Still reading the Hailey Mills memoir, which is kind of annoying. Does everyone she meets have to be wonderful and brilliant. Although I keep reading it so it must have something going for it. I watched her in THE PARENT TRAP to see how it holds up and what holds up best is Brian Keith's interesting performance. Child actors today are a lot more natural than she was in the part. I am not sure if I ever saw another one of her movies, but I did see THE FLAME TREES OF THIKA on Masterpiece many years ago.
The Lions. Eek! Doesn't Detroit deserve one good football team in a lifetime.
So what's up with you?
28 comments:
I think the only reason Bergman Island was showing where it was is the lack of product right now. Normally it would have been showing at the Main Art which unfortuatly is no longer in business. The same goes for both Titane and Lamb. Both of which I saw at mainstream theaters.
Lamb is an Icelandic film that is ver odd. It is being pushed as a horror film but it isn't one. Not Sure I liked it very much. It was at least better than Titane which I thought a very unpleasant film. Also saw Old Henry on Amazon Prime. An average western made interesting by a very good lead performance by Tim Blake Nelson. Watched another Icelandic production on Netflix. Katla which I did enjoy. Also Curb Your Enthusiasm is back.
Read a Swedish crime novel by Tove Astewrdahl called We Know You Remember. Good. Not great. A short collection of stories by Lavie Tidhar called The Lunacy Commission which I liked a lot. Now reading Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara.
Turned the Lions game on during the 4th quarter and they were leading then they blew it. 0-7. The last time they had a great team I was 9 years old.
Bleak weather. Didn't leave the apartment all weekend. Can't wait until next May.
Things have been very quiet here. I have the gum treatment scheduled for tomorrow and I'm not looking forward to it, then my biopsy nest week. In between the two is my 75th birthday. Yay, me. Kitty's numbers have changed significantly so she is still undergoing Chemo light once a month, plus she's developed arthritis in her foot which makes walking difficult.
despite her ills she remains amazingly upbeat and forever lovely. I'm a lucky guy.
Watched DUNE and liked it a lot. Hoping they will film Part II soon. (I have my fingers crossed for that one.) Catching up on BIG SKY, Y THE LAST MAN, LA BREA, among others, as well as the Season 3 finale of TITANS. Really enjoying BIG SKY, while Y has its moments. We've also been watching episodes of SEA OF SOULS, a series about paranormal investigators (definitely not your GHOST HUNTERS type, but serious academic) at a Glasgow university. Bill Paterson does a great job as the lead investigator. We watch this one with captions because it's a hoot to see how the captioner translates the Scottish dialect (Hint: not well).
Still reading short stories but am more and ore concentrating on Donald A. Wollheim's Best of the Year science fiction series -- he edited 26 of them and I've 18 so far. The stories are ot what I would call the best, but they are all pretty good and quite readable. I hope to be getting to Grady Hendrix's THE SOUTHERN BOOK CLUB'S GUIDE TO SLAYING VAMPIRES this week -- see George's post today for his view on it.
Weather has been pretty good. Halloween's a-coming, with Thanksgiving not very far off. Life is good and I have a lot to be thankful of every day.
Have a fantastic week, Patti.
Interesting about Hayley Mills, Patti. When my daughter was young, we saw her in reruns of a TV show called Good Morning, Miss Bliss. It was odd to see the actress I'd known from The Parent Trap and Pollyanna as an adult.
GOOD MORNING, MISS BLISS unfortunately was retooled as SAVED BY THE BELL, and apparently the inanity was amped up (I've never seen more than a few minutes of SAVED, and not any of BLISS).
Western NY is flooded with rain. It's raining as I write this and five of the next seven days have the RAIN SYMBOL on Diane's weather app.
Saw DUNE but since it's only about 1/3 of the novel I can't make any definitive judgement. The desert scenes are eye-popping!
We had our house power-washed, our windows cleaned, and our gutters emptied of our neighbor's tree leaves. We're getting ready to hunker down for the Winter. Temps are now more Normal: 50s in the day and near 30s at night.
We also visited Diane's sister in Ohio--probably our last driving trip of 2021. We don't travel in the Winter. Stay safe!
