First, I apologize this is going up a day late. I traveled from Virginia to Pennsylvania for
a reunion with school friends yesterday.
I had originally planned to put the blog up between when I arrived at
the hotel and when I met my first friend for dinner. However, I had a rather tough trip involving
rain, an accident (not mine thankfully), and a stupidly missed exit, all of
which combined to make a 5½ hour trip into a 7½ hour trip. Then, I got caught up in having fun with my
friend and got back too late to have the mental capacity needed to put the finishing
touches on the blog. No worries though,
I put it on my morning task list before heading off to see more friends and
have more fun.
I have not been watching much TV in the past few months, but
I made up for it this month. This is
somewhat helped by the series I chose, two of which had shorter season that the
normal 20+ episodes. In addition, I watched
a couple movies and read a couple books.
I chose to forego one movie review and add in a third TV series. This was mostly because I wrote the first two
reviews prior to watching the third show, but I was just so excited about
Daredevil that I could not skip talking about it. Enjoy.
Warning: Although I
tried not to delve into plots too deeply, there are potential spoilers in the
reviews below. Read at your own risk.
TV Series: Psych:
Season 8 (2014)
After a long hiatus, my husband and I finally made it back
to Psych to watch the final season. It
was a short season, only ten episodes, to wind down the series. Overall, I have really enjoyed the whole series. It is a crime procedural, done comedy
style. Shawn and Gus help the Santa
Barbara Police Department solve crime using Shawn’s amazing observational and
memory skills to see things that others miss.
Along the way they normally get themselves into trouble because they do
not take things seriously and try to have as much fun in the process of
crime-solving as possible. It is a show
that does that does not hesitate to make fun of itself, and it has provided a
lot of fun episodes because of it. The
last season has some pretty great episodes, but it also has the absolute worst
episode I have ever seen. Check out
episodes Lock, Stock, Some Smoking
Barrels, and Burton Guster’s Goblet of Fire for an interesting resolution
to one of their recurring villains and The
Break-Up for a solid and amusing series finale. Just skip A
Nightmare on State Street, which is a confusing hour long waste of time
that does nothing to entertain or move along the series.
TV Series: One Tree Hill: Season 5 (2008)
Season 5 starts some four and a half years after season 4
ended. The series creators decided to
take the unusual move of jumping the cast forward to after college completion. I think this was a brilliant decision. For one, it allows us to spread the
characters out and then converge them back into Tree Hill again without the
very false-feeling storyline of everyone going to the same college. Second, it provides the viewer with mystery
and wonder as they try to piece together what happened to each character during
the four years. The catch up was done
very well with flashbacks and explanations sprinkled into current events, so
after a few episodes the fans did not even feel like they had missed four
years. As per my review of Seasons 1-4,
season 5 still has the hallmarks of a great show that takes the drama just a
little too far. I really like the
progression they did with all the major characters. Each arc seems believable and true to
character. As the season continues
though, a couple of the storylines just go a little too far. For example, Peyton destroys Luke’s
relationship with his editor Lindsey, just as she has destroyed every other
relationship he has tried to have. I
know Peyton and Luke together are supposed to be central to the show, but I
hate it. Either Peyton needs to get
fully on board, or she needs to leave him alone (personally I vote for the
latter). Only wanting him when he moves
on to someone else is getting repetitive and annoying. Then, the psycho Nanny Carrie storyline was
too much. Having a nanny come in between
Nathan and Haley was believable, but having the nanny go all crazy and try to
steal Jamie just seemed forced.
Complaints aside, I will continue to watch, because it is just too much
fun in between the craziness. Plus
(spoiler alert), I know they eventually write Lucas and Peyton out, and that
might just make it a better show.
TV Series: Daredevil:
Season 1 (2015)
This was the next pick for my husband & I to watch
together after Psych ended. I was a
little nervous going into it, because I could tell from the trailer that this
would be a bit grittier than the normal Marvel output. I ended up loving this series, and I cannot
wait to watch Season 2. Right from the
beginning, I found things that I motivated me to keep going. I love the artistic stylized opening credits,
which were beautiful, but also accurately portrayed how this show would be
different, more serious, than the blockbuster films. I have always been a fan of Elden Henson who
shows up as Foggy Nelson, best friend to Daredevil himself (even if he does not
realize it is him in the beginning). The
main villain, Wilson Fisk (aka Kingpin according to my husband though I do not think
they refer to him as that in the series), is played by Vincent D’Onofrio of Law
& Order fame. His turn as the villain
was impeccable; his way of portraying meticulous, intense, and insane has no
equal. I could truly believe that Wilson
Fisk thought he was bettering Hell’s Kitchen despite the obvious destruction
all around him. The show is rounded out
by the rest of the great cast, playing characters that were fun to get to know. Each episode was dark, intense, emotional,
yet with just enough humor infused to no make it depressing to watch. My only complaint is that visually the series
is very darkly filmed, making it quite hard to see some of the action on the
screen. While I understand that this was
to emphasize the fact that Daredevil is blind, I am not and I do not have his
superior auditory and perception skills to supplement my sight. Overall, I am highly impressed with this
series. Well done Netflix and Marvel!
