I just finished Animal Superpowers on Snag Films on Roku. It's a good series that focus on the different abilities certain animals have, and hosted by Patrick Stewart. I think he looks better with a goatee. It's also a short series at only three episodes.

Yesterday, I finally watched Life Itself (2014), the documentary about the life of Roger Ebert. Some portions were very difficult to watch, and I teared up several times. If you have any interest in Ebert or the evolution/popularization of film criticism and commentary, I would highly recommend it. Unlike the Robert Altman documentary I watched earlier this month, this one kept the cheesiness at bay.

I've also continued watching Mad Men and am currently in the third season. By this time, the show's preoccupation with the novelty of its setting has faded. It has become an exploration of repression and the problems that arise from a society half unwilling to deal with the inherent flaws in its system and half feeling its way through the darkness.

I have a suggestion that when this challenge is over that everyone pick the best thing that they've watched during the challenge. New or old. Or possibly the top 3? Just a thought.

I've been watching period musicals and their accompanying documentaries.

The two-hour Rent documentary is pretty amazing, covering the making of the musical and the movie, and the life of Jonathan Larson, and how hard he worked in order to become an "overnight success" with Rent, only to lose that as well when he died of a brain aneurysm just before the show opened.

Accompanying Easter Parade was the Judy Garland: By Myself documentary, so titled because it uses some of Judy's words from interviews and such, but that's kind of a gimmick in what seems like a very solid documentary covering her years in Hollywood (and how drugs were used to keep up with a relentless schedule, causing some of her later problems) and subsequent fall. Man, these were both kind of downers.

I also watched Gigi, which I've never liked as much as American in Paris, and it still has limited appeal for me. I like Leslie Caron, but something about it doesn't work--maybe leading man Louis Jourdan.

If you do a tv series or serial, do you pick the entire thing or a specific episode/chapter or is it just up to the person?

For me it was Maurice Chevalier's character that didn't work. He just seemed creepy/smarmy.

What, an old guy singing about little girls was creepy?

I'm not wild about him, but he's a peripheral character anyway.

I guess it's the whole package. The songs aren't that great either.

I'll leave it up to the person.

Not sure what happened the last few days, but I've gone from 0 to 100 on the Challenge front. Watched a couple documentaries, the 1923 Ten Commandments, the 1956 Ten Commandents, and just got five free Redbox rentals including the new Exodus.

I'm sure anyone interested follows our redbox thread and knows this, but code JUNE17 gives you unlimited free rentals today only.

I can't get into the challenge today, so just been watching random things while I wait for DCUO to come back up. This morning I watched the first episodes of WWE Nxt on Hulu, and now I'm watching UFC 181 on UFC Fight Pass.

I think I'm just bored, and that's hurting my depression.

Glad you are enjoying some challenge-related material. I'm such a huge fan of the 1956 Ten Commandments! It's so earnestly epic! I need to watch the 1923 version.

I am watching and enjoying Foyle's War, a British mystery series about a police detective during WWII. Often the war and its effects intersect with the crimes. There is also an essay included on each DVD about the historical influences for the episodes.

I just watched my first Netflix DVD of the challenge, the Himalayas episode of Nature. It was very good, but was hoping for some bonus features.

I would say a specific episode. But whatever you want.

Taking a break from DVD's, I turned on TV, and found a good show on crocodiles living in a cave on Nat Geo Wild. It was called Croc Labyrinth.

I finished the first season of the newer Robin Hood series. It got better as it went along but still reminded me of the tone of the Hercules series with Kevin Sorbo. The Sheriff is still a hoot and Guy of Gisborne got meaner as the series progressed. At the start of S2 he's pretty much turned into full bore villain and the series feels a bit more serious. That may not continue as I've only watched the first couple of S2 episodes. Robin has tempered somewhat and relies on his "band of merry men" more but is still somewhat the showoff. Overall, it's still a fun show and short enough I'll probably try to finish it before the month's out.

I still want to finish The Tudors since I have only 1 season of 10 shows left. Then I need to watch Elizabeth: The Golden Years since I watched the first movie which lead me to pick back up with The Tudors.

I'm also about half-way through a Mysteries of the Bible set I purchased a few years back. I really want to finish it before the month's over.

Frankly I think all that will pretty much fill the rest of my available time. I *do* have the last 2 days of the month scheduled as vacation - but it's summer and we have 3 grand kids most days. They will take up most, if not all, of that time. Don't take that as a complaint! I greatly enjoy spending time playing with them!

I'm absolutely not getting in as much viewing as I'd wanted. I still have a WWII box set I picked up a couple of years ago. It's one of those Mill Creek affairs with enough content to fill a month. I'd wanted to watch at least some of it this month. Maybe...

Today, I'm watching TV to get my mind off worry and depression. My gram's not good, and I don't even know if she'll make it to the end of the day. She's crying non stop, saying this is the end, and her pulse is very slow.

To keep my mind on other things, I watched Life After People on The History Channel. The episode was Bodies Left Behind.

^ I saw the first 15 minutes of that one before I had to start getting ready for work. I found it quite laughable as they kept harping on power going out and repeating themselves. I'd say I got ~3 minutes of interesting information from that 15 minutes due to all the repetition. I really like the premise but what I saw had little payoff. Even so... I'd have watched the whole program had I not had to leave.

I just reached 100 items watched with the 'Strange Abductions' episode of Ancient Aliens. It was a good episode, dealing with alien contact of all sorts.

The next series I started working on is Africa. I just finished the first episode, about the Kalahari.

I watched it, too. Really liked it, but I don't see myself revisiting it. It was really brave (although totally in character with his values) for Ebert to allow himself to be photographed in his condition.

I'll be up all night tonight. Sitting with my gram, as we don't know if she'll make the night. She's telling her dead brother to take her home.

How terrible. I'm so sorry.

Thank you, and if you don't mind, hugs?

I finished Season 1 of Ancient Aliens, so decided to go right into Season 2.

Good luck. I thought the show declined after the first season and only made it a few episodes into season 2. Maybe they did something different after I stopped watching.