Hedwig

I gotta say, one of the best 3 bucks I spent recently was for Flaming Hydra. Not everything is in my wheelzone, but it's never boring, and every once in a while there's a real banger (with some oblique You Can See Everything and Digger and full Whalefall spoilers, fwiw) flaminghydra.com/issue-675/

My standing plans for Friday got moved to Saturday this week so I went to see three movies in a row and ate enough sweet and salty popcorn to feel slightly nauseated. A+, would recommend

Only about forty pages into Moby Dick, but, uh, this book's pretty gay* huh? *Complimentary

I have an incredibly busy weekend ahead and lots of chores still to take care of today, but right now I'm taking a moment to enjoy the sun with Ms. Lady.

Not naming names, but the reviewers of East of Eden saying we've never seen Pugh like this before have clearly never seen her fierce yet underplayed, star-making turn in Lady Macbeth. That movie is a big part of why I'll watch the show - it showed just how much Pugh can do with a monster

I have some quibbles with the plotting of Lanterns. But the most recent episode made clear why they wanted an actress of Kelly McDonald's caliber - and she got to show exactly what she can do

I'm working. She's snoozing.

I find it incredibly sweet that my partner occasionally listens to my podcast, but it is slightly unsettling to walk in the door and hear your own voice

Saturday morning

No spoilers for Lanterns, except: hah! Called it!

Have been catching up with Interview with The Vampire after hearing so much about the Vampire Lestat, and got to season 2, episode 7 today. Few shows manage to balance melodrama and camp so well - and what a payoff of almost two seasons of storytelling

"Deep-hearted man, express / Grief for thy dead in silence like to death.” www.rogerebert.com/features/mem...

One advantage of the weather turning slightly colder is that my cat is much cuddlier again

Kyle Chandler / Kelly McDonald romcom when?

I like how Furious made sure not just to have one good man in there to balance all the bad, but that they made sure he was the absolute best.

Binged a bunch of Furious today. They really have such a good grasp of the tone they want to go for. And music - Fiona Apple's Heavy Balloon!

This is a different and maybe more useful phrasing of the widely held desire to read human writing instead of LLM writing. www.patreon.com/MaxRead/post...

I'm already so into Slow Horses and now for season 6 they've added Syril Karn? LFG!

Secondary source people of the world, unite! (She says, suddenly very aware of the five film magazines in her backpack) defector.com/humanists-ha...

Adventures in optics and astrophysics

De manier waarop kinderen tegenwoordig leren spellen is voor mij meestal een verwarrende zooi mysterieuze termen, maar "is dat een otje ou of een atje au?" is wel heel mooi gevonden (en direct te begrijpen)

Godkids did a travel escape room package on the train. There were tears. There was frustration. But it all led to a lollypop so now it seems it was all worth it!

Travel reading

My partner sort of reproduced this, just to have some programming fun, and now if I switch the attic tv anytime after 4 pm I land in the middle of a Star Trek episode. Or sometimes Xena. Or, on rare occasions, Bob Ross's The joy of painting. It's amazing.

When your cat has the best camouflage colors for your house

Toch best trots dat we nu al vijf maanden elke maand een aflevering hebben kunnen uitbrengen van Lubitsch en de rest, over een heel divers aanbod regisseurs - en aflevering 6-8 zijn zelfs al opgenomen! Te luisteren via elke podcast-app, of via duimpjeworstelen.libsyn.com

In case she ever gets tired of being a (fantastic) translator, Emily Wilson should consider becoming a film critic - this piece, more than any other I've read, crystallizes why I found Nolan's Odyssey technically impressive but otherwise underwhelming.

Aan het luisteren naar een nieuwe podcastaflevering van Lubitsch en de Rest die we een paar maanden geleden hebben opgenomen - dinsdag te downloaden!- en krijg er zin van de films nog een keer te kijken. Terwijl ik eigenlijk nog meer zou kunnen voorbereiden voor de aflevering die we morgen opnemen!

Reading and listening to so many reactions to The Odyssey, and I really wish I had been able to see what so many others see in it. I thought it had great sequences, but I never quite connected with the whole. I'm sure there must be depth there, but I glanced off the surface

I am so relieved to be capable of reading again? And now I just feel like it all the time? Finished Glyph last week (in a day), I'm reading a book of Zadie Smith essays, and this is also delightful (and reassuring, since I think I'm only terminally online enough to get half the references)

If you're wondering how awake I am today: I discovered I was wearing my comfy pants the wrong way around ... about two minutes ago, so after six pm.

We had a delightful weekend with the godkids and now they went home and everyone in the household is, well, see photo

Due to some impulse buys (it doesn't help that my partner has also gotten into the collecting thing) our main cabinet is full, and we had to be creative. So now we have a physical watchlist for date nights! My picks on the left, his on the right - we should be set until the end of the year.

Feels kind of uncomfortable to be siding with the pope. Again. But I guess we live in interesting times?

Trans rights are human rights always and forever.

Experimenting with mocktails. This one has strawberry puree, muddled mint, a few drops of lemon juice, about a tablespoon (eyeballed) of fake tequila, and then a bunch of cold brewed tea (a fancy one - Miss Dammann). Could use a bubble, but I forgot to buy carbonated water. Quite refreshing!

Curious if The Odyssey will include any shot as gorgeous as this one. Or any of several others in Iphigenia (1977) for that matter.

"Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare?"

Enjoying the irony of watching Airplane! ... on the night train

Sometimes she's such a perfect cinnamon roll

In case you need some good news

Voor wie Nederlands verstaat: ik heb sinds kort een nieuwe podcast! Lubitsch en de rest, te vinden op de meeste podcast-apps. Aflevering 3, over Sofia Coppola, is net live! Luister hier duimpjeworstelen.libsyn.com/003-sofia-co...

My parents and siblings had an impromptu hangout today (they live much closer to each other than I do to any of them) which made me feel a teensy bit excluded. But then it turned out we'd independently decided to open a bottle of the same fancy white wine, so clearly our connection is still strong!

Who says leftovers day can't be fancy?

Spending my Sunday in the garden reading this - it's so much fun! Light and knowing, and I love its dry and direct style, too.

Isn't it interesting that all those supposed Odyssey purists are only upset about Nyong'o - an unbelievably beautiful woman - playing Helen, and not about her playing Clytemnestra? Just for fun, we should ask them if they know who Iphigenea is (or Orestes, or Calchas, or Aegistus - so many options!)