NaBloPoMo 29:

Even for me, I have gotten an impressive amount of nothing done for the past few days. That 900-item to-do list I jotted down on Tuesday night didn’t even get looked at once. I did pay bills today (which wasn’t on the list, ha) and got all freaked out and worried about money since they’re muttering that our likely strike that will likely happen sometime after February 10 will likely go on for a month. I just don’t see how my life can handle that and still have enough money to get through the summer (which is of course unpaid time off, just like Wednesday was an unpaid day off).
Inside the harbor
I didn’t even do my usual Sunday lunch food cooking! I’m going to eat out of the freezer this week. 😉

NaBloPoMo 27: took a real camera out with me today and took the long way home

Must be kinda warm in there.
Waitin'
Definitely a future crime scene
Lots of closed signs round about these days
Saw “Brooklyn” this afternoon. Still pondering it. Not so much a story as in a plot but more a story of a moment of a time and a place. All the old people around me were muttering things about the “immigrant experience” as the credits rolled past. I saw “Spotlight” a few days ago. That was wonderful although very upsetting. A bit in the same vein as “Truth”. Movies based on real events that lay out in excruciating detail how crap our world is and how crappily humans treat each other are always going to be pretty upsetting though, aren’t they. And “Spectre” which I sadly did not think much of. Could’ve been my mood going in but it was a real downer.

Big Screen: Spotlight

This movie was intense. Strong acting by all the players. Intensely upsetting. I mean how can Catholics* even stand to be Catholic after knowing this, let alone all the other yucky things the Church has done or does on a regular basis. And, seriously, are we sure this has stopped? 100% sure? I’M NOT. I couldn’t ever be. Could you?

The end credits with the lists of all the places where this specific type of corruption was discovered? The audience was audibly gasping.

It was great to see Michael Keaton in this, especially after Bird Man. I liked this a LOT more than I liked Bird Man (I would link my review…but I guess I never wrote about that here. Ah well.). Also Mark Ruffalo did a lot to inhabit this part–I felt like his hunched up physicality just MADE that character for me.

*or as my dad calls them “the pope’s dopes.”

Aziz Ansari rules the world.

For a long time, Tom was my least favorite character on Parks & Recreation, it took me a few seasons to really come around on him. I don’t know what finally did it: “treat yo self” ? Or perhaps when he finally shoves Jean-Ralphio to the side? Regardless, I eventually became a fan and started to love his stand-up too (although the repetition thing drives me nuts. When he just says the same short phrase over and over? It happens a LOT in that show with the R. Kelly bit).

So when everyone started yapping about “Master of None” and I needed a new show, it was the obvious choice. This show is SUPER charming, the story lines are adorable. The way we watch Dev develop, however slowly, in all areas of his life is pretty fantastic. On the other hand, as with Rob Delaney’s “Catastrophe,” there are definitely times when the acting is too visible…because too many people on the show aren’t great actors. In other words–you shouldn’t notice that a character is “acting mad,” you should think they are ACTUALLY mad. When the acting an emotion becomes too visible, that’s a fail. I actually thought that less times with Masters of None than with Catastrophe but there were still certain scenes or certain side players on the show that I thought fell flat too many times to be straight up “this is a great show.” I liked it a lot, I loved certain interactions, but I did occasionally get popped out of the scene by the acting.

Then over the past few days, when I apparently became a START A MILLION NEW THINGS because you have all of three random days off person, I decided to listen to his book “Modern Romance.” Wow, this book is shockingly well researched for something written by a layperson. It’s really fascinating.

My problem was…I can’t focus on audiobooks!!! I KNOW. It’s seriously as if my brain FORGETS that I am listening to it WHILE I am listening to it and I accidentally start tuning it out. Then 10 minutes later, I hear someone else’s voice in my head and go oh YEAH I’m listening to that book and this seems to be about something completely different than 10 minutes ago when I was actively listening. I guess I missed something!

Despite my intermittent lapses in listening, which I did not bother trying to rewind, so to speak, or fix, this book has a lot of really interesting anecdotes and fun moments. It was also great to listen to it after watching Masters of None and notice how many things from his romance research wound up making it onto that show. You always read stories about writers or directors doing crazy stuff to prepare: horseback riding for three hours a day for six months, reading 97 books on whale hunting, etc…It’s almost like this book wound up being unintended preparation. I love the intersection between fiction and nonfiction in our lives/work and watching bits from this book get explored in the fictional show was pretty cool, or cool to think about afterward as I read it.

