Blue Planet II Narrated by David Attenborough

Blue Planet II was just released on DVD, Blu Ray and 4K UltraHD on Tuesday and all I can say is "WOW". I've only watched the first two episodes so far, but it is absolutely spectacular, every minute of the show.

The amazon.com product description is as follows:

In recent years, our knowledge of what goes on in our Ocean has been transformed. Blue Planet II uses cutting-edge breakthroughs in science and technology to explore new worlds, reveals astonishing creatures and extraordinary new animal behaviors. As we journey through our deep seas, coral reefs, open ocean, green seas and coasts we share these extraordinary new discoveries. But we now know that ocean health is under threat. Never has there been a more crucial time to explore our remotest seas, and to examine what the future will hold for our blue planet.  

I've loved everything by David Attenborough that I've seen so far, and to date, Blue Planet II is no exception. I loved both the original Planet Earth series, along with The Blue Planet - both of which I have on DVD, but the clarity of the 4k viewing for this one and the new Planet Earth II that came out last year just blows both of those away! I raved about the first two and his Wildlife Specials series in this post a few years ago.

The filming in this one is just spectacular - they've managed to capture some truly glorious waves with the light glowing through as just one example from the first episode. That doesn't even begin to cover watching a school of Giant Trevally catching birds in flight, or looking at a very, very strange looking deepwater fish which has a transparent head that it looks through, the Barreleye fish. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one since I watched the episode earlier this evening.

David Attenborough shows us so many things about our own planet that I think we'd never see without a show like this. How about the twilight zone and the midnight zones of our ocean? Without the specialized equipment he has access to, there's no other way to see it - and there's so much beauty hidden down there and almost unknown! What's more, we're destroying more and more of it as we go!

The next episode on the first disc is going to be just as spectacular I think. Where the first episode was an overview of the oceans in general and the second episode looked at the deepest waters in more detail, the third episode is going to be focused on coral reefs around the world. I'll admit to having a soft spot for those - especially after my two visits to Hanauma Bay in Hawaii. Watching this episode will probably bring back some fond memories.

Nifty! Some searching just showed me that there is a CD version of the soundtrack for this show available too! The music is just as spectacular as the footage for these two shows. Of course, I have a particular fondness for the music of Hans Zimmer, who did some of the music for these shows, so your opinions on this may vary.

With Planet Earth II, we ended up having to go with an iTunes version. Maybe I'm just really old-fashioned, but I have a strong preference for having a physical copy of my music - and I know I listen to far more music from CD's than I do my phone. Of course, having said that, I now see that there is a CD version for Planet Earth II as well. Go figure!

Netflix and Crafting

Those blog posts you see about how Netflix is bad for your reading time? All true. All very, very true. We signed up for Netflix this past month - it was cheaper than buying the seasons of all the Star Trek shows - initially mostly for my husband. I did have hopes though that they might have Outlander - my current favorite T.V. show. No luck. That, among a number of other shows and movies I'd like to see are not a part of the Canadian version of Netflix currently. Didn't think I'd be using it that much... Most of the shows I watch I own on DVD or Blu-ray already.

Then I started to go looking. They had the David Attenborough shows, even the ones I hadn't bought yet - though not the one about the Great Barrier Reef - for which I've only seen the final episode unfortunately. Downton Abbey. I've wanted to watch that one. And then I discovered The Crown. Firmly down the rabbit hole now, and my "to watch" list is growing. Mostly historical drama series and animal shows.

Add to this that I've gotten back into crochet again after about a month of doing next to none. And the project of the day is the beaded shawl I've been working on for the last three or so years. The one I tend to refer to as "what the heck was I thinking" especially when I get to a beaded row.  I have to admit however, that I know exactly why I've picked up this project again. It's thanks to the Knitters Pride blocking mats I just bought. I want to have a project finished so I can try them out. I'm making some pretty good progress too - about four rows in the last week. I really do need to get some photographs taken to show it off.

