I have an e-friend from another, non-food, forum who is from Northern Ireland, where he still lives. I remember chatting one day and we got on to the subject of the “The Troubles”. He told me that he came from a working class background but life had been kind and he’d found a very middle class career in journalism. He went on to say that, without those breaks, he’s certain he would have found himself joining one of the Loyalist paramilitary gangs as had others of his contemporaries.
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Spring Onion loves “Immigrant Song” by Zeppelin (there’s nothing funnier than hearing a 10-year-old sing the opening lines). We all love “School of Rock,” though it’s been a couple of years since we last watched it and SO couldn’t remember the scene when that song briefly appears in the movie. I had to rectify this so we watched this weekend—love that movie!
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Can’t love this enough 
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They can probably hit the high notes on the opening screams.
Ahh AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH AHHHH!!!
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Skeleton Crew (2024)
Ok. We’re all adults here. Realistically, none of us NEEDS any more Star Wars in our lives. We probably enjoyed the original films as kids of various ages. Maybe some here are of the age where they grew up loving the prequels. Probably, a few of you watched some of the new films. Maybe a handful have watched some of the various Disney+ series that have been of widely varying quality. The best, like the first season or two of The Mandelorian or the fantastic Andor, really felt like old school Star Wars. The worst, like the moribund Boba Fett or Obi Wan series, have been a bunch of fan-service strung together with weightless CGI settings, just more soaceship-shaped product to shove through the pipe.
Skeleton Crew not only is on the good side of that divide, it actually does something that Star Wars hasn’t been able to do thus far: successfully extend the universe in ways not directly related to the Skywalker saga, in a form that genuinely captures the FUN of Star Wars through a kid’s viewpoint.
It’s a short, 8 part series that plays out like a Goonies-style kids adventure, with a rag-tag group of tweens accidentally stumbling onto a long abandoned space-pirate ship and being flung out into the galaxy. Now they have to escape the dastardly pirates and make their way home.
It’s delightful, and perfectly balances a light touch, keeping things appropriate for all but the very youngest viewers, while not being afraid of providing real stakes to the conflict and not shying away from actual consequences.
It is, finally, something that actually feels like Star Wars in both form and execution, and even manages to carve out its own little space for itself.
You probably don’t NEED more Star Wars, but this might actually make you WANT some.
4.5 out 5 stick fights with your friends while making light saber noises.
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I enjoyed Black Doves.
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We binged and watched the entire first season of On Call last night, a police procedural with 30 minute episodes which takes place in Long Beach.
It’s a Dick Wolf production.
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Watched the rest of the PBS documentary. Highly recommend.
I watched season 1-2 of The Diplomat, was good. Waiting for season 3 of Mayor of Kingstown to be released from my local library, or I might have to take advantage of the 7 day “free trial” from Paramount + through Amazon Prime 
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Ooh I forgot S3 was out! Thanks for the reminder.
Meanwhile, caught up and waiting with bated breath for the S2 finale of Silo on Friday 
And started Disclaimer. Great cast.
(If I could replace Nicole Kidman with Cate Blanchett in all her recent stuff I would be such a happy camper.)
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Just finished Exte. I was happily surprised to recognize Chiaki Kuriyama (Yuko) as Gogo from Kill Bill.
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We watched the first two episodes of The Day of the Jackal last night. So far, so good.
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Oh damnit. This one really stings.
RIP David Lynch, one of the truly great filmmakers of his time.
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I parked mine in the WOYM thread. Bummer.
And emphysema from years of smoking. How apropos of another hot topic… shame.
Beyond every film he made himself (yes, INCLUDING Dune!) there is an excellent documentary about him, David Lynch: The Art Life. It’s one of the very few times he speaks even a little about his films (the other big one being the book Lynch on Lynch).
The Art Life is available on kanopy, a service included free with many public library memberships in the US. It’s also on Max, the Criterion channel and various other places for rent.
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Words cannot express how excited I am about the return of Severance, one of the best shows in recent memory. We’ll probz hold off until a few episodes have dropped. If we can control ourselves, that is!
Vorfreude ist die schönste Freude, after all 
Now, if only they would bring back Counterpart, too…
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We just started watching the first season this week and finished in time for S2E1 last night. I was expecting more of it, not gonna lie. There were a few interesting developments, but not enough for me, considering the banger of a S1 cliffhanger.
I should probably rewatch the final episode, then (if not the entire season), as I don’t remember. Well, my PIC just gave me a quick reminder.
Maybe it’s a slow burn? I’m happy to find out.
It would be a half hour show if they cut out all the hallway wandering.
