Tag: movies (Page 4 of 12)

Movies, Series, Shows

Better Call Saul, season six
I wrote about this here.

A for the season, A+ for the series.

The Queen’s Gambit
It took me awhile, but I finally got to this. Not sure if it was better or worse to watch it well after its initial buzz had faded. While I enjoyed the story, I felt it had some big holes and ended a little too cutesy. But Anya Taylor-Joy was dazzling and delightful in the lead role. I could watch her in about anything.

B+

Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner
Of the food/travel shows I’ve sampled, this comes the closest to Anthony Bourdain’s oeuvre. But it still falls short. David Chang, who was a close friend of Bourdain’s, doesn’t appear to have the same touch with people, or at least it doesn’t come across on video. There are moments in each episode where I wondered if there was any true chemistry between him and his guests. But that often seemed to be a result of decisions the producers made more than their interactions.

B

The Gray Man
The near non-stop action was nice. The story seemed like a bunch of bits picked up from other movies. I’m always happy to watch Ana de Armas. Chris Evans was a great villain. But Ryan Gosling brought zero charisma to the lead role.

B-

Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist
Oh man, the Manti Te’o story gets the two-hour, documentary treatment! And it’s even crazier than I remembered. Although clearly set up as a Te’o rehab piece – it focuses a little too much on his desire to help others and forgive those who wronged him – it is still an absolutely enthralling watch.

A-

Pearl Jam – 2022–05–12, Oakland Arena, Oakland, CA
I don’t want to speak ill of a member of my favorite band, but I’ve never been a huge Matt Cameron fan. He is a great drummer, technically precise as any drummer of his generation. But he is so locked in that he can come across as boring. While he may be a great match for the band in terms of personality – he is the longest tenured drummer in the band’s history – I think the band also lost some of their edge when he joined them. When he was laid out with Covid last spring, the band pulled in some friends to fill Cameron’s seat so their shows could go on. This was one of those shows. This is a great performance, fueled, I think, by the presence of drummers who are a little less precise yet more wild than Cameron. There is a terrific energy that harkens to the band’s earlier days.

A

Shorts, Etc

Bad River
This month’s Beau Miles joint. I think this may be the most impactful of his videos that I’ve watched. The moment when he arrives at the point where hundreds (thousands?) of plastic bottles, balls, and general trash are blocking the river really struck me. Mostly because I know there are dozens of locations just like that in every major urban area. Pick your shit up and recycle it, fools.

Eddie Vedder in Conversation with Bruce Springsteen
What a fun chat. Eddie is so interesting to listen to, especially in settings like this when he is relaxed and comfortable.

Adventures of A+K
Alaska looks pretty dope.

Return to Vietnam, 45 Years Later
An American Special Forces officer back in Vietnam for the first time since his tours during the war. Some powerful moments for sure. I enjoyed his perspective, especially at the end when he encounters the local family at the Hanoi Hilton about no matter what our history is, we are all sharing the same planet.

DJI Mavic 3 – Flying Over Mount Everest
While basically a commercial, this footage is stunning.

M and I are off to Bloomington for campus visit number five today, so it is a perfect day to drop this list on you.

Movies, Series, Shows

Somebody Feed Phil, season one
Crap, I forgot to include this in my June entry. After watching the Anthony Bourdain film, I tried to find something similar to his classic shows to scratch my food/travel/culture show itch. This came pretty close.

The show is far funnier than any of Bourdain’s and never tries to be as arty. Phil Rosenthal isn’t a chef – he’s an actor/writer/producer – and he doesn’t try to break down food the way Bourdain did. But he is equally as good at finding interesting people along his travels and telling their stories. He doesn’t always connect with them the way Bourdain did, but their stories still shine.

Another big difference is that Rosenthal seems like a far sunnier and more optimistic person than Bourdain was. That’s why he can do an episode in Israel and focus on how there are areas where Arabs and Jews live in peace and harmony and suggest that gives hope for the entire country. I can’t say that Bourdain would take that same positive angle.

A-

Stranger Things, season four
Expectations and experience. That sums up how you evaluate a popular, returning show like Stranger Things.

The issue here is that the first season of ST was as good as any season of any show. And, to me, seasons two and three fell well short of its mark (my daughters disagree).

Season four doesn’t match season one; I’m not sure that’s possible. But I found it much better than seasons two and three.

The big issue, and I knock it down a notch because of this, was the sheer length of episodes. There was absolutely no need to have the final episode last nearly two and a half hours. Or have several others stretch beyond 90 minutes. Come on, Duffer Brothers, edit yourselves!

