Saw Wake Up Dead Man, (slept through some of it) and Eternity (same). Enjoyed seeing Kevin and celebrating his turning 19. He is taking quite a group of classes next semester. One in music, one in art, one in writing, one in philosophy and one in math. He's trying out all the family businesses.
Saw the movie Lurker, which was strange but interesting. (Apple)
Trying to settle into a book. Maybe THE COPENHAGEN TRILOGY. Or A Pale View of Hills.
Watched a Poirot-- FIVE LITTLE PIGS, which is one of my favorites and so beautifully made. Also watching the many episodes of THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY on Disney. Also watched Sad Cypress. What's your favorite Christie.
Snow here. Ugh.
What about you?
Apparently sending out three group emails with 20 names on each has meant friends are getting things from other friends and not knowing what is going on. Sorry if you've had that happen.
I'll wait until WAKE UP DEAD MAN reaches Netflix in a couple of weeks. It's getting mixed reviews.
ReplyDeleteDiane, Patrick, and Katie are taking a cruise in the Caribbean. I'm home getting caught up on reading and writing. And, yearly doctor appointments: dermatology and urology.
Western NY got hit with snow, too. The ski areas south of Buffalo are celebrating the foot of snow that fell on them. I live north of Buffalo and we only got a couple inches of snow. But, it's windy and cold. Stay safe!
We were fine up until November, but that turned much colder and was a pretty miserable month, and December doesn't look any better so far. We're staying in more and more on these cold, windy days. It's good beef stew weather, so Jackie is going to make it today to have twice this week. We're supposed to fly to Phoenix on Saturday to visit my sister in Scottsdale (who is doing better, medically), but keep your fingers crossed on the weather, because it could get ugly.
ReplyDeleteWe finished the third series (two to come, eventually) of STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS, and found it good but uneven, with a few episodes (a singing Spock, for one) that didn't work. We're on the final, nasty series (#5) of BREAKING BAD. We're almost done with the Spanish BREATHLESS (also on Netflix), the medical show set in Valencia where a lot happens every episode. And we discovered a new medical show that might be on Apple+, BERLIN ER, a head-spinningly fast, dark show, based on the first episode.
We finally got (on AMC+) the third series of the Aussie political drama TOTAL CONTROL, but I find the workings of the Australian Parliament incomprehensible. One of the characters in that is played by a guy who also plays a doctor in RDFS (Royal Doctors Flying Service), the third series of which just started on Acorn with a great first episode. They fly small planes into the Outback to treat people in isolated areas. Jackie definitely does NOT like SEVERANCE after a second try (also Apple). We finished the first series of MADEMOISELLE HOLMES. I know there is a second. We still haven't started SLOW HORSES yet - we're trying to finish shows we're in the middle of first - but I did read the collection of related novellas, STANDING BY THE WALL (by Mick Herron). There are other new series of previously watched shows - LANDMAN, BLUE LIGHTS - where we are waiting for all the episodes before we start watching.
Did you catch BORGEN and the sequel series, now both on Netflix? Unfortunately, the Danish political drama is dubbed as well as subtitled in the version N has, and the subs don't match the dubbing...not ideal...though on second watch of the original series, amusing to check the variations. But I haven't seen the sequel series yet, and will put up with that discrepancy.
DeleteYes, I saw all of BORGEN.
DeleteHere's a weird one. We started watching BERLIN ER on Apple+ and discovered it was the dubbed version. But when I changed it back to German, it made ALL the Apple shows German, so had to change it back again. Anyway, a little too dark and frenetic, and we have too much else to watch, so we gave it up.
It has been getting cooler here, but as usual the day starts out cold but gets much warmer with the sun, and it is hard to know what to wear. We watched three movies on Thursday and Friday: DARK CITY (1998), NOISES OFF (1992), and and MST3K episode, INVASION USA. That last one was fun because we had not seen it in so long, and because it had a great short subject, A DATE WITH YOUR FAMILY. We have finished the fifth season of SLOW HORSES, and started the 2nd season of KAREN PIRIE. Also the first episode of SHAKESPEARE & HATHAWAY.
ReplyDeleteGlen read PHYSICS FOR CATS by Tom Gauld. Which is a collection of science-based cartoons.
I read THE GUEST LIST by Lucy Foley. I did not have high expectations for the book when I started reading it. I read the author's first mystery, THE HUNTING PARTY, few years ago. Fortunately this one was much better. Glen had read both books first and passed them on to me (in 2023). This one is set on a tiny isolated island off the coast of Ireland; the characters in the book are there to attend the wedding of a TV star and the publisher of a well-known magazine. The setting was very good. The biggest problem was that the majority of the characters were unsympathetic. But the story had an unexpected and satisfactory ending.
Now I am reading the stories in SIDNEY CHAMBERS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH: THE GRANTCHESTER MYSTERIES. There are six longer stories in the book (50 - 80 pages each). I have read five of the stories and liked them all.
Patti, Glen's favorite Poirot episodes are DEATH IN THE CLOUDS and DEAD MAN'S FOLLY. My favorite episodes are FIVE LITTLE PIGS and DEATH ON THE NILE.
ReplyDeleteAs for my favorite Christie novel, I am not sure, but it might be FIVE LITTLE PIGS.
