Category: movies

Tuesday’s Theme Music

Blades of sunshine broke over the mountain a while before the sun broke cover at 7:07 AM. We had rain last night — hurray! Not heavy stuff in our area. With the temperature sitting at 37 F, I checked the surrounding mountains for snow. They said we’d get three to six inches about 5000 feet of elevation. And there it was, a creamy white layer topping the northern mountain ridge. Not much but nice to have it, as it’s been too dry this year. Fingers crossed that more will arrive, especially after reading an article that posits the idea that the U.S. West is in a megadrought. Joy.

Feathered clouds streak the sky with cotton candy pink and blue. We expect a high of 47 today, and no more rain around us, alas. Sunset is expected at 5:43 PM on this Tuesday, February 15, 2022. Note to self: February is over half gone.

Today’s song comes out of walking and eyeing the clouds through a cold rain as I took a walk yesterday and from watching the movie CODA the other night. One featured song in the film was “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell. Released back in 1969, it didn’t make a great impression on this thirteen-year-old American male. It wasn’t until later that I appreciated the song’s nuances and insights about change and perspective.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters when you’re able. Here’s the music. Guess what I’m doing now? If you guessed I’m going for coffee, you’re wrong. I already have it. I’m drinking my coffee. Cheers

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“CODA”

We watched the movie, “CODA” last night. CODA is ‘child of deaf adults’. In this remake of a French movie from a few years ago, the setting has been moved to Gloucester, MA, in the U.S., where the family earns their living from fishing. Ruby Rossi is the only hearing person in a family of four, so she serves as the family’s interpreter. But a teenager on the verge of finishing high school, she makes a choice to take up choir as her elective. She does love singing but the true catalyst for this pursuit is the interest in a boy in her class, who signed up for choir.

It causes conflict, of course. That’s why they tell the story. Well-acted, humorous, with a solid plot, the film was recommended to us because it was uplifting. I agree with that assessment and recommend it as entertaining, light fare.

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“Train to Busan”

“Train to Busan” is a Korean movie with English subtitles. It’s all about zombies but it’s the best zombie movies which I’ve seen in years. Taut, well-paced, human, with heroes to root for and villains to root against, we completely enjoyed it. The one problem was that it was on the Roku Channel. Sure, it’s free with your Roku account, but the movie had subtitles built in. The Roku system’s subtitles would come in over the movie subtitles about half a second later. Although the system’s subtitles were more legible, we needed to turn them off because the dynamic distracted and annoyed some viewers.

Part of watching such foreign movies is playing the ‘what if it’s made in America’ game. Who would play the villain and various heroes? Hope you can see it and make recommendations. It’s a movie I wholeheartedly endorse.

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Sunday’s Theme Music

We have sunshine, getjer sunshine here.

Awakening on a sunny Sunday morning — which is what this January 23, 2022, is — always triggers happiness in my soul and childhood memories in my mind. Sunday was a day of rest and play. Yes, sorry, we weren’t churchgoers, except for Easter and Christmas. But I still worshipped the spirit of the outdoors and childhood, dressing fast, downing a bowl of cereal — my favorites were Wheaties, Raisin Bran, and Grape Nuts — and then spilling outside. Sometimes you’d wander outside and discover a neighboring friend doing the same. So you’d join up and ask the questions: “What do you want to do?” “I don’t know, what do you want to do?” We’d usually find something by heading down into the woods where the creek flowed, pulling out sports equipment, or jumping on our bikes. If not, I’d retreat to the house to read and draw.

Today’s sun invasion commenced at 0732 Local. The sun will retreat at 1714L. Temperatures stayed balmy yesterday and last night, which pleased the royal clowder. They went outside and the youngest stayed out. This morning’s temp at sunrise was 39 F. It’s since perked up to 53 and we expect to hit 61. Of course, the dry conditions keep us worried: please snow in the mountains, we tell the weather. We need that snowpack increased.

