I am pretty much settled in but the weather hasn't allowed much walking. I did walk to the movies and saw THE OUTFIT, which I liked. Also saw a great play called PASS OVER, by Antoinette Nwandu in Ann Arbor and went to an exhibit of nature photography at the Detroit Zoo.
I am reading THE MARTIAN, which I liked a lot more as a movie. Too much technical stuff and not enough character development. Watching THE DROPOUT on Hulu, which is excellent. Still trying to navigate the new TV. I am used to closed captions and I haven't figured out how to get them on some of the streaming channels.
This doesn't feel like home yet. The building is so very quiet and I seldom see anyone other than the management. Still I am near almost all of my friends so I don't have to make new ones but I would like to know someone in here at some point.
How about you?
14 comments:
I find Andy Weir's book too reliant on tech stuff and not enough on character. The movie was better.
Disappointed with the Oscar winners with the exception of Jessica Castain. Coda. Best movie. Really? One of the two nominees that virtually nobody has seen. An okay movie. But the voters tend to be suckers for characters that are handicapped. Rain Man, Forrest Gump, Charly.The Oscar hosts were boring and not funny. The highlight was Will Smith cursing out Chris Rock and slapping him. Not staged. For those who want older stars to show up, Liza Minelli is a good reason not to. In a wheelchair and looking terrible. We didn't need to see that.
Didn't see any new films. Rewatched some good ones-Touch of Evil, Eastern Promises and The Apartment.
Reading City of the Dead by Jonathan Kellerman, Read Come Closer a slim novel about demonic possession by Sara Gran. It's nice to read shorter books. Not everything has to be a door stop. Fantasy is the worst for this. Not only long but mostly series also.
Too nasty out this weekend to do much. Looking forward to baseball.
I'm glad you're settling in, Patti. That always takes time; I know it did for me. And I know what you mean about The Martian. It does quite well as a film.
Like you, Steve, and Margot, I liked THE MARTIAN better as a movie than as a novel. You can get lost in the technical weeds of Andy Weir SF book.
It snowed here Saturday and Sunday. I started up Big Orange, but an inch or two of nuisance snow will melt quickly. Not-snowblower worthy!
Diane is preparing for her trip to NYC with her sister next week. Katie got them tickets to THE MUSIC MAN and they'll all be going to see Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. I'm staying home to collect the mail.
Today we have to cast our votes on the Library Budget. Stay safe!
Glad you're out and about. It'll take a bit of time before you're fully settled.
Much of this past week has been at the hospital with Kitty and was glad she was released on Thursday. She's still very weak, tires easily, and is sometimes not that compliant (**sigh**). Home Health Nurse on Saturday, Pulmonologist today, Physical Therapy tomorrow, discussion with the surgeon on a valve replacement next week...we're going to be doctored up for the next month or so. She's my brave little soldier.
A very quiet anniversary on Saturday. We'll whoop it up when she is feeling better. i am grateful for all those years together and for many more to come.
Mark may graduate from college in the fall, Erin soon after. Ceili continues to work twelve-hour shifts -- plus overtime -- doing intake at the county lock-up; Amy seems happy and settled once she got a transfer to a different department; there has been a shake-up at Jessamyn's work, be she will most likely not be affected. Christina is still a sign language interpreter for a local kindergarten and looks forward to Art Day each week -- she posts her art on Facebook, this week is was a smiling ice cream cone because everything should be smiling and have happy eyes. Walt has a new camera and is happy as a clam; he does remarkable nature photos.
Watched CRACOW MONSTERS on Netflix, a rather confusing mishmash of psychic students, Slavic mythology, and the possible end of the world. It was interesting enough to hold our attention but it was sometimes hard to tell Who's on First. Also watched a 2015 faith-based, anti-Fascist, apocalyptic film called MILITARY STATE (aka RZ-9). As was expected it had a terrible plot, bad acting, poor special effects, and cheesy photography. So why did we watch it? Kitty was too tired to change the channel.
Read Stephen Graham Jones' MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW while we were in the hospital; followed it with Grady Hendrix's THE FINAL GIRL SUPPORT GROUP. Both books dealt with the lore of "slasher" movies. Both started off slow but really ramped up the action in the last half. The Hendrix book had an unreliable narrator which kept me guessing. Both were very god, but you had to be in the right mood. Also finished Joe Lansdale's collection of novellas FISHING FOR DINOSAURS and dipped into a number of issues of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION from 1954.
The weather has been beautiful the past few days but we have not been able to go out and enjoy it. The war in Ukraine is upsetting but I get cheered on by the Ukrainian spirit and by Russia's incompetence. Rooting for the underdog is soul pleasing, but I keep remembering that Putin is a soulless, unfeeling, stone cold killer, as well as a narcissist who can't take defeat. Political divide at home makes me sick and the Republican contenders for 2024 are ramping up their morally deficient talking points to appease their base. KBJ, I'm sure. will be appointed making her the 10th member of the Cpurt (the 9th being Gini Thomas, of course). Covid could well come back to kick us in the ass but does anyone care? Climate change and the environment? Don't talk about it. Ptah! But somehow I still see glimmers of hope -- glimmers that will never die and may someday become a large, shining future.
May your future shine over the coming week, Patti, and for many weeks to come. Stay safe.
