The Second Apocalypse

Miscellaneous Chatter => General Misc. => Topic started by: MSJ on March 17, 2016, 05:09:34 pm

Title: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on March 17, 2016, 05:09:34 pm
Wanted to start a thread to see what you guys are wasting away your evenings with. So,  right now, at the moment I am engrossed in two shows

1. Better Call Saul, I absolutely love it. I loved Breaking Bad, so I gave this a shot and it hasn't disappointed. If you haven't watched it, do it now. Funny, and also many of the plotlines offer the dramatic. Really good.

2. The Walking Dead, I'm actually a late-comer to the show. Wife told me I'd love it and I binged watched it last year and got caught up. Never read the comics, so I have no clue where this story is going. But,  I love it.

Shows that aren't in Season, though I watch them religiously.

1. Game of Thrones
2. Ancient Aliens
3. Deadliest Catch
4. The Curse of Oak Island
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on March 17, 2016, 05:15:49 pm
Oh no, not ancient aliens man.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on March 17, 2016, 05:22:28 pm
Lol. I don't buy into all of it. I do find it interesting nonetheless.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on March 17, 2016, 10:15:52 pm
Its cringe inducing for me.

But I watch reruns of Futurama,  Rick and mortey, archer, etc, so I shouldn't talk.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Somnambulist on March 17, 2016, 10:30:11 pm
The hair, though!  You must watch it for the hair!!!
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on March 17, 2016, 11:18:59 pm
He is the man. Come on, it isn't just a little bit interesting? OK, then, why are there helicopter hieroglyphs in Egypt? Huh, answer that buddy. Also, why are all gods described as coming from the sky with thunder and such? Its fucking astronauts man! Why is there an ancient fixation on Orion's belt? I'll tell you why. That's where our alien ancestors come from, who genetically altered our DNA to give us intelligence. The proof is all their Wilshire, just watch the damn show!  8)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on March 17, 2016, 11:35:40 pm
In all seriousness, whether its aliens or not, I really don't think so. But, I do think there is a case for there being some advanced society that existed that travelled the world and was lost to history somehow. Having pyramids on every continent for example, that are all eerily similar in style. How did so many different cultures come up with same exact design? There is a lot of interesting ideas put forth that doesn't have to explained by ancient aliens. I mean look at the history that you was taught as a kid. Every decade, evidence is found that pushes the timeline back farther and farther, on how humans advanced as a species. Its all very interesting to me. Now granted,  some episodes and the theories they put forth are absolutely bat shit insane, I agree. I just believe that the history we were taught about how humans advanced is not the way it truly happened.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on March 18, 2016, 12:09:15 am
Certainlyou the histories we have retained through the ages are flawed, but a lot of that inserts present day iconography with ancient times, that more than likely obscures original purpose.

 Why pyramids?  Because domes and open spaced rooms are mathematically and architecturally extremely difficult, both the other conceive and to construct. Its, rather simply, just the easiest thing to build big.

There are plenty of unexplained things, and as we get better at discovering the past, it will likely always reveal more.
There is a lot we don't know about human history and ancient people's were far more advanced than we often think.


The problem with aliens from other stars, is ftl travel, and math/physics being inconceivablely difficult to make work. Not saying they don't exist, I believe in aliens, since us being the only intelligent life is the far more absurd notion. Also, not saying there aren't as of yet undiscovered science that might make things possible, but I find it so difficult to belive we were visited by some aliens. The amount of energy it would take to brake, visit, and spin back up, seems hardly worth the flyby.


Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on March 18, 2016, 12:20:04 am
I agree. Great points all around. Damn it sucks that your a rational human being Wilshire. Who knows where this conversation would've went?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on March 18, 2016, 12:52:28 am
Maybe some day another like minded individual will visit our noosphere and you can commiserate with them :P. I'll not stop you.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on March 18, 2016, 12:09:39 pm
In all seriousness, whether its aliens or not, I really don't think so. But, I do think there is a case for there being some advanced society that existed that travelled the world and was lost to history somehow. Having pyramids on every continent for example, that are all eerily similar in style. How did so many different cultures come up with same exact design?

Our brains are structured and fuction the same, regardless of our "culture."  This means there are ways in which everyone, regardless of where they were born, or where they live, will deal with similar stimuli similarly.  Consider, beliefs are fashioned to be psychologically pleasing, to diffuse or to eliminate psychological dilemmas.  Since we are all human, since our psychology is then eminently similar, shouldn't the expression of said psychology be also similar?

To get deeper, our "differences" are more pronounced in our "conscious" minds, since this is where we posit ourselves as "individuals" and so separate from each other, so the more we think of ourselves as selves, the less likely it seems to us that we should have things in common.  Of course, our conscious mind is just the tip of the ice berg.  Our unconscious mind is the real driver, as research has continued to show.  Bakker speaks about this often and "the darkness the comes before" is exactly a reference to this.

To bring this back around, religious beliefs and especially the symbols that go with them, i.e. pyramids, mandalas, trinities, what would become "alchemical" symbols like trees, lakes, gold, more ancient symbols like the Great Mother, or the Old Wise Man, or literal "events" like a Great Flood, permeate all of our unconscious minds.  Simply because these are not individual symbols in the sense that they are tied to a certain person, or culture, time, or place, they are tied to the fundamental way in which our brain is structured, the way our brains function, and specially, how our brains makes sense of itself and the world.

So, to sort of give a TL;DR, I don't see why there needs to be some "lost advanced culture" traveling the ancient world to spread these ideas.  They were, in fact, still are, present in the very fabrics of our minds.  We as humans all started in the same place, we traveled the world, we brought (realistically speaking) the same brains everywhere and so the same problem solving methods, the same thought processes, to deal with the stimuli of the world.  Consider, our brain is our measuring stick for the world.  We brought that same measuring stick with us everywhere we went.  Is it a surprise then that things turned out the same size over and over again?

There is a lot of interesting ideas put forth that doesn't have to explained by ancient aliens. I mean look at the history that you was taught as a kid. Every decade, evidence is found that pushes the timeline back farther and farther, on how humans advanced as a species. Its all very interesting to me. Now granted,  some episodes and the theories they put forth are absolutely bat shit insane, I agree. I just believe that the history we were taught about how humans advanced is not the way it truly happened.

Well, here I agree.  We fancy ourselves much smarter than those who came before us.  The truth is, they were probably smarter then us, in general though.  Consider, we looked at Egyptian hieroglyphs for years and years and contunually misinterpreted them, seeing what we figured we should see.  Consider this case. (http://phys.org/news/2014-04-ancient-egyptians-pyramid-stones-sand.html) We saw that painting and of course figured, "look at those silly primitives, pouring water on the ground to consecrate it before they moved their sacred statue on it" because that fits our narrative of unsophisticated, superstitious primitives.

The real fact of it is they were actually very clever.  They didn't need all sorts of high tech nonsense to achieve great things.  They didn't need aliens, or some high tech culture to teach them how to solve problems, for the same reason why a basketball player doesn't need a physicist to teach him about vectors, arcs, air resistance, centrifugal versus centripetal forces and a whole host of other very important things, just to toss a basketball into a hoop.

We've got tons to learn from ancient peoples, because they lived and thought, far more in concert with the world around them.  This post is probably long enough as it is though.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on March 18, 2016, 02:24:24 pm
Great post H., but I'm telling all of you "reasonable" people, when Quetzalcoatl comes back and dawns a New Age of enlightment, I'll say I told you so.  :)

I tend to agree with a lot of what you said, but I still think there are certain things that can't be explained away by, "That's the way we're programmed. ". I really believe the truth lies somewhere in the middle. They have already established that Columbus was not the first to reach the New World. The Mayans, Inca and all the South American people all have oral legends of white skinned, blonde haired men that came and taught them mathematics, astrology and so on. There is always some truth to any legend. And, I for one won't discount the oral traditions. When the Spanish landed there, they thought they were their Gods returned, because of their skin color. Bad mistake. Will we ever know the true story behind these legends? I doubt it. But,  I do believe there is more there than meets the eye.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Francis Buck on March 29, 2016, 05:55:08 am
So I came into this thead expecting people making lists of their favorite shows. Turns out it was better. But for the spirit of the board, I'm watching:

Better Call Saul

And that's it. I was watching Fargo's second season, and I will be watching GoT. At this point, I think Fargo and Better Call Saul are easily the best dramatic television on-air right now (or now-ish). They're both astonishingly good -- at first it was in spite of their premise, but later it was just plain great storytelling. I mean really, a Saul spin-off and a show based on the movie Fargo? The former I was interested in but had very low expectations for, and the latter I completely wrote off until I kept hearing about how great it was.

BCS is not only just as good as Breaking Bad, but I think it has the chance to be better (way too early say). It's like Breaking Bad without resorting to "easy" drama and tension with violence and drugs and so forth. What's amazing is not just the similarity in quality, but in tone. You could literally watch all of Breaking Bad and then immediately jump into BCS as if it were the same show, and it works flawlessly. The prologue of BCS, in itself, an incredible epilogue to Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad spoilers:
(click to show/hide)

Fargo...Fargo is just some crazy good shit. Season two especially, having moved further from the format of the movie that inspired it, also has some of the boldest decisions in storytelling on TV that I've seen since...I don't even know. It's effortlessly great, and I can only see it getting better the more it develops it's own identity.

Game of Thrones...well, it went from it's highest highs in season four to its lowest lows in season five, IMO. I'm not a book purist by any means -- in fact many of the original things the show has done were fantastic additions to the series, especially work-arounds of POV characters. But it has rarely improved on the books (even on parts that weren't great to begin with), and season five was pretty goddamn dismal in a lot areas, despite having one of the best large-scale action sequences in TV history, pretty easily rivaling that of most big-budget fantasy movies. But it wasn't enough. I actually think the next season will be better -- the freedom of not having any real source material to adhere to may allow for a more natural plot development than the half-in, half-out nature of season five -- but ultimately I'm less excited about GoT then I ever was, and that sorta sucks.

---------

Ancient Aliens

Now that I'm finally on-topic, I'm kinda tired of writing so this will be briefer than I intended, and hopefully I'll get around to expanding on my thoughts (heh).

1. I like watching Ancient Aliens because it gives me ideas for sci-fi and fantasy stories, but the inane stupidity of certain things gets old after a while, and I definitely think a lot of borders on being offensive to other cultures and their heritage by robbing them of value because it's just impossible that people could have built a fucking pyramid.

2. I really don't think aliens of any kind (other than perhaps microbial ones) have had any meaningful impact on humanity -- or earth -- whatsoever, though I do believe the universe is probably brimming with life, inteligent or otherwise, and our perceived notion of an "empty cosmos" is more because the cosmos is inconceivably gigantic (both in space and time) to an extent that no human can begin to imagine. We can't even really fathom the size of our own solar system, let alone our galaxy -- or the other however-many-billion galaxies out there. As some guy on that show The Universe once said: Assuming our universe is uninhabited based on our current investigations is akin to taking a dixie cup, dipping it into the foam on the seashore, and declaring the ocean void of fish when it's empty.

3. I strongly agree with MSJ's (and other's) notion that past societies were a bit more sophisticated than we give them credit for. Well, a lot more sophisticated actually. Philosophically, we're still struggling with the mere possiblity that free will doesn't exist, whilst many Buddhists realized -- and fully integrated -- such a notion into their ideology a thousand years ago (though to be fair so did many other religions).

4. I also pretty strongly believe that there were relatively advanced cultures from our past that, from being surrounded by more primitive societies, lacked the supportive "infrastructure" to sustain for any significant length of time. I also think that the common notion of "civilization" only starting 10,000 or so years ago is very likely to be challenged continuously. The timescales involved -- and the specific circumstances required to preserve any evidence of such societies -- are so demanding that, to me, there's simply no way there aren't vast and complex civilizations that existed, but which we simply have no way of knowing about. And I'm not even talking the typical lost civilizations you see referenced, like Atlantis or whatever. I mean history books worth of peoples and customs we literally have no clue about whatsoever.

Native American cultures still have oral histories about woolly mammoths. There were monitor lizards the size of cars in Australia less than ten thousand years ago. And we now know -- or at least, can reasonably theorize based on current knowledge -- that humanity spent a big portion of it's increasingly-recent history living alongside other Homo sub-species, with at least the Neanderthals and Denisovans as contemporaries. I'm not saying every legend is rooted in historical fact -- which at times seems like the secret premise of Ancient Aliens -- but I also think a lot them come from relatively minor embellishments on things that only SEEM crazy and mythical to us today.

Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on March 30, 2016, 05:29:34 pm
The meaning of "human" history changes significantly if you consider how much neanderthal DNA we all have, on the magnitude of several %. Disregarding that history would be like ignoring wolves in the lineage of modern day domestic dogs. "Species" as a taxonomy group is at best poorly understood, and at worst an irrelevant separation of a genus into smaller parts. Increasingly evidence shows there us no meaningful grouping past genus. Therefore, one might say that the histories of our other, now defunct, members of our homo genus, especially those that we share DNA with, is equally important as our own sapiens history.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: mrganondorf on April 04, 2016, 02:51:03 am
For a comical take on ignorance/mental blind spots, check out the "Flowers for Charlie" episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (season 9, episode 8).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Bolivar on April 04, 2016, 03:18:24 pm
Not a show but I did see Batman vs Superman this weekend. I didn't think it was as good as Man of Steel but I enjoyed it as someone who likes his super hero movies big and loud. And there were plenty of great nods to the comic book readers throughout. It was about as good as I could hope it would be.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Blackstone on June 10, 2016, 02:21:54 pm
The hair, though!  You must watch it for the hair!!!
BAHHH HA HA HA HA HA. Perfect.

A couple of shows that are awesome:
1. Bosch (cop show on Amazon Prime)
2. Luther (British cop show on Netflix)
3. GoT (obviously)
4. Sense8 (Netflix)
5. John Oliver (HBO)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Somnambulist on June 10, 2016, 02:38:35 pm
Haven't seen Bosch or Luther.  GoT Every Sunday. I tried Sense8...  I don't know, not that I have a specific criticism, I just sort of petered out 5 or 6 episodes in.  I know it's building toward something, but I was struggling to keep attached to any of the storylines.  Maybe I'll try to pick it back up.  John Oliver is brilliant.

Some of my favs: Silicon Valley (HBO-so god-damn funny), Penny Dreadful (Showtime-great mashup horror), and Black Sails (Starz-best pirate show anywhere).  The Americans (FX-great cold-war spy drama).  It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Archer (both FX, both hilarious).

Damn.  Looks like I watch a lot of TV.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on June 10, 2016, 07:51:40 pm
Have any of you guys checked out The Preacher? Just caught the pilot so far and hadnt watched the next one. Supernatural going-ons, and I have no clue who is supposed to be on the side of good or evil from the pilot. Pretty good, nonetheless.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Madness on June 11, 2016, 12:32:14 am
Haven't watched much recently. Been trying to not work and school again and read a bit (which is a terrible coping mechanism for not doing school work).

I was watching Vikings?

EDIT: Oh, and Game of Thrones.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Alia on June 12, 2016, 06:37:29 pm
Vikings is the only series that I am watching - we're currently mid-way through season 3, season 4 is still waiting on the HDR. It's fun, it's well-made and it looks pretty realistic - although my husband, who has an MA in medieval history, would sometimes shout out things like "a rosary?! a helmet with a nose guard?! impossible". But then again, nobody else would notice.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Madness on June 12, 2016, 06:58:58 pm
Lmao. He and I are kindred souls then :).

I often thought it was a well done show but then wondered how it would fare under academic scrutiny.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wic on June 12, 2016, 08:43:52 pm
Have any of you guys checked out The Preacher? Just caught the pilot so far and hadnt watched the next one. Supernatural going-ons, and I have no clue who is supposed to be on the side of good or evil from the pilot. Pretty good, nonetheless.
Have you read the comics?  Preacher was one of those adaptations that was talked about for years but nobody believed it would ever get off the ground. I have a couple of friends who also love the comics, and we agree - against all expectations, it is somehow both good and staying true to the voice of the original.

If you thought the pilot was pretty good, I'm confident the second episode will lock you in for the rest. The real scope of the story probably won't pan out for another few episodes at least, but man am I excited.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Alia on June 13, 2016, 05:43:01 am
I often thought it was a well done show but then wondered how it would fare under academic scrutiny.

As series go, this one is pretty OK from a historian's point of view. They do not make any glaring factual errors - I suppose sometimes someone in the costume department would just get carried away.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on June 17, 2016, 01:07:47 am
Have you read the comics?  Preacher was one of those adaptations that was talked about for years but nobody believed it would ever get off the ground. I have a couple of friends who also love the comics, and we agree - against all expectations, it is somehow both good and staying true to the voice of the original.

If you thought the pilot was pretty good, I'm confident the second episode will lock you in for the rest. The real scope of the story probably won't pan out for another few episodes at least, but man am I excited.

Never read the comics, never read any comics, tbh. This show is really good. It's exactly what I like, mystery, supernatural and  interesting characters. Man, A&E is fast becoming my go-to channel for new shows.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Madness on June 17, 2016, 03:05:41 pm
Have you read the comics?  Preacher was one of those adaptations that was talked about for years but nobody believed it would ever get off the ground. I have a couple of friends who also love the comics, and we agree - against all expectations, it is somehow both good and staying true to the voice of the original.

If you thought the pilot was pretty good, I'm confident the second episode will lock you in for the rest. The real scope of the story probably won't pan out for another few episodes at least, but man am I excited.

Never read the comics, never read any comics, tbh. This show is really good. It's exactly what I like, mystery, supernatural and  interesting characters. Man, A&E is fast becoming my go-to channel for new shows.

I finally watched it. I've never read the comics but I'm very familiar with the artwork for some reason.

It's good! I don't really understand what's going on yet but I'm excited for episode four.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: FACto on June 19, 2016, 07:59:13 pm
I'm still on Breaking Bad - 5th season 13 episode. Been stuck there for weeks. Havent had time to watch it. Also stuck on the walking dead middle of season 5. Got annoyed with all that walking.  :-\ (http://www.torontocpr.ca)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on June 19, 2016, 08:16:07 pm
A week or two ago I watched the first three episodes of Breaking Bad for the first time. Very good.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Madness on June 20, 2016, 02:00:19 am
I'm still on Breaking Bad - 5th season 13 episode. Been stuck there for weeks. Havent had time to watch it. Also stuck on the walking dead middle of season 5. Got annoyed with all that walking.

I watched some of the middle seasons with an ex years ago. I need to go back and watch it in its entirety though.

Welcome to the Second Apocalypse, FACto.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on July 07, 2016, 07:13:30 pm
Madness, if you haven't watched BB you're missing out. Best show I've ever watched.

Preacher. This show is awesome. I love it. This last episode where they try to subdue the Angel in the hotel was great. Lot of good stuff going on. Check it out if you haven't.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Madness on July 11, 2016, 02:48:04 pm
Lol - I will definitely set some time aside in the future, MSJ :). I think I watched the majority of seasons 2-4 of BB and I'm halfway through Preacher S1 right now.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: RedSetter4570 on July 24, 2016, 05:15:32 am
I'm kind of stupid (my wife implies it often, and she's probably right), and I watch a lot of professional wrestling.  I have to say, the Broken Matt Hardy's magnum opus: The Final Deletion.  It pretty much stopped me from watching TV.  Not for anything negative mind you, but because it was one of the best things I've ever watched. 

With the world in the state it is in, I'd rather focus my attention on something fun, like two middle aged Southerners having a backyard wrestling match, with drones, a dilapedated boat, fireworks, and a baby's birthday party.   Matt Hardy may very well be Inri Serjenus.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on August 09, 2016, 10:35:56 pm
Finished up Preacher, decent overall, but I think the next season will be exponentially better. Excited for it.

Really on big kick with shows like, Naked and Afraid XL, Dual Survival, Mountain Men and shows along those lines. Love em.

Ancient Aliens have had a few really good shows this season, slowly working their way to a 2 hour special where the finally give undeniable proof that we live along side Aliens. Can't wait. :)

Olympics. I like them and I watch them of a evening with the family. Wife and daughter are in love with them and watch them 24/7. Haven't caught the basketball team yet. Really liking all the drama surrounding the swimming. Beach Volleyball is great for numerous reasons, ;). Diving is OK, soccer too, no I will never, ever call it Football/Futbol. Woman's Gymnastics is really exciting too.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Fiddler Farstrider on August 16, 2016, 07:13:52 pm
Love BCS, in some ways moreso than BB.

GoT is a must along with just about anything from HBO, Silicon Valley, John Oliver, The Leftovers(probably my favorite).

I like Homeland, Walking Dead, Preacher and Mr. Robot but the new mini series The Night Of on HBO has been awesome.

Now WestWorld is coming out on HBO in October, that is going to take the mantle once GoT finishes it's last 12 or so episodes.

Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Parsh on August 17, 2016, 06:03:43 pm
Not a lot of time to watch anything, but I carve out time for:

1) Game of Thrones
2) Walking Dead

I'm about halfway through the last season of Breaking Bad, but I've been stuck there for probably four months now. I imagined I would enjoy Better Call Saul if I ever finish BB. My wife and I watched the first season of Daredevil and meant to get back to it, but... And then there was The Man in the High Castle, which we enjoyed well enough. Every so often we catch up on John Oliver's show.

I've heard great things about Stranger Things but haven't checked it out.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on August 17, 2016, 07:13:55 pm
I've heard great things about Stranger Things but haven't checked it out.

First episode was real good.  Haven't gotten any time to watch the next though.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Madness on August 22, 2016, 06:48:01 pm
Apparently, I have less time for all of the things working again but I've watched the first couple episodes of The Newsroom over the past week and a bit.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on August 27, 2016, 09:51:04 pm
Just got caught up on HBO's The Night Of, excellent show. Very great who dunnit, and I haven't got a good guess at the moment, but a couple I might guess at. Great, it shows the injustice of our legal system and how prison can turn someone into a true criminal in hardly no time at all. If you havent, try and watch it. Good tv.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on August 28, 2016, 10:10:46 pm
Just got caught up on HBO's The Night Of, excellent show. Very great who dunnit, and I haven't got a good guess at the moment, but a couple I might guess at. Great, it shows the injustice of our legal system and how prison can turn someone into a true criminal in hardly no time at all. If you havent, try and watch it. Good tv.

I am waiting until they are all out so we can binge watch all of them.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on August 30, 2016, 10:22:16 pm
Gonna watch The Night of, Fear the Walking Dead and Naked and Afraid. Good TV is starting to pick up. I tell ya, I really, really love Naked and Afraid. I couldn't imagine doing what they do, they look, well, miserable. I don't know why, but I love it.

Ancient Aliens us a had a few new episodes with some really interesting stuff. Aliens are real fellows, believe the hype.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on November 01, 2016, 11:46:01 pm
So, anyone out there watching Westworld on HBO? Excellent show! Lots of mystery and intrigue. Seen theories that we are watching alternate timelines, I don't see it. Anyone else have any thoughts or theories to discuss?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on November 02, 2016, 10:47:16 am
So, anyone out there watching Westworld on HBO? Excellent show! Lots of mystery and intrigue. Seen theories that we are watching alternate timelines, I don't see it. Anyone else have any thoughts or theories to discuss?

I've been watching, but I am basically always an episode behind, since my wife and I usually only get to watch Sunday's episode on Friday.

Haven't seen episode 5 yet, but I don't think this show is relying on multiple timelines either.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on November 02, 2016, 01:29:55 pm
Ancient Aliens us a had a few new episodes with some really interesting stuff. Aliens are real fellows, believe the hype.
You're getting sucked into their delusions, man.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on November 02, 2016, 02:01:20 pm
Ancient Aliens us a had a few new episodes with some really interesting stuff. Aliens are real fellows, believe the hype.
You're getting sucked into their delusions, man.

Haha, well, I wouldn't be so hasty as to say that there isn't life on some other planet, however, the idea that they were/are here, I'm not buying that for a moment.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on November 02, 2016, 02:35:28 pm
I'm not contending alien life, space faring, sentient, or otherwise.

I'm saying the show is ridiculous and the conclusions they draw are hilarious. :)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on November 02, 2016, 03:11:52 pm
I'm not contending alien life, space faring, sentient, or otherwise.

I'm saying the show is ridiculous and the conclusions they draw are hilarious. :)

It's actually pretty belittling of humans, to insinuate that they simply couldn't possibly have done things like building the pyramids or whatever.  As if being smart or clever is a modern invention.  I'd actually bet that people were actually smarter and more clever then, on average, than now.  Probably by a lot actually.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Hiro on November 02, 2016, 03:23:04 pm
I'm not contending alien life, space faring, sentient, or otherwise.

I'm saying the show is ridiculous and the conclusions they draw are hilarious. :)

It's actually pretty belittling of humans, to insinuate that they simply couldn't possibly have done things like building the pyramids or whatever.  As if being smart or clever is a modern invention.  I'd actually bet that people were actually smarter and more clever then, on average, than now.  Probably by a lot actually.

Even more so, there is a racist underpinning (conscious or not) in white people asserting that non-white people could not have been responsible for building the pyramids etc.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on November 02, 2016, 03:27:47 pm
Eh, I mean may be in the way some choose to present the idea, but on the face of it, the suggestion that something else other than homo sapien built said structure is not inherently racist.

Though, I can see how that suggestion might feel offensive - If I built my house and someone came along and said 'dude no way a human built that' I might be offended. Though that might just as easily be a compliment as well, taken as 'the work is so extraordinary that it is beyond my conception of feats possible by humans and therefore the maker is superior in all ways to all other humans".