Mowed the lawn on Sunday afternoon, after an unusually physical couple of weeks, then finally got to fry my eyes on a mostly-"premium"-cable fest:
COLUMBO interspersed with
a bit of SIMPSONS Treehouse of Horror from last year and bits of 60 MINUTES and IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN as repeated on the PBS station WHYY...reminded me of my childhood wondering why Linus Van Pelt had created a GP cult for himself. Came in a fever dream? Also, my also wondering back when who would actually give a child a rock even as a Trick? These were the burning questions I'd still like answers for.
the new SIMPSONS
somewhat less frivolous than usual THE CIRCUS; Alex Wagner still refusing to ask people the questions that might unsettle them and no one bothering to ask why Democrats don't have more support than they do. (Hint: not actually working for their voters, so much as not as much against them as the GOP, except for Man-chin and Sinema and too often some of the others, too often.)
HIGHTOWN. Scott Wolven, in the writer's room for this series, co-authored the typically good episode.
AMERICAN RUST: the best episode so far...leisurely is being shaken off, as the novel adaptation has set enough premises in motion, and the last two episodes have been rather propulsive as they go along.
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: still a better version of SEINFELD, with the characters as jerks rather than sociopaths
LAST WEEK TONIGHT: pretty good episode, mostly focused on the current perplex, as in the constant perplex, faced by Taiwan in the face of China's expansionist fascism taking on a new desperate flavor. As Alice is first gen American Born Taiwanese, and her parents still have mostly estranged family back on Formosa, it strikes a little closer to nerve centers than it might even otherwise.
And a THE GOOD WIFE repeat and off to bed.
Surprising film of the week: LONG WEEKEND, a modestly-budgeted sf romance film with a reasonably charming couple at its center, and a nice hand with its various plot turns. If you liked SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED, you might well like this one, as well.
Welcome return to series television: Jena Friedman, with her IN/DEFENSIBLE exploration of bad practice of defense attorneys and "expert witnesses" in cases of murdered women (and, for that matter, Moscone and Milk in San Francisco)...under the rubric of Sundance's Thursday night TRUE CRIME STORY slot. https://youtu.be/VAOhQqDvAtQ
A furnace pipe coming from the roof is leaking. Hope this rain lets us. Place can't fix it till Wed. Forgot about CURB's return. Will watch.
Yikes, Patti. Your house seems as problematic as this one...Alice's and latterly my investment might just manage to keep this one livable. How old is yours, these days? I think the big storm center you have is expected to move NEterly--look out, George, I think it might miss us near Philadelphia...
My house was built in 1956. I think the mid-century modern houses are fragile because they put style ahead of durability. I do have to move.
A nice football weekend for me as the local high school, U of Illinois, U of Wisconsin and Green Bay all had victories.
Todd, I still await Scott Wolven's printed work. A few years ago there was a pre-pub notice for a novel that never showed.
I was able to visit family in IL as my brother and sister-in-law were in town. This was a last minute trip for my brother, so my wife was unable to attend because of work. But, the dog came along and was as antsy as usual when away from home. Boy #2 was moderately communicative with family and he took great interest in messing around with the grandfather clock and trying to get it working.
My brother was retired for 4-5 years from his high falutin'-computer-tech-engineering-Seattle job but was wooed back to work on a different project. He's been working to establish a grad student fellowship in my father's name at IL. I've put zero assistance towards the project and it nears completion. I figure I am close enough that I can at least visit the awardees, congratulate them in person, give them a pat on the back, and tell them "Don't let the pressure get to you. Now, don't screw up and embarrass everyone." I specialize in positive messaging.
I already lost this post once when the damn computer froze. Crap.
Anyway, we are back from the city, from our (one year) belated 50th Anniversary weekend. We stayed at the Marriott Marquis (upgraded room), had a nice buffet breakfast in the M Lounge both days. Saturday night we took the ferry to Staten Island to see The Mavericks - terrific concert, though sadly the place was only half full. I'm sure Covid had something to do with that. Everyone had to provide vaccination proof ad a photo ID to get in. We had nice, close in seats on the side of the stage.
Yesterday it was the matinee of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, now reopened with Jeff Daniels and Celia Bolger-Keenan (who won a Tony) back from the original cast. Again, everyone had to show vaccination proof and a photo ID, as well as having to keep their masks on the entire time, good as the place was full. And yes, they checked frequently. Good (if long) show, and yes, Aaron Sorkin did take some liberties, such as having the three children played by adult actors, which was odd.
Jackie hurt her leg a little walking up the hill in Staten Island, then fell down the last step coming from the mezzanine in the dark after the show yesterday. She's mostly OK.
I better post this before it freezes again.
I give up. I just went throiugh a list of 15-20 shows we are currently watching (or have jus finished) and the damn laptop froze before I could post it.
Steve: TRAPPED was the Icelandic series before KATLA you shoudl check out on Netflix. A third series is coming soon.
As for Hayley Mills, Patti, she was in several series of the Africa-set WILD AT HEART in more recent years.