Today’s song is “I Think I Love You Too Much” covered by The Jeff Healey Band (1990). The song hit the morning mental music stream after I’d clicked through movie offerings the night before. I was interested in seeing all the great new movies the streaming service was offering. One of these was Roadhouse from 1989. Wasn’t real fond of Roadhouse but I liked Jeff Healey’s Band and their playing. I’d bought his album, Hell to Pay in 1990, and played it often, enjoying the bluesy rock sound. But this specific song then came after a floofnag kept pestering me for more — more food, more attention, more of everything — last night. My wife said something like, “He just loves you.” Flippant and exasperated, I replied, “I think he might love me too much.” The mental Alexa then announced that she was playing, “I Think I Love You Too Much”. And here we are.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vaccine and boosters when you can. Here’s the music, there’s my coffee, and here we go. Cheers

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On the Stream

Haven’t done a ‘what I’m watching’ update in a few months. I know it’s critically important for others to know what I watch. Actually, I always hope that someone reads it and steers me to something new.

First, a word on Hulu. I don’t think they get the whole ‘cut the cable’ angle. They’re claTiming to be part of that movement but then turn around and do Hulu Live, which is essentially a repackaged cable offering, except it’s streaming. It doesn’t address the element that triggered the cable cutting wave, that you can have a zillion channels and have nothing because — 1, it’s old and you’ve seen it a gajillion times. 2, it’s shite, and does not draw you in. So, Hulu offers Hulu Live for just under $70 a month. Ooh, such a bargain! I don’t watch much Hulu. I have basic. They haven’t enticed me to try more. BTW, Paramount + is following the same pattern. Oh, boy, look at our old NBC stuff. Isn’t it great? No, it isn’t.

  1. One that my wife enjoyed twenty years ago is a show called Third Watch. She was lamenting at the month’s beginning that she wouldn’t mind seeing that show again. She’s a big Bobby Canavale fan. Well, ‘lo, the streaming Gods heard her because the next night, I checked out The Roku Channel, and they had just added a ‘new’ show, Third Watch. So we inhale one of those episodes each night.
  2. Likewise, a current favorite has returned for another season. This is a show called The Expanse. We watched the first five seasons. When the new season showed up on Amazon Prime, we started watching the series over again. Featuring a lot of strong female and minority characters, along with a solid hard science fiction plotting, thrilling action, multiple story lines, and politics, it’s an engrossing experience. I finished Ray Donovan, and will watch the movie when it arrives in Feb. I’m also looking forward to the Jack Reacher series. I never bought into Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher. Sorry, but Reacher was supposed to be a lean 250 pounds muscular presence. Cruise was significantly shorter and less muscular. I’d watch Goliath in its initial seasons but it took a strange turn to us in its latest offering, turning us off rather than pulling us in. I’m watching Dexter New Blood, but my wife wants nothing to do with it. Dexter seems off to her, and the villain isn’t villainy enough.
  3. Just finished Amsterdam Undercover on Walter Presents via PBS via Amazon Prime. Just four episodes to it, but I enjoyed the chemistry between the actors and the fast-paced stories.
  4. Over on Apple Plus, we’re treating ourselves to Ted Lasso and Mythic Quest. We finished Invasion, which had potential but dawdled too much for my taste. We tried Foundation, but after watching the first one, I thought, that’s not how I remember it. So I pulled out my copy of the novel and confirmed that they’d made significant ‘updates’. I understand and accept some, but it mostly put me off the series.
  5. On Netflix, we’re watching Bordertown. I’d started it before; when I resumed, my wife expressed interest, so we started it over. We also watched The Unforgiveable because I’d watched the original Sally Wainwright series. Put Sally Wainwright’s name on something, and I’m there.
  6. We tried Disney Plus (Apple Plus, Hulu Plus, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus — I see a ‘me, too’ pattern) to check out some Marvel offerings. Most Marvel offerings don’t move us. Sadly, that’s the case with Hawkeye. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was okay. We did watch and enjoy Jungle Cruise, because it was campy and silly and didn’t take itself seriously. Hard to go wrong with Dwayne Johnson, though. We watched Red Notice because he was in the cast, but it was with a shrug, some interesting moments strewn along long chase and fight scenes.

