August 10, 2023: Recommendations
Daily Diary, Day 1075:
I am experimenting with doing one of these posts every Thursday, alternating between regular recommendations based on what I have been recently consuming (watching, reading and listening) and recommendations of other substack newsletters I read regularly.
TV watching:
We finished Orphan Black. It still held up well, but I do think that bingeing in this fashion meant that at a certain point we both felt it was time to get to the end so we could move on, so we started watching 2 episodes a night.
Now that we are done, we’ve had a little trouble finding a routine. We tried the new Justified (set in Detroit), and we stopped after the second episode. I still liked the main character and still love Timothy Olyphant, but neither of us were enjoying the actual story line. I finally decided what was missing was the humor of the earlier Justified series (or other Elmore Leonard adaptations like Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, which are 3 of our favorite movies.)
So, I can’t recommend the new Justified, but I can recommend those 3 movies!
However, we are enjoying the second season of the Tony Hillerman based TV series, Dark Wind (although I am having to let go of how much the series deviates from the books.) We continue to be blown away by the first three episodes of this third season of Reservation Dogs (I found myself weeping during this third episode which featured a story of the forced boarding school experience.) At the suggestion of one of you, we started rewatching Chelsea Detective—one of those British cop shows with quirky main character—in preparation for the second season which is coming out in a few weeks. We also just stumbled on an Australian show, Fisk, about a female lawyer, and I think this will be our short, humorous, feel-good show to watch before we go to bed. Finally, we really, really liked the first two episodes of this third new season of Murders in the Building, which just came out.
Listening:
I moved on to listening to The Man in the Queue, the first of the six Josephine Tey mysteries she wrote with Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant as the protagonist. She wrote these books between 1929 and 1952, and while I probably read all of them at one time, from this series the one I know I read was Daughter of Time, which provides a fascinating look at history as interpretation, and one I have read over and over. It really goes into more depth about how Richard III got his bad reputation than the movie, The Lost King, I just watched. And of course it was written way before the discovery of Richard’s body. I think Tey would have pleased, however, with this discover and the film.
Interestingly, I have found myself listening to audiobooks mostly when I clean, but I have continued to listen to the A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs podcast that I recommended last time. I am still only up to the mid-1950s, around episode 35, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.
The second half of my walk I have been listening to a play-list on Spotify of 60s Rock Anthems (which is preparing me for when the podcast gets to that decade) and in the ten minutes I soak my eye every night to prevent getting another stye (yes, I am still doing this, firmly committed to never having to go through that again) I have been listening to a play list of John Hiatt. I’ve always liked him, but just sitting there listening (instead of it playing in the background) is making me appreciate his lyrics and the stories they tell.
Reading:
After finishing Virginia Wolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, I have started reading Faulkner’s Sound and Fury. Boy, I had forgotten how difficult this is, almost stream of consciousness, and not always sure who is speaking, but very moving, and perfect for reading in 5-10 minute bits of time before lights out!
Next Thursday, as I mentioned, I will devote my recommendations post to some substack newsletters I am enjoying, and usual, I would love to hear what you all have been doing for entertainment.
I am trying to come up with an image I can always use for these recommendation posts, so you will be able to spot them. This one certainly made me smile and might be a keeper!