TV: Only Murders in the Building (Seasons 1,2,3)

I have heard about and wanted to watch this for a while but only got access to it this month.  I haven't watched Season 4 yet but wanted to write about the seasons I have seen.

Seasons 1 and 2 lived up to everything wonderful I have heard about them and more - probably the most original program I have seen in years.  The plotting and style and cast were a delight.  The team of Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez seemed unlikely but they were terrific together.  All things that you can find being said all over the internet.

However I was disappointed in Season 3.  It's not terrible by any means but there was something "less" about it.  I think one problem is that there is less intricacy to the plot, it's more in your face.  Also the kind of detail and empathy shown to all the characters in the first two seasons are missing - the hidden depths and complexity that made them feel real and personal isn't there and we're left with types rather than individuals.  They're fun and entertaining but we don't really care about them.   Meryl Streep and Paul Rudd are talented actors and I like them both but here they're just plot pieces and don't feel real.  (Ms Streep has a decent first scene where she auditions but that's really the only chance she's given to do something real with her character.). They don't really have a chance.  I don't know if this is the fault of the script or the direction or both.  The three leads fare better but to a degree they're coasting on the good will they built up in the first two series and I wonder why they kept the them separate for so much of the time.  It's watching them together that's the fun.  

I'd like to give a mention to James Caverly who plays Theo.  He's an excellent actor.  He's mainly in Season 1 but when he's on screen he's subtle and convincing.  

Movie: Perfect Days

 

This movie is, like it's title, perfect.

I understand that it was filmed in only 17 days.  That is amazing since every scene, every performance was spot on.  The cinematography is spot on.  

Perhaps I'm just seeing this movie at the perfect time in my life but I found it very emotional and very satisfying.

I will probably be writing more about it in an upcoming entry I have in mind.

Cooking

 I have a small whole chicken that I'm going to roast.  I looked on the internet to get roasting temperatures and times for chicken.

I got all sorts of hits but every one I went to turned out to be a long post about essentially nothing and when I finally got to the "recipes" they were vague beyond usefulness.

There was a time when the internet was a great, simple, and quick way to look up how to cook something.  Now cooking posts seem to be full of blather and useless "information."

In the end I dug out my mother's old paperback cookbook from the 1930s or 40s - the pages are browning and getting brittle so you have to treat the book carefully - there's no publication information or date anywhere.  

In there in about 30 seconds I found a beautiful little chart of cooking times and temperatures.

Music and Me

 

I realized just recently that I hardly ever, or rather never, sit down and listen to music anymore.  Yes, I will have music playing in the room via the internet but more often than not I will have ocean or wind sounds on, just background in the condo so that I am less likely to be startled by outside noises breaking the silence. But I'm not really listening to it.

I grew up in a household where classical music was the rule and popular music was something I would hear on the radio in the morning when my parents were listening for the news and weather forecast.

In high school I was introduced by friends to Barbra Streisand and Petula Clark.  I really liked Streisand in the "New York years" but am not as fond of her later recordings.  In university I discovered Judy Collins.  In my 30's I came to really enjoy cabaret style singers such as Andrea Marcovicci.  But I mainly listened to classical music.

I don't know quite what the change has been.  Recently I have sat myself down and listened to some CD's but I find myself getting restless.  It's not that I don't like what I'm hearing.  

It seems rather a shame since with the internet music is so available, and on demand.

I wonder if this is an age thing?  Do other people lose interest/patience which things they have enjoyed as they age?

TV: Mongeville

 

This is a French tv series that I'm watching on DVD.  It's a cozy mystery type production and I'm enjoying it.

What I want to comment about is the music.   The first three episodes had this wonderful score, I guess you call it modern symphonic or some such description.  A bit atonal.  Especially over the end credits.

But staring with episode 4 they changed to a much more modern popular hippy-boppy type of music.  It's all right I guess but I find it kind of distracting and even annoying at times.

I guess they felt it reflects the cozy mystery feel better.

Movie: Wilby Wonderful (2004)

 

I've never understood why this movie isn't "around" more.  It's like its title, wonderful.

It's a very Canadian movie not just in terms of its cast and crew, but in its gentleness, and kindness, and subtlety.  For me everything here is just spot on - the acting, the directing, the script, the cinematography;

Perhaps it's just my age but a film like this about regular people getting through their regular lives is somehow comforting and even inspiring.  And isn't what you want art to be.

Piano

 

A friend recently posted on Facebook about how in the past he had played the piano.  Which got me thinking about my own past with the piano.

I took lessons for many years as a child and into my teens.  I passed Grade X from the Royal Conservatory in Toronto when I was in high school and then wanted to stop lessons.  Ostensibly because I wanted more time for my regular classes but largely because I was tired of practising and wanted more time to myself to  do the things I wanted to do - largely reading.  That's been a constant in my life - wanting time to myself and by myself to do the things that interest me.

In my thirties I was looking around for a hobby and thought it would be nice to get back to playing the piano.  I bought a piano and arranged for lessons at the Conservatory with a teacher who turned out to be excellent.  I wasn't interested in pursuing exams, I just wanted to play for myself.  I took lessons for two (three?) years and pulled myself back up to and past the quality of playing I had as a teenager.  

But there were things I eventually had to acknowledge.  I didn't love playing the way many people (including my mother) do - it was always work.  I never felt free or relaxed playing  - it was always an intellectual thing, not an emotional one.  It made me very tense - I used to get horrible aches along the ride side of my face (these stopped after I quit lessons).  I was beginning to resent the time practising was taking.  I had reached a point where any further improvement was going to require time and effort that I was just not willing to provide.  So once again I stopped lessons.

I continued to play for myself but irregularly and less and less over time.  Eventually I realized I had stopped altogether.  This was at the time that I was beginning to embrace minimalism and I sold the piano - which is something I do not regret.

After all that history, the reason I started this post was to say something about my reaction to my friend's post.  I was thinking how strange it was to have put so much time, effort and money into something and then abandon it.  (Perhaps one of the reasons I restarted lessons was because I felt I had that background and should do something with it.).   What I came to feel was that although it was something I no longer did I had no regrets that I had done it.  It was something I experienced  and it must have changed me and my view of the world and life in ways I'm not even aware of.  Like the years I took Latin in high school - it's not something I use, but I'm glad I had that chance - Latin is a very logical language and I think the knowledge I gained of grammar and sentence structure and logic has stood me in good stead.

So in the end I feel glad of the time I spent with the piano but at the same time I don't regret that it's no longer part of active life.