Current Watching

[pebblethefish]

Mrs Thistle and I have been binge watching Upstart Crow on iPlayer. Every episode has a few chucklesome moments.

Be careful watching too many of them. I binged the lot earlier this month, and then found myself talking in their mock-Shakesperean for days afterwards.

[Patrick Thistle]

Be careful watching too many of them. I binged the lot earlier this month, and then found myself talking in their mock-Shakesperean for days afterwards.

Tis a risk, indeed. How muchly my wife doth get annoyed by mine conversing in that manner, I shall not say. Was amusing upon commencement but grows tiresome now. And stop I fear I cannot!

[Sean of the Shed]

Tis a risk, indeed. How muchly my wife doth get annoyed by mine conversing in that manner, I shall not say. Was amusing upon commencement but grows tiresome now. And stop I fear I cannot!

Plus the fact that it soon descends into a Yoda impression.

[Nocturnal Submission]

I finally got round to watching Mulholland Drive last night.

The scene where Rebekah Del Rio sings Llorando has gone straight into my favourite-ever film moments.

[Lang Spoon]

It's incredible.

[Nocturnal Submission]

It's incredible.

It certainly is. Just played it for Mrs. NS, who loved it.

For those who don't know the scene or song:

[Ray de Galles]

I finally watched 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood' today. As was said in many reviews on its release over here, it works even for British people who will have mostly never seen Mr Rogers's or his show. Obviously it's good to have a little prior understanding of his place in American culture though.

Of course, the actual story is about Matthew Rhys's journalist rather than Tom Hanks's Rogers, unsurprising given it's origins in a real-life journalist's encounter with Rogers and his essay detailing its impact on him. I thought Rhys's performance was excellent (I've managed to somehow not see him in much before now, I need to see more of his work especially the films he's made with Marc Evans's ) and I'm not sure how much more of Hanks I could have taken in the film. Not because it wasn't a good performance, in fact I suspect it was too accurate and I couldn't deal with much more of the weird intensity of Rogers.

It mainly seemed to be a film about the value of therapy for me though I'm not sure how deliberate that was. The undertones of religiosity weren't to my taste but apparently there were complaints about how much they toned down that element of Rogers so maybe I got off lightly.

[diggedy derek]

Steveeeeeeeee, I agree with almost everything you say.

But, I think in one of these programmes a guy came into a restaurant among the diners, in Canton apparently, and skinned some snakes for eating, as if it was a normal thing. Palin seemed to more or less admit this wasn't something that was happening anyway, they deliberately made it happen.

So in terms of orientalism, that would seem to be a cut out and keep example of deliberately orientalising something.

[Hot Pepsi]

I finally watched 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood' today. As was said in many reviews on its release over here, it works even for British people who will have mostly never seen Mr Rogers's or his show. Obviously it's good to have a little prior understanding of his place in American culture though.

Of course, the actual story is about Matthew Rhys's journalist rather than Tom Hanks's Rogers, unsurprising given it's origins in a real-life journalist's encounter with Rogers and his essay detailing its impact on him. I thought Rhys's performance was excellent (I've managed to somehow not see him in much before now, I need to see more of his work especially the films he's made with Marc Evans's ) and I'm not sure how much more of Hanks I could have taken in the film. Not because it wasn't a good performance, in fact I suspect it was too accurate and I couldn't deal with much more of the weird intensity of Rogers.

It mainly seemed to be a film about the value of therapy for me though I'm not sure how deliberate that was. The undertones of religiosity weren't to my taste but apparently there were complaints about how much they toned down that element of Rogers so maybe I got off lightly.

I didn’t get that about therapy, but I suppose that’s part of it.

It was very much about Rogers’ particular religiosity, I thought. Not his theology, but his practice. Being patient and caring were traits and behaviors that he had to work at. He wasn’t born as Mr. Rogers. That’s what the Matthew Rhys character picks up on and applies to his own life.

I thought he was very good too. I thought he was a bit flat in The Americans, but this gave him a more interesting, nuanced role to work with.

[diggedy derek]

imp, "I Called Him Morgan"... isn't it absolutely brilliant? Anyone with an interest in music culture in the 1960s would dig it.

