Really liked LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON renting on Amazon for $3. I have seen several movies by this director (Hirokazu Koreeda), all featuring children and liked them all. Also watched THE PIANO TEACHER (Haneke), which was a bit too erotic for me. Huppert is always good though.
Watching the ARE MURDERS on Netflix. (Set in Sweden)It's not as good as I had hoped from the review. I guess I have seen too many of these murders in a small, snowy Scandinavian town series.
Starting my next book club book, MARTYR by Kaveh Aktar. Still making my way through the Hollinghurst book too. I am alternately interested and not so much in it.
I am going to post an empty post for the next three weeks so I can hear what you are doing and you can communicate with each other.
How about this week?
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We liked ARE MURDERS but agree it was good rather than great. I liked that it was 3 short chapters. We will probably watching the second (2 part) story this week. Since we're watching the Swedish FALLEN at the same time, it is easy to get confused about what happened in which story, which detective is which, etc. But we still find both worth watching. (ARE is on Netflix, by the way.). We also added the French CASSANDRE, which started in 2015 and is still running there, though it just reached us (via MHz Choice) now. Florence Cassandre is a recently promoted top cop in Paris who chooses a transfer to the Alpine area of Annecy when her troubled teenage son is sent to a sort of reform school there after robbing a store with a friend (to get Mom's attention, perhaps, after her divorce). Of course, when she gets there she usurps the position supposed to go to Pascal Roche, son of the former Chief (who recently died in an accident we immediately guess was not an accident) and the prickly (to say the least) local Prosecutor. The team is actually quite good; it's Cassandre who is obnoxious the first (90 minute) episode, but this one looks worth watching, with gorgeous hang-gliding scenery.
Sorry about your cold weather - they had more snow in New York over the weekend, before it turned to rain - but we are welcoming the return of cooler (low to mid-70s) temperatures here after some excessive heat (86 yesterday) and humidity that was a little warm for mid-February. I'm sure you will enjoy the Florida warmth. (I see it is pretty overcast here this morning.)
We went to Jackie's favorite Japanese buffet on Friday (Valentine's Day) and will be going to the local Brazilian steakhouse this Friday. Yesterday, my cousin and his wife were in our area buying something, so we met them for a nice late lunch and dessert. Larry is actually my mother's first cousin, though he is my brother's age, exactly a year younger than me. We grew up across the street from them when we moved to Brooklyn when I was 9.
Since we discovered we can get ebooks from the Palm Beach County Library on the Cloud Library, a lot more books have become available to us. It is, generally speaking, a LOT faster to get books from them than it is to wait for the Brooklyn Public Library. "Real" books are faster too. I read the latest Jo Callaghan and Stephen Spotswood books, and Jackie read a J. R. Ward and is reading the new J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts) now.
Still watching ALL CREATURES and ASURA and THE NIGHT AGENT, among the rest. Jackie is looking forward to the DeNiro series on Thursday.
Stay safe out there and don't get caught up in any ICE sweeps!
The weatherman lied about this weekend, saying that it would be very cold with heavy rains all weekend. It was warm and calm with clear skies all weekend. then this morning, the temperature dropped about 700 degrees, although the skies are still cloudless. I blame the misinformation about the weather on DOGE and its efforts to gut NOAA. We live in interesting times and the Kennedy Center for the Arts will soon announce a residency for Kid Rock, with eight shows a week (special guest Lee Greenwood).
Blood test tomorrow in preparation for a quickie follow-up doctor visit on
Thursday. Meanwhile, I've been trying for a week to reach mu podiatrist for an appointment with no luck. Turns out a Cat 1 tornado hit the street where his office is located (buildings destroyed, several injuries), so that may have something to do with it.
Mark has been sending us stupid penguin videos and we love them almost as much as we love Mark. At age 24, he is getting this adulting thing down pat. He learned how to endorse a check this week (with the help of Google). Christina and Jessie had their monthly Sister Day yesterday, and rather than go out and spend money, they opted for a quiet day watching movies on TV; do some crafting, relax, and eat a lot of yummy food. Since they were at Jessie's house, there was a lot of pet loving also involved. Erin and Trey went to Pensacola's Paw-di Gras Saturday -- lots of cute puppies. Someone brought in kazoos for Christina's third grade class on Valentine's Day, so Christina taught the kids how to play them. Soon the room was filled with 17 kids making joyful, loud, and hellacious kazoo music -- Christina's good deed for the day. I wore my anti-Trump tee shirt while shopping on Valentine's Day and did not get mugged -- a simple win in MAGA-land.
On television, it was just the last night comics (minus Colbert, who had the week off) and another episode of FATHER BROWN. The good news is that HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU started a new season.
