Nom
1) Saw the first two episodes of Hawkeye. I always try to stay unspoiled so I knew nothing about the musical and thought it was hilarious. This would absolutely be something that was made and it would probably be just like this because it's targeted at the tourist crowd. Speaking of the tourist crowd, I also liked seeing how they are now the characters in Times Square for tourist photos.
I also loved how artistic licenses were taken with it, placing Ant Man at the scene. I found that rather fascinating because he's clearly become a much more important Avenger since. I'm guessing it's because the story got out that he was central to reversing the Snap.
Speaking of the Snap (or "The Blip" as they call it), Marvel keeps saying "Present Day" only we still haven't caught up to their Present Day. Which was probably why they list the NYC invasion but are fuzzy with the current date.
While it makes sense, I also like that little Kate sees Hawkeye as the hero during the invasion of NYC. I still remember how his character (and Natasha's) were disregarded as just human by a lot of early viewers and new fans in 2012. I was glad that this factor was addressed in Ultron but it's also nice to see that he has had his own fans. I also liked that we finally get to see Clint wearing hearing aids.
I also liked how he was saddled with the kids as a way of acknowledging both how important his family was to him as well as making the most of Natasha's sacrifice.
Kind of interesting how the script maneuvered Kate into the Ronin outfit. It seems more than a little coincidental that Clint would see a news story (with footage!) about that so soon, but we always call it National Plotline Radio for a reason.
Speaking of things that don’t make sense, I can only assume that Clint's tickets were comped as is that enormous NY hotel room.
Also, funny how Kate doesn't have a dog but when we first see her out with him, he's on a leash. Where did it come from?
It doesn't make any sense to me that a bell tower would get damaged just because the ringer is used, but I guess there needed to be an excuse for Kate not to be in school longer than the Christmas holidays.
I have no idea why the dog would attack the Russian mob guys but I guess he read ahead in the script that he'd be a regular.
I guess there is now a quickly mobilized business in scavenging former Avenger battle sites. I guess after The Vulture everyone got in on the game.
Although I know nothing about Kate's backstory in the comics (and very little about Clint), I am glad she lost her father and not her mother. I find it very tiresome how every super is an orphan, but chances are highest that it's the mother who's not there.
The LARP thing was just too staged for me. It was convenient how Clint could expect to find an extra coat and hat to don while checking out the damage to Kate's apartment. That a firefighter would steal one of the undamaged items in a victim's apartment? Not a good look. Also a little surprising that they could put a LARP ad on their fire truck.
I really liked Kate calling the fencing fake-out. I'm also curious about where the whole Armand murder is going to go.
Overall, I'm looking forward to more and I like how each of the Marvel TV series we've gotten so far have all gone in very different directions.
2) We finished Only Murders in the Building yesterday. Overall it was ok. There were moments that were quite funny and I noticed that humor targeted at the experiences of older people landed best. As a murder mystery I can't say I was all that taken with it since suspects kind of appear out of nowhere and motives seem like an afterthought. Also, given how it ended, clearly they're planning on a S2. I imagine we'll watch it but I wouldn't call the series a must-see.
3) What I saw a few days ago was so stupid it had to be corporate -- in 20+ mph winds, a guy with a leaf blower. Yeah dude, pretty sure that little stick ain't going to do nothing nature isn't about to overcome.
In fact, it was so windy that when I was stopped at a traffic light I saw some geese doing the slowest flyover of an intersection I've ever seen. They looked like a bunch of mimes practicing the "against the wind" move.
You could tell that the holiday was not only around the corner but starting early this year. Living by the big box shopping district, traffic always gets busy on Friday afternoons. On Wednesday morning it was already busy. An early morning grocery trip on Monday had more people than usual. I saw 3 sheriff's vehicles while on the road. I was glad that I was done and Mike was home from work by 2 PM because it was sure to get worse later with Black Friday sales already under way.
4) Among other things I watched recently on HBO Max was a documentary on Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album and tour. I had checked out of the music scene by that period and I knew about her and her work but really knew nothing about either. Yet I feel I still didn't know much by the end of the documentary.
