Ho ho ho, let’s go go go and look at another week full of pop culture and books and games and all kinds of nice stuff. It’s the first of that magical month of December. Sick of it all yet? Have you already heard Last Christmas 87 times? Are you wishing for the pain to end?
Yeah I kind of get you, although my read through of A Christmas Carol did inspire a little more confidence in the season than I usually have.
Still! All that follows is completely Xmas free, so read on for some unseasonal inspiration.
Reading…
I don’t usually engage in the Black Friday madness, not because I am absolutely opposed to it or I think it’s ethically troubling or I don’t want to get duped into buying something which is dressed up like a good deal but actually it’s a pretty normal price and since I work in retail I KNOW that nonsense happens…but I did engage in a little bit of Black Friday madness and picked up a Kindle. I’ve been trying to pick up more books recently, and I most certainly need to read more new books. The classics I’ve been taking care of but 2019 releases, not so much.
Nor 2018, 2017, or anything from the 21st century at all, really.
I’m thinking with the convenience of the Kindle I’ll be able to check out some smaller, newer releases. First things first I’m taking a look at David Sedaris’ Calypso, a deeply funny and moving set of diary entries/essays which read like a comedy set put to paper.
Playing…
I’ve spent a large majority of Sunday Morning Stuffs talking about Assassins Creed Odyssey, because when I started this blog at the beginning of their year I was playing it a lot. Maybe too much. Anyway, the Season Pass was on sale and I got it and now I’m playing Assassins Creed Odyssey again, so we’re back in the same boat. I blame Stephen Fry’s Heroes for getting me in that mythical Mediterranean mood. So far the DLC is good fun, it’s basically just more Odyssey: beautiful environments, simple but engaging combat, light RPG mechanics.
It’s a massive game which plays really easily so it’s so simple to just sink your teeth right into. It’s super affordable to pick up these days, so if you haven’t tried it already I do recommend you give it a go.
Listening to…
I definitely didn’t listen to The Weeknd before he was cool, no, I definitely listened to him when he was cool (i.e. not one of the biggest superstars in the world) back in the Trilogy days. His recent output hasn’t really done much for me, but his latest two tracks are slick 80’s inspired bangers which are hard not to like.
There’s also been a couple of recent tracks featuring 21 Savage which have caught my attention, his tune from the TV show Godfather of Harlem, On the Inside, and his collaboration with The Game, The Code, have got me hankering for a new project from the Atlanta rapper.
And if rap isn’t your thing, Gerry Cinnamon has a typically simple and typically charming new one rambling around the internet for your listening pleasure.
Watching…
The Irishman is a bit long, isn’t it?
It is also a bit good, but it’s not so good that I can’t say one of the main things that I noticed about it was how long it was. But you all know that. Overall, it is most certainly worth the effort although I am left to think that a lesser director, or at the least a less-renowned director would have been expected to have spent a longer time in the cutting room.
Thankfully, it is masterfully structured. The interweaving timelines of Di Nero’s Frank Sheeran bloody life come together to form a portrait of a loyal man good at following orders, and not so good at realising the consequences of his actions, especially close to home.
It’s also shot with absolute confidence and gets it’s hooks in you from the start, but there was one particular take away which has remained with me in the aftermath. Joe Pesci. He is so damn good in this. His performance is understated, the opposite of the necessary bombast of his showing in Goodfellas, but he is just as, if not more, frightening and dangerous as this dozing old man, Russel Bufalino, as he was as a clown-hating, knife happy madman mobster.
Now we’ve all got Sundays to enjoy, and I’ve given you some suggested stuff for you to perhaps fill it with if you’ve not already spent all of your money on other distractions already, so let us depart.
I’m off, big surprise, for a run and then…I’ll be probably sit down a lot. Sunday!
run into words 