Friday Five 8-5-2016

This is the thirteenth installment in my weekly series, called the Friday Five. In this series, I’ll tell you about five random things that I love, whether they be books, travel, music, movies…or whatever. So without further ado, 8-5-2016’s Friday Five!

1–Poldark. I started watching this show on Amazon, and I love it. I reminds me a bit of Downton Abbey in its character interactions, but it’s also totally different. It’s set in the 1700s, so it’s a completely different time period than Downton Abbey. If you’re in a ‘show hole,’ it might be worth checking this one out. It’s on PBS, although I’ve been watching it on Amazon Video.

2–Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I’m a huge Harry Potter nerd, so Mike pre-ordered this for my birthday. I just finished Act One last night (I’m trying not to binge read it), and I’m hooked. Some people have criticized it because it lacks the rich narrative and exposition of the other Harry Potter books. But, it’s also a script for a live stage show, so it would be silly to have all of that information. And I’ve read all of the previous books, several of the short stories on Pottersmore, visited the theme parks at Universal Studios (see my thoughts on them here, here, and here), and watched all of the movies, so I can picture all of this while I’m reading. So I can’t say that I feel like I’m missing out.

3–Other Magical Books. Once I finish Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, I may be missing me some Harry Potter. Fortunately, I found this list, of 10 Books For Adults That Are Just As Magical as Harry Potter. So, hopefully that will help me from my withdrawals.

4–Ride with Larry. Larry’s wife Betty was one of my professors in college. And one summer, Larry and Betty led a trip to France for me and three other students, so they are dear people to me. Larry has Parkinson’s Disease, but it doesn’t affect him the same when he’s riding a bicycle. Consequently there was a team of bicyclists, including Larry and Betty, and a team of filmmakers who rode for Parkinson’s awareness. This documentary will be released on August 9, 2016. I’ve pre-ordered it, and I hope that you will as well.

5–Skydiving. I’m going to preface this by saying, I’m not interested in jumping out of an airplane. But a friend of mine just did it last weekend, and loved the experience. Then I stumbled across this article this week in Nebraska Rural Living. So, I won’t do it, but I’m fascinated by it, and wanted to pass along information to those who may be crazy willing to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. 😉