Netflix Bingeing: Les Témoins

So I burned through the six episodes of Les Témoins in about two and a half days. The show did temporarily feed my need for dark crime drama. For some reason I had a little trouble transition from Danish to French. I got over that pretty quickly and got sucked into the story. All six episodes follow the same case, unlike so many other series I have watched.

The main detective, Sandra, is quite observant and excellent at her job. Like most of the detectives in the gritty crime shows I watch, she's a bit of a loner with problems at home. Paul, another detective, knows what's going on in the case, but doesn't want to share. Sandra figures it out anyway.

This story involves a couple of serial killers, blackmail, revenge, people digging up dead bodies, detective work, and a wolf. I don't know if they will make another series. This one wrapped up well at the end. I sorta hope they don't make another one.

Oh, and I really like the theme song We Don't Die, by Tricky.

Netflix Bingeing: Dicte

I was recently lamenting that I don't have a good, gritty crime show in my queue. On a whim I started watching the Danish show Dicte. My knitting project is mindless enough that I can even watch foreign shows.

I watched the entire first season (which is all Netflix has) this week. I really like it. It isn't the kind of twisted crime series I love, but I really got into it (and the knitting slowed.) Dicte is a reporter with a complicated past and a penchant for getting in the middle of police investigations. The stories are interesting--even if all of them far-fetchedly revolve around Dicte. The acting is good too. I'm hoping Netflix puts up season 2 soon.

I miss Wallander. I'm still jonesing for some sick crime. Watching this series made me think about writing a crime novel. But, I don't know anything about crime, or police, or writing novels.

Netflix Movie: Wolfcop

Recently this image of a cheesecaking werewolf kept popping up on Netflix. I kept laughing and shouting "Wolfcop!" Ross added it to the queue. I thought it would be a great Sunday afternoon movie. I expected a horrible C rate flick. Actually, we liked it. It was funny. Not so bad that we laughed funny, but actually funny.

There are some rather graphic scenes, but I couldn't look away. In all but a couple of places the special effects were good. We were both surprised. It was a fun movie, and apparently Wolfcop 2 is in the making.

Flashback: Twin Peaks

This week I watched the pilot of Twin Peaks on Netflix. Man, that took me back.  Back to Jr. High.  I love the music.  I remember I had it on cassette and listened to it over and over again on my Sony walkman.  And I remember I was totally enamored with Agent Cooper.  I thought he was so handsome and charming.  I wanted to be Dianne on the other side of that tape recorder, listening to his voice as he went on about pie and coffee.

Twin Peaks was the Lost of it's day.  We all wanted to know who killed Laura Palmer.  And there were so many twists and turns and so much weirdness that if you hadn't started at the beginning it was impossible to follow.  Watching Twin Peaks again is going to be a trippy trip down memory lane.

My Favorite Show

Right now my favorite show is Waking the Dead. I've mentioned before how complicated it can be. I was happy to discover that Netflix now has seasons 1-5 (of 9) of Waking the Dead available on instant watch. I watched the very first episode and it was a fine example of everything I love about the show.

D.S. Peter Boyd is a grade-A bastard. He treats everyone like crap. He may be the leader, but everyone is an equal member of the team. No one is the bumbling side-kick or lab-tech who aspires to be part of the team. Everyone on the team is intelligent and contributes to the case. The cast changes up a little as the show goes on, but Boyd is always in charge.

This series is a bit dark. The criminals are always sick, twisted folks, who commit sick and twisted crimes. The plots are always complex. The shows are mentally stimulating, challenging. You try to solve the crimes along with the team. If you aren't paying attention, you could miss something important. They generally don't repeat the clues or hit you over the head with explanations of who did what when. The show treats the audience like an intelligent member of the team, not like a clueless bystander. I think that is what I like best about it. I also like that the characters aren't sleeping together. There is some personal drama, but it is usually subtle.

I might actually watch the episodes in order just to see how the characters develop. The only other series that measures up to this is Wire in the Blood. I watched all 6 seasons on Netflix instant watch and loved it.

Hoarders

I finished watching the first season of Hoarders on Netflix. Hoarders is like a train wreck. Horrible, but you can't look away. I come from a family of hoarders. My parents are hoarders. My mother's parents were both hoarders. I try really hard not to hoard. I can be messy, and there are certain things I find hard to resist. I love paper. I love shoes. I don't love putting things away. I was looking for something in the back room recently and I found two other things back there that I didn't know I had. That's bad. I didn't find what I was originally looking for. I need to clean up back there. The last episode of Hoarders featured a 7 year old hoarder. The psych gave him rules. 1. Don't drop things. 2. Everything has a home. Not dropping things is great advice. That's how things get messy. That is how things get lost. Hoarders makes me feel good because I'm not as sick as the folks on the show. Hoarders makes me sad because those people are so sick that they lose all their relationships. Hoarders makes me feel bad because I know I could be better about keeping the house clean. I can't wait for more episodes.

Purring Pillow

We tried watching Shaun the Sheep on Netflix this morning, but it kept tripping up. It's the Tivo. We watched it on Ross's laptop with only one problem--Bailey. Sound coming out of the laptop really bothers Bailey. She tried to bury her head in my armpit, but ended up curled up in front of me with her head tucked into the crook of my elbow. She was my purring pillow.

