The World's Common Tater

It was a banner week for me this week. Three movies and two books. It’s been a while since I’ve had numbers like that. It helps that I was almost done with one book when the week started.

Movies

Uncharted – I like Tom Holland. I like Mark Wahlberg. I like buddy comedy/action movies. This was a perfect movie for me. Holland and Wahlberg worked well together. It was fun. It had action. It is a good summer movie.

Dog – I had to check to make sure the dog doesn’t die before my wife watched. Spoiler alert – it doesn’t. This is a road trip movie with Tatum playing a veteran with a brain injury driving a dog with issues from the war to the funeral of its handler. The dog is then scheduled to be put down because no one can control her. I liked this one more than I would expect. Tatum is very good at what he does. I’m not sure the movie would have worked as well as it did with anyone else.

Cyrano – I had no idea this movie was a musical until they started singing. We watched because my daughter and I are Peter Dinklage fans. The movie was OK. A little long and slow, but Dinklage makes everything better.

TV

My daughter is watching Modern Family from the beginning, so I’ve seen a lot of it. I had forgotten how much I loved it. It is one of the best sitcoms ever. The new stuff does not compare.

We watched all of our normal game shows. It was interesting to see that if the chaser on the Chase eliminates all three players in the first part they send one person out to play the final chase for $60,000 for the team. I just assumed they would go home with nothing.

I saw bits and pieces of the new season of Umbrella Academy when my daughter was watching while I was reading. Now I want to go back and watch from the beginning. I still don’t know why I stopped.

Books

I finished two books this week.

Razzmatazz by Christopher Moore – In this sequel to Noir, Sammy “Two Toes” Kiffin is back on the case in 1947 San Francisco. This time he is tracking the killer of two drag kings while also helping his friend Eddie “ Moo Shoes” Shu retrieve a dragon statue his uncle stole from the tongs years ago. Sammy’s girlfriend “The Cheese” is busy on a secret task involving welding.

Noir was my least favorite book by one of my favorite authors. I like Razzmatazz more, but it was still not as good as the rest of his work. If you haven’t read Moore, I recommend going back and reading Lamb, Practical Demonkeeping, or Bloodsucking Fiends.

Nomadland by Jessica Bruder – Bruder goes on the road to live amongst and interview the nomads who live in vans and RVs. She writes about how they got there, the temporary jobs they take to survive, and the community they built.

The idea of living as a nomad is interesting and something I would even consider, but the book bored me. Chapter after chapter of “here are the RV people in a new place” Maybe I should have watched the movie instead.

On Deck

Licorice Pizza and Belfast are on hold for me at the library. I have Free Guy, Secrets of Dumbledore, and The Batman recorded. What we watch will depend on if my daughter is here or at her apartment.

TV will also depend on where she is for the week.

I am about to start reading The Investigator by John Sandford.