What are we watching these days?

[ozzie]

I just posted about this in the photography thread after seeing Lenn's beautiful shots of Italy.
There is a show on Sunday nights on CNN called "Stanley Tucci - Searching for Italy". Tucci, of Italian descent on both sides, will be covering every region of the country and discussing the food and how it reflects the people and the history there. We have found it quite interesting. Nice scenery and great looking food too.
Being of Italian descent myself, we  find it quite interesting.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/stanley-tucci-searching-for-italy-restaurants/index.html

[philo43]

I just posted about this in the photography thread after seeing Lenn's beautiful shots of Italy.
There is a show on Sunday nights on CNN called "Stanley Tucci - Searching for Italy". Tucci, of Italian descent on both sides, will be covering every region of the country and discussing the food and how it reflects the people and the history there. We have found it quite interesting. Nice scenery and great looking food too.
Being of Italian descent myself, we  find it quite interesting.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/stanley-tucci-searching-for-italy-restaurants/index.html

Ozzie,

I feel sorry for you living in Garland being from Italian descent, from 1st hand knowledge( 20 years ago) there isn't much decent Italian food in the area.

I grew up in the Triple cities of NY - great Italian everywhere - all 3 of the distinct sauces present. Very heavy Italian presence (not me).

Appalachian ( 1950's) ring a bell? 20 miles from my house

[Sem]

Ozzie,

I feel sorry for you living in Garland being from Italian descent, from 1st hand knowledge( 20 years ago) there isn't much decent Italian food in the area.

I grew up in the Triple cities of NY - great Italian everywhere - all 3 of the distinct sauces present. Very heavy Italian presence (not me).

Appalachian ( 1950's) ring a bell? 20 miles from my house

The Triple Cities is not only known for some great Italian food, but the area also has a substantial Polish/Slovak population. While there's not a lot of Polish/Slovak restaurants in that area many of the local churches have regular festivals celebrating the culture and the foods. My grandmother was Polish and among my favorite memories is Sunday dinners at her house. I actually have the best of both worlds, my wife is half Italian, half Slovak so we're rarely lacking for ethnic food in our home. In fact I just finished dinner which was a delicious bowl of haluski.

Re: Apalachin meeting. My parents were friends with Vince Vasisko, one of the two NYS Troopers credited with discovering the meeting which led to the eventual takedown. When I was a kid in the 60s we regularly camped with the Vasisko's and other families.
https://www.greaterowego.com/communitypress/1997/11-97/MAFIA.htm

[ozzie]

I don't want to hijack this and make it into a food thread, but I'll just finish it up by saying you are right Philo, not much in the way of good Italian food around here 
Luckily I do a little cooking and can satisfy my culinary tastes when I need to!

[Sem]

Back on topic. I'm 5 episodes in to The End of the F***ing World. My guess is it's not something Len would like, and definitely not something his wife would enjoy watching 

Quirky show. Quite dark, gory at times, with language not suitable for work. Interesting though, enough so to keep me watching.

[Bill Brown]

Hey Lenn

If you haven't seen a show on Netflix  called "Virgin River" you might want to give it a try. Louise and I both enjoy it. Good story line and I tell Louise that it is very Hallmarky. Hope you and Doris are well

Bill

[LennG]

Hey Lenn

If you haven't seen a show on Netflix  called "Virgin River" you might want to give it a try. Louise and I both enjoy it. Good story line and I tell Louise that it is very Hallmarky. Hope you and Doris are well

Bill

Thanks for the heads up, Bill. We were away for the past week so it took me this long to respond. If it's Hallmarky, Doris will love it, myself, I'll give it a try.

[LennG]

I know this is more about TV, but I do many movie reviews of more current movies that I have watched. I try to keep them in the thread about movie reviews.

I just watched Nomadland, a very dark and sort of depressing movie that is high on most people's lists for an Oscar nomination for best picture and just a stunning and marvelous performance by Frances McDormand as Fern, the star and basically the entire movie. I would recommend this movie as a dark slice of Americana and if for nothing else, the wonderful performance by Ms. McDormand.

See my full review in the movie thread. 

[GordonGekko80]

I have watched "The Defiant Ones" on Netflix. Basically how Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre made their careers.

