Some things never make the cut, like say, portable music. Oh, I used to like portable sound - back in the days of transistor radios and boom boxes - when it was something that brought people closer together. My last two years at UT I was living in a co-op on campus. We would often throw together a picnic on the weekend, and invite our special guys to join us at our favorite creek-side park. One time in particular is etched indelibly upon my brain. It's a Saturday. We're in the park. I think it was the 4th of July (not really, but maybe). Someone pops a Chicago cassette into the boom box, and the next thing you know, we're all singing our little hearts out to Saturday, In The Park. Now that was cool - like a scene from a movie!
Then, however, along came personal cassette and CD players, i-pods and such, with headphones. Instead of music being something to share, it became a way to cut ourselves off from one another. A way to keep people at arm's length. I have stacks of such gizmos dear hubby has bought me - most of which never got used. You see, I don't really enjoy music unless I can sing or dance along, and if you are singing or dancing to something no one else can hear, well, people think you a tad strange, don't they?
I am no longer a total Luddite, though. As you can plainly see, once blogging and facebook proved their worth to me, I jumped in head first! My newest love, though I was slow to embrace it, is Netflix. Ever since the advent of Reality TV, I haven't had much reason to flip the dang thing on. Oh, I enjoy watching the occasional PBS mystery series, and I'm still loving Big Bang Theory on Monday nights (after all, I'm actually related to people who belong to RPG groups, own multiple Renaissance Festival costumes, speak Klingon, and live for ComiCon), but even the best series will begin to pall after a while. That's why I luuuuuuv my netflix!
You wonder why I was slow to jump on this bandwagon? Well, it was because John was making all of the selections at first, and he is a member of that group I described in the paragraph above. Eventually he made the mistake of showing me how to sign in under his account, and make my own selections. Then I figured out, all by myself, how to shoot my choices up to the top of the que. I won't be surprised to learn one day, that their recommendation-generating software got caught in a fatal loop and fried itself, while trying to analyze our combined selections and spit out one of those reports for John.
I do so love those reports, though. If I glance through and weed out all suggestions with two or less stars, and titles such as "Mars Needs Women!", I am left with recommendations for some truly magnificent movies and mini-series that I might never have discovered on my own. Here are a few of my favorites so far. Hope you enjoy them!
- The Girl in the Cafe
- State of Play (the original British mini-series)
- Doc Martin (a British TV series)
- Outsourced
- Songcatcher
- Dear Frankie
- Julia Child: An Appetite for Life
- Two other biographies - the one about Beatrix Potter, and one about Mrs. Beeton, the author of the famous manual for housewives, but I don't remember their exact titles
- Amelie
- Lackawanna Blues
- The Impressionists (a TV series)
- The Last Sin-Eater
- Monsoon Wedding
- Son of Rambow
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6 comments:
I love Doc Martin. But I saw only the last couple of minutes of the most recent episode aired in my area, and I'm going a little crazy wondering what led up to that surprising ending. Although, knowing Martin, I probably can guess easily enough. And I shouldn't have been surprised.
Does this actually show on TV here in the states? I have no idea how long it's been running, or how many episodes their are in all. Netflix just offered the two discs, with 3 or 4 episodes on each one, so that's all I've seen. And yes, the same thing gets him in trouble every time!
I started watching "Doc Martin" about 6 months ago when it followed the BBC Comedies on PBS on Saturday nights. (As Time Goes By, Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances...)
I became so intrigued by the character of the Doc that I wound up researching the actor, where the filming goes on, how long the series has been on, etc. Well! Have I learned a bunch about the Cornwall county of England and Port Isaac (Port Wenn in the series) and Asberger's syndrome (which Martin has) and all manner of "anglophilia". Is that a word??
Anyway, lets keep up the dialogue about Louisa and Martin and Aunt Joan, et al.
Both Louisa and Martin chose to not wed because of all the events that happened the day of the wedding. Talk about heeding signs!
I'm on pins and needles to find out what happens next.
That is too funny! Obviously there are a lot more episodes that I haven't seen, but based on the little I have seen, I almost ended my last comment with "You'd think he had Asberger's or something!" My husband watched the first few episodes with me, and the whole time he kept saying "Where is that being filmed? It can't be England, it's too gorgeous! Must be the Mediterranean or something."
OOO I love Netflix too! Did I mention (ahem) that I WON a year of FREE Netflix by answering an email they sent me and joining a focus group! Imagine, getting to sit around with free coffee and food, telling someone what I think. My god, the fools!
CH - I used to do that too! Not for Netflix, but when we lived in Houston the first time, about 30 years ago, there was this company in our 'hood that different businesses paid do take surveys for them, so they paid lots of us housewives to come do taste tests and stuff. Free babysitting too! It was a blast, and paid good to boot.
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