Nerd Pride Radio

New forums, new thread, hoping for some new recommendations!
Lately I have been watching a multi-part special on the Silk Road which is free to Amazon prime viewers, and even though the program has its limits, it's super interesting. Anything that gives an inside look at the scenery and everyday lives of people in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan is well worth the price, yet the price is low! Living on the steppes of Kyrgyzstan seems like an unrealistic way to stay gainfully employed and near modern medical facilities, but otherwise? Looks good. Probably would have some religious issues there? Yet it's a complicated place with unique belief systems beneath the surface layer of Islam. I've been reading a lot about Nestorian Christianity and Tengrism, as well as the role of the wives and mothers of various Khans and Sultans, and this is an incredible history full of surprisingly powerful women, living in societies I don't really understand. Scenery really good though. Lots of info about the Uyghurs, which is something I wanted to learn much more about.

Picard was watched here. I honestly tried. I watched multiple episodes. I struggled mightily to stay awake through them and eventually found it so stupid that I could not help but succumb to the greater love for sleep. I wanted that show to be good, I really did, but the plot was so bad, the writing so bad! It was nice to see Seven, and of course, nice to see Picard, and some of the others - I liked the gal from Network in her role. Overall though, so disappointing. So boring!

Other than watching the Mandolorian, I haven't been watching much episodic entertainment lately. Just nothing that piques my interest enough, after this many months of lockdown.

One thing we have started watching is the DVDs of the Rick Steve's travel shows from PBS. We used to love watching those years ago, so we got a copy of the show during a pledge drive a year or two ago and just recently started watching them.

We Are the Champions - Netflix - I'm only two episodes in, but already, this show makes me so happy. It's a six episode series about weird competitions around the world. The first is about the people who risk their lives to chase a cheese wheel down a hill. The second is about a hot pepper eating competition. In both cases, these are people putting themselves through potentially immense pain for the sake of a minor prize. And they are both glorious. They are relentlessly positive and uplifting. I'm serious, they just make me happy. I hope the remaining four eps are as good.

Animaniacs - Hulu - I'm loving this. If you were a fan of the original Animaniacs, the new season is very true to the original. A kids show that is incredibly self-aware and meta and chock full of incredible jokes that the kids won't get. I'm halfway through, and so far it's all Warner siblings, plus Pink and the Brain. There's just a passing nod to all the other characters at this point. If you weren't a huge fan of the original, then maybe don't bother? I don't know. It's fun.

NEW ANIMANIACS! Do we have Hulu? Investigation needed!

Mike wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 10:37 am We Are the Champions - Netflix - I'm only two episodes in, but already, this show makes me so happy. It's a six episode series about weird competitions around the world. The first is about the people who risk their lives to chase a cheese wheel down a hill. The second is about a hot pepper eating competition. In both cases, these are people putting themselves through potentially immense pain for the sake of a minor prize. And they are both glorious. They are relentlessly positive and uplifting. I'm serious, they just make me happy. I hope the remaining four eps are as good.

I've also seen only those two episodes, but I really like it. Comfort food TV.

If you like this, you should watch Home Game (also on Netflix). It's the same thing- short 30 minute or so episodes about strange sports around the world. I really enjoyed it- even more so than this show (but both are good).

Kyle wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 12:45 pmIf you like this, you should watch Home Game (also on Netflix). It's the same thing- short 30 minute or so episodes about strange sports around the world. I really enjoyed it- even more so than this show (but both are good).

Thank you! I will add that now.

Do they have the national sport of Kyrgyzstan and other nomadic areas, where the dead headless carcass of a goat is used much like a rugby ball except on horseback and with more violence?

Phoebe wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 4:35 pm Do they have the national sport of Kyrgyzstan and other nomadic areas, where the dead headless carcass of a goat is used much like a rugby ball except on horseback and with more violence?

Goddamn right they do!

Well! I know what I'll be watching, someday!

The Tick
As a fan of the podcast, Blank Check, I was a little cautious to visit this, worried that Griffin, who I know is hillarious, maybe miss the mark on his big acting debut. I Was Wrong. He's great in this. Like, really, perfect as Arthur. Not just that, but I'm also a big fan of The Peter Serafinowicz Show, which I assume will be considered a cult classic someday. PLUS, I was a fan of the original tick serieses. Who would have guessed that I ate all this up!