There's a bit about her child career (but not really how that got started, and why her and not her brothers), and some concerning stuff about her first years as a pop star in Canada. Then it goes into her L.A. recording sessions and how after a struggle to get anyone to even listen to her material, once she actually gets her album recorded "You Oughta Know" becomes literally an instant hit in the L.A. music market.
However Morissette really doesn't talk much about herself. She alludes to statutory rape while in her teens but doesn't give any specifics (other than saying it took years of therapy to come to terms with how wrong it all was). She says she doesn't want to blame her parents and as a result they seem completely absent in the documentary other than a few minutes about them right at the start.
She admits that she was really angry when she realized the band she put together was exploiting young girls on tour, yet she did nothing, feeling that replacing them would probably result in people not as good in performing and yet behaving exactly the same. When asked whether she had ever considered forming a band entirely of women, she admits she was accustomed to being the only woman in a group of men and that she had issues with other women, particularly as the music industry forced this feeling of scarcity about how many women could get contracts, air time, and more. (She had finally gotten signed by Madonna's own private label but the irony of her success being due to another woman paying it forward either eluded her or just went unmentioned).
There is also nothing about her life after that tour, which she felt very upset about when it ended because her drummer decided to abandon her to join the Foo Fighters. We know she apparently got married and had three kids because we see them, and there is a brief bit about the album becoming a Broadway show. And she was apparently releasing a new album at the time of the documentary. But frankly who she is as a person remained as mysterious to me when it all ended as when I started.
5) It's been a busy few days since we use the Thanksgiving holiday for Christmas decorating and there's always stuff to catch up on that we use the extra time for. Tried three different catered meals this year -- the first for just two people which was disappointing other than for the single serving of pumpkin bread pudding.
The second was just turkey and pork and stuffing. The turkey was flavorful, the stuffing (sausage and artichoke and foccacia bread) was different and good. The gravy was also perfectly flavored. The pork was a disaster - ¾ of it was fat. I'd order from them again but stick to the turkey.
The third's turkey was ok, the salad was good but the poppyseed dressing much too sweet, however the squash and corn au gratin and the hashbrown casserole were hits. The green bean almondine would probably have been fine had I realized it needed to be heated in the oven instead of just adding some of it to a plate in the microwave. So it was a bit of Goldilocks luck -- one not great, the second mostly good, and the third the best surprise.
View poll: Kudos Footer-328
Comments at Dreamwidth
.
I also loved how artistic licenses were taken with it, placing Ant Man at the scene. I found that rather fascinating because he's clearly become a much more important Avenger since. I'm guessing it's because the story got out that he was central to reversing the Snap.
Speaking of the Snap (or "The Blip" as they call it), Marvel keeps saying "Present Day" only we still haven't caught up to their Present Day. Which was probably why they list the NYC invasion but are fuzzy with the current date.
While it makes sense, I also like that little Kate sees Hawkeye as the hero during the invasion of NYC. I still remember how his character (and Natasha's) were disregarded as just human by a lot of early viewers and new fans in 2012. I was glad that this factor was addressed in Ultron but it's also nice to see that he has had his own fans. I also liked that we finally get to see Clint wearing hearing aids.
I also liked how he was saddled with the kids as a way of acknowledging both how important his family was to him as well as making the most of Natasha's sacrifice.
Kind of interesting how the script maneuvered Kate into the Ronin outfit. It seems more than a little coincidental that Clint would see a news story (with footage!) about that so soon, but we always call it National Plotline Radio for a reason.
Speaking of things that don’t make sense, I can only assume that Clint's tickets were comped as is that enormous NY hotel room.
Also, funny how Kate doesn't have a dog but when we first see her out with him, he's on a leash. Where did it come from?
It doesn't make any sense to me that a bell tower would get damaged just because the ringer is used, but I guess there needed to be an excuse for Kate not to be in school longer than the Christmas holidays.
I have no idea why the dog would attack the Russian mob guys but I guess he read ahead in the script that he'd be a regular.
I guess there is now a quickly mobilized business in scavenging former Avenger battle sites. I guess after The Vulture everyone got in on the game.
Although I know nothing about Kate's backstory in the comics (and very little about Clint), I am glad she lost her father and not her mother. I find it very tiresome how every super is an orphan, but chances are highest that it's the mother who's not there.
