Alan & Jono's Watching/Reading List: May 2023 (Patreon)

Alan:

Hello Heroes!

May is a really busy month for us, with 3 kids, all the end-of-school-year activities happen in May, so we’ve barely been keeping our heads above water.

What I’m reading!

• CineFex #72 all about Titanic. I watched Titanic on the plane home from London (on my iPad, not on the in-seat screen. I’m not a heathen!) And it just reminded me what an absolute masterpiece that movie is. So I’ve been deep-diving behind the scenes content. Read the official BTS book, and the art-book. But the coverage in CineFex is unreal. 100+ pages of incredibly detailed reporting on the prep, shoot, and especially post for this absolutely colossal film. Never really appreciated as a 16 year old just how much Titanic was going to change cinema.

What I’m watching!

• The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. After watching The Offer last month, I decided to give these two classics another go. I’ve only seen them once, in my mid-twenties, and I didn’t really care for them back then. Found them ponderous, and I couldn’t separate out the things that felt like clichés because I’d seen them so many times in other shows and movies my whole life. Rewatching, I actually enjoyed the first one. A bit. Still feel like the second is overrated though. Just not my cup of tea. Not the kinds of stories I generally enjoy, and definitely not the style of filmmaking I like. The interesting thing is: one of my favorite TV shows of all time is Breaking Bad, which is essentially this same story, but told in a different way, about a different type of person. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
• Ted Lasso S3 baBEY! I love this show. I love this season. I’m so happy that they’re ending it without dragging it out to death. BELIEVE.

What I’m playing!

• Still playing Skyrim. And likely will be for months. So, boring update. I’ve completed a disturbing amount of sidequests while completely ignoring the main campaign. Should I become a vampire?
• Trying to build my hometown in Cities:Skylines, but with actual public transit. So far it’s going pretty well. Need some mods though to really fine-tune. Yes. I’m that nerd. Shoutout to CityNerd/Not Just Bikes/City Beautiful/too many other urban planning/transit channels on YouTube. Love this stuff. Because I’m semi-stuck in suburbia in Utah and not loving it.

And…

Watch Movies! (And television, and read books, and play video games)

Jono:

Hi all! I've been watching Agents of SHIELD and enjoying some classic Marvel. I've never seen it before, but it's so fun! My wife and I are watching Queen Charlotte on Netflix, which is an insightful look at loving someone with mental illness. Kids and I just had an Indiana Jones marathon to prep for the new film. I also showed them Three Amigos, which was my mom's favorite movie, a staple of my childhood, and filmed in Arizona where I was raised so watching it feels like going home. The filmmakers and actors had the good sense to make fun of themselves instead of Mexico and its people. They make themselves the butt of the jokes instead of pointing fingers and laughing. Cultural appropriation? Part of the joke, contrasting the Americans' cluelessness about Mexico with its actual culture. Stereotypes? Sure, we've got bandits and simple peasants, but the main villain is highly educated (e.g. the "plethora" scene) and the villagers show real grit and integrity. White saviors? At the end, the Mexican people save themselves. Three Amigos was made almost 40 years ago, yet somehow it's still untouchable and utterly hilarious. It still makes me laugh until I cry and my sides ache. Our kids had a blast with it, too.

I've been reading Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Dr. Susan Jeffers and You Can Be Happy No Matter What by Dr. Richard Carlson. Both books have ideas that I strongly disagree with, but they also have a lot of solid, helpful insights that I endorse whole-heartedly.  In the former, I like the idea that all fear is based in the belief that "I can't handle this" and that we can face any challenge by shifting that thinking to "I will handle this" and growing in new skills by leaning on resources to learn and connections for strength. In the latter, I like the idea that no matter what is happening in life, happiness can co-exist with other emotions if we focus on living in gratitude, growth, and affection for ourselves and others. It's very Inside Out and I dig it.

What have you been watching and reading this month?