[Sits]

Steveeeeeeeee, I agree with almost everything you say.

But, I think in one of these programmes a guy came into a restaurant among the diners, in Canton apparently, and skinned some snakes for eating, as if it was a normal thing. Palin seemed to more or less admit this wasn't something that was happening anyway, they deliberately made it happen.

So in terms of orientalism, that would seem to be a cut out and keep example of deliberately orientalising something.

I couldn’t get that scene out of my head for a long time.

[diggedy derek]

Doing a bit of googling, it seems there was an Early Day Motion in Parliament to stop the scene being shown again.

https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-...animal-cruelty

[Sits]

Well remembered / Googled.

[Sits]

Meanwhile Mrs. S suggested About Time this evening. We’ve seen it before but it was only as the first dialogue began I remembered it’s Richard Curtis. I feel I’m in a minority here and generally, but the guy’s dialogue is increasingly grinding my gears. And in this one the lead actor is ginger, Irish and in his twenties (Domhnall. Gleeson) but RC manages to get him to sound exactly like Hugh Grant.

Edit: a lot of people really like this film, it’s fair to say.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Meanwhile Mrs. S suggested About Time this evening. We’ve seen it before but it was only as the first dialogue began I remembered it’s Richard Curtis. I feel I’m in a minority here and generally, but the guy’s dialogue is increasingly grinding my gears. And in this one the lead actor is ginger, Irish and in his twenties (Domhnall. Gleeson) but RC manages to get him to sound exactly like Hugh Grant.

Edit: a lot of people really like this film, it’s fair to say.

My daughter was watching it last week, and I walked in and said "About Time eh, do you want to know what happens?" and she said "I've seen it anyway".

Then I went out the room, gave it a minute and went back in and said ""About Time eh, do you want to know what happens?" and she said "will you f*** off".

[Benjm]

I thought About Time was almost unwatchable.

A writer can be too fond of their characters and Curtis's evident belief that the gangs of honking, braying show offs that he conjures up are just wonderful is extremely off putting.

[Tony C]

Currently eight episodes into Designated Survivor. It's engaging enough but I see that there are 21 episodes in both Series 1 and 2. Can't see me getting through all that. I might just see what happens with McLeish and leave it at that.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Currently eight episodes into Designated Survivor. It's engaging enough but I see that there are 21 episodes in both Series 1 and 2. Can't see me getting through all that. I might just see what happens with McLeish and leave it at that.

It's very, very silly. It doesn't, at any point, get any less silly. I watched it all.

[Hot Pepsi]

I really liked About Time.

[Tony C]

It's very, very silly. It doesn't, at any point, get any less silly. I watched it all.

It is indeed silly. I'm watching it with the same 'suspension of disbelief' mindset that I'd bring to a Bond film, and enjoying it on a similar level.

Just can't see me getting through 42 episodes, though.

[DCI Harry Batt]

I have this completist thing in me that means I find it hard (not impossible, but hard) not to finish watching something I've started.

[Tony C]

I have this completist thing in me that means I find it hard (not impossible, but hard) not to finish watching something I've started.

We've got a long 'continue watching' list on Netflix made up essentially of shows of which we've seen two or three episodes then given up.

[Hot Pepsi]

We've got a long 'continue watching' list on Netflix made up essentially of shows of which we've seen two or three episodes then given up.

IIRC, Netflix is one of the services that lets you clean those up and delete things you know you will not finish. That bugged me for a while.

[DCI Harry Batt]

We've got a long 'continue watching' list on Netflix made up essentially of shows of which we've seen two or three episodes then given up.

I've just got "Breaking Bad" on my conscience at the moment, as far as I can recall. I didn't finish Mad Men, as it goes, but I switched providers and it's not available for free now.

[danielmak]

I started Sound of Metal on Prime. Been watching about 20-30 minutes the past few nights. I'm up late, there is an irony in that this film is about loss of hearing and the radiator heat in my living is so loud that the only way to hear the TV is to blast it. Yet, everyone else is asleep so I can't blast the TV. I expect to finish this film by Sunday at this pace. Of course, I could start earlier but football has been keeping me busy and I don't worry as much about sound.