Tag: media (Page 4 of 15)

Movies, Shows, etc

Ted Lasso, season two
Got S caught up. She enjoyed it. I don’t think my second viewing changed my opinion of it. It was funnier, deeper, and more emotional than season one. But it also lacked the magic of that first year. Season one wins in a nose because it didn’t have the two extra episodes that messed with the momentum of the rest of the season.

A-

Ted Lasso, season three
I shared lengthy thoughts here. An uneven season that ended on a high note.

B+

Slow Horses
I’m not sure why I go back and watch shows when I’ve already read the book. This got good reviews but I felt it didn’t come close to matching the book it was pulled from.

B

Air
Basically written for people like me. Seriously, what could go wrong when you base a movie in the summer of 1984, include tons of pop culture references and music clips, focus it on the brand I was most obsessed with as a kid and the greatest basketball player ever? Well, plenty, but fortunately this was well written and acted so other than a few quibbles, it was a very enjoyable hour and 54 minutes.

A-

The Yin & Yang of Gerry Lopez
My long-form surf video of the month. I didn’t know a thing about Lopez, and it was cool to learn his story. But even if you hate surfing this is an awesome movie to watch. Amazing production and music elevates the already incredible archival video of Lopez’s surfing prime in the 60s and 70s.

A-

Poker Face
I read so many raves about this show when it came out earlier this year. A throwback to detective shows of the ‘70s with a very modern twist, or at least that was what I gathered from those raves. That description was accurate. But it seemed like a lot of the episodes were about 10 minutes too long. Tighten things up and I would have liked it more.

B

Real Genius
One night after an NBA game I saw this was on and caught the last 45 minutes or so (From the beauty school tanning invitational scene on). An all-timer, a Pantheon flick, one of my most quoted movies ever. In fact, it inspired another post that I’ll get around to sometime this calendar year.
A+

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

GrainyDays
Kyle McDougall
As part of my new interest in film photography, I watched a lot of film-related videos. None more than these two guys.

How Does Film Get Processed?
Never cared about this before.

Why Every Country Has Military Bases in Djibouti
Djibouti. LOL.

The Invisible Barrier Keeping Two Worlds Apart
One of those True Facts that both makes perfect sense and seems completely crazy.

Commando: On the Front Line: The 55 Year Old Commando
Last year I watched the series about the British Royal Marines Commando recruits going through their training. I took until now to get to the companion piece, covering how the cameraman for the series also went through the training. Fifty-five year old badass.

21 Levels of Pen Spinning: Easy to Complex
Twenty-one?!?!

Richmond, London according to Phil Dunster
A Conversation with Brett Goldstein and Phil Dunster
A Conversation with Hannah Waddingham and Juno Temple
Lasso content.

The North Face presents: Lhotse ft. Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison
Climb one of the tallest mountains in the world and then become the first people to ski its descent? Sure, why not? As incredible/inspiring as this was, when you go and read about this couples’ lives, it might ruin your day.

Shining Mountains
Some people would label this as fiction since global warming/climate change don’t exist.
Tracks – An Arctic Snowboarding Story
Same for this one.

Nevia
More cool shit from North Face.

Hawaii, Where Surfing Began
Out Front: Ireland
Out Front: Maui
To Be Frank
My short-form surfing content for the month.

Who Really Got to the North Pole First?
A fun story I had never heard anything about before. I especially enjoyed the section near the end when the host compared the drama of this race to how modern billionaires compete for attention.

Flying eagle point of view #1
This is cool and all, but I want to see the bird snatch some unsuspecting creature for its next meal.

Arctic Post Road – Bikepacking Adventure in the Far North
More adventure shit I enjoy watching but could never pull off.

My Morning Jacket – ‘Return to Thunderdome’ Documentary
I’ve run hot-and-cold on MMJ over the years. This definitely falls into the hot category.

The Balkans Mirage: A Journey on Wheels
Honestly one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen on YouTube. This really should be a whole series.

The Bear-A-Byte PC: Pentium III Teddy Bear Computer
And this is one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen on YouTube.

Movies, Shows, etc

Argo
It had been several years since I watched this. Still holds up, even with all the historical inaccuracies.

A

MH370: The Plane That Disappeared
Maybe the biggest mystery of our time is what happened to this Boeing 777 when it disappeared in 2014. This three-episode series dives into all the theories. Not sure it gets us any closer to an answer, which makes sense given how the plane has never been found. The show focuses on three major theories, and all have massive holes in them. So not sure this really answers anyone’s questions. I did make sure to watch this after we flew over the ocean for several hours.

B

Happy Birthday, Ratboy (live at Schuba’s)
Such a fun piece about a very fun band. They have a terrific sound. I especially love all the little tempo and key changes they throw, seamlessly, into so many of their songs.

A

Watches In The Wild | The Road Through America
I casually check the watch site Hodinkee, because I’m an old man who has weird hobbies. This was an interesting, if uneven, look at the American watch industry. It felt like there was a lack of cohesiveness between the first two and second two episodes. But, as mentioned below, I’ll watch anything filmed along the California coast. Oh, and those custom-made watches from LA? I bet they’ll set you back a year’s worth of college tuition. As much as I enjoy reading about watches, and aspire to have nice ones, I’m always amazed by how much money some folks will spend on them.