I quite liked it. Also won a Grammy Award if not mistaken.

[LennG]

 Let me throw in a few more shows.

I am a nut about anything to the Civil War. Really carve new shows about the same stuff, but different slants on things.
That said, there is an EXCELLENT series on CNN about Lincoln   
https://www.cnncreativemarketing.com/project/lincoln/

They just aired Episode 5, I believe and I find it fascinating. A combo docudrama, with interviews and old-time pix and newspaper headlines.

Again, this is in my wheelhouse and no matter how bad it could have been, I still would have watched, but it is good, very good and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in 'the man' or that era of our history.

BTW, on the previous show, there is a very big to-do about how the show seemed to portray Lincoln as a sort of racist.
https://nypost.com/2021/03/18/cnn-blasted-for-abraham-lincoln-clickbait-conspiracy-theories/

[LennG]

Since the last show fulfilled my desire to educate myself, I now have to sink down to the common man, or maybe lower. I am really not into many reality-type shows, but, as I have said before, my wife got me to watch Married At First Sight, and we both like it very much. So, with that being said, she found us a NEW show that we can 'watch together'.
The show is on USA TV and is called 'Temptation Island". I know, I know, you can watch shows like this with one eye closed, but you know what, if you just take it with a grain of silliness, it's not all that bad. Basically, they get 4 couples who are together, maybe engaged, maybe living together for a while, and put them on this exotic island where they will meet and date many other men and women from their opposite sex. The object, of course, is to see if any, or all of the original people, can stay faithful to their partner. The ladies stay with the group of men that the show provides and visa versa with the men (stay with a house full of beautiful ladies). This goes on for whatever the length of the show and at the end, they meet and decide if they want to stay together, separate, or be with someone they met on the show.
Again, this is pure silliness, but for us 'older' men, you get to look at a bevy of gorgeous ladies and see how the moors of today really differ from when I was dating.
Anyway, I am in for the long haul now and I kind of enjoy it. Not everything has to be so serious. 

[LennG]

 I'm going to continue to watch, so I just started watching a great series on Netflix=='Marco Polo'. I believe it is 2 seasons in and I am about 2/3 into season 1 and I would recommend it highly. Be aware, lots of nudity, a bit of blood, and some great roles, in particular, the man who plays Kublai Khan--he is terrific.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2189461/

[LennG]

I have also watched a couple of my favorite movies

The other night, I watched Lawrence of Arabia. Just a great old-time Hollywood epic, that is short on fact buy long on drama just to suit Hollywood. Still a good watch even today.

Second movie I watched is Kingdom of Heaven--truly one of my all-time favorite action movies. It stars Orlando Bloom, and for too brief a time, Liam Neeson.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320661/
Bloom finds out he is the son of Neeson, who is a Lord. They are on their way to Jerusalem to take part in the Crusades. I won't go into much detail, but the last 45 minutes or so is a Battle to save Jerusalem from Saladin and his Muslim hordes. Great action, and just terrific battle scenes along with a great storyline. I could watch this movie every month if I had to. Again, one of my all-time favorites. (You know, got to save Jerusalem. )

[ozzie]

Nate Bergatze is a Stand-Up comedian with an hour long special on Netflix called "The Tennessee Kid".
You can watch it with the whole family, no foul language or dirty talk. I laughed throughout the entire show and highly recommend it!

[Jolly Blue Giant]

I've been having a hard time finding something worth watching. Sad because I have a couple hundred channels on Direct TV, plus Netflix, Prime, Hulu, HBO, Tubo, etc.

I try to find an interesting movie most nights and then watch a silly sitcom afterwards before going to bed just to lighten the mood and go to sleep without having nightmares. The sitcom I've been watching lately is "Anger Management" with Charlie Sheen as an ex-professional baseball player turned therapist and a horn dog. Gives me a few laughs here and there. My girlfriend had never seen "Becker" before and it isn't available on the streaming channels, but I found a two hour+ show of highlights on YouTube and she laughed her butt off. If you've never seen Becker, Ted Danson plays a miserable unhappy doctor who makes Dr. House look like a nice guy with good bedside manner.