Netflix | Peaches Prattlings

{March 31, 2021} Movie Trailers

I absolutely la la la love movie trailers! I mean, I love trailers. One of the reasons I love going to the movies, I mean actually going to the movies is to watch the trailers before the movie starts.

Some trailers are great…they give you just enough to get you interested, but not enough to give the whole movie away. Other trailers, you wonder why they bothered, you get the entire movie, what’s left to go see? Some trailers give you almost nothing and you sit there and scratch your head!

For those of you who know me, you know I absolutely la la la love movies, well, in addition to the trailers I was just talking about. But I really do and I have a knack for knowing who’s in a movie, even if I haven’t seen the movie. I can also tell you things about a movie after only seeing it once. I can also watch a trailer and 9 times out of 10 I know if I’m going to like the movie, I’m not usually wrong.

I remember my dad calling me once because he was playing Trivial Pursuit and needed to know the name of an actor in a movie and, yup, I knew it. I had never seen the movie, but I knew the actor was Broderick Crawford, no idea how I knew, I just did. Another time that spoke volumes, I was at a friend’s house with a bunch of people and we started playing Scene It. It’s a game where you answer trivia questions about movies and pop culture. After we finished playing, we decided to play again and it was seven people against ME! What? And guess what…I lost by ONE point! Not too shabby. I really do love movies! You know I watch movies over and over, I watch movies in the background and to fall asleep, movies!

In college, I majored in Communications, focus on television. My goal was actually to work for Children’s Television, truth be told, I really wanted to work for Sesame Street! How amazingly awesome would that have been! Working in an industry I loved with a show that I adored. You have no idea! I am such a Muppet head! During my communications courses in college, we focused not only on television, but film. We disected scripts, counted beats, watched for continuity, broke down scenes, analyzed how music plays a huge part in film, you name it, we did it. I even wrote a script, it was awful, but I wrote a script. I would never have gone to see my own movie if someone made it, tried to get my money back! That bad!

What all of that did was give me an appreciation for film, I know a movie is good if I don’t start breaking it down while I’m watching it, finding things that are wrong or don’t make sense, I’m mesmerized. And one thing I always wanted to do, while in college, and then after college, was to make movies. To watch a movie and have to pick out the scenes that would entire someone to want spend their money, want to watch that movie. It’s a skill and a gift. I knew that there were certain movies I could never create trailers for, horror for one, omg! I don’t watch horror movies, no thanks! Reality can be scary enough!

One of the things I love about Hulu, Netflix, IMDB, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, even YouTube [the list goes on!] is the ability to search for and watch trailers. It’s something to do, something I love and gives me something to look forward to when I select Add to My Watchlist. I am telling you, I can get lost in trailers, especially when they have suggestions, oh man! Ooh, this looks interesting, ooh, that one too! And then it’s an hour later, what happend!? Where did the day go?

Here are a few that I love. A Song is Born, Guardians of the Galaxy, Wolverine, Animal House, The House Bunny, Mary Poppins, The Godfather, The Wizard of Oz, Grease, Footloose, Beauty and the Beast, The Muppet Movie. There are so many more, but we’d be here for ever!

{March 17, 2021} Alta Mar [High Seas]…bring Dramamine

I had really high hopes, no pun intended, for Alta Mar [High Seas in English] on Netflix. The tagline from IMDB.com: Two sisters discover disturbing family secrets after a string of mysterious deaths occur on a luxury ship traveling from Spain to Brazil in the 1940s. That’s a good way of putting it.

I was excited about watching because of a few things. I love period pieces, we’ve talked about this before, but the 1940’s was a great time, from a fashion perspective and the show did not disappoint. The women wore skirts and dresses, but they also wore pants and playsuits, which was of that time, along with wearing dresses with bobby socks, mainly because their silk stockings were needed to make parachutes and waterproof maps, fascinating! The hair, the makeup, all of it was done just so.

I was also excited because watching the preview, it looked like fun, my kind of show. Murder, mystery, intrigue, mayhem, what more could you want?! Apparently, a lot more…

It started out with some intrigue right away, the two sisters, on their way to the ship had a slight mishap and accidentally hit a woman, who claimed if she was caught by her husband, he would kill her, which spoke to the sisters and they stowed her away in their trunk. They were accompanied by their maid, I think that would be the term, she helped raise them and still takes care of them, like a ladies maid, I guess. They are also accompanied by her daughter. The two women don’t really want to go along wtih this scheme, but what choice do they have, they have to do what their employers say.

