Life in Numbers: May '23
Creeping towards the halfway point in the year, it strikes me how fast this year is disappearing. It doesn't feel all that long ago when I wrote my January post.
Podcasts: 32 episodes, 42 hours
I had a week off this month which usually means my podcast listening takes a bit of a dive. I've been doing a bit of a dive into screen-writing territory this month, listening to old episodes of Beyond the Screenplay, accounting for 16 of the 32 episodes.
As an aside, it's a good note for any podcasters out there - if you do Patreon exclusive episodes, it's a good idea to eventually release it publicly. The first Beyond the Screenplay episode I listened to in May was their exclusive episode on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, which then led me to re-listen to their other Indiana Jones episodes, I then shifted to a slightly related film series with their Star Wars episodes and on I went down that particular rabbit-hole.
Not gonna pick out any specific episodes but I'll just say if you enjoy getting nerdy about films and storytelling, Beyond the Screenplay will be right up your street.
Films: 2 watched, 4 hours
Like last month, I've carried on the trend of watching TV shows mostly as I sit drawing at night. I've been delving back into the world of Mad Men which I've seen twice before already but it's been a few years.
The films I did watch this month come with the added bonus that I watched them with our eldest son. He's of an age now where he can start watching films which are a bit more mature. Nothing graphically violent or disturbing, but a few swear words here and there don't keep a film on the banned list any more. Here's what we watched:
- Ocean's Eleven
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Ocean's Eleven is slightly dubious in that it's a film focussed on a bunch of criminals, so with some stern warnings that these people aren't to be looked up to or emulated, we watched it and I'm glad to say he followed the plot and enjoyed the film overall. It's one of those films I've been waiting to watch with him so it was a nice experience.
We tried the 3rd Harry Potter film a few years ago. It's the film where things start getting a little darker, less Chris Columbus bounciness going on but overall we thought he'd be ok but when the Dementors came on-screen, it didn't go down well. This time around though, he's now of an age where that sort of thing isn't bothering him so he was able to enjoy the film with all it's time-turning fun.
Books: 2 read
- A Clash of Kings by George R.R Martin
- Do Fly by Gavin Strange
As I mentioned last month, I was working on A Clash of Kings which carried over into May. I'm glad to say I actually finished it and have now moved on to A Storm of Swords. That's also taking some getting through so I reckon that'll roll over into June.
I also re-read Do Fly as I felt I needed a bit of a creative pick-me-up. For the first time ever, I actively defaced the book by highlighting passages in the book. It felt wrong at first but once I'd done it, I started seeing it more as making the book more of my own so I think I'll start doing this with other books too.