Binge sharing - what are you watching?

[RABid]

Amazon. Around $70 for 22 movies.

[Mighty Motif Max]

The last year I've expanded my Sci-Fi palette (previously Stargate [all series + original movie and Continuum], Star Trek [not a fan of TOS or DS9 that much], and all the Star Wars movies) to include Earth: Final Conflict, Andromeda, and more recently Farscape. It's challenging to filter through all the b-grade Sci-Fi out there and find good stuff, but I've liked all of these so far.

 

I also discovered The Man in the High Castle - quite a good historic show.

[GovernorSilver]

Almost Paradise on Amazon.

 

I don't usually watch crime dramedies but this one is pretty good. A bit of a Moonlighting vibe to it with the bickering/banter between the MC and the lady detective. MC is required to wear a stress monitor to collect disability payments, although I have yet to see him get a payment because a US govt. shutdown is delaying the payments (no, the show is not political by US standards).

[David Emm]

My deeply unhealthy triad: "Boardwalk Empire," "Rick & Morty" and "The Boys." If you want to see people pummeled by a kaleidoscopic range of methods, do I have three shows for you. That's a trick comment, since everything but Sesame Street is now fifty shades of "Fight Club." I began reading the book series of "The Boys" out of curiosity and it makes the Amazon version LOOK like Sesame Street. The PBS series "Jazz" is far better for you.

 

My next binge: all of my Oregon albums in a row, including anything with Ralph Towner, like his ECM solos.

[Mighty Motif Max]

..."The Boys." If you want to see people pummeled by a kaleidoscopic range of methods, do I have three shows for you. That's a trick comment, since everything but Sesame Street is now fifty shades of "Fight Club." I began reading the book series of "The Boys" out of curiosity and it makes the Amazon version LOOK like Sesame Street. ...

 

Yeah, I watched both series of that show. Good storyline but just too over the top in many ways.

[Chip McDonald]

Star Trek: Discovery has been ruined by the necessity for comic book super hero battle scenes, and the ever popular 21st century torture porn. Hopefully the Christopher Pike series won't be laden with the same problems and 5th grade plots.

 

The Expanse walks a thin line there, but has been pretty good so far. A little haphazard in sticking to pure sci-fi physics, but better than most.

 

Formula 1: Drive to Survive has actual battles and drama.

 

Mr. Robot was good, but again - torture porn.

 

We will eventually get back to finishing the entirety of MASH - the watermark of quality IMO - since my wife hasn't seen all of them. BSG is close but we've already gone through that twice...

[Nowarezman]

My next binge: all of my Oregon albums in a row, including anything with Ralph Towner, like his ECM solos.

 

I must be missing something in those older Oregon albums. I'm crazy about Towner's more recent nylon string work with ECM, but his 12-string and older stuff slightly new-agey material, not so much.

 

I'm a big sucker for the Marvel stuff. I was a fanatical collector of anything Marvel from about age 8 through high school - Silver Age stuff, I had boatloads of, all stacked in issue order, one stack per title, in the closet. My mom pressured me relentlessly to get rid of them as I as "too old for comics". I still have 30 or 40 of the oldest, most precious issues, but the trash bin ate the other 600-700 odd issues that ran from 1960 through 1970. Shoulda stood up to mom, dang it!

 

If I had any sense, I would have purchased 10 mint copies of all the early issues I could find and put them in a bank lock box or something. 10-12 cents per for the most part. But if had that much sense, well, I wouldn't be me, would I now?

 

So, yeah, I watched the WandaVision episodes twice through. And I'm gearing up to watch all the feature films in time order once I get through a current work crunch. I can't consider myself any kind of objective critic...this all goes back too far. Hey, just like Wanda and her beloved 50s sitcoms! See, Marvel has my number no question. Oh, I don't think Marvel is making classics for the ages, but that's not the point.

 

nat

[Mike Martin]

Mr. Mercedes.

 

Stephen King adaptation. I think most of it can be watched on the Peacock app (NBC).

 

And if you haven't seen it yet, every season of Fargo, the last one was particularly outstanding.

[RABid]

...

And if you haven't seen it yet, every season of Fargo, the last one was particularly outstanding.