Going down that line of reasoning, you could even take the statement as racist to white people, suggesting that the inferior light skin peoples are not only intellectually incapable of understanding how it could be done, but also in no way could accomplish the building.

Its easy to be offended by anything. Harder to understand the intent.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on November 02, 2016, 04:06:13 pm
Ancient Aliens us a had a few new episodes with some really interesting stuff. Aliens are real fellows, believe the hype.
You're getting sucked into their delusions, man.

Lol. Nah. I just find it very interesting. But, there are quite a few "coincidences" that are hard for me to buy the scientific/scholarly interpretation. If for anything else, I love watching the show for things they show I would probably never have heard of. Like that bird they found in a tomb in Egypt that had an inscription next to it saying "I want to fly". The made an exact model of it enlarged and guess what? It flew. Do I think AA seeded the Earth? No. But, I think knowledge was shared on a much greater scale than the textbooks say. And, I have zero confidence on any timeline given on how civilization arose.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on November 02, 2016, 04:14:11 pm
Its easy to be offended by anything. Harder to understand the intent.

That is the greatest statement of statements ever made. People rarely look at intent, just what is offensive to their own self's. I've found that the internet is the most offended space in the World. Its just so many different cultures interacting that someone is bound to be offended.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on November 02, 2016, 04:43:01 pm
Well, I said belittling of humans in general, because that's more of what it really is, rather than racially motivated, I would imagine.  Not that a racial motive couldn't subconsciously be in play, but I would think that most of those crack-pots are as apt to claim Stonehenge was made by "aliens" as The Great Pyramid was.  I think the difference is actually that what was made in ancient (very ancient, i.e. pre-Greek) times by non-White cultures simply exceeds what even later cultures (White or otherwise) were able to do. 

In so, dismissing that so-called "primitive" (haha, very much a joke though, because as I said they were probably well smarter than us) could build such things, or plan such things without all the tools we need today to even match what they did could appear as racially charged, when I don't really think they are.  More of a bias to the idea that we are more "advanced" as human-kind now, so what came before must simply have been outright worse and demonstrably so.  The joke, so to speak, is on us though, thinking that somehow, ancient humans (regardless of race) were somehow less than us now.  In reality, the opposite is probably far more true.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on November 02, 2016, 05:20:13 pm
Take Gobekli Tepe in Turkey into account. It throws all timelines of civilization out the window. If you don't know about it, Google it, totally amazing. Every year there is more and more evidence stacking up that keeps pushing the timeline of humans and civilization back further and further. I think it much more plausible that there was a civilization as great or greater than ours, call it Atlantis, call it whatever you want. But, it was destroyed by a meteor or super volcano or whatever. That's where my money would be. I just think it is very egotistical of us to say THIS is how it happened, based on very limited knowledge of our ancient past. So much knowledge has been lost to the sands of time and there is so much out there yet to be uncovered. Take ancient Egypt for example, they estimate that something like 90% of it is still out there covered up in the sand. They haven't even scratched the surface. The Great Pyramid of Giza, what was it even used for? And my favorite is that the Sphinx was once under water, at least partially. That would make it tens of thousands years older than what they say it is. There is just so much we don't know, and I for one, will always keep an open mind as to what might have came before us. AA theory is out there, sure. But, if you look at the evidence through a different lens, it opens up a world of possibilities.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on November 02, 2016, 05:41:16 pm
I'd happily consider a lost precursor man-ish civilization that evolved and was destroyed. Our ability to date things properly on earth is a joke - based on loose concepts and big assumptions. Using light speed as a constant (outside of early pre-big bang planck time), is a good way to date the stars and such at least, so we know the universe is big and old. But once you zoom in to planetary level, not so much.

Interstellar space travel though... The timelines and energy requirements are so far outside of our realm of knowledge its hard to believe. Possible? Kind of. But, I'm prepared to accept "I told you so" after the fact ;) .
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on November 02, 2016, 06:07:57 pm
I'd happily consider a lost precursor man-ish civilization that evolved and was destroyed. Our ability to date things properly on earth is a joke - based on loose concepts and big assumptions.
Interstellar space travel though... The timelines and energy requirements are so far outside of our realm of knowledge its hard to believe. Possible? Kind of. But, I'm prepared to accept "I told you so" after the fact ;) .

Indeed.  While we believe our methods to date things are accurate, the fact is, there is no way to know how accurate.  This is because there are we cannot recreate the exact circumstances to prove the method exactly.  So, while the seeming water erosion present on the Sphinx would seem to contradict the current dating of it's carving, the fact is, that sort of understanding of the exact weathering, that exact stone under those exact conditions, is completely unknown.

As for the Great Pyramid, the evidence that it was built as a tomb is pretty substantial, in my opinion.  Now, why Khufu would have thought that was needed is a whole different issue, but such seemingly unnecessary overdoing of such a thing is hardly unprecedented in human history.  Perhaps he was a "true-believer" or perhaps he wasn't, but just wanted to "be sure" to reach the afterlife.  Perhaps it was politically motivated, a way to demonstrate his power, something of a show of strength.  Consider even that it could simply have been a bad idea, an imperial whim, taken to it's most extreme.  I don't see any aspect of the Great Pyramid that speaks to anything that would seem out of the ordinary for any person, let alone an imperial ruler.

I think you are right on the civilization part though, because while we construct a narrative of the how's and why's and, of course, where's, but the idea that it could only have been there and then is flawed.  No doubt many people tried many things, many times, in many places and often it simply did not work out.  We simply have only found a few examples.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Hiro on November 02, 2016, 09:28:29 pm
Its easy to be offended by anything. Harder to understand the intent.

That is the greatest statement of statements ever made. People rarely look at intent, just what is offensive to their own self's. I've found that the internet is the most offended space in the World. Its just so many different cultures interacting that someone is bound to be offended.

The question of intent was the whole point of my remark, as it was not about me being possibly offended. I did not make this up or read it somewhere on the internet. As Bakker points out, ignorance is blind. You need to take a closer look before you come up with ill-informed conclusions.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on November 02, 2016, 11:13:32 pm
Its easy to be offended by anything. Harder to understand the intent.

That is the greatest statement of statements ever made. People rarely look at intent, just what is offensive to their own self's. I've found that the internet is the most offended space in the World. Its just so many different cultures interacting that someone is bound to be offended.

The question of intent was the whole point of my remark, as it was not about me being possibly offended. I did not make this up or read it somewhere on the internet. As Bakker points out, ignorance is blind. You need to take a closer look before you come up with ill-informed conclusions.

I'm sorry if you thought my post was aimed at you, it was not. I just think Wilshire made a great observation. And, then said it's what I see on the internet all the time. People are quick to be offended, quick to make assumptions. Especially now with these elections, I see a lot of this on Facebook. And it's sad, seeing life long friends judging each other over which candidate they support. Then, the ensuing name-calling of racist, bigot and on and on. Even me writing this post is an example of the conclusion you drew upon my post. I've always found it very hard to convey what I'm feeling or thinking over text, or on these forums. Guess I am just ill-suited to the task. I do prefer face to face communication over text or even on the phone. As I feel a lot can be lost in translation when you don't see non-verbal cues.

Anyhow, back to Wilshire's statement, it's what I feel is truly wrong in this world. Everyone seems to want to be offended or feel wronged in some way. Just look at your Facebook and tell me If what you see is mostly negative or positive. I know what I see, negativity, an unwillingness to work through problems and create a better world. I see division everywhere anymore and it's sad, very sad.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Hiro on November 06, 2016, 11:08:01 am
Its easy to be offended by anything. Harder to understand the intent.

That is the greatest statement of statements ever made. People rarely look at intent, just what is offensive to their own self's. I've found that the internet is the most offended space in the World. Its just so many different cultures interacting that someone is bound to be offended.

The question of intent was the whole point of my remark, as it was not about me being possibly offended. I did not make this up or read it somewhere on the internet. As Bakker points out, ignorance is blind. You need to take a closer look before you come up with ill-informed conclusions.

I'm sorry if you thought my post was aimed at you, it was not. I just think Wilshire made a great observation. And, then said it's what I see on the internet all the time. People are quick to be offended, quick to make assumptions. Especially now with these elections, I see a lot of this on Facebook. And it's sad, seeing life long friends judging each other over which candidate they support. Then, the ensuing name-calling of racist, bigot and on and on. Even me writing this post is an example of the conclusion you drew upon my post. I've always found it very hard to convey what I'm feeling or thinking over text, or on these forums. Guess I am just ill-suited to the task. I do prefer face to face communication over text or even on the phone. As I feel a lot can be lost in translation when you don't see non-verbal cues.

Anyhow, back to Wilshire's statement, it's what I feel is truly wrong in this world. Everyone seems to want to be offended or feel wronged in some way. Just look at your Facebook and tell me If what you see is mostly negative or positive. I know what I see, negativity, an unwillingness to work through problems and create a better world. I see division everywhere anymore and it's sad, very sad.

Look, I absolutely agree with you that real life, face to face communication is always preferable than communication via machines. And I agree that division is unfortunately indeed the tenor of the time.

Within the context of this thread, I thought that your comment was aimed at what I had written. Which was misconstrued, as I tried to point out later. And it seems like it still is. Referring to aliens as contributing to building the pyramids is in itself a loaded line of thought, whether one is aware of it or not. I assumed that on a Bakker forum people would be cognizant of the perennial problem of unseen biases, but, as stated, ignorance is blind. This was the sole point I was making. Apparently it was in need of more explanation, to clarify that I do not feel offended or that this was for me not about political correctness or anything.

So yes, real life trumps (...) online communication.

As for Wilshire's statement and your, ahem, rather high praise, I beg to differ. It's not a false statement, per se. However, I feel the need to push against it, as it is a statement that does not display a great deal of self-reflection. To me it reads as containing too much self-justification, if I push it to an extreme, it can seem to negate personal responsibility or agency. As if you're saying, "it's your problem that your are feeling offended."

Yes, the elections are a prime example of the bizarre behavior you describe. Granted, there is a lot of anger going around, and people withdraw behind their own walls and feel the need to defend at the slightest (perceived) intrusion.

Still, what I am trying to get at, what I am missing in the statement (and this could be just me), is a recognition/awareness of the other. A willingness to listen, to listen to points of view that do not agree with your own, a willingness to have a sincere conversation. To make an effort to explain your intent, if the other doesn't seem to understand yours. The first reaction is too often, (I'm exaggerating)  "...so stupid that you cannot understand my intent..." - a very human reaction -, instead of thinking, "hmmm, how can I better explain my intent."  Which I feel is required, and would help contribute people being able to work through their problems together.


Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Alia on November 06, 2016, 06:40:13 pm
We finally got our Netflix subscription and immediately started watching Stranger Things. I really loved it - the 1980s feel, the characters, the acting. And the whole small-town atmosphere and everyday life drama going on in the background to the supernatural. And they have really good cliffhangers at the end of each "Chapter". We watched four episodes in one sitting and the next Sunday we wanted to watch just one or two - and finished by watching all four that were left.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on November 07, 2016, 01:29:22 pm
Stranger Things is amazing. My wife loves those sorts of coming of age stories, if you like Stranger Things, check out Super 8 (2011) - it has a similar setting and feel, though its a movie so it doesn't have quite the depth.

Started watching Westword, I feel like the show will be talking about consciousness, in a manner which TSAers will appreciate.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Hiro on November 07, 2016, 02:12:49 pm
Arrival was a pretty interesting film!
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on December 06, 2016, 03:57:56 pm
Anyone watching/watched Black Mirror on netflix?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Alia on December 06, 2016, 07:32:32 pm
Anyone watching/watched Black Mirror on netflix?

Planning to, but at the moment we're catching up with Vikings. But a lot of our friends have very good opinions on Black Mirror.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on December 15, 2016, 12:44:44 pm
Anyone watching/watched Black Mirror on netflix?

Planning to, but at the moment we're catching up with Vikings. But a lot of our friends have very good opinions on Black Mirror.

Might try Vikings in the near future.  Not sure if my wife will like it or not.  Currently we are watching the new season of Mozart in the Jungle, I think we are about halfway through the season.  It's definitely not reinventing the wheel or anything, but it's somewhat entertaining (even if the first season was better, I think).  Oh and Monica Bellucci in this season sure doesn't hurt...
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: SilentRoamer on December 15, 2016, 03:33:47 pm
Started watching Westword, I feel like the show will be talking about consciousness, in a manner which TSAers will appreciate.

Finished the show last week and this was absolutely fantastic. Probably one of the best TV series I have watched - right up there with some of my favourites.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Francis Buck on December 16, 2016, 08:35:42 am
Started watching Westword, I feel like the show will be talking about consciousness, in a manner which TSAers will appreciate.

Finished the show last week and this was absolutely fantastic. Probably one of the best TV series I have watched - right up there with some of my favourites.

A wild SilentRoamer appears! 

I too finished Westworld recently and it is damn awesome. While there were a few pretty minor quibbles I had with it, there's nothing even close to ruining the show for me -- nor dampening my anticipation for the next season (like three years from now). And I think almost all of my issues would have been removed or alleviated if I watched the show once all the episodes were available. There were a lot of random things that were bothering me (particularly a certain character death near the end of the season) that felt out of place or like it was going nowhere, but given that this was a Jon Nolan project, I held out hope that the finale would fix them all -- and boy did it ever. Honestly the entire season is a set-up for the payoff of that finale (not that there weren't great scenes elsewhere, the finale felt like the show was done trying to mislead the audience or feed them mystery after mystery, and instead it was tying knots left and right in a most dramatic fashion.

It's also fucking WEALTHY with great actors in the main cast. Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris need no introduction, but Christ, hat scene in the bar between them with Teddy feels like the new DeNiro vs Pacino diner sit-down from Heat. Jeffrey Wright is always, always good, and his character was the one I ultimately felt most attached to other than perhaps Maeve, whose characterization and acting was phenomenal. I've seen a lot people elsewhere complain about that plotline -- the only part I didn't like was the redheaded guy, and simply because his acting wasn't up to snuff (which is extra irritating when the actual character is meant to be unlikable, because it's sort of a double whammy).

Evan Rachel Wood is really the "breakout" here though -- she's had plenty of other roles, many good, but I haven't seen anything as demanding as this one. She spent a tremendous amount of time this season being very believably "robotic" and then at least as much, if not more time, utterly distraught and on the verge of mental breakdown in an utterly human way. Sustaining either of those modes is challenging enough for a long period even in a movie, let alone a show of this scale. While I thought her plot-line did loose speed a bit in the middle, again like every other strand in the story, the finale rectified it completely.

If I had one legit critique, it would be that I wish they spent a little more time discussing the nature of the technology at hand, more details of the park's inner-workings (especially security), and of course the notion of consciousness itself. I would've traded several of the action scenes for more of Hopkins and Jeffrey Wright talking the Bicameral Mind theory or what have you -- and I fucking love a good action scene, I just wasn't super impressed with the filming and choreography of them. The Man in Black's action was the best because it was the most orchestrated, and Hector Escaton (great name for a very fun character) and his crew's robbery sequence was well shot and scored, even seeing it a couple times over. Also, the scene with Maeve's friend from the brothel when they demonstrate the robots combat prowess was equal parts disturbing and bad ass.

Oh yeah, speaking of the score -- fantastic. The intro song and accompanying visuals are immediately among the best ever,

Also (finale spoilers):
(click to show/hide)


Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on December 16, 2016, 04:12:37 pm
Yeah the whole NPC thing was so evident.  Loved it.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on December 17, 2016, 11:09:09 pm
Yeah the whole NPC thing was so evident.  Loved it.

Excuse my ignorance Wilshire, what do you mean by NPC?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on December 19, 2016, 11:56:56 am
Yeah the whole NPC thing was so evident.  Loved it.

Excuse my ignorance Wilshire, what do you mean by NPC?

Pretty sure he meant who were Hosts (NPCs) and who where humans.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on December 20, 2016, 06:00:43 pm
An NPC is a non-player character. In video games, especially modern day ones like MMOs and open world games, every npc has a routine that it goes through, hour by hour, day by day, even week to week, until it it is interrupted by a player.

Same thing happens in westworld, I found it extremely amusing. 
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on December 20, 2016, 06:05:49 pm
Any of you guys have Netflix?  I am hearing good things about The OA, so we'll probably check it out soon.  We were going to try out the first episode the other day, but the kids were home and the "parental guide" said in no uncertain terms that wasn't a good idea, haha.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Alia on December 25, 2016, 10:32:39 am
We've got Netflix but no free time, so we haven't got to The OA yet.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Royce on December 28, 2016, 11:57:17 am
Any of you guys have Netflix?  I am hearing good things about The OA, so we'll probably check it out soon.  We were going to try out the first episode the other day, but the kids were home and the "parental guide" said in no uncertain terms that wasn't a good idea, haha.

This was a weird show. It started pretty good with a decent mystery plot, but it started going downhill at about ep 4 (IIRC).

That said, the ending of the final episode makes it all worth it. It was so ridiculous I could hardly believe what I was seeing. I swear my eyes almost fell out watching the last five minutes.

It might be the most jaw droppingly stupid thing ever filmed. Sorry for being so judgemental, but honestly it was mindblowingly ridiculous.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Madness on February 24, 2017, 12:42:49 am
The Expanse is back. I like it :).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Alia on February 24, 2017, 11:40:52 am
At the moment we're watching Marco Polo, because my husband dearest is always very much into history and at the moment very much into Far East. And also we needed something fun and not very deep to watch. It's fun, it's loosely based on history, it has sex, violence, adventure and a blind kung-fu teacher - what else can you want from a show?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: mrganondorf on March 08, 2017, 03:45:51 am
THE OFFICE FROM BEGINNING TO END

I HOPE PAM AND JIM MAKE IT
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Alia on March 08, 2017, 08:13:22 pm
Watched Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency in one sitting. It's quite good, on the one hand absurd and funny, on the other very brutal and depressing. Quite like Douglas Adams (well, without the "brutal" part). And Elijah Wood is great as Todd.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on March 09, 2017, 01:22:09 pm
I watched the first handful of episodes,  couldn't get into it :/
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Somnambulist on March 10, 2017, 11:06:23 pm
Started The OA on Netflix... lost interest midway through episode 2.
Started The Magicians... lost interest midway through episode 3.
Persevered through Vikings... steadily grew less interested through the seasons.  Finished the most recent episodes. 'I must have Vengeance!' Meh.

I think something is wrong with me.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Alia on March 12, 2017, 11:42:09 am
As for Vikings, the first season was OK, the second and third were really good and then the fourth was a real let-down. Sometimes I just had this feeling that the script-writers took the easy path, like "Ok, this character has outlived his/her usefulness, so what do we do? Let them die in some stupid way and get over it".
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Francis Buck on March 13, 2017, 01:03:19 am
Started The OA on Netflix... lost interest midway through episode 2.
Started The Magicians... lost interest midway through episode 3.
Persevered through Vikings... steadily grew less interested through the seasons.  Finished the most recent episodes. 'I must have Vengeance!' Meh.

I think something is wrong with me.

Nah, all of those shows have some considerable flaws (well I haven't seen The Magicians but if it turns into the next Sopranos I'll eat crow). The best fantasy I've seen on TV recently -- which basically makes it one of the best ever, given the competition -- is the BBC adaptation of Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrel. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you haven't read the book.

I'm just twiddling my thumbs now waiting for Better Call Saul and Fargo...
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on March 13, 2017, 10:34:39 am
Nah, all of those shows have some considerable flaws (well I haven't seen The Magicians but if it turns into the next Sopranos I'll eat crow). The best fantasy I've seen on TV recently -- which basically makes it one of the best ever, given the competition -- is the BBC adaptation of Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrel. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you haven't read the book.

I'm just twiddling my thumbs now waiting for Better Call Saul and Fargo...

The OA is definitely flawed, but I like the idea of the show, "issues of perspective" are particularly interesting to me.

My wife and I are currently working our way through Vikings.  It's definitely not amazing, but mildly entertaining, as we are about halfway through season 3.

I read Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrel years ago and found the book pretty insufferable.  The style was awesome, but the story itself was pretty lacking for me.  Maybe I'd like the show better.

Recently we watched The Young Pope and the Expanse, both which were good.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Somnambulist on March 13, 2017, 06:54:35 pm
Alia: yes, Vikings season 4 seriously tanked my esteem of the show as a whole.

FB: Haven't seen Jonathan Strange, but you're the second person to recommend it, so might give it a go.  I, too, am waiting for Fargo.  Such a great show.

H: My wife loved The Young Pope, but I only ever saw snippets from a couple of episodes.  The Expanse keeps coming up, and I did begin watching it, but fell off for some reason.  I should go back and try again.

Sad that my favorite pirate show (Black Sails) is ending, but I've enjoyed it immensely over the last few years.  Billions is also a solid show with great characters.  The Walking Dead... my love/hate relationship with it continues.  I found I actually enjoyed Fear the Walking Dead much more the last couple of years, so looking forward to that coming back 'round again.  It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia continues to appall/delight me.  "Is that AIDS blood?! Goddamnit!"  If you need absolutely zero-PC behavior, that's the show.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on March 13, 2017, 07:27:05 pm
H: My wife loved The Young Pope, but I only ever saw snippets from a couple of episodes.  The Expanse keeps coming up, and I did begin watching it, but fell off for some reason.  I should go back and try again.

Well, if my wife wasn't particularly religious (i.e. Catholic) I doubt I would have really "gotten" the show.  I was raised Catholic, but I'm not really religious.  It's a good show and probably worth watching just for the visuals, but if you aren't Catholic, it might be hard to get into (maybe I'm wrong though).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: BeardFisher-King on May 19, 2017, 06:09:28 pm
As for the Great Pyramid, the evidence that it was built as a tomb is pretty substantial, in my opinion.  Now, why Khufu would have thought that was needed is a whole different issue, but such seemingly unnecessary overdoing of such a thing is hardly unprecedented in human history.  Perhaps he was a "true-believer" or perhaps he wasn't, but just wanted to "be sure" to reach the afterlife.  Perhaps it was politically motivated, a way to demonstrate his power, something of a show of strength.  Consider even that it could simply have been a bad idea, an imperial whim, taken to it's most extreme.  I don't see any aspect of the Great Pyramid that speaks to anything that would seem out of the ordinary for any person, let alone an imperial ruler.

"You built it how high? 20,000 cubits? It was supposed to be 20 cubits high!! Did you stupid fucks even look at the fucking work order? Holy fucking Anubis, I leave for vacation with one simple task for you idiots, just a simple fucking tomb, and.....fuck me, would you look at that motherfucker? Hold on....I'll give you this, that's impressive work. No, no, don't fucking unbuild it, lemme think.....we may have something here. What, I have no fucking idea, but it's undoubtedly something...."
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: BeardFisher-King on May 19, 2017, 06:13:59 pm
Arrival was a pretty interesting film!
Arrival was amazing! I didn't get the entire plot until the next day. Had to see it again. Excellent film.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on May 20, 2017, 04:30:04 am
Just read this entire thread ... phew! No mention of True Detective? The first season was AMAZING. I liked the second season as well, but wasn't well received.

The Bridge was amazing, but ended the story after 2 seasons ( I want more! ). Boss was amazing, but Starz in their fuckheadedness cancelled it after 2 seasons ( Fuck you, Starz! You don't end a show that won emmy's, you hack piece of shit network! ). I didn't bother to watch Black Sails for fear they would cancel that too - but see some enthusiasm for the show in this thread, so maybe I'll check it out.

The known best shows of course ( Breaking Bad, GoT, Walking Dead ). Fargo awesome, Westworld awesome ( can you tell I watch a lot of tv? ), The Americans awesome, Homeland awesome, Luther awesome ( didn't know Idris was British, LOL ), Bosch awesome. Billions is awesome - nice touch in the first episode to first show you what you thought you were getting into ( more bullshit over the top trader behavior ) but then grows quick into something different/wild - Paul Giamatti's performance is one for the ages in this thing.

Loved all these ( got tired of typing awesome ): Dexter, The Shield, The Wire, The Fall, Goliath, Queer as Folk, Penny Dreadfull, Preacher, Mr. Robot, Taboo, Hand of God, The Leftovers, Sherlock, The Killing, Boardwalk Empire, Ripper Street, Lost.

American crime kicks you in the gut, so if you like that, watch it - good stuff, but very in your face intense social commentary.

Outcast is better than Stranger Things, by the way ( both very good, of course ). Been a long while since a show scared me ... I turned on all the lights in the house watching Outcast, like for real, LOL! Original\clever ending to the first season, nice to be surprised and still makes sense, making whole of some confusing parts along the way, nicely done.

Hannibal was more art than good story, but enjoyed it quite a bit all the same.

If you can accept B grade production, The Expanse is great ( very fun mystery ) and I even find it better than Battlestar Galactica. The Strain is fun. 12 Monkeys is descent, still watching it.

I didn't like Man in High Castle ( figured I would put at least 1 show I stopped watching, having embarrassed myself with my long list of tv watching ).

I did like Animal Kingdom and Mad Dogs, which was interesting since I expected to hate them. Mad Dogs has amazing ending, worth the effort.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on May 20, 2017, 03:35:49 pm
TaoHorror, The Expanse is a fairly decent show, I think it's a worthy adaption from the books. I've never watched True Detective, but have heard a bunch of good things about it. I'm working my way through The Last Kingdom and getting caught up on Better Call Saul, on S3 E4 right now. I like BCS, but I hope they keep it original and don't lean to heavily on BB.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on May 20, 2017, 04:27:15 pm
Yes, BCS is, like, wow! Everyone was kinda disappointed Vince wasn't doing something completely different, but man, it is so good. Its a real trick to have us in suspense even though we're supposed to know he makes it all out of this alive given it's a prequel.