B+

A Cook’s Tour, season two
Anthony Bourdain really became “Anthony Bourdain” in this season.

The highlight of these episodes was when I saw three friends in the background of his visit to Oklahoma Joe’s in 2001. Best part was they didn’t know they had been included until I sent them a screenshot.

A

The Night Agent
On a discussion group I frequent someone recommended this show, describing it as not as good as Slough Horses, which I have read but not watched, but much better than Jack Ryan, which pissed me off it was so dumb.

I think that was a good description. This show had a lot of potential, a few good performances, and moments of high action. But it also had a really dumb central plot and some actors who were obviously pulled out of the soap opera world, which made for an odd fit. There were a couple characters that I knew exactly what their fates were when they showed up. And the chemistry between the two leads was a little weird.

B-

Tourist Sauce, season eight
It’s been some time since I watched the No Laying Up crew’s high end travel series. This was a good re-entry point: their trip through Scandinavia last summer. I had no idea there was so much cool golf in that part of the world.

A

100 Foot Wave, season one
I had never heard of this show until I saw an article about season two’s release. I scrambled over to HBO to watch season one before our current subscription expired. Some awesome footage of the efforts to ride the outrageous waves in Nazaré, Portugal, considered to be some of the biggest consistent waves in the world.

A

The Town
I heard someone say they thought this was Ben Affleck’s best film. I don’t know about that, but it was a pretty good way to spend a Saturday evening.

A-

Ted Lasso, season 1
S has never watched Lasso, so as season three spins out we decided to watch from the beginning to get her caught up. She’s enjoying it so far. This rewatch confirmed to me that season one was truly magical. We are in the midst of season two, so that will land in my May list.

A+

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Superpower for Hire: Rise of the Private Military
Although this is eight years old, it was still super interesting. I’d love to see an updated version given how Russia has used PMCs in their war against Ukraine.

Running a marathon in a luxury hotel
The final chapter of Beau Miles’ 12 Days of Newness was about the perfect Beau Miles experience.

San Francisco to LA | A Bikepacking Journey Along the Coast
If you set a video along the California coast it doesn’t matter what the subject matter is, I will watch for the views alone.

DOES YOUR FLAG FAIL? Grey Grades The State Flags!
Bottom line: we have some butt-ugly state flags in this country.

Didi
French snowboarder Marion Haerty attempts to climb and snowboard a Himalayan peak with an all-woman support crew. The descent wasn’t what she had hoped for, but the trip ended up being more than she could have imagined.

Inside the flop that changed Apple forever
Apple LISA Computer – VIDEO DEMO
Apple Ad “Two kinds of people…” with Kevin Kostner
I’ve read about Apple’s Lisa computer over the years, but the first video here was a good overview of what the platform was and why it failed. Interesting that it, in some ways, was a lot closer to “modern” computing than the original Mac, which gets most of the credit. As bonuses links to Apple’s official Lisa training video, and an ad for the Lisa, which featured Kevin Kostner. Why the fuck was he using the mouse with his left hand? I had a coworker once who did that, and when I had to train her on something it almost literally drove me to a murderous rage.

The Decline of Fuddruckers…What Happened?
Fuddruckers was one of the greatest restaurants ever. I had no idea there were still a few scattered around.

Dissing Your Dog
One of Will Ferrell’s top 10 SNL moments. The line he gives the dog that won’t eat always kills me.

WHITE HORIZON
This woman is both a badass and, likely, crazy.

The Rhodesia Coup – Operation Quartz Hectic 1980
South Armagh – “Bandit Country” (1976)
I’ll admit it: sometimes I watch some weird shit.

Frank Turner plays Frightened Rabbit songs for Tiny Changes
Such an algorithm fail that it didn’t send this my way until nearly three years after it was first posted. Goddamn great songs performed with love and passion. The last song kind of wrecked me, as it always does.

Slow month between lots of basketball early in March, watching one show exclusively for a week, and then spring break.

Movies, Shows, etc

From Paseo To Pembroke: Kansas City’s Golden Era
I had heard of this but didn’t realize it was on YouTube until KC buddy Newman sent it my way. A great look at the golden age of Kansas City high school basketball, from 1988 to 1998. I was at a few of the games featured. Terry Nooner was robbed by that ref in 1995.

A

Luther, seasons 1–5
Luther: The Fallen Sun
I saw some buzz about the Luther movie in early March but didn’t know a thing about the show. So I looked it up. When I saw that it starred Idris Elba as a bad ass detective who takes down the sickest killers in London, I figured it was worth checking out.

Boy was it!

It was suspenseful, well-written, creepy, and filled with great performances. Elba is terrific. But Ruth Wilson as Alice Morgan has to be one of the greatest characters ever in British TV. I say that having watched maybe 3–4 British TV shows. Still feel confident in my assessment.

The movie wasn’t quite as good, feeling more like an excuse to bring Luther back to the public. Which was just fine. I watched it on our flight home from Punta Cana and it was perfect for that setting.

