Where I find new music: Part 14 - my son

Wow, the following was drafted about 6 years ago.  It’s a problem I have - drafting some ideas and never completing the piece and posting it.  There’s so many that they could make up a new chapter.  Sadly, I didn’t write down the name of the band he’d found - do you remember buddy?

My son found a great new song on CFNY today and came downstairs to tell me about.   I could tell he was excited about a new find that he thought I'd like.  And he was right.   Unusual opening, catchy beat and melodies and champion-like rhythms.  Happy to see the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.

Kind of related to part 1 of this series.

I found this draft while chilling to the smooth sounds of BadBadNotGood while enjoying a lovely summer afternoon on our cabana in our urban back yard...

A Reason to Share

Some friends may feel I share too much.
I’m not shy about sharing my opinions on important matters.
Recently, some friends have said it’s important to speak up about racial injustice.

This is one way I can share my voice - through these strangers. Wonderful, friendly and beautiful people who I met while doing my 100 Strangers project. When I talked with them we did not talk about their personal experiences in this racially biased world - I didn’t think about it as we talked about a variety of other topics. Did we treat each other differently because of the difference in our skin colour? I'd like to think not, but maybe. I look into their faces now and wonder about how different their lives must be and suspect they have all faced racial prejudice. I can try and relate but my white privilege is a barrier to truly understanding. I hope these words do not offend anyone who is black, I’m not pretending to know what your life is like. Actually Newt Gingrich says it clearly in Ava DuVernay’s 13th “ virtually no one who is white understands the challenge of being black in America”. But I am on your side and I believe #BlackLivesMatter.

All I know is that these strangers, these people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting matter to me. Friends here in Toronto, acquaintances I’ve made south of the border and the stories that sadden me dearly like George Floyd - they all matter to me. I truly hope there’s a way forward that makes their lives and their families lives safer and fairer.

There’s another part in 13th where Cory Greene says “...we don’t need to see pictures to understand what’s going on”. But Van Jones says “you have to shock people into paying attention”. I do pay attention and I’m paying attention now.
But just this week, I caught myself being racist. When I was talking with a work friend about another person in our company, I said a “black guy” in the East.  Why did I have to say he was black.  I’d say that is an example of racism, of being racist.  

I called the man in question and apologized. We had a long chat about racism as well as work.   He was hesitant to say that what I said was racist but did say that people don’t realize the impact of their words.

I also apologized to my friend and they reflected on the fact that they heard me say it and didn't say something. They said they are working on speaking up more often.

I think that’s what we can all do. In addition to making sure we are accountable for our own words, we need to be responsible for speaking out when others are racist.

I apologize. As it’s said with many problems, the first step is recognizing the problem.

Movie review catch-up just in time to answer everyone asking for recommendations for something to watch during global pandemic shutdown

The Platform - you may have seen this get promoted onto your Netflix feed - it was extremely good, but definitely not for everyone.  It has a premise similar to Snowpiercer with a simple graphic puzzle like Cube, with the deeply disturbing psychology of The Stanford Prison Experiment.  I was a little worried about how I'd sleep, but I survived.  Brilliant concept and execution.  Brutal violence but rationed out carefully.  A lot to think about and you could spend a lot of time reading the deeper hypotheses on IMDB.  But first, tighten your seatbelt for quite the mind ride. It is a Spanish language film, but that shouldn't stop true movie fans from having a taste. 8/10

The Irishman - So good.  Maybe the opposite of 1917.  Sure, I little gun violence but such deep storytelling and character exploration.  So much that isn’t just communicated like one of those brilliant restaurant scenes (some in Italian too).  Loyalty personified.  The characters came first, the actors (for the most part) were secondary.  Brilliant acting and direction.  The dialogue was almost poetic.  It was very long and I did glance at the clock a few times (now 12:51 on a Thursday morning), but the pacing was spot on - I guess there was just a lot to tell.   Very little humour, but so much Scorsese potion to soak in.  The makeup was a little off-putting at times but once you’re on-board there’s no real turning back.   Hard to choose which of three super stars are worthy of an award but I really liked Pesci.  9/10

The Art of Racing in the Rain - Well the story was pretty much a straightaway with a nasty cruel element that I thought was too severe.  The acting wasn’t a big stretch, but most characters were likeable.  I was going to give it a 6, but for a lover of dogs and motor racing, I’ll give an extra star for a decent 7/10.  Good soundtrack, nice track scenes and historical F1 moments.

