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What I Watched the Last Quarter
This is all I have written down. I may have missed some, and I intentionally didn’t try to list all the Hallmark movies. I also watched a lot of Youtube, especially in the November and December, mostly goofy stuff like KnJ and their group of friends videos. I just needed that level of absolute nonsense and fun.
October
Country at Heart. Hallmark, can’t remember at the moment
When Harry Met Sally. I actually think this one was kinda fun. But oh my stars the sexism/misogyny! I don’t identify as feminist for a variety of reasons because it’s a mess, and I don’t use those terms lightly. I think men and women are of equal worth not exactly the same (why would you want to be?!), but I also don’t think they fall into stupid, unscientific personality and taste categories/stereotypes. Any sentence that starts with or implies “all such and such are such and such” is usually an “if some then all” fallacy, and also just infuriating. And again, why does it feel like there is more accuracy/nuance/equality in the 30’s and 40’s movies and more sexism in the 50’s, 60’s, (and now in my experience), the 80’s movies and tv (I’ve not seen enough 70’s to get a feel)?!
“Why are you getting so upset, this is not about you,”
“Yes, it is; you are a human affront to all women and I am a woman.”
Amen.
Mystic Pizza. This caused me to think, yeah, most 80s movies are misses.
St. Elmo’s Fire. I take it back, this is so much better/accurate than now. Actually this was pretty silly and shallow, it was just fun, also I loved Kevin, so.Alec, “Leslie has to marry me soon.”
Kevin, “Why, you pregnant?”
Started rewatching Friends. Initial gut reaction I love Chandler and I really, really hate Ross (not always, but man, he is such a pig sometimes; I mean not comedically). Example Ross being “generous and a nice guy” (sick face),
“You know what, you know what, if things were the other way around there is nothing you could put on a list that could ever make me not what to be with you.”
“Well, then I guess that’s the “differences between us. See, I’d never make a list.”
Dude pines after and then does nothing, then gets into a relationship, then can’t decide. Can’t decide buddy boy?!!! That’s your decision right there, it ain’t me. Also while it was Chandler’s idea, he only came up with it because Ross couldn’t decide (again, ugh). Rachel is super annoying and an airhead the first season or two. But bimbo and jack*** are not in the same category, they don’t equal each other out. Anyhoo, for some funny quotes.
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“I don’t know what I know what I’m gonna do. What am I gonna do? I mean this this is like a complete nightmare!”
“Oh, I know this must be so hard. ‘Oh, no! Two women love me! They’re both gorgeous and sexy, my wallet’s too small for my 50’s and my diamond shoes are too tight!'”
His cadence and build up though, I’m crying.
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“Ding dong the pyscho’s gone.”
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Monica, “We’re not having birthday cake, we’re having birthday flan.”
Chandler “Excuse me?”
Monica, “It’s a traditional Mexican custard dessert.”
Joey, “Oh, that’s nice. ‘Happy birthday, Rachel, here’s some GOO.'”
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Rachel’s extravagant barbie bridesmaid dress.
“I think you should seriously consider the marriage thing, give Rachel another chance to dress up like princess bubble yum.”
Later, Ross and Rachel come in,
“I’m sorry, we don’t have your sheep.”
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“Hey guys does this look like something the girlfriend of a paleontologist would wear?”
“I don’t know, you might be the first one.”
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“I knew it, I knew it, I always knew she liked him. You know. She’d say no, but here we are, right, we just broke up, first thing she does.”
“You didn’t just break up.”
“Hey it’s been like three weeks.”
“You slept with someone three hours after you thought you broke up, I mean bullets have left guns slower.”
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Monica, “Man, I would be great in a war, I really, I think I would make a fantastic military leader. I mean I know would make general before any of you guys.”
Chandler, “Before or after you were shot by your own troops?”
Ross, “I know where Joey would be, he would be down in the foxhole protecting all of us.”
Chandler, “Yes, if the foxhole was lined with sandwiches.”
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November
See How They Run. Cute, but a bit blah. Except when she thinks it’s him and knocks him out with a shovel. That was great.