The ultimate takeaway from both is WOW Aziz is SO sincere. The last chapter of the book is all about how despite all the technology and despite all the changes and despite all our baggage, if you go do fun things you love, that’s your best chance to meet a person who will also do fun things you love (and love them and you). Check out this post from his tumblr about his dad appearing on the show. That sincerity is all over the book and it just makes him completely adorkable. Which is, refreshingly, so different than Tom, or at least beginning of Parks & Rec Tom.

If you already liked Aziz, this is just the sugar on top. The same way my paparazzi friend Evan’s stories (both good and bad) about celebrity behavior at fan events can really change my overall opinion on said celebrities, seeing the intersection between Aziz’s standup, his nonfiction writing and his fictional writing/acting really exposes (or illuminates, for a kinder way to put it) Aziz as someone I never would have guessed based on Tom. Now that’s great acting.

An evening with David Mitchell and Lana Wachowski

A lovely evening. Mitchell read from the first passage of Slade House (which I read a week or so ago, I’ll try to tell you about it soon!) and then he and Wachowski had a lovely conversation about art and immortality and writing between genres (as it were).

There were quite a number of moments I wish I could have recorded, but here are the two I wrote down.

On writing between genres, or being told your book should/shouldn’t have something because you’re not in X genre:
“If a book needs a dragon, it should have a dragon.”

On reading reviews: he said he certainly never reads the bad ones, because they’re so demoralizing and haunt you for months, but then he said he doesn’t read the good ones either:
“…even the good ones are wasps at the picnic of a calm mind.”

WOW what an image.

I’ve been a huge fan of his books for a long time now (the other book I took with me to have signed was Black Swan Green, which is one of my all-time favorite books) and it was wonderful to hear Nathan (the first character in Slade House) read in his voice. He doesn’t have a straight-up English accent, there’s a bit of a lisping quality around his Rs that I wondered if originates from his time in Japan/Asia…

I can’t wait to see what he writes next.

Big Screen: Truth

Really well done. But also really, deeply depressing. The world will just go as far as it can to beat a woman down, won’t it?

There was one scene near the very beginning where I thought Blanchett seemed odd, maybe a little over-actor-y, but the story swept me up and that feeling went away. I find it shocking how much more severely Redford seems to have aged particularly in comparison to how Newman looked toward the end.

I love the dude that plays her husband. He needs to be in more stuff.

NaBloPoMo 8: tunage

Enjoy this lovely Beatles-esque ditty by a band called Quilt. Hello.
Or how about this lovely sepia-toned video of Adele’s new single. I probably like the visuals more than the song–her hair blowing in the wind, OMG yes–but, hey.
You may know I am a huge fan of covers. I have this ongoing theory about why covers are always awesome whereas movie remakes often suck: a good song is a good song. It’s harder to ruin a good song even with bad singing than it is to ruin a good story with bad acting, bad directing, etc. Do ya see what I’m sayin’? No? Here’s this James Blake cover of Sounds of Silence for you. Not wildly different than the original. Loooooove the rustling sound underneath. Rain? Leaves? Dunno, but it’s lovely.
I bought it a little while ago but I finally spent some serious time listening to the Hamilton soundtrack. It’s just gorgeous. SO many different styles, so many awesome lyrics, beats, melodies. It’s magical.
And this, this song, Low’s “What Part of Me”, I have been OBSESSED with this song since the first time I heard it, sometime this summer. Here they sound awesome playing it and here is a more visually pleasing video (yet slightly less awesome sounding). I canNOT stop with this one. The lyrics! The beat! The yearning! Oh my.
In other news, 1) tonight I’m going to see David Mitchell read and apparently he and Lana Wachowski (formerly a Wachowski brother, I think?) are doing a Q&A afterward and 2) I get to introduce my students to the mystery of Roanoke on Wednesday. Busy finding spooky videos to show them. Heh.
Sorry I have no photo for you today. Smooches.

