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Snow Shows!

 So.  We had a pretty prolific snowstorm here in North Carolina in late January.  I cooked, I read, napped, journaled and watched a lot of streaming services!


This fascinating documentary, set in Providence, Rhode Island, is a timely and sophisticated look at modern consumerism, gentrification, gorilla art, underground music and city politics.  


I only watched about 20 minutes of this before I pulled the plug because it that amount of time, it seemed to me, that this film would do whatever it takes to shock, titillate and pretty much gross the viewer the hell out. I'm no prude, but I didn't see it getting any better.  Even with its stellar cast.

It kinda reminded me of the shitty overhyped Hollywood from a few years back. It could have been a great series.  The cast and the subject matter almost guaranteed it.  But like Babylon it was trying so hard to shock that it failed to be engaging.  I bailed on this one after just one episode I think.


This 2006 film was definitely no let-down.  I liked it so much I watched it a second time in the same weekend. Set it Victorian Vienna, it has all my favorite things: magic, the beginnings of Spiritualism, a great cast, a historically accurate depiction of royalty, gentry and commonfolk and the lovely eyes and soothing voice of Paul Giamatti.  Swoon.


The rest of my weekend was spent on looking out the window and continuing with my current Ken Follett novel, The Armor of Light.  Set in the mid to late 1700's in Knightsbridge (If you're a Follet fan you will know that, yes, this continues on with Pillars which begins in Knightsbridge in 1123. Unless you're really being a stickler in which case you need to go back to the prequal of The Evening and the Morning, but now......I'm really going off on a tangent here!) This book has all the good stuff: beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, the Spinning Jenny, Methodism and really all the parts religion and making a living that would soon come to my own part of the world, the southeastern United States.


I also managed to catch my all-time fave songwriter, Jeff Tweedy, on CBS Sunday Morning!  

I find myself telling people all the time how I fit my education into my daily schedule.  I listen to audiobooks and podcasts while I drive.  I watch the news and documentaries while I'm home alone.  I try to catch Jeopardy every night.  My mind, my imagination and my memory are my most important assets.  They mean way more to me than my beautiful lips and eyes.  (Even though I do get a lot of compliments on both....wink!) Why not use your snow time/down time/bored time/alone time to get some learning of your own?

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