Binge Watching Series Recommendations

[jdanke]

Loki is worth watching for the set design alone. Hell, the credit sequence is a treat in itself.

[ides1056]

Beckham.

Who knew?

[robin3mj]

Beckham.

Who knew?

There was a short series on Disney/Apple last year about Beckham “helping” to coach a London youth team that had my kids absolutely enthralled. You’d think a global icon married to a Spice Girl would be pretty skin-deep and vapid but he comes across as a great dude. I’m looking forward to watching the Netflix one when we subscribe and binge that service for a few months this winter.

[echappist]

There was a short series on Disney/Apple last year about Beckham “helping” to coach a London youth team that had my kids absolutely enthralled. You’d think a global icon married to a Spice Girl would be pretty skin-deep and vapid but he comes across as a great dude. I’m looking forward to watching the Netflix one when we subscribe and binge that service for a few months this winter.

His sporting achievements aside, he's not much more than a vapid shill, and he had this to say re: the Qatar World Cup in his capacity as a spokesperson for Qatar, a position for which he received millions.



This is the same person who once said he was “honoured to have the tag of gay icon”.

This Netflix series, then, is nothing more then an image-washing exercise, not so different from how he's paid royally to wash the image of Qatar.

[72gmc]

I guess it's not cheap to bounce among humble shacks in Holland Park, the Cotswolds, Miami ...

[j44ke]

Uhm this thread is about not quite mindless escapist pursuits. Moral outrage at hyper wealthy athletes and their business deals is a couple doors down on the left.

[72gmc]

Yessir.

I'm still working on a later season of The Expanse.

Is Ken Burns' buffalo show worth the time?

[echappist]

Uhm this thread is about not quite mindless escapist pursuits. Moral outrage at hyper wealthy athletes and their business deals is a couple doors down on the left.

Someone in this thread called him a "great dude".

Without that assessment of character, I wouldn't have interjected.

[j44ke]

Someone in this thread called him a "great dude".

Without that assessment of character, I wouldn't have interjected.

Your vigilance is noted.

[robin3mj]

It is actually possible to be a good father and partner while also still being a corporate shill and an apologist for retrograde regimes. We contain multitudes.

[echappist]

The operative question is what's so special about being a good father and good partner? Granted, there are a lot of people who don't live up to that, but there are countless others who do, including many on this very forum. Yet I haven't heard that anyone here is getting a series on Amazon/ Disney/ Netflix for his life story. It's glaringly obvious that the genesis of the docuseries isn't that he's a good partner and a father.

It's could also be argued that Beckham wasn't even among the top-5 midfielders of his playing time. He was great at striking the ball, but can often be missing from games. Top of my head, Kaka, Zidane, Seedorf, Pirlo, and Scholes are probably all ahead of him. Yet Zidane is probably the only one who has as big of a persona, and even he doesn't quite have the broad spectrum popularity that Beckham enjoys.

Beckham gets a series because he parlayed his playing success into branding success, then parlayed that branding success to greater personal wealth (being paid oodles to play in the MLS). He then leveraged that into even more clout. Far greater than his ability to deliver pin-point crosses and bending a free-kick (and it has to be said that he was one of the best at those during his playing time) is his recognition that he could profit much more by parlaying his fame into something that will deliver revenue even after retirement.

The show, then, is just another hagiographic and fawning treatment of someone who is even better at playing the PR and image game than he was playing a game of footie, and presenting him as a good family man is just part of that.

Really not too different from a hypothetical docu-series favorable to Kim Kardashian and citing her effort at trying to implement prison reform to support the statement "she's a great person". At the end of the day, both are largely the product of fame alone, and the other facts are just various ways to make the famous person look virtuous.

[j44ke]

Ok, I think we're done with Mr. Beckham. Back to regularly scheduled programming. 5, 4, 3, 2...

[ides1056]

I guess I hit a nerve.

[echappist]

I guess I hit a nerve.

At the risk of irritating our benevolent overlords even more.

Your post didn't hit a nerve, b/c you didn't post your assessment of his character on the basis of what the docuseries presented . I couldn't care less whether someone finds entertainment in a docuseries on a celebrity.

I thought I made my position quite clear with post #648 above. I commented only because someone did draw a conclusion on a celebrity's character on the basis of what a fawning docuseries presented re: said celebrity.

[robin3mj]

Sorry all. I’m done here and will keep opinions to myself going forward.
Did not foresee the fuss…

[echappist]

I discussed my recent posts with Jorn and came to the conclusion that my posts are not appropriate for the purpose of this thread. For that I apologize.

If the mods wish to do so, feel free to remove my most recent posts here.

[bigbill]

Back to binge stuff.

Guy Martin may be one of the most interesting people in the world. He's a legend for his rides in the Isle of Man TT and other races. His day job is as a lorry mechanic. He has been featured in a series of documentaries from rebuilding an English canal longboat, restoring a steam locomotive, setting downhill gravity records, bicycle land speed records, riding a motorcycle across India (Our Guy in India), touring China (Our Guy in China), .... Lithuania, Russia, etc. He built a motorcycle and won the Pike's Peak Hillclimb, Restored and raced a Formula One car, and for most restorations, he used the methods available when the object was built. He made the Wedgwood China, stainless silverware, mattress, linens, and lamps for his canal boat. I watch him on Amazon Prime.

[72gmc]

Do they subtitle him? I’ve seen his race interviews and while they are delightful I have no idea what he’s saying. One heck of a capable person regardless.

[bironi]

Binge watching?
Wasn't that a Covid thang?
I'm sure something will draw me in this winter.
We're lucky to worry about such stuff.
We all have something to ride when needed, and likely more than one choice.

[bigbill]

I binge on podcasts that I listen to while on the trainer. No picture to watch, I can just close my eyes, listen, and turn pedals. If I'm working on a project, I'll have a notepad on the table next to the bike and record my random thoughts.