One of the reasons they are going on the boat is so that Carolina can marry Fernando, who owns the ship, along with his sister and her husband. Their mother passed away when they were young and their father was killed in the last year or two. They are joined by their uncle, who was in business with their father, and another partner, who is also a doctor, which comes in handy during the voyage. There is romance above deck, and below, between different classes, officers and passengers, it goes all over the place. Almost like The Love Boat but definitely with better costumes!

Then, the intrigue, murder, or so we thought, passengers in disguise, distrust, anger, fear, valiance, strength, dismay, dirty cops, abuse, murder, disappointment, shock, surprise, happiness, and a wedding, but not the way it was supposed to be. Is that enough? And this is only the first season!

Season two has ghosts, betrayal, con artists, sadness, loss, fear, loathing, murder, discovery, disappointment, suicide, frustration, that one was mostly from me. Season two starts with a continuation of the season one story, bridging a new storyline that tied into season one, but going down an entirely new path, sort of, well, maybe not really. See how frustrated I am?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like it when good characters turn out bad and that’s what happened, I can’t tell you more, but it was someone protecting someone they loved, doing what they thought was right, see where that got them…

Then…we move on to Seaons 3. It’s been a few months since the sisters have seen each other and they get ready to set sail again, oh, I should mention that one of the sisters is a writer and these adventures, let’s call them that, are great material for her books. Before they get ready to sail, there’s more intrigue…espionage this time, and a deadly virus, shootings, disguises, betrayal, torture, drugs, or keeping someone drugged and captive, spies, mutiny, sneakiness, abandonment, I think that’s it.

Here’s where the issues come in…With one of the story lines, even though there is an answer, there is no consequence for something that happened and in another, one of the bad guys gets away. With another story line, even though there is an answer, there is no sense of peace, even with the one who was searching for answers. With the last story line, love is lost, people are dead, lines are crossed, loyalties are tested and crushed and the one good guy, well, no happy ending for him and overall, no happy ending period. I walked away from the last episode wondering why I started. Hence…the Dramamine.

All of this, as you know, is strictly my opinion, I would never stop you from watching it, my dad, I stopped, ha ha. We have similar tastes and when one of us tries a show, if we’re not trying it at the same time, we tell each other what we thought and that either encourages or discourages the other. Now, this is when it comes to mysteries mostly, some comedies, some dramadies, as it were, period pieces, sci fi, wait, I take back the mostly statement, ha ha! We’ve recommended things to each other and told the other to run screaming, which is quite nice! He started to watch High Seas and lost interest and when I told him I was watching it, he said maybe he’d try it again, whenever he was finished what he was watching. When I finished the series, I told him not to bother! I knew he would definitely not enjoy it, I know where he stopped, which was just before one of the bad dudes got his just desserts, but it wasn’t worth watching the entire show. Again, my opinion. Take it or leave it.

I, personally, am going to leave it, right there, where it lies, at the bottom of the ocean floor.

{February 27, 2021} It’s Saturday…let’s go to Beaver Creek!

I was excited today, going to a new resort, Beaver Creek. I think I mentioned the other day one of the things I like about having to make reservations to ski is the opportunity to explore other mountains. I was thinking about it, I think the reason I only go to Breckenridge and Keystone when I visit Colorado is that I’m usually only here for a few days, so I think I stuck to what I knew. In addition, Beaver Creek is about an hour from Dillon and Vail is 30 minutes, which is not bad, while I stay here, but if I am staying in Golden, which I usually do, that adds almost 2 hours each way and while I don’t mind driving an hour and 20 each way, the longer trips don’t always seem worth it, especially if I’m only going for a few hours. Driving 2 hours there isn’t bad, but driving back, after skiing a few hours, exhausting. Well, that makes sense to my swiss-cheese brain!

I must be getting comfortable with the altitude and time difference, I have been getting up a little earlier every day! 530am is too early, but it is what it is! Even though I was up, didn’t mean I had to get out of bed! I leisurely lounged, watched some Netflix, and made it a lazy Saturday morning, sounds good to me. Eventually, I got up, motivated, dressed, made some breakfast, and looked outside…snow…and lots of it. I’m in the mountains of Colorado, what did I expect?! Let’s get the car packed and go!

I left the house, the streets had a new layer of snow on them, made it almost to the highway and almost couldn’t see the cars in front of me, hmmm…do I still want to go? I called PSM and we looked at the weather together, well, he looked, he’s much better at it than me!

We already know Annie II can do it! Not worried about her at all, and she proved that she can drive in the snow and we made it to Beaver Creek. Let’s just say it was a little crowded, all but one of the parking lots was full and when I finally got to the parking lot that was open, it was closed, huh? As I’m driving back down the hill I asked someone and he let me park on the side of the road, with everyone else in the same boat, which was great because we were pretty close to the lift!