I think two other things (besides Shaun) contributed to my baby curling up with me. First, the temperatures have dropped a little and she wants to keep warm. Second is my robe. My robe is also one of my favorite things. It was a gift from Ross's mother. I love it and so does Bailey. We fight over it. When I look for it she's usually curled up on it. (That's what I get for leaving it on a chair.) If I'm wearing it and sitting on the couch she wants to sit on it or she might even curl up in my lap if there isn't much on the couch for her to sit on (as was the case yesterday.) I wanted to lay with my purring kitty all morning, but my left shoulder was aching and my left hand fell asleep.

Wild China

Last night I finished watching the series Wild China on Netflix instant watch. This six part series by the BBC explores different areas of China and how the people relate to nature. The images are breathtaking. I'm not sure which episode was my favorite, but the last one, Tides of Change, showed the Tulou of Fujian Province (pictured). Many tulou were built hundreds of years ago and are still standing. Ross and I were really impressed. The series showed China's many sites of natural beauty. It makes me wish I had months (and the money) to explore all the remote areas of China.

Hello, Veronica!

Veronica Mars has moved into our house. We are making our way through season one on Netflix instant watch. The show has some impressive writing. Not all the episodes are great, but I know we are both having fun watching it.

Class of Nuke 'Em High 2: Subhumanoid Meltdown

Last night after 3 games of bowling (in which I broke 50 in all 3!), we came home and Ross put on Class of Nuke 'Em High 2: Subhumanoid Meltdown (on Netflix). Here's the backstory: Back when we were teenagers and my parents still had cable we used to watch USA: Up All Night. "Watch" meaning have it on in the background while we made out (sorry mom). Anyway, I particularly remember this movie. The subhumanoids had "little mouths down there." A couple of weeks ago we sat through Class of Nuke 'Em High. Terrible movie, and no little mouths down there. I want that hour and half of my life back. I find it hard to even call that a movie.

So, last night we watched the second in the 3 part series. It had nothing to do with the first one. It was just as terrible, but we did get to hear the line about "a little mouth down there." There was also a fight scene where I spotted someone famous. All I could think was that his name started with an L, his name sounded like a girl's name, and that I don't particularly like him. IMDB didn't have him credited, so I had to rely on my weak memory. Just when we were going to bed I asked Ross the name of the lead singer of Aerosmith. From there my brain crunched out: Liev Schreiber. Yes, my brain works in strange ways. I'm 100% sure that Liev Schreiber was in this sad excuse for a film. He didn't even have one line, just one word. He had 2 seconds on screen, I suppose that's why he's not credited. Honestly, I wouldn't want that on my resume anyway. Now I want to make Ross watch part 3: The Good the Bad, and the Subhumanoid.

On Netflix

I've become a complete Netflix (instant watch) junkie over the last week. I've been immersing myself in lots of BBC period pieces. North and South was good. I watched The Way We Live Now, but part of episode 3 was missing so I was totally bewildered when I started watching episode 4 (I'm going to complain to Netflix.) I also watched Our Mutual Friend. That was good. None of them were as good as Bleak House.

As far as movies go Ross and I watched Guess Who's Coming to Dinner last week. What a superbly written movie! I watched Onegin, another period piece, it was just okay. Revanche was tortuously slow. I wouldn't recommend it. Tonight I watched Arranged. It was really good. Two beautiful women brought together as friends partly because they are both going through the marriage arrangement process. A nice uplifting movie, I highly recommend it.

Circles

I'm back to thinking about where I could build a bunker in my house. Sometimes I obsess over it. I have the fourth volume of the Dark Tower on request at the library. In the meantime I started reading something much scarier than Stephen King could ever come up with. I finally started reading The Family by Jeff Sharlet. I had it checked out, but was hesitant to read it because I knew it would be scary. I got maybe a third of the way through it, but had to turn it back in. The book is about the history of fundamentalist Christianity in America and The Family. The Family is a secret organization. I can't explain it. I'm not sure what is more disturbing, how much power they have or how they operate. Women only serve the members of the organization, they aren't part of the power plan. I'm not sure I want to finish the book. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss.

My mom recommended that I watch Constantine's Sword. I finally sat down and watched it (through Netfix online) last night. Wow. I highly recommend it. Two thousand years have passed. I live in the United States of America. Still, I don't feel safe. Still, I obsess about the bunker.

Again, best I should not think about it too much. Instead I eat cake.

Crazy Day

Yesterday was a really crazy day. I ran errands with Valerie in the morning and was overjoyed to complete two of my quests. I found a felt cloche hat for a decent price AND I found the chapstick I'd been looking for. I ran out of chapstick last week and couldn't find the same one anywhere. That always seems to happen doesn't it? You find something you like and then when you want to buy it again it has been discontinued, repackaged, or reformulated and you go from store to store searching for it. Well, at least that's what happens to me. I ended up buying a four pack of chapstick to get the one I wanted, but I don't care--I'll give the other three away.

After errands I had a crazy time with the rain. Then I couldn't get the dvd player to work. Oh boy, did I feel dumb. When Valerie got home she made the dvd player work by pressing one button (which I know I tried) and I was introduced to Shaun the Sheep. I really liked it and I knew Ross would too (he loves claymation), so we watched a couple of episodes on YouTube as our Saturday morning cartoons (we usually stream something from Netflix).

Last night Val and I had a crazy time finishing up Evelyn's Glinda dress. We were both tired and it really showed (not on the dress thankfully). I think the dress is finally finished.

Lots of other crazy things happened. It wasn't a bad day, just a crazy one.