Taylor Swift: Miss Americana - Really well done.  Maybe not for misogynists or Trump supporters, but I felt it was heartfelt and real.  The challenges of stardom and being a successful female in any industry,  Then you add the genius of her creative process and the unusual life she lives - fascinating stuff.  Behind the curtain wonder, human tension and the mystery of stardom, well worth watching.  7/10

Motherless Brooklyn - Really liked this classic gumshoe mystery with a twist or should I say twitch.  Super portrayal by Norton Jr, but I couldn’t see past Baldwin.  Great moods, especially with the jazz soundtrack.   Funny and touching at times.  7/10

Wonder - Wonder  = wonderful.  As per the book(s) structure, I really liked the multi-POV sub plots.  Although there was massive star talent, the young actors stole the show.   From the lead Jacob Tremblay to the complexity of school stereotypes and on to collateral damage, the characters were so vivid. 8/10

Dolemite in My Name - A very unusual hero movie.  I suspected it was true but still came as a welcome surprise during the credits (I hope that's not too much of a spoiler) with comparisons to the real Rudy.  Sure, Murphy was in familiar territory but it took some deeper acting to balance the comical with the storytelling.  7/10  

From further back

Woodstock (2019 version with tag Three Days that Defined a Generation, available on Netflix) - this documentary of the famous event paid less attention to the music and more to the people.  The guys that made it happen, the people who attended and all that happened in between.  What were they thinking?  Loved the storytelling and what the event became. 7/10

The Rolling Stones Ole Ole Ole!: A Trip Across Latin America - (from Twitter) Wow. Found The Rolling Stones Ole Ole Ole: A Trip Across Latin America doc on the PVR (Feb 2019 CTV) - sums up the passion & joy of live music & The Stones beautifully; watch it if you can find it & if you’re on the same team #ItsOnlyRocknRollButILikeIt 9/10 Since posting that on Twitter, the movie is now available on Netflix.

and Parasite - watched it again.  Wow.  Again.

The Aeronauts

My daughter and I started watching this historical drama a while ago and found its beginning quite odd.  For whatever reason we didn’t continue to watch it on that day.  

Forward wind a few months perhaps and I resume the film.  

The movie approximates real life events of early hot air balloon expeditions but the film had a lot of fun with many dangerous adventure action scenes.  The film took many artistic liberties, but it didn’t take away from an interesting time of exploration and science discovery.  

I found the action scenes rather stressful and wasn’t certain of the future of the protagonists.  The chemistry between Jones and Redmayne worked nicely and the stunt work demonstrated the perils of high altitude balloon flight very effectively.  

I really enjoyed the mix of history, science, aeronautics, adventure and heroic pursuits.  Throughly entertaining for an inquisitive, adventurous type.  

Watched a few YouTube bits afterwards - Redmayne’s interview on Colbert was delectable and provided some juicy insight into the making of the movie.  

7/10

I was planning on using a beautiful still from the movie in this post, but I couldn't find a image that appears clear from copyright.  Instead I chose an image from The Smithsonian.

I'm Going to Break Your Heart

This one may be a little difficult to find - I watched it on an Air Canada fight under the Canadian Content section.

This is a documentary about the emotional and creative relationship of Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida.  You may recognize her name from Canadian music fame and perhaps his because he is the lead singer of the band Our Lady Peace.  My wife is a big fan of their new music duo MOON VS SUN and we saw them play live a while ago here in Toronto.


 

The movie is difficult to watch at times - I definitely felt he was real and she was a little theatrical.  But maybe that’s just how they are.

Uneasy because of similarities to my relationship with my wife.  Or dare I say many husbands and their wives.  Sure he’s a dope at times, but she’s also appears difficult.  Maybe extremes of us?

