Highlight Reel – January 12-19, 2025

I finally caved. Generally speaking, I have more time on Saturdays than on Sundays to do things like blogging, which is why I set my “end of the week” day for the Highlight Reels for Saturday. But the fact that my Highlight Reel posts ran from Sunday to Saturday while my planner/journal runs Monday to Sunday was killing me! I know, it’s a little thing that only I care about, but having to flip back and forth was driving me batty. So now the dates sync up. Whew! Don’t you feel better now? I know I do.

Quote of the Week

from *Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith*

New Movie of the Week

Re-Watch of the Week

*The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King*

Song of the Week

Song of the Week: “Sussudio,” by Phil Collins

Other favorite music this week:

“Into the West,” by Annie Lennox, from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
“We Belong,” by Pat Benatar
“Heaven is a Place on Earth,” by Belinda Carlisle
“Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride,” by Mark Keali’i Ho’omalu and the Kamehameha Schools Children’s Chorus, from Lilo and Stitch
A Cappella Song of the Week: “It’s Alright,” by Huey Lewis and The News
Instrumental Song of the Week: “The Avengers Theme,” by Alan Silvestri, from Marvel’s The Avengers

Headlines, Highlights, and Lowlights

The only new movie this past week was Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid. I’m a big William Powell fan, and this is one that I had never seen, plus it completed the “see a movie from each decade” item from my 101 Things, Version 5 list. Not one of his best, in my opinion.
Had a few rewatches this week, primarily Marvel’s The Avengers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Also a fair bit of The Big Bang Theory, which is our “we’re brain dead” show (or our “we’re not really watching TV because we need to do online stuff, but we still want it on” show; everyone has those, right?).
We finally finished off Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. I wasn’t very impressed. The only thing we were really waiting for is Jod’s backstory, and they did that in just a few unremarkable sentences. I’m sure kids probably like it, but as adults, none of the three of us thought very highly of it, except as a stylistic choice of “Star Wars pirates.” That part, at least, was decently well done.
We have finished Season 3 of Only Murders in the Building and started Season 4, which we should be done with next week (probably Monday, in fact). We’ve quite enjoyed it, though the first season was definitely the best. Season 4 has been extremely… wacky, I guess is the best word for it (yes, even more than the preceding seasons), but it has also had a couple of jaw-dropping twists, which is hard to do with us. I’m a little concerned where Season 5 might head after this!
Network TV-wise, I think Found is the only thing that has come back that wasn’t on the slate last week. Still waiting for Ghosts and NCIS: Origins to return for the second half of their seasons. We’re looking to pick up Watson when it starts in a couple of weeks, and then Suits: LA in February, but other than that, I think we’re all set on shows for a bit. Until we decide what new-to-us old show we want to pick up. Might ought to look at what’s on Netflix, since they’re raising prices again very soon, and we’ll probably drop them after The Last of Us hits in April.
Had a good meeting with my orthopedist, who was quite impressed with my weight loss. Still not anywhere near low enough to have surgery, and he’s actually hopeful we can put it off for a few years, if I get enough relief from the injections and the weight loss. We’ll just see how things play out. Hopefully, the shot will last another 6 months, and nothing “new” will happen between now and then that requires me to see him before July or August.
My Zepbound prior authorization with my insurance company officially expires tomorrow. I do have an appointment to officially submit a new one already scheduled for the first week of February (since you can’t submit for a new one until the old one expires; don’t even get me started on how stupid that is). Hopefully getting it renewed won’t be an issue, since I already have demonstrated success over the last 8 months. I’m trying really hard not to fret about it, since I know that won’t make a difference. It’s just hard with… [gestures around at the world] all of this.
Both film maker David Lynch and “Mr. Baseball” Bob Uecker died this week. I honestly haven’t seen much of Lynch’s work, but I probably should, just so I can participate in conversations where he comes up. Most of his stuff just doesn’t appeal to me. Still, I know what a profound effect he had on so many actors, film makers, and fans, that it feels like it would be akin to not watching Hitchcock. Bob Uecker is, to a certain extent, a living breathing caricature, but he was also a genuine fan of the game, and he really seemed to love his role in baseball. I also learned after his death that he used to live in my neighborhood about 30 years ago! He is very fondly remembered by the long-time residents.

Coming Soon

Hoping the weather won’t be too bad with more snow expected on Monday.
Doing everything humanly possible to avoid… the other major event scheduled for Monday. This week has been very hard in that respect. But again, fretting about it won’t change it.
Nothing new in theaters that seems interesting until Sam Wilson’s debut as Captain America in mid-February. Plus the whole “no close theater” thing, which we need to work on. As in, we canceled Luke’s monthly unlimited plan, because he just isn’t using it enough to justify the cost, especially with no close theater when he comes home. We’re going to try to give ours a few more months before we decide what to do with ours.