The Mandalorian
Mild spoilers of Star Wars canon within. Thanksgiving break was a good time to binge. I really really liked it. None of the embarassingness of the prequels. None of the "everything in the original series but more" of the new trilogy. Well there are still some things they can't stop with. There seems to be a soap opera-level rule in Star Wars now that if you didn't see a dead body (or empty clothes where a body should be) then any and all characters are still alive. If someone crashes their ship: still alive. Eaten by a giant monster: still alive. Thrown off the death star by Darth Vader: you know it! Chewbacca gets blown up in the final film and --- ok, you get it.

Anyways, there's a lot I love about this: the acting, the humanity over effects (props to Bryce Dallas Howard's directorial efforts, though all directors are doing great work here), the child (Grogu as a name is fine, people'll get used to it, or we'll just keep calling him Baby Yoda, because, no one calls Mando by his real name, either), the carl weathers (so good), the werner herzog ("so good" in werner herzog voice). And nothing since the original so clearly gets the Kurasawa samauri epics / Western tropes down. Even down to the Ennio Morricone-like whistle whenever Mando makes himself known. Homage done well.

I love its mix of mini-series and episodic-adventures, like the best of Kung Fu or The Incredible Hulk, or... Star Trek! I read some reviews complaining about its "monster of the week" episodes, but I love a show that's confident to settle us into a story and not have to feel like it's pushing one cliff-hanger after the other. Cliff-hangers are almost nowhere to be seen in this and thank goodness.

Mike wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 10:37 am Animaniacs - Hulu - I'm loving this. If you were a fan of the original Animaniacs, the new season is very true to the original.

One thing keeping me from showing my kids the original and say Who Framed Roger Rabbit, is there's quite a bit of cat-calling in them from what I remember. Is that toned down or do they still get horny at every woman that shows some leg?

They've completely removed it for the new season. Even modified the theme song to remove references to Hello Nurse and Bill Clinton.

Ummm, The Mandalorian

Obviously. I really need to get caught up.

My kid wants to see the Mandalorian really badly so we might have to break down and pay whatever the payment is. If we do pay it does anyone know if there are other shows we will gain in the process? We might have a 3-week period for laying around like slugs and watching excessive TV, because the start of school is pushed back a little, and the young people don't share my enthusiasm for charging out into the snow with a dog.

They have all the Star Wars if you haven't seen some of the recent movies. Clone Wars starts slow but gets good most of the time, though you are probably not going to want slog through 100+ eps. Rebels is fun more consistently.

The same goes for Marvel and Pixar if there are movies you missed. Unfortunately, the new Marvel series have been pushed back and are at least several months away.

If you watch kids shows, Owl House and Amphibia are good.

So this is a dumb question but it will give you a real insight into my life situation: did we in fact already have Star wars episode 9 and it's technically over? Is that a thing I could watch if I got this channel?

Yep.

So we have nine and now the question in my mind is, have I even seen eight? What happened in eight? Maybe that's the one with the epic Luke heat shimmer or mirage, or where she's in a cave with that penguin thing but she's having mind meld with dude over there? Yeah.

Was Carrie Fisher dead in both eight and nine??

I think Carrie Fisher died partway through filming of nine?

I'm watching the last season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I like how goofy they are being with some of the time travel. The episode where they were stuck in a time loop -- absolutely brilliant writing at the end. One of the best discussions of mortality I've ever heard. It hit me with a simultaneous feeling of profound loss and absolute hope.

She died while filming 8.

Oh yes, so that's why I had this memory of seeing scenes with her after she had passed away, because they actually included some of that in eight. So I have seen eight but I haven't seen nine. Everything is organized now. I bet my kid would like Agents of Shield, Darcs. Autocorrect keeps wanting to turn your name into Darcy and I feel like maybe that's why MrsDarcs likes you so much? Because now the computer wants to turn her into Mrs Darcy. Oooooh!

