BetterMost, Wyoming & Brokeback Mountain Forum

The World Beyond BetterMost => The Culture Tent => Topic started by: Front-Ranger on November 05, 2020, 11:18:32 am

Title: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on November 05, 2020, 11:18:32 am
I really miss going to the movies. Watching Netflix and Amazon at home is just not the same.

I'm really not the right person to start this topic. I just started watching in the evenings with the time change and to have a distraction from the election debacle. So far, I've watched Enola Holmes, Virgin River, and the first episode of Queen's Gambit. It's too early to say about the latter, but it is highly acclaimed. Virgin River is like a Hallmark show, but strangely engrossing because of the good looks and magnetism of the lead (hetero) couple. I thoroughly enjoyed Enola Holmes, with its strong casting and lively plot. But Henry Cavill as Sherlock Holmes? He's far too robust looking (can't imagine him taking cocaine or smoking four pipefuls of tobacco) and he emotes too much.

What are you watching and what do you recommend?
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: brianr on November 05, 2020, 01:55:46 pm
I do not have any of those services. I tried a free trial with Amazon but only watched one movie. So I can only watch free to air movies at home and rarely do. I love going to the cinema. Unfortunately there does not seem to be a lot of movies being produced. Last Sunday I saw "I am Woman" about Helen Reddy which was excellent. I am getting my hair cut today and would have liked to see a movie afterwards but nothing interested me. I think I will go to the Art Gallery instead.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on November 05, 2020, 05:07:45 pm
I really miss going to the movies. Watching Netflix and Amazon at home is just not the same.

I'm really not the right person to start this topic. I just started watching in the evenings with the time change and to have a distraction from the election debacle. So far, I've watched Enola Holmes, Virgin River, and the first episode of Queen's Gambit. It's too early to say about the latter, but it is highly acclaimed. Virgin River is like a Hallmark show, but strangely engrossing because of the good looks and magnetism of the lead (hetero) couple. I thoroughly enjoyed Enola Holmes, with its strong casting and lively plot. But Henry Cavill as Sherlock Holmes? He's far too robust looking (can't imagine him taking cocaine or smoking four pipefuls of tobacco) and he emotes too much.

What are you watching and what do you recommend?

I would watch Henry Cavill read Webster's on the internet.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: southendmd on November 05, 2020, 05:48:48 pm
I would watch Henry Cavill read Webster's on the internet.

I second that.

(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/25/d4/df/25d4dfc9480befe3bbe88c33c0136b92.jpg)
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on November 05, 2020, 08:28:41 pm
In that case, I highly recommend Enola Holmes!
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on November 06, 2020, 12:20:58 am
I second that.

(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/25/d4/df/25d4dfc9480befe3bbe88c33c0136b92.jpg)

I'm glad you agree.

I wouldn't go anywhere near that soap opera The Tudors, but if I had known he was in it, I might have reconsidered.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on November 06, 2020, 12:52:46 am
No doubt a publicity still from The Tudors, but Henry Cavill is wearing my boots.

Well, kinda sorta maybe.

Back in my SCAdian days, I had a pair of boots that looked exactly like what he's wearing. I got my boots from a place called Museum Replicas, which has, indeed, supplied weapons and other gear to movies and TV shows, so it's possible he's wearing the same style I once had. The sword looks like something from Museum Replicas, too. For that matter, so does the shirt. MR once sold a shirt with a narrow stand-up collar decorated with English blackwork.

The first thing I saw Henry Cavill in was an episode of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2002), which ran on PBS. HC played the Head Boy in a British "public school." He was 19 years old, and as soon as I saw him I thought, "He's going to be a star."
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on November 08, 2020, 12:28:59 pm
...the first episode of Queen's Gambit.

I heard somewhere that Heath had taken an option on the book and wanted to produce this. I can see why he'd be interested.

It does get tedious sometimes, watching people sitting in chairs, concentrating, occasionally moving small chess pieces small distances. No more tedious than watching people tending sheep on a mountain, though.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on November 08, 2020, 12:30:09 pm
No doubt a publicity still from The Tudors, but Henry Cavill is wearing my boots.


Is he also wearing leather pants? Yum!
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on November 08, 2020, 07:35:35 pm
Is he also wearing leather pants? Yum!

I believe they are leather pants.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on November 12, 2020, 05:13:38 pm
I started watching Enola Holmes again. It's as entertaining as ever the second time around.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on November 12, 2020, 05:17:36 pm
I keep hearing about movie releases, that Kevin Costner/Diane Lane film, "Ammonite", and "The Nest". Where are these films playing? Are they streaming? No movie theaters are open in my neck of the woods.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on December 06, 2020, 10:28:22 pm
It does get tedious sometimes, watching people sitting in chairs, concentrating, occasionally moving small chess pieces small distances. No more tedious than watching people tending sheep on a mountain, though.


Well, as long as they're breaking the tedium by getting it on in tents from time to time.


Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on December 06, 2020, 10:30:58 pm
I watched My Octopus Teacher last night. I'm not particularly big on nature documentaries in general, but this was one of the best I've seen. The relationship between the guy and his octopus friend reminded me of Tesla and his pigeon. It's strange, educational and sad. There was even a little bit of Charlotte's Web in it.


Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on December 09, 2020, 01:27:58 pm
I liked the part where the guy found a male octopus sitting beside his friend one day and was happy but knew that her life cycle was coming to an end.  :'(
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on December 09, 2020, 03:51:35 pm
I've been "off" on octopuses since I was a kid. Back in them days there was a cooking show on PBS called The Galloping Gourmet. My grandmother and my mother both watched the show, so I was exposed to it--until the day the host cooked octopus, and a tentacle came slithering out of the stewpot of boiling water. That ended it for all of us.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on December 09, 2020, 11:42:54 pm
I've been "off" on octopuses since I was a kind. Back in them days there was a cooking show on PBS called The Galloping Gourmet. My grandmother and my mother both watched the show, so I was exposed to it--until the day the host cooked octopus, and a tentacle came slithering out of the stewpot of boiling water. That ended it for all of us.