NaBloPoMo 7:

Sleeping in on Saturday mornings is pretty blissful even when sleeping in means waking up at 7:30. Such is the ridiculousness of an early morning weekly schedule, I couldn’t sleep any longer even though I tried! Now I’m indulging myself in some Oregon Chai and catching up on some of my weekly TV shows, especially the ones I don’t care too much about so I can play candy crush while I watch them, HA!
How about a review of what I’m watching on TV this fall, albeit I haven’t had cable in four, maybe five? years now, no wait SIX, so I am watching everything a day later on Hulu or CBS All Access or whatever site… or I am watching everything sometime during the week, maybe in a big chunk on Friday night heh.
Sunday:
Brooklyn Nine-Nine : this show is SO on this year. One of my absolute favorites. And I don’t care much for Andy Samberg in other formats but I love him here.
Quantico : I like it. Nice eye candy among the real male/female leads. Silly, sure, but…
The Good Wife : Still solid but I’m finding myself less interested this season.
I need to maybe pay for Showtime so I can get back to Homeland which I do really love. But I can’t decide if I should do it via Hulu or via Showtime on my Roku. Not sure why I can’t make the decision but hello I don’t seem to be able to commit.
Monday:
The Mindy Project : SO good. This show has been solidly laugh out loud funny every episode this season.
Castle : Still mediocre. But watchable. [Candy crush time!]
Jane the Virgin : This show is very uneven for me. Intentionally soap-y but still unbearably stupid at times. Yet I keep watching. [Often while grading.]
Life in Pieces : A great companion piece to Mindy, lots of funny stuff about parenting. But suddenly no new episodes showing up. Did it already get cancelled?
Supergirl : I watched ep 1 and liked it but haven’t made it through ep 2 yet. Calista Flockhart was a nice surprise!
I do want to start watching Fargo but I need to watch season 1 first. I just listened to Kirsten Dunst on Nerdist and season 2 sounds SO fab.
Tuesday:
NCIS : can’t stop, won’t stop.
NCIS New Orleans : pretty bad but, again, a good backdrop for candy crush and grading, oh the never-ending grading.
Chicago Fire : LOVE IT although this season has been pretty heavy so far, not many light moments.
The Grinder : Pretty funny. Rob Lowe’s character is not really as much Chris Trager (sp?) as it seemed at first, perhaps even less self aware HA!
The Flash : silly, fun.
Wednesday:
Nashville : I watch it ONLY for the music, not even kidding. The story lines have gotten BEYOND REPETITIVE. How many times can Will regret being gay? SERIOUSLY. How many times can Scarlet or Deacon completely fall apart. How many times can Maddy be annoying. I mean, good grief. But I still love the arrangements.
Empire : I am about to stop watching this despite the music. Less seasons in and it’s already got all the same problems as Nashville, soapy stupid story lines, I just can’t even stand some of them.
Black-ish : HILARIOUS. Love it. Diane may be my favorite television character OF ALL TIME. She’s so on the money. And Junior’s so unconsciously dopey.
Rosewood : Kinda dumb, but watchable as background. Heh.
Arrow : Better than it was last season. I love Felicity and I’m obsessed with Thea’s hair. Everyone on this show is damn good-lookin’. Still wish this was more like The Flash which it really suffers in comparison with.
Thursday:
Haven : SO dark this season. Mmmmmm, Nathan.
Sleepy Hollow : I really like this show. I love their partnership. I think it’s really well filmed with the right mood / tone. Even though it’s silly, it seems better produced than many other silly shows (particularly when watched in contrast say with Bones that it recently did crossover eps with. The Sleepy Hollow one seemed SO much smarter than the Bones one).
Vampire Diaries : Kinda boring without Elena frankly and this season has gotten so dark and sad. But, AGAIN, background (ha, how boring this post must be for you to read!).
The Player : Kinda stupid.
Things I watch occasionally on my iPad in bed as I fall asleep:
Trevor Noah on the Daily Show
Things I tried but could not even watch:
Stephen Colbert : (I know) and
Blood & Oil : seriously unwatchable.
Things I gave up:
Reign
Yup, I have no spare time at all but SOMEHOW I still watch a lot of TV. Sometimes I do have to rewatch episodes because I watched one while grading and then when I try to watch the next one I can’t figure out what’s going on HA. But you know I don’t feel bad about spending time on TV when it doesn’t mean I’m losing reading time now that I have my transit reading time back (last year, I drove to work with someone which eliminated all my reading time). I’ve been burning through books and SO HAPPY ABOUT IT. Heh.
Coming, going