Harry and Snowman

I knew nothing of this story. I saw it on Netflix and added it to my list. And today I watched it. It is a straight up documentary about Harry DeLeyer and the horse he called Snowman. Harry was a dutch immigrant who worked with horse. He bought snowman for $80 as he was headed to be killed. Turned out he was a great jumper. Together they won many competitions and were world famous back in the late 50s and through the 60s. Interesting story, well made documentary. If you like horses or documentaries, this is a good movie for you.

Iron Man

The movie that introduced the world to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It had all the elements that make the movies a success: good actors in a decent written script, well directed, with great CGI. I love the homages in each of the films to other versions of the stories and to the comic books. I also enjoy the banter and repartee. Robert Downey, Jr. shines as Tony Stark/Iron Man in this origin story movie. In the comics it took years before Tony admitted he was Iron Man but in the MCU he tells people right out of the gate. As with other MCU entries, there is a post credits teaser seen. Fun stuff!

I, Tonya

Margot Robbie stars as Tonya Harding. Wow, she was a tough person! (Tonya, I don't know about Robbie.) Interesting movie. I learned a lot about the whole situation. And I was watching skating a good bit at that point, as mom really enjoyed it. I was mostly a Katerina Witt fan, so I didn't really pay much attention to Tonya. Or to Nancy Kerrigan. If you enjoy skating movies. Or docutainment, this was not a bad movie at all. Well scripted, well acted, good special effects.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Not as fun as the first, but still enjoyable. A British based non-government spy organization is targeted and mostly wiped out. Luckily there is an american offshoot ready willing and able to help save the world from dastardly presidents and evil drug lords. Rah team! Some great action, some sort of silly stuff. Some gratuitous destruction. All par for the course. Would I watch a third one? Of course.

Predator - Book

Somewhere in the middle of the series of Kay Scarpetta books I think. This one got tied up right at the end of the book - there were lots of threads going in - a couple of murders, some people disappearing, a psycho killer and someone trying to sabotage Kay. Phew! Lots of bad stuff. And it all works out in the last two pages or so. Sigh.

Book of the Dead - Book

I'm sorry, I don't get the title of this Kay Scarpetta book. It could have been called Sandman perhaps. Who knows. Anyway, I liked this one better than the last one I read. And it was, apparently, the sequel to the previous one. Go figure. Kay has moved to Charleston, SC - which has always seemed like a decent place to live from the times I have visited there - to start her own crime lab. Followed and supported by her niece Lucy, and Pete Marino, x-New Jersey/New York cop. Things go awry as a young tennis star is murdered who, guess what, has a Charleston, SC connection! It all works out in the end, as usual. Yay.

Shame - Movie

I think I watched this because Michael Fassbender was in it. Not my sort of movie. Way too much sex and full frontal nudity. Michael is a sex addict. His sister is messed up too but in other ways. She comes to stay for a bit and Michael's character has a tough few days. If you like that sort of thing, this is probably a good movie...Glad I watched it, happy I won't have to watch it again.

Don Quixote de la Mancha

This was one long-ass book! Actually it was four books. Which felt like two books written by two very different people. The first set of two books finds poor Don Quixote mocked and beaten at every turn. The second set of books takes place after the first set of books has been published and read and maybe criticised as not being uplifting enough. The second set, Don Quixote, though teased, is treated really well. And there are references to a book that was written as a follow-up to the first Don Quixote books that was badly written and a rip-off of Cervantes work. And Cervantes ends the whole story, well, I don't give it away, but I wasn't pleased with the ending...

The person who read the book was excellent!

Power Rangers (2017) - Movie

I was never a fan of the Power Rangers. They were way after my time as an actual child. Still, they did seep into my consciousness somehow. I read somewhere that this was a decent movie, so I decided to give it a watch. And I was not disappointed. Mainly because I had really, really low expectations for the film. It is the origin story for how the Power Rangers came to be. Apparently there was a civilization on the Earth many milllions of years ago (heck, there could have been - a million years is a long time...) and there were power rangers and advanced tech back then. All that got wiped out by a meteorite (could happen) and some kids from modern day find the tech and get chosen to be the new power rangers. And they have to fight evil. Rah. It was decent fun. Not something I would watch again unless I was paid to, but not horribly upset to have seen it once.

Parks and Recreation - TV series

I was not an Amy Poehler fan before I started watching this show. And, honestly, I still am not a huge fan. (She didn't annoy me more than she was supposed to in this role.) That being said, I really, really enjoyed Parks and Recreation - way more than I thought I would. At first I thought it was a direct rip-off of The Office (at least the American Version). Then, as I watched, I became quite attached to the characters. Leslie Knope, Amy Poehler's character, is an annoying, over acheiving, naive do gooder. She is surrounded by a bunch of characters including her taciturn boss Ron, nebbish Garry/Larry/Terry, puppy dog Tom (one scene had each of the characters be represented by their spirit dog - very cute - it would have been funny to have a bit of the episode with dogs being the characters with dialogue by the actors...) etc. It was kinda cool how Amy got to have quite a few cameos from Politicians during the course of the show. And lots of small rolls by her former cast mates from Saturday Night Live. All in all, good fun. If you like sit coms that will make you tear up occasionally, this might be a good show for you!

Shantaram - Book

The title of the book did nothing for me. I think it is about one third of the way into the book that we discover that Shantaram is the name that he is given by his Indian friend's family. I have very mixed feelings about the book. It is really, really long. Actually, it felt like about three books in one. I don't know who edited the thing, but maybe dividing it into a trilogy would have been a good idea. There seemed to be three major parts - The first part about Lin in the slums. Then Lin and the Gangsters. And then Lin and Afghanistan, etc. I thought the writing was decent and it certainly kept my attention. Not sure about his relationship with Karla. Hmm. I will keep thinking about. Would I recommend it? Sure. An island book? No, I don't think so. Glad I read it for sure.