Alan & Jono's Watching/Reading List: May 2023
Added 2023-05-31 15:01:00 +0000 UTCAlan:
Hello Heroes!
May is a really busy month for us, with 3 kids, all the end-of-school-year activities happen in May, so we’ve barely been keeping our heads above water.
What I’m reading!
- CineFex #72 all about Titanic. I watched Titanic on the plane home from London (on my iPad, not on the in-seat screen. I’m not a heathen!) And it just reminded me what an absolute masterpiece that movie is. So I’ve been deep-diving behind the scenes content. Read the official BTS book, and the art-book. But the coverage in CineFex is unreal. 100+ pages of incredibly detailed reporting on the prep, shoot, and especially post for this absolutely colossal film. Never really appreciated as a 16 year old just how much Titanic was going to change cinema.
What I’m watching!
- The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. After watching The Offer last month, I decided to give these two classics another go. I’ve only seen them once, in my mid-twenties, and I didn’t really care for them back then. Found them ponderous, and I couldn’t separate out the things that felt like clichés because I’d seen them so many times in other shows and movies my whole life. Rewatching, I actually enjoyed the first one. A bit. Still feel like the second is overrated though. Just not my cup of tea. Not the kinds of stories I generally enjoy, and definitely not the style of filmmaking I like. The interesting thing is: one of my favorite TV shows of all time is Breaking Bad, which is essentially this same story, but told in a different way, about a different type of person. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
- Ted Lasso S3 baBEY! I love this show. I love this season. I’m so happy that they’re ending it without dragging it out to death. BELIEVE.
What I’m playing!
- Still playing Skyrim. And likely will be for months. So, boring update. I’ve completed a disturbing amount of sidequests while completely ignoring the main campaign. Should I become a vampire?
- Trying to build my hometown in Cities:Skylines, but with actual public transit. So far it’s going pretty well. Need some mods though to really fine-tune. Yes. I’m that nerd. Shoutout to CityNerd/Not Just Bikes/City Beautiful/too many other urban planning/transit channels on YouTube. Love this stuff. Because I’m semi-stuck in suburbia in Utah and not loving it.
And…
Watch Movies! (And television, and read books, and play video games)
Jono:
Hi all! I've been watching Agents of SHIELD and enjoying some classic Marvel. I've never seen it before, but it's so fun! My wife and I are watching Queen Charlotte on Netflix, which is an insightful look at loving someone with mental illness. Kids and I just had an Indiana Jones marathon to prep for the new film. I also showed them Three Amigos, which was my mom's favorite movie, a staple of my childhood, and filmed in Arizona where I was raised so watching it feels like going home. The filmmakers and actors had the good sense to make fun of themselves instead of Mexico and its people. They make themselves the butt of the jokes instead of pointing fingers and laughing. Cultural appropriation? Part of the joke, contrasting the Americans' cluelessness about Mexico with its actual culture. Stereotypes? Sure, we've got bandits and simple peasants, but the main villain is highly educated (e.g. the "plethora" scene) and the villagers show real grit and integrity. White saviors? At the end, the Mexican people save themselves. Three Amigos was made almost 40 years ago, yet somehow it's still untouchable and utterly hilarious. It still makes me laugh until I cry and my sides ache. Our kids had a blast with it, too.
I've been reading Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Dr. Susan Jeffers and You Can Be Happy No Matter What by Dr. Richard Carlson. Both books have ideas that I strongly disagree with, but they also have a lot of solid, helpful insights that I endorse whole-heartedly. In the former, I like the idea that all fear is based in the belief that "I can't handle this" and that we can face any challenge by shifting that thinking to "I will handle this" and growing in new skills by leaning on resources to learn and connections for strength. In the latter, I like the idea that no matter what is happening in life, happiness can co-exist with other emotions if we focus on living in gratitude, growth, and affection for ourselves and others. It's very Inside Out and I dig it.
What have you been watching and reading this month?
Comments
Hi guys, Just joined and can't wait to go through some of these directors cuts. @Alan: I've jumped back into Skyrim with the Anniversary Edition. Other than that I've been playing the new expedition in No Man's Sky. Waiting for the two of these to meld in Starfield in September, which will probably turn into a new favorite for me. Also, Ted Lasso S3 was awesome and very satisfying conclusion. I haven't felt like a show was this consistently good since The Good Place.
