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Best Horror Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now

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Editor’s Note: This post is updated regularly. Bookmark this page and come back to stay up to date with the best horror movies on Amazon Prime. Den of Geek participates in Amazon’s affiliate program and may receive a commission from links on this page.

Updated for October 2020

Amazon Prime’s selection of horror movies is as extensive as it is terrifying. What’s more, they have a significant selection of both new and old/classic films for your scary pleasures. So we’ve compiled our picks of the best scary movies to watch on Halloween (or any other time) on Amazon Prime Video right now.

Now, pour yourself a glass of something good and dig your fangs in to our list of the best horror movies you can watch on Amazon Prime Video.

Afflicted

One of the better recent found-footage efforts takes a ghastly turn when one of the filmmakers wakes up foaming at the mouth with his eyeballs rolling back in their sockets. He can also suddenly run faster than a car speeding in a school zone. Diagnosis: vampirism.

There is no cure for the undead except feeding on human blood (especially child molesters). That epic travel blog they were planning is going to be supernaturally epic.

Watch Afflicted on Amazon (US Only)

Bone Tomahawk

Writer and musician Craig Zahler made his feature directorial debut with this grim, ultra-violent and unique hybrid of the Western and horror genres — two great tastes, etc.

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Kurt Russell is outstanding as Sheriff Franklin Hunt, who must lead a posse into the wilderness to rescue three people from a brutal tribe of Indians who may not even be human as we know it. The grisly confrontation that ensues is not for the squeamish. Zahler gets the period details and the horror right, while the rest of his excellent cast includes Richard Jenkins, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox and others.

Watch Bone Tomahawk on Amazon

Buried

Before he found failure as Green Lantern and then career rebirth as Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds made this tight, claustrophobic thriller in which he wakes up to find himself sealed in a coffin.

Turns out that Reynolds’ character is a contractor working in Iraq, abducted and buried by an insurgent kidnapper who has left him a cellphone. While the abductor calls to demand a ransom, Reynolds attempts to contact the outside world — with director Rodrigo Cortes never leaving the confined space of the coffin. What’s amazing is how well he and Reynolds pull this exercise in storytelling economy off.

Watch Buried on Amazon

The Cabin in the Woods

A remote cabin in the woods is one of the most frequently occurring settings in all of horror. What better location for teenagers to be tormented by monsters, demons, or murderous hillbillies? Writer/Director Joss Whedon takes that tried and true setting and uses it as a jumping off points for one of the most successful metatextual horror movies in recent memory.

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Like you would expect, The Cabin in the Woods features five college friends (all representing certain youthful archetypes, of course) renting a….well, a cabin in the woods. Soon things begin to go awry in a very traditional horror movie way. But then The Cabin in the Woods begins doling out some of the many tricks it has up its sleeve. This is a fascinating, very funny, and yet still creepy breakdown of horror tropes that any horror fan can enjoy.

Watch The Cabin in the Woods on Amazon

City of the Living Dead

Italian horror director Lucio Fulci kicked off his famous “Gates of Hell” trilogy with this gruesome, crude but surreal 1980 gorefest, in which a reporter (Christopher George) and a psychic (Catriona MacColl) struggle to stop those gates from opening and letting a horde of hungry undead into the world.

Fulci loosely based the movie on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, vying for the latter’s brooding atmosphere while indulging in his own trademark splatter. The results are somewhat slapdash but a must-see for Italian horror fans. Followed by the much better The Beyond (1980) and House by the Cemetery (1981).

Watch City of the Living Dead on Amazon

Climax

An uncategorizable but still horrific entry from the endlessly provocative French director Gaspar Noe (Irreversible), Climax starts off with — of all things — a lively, lengthy dance number in which an isolated dance troupe nails the erotic, exotic, physically demanding routine they’ve practiced for months.

But then someone slips an extremely potent drug into the punch during the party afterwards, and the tight-knit troupe turns into a raging mob of psychotics who tear, beat, and fuck each other to death. Another not-for-the-faint-of-heart film, Climax is perverse, macabre, and visceral — yet somehow alive even in the midst of all its morbidity.

Watch Climax on Amazon

Crawl

Kaya Scodelario (The Maze Runner) has to battle both hungry alligators and relentlessly rising floodwaters in this punchy better-than-you-expected thriller from director Alexandre Aja (Piranha 3D). Scodelario plays Haley, a college student who goes to check on her reclusive dad during the onset of a Category 5 hurricane and finds him injured in his basement just as nature runs all kinds of amok.

Our own Patrick Sproull said in his review that the movie delivers an “exhilarating shock to the system” and simply wants to “entertain the bejesus out of you,” which is all we want in these waning days of the Republic. Killer alligators and a deadly cyclone? It’s like two scary movies for the price of one.

Watch Crawl on Amazon

The Crazies

The Crazies is a zombie movie without the undead. And that kind of makes sense given that it was written and directed by the zombie maestro, himself: George A. Romero.

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1973’s The Crazies (there’s also a 2010 remake) tells the story of an experimental bioweapon called “Trixie.” There are only two possible results from exposure to Trixie: death or irreversible raving insanity. That’s rough. But what’s even worse is that Trixie is accidentally unleashed in Evans City, Pennsylvania, turning the small town into war zone where any neighbor could become violently insane at any moment.

Like his zombie works, Romero uses this creative horror/sci-fi concept to great satirical and symbolic effect.

Watch The Crazies on Amazon (US Only)

The Dead Zone

The Dead Zone strangely remains both one of Stephen King’s more underrated movie adaptations as well as one of director David Cronenberg’s more unsung efforts. Yet it ends up being among the best from both author and auteur, while also providing star Christopher Walken with one of his most moving, complex performances to date.

Walken’s Johnny Smith awakens from a coma to find out he’s lost five years of his life but gained a frightening talent to touch people and see both their deepest secrets and their future. Whether to use that power to impact the world around him is the choice he must face in this bittersweet, eerie and heartfelt film, which found Cronenberg moving away from his trademark body horror for the first time.

Watch The Dead Zone on Amazon

The Devil Bat

Ah, The Devil Bat. One of those infamous vampire movies that isn’t actually about vampires. But who the hell cares when it has Bela Lugosi in it, right?

But this poverty row production from 1940 features plenty of atmospherics, as well as a giant honkin’ bat, and that’s enough to set the mood on a chilly night. Especially if you’re indulging in adult beverages or contraband. If nothing else, just bow down to Bela.

Watch The Devil Bat on Amazon

Die, Monster, Die!

This was just the second feature film ever adapted from a story by H.P. Lovecraft, with movie producers eager to find other horror writers’ work to plunder after Roger Corman hit it big with his Edgar Allan Poe movies in the early 1960s.

This one is based on Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space,” which you may recognize as the title of a recent nutty Nicolas Cage movie also based on the same tale. Boris Karloff stars in this one, about a scientist who discovers that a crashed meteor begins to mutate all the plant and animal life around his home, including him and his wife. It’s kind of a slow burner but it does have its weird-ass imagery.

Watch Die, Monster, Die! on Amazon (US only)

The Exorcist III

Out of the many attempts to sequelize William Friedkin’s classic 1972 movie The Exorcist, this is the only one worthy of the original. William Peter Blatty, author of the original book, wrote a sequel novel called Legion and adapted and directed it himself for this chilling movie starring George C. Scott.

Scott plays Detective Kinderman (the role filled by Lee J. Cobb in The Exorcist), who investigates a series of murders that have connections to both the first movie’s exorcism and a spate of killings done years earlier by the now-dead Gemini Killer. Even with extensive studio-forced reshoots, Blatty has fashioned an eerie theological thriller, with one sequence that is a stone-cold classic of tension and shock.

Watch The Exorcist III on Amazon (US only)

A Field in England

2013’s A Field in England presents compelling evidence that more horror movies should be shot in black and white.

Directed by British director Ben Wheatley, A Field in England is a kaleidoscope of trippy, cerebral horror. The film takes place in 1648, during the English Civil War. A group of soldiers is taken in by a kindly man, who is soon revealed to be an alchemist. The alchemist takes the soldiers to a vast field of mushrooms where they are subjected to a series of mind-altering, nightmarish visions.

A Field in England is aggressively weird, creative, and best of all clocks in at exactly 90 minutes.

Watch A Field in England on Amazon (US only)

Frankenstein: The True Story

Well, not exactly. Originally presented as a two-part mini-series on NBC back in 1974, Frankenstein: The True Story takes plenty of liberties with Mary Shelley’s milestone novel. But it keeps the essence and atmosphere of the story intact, while taking it down some interesting new narrative paths.

The cast is sensational, led by Leonard Whiting as Dr. Frankenstein, Michael Sarrazin as the creature — who starts out beautiful and ends up degenerating into a monster — and especially James Mason as the Dr. Pretorius-like Polidori, named after one of Mary Shelley’s colleagues who was there when she began writing the novel. Frankenstein: The True Story is both macabre and lush, and deserves rediscovery.

Watch Frankenstein: The True Story on Amazon

Fright Night

Screenwriter-turned-director Tom Holland lets a jaded, smarmy vampire named Jerry Dandridge loose in suburbia and watches the blood spurt in this beloved ‘80s horror staple.

Chris Sarandon brings a nice combination of amusement and menace to the role of the bloodsucker, while Planet of the Apes veteran Roddy McDowall is endearing as a washed-up horror host recruited into a real-life horror show. Much of Fright Night is teen-oriented and somewhat dated, but it still works as a sort of precursor to later post-modern horror gems like Scream.

Watch Fright Night on Amazon

Hereditary

Between Hereditary and The Haunting of Hill House 2018 was a great year for turning familial trauma into horror.

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Written and directed by Ari Aster, Hereditary follows the Graham family as they deal with the death of their secretive grandmother. As Annie Graham (Toni Collette) comes to terms with the loss, she begins to realize that she may have inherited a mental illness from her late mother…or something worse.

Hereditary is terrifying because it asks a deceptively simple but truly creepy question: what do we really inherit from our family?

Watch Hereditary on Amazon (US only)

The Hole in the Ground

Recent horror trends have stumbled across a universal truth: kids are very creepy. A24’s Irish horror film The Hole in the Ground makes great use of that truth.

The Hole in the Ground follows a woman named Sarah O’Neill who opts to leave her (likely abusive) husband and move out to the lonely Irish countryside with her son, Chris. Things are going well until Chris starts to exhibit some strange behaviors. Not only that, but an old woman in the village tells Sarah that her son “is not your son.” When that woman is found dead with her head in the dirt, Sarah is forced to confront that maybe little Chris isn’t her Chris after all.

Watch The Hole in the Ground on Amazon (US only)

The House of the Devil

Indie horror auteur Ti West’s low-budget creepfest is a homage to 1980s horror yet plays it straight; he sets out to make a movie with the feel of genre films from that era without making self-aware in-jokes and references — and he mostly succeeds.

But The House of the Devil is also the definition of a “slow burn”: very little happens for much of the first hour (save a jolt here and there) and then the third act explodes into a paroxysm of murder, gore and Satanic horror. That makes the film feel a little off-balance, although in the end it all becomes quite unnerving.

Watch The House of the Devil on Amazon

House on Haunted Hill

What would you do for $10,000? How about surviving a night in a mansion haunted by murder victims and owned by a psychotic millionaire? Seems like a party trick until people actually start dying.

Vincent Price is the master and mastermind of a house that suddenly makes everyone homicidal—but the real pièce de résistance is what dances out of a vat of flesh-eating acid.

Some vintage horror never dies, and this 1959 classic is immortal.

Watch House on Haunted Hill on Amazon

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

One of a holy trifecta of remakes that actually improved on their predecessors (the other two are John Carpenter’s The Thing and David Cronenberg’s The Fly), 1978’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers hits that horror/sci-fi sweet spot with a cosmic premise, terrifying imagery and a nerve-rattling naturalism.

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Director Philip Kaufman shifts the story from small-town California to San Francisco, while updating the metaphor from a warning against Communism to a cautionary tale of urban alienation. But in the end, watching those duplicates of Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams and Jeff Goldblum ooze out of their alien pods is as terrifying as ever, making this a genuine classic of its time.

Watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers on Amazon (US only)

The Last House on the Left

Released in 1972, the directorial debut of the mighty (and sadly late) Wes Craven remains one of the most important horror films ever made. It helped kick off an era of horror cinema that tapped directly into the unrest of the late 1960s and 1970s, the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots, the alienation between parents and children and the escalation of violence throughout the nation.

It also showed, in nauseatingly graphic fashion, what happens when you strip away the veneer of civilization from both the characters you are expected to despise and those you are supposed to like. The result is still a crude, disturbing and grueling experience that is genuinely not for everyone.

Watch The Last House on the Left on Amazon (US only)

The Lighthouse

The second feature from The Witch writer/director Robert Eggers is just as accomplished as his debut, if almost entirely different in tone and imagery.

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Whereas The Witch was an exercise in Puritan supernatural terror, The Lighthouse is more of a descent into watery psychological madness, seasoned with a heavy dollop of Lovecraftian horror. Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe are brilliant as the mentally crumbling guardians of the title structure, with the latter in particular giving a crazed performance for the ages.

Watch The Lighthouse on Amazon (US only)

The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue

This 1974 film is almost as famous for its many alternate titles (including Breakfast at the Manchester Morgue and Let Sleeping Corpses Lie) as it is for being one of the first worthy zombie films to come out in the wake of Night of the Living Dead six years earlier.

With its counter-culture protagonists and environmental message (the dead are brought back to life by a form of radiation used as a pesticide), Manchester Morgue tries to be as socially conscious as the Romero classic it emulates. But it’s all about the zombie mayhem as well — and in full color, no less. This cult classic deserves a place of honor in the pantheon of the walking dead.

Watch The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue on Amazon (US only)

Midsommar

It’s hard to categorize Midsommar, Ari Aster’s followup to his absolutely terrifying horror debut, Hereditary. Part straight up horror, part The Wicker Man, and part anthropological study, Midsommar seems to occupy many genres all at once. Aster himself called it a “break up” movie. But whatever genre Midsommar is, it is a brilliant, and at times deeply disturbing film.

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Florence Pugh stars Dani, a young woman trying to heal in the wake of an enormous tragedy. Dani follows her boyfriend, Christian, and his annoying friends to an important midsummer festival deep in the heart of Sweden. Christian and company are there partly to get high and have fun and also partly to study the unique, isolated culture for their respective theses. To say that they get more than they bargained for is an understatement. But Dani may just end up getting exactly what she needs.

Watch Midsommar on Amazon

Neverlake

Horrors always lurk at the bottom of murky lakes, but the dead-eyed doll heads and evil statues staring from beneath the greenish surface of this one will have you begging Swamp Thing for mercy. That’s before some brutally disfigured orphans shamble out of the woods.

When Jenny visits her archaeologist father in Italy, long-drowned secrets start bubbling to the surface. To think, all this was supposed to be a vacation. Riccardo Paoletti’s directorial debut is worth checking out.

Watch Neverlake on Amazon

Night of the Living Dead

George A. Romero’s 1968 zombie classic The Night of the Living Dead messed up the minds of late ’60s moviegoers as much as it messed with every horror movie that followed. Shot on gritty black and white stock, the film captures the desperate urgency of a documentary shot at the end of the world. It is a tale of survival, an allegory for the Vietnam War and racism and suspenseful as hell freezing over.

Night of the Living Dead set a new standard for gore, even though you could tell some of the bones the zombies were munching came from a local butcher shop. But what grabs at you are the unexpected shocks. Long before The Walking Dead, Romero caught the terror that could erupt from any character, at any time.

They’re coming to get you. There’s one of them now!

Watch Night of The Living Dead on Amazon

Nosferatu

Nothing beats a classic, and that’s exactly what Nosferatu is. As the unofficial 1922 adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, this German Expressionist masterpiece was almost lost to the ages when the filmmakers lost a copyright lawsuit with Stoker’s widow (who had a point). As a result, most copies were destroyed…but a precious few survived.

This definitive horror movie from F.W. Murnau might be a silent picture, but it is a haunting one where vampirism is used as a metaphor for plague and the Black Death sweeping across Europe. When Count Orlock comes to Berlin, he brings rivers of rats with him and the most repellent visage ever presented by a cinematic bloodsucker. The sexy vampires would come later, starting with 1931’s more polished vision of Count Dracula as legendarily played by Bela Lugosi, but Max Schreck is buried under globs of makeup in Nosferatu making him resemble an emaciated cadaver. Murnau plays with shadow and light to create an intoxicating environment of fever dream repressions. But he also creates the most haunting cinematic image of a vampire yet put on screen.

Check it out.

Watch Nosferatu on Amazon (US only)

Open Grave

Post-apocalyptic zombie fans won’t want to miss the love child of The Walking Dead meets 28 Days Later, now with amnesia. When a man who’s forgotten every fragment of his identity (Sharlto Copley) wakes up in a body pit crawling with pathogens, he scrambles out to fight a swarm of brain-craving undead along with five other amnesiacs.

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It gets even more terrifying when the pieces of memory hiding in his flashbacks are unearthed.

Watch Open Grave on Amazon

Overlord

War is terrifying enough as is. It doesn’t need the addition of Nazi super soldier zombies. Thankfully the J.J. Abrams-produced Overlord decided to include them anyway.

Overlord picks up on the eve of D-Day when a paratrooper quad is sent in behind enemy lines to destroy a German radio tower located in an old church. Their plane is shot down and only a handful survivors land. Those who do will soon discover that the horror has just begun.

Watch Overlord on Amazon (US only)

Vestron

Paperhouse

Hard to see in the U.S. since its 1989 release (it’s still not out here on DVD or Blu-ray for reasons unclear), Paperhouse was directed by Bernard Rose, who went on to make the equally acclaimed Candyman three years later.

But Paperhouse may be his masterwork. A young girl named Anna (Charlotte Burke) finds the line between reality and her dreams blurring, with her alcoholic father transforming into a frightening monster in the dream world. A slightly confusing ending doesn’t lessen the impact of this highly effective dark fantasy fable.

