Megan begins her book tour today. She gets in Detroit on Friday but just for a day. Hoping we get a decent turnout for her.
Saw two movies this week. THE LIFE OF CHUCK, which I didn't think much of and it hit a little too close to home for comfort.The other was a restoration of THE ANNIHILATION OF FISH with James Earl Jones and Lynn Redgrave. The sound was poor and we struggled to hear it. But it seemed like a nice enough film about old age.
Ate out way too much this week: Mexican, Turkish, Thai, Thai. I don't dare stand on the scale.
Reading THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE for a book group. It is very thick. It certainly seems like people like it so maybe I will too.
Watching DUSTER (Max) STICK (Apple) and OUTRAGEOUS (BritBox) but nothing that really thrills me. I find myself watching compilations of various themes on You tube a lot. FOr instance, the best dancing sequences, the best crime stories. They are inserting anti-abortion commercials in some of them.
Very hot here. Hope it doesn't last long.
What are you doing lately?
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16 comments:
Yikes...YT can be great and terrible, and they don't worry too much who buys their ad time.
Hope both you and Megan have a good time with her Detroit session!
I've been eating rather readily myself, of late, but have been getting more walking in while doing various tasks over the last couple of week, which had been delayed while awaited my left ankle to heal (among other latter middle-aged bits).
The continent, or at least our chunk of it here in the Mid-Atlantic, is expected to suffer a nasty heatwave for at least four days, racking 100+ F days M/Tu, and 99ish degree days with rain showers/steambaths to follow. I meant to put a bowl of water out for the wild rabbit who has been living in our yard, shall do so this morning.
Just began DUSTER last night, and it's OK enough, indeed, in its muscle-car, etc. fetishization. For J. J. Abrams, a step up, while displaying his hallmarks. Caught the second episode of PATIENCE, the UK variation on ASTRID (as PBS has packaged the French original), still like it pretty well as well. Looked at a bunch of WKRP IN CINCINNATI episodes again, after a chopped up mass of them popped up in my YT feed. And LAST WEEK TONIGHT not quite catching on, as taped on Saturday evening, with Drumpf's typical "heroism" in trying to make a World War out of Iran and Israel killing more of each other's civilians than achieving anything else, as those countries can boast of similar hero-leaders...marginally less stupid versions of Drumpf.
THE LIFE OF CHUCK's trailer certainly makes it look like a Hallmark card of a film, or a prettier version of a minor HALLMARK HALL OF FAME episode. Charles Burnett's films, from KILLER OF SHEEP (I assume this 1999 film had a title which intentionally hearkened back to that one) were made for less money than they could've used...sorry about the soundtrack hassle there, as my tinnitus sustainedly chirps in the background).
Keep properly cool, Patti!
We're headed for 90 degree temps today and tomorrow. Rain should cool us off a little later in the week. I hate Summer with its bugs, heat, and humidity. Our A/C is constantly running.
Diane and I try to limit eating out to once a week. But this week Diane has lunch with a friend on Tuesday, a Book Club Meeting on Friday (that includes a visit to a frozen custard stand, and dinner with friends on Sunday after we see BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL.
SUPERMAN opens this weekend (no interest) and the latest Jurassic Park movie is on the horizon (no interest). Meanwhile, Trump entered us into another Mideast war. He's never going to win that Nobel Peace Prize now. Stay safe!
If he stepped down I think many people here would be willing to give him a peace prize, George.
If you think middle age is fun, wait to you find yourself in old age, Todd. I woke up with a bump on the top of my foot--maybe it's a bite I will get out the magnifying glass.
Wow, Scottsdale today, Brooklyn tomorrow? Tomorrow is supposed to be the peak of the heat wave, with temperatures over 100 predicted. If so, it will be our first 100 degree day since 2012, the first 100 degree day in June since 1966! Good thing there's no such thing as global warming, right?
