COVID-19: What I Watch on Netflix and Amazon Prime

Worldometer:

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 210 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances. The day is reset after midnight GMT+0. The list of countries and territories and their continental regional classification is based on the United Nations Geoscheme. Sources are provided under "Latest Updates". Learn more about Worldometer's COVID-19 data

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• Yesterday

Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths	New Deaths	Total Recovered	Active Cases	Serious, Critical	Tot Cases/ 1M pop	Deaths/ 1M pop	Total Tests	Tests/ 1M pop
World	2,536,654	+56,151	175,759	+5,362	686,198	1,674,697	57,571	325	22.5
USA	804,759	+12,000	43,995	+1,481	81,810	678,954	14,016	2,431	133	4,106,587	12,407
Spain	204,178	+3,968	21,282	+430	82,514	100,382	7,705	4,367	455	930,230	19,896
Italy	183,957	+2,729	24,648	+534	51,600	107,709	2,471	3,043	408	1,450,150	23,985
France	158,050	+2,667	20,796	+531	39,181	98,073	5,433	2,421	319	463,662	7,103
Germany	148,024	+959	4,948	+86	95,200	47,876	2,889	1,767	59	1,728,357	20,629
UK	129,044	+4,301	17,337	+828	N/A	111,363	1,559	1,901	255	535,342	7,886
Turkey	95,591	+4,611	2,259	+119	14,918	78,414	1,865	1,133	27	713,409	8,459
Iran	84,802	+1,297	5,297	+88	60,965	18,540	3,357	1,010	63	365,723	4,354
China	82,758	+11	4,632		77,123	1,003	82	57	3

New deaths:

DAY     China   Italy   USA   Spain   Germany   S. Korea  WORLD

Apr    1         7  727     589      463            83               3        3239
          2         6  760     522      709          158               4        4183

          3         4  766     716      587          123               5        3822

          4         4  681     769      546            55               3        4755
          5         3  525     909      471          106               6        3595
          6         2  636     874      528            78               3        4414
          7         ?  604   1371      556            95               6        6291
          8         2  542   1400      628          176               8        5431
          9         2  610   1286      446            82               4        3779
        10         1  570   1739      523          121               4        6506

        11         3  619   1476      399             ?                3        5358
        12         ?  431   1090      366            74               3        4533
        13         2  566   1147      280            21               3        4489
        14         ?  602   1754      300          100               5        5726
        15         1  578   1558      324            97               3        6351
        16         ?  525   1796      318          139               4        6239
        17   1290  575   1338      298          151               1        6857

        18         ?  482   1090        41            74               2        4888
        19         ?  433   1117      410            10               2        4344
        20         ?  454   1202      399            64               2        4307
        21         ?  534   1481      430            86               1        5362

Summary:

• Not a good day for Humanity, as the World, USA, Spain, Italy and Germany all showed increases in new deaths.
• The U.S. has about the same number of COVID-19 cases (and we are #1) as #2 through #6, combined.
• Compared to the World, the U.S. has six times the number of deaths/million people.
• Over the past four days, our NEW DEATHS has increased from 1090 to 1117 to 1202 to 1481.
• The country is beginning to remove stay-at-home restrictions.
• President Donald Trump has refused to take any leadership role in testing, the key to safely restoring the economy.  However, he invoked the Defense Production Act to accelerate the production of swabs.  Only swabs.  Why not the mass production of pre-test and antibody post-test kits?
• As of today, only 1.3% of the nation has received a COVID-19 test.
• 20-30% of those who are infected with this novel coronavirus are asymptomatic (show no sign of being sick), and they will return to the community.  Perhaps an additional 10-20% will only be mildly affected, and many of them, too, will leave home.
• Thus far "only" 0.25% of Americans have suffered from COVID-19.  This leaves 99.75% of us still vulnerable.
• Watching those mostly Trump supporters, who rarely wear face masks, protesting to re-open the economy, is it possible that the next wave of COVID-19 patients will mostly be this group of individuals?

Oh well, on to the enjoyment of life in seclusion.  While Netflix dominates in fresh new programs, AMC has two I watch.  I'll start with Better Call Saul, about this creative, on the edge of criminality, lawyer, a prequel spinoff of Breaking Bad, which I never saw.  Starring Bob Odenkirk, this is the fifth year of what will go on into a final season in 2021.  Amazingly enough, Rotten Tomatoes reviewers rate this series at 97% and audiences 96%.  And, by the way, last week's episode 9 was rated by critics at 100%.  I haven't yet watched it this year, but I see a binge-day coming soon.  I record it on AMC and can rush through the commercials.

Another AMC production is Dispatches from Elsewhere, 84%/74% from Rotten Tomatoes.  This series is created by Jason Segel, who also stars.  I think there will be 10 episodes, and I'm now near the end.  It is intriguing and surprising.

Money Heist, a Spanish production on Netflix, is THE BEST SERIES I've ever seen on television.  Rotten Tomatoes rates it at 91%/82%, but I would give it 100%/100%.  I was watching what I thought was the final episode, where everything was coming to a conclusion...when I found out there was a part 2.  Okay, fine, but at the end of Part 2, I learned that there was to be a second season.  I'll someday return with a conclusion after I watch the final episode, not knowing when that will be.  

