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WATCHING / LISTENING 12.15.17

Over Thanksgiving weekend I spent some quality time with Netflix. I watched both Godless and The Punisher. Thoughts below!

TV:

Godless is a Western, about a mining town that lost most of its men in an explosion and is populated now with a majority of women. The plot revolves around the sheriff, who is going blind (not a spoiler), his sister, the women of the town, a stranger who rides into town and is shot by one of the women who lives on a farm outside of town, and the evil gang led by Jeff Daniels who is after the stranger for reasons that will be revealed. There’s a classic shoot-out, a train heist with dire consequences, a chopped off arm and more!

It’s so good, you guys! And has something of an unexpected ending. There is a truly cinematic feel to the way it was filmed, but it still feels like a classic Western. It’s not perfect, but it’s still great flaws and all.

If you’re looking for a show also about a mining town that lost most of its men in a mining accident but is way (way) less violent and also features a cute Canadian Mountie and is probably rated G, then you will enjoy the Hallmark Channel’s When Calls the Heart.


The Punisher is one of the Marvel TV series on Netflix. I have only watched Jessica Jones and The Defenders all the way through. I tried with Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, but couldn’t really get into them. I was bummed about not getting into Luke Cage because that cast is full of actors I like and I liked the character in Jessica Jones. Anyway, so I guess the gist of what I’m saying is that Jessica Jones has to be in the show for me to watch it all the way through.

But I heard that Jon Bernthal was the star of The Punisher, which I thought was kind of interesting. Some of you may know him as Shane from The Walking Dead (I FINALLY broke up with the Walking Dead. I feel so free!). I’ve liked his work so I decided to check out the Punisher aaaaaand watched the whole thing in like 2 sittings.

The plot revolves around Frank getting revenge for the murder of his family and uncovering a wider conspiracy. That’s basically it. But it has Deborah Ann Woll reprising her role as Karen Page from the other Marvel series and a good extended cast.

LISTENING:

Not much, just a couple eps of My Favorite Murder as I work my way through the series. I’m up to episode 24. I need to get back to the Babysitters Club Club. 😛

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WATCHING / LISTENING 11.20.17

TV:

Umm, OBVIOUSLY. Stranger Things (Netflix)
2nd season was a blast. I have thoroughly enjoyed Steve’s evolution from Nancy’s douchey boyfriend to babysitter hero. So much to love about the kids – can’t believe the kid who plays Will – who was so absent in the first season – is such a good actor. They’re all great but he was a surprise. The whole cast is superb.

Search Party (TBS)
I absoutely adored the first season and its truly hilarious cast of well-meaning-yet-criminally-self-absorbed/deluded Millennials.  Can the second season live up to the binge-worthy-ness of the first? I hope so. First two eps were great.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency Season 2 (BBC America)
I will shamelessly admit to watching basically everything Elijah Wood has ever been in (including every. single. episode. of Willfred) so he is the reason I started watching this show. I’m not a Douglas Adams fan, whose book series this is based on, so it certainly wasn’t that. But this show straddles the line of absurdist humor, heart, and intelligence, and is thoroughly enjoyable. The first season I started watching for Elijah Wood but stayed once I realized there were ghost cats/sharks (?). Anyway, it’s fun. This season is about an alternate dimension.

PODCASTS:

Nerdist – Episode 912, The Duffer Brothers: Well obviously this one caught my eye as I’m currently going through a Stranger Things phase. Fun interview with the creators.

My Favorite Murder: OK it’s growing on me. I figured out how to fast forward through the ads on my podcast app, so that helps. 😛 I often find their rambling annoying, though. My sister says the newer episodes are better; I started from the beginning while she started from the newest and is working her way back.

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WATCHING / LISTENING 10.24.17

I have been busy this month with a big work event that is happening Saturday so it’s been quiet around these parts since my time has been spent at the office getting everything together. Plus, I MOVED offices right in the middle of all this (to the new downstairs office) so I have just been swamped lately.

Anyway, this week in ears and eyeballs.

TV:

I stole this image off the internets

GHOSTED (FOX Sundays 8:30pm except when baseball is on): Well, the first episode was pretty mild but I enjoyed it. I’ve always liked Adam Scott (Ben in Parks & Rec) and Craig Robinson (Darryl in the Office) so when I saw the commercial for this show I was vaguely intrigued. Which is good for them – commercial worked and I did actually watch it! Anyway, this is about two normal (?) dudes who get recruited into the Bureau Underground (literally, an investigative bureau that is underground) which takes on multi-verse, paranormal, and alien abduction mysteries. Adam Scott’s character’s wife was supposedly abducted by aliens which caused him to go a little crazy, but he’s conveniently a theoretical physicist or something who specializes in the multi-verse. Craig Robinson’s character is a mall cop who used to be a real cop. Anyway, it definitely has potential but unfortunately for it, it’s on FOX, which is not known for keeping the good stuff going.

Anna Torv! Loved her in Fringe.

MINDHUNTER (Netflix): I was semi-interested in this from the commercials so I decided to check it out. It is based on the book of the same name about the FBI’s study of serial killers in the 70’s in order to understand them better. I thought it would be another bloody gore fest but except for the very first scene when a hostage negotiation goes wrong, it has been a cerebral (if highly creepy!) exploration of the criminal mind. The two FBI agents are joined by an academic psychologist in their study and it’s just a really interesting show. They interview real life serial killers (played by actors. The agents have fictional names but the serial killers are based on their real life counterparts) with a lot of the dialogue taken from the real life transcripts. Anyway, it’s been interesting.

SLASHER Season 2 (Netflix): I enjoyed the first season of this anthology series. I’m almost done with Season 2 and it’s a TOTAL gore fest (more like what I was expecting for Mindhunter, honestly). It’s totally tasteless dreck that for the most part I am enjoying. There is one particular instance of violence in the second half of the season that was totally uncalled for that was perpetrated on one of the victims, who then survived it, who then was burned alive! Come ON. It was too much – and for me, that is saying something. If you watch it you’ll know what scenes I’m talking about. Anyway, this season is about a group of camp counselors who somehow killed another of their fellow counselors and buried the body. The camp area is about to be redeveloped so they go back in the dead of winter to move the body. The camp is now a spiritual (yoga/vegan) retreat so those guys are there too. When the ex-counselors go to move the body, they discover it’s missing and then chaos ensues! I’m going to finish it (I only have 1-2 eps left) but that one scene I mentioned above I found really off-putting. The first season was better.

***

MOVIES:

John Wick 2: Good but not as good as the first one. Though to be fair, I have watched the first one like 17 times so I may need to watch this one again before final judgement… (I love Keanu though… I just watched some stupid anorexia movie on Netflix called To the Bone only because he’s in it. So, whatevs.)

PODCASTS:

Revisiting my opinion on My Favorite Murder, which I mentioned last week… there are a LOT of ads on this show. I’m still debating on if I really like it much. I don’t like it when podcasts start out with a bunch of ads before you get to the content. It is very annoying! And I’m usually trapped in the car with it so I can’t fast forward. Anyway, other listeners are telling me that this gets really good down the road but… we’ll see. I did learn I can’t listen to true crime on the commute in – not the greatest way to start your day!

Which is funny because I watch true crime allllll the time and have Investigation Discovery running in the morning on the weekend but I don’t like it in the car in the morning.

Anyway… that’s it for this edition. Stranger Things 2 comes out on Friday and I’m going to be all over that!