JAWS. I mentioned elsewhere that we went to the opening day showing of JAWS on June 20, 1975, 50 years to the day from this past Friday. You can watch JAWS on Peacock for free until the end of the month, so we watched it last night. Spielberg was 28 when it came out, and Richard Dreyfuss was 27. Robert Shaw dropped dead of a heart attack at 51, three years after the movie came out. It really changed Hollywood forever, as far as the Summer Season goes and how movies were released from then on.
So glad Jackie no longer has to go to school - the last week of school in New York is this week - and that we can stay inside in the air conditioning in this weather.
I did read the new S. A. Cosby book, KING OF ASHES. Pretty dark stuff, and you can't help but note the echo of the end of THE GODFATHER in this one.
We finished ETOILE, which, while not perfect, was generally worth watching. I enjoyed the New York section way more than the Paris section, however, mainly because I found Tobias unbearable as a character, plus I just didn't care about Mishi and her mother. Give me more Jack and Chayanne.
Also finished NORTH OF NORTH, which was fun and will return for another series. We're still enjoying the first series of POKER FACE on Peacock, though why she insists on putting herself in jeopardy every week is hard to understand. Finished HACKS and the first series of WOLF LIKE ME.
DEATH VALLEY is a fun, silly mystery that we're enjoying, as you need something light to balance the darkness. Timothy Spall is a successful TV actor who "helps" this young Welsh cop (who still lives with her mother) by solving local murders.
FAMILIES LIKE OURS, on the other hand, is a darker Danish show for our time, with global warming (apparently) flooding Denmark to the point where the country has to shut down, and every Dane has to leave for another country.
We watched the entire run (2003-2015) of NEW TRICKS when it was running, but now that we're down to the last two episodes of SPOOKS (MI-5; and the last series is not good), we decided to rewatch it. But we both agree we did not see the one-off pilot episode that set up the series. It's about UCOS - Unsolved Crimes and Open Case Squad - with a Superintendent (Amanda Redman, years before THE GOOD KARMA HOSPITAL) supervising three retired detectives (originally James Bolan, Alun Armstrong, and Dennis Waterman, the only one who remained through the whole series). A lot of British actors pass through over the years.
Jackie is watching the mediocre and derivative RANSOM CANYON (ask the reviewers), the kind of show she likes, and is going to watch the new series of THE GILDED AGE, one I quit after the first series. We were going to see a couple more shows, but she does not want to go to Midtown at the moment, it is too hot, and TDF does not have anything we really want to see. We'll see how the Summer goes. We're going back to Mystic for the week after July 4, with my cousins, rather than the originally planned Boston.
Stay safe out there!
I would expect Megan to draw a crowd at any book event. Even more so in hometown-adjacent Detroit.
Been in the 90°s here but manageable humidity in 50s and 60s. I took an 8 mile walk yesterday at midday on the local rail-to-trail and that was mostly shaded. I did not take the dog along because she has gotten too old for the heat and distance. Even at 9PM the heat was too much for the dog and she was mad at me the rest of the evening.
Wife, Boy #2, and I were out and about on Saturday and ate at an Indian buffet for lunch. We are all fairly ignorant on Indian dishes. Thankfully the buffet had names and brief descriptions of each dish. I was quite pleased with the meal and didn't even overeat.
I've been listening to LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS. I've heard for decades about how revolutionary the novel was in 1969. I'm enjoying the story but the concept of ambisexuality is a "Meh" to me. I suppose that shows how much society has changed over time.
Also been reading Christa Faust's HOODTOWN. I bought this for my library quite a while ago and it was weeded out. I quite enjoy Faust's work.