Interesting to see what went into the songs.  We saw them perform many songs from the album a few months ago.

Their therapist was too weird for me and I felt created some disingenuous interaction.

I’m not certain I believe it and I’m worried for them.

It feels wrong to even comment about these real people.

Maybe their expectations for writing in Saint Pierre et Miquelon were too high.   Sunny California had far less friction and seemed to warm their hearts.  Saint Pierre et Miquelon was just too damn cold.

But the tension and times of tenderness and love makes for some good music.  And that’s how they deal with their challenges by singing about it out loud.

7/10 for putting it all out there.

Ford v Ferrari

First off, yes, I'm a fan of motor racing (but not auto racing - that sounds too American).

My father is a big fan and many friends and members of my family share the love of the sport, albeit for perhaps different reasons.  For me, I love witnessing the pinnacle of engineering, seeing highly talented drivers pushing the limits of a machine to the breaking point, buying into the drama and controversy year after year and all of that wrapped up into a beautiful adrenaline rush.  I do enjoy go-kart racing on occasion, but that's as far as I've gone past the point of driving a family car over the speed limit.  So when a big movie like Ford v Ferrari comes out with top-draw acting talent wrapped around motor racing and real life sporting events, that's hard to resist.

You can read all the history and background yourselves and there's lot of it and there's some great YouTube bits about what they got right and wrong in the movie and there's a full length documentary about the event's 50 year reunion and the associated new technical challenges of repeating Le Mans 1966.  Superb stuff.

I really enjoyed this historical drama, it followed a true-to-life plot, but made some creative turns along the way.  The race sequences were perhaps a little overdone, so there was no lack of noise, power and track drama to get the heart racing.  I thought Bale and Damon were spot on and seemed to really love their characters.  I know a little history of Ford and Le Mans, but the movie filled in lots of interesting historic notes.  Probably not for everyone, but someone who is drawn to stories about the competitive drive for victory, historical innovation and technology and getting to know a little about some very interesting real people, you'll will be very entertained.  

8/10 

The photo above is the revamped version of the GT-40 that I saw at last year's Detroit Auto Show.  The one below is an older model in the neighbourhood back in 2008.

Does polling provide an accurate reflection of what we think - who do you trust to explain what is important to you?

Three examples of polling figures that at first glance could be surprising:

From Today's USA Today:

Which seems to conflict with one from a YouTube video I saw recently from one of my new favourite YouTubers: Johnny Harris on his latest vlog called Why People Think the World is Flat, Johnny shows a poll from Yougov...

Wow.

And finally, I found this while searching for Sanders  (funny many links to belt sanders were mixed with the politician) on DuckDuckGo this morning. 

Source: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_sanders-6250.html

I'm sure behind each of these are other stories of question bias, statistics and assumptions.  For example, I quickly found an article explaining the extraordinary flat earther numbers - "No, One-Third of Millennials Don't Actually Think Earth Is Flat.

These are all contributing artifacts to what I've been paying attention lately - we live in highly complex time and place and very few people truly understand the things they see in the news, see on their favourite YouTube channels, or skim books about economics or the reasons why they have such strong opinions about science, religion, politics or Lizzo.

Who do you trust to explain what is important to you?

Joker

Playing Joker was a masterful job my Phoenix.   A gutsy project for all involved.  Although the complexity of character was the main draw, I loved the sets, cinematography and even the soundtrack.  The tension was cut with a naughty, playful mix of a madman’s smile and style.  Phoenix disappeared into his character as he has done in so many excellent past performances.   It fits well with the Batman story, it’s a strong scary companion of the Dark Knight and has a lot of uncomfortable reality.  

Long sentence ramble warning: The mix of DC comic fantasy storytelling and setting with serious modern day concerns about mental health and accessibility of guns could have tipped a viewer to safer ground, but there was a level of believability of Joker’s world that left no doubt we were beyond comic book fantasy and forced to face the real dangers of today’s unfair and uncaring world. 

8/10. 

