Book #3 in the series featuring Benoît “Bruno” Courrèges, master chef, devoted oenophile, and, most important, beloved chief of police in the sleepy village of St. Denis, France.
This story deals with crime and murder in the truffles trade.
As usual, Bruno has woman trouble.
I was no fan of Ronald Reagan, but he was certainly far finer a citizen than ReTrumplicans in 2022.
And as a fiscal conservative, he was very supportive of immigration.
The opposite of ReTrumplicans.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The 13th in the Inspector Gamache series (2017). Excellent writing, as always.
BUT I am fed up with the absurdity of her plots.
This nonsense must be the most unlikely yet.
Gamache is now the Head of Surete du Quebec — yet finds himself in court risking perjury. Why is never made clear (to me) though it seems to have something to do with saving young Quebecois. From drugs.
Every less likely is a mysterious masked person in black standing in Two Pines. For a couple of days.
Could drugs be smuggled through a tunnel in the church basement? Right after a murder in the same basement?
Readers are expected to believe it.
Dopesick is based on the non-fiction book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy. …
At the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards, the series received fourteen nominations …
Dopesick focuses on “the epicenter of America’s struggle with opioid addiction” across the U.S., on how individuals and families are affected by it, on the alleged conflicts of interest involving Purdue Pharma and various government agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and the United States Department of Justice, and finally, on the legal case against Purdue Pharma and their development, testing and marketing of the drug OxyContin. …
Michael Keaton is great as Dr. Samuel Finnix.
Rotten Tomatoes 88% approval.
It’s non-linear but — happily — not confusing as the years flip past as it switches on the timeline.
There’s no question the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma are EVIL.
On October 21, 2020, it was reported that Purdue had reached a settlement potentially worth $8.3 billion, admitting that it “knowingly and intentionally conspired and agreed with others to aid and abet” doctors dispensing medication “without a legitimate medical purpose.” Members of the Sackler family will additionally pay US$225 million and the company will close.
Some state attorneys general protested the plan. In March 2021, the United States House of Representatives introduced a bill that would stop the bankruptcy judge in the case from granting members of the Sackler family legal immunity during the bankruptcy proceedings.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I read half of another book on the evil Sackler clan — Empire of Pain by Patrick Keefe.
Arthur Sackler (born 1913) was an impressive person in many ways. The eldest son of Jewish grocer immigrants in New York.
“No single individual did more to shape the character of medical advertising than the multi-talented Dr. Arthur Sackler. His seminal contribution was bringing the full power of advertising and promotion to pharmaceutical marketing.”
He did many, many things. But the Sackler empire was mostly built on how Arthur popularized dozens of medicines including Betadine, Senaflax, Librium, and Valium through direct marketing to physicians during the 1960s.
The Rings of Power is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
84%Rotten Tomatoes feels about right. Worth watching.
On the other hand, if this is the most expensive TV series ever made / episode, I question why it isn’t much better. It’s lucky Amazon has ALL the money.
I have more respect for the direct competitor in 2022 ➙ House of the Dragon on HBO. Though it can be hard to watch, I feel Dragons justifies the cost: under US$20 million / episode, far less expensive than Games of Thrones. Far less expensive than Rings of Power.
It begins during a time of relative peace and covers all the major events of Middle-earth’s Second Age: the forging of the Rings of Power, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the fall of the island kingdom of Númenor, and the last alliance between Elves and Men.
These events take place over thousands of years in Tolkien’s original stories but are condensed for the series. …
The final episode was disappointing. Though I did like the resolution of Meteor Man, aka the Stranger. That was original and surprising.
And I do like Morfydd Clark as Galadriel.
And Markella Kavenagh as “Nori”. The Harfoots are likeable forerunners of Hobbits.
Best of all is Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir.
I’ll keep watching.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
A woman who claims to be Heather Bethany, a girl who had gone missing thirty years before, turns up in her old neighbourhood.
An intriguing plot.
When pandemic cancelled all my travel and Gymnastics coaching gigs, I took the time to improve my video editing. It’s become my main hobby.
