa.
There was a time in my life I might have thought “let’s try this!” (back when I toyed with the idea of doing the Seattle-to-Portland bicycle ride, and considered climbing Mt. Rainier seriously enough to start training for it*) but I am happily a couple decades past that time, as my body likes to remind me every so often.
*..in the course of that training, running up and down stadium stairs with a rock-filled backpack, realized there was No Way I’d be able to do it.
Gloria DryGarden
@NotMax: assuming Kanopy has the same “expiring this month” list in all its subscriber libraries, there are several great movies that go away this month. I really loved “Past Lives”, and I’m about to watch “the English patient”
eclare
@Trivia Man:
Any scene from Seinfeld with George and his parents…Jerry Stiller was brilliant.
eclare
@CaseyL:
Whoa!
Gloria DryGarden
I’m playing mah jong, and spider solitaire.
I listen to a Pandora station, I call “Lisa Gerrard,” which gives me lots of Enya, Lorena McKennitt, and Deva Premal in the mix. Or, I’ll seek out David Parsons, especially his Dorje Ling album. I like textured sound, space music.
Ive started on The Maga diaries, and A River Runs Through it. I was mostly a reader, but for falling asleep, books on tape is great.
I’m watching films on Hulu, and Kanopy. Yesterday I enjoyed a Jacques Cousteau documentary. I binge watched The Mentalist, the first few weeks after I got Hulu on cyber Monday, but I’m rewatching selected episodes. The characters are kind to each other, in the midst of intense work and humanness. I need that right now.
im slowly trying out some recommendations I’ve found here.
oh, and I’m reading the geography feed, and the conservation ecology feed over on blue sky. I’m reading posts in my other two languages, exercising my brain, and finding interesting things out about our world; it’s like a love affair.
if I really can’t sleep, I look for a YouTube on ocean animals, especially if it’s David Attenborough.
Gloria DryGarden
@West of the Rockies: I loved lessons in chemistry, on Apple TV. Is the book better, more rich?
Maxim
@TheOtherHank: I was just thinking of Neal Stephenson the other day. I read everything he wrote for years and then lost track of him; I think there was a book with a premise that didn’t grab me, or something, and I drifted away without meaning to. I’ll have to look and see what he’s come out with recently(ish).
I read / watch a lot of mysteries. Currently on one of the books in the Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas. I also play a lot of games on my iPad. Apple Arcade has a monthly subscription that gives you unlimited Arcade games, all ad-free.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@WaterGirl: She’s always good, and once you start to notice her in movies, you notice she’s in a lot of them. Just watched part of The Hours last night and there she was, the babysitter for Richie.
JustRuss
After several years I reactivated my library card and discovered they now have an extensive library of DVDs. Finally watched Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. Don’t hate me, I know he’s a naughty boy but I read the book years ago, my life was unravelling and it really resonated with me, in an almost scary way. The show is very low budget but some of the performances are excellent.
prostratedragon
Right now: La Camorra [The Rumble], Astor Piazzolla
NotMax
@cain
Apple TV+?
For All Mankind may or may not grab your interest. Worth a sampling, at least.
For drama (with a slight SF twinge), The Last Days Of Ptolemy Grey. Samuel L. Jackson shines.
For pure fun, Schmigadoon. Season 1 parodies musicals of the 40s and 50s, season 2 those of the 60s and 70s.
NotMax
@prostratedragon
Unusual combo serves up Piazzolla.
thruppence
I often put on European mystery series in languages I don’t understand while trying to fall asleep. If I lose track, fine, they’re not going to say something that will jerk me awake. Check out the Law According to Lidia Poet on Netflix. An early twentieth century Italian woman driving for justice and trying to become a lawyer in an absolutely patriarchal society that opposes her at every turn. I’m also shallow, she has the most beautiful wardrobe I’ve ever seen on TV. Cute as hell. I’m lucky if I can get my socks to match.
Cathie from Canada
We binge-watched The Night Agent season one also, to prepare for season two – which was, unfortunately, a great disappointment for us. YMMV, but the characters weren’t engaging, constant backstory interruptions, the plotting was trite yet difficult to follow, so we gave it up part-way through the third episode. We also gave up quickly on Paradise, and on StarTrek:Skeleton Crew.
Hey, maybe its not them, its us!
But we did spend most of January binge-watching Ozark, which we had not seen before – very dark but very good. Also, we suggest people try The Sticky – Margo Martindale as a Quebec maple syrup farmer, it captures the ups and downs of small-town politics very well. Its on Disney, I think.
We are also not watching much American news lately, except to worry about what will happen here in Canada. We will likely have a federal election this year, hopefully our own MAGA-lite politician Pierre Poilievre won’t become Prime Minister.
Since Monday, I have found myself rereading old Agatha Christie stories — there’s something so soothing about Miss Marple, and Poirot, and Tommy and Tuppence.
Gloria DryGarden
@NotMax: Heres an incredible performance:virtuoso accordionist and guitarist with the Berlin philharmonic This will knock your socks off
Libertango, with extra flourishes
sab
@rikyrah: We are watching Will Trent and High Potential also. I love Will Trent’s accent.
For reading I am rereading Dorothy Dunnett’s series for at least the sixth time. I love them, but it wasn’t until the third time through that I could even follow the plots. Why do Scottish nobles need to have so many different names? I prefer Nicholas. I think Lymond would be too intimidating to meet in real life.
Craig
@cain: Netflix has an amazing amount of Scandinavian cop and horror (?) shows. My 85 year old mum loves that stuff. It’s good.