Eek. I can see why that would be disturbing. How are you with calamari (squid)? I used to go to a restaurant that had this excellent baby octopus salad. How would I feel about that now that I've seen My Octopus Teacher?

I liked the part where the guy found a male octopus sitting beside his friend one day and was happy but knew that her life cycle was coming to an end.  :'(

Yeah, nature is cruel. I hate the fact that, in many species, females are pretty much done living once they've reproduced. At least among humans we pretend that's not the case!  :laugh:

Speaking of thinking of animals' suffering, I highly recommend this essay. Gourmet magazine sent David Foster Wallace to cover a Maine lobster festival and the article he wrote was ... unorthodox. I was just talking about it the other day with my son, who considers DFW a buzzkill because he goes to these things that people think are fun (also a cruise and a state fair) and writes critical essays about them. But I think they're great. They are critical, but they're not snooty or mean-spirited, IMO.

http://www.columbia.edu/~col8/lobsterarticle.pdf (http://www.columbia.edu/~col8/lobsterarticle.pdf)


Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on December 10, 2020, 10:41:15 am
Eek. I can see why that would be disturbing. How are you with calamari (squid)?

I won't touch it. I won't eat anything that has it in it or on it. I won't even try it because it's ... squid. I'm not a seafood/fish person. Tuna and salmon are OK, and clams in chowder. I've had crabmeat salad and lobster rolls, and they were OK, but lobster cooked as just plain lobster seems too rich for my stomach (sometimes I wonder if the problem was actually too much butter rather than the lobster itself when I tried it).

Except for maybe salmon loaf and salmon croquets, the only way my mother knew how to prepare fish was to fry it, and the odor of frying fish turned my stomach. It still does. I don't even like to be too close if I'm with someone who orders fish in a restaurant.

Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on December 10, 2020, 04:09:38 pm
I won't touch it. I won't eat anything that has it in it or on it. I won't even try it because it's ... squid. I'm not a seafood/fish person. Tuna and salmon are OK, and clams in chowder. I've had crabmeat salad and lobster rolls, and they were OK, but lobster cooked as just plain lobster seems too rich for my stomach (sometimes I wonder if the problem was actually too much butter rather than the lobster itself when I tried it).

Except for maybe salmon loaf and salmon croquets, the only way my mother knew how to prepare fish was to fry it, and the odor of frying fish turned my stomach. It still does. I don't even like to be too close if I'm with someone who orders fish in a restaurant.

I like all of those things in most forms. For a while there I didn't like scallops, but I've grown to like those, too.

When I lived in New Orleans, one of my favorite things was raw oysters. You can get those here and they're probably just as good, but they're much more expensive than they are there.

Once I went to a party and brought an appetizer of smoked fish spread (with cream cheese and maybe mayo) and crackers. I'd made a special stop at a smoked-fish shop on the shore of Lake Superior, then made the spread. The party was on a backyard deck The hostess took a bite of it, then ran to lean over the deck railing and spit it out on the grass. Seemed like kind of a rude way to express her dislike for smoked fish, which you'd think she would have already known about (she was 50ish at the time).




Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: brianr on December 11, 2020, 12:18:24 am
I am very fond of calamari, not so much octopus.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on December 11, 2020, 09:51:25 am
Someone who lives near me posted this on Nextdoor. Sounds like it could be pretty good:


Quote
Need a cheer up?  Try the BBC "Farm" series.

Hi neighbors!

If you need a charming, free, historically accurate series on YouTube with some Christmas themed episodes, may I share the gift of the BBC "Farm" series? A historian and two archaeologists "live" for a year in the style and custom of a past era.  It has seriously cheered me up to see three friends in period clothing living and working together on a farm using traditional methods, as well as partaking in all the old school customs, food, drinks, and celebrations.   

Pick your era - Wartime (WWII), Edwardian, Victorian, or Tudor.  These will make you very grateful for all our modern conveniences,  in awe at how those from our human family tree did things in the face of adversity, and maybe even inspire your holidays this year.   

Example:
Victorian Christmas


Wartime Christmas

Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on December 11, 2020, 10:34:00 am
Thanks, I will check that out!

Regarding fish and seafood, since I'm from the Midwest, you would think I don't like fish, maybe excepting the fried catfish my mother used to make on Fridays. But I am also a contrarian, so I love most fish and seafood. Oddly, Denver gets frequent air deliveries of fresh fish for sushi. That's one of the things I miss so much--not being able to go to sushi restaurants. Raw oysters are very nice but I did have a problem once when attending a sales conference in Boston. I had oysters and German Chocolate Cake at the Quincy Market, and then I got on a bus to go to my hotel up north. Well, the cake and the oysters fought with each other all the way.

These days I just buy cod to make fish tacos and I haven't made those in a long while. Thank you for reminding me that I need to make fish tacos again!
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on December 11, 2020, 11:12:14 am
Regarding fish and seafood, since I'm from the Midwest, you would think I don't like fish, maybe excepting the fried catfish my mother used to make on Fridays. But I am also a contrarian, so I love most fish and seafood.

