What I've Been Watching: September--November

Hi! If you've checked out my recent posts within the last few months, you'll know that this section of the blog might as well be a desert. I realized quite a few years ago that reviewing what I watch isn't something I'm good at. I started out on this blog doing soap 'reviews,' but really I was just giving my thoughts on the day's episode. I did a shit job of actually reviewing the episodes. I started All Things Vintage some time later, doing classic movie reviews, and eventually realized that this too was not something I excelled at. I tried again, this time with tv shows, a couple of years later here on RRNT. This failed as well, so I switched it to online exclusives, which also--as you can plainly see--didn't work either. You would figure that by now, I'd have gotten it through my head that maybe doing tv reviews isn't my bag. I finally get it now though. lol 

So reviewing tv and movies isn't my thing. But I did find something in the same vein that did work for me--recommendations. I wanted to talk about the things that I watched without having to worry about trying to sound like career tv/movie critics. I'm just a long-winded broad who watches shit online, ya know? I can't keep trying to fit a square into a triangle. At some point in the last couple of years, I started including a section in my Monthly Favorites posts called "What'd I watch this month," so that I could list the documentaries that I'd watched and give them a brief mention. I've decided that rather than trying to review the tv shows individually, I'd create a new series called "What I've Been Watching," so that I can give a list of what I've been watching and give some recommendations. I'm still trying to figure out the schedule for these particular posts, so bear with me while I see what works. Since I haven't done a Monthly post in quite some time, I thought I'd do one of these because I've watched some really interesting things over the past few months. This is going to be long, so get a snack before you continue. I hope you enjoy! 

Narcos Season 2

Very British Problems

I shouldn't even have to go into detail about why Narcos was on the list for September. This is an amazing show and I loved Wagner Moura's performance as Pablo. I know he got a lot of shit for being Brazilian and portraying one of the most famous Colombians in history, especially because of the Colombian-based show, but I actually thought he did a superb job. I was upset because obviously Pablo's going to die so Wagner will be leaving the show, but I've become a big fan of his work. I think I might rewatch the series soon. I successfully got my uncle and his wife hooked on it and if I can get you hooked on it too then its a win-win for everyone.

I think there's an English gal in my brain somewhere, probably because of all of the books I've read that are set there, so I wanted to watch Very British Problems. Each episode features a different theme, with commentary by various Brits on how it said theme affects their society. Some of the themes are a bit vague and describe quite a few Americans, myself included, but others seem to be uniquely British. I've watched both seasons of the show and I think I liked the 1st season better, but overall the show is an entertaining look into another country's way of thinking. 

Border Security: America's Front Line

The Fall Series 3

Easy

Street Food Around the World

Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories

Jack the Ripper: Prime Suspect

Dowry Law

The Ranch Part 2

I love the Border Security series; I've already seen Australia and Canada's seasons and America's was recently added, so I checked it out. I didn't realize it was so hard to enter or leave a country, and it's always amusing to see the banned shit people try to bring back.

I have been waiting for the third series of the UK drama The Fall for a good minute now. This is probably the final season of the show, and even though I wasn't disappointed, I will say I found the ending a little anticlimactic and open-ended on many fronts. This is a dark, intense drama where not everyone has their HEA and I don't often rewatch more serious programs, but I'm down to rewatch this one.  For me, this was one of those shows that left me feeling like, "What do I do with my life now?" when it was over. If you're into murder-suspense dramas but want something a little different from American series, try out The Fall.

Easy is a Netflix Original anthology series and it's unlike any other original show I've seen on the platform before. Easy is set in Chicago, and each episode focuses on the intimate happenings of a different couple in that area. Most of the characters are loosely connected, but a different couple gets their shine in each episode. It has a quite eclectic cast, from Malin Akerman and Orlando Bloom playing new parents entertaining the idea of having a threesome, to Elizabeth Reaser's breadwinner wife trying to bring some excitement back into the bedroom. There's even an episode entirely in Spanish and I kinda loved that. Intimate issues that all people face at some point in their lives are explored in a comedic but refreshing way and for the most part, I highly enjoyed the series.

Street Food Around the World is a show centered on international street food and the culture behind those dishes. The host can grate on the nerves a bit with the bad jokes, but overall if you're trying to get some exposure to international dishes this is a good show to watch. I like it for both the culture and food, but even if you like one more than the other you should be able to find something you like about the show.

Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories is a Japanese anthology series set in an overnight diner in Tokyo. Each story focuses on a customer who finds their way into the diner, and the chef wears a number of hats, the primary one being confidante. There's an array of things in this series, from family estrangements to lost loves, but the glue holding the show together is the diner and the food. Each episode also focuses on a different Japanese dish served at the diner and if you pay attention, you get the gist of the recipe as well. I loved that the series took the time to show the power that food has--it can bond people, bring comfort, bring up old memories, help people reconcile, and in one episode, was what caused the estrangement. It's a really understated series and I hope they bring it back for another season.

Jack the Ripper: Prime Suspect brings a new prime suspect into the light, and a pretty compelling case is presented as to who people now suspect to be the infamous Jack the Ripper. A few new avenues are explored and with the development of both technology and crime-solving techniques, a full profile of the Ripper's suspected identity emerges. A great amount of effort was put into trying to salvage what evidence was left behind, and if you're into true unsolved crimes I think you might find this documentary intriguing.

Dowry Law is a documentary attempting to bring light to an issue often ignored outside of India, the increasing number of dowry-related murders. The face for this documentary is a young doctor who, like many before her, was said to have killed herself despite not showing any signs of distress or depression beforehand. The documentary goes pretty in-depth with interviews from the woman's in-laws as well as others caught up in both sides of the dowry dilemma. This is a problem that needs to have more mainstream exposure and as a result, this definitely worth a watch.

I can't remember when the first part of The Ranch premiered, but I was waiting for this second half and I was a little 'ehh' about it when it was over. For those who miss the feel of a multi-cam, traditional sitcom but with less language limitations, The Ranch may be good, but it's chuckle-worthy, not LOL funny so don't go into it expecting that. I feel like maybe they want it to be this mix of comedy and more serious moments, but the serious moments sometimes either don't know if they're taking themselves too seriously or not seriously enough. It's still entertaining enough though, and there's a surprise That '70s Show reunion towards the end of the season.

Queen Mimi

Sofia Nino de Rivera: Expuesta

Carlos Ballarta: El amor es de putos

Paranoid Series 1 

Witness

Kathleen Madigan: Bothering Jesus

Iliza: Confirmed Kills

The Real Beauty & the Beast

Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction?

Queen Mimi is about the colorful life of Mimi, a California woman who, for many years, lived in a laundromat and made friends with the employees and patrons, some of whom later became famous. Nobody really knew her backstory or how she came to live at the laundromat, but this documentary, filmed over a five-year-period, gives the viewer a peek into Mimi's life, both the good and the bad. This is one of those documentaries where you come into it thinking it's going to be about one thing but it unfolds into something much deeper, something greater and that's why I enjoyed it so much.

This must have been the month of stand-up specials for me, as I watched not one but four different stand-up shows this month. I really like that Netflix is giving stand-up comedians their minute with Original specials and while I don't usually watch them, I think I needed the laugh this month. Sofia Nino de Rivera: Expuesta was funny as Sofia has a habit of lightly harassing her audience but somehow bringing the real humor back to herself and the craziness in her family. Carlos Ballarta was funny for its observational humor and his thoughts about Mexico. I live on the Texas-Mexican border so there were quite a few things in the special that I understood. Kathleen Madigan's was funny for the commentary on her family, namely her parents, and Iliza's was funny for her weird voices, the bit on mermaids and a funny, if not drawn-out, look at what she wants to see on Shark Tank.

Paranoid is a UK mini-series following a trio of detectives trying to solve a murder with their supervising officer breathing down their necks. The murder of a mother in broad daylight, surrounded by people at a playground and right in front of her young son, sparks terror in the small town and its citizens, who weren't used to this level of savagery. But what initially looks like the actions of a mentally ill murderer explodes into a much larger story about Big Pharma, and I was quite pleased to see Danny Huston in the cast. My absolute favorite part of this series was the smaller arc of one of the detectives having work-induced anxiety. It spoke to me and while I hate that anxiety is today's latest bandwagon disorder, I love that it was included in this story, which has roots in pharmaceuticals, which are often prescribed in large doses for those of us dealing with it.

Witness revisits the murder of Kitty Genovese back in the '60s. If you weren't aware of the case, Kitty was murdered in New York one night, supposedly with no less than 20 witnesses in the proximity, and despite them hearing her screams nobody called the police. I don't believe the murderer was ever caught. But this documentary, told by her younger brother as he independently revisits the case, shows just how many details were either omitted or deliberately released inaccurately by the media. It paints the entire investigation and our view of police departments and the media in a new light as the truth of what happened to Kitty Genovese that night finally comes out.

The Real Beauty and the Beast tells the true story that inspired the Disney fairytale, but as is often the case, truth was more tragic than fiction. Petrus Gonsalvus had a condition we know now as hypertrichosis but back in the 1500s, the condition caused people to believe the afflicted were human/beast hybrids. They were often ostracized and humiliated and such was the case with a young boy named Pedro Gonzalez, until the king took him under his wing and converted him into a well-educated noble. This explores whether or not the fairytale was based on truth, as well as the research efforts into hypertrichosis and how it affects people living with it today.