December
Hallmark aplenty, standouts were: Three Wisemen and a Baby (I’ve been a Tyler Hynes girl since It’s, Christmas Eve, before he was cool y’all, lol), Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas (Tyler Hynes again!), A Holiday Spectacular (which starred Derek Klena), and A Fabled Holiday (which briefly featured Lindsey Sterling and her gorgeous Celtic influenced rendition of Joy to the World).
American Underdog. Interesting, a bit cheesy. And less dramatic than I thought since they aged the characters 20-10 years (events took place over a bit under 10). It is way more dramatic (impossible?) for a guy in his 30’s to get into the NFL for the first time than for a guy in his twenties which was the real case.
Remember the Titans. My experience was a bit hampered by 1) (especially by) The fact that I mashed what I knew of this movie with what I knew of We Are Marshall. When they don’t all die at the end as expected, that does ruin the pathos one expected. 2) I think it’s overhyped. 3) It’s Disney and it shows, very much glossed over stuff and changed things for dramatic effect. 4) Which leads to being me, I had to look up the actual facts . . . many of the points of major significance were mostly false or changed enough to increase the impact.
I watched two football movies yet, I’m remarkably ignorant of the rules, player positions, etc. of American football. Quite a feat for a big sports family and for someone who has actually played backyard football. I really feel like I should remedy that.
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What I Watched August and September
I didn’t do a great job at tracking everything, so I may have missed a few things, I feel like I watched 10 Things I Hate About You somewhere in these months.
August
Stagecoach
McLintock!September
The Makeover (Hallmark)
“If I belonged to a younger generation, I would say,’Dang, he is fine!'” “Might I remind you that is the exact generation we are trying to rescue from such phrases?”
The Terminal List. Um yeah, skipped a lot, probably should have stopped it early on. Beyond morally questionable. Went from understandable targeted vigilantism (but with unjustifiable methods, aka torture!) to “sucks if you are in my way.”
The Expanse. Dad has been obsessed with this show since it’s been on Amazon, and so after the above show, I opted to try it. Less overtly, over the top violence, but still I can’t deal with that “amoral” and actually immoral, zero sum, dehumanizing choices and viewpoints. I didn’t pursue past the first episode or so of season two (wasn’t interested in the new people either). I was burned out with moral ambivalence (to put it generously) and violence.
Cranford and Return to Cranford (a family friend/dad said there is also, “Sick of Cranford”). I got Britbox again, and after stupidly trying some violent shows (Rachel, do you ever learn?). I finally settled on fairly relaxing. I’d had these on my list for forever (aka, mainly because of Tom Hiddleston, hello). Wow, there is a lot of death though, but when I honestly thought about it, in the real time period, there actually probably was more! The last season felt really rushed.
What If. I’d seen this on a post of Olivia’s and added a few from her list to my TBR. But sometimes those just sit there. I was searching for funny or something on Amazon Prime, and this popped up. And wow, this is a new comfort rom-com (up there with Leap Year, Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You). My sisters make fun of me for rewatching my favorites very close together, but I seriously might just turn around and watch this again. Super cute and funny and minimal of the stupid miscommunication drama (and when it happens, real grown-up apologies from both parties). Just happiness and comfort. Also, side note, I might actually get a tattoo, I didn’t realize/hadn’t seen, actually feminine ones before. We’ll see. Who is this woman talking?!!!
More Boy Meets World. I needed some funny, comfort, so I tried to pick up about where I left off in the Spring.
“Feeny with an earring.”
. . .
“Shawn, he’s on to us, he singled us out on the first day.”