Quick defense of the Midwest: I currently live there and have also lived in several other parts of the country, and I don't see a huge difference in appetite for fish aside from the fact that oysters are much cheaper in New Orleans, lobster is much cheaper in Maine, crab is much cheaper in Maryland, and similar economics apply to all ocean-dwelling creatures. Until the pandemic, my son was working as a waiter at a fancy seafood restaurant and made good tips, so apparently there are plenty of contrarians here (who are/were also supporting numerous other fish and seafood restaurants besides that one).

Quote
Oddly, Denver gets frequent air deliveries of fresh fish for sushi.

They must do the same here, because sushi is plentiful. Or maybe it arrives frozen? Come to think of it, I don't really know. Most grocery stores have a sushi chef on site, which is where I often get it because it's more convenient than ordering from a restaurant, though some would probably consider that just a step up from truck stop sushi.  :laugh: But maybe that's what distinguishes a good sushi restaurant from a store. (Good sushi restaurants are located even in smallish suburban towns.) Back when I worked downtown, I frequently got sushi from the two nearby takeout sushi places, and once from a food truck. All were pretty good.

Quote
I had oysters and German Chocolate Cake at the Quincy Market, and then I got on a bus to go to my hotel up north. Well, the cake and the oysters fought with each other all the way.

Once in New Orleans my husband and I went to kind of a dive but beloved restaurant (another example of how almost every restaurant in NOLA is good). He ordered half a dozen cooked oysters and half of them had gone bad. The restaurant took half off his bill.  :laugh:  Very generous for potentially exposing a customer to food poisoning.

Quote
These days I just buy cod to make fish tacos and I haven't made those in a long while. Thank you for reminding me that I need to make fish tacos again!

I'm remembering how initially our friendship formed around a mutual love of fish tacos!  :D

 
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on December 11, 2020, 12:52:46 pm
The Midwest is better these days regarding seafood, but back when I was growing up, you'd be lucky to find even frozen fish, except for Gorton's fish sticks. Canned tuna was also available and that was about it. If you wanted to eat seafood, you had to go to a restaurant. My family's favorite was the Hickory House. There was always a line to get in, even though you had to make a reservation. So, the line formed inside the front door, and there was a lobster tank. I would watch the lobsters clambering all over each other. There were colorful golf tees wedged in their wrists so they could not pinch each other or the handlers with their claws.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: brianr on December 11, 2020, 01:56:34 pm
My sister always tells the story that soon after they were married (they will have their 60th anniversary next year so a long time ago), she wanted to impress her husband by cooking a lobster. She went to the Fish Markets and it was alive and she had a 40 minute drive home with it on the seat beside her thrashing about in the bag. Then she put it in the freezer and could hear it knocking.
Her husband never got fresh lobster again.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on December 11, 2020, 03:24:02 pm
The Midwest is better these days regarding seafood, but back when I was growing up, you'd be lucky to find even frozen fish, except for Gorton's fish sticks. ot pinch each other or the handlers with their claws.

How could I forget fish sticks, and fish filets!  :o  The Mrs. Paul's brand was big where I grew up, or maybe that's just the brand my mother bought. I didn't hear of Gorton's until I was grown up.

But fish sticks are good! I actually get hungry for them every now and then. Put catsup on them and eat them with mac and cheese.  :D

An old friend once told me that was what his Catholic mother served every Friday, fish sticks and mac and cheese.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: southendmd on December 11, 2020, 06:39:55 pm


An old friend once told me that was what his Catholic mother served every Friday, fish sticks and mac and cheese.


Same here!  Except we had Mrs. Paul's with frozen french fries. 

We alternated this with Stouffer's mac and cheese during Lent. 
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: CellarDweller on December 11, 2020, 09:05:53 pm
I can remember being served fish sticks for a little while on Fridays, and then one night mom served the fish sticks, and I bit into one, and it was green inside.

:o

Everyone freaked out and they were collected and thrown out, and that was the last time we had fish sticks.  :laugh:


The only time we had fish after that was when we went out to a local Arthur Treature's Fish & Chips restaurant.


(https://yorkblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/04/FishChips1.jpg)


Of course, after I grew up, I went back to eating seafood, usually when I go out.  I do have some frozen shrimp, sticks and scallops in my freezer as we speak.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: CellarDweller on December 11, 2020, 09:12:52 pm
While this may make some people shudder, I've been watching Hallmark Christmas movies since the day after Thanksgiving.

I don't get to see very many of them, and since I'm working from home, I am able to watch a lot more, and I've seen 44 so far.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on December 11, 2020, 09:38:35 pm
The Midwest is better these days regarding seafood, but back when I was growing up, you'd be lucky to find even frozen fish, except for Gorton's fish sticks. Canned tuna was also available and that was about it. If you wanted to eat seafood, you had to go to a restaurant.

I sometimes think your experience of the Midwest was somewhat different from mine. But I bet fish sticks were the main form of seafood in them days anywhere in the country that wasn't near an ocean. Quick shipping might not have been available, and I don't think Americans in general were very sophisticated eaters in general. Thank goodness for Julia Child and Alice Waters!

Every spring my parents would get a big bag of smelt -- little fish that rushed through northern rivers in the spring, cooked breaded and fried. I never hear of them now, so maybe they were overfished. We ate fish, like walleye, caught by people who fished, like my aunt and her partner. My mom sometimes made scallops but I didn't like them (not until recently, in fact). When I was about 18, my friends and I started going to what I then regarded as fancy (chain) seafood restaurants, and those all-you-can-eat crab leg places became a trend.

But food everywhere is more sophisticated these days. The only place I've been that stands out as being much more sophisticated than other cities is New Orleans. In regard to food, that is, not necessarily anything else.

I also think Catholics may have a different experience of fish. My friend who spit out the smoked fish spread grew up Catholic and I think hated fish for that reason. My folks was atheists (or agnostics, or Unitarians or whatever), so we didn't even do Lent, let alone fish on Fridays.

