Becky's Greatest Hits Vol. II

 As the summer rolls to nearly a close, I continue to add to my ambitions.   I know everyone does different things on their whiteboards, but I like to add my plans for reading and watching.  Something catches my attention, I go down a rabbit hole, decide I need to learn more and it gets added.  I can't speak for folks trying to solve equations or crimes though. And I also can't quite explain how Drugstore Cowboy showing up on my Tubi got me to researching the indie film Paris, Texas or how Amy Irving got me to The Roches which lead me to discovering Laura Nyro and Judie Tzukie and how I think I've heard their names mentioned in other songs like maybe the awesome local band Pulloever and realizing I need to update my kid's playlists so he doesn't get burnt out on the same Yacht Rock and how could I have never watched Helter Skelter and did all of the Manson family members die in prison yet?????

 In the HBO limited series multiverse, there are two series that link up perfectly in locale, subject matter and vibe: Mare of Easttown and Task.   Now, it's not hard for me to go ahead and say Mare is my favorite and, I think, the better of the two shows.  The intricacy of this story and the acting are so good that I've watched it repeatedly.....even after the mystery was solved.  It kept me guessing right up until the very end and shocked me more than once.  I don't think I've ever seen anything with the lovely Kate Winslet that I didn't like (well......let's not talk about The Regime ) and I'm thrilled that she has become an icon for women of my generation. Task is a bit of a different animal, even though it is a very similar show.  Both shows rub up against Catholicism, the complicated struggles of family, giving and accepting trust in an untrusting world, and of course, the frailties of man against strong women.   Weirdly, I don't find m...

 After hearing several people, including my boss, talk about how awesome this show is....I finally had to give it shot.  And I was hooked. Within minutes.  I think I didn't expect to like it because I wasn't really a fan of Yellowstone, another well-known Taylor Sheridan joint.  But dare I say, this show has more heart?  It's more relatable?  The characters are move endearing?  I mean.....honestly.....that's all mostly true.  In Yellowstone, I really didn't think I had anyone to root for.  Well, besides Kayce of course.   It was also all the hub-bub of Sam Elliott's speech about aging and the breakdown of the body.  I kept hearing about it again and again so I had to look that up first.  After that short snippet, like any good first-time user I needed a bigger hit.  So I downloaded the entire first season. I did not realize this show has very nearly every goddamm thing I love about life: strong family ties, gorgeous a...

 Oh, Adam.....you majestic whiny delicate artist of a man.  If I had known you, I know I would have dated you and then hated you. I did and still do love Counting Crows and Adam.  I love how this documentary really takes you back to the 90's......the time of sensitive, intelligent bands and singer-songwriters.  I like how Adam is willing to make fun of himself and the time we all lived in because it did generate it's share of jokes.  I love that he talks about his dreadlocks and his old romances and how different celebrity culture is now.  It makes me glad that the culture, by and large, has stopped punching down, takes mental health more seriously and looks back with nostalgia at what was truly a very, real and sincere time of creativity in America.   My favorite part of this doc on former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, is that it is told in her own voice from her recorded audio diaries.  What a gift her lovely Texas voice is!  I love h...

I really dug his first book with James Patterson , and I like this one pretty good too.  The only problem with this one is that I'm listening to it as an audiobook, and I don't dig all the voices.  A real first-world problem, I know.  And it's always kind of interesting to see how Bill is kind of spelling out how he sees himself in the world, or rather, how he wants to be seen.   This book by Rax King, on the other hand, makes it quite a joy to listen to her lovely voice as she reads her own, sometimes boring sometimes scary, escapades as a teenager and young adult.  Her full chapter on Creed makes the entire book with the read. For television viewing, I did enjoy the History Channel series of Thomas Jefferson, but got a little bored by the FDR episodes.  And that shocked me as I love FDR!  Something about the presentation and the actor portraying him looking a little too much like Kevin Spacey methinks. And even though I didn't see ANY of his mov...