“No, Cory, he singled you out on the first day, you singled me out.”~~~~~
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What I Watched May, June, and July 2022
May
Rewatched both Princess Diaries. Always a comfort duo.Breakfast Club. So, maybe this was ground breaking at the time (?), but I was bored and unimpressed.Miss Congeniality. Hilarious, also, wow Benjamin Bratt was super attractive, I was trying find other things he was in near that age that I’d be interested in watching.Only You. Young Robert Downey Jr. and Marisa Tomei. Cute and funny. I’m not sure I’d even heard of this before I found it from someone’s Insta story (I think).June
If I watched anything I didn’t document it.July
Top Gun, original, I enjoyed it.. Now, I need to watch the new one.Rewatched The Magic of Ordinary Days. Super sweet, sometimes a little to raw real, and awkward.Persuasion 2022 (wrote about that in detail here).Rewatched Love Comes Softly. First time I’ve seen it since I watched it over 15 years ago. Raw emotion that it’s hard to watch.Tombstone. Cheesy, Kurt Russell’s character irritated me. Also, didn’t scare me that much (except for the dark, rainy night part, anything predatory like that scares me). I didn’t feel much at most of the deaths.Juno. This popped up free on Youtube, I already knew the story, I didn’t know how cute and funny it was. Also, because I knew the story I skipped through almost everything with Mark in it. -
What I Watched March 2022
Bridgerton, both seasons. I’ve written about season 1 already. I’ve got thoughts on season 2 coming up.Lady Bird. Rather sad.Silver Linings Playbook. Extremely difficult to watch. Also, what the heck exactly? I need to ask my medical sisters (sister 2 is a nurse (all nursing students have a psychiatric nursing course plus anything in their experience in hospitals), sister 3 works in a children’s psychiatric hospital and just got her public health degree and is going to start a nursing program, and sister 4 is working in a downtown hospital and is in nursing school) their opinions, they mentioned this movie among others when talking about mental illnesses, I think sister 2 said it was accurate?Win a Date with Tad Hamilton. I watched this after watching a Topher Grace interview. On his side it was cute, he’s quite a funny actor. I don’t find it inspiring or fun to watch the dumb innocent, essentially bimbo girl role.Brooklyn 99. I watched up to season 3 before getting bored. I realized I think oftentimes I need more going on in my shows. For example in Castle, Psych, and White Collar, the characters are solving intricate crimes AND are funny AND there is romance. Whereas here, it seems the focus in mainly on the humor which for me doesn’t always hit and isn’t enough for me and the romance is not the greatest. In addition to getting bored Amy’s sycophancy is rather triggering and just really not funny. However, some humor that I did enjoy was Gina and Boyle. I feel like that could have gone on longer or maybe even been a “thing.” (I realize I wrote on this show for Feb as well, oh well.)Rewatched some New Girl. I think I was mad the first time that Coach got replaced (even though he was only in one episode) that I don’t think I fully realized how hilarious Winston is. 2 great moments. 1) His earring phase and Nick’s reaction. 2) When he takes his car without realizing the stowaways in the back and is singing “Popular” in a really high voice and then discovers said surprise in the back.Started a few episodes of Kim’s Convenience. I got distracted by other shows, plus I find domineering fathers personally triggering. I think I might try more, since thanks to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings I have crush on Simu Liu.Derry Girls. I think I tried this in March or April, again, also would like to watch more. I think I only got a few episodes in. -
What I Watched May 2021
Movies
I’ve been trying to keep up with watching movies on the weekend. They’ve all been old ones this month.
Dial M for Murder. Grace Kelly. I guess worth a watch, not really that intriguing to me as it wasn’t funny or or mysterious. And the suspense wasn’t all that extreme either.
Listen, Darling. This was a cute for one watch. I wouldn’t rewatch.
My Favorite Wife. I did a post on this, I thought it quite funny and worth rewatching, tons of witty quotes.
My Favorite Brunette. A spoof of film noir mysteries. Too goofy a humor overall for me, but there were a few quotes I thought funny.
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“Ronnie”
“Yeah”
“I think you’re a very brave man”
“I know a sniveling coward when I see one. ” Looks in mirror, “Hiya sniv.”~~~~~~~
“An hour later we were at the Poulet d’or, one of those real swanky cafes where they eat mink for breakfast.”
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TV
When I first heard of My Family and Other Animals I’d also heard of the tv show which is The Durrells (and heard it was rather vulgar) but forgot about it. It came to my attention again, and I wanted something to watch while I knitted, so I started it. The tv show is described as being fictionalized, and I only read book one, the only similarities I’m seeing that I remember are the main character names and some of their interests, but I think I want to reread the first and then read the next two.