Brittany Runs a Marathon

Brittany Runs a Marathon (Amazon) is good enough to deserve it's own post.  A simple story with some clever sub plots and colourful characters, but what made it a very entertaining and worthy of some award nominations was Jillian Bell's solid hold of her role that made Brittany someone to care about.  I feel there's a place for movies that can provide genuine inspiration for people that need little lift, a friendly reminder something better is possible and to enjoy the good things in life.  7/10  

Michaela Watkins, Paul Downs Colaizzo, Jillian Bell, and Brittany O'Neill 

at an event for Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019)

Blood Ties. This is not a positive review. And there are spoilers

I’m not exactly sure how I found this recent fictional podcast. But I recall it ranked quite high and was narrated by some film and TV actors.  I don’t think I’ve listened to any fictional podcasts before but it was from the same producers of Dr. Death (non-fictional) that was very well done.

So Blood Ties.  Tasty setting, modern plot, evil theme and good audio atmosphere (hey, there’s probably a foley guy that deserves some credit).  That’s it.   Sorry.  It did kill some time while walking my dog, heading to the gym and doing dishes, but come on...give me a twist at least.  It was truly soap-operaish.   I’m not sure what they were aiming for or who this was intended for, I’m just glad it was only 6 short episodes.  But wait, there’s more...a cliff hanger.  You could see it coming a mile away, oh please.  

I don’t know how I fell for this, genius marketing, boredom, social-media AI, doesn’t matter.  Don’t waste your time, there’s so much real and worthwhile entertainment available.  Or you could just write your own better story.

Generator Toronto 2020 with Chris Hadfield

My wife saw this event last year and got tickets for both of us for this year’s version.  Although main draw, headliner Chris Hadfield only had three appearances, the variety, depth and quality of the other presenters and artists was top notch.  From leading edge science, maths comedy and societal commentary, there was so much I enjoyed.  The venue was the still awesome Roy Thompson Hall, the setting was casual and quirky, but the content was delivered with a strong level of integrity and relevance.

Accompanied by the techno groove of TWRP, Chris’ son Evan Hadfield started off the evening and relayed the themes of positivity, scientific integrity and the value of honest dialogue (I didn’t take notes, but that’s what I took from his opening and the presentations). Rob Ince was the fast-paced humourous Brit host and kept the series of speakers and artists moving along nicely.

It wasn’t all serious science, and Second City (with some sing-a-long), Aaron Chen (from Australia) and Matt Parker (loved the math laughs and now recall I’ve seen him on YouTube previously) interjected a good amount of comedic material and even Jae Rhim Lee (of mushroom death suit fame) and Shari Forbes (with an explanation of a body farm) lightened the heavy topics of mortality and human remains.  Some of the presenters had appeared on Ted Talks, including Adrian Owen and Brendan Frey who enlightened the audience with their important and innovative advances in health sciences.  The night concluded with Simone Giertz adding youthful fun with personal seriousness in a conversation with Chris Hadfield.

But it was Chris Hadfield that we all came to see and he didn’t disappoint.  He delivered a nice acoustic rendition of The Animals’ House of the Rising Sun after the break, but his main contribution was on the topic of map history and science.  His is one (rare) of those people that can make any topic interesting in his passion, delivery, humour and intellect.  Those few minutes were worth the price of admission alone.

American Factory

American Factory is a fascinating documentary film available on Netflix that delves into the culture clash and factory labour conditions when a Chinese auto glass manufacturer takes over a shutdown GM assembly plant in Ohio.  



There is a follow-on short on Netflix where the Obamas interview the filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert.  This answered a few questions I had about inside access, explained the natural telling of all corners of the story and managing to avoid independent commentary (which must have been very difficult to resist).

Beautiful cinematography foundation with honest, insightful and heartfelt interviews, intriguing business angles and opening up a dialogue about the impacts of globalization and automation (although I disagreed with the doom & gloom written comments towards the end).

Loved how they got access to factories and people in China (putting aside the likely government controls) - any Westerner who watches this should come away with some level of deeper understanding of global cultural and work differences.  