Watch Paperhouse on Amazon

Pet Sematary (2019)

After the classic Stephen King novel of the same name and Mary Lambert’s 1989 movie, what could there possibly be left to say about Pet Sematary? Quite a lot actually! Directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer breathe new life into this old tale…not unlike a certain “sematary” itself.

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Jason Clarke stars as Louis Creed, an ER doctor from Boston who moves his family to rural Ludlow, Maine to live a quieter life. Shortly into their stay, Louis and his wife Rachel (Amy Semeitz) experience an unthinkable tragedy. That’s ok though as neighbor Jud Crandall (John Lithgow) knows a very peculiar place that can help.

Watch Pet Sematary on Amazon (US only)

Phantasm

Director and writer Don Coscarelli has said that this 1979 cult classic was inspired by a recurring dream — and we believe him, since Phantasm has the surreal, not-quite-there feel of an inescapable nightmare from start to finish.

With its bizarre plot about a funeral parlor acting as a front to send undead slave labor to another dimension, the iconic image of the Tall Man, killer dwarves and those deadly silver spheres, Phantasm was and is like no other movie of its era.

Watch Phantasm on Amazon (US only)

The Pit and the Pendulum

Following the success of his first Edgar Allan Poe movie starring Vincent Price, 1960’s The Fall of the House of Usher, director Roger Corman returned to Poe for a second serving, once again starring Price and also featuring horror queen Barbara Steele, with a script by Richard Matheson.

The movie gets off to a slow start and very little of the plot is derived from Poe’s moody short story, but the picture drips with Gothic atmosphere and saturated colors. Vincent Price gives another mesmerizingly over the top performance, and the final 20 minutes — where we finally see the title torture device swing into action — is worth the price of admission alone.

Watch The Pit and the Pendulum on Amazon (US only)

Pumpkinhead

Another cult favorite from the late ‘80s, Pumpkinhead stars Lance Henriksen as a country store owner whose young son is killed by a bunch of teens on motorbikes. The grief-stricken dad consults with a local witch to get his revenge — and she assists him by summoning the monstrous title demon.

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The directorial debut of makeup FX wizard Stan Winston, Pumpkinhead boasts one of the most memorable screen monsters of its time and a haunted performance by the great Henriksen (also notable is Florence Schauffler as the terrifying witch). But Winston’s direction itself is routine, causing Pumpkinhead to just miss being a true classic. It’s still a terrific Halloween watch.

Watch Pumpkinhead on Amazon (US only)

A Quiet Place

Thanks to a killer premise and excellent execution, A Quiet Place was one of 2018’s best horror movies and now it’s ready for a second life on streaming.

The film, directed by erstwhile Office star John Krasinski (who also stars in the project) follows the Abbott family as they try to survive a dangerous post-apocalyptic world. To make things even more difficult, however, the world is populated by blind creatures that also possess a devastatingly strong sense of hearing.

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Father Lee and mother Evelyn (Emily Blunt) try to protect their children from these monsters – all the while not making a sound. The formula of A Quiet Place is destined to be oft-repeated for a reason. Horror really works when you’re unable to scream.

Watch A Quiet Place on Amazon (US Only)

Season of the Witch

Bored Stepford-esque housewife Joan (Jan White) is stuck in a suburban bubble with an abusive husband when she meets a mysterious new neighbor (Virginia Greenwald) who practices witchcraft. Pretty soon, Joan is casting spells to have affairs with college boys half her age, suffering from Satanic nightmares that wake her up to grim reality, and initiated into her neighbor’s backyard coven.

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Proof that you never know what really goes on behind white picket fences. Another fine bit of weirdness from George A. Romero.

Watch Season of the Witch on Amazon (US only)

Suspiria

Suspiria is not necessarily a remake of the 1977 Italian film of the same name so much as its inspired by it. And that makes sense, as the simultaneously vibrant and creepy tone of the original film is nigh impossible to replicate it. So this Suspiria goes in a bit of a different direction tonally.

Dakota Johnson stars as Susanna “Susie” Bannion, a woman who enrolls in a prestigious Berlin dance academy that also happens to be run by a coven of witches. As Susie climbs up the ladder of the Markos Tanz Akademie she comes to learn more about its secrets.

Watch Suspiria on Amazon

The Tenant

Roman Polanski, in addition to being a creep and outright sex criminal, has a grand fascination with apartments, directing an unofficial “Apartment Trilogy” with Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Tenant. And it’s not hard to see why. There is something a little strange about dozens if not hundreds of relative strangers all calling the same place “home.”

1976’s The Tenant is the culmination of Polanski’s obsession with communal living and in some ways is the creepiest. Polanski stars as Trelkovsky, a paranoid young file clerk who is on the verge of succumbing to the constant dread he feels. Things are exacerbated when Trelkovsky moves into a Parisian apartment and discovers the previous occupant killed herself. What follows is a tense and trippy exploration of fear itself.

Watch The Tenant on Amazon (US only)

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The Wailing

Get ready for this epic-length (156 minutes!) story of possession and exorcism in a small village from director Na Hong-jin. Kwak Dowon stars as a cop who investigates a series of mysterious and violent deaths, only to discover that they have a supernatural cause that soon infects his family.

Despite odd moments of humor here and there, The Wailing is almost unremittingly bleak and its imagery is thoroughly unsettling. Deliberately paced and building an atmosphere of unspeakable dread, The Wailing is a standout of Asian horror.

Watch The Wailing on Amazon (US only)

Oscilloscope

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Mexican director Jorge Michel Grau garnered a ton of attention back in 2010 for this moody, low-key, character-driven study of a family of cannibals impacted by the death of its patriarch.

There’s no back story about how the clan became eaters of human flesh; they simply are, and the movie accepts that and focuses on the dilemma in front of them. That is more effective than spelling everything out. An English-language remake from director Jim Mickle (Stake Land) popped up in 2013.

Watch We Need to Talk About Kevin on Amazon (US only)

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fedoranonymous · 4 years

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Infinite List of Beginner-Friendly Anime Recs: Trigun

"I am known as Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gombigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andri Charton-Haymoss Ivanovici Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser III. Don't hesitate to call."

tl;dr I questioned someone’s recommendation for someone else’s first anime on the basis that people who are unused to anime might like something that’s less than 20 hours long and tells one complete story within the first hour or so, and 20,000 words later I decided to make my own post(s) because I clearly had Feelings

26 x 30 minute episodes + 1 x 90 minute movie | watch it: netflix (?) | hulu | amazon prime | funimation

insurance agents go looking for a legendary outlaw in the Wild West But IN SPACE (tm) so that they can accurately estimate how much damage is caused by this humanoid natural disaster. damage still accrues.

Follow the Read More for more convincing and trigger warnings (to my best recollection)

Features:

less “space western” and more “western in the space”. Other than some pieces of Lost Technology (TM) this is a pretty standard rooty tooty mcshooty until you get into the Worldbuilding

the fact that the primary cast consists of one lovable doofus who just Doesn’t Know Why Everyone Keeps Shooting At Me and two insurance adjusters who are following him around to try and keep track of how much damage he causes still cracks me the fuck up

the best excused recap episode of all time re: they’re insurance adjusters. they have to SEND the rePORT ahahahahaha brb dying

one of the official summaries called Vash “more doofus than desperado” and like. yeah. yeah. you get it.

you thought Aang’s Technical Pacifism was good but Vash manages to not kill people while creating a torrential rain of bullets. For real. If you like the idea of action movies but hate seeing blood, most of this show is gonna be excellent for you and the rest is gonna be okay to good.

Wolfwood. Just. Give me this midwestern hick priest with his drive by confessional and his money grubbing ways and his heart of gold (ThInK oF tHe ChIlDrEn) and his literal cross to bear (do not google because spoilers but yeah) and his somehow keeping up with Vash when Vash has been an impossibly skilled fighter for like 8 episodes so far. Yeah he’s only in like two episodes. He’s still a great character!

pretty much every recurring character is Wholesome As Fuck and I’m here for it. Tons of quotable moments about how you can never give up and you have to keep moving forward and the inherent coolness of people and yeah. Just a good uplifting show with a whole lot of wasted bullets.

that time Vash has to pretend to actually be every rumor that has ever been spread about him and immediately starts singing “ladee dadee died~ genocide~ ladee dadee dud~ an ocean of blood~ let’s begin the killing times” because he is actually a five year old sometimes and i love him so much

impeccable animation, character design, sound work, etc would I recommend you something that would be painful to enjoy? I mean I guess you wouldn’t know, I could have outstandingly bad tastes, but no you cannot go wrong.

“Repeat after me: This world is made of! Love! And! Peace!”

I might say “x anime did better in the US in Japan” with more or less accuracy, but Trigun abso fucking lutely did so well in the US it got a movie over a decade later because that’s how long it took for dubs to come out back in the late nineties and early aughts. Surprise surprise, Westerns do better in the West. It’s also got the violence porn balanced with a specific precious moralizing that vibes well with a predominantly Christian audience balanced with genuinely awesome humor. Trigun truly is the anime for people who don’t like anime.

Watch Out For:

General warning for violence, guns being the answer to every problem, mostly implied body horror, at least one serial killer, this might be the show with the (implied?) cannibalism someone fact check me, child endangerment (to be fair it’s the child doing the endangering by sneaking in where he isn’t wanted), alcoholism, and general rough times. There’s something really poignant that’s escaping about how God abandoned the world but us humans don’t have that luxury, it’s that kind of setup.

Honestly special shout out for the specifically very accurately Christian proselytizing considering that it’s a Japanese production and as a rule Xtian imagery in anime tends to be used like, say, grecoroman imagery in Hollywood. Occasionally accurate but usually just kind of generalized meh. It was a plus for the overall production but if you’re on my blog it might be a minus for you.

Episode 4 to the point that it’s regarded as borderline ooc. A woman is tied up in such a way that she’s dangling from the ceiling and Vash makes a beeline to try and see up her skirt. It’s an obvious gag and nothing is shown iirc (to be fair I only watched the broadcast version), but I know some folks would like the warning especially after the previous point. It’s a shame because the rest of the episode is really good, it’s an adaptation of the pilot chapter that got Trigun greenlit, but the scene is fairly standalone so should be skippable. Just look for Vash’s eager puppy look and go forward about two minutes.

Millie Tommygun, being the cheerful, optimistic one of the two main girls, can be treated kind of shittily by the narrative, which is hilarious considering Vash’s Whole Everything. I think Millie has internalized the idea that she’s the stupid one to Meryl’s Sarcastic Genius, but also Millie’s the one who figured out who Vash is first and just generally the one who calls people out on their bullshit, with a smile, which is literally their jobs. She’s never unlikable, though, unlike Meryl who needs to defrost to Vash’s Whole Everything despite having Millie for a friend. Perhaps they only just met on this assignment? Otherwise idk why Meryl ain’t used to it yet, probably some heterosexual bullshit.

Any time Knives is in the summary. Remember that “at least one serial killer” yeah that’s Knives et al. Shit has to get darker before you can see the light shining through.

Overall Trigun is such a good anime. It’s just. Have you ever wondered what Avatar the Last Airbender would be like if it was an East Asian author writing about Western tropes? Now you know.

#eli's anime recs #main trigger warnings are body horror ultraviolence and the existence of at least one serial killer #and overt xtian themes? with all of the previous #possible cannibalism too i think this is the one #it's a good show but it is Dramatic As Fuck #also for fuck's sake if you know the show and I missed something please chime in

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incarnateirony · 6 years

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Ratings for Dummies

An explanation kit to those having to deal with people who spew mindless garbage about higher or lower viewers on a given week.

I'm going to begin this with a challenge: if you've been copy-pasted this as a default retort for doing the above, I dare you to read all of it. If you're 100% confident in your opinion, and educated on your reasoning beyond a random corner of the internet number set pulled out of your butt and recited ad nauseum, you should be able to postulate a reply instead of "UR STUPID." - Anything else, you either have to internalize a debate about how often you've made yourself look like a complete jackoff to the fandom and TPTB, or just knowing and willfully spread disinformation. You are encouraged to cross-search ratings talk when I start busting out techie terms - because contrary to how the fandom likes to fling ratings around, there is in fact a science to this.

Let's start with

What are raw viewers worth?

Jack shit.

I mean if one ep had 80,000 more people watching it-

It still doesn't mean jack shit.

That doesn't make sense.

Okay so here's where we get into some real-world talk.

If you think for a second, for a moment's glance, that the entirety of any TV show's following are like us, in the deep end of the fandom, humping press releases and tracking character appearances, tuning in for any time someone breathes a character's name, you have an incredibly distorted version of reality to begin with.

But you said some characters have base loyalty...

Character loyalty does have impact, to some measure. For example, between seasons 11-12-13 Castiel maintained a 72,000-74,000 character exclusive draw per episodes that featured him (which IS a base allure of roughly 0.028 to 0.035 depending on the viewership night). And no, that doesn't mean only 70K~ people are fans of his. That means there's 70K~ people that are humping promos with dedication enough to know and tune in only for his presence. Now, you don't have to be a math wizard to know that this is about 4% of routine audience being dedicated explicitly and only to Castiel (1.7-8 million base viewership / 74k = 23~; 100/23 - you get the point.)

So yes. Character loyalty impacts numbers. We can't really give J2 exclusive numbers, because, well, J2 are in every episode - ergo we can't really determine their independent draw, especially minding that for example Castiel is himself expected in half episodes, other recurring characters in quarters of episodes and so on ad infinitum, and we have very little measure of how well the show will handle with only them.

Oh, wait, we do. It was season 7. Keep that in mind. We'll get back to this point.

But this is where that ends. Because a lot of the viewers are just that: interested in the full dynamic of a show. Many are what you'd call casual viewers, but many casual viewers are also dedicated in their own standards. Swathes of people who have watched the show since the dawn of time have never poked into social media. They never looked into show or fandom politics. They simply tune in and enjoy the complete picture.

This is what your real core demographic is. I've seen fans talk about "We're the core dem-" STFU. Really. Get over yourselves. At the peak that movement had 400 heads to it and since then most have utterly quit the show or idled out. There's roughly 200 active at this point. So I want you to realize what a piss in the bucket that is. We can get into the absolutely failed Tombstone boycott as a perfect example later on. But for now, we need to get to how ratings /actually/ work.

Well then, is it demos that matter?

To some extent, yes, but that's a microcosm in a much more complex macrocosm, and to get to that, first you need to understand the values of the "True" and "Plus" systems, what they are, and why they exist. To do this, you need to understand

The death of network television

When Supernatural first started in 2005, we had an entirely different entertainment landscape. Cell phones were bricks without internet (as even reflected in early show), most people were on dialup and if lucky, lowgrade DSL we'd laugh at modernly; there was no streaming, DVR was a pricy alternate feature on top of already pricy cable less than half of american homes had. Rabbit ears were still a very real thing until 2009 when the Digital Television Relay transition took effect. 2005-2009 was a transition point into cable being considered common and, even after this period, a large portion of the population still didn't have it and it was basically mandated at a certain point and stations everywhere had to flip across. This may be shocking to anyone under the age of 30, but /not everybody had cable when SPN started./ In fact, only a minority did.

Why is this important? Because the death of network television is important before I even get to explaining the "Plus" system and why it /exists./

Cable and Sat TV's been around for a while. Back in the old days, people got these giant assed antennas installed on top of their house that looked like you were trying to catch alien transmissions. But this was by no means a standard. Even still, even long before SPN was a thing, Nielsen and other interested parties took interest in tracking the decline of television, but it /really/ started ramping up around 2009 because of the transition.

But if you didn't have cable? If you weren't a lucky sod or early converter? You had six, maybe eight local stations. WB/CW (2006) was one of them. You generally got Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, WB, CW... and maybe one other rando and a few locals. Welcome to television. So, lo and behold, when people turned on their TV, they only had... 6, 8 choices? Goooo figure. These stations - ALL of them - had MUCH HIGHER RATINGS.

Notice the “today” is a chart that ended in 2011. Now have fun wading through the rest.

Does anyone remember Kripke talking about being in the Bubble and being unsure the show was going to make it until Misha Collins tanked in? This isn't about stanning Misha (I am not nor have I ever been a Misha stan, I am a TPTB stan and ALL related individuals) - this is about explaining just where Kripke's head was at. That's because as the show progressed, it started losing value. We're gonna get to ratings later, but know that CW was not going to syndicate until it reached 88 episodes, and by late season 3... it didn't look like they were going to get there. At a glance, looking at numbers and demos both, it looked like the show... marginally recovered, tada, happy day. But there is a picture far, far deeper than this.

Okay so that’s just news but...

Do you see these charts? These are just... several I whipped up off a quick google search regarding network television. Notice the one showing network shares drops off dead at 2012; and if any of you, whatsoever, realize anything it's that in these last five years, we've had a truly digital boom. Everyone has a cell phone with internet. Everyone has cable, DVR, high speed internet. In the US, at least. It's a very, very, VERY small population that doesn't anymore. As a result And just in case for some reason you're unaware of that, here have a CHART and another CHART. And take notice that Amazon, Hulu, and other major streaming services do NOT report ratings. They make the studio money, yes, and they're very happy and aware of that, but you'll never see it reflect in viewers or demos. But despite this, at least until the 2012 cutoff, seems like CW’s share stayed pretty level, didn’t it? But... where is it going?

Oh, IDK.

Now if for any reason you think this has zero impact or ramifications in ratings across the board on major networks, let's try this: Simpsons. Totally different genres, viewership types, right? Here's a bundle of charts. I even overlapped them within the year brackets for the visually impaired.

You can try it with the time period for anything. Check out WWE. Check out anything out in the US this long. Overlay. Start feeling embarassed.

QED: Ratings literally everywhere have gone down. And that's what the "Plus" factor in ratings is for.

Okay you keep talking about "Plus" so WTF IS PLUS

Plus isn't exactly what the industry calls it, but it's become a widely acknowledged tag for the general public. "Plus" is a factor that people-that-aren't-dumb-and-work-in-TV are fully aware of and, I promise, with all of those charts in mind, completely expect. It's a lot simpler to just call it Plus.