A, B

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Too long, too slow. Some fine acting and a few good scenes but they were counter-balanced by the drudgery it was to get through this. I had to break it up into two sittings to finish it.

B-

Extraction
How did I spend my post-KU tourney exit evening? Watching Chris Hemsworth shoot, stab, and fight people to death for just under two hours. It helped a little.

B+

No Time To Die
Watched this for the third time on our flight to the Dominican. Still great.

A

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

The War on Drugs – full live acoustic 2017 Studio Brussel
Good as always.

This Secret Dealer Sells White Toyotas That Save The World
McLaren Speedtail vs F35 Fighter Jet
I’ve never watched Top Gear, but listen to several podcasts hosted by people who love it. I caught each of these shorts, which were great. Not sure I’m ready to dive into the full-length pieces, but I’ll keep an eye out for more of these bite-sized features.

Destination Berlin
This is incredible. It is a highly detailed guide on the procedures British troops were expected to follow when traveling from West Germany to West Berlin in the 1980s.

The High Route
I have periodic spells of interest in adventure stuff like this. While in the midst of them I generally have three thoughts. 1) These adventures and the people who do them are amazing. 2) Even at my fittest I could never come close to doing anything like this. 3) How long would it take me to snap a leg or ankle if I did the easiest parts of a trek like this?

Tragedy of a Landmark Album: 3 Feet High and Rising
There was tons of De La Soul content last month. Which was a very good thing.

10 Things Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein Can’t Live Without
I’ve watched a few of these and they generally suck. Rich, old, white actors talking about their fancy, hand-made, leather slippers and whatnot. But Brett Goldstein? Of course this is the fucking best.

Frightened Rabbit… In Session
A very good session from their early days.

F–22 Raptor | The Most Lethal Fighter Jet Ever Built
Thanks to the good people at Raytheon for helping to produce this high quality propaganda.

(people) of water
A cool video to begin with. Then they ended up on the Na Pali coast of Kauai and I was all in.

HISTORY OF ROCK – 1 Riff per Year from 1965 to 2022
This is pretty awesome. I love the variety of songs he picks from.

The 12 Days of Newness
YES!!!! After disappearing for awhile – apparently it was a planned absence he didn’t publicize beforehand – Beau Miles returned to wrap up his 12 days of doing new shit. Not as much of a riff on the 12 days of Christmas anymore, but still enjoyable. Especially the tennis one.

Shortest month of the year, but I was not short-changed on the media tip.

Movies, Shows, etc

A Cook’s Tour, season one
As I said last month, I recently discovered these were on YouTube. Which is awesome because I’ve never seen them.

Anthony Bourdain’s first TV show, and you can see the seeds of what No Reservations and Parts Unknown would become. You see a host with a clear point of view trying to establish his voice but being a little off what we got used to later in his career. The production is pretty rough; portable video equipment was apparently not great in 2000–01? And the film crew tried a few too many “Hey look what I can do!” techniques.

Still, cool shit. Especially in some of the later episodes when, other than the production values, it really begins to feel like Bourdain’s classic work.

A-

Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, season one
I had heard of this show, and even recorded a few episodes before we went to Italy last fall. But since none of the episodes our DVR slurped up were about the cities we were going to, I never watched them.

I came across a recommendation for the show a few weeks back and checked to see if it was available. Turns out it was free to view on-demand, so that first night I watched four episodes of season one and was hooked.

What a great show! Just about every episode leaves me smiling thanks to Tucci’s good humor and easy interactions with the Italians he runs into during his travels. Makes me want to go back.

A

Minions: The Rise of Gru
We watched one of our nephews one night and this was how we kept him occupied for a bit. Not as good as the first couple movies in the Minions universe, but still good for some laughs. And the six-year-old enjoyed it.

B for me, A for him

Austin City Limits – The War on Drugs
A high quality hour of modern rock.

A

2023 Grammy Awards: 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop
I did not watch the Grammys, since I tend to think they suck. Several friends told me I needed to check out the 50th anniversary of hip hop performance. So I did. It was indeed outstanding. Lots of notable folks weren’t included, but several of my all time favs were. Jump the the 1:46.00 mark to see it.

A+

Triple Frontier
One of those “some good people know where some bad people have stashed their money and try to take it, succeed, but then it all goes wrong” tales.

In this case ex-Special Forces soldiers rip off a South American drug lord to the tune of $250 million. By the time they reach safety, it’s pretty much all gone along with one of their partners.

Nothing special, but I’ve wasted two hours watching worse.

B

Reservation Dogs, season one
I’ve heard great things about this for awhile. I finally watched and all those exceptions were met. Just a great show about teenagers in general. Add in the additional layers from setting (rural Oklahoma) and cast (Native Americans) and it is truly one of the most original and enjoyable shows about growing up I can recall. I hope season two lives up to the first.

A

Inglourious Basterds
Typical Tarantino fare. Parts were brilliant. Fantastic casting and performances. Great writing. But there were moments that lagged and sections of the story didn’t make sense. And there’s so much over-the-top violence, which I don’t mind but can be a lot to take.

B+

Jack Ryan, season three
I liked season one. Season two infuriated me and I swore future efforts off. Then I read some decent reviews and figured it was worth a shot.