 

Hmmmm. I never did watch Fargo. May give it a try. I like series that end well. For just the opposite reason I have never watched Lost. Thought about it, but knowing that the ending made so many fans mad I have avoided it.

[Anderton]

I watch Chopped every night on the Food Channel, during dinner. No, I'm not joking. Yes, I'm kinda weird that way. I just don't have time to watch actual movies and stuff. Last series I watched was Silicon Valley, which I thought was pretty hilarious. At least I get cooking ideas from Chopped

[Doerfler]

I just don't have time to watch actual movies and stuff.

 

I thought I was the only one in this camp. 4 months ago I did manage to squeeze in the final episode of Vikings. Had been following it on The History Channel over the years, final season now on Amazon Prime.

[Nowarezman]

We did watch the Ken Burns "The Roosevelts" series. So well done. Of course, it's an interpretation - what isn't? Not that all interpretations are equal, not by many parsecs. I have a history degree, but I was not interested in political or war history. So the series filled in some basic gaps for me. I think now I can reliably cite all the Presidents from McKinley through the current guy ol' what's-his-name.

 

The Ken Burns documentaries have such good music and sound editing.

 

And as a couple, we watched through The Crown. Having never had any but the most miniscule interest in the misadventures of 20th century British royalty, this also filled in some blanks. The episodes vary in quality in my estimation from gripping to tedious - but what will stick is the fact that I am now a certified fanboy of Olivia Colman, that's for sure.

 

nat

[BMD]

I've been binge-watching a young female drummer on YouTube

 

She's called Yoyoka

 

She's not even reached her teens yet and she's an absolutely amazing exponent of the thumping of the tubs!

[GovernorSilver]

Roadburn Redux 2021 Festival:

https://www.roadburnredux.com/

 

I just discovered this today. Apparently, this festival leans towards heavy rock and experimental music.

[Marzzz]

Have never binge-watched, with one exception: We had to see all of Nurse Jackie before it went off Netflix, fortunately they were 22 minute episodes. My wife and I would watch one episode after dinner, over the past year and change we have finished Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Crown, and Queen's Gambit. My wife got into Schitt's Creek, but will watch it again with me when she finishes. Since my back surgery, I have had to ride my bicycle trainer indoors instead of going out on the road, and have been making my way thru the Marvel Comic Universe in timeline order. But in general, we have not watched any more TV than usual, as life has been more normal here in AZ.

[RABid]

I actually prefer to watch completed series rather than active series that have not ended. That way I can avoid big disappointments like Lost. I don't binge per say. I watch an episode a night until I get through the entire series. Something big like Big Bang Theory I may watch 2 or 3 episodes a night.

[Chip McDonald]

I don't understand how people manage to watch ALL of the latest movies, series, etc.. I know people that talk about all of the comic book movies, tv series, Netflix series... I just got around to watching all of _Parks and Recreation_ a few years ago, years after the rest of the world; I remember when people in the band I was in, when it was on was talking about it. People are so cavalier about what they watch, and I'm like "yeah, but is it REALLY good?" - because I don't want to waste time watching an entire movie because "you, it's a pretty good flick".

 

There is too much greatness in cinema to bother with being burned by "yeah, watch this movie, it's great!" and it's just mediocre or horrible. I'm a Star Wars fan, and a 10 year old Chip wouldn't believe one day I would say "there's a Han Solo movie I haven't seen, AND I refused to watch the latest Star Wars movie". And now that the COMIC BOOK BATTLE SCENE is influencing seemingly all things, I'm going to continue to be an old curmudgeon. This really isn't what I expected the 21st century to be like.

[Anderton]

I've been binge-watching a young female drummer on YouTube

 

She's called Yoyoka

 

She's not even reached her teens yet and she's an absolutely amazing exponent of the thumping of the tubs!

 

Okay, I'm officially amazed. So many times when I see "kids" playing musical instruments with talent beyond their years, I get the impression they learned it by rote, and are essentially machines. But she's the real deal, you can tell she feels what she's doing. She's not a caricature of the drummers she covers, she channels them. Wow.

[analogika]

Star Trek: Discovery has been ruined by the necessity for comic book super hero battle scenes, and the ever popular 21st century torture porn.

