I enjoyed the Alan Pakula (Prime) documentary. He directed a few of my favorite movies (All the President's Men, Klute). Did not know of his horrific death however.
Saw Are You There God, it's me Margaret? with a decent-size audience on a Friday afternoon. It was faithful to the book and charmingly acted.
Still reading, Hello, Beautiful and various short stories.
Listening to the new Julia Louis-Dreyfus podcast (Wiser Than Me) in which she interviews older women (Fonda, Reichl, Allende, Darlene Love). At the end of the interview she calls her mom and they discuss it. Very likable.
Watching Succession (Max), Barry, (HBO) The Dog House (Max), Israeli Matchmaker (Netflix), The Servant (Apple), Ted Lasso (Apple) A Small Light (Hulu, Discovery, Disney)
A Small Light is the Anne Frank Story told from the perspective of Miep who was the woman who took care of them.
What about you?
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Am currently listening to THE JACKIE AND LAURIE SHOW, Jackie Kashian and Laurie Kilmartin's now long-running podcast: https://maximumfun.org/episodes/jackie-and-laurie-show/the-jackie-and-laurie-show-384-we-havent-argued-yet/ (having started while washing dishes...Alice sleeping in, cats likewise).
I don't know about Pakula's bad end. Sigh...will have to go look.
Thanks for the tip on A SMALL LIGHT...seen the listing, but since almost everything on Discovery is trash these days, I didn't look into it.
Along with BARRY and SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE (and a bit of A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW) on HBO and BLINDSPOTTING on Starz, and THE COMPANY YOU KEEP and some other likely candidates on broadcast, I've been recording and watching a little bit of NHK Worldwide's presentation of DEAR DETECTIVE: FROM RAMPO WITH LOVE, a not atypically odd Japanese series fictionalizing "Edogawa Rampo"'s life (and visible online https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/program/video/drama_rampo/?type=tvEpisode&) and the Acorn series on Sundance HARRY WILD, with Jane Seymour...first three episodes are at least amiable, and the fourth episode goes into overdrive.
Alice making the big jump into private practice, after 19+ years of clinic work as a psychiatrist. If you want tele-psychiatry for you or your kids in NJ or PA...
I'm still seeking money owed me by my late father's insurance company and us by Costco. Nothing sacred when payments can be delayed!
The way things go...
Locally, psychiatrists only prescribe medication in ten-minute appts. I see a psychotherapist, who is moving to Chicago so I will only see her through zoom henceforth. Good luck to Alice. We need more mental health professionals if you look at the newspaper any day.
Alice definitely does more than that...has spent her career as much as possible Not being a pill-mill psychiatrist, and has previously focused on child & adolescent and family psychiatry, but is now moving toward working with non-parental adults as well and exploring more integrative psychiatry approaches. https://alicechangmd.com/
More good ones (of every kind of person and profession) always needed, alas...
Yes, I remember reading about Alan Pakula's death on the Long Island Expressway at the time. I will have to watch the documentary.
Years ago there was a TV movie about Miep Gies, the woman who hid Anne Frank, with Mary Steenburgen playing her. I'm recording the series.
We watched Stark Trek: Discovery season 3, which I erroneously thought we'd watched, and have season 4 to see next. Both were DVDs from the library.
Watching Lucky Hank (AMC on Demand) - I think you'd get a kick out of it - and From (also On Demand), plus the usual Prime/Acorn/Britbox/PBS/MHz Choice shows we've been watching.
Watched the first in series 3 of Grace, which is a very well done show. Also watched the first in the second series of Dalgleish (Death of an Expert Witness), which we like. At least this series they tell you that it is set in the early '70s, though you could probably guess by the hairstyles alone. I like Bertie Carvel in the title role. We finally finished the second series of the Belgian/Dutch Undercover, with one more series to go.
The weather has finally changed for the better, as we're in the mid-70s most of the week.
I'm reading the final (I believe) Peter Robinson book about ALan Banks, Standing in the Shadows, and like it much better than the trafficking books he'd been doing in recent years. Up next: EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE by Benjamin Stevenson.
Toddd, A Small Light is on The National Geographic Channel, on Mondays I think.
We tried the first episode of the Jane Seymour show and thought it was awful.
I'm guessing George might turn up here later, as they are driving home from Ohio today.
Our trip to Ohio ends today with a return to North Tonawanda. The weather looks good: warm and dry. But driving four straight days was Not Fun.
Diane's sister Carol turns 80 next week so Diane is taking her to New York City to see Broadway shows and Patrick, Katie, and her granddaughter who now lives in Brooklyn, Annie. I will stay home and collect the mail. Back to back trips holds no attraction for me.