What a mistake. Despite a compelling structure to build the story around – the Russians are reviving a Cold War-era plan to goad the US into war – it fell flat once again.

Seriously, I can watch dumb shows, especially if their dumbness is offered up with a wink. But dumb shows that pretend to be smart drive me nuts. And this one got dumber with each episode. I spent more time counting up the insanely illogical/implausible elements of the plot that paying attention to where it was headed. In fact, that’s the only reason I didn’t stop watching; I wanted to see just how stupid the show could be.

Answer: pretty fucking stupid.

Trying to salvage things by almost directly ripping off The Hunt For Red October didn’t help.

C-, only because I can’t admit I spent nearly eight hours watching something that I give a D

Edge of the Unknown with Jimmy Chin
A bit of the old bait and switch here. Chin follows extreme athletes to show how they push beyond the limits that stop normal folks. Episode one focuses on climber Alex Hannold, and how he prepared for his epic free solo climb of El Capitan. The climb that Chin followed in Free Solo. But after the Hannold episode, it goes a different direction. Instead of following athletes who face challenges, we watch a big mountain skier tumble head-over-heels down a 1000’ foot run. We see a kayaker get pinned under the water for over 3:00, his limp arms clearly displayed in his GoPro video. A snowboarder starts an avalanche and rides down a mountain in the midst of it. And so on. Luckily all of these people survive, although there is one episode that does include the death of a subject.

But it is a very interesting look at how these failures affected each athlete. Almost all are embarrassed, as they think since they are “experts” they shouldn’t have made the minor mistakes that turned into big ones. Some ended or altered their careers after their accidents. Others rededicated themselves, but in new ways.

What really makes the series is the camera work. In most cases there is gorgeous, hi-def video of majestic mountains or water falls. And in almost every episode the athlete has a GoPro strapped to their body or tools and we can see inside the avalanche, or have our view spin wildly as the skier tumbles down the mountain.

It’s hard to watch at times, but always beautiful.

A

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

The Mysterious 30 Year Journey of Apollo 12
Yet another amazing story from the Apollo program. The title is a little dishonest: the journey continues today.

Demolished NFL Stadiums Then and Now
These are fun to look at, especially the really old baseball fields, which had strange contours because of the spaces they were crammed into.

Shoegaze and Grunge Compared
I don’t agree with all of this guys points, but it is interesting to compare/contrast the two sounds, which had their peaks at about the same time.

10 Things Stanley Tucci Can’t Live Without
The algorithm is always paying attention, and spit this out after I watched Searching for Italy.

B–1B Lancer Pilot Cockpit Tour and Take Off
The B–1B is the coolest military jet the US has ever made.

DIRT Episode 1 — Seattle
DIRT Episode 2 — New Orleans
DIRT Episode 3 — The North
DIRT Episode 4 — NYC
This can be a little Urban Bro-ish, but I dug the result. A great example of food bringing people with very different backgrounds together.

Why everything you buy is worse now
Spoiler alert: it’s a nasty combination of capitalism and FOMO.

Road trip through KANSAS
I stopped watching The Adventures of A+K when they completed their Alaska journey, although their newest vids still hit my timeline. They made a stop in Kansas on their way back to Texas so I had to check that out. Eating at Joe’s Barbecue was smart. Driving past the Center of the Universe was dumb. Shame the Cosmosphere was closed because I would have liked to see how much that has changed since the last time I was there in 1984.

Cape York, 1972
I’ve been getting a lot of old travel videos in my feed. This one was cool, since I love Australia. I also wondered how different this journey would be today.

Pedro Pascal’s Top 10 Movie Picks
Pedro has been on a bit of a heater the past few years. So, yes, I am interested in the films that influenced him.

The Foreign Legion, another French exception
I’ve known the term “French Foreign Legion” since I was a kid. I didn’t really know what it was about, though. This video shows the modern legion in action.

Christian Braun is a basketball enigma
CB is having a solid rookie year. Love that some random NBA YouTuber has made multiple videos about him.

National Geographic: Polynesian Adventure (1969)
This was so awesome! I want to go to French Polynesia in 1969. I looked him up and the dad of this group, Stan Waterman, is still alive! If he can last two more months he’ll celebrate his 100th birthday.

Movies, Shows, etc

Wednesday
This was on constantly in our house over the holidays. I think the girls and S all watched it on their own, then we had several episodes on the main TV while we had guests. I sat and partially watched a few of them. I thought it was funny, clever, and generally good. Doubt I’ll check out the entire series on my own, though.

B+

The White Lotus, seasons one and two
I probably should have taken some time between these seasons, and then written down my thoughts separately for each. However, I knocked them both out in about 10 days and loved just about every second.

It is a genius show for many reasons. You hate the bulk of the cast, who are mostly terrible people, yet are compelled to keep watching. It tackles and critiques so many elements of society: class, wealth, and privilege; parenthood, marriage, and sex; race relations; colonialism. Some of these, and others, are just brushed upon. But there’s some seriously good commentary about the bigger issues.

I think what makes it truly brilliant, though, is you don’t have to dive into any of that if you don’t want to. You can just let the exceptionally compelling and funny mystery captivate you for the six and seven episodes that make up each season, guessing and re-guessing about who that body we see in the first episode will end up being.

