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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2019 21:45:59 GMT -5
My girlfriend and I have taken turns introducing each other to different shows the other hadn't seen before. Among other things, I got her into Breaking Bad, Mad Men and Bojack Horseman. She's mostly recommended animes thus far, including Neon Genesis Evangelion (my fave), Cowboy Bepop and now Full Metal Alchemist.
Besides that, we tune into new episodes of the Loud House and Jeopardy! I saw the Steven Universe finale a few days ago finally. And besides that, just watch old reruns of Three's Company, MASH and Gilligan's Island if they're on.
We don't really watch too much actual TV though. Mostly movies and the Joe Rogan Experience (it's a podcast/online radio show for those unfamiliar.) Regarding Rogan, its quality really varies based on the guest. My favorite episodes which I've seen lately are Kevin Smith and Dan Carlin (who himself runs my other fave podcast--Hardcore History). They both had a great chemistry with Joe and produced very honest, thought-provoking conversations.
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Post by The Cap'n on Feb 10, 2019 21:48:14 GMT -5
Dan Carlin is wonderful. Hardcore History is (literally) epic, and his Common Sense is/was brilliant, if increasingly sporadic.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2019 22:17:47 GMT -5
Dan Carlin is wonderful. Hardcore History is (literally) epic, and his Common Sense is/was brilliant, if increasingly sporadic. He mentions putting the breaks on CS because of the hyper-partisanship today, as well as not really knowing where we're heading himself since everything's so crazy these days. I can absolutely relate to the first of those--that's the reason I never try to discuss politics on social media or forums these days. In my experience we've reached a point where it's literally impossible to do so civilly and still keep your sanity. Hardcore History is fantastic. It's the best I've seen at making history exciting--every similar series I've seen on YouTube and podcasts are usually pretty dry and/or hard to follow. Dan has a great conversational style and dramatic reading style which makes these events come alive. I'm not sure I could pick a favorite. Obviously I love Ancient Rome, so "Death Throes of the Republic" is the one I've heard most often. My only complain is he kind of crammed a lot into the last section so there wasn't as much room to go over everything in depth. Still, the fall of the Roman Republic/Life of Julius Caesar is, in my opinion, the greatest story ever told--fact or fiction--so it's really hard to mess that up. (It's not a podcast, but I'd also recommend Historia Civilis when it comes to ancient history. His style is night and day from Dan's but it's still very entertaining and informative. My favorite episodes have been about the life of Caesar.)
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2019 11:41:56 GMT -5
jk Yes, that was a good one too, outside his usual scope. I've always heard of the Iroquois and their supposed influence on the US constitution but never the details. After seeing his video, I do think that supposed inspiration is overblown. However, we could stand to learn and thing or two from the Iroquois system if we were to reform our own Constitution. I love the idea of Deliberative Democracy. While we're talking about TV shows, I already gave some of my favorites in my earlier reply and elsewhere on the forum (it's all about Clarissa Explains It All yo!) but I would round it out with HBO's Rome and USA network's Mr. Robot. The former I consider the greatest missed opportunity in modern TV history--and I'm 100% qualified to make such a claim But it was supposed to go on for four seasons until HBO pulled the plug midway thru Season 2 due to budget and set up for Game of Thrones. As a result, the second season unfortunately moves by at a supersonic pace. But in the meantime we still got fantastic portrayals of Julius Caesar as well as Octavian/Augustus and Marc Antony. My favorite understated moment is probably this one here, showing Caesar's famous clemency as he pardons Brutus and Cicero. For me, this aspect of Julius Caesar's political maneuvering has always served as an example that he really did have Rome's best interests at heart. If you watch the Historia Civilis episode on Caesar's Consulship it seems to confirm that he just wanted to enact reforms to help the Plebeians but was stymied at every turn by the conservative (Optimates) faction. So as a result, he was forced to resort to more and more drastic means in order to make sure the top heavy system didn't topple over. However, it's worth noting that Romans valued a certain attribute called Dignitas which we have no direct translation of in English. It essentially amounted to the respect and honor a powerful man accrued during his lifetime. Under this lens, we can see how accepting a pardon rather than die honorably would seem just as bad if not worse to some Romans. It essentially robbed them of their worth in their own minds, and made them instruments of Caesar's glory as opposed to their own. Rome was an extremely competitive society and in many ways this led to the Republic's downfall. That's why Dan Carlin in "Death Throes of the Republic" began the story by describing the mask rooms (where busts and masks of a family's prestigious ancestors were preserved) and the incredible pressure children of Patrician families were under to accrue power and prestige. Anyway, the latter show Mr. Robot is great because it's like the best aspects of Fight Club, Taxi Driver and Catcher in the Rye but with modern issues mixed in. It's basically like a what-if scenario if Anonymous had been able to bring down a major corporate conglomerate, but there's a lot more to it than that. Crucially, the showrunner understands the importance of not drawing the story out until it's ruined (lessons House of Cards and Orange is the New Black should have heeded) so this upcoming Season (4) is going to be the last one. This scene in particular does a great job setting up the premise to gauge if you're interested.
