Tag: movies (Page 2 of 12)

Movies, Shows, etc

The Greatest Night In Pop
The funny way to sum up this look at how “We Are The World” was recorded would be to say it was outrageous. Some of you will get that joke.

I’ve read about that night several times, but there were still some terrific little tidbits in this film. I’m on record as not being a fan of the song, but I liked how Bruce Springsteen described his experience: no matter what you think of the song, it was a tool for helping people. That’s probably the best way to remember it. (Chuck Klosterman was on Bill Simmons’ podcast last week and said something along the lines of, “Bruce said the song sucked in the nicest way possible.”)

We still don’t know why Dan Aykroyd was involved. And it kind of ignores Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder singing back and forth to each other near the song’s end. Otherwise very much worth your time.

A

Ed, season two
Year one was better, but I didn’t complain about re-watching 22 more episodes featuring my old pals from Stuckeyville. A few observations. The season premiere was in early October, so a matter of weeks after 9/11. The persistent NBC peacock logo in the corner of the screen included a waving flag graphic for the first half of the season. America! A punch line for many jokes continued to be the word “homosexual” or “gay.” I don’t think the writers were anti-gay, but 20 years ago that kind of stuff was considered normal. I wish these VHS transfers weren’t so grainy because there were some fetching guest stars. Whoever posted these videos also corrected the biggest error of season two. The creators dropped Foo Fighter’s “Next Year” as the theme song. This person put it back in, which is kind of brilliant. On to season three at some point.

B+

Perry Mason, season two
Season one was very good. Everything about season two was better. Despite terrific reviews and decent ratings, it is another victim of mis-management at HBO and there will be no season three. Idiots.

A

Goodfellas
This aired on Super Bowl Sunday afternoon, and I watched the whole (edited) thing. Still the best.

A+

Lethal Weapon/Lethal Weapon 2
One night I came across these and watched a decent chunk of each. Say the last 90 minutes of the first and the first hour of the second. These were high rotation flicks for me back in the early 90s. Parts hold up. Parts are kind of fucking stupid. No grades since I didn’t see the entire movies.

Incomplete

Mr. & Mrs. Smith
I thought this had some terrific high points, some slow points that dragged a bit, and then some bits that were just odd/confusing and distracted. Much like The Americans, it is a spy show that is far more about being in a marriage than being a spy. Unlike Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings, who we met nearly two decades into their relationship, we see John and Jane Smith come together and try to navigate a new, forced relationship as they kill people. And, like The Americans, Mr. & Mrs. Smith does a great job at demonstrating that marriage is a tough task to begin with. Throw a bunch of super stressful stuff on top of it, and it gets even harder.

I think the strength of this show became more obvious after completing it, when I had time to contemplate and connect those broader observations about marriage together. I wish it had maintained the trajectory of my favorite episodes, but the less successful ones did not cancel them out.

B

True Detective: Night Country
Most disappointing show I’ve watched in some time. It arrived with the promise of calling back to season one, one of the best years in recent TV history. And there were some connections, but they often felt forced. The bigger problem was the story fell apart as the season progressed. Through much of the final three episodes it felt like the writers were meandering, looking for ways to make the story compelling but always falling short. Much of the dialogue seemed lazy and couldn’t be saved by the fine actors asked to speak it. And then the resolutions to the various mysteries? Some of them seemed flat-out dumb. From what I’ve read this was a highly polarizing season, for a variety of reasons. I’m in the camp that was not convinced.

B-

Help! I Wrecked My House
We got sucked into this one Sunday and watched it for approximately 153 consecutive hours. I like that the host isn’t all over-the-top about things. California chill works for me.

A-

Curb Your Enthusiasm, season 10
Spite store! RIP Richard Lewis.

A

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

I haven’t been using the YouTubes as much lately. Last month I had a goal of watching a little more so I could get my algorithm back to recommending cool, random stuff.

Japan’s Most Terrifying Bridge: Eshima Ohashi
I would never ride a bike or run across this bridge.

The ONE thing keeping this iconic vintage laptop from working…
I love the concept of videos like this, tinkering with old tech tools and getting them to work again. I always question the utility of them, though. How much can you really accomplish with a vintage computer. I guess, like so many hobbies, it’s all about spending time doing something you enjoy.

NA1SS Voice Contact Astronaut
The radio geek in me thinks this is pretty cool, contacting the international space station from your backyard with a handheld radio and antenna.

