still on that tightrope

Yeah I definitely can see that binge watching a bunch at once would get a little monotonous at a point. I'm not capable of watching anything in a bubble so I've been deep diving through old reddit threads and also getting a sense of what the most beloved seasons are.

I started with Micronesia because I couldn't wait, but then did a run of Cook Islands, Panama, Pearl Islands, and Heroes vs. Villains just based on following all my Traitors women ha. By then I definitely needed a break, but I'm finding that Survivor is an easy show for me to watch while writing or working -- I've been in a movie mood lately, but I don't multitask well with movies, so I started back up and kind of followed the consensus, and also fill in more backstory on other HvV players. So I did China based on that (figured i need to round out my Amanda and James trilogy) and now I'm doing Gabon because its reputation just seemed to be insane. Thinking maybe Tocantins next for solo viewing....one of my good friends is a lifelong fan and he wants us to binge some of Australian Outback together, so that's going to kick off my true old school watch. I am pretty eager to get to Mike White though.

Micronesia is unmatched so far, I really shouldn't have STARTED with that haha. And thanks for the recs, I'm writing those down! Definitely won't be surprised if I end up watching a lot of seasons eventually, just based on how easy it's been to get through them, but could take a while given the amount of seasons and that I probably will get burned out every couple of binges.

Also it's so funny to me that Lisa Whelchel played a season, since Kim Fields did a season on Real Housewives of Atlanta. We need Nancy McKeon and Mindy Cohn to do seasons of something to round out the Facts of Life to reality tv pipeline.

I'm not watching new Survivor, just been bopping around some old seasons. Haven't watched anything later than Heroes vs. Villains so far, and probably won't based on what I've heard about all the weird twists and advantages and side quests they've thrown in. Or at least, I won't watch the real new era stuff...I want to see Mike White's season, at least, and maaaaaybe Winners at War at some late point.

Cannot relate to you at all on the parenthetical! Although I did just watch Survivor: China and liked Amanda a lot more on that than I did on Micronesia. One of the things I was most surprised about watching Survivor for the first time after decades of minimal cultural awareness was that the votes aren't read at Final Tribal, but months later at the reunion. Completely wild to me that Amanda not only played basically twice in a row, got to FTC both times, and THEN basically had to lose twice in a row on live television. Something about the losses being back to back and separated from the gameplay just feels particularly brutal. But it's also crazy impressive that she did that, and she was so young, too.

I came off The Traitors, and Parvati was my Traitors Crush so I definitely entered biased, but I loved Cirie and Sandra on Traitors, too, and was interested in watching for all three of them. Of the three of them I think Parvati played the worst Traitors game (granted, hard to compare her to Sandra given they had totally different roles, plus Parvati being saddled with Dan). Personally I'd say Parv deserved the Micro win over Amanda, but if Cirie had been in that final I really don't know who I would've pulled for. I think Sandra is hilarious and great television, but her gameplay on Survivor hasn't impressed me much (at least in her win seasons, which are the ones I've seen). I can still 'queen stays queen' her in for moments like burning Russel's hat or not falling for Johnny Fairplay's dead grandma bluff, though.

Hey, thanks for asking! It was a really good movie year and I haven't gotten to everything - most notably I still need to see Poor Things and Killers of the Flower Moon. I'm also planning to watch All of Us Strangers tonight.

May December and Asteroid City were my #1 and #2, depends on the day which order they're in. May December really felt like a revelation to me - I loved it so, so much, I really thought it was genius and such an achievement of writing, directing, and acting. Asteroid City felt less revelatory, maybe, because I already love Wes Anderson, but the more I sit with it the more I think it's his crowning achievement. It shot right to #2 in my personal Wes rankings, and would probably be #1 if Rushmore hadn't been such a formative and important one for me for so long. Both of those movies were mostly overlooked at the Oscars in a way that helped me keep the Oscars' importance in perspective this year.

Rounding out my current top ten, in loose order:

3) Anatomy of a Fall 4) Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret 5) The Iron Claw 6) The Holdovers 7) Oppenheimer 8) Eileen 9) Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part One 10) You Hurt My Feelings

I watched season one! I thought it was Good, but I kind of didn't get a ton of enjoyment out of watching it? I wasn't super invested in the eventual death plot, and other than good performances there was nothing really to latch onto with the characters. So for me it's kind of like, once the show's thematic point has been made, there wasn't really much else to get out of it.

I also really don't understand the appeal of this as an ongoing show. I don't get why the concept is so worth repeating over and over. But who knows, I also can't downplay how firmly Aubrey Plaza being in season two shut down any chance I was ever going to watch it. I barely finished season one so I wasn't clamoring for more, but the right cast could have least had me start it. I also should say that I do feel bad saying this because I think Mike White can be a stellar writer - School of Rock is one of the best mainstream comedies of my lifetime, full stop, and his show Enlightened is incredible and anyone who likes Laura Dern (or just great television) should watch it.