Mid-Summer Viewing Post Although the global theatrical box office fell by 80% in 2020 due to Covid there’s still plenty of screening content being created.   Of course the thing about streaming is that you do have to turn on an electronic device to select from the tens of thousands of hours available on various platforms.   (On the streaming wars see: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/05/streaming-services-compared-revenue-arpu-for-netflix-disney-more.html .)   Netflix alone seems to add a new series almost every day.   There’s now a bunch on medical themes; also one for dog lovers and one for cat lovers; two seasons of one on human babies.   There’s even a new 6-episode series How to Become a Tyrant. [*On the Kanopy platform (free linked to a public library card) one can find the 2018 documentary Active Measures which covers the deep ties between Putin’s corrupt regime as Russian overlord and the deeply corrupt Trump empire and campaign.   Fortunatel...

  Thanks to the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) channel I was finally able to watch the `1930 German classic The Blue Angel directed by Josef von Sternberg and famously starring Marlene Dietrich (he was one of her lovers) in the role of the cabaret singer “Lola Lola”.    She truly commanded the screen.                   The amount of streaming content being added is staggering.    Netflix has become a global production juggernaut offering a proliferation of docuseries.   Among these are: Human: The World Within (6 episodes), the jaunty Australian Ask the Doctor (several seasons, 24 episodes), and The Surgeon’s Cut (4 episodes).     Some are from TV series of past years.   That includes another terrific Australian series Tales by Light , 2015-2018, with three seasons totaling 18 episodes.    Each segment follows photographers on a mission to capture memorable images through the lens of...