I knocked the bastard off – Retracing the footsteps of a murderer (Ep 3)
Beau Miles wraps up his hike.

DIRT Episode 7 – Atlanta
I didn’t like this one quite as much as the previous ones in the series. Seemed to lack a bit of focus.

Experience a Recording Studio On the Edge of Iceland’s Arctic Circle
How This Photographer Manifested His Dream Home on the Oregon Coast
An Exclusive Look Inside The Explorers Club’s Members-Only Clubhouse
Inside This Green Beret & Entrepreneur’s GORUCK Home Gym
Explore An Austin Musician’s Bohemian Bungalow
After watching DIRT, I dove into some of Huckberry’s videos about cool homes/hangouts. The recording studio and Oregon house are my two favorites.

Secret cafe in Kyoto
This is very cute and very Japanese.

LiMu Emu & Doug
This was some quality SNL-ing.

Finally, my EV content, which took over my life the last two weeks of the month. Rather than share every video – which would probably make you worry about my mental health – I’ll ID the feeds I spent the most time in.

The Out of Spec community has a bunch of feeds, but I watched their Out of Spec Reviews and Out of Spec Dave ones the most.
Ryan Shaw
Gjeebs

There were lot of other randoms I watched in addition to deep dives in those feeds.

This Is the Biggest Problem With EV Adoption
Actually news related to EVs rather than reviews or road trip vids.

Movies, Shows, etc

Fargo, season five
I loved this season, it is right up there with season two as my favorites in Fargo’s TV run. There were a couple small moments that bugged me which kept it from being a straight A, although after listening to an interview with creator Noah Hawley they made a little more sense.

As always, almost every performance was spectacular, but Juno Temple and Jon Hamm were the clear stars. Temple’s Dorothy was filled with an uncontainable energy for survival. Hamm was brilliant as the evil “America’s Sheriff” Roy Tillman. He radiated pure rage. It’s also amazing how an accent done properly can elevate an actor’s work.

A-

Love Notes to Newton
A quirky film about one of the quirkiest products Apple ever made. I didn’t love some of the production choices but it was still a fun look at the life, death, and semi-resurrection of the Newton.

B

Emily the Criminal
I’ve been thinking about ways to spend my free time. Light credit card fraud was one idea. I’m moving it to the top of the list after seeing how well it worked out for Audrey Plaza in this movie. It was fun to see her play a different kind of psychopath.

B+

Barbie
Family movie night. Delightful, hilarious, both overtly and subverted political, skewers modern society yet is a strikingly positive movie, and is surprisingly touching at times. Plus almost every scene has Margot Robbie in it. Not many complaints.

A-

The Falcon and The Snowman
An 80s spy movie about the 70s. I remember this being released to a lot of hype then kind of being a dud. Turns out ticket buyers didn’t like it but critics did. It was one of the first times Sean Penn played a truly unhinged character. Timothy Hutton is a little over the top, but his performance fits the kind of old-timey vibe of the film. Lori Singer is stunning in her brief moments on screen. It’s an interesting story, based on a true tale of two friends who sold US intelligence to the Soviets. It feels very dated, though, mostly because of the technology of the actual film. The sound and lighting seem primitive compared to today. The colors are muted, and not because of artistic choices. Times have really changed.

B

Curb Your Enthusiasm, season nine
Fatwa!

B

Kingsman: The Secret Service
I pulled up a list of movies to watch if you are into James Bond and this rated pretty highly. I didn’t know until about an hour into it that the movie’s roots are in a comic book series. That might have eased some confusion I had in that first hour. I ended up enjoying the bawdy, sarcastic, satire-ish, escapism but it took me awhile to get there.

B

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
I’d been meaning to re-watch this since last summer, when I read Tarantino’s novelization of it. I finally did, and in maybe the worst way possible: I stumbled across it on FX one night, recorded it, and watched it in bits and pieces over the next three weeks. FX doesn’t edit much, by the way.

Like my first time, B+ for the movie, A+ for Margot Robbie.

The Super Mario Brothers Movie
We watched our four-year-old nephew one night and chose this to keep him occupied. He loved it, but he also told us about his day at daycare and all about his basketball team during the show, so I wasn’t super focused.

B-ish?

Skyfall
Last month was Casino Royale. This month the other contender for best Daniel Craig Bond movie. I feel like I’ve gone back and forth a couple times, but I’m sticking with CR as #1 for now, with this close behind.

