I started watching James Burke’s series, Connections, many years ago and loved it. Happily, a new series of Connections came out last year and it’s as enjoyable, surprising and thought provoking as it ever was. The man is 88 years old and still going strong.
This clip from the older Connections series pops up regularly on the Interwebs.
We are having trouble finding stuff we like on Netflix, Prime, Paramount Plus, and BritBox lately. We aren’t getting rid of them because we want to see future seasons of some shows we liked a lot.
If we were going to add one more service, which would you recommend most?
Max or Apple.
The major component you’re missing there is the Disney/hulu column.
If you have any affection for the many Disney properties (Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, etc)) Disney+ is worth it.
Barring that, Hulu has a good chunk of movies and tv shows you might not have run into.
If you particularly like horror, Shudder is a great value.
If you’re particularly into film (said in the most pretentious way possible) there’s The Criterion Channel. For more current focus on indie and foreign stuff, there’s MUBI.
For free, there are a number of FAST (Free Ad Supported TV) channels, like TUBI, the Roku channel, Pluto TV or Prime’s ‘freevee’ section, etc.
If you rely on BritBox, you’ll cotton to Acorn.
I had Mubi from 2020-2021. It’s funny, I went to ton of foreign and indie movies at art house movie theatres before 2020, before I had a SmartTV or Netflix.
I didn’t have the attention span to watch most movies Mubi was screening on our first rather small SmartTV at home. I don’t think I watched more than one movie on Mubi.
I used to be more into film. I had memberships at the arthouse cinema, the TIFF Lightbox, and Italian Film Festival. I used to pay to see a lot of obscure films, attended indie film premieres, attended and volunteered at Film Fests. I guess I’m not really into film, right now.
HBO shows are streamed through Crave in Canada. (I forgot.) I had Crave for a year, which was glitchy on my Samsung TV. I might try Crave again, on our current Sony TV.
Better yet, get yourself an external streaming device, like a Roku, Tablo, Firestick, or various others. Most are less than $50, and have the advantage that you are not dependent on your televisions NON-TV technology.
A good display can last 10-20 years if treated well. But the apps in those SmartTV’s will stop being supported in 7-10. Then what? Toss a perfectly good screen? Just get a cheap $25 streaming stick.
As long as your tv has hdmi ports, an external source is always better. Plus, three’s a lot of evidence that net connected tv’s are wiring their manufactures about your viewing habits etc.
I NEVER connect my tv to the net. Ever.
What my brother is watching; anyone familiar? “Liziqi Channel”
Started the second season of Mr. Mercedes, which is finally veering into trusted SK territory. Brendan Gleeson is a treasure.
It makes me want to read more of his novels, besides the ones I read many moons ago.
“Mr. Mercedes” has seasons? Don’t tell me! I still haven’t finished reading the book.
OMG. I am jealous! I promise I won’t post any spoilers 
On the occasion of Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance scoring a bunch of highly deserved Oscar noms (I’m still mad they didn’t get one for production design), I thought I’d point out that her previous feature, Revenge, is now available to stream on Shudder.
The film is a variation on the old rape-revenge, I Spit On Your Grave exploitation films, that often paid lip-service to a sort of primitive concept of female empowerment, but really just existed to showcase female bodies in all sorts of ways that now rightfully give us a sort of ‘ick’. But in Fargeat’s hands, it takes the ostensible purpose of those old revenge thrillers SERIOUSLY. We get a tale of righteous fury and satisfying comeuppance without the uncomfortable leering of previous eras.
By its nature this is, of course, a violent film where bad things happen to people. If that’s not your thing, move along with no guilt. But if you dug The Substance, give this a watch. You’ll find a lot to appreciate.
I needed a couple of episodes of Laid for levity after powering through 3 of Mr. Mercedes, bc that show is DARK 
I read a lot of SK in my yout. Now that I am an adult I wonder what it must be like to have these things floating around in one’s brain…
Was this any good?? I’ve seen it in the feeds for my free channels.
Please and Thank you!!
Kamikaze 1989 (1982) - dir. Wolf Gremm
In the far flung future of 1989, the New German Republic has become the wealthiest nation in the world. Society is run like a perfectly ordered clockwork of German efficiency. All cultural and manufacturing output is controlled by The Combine.
Jansen, a portly, completely checked out police detective (played by Rainer Werner Fassbinder!!), is called on to investigate a bomb threat at Combine headquarters. From there, things proceed like a low budget Bladerunner wanna-be, right down to a P. K. Dick-like conspiracy that dissolves into head-scratching vagueness.
There’s even a score by Tangerine Dream, standing in for Vangelis.
The film is very German, but doesn’t feel quite as ‘foreign’ to me as some others with less common cultural contexts. There’s a goofy, silly sense of humor to it all that contrasts with the world weary cynicism of the rest of the film. But the humor, the aforementioned score, and the fabulous 80’s hair and clothing make it worth a look if you like that sort of thing, as I do.
2 of 5 Teutonic Cyberpunk Conspiracies
Well, it’s based on an Australian show of the same name, and I’d actually be curious to see the OG version if it were available anywhere.
It’s brain candy for us for the most part — not challenging, fairly entertaining and occasionally very funny. The episodes are also short, so it’s a nice late night ‘cleanse’ after one of our horror movie/show sessions
I’ve only ever seen the Australian version which was fun as I recall (vaguely).
I’ll need to watch this one. I love Stephanie Hsu.
Watched the first episode of season 4 of Mythic Quest. I have to admit we loved the first two seasons and never finished the third. Can’t say the episode from last night is drawing me back. Maybe the characters are just played out. Really enjoyed the first episode of Deadloch and looking forward to the rest of the season. Ditto for first episode of Ink Black Heart. Love the characters and actors that play Strike and Robin and everyone around them.
