Posted by DocMorris in Germany.
Grandfather lifts weights for granddaughter.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Marcella season 1
Marcella is a British detective series first broadcast 2016.
Three seasons announced, so far.
Good TV. Great cast. A sophisticated plot.
BUT — for me this season was far too bleak.
Everyone is dysfunctional. There’s nobody to cheer for. … Aside from the computer nerd.
It’s too complicated, as well. Too many characters.
And seemingly huge plot holes — like Mohammed El-Said, the taxi driver who knew Marcella’s secret. What happened to him? Perhaps it’s explained in season 2.
I had to read this recap to even half make sense of this story.
It stars Anna Friel as Marcella Backland, a former London Metropolitan Police Service detective, who decides to return to work after her husband of 15 years, Jason (Nicholas Pinnock), abruptly announces he is leaving her.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
My ONLINE doctor – Babylon by TELUS
Babylon by TELUS Health lets you see a doctor* or mental health counsellor from your phone, where and when it’s convenient for you.
Works well. Covered by Alberta Health Care.
TELUS Canada partnered with the UK-based company Babylon
I downloaded the IOS app. Got an appointment quickly. No hassle. Very efficient use of my time.
Video conferenced with two different doctors via my phone. Both excellent.
In my case I merely needed to renew prescriptions. But if it had been something more complicated they’d refer me to a real life specialist.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian
I recommend this book.
A fictional account of a looming pandemic.
I got hooked from the start where a couple is enjoying Vietnam on a guided bike tour.
This is Bohjalian’s 21st book, though I can’t recall hearing the name. He’s Armenian / Swedish. Several of his works have been adapted for TV and film.
The Blacklist – season 1
The Blacklist is a crime thriller TV series. Eight seasons.
Yet I’d never even heard of it.
Yes, it’s silly escapist TV. Very good silly escapist TV.
Great music. Some interesting cinematography.
Of course you have to suspend disbelief. It’s about as realistic as a Road Runner cartoon. 😀
James Spader is excellent as Raymond “Red” Reddington, a former U.S. Navy officer turned high-profile criminal who voluntarily surrenders to the FBI after eluding capture for decades.
… he has a list of the most dangerous criminals in the world … compiled over the years, and is willing to inform on their operations in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
However, he insists on working exclusively with rookie FBI profiler Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone). …
Kiefer Sutherland was offered the role first. Not surprising. It reminds me a bit of 24.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
John recommend this book — comparing it to The Road, a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by Cormac McCarthy.
It’s very good. Though — like The Road — depressing.
Parable of the Sower is a 1993 dystopian novel by Octavia E. Butler, the first in a two-book series.
Set in the 2020s where society has largely collapsed due to climate change, growing wealth inequality, and corporate greed, Parable of the Sower centers on a young woman named Lauren Oya Olamina who possesses what Butler dubbed hyperempathy or “sharing” – the ability to feel pain and other sensations she witnesses. …
When Lauren‘s home is destroyed and family murdered, she travels north with other survivors.
The young woman evolves a new belief system, which she comes to call Earthseed. Her goal to build a community based on those beliefs.
Sadly, Octavia Butler died age-58 at her home in Washington State. A multiple recipient of both Hugo and Nebula awards, she influenced many other writers.
This is a GREAT YouTube video
Fast paced. Funny. Emotional. You are hooked in the first 10 seconds.
Much like the time Drake gave away a million dollars.
In this one, illegal Slovakian immigrant David Dobrik gives away money, cars, and EA gaming devices. It’s fun.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Video editing guru Hillier Smith feels it’s the best so far in 2020.
Here’s why.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
I’d seen No Country for Old Men, the 2007 thriller film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.
Very scary. Especially Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh.
Very violent.
The film won 76 awards on 109 nominations across multiple organizations; it won four awards at the 80th Academy Awards – Best Picture, Best Director(s), Best Supporting Actor (Bardem) and Best Adapted Screenplay …
… many regard it as the Coen brothers’ best film. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The Coens’ script was mostly faithful to the source material.
The 2005 novel has the same dark feel.
A drug deal gone wrong near the Mexican border in 1980. A psychopath killer.
Though some argue that Cormac McCarthy is “our greatest living writer” — early critical reception of the novel was mixed.
I loved The Road (2006), the post-apocalyptic novel awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
The Road was an excellent film, as well.
War is Hell – Skeletons at the Feast
I’ve always been anti-war.
Citizens should do everything they can to avoid war.
That said, the allies response to Hitler’s invasions and the attack on Pearl Harbor were justified.
Even Gandhi supported the allies in WW II.
Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian (2008) is the story of a journey in the waning months of World War II.
A Prussian family flees west ahead of the advancing Russian army. They bring a Scottish POW that had been working on their farm. En route, they are joined by Uri Singer, an escaped Jew posing as a Nazi officer.
At the same time, Nazi work camp prisoners are being marched west.
It’s all horrible.
War is Hell.
shooting vertical videos
An old dog, I much prefer landscape videos.
But the whole generation who started with TikTok feel portrait is normal.
As an experiment, I shot and edited one VERT video.
YouTube is soon to launch a TikTok competitor called “Shorts”, but it hasn’t happened yet.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
