What I Watched -- At Eternity's Gate

I love Van Gogh; he's my favorite painter.  So when At Eternity's Gate came out, I was immediately ready to see it!  Then I heard that it wasn't very good, so I put it off.

When I did eventually get around to it, S and I were both immediately frustrated by the unsteady camera work.  If you can get beyond that without feeling seasick, you can start to think about that artist himself.  If, that is, you can get beyond the terrible sound editing vis a vis the soundtrack.

The film is a glimpse into the mind of a man on the edge, which is simultaneously introspective and maddening -- more the latter than the former.  It's confusing and a bit frustrating, until about the last 10 minutes.

Despite its shortcomings, though, I still like it because it's Vincent.

The title is the name of one of Van Gogh's works: Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity's Gate).

Bottom line: not a great movie, but great paintings from a mind ahead of his time.

What I Watched -- Voyeur and You

Gay Talese reports the story of Gerald Foos in Voyeur.  Gerald owned an Aurora, Colorado, motel.  In that motel, he built a specially-designed attic which allowed him to spy through ceiling vents on all motel guests.  I absolutely believe that all this happened.

The moral voice in the film is Talese's New Yorker editor, who shares the audience's skepticism about Foss's intentions and wondering what the value of Talese's interviews with him will be.  In the end, probably the most interesting part of the film was the portion in which the fact checkers are trying to determine how much of Foos's story was true and how much was manufactured.  Psychologically, it was also fascinating to see how Foos changes once his story is made public -- everything bad that happens becomes someone else's fault.

Having watched the movie, I am exactly as creeped out as I expected to be.  I'm sure you have heard the horror stories about AirBnB owners putting cameras around their properties.  I can't say that I wouldn't also be tempted to do that if I were loaning out my own home to strangers, but as a person who has been on the renting end of AirBnBs before, I certainly don't ever want to do it again after realizing how prevalent the cameras are.  For some reason, it seems like reputable hotels (which Foos's was not) should be safer, more secure places, but then when you think about that for just a second, why does it seem like they should be?  Aren't the minimum wage workers at any hotel just as likely to be creepy voyeurs just like Foos?

Our viewing of Voyeur followed on the tail of the first episode of season two of You.  You is a Netflix show starring Penn Badgley, probably best known as Gossip Girl -- in other words, it is not a distinguished filmography.

But this show plays right into so many of my concerns about how easy technology makes it for someone to find out so much about a person.  (Yes, I appreciate the irony that I am complaining about this on a blog.  Perhaps I should stop writing....)

It is truly only coincidental that we are watching both of these things so close of the heels of the implementation of the new
California law requiring certain companies and websites to make it easier for consumers to control the privacy of their data -- but somehow these things all seem connected.

You know what else seems connected?  That a Penn
Badgley meme popped up in S's feed while we were watching You.

As I said: creepy.

What I Watched -- Mudbound

Mudbound is dark in two ways.  There is very little about it that is uplifting, so if you are in the mood for a real downer, it's your movie.  It's title fits the whole tenor of the film, because as I watched it, I felt like I was stuck in mud the whole time, unable to move or stop the coming events.  Clever, eh?

But the images are also dark.  There were a lot of times that I found myself squinting at the screen, trying to see what was happening because there was no or so little light in the image that I couldn't tell who was who or what was happening.

Carey Mulligan, whom I love (only in part because she is from London), does a wonderful job adding depth to a role with minimal personality.  Garrett Hedlund, whom I recognize but I can't figure out why, is the emotional center of the film.  He plays the brother of Carey Mulligan's character's husband, and is the one with whom the viewer can identify.  He's tough to understand sometimes, but he's the one to sympathize with.

There is not a lot of plot to report.  The film starts with the death of an old farmer, being buried by his two sons.  Then we backtrack to the start of the relationship between one of the sons and his wife, follow the other brother through the war, and meet the African-American tenant farmers who live and work the land.  We move forward from there, progressing towards the funeral that started the film.

