As I continue to go through my collection (and constantly rearranging
the watch order at the last minute), I decided to watch movies from
directors Zhang Yimou and Ang Lee. Two directors with very good visual
styles.


Hero (blu-ray) 2002 martial arts movie directed by Zhang Yimou and
starring Let Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, and Donnie Yen.
Li plays a warrior who has been invited to meet with the emperor after
Li has defeated the emperor's would be assassins. As the movie unfolds multiple versions of Li's fight with the assassins are told. The movie
is very good and continues to hold up well. And the thing I like about
Zhang Yimou's movies is they are a treat to look at.


House of Flying Daggers (blu-ray) 2004 martial arts movie directed by
Zhang Yimou and starring Andy Lau and Zhang Ziyi. Ziyi plays a blind
woman who is part of a rebel group trying to take down a corrupt
government. Lau plays a government agent sent to infiltrate the rebel
group, but of course the two develop a romantic interest in each other
turning it into a tragic love story. Not as good as "Hero" but still
very good.
Sometimes when I needed to test a surround sound system/speakers and
couldn't remember which disc had a surround sound test on it, I'll pop
in House of Flying Daggers and play this scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk9tqFd5sGI


Curse of the Golden Flower (blu-ray) 2006 martial arts movie directed by
Zhang Yimou and starring Chow Yun-fat as an evil emperor of China and
Gon Li as his wife that's he's secretly poisoning. The wife catches on
and enlists one of her sons to overthrow the emperor. The movie is ridiculously melodramatic with lots of backstabbing and plot twists, but
very entertaining.


Sense and Sensibility (4K disc) 1995 movie directed by Ang Lee based on
the famous Jane Austen novel. This is a movie I had zero interest in
ever watching, but it was included in a 4K box set I own, and I'm
determined to watch all the movies in those box sets. This one stars
Emma Thomson as a woman in England in the 1800s who gets screwed over
when her father dies and thanks to old English laws all the money and
property goes to her brother. Her brother promised their father on
their father's deathbed he would take care of his mother and sisters,
but her brother's wife has other ideas for the money. Emma Thomson has
a mother and three sisters to account for during this movie. But seeing
as how I had almost no interest in this movie, and I had stuff around
the house to do...all I know is Hugh Grant shows up then disappeared
then reappeared at the end and everyone was happy. And apparently Alan Rickman's character in this movie was a nice guy. Hugh Laurie was in it
too, but I don't know what his deal was. I did pay attention for the
first or so, but I had stuff to do.


Life of Pi (3D blu-ray) 2012 movie directed by Ang Lee The movie
follows a young man who has to survive on a life boat and eventually shipwrecked on an island with his only companions some animals on the
way to a zoo, including a tiger. This is a great movie and beautiful to
look at. The 3D only makes it better. It's worth watching alone just
for the visuals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knJCf6PYNWA


Abbot Elementary (Hulu) "Light Bulb: - Season 1, episode 2. Janine (a
new teacher who is ridiculously enthusiastic) sees a broken light bulb
and decides to fix it herself causing half the school to black out.

"Gifted Program" - Season 1, episode 6. According to a website I
Googled, this is one of the best episodes. Janine convinces the
principal to release funds for a gifted program. Wackiness ensues. It
wasn't particularly funny, but I did like when the principal demanded
the program be shut down because one of the gifted kids realized the
principal doesn't actually do anything prompting the principal to
declare they're getting too smart.

I've watched various clips of Abbot Elementary over the years and the
clips are always very funny. But taken as a whole, I don't want to sit
through 22 minute episodes to get to one or two funny scenes. But I'll
probably watch one or two more "best" episodes and see what happens.


What did you watch?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

While struggling with a dying desktop and remenants of a disease, I watched;

POP CULTURE BREAKDOWN | SPIDERMAN CARTOON SUCKS | BATMAN 2 DELAY | TV EP REVIEWS | SPY WHO LOVED ME!

Pop Culture Breakdown returns with our first show of 2025! Tonight we're discussing the HORRIBLE trailer for Friendly Neighborhood SpiDEIman, delays with Batman 2 (does anyone care), reviews of Star Wars Skeleton Crew and Creature Commandos, and our movie of the week is the classic The Spy Who
Loved Me! Join us tonight as we break down the highs and lows of the week
in pop culture!