Is The Last Kingdom any good?

If you like Cop shows, then True Detective ( at least the first season ) is required viewing, could well be the best cop story I've ever experience on tv - so creepy, so evil, so cool! VERY Bakker, you'll love it, hee hee

The Bridge was mad good as well, but only 2 seasons - they end the story, which is good, but wish AMC didn't "cancel" it by not ordering more seasons.

I left one out - Carnival ( HBO 2 season tv show ) - it's slow moving, but really trippy creepy stuff. I loved it - another Bakker sensibility story where no one is innocent.

Outcast really scared me in the traditional horror sense ( i.e. not a bunch of shock/surprise scenes, but slow moving into the evil, omg what's going to happen! stuff ). If you start this, keep with it, the end of the first season pays off big time ( that and I'm dying to talk about it with you guys! ).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on May 20, 2017, 11:37:55 pm
The Last Kingdom, is decent. Nothing groundbreaking and its probably what you consider B. But, its British, so I don't know if its high quality or not, really. Only thing I've watched that's British TV is Luther and Sherlock Holmes, the latter I really liked.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: BeardFisher-King on May 21, 2017, 12:26:37 am
Hey, Tao!

You should check out the "True Detective" thread on "The Forum Of Interesting Things". I'm sure there's a way to copy a link directly to the thread, but I can't remember how to do it. Maybe if I roll a wino, it'll come back to me.... ;)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on May 21, 2017, 02:14:41 am
Omg, dude, not another fucking forum ... I got my hands full with this one. And I don't want to hear all the crying and whining about how "bad" the second season was. I, admittedly a member of a very small group, loved the second season as well ( for those who don't know, this is an "anthology" series like Fargo where each season is a completely unique story with new characters - so, no, it doesn't "ruin" the first if you don't like it ). It's what I call ( just made this up now ), the "false chronology error" whereby the order of things impacts your perception of them individually. If the second season came first, I believe it would have been well received. But since it wasn't the epic masterpiece of the first season, then it has to suck, right? The first season was a gem of extreme rare quality - something that SHOULD be hard to duplicate given its high art ( anyone guess the reference? anyone? ). The second season was great, Vince Vaughn was a demon, loved it - but yes, no, it was not as good as the first, which very few tv shows out there are as good as the first season of True Detective - so it's FALSE to compare the two. I ramble, sorry, but you hit a nerve, LOL.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: BeardFisher-King on May 21, 2017, 12:15:06 pm
"The Forum Of Interesting Things" is rat cheer on TSA! You should see it on the TSA home page. Or plug in "True Detective" in the search bar (upper left of TSA home page). Find it, you will. Trust in you, I have, yessss.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Madness on May 21, 2017, 07:10:33 pm
Just read this entire thread ... phew! No mention of True Detective? The first season was AMAZING. I liked the second season as well, but wasn't well received.

True Detective on HBO -- If you like Bakker, you'll probably like this. (http://www.second-apocalypse.com/index.php?topic=1137.0) Only like 20,000 page views ;).

I didn't bother to watch Black Sails for fear they would cancel that too - but see some enthusiasm for the show in this thread, so maybe I'll check it out.

I thought the first couple seasons of BS were good. Haven't watched the last two yet.

Luther awesome ( didn't know Idris was British, LOL )

Have you seen RockNRolla?

Loved all these ( got tired of typing awesome ): Dexter, The Shield, The Wire, The Fall, Goliath, Queer as Folk, Penny Dreadfull, Preacher, Mr. Robot, Taboo, Hand of God, The Leftovers, Sherlock, The Killing, Boardwalk Empire, Ripper Street, Lost.

Those are all pretty good shows: The Shield, The Wire, and, maybe, Lost being in a different category. You should watch Peaky Blinders. Also, we have a Sons of Anarchy thread around here somewhere.

Omg, dude, not another fucking forum ... I got my hands full with this one.

I think BFK meant another sub-forum ;).

And I don't want to hear all the crying and whining about how "bad" the second season was.

I honestly don't think we talked about it much. I know FB and I liked the second season. The first one had a couple special things going for it, like Fukunaga directing all the episodes, the choice of equipment, the online fervour, the base novelty.

You and FB should talk, you both have excellent taste in television.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on May 21, 2017, 10:36:34 pm
So, caught up on BCS, excellent show and I have no problem with the BB cameos. Others on the interests have bitched and moaned about them. But, hey, what else is the interwebs for, amirite?

Going off of TH, FB and Madness rec's in gonna start True detective tonight and see what all the hub bub is about. I trust well in y'alls taste. Don't let me down.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on May 21, 2017, 11:49:16 pm
BK: I'll find that thread, thought you were talking about something outside of TSA forum, thanks.

Mad: Never heard of RockNRolla, will check it out.

Mad: Sons of Anarchy - didn't try it since I don't give a shit about bikers, but you say it's good stuff?

MSJ: I will bet my family's lives that you will love TD ( not mine, though - my instinct for self preservation is remarkable, the cowards credo  :D )
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on May 21, 2017, 11:53:39 pm
MSJ: I will bet my family's lives that you will love TD ( not mine, though - my instinct for self preservation is remarkable, the cowards credo  :D )

From your guys advice, review and such I think I will too. Love a good murder mystery and hear this is one of best all-time. Hopefully get a few in tonight and will post my thoughts tomorrow.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Madness on May 22, 2017, 12:52:46 am
BK: I'll find that thread, thought you were talking about something outside of TSA forum, thanks.

I linked you the thread in the top of my last post ;).

Mad: Never heard of RockNRolla, will check it out.

Standard Guy Ritchie fare but it features Elba, Gerard Butler, Tom Hardy, and Mark Strong on the edge of them getting famous.

Mad: Sons of Anarchy - didn't try it since I don't give a shit about bikers, but you say it's good stuff?

It's The Shield from a biker narrative. I did grow up loving biker biographies so that might have biased me but it's one of the writers from the Shield and it's... very similar in terms of how they construct the narrative. Plus lots of cameos by various actors from the Shield which gives it a nice reunion feel.

EDIT: Even Chiklis in one of the latter seasons now that I think about it.

From your guys advice, review and such I think I will too. Love a good murder mystery and hear this is one of best all-time. Hopefully get a few in tonight and will post my thoughts tomorrow.

Maybe revive the TD thread I linked TH in my last post.

EDIT: I've been thinking about rewatching it.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on June 04, 2017, 01:30:45 am
TH, so I've watched the 1st 4 episodes of The Handmaids Tale and its really interesting. I like dystopian settings and this one is different than the usual fare. I just want to see a little more about is what going on with war.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 04, 2017, 11:21:13 am
Let us know if it's any good when you're done ( always on the look out to increase the size of my television viewing experience - something I'm proud of and maybe the one thing I'm besting the rest of you fine chaps - though I haven't started Peaky Blinders yet ). Have you descended ( read: ascended ) into the True Detective human horror drama yet?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on June 04, 2017, 08:46:08 pm
Let us know if it's any good when you're done ( always on the look out to increase the size of my television viewing experience - something I'm proud of and maybe the one thing I'm besting the rest of you fine chaps - though I haven't started Peaky Blinders yet ). Have you descended ( read: ascended ) into the True Detective human horror drama yet?

Not yet. Gonna finish up Handmaid's tonight, then onto True Detective.

ETA: TH I thought you rec'd The Handmaids Tale to me..maybe it was BK.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 04, 2017, 11:24:10 pm
No, wasn't me, haven't seen it. Beard likes it? I'll have to put it on the list. It's good you're delaying TD ... the longer you wait, the longer it's a new experience for you. But I have to say, I loved it just as much the 2nd go around. Let me know if you want the upshot of what's going on before viewing, I'll private message you - nothing that gives anything away, just the timeline threw me and I had to start over after the 3rd episode to figure it out ( not supposed to be something confusing ).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: BeardFisher-King on June 05, 2017, 02:04:30 am
ETA: TH I thought you rec'd The Handmaids Tale to me..maybe it was BK.
No, wasn't me, haven't seen it. Beard likes it? I'll have to put it on the list.
Hey guys, it wasn't me who recommended The Handmaid's Tale. Not interested. Not a fan of the Atwood novel.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 05, 2017, 05:14:52 pm
Beard, you have sex freak written all over you - big time, you're into The Handmaid's Tale ...  ;D
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: BeardFisher-King on June 05, 2017, 05:52:21 pm
Beard, you have sex freak written all over you - big time, you're into The Handmaid's Tale ...  ;D
Lmao, Tao! I'll have my lawyer look into the libel laws, but you're probably on safe ground. Truth is a very effective defense in any libel action, so......I might as well get back to the crazy-sexy parts of TSA. Hot stuff!
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 05, 2017, 10:40:42 pm
Lawyer?!?! Yikes!

I take it back! I take it back!

Or ... according to Bakker's dog book, everything is about sex, so we're all sex freaks ... but, according to his brain book, it's just evolution fucking with us and has no significance beyond species enduring. That all said, The Handmainden's Tale sounds like a porn title in 2 senses: the title ( the HAND maiden's tale ) and the whole "I think I'll fuck the maid today" popular porn story ( though, I wouldn't know for sure, of course - it's what people are telling me ).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on June 05, 2017, 10:47:02 pm
Lawyer?!?! Yikes!

I take it back! I take it back!

Or ... according to Bakker's dog book, everything is about sex, so we're all sex freaks ... but, according to his brain book, it's just evolution fucking with us and has no significance beyond species enduring. That all said, The Handmainden's Tale sounds like a porn title in 2 senses: the title ( the HAND maiden's tale ) and the whole "I think I'll fuck the maid today" popular porn story ( though, I wouldn't know for sure, of course - it's what people are telling me ).

Its neither. Its actually very good and makes you think...a lot. That's the kind of stories I like. To be placed in anothers shoes and feel what they feel. And its done really well, and a few scenes will have you feeling it in the gut. Its very good and I'm not even finished.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 06, 2017, 12:48:20 pm
LOL, I was just making fun of the title and Beard - didn't figure it would be that, actually.

Thanks for the rec, MSJ - it's made the list.

Edit: oh, it's on Hulu, I don't subscribe to that ( yet ).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Francis Buck on June 06, 2017, 10:27:15 pm
Better Call Saul -- Continues to be far, far better than a sequel/spin-off series has any right to be. The "big courtroom scene" was amazingly well-done. Howard Hamlin is my favorite supporting character other than Kim (whose basically the third main protagonist at this point). The way he ran-without-running around Chuck's yard in the one episode was fucking hilarious.
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Fargo -- Still good, though this season is much slower burn than the first two seasons, especially the second. That being said I think it will likely have a very strong ending and the pieces are starting to come together. Some people (not here, just generally) seem a little down on this season, but I recall that the first season was only "suprisingly strong" until
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. I feel like a similar thing is happening here -- a lot of set up being done for a balls-to-the-wall crazy finale.

Aside from the policewoman (drawing a blank on the character's name), I actually think this season's actual "heroes" are intended to be Nikki and Sy rather than the Stussy twins, who serve almost as red herrings for their respective supporting characters. Both twins have relatively minimal agency, instead making decisions and actions based on influence from Nikki on Emmit's side, along with Sy and/or Varga on the other brother's end.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 07, 2017, 12:32:16 am
Better Call Saul -- Continues to be far, far better than a sequel/spin-off series has any right to be. The "big courtroom scene" was amazingly well-done. Howard Hamlin is my favorite supporting character other than Kim (whose basically the third main protagonist at this point). The way he ran-without-running around Chuck's yard in the one episode was fucking hilarious.
(click to show/hide)
Ran without running? Don't remember that scene, sounds funny. Agreed, it's really really good show. I would like to see more Howard in the series, he is really good. Getting a bit tired of Kim, though - seems like she's stuck ( which is on purpose, I know ).

Skipped your Fargo commentary, recording it now and will binge watch it when I'm through with The Americans. 2 shows to blow your hair back: The Americans and Homeland. Never thought much of spy stuff before those 2 shows.

Beard, it's not like I don't trust you ... ok, ok, I don't trust you ( ;) ). Before I make the investment, what makes Peaky Blinders any better than typical mob story stuff?

Anyone watch The Leftovers? Wicked stuff - not super amazing, but some very funny content buried in insanely sad story threads. Nice realistic depiction of how the rest of us would handle 2% of the population disappearing into thin air all at once ( not a spoiler, you find this out in the first episode of the show ) - madness, depression, profound confusion, bizarre dysfunctional reactions which are completely believable given the mad premise of the show. Figured you Bakker followers would dig it.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Francis Buck on June 07, 2017, 02:53:13 am
Here's the scene of Howard from BCS, I'm not even sure how to describe how he is moving but it cracks me up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP4mTNam5Bw

I gotta check out The Americans someday, it's on my list. I enjoyed the first season of Homeland but it kinda lost me after that, I've heard mixed things about how it goes as the show progresses.

Interested in your thoughts on Fargo when you finish! Seasons Two is one of my favorite seasons of any show ever TBH.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 07, 2017, 12:54:45 pm
Ah, I believe the way he's moving is called "trotting", but nice way to describe it as walk/running. Both seasons of Fargo blew me away, I'll get to season 3 in a few weeks. Kirsten Dunst was a demon in season 2 - cool reminder she used to be a vampire.

You're not the first person I referred Homeland to who didn't get into it. I guess it's a matter of taste. The first season gave me a heart attack. I thoroughly enjoyed every season and even watched them all twice. The last season has a slow/boring/annoying start with a mad/cool ending - delicious  :).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on June 14, 2017, 04:47:39 pm
BSC ep 9 was really good. For Jimmy to do that to poor ol' Irene..I think Saul is about be born. Kim, I feel so bad for her, yet you knew something like this was gonna happen, with the way she's been pushing herself. Nacho, give me more Nacho. He's scenes are great and he's an excellent actor to boot.

Started Taboo last night.
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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 15, 2017, 11:18:47 pm
ooo, aaa, yeah, baby - Taboo is cool stuff. Glad you're digging it!
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on July 12, 2017, 07:41:51 pm
Ok! Time for updates on Tao's tv watching experience.

Finished Fargo season 3 - this was the most brutal of the 3 seasons in my opinion.
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Finished BSC season 3 - and the greatness goes on and on ...
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And Beard, you fuck! You never gave me the scoop on Peaky Blinders and why I should give a shit about that show. Is it art or just booollshit?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Madness on July 13, 2017, 11:22:23 am
And Beard, you fuck! You never gave me the scoop on Peaky Blinders and why I should give a shit about that show. Is it art or just booollshit?

I could have sworn I posted on this once before, despite you needing BFK's veto ;). It's British television so the seasons are only a handful of episodes long. Can confirm, great piece of television. I've never liked Cillian Murphy much before it and they add Tom Hardy in the latter bit of season 2, I believe, who can do no wrong, in my opinion.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on July 22, 2017, 12:13:36 am
American Gods is FUCKED ... UP. Watch it, you'll love it. I got bored with the book and put it down 200 pages in, but the tv show so far is awesome. Even has a Canuk playing a Leprechaun ( his bar fight is one for the ages ).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on July 22, 2017, 02:02:49 am
Great series. I liked the books too, think the series does a real good job with it.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Madness on July 22, 2017, 03:25:13 pm
American Gods is FUCKED ... UP. Watch it, you'll love it. I got bored with the book and put it down 200 pages in, but the tv show so far is awesome. Even has a Canuk playing a Leprechaun ( his bar fight is one for the ages ).

I've seen some amazing actors linked to that show.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on July 26, 2017, 03:46:59 pm
American Gods is FUCKED ... UP. Watch it, you'll love it. I got bored with the book and put it down 200 pages in, but the tv show so far is awesome. Even has a Canuk playing a Leprechaun ( his bar fight is one for the ages ).

I've seen some amazing actors linked to that show.

I watched the first episode but haven't had the time to watch any more.

The real answer to the question is...children.  I am watching a horde of children, almost all the time.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on July 26, 2017, 04:37:17 pm
I suggest to anyone to watch it, its good tv and a differrent type of show than the norm. To book readers, it does give you a better understanding of the books and aome kick-ass scenes from the booka also. My favorite are the Coming to America scenes....awesome.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on November 26, 2017, 02:27:09 pm
I suggest to anyone to watch it, its good tv and a differrent type of show than the norm. To book readers, it does give you a better understanding of the books and aome kick-ass scenes from the booka also. My favorite are the Coming to America scenes....awesome.

MSJ - the Coming to America scenes were awesome - was it just a cool story or did it serve as backdrop for one of the characters ( won't say who to avoid spoiling ) or more?

Anyone watching Preacher?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on January 11, 2018, 12:05:06 pm
Anyone watching Preacher?

Is it good?

I still have all of Season 4 of Vikings to watch and now Season 5 is in full swing.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 11, 2018, 01:21:50 pm
I enjoy Preacher - just a bit too campy/humor for me to say I LOVE it, but I couldn't stop watching it and it is very good at what it's trying to accomplish ( read: I dig it, but there's better stuff out there ). It is FUCKED - UP, so it gets extra points from me on that front.

Is Vikings worth it? Haven't watched any of it, seems intensity for intensity sake at first glance. Does it have art?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on January 11, 2018, 01:31:44 pm
Johnathan Strange & Mr Norell on Netflix.

So far, so good.
If you didn't read the book, it's probably confusing, but it does appear to be a pretty good adaption so far for the book fans.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on January 11, 2018, 01:37:26 pm
I enjoy Preacher - just a bit too campy/humor for me to say I LOVE it, but I couldn't stop watching it and it is very good at what it's trying to accomplish ( read: I dig it, but there's better stuff out there ). It is FUCKED - UP, so it gets extra points from me on that front.

Is Vikings worth it? Haven't watched any of it, seems intensity for intensity sake at first glance. Does it have art?

Might have to add it to the list of things to check out in my nonexistent free time.

Vikings is good, sometimes nearly great, certainly worth watching but not what I would call a "must watch."  If you are interested in the time or the subject matter, do watch, but it's far from perfect.
Johnathan Strange & Mr Norell on Netflix.

So far, so good.
If you didn't read the book, it's probably confusing, but it does appear to be a pretty good adaption so far for the book fans.

I thought the only good thing about the book was the style.  The actual plot wasn't very interesting or engaging to me.  Maybe the show does it better?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on January 11, 2018, 01:41:40 pm
Nope, the show follows the book.

Basically (at least so far) its pulling out the plot moments and important scenes, and discards the hundreds of (imo) purple pages in between. What's left is a story thats mostly true to the original, but loses some in translation for those who didnt sift through all the descriptions of the book (which add a lot of good context, but seemed way over the top to me).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on January 11, 2018, 02:07:04 pm
Vikings is a great show, especially the first 3 seasons. I think it goes downhill a little bit after that though..

Preacher, I dig it. Never read the comics, so I don't know how true it is to the content.

American Gods is a show everyone should be watching. Get caught up on the first season if you haven't already, 2nd is coming out soon I believe. Follows book very closely.

Netflix movies everyone should watch.
1. Stanger Things, 2 seasons
2. 13 reasons why, 2nd season will air soon
3. Mindhunter- really good, should be called it Mind blown
4. Ozark
5. There's a few more original content I've watched and can't think of right now, will add later.

Plus, if you've never watched Breaking Bad, the whole show is on Netflix. So yourself a favor and watch the best show of all-time, imho.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on January 11, 2018, 02:31:24 pm
My wife mentioned an interest in Mindhunters, but we haven't had any time to check it out.  Not sure when we will either, unfortunately.

Lately I have been watching nothing but bad YouTube videos and PJ Masks due to our little 3 year old dictator...
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Bolivar on January 11, 2018, 02:35:10 pm
Been rewatching the Star Wars OT, just finished empire last night.

I was hoping too get into Knightfall on History, it's about French knights, the Graal, and the end of the Templars. The prefer wasn't great but I have the rest on DVR which I hope to give a shot.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Woden on February 03, 2018, 12:46:39 pm
Been watching Britannia (don’t expect any respect for History and just watch it like fantasy or you will be pissed off) and The Handmaid’s tale (very good stuff).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on February 05, 2018, 02:19:33 pm
Started watching Altered Carbon.
Minus the gratuitous nudity throughout, which is just distracting, it seems like it should be an interesting show.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Madness on February 05, 2018, 03:15:07 pm
I found the same issue with Bright. Netflix seems to think since they can, they should - for my part referencing the absolutely egregious use of the word "fuck" in Bright.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on February 05, 2018, 03:33:31 pm
I found the same issue with Bright. Netflix seems to think since they can, they should - for my part referencing the absolutely egregious use of the word "fuck" in Bright.

Yeah. Trying to be cool.

Honestly, there was a naked woman (usually) or man (seldom) in what seemed like every scene. Perhaps not all of them, but they were in the background or even forground of almost every important conversation, and in most of the world-building shots.
I just don't really get it. I mean I appreciate a beautiful naked woman as much as the next guy, but if I'm in that particular mood I don't go looking for it on Netflix or any other tv shows. There's a whole internet for that.

Just like swearing, I'm sure its used to be edgy and to gather more viewers, probably queuing a bunch of subconscious responses to make me want to view it more, but I don't appreciate it lol.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Francis Buck on February 07, 2018, 01:12:04 am
I only watched the first ep. of Altered Carbon (read the books way back in the day, loved'em at the time) so I'm curious how the show pans out, but I have been re-watching GoT and I feel the same way in regards to the nudity. I honestly don't think a single episode goes by without some nudity, to the point that it does indeed feel distracting and like they're reaching a quota or something. I've only been watching the newer-ish episodes and it's been too long since I've watched the original few seasons to remember but I don't feel like this was always a thing with the series (though I'm recalling the Littlefinger sexposition from S1 so maybe it was).

Also I realize GoT is like, the paradigm for "HBO sex and violence", but still. Bothered me lol. Even something like Altered Carbon though which is a fairly on the nose riff on the hardboiled detective genre where the hero randomly has sexual relations with like every major female character, it could feel overdone.

It feels extra-egregious perhaps coming right off of The Handmaid's Tale (amazing show by the way, up there with the best IMO) which has perhaps a far better reason for nudity on display yet always seems to show some "restraint", I guess -- weird turn of phrase given the subject matter but you get the idea lol. The same logic applies to graphic violence IMO for that matter.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on February 16, 2018, 06:06:09 pm
Just watched Mindhunters on Netflix about a week ago. If you haven't seen it, do it know! Excellent show, and I believe its already got approved for a 2nd season. Just excellent.

Also, on Netflix I watch Manhunt: Unabomber. Very good and fascinating. They way they caught/prosecuted him had never been done before ever in a court of law. If you don't know the whole story, watch it. These Netflix originals are way more than I ever expected. Great acting, dialogue and filming. Top notch TV.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TLEILAXU on February 16, 2018, 08:10:58 pm
Mindhunters was ok. A bit too restrained/laid back for me and the thing with the main character's personaliity spiralling out of control also felt contrived.

Also, @MSJ, I noticed you watch a lot of tv-shows. You said ini the discussioin about video games that you were worried about your family ending up in the West Virginia obesity statistics, but I'm pretty sure excessive TV watchinig contributes more to that than video-games ;)))
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on February 16, 2018, 09:15:42 pm
In work out for 45 mins everyday in off. Probably best shape I've ever been in my life. Only chance I ever get to watch TV is after 9pm. So, not a problem for me or my kids. In well aware of that fact. Tleilaxu, I apologized in the Olympic thread, that I didn't mean that it didn't take skill and training to compete at that level of video games. Just not a sport. Is it because you're not active in anyway you insist it is a sport? In well aware of what the cause of obesity is, but its not what you think. WV is also one of the poorest states in the US. Meaning we eat like shit, because we cannot afford to eat healthy. You can offset that with exercise, but when poor, unable to feed family properly, gain employment and so on, depression usually sets in. Therefore, not much exercising gets accomplished, a lot of beer drinking and drug abuse though. I'm well aware of the issue my state faces. Were poor and because of that we're either depressed fat asses or drug abusers.

ETA: I know I put down a lot of shows I've watched and enjoyed, but that's stretched out over a lot of time. Thank God for DVR and Netflix or I would never get to watch any shows because of my work schedule. I don't watch much TV. I'd say I'm on the internet more than watching TV.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on February 16, 2018, 09:24:45 pm
Tleilaxu, I don't get your complaint on the way the main chatacters spirals out of control. How would you handle speaking to serial killers, trying to figure out why they do what they do? Then using that info to solve other serial murders. It was his pet project, one he went after with passion and commitment. I can see how that could happen to someone. Great series.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TLEILAXU on February 16, 2018, 10:45:27 pm
Tleilaxu, I don't get your complaint on the way the main chatacters spirals out of control. How would you handle speaking to serial killers, trying to figure out why they do what they do? Then using that info to solve other serial murders. It was his pet project, one he went after with passion and commitment. I can see how that could happen to someone. Great series.
There was just something about the way he became more arrogant to the point of his girlfriend breaking up with him that seemed contrived. It's definitely worth a watch though. The actor playing the big mustache killer did a fantastic job.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on February 17, 2018, 12:50:52 am
Quote from: Tleilaxu
It's definitely worth a watch though. The actor playing the big mustache killer did a fantastic job.

