My brother, Jeff.
The novel THE IMMORTALIST (Chloe Benjamin).
The essays by Michael Chabon, POPS. Especially the one about taking his 12 year old son to the Paris Fashion Shows.And the one about baseball.
Kevin's team won their League Championship. Yay, Kevin.
BAILEY AND SMITH, which is getting us through a difficult time. And FRASIER, which we are rewatching with delight.
How about you?
26 comments:
Nice. It's SCOTT AND BAILEY.
1. Our concerts. John Fogerty is still very entertaining and full of energy at 73. We also enjoyed staying (for free!) at a Marriott on Long Island that night. The Ultimate Doo-Wop concert was, sadly, probably the last we'll see. There are just not that many of the original performers left, understandably, and some of them are - as our British friends would say - past their sell-by date. Most groups seemed to have one original performer with younger replacements. An exception (again, in his mid-70s) was Jay Siegel of The Tokens, who still sounds great. This week: the Happy Together Tour, at a new venue on Coney Island we've never been to before, featuring Flo and Eddie (The Turtles), Chuck Negron (from Three Dog Night), The Association, and Gary Puckett (past it, judging by the last time we saw him) & the Union Gap.
2. Books. I'm really enjoying the oral history ALL THE PIECES MATTER: THE INSIDE STORY OF THE WIRE. Great stuff for fans of the series. Also enjoying (more than I expected to) Jim Butcher's collection of Dresden File stories, SIDE JOBS, and David Sedaris's new book CALYPSO is terrific fun too. And I'd recommend Penelope FItzgerald's HUMAN VOICES, a short novel based on her time working at the BBC Headquarters in 1940.
3. Television. Watching several good things, but I feel the need to lighten things up, as pretty much everything that's on is very dark. I think we'll add in season two of GLOW.
Oh, great news about Kevin's team! Well done! And I like Scott and Bailey, too. As for me? I had a great experience at a protest rally on Saturday. It was good to feel that energy.
Yes, too dark. I had to bail on GOLIATH. Ugh.
Good for you, Margot. Wish I had gone to one.
Read The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz and Rise & Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte. Enjoyed both. Am now reading the new Mick Herron London Rules.
Started watching the second season of Goliath. Three episodes in and enjoying it so far. Westworld concluded last night leaving a lot of questions. Intentionally. Watched an old favorite-Red Rock West. There was a time when Nicolas Cage made good movies.
Saw the new Jurassic World. Forgettable. Probably the weakest in the series.
Erratic weather. Cooled down with some rain. Back up to mid nineties by the weekend.
GOLIATH, season two. Too dark.
MARCELLA, season two. Serial killer of children. Way too dark.
100 CODE. Serial killer moves from New York to Sweden. His M.O. is to take a young blonde woman, burial her under the ground with a tube so she can breathe until he takes a second woman, then kills both of them. Ugh. And Dominic Monaghan is badly miscast.
Surprisingly, the show I'm enjoying sounds the soapiest, but is well done as most British shows are. THE SPLIT, with Nicola Walker (who is in everything, including one season of SCOTT & BAILEY.)
I think it's time to go back to Acorn, whose shows are generally lighter. We liked THE INDIAN DOCTOR.
Diane and I saw WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? with about 50 other people. That's a lot of paying customers for a documentary.
We finally got some much needed rain. But temps are supposed to head into the 90s this weekend.
I have zero interest in World Cup Soccer or baseball. So my reading time gets a boost because there's nothing on network or cable TV. What would we do without Netflix, HULU, and AMAZON Prime!
Yes, Marcella. UGH.
I forgot about the SPLIT. Maybe we can still pick it up.
Yes, what would we, George.
Very erratic weather, indeed.
Been meaning to try Mick Herron.
I think you'll like THE SPLIT. It's on Sundance, so it should be On Demand. The last of the 6 episodes is this week. I'm pretty sure it was (or will be) renewed. At least it's about family, and divorce, and not vicious murders.
Phil would definitely like Mick Herron. Try the first one - SLOW HORSES. (This is the Slough House series. I haven't read any of his other books.)
Saw a couple of Fraziers the other night. Love that show
Me too. They are so adept at farce.
A loooong week and weekend as I was responsible for the Boy Scout Dunk Tank during the City's annual weekend festival, Town and Country Days. Tank set-up on Tuesday. Booking dunkees for the past couple weeks. I sat in the tank Friday night but fortunately had a wet-suit vest and stayed warm-ish. Another dunkee donned a full Wookie suit with a wet suit underneath. Tear down on Sunday was easier than expected.
