I know, I know 2 posts in a day…if you are looking for the annual book post scroll down.

But I think, once again, I will try to write “every day” in 2022. I did it back in 2012 (see link above) to bizarre effect and since have had sporadicly poor success at writing anything consistently.

The 2022 Rules

  • I will try and write something coherent e.g. fiction of some sort.
  • I believe I will take the weekends off from that stream and instead try to continue “Saturday Reflections” and maybe something like Sunday Poem-Day
  • At this point (I have two days to decide) I think I will keep the weekday writing offline — or perhaps start a new blog/subdomain. I will update later.
  • I will start with just tagging them writing and decided later if I want to move these maundering into a category (spoiler: I expect I will)

The point

Preventing brain fog? A curiosity to see if I can actually be more productive? An attempt to create a sense of order? A desire to be independently solvent (rich seems a bit much to ask for)? Ongoing Earl jealousy?

Today’s thoughts

Netflix, Youtube et al.

I mentioned on Earl’s blog that I had watched very few movies this past year. But what we have watched is a lot of sitcom-ish stuff like Modern Family, The Muppets, Letterkenney, Rick and Morty and a ton of British panel/comedy shows. It turns out I am increasing enjoying European (is British European anymore?) stuff.

Australia

Not really but the producers and original movie was Australian. What We Do in the Shadows is a mockumentary about vampires living in Staten Island. It also stars Matt Berry who is one of those sneaks-up-on-you-from-behind funny guys that I first encountered as a boss on The IT Crowd. Only 3 seasons but well worth a watch if you can find it!

L reminds me we also watched Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun. Very, very… err…pythonesque? Aunty Donna is a comedy trio from Australia and they are pretty darn funny in that bizarro way…

France

I highly recommend Lupin. Two series of 5 parts with a third promised. Very clever and suspenseful and with that perfect gentleman-thief vibe. If you know French at all you have the added enjoyment of arguing with the subtitle translator’s choices. Quite bizarre sometimes.

We also watched and enjoyed Dix pour cent which was strangely and, in my opinion, detrimentally translated to Call my Agent!. It has 4 seasons and a promised movie reunion coming soon. Very soap-opera but the French take keeps it from seeming inane like Dallas et al. We really enjoyed it.

Britain

We worked our way through Stephen Fry’s (and now Sandi Toksvig) QI. Funny and smart. And you learn (and relearn) so much…

8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown is a must see. Countdown is a Jeopardy-type show involving solving anagrams and math problems and has been on the air forever. 8 out of 10 Cats was/is a comedy panel show hosted by Jimmy Carr with Sean Lock and Jon Richardson as team captains. Back in 2012 Channel 4 had a Mashup event where they mashed up a bunch of different shows from their channel into a special. 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown was a huge success and now is produced (alongside the originals) with 5–8 episodes every year.

We also started in on Mock the Week hosted by Dara Ó Briain and are slowly making our way to the present. There are currently 20 seasons starting way back in 2005 and we are somewhere in Season 10. Funny, irreverent and you learn a lot about Britain’s political and social scenes. We are still in the Obama era and I am looking forward to the Trump period…

TaskMaster has also been a highlight. Greg Davies and Alex Horne have made a fantastic series where celebrities are challenged to do ridiculous things. Another one we are all caught up in (12 series so far) and looking forward to the next season.

Suffice it say we have had our share of belly laughs this long dismal year. Thank god for British humour. And Youtube. And friends with Hulu.