A lot of reading this week. Six collections by Joe R. Lansdale (BLOOD IN THE GEARS, THINGS GET UGLY: THE BEST CRIME STORIES OF JOE R. LANSDALEM COSMIC INTERRUPTIONS, IN THE MAD MOUNTAINS GOTHIC WOUNDS, and THE EVENTS CONCERNIG, with some stories duplicated) and the separately published story BULLETS AND FIRE. Also, OUTLAW SHERIFF ( a 1948 pulp western from Murray Leinster), THE LOST GET-BACK BOOGIE (an early James Lee Burke novel and my FFB), MS. Tree: THE COLD DISH (the third in the collected series) by Max Allan Collins & Terry Beatty, A collection of 1930s jungle adventure stories by Murray Leinster (THE TRAIL OF BLOOD AND OTHER ADVENTURE STORIES), THE OXFORD BOOK OF VICTORIAN GHOST STORIES (apa, VICTORIAN GHOST STORIES: AN OXFORD ANTHOLOGY) edited by Michael Cox & R. A. Gilbert, and three graphioc novels -- TRESE 1: MURDER ON BALETTE DRIVE AND TRESE 2: UNREPOTED MURDER by Budjette Tom (with a Filipino occult detective), and Merdith Moriaty's Eisner-winning THIRD SHIFT SOIETY (the first season of a web comic featuring another occult detective) -- all three GNs excellent.
Have a great Not My President's Day today, Patti. Stay safe. Stay warm.
Jerry, Jackie wants to know, can Mark sign his name in cursive?
As a former third grade teacher, she was not fond of a whole class playing kazoo or flutophone - "enough to break your eardrums." I disagree, but then, I like bagpipes too.
Jeff and Jackie, yes, he can. He may at times seem ill-equipped to be an adult but he's no dummy. Kazoos are meant to break eardrums and to give little kids a lot of pleasure and pride. I, too, like bagpipes, but not as much as Kitty did.
And I remember Kitty spending an enormous amount of time with our oldest granddaughter, making sure she learned cursive by having her write out lyrics to Leonard Cohen songs. Is there a better way to learn?
I learned how to write a check via google as well as many other things. I would not have survived without you tube and google. I wonder if Kevin knows how to write in cursive. Because I have the PBS app I finished ALL CREATURES early. I didn't know I was watching the last one until I did. I wish Call the Midwives made me happy instead of sad because I like a show that does.
I went to the Japanese Buffet with you last year I think. Certainly the most generous one I have ever seen.
16 degrees here and icy streets and sidewalks because it doesn't get warm enough to melt it.
It really is a difficult time right now, Patti. I think that's why we need to stay in contact, be there for each other, and support one another.
-5 this morning when I drove to work. I should have walked but it is Monday and I was moving slow.
Jerry mentioned the Kennedy Center for the Arts. I've read that several performers have cancelled rather than deal with the orange buffoon's recent takeover. I looked at the website and John Oliver is still listed as an upcoming act. If they keep him on the bill I hope he delivers a blistering set about the current administration.
HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU is back with new weekly episodes. I catch the replays on Netflix or HBO or some other streaming service.
Listened to audio of PEOPLE WHO WALK IN DARKNESS BY Stuart M Kaminsky. Good story but I had trouble following which character was which as I would mix up the Russian names. Now listening to Steve Hamilton's NIGHT WORK. I've not read one of his books in quite a while.
My wife and I go to U of WI tomorrow for Boy #2's concert band performance. He was moved over from the orchestra where he spent the first semester and is now the only bass player.
The Montreal Biodome used to have live webcams of the penguin exhibit back in 2000 when webcams were exciting and new. Looks like the cam is no longer there.
I must be blotting the news out better lately, because the political stuff in the last week hasn't bothered me so much. Or maybe I just have to go numb about it sometimes. It has gotten colder here lately too, but our cold is when the highs are in the 50s, or low 60s. We have gotten some rain off and on. Not enough, but better than nothing.
Our standard shows that we are watching right now are THE MENTALIST, THE ORVILLE, MURDER SHE WROTE (Season 7 and 5 more to go), CSI (Season 15 and almost done), ELEMENTARY, NUMB3RS, plus rewatching old DEATH IN PARADISE episodes.
I finished reading FALL FROM GRACE by L.R. Wright, set on the Sunshine Coast in Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada. A great read as usual, and a nice length. Then I read THE LITTLE OLD LADY WHO BROKE ALL THE RULES by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg, a Swedish author. That one is kind of a comedy / heist / romance all mixed into one. Nearly 400 pages. The main characters are all about 80 years old and living in a retirement home that is going downhill. They decide to carry out some robberies, sort of a Robin Hood scheme to give money to the poor. The romance is very low key. I stuck with it although it required suspending my disbelief a lot. It was published in 2012 in Sweden, then a few years later in the UK and the US, but this was the first I had heard of it. It was an interesting picture of Sweden. There are three more books in the series that have been translated to English; I am not sure if I want to read those or not.