I walked up to the lift, put my skis on and headed up the mountain. I really enjoyed Beaver Creek, just like all the Vail Resorts I have been to, the slopes are wide open and manageable. I find that when I haven’t been to a mountain before I tend to stay on the green circles, which are the easiest, for the first few runs, then I venture into some of the blue squares, more difficult. I haven’t reached the point this year that I want to ski the black diamonds or double blacks, most difficult. I used to, I just don’t these days and I’m ok with that!

I think I mentioned the snow that started sometime in the morning, continued on the drive and…most of the day, there were times you couldn’t see too far ahead of you, the snow kept coming, and the wind picked up, there were even a few snow swells and swirls, not quite snownados, but looked like it! If you look at my pics, it looks like of black and white, doesn’t it?!

Despite the view, or lack there of it, there was still much swishing and swooshing, and smiling while doing it! All that snow made for nice fresh powder in a lot of places. I had a few very nice companions on the chair lifts who gave me some advice on runs to do and they were spot on, thank you!

I lost track of how many runs I did, but I took a break at one point at one of the lodges, hung out by the fire and was thinking it might be time to head out, I had been there a few hours, but when I asked someone how to get back to the gondola, their answer didn’t fill me with warm fuzzies, the other resorts I have been to had ways to get back to the bottom, wherever I needed to be from wherever I was. Thankfully at that, because half the time, and I know you won’t be surprised, but I don’t know where I am half the time! I was telling someone that I admired all the skiers and riders that knew the runs and what they were called and where the ended up. You laugh, but it’s true! I remember when I would stay at the Doubletree in Breckenridge, a fabulous ski in/ski out hotel and I would have to remember the run that would take me back to the ski in part!

Anyway, she told me that I would need to go back to the top and ski to where I needed to go. That’s a tough one when your mind has told you your done. You have to kind of trick yourself, ok, let’s do another run! Well, two more and then skip the last one! I went to the top where she told me and I couldn’t figure out where she was telling me to go, so I asked someone at the top and they said, no, go this way, which I did and whew, I ended up where I needed to be! When I got to the bottom of the hill, I was a little confused, but…I found the exit, it was actually a nice run to the bottom, the lift that I came up on! That was very cool, at some other mountains, you ski, then get on a gondola, or you’re at the bottom and you walk out, this was ski to the bottom to where the hotel entrance was, a very short walk to the car, that was fun!

I got to the car, it had stopped snowing at some point and the sun came out. I thought, ooh, I’ll go into Beaver Creek Village and look for something to eat. I should have kept my car there and taken the gondola into Beaver Creek Village. I was not paying $30 for parking for the very short time I was going to be there. I wanted to walk around, get a bite to eat and maybe a t-shirt and sticker for my helmet, not worth the money. So…I started back to the house.

The drive was sooo much better on the way back than coming up there! It was a breeze. I stopped at the grocery store and picked up some supplies, then back to the house. Into the house, and I told you how nice that was to be able to put my stuff up in the garage/house! I even memorized the codes for the garage and door! Go me! Shower, pizza, movies, and you. What could be better! Tomorrow, Vail, another mountain I haven’t been to and I’m so looking forward to it!

{February 19, 2021} We are the Champions Part III

Aren’t you glad I broke this into 3 parts?! It might have taken you longer to read it all in one post rather than binge watching all 6 episodes! Well…here we are, finally! We are the Champions Part III! Still fantastically funny! And, what hasn’t changed: Netflix, Rainn Wilson. Just a reminder!

Episode 5: Dog Dancing. Yes, I said Dog Dancing. The IMDB description is better than anything I could come up with: Powerhouse trainers and their prancing pooches go for gold at a prestigious competition with hip heelwork, fancy freestyles and dogged determination. Yup, that about says it all.

This episode focuses on the Russian Dog Dancing Team, yes, that’s what I said. The episode opens, slightly deceptively, if you weren’t paying attention to the name of the episode, because we follow a ballerina as she runs through a mansion and then puts on her toe shoes, and then her dance partner walks in, a fluffy, furry dog!

Be prepared, all the dialogue except for the narrator is sub-titled. We meet the leader of the Russian team who’s goal is to win the O.E.C., Open European Championship, according to the episode, it is the most important competition in the world. Polina Ilina is the captain and in charge of the team of dog dancers. There is heelwork and freestyle. Heelwork is more formal and freestyle is a little more fun, costumes and all!

