Monday, December 18, 2017

Things That Are Making Me Happy


We lost a longtime colleague last week. And although his sudden death made us sad, what was amazing that was his entire family (maybe 75 people) rented a bus in Minneapolis and came to Detroit for the funeral. Watching them walk down the aisle in the church was wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time. How much this must have buoyed his wife and children and grandchildren. Being surrounded by such love. Few academics live in the state of their birth so weddings and funerals and births are always difficult.

Love LOVELESS on Netflix. Yes, it is violent but there are so many strengths in it. Astounding acting, directing, story. The villain, played by Jeff Daniels, is nuanced and you want to hear his story. Hope there is a second season. I do love Westerns. What some might call cliches, I call tropes and I love seeing the spin GODLESS puts on some of them.

Spending a lot of time with friends this week. They often take the place of family for those of us who have little family around. We have some terrific friends.

Loved Megan's next book, which comes out in July. GIVE ME YOUR HAND.This one is about female scientists working in a lab. Don't know how she learns so much about each subject.

Saw a fabulous show called TOO HOT TO HANDEL, which used the Messiah as a jumping off place for a terrific 2 1/2 hours. Many cities have versions of this. So much fun to see how into music Detroit school children were.

 So grateful for Todd Mason's help with Bill Crider day.And thanks to all of you who participated.
I know some of you posted more than one remembrance. I may have missed some.

AND WHAT ABOUT YOU?


16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooh, I didn't know Megan had a new book coming out! Must make time for it. Thanks for letting us know.

Jerry House said...

After a week of weather in the 30s, and 40s, it's now much warmer here. Kitty and I are singing "It's Beginning to Be a Lot Like Not-Christmas."

Ceili graduated yesterday so we had a small family party. Lots of laughter and some pretty poor pizza (but the cake was good!). Ceili has decided to go by the name Della; not too sure why but I think it's a perk of being 21. (She's changed the spelling of Ceili recently and often goes by Caylee but I'm old-fashioned and am sticking with the Celtic version of her name.) Whatever she calls herself, I am so proud of her.

Starting the latest Dean Koontz novel. As usual, it's formulaic, maudlin, and over-written but, as always, I am devouring it. I'm a sucker for his work, no matter how much I hate myself in the morning.

Ceili and Amy's other grandfather has been in the news a lot lately because he's one of Trumps personal lawyers (he's the sane one). As much as I dislike the Orange Cheeto, I'm glad he's being represented by an honest and principled man (there are a few still left in that field) who will not be fooled by his client. I strongly believe in our justice system as set out by the Constitution.

Somehow we ended up with Amazon's streaming service. It's amazing how many terribly bad shows they offer. We tried half a dozen and quit each after five minutes. I was excited to see that they offered CRACKER and was looking forward to it; it turns out it was the failed American version starring Robert Pastorelli (Murphy Brown's Elwood). No charm and no redeeming values. Ptah! I'm grateful because all this dreck makes me appreciate the good stuff so much more.

Maybe this week I'll do some Christmas shopping. Or maybe I'll wait until the last moment.

pattinase (abbott) said...

THE MARVELOUS MS. MAISEL was fun, Jerry. BOSCH is good. You have to hunt them down. They do not have a user friendly presentation. Also liked MOZART IN THE JUNGLE well enough. And you can rent at reasonable prices almost any movie.

George said...

I enjoyed STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI with an enthusiastic audience. The Force is certainly with this movie since it took in over $450 million over the weekend!

Diane and I made some Christmas cookies while the Buffalo Bills defeated the Miami Dolphins in a chilly game yesterday. The Bills now have a 47% chance of making the Playoffs. But, I think the Baltimore Ravens will edge the Bills out of the final Wild Card slot.

Plenty of good movies are opening up this week. Now, to find time to see them with all the Holiday hoopla!

Jeff Meyerson said...

I stupidly forgot that Blogger - which has ignored my emails, by the way - suddenly hates me and keeps deleting all my posts from the computer. For whatever reason, I can post from the phone. So you can probably find my original post wherever it is.

Steve Oerkfitz said...

Love the warmer weather this week. In the 40's. Also loved Godless. Jeff Daniels was terrific.Liked Dark which got me hooked on a song playing at the end of the last episodic called A Quiet Life by Blixa Bargeld, the best Leonard Cohen song not written by Leonard Cohen. Also got hooked on a song by Caroline and the Queens called Tilted. It was used on the show Better Things- Both tracks can be seen and heard on You Tube.
Liked the movie Disaster Artist. Looking forward to The Shape of Water which hasn't opened here yet.
Reading the Man with the Crooked Hat by Harry Dolan-a local writer. Just read a passage where he met with someone at a place in Royal Oak-the same place I met Patti a couple months ago. Read a lot of good books lately-the new Peter May, Peter Lovesey, Garry Disher and Timothy Hallinan.
Doing Christmas on Saturday, 2 days early to work around work schedules. One of my daughters volunteers to work on holidays for the double time. I have 2 daughters, a son and 10 grandkids.

Steve Oerkfitz said...

Jerry-some good shows on Amazon-Bosch, The Man in the High Castle, Sneaky Pete. Also coming up on Netflix, Peaky Blinders (the 4th season on the 21st). And a new season of Black Mirror soon after. Also looking forward to Berlin Babylon I believe in January.

pattinase (abbott) said...

We really like THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL. I'm finding GODLESS uneven, though the acting is excellent. You might not recognize Whitey, the deputy, as Sam, the little boy in LOVE ACTUALLY. He's very good, though I'm finding his subplot not so interesting. Finished the first season of THE CROWN, and Philip is a pretty unsympathetic character. We're nearing the end of LONGMIRE (sad, but his blind spot about A Martinez is annoying) and STRANGER THINGS (they are finally about to bring El back to her friends).

I thought the tribute to Bill was wonderful and well deserved. Glad he appreciated it.

Otherwise, the best that I can say about this week (three days with snow, and it was cold) is that it's over, this week looks warmer, and we're one week closer to Florida.

pattinase (abbott) said...

That is Jeff above,

pattinase (abbott) said...

I kept thinking why is Whiety so familiar. I loved LONGMIRE. Especially the second half. Do I need any warmer clothes in Florida, Jeff.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Steve-we need to meet again after the New Year. Maybe you can just come here and meet my husband. I'll be in touch.

Rick Robinson said...

The house is pretty much all decorated for Christmas. My right eye surgery is Thursday, and then after some recovery I'll be able to see well from both eyes. I can hardly wait. Barbara made cookies yesterday, and the house smelled so good, and the cookies tasted good (though this morning's weight and glucose number were not good).

I still haven't wrapped Barbara's Christmas presents. Have to do that before Thursday!

pattinase (abbott) said...

I vote for the bag route. Although wrapping is much prettier.

Jeff Meyerson said...

Patti, haven't bothered to look at Florida weather yet. Last year it was mostly 80s and 70s. If we see a long-range forecast when we get there I'll let you know before you leave, but I would figure on warm weather. Of course, I'm familiar with the East Coast rather than where you are heading.

Al Tucher said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Todd Mason said...

The least I could do. Thanks to you for hosting it through FFB, and to Dave Lewis for shaking us out of shock to get the ball rolling. And to all the wonderful participants.