Movies, Shows, etc
Rebel Ridge
Movies like this are hard for me to watch these days. The moments of injustice seem far too real and common in the real world. That said, this was a good, old fashioned action flick. Not too complicated. Amazingly, despite a lot of gunplay, there’s not a ton of bloodshed nor are there any deaths as far as I could tell. There are some BIG leaps in logic in the final 20 minutes, but that goes along with the old school, action movie vibe.
B+
The Fall Guy
Two uncomplicated action movies to start the year. This one is just goofy enough, and filled with enough wild stunts, to gloss over a thin story. Throw in Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling, two dazzling looking humans, and this was a pretty fun couple hours.
B+
Canary Black
Here’s a movie that took a pretty cool idea for a Bond film – bad guys use a computer virus that could cripple the world’s economies, one country at a time, to ransom trillions of dollars from governments – and shoves the reveal into the final 20 minutes. Right there we have a problem. Then a lot of the writing is extremely dumb. Some of the acting is C-level. A lot of the action sequences are super unbelievable. And even a lot of the production is strange; some of the dialogue feels like it was dubbed in because the actors were speaking a different language. But Kate Beckinsale is mindblowingly hot, and I wonder if the producers thought that would be enough to paper over all the movie’s issues.
C
Black Doves
First off, I wish I would have known this took place before Christmas so I could have watched it a month ago. Christmas music played a big role in this show, so you know I got all bent out of shape hearing them in January.
As for the show? Eh. There were some good elements, but many aspects of the story seemed far-fetched, crazy, or both to me. I will often measure how much I’m enjoying a series by how well I remember details of things that happened an episode or two earlier. I kept having to remind myself of who characters or what plot angles were in this one. Which is funny, since Netflix now writes their shows to constantly re-state the central themes because they know people aren’t paying full attention. I felt like I was and still couldn’t keep all the details of a not super complicated show straight. It was fun watching Ben Whishaw go from the nebish Q of the Daniel Craig era to an absolute assassin in this flick, all while maintaining his queer bonafides.
B-
Spectre
I needed some real spy shit to balance the last two entries. At the moment this is the only Bond movie I could find streaming for free. So I watched it. Some good car chases but otherwise far from the peaks of the Craig era.
Also, I kept wondering how Bond always has these fabulous clothes and insane gear but you never seeing him toting a bunch of luggage around. You might see him with an old school suitcase, but it clearly isn’t holding all the stuff you see him wear in that location. These are the things I think about when I watch a movie for the third or fourth time.
B
Van Halen: Story Of Their Songs
Literally an hour after I finished Ted Templeman’s book, I was scrolling through the cable guide and found this show. It had started 20 minutes earlier, but I sat through the next 90 minutes anyway. Kind of a bummer. For some reason, of the six songs they picked to break down Van Halen’s career, only two were David Lee Roth songs. Seemed like a bizarre choice to me. I’m not convinced you have to include a Gary Cherone song, but let’s say you do to pull in the entire history of the band. Then the breakdown should be three DLR songs, two Sammy Hagar, one Cherone. I think the mid–90s “answer to grunge” entry should have been replaced by a third Dave song. Also thumbs down to the Reelz channel for peppering this show with four minute commercial breaks.
B-
Wolfs
Oceans Eleven is a perfect movie. That’s what you’re running up against when you put George Clooney and Brad Pitt in a movie together. So you better come with your strongest material. This, sadly, did not. I thought the script was weak. How do you not give these two crackling dialogue? The pace was far too slow, especially when this is supposed to be as much a comedy as a drama. There are moments where their charisma is strong enough to lift the picture up for a moment. But those isolated scenes make it clear how weak the rest of the movie is. I’m disappointed in them for taking on this project without giving it some serious sprucing up.
C+
Slow Horses, season two
I didn’t love the first season, but I keep hearing people rave about this show so figured I’d give it another shot. It took me most of the way through this one to remember I read the book it was based on just a year ago. I didn’t love that book, either. I did like this season better, though. Bonus points for wrapping things up in six, sub one hour episodes.
B+
Ladies & Gentlemen…50 Years on SNL Music
Treeeeeemendous. I was a little worried that, at three hours, the last hour would drag and be filled with extra long commercial breaks. Instead that might have been the most interesting part of the program, diving into some of the biggest controversies in the show’s music history. I found it awfully convenient that Lorne Michaels suddenly thinks Sinead O’Connor ripping the photo of Pope John Paul II was brave and sincere two years after she died. I don’t recall him defending her in the days after her act.
I also found the segment in the middle about the choices for musical guests in the 70s and early 80s that were less than conventional fascinating. Those kinds of acts haven’t been part of the show in decades, which is a big shame. Now it’s all massive, established stars or of-the-moment artists doing heavily produced sets. Some of those left-of-center picks back in the day were not very good, but they also reinforced that the show was cutting edge and, at least in theory, subversive. Today the show is all about reading cue cards and hitting your marks, with the audience a slave to the Applause sign. The early days gave us comedic geniuses. The modern iteration gave us Jimmy Fallon. ‘Nuff said.