 

God yes. We dropped out after the first few episodes of Season 2. Really shitty predictable last-minute-high-speed-passed-out-captain-rescue, followed by another episode of pseudoscientific bullshit babble, and we just couldn't take it anymore, story arc be damned.

 

 

Loving "For All Mankind". GREAT acting, and loads of fun and real-world alternative history tie-ins for spaceflight buffs. Mostly pretty good on the physics, too. Mostly.

[GovernorSilver]

I went through a period where I watched certain shows so I could participate in social situations with coworkers - namely the Marvel shows on Netflix. I put up with some crappy seasons of Agents of SHIELD and the like just to avoid being the awkwardly silent member of the team at work.

 

After leaving that job, I cut Netflix, lol.

 

The friends that I have outside of work are not just TV watchers - we have plenty of other things to talk about, so I don't have to watch TV to be able to socialize with them.

[Chip McDonald]

Star Trek: Discovery has been ruined by the necessity for comic book super hero battle scenes, and the ever popular 21st century torture porn.

 

God yes. We dropped out after the first few episodes of Season 2. Really shitty predictable last-minute-high-speed-passed-out-captain-rescue, followed by another episode of pseudoscientific bullshit babble, and we just couldn't take it anymore, story arc be damned.

 

It's so all over the place from a writing standpoint. It's this, condensed:

 

(CONFERANCE writing session)

 

"What if... I dunno... THIS actually happened, and they did THIS fantastic thing!"

"Ok... we could go there... but then, we'd need THIS fantastic thing to happen, and ..."

"... and we'd need at least one battle scene, that has to be INCREDIBLE!"

 

 

It's frakking index card-stuck-to-a-white board writing by committee. What no doubt ruined the horrid Star Wars sequels. It's like I could hear them thinking about a minute before anything happened, because THEY'RE GOING TO GO THERE. And in the process they threw out all of the things that gave the OG Trek character - because, again, they WENT THERE. It's like a writing singularity of "let's DARE to have them do the IMPOSSIBLE thing".

 

"THEN the MEGA SPACE BATTLE HAPPENS!", "THEN.... a truly EPIC hand to hand battle ensues", "against the Klingons? Aren't they bigger, stronger and badder?", "yeah, but..... SUPER HEROES!!!!", "THEN, time travel paradox", "THEN....

 

The OG Trek took liberties with physics, BUT stayed consistent within the established constraints. _Discovery_ just invents new physics McGuffins, new powers for characters, ironic twists to everyone on the bridge crew, more and more soap opera drama... and the Obligatory 21st Century Sensational Entertainment Torture Porn Scene, using gruesome torture to elicit emotion from the audience

 

THE WRITING SHOULD.

 

Ahrrghrg.

 

 

Great writing by *actual, legit sci-fi authors* allowed the OG Trek to carry on with Gorns in rubber suits, stock footage, cheezy sets.

 

Loving "For All Mankind". GREAT acting, and loads of fun and real-world alternative history tie-ins for spaceflight buffs. Mostly pretty good on the physics, too. Mostly.

 

I have great hope that Ron Moore's participation means it's good, but I can't afford to simultaneously subscribe to multiple media services (that's another thing: everybody has HBO, HULU, CBS, Paramount, Apple Tv, .... I am SO incredibly poor, geez...).

[Anderton]

I'm a Star Wars fan, and a 10 year old Chip wouldn't believe one day I would say "there's a Han Solo movie I haven't seen, AND I refused to watch the latest Star Wars movie".

 

"Rise of Skywalker" is visually sumptuous. So, here's what you do - for the dialog track, select a language where you don't know the words. Then, just sit back and watch the fabulous colors and CGI.

 

The Han Solo movie...well, I watched it a second time, and it was nominally better because although the young Han Solo actor really didn't do a very good job of channeling Harrison Ford's character, I accepted what he did, on its own merits. But, I think the biggest problem was that the soundtrack was overbearing. It never got a chance to breathe, which of course, is something John Williams does so well.

 

The other problem is you can see that the original intention was to be sort of a heist movie, with comic relief. Then writing by committee took over. I think it probably would have been successful in its original incarnation. Once movies take themselves too seriously, some of the charm leaks out. And once a committee takes over, coherence goes out the window.