Brrrrrr. Tell me that last scene of the final episode didn't give you the chills! Flipped me out.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on February 17, 2018, 02:55:28 am
I watch a ton of tv and I'm out of shape. I loved Mind Hunters, glad it was restrained, it builds nice tension. I think I know who the killer is that they showcase in the beginning of each episode.

Fortitude is trippy, check it out.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on February 17, 2018, 04:47:10 am
Quote from:  Tao
I think I know who the killer is that they showcase in the beginning of each episode.

Me too.....I think. Tell me if you have same idea, if not who you think.

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on February 17, 2018, 03:00:00 pm
Quote from:  Tao
I think I know who the killer is that they showcase in the beginning of each episode.

Me too.....I think. Tell me if you have same idea, if not who you think.

(click to show/hide)

+1  ;D
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on February 19, 2018, 03:07:31 pm
Finished Altered Carbon. It was pretty entertaining throughout, though I never read the books. The nudity bit got less ridiculous as it went on, each episode probably a little less than the last, though still an unnecessarily part of every one.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on February 27, 2018, 03:31:41 pm
Been watching Absentia, haven't finished it yet, but has it's hooks into me. Very fun show, forgive the mild absurdity - it puts a foot into the all knowing/all seeing psychological super villain space, but then takes it back out and becomes a bit more believable - anyways, forgive the almost omniscient villain appearance ( looking like it's not going all in that direction ) and I think you'all will like it a lot. I'll report more when I finish, 1/2 way through it now. Fun mystery so far.

If you like mysteries - check out The Expanse. I think it's been mentioned already, but bringing it up again. For a lower budget sci-fi show, it really shines. The first season is a bit better than the second with the mystery so so intense and cool, but second is still a strong follow up. Looking forward to the 3rd season coming out.

12 Monkeys finished off last year - I liked it and stuck with it - but it doesn't get an A from me, a B perhaps. Just got too discombobulated, but they still did a better job than most with time travel logic and I liked the characters and it was suspenseful and wicked evil in parts ( which when done well, is a hook for me ).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on March 05, 2018, 03:28:31 am
Absentia was good, I dug ii.

Watched 2 French tv shows ( English sub-titles ) just now: The Break and The Black Spot. Liked them both, intense cool stuff. As a rule, I'm liking the European crime shows better than American ones, they're more intense, don't pull any punches.

Dark ( German ) is excellent and the dubbing is very well done.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TLEILAXU on March 23, 2018, 10:05:51 pm
I've been watching Friday the 13th movies over the last couple of weeks, starting with 5-8 + the 2009 remake since I hadn't seen those before ever.
Two days ago I re-watched the original for perhaps the first time in 10 years and two things struck me that I forgotten everything about: 1. Kevin Bacon is in the movie; 2. It's actually really sad. Got close to crying in the end.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Thing called Sarcellus on March 27, 2018, 06:56:31 pm
I just started watching Westworld.   Fucked up show but seems pretty interesting so far
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on March 28, 2018, 02:55:03 am
@TL ... I watched Friday the 13th II when I was a teen and I swear I went airborne at the very last scene and took hours to shake it off ( maybe days ... maybe ... years ).  ;D

@TCS ... ah, I found Westworld simply delicious and think it would appear to most, if not all, of us here as it deep dives into the construct that is consciousness, very tasty stuff - hope you dig it.

I need to start a thread on TH's guide to cool television - the one thing I outclass the bulk of this forum, proudly  ;D ... we all have our "gifts".
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TLEILAXU on March 28, 2018, 05:41:00 am
Haha, yeah there's a nice jump scare then, but honestly the whole sequence with the music playing to the shots of Crystal Lake + the ending line ("Then he's still there") actually made me very emotional.

I personally dropped Westworld after the first episode. The whole android/AI thing kinda pisses me off.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on March 28, 2018, 11:39:47 pm
Haha, yeah there's a nice jump scare then, but honestly the whole sequence with the music playing to the shots of Crystal Lake + the ending line ("Then he's still there") actually made me very emotional.

I personally dropped Westworld after the first episode. The whole android/AI thing kinda pisses me off.

Dude, as a friend I tell you this, Westworld is FUCKED - UP ... give it another shot, I'm guessing it'll surprise you. Fucking love this show - but fuck-all to HBO waiting 2 fucking years for the second season, you fucks.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on March 28, 2018, 11:54:17 pm
Ok, I guess I'll spam this thread with my "insights" into modern television in lieu of starting my own thread ( bit arrogant for me to consider, but what can I say ).

The Americans, one of tv's great triumphs, final season premiere starts tonight. Some of the tv shows of late have beautifully demonstrated the power of story. Take Boss - the protagonist in Boss ( the mayor of Chicago ) is a clear demon, NOTHING redeeming about him, a pure bastard through and through. YET - we still "root" for him since the story is being told from his vantage point. We all LOVE stories ( take the enthusiasm for this forum's story - people have even sworn off Bakker, now that's emotion! Not dropped it for lack of interest, but "betrayal" ).

The American's makes a contribution in kind. For those who don't know the show, it's about "regular Americans" who are actually soviet spies based in early 1980's. I grew up during that time and remembered the paranoia that any of our neighbors could be spies. As an American watching it ( I take it a Russian's viewing may be different - would be cool to learn how one would watch it ), my "nationalism" was stronger than my love of story as I was "rooting against" the protagonists for the first couple of seasons. And as I connected with the characters, my evolution for "rooting" for them only evolved to the point I now wish they suffer no harm, but still "root against" their missions and hoping they always fail. I learned our nationalistic world view trumps story, which is fascinating to me.

Fucking phenomenal show, highly recommend it - if you give it a go, have to get past the first season. It's good, but it gets WILD during the second season and thereafter. One of the best shows ever made, it's gut wrenching, realistic/plausible ( tiny bit of the fantastic, but just enough to make it fun - could be too stale without a little "luck" and maybe a tad too much "exceptional training" ... but who knows, maybe there are people walking around who can take in all human details around them with amazing efficiency/accuracy ). This one will be sorely missed.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Old Gnostic Fool on March 29, 2018, 10:55:33 pm
Haha, yeah there's a nice jump scare then, but honestly the whole sequence with the music playing to the shots of Crystal Lake + the ending line ("Then he's still there") actually made me very emotional.

I personally dropped Westworld after the first episode. The whole android/AI thing kinda pisses me off.

Dude, as a friend I tell you this, Westworld is FUCKED - UP ... give it another shot, I'm guessing it'll surprise you. Fucking love this show - but fuck-all to HBO waiting 2 fucking years for the second season, you fucks.

I'm looking forward to the second season as the first one really impressed me. Hopefully, it can maintain that momentum throughout it's run.
Has HBO given any indication as to how long it is meant to be?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on March 30, 2018, 08:20:15 pm
Has HBO given any indication as to how long it is meant to be?

Nothing yet, best I can tell. Hoping 2nd season at least 10 episodes as was the first season. Or were you asking how many seasons it'll be? That's not clear.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on August 17, 2018, 05:57:35 pm
Highly recommend you cats consider watching Counterpart. It starts a bit pedestrian and after 4 episodes I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like it. But then it finally grows into something very cool and fun to watch.

Even if this show is not your bag, the premise is something that would be interesting to vet with the crew here at TSA. This is not a spoiler, you learn this over the first few episodes. Something "happened" that cause reality to duplicate itself - we, the viewers don't know exactly what, kinda a secret to the viewer, but there's some inference it was from a military/government "experimenting" or some such ( I know, pedestrian idea ripped off from other works/shows such as Stranger things ... but wait ). So at that moment in time, 2 identical "earths" exist. This is kept tight secret on both "sides" from each earth's respective populations. But after some time, a passage is discovered/forged ( again, not clear how or from who, but it's created/discovered in Berlin, Germany - so the whole show, while in English, takes place in Berlin ) between the 2 worlds and we begin interacting with each other. This is a HUGE boon for humanity when interaction starts because the earths paths diverge and each side makes incredible scientific discoveries and shares with the other side - so the counterparts from each side are no longer "aligned" and go off in different directions and ( do they? ) become different people. It's entertaining to "learn" some of the things we've achieved ( like mapping the human genome ) came from "the other side" and how/why that happened makes sense, very cool. I love the show doesn't mince words and takes a stand on what would happen if reality replicates itself and you're not left guessing or drowning in philosophical rabbit holes. This happened and now this is happening. The how and the why the same person "becomes" a different person due to changes in circumstance resulting from crossovers between the earths is really fascinating to me and would be cool to see if any of you have watched it and share your thoughts. Another nice thing is I couldn't predict any of the outcomes of the various sub-scenarios and all of them are sensible, but still surprising ( not falling into the stupid trap of making everything completely fucked up and crazy ). It really is a nicely done spy show. And I agree with one reviewer's comment that Simmons deserves 2 Oscars for best performance ( playing 2 different versions of himself, this is his best work to date, incredible performance ).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on September 18, 2018, 06:48:01 pm
Thought this was an amazing write-up of Rick and Morty

The Cartoon That Captures the Damaged American Male:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/rick-and-morty-masculinity/568306/

Some good news as well, looks like Adult Swim signed it for 70 more episodes. More Rick and Morty for years to come!
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on September 25, 2018, 03:26:47 pm
Currently watching The Good Place.

I thought the concept sounded stupid.  But I actually watched it and the show is pretty smart and entertaining.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on September 25, 2018, 09:28:12 pm
Currently watching The Good Place.

I thought the concept sounded stupid.  But I actually watched it and the show is pretty smart and entertaining.

Thanks, H - added to my Netflix watch list.

I just watched The Shape of Water ... man, I had a LOOOOOOOW bar for this thing, was pretty sure I would hate it - but it's free at the moment on cable, so wtf, right? Anyways, I don't recommend it. That said, it was MUCH better than I was expecting - a tongue in cheek take on the sci-fi 50's, but there was one awesome gem in the rough: Michael Shannon is a pure demon in this thing, I was laughing hard at a few of his scenes, not a nice guy. Anyways, if you're completely bored, check this out, it'll surprise you in that it's not complete trash and the nuance of the 50's was executed nicely and it has a great "bad" guy.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TLEILAXU on September 25, 2018, 09:55:23 pm
Yeah, The Shaper of Water is better than it looks. Still not my cup o' tea though. I watched Hereditary recently. First hour is top notch horror, after that it starts to drop the ball a bit. Worth a watch. I'll probably be watching The Predator or Mandy next. Will be watching the new Halloween in october as well.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TLEILAXU on October 01, 2018, 11:49:07 pm
Watched Mandy. Pretty good, not amazing. Very nice coloring throughout the movie. Nice aesthetics all around. Good performances by the various actors.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 12, 2018, 01:53:59 pm
Another surprise, I really liked Castle Rock quite a bit, would give it an A rating. Another I thought I would be bored or thought it stupid - but I like the slow roll surprise ending, much of the mystery is "revealed" by the end and wasn't something I guessed but at the same time it made sense. For you horror enthusiasts, highly recommend it, it's a Hulu original. TL, I think you would dig this.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 12, 2018, 01:57:36 pm
Currently watching The Good Place.

I thought the concept sounded stupid.  But I actually watched it and the show is pretty smart and entertaining.

Yeah, my wife has been watching this, I should jump in at some point.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on October 12, 2018, 02:29:27 pm
Yeah, my wife has been watching this, I should jump in at some point.

Just make sure you watch from the beginning and get caught up, or nothing will make much sense.  The 3rd season has been good, but the first two are definitely a little better.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on October 12, 2018, 06:16:14 pm
Letterkenny.

This shit is hilarious. Like if the shows Seinfeld and Archer had a baby and raised it in some hick town in Canada. So its a show about nothing, with lightning fast banter and surprisingly clever writing, wrapped up in a friendly down where everyone knows everyone.

Its set in Letterkenny, population 5000, middle-of-nowhere Canada. The banter is top notch, the characters are fun. Its a bit repetitive at times, but engaging enough that I was disappointed when I found out hulu only carried the first 2 (of 5) seasons. Great stuff.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 25, 2018, 02:23:05 am
Letterkenny up to 5 seasons - released here in The States on Comedy Channel I think, I'll try to hunt it down.

A show that surprised me big time was Trust ( on FX ). Gets an A+ if for no other reason it has the best sound track of anything, tv or movie. VERY well done, I thought I would hate it as I find the debauchery of the rich to be quite boring, but wow, it's is SOOOO beyond that. Everything about it top notch, fun mystery mixed with some mad shit. Think you cats would dig it.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 25, 2018, 11:40:48 pm
I watched Succession - another rich family fucked up deal - but it was another one I liked more than I expected. Not as good as Trust, but still fun to watch, give it a B+, maybe an A- for a good last episode for the season.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TLEILAXU on October 28, 2018, 01:23:54 am
Watched the first two episodes of Haunting of Hill House.
It's some scary fucking shit.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 29, 2018, 02:47:35 am
Watched the first two episodes of Haunting of Hill House.
It's some scary fucking shit.

I was thinking of watching this, I'll check it out, thanks!

EDIT: wow, it has a 9.0 rating on IMDB - not easy to get a rating that high. I don't put a lot on ratings as my tastes often don't align, but 42k+ people averaged to yield such a high rating, must be really good.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TLEILAXU on October 29, 2018, 11:05:59 am
Watched the first two episodes of Haunting of Hill House.
It's some scary fucking shit.

I was thinking of watching this, I'll check it out, thanks!

EDIT: wow, it has a 9.0 rating on IMDB - not easy to get a rating that high. I don't put a lot on ratings as my tastes often don't align, but 42k+ people averaged to yield such a high rating, must be really good.
Yeah the IMDB rating was part of what convinced me too.
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on November 02, 2018, 12:13:50 am
Penny Dreadful

I'm a big fan, 3 seasons, so so love the theme, the time, the place, the cinematography ( horror makes me happy ). Fun to watch, but it does get long in the tooth with one of the central characters, Eva Green's character, Vanessa Ives. So this show brings to life the horror stories of the late 1800's/1900 into a single connected story ( vampires, Frankenstein, etc ). I don't give it an A+ as it drags at points and the ending was a missed opportunity, for which I'll discuss below as bad bad spoiler, as in I discuss the ending in detail. If you have the patience, it is worth the time and you'll like it. Extremely dark, very beautiful, fun story, great characters, but Frankenstein, his monster and his bride steal the show - all 3 upstage the main character, Vanessa Ives - but not her fault, Green appears to be a very strong actor, so the blame lies at the feet of the story and director. Genius mixed with some blah, gorgeous cinematography with exceptional "secondary" characters ( I put that in quotes as the supporting cast get a lot of screen time, I was actually surprised Green's character is listed as the primary protagonist, but makes sense as she has the most total screen time, but not more than 50% of it ). The show is worth it just for Frankenstein and his monsters - brilliant. And the other characters are great as well. Kinda odd they struggled the most with the primary character of the show, but at times Ives shines and is interesting.

Be warned, bad bad spoiler here, hope if you read it doesn't deter you from checking this gem out.
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on November 07, 2018, 06:23:11 pm
If anyone has Amazon Prime, the new show Homecoming is rather good and definitely worth watching.  From the same director as Mr. Robot, but not written by him.  The show is good and engaging, only 10 twenty-something minute episdoes, so it doesn't drag or anything.  Definitely recommended, not to mention it does go into some tangential aspects of Bakker's "Semantic Apocalypse" sort-of territory.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: SmilerLoki on November 08, 2018, 08:45:47 pm
Well, I'm a mature, manly individual, so I watch (re-watch, in fact) RWBY. It's awesome!
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on November 11, 2018, 03:57:35 pm
If anyone has Amazon Prime, the new show Homecoming is rather good and definitely worth watching.  From the same director as Mr. Robot, but not written by him.  The show is good and engaging, only 10 twenty-something minute episdoes, so it doesn't drag or anything.  Definitely recommended, not to mention it does go into some tangential aspects of Bakker's "Semantic Apocalypse" sort-of territory.

I watched this, finished just now. I enjoyed it, bit more going on here than the fast pace of the story lets on. I agree, the 1/2 hour episodes helped, didn't hurt it ( as I thought it might ).

I like Esmail's stories take on "conspiracy" in that it's got only one toe in it, not immersed, which emerges a more plausible story. So, yes, there are "discreet" human networks/connections in leadership, but be wary of participation as you can be cut off/out unfairly, you're not 100% protected, these discreet relationships are not protected from the chaos they can yield, and there's infighting between leaders and bureaucracy has emerged from the complexity of modern society which exerts its agency as well. He really does a beautiful job of weaving these together in something both fun and believable/buy-able with Mr. Robot and now this, Homecoming. Nice rec, H.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on November 11, 2018, 04:00:06 pm
Well, I'm a mature, manly individual, so I watch (re-watch, in fact) RWBY. It's awesome!

I was getting into anime about 20 years ago ... and then I got married. I watched The Vision of Escaflowne back then and blew my mind, wow! Would be cool to take a dip back into it, but there's so much out there I wouldn't know where to start. I'm open to a road map ... hint hint  ;)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: SmilerLoki on November 11, 2018, 08:08:44 pm
Well, I'm a mature, manly individual, so I watch (re-watch, in fact) RWBY. It's awesome!
I was getting into anime about 20 years ago ... and then I got married. I watched The Vision of Escaflowne back then and blew my mind, wow! Would be cool to take a dip back into it, but there's so much out there I wouldn't know where to start. I'm open to a road map ... hint hint  ;)
While RWBY is marketed as an anime, it's actually an American production, and distinctly low-budget one at that. In no way, though, does that take anything away from the show. I particularly like how it improves with each subsequent season. The only thing is, it's fairly simplistic, more so in the beginning.

Considering anime in general, I'm somewhat versed in the subject, but at the same time reserved about it. In essence, anime falls completely within the purview of Sturgeon's law, thus being not what exalted young people would lead you to believe it is. Furthermore, I would say it's very hard for mature audiences to get into anime, since it's either very strange or childish. Me, I like childish stuff, so there is no problem. But it's not for everyone.

All of this is compounded by the fact that many great anime shows are completely genre works, requiring you to watch many of their predecessors. It's the case with Puella Magi Madoka Magica (magical girls, with Sailor Moon as the trope codifier) and Kill la Kill (80s-style fighting animes). I think both are interesting to watch, with Kill la Kill being amazing and funny in particular, but I don't think it's possible to enjoy them outside of context.

That being said, my hands down favorite anime (manga, to be precise, but anime follows it almost word for word, fillers notwithstanding) is One Piece. It has, so far, only around 800 episodes. It's not even close to being over.

An anime show to start out and get a somewhat relevant look at the medium is, perhaps, Fullmetal Alchemist. More specifically, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, because it's a complete and concise story lifted entirely from the original manga (it's a good thing, and I wish it were done more in the West).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 10, 2018, 03:35:46 am
Finished Altered Carbon. It was pretty entertaining throughout, though I never read the books. The nudity bit got less ridiculous as it went on, each episode probably a little less than the last, though still an unnecessarily part of every one.

Finally watched Altered Carbon. Strange experience - I did not think I would like it ( over the top for shock value shows are embarrassing, for which I thought this would be ), and after the first few episodes I was pretty sure it was crap - the technology just seemed too convoluted and arbitrary ( needlessly complex ) ... but ... I watched it to the end and I was pleasantly surprised, it was a lot of fun. Fun mystery and after a while I finally caught on to the "tech" of it ( maybe my small brain struggled with the overload of sci-fi information, you get schooled quick with a lot of detail on it - I'm like, Jesus Christ, where does it all end - but that's kind of the point of the environment, if we "advance" to this state, you're gonna get a lot of weird shit/by-products ). While not "amazing", it did turn out to be really good. And I'm a fan of Joel Kinnaman, he was great in The Killing - highly recommend that show, great detective(s) story. Joel sports a very impressive American accent, being a native Swede. He's damn good in Altered Carbon, I recommend it. And if you like detective shows, The Killing gets an A+ from me, great slow building suspense.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on December 10, 2018, 03:56:48 pm
Finished Altered Carbon. It was pretty entertaining throughout, though I never read the books. The nudity bit got less ridiculous as it went on, each episode probably a little less than the last, though still an unnecessarily part of every one.

Finally watched Altered Carbon. Strange experience - I did not think I would like it ( over the top for shock value shows are embarrassing, for which I thought this would be ), and after the first few episodes I was pretty sure it was crap - the technology just seemed too convoluted and arbitrary ( needlessly complex ) ... but ... I watched it to the end and I was pleasantly surprised, it was a lot of fun. Fun mystery and after a while I finally caught on to the "tech" of it ( maybe my small brain struggled with the overload of sci-fi information, you get schooled quick with a lot of detail on it - I'm like, Jesus Christ, where does it all end - but that's kind of the point of the environment, if we "advance" to this state, you're gonna get a lot of weird shit/by-products ). While not "amazing", it did turn out to be really good. And I'm a fan of Joel Kinnaman, he was great in The Killing - highly recommend that show, great detective(s) story. Joel sports a very impressive American accent, being a native Swede. He's damn good in Altered Carbon, I recommend it. And if you like detective shows, The Killing gets an A+ from me, great slow building suspense.
Yeah the first episode appeared to mostly hope to grab people with explosions and sex, after which is then gave you a story and characters. Glad you ended up enjoying it - I think I felt mostly the same way as you.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 10, 2018, 04:04:59 pm
Finished Altered Carbon. It was pretty entertaining throughout, though I never read the books. The nudity bit got less ridiculous as it went on, each episode probably a little less than the last, though still an unnecessarily part of every one.

Finally watched Altered Carbon. Strange experience - I did not think I would like it ( over the top for shock value shows are embarrassing, for which I thought this would be ), and after the first few episodes I was pretty sure it was crap - the technology just seemed too convoluted and arbitrary ( needlessly complex ) ... but ... I watched it to the end and I was pleasantly surprised, it was a lot of fun. Fun mystery and after a while I finally caught on to the "tech" of it ( maybe my small brain struggled with the overload of sci-fi information, you get schooled quick with a lot of detail on it - I'm like, Jesus Christ, where does it all end - but that's kind of the point of the environment, if we "advance" to this state, you're gonna get a lot of weird shit/by-products ). While not "amazing", it did turn out to be really good. And I'm a fan of Joel Kinnaman, he was great in The Killing - highly recommend that show, great detective(s) story. Joel sports a very impressive American accent, being a native Swede. He's damn good in Altered Carbon, I recommend it. And if you like detective shows, The Killing gets an A+ from me, great slow building suspense.
Yeah the first episode appeared to mostly hope to grab people with explosions and sex, after which is then gave you a story and characters. Glad you ended up enjoying it - I think I felt mostly the same way as you.

I agree, it didn't need any of that - I'm not easily offended and as long as the visuals work for the story, I'm good with it. I guess I'm saying there is something to "gratuitous sex" being crap. But this quickly rises above it and becomes something. Maybe the writers thought it needed it to round out how callous the rich are to all else with the all else living in the mud. Blade Runner pulled this off much better in this respect - but in the end I did think AC was a very good show and look forward to season 2.

Now stop what you're doing and watch The Killing  ;D
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on December 18, 2018, 06:01:24 am
Happy! of Syfy.

As a Grant Morrison fan I liked it, I think it did a good job fleshing out a 4-issue comic short story.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 18, 2018, 11:29:55 pm
Happy! of Syfy.

As a Grant Morrison fan I liked it, I think it did a good job fleshing out a 4-issue comic short story.
Looks interesting, I'll check it out.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 23, 2018, 06:30:05 pm
Case

This is an Icelandic TV show ( so if you don't know Icelandic, than you can watch it in English subtitles ). Pretty fucked up, pretty intense. Has nudity and hedonistic sexual scenes. As an American, I don't know what is accepted television visuals/content for an Icelander and what is gratuitous. I was fine with it as it's presented. The racy scenes flow like any other as it moves quickly through them conforming to the pace of the story ( if it was made in America, there would be some kind of mood music and build up to "present" the sexual content ) - this show just kind of flies along through it like it's no big deal. One scene had me laughing hard, I'm sorry, I have to relay this as I've never seen something like this before: A lawyer visits his client at his home where the client is throwing a sex party and he calls the client out of the room - the client just casually comes out, stark naked, and is "working" his cock while they're talking about an investigation. This casual "working" is not quite masturbation, I think he's just trying to keep himself juiced so he can continue what he was doing beforehand. I mean, this is normally something I would ignore and not care as I don't need sexual scenes to be interested in a story, but this was one fucked up scene that threw me. Anyways, I apologize, but I had to share that.