I don't have time to watch any TV sadly, looking forward to some day of sloth when this occurs... But occasionally I am picking up pieces of a show where they put a bunch of British people on an island. Haha see what I did there? It's an island in the South Pacific. There are scorpions and snakes on the island and it doesn't seem like they're even paying them or doing anything to induce this behavior, so God only knows why these people have allowed themselves to be set there for weeks of starvation and misery and being bitten by flies. The snippets I have seen were sort of interesting; the man is obsessed with it.

Christmas movies....and The Mandalorian

Watched some dumb Christmas movie on Prime that began with very bad acting, and a scene where the guy tells the gal's kid that Santa isn't real. It was at this juncture I realized I was watching the movie with my kid in the room, because he asked, "why is that man telling that girl such a mean lie?" It went downhill from there.

Watched the new Pixar movie, Soul, which I really enjoyed. And Wonder Woman 1984, which was okay. I’m trying to put my finger on just what it was that kept it from popping for me, but it was just missing something.

No 3D glasses?
I have watched, via piecing together various English subtitled clips, a Korean reality show from about 5 years ago, American Hustle Life, featuring BTS going to Los Angeles for training in hip hop - dance, singing, beatbox, culture, etc. It was a great joy and also managed to disgust and enrage everyone else in the house, which only added to the charms. 11/10

Once Upon a Time ... In Hollywood

Spoilers for a few Tarantino films within. Read a letterboxed review that was glad this wasn't a revenge pick like so many other of Tarantino's revisionist history films. But they're wrong, it's totally a revenge pick. Sure the other ones have characters seeking revenge, but in all the main push for revenge is from Tarantino, and he delivers another wish-fulfillment what-if. It also, I dunno, is a bit insulting. People focus on his stuntman character defeating Bruce Lee, but it only raises the stakes there. Only my stuntman character could have defeated Bruce Lee in a fight, not died by the Mansons like an actual stuntman did, and only my stuntman could have stopped the death of Sharon Tate. I get it's "once upon a time" -- it's a fairy tale -- but it's hubristic too. I dunno. Anyways, good film, good sets, love letter to 60s Hollywood and 60s highways and 60s buildings and 60s music. Stitched together imperfectly (or is it so imperfect that that's the point). And revenge. That's it. After one watch, I didn't feel there was much more than that.

I mean, aren't all Tarantino films hubristic?

I get everything you're saying, but I love Tarantino. I love his bad stuff (looking at you Kill Bill 1 and 2). I love his lesser knowns (Foxy Brown). I love the stuff that everyone loves. I really liked this movie once I realized that it was Brad Pitt's movie and not Leo's.

I didn't view it as Brad Pitt being some sort of super-stuntman. The Bruce Lee scene, to me, seemed more of a commentary on how overhyped Lee was... that he was ultimately more flash and camera work than an actual fighter. Similarly, I saw the defeat of the Manson Family as just a quirk of fate. The Mansons were not criminal geniuses in real life, and it wouldn't have taken much to derail their plans.

Overall, I loved watching this movie, but was ultimately left feeling there was something missing from it.

Mike wrote: ↑Thu Dec 31, 2020 8:08 am I didn't view it as Brad Pitt being some sort of super-stuntman. The Bruce Lee scene, to me, seemed more of a commentary on how overhyped Lee was... that he was ultimately more flash and camera work than an actual fighter. Similarly, I saw the defeat of the Manson Family as just a quirk of fate. The Mansons were not criminal geniuses in real life, and it wouldn't have taken much to derail their plans.

Overall, I loved watching this movie, but was ultimately left feeling there was something missing from it.

This is how I saw it. Especially with the line about going to jail if he fought you and you died. I do think that Tarantino was getting revenge on Manson for killing the 60s era of Hollywood.

I also liked that he cast the children of celebrities as the Family. I thought I heard that it was because those were the kind of kids that fell in with the real Manson. But it's late and I'm not researching things.

Also, forgot to say that I just finished the 3rd season of Cobra Kai, and I loved it. Great storytelling, and in most cases everyone has a character-based reason for the dumb things they do.

My husband loves this show and I have been watching it with him by default. It's actually hilarious. The parts with the teenagers are absolutely unwatchable in my opinion, but all the parts with the main character blonde guy are amazing.