I also thought the Hopper timeline in the Soviet Union was, largely, a waste of time until the finale, when it was shoehorned it into what was going on back in Hawkins.

Those issues aside, the story was better and more interesting than it had been in three seasons. I don’t think the magic of season one can be recaptured, mostly because the kids aren’t really kids anymore and they can’t show that wide-eyed innocence and belief that came with being younger. The strongest part of the season was when the kids were together struggling to battle Vecna. The scene where Lucas held a (assumed) dead Max was maybe the most powerful of the entire four seasons, and a tremendous acting performance by Caleb McLaughlin.

I think a lot of fat could have been stripped from the script, the focus kept on the kids, and you would have had a much tighter and better season.

B+

30 For 30: Once Upon A Time In Queens
I’ve read Jeff Pearlman’s book about the 1986 Mets. This expands on that and is filled with great footage and interviews. I never knew the thing about Roger Clemens shaving after he came out of game six. Or that the Red Sox had 16 pitches they could have won the World Series on before Mookie Wilson and Bill Buckner had their moment.

A

Norm McDonald: Nothing Special
A fascinating show. Shortly before undergoing surgery to treat the cancer that eventually killed him, McDonald sat down in front of his computer and recorded the set he was working on, just in case he was never able to perform it. Which turned out to be the case. It is strange watching a comedy set without an audience that the performer built in moments in which he would react to/interact with the crowd.

The set is followed by a roundtable amongst David Letterman, Dave Chappelle, Molly Shannon, Conan O’Brian, Adam Sandler, and David Spade in which they discuss both the piece and their experiences with McDonald.

The whole thing is very interesting if a little unsettling.

B+

Better Call Saul, season six
I waited until about a week ago to start the final season of BCS. I made it up to episode nine and had to take a breather. That episode was a nearly perfect 90 minutes of TV. In reality, not much happened. It was more about how the surviving characters dealt with the aftermath of some massive developments in episode eight. It was so expertly written, shot, and acted, though, that it didn’t matter that there wasn’t much action. It was brilliant high point of one of the best shows ever.

At the end of season five there was a scene between Lalo Salamanca, Kim Wexler, and Jimmy McGill that I called one of the greatest I had ever watched. That scene was carried by Rhea Seehorn, who plays Wexler. She may have topped that with her performance in S6, E8 when she makes one of the coldest ass speeches her character has ever made, and then finally cracks under the pressure of everything she and Jimmy have been doing. Give her the damn Emmy, cowards!

Most importantly it seems like, in the final moments of that episode, we crossed over from the gravitational pull of Better Call Saul into the more direct influence of Breaking Bad. Maybe I’ll be surprised when I watch episode ten that there is still “BCS* territory to navigate but that was my impression when the final scene faded from the screen.

Incomplete

1917
I tried not to read much about this when it first came out, but was aware of the tricks Sam Mendes used to make the film appear to be a single, continuous shot. So it was fun to catch the little breaks that allowed him to build that illusion.

I was more fascinated by the sheer genius that went into filming the scenes themselves. How did they build a massive trench complex and battlefield filled with craters and barbed wire and faux corpses that the actors could stumble through for minutes at a time? And then how did they film traveling, close up shots when the actors were struggling not to fall on their asses in the mud? Just an amazing act of photography.

The story was also great, although I kept feeling the influences of Saving Private Ryan and Dunkirk.

A-

Shorts, Etc

The Office Season Four Bloopers
I laughed. I bet you will, too.

Adventures of A+K
My millennials made it to Alaska!

Kansas Beats Soviet National Team
I remember watching this game live, and am bummed only these bits seem to be available on YouTube. I was also convinced KU was going to win the national title that year after they beat the Soviets. I was only a year off…

“A Slice of Paradise” – A short film by Liam Tangum and No Laying Up
I am a native Kansan, with roots deep in the central part of the state. But, let’s face it: since I mostly grew up in Kansas City there’s a lot about my home state I don’t know. Like this aspect of high school golf, for example.

24 Hours Alone on the Washington Coast
Everything about this is gorgeous.

Still As It Was
I could do this for a weekend. But people who choose to live like this strike me as slightly mad.

Mad Scientist BBQ
My man Coach Hebs hipped me to this guy’s videos. I made his ribs recipe and they turned out faaaaaantastic.

We have a few trips planned over the next nine months, so I’ve dived into videos about packing, travel bags, etc. It’s really kind of disturbing how much time I’ve spent watching them, and plotting how to buy new gear when already have a lot of perfectly good travel gear in the house. Rather than share all the videos I’ve watched, I’ll share a few of my favorites.
Pack Hacker
I’m a little addicted to both the Pack Hacker website and their videos.
Carryology
I’ve been getting Carryology’s emails for years, but now their videos are part of my obsession, err, research process.
Packing Tips for Men – What to Pack & Wear in Europe
This video has nearly cost me thousands of dollars in new purchases.
Peak Design
I have a bunch of PD camera gear already. I have my eye on their travel gear now, too.