A
Our Kind of Traitor
Decent enough film based on a John le Carré novel, but despite checking in well under two hours it lacked energy so it seemed to lag a bit. And there was a healthy chunk of the story that seemed flat-out dumb to me.
B-
Pearl Jam – Chicago – Wrigley Field Night 1
A terrific show – of course – from just a couple nights after I saw them. It’s pretty amazing how 1) people can make high quality concert videos taken on cell phones these days and 2) can perfectly match up the video from multiple devices with the official soundboard audio. These look better than official concert films from not that long ago.
A
The Town
On the last night of the month I spent 45 minutes trying to figure out what to watch, whether to pick a movie I had not seen before, start a new series, etc. Eventually I landed on this as a rewatch. Which was smart. Or smaht.
A-
Shorts, YouTubes, etc
Why streaming will destroy the typical sports fan
We still pay for cable, partially because I am too lazy to change and partially because every time I do the math to switch to YouTube TV I can’t see that it would change our monthly outlay that much, and while we don’t watch a ton of TV, the cable bill is worth it to me to ensure I can watch whatever I want when I need to. This piece shows how that traditional offering is on the verge of collapse. And the observation about how young people consume sports very differently than older people checks out with how L follows basketball.
Paul Rudd Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters
Zero surprise this is great.
Jack Black Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters
Jack’s, on the other hand, isn’t nearly as fun since he’s kind of a weirdo.
Top 10 Controversial SNL Sketches We Can’t Believe Made It to Air
Funny how times change.
SCTV SPORTS – Battle of the PBS Network Stars!
Truly amazing comedy, if you are able to get most of the references.
The Ultimate Paper Airplane
This is some wild shit right here.
1977 NIT Indiana State vs Houston Larry Bird 44pts vs Birdsong 30pts
This is so awesome. A highly edited selection of highlights from what appears to be an insanely good NIT game in 1977. The hoops are incredible. Even better is our glimpse to how a college basketball game was aired on a local station in the late Seventies. The choices in cuts. The announcers. Throw in the behavior of the players and ISU’s uniforms and this is a fan-freaking-tastic time machine piece.
Larry Bird 35 Pts Vs DePaul 79 NCAA Final Four
The Game Larry Bird Dropped 49 Points vs Wichita State
Algorithm gonna algorithm.
Fighter Pilot Breaks Down Every Fighter Jet From Top Gun: Maverick
How Navy Pilots ACTUALLY Land on Aircraft Carriers
Watch The Navy’s Most Difficult Student Training
USAF B1-B Lancer EARTH SHATTERING Full Afterburner takeoff!
Trying to keep up with an SR–71 Blackbird
Speaking of the algorithm, watch one fighter jet video and you’re going to get a bunch of jet videos in your feed. Which I do not mind.
Why are mountains so tall?
Science!
Classic Bob Uecker – July 29th, 1976 | Carson Tonight Show
Bob Uecker’s Advice For Kids | David Letterman
A Visit with “Mr Baseball” Bob Uecker
19 minutes of legendary Bob Uecker calls and moments
RIP to Mr. Baseball.
Dave Chappelle Stand-Up Monologue 2025 – SNL
Good stuff, especially the ending.
Hilarious Steve Carell BLOOPERS VS Actual Scene
Office bloopers never get old.
Every James Bond Watch Is A Watch To Die For (1962 till now)
Come on, the Omegas are clearly the best, and the Brosnan Omegas rule them all. If I ever win the lottery…
How Super Bowl Fields Are Deep Cleaned And Prepped For Game Day
Not as interesting as I hoped.
Car Content
First Road Trip In My New Tesla Model 3! FSD Taking Us To Kansas City
Road trip to KC? Sure, I’m in. Wish I was as comfortable turning my car over to FSD as this guy is.
My Kia EV6 GT 800mi Winter Road Trip Was Super Annoying!
Amazing how many cars have horrible software. That’s a bad thing in a traditional ICE vehicle. That’s a deal-breaker in an EV.
Lucid Gravity Charging Performance! 400kW, Tesla Supercharging & Deep Dive Interview w/ Emad & Peter
Lucid definitely has the battery/charging side of the equation figured out. I remain hopeful they remain in business long enough to finally release a vehicle that is competitive with what the average auto buyer can afford. Maybe that is two cars away for me?
Photography
Fujifilm X100 VI: My Honest Take as a Leica Shooter
A Day of Film Photography in the North Bay
Do You Need a Wide Angle Lens?
Capturing the ‘modern prairie’ with landscape photographer Alex Burke
A Day of Winter Film Photography and the Struggle to Stay Motivated
Podcasts
The Rest Is History
I did some looking around to refresh my podcast routine and this one got good reviews. I enjoyed their recent series about the lead-up to World War II, but have skipped the latest one about Roman emperors for the time being. Maybe I’ll dive back in once the NBA trade deadline passes and the hoops pods slow down.
Plain History
Derek Thompson has added this subset of his Plain English pod in which he tackles a moment in history, in this case the assassination of President James Garfield. Fascinating topic I knew nothing about.