Recently, I binge-watched a lot of shows with TeJaun. I also binge-watched even more shows and movies by myself. I found some of them boring and some of them very interesting. I want to share some of the ones that TeJaun and I both think are binge-watch-worthy with you all. You can use them to fill your weekends and relaxing nights during the pandemic (or just in general).
Without further ado, let’s dive in🙌.
Ted Lasso
It doesn’t make sense to me that American Football has nothing to do with a foot – unless you consider the fact that you use your “feet” 🦶to run.
In this show, Ted Lasso, an American football coach, is hired to coach professional association football (known as “soccer” in American English)) in the English Premier League, despite only having experience coaching college-level American Football. His joining is unexpected, taking the town and fans by surprise. Nevertheless, this is a deliberate move made by the new team owner, Rebecca who acquired the team as part of a divorce settlement with her husband..
As to why she did this, you’ll have to watch it to figure it out..
Naturally, no one likes him. Try to think it over, would you want someone to coach you to win the championship in a competition he knows nothing about? You’d probably roll your eyes whenever this “wanker” (as they call him in the show) tried to coach you too, wouldn’t you?
But the story unfolds in this seemingly conflicting way.
Why do I like it?
I feel like I can resonate with this show a lot. It reminds me of a bunch of things in my work, with the most important things being teamwork and having a good coach. Individuals can motivate themselves with ideas of things like glory, triumph, and honor, etc. However, coaching a team to fight as a unit is the hardest part.
Winning a competition as a team doesn’t solely depend on individual performance, but teamwork. Each member’s skill and the ability to collaborate are the key drivers. But the mindset of working together is even more critical. How to cooperate as a team to maximize advantages and minimize disadvantages depends on each team player’s mindset.
A good coach isn’t necessarily limited to a coach who is an expert in their professional area, like football, basketball, whatever ball. A good coach usually stands out by regrouping and rallying the team when the team morale is low and individual goals are scattered all over the place.
Mythic Quest
Mythic Quest is the name of a fictional video game created by a team consisting of a creative director, a head writer, some engineers,testers, and so on.
Why Do I like it:
For starters, each episode only lasts about 30 min. I don’t need to worry about being disturbed by emergencies halfway through an episode while I’m watching it (like drinking water, using the bathroom, etc.). TJ doesn’t need to worry about me falling asleep before we finish a complete episode either. Win-win.
The protagonists, Ian and Poppy, remind me of TJ and myself. TJ also agrees. Ian is more of a rational guy, whereas Poppy is more emotional. However, they are a foil to each other. They perfectly embody the concept of “united we stand, divided we fall.” Ian is very creative and confident. He comes up with a bunch of good ideas. However, he needs Poppy to help him implement these ideas into reality because he lacks the technical skills to do so. On the other end, Poppy has low self-esteem. Sometimes, she is a bit socially panicked and easily manipulated. Unlike Ian, Poppy’s good ideas are usually scarce. For instance, in one of the episodes, she suggests putting a shovel in the game, which users can use to dig. However, everyone else insists that the shovel would be more exciting and appealing as a weapon. Poppy tends to go extremes when she has fantastic ideas, often resulting in her getting stuck somewhere in the process. As a result, she goes nowhere, and needs Ian’s guidance to modify her designs a little bit and make them more realistic.
Another reason why I like this show is that Mythic Quest is a very engaging and positive comedy, giving people a relaxing feeling. The last episode of season 1, called Quarantine, conveys the confidence that no matter what these uncertain times might bring, its journey is just getting started. We are in a global pandemic, but life is still going on. The world is still moving forward. We still need to work, sleep, and take the leap. To an extent, nothing changed. We just need to learn how to live with the virus which we are battling against.
Earth At Night In Color
Human beings have evolved pretty well to see at night. But compared to a nocturnal animal, the sensitivity of our eyes doesn’t measure up.
Earth At Night In Color is a documentary. When we studied nocturnal animals’ behaviors in the dark, cameras only offered a glimpse into their lives. But with next-generation technology, we can see them in the night as clear as day.
Following the lives of these animals into the night, cutting-edge cameras can reveal unseen and new behaviors in full color like never before. It gives us new insights into animals that hide in a shadowy world on our planet.
In this documentary, every scene was shot at night. But it allows you to see every single event as if it happened in the daytime.
Transcendence
Watching a science fiction movie is always beyond satisfying. It allows me to have an immersive experience in some kind of science-based surrealism that I can rarely bask myself in in real life.
However, Transcendence is an exception.
Transcendence stars famous actor Johnny Depp as leading computer scientist, Dr. Will Caster. He and his wife Evelyn pursued science to repair the damage humans had done to the ecosystems. Dr. Will developed an intelligent machine, called PINN, that enables him to transfer his consciousness to it after his death.
In this movie, physical assets were represented digitally, and humans were replicated into a digital world. The types of Digitalization shown in this movie a few years ago are no longer a myth or stretch nowadays. These remind me of my work of bringing sci-fi to real life with a digital twin.
👀I hope you’ve enjoyed my little spill of these shows and movies. Alright, let me wrap up this recommendation with a happy and curious ending. Now it’s your turn to find the resources if you’d like to give them a try. These good shows are worth researching and trying out for yourself. 🎥
SusanTangHere 
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