Michael Charboneau
2023-06-15 19:28:19 +0000 UTCI'll keep recommending till I see it in the list. Watch Flashpoint! Go Canada! I apologise in advance. xD
YashaShiva
2023-06-06 20:03:20 +0000 UTCi love The Godfather and The Godfather II. whenever i feel i have the time, i watch them back to back. and then i watch Bella Mafia to balance out the testosterone.
Lynettra
2023-06-03 20:46:45 +0000 UTCFunny how I just finished watching a Japanese and Hong Kong versions of the Godfather (Gangster) trilogy: "Outrage trilogy" by Takeshi Kitano and "Election 1 and 2" by Johnnie To.
2023-06-03 15:38:35 +0000 UTCI wonder if Titanic would have been as successful if it didn’t have the Romeo/Juliet type story. Like many teenage girls of that era, I adored Leo, and while I didn’t get to see it theaters, I know he was the reason many other teenage girls saw it multiple times. But looking at it now, that part of the story is flawed. Make no mistake, I definitely saw and still see Cal as a despicable person, but it doesn’t make it okay that Rose cheated on him. Also, much as Kathy Bates was fabulous as “The Unsinkable” Molly Brown, her story was done a disservice in the end. While it’s true her efforts to convince the crew to go back for survivors were unsuccessful, she was still rowing and and was actively helping the survivors on the Carpathia, her story hardly ended with her sitting down and being quiet. All that to say I’ve always loved behind the scenes stories, and I’ll have to try and get my hands on that Cinefex issue!
Lauren Frey
2023-06-02 03:43:03 +0000 UTCI hope you guys do a dive into Queen Charlotte and how she acted through the season. It was not something you see often and the young actors vs original actors were so well matched! It also touches on some not often portrayed topics like loving someone with mental illnesses and moving on after the death of a partner in a more positive light (even if some classic drama was thrown in.)
Fell Hawke
2023-06-02 03:16:06 +0000 UTCI'm wrapping up S1 of AoS. Enjoying it so far!
Cinema Therapy
2023-06-01 13:37:58 +0000 UTCPlease forgive me for gushing every time you mention Agents of Shield, but I absolutely love it and I get so excited any time someone starts watching it for the first time. I'm so glad you are enjoying it! What season are you on? I need to finish Ted Lasso. I admit I've been a bit burned out lately so I'm just watching old shows I've seen before.
Lindlee Bullock
2023-05-31 20:59:45 +0000 UTCShrinking is SO GOOD.
Alan Seawright
2023-05-31 17:38:09 +0000 UTC@Jono: Do you know "Essentialism" and "Effortless" by Greg McKeown? Excellent reads for people at risk of burnout. Very actionable too.
Lorenzo Colombani
2023-05-31 16:00:07 +0000 UTC@Alan: If you play vampire (vampire lord), you may have to commit to the "vampire gameplay" altogether. The perks are cool, but the downsides could be more annoying if you still want to enjoy your original gameplay (e.g., little to no regeneration to health, stamina, and mana in sunlight). Turning into a cloud of bats to teleport is pretty cool. But for me, it wasn't worth losing the regen tho.
Lorenzo Colombani
2023-05-31 15:55:47 +0000 UTCI just recently finished the Dark Shade of Magic trilogy and was very happy with it, now I’m moving onto the Filmmakers Handbook Fifth Edition to learn more about filmmaking. Also started playing Mass Effect again even though I already have Jedi Survivor and Tears of the Kingdom on top of Diablo 4 early access this weekend. There’s also Marvel Snap that I’ve been playing daily. For movies, I watched Perfect Blue recently and it was so disturbing but absolutely incredible (would make a great CT After Dark episode) and now I’m hoping to catch Shazam! Fury of the Gods and rewatch Spider-Verse before the sequel tomorrow. Can’t forget Ted Lasso is wrapped up and it gives me the sads but it’s okay because now I’m watching Shrinking and Earth at Night in Color to fill the void.
Andrew Feistner
2023-05-31 15:24:18 +0000 UTC
