Prime was cool for Bosch but I'm not watching commercials.

I didn’t hate it fwiw

Watched Exposed: Ghost Train Fire over the weekend while travelling. I really wish I had watched it before we went to Australia because I would have been interested in opinions from some of the locals we met (particularly one tour guide who seemed like an anti-government type and would certainly have had opinions). We saw Luna Park across the bay and it was briefly discussed on our tours as to what it was, but nothing about the history.

The background is that Luna Park is an amusement park opened in 1935 on some prime harbor front property adjacent to the Harbor Bridge and catty-corner to Sydney Opera House. In June 1979, the Ghost Train ride caught fire and 7 people died - 4 kids and a dad and 2 sons. The next day it was being widely reported that the cause was an electrical fault but the documentary presents pretty compelling evidence that several witnesses reported a group of young bikers on the ride just before it went up and 1 or 2 people overheard them talking about setting the fire and getting out of there. They gave statements in the middle of the night and the one main witness was brought back a few hours later, allegedly threatened if he didn't recant his story, and he signed a statement saying he made it all up - despite multiple corroborating witnesses.

The rest of the doc explored ties between the LEs in charge of the investigation at various levels, politicians, and a guy who is portrayed as the John Gotti of Sydney. He wanted the land for development. After the fire, it appears he got the lease bidding rigged in favor of a company set up by some of his relatives and associates from which he made some major bank. It also explored some of the investigations and reports that came out of various commissions about both the fire and bid process that appear to have outright falsified or covered up the extent of his involvement. There is also some evidence he ordered the fire to be set to put all of this into motion in order to get his hands on the land.

Pretty crazy story. The damage it did to the survivors (mentally) was pretty horrific. I believe they reopened an investigation into both the fire/deaths and any possible corruption but I can't find anything definite that's come from it. The doc is from 2021.

I just got an email from Netflix about a new documentary called Hate to Love: Nickelback. As much as I'd be interested in seeing this because it's about me, I'm pretty sure watching the doc would subject me to their music. That seems like a fatal flaw in the design.

I re-watched 2010, the sequel to 2001. Came out in 1984. It was interesting to see how 2010 predictions & stuff played out.

• AI with the HAL 9000 - not quite there yet, even with Siri & ChatGPT
• Reference to cassettes (but in the movie, it was more high-tech looking than the old cassette tape)
• Computer terminals with primitive graphics & resolution - I guess it's hard to show 1080p+ like graphics with 1984 tech
• Dolphins in a pool in a house - I have to believe even back in 1984 they knew this was a reach
• Video communication device - maybe a decade too early (when did Facetime come out?) but still pretty good
• Omni magazine - I remember reading this. Think it was owned by the Penthouse guy?

On the other hand ...

• The Discovery/Leonov space ships still looked pretty good. A little updating, and think it can still hold its own in a current day movie set.
• The acting is top notch IMO.

Didn't know this but there are 2 other books after 2010 for 4 in total. I think I want to read them but struggle a little with Arthur C Clarke's tarnished legacy.

The Acolyte has been kinda meh, but tonight's episode was entertaining.

House of the Dragon Season 2 has been great so far. One specific scene in episode 3 was pretty bad and didn't make sense but he rest of the show has been fantastic IMO.

I gotta say, I am not mad at myself for taking a chance on "The Man with 1000 Kids". I am more prepared than ever for the giant asteroid to destroy all human life on the planet and let whatever higher power/big bang start over and learn from its mistakes after watching it though. The sanctity of life:lol:

This season has been on fire! We're definitely back in the days of peak GOT so far. I watched the fourth episode yesterday morning and was buzzing almost all day and actually had trouble sleeping last night due to dragon/Targaryen related dreams and such.

Maybe I'm being overly hopeful because I've paid for a year of Apple TV+ and ran out of things to watch, but this looks great:

Boy, I hope they do it justice. The original (and the other two in the "trilogy": Brazil & The Adventures of Baron Munchausen) is absolutely fantastic.

I really need to watch those again. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is the only one of those I have seen multiple times, and that was many years ago.

Wrong thread

Lol

Peacock sent notice of a price increase on the next billing date on or after August 17th. Looks like $2/month for monthly subs and $20 for annual.

I need to refresh my memory on when my billing date comes up. I've gotten far more value out of Peacock than Netflix or other services, honestly. Premier League, Swedish Death Cleaning, Pokerface (new season is filming now), all Columbo episodes (uncut, same can't be said for some of the other services), etc. Plus, I think I will be able to save some money because Chase/AmEx will typically run offers for X amount off for a few months on the monthly plans or X amount off the annual subscription.

As a family we have surprisingly used Hulu much more than, say, Netflix, basically for NBA, NFL, and some soccer. Oh, and The Bear.

I would say for our family, in terms of usage, we rank:

1. Prime, by a truly significant margin
2. Hulu
3. Disney (can be higher if one of the kids starts binging Marvel or Star Wars)
4. Netflix

I wanted to like Peacock for the EPL, but found that just too often the game I wanted to watch was on terrestrial (in which case I can watch it on Hulu) or on NBCSN, for which I have no access.

Caught up on s4 on Paramount. One more episode for the series finale.

Its been fun, sad to see it go. A contemporary version of X-Files, more occult than sci-fi, but also some great stand alone episodes sandwiched between the big plot arc. Also, quirky and love interest tension.