Each episode is gripping, reminding me of those movie chapters where the hero is sure to get killed, but in the next episode, amazingly overcomes.  Let me say at this time that Alex Pina is a genius.  He created and wrote the whole thing.

I now and then go to Black Mirror, a British production also on Netflix, which scores 83%/81% on the Tomatometer, but that is for season 5.  In season 1 BM got a 98% reviewers' rating. This is an anthology of our unease with technology and the unexpected consequences.  There is very little happiness here, but it's almost addictive.  You might have trouble sleeping.

I accidentally linked to Unorthodox, also on Netflix, a German-American production, and was bored, until I remembered the last time I was in New York City a little more than a year ago.  I took a city tour, and saw a strange group of individuals, Hasidic Jews.  I wondered why they were the way they were.  A totally different culture from mine, and I felt I wanted to be educated.  This was a miniseries of only four episodes, and it ended just when it began to get interesting.  I hope there will be a second season.  Rotten Tomatoes gave it 94%/94% ratings.  Well deserved.  You too should watch.

I just began seeing Schitt's Creek, a Canadian production on Netflix that consists of 80 episodes spread over six seasons.

...the series follows the trials and tribulations of the formerly wealthy Rose family when they are forced to relocate to Schitt's Creek, a small town they once purchased as a joke.^[5] Now living in a motel, Johnny (Eugene Levy) and Moira Rose (Catherine O'Hara)—along with their adult children, David (Dan Levy) and Alexis (Annie Murphy)—must adjust to life without money and with each other.^[5]

The Levys are father (Eugene) and son (Dan), who also serve as father and son in the program.  The whole thing is the son's idea.  Only a single camera is used with no live audience nor laugh track.  Good background music of nostalgia.  Has won numerous awards.  Rotten Tomatoes loves it:  92%/95%.

I watched a few episodes of Tales from the Loop because it had the Loop, which was an underground experimental test area that had something to do with Black Holes and the Universe.  An American science fiction drama on Amazon Prime based on a Swedish book with that title, this is season one with eight episodes.  The few programs I saw seemed somewhat disjointed, although each had a definite supernatural tag.  I'll probably give it a few more sees, and generally agree with Rotten Tomatoes' ratings of 83%/78%.

I do not jest, Amazon Prime has 500 different programs they have mostly created, or have in production.  They run the gamut of films, documentaries and one-time specials.  As many of them have several years of ten or so episodes, you need to be careful about binge-watching, which is a definite physical and mental hazard.  Eight straight hours glued to a TV is not good for your health.  If you snack and drink, all the worse.

Upcoming on Amazon Prime:

• Eco-Challenge (U.S.)
• How to Survive Being Single (Mexico)
• Galaxy Quest (U.S.)

Netflix?  Maybe 800.  I didn't actually count either source, just guessed.  Netflix and Amazon have replaced Hollywood.  Here is a shortlist of upcoming productions from Netflix:

• Age of Samurai:  Battle for Japan (Japan)
• Arsene Lupin (French)
• Jeffrey Epstein:  Filthy Rich (U.S.)
• The Innocence Files (Spain)
• Invisible Cities (Brazil)
• Move to Heaven (Korea)
• The Silent Sea (Korea)
• Sparking Joy with Marie Kondo (Japan reality show)

Productions from South Korea and Spain are especially noteworthy.

Next, my daily Donald Trump joke sent by readers:

Donald Trump walks into a bank to cash a check. As he approaches the cashier he says, "Good morning, Ma'am, could you please cash this check for me?"

Cashier: "It would be my pleasure sir. Could you please show me your ID?"
Trump: "Truthfully, I did not bring my ID with me as I didn't think there was any need to. I am Donald Trump, the President of the United States of America!!!!"

Cashier: "Yes sir, I know who you are, but with all the regulations and monitoring of the banks because of impostors and forgers and requirements of the banking legislation, etc., I must insist on seeing ID."
Trump: "Just ask anyone here at the bank who I am and they will tell you. Everybody knows who I am."

Cashier: "I am sorry, Mr. Trump, but these are the bank rules and I must follow them."
Trump: "My goodness. I am urging you, please, to cash this cheque."

Cashier: "Look Mr. Trump , here is an example of what we can do. One day, Tiger Woods came into the bank without ID. To prove he was Tiger Woods he pulled out his putter and made a beautiful shot across the bank into a cup. With that shot we knew him to be Tiger Woods and cashed his check.

Another time, Andre Agassi came in without ID. He pulled out his tennis racket and made a fabulous shot; the tennis ball landed in my cup. With that shot we cashed his check.

So, Mr. Trump, what can you do to prove that it is you, and only you?"

Trump stands there thinking, and thinking, and finally says, "Honestly, my mind is a total blank, I have absolutely no idea what to do, I don't have a clue."

Cashier: "Will that be large or small bills, Mr. Trump.

Can't end with The Donald.  Another of those dancing re-mixed blasts from the past:  Boogie Woogie Country Girl.  This one played by someone named Micke Muster from Sweden.  He was born just around the time I graduated from college, at the age of 13 bought a Jerry Lee Lewis record, and the rest is history.

I graduated from McKinley High School in 1958 and left Hawaii for the first time in my life.  This was probably my most traumatic year, for I went on to spend the summer at the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory in Port Hueneme, then on to the Stanford Campus.  In ten minutes, here are the top 30 songs of that year.



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