Gerard-your wife seems to work every weekend while the boys have fun. She needs a new job. Jeff-glad you had such a terrific weekend. Hope Jackie is okay. Now I am wondering if I saw Trapped or just Katla.
It is raining here today finally. It is normal for Santa Barbara not to get rain until October or November even, but with everyone else getting a lot of rain, now it is our turn to get a little. It means a day that the are not working on the pavers for the driveway, though, so more delay.
Right now I am reading FETE FATALE by Robert Barnard. I enjoyed the other book I read by him this month so much, I was motivated to read this one that I just picked up at the book sale. And it is very good, light and humorous.
Not much else going on. Since the car is out of the garage for probably at least another week, I am going through some boxes of books stored there. Amazing what you find in boxes you haven't opened for years. And doing some book cataloging.
TRAPPED was at the other end of Iceland, though it was hard to tell as both were snow-related. In TRAPPED the police chief was this big heavy guy, divorced (his ex-wife had a new husband, I think). A former townsman's body is retrieved by fishermen and he has to solve the killing. In series two he has moved to Reykjavik (where his ex lives) and his former assistant is in charge,
Shows we are watching:
Starting with Netflix -
Squid Game (South Korea)
Maid
Seinfeld
Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories
Schitt's Creek
Ragnarok (Norway)
Money Heist (Spain) (waiting for the last 5 episodes)
Showtime -
The End (Australia)
Back to Life (England)
Wakefield (Australia)
American Rust
Amazon/Acorn/Britbox/PBS Masterpiece/MHz Choice -
finished Professor T and Seaside Hotel (until the new series is ready)
Thou Shalt Not Kill (Italy)
Blood (Northern Ireland)
Before We Die (Sweden)
Insp. Montalbano (Sicily)
PBS:
Call the Midwife
Baptiste
HBO:
catching up on Game of Thrones
I'm sure I've missed a few.
I don't have SHOWTIME. What do you think of Squid Game?
I watched Squid Game and liked it a lot. It is very violent so it is not for everyone. The 6th and 7th episodes were extremely intense.
Gerald--have you read Wolven's short story collection, or saw the stories as they came out?
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Controlled-Burn/Scott-Wolven/9780743260121
One I'd not been engaging with, my plate being pretty full of video (and perhaps Too Much crime drama for my good cheer's sake), but have picked up on with the current, fourth season, is THE SINNER (on USA, and therefore presumably on Hulu and definitely Peacock).
Got our first dump of thunderstorm from the edge of the big stormfront, still going to miss us mostly, I'm hoping. NY still not likely to be so lucky.
I'm probably going to break down again and get Paramount Plus, so as to catch up with THE GOOD FIGHT and whatever else they have I might like. But cable keeps dishing them out, and broadcast is good for at least the occasionally pleasant thing, such as CBS's US version of GHOSTS (amiable, suspect the UK version is better, will check it soon), the PBS nonfiction series, Colbert and Meyers in late night (along with Noah on cable) and occasional tagging in on repeats (such as THE GOOD WIFE on StartTV, DA VINCI'S INQUEST on RetroTV, and rewatching the whole series of HILL STREET BLUES and CAGNEY AND LACEY over the last year on H&I and Start...pity H&I has dumped NUMB3RS and HSB again, in favor of relative trash and HOUSE repeats, which are depressing, mostly good but all over cable...but H&I is probably the only broadcast network running it).
We like it a lot too.
The above comment was about SQUID GAME, if that wasn't clear.
I first ran across Wolven in a magazine. I have a copy of CONTROLLED BURN somewhere in the house.
My grandson like Squid so I guess I will give it a try. Jeff/Steve, did you watch the dubbed version?
I missed yesterday, so no one will see this, but my gosh how does Jeff have a minute with all the stuff he watches????? The rest of you too. We did watch some Dodgers until they lost. Don't care about the series, so baseball is over for a year. Today is my birthday, cats to the vet for checks and nail trim, then leaf raking as the high winds stripped the trees of most of the beautiful Fall color. Too bad, it was pretty. Read Mercy Creek, The Queen's Gambit and now The Daughter of Time, all good.
So nice to see the pair of Varied Finches that come each Fall. Such beautiful birds!
Happy birthday, Rick. My birthday is in a week and a half. I don't see how Jeff can watch all those shows either. We have about 6 to 8 shows that we rotate through at a time. Some of those on disc, some on streaming.
Good to see that you are reading a lot and enjoying it.
Patti-I watched the subtitled version of Squid Game. The dubbed version wasn't very well done.
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