General chat – May 13

Time for a new general chat thread. What are you watching?
Mr 5 has just discovered Aladdin, so I’ve been forced to endure “A Whole New World” over and over.
The second season of Master of None has landed on Netflix, but we’re heading off on a family holiday in a few weeks so are trying not to peek before than.


Oh and can’t wait for The Handmaid’s Tale to start screening on SBS On Demand in early July. It gets rave reviews, and Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men, West Wing, Top of the Lake) is just good in everything. It also stars Samira Wiley (Poussey from Orange is the New Black).
If you haven’t read this book, here’s the synopsis: The Handmaid’s Tale is a 10-part series set in a totalitarian society in what was formerly part of the United States. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birth-rate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted fundamentalist regime that treats women as property of the state.
Moss stars as Offred, one of the few remaining fertile women, a woman forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world. In this terrifying society where one wrong word could end her life, Offred navigates between Commanders, their cruel Wives, domestic Marthas, and her fellow Handmaids – where anyone could be a spy for Gilead – with one goal: to survive and find the daughter that was taken from her.



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74 Comments

  1. I didn’t like the book of The Handmaid’s Tale. You know when there is a bit you can’t get past, it makes the whole thing unreadable. Well, for me, it’s the concept that in a society where fertility is low, that there is a low value placed on the life of a fertile woman. Offred shoukd be worth quids.
    It runs counter to simple economic theory. So I just can’t, no matter how well it is written or acted.
    I wish it was otherwise because I am looking for another series to get addicted to. There seems to be a lack at the moment.

    • I do think the concept is off but it’s a skewed society. Everything about it is off. The Offs are treated like crap and you are right, they should be treated like goddesses. How do they select who becomes an “off”, an “eye”, the woman of the house, the cook, etc? Does it give that info in the book? I’m assuming they test the women for fertility and those become the “offs”.
      BTW, the acting is very good.

  2. My BF’s favourite movie is ‘Aladdin’. I grew up with a pre-teen crush on Aladdin, true, but my favourite Disney musical was always ‘Beauty and the Beast’. The ballroom scene with Beast in his blue suit and Belle in that yellow gown is such an iconic story-telling moment, it still hits you (and the effects haven’t aged at all, it was such a beautiful piece of storytelling).

    I never did see the live-action update (it didn’t look very good, plus, it looked like a word-for-word remake).

    • The live action move wasn’t bad at all but Emma Watson was miscast. She was too stiff and just wasn’t Belle.

      • Yeah, I never got the feeling that Emma Watson — while a talented actress in her own right — was right for the character of Belle.

        • I wasn’t interested in the new movie either. I love the animated one. Maybe because I saw it as a child in the cinema and loooooooved it. It simply is a childhood memory.
          Plus…. Emma Watson is kind of cute. That’s it. She is so awfully plain and boringly pretty and there is no personality.

    • I’ve never been a huge Disney fan. I did see Snow White at the movies when I was four. Apparently my three-year-old brother yelled “it’s the Bad Cream” and hid under his seat every time to queen appeared.

  3. Eurovision just finished.
    Gotta say, not lovin’ the new hosts. What was SBS thinking?
    Part of the joy of Eurovision was the smart commentary, but like we were all in on the joke. Unfortunately Joel Cressy is too busy thinking that we are there to watch him and Myff seemed overwhelmed.

    • Who could ever replace that lovely Julia? Oh, I know. Amanda Keller. Miff was passable but I don’t like Greasy, Creasy.
      I haven’t watched much of it yet but so far I liked crazy Portugal. I hate the giant songs that sounds like anthems. I thought Bulgaria had 4 boxes ticked; very cute, good voice, ok song (if you like that sort of thing) and no lucky dickie dancers. (Just another weird family expression from the treasury).

      • I take that back. I am watching EV this morning and not ff through Miff & Joel and I have to agree. Miff reminds me of a high schooler doing interviews.

      • God damn it. Germany always gets last place. This year we even failed to achieve that. We even suck at getting last place!!!!111 😀

  4. MC UK….watched the final. Was a bit disappointed when they booted the very talented and skilled Alison right before the final. The judges were really torn because all 4 cooks had done a great job and they loved her food. She was very original and creative. Don’t understand why if all present excellent food they couldn’t take all 4 to the finals. Oh well.
    All 3 finalists created incredible dishes and win was deserved but…
    I do like the way MC UK is set up as compared to AU.

  5. HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all the great mums. At least you deserve to be pampered and spoil rotten for a day! Just enjoy the day. 🛍 👑🌷🍰🍾🍽

    • If there really is a gift for me on mothers’ day – channel 7 will issue a heartfelt apology for their insistence on casting villains for the sake of fake drama and immediately haul the grumpians away.
      Masterchef will announce a back to basics – they drop salaries on the stooges and George and Gary immediately leave. Matt Preston is permitted to stay but is joined by jollier kinder new judges.
      George is impaled by his tweezers on the way out the door.