One Shining Moment | KU Edition
As a KU super fan, I quibble with some moments that aren’t in here. But there are some pretty cool random ones, notably Calvin Rayford straight picking Damon Bailey in the 1993 Elite Eight.

Movies, Series, Shows

Tokyo Vice
I heard mixed things about this, but when I realized Michael Mann was involved, I decided to give it a try. It’s classic Mann: visually stunning with some high highs and low lows.

My favorite part about the show was Ansel Elgort, the actor who plays main character Jake Adelstein. The real Adelstein is from Missouri and attended Mizzou. Elgort has a slight resemblance to, and sounds a little like, Charlie Tahan, who played Wyatt Langmore on Ozark. Wyatt, of course, was trying to get his shit together so he could go to Mizzou at one point. I liked to imagine that the shows were flipped chronologically and Tokyo Vice was an Ozark spin off that showed where life took Wyatt if (spoiler alert) he hadn’t gotten killed by Javi Elizondro.

B

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain
This was exactly what I expected it to be. The first hour or so is a wonderful recounting of an amazing life lived by one of the coolest people ever. Then the last hour should totally fuck you up if you admired Bourdain and his work, and/or have had someone you were close to commit suicide.

A-

Top Gun
If I was going to see the new Top Gun flick, I figured I better watch the original again. Even if I watched it approximately 8000 times between the summer of 1986 and the fall of 1987. Just good, clean, cheesy, 1980s fun.

A

Barry, season three
I believe I’m obligated to say, HOLY SHIT!!!!

Barry spent the first two seasons balancing laugh-out-loud humor with often intense violence, and that balance always made the show work.

Season three lost some of that humor as the show veered into much darker territory. At times I wondered where it was headed. But it all came together amazingly in the final two episodes. The season finale is one of the most intense, disturbing, yet fulfilling half hours of TV I can recall. It was brutal to watch but, afterwards, I couldn’t help but admire how the season arrived at its ending and how many absolute powerhouse acting performances it took to get there. I don’t know where the show goes from here, but I will certainly watch as Bill Hader and his compatriots have yet to disappoint.

A

No Time To Die
First home viewing. Still good, although Léa Seydoux’s performance struck me as not great this time.

A

Shorts, Etc

Inside Demolished Ukrainian City
Inside Underground Bunker During Bombing in Ukraine War
Inside East Ukraine War Zone
More of Indigo Traveller’s trek through Ukraine.

Adventures of A+K
My (sometimes) favorite Millennials continue their trek to Alaska. They’re into Canada now, so making progress.

The Last Ski Maker in Scotland
A beautiful little film about an amazing craftsman.

Homewrecker
Beau Miles’ videos are usually filled with humor (or “humour” to him). This one has some bits of that, but it’s far more about his obsessions, what causes them, and what he hopes to accomplish through them. We need more people like him in the world who view a moment of destruction as an opportunity to repurpose rather than toss aside materials that still have functional value.
Searching the bush for my cameraman’s wallet
And then here is some of his normal bullshit. I’m going to start using the term “rice bubbles.”

Solo Camping in the Rain
My outdoor video viewings have led me to this: a combination camping and ASMR video. I watched this after 11:00 one night and it nearly put me to sleep. Which was kind of cool.

NLU Film Room: Soly 2022 U.S. Open Local Qualifying
Take a really good “regular” golfer and put him in a US Open local qualifier with a film crew following him and fun ensues.

I watched an NBA game from every decade
This was dope.

J. Kenji López-Alt
The algorithm suggested one of this guy’s food videos and I quickly got hooked. Informative, not too complex, and the results all look delicious. I had a Barnes & Noble gift certificate lying around and used it to grab one of his books. I might finally use our 19-year-old wok more than three times a year.

Podcasts

Plain English
This podcast is part of The Ringer’s network. I listened to a couple of his episodes about our current economic situation and got hooked.