0:07:36 THE BREAKDOWN
0:07:48 Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (D+ TV series, 2025) Official Trailer [154k ?? | 26k ?? at 2 Jan 2025, 09.00 UTC] û Discussion
0:33:10 Star Trek: Discovery and other Kurtzman Trek being "willowed"? û CBS inside source information
0:53:35 SUPER CHATS
1:10:27 Doctor Who 2024 Xmas special, "Joy to the World"
1:25:18 Untitled The Batman sequel delayed to 2027
1:29:22 Superman (2025) Official Teaser Trailer û Discussion
1:48:29 Creature Commandos (Max TV series, 2024) Episode 5 û Discussion
1:56:14 Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (D+ TV series, 2024) Episode 5 û Discussion 2:18:29 SUPER CHATS
2:29:53 The Spy Who Loved Me!
3:04:24 SUPER CHATS

https://www.youtube.com/live/rhhJPTiOZJg?si=rRAPXYHDTQJQdGx4

What did you watch?

--
Not a joke! Don't jump!

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 1/2/25 7:20 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:

What did you watch?

Yesterday was a travel disaster (don't ask!), so basically nothing.

I did see the end of Peach Bowl where Arizona State came back to tie it,
Texas missed two field goals they should have gotten thanks to their kicker(ha!), but then Texas mauled them in the second OT.

I also saw some of Oregon putting in an absolutely pathetic performance
versus Ohio State. >:/

So I'm now done with the college football playoffs! :)

Aside from that, I put some old LMN movie reruns on while waiting around
in the airport (I find it amazing that you can now use your cable
company's app from anywhere and watch most of the cable channels on your
iPad or phone!)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 1/2/2025 9:26 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:

On 1/2/25 7:20 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:

What did you watch?

Yesterday was a travel disaster (don't ask!), so basically nothing.

I did see the end of Peach Bowl where Arizona State came back to tie it, Texas missed two field goals they should have gotten thanks to their kicker(ha!), but then Texas mauled them in the second OT.

I also saw some of Oregon putting in an absolutely pathetic performance versus Ohio State.  >:/

So I'm now done with the college football playoffs!  :)

Aside from that, I put some old LMN movie reruns on while waiting around
in the airport (I find it amazing that you can now use your cable
company's app from anywhere and watch most of the cable channels on your
iPad or phone!)

I've found that to be useful when staying at hotels. I used to always
bring DVDs with me to watch, but now I can just stream stuff saved to my
DVR. But it's still hit or miss if the hotel room will have an easy
setup for connecting a laptop to the hotel TV.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Ian J. Ball <ijball@mac.invalid> wrote:

On 1/2/25 7:20 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:

What did you watch?

Yesterday was a travel disaster (don't ask!), so basically nothing.

Hey suzeeq! I told you he only thought he was in Colorado but it was
actually Wyoming!

. . .

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 1/2/2025 11:18 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:

On 1/2/2025 9:26 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:

On 1/2/25 7:20 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:

What did you watch?

Yesterday was a travel disaster (don't ask!), so basically nothing.

I did see the end of Peach Bowl where Arizona State came back to tie
it, Texas missed two field goals they should have gotten thanks to
their kicker(ha!), but then Texas mauled them in the second OT.

I also saw some of Oregon putting in an absolutely pathetic
performance versus Ohio State.  >:/

So I'm now done with the college football playoffs!  :)

Aside from that, I put some old LMN movie reruns on while waiting
around in the airport (I find it amazing that you can now use your
cable company's app from anywhere and watch most of the cable channels
on your iPad or phone!)

I've found that to be useful when staying at hotels.  I used to always
bring DVDs with me to watch, but now I can just stream stuff saved to my DVR.  But it's still hit or miss if the hotel room will have an easy
setup for connecting a laptop to the hotel TV.

Yeah, I usually bring an hdmi cable but haven't used it. I've usually
got enough to do catching up on the internet, or just watch something on
their system.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:

While struggling with a dying desktop and remenants of a disease, I watched;

What did you watch?

Hey, thanks for asking!

Nothing.

--
Not a joke! Don't jump!

--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)