A18-49+ (or "Plus" for short) is a stab at a "fair" measurement of historical TV ratings in a world where Live + Same Day broadcast ratings and renewal standards are constantly on the decline. To create a fair measurement for entertainment programming, a 30 year ratings buff came up with the rating for the average moment of primetime entertainment programming on the big four broadcasters in each season starting with 2001-02, as "league average."

A18-49+ takes a show's average rating for a season, divides it by the "league average" for that season, and multiplies by 100. That means a show with a 100 A18-49+ did exactly the "league average" for entertainment programming. The bigger, the better.

You can read more from the creator here: http://www.spottedratings.com/p/a18-49-index.html

Keep in mind this individual has no affiliation with SPN or the CW, doesn't give two flying FUCKS about your fandom drama or ships, and has been studying ratings since before most of the squawkers here popped out of their mother. The others, you may have been in school at the time. That said, before you start screaming any of the trivializing "bias" horse shit you can feel free to go argue with that sysop and look like a righteous jackass to them too, or you can deal with the fact that someone, somewhere, is far, far more aware of what they're talking about than you are.

Now that we have that handled,

So... demos don't mean anything?

No, they do. They're an important microcosm in a very vast macrocosm that's eternally expanding. Demos show us our "percent share" of people watching actual television on any given day and time. Even on shitty days where SPN is panning a flat 0.50, that means one in two hundred people with their TVs on in america are watching, basically. It's a little more complicated than that, but this is gonna be long enough.

However, demos can be impacted by just... high TV viewing nights. Let's say a TV show has a highly dedicated cult fandom and then, I dunno, the Olympics click on. Even if that show retains every base line fan, unless it has something like a ratings draw character that rakes in more than their average viewers, the demo is going to faceplant even if they happen to get MORE viewers. Why? Because 5 bazillion new people just tuned into the Olympics that usually wouldn't even watch TV and now our percentiles are fucked up.

To some extent, those of us that are versed in the mechanics of the TV world can kind of speculate what's going to slag viewership on a given night.

Holidays, olympics, etc. If you air a TV episode on Christmas when a million people around the US all decide to tune into the fucking hallmark channel to watch a fake fireplace with fake puppies running around, suddenly everything goes to hell. And so on. There's other more detailed nuances than this, of course, but these are the ones that make sense without pages of extra exposition.

That said, a demo can flux up and down even on the exact same number of viewers. Sometimes, a demo can be below an episode even though it had more viewers. Demo matters more than raw viewers because it shows the general retention better than raw heavy traffic does, since there can just be a lazy damn day in America by some fluke and boom, heavy general click-on. Viewership, in the end, means about as much as a fart in the wind. Demos give us localized views within the structure of a few seasonal periods. Demos of surrounding years can be relatively contiguous, but while hundreds of station options expand, streaming becomes more prevalent and more, the core networks, as seen on the above charts, seem to be dying demographically.

I promise it's not that the Simpsons or WWE have become 1/3 as entertaining as before, and neither has SPN. The simple fact of it is: people have diversified options in what, and how to view.

So back to base: The Plus factor is a simple algorithm to determine that. Networks take it into account too, that's why they're still making money, and still airing things that, in theory, have 1/2 or 1/3 the ratings they had a handful of years ago. Because in reality: that's simply not true. And anyone that continues to recite this shows they have no idea what they're talking about. Then there's "True," which is ratings adjusted for timeslot and station, as CW has its own formula if you look up "Plus,"

Okay fine but SPN started at a 2.5 demo in season 1 and has a 0.6 demo now and you can't even-

Okay first of all, hold the phone, S1-3 stan, because we've got some enlightenment here.

Literally any new show in that era (due to the limited options thing) got a wealth of attention. Did you know that by midseason demo had already dropped to 1.7 and share had dropped from 6 to 4? It only broke 2.0 one other time that season, dropping as low as 1.3 in the penultimate episode, with the finale marking in at 1.6. Supernatural lost an entire viewership percentile over the course of only its first season, and the average was a 1.9. (Source: http://www.spottedratings.com/2011/12/spotvault-supernatural-cw-2005-06.html )

Season 2 fared no better, starting at 1.7 and never returning to it, declining to 1.2 by the finale with a 29% loss on year to year. However, later on, I'm going to break out the "Plus" metric and show why... this was actually okay. For now, it looks rough on S1-3 stans, but hang in there! Plus will shine for you on this. Just wait until we do raw demo breakdown. Just hang onto the average being 1.38. (Source: http://www.spottedratings.com/2011/12/spotvault-supernatural-cw-2006-07.html )

Supernatural returned in season 3 at 1.2, where it left off, bouncing between and staying... just about stable there. Even on season average (1.2) (Source: http://www.spottedratings.com/2011/12/spotvault-supernatural-cw-2007-08.html )

As I recently went through the skull busting agony of finding "the first episode of March" for all seasons to show a thematic trend, I'm going to give you "first episode of March" (not withstanding S3 which was off until end of April) with Plus values as pulled from this same site. All the way through the end of "Kripke's vision." S1: 3/30/06 37 S2: 3/15/07 37 (+0%) S3: 4/24/08* 30 (-19%) S4: 3/12/09 33 (+10%) S5: 3/25/10 39 (+19%) Literally, arbitrary date/episode number you can go back and cross reference for air times. Go ahead, prove I'm wrong. And if you want, and are willing to give a few days for me to pull up the independent Plus values on all of these seasons (or do so yourself) - go and check. Try to /not/ be so transparent as to lurch for the initial surge wave of S1 that we've already covered the horrific slashing of. This is clearly where we equalized.

So what's up with S2 having the same "Plus" value as S1, when S2 had a drop? Well, check the seasons, the S1 March ep and S2 ep basically got the same viewership on that specific episode, and no major changes happened. Tada! Cool. So what happened in S3? We flatlined.

What was the bottom of S2's barrel on ratings became our average point. Simple enough. Be it demos, audience, or "Plus," S3 kinda waffled - while still in the grey area of syndication that Kripke was worrying about (88 episodes.) So moving into S4, you see the +10 value. Things were /starting/ to update but not wildly at this point. Season started at 1.7, which we hadn't seen in a while, then danced around and landed at an average of 1.3; still a higher demo than S3, but I mean, not staggeringly so.

But here's where those plusses get fun.

As above, in 2009, digital conversion became mandated. You could either buy an expensive converter box to keep watching regular TV, have NO TV, or go to cable. By then, portions of friends had gotten basic cable, most people cracked and went to table, but not all yet. Some still scrabbled for rabbit ears. Even still, on all above graphs and charts, you'll notice the decline setting forward. S5 hit with a starter demo of 1.4, balancing routinely to 1.22, lending it between S 4 and S 2 - so what gives on it being ranked ABOVE both of them? (+19% over S4, +29% over S3, +10% over S1-2) - BECAUSE EVERYBODY HAD CABLE OR NO TV.

That's right, diversity was almost thrust upon the general audience, but at that point, cable was still a fairly small universe compared to now. Streaming still wasn't a thing. Lo and behold, even though S5's season average was on par between 3 and 5, the value was ranked above - as the true death of broadcast television began... and miraculously, SPN pretty much kept its viewerbase while other stations started dropping like flies in 2009.

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Still reading? Probably not the people this needs to reach, but it'll educate those that do truly WANT to know.

Ah... season 6. I have so many things to say about season 6-7. First of all I do feel like Sera Gamble was kind of thrown under a bus; S3 had the writer's strike, S4 Manners was pulling out due to DYING, then S5 Kripke and head author Carver both bounced like DEUCES and left Gamble scrambling with a tied off storyline and a now-syndicated show demanding more.

Despite S4-5 pulling out and bearing through the decline of network TV, season 6, in pure demos, didn't do that well. Started at 1.3, ended at 0.8, and on top of that got boned over onto Fridays too. TLDR season average was 0.99. There's a lot of factors in this drop - from some original audience being appeased by Swan Song, the schedule change, and other people just not liking the new production and direction, but the thing is? It still held. It was S7 that fell through the goddamn floor. S1: 3/30/06 37 S2: 3/15/07 37 (+0%) S3: 4/24/08* 30 (-19%) S4: 3/12/09 33 (+10%) S5: 3/25/10 39 (+19%) S6: 3/04/11 39 (+0%) [Moved to Friday] S7: 3/16/12 30 (-24%) So before anybody starts crying about Born Again Identity being the lowest rated as DA PROOF that Cas wasn't wanted back, you need to look at that. LOOK AT IT. That was the episode before he came back, with no warning nor ad at that point indicating he would. S7 fell to an average of 0.73, or in demo talk, about a 26.5% demo loss. Plus rounds off 2.5 of that as standard network losses over that period. But the fact of it, by every demographic, at this point, the last two seasons had lost us HALF of the season 4-5 stable demographic that resisted the digital conversion period.

There's a reason Gamble doesn't work there anymore.

So let's talk more about demos, and how they're often flagrantly abused in the name of hate.

Let's look at season 8. Season 8's recovery may have seemed meager. It rode low on the aftermath of S7 and started at only 0.8, but routinely stabilized at 1.0, including the back end of the season, leaving us a 0.92. Here's the Plus value share, S6: 3/04/11 39 (+0%) [Moved to Friday] S7: 3/16/12 30 (-24%) S8: 3/20/13 47 (+58%) S9: 3/04/14 48 (+2%)

You notice anything here? Mainly that they projected a 50% annual incline of data usage back then? You know, people who worked in it? Or how about the one that showed the projections were spot on when the chart was made afterward? How about a report on how many TV networks branched on cable around then? Or defaulting back to those cripplingly flatlining charts? Broadcast TV is dead, Jim. But somehow, despite only recovering to just-under the ratings of S6 (roughly 28%~ recovery demo-wise), it counted as a +58% increase. Again, it's not me, it's them. [points at the 30 year ratings experts] Network TV declined, but SPN bounced back.

As you can see, S9 held the sharing line, but that's also because SPN had updated.

Updated how? Oh, let's see... Supernatural had been loaded for binge watch on Netflix. DVR and SD started popularizing and becoming mainstream. S9 stabilized us back at a 1.0 raw demographic despite these tumultuous changes in television. Back to Plus, S8: 3/20/13 47 (+58%) S9: 3/04/14 48 (+2%) S10: 3/18/15 36 (-33%) S11: 3/23/16 44 (+22%) So here's where it looks like it gets dicey. Season 10 started at a 1.1 share, which we really hadn't seen since... well, Kripke era. It hovered around the 1.0 line until midseason. I also have my feelings about the back-end of S10's handling, and by the sounds of interviews and panels, so did the cast and crew, but someone pitched a direction, we meandered, ratings drifted. 0.1>0.9>0.8>0.7>0.6. Even the finale didn't bank better than 0.7, and our average dropped at 0.8. Fun fact though, that -33% on the first episode of March? One of the lowest rated episodes on the season, notwithstanding the horrible choice of killing off Charlie. But by then, viewership had floundered. Even still, at our LOWEST episodes on the season, we're holding the network share ABOVE the S9 gains... as once again digital around us booms.

Don't believe me? Check. You can forward and backtrack everything I'm saying on these seasons. (Source: http://www.spottedratings.com/2014/10/spotvault-supernatural-cw-2014-15.html )

Curiously after midseason, on the bottom chart, you can literally SEE the perpetual decline on every metric. You can LITERALLY look at it as it started dropping viewers to competition.

Ultimately, S11 led in about where you'd expect, a small tick above S10's ending, because... premieres. Duh. 0.9. TLDR ratings at a glance teeter tottered around 0.71 on demographic. Our demo went down 0.1 ... but our Plus went up 22%? And better, our Plus went up 22% on one of the LOWEST RATED episodes OF season 11? And the better part of the extended charts (http://www.spottedratings.com/2015/10/spotvault-supernatural-cw-2015-16.html) are green instead of red?!?! What black magic is this?

The black magic is called being in the year 2016. How many of your US friends didn't have highspeed internet? How accessible was CW app which wasn't connecting in yet? How many people buy from Amazon, Hulu, or other streaming sources that don't report ratings but just feed in direct profits?

DING DING DING, EUREKA. Maybe this has clicked on a light in a few skulls. We'll touch briefly on S12-13.

Look, I'm not a S12 fan. I fucking hated S12. But I have the brains enough to know that this 0.6 it has? The population doesn't. There's a reason TPTB is holding on and it's not ThE DeStIEL aGENdaaaaa. It's not SaMEraSUre. So let's talk. S12. Led in at 0.8 from S11, hit .6 pretty immediately spare for like 12x12 and a few other flukes, rode the perfect 0.6 average line. But where is our Plus? S11: 3/23/16 44 (+22%) S12: 3/02/17 49 (+11%)

That's right. Despite our average going down 0.1 at a glance to people who don't understand how The Internet works, our Plus values increased 11%. Because guess what? IT WAS 2017 AND EVERYTHING IS FREAKING DIGITAL. So how about we do the time warp to the current, and realize we're in 2018, and not back in 2005-land where cell phones were mythic ideas that you were excited if you could play 2-tone space invaders on.

Those were first eps of March, right? Enjoy the first week of March, this year (13x14) (http://www.spottedratings.com/2018/03/spotted-ratings-thursday-3118.html#more)

See the buttons for Raw and Plus?

First of all let me disclaimer this. At the point I'm writing this piece, true-true finals haven't been tallied in and the main page for it hasn't been made in archive yet with true finals. These are prelims. I'm writing this before TVSF or any of the big websites people like to bounce to as casuals thinking they're ITK about ratings go to look at, release anything. Both this page and TVSF say 0.6 at this point. I can promise the final is going to be (or be close to, such as within a 0.01~) 0.56; Why? Because this same site also releases unrounded prelims, and both this page, TVSF, and almost any page does a round-up. Unrounded prelims were 0.558. We got 0.56.(Adjustments can and do happen but, at the point of this post, we’re not getting railed by a lot of pre-emptions and prelims have generally been within 0.01; the specific accuracy of fast track national unrounded prelims can vary such as with a large pre-empt.)

But do yourself a favor. Check the Plus. Season 13: 3/1/2018 - episode 13x14 - 56. A 14% increase in network share at current and, even if this drops a few points with a 0.56 adjustment, no doubt at least a 10% increase. So let's do some math: S1: 3/30/06 37 S2: 3/15/07 37 (+0%) S3: 4/24/08* 30 (-19%) S4: 3/12/09 33 (+10%) S5: 3/25/10 39 (+19%) S6: 3/04/11 39 (+0%) [Moved to Friday] S7: 3/16/12 30 (-24%) S8: 3/20/13 47 (+58%) S9: 3/04/14 48 (+2%) S10: 3/18/15 36 (-33%) (earlier episodes would give us nearer to -20% but we're being nice to antis.) S11: 3/23/16 44 (+22%) S12: 3/02/17 49 (+11%) S13: 3/01/18 56 (+14%) You... you do realize that in terms of broadcast television, this means that S13 is performing, functionally, 51% better than S1-2 did at origin and as much as 86% better than season 3?

You... you do realize that, right?

So while someone sits here, screaming, "WHY HAVEN'T TPTB LISTENED TO US?" maybe stop and realize that it is because you are WRONG to the point of being utterly incoherent to anyone that knows how this works. The seasons railed for are the lowest performance, the attempt to go back TOWARDS those demands in early S7 threw the show BACK into that early trashcan, and all steps made by the eras that a certain very small, noisy sect of haters screech about have in fact redeemed the show, first in regaining MASSIVELY exodused demo, then stabilizing it across other mediums and still climbing compared to all competition.

Now I will rub SOME salt in the wound. Tombstone. You know that one that all the haters rioted, hashtagged a #mysupernatural boycott during to prove they weren't watching, ended up having a GIANT ratings jack?

Yeah. Its Plus value was 69. Or, summarily, sizably above two times the network value of early seasons. And had a 20% increase over Year to Year in the same slot. And a 40% increase on "true year to year" from even S12.(http://www.spottedratings.com/2017/11/spotted-ratings-thursday-111617.html) Don't believe me? Ask the dishes. Click plus.

The simple fact of it is: the people that scream the show is "dying" are wrong in every field imaginable. The show is, and will continue to be, one of CW's forever strong horses as long as J2 WANT. But the fact of it is - they don't want it as much anymore.

Not because of "Jared mistreatment" by the crew; but because this is now 13 years in which the world around them has changed - quite literally - right down to the evolution of cellphones as we've spoken - while they've started families. And maybe, just maybe, some of them are tired of their friends and family being harangued in the name of tinhatting or hating certain characters. And maybe, just maybe, they're heading on 40 and want to try other things in life. And maybe, just maybe, we should respect that instead of turning it into other reasons to shriek at people and just prove the point. Cuz the entire ratings screaming? That's gone. It's done.

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Now this is already a titanic post. I'm not going to cover my own ratings projections mechanics in the same thing. I've talked it in bits and pieces over social media, but really mapping out the entire image of it, and its reliance on a mix of outter-world issues, episodical formats, calendar scheduling, hiatuses, and of course fan favorites and ratings characters yes - that's it's own thing. So to those who have been worried - CW will literally continue it, "as long as ratings hold out." One thing that hasn't occured to the shriekers is that this has been the verse since the dawn of time. Even with demos seeming to fraction on themselves until you run this kind of analysis. Why is that? Because ratings have been holding out. They always have. CW will never have another horse in the race like Supernatural. Flash is close - it tries, but it's not as age and time worn and we have no proof, beyond it surviving another decade, that it will hold out like SPN has. If it does, Good On It. But CW really only has two considerations: J2(and to some extent M)'s desires, and any well-beyond-SPN fiscal issues (such as the TW/ATT fiasco that could bone a lot of their projects). That's it. SPN is fine. SPN is fantastic. SPN is more than 50% better off than when it started.

Again, at some point I'll break down the mechanics I use to generate my demo projections at another point. Those that pay attention know I'm eerily accurate; and these things go beyond simply "who is in the episode," though that be part of it - there's so many complicated things that I'd have to explain piece by piece. So, some day, I'll get to that. Until then, you see I know what I'm talking about and see that I'm right week in-and-out, so...