It was a good show - I was into it - not perfect, but it's a cool mystery with some damn fine acting. Fuck if Iceland isn't a shitshow if this program is anywhere near realistic. This show has a robust child porn ring operation going on there - systematic destruction of girls, hooking them on drugs and then subjected to severe sexual abuse and shared online. Mad stuff - if you have the constitution, it's worth a watch as I enjoyed it. The ending is a little weak, didn't meet the standard of the build up to it, but eh, still pretty good.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 30, 2018, 05:00:58 am
Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan ( Amazon Prime tv show )

So I'm watching Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Season 1, not yet finished - it's ok, hasn't gripped me yet - I shouldn't judge until I'm done with it, but here goes - I'll update if the ending is strong. It's not as good as it could be. It's at once too fast paced and too slow. The writing is overly character focused, so the plot suffers - too simplistic, no nuance - action over drama, so there's no authentic tension, having to rely on directing mechanics to make the story better than it is, a story that could be fascinating, but is just plain. And we're not learning anything interesting about spy-craft, it's really about the lead navigating his way through some tough situations while maintaining his identity. Simply put, it's not as good as it could/should be. Anyways, there's this one hilarious scene early on. A drone operator is starting to lose his cookies over all the people he's killed ( apparently, the operators give each other a buck for each kill ). He's at his house, has over $100 in dollar bills on the wall representing all of his kills and he takes them all and goes to a casino and let's it ride - long story short, he wins big trying to lose all of the money and he's freaked out. There's this couple next to him hootin' and hollerin' ( they say they're husband and wife - maybe they are ) and they get him drinking and get him back to his room. Now we, the viewer, are thinking they're going to rob him of his 20 grand in winnings - but no, LMAO! The "wife" has sex with him while the husband watches and the operator is all messed up about it, stammering and apologizing to the husband ( while the wife is having sex with him ). When she's done ( quickly ), she gets dressed and the husband beats him with a belt. I'm dying at this point, it's so fricken funny - freaks, they keep life alive. Anyways, he offers the money to the husband as they're leaving and he's like, "no, that's your money, you earned that" - this is like the one cool slightly complex scene so far in the whole thing, as he "earned" it in several ways: won it at the tables, risked it with the husband/wife sick role-playing team, earned it by killing people with drones.

Well, it's a descent show so far, I guess as I'm sticking with it, so some enjoyment with the thing. I'll follow this up when I'm done watching it.

EDIT: I finished watching this. It's gets an "eh" from me - it's ok, but not great. It's not leveraging cable freedom and is formulaic with some cable freak stuff in it, but it should be better given the budget and actors in the thing. So this falls in that jello land of not bad, but not good enough to recommend.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on January 02, 2019, 06:28:32 pm
The Marvelous Miss Maisel. Watched the first two episodes and I think its pretty hilarious. Well acted, and Rachel Brosnahan is hot, which is obviously nice.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 02, 2019, 11:58:56 pm
The Marvelous Miss Maisel. Watched the first two episodes and I think its pretty hilarious. Well acted, and Rachel Brosnahan is hot, which is obviously nice.
My wife loves this show. I've caught a few episodes when she's watching - smartly written, pretty funny stuff, great period cinematography.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on January 03, 2019, 12:54:13 pm
My wife loves this show. I've caught a few episodes when she's watching - smartly written, pretty funny stuff, great period cinematography.

Yeah, it's a good show.  My wife commented that she thought the second season was better than the first.  I disagree, but it is still good, even though I think it ended a bit nonsensically.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on January 03, 2019, 02:39:26 pm
My wife loves this show. I've caught a few episodes when she's watching - smartly written, pretty funny stuff, great period cinematography.

Yeah, it's a good show.  My wife commented that she thought the second season was better than the first.  I disagree, but it is still good, even though I think it ended a bit nonsensically.
There's a sense of whimsy in the show anyway though, so I can see that being OK.

And yes, its definitely got great period cinematography (if that's what you call it). You can fell the 50's(?) leaping off the screen.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 08, 2019, 04:22:26 am
So, apparently mad-as-fuck tv has been my bag lately - unintentional, didn't see these mad things coming. I'll start with Goliath, though I finished the second season few months back. This is a fascinating show - it blends mundane life with extreme violence and nasty plotting/scheming. Very enjoyable show, highly recommend it - but be warned, some intense violent drama. It's not so much a visual horror, but when you see the insane designs of "the bad guys" against our protagonist, it's like, WTF, who thinks this shit up. What's amazing is these ideas are not far-fetched, they could be happening, and yet clever and creative. I love shows that are smarter written than I am ( e.g. Dexter, Breaking Bad ) and this one qualifies.

The inspiration for this post is I'm in the middle of watching Blood ( Irish tv show ) - What ... the ... fuck ... I'll post a review when I'm done. It has it's hooks into me, but man, what a fricking mind game this thing is.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 12, 2019, 12:21:44 am
Finished Blood and not sure I would recommend it. 7 episodes, the first 3 were wild and entertaining. Then it slowed down and got a bit long in the tooth. Fucked up stuff, though. The ending is a real downer, so if you like the toilet flushing story experience, you'll like this, just a downward trajectory the whole way. Ending was interesting, I'll give it that, but this isn't must see tv, no need to add this one to your bucket list.

I'm now watching Wire in the Blood. Amazon has come up with what I find to be the most hilarious marketing manipulation to date - so funny, I actually like it. So when you've completed a series, it automatically starts another show for you to watch - a show you didn't pick, LOL! But it's a fairly intelligent feature, typically I like the next show they present to me. Well, this is what happened when I finished Blood. But it gets better, if you've just completed a Netflix show, the next show it brings up for you to watch is an Amazon Original in the same vein/genre as what you just finished, LMAO! So if you just finished a Netflix British cop show, you'll be presented with an Acorn British cop show ( Acorn is Amazon's British content service - yes, I pay for it, don't hate ). And if you don't do anything to stop it, you're watching it in like 5 seconds. I'm on the first episode and W - T - F ... the British are jacked, what the hell is going on that crazy island?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on March 22, 2019, 05:02:17 pm
Second season of The OA is out on Netflix today.  Might try to watch it this weekend.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TLEILAXU on March 31, 2019, 09:54:17 pm
Suspiria (2018)
Pretty good overall, a couple of really brutal scenes, nice aesthetics. Felt like a lot of stuff could've been cut out; annoying low-frame-rate camera technique needs to fuck off. Happened a lot during the ending which ruined it a little bit.
It's a very female centric movie. It was nice to see an exertion of the female body that wasn't superhero bullshit or non-existent, as we so often see in cinema.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on April 01, 2019, 06:16:53 pm
Starz is one great big pile of shit. I get it, fuck awards and awards shows, they're fucked up, it's loser marketing bullshit with no real assessment of quality/art. But to cancel shows BECAUSE they received Emmy's is more so.

Boss - mind blowing, awesome. You people would love Boss, everyone's a bad guy and even the lead is a pure bastard ( not misunderstood, not making mistakes - he's a monster through and through and we the viewers still root for him, which is genius writing ) ... won Emmy's and lauded as amazing. CANCELLED after 2 seasons.

Counterpart - very cool stuff, a fascinating treatise on what forges our identity ( nature vs nurture vs circumstance ) and not from a scientific or even philosophical perspective, but a real world what if - extraordinary and fun to watch and yes, it won Emmy's. CANCELLED after 2 seasons.

Piece ... of ... shit ... ... ... PIECE OF SHIT! What a pile of shit network Starz is, WTF! Well, fuck all, I still highly recommend both of these shows even if they don't enjoy a soft landing of a proper story ending. Boss is a bit more leave you hanging, while Counterpart did end it's current story arc in Season 2, but that show could and should surely go on.

...

...

...

PIECE OF SHIT!
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on August 02, 2019, 06:09:48 pm
Chernobyl ... wow, this show owned me. It's a limited run of 5 episodes on HBO. Highly recommend it. To be clear, I'm in no way making any assertions of it's accuracy, I don't know much of the details of what actually happened. That said, I/we welcome all comers and if you have some information/facts/perspective on the actual event, please share and know it's appreciated without judgement or disputation. I'm only giving this show an A+ based on how enjoyable it is to watch. The acting is crazy crazy good. Direction and story are superb, it's has a grip on your throat the entire time. Production is top shelf. This thing is a real horror show and if accurate, an actual hole was opened into hell, simply mad stuff.

Killing Eve - so this show is interesting as it has a lot going against it for me, a campy comedy girl power thing ... or so I thought, while it is those things, that's the cover for what turned out to be a fairly clever dark comedy/spy story that's more than what it appears. I typically don't like comedies, but this one was fun to watch and I recommend it. It's not super heavy, though it is quite violent - but the comedic aspects enhance the horror of the violence, not mute it. It's fun to watch and recommend it. No big reveal on human nature, just fun and I've been on a spy kick lately, though it suffers a bit on the intrigue and is more human interaction than clever plotting - a mix of every day people with the fantastic than genuine cloak and dagger stuff - it's not like "omg, what's going to happen next" like we get with The Americans, but more of what people who are typical psychologically react to genuine psychopaths. I'm not psychologist, but the lead psychopath is likely more caricature than real, but hey, they have to make it fun to watch. But it's not stupid either, not idiotically outlandish - they walk a nice line with this one.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on September 02, 2019, 10:35:57 pm
Dark

Dark is a German TV show on Netflix. They did a good job with the dubbing, so you can watch it in English if you want. 2 seasons out, 1 more to finish it off. I can't discuss it meaningfully without spoiling it, so here goes. I don't give away any plot, but the frame of the story will be ruined for you which, while revealed during 1st season, will take the fun out of discovery for you if you read my thoughts on it here.

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on September 03, 2019, 12:10:24 pm
My wife wasn't too interesting in watching Amazons The Boys, but I decided to check it out.  It's a good show, well worth watching, even if it is not exactly perfect.  It is also rather different than the comics and, even though I am only about 25 issues in, the show is really rather "better" than the comics to me.

If you want something that I guess could be taken as a "realistic" or "gritty" look at superheros, I'd probably like the show.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: mostly.harmless on September 03, 2019, 12:38:13 pm
Dark

Dark is a German TV show on Netflix. They did a good job with the dubbing, so you can watch it in English if you want. 2 seasons out, 1 more to finish it off. I can't discuss it meaningfully without spoiling it, so here goes. I don't give away any plot, but the frame of the story will be ruined for you which, while revealed during 1st season, will take the fun out of discovery for you if you read my thoughts on it here.

(click to show/hide)
Fully agree with this. Dark is slow existential horror and mystery. Love it.

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on September 03, 2019, 02:57:52 pm
Carnival Row is pretty good. Most of the way through, still trying to guess whodunit.

Maybe i just like the actresses irish accents though... Whatever. Its worth the watch, politically some obvious tie-ins to both modern and historical times regarding race and immigration.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on September 03, 2019, 02:59:15 pm
Carnival Row is pretty good. Most of the way through, still trying to guess whodunit.

Maybe i just like the actresses irish accents though... Whatever. Its worth the watch, politically some obvious tie-ins to both modern and historical times regarding race and immigration.

Yeah, might give that a go, my wife kind of categorically vetoed it, but I will watch the first episode and maybe I can convince her to try it out.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on September 03, 2019, 03:15:31 pm
Some nudity and violence, but primarily its just a mystery set in a fantasy crossroads town with fantasy immigrants in TotallyNotEngland. The fantasy parts of it are not overdone, primarily costumes with wings and horns.

Typical love interest story and some action sequences interspersed with the primary case-solving police guy plot. Its not high stress/anxiety murder mystery either - enough to make it fun and to make you want to watch the next episode, but not so much that you feel exhausted watching it.

Not sure if any of those things will help or hurt your case lol.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on September 03, 2019, 03:19:44 pm
Some nudity and violence, but primarily its just a mystery set in a fantasy crossroads town with fantasy immigrants in TotallyNotEngland. The fantasy parts of it are not overdone, primarily costumes with wings and horns.

Typical love interest story and some action sequences interspersed with the primary case-solving police guy plot. Its not high stress/anxiety murder mystery either - enough to make it fun and to make you want to watch the next episode, but not so much that you feel exhausted watching it.

Not sure if any of those things will help or hurt your case lol.

She was actually into the trailer, until that faerie thing sprouted wings, then it was "too fantasy."  If it's subdued fantasy though, I'll have a case, maybe.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on September 03, 2019, 05:04:40 pm
I'd say you're in solid Maybe territory then. If you can make it through the first episode, you should be fine as it doesn't get more fantastical as it progresses.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Francis Buck on September 05, 2019, 10:36:20 pm
Maybe i just like the actresses irish accents though...

Lmao, this got me.

She was actually into the trailer, until that faerie thing sprouted wings, then it was "too fantasy."  If it's subdued fantasy though, I'll have a case, maybe.


I wonder what it says about me when I, myself, also find that sort of thing "too fantasy"...as I sit here posting on a fantasy forum between bouts of worldbuilding for my own super-fantastical fantasy series that I am writing.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Dora Vee on September 06, 2019, 12:19:29 am
I'm watching this YT video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmcDpoCAIj0
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: SmilerLoki on September 06, 2019, 06:13:49 am
She was actually into the trailer, until that faerie thing sprouted wings, then it was "too fantasy."  If it's subdued fantasy though, I'll have a case, maybe.
The wings are never treated as magic, though. It's just a physical curiosity as far as everyone in the show is concerned, nothing more. Even considering fae fly, but absolutely should not be able to (which is never brought up).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on September 12, 2019, 03:58:09 pm
The wings are never treated as magic, though. It's just a physical curiosity as far as everyone in the show is concerned, nothing more. Even considering fae fly, but absolutely should not be able to (which is never brought up).

So, we ended up watching the show.

I was both disappointed and pleased.  Some of the dialogue felt a bit "wooden" and awkward.  I felt like when they engaged the world-building, the setting was interesting, but sometimes just seemed to not bother.  I think the show has promise, it was entertaining, hopefully they can take a step up on a few things for season 2.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on September 12, 2019, 05:29:08 pm
Perpetual Grace, LTD - very good show in my opinion. It's hard to make me laugh, don't care for comedies, but this art crime show ( Pulp Fiction, Snatch, etc ) surprised me, pretty funny stuff. Someone needs to raise a statue to Ben Kingley, that man is a greater Ciphrang. Show is worth it just to watch him. I recommend it - not amazing, but if you liked the movie The Mexican, good chance you'll like this thing. If you want a break from heavy horror, this will work for you - although, there are times bad stuff happens, which is cool in that since it's not drenched in violence, so it impacts you more when it does happen. Anyways, genius cast, good story and good directing. Gets an A from me.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on September 23, 2019, 03:32:49 pm
We watched an Amazon show, Undone, which is done in rotoscope, and it was pretty decent.  Also, was only 8 half hour episodes, so low investment.  It was pretty good and has plenty of room of interpretation, especially as you get toward the end.

Also, since I am generally lost in time, my wife pointed out that The Good Place season 4 starts this week.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on September 23, 2019, 05:15:15 pm
Cowboy Bebop

Watching it for first time. Its amazing, even now given that its 20+ years after debuted.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on September 23, 2019, 05:43:13 pm
Cowboy Bebop

Watching it for first time. Its amazing, even now given that its 20+ years after debuted.

I started watching it a long, long time ago, but not sure I actually even finished an episode, probably just got distracted by something.  Just curious if you are watching it dubbed or subbed?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on September 23, 2019, 06:11:08 pm
Dubbed. Its just easier to consume, even though I have never found a case where dubbed is better than subbed as far as writing goes. Probably just can't speak english fast enough to line up with the screen, so sentences get clipped to simpler phrases.

The music in the show is brilliant, and each episode is basically discrete with only thin threads connecting to a greater story arch. Ironically, this  makes my wife more interested in watching them all, as he usually gets bored of series with a single plot and/or doesn't want to commit to it.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on September 23, 2019, 06:55:44 pm
I watched Cowboy Bebop many moons ago - remember liking it, but don't recall much about it. I'll have to check it out again.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: mostly.harmless on September 24, 2019, 05:18:39 pm
I watched Cowboy Bebop many moons ago - remember liking it, but don't recall much about it. I'll have to check it out again.
Have to chime in as an unrepentant fanboy having watched it at release way back, it's amazing :D
Music, the overarching story, the individual episodes, it has a unique vibe

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 07, 2019, 07:18:17 pm
City on a Hill

City on a Hill is a Showtime tv show, renewed for a 2nd season, yay!

So, not A+, not top shelf - but that said, for a descent show it's pretty darn good. It has one scene for the ages which doesn't ruin much of the show ( just you get a head's up on an ancillary character dying ), so I won't put in a spoiler. But first, quick run down, it's based in the early 90's in Boston pairing an old corrupt FBI agent with a new DA ( public District Attorney for those not in USA, the lawyer who presents cases for the state to convict people in court, etc ). Old formula, good cop/bad cop, nothing new there. But the directing and acting is excellent and it's fun to watch. The FBI agent is fun, a real bastard and has plenty of enemies in law enforcement, etc. Well, this one cop hates him and they've hated each other for years. The "good" cop gets shot in the belly and is dying and they put him in the ambulance and of course, our snarky corrupt FBI agent jumps in the back and while the cop is dying, does he try to clear the air and comfort him? No ... he rubs it in his face he's dying, I'm fricken dying watching it, it is hilarious. Extremely callous "fuck you" on your way out, laughing at him for dying, etc.

The show is not perfect, not top shelf, not Breaking Bad level good - but it's pretty fun to watch if you want some casual Sunday fucked up stuff injection. I give it an A-
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on October 08, 2019, 04:00:07 pm
Just a note that Mr. Robot season 4 started on Sunday.

Episode 1 was pretty good.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: mostly.harmless on October 08, 2019, 04:29:11 pm
Just a note that Mr. Robot season 4 started on Sunday.

Episode 1 was pretty good.
Yay, excited about this!
Is it gonna be released episodic or can I binge it?

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on October 08, 2019, 04:54:13 pm
Yay, excited about this!
Is it gonna be released episodic or can I binge it?

Episodic, one episode a week, airs Sunday nights here in the US, not sure about elsewhere.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: mostly.harmless on October 08, 2019, 05:01:21 pm
Yay, excited about this!
Is it gonna be released episodic or can I binge it?

Episodic, one episode a week, airs Sunday nights here in the US, not sure about elsewhere.
Still excited but tempted to wait until there's a few episodes I can watch at once.
My fragile psyche can't do waiting anymore

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on October 08, 2019, 05:44:29 pm
Still excited but tempted to wait until there's a few episodes I can watch at once.
My fragile psyche can't do waiting anymore

A fan of Bakker and incapable of waiting seem like a textbook case of antithesis, haha.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: mostly.harmless on October 08, 2019, 05:52:08 pm
Still excited but tempted to wait until there's a few episodes I can watch at once.
My fragile psyche can't do waiting anymore

A fan of Bakker and incapable of waiting seem like a textbook case of antithesis, haha.
True haha, I think I am now conditioned to pour all my patience into very specific works. The rest I need immediately :)

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on October 08, 2019, 06:06:44 pm
True haha, I think I am now conditioned to pour all my patience into very specific works. The rest I need immediately :)

I almost prefer episodic, not because I don't mind the wait, but because it's portion control.  In other words, I am not at pains to jam the episodes, because it's not really an option.

That pace also aligns with my general lottment of "free time" since it's hard to even get an apportioned time set aside to watch anything, let alone multiple episodes of anything.  In the end though, I think both forms have some merits, so it generally doesn't bother me when it is one or the other.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: mostly.harmless on October 08, 2019, 06:15:40 pm
True haha, I think I am now conditioned to pour all my patience into very specific works. The rest I need immediately :)

I almost prefer episodic, not because I don't mind the wait, but because it's portion control.  In other words, I am not at pains to jam the episodes, because it's not really an option.

That pace also aligns with my general lottment of "free time" since it's hard to even get an apportioned time set aside to watch anything, let alone multiple episodes of anything.  In the end though, I think both forms have some merits, so it generally doesn't bother me when it is one or the other.
That's a fair point.
Waiting for things and portion control is probably a better way of doing things (and I don't just mean TV shows, hah), at least occasionally.
'im not impatient, I can wait if I have to, just don't want to right now' :')

On-topic: swamp thing episode 1 was good albeit with some plotholes / stupid character decisions but that's part of the charm. Torn between continuing that and starting Carnival Row..

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on October 08, 2019, 06:33:26 pm
On-topic: swamp thing episode 1 was good albeit with some plotholes / stupid character decisions but that's part of the charm. Torn between continuing that and starting Carnival Row..

Carnival Row was decent, worth watching at least.  Not sure how it compares with Swamp Thing, but at least it provides the promise of a second season eventually.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 09, 2019, 05:30:23 pm
Thanks for the heads up, I missed first episode and it ain't on In Demand, so I missed it.

H - be a sweetie and provide a Spoiler response here with a quick run down of episode 1 so I can just jump into the 2nd this Sunday? Pretty please :) :) :)

Didn't know Swamp Thing had a show, I'll have to investigate that. I'm watching The Boys, mad stuff that.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on October 09, 2019, 06:33:47 pm
Thanks for the heads up, I missed first episode and it ain't on In Demand, so I missed it.

H - be a sweetie and provide a Spoiler response here with a quick run down of episode 1 so I can just jump into the 2nd this Sunday? Pretty please :) :) :)

Wait you want me to spoil it?  Haha, well, ok.  It's a really good episode though, so I'd highly suggest watching it, if you somehow can.  But, if it's not possible, well, then here you go:

(click to show/hide)

If you bothered to read all that:

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 09, 2019, 06:42:00 pm
You're awesome, H! This was perfect - I intend to watch it if I can figure out how to. Thanks much, good stuff.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 10, 2019, 02:29:16 pm
The Boys

Amazon Prime tv show, 1 season released recently.

The Boys gets an A+ from me. It's an interesting mash of 70's dystopian with 80's kungfu with 90's/2000's sexual harassment/assault with young love bullshit with modern episodic tv construction. It's like the future of the 70's stories came true as the time is current day with corporate callous disregard for human life, laughing off human destruction, etc. Sounds like shit, but it's actually very well done and very fun to watch. It's not complex, which is ok since it's not taking itself too seriously, but it's not too campy to be disregarded either. There's no inner truth to learn from this show, won't learn anything - purely something fun to watch - that said, it does seem to be a more plausible rendition of super powers than most super hero stories ( e.g. the head guy is a ripoff of Super Man, down to the laser eyes, but he can't stop a plane falling from the sky ). If you like something fun and very fucked up, check it out.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 20, 2019, 02:41:13 am
I've watched the first 2 episodes of Carnival Row ... first impressions are as follows, hoping someone can tell me it gets better ( lie to me if you have to ).

(https://i.imgur.com/kdz0Rsq.gif)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on October 21, 2019, 12:43:57 pm
I've watched the first 2 episodes of Carnival Row ... first impressions are as follows, hoping someone can tell me it gets better ( lie to me if you have to ).

I think it gets a bit better, IIRC.  I actually think I might actually have fallen asleep myself in the first two or so episodes...
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: mostly.harmless on October 21, 2019, 01:04:46 pm
I've watched the first 2 episodes of Carnival Row ... first impressions are as follows, hoping someone can tell me it gets better ( lie to me if you have to ).

I think it gets a bit better, IIRC.  I actually think I might actually have fallen asleep myself in the first two or so episodes...
I've seen 3 (or 4..) episodes now and actually quite like it. So far I like the last episode I've seen the most (where they expound on what has happened at the mimosary). I'd stick with it at least until that part to give it a fair shot :)

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 21, 2019, 01:09:51 pm
I've watched the first 2 episodes of Carnival Row ... first impressions are as follows, hoping someone can tell me it gets better ( lie to me if you have to ).

I think it gets a bit better, IIRC.  I actually think I might actually have fallen asleep myself in the first two or so episodes...
I've seen 3 (or 4..) episodes now and actually quite like it. So far I like the last episode I've seen the most (where they expound on what has happened at the mimosary). I'd stick with it at least until that part to give it a fair shot :)

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Thank you, I'll finish it. Won't be the first show I started watching and was like, eh? But got really good thereafter ( Breaking Bad, The Americans, Altered Carbon, Counterpart - all were at risk of me jumping ship prematurely ).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on October 25, 2019, 06:48:26 pm
Lots of stuff on DC Universe - Titans, Young Justice, Batman vs Dracula
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on November 11, 2019, 02:23:57 pm
Mr. Robot has been pretty good this season so far.  Also, His Dark Materials has also been a good new show, now 2 episodes in.  I've never read the books though, so I can't compare.

The Watchmen TV show has also been quite good.  At first I was figuring I wouldn't care, since these were new characters, but in actuality, the show is well done and quite interesting in it's own right, plus there seems to be tons of nods to be movie and the comic books.  I'd recommend it, but only if you already saw the movie first.

Also, we checked out the show Dickinson which is on AppleTV+, or whatever they are calling the service.  First, let's start with the good.  The set designs and costumes are top notch.  However, everything that isn't an inanimate object though, unfortunately, is horrendous.  As far as my wife and I could tell, the premise of the show is: "Everyone knows that Emily Dickinson wasn't Dariah, but what this show presupposes is, maybe she was?"  I could go on about the discongruity between all sorts of modern music and notions just don't seem to "work" in the show, but it's wasted breath.  Even the half hour of episode one had me checking how much was left to bear multiple times.

If this the what Apple will be pushing out, I don't expect them to be around long.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Redeagl on November 23, 2019, 02:49:21 pm
Joker.







is the best movie ever made.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on November 25, 2019, 02:01:24 am
Joker.







is the best movie ever made.

I'm very lenient on what i let my children watch...i don't put a good over their eyes, so to speak. That being said, would it be ok for a 8 year old?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: mostly.harmless on November 25, 2019, 08:26:58 am
Joker.







is the best movie ever made.

I'm very lenient on what i let my children watch...i don't put a good over their eyes, so to speak. That being said, would it be ok for a 8 year old?
The ideas and 'moral' of the story are a bit advanced. It's not funny in an 8 y.o. way and there's 2/3 scenes of gory violence. I'd not recommend this for 8 y.o.

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Redeagl on November 26, 2019, 12:38:03 am
Joker.







is the best movie ever made.

I'm very lenient on what i let my children watch...i don't put a good over their eyes, so to speak. That being said, would it be ok for a 8 year old?

Short answer: No.

