Monday Musings: Binge or Nibble? Feeling The Need For Speed: My Gran Turismo Review 🏎️ , Elvis Wine 🍷 , Steve Martin’s Greatest Hits
🎶 Just another a’musing Monday 🎶
Wow! Check out those graphics. I’ve been playing around with jazzing up this newsletter (insert jazz hands here 🙌 , plus a heel toe shuffle) and I’ve come up with some new banners to add a little more personality to these newsletters!
Curious — Do you Binge or Nibble?
If a series premieres on Netflix with all episodes airing, do you binge the entire series in one or two sittings? Or do you nibble? - stream one or two episodes at a time, watch something else, then one or two more? I’m more of a nibbler myself. I subscribe to about 11 different streaming platforms so I need to spread my streams out a little thin. I usually just watch one series or film per streaming platform at a time unless you’re Peacock, then I probably am streaming three of the Housewives plus Vanderpump Rules simultaneously.
Curiouser & Curiouser — Do you have Roku or Fire TV?
You might have a cool TV where it has a built in platform to download apps and stream anything and everything, but some of us have a Roku or a Fire TV device that makes it easier to download apps, stream shows, and even talk to our TV. I have Roku on my living room TV and Fire TV on my bedroom TV. While I think Roku is more user friendly and much easier to navigate, I do like Fire TV’s more personalized home page with recommendations from all the streaming platforms, plus a built-in Alexa that allows me to tell her “Stream The Crown!” or “Play Music by Dua Lipa!”. I know there are those of you out there that are worried that Alexa is listening to your convos and you’re probably right, but I think Alexa fell asleep a long time ago if she’s listening in on me. I’m too busy making graphics for this newsletter, drinking wine, and shopping online for silk pillowcases (gotta keep those face wrinkles at bay) to reveal all my highly-classified government secrets.
The Best Streams In Life Are Free!
Whether you have Roku or Fire TV, the great thing about both is that they have free streaming channels that you can download regardless if you have the device or not. The Roku Channel is available to download at your app store and features Roku original programming plus random movies and TV shows from yesteryears that you probably forgot about. It also features the stellar lineup of shows from that failed streaming app — Quibi (short for Quick Bites). You’ll find TV shows and films in short fifteen-minute intervals featuring such big names as Liam Hemsworth, Kevin Hart, John Travolta, Jennifer Lopez, Anna Kendrick and Tina Fey. Amazon’s free streaming platform Freevee has a collection of hit TV series, movies, and original programming including the Emmy-nominated breakout hit — Jury Duty.
Where Else Can I Stream For Free? (Download These Free Streaming Platforms)
Tubi
YouTube
Crackle
Vudu
Canopy
Pluto TV
Sling Freestream
Happy Birthday Steve Martin!
I was just going through Steve Martin’s filmography and was quite impressed how he’s been able to have such a steady acting career through so many decades. I remember watching him as a kid in The Muppet Movie (1979) and The Jerk (1979). In the eighties he starred in a lot of comedies (some romantic comedies) like The Lonely Guy (1984), All of Me (1984), and Three Amigos! (1986) opposite Martin Short and Chevy Chase. In the nineties he entered into his Father of the Bride era, and early 2000s were The Pink Panther, Cheaper By The Dozen, and Nancy Meyers’ It’s Complicated. Now he’s starring in one of Hulu’s most popular series, Only Murders in the Building.
Steve Martin was born on this day in 1945 in Waco, Texas, but was raised in both Inglewood and Garden Grove, California. In 1960 (just 15-years-old) he got a job at Disneyland at the Magic Shoppe inside Fantasyland. He learned some cool magic tricks, how to juggle and even became a pretty crafty balloon artist. He studied drama and poetry at Santa Ana College and joined a comedy troupe at Knott’s Berry Farm. In 1967, Martin transferred to UCLA as a theatre major. His career in entertainment began as a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late sixties. He also wrote for Sonny and Cher’s variety show while appearing on The Johnny Carson Show as a standup several times. He found success in releasing comedy albums — “A Wild and Crazy Guy” (1978) sold over a million copies! His breakthrough film role was The Jerk which he co-wrote.
