TV/MOVIES:
Finished watching The Alienist and I am of mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was pretty interesting. On the other hand, still no aliens. On the other other hand, Luke Evans gave a wonderful performance, imbuing his character with a decency and kindness you simply don’t see very often. Final Grade: B- (technically C+ but points awarded for Luke Evans).
Also watched Game Over, Man! on Netflix because I was vaguely curious and this is a very tasteless movie that did make me laugh a couple of times but I can’t exactly recommend it.
I spent much of last week watching Investigation Discovery as is my wont. My wi-fi wasn’t working great (eventually had to reboot) so it was classic murder shows all week.
But I will say…..
The Lego Batman Movie was positively delightful! Frenetically paced, jam-packed full of jokes and a lesson about family and teamwork. I loved it. It’s as good as the OG Lego Movie, which I also love. Blatant product placement never felt so good! This is currently on Netflix.
PODCASTS:
I’ve definitely been listening to a lot of podcasts lately.
New one for me is Sword & Scale, which is true crime related (my jam, as we know. See above re: murder shows). Interesting episodes about various things crime related. The subjects are generally left open-ended allowing the listener to come to their own conclusions.
Episode 29. Discussion of “bluebeards”, men who kill their wives.
Episode 59. Paramedics. An interview with an ex-paramedic. Very interesting!
Episode 60. An interview with Dave Navarro (guitarist for Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers) whose mother was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 1983. This was a really interesting episode. I had heard of Dave Navarro of course because of his music career (and marriage to Carmen Electra) but did not know anything about him personally.
Episode 61. A child-on-child murder. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Episode 66. The Bjork assassination plot, which I had never heard about.
Criminal
Episode 59: In Plain Sight. This is the amazing story of William and Ellen Craft, who in 1849 escaped slavery in the south. A must listen.
Episode 87: Casper, Wyoming. A very, very sad tale of sisters in 1973.
Still working my way through My Favorite Murder episodes… I guess you could say after 45 episodes I am a fan? I guess? 😛
And finally…
Dirty John. I read the LA Times article about this guy months ago but couldn’t really get into the first episode of the podcast when I first listened. I think I had been listening to too much Casefile at the time. Gave it another try last week and jammed through the whole thing in two evenings. The mom in this story was such an idiot. I really felt for her kids. It’s a crazy story about a con man. They’re making a TV show about it too with Connie Britton as the mom. Could be good!