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Post by usawoman on Feb 11, 2019 13:39:12 GMT -5
Hi all,
Last Friday I watched Blue Bloods. On Saturday I watched the tribute to Mr. Rogers on HBO. Last night I watched The Grammy Awards.
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Post by Silken on Feb 11, 2019 19:06:32 GMT -5
These are the shows I've been watching:
The Big Bang Theory: I'm a huge fan although it's not as good/funny as it used to be Young Sheldon: it has some flaws but I like it This Is Us: impossible not to cry. I highly recommend it. How to get away with murder: the tv equivalent of a page-turner. The good place: funny and aesthetically beautiful
As for Mr. Robot, I liked season 1 but I found season 2 quite difficult to follow , so I didn't even bother to start season 3.
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Post by bullman on Feb 11, 2019 19:29:54 GMT -5
Jeopardy! if I'm near a TV.
Reruns of Boston Legal, grown on me, never saw it on prime time. Funky theme music throughout every show too.
T
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2019 1:20:04 GMT -5
Oh I see--that's fsociety. You had me baffled for a moment, Mujan. And I understand now what you're saying--they're doing the right thing in winding it down. I was reading you all wrong (happens). Oooff--pretty dark stuff, in both senses. I imagine it's not something one would watch if one were feeling down. If that's the original music, it's a great choice: mainly "Neptune" from Holst's orchestral suite The Planets with a dash of "Mars" thrown in. (Bojack's planetarium scene uses "Venus" from the same work.) I'd never heard of the series but I see it's huge in the US--Emmy Awards, the lot. Thanks for sharing yet another aspect of your world, C. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Roboten.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_PlanetsYep, that's this universe's version of our Anonymous (who, for better or worse, haven't done anything big in years now.) Anonymous, at its peak, was sort of chaotic neutral in terms of moral alignment. They'd do shitty things but also defend values like free speech and anti-censorship against government and fight Scientology. In any case, this one flashback between young Elliot (main character) and his Dad perfectly illustrates Elliot/fsociety's morality: It's indeed a very bleak and depressing show. There's a good deal of humor so it's not all dreary, but it takes a hard hitting look both at how messed up our Late Capitalism dominated world really is and how futile resistance is. (I had absolutely no idea what the score was from, that's so incredible you recognized that offhand! Thanks for introducing me to something new!) Anyway, besides the main plot it's just a superbly crafted piece of art. There's stellar camera work which often puts characters in the far edge if not bottom corners of the frames in nearly all shots. This creates a sense of alienation and discomfort. There's also a lot of really cool Easter egg references to other media. Like, the woman in that second image is a main character starting in season 2 and always sucks on lollipops. Another main character, Darlene, often wears heart-shaped glasses. If you're familiar with the original poster for Lolita you'll understand the significance. In one episode that begins with a surreal dream sequence, they pay homage to Clarissa Explains It All which is amazing <3 Besides having a boy (Elliot) come in through the window like Sam, they even copied the minute detail of Clarissa's room having pink walls with black tiles on them. Clearly they were fans, or at least did their homework ( Clarissa's a pretty old, somewhat obscure show too) which to me as a fan was very much appreciated. Silken the second season is definitely a step down from the first, although I still loved it. But I'd highly recommend giving Season 3 a try. From the first episode to the last, it's a nonstop roller-coaster, and it was only possible because Season 2 methodically (if tediously at times) laid all the groundwork for it to happen. Obviously I can't pressure you to watch it if you don't want to, but for whatever my opinion means Mr. Robot is probably my all-time favorite TV drama and that's saying a lot.
