Wallander (British) – seasons 3-4

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

I watched all 4 seasons of Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh as the eponymous police inspector.

12 episodes, each more like a film than TV show. Shot in Sweden over ten years.

All 12 are great. If anything, I like the final shows best as Kurt learns he has type 2 Diabetes. And fears he’s going to be facing dementia.

Can he stay at work?

Obviously, Branagh is an excellent actor. He’s been nominated for 5 Academy Awards and 5 Golden Globes.

But I’ve always been slightly turned off by egomania.

That said, for me Wallander is his best work I’ve seen. He won the 2017 International Emmy Best Performance by an Actor for the role.

Click PLAY or get some glimpses on YouTube.

Blood Test by Jonathan Kellerman

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

Blood Test, published in 1986, is the second novel by Jonathan Kellerman. It is told from the first-person point of view of Dr. Alex Delaware, a child psychologist who is Kellerman’s main character in the majority of his novels. …

The novel’s primary plot centers on a 5-year-old boy, Woody Swope, who is gravely ill, whose parents have refused to allow the one treatment that could save his life. …

… Woody disappears from his bed in the hospital …

Though published long ago, I’m astonished how contemporary this book feels.

One of those weird California sex cults is included.

“All Lives Matter” is denial of systematic racism

On By Rick McIn ethics, GOP USA, government, human rightsLeave a comment

When your All-Lives-Matter friend has a birthday, be sure to message:

“All Birthdays Matter”. 😀

Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder by a white cop. 

I’m hopeful things have change for the better.  

BLM haters have been more muted since their racist President departed for the golf courses full-time. 

According to professor of critical race theory, David Theo Goldberg, “All Lives Matter” reflects a view of “racial dismissal, ignoring, and denial”.

Philosopher Chris Lebron describes “All Lives Matter” as a “disingenuous retort” that misunderstands the problem raised by Black Lives Matter proponents.

On Real Time with Bill Maher, Bill Maher expressed support for use of the “Black Lives Matter” phrase, stating that “‘All Lives Matter’ implies that all lives are equally at risk, and they’re not”. …


I’m a VIDEOGRAPHER

On By Rick McIn cycling, hiking, videoLeave a comment

As a coach, I KNOW you need to practice to improve at anything.

I’ve been studying and editing most days during the pandemic. It’s been my #1 new hobby.

For my purposes — outdoor YouTube videos — I’m good enough now at the mechanics.

Here’s my latest. A terrific tune supported by a pretty montage.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It’s not nearly as good as the best. But that video would cost you at least $50k.

I work for free. 😀

At least I now understand how the BEST videographers create those works of art.

In my mind, I’m moving NEXT to a focus on STORY.

Story is most important, in the end.

Over the summer I’ll be looking for good (short) video stories. Shooting a lot of content. Might not do much editing until winter.

Here’s my favourite video of 2020.

An IMPORTANT MESSAGE … and very creative video editing.

… I wonder what Nike paid for this. 😇

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Fifth Woman by Henning Mankell

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

The 6th in his acclaimed Inspector Wallander series.

The series gets better and better, seems to me.

The Fifth Woman:

A sadistic serial killer has been preying on men, beginning with a retired car salesman whose interests appear to be limited to bird watching and poetry and whose body was discovered in a punji stick pit; and continuing with a flower shop manager, found starved and garrotted in the woods.

Wallander soon realises both men have a past record of violence towards women, and after another man is drowned in a lake, he goes on the hunt for an avenging angel…

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

Emma Donoghue is an Irish–Canadian playwright, literary historian, novelist, and screenwriter.

A smart lady, she has a degree from University College Dublin (in English and French) and a PhD in English from Girton College, Cambridge.

The Pull of the Stars (2020) is set in the 1918 influenza pandemic in Dublin, Ireland.

All the characters were fictional except Dr Kathleen Lynn.

A worse pandemic than this one.

The 1918 Flu killed about 3% of the world’s population. No vaccine. Poor understanding of how best to treat the dread disease.

The book is set over 3 days in a maternity ward where pregnant women with the Flu were isolated.

It’s both heartbreaking and inspiring.

Click PLAY or watch an author interview on YouTube.

Sidetracked by Henning Mankell

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

I’ve been working my way through the Inspector Kurt Wallander series, starting with Faceless Killers.

Set in Sweden.

Man Who Smiled is #4 — was easily best so far.

Sidetracked #5 almost as good. An intriguing plot, wbell told.

In the sweltering Swedish summer of 1994, a sadistic serial killer begins preying on elderly, successful men, violently slaughtering them with an axe before collecting their scalps as trophies …

Wallander (British) – seasons 1-2

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

I signed up for a free month of Britbox to try Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh as the eponymous police inspector.

First episode is based on the #5 book Sidetracked.

Emmy-award-winning director Philip Martin was hired as lead director. Martin worked with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle to establish a visual style for the series. …

Like Branagh, Philip Martin did not watch any of the Swedish-language Wallander films so that he could bring a fresh interpretation to the films.

It is well done.

Branagh, born in Belfast, is terrific. Perfect as the flawed detective with many demons.

But Tom Hiddleston tends to steal every scene in which he appears.

It was Branagh who later asked Hiddleston to audition for the film Thor.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.