I have been in a lockdown in preparation for getting a Covid test today. If I test positive, everything will be delayed and I have a terrible fear of what happened to Jeff Meyerson last year happening to me. I know I don't have Covid, but what if the test gets mixed up. I have to take it at a hospital and I dread walking through one in Michigan right now. What an insane country we live in and I would move to Canada in a minute if they would let me in.
Anyway, lots of TV since I can only read 2-3 hours a day and walk for one. I absolutely loved OH WILLIAM by Elizabeth Strout. I am now rereading some of her earlier work that shares characters with this one (MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON). Ready to begin the new Gary Shytengart book next.
Netflix's PASSING has to be the best movie I have seen this year. Hard to believe it is Rebecca Hall's first directing job. I admired the novel (Nella Larson, 1929) and was worried it wouldn't work as a film, but it is entirely faithful to the book, gorgeously filmed, incredibly acted and the music is sublime. Can't recommend it highly enough.
On a much lighter note, I am also enjoying JOE PERA TALKS WITH YOU, (HBO MAX), LOVE LIFE (HBO MAX) and SOUTH SIDE (HBO MAX). Waiting for the last episodes of DALGLIESH and then I may cancel Acorn because I can't find much else I haven't seen on there. Maybe Brit Box is better. Also enjoying DOCTOR BRAIN on Apple but waiting a week for each new episode to drop is trying my memory.
Megan has been long listed for the Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize along with about 35 other writers.
This will be a difficult week so I probably won't be here again until my procedure is over. Stay safe and well.
What are you up to?
21 comments:
Watched Visconti's The Damned (1969). Hated it. Just dull. Enjoying Curb Your Enthusiasm. One of the few series I am watching now. I do want to watch Dexter but I don't have Showtime. I'll wait until the series is done and get it for one month and binge it.
Read the Five Decembers (no it is not a Christmas book) by James Kestrel and enjoyed it a lot. Now half way through The Nameless Ones and some short stories.
Was going to go see Belfast this weekend but sidelined by some stomach problems. Will try to catch it this week.
Hope all goes well with your procedure this week.
Glad you're enjoying , Patti. I hear it's excellent. Hoping you have an easy time with the Covid test..
Best wishes on the upcoming procedure, Patti.
Congrats to Megan. I just picked up her latest and am looking forward to reading it.
Because of my dental problems, my kids were not able to celebrate my 75th as they had planned, so Saturday we all went out of seafood, followed by a painting session where each of us were instructed how to create a sunset painting. Most of us were not very good. Erin's was detailed as always. Amy added a sasquach to hers and Christina threw in a turtle on hers. Kitty's tree looked remarkably like a corn stalk and my painting took on an expressionistic feel. We laughed a lot. The next day the kids spent the morning on a secret project and in the afternnon came over with 75 pies they had made for my belated birthday -- 15 each of chocolate, blueberry, cherry, apple, and peach! Each was small -- the size of a cupcake, but there was one for each of my 75 years. It took longer than they had estimated in making them and abut twenty of them still needed to be baked. (Their assembly line process slowed down considerably when making the criss-cross top.) I fear that for my next birthday they will be making 76 trumbones.
Watched the Marvel movie SHANG-CHI: THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS. Better than I expected. Also watched Disney's JUNGLE CRUISE, mainly by-the-book Disney adventure fantasy. Lots of special effects. Somewhat confusing. Again, better than I had thoought.
Not much reading this week, although I did read Chad Oliver's first Science Fiction collection ANOTHER KIND. Oliver was an anthropogist who effectively used this backgroud in his stories. A good collection and recommended for SF buffs. Coming up, I seem to have a continuation theme going with the latest installments in Robert B. Parker's Spenser and Jesse Stone series, as continued by other authors. I also have Sophie Hannah's fourth Hercule Poirot mystery as she continues Agatha Christie's character. I am also looking for to Megan's new book and to CaATHERINE HOUSE by Elizabeth Thomas -- the latter for reasons that should be obvious.
I'm feeling much better, although later this morning the podiatrist will be doing awful things to my foot and I will getting the results of my biopsy tomorrow. Kitty goes for another session of "chemo lite" on Friday. My gums have healed enough so I can wear the new dentures. (They're still a bit sore, though.) I can now chew -- of sorts. I do it like a year-old baby walks, not the greatest but I'm getting there. My tongue is still trying to go places it cannot whn I try to speak. It will be a while before I get beyond garbled speech. So it goes.
Hopefully soon I will be back to blogging on a regular basis.
I hope you pass your Covid test with straight As, Patti, and that the teacher will put a star on your forehead as a reward. Have a great week, stay safe, stay well, and never let the bastards get you down.
Yes, best of luck with the test and the subsequent (undelayed!) surgery...and a quick recovery for everything. Canada isn't coping with Covid-19 enough better, as they have their Trumps up there, such as Ontario premier Doug Ford, but things do seem a little better in some ways, not least the general approach to medicine.
Looks like I'm revisiting medicine-land, as both cat Ninja (sore jaw) and I (impacted wisdom tooth which decided to let me know on Saturday night) will be joining Jerry in jaw-fun-land this week. Ibuprofen makes me sleepy, if less so than it once did.
Puts a slight damper on my enjoyment of Jackie Kashian's album-release online concert tonight: https://rushtix.com/events/jackiekashian/ Maria Bamford, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Guy Branum will also do short sets as guest performers.
May all things work out well...
Patti, we have several "pop-up" testing clinics near the International Bridges to provide rapid testing for both Canadians and Americans who want to cross the border. They promise test results in 15 minutes!
Diane and I hosted our annual Buffalo Bills Party yesterday. Nine of our friends showed up despite the falling snow. We had an number of appetizers (veggies, fruit, various dips), pizza, chicken wings, and for dessert Diane baked a Jewish Apple Cake (dairy-free) for our friends who are lactose-intolerent. And, we had our Personal Baker make a diclious Carrot Cake to top things off.
Hope everything goes well for you this week! Stay safe!
This test has to be at a hospital and it will take 48 hours or more for results.
Jerry gets my vote for the most unusual family activities. Sorry about the teeth, Todd. I have that staring me down too. Been hearing great things about THE FIVE DECEMBERS. I am hoping to have a small party on 12/23 if Covid has improved at all, if I am feeling okay and if Megan arrives safely. Lots of ifs.
WTF? I'm sure some of you SAW MY POST! It was there. Now it's gone. Fortunately, I emailed a copy to myself so I can send it to Patti, but why does this ONLY HAPPEN TO ME?
Good luck whit the test and the procedure. Yes, I tested positive (even though I know I never had Covid) three days before the surgery and had it put off for a month. Not fun. And it turned out the hospital was probably one of the safest places I could have been as they were meticulous about everything.
We're going to watch PASSING this week. We made the mistake of putting that stupid Rock/Reynolds/Gadot movie instead and turned it off after 15 or so minutes. Then Jackie wanted something more "up" so we watched a Dixie Chicks concert DVD.
We've started the last 5 available episodes of MONEY HEIST as the final 5 will be available in early December. Finished series 3 of Game of Thrones. I doubt we'll watch another before Florida. Also finished series 2 of the Irish BLOOD (disappointing), series 2 of BACK TO LIFE (at least Miri had a happy ending), series 1 of RAGNAROK (I like shows that have only 6 episodes), and the latest CALL THE MIDWIFE series (10).
Still watching the Swedish BEFORE WE DID (series 2), though to be honest, if it were just up to me I'd skip it. Crooked cops, undercover drug dealers, etc. Haven't we seen it all before? Watched the second episodes of MANHUNT (series 2) with Martin Clunes (very different from his Doc Martin character) and THE LONG CALL (Ann Clleves' series) on our Saturday Brit Night, and will finish both next week. Watched the second DALGLIESH, THE BLACK TOWER. Bertie Carvel does a good job in the title role. I remembered the setting and the end, where the murderer tries to throw him off the cliff, from the book and the Marsden version. But halfway through I told Jackie who the murderer was, and I was right. THE END (Showtime) has taken an odd turn, but Frances O'Connor and Harriet Walter keep me watching (as does the half hour time). We've started HIGHTOWN (on Starz), set on Cape Cod, and again, too much drug dealing, gangs, drugs, etc. for my taste. It's hard to care about many of the characters. One more BAPTISTE episode to go on Masterpiece, and I'll be glad to see the end of it. This last episode, with many revelations, I found unbelievable. And Jackie insists that Fiona Shaw has the same hairdresser as Harriet Walter in THE END. DOPESICK (Hulu) is very well done but depressing and infuriating at the same time, especially when you know what the Sackler family continues to get away with. We'll start the new SHETLAND when we finish the other British series. Oh, and we are greatly enjoying going through ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE AGAIN.
What else? SEINFELD, SCHITT'S CREEK (up to series 5), MIDNIGHT DINER: TOKYO STORIES (series 4 overall), all half an hour or less and easy to fit in at the end of the night, as are WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS and DINERS, DRIVE-INS & DIVES.
I know it sounds like we're watching television 24/7, but i NEVER TURN IT ON UNTIL THE 5:00 local news, then watch from 7-11 at night. Jackie does watch several hours during most days (she went through the last two series of GOLIATH and is now watching AGENTS OF SHIELD and THE FRANKENSTEIN CHRONICLES).
Books. Besides the short stories (I've passed the 800 mark), I read and very much enjoyed THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE, the second Thursday Murder Club book by RIchard Osman. I needed something lighter to balance all the dark stuff on television.
Again, good luck this week.
As I type this Barbara is at the Portland Clinic facility getting a Cover test. She's had a lingering cough and the doctors want to rule things out, though she (nor I) have any Covid symptoms. Good luck on your test. Not sure why it would have to be in a hospital other than that's where you're going for the procedure.
I've been reading mostly short stories this past week, and will have a short story post up Wednesday (hope you do too!). I finished GUILTY CREATURES, a British Library Classic Crime anthology edited by Martin Edwards, and it was a good one. I still have the Simenon collection and a newer one byAndrea Camilleri going. A couple of novels came from the library, but after about 30 pages or so I was unsatisfied and sent them back. More are on their way. I started reading A TALE OF TWO CITIES by Dickens and was likewise unsatisfied with it. I liked it a lot when I read it in high school!
We've had much-needed rain, which is great, but also a lot of wind, which has taken all the leaves. So Fall color is over and composting begins. We watched the Ducks win and the Seahawks lose, and that was about it for the tube. I've been listening to a lot of Delius and Bad, two of my favorites. Classical music is very relaxing for me. Hope your week is good.
I have not read anything by Elizabeth Strout but I bought two of her books last year and want to read them (OLIVE KITTERIDGE and MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON).
I enjoyed reading PASSING and am glad to hear that the adaptation is faithful. We will have to watch it soon. Our watching this week has been our normal science fiction fare plus a few current TV shows we are watching on Paramount+. We are gearing up to watch a few movies from our huge DVD/Blu-ray collection on Thanksgiving and the following day, a tradition in our house.
I am still reading novellas for Novellas in November. The ones I have read most recently are:
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson (general fiction)
The Concrete Jungle by Charles Stross (science fiction)
Tamburlaine Must Die by Louise Welsh (historical crime fiction)
The Silent Gondoliers by William Goldman (fantasy?, fairy tale?)
I have to rush off and help clear out our garage because they just announced that the Paver Project for our driveway is done and we can move our car back in. Hallelujah!
Patti, I will be thinking of you this week while you prepare for surgery. That is hard enough in normal times, and harder now.
Jeff--it has happened to me, particularly with WordPress blogs, but also on Blogspot blogs when I'm posting from a non-Blogspot-recognized address. Glad you saved it, but try reposting the saved text, as well when that happens.
Patti--thanks. Ninja's vet visit this morning could find no problems with her jaw (on her last, a couple weeks ago, they had pulled a loose canine out with their fingers), albeit she did react as if her jaw was still tender several times in the time since. She also got her annual/biannual shots. My dentistry pros tomorrow.
In re; your relative lack of appreciation of '60s films in the US, a 1959 entry that looks a lot more promising than it turned out to be, on TCM yesterday, THE YOUNG PHILADELPHIANS, is certainly supporting evidence for your case...almost everything wrong with '60s and just-before commercial film-making, notably gutless approaches to lurid (or so they were seen to be) topics (such as homosexuality--Adam West's film debut, where we are to understand that his character is gay and he has been coerced by his wealthy family to wed the female lead, agonizes to his bride on their wedding night, "I can't love ANYBODY!" and then runs out to die offstage in a car accident), good actors saddled with the most ridiculous dialog, and a general lack of entertainment and insight. Television often did better, and usually did about as badly and no worse, at the time. But not in pretty widescreen! I lasted about 15 minutes. The toothache didn't detract too much for that experience.
Fairy tales are usually fantasy, indeed, Tracy.
Patti, I've noted you mention you don't think you've ever read an sf short story...well, there are the sf short stories in Vonnegut's WELCOME TO THE MONKEY HOUSE (along with several other sorts of ss), and even my pale effort in DISCOUNT NOIR...this would not necessarily be the reading list I'd plunk down in front of most interested and innocent parties, but the Vonneguts are definitely worth the look...
As per Todd's suggestion:
Good luck whit the test and the procedure. Yes, I tested positive (even though I know I never had Covid) three days before the surgery and had it put off for a month. Not fun. And it turned out the hospital was probably one of the safest places I could have been as they were meticulous about everything.
