The World's Common Tater

Happy April Fools Day. I can’t believe it is April already. Here is a look at my week.

Life

It was a rather uneventful week here in Tater Town. I did my two shifts at the barn. I went to Panera for coffee. Not much excitement.

My church search continues. I went to a 4th new church Sunday morning. The first and the last ones I might try again because they were very welcoming. The middle two are less likely to make the cut.

I realized yesterday that I only published once on Medium this week. I need to do better at that.

Movies

I watched Spoiler Alert yesterday. I have read Michael Ausiello’s TV writing for years. I grabbed his book as soon as it was released. It was a no-brainer that I would watch the movie. The movie was fine. It did a good job of telling the story of Michael and Kit’s relationship and Kit’s diagnosis and death. I’m not sure I was in the mind space to really focus on such a sad story.

TV

Survivor was a little anti-climactic this week. No tribal council because of a medical evacuation and we didn’t even see the decision for him to leave or the goodbyes to his tribe.

All American: Homecoming’s season, possibly series, finale was as bland as the rest of the season has been.

The Night Agent was renewed at Netflix.

Blue Bloods was renewed for a 14th season.

grown-ish is ending with season 6.

Books

I finished one book this week.

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

Salahudin and Noor have been best friends since they were kids. Salahudin lives with his parents at the motel they run. Noor lives with her uncle who owns a liquor store. When Salahudin’s mom’s health fails and his dad falls further into alcoholism he makes drastic choices to save the motel. Noor meanwhile is dealing with her angry uncle who punishes her for her religious beliefs and forbids her from applying for college. Can their friendship survive the repercussions of Salahudin’s choices?

This was the winner of the Printz Award this year and I can see why. It was a very good book, but a tough one with a lot of dark subject matter. Alcoholism, death of a parent, racism, abuse, drugs, etc. It took me a little bit to get into it, but once I did I was fully invested in their lives. It is told from three viewpoints – Noor, Salahudin, and Salahudin’s mom. The mom parts are stories from her marriage up until the events of the book and provide important insight into the family dynamics and how the past affects the present. I did think the ending was a little bit of the contrived, unlikely happy ending that I generally hate. I would still highly recommend it.

On Deck

I need to watch Violent Night this weekend and get it back to the library. It is very overdue.

SNL returns tonight with Quinta Brunson as host.

The Quantum Leap season finale is Monday night.

I am currently reading Black Wolf by Kathleen Kent.

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