Long answer:NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

And even if we ignore the violence, sexual stuff etc... It would probably be boring for a 8 year old.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 08, 2019, 11:11:04 pm
The Watchmen TV show has also been quite good.  At first I was figuring I wouldn't care, since these were new characters, but in actuality, the show is well done and quite interesting in it's own right, plus there seems to be tons of nods to be movie and the comic books.  I'd recommend it, but only if you already saw the movie first.

+1 ... I do my best to go into something with no expectations, but fail frequently ( reminds me of an enlightenment precept to be without thought ... I digress ) and thought I would be let down. Not at all - this thing has legs. It's weird comic-booky is best I can explain it, but stays true to the comic/movie atmospheric contrast of pop music/imagery and violence - some is kick you in the gut kind of stuff, you'all will dig it being fans of PON. The lead Sister Night is awesome - always like the actor playing her, but she shines in this thing and tickles me when she, "WHAT THE FUCK?!?!", the indignation of it comes through. Kinda a spoiler as this part I'm about to talk about is in the current episode 7 ( show ain't over yet ), but nothing earth shattering, but I'll put it in spoilers anyways for any who might care. So far so good, I love the show and has a mystery going on that's on it's surface looks simple, but underneath it's getting really cool.

(click to show/hide)

I'm purposely not reading the Joker discussion as I've not seen it - my oldest son screwed me over, we were supposed to go see it together and he ditched me to go see it with his friends - so now looking like I'll be waiting for it on demand, sigh ... looks good.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on December 09, 2019, 01:55:08 am
Watching Nightflyers, not as bad as the criticisms (IMO ofc) but it does seem this could easily have been a movie or 3-4 ep special than 10 episodes.

Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 14, 2019, 08:26:17 pm
I finished 2nd season of Succession. Eh, it's ok - fun to watch, but a bit simple. You might dig it if you like callous rich people speak. Has a few clever moments, the acting is pretty good. Just not an original ( enough ) story.

Sci - Nightflyers any good or what?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 16, 2019, 08:53:15 pm
I'm sure I bore you'all with me liking everything, but really, you have to watch Watchmen. It is focking cool, man! The director is being a dick saying some bullshit like that's all he has to say about Watchmen ( meaning he's not going to do another season ), but fuck I want to see more. It does "end", so from a story perspective, you're not left on a cliff ( much ), but this deserves more episodes. Plenty of humor in this and I love how all of the weird shit eventually gets explained. Very clever deft touch bringing back Rorschach without bringing back Rorschach ( there's a new character whose just like him ). Even if you don't like comic books or movies/shows, it's so well done I think you would dig it anyways.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 25, 2019, 07:34:08 pm
So I started watching Evil, a prime time show on a major network. I know, I know, it's major network television, so it's likely shit. Well, hmm ... it has elements that make it shit and some that make it much more. I've pretty much given up on major network tv, but this one caught my fancy and giving it a shot. So, yes, the mechanism is shit ( no depth or breath, goes too quickly, fly by television that you get with major market products ), but there's some pretty cool stuff with this and I'm hoping it catches on that some of the writing is actually quite good and they transition to modern episodic medium, but a girl can dream, right?

First, there's a serious look at reconciling pop-metaphysics with god, like ( paraphrasing the show ), "the problem with miracles isn't that they happen, but that they only happen to some and not others" - some Camu going on with this here, kinda cool. And there are some genuinely funny bad characters ( funny ha ha, not funny stupid ). So I'm hoping they continue and make it a deep dive sussing out how any miracles/possessions can happen to "some" and yet God is fair/good. Since it moves so fast, these unfortunately just flash by the viewer. I'm only on the 3rd episode, so maybe it'll get it's sea legs and be something more than just potato chip tv.

Bonus points for the bad guy, he's great and I love the actor, Michael Emerson - that man was born to be an asshole and I love him for it. He's doing some very cool temptation logic on the Priest-in-training lead who is very good in this. I'm not a fan of the other lead, Katja Herbers, but she's doing ok so far.

Anyways, I've laughed a few times ( with the show, not at it ) and there's something to work with, so I'll keep watching it and let you know if it devolves into full on crap or we get somewhere.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on December 26, 2019, 09:16:51 pm
Well, Mr. Robot concluded.  His Dark Materials first season is over.  We just also finished the first season of The Witcher.

Now we just wait for The Good Place to start back again at the beginning of January and then we also have The New Pope coming up on HBO.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 26, 2019, 11:00:39 pm
Well, Mr. Robot concluded.  His Dark Materials first season is over.  We just also finished the first season of The Witcher.

Now we just wait for The Good Place to start back again at the beginning of January and then we also have The New Pope coming up on HBO.

I got to see episode 1 of Mr. Robot - but haven't finished the series yet. Is The Witcher any good? I read the book, not bad.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on December 26, 2019, 11:03:58 pm
I got to see episode 1 of Mr. Robot - but haven't finished the series yet. Is The Witcher any good? I read the book, not bad.
It's alright.  Since I never read the books or played the games, I don't have anything to compare it to, but it's mildly entertaining.  If you know the source material though, the show is likely something of a letdown though.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 30, 2019, 05:44:25 pm
Mr. Robot Spoiler Discussion

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 30, 2019, 06:03:25 pm
So I started watching Evil ... Anyways, I've laughed a few times ( with the show, not at it ) and there's something to work with, so I'll keep watching it and let you know if it devolves into full on crap or we get somewhere.

UPDATE: Well, they're devolving into mass market crappy tv, that's too bad as there's some rich conversation to be had between religion and atheistic science. Just a bit here and there and that's all and the last few episodes of the season was typical boring light corruption stuff with Catholicism ( not too bad, but still - not that the Catholic church doesn't have it coming, but to touch on it here is a bit out of scope - I will give it props for not drowning itself, but could've avoided it altogether, just cheapy stuff to maintain interest ). And the whole victim suing her helpers, that's Law & Order bullshit. I'll keep watching when it picks back up and let you'all know if it ever comes around to something interesting. I will say the Demonology is fun and edgy, especially for prime time tv, so I'm impressed with that. Michael Emerson is a demonic mother fucker in this, they did a great job with his character and his evil psychology is buyable even though it moves a bit too quickly, but kinda has to being a tv show, but would be better if it was slower, more dramatic like with cable/episodic tv - like instead of corrupting a different person each episode, it would be more intense if it was a treatise on how one can lead another single person to radicalize, the time it takes, the path toward destruction, self-destruction, etc.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 30, 2019, 06:14:30 pm
Watched the move, The Report ... as in The Torture Report about the study that was conducted on the CIA torturing terrorists suspects for information back after 911. A movie is only as good as it's weakest link and so it goes with this one - very poorly directed. That's too bad as the story is fascinating and they loaded this thing up with some good actors. Just jumps around in time with no art to it at all, a jumbled mess. I was looking for a contrast between it and Zero Dark Thirty and all we got was a cameo mention of ZDT when it was released during the timeline of the movie - whatever. A blown opportunity to explore what really happened beyond ZDT, would've liked to know how the ZDT director got her research so wrong, if she did at all - I'm left with wondering which movie was more accurate because this one was so poorly done. The story is cool, seeing how the CIA broke laws to kill the report from being released ( if they did, this POS of a movie is so bad, I wonder how much of it is accurate ). If you don't mind being bored and ignore the dumb directing, there is some interesting story here.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on December 30, 2019, 06:29:02 pm
Well, they're devolving into mass market crappy tv, that's too bad as there's some rich conversation to be had between religion and atheistic science.
Sounds like typical "culture industry" sort of stuff.  Just like GoT devolved into as well.

From SEP on Adorno: (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/adorno/#3)
Quote
There Adorno argues that the culture industry involves a change in the commodity character of art, such that art's commodity character is deliberately acknowledged and art “abjures its autonomy” (DE 127). With its emphasis on marketability, the culture industry dispenses entirely with the “purposelessness” that was central to art's autonomy. Once marketability becomes a total demand, the internal economic structure of cultural commodities shifts. Instead of promising freedom from societally dictated uses, and thereby having a genuine use value that people can enjoy, products mediated by the culture industry have their use value replaced by exchange value: “Everything has value only in so far as it can be exchanged, not in so far as it is something in itself. For consumers the use value of art, its essence, is a fetish, and the fetish—the social valuation [gesellschaftliche Schätzung] which they mistake for the merit [Rang] of works of art— becomes its only use value, the only quality they enjoy” (DE 128). Hence the culture industry dissolves the “genuine commodity character” that artworks once possessed when exchange value still presupposed use value (DE 129–30).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 30, 2019, 07:15:17 pm
From SEP on Adorno: (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/adorno/#3)
Quote
There Adorno argues that the culture industry involves a change in the commodity character of art, such that art's commodity character is deliberately acknowledged and art “abjures its autonomy” (DE 127). With its emphasis on marketability, the culture industry dispenses entirely with the “purposelessness” that was central to art's autonomy. Once marketability becomes a total demand, the internal economic structure of cultural commodities shifts. Instead of promising freedom from societally dictated uses, and thereby having a genuine use value that people can enjoy, products mediated by the culture industry have their use value replaced by exchange value: “Everything has value only in so far as it can be exchanged, not in so far as it is something in itself. For consumers the use value of art, its essence, is a fetish, and the fetish—the social valuation [gesellschaftliche Schätzung] which they mistake for the merit [Rang] of works of art— becomes its only use value, the only quality they enjoy” (DE 128). Hence the culture industry dissolves the “genuine commodity character” that artworks once possessed when exchange value still presupposed use value (DE 129–30).

Sounds about right, well said. It seems just when Hollywood has learned something, like pay the fucking writers, it slips back into it's old bad habits analyzing art from a business perspective ( this movie was a smash hit, what made it so, solicit feedback from viewers - can the "special sauce", serve it in another movie - like putting beer in every dish since it worked in this one soup that everyone loves ). I wonder if this stems from a shortage of competence to meet demand, people out of their depth rising in the ranks to fill vacancies.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on December 30, 2019, 07:37:55 pm
Sounds about right, well said. It seems just when Hollywood has learned something, like pay the fucking writers, it slips back into it's old bad habits analyzing art from a business perspective ( this movie was a smash hit, what made it so, solicit feedback from viewers - can the "special sauce", serve it in another movie - like putting beer in every dish since it worked in this one soup that everyone loves ). I wonder if this stems from a shortage of competence to meet demand, people out of their depth rising in the ranks to fill vacancies.

I think it's somewhat cyclical, but still comes down to economics.  Thing is, even most writers buy into the "culture industry" model, since they are (generally) less "artist" and more writer.  So, they'll tend to write what "sells."  The industry also seems to have periods of risk-taking and risk-aversion.  Or, at least, seem to try to "balance" there far toward the "averse" portion, which makes financial sense, but doesn't really deliver the "best quality" art, in all likelihood.

But, considering the teleology, the aim is the make money, not really to make great film/shows necessarily.  That might well be someone (the director, a writer) but it's not the industry's aim as a whole.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 02, 2020, 01:14:27 am
Consolidating - rating 2 movies that under-performed:

Ad Astra: has a 6.7 IMDB rating and deserves it. I watched it last night on a friend's recommendation ... wtf. Good story, should've been more exciting. Boring as fuck for a fascinating topic and theme. Stupid cheapo thrill stuff added for no fucking reason ( like getting attacked by "raiders" on the Moon - you're the US fucking military, you can't have it both ways with a Mad Max meets the military scenario - whatever ). Has a few moments, I guess - the theme/message/story all was sound, just dumb directing.

Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker. Fuck, man. Big let down, I guess I'll put my comments in spoiler, but don't bother, too fucking stupid to watch. I mean, I was so excited for Abrams treatment given how much I liked Rogue One ... but then this descent into mediocrity, sigh, someone shoot me in the head and be done with it.

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on January 02, 2020, 12:53:54 pm
Consolidating - rating 2 movies that under-performed:

Ad Astra: has a 6.7 IMDB rating and deserves it. I watched it last night on a friend's recommendation ... wtf. Good story, should've been more exciting. Boring as fuck for a fascinating topic and theme. Stupid cheapo thrill stuff added for no fucking reason ( like getting attacked by "raiders" on the Moon - you're the US fucking military, you can't have it both ways with a Mad Max meets the military scenario - whatever ). Has a few moments, I guess - the theme/message/story all was sound, just dumb directing.

Yeah, we watched this as well.  The set up was pretty good, but then it all failed to develop into, really, well, much of anything.

We just watched Parasite.  Neat movie.  I think it would be awful dubbed, but I also just don't like dubbing.  It was good, although I think there was some cultural idiom we were of course missing.  Still, I'd recommend it if you don't mind subtitles.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 13, 2020, 12:22:04 am
Joker

Finally saw this thing. I don't know what to think of it yet, I'm still mulling the thing over. I think my problem is the total was smaller than the sum of it's component parts. Many of the scenes were very well done, some cool, intense stuff to work with. But added altogether and it just wasn't exciting. The ending was pretty good, but not good enough to justify the slow roll up to it. The makeup and Phoenix was excellent, but it was a kinda weird mix of intensity without depth, kinda a conundrum of a thing - it was at once too deep and not deep enough. It would've been a mistake to make the thing a deep dive into mental illness, but at the same time it was just a patchwork of stuff. It simply had no feeling to it - like I wasn't rooting for or against Joker - which is fine, not saying we as viewers need to have skin in the game, but I simply didn't give a shit one way or the other. I wasn't offended, scared, excited or thrilled. I wasn't even a voyeur.

It was poorly directed, pure and simple. The story had legs, but not filled out. The actors were very good, good cinematography, ok sound track ( not great, but it was fine, I guess ).

EDIT: I will give it points for translating Feck's uncomfortability to the viewer, I was antsy watching scenes unfold, wondering how bizarre he would behave in "normal" social situations. So that was good.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on January 13, 2020, 01:05:31 pm
Not sure if anyone was/is watching the Netflix show Messiah, but it was fairly interesting.

I think you can see it in a sort of Kellhus-ian way too.  Show is kind of alternatively well-done and kind of not, but overall I think it's worth a watch.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 13, 2020, 07:13:07 pm
Not sure if anyone was/is watching the Netflix show Messiah, but it was fairly interesting.

I plan on watching it. Gonna watch The Witcher first.

I watched The Terror, Season 2. Not as good as the first season, but that's a pretty high bar, the first season was excellent. But Season 2 was pretty good. It's a slow crawl to the end, but worth it. Some not-really-so spoiler stuff below, but it is information you don't get until near the end, so I'll put it in spoils. The only knocks are the first 2/3 of it is an investment, it's slow moving. But it's a pretty good period piece, some nice historical fiction about the Japanese Internment Camps here in the USA ( some serious bullshit going on there - the actual history, I mean, hard to believe it really happened given our "protections" ). Good story, acting and ok directing. Certainly not required viewing, but some good stuff with this thing.

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 18, 2020, 09:45:08 pm
I watched The Godfather of Harlem. Good stuff, I liked it. Damn good acting. Cut a few small corners ( like convenient encounters ), but most of the stuff was well written and timed believably. Several well written misunderstandings between the characters and it's during the early 60's, so kinda cool to see some historical figures in action. My only significant criticism is the other older mobsters were played by perennial mob tough guy actors and that was a mistake, they weren't very good, but not a big deal.

Evil - fuck, can't believe I'm still watching this stupid thing ... but it's called Evil, so I guess I am. Pretty much drive by crappy tv, but the bad guy is excellent as I said before. I wasn't going to bother bringing up this show again, but the end of the current episode had me laughing hard and loud - I'm not sure if I'm laughing at it or with it, don't know if it was intentionally supposed to be funny or what. Would like to hear some other's thoughts for anyone else watching. It's possible it's good writing if the dude is hallucinating - I will give the show some props as it kinda leaves the door open just a touch that some of this stuff is true or false, either way. That said, too many episodes were just so badly written - it's like the show is trying to have it both ways, being interestingly mysterious pared with bad stories targeting mass market audiences. Man, this show would've been so much better on cable than prime time - oh, well.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on January 19, 2020, 02:27:22 am
Evil - fuck, can't believe I'm still watching this stupid thing ... but it's called Evil, so I guess I am. Pretty much drive by crappy tv, but the bad guy is excellent as I said before. I wasn't going to bother bringing up this show again, but the end of the current episode had me laughing hard and loud - I'm not sure if I'm laughing at it or with it, don't know if it was intentionally supposed to be funny or what. Would like to hear some other's thoughts for anyone else watching. It's possible it's good writing if the dude is hallucinating - I will give the show some props as it kinda leaves the door open just a touch that some of this stuff is true or false, either way. That said, too many episodes were just so badly written - it's like the show is trying to have it both ways, being interestingly mysterious pared with bad stories targeting mass market audiences. Man, this show would've been so much better on cable than prime time - oh, well.

Heh I love this show, minus the Murderous Kid one which just came across as way too forced.

The ridiculousness of it all I think is very deliberate - for example the New Prophet using blowing up a beach ball to better heard the Voice of God, the very generic names for the demons, etc.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 19, 2020, 03:22:52 am
Evil - fuck, can't believe I'm still watching this stupid thing ... but it's called Evil, so I guess I am. Pretty much drive by crappy tv, but the bad guy is excellent as I said before. I wasn't going to bother bringing up this show again, but the end of the current episode had me laughing hard and loud - I'm not sure if I'm laughing at it or with it, don't know if it was intentionally supposed to be funny or what. Would like to hear some other's thoughts for anyone else watching. It's possible it's good writing if the dude is hallucinating - I will give the show some props as it kinda leaves the door open just a touch that some of this stuff is true or false, either way. That said, too many episodes were just so badly written - it's like the show is trying to have it both ways, being interestingly mysterious pared with bad stories targeting mass market audiences. Man, this show would've been so much better on cable than prime time - oh, well.

Heh I love this show, minus the Murderous Kid one which just came across as way too forced.

The ridiculousness of it all I think is very deliberate - for example the New Prophet using blowing up a beach ball to better heard the Voice of God, the very generic names for the demons, etc.

Sci, you're watching it too! Cool, I have someone I can talk with about the show. Are you all caught up? I want to discuss the end of the current episode, the ending was a trip  :)

So you're saying the over-the-top stuff is presented intentionally and the story is not a victim of efficiency? Each of these episodes could be a whole season if told properly, or close to it. And each one is a popular equation: heroes encounter the foe, but either don't know it ( a lot of hits to the back of the head looking the wrong way stuff ) or underestimate the situation -> foe almost kills heroes, looks like there's no escape -> heroes win!

I mean, with them getting screwed over so often, you would think they would approach the situations more carefully by now - having each other's backs, processes to confirm safety, checking in. Also, why did they abandoned the good stuff about faith vs atheism? The show just cruises past this stuff - like the psychologist is not "growing" as she witnesses unexplained phenomena, just off to the next episode.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on January 19, 2020, 04:42:37 am
Evil - fuck, can't believe I'm still watching this stupid thing ... but it's called Evil, so I guess I am. Pretty much drive by crappy tv, but the bad guy is excellent as I said before. I wasn't going to bother bringing up this show again, but the end of the current episode had me laughing hard and loud - I'm not sure if I'm laughing at it or with it, don't know if it was intentionally supposed to be funny or what. Would like to hear some other's thoughts for anyone else watching. It's possible it's good writing if the dude is hallucinating - I will give the show some props as it kinda leaves the door open just a touch that some of this stuff is true or false, either way. That said, too many episodes were just so badly written - it's like the show is trying to have it both ways, being interestingly mysterious pared with bad stories targeting mass market audiences. Man, this show would've been so much better on cable than prime time - oh, well.

Heh I love this show, minus the Murderous Kid one which just came across as way too forced.

The ridiculousness of it all I think is very deliberate - for example the New Prophet using blowing up a beach ball to better heard the Voice of God, the very generic names for the demons, etc.

Sci, you're watching it too! Cool, I have someone I can talk with about the show. Are you all caught up? I want to discuss the end of the current episode, the ending was a trip  :)

So you're saying the over-the-top stuff is presented intentionally and the story is not a victim of efficiency? Each of these episodes could be a whole season if told properly, or close to it. And each one is a popular equation: heroes encounter the foe, but either don't know it ( a lot of hits to the back of the head looking the wrong way stuff ) or underestimate the situation -> foe almost kills heroes, looks like there's no escape -> heroes win!

I mean, with them getting screwed over so often, you would think they would approach the situations more carefully by now - having each other's backs, processes to confirm safety, checking in. Also, why did they abandoned the good stuff about faith vs atheism? The show just cruises past this stuff - like the psychologist is not "growing" as she witnesses unexplained phenomena, just off to the next episode.

Yeah I'm all caught up!

I do think you have a good criticism, I mean why do they rarely seem to reflect on the cases? I mean isn't it all taking a toll on them emotionally?

As to them continually getting blindsided - part of that seem to be David's belief that as "Luke Cage" - a big muscular giant of a man - he can take on most cases by himself. But he is in truth just a random dude that happens to be muscled rather than a genuine warrior and this disconnect seems to make him take on cases alone. OTOH, I think his bizarre life of travel and trials as made him somewhat accepting of potentially being hit by violence.

Admittedly I am trying to remember if the other characters have had to deal with violence to the same extent - I think not, especially since they are skeptic consultants and not "combatants" in the spiritual war David believes himself to be in.

The procedural nature of the show is something I actually like as it keeps things fresh IMO, I think trying to do too many multi-episode stories would also make it harder to toe the line between supernatural and natural without stepping over to one side or the other (which they obviously plan to do at some point...)

I do think think Bouchard is growing, but she is also flawed as much as she is strong - as is David (and arguably Ben). This actually is something I like, as I think even when faced with mundane challenges most people are slow to adapt and stubborn to change their beliefs...but what happens when the challenges ended up threatening the very Ground of your life?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 19, 2020, 01:14:05 pm
I like your observations on the characters - maybe I'm dismissing this too quickly as I've soured on the pacing of popular television and too quick on the draw to write it off. And I like the Q discussion with you and H on Manicheanism and Gnositicism vs Evil as perspective. Not really much of a spoiler, but regarding current episode:

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on January 19, 2020, 09:50:02 pm
I like your observations on the characters - maybe I'm dismissing this too quickly as I've soured on the pacing of popular television and too quick on the draw to write it off. And I like the Q discussion with you and H on Manicheanism and Gnositicism vs Evil as perspective. Not really much of a spoiler, but regarding current episode:

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Yeah I liked it as well, I think it speaks to the banality of even supernatural evil. It's a good balance to present Evil as a Platonic force but also show that it comes from insecurity and pettiness as much as righteous anger (the Tutsi stuff in the ep).

Apparently we still don't know what's going on, as the showrunners said you could accept that the demon is just how Leland sees his therapist. In a secular sense it makes the whole thing a kind of pyramid scheme for terrible people.

One comment I liked was the idea that the cases are a feint by the forces of darkness - the crew largely ends up debunking the mundane cases sent against them but at the same time they in turn have had Evil become a greater and greater part of their lives.

Heh, I'm probably over-praising it - I can see its flaws especially in the Evil Brother episode which was just ridiculously bad - but it is probably the only show I got excited about [in the Fall Prime Time Season]. I have CBS Access but stopped caring about FBI, didn't like Discovery...hoping Pickard is good.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 21, 2020, 07:53:55 pm
I watch so much fucking television, you'all don't need to watch any of it, just wait for my reviews  ;D

I watched The Irishman. Long movie, but very well done. It was a real treat getting to see Pacino, Dinero and Pesci all on the same screen at once, pretty cool. Pacino and Dinero's parts were not new to them, but still excellent per usual. Pesci stole the show, he really strutted his acting chops in this thing. It's worth the investment, I'll put more on kinda spoilery

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I watched The Witcher. I liked it. After a few episodes, it appeared to be just a rehash of the short stories in the first book, which I read and I initially thought that was a mistake as a collection of stories with no epic tale would be boring. But stuck with it and glad I did as as an epic story does emerge. The magic is, well, hmm ... not sure what to make of it, it's very witchy and fairy tale-esc, seems both limited and unlimited and depends on the sorcerer's gifts - I guess we're supposed to learn that on our own, which is good the show doesn't hold your hand on everything - but that said, it's challenging to write overly powerful characters and abilities as you can always think, "why didn't they do that, they did it before ... ". Given the OP nature of the magic, they still did a descent job with it.

Caville did a good Witcher - not too challenging due to the lack of dialogue with the character, just brooding around being a badass, but he did it well. The monsters and lore all fairy tale style, quite a bit of violence, typical fantasy female hotty tropes and nudity ( not tasteful, but also doesn't seem too gratuitous, but that could be me becoming jaded ).

It is very well directed, doesn't hold your hand, we're on our own to piece it all together. There are time jumps with no date/time stamps, but it was fun to keep up and it beautifully weaves together toward the climax. And there are no maps either, so you're having to visualize the continent ( which has no name, it's just The Continent ). This is a strength of the show, it doesn't mire you in a historical introduction and just gets right into it.  I think you cats would dig it, not the greatest thing ever, but it's different enough and good enough to enjoy it.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on February 02, 2020, 04:25:11 am
This probably just for Tao, but contains info on the season finale of Evil on CBS:

ARRR THERE BE SPOILERS BELOW MATEY

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I was looking on Reddit and the reactions were mixed, justifiably so IMO. The one thing that I really liked was the final scene, showing Kristen's corruption, was not what I was anticipating. I was almost convinced that they'd kill one of the daughters. I think this threat dangling over our heads re: the kids is actually done well from the viewer perspective...