Finally, the paranormal buff in me couldn't resist watching this mini-doc on the supposed first alien autopsy. As with everything about aliens, the autopsy has to be taken with a grain of salt. People from both sides of this argument speak on the autopsy, from those supposedly sworn to secrecy about the aliens to those who believe it was a huge work by the government and the cameraman who filmed it. Unfortunately, the last bits of truth are slipping through our fingers as most of the people who were around for the event have since passed away. So at this point, you have to decide for yourself whether or not the autopsy, which is shown in the documentary, was true or not.

I'm sure you finished your snack some time ago--I warned you this would be a long post--but this is what I've been watching throughout the fall season. I still have my complaints with Netflix as a platform on the whole, but I've always enjoyed their documentary offerings and their original content is improving in leaps and bounds. I hope you were able to find something new to watch from this list (it would justify the length of this post...in my mind, anyway lol) and I'll see you soon!

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You Be-Natural

Hi! You're probably going to be seeing a lot more of me as I've ended the majority of my year over at ATV, so get ready to get very tired of me very quickly. lol I'm subscribed to a site called Naturally Curly, and every few months they have a month of giveaways, with new products being up for grabs every day of that month. I've been entering the site's giveaways for years--and I mean years--but never won. Until last month, when I finally won something! lol When I was contacted by the company for my address, I didn't even remember what contest I'd entered--probably a hint that I enter too many--but I found out that I'd won a small bundle of products from Luster's You Be-Natural line. You Be-Natural is a line of haircare products geared toward those with Natural hair and those who want to either bring out or enhance their natural curl patterns. The products are meant to hydrate and moisturize both the hair and scalp and caters to those with both soft curls and tight coils. Before I get to the review, let's talk hair for a minute. (Or you can skip on down to the little divider if you're just here for the review.)

For the longest time, probably because I wasn't Natural, I wasn't sure what curl pattern I had because it varied. I was on the creamy crack for a good portion of my life because that was the only way that both my mom and later I could manage my hair (I had a lot of hair as a kid), so I was never able to see a consistent pattern. My hair has always been frizzy but between perms, it always had a deep wave, so I just figured that was its pattern. After I went completely Natural last year and did my chop in February, a completely different pattern emerged. Some parts of my hair were so tightly coiled that they were probably closer to knots than curls, while other parts were just frizzy and had no set pattern. I couldn't find an answer from the different curl pattern tests, including Naturally Curly's, and I couldn't find many articles by chicks with a similar texture until sometime this summer, when it was a little more obvious.

I figured out that I fall somewhere in the middle of a 4b and 4c curl pattern, which would be a combination of a coily & crimpy and coily & undefined pattern. My hair doesn't retain a lot of moisture, so it is insanely dry a lot of the time and because it's so tightly coiled at the roots it has to be wet in order for me to comb through it. It is very prone to breaking, shedding and shrinkage, so I wasn't even able to see that my hair had grown from the chop until late summer. I'm pretty good on my hair now; I don't use heat on it at all except for when I straighten it, and since February I've straightened it twice. I deep condition it twice a week and shampoo it once. Once a month or so, I'll use a clarifiying shampoo to remove any buildup, but I follow that up with a leave-in conditioner to put some hydration back in my hair. I always let it air dry, usually under a silk cap so the conditioner or oil I've put on my hair has time to set. The first day or two are usually fine, but after that, my hair goes right back to the kinky, coiled desertland it usually is.

I mentioned all of that to explain exactly why I needed to find some new products for my hair and so that if you were confused about your curl pattern but your hair sounds similar to mine, you'd know what your curl pattern was and what types of products you'll need for it. Now that that's out of the way, let's get to the fun part--what I won! 

Botanical Moisture-Lock Curl Lotion, $8.98

Benefits:

          -locks in moisture

          -softens hair

          -elongates tight curls

          -helps with frizz 

This lotion is supposed to be a daily moisturizer with quite a few benefits if used daily. Daily usage is supposed to soften the hair cuticle, giving it some protection against damage and dryness, fighting frizziness and loosening tight curls. I've used this a few times since I received it and I haven't noticed any benefits yet, but I've been applying it after washing or conditioning my hair in hopes that it will retain at least a bit of moisture. It does seem a little softer to the touch for a day or so afterward. I've used this on my niece after her hair is washed, and it's pretty much the same story. It's not spectacular but it does soften the hair and that makes it a little easier to manage while you're brushing the hair out. 