Movies, Series, Shows

Ozark, season four, part two
Ozark found its groove in season three and maintained that into the first half of season four. S4, E8, which kicked off the last half of the final season, was one of the best hours in the series’ total run. And then things kind of fell apart. That tension I loved so much from the first half of the season drifted away. It seemed like there was a lot of killing the clock to get to the end. A lot of moments that felt like repeats of earlier moments. And then an underwhelming finale to cap it off. I kind of knew (SPOILER ALERT) that Ruth wouldn’t survive, unlike Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad. It still bummed me out she had to die. As I’ve said all along, this was a series where there were never any truly good or innocent people to root for. So perhaps that unsatisfying ending was appropriate if not the most artful or memorable end to the series. For a moment it challenged the greatest dramas of the current age of TV – Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, The Americans – but in the end, it was entertaining but not the all-timer those shows were.

B

The Courier
I remember this being compared to James Bond films when it was first released. It took place in the Sixties, (mostly) in England, there was a stylish element to how it was shot, and a lightness to its dialogue and performances. But it was never as silly as classic Bonds, nor as action-packed as any movie from that series. It was a still a smart, very well done spy flick with a pretty brutal last 30 minutes.

A-

Primal Survivor: Escape the Amazon
I used to watch shows like this, the whole “adventurer doing something crazy in the wild” type show, quite a bit. I grew disillusioned with them because they became increasingly contrived, or focused on being different versions of Survivor. And I hated how the standard became to really ramp up the drama with shaky video and special effects, as if some dude trying to walk across the Sahara or whatever wasn’t dramatic enough.

Anyway, in this series adventurer Hazen Audel is tasked with traversing the length of the South American country of Guayana, in the Amazon Biome, as the rainy season hits. All he has is a machete, a backpack, and his knowledge of the region and a lifetime of adventuring. Kind of cool, if you’re into that kind of thing.

But they still do the same shit with these shows, with quick cuts, sped up video, and other techniques to make the show look edgy and the danger look worse than it is. With like 30 years of knowledge of these kinds of shows, I’m also better attuned to how many of the “dramatic” shots were done after the fact.

It was a cool adventure. I would have been more interested in seeing how it really went, and not how the producers wanted it to look, though.

B

Strapped: South Carolina
As my obsession with golf flagged last summer – thanks pre-arthritic wrists – so to did my consumption of No Laying Up’s various shows and pods. But golf twitter was abuzz about the latest season of Strapped, so I checked it out. It did not disappoint. What turned into NLU’s best series several seasons ago took an unexpected and touching turn in season 10. Episode three is one of the most delightful things they’ve ever done, and was an emotional viewing experience for anyone who has come to admire and love the crew’s work.

A+

A Week in the Life: Stanford Women’s Golf
The NLU boys have begun to branch out into content that isn’t travel related. This is the best work of that tangent so far, an in-depth look at the Stanford women’s golf team. There is a ridiculous amount of talent on that squad, especially Rachel Heck and Rose Zhang. (The Cardinal just won the team national championship and Zhang just won the individual title.) The real revelation is coach Anne Walker, who seems like the perfect coach.

A

The Kids in the Hall
The Kids are back! I spent a lot of time watching the classic Kids in the Hall shows, mostly on the repeats that aired on Comedy Central well into early ‘00s. I never saw their much-maligned Brain Candy movie, so I was cautiously optimistic about them putting together a new season. I loved it. I had forgotten about how random they could be. There were plenty of sketches that made no sense to me. But I admired the ambition. The sketches that worked for me, though, worked 100%. I’m disappointed the Chicken Lady didn’t make a return, and dock them a notch because of that. But this was better than it had any business being.

A-

Our Great National Parks
I prefer my ex-presidents to do cool things like this instead of subverting democracy.

A-

Adventures of A+K: Journey to Alaska
As you’ll see below in the Shorts section, I got sucked into watching tons of travel and adventure videos last month. All that led to this, a series that is still in progress, featuring a husband and wife who are traveling from Austin, TX to Alaska.

They kind of annoy me, with their Millennial ways. I generally watch it at 1.25-to–1.5 speed to try to mitigate that. But this seems like a freaking awesome trip. The Big Sur episode in particular has some absolutely stunning visuals. I think S is getting worried that I’m watching so many videos like this, as she is decidedly not a camper nor a person who would enjoy traveling like this.

A-

Tokyo Vice
I’m about halfway through this, so it gets an Incomplete for now.

Our Father
I wrapped up the month with this light-hearted look at a single dad trying to stay afloat in an increasingly crazy world…

Lord, I wish that’s what this show was about.

No, if you haven’t seen this, or read about it, it is about the Indianapolis fertility doctor who lied to his patients and used his own sperm rather than donor sperm for decades. At latest count he is the confirmed biological father of 94 people, most of whom live in the Indianapolis area, who believed they were the product of either their presumed father’s DNA, or that of an anonymous donor. It’s a truly fucked up story and I really hope that if the God this doc believes in exists, that God punishes him for eternity when his time comes.

