Friday Newsletter – Who will win enraged March?

Every Friday I fire off a list of things I think you need to know. Want me to know something in return? Leave it in the comments.

B-b-b-b-b-asketball…….gimme the ball and I’m gonna dunk it!

Yes sir, it’s that time of year again. Where it’s considered okay to ignore all life’s responsibilities and watch 12 hours of hoops in a day. The picks are in, the ball is tipped, and the upsets are happening. March Madness is the best, even in a year where I have watched zero seconds of college basketball. I actually had a stronger opinion on who will win the women’s tourney, than the men. Spoiler alert, it will be South Carolina.

On the men’s side, there are a lot of the usual suspects, but other than Zach Edey at Purdue, I don’t know any of the players. Does it matter? Not really?

I know at the time of this posting, a full day of games will be in the books and it’s far too late to make picks, but I still want to share this hilarious video of Flula, making his picks for Enraged March.

Who are you picking? Just like on the women’s side, I went with the best team. How boring right? I picked UConn to repeat. One of these years there has to be a day without a bunch of upsets right?

TV Time – Before getting to my current favourite show – Shogun – I wanted to put a wrap on Masters of the Air, which concluded last Friday. I had crazy, high expectations for this show. I wanted it to be close to Band of Brothers and The Pacific. Sadly, in my opinion, it was not. My main issues with the series were the character development, the pacing, and the fact that it felt too Hollywood. After the last episode ended, I did not feel anything for the characters. It hardly had a feeling of a show about an actual real war that happened. I loved the battle scenes in the air, everything looked great and money was certainly spent. But it all just fell flat for me. The POV narrator was boring, I have no idea why they included the female spy arc, and for me, the POW camp seemed far too homey. Now I know the show was adapted from a book and when you read it, you see they were really trying to stick to the descriptions of the characters and what happened, but again, it had no feeling. I also found the show did a poor job using sound. There was always over-the-top, dramatic score music playing. How was there not a part where the pilots were moving through the clouds in silence and then they heard the Luftwaffe coming? Instead, dramatic music tells us what to expect. Watch Dunkirk or Greyhound and you will know what I mean.

Finally, after the series is over, there is a 1-hour documentary called The Bloody Hundredth, which is essentially a shorter version of the series, but with real footage. It’s actually much better. I learned things, I felt things and I could have just watched that instead of the series.

What did you think of Masters of the Air? I know a lot of people liked it, but for me, it was a letdown.

Now, on the other side of the coin is, Shogun. Wow, what a masterpiece so far. For every issue I had with Masters of the Air in pacing and storytelling, Shogun nails it. I have read high praise for the show, but many are not watching because of the subtitles. Just watch it. It has action, it has intrigue, it has politics and it has deep character-building. I don’t like comparing it to Game of Thrones all the time, but it’s in the same arena. Each episode is full of tension and you can get a sense of what it was like during that period of Japan’s history.

Oh, before I stop talking about TV, and since I just referenced GOT, the new trailer for House of the Dragon is here.

CRaptors? – This has become a sad, sad, sad season of NBA basketball for Toronto Raptors fans. Unlike the lows of Tampa, at least then there was still the glow of a title and what seemed like a plan. What is this team now? I tuned in on Wednesday night and they were already down 40 to Sacramento. I feel bad for fans paying for overpriced Scotiabank tickets to watch that garbage. So let’s be positive. Let’s say they get lucky in the lottery and keep their pick. They hit on a top 5 selection to add to Scottie, Gradey, IQ, and RJ. I guess that’s something? How are they to know Darko is the right coach? He has had like five different teams this year. Has Masai lost the magic touch or is he being handcuffed by MLSE? I mean the tickets are being bought. There is a banner in the rafters. What more do they care about? At the end of the day, it’s just sad.

Movies – Are movies making a comeback? I have watched more movies lately than in the past few years. Why? It seems there is an influx of popular and actually good movies again. I really enjoyed Oppenheimer and Anatomy of a Fall, and hopefully, soon we watch The Holdovers. Dune: Part 2 was everything it was supposed to be. Katie and Harry went to see the Bob Marley movie. Katie and Charlie a few weeks ago went to see the Boy and the Heron. Movies are back.

Oh by the way, The Boy and the Heron is coming to Netflix at some point this year. Here is what’s coming in April.

What movies have you watched and enjoyed lately?

Food time – What’s cooking? Here is a tasty-looking recipe we saw recently from Sam the Cooking Guy. Jalisco enchiladas. We enjoy enchiladas in our house, so this recipe is on the list. The trick is finding tomatillos.

Dodgers take a gamble on Ohtani? – I did not see this wild story coming. I figured the L.A. Dodgers spending almost a Billion on the guy would always be the story. Nope, now it’s gambling. What do we think? It’s pretty juicy, right?

Finally my brackets – Here are my brackets before it all started. Have a great week everyone!

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