[Anderton]

I have great hope that Ron Moore's participation means it's good, but I can't afford to simultaneously subscribe to multiple media services (that's another thing: everybody has HBO, HULU, CBS, Paramount, Apple Tv, .... I am SO incredibly poor, geez...).

 

I have Hulu and don't really feel the need for anything else, because I wouldn't have time to watch it anyway. I don't think my life is any poorer from living life myself instead of watching someone else live theirs. I'm sure there's some good stuff out there, but ultimately, if someone said to me "this is the last night you'll be alive," I can guarantee you it wouldn't be spent watching TV.

[Danzilla]

We recently watched the British comedy series "Plebs" on Amazon Prime. Low-brow comedy set in ancient Rome. And we thought it was hilarious. Well, the first 3 seasons were. Didn't like the new character, Jason, in seasons 4 & 5; but still quite enjoyable. Especially when they put together a band - a trio called "Cerberus"; then inevitably split up and become a duo - Gemini..

[analogika]

Loving "For All Mankind". GREAT acting, and loads of fun and real-world alternative history tie-ins for spaceflight buffs. Mostly pretty good on the physics, too. Mostly.

 

I have great hope that Ron Moore's participation means it's good, but I can't afford to simultaneously subscribe to multiple media services (that's another thing: everybody has HBO, HULU, CBS, Paramount, Apple Tv, .... I am SO incredibly poor, geez...).

I hear you.

 

We're on Apple TV+ for the freebie one-year sub you get with a new Apple Device.

Been on Netflix for a while.

 

Amazon Prime anyway, so we get the video service "for free". They do piss me off royally by attempting to nickle-and-dime you into PAYING for the last season of a bunch of stuff, despite already being a paying subscriber. This alone would put me off their service, but it's my wife's subscription, soâ¦

 

Disney entices me with The Mandalorian, but I'm not paying for ANOTHER service for a single show. I was always aghast at the US cable-TV pay model (it was always pretty much flat-fee cable access here in Germany, with only one or two pay stations of interest), but the streaming world has made media go to shit, worldwide.

 

Apple Music AND Spotify for the exclusives, PLUS Apple TV+, PLUS Netflix, PLUS Amazon Prime, PLUS my phone contract, PLUS landline internet, PLUS⦠just GTFO.

[RABid]

Discovery - I'm a BIG Star Trek fan. Original, Next Generation, DS9, Enterprise, even Voyager. If it is out of blue-ray I have it. If not, I have it on DVD. As for Discovery, I made it to the first episode of season 2, then gave up. Just have no desire to watch any more of it. Have not tried the new Pickard series. Too afraid it will be as good as Discovery.

 

Star Wars - After watching the last two movies I decided that I am done.

 

Marvel movies - Again, after watching the last two I decided that I am done.

 

Amazon Prime originals - I tried a few times but hate the productions. Reminds me of those Japanese commercials that are all flash and jump around like crazy. No flow at all. I can take it in a 30 second commercial. Not in a full length TV show.

[Chip McDonald]

 

"Rise of Skywalker" is visually sumptuous. So, here's what you do - for the dialog track, select a language where you don't know the words. Then, just sit back and watch the fabulous colors and CGI.

 

I thought about doing that for _Force Awakens_ ; it made me so mad from the start with the dumb non-Star Wars universe answering machine joke that I thankfully remember very little from it - except some of the CGI looked good. Or at least "fanciful".

 

although the young Han Solo actor really didn't do a very good job of channeling Harrison Ford's character,

 

But see... this is DISNEY. They have the budget, Star Wars has the name, to attract the EXACTLY PERFECT Young Han Solo. Instead they picked Young Jack Black? The trailer for it told me "it's not worth ruining an evening watching this".

 

Contrarily, Star Trek Discovery did a fantastic job of casting an actress to play a main character as a child, and so did The Expanse for the son of two characters in the series. Almost spookily so. For their budgets, they *should* IMO....

 

It never got a chance to breathe, which of course, is something John Williams does so well.

 

I remember thinking on _Force Awakens_ I wished all of the tempos had been about 10% slower, and the dynamic range something lower than -1 LUFS.

 

"Let's have BIG EXPLOSIONS!!!"

"YEAH!!! More than ANY OTHER MOVIE!!!"