A

Only Murders In The Building, season one
A slow, wacky build to a delightful ending. Since our family was in the midst of its Disney Channel days when Selena Gomez first became a star there, it’s really hard for me to view her as an adult. And would she really hang out with Steve Martin and Martin Short? I dig those beautiful New York apartments, though.

B+

The Outpost
When the last roughly 45 minutes depict a single firefight with the Taliban, I think it’s safe to call a movie “intense.”

B+

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Sears 1982 Christmas Holiday Season
A bunch of B-roll and a bit of an ABC news report about shopping during the 1982 holidays. I love the shots of the kid playing Intellivision in the department store. In the early ‘80s us video game degenerates always knew where the Ataris, etc were hidden in the Jones Store, Dillard’s, etc and you could sneak a few games while your mom shopped. On the good days no one else was around and you might knock out half an hour of play before you had to leave.

Atari Home Computers – Kiosk Presentation
Coincidentally I came across this via another source. It is a truly amazing look at the world of 40-some years ago. As a fellow computer enthusiast said, this feels more like it’s 200 years old.

Cologuard – SNL
Funny shit, literally.

Building the ultimate Tudor BB54 Big Crown
I’m pretty sure I’ve talked a little about how I’ve gotten into watches in recent years. A feed I follow suggested this vid, where for some reason they take a roughly $4000 watch and make a few changes so it resembles a different watch.

Running 220km in the footsteps of a murderer, part 1
Running 220km in the footsteps of a murderer – Part 2
A new Beau Miles series!

Felicien Kabuga: The man behind Rwanda’s hate media
The Rwandan Bishop Who Incited Genocide
After reading Charles Cumming’s Kennedy 35, I fell into am internet rabbit hole reading, and in some cases re-reading, pieces about the Rwandan genocide. Which led to watching videos like these.

I’m clearly not wasting enough time watching TV or stuff on my computer as this month’s list is again rather lean. Don’t worry, with colder weather arriving and the holiday TV season beginning, I expect to get this back where it should be soon.

Movies, Shows, etc

Halloween Baking Championship
It’s holiday baking show season, bitches! The kids don’t watch anymore, but S does. And I’ve cut Halloween Wars from the rotation so start with just this. From the first episode I was sure Ryan would win. He slipped up in the finale and Hollie was a worthy champion.

A-

Searching for Italy, season two
It’s a damn shame CNN decided not to do a season three, because this was one of the best things on TV. It made us want to go back to Italy soon.

A

Ed, season one.
See here.

A

Seinfeld, random episodes
I hit a streak where I watched at least one episode each weekday for something like two weeks straight. There’s not a bad season, but when they are in the midst of seasons two-through-four, just about every episode is terrific.

A

The Big Short
Another film that I, inexplicably, had not seen. I’ve reached the age where I get suspicious of any traditional motion picture that attempts to explain some cultural, political, or economic phenomenon via drama, even if I agree with its perspective. At least in how I evaluate it as an “explanation” for said event. But you can’t argue that this isn’t a compelling movie to watch. I love all the little sly notes throughout that remind the viewer that the people who are ostensibly the Good Guys of the film are, with one or two notable exceptions, not really worthy of our admiration. They still profited massively off the economic meltdown that ruined so many regular people’s lives.

A-

Pearl Jam – Ten Revisited (2009 TV Special)
Love both the interviews and live performances from the band’s early days.

A

Stranger Things, season one
For some reason this jumped into my mind a couple weeks ago. It is my favorite season of the show, and the finale is one of my favorite single episodes ever. It takes place around Halloween, might as well watch it again!

Only my memory was wrong. Season one begins on November 3, 1983. It is season two that takes place over Halloween. Oh well. It was worth the re-watch for the fall, Indiana vibes alone.

A

American Experience War of the Worlds
It had been a couple years since I logged a Halloween-time listen to Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds. After I knocked it out on Halloween day I came across this PBS documentary about the alleged panic it caused. I found it interesting that this counters the widely accepted argument that very few people were actually fooled by the broadcast. Which is kind of fun. I like there being some mystery and/or controversy about what really happened. I think Welles would approve.

B+

Nile Rodgers & CHIC: Tiny Desk Concert
First off, Nile Rodgers is an American treasure. Second, this is one of the most delightful, joyous, magical performances you will ever watch. There is a massive surprise in the middle.

A+

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

A 20 Mile Backpacking Trip to the Heart of the Cascade Mountains
It’s been awhile since I’ve watched one of these hiking+photography videos.