ROOKIE HISTORIAN. I have died and gone to heaven. I started watching it while holding some random objects I was in the process of moving from point A to B and C, and I ended up just standing there slack-jawed for like 25 minutes, holding the stuff, until finally my fingers started sending the "HALP US WE ARE BENUMBED!" signal. I fell asleep in the act of watching it, just conked out like a stone at some unknown point and slept through my first alarms, so I have to get in there tonight and figure out where I left off. It is as if someone wrote and created this entire show for me.

Phoebe wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 2:52 pm ROOKIE HISTORIAN. I have died and gone to heaven. I started watching it while holding some random objects I was in the process of moving from point A to B and C, and I ended up just standing there slack-jawed for like 25 minutes, holding the stuff, until finally my fingers started sending the "HALP US WE ARE BENUMBED!" signal. I fell asleep in the act of watching it, just conked out like a stone at some unknown point and slept through my first alarms, so I have to get in there tonight and figure out where I left off. It is as if someone wrote and created this entire show for me.

One of us! One of us!

I haven't finished it yet but I am now several episodes in and this is one of the greatest shows I have ever seen. It's not quite on a par with the 1995 pride and prejudice but it's pretty close. I question my whole life and sanity because I continue to feel excessive sympathies - Oh s*** could this be what my children call stanning? literally asking this of a person who calls himself Stan, priceless - toward first historian Min. Now that I'm to the point where our prince is out and about saving the world, it is obvious he must be seen as our hero, as his moral goodness shines forth. But First Historian Min also has moral goodness, and a sorrowful loneliness just as powerful as the prince's! Aieee, I have to physically force myself not to lose sleep over the show and to obey my own brain's commands.

Okay now that I have a minute let me update the above for people who have never seen this show: imagine that a Young and the Restless style soap opera was set in early 1800s Korea/Joseon, and focused primarily on a single heroine although other characters have their own storylines soap opera style. Now imagine that instead of being ridiculous and absurd and morally bankrupt in the way that most US soap operas were in the past few decades, the characters are all struggling with weighty moral situations in addition to the expected fluff and tragedy/drama of their romance storylines. Imagine that a key part of all the plot lines is being an honorable and good person who is struggling against the forces that dehumanize and objectify and harm people unjustly!

Then imagine that all the characters exhibit beauty and dignity both physically and in their actions. But they are also silly and humorous! Oh, and let's add that most of the characters we are interested in are engaged in intellectual pursuits like journalism/history, writing novels, poetry, medicine, plus saving the world, etc. Imagine further that the Korean equivalent of ninjas appear all over the place (what would this be? I need to find out) and perfectly choreographed ninjaing occurs all over the place! And people shooting arrows! And ninjas shooting arrows! In beautiful forest and mountain and beach settings. Then imagine that somehow it makes the perfect historical comment on our pandemic, because a pandemic is a major part of the plot!

All this is why it is a nearly perfect piece of television. I am not sure that anyone else here but me would like it as much as I do, because the ninjas only appear a few times per episode rather than as a centerpiece, but oh my gosh is it good.

The goodness of the show is creating actual conflict in the household now because I usually defer my TV watching tastes and period of the evening to other people. Other people want to watch a s***** program about the Medicis, in which everyone is bad and ugly and horrid and are all struggling as hard as they can to do the wrong things for the wrong reasons. It is basically the opposite of Rookie Historian - a show about Western barbarians doing barbaric things. Ugh. I have no interest and for the first time I insist on having my show first. I am not yielding my goddamn 4,000 times superior show for this nonsense crap, after 20 years of being kept up at all hours by b******* from George RR Martin to every single war documentary available.

Got a subscription to BritBox and am making my way through Red Dwarf and Black Adder. And alternating that with a Disney+ NatGeo Wild Nordic show.

I finally started watching the Jodie Whitaker Doctor Who seasons. So far not a fan, but I can't put my finger on it. There's an episode set against the Partition of India and Pakistan that was pretty good, but there's something about the tone of the episodes. It's heavy on horror-style cinematography that I'm normally fine with in smaller doses, but seems like it's every episode now. I don't disagree with any of the "political" messaging, but it feels a little too on the nose and I'd prefer a bit more subtlety. Then again, the show was always meant more for children, so maybe that's fine.