While the show does have some vulgarity and coarseness (the worst is that captain, I mostly skip his parts), its mostly not too bad for me. It’s the soapiness that’s getting to me. I’m on season three and had decided to stop, and have skimmed a bit more. And since I can’t seem to stay away from Wikipedia synopses, I’m seeing more soapiness layered on. I thought maybe I’d skip and watch the absolute final episode. We’ll see. But, but, its a bit addicting. Edit: yes, I went back to watching, it’s just so bright and happy on Confu in spite of the attempts at drama, and the music is so cheery, also got another hilarious Spiros bit, this time fighting with Zoltan who is also funny (he would say the funniest). Also, I am skimming through stuff I dislike more.
Spiros is hilarious, I think a lot (most?) of the best quotes are from him. And the way he always calls them,”Durrells.”
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“What have you got against Sven?”“Nothing. Except he is not Greek and he is not British.”“Some people aren’t Spiros.”~~~~~~~During the massive storm, “Hello Durrells, welcome to England.”~~~~~~~“You know I love the British, but you make everything so complicated.”~~~~~~~(Zoltan to Margo) “You make the stars come out at night.”“What does that mean?”“It’s called poetry, Greek peasant.”“It’s called bull****, Turkish cretin.”~~~~~~~Speaking of soapy dramas. I’d seen Allen Leech in a Hallmark movie, so I looked up the Branson and Sybil bits of Downton Abbey. I’d only watched like 1.5 episodes nearly a decade ago in college (and felt like I’d lost IQ for that much) and what I’d seen of him in photos, his chubby baby face blonde boyish type hadn’t appealed to me, but in the Hallmark movie, oh, my. Well, I think he was rather tubbier in DA, and wow, the acting is horrifically bad. I watch Hallmark which is hardly superb acting, but I think because it’s light and fluffy, it’s fine to have fluffy acting. Also the DA acting is worse than the Hallmarks I like. So bad acting plus drama (which needs more solid acting anyway), yeah pretty bad. Not tempted to try any more of that.
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What I Watched in February 2021
New to Me Movies
While You Were Sleeping. Eh.
Cheaper by the Dozen 1 and 2. Eh . . . except Tom Welling is so handsome (and I can say that, he was in his twenties), maybe I should watch Smallville . . .
Ramona and Beezus. Super cute, and I teared up. This is one of those movies that really gets kids, sees through their eyes and emotions rather than showing them as one dimensional little brats (although, honestly some of them are). Such a cute family story.
Rewatch
Miracle. 3rd watch, SUCH a good movie. The real story is fascinating (Mom and Dad remember this), the acting, the cinematographic, the dialogue, the emotions, the sport details. Oh, and lots of handsome guys. Let’s be real that is a huge reason I joined in the first time, and then got the real treat of the entire movie.
The Magic of Ordinary Days. Hallmark Hall of Fame (don’t confuse this with the fluff that is on nowadays). SO sweet, so interesting, touches on so many different details of the time period so compassionately. And her outfits, can I have them all?!!!
TV
WandaVision. I went into this blind which I highly recommend. I was a bit bewildered at the beginning, then fascinated, I loved the time period changes. Then with Agatha we took a turn into Wicked and then I guess the Blair Witch project. Okay, and I don’t like Wanda being in the wrong, but she wasn’t initially. I just wished that could be handled beter.
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What I Watched: December 2020
This is very ’90’s early ‘0’s and Star Wars heavy. I of course watched plenty of Hallmark, but it peters out towards Christmas when one has been overdosing since November. I started using my Disney+ more this month than I did in November.
Friends. I think I was still rewatching bits of Friends during my week long HBO trial.
I’ll Be Home for Christmas. I think I saw the last bit of this movie years ago. I think I was surrounded by Jonathan Taylor Thomas growing up without having seen any live action movie he was in. Its been so long since I’ve seen The Lion King (need to rewatch that while I still have Disney+), that his voice didn’t trigger memories, he just looked familiar in that 90’s ’00’s way.
10 Things I Hate About You. Rewatch. Again, ’90’s vibes and nostalgia, I was too young to have watched this anyway when it came out. But all the teens and tween around me growing up would have dressed like this. There is just familiarity in movies of this period even though I only have seen them recently.
