Shawn

Quite a different role for John Gallagher Jr. following The Newsroom and West Wing as well! He's quite effective and I also really liked Kate Siegel as the "definitely not a victim". Flanagan proves here that even the simplest, most well-worn story ideas can still be effective when delivered with conviction and a sense of style.

If you want to see a really fun, uplifting and wonderfully clever independent comedy, look no further... I haven't smiled so much watching a movie in ages. It's basically a John Hughes-style teen fantasy film transplanted from the the upper-middle-class suburbs to the gang-ridden neighborhoods of L.A. suburb Inglewood. Almost everything about this movie works; from the incredibly impressive young cast, to the energetic direction, the throw-back 90s hip-hop soundtrack and the social commentary effortlessly woven into the story. It's funny and charming and ultimately has a lot to say, without beating you over the head with it. At the end I wanted to stand up and cheer...and I was alone in my apartment so that might have been a tad awkward. Narrated (and co-produced) by Forrest Whitaker.

It's a very different experience than Oculus, it's played pretty much straight, but I found it very riveting. I usually don't like these kind of movies but there was something about this one that just sucked me in. Very inventive use of sound design as well. All the more impressive considering the limited budget; the entire film takes place on a single property, uses all natural lighting and only has a total of 5 actors. He has another mind-bending thriller/horror film coming out later this year called "Before I Wake" that looks promising.

There is no better comedy than Looney Tunes. Never equalled.

Just started season 1 of Better Call Saul on Netflix. The first two episodes were excellent, I'm in.

Hush (Mike Flanagan, 2016) What on the surface is basically just your standard "woman alone in a cabin being terrorized by a maniac" is here made unique and fresh by director Mike Flanagan (Oculus). The unique twist here is the central character is deaf, but she's no victim. What follows is tense 80 minute game of cat & mouse, very well acted and stylishly directed. The lead actress is impressive, she's also the co-writer and is married to the director, they came up with the concept of the movie over a dinner-date. Flanagan has a way of taking very simple concepts and elevating them beyond their usual limitations, a gift that bodes well for the future.

I became enamored with the Bosch TV series on Amazon Prime, which is written & produced by the author. It inspired me to check out the novels and so far I'm very glad I did. Each of the first two seasons have combined plot elements from a couple of the novels, season 3 will debut next year and The Black Echo will be one of the ingredients, so I figured it was time to read it. Since the series and the novels are so L.A. focused it adds another layer that I can appreciate, makes it more fun.

We are still in a drought (and have been for 5 years), the promised El Nino never delivered. The Governor just made water restrictions permanent. Most of the water Southern California uses is piped down from the mountains in Northern California. We got just enough rain over the winter to make things green for the spring, but that probably won't last as once you hit summer it probably won't rain again until November. Los Angeles averages 350 days of sunshine per year. The Hollywood sign has seen a share of pranks over the years where people got up and changed the spelling, usually by draping massive pieces of cloth over the letters. The letters are 50 feet tall, so probably not re-arrangeable. January 1, 1976.

The reservoir is basically just there for the scenic beauty now, it hasn't been used as a primary water source for a long time. There are huge underground storage tanks north of the lake where the water is actually stored.

Hulu has The Intruders. I'm sure I'll eventually subscribe again (I tend to take turns with these different services) and will check it out then.

Yeah, I'm not sure why I mentioned House Of Cards. Anyway, Amazon Prime (streaming service) has added a ton of British TV series in the past month or so (probably came along with their deal for the Doctor Who series) so I'll see if I can find any of those you mentioned. She's not hard to look at either.

Any suggestions for British courtroom/lawyer dramas? Now that The Good Wife has concluded I need to find something else to dig into, thought a change of country might make it interesting. I've seen the original House Of Cards trilogy.

Hollywood Reservoir

Not sure about a sax player but Steven Wilson (ex-Porcupine Tree) always performs barefoot.

That's it! She played the Tardis in human form. She was hysterical in that episode.

Roosevelt High School, Los Angeles, 1942. Victory Corp training.

I went to 8th grade in a rural county in West Virginia, one of the required courses was a "hunters safety course" where they taught us to safely shoot bows and rifles.

The actress on the left looks familiar, I'm trying figure out where I've seen her before....

My interest in football has been an occasional thing through the years. I watch for a couple years, then get bored and ignore it for a few years, then come back to it. I think the last season I watched was 2010. Part of that reason is seldom living in an area with a "local team" that I felt interested in rooting for. But since the Rams have moved back to Los Angeles and will be playing 3 seasons in the old Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum it has piqued my interest again. So I'm following the draft with some interest and looking forward to the regular season. I might even splurge on a cheap seat ticket for a game this year, I can walk to the coliseum.

The current public transit system in Los Angeles has been serving me well for the past 3 years, I no longer own a car. The light rail and subway lines are expanding. The Expo line extension opens May 20th which will allow people to travel the 18 miles between downtown to the beach in Santa Monica, this is the first train service to the west side of Los Angeles in 50 years (since the Red Car was shelved). The Gold line extension opened last month, the Purple Line is currently being expanded under Wilshire Blvd to Beverly Hills and a brand new line is opening on Crenshaw Blvd into South Los Angeles.

The Good Wife - Season 7 After being primarily annoyed by season 6 I didn't even bother to start this season when it began back in the fall. But since all but the final episode has now aired I can binge-watch the season on the CBS streaming site. Glad I waited, cause I don't do the week-by-week thing any longer, I want to watch entire seasons in a row on my schedule. Happily the first 4 episodes have been very enjoyable and seem much more vibrant and alive than last year. I'll of course hold final judgement until I finish the season, but so far it's got some of the old spark back.

I'm a Byrne fanatic, I've watched everything she's done.