THanks for the recs on Poirot. FLP was terrific. And Sad Cyprus was pretty good too.
ReplyDeleteI guess when you are setting up a whodunnit, most of your characters might be nasty. I read THE HUNTING PARTY but nothing since. I am coming to CA on January 19 for eleven days. Hope it's not too cold.
I should have watched BLUE LIGHT before ditching BRITBOX.
I am sure most people liked DEAD MAN more than sleepy me, George.
Happy December! It's starting to get chilly(-ish) here and some doomsayers are saying we are in for the weather from Hell over the next few days. I tend to downplay doomsayers unless they are talking about Trump.
ReplyDeleteHad a great Thanksgiving with all sorts of good food. Amy's boyfriend brought over some of his Thanksgiving staples which we had never tried. The gang all showed up with the exception of Kaylee and Ivory, who had to work; they were severely missed, but I ate their portion of food. thanksgiving morning, Mark, Erin, and Trey ran a 5K Turkey Trot only because they are sadists.
My Christmas shopping was all done before Black Friday. (Yay!) Now comes the dreaded Christmas wrapping.
Yesterday we went out with Christina and Walt into the cold drizzly weather to have her family Christmas pictures taken by Walt's photography guru friend Joe, who has been doing this for us for a number of years now. Squeezing into the picture were Walt, Christina, Mark, Erin and Trey (and Duncan, who may or may not be a dog, Jack, myself, and Walt, Sr. and Ellen. We had them taken on a sandbar on Navarre Beach between the Gulf and Santa Rosa Sound. Surprisingly, we were a pretty photogenic group who ,looked like we got along well with each other.
No school this past week so we all got to sleep a little later. We are not quite as lucky this week.
More to come...
Masochists?
DeleteBack again.
ReplyDeleteNow its time for the Great Christmas Village Construction. Christina has what seems like several hundred boxes in her Christmas Village collection. It's going to take up five long tables and a buffet and still may not all fit. We moved the bearded dragon, the Russian tortoise, and the gray rat snake to be able to fit all the tables together. Jessie and her gang will be over several evenings this week to help with the set-up. The danged thing looks pretty impressive every year, and every year it is given a different configuration.
It looks like Jessie and Christina will try to eke out one camping trip before Christmas. For some reason they look forward to it, but, as I've said, some on my family are sadists.
No television this week. i was more in the mood for reading. Books read included BLOOD OF THE FOUR, an epic fantasy by Christopher Golden & Tim Lebbon, James Herbert's (kind sorta) afterlife novel NOBODY TRUE, Joe R. Lansdale's MOON LAKE, Benjamin Stevenson's EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT, the third Samuel Craddock mystery from Terry Shames, DEAD BROKE IN JARRETT CREEK, and two more Hard Case Crime novels, Peter Blauner's CASINO MOON and Charles Williams' A TOUCH OF DEATH. I also read two more Hard Case Crime graphic novels: Stieg Larsson & Sylvain Runberg's MILLENIUM, CHAPTER 1: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, and Christa Faust & Gary Phillips' PEEPLAND. (I'm hoping to read Megan's Hard Case Crime GN next, but I will have to wait until January because my local library is imposing a 60-dau wait between requests.) Three othe graphic novels read were Magdalene Sala's adaptation of THE WITCHER: THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, Philip Kennedy Johnson's JAMES BOND OO7, BOOK TWO: FOR KING AND COUNTRY, and James Tynion IV's SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN, VOLUME EIGHT. And finally, I read Achmed Abdullah's rare 1935 collection MYSTERIES OF ASIA. Currently reading Samuel Craddock #4 from Terry Shames and Oakley Hall's SO MANY DOORS.
Have a fantastic week, and -- if you plan to wrap presents -- for all that is good and decent in the world, DO NOT ASK ME TO HELP! Stay safe.
Jerry, for years I sold books online, mostly mysteries that I bought in England. So I became quite good at wrapping and packing stuff. Good luck.
DeleteWow, quite a reading list. Have to buy some boxes before I can wrap. Why not post your photo on your blog!
ReplyDeleteLate entry. I've been busy at work and went to the dentist on Monday. Modern dentistry really is a wonder. But, I'm still never past the metal fillings I got as a kid and the brusque dentist (who ditched his wife for his hygenist) and that leaves me with plenty of nerves. I also really hate the anasthetic. The needles to inject the ansthetic.
ReplyDeleteThe too slow numbing of my mouth that requires more anasthetic shots.
The sound of the drill.
The pieces of tooth flung into my mouth by the drill.
The miserable recovery where I now take off the rest of the day and stay in bed.
Anyhoo. I started watching SMILING FRIENDS on HBO/MAX. Another cartoon series of weirdness. I enjoy it. I am holding off on starting STRANGER THINGS.
Been listening to Stephen King's THE DARK HALF and it is not that great. I share my reading in the library newsletter and wrote that the novel seems like step 8 or 9 of the twelve steps where King is using the novel to fess up to his booze and narcotics driven misbehavior. The book seems a bit off, too. His supernatural villains are always a stretch of belief but at least believable. This one is missing some oomph of reality.
This weekend we move Boy #1 back to his new job in Minneapolis. He was just up there for a couple days finding a place to live. Children are expensive, but I gladly pay for a truck and hotel fees and use our van to get him started out. Equally happy we are able to do as much as we can.