Diane and I saw GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 3 in a sold-out AMC Theater. I remember when Summer popcorn movies came out every week and we would go to see them...pre-Pandemic. Now, we might go to see a movie once a month. It's streaming services that meet our entertainment needs now.
With the warmer weather comes Allergy Season. I've been taking my meds so I'm mostly okay except for itchy eyes from the storms of pollen. Stay safe!
And flying is no fun either. I can't imagine Megan making it to all of these bookstores on time. So many delays and cancellations.
I don't have AMC or AMC plus (so no Hank) and also got rid of BRITBOX all to make budgetary room for PEACOCK and Paramount, neither of which is that good. Oh, for the days when television was easier even if the shows weren't as good.
Pollen counts are high here too, George.
I don't remember the Mary Steenburgen series. I have been impressed with the actress playing her and Liev Schreiber playing Otto Frank.
It was a TV movie, not a series.
1988 The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank.
We're mostly enjoying Mrs. Maisel, but why they think jumping back and forth to the future is necessary, I don't get. And this week's episode, with the Friar's Club roast of Susie, didn't work for me at all, other than explaining why Joel was in prison.
Sadly, Jeff, the NatGeo channel is almost as traduced as is Discovery, and all the Discovery channels tend to run together in my mind of late. The Science Channel might be the least pathetic these years...but I await the Yeti marathons there, too.
I'd call the HARRY WILD pilot OK, easy to take but uncompelling. But the fourth episode was genuinely well-written and -shot. Will see how it goes from here.
LUCKY HANK remains a good series, I have to wonder how closely it hews to Richard Russo's novel STRAIGHT MAN. As a former writing/editing student, it gets the spirit and tenor right.
Do hope the airlines don't make everything insane for Megan on tour, Patti. Paramount at least provides all the Comedy Central and CBS items you probably can get elsewhere or don't want to see, anyway...but even with your lack of love for most animation, trying TOONING OUT THE NEWS might amuse you, if the frenetic pace of the dialog doesn't put you off (political/"news-channel" parody frequently at screwball comedy speed).
Read the new and last Peter Robinson novel Standing in the Shadows. Also reread Ubik, one of my favorite Philip K. Dick novels. Next up Blind Spots by Thomas Mullen.
Watching Lucky Hank. The scene I remember most in the novel is only foreshadowed in the show. It has to do with the goose. Also watching Barry and From.
Saw Sisu at the theaters. A very good (and very violent) Finnish film.
Also watching the Detroit Tigers who have been playing well of late except Sunday's debacle.
It's been a mixed week. First, the super-good news: My niece Julie had a baby girl on Tuesday. Her name is Lily and from the photos I've seen, she's beautiful (but so is her mother). And the bad news...also on Tuesday, my brother had a bad reaction to some sort of booster shot he had been given, causing swelling of the brain and increasing his dementia considerably. They managed to control the swelling, but it is not known whether he will be able to regain what he lost. I'm very concerned about him and his entire family and I am especially saddened that Lily will never get to know her grandfather or to personally experience what a wonderful, witty, and caring person he is. **sigh**
On the bright side of things, yesterday was a magnificent beach day and we brought both Jolly (five months old today) and Duncan (the allergen-inducing furball) with us. The relaxing time was what we all needed. There's fifteen days left in the school year, so we should be able to enjoy the Gulf and its beauty a lot more soon.
This is Teacher Awareness Week. Somehow, Christina (who works with a first grade class of special needs kids) and her school celebrated it last week. Florida education can be strange...
Again, a busy reading week. Carol Gorman's YA LIZARD FLANAGAN, SUPERMODEL?; James W. Ziskin's BOMBAY MONSOON (set in 1970's India and very atmospheric); Christoppher Golden's SNOWBLIND (a horror novel); Golden & Thomas E. Sniegoski's YA fantasy OUTCAST: THE UN-MAGICIAN; the first book in a paperback men's adventure series, CODY'S ARMY by "Jim Case" (Stephen Mertz); Robert Silverberg's complete collection of stories and articles from EXOTIC ADVENTURES (a short-lived, low-market men's adventure magazine), EXOTIC ADVENTURES OF ROBERT SILVERBERG; Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder novel ALL THE FLOWERS ARE DYING; two by Lee Goldberg, MR. MONK IS A MESS and MR. MONK IS CLEANED OUT; and the fifth omnibus of Loldberg and William Rabkin's DEAD MAN series, containing Christa Faust's THE DEATH WATCH (#13), Aric Davis's THE BLACK DEATH (#14), and David Tully's THE KILLING FLOOR (#15). I've got about twenty pages left in Martin Edwards' second LAKE DISTRICT mystery, THE CIPHER GARDEN. Coming up: novels by Paul Trembly, Darcy Coates, Robert Silverberg, and Christopher Golden.