Well worth your time, not just a well made doc, but a view into the challenging times for the globe's working classes.  9/10

The Two Popes

After seeing the Golden Globe Award nominations included The Two Popes, I thought I should give this new Netflix docu-drama a chance.  Although I'm not a religious man (but married in a Catholic church and both my children are baptized), I was curious about the history and the mystique of the papacy.  Of course, I also went into the film with some trepidation due to the many serious sexual misconduct charges and crimes that continue to damage the church's status and teachings.

I loved it.  I was amazed how the filmmakers got access to the real-world locations and the cinematography was simply stunning.  I was also incredibly impressed by Hopkins' and Pryce's acting in as many as 4 different languages (English, Italian, Spanish and Latin - Hopkins' also spoke German in the film).  Their portrayals of the two famous popes was magnificent.  I'm not certain how close to reality it was, but I really like how we got to learn something behind their grand public personas, how different they are and how "normal" they could be.  I kept asking myself, who in the Vatican approved this film, how did they get the access to these very special places.  The inclusion of real-world TV footage and social media bits was a nice balance with the fictional and speculative elements.  And how did they handle the controversy? - quite well I think - some may say too soft, but it was enough to say there are serious issues underfoot, but not enough to distract from the beauty of their world and the touching human story.  Even the soundtrack was lovely, who knew Pope Benedict was a gifted pianist.  And bring in some Argentina versus Germany footy and you get a tasty mix of art, history, geography, humanity, religion, news, drama and personal reflection.  Well done 9/10.

Movie Review: Knives Out

I went to see Knives Out with my daughter who’d likes a good mystery and can tolerate some potential scares.  I didn’t have a lot of expectations, but thought I’d heard it was a good classic murder mystery and was up for an award or two (it was).  

I really enjoyed it.  It took a few scenes to buy into Daniel Craig’s ridiculous accent, but the setup, the killer combinations and the quirky cast got the ride moving quickly.  Great bits of humour and just the right amount of twists delivered a great, classic whodunit.  

The TOY Project

TOY - Thinking of You.
Shouldn’t that be the price of admission for being human. At a minimum, should we not take pause to think of our family, friends and colleagues on a regular basis.
I’ve been using TOY as a prefix acronym for a while and a few people recognize it without a reminder.
When my senses remind of something or some place that reminds me of someone, it’s a beautiful thing. Those personal experiences and people immediately appear in our visual minds and in most situations brings a smile to our face. There are of course times when the emotion is more melancholy, but I feel it all shows proof of our humanity and connection with each other.
There may be some cynics that feel that sharing a TOY moment is self-satisfying, but I disagree. When these moments materialize in your world, recognize what it is and share a TOY moment with that distant cousin, an old friend or a forgotten acquaintance.
It would be great to see #TOY trending, no?

Idea: A Living Memoir

Part 1. We have a living photo frame at home - a old picture frame re-purposed with some wires and clips to hold standard size (4x6, 5x7) printed photos.  It changes every few months and suits the time of year or mood.

Part 2. 

mem·oir

/ˈmemˌwär/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. 1.

   a historical account or biography written from personal knowledge or special sources.

   "in 1924 she published a short memoir of her husband"
2. 2.

   an essay on a learned subject.

   "an important memoir on Carboniferous crustacea"
3. 
   

I think the second definition is a fair representation of what I'm thinking of, with the "learned subject" being me.



Who has time to write a book?  Maybe when I retire, I would contemplate writing my memoir.  Maybe if I was to give up my good-paying job and write a book about getting the most out of life, or some bullshit title like that.  But seriously, who has time to write a book.  Maybe I can cheat.

I think I have some insights about life, about sports, about technology and how movies, TV and music colour my life (reviews?).

A few times a year I consider the possibility of writing a book (or starting to), but struggled with the potential structure. What if the structure could incorporate blog posts, tweets and shared social media opinions into the narrative. A quick compartmentalization would group content into my thoughts on:

• What makes us happy
• Sports
• Why pay attention to the news and politics
• Beauty and art
• Memories
• Family
• friends
• Drama and story
• Technology
• Work
• Travel

Don’t these headings begin to create a chapter structure to take me forward?
Creating these boxes to organize my thoughts, ideas and impressions is a simple but important step. Whatever is on the list defines us, reveals what’s most important to us and frames our personal life story.

