It's a Wrap- Up...Bakingmania, Fallout, the Tourist

Hello, Hello! I broke my streak of regular posting but the weather has been nice and I've been so busy (& happy!) working in the yard/on the house. I'm completely exhausted by the end of the day. Honestly, it's been great and the best I've slept in awhile. We also have a mini vacation coming up. 

And I celebrated my 59th birthday yesterday. I was never one to care about age/aging but the past few years have been kind of hard to wrap my brain around. Probably because I feel older. We had a lot of big life changes, health scares plus other stressful things going on. Things finally seem to be headed in a better direction, both with health and drama so 🤞

Other than that, there hasn't been much going on. I did some baking 2 weeks ago - 3 things in ONE DAY lol

I made a loaf of whole wheat, 7 grain bread in my machine, scones (from a mix) for a breakfast meeting Kevin was having at work the next day & decided - what the hell - and made a batch of Irish Cream cupcakes - converted from a coffee cake recipe I had made. 

Reading:

I'm still barely reading. I started the audio of Annie bot by Sierra Greer ~ Goodreads . I thought it was a different book so I'm a little thrown by it. It's about a female robot - purchased by a man named Doug and her growing interest in humanity and autonomy. These books are always kind of about sex and servitude (for obvious reasons) but it's just really squicky to listen to at the moment. 

Watching:

I have never played Fallout but we watched the series version on Amazon and loved it. It's kind of wacky, super violent, darkly funny. 

We're watching S2 of The Tourist on Netflix right now. It's pretty good, although I enjoyed S1 more. I highly recommend S1 - it has a Memento vibe in the Australian Outback. 

That's it for me!

I'll leave you with this video by Tenacious D (love them!). They did a cover of Britney Spears Baby One More Time that I meant to post when it came out a few weeks ago. It's a cover for the Kung Fu Panda 4 movie.

Happy weekend to you all! What have you been up to? Watching, reading, listening to?

Watching... Fargo, The Brothers Sun, Monarch, A Murder at the End of the World, and more...

 

We've been watching A LOT of TV lately. We're on some weird documentary kick right now. I think because they're usually quick and don't require a binge worthy time investment and I always learn some weird, random thing I didn't know before. 

But we did watch several popular series & here's a quick round-up!

Fargo S5 FX/HULU - Starring (against type) Juno Temple (Keeley from ted Lasso) and Jon Hamm & a STELLAR Jennifer Jason Leigh - plus many, many more recognizable faces.

👍👍I saw Fargo, the movie, years ago but had never watched the TV series until now & WOWZA. This was some of the best television I've seen recently. We were riveted and holding our breath worrying about characters fates. 

We're going back and watching the series from the start now - every season is a new story/cast. S1 was excellent but nothing tops S5 to me. 

*TW: This show is very violent - so just a general warning there, but also this season is about domestic violence. It makes many references to past violence and and on screen domestic violence, as well as PTSD reactions to events. 

The Brothers Son Netflix - This stars, the always amazing, Michelle Yeoh. 

"When a mysterious enemy targets his family, a Taipei triad member heads to Los Angeles to protect his strong-willed mother and oblivious younger brother."

👍👍Fun, action packed (very bloody)

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Monarch: Legacy of Monsters AppleTV - "After the world-shattering revelation that monsters are real, two siblings follow in their father's footsteps to uncover their family's connection to the secretive organization known as Monarch."

👍We liked it. Good background story and acting elevates, what feels like just another set up for a never-ending barrage of inter-connecting shows/movies and spin offs.

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A Murder at the End of the World FX/HULU  - "A Murder at the End of the World" is a mystery series with a new kind of detective at the helm -- a Gen Z amateur sleuth and tech-savvy hacker named Darby Hart. In the new limited series, Darby and eight other guests are invited by a reclusive billionaire to participate in a retreat at a remote and dazzling location. When one of the other guests is found dead, Darby must put to use all of her combined skills to prove it was in fact murder, all against a tide of competing interests and before the killer takes another life."

👍We watched this because it starred Clive Owen and it was fine. There was a lot of hype around it but we felt like it dragged a bit too long and didn't make use of some of the bigger messages it kept dropping - like environmental, egomaniacal tech giants, cyber safety etc. But it was interesting and if you are into crime thrillers more than I am - give it a go. 

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Love at First Sight - Based on The Statistical Probability of Falling in Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith Netflix

👍👍My friend and I do a weekly virtual movie date and this was our pick. We both loved it and thought it was one of the better rom-com type movies we've seen in a long time. Great acting, chemistry, good story, GREAT ending. 

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Percy Jackson Disney - we're watching the new series adaptation and we're not hooked or anything but it follows the books and it's fun, even if it's not super compelling

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We also watched all the recent Doctor Who - except for the Christmas special.\

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Documentaries - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Rita Moreno, Squaring the Circle (about iconic album covers), Inventing David Geffen

Happy (very belated) New Year - new year, same lazy blogger...

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New year - same me...still barely reading and barely posting lol

I had all these posts planned but I seem to get bogged down when it comes to actually writing them. I thought I would start off simple and show what I read last year and what I'm reading right now.  

Apparently, I read 32 books last year. That's about 30 more than it felt like I read. Far below the 200+ I used to, but anytime I finish a book these days is a win for me. My Goodreads goal for this year is 12.

2023 READS: Here's a link to my 2023 shelf in case you want to read my rating or review (if I left one)

*Partners in Crime is there twice despite me only listening to the audio..I CANNOT seem to get this duplicate off my damn shelf lol

The standouts: The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore was a sweet bookish vibes, feel good read.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, and All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Crosby were well outside my comfort zone but both surprising hits for me.

The Undertaking of Heart and Mercy by Megan Bannen and Chick Magnet byt Emma Barry were balm for my jaded romance genre soul. Once my favorite go-to reads - romance has been meh for me lately but these two were great. 

Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune was a great (not a direct) follow up to The House in Cerulean Sea - much darker and not quite as good as Cerulean Sea, Under the Whispering Door still held the same whimsy and compelling characters that I've grown to love from Klune. 

Biggest disappointments - Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn - I wanted (& expected to!) love this one but it was just meh for me. Radio Silence by Alice Oseman - I buddy read this with Greg and that made it fun - but otherwise this book was nothing I was expecting. i thought it was a dystopian but it was straight up HS drama and just kind of odd. 

Everything else on there is pretty good - I did not finish Elatsoe yet. I was listening on audio and my loan expired but I will get back to it. 

CURRENTLY READING

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt ~ Goodreads

I've had this on my libro.fm app for awhile now and Jenni's review finally gave me the kick int he pants I needed to start it. 

One of the POV's is Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus, living an aquarium where Tova Sullivan works. From what I gather so far, their lives intersect and, Tova heals from grief and loss.

I'm really liking the author and Marcellus's POV - (paraphrasing...) Day 145 of my captivity...lol

ONE POST FOR THE NEW YEAR DOWN!! 

I'm hoping to do a post about what I've been watching next - maybe for Monday?? Come yell at me if I don't lol