Category: Watch

Watched A West Wing Special to benefit When We All Vote from HBO Max
Directed by Thomas Schlamme. With Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Rob Lowe, Janel Moloney. Stage version of the season 3 episode "Hartsfield's Landing"
An apt episode to be doing for this particular purpose, but of course almost all of them could be really. 
 
Incredibly well done and well-directed as a stage version. Definitely not something easy to do, though it also wasn’t quite live either. I’ll want to revisit the original again and then do a side-by-side comparison. A few smaller characters are definitely missing and the Josh/Donna relationship has shifted massively–in part because she no longer reads as “Bambi”.
 
It was a nice touch to have Ainsley return for stage directions, but I suspect that it may have been because Stockard didn’t want to come back for it?
Watched The Hunger Games (2012) from Amazon Prime
Directed by Gary Ross. With Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci. Katniss Everdeen voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games: a televised competition in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to fight to the death.

 
Rating ★★★½

Watched as I was making dinner, eating, and cleaning up. Not as great as I had remembered, but I also wasn’t giving it a lot of attention to be honest.

Watched "Vera" Hidden Depths from Hoopla
Directed by Adrian Shergold. With Brenda Blethyn, David Leon, Wunmi Mosaku, Paul Ritter. A handsome young man, a coquettish student teacher, nothing in common between them - except that both were murdered and left with their bodies meticulously posed.
This is apparently only available for streaming on Hoopla, so I’m giving it a whirl there. The UI isn’t horrible though the video UI is very sparse and incredibly small to see/interact with via desktop.

Vera in this incarnation isn’t as heavy or frumpy as I might have imagined, but the show seems relatively engaging. Curious to see how the character evolves.

Watched Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) from Amazon Prime
Directed by P.J. Hogan. With Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Krysten Ritter, Joan Cusack. A college grad lands a job as a financial journalist in New York City to support where she nurtures her shopping addiction and falls for a wealthy entrepreneur.

Watched on Sunday October 11, 2020.

Rating: ★★★½

Evie watched a bit with us before bed and then didn’t want to go to sleep.

It’s harder to watch this now after having watched Hugh Dancy in Hannibal. But still an entertaining romp. I hadn’t noticed before, but the winning bidder for the green scarf at the end was apparently Kristen Connolly who I’d not recognized in the movie before, but who is now better known as Christina Gallagher in the US remake of House of Cards.

Watched "Succession" Hunting from HBO Max
Directed by Andrij Parekh. With Hiam Abbass, Nicholas Braun, Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin. Logan informs his skeptical management team of his plan to make another attempt to acquire Pierce; Greg worries his pre-meeting will puts his standing with the family at risk; Connor's presidential announcement irritates Logan.
Watched "Good Eats: The Return" The House That Dripped Chocolate from Food Network | SlingTV

A cook (Alton Brown) buys an old candy cookbook only to discover that it's cursed. Every time he makes a treat, the tricks get weirder ... not to mention more painful.

Recipes on the episode include:
* Pistachio "Butterfingers" 
* Peppermint patties

The method for making Butterfinger-like candy was pretty cool, though it appears to be a lot of work.
Watched The 2020 Vice Presidential Debate | Special Coverage & Analysis from PBS NewsHour

The first and only vice presidential debate of the 2020 election kicks off Wednesday, October 7 in Salt Lake City, where incumbent Vice President Mike Pence meets Sen. Kamala Harris.

The 90-minute debate will consist of nine 10-minute segments. Special coverage and analysis continues after the debate with NewsHour anchor and managing editor Judy Woodruff.

My takeaway from tonight’s debate with regard to Pence and the current administration: “Your time is up.”

#​overtime

Watched "Hinterland" Episode #2.2 from Netflix
Directed by Julian Jones. A solicitor is found murdered. There is hostility in the community towards Daniel Protheroe. Mathias needs to find him before the vigilantes. Mathias knows that the relationship between the daughter of the gang's leader and Daniel is key.
The pace of this show is sometimes unbearably slow. I’m sure it’s a cultural thing between American TV and Welsh/British TV. I’ve been remedying it by watching on mobile at 1.25x. Sadly this functionality doesn’t seem to exist on any of my other apps or TV modalities yet.
Watched The Glorias (2020) from Amazon Prime
Directed by Julie Taymor. With Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Janelle Monáe, Ryan Kiera Armstrong. The story of feminist icon Gloria Steinem's itinerant childhood's influence on her life as a writer, activist and organizer for women's rights worldwide.

Rating: ★★★½
An interesting contrast with the smaller presentation of her in similar contexts in the recent FX 10 part series Ms. America. The narrative construct of the bus ride with the Glorias at different ages was interesting though a bit forced at times. 
 
I was a bit shocked to have said, “That seems like a younger Bette Middler” only to be surprised to discover that it actually was her in the credits. These sorts of performances always make me so happy.