"YEAH"

"LOTS!!!"

"Let's make it... LOUDER!!!"

"YEAH!"

 

"Ok, I'm sure the sound department will have no problem with this! John WIlliams will love it!"

 

I knew what I was in for. I actually wore ear plugs, and my Radio Shack db meter. I can't remember what it was hitting, but over 102db consistently in the theatre I was at, 1/3rd of the way back. No subtlety anymore.

 

We're on Apple TV+ for the freebie one-year sub you get with a new Apple Device.

 

Hmm... I just blew half of my stimulus check on a refurbished M1 Mac Mini, that might be a good excuse, thanks for the head's up Craig!

 

Been on Netflix for a while.

 

Binge watching F1 _Drive to Survive_, then unsubscribing.

 

Committee decision:

 

"We need to freshen up the 'ol Netflix interface.... any ideas?"

"How about... add sound to the previews!!!!"

"Yeah!"

"It'll get their attention, add excitement"

"YEAH!!"

 

 

Amazon Prime anyway, so we get the video service "for free". They do piss me off royally by attempting to nickle-and-dime you into PAYING for the last season of a bunch of stuff,

 

 

Rundling is destroying everything from plugins, newspapers, websites to streaming.

 

 

 

Disney entices me with The Mandalorian, but I'm not paying for ANOTHER service for a single show. I

 

They keep wanting to push the limit of the consumer. X-Games for the "capitalists".

[Anderton]

Actually that wasn't my heads-up on Apple TV, you mixed up some analogika quotes with mine. But he and I seem to agree about pretty much everything, so no problem Consider us interchangeable, except he has better analog synths.

 

Amazon...don't get me started. My wife has Prime, and I do believe the video service has the worst user interface of any service, although YouTube on an iPhone is trying so hard to catch up.

 

My kid's a UX designer and I said "hey, is the Amazon user interface as bad as I thought, or is it just me?" The answer was "yes, it really is that bad."

 

As to the Mandalorian, honestly, I would pay for that single show although I don't have to, the Hulu bundle includes it. Add up the running times for the Mandalorian episodes, and divide that into 90-120 minute movies, then think about how much it would cost to watch them in a theater. It's actually cost-effective.

 

But what the Mandalorian dudes should have REALLY done is a blockchain currency, so they could fund the series themselves, and have complete artistic control. I did the math and if the number of people watching the Mandalorian had bought "Mandotokens," everyone would have come out ahead.

[Chip McDonald]

Ack, sorry. I glance in here when I have a student cancellation, end up finishing too fast.

 

UX design:

 

Amazon transport controls are.... abhorrent. There are so may wrong things about the user "interface" it almost shouldn't qualify as an "interface".

 

It's not just Amazon that is guilty of screwing up their UX, Google, Spotify (new browser interface makes me click to search????) ... it's like none of these companies employees or CTO/CEOs actually ever use their own products.

[Chip McDonald]

Discovery - I'm a BIG Star Trek fan. Original, Next Generation, DS9, Enterprise, even Voyager. If it is out of blue-ray I have it. If not, I have it on DVD. As for Discovery, I made it to the first episode of season 2, then gave up.

 

I noticed last night Paramount had the "Star Trek Discovery: Shorts" episodes I hadn't seen. And in the one with Spock and Number One, based on a turbo lift failure, I noticed the pun-intended Number One problem I have with ST Discovery:

 

 

They're taking a cue from Doctor Who and making the INSIDE OF THE SHIP LARGER THAN THE OUTSIDE.

 

They show the exterior of the lift as being in some gargantuan chamber with other lifts 100 feet away, with a gigantic waste of space, in a cavernous area that would be comparable to the size of the dorsal section itself. And they've given the lift compartment a massively complex set of controls - for no reason.

 

The OG Star Trek was internally consistent, which helped with the suspension of disbelief. But every time on Discovery they would show this "turbo lift subway" I would always for a moment think "ok, this is a new scene on a planet somewhere... wait...no, this gargantuan subway system is supposed to be on the Discovery/Enterprise". Completely non-sensical. It's either sloppy conceptualization, or *they just don't care*. Either way it wrecks it. Ahrghh.

 

I hate the 21st century.