26 December 2023 The day after Xmas

[scenicdesign71]

Some Sondheim- and other forum-relevant gifts I received yesterday:

• Criterion's Blu-Ray editions of Smiles of a Summer Night and The Exterminating Angel
• David Mamet's novel about Leo Frank
• Not a gift, but I randomly came across this New Yorker profile of The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, which was interesting to read.

My mom and I have been spending the holiday rewatching Slings and Arrows, thus far making it through two of the show's three seasons over the past few nights, with S3 on the docket for tonight.  It's been at least one decade, and probably closer to two, since I last saw S&A.  It's still charmingly Canadian, hopelessly goofy, and now sometimes awkwardly dated (the productions at "New Burbage" were dated even when the show first aired in 2003, having seemingly wandered in from the 1950s; and the company's repeatedly-quoted mission statement mandating "the highest production values" plays as a kind of running meta-joke, given the anemic tackiness of those we're shown), but I'm enjoying watching it again nonetheless.

Along similar thematic and tonal lines, we did our traditional rewatching of Kenneth Branagh's A Midwinter's Tale early this year, on Thanksgiving, so I doubt we'll watch it again just a month later; but never say never.  If I haven't previously recommended AMT here, it's a delightful holiday treat.

[KathyB]

I received nothing, except for the stuff I bought myself (yes, those toilet valves look great inside a stocking). Bernadette, however, got two large boxes of Greenies (accepted by the Veterinary Oral Health Council), and she also got a bath and grooming on Saturday, so her fur is especially soft.

We got about four inches of snow Monday night, which has been extremely fun to walk around in. NOT.

I spent Christmas watching season 3 of Only Murders in the Building (I renewed Hulu for Black Friday for 99¢ a month for a year). I am halfway through episode 5, which I had to stop midway through due to a technical glitch. While I have Hulu, I need to watch The Bear and Reservation Dogs. I have written down in large letters on my calendar when to cancel Hulu.