So we’re a few days past the summer solstice and I missed seeing the strawberry moon which won’t coincide with the solstice again until 2062. I’m bummed that I missed it. July is a few days away which means we’ll be entering the hottest months of the year here, July through September. On these hot summer days I like to get my house chores and errands done in the morning so I can cool it a couple of hours in the afternoon watching a movie or a series on my Fire TV. I recently discovered Acorn TV with its ‘all Brit shows all the time’ line-up and I’m really liking it. Currently I’m watching Blue Murder which has a single mom as the lead detective bringing in all the issues that involves in addition to hunting down murderers. I really like the understated British personalities – such a welcome contrast to America’s in-your-face bravado. The only thing I find distracting about Brit crime drama is the uniforms of the street cops. Their uniforms are a kind of Charlie Chaplin/construction worker mashup with their black bowler hats and bright yellow jackets. It’s hard for me not to smirk when they come on-screen except for my hero, Catherine Cawood of Happy Valley who, I’m quite sure, could kick anyone’s ass. No gun needed.  Anyway, such good acting in Blue Murder, I recommend it. I’ve also started watching The Tunnel on PBS. I discovered it by chance when it came on after Masterpiece Mystery last Sunday night. It’s also a crime drama wherein a body is found in the middle of the Chunnel, half in France and half in Britain. The first episode was smart with its intriguing story-line. The dynamics between the French and English investigators is as interesting as the story which includes a few good psychologically tortuous moments.  Again, really good stuff.

On this side of the pond is a new series on CBS called Brain Dead that I’m getting a kick out of. It’s a sci-fi political dramady that is decidedly fresh and entertaining and I’m very surprised it’s on network TV. If you haven’t checked it out, do. I think it’s gonna be a fun ride for hot summer nights.

Then this from Deadline Hollywood: Elisabeth Moss To Star In Straight-To-Series Drama ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ On Hulu   For this I’ll subscribe to Hulu. Moss is an excellent actor. She was my favorite character on Mad Men and starred in one of my favorite crime dramas Top of the Lake (also starring the great Holly Hunter). Plus, Handmaid is an iconic book that deserves a quality production. I hope it works out that way.

In poetry, here are three that I just loved this week:

ICYMI, Good Bones by Maggie Smith in Waxwing Literary Journal went viral very quickly on social media. In fact, I first heard of it via Twitter.

“The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children. “

Here The Guardian talks about the poem and the phenomenon.

Bad Love by Lakshmi Mitra in The Fem
“in bengal, says my grandmother, the women / are all ghosts.”

Still I Give Thanks by Marie Reynolds on The Writers Almanac
” I want my doctor to use the word “cure” just once.”

Finally, in music, I recently listened to a great interview with Mayer Hawthorne on On Point, an NPR show hosted by Tom Ashbrook. If you’re not familiar with Mayer, you need to fix that right away. He has a new album out, Man About Town, featuring his new single “Love Like That”. Check it out below:

And listen to the On Point interview here:  Mayer Hawthorne is a Musical Man About Town.

On Point is always interesting and I listen to it almost every morning. You can catch it locally on WWNO  week days 9am to 11am or listen to the podcast on their website.

Have a great week-end, y’all!