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What have you watched, read or binged? | Pad Patter 7/23

jk703

jk703

CEO of Anything and Everything, Everywhere
Pollywog
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Sep 17, 2012
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Good Morning everyone!

I just saw the new movie Twisters last night. I loved it. Action, a cute guy, some science, and some jokes. I went with a friend and her kids! The kids weren't impressed, but I also loved the original Twister movie, with Bill Paxton!

I also just read a few of Melinda Leigh - Breee Taggert novels, The Stillwater Girls, Local Woman Missing and the Fourth Wing/Iron Flame books! All were pretty good. I wish I waited to read the Fourth Wing series since I'm not waiting for the third book. I dislike waiting and would have waited to read them altogether!

As for TV, I don't really watch. I will occasionally watch a season of Below Deck.... so maybe when the most recent one finishes, I can binge watch them! :giggle Otherwise, I am looking forward to the olympics!

What about you?!
 
Currently trudging my way through "The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn" by Alison Weir. Interesting, but so many people and dates ... whew!!!

Last night I decided to re-watch Queen Charlotte (a Bridgerton story) on Netflix as I needed something light to counter the book.

Am looking forward to Season 7, Part 2 of Outlander coming in November. Although I intend to wait until the all of the episodes are released before re-signing up for Starzz. I'm annoyed that there was a big to do about the season being 16 episodes, followed by the reality of it being split in half ... one half released June 16 2023, with the other half not being released for 16-17 months (11/22/2024).
 
I've been reading quite a bit this summer. Here are my last 4 finished books. You can see all my reading at https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/michelekendzie
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Heather Cox Richardson is a historian who writes daily essays on current events, placing them in the context of history. I highly recommend reading those. You can read them on Facebook or via a newsletter or listen via podcast, both of which are accessible on her FB page. https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson

The Bell in The Fog is the sequel to Lavender House, which I read the previous week and they're both mysteries. The private investigator is a gay man and it's the 1950's so it's kind of a light history lesson as well as being a riveting story.

Atlas of a Lost World was interesting but slow. Only recommend if you have a love of the topic of prehistory, like I do.

I hadn't read The Great Gatsby since high school and remembered almost nothing about it so when it came up on The Sleepy Bookshelf (one of my favorite things in life https://sleepybookshelf.com/ this is how I usually fall asleep nowadays) I was very interested in it. So much that I listened to it during the day instead of for falling asleep so I wouldn't miss anything (for falling asleep I listened to the first 3 Anne of Green Gables books, my favorites of the books she has read). I was shocked that it was assigned to me to read as a 15 year old kid. It must have been over my head. I understand why it's a classic though.

I don't watch any t.v. and have little interest in movies. But I do watch a lot of YouTube. I continue to watch favorites regularly, like Kinging It https://www.youtube.com/@kingingit who used to be travel vloggers but are currently renovating an old house in Scotland, CityNerd https://www.youtube.com/@CityNerd/videos who talks about cities and transportation, and Yes Theory https://www.youtube.com/@YesTheory/videos who make high production value documentary style travel videos around the world, just to name a few of my many, many subscriptions.
Probably my favorite newest YouTube subscription is Brian Tyler Cohen because he publishes several short video essays each day on current events. https://www.youtube.com/@briantylercohen
One of my all-time favorite YouTube channels is Forrest Valkai, who is an enthusiastic science teacher. He always cheers me up. If you're not a gamer, you'll have to scroll down to find his science videos. The best of all is the 4 video series he made called Light of Evolution. https://www.youtube.com/@RenegadeScienceTeacher Now he's doing a series on chemistry called BioLogic. I loved his message at the end of the first episode, which I watched on June 30 and loved so much I journaled about it. "Every level of this hierarchy is critically important down to the very last atom because the atoms that make up life participate in what are called biogeochemical (something I couldn’t make out), pathways by which the carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and every other part of every living thing, past, present, and future, move throughout every part of every ecosystem uniting us all into one global environment. You are inseparably connected to every single part of this world and that is one of the most important lessons in biology."
 
I started watching a Ouija movie with my daughter and her friends the other night but they got bored and turned it off to play a game instead.

I've been listening to the audiobook The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. I also started reading How to Keep House while Drowning but didn't get very far and had to return it to the library.

I don't watch much TV either. I binge watched shows while working out in the past (Walking Dead, Stranger Things) but now listen to music instead.
 
I feel like TV is really bad lately! Maybe it's a lull from the writers strike but I keep starting shows and turning them off after about 15 minutes because they're so lame. Since I'm recovering from an injury, I have tried to stick with lighter stuff and stay away from true crime and scary things. One show I did recently enjoy was The Jinx, Part 2 -- nice to see a bad guy get justice in the end. Also really enjoyed the first season of The Three Body Problem. DH and I are watching the new season of The Bear but mostly not impressed.