Two points of personal interest. 1) My father-in-law was in the same high school class as this doc. Fun! 2) I know at least two people whose parents were defrauded by this fuck. I know one pretty well. I’ve only had one brief conversation with her about this, and I tread lightly as I know discovering the truth of her paternity was a massive shock to her entire family. It was a weird feeling to see her picture included in one of the collages of “kid” pics late in the piece. I could write a lot more about what I know of her experience, but that seemed better suited to a real life conversation than a blog post.

Big props to local TV anchor Angela Ganote, who was the only person with any power who helped the poor people who were trying to get some kind of support from any level of government. They never got justice in the court system, but at least the truth is out.

B+

Shorts, Etc

(A quick note that I’ve decided to stop grading these shorts. That seems kind of silly and I’m surprised I did it for so long.)

Kansas Jayhawks Top Plays of the 2010s
Top plays from a barren era of KU hoops. Why, we didn’t win a single national championship in this decade!

Hiking 45 Miles Alone on the Grand Teton Loop
Hiking the Fairyland Loop in Bryce Canyon National Park
Two different podcasts I listened to suggested this guy’s videos, and I’m nothing if not willing to take suggestions on YouTube content from other content providers I trust. There are a ton of videos similar to this guy’s – as you’ll see below – and I was fascinated by the combination of incredible visuals, zen-like simplicity, and the obligatory gear-sesh at the end. I seriously think YouTube runs as much on gear vids as it does racially-motivated hate or copyright infringement. Anyway, this tweaked my YT algorithm and I fell into a pretty deep rut of other videos in the same vein.

The Last Wilderness of Scotland – A canoe expedition into a remote corner of the Scottish Highlands
Wild Scotland – Beyond the NC500 (1 month camping, bothying & hiking in the Highlands & Islands)
How To Do The North Coast 500
Don’t watch one video about adventuring in Scotland because soon that’s all you’ll be watching.

Iceland – 4×4 Winter Road Trip
Not sure what was more fun about this video: the stunning visuals or the host’s very good but still very European English narration.

Camino Portuguese Documentary: When The End Is Just The Beginning
I think these long hikes are pretty cool. But taking your two-year-old along with you seems like an absolute nightmare. I’m sure he wasn’t always as delightful as he is in the video, right?

Two friends, five days & 110km of Swedish wilderness
Solo Hiking 115km in the Pyrenees
The Mountains
It’s amazing what you can do with a drone and a generous travel budget.

52 hrs on Amtrak Sleeper Train – Chicago to San Francisco
I think this looks like a pretty cool way to travel.

3 days solo camping in ice, rain, sleet and snow
I would have taken a tent, but that’s just me.

Actual vs. Deleted Cold Opens | The Office Season 2 Superfan Episodes
I’m a sucker for deleted The Office scenes.

Why is Denali So Tall?
I heard Casey Kasem say, on an old AT40, that Denali was one of the three highest mountains in the world. I knew that was wrong, and looked it up to confirm. Turns out there are different ways of measuring a mountain’s height, and by one of those measures, Denali is in fact on of the highest peaks in the works. That tidbit is included in this piece.

Arctic Midnight Sun – 24 hour time lapse
Total Solar Eclipse, March 20, 2015 – Spitsbergen, Arctic
Both of these are cool, but the second is incredibly cool.

The Making of Casino Royale(s) was a Sh*t Show
A bit of a dishonest headline here. This is more about the nearly 50-year struggle to get Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale novel turned into a proper Bond film than some dirt on the making of the first Daniel Craig edition in the series.

Why Indonesia is Moving Their Capital City
I didn’t know anything about this. Crazy stuff.

Indigo Traveller in Ukraine
Day 1: Arriving in Ukraine During War
Walking Ukraine’s Destroyed Streets in War
Indigo Traveller has bopped into Ukraine to show the world some of the effects of the current war there. Each time you grow frustrated at the price of gas, remember Putin’s illegal war is the biggest cause.

Shows and Movies

Official Secrets
Weird how huge events that happened A) overseas and B) while we were waiting for M to be born have totally slipped my mind. Here is a dramatic recounting of how Brit Katharine Gun leaked a confidential memo about the efforts to sway the UN Security Council to vote in favor of war against Iraq in 2003 to the press, and her experiences after confessing to her “crime.” I’m sure the US has a law as fucked up as the British Official Secrets Act.

A-

Trials of Miles: Running 650km of the Australian Alps
Beau Miles longform vid of the month.

