Thursday, September 28, 2023

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

    I finished An American Tragedy (powerful), and now I'm reading the Ebook of Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo.  I read it years ago but that was an abridged edition, and this is the full Penguin Classics version.  Dumas knew how to tell a story!  Believe it or not, in my childhood I first encountered the story in a Mister Magoo version, part of a series where he starred in classic stories. (His version of A Christmas Carol is pretty good.)


    I'm also reading A Short History of the Hundred Years War for my History Meetup.  Last week I had lunch with Maria and Sergey for the first time in months, and Maria was fascinated by my book.


    A few weeks ago we saw A Very British Scandal, about the Duchess of Argyll's divorce where her husband introduced evidence of her promiscuity in an early example of "revenge porn." He was not a gentleman! (It's a sequel to A Very English Scandal, with a very creepy Hugh Grant as Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe.)


    My new computer didn't have an outlet that my DVD player fit into, so I continued to use my old one for Friday night watch parties.  That machine works slowly so last week (we were showing Elmer Gantry) I set up everything early and it looked like we'd start on time--but then the computer conked out and I had to restart it, then reopen the browser, then reopen the webpage with the Zoom link, then reopen Zoom... all of which took almost half an hour, and two viewers didn't come back!  


    So on Tuesday I went to Best Buy to get a connection so I can use my DVD player on the new computer.  I brought the player and a cable from the new computer to show what I needed, but first I got a haircut.  When I got to Best Buy, it turned out I'd left that cable in the Barber Shop, so I had to return and get it. (I'm just glad I hadn't left it on the streetcar!) The next day I went there with the cable and bought the connection I needed, so now the player does work on my new computer.  All's well that ends well.


    I've started watching the anime revival Dragon Ball Super.  It's harmless entertainment.