TLDR to people yelling about ratings to bash people: Shut the fuck up about ratings until you understand it. Or quietly squii over when something looks good. But don't sit here trying to use it to bludgeon other wings down or worse, harass TPTB or try to agenda push on them when one specific bracket of ratings seem to look good to your cause, because odds are, you look like a giant freaking asshat.

TLDR2 for people who love the show in its current state: S13 is doing 51% better than S1-2 and Tombstone did 2times+ better respectively and you should be really happy about that. (Edit: Brainfried, it was a late post I was finishing. S13 is doing 86% better than S3, Tombstone did 2x better than all of them. Crossed my wires at 2 AM.)

This has been a public service announcement AND The More You Know.

(Edit: For those still finding this fresh, an addendum post has been created:

https://intelligentshipper.tumblr.com/post/171566934275/ratings-for-dummies-vol-2 )

#Supernatural #ratings #death of primetime TV #mine

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kingofthereunitedkingdom · 6 years

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All right my dudes, let’s talk about this Amazon LOTR series. (Aka, the two cents that no one asked for ever. Seriously, all opinions are valid, I’m not here to fight, this is just what I think. Anyways.) Please read til the end.

I for one was initially very very upset. Because I don’t trust Amazon, okay? Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy was a once in a lifetime miracle. Him and Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens poured their heart and souls into making the best possible adaptation of Tolkien’s masterpiece that they could. Everyone on that production, from Weta to the stunt people to the cast to Howard Shore were committed to bringing Tolkien’s vision to life. Was it perfect? No. Was it as close to perfect as we’re gonna get? Yes! There’s a reason it got all the Oscars. People who think that Peter Jackson’s LOTR wasn’t faithful enough are so deluded that it boggles my mind. It’s like people think he could just snap his fingers and turn the book page by page into exactly what you envisioned in your head when you read it. Modern day filmmaking has so many constrictions it’s not even funny. Producers, lawyers, marketers, auditors, people giving the project money who in return are in it for the money. And these are the people that Jackson had to work with in order to get the film made on the scale it was, rather than a home movie shot on a camcorder in his backyard. With this in mind, it’s a miracle that the films were as amazing as they were. You should actually all go watch the behind the scenes appendices footage on the extended edition DVDs. If you can’t get your hands on the DVDs, a lot of it is actually up on YouTube. The part where they talk about the process of converting book to script is very fascinating and explains a lot. Tolkien did not write these books with a movie in mind. The pacing is a screenwriter’s nightmare, he spends a lot of time on details we don’t necessarily need, and the time frame is positively loopy. You say Frodo was thirty three when he received the ring and fifty when he left the Shire, I say did we need to see Frodo moping around in the Shire for seventeen years? You say that the Fellowship’s travels were rushed, I ask if anyone ever wished they could spend a month in Lothlorien while absolutely nothing happens except resting and crying about Gandalf? I love the books, I truly do. But even I admit that a shot-for-shot adaptation would be awkward and at times difficult to watch.

Now, as for the show in question, do I think that Amazon read the Silmarillion and said ‘wow, let’s spend billions of dollars to make a faithful and heartfelt adaptation!’? Um, no. Somebody in a highrise read that Game of Thrones was ending and realized that now there’s gonna be an open market for that genre of show. Now, who else can think of a series that checks the boxes of fantasy, long and complicated af, pre-existing fan base, and minimal barriers when it comes to obtaining rights? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Tolkien is the million dollar answer (or billion, in Amazon’s case). What gives me hope is (now this might be hearsay, don’t take my word for it because I cannot confirm) that apparently they only have the rights to events that take place before The Hobbit and LOTR. Which is essentially just the Silmarillion and/or the appendices. Now, this could be interesting. The Silmarillion doesn’t have a screen adaptation, so whatever they did would be groundbreaking. There would be nothing to compare it to. But what I’m afraid of is that Amazon would be afraid of it. The Silmarillion is a lot to chew. It’s wordy, the characters would be hard to adapt on screen, and it would be really hard to market it because the concept of the Silmarillion has (unfortunately, but truthfully) long been associated with ultimate geekdom.

This is why Amazon is probably going to pick the lower-hanging fruit and reinvent popular characters we already love. I’ve been hearing a lot about how they’re doing it as a young Aragorn prequel. Which, for surface level selfish reasons depresses the heck out of me because Viggo Mortensen is and always will be my Aragorn. If this was happening years ago and they got Viggo to be the character again in a TV show, I’d be all for it. But unfortunately Viggo cannot age in reverse and if they were gonna use him they’d have to use a shit-ton of CGI a la Carrie Fisher in Rogue One which… *shudders* *war flashbacks*. But then again, Viggo has aged remarkably well. Did you see Captain Fantastic? Maybe with some heavy makeup and nice camera angles- Ah, it’s all just a pipe dream anyways. As long as they don’t bring back Stuart Townsend. Cue more shuddering. But I wish Amazon would understand that they’re investing their money in the wrong horse! We don’t want to see Aragorn reinvented! We’re happy with what we have!

Think about it realistically for a minute, in the hypothetical event that this is a young Aragorn TV show. Amazon is a studio giant, trying to establish themselves among other streaming services known for their original TV shows such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc. We, as Tolkien fans, understand that Aragorn’s history prior to the events of LOTR is pretty straightforward. He grows up in Rivendell, is informed that he’s Isildur’s heir, goes into the wild to become a Ranger, fights for Rohan, fights for Gondor, falls in love with Arwen, etc. There’s a sixty year block of time between his childhood in Rivendell and the War of the Ring. That can’t possibly all be covered in one show, as hard as they try. They won’t be able to resolve his storyline, because his storyline and character arc get resolved during the War of the Ring. They would have to establish the fact that he’s the heir to the throne of Gondor, establish the fact that he’s conflicted about his destiny, establish the fact that he goes into self-inflicted exile as a Ranger, and then end the show without ever showing the resolution that he eventually does reclaim his throne and his destiny. Unless they were to just bite the bullet and remake the original trilogy. And then there’s the matter of a love interest. Arwen is his first and only love. Their courtship is fast-paced and they go long blocks of time without seeing each other. Noooot very marketable for a mainstream audience. So how are they gonna spice it up? Give Aragorn another love interest? That would literally completely ruin his character. How about no. Make it seem like a lot more happened between Arwen and Aragorn before the War of the Ring? I mean maybe, but how!? They still wouldn’t be able to complete a story arc, because the meat of the changes in their relationship take place during the original trilogy: Him lowkey wanting her to go to Valar and not die for him, her refusing because she believes in their love, their ultimately getting married and her being crowned Queen of Gondor. Again, you can’t give us any of that without remaking the original trilogy! Cue all the annoyed Aragorn faces.

So, that was a lot of negativity. Maybe this is too little too late, but: I remain hopeful. All is not lost. There is still some good in this world, Mr. Frodo! And maybe Amazon will prove me wrong. There may yet be light at the end of this tunnel. We may yet prevail, and get a thoughtful, heartfelt adaptation. Because done right, we could all use with some fresh LOTR content so we can stop rewatching the original trilogy. Tolkien wrote a lot, and the current screen adaptations have barely scratched the surface. As a fandom (and I most definitely include myself in this), we get very protective over our material. I think this is because we are one of the rare few whose material has remained untarnished and stayed behind the line of corporate greed and terrible adaptations (The Hobbit trilogy walked that line like a tight rope but even it managed to escape the true jaws of the beast.) Maybe, just maybe, this Amazon series can be a chance for us all to take a risk. Because if it pays off, you can all call me a fool of a Took and we can grab popcorn and watch a kickass LOTR TV show. And what would be more awesome than that?

So, in conclusion, I have a lot of feelings about this Amazon show. If you made it this far, thanks for bearing with me. We’ve got a wild ride ahead.

#lord of the rings #amazon lotr #amazon lord of the rings #opinion piece #lotr tag

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orbemnews · 3 years

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Fact, or Corporate Fiction? Facts and foolishness Announcing phony news on April Fools’ Day is one of corporate America’s favorite occasions for shameless publicity stunts. But when stonks, Dogecoin and $69 million JPG files are real things that warrant serious business coverage, the risk of jokes being taken seriously could hardly be higher. Some say that’s a good reason to skip them, not to mention the gravity that a pandemic has cast over things. With that in mind, can you spot the prank among these recent announcements? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.) A: To celebrate National Burrito Day today, Chipotle is giving away $100,000 worth of Bitcoin. B: Volkwagen’s U.S. operation is changing its name to “Voltswagen” to emphasize the company’s push into electric vehicles. C: Robinhood is nixing a confetti animation when app users make a stock trade to reduce “distraction.” D: Krispy Kreme is giving anyone who shows proof of Covid-19 vaccination one free doughnut per day for the rest of the year. E: Managers at Goldman Sachs are giving junior bankers gift baskets with fruit and snacks in response to complaints about burnout. HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING Business groups challenge President Biden’s proposed corporate tax increases. The Business Roundtable and U.S. Chamber of Commerce were among those that praised Mr. Biden’s plan to spend trillions on infrastructure. But they rejected his idea to pay for it by raising taxes, saying that doing so would endanger the economic recovery. The latest setbacks in quelling the pandemic. Johnson & Johnson said it would delay future shipments of its vaccine after a mix-up at a manufacturing plant. A top E.U. official said the bloc would allow “zero” shipments of AstraZeneca’s vaccine to Britain until the drugmaker fulfilled its commitments to Brussels. And France announced a third nationwide lockdown as its cases mount and inoculation efforts lag. A tough day for initial public offerings. As Deliveroo had “the worst I.P.O. in London’s history,” other offerings also struggled. In the U.S., the SoftBank-backed real estate brokerage Compass priced at the bottom of a reduced range, while the low-cost airline Frontier sold at the low end of expectations. And in Canada, the space tech company MDA priced below its range. Microsoft wins a huge contract to make augmented-reality headsets for the U.S. Army. The tech giant will receive up to $22 billion for equipping soldiers with sensors based on its HoloLens technology. It’s another big defense contract for Microsoft, which beat out Amazon to provide a $10 billion cloud computing system for the Pentagon. Executives get a ‘sense of urgency’ in Georgia A day after 72 Black executives signed a letter calling on companies to fight restrictive voting bills more forcefully, executives have begun speaking out more directly about laws that limit ballot access. But their statements came too late to affect a sweeping law passed last week in Georgia that added new requirements for absentee voting, limits on drop boxes and other restrictions that have an outsize impact on Black voters. Today in Business Updated April 2, 2021, 3:58 p.m. ET Delta and Coca-Cola reversed course. Ed Bastian, Delta’s C.E.O., told employees, “I need to make it crystal clear that the final bill is unacceptable and does not match Delta’s values.” James Quincey, Coca-Cola’s C.E.O., said he wanted to be “crystal clear” that “the Coca-Cola Company does not support this legislation, as it makes it harder for people to vote, not easier.” The statements by the Atlanta-based companies angered local politicians, including Gov. Brian Kemp. In the past, corporate stands on controversial issues have led to political retribution: In 2018, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle stripped a tax break proposal from a bill that would benefit Delta after the airline ended a promotional discount for N.R.A. members. The State House passed a similar measure yesterday, but the Senate didn’t take it up before the chambers adjourned for the year. Retaliation also goes the other way: In an interview with ESPN, President Biden said he would “strongly support” moving Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game from Atlanta, scheduled for July. “It is regrettable that the sense of urgency came after the legislation was passed and signed into law,” said Darren Walker, the Ford Foundation president, who is a board member at Pepsi, Ralph Lauren and Square. Others companies based in Georgia remained circumspect. A UPS spokesperson said the company stood “ready to continue to help in ensuring every Georgia voter has the ability to vote.” A spokesperson for Home Depot reiterated the company’s stance that it believes “all elections should be accessible, fair and secure.” A spokesperson for Inspire Brands, the owner of Dunkin’ Donuts and Arby’s, said that it “values inclusivity” and believes that “every American should have equal access to their right to vote.” “The argument is they are recruited, they’re used up and then they’re cast aside without even a college degree. So they say, how can this be defended in the name of amateurism?” — Justice Samuel Alito, assessing the “stark picture” painted by college athletes in an antitrust case against the N.C.A.A. that the Supreme Court heard yesterday. The Red Sox sold a stake to private equity. Now what? RedBird Capital Partners confirmed its deal to buy a stake in Red Sox parent Fenway Sports Group, a transaction that values the company at $7.35 billion. DealBook spoke with RedBird’s founder, Gerry Cardinale, and Fenway’s chair, Tom Werner, about what happens next. Buy and build. RedBird plans to acquire more teams: Mr. Cardinale noted that his company doesn’t own teams in the N.B.A., N.H.L. or M.L.S. For its part, Fenway plans to tap new opportunities in ticketing, sponsorship and media. (As part of the RedBird deal, the N.B.A. star LeBron James bought a stake in Fenway.) In media, Fenway controls NESN, and RedBird owns a stake in the YES network. “You should expect that we’re going to continue to look for ways to innovate in that area,” said Mr. Cardinale, who helped create the YES network. Deepening ties with online gambling is also on the table. “We do have an excellent relationship with DraftKings,” Mr. Werner said, “and we’ve already had some conversations with them about partnerships.” The deal was a better fit for the private market instead of a SPAC, the executives said, after talks to take Fenway public via a blank-check firm fell through. “In the middle of Covid, with the mandate to re-underwrite the next wave of growth for Fenway Sports Group, we probably would be better off doing that privately and then give ourselves the option down the road,” Mr. Cardinale said of going public. He also called the current SPAC market “very frothy.” What worked at WeWork WeWork was founded in 2008, rose spectacularly, reached a $47 billion valuation and famously crashed before a planned I.P.O. in 2019. (It announced a deal last week to go public by merging with a blank-check firm that valued it at roughly $8 billion.) A new documentary, “WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn,” tries to find lessons among the ups and downs. It streams on Hulu, starting tomorrow. Jed Rothstein, the director, told DealBook that he believes what’s most compelling about WeWork isn’t what went wrong, but how it initially succeeded by turning strangers into a kind of tribe. “We still need that,” he said. “The core idea of WeWork met a real need for community,” Mr. Rothstein said. “The voids people were trying to fill have only become more real.” After a year of social distancing, he likes the notion of curated communal spaces, which is what WeWork offered. Talking to early WeWorkers who bought the vision and later felt betrayed, he was surprised to find how much the company gave its devotees, notably a feeling that they were part of something bigger. That is worth acknowledging in a world where people will increasingly work remotely and for many different companies in their careers, Mr. Rothstein said. WeWork’s co-founders, Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey, both had communal childhood experiences. Mr. Rothstein said he thought they sincerely wanted to replicate the good in group life and inspired people who hadn’t seen that before. But Mr. Neumann also focused on what he didn’t like — sharing equally — and emphasized an “eat what you kill” mentality. Ultimately, his hunger turned the community dream into a nightmare for many. After the director talked to people who followed the initial vision, his perspective changed. “People in the film experienced real growth and fulfillment mixed with their anger,” he said. “I realized the story is much more nuanced.” THE SPEED READ Deals The media conglomerate Endeavor filed to go public for a second time, while raising $1.8 billion to buy full control of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It also added Elon Musk to its board. (WSJ, CNBC) Vice Media is reportedly in talks to go public by merging with a SPAC. And the S.E.C. issued two notices for companies looking to go public via SPAC. (The Information, S.E.C.) Junior bankers aren’t the only ones feeling burned out. Young lawyers are, too. (Business Insider) Politics and policy New York became the 15th state to legalize recreational marijuana. (NYT) Efforts by aides to Gov. Andrew Cuomo to hide New York State’s Covid-19 death toll coincided with his efforts to win a multimillion-dollar book deal. (NYT) An accidental disclosure by the I.R.S. revealed a $1 billion tax dispute with Bristol Myers Squibb. (NYT) Tech Best of the rest The ad agency Deutsch is doubling referral bonuses for Black job candidates. (Insider) Amazon wants its employees mostly back in its offices, while the Carlyle Group and IBM favor hybrid working models. (Insider, Bloomberg) Paul Simon is the latest musician to sell his entire back catalog: Sony Music Publishing will buy the collection, including classics like “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” for an undisclosed amount. (NYT) Feeling burned-out? As more workers consider a return to the office, our colleague Sarah Lyall is writing about late-pandemic anxiety and exhaustion. Tell her about how you’re coping. April Fools’ Day quiz answer: B. If you were fooled by Volkswagen’s prank, you’re in good company. Volkswagen reportedly told journalists that a draft of the announcement was not a stunt. It later called the stunt just “a bit of fun.” Source link Orbem News #corporate #fact #Fiction

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easyfoodnetwork · 4 years

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The New and Old Food-Adjacent Shows We’ve Been Streaming This Week

HBO/Curb Your Enthusiasm

Looking for something delicious to watch this weekend? We’ve got you.

Like most people living under shelter-in-place orders or voluntarily socially distancing because of COVID-19, Eater staffers are watching a lot of TV right now. Coming from series past and present, here are the best food-related scenes, episodes, and shows that we used to cope this week.

Party Down (Seasons 1 and 2 streaming on Hulu)

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The gist: The failed dreams and enduring delusions of a Hollywood catering company’s employees are all on excruciating, glorious display in this criminally underwatched 2009 comedy series, which ran for two brief but glorious seasons on Starz. Each episode is set at a different function where the crew has been hired to sling hors d’oeuvres: a funeral, a college conservative union caucus, a preschool auction, a singles seminar, Steve Guttenberg’s birthday party, and one spectacularly unsuccessful orgy night.

