Category: Watch

Watched We Need to Talk About Cosby, Part I from Netflix
Part 1: Directed by W. Kamau Bell. With Bill Cosby, Gloria Allred, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Harry Belafonte. In the 1960s Bill Cosby is collecting accolades for his comedy, breaking barriers for Black stunt performers and participating in the nation's sexual liberation and civil rights movement. He also allegedly begins exploiting his power.
Finally popped up on Netflix! 

I hadn’t known about his history of promoting the underrepresented in the stunt space in entertainment. 

I had forgotten about (?) or simply missed (based on my age and exposure) his history with “Spanish Fly”. I don’t recall any of these references during any of the news coverage of his trials or subsequent conviction.

The documentary is very well done and subtle so far, particularly with some snarky/clever images undergirding some of its political position. I appreciate that I’m just a year and change younger than W. Kamau Bell, so I’ve lived in roughly the same time frame he has. I have strong memories of having grown up with Picture Pages, The Electric Company, Fat Albert, et al. I’m curious to see how my experiences are similar and different to Bell’s perspective.

Watched August 29, 2022 - PBS NewsHour full episode from PBS NewsHour
Monday on the NewsHour, the death toll rises and thousands are stranded after monsoons cause catastrophic flooding in Pakistan. Ukrainian forces launch a counteroffensive to retake a strategic southern city from Russian invaders. Plus, Serena Williams competes in what could be her final major tennis tournament. We examine her impact on the sport and her towering legacy.
Replied to 'Numbers alone cannot save the Welsh language' (BBC News)
The 2022 Welsh learner of the year says achieving one million Welsh speakers can't save the language.
Stop counting and start learning.
A powerful for indigenous language learners.

Cerdd nerthol

Watched "The Great American Recipe" If I Were a Recipe S1.E1 from PBS
If I Were a Recipe: With Alejandra Ramos, Tiffany Derry, Leah Cohen, Graham Elliot. The ten home cooks from across the US arrive in the communal kitchen in Ruther Glen, VA knowing that one will only have this one opportunity to impress the judges in being sent home at the end of the first two competitions. With only an hour for the cook, they are asked to put themselves forward in the first round called "If I Were a Recipe", namely to cook anything they want that demonstrates who they are as a cook and a person. With the judges' comments provided to them from round one, the cooks go into round two with ninety minutes to prepare not only a dish that represents them, but their home community, they who probably had to adapt whatever family recipes, many not native to the US, to use ingredients they could source where they live.
A total rip off in both style and substance of the Great British Bake Off, but for general cooking in America rather than baking. Interesting, but perhaps a bit too chipper. I like that there’s some broad representation going on here both culturally and regionally.
Watched Synoptic Obsidian Book Club by Dan Allosso from YouTube
Announcing our next Obsidian Book Club, beginning next week, in which we will synoptically read two books: Too Much to Know and The Extended Mind. Everybody is welcome, whether or not you have been in a book club before. It's a really good group and I think these books will spark some very interesting conversations. If you're interested, drop me a line at the email in the video and I'll send you the details.
A new session of Dan Allosso’s synoptic Obsidian-based book club is starting April 2 for five weeks with some fascinating selections:

  • The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain by Annie Murphy Paul 
  • Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information before the Modern Age by Ann M. Blair

The last two clubs were incredibly scintillating, so I can’t wait to see what this incarnation holds. Everyone interested in the topics and/or the process is welcome to join us. Details in the video.

In addition to the fun of the two particular texts, those interested in note taking, information management, personal knowledge management, zettelkasten and using tools like Obsidian and Hypothes.is in group settings will appreciate the experience. If you’re an educator interested in using these tools in a classroom-like setting for active reading and academic writing, I think there’s something to be learned in the process of what we’re all doing here.

