Just a couple videos this week. After a rather cool, rainy week summer weather is finally here. So, first, a summer classic.
Next, something I stumbled across yesterday which absolutely requires ten minutes of your undivided attention.
You’re welcome.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Hard to believe this movie came out in 2002. And that I’ve managed to not see it in those 19 years!
Based on the “autobiography” of game show creator and host Chuck Barris, it details both his efforts to make it in the TV biz and his – likely – fictional life as a CIA hitman. Reading things written about the movie upon its release, there were real questions about how much of the movie was true. I guess later Barris said he never actually worked for the CIA. But that’s exactly what someone who was a government hit man would say, right?!?!
The delight of the movie was Barris’ The Gong Show days. I freaking loved The Gong Show when I was a kid. Oh, and Sam Rockwell was amazing.
A-
Spy Game
Robert Redford and Brad Pitt in a spy thriller that takes place both in the heart of the Cold War and the years immediately afterward? Sure, I’m in.
B+
Jumanji: The Next Level
L and I watched Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle last summer. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. As for the sequel, it didn’t quite live up to the first but it was still a good enough way to spend 90 minutes with my daughter.
B-
Community, season one
Rolling Stone dropped a 100 Best Sitcoms of All Time list in early May. It reminded me of the brilliance of Community, one of my all time favs. I had forgotten how it started with a clear sense of purpose, exceptionally strong characters, and some brilliant writing. Season one had some understandable unevenness, but by the end of the year, it was firing on all cylinders.
A-
Spring Baking Championship
Still working through this. I have two episodes left.
B+
Big Shot
L found this new Disney+ series about girls high school basketball. John Stamos plays a legendary men’s college hoops coach who left Wisconsin in disgrace after throwing a chair and hitting a ref. He attempts to reboot his career at an exclusive, all-girls school in La Jolla and is forced to navigate a world very different than where he came from.
It has some nice moments but reaches a little too far at times. L and I laugh because the team’s super star player, while athletic, has the worst looking jumper you’ve ever seen. Always hard to cast shows where actors have to be players.
Stamos’ character also seems to be very much modeled on Rick Pitino. Or maybe it’s just because Stamos looks a little like Pitino that make his mannerisms seem Pitino-esque. We started watching four weeks into the series so were able to binge to get caught up but are now waiting for the weekly drops of new episodes.
B
For All Mankind, season one
I heard mixed things about this show when it first dropped on AppleTV+. Recently, though, a couple people I follow expressed praise for it, so I decided to knock it out before my free year of the service ran out.
It is a retelling of the space race as if the Russians reached the moon first, and the US was left scrambling to catch up. The alternative history stuff is kind of cool. The political elements are played up just enough to be interesting without overwhelming the main space story. The space stuff is pretty well done, although there are a couple things that occur in the finale that I’m not sure could actually happen.
In the end, the show is pretty compelling and entertaining, anchored by a handful of excellent acting performances. I’m going to keep watching into season two.
A-
Apple vs The Paradox of Choice!
If you make something cool, Apple just might come and crush you.
B
Shadows in the Sky
Stunning time lapse videos of clouds and storms.
A
Colette: The French resistance fighter confronting fascism
This amazing and somewhat overwhelming piece won the Oscar for best short documentary this year. It details the trip of Colette, a 90-year-old French woman whose entire family was part of the resistance during World War II, traveling to the concentration camp where her brother died in the closing weeks of the war.
A
How Long Should Your Naps Be?
I think they miss the correct answer, which always seems to be 15–20 minutes longer or shorter than you actually sleep.
B
Leslie Odom, Jr. teaches Philly Slang
Delightful
A
One of our more laid back Memorial Day holiday weekends is now in the books. Unlike most of the past decade, when we would either go to the lake or host a pool party, we had no major plans this year. We did have some friends over for dinner Friday, but it was cold and rainy that night so the adults stayed inside while the girls got into the pool for just a bit after I cranked the heater up. Almost all of our local family were traveling to one place or another so that eliminated the option for a gathering of relatives.
We did get some things accomplished, though.
S got the inside of the pool house painted yesterday, with some help from L.
Oh, and we bought a new house.
Wait, what?!?!
No, we did not really add another property to our list of holdings. Rather, we helped my in-laws buy a new place.
They’ve been in Florida for five years now, I think. Covid shutting down most of the things that drew them to Florida – thank goodness they live in an area that takes it seriously – and helped them to realize they want to be closer to most of their family. They looked at a few places in December but weren’t 100% sure about making the move back then. They visited in April and looked some more, but with the market so hot they couldn’t find something that met their needs before another buyer snatched it up. They looked into building but between delays and higher costs, that did not seem like a good option.
In a perfect world they would have hung on another 6–12 months and hope the market cools and more inventory opens up. But the Florida summers are a lot for them and they had their realtor keep a search open for them.
A couple places popped up this weekend. S took M to drive by a couple Saturday morning and S thought one was a possibility. She called her stepmother, talked it through, then set up a viewing with their/our realtor that I tagged along for. The house was a model home in a new neighborhood. We really liked it. After walking through and discussing with the realtor, S FaceTimed her stepmom and gave her a tour.
They made an offer that night and it was accepted Sunday afternoon. Looks like my in-laws will be back in Indy in about a month. I believe their plans will be to still get out of Indy for a few months in the winter as long as their health allows them to.
It was kind of fun to see S get that house shopping look in her eyes. Especially when it wasn’t us who were buying!
And, for the record, I do not understand the housing market at all. It makes no sense to me how it can be so blistering hot when the economy has been battered for the past year and the US population is fairly stable. Where are all these people coming from? What happens to the old homes/apartments/condos that these people are leaving?
We refinanced in February and our closer said he was genuinely worried about what’s going to happen in a couple years, after pretty much everyone is locked into insanely low interest mortgages and rates finally rise. No one, he suggested, is going to move unless they absolutely have to.
I see his logic, but there is no rational explanation for why the market is so hot now, so I’m starting to believe that, like the stock market, the housing market operates under different rules than all you finance types learn about in school.
Oh, one other thing happened this weekend: I got my first cold since before Covid hit. M brought something home last week and I was the first to pick it up. Like a couple years back, when I went two-plus years without a cold, it has knocked me on my ass. I suppose I should get tested, but since we’re not really going anywhere right now, as long as it passes in a couple days I don’t really see a need to do that. It’s just been a bad cough and sore throat for the past three days, but my sinuses are beginning to fill up so I guess I’ve got a couple days of that to look forward to. L started sneezing last night.
During the Indy 500 we took the girls to a new area downtown to eat lunch outside. We sat down just as the flyover was passing overhead, walked around a bit, then got home about halfway through the race. I promptly turned the TV on, laid down, and napped until there were 10 laps left. Which, given how fast and uneventful the race passed, was pretty much all I needed to see. Pretty cool to see Helio Castroneves finally get his fourth win.
Now it is summer. The girls all get to sleep in today. C starts her summer school gym class tomorrow, meaning she and I will be back to the 6:50 alarms for the rest of June.
May 2021
* Middle Kids – 39
* Manchester Orchestra – 25
* Pearl Jam – 18
* Dumptruck – 17
* Paw – 16
Complete stats available at my Last.fm page.
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