Sadly, I’ve been given a deadline for my next cert (about June) and so the only books I’ve been hitting are dull, dull, dull. I’ve been told that they’ll want me to get another one after that before the end of the year. Which means more dull, dull, dull reading. (I thought I was *DONE* with school! Oh, wait. That was her.)
In any case, I’ve realized that Maribou and I can finally get back to such things as our Burn Notice marathons (we left off at the end of Season 4, realizing that that was the perfect place to leave things for a couple of years) and Maribou has mentioned that she wants to watch Supernatural (and I’ve been told it’s awesome) and… man. It’ll be good to do the whole “wanna watch another?” thing on a lazy Saturday afternoon again.
So… what are you reading and/or watching?
I have been reading Waugh’s of Honor, his take/novel of WWII. Just watched Faster, and here is the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEMmKyR11yMReport
That’s Waugh’s Sword of Honor…Report
The original three novels, or the edited, single-volume edition? Too late now, I know, but I preferred the complete version.Report
The completed version, I read the three individually years agoReport
Cool. I enjoyed it as a story (It’s funny, inventive, at time absurd, closely-observed, pointed satire, i.e. Waugh), but its political views make me a bit queasy.
As you probably know, there’s lot of autobiography in it. Waugh also did his best to find a way to serve, even though, like Guy Crouchback, he was a bit long in the tooth for combat, and his experiences parallel Guy’s in Africa, Crete, and Yugoslavia.Report
@mike-schillinh Indeed, his proofs of Brideshead were parachuted to him while in a cave in Yugoslavia.
I know my politics differ from yours, but when it comes to reading, I usually ignore that part in any novel 10+ years old. Unless it is intenesly laughable, such D.H. Laurence.Report
When I used to watch Hannibal, I would say things like ‘I cannot believe I just saw THAT on network TV.’
After this past episode, I am dropping the ‘on network TV’ part.
Can’t believe The Americans is almost over, this season has been great.Report
I used to get that from Seinfeld (there was one season in particular where they seemed to keep pushing the envelope on just how much they could get past the censor, each week a bit more) and Arrested Development (that’s the worst of George Carlin’s seven words, and they just made an obvious pun on it?)
You know what I’d like to see that I wouldn’t believe? The real last episode of Breaking Bad. Not the one where Jnyg vf fnar ntnva naq pbapbpgf fpurzr gb chavfu gur onq naq erjneq gur tbbq, nas gurl nyy jbex, the one where fvpxarff naq ybaryvarff unir qevira uvz pbzcyrgryl bire gur rqtr, naq ur chavfurf rirelbar ur’f rire unq n tehqtr ntnvafg nf ivpvbhfyl nf uvf srirevfu oenva pna vzntvar, naq gung nyy tbrf gb fuvg va jnlf gung znxr vg rira jbefr. Lbh xabj, whfg sbe n fgnegre, gur evpva jvaqf hc va Sylaa’f jnssyrf.Report
I read an interview with Bryan Fuller where he was being asked how NBC’s Standards and Practices had allowed what happened this last week on Hannibal, and what he said was they told him as long as he kept it in shadow, he’d be fine.
And of course, keeping it in shadow (though, it LINGERED) did what it always does – you brain makes the horrific EVEN WORSE.
He also told a story about how in an earlier episode, S&P had a problem with the exposed buttcrack of a corpse.
So he slathered more blood on it to make it “decent” enough for broadcast.
Says it all really.Report
I got that from Torchwood and the Simpsons (of course, with the simpsons, most of the time they were jokes that were intended as red herrings for the censors. like the one about seamen).Report
I’m up to the 5th season of Parks and Rec. Been reading quite a bit too. Comics, short stories, fantasy series novels. I finished Voyage of the Beagle and Mary Roach’s Gulp, and now I am in the middle of the latest Lukynanenko to be published in the US, New Watch.Report
I saw Godzilla last night, in 3D
Much to recommend, especially if you want to watch the Bay Area get flattened by nuclear powered monsters (and really, who doesn’t?).Report
History shows again and again how nature points up the folly of man.Report
As I entered the theater, I joked with the guy selling me the ticket that it would be hilarious if they brought back Mothra next. Joke was on me. This actually was a remake of the old Godzilla vs Mothra movie of the 50s.
Nice to know Godzilla is there not to point out the folly of man (sorry BOC and Glyph) but as a balancing system built into nature. Perhaps King Kong can save us from the horrors of AGW, and the Creature from The White Lagoon (post racial lagoon) can save us from Obamacare.Report
Make it L.A. getting flattened, and I’d watch it.Report
I’d help.Report
They did that in Independence Day, remember?Report
I kept up with three good shows this weekend…. Orphan Black, De Vinci’s Demons, and Fargo. Interestingly, OB is much weaker this season than last, but De Vinci is just the opposite.
BB Thornton has created one of the best amoral bad guys ever in Fargo.Report
OB and Fargo just keep piling up on my DVR. Maybe I will burn one or two off tonight.