Solo: A Star Wars Story. This is NOT Han Solo. Also, way to make Lando look like an sulky idiot . . . that droid part, what the freaking what?! Han and Lando were both supposed to be that jaunty, bad boy, devil may care types. And sorry those types don’t spring from the non-entity (in the former case) and goof (in the latter case) types. Besides the script, I don’t like the casting for Han, but they could have given Glover a far better chance to shine, he had some good parts, it’s just the whole movie was so, well, blah (and that robot part, what the f people?!).
The Mandalorian season two, I’d dragged my feet on watching The Clone Wars and Rebels and just went ahead and finished the Mandalorian. Luke’s appearance signified that they are dropping the non-canon absolutely absurd newest films. Glory hallelujah, I enjoyed aspects of them, but sorry, they ain’t Star Wars or rather they are Star Wars lazily and terribly repackaged.
The Clone Wars. I love these, I love these, I love these! THIS is Star Wars at it’s full potential, this is the real, true stuff. I officially fell into true Star Wars fan with these, and it makes me understand the fury of the original og people at the absurdly lazily written new movies. I turned to these as something to watch while I worked on last minutes presents, and then I was sucked in and watched them on Christmas Eve and Christmas.
I wish I’d watched the Clone Wars and Rebels before I finished The Mandalorian, it would have made the appearance of Bo Katan (presumably, I haven’t yet watched Rebels) and Asoka Tano SO much more significant, especially the latter, I saw she was in Clones, but that was just a slight thing, I knew nothing of the series, she could have been one of many random characters . . . then I actually watched it, and she’s Anakin’s padawan! I didn’t like her for the first few episodes but then it got better, so much better, I love the older brother/younger sister dynamic.3
This show, oh, my stars, its SO cool, it so much better than the movies. And guys, Anakin is COOL in this, so cool. Not the whiny pretty boy he is in the movies. And oh, oh, it makes me so much more upset that he becomes Vader, I relate to his attitude so much.
Also, his back and forth with Obi Wan is great. I remember I wanted to punch Obi Wan for his pompous legalistic rule following attitude and total lack of empathy for Anakin in the live action, I felt that he was partially responsible for driving Anakin away, that he wasn’t being a good mentor at all.
Also, you want strong female Jedi, look to The Clone Wars. These are talented, TRAINED Jedi, same as the men, not Mary Sue’s like Rey was, sorry, you don’t just hope in, no training required.
However, it bothers me that the “good” guys are producing clone armies of living humans while the “bad” guys are producing non-living drones. So who is getting more killed really? Lambs to be slaughtered is what it feels like the Republic is doing.
The ’90’s and early ’00’s nostalgia is strong for me right now. I wasn’t allowed to watch anything I’m watching now or I freaked out (in the case of the Star Wars prequels), but I was surrounded by merchandise and advertisements and little bits of shows and previews and the styles, so a lot of things I don’t “know” have that vibe which I recognize.
I was 8 when the first and 14 when the last prequel came out, so I was surrounded by prequels stuff. I feel like there is just so much vying for attention now, I don’t think the dominance of the prequels then can be compared to anything now. I think this is part of why I SO love The Clone Wars, it takes me back to what I was surrounded by growing up without the disappointment those movies actually turned out to be watching as an adult.
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What I Watched: November 2020
Edited 12/27/20. Um, so I left off several things I watched because I didn’t look at the list I was keeping.
An Inspecter Calls. I can’t recommend this to everyone, its very dark, very dark and hopeless, doesn’t end well. I don’t really agree with the social portrayal, its far too simplistic and takes agency away from one character. However, I did tell one of my sisters that it seemed to be quite her style, she likes depressing stories. She said she was a first offended that I said she’d like it, and then by the end realized, yes this is her type of thing.
The Lady Vanishes, the newest version. I greatly enjoyed this. Why I like a certain level of scary mystery and dislike much else dark, I have no idea, perhaps because vintage style mysteries often don’t have sympathetic victims and the bad guys are always caught and dealt with?
Gosforth Park. Don’t recommend, nasty is the best way to describe it, like a sort of less nasty, less dark version of that abomination Penhallow I read earlier this year. I should have stopped watching it. I discovered later that Julian Fellows made this, and Downton Abbey was supposed to be the follow up to this. That enlightened me a bit, DA made be feel a bit nasty, it has nothing on this.