Great writing, great acting, great scenery, great show.

A, A

All Quiet On The Western Front
I’m pretty sure I either watched the original 1930 film or read the 1928 novel. Both are pretty heavy accountings of what life was like for German soldiers in the later days of, and time after, World War I, and considered classic anti-war works.

Remaking the movie with modern techniques makes for an even more haunting experience. All war is brutal, but World War I was especially terrible as tactics had not yet caught up with technology, and men were sent running into sure death quite often. My assumption is that no cinematic experience can recreate the horrors of war. After all, if your life isn’t in danger and you can’t smell, hear, feel death all around you, you can’t understand what it is like to be in war. This film pulls no punches and has some of the most brutal images of war I can recall in a movie.

While this updated version fails to follow the soldiers after war, an element of the original that emphasized the isolation that came with serving, it is still a powerful experience.

B+

Gone Girl
I read Gillian Flynn’s book when it first came out about a decade ago, but never saw the movie. So I knew what happened, but couldn’t remember the exact details, which always makes for an interesting viewing experience as I try to remember the book and wonder what, if anything, has been changed. Seems like this was pretty faithful to the book, and I certainly enjoyed it.

A-

Perry Mason, season one
I never watched the original Perry Mason, although I remember seeing its black and white reruns on local TV as I flipped past when I was a kid. The only thing that got me interested in this was it being Matthew Rhys’ first big part after The Americans.

This season was a little slow, especially in the middle episodes. While I enjoyed some of the more modern political/societal angles that were included in the story, I wondered how well they fit the times (1931–32). Still Rhys was very good, as was Stephen Root, and the supporting performances were almost all excellent. When the momentum finally picked up in the final three episodes, it became pretty good TV.

B+

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Frightened Rabbit – ‘The Full Session’ | The Bridge 909 in Studio
Figured I had watched just about all the FR content that is available until I found this. It kicked off a big change in my music listening habits I’ll detail in the next section.

THE VIEW FROM 12 BARRELS AT 12 DIFFERENT WAVES IN ONE YEAR
Nathan Florence is a bad ass surfer. He takes it to the next level by surfing some of the best waves in the world with a GoPro clenched between his teeth to share an unreal perspective.

Slow Lane
It had been awhile since I watched an arty surf video. The second half of the CFP national championship game seemed like a good time to break that slump. As always in Need Essential films, the music is pretty amazing too.

Mach Loop 2022 Highlights!! USAF F–15Eagle V F35Lightning Low Level through the Mountains of Wales
I’ve watched some of these before. Seems like a pretty cool spot to hang out and watch some military jets roar right by you.

The Greatest Low Flybys & Airshow Moments
Others have said it before, but I’ll add my voice to the chorus: if you want medium quality airshow videos, Bobsurgranny is your best source.

The Offensive Action Taking Over Basketball
Zoom zoom.

Why Switzerland Has 374,142 Bunkers (and likely more)
I think I knew a little bit about the concept of Swiss bunkers, but I had no idea they were this common, the logic behind them, and how they are becoming relevant again.

Dropping a GoPro Under a Popular Fishing Pier
Great, my YouTube recommendations are probably going to be overrun with fishing videos since I watched this.

Making Of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Anytime I watch a war movie, I’m always thinking about the logistics that go into filming complex battle scenes. How much planning there is, how many moving parts there are, and the coordination to takes to make it all work. I would have preferred this be a more technical explanation of how things were done.

How were Roman roads made? Roman Road-Construction
Those Romans were crafty.

Alvvays – What’s In My Bag?
This kids are soooo Canadian.

Inside the 40 Year-Long Dungeons & Dragons Game
I got into a little D&D content binge for a couple weeks, both reading articles and watching videos about the game. This was the most interesting of the several vids I watched.
Can You Play Dungeons and Dragons with only things found at the Dollar Store?
I watch a lot of weird stuff, not all of which makes this accounting each month. But I figured since I already outed myself for dabbling in D&D content, I should go ahead and include this one.

Dhaulagiri
I very much enjoyed the perspective of this climbing film, more about the courage to accept when a summit attempt won’t be safe than the courage to climb in the first place.

Anthony Bourdain A Cook’s Tour: Season 2 Episode 5: Elements of a Great Bar
Have I ever seen A Cook’s Tour before? I don’t think so. This popped into my feed and looks like the entire series is on YouTube, so I’ll be checking it out soon.

What Army Snipers Go Through At Sniper School
I figured sniper school would just be a bunch of shooting. Looks like it gets kind of nutty.

Music/Podcasts

90.9 The Bridge
I’ve written about this elsewhere, but it was seeing that Frightened Rabbit video above on New Year’s Day that had me checking The Bridge’s stream, on which I discovered their Z-to-A countdown that I listened to with great frequency over the next couple weeks. I’m still checking in with them, just not as often.

Year-end charts can produce upsets.
Chris Molanphy broke down how Billboard’s Song of the Year is selected, then ranked all the songs of the year in this two-parter.