Craig
@rikyrah: late here. Watch Cowboy Bebop on Comedy Central. Greatest subbed show ever. Beautiful filmmaking
prostratedragon
@NotMax:
Ever hear any of the collaboration with vibes player Gary Burton? The worked together during a summer in the mid 80s, culminatung in the usual terrifying gig at Montreux. I see a live video from that seems to have reappeared. The cut below is from the live album. Any vid from either of Piazzolla’s Montreux tenures is utterly grabbable.
“Nuevo Tango”
WTFGhost
Torchlight II and Titan Quest, but I don’t play, so much as sit uselessly in front of the computer screen for most of the time, but getting in some grinding here and there.
They’re very old games and a bit dull, but it’s hard to learn a new gaming UI, and figuring out new rules, character optimization, etc., when your brain wants to shut down most of the time. I call them my tests of executive function, and they are, though the choices are simple and the stakes are seemingly tiny.
prostratedragon
@NotMax: Would not be surprised to hear more from Ms. Woolee in a few years. She in particular has got the fire.
prostratedragon
The search “piazzolla bassoon” is an opening to a rabbit hole. Jusr two of many, the sevond of which is an old fave:
Tango etude No. 3, I think originally for flute.
“Libertango” for 6 bassoons; watch out for the double contra.
David_C
Entertainment. Hmmm…
It was watching Buffalo Bills highlights, but that’s ended. Oh well.
TV is Severance, Season 2. I binge rewatched Season 1 a few weeks ago to remember everything, and caught a few more details.
Games are Sudoku on paper and Wordle on line.
I walk and commute, so I listen to podcasts. Jettisoned the Pod Save… bros (except Offline, which is only sometimes cringe) so catching up on Science Friday and Classical Breakdown and keeping up with Johnny Dollar and MacWorld.
Activities are genealogy, even starting a blog, and taking grandchildren sightseeing in the DC area. Air and Space Museum this past weekend and Pandas next month. We visited Monocacy, Antietam, and Gettysburg battlefields in 2024.
Work has too much excitement and angst at the moment.
prostratedragon
The Queen of the Night as a tuba. Happy Birthday, Wolfgang, wherever you are.
Copper Street Brass
sab
@prostratedragon: That was very weird but I liked it.
David_C
Also rereading Battle Cry of Freedom.
The Union forever!
Hurrah, boys, hurrah!
raven
@Torrey: Thanks!
CarolM
I am currently in the middle of season 3 of The Expanse which is available on Amazon Prime. I would never have watched this show if it weren’t for the recommendations from this blog. Thank you! I’m hooked on it.
Matt McIrvin
We’ve been watching a bunch of improv comedy shows on the Dropout service (Game Changer, Make Some Noise, Very Important People), which are amazing. Right now, a bunch of them are touring and doing live improv shows, and we saw them on Saturday at the MGM Music Hall. Amazing stuff, particularly when Vic Michaelis and Jacob Wysocki start playing off each other to become some kind of collective chaos bomb.
Matt McIrvin
(Also, Jess McKenna can somehow do a fair approximation of Stephen Schwartz-level Broadway songwriting in her head while singing)
JML
Been really hard to coordinate schedules, so doing a lot of my gaming online, rather than in person with friends, sadly. Currently have games of Carcassonne, 7 Wonders, Citadels, Ark Nova, Small World, Tzolkin, Agricola, Orleans, Heat: Pedal to the Metal, and Space Empires: 4X on Board Game Arena.
But managed to host a session of Pathfinder 2E at my house on sunday, which was delightful. Nice to see people in person and hang out. Cracked a bottle of Surly Darkness and shared it with a friend.
Miss Bianca
@Heidi Mom: God of the Woods I found quite gripping – I read it all in less than two days, as I recall.
James was a DNF for me. I know a lot of other people are throwing bouquets around about it, but I found it a dead bore.
Late to the thread, but I am currently reading Family Happiness by Laurie Colwin, an author that some jackal recommended a while back. Really liking it so far. Waiting on Black Pill and Dylan Goes Electric! from the library.
Just finished re-watching the 3rd season of Xena, got a couple movies that I’m going to dive into next: Pillow Talk and Fritz Lang’s M. Yeah, weird combo.
As for listening, a lot of medieval choral music and Scandinavian trance/folk/metal from the likes of bands like Wardruna and Heilung. I find I can only listen to music with non-English lyrics while I’m working.
Chris
@Leto:
One of the most terrifying things about foreign policy in the last forty to fifty years is that no matter how bad Republican presidents get, “the Blob” is frequently worse.
Reagan knew Gorbachev was the real deal after meeting with him a few times, but pretty much his entire cabinet other than Shulz didn’t. They, including so-called “moderates” like Bob Gates, kept insisting that glasnost was all a commie trick.
Dubya might have fucked up royal with Afghanistan and Iraq, but by his second term even he knew the country couldn’t afford to get into a third regional war against a much stronger and better-prepared enemy. But Cheney and Rumsfeld went right on agitating for an invasion of Iran.
Trump, whatever else can be said about him, was right to sign a treaty that finally got us out of Afghanistan. But it was against the entire foreign policy establishment’s consensus: they would’ve been happy with us staying there another four years. And then another four. And another four. Not that they had any plans to change anything or make the war winnable; cutting and running was simply unacceptable because then foreigners everywhere would laugh at the size of the American penis.
We have a genuinely awful foreign policy establishment, and while the lion’s share of the blame for that goes to the Pentagon and CIA, the State Department’s made its own contributions too.
Gloria DryGarden
@Miss Bianca: I love medieval choral music, too.
related to your other genre, have you heard Ummet Ozcan ? He does Mongolian throat singing with electronic synth, and collaborates with various others. I honk he’s Turkish, living in the Netherlands. You might like lisa Gerard, who sings interesting music I made up languages, definitely non English.