Movie: People, Places, Things (2015)
This was a charming film about a man whose relationship fell
apart. On his twin daughters’ birthday,
his wife tells him she has been having an affair and she wants him to
leave. Over the next year, he navigates
being apart from the woman he loved, being apart from his daughters, dealing
with co-parenting, dating someone new, and in general continuing on with
life. The movie is definitely from the
man’s point of view. He is depicted as
clueless about what happened, while she is portrayed as a bit selfish and
shrewish. It stops short of being a
man’s tantrum about women though, because he still sees the qualities in her
that made him want to be with her, defends some of her actions to others, and
acknowledges the differences between their worldviews. I think it is realistic to life, when often
we are all just viewing one side of it and a little clueless about why others
make the decisions they do. The main
character is played by Jemaine Clement who does a fantastic job of being a
depressed, clueless, but still likable dude. The film integrates artwork into
the narrative using the characters job as a graphic novelist to visually supply
some of what is going through his head.
It was a nice way to break up the action in the film and provide some
background to scenes without getting too dependent on dialogue. I really enjoyed this film, and I would
definitely recommend it.
Book: Sudden Death by Álvaro
Enrigue (2013)
This has been one of the most unique books I have read in a
long time. Honestly, I am unsure what I
think of it yet. I received it in my
Muse Monthly subscription box a few months ago, and I put off reading it
because the description for it was so odd.
The book is somewhat about a duel being played out on a tennis court
between the Italian painter Caravaggio and the Spanish poet Francisco de
Quevedo. Surrounding those tennis games
are chapters dealing with the history of tennis, the execution of Anne Boleyn,
Cortés’
conquest of the Aztecs, the events leading up to the duel, and the author’s own
work. It is definitely fiction, but pieces
of it have some basis in history.
Without a lot of research, it is impossible to separate fact from
fantasy, but that may be part of the book’s charm. The book is scattered and confusing, but
somehow I could not stop reading once I had started. It is a modern example of Latin surrealism, a
little liquid, a little mindbendy, a little freaky. It is either brilliant or utter
nonsense. I think you will just have to
read it and decide for yourself.
Personally, I intend to throw it back in the to-be-read pile and give it
another go in a few months.
Book: The 100 Year Miracle by Ashley Ream (2016)
This must be a Muse Monthly month, because this is also a
book I received in a Muse box. This book
takes place on a small island off the Washington coast. Every 100 years, a small arthropod called Artemia lucis emerges in the bay to glow
with a green light for a six day period.
Mythology tells of its amazing hallucinogenic and healing properties,
but no one today knows quite what to expect from it. A team of scientists descend on the island to
study the rare phenomena. Meanwhile, a
scattered island family reconvenes on the island during the same time to deal
with their past history and current conditions.
The scientists and the family come together over the course of
novel. In the end, all of them are
changed by the Artemia lucis in ways
they could not have anticipated. The
climax was visible from the prologue, but it was fascinating to watch the
progression of the situation. None of
the characters were particularly likable, so it was hard to feel sympathy or
anticipation toward their eventual fates.
Underscoring the current events are two past horrific accidents that
have greatly shaped who the characters had become in the present. I think this underlying narrative is the most
interesting aspect of the book; a study of how pain shapes each one of us. While this will not be my favorite book of
the year, I did enjoy myself while reading it.
Overflow:
Movie: The NeverEnding Story (1984) – Yes
Movie: Ricki and The Flash (2015) – Yes
Movie: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
(2002) – Yes
Book: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by
J.K. Rowling (1999) – Yes
Warning, I may end up having to shorten the entertainment
blog. If I get back on course and keep
studying for the CPA exam, this will limit my ability to consume content for
the next year or so. I will adapt this
feature accordingly depending how the new schedule actually shakes out.
See you next week!
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