The World's Common Tater

It’s my regular Friday post on a Saturday. I think it will become my regular Saturday post now. It’s easier than trying to find time on Thursday or Friday to write it.

It was a busy week for me. The Fall TV season started. I watched two movies in the car on the drive home from Kentucky. I read two books. It’s easier when I have less to write about.

Movies

As mentioned above, I watched two movies this week. Both downloaded from Netflix at the last second as we were about to leave.

Do Revenge – Camila Mendes(Riverdale) and Maya Hawke(Stranger Things) star as high school girls at a fancy prep school. Drea(Mendes) is a scholarship student who has worked hard to fit in with the popular kids. It all falls apart when her sex tape gets leaked to the school, seemingly by her boyfriend, the BMOC. Drea meets Eleanor at tennis camp that summer. Eleanor is transferring to the school and tells Drea her bully from summer camp attends. They make a deal to take down each other’s bullies.

I enjoyed this one. Mendes and Hawke were both very good in their roles. It had a twist I didn’t see coming. It was a little under 2 hours, which is a reasonable length for a movie like this. It’s probably aimed more at the younger crowd, but I think anyone who enjoys a good revenge story will like it.

Me Time – This one stars Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg. Kevin Hart plays a stay-at-home dad whose entire life revolves around the kids and their school. His wife is a successful architect who works a lot. They decide that she will take the kids to visit her parents alone so she can get quality time with the kids and he can get some me time. When his me time isn’t going the way he expected he decides to accept an invitation to his oldest friend’s birthday weekend.

This is what you would expect from Hart and Wahlberg. Kevin Hart plays Kevin Hart. Mark Wahlberg plays a man who never grew up. The weekend escalates into a series of disasters. If you like Hart and Wahlberg you will like this one. If you don’t why would you watch it anyway?

TV

It was the beginning of the Fall TV season this week.

I watched and reviewed the new Quantum Leap.

We watched the season premieres of Survivor and Amazing Race. I think I like Amazing Race more than Survivor these days.

We watched two of our favorite comedies – Abbott Elementary and Home Economics. Both are still very good.

I watched the first episode of The Masked Singer. I’m not sure how I feel about unmasking three people in an episode. It doesn’t give you time to guess who they are. I was impressed they got SPOILER William Shatner and Eric Idle.

I watched the season premiere of The Goldbergs. I still think last season should have been the final season.

I think Reba McEntire and Jensen Ackles will be welcome additions to the Big Sky cast.

We continued to watch a lot of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.

Books

I read two books this week.

Hokuloa Road by Elizabeth Hand – Grady Kendall takes a job as a caretaker on the Hawaiian property of a billionaire. He flies from his home in Maine to Hawai’i for the job. On the plane, he meets Jessie who is going to live with a friend. They make plans to meet up once they are out of quarantine. Grady soon discovers that people routinely go missing on the island. When Jessie becomes one of the missing he becomes determined to find her.

I struggled with how to rate this one. I liked it. I thought it was well written and the story kept me interested. I still struggle with books that make the pandemic part of the story. Hand was not as bad as others with the constant mention of who is or isn’t wearing a mask, but it was there. I guess I need to get used to it. I’m not sure she did a great job with weaving Hawaiian folklore into the story. It might have been better without it. In the end, I did like it and would recommend it.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman – Ove is a curmudgeon. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. His world is turned upside down when a new family moves in next door and enters his daily life.

I feel like I’m the last person to read this one. I’ve heard about it for years. I’ve seen it at the library. People have raved about it. I read another book by the author and didn’t enjoy it, so I never picked this one up. Then, my book club chose it to read. I loved it. I love Ove as a character. I love the idea of the cranky old man secretly being the guy who walked around town on vacation in Spain helping random people. I loved all of the characters. This is one of the best books I’ve read in a while.

On Deck

With all of the TV we need to catch up on and two baseball games to attend, I don’t think we will watch a movie this week.

Ghosts is back this week. I love that show.

So Help Me Todd premieres Thursday night.

La Brea is back on Tuesday.

We will watch House of the Dragon Monday afternoon.

We will probably watch Celebrity Jeopardy.

I am currently reading The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman.