Although I did hear a great concert at the DSO Saturday night with Beethoven's 7th and two shorter pieces. I did watch KIMI, which I liked if not loved.
What about you?
Monday, February 21, 2022
Monday, Monday
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Two movie theaters and a lot of restaurants in Birmingham. Still fairly close to events around Detroit. I managed a bookstore there for 5 years. The only thing missing there is a bookstore. Went to the Toadvine bookstore you mentioned. A lot more genre books than most of the used bookstores around here. A bit overcrowded though.
The only interesting movie that opened around here is the Japanese Oscar nominated Drive My Car. Passed on it. A 3-hour drama. I think I'll wait until it shows up on tv. Watched Young Wallender. Decent enough. Still watching Billions and Billions. A very good John Oliver tonight where he talked about critical race theory and how the right wing is exploiting something that doesn't barely exist. Watched a couple episodes of Jack Reacher. I found it okay. Writing more on a par of Magnum P.I than than the usual cable show. The lead isn't much of an actor, but he does have the Prescence.
Read The Goodbye Coast a Philip Marlowe novel by Joe Ide. It places Marlowe in present day L.A. Other than the name and setting I don't see any connection to Chandler. Certainly not in writing style. Otherwise, a decent private eye novel. A British writer did a very good Marlowe novel a couple of years ago.
Now reading The Cutting Room by louise welsh. It's a reread. Some short fiction.
BILLIONS AND BILLIONS--a Carl Sagan biopic?
Wow, it's been a hell of a week here, though most of it was resolved more or less to the better so far. Very intermittent sleep as a result.
Congratulations on settling most things! Good luck on the sale of the house, speedy and profitable, I hope (a particularly good chance in the current market?)!S\
Shall look up Birmingham, which I gather is a suburb rather than a nabe in Detroit?
Was surprised that ABC counterprogrammed a lugubrious NBC Olympics wrap-up with Questlove's documentary on the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival's free concert series, SUMMER OF SOUL. Caught up with it about 20 minutes in, and it was good to see and hear...though the notion it was a forgotten event has seemed odd to me, if no odder than the apparent reluctance to package the preponderance of the filmed footage for broadcast or home video over the years, since I've seen the Nina Simone performance on tv from time to time for decades...and knew what concert series it was from. Then tuned in the penultimate (for the season?) SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE and the season premiere of LAST WEEK TONIGHT, which I liked almost as well as Steve does. Thus missed the debut of the new horror series FROM on Epix, and I keep missing TWO SENTENCE HORROR STORIES (as I keep forgetting it's been moved to Sundays on the CW), which will overlap briefly in the same timeslot. Ah, well...the one episode I have seen this season was decent. Will catch both, as much as possible, on demand.
It sounds as though you found a good place to live, and that's great, Patti. I hope you really enjoy it there. I know all about the whole thing of packing and preparing to move, too; we did that last spring, and it's so time-consuming!
And tiring. I am exhausted and just at the beginning of this. I am anxious to see DRIVE MY CAR but probably at home too. Forgot about Wallander.
You seem to live a chaotic life, Todd. Like me of late.
That's great news about the house and the move, Patti! I'm sure once all this is done and behind you and you can relax, you will be thrilled with the new situation.
I'm a big fan of John Oliver too, but will have to wait to see the new shows until we get home as we don't have HBO down here. We do have all our streaming channels, however, and that's what we're watching for the most part.
We finished THE CLIFF (Prime), which was really a bait & switch situation. The first CLIFF was 2010 in Iceland, with various spooky elements along with the police investigation. The
"sequel" was 2014 and ran some years ago on Netflix under the more accurate title THE LAVA FIELD. The lead detective, Helgi, is the only connection between the two series. And this one has a terrible, abrupt ending.
Finished the second series of THE TUNNEL (Britbox?), and liked it more than the first. One series to go.
You can probably tell what we're enjoying the most by how often we watch a show and how long we go between episodes. Jackie doesn't like the French SPIRAL, for instance, and it is pretty dark. Recent addtions: THE CHESTNUT MAN (Danish, what else?) on Netflix. Also on Netflix: IN FROM THE COLD and CHOSEN (also Danish).
TANDEM on MHz Choice. This one is lighter and enjoyable so far. French police Commander transfers from Lyon to the southwest and moves her children in the middle of the school year. This just happens (the real reason hasn't been pointed out yet, presumably medical) to be where her ex-husband (of 10 years) is a Captain, so she is now his superior. They have very different styles (naturally) and have to work out how they will work together. It's set a few miles from the Riviera in Montpellier. Nice scenery.
We went back to the last two episodes of THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL on Prime since the fourth series is starting, and watched the first episode last night, along with the Christmas special of ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL.
On Saturday night Brit Night, we finished THE DARLING BUDS OF MAY and are down tot he last two episodes of UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS, so are looking for more shows to add. We watched the first AGATHA CHRISTIE'S POIROT, "The Adventures of the Clapham Crook" (1989) this week.
No big doings here. Weather is warming up, but not too hot. We've had several rainy episodes that keeps things green and my car clean. Reading mostly short stories. We will be seeing several of my cousins next Sunday for brunch.
Diane and I watched the finale of AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS last night. All our questions were answered. And, to Diane's relief--she loves ROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS--PBS has renewed the series for a Second Season.
Last week we yo-yoed between Arctic temps and 50 degree days. Some of our snowpack has melted...but not enough. I used the snowblower twice last week.
I planned to do our taxes today, but Diane decided we needed to take a pizza to an isolated, immune-cromprised friend so that's what we're doing. I'll attempt the taxes on this upcoming weekend.
Good luck with the move! Stay safe!
Congratulations on the new place. This reminds me of a song and I cannot place what it is.
I, too, had a somewhat hectic week. But, I just completed and submitted my annual report and am pleased with that.
I was able to take a long walk on Saturday. The first walk in quite a while due to a lung issue over December and my unwillingness to borrow or buy snowshoes. I finished PEACEMAKER over the weekend and quite enjoyed the show. Also saw the third season of MIRACLE WORKERS and finally finished off THE MAGICIANS. MAGICIANS was never that great so I was able to let my focus wander and do other tasks as the show played.
I listened to Bernard Cornwell's A CROWNING GLORY set during the English Civil War. An interesting read since my knowledge of that war is limited to a Monty Python song about Oliver Cromwell. I had not read a Cornwell book in quite a while and now I readily recognized his formulas and recurring themes. Woman in trouble. Bad guys with a joy for sadism. Bad guys with a physical deformity. The power of money. The powerful's disregard for the lesser classes.
Good for you finding an apartment! I hope it meets all you hopes and expectations. As someone who has driven a car since I was 16, it’s impossible to imagine not driving, but you’ll be happier now, I hope.
Since I’ve not seen, or even heard of all the things everyone else here watches, I’ve no comment. We did watch the season finale of All Creatures Great and Small, now must wait for season 3. Jeff says he watched a Christmas special, but it may have been the same program. ? The Olympics are over, and we’re glad, as the coverage was spotty, NBC’s USA-centric coverage tiring, the doping scandal in women's skating pitiful. We were watching most evenings, so I guess it’s back to Barbara watching news and me with a book in another room. The last book I read, A FATAL CROSSING, was a flop, so be warned.
Yes, Rick, it was the last episode here but originally presented as a Christmas special in England. The series ran in October there, with the last episode saved for Christmas Eve.
Rick, was that A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle?
That new apartment sounds great, especially with the ability to walk to most everything. And I am partial to a city named Birmingham since I grew up in Birmingham, AL. I can well imagine that getting ready to move is very tiring.
Since last week, I finished two books. STRANGE WEATHER IN TOKYO by Hiromi Kawakami was another strange book for the Japanese Literature Challenge, and I liked it almost as much as CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN. The other book was THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB by Richard Osman. I liked that one a lot too, and want to get the 2nd in the series.
I have started reading the second book in the Brother Cadfael series, ONE CORPSE TOO MANY, and the new book of Peter Lovesey short stories (READER, I BURIED THEM). Rick sent me his copy and I am enjoying the stories a lot. I have liked everyone that I read, and so far the one I like the best is the title story.
New and more convenient digs should go a long way to relieve your stress. Luckily it is a sellers' market so it is a win-win. Congrats.
Not much doing here. Kitty's new medication is knocking her silly. She's been extremely tired and short of breath -- both expected side effects but they have severely limited us this week.
We beached late this morning. A bit cool and breezy but watching the waves was worth it.
Planning Jessamyn's fiftieth birthday celebration (coming in August). Nothing has been finalized yet but it may involve passports.
Watched Season Two of YOUNG WALLENDER nd enjoyed it. Watched the loooong 16-episode season of SISYPHIS. A jumpy, confused and conflated time travel Korean series that did not know what it wanted. We kept watching to see if it would ever resolve the inconsistencies. I didn't. Anyone who wants to watch it should dispel all thoughts of logic and reason and continuity. Speaking of bad, avoid THE KING'S MAN, the third in the series. The idea that someone ever thought to make this film scares me. On the very plus side, John Oliver is back, baby!!!
Major reading this week was Dean Koontz's latest, QUICKSILVER. Koontz is a writer I hate to love but I have been enjoying his books for over fifty years now, usually finishing one in a day of rapid reading. This one almost had more going for it than against it, but I slogged through the last one hundred pages, finishing the thing in four days. **sigh** Currently reading the latest LONGMIRE from Craig Johnson. Coming up are the latest Charlie Parker from John Connolly, a series of novellas from Joe R. Lansdale, a Carpenter and Quincannon novel and a mystery collection from Bill Pronzini, a Trash 'n' Treasure book from "Barbara Allan," Ken Bruen's CALLOUS, and the latest Jack Reacher book from Lee and Andrew Child. These should keep me busy for a few days.
Enjoy your week. Sell your house. Stay safe.
Primary disruption for me this past week was that my longest-term friend, who lives in Boston and for whom I'm her health proxy, had a sudden painful attack on Tuesday night at/near the site of a bowel obstruction which some months ago required surgery and a rather long in-hospital recovery, and open-wound care after discharge (definitely no pun intended). This, after several hours overnight and a preliminary misdiagnosis of appendicitis, turned out to be a case of enteritis, which can be treated with antibiotics, and was. She recommends the chicken broth at Mass General.
This having occurred after a day of carrying furniture up to the third floor attic bedroom of the house, as Alice had decided (I concurred) it's more practical for several reasons to do her remote/video & telephonic psychiatric appointments from there than from the dining room...so I had fallen into exhausted sleep before NOVA got too far along at shortly after 9p, only to be awakened around 11p by repeated calls from a Boston number. Up till 3am+ checking in, and awake and following up by eleven or so. Dishwasher still fights working properly in very cold weather. Hassles for family and other very close friends as well. Bit the head off a Philly online friend for making foolish and arrogant statements in email about trans folks (having as I do one very dear to me and one newly announced, the adult kid of someone else I've loved for years). It's been a trying week. I knew old age was going to be a Whole Lot of challenge, but isn't a white-looking middle-class het male supposed to be able to coast in the US? That was the implicit deal! Hence all the Reagan voters and the thinning yet speciously "winning" margins for his heirs since...Bill Clinton along with his partisans...
Yes, Patti, the times will find us. Glad things are mostly looking up, even with the hassles of house prep for sale.
Tracy, yes, by Tom Hindle.
Sorry about Kitty's meds side effects, Jerry...hope they lessen or the med will eventually be less necessary or lower-dose eventually. Or Real Soon, for that matter.
There is so much more coming, Todd Beware.
Looks like I sold the house in two hours. Beware false hopes though. I hired a mover and an estate agent to get rid of what I can't take. It is exhausting. March 17th and I am out of here.
Great news, Patti.
Jerry, I've read the Jack Taylor books from the beginning but somehow missed CALLOUS. Hope Kitty is feeling much , much better very soon.
Congratulations on the quick sale (if indeed)! I hope the shedding of stuff won't be too painful (both my parents, and my sister and I to a lesser extent, were or are packrats...though in my case it's mostly a matter of reading material and recordings, but between Alice and I we have ended up with a Lot of Chairs. Most of which end up serving some purpose).
I meant to cite middle-agedness in my plaint above...the genetic sweepstakes doesn't bode well for golden years 70+.
UPDATE! We need an update!
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