Movies, Series, Shows
Tokyo Vice
I heard mixed things about this, but when I realized Michael Mann was involved, I decided to give it a try. It’s classic Mann: visually stunning with some high highs and low lows.
My favorite part about the show was Ansel Elgort, the actor who plays main character Jake Adelstein. The real Adelstein is from Missouri and attended Mizzou. Elgort has a slight resemblance to, and sounds a little like, Charlie Tahan, who played Wyatt Langmore on Ozark. Wyatt, of course, was trying to get his shit together so he could go to Mizzou at one point. I liked to imagine that the shows were flipped chronologically and Tokyo Vice was an Ozark spin off that showed where life took Wyatt if (spoiler alert) he hadn’t gotten killed by Javi Elizondro.
B
Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain
This was exactly what I expected it to be. The first hour or so is a wonderful recounting of an amazing life lived by one of the coolest people ever. Then the last hour should totally fuck you up if you admired Bourdain and his work, and/or have had someone you were close to commit suicide.
A-
Top Gun
If I was going to see the new Top Gun flick, I figured I better watch the original again. Even if I watched it approximately 8000 times between the summer of 1986 and the fall of 1987. Just good, clean, cheesy, 1980s fun.
A
Barry, season three
I believe I’m obligated to say, HOLY SHIT!!!!
Barry spent the first two seasons balancing laugh-out-loud humor with often intense violence, and that balance always made the show work.
Season three lost some of that humor as the show veered into much darker territory. At times I wondered where it was headed. But it all came together amazingly in the final two episodes. The season finale is one of the most intense, disturbing, yet fulfilling half hours of TV I can recall. It was brutal to watch but, afterwards, I couldn’t help but admire how the season arrived at its ending and how many absolute powerhouse acting performances it took to get there. I don’t know where the show goes from here, but I will certainly watch as Bill Hader and his compatriots have yet to disappoint.
A
No Time To Die
First home viewing. Still good, although Léa Seydoux’s performance struck me as not great this time.
A
Shorts, Etc
Inside Demolished Ukrainian City
Inside Underground Bunker During Bombing in Ukraine War
Inside East Ukraine War Zone
More of Indigo Traveller’s trek through Ukraine.
Adventures of A+K
My (sometimes) favorite Millennials continue their trek to Alaska. They’re into Canada now, so making progress.
The Last Ski Maker in Scotland
A beautiful little film about an amazing craftsman.
Homewrecker
Beau Miles’ videos are usually filled with humor (or “humour” to him). This one has some bits of that, but it’s far more about his obsessions, what causes them, and what he hopes to accomplish through them. We need more people like him in the world who view a moment of destruction as an opportunity to repurpose rather than toss aside materials that still have functional value.
Searching the bush for my cameraman’s wallet
And then here is some of his normal bullshit. I’m going to start using the term “rice bubbles.”
Solo Camping in the Rain
My outdoor video viewings have led me to this: a combination camping and ASMR video. I watched this after 11:00 one night and it nearly put me to sleep. Which was kind of cool.
NLU Film Room: Soly 2022 U.S. Open Local Qualifying
Take a really good “regular” golfer and put him in a US Open local qualifier with a film crew following him and fun ensues.
I watched an NBA game from every decade
This was dope.
J. Kenji López-Alt
The algorithm suggested one of this guy’s food videos and I quickly got hooked. Informative, not too complex, and the results all look delicious. I had a Barnes & Noble gift certificate lying around and used it to grab one of his books. I might finally use our 19-year-old wok more than three times a year.
Podcasts
Plain English
This podcast is part of The Ringer’s network. I listened to a couple of his episodes about our current economic situation and got hooked.