Oh, I just remembered one thing, though. When I lived in Duluth, MN, in the '80s, an upscale Italian restaurant opened with interesting food like carpaccio. But they had a billboard that -- I can't remember the exact wording but it was meant to reassure potential customers that not all their food was weird and foreign. So they had a picture of a steak. But the weird and foreign Italian food was ... spaghetti and meatballs.  :laugh:

Sorry, Chuck. I think even Duluth residents of the '80s were pretty familiar with spaghetti, if only thanks to Chef Boyardee!  :laugh:






 
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on December 11, 2020, 10:15:29 pm
The only time we had fish after that was when we went out to a local Arthur Treature's Fish & Chips restaurant.


(https://yorkblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/04/FishChips1.jpg)



OMG!  :o  That's a name I haven't heard in years on years. Are those places still around?

Does anybody (besides me) know who Arthur Treacher was? (Without googling, I mean.)
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on December 11, 2020, 10:19:58 pm
I don't think Americans in general were very sophisticated eaters in general. Thank goodness for Julia Child and Alice Waters!

I wonder what sort of influence they've actually had, and with whom. I mean, if you were watching Julia Child, you were watching PBS, so weren't you already sort of sophisticated? Or did they teach people who were already sophisticated how to eat sophisticated?

 ???
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on December 11, 2020, 11:19:57 pm
I wonder what sort of influence they've actually had, and with whom. I mean, if you were watching Julia Child, you were watching PBS, so weren't you already sort of sophisticated? Or did they teach people who were already sophisticated how to eat sophisticated?

 ???

I think it was spillover. I rarely watch PBS, would never attempt a Julia Child recipe, have never read anything Alice Waters wrote or said (aside from a quote here or there). But I think they affected the culture overall and it changed what chefs made and what foodies valued and what became fashionable and inspired other celebrity chefs and food writers and gradually trickled down to regular people like me.

I became a "food writer" in the mid-'80s, which is to say I was a lifestyle writer and part of my job was to write a weekly food piece. I didn't know much about cooking, so I wrote more cultural food things, like what people made at their vacation cabins. I wrote something about cabbage, I remember. I got free cookbooks like the Silver Palate Cookbook, which provided the vinaigrette recipe I use to this day.

I can't remember any other food stories I wrote in that job, except that once I wrote something with the word "puke" in the first paragraph (I don't remember the overall topic) and a reader called to complain that it had made him sick.



Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on December 12, 2020, 05:39:35 pm
I wonder what sort of influence they've actually had, and with whom. I mean, if you were watching Julia Child, you were watching PBS, so weren't you already sort of sophisticated? Or did they teach people who were already sophisticated how to eat sophisticated?


Very clever of you to weave all these musings together into a post that brings us back to what we are (or were) watching! No, I missed the chance to watch PBS when I was young. I was already off in college when it was established in 1969, away from home and with no television. I'm trying to think when it was that I had a television again. Probably not until 1983 when I was married. Even then, I hardly ever watched until my children came along in 1988. Then PBS's Barney the dinosaur became part of my daily life! I did watch "The Galloping Gourmet" a couple of times, a couple of Martha Stewart specials, but the first time I saw "Julia Child" on TV, it was Dan Akroyd on SNL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSxv6IGBgFQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSxv6IGBgFQ)
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: CellarDweller on December 12, 2020, 05:47:50 pm
OMG!  :o  That's a name I haven't heard in years on years. Are those places still around?

Does anybody (besides me) know who Arthur Treacher was? (Without googling, I mean.)


I don't think there are stand-alone restaurants anymore, but as I understand  it, they've kinda been taken over by Nathan's Famous.  Anywhere that sells Nathan's Famous hot dogs and such, you should see a menu of Arthur Treacher's seafood.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on December 13, 2020, 11:50:45 am
We watched PBS now and then when I was a kid. I remember my parents watched the breakthrough documentary (or first reality show!) An American Family (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_American_Family#:~:text=An%20American%20Family%20is%20an,%2C%20to%20March%2029%2C%201973.) in its entirety. I was only vaguely aware of it, but around that time I was watching some things I would still think are good, like The Smothers Brothers, and some that wouldn't seem especially good by modern standards but at least culturally significant, like Laugh In and The Mod Squad, but also, as we've discussed, a lot of Gillian's Island, Petticoat Junction and the like.

Over the years I've known a lot of people who don't own TVs, or never watch TV. I did a story about them once years ago. I always felt like, sure, a lot of TV is schlocky, but it's also Ken Burns and ... well, Ken Burns anyway.

Now, though, I feel sorry for people who never watch TV because so much of it is really good -- better than most movies, IMO. Except now most movies are on TV, too! I love movie theaters and hope they don't die out, but I'd already been watching more movies on TV because a) Netflix, Amazon, etc., have been making some really good ones and b) it's so much cheaper to watch at home, even if you miss the big screen, dark theater, trailers and popcorn. Still, I hope COVID isn't the final nail in the coffin.

Now I rarely watch more than an hour of TV a night, and sometimes not even that. But it's pretty carefully curated because there are a lot of things genuinely worth watching -- more than I have time for, even. Especially since there's also the teetering stack of New Yorkers and books and the NYT and Washington Post and the paper I actually work for and the entire internet. 