Some of these ideas came shortly after the death of my work friend's wife and sadly, how fast her life ended - which triggered something many have thought about before - what do I want to leave behind?
It’s not what happened when, or a log of personal activities. It’s more a reflection, a personal retrospective and dare I say, the meaning of (my) life.

So what about putting a living memoir onto this blog platform?

There is a problem however with a living, ever-changing book - how does the reader know when they are done?  How do they keep track of what they've already read and then piece it all together to make sense of it all?  Coloured hypertext links may help, but some "bread crumb" mapping is needed to compliment this new form of storytelling.

I think I'm going to try and group common theme content from this blog and other channels as links, excerpts or maybe summaries, but add reflection of what all this means, now.  Let's give it a try...

Movie review: 1917

I saw this at the “legacy” Manulife cinema (I later found out that the movie was in preview only and isn’t officially officially released until Jan 10 here in Canada) a few hours before the Golden Globe Awards.  I try to see some of the nominated films ahead of the awards and will be adding a few more (The Irishman) ahead of the Oscars.

1917 lived up to the billing of a high-action, stressful, cinematic masterpiece, but for me, that was about it.  The screenplay was ok and the acting good, but to me it fell way short of some of the wonderful films of the last 12 months in originality, screenwriting and wow factor. I’m sure it deserves it’s fair share of technical awards, but I didn’t think it deserved the best drama movie at the Golden Globes.

7/10

2019, Best of...(Music)

An annual tradition, shared various ways, not all new releases of 2019, but stuff I discovered in the past year that kept rattling around my ears and playlists.  The YouTube playlist has some great finds of the video versions, some didn't have videos, so there's a cover photo stand-in and I also chose some live ones as a preference.  There's a pretty broad variety in this year's list again - I hope  there’s something for everyone.  Enjoy. For those of you on Apple Music, the playlist is there too.

Apple Music: PJMixer 2019, Best of...

YouTube Playlist: 2019, Best of...

Favourite TV shows from 2019, plus deeper look into the past decade

Digging up this one that was drafted back in July - no way I can deliver on its title, but after the Golden Globes, there’s a few clear additions.  The original title was “ Emmy triggered thoughts and reviews of favourite TV shows EVER”.

The 2019 Emmy Award nominations were announced this week and I was pleased to see a few of my favourite get nominations (and pleased more were nominated for Golden Globes).  I also used it to consider the nominations are tips for future viewing and in fact for that very reason, I watched a few episodes of Schitts Creek while having dinner.  Funny, but not Modern Family funny (and now enjoying something a little similar and a recommendation from my daughter - Life in Pieces).

This also gives me a chance to comment on the state of TV in 2019 (and 2020) - if we can actually call it TV these days (Wikipedia appears to include "television signals...via the internet").  I believe that when TV was first introduced, as long as you had a TV set and were in the vicinity and range of the over-the-air signal, then you could watch a TV program.  Today, that is a very different situation and only 1 of the 8 nominations for best drama series is on "regular" TV.  All the others require the viewer to pay for a premium channel and in some cases, may not be able to see the show at all if the channel is exclusive to the US market.  I believe that even though you may not have access to a particular channel, most, if not all, shows should be available for purchase via iTunes or your favourite video purchase platform.

Although I do watch quite a lot of TV (and movies), I perhaps watch only half of the nominated shows.

