Another alarming week on so many fronts, but let's not go there.
I am looking forward to Megan's visit on 7/1-7/3. Hoping her plane is one of the few that seem to arrive on time. These very short trips don't allow much wiggle room.
I went to see Phantom of the Open because I like Mark Rylance and the reviews were good but it was truly awful. Who makes a two hour movie about a guy who plays his first round of golf at the British Open. It was a Monty Python skit at best. This is the second goofy British movie I have seen of late. Desperation prevails. Put a movie theater down the street from me and this is the result. There are so few movies for adults this summer and like climate change it will probably get worse.
Enjoying The Bear (FX and Hulu). I always liked Lip on Shameless and he really gets to shine here. Also watching Dark Winds and rewatching Mad Men. Also The Split
Reading The Good Detective (John McMahon) and Dear Edward.
So what's going on with you?
24 comments:
I hope you and Megan have a wonderful visit, Patti!
Thanks, Margot. Me, too.
Megan is visiting you and Patrick and Katie are visiting us about the same time! Great minds think alike.
I've focused on reading Library books this week to reduce the stack. How I managed to have a dozen books out baffles me.
Diane and I feel whipsawed by the January 6th Hearings and the Supreme Court's overturning Roe. v. Wade. Our country is in Deep Trouble.
I've been staying in the A/C during this hot and humid days. My daily visits to the Pool continue, but more and more people show up as the temps head higher. There aren't enough life-guards to open the outside Pools.
Stay safe!
That's a shame (about the pools). They need to raise what they pay.
We're watching DARK WINDS and THE OLD MAN, and will start THE SPLIT after recording it on BBC America tonight. Really enjoying JULIA. It's just charming. Finished the first series of HACKS. THE LINCOLN LAWYER just picked a jury, more interesting episode. Jackie hates the black cop who mumbles. We need to use subtitles. Got series 5 of THE GOOD FIGHT on DVD from the library. It's a one week rental so we're watching two episodes a night (except for Saturday, which is Brit Night). Almost everyone in it is a Broadway actor. Speaking of that, we're watching Bebe Neuwirth in three shows - GOOD FIGHT, JULIA and THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT. We're enjoying LONDON KILLS. (Watched in Saturday, along with POIROT and MARPLE - I like Julia McKenzie as a rule, but Joan Hickson was the true Marple) and ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE and WAITING FOR GOD and BLACK ADDER.) Like the lead in GRACE, the lead cop here (Hugo Speer) has had his wife suddenly disappear, though here it is only three months rather than the several years Grace's wife is gone.
You go to the movies, we go to concerts. We had two concerts last week (Doobie Brothers and Bonnie Raitt with Lucinda Williams) and two more this week - Steely Dan and The Chicks. Next week we'll be going away with my cousins in Connecticut (Mystic) and Rhode Island (Newport) after the 4th. It's beautiful there in the summer, we have great seafood and ice cream meals. These are the cousins who had their 55th Anniversary party last week. Her mother and my father were sister & brother.
Jackie continues to watch shows on her own in the afternoons. Having finished all the Harlan Cobens, she watched the final series of TIN STAR (with Tim Roth) and is watching OZARK now.
Books. Reading Ann Hood's short story collection. Read Dan Chaon's paranoid thriller SLEEPWALK. Now reading Sulari Gentill's charming THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY, set in Boston.
Loved THE GOOD FIGHT. I think they are doing one more season. Interesting piece about the writers either in NYT or NEW YORKER. I would love to go to concerts but none of my friends seems much interested because one got Covid at one last year around now. I don't even know what concerts are in town.
Most of ours are outdoors at Jones Beach so we feel safer. The Beacon, however, is a 3000 seat (actually 2894 seats) theater and usually sells pretty well. Jackie was disturbed at how few people were wearing masks, but we were.
I read a Bill Crider novel last week and felt better. Had a crappy and angry day on Sunday and decided to just do stuff. So I repaired the garage door and cleaned things in the house.
Had a decent time Saturday afternoon visiting with people at a high school graduation party.
Slowly watching BRAND NEW CHERRY FLAVOR on Netflix. Maybe I mentioned that before.
Masks are pretty much gone here. Maybe at the Detroit Film Theater still.
The residue of anger over the last six years rarely leaves me. There is too much to ever put it all aside at this point. I hope our kids don't carry it with them forever.
Had cataract surgery this morning. Seemed to go okay. Vision is still blurry but that is to be expected.
Watching The Old Man, John Oliver, Animal Kingdom and Dark Winds. Saw no new movies this week.
Just finishing up Sin Killer by Larry McMurtry. Reading a new collection from editor Ellen Datlow called Screams from the Dark.
Jeff-I am a big fan of Lucinda Williams and have seen her several times. How did she sound? Saw her on a recent awards show on Austin City Limits and she sounded awful Hope her voice was not going.
I too am watching Dark Winds. And although I love the cast and setting, I have to say it is not the strongest plot I've seen.
Steve, apparently she had a stroke! She had someone helping her out and seemed to still have a problem with her left side arm annd leg, but her voice was strong and she sounded like herself. She did a 45 minute set.
I recently finished two books that I enjoyed a lot and they were very, very different. And both were not very long.
A QUIET LIFE IN THE COUNTRY by T.E. Kinsey is a light, humorous mystery set in 1908. It is not really realistic, but it isn't supposed to be so that is fine. I like the time setting. The narrator, Lady Hardcastle's maid, is delightful.
THE ASSAULT by Harry Mulisch, which you recommended to me, was a great read. Set in the Netherlands, it starts with a horrendous event that occurs near the end of the war with Germany (1945) and continues up to 1980.
Watching: We are continuing to enjoy SHAKESPEARE & HATHAWAY, BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES, and MIDSOMER MURDERS. And DOCTOR WHO and STAR TREK / NEXT GENERATION. We started AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS with David Tennant recently.
I would like to try THE BEAR but we don't get HULU. We are thinking of trying HULU out so that we could also watch ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING.
We had out of town visitors this weekend, which took our minds off all the recent bad events for a while. Unfortunately it was the weekend for the Solstice celebration and we had forgotten and tried to eat downtown. It was a mess but we ended up going to a restaurant we had not tried for years and had a very good meal.
I re-read THE ASSAULT within the past couple years. A short book that is deceptively packed with people and events.
I know they made a movie of THE ASSAULT and I think it was an Oscar nominee, but I have never been able to find it. Glad you both liked it.
Patti, it won the 1986 Academy Award as Best Foreign Language Film.
You mention the film version and I immediately remembered the box design for the VHS.
I did not know it had been filmed, but I looked around and it doesn't look available to buy or to stream. I am not sure yet whether Glen eyes are doing well enough to watch captioned movies anyway.
I can't find it either. So strange. Maybe only the VHS exists.
I checked online and saw no streaming options. WorldCat lists several VHS copies and two DVDs. One DVD owned by Northwestern Univ. and the other by University of Leeds.
I wonder how many of those VHS copies are still available and if the OCLC listings are not up to date.
Does anyone have a VCR nowadays?
I think I kept one around. Not sure though. A couple years ago I tossed a lot of VHS tapes of TV shows and football games.
I have at least one VCR, but haven't used it for some time. I've barely looked at a DVD for a while, now.
Have an excellent visit with Megan!
Post a Comment