Good Omens - Season Two

 

As promised in my post about Season One, we did indeed watch Season Two.

I was "spoiled" for the end of this season without ever being told exactly what happened. I could just tell basically what must have happened based on the reactions from my friends on social media after they all binged it when it was released. 

I had pretty much the same feelings about this season as I did about the first. I am not sure what is missing for me when I watch. Maybe it's that I haven't read the source material. Maybe it's that I don't get the humor. I know I did have a little trouble remembering things even just from the first season, which for us wasn't that long ago. Overall it made it's way to it's ineffable (I am sure that is not the way to use that word but there ya go) conclusion which I did actually love.

If you watched the first and liked it, you will also like season two. If you didn't like the first season, I might gather you won't like this one either. Note, that for the most part it is a completely new, stand alone story. Although I wouldn't watch this without having seen the first.

This season did not lead to any deep conversations like the first did and that is ok, not every show needs to be heavy.

3 paws overall

4 paws for the last 20 minutes of the season

Friday 80s Flashback for October 27, 2023

[40 Years of Karma] -- So, in the second week of October, I was torn between two records. The runner up has remained on my mind, and I figure that is reason enough to give it a chance as a featured record. Besides, it was released 40 years ago this month; just not 40 years ago this week. 

Anyway.

On October 10, 1983, Culture Club released their second studio album, Colour by Numbers. It was their most successful album, and it remains one of the most popular albums of the 1980s. Colour by Numbers peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 and landed in the top 5 of many other countries. In the US, it had four hit singles, with "Karma Chameleon" topping out as a #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100. And while I cannot deny that track's hook, beat for beat, my favorite song on this album is "Church of the Poisoned Mind. 

Regarding the album's status as successful, Colour by Numbers has been certified triple platinum in the UK and quadruple platinum in the US. Writing for AllMusic, Jose F. Promis said of the album: "The songs were infectious, the videos were all over MTV, and the band was a media magnet." 

Flashback: Colour by Numbers (October 10, 1983)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven!

Secret Invasion - Disney Plus

 

I love Samuel L Jackson and I love Nick Fury so I was very happy he had his own story to tell but this series could have been much much better. I don't even know if I know exactly what was the issue. It was definitely too quiet, slow and it definitely doesn't stand alone... not that it should.

It is shows like this that I am glad I don't try to tell the story in my post. I just state if I liked it and if you should watch it. I definitely could not easily describe what we watched and I would not watch this again but you should watch it if you are a Marvel fan and if you plan to watch more Marvel Universe. I am sure we will need this series to help with the upcoming The Marvels and who knows what else.

It is only 6 episodes, so it doesn't overly torture the watcher and on the good side there is lots of information about Nick Fury that, at least, I didn't know.

2 paws

Friday 80s Flashback for October 20, 2023

[Won't Slow Down] -- Six years ago this week, I lost my mother. So, for the latest Flashback post, I am featuring one of her favorite solo artists: Lionel Richie. And forty years ago this week, he dropped his second solo album: Can't Slow Down. Most sources pin the release date as October 11, 1983, but for some reason, Wikipedia lists it as being released on October 14, 1983. Either way, we can celebrate the 40th anniversary of its release today. 

And what a release it was. Of Can't Slow Down's eight tracks, five were released as singles between August 1983 and September 1984. Now, releasing multiple singles over the course of a year is not so unusual. However, the fact that all five went on to be at least Top 40 hits nearly everywhere, with all of them reaching the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100? You have to admit that is quite a feat for an artist. 

It seems like Richie was making a play for all kinds of music lovers as this album featured the sounds of adult contemporary, dance, (slight) funk, mainstream pop, and even country. This paid off as Can't Slow Down peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200 and spent nearly 60 consecutive weeks within that chart's top 10. It was the third best selling album of 1984 and it won a Grammy.

I already mentioned the top 10 status of the singles, but two of them – "Hello" and "All Night Long (All Night)" – peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. If pressed, my mom would have probably said she preferred Richie's debut album, and she owned that record, but I recall that she could sing along to all these hits, too. 

How many can you sing along to?

Flashback: Can't Slow Down (October 1983)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven!

Star Trek: Lower Decks Seasons 1-3

As I wrote in my review of Strange New Worlds, I am so glad we had watched two episodes of this series before the crossover episode. It definitely helped us enjoy the crossover much more as we had background that would have been missing otherwise. I know that sounds obvious but really it made a huge difference with us liking the episode and not liking it.

So honestly, I did not like season one at all overall. It was a little too off kilter for me. The humor is not my favorite and it was hard to get into the silliness of it all.

Luckily, the next 2 seasons were better. They seemed better put together and flowed much better. There was story and things carried over into other episode and everything just worked better and I was able to get into it. I am glad. I know so many friends who rave about this series and I was sad I wasn't feeling it. 

Although I do have to say, if you have never watched any Star Trek, there is sooooo much you will miss in this series and sometimes it does make a difference to liking/understanding an episode and not. I asked Brainwise maybe the most questions during this series than any of the others... that is a lot of questions! I just don't recall past shows like he does, so he definitely enjoys the show much more than I do.

