Another light week, mostly due to a combination of work needs and working my way through at least one incredibly long novel along with an omnibus. The novel’s not completed, but the omnibus is, so it’s only one of a few things I can really say I put to bed (aside from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier). So, here we go.

Movies Watched: Glengarry Glen Ross. This was sitting on my “to watch” list for … oh, I don’t know how long. And as I started watching it, I couldn’t remember if I had actually seen the entire film before or if I had only seen Alec Baldwin’s famous scene. So a lot like GoodFellas, it may have been film that I was very familiar with but had never actually sat down and watched. Consider this remedied and consider me impressed, especially by the performances. The cast is one of those that is made up of titans, one of those you’d watch interact with one another in just about anything (the IMDb trivial page says that other actors and crew members would stick around even if they didn’t have to work just to see these men act). Now, Baldwin’s “Always Be Closing” speech is what gets remembered (or at least memed) the most, but as good as his over-the-top monologue is (and it’s so deliberately over-the-top asshole, it’s no wonder Ed Harris is practically laughing his ass off during the speech), it’s the rest of the cast that owns the movie. It’s hard to pick a favorite, although I was invested in Jack Lemmon’s Shelly Levine (as was the filmmakers’ intent) and hung on every word of David Mamet’s dialogue. And if I must confess, I’m not a David Mamet fan. But this? This is a master class, and it’s no wonder it’s a regular in college film courses. Watch.

TV Shows Completed. The Con. This is one of those 20/20-esque “special series” that ABC News put together about various con artists and how they tricked their marks into giving up money and in some cases nearly ruined their lives. It’s narrated by Whoppi Goldberg, who embues it with a lighter tone than the endless parade of dead wives that seems to be Dateline over on NBC. Yes, there’s some serious crime taking place here, but thankfully, nobody is dead and nobody is being assaulted. Plus, it’s another chance to laugh at the whole Fyre Festival debacle. With seven episodes, it’s a good bit of escape. Watch.

Trades/Graphic Novels Read. Robotech Masters Omnibus Vol 1. Titan Comics has been doing these reprints of the original Comic series for a few years now and I have been here for it the entire time, having bought the entirety of the Macross series, the first Sentinels series (which was way better than I thought it would be) and now this. This is an adaptation of the second cartoon series, the main character of which was Dana Sterling, fighter of the Southern Cross unit. I remember that the cartoon hits a point where it drags like freakin’ crazy, but this moved along pretty well. Then again, this is the first half of the series and the Zor clone has arrived, so I think I’ve hit the slowdown point and volume 2 might be a bit of a slog when it comes out. But maybe since Mike Baron’s the writer, he corrected the pacing issues that were in the anime. It’s worth having, even if the transfer from comic book to omnibus page isn’t the best. Still, I hope that volume 2 eventually comes out, because I still want it and I want them to get to The New Generation as well as back to their Robotech Remix series. Keep.

Podcasts. “Questions We Don’t Have Answers” was a great episode this week, and I am happy to see that the first episode of the new “Slow Burn” station on the runup to the Iraq war is really strong. That’s been about it, though, as I was also listening to the most recent episodes of my own shows.

More to come this week, even though it’s busy. Hopefully, I’ll get this book done and can get started on chipping away at what’s left on my trade paperback list.