Big Blue Huddle

On a recommendation from 3 friends, I started watching 'Squid Game" a new series on Netflix. On reading about it, it seems to be the #1 new show on Netflix, or, at least, the #1 most-watched show as of now.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10919420/

I have watched the first 2 episodes and I will continue to watch it.

For those that never heard of this, it is a Korean show, dubbed in English and with English subtitles for those that need it, like me.

Story or plot-- Some unknown people gather up many people (volunteer wise) into playing a game where they could win a lot of money. Most of people need money badly, as our so-called hero does. It is hard to explain this--so they are assigned a number and told they will play six games and those that finish will be given a lot of money. The first game is the child game, Red Light/Green Light. I really can't or shouldn't say anymore as you have to view it and see the result.

I can say if you don't like blood, don't watch.

I'll keep you informed but it is something different and could be addictive.

Scary stuff, as if we don't have enough to scare us.

As the entire world becomes more and more dependent on the internet for survival, it makes it easier and easier to disrupt an entire country or even a world.

We used to see those old James Bond movies about some super freak who has this superweapon that with a push of a button can destroy an entire city. That was scary, but this makes that seem like child's play.

At least, if the inevitable happens, as they predict, I'll be safe as my house is old-fashioned and nothing works by way of the internet, except my computer.   

Quote from: LennG on October 07, 2021, 12:14:14 PM

Quote from: LennG on September 22, 2021, 11:56:57 AM

Is anyone watching the new mini-series by Ken burns on Mohammed Ali on PBS? It is a 4 parter and got decent reviews.  I always like Burn's shows but I messed the first 3 episodes. I'll try and DVR it when they repeat it.
[/quote

Olympics and onto his  I was finally able to get all 4 episodes of this series on my DVR and started watching yesterday. I finished chapter 1 which takes us from Cassius Clay's boyhood, they the pro career, ending with his victory over Sonny Liston. Besides being a great series (so far), it also brought back so many memories of boxing at it's peak when a heavyweight boxing match was all the talk of the country, never more so when Clay and then alter Ali was fighting.

Any Ken Burns work is amazing and thru the first chapter, this is also in at category.

I just finished the 4 episode series on Muhammed Ali by Ken Burns and like all his previous works, this one was excellent.

They spent a lot of time on his fights, mostly the main ones, his battles with Joe Frazier, his relationship with Malcolm X, and his joining and remaining a Black Muslim.
I thoroughly enjoyed reliving many of the memories I had lived thru, from his gold medal in the Olympics, thru his first championship against Sonny Liston, his exile from boxing, his return and win over George Foreman, his loss, and then regaining the championship against Leon Spinks.
Most things I knew, but they had many of his children as interviewees, his wives, and his family. What I did not know was how much of a womanizer he was, cheating regularly on his wives and at one time, having two wives. They ended, of course with his Parkinson's, his Olympic moment, and sadly his death,

Myself, I was never a fan of his, personally, but in the ring, it would be hard to find one better. His obsession with belittling his opponents and his not willing to serve his country, well, never had him on my 'must' see list. Just my thought he could have served in the Army as a CO and not have to fight. he could easily have been a public relations guy and given light duty, but he turned his back on his country, at least that's how I see it.

anyway, whatever your opinions of Ali, I would highly recommend this series.

Twelve Commandments for Seniors


Talk to yourself. There are times you need expert advice.
"In Style" are the clothes that still fit.
You don't need anger management. You need people to stop pissing you off.
Your people skills are just fine. It's your tolerance for idiots that needs work.
The biggest lie you tell yourself is, "I don't need to write that down. I'll remember it."
"On Time" is when you get there.
Even duct tape can't fix stupid, but it sure does muffle the sound.
It would be wonderful if we could put ourselves in the dryer for ten minutes, then come out wrinkle-free and three sizes smaller.
Lately, you've noticed people your age are so much older than you.
Growing old should have taken longer.
Aging has slowed you down, but it hasn't shut you up.
You still haven't learned to act your age and hope you never will.
...And one more:
"One for the road" means peeing before you leave the house. 

This afternoon I got to watch this movie.

I can't say I really liked it, but I did like it better than Dave did. I agree with him on some of the points he made, the movie was choppy and if you were a fan of the Sopranos on TV, I can see where the script of this was nowhere near even a bad episode of the TV series. But that said, I found the younger characters of the series, like the younger characters in The Godfather, to be nicely played. There is a lot of violence, as was the series, mucho cursing et al. If you were a fan of the TV series, this is a must-watch and you have to determine how much you liked, or did not like, this movie.

I LOVED the music of the movie

Couple of questions for you Dave. As I said, it has been quite a while since I watched the TV series and really only saw it in its entirety once. So

If I am correct, Tony never had a father in the TV series--what happened to him as the movie didn't say very much about him?
The Black fellow, Harold, was he in the TV series at all?
Personally, I didn't like the ending of this unless this plays into the TV series later on, that Harold got away with the murder and showed him living the 'high' life at the very end. Again, was he part of the TV series?
And the uncle who was in jail, I don't remember his name, was he in the TV series also? Personally, I think his entire character was wasted here as really, he added limited value to the entire movie.

Overall, since I do love these gangster genre movies, I would give it a B or B- or 3 stars out of 5.

AND, I would add, you could watch this as a stand-alone movie, but like Better Call Saul in relation to Breaking bad, it does add so much more that you know the characters beforehand.

PS--I LOVED when Sil's haorpiece came off and he had to readjust it. Something that never happened in the TV series (I think)

We are really starting to get into Fall. In our neighborhood, the trees are just starting to show a drop of color. Can't wait to get into the mountains and really get the true feelings of Fall.