 I know you're all very busy living your best fabulous lives in the summer, but don't tell me you don't want to crash on the couch with your dirty hair from time to time and watch some informative tv! When you're chilling in the domicile, why not learn something? Painkiller: The Tylenol Murders will remind you of that scary time back in the early 80's when we thought Tylenol was just the beginning.....soon all of our medicines would be poisoned!  This documentary gets into an interesting conspiracy I had no idea about and only vaguely remember, and it is FASCINATING!  It also introduces a very creepy man that will haunt your dreams and explains why we now have tamper-proof packaging.  The Paul Reubens documentary, Pee-Wee as Himself, touched my heart so much. As a child of the 80's I was too old for the Saturday morning show, but I loved his ridiculous Pee-Wee Herman movies.....even the circus one!  Seeing him as a young actor and performer, his self-enforced se...

 The Elizabeth Holmes/Theronos scandal is fascinating to me.  The idea that someone could take a simple idea and con millions of dollars in funding, start a company without perfecting technology and then wiggle into a reputable pharmacy like Walgreen's to set it up?  That's friggin amazing! I've watched several news pieces and docs about Elizabeth Holmes herself, but to see Amanda Seyfried tackle this multi-faceted persona is a whole other deal.  Is she a psychopath or a sociopath?  On the high end of The Spectrum?  A pathological liar?  It's hard to tell. Holmes' idea was a fantastic one, had it worked.  An invention that would only need to take one finger prick of blood to perform all kinds of lab tests for diagnosis was meant to be a medical savior for folks undergoing treatment that had received multiple blood draws for years.  It would have been wonderful, had it worked.   The thing is, the invention didn't work.  It never...

 So I recently survived pneumonia.  And survived is the correct word to use.  But I'm not quite ready to talk about that.  Yet.  Right now I want to talk about what I watched while I was in and out of consciousness on my couch and shuttling between doc appointments.  Running Point was so good I've watched it about 3 times now.  It's funny, warm, empowering and strangely reminded me of Ted Lasso.  I've loved the beautiful Kate Hudson since "200 Cigarettes" and basically just loved the way this show kept me guessing throughout.  When you're sick, you need something that's going to make feel good....give you hope.....make you feel less alone.  This did that.   The Residence is brilliant, fast and witty.  I started with it and had to stop because, honestly, my brain fog was too great to follow during the height of my illness.  But once that cleared, I was all in for Uzo Aduba and company.  This show is like a modern ...

 Late Winter/Early Spring had me sequestered in a way I never had been before.  I literally had no voice.  And I don't know if y'all know this, but it's hard to socialize in this world if you can't speak.  So I settled in and enjoyed a bit of telly. This could have been great, but it got bungled in the end. It's set up to be light and sexy, but how sexy can it be when a person who's actually loved and a part of the social circle is murdered?  This isn't Mr. Body being wacked in a gloomy mansion!  This is a bff.....a lover......a friend......the lack of concern and grief is yuck.  Other than that, the mystery is still fun to follow until it gets to the very end and is completely smashed up to end quickly and and neatly. I wonder if the novel plays the story out more gracefully?  To be fair, I was only really there for Liev Schreiber, and darling, he NEVER disappoints.  Babes is funny and ridiculous and still manages to be relatable. Let it be ...

 Winter is the perfect time to snuggle in with some entertainment.  Even though I haven't been reading much lately, I have managed to binge some good shows and catch a few new films.  What are your thoughts on my hot takes? I saw "Wicked" the week it came out and I was in love!  Being a lover of the novel from way back, I was intrigued to see how this was adapted from the book to stage to theater and all of it is wonderful!  The songs are lovely and fun and even though the film is long, I never wanted it to end.   I caught "The Greatest Showman" at home on a streaming service and loved it too.  Just like Wicked, the songs and overarching story guide a principle of love and acceptance and in the creation of a world inhabited by creativity and brilliance.  And there's Zendaya!   I wish I could say I loved "Juror #2" but I just didn't.  The cast was wonderful, but the story felt plodding and ham-fisted.  And was I the only on...