Bottom line: dark (literally) and depressing, but a good way to pass time on a flight.

What I Watched -- Hello Ladies

Another one of S's recent delightful finds was a show called Hello Ladies.  As with most decent shows, it had a short original run -- an eight-run season on HBO (all of which I watched), plus a movie (which I haven't seen yet).

It stars an awkwardly tall Englishman as Stuart Pritchard, a hopelessly hopeless and lovelorn British expat in LA.  He's constantly on the hunt for a super-attractive and unattainable girlfriend, which is what the whole show is built around in theory.  But really it's about him and his friends.  Stuart rented out his pool house to a struggling actress, one of his  sidekicks in the series.  The one that broke my heart the most was Stuart's best friend Wade, whose wife left him at the start of the series, and he's navigating the separation with little help from Stuart.

Should I watch the movie?  Or will it just ruin the show?

Goals 2020 -- February Edition

This month, I will unsubscribe.  This includes primarily email lists which are not beneficial and people/organizations I follow who don't add anything useful to my life. 

Goals 2020 -- January Recap

I had success in January by eliminating no fewer than four items which have been lingering on my to-do list for longer than I care to admit.  So I have exceeded my own expectations by one third.  Go me!

What I Watched -- The Spy Who Dumped Me

I love it when S picks out a random movie or show and I have no idea what to expect.  The Spy Who Dumped Me was just such a movie.

Now that you have heard the title and seen the movie poster (right), you probably have some idea how the movie is going to go.  But I did not, which I think made the movie even funnier and more enjoyable!

It's your basic spy, shoot-'em-up movie.  Except, instead of the usual Jason Bourne spy character, the ones who have to carry out the save-the-world task are two totally clueless girls who happen into the job by accident.  Sounds super dumb, right?  And it is.  But it's also surprisingly amusing, as long as you're in the mood for something a little bit dumb.

Bottom line: as I said, surprisingly amusing.

What I Watched -- Don't F**k With Cats

Don't F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer has gotten a lot of press.  When I first saw the trailer for it, I expected that it would generate chatter, as all true crime stories tend to do, but I forgot about it until I had some time to surf through Netflix when I was on vacation.

It's a bit frustrating to watch because the editing is terrible.  There is so much manufactured drama in the interviews!  I had to wonder how many times the interviewers had to ask the subjects, "Can you explain it again, but slower and with more unnecessary detail?"

***SPOILER ALERT***

It was interesting (and also creepy) to see what a group of computer nerds with time to spare can do, but it all comes to nothing until the killer is caught the good old fashioned way by an unsuspecting witness who called the police.  Only after the police independently identify the killer is there actually any connection between the internet nerds and the actual murder investigation.

It is true that the nerds tried to alert the police prior to the murder that they anticipated something would happen, but they got no traction.  (Comments on this issue reserved for later discussion.)

***SPOILERS OVER***

It was interesting to see the whole thing play out, but -- I'm not going to lie -- it was a bit of a letdown at the end.

Rowing to Latitude -- Take 2

It's nice to be on vacation, when a person with a regular job has time to actually read books.  For fun.  What a treat!

Rowing to Latitude: Journeys Along the Arctic's Edge was an easy read for me.  It combines rowing, outdoor exploration, and enjoyable writing.  The problem with this book, though, is that it makes me want to take up ocean and open water rowing.  So there's that.

That one minor issue aside, however, I did very much enjoy reading this book.  For most of the book, it's divided into chapters based on the various rowing/kayaking trips taken by the author and her husband; the last two vary a little bit, pulling out and looking at the bigger picture -- illness, injury, life, death, goals, success, failure.

Overall, a winner.

What I'm Reading Now -- Being Mortal

Being Mortal seemed like a good book to read. Mom has been working in health care, including hospice care, for several years; my grandparents are getting older and have mentioned beginning hospice care; and truthfully ain't none of us gettin' any younger.

So, let's dive in and see what we can learn.