Epic Watch: Cleopatra (1963)

Watched:  08/14/2024

Format:  Max

Viewing:  First

Director:  Joseph L Mankiewicz

Selection:  Jamie

Well, I thought about the Roman Empire a lot the past few days, so there's one meme based in fact.  And, I had to flex some brain cells from my two semesters of Roman History, taken circa 1996 that I don't use all that often.

I had pitched watching something else, but when we opened Max, Cleopatra (1963) came up, and Jamie was curious - and I am not one to say "no, no.  No Liz Taylor" and so we embarked on a two-night journey with a four hour movie.  Yeah.  Four hours.

Cleopatra is famed for a few things.  

Let's See How a 13-year Old Post (On Netflix Streaming) Aged, Shall We?

For reasons I cannot begin to fathom, this 2011 post that featured me shrugging off the modest rise in cost of Netflix's streaming service has been getting views on this here internet website.  I have no idea why, but I suspect I'm probably getting canceled somewhere by teens with unicorn anime icons.  So everyone buckle up for that to hit.

In the post, I marvel at the possibilities of streaming, and how *cheap* this really is, when you consider the value in comparison/ contrast to rentals, going to the movies, etc...  

The first thing of note is that I didn't bat an eye at using a Louis CK clip.  Hoo-boy.  Time marches on.  And, I kind of forgot, CK was actually really funny until, uh, things came to light...  I think his point in the clip holds fine if you forget his relationship to shrubbery.   

A quick recap:  what I was excited about was that, in 2011, Netflix had worked out deals with the studios to get a lot of their back library.  And for someone interested in movies from all eras, this was a gold mine.  To me, then and now, the *obvious* thing to do was/is put the entire catalog of studios onto a service.  

Conclusion: Paris Olympics - Summer 2024

Gold Medalists Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Tara Davis-Woodhall

It's been a ride!  

I've always paid attention to the Olympics, but I'd describe the approach at League HQ this go-round as "laser focused".  We took off, I think, only one or two nights to do other things, but still caught what we were trying to catch via replay.

Here, at the end of more than 14 days of sport - 16 days from open to close, plus preliminary rounds - I feel a bit like a kid at the end of camp.  It's a brief, intense experience, and you want to hang onto the vibe.  But part of that vibe is knowing:  be happy it happened v. being sad it ended.  I don't think I could live in a world where the sport I was watching was interrupted by diving coverage for 45 unwanted minutes every day.*

Vamp Watch: Abigail (2024)

Watched:  08/11/2024

Format:  Peacock

Viewing:  First

Directors: Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin  

Spoilers

A vampire movie opening with Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" is a cheeky move.  And it really sets the tone for what's to come for vampire movie fans, both signaling an awareness of *your* awareness of the genre, but also using it as diegetic music as a young girl takes to an empty stage in an empty auditorium.*