While food and booze give the show its reason for existence, it’s the personal struggles of the caterers — and often their clients — that provide its brand of satirical, irreverent, and often very biting humor. Almost all of the company’s employees — the failed actor, the aspiring screenwriter, the stage mom, the struggling comedian — have been chewed up (or at least teethed on) by the Hollywood system, which lets the show examine and skewer the industry’s class struggles and pretensions with a hilarious lack of remorse. That said, Party Down wouldn’t be nearly as effective without its cast, which includes Jane Lynch and Megan Mullally, along with the then-relatively unknown Adam Scott, Lizzy Caplan, and Martin Starr. Watching them grimly work a room armed with cheese platters and shrimp puffs is one of life’s more specific pleasures, and also among its most reliable. —Rebecca Marx

The original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (available to purchase on Amazon Prime)

I’ve been getting real joy out of watching Ted Allen on the original run of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which upon second watch is hilariously antagonistic toward the straight guys. Unlike Antoni, who tries to meet these men on their level by having them make avocado toast or pancakes, Allen basically cooks everything himself and gives his subjects busywork. Men can assemble crudite, if they want, or whip egg whites while Allen has already infused cream with vanilla beans and has it melting with expensive chocolate on the stove. In one episode, Allen orders his subject $50 jars of kosher foie gras to make armagnac-infused mousse, to be served with shaved black truffle, because “people are pretty accustomed to” pâte (???). And then, when the guy’s girlfriend doesn’t seem to like it, he bemoans “that’s $150 of foie gras!” like it’s everyone else’s problem for having bad taste. This is not about teaching men a new skill. There is nothing practical about most of Allen’s cooking, and it’s thrilling to watch men who have never set foot in their kitchens pretend like this is the sort of entertaining they’ll be doing from now on. —Jaya Saxena

Project Runway (Season 10, Episode 2, available on Hulu)

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I’m going to admit outright that I had embarked on a journey to rewatch all the Project Runway seasons available on Hulu even before this pandemic started, but now that a lot of us are confined at home for the indefinite future, there are few better background-television choices I can recommend than the original drama-filled fashion competition reality series. One standout episode is the second in Season 10. In “Candy Couture,” the designers raid boutique candy store and New York City staple Dylan’s Candy Bar, snagging licorices, gummies, and jelly beans to create outfits that range from “wow!” to “not bad” to “that?” To hear snatches of catty comments and catch glimpses of a lively, bustling NYC in between footage of designers burning their fingers with hot glue guns — ah, different times. —Jenny Zhang

ZeroZeroZero (Season 1, Episodes 7 and 8, available to stream on Amazon Prime)

ZeroZeroZero, an Amazon Prime series that follows a shipment of cocaine through four countries, has some predictable drug cartel narrative arcs — double crossing, violence and cruelty, me softly saying “it’s just not worth it” over and over again — but one nice change was the Calabrian mob’s dining table mainstays: a hunk of cheese, salami, bread, and wine. When the going gets tough for these guys, they just need a hit of carbs, cured meat, and some salty, creamy dairy, washed down with adult grape juice. Who among us can’t relate?

I wonder who out of the mob grunts makes sure they’re stocked. Are there wheels of cheese in the trunk of their car? Salami hanging from the coat hooks in the back seat? Are they kneading their own sourdough, letting it rest, firing up the wood oven that they just built after feeding some poor sod’s corpse to the pigs? Who cares! These guys are committed to the “simple ingredients, done well” philosophy, and for that, I commend them. — Pelin Keskin

Playtime (available to screen on the Criterion Collection)

I cannot say that I’ve ever experienced a true restaurant shitshow. The closest I’ve come is perhaps witnessing a bartender slip and fall at a restaurant where I received no service for an hour and then got up and left. I sometimes envy my colleagues in New York, who used to regale readers with tales of ninja servers and tunamatos during their annual Shitshow Week (may it rest in peace). But now I can safely say I’ve experienced a shitshow, thanks to the 1967 Jacques Tati film Playtime, currently streaming on the Criterion Collection. This movie is, on its surface, toying with sound editing (if you’re into that sort of thing) and poking fun at the strangeness of midcentury aesthetics and American tourists in Paris. But it’s the second half of the movie where Playtime really hits its comedic stride, at a restaurant opening where just about everything goes wrong. The kitchen runs out of food. The air conditioning stops working. The harsh metal chairs leave marks on the backs of the patrons and rip the pants of servers. The ceiling falls in. While it’s billed as a comedy, it’s the Criterion Collection, so we’ll file it under amusing. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this for anyone missing restaurants — even truly bad ones. What I wouldn’t give for an uncomfortable metal chair right now. — Brenna Houck

Curb Your Enthusiasm (Season 10, available to stream on HBO GO)

Absurdist times call for the comedy of Larry David, so I’m particularly grateful that he brought back his HBO hit Curb Your Enthusiasm just in time for an election year and global pandemic. Season 10, which premiered in January after a two-year-plus hiatus, is a comedic buffet of food riffs: Larry reignites his rivalry with coffee-slinger Mocha Joe when he opens a “spite store” called Latte Larry’s directly next door to Mocha Joe’s cafe; Larry realizes he’s consistently seated in the “ugly section” of a trendy Italian spot with a condescending host (played to smarmy perfection by Nick Kroll); Larry and Jon Hamm fight with Richard Lewis about the appropriate allotment of appetizers; Larry wears a MAGA hat to lunch so that his dining mate will cut the meal short; Larry gets a sweaty server (Abbi Jacobson) fired after she shamelessly declares that she’s suffering from diarrhea, then gets diarrhea himself from his favorite licorice; Larry offends the staff of a Catalonian restaurant when he knocks out his tooth and pronounces everything with an unnecessary “th” sound. Then, of course, there’s the season-long debate: What makes a good scone?

If you worry that Curb Your Enthusiasm would seem particularly trite while the world is figuratively on fire — well, it is trite. And it always has been. Nitpicking on life’s small annoyances to the point of embarrassment is kind of the point. — Madeleine Davies

John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch (available to stream on Netflix)

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John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch is a very tender and funny one-hour comedy special on Netflix lightly satirizing Sesame Street, and everyone with a soul should let it gently touch them. Mulaney stars alongside a cast of impossibly cute child actors and guests like David Byrne, and it’s all built around musical numbers like “Grandma’s Boyfriend Paul,” which will probably make you cry, and “Sacha’s Dad Does Drag (and the Act Needs Work!),” which might also make you cry. There are two great food tie-ins, not including the sack lunch of the title. There’s a brief stub of a song called “Let’s Play Restaurant,” in which — when Mulaney plays along — the restaurant is closed for a private event, sorry, you should have checked their website. And then there’s an instant classic of a song that’s near and dear to my heart as a once-upon-a-time very plain-eating child, called a “Plain Plate of Noodles,” in which Orson Hong, a little boy, explains his gastronomic limitations in song and dance. The lyrics! The choreography! Thirty out of 10. — Caleb Pershan

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/3aIhVEC https://ift.tt/3dT5esI

HBO/Curb Your Enthusiasm

Looking for something delicious to watch this weekend? We’ve got you.

Party Down (Seasons 1 and 2 streaming on Hulu)

youtube

The original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (available to purchase on Amazon Prime)

Project Runway (Season 10, Episode 2, available on Hulu)

youtube

ZeroZeroZero (Season 1, Episodes 7 and 8, available to stream on Amazon Prime)

Playtime (available to screen on the Criterion Collection)

Curb Your Enthusiasm (Season 10, available to stream on HBO GO)

John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch (available to stream on Netflix)

youtube

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/3aIhVEC via Blogger https://ift.tt/2R85sCc

#Blogger #cooking #Eater #food #recipes

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horoscopesbygil · 7 years

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Horoscopes by Gil Hizon - Week of August 6 - 12, 2017

Memoirs of a hateful queen.

LEO (July 23 – August 22)

Having lost your reading glasses, trying to read a bitch to filth will prove to be a worthless and useless endeavor. Your best course of action is to sit back and watch while other ruthless queens do this rejuvenating task. Think of it as a learning experience. Because the real trick is that you’ve had the glasses inside your heart of hearts all along. =====

VIRGO (August 23 – September 22)

When it comes to the shitshows you’ve been dealt with, you can consider all of it to end soon. A new dawn is coming up in your life and the universe has recognized that you have paid your muthafucking dues. Believe me, Karma has all the receipts. Expect the rewards to come soon, in endless abundance. Don’t forget us peons when you’re snatching them trophies! =====

LIBRA (September 23 – October 22)

You’re the kind of bitch who turns into a real slut on the dance floor whenever Despacito comes on. It’s totally okay to let loose once in a while, as long as you’re not aggressively smashing into any innocent bystanders / elderly. And no matter what other bitches may think of you, rest assured that I don’t think you’re a whore. At least, not this week. =====

SCORPIO (October 23 – November 21)

Your last throes of independence are upon you weeks before you are launched into a new collaborative adventure - so enjoy that shit. Really be in touch with the “present you” because when things change, you’re not gonna have time to look back for a while. Touch base with the bitches that got you where you are and thank them hos for being ever so patient with yo ass. =====

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 – December 21)

So, you’re ready to unleash a new take on your schedule, which has become as routine as a VIRGO’s boring meal prep. Problem is, the universe may not be ready for your proposed changes. Does this mean you should postpone until things improve? Nonsense. Go ahead and carry out your plan, just don’t be expecting that shit to go smoothly right away. =====

CAPRICORN (December 22 – January 19)

You know that ruthlessness you reserve to combat other people’s stupidity? Well, it’s time for you to use that harshness to look deep within yourself and sort out any shadiness your heart may possess. You’ve been through so much shit that in order to survive, you’ve had to do some things yo ass may not be proud of. Now that the shitstorm is ovah, it’s time to declutter your insides, darling. =====

AQUARIUS (January 20 – February 18)

Jumping the gun is not your usual style, and bitch, there’s a reason for that. Although to the casual observer, any form of action on your part looks spontaneous AF; in your brain, that shit has been carefully mapped out even before you’ve hit the “execute” button. Some of this week’s agenda will require some quick decision making. As long as your heart’s in the right place, you almost can do no wrong.

=====

PISCES (February 19 – March 20)

Although you’re usually not supposed to give a shit what errbody thinks of you, this week, you’re feeling so down that you most likely will need some outside opinions to take you out of your nonsensical funk. If you can get yourself out of your misery bed and onto a chair at an outdoor patio at Starbucks, myriads of bitches will be more than happy to give yo ass a nice review. Critics will agree on your fabulousness, queen! =====

ARIES (March 21 – April 19)

Ignorance can be a huge bitch, and taking into consideration how misinformed you are lately, you have the potential to get your own ass into a tremendous world of trouble. Take the time to surround yourself with useful periodicals at your local reading establishment; the more knowledge you can cram into that pretty little head of yours, the less you’ll fall into a PR clusterfuck. =====

TAURUS (April 20 – May 20)

When you start butting into other people’s bullshit, best believe that you’ll get sucked into a cyclone of controversy real quick. No matter what your intentions are, and I have a feeling it may have something to do with free booze, resist the temptation to get into it with some busted queens. Your reputation is not the only thing on the line here, bitch. You got some sponsors ready to drop yo ass if you make the wrong move. =====

GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)

Your thirst for social adventure is fighting with your want to sit on that big ass couch and bingewatch whatever Netflix / Hulu / Amazon / Porn has to offer this week. The great thing about you is that you can devise a plan that satisfies both sides of your desire coin. Bitches can’t have it all, my queen, but with your skills and talents, you can get up to 75%. Other hos can’t even make it past 40%. =====

CANCER (June 22 – July 22)

Relationships are very tricky things, queen. Just because a certain spark is not there lately, it don’t mean that things have changed. Partnerships are about evolution, and you want to make sure that you and your forever trick are evolving together and not drifting apart. You can do that by simply checking in with her. And no, you don’t need to stock up on Kama fucking Sutra. =====

(DISCLAIMER for all entries: This is all a shitshow!)

For more Horoscopes By Gil Hizon, click here, gurl!

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00sheven · 4 years

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the break down

I make 21.00 an hour. without overtime that puts me at approximately 2748.48 a month after taxes.

food. 775.00 this was calculated at 25.00 a day 1 meal for breakfast 1 meal for lunch. to figure for the goose and I make it 50.00. the goose's mother has been sending 50.00 a week to help offset some of the cost.

medical ins. 500.00

I have kaiser.

I have not been able to use it. i have a 50 co pay to see a doctor. my prescription copy is 15 for generic and 50 for name brand.

if I have to go to the hospital that 350.00 for the ER and I believe 350.00 a day and they won't cover me after 5 days. I think it goes up to like 6000.00 that may be incorrect. I dont have the info. in front of me but you get the the idea. plus theres money for labs and specialists which im in need of both. by the way, I am diabetic, I have high blood pressure and high cholesterol. (my dad died at 37 years old from a massive heart attack.) I am also bipolar. these all require regular doctors visits and medication. cancer and heart disease run in my family and I have had a polyp removed from my colon 5 years ago. I havent been checked since. your supposed to get checked every three years. i dropped the ball on that one.

car payment. 300.00

uncle frank 200.00

to offset expenses he may incur. child support.

phone for the goose and I 136.97

t mobil

car ins. 124.49

I have to have full coverage while I am making house payments lol.. (jokes)

storage (the closet.) 150.00

gas 100.00

old medical bill. 50.00

I found out I had an old medical bill that went to collections. I'm trying to fix my credit so I have to pay it off.

car cleaning 10.00

misc. 102.94

this includes a monthly amazon prime member ship so I can buy for the goose, car, myself) stuff on the cheap or by a click instead of running all over the place.

a gym membership. so I can have a place to shower and kill time. I might as well take some classes.

and the rest is media packages like Netflix and hulu there is also showtime in there (I only have it when homeland or a couple of other shows are on.)as well as scribd. if I'm gonna live in my car I'm going to be able to watch my shows. it's the small things that make a big difference. especially in morale. I know that this could potentially piss someone off, and that's okay. I understand. that's a visit to the doctors, or 4 days of food or 2 brand name prescriptions. but actually for me it is a little more important. it's a distraction, its there when things are so bad that I cant even concentrate to read a book. when I'm caught and spiraling out of control in my depression. when I just want to sleep all the time. (life is much more entertaining when you are unconscious. I have vivid life like dreams, which can be a good or bad thing ) I just turn it on and go on auto pilot. it takes me out of the situation, it helps to break the self destructive thought patterns. it engages me and allows my mind time to rest, and correct it self. sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, it's the same with medication. the meds work for awhile but they numb you to the world, and then the darkness creeps back in. plus is it better to feel nothing at all?.....sorry I'm getting off of subject. it's okay if you dont agree with this, it's not your money or health and I'm not asking you for anything. I'm just giving you the facts about my situation and trying to be honest at the same time.

=2449.40

2748.48 -

2449.40 =299.08

well there it is. that's what I got left for rent. granted once we find a place the storage bill goes away along with the food total because we can eat at home. the car should be paid off in a couple of months, and then I can knock out the medical bill balance. i do have two credit cards that I will be paying off as well that I have not mentioned. they've made it possible for me to get stuff that i need to make this as comfortable as possible. a lot of prep has gone into this. I hope it pays off.

this should be kind of scary to someone living paycheck to paycheck. imagine if I didnt have the car. i am truly grateful for what i have. i work full time. think of how it is for some people out there who are unemployable or have had a run of bad luck. no place to sleep, those people could be hungry, trying to provide for children, mentally ill. there are a number of reasons that they could be in that situation. in these days and the way things are its a deep hole to climb out of. it is also very difficult. so if you dont know anything about social services or programs to get you off the street please, either educate yourself or keep your mouth shut. they dont make it easy to get help, and if you do get it, it seems to be designed to keep hanging on by your fingernails. think about this the next time someone asks you for help or your pocket change for that matter. even if they want a 40 or a crack rock it transports them from thier shitty situation to something tolerable for a short period of time. have some fucking mercy and compassion. we are all human beings and we all want the same things to a greater or lesser degree, and I'm not talking about it in the material sense either. I saw a homeless encampment on lankershim right off the freeway in north hollywood. people had thier cars parked right out in front of thier tents. I know I'm not alone. I hope this doesn't happen to you or your family.

