Still watching DAY OF THE JACKAL, TASK, DR BLAKE MYSTERIES, PLATONIC.
I saw SPLITSVILLE with one other patron. It had the funniest, longest fight scene in memory. I came home and watched THE CLIMB, which the two writers/actors had done earlier and although it was funny, too, SPLITSVILLE was much better.
I am going to see MAN OF LA MANCHA today. From Friday to Monday I will be in D.C. so I will just leave a place to post on Monday. (It was an excellent production for community theater)
Reading DREAM HOTEL by Laila Lalami for one book group and BLACK CAKE (Wilkerson) for the other.
What about you?
Enjoy the DC visit.. I haven't been in the area since the last time my folks lived in Fairfax, in 2013 or so.
ReplyDeleteHave fun. We used to go to D.C. regularly, but while we were discussing our Fearless Leader's spending of taxpayer money to put up Big Brother-like pictures of himself, Jackie said she would not go back until he's gone.
ReplyDeleteAnother quiet week here. Wednesday was Jackie's birthday and we went out to our favorite Italian restaurant, then followed it up with Italian pastries for dessert.
We're holding off on TASK (as well as UNFORGOTTEN) until all of the episodes are available. Instead, we're watching four or five hours (when I say it that way it seems like a lot) of our usual shows every night. Saturday night is currently THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW (I do enjoy an occasional cooking show), SILENT WITNESS (up to series 17 of 28, to date) and NEW TRICKS (second go-around), but we also watch other British shows. Jackie watched the Swedish AGENT HAMILTON in the afternoons the last couple of weeks. Still watching THE BUREAU and THE ART OF CRIME (both French) and THE BASTARDS OF PIZZOFALCONE (Italy) and THE SOMMERDAHL MYSTERIES (Denmark).
We decided to stop LYNLEY after the first episode and go back and revisit the original INSPECTOR LYNLEY MYSTERIES, most of which we didn't see the first time. This started in 2001 and covered the 11 books written up to that time, before going on to original stories. The current LYNLEY series has done four of the later books so far.
Sadly, we missed seeing Richard Kiley, but we did see MAN OF LA MANCHA when we were dating, with my parents and grandmother, in June of 1968.
ReplyDeleteI saw the Richard Kiley version, the first Broadway show for me. Took train up from New Brunswick. More later exercise class now.
DeleteWhile you are in DC, would you mind stopping by the White House and telling el presidente that I've had enough?
ReplyDeleteA semi-quiet week with most of the action taking pace out of state. Mark left Albuquerque for a one-week visit here to drop off some of his stuff, as well as favorite snakes Lucy and Dana, prior to his final move in October. He made it almost as far as Dallas when the car's radiator blew. Parts had to be ordered for the repair, forcing him to spend an extra two days in the Lone Star State. Some $820 later (not counting lodging and food expenses) he was on his way again. He managed to make it as far as Arcadia, Louisiana, Friday morning before the car died again. (Expensive repairs from an unknown garage while on a cross-country trip tend to be iffy.) Another unknown garage, once again parts would have to be ordered. Christina left work early, got Jack out of school, and the two drove the seven hours to Louisiana to rescue Mark. They had a lot of choices, none of them good. She fonally decided to have the garage repair the car and hold onto it for a week, when she and Walt (who is due back here on Friday from a two-week business trip) drive out and limp Mark's car back to Florida. They figure out what to do with it then. Meanwhile, Mark will need a car to get back to New Mexico so Christina will give him her car for a month. This means Christina will take my car for work, picking Jack up from school. doctor's appointments. errands, and the like.
While Christina and Jack were traipsing throughout the northern deep-South, I had animal duty -- which is not very onerous. Erin stopped by in the evening and the next morning to help feed NewerCat Rose (who has a special concoction to stimulate her appetite). The dogs and Sage the cat were easy,. but the reptiles were of concern. Neither Ben (the bearded dragon) nor Sebastian (the tortoise) have been eating; both had been very listless for days and we feared they may be about to die. Sebastian would not move at all and we had to pick him up to see if there were any signs of life (there were, barely).
Christina, Mark, Lucy, Dana, and Jack rolled in late Saturday afternoon. Two hours after Mark was home, Sebastian started moving around and eating again. Mark then fed Sebastian some meal worms; the danged lizard ate three of them for Mark (he had not eaten anything for us for over a week). We all knew Mark was the animal whisperer, but wow!
Our weeklong plans to celebrate Mark have been curtailed by automotive problems, but we are going out to dinner tonight to wish him bon voyage on his trip back to New Mexico tomorrow morning.
Over the next few week, Christina and Walt will be traveling, first to Louisiana to pick up Mark's car, the to Virginia to move his folks back here, then to New Mexico to get the rest of Mark's stuff. Mark is scheduled to start his new job in late October, but he may still her from the Zoo in North Carolina that has expressed interest inn him.
So most of my week has been spent in praying that no animal die n my watch. In between, I watched a lot of television: the new LYNLEY, the first episodes of RETURN TO PARADISE, SISTER BONIFACE, some erly episodes of THE BARON, and (thanks to George's recommendation) the first season and the beginning of Season Two of HIGH POTENTIAL. The only books I read were Robert Terrall's KILL NOW PAY LATER Later (originally published as by 'Robert Kyle" and my FFB), Jason's Starr's FALSE I.D., and a grahic novel from Charles Burns, FINAL CUT. Currently reading John Saul's horror nover BLACK CREEK CROSSING and a manga compendium, HELSING, DELUXE EDITION, VOLUME 1 by Kohta Hirano.