Holiday Shit

The Classics
Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas, A
Christmas Vacation, A
Elf, A
Four Christmases, B+
SNL Christmas Special, A-
I did not watch this the past two years, instead catching my favorite sketches on YouTube. That was a good decision. They’ve made some updates and a couple of the new adds were quite good. Still say “Consumer Probe” needs to be dropped.
SNL – Christmas in Australia, A+
This is the perfect replacement for “Consumer Probe.” I showed it to my sister-in-law who lived in Australia for a few years. She had never seen it before. I think I made her holiday season!
The Office Christmas episodes, average of A
Seinfeld “The Strike”, A

Was not able to squeeze Die Hard in this season. Although I can really watch it any time, right?

New(ish)
Holiday Baking Championship, season nine
A weird season. It started off kind of slow, and there were several contestants I actively hated. But once that dead weight was cut away, it rounded into a really solid season with a lot of good bakers. The champion, Dru, was very good but his absolutely ridiculous man-bun infuriated me for the show’s entire run. He was not my first choice, but he certainly deserved the win.

B+

A Christmas Story Christmas
While there was an official sequel, it never gained any cultural traction. In this new-for–2022 sequel, adult Ralphie returns home to Homan, IN after The Old Man dies just before Christmas in 1973. Things go wrong, then a little Christmas magic makes everything right. It was fun seeing so many of the original actors reprise their roles from 40 years go. And there were lots of call-backs to the OG. Very sweet, with a hint of sadness. Not a new classic but a perfectly fine way to spend 114 minutes in December.

B+

Regular Shit

The Office/Seinfeld
Good Lord I still watch these a lot. One day I’ll get sick of them. Probably not soon enough for S, although at least most of the Seinfelds are unfamiliar to her.

A

The Nice Guys
I was told this was funny. It was only mildly funny. I read there was a Christmas angle. That was true only for the last three minutes of the film. The story was so dumb/confusing I wondered if I had fallen asleep and missed a few scenes. Worst of all, for a movie that made pains to plant itself firmly in 1977, there were a number of songs from the pretty great soundtrack that were from well after ’77.

C-

Apollo 11
While watching this I was sure I had seen it before. But it’s only three years old and I can’t find a record of watching. I don’t know if I’m just confusing it with other Apollo videos I have watched, or I saw previews of it. Regardless, another excellent entry into the list of documentaries about the space age.

A

Ava
Things that work: Jessica Chastain as a bad-ass assassin. Things that don’t work: pretty much everything else in this movie.

C

Glass Onion
We actually got two of the three girls to watch this with us Christmas night. I really enjoyed it, especially Janelle Monae’s big role. Not quite as good as Knives Out, but still fun.

A-

Band of Brothers
I’ve been putting this off for, checks notes, 21 years; was time to get to it. A spectacular and very moving way to end the year. I really enjoyed how it wasn’t just ten episodes of insane battles. We got to see the full scope of the war experience. The final two episodes were especially impactful, first with the American troops discovering a concentration camp as the war neared its end, and then how they dealt with the period between the Nazi surrender and them getting word on if/when they would be shipped to the Pacific. You spend over a year in the killing zone, you can’t just turn off all those instincts.

A

YouTubes, Shorts, Etc

Nest Zero – Murder Hornets in Washington State
Remember Murder Hornets? Apparently we have stopped them! Or at least that’s what one article I read last month said the data seems to indicate. In that article was a link to this piece from the early days of the Great Murder Hornet Panic.

12 Days of Newness
Oh hell yes! Beau Miles’ Christmas gift to us all!

Cheap, renewable, clean energy. There’s just one problem
There are a lot of things in nature that create massive amounts of energy. Harnessing that energy often isn’t as easy as you would think.

Fantastic Cockpit Views AIRBUS A380 Takeoff | 8 Cameras
We flew on an A350. I don’t get how these big boys get/stay in the air.

This Blue Angels Cockpit Video is Terrifying and Amazing
To quote Jeff Spicoli, “Awesome! Totally awesome!”

Barbie trailer
I recently read a profile of Margot Robbie, mostly focused on her latest role in Babylon. But there were some references to her next big film, Barbie, and how it will not be what people expect. I love her already, but this awesome trailer makes me want to talk the girls into being my excuse to go see this next summer.

Behind the Scenes of Elf.  Part 2
How did I never see these before Christmas night, 2022?

How accurate was Band of Brothers Carentan
Easy Company Assaults the Crossroads in Holland, 1944
I had to watch of few of these while/after watching the series.

Sip and Feast
This guy’s Peposo video randomly popped up in my feed. I watched it, made it, ate it, loved it, and began watching more of his videos. The family better be ready for a lot of his recipes in the new year.

I think I broke my media consumption habits in October and have yet to get them right. A lot of basketball (on TV and in person) and another week away from home didn’t help. Thus, another rather short list of things to share this month.

Movies, Series, Shows

Halloween Baking Championship
I wrapped up the most recent season on November 2. Blayre was a deserving winner in a season filled with super-talented bakers. Seriously, any of six bakers could have won and I wouldn’t have been mad. Also I forgot to mention last month that L no longer watches these shows with me. Sad.

A

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction
I think I watched 4–5 of these early in the month, skipping around to watch guests I was most interested in. As expected, really good stuff.