I thought it was cancelled after the BLM protests took off, but the Rookie is back. They are leaning heavily into the skid by focusing on the police trying to purge corruption and racism while rebuilding community relations. It's pretty decent so far handling a complex topic where everyone has a point.

On rookie historian now they are fighting corruption. Min U-Won is so wonderful and now there are hints of some kind of complications in his past... Oh dear!!

I was able to watch half of one episode of the precious RH tonight before the damn Medicis returned to my screen against my will. In old age it's no longer about petty matters like who has the remote; I avenged myself by remarking upon the striking resemblance between the woman in the show my husband thinks is super hot, and our kid. It has the virtue of being true, without which the claim would have no impact. I feel no mercy when deprived of Rookie Historian at the very moment before the episode where someone is going to prison (!!) and our main couple shall kiss for the first time. These are the wages of sin.

I've made it far enough into rookie historian that we have reached a sad time in the show, when pointless, stupid things are separating our people! Everyone is sad - things are not working out for anyone! However they may be working out for Grandma who may be able to accomplish everything we need to accomplish. I believe in you, Grandma. Meanwhile I am drowning in anguish here because this whole thing is incredibly sad. Surely there's no way that our hero is going to die but they keep foreshadowing bad things happening to him, so there is a constant worry that he's going to die... I need more episodes, proof of life, some form of hope, something. We also just had such a tremendous Ethics storyline with Min U-Won and now we don't even know what's going on with him. But at least he's okay whereas our main couple here - no make that all three of our main couples plus Min's sister! - are suffering pointlessly! Make it stop!!!

I continued watching the Rookie Historian show until the suffering of our main couple ceased and I was certain that everything was going to be okay, which meant watching it all the way to the end. I believe it had 20 total episodes. Things were resolved well for most people, with some quite unexpected wrinkles and complications!
You would think this would leave me quite happy, yes?
No.
This show has wrecked and deceased me emotionally due to my unbridled passion for First Historian Min U-Won.
I need another 20 episodes about what happened after he finished his 3-year period of whatever that was - mourning, penance, both?
I need to know what happened to him, that his life is turning out happily now despite all his pointless suffering and misery. Just because he gets to wear normal clothes now and come back to work doesn't mean that everything is solved for him! And speaking of normal clothes: every garment and every set design in this show is its own unique form of ecstasy. Especially the hats.
What kind of sadistic people made this show and then made us care so much about Min, only to leave us bereft and lost forever after, not knowing what has happened to him? At least they let us know he is still alive, because I was worried, y'all. I was seriously worried. I'm still worried.
This terrible life wrecking show has also caused actual conflict in my household, partly because I insisted on being able to watch it like a normal person who has equal rights, or even partial rights. People have made remarks; disagreeable exchanges have occurred because of this show.
I cried so much watching this dumb show that my right eye still hurts.
That's how good it is.

Watched first two seasons of The Wire. Love that Omar! Was very excited to see a famous GIF!



Rewatched it a half dozen times. showed it to the wife. Guess that says something about me and culture and stuff, right?

One thing that irritates me in a lot of multiseason dramas is lack of growth. In that respect, McNulty is getting on my nerves too.

Also, I get it's fun using your soundtrack to insert awesome songs from the 50s onward, but it seems less realistic for some of these characters to be playing these retro cool hits in their cars or hearing them at bars. Only the hoodlums play modern stuff... but maybe that's a point being made about them and culture and stuff, right?

I browsed some random K-dramas on Netflix in the aftermath of the devastating explosion of the heart and mind wrought by Rookie Historian. None were satisfying. Duh. How could they be, when they lacked Min U-Won, my beloved?
Time does not heal all wounds, certainly, but after a few days and a few false starts I was able to overcome my resistance to watching anything and anyone other than Min U-Won by getting sucked in to a contemporary K-drama called Was It Love? Well, was it? We still don't know! The heroine has encountered no fewer than three gentlemen from her 14-years-ago past, one of whom may or may not be the father of her daughter (presumably she knows, though neither we nor the daughter know this information yet). She has also fallen into the orbit, shall we say, of a mysterious mobster type who demands to be paid. Which of these four men is her future? We do not know! She does not know! Her daughter does not know! Her mother does not know! Nobody knows! Meanwhile, she is producing a movie financed by the mobster, acted in by one of the old flames, and written and directed by one of the old flames! While romancing her daughter's teacher who also knew her way back then but was far too shy to make a move at that time! What on earth will she do?! Will she have her hands cut off? Will she find love with one of these clowns?

