What I'm Watching

 What I’m Watching…

Photo by Nothing Ahead

Just a quick refresher for anyone that forgot:

With the new year, I got back into scheduling what I watch. By that I mean, each day I focus on one streaming service or watching DVDs/blu-rays I own. I started doing this years ago and it really helped me to actually finish watching shows instead of just starting something and then going back and watching random shit on YouTube for the next month. Which is what I’ve been doing for the past year, really. So, I’m going to start some posts talking about what I’m watching for each day and my thoughts, and my expectations to actually finish it.

Disney+

Still no Disney+. I’ll get it back someday… Cause I do need to watch that Obi-Wan Kenobi show… And the Boba Fett show… But, car is in the shop and we gotta save every little bit we can. So, Disney+ is on hiatus for me.

DVD/blu-ray

Clerks, Clerks: Animated Series, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma

Oh boy. This was a fun day of laughing at dick and fart jokes I have heard a few thousand times. So far, Dogma is still my absolute favorite Kevin Smith. It is just a great movie. I am probably gonna do a tier list of Kevin Smith movies at some point after I finish watching the View Askew movies. I will go into my love for each then.

DVR

The Daily Show 

Did y’all know Gabrielle Union is 50? Also finally watched Trevor's last show. Which I will miss him. Also got caught up on John Oliver. And watched a random Doctor Who episode. Then I watched Spongebob cause I got sucked into reading and couldn’t be bothered to actually pay attention to anything.

HBO Max

The Looney Tunes Show (2011-2013)

I was tired and still cared more about reading than paying attention to the TV. Which, that show is awesome. It’s basically a sitcom with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. I don’t really like what they did with Lola. She is a fun character, but I remember Lola from the old Space Jam movie and… this is not that Lola… But other than that I love the show and it is a go-to for me when I’m just not in the mood for something serious.

Hulu

Elementary

Got to the episode with the Moriarty reveal. Which I think is just perfection. This Moriarty is my favorite.

Netflix

Lucifer

This show just keeps getting more twisty and turny and I love it. 

PlutoTV

Garfield and Friends

PlutoTV is not a favorite streaming service, but it’s free. And it has a whole “channel” or whatever that plays Garfield and Friends. Which is such a nostalgia watch for me. 

Prime

Grimm

The show is growing on me. I’m interested. But… I still have some issues with it so it won’t be on my favorite TV shows list. But it’s an interesting watch.

Roku

Dead Like Me

I watched this show before and really enjoyed it. Figured I could do a rewatch. The show is about a group of grim reapers. And it’s surprisingly funny. Mostly. There is some angst, of course. 

Tubi

Boogeymen: Monsters Among Us

Yay! More cryptids! Lot of lake monsters… Is there a monster in every lake? Which, when I asked Ryan this, he said they are guardian spirits and now I have decided every lake does indeed have a “monster” but it’s really a guardian spirit. So, time to make some sacrifices to these guardian spirits.

VUDU

Supernatural

Almost got all the way through season one. Still do not like John Winchester. Don’t come at me listing off his redeeming qualities, cause I don’t care. Bobby is the better father figure to the Winchester boys. Speaking of Bobby. I stopped watching at his first episode. Gods did I miss him. Bobby is totally my favorite Supernatural character.

YouTube

Hmm… I feel like I should explain how I watch stuff on YouTube real quick. I don’t just pick out a video on the main page and go from there. I go through the recommended videos and save the interesting ones to my Watch Later list. Then I just hit play on that on YouTube days. So, unless I am in the mood to watch something specific, YouTube days are all over the place. Which means -

I watched a few videos to put on the kiddo’s school playlists (we have a playlist for each subject and they have to watch so many a month and give me a summary or at least tell me something they learned). Watched Lazy Game Reviews talk about an old game and unbox an old computer. Watched a couple dudes make nerdy things. Watched a list of spooky videos. Watched the new OnlyOneOf video. And some CJUGames videos. 

“I’m not good at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?” 

– Chandler (Matthew Perry), Friends

Stephy Plays Animal Crossing: New Horizons

 Day 13

Last time on Hades...

Al moved in. And... I caught some bugs. And probably some fish.

Sorry the pictures are dark. I played after dark... 

Yay! New villager!

We're moving on up!

Look at my coconut tree!

I caught 100 fish!

Look at my pumpkins! I also planted some tomatoes. This little bit is now my garden.

I like what you've done with the place, Al.

Peggy is a pig... 

Oh yeah! Check out my purple roof! Which looks sort of blue in this picture... I'll try again later...

Gotta check in with Cherry before I stop playing.

“Before you marry a person, you should first make them use a computer with slow Internet to see who they really are.” 

