I wanted to write something profound and well thought-out today, but I got a headache before I left work that will not die.
So I say: Hurrah for another year. Hurrah for surviving a brain that’s trying to eat itself. Hurrah for weathering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Forty-one is a stupid, random age to be, but making it here is definitely preferable to the alternative.
Stay tuned for thoughts about Deadpool 2, The Bay, trailers as art form, and some movies I love that you can’t get in any streaming places. Along with, of course, whatever the fuck else I come up with.
Yo. It snowed in the Northeast. You may have heard about it.
I contracted a terrible cold that was ramping up before the snow came and am now apparently never leaving my house again. I spent this morning reading comics and now I’m laying in bed, in the craned-neck position contemplating watching a bit of something and drinking semi-frozen (I left it outside) orange juice directly out of the thing.
It tastes like better, brighter days.
Streaming-wise, personally, I’ve been re-watching One Day At A Time on Netflix and Buffy The Vampire Slayer on Hulu.
Netflix
Let’s talk about The Babadook. If you’ve seen Essie Davis in the titular role of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, you know she is fabulous. If you’ve seen her in The Babadook, you know she can ACT. She is a powerhouse in this horror film, her portrayal balanced on knife-edges of emotion.
I am not saying anything new, here.
The Babadook is also an interesting twist on horror genre tropes. It’s a heavy film. But I found it, ultimately, to be strangely hopeful. I had as much fun with the wave of ‘the babadook is a gay icon’ memes last year as anyone. I would hate to think it takes away from the impact of the film, which might be one of the best horror films of all time.
What I’m likely to stream next are some episodes of a modern whodunit that my mom got me hooked on over the holidays, Shetland. It features small-town characters and some truly lovely family relationships and gives one a sweet feeling, therefore, in spite of all the murders.
Set, as the name implies, in the Shetland Isles of Scotland, the show is awash in gorgeous landscapes.
If you have trouble with accents, you might want to turn the subtitles on.
I noticed, also, that Netflix is now separating movies and TV shows, which makes my life a bit easier.
Hulu
Hulu has all the Karate Kid movies. I’m scared to watch them. I haven’t since the eighties or early nineties and the suck fairy MAY well have visited them. I am, however, pleased to see more older movies showing up on streaming.
It also has Arrival. I have been delighted and swept-up by the new wave of big budget *ideas* scifi that’s come out over the past several years and Arrival may well be the best one yet. A moving and beautifully delivered story that is worth watching more than once.
Also streaming is arguably the scariest vampire film I have ever seen, Let The Right One In – Swedish film that capitalizes on the long dark of winter nights there to take us to a very dark emotional place. Definitely worth the subtitles, but an extremely difficult watch.
Prime Streaming
Amazon has What We Do In The Shadows, which I have mentioned before several times.
They also have some romantic classics — Moonstruck and Dirty Dancing.
Kids
Prime has Spy Next Door starring the adorable Jackie Chan.
Hulu has Ella Enchanted which I’ve mentioned before and various Lego comedy shows. I think they only release them for streaming, but I’ve watched the superhero ones and they’re better than they have any right to be, honestly.
Netflix has An American Tale, which I remember fondly. The music is lovely.
* * *
That’s it for this week, kids and kittens. May your remain warm and your throats swallow smoothly (unlike mine).
I am not feeling so hot. I’m kind of scared that I’m coming down with whatever’s been knocking my co-workers out of circulation for a week at a time (though I hope not). I had intended to write about Suburbicon or a chirpy little piece about video games, today but I am currently a bear of very little brain.
This is the kind of headspace that television was dreamt up for – just showing you one thing after another into infinity or till you fall asleep, whichever comes first. A very undemanding companion, television.
Unfortunately, I have neither cable nor a viable antenna tv at the moment, so I’m going with the next best thing: youtube.
It, too, undemandingly will keep showing you things into infinity if you let it.
Currently, I’m watching markiplier, a youtube let’s play-er (which is someone who plays video games as a spectator sport) with a voice made of chocolate and rainbows scream at Resident Evil 7. It’s cathartic and entertaining.
I may play a video game while I continue to watch it, till I fall asleep in approximately 15 minutes. Like eating while watching the food network, to paraphrase something Margaret Cho once said.