Enjoy your week, Patti. Stay safe.
I went to the ophthalmologist this morning and I am dilated so can't read any of this post or the comments. I will try later in the day. I finished SLOUGH HOUSE by Mick Herron last night. Great book, did not like the ending.
So sorry about your brother, Jerry. This is the sort of thing that scares people and it does sometimes happen. Very sad.
I can never read until the next day, Tracy. We will be here.
I could use a good movie so maybe I will try SISU.
Tracy-Just got an eye injection today so I'm still pretty dilated.
Patti-Be forewarned that SISU is pretty violent. Go online and watch the trailer first.
Thanks, Steve.
Thanks for the tip on the Alan Pakula doc. “All The President’s Men” is a great film. I remember reading when it came out that an exact replica of the Washington Post newsroom was built on a Hollywood sound stage and that the details were correct right down to the copy paper the reporters used.
Jerry, very sorry to hear about your brother and his increased dementia.
Steve, an injection sounds so much worse than being dilated. My dilation is almost gone now but I was spacy throughout the day.
All the President’s Men is close to a perfect film for me.
The last few episodes of MRS> MAISEL have been awful. Why do they think they need to bring all the cast from the Gilmore Girls on? Maybe it was one too many seasons. Is Star Trek Discovery worth watching. I saw they cancelled it and Picard.
This strike is going to last a long time because although the studios value artful work, the streaming service just care about money and Amazon and Apple can hold out forever.
Patti, We have enjoyed Star Trek Discovery very much, but it all depends on what your tastes are. I liked a lot of the actors, many who were new to me, but Michelle Yeoh had a great role in the series.
Indeed, Jerry, all sympathies...as one whose greatest lifelong fear is the various sorts of dementia that run along both sides of my lineage, it's a bitter and monstrous thing. I hope any possible recovery happens.
Tracy, thanks for the reminder about Yeoh (long-term media "crush") being in ST: DISCOVERY.
And one item, relevant to Pakula's great adaptation of ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (better film than book, really) and the third recent cable/streaming series to deal to some degree with Watergate, WHITE HOUSE PLUMBERS (HBO), is good, very well-cast and as bleakly comic as one can want. I think. GASLIT (Starz) was (even) better (as far as WHP has gotten so far, two episodes) , and THE FIRST LADY (Showtime) was much more peripherally involved with these matters (mostly, of course, with the Fords' segments). Criminal Republicans in safely distant history, I guess (and ineffectual Democrats who let them run wild, to too great an extent).
Patti--alas, all Sherman-Palladino's productions can be Way too precious too much of the time, and MAISEL has always been remarkably ungrounded from likelihoods (a woman comedian trying to bridge Sophie Tucker and Lenny Bruce in 1950s US would not get too far, I fear, outside of the kind of shadowed-corners career Ruth Wallace had, if that...and the Maisel character's onstage work has tended to be very flat--Joan Rivers, for example, and Lily Tomlin, didn't get to flourish till the turn of the '70s, and they, early on, weren't so In The Faces of pearl-clutchers). And I generally liked GILMORE GIRLS, and found likable aspects of MAISEL and BUNHEADS, as far as the last went.
I think what I like tends to be out of step here so I will keep my thoughts to myself. Just glad we missed all the recent severe weather. Am having a hard time of things, mentally and physically, but I guess this will be the new normal.
Dilation always wipes out my reading until the next day. The last time I was dilated, I also had a hard time driving us . Once here, watching TV was difficult until that evening. It is time to do it again and I am not looking forward to it.
So sorry about your brother, Jerry. A friend of mine had the same thing happen to his Dad a few years ago. Not good.
Terribly sorry, Gerard...but our "orange" or ginger tuxedo tabby, Nikki, was one of our smartest cats. If also grumpy around the others, till she beefed up enough to beat up our tomcat Domino on a consistent basis (Domi was dumb, and almost a textbook example of a feline on the Spectrum as well...but when he eventually learned he could no longer bully Nikki successfully, he turned into a Friend of the female cats in the house, while Nikki never warmed up to the other females). Domino was, like Emmy/Emma, a piebald, and at the end of his life a pretty good friend to our longest-term cat, so far, Ninja. Sadly, it took Nikki two sequential scratches across her nose to realize that Ninja wouldn't simply evaporate if cornered. Ninja buddied up with Domino during their year or so of being the only cats in the house.
Cats can be difficult to introduce, particularly if they've had bad experience previously, as have both Ninja, who nonetheless will be friendly if allowed toward all other felines, and particularly the new cat, Whiskers. Woof, as they don't say.
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