Binging on the Seven Seasons of the Award Winning TV Series-Mad Men

Mad Men was listed as one of the Top Ten TV series of all Time, I agree!

The last couple of weeks I have binging on a couple of old award winning TV series. The latest series I am currently watching is Mad Men. In case you are not familiar or has not seen this TV series, here's a summary from Wikipedia.

Mad Men received widespread critical acclaim for its writing, acting, directing, visual style and historical authenticity; it won many awards, including 16 Emmys and five Golden Globes. The show was also the first basic cable series to receive the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, winning the award each year of its first four seasons (2008–2011). It is widely regarded as one of the greatest television series of all time and as part of the early 21st century Golden Age of Television.

Mad Men is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fictional time frame runs from March 1960 to November 1970.

Mad Men begins at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, and continues at the new firm of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (later named Sterling Cooper & Partners) near the Time-Life Building at 1271 Sixth Avenue. According to the pilot episode, the phrase "Mad men" was a slang term coined in the 1950s by advertisers working on Madison Avenue to refer to themselves, "Mad" being short for "Madison" (in reality, the only documented use of the phrase from that time may have been in the late-1950s writings of James Kelly, an advertising executive and writer).

The series's main character is the charismatic advertising executive Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm), who is initially the talented creative director at Sterling Cooper. He is erratic and mysterious but is widely regarded throughout the advertising world as a genius; some of the most famous advertisement campaigns in history are shown to be his creations. Later, Don becomes a founding partner at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce but begins a struggle as his highly calculated identity falls into a period of decline. The plot of the show tracks the people in his personal and professional lives. As the series progresses, it depicts the changing moods and social mores of the United States throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. 

Personal Note: There were numerous memorable and iconic scenes in the epic novela depicting true historical events and social mores of the 60 and 70's. Two of the scenes depicted in the last 15 minutes of the Season 7 and the final episode that still lingers in my mind was the Esalen Experience and the TV coca cola commercial. The Esalen scenes and depiction reminds me of a closed and beloved relative. 

Here is the list of 10 other TV series similar to Mad Men. I have seen all of them except Fargo, The Wire and Peaky Blinder.

 https://www.cbr.com/best-shows-if-you-miss-mad-men/#fargo

 

 

Enjoyed the Movie-TAR- Golden Glove Award for Best Actress

 

Cate Blanchett won the Golden Glove Award for Best Actress in the movie Tar. I rented it last week (Amazon Prime Video). The first 15-20 minutes was boring, but I continued watching since I already paid $5.99  to watch it. As the movie progressed it become more interesting and provocative. The ending was a surprised to me as it was filmed in the Philippines with scenes of Manila and Tagalog conversations. I enjoyed the movie very much and it was worth the $5.99 rental fee I paid. Here's the last 10 minutes of the film that was a surprise to me.

"Lydia finds work conducting in the Philippines. Seeking a massage to ease her jet lag, she asks the hotel concierge for a recommendation. She is sent to a high-end brothel, where she is directed to select an escort from the "fishbowl," where numerous young women are seated in a chamber orchestra-like arrangement. One woman (#5) looks up into Lydia's eyes, her position the same as Olga's, and Lydia rushes outside to vomit. With her new orchestra, Lydia conducts the score for the video game series Monster Hunter in front of an audience of cosplayers".

Here's a summary from Wikipedia. For details visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A1r#Plot

Tár is a 2022 psychological drama film written and directed by Todd Field and starring Cate Blanchett. The film charts the downfall of fictional composer and conductor Lydia Tár. The supporting cast includes Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, and Mark Strong.

Tár premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival in September 2022, where Blanchett won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. The film had a limited theatrical release in the United States on October 7, 2022, before a wide release on October 28, by Focus Features.

The film received acclaim from critics, who lauded Blanchett's performance, Field's direction and screenplay, and its cinematography, editing, and sound design. Tár is listed by many critics as one of the best films of 2022. The American Film Institute named it one of the top 10 films of the year, and it was named best film by the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the National Society of Film Critics, becoming the seventh film in history to win top honors from the critics' trifecta. At the 80th Golden Globe Awards in 2023, Blanchett won Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, while the film was nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Screenplay. The film flopped at the box office, by January 2023 grossing $6.3 million against a combined production and marketing budget of $35 million. Here are two reviews that I agree 100%.

 

Tár is considered by many critics to be one of the best films of 2022. It was listed on the American Film Institute's top 10 films of the year, and was named best film by the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the National Society of Film Critics, becoming the seventh film in history to win top honors from the critics' trifecta. Tár was also named the best film of 2022 by Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, Variety, Entertainment Weekly, and IndieWire's annual poll of 165 critics worldwide.

