I don’t think of John Amos as the father from Good Times or Kunta Kinte from Roots, but as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from The West Wing. RIP.

I’ve decided to combine more of my streaming services into bundles to save a little money. So I had to cancel Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Now HBO Max Max. Only Max was subscribed via Apple’s services and cancelling was, as promised, a simple two-click operation. The other services? I swear it was 5 clicks each along with pleas to stay and small buttons to click.

Of course, I have to wait for the billing cycles to complete in order to really set this all up properly, but here’s hoping!

Supreme Court essentially killing regulation is bad, NY Times saying Biden should resign because of one bad debate while saying nothing about Trump and his convictions is insane, and Martin Mull was great on VEEP.

Not sure how this particular video popped up in front of me of, but holy hell do I love Peep Show. I think it’s time for a re-watch.

“This is some bullshit!,” Merrick Garland, presumably.

So, I was reading this article about curvy walls and it, of course,* made me remember a scene from Veep (best. show. ever).

*At least how my brain works.

It’s like the show Extrapolations outside my window here in NYC.

Someone needs to make an app that makes it easy to subscribe and unsubscribe to streaming services. I think I could save a lot of money it was easier to turn these services on and off.

You know, kind of like how you can toggle off a subscription on an iPhone.

Reading
I am currently reading The Angel on the Roof by Russell Banks. This American Life recently included an old segment featuring Banks. I got the book from the library and they had to dig it out of the archives. That made me a bit sad. It’s slow reading for me, but I am enjoying the stories.

I somehow had missed the book Revolution in the Valley by Andy Hertfeld. Many of the stories, if not all, are available on his site, Folklore, but I am glad to have the stories in one collection to hold. And the pictures are bigger and that’s fun for me.

Watching
We’ve been watching Bad Sisters and that’s been a blast. How I can really, really like this family is something else. But I really do.

And because I am weak, and will watch anything sci-fi, I started watching The Ark. It’s buttocks. I watched the three available episodes (I know, I know, I can’t help myself).

Finally, raise a glass to Leiji Matsumoto who helped create Space Battleship Yamato, known in the U.S. as Star Blazers.

My son and I watched The Last of Us and, as expected, it was excellent. I wish my son and I had more comedies to watch together, but I’ll take any good TV that helps us spend more time together.

Everyone has good and bad day. I’m trying to remember the good ones and, if nothing else, learn from the bad ones.

Yesterday was a good day. My son and I went to see Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. I didn’t tell him what we were seeing and by sheer luck the Nitehawk’s marquee didn’t have it listed, so he didn’t know what we were seeing until the movie’s title came up on the screen. The movie was a lot of fun. There is nearly nothing better than hearing your child laugh from joy.

Then I had some time to rebuilt a keyboard. Boy do I love me some clicky keyboards. Here’s the Class65 with Tattoine keycaps.

Then my son and I had supper together (all leftovers, which gives us both a great deal of satisfaction of not having wasted anything at all).

Finally, we finished The West Wing series.

That was a good day and I won’t forget it. I also won’t forget it because I wrote it down on my blog.

As a fan of science fiction, I am in a TV wonderland right now. The Star Wars series have been great (The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan) and now with Andor. Andor is just excellent. Dammit, it’s soooo good.

I’ve also been enjoying Star Trek: Lower Decks. Lower Decks is pure fun and I really like the main characters. I would try to be a fifth wheel in that friend group if I was aboard the Cerritos.

My son and I just finished Season 1 of Strange New Worlds and I think it’s my favorite Star Trek series. Anson Mount is excellent as Captain Pike, Ethan Peck is perfect as Spock, and I definitely swooned over Jess Bush as Nurse Chapel. Nurse Chapel is already a much better character than in TOS and Bush’s acting is great.

I can’t wait for the next seasons. 🖖

The Mandalorian is such a good TV show that 1) I can’t believe it’s a TV show and 2) If it was a person, I’d hug them. It really puts the prequels and sequels to shame. We really need a lightsaber emoji. And Mandalorian helmet.

New rule: Ted Lasso needs to be on 52 weeks a year. We’re in a pandemic and it’s incredibly important to see some optimism on a weekly basis.

🍎📺➕ I suppose even if folks are complaining about Apple’s TV shows, it’s a win for Apple because people are talking about them.

📺👱🏼‍♂️🏛 It’s been years since I watched The West Wing. Has it been 20? Boy, have I forgotten what ideals felt like. I know, I know, it’s fiction. And no one speaks in the way Aaron Sorkin turns a phrase.

But in a time of “speeches” from a worm-eaten brain, inept cronies, and criminal activities by everyone else involved, I do appreciate getting moved by President Bartlett and, for the moment, feeling like there is hope.

🎥📺👍 It’s been a banner week in our world of entertainment for me and the boy. We went to see Joker, then I watched one episode of See and both watched two episodes of For All Mankind.

In order: Joker was excellent. Holy crap. Totally worth seeing (although I don’t think you need to see it in the cinema). I think it was the first movie my son has seen that depicted killing in such an explicit manner. Sure he’s seen lots of movies, but Joker felt different. I could see the expression in his face and it what should be expected when you see someone’s head bashed in. See’s first episode was good, although it does remain to be seen (ha!) if I’ll keep up with it. I don’t really need another gory show/movie in my life. For All Mankind has been pretty good as well, but that too remains to be seen. I will watch the third soon.

Apple TV+ is free so the value proposition is way in my favor. I’ve read/seen tweets scroll past about production values or where some shots were redone. Who gives a shit? I get it if you are in the industry, but I’m just a regular Joe watching TV so I don’t weep after reading the news. I care about the story, the characters, and if it has decent enough production values that I don’t wonder “Was that a coffee cup in the background?” I don’t yet care about the characters in See and I’m waiting for something bigger to happen in For All Mankind so that I care more about brand new people in this world.

Anyway, make sure to see Joker and give the Apple TV+ shows a chance .(there’s a good chance they’re free for you anyway). Oh, I like Apple’s start up chime before each show. Ah, the memories.