The Inconvenient Podcast
Beau Miles gets asked to appear on a podcast about parenting. So of course he turns it into an adventure for both him and his daughter and the podcast host and his kids.

Best of Colin and Che “OFFENSIVE JOKES”
Sometimes you have to watch what the algorithm spits out to you.

Music/Podcasts

Plain English with Derek Thompson
I’ve blurbed this show before. Thompson’s current series about the Israel-Palestinian conflict has been excellent. As an American, liberal Jew, he has mixed feelings about the situation. I really appreciate how he and his guests do their best to examine events with as little emotion and as much respect for the people directly affected as is possible.

A pretty slow month for some reason. I guess tennis took up time at the beginning of the month, then I never really got into a groove? I was also listening to football on Fridays and watching a lot on Saturdays and Sundays, with the occasional Thursday and Monday game thrown in. Still kind of weird I watched zero movies.

Movies, Shows, etc

US Open
Watched more of the women than the men, but still tuned in most nights over the tournament’s run.

A

Hijack
Kind of like 24 but on a seven-hour plane ride. Lots of action and tension, there were plot holes big enough to fly an A350 through, but it mostly hits the right notes. Having Idris Elba spend a decent part of the show in an airline seat straining to look down the aisle was a perfect setting for his “Idris Elba Lean” look.

B+

Reservation Dogs, season two
I’m so happy a show like this exists. Some general wackiness, some truly heartbreaking moments, and a glimpse at a part of our country that most of us don’t know enough about, even if this is a fictionalized version.

B+

Seinfeld, Parks & Recreation
I watched a lot of these reruns during late afternoons and weekends. I wish P&R was in higher rotation on Comedy Central and not left to Saturdays and Sundays. I would love to rewatch more of it. Plus S likes it more than The Office.

A, A

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Turning The Titan Missile Key
“Turn your key, Sir.”

“ll Capo” (The Chief): a striking look at marble quarrying in the Italian Alps
As Fab Five Freddy would say, this is kinda incredible.

World’s fastest talking man sings Michael Jackson’s BAD in 20 seconds
I remember this guy. This bit seems like a uniquely 80s thing, doesn’t it? I love that there was a controversy around who really was the fastest talker in the world.

Trying Out for the US Open Ball Crew | Ball People
Kramer did it better.

Huge Lego Salmon fish Cutting
I think we still have some Lego boxes stashed away. There’s no reason I couldn’t do something like this and launch a lucrative YouTube career, right?

Rafting the most polluted river in Australia
Beau Miles’ videos have been getting more serious lately. I need to stop calling them bullshit, even jokingly, as they are quite the opposite of BS.

I picked up 10,000 bottles and cans because of Seinfeld
“We were indeed idiots.” OK, sometimes they still lean to the bullshit.

72 Hours Road Tripping through Oregon
It’s been too long since I’ve been to Oregon.

My family teaches you how to speak Baltimorese
Fun with regional accents!

NLU Film Room: Machrihanish
If someone paid my way to Scotland or Ireland, I would find a way to fight through my arthritic hands and play a few holes.

Music/Podcasts

Bill Simmons Podcast
After years of not listening, I’ve gotten back into Simmons’ pods. I feel bad that I missed so many Parent Corners, as I feel like I could have related to a lot of what he and Cousin Sal talk about since they have kids about the same ages as mine. A good way to get an audio overview of the NFL, too. Since he leans hard to the NBA and I’ve been leaning more that way over the past year, I’m looking forward to continuing to listen to him as the NBA season begins.

Periodic losses of power, some pool gatherings, and three weeks of travel basketball cut my list a little short last month.

Movies, Shows, etc

They Shall Not Grow Old
I’ve been waiting for this to hit a streaming service for a couple years. Peter Jackson took footage from World War I, colorized it, and overlaid it with interviews given by British veterans of that war to offer a limited view of what that conflict was like. It is amazing and brutal. While we have a few modern WWI movies that are hyper-realistic – 1918 and the updated All Quiet on the Western Front the best examples – there’s something about seeing real pictures and film that hit harder.

I also learned for the first time about the world these veterans came home to. I had never heard that much of the British public thought the soldiers had been away on a bit of a lark, and had no understanding of the things they witnessed and lived through. Nor how the British economy, which had adjusted to operate without millions of people who were off to war, struggled to find ways to integrate those workers upon their return.

