Category: TV

Highs and Lows

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The week started off well but got progressively worse.

Last weekend Lindsay’s brother #2 arrived for a week. Always fun when he’s in the house. I’d just completed my WSET3 week 3 tasting (more on that in some other post) which meant there were a bunch of delicious white wines available. We ordered Thai and drank grand cru Alsace Pinot Gris and Tokaji for dessert.

On Sunday night we went to White Lily for dinner, and stopped at Chez Nous on the way home.

On Monday I met someone for a work drink at The Chase, then hustled back home for dinner at Wynona with Lindsay and Laura. I don’t remember exactly what we had, but I think it was something along these lines:

  • Grilled focaccia
  • Ontario burrata, forced rhubarb, wild fennel, brown butter & pistachio vinaigrette
  • Honey roasted carrots, chermoula, tahini, pumpkin seed dukkah $20
  • Ramp tonnarelli, Manila clams, Calabrian chili
  • Ziti, braised shortrib, mustard greens, Parmigiano-Reggiano
  • Blood orange posset, white chocolate & thyme ganache, salted honey crumb, meringue
  • Bottles of Nero d’Avola and Syrah

Tuesday and Wednesday were mostly unremarkable, but by Wednesday evening I was starting to feel sick — sort throat, stuffed up, etc. No one else in the house was sick even though we’d done everything together. It was probably too soon to develop anything I’d picked up the day before at the office, so…I guess it was that work drink on Monday? Who knows. Anyway, Thursday was very tough, and by Friday I was barely able to work. We had reservations for the three of us at Ricky + Olivia’s but I was so sick I had to bow out. I was in bed by 8:00. Today hasn’t been much better; I’m definitely scuffling.

As always, the lone bright spot about being sick is that I sit still long enough to catch up on some TV, so I’ve watched all of S1 and half of S2 of The Bear.

“BOB!”

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Just back from another trip out east. Couple days in Moncton (no new places visited) and a couple days on the farm with my dad while my mom, sister-in-law, and brother #2 were overseas. Flew back Thursday (and fell kind of ill on the flight, which wasn’t great, but it’s also not the first time I’ve experienced that…I’m starting to think it’s the white wine they serve) and spent Friday working & recovering.

Right before I left for Moncton we had binged The Jinx. Lindsay had seen it; I somehow had not (though I knew what happened in the final episode). Still, learning the whole story was…pretty shocking. So of course when I got back we starting catching up on the new season, and suddenly I’m back to impatiently waiting for Sunday night TV.

“Come on. America would never elect somebody like David Duke, President of the United States of America.”

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

The lone upside to being sick, by which I mean have-to-stay-in-bed-for-entire-days sick, is bingeing TV shows. I finished the last couple of seasons of For All Mankind (interesting concept, but in season 4 it’s feeling strained), the entirety of Black Earth Rising (which was excellent, and I would have watched much sooner if I knew what it was about), and S3 of Slow Horses which was predictably excellent and took all of an afternoon. I also incorporated BlackKklansman (imdb | rotten tomatoes) at some point, not to mention a bunch of other movies I’ve seen a million times but just needed to fall asleep to something.

I seem to be mostly out of the woods…maybe back to like 70%. So as much as I want to go see Dune 2, this weekend is probably going to be about work catch-up.

TV is a flat circle

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I’ve been very into the new season of True Detective. I loved season one, which I believe was also early in the McConaissance. Season two was garbage; season three was better.

Part of why I’m liking season four is the linkages to season one. It made me want to go back and watch season one, which I did last week whilst in Moncton. I’d forgotten how good it was.

One other linkage in season four: the appearance of Nivi Pedersen, who I just finished watching in season four of Borgen.

“[S]ophistication is a language; you’re either born speaking it, or you’ll always speak it with an accent.”