You should see the medals in this woman’s studio! The only one left…you guessed it, O.E.C.! These styles came out of the traditional dog shows when Mary Ray and Kizzy set the heelwork to music and the rest is history! This team is the most successful team in history…no pressure! Just watch it, you’ll be amazed what these dogs can do! Wow!

Now, on to the last episode, and it’s a hopper! Let’s just say…the joint was jumpin’! I’m so sorry, I couldn’t resist! Have you guessed yet? What if I toad you it was frog jumping?! This episode is all about a frog jumping competition. And not just any frog, but the American Bullfrog. The competition was inspired by a short story by Mark Twain, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and has been going on since 1928!

As with each episode, we feature several competitors, or jockeys. But first, the rules…each competitor’s frog is allowed three jumps in a row, the distance of each jump is combined for the total score. The current record, set in 1986 by “Rosie the Ribiter” and jockey Lee Giudici, is 21 feet, 5 3/4 inches: 7.16 feet per jump. Just wow!

Jon Kitchell, who, at the time of the taping, has yet to win, others in his family have won, like his wife Laura Kitchell, and Riley Kitchell, but he personally, has not won. Then we move to the Gustine Frog Team, headed by Bob Fasano, and we meet Justin Fasano, his son, a champion jockey. Lastly is the Busch Family twins. And just like some of the other episodes, there are competitors we never meet, until the competition.

We see how each team/family goes out to catch their frogs for the competition, some are secret, they actually black out the name of the canal, classic! They all seem to go out at night on flat bottom boats with flashlights and nets, not sure what the science is behind it, but…it was interesting to watch.

Next, we see how each team trains with their frogs, in the backyards, in the streets ‘CAR!’ both watching the frogs jumping and how the jockeys train, there’s a lot of jumping, the people, not just the frogs, yelling at the frogs, I think they’re trying to scare them! Made me jump.

Then…we get to the actual day of the competition…This is stressful, watching them jump their little froggy hearts out! The jockey’s too! Not sure if the frogs truly realize what’s happening, but the crowd does, and we are sitting on the edge of our seats! Can they do it?! Will they win?! Will the frog jump straight of off to the side! Oh my, the stress!

The winner…gets a trophy and belt buckle! Talk about the swag! I’m in, I so want to go and get at least a t-shirt! I don’t need a belt buckle, but the bragging rights seem to be the real prize!

Six episodes, six competitions, dozens of competitors, millions of fans! Now, go forth and champion! What, you thought I would go an entire series of Champion posts and not give you a taste of the Queen classic?! Hmph!

{February 18, 2021} We are the Champions Part II

As promised…next installment. Still fantastically funny! And, what hasn’t changed: We are the Champions, Netflix, Rainn Wilson. Just a reminder!

Episode 3: Fantasy Hair Styling. Anyone who knows me, knows I love these types of competitions! I’ve watched hair competition movies, like The Big Tease, starring Craig Ferguson, Blow Dry, with the amazing Alan Rickman and Bill Nighy, and movies about hair, like Beauty Shop with Queen Latifah and Good Hair with Chris Rock, as well as salon shows. I think these movies and these competitions are crazy and fabulous! It is simply amazing what you can do with hair. Well, not you specifically, unless this is your world, and if it is, have at it! I’m happy to be able to color my hair successfully!

This centers around the Bronner’s Brothers International Beauty Show, [check out the rules! All FOURTY of them! O M G!] and focuses on three main competitors. Terrance Davis, who has won, or placed, in the Bronner’s Brothers competition, more than once, among other competitions, Kirk Pro, who has won the Bronner’s Brothers four times, which is the record, among other competitions, and Merlande Petithomme, first time at the Bronner Brother’s competition. Their backgrounds are all different, but they have one thing in common, they can do some hair! There were other competitors, but these are the three they focused on, as well as background and fun of the competition.

I’ll be honest, this wasn’t my favorite episode, as much as I enjoyed it, there was more about their backgrounds and not getting to see what they can create, as they are creating it, you got to see the final product or installation at the competition itself. What I truly enjoy is watching the artists at work and you don’t get to see that in this episode. Now, if you don’t watch hair competitions or movies where they create amazing structures with hair, then this is all new to you and I have a feeling you will get a kick out of it, especially to see what human beings can do with hair!

The next episode was all about the Yo-Yo, not YOLO, but the Yo-Yo, the toy you probably played with as a kid, maybe even playing with one now! It’s two disks with a string that you spool and bring back, then if you’re really good, you know tricks. I’m happy to drop it and make it come back up, I’m a simple goil! Get this, there is a Greek vase painting dating back to 426 BC showing a boy playing with a yo-yo! Wow, really?! You might know them from their famous brand, Duncan Toys, established in 1929.