A

The Clash: London Calling
I thought I had seen every documentary about the Clash, but this one was new to me. Not a lot of things in it I didn’t know, although I had never seen their appearance on the Tom Snyder show.

B+

Football’s Most Dangerous Rivalry
A fascinating, if dated, look at one of the most bitter and unique rivalries in any sport, Celtic-Rangers in Glasgow. I knew it was, basically, a Catholic vs Protestant rivalry. But I never knew its roots were deep in the same divide in Northern Ireland. Pregames at the pubs look like fun.

Glad this came with subtitles already added, because the Glasgow accent is damn near impossible to understand.

A-

Tour de France
I wrote about this here.

A

Community, season two
I went back and re-watched season one a year or two ago. Season two was the show’s peak, a nearly perfect run of episodes that were criminally under-watched on their initial run.

It’s fun going back and watching a show like this so long after its original air date. While The Office has become timeless, watching this definitely took me back to that moment in my life, when my kids were still young and a half-hour of good comedy was an escape from my parenting responsibilities.

A

Primo
The story of a high school junior in San Antonio and his life with his single mom, five crazy uncles, and new neighbor he is crazy about.

Shea Serrano, one of the funniest people alive, and Michael Shur, one of the best writers of TV comedy over the past 20 years, were the creative forces behind this. So it had to be good. And it was, but it was more sweet than funny. Which is fine, but I was hoping for belly laughs like Serrano’s writing often gives me.

B+

The Diplomat
Not what I expected at all. Keri Russell is a US diplomat pulled at the last moment from her dream assignment in Afghanistan to become the new ambassador to the United Kingdom. Which happens just as the Brits are the subject of an attack that could lead to World War III.

It starts off as pretty standard, if high quality, TV politics stuff. But it adds just a touch of camp to veer it towards Shonda Rhimes territory. And for the second time in her career, Russell is in the middle of a fascinating exploration of marriage on the small screen. Her relationship with her semi-estranged husband here has a lot of parallels to Elizabeth and Phillip Jennings in The Americans. The dynamic between Wylers is equally engaging and fascinating.

Entertaining but not too heavy, and split the difference nicely between my tastes and S’s (although I watched it first then recommended it to her). I’ll watch season two for sure.

A-

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Michael McDonald Was EVERYWHERE In The 70s and 80s
The patron saint of Yacht Rock.

Ayo Edebiri Ate Props On Set Of ‘The Bear’ & Spills Celeb Crush
More The Bear content.

Why We’re So Obsessed With Costco
Always interesting to see how very successful businesses often do very simple things to separate themselves from their competition.

Renovating a canoe while running a marathon
Beau Miles bullshit!

I Applied HIGH VOLTAGE to Kids Toys!
This is SO AWESOME! And it gets better on each item.

Can a Lego Car Roll Downhill Forever?
More fun with toys and power. If M had gone to Purdue, she could have met a nice boy who can do engineering stuff like this.

Scott Hutchison Acoustic Pop-up at Boston Calling 2017
No idea why I had never watched this before.

Movies, Shows, etc

Severance
OK, this was the strangest, most messed up show I can recall watching. The way the finale ended – SPOILER ALERT – without resolving anything and instead setting up the next season was maddening. As a lover of the color blue, I did enjoy how many different gorgeous shades were integral to the show’s aesthetic.

B

The Hateful Eight
I didn’t like this as much as Tarantino’s other Western, Django Unchained, mostly because it felt a little long (and I did NOT watch the extended version). But the final chapter pulled all the parts together and made it worth the time.

B+

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Faaaaaaaaantastic. One of the most jaw-dropping visual experiences I’ve ever viewed in the theater. I hadn’t read anything about the movie before we saw it – or rewatched the original – so I was floored when I got to the final moment of the movie.

A

Tour de France Unchained
This, errr, formula worked for F1, why not try it with the biggest bike race in the world. I wonder if this year’s Tour de France will get more interest thanks to this insider look at last year’s edition. I expect to watch more than I did last year, which was less than I had in other recent years. Even with me having to pony up for a month of Peacock+ to watch. If NBC owned Netflix I would say this was brilliant marketing.

B+

Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World
This has only been on my DVR for three months? Four? Not sure why I even record stuff anymore, since it tends to sit there for months before I get to it.

This was really good, although it was less about music the closer it got to the present day. Which is ok since I’m way more into old school hip hop than the new. But it felt like they kind of missed the point talking about how the modern political age and how hip hop has reacted without sharing a lot of music from this era.