It was all so absurd and distracting - until it wasn't. Somewhere between episodes 2 and 6 we discovered that we had, ourselves, fallen hopelessly in love with the writer/director/past boyfriend of the woman. Move thine self along to greener pastures, woman, you have three others from whom to choose a buddy, while for me only Oh Dae O will do! It's settled. We are done here. Stop eyeing my man already - multiple episodes are left and we are going to have a problem if you continue these chancy meetings with him.

Has the subject of Bridgerton come up here? Am I spelling it wrong and that's why it does not appear in search? Anyway, I watched it. Many of my women acquaintances were in a great lather over it so I figured, let's see what that's about. This was a while ago, not sure when. Pre-Rookie Historian, obviously. I was unprepared for what I was about to see on the screen, and it is not safe for work and small children! There is so much - we see many body parts and activities we did not expect.

This is a period piece that instead of taking itself seriously as a period piece, immediately announces that it is going to have some fun and play around with the sandbox of period piece in whatever way it chooses. This is one of the best things about it - like all the costumes and dresses and nonsense without any of the demand for fidelity to historical facts and whatnot. It's great! And it means the cast is multi-racial and unapologetically so. Damn right! Cast whoever you like! This is our show, we are going to enjoy ourselves! That's an initial impression. But then, downhill.

Our heroine in this show is very annoying, but luckily there are several other sub-heroines whose personalities are more appealing and whose stories are far more interesting. The main heroine is involved in one of these ridiculous "we will pretend to be dating because we don't even like each other but pretend is convenient in our lives right now, and then whoopsie now we like each other! ack!" plotlines you can see coming several miles down the track, plus the gates and flashing lights and horns and everything. I appreciate that much of this story plays out in a manner that seems to be designed to appeal to heterosexual women. Yeah, I can't complain that they have chosen this perspective, but at the same time, where was Min U-Won? Where was Oh Dae-O? Making a show for heterosexual ladies is nice but useless if you aren't attracted to any of the men who appear in it, eh? It was like watching very enthusiastic efforts at heterosexual romance between trout. They're nice but I am not attracted to them, nor do I wish to witness their matings.

The other problem is that the show is so dumb. A major part of the plot is that the heroine is uniquely stupid about all human functioning, including the animal behaviors, despite her enthusiastic participation in the same. Another major part of the plot has to do with the fact that women require men for bringing forth children, and everything to do with this part of the plot was offensive, absurd, and beyond pathetic. What happened to "show for heterosexual women"? This enjoyment was only for people living with shackles I have long since cast away - I mean, what kind of nonsense?! But I watched it anyway because here we were, in the house, and I was making a blanket and I wanted a show in the background.

Thanks for that. I was considering watching it due to all the buzz and you've saved me the time.

Forgot to add these after the site returned...
52 By Women 2020 #77: Little Women

Awesome.

52 By Women 2020 #78: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Very good.

52 By Women 2020 #79: Free Solo

Awesome.

And now onto the next project, no 52 goal or limit, just trying to make sure at least 50% of my film viewing is directed by women and/or people of color...

Wonder Woman 1984 (W+POC 2021 #1)

I was coming in knowing that some hated this film, and others saw it as a big disappointment. I am on the side that this is one big silly mess, and it's tons of fun. It has some fun action, some fun comedic scenes, and some fun over-the-top bordeline-terrible campy performances. Definitely not a top-tier superhero film, isn't a flag-on-the-moon statement of the original -- falls into some of the super-hero traps that the original stayed away from. But... good! It's good.

David Byrne's American Utopia (W+POC #2)

Cultural anthropologist plays art rock with global band. Beautifully assembled, sung, danced, and directed (by Spike Lee). Still like "Stop Making Sense" better but there's a lot to love about this.

Looper
Loopy!