I watched Clueless again I think.
The Final Fix. This is a hard watch (also, warning, someone dies, I’m not sure exactly why I was shocked considering the subject matter, I guess I was shocked because it was included, like this is real people, not a movie, although it’s not like they had control over that), but it is very important. It deals with an potentially life altering and societal altering treatment for opioid addiction that mainstream medicine has been ignoring for decades (per the film).
The Mandalorian. I’m behind now (so no spoilers!) because I really need to watch Rebels and Clone Wars, because characters from there are starting to be introduced. So, baby Yoda isn’t so cute now. I could barely watch that episode. We were talking about it, and my brother was like, “yeah, we knew you’d hate that episode.” I think I’m behind two episodes now, I think I need to watch Rebels and Clone Wars first.
Lots of Hallmark (both channels, some new, some old). Christmas in Vienna (the best?!), On the 12th Date of Christmas, The Perfect Christmas Gift, Five Star Christmas, Timeless Christmas, Good Morning Christmas, A Nashville Christmas Carol, The Angel Tree. We watched more, but these were the best, not sure how to rank, tried to rank in order. I would watch the first view again (I have watched Christmas in Vienna again). None of them have the same sparkle, quality, depth of the older and up to maybe 2016 group. I’d dropped off keeping track, but I don’t think there really have been any that would make my list recently.
Rewatched The Princess Diaries again. Oh, that is SUCH a comfort film. One of the few live action films that I have nostalgia for (because we didn’t watch much until we were older). I think I saw this at 10 or 11.
Rewatched lots of Friends sections, someday I will make myself sit through every minute of every episode.
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What I Watched: September and October 2020
I forgot to do a movie round up for September and since I’ve not really been watching much I thought I put September and October together.
September
What a Girl Wants. I needed a nice, fluffy funny film, and this delivered, especially a certain hilarious scene with Colin Firth dancing in front of the mirror, especially since Colin Firth always plays a variation of the same character: an emotionally constipated somewhat priggish Brit.
“No hugs dear, I’m British, we only show affection to dogs and horses.”
I believe I also started Oh My Venus, my first K-drama, I didn’t realize it is more like a series not a movie, so I didn’t get very far, and I’ve restarted my Hulu subscription, so I’m watching it again this month, and I’m halfway through now I think. I at first thought it dragged and was rather bewildered, but then the super funny stuff started happening.
October
Jumanjii 2. I haven’t seen any Jumanjii’s until we watched this on a sibling movie night. I was screaming with laughter, I will definitely have to watch the first one. Kevin Hart was a scream, my sister said she thought he was best in this one and that Jack Black was the best in the first remake. I need to watch the first one soon.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Eh, after Some Like it Hot, this is really tame.
Twelve Angry Men. Wow. wow. wow. Everyone, and I mean everyone should watch this. If you don’t know much about it, don’t learn anything, just go into it without learning, it packs its punch stronger that way.
Youtube
I learned about Darling Desi on Youtube from this post by Hannah of Literary Morning, but I really started watching the videos when she started doing her fall videos, talk of atmospheric, they are SO fun and inspiring! This channel is so unique. I’ve already watched two of the movies she mentioned on her mysteries video.
Lauren Johnson has lots of fall sewing and craft videos, and I just love her aesthetic. I first found out about the glorious Rifle Paper company through her.
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What I Watched August 2020
In July I forgot to include Miss Marple: The Moving Finger. The modern one, with James D’Arcy, which is why I watched it. It was one of my favorite Agatha Christie books, and when I randomly saw a bit with him in it, I knew I had to find it. The series is on Hulu. I loved James D’Arcy, but I think overall it was silly and the flippant comment at the end was in bad taste. I also think things were changed to give a different feel, but I usually forget most of each Agatha Christie books beyond my either negative or positive reaction almost instantaneously upon finishing them.
