EVIL DOES NOT EXIST is by Ryusuke Hamaguchi does not provide any concrete endings to its story of corporation trying to build a glampground in a small rural town in Japan. It ends with a very ambiguous conclusion on two major plot points. I saw it at the Detroit Film Theater. His last film DRIVE MY CAR was an easier watch.
About to start reading HORSES (Geraldine Brooks) for my book group. Still searching for that perfect book I won't be able to put down. To that end, I keep downloading more and more books.
Watching OUTER RANGE and the usual bunch (Friday Night Dinner, Northern Exposure, The Cleaner) I have dumped so many streaming channels, I don't have much to watch right now.
Went to a lecture on the history of Hamas by a reformed Rabbi and boy, did that leave me more confused than ever.
So what's up with you?
16 comments:
Was just reading about the origins of Hamas myself. What left you more confused? (She/He was a Reform rabbi, I gather...rather than one who quit rabbinical work for something else?)
Still trying to beat the odd sleeping hours that might be the result of several different things. Appts. with medicos for me and the younger cat coming up.
Looked at some of the episodes of 100 CENTRE STREET yesterday morning, one of the good (particularly for Alan Arkin) series to briefly pop up in the '90s/00s, and certainly one of the better series ever to be offered by A&E.
I suspect I'm not just fooling myself when I foresee Drumpf's house of marked cards finally tumbling in on him, long overdue, but that the US neofascists he has energized remaining problematic for some years to come...given how viciously successful hie comrades are getting to be in too much of the world.
And, a happy Decoration Day!
School ended last week and now it's time for a long summer. Jack is a rising 7th grader and Christina is a sorta rising 3rd grader(if she is assigned to her current deaf student; she is never told until the day before school starts in the fall). We're trying Jack out on Muay Thai martial arts boxing two mornings a week, hoping he likes it. He seems to like his current karate classes.
Erin managed to sell her beat-to-crap car in one day, and to buy a new(er) car within two days. She's very happy.
Escambia county has asked locals not to go to the beach over Memorial Day weekend. Their traffic projections show that traffic will be very high, exceeding the parking capabilities of Pensacola Beach and that the traffic light system will only add to the problem. Not to be cowed, we headed to the beach EARLY yesterday and avoided the traffic (and found a parking spot). A beautiful, relaxing morning with warm, occasionally gusting, breezes. A great way to center ourselves for the coming week. (We did have to dodge a few beach umbrellas that were taken by the wind, and we got to watch a couple desperately trying to pitch a beach awning for over half an hour.) Yesterday afternoon, we were over at Jessie's admiring her new fence and back yard, and watching the dogs play. Mark spent quality time with Amy's shedding snake and I spent most of the time with Amy's dog, Macaroni Bad Girl, sleeping on my lap.
I am on animal duty this coming weekend as Christina and the family go to Georgia for a belated birthday getaway. My only concern is Willow, the very aged cat who will turn 19 in a couple of weeks. If she dies on my watch I am going to be upset.
Mark's zoo tends to categorize animals by their location. They recently moved Mark's macaw friend Louise and now she is the responsibility of the "small mammal" people. Because Louise is both a nervous and a feisty bird, the small mammal people keep calling on Mark to help take care of Louise.
Watching AFTER THE FLOOD and OUTER RANGE. Have begun binging on A TOUCH OF FROST, the David Jason series that ran from 1992 to 2010. That should keep me busy for a while.
I only finished one book this week: the Doc Savage adventure THE BLACK SPOT by Laurence Donovan writing as Kenneth Robeson. I am now halfway through the Pronzini/Muller collection of mystery reviews 1001 MIDMIGHTS, which I have been dipping into every now and then; I've just finished the Ks and now am into "Ed Lacy." I've also been dipping into Peter Enfantino's two books about the "lower-tier" mystery digests of the 50s and 60s and which review 933 individual short stories. As with the Pronzini/muller, it's best to read only a little at a time. I also read a number of space opera novelettes, mystery stories, and some of Erle Stanley Gardner's Bob Zan stories.