B+

For All Mankind, season three
Looking back, season one was an A-, season two an A. In season three we jump to the mid–90s, with the US, USSR, and a private company racing to be the first to land on Mars. A former astronaut is elected president and has a big secret, which eventually comes out to the shock of the nation, especially their supporters. The huge twist at the end of season two was actually kind of slow-played through this season. Until the very last scene of the year when, holy shit!

In between all that I thought this season meandered a little too much. But, once again, the final two episodes make up for any shortcomings in the first eight. The writers are not afraid to go big when it comes to twists and surprises. Looks like we jump to 2003 for season four. I wonder what they’ll come up with for that.

A-

The Bear, season two
Best show of the year (so far).

A+

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Italy on Film
Again, I’m super satisfied with how I documented our trip to Italy last year. But if I ever go back, I wouldn’t mind taking a camera a little more technical than whatever iPhone I’m rocking at that moment.

98 Family Members Fly to Italy for 10 Days
This is not related to the video above, although this guy also has a short called “Italy on Film.”

Travel is hard enough. Imagine flying to Italy, hitting three cities, and doing so with nearly 100 of your relatives. Somehow these folks pulled it off.

Bill Hader discusses cut Casey Kasem sketch with Kevin Pollak
I probably would have thought this sketch was pretty funny.

Brian Lagerstrom
I haven’t updated the foodies I’ve been getting recipes from in awhile. We’ve had a few things from this guy’s collection of recipes lately.

Perfect One-Pot, Six-Pan, 10-Wok, 25-Baking Sheet Dinner
How To Make Slow-Cooked Russet Potatoes That Fall Right Off The Bone
And then there are these, a perfect parody of so many online cook accounts.

Line & Air
Towers Of Tigray
North Face content of the month. Maybe I should buy some more of their gear. It’s been awhile since I have.

Lisa: Steve Jobs’ sabotage and Apple’s secret burial
Weird how much content there has been lately about Apple’s Lisa computer system. This piece is about the development of the line and then how a Utah business took them over when Apple had largely abandoned them, only to be forced by Apple to send them to a municipal dump.

Where Were the U-Boats on D-Day?
Interesting history augmented by fantastic stock footage of submarine warfare from that era. There’s even the obligatory scene of stuff flying off a table as a sub does a quick dive.

Colleen Ballinger Is Running Out of Excuses
This was featured on Vulture’s What to Watch This Weekend section one Friday. C was really into Ballinger’s videos at one point so I decided it was worth 20 minutes of my time. My big takeaway is it confirms pretty much all of these internet famous people that make random videos are total weirdos.

Why every radio station sounds the same
Corporate radio sucks.

How “The Bear” Filmed An Entire TV Episode in One Take
10 Things The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White Can’t Live Without
’The Bear’ Star Chef Matty Matheson’s Brutally Honest Opinion on What’s In and What’s Out
The Bear content.

Pic du Midi de Bigorre – Cycling Inspiration & Education
Looks like a nice, easy, Sunday morning bike ride to me.

Bodysurfing Mavericks with Kalani Lattanzi
Yikes.

This is how it sounds WITHOUT the sample // Bitter Sweet Symphony
I’ve needed to hear this for 25 years.

Music/Podcasts

60 Songs That Explain the ‘90s
I’ve known about this podcast for ages but never listened to it, mostly because my pod queue is already so deep that I can barely get to everything in it. I was finally sucked in when I saw there was a new episode about Prince in the ‘90s. Fascinating stuff.

The best tidbit garnered from that show was that Prince’s infamous “assless” pants worn at the 1991 VMA’s were not, in fact, assless. Rather they featured flesh-colored fabric panels. There was a fabric designer in Minneapolis who was on retainer to occasionally color fabrics to match Prince’s skin tone. And this women never met Prince face-to-face! Just awesome, esoteric stuff there.

I’ve been digging into the show’s back catalog. One of my other favorite nuggets was the host’s lines about Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich on the “Enter Sandman” episode. He said that Ulrich is the Derek Jeter of drummers: if he’s on your team/in your band, you love him and think he’s an all-timer. If not, you think he’s overrated, gets far too much credit for making easy things look difficult, etc. I loved that.

He also said on one of Metallica’s albums, Ulrich’s drumming sounded like “30 minutes of someone falling down the stairs.” That is an incredible description.

A

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.