I watched part of Oh, My Venus on Hulu as well. It was my first K-drama, and I didn’t realize they were so long. I assumed the English subtitles would immediately be on, but I had to turn them on, and then I still feel like I was so confused about a lot, and I don’t know where the cultural confusion started and the style of the drama confusion ended. I almost permanently quit, but then the funny parts started happening. There is one scene that was absolutely killer. Also, unlike Hallmark friends her ex was SUPER attractive, and while they weirdly feature his cheating affair, I was loving his smirking smile. And this is why women get in trouble with guys because of the “bad boy” trope. Anyway. I still have to finish this one. I’ve got a focus issue.
Quibi the Fugitive. I’d been getting Quibi ads on Youtube videos, but since the two shows were scary or gross, I didn’t even pay attention to what Quibi was, I only figured it out later. However, The Fugitive caught my interest right away, that kind of thing is right up my alley, and I loved watching it during my breaks at work, it was a nice treat. HOWEVER, the pizzaz couldn’t cover the absolutely atrocious acting, writing, and oh, the SO many layers of ethical issues, as in, there would be no plot with everyone doing wrong.
He’s Not That Into You. So I’ve not been into movies and television lately and when I have I’ve come up with some really pathetic ones, maybe so I wouldn’t have to think/pay attention much? Yeah, by watch, I mean skim, there was quite a been of sliding through stuff I didn’t want to watch (like you know, the cheaters, “what if he is the the ONE” see what that stupid pie in the sky fantasy concept gets you). It was boring, and for the most part too excruciatingly real to stuff I hear. You know, if you don’t want a jack***, don’t be one or don’t chase them. And when you find out that you are with one, don’t try for win that loser back, dump his/her *** the first time!!!! Also, Justin Long was super attractive . . . yet don’t date bad boys, sorry. I mean, if you are expecting a good one or to change him. If you are both openly bad to each other, have fun.
The IT Crowd. So my IT brother-in-law introduced some of my sisters to this show. I’d seen Plant Based Bride do her husband’s bullet journal for one month with the theme of this show (although I can’t find the video, I’m starting to feel crazy but I’m sure she did one, edit, I finally found it after I commented on her Instagram asking about it, I’d looked and searched and thought I was crazy), and I may have heard of it another place. I needed something funny, I assumed I’d get lots of sarcasm as its British. I failed to account for a few things, I’d forgotten my brother-in-law’s family taste (Napoleon Dynamite and Elf both of which my sisters have informed me I’d hate) in humor, and I’d also ignored the fact that I don’t find most modern British shows/humor I’ve tried or tried to try all that funny. Actually, I also forgot to account for a type of British humor that I don’t even know how to define and which I forget about. I know if from Princess Bride but I think it also applies to Monty Python (and perhaps to Mr. Bean which my siblings love but which I’ve yet to force myself to watch more than like 30 seconds of). It is not at all dry. I don’t only like dry humor, but I like a particular kind of goofy, like Monkey Business (which also has sarcasm). This kind of humor is like intentionally bad parody. I like sharp poking fun or witty banter or real parody, but not goofy absurdism. The first episode featured more the style I liked, and Moss is darling, but I quickly got bored when goofy stuff unrelated to IT characterization dominated. Edit: also scatological humor which I HATE with a passion).
New Girl, “We’re reverse Mormons.” There was a lot of cheap hilarity at first and then it devolved to being all about sex (or was revealed to be) and everyone and everything was boring, no one had any interests. The main girl who was supposed to be awkward and quirky just became basic. And I think Nick was supposed to be the chill, cool guy, not the needy, daddy, issues loser. Should be titled, “Trying to be Friends.” Yeah, failed at that.
Rewatched both Apple Dumpling Gang movies and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Where is this wit now?! Psych, That 70’s Show, and Friends have it, but is that all that is witty in modern stuff?! I’m going to make myself hate those shows if I keep rewatching them.
I rewatched Clueless twice, I needed to hear some clever burns and to see young Paul Rudd.
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What I Read and Watched: October 2019
I’m rather burned out and unmotivated. I barely read, watched a few Hallmarks (not really in the mood for many of these this year thankfully, but really read for old favorites for Christmas).
Books
The Dream Stealer by Sid Fleischman. Uninspiring kids’ book.