Since I will basically be without a car this week, I'm looking for to a quiet, relaxing week. I hope you have the came, Patti. Stay safe and enjoy our nation's capitol.
Diane and I are in RECOVERY mode from the Family Reunion party we hosted last weekend. We have dozens of hours of TV programs we DVRed while preparing the house for 25 guests.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to the Fifth Season of SLOW HORSES that starts on Wednesday this week.
After a dry September, we finally getting some much needed rain. Stay safe!
Sounds like Jerry's Mark has a heck of a time with cars. I got stranded in St. Louis with a broken van in 1996. Was lucky enough that I bought along my girlfriend's massive mobile phone. I had a frozen wheel connected to the serpentine belt that led to smoke from the engine. I slept in the van overnight at a gas station. I must have had the van towed to a Ford dealer. At the dealer was a very long wait before I could talk to someone and then get the repair completed.
ReplyDeleteMy family went to the Madison Symphony Orchestra this past Friday for my wife's birthday and ate at a nice place after.
I follow author-illustrator Mark Crilley online. He writes a lot of middle reader books. A few weeks ago on Facebook he mentioned that he named a couple book characters after radio host Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie who co-host a show on BBC that has been a favorite of mine for year. So, I read THE MIGHTY ONION and it was a fun book.
Been listening to EVERYONE DIES FAMOUSIN A SMALL TOWN by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock. Listed as a Young Adult title but I think also fits as literary short stories. Interconnected stories of teens in CO, WY, WA, and AK.
In honor of Robert Redford, Jackie tried to watch THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975), but found it just too dated to watch again. She turned it off.
ReplyDeleteI think Gilbert Gottfried interview Hank Garrett on his podcast. Garrett played the assassin dressed as a postman in THREE DAYS.
ReplyDeleteHad the latest large book sale on Friday and Saturday at our Grace Hospital. Long line on Friday when it opened at 10 a.m., but got in quickly. The mystery section was very crowded so I didn't grab anything. Ended up with two books about record collecting, a biography of musician Ronnie Hawkins, and hockey autobiography. All books were two dollars. It was pouring rain on Saturday so I didn't plan to go back. However, a friend offered to pick me up so I went. The crowd was much smaller than usual due to the weather. Got 10 books including four UK crime novels. Also a couple of Canadian private eye novels set in Ontario by Rick Hundey, an author new to me. One set around an Elvis Festival looks like fun.
ReplyDeleteWatched a little of the Farm Aid concert on CNN once I realized it was on. Not a fan of John Mellencamp and wasn't prepared to listen to Bob Dylan in order to see our Winnipeg boy Neil Young and then Willie Nelson. Watched Unforgotten on PBS last night. Parts seemed familiar so perhaps I saw it on BritBox before.
There is always something going on with the House family. When we used to drive back east in the summer often something happened with the car. More than once we were dragging a muffler. I never get anything of merit at our book sales. Not sure why. In my last community it was always a bonanza of great books. I can't imagine how THREE DAYS could age but I haven't seen it in decade probably. The first 20 minutes are so riveting. I am rethinking going to DC now after reading an article in Politico. Apparently restaurants are closing and workers are not venturing into the city.
ReplyDeleteI too am looking forward to SLOW HORSES.
Silly Patti, restaurants cannot be closing in DC because Taco Don saved them all when he sent troops into DC, remember?
ReplyDeleteSo sorry, I totally forgot what day this was and have been busy with the book sale and other more mundane things that still take up time.
ReplyDeleteWe finished up the big book sale yesterday, and all books were half priced. Even though I promised myself I would not load up with even more short story books, I did buy a lot of them. Mostly collections of stories by one author. I have not counted how many books I bought total, I am sure it was 75 or more. Glen is much more intelligent; he bought 36 books.
Glen is reading PRISONERS OF THE CASTLE by Ben Macintyre, which he bought at the booksale. He always likes books by Macintyre. The subtitle is: "An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison."
I am currently reading GET IN TROUBLE by Kelly Link. I started it in August and did one SSW post on the first story "The Summer People." I will finish it tonight for sure, I only have one 24 page story left. I haven't loved every story, but most of them are a fun read, even when I am confused about what is going on.
We are also watching RETURN TO PARADISE set in Australia. Continuing HELL ON WHEELS. We watched another MST3K episode last night, OVERDRAWN AT THE MEMORY BANK, with Raul Julia. It was based on a 1976 short story by John Varley. Which I haven't read but Doug has a book of his stories that includes it.
75 is pretty amazing although not amidst this group.
ReplyDeleteRegarding short stories. I don't read short stories often but checked out a book by Sam Pink after I read a recommendation and heard of a WI link. Stories about twenty-somethings in Chicago and Florida working dead end jobs. Often written one line at a time with few paragraphs. It works for me though. ICE CREAM MAN AND OTHER STORIES.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2128881.Sam_Pink