The LARP thing was just too staged for me. It was convenient how Clint could expect to find an extra coat and hat to don while checking out the damage to Kate's apartment. That a firefighter would steal one of the undamaged items in a victim's apartment? Not a good look. Also a little surprising that they could put a LARP ad on their fire truck.
I really liked Kate calling the fencing fake-out. I'm also curious about where the whole Armand murder is going to go.
Overall, I'm looking forward to more and I like how each of the Marvel TV series we've gotten so far have all gone in very different directions.
2) We finished Only Murders in the Building yesterday. Overall it was ok. There were moments that were quite funny and I noticed that humor targeted at the experiences of older people landed best. As a murder mystery I can't say I was all that taken with it since suspects kind of appear out of nowhere and motives seem like an afterthought. Also, given how it ended, clearly they're planning on a S2. I imagine we'll watch it but I wouldn't call the series a must-see.
3) What I saw a few days ago was so stupid it had to be corporate -- in 20+ mph winds, a guy with a leaf blower. Yeah dude, pretty sure that little stick ain't going to do nothing nature isn't about to overcome.
In fact, it was so windy that when I was stopped at a traffic light I saw some geese doing the slowest flyover of an intersection I've ever seen. They looked like a bunch of mimes practicing the "against the wind" move.
You could tell that the holiday was not only around the corner but starting early this year. Living by the big box shopping district, traffic always gets busy on Friday afternoons. On Wednesday morning it was already busy. An early morning grocery trip on Monday had more people than usual. I saw 3 sheriff's vehicles while on the road. I was glad that I was done and Mike was home from work by 2 PM because it was sure to get worse later with Black Friday sales already under way.
4) Among other things I watched recently on HBO Max was a documentary on Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album and tour. I had checked out of the music scene by that period and I knew about her and her work but really knew nothing about either. Yet I feel I still didn't know much by the end of the documentary.
There's a bit about her child career (but not really how that got started, and why her and not her brothers), and some concerning stuff about her first years as a pop star in Canada. Then it goes into her L.A. recording sessions and how after a struggle to get anyone to even listen to her material, once she actually gets her album recorded "You Oughta Know" becomes literally an instant hit in the L.A. music market.
However Morissette really doesn't talk much about herself. She alludes to statutory rape while in her teens but doesn't give any specifics (other than saying it took years of therapy to come to terms with how wrong it all was). She says she doesn't want to blame her parents and as a result they seem completely absent in the documentary other than a few minutes about them right at the start.
She admits that she was really angry when she realized the band she put together was exploiting young girls on tour, yet she did nothing, feeling that replacing them would probably result in people not as good in performing and yet behaving exactly the same. When asked whether she had ever considered forming a band entirely of women, she admits she was accustomed to being the only woman in a group of men and that she had issues with other women, particularly as the music industry forced this feeling of scarcity about how many women could get contracts, air time, and more. (She had finally gotten signed by Madonna's own private label but the irony of her success being due to another woman paying it forward either eluded her or just went unmentioned).
There is also nothing about her life after that tour, which she felt very upset about when it ended because her drummer decided to abandon her to join the Foo Fighters. We know she apparently got married and had three kids because we see them, and there is a brief bit about the album becoming a Broadway show. And she was apparently releasing a new album at the time of the documentary. But frankly who she is as a person remained as mysterious to me when it all ended as when I started.
5) It's been a busy few days since we use the Thanksgiving holiday for Christmas decorating and there's always stuff to catch up on that we use the extra time for. Tried three different catered meals this year -- the first for just two people which was disappointing other than for the single serving of pumpkin bread pudding.
The second was just turkey and pork and stuffing. The turkey was flavorful, the stuffing (sausage and artichoke and foccacia bread) was different and good. The gravy was also perfectly flavored. The pork was a disaster - ¾ of it was fat. I'd order from them again but stick to the turkey.
The third's turkey was ok, the salad was good but the poppyseed dressing much too sweet, however the squash and corn au gratin and the hashbrown casserole were hits. The green bean almondine would probably have been fine had I realized it needed to be heated in the oven instead of just adding some of it to a plate in the microwave. So it was a bit of Goldilocks luck -- one not great, the second mostly good, and the third the best surprise.
View poll: Kudos Footer-328
Comments at Dreamwidth
.