We're going to watch PASSING this week. We made the mistake of putting that stupid Rock/Reynolds/Gadot movie instead and turned it off after 15 or so minutes. Then Jackie wanted something more "up" so we watched a Dixie Chicks concert DVD.
We've started the last 5 available episodes of MONEY HEIST as the final 5 will be available in early December. Finished series 3 of Game of Thrones. I doubt we'll watch another before Florida. Also finished series 2 of the Irish BLOOD (disappointing), series 2 of BACK TO LIFE (at least Miri had a happy ending), series 1 of RAGNAROK (I like shows that have only 6 episodes), and the latest CALL THE MIDWIFE series (10).
Still watching the Swedish BEFORE WE DID (series 2), though to be honest, if it were just up to me I'd skip it. Crooked cops, undercover drug dealers, etc. Haven't we seen it all before? Watched the second episodes of MANHUNT (series 2) with Martin Clunes (very different from his Doc Martin character) and THE LONG CALL (Ann Clleves' series) on our Saturday Brit Night, and will finish both next week. Watched the second DALGLIESH, THE BLACK TOWER. Bertie Carvel does a good job in the title role. I remembered the setting and the end, where the murderer tries to throw him off the cliff, from the book and the Marsden version. But halfway through I told Jackie who the murderer was, and I was right. THE END (Showtime) has taken an odd turn, but Frances O'Connor and Harriet Walter keep me watching (as does the half hour time). We've started HIGHTOWN (on Starz), set on Cape Cod, and again, too much drug dealing, gangs, drugs, etc. for my taste. It's hard to care about many of the characters. One more BAPTISTE episode to go on Masterpiece, and I'll be glad to see the end of it. This last episode, with many revelations, I found unbelievable. And Jackie insists that Fiona Shaw has the same hairdresser as Harriet Walter in THE END. DOPESICK (Hulu) is very well done but depressing and infuriating at the same time, especially when you know what the Sackler family continues to get away with. We'll start the new SHETLAND when we finish the other British series. Oh, and we are greatly enjoying going through ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE AGAIN.
What else? SEINFELD, SCHITT'S CREEK (up to series 5), MIDNIGHT DINER: TOKYO STORIES (series 4 overall), all half an hour or less and easy to fit in at the end of the night, as are WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS and DINERS, DRIVE-INS & DIVES.
I know it sounds like we're watching television 24/7, but i NEVER TURN IT ON UNTIL THE 5:00 local news, then watch from 7-11 at night. Jackie does watch several hours during most days (she went through the last two series of GOLIATH and is now watching AGENTS OF SHIELD and THE FRANKENSTEIN CHRONICLES).
Books. Besides the short stories (I've passed the 800 mark), I read and very much enjoyed THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE, the second Thursday Murder Club book by RIchard Osman. I needed something lighter to balance all the dark stuff on television.
Again, good luck this week.
Jeff-You are up above. Above Rick. It shows my name though. Sorry for the confusion.
I saw it. Todd suggested I try and repost it. Thanks.
Sorry to hear about the COVID test situation, Patti. Fingers crossed it's negative, and you can go ahead with the surgery as planned. I have to get regular blood work done in our local hospital lab, and they're very good about taking all necessary precautions. Hopefully your situation will be similar.
Thanks for the recommendation about "Dalgleish." I'm often a bit wary about watching adaptations of books/series I've enjoyed, and my mother introduced me to the PD Jones books when I was a teen which made me a fan. Roy Marsden didn't make a bad Dalgleish back in the 80s/90s, so I'm willing to give Bertie Carvel a try.
Congrats again to Megan on being longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize! That's a very nice honor, indeed.
Best of luck this week!
Thanks, Bonnie
The Covid test came back not detected so I guess I am ready. I think Carvel brings a lot more poetry to the role. In fact, his personality/character outshines the stories, which were not as good as I remembered them. I lose my patience nowadays with too many police interviews, which puts me off many of these fifty year old novels.
Glad on the good news on the test and thinking of you, Patti. Hope all goes well.
Patti, it's not much different up here in Canada. I go for blood work once a month at the hospital and it's easy to get in after answering a few questions. I had a kidney stents procedure scheduled for tomorrow, but it's been postponed. The reason wasn't given, but I think it's due to the fact that many operations and procedures had to be cancelled last week due the big snowstorm. Our new premier, who is the first woman in the position, has pretty well been hiding since she took over a couple of weeks ago. She is the former health minister and the belief is that she doesn't want to answer questions in regard to the large number of people refusing to get vaccinated in southeastern Manitoba where her Conservative party has strong support. Nineteen unvaccinated health care workers quit this week after refusing to be tested for COVID.
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