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1. Super's Wife aka Monica vs. the Package Thieves Take III

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2. Rather liked what John Scalzi said about pre-1920s literature:

Most of 19th century English language literature is a rough ride for me because it jars my brain. The words are the same but the sentences and paragraphs don’t hang together right for me, and it’s not really until the 1920s that language usage snaps into a form I can flow through, instead of feeling it chug in my head. This is, I assure you, a me problem. Neither Austen nor any of the rest of the 19th Century English language literary world needed to take my preferences into account, not least because I would not even exist until well into the second half of the 20th Century. Austen was a fantastic writer. Just not so much for me.

With the exception of Jane Austen (which I did barrel through with delight) and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, I feel more or less the same way.

Proof, we all think differently, I guess. I'm willing to work to get to the story - but I have my limits.

3. Saw Saltburn today, and kind of fell asleep during it. So had to rewind. I found it hard to follow. It's partly because the film is very dark - and a great deal of it appears to be filmed at night or in shadows.
It's also filmed in square box format not letterbox.

Emerald Fernnel, who wrote and directed Promising Young Woman, has written another biting satire that borrows heavily from Patricia Highsmith, in particular The Talented Mr. Ripley. That novel has been adapted numerous times now by filmmakers - making me wonder about them. It's being adapted yet again into a mini-series, by someone, can't remember who.
( vague spoilers )

4. Been having issues with my sinuses of late. But not badly enough for it to be a cold, I think residual allergies.

Mother called in tears today - turns out one of her close and dear friends who had been previously diagnosed with ALS, has fourth stage lung cancer. Mother is losing her friends, many to cancer, and alzheimers. And it's painful.

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Made it roughly half-way through Marvel's Secret Invasion on Disney +, which got horrible reviews from just about everyone? It's filmed mostly at night - so I kind of have to watch it at night.

Also have made it roughly eighty percent of the way through White Lotus on HBO Max. Which much like Saltburn, also borrows heavily from Patricia Highsmith, explaining why Wales loved it, and I don't. Wales adores Highsmith's dark satire, I find Highsmith kind of a slog. (Hmmm, I should recommend Saltburn to Wales.)

Anyhow, Secret Invasion is slightly better than expected - mainly because of the stellar cast. I'd watch Olivia Coleman, Ben Mendleson and Samuel L Jackson read the phone book. But it does suffer from serious pacing problems, also it kills off not one but two favorite female characters unexpectedly. Which I think was a mistake. (Not Coleman, at least not so far.) It keeps losing my attention, or focus, and that's due to pacing issues. (I get bored). Way too many repetitive conversations, and speechifying. I do not need to hear for the upteenth time that the human race is a bunch of war mongering idiots - who fight over dumb things. I know. I agree with you. Move on.

However, there is a nice exchange between Talos (the nice Skrull leader) and Fury on a train. It's in the second episode.

Fury: You mean to tell me that there are a million of you wandering around? How?
Talos: Well, I sent out the call and invited them all -
Fury: Who gave you permission to do that?
Talos: I figure we can peacefully share this planet with you, and co-exist.
Fury: Whatever gave you that idea? Have you learned nothing? Humans can barely co-exist and tolerate each other. They fight over everything, and can't often be in the same room with each other without getting into a fight. Have you missed the fact that we're constantly at war with each other? The last thing we need is to add another species to the mix! We can't get along with each other, what makes you think we'd get along with you??

Which is a great exchange. It's just that they keep repeating it in various and sundry ways in each episode, five or six times, because the writers seem to think the audience hasn't gotten the point? We have. I bet the actors got tired of stating after a while? I wish they just limited it to that speech. That one was good and kind of humorous. I really could have done without Gravick's hypocritical take on it - yes, yes, we know the bad guy is a hypocritical terrorist. Can we kill him already? He's annoying.

Seriously this series is too long. It should have just been four hours, if that. I'd have cut a lot of the speechifying out of it. Cut it to three or four episodes. Done.

It does however remind me of why I'm annoyed by the War in the Middle East, which has been going on (off and on give or take a century here or there) for about 2000 years. Human being default setting? Selfish Asshole. Or rather, Selfish Entitled Asshole.