u/Beno988

I guess they technically are mysteries but I never read them for that aspect. For me they were great books to read on a park bench or in a cafe or to read passing the time until my shift started at work…a lot of people dislike them it seems but I quite liked the way the authors wrote their environments. Some scenes that stand out to me include Vera indulging in a bath sitting in the tub until the water gets too cold, countless hours spent at Joe’s Mug, and many scenes in the second book Cold Clay where she has to solve a cold case and we get to see her going through old weather beaten evidence, there was never a lot of blood or violence so they mainly functioned as cozy reads with a slight edge of murder. The sort of books best read physically with pages you can physically turn…

I just bought the whole series on kindle after having previously borrowed the physical books from my library but I don’t think the ebooks will provide quite the same experience so I might have to check out the first book again as I begin my second loop…if you know of any other sorts of books that fall along the same lines don’t hesitate to tell me.

And for what it’s worth I do understand most of the criticisms regarding this series including the extremely stereotypical characters and lack of tension, but I still have a weakness for these books. I guess you could say they’re guilty pleasures of mine…

One of the first things I asked over on r/criterion after initially acquiring my By Brakhage dvd sets was if there was anything I should know before engaging with it on a deeper level…in retrospect that was kind of a foolish thing to ask because it’s a botique catalogue and like all botique film catalogs there are going to be great films that aren’t in it which is why some folks said “engage with films in the collection not the collection itself”. (Unlike Kino Lorber however Criterion is committed to prioritizing supplementary content in multiple forums for their releases so this is a definite plus.), folks also suggested subscribing to the Criterion Channel…at the time I didn’t really have the budget for another subscription but after rearranging things the criterion channel has definitely been one of my best investments - particularly given, again, criterion’s devotion to prioritizing supplementary content. I always like to know as much as I can about what I’m watching including the cultural context by which it was released.

Regarding my original post however I found this comment - https://www.reddit.com/r/criterion/s/8dtR2WXVKE the most interesting however. I unfortunately cannot read it because Reddit will not let me save my post as a draft to go and look at what it says but they said something around the lines of “sometimes the rights to a certain film will fall into Janus’s lap”… thus I was wondering if there are any films that are decidedly bad which are up on the channel. Thus far i reckon most of the films on the channel I don’t like are simply those I don’t understand…but I do wonder if there are any that are bad by anyone’s standard in that they are poorly constructed with no motive, fail to achieve their motive, made for a quick buck cashing in on a popular genre (Unfriended and Satanic are two examples of the horror genre that qualify!) or made by an awful person like Bret Ratner or Lucifer Valentine…I highly doubt those sorts of films would get a criterion release or be films Janus wants to promote but I could be wrong…

I’ve never seen Disney’s adaptation of this story and to be honest I’m not sure that I even really want to…or at least, I’m not sure if I want it to be the first adaptation I see. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a book I’m considering rereading having had my great grandmother’s copy - now in possession of my mother, read to me as a kid. (Through the Looking Glass was also owned by my great grandmother and likewise read to me as well.) the story is very charming to read as a kid but Lewis Carol’s work is also poses a lot of intellectual challenges for adults and I highly doubt the Disney adaptation as iconic as it is touches on that territory of the book knowing Disney’s history of usually making a mockery of the source material in films like their adaptations of The Wind in the Willows and The Jungle Book…(I think Pinocchio also died in the original fairytale? Though I understand why they changed that one…).

Returning to my initial query you have any suggestions for what film - or possibly tv adaptation might be the one I’m looking for in regards to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland I’d be fairly curious…

To put it simply I didn't grow up Christian and my main experience with Christianity comes from spending some time with my local Campus branch of Intervarsity which included going to a retreat they hosted. They're an Evangelical organization however and I guess I still tend to lean relativist. But I see the bible as a good place to learn how things are, why they are the way they are, and what god wants of us, however they may exist. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to accept Christ into my heart but I do admire his work and that of his father.

Someone on r/Christianity did suggest a few churches that might better align with my beliefs but I want to do some learning of my own and along with an ESV Journaling Study Bible The Great Courses seems to be a good resource for that with all their Christian courses though I was wondering what might be a good place to start. (I've also seen a copy of the video course "How Not to Read the Bible" by Dan Kimball which also comes with a hardcover study guide at my local library though it might be above my level...)

To give you more of a general sense of where I am I know most of the basics, like who Adam and Eve are, along with loosely John the Baptist and Job, and I've also skimmed a bit of the guidebook for Understand the Old Testament - specifically the part where I believe it details how god pulled women from men's side...