Last night my son made smashburgers and I like to watch TV while eating dinner, but I had nothing specific I wanted to watch. I'm kind of between shows, having just finished a good one (Fargo) and didn't have anything else ready to dive into, so I turned to my old reliable -- The American Experience. I record all episodes, so they're always there whenever I need something quick that I know will be good. So last night it was one segment of a multi-part series about the women's suffrage movement. Very interesting! I'd never studied it that closely. It's kind of mind-blowing to think of it now, and realize it was only about 100 years ago. And some things have changed so much, and other things so little. It was about 90 minutes long and I got through about 50, so have more awaiting me whenever the time comes. Maybe tonight!

Speaking of which, OT (but we'll get right back to TV!  :)) but there's something I always wonder whenever I watch when of those documentaries. Jeff, maybe you know the answer. I hope I didn't already ask you this and forgot what you said. But why do the historian talking heads in documentaries always describe events in the present tense?



 
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on December 13, 2020, 01:46:49 pm
Speaking of which, OT (but we'll get right back to TV!  :)) but there's something I always wonder whenever I watch when of those documentaries. Jeff, maybe you know the answer. I hope I didn't already ask you this and forgot what you said. But why do the historian talking heads in documentaries always describe events in the present tense?

Ya got me. Just like I wonder why people write fiction in the present tense.

I saw some--I'm sure not all--of the program on the Suffrage movement. I seem to remember something about the early advocates for women's suffrage had also been Abolitionists. And I remember the young member of the Tennessee legislature whose mother told him to "be a good boy" and vote to pass the suffrage amendment.  ;D
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on December 13, 2020, 03:31:05 pm
Ya got me. Just like I wonder why people write fiction in the present tense.

I saw some--I'm sure not all--of the program on the Suffrage movement. I seem to remember something about the early advocates for women's suffrage had also been Abolitionists. And I remember the young member of the Tennessee legislature whose mother told him to "be a good boy" and vote to pass the suffrage amendment.  ;D

The reason for using it in fiction is to convey a sense of immediacy, of being in the moment. Some writers go back and forth with present and past when they're talking about two different eras or stories and want to distinguish them. But history is, by definition, in the past! And I wouldn't be surprised if one or two historians did it, but it seems to be de rigueur for all historians.

(Speaking of de rigueur, I saw someone on Twitter ask "Do you realize queue has four unnecessary letters?" :laugh:)

 
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: CellarDweller on May 29, 2021, 07:35:34 pm
FX's "Pride": TV Review

By Daniel Fienberg - May 13, 2021


Like Hip Hop Uncovered before it, FX’s new documentary series Pride boasts a broad title, but plays as an intermediate text that assumes you’ve done all of your introductory coursework. (And before you start thinking this is the core idea behind FX’s newly evolving documentary brand, the network’s recent women-in-comedy docuseries Hysterical was definitely an introductory text.)

This is, as it was with Hip Hop Uncovered, less a criticism than an expectation-setter.

As much as Pride exposes how desperately the LGBTQ+ rights movement deserves and needs some kind of Eyes on the Prize-style wide-reaching treatment, it’s still a mainstream cable series offering exposure to figures like lesbian experimental filmmaker Barbara Hammer, New York scene videographer Nelson Sullivan and marriage equality pioneer David Wilson. And it has been made with a scholar’s eye toward intersectionality and marginalized figures within already marginalized communities. I find that to be remarkable and entirely admirable, even if the series itself is very much, almost by design, hit-and-miss.

Hailing from Killer Films and Vice Studios, Pride takes a decade-by-decade look at LGBTQ+ life and the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights starting in the 1950s and carrying through to the 2000s, with each installment hailing from a different LGBTQ+ filmmaker.

It’s hard to exactly pinpoint the dictates passed along to each filmmaker, and the result is that each hour is maybe half personal reflection on a tumultuous moment and half Wikipedia summary just to make sure that somebody who accidentally stumbles upon Pride won’t be entirely flummoxed. It’s a recipe for wildly varying levels of aesthetic inspiration and baked-in unevenness both from episode to episode and within episodes.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/pride-2-1234952163/
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on July 27, 2021, 10:58:07 am
According to this New York Times article (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/26/arts/television/ted-lasso-the-office.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210726&instance_id=36254&nl=the-morning&regi_id=91026593&segment_id=64431&te=1&user_id=8b5ad6a133ffcce0b9fda3ccfb15b213), comedy has shifted from High Irony to Sincerity. Have you noticed a change?

Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: CellarDweller on July 28, 2021, 05:44:52 pm
I haven't seen a lot of comedy lately.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on July 28, 2021, 08:55:58 pm
I haven't been watching any, either.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: CellarDweller on July 28, 2021, 09:07:46 pm

I'm currently watching "Cults & Extreme Beliefs - The Survivors Speak".


It's a show that was filmed as the series finale to "Cults & Extreme Beliefs", which aired on the Vice Network.

The survivors were made up of one person from each of the following groups:

NXIVM
Jehovah's Witness
Children of God
United Nation of Islam
Unification Church  and its offshoot known as the Sanctuary Church of Newfoundland
FLDS
Twelve Tribes

Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on July 29, 2021, 11:56:52 am
I'm watching "The Crown," which is OK but so far not super gripping. Probably gets better when it gets to the Diana years, although it's making me like Queen Elizabeth a little better. On last night's episode, the Queen Mother advised Elizabeth that their job as royals is to take no sides in a political conflict -- to do nothing. "Doing nothing is the hardest thing," she said. So what exactly are royals for, anyway? Hopefully the series will shed some light on that.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on July 30, 2021, 12:41:33 pm
To smoke and drink all day, as I recollect.  :laugh:

On The Crown, I found the stories of Margaret and of Charles' school years very interesting as well as Elizabeth and Phillip's trip to Africa.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on July 30, 2021, 12:47:29 pm
To smoke and drink all day, as I recollect.  :laugh:

That part of the job would be OK, if there weren't all those rules about proper dress and behavior!