Obsidian Book Club

Tentative Schedule beginning on Saturday, March 26, 2022 Saturday, April 2, 2022

Week 1
Paul: Introduction and Part 1
Blair: Chapter 1

Week 2
Paul: Part 2
Blair: Chapter 2

Week 3
Paul: Part 3
Blair: Chapter 3

Week 4
Paul: Conclusion
Blair: Chapter 4

Week 5
Paul: Any overflow from before??
Blair: Chapter 5

Watched Look up! There's an emu in the sky | Duane Hamacher at TEDxNorthernSydneyInstitute by Dr. Duane Hamacher from TEDx Talks | YouTube

A trained astrophysicist, Dr Duane Hamacher is a lecturer in the Nura Gili Indigenous Centre at the University of New South Wales. After studying planets orbiting other stars for two years, his interest in the crossroads of science and culture was too great and he decided to complete a PhD in Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University. He researches in how navigating the boundaries between Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science can show how these ways of understanding the natural world are beneficial to both.

For those who appreciated Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass and want to delve further into Indigenous science, I’m recommending Duane Hamacher and co-authors’ book The First Astronomers: How Indigenous Elders Read the Stars (Allen & Unwin, 2022). This video seems to be a pretty solid, short primer of what to expect.

I’m personally interested in reading/learning about these areas above and beyond the primary education levels which are presented here.

Watched "Ghosts" Sam's Mom from Paramount+
Sam's Mom: Directed by Katie Locke O'Brien. With Rose McIver, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Brandon Scott Jones, Danielle Pinnock. Sam and Jay travel to where Sam's mother, Sheryl (Rachael Harris), died to see if she's now a ghost. Also, Sasappis divulges a secret to his fellow ghosts that he overheard Sam and Jay discussing.
Nice to see an episode move out and away from the main setting of the house, but it’s not really bringing the funny.
Watched "Ghosts" Who Do You Think You Are? from HBO Max
Who Do You Think You Are?: Directed by Tom Kingsley. With Lolly Adefope, Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas. Cash-strapped Alison and Mike think their dreams have come true when they inherit a grand country house, unaware that it's falling apart and teeming with the ghosts of former inhabitants.
Watching the credits of the American remake, I noticed the British roots and had to go back to see the source material. Perhaps not too shockingly, it’s an almost exact remake. The chamber maid has turned into a flower child and the caveman(?) has turned into a Viking, but almost everything in the original has been moved directly into the remake. 

Poorly reflecting on the remake, I think the original is actually funnier, though I do like the Viking character in the remake more.

I was a bit surprised to find the original airing on HBO Max instead of BritBox.

Watched "Ghosts" Alberta's Fan from Paramount+
Alberta's Fan: Directed by Nick Wong. With Rose McIver, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Brandon Scott Jones, Danielle Pinnock. Alberta is thrilled when a super-fan visits the mansion; Thorfinn convinces Hetty to go on a walk that would hopefully spark a special memory.
I was waiting for the hammer to fall on this one and it went the other direction. 
Watched "Ghosts" D&D from Paramount+
D&D: Directed by Nick Wong. With Rose McIver, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Brandon Scott Jones, Danielle Pinnock. After Jay is kicked out of a Dungeons and Dragons game with his city friends, Sam agrees to facilitate a new one between him and the ghosts; Isaac confronts his feelings for Nigel, a ghost from whom he's been keeping a gigantic secret.
This show isn’t good at handling the vast amounts of context that Jay is missing in the conversations with the ghosts. He just sits there not showing how uncomfortable things really must be for himself and it makes him seem so much less human.
Watched "Tattoo Redo" Hot Mess, Spicy Bets from Netflix
Hot Mess, Spicy Bets: With Matt Beckerich, Rose Hardy, Miryam Lumpini, Tommy Montoya. Twig gives a silly chile a spicy makeover, Matt replaces Michael Jackson's glove with a rose, and Tommy vanquishes a quote from "Gladiator."
The second episode isn’t any better. The artists’ work is great, but there’s not any real drama or surprise here.
Watched "Tattoo Redo" Who's Ready to See Some Bad Tattoos? from Netflix
Who's Ready to See Some Bad Tattoos?: With Matt Beckerich, Rose Hardy, Miryam Lumpini, Tommy Montoya. Matt transforms a black blob into a bouquet, Tommy Montoya gives a raunchy quote a skull and 'shrooms redo, while Rose tackles a tribute to an ex.
Lowest common denominator television. Watching out of morbid curiosity.