Watching Lately - An Ode to Netflix

I'll never give you up, Netflix. Never. You're like a warm blanket, comfort food, a hot date, an exciting adventure and the best class I've ever taken all in one. (On a related note - Hulu Plus can suck it!)

Obviously we are constantly rotating through all the seasons of The Office. {and by 'we' I mean 'I', averaging 4-5 episodes a day, working on my next project - an in-depth analysis of the show to help me grieve its end.}

But besides that, here are our latest faves on the 'Flix. (hate that I called it that)


Happy - an interesting, inspiring documentary that I watched when I was sad a few weeks ago. These filmmakers travel around and interview people about what makes them happy. They even go into the psychology and biology of happiness. It's really cool. It's basically just the Gospel - serve, have enough but not too much, live with purpose, etc.






 Breaking Bad - the Beard and I needed a new show to watch together that was "new." The Beard somehow gets bored of watching The Office over and over. How? Anyway, we caved to Breaking Bad fad. Wow. I kind of hate it, but can't stop watching. It's so engaging and crazy every single episode! You hate and love everyone. I've cried, laughed, dry-heaved, sworn, screamed, smiled and grimaced. The great thing is that there are tons of episodes and you never want to stop, so it's a great marathon-watching show.




 Freakonomics - The Beard just finished listening to the audiobook at work, so we decided to watch it on a whim. It's so interesting! Very cool to see things a different way - even if it has some depressing thoughts about education. See/read this especially if you like Malcolm Gladwell, stats, and social experiments. 






Aziz Ansari: Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening - I really love stand-up, but the Beard kind of hates it. We were able to compromise on this one because he loves Tom Haverford from Parks & Rec, and that's basically Aziz in real life. This stand up is hilarious, but be warned - way, way, way too much cursing and sexual innuendo. But if you can't figure that out from the title... maybe put down the laptop and go read a book?

The Truth About Zombies - Very interesting scientific approach to zombies. It ranges from epidemic research to survival techniques to Haitian Voodoo. Max Brooks, the author of the best zombie book ever "World War Z" (coming soon with Brad Pitt yayayayaya!) is a narrator and perfect. The Beard was unimpressed.

"How can you call yourself a 'Zombie Expert' with a straight face?!"

Portlandia - Obviously you can make fun of hipsters to no end, and obviously I'm gonna like it. I've never been to Portland, but my Oregonian coworker says it is spot-on. Season 2 just went up a month or so ago, so if you like awkward humor, sketch comedy, and making fun of those multiple varieties of hipster that make our lives miserable, check it out. 

On my "To Watch List"

• Vampire Diaries at the persistent request of my sister
• Firefly because I'm a nerd and want to watch it
• The Queen of Versailles - Rainn Wilson tweeted about it so it went right in my queue
• America: The Story of Us - I've watched 3 of the episodes and they are AWESOME. I use them in my US History classes all the time. I want to finish the series.
• ESPN 30 for 30 - Guess who put all of these in the queue?

Anything else on Netflix I should watch?

Mockumentary vs. Documentary

In the past 6 months I have watched more documentaries than in my previous life combined. With my great love of Mockumentaries like The Office, Parks and Rec., Arrested Development, etc, I suppose the taste continues to their real counterparts - documentaries.

Netflix has an AWESOME collection of documentaries and I watch them for both business and pleasure. For history teachers, documentaries are gold. When a new unit is coming up, I watch documentaries to brush up on information and to look for potential documentaries that I'd like to show my students. Ryan and I also watch documentaries for fun pretty regularly.

Here are some suggestions and warnings for you:

Loved (fun):

It Might Get Loud - a rock-n-roll documentary (think real Spinal Tap, with less humor) that is pretty awesome. Watching Jack White play makeshift instruments is absolutely mesmerizing. Definitely worth a watch.

Exit Through the Gift Shop - ok, we haven't ACTUALLY watched this one. It's been in our queue for ages, and we really will get around to it. But I've heard great things from multiple sources and can't wait to watch it.

Loved (to learn):

National Geographic: Stress, Portrait of a Killer - super enlightening documentary about what stress does to our bodies and the change in stressors since primitive times. Really cool.

Project XX - these period-specific documentaries are awesome. I showed some of "The Great War" edition in class. They include real footage, cultural elements and actually HELPFUL commentary. They don't even feel like a dry, educational documentary.

Hated:

Waiting for Superman - this documentary chronicling the *failure* of the public school system in the US is so frustrating. As a teacher I can definitely sympathize. Our system is a bit of a mess. There are issues to be dealt with. But the spend far more time criticizing bad teachers and districts, very little time on good teachers and districts, and absolutely no time at all speculating about possible alternatives. In the end, you're left with this empty-handed discontent. What was the point of that?

Bowling for Columbine - after the recent Ohio school shooting I decided to watch this famous Michael Moore piece. I didn't even finish it. I can't stand the guy. I get his style. I get the drama. School shootings and violence are a problem. But this is sensationalist, muckracking, yellow journalism. Again, the only positive outlook is when he compares the awful United States to more successful, less violent nations, showing that it IS in fact possible to be peaceful. If you're not going to make this for a positive reason, shut the front door. I don't want it.

What about y'all? Agree? Disagree? Suggestions? I'd love to hear some more that I should look up.