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Post by kds on Feb 12, 2019 9:41:36 GMT -5
I'm pretty far behind on all of my shows, but here's what I'm watching at the moment:
Last Man Standing - I discovered this show on reruns just before ABC pulled the plug on it. I'm glad FOX revived it.
The Cool Kids - A funny new show with Martin Mull and David Allan Grier. I'm not sure it has staying power though.
The Orville
Gotham - In its final season. I think the pre Batman show has gotten better each season.
Lethal Weapon - Not nearly as good without Clayne Crawford.
The Simpsons (I've been watching since day one, and despite the fact that the show's just a shadow of itself, I can't bring myself to stop).
Family Guy (See The Simpsons)
The Walking Dead (although I haven't been in a super rush to catch up after Andrew Lincoln left the show)
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Post by The Cap'n on Feb 12, 2019 10:37:20 GMT -5
I'm currently out of shows to watch. I'm caught up on the few I like, have watched to death the historical ones I love, and can't seem to care on most of the rest.
Looking forward to the new/last Game of Thrones episodes. I only began watching it about a year ago but have since caught up and enjoyed it, mostly, even though I'm not usually so big into fantasy.
Looking forward to the next season of Handmaid's Tale, though I'm skeptical, having already thought Season Two was far, far worse than Season One.
Really loved S2 of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but since it just came out a few months ago I'm assuming it'll be a while before the next one.
Can't even bring myself to watch the newest Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt because of how uninteresting the previous season was. Really only S1 was exceptional.
Lost interest in House of Cards a little anyway, and losing Kevin Spacey makes me care even less in it. (Didn't watch the latest season.)
Even the most recent Arrested Development--the funniest show of the post-2000 era in my opinion--didn't do it much for me.
Guess I'm getting grouchier in my old age. And I was pretty grouchy to begin with.
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Post by filledeplage on Feb 12, 2019 10:44:48 GMT -5
Besides my favorite Fox News - I watch TV5 Monde... On Netflix...Grace and Frankie and have watched most of the episodes. House of Cards. Youtube TV a great deal for the sports stations my kids like... Binged on the Omar Sharif - Redford - Streisand stuff.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2019 18:33:27 GMT -5
In my opinion, Game of Thrones started off really good, but it peaked in Season 4 and has been getting progressively worse and worse ever since. Someday I'll write about it in-depth, maybe. Essentially, GRRM (author of the book series) has either lost his inspiration or motivation the last 8 years and never wrote the final two books in the series. What's more, he lost the plot while writing the fourth and it became a jumbled up mess. That's why books 4 and 5 only contain half the POV characters each and the big climaxes it builds up to (Battle of Winterfell, Battle for Meereen) got pushed to the next book, which hasn't come out and shows no signs of doing so anytime soon.
Anyway, without material to adapt the showrunners Bennioff and Weiss have to wing it. They're either unwilling or unable to hire a writer's room like practically every other show ever made, so the two of them have been writing everything GRRM left out (which started in Season 5 for some plots, and now by Season 7 includes all of them.) It's a damn shame things have turned out this way because the setup was so good. I place most of the blame on GRRM for sure, and it's been funny watching the attitude towards him change just in the 5 years I've been a fan. It used to be no one could complain and if they did, they'd get shouted down with: "GRRM is not your bitch!!" (Yes, that was an actual phrase used, popularized by author Neil Gaiman in fact.) Nowadays people shit on him and make fun of him all the time in the fan subreddit. It's unfortunate he ruined his own legacy like that, but he did it to himself.
Anyway, I will watch Season 8 just because at this point I'm in too deep. I've seen the other seasons dozens of times, read the books, read people's theories. Unless this last season really surprises me and ups the quality though I don't see myself returning to the series much if at all in the future.
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Post by The Cap'n on Feb 12, 2019 18:39:45 GMT -5
Interesting. I don't know anything about the books and don't plan to ever read them, but it's good to see how they have played into things. I do agree that the latter seasons weren't as tight as the earlier ones. My main takeaway has been that the writer likes finding ways to incorporate bare boobs into scenes.
A similar idea bleeds into Handmaid's Tale for me, though. The book ends earlier than even S1 ended. S2 was just--to my mind, anyway--exciting TV trying to play on some issues of the day (exaggerated, obviously). But it took what had been Atwood's brilliant restraint in the original--using things that had all basically happened somewhere, sometime--and turned it all ridiculous, apparently just for the excitement factor.
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