We really like movies but haven't been interested in most of the ones out there, so DH and I went to see Despicable Me 4 a couple weeks ago. We felt ridiculous without kids but we enjoyed it!
 
I just finished reading the Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger. Somehow the 20th anniversary edition popped up somewhere. It was really good. I read a Kirstin Hannah book, the Paris Daughter, and while the story was good, parts of it were so depressing. Nothing else is memorable enough to note

TV, not much is really pulling me these days, except I’m really liking Land of Women on Apple+. But even the English version has much of the show in Spanish so I have to pay attention to the sub titles.
 
I agree with you, @dawnmarch, t.v. has been horrible lately! I haven't finished last season of Grey's Anatomy yet because it was so bad and I'm not sure that I'll ever watch the new season. That was always one of my favorite shows from the beginning, but not so much anymore. The writing is just terrible. I rewatched all the Bridgerton seasons and have just started Game of Thrones again since there really is nothing new besides House of the Dragon. Oh, and the Real Housewives of New Jersey just because they are so weird!
 
I discovered a TV show called The Bear. I loved it. The drama, the comedy sometimes but mostly human drama, the documentary style of some scenes in the culinary world. I can't wait to see season 4 coming out.
 
Just finished watching Vikings Valhalla and rewatched Bridgerton with DD.
Recently read The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman and Far From Botany Bay by Rosa Jordan - that was based on a true story and was amazing!
 
I'm currently reading The Long Walk by Stephen King. It hasn't gripped me like most of his books do, so it's kind of slow going.

We went to see Longlegs at the movie theater last week. It wasn't at all what I was expecting, even though I didn't really know much about it at all lol. It was super weird. I wanted to see Twisters, but Chance chose this time.

I'm currently binging Six Feet Under on Netflix. I usually just have it playing while I'm doing other things, but it's pretty good. I have about a season and a half left of it.
 
I"m not a huge book or movie watcher but as far as TV goes, I've been really locked into following a national semi pro basketball competition/Australasian basketball competition - not every game is on free to air but those that are I watch. Other than that, I binge watch Love Island - all of the versions. I did start with the UK version this year but gave up about half way through, I just lost interest to be honest. Although I know the outcome of the latest USA version and seen clips on social media I will be binging that next month when it's released here. Other than that my other tv shows that I've recently binged or are watching (via clips and other methods) are Masterchef Australia & Dancing with the Stars Australia (though I do watch clips of USA & UK too)....it's pretty easy to tell I'm a reality TV junkie!
 
I just finished The Distance Between Us (it's a memoir) and I really enjoyed it! My Libby hold for Caste by Isabel Wilkerson just came in so I started listening to that today. I loved The Warmth of Other Suns and am excited to dive into this one.

Haven't been into TV or movies much lately - mostly just watching Phillies baseball games. But like many of you I've been watching The Bear - I'm still on season one.
 
I'm a huge movie/tv series watcher and have watched hundreds of shows and movies in the past few years alone... Difficult to name them all, but among my favorite shows are Game Of Thrones, definitely my number 1 (and now I'm watching House Of The Dragon), The Lord Of The Rings (the movie series AND the Amazon series), The Walking Dead, Harry Potter, Dune, Jurassic Park, Rebel Moon (ADORED that one!!), Raised By Wolves, 3 Body Problem... so LOTS of fantasy and sci-fi, but I've also loved Poldark, and I finally started to watch Outlander! We're also watching Godless now on Netflix... I also absolutely adored The Bridge, The Killing (the Scandinavian version), and many other Scandinavian 'Nordic Noir' series... So as you can see, my taste is very broad...

I don't often read... I'd love to but cannot always bring myself to do it... But the most recent book I've read is 'Big Magic' from Elizabeth Gilbert... I finished that book in just a few days...
 
We currently bought the DVD Series of Downton Abbey so we could rewatch it. Of course love Outlander and Harry Potter and Virgin River, Sullivan's Crossing, Cobra Kai etc.... Now we found this show on Netflix called "Dark" which is 3 seasons long... oh lord it keeps you on your feet.. it deals with time travel. It is almost like a puzzle too.. Both DH and I have to pause and discuss to connect the dots.. awesome and gripping :)
 
I haven't been reading much lately. Too many other things to do! And, I'm not much into movies.