OTOH, Kristen seems less concerned about her kids than we the audience. She seems to have no problem continually threatening these people who aren't just assholes & bitches, these people are at the least psychopaths who think they are demonic vessels. OTOH she doesn't live in a gated community or even a nice neighborhood - they live by the tracks in a house that AFAICTell is way too accessible for anyone who comes knocking...so it is no surprise that La Roux the serial killer does come forth.

Kristen's solution is to then no be home because she needs to attend the exorcism...why? She has no cleric/priest class abilities, so to speak, since she doesn't worship a god. That other dude - her old therapist - has the actual medical license...so why does she need to be there when she knows this serial killer is stalking her girls?

Also why is the cop Mira such a bitch? Does she really think this guy who attacked Kristen while in his cell, who seemed to accept his guilt when he was found to have set up his insanity defense via 4chan, is totally innocent? As asked on Reddit, why doesn't Kristen get a restraining order?

Lexis, the girl who was born via Satan's Fertility Clinic...what? And this allows the devil to call her to open the locked door? Also...what? And why did Kristen even have so many kids (two, Lexis & Laura, post miscarriage) when she and her husband clearly aren't that financially stable?

I realize this is a lot of griping, but part of the issue is this idea of the Devil's Plan of slowly corrupting Kristen is actually a good one. It just doesn't fit together that well.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on February 02, 2020, 09:33:48 pm
This is cool, Sci - one of my ( weaknesses? strengths? ) is I form my opinions about stuff before I talk about it with others and I'm disconnected with the tv review world - so I enjoy all of these things that people talk about being so foreign to how I see things, it's a fun mind job on me. Prometheus is case in point, I loved that movie - only to find myself greeted by an online angry mob looking for Ridley Scott's neck for how bad it was.

I was looking on Reddit and the reactions were mixed, justifiably so IMO. The one thing that I really liked was the final scene, showing Kristen's corruption, was not what I was anticipating. I was almost convinced that they'd kill one of the daughters. I think this threat dangling over our heads re: the kids is actually done well from the viewer perspective...
good one. It just doesn't fit together that well.

Agreed - it did do a good job of setting up one of her daughters being killed/kidnapped/mutilated, but flipped the tables on that, so that was good.

Well - you have me re-evaluating my perspective on this whole show as I may have been too harsh because they didn't make the show I wanted ( a serious mystery and exploration of exorcisms with only hints demonic possession could be real ). But it went the way of The X-Files pretty quickly and is one bizarre collection of the absurd+cool+hilarious ( both at and with it ). I think it has it's toe in every genre: comedy, horror, drama, historical, the fantastic ...

OTOH, Kristen seems less concerned about her kids than we the audience. She seems to have no problem continually threatening these people who aren't just assholes & bitches, these people are at the least psychopaths who think they are demonic vessels. OTOH she doesn't live in a gated community or even a nice neighborhood - they live by the tracks in a house that AFAICTell is way too accessible for anyone who comes knocking...so it is no surprise that La Roux the serial killer does come forth.

I actually wasn't put off by this as much - part of her carelessness is her insistence that this stuff isn't real has compromised her danger-sense and even if it wasn't real, these crazies can still hurt ya. She's witnessing and experiencing phenomena that is not easily explained away with science and she's resisting "the truth" and part of her strengthening the frame of that resistance is to casually dismiss the dangers - a mistake ( for her ), but I feel I'm getting what the writers are trying to do here. Also, if I'm right about my assertion this show is an amalgam of styles, underestimating one's threats is a pop horror element.

Kristen's solution is to then no be home because she needs to attend the exorcism...why? She has no cleric/priest class abilities, so to speak, since she doesn't worship a god. That other dude - her old therapist - has the actual medical license...so why does she need to be there when she knows this serial killer is stalking her girls?

True - here is where you're rushed observation comes in, the locks is pat solution and I strike this up to them needing to move the story along. It could've been more drawn out and complex, but they wanted us to get to the daughter was secretly devil incubated part. She goes because she's into it - she's all in and doesn't want to miss any of it. She was asked to join the team by the Priest to provide her scientific ( in her case, psychologist ) perspective as the Priest/church struggles to tell the difference between actual demonic possession, mental illness and fakes. I also think the Priest questions his beliefs in some respects, so if he can convert a true skeptic, it confirms his beliefs.

Also why is the cop Mira such a bitch? Does she really think this guy who attacked Kristen while in his cell, who seemed to accept his guilt when he was found to have set up his insanity defense via 4chan, is totally innocent? As asked on Reddit, why doesn't Kristen get a restraining order?

Could just be bad writing, but it's part of the overall narrative that she's being attacked directly by demonic forces and those forces hold sway over many ( it appears ), so I took the cop being a cog in the devil machinery. I'm hoping the show doesn't cheat us out of this and comes up with a good way to explain how they can move so many, but not her - what makes her different. The priests I can understand being protected.

Lexis, the girl who was born via Satan's Fertility Clinic...what? And this allows the devil to call her to open the locked door? Also...what? And why did Kristen even have so many kids (two, Lexis & Laura, post miscarriage) when she and her husband clearly aren't that financially stable?

Well, not sure where you hail from, but here in the USA having more kids than you can afford is the rule, not the exception. And it could be financially they were in better off in the past, some could've been unplanned, etc.

I realize this is a lot of griping, but part of the issue is this idea of the Devil's Plan of slowly corrupting Kristen is actually a good one. It just doesn't fit together that well.

There's a lot to gripe about this show, so don't beat yourself up  ;)

I'm trying to give it it's due - honestly, I fell backwards when we get to see the head demon/devil, whatever that thing is in that hilarious 50's costume conception of what the devil looks like. I honestly don't know what that angle is - are we supposed to think it's funny? Is it a projection and not real? Is it trying to be scary? Something's amiss with this show, just can't tell if it's intentional or not.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on February 03, 2020, 08:10:07 am
Tao:

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Well - you have me re-evaluating my perspective on this whole show as I may have been too harsh because they didn't make the show I wanted ( a serious mystery and exploration of exorcisms with only hints demonic possession could be real ). But it went the way of The X-Files pretty quickly and is one bizarre collection of the absurd+cool+hilarious ( both at and with it ). I think it has it's toe in every genre: comedy, horror, drama, historical, the fantastic ...

Yeah if I had to give it a genre it would be a mix between urban fantasy and horror. I think they could have gone with a more skeptical-leaning show but that would probably be boring pretty quickly. If you are going to bring in demons you almost have to have them be real. The exception would be something like Sherlock with the Hound of Bakersville but even there you were dealing with only a limited season.

The only way I could see a skeptical leaning show work is if it is heavy in the comedy arena - like an adult's version of Scooby Doo. Though Millennium, for a good bit of the first season did really leave you questioning whether there was gonna be anything supernatural until they went all in. So maybe it could work if done right? I just know I'd get bored if every case was sort-of maybe the Devil, unless they did what Millennium early Season 1 did and focus more on the serial-killer aspect than the possession aspect.

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I actually wasn't put off by this as much - part of her carelessness is her insistence that this stuff isn't real has compromised her danger-sense and even if it wasn't real, these crazies can still hurt ya. She's witnessing and experiencing phenomena that is not easily explained away with science and she's resisting "the truth" and part of her strengthening the frame of that resistance is to casually dismiss the dangers - a mistake ( for her ), but I feel I'm getting what the writers are trying to do here. Also, if I'm right about my assertion this show is an amalgam of styles, underestimating one's threats is a pop horror element.

Interesting take - I can see her arrogance (all the main characters have that fatal flaw) making her rational away the danger she is putting her family in. But I still think she could easily dismiss the supernatural danger while still acknowledging the mundane fact that these people are happy to engage in rape/murder and her daughters are easily vulnerable.

This is where I think they could have put more effort, like maybe her mom has inherited money or whatever and so they can live in a more secure location.

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True - here is where you're rushed observation comes in, the locks is pat solution and I strike this up to them needing to move the story along. It could've been more drawn out and complex, but they wanted us to get to the daughter was secretly devil incubated part. She goes because she's into it - she's all in and doesn't want to miss any of it.

I like your "all-in" observation. She wants the rush, and even all this danger is an addiction of sorts. There's a part of her that cannot help but treat all this like a video game. For her the climbing was a thrill because she was in danger, and she doesn't realize - or doesn't want to realize - that her thrill-seeking behavior is making her come up with half-ass solutions.

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Could just be bad writing, but it's part of the overall narrative that she's being attacked directly by demonic forces and those forces hold sway over many ( it appears ), so I took the cop being a cog in the devil machinery.

But Mira (played by Kristen Connolly) is her friend...If Evil can just enchant people - even temporarily - I think Good should throw in the towel. I think this was just sloppy writing sadly. I mean can I sort of see why a restraining order won't help in the immediate and we can rationalize it but the show could've given us something here.

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Well, not sure where you hail from, but here in the USA having more kids than you can afford is the rule, not the exception.

This explains American politics  ;)

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I honestly don't know what that angle is - are we supposed to think it's funny? Is it a projection and not real? Is it trying to be scary? Something's amiss with this show, just can't tell if it's intentional or not.

I think it's supposed to be a bit of a joke, yet at the same time hitting the uncanny valley. I actually really like the way devils and demons are portrayed on the show. I think trying too hard to make a scary demon would fall flat, this weirdness in the way they look works better.


Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on February 07, 2020, 03:01:14 am
Dublin Murders

Excellent! Don't get the 7.1 IMDB rating, guess I'm watching a different show. The dialogue is worth the watch alone. Gets an A+ from me.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on February 23, 2020, 08:10:41 pm
I've watched both seasons of Manhunt. The first season was on Discovery channel, wasn't renewed and then Spectrum had a second season done.

Both were very good. The first/Manhunt was a bit better then the second/Deadly Games, but still very good. The first was on Ted Kaczynski and depending on how accurate, was a mad hunt for the dude and they almost missed him. The second was on Richard Jewel who was falsely implicated by the FBI and the Media. The real killer was Eric Rudolph. It was painful watching how irresponsible ( criminal? ) the media was in destroying Jewel's life, an innocent man. Interestingly, appears both Ted and Eric are in cells near each other in same super max prison in Colorado. Anyways, if you dig true crime stuff, these dramatizations are pretty good. The rendition of the FBI in both aren't flattering and if they're accurate, time to fix that shit, embarrassing.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on February 24, 2020, 03:21:34 pm

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Well, not sure where you hail from, but here in the USA having more kids than you can afford is the rule, not the exception.

This explains American politics  ;)

Off topic, but I wonder what this explains specifically (or generally)?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on March 02, 2020, 07:21:30 pm
Apologies for being unkind, but His Dark Materials is a weird fucking show.

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on March 02, 2020, 08:19:17 pm
If you've got time, HDM is probably a quick read, though it does have plenty  of pages. I'm not saying you'll enjoy it, but I think it might go a great way in explaining why they are doing what they are doing in the show. Its introduced gradually throughout the story, couched in a Coming of Age tropes as the MCs discover the great world, and the evils within it, s they travel farther and farther from home.
The darkness is actually pretty easy to miss. Well, until the end of the first book at least. IT resets itself several times though so the world doesn't feel dark through the child's eyes - even though as an adult it most certainly is.

Unrelated, Netflix's Ragnarok. Its in Norwegian, dubbed english. Watched 2 episodes, seems worth the watch. Norse mythology obviously, played out in modern days in a beautiful small town somewhere in Norway (I presume). The acting is good, the setup is suitably interesting, and the production value is high. So far everything seems to work well.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on March 09, 2020, 12:27:15 pm
So, HBO's The Outsider just wrapped up.  Show was entertaining for the most part, but kind of ended with a bit of a whimper, to me.  Worth watching, but not "must see" to me.  The show never managed to "reproduce" how good the first few episodes were.

We started watching a new show called Devs, which is on Hulu.  Vaguely "sci-fi" but seems like mostly just a sort of drama.  First episode was entertaining and interesting, vague in places, of course, to draw one in.  We did enjoy Ex Machina, and this has the same director/writer, Alex Garland.  I think it is provisionally worth checking out.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on March 11, 2020, 09:43:21 pm
I finished the 2nd season of Altered Carbon. Well, same as with the first season, about 4 episodes in I lost interest. But I stuck with it and it got a lot better. Overall, not as good as the first season, but was still descent. The AI steals the show, so much so I care more about it then I do the humans. Not a super clever ending, but pretty good all things considered. It could've been richer, like why the Antagonist is the way he is, that would've been a fun character deep dive ( for those who watch this, I'm talking about the military dude, not the governor ). It's best parts are the VR stuff, the just slightly above average parts is the unlocking of the mystery. It failed to go to hell with itself, which is a risk with this level of tech, but I like some of the philosophical aspects like immortality drives callousness to others ( even knowing the causalities will be permanently dead ). In short, knowing you can be spun back up drives depravity. I'm giving it more credit than it deserves, but this is a theme to the story.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on March 17, 2020, 01:09:26 am
I watched The Outsider - pretty good, I liked it.

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on March 17, 2020, 12:51:49 pm
Yeah, The Outside turned out decently.  I think they did, ultimately, fail to capitalize on how good the first couple episodes were, but the show was still entertaining.

Right now HBO has Westworld and The Plot Against America.  Both first episodes were pretty decent to us.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on March 17, 2020, 02:01:15 pm
Yeah, The Outside turned out decently.  I think they did, ultimately, fail to capitalize on how good the first couple episodes were, but the show was still entertaining.

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on March 17, 2020, 02:34:11 pm
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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on March 17, 2020, 03:07:49 pm
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That's a good explanation  :)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on March 18, 2020, 08:33:13 pm
War of the Worlds

On episode 4, and man, this is some evil shit  ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on March 30, 2020, 03:04:53 pm
War of the Worlds

On episode 4, and man, this is some evil shit  ;D ;D ;D
Yeah, we went ahead and just watched the whole thing, all 8 episodes.  Pretty good show, although I don't speak French, so after some dedgy subtitles, I probably missed a bit on few parts, but likely not much.  I hope they do go ahead and make a second season.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on March 30, 2020, 05:36:26 pm
I'm watching Hunters and made me realize a similar themed show I omitted a review here.

The Little Dummer Girl - excellent. I love Michael Shannon and he does not disappoint in this. Very fun/well done spy show, mini-series thing ( too bad, could use more of this stuff ). It's about the hunt for an assassin targeting Israelis. Interesting psychological talk in this one.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: mostly.harmless on April 02, 2020, 12:58:02 pm
War of the Worlds

On episode 4, and man, this is some evil shit  ;D ;D ;D
Yeah, we went ahead and just watched the whole thing, all 8 episodes.  Pretty good show, although I don't speak French, so after some dedgy subtitles, I probably missed a bit on few parts, but likely not much.  I hope they do go ahead and make a second season.
Is that this one? (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200402/33d51acda73b9dd79fc31dbe183b64a2.jpg)

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on April 07, 2020, 12:57:01 pm
War of the Worlds

On episode 4, and man, this is some evil shit  ;D ;D ;D
Yeah, we went ahead and just watched the whole thing, all 8 episodes.  Pretty good show, although I don't speak French, so after some dedgy subtitles, I probably missed a bit on few parts, but likely not much.  I hope they do go ahead and make a second season.
Is that this one? (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200402/33d51acda73b9dd79fc31dbe183b64a2.jpg)

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That doesn't look like it. It's this here, compare the actors to be sure, but I don't think what you listed above here is the show I'm talking about, released just end of 2019/beginning of 2020 doesn't appear to have any characters named George or Amy.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9686194/
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: mostly.harmless on April 07, 2020, 08:26:14 pm
War of the Worlds

On episode 4, and man, this is some evil shit  ;D ;D ;D
Yeah, we went ahead and just watched the whole thing, all 8 episodes.  Pretty good show, although I don't speak French, so after some dedgy subtitles, I probably missed a bit on few parts, but likely not much.  I hope they do go ahead and make a second season.
Is that this one? (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200402/33d51acda73b9dd79fc31dbe183b64a2.jpg)

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk

That doesn't look like it. It's this here, compare the actors to be sure, but I don't think what you listed above here is the show I'm talking about, released just end of 2019/beginning of 2020 doesn't appear to have any characters named George or Amy.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9686194/
Thanks, Ill have a look!

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on April 08, 2020, 01:27:14 pm
War of the Worlds

On episode 4, and man, this is some evil shit  ;D ;D ;D
Yeah, we went ahead and just watched the whole thing, all 8 episodes.  Pretty good show, although I don't speak French, so after some dedgy subtitles, I probably missed a bit on few parts, but likely not much.  I hope they do go ahead and make a second season.

Ok, I finished it. This show has legs, pretty fucking good.

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on April 10, 2020, 12:49:30 pm
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

So, head and shoulders better than that piece of shit The Hateful Eight, but that's a really low bar to clear. I guess I'll put this in Spoiler, but you don't have to waste your time watching this. A mishmash of excellent directing with poor writing. Tarantino's evolution has been bizarre, guess that's fitting given how he comes across in public. His directing skills appears to be as good as they've ever been, but his writing has gone into the toilet. Another alternate history with ( I think ) a beautiful capture of what it was really like in late 60's Hollywood with real and fictional characters mixed in fictional events/endings. So the "history" of this is very good with tiny textures that tickle like seeing people's dirty feet up on theater seats, but that's what it was like back then, there was a lot of bare-footing going on and while now the sight of that is ugly, back then it was normal ( I grew up in the 70's, we weren't so dainty, even many of the rich weren't ). The big problem is the movie is just boring. Too much of it is historical texture, not enough gas. A story/production is as good as it's weakest component, so this was a long slog watching this thing. He weaves the story with apparently unrelated events/unconnected characters, but he simply did so much better with Pulp Fiction than he's doing now.

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on April 26, 2020, 02:35:15 pm
Dispatches From Elsewhere

So, I didn’t want to like this, but I do. Haven’t finished it yet, so there’s still time for it to become a piece of shit - don’t give up hope, right? Man, that was out of character for me to be so skeptical, but here we are. But look, an actor from How I Met Your Mother is bound to be shite ( Harris as exception, that cat is amazing, but alas he is not in this show, it’s someone else ).

Ok – so this dabbles in the waters of ( Philosophy? Psychology? Sociology? Conspiracy? Self-Help? ) and so far it’s descent. They’re doing a pretty good job of weaving interesting humans, psychology, sociology, cult, and corporate invention and convention, but pulling this all off nicely as bullshit, not taking this too seriously and a genuine interesting mystery all at the same time. A light-hearted take on some heavy themes – so far. So where is this all going? Simply a therapeutic exercise? Something fun to jolt people out of their routines? A rich sadist who loves fucking with people? A conspiracy? Or simple nonsense? It can be any/all of these things as it’s going in all of these directions in equal measure. It’s good writing as too convenient clue discovery has been kept to a minimum, but I concede I would likely miss many of what our characters discover, but it’s not of the fantastic, so we can buy into it ( the memory palace exercise not withstanding ). I'll update when I finish it.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on April 27, 2020, 09:38:41 pm
Homeland

Big fan of this show, I was sad a first couple years back when they announced the end of the show, but now seeing the series end, I realize it was time for it to go. Not that it's bad, I like the last season and the ending, but it's gone far enough.

Pretty fucking spoiler here, you've been warned
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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: BeardFisher-King on May 03, 2020, 10:09:45 pm
I heard about a new show, "Devs", streaming on Hulu, or "FX on Hulu", directed by Alex Garland ("Ex Machina", "Annihilation") that revolves around the determinism/free will question. Anyone aware of it?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on May 04, 2020, 12:31:00 pm
I heard about a new show, "Devs", streaming on Hulu, or "FX on Hulu", directed by Alex Garland ("Ex Machina", "Annihilation") that revolves around the determinism/free will question. Anyone aware of it?
Yeah, good show, well worth watching.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on May 05, 2020, 07:17:50 am
Ah I'll have to check it out, even though I am a bit puzzled why - as one of the five people on Earth qualified to talk about free will - I wasn't consulted...
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: Wilshire on May 07, 2020, 01:47:53 pm
Killing eve.

Wow, that was a great show. Jodie Comer does a fantastic job acting. She plays a psychopathic killer and does an amazing job being cold/uncaring psycopath, but she also jumps back and forth between that and and a persona of caring/loving/human emotions. The range it great to watch, she makes the show.

Finished season 2 and thought it was the end (I think that's all that's on hulu). Great ending, though its up to season 4 now... I thought ending at 2 made a lot of sense, so I'm a bit skeptical of the other seasons.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on May 11, 2020, 01:35:39 pm
I heard about a new show, "Devs", streaming on Hulu, or "FX on Hulu", directed by Alex Garland ("Ex Machina", "Annihilation") that revolves around the determinism/free will question. Anyone aware of it?
Yeah, good show, well worth watching.

I've not, I'll check it out, sounds intriguing.

Ah I'll have to check it out, even though I am a bit puzzled why - as one of the five people on Earth qualified to talk about free will - I wasn't consulted...

I assumed they had, will be going into this thing disappointed learning they didn't  ;)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on May 11, 2020, 01:41:18 pm
Killing eve.

Wow, that was a great show. Jodie Comer does a fantastic job acting. She plays a psychopathic killer and does an amazing job being cold/uncaring psycopath, but she also jumps back and forth between that and and a persona of caring/loving/human emotions. The range it great to watch, she makes the show.

Finished season 2 and thought it was the end (I think that's all that's on hulu). Great ending, though its up to season 4 now... I thought ending at 2 made a lot of sense, so I'm a bit skeptical of the other seasons.

This is a fun show - something that purposely does not take itself too seriously, some cool humor to it, but weaves with some nasty callous violence and pulls the campiness off without being too absurd or campy. I'm caught up to current season and it's been fun to watch. Nothing to learn from this thing, just straightforward quality entertainment. Agreed, Comer steals the show and offers us a special blend of a person who enjoys the mundane silliness of life with a ( somewhat fantastic - but fuck it, keep it fun ) highly skilled/effective assassin. Psychopathy is correct as she is not shallow, but eliminate human life without pause if same is "inconvenient".

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on May 11, 2020, 07:45:29 pm
I assumed they had, will be going into this thing disappointed learning they didn't  ;)

Curious as to your thoughts. I just couldn't get into it Devs, prolly stopped a third into the first episode. Admittedly I feel I'm just not in the life-space to think deeply about my TV...
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on May 11, 2020, 09:46:25 pm
I assumed they had, will be going into this thing disappointed learning they didn't  ;)

Curious as to your thoughts. I just couldn't get into it Devs, prolly stopped a third into the first episode. Admittedly I feel I'm just not in the life-space to think deeply about my TV...

I likely can't start it for a while, maybe in June, but you can count on me to post my review :)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on May 12, 2020, 08:31:48 pm
I assumed they had, will be going into this thing disappointed learning they didn't  ;)

Curious as to your thoughts. I just couldn't get into it Devs, prolly stopped a third into the first episode. Admittedly I feel I'm just not in the life-space to think deeply about my TV...

I likely can't start it for a while, maybe in June, but you can count on me to post my review :)

Excellent.

In other news I finished Midnight Gospel...some might find this the kind of "bullshit" people talk when they are high, but personally I loved it. The last episode was just so incredibly emotional...but not sure how much I should say because I think part of the experience is taking these episodes without preconditioning....

Perhaps a spoiler thread is in order, there is so much we could get into. I will say the overlay of animation with a story over the conversations from a podcast was surprisingly effective. I hope there's a second season, but also this strategy gets used more by other podcaster/animator combos...
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: The P on May 19, 2020, 01:50:17 pm
Within the first 10 seconds or so of "Parasyte: The Maxim" on Netflix, there is a nice representation of a skin spy.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on May 29, 2020, 11:03:23 am
We finished watching the show "Run" which was on HBO.  What a waste.  It was only 7 half-hour episodes and still managed to not feel worth the time it took to watch it.  I wasn't expecting much going in and the show delivered a good bit less than that.  It mostly felt like anything actually interesting was glossed over or just not addressed, then the show was done.  Felt like half a real effort, really.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on May 29, 2020, 08:28:51 pm
We finished watching the show "Run" which was on HBO.  What a waste.  It was only 7 half-hour episodes and still managed to not feel worth the time it took to watch it.  I wasn't expecting much going in and the show delivered a good bit less than that.  It mostly felt like anything actually interesting was glossed over or just not addressed, then the show was done.  Felt like half a real effort, really.

The previews had the look and feel of being a piece of shit, so I've held off for now ( thanks for saving me the time :) ). I intended to watch it given how much I like HBO shows, but they were due for a dud. Thanks for the heads up.

I've been watching Briarpatch - eh, it's not that good, but it is entertaining and have stuck with it. It's art crime ( Pulp Fiction, Snatch ). It's fun to watch, but nothing more than that.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on June 02, 2020, 01:38:03 pm
The previews had the look and feel of being a piece of shit, so I've held off for now ( thanks for saving me the time :) ). I intended to watch it given how much I like HBO shows, but they were due for a dud. Thanks for the heads up.

Definitely save your time.  We watched Upload, that was much more worth watching.  Rather entertaining, some "dark humor" and little drama, overall a good show, I'll be very interesting in seeing where they go with it.  I really like the pseudo-dystopian vibe of the show, which it does without overdoing it.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 11, 2020, 11:25:52 pm
Pretty cool - commentary on philosophy and tv.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2doZROwdte4
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on June 16, 2020, 12:17:38 pm
We watched Dark on Netflix.  Went with the original German, rather than the dub, since I usually hate dubbed things.

I don't usually go in for shows like this one, but I have to say it is well done and entertaining.  Season 3 comes out in 11 days or so.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 16, 2020, 06:01:42 pm
We watched Dark on Netflix.  Went with the original German, rather than the dub, since I usually hate dubbed things.