Three phases (so far):
After posting my French Creek tribute, I declared I was GOOD ENOUGH at video editing technology for my purposes. I could sit down at a table with a professional video editor and understand 75% of what they were talking about. 😀
Far more difficult is to decide on what story to tell. And to tell it effectively. Many super skillful editors struggle finding their next story.
I threw this short video together quickly as a teaser for my How to Survive the West Coast Trail videos. But in some weird way, it’s evocative of that wild and challenging hike. It tells the story well
I’m particularly happy with the audio.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Putting these together is incredibly time consuming.
I kept trying to find ways to improve my efficiency. And that ended up evolving into my personal style of video — as of October 2022, at least. Who knows what’s next? 😀
I posted Valencia, Spain in January 2022. My edits today are all similar. But I’m adding more personal drone footage rather than drone stock video.
What is my style?
Challenging for me is finding the right music for each story.
One of my best edits was Norway Highlights. I credit the song — Odesza Higher Ground — as once I decided on the soundtrack, it was easy to decide where to put each clip. In the example, below, the colours are music blocks to be filled with scenes I decide upon later.
Increasingly I’m picking music first, shooting the video later.
Odesza is my favourite band right now. Very popular for YouTube edits.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
What’s next?
I’ve been studying Colour Grading through a course called … Color Grading Academy.
It’s a very complicated process.
Some of the best video editors online send out their final product for Colour experts to finish. An art, not a science.
Things I’ve decided NOT to use:
P.S.
I posted the Englishman River Falls hike in November 2020 and again in October 2022. I’ve definitely improved.
Click PLAY or watch the Nov 2020 edit on YouTube. I was quite happy with it. But NOW I’m wondering what weird colour grade I was experimenting with at that time. 😀
Click PLAY or watch the Oct 2022 edit on YouTube.
Karmod Prefabricated Building Technologies is a leading Turkish company founded in 1986 and has since been running projects in more than 100 countries around the world.
They provide many different kinds of buildings for refugee camps.
In the near future we’ll have more refugees, not fewer. And they’ll be more desperate.
Afraid to return home. Willing to risk death to escape.
Of course each nation should have a system for handling claims for asylum. But only a small percentage will be granted entry. As populations are getting older, many nations — starting with Japan — need MORE young people to migrate.
BEST of many bad options for refugees not chosen for asylum is to stay on the border. Months. Perhaps years.
There are about 700 refugee camps worldwide, as I post.
I’d first look to organizations like the Gates Foundation. And to other billionaires who have far more money than they could ever spend.
Life in camp should be minimal. But safe. Police. Schools. Clean water. Medical facilities.
Transportation home should be offered.
If possible, there should be opportunities to work and volunteer.
Some will be under age-18. They should have special protection as should anyone with physical or mental challenges.
Some of the nations most needing decent refugee camps:
Trump and his political ilk around the world don’t want to help refugees. Instead, they use the problem to anger people — hoping to motivate them to vote for right wing political parties.
That’s much easier than motivating regular people to HELP refugees.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Another great Barclay.
One weekend, while Andrew Mason was on a fishing trip, his wife, Brie, vanished without a trace. Most people assumed Andy had got away with murder, but the police couldn’t build a strong case against him. For a while, Andy hit rock bottom – he drank too much, was abandoned by his friends, nearly lost his business and became a pariah in the place he had once called home.
Now, six years later, Andy has put his life back together. He’s sold the house he shared with Brie and moved away for a fresh start. When he hears his old house has been bulldozed and a new house built in its place, he’s not bothered. He’s settled with a new partner, Jayne, and life is good. …
LinwoodBarclay.com
What happens when Brie unexpectedly turns up?
Portrait of an Unknown Woman is the 25th novel by Daniel Silva.
I’d say it’s one of the best.
The legendary Head of ‘the Office’ (Mossad), Gabriel Allon, has finally retired.
A career in Israeli secret service that began in 1972. One of the team assigned to hunt down and eliminate those responsible for killing the Israel athletes in Munich.
He moved with his Italian wife and children to Venice. And goes back to his roots as an art restorer.
A well deserved retirement. Until he gets a call about an Art forger.
Many favourite characters from past books return. Including the Corsican goat.
Rick McCharles 