I recommend this movie to all Movie Lovers of the World.  Tár is expected to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 95th Academy Awards, and Blanchett is considered a favorite for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

 

Tips on Purchasing Automatic Mahjong Tables

 

Last Monday my home care aide (A Pinay) was 30 minutes late. I was worried as she was always on time even 5 minutes early. She told me she overslept. Later on she volunteered the reason why she overslept was the fact that she played automatic mahjong in her friend's house up to 2AM. Because it was late she did not go home and slept on her friend's couch. Her Friend's house is only 5 minutes away from me. Her own residence ( son's house) is 25 minutes away. I was curious about automatic mahjong table so I did some search here's what I found.

The automatic mahjong table cost varies from the cheapest model of $300 to the most expensive model-$50,000.00. The one I like is described below and can be purchased from Amazon.

https://www.google.com/search?q=automatic+mahjong+table+price&client=ubuntu&hs=rhz&channel=fs&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj306f3juP7AhW4JDQIHQHNACgQ_AUoAnoECAIQBA&biw=1373&bih=719&dpr=1

Amazon.com - Seller · $1,249.99

USA Mahjong Table 144Tiles 44mm 松乐 超大手感牌 Folding Automatic Mahjong Table with 4 Drawers & 2 Sets of 44mm No Number Chinese / Philippine Tiles ( Blue & Green) Not Fit

Visit

下单后您会收到一封确认邮件,请及时回复以便我们尽快发货,谢谢您的理解!You will receive a confirm message from seller, please reply it so that we can ship your order ASAP. Thank you for your understanding! 驰名品牌松乐,品质有保障。Tabletop Dimensions: 39′′ x 39′′ x 30.5" high from floor to tabletop Weight: 220 lb Cable:110v, Length: 5 feet long The folding table automatically shuffle tiles and push a button to roll the dice and start playing in 3 seconds! Comes 2 sets of 144pcs 44mm (43mm x 32mm x 22mm) large size magnetic tiles plus 8 blank tiles. 超大手感牌 

Never use MAGNETIC CHIPS! They will cause table breakdowns!We will provide the foldable table assembly instruction and Mahjong Table Convertible Modes electronic document Never use MAGNETIC CHIPS! They will cause table breakdowns! 

Contemporary Pedestal Automatic Mahjong Table comes 2 sets of magnetic tiles 144 tiles (1 Blue & 1 Green) The table can be used not only with Chinese mahjong set, but also Philippine style, India style...etc, but please double check the tiles picture and make sure that is what you play, usually not for American mahjong style. 

You can easily switch the modes on the table according to your preference : ) Example: Switch the code to "01" --- when playing 144 tiles (Traditional Chinese Mahjong ) Switch the code to "01" --- when playing 144 tiles. Tabletop dimensions: 38′′ x 38′′ 30.5" high from floor to tabletop Weight: 220 lb Cable:110v, Length: 5 feet long High quality table motor was designed by SOLOR Inc. and with the corporation of Panasonic team. The tiles are pretty and it's nice to have the numbers on the Chinese character tiles. Tiles were made of melanmine. 144 tiles Full Size Mahjong Set unfold dimensions: 110 cm x 101 cm x 77 cm Package included 1 automatic mahjong table + 2 sets of magnetic tiles 144 tiles (1 Blue & 1 Green)

 Here's a video of how the automatic mahjong table works.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpbjH_eHc6A

For the article why mahjong is a Katague clan Tradition read:

https://davidbkatague.blogspot.com/2021/12/playing-mahjong-reliving-my-favorite.html 

 Here's a video for Beginners-13 tiles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix6DmwP4Ets 

 

The reasons why Mahjong is Addicting:
 

 https://techstory.in/the-science-behind-why-mahjong-can-be-so-addictive-lets-find-out/

 

 

Controversial and Award Winning Movies in TUBI

Tubi is an American over-the-top content platform and ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in San Francisco, California. In January 2021, Tubi reached 33 million monthly active users.^[5] As of January 2022, Tubi has 51 million monthly active users.

Global availability

In November 2015, Tubi and Blue Ant Media reached a deal to make Tubi available to stream in Canada.

Tubi became inaccessible throughout the European Union as a result of the GDPR entering into force on 25 May 2018. It was later announced that Tubi would relaunch in the United Kingdom by early 2019. As of 15 July 2021, Tubi has yet to relaunch in the United Kingdom. According to their website, they "hope to relaunch in the UK and EU in the future" and is "working on compliance [with GDPR] and is planning to re-launch in European countries soon".

Tubi officially launched in Australia on 1 September 2019.

In January 2020, Tubi announced an expansion to Mexico, in a partnership with TV Azteca.

In July 2022, Tubi announced a partnership with Shaw Communications to make the service available to all of Shaw's customers, and further expanding Tubi's reach in Canada.

In August 2022, Tubi launched in Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama.

