Not the best TV comedy of the year. But it is original. Brave.
100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Deborah Vance, a legendary Las Vegas stand-up comedy diva, needs to maintain relevance: the head of the casino where she performs wants to pare down her performance dates.
Ava is a Gen Z comedy writer who is unable to find work due to being “canceled” over an insensitive tweet. The two reluctantly team up …
Cycling Alentejo and the Algarve is very popular, especially with German tourists.
For me Alentejo was much better. Very undeveloped. Low population density.
The Algarve is overdeveloped. And not in any way more scenic.
Weather was good. But I did have one BIG rainstorm.
I mostly followed the EuroVelo 1 Atlantic Coast Route using an app called Mapy.cz recommended to me by two Polish cyclists. Other cyclists recommended RideWithGPS. I’ll try that on my next trip.
It’s not much signed. Not clear. The EV1 in France — by comparison — is well signed and much better maintained.
I was quick to go off route if something looked interesting either left or right. Ended up getting lost and having to backtrack quite often.
With a week long touring bike rental from BikeIberia here’s what I ended up doing:
Lisbon > train to Setubal > ferry to Costa de Gale Night 1 – Small room beside a small town bar in Comporta Night 2 – Great hostel in Porto Covo Night 3 – Tenting near Odeceixe Night 4 – Great hostel in Sagres (huge rain storm) Night 5 – Sagres Night 6 – Hostel Portimao Night 7 – Great hostel in Faro
Cost was about 30 EUR (US$33.85) / day for 7 days. Cost / day is less if you book for longer.
That included a good bike, well maintained. Helmet, handlebar bag, 2 waterproof panniers, toolkit, spare tube, pump and lock.
BEST of all — you can drop the bike anywhere you want in Portugal and Spain at no cost. The company picks it up on your last day. Brilliant.
Click PLAY or watch an EV1 promo video on YouTube.
I’m already considering riding one of the Camino de Santiago routes in future. Perhaps Lisbon to Santiago along the coast.
I slept most nights in a hostel, the best of which was MUTE in Porto Covo, where I had started my Fisherman’s Trail hike the week prior.
sunset from the MUTE hostel balcony
I would have slept in the tent more often, BUT nights are long in November. And it was colder than I expected.
In general, I took the scenic route closest to the Atlantic.
Beaches in November are deserted.
I ate one restaurant meal a day.
Free coffee at the hostels. Or on the trail.
I’d detour to tourist attractions.
I easily finished at Faro within my 7-day rental. Probably the least charming town en route.
Small coastal villages are best for me.
I’ll be back to Portugal / Spain to rent AGAIN from the same Lisbonbased company. This is the easiest way in the world to do cycle touring.
Having traveled over 90 nations, IF you asked me where to go in December … near bottom of the list would be Toronto, OnTerrible. 😀
Yet for reasons I’m too embarrassed to relate, I ended up staying in a downtown hostel for 5 nights.
ON THE UPSIDE, the Planet Traveler Hostel in Kensington Market is excellent. I knew the eclectic Kensington neighbourhood from the Canadian television sitcom which aired on CBC Television from 1975 to 1980.
The film chronicles an unlikely friendship between budding actors Tommy Wiseau and Sestero that results in the production of Wiseau’s 2003 film The Room, widely considered one of the worst films ever made.
The Disaster Artist stars brothers James and Dave Franco as Wiseau and Sestero, respectively …
No doubt Canadian mystery novelist Louise Penny did most of the writing.
But it must have been Hillary who included Putin (here called Ivanov) and a former President golfer (here called “Eric Dunn”). She and Bill are Washington super-insiders. They know how it works.
In my opinion, this book is not as good as either of the Bill Clinton collaboration. Those were more fun.
It was FUN to see Louise Penny’s character Chief Inspector Armand Gamache from Quebec make an appearance.
And it was important to hear a screed against Washington misogyny. Hillary knows better than anyone how much harder it is to be a woman in politics.
In any case, this book is getting great reviews. Selling by the truckload. But it didn’t really work for me.
Unfortunately, it was a box office bomb, grossing just $43 million against its $55 million budget and $200 million break-even point, though it was successful on HBO Max. Hopefully the success of the new West Side Story will motivate folks to check this out, as well.
It’s long at 143 minutes. Too long, I’d say.
YET I highly recommend you watch it. Fast forward through any slow sections. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, In the Heights holds an approval rating of 94% based on 351 reviews with an average rating of 8.3/10.
… was well received by reviewers in the UK and the US at initial publication. …
Agatha was influenced by the Sherlock Holmes books, for sure. Narrator Hastings – Poirot’s friend, really reminded me of Watson. Like Watson, he was injured in the war.
This book is skillfully written. I enjoyed it.
Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
5-year-old Infanta Margaret Theresa is surrounded by her entourage. The artist is stage left. I like how the entire top half of the painting is wall and ceiling. 😀
Margaret Theresa died age-21.
For some reason, the painting below by Antonio Fabrés jumped out at me. The Slave Girl. Of course it seems to more be his erotic fantasy — not anything to do with slavery.
“El Greco“ moved to Toledo, Spain in 1577. So different than anything that had come before that he’s considered unique. Imaginative, colourful and … weird. So different than the endless portraits and dark religious paintings of the day.
The model for nearly all of the female figures in his genre paintings was Aline Masson, the daughter of the doorman at the Paris residence of the Marqués de Casa Riera.
And The Lewis Man is an excellent book. Though a sequel, I found it quite different than The Blackhouse, 1st in the series.
Fin Macleod has returned to the Isle of Lewis, the storm-tossed, wind-scoured outer Hebridean island where he was born and raised.
Having left behind his adult life in Edinburgh – including his wife and his career in the police force – the former Detective Inspector is intent on repairing past relationships and restoring his parents’ derelict cottage.
His plans are interrupted when an unidentified corpse is recovered from a Lewis peat bog. The only clue to its identity is a DNA match to a local farmer, the now-senile Tormod Macdonald – the father of Fin’s childhood sweetheart, Marsaili – a man who has claimed throughout his life to be an only child, practically an orphan. Reluctantly drawn into the investigation, Fin uncovers deep family secrets even as he draws closer to the killer who wishes to keep them hidden. …
