Knit to This
Transparent
Just when I think I’m running out of good things to watch while knitting on Sundays, the sun breaks through the clouds in the form of someone reminding me of a show I was curious about and never got around to watching.
Transparent is one of those series, starring Jeffrey Tambor. It’s about a 70-year-old pater familias who is beginning to transition to being a woman. I’m finding it moving despite the aspects of it that are soap opera. (I’m only halfway into the first season, but the young-people plot lines are topically formulaic in a way that reminds me of Sisters and Thirtysomething, to which I was once devoted. If you liked those shows, I think you will like Transparent, which is deeper and more humorous.)
Judith Light and Jeffrey Tambor both give performances that are tender and funny. Their kids are kind of a mess, verging on caricature, but perhaps as things develop that will change.
One aspect that I love is the set design, indoors and out. Not your typical sitcom or drama setting; it’s very realistic and visually rich.
The series streams on Amazon. Here is Jeffrey Tambor talking about it in an interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air.
For Something Completely Different
You could also watch this short video of Maira Kalman’s Museum Workout. See if you spot anybody you recognize, bopping along to the Bee Gees, wearing Blundstone boots and a handknit sweater. (It was snowy that morning.)
Kay
OMG that looks so great! I would sign up in a heartbeat but 1200 miles is kinda far to go for an exercise class.
Not sure why these posts are coming up on my feed, dated today (2/9), but obviously were written before 2/1. Anyway, Transparent is GREAT! (Though it has come in for criticism in the trans community because the actor who plays the trans woman is a straight man, and they are saying they should have cast a trans woman in the role.) As the parent of adult children, I found myself impatient with the three adult children, who keep on making terrible decision after terrible decision. But the woman rabbi is WONDERFUL!!! I learned a lot about the Jewish faith watching this, and also some of the subtler issues around trans identity — like, would a trans woman be welcome at a women’s music festival. (Not very…)
(But she *should* be welcome in any woman-only space! Trans women *are* women! That episode is referencing a specific & controversial festival, & also, sadly, a real-world prejudice.)
OMG after the season finale of each season, I have wanted to convert to Judaism!
Now that’s an exercise video I could watch over and over again (perhaps even exercise to)! Oh, the fantasy of strolling through an empty Metropolitan Museum. Well done, Kay!