Getting Bored Now

I’ve been home now for eleven days after surgery.  I’m getting more mobile each day, though I often have trouble sleeping at night without the aid of pharmaceuticals.  There are only two positions I can sleep in, on my left side or flat on my back, and after a while my body, and most especially my leg, gets restless and/or painful.  Sometimes I think the best option would be for me to nap for an hour, eight times per day.

In any case, the pharmaceuticals are now reserved for times when the pain exceeds my ability to ignore it, and otherwise I’m as clean as Russell Brand.

I have the choice of (1) being stuck somewhere in front of a television set, or (2) being stuck somewhere without a television set, and I divide my time between the two options.

While in front of the television set, I’ve been watching stuff.  Here’s some of it:

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.  Yeah, it’s animated.  And yeah, it’s probably the best Spider-Man film.  It’s hip, it’s smart, the animation is so overwhelming that I was stunned by some of it (and it’s hip and smart).  It’s also very meta, and presumably rewards those whose knowledge of the Spiderverse exceeds mine.  Actually the best film I’ve seen in a while.

Preacher: the fourth and final season.  I’m just going to say right out that this is not an uplifting project.  Watching this will not make you a better person in any way.  But if you’re into comic book-style violence and excess spiced with more than a bucket of blasphemy, this will delight your vicious, depraved hell-bent little soul.  Jesse Custer’s four-year literal search for God ends when he finally meets the Creator, only to be told, “You came so very close.  But you failed, and I’m going to end the universe anyway.”

I have a feeling Jesse’s pretty pissed off now.  Two more episodes left, I think.

I am also in awe of Ruth Negga’s acting chops.  She’s playing a crazed cartoon character, yes, but if you watch her, she finds a way to turn the character human in every damn scene.

I also have to wonder what the mainly-British cast makes of this series, set mainly in Texas and filmed in New Mexico.  (I once saw the church going down the freeway on a flatbed trailer.)  Do they think America is really like this?  I’d kind of like to know.

The comic was created by a couple guys from Greater Britain too, I wonder.  Between this and Judge Dredd, you have to wonder what they see when they’re looking in our direction.

I’ve only seen a few episodes, but the Korean science fiction series Memories of the Alhambra, having to do with augmented reality, is pretty promising.  At the very least, since it’s set in the prettiest parts of Granada, it’s lovely filmmaking.

I’m not planning on seeing the Downton Abbey movie, the reviews all agreeing that it’s stately but dull, as one would expect about a visit from that stately dullard George V.

 I know the movie that it should have been, however.

 Say his majesty brought along his eldest son, the Prince of Wales. Who had a serious thing for older women, and who might well hit on the Countess. (Elizabeth McGovern was underused in the series, anyway)

 So is the Earl of Grantham obliged by the unwritten rules of the aristocracy to let David sleep with his wife? (He would be, I think— so far as I can see, the highborn are happy to loan their wives to royalty, often in exchange for various sorts of favour.) And what would the American-born countess think about those rules— or would she be flattered that the most eligible bachelor in the world wanted to spend the night with her?

 And what would Mary think? She’s used to being the one what all the boys wanted, and David jumps right over her into the lap of her mother.

 I might actually pay for that movie. Would you?