Annual party on Saturday at a friend's house that is on the route of the weekend's parade. Both boys marched with their school bands in the parade and ignored me as I loudly cheered at them. I had to make sure not to drink too much in the sunshine or risk collapse.
I went swimming in the lake for the first time this summer and I lasted all of 10 minutes. Swimming is so very tiring if not done in a long while.
Bad news: a tree in our front yard is definitely dying. I don't look forward to paying for that to come down. It is way too tall for me to try and cut down on my own. But, I am still tempted.
I'll have to try The Split. I don't find Goliath particularly dark, but dark doesn't bother me. I'd rather watch something dark than a show like This Is Us which I couldn't get past episode 2 of. Frasier was a great show. Too bad Kelsey Grammer is a Trump supporter.
I look forward to this post and the comments every Monday! Thank you, Patti.
I'm happy it's cooler today (72 high) after several days flirting with 90. I really don't like the heat. Now what we need is some rain. We had 0 inches in May, which is unusual.
Just finished BEING GARDNER DOZOIS by Michael Swanwick, a lengthy interview covering his career, both writing and editing. Such a loss to the SFF community and readers. Also read AVALANCHE by Patrick McManus, the second in the Sheriff Tulley series. They are light and humorous, definitely Summer reading caliber. Now reading GONE TO DUST, which is shortlisted for the Nero Award. Next up in ebook is FARLEY'S FIELD by Rhys Bowen.
Yes, that is Grammar's worst characteristic. And he has always been a Republican.
I will have to try it too. Hope it is still on demand. Anyone watch Endeavor?
I always look forward to Gerard's post because it takes me back to my childhood. Or perhaps the childhood of Thornton Wilder.
Rick-we have had a lot of rain. I think a few years ago things got switched.
My sister got through her new motherhood postpartum depression by watching Frazier. Her son is nineteen. Those reruns have been going on for a long time.
I watch Endeavor. I like it. The whole Morse universe seems very strong to me. I don't think they've put a foot wrong.
Things that have made me happy lately: Going down to L.A. for a prelaunch of an anthology I'm in and hanging out with my sisters for a few days.
Watching Carpool Kareoke, where James Bolton takes Paul McCarthy back to Liverpool, singing Beatles songs all the way.
Seeing the first episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the reboot. I was going to give it a miss because although I'd enjoyed the first series, I didn't think I needed to see more, but a friend told me to try it and I have to say that the spirit of this show is exactly the opposite of Trumpism, and is a tonic to the soul.
James Corden, Seana. Saw that.
I watched half of the first episode and need to go back. There is too much hugging for me but that is my issue, I think. So nice to see people wishing other people well.
James Corden is a terrific comic actor. Jeff, did you see him in that Two Governors, One Master play?
And welcome Seana!
For some reason FRASIER holds up so much better than CHEERS.
FRASIER was always better than CHEERS...or at least the weaker episodes of F better than C, as were the better. It helped that the Crane brothers, as cartoonish as they could be at their worst (and sometimes at their best) enjoyed being intellectuals, however shallowly at times...while the message of CHEERS always was that everyone Really just wants to be stupid together. Well, guess what.
Also, the women in the cast on FRASIER were almost always in tune with my taste in not only who was talented and available, but who was very attractive...and no one better than Jean Smart to play the character in a mutual love/hatred with Frasier...Bebe Neuwirth even got to play Lilith as a character rather than a device on the series.
They definitely did farce well, at their best. And the episode of not quite romance between Roz and Frasier was a highlight.
In a recent discussion on Facebook with Dave Zeltserman and others, I cited DARIA as the best improvement of a spun-off series from its origin series, but FRASIER was one of choices of best spinoff series for many.
The weaker FRASIERs not better than the best of CHEERS, that is.
Though the run of WKRP is making me happy, to see it again. Pity about the replaced music.
DARIA was one of the best TV shows on at the time. I've not seen any episodes in a while and do wonder how it has aged.
Gerard...I have the boxed set. Recommended.
Been a hard few days here emotionally so not much has made me happy. Reading has taken a back seat as I am having yet again a hard time focusing on books so television is at the forefront. Both Sandi and I very much liked Scott and Bailey. Wish there had been more. Been working on Season 3 of Red Rock (streaming) as well as LINE OF DUTY (library) and UNFORGOTTEN (library).
Tipple, I don't know what it is like to lose a spouse, but I and, I am sure, everyone here is rooting for you.
I know, Gerard. Thank you.
Post a Comment