  6. Bobi have you watched Dicte or Thicker than Water yet?
    I didn’t realise there was a series 3 of The Legacy up so I have been working my way through that. Every bit as good as previous two series if you were in to The Legacy.
    In case anyone is interested I will write a list of series shows that I have watched and enjoyed on SBS on Demand
    Many you may have seen.

    Midnight Sun
    Witnesses
    Spiral
    Arne Dahl
    Life of Crime
    The Five
    Spring Tide
    Eyewitness
    The Disappearance
    Paris
    The Legacy
    Modus
    Follow the Money
    Thicker than Water
    Dicte

    I have mostly enjoyed all of these. If anyone is at a loss for a series to watch I am sure you won’t be disappointed if you choose one of these.
    Most are subtitles.

    Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums and everyone just have a great day! 😘

  7. Sam Wood, The Bachelor and Parmigiana are expecting their first baby. Its good to see some relationship works

    • So that’s at least 2 relationships that seem to be going the distance.

      Contrasted with the first season and Sam/Snez, you’ve got Blake/Sam, Sam/Sasha, and Richie/Alex who did *not* last.

      I really hope Georgia and Lee stick together, otherwise the franchise will have a less-than-half hit-rate.

      • Thanks. All were experiments as I wanted to try out some things. The domes were white chocolate (for my taste too sweet) and a white mousse au chocolat, so I tried to cut the sweetness with a mojito gelee (omfg, that was absolutely delicious) and fresh strawberries. And on the bottom a biscuit. The pralines were filled with the mojito gelee and a cocos ganache.
        The drippy cake was a coconut-lemon-coconut cake with one filling of lemon curd and fresh peaches. The second filling was a coconut panna cotta. It was frosted in mascarpone and it has a passion fruit jelly on top. I wanted to mirror glaze it but I did not have enough passion fruit.^^ They are hard to get in France and quite pricey.

        After vacation my next project will be something with cherries. I LOVE cherries. <3

  8. There’s no Seven Year Switch thread, but can I just say how much it annoys me that Felicity has the tag line ‘The Loving Parent’ on her card when it should really just say ‘Bitch’. Everyone else gets bad personality traits like ‘Needy’, ‘Man Child’ and “Controlling’ but she’s apparently a saint?

        • Those are nice and functional! I was going to take a ceramics class but I decided that my projects would look like blobs.

          • Give it a go, Smythe. Blobs can be really cool. Google wonky pottery. They are my favourites. You don’t need a class, just clay, a few tools and somewhere to fire. The art centre where I go fires for non members. I have joined to go 3 days a week but often just do it at home. You can google the how to basics. I suggest coil pots for easiest. It’s just like plasta in grade 1.
            PS. Mine are crap compared to the other ppl there but they have been doing it a long time. I just get over it and remember I am just there to enjoy it.

  9. Woolif and I have been watching Riverdale. Way to ruin Archie for me. Bit of nonsense but quite watchable. We watch marathon style; 3 or 4 eps in a row. 👍👍👍👍

    • I just caught Riverdale because my 16 year old watches it (yeah right! but it’s honestly true:) ) I rather enjoy it! Easy to watch and a lot more entertaining than some of the other stuff that’s out there.

      • Yes. It’s easy watching. It’s no Breaking Bad but it’s kind of fun when it doesn’t go all Dawson’s Creek or Orange County. It’s ever so slightly quirky dark to keep me wanting more. And I grew up on Archie comics.
        I wish they had a better Archie though. A proper freckled headed ranger like Richie Cunningham.

  10. I didn’t love Riverdale. I kept waiting for the laughs but there were none.
    We watched the first half of the first episode of Fargo last night. Enjoyed it very much but 2 hours? At that time of night? At my age?
    It looks like SBSondemand from here on.

  11. Woolif & I watched two eps of Handmaid’s Tale last night. It’s a good production but a real downer. I couldn’t watch Hunger Games for that reason. World domination with no hope of escaping an enslaving and cruel regime is not my favourite topic.

  12. Anyone watch The Bachelorette last night?! So good, I love Rachel and she seems to have a great bunch, except for producers pick ‘whaboom’ obvi

    • I missed it. Is she a past contestant?
      Did everyone hear Anna and Tim from season one Bachie are engaged?

    • Yes I watched it. Couldn’t believe she let some good guys go, doctors and lawyers in favour of whaboom man and penguin man.
      So obvious the producers forced her to choose them. Absolutely ridiculous.

  13. Tonight on SBS at 8.30 The Blues Brothers.

    It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen it.

  14. Yo-ho-ho & a bottle of rum. Saw “Pirates of the Caribbean”. I didn’t have high expectations and it was better than I thought it would be. It was a fun movie and good special effects. If you are planning on seeing it stay through the credits because there is something that pops up towards the end of the credit roll.

    • So glad I’m travielling today – missing all of it. Although I did see the clown masks. What the hell …
      I have started a new general chat thread

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