I have not watched regular TV series shows for years, I am more into reality TV. My cable provider has made some changes to their lineup and I now have a couple of channels that are great for background noise. One shows "Columbo", "Murder She Wrote" and the first "Perry Mason" series during the day (at night it is feel good romance movies). The other station is devoted to True Crime 24/7. I just don't sit down and watch TV much. Some of the time I stream PlutoTV, usually a channel of old seasons of The Challenge or Amazing Race. Sometimes it is a channel of one of the CSI franchise shows. Again just for background noise.

I did take time out from other stuff to actually watch Love Island USA that ended Sunday night. I have some stuff that I should binge watch but just haven't done it, mostly reality TV. I've watched both seasons of Traitors USA and Traitors UK but still need to watch Traitors Australia and Traitors New Zealand. Claim To Fame also started a couple weeks ago. And, next month the next Challenge season starts

I've spent the most time lately watching YouTube videos about genealogy researching or "lawtube" videos from a couple different YouTubers.
 
The latest show that my hubby and I watched together was a couple weeks ago on Netflix called The Bodyguard. It was pretty good and I loved that it was a limited series, so didn't take forever to get through it.

2 recent books I tore through were Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts and also The Housemaid by Freida McFadden. Both were great... different from each other, but easy quick reads.

 
TV wise I've been watching Girl With the Dogs and Girl With the Dogs 2 on YouTube, Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill, Dr. Stone and The Duke of Death and His Maid (the last three are Japanese Anime). I also got in to Will Trent at the end of last season, so now I am watching all the episodes.

Book wise I just finished Paper Airplanes by Tabitha Fourney. It's about a woman who loses her husband on 9/11. I've been holding on to the book for almost three years but finally read it. It is really well written and I can recommend it. (And I'm not just saying that cause I went to school with the author from 6th - 12th grade. Her husband was on the 85th floor of the North tower and made it out.) I also recently finished Dog Day Afternoon by David Rosenfelt. It's a legal mystery and the latest book in the Andy Carpenter Series and His Eighth Ride, a clean romance, by Liz Isaacson.

I'm also an Audible listener. But they are mostly non-fiction and politics related. So, I'll put my recommendations here but the text will be white and you can highlight the text if you are interested. I don't want to upset people by my choices.

My latest reads that I recommend have been The Kingdom, the Power, the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta. It's such fascinating insight in to evangelicals and politics. Romney: A Reckoning by McKay Coppins. So interesting because of the access Romney gave to Coppins. Oath and Honor: A Memoir and A Warning by Liz Cheney about January 6th. You'll want to listen to this at 1.3x because Liz Cheney read it herself and she reads it a little slowly for my taste.
 
cfile said:
We currently bought the DVD Series of Downton Abbey so we could rewatch it. Of course love Outlander and Harry Potter and Virgin River, Sullivan's Crossing, Cobra Kai etc.... Now we found this show on Netflix called "Dark" which is 3 seasons long... oh lord it keeps you on your feet.. it deals with time travel. It is almost like a puzzle too.. Both DH and I have to pause and discuss to connect the dots.. awesome and gripping :)
Click to expand...
We once started watching that show, and then we stopped... but if I hear you it's really good, so maybe we should take it up again?
 
HavaDrPepper said:
I haven't been reading much lately. Too many other things to do! And, I'm not much into movies.

I have not watched regular TV series shows for years, I am more into reality TV. My cable provider has made some changes to their lineup and I now have a couple of channels that are great for background noise. One shows "Columbo", "Murder She Wrote" and the first "Perry Mason" series during the day (at night it is feel good romance movies). The other station is devoted to True Crime 24/7. I just don't sit down and watch TV much. Some of the time I stream PlutoTV, usually a channel of old seasons of The Challenge or Amazing Race. Sometimes it is a channel of one of the CSI franchise shows. Again just for background noise.

I did take time out from other stuff to actually watch Love Island USA that ended Sunday night. I have some stuff that I should binge watch but just haven't done it, mostly reality TV. I've watched both seasons of Traitors USA and Traitors UK but still need to watch Traitors Australia and Traitors New Zealand. Claim To Fame also started a couple weeks ago. And, next month the next Challenge season starts

I've spent the most time lately watching YouTube videos about genealogy researching or "lawtube" videos from a couple different YouTubers.
Click to expand...
I had to look up what a lawtuber was. Interesting!
 
My son and I have been watching Guy's Grocery Games at bedtime for months now. It's such a pleasure and we already have some adjacent cooking competitions on our watchlist for next.

I just finished reading The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. It was an interesting read and I have a bunch of the author's other books on hold at the library.

I'm also a "need the whole series at once" person, @jk703 . Beginning of the summer I read through a massive 9 part fantasy series all in one go. I can't stand waiting for the next book; I have to know what happens now.
 
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