– Will Ferrell

Stephy Plays Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Day 12

Last time on Hades...

Got a new villager. Caught some fish. Caught some bugs.

Yay! New villager!

I've caught 100 bugs! Go me!

Wooooo!

Oh! I was right! Al is a monkey! Or an ape... I am not good at those...

Snacks are important. Very important. Take all the time you need, dude.

I like to call this fish the David Rose fish.

I made a mushroom partition. And I love it... Also, there is a wasp in that cage. I am hoarding it until Flick shows up cause I need him to make me a statue of a wasp. So I can show it off like a hunting trophy. Fucking wasps... Also, before this, I was stung by fucking wasps...

I think I'm gonna just plant a bunch of different flowers up here. It'll be pretty.

I am very sad that I can't ride this springy horse toy...

Yes! Get to building! *throws bells at him* Bigger house! Bigger house!

Stop asking questions and make my house bigger! *keeps throwing bells*

Purple! Purple roof!

Yesssssssss!

“Weakness is what brings ignorance, cheapness, racism, homophobia, desperation, cruelty, brutality, all these things that will keep a society chained to the ground, one foot nailed to the floor.” 

~ Henry Rollins

The Shining by Stephen King

 

The Shining 
by Stephen King

Warnings:

Language

Racist language

violence

abuse

magical negro trope

homophobic language (I think there was some in there, if there was, it wasn't enough to register in my memory banks very well)

Been a while since I did a book review. Let's see if I can remember how to talk about books... 

Fair warning: I will be mentioning the movie. 

So, the Shining is about the Torrance family (Jack, Wendy, and Danny) and their winter stay at the Overlook hotel. Which, I won't say it went badly. But I will say it went very, very, very not good. 

Jack is a short-tempered recovering alcoholic. Wendy, his long-suffering wife. And Danny is their young son that has psychic powers. Jack was a teacher, but lost his job after he lost his temper and beat the shit out of a student. So... he seems like a fun guy. Jack is in need of a job so his buddy Al recommends him to take a post as caretaker for a fancy hotel in the Colorado mountains. The book opens with Jack's job interview with the hotel manager. And we get a pretty good feel for Jack's character pretty quickly. He's an angry man (though Ullman's kind of a prick so being angry is understandable). But, he does love his family. 

As the story progresses, Jack becomes obsessed with the Overlook. Which, hey, I would be too. That place has a hell of an interesting history. But... Jack took it about five steps too far. And while he is all "This place is great!" Wendy and Danny are less excited. 

Now, I am going to assume everyone knows how this book ends. Well, sort of. Hell, I knew how shit was gonna go down before I even knew what The Shining was thanks to The Simpsons parody of it. Which, yeah, because of that, the first time I read this book (this is the second time I've read it by the way) I could not read anything that Dick Hallorann said without hearing Groundskeeper Willie's voice. So, thank you The Simpsons for making this a slightly weird read that first time. Even knowing how things are going to go down, the book is suspenseful as hell. It is drawn out enough to be suspenseful but not too much that it becomes annoying. Which is perfect. 

Now, I said I was going to mention the movie. So... The movie. I don't like it as much as the book. I will not say it is a bad movie, because it's not. It is a good movie. I just find the book way better. To me, the movie kind of just feels like a dude got some extreme cabin fever while stuck in a hotel for the winter and tried to kill his family. The book goes into more of the supernatural things that are happening. Which I prefer in fiction. I want some spooky shit as opposed to dude goes crazy and tries to kill people shit. You get a vague feeling that something supernatural might be going on in the movie.  But in the book it is very obvious that supernatural shit is going down. 

I love Stephen King's writing. This book has multiple POV characters. Jack, Wendy, Danny, and Dick (he was the cook for the Overlook and also has some slight psychic powers). And they all feel very different as they tell the story. Child characters always seem to be written weirdly. A lot of writers just can't seem to grasp how to write a believable child character. Mr. King does pretty well with Danny in this. Danny seems a bit smart for his age, but not to an extreme that makes it unbelievable. 

I highly recommend this book. If you have read it, read it again. If you watched the movie but haven't read the book, read the book. If you haven't watched the movie, read the book. 

Also, thank you Stephen King for making me afraid of topiary animals. Good fucking job, man. Though... Not afraid of hotels. Both times I have read this book my brain is like "Oh, spending three months or so in an empty hotel with just a group of my closest friends would be fun! As long as there are no topiary animals..." 

If you're interested: 

Lost in Adaptation video

The Dom Reviews The Shining

The Magical Negroes of Stephen King

“A book is a dream you hold in your hands.” 

– Neil Gaiman