Botanical Edge Tamer All Day Hold Gel, $4.98

Benefits:

     -no flakes

     -holds all day

This gel is soft but still solid to the touch so I was worried that it wouldn't be pliable, but it is. It's not a watery formula at all so if you're used to old school runny gel you won't have to worry about that here. A little of the product went a long way with my baby hairs as I didn't have to pile on a lot of the gel to get them to lay down. When I first applied it, I liked it a lot. It didn't leave dry flakes behind or give the front of my head that shininess that comes with a lot of hair gels, which I liked. 

Unfortunately, it also doesn't hold all day. If you have fine hairs that frizz or coil when you're hot (or in a hot/humid environment), this gel probably won't hold for longer than a couple of hours. When I went to reapply, I noticed that my hair was a bit stiff so I'd suggest wetting your toothbrush or comb a little then reapplying the gel so that you can reshape your hair. Maybe using a light spray on top to set the gel would help it to work a little longer but for me, but it definitely didn't hold all day. 

Botanical Curl Shaper Custard for Tightly Coiled Textures, $9.98

Benefits: 

     -best for coarse or tightly coiled curls

     -stretches and lengthens tight curls

     -reduces frizz

This was the creme I used on my hair, more so in an effort to bring out a defined curl pattern than anything else. After I washed my hair, I used the lotion on it first, then sectioned it off and used this creme for a regular twist out. After twisting each section regularly, I then twisted it around my finger to form a spiral and left it alone overnight. Since I'm usually awake all night, I just put a satin cap on over it and went about my business. The longer I'm Natural the less moisture my hair retains so it dried pretty quickly but the creme took longer to absorb. The resulting twist out was much better than the last few times I'd tried to do one.

The first day was probably the best, as the curls were the most consistently defined and the texture was the softest. Every day after that, I saw more shrinkage, more frizz and by the third day, the defined curls were once again hidden behind a field of coarse frizziness. If your hair texture is similar to mine, I would suggest using this creme immediately after drying the excess water off of your hair because my ends had already started to dry when I got started, so those came undone first. I'd also recommend using small sections so that the curls last a little longer. 

Botanical Soft Curls Curling Creme for Soft Curly Textures, $9.98

Benefits: 

     -best for loopy & spiral curl types

     -moisturizes curls and keeps them well-formed and defined

     -hydrates hair

I used this creme on my niece, whose hair is similar to mine with the tight curls, but hers is a bit softer than mine because she's mixed. My brother is black (obviously lol) and has what I call Brillo hair, and her mom is Mexican and has thick, wavy hair. As a result, my niece has these beautiful, springy coils but like mine, her hair has to be wet in order to properly comb through them because her curls are often a little dry and prone to tangle. Thanks to her mama's genes her curl pattern is naturally defined, so I thought this creme would be better suited for her hair than the one I used on mine. After her bath, I just detangled her hair, sectioned it off and applied a little creme to each section before twisting it around my finger to form a curl. We let it dry uncovered overnight and those particular curls stayed put for a couple of days as well. Her hair was much softer, the curl pattern even more defined than usual, and the frizz was just at the edges rather than at the ends like it usually is. The edge gel didn't work for her hair either though.

Overall, the You Be-Natural products that I won are good products. For the most part, they do what they say they'll do with creating more curl definition, making the hair softer and more manageable and keeping the hair hydrated. What it fails to mention, however, is that these benefits are only for a short period of time. If you want to maintain these benefits, you have to put these products into a daily or twice weekly regimen. For ten bucks a pop though, I would have liked the softness and improved texture to have lasted a little longer. If you don't go overboard on how much product you use, these might last you awhile.

Even though I wasn't completely satisfied, I'd still recommend these products to those who are Natural and in the learning process with their hair. If you're confused about your Natural texture because you're still transitioning, these products will bring out the definition you're looking for. If you have long hair and require a lot of product, however, I'd suggest something else because you'll probably run through these amounts fairly quickly. I'd also recommend this if you have Natural children and just want their hair to be more defined and hydrated on a daily basis. None of these products clog the hair or scalp and they're easy to put into a daily regimen. You may not want to do twist-outs every day (I certainly don't lol) but even if you don't, these products mostly do what they say they'll do. My mom said she's seen the You Be-Natural line at Sally's and I've been seeing some new products in the line pop up at Dollar General, but I included the links from Luster's site directly if you're interested in buying them. I also saw them on Amazon when I was trying to find the prices for the post. 

But that's it for me today. For my other Natural chicks out there, how much do you typically put towards your haircare products? I hope you enjoyed this review and I'll see you soon!

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