B+

Patriot, season 2
I loved season one. I loved this season. Until the final scene. And that scene was so strange it nearly ruined the entire thing. Later I read that show runner Steve Conrad was really into French films, which I know nothing about. But I think the final scene was laden with French cinema references. Which mitigates its effect a bit. And I realized one scene can’t ruin a terrific season of quirky, smart, insanely funny TV.

A

Michael Clayton
Beirut
Two movies written by Tony Gilroy (he also directed Michael Clayton) featuring two of the biggest leading men of our era.

In Clayton George Clooney is a fixer for a major New York law firm facing various personal issues whose life comes under threat when he learns the truth of a major case. He doesn’t do the usual Clooney stuff, which makes his excellent performance even better. A slow burner that rewards the viewer with a big closing payoff. There is also a very random and strange KU basketball reference in this movie I can not make any sense of.

In Beirut Jon Hamm is a former US diplomat who returns to Beirut during the 1983 civil war to assist in negotiating the release of a former colleague from a Palestinian group that has taken him hostage. Hamm doesn’t veer too far from what made him famous; he drinks and smokes a lot, and shuts people down with his words. Basically Don Draper in a different setting. The story has some holes, especially the finale, but this is still a pretty solid flick.

A-, B+

Sixteen Candles
One night I turned on the NBA playoffs but the game airing had just gone to halftime. I noticed Sixteen Candles was starting one channel up and figured I’d watch until halftime ended. I sat through the whole thing, commercials, heavy edits, and all. Shame so many great but highly inappropriate lines get cut.

An A+ forever

True Detective, season one
This was some wacky, wild, insane shit, my friends. A great show with some top-notch acting, although I would slot it just outside my all time favs.

A

Shorts

How to Cut Michelin Star Onions
I’ve been using his final technique for a year or so. Pretty easy and gets good results. But the “requirement” for Michelin-starred restaurants is insane.

A-

Becky Kagan Schott Explores Alaska’s Glacier Moulins Underwater with Seiko Prospex
This is about the coolest watch commercial I’ve ever seen.

A

How Steep Can Ken Block’s New Audi e-tron climb?
This month’s “Fun with EV’s” video.

A

2022 Audi RS e-tron GT
OK, this is my next car.*

(Assuming all three of our girls find a way to pay for the remainder of their educations without any assistance from their parents.)

A

How Stalin starved Ukraine
The current war in Ukraine isn’t the first time a madman in Moscow tried to destroy that country.

A

HIKING ANGELS LANDING DURING A SNOWSTORM – Most Dangerous Hike in the US
Gorgeous photography but this guy is nuts.

A for visuals, F- for my fear of heights

Kansas Jayhawks Top Plays of 2022 NCAA Tournament
Kansas Jayhawks Top Plays of 2021–22 Season
In case you missed it, the Kansas Jayhawks are NCAA champs!

A++++

Top Ten Bill Self Non-Con Regular Season Wins at Kansas
I could quibble a little with this list but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it.

A

Port of Amsterdam – Timelapse
Time lapses are always cool. As a former boat owner and operator, this one made me queasy, though. Too many boats in too little space. But they seemed to pull it off.

A-

Roman Fox on the Fuji X Series
I’ve been using my camera more lately, and watched a ton of photography related videos last month. I spent the most time in this guy’s feed, which I loved for both content and style.

A

I survived the world’s scariest tunnel
A bit of an exaggeration in the title, but the story behind this tunnel in Virginia is both fascinating and terrible.

B+

Wet Leg – Live on The Porch
This band is so fun.

A

Marathon My Age: Running 42.195kms on my 42.195th birthday
Beau Miles just makes me laugh. I need to find something like this to do for my next birthday. Like maybe, if my joint pain abates and the weather improves, hoping I can shoot better than 51 over nine holes of golf, perhaps?

A

My Wife, Helen: Bike Rider
Beau’s wife seems like a good sport.

A

Indigo Traveler At Ukraine Border 2022 (during invasion)
I’ve watched a few of this guy’s travel videos in the past. His home base in Hungary gave him easy access to one of the primary entry points for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the fighting in their homeland. There is a piece of video at about the 15:00 mark, where journalists are shot at, that is truly harrowing. Fuck Putin.

A-

The Royals Broke All the Rules (And Won)
2015 seems like a long time ago.

A

Big Old Blue
A Need Essentials surfing short. Which led me to…

On Top of the World
…this, one of the most stunning surf videos I’ve ever watched.

A-, A

A bivvy, a phone and a drone: cycling home from China
I was stuck, as I watched this accounting of one man’s bicycle trip from China to England, not just by the coolness of having the ambition and will to pull something like this off, but also how, thanks to modern technology, you can make your own, pretty well done movie of the trip.

