With Which I Am Well Pleased VIII (Days A Week)

/ J. Eric Smith

In which I, once again, share a list of 15 things in various categories that have delivered me pleasure and joy in recent weeks. Here’s hoping some of them might do it for you, too. I hope you will share your own recommendations in the comment section if there are things that you think I might need to see, hear, watch, eat, read, or do!

FILMS

(A Displeased Note on Films: I have also watched Oscar favorites Nomadland and Mank since my last report here. I generally quite like Gary Oldman and Frances McDormand and their various projects, but in this case, I am decidedly not pleased that their most-recent films are leading in the buzz for this year’s weird Academy Awards season. They both reek of “Hollywood Loves Films About Hollywood” and/or “Hollywood Loves Method Stunts” to me, and I am not a fan of either of those tropes and they ways that they manifest in modern film-making).

TELEVISION

MUSIC

BOOKS

(A Displeased Note on Books: I do most of my reading on a Kindle, which I love and hate in equal measure for various essay-worthy reasons, and which means I don’t have much exposure to book cover art when I read things. As I searched for imagery for these three great new books, I was utterly appalled to discover that I could not get high resolution digital versions of their covers without having to share hard-printed “book club” bullshit with you, dear readers. Honestly: Had I been shopping for these books in a traditional brick and mortar shop, I never would have picked up Infinite Country due to its “Reese” logo, and I would have presumed that Klara and the Sun was dumb fluff because of its “GMA” logo, and probably would have skipped that one too. What a terrible trend in modern publishing, ugh!)

MISCELLANEOUS

Marcia and I received our first dose COVID vaccines this week.

Make Your Own Bayeux Tapestry

4 thoughts on “With Which I Am Well Pleased VIII (Days A Week)”

    • They were the best parts, for sure. And most of the emotionally resonant elements in the movie were them telling their own stories in their own words. So I have a hard time imagining that as an Oscar caliber screenplay, though it earned a nomination there, leaving better works on the curb. I would be fine if it won for Cinematography (though I think they will give that to Mank), but in every other nominated category, I feel like there are multiple films and people who are far more deserving of the honors!

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      • Well, I haven’t seen most of the movies (though I’ll ideally see The Father next week). Haven’t seen Judas and the Black Messiah, or Ma Rainey, or Da 5 Bloods or Mank because don’t have those platforms. In 2021, I’m going to the frickin’ movies again, I hope,

        That said, I have read about Mank that I tend to agree with you instinctively. Movies about movie-making tend to be a particular form of indulgence.

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