So without further ado, may I have the envelop please - favourite PJMixer shows this past year that are also nominated for an Emmy (and some for a Golden Globe):

• Bandersnatch (Netflix, Black Mirror TV movie) - a new interactive TV experience that's worth the setup
• Bodyguard (Netflix) - intense and surprising
• Fleabag (Prime Video) - incredibly funny and edgy, but also deeper than you'd think
• Ozark (Netflix) - not one likable character, but you're kind of still rooting for them, especially Ruth
• Russian Doll (Netflix) - mind bending fun with great soundtrack
• The Daily Show with Trevor Noah - yes, too much Trump, but so well written
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Prime Video) - superb writing, pacing and cast

Favourite PJMixer shows this year that are not nominated for an Emmy or are just older/newer shows that may not qualify

• The Umbrella Academy - lots of wacky superhero fun with a killer soundtrack
• Formula 1 - Drive to Survive (Netflix) - supposedly making new F1 fans in the US - super, alternate video content, amazing sound, but most importantly, great behind the scenes stories of the drivers, the team, the history.  And yes, they’re finishing up season 2 for the 2019 F1 season.

Adding newer ones since this was first drafted...

• The Morning Show (Apple TV+) - massive cast delivers the goods, modern story and complex characters
• For All Mankind (Apple TV+) - fun alternative history space action drama

Where does one start with best TV shows EVER, maybe let’s narrow this down to the past decade.  Of the shows above, I think it’s include The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, especially since it’s one I share with my wife.  Others that shouldn’t really need much explanation:

• Breaking Bad (2008-2013) - some work to get into it, but once onboard I loved the ride.
• Mad Men (2007-2015) - yes, awkward at times, but superb period piece with gobs of style and humour
• Black Mirror (since 2011) - the one some people still haven’t heard of - highly recommended creations of never future tech mostly going wrong, some episodes much better than others - please do NOT watch season 1 episode 1 first
• Downtown Abbey (2010-2015) - say no more
• Modern Family (since 2009) - keeps my laughing (with my daughter)
• House (2004-2012) - so much to love, but mostly the complexity of House
• Entourage (2004-2011) - guilty pleasure

Stay tuned on this one as I’m sure I’ll think of a few others as soon as I turn in for the night.

I did find an older post that includes some of the above with even older shows too - Television.

NFL (playoffs) - wacky imagery and favourites

Drafted this a few weeks ago, so I had to make a few edits now the playoffs are mapped out.

One of the things I like about American football is that there isn’t many games in the season.  One of the things I really dislike about American football is how long a single game lasts and how little action there truly is in a single game.  I went to high school in Windsor, Ontario (Canada) across the river from Detroit and since we don’t have an NFL team in Toronto (my current home), I am a Detroit Lions fan (perhaps supporter is a better word). I’d argue that the Lions are an exciting team to watch and had more than their fair share of tight losses this season.

So, now we’re close to the NFL playoffs.  I kind of appreciate the safety of watching sports without rooting for a favourite, but it’s just not the same.  You need to invest a little in the game to feel something.   So with the Lions eliminated some weeks ago, who do I cheer for?  For me, there has to be some connection with a team.  Perhaps a place you’ve visited and met the love of your life (high stakes), or a place where you always feel at home, or from where you know friends or colleagues.  But please don’t say it’s the colour of the jerseys.

So, the way I see it:

• Green Bay Packers - Lions division revivals and a city I I’ve never been to.  Awful colours and cheese theme.
• Baltimore Ravens - never been to he city, curious perhaps about living under a stigma of street violence.
• Minnesota Vikings - like the city with odd downtown hamster above-ground tunnels for winter comfort but another Lions division rival.  Dodgy colours.
• Houston Texans.  I’ve spent a little business time in Houston over the last few years and I prefer it to Dallas, but can’t relate to their football team.  Remind me, why aren’t they the Oilers?
• Tennessee Titans - based in Nashville, which I love and I’ve seen the stadium from the river, but can’t relate to their team.
• Kansas City Chiefs - weird airport but good BBQ (including the airport).  I’ve been to KC on numerous biz trips and always feel I smell of a BBQ when I leave.  But I am friends with a ex-colleague who is one of the good guys.  Their QB is young and cocky and I kind of like that.
• San Francisco 49ers - they play at Levi’s Stadium (where I’ve had a guided tour) and is walking distance from our Santa Clara office.  An old work friend has season tickets (but complains it’s too hot).
• Seattle Seahawks - the Lynch comeback story, one of my most viewed photos on Flickr, but most importantly, my daughter’s boyfriend’s favourite team.