The Queen’s Secret by Jessica Day George. A middle-grade book that as I was reading caused me to feel like I picked up a middle book . . . I had. I’m interested to a least skim the next whenever it comes out, but not really super inspired to read the first one though.
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg. Middle-grade, okay, reminded me of the much more interesting How to Steal a Million.
Movies
Clueless. So, way raunchier than I was expecting (I guess I didn’t realize it was 90’s or think much further about that). I could have done without that. All the 90’s Valley Girl talk was hilarious though, at least I assume that is what some of it was anyway. Everyone’s accent sounded Northeastern though. The driving part is funny. Cher is funny. Cher’s friend’s boyfriend who is trying to be all ganster but has braces, that was a hilarious. The “Mr. Martin” and “Harriet” are adorbs. I generally find the modern version cuter, apparently since I loved Martin and Harriet in Emma Approved, better even than Knightley and Emma.
I wanted to like it, but between skipping because of the scratches on the dvd and my boredom, my trying to do a million things at the same time and finish the movie before family and guests got home from church (Sunday, what a great day to watch a movie like this . . .) and the changes in the plot and far too fast plot, I was disappointed. I will try it again, but yeah. Not near as much “Mr. Knightley” as there was in the book, plus making “Frank” gay completely changed the plot. In Emma, Mr. Knightley is jealous of Frank before anyone meet him, Emma is building him up as the perfect man, there is tons of flirtation, and he generally is the cause of Mr. Knightley realizing he loves Emma, going away to try to get over it, the ultimate avowal of love etc. Yeah, that falls terrible flat in the movie. The “Mr. Elton” guy has more of a point than the “Frank” while I think that Frank holds a slightly bigger role in the book. All that contributed to the flat, rushed ending.
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What I Watched: July 2019 (Mainly That 70’s Show Ramblings)
Because of Endgame, I was inspired to watch Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp. I preferred the first. I was annoyed by Ant-Man when I was first introduced to him in Civil War, and so I wasn’t inspired to watch his movies, but like almost everyone, he was amazing in Endgame, so I was intrigued and went back and watched his movies. They were quite fun, especially the first.
Now, if you don’t care about fan-girling, you can skip this (I usually find it annoying too, but, well here we are), but really, watch That 70’s Show.
I was still watching That 70’s Show well into August. I pretty much ended watching at the 6th season but skimmed for Jackie and Hyde parts in the 7th. I’d been skipping more and more starting with season 5. Then I turned around and started over skipping in all the seasons but increasing to end somewhere in 6. Man, I love all the good stuff in the show and am so disappointed that it could have been so much better. TV people have got to stop being so greedy and trying to add ridiculous plot-lines and heart-wrenching and/or petty drama that ruins characters simply to extend seasons.
This doesn’t matter nears as much for a mainly episode based show like Psych (although it’s still annoying), but this show need more continuity. And everyone was SO old. Extending the show 5 seasons was quite enough of a stretch between age and plot-line.
Jackie and Hyde should’ve gotten together in season 3, Eric and Donna should’ve gotten back together in season 4, Kelso should’ve kept goofing around and maybe gotten a job (he clearly wasn’t meant to pair off or grow up as fast as the others), and they should’ve let Fez keep his sweetness and sass instead stripping it from him and ramping up his pervy-ness and also, not made Caroline crazy, they were so cute originally. They should’ve rounded out everyone’s growth and set them on their first year out of high-school with happy hints for the future in season 5.
I have so many words I wrote on Jackie and Hyde (and the whole show), but I’m going to keep it short since I will have to gather and collect them (and maybe next re-watch I’ll have a post including why I just love Hyde and their relationship), and because other people have already written some awesome posts such as this one on their relationship and all the depth (a must read). This one is good too.
Here’s a light one from Playbuzz.
For any other heart-broken Jackie and Hyde shippers (Zenmasters), here are some playlists
This one is on all their background sweet moments, like I mean, this was one of my favorite things, so natural and sweet, I’ve never seen anything like this in film or tv. I mean that sets the tone for everything.
Here and here are compilations of them with music. I didn’t save this one, but there is also a video someone did using show clips to portray their ending as it should have been.
Here and here are video lists of why they are an awesome couple.