A-

Dave Letterman Tried To Buy Twitter
Genius

A+

Fewer entries this month as college basketball and spring break sucked up a lot of my time.

Shows and Movies

Don’t Look Up
Reviews for this were so mixed, with some people loving it and others straight-up hating it. I was finally encouraged to watch by two different friends who told me they really enjoyed it.

It’s certainly not high cinema, and there is nothing subtle about it. But overall I think it was well done, and we, honestly, aren’t too many steps away from it actually happening. Applied to other situations, of course. I did enjoy the nod to the terrific end-of-the-world The Last Policeman series, which I loved, in the final scene.

A-

Mountain of Storms: A Legendary Road Trip
An old school travel movie covering the 1968 ascent of Cerro Fitz Roy in Argentina by a group that included the founder of the Patagonia gear company.

A

Occupied, season one
This popped up on a list of shows that were suddenly topical after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is a Norwegian series about a “soft” invasion of their country by the Russians after Norway attempts to shut off its oil production and shift to clean energy. There is some Scandinavian weirdness to it – there are a ton of scenes where two characters say “Hello,” to each other and then share an awkward pause before starting their actual conversation – and the story is a little nutty. There are more seasons but I think one was enough for me.

B

Killing Eve, season one
I’ve heard great things about this for years and finally took a crack at it. As with Barry, I was completely blown away. What a terrific show in every aspect. Fantastic writing. Amazing acting. Jodie Comer in particular was completely mesmerizing. A near-perfect last episode. I see that the reviews slip in succeeding seasons, so I’m debating whether to continue.

A+

Shorts

Audi E-Tron GT vs. the RS 6 on ice
I’ve heard about these winter driving experience courses. I was hoping to see more wiping out and sliding around. Missing that, still cool to see another way that EVs are better (and cooler) than gas-powered vehicles.

B+

The Wreck of Shackleton’s Endurance
117 years after it sank, researchers found The Endurance, the ship that carried Ernest Shackleton’s legendary polar expedition.

A

Bill Hader Celebrity Impressions
Brilliant.

A

Will Ferrell | Hilarious and Epic Bloopers, Gags and Outtakes Compilation
One of those “It’s late but I’m not quite ready for bed” finds. Feels like this could be better, I’m guessing it’s just an access issue.

A-

GoPro Inside a Dishwasher
You’ve always wanted to know what goes on inside your dishwasher, right?

B+

How Saturn Got Its Rings
Science!

B+

The U.S. Rangers at Pointe du Hoc | History Traveler Episode 53
A YouTube algorithm rec. What amazes me about these types of videos is how much damage the bombings before/during D-Day did to the earth. Massive shell craters remain even after nearly 80 years of wind, rain, and other weather. This has a cheesy musical interlude in the middle and gets a little judgey of a young girl who wasn’t super interested in the site at the end, so I knock it down a notch.

B-

How ‘No Time To Die’ Pulled Off James Bond’s Opening Chase
Dope!

A

What Intercepted Russian Radio Chatter Reveals
I have taken every piece of evidence of how the war in Ukraine is going with a heavy grain of salt. But this is a fascinating peek into how the Russians are communicating.

A

Shows and Movies

Ozark, season four, part one
Throughout Ozark’s run, I’ve been unable to keep from comparing it to Breaking Bad. I know I’m not the only one. And I’ve often felt that Ozark did not quite reach the same level as BB. Partially because BB came first, partially because there isn’t a single character in Ozark that you are rooting for.

In the first seven episodes of season four, the show finally bridges much of that gap. BB is still a better show – and Better Call Saul has surpassed BB – but Ozark is so damn good and so insanely intense that it has become as compelling as either of those shows. Most of the lead actors give incredible performances. There are almost no moments of relief from the tension that is constantly building through each episode. And you kind of hate everyone involved, although Ruth has surely become the Jessie Pinkman of the show: someone who despite her flaw you hope makes it through this mess.

A

Being James Bond
Barbara Broccoli, Daniel Craig, and Michael Wilson talk about Craig’s years as Bond.

A

Mission Impossible
GoldenEye
I came across an article comparing the MI and Bond series (I didn’t save the link), so one night decided to watch the first MI and the Bond movie that was closest in timing to it for comparison. I watched them in reverse chronological order, 1996’s MI first and 1995’s GoldenEye second. Which came across strangely because GoldenEye felt newer. There was a surprisingly low-budget feel to MI. How both movies dealt with the technology of their times – this was just as the non-techie world was discovering the Internet – was both interesting and hilarious. MI was also at least 32% cheesier. At this point, Bond was better. Not sure I’m going to dive into the rest of the MI series or Brosnan’s later works to continue the comparison.