I do refuse to miss out though. I love how all these series fit together in so many different ways. So clever and so difficult and I appreciate it.

2 paws - season one

3 paws - season two and three

Friday 80s Flashback for October 13, 2023

[Unusual for Forty Years] -- Cyndi Lauper is a singer, songwriter, activist, and actress. She composed the Tony Award winning score for the Broadway musical Kinky Boots. And her decades-long career was pretty much jump-started by her solo debut album, She's So Unusual, which was released forty years ago this week – on October 14, 1983. She's So Unusual peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200 and scored two awards: Best Recording Package (1985) and Best New Artist (1985). It was also the first debut album by a female artist to generate four top-five singles on the Billboard Hot 100 [Billboard.com, October 2023]. 

I'm not certain there's another debut that album so thoroughly captured an artist's personality while simultaneously contributing to a decade's style. 

The album had six singles, five of which all reached the top five (as I noted above), but the songs everyone remembers from this album are, of course, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "Time After Time," and "She Bop." "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" topped charts all over the world, including peaking at #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, #1 on US Dance Club Songs, and #1 on US Cash Box Top 100. It was also nominated for a bunch of awards, winning two: American Video Awards for Best Female Performance (1983) and MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video (1984). "Time After Time" likewise topped charts, peaking at #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, the US Adult Contemporary, and US Cash Box Top 100 charts, and winning several awards. "She Bop," as befits the album's third single, is third in critical and commercial reception as related to the first two singles; it peaked at #3 on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the US Cash Box Top 100 while also doing pretty much top 40 or better around the world.

Flashback: She's So Unusual (October 14, 1983)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven! 

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4

 

Sonequa Martin-Green is glorious in her role as Michael Burnham. She is fierce, strong, independent, brilliant, courageous, confident, loyal and one of my favorites in the Star Trek universe. 

Right behind Sonequa is Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly. She is my spirit Star Trek character. I adore her. She is exactly who I would be if I were in the Star Trek universe. She is a great friend, brilliant scientist, incredible team member and I definitely want to be friends with her.

Over the four seasons we were treated to a roller coaster of emotions. We laughed, we cried, oh how we cried, we yelled, we were annoyed, we swooned, we cheered and we loved almost every second of all four seasons. There were a few wobbles but not enough that I can remember them specifically now to write about them. 

This show is a definite for the Star Trek aficionados and even those that aren't. There are quite a few episodes that lead to deep discussions between Brainwise and myself. You will definitely be entertained by almost all the episodes and if you are a Doug Jones fan, you definitely need to watch him portray Saru. We love him and we knew he was in this series, we just did not know how much he was in this series and we were thrilled. He was spectacular and perfectly cast for this role.

I could go on and on about each member of this cast and how wonderful they are: Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cruz, Emily Coutts, Jason Isaacs, Tig Notaro, and the amazing Michelle Yeoh. Just go and watch and enjoy it all.

4 paws

Friday 80s Flashback for October 6, 2023

[That's Still All] -- Forty years ago this week, Genesis released their twelfth studio album, Genesis, which was their fourth album with the trio lineup of Mike Rutherford (guitars, bass), Phil Collins (drums, vocals, percussion), and Tony Banks (keyboards). Genesis was the band's most commercially successful record to date; it shot straight to #1 on the UK Albums Chart and it peaked at #9 on the US Billboard 200 while also topping many other charts around the world. 

Between August 1983 and June 1984, five singles were released from this album: "Mama," "That's All," 

"Home by the Sea," "Illegal Alien," and "Taking It All Too Hard." A sixth song, "Just a Job to Do," was never released as a single, but it did receive considerable radio play. "Mama" is still Genesis' most successful single in the UK, where it topped out at #4 on the UK Singles Chart. But the album's second single, "That's All," was the band's first top 10 hit in the US where it reached #6 on the US Billboard Hot 100. 

Prog fans seem to review the album more harshly than pop aficionados. Kerrang! called this record "a Genesis album for people who normally hate Genesis" and "great music for the masses" [Kerrang! #54, November 1983]. Writing for Rolling Stone, J.D. Considine summed up his review with "...the drift of this album is one step forward, two steps back." 

My favorite tracks are probably the one-two punch of "Home by the Sea" and "Second Home by the Sea," the latter of which received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. But I really like "That's All" and "Just a Job to Do."

Flashback: Genesis (October 3, 1983)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven!

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - movie

 

I was unsure, even half way through, if I liked this movie. Then we got to the end and I found myself crying and I realized that I did indeed like this movie. 

I do believe it is MUCH better if you have any DnD knowledge, which I do not but it is a fun movie with more story than I expected. 

I was also very surprised to see Hugh Grant in here but he ended up being the right person for the role. There were a few things I wish were different but overall it was a fun rollicking story and movie.

Chris Pine was excellent in his role as was Michelle Rodriguez. Justice Smith and Sophia Lillis were also perfect for their roles. 

If you are looking for a fun 2 hours, I recommend checking this out. If you have any DnD background, I say you MUCH check it out. Then come back here and let me know your thoughts about it.

2 paws