Quote
On The Crown, I found the stories of Margaret and of Charles' school years very interesting as well as Elizabeth and Phillip's trip to Africa.

I haven't seen the former but yes, the latter was interesting. Especially whey they left, their car passing the king in the street. Very colonialist.

The last one I watched was about the fog that killed at least 3,000 people and possibly 10,000. I thought of that yesterday, when smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted here and mixed with humidity until it almost blotted out the sun.




Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on July 31, 2021, 03:39:55 pm
That part of the job would be OK, if there weren't all those rules about proper dress and behavior!

How would you feel about wearing a hat and gloves and carrying a handbag?  ;D
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: CellarDweller on July 31, 2021, 04:43:03 pm
and don't forget about white after Labor Day!
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on July 31, 2021, 06:24:31 pm
How would you feel about wearing a hat and gloves and carrying a handbag?  ;D

 :laugh:  I'm fine with hat and gloves if it's below zero. I do carry a bag, but it's more like a one-strap backpack -- not a prim handbag like royals carry.

Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on June 06, 2022, 07:33:22 pm
I'm currently watching "Cults & Extreme Beliefs - The Survivors Speak".


It's a show that was filmed as the series finale to "Cults & Extreme Beliefs", which aired on the Vice Network.

The survivors were made up of one person from each of the following groups:

NXIVM
Jehovah's Witness
Children of God
United Nation of Islam
Unification Church  and its offshoot known as the Sanctuary Church of Newfoundland
FLDS
Twelve Tribes

A niece of mine is in the Twelve tribes. She was living with her husband and five children at a compound near Boulder, Colorado, and on New Year's Eve someone there was burning something in a shed and caused a fire that burned down 1,000 houses! She had to move to Manitou Springs where the cult has another compound.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on June 06, 2022, 07:35:15 pm
I'm watching a series on Amazon Prime called "Outer Range." It's set on a Wyoming ranch and has some sci-fi overtones like "Stranger Things". Anybody else watching it?
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on July 15, 2022, 09:39:01 am
Such a fun article in the New York Times this morning: "Half of Meryl Streep's acting is glasses business."

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/07/14/arts/meryl-streep-acting.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20220715&instance_id=66690&nl=the-morning&regi_id=91026593&segment_id=98571&te=1&user_id=8b5ad6a133ffcce0b9fda3ccfb15b213 (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/07/14/arts/meryl-streep-acting.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20220715&instance_id=66690&nl=the-morning&regi_id=91026593&segment_id=98571&te=1&user_id=8b5ad6a133ffcce0b9fda3ccfb15b213)

I love the way the graphics and text dance around each other.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on February 04, 2023, 12:15:30 pm
The movie "Living" is very good. It's about a salaryman in London who learns he has a short time to live (not really a spoiler since it's in the trailer etc.) and is strangely uplifting. I went especially because the lead was played by Bill Nighy. I love his acting.

There were many symbolic elements in the film. It's sort of a "Brokeback Mountain" for the geriatric Britophile.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on February 08, 2023, 11:45:37 am
Last night I broke an over-a-year television fast to watch a movie on TV instead of on my computer. It was mesmerizing--the color saturation, the emotion on the characters' faces, the epic sweep. I'll tell you more about it later, or maybe I'll give a few clues and make you guess what I watched.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: southendmd on February 08, 2023, 01:46:25 pm
I came across a hilarious British show on youtube.  It is a parody of every documentary you've ever seen.  But the real find is the host:  Philomena Cunk.  As played by Diane Morgan, she is beyond funny:  very deadpan, she has these huge, wide-set eyes, and a strong Northern English accent that makes her sound particularly stupid.  She drops some marvelous malapropisms.  Some of the funniest parts are when she interviews real experts and asks them ridiculous questions.  I don't know how she or the experts keep a straight face. 

The shows vary from 5-minute clips to 30-minute shows.  If you search for "Cunk",  you'll find them. 

There is a series called "Cunk on Britain" which is a funny history of all of Britain in four 30-minute episodes.  I binged it last weekend.  Example:  "Sir Francis Drake's ship was called the Golden Hind, which is Tudor for 'ass of gold'.  Drake was the first to circumcise the globe, which is probably why the ship is called a 'clipper'.  And at any moment there's the prospect that you might sail off the edge of the Earth.  It's a sobering thought, which they would've needed, considering they were pissed to the bollocks on rum."

"Cunk on Shakespeare" was probably my favorite. 


There is a whole new series that is on Netflix called "Cunk on Earth", which is a history of the earth in five 30-minute episodes.  I hope to see it this weekend
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on February 08, 2023, 02:21:37 pm
Oh, that sounds fabulous! I did so love Monty Python's send-up of the Attenborough documentaries. I''ll look for it!
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on February 08, 2023, 02:48:31 pm
I've seen little TikTok type videos of Philomena Cunk on Facebook or wherever, presented without context. At first, I thought she was just kind of an incompetent interviewer, but by the second or third time I realized it was comedy.

"Documentary Now," also a comedy mockumentary show, is supposed to be good.


Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on February 08, 2023, 02:51:16 pm
Last night I broke an over-a-year television fast to watch a movie on TV instead of on my computer. It was mesmerizing--the color saturation, the emotion on the characters' faces, the epic sweep. I'll tell you more about it later, or maybe I'll give a few clues and make you guess what I watched.

So you continued watching TV-like content on your computer but not on your TV set? What was the objective of the fast? (I don't mean this to sound challenging or anything  :laugh:  -- just curious!)

I'd love to play the guessing game with a description of the movie!

Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on February 09, 2023, 12:59:25 pm
It just kind of happened naturally since I can't get my streaming services on my TV. I suppose I could hook up my TV to the cable system to get them but I'm too lazy to do that plus I'd have to pay a steep cable fee, maybe $30-$50 a month. In addition, I tend to fall asleep when I'm sitting on the sofa in front of the TV and not when I'm sitting in my computer chair. Also, sometimes I like to stop the show and take notes on my computer. Those are the main reasons.

The DVD I watched was from the library, but it is a recent release. It is a story that has been told over centuries and in many different media: books, plays, drama, musicals, you name it.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on February 26, 2023, 08:15:45 pm
Last night I broke an over-a-year television fast to watch a movie on TV instead of on my computer. It was mesmerizing--the color saturation, the emotion on the characters' faces, the epic sweep. I'll tell you more about it later, or maybe I'll give a few clues and make you guess what I watched.

Oops, I left th is hanging! If there are no guesses, I'll tell you what it was that I watched to break my TV fast. It's a story that has been told over centuries and in many different media: books, plays, drama, musicals, you name it.

So, I returned that DVD to the library today and got three other shows: The Big Night, A Walk in the Woods, and (to correct the gender imbalance) T?R!
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on February 27, 2023, 01:05:28 pm
It just kind of happened naturally since I can't get my streaming services on my TV. I suppose I could hook up my TV to the cable system to get them but I'm too lazy to do that plus I'd have to pay a steep cable fee, maybe $30-$50 a month. In addition, I tend to fall asleep when I'm sitting on the sofa in front of the TV and not when I'm sitting in my computer chair. Also, sometimes I like to stop the show and take notes on my computer. Those are the main reasons.

You can buy a Roku or Amazon Firestick for less than $50 that plugs into your TV, picks up your Wi-Fi and provides all the streaming services. It comes with a remote you can use to stop the show anytime.

I was going to buy one of those but am considering just getting a whole new TV. I can't decide. My TV is on the small side, and I thought I might go up a size. Currently, if characters communicate by notes or texts, I have to freeze the show and walk up to the TV screen to read them.

Or maybe I'll just go ahead and order that Firestick (the one the girl at Verizon recommended). A tenth the price of a new TV and I can cut the cable, which I've been procrastinating doing for months.

I bought internet through Verizon for $25/month.

Is the MM Jesus Christ Superstar?


Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on February 27, 2023, 01:30:49 pm

Is the MM Jesus Christ Superstar?

Good guess, but no. This is a newish movie, it came out in 2021. But the story itself has existed since antiquity, written down in early BC times. 
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on February 27, 2023, 02:14:15 pm
I was going to buy one of those but am considering just getting a whole new TV. I can't decide. My TV is on the small side, and I thought I might go up a size. Currently, if characters communicate by notes or texts, I have to freeze the show and walk up to the TV screen to read them.

I really should do that. Several things are obstacles, not just technophobia, though that does of course play a part. Things have changed so much, stores have gone out of business, and so forth, that I really don't know where one buys a TV these days. Regardless, living carless in a high-rise condo in the center of a major metropolitan area poses obstacles: No real way to get some place to buy a TV, then how to get rid of the old one? I'm aware that electronics can be recycled, but that also brings me back to the transportation issue--how to get the old set to a recycling place? (It's difficult even to get clothes and no-longer-needed housewares to the thrift shop.) Then, of course, there is the issue of knowing which set to buy (making sure I get what I need), and how to hook things up.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Sason on February 27, 2023, 05:53:39 pm
I really should do that. Several things are obstacles, not just technophobia, though that does of course play a part. Things have changed so much, stores have gone out of business, and so forth, that I really don't know where one buys a TV these days. Regardless, living carless in a high-rise condo in the center of a major metropolitan area poses obstacles: No real way to get some place to buy a TV, then how to get rid of the old one? I'm aware that electronics can be recycled, but that also brings me back to the transportation issue--how to get the old set to a recycling place? (It's difficult even to get clothes and no-longer-needed housewares to the thrift shop.) Then, of course, there is the issue of knowing which set to buy (making sure I get what I need), and how to hook things up.



When I bought my new TV 3-4 years ago, I had it delivered. They set it up including everything, I just had to press the start. And they took the old one with them. Of course I paid for it, but it was well worth the price. Otherwise I would probably still be without a working TV  ;D
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on May 28, 2023, 11:45:11 am
I forgot to reveal that I watched the new remake of West Side Story on my tv and, now it's gathering dust again. I've heard that one of the stars of that movie, Mike Faist, is now appearing as Jack Twist in the Broadway production of Brokeback Mountain.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on May 29, 2023, 02:41:39 pm
I usually don't watch series like "The Diplomat" (on Netflix) but was intrigued by the back cover of the New Yorker. It is well acted, and part political drama, part relationship drama, and part cultural satire. I am now in the second watching because I missed a lot the first time around. The repartee goes so fast and I miss out when I get fixated on looking at the gorgeous Rufus Sewell!
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on May 31, 2023, 01:11:47 pm
Two shows I'd been watching through four seasons ran their finales Sunday: Succession and Barry. Both were good. I'd feel bereft if I weren't also currently watching Dead Ringers and White House Plumbers. The Diplomat is also on my list, as is something called Jury Duty that my son recommended: it's kind of a reality show about a jury except everyone in the cast is a scripted actor except for one person who thinks it's real.

Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Front-Ranger on June 30, 2023, 07:16:38 pm
Working outside was impossible today so I watched The Fabelmans, which I borrowed from the library. I didn't even recognize our own Michelle Williams who plays the mother. A cameo appearance was made by David Lynch as the film director John Ford, who gives young Steven, er, Sammy, some good advice. Yes, it's a Spielberg film, his most autobiographical yet.