Up until now I've been using some of the bigger foam mats bought at Canadian Tire. They've worked well enough, but they're no fun to store. I think that right now, a couple of them are behind the basement sofa, one is in the furnace room and the final is hiding in the closet under the stairs. All of them though, are collecting dust, and are highly awkward to stash away.

These new mats are smaller, and come in a neat carrying case - they're always going to be nice and clean and ready to use. No "where is the final mat hiding this time" issues to deal with any more. I do wonder though if the Knitters Pride mats will interlock with my older mats should I need to expand the area for a larger project. Any other knitters/crocheters have the answer?

My final snark of the day on crafting concerns crochet hooks - and I'm not referring to the tiniest ones that got bent trying to open up an old family filing cabinet that was missing its' key (attempt failed by the way). No, those are still on my "to replace" list and the attempt can be filed under "unusual ways of using crochet hooks" of which I have a few stories.

Instead I'm referring to the Addi Comfort Grips crochet hooks I'd been buying a few years ago. I've got something like four or five of them now, and over the last five years, all of the handles have cracked. I'll admit that I've not been overly careful with them - keeping them in traveling project bags for example, but I also don't think I've been all that rough with them either. Still, I most definitely expect better durability for the price I paid for each hook.

I don't think they're worth what I've paid for them, and I'm fully intending to go back to using the Boye metal crochet hooks - which have never had a problem - unless I've been using them for non-crochet purposes like picking a rock out of a truck wheel mechanism. No, my plan as I finish each of the projects that uses one of these hooks is to retire it and take up any new projects with the Boye hooks again. They're nearly as comfortable to use and far less expensive, which is good as I prefer to keep the correct hook with each project I'm working on - thus I can have four or five of the most commonly used sizes.

I'd love to know though what your favorite crochet hooks are - maybe I'll give them a try.

At any rate, all of the above has been quite bad for my reading time - especially since I've now joined my husband in watching two to three episodes of Deep Space Nine in a day - from part way through season 5 and I'm now hooked for the most part. It makes for a good time to do some crocheting. Reading time? What reading time?

I'm still claiming to be reading Drums of Autumn though, and am about a hundred pages farther in than I was last week.

An Amazing Overview of Our Planet

Over the past couple of years, I've been watching my way through David Attenborough's various series about our planet: The Blue Planet: Seas of Life, Planet Earth and now Frozen Planet. The first two I have on DVD and they're absolutely spectacular, but compared with the blu-ray of Frozen Planet? That last one is just WOW.

 

I was first introduced to David Attenborough's shows a few years ago at work, when his Blue Planet and Planet Earth series were all the rage. Everyone wanted them - especially the combo pack containing both shows. At the time I had no idea who he was, or anything about either show. Later, I bought the Wildlife Specials on DVD - I wanted something I could watch with my Mom - I didn't have cable at the time, and none of the rest of my DVD collection was really her thing. All it took was one of the episodes (If my memory's not playing tricks, it was the Polar Bear episode) and I was hooked.

After that, I got the Planet Earth set as a gift and I haven't looked back. I love all of David Attenborough's shows that I've seen to date - most of the Wildlife Specials, all of Planet Earth and The Blue Planet, and as of the time I write this, the first two episodes of Frozen Planet.

Every time I put one of the discs into the player, I find myself to be amazed at the beauty and diversity of life on our planet. We as individuals may never be able to see many of the creatures filmed in these shows in the natural world, but thanks to the BBC, we can at least see them on T.V. And, of the narrators I've heard for shows like this, David Attenborough is the best, hands down.

The camera work is beyond description too. Under the ice in Antarctica (Frozen Planet), catching a shark leaping out of the water after a seal (Blue Planet, I think), hunting and capturing scenes of the snow leopards in their daily lives (Planet Earth) and so much more. Not to mention the deep-water creatures we'll never be able to see outside of their own habitats, they're so specialized.

I can't recommend the shows of his that I've seen enough, and the ones I haven't seen, I want to - the trailers for some of the other BBC nature shows that I saw on the Frozen Planet disc were amazing too.