MI B-; GoldenEye B+

Sing 2
Our family movie night choice for the month. Our girls, especially L, loved the first Sing movie. I think she has it memorized. This one didn’t seem quite as good, but I’ll admit I zoned out a couple times.

B

Judas and the Black Messiah
A powerful look back at Illinois Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton. Daniel Kaluuya is amazing as Hampton. Just another reminder of how shameful this country has treated Black people.

A

Murderville
A quick (six episode) series with a fascinating concept: the entire cast, including star Will Arnett, are working from a script while each episode’s guest star must figure out the story on their own. The guest is charged with helping Arnett, as Detective Terry Seattle, solve a murder mystery. Sometimes, mostly with Conan O’Brien, this works. The Conan episode had me in tears. Other episodes don’t hit as often or as well. Not essential, but there are terrific moments in just about every episode.

B

In From the Cold
A series about a former Russian spy living in America who is forced back into the world of espionage? Yes, please! I had no idea going in that it had a Marvel-like twist, which I didn’t exactly love but also separated this from your standard spy series. There was some clunky writing and a couple spotty performances. But Margarita Levieva in the lead role is an absolute badass.

B

Body of Lies
Leo in the War on Terror, attempting to track down a terrorist leader. I’ve seen him put his southern accent to better use in several other movies. Kind of a hacky plot, too.

B-

Torn
Another in the run of climbing docs I’ve sampled recently. This one, focused on Alex Lowe, is an absolute motherfucker. Lowe died in an avalanche in Tibet in 1999, leaving behind a wife and three sons. His best friend survived the avalanche and eventually married Lowe’s widow. This film was made by Lowe’s oldest son, who was 10 at the time of his death. It gets into a lot of the awkwardness of their family situation, which is taken to a whole other level when Lowe’s body was finally discovered/recovered in 2015. There are moments in the film that are very hard to watch.

A-

Barry, season two
If season one was a “Holy Shit!” A, season two was a HOLY SHIT!! A+. It won’t work for everyone’s sensibilities, but if this fits yours, it is a damn-near perfect show.

A+

The November Man
It’s kind of crazy how Pierce Brosnan has made, arguably, better movies after his run as James Bond. Although he seemed destined to play 007, something always seemed a bit off about him in that role. Maybe it was the pressure, and the release of that pressure allowed him to perform better later?

This is a decent spy flick. It has some good action and interesting angles, especially now with Russia invading Ukraine. But it also had a lot of cheese, both in the writing and in the production. Bringing in former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko for a major role was a bold choice. I enjoy her on the screen.

B-

Shorts

Run the Rock: A half marathon wheelbarrow mission
There’s always an element of absurdity to Beau Miles’ missions. This might be the most ridiculous.
Haircut hater gets a makeover by wife
Whereas this one was more just funny than ridiculous.

A, A

The Seinfeld Theme Mixed With A Hit Song From Every Year Seinfeld Was On TV
There was something similar to this awhile back that seemed better.

B

How Did Portugal Happen?
I always wondered why there was a chunk of the Iberian peninsula that isn’t part of Spain.

B+

Polar bears on Kolyuchin Island, Chukotka, Russia
These are delightful. More about them here.

A

That Time the Mediterranean Sea Disappeared
Science!

A-

How James Webb Orbits “Nothing”
Too much science! Even this greatly dumbed-down explanation of how the James Webb telescope orbits an empty spot in space was over my head.

B+ for video, F for me

12 Minutes of Will Arnett Roasting Jason Bateman on Conan
As funny as the roasts are watching Arnett’s body evolve over the years. Paging Barry Bonds…

A-

Storm Eunice at London Heathrow Airport

There was a big windstorm in London a couple weeks back – gusts over 70 MPH at times – and this channel became a Twitter sensation. I’m a bit ashamed to admit how long I spent watching, or at least with it in its own tab over on the side of the screen. At one point nearly 187,000 other people were also watching, so I don’t feel bad about it. Who knew a British guy sharing his enjoyment of watching planes land in heavy weather as though he was watching a soccer game could be so entertaining? Not sure which was more fun: him cheering on a good landing – “Well done! Fair play to you!” – or yelling “GO ‘ROUND! GO ‘ROUND!” at pilots who bailed on their attempts. Or when he “conversed” with the horses that checked out his car. It was a little nerve racking watching the jets fight the winds.

Naturally, there is an Internet beef that involves Big Jet TV.

A+

The dark history of the overthrow of Hawaii
White man gonna white man.

A

Can an Average Guy Beat the US Olympic Curling Team?
Brilliant.

A