I don't usually go in for shows like this one, but I have to say it is well done and entertaining.  Season 3 comes out in 11 days or so.

VERY FUCKING SPOILERY
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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on June 16, 2020, 06:51:23 pm
We watched Dark on Netflix.  Went with the original German, rather than the dub, since I usually hate dubbed things.

I don't usually go in for shows like this one, but I have to say it is well done and entertaining.  Season 3 comes out in 11 days or so.

VERY FUCKING SPOILERY
(click to show/hide)

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: The P on June 16, 2020, 07:53:52 pm
I love Dark.  Based on the intro, I assumed it would be some kind of creepy horror.  It's turned out to be one of the best Netflix originals.  Excited to see how season 3 turns out.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 17, 2020, 02:20:41 am
So I started watching Avenue 5 and hmm ... strange beast, this thing is. I'll have to finish it to give final thoughts on it. So I'm being kicked around between thinking it sucks and it being brilliant. Some of the bits are very funny and had me laughing, which is hard to do for me with comedies. It's campy ( which I don't like ), but clever as well. Heavy cussing with callous humor which is normally not my thing ( I like to cuss, but find cussing in comedy to frequently be a cheap way to humor ), but some of it is extremely funny I have to admit. I wonder how much of the space stuff is accurate. It appears to mix accurate space physics with comic space physics, so it has me wondering, I'll give it that. Wondering if anyone else has watched it and what you think about it. Some very funny shit here and there. Zach Woods steels the show, not all of his bits are funny, but some of it will floor ya, he's a mad character in a mundane role on the ship.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 25, 2020, 10:52:31 pm
Finished Avenue 5 - it's mixed, some great, much of it not so great. Some very funny shit thrown about.

I watched Prodigal Son. Another weird one, mostly prime-time shit tv, but I love Michael Sheen, great actor, so I stuck with it ( poorly directed into over-acting ). The lead actor sucks, that's a big problem. Some of the other actors aren't bad, but mired in boring formulaic prime-time story crap. Too bad, it could have been a nice take on the Starling/Lector dynamic in Silence of the Lambs ( obvious inspiration for the idea of the show ). I would've figured prime-time would've finally evolved to up it's game to match all of the original cable content that's come out over 2 decades now. I don't know, seems like the problem is the major studios refuses to pay for the writing and think they can come up with good stories on their own. Mostly stupid, all of the mystery and "surprise" falls flat given how poor the show is.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on June 28, 2020, 10:14:07 pm
I've been meaning to look again at Avenue 5...your review seems mixed...would it make sense to start in the middle of it?

I blew through the John Wick movies and have come away convinced they are a prequel or sequel to the Matrix. They seem to purposely go out of their way to suggest video games, some of which I admit can be accidental or just thematic but other things - like passerbys being so NPC-ish they don't care about the bodies - seem deliberate....
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on August 04, 2020, 03:25:15 pm
I've been meaning to look again at Avenue 5...your review seems mixed...would it make sense to start in the middle of it?

I blew through the John Wick movies and have come away convinced they are a prequel or sequel to the Matrix. They seem to purposely go out of their way to suggest video games, some of which I admit can be accidental or just thematic but other things - like passerbys being so NPC-ish they don't care about the bodies - seem deliberate....

Sorry I missed your post, Sci. I would recommend seeing all of Avenue 5 if you can. Not that you wouldn't catch on quick, it's a simple plot - but it's a vehicle for jokes and bits and some of it is really fricken funny ( so you would be missing some of the funny stuff if you started in the middle ).

Interesting take on John Wick - hmmm
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on August 04, 2020, 03:50:24 pm
True Crime

So, while not "into" true crime, I have dabbled and it's been descent. I've seen Forensic Files and the like when I was out of town in a hotel - while not great, I've enjoyed much of it. I've seen 2 True Crime "documentaries" lately and will give my thoughts. Guess I'll put in Spoiler, but not really needed since this is "factual".

I'll Be Gone In The Dark

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Don't Fuck With Cats

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on September 02, 2020, 12:40:28 pm
Blade Runner 2049

Taking Q to a thread. The Q scrolled past some of your stuff, SmilerLoki - would enjoy you rehashing here if you want. In response to your point that they should've dropped the Harrison Ford character ( Deckard ). I didn't think of that, what it would be like without him - didn't come across as forced to me, seemed pretty good. His name helps the movie, ofc. But was he necessary - maybe not, but I found his performance entertaining, though it was overly done.

Movie and cinematography was very very cool - but it could've been more exciting. The ending kinda thumped and wasn't the beautiful Roy Batty monologue the first one had.



Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on September 08, 2020, 01:57:33 pm
Raised By Wolves and Lovecraft Country.  Neither is perfect, but entertaining enough to watch.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on September 08, 2020, 07:57:44 pm
Raised By Wolves and Lovecraft Country.  Neither is perfect, but entertaining enough to watch.

Was wondering about Lovecraft Country - couldn't figure out if it was good or just a cheap horror flick. Good enough, you say?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: themerchant on September 09, 2020, 07:54:15 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9xhJrPXop4&feature=emb_logo

Dune trailer
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on September 09, 2020, 08:57:45 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9xhJrPXop4&feature=emb_logo

Dune trailer

Dat is pretty damn cool!
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on September 10, 2020, 12:11:47 pm
Was wondering about Lovecraft Country - couldn't figure out if it was good or just a cheap horror flick. Good enough, you say?

Definitely depends on what you want out of it.  It isn't cheap horror but also isn't high drama.  Sort of a mix, which might be off-putting to some.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on September 10, 2020, 12:13:27 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9xhJrPXop4&feature=emb_logo

Dune trailer

I heard a rumor they might not put the movie out until next year though, because people just aren't going to theaters enough for it to likely recoup what was spent on it.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on September 10, 2020, 04:31:43 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9xhJrPXop4&feature=emb_logo

Dune trailer

I heard a rumor they might not put the movie out until next year though, because people just aren't going to theaters enough for it to likely recoup what was spent on it.

I was hoping the same day movie on demand thing would catch on ( you pay something like $30 if you want to see movies out now ), but I guess it didn't. I would pay that for this thing.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 21, 2020, 10:47:40 pm
Dogs of Berlin

Mad stuff, I ain't moving to fucking Germany. I enjoyed it - strange mix of mediocre directing/dialogue with excellent writing in many parts. Good actors and over all fun to watch, I recommend it and looking forward to 2nd season if they have one. So, not a classic, but good.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on October 22, 2020, 01:54:35 pm
We just finished up The Third Day and Lovecraft Country.

Lovecraft Country was pretty good, but rather uneven.  Third Day was interesting, but if you don't watch the 12 hour livestream in the middle, you kind of miss part of the point.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 23, 2020, 12:57:21 pm
Mr. Frost

Can something be shit and awesome? Yes! Mr. Frost is cheap, zero production with silly directing and music score. That said, I love this movie. Hard to find any more, but found it on Youtube. The resolution is terrible, significantly less than SD, so for those of you who enjoy watching movies on your gadgets, you'll enjoy a much better picture viewing on a small screen. The theme is rich, though shallowly treated, and Goldblum is in top form. Few bits of stupidity ( the liquifying the ring act, made no sense, would've been a better movie if it kept his character's authenticity in question for a while ), but in the end fun to watch ( mostly ) and an interesting discussion on religion vs scientific atheism ( most likely think I'm being a bit generous here given some of the amateurish aspects, but essentially this is what the movie is about ).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on October 27, 2020, 04:16:58 pm
The Undoing looked fairly generic, possibly interesting, but on the basis of just being an HBO (proper) show, we checked it out.  First episode was fairly well done, so we'll be watching the rest.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: mrganondorf on October 29, 2020, 04:23:48 pm
Rewatched this Nick Cage triple that feels like a trilogy: Face/Off, The Rock, Con Air.

Holding off on The Good Place season 4 till my kiddo has a chance to catch up.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 29, 2020, 07:27:22 pm
The Undoing looked fairly generic, possibly interesting, but on the basis of just being an HBO (proper) show, we checked it out.  First episode was fairly well done, so we'll be watching the rest.

I was wondering about this one, bit dicey with the marketing so haven't committed yet. Thanks for letting us know.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on October 30, 2020, 11:36:55 am
I was wondering about this one, bit dicey with the marketing so haven't committed yet. Thanks for letting us know.

Yeah, the marketing was a little weird, but I actually think it "worked" pretty well.  Because we spent the whole episode in suspense about what was actually going to go down and who was actually implicated in it.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on October 30, 2020, 11:18:47 pm
I was wondering about this one, bit dicey with the marketing so haven't committed yet. Thanks for letting us know.

Yeah, the marketing was a little weird, but I actually think it "worked" pretty well.  Because we spent the whole episode in suspense about what was actually going to go down and who was actually implicated in it.

Sounds good :)
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on November 03, 2020, 08:38:09 pm
Cop Shows

Unforgotten - pretty good, if you like Euro-cop shows, you'll like it. I like how they introduce the story, you see different people in the first episode who appear to have nothing to do with each other and by the end, you see the beginning of the weave, it's pretty cool. About cold cases.

The Valhalla Murders - Islandic, I watched it dubbed. I enjoyed it, some weak after acting here and there, but fun to watch.

Dogs of Berlin - I may have mentioned this one already, pretty good, German show, watched it dubbed and was descent. Some good writing with this one, I liked it.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 04, 2020, 05:44:58 pm
The Undoing looked fairly generic, possibly interesting, but on the basis of just being an HBO (proper) show, we checked it out.  First episode was fairly well done, so we'll be watching the rest.

I was wondering about this one, bit dicey with the marketing so haven't committed yet. Thanks for letting us know.

I'm having deja vu about writing this, but I don't see the post, so apologies if I went over this already ( somewhere ). Anyways, I finished The Undoing. I liked it, most of it was excellent, fun and some humor. Nice work on showing plausible freakshow Manhatanite life. It ended weak imho, but that's ok, it did a good job of jerking me around about whodunit. Good stuff overall.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on December 04, 2020, 07:13:52 pm
Shield Hero - To get right to it, one of the Four Saviors of the Realm hires a slave warrior because after a false rape accusation no one will help him fight the Apocalypse and he can only use his shield while in the "Matrix" of the "game" world. This slave, a cute racoon/mouse girl, grows up as she levels and becomes hot and not only forgives him for buying her but falls in love with him...and even angrily defends her initial purchase and forced conscription.

It's hard to say what to think of this. While the initial plot is like writing out some incel's wet dream, the good-aligned characters are genuinely likable and you do feel like the author was trying to talk about morally grey areas ->

Should the Shield Hero just let himself die rather than get a slave? Is initially forcing her to fight bad if they'll all get wiped out in the Apocalypse? Would it be better if there was no romantic/sexual aspect, and does that mean I am saying it is somehow more okay to inflict pain on a boy in order to make him a soldier?

I'd suggest watching the first four episodes just to gauge one's own moral reactions.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 07, 2020, 04:05:54 pm
Shield Hero - ... I'd suggest watching the first four episodes just to gauge one's own moral reactions.

Sounds interesting, is this an anime? What streaming is it on?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on December 07, 2020, 04:06:39 pm
Departure on Peacock ( NBC ) - it was alright, not bad. Well executed for a samo story.

The Trial - Italian crime show on Netflix. Good writing, I liked it. Much of the human dialogue is goofy, but that may be a dubbing issue and may work well in the original Italian. Some of the headier stuff is pretty good. Good amount of fucking going on, so you might like it for that.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on December 08, 2020, 12:33:38 am
Shield Hero - ... I'd suggest watching the first four episodes just to gauge one's own moral reactions.

Sounds interesting, is this an anime? What streaming is it on?

Anime, I think Crunchyroll but I have VRV since you get a lot more (IMO) for a slightly higher cost.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on January 12, 2021, 03:59:06 pm
Well, surprisingly Mr. Mayor isn't terrible.  Honestly, I like Tina Fey but often I find shows she's written to not really be funny to me (yeah, I am one of those 20 Rock isn't funny to me people).  But I have to admit that this one is actually pretty decent.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on January 14, 2021, 01:47:41 am
Its been awhile and I'm not reading the thread atm. But, have any of you watched Dark on Netflix?
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Its probably...no, definitely top 3 all-time TV series I've watched. Its finished and if you haven't watched, GO WATCH IT!!!
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 14, 2021, 01:30:19 pm
Its been awhile and I'm not reading the thread atm. But, have any of you watched Dark on Netflix? The time-traveling one, there a couple different "Dark's" on Netflix....

Its probably...no, definitely top 3 all-time TV series I've watched. Its finished and if you haven't watched, GO WATCH IT!!!

xxx removed my spoiler response xxx

Yes, we've discussed Dark, but it's so good, it's worth talking more about it.

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on January 14, 2021, 02:20:54 pm
Yeah, Dark is really good.  I think the only criticism is that it probably could have been a bit better in the end, but certainly well worth watching and it was certainly interesting/entertaining.

I think the same writers have another show in the works, but I can't recall what it is at the moment.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 14, 2021, 02:31:41 pm
Yeah, Dark is really good.  I think the only criticism is that it probably could have been a bit better in the end, but certainly well worth watching and it was certainly interesting/entertaining.

ENDING SPOILER
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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: MSJ on January 14, 2021, 07:06:17 pm
TH, fixed that..

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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 15, 2021, 04:11:49 pm
TH, fixed that..

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Right - has it happened to us? We wouldn't know it.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on January 17, 2021, 08:17:19 pm
Signs

A Polish television show. Some hard scenes in this thing, especially end of the 2nd season. Music is suspect, at times good, other times overly dramatic/bad. Interesting story, I like it. The 2nd season goes into a whole different direction, kinda funny it does that and some twisty story line going on which clears up some, so that was good.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on February 27, 2021, 09:52:38 pm
Tenet

Well done for what it is, but not at a speed I enjoy. Done in an Eastern speed of movie, just drops you right into the action without knowing anything about the characters and you only end up learning some of a few and not the main character at that. Anyways, some cool effects and it gets interesting in the end. All in all, not one of Nolan's best pictures. Same thing with Dunkirk, you don't get to know anyone, guess that's Nolan's thing these days, dropping the viewer in the middle of things, light on character development, everything on action and the idea.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on March 15, 2021, 11:49:30 pm

Quote
Well, not sure where you hail from, but here in the USA having more kids than you can afford is the rule, not the exception.

This explains American politics  ;)

Off topic, but I wonder what this explains specifically (or generally)?

Ah I never answered this AFAICTell - but it was just a random joke, it wasn't a real observation.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on March 18, 2021, 12:23:22 am
Been doing a binging of the Blacklist, which I leave in the background.

Frustrating in that there's a good show in the morass of seasons, a questionable lead actress, and other factors.

I can't recommend actually watching it with deep focus, but if you leave it in the background your mind might be able, as mine sort of has, utilize it for an excellent show vaguely in memory. It doesn't work perfectly because of some plot points are just too big and stupid but if you are just bored and want something playing while you work it might suffice...
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on April 05, 2021, 02:15:14 pm
Possibly interesting in a Bakker-Crash-Space related way (probably in the same sort of way that Upload was) Made for Love debuted 3 episodes and was pretty good.  I'd recommend it (if it matters though, it's not particularly appropriate for kids, language/sexual content).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on April 12, 2021, 07:56:55 pm
Your Honor

Very good, well done.

Not much of a spoiler, but kinda
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Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on April 15, 2021, 12:03:32 pm
Starz are mother-fuckers, I tell ya. First they cancel Boss ( incomplete ) and then Counterpart ( quazi complete, but had more gas in the story to tell ) and now American Gods ( serious cliffhanger ). Really? I'm guessing because it wasn't watched by enough people, but plenty of people waited for the entire thing to be released to binge watch it, like myself. Anyways, I loved the show, some killer gay/trans sex going on near the end of season 3 ( an extraordinary scene, amazing render of unrepressed human love ).

I guess I'll have to finish the book to learn the end ( found the book boring - but I guess I suffer a lack of imagination given how beautiful the show is ). Still worth watching even though the story "ends" on a cliffhanger.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on April 15, 2021, 04:41:25 pm
Starz are mother-fuckers, I tell ya. First they cancel Boss ( incomplete ) and then Counterpart ( quazi complete, but had more gas in the story to tell ) and now American Gods ( serious cliffhanger ). Really? I'm guessing because it wasn't watched by enough people, but plenty of people waited for the entire thing to be released to binge watch it, like myself. Anyways, I loved the show, some killer gay/trans sex going on near the end of season 3 ( an extraordinary scene, amazing render of unrepressed human love ).

I guess I'll have to finish the book to learn the end ( found the book boring - but I guess I suffer a lack of imagination given how beautiful the show is ). Still worth watching even though the story "ends" on a cliffhanger.

Gaiman's book, while the inspiration, does feel less exciting than the show...but then I read the book years ago. I do recall enjoying it, so it's probably worth a library rental at the least?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on April 15, 2021, 04:57:45 pm
Starz are mother-fuckers, I tell ya. First they cancel Boss ( incomplete ) and then Counterpart ( quazi complete, but had more gas in the story to tell ) and now American Gods ( serious cliffhanger ). Really? I'm guessing because it wasn't watched by enough people, but plenty of people waited for the entire thing to be released to binge watch it, like myself. Anyways, I loved the show, some killer gay/trans sex going on near the end of season 3 ( an extraordinary scene, amazing render of unrepressed human love ).

I guess I'll have to finish the book to learn the end ( found the book boring - but I guess I suffer a lack of imagination given how beautiful the show is ). Still worth watching even though the story "ends" on a cliffhanger.

Gaiman's book, while the inspiration, does feel less exciting than the show...but then I read the book years ago. I do recall enjoying it, so it's probably worth a library rental at the least?

Yeah, it's a weakness of mine, I get lost with too much description in books. I make the mistake thinking I have to visualize it accurately in order to understand it. I think I would've understood the TSA books better if I didn't let myself get bogged down in the environment details. I think that's why I gave up on American Gods, I didn't appreciate the scenery of it enough. Watching the tv show was a trip as I'm recollecting the parts of the book and I'm like, I no way visualized it that cool.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: sciborg2 on May 06, 2021, 04:08:47 pm
Starz are mother-fuckers, I tell ya. First they cancel Boss ( incomplete ) and then Counterpart ( quazi complete, but had more gas in the story to tell ) and now American Gods ( serious cliffhanger ). Really? I'm guessing because it wasn't watched by enough people, but plenty of people waited for the entire thing to be released to binge watch it, like myself. Anyways, I loved the show, some killer gay/trans sex going on near the end of season 3 ( an extraordinary scene, amazing render of unrepressed human love ).

I guess I'll have to finish the book to learn the end ( found the book boring - but I guess I suffer a lack of imagination given how beautiful the show is ). Still worth watching even though the story "ends" on a cliffhanger.

Gaiman's book, while the inspiration, does feel less exciting than the show...but then I read the book years ago. I do recall enjoying it, so it's probably worth a library rental at the least?

Yeah, it's a weakness of mine, I get lost with too much description in books. I make the mistake thinking I have to visualize it accurately in order to understand it. I think I would've understood the TSA books better if I didn't let myself get bogged down in the environment details. I think that's why I gave up on American Gods, I didn't appreciate the scenery of it enough. Watching the tv show was a trip as I'm recollecting the parts of the book and I'm like, I no way visualized it that cool.

I do think the show took things to another level, just as Rats of Nimh the movie exceeds its bookish origins. :-)

Rewatching The Wire...it's actually better than I remember....
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on May 31, 2021, 11:07:35 pm
Bloodlands

I had to write about this one right away. Just watched it, new release on AcornTV ( Amazon's Britt channel, add-on to Prime service ). Great story - the story is better than the execution, but still well done, strong acting. Won't say any more, hee hee! If you dig True Detective and Dublin Murders, you'll like this. The Irish, besting the Britts with their cop shows, impressive! Not really, Luthor is on par with this stuff as well, but the first 2 Irish crime shows I see out of the gate and they're winners. These are the kinds of stories I've been missing from cool tv. The Irish are some dark mother fuckers, I tell ya - my kind of people!
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on June 01, 2021, 01:26:16 pm
Bloodlands

Huh, might have to check this out.

If you weren't watching Mare of Easttown though, I think it is another good option.  Nothing revolutionary, but the show (to me) is very well written and well acted, even if it is a bit formulaic.  But it doesn't pull any punches really.  The show is complete as on Sunday, 7 episodes.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 03, 2021, 05:36:23 pm
Bloodlands

Huh, might have to check this out.

If you weren't watching Mare of Easttown though, I think it is another good option.  Nothing revolutionary, but the show (to me) is very well written and well acted, even if it is a bit formulaic.  But it doesn't pull any punches really.  The show is complete as on Sunday, 7 episodes.

The kids depart to their mother's tomorrow, so I'll start this show this weekend. It looks like my kinda thing.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 12, 2021, 01:09:11 pm
Bloodlands

Huh, might have to check this out.

If you weren't watching Mare of Easttown though, I think it is another good option.  Nothing revolutionary, but the show (to me) is very well written and well acted, even if it is a bit formulaic.  But it doesn't pull any punches really.  The show is complete as on Sunday, 7 episodes.

The kids depart to their mother's tomorrow, so I'll start this show this weekend. It looks like my kinda thing.

I started this, H - I dig it, I like it a lot so far, some nice humor strewed about.

I watched City on a Hill ( 2 seasons out so far ). Bit over done in parts, if you can forgive it for that, there is some great dark comedy. Pay attention to episode 5 in season 1 - don't consider this a spoiler really since it's an ancillary part of the story, so I'll spill it: the (sorta) corrupt Boston FBI agent ( Jackie Rohr - Kevin Bacon ) and this NYC cop hate each other and the cop is dying in an ambulance from gun fire and the agent torments him while he's dying, LOL! Some funny stuff. Anyways, not the greatest thing you'll ever watch, but it's pretty good.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on June 21, 2021, 01:37:14 pm
Snuck up on me, but War of the Worlds (from Fox/Epix/Canal+) is back on.  If you can understand French, all the season 2 episodes have aired, but Epix is over halfway though the show now too (I guess with an English dub?).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on June 21, 2021, 04:33:06 pm
Snuck up on me, but War of the Worlds (from Fox/Epix/Canal+) is back on.  If you can understand French, all the season 2 episodes have aired, but Epix is over halfway though the show now too (I guess with an English dub?).

Sheeeeeeeit - I was watching for when season 2 would hit, but missed it, sigh. Maybe I can stream them off the app. Season 1 was about half English, is season 2 all French?
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: H on June 21, 2021, 04:48:08 pm
Sheeeeeeeit - I was watching for when season 2 would hit, but missed it, sigh. Maybe I can stream them off the app. Season 1 was about half English, is season 2 all French?

Not sure how they are doing it on the US airing by Epix.  But the "original" French airing is partly in French, mostly in English.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on July 02, 2021, 12:21:24 am
The Nevers

I like it so far, 6 episodes and the next 6 episodes next year. At first it seemed like women-can-be-tough-too bullshit, but no, it's much more than that. An uninteresting premise got interesting and some peculiar shit going on makes it entertaining. It plays a trick on the viewer, setting your expectation of fanciful crazy shit, but there's design behind it all. Episode 6 sheds light on stuff, so don't get frustrated at so much unexplained for a while in the story. The dialogue is excellent and so far superior to the plot - the dialogue alone makes this show a winner. I'll stick with it to see if it gets legs, but so far pretty good. Hoping the potential complexity doesn't disappoint. I like it's following the grim-dark frame where no one is purely good or evil. I like the (potential) bad guy, they did a good job with him.
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on July 05, 2021, 04:41:02 pm
No Sudden Move

On HBO, movie, art crime film. Good in that it has a lot of cool actors and the period looks good, cool cars, etc. Descent, you'll like it if you like art crime movies ( e.g. Pulp Fiction, Snatch ).
Title: Re: What are you watching?
Post by: TaoHorror on July 18, 2021, 07:38:02 pm
Start Trek: Picard and Discovery

I'm not much of a Trekkie - I liked the original show ok growing up, I liked some of the movies, but not enough to care of it's recent resurrection. Long story short, a friend of mine convinced me to watch Picard and Discovery. If you can forgive the inane sci-fi tech, they've done well with the latest installments of the franchise. Picard was excellent, imo - very good writing, nice directing jerking the viewer back and forth, good stuff. Discovery makes me giggle, it's like Tarantino was consulted, LOL! It's a bloody mess, so I like it :). But again, you have to forgive the stupid tech and overacting, but I guess I give it props for not deviating from it's persistent theme of morality to the point of absurdity ( sometimes blowing some fucker out the airlock is the best/obvious decision - in this case, they beam you out into space, LOL! ). Anyways, Discovery has a touch of horror-show, high body count, so that brings the franchise into modern sensibilities somewhat at least. It's almost comical to see the show ride between gritty-dark and over-acted moral decisiveness. Between the 2, Picard does a better job of managing the two, but Discovery has more surprise to it, which is cool.

Anyways, I like it, I'm up to Discovery Season 1, Episode 14 and yes, too saturated with ridiculous made-up tech, but that's a consistent feature of Star Trek, so I guess I can't beat up on the show too much for that. It's certainly better written than it's predecessors. Those who've criticized Picard for not having enough action can get fucked, it's the fact that it was grounded that makes it so much better - there are movies for those who want action with stupid writing, they're called Star Wars episodes 1 - 3. But, I'm not a true Trekkie, so I guess the producers should take the feedback from those who care about it more.