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Yesterday evening was sucked up mostly by my second time going to see
The Odyssey, and Shobhit's first time seeing it. We considered going to see it together the week prior to our departure to Amsterdam in late July, but all the calls we had to make to my doctor's office regarding getting advance medications for the trip, plus other preparation, precluded it. We finally found a day to do it yesterday; Tuesdays and Wednesdays are half-price at AMC Theaters and I had two $5 Rewards on my account, so between my monthly membership and the Rewards points I was able to cover us both at no extra cost.
I had the clever idea of nuking a bag of microwave popcorn right before leaving work. (When I brought the bag back to my desk and put it in my backpack, Michael, the Prepared Foods Merchandiser in the Deli department, was sitting behind me and could smell it: "Where's the popcorn?" he said, popping his head up to look in the opposite direction. I just slipped it into my backpack without saying anything.) Shobhit had gone on a super long walk to catch up on steps he was behind on; I had no idea he'd also arrive with fresh deep fried tofu to snack on, which he got at the store that sells it in the International District. It was still warm. So we had plenty of stuff to munch on as the movie was playing.
Shobhit had to leave to pee at one point, and it was actually an okay spot to do so; he didn't miss any of the plot. He seemed relatively familiar with the story beats of the original
Odyssey, so sometimes guessed at what sequence might be happening next. ("Sirens?" he said, but we weren't there yet. I think this was where Odysseus and his men encounter giant armed soldiers who seem to exist only to murder them all.) He was rapt the entire time, never nodded off as he often does, and still he seemed to have a fairly "meh" attitude as we left, as I commented on how much I love that movie.
I was thinking about this this morning. Shobhit is constantly watching TV shows and movies at home, way more than I do. It seems sort of odd, because it feels like he only does it as something to do, rather than because it's essential viewing. I love lots of the stuff we watch togerher, but he doesn't
love any of it, really. I can't remember the last time he really loved something we watched. And when it comes to
The Odyssey, if I were to make my top 10 of the year right now, it would absolutely be on it. Maybe even at or near the top, although I've given eight movies an A-minus so far, but none yet with a solid A.
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— छह हज़ार बयासी —
And of course, once we were home and having some real food for dinner, we sat down and Shobhit turned on the TV to find something to watch. I browsed Peacock on Prime Video for a bit since I signed up for a week free trial just to watch
Alien: Covenent on Tuesday, but found nothing of particular interest. I went to HBO Max and saw there were new episodes of a new season of the travel show
Conan Must Go with Conan O'Brien, and was very interested in that.
There were two episodes already released, and I was stunned by their topics/locations. Episode 1 was in India, where Shobhit is from; episode 2 was in the Netherlands, which we just took a two-week trip to. What are the odds of
that? I was kind of stunned.
And I have to say, I had a blast watching both of them. It was fun watching Conan learn about a lot of Indian culture I already knew about, and to see Conan walking around neighborhoods of Amsterdam we were familiar with. (In the latter case, I'm guessing he spent the entire time in Amsterdam; only one sequence was ostensibly in The Hague but it was on a mock International Court of Justice set.)
Not every segment was as funny as the next, but segments that were less successful were actually surprisingly few. Many of them in both episodes had both me
and Shobhit laughing our asses off. I need to make a note that these episodes drop every Friday. I've watched much of the previous two seasons after the fact but this will be the first time I'll watch a season in real time—after the first two episodes, anyway. The next episode, apparently in Morocco, drops tomorrow.
I just checked IMDb and these seasons are all rather short. Four episodes in season 1 (2024); three in season 2 (2025); four again for season four. So we're already halfway through them. They probably cost a fair amount to produce, to be fair.
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[posted 12:32pm]