2/22/20

#just the facts #break it down #dont judge me #hobostyle

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gothify1 · 4 years

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In John Green’s seminal work of sad teen fiction The Fault in Our Stars , he writes a particularly apt description of the onset of young love: “I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.” Cutesy? Yes. Realistic? Also yes, but so too is the reverse, the erosion of love that slowly eats away at you over time without you really even noticing. Imagine going to yet another weekly brunch with your S.O. and inquiring about their huevos rancheros, only to be met with an abrupt and devastating declaration: “I don’t love you anymore!” (Talk about all at once.) This earthquake of a wake-up call hits Jules, Kat Dennings’s character in the new Margot Robbie –helmed Hulu comedy Dollface , within the first 30 seconds of the pilot. It’s clear from the get-go that she’s going to be in for a bumpy ride of finding herself and her place among her friends post-breakup. Dollface is the endlessly amusing gift that results when Haruki Murakami–style magical realism meets the Millennial Pink, Goop-ed world of today. (The first person Jules encounters after her brunchtime breakup is a literal Cat Lady—Beth Grant in CGI cat face, whom Dennings calls “an absolute legend.”) Think a more bubblegum Sex and the City but 10 years younger and in L.A.—with cats, dreamlike interludes, a Gucci belt in a silverware drawer, and, of course, a formidable girl gang: Dennings, the heartbroken-ish leading lady, alongside her estranged besties, played by Shay Mitchell and Brenda Song, and a co-worker turned confidant, portrayed by Esther Povitsky. All of them are scene stealers at one point or another. While looking for a unique project, Dennings got the Dollface script from LuckyChap, Margot Robbie’s production company. Naturally, “If Robbie gives you something, you just say yes to it,” she confesses, so she signed up to star and be an executive producer. Plus, Dennings saw the potential in the show, which gave her a chance to play a character different from herself and the previous roles she’s had (notably, as Max in CBS’s 2 Broke Girls ). Post-breakup, her character, Jules, struggles with finding her way back to her friend group, which she neglected during her relationship with her ex. Losing touch with friends is a universal result of aging and occasionally an unfortunate side effect of being in a relationship—people get married , move away, have kids, become vegan; it’s something Dennings relates to on a personal level. “I’ve been a career girl and been really focused, and all of a sudden I’m like Where did everybody go? ” she says. “My closest friends are all over the map. My best pal has two kids now and is married. And it’s still the same person, the same love, but you just stand there and you’re like Did I just miss all the things? ” On the flip side, friendship was easy to come by on the set of the show, and Dennings had no trouble establishing a rapport with the rest of the cast. “There’s no better friendship environment than working on a set together because you’re basically at sleepaway camp,” she tells me. “You start at the crack of dawn, you get ready together, you get coffee together, you eat your breakfast together, you huddle in your little set, you find your little space. It was kind of magical in that way because the four of us got very close.” That closeness supports the characters in their various struggles—Jules’s struggle to show her friends she appreciates them, the group’s struggle to find its footing, everyone’s struggle to identify what feminism means in 2019. (Keep your eyes peeled for episode nine; it’s special.) According to Dennings, “It felt very emotional because there’s so much love there. I think viewers will feel that.” Throughout the series, Jules’s particular struggle gets lessened somewhat by her fairy cat mother, the Cat Lady, who takes a staid old stereotype and flips it on its reductive head. Benevolent and hilarious, the Cat Lady magically pops up to zap Jules out of many an inward spiral, dispensing advice and necessary reality checks along the way. “I really liked calling her the Cat Lady because what it begins as is a culmination of Jules’s worst fears, which is like ‘Oh, society says if I don’t do this and this by this time, I’m going to be an old crazy cat lady,’” Dennings says. “We’re all told this, and it’s so ridiculous when you think about it. I don’t know, I have a cat, and she’s the best. What’s wrong with being a lady who has a cat?” (For the record, Dennings’s cat, Millie , is adorable.) “It starts there, but it becomes more of a symbol of strength and independence,” she continues. The Cat Lady is something Dennings would like to explore more in the show, and as executive producer—aka she has a hand in casting, show notes, and production meetings—she has the power to help steer the show in that direction. “I had a decent amount to contribute from my experience,” Dennings says of her EP role, “but then I enjoyed sitting back and learning from other departments when I hadn’t dealt with something before. I also wanted to be an ally for the actors, to make sure they knew they could come to me with anything and everything.” She also literally gave the show its name. An ex used to call her dollface, which she never liked, but she did think it could make for a punchy title for the series. Clearly, she’s got good instincts. Dennings was also heavily involved in her wardrobe and collaborated with Costume Director Ernesto Martinez on paring back Jules’s looks. “I had to kind of fight against the fashion aspect for Jules a little bit,” she says. “The temptation with a show with four female leads is to really have fun with it, which is so great and definitely works for Brenda’s character and Shay’s character, but for Jules, I didn’t want her to seem extremely confident at work and at life.” However , there is a monochromatic maroon moment in episode three (above) where Jules is in head-to-toe Norma Kamali that’s very F/W 19 , and we should all take notes—just saying. And she may or may not have also worn a dangerously sheer floral D&G top that I wanted to snatch right off the screen. Day to day, Dennings herself is more of a black-Amazon-leggings kind of girl—aren’t we all? “I really honestly wear black leggings from Amazon every single day,” she confesses. “I got inspired by that fashion lady with the glasses—Jenna Lyons. She’s a fantastic woman who wears black leggings and a blazer and her glasses and loafers, and she always wears some version of it and looks amazing. I was like, I’m going to be like that. ” Maybe one day she’ll wear one of the hats she’s knitted lately too; it’s a hobby that doubles as stress relief (one she and Song share; they used to be neighbors and go to yarn shops together). “Knitting is one of those things where it keeps my hands busy and my mind busy, so it’s definitely a calming thing for me. At times I just need to make a scarf that just has one kind of a stitch so I can zone out,” Dennings confides. She gets way more into beauty, to tell you the truth, and couldn’t say enough good things about the makeup looks Dollface makeup artist Mary Klimek created for her. “We had a lot of really exciting lip looks in the show,” Dennings exclaims. “One was Lime Crime in Red Velvet. That was one I wore in the Christmas episode; it’s a great red liquid lipstick. Then we mixed a lot of Rituelle de Fille. We used Rituelle de Fille in almost every single episode. My makeup artist, Mary Klimek , loves to combine shades. It was two to three per look, but we used pretty much any Rituelle de Fille. The brand is pretty awesome. I’m going to preach for it all day. It also has a balmy hydrator that we used every episode as well.” Personally, I can’t wait for season two of Dollface —the more explorations of female friendships the better, I say. Dennings is hopeful too, but for now, she’s concentrating on her next project for Disney+, WandaVision . “I am not allowed to say a damn thing—I signed 700 NDAs,” she laughs. “But I’m very excited!” Same, girl. Dollface premieres on Hulu on Friday, November 15. Next up: Kat Dennings’s Dollface co-star Shay Mitchell is a master traveler and shares her packing tips .

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josephlrushing · 4 years

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Sheltering in Place During a Pandemic – How We’ve Made It Work

Due to the global pandemic, those of us who have been unexpectedly thrust into working from home have had to figure out how to get our work done while sheltering in place. We wanted to share some of the things that have helped us stay productive and more-or-less content since we began physically distancing ourselves from our loved ones and friends who live outside of our homes.

This post is long, so grab a snack and let’s dive in.

Greg

Satechi Desk Mat

Now that I must sit at my kitchen Island to get work done (since I no longer have a desk), my setup for actual work needed to be as clean as possible, and the $34.99 Satechi Desk Mat has been a delight to use. Made of leather, it doubles as a wrist rest and a mouse pad for me, and it works perfectly with the next product on my list.

Satechi Type C Multi-Port Adapter 4k

The $89.99 Satechi USB-C Hub is another saving grace for me. I have a 15-Inch MacBook, but even with its large screen, its not enough for the various windows that I must have open in order to initiate cases at work. The Satechi hub not only gives me the USB ports that my MacBook Pro lacks, but there’s a nifty HDMI port that allows me to connect to an external monitor (provided by my office), so I can use as a secondary window. This is a NEXT-LEVEL hub that doesn’t need to sit flush with your MacBook which is a huge deal, especially if you have a case on your MacBook for protection.

Logitech MX Master 3

I’ll be brutally honest here, I’ve taken Logitech for granted for far too long. I’ve reviewed their products over the years, and there’s no more fitting time to use their products than when you’re working from home. I’m a fan of the $99.99 MX Master Mouse; it has a variety of different customizable buttons that are great for doing things like typing this article or quickly switching through windows, tables, and tabs in Excel for my full-time job. What’s more, it works on virtually any surface and has an incredible battery life so that even when I forget to charge it (which I have for a few weeks now), it manages to keep on ticking.

Drinkmate

Quite possibly the biggest most important thing on my list is the $99.95 Drinkmate. Allowing me to keep hydrated all while offering a change from traditional water, the Drinkmate has the ability to carbonate virtually anything from tap water to soda, from bourbon (trust me, I’ve tried) to wine. Like many people, I’ve grown fond of seltzer waters; with the shelves being bare in the stores this is a great soda water replacement both cost-wise and for the environment.

NVIDIA Shield TV

Yes, I know I should be working while working from home, but there are plenty of shows that I’ve been binging in the midst of getting work done including Tiger King along with everyone else. With thousands of apps on the $149.99 NVIDIA Shield TV, thanks to its Android integration, you can connect to Youtube, Netflix, Hulu … you name it and watch your favorite things on your “lunch breaks”.

Zoom

Zoom is the one brand that I wish I’d bought stocks in two years ago when I had the opportunity. For the past two years, my podcast friends and I have used Zoom to record all of our “remote” episodes, and now its outpaced Skype and FaceTime as the best way of communicating for me with my friends and co-workers. Virtual Happy hour anyone? Zoom’s free accounts only provide you with 40 minutes of time to use in groups larger than 10, but with the $14.99 per month account you can get unlimited time, and it’s a great way to stay connected with co-workers, boost morale, and make you feel like you’re still in the workplace (or social hour) from home. Zoom is free to join; benefits to the free and paid accounts can be compared here

PILLR by UpperCase

This is the laptop stand to best all laptop stands; the $69.99 PILLR is a product I started out using to get my podcast setup situated, and has now become the main player in my working-from-home setup. The PILLR allows you to adjust your viewing angle on your coffee table, desk, or kitchen island; with it, I can type at a reasonable angle and not worry about it moving thanks to the built-in grips on the base of the stand.

Anker’s EuFy Security Doorbell Camera

Social distancing doesn’t stop with just your friends and family, but with the packages that get delivered to you as well. With the $159.99 Eufy Security Doorbell, regardless if you live in a home, apartment, or have proper wiring for either, the Doorbell cam can notify you when that Amazon package gets delivered so you never have to actually interest with the person dropping it off.

Tidal

Tidal is a great way to stream your music and I’ve been a longtime fan of theirs. With Hi-Fi audio content, you and your family can listen to music from your favorite artists. If you have children, TIDAL has made kid-friendly playlists that will help keep them engaged, thanks to the playlists like Disney Hits, Kidz Bop Essentials, and even Reggae for Kids. What’s more, until April 15th you can get FOUR months of Tidal for only $4 using this link. Tidal is free to use, but the ad-free experience starts at $9.99.

Pocket Casts

When I’m not jamming to some tunes, I’m listening to just about any and every podcast that you could imagine (including my own, which you can check out here. Pocket Casts gives you suggestions on shows to listen to, and they even have playlists that you can follow from popular people who use the app. From True Crime to Sports to News, Entertainment, and even COVID-19 updates, Pocket Casts is a great way of hearing your favorite personalities. Pocket Casts is free, paying for a subscription brings perks.

Dark Noise

For those times when you don’t want to be bothered or distracted by loud music or talking voices, Dark Noise ($3.99) is a fantastic way to create “white noise” in the background while working. Even if you’re not at the beach, there’s a sound for that. There are soundscapes consisting of thunderstorms, rain, cars going by, hairdryers, a desk fan, and even of a cat purring — if you enjoy cats but don’t have one of your own.

Freeletics

With gyms everywhere closed, I still have to find a way to get a workout in even though summer body 2020 isn’t in full effect right now. Freeletics is a great pocket trainer app that walks you through the paces of staying healthy, getting healthy, or maintaining your health even when you’re stuck indoors. I’ve been using it for the past two weeks to direct me through bodyweight workouts such as pushups, sit-ups, and various other exercises that won’t bother the neighbors below. Freeletics is free to use, but if you opt for the in-app purchase of the premium tier, you can even get a nutrition trainer that will tell you what and what not to eat.

Carly

Not all of us are as fancy as Greg! For example, my “laptop stand” is two books stacked together — I’ve finally found a use for the 4-Hour Body and The Joy of Running! But honestly, no one’s office is throwing its doors open tomorrow. People at my workplace have been told repeatedly not to expect any communication on when the office will reopen before Memorial Day and even then, it’s going to be a gradual staggered reopening with a lot of flexibility for people in risky groups and people with kids. It’s also very likely this is going to happen in short bursts over and over until a vaccine is found; basically, we’re going to all have to live with the idea that school might abruptly close for a month, or offices might go to work from home for 6 weeks. So what started as a “let’s see how the next 2 weeks go,” has turned into an ongoing issue. Many of us will need to upgrade our home offices to deal with this new reality, and while we might not have wanted to invest money in our ‘work from home’ setup that 3 weeks ago, we’re are realizing more and more that we will need to for the future.

OWC Travel USB-C Dock

I’m using this $54.99 OWC Travel USB-C Dock, it’s been an absolute lifesaver for me.

Logitech K400 Plus Wireless Touch TV Keyboard

I’m using the USB port on the OWC Travel USB-Dock to power a Logitech external keyboard I found in the closet. I’ve never been so excited to see a Logitech logo in my life, as a full-size keyboard makes work much easier. You can find these on Amazon for under $27.

Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse

I’m also using this $15 Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse — it’s a simple little guy but it does the job well, and it works without a mousepad. This isn’t the exact mouse I have, but the similar version I’m using was on clearance at Best Buy so…

TCL True Wireless In-Ear Headphones and V-Moda Crossfade Wireless Headphones

I spend most of my workday on the phone, and since I didn’t work from home much before this I never bought a dedicated Bluetooth headset. However, I’ve been jumping between these $79.99 TCL True Wireless In-Ear Headphones I picked up at CES …

… and a pair of V-Moda Crossfades to make being on the phone far easier.

Samsung Chromebook 3 & Chrome OS

I also have to give a shoutout to Chrome OS, as I doubt I’d make it through homeschooling with my sanity intact if my child didn’t have a Chromebook to use. I’d also like to thank Verizon FiOS for their free Samsung Chromebook 3 promotion two years ago, as past-me was utterly brilliant for hanging on to the free Chromebook, “just in case”. You can pick up a similar one for around $225.

Nintendo Switch

From a parent standpoint, the $299 Nintendo Switch is the greatest invention in the world. It’s got plenty of kid-friendly games for my elementary school-age son, and the games are familiar enough that I can help easily (and also maybe play when he’s asleep-hey, links awakening is fun for adults too!)

You Are Your Own Gym, Jungle Gym XT Straps, and an Everlast Punching Bag

Finally, since working out is the only way to stay sane, I’ve been following methods listed In the ~$15 book, You Are Your Own Gym as well as making good use of my Jungle Gym XT straps and a very hefty Everlast Punching Bag for days when I’m sick of staring at the walls. The $99 Jungle Gym XT Straps appear to be sold out right now, and an Everlast punching bag like mine is around $170.

Tejas

Excellent choices by Carly and Greg, but personally, during this time I’ve appreciated more than ever the little things on the periphery that have made this experience manageable.

Jabra Elite 75t Earphones

First of all, for my job, I do a lot of phone conferences and video calls using WebEx as an example. Being in a household with little kids and my wife who also works this is definitely not something I can use speakers and a mic for. Instead, I’ve relied heavily on the excellent $179.99 Jabra Elite 75t earphones. They’re comfortable enough to wear for hours, sound great and their mics are excellent at picking up my voice in meetings. Most importantly there’s plenty of juice on tap and dropping them in the case between meetings, a natural thing, means almost endless longevity. I would be a wreck without them.

Google Stadia

youtube

To keep your sanity, you need to entertain yourself and make sure you have some downtime. “All work and no play…” as the saying goes. I’ve grown especially in love with Google Stadia during this time for some very simple reasons. Most importantly that I can play it on basically any device in the house from any of the TVs (they each have Chromecast Ultras) to my desktop, my laptop, or even my phone. When you are all crammed into the house for weeks it is increasingly difficult to not end up conflicting on device usage. This gives me the freedom of being able to play whenever I want no matter where other people are. Secondly, the fact it’s instant and again available on any device means you can have quick gaming sessions during lunch or waiting for a meeting to start (theoretically of course). You can try Google Stadia for free; after that, it’s $9.99/month.

Google Pixel 4XL

Finally, I would say my most important device throughout this and even well before has been my phone, the excellent Google Pixel 4XL. In the recent group review on this site, there were different opinions and that’s totally fine, no device should ever be all things to everyone as that would be a boring place to live. But my Pixel 4 XL has been rock solid throughout, and I’ve been getting easily 24hrs+ of battery life (probably because I’m on wifi the whole time in the house). It’s handled work duties perfectly and I’ve used the WebEx client on it many times to attend a meeting while also multitasking on other work items directly on the device. I’ve never had a crash, reboot, or a single second of instability and that means a lot in this already unstable situation we are all dealing with. It just does its job day in and day out. I’m not saying a modern iPhone or Galaxy device can’t do the same, they totally can, but for me, the Pixel 4XL has really stepped it up and I couldn’t be happier that it’s my phone during this time. Also if you do decide to jump on the train the Pixel 4 phones can be had for all-time low prices right now — starting at just $499 for the Pixel 4 and $599 for the Pixel 4 XL!

Judie

I don’t think it even matters if you’re used to working from home or not; I’ve found that trying to get anything done right now — much less staying focused on a single task— has been a huge challenge. When I’m in my office, which for reference, is detached from the main part of our house and connected to the back porch, I usually work on a 27″ iMac. But through a series of unfortunate events that ended up being a gift in their own way, for the first month that we were in self-isolation, Kev and I had our two youngest granddaughters (6 & 7) staying with us. Very quickly, Kev and I had to figure out a new system so that I would be in the main part of the house with the grands while getting my work done; Kev would split the new homeschooling duties with me before leaving for work at his studio.

I thought that once the girls were able to go home with their parents, things would simplify and I’d be able to catch up on all I had fallen behind on, but I’ve found that it’s been a real struggle to stay focused and present. I suspect that a lot of people are dealing with that right now. So if that’s you as well, you’re not alone! <3

Lenovo Yoga C940 Laptop

Rather than moving my iMac to our dining room table, where I would wind up working most days, I used the Lenovo Yoga C940. This 14″ laptop had proven itself time and time again over the past four months to be excellent for travel, but I also found it did very well as my main computer. The model I have is equipped with an Intel i7 1.3GHz processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. I can also use the C940 as a tablet, and when needed, it was great for the grands’ regular Zoom calls with their teachers and classmates. I can’t say enough good about this laptop. Prices for the Yoga C940 start at $1439.99

Withings Thermo

In early March, our part of Texas was at the tail-end of a really bad flu season — one that had already shut a neighboring town’s schools down for a week in mid-February. We were also in the midst of early spring allergies, so every sniffle, sore throat, or body ache was suspect as we better understood the severity of the pandemic. A few days into our granddaughters’ stay with us, right about the time that I found out that I might have been exposed on the trip to NYC I had just returned from days earlier, the girls started running low-grade fevers. Using the $99.95 Withings Thermo, I was able to quickly check the girl’s foreheads at different points of the day to check their temperatures. It may seem like a little thing, but the Thermo and the Withings Health Mate app gave me peace of mind in the early days of our self-isolation.