Now that we have high speed fiber optics, my computer has been going off-line several times an hour, go figure. Evidently, with the fiber optics, ATT is sending me a new phone with all the bells and whistles I don't need; it should be in tomorrow. Can't wait.
Have a great week, Patti! Give a thought to the fallen today, and every day. Take care.
That's the thing, Patti. There are so many streaming channels out there it's hard to decide which one(s) to keep or not. I hope you'll enjoy reading Horses.
Happy Memorial Day? Surely not.
Same old, same old. The weather has improved a lot (though today is cool and rainy). Jackie has been sick all week, basically a cold, but as usual with her, it lingers. Fortunately, for once I did not get sick too.
Listening to A History of Rock Music podcast and just listened to episode 86 - "LSD-35" by The Gamblers. Fascinating, as I knew nothing about this one, and it included people like Sandy Nelson, Jane & Dean, Bruce Johnston, Phil Spector, etc. I've been listening to two or three episodes a day for the most part.
We're enjoying NINA on PBS Masterpiece. Nina, like her husband, was going to be a doctor, but dropped out when their daughter got cancer. When she recovered, Nina went back to work - as a nurse. She divorced her husband when he cheated on her (he now has a much younger fiancee, though he clearly still has feelings for her ex), and is now working in the same Paris hospital as her husband.
We finished the first series of THE COMMANDMENTS, the Israeli show. Watched 4 episodes (there are 6) of the British AFTER THE FLOOD (Britbox). Really enjoying HACKS, though I know some critics don't like it as much as earlier series. Smart is great. I do roll my eyes (figuratively, at least) at COBRA. How was Robert Carlyle Prime Minister, and how did he pick so many backstabbers for his Cabinet?
Still reading about Theodore Roosevelt (just finishing two years - 1895-97 - as President of the Police Commission in New York), plus Philip K. Dick and Carol Shields short story collections.
The Mets are underachieving again, but the Yankees have done surprisingly well without their Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole (back in another month, possibly). The pitching has been really good, and with Juan Soto added to Aaron Judge (on a tear in May), they've been great. The Knicks had their best year in decades, though they were done in by injuries in the end, and the Rangers are in the Conference finals. I must admit that I no longer follow basketball or hockey much. I'm enjoying it now, as when football season starts, the Giants are going nowhere.
Let me know about AFTER THE FLOOD. I am paying for BRIT BOX but so far have watched nothing. I am glad Jerry's family takes advantage of the Pensacola Beach. It seems like lots of Floridians don't go to the beach very often.
The weird weather we are having has left me with a headache for two days and I am hoping it clears out today. Or maybe it's my brain malformation finally getting set to explode.
I know the doctor appointment's life well.
We were suckered into getting what look like commercial free streaming channels and they are all sneaking them in. And I don't think you can tape shows on those channels and avoid commercials.
The rain is falling hard in WESTERN NY right now. Any outdoor picnic plans just got washed away. Diane and I are staying inside and trying to get caught up on the hours and hours of DVRed TV programs.
I did see FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA at our local AMC Theater with a dozen other post-apocalyptic disaster fans. It was not as good as MAD MAX: FURY ROAD but it held my attention with incredible stunts! Of the dozen previews shown, only DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE looks promising.
I was down to only two books from the Library...and suddenly SIX books that I had requested suddenly came in.
Diane is already packing for our mid-June trip to Ohio. Stay safe!
Patti, AFTER THE FLOOD is OK but the main character's actions are annoying me. In the beginning she says that it is ILLEGAL to enter DNA into a commercial database, then - sure enough - she does it herself, knowing that it could get her fired from the police, just as she is starting detective training. But it's watchable, and, as always there are many familiar actors in it.