There several award winning but controversial movies available for FREE on the TUBI channel. You can view these movies on your TV or on your PC. If you use your PC, invest on a big monitor. My PC monitor is 24" by 40". It is a pleasure to watch these movies, because you can pause it and resume later and you can also save it your collection. In my case I save it in this blog and watch one it over again any time.  The following two movies, Voyage and Adonis, I just watched recently and enjoyed it very much. If you do not like nudity and art films, these movies are not for you.     

 https://tubitv.com/movies/508211/voyage?autoplay=true

Voyage (Chinese: 遊) is a 2013 film by the acclaimed Hong Kong film-maker Scud, the production-crediting name of Danny Cheng Wan-Cheung. It is described as "a tragic story about love, fate and the struggle of losing loved ones", and received its world premiere on 20 October 2013 at the Chicago International Film Festival. It was filmed in Hong Kong, Mongolia, Malaysia, Australia, Germany and the Netherlands, and is the director's first film partially made outside Asia, and also his first to be filmed mostly in the English language. It explores several themes traditionally regarded as 'taboo' in Hong Kong society in an unusually open, convention-defying way, and features full-frontal male nudity in several scenes. It is the fifth of seven publicly released films by Scud. The six other films are: City Without Baseball in 2008, Permanent Residence in 2009, Amphetamine in 2010, Love Actually... Sucks! in 2011, Utopians in 2015 and Thirty Years of Adonis in 2017. His eighth film, Naked Nation, is currently in production.^[4]

https://tubitv.com/movies/628368/adonis?start=true  

Thirty Years of Adonis (Chinese: 三十儿立), is a 2017 film by the Hong Kong film-maker Scud, the production-crediting name of Danny Cheng Wan-Cheung. It is a story of a young man who is a Beijing Opera actor. He decides to pursue acting, and soon becomes a commercial sex worker for men and women. The movie explores several themes traditionally regarded as 'taboo' in Hong Kong society and features full-frontal male nudity in several scenes. It is the seventh publicly released films by Scud. The six other films are: City Without Baseball in 2008, Permanent Residence in 2009, Amphetamine in 2010, Love Actually... Sucks! in 2011, Voyage in 2013, and Utopians in 2015. The movie features footage from Utopians. His eighth film, Naked Nation, is currently in production.

The RRR Movie on Netflix- A Movie for Action Lovers

I just finished watching the RRR movie on Netflix. Needless to say, I enjoyed it very much. Here's a recent article and review of this Hindi movie.

"Netflix users are finally discovering RRR – and calling it the "greatest action film ever made"

By Amy West published June 16, 2022

The Indian movie is taking the internet by storm

(Image credit: Variance Films and Sarigama Cinemas)

Netflix users all over the world are finally discovering RRR, a new action epic that is taking cinema and the internet by storm – and it's safe to say, people cannot stop raving about the flick.

Directed by S. S. Rajamouli, the Telugu-language movie takes place in the 1920s and centers on two revolutionaries, Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (N. T. Rama Rao Jr.), in their explosive challenge of the British Raj. It's lengthy at 182 minutes, but doesn't waste a second, cramming in everything from fiery bow and arrow battles and motorcycle chases to men fighting alongside bloodied tigers. If none of that tickles your fancy, firstly, what more do you want? Secondly, fear not, it also features a romantic subplot, a sweet bromance, and a couple of musical numbers, too.

RRR was initially released in cinemas on March 25, before heading to video-on-demand platform ZEE5 on May 20. That same day, the Hindi version dropped on Netflix, and swiftly became the first Indian film to trend at #1 for three consecutive weeks in the Non-English Films category on the streamer's global chart. Since then, subscribers have been rushing to social media in droves to champion the flick.

"RRR is over-the-top ridiculous insanity and it is AMAZING. It's like Michael Bay and Baz Luhrmann and Stephen Chow teamed up to make a movie. It was 3 hours long but it could have been 4 hours and I would've still enjoyed it," one fan tweeted (opens in new tab).

RRR is not only one of the best action movies of all time, it is also one of the best movie musicals of all time," another added (opens in new tab), highlighting the film's genre-bending appeal.

RRR is fucking amazing. From a Western perspective, it’s like Avengers, Top Hat, Indiana Jones, Lawrence of Arabia, Lord of the Rings, Rocky, Grease and Michael Collins were all thrown together in an Indian washing machine with settings to 100 degree AWESOME pic.twitter.com/zFQEGjuvRdJune 11, 2022

You guys, RRR on Netflix is the real deal. One of the best action-adventure films I’ve seen in years. It’s got drama, romance, comedy, suspense, tigers, musical numbers, you name it. pic.twitter.com/Cj41m1rGweMay 24, 2022

#RRR made me say “that’s the best set piece I’ve ever seen” about 10 times pic.twitter.com/vsk9HaY22DJune 13, 2022

10 Movies recommended by Netflix

 https://top10.netflix.com/