Following the formula, you meet multiple participants, not everyone, but the ones to watch. Gentry Stein from California, Betty Gallegos, from Mexico, hoping to compete in the 1A World Championships, which has never had a female entrant! Evan Nagao, from Hawai’i, who started yo-yoing at 3 years old! Keirin Cooper is a yo-yo champion and a crowd pleaser, and has even designed his own yo-yo.

We get to watch the participants practicing at home, almost anywhere, then we see the 2019 World Yo-Yo Championship, that took place in Cleveland. It’s fun to watch everyone, participants, parents, enthusiasts in their element, just enjoying and marveling at what some people can do, it truly was amazing! I now have a second competition to go and watch!

Now you’re caught up! Go forth and champion something!

{February 17, 2021} We are the Champions!

O M G! You MUST watch this show! Well, as always, that is just my opinion, but oh my, it was hysterical!

It’s called We are the Champions, it’s on Netflix, narrated by Rainn Wilson. We watched Season 1 and by gawd, I hope there’s a Season 2! This show is fabulous! It’s six episodes, each one documenting and exploring the world of a different competitions. I saw the preview for the first one and it immediately went on my watch list!

The first episode is Cheese Rolling. Yes, I said cheese rolling. The name of the competition is Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, it takes place at Cooper’s Hill, near Glouscester in England. This event was traditionally held by and for the people of Brockworth, now, there are competitors from all over the world. The way it works is the competitors line up at the top of Cooper’s Hill, then they roll a Double Gloucester Cheese, they release the cheese roll and then they are off! Running or attempting to run and end up rolling, flopping and flipping, stumbling down the hill. No one actually beats the cheese, the winner is the first person to cross the line after the cheese!

Here’s the crazy part, if this entire thing is not crazy enough! The earliest documentation of cheese rolling is 1826, what?! Yes, I said 1826! You have got to check this out! No one is actually ‘officially’ in charge since it was cancelled in 2009 due to injuries, can you imagine?! Injuries, ha ha.

There is a men’s race and a women’s race, they start at teenager and go up. During the episode, they feature a few key competitors, as well as villagers and the local law. These people are passionate, and funny, and serious, wow are they serious. I SO want to go to see this in action, even though I watched the actual race squinting my eyes, some of the tumbles looked so painful! Some of it was like watching one of those shows like America’s Funniest Home Videos or one that films people doing stupid stuff, I look away most of the time! Bless ’em, they want to do it, more power to ’em!

Each episode is only 30 minutes, but they pack so much into that 30 minutes! I couldn’t look away I was laughing so hard! And intrigued! I wanted more!

Next, Chili Eating. What?! This, my friends, is not for the faint of heart! This episode is about chili pepper eating contest, oh my word! Even PSM thought these people were nuts and he has no taste buds! This competition watches the competitors eat the hottest peppers in the world! The content is sponsored by the Puckerbutt Pepper Company, owned and run by Ed ‘Smokin’ Ed’ Currie, the Willy Wonka of Chili Peppers, who created the hottest pepper in the world, the Carolina Reaper, which was declared the hottest pepper in the world by Guinness World Records in 2017! If you know anything about hot chili peppers, and I know a little, it is measured by the Scoville scale [SHU – Scoville Heat Units], which determines just how hot the sucker is!

The format is similar in each episode that you get to meet a few of the main players, not everyone, and sometimes there is a surprise thrown in. The folks in this episode you get to meet, you start to root for, in the short time you have watching them. There’s a science teacher from the UK, Sid Barber, Johnny ‘the Savage’ Scoville, Dustin ‘Atomik Menace’ Johnson, Bella ‘Heat 101’, just to name a few. These folks, with their fellow competitors have to eat the chili in front of them, round by round, no thank you!

The rules: 1. Eat the pepper. Kind of a no-brainer, you would think. 2. Do not drink the glass of milk. 3. Do not throw up. After Rule 1, if you complete the other two, move on to the next round.

Let’s just say, some of them don’t make it very far, those peppahs are h-o-t hot! Each round, the peppers get hotter and hotter and to watch the contestants, some of them, I cannot believe it! Some of the champions from other contestants make it only so far, fan favorites, disappointment from the crowd and the contestants themselves. They talk about the burning, stomach cramps, so many fun outcomes from this very strange contest. And when I say strange, that is 100% my opinion, if it’s your jam, and I don’t mean pepper jelly, ha ha, then have at it! this is not one of those contests I need to see in person, just watching from the comfort of my couch was painful!

There are six episodes in total, I’ll tell you about two more tomorrow. Enjoy!

Email Subscription

What was I thinking?