On Friday I experienced general anesthesia for the first time. Previous to last week, the closest I’d come to surgery was having my wisdom teeth removed, for which I chose local anesthesia. I wanted to be awake for the procedure, and I wanted to avoid the nausea that general can sometimes cause. Plus, it was … Read more
The Game of Thrones show “House of the Dragon” is an entire series that attempts to answer the question, “How did an empire with full command of the most powerful creatures ever end up nearly erased from the world? We’re up to date as we near the end of the second season, and I’m endlessly … Read more
Did you have an imaginary friend when you were young? I had a running narrative in my mind, but I can’t recall imaging or visualizing a friend who wasn’t there. I’ll check with my mom to confirm. Several recent movies offer different versions of this theme: IF and The Imaginary. We decided to watch both … Read more
If you follow any professional team sport, you’ve probably heard superstar athletes say dozens of times that the team is the most important thing to them and all they want is to win games (and championships) instead of individual achievements. Yet you’ve probably then seen those same athletes sign contracts worth hundreds of millions of … Read more
After hearing from Slashfilm that Hacks is the funniest show on TV right now, we had to give it a try. The 30-minute episodes on Max fit well into our lunchtime viewing schedule, and we’re now into the second of three seasons (a fourth is in the making). Hacks follows an aging comedian (Deborah Vance) … Read more
I recently listened to a fascinating podcast episode about near-death experiences. The guest (an author on a new book about the topic) had no firm conclusions about what follows death–just a string of interesting coincidences–but he did learn a lesson about life: The present moment is incredibly precious, yet we miss out on it. I’ve … Read more
If you and someone else were the last people (on the planet, an island, etc), what would your relationship look like? This is the question posted in the 2023 rom-com film “If You Were the Last,” which we watched on Peacock over the weekend. It flew completely under my radar, and I’m sorry it didn’t–I … Read more
I love Star Wars, and I was a little worried after seeing the poor reviews for The Acolyte–Disney’s newest show–on Rotten Tomatoes. But now having watched the first 6 episodes, I’m enjoying the show and am looking forward to the final 2 episodes. The Acolyte follows a former Jedi-in-training who goes on the run after … Read more
The Hunger Games meets vampires with a touch of romantic intrigue, aided by excellent writing and characterizations? That summarizes my latest obsession, The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent. I stumbled onto this book among Amazon’s Kindle recommendations while looking up something else, and I’m so glad I did. It reminds me … Read more
Inside Out 2 surprised and moved me in ways I didn’t expect. I recall enjoying the first movie quite a bit, and it only took around 30 seconds of the new movie to remind me of just how clever the concept is: Emotions as characters doing their best to steer the human they’re in charge … Read more