We do eat out a lot, though in the heat we try and get in food and stay home. This week was Italian Monday, brunch on Tuesday, Chipotle on Friday (they have a BOGO special through Monday), CAVA on Saturday (you get a bowl, get lettuce or rice, choose a protein, get various veggie toppings), Greek yesterday. We'll be eating home at least Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
Another plug by me for TUBI. A lot of older films on the free streaming service. I started watching FEMALE JUNGLE with Lawrence Tierney over the weekend. Each time I see that actor I wonder, "Who did he just punch in the face last night?" TUBI has THE THICKET (off Joe R Landsdale's novel) and I've been wanting to see that since it came out.
Was very sad they didn't give ETOILE another year. I thought it was better than most stuff.I have seen JAWS several times since and always enjoy it. I like Indian food but nothing too hot. I also could not get into THE GILDED AGE. I guess I don't like rich people much. School gets out here a lot earlier than the east coast. Also goes back earlier. I will look for THE THICKET on Tubi. I like his writing.
Good luck with that! At 60yo, I'm arguably leaving middle age behind soon if not already. Any day breathing, interacting and not in agony has Something to recommend it...but my dietetic ice cream consumption is more than it should be.... If Drumpf steps down, I'm sure Vance might try to pardon him for all things, but I'd certainly prefer he spend his Golden Years serving the jail time he's already earned via conviction and that which he should also suffer for his non-criminally adjudicated financial and sexual-assault crimes.
Another sustained vote for Tubi...even the ads aren't excessive, in my experience. Mostly been rewatching HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREETS there, but will branch out to the films soon enough.
I like Indian food myself, even the hot stuff, enough to eat even the Trader Joe's and certain other brands' frozen versions (Deep brand has returned to my diet, with the opening of a Sprouts nearby, after disappearing from Wegman's some year ago), some of which aren't too shabby.
We eat out about two times a week on the average, usually breakfast, when we go out for shopping or appointments, etc. Your eating out has been much more adventurous.
It is good that Megan is coming to Detroit for a book tour. I wish I could attend one of those, it would be interesting. Megan's books seem to be too tense for me. I am a real wimp regarding some types of novels. I read QUEENPIN and it was nonstop tension for me... but a great story and writing of course. I have two on my shelves that I will read (YOU WILL KNOW ME and BEWARE THE WOMAN). I want to read EL DORADO DRIVE because of it being set in Detroit / Grosse Pointe and THE TURNOUT, although it is also described as unsettling.
We have been watching a new show, THE ART DETECTIVES, on Acorn. We have liked the two episodes we have watched. We finished the first season of A REMARKABLE PLACE TO DIE, set in New Zealand. It will have a second season so someday we will watch that.
Glen is reading TEN YEARS IN THE TUB by Nick Hornsby. It is a compilation of ten years of his Believer columns, "Stuff I've Been Reading." The columns were written between 2003 and 2013. It is a thick book and variable and he will probably read other books at the same time.
I am reading A DEATH IN SUMMER by Benjamin Black (John Banville), the fourth book in the Quirke series. I have enjoyed the first three books in the series, but they are slow books, somber, with lots of angst. This one seems just as good so far (at about 2/3 into the book), but depressing.
The heat wave hitting the upper Midwest and NE is what we deal with every day here in Texas, on a good day. I hate summer.
Spent over a grand last week on car stuff. Time to start an OnlyFans deal where I perch naked on a bed and read books aloud.
Current read just started-- Fog and Fury by Rachel Howzell Hall.
I have heard good things about RHH. I need to try some new writers. But come winter, would you want to have temps below zero and ice to combat every day? I could not take the politics of any state in the South more than the temps.
Yes, her books are tense. YOU WILL KNOW ME is one of my favorites but definitely tense. I saw THE ART DETECTIVES listed but right now I have BRIT BOX. I always seem to have the wrong one. I may get rid of HULU and get that because HULU doesn't have much anymore. I used to read THE BELIEVER once in a while. I think I had some early compilations, in fact. A really good writer.
Suddenly I am listed as anonymous. Don't know what happened.
Tracy, we're watching the Art Detectives show too.
Jeff, we like the actors, which is most important, and the plots are interesting too.
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