A

Goodfellas
The Godfather
One weekend A&E was showing these and The Godfather Part 2 on an endless loop so I popped in several times. I’ve always been a Goodfellas >>> Godfather guy, so I made sure to catch more of it. Still, two American classics.

A, A

Molly’s Game
Although I loaded by iPad up with a lot of content for our trip, I only ended up watching two movies, and both on the way back. Seriously, I’m not sure how I managed the flight to Europe so easily.

Anyway, I thought this was quite good. I think Idris Elba could have been used more, but it wasn’t his character’s story. Jessica Chastain was mesmerizing.

A-

Operation Mincemeat
My other airplane movie, I thought it was also well done, if given a few dramatic turns I figured were probably added just to make the story more interesting. One big one – the love triangle – was confirmed to be manufactured for the screen. There were some other elements I have not found anything to confirm or deny they were added by the screenwriters, but I’ll assume they were.

A-

’Tis the Season: The Holidays on Screen
I stumbled onto this one night as it began and ended up watching for all two hours. I’ve watched a few other shows that are about Christmas movies and this was much better than them, less a clip show that an exploration of what makes holiday movies resonate with us.

A-

Shorts, YouTubes, Etc

Gateway Astro: $800 All-In-One PC from 1999!
I don’t remember these at all, but if I did I bet I thought they were pretty dope.

One Hour of 80’s Video Game Commercials
Not sure what was worse: the Atari games or their commercials. Of course I watched every minute of this.

Audi S8 v Porsche Panamera Turbo: DRAG RACE
For some reason the Audi videos haven’t been showing up in my feed lately. I’m glad this one popped up.

Seinfeld Bloopers
A few pretty good ones in this compilation.

Everyday Carry Essentials and Travel Setup | Erik Anders Lang Founder of Random Golf Club | Gear Lab
This guy’s golf videos annoyed me when I used to watch them, but I am always down to listen/watch people talk about the stuff they use on a daily basis.

A light month thanks to reading The Stand and being out-of-town for a week.

Movies, Series, Shows

Halloween Baking Championship
I have two episodes left, so no final grade yet. Interesting that the baker that seemed to be clearly the best took herself out of the competition early by taking an unnecessary risk.

Incomplete

The Patient
I watched the first two episodes of this one night and then never got back to it. I’m not sure if I’ll go back or not.

Incomplete

Seinfeld, The Office
When I did watch TV last month and I wasn’t watching sports, I watched a ton of reruns of these shows. A’s all around, obviously.

Shorts, YouTubes, Etc

Cathedral Traverse
No big deal, just some dudes casually climbing some ridiculously steep and jagged rocks.

All Quiet on the Western Front | Official Teaser
I might watch this when it comes out.

Hávamál
Amazing surfing in Norway? Who knew? And who knew there are surfers who did tricks like skateboarders on top of gnarly waves? Clearly lots of people knew, just not me.

Is Apollo 11’s Lunar Module Still In Orbit Around The Moon 52 Years Later?
Pretty sure I’ve watched this before. Doesn’t make it any less cool.

SIX MINUTES OF WAR (One-Take WW2 Short Film)
Lord help me. Watch a couple World War II videos and soon they start taking over your feed.

The Making of Arrested Development was a Sh*t Show
A great, 20-minute look at all the things that kept Arrested Development from getting the due it deserved during its original run.

Best Unscripted Moments – The Office
My monthly Office video.

Bob Mould talks about Hoover Dam song
One night I fell into a Sugar/Bob Mould hole on Spotify. I looked at a few Mould-related pieces on YouTube and this was the only one I watched all the way through.

Pearl Jam Is Like a Great Sports Dynasty
The analogy here seems like a stretch to me, but I still watched it.

I Watched Top Gun: Maverick in 0.25x Speed and Here’s What I Found
A few interesting tidbits in here, but also a couple of factual errors and then several things that I’m not sure needed to be explained.

I went on TV and gave away presents made from junk wood
Beau Miles, taking his bullshit to the masses!

What Happened To ‘80s R&B Group Guy?
I will watch anything about Guy. I made the mistake of watching the Aaron Hall video referenced late in this. A total disaster that changed the way I look at him. I did laugh at one comment under the Hall interview that said it set Black people back 60 years.

Mt. Saint Helens from space! Before and after eruption – 1973 to 2019
I’m a sucker for stuff about Mt. Saint Helens.

WWII Rescue Buoys – Secret ‘Floating Hotels’ of the English Channel
These seem kind of crazy.

Movies, Series, Shows

US Open
Probably watched as much of the tournament this year as I’ve watched in several years. It was time well spent.

A

30 for 30: Shark
I LOVED Greg Norman when I was a kid. He was my first favorite golfer and until Tiger came along I was all-in with the Great White Shark. Over time I’ve come to think he is kind of a douche, a view that has been affirmed this year as he has spearheaded the new LIV tour.

This piece looks at his entire playing career with a particular focus on his most famous failure: the 1996 Masters. Even not being a fan of his anymore, it is a little uncomfortable seeing him sit down and watch his meltdown. I still think he’s kind of a douche, though.

