The interview that almost wasn’t: Beyond Horror: The Enduring Impact of Stephen King. I was interviewed by Tim Webster for the Overnights show on Australian public radio. Webster is a self-avowed fan of King’s work and was a knowledgeable interviewer. We spent a pleasant half hour chatting about all things King at 3:30 am local time. Apparently people are awake at that hour, as the producer reported they received a number of texts during the live broadcast. The interview almost didn’t happen because the initial email from the producer went into my hotmail spam folder. I have message autoforwarding set up on that account so I never, ever look at the account. Never. Except I was having trouble receiving a two-factor authorization email from my antivirus software account, so I checked there. Sure enough, there was the 2FA email and, lo and behold, from the previous day, the invitation to be interviewed. So thanks, McAfee!
We’ve seen a couple of good movies this week. Two nights ago we watched The Holdovers, with Paul Giamatti as a bitter teacher of ancient history at an all-boy’s prep school, where he himself was a student. His boss is a former student. that’s how long he’s been there. He has high expectations of the students, which means he’s harsh and uncompromising. He’s hated by students and fellow faculty alike. As punishment for his unwillingness to bend, he’s assigned to stay on campus for the two-week winter vacation with a group of students who have no place to go for the holidays. No one wants to be there, and shenanigans ensue. It’s one of those heartwarming movies where everyone discovers that if you find out things about other people, you might reconsider how you treat them…and how you behave in general. That’s not a bad thing. Carrie Preston (The Good Wife/Fight) has a nice small role as a possible love interest. Well worth watching.
Last night, we hunkered down for three hours with Oppenheimer. We’d had a chance to watch it with our daughter and son-in-law over the holidays, but they didn’t start until 9 pm, intending to spread it over two nights. We decided to skip it then—and they couldn’t find a good stopping place, so they watched the whole thing through midnight. I can’t remember the last time I was up at midnight. We even celebrated east-coast New Years at 9 pm in California! We got a much earlier start last night. It’s an intense film—we probably wouldn’t have wanted to stop halfway through, either. I know a lot of the characters from my years studying chemistry, including Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, Richard Feynman, and Edward Teller, but I only knew the Trinity project in broad strokes. It’s not a heavy science movie (although knowing about enriched uranium and heavy water adds a little to the understanding)…mostly about all the security issues Oppenheimer had because of his left-wing views and the people he associated with in the thirties and forties. Robert Downey, Jr. is the surprise “villain” of the piece, a man with thin skin and high political aspirations who takes umbrage over a perceived slight that had nothing to do with him at all. Definitely worth watching.
I watched 49 movies in 2023, either with my wife or by myself. None were in a theater—we haven’t ventured to the cinema since 1917 or, rather, 1917, the Mendes war film. Here is the complete list, if you’re interested. Here, in the order in which we watched them, are my top ten:
- She Said (Peacock)
- The Menu (HBO Max)
- Living (Amazon)
- Flamin’ Hot (Hulu)
- No One Will Save You (Hulu)
- Flora and Son (Apple TV+)
- The Burial (Amazon)
- Past Lives (Amazon)
- Nyad (Netflix)
- A Million Miles Away (Amazon)
As usual, I watched a lot of TV series last year. I binged Death in Paradise S8-12, Columbo S6-10, Lupin S1-3, Annika S1-2, The Bay S1-4, Wisting S1-3, Wilder S1-2, Above Suspicion S1-4, The Gulf S1-2, Dark Winds S1-2, Succession S1-4, Enemi Public S1-2, One Lane Bridge S1-3 and Haven S1-5. My wife and I watched all the episodes of The Prisoner and are on a complete rewatch of M*A*S*H in sequence, currently in season 6.
Regular shows I/we watched included All Creatures Great and Small, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Call the Midwife, Doctor Who and Great British Baking Show. I rewatched season one of Yellowjackets before watching the second season, which was a good decision. I also revisited the first season of True Detective, which will probably be a good primer for the upcoming fourth season. That season remains brilliant and I think binge-ing makes a lot of things clearer to me that were fuzzy the first time around.
Caught the most recent (and occasionally final) seasons of After Life, Picard, Perry Mason, Staged, Grace, The Mandalorian, The Tower, From, Beef, Barry, Manifest, Happy Valley, Ted Lasso, The Bear, Family Law, Good Omens, The Morning Show and Shetland.
Of the new series I/we watched last year, these are my favorites, in no particular order.:
- Deadloch (Amazon)
- Daisy Jones and The Six (Amazon)
- The Rig (Amazon)
- The Last of Us (HBO Max)
- Poker Face (Peacock)
- Dear Edward (Apple TV+)
- Shrinking (Apple TV+)
- The Diplomat (Netflix)
- Black Butterflies (Netflix)
- Rabbit Hole (Amazon)
- The Night Agent (Netflix)
- Silo (Apple TV+)
- Hijack (Apple TV+)
- The Changeling (Apple TV+)