Glen is still reading UNDER ALIEN SKIES: A SIGHTSEER'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE by Philip Plait, a nonfiction book that is described as "an immersive adventure through the cosmos." He added a second book recently: THIS PLACE OF SILENCE: OHIO'S CEMETERIES AND BURIAL GROUNDS. Glen is from Ohio, grew up in Dayton. And he has always liked visiting cemeteries. He is enjoying the book. A lot of nice photos, and the text is mostly in the photo captions. As a result of reading this book, he has found three more books about rural cemeteries which he will get eventually.
28 below zero this morning here in Winnipeg. The Northern Manitoba Trappers' Festival was held in my old hometown of The Pas from Thursday to Sunday in those weather conditions. When I was young, the world championship dog race was run for 200 miles over four days. Now it's much shorter. They still hold King and Queen Trapper competitions. I remember one year when we were in high school, our team played a game of soccer in very cold conditions against a Native team as a Festival highlight. Perhaps it was appropriate that I read an Icelandic mystery titled Whiteout by Ragnar Jonasson over the weekend. The setting was a remote area in the north with storyline taking place just before Christmas. A very bleak read.
Had to look it up, Kent,and it is Fahrenheit. Wow. Megan might be filming RED HARVEST in Winnipeg. Hope it's in the summer. Yikes.
We visited cemeteries in the past and did rubbings in one in Concord. A guy, beer can in hand and sitting on a grave, told us we were soul-stealing. I wish I had held onto them but the paper was so frail.
Western NY is headed for -20 degrees tonight. One county has issued a driving ban because of the 50 mph winds blowing the snow around creating Whiteout conditions. We're hunkered down and hoping the temps get warmer later this week.
Watched THE GORGE on Apple TV+ and enjoyed it. My review will be up on my blog tomorrow. If HALLMARK made a horror movie, THE GORGE would be it.
Stay safe!
Jerry, Glen has a copy of THE OXFORD BOOK OF VICTORIAN GHOST STORIES edited by Michael Cox & R. A. Gilbert, so I will try some stories from it some time. I have to get over my aversion to ghost stories, since I am sure there are some I would enjoy. He also has several other similar anthologies on the same shelf which I will check into.
I will never get over my amazement that you can read so much in a week.
Yikes! Minus 6, minus 20, minus 28! Wow. South Florida really is in another world. We were in the upper 60s this morning and it is a "cool" 73 here now. We've been in the 80s for over a week ending yesterday and the upper 70s before that, Perfect weather for us. This is the place to spend the winter.
People talk about cold weather here and say, "It's Wisconsin." Yeah, it's Southern Wisconsin, we're not so bad. Up north is even colder. And Canada, evidenced by Kent's comment, is another world.
Sometimes I think this country is just too big for different regions to understand other ones. Will look for THE GORGE.
I typed THE GEORGE first time. Ha!
You probably see HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU (US) on Max, which happily dumps the CNN commercials. Interesting that no one's mentioned LAST WEEK TONIGHT/John Oliver also had his season premiere this past weekend, making it a full one for this kind of thing...and AFTER MIDNIGHT will be back at it tomorrow night on CBS. Small favors, having at least Colbert and Tomlinson along with Wood, Jr. and Oliver working for us while waiting for the Meyers and Kimmel and DAILY SHOW crew to get back from vacation.
Well, when CSI's done, there is CSI: LAS VEGAS, which did a pretty good job of being a continuation. As you might recall, I'm fond of NUMB3RS and also enjoyed ELEMENTARY and usually DEATH IN PARADISE. Likewise what I saw of THE ORVILLE and what little I recall of THE MENTALIST.
Consider Russia and China and Canada thus...and Russia (Putin) still thinks they deserve more territory. What I found funny was how cold the mid-60s could feel on a winter morning in Kailua, HI, since the default was nearly 80, nearly always. The geckos didn't love it, either. Poor cold-blooded dears.
Depending on which, Could Be Terrifying!
I recently read a horror short story set in Florida involving geckos. The plot involved the lizards dropping out of trees when the temperature dropped too low.
I've not yet seen the latest LAST WEEK TONIGHT because I'm avoiding any bad news Oliver will highlight.
Todd, we plan to do CSI: New York when we finish CSI. We did enjoy the first season of CSI: Vegas but there seemed to be too much personal angst in the next two seasons. Although we would have continued watching if they had not canceled it. I do remember that you like NUMB3RS, ELEMENTARY AND MENTALIST. I am grateful that I cannot remember most of the plots of those. With NUMB3RS we are not even sure how many seasons we watched originally.
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