Wednesday, February 15, 2017

The far too long in Entertainment

Live: Il Barbiere di Seviglia at the Met. Great fun. Several band concerts and a chamber music concert. A play called "Outside Mulingar" at the Clarence Brown Theater in Knoxville, which I enjoyed a lot.

Film: Hidden Figures, a splendid movie that enrages as it entertains. TCM Classics Singing in the Rain and An Affair to Remember. Lion, I enjoyed it but it's not really Oscar material. La La Land, which also isn't (though it was fine). Moonlight, which IS. ISISISISIS. Wow. Raees, Shah Rukh Khan's latest. I quite enjoyed it, though it was a bit timid and lost some steam near the end. The Lego Batman Movie, which was a hoot.

TV: Sherlock season four which ... ugh. There were a few moments in the second ep, The Lying Detective, but the other two were very horrible and off-putting. If there's a series five I hope the implicit promise of that ending is kept: back to solving cases, boys of Baker Street, and leave the spies, mercenaries, twisted politics and psycho-thrillers alone. The Good Place ended with a real bang and twist and I can't wait for the next season. Also am still liking Superstore.

Read: The Dry, an excellent mystery set in Australia. The Bear and the Nightingale, a Russian-based fantasy that was splendid. Plaid and Plagiarism, a cozy that is the first of a series I won't be reading, since I didn't care for any of the characters. Wakulla Springs, a Hugo winner for reasons that escape me. Not that it's not good, because it really is, but it's not science fiction OR fantasy. Still, very good. All the Birds in the Sky, an odd, eccentric, excellent novel. Crossroads of Canopy, first in a trilogy that I'm looking forward to the rest of very much. Nnedi Okorafor's sequel to her prize winning novella, Binti: Home. Excellent. Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day, Seanan McGuire's newest, and entertaining. Two by Kamila Shamsie, a Pakistani writer: Kartography and Broken Verses. They're explorations of family, very good and moving. Battle Hill Bolero, the very satisfying wrap-up to "Bone Street Rumba". Several of Paul McAuley's Jackaroo works (City of the Dead, Into Everywhere, Something Coming Through, Something Happened Here, But We're Not Quite Sure What); his world-building is superb. A lot of Charlie Jane Anders' short stuff; I love her!  Have started Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders. Very good so far.

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1 Comments:

At 5:39 PM, February 17, 2017 Anonymous Kathie had this to say...

"Sherlock" 4 was indeed disappointing. Given how in-demand for films both Cumberbatch and Freeman are, I wonder if it's time to end this series.

 

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