That’s all that comes to mind. There are probably other shows and movies, but my coffee cup is empty. Cheers

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Floofs Alone

Floof Alone (floofinition) – Comedy film about animals’ floofnanigans when they’re behind at home during a holiday and thwart criminals’ attempts to break into the house.

In use: “One of the highlights in Floofs Alone is the sequence when the burglars are kept from entering the house because of traps set by the home’s cats, dog, and bird through clever use of their toys, litter box, aided by the bird’s ability to mimic noises such as police sirens and guns firing, a skill acquired by observing the children’s video games.”

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Sunday’s Theme Music

It’s gonna be a bright, bright, bright, sunny day, if the opening hours are to judge. Got cold last night — 33 degrees F, so not freezing, but cold — cold enough for the cats to decline their nocturnal outings (“Are you crazy? I’m not going out there.”) — and the sun broke through with a fierce come back at the early time of 5:51 AM. While it’s clear, a cold front cleared out the clouds, so we’ll be seeing a high of only 51 F. Maybe 53. We’ll see. Sunset will take over at 4:58 PM.

h/t to That Oregon Life on Facebook.

Today is Sunday, November 7, 2021. A disco fever song is burning the morning mental music stream. “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees came out in 1978. After that, there was no escapin’ the song, or the Bee Gees. Bee Gee music and this particular song seemed to be everywhere, mostly because the music was from Saturday Night Fever, a movie with tsunami-like cultural impact on the U.S. I thought, given the environmental response to the pandemic — wear a mask, socially distance, stay true to your pod, isolate and quarantine when necessary — that it’s a good song for this era.

Now it’s time for my first coffee of the new time period. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and booster when you can. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music – Fixed

We’re striding through the week, marching through Tuesday, October 19, 2021. The winds here think it’s March. They’re roaring like a lion. Sunrise arrived sans fanfare at 7:28 AM, with sunset due at 6:23 PM. Temps will reach into the mid sixties from their present point of 56 F before dropping down into the low forties tonight. It’ll be a dry day, with a bit o’ wind. If the wind ceases later, as expected, I’ll head out for a walk.

Was a beautiful walk yesterday afternoon. Two miles burnished by bright sunshine and cool, mild breezes. Colorful trees provided companionship, along with deer, squirrels, jays, and cats. With an AQI of ten, the view across the valley was unhindered and inspiring.

With the cooler temperatures, we have the house heat turned on for the season. We keep the house at 68 F during the day. While that’s the agreed temperature and I find it comfortable, my wife likes it hotter. Not so much a personal request on her part; more a matter of coping with her health conditions. As compromise to the situation, we have a small electric heater employed in the snug. It’s like a little sun in there. She cranked it up to Medium yesterday, or, as I call it, broil. Had the room a toasty 81 degrees F. That inspired the morning mental music stream, of course. I ended up singing lyrics to myself from “Some Like It Hot” by The Power Station, way back in 1985.

Feel the heat pushing you to decide
Feel the heat burning you up, ready or not

Some like it hot, and some sweat when the heat is on
Some feel the heat and decide that they can’t go on
Some like it hot, but you can’t tell how hot till you try
Some like it hot, so let’s turn up the heat till we fry

h/t to AZLyrics.com

The last time I used this song as theme music was June, 2019, when a heat wave was crashing o’er us. Whenever I think of the song’s title, I can’t stop the movie, “Some Like It Hot”, from crashing in. A silly farce from Billy Wilder that won six Academy Awards, it had a helluva cast, with Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe headlining. Not PC for these times. A remake would require substantial re-scripting. But it came out in 1959. I saw it on television, of course, a looong time later.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Here’s the music. Time for me to rassle up some coffee. Cheers

Well. Left the link to the video out. Sorry. That’s what I get, trying to post without hot-starting my brain with spot of coffee first.

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