Family videos, Fantastic Beasts, and Ingrid Michaelson
Happy holidays, everyone! It’s not cultivated-meat related, but the project I’m hoping to make some progress on this week is downloading all the videos of the kids I’ve sent over email and assembling them into a long movie.
Anyway, let’s do (Cell) Culture Talk. Here’s some of the stuff I’ve been watching and listening to lately.
Movie — Encanto. We’ve been watching this a lot recently. My wife was born in Colombia, so she has a special affinity for the film. Of course, We Don’t Talk About Bruno is my favorite number, but all the songs are great.
Movie — Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The first entry in the Harry Potter spin-off series was OK. I didn’t really have a clear sense of what the protagonist was doing with the magical animals in his care. Was he a zookeeper or a wildlife rehabilitator?
Movie — The Crimes of Grindelwald. This was a darker, and, in my view, more interesting film than the first. I thought the titular villain made for a better antagonist than Voldermort, because one could understand his appeal to a greater degree.
Music — The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album by The Beach Boys. I know it’s a plot point in Love Actually, however I’m surprised more artists don’t retool previous hits as holiday songs, like Little Deuce Coupe was reimagined as Little Saint Nick. The 1964 record is pretty fun.
Music — Songs for the Season (Deluxe Edition) by Ingrid Michaelson. This is one of my favorite Christmas albums I’ve reviewed this year. Apparently, the singer used a microphone from the 1950s as well as some older production methods to achieve the retro sound.
Sports — Knicks beat Lakers, 114-109. Perhaps it was just an off-night for Los Angeles, but the team didn’t seem to be on the same level as some of the opponents New York has faced. The Knicks held onto a tenuous lead for much of the game.
Sports — Knicks beat Nets, 121-102. Julius Randle led all scorers with 26 points. Donte DiVincenzo continued to look good in the starting lineup. The dominant victory was overshadowed by news Mitchell Robinson will likely be out for the season.