Here are a few shots of Fall reflections in waters.

Quote from: Ed Vette on October 09, 2021, 11:03:33 AM
Bill Maher's guest last night was an author who wrote a book about how much better off we are as compared to years past in so many things that go unnoticed as they have slowly developed over time and the Media always keying in on bad events. The interview was right after his monologue.

I many ways, life may be better today but that would be in terms of what you feel matters the most. Health and convenience are much better off today, but a different way of life 'back in the day' was also important, things like family togetherness, simpler lifestyles, less traffic and to me, a lot fewer choices about things.

Again, depending on how you look at it---- like TV. We had maybe 5-10 stations and we were happy with that. Now we have more stations than we know what to do with and most complain there isn't much worth watching anyway. I have a smartphone now but couldn't care less. I don't need to post every meal I eat on Facebook, I don't need to read about other peoples day to day things which most feel the world wants to know and I don't need my face all over the internet bragging about every little thing in my life. I watch movies old and new. But movies today are just too graphic for me many times. In older movies, we knew when someone was shot, killed and they didn't have to show their guts oozing out. In the past a guy was taken off-screen, you heard a shot and you knew he was dead. I still prefer it that way.

I know many things are better today, but for myself, I prefer simpler times.

Ric

Sorry for your loss. It is always hard to lose someone you loved so much. Your Dad lived a great life and I'm sure was very proud of you as his son. I know it's easy to say and hard to do, but enjoy the memories, they will bring you pleasure later in your life.

Believe me when I say we share your grief. Our deepest condolences.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on October 08, 2021, 05:01:53 PM
Lenn,

I would say you don't need to remember the Sopranos in great detail to watch this movie, although you should know who the main characters are. If you don't, you can still watch it and follow along, but you'll get more out of it if you recall the main characters.

Putting Saints of Newark aside, I strongly recommend re-watching the Sopranos if you haven't watched it since around the time it came out. I have recommended this to a number of people, and they have all been very happy that they did. It is by far my favorite show of all time, and there are so many details in it that are incredible that you will notice more on a second viewing. In my opinion, it is as entertaining as anything ever put on television, and that remains the case today despite all the stuff that has come out since. It would be well worth the investment of the time to watch it again. I am confident you will find the second viewing highly enjoyable. You might find yourself binging even.

Since I do not have HBO on my cable, I would need to get it out of our library or maybe watch it thru the library on their outside link. My only problem is I do watch stuff on my own, but I also try to watch several things with my darling wife, and if she watched one episode of the Sopranos she would first kick me and then run out screaming. Her idea of a good TV is the Hallmark Channel.   

I already have so much I would like to watch, just never seem to have the time to do it all the Sopranos eventually, same as I would love to rewatch Breaking Bad, which, to me, was the best show ever on TV. (I've said it a few times, my top 3 would be BB, GOT and then The Sopranos)

Quote from: Bob In PA on October 08, 2021, 05:04:30 PM
Go to this website to discover what late-night TV was like back in the good old days.  LOL

It's Jay Thomas (most people don't know who he was, may he rest in peace) on David Letterman's show telling a true personal story about Clayton Moore... the Lone Ranger. 

https://www.google.com/search?channel=tus5&client=firefox-b-1-d&q=lone+ranger+david+letterman

Bob

 
I was born we didn't have any TV, party-line phone, and we had ice delivered once a week for our icebox. Seriously 

I want to try and watch this. Do you have to be 'up' on the Sopranos to really 'get' this movie?

It has been quite a while since I watched the Soprano's so ty has been fuzzed up a bit.

Funny, I mentioned that our cable provider, Optimum, gave us a free weekend of HBO a couple of weeks ago. I guess, in anticipation of this new movie. They were showing the Sopranos from season 1 thru its conclusion. I wish I had the time to rewatch it all but I did watch a couple of episodes and really realize how great this show was. I happen to watch the episode when Paulie and Christopher went out into the snow-covered woods to dispose of a body that wasn't all dead yet. They got lost and had to hold up in some beaten old truck and Bobby and Tony had to rescue them. If you just tuned it in and saw that show, you would scratch your head thinking what is all the fuss about, but knowing the characters, Paulie, Christopher, Bobby, etc. made it truly a great watch and so typical of the entire series.
I do really need to rewatch the entire thing.

Quote from: Ed Vette on October 07, 2021, 12:57:14 PM
Just wait till Doris hears about this! 

Glad she doesn't read this board. 

I am not embarrassed to say I used to get Playboy delivered for quite a while. Sure the nude ladies were a treat, and the old joke was 'Yes I get it for the articles" but that was also true for me. I loved most of the interviews in every issue and Playboy was very progressive about certain things and, at that time, had a lot of power, and they used it to make changes in norms, etc. It was more than just some dirty old man', Hefner', sitting in his tower, having all these lovely ladies all around him. Maybe I am the only one, but I did enjoy Playboy for its cartoons, its stance on many issues, and, yes, its articles and stories.

Quote from: LennG on September 22, 2021, 11:56:57 AM

Is anyone watching the new mini-series by Ken burns on Mohammed Ali on PBS? It is a 4 parter and got decent reviews.  I always like Burn's shows but I messed the first 3 episodes. I'll try and DVR it when they repeat it.
[/quote

Olympics and onto his  I was finally able to get all 4 episodes of this series on my DVR and started watching yesterday. I finished chapter 1 which takes us from Cassius Clay's boyhood, they the pro career, ending with his victory over Sonny Liston. Besides being a great series (so far), it also brought back so many memories of boxing at it's peak when a heavyweight boxing match was all the talk of the country, never more so when Clay and then alter Ali was fighting.

Any Ken Burns work is amazing and thru the first chapter, this is also in at category.