Also on Britbox:
Jonathan Creek
The Bay
Lewis
Morse
McDonald & Dodds
Scott & Bailey
Death in Paradise
Sunday we went to I Madonnari, a chalk painting festival at the Santa Barbara Mission. It goes over the three day Memorial Day weekend and we thought the middle day would be the best, with a good number of the paintings getting close to finished. We went early in the day and most of the paintings were no more than half done but sometimes that is interesting, because you can see the painting techniques. We are still having May Gray weather, with mostly overcast days, so no sunshine and pretty chilly while we were there. Which is better than too much sun for us. Other people complain about the weather.
We have started watching some new shows this week (new to us anyway), RESIDENT ALIEN and HARRY WILDE. We will continue both of them, at least for a while. Still watching MURDER SHE WROTE, NORTHERN EXPOSURE, CSI, and STAR TREK ENTERPRISE. I am enjoying ENTERPRISE much more than I expected to. We finished Season 1 of ELSBETH and continued the latest season of BEYOND PARADISE.
I finished THE KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY by John Scalzi and THE BOOK TOUR, a graphic novel by Andi Watson. THE BOOK TOUR is hard to describe. A man goes on a book tour with a suitcase of his books. The suitcase is stolen, he goes to book signing after book signing where no one turns up to see him. I liked it, the story and the art.
THE KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY was a fun science fiction book. It wasn't as compelling as the other books by Scalzi that I have read but I would not have missed it. It was published in 2022 and set at the beginning of the pandemic.
Glen is still reading KRAKATOA by Simon Winchester. He is getting close to finishing it and after that he is planning on reading a fiction book, DEATH OF A BUSYBODY by George Bellairs.
I just downloaded a book by Bellairs. I liked RESIDENT ALIEN. He was perfect in the part.
I saw all of those series the last time I had Britbox although there might be new seasons.
Got up this morning and could hardly walk. For some reason my blood pressure was low. Watched Outer Range all the way through. Stil watching The Veil, Dark Matter, The Sympathizer, The Jinx. Seeing the new Mad Max tomorrow or wednesday.
Reading Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin in book form, The One on kindle by Matthew Hughes.
Not doing anything for the holiday. Trying to raises my BP.
Steve, how alarming, I hope your low blood pressure problems are solved. Take care of yourself.
One thing about the last episode, particularly, of THE SYMPATHIZER...everyone in the world by now should know better than to use white subtitles, or even occasional pale yellow ones, against desaturated pale backgrounds. About a third of the heavily subtitled dialog in the series finale is difficult to read, for no good professional reason. Green subtitles, or even brown or black ones, would've worked better, or allowing those passages to be "redundantly" closed-captioned.
Well I have the opposite problem with BP. Especially white coat issues. Are you drinking enough water, STeve. My mother's was low and they usually blamed that.
You would think they would get both the sound and subs right by now. I often, even with hearing aid, miss dialogue because the incessant score is too loud.
I'm not surprised by sound and subtitle flubs. People learn the methods and then the new people have to relearn it all over. Lee Goldberg occasionally points out the errors made in color design for anyone with colorblindness.
I took a turn into junior fiction and listened to PIPPI LONGSTOCKING and INCORRIGIBLE CHILDREN OF ASHTON PLACE. I think I would have enjoyed Pippi more if I was an 8-year-old. I thought INCORRIGIBLE was better with it's Lemony Snicket style. The three children of the story are found in the woods and were raised by wolves. The gradually learn to speak but pepper their conversations with howls and "Woof" and "Aroo". The narrator does a splendid job with the hybrid wolf/human dialogue.
Boy #2 graduates this coming Sunday. I think we only have one relative visiting (my mother) unless we get a surprise visit. He also refused a reception party. The Monday graduation Boy #2 has to take placement exams at UW-Madison for math and English. The kid gets scores of 5 on his AP exams but the school has their way of doing things.
Boy #1 will arrive the day of graduation. Boy #1 is generally interested and capable at fixing things. My wife says she does not want him to visit for her to say, "Quentin, you should fix this thing while you're here."
I finally finished the tenth and last season of BLACKLIST last week. Rather than take on something brand new I am rewatching a few seasons of ARCHER on Netflix.
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