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We did an atypical parallel-y thing this past little while: we took turns reading Fleishman Is In Trouble (indigo) to each other some days, while watching episodes of the show on other days. It was fun to see in near-real-time how the TV adaptation differed (not much), whether the narrative device would work (it did), and how the actors understood the characters even as we were learning them only slightly ahead.

It was fun. I’d do it again, if we find a book we like where we haven’t already watched the show.

“Oh, I don’t pay for suits. My suits are on the house or the house burns down.”

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

So. Much. Good. TV.

Recently I finished season one of Ahsoka, season three of Only Murders In The Building, season three of Borgen, and the entirety of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Together Lindsay and I watched Deadloch and Painkiller, and we just started Peaky Blinders today.

On the sports-watching front, it was obviously devastating to see the Jays swept out of the wildcard series for the second year in a row, but at least the Canadiens’ season has started (and the Raptors’ season begins soon). Hope springs eternal.

Der plague

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From last Sunday’s blog post:

“Today’s been a bit better, but I’m still feeling pretty wonky. Two COVID rapid tests have proved negative, but it sure as heck feels like it. I’m hoping I’ll feel nearly back to normal by tomorrow, my first real day of vacation.”

Narrator: he did not feel nearly back to normal.

Whatever this was — a third rapid test confirmed it wasn’t COVID — laid me out most of the week, save a work-ish drinks thing on Thursday at Chez Nous. Actually, I took a bunch of DayQuil just to make it to said drinks, which was a mistake, because I don’t remember the second half of the evening. Anyway. Being this sick has allowed me to catch up on a bunch of TV, like season 4 and part of season 5 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I’m all caught up on Ahsoka, Billions, and Only Murders In The Building, and we’ve just started Painkiller. We’ve even caught up on a ton of backlogged Last Week Tonight eps.

Still, I’d rather feel like I could breathe normally.

A Dark Quiet Death

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It’s actually crazy how much good TV is available. We can barely get through it before excellent shit surfaces. We finished Succession (obviously), Yellowjackets S2, all three seasons of Mythic Quest, what is possibly/probably the last season of Ted Lasso, both seasons of Single Drunk Female, and Love and Death.

I’m still watching Borgen S3 and Silo S1, and as I type this we’re spending a rainy Saturday bingeing Lucky Hank.

Not so big week

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The brief spate of summer-like weather seems like a fever dream now, as the turn from April into May appears to be mired in a forecast of cold & rain. Things may turn again by the middle of next week, but until then we’re mostly sheltering in place, watching TV.

Of course, with neither the Canadiens nor the Raptors making the playoffs (the first time since 2012 that’s happened) my spring evenings have been relatively sports-free. I’ve been filling them, and rainy days like this one, watching Ted Lasso and The Diplomat and Single Drunk Female and Borgen.

I kind of forget that in recent months we also watched a few more movies — Nope (very good), Blue Jasmine (also very good), and The French Dispatch (excellent).

I know some day the weather will turn nice again and I’ll detach myself from the TV. But today is not that day.

The winter that won’t end

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I know, I know, it’s Canada and it’s still March. I have no right to expect warm weather, or even decent weather. But usually by the time Spring has officially sprung things have started to turn to the brighter & warmer. This year, though — nyet. Rainy, grey, cold.

Back in February, when I was lamenting this particular winter, I detailed how I was pushing myself to get up and out of the house. “Lord knows, I can’t keep drowning myself in TV,” I said. But then I proceeded to drown myself in TV.

Luckily, there remain plenty of TV shows of superlative quality. I finished both seasons of Slow Horses, the first season of The Last Of Us, and the second season of Only Murders In The Building. I’m in the midst of watching the latest seasons of The Bad Batch, The Mandalorian, Yellowjackets, Party Down, and You. The final season of Succession starts tomorrow, and we haven’t even started the new season of Ted Lasso yet.

And in a purchase that combines two of my other favourite media (movies, books) I recently picked up Heat 2 (amazon) which apparently covers both the period immediately after the movie Heat concludes, and some origin story behind the movie’s characters. I’m pretty excited to read it.