Sparkel Carbonator

A few days into self-quarantine, I realized how grateful I was for the $99 Sparkel water carbonation system that I’d reviewed late last year. Kev and I had already replaced buying store-bought carbonated water with the Sparkel system, and a refill box of 90 carbonation sachets had arrived just before we started isolating, so we were set. It’s the little things, but having a ready source of cold carbonated water has helped keep me in good spirits. We ordered two extra Sparkel bottles so we could keep cold water bottles in the refrigerator ready for carbonation or flavoring at a moment’s notice; the system is working out well, and we are staying hydrated with our favorite fizzy waters. As we enter our 8th week of sheltering at home, I’ve just ordered another box of 90 carbonation sachets so we don’t take a chance of running out. Getting our carbonated water this was is much easier to deal with than trying to buy unwieldy carbonated waters by the case during our weekly curbside grocery pick-up.

Air Speaker by Quirky

The $249 Air Speaker by Quirky is a clever portable system that can be configured as a single more powerful 24-watt stereo speaker, or it can be pulled apart into five smaller speakers that stay perfectly in sync. I set an Air Speaker up in the girls’ bedroom so that they could listen to music at night as they fell asleep. The speakers have a wireless range of up to 75′, so you can string them out around your home and back patio to create a synchronized multi-speaker system, or you can set them up in a single room to create a surround sound effect; you can also keep them together as a single stereo unit, which is what I wound up doing for the girls. Music played on the speaker soothed them to sleep, which in turn meant that Kev and I could sleep without too many disturbances in the middle of the night.

QWIN Plus Kit

I don’t know about you, but my stress levels have been through the roof since we’ve been in lockdown. Drinking a bottle of wine each night to knock myself out and (hopefully) stop my mind from racing long enough to sleep simply isn’t a viable or desirable option. Enter the $89.99 QWIN Plus Kit which arrived a few weeks ago; it has been a lifesaver. The pod flavors are delicious, and there is something very calming about the act of taking a puff from this vaporizer. The Plus Kit includes the QWIN Module, four 100mg flavored CBDi Capsules (shortcake, island, brisk, and arabica), and one 200mg CBDRx Supergreen capsule as well as a microUSB wireless charger; you supply the microUSB charging cable. The capsules are designed so that you can puff from them multiple times a day without ill effect, and I’m not even going to pretend to understand why doing so relaxes me and calms my mind, but it does. Worth it. I’ll be ordering refills when these are out.

Sirius XM App on Android and iOs

Not leaving the house but once a week means not being in the car much, and that means I haven’t been listening to my favorite Sirius stations as often. With the app, I can keep up with the news on MSNBC, CNN, BBC, and others, listen to my favorite music stations, and yes, listen to Howard Stern as well as access his past interviews and musical guests’ performances — including video. I didn’t use this streaming app option that much before the pandemic (in fact, I had forgotten to download the app to my current Android phone), but now it’s a daily go-to.

AUKEY USB Outlet with Night Light Plug

I quickly realized that the girls would sleep better with a nightlight, and I just happened to have recently received the $19.99 AUKEY USB Outlet with Night Light Plug before we went into lockdown. The Aukey Night Light covers both sockets of a conventional double outlet, drawing power from one of them; in return, you get 300 Joules of surge-protection in four AC sockets and two Type-A USB outlets. The top of the night light also serves as a handy phone holder. This worked out very well in the girls’ bedroom because it also gave them a place to charge the devices they were using to complete their schoolwork each day.

Austere VII Series 8-Port Power Strip

Right now is not the time to stress about whether a storm might take out my television or computer, and that’s why I am thankful for the Austere VII Series 8-Port Power Strip; Dan reviewed the 6-port power strip recently, and you can read that review here. I didn’t realize until a meeting with Austere at CES this year that the word ‘Joules’ doesn’t just refer to how powerful or protective a surge protector might be, Joules also refers to a finite protective layer of energy that gets tapped every time there are shocks or surges in your electrical system. In other words, it had somehow never sunk in for me that the three APC backup batteries with 1000 Joule surge protectors that Kev and I had purchased to protect various sets of home electronics over 10 years ago (!!) were all well past their prime. Derp.

The Austere VII Series power strips have 4,000 Joules, and Austere offers a Component Guarantee which promises that “if a VII Series Austere Power Strip is responsible for any damage to a plugged-in device, Austere will replace that device regardless of its value for 7-years.” Blue LEDs on the power strip let you know exactly when the Joules have been depleted; the blue protection shield on the power strip will simply stop glowing. At $179.99 for the 6-port power strip and $199.99 for the 8-port power strip, both power strips also include a 45W USB-C PD port, two USB Type-C ports, and Two-USB-A ports. While the Austere VII Series is likely more expensive than any non-backup-battery-containing surge protector you’ve ever purchased, it makes a case for that purchase with its better than average look, solid build, the Component Guarantee, the 4,000 long-lasting Joules, and the power strip’s advanced EMI/RFI filtration which “cleans noise and artifacts that can travel through power lines and keeps them from impacting your devices.” It’s a worthy update for your home entertainment system at the very least, especially if you can’t remember when the last time you replaced that particular surge protector was.

LG V60 ThinQ with Dual Screen Case

While I liked the idea behind LG’s use of Dual Screen cases on their V50 ThinQ and the LG G8X ThinQ models, it wasn’t until the 5G LG V50ThinQ that I really fell in love with the phone that went into that Dual Screen case. On its own, the LG V60 ThinQ is a gorgeous navy and gold Android device that features a 6.8″ OLED FHD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Octa-core processor, 8GB RAM, 128GB user memory, a long-lasting 5,000mAh battery, triple rear cameras (including ultra-wide-angle), and many of the other bells and whistles you’d expect in a 2020 flagship with the exception of a faster refresh rate — the V60 ThinQ is 60Hz only rather than a smoother 90 or 120Hz. Will you even notice it? Maybe, maybe not. The one thing that sets it apart from the other 2020 flagships isn’t just the Dual Screen case, it’s the actual size of the phone — it’s huge. While a phone this big (and thick, with the Dual Screen case involved) might get on my nerves if I were traveling or out and about, I have largely been stuck at home, so the size of the phone has not been an issue. When I put the V60 ThinQ into the Dual Screen case, I get two brilliant 6.8″ OLED FHD displays that play well together while I obsessively consume pandemic news, try to relax while playing word games, or while I am being productive. You can get the LG V60ThinQ and the Dual Screen Case for about $900; the phone alone is about $100 less.

DdroppStudio Cloth Masks

Since I haven’t sewn in years and I don’t own a sewing machine (something I would like to rectify), it was important to me to find someone who was making and delivering cloth masks for when Kev and I had to go out in public to pick up groceries or hit the post office. While researching what makes cloth masks most effective, I came across a link mentioning ddroppStudio on Etsy. Each ddroppStudio cloth mask is made with three protective layers that offer around 90% filtration; they come in medium and large sizes, and they have an adjustable aluminum nose wire for a snug but comfortable fit. The masks are not hard to breathe through, and they stay on with loops that go around your ears rather than the back of your head and neck; their fabrics are fashionable for both men and women. DdroppStudio masks start at $38. Cleaning these reusable masks is a simple matter of handwashing and air-drying; since you should do that every time you wear it in public, it’s a good idea to get a couple of these when you order. I have a feeling that conscientious people will be wearing cloth masks at least until the end of this year if not longer, whether or not local orders tell us to do so. It makes sense to find some masks that look good, wear well and will do a good job of protecting us as we start to integrate back into social situations. I am sure that there are other excellent cloth masks available from Etsy makers, but I can personally vouch for the quality and decent shipping times at ddroppStudio.

Dan

My situation is a bit different. Synagogues and churches are built around communal connection, and the rapid move to take our entire congregation’s operations online was no small feat. My leadership and I kept the synagogue open as long as we could but, even before our Governor issued his “stay at home” decree, we knew we would eventually have to make this change. By the time I did ask for a vote to shut down the building, we had some of the infrastructure built. We moved all leadership communication to Slack and upgraded our Zoom account so it could handle the expected increase in traffic once we went online. That expectation has been proven correct and, in any given thirty day period since this began, our community has spent well over 250,000 minutes together via Zoom.

Getting myself, not to mention my key staff members, up to speed with regard to hardware was the next challenge. Thankfully, my years with Gear Diary left me in good stead. In fact, most of my staff members are currently using one or more Gear Diary review items that I pulled out of the closet. Over the weeks I have found certain devices to be particularly useful to me. Here are just a few examples.

BenQ 27” QHD Designer Monitor

I usually have a 27” iMac at my office and a 13” MacBook Pro connected to an external monitor in my home office. The day I left my office, I brought the iMac home. It is connected to the $499 BenQ PD2710QC 27” QHD Designer Monitor I reviewed in 2017. The combination of the two gives me a huge amount of screen-estate and had made trying to do ten things at once a bit easier. This also leaves my laptop free to use if it is a nice day and I want some fresh air. They sit atop my Varidesk ProDesk 60 Electric sit-stand desk. Considering how much time I am spending at my desk, having the ability to do some work standing had been a huge help.

Pursuit Ergonomic Chair by UPLIFT Desk

And considering that I am at my desk for hours on end, I’m grateful to have the $329 Pursuit Ergonomic Chair by UPLIFT Desk. It is comfortable, adjustable and supportive. And when I don’t want to sit but am too tired to stand, the $149 UPLIFT Motion Stool is a great in-between choice.

Logi StreamCam

Having a decent quality video is important when you are trying to teach or lead services via Zoom. The new $169.99 Logi StreamCam has been great. It offers high resolution and has countless settings that can be customized to your liking.

I’m also using the $499 Logitech ConferenceCam. It is not only a great camera and speaker for streaming but, thanks to its built-in Bluetooth, as the weather improves I’ll be able to take it outside and, once connected to my iPad or iPhone, hold meetings outdoors.

MXL APS Podcasting Bundle

I had the good fortune to be able to choose from a number of microphones I had reviewed over the years. Some went to my colleagues, but I kept the $295 MXL APS Podcasting Bundle, which has been my go-to most of the time. It includes MXL’S BCD-1 Live Broadcast Microphone, MXL’S USB Mic Mate Pro microphone adapter, and an MXL’S BCD Stand which is a convenient way to position my microphone in an optimal manner.

When using my laptop I’ve found the Blue Yeti X Professional USB Microphone to be the best choice. Both microphones work amazingly well and have allowed me to get good audio regardless of whether I am speaking, reading, or singing.

PromptSmart App for iPhone and iPad

I’ve started videotaping my weekly Shabbat Message. At first, I would use the StreamCam or ConferenceCam to record but, inevitably, it would capture me looking at the text of my message rather than the camera. My solution was to purchase the $19.99 PromptSmart app for iPhone and iPad. It is not only a voice-activated teleprompter that “understands” my text and advances the text as I speak. In addition, it places the text at the upper half of the iPad so I can read the text while looking at and recording from the device’s selfie camera. It works well and, each week, I’m getting better at using it. That said… I have a long way to go and have a renewed sense of respect for broadcasters.

Audioengine Wireless Speakers

I also rely on music to keep me calm. My Audioengine speakers do the trick. I have their $269 A2+ Wireless Speakers on my desk and their $499 A5+ speakers on stands on the other side of the room. Both are connected to Apple AirPort Expresses so I can have all four speakers playing music via AirPlay. In the den, where I also work sometimes, I have the Audioengine HD6. The powerful powered bookshelf speakers are able to fill the house with sound and come in handy when I’m on the treadmill.

Headphones

On the headphone front, I’m finding that different devices serve me best at different times. When I’m out for a socially distanced walk with my dog, the Jabra 75t True Wireless Earbuds seem to work best. They are also so small that they don’t get in the way of my face masks. When I’m home and just want to escape for a bit, the Master & Dynamic MW07 PLUS headphones do the trick. Thanks to their onboard active noise cancellation, these earphones let me get lost in the music. And when I��m on the computer but want headphones for music and calls, the Plantronics Voyager 8200 UC and Master & Dynamic MW65 Over-the-Ear headphones do the trick. Both have excellent ANC and both sound fantastic. For the most part, I use the 8200 UC for work and the MW65 for relaxation but both do a great job in almost and situation.

Google Nest WiFi

With both Raina and me working from home, it is more important than ever that we have solid WiFi and the ability to keep all our devices charged. The WiFi issue is nicely addressed by the Google Nest WiFi I reviewed last fall. It is an amazing mesh wireless system that has the benefit of bringing Google Assistant to whichever room becomes the home of the Nest WiFi Point. Yup, in addition to increasing the coverage of the Nest WiFi from Google, the second wireless point is also a speaker with Google Assistant. Another great option would be Eero. That’s the system I had until I received the nest WiFi and its also terrific. Judie bought her eero system and swears by it; Perry thinks it’s great, too; you can read his review here.

Charging Stations

Finally, Raina and I are both relying more heavily than ever on our phones, tablets, and headphones. Each device needs to be kept charged lest it become a paperweight and our productivity plummet. We can’t afford for that to happen. Thankfully there are a growing number of sophisticated device chargers that not only top off our phones wirelessly but also charge other devices simultaneously. Mophie offers a few interesting ones. There’s the Dual Wireless Charging Pad, and there is the mophie 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Base.

As good as those are, however, it is the updated Nomad Base Station that sits by my bed. It wirelessly charges my phone, my Apple Watch, and it has two additional charging ports- one USB-C and the other USB-A for additional charging options. It can also wirelessly charge AirPods with a wireless charging case but I don’t have one of those. I shared details of the charging base some weeks ago and will be finishing up a full review soon.

In the living room, we have the amazing Air Omni 6-in-1 Charging Solution from Pitaka. This charging base will wirelessly charge your phone and AirPods with a wireless charging case and an Apple Watch. In addition, the back section of the Air Omni has a charging area that can charge a device with either a USB-C or a Lightning connector. And as if that weren’t enough, the Air Omni also has a USB-C port and a USB-A port so you can charge two MORE devices. Finally, it has a small, lighted drawer so you can stow a few small items. There’s so much tech packed into this amazing charging base; you can back it on Kickstarter.

Each piece of kit makes working remotely a bit easier. And while I’m looking forward to eventually being back in the office and able to see people face-to-face, for now this is the best that it gets. And I am so grateful to Judie, Gear Diary, and all of the amazing companies we work with for making it possible for me to take a congregation of 800 families online and, in the process, offer even more programming than ever despite the challenges of our times.

Travis

Even though I have been teaching from home, my gear has stayed very simple. I have a Dell laptop that I run most of my assignments and work meetings over Google Meet.

My oldest son bought his own HP Chromebook almost two years ago but rarely used it. It has now become his lifeline to his school work. My youngest works at the desktop with two monitors. My wife uses a work-issued laptop also. There are often mornings where we are all sitting silently in the den on our devices trying to get everything finished. I am fully ready to go back to teaching everyone else’s kids and not just my two!

Xbox One

The other saving device in our house is the Xbox One. While it is usually the cause of arguments, it is also a portal for both of my sons to get to talk (yell) and communicate with some of their friends.

Wayne

Google Nest Hub Max

I have the $229 Google Nest Hub Max sitting on my desk next to my computer. During the day, I watch TV with my YouTube TV subscription ($49/yr) which I control with my voice (“Hey Google, play xxx on YouTube TV”). In the last few weeks, I’ve used it to keep up-to-date with the stock market. When I have a conference call, I mute the audio and continue watching the video. I also play music from my YouTube music stations. The sound isn’t super high quality, but it’s good enough to help me pass the time in the office. On occasion, I’ll also use Chromecast to send movies to the screen. The volume is easy to quickly mute since Google added the ability to use quick gestures with the Nest Hub Max.

Dropbox

Technically I don’t think this qualifies as gear. However, Dropbox is essential to my workflow throughout the day. I’ve created a folder solely to sync common files between my three home office computers. Typically I use this to synchronize images or screenshots of things that I’m working on – either for reports or social media posts. But I also use it to sync files between my various computers. This is a very handy tool and allows me to not worry about where I left a particular file since everything is accessible across all my computers. Dropbox business plans start at $15/month with discounted prices for yearly plans. Google Drive or Microsoft One Drive would likely work just as well if you have access to them.

Anker Wireless PowerWave Charger

I use this $18 Anker Wireless PowerWave Charger to keep my iPhone 11 Pro Max charged up. I find it tough sometimes to find the “sweet spot” with Qi chargers, but this upright charger makes it so that I get a positive charging connection nearly every time.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max Smart Battery Case

I live in a rural area, and I find it helpful to relax mid-day with a walk. On occasion, my walks extend to 5+ miles, which makes it handy to use the $129 Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max Smart Battery Case so I can continue taking calls while out exercising. What I like the most is how easy it is to insert (and remove ) the phone. Simply pull the top portion back and your phone can be easily removed.

The case supports wireless charging, but I generally charge via cable overnight and leave it on my shelf until I’m ready to walk. The grippy case helps prevent drops which is another thing I like. It’s not the cheapest battery case you’ll find, but it’s well built and does the job.

Perry

While I have some additional time at home, besides spending more time with my wife and two kids and teaching my 5-year-old daughter how to ride a 2 wheel bike (proud dad moment!), I’ve taken up a few hobbies.

Fender Malibu Player Guitar

I’ve always wanted to play the guitar, and our friends at Fender hooked me up with a Fender Malibu Player Guitar to try out, as well as their brand new Fullerton Strat Ukulele. The $429 Malibu Player is a gorgeous small-bodied guitar with a built-in electronic Fishman pre-amp and tuner. It’s a great guitar for beginners such as myself and I’ve been enjoying learning on it.

Fender Fullerton Strat Ukelele

The Fullerton Strat Ukulele is a $199 ukulele that’s designed to look like the classic Fender Stratocaster electric guitar. The Fullerton also has built-in electronics and tuner as well.

I’ve also spent a few weeks learning to play with the Fender Play app, and I’ve seen a lot of growth in such a short amount of time. I went from not knowing anything about playing to playing simple riffs, strumming chords, and switching between chords, albeit slowly. Fender has even put together a New Player Guide that helps budding guitarists navigate their new hobby with everything from gear buying guides to tips and tricks.