.Report
The first season of OB was captivating to watch, if for no other reason than to watch one actress play seven roles at the same time, several of whom are pretending to be each other.Report
They really recaptured the original Fargo mood.Report
Yeah, Maslany’s terrific.Report
Fargo isn’t really grabbing me thus far. I just don’t understand why it exists. It’s not bad by any means, but it doesn’t seem to be doing anything of its own, and I don’t know why I need ersatz Coens.Report
@roger
Ever watch Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets?Report
No, I have never even heard of it. Should I try to find it?Report
Absolutely, it’s a hilarious black comedy. What made me think of it is that Alec Guinness played eight different parts (young, old, men, women, …)Report
I’ve begun reading A New History of Western Philosophy, which Chris suggested as a good introduction to philosophy; just so I wouldn’t feel so stupid around ya’ll. I’ve got a giant crush on Anaxagoras, and I wept that Socrates execution came from embracing some of his ideas.
Now, I’m in the Theory of Forms. May have to take a side trip to read through the dialogues; we’ll see if I still need to by the end of the first of the four books. But they really mix out on the fractal nature of things is all I have to say. Statistics to even out all that vibration would have helped, no?Report
There are a lot of dialogues. I have a complete dialogues, and go through it every couple years. It takes me much of the year to give it a good reading. But if you want some suggestions of dialogues that you definitely should not miss, I have some ideas (as, I suspect, do several people here).Report
I am always happy for reading recommendations, @chris.
I already have The Apology, Phaeto, and Crito since they’re in The Harvard Classics. I suppose they’re all available on line; too.Report
Watching The Following. I enjoyed the first season, but it got tiresome really quickly. I don’t think I’ll be watching the third.Report
Had a day to myself as the gf studied for law finals. Walked over to the small local theater to see The Grand Budapest Hotel before it left. I’m a Wes Anderson fan. Not his very best, but solid.Report
My daughter and I realized we were Wes Anderson fans after we loved both Moonrise Kingdom and Fantastic Mr. Fox. We had pretty much the same reaction as you to GBH. Some lovely bits, but it didn’t really gel.Report
I definitely liked it at least as much as half his oeuvre. So it’s not like it’s lesser Anderson IMO. FMF is spectacular, though. MK was just good for me – I wasn’t quite the audience I don’t think. (Though “Social Services” as a character name is hilarious.)Report
Currently reading: Augustus by John Williams and Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling with DH Lawrence by Geoff DyerReport
What am I reading? Well, boring answer: I’m re-reading Stroustrup, because my new job (yay!) uses C++, and it’s been a few years for me. So, nerd-stuff. No time for any TV at all. I’m totally in intense study mode, have been since I decided to change jobs.
The effort paid off.
(Lesson for the kids at home: when things get hard, work harder.)Report
Congratulations!Report
Hopefully C++ hasn’t added too much bloat since you looked at it last. (I’m kidding: of course it has!)
My (not) favorite new feature in C++11 is this:
In addition to being able to declare a function as:
int foo(int bar)
you can also now declare it as
auto foo(int bar) -> int
Why? To work around some problems with template syntax.Report
Check out Boost. Boost is awesome, multiplatform.
(they may have added most of it to the standard C++ spec too, by now).Report
Last week I powered through the first season of Orphan Black at my wife’s request. It is really, really good. Tonight we’re starting the current season which is in progress. We should be caught up by next weekend.
Love this time of year. All my shows are wrapping up their seasons which means I can start binging on all the ones I don’t watch in real time. I’ve got lots of episodes of Castle and Turn and yeah, we’re still torturing ourselves with Grey’s Anatomy.Report
Without giving anything away, I was surprised that they have taken a break from the defining (and to me enjoyable) gimmick of the first season… Having an actress play a half dozen characters well who are each playing each other badly.
There is something about the recursiveness of it all that makes it fascinating (such as watching Cage play Travolta and vice versa in Face Off). Of course I still think The Parent Trap was great cinema.Report
Watched two short plays by Woody Allen…
Non New Yorkers don’t seem to have what it takes to pull it off–according to my jewish actress friend–at least at the community theatre level.
The greek food beforehand was great though 🙂Report
Game of Thrones makes Dr. Who look like it was run by 12 year olds.
Still wanting to look at Dr. Who’s source material. (how can it be gone? It’s the internet!?!)Report
Doesn’t Dr Who start again soon? They sure have taken a strange intermission on that show considering it is finally popular in the States now.
Going back to an old Doctor is a risky move considering the young, fresh Doctors paid off so well.Report
I’m still watching the Russell T. Davies episodes.Report
Caught up on Game of Thrones yesterday after vacation. Ended up a bit too fuzzy around the edges to approach grading papers with the kind of alacrity my students deserve.
Got papers to grade tonight and tomorrow. After that, catching up on The Americans.
After that, it’s back to “S.” by Dorst and Abrams. Can’t figure out how to use that damn Eotvos Wheel.Report