Steve Martin’s Top Highest Rated Films/Series To Stream (#3 is my personal fave)
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (buy or rent on demand)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Pluto TV, Roku Channel, Tubi TV)
The Muppet Movie (Disney+)
The Jerk (buy or rent on Apple TV+ or Amazon Prime)
Little Shop of Horrors (buy or rent on demand)
Parenthood (FreeVee)
Gran Turismo: Sneak Preview + Best Racing Films To Stream
A new film is making the movie theater circuit in special sneak previews. Gran Turismo is based on the incredible true story of die-hard gamers of the popular car racing video game who got awarded a life-changing opportunity to race cars on a professional level in real life. I caught the special preview in theaters over the weekend. The film was trying its best to annoy me with all the contrivances and (eye-roll) predictability, but in the end it just ended up begin a really enjoyable time in the theater. Much like Top Gun: Maverick, the scenes outside the adrenaline rush of the race cars were “meh”, but once in the cars, both the stakes and the G-force were elevated. Confession: I did shed a tear because of the touching father-son relationship, the movie does have some depth to it. If you can get past the first 30 or 40 minutes of “Duh, I knew that was going to happen” moments, the rest is pretty thrilling. David Harbour (Stranger Things) was a great casting choice for the film and even Orlando Bloom was as Larry David would say, “Pretty, Pretty Good.” Gran Turismo officially opens in theaters August 25.
Where will Gran Turismo Stream?
Most likely on Hulu or Disney+ as Columbia Pictures/Sony (the studio behind Gran Turismo) has signed a pact with Disney to stream its films like Spider-Man and Venom there. Depending on popularity of the movie you could see it streaming sometime this fall!
Best Car Racing Films To Stream Now
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (buy or rent on demand)
Ford v Ferrari (Hulu)
Le Mans (buy or rent on demand)
Rush (Netflix)
Cars (Disney+)
Racing Dreams (Philo)
Grand Prix (buy or rent on demand)
Elvis Sighting In Napa? 🍷
Okay, not really, but when Elvis was filming the 1961 film Wild in the Country, he stayed at The Ink House, a historic property in Napa Valley. The luxury inn still pays homage to the king of rock n’ roll by maintaining “The Elvis Suite” that boasts landscape views of the vineyards. The room is decorated with Elvis movie posters, houndstooth pillows and mid-century modern furniture.
And yes, the king of rock n’roll also has his own line of signature wines which you can check out at www.ElvisPresleywines.com 🍷
Don’t miss the Elvis documentary, Reinventing Elvis: The ’68 Comeback streaming Tuesday on Paramount+
Here’s What Is Streaming Today and Tomorrow:
August 14
Solar Opposites: Complete Season 4 (Hulu)
America’s National Parks: Complete Season 1 (Hulu)
Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet: Complete Seasons 1-10 (Hulu)
Forensic Files II - Season 4A (ID/MAX)
Signs of a Psychopath: Season 6 (ID/MAX)
August 15
Ancient Aliens: Season 5 (Netflix)
Ballers: Seasons 1-5 (Netflix)
Jared Freed: 37 and Single (Netflix)
Untold: Hall of Shame (Netflix)
Beach Hunters: Complete Season 4 (Hulu)
Blood Runs Cold: Complete Season 1 (Hulu)
Bride Killa: Complete Season 1 (Hulu)
Cake Boss: Complete Seasons 6 & 10 (Hulu)
Cake Wars: Complete Season 1 (Hulu)
Container Homes: Complete Season 1 (Hulu)
Dessert Games: Complete Season 1 (Hulu)
Flea Market Flip: Complete Season 10 (Hulu)
Insane Pools: Off The Deep End: Complete Season 1 (Hulu)
Man vs Wild: Complete Seasons 5-6 (Hulu)
Murder in Paradise: Complete Season 2 (Hulu)
My Strange Addiction: Complete Seasons 1-2 (Hulu)
NASA’s Unexplained Files: Complete Season 1 (Hulu)
Say Yes To The Dress Atlanta: Complete Seasons 5-6 (Hulu)
Toddlers & Tiaras: Complete Season 7 (Hulu)
Undercover Billionaire: Complete Season 1 (Hulu)
Unexpected: Complete Season 4 (Hulu)
Unusual Suspects: Complete Season 7 (Hulu)
Of An Age (Prime Video)
Cocaine Bear (Prime Video)
Reinventing Elvis: The ’68 Comeback premiere (Paramount+ with Showtime)
Surviving The Storm (Peacock)
90 Day: The Last Resort: Season 1 (TLC/MAX)
Good Bones: Season 8 (HGTV/MAX)
House Hunters International: Season 188 (HGTV/MAX)
Scent of Time (MAX)
What’s Wrong with That House: Season 1 (HGTV/MAX)