B+

Commando On The Front Line
I came to this series in a roundabout way, but enjoyed it. It is a 13-year-old look at both the training process and then the deployment of Royal Marines Commandos during the war in Afghanistan. The series follows recruits through their training in Britain and then as troops that fight the Taliban. The series creator was embedded with the recruits/Marines, and there seemed to be very little censorship of what he was allowed to record/share.

What I found most interesting was how their training differs from American forces. I think that the British troops go through a combined basic training and special forces training, thus it takes 32 weeks (plus a three-week summer break) to earn their commando berets. While in the US you go through basic training and then go through special forces training separately if so inclined. Of course I could be totally wrong on that. It’s not like I’m an expert on these things.

Anyway, compelling show.

A-

Heat
In preparation for reading Heat 2, I went back and watched the original movie. I think I had only seen it all the way through one time. I think that’s because I didn’t like it as much as a lot of people did. I wondered if re-watching it would change that. It did not. It’s classic Michael Mann: great to look at with some amazing action sequences, but much of the dialogue and story have painful issues. Even at nearly three hours, it feels like big parts of the story have been skipped over in the name of brevity, which leads to several, “Wait, what?” moments. But that bank robbery scene is a classic.

B

Cobra Kai, season five
Solid but unspectacular. This season seemed to lack the highs that the first four each had. It also suffered as so many shows that stick around suffer: the cast is getting bigger, which means it is a tougher to get everyone on screen and develop deep storylines. This season also was less funny than any of the four that preceded it. It also lacked any real “Oh shit!” moments. The finale was good, but it felt like a season in which not a lot happened.

B

The Bear
I’ve written about this.

A+

Shorts, YouTubes, Etc

Every Piece Of Gear In An Army Cavalry Scout’s 72-Hour Bag
You watch enough travel packing and gear videos, plus a series about British commandos, and eventually The Algorithm starts spitting content like this at you.

Conan & Andy Help Freshmen Move Into College
Useful pointers for next year when we move M into her dorm.

Adventures of A+K
They are just about done with their Alaskan adventures.

Kara and Nate
The Algorithm finally decided to start suggesting other traveling couples to me. This was the first one other than A+K I checked out. They are funnier, a little more polished, a little less goody-goody. But they are also more capitalistic in their vlogging. Not sure I’m going to deep-dive into their old stuff but I will follow their new videos for awhile.

LPGA Skills Challenge at the Queen City Championship
Lots of really smart people in golf keep trying to figure out ways to “grow the game,” and their plans generally involve the Saudis and/or giving rich people even more money. But it is stuff like this, which is low in budget but high in fun, that makes the game more interesting.

WHAT IT’S LIKE FALLING AT GIANT MAVERICKS WITH IAN WALSH
Dude! Also, drones have made surf videos even more spectacular.

Peru’s Geography is CRAZY
The Algorithm has been bugging me about this for months. I finally cracked. Peru seems kind of dope.

Black Diamond Presents: Behind the Lens with Chris Burkard
The monthly “Sure, it’s a commercial, but it looks amazing” entry.

Norway and Sweden Compared
Not sure this really clears anything up. He should have thrown Finland and Denmark in to really confuse matters.

Big Sur, California: 1 Day Road Trip to Beaches, Waterfalls, Bridges and Elephant Seals
We went to Big Sur once when we lived in California. All I remember are lots of trees. We must not have hit the good spots.

One last run for the best hat ever made
Beau Miles bullshit. Watch your knackers!

Restorers Try to Get Lunar Module Guidance Computer Up and Running
I could have used a lot more detail but this is still a fascinating project.

GERMAN VERSION OF THE D-DAY INVASION FILM MADE BY O.S.S.
Fascinating. A film made by the Germans for people in Germany and occupied Europe to spin the Allied invasion of Europe as a moment of German strength. Then the US OSS took it, added some English voice overs, and showed it to American factory workers to motivate them to keep cranking out war supplies.

Omaha Beach From the German Perspective
The above video caused this to land in my feed. I’ve watched a couple of this guy’s videos and have decided I don’t like his style very much. I can’t put my finger on why, but something about them just doesn’t mesh with my preferences.

How We Survive LONG HAUL FLIGHTS!
We have a long haul flight coming up soon. I’ve been collecting tips anywhere I can.

(even more) season 6 bloopers | The Office
Always good stuff.

Audio Streams

93 WXRT
I learned in this breakdown of The Bear that the VoiceOver in episode seven was from the beloved alt/indie rock station WXRT in Chicago. I’ve added it into my Sonos favorites and listened to it a few times. It reminds me of Bloomington’s WTTS although with more new music and a more indie lean. I’m spoiled so the commercial breaks bum me out, although I understand their presence makes the existence of a station like this possible. I still wish there was something similar to Cincinnati’s WOXY out there for us music heads. As much as I love Spotify, there’s nothing like having a good DJ spool out the songs for you rather than relying on The Algorithm to do it.

Booth Review
I can’t find a link specific for this podcast/stream, but Kent Swanson and Scott Chasen’s breakdowns of KU football are really, really good. I don’t know much about the specifics of football, but they dive into the details in a way that should delight both football geeks and casual fans. This was their instant reaction to the Iowa State game.