We have to start packing up soon as we leave for home on Thursday. We'll get there on Sunday. Despite her promises, I am sure Jackie will be taking back more stuff than we brought with us, what with the clothes and other stuff (including a beautiful new 4-slice toaster) she bought.
Did not watch the Oscars, and from the little I've seen and read, that was the right choice. Sad. Every major award was predicted beforehand. With all the great actors out there, who decided Shawn Mendes or Tony Hawk & Shaun White should hand out awards? Pathetic.
We finished the first series of the Val McDermid-Amelia Bullmore series TRACES (Britbox), set in Dundee. There is another 6 episode series. Also finished the third series of THE BAY. We're watching THE CHELSEA DETECTIVE, GOOD KARMA HOSPITAL, MURDER IN PROVENCE (only the first one so far, as we can't get over the British actors "playing" French), plus THE SOUTH WESTERLIES and DEADLY TROPICS. The first is set in the Cork area of Ireland. Orla Brady (clearly playing younger than she is) is working undercover for a Norwegian company, trying to convince the reluctant citizens of her small home town to accept a proposed wind farm off the coast. She returns with her son, not telling him or anyone else that her former boyfriend (who has, conveniently, recently returned to town) is the father of her child. The scenery is gorgeous, as you'd expect. One problem is Brady's character of Kate is not a very nice person. This is the benefit of 6 episode series. It doesn't demand that much of a commitment. We're enjoying DEADLY TROPICS. After a scandal involving her now ex-husband, a French detective is sent to Martinique, where she is partnered with a loose cannon woman in one of those "opposite personalities work well together" situations so common in these shows. I like it so far, with more gorgeous scenery. Her boss also plays the boss on the Paris-set SPIRAL.
If you're in the mood for a political thriller, you could do worse than the Louise Penny-Hillary Clinton STATE OF TERROR. I'm not going to say it is totally plausible, but it moves fast enough that you have to stop and think, is that really likely? The portrayal of Trump is devastating, but probably no worse than the truth. There are a couple of "surprise" twists that, frankly, didn't fool me, but I'll say no more.
We did watch the indie DEFINITION PLEASE (2020) on Netflix, written and directed by star Sujata Day, who did a really nice, low key job.
Read three non-fiction oops on Ernest Shepard, DRAWN FROM MEMORY, DRAWN FROM LIFE and THE ART OF, all very good. Am now reading THE BODY IN THE DALES by J. R. Ellis. I’m just a couple chapters in, so no opinion. Watched GONE WITH THE WIND, and since I hadn’t seen it since the mid Eighties I was surprised at how much I’d forgotten.
Watched and detested the Oscars mainly. Who were these people? They seemed to have skipped several generations and decided hip hop was the future. Nobody held the camera long as it panned the room constantly. Ugh.
When you read the book GTWT you realize how much the movie left out. Still it is hard to read now with its sympathetic view of the "Old South."
For the first hour I thought I was watching the BET awards.
We did not watch the Oscars, for the first time in decades. I have no regrets, although I haven't read / heard much about it.
We had lots of rain overnight and there was a flash flood warning at 6:00 a.m. It was for burn areas which are far from us. I had no idea it was coming but welcome any water.
We watched two movies this weekend: PLEASANTVILLE and THE BLUES BROTHERS. It had been a good while since we had seen either and we enjoyed them both. We also tried two shows on Acorn: DEADWATER FELL and MR. AND MRS. MURDER. We did not care for DEADWATER FELL, so we won't finish it, but MR. AND MRS. MURDER was fun. An Australian show we had not heard of before.
I just finished a crime fiction novel by David McCallum last night, ONCE A CROOKED MAN. Very good, much better than I expected. Glen bought it five years ago and had not read it, so gave it to me and I decided to dive into it right away.
Tracy, agree on DEADWATER FALL. Very unpleasant, and no real mystery who the villain is.
Our friends just came back from 10 weeks in CA and not a drop of rain. Glad it finally arrived.
Me, too. It had been so long since it rained.
Jeff, I am glad it was not only us who had problems with that show.
Later Monday evening I returned from a five day trip to Memphis and Nashville with the high school music and choir groups. The school does a big trip every four years to give each student a chance to attend during high school. Boy #2 is a sophomore and did not avoid or ignore me during the trip. That was nice.
Both cities had some very neat museums. I've heard before about people thinking Graceland was small. I disagree, it's not a modern, super-huge, ultra-wealthy house though. Newly opened African American Music Museum had very neat exhibits. I don't consider myself a country music fan but recognized plenty of artists I enjoy when touring the Country Music Hall of Fame.
DON'T STAY AT THE COUNTRY INN & SUITES AT 590 DONELSON PIKE IN NASHVILLE.
I brought along a few paperbacks for the trip and read a CSI: LAS VEGAS tie-in novel by Max Allan Collins. I never watched any CSI shows except to sneer at the absurdities. I bought this one after seeing Collins's name. The book was a bore without knowing the show and the characters. I should have bailed on the book, but I hate doing that.
I enjoyed Collins's gratuitous reference to his film REAL TIME: SIEGE AT LUCAS STREET MARKET and TV cast member William Petersen's MANHUNTER.
Hokey-Smokes! I just checked and Collins wrote 10 CSI novels and also did comics, video games, and puzzles. Dang.
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