Sunday!
They say that if you watch television in bed, it becomes more difficult to fall asleep when you get into bed. Your body says “hey, what are we going to watch?” instead of “let’s replay the day and zzzzzznonk…”
As such, my little area in the basement with my chair and my television and my game system and my Netflix and my whole little list of my things is where the entertainment portion happens rather than upstairs.
So when my chair has to be taken away to the upholstery guy so it can be fitted with new foam and fabric and the frame strengthened and whatnot, my entertainment place is an empty husk.
“Why not sit on Maribou’s couch with her?”
“To sit and have a conversation? Sure. To watch a movie? You know what? Nah.”
We got my chair back from the upholstery guy. We got it in place. I sat down in it.
HOLY COW. IT’S LIKE NEW.
It no longer has the light pastel fabric that was oh-so-popular at the tail end of the 80’s/early 90’s but is cloaked in DENIM. Nice dark denim, too. It should be able to better handle the inevitable food/wine spills with much more dignity than pastels did.
And the frame is stronger! It no longer wobbles when you collapse into it! And the fabric catches you and you sink into it!
As a matter of fact, it’s so like new that I find myself trying to find the place where my butt automatically settles and, not finding it, I start sliding down and out of the chair. That’s not important though. What’s important is that the chair fits and the new upholstery is solid and they tightened all of the things that had grown loosened in the last 20ish years. I leaned back and snuggled my head between the back cushion and the side headrest and felt the future naps that would be enjoyed.
And, of course, I looked at the television again and thought “hey, I could get back to watching my shows.”
Which means that, hopefully, next week will have a discussion of shows rather than a discussion of how I don’t watch them when my chair is at the chair doctor’s.
So… what are you reading and/or watching?
(Featured Image is “Edison’s Telephonoscope” by George du Maurier from Punch Almanack for 1879)
Rereading The Lord of the Rings for the umpteenth time.
Ballet of Sleeping Beauty was amazing. Absolutely gorgeous. I’m embarrassed that I hadn’t realized before that Disney took the music for “Once Upon a Dream” from Tchaikovsky.
Also, I’ve started watching old episodes of The West Wing and am almost finished Season 1. It’s interesting, but President Bartlett does not have my vote. And the way it elides economic issues seems just a little too convenient (hey, the economy’s perfect! Let’s focus on other things!).
There’s an essay topic in the contrast between it and, say, House of Cards, and what that says about changes in the political climate over the past 15 years.Report
So when can we expect that guest post? Sounds awesome.Report
An essay by someone else, I meant. I haven’t even watched any of House of Cards.Report
@katherinemw Given that House of Cards is a remake of an earlier British show (like 80s, earlier), it might be closer to an essay series.
(I’ve read all three but am still finding myself allergic to anything even resembling academic work.)Report
British media seems, on the whole, more cynical about politics than American media. (Compare, for example, The West Wing to Yes, Minister.)Report
Reading about the Russian attempt at colonization of the Pacific coast of America, while listening to disco music and brewing some pineapple ale out in the garage. Wife is watching increasingly lurid crime dramas on Netflix, for which I’ve diminishing tolerance, so this is working out okay. Just finished the new Tomb Raider game last night so in search of something new on the Xbox in the general realm of an RPG. Blogging largely by speech recognition in between chapters of the book and phases of the brew.Report
the Russian attempt at colonization of the Pacific coast of America, while listening to disco music
They should have known that wouldn’t work. Sousa marches, maybe.Report
They were in the Pacnorwest – so, grunge. (e.g. Smells Like Tsar Spirit)Report
Saw Zootopia with The Eldest Girl today. An unexpectedly…adult kids’ movie in its plot and themes, and somewhere between “good”, at minimum, and “very very good”.
Still thinking about it, and where it lands for me, and why. Definitely worth seeing.Report
Just talked to my son, who saw it last night and said pretty much the same thing.
I saw a preview for it a while ago, which I liked because it was a funny scene that shows off the animation and the characters [1], rather than the usual summary that gives away the entire plot.
1. No idea whether it’s a scene from the film or not.Report
The themes/metaphors maybe got a little muddled there, but they were definitely trying for some big ones, for a kids’ movie. And the action and plotting is a mystery/near-noir thing – not hyper-original, but pretty satisfying to an adult.Report
Just picked up “The Road”. Struggling to crack it.Report
It’s a pretty good distance from his best work, but it’s about a father and son, so it might tug on some strings.
I’d recommend the border trilogy. The Crossing in particular is a beautiful piece of literature, and can be read separate from the others.Report
Reading mostly Paris books, watching mostly Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. (Nearly done with the Best of series.)
Watched the pilot episode of Elementary, which was enough to tell me that 1) I probably want to watch the rest of it, 2) I’m unlikely to rank it above the recent BBC Sherlock, so I made the right choice about which one to watch first.
Watched a weird but good little film called Le Week-End – two aging Brits in Paris for an anniversary weekend to try and patch their marriage back up – which veered weirdly between farce and Serious Emotional Shit in a way that I think made me appreciate both more.Report