Next up on Paramount is Seal Team s7, the final season. Always lots of entertaining action.


Also, Rings of Power s2 coming up on Aug 29. Hoping for the best but a clear #3, far behind The Witcher & WoT.

Got Disney+ again and watched first 2 episodes of The Acolyte.

Personally, I'm enjoying it so far. I can see the lack of white characters, maybe they could have inserted a couple more here and there, but not a major distraction for me.

I like the Master Sol character. His "calmness" (?) fits a Jedi. The martial art action is nice, I like the choreography.

May change my mind after watching more, but sorry to see there isn't going to be a s2.

Unfortunately, the Acolyte was not good. It had nothing to do with the cast. The comment on the “lack of white characters” is really weird and off. I know it’s been a complaint by some Star Wars fans, but it’s really dumb and gross. I’m 50 years old and saw Star Wars when I was 4. It’s been my “favorite movie” since then. It sucks that so much of the fan base is so toxic, whiny and gross. So much of it appears to be a bunch of stunted, incel man-babies. It’s really off-putting.

If you have any interest in watching the Acolyte, probably should watch it soon. Rumors are that it will be pulled at some point like the Willow series and other shows and movies so they can save money.

Are you Bob Iger?

Re-watching Rings s1 because s2 is coming out this week. It hasn’t gotten better over time, I’m still finding it a far 3rd behind Witcher and WoT.

The acting isn’t bad, set pieces and special effects nice but the story (and lack of action) is just boring.

s2 is supposed to be darker. I hope it’s much improved.

Watched Rings s2.1 and s2.2

Unfortunately, not feeling the love … more of the same from s1. I’ll slog thru it because it’s LoTR but I need more action and less world building & backstories.

Finished Dark Skies s1 and s2. Supposedly renewed for s3 in 2025.

I enjoyed learning more about Navajo culture and listening to the Dine language. And of the forced sterilization (need to read more about that).

The season arcs were okay to me. A little slow in places but still solid.*

If I was Bezos, I'd be firing whoever is in charge with Rings. Ep 4 truly sucked.

Ep 5 was a little better but not by much. Boring. I've seen some online/YT reviews and it's all over the place. There looks to be some action next week.

Rotten Tomatoes gives it an 85% but the popcornmeter is 59%. I'm more of the popcornmeter.

Did anyone watch this? If so, thoughts?

I found this fun little watch on Disney+ called Port Protection. It is a mountain men type show about a small community in Alaska. Nothing earth shattering, just a fun watch

I’m enjoying it more than I know I should.

I've never liked Rotten Tomatoes for TV shows. IMDb is a much better barometer for them. There are so many crappy shows that brag about their 100% rotten tomatoes score in advertisements, which is a score they received because five people said it was not bad

I watched the first two episodes. First one was ok, just set things up. Second episode was awful and that's when I gave up. I might get back to it, but the reviews werent great.

I don't care what is between her legs, Laverne Cox is hot.

I cancelled my Hulu subscription. Waaaaay too many political ads on there for my liking.

Go ahead and cancel all of your other subscriptions then

I only have Amazon Prime left and so far I haven't seen too many.

Been watching episodes of Soc119. Live discussions from a Penn State sociology class dealing with many contemporary topics.

SOC 119 - YouTube

For fans of Silo, s2 is coming out Nov 15 - Jan 17. Will have to turn on AppleTV late Jan.

For those that haven't seen it, IMO well worth the 1 month subscription.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLJDR-vFUdY

Finally got around to watching The Terror since I don't do horror shows. First season the show is about the failed John Franklin Northwest Passage Expedition in the 1800s but with minimal supernatural elements. Everything about it is expertly done and is just 10 hours of human suffering.

That first season was terrific

Oh crap I didn't even know they made another season of that. First season was great (is Jared Harris ever in anything bad?). I need to watch the 2nd right away.

Car Masters Rust to Riches season 6 is out. Delightful hatewatch of mine.

I've been watching some fan fiction films. Some with live actors and some animated.

Below is a "best of" for Star Wars. I've seen zombie ones from TWD and WWZ. There are probably tons other for the world/genre you like. Obviously, not near as good acting or CGI but still entertaining enough.

- YouTube

Watched up to s2.4

Not quite as good as s1, some of the stuff was way too predictable (e.g. Dennison) but still better than 95% of stuff out there.


Edit: finished s2. Not as good as s1 but still good stuff. Hope they can churn out s3 quickly.

Anyone watched From? I'm about halfway through S1 and it's fantastic. Kind of has a horror-themed Lost feel to it.

Yeah it's really good and I know a ton of people who love it too. Very underrated show hiding on MGM+.

It felt s little too much like Lost after season 1. Well done show, but more interested in adding questions than trying to answer anything.

Second season has nothing to do with the first. They're using it as a vehicle for anthology story-telling.

I did not see that coming in the premier of Yellowstone.

Been watching some "Sirens" on Hulu.

Finished s1.5, it's intriguing, slowly revealing what's happening but some stuff is pretty unbelievable (even for a TV show). It's still fun right now (but can see not finishing s1).

A random thought. I know there were a lot of Stargate series and they petered out. But wouldn't find a new series in that world. There's been a drop in sci-fi (other than Star Trek & Star Wars) and zombie shows right now.

Atlas on Netflix is another fun movie. I thought J Lo was pretty good.

If you enjoy Mech Warrior and like games, you’ll enjoy Atlas.