Other great performances were by Judd Hirsch, Seth Rogan, and young Gabriel LaBelle, who plays young Spielberg, er, Fabelman. He is a person to watch!
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on July 01, 2023, 12:54:32 am
Working outside was impossible today so I watched The Fabelmans, which I borrowed from the library. I didn't even recognize our own Michelle Williams who plays the mother. A cameo appearance was made by David Lynch as the film director John Ford, who gives young Steven, er, Sammy, some good advice. Yes, it's a Spielberg film, his most autobiographical yet.

Other great performances were by Judd Hirsch, Seth Rogan, and young Gabriel LaBelle, who plays young Spielberg, er, Fabelman. He is a person to watch!

I got halfway through it a couple of months ago, thought it was OK but got tired and went to bed. Then I think my rental expired before I could get back to it and I haven't watched the second half. But on your recommendation I may give it another try.


Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: CellarDweller on July 01, 2023, 11:20:18 am
The Dead Files started their new season a few weeks ago, I've been watching that.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on July 07, 2023, 01:26:23 pm
You can buy a Roku or Amazon Firestick for less than $50 that plugs into your TV, picks up your Wi-Fi and provides all the streaming services. It comes with a remote you can use to stop the show anytime.

I know I'm missing something because I don't understand how this is not, like, stealing the service.  ???
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on July 07, 2023, 01:27:23 pm
What am I watching these days? Reruns. ...

And lots of baseball. ...
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on July 07, 2023, 02:25:56 pm
I know I'm missing something because I don't understand how this is not, like, stealing the service.  ???

You still have to pay for it. So for example if you want to watch something on Netflix, Roku can take you to the specific show or movie pretty much instantly. But before watching it, you'll have to enter a name and password, at least the first time (after that it remembers you), just like you can navigate to your bank account or whatever but still have to sign in. If you don't have an account, the show won't play. And you still have to have WiFi, because that's where Roku gets it. Luckily, I also quit Comcast's internet and switched to Verizon internet at $25/month.



Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on July 08, 2023, 01:39:19 pm
You still have to pay for it. So for example if you want to watch something on Netflix, Roku can take you to the specific show or movie pretty much instantly. But before watching it, you'll have to enter a name and password, at least the first time (after that it remembers you), just like you can navigate to your bank account or whatever but still have to sign in. If you don't have an account, the show won't play. And you still have to have WiFi, because that's where Roku gets it. Luckily, I also quit Comcast's internet and switched to Verizon internet at $25/month.

Oh, f _ _ k. It just happened again--I got thrown off the site when trying to post something, getting a message that I don't have access to the site. I had to log back in to the site. This even happens on my own blog.  >:( This always happens when I try to preview a post. And when I log back in, I always check the "stay logged in forever" box.

I'd just spent, like, at least 10 minutes responding, and everything I wrote was lost. I'm not going to try to recreate all I wrote. I'll just say:

So you have to have a Netflix account to use Roku or Firestick? That makes sense. Thanks.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on July 08, 2023, 03:56:12 pm
You have to have accounts with any network you'd want to watch. I watch more HBO than anything else so I have that. But I also have Netflix and I also have Prime. It would be tempting to drop those because I don't watch them as often but both have occasionally good shows -- I just saw reviews of a new show on each that sounded interesting. And of course, Prime has other benefits. I also have Hulu, but with commercials so that's either cheaper or free.

I'm going to look into an online network that bundles them.

In fact, I just did. Sling TV has been recommended to me. You can get the orange plan for $15, the blue plan for $15 or a plan that combines them for $30. I can do just the blue because it has almost every network I'd ever watch on cable and some I wouldn't, and the orange is almost all ESPN. Luckily, I never watch ESPN! I've kept it for years so my sons could watch, but they only visit occasionally and if, while here, they had to urgently see a basketball game or something there are three big-screen TVs with sofas, etc., in the public room downstairs.

So I can get both Wi-Fi ($25 through Verizon) and a bundle of cables for $40 a month. I'll throw in HBO, Netflix and Prime (possibly Apple+ but I don't watch that very often). So under $100 altogether, and I'd been paying $325 to Comcast.

Small complaint: HBO has been trying to rename itself Max. But if you say Max, nobody knows what you're talking about. Not even the Amazon Wi-Fi firestick, which has a speech remote. So I'll say "Alexa, get me HBO" and Alexa will say "Getting HBO Max." But if I say "Get me Max," Alexa will pull up a movie or TV show called "Max."

Now I just have to figure out how to watch local TV. That's not super urgent, though -- the Oscars and the presidential debates are a ways off. It's possible I could watch both on my laptop.


Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on July 08, 2023, 04:00:48 pm
Oops, I should have read it more carefully. The blue plan is $40 a month -- $15 for the first month. But even at $40 it's way less than I'd been paying.

I think it saves you from having to have digital versions of FX, AMC, Comedy Central, TBS, TNT, History Channel, etc. I'm not sure how much those cost, if anything -- if they're free I might not need a Sling plan.

Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on July 09, 2023, 12:36:29 am
This is what's so funny about getting my TV service from Comcast through my building's contract as part of my condo fee: We have HBO, so no paying for it.

Of course, a good five years or so ago now, they took away Turner Classics, which I seemed to watch more than just about anything else.
Title: Re: What are you watching these days?
Post by: serious crayons on July 12, 2023, 02:12:26 pm
This is what's so funny about getting my TV service from Comcast through my building's contract as part of my condo fee: We have HBO, so no paying for it.

I think I had HBO as part of my Comcast plan, too. So I didn't pay for it individually, but the Comcast plan cost a ridiculous $300+ a month.