Challenger Bread Pan

If you’re like me and the thousands of other people turning to bread baking with your extra time, there’s no better way to bake your homemade loaves than the $299 Challenger Bread Pan. It was designed by home bakers, for home bakers to be the first highly designed home bread baking pan on the market.

The cast-iron enclosure traps steam, which helps the crust of your bread retain moisture and not cook too quickly, allowing your bread to expand more. The shallow base makes it easy to load your bread into the pan and the handles were ergonomically designed to help you remove the lid easily mid-bake.

HTC Vive Cosmos Elite VR Headset

If you’re looking to escape your quarantine environment but don’t want to risk infection, check out the $899 HTC Vive Cosmos Elite VR Headset. The Vive Cosmos Elite provides a fully immersive experience thanks to the high-quality headset and accurate tracking of your head and the controllers in your hands.

I’ve had a blast playing first-person shooter games like Half-Life: Alyx as well as action/sports games that get your body moving and your blood pumping. Even my 5-year-old daughter loves slashing at fruit in the classic Fruit Ninja VR.

Kingston Nucleum USB-C Hub

If we’re talking about actual work (boring), our friends at Kingston hooked me up with some great home office upgrades that have helped make my WFH experience better. The $49.99 Kingston Nucleum USB-C Hub allows me to connect an external monitor, keyboard, and wireless mouse to my laptop with the use of just one port, the USB-C. It’s a great way to reduce clutter and make transitioning between travel and desk work simple.

HyperX Alloy Origins Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

The HyperX Alloy Origins mechanical gaming keyboard is a joy to type on. It has RGB LED lights that are gorgeous to look at, while the typing experience feels accurate and high end.

HyperX Pulsefire Dart Wireless Gaming Mouse

The HyperX Pulsefire Dart wireless gaming mouse has three different DPI settings, comfortable leather-like grips, LED-lit accents, and is compatible with wireless Qi charging. Installation of both keyboard and mouse was seamless and I was up and running in minutes.

Joel

These are the things that I use every day when I work from home. Much of it changes depending on what’s going on, but this is what I have had since the start of the ‘work from home’ phase of the virus. I always work from home, so my life hasn’t changed much except for not being able to go to the gym and church like I usually do.

My Work-Supplied Gear Includes:

Dell Precision 7250 Laptop

The Dell Precision 7520 is big, thick, and heavy without being too heavy; it works well enough to get my job done.

Dell 3GMVT TB16 Thunderbolt 3 Dock with 240W Adapter

It’s not fancy but it gets the job done. If you have a Thunderbolt capable Dell, get the ~$200 Dell 3GMVT TB16 Thunderbolt 3 Dock with 240W Adapter; you won’t regret it.

HP 27″ FreeSync Monitor

Being in System Administration requires you to have many windows open at once, and the monitor on my work laptop just isn’t enough to handle my day-to-day so I picked up the HP 27″ FreeSync Monitor. It’s 1080p and has enough real estate to take care of things like Slack, Service Now, and other websites I need to have open to get the job done.

iPhone 11

The iPhone 11 is my work-provided cellphone. On it, I run Slack, Pager Duty, e-mail, and everything I need when I am out and about or at home for work.

My Personal Gear Includes

Microsoft Surface Pro 6

One thing I like to do when I am not in a call is have something playing in the background or some other computer besides my work laptop beside me so I can look up things and take care of non-work related things when I take breaks from my normal systems work. My Surface Pro 6 is my favorite device for this. It’s pretty much beside me always when I am working.

Not on the list, but something I always use with my Surface, is the keyboard … which should COME with the Surface Pro! Are you listening Microsoft?

Microsoft Surface Pen

If I need to sketch something or take notes in a call that I don’t care about where they are stored then the $100 Surface Pen comes out. I think it’s essential if you buy a Surface Pro, and the pen is a big pro for buying a Surface Pro in the first place.

Microsoft Surface Mouse

The $79.99 Microsoft Surface Arc mouse is nice, but I prefer just the plain old $36 Surface Mouse. It’s small enough that it travels nicely, and I always use it over the trackpad on the keyboard.

Avantree AH6B Bluetooth Headphones

A few weeks ago, my normal Logitech H600 headset died. I needed something in a pinch, so I ordered the $89.99 Avantree AH6B Bluetooth Headphones quickly as I spend a lot of time in Zoom calls. This headset works great for that, and it sounds good too!

Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920

I always hate using the built-in camera on any laptop. It just makes for horrible viewing angles and is just not as good as an external cam like the $79.99 Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920. I love that it has a cover that I usually keep down if I don’t feel like being on cam.

Kaweco Sport Classic Fountain Pen

I got the $34 Kaweco Sport Classic Fountain Pen in a Bespoke box, and I love writing with it! When I want something to write with to record things I don’t want on the web, this is what I use.

Moleskine Notebook

I’ve been a long time lover of Moleskine notebooks; I always have 2-3 of these hanging around my desk.

Galanz Mini Fridge

On a long call? Getting drowsy? This is why I have the $169 Galenz Mini Fridge. I keep mine fully stocked with cold beverages and the occasional snack.

IKEA Bekant Sit/Stand Desk

The $499 IKEA Bekant Sit/Stand Desk is my main desk, and while I rarely use the stand functionality, I do like to be able to work while standing from time to time.

IKEA Galant Black Storage Cabinet

Every office needs storage, and the $199 IKEA Galant Black Storage Cabinet is mine. I keep my camera gear and extra 3D printing supplies in here.

IKEA Linnmon/Alex Desk

I use the $119.99 IKEA Linnmon/Alex Desk as a side desk told hole extra computers and other junk (I really need to rearrange things in here!)

Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ with 5G

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ is my personal phone, and I love using it; it’s pretty much always with me.

LG TONE Style Bluetooth Wireless Stereo Headset

The $99.99 LG TONE Style Bluetooth Wireless Stereo Headset is perfect for podcasts, YouTube, and movies. These are what I usually use these for especially if I don’t want the whole house to ALSO listen! Works ok for calls but don’t usually get too many of those.

Logitech M557 Bluetooth Mouse

I’m a trackpad hater so my work laptop always has to have a mouse. I say go Bluetooth so you can avoid having to keep track of dongles since all of my computers have Bluetooth …you can’t go wrong with this mouse. It’s travel-sized which is what I prefer anyway.

Michael

Both my wife and I work in essential businesses, so we have had to adapt to strategies that enable us to work from home when possible but also be on-site each day. In order to be ready for any potential self-quarantine, my approach has been to have everything with me at all times when I leave the facility.

Above is a pile of my ‘essential stuff’

Mask – we get a new one every morning. Masks had become part of standard PPE throughout the facility even prior to the state order.

Safety Glasses and Fog-Be-Gone – the first thing everyone does wearing a mask with glasses is to fog them up!

Earbuds with 3.5mm jack – these are the AKG earbuds that came with my Samsung Galaxy Note 9 (the 10+ comes with USB-C earbuds). I am on conference calls frequently and have found that having something that plugs directly into my laptop works best – and these have great sound and microphone clarity.

HP Elitebook 840 – this is my work laptop, fully loaded up but still fairly portable. Drives my dual monitor setup at my desk, but the screen is good enough to use anywhere in the facility or at home.

iPad Pro 10.5

I have been using this iPad since release in 2017, to the point where I just had to replace the Smart Keyboard cover. It is my personal workhorse that I carry everywhere – email, social media, and web browsing, working on shared documents, keeping notes that bridge between work and home, and so much more. And when I get home it is great for music and games!

Samsung Galaxy Note 10+

For nearly nine months the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ has been my primary work phone. It does everything for me, but the S-Pen is the big differentiator, as I can be anywhere and quickly take notes, annotate pictures, and so on. The battery life is incredible, which is invaluable when you need to be in a part of the facility with poor signal without access to a charger for hours on end. This is an incredibly expensive flagship phone, but I have never had a regret.

Samsung Galaxy Buds

The $149 Samsung Galaxy Buds pair easily with either iOS or Android devices, but with a Samsung phone, you get more features – none of which I really care about. These are more comfortable than typical earbuds, and allow me to just keep them in my ears during the day so I can talk to people working from home about data, measurements or experiments while involved with other activities. My usage of these has jumped incredibly over the pandemic, as they allow me to be much more flexible and responsive.

Other critical items

Logitech M570 Trackball Mouse

Great for every surface at home or work, the $49.99 Logitech M570 Trackball Mouse is easy on the wrist once you get used to using the trackball. I am not a fan of laptop trackpads other than Apple, so when I can use this highly capable mouse I am much happier and more productive.

Osprey Axis Backpack

I bought the Osprey Axis Backpack for hiking in the Grand Canyon, and it quickly became my everyday bag. It’s light, tough, and spacious; everything fits and is easily accessible.

•••••

You’ve seen the gear that’s helping us stay productive and sane while we hunker down for the pandemic; what is working for you?

from Joseph Rushing https://geardiary.com/2020/05/03/sheltering-in-place-during-a-pandemic-how-weve-made-it-work/

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chicagoindiecritics · 4 years

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New from Kevin Wozniak on Kevflix: What’s Streaming This Month? – May

As we continue to be stuck in quarantine due to COVID-19, our streaming services have become essential to keep us entertained during this time. Luckily for us, our streaming services have had pretty great content during this time and May only adds to it. Along with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Disney+, I include the Criterion Channel on this list as well, as the content Criterion produces is spectacular. Here are my picks for the best movies coming to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, and Criterion Channel in May.

NETFLIX

Full list of everything coming to Netflix in April can be found here.

BACK TO THE FUTURE and BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II (Robert Zemeckis, 1985/1989)

The third film was already on Netflix, so it’s only right to put the first two on as well. Back to the Future is a perfect movie and the best time travel movie ever made. The sequel is inventive and fun. Watch all three, it’s an excellent trilogy.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (David Fincher, 2008)

A visually stunning piece of filmmaking from the great David Fincher.

DEN OF THIEVES (Christian Gudegast, 2018)

An interesting, methodical, Heat-like crime thriller that has grown on me after multiple viewings.

DISTRICT 9 (Neil Blomkamp, 2009)

A wildly original sci-fi movie and the only good movie of Neil Blomkamp’s career.

THE LINCOLN LAWYER (Brad Furman, 2011)

A cool little courtroom drama that kicked off the McConaissance of the early 2010’s.

THE LOVEBIRDS (Michael Showalter, 2020)

I usually don’t put new Netflix movies on here, but a romantic comedy with Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani directed by the director of The Big Sick gives me hope that this could be a great one.

PUBLIC ENEMIES (Michael Mann, 2009)

Johnny Depp gives one of the best performances of his career in Michael Mann’s engrossing, stunningly made biopic about gangster John Dillinger.

UNCUT GEMS (Josh and Benny Safdie, 2019)

One of the best movies of 2019, Uncut Gems features a career-best performance by Adam Sandler in the Safdie Brother’s anxiety-enducing crime thriller.

UNITED 93 (Paul Greengrass, 2006)

A tough watch, but Paul Greengrass rightly earned a Best Director Oscar nomination of this harrowing true story of passengers who foiled a terrorist plot on 9/11.

WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY/CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (Mel Stuart, 1971/Tim Burton, 2005)

Two films from the same source material that couldn’t be more different. Could be a cool little double feature.

AMAZON PRIME

Full list of everything coming to Amazon Prime in April can be found here.

COME TO DADDY (Ant Timpson, 2020)

A horror flick starring Elijah Wood. That’s all I got and that’s all I need.

THE GOLDFINCH (John Crowley, 2019)

2019’s biggest Oscar-bait failure is a film I didn’t see in theaters, but one I want to check out and see why this movie failed as hard as it did.

LIKE CRAZY (Drake Dormeus, 2011)

The 2011 Sundance U.S. Dramatic winner is one of the most authentic love stories I’ve ever seen on film and features stellar performances from Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones.

ROCKETMAN (Dexter Fletcher, 2019)

Taron Egerton is masterful in this unique biopic of music icon Elton John.

SEBERG (Benedict Andrews, 2020)

Kristen Stewart, one of my favorite actresses working today, stars as French New Wave icon Jean Seberg, who was being watched by Herbert Hoover and the F.B.I. for her political and romantic involvement with civil rights activist Hakim Jamal.

THE VAST OF NIGHT (Andrew Patterson, 2020)

I’ve heard nothing but great things about this movie for over a year and I am excited to finally watch this mystery thriller.

HULU

Full list of everything coming to Hulu in April can be found here.

BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT (Christopher Nolan, 2005/2008)

Kind of annoying that they didn’t make the entire trilogy available, but whatever. Batman Begins reinvented Batman on the silver screen and The Dark Knight is my favorite comic book movie ever and one of my all-time favorite movies.

THE CONJURING (James Wan, 2013)

One of the best horror movies of the last ten years.

GOODFELLAS (Martin Scorsese, 1990)

Goodfellas is my favorite movie ever made. I love this movie so much. It’s perfect.

THE GRADUATE (Mike Nichols, 1967)

Another perfect movie, The Graduate is an undeniable classic with themes that still resonate today.

THE LODGE (Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz, 2020)

Even though I’ve heard mixed things about this one, I’ve wanted to see The Lodge since the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and I’m excited to get the chance to check it out.

PAINTER AND THE THIEF (Benjamin Ree, 2020)

This documentary, about a painter who befriends a thief who stole her paintings, was one that I missed at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, but one I really want to check out.

PREMATURE (Rashaad Ernesto Green, 2020)

Rashaad Ernesto Green is a director I’ve been excited for since seeing his debut film Gun Hill Road in 2011, so getting to check out his latest film should be a treat.

SPACESHIP EARTH (Matt Wolf, 2020)

I saw Spaceship Earth at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and it was a very interesting documentary about the group of people who built the Biosphere 2, a giant replica of the earth’s ecosystem, in 1991.

DISNEY+

Full list of everything coming to Disney+ in May can be found here.

FANTASTIC MR. FOX (Wes Anderson, 2009)

A stunning, hilarious, masterful stop-motion film from the great Wes Anderson.

JOHN CARTER (Andrew Stanton, 2012)

A film that isn’t nearly as bad as its legacy precedes it, I’m excited to watch this one again for its sheer scale and insanity.

MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL (Joachim Rønning, 2019)

A decent movie that might be better than the first one. Angelina Jolie is pitch-perfect casting as Maleficent.

THE PRINCESS BRIDE (Rob Reiner, 1987)

Could be argued as the most watchable movie ever made. A film full of action, adventure, comedy, romance, and drama and every piece is great.

STAR WARS: EPISODE IX – THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (JJ Abrams, 2019)

I was not a fan of this movie (full review here), but it’s a Star Wars movie and it’s available to stream (along with the rest of the saga).

CRITERION CHANNEL

Full list of everything coming to Criterion Channel in May can be found here.

*The Criterion Channel does things a little differently than every other streaming service. The Criterion Channel, a wonderful streaming service that focuses on independent, foreign, and under-appreciates movies, doesn’t just throw a bunch of random movies to stream. They get more creative, by having categories like “DOUBLE FEATURES” or “FILMS FROM…”, giving us curated lists of films that somehow blend together or feature a specific artist.*

DOUBLE FEATURES

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’:

The Limey (Steven Soderbergh, 1999)

Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)

A Soderbergh-Lynch double feature is always going to be great, but this one is going to be especially great because these two movies are some of the best work from these directing legends.

KNOCK OUT!:

The Harder They Fall (Mark Robson, 1956)

Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

Two movies that feature drama in and outside of the boxing ring. The Harder They Fall features Humphrey Bogart as an ex-sportswriter who is hired by a shady fight promoter to promote an unknown but easily exploitable boxer from Argentina. Raging Bull is a cinematic masterpiece and features Robert De Niro in, what this critic considers to be, the greatest acting performance ever on film.

JOSH AND BENNY SAFDIE’S ADVENTURES IN MOVIEGOING

Josh and Benny Safdie are the most exciting directing duo since the Coen Brothers, so having a curated list from them is something that needs to be taken seriously.

The Naked City (Jules Dassin, 1948)

In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950)

Camera Buff (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1979)

Gloria (John Cassavetes, 1980)

Bless Their Little Hearts (Billy Woodberry, 1984)

Meantime (Mike Leigh, 1984)

Close-up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990)

Hero (Stephen Frears, 1992)

The Mirror (Jafar Panahi, 1997)

SAUL BASS TURNS 100!

Saul Bass is responsible for some of the most iconic opening credits in cinematic history (ex: Psycho, Vertigo). This impressive list of great films features some of Bass’ finest work.

The Big Knife (Robert Aldrich, 1955)

The Man with the Golden Arm (Otto Preminger, 1955)

Around the World in 80 Days (Michael Anderson, 1956)

Storm Center (Daniel Taradash, 1956)

Bonjour Tristesse (Otto Preminger, 1958)

The Big Country (William Wyler, 1958)

Cowboy (Delmer Daves, 1958)

Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959)

The Facts of Life (Melvin Frank, 1960)

Ocean’s 11 (Lewis Milestone, 1960)

Something Wild (Jack Garfein, 1961)

West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, 1961)

Walk on the Wild Side (Edward Dmytryk, 1962)

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Stanley Kramer, 1963)

Bunny Lake Is Missing (Otto Preminger, 1965)

Grand Prix (John Frankenheimer, 1966)

Seconds (John Frankenheimer, 1966)

Phase IV (Saul Bass, 1974)

The Human Factor (Otto Preminger, 1979)

The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese, 1993)

STARRING JACKIE CHAN

Jackie Chan is a martial arts legend and one of the greatest action stars to ever grace the silver screen. These films show Chan’s early work as an actor, as well as show off his chops as a director. This should be an absolute blast.

Half a Loaf of Kung Fu (Chen Chi-hwa, 1978)

Spiritual Kung Fu (Lo Wei, 1978)

The Fearless Hyena (Jackie Chan, 1979)

The Young Master (Jackie Chan, 1980)

Fearless Hyena 2, (Chan Chuen, 1983)

My Lucky Stars (Sammo Hung, 1985)

Police Story (Jackie Chan, 1985)

Police Story 2 (Jackie Chan, 1988)

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