So I'm back to working for a living. Which is simultaneously great and a drag. Not surprisingly, my kitten is having some issues with this (Cosmo is used to my comings and goings but in Finn's short life he's had me around for a significant chunk). Adorable: in the middle of the night he carries his toys onto my bed so we can play. Not adorable: a couple nights ago I found a poop in the doorway to my bedroom. I think he was trying to trap me in.
My three months off were fantastic (duh). Weirdly, each month ended up having a bit of a theme. October was all about deep-dive cleaning/organizing. November was consumed by travel. December devolved into one big, long television binge-fest. Honestly I couldn't have been happier with how my December turned out. I barely saw any humans with the exception of the folks at my local grocery store (they probably know me pretty well, actually) and the woman who taught the Pilates Circuit class I attended all month. This class was interesting, actually. It's at a ridiculous time for anyone who works a normal job and it started the first week of December (oddly, I had been thinking "oh, in December I want to get back to taking Pilates" and then I got an email around Thanksgiving that this class was starting a block from my house. The gym offered a 10 class discounted pass for the holidays and I had exactly 10 classes I could take before I started work. Serendipity, baby.). For the first several classes I was literally the only person in the class - I was getting private lessons from the teacher at an insanely discounted price. She was a trooper about it (I would have been bitter) and by the end of my stay there were at least 2 or 3 students per class.
I guarded my December time jealously, knowing that in only a few short weeks I'd need to be social and "on". Here's the thing about me. I think I totally read as an extrovert because I can talk to anyone but I can go days without making actual contact with any humans and feel good about it (social media and email help, but still). I think that makes me an ambivert. Or maybe I'm an extrovert with my moon in introvert. I don't know.
So similar to my Shit I Watch on the Plane posts, here is my offering of what I binge-watched while I was home in December.
Department Q films -
The Keeper of Lost Causes - released in 2013
The Absent One - released in 2014
Conspiracy of Faith - released in 2016
This was a really random Netflix find. I love a gritty mystery movie. I don't always love subtitles (these films are Danish - they call them the Nordic noir series) but I had some time on my hands so I was willing to suffer through them. I'm really glad I did.
Basically these films follow Detective Carl Mork who is a great cop with a bad attitude. He really is crusty as fuck. He gets shuffled into a cold case department because of said attitude, Department Q, with a Muslim partner, Assad. There is some tension around their differing religious outlooks early on, but Mork realizes that Assad is also a great cop, just with a better attitude and a prayer rug.
They solve some truly bizarre cases and always just in the nick of time. I love that kind of film. I'm not sure if there are plans in the works to make more films, but I hope so and I highly recommend these.
Thumbs up!
(I should be suggesting glögg as the drink pairing here, since I watched these in December. But it's January now, so enjoy a nice refreshing Carlsberg or Tuborg! Skål!)
Paranoid - released in 2016
This is a British/German TV series (funded by ITV and Netflix), again a crime drama (you will notice a bit of a trend here) that is touted as a conspiracy thriller. I read one article that says it's how NOT to do a conspiracy thriller, which I have to agree with. Honestly, until I looked again at this article I had kind of forgotten what happened in this series. It jogged my memory that they did such uninspired things as having anonymous notes sent to the police with messages like "Look into Angela's past".
While I was watching it I quite enjoyed it...because of the performances, maybe? Or I was a bit bored and had all the time in the world to watch TV? It stars Indira Varma (Ellaria in GoT) who I always enjoy and the rest of the cast was good as well. But it can't be a good sign that less than a month after I watched all 8 episodes I couldn't even give you a general synopsis without looking it up. Sigh.
Thumbs middle, leaning a bit downward.
(My drink pairing for this series is a Guinness and a slice of German Chocolate cake. Let's combine cultures and carb load.)
Travelers - released in 2016
This is a Netflix (partnered with Canadian TV) original series that is about time travel. I think you all know how much I love the time travel trope (I write about it all the time!), so this series was right up my alley. The conceit of this show is that folks from the future can inhabit bodies in the past at the moment of their deaths. This creates some interesting issues if the intel on the bodies is a bit faulty (drug addicts, mentally challenged folks, etc) so the storylines become a bit more nuanced and meaty.
The travelers come to "now" to fix things for their future world. Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) is the main time traveler. I really want him to succeed because I feel like the last series he starred in (Perception) should have done better but didn't achieve the notoriety of W&G. Maybe he needs to play a gay guy again?
This series KILLED me because there was a huge cliffhanger at the end of the last episode and as of now I can't find any confirmation that they may make another season. Gah.
Thumbs up!
(I'm gonna stick with beer for my drink pairing since I love a good theme. I'm giving you #3 on the Top Rated Beers in Canada list because I like the name: La Fin du Monde. A bit alarmist, perhaps, but it rolls off the tongue.)
Law & Order - 1990 - present day
Original
Criminal Intent
SVU
Between the three versions of this highly successful, long running franchise I had the option to be in the world of the NYPD pretty much all day, every day. And some days I was. I spent many, many hours with Briscoe, Green, Gorem, Eames, Benson and Stabler - not to mention the constant parade of ADAs (predominantly husky voiced women).
It's incredible to me that I could watch these shows for hours on end and rarely see a repeat. What kind of magic IS this??
I'm pretty sure I have enough hours logged to be a full fledged detective. Now I just need to decide if I want to specialize in deep psychological stuff or special victims. It's a tough decision to be sure. I'd go for ADA but I'm pretty sure my voice is too high.
Thumbs up!
(Let's stick with the beer theme and make the drink pairing a Boilermaker. Shot of whisky in a beer. Quick and easy, just like investigating and trying a case in an hour episode.)
My takeaways:
#1 - I watched a couple of other series, but not in their entirety. I watched season 10 of Supernatural (they are now on 12, so I'm still way behind) and season 2 of iZombie. Love them both.
#2 - Upcoming series to watch: Luke Cage, OA (maybe), A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Magicians. Any other suggestions?
#3 - I'm not really a beer fan, so I apologize in advance if my choices are shitty.
xoxo....hashtagSueslife
No comments:
Post a Comment