Yeah, he’s a full-on gearhead.
Nearly ruined his hands in a bike wreck.
Everybody needs to watch the new Devo documentary on Netflix so I don’t have to keep explaining what my “Devo Was Right.” t-shirt means.
Okay just watched all two hours of this on YouTube - two non-birders take an irreverent stab at doing a birding ‘Big Year’ and the world of the competitive “twitchers.” Quality is pretty amazing for a YouTube-only documentary:
I’ve been watching a bunch of Netflix true crime documentaries, but last night I watched the Netflix doc on Raygun, the Australian breakdancer who went viral for her goofy moves at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It was quirky, but it was also surprisingly emotional for me, seeing her hard work and self-doubt and the vicious on-line attacks that she suffered.
I’ll have to watch that. I really enjoyed Mark Obmascik’s book about three birders chasing the record. The movie had a great cast but was only so-so.
I recently watched Endless Summer; it’s been 20 or so years since I last saw it. It’s a blast — Incredible photography and a wry sense of humor. The narration is really good and the movie is over much too soon. I give it 9.5/10. Dude.
I had the pleasure of a seeing a screening of Endless Summer with live commentary by Robert August a few years back in Costa Rica. It was in a beach cantina with an audience of about 30. You could raise your hand and he would pause the film and answer your question. I asked him where the coldest water he ever surfed was (pre-wetsuit). He said South Africa. His helpful tip: “Knee paddle and don’t fall off your board”.
It’s a lot of fun if you don’t mind a lot of light-hearted irreverence and some drugs. For me it also doesn’t hurt that they end up reinforcing my own biases about birding (it’s can be fun and rewarding, but compulsive list-chasing is a little crazy).
That. Must’ve. Been. Fantastic! Lucky dog!
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a sucker for a really good nature documentary, and I’ve recently watched two terrific 4- and 5-episode series: National Geographic’s new Lion and Into the Pride Lands.
Both follow African lions over long periods, but they approach the subject a little differently. Into the Pride Lands follows several prides in Botswana and gives you a fascinating look at the whole soap opera of lion society—families, rival prides, hunting, cub raising, territorial disputes, and young males getting the feline equivalent of a notice to vacate the basement.
Lion follows Kio, a young male in Kenya’s Maasai Mara, over several years, so it’s more intimate and cinematic. You really become invested in Kio, his mother Summer, and his brothers as he goes from vulnerable cub to adult male. The photography is truly spectacular.
I may be slightly biased toward Kio because he’s a dead ringer for one of my three cats, Ollie, a dwarf Highlander/wildcat mix. Same face, same bold, inquisitive disposition—although Ollie weighs about six pounds and her current territory consists mainly of my condo. He has yet to bring down a wildebeest, though I’m sure she would try.
Lion does occasionally anthropomorphize things a bit—apparently the narrator has access to Kio’s innermost thoughts—but the actual behavior and events are real, and the filmmakers spent years following these animals. I don’t mind the anthropomorphizing in this series as much as I do in some other documentaries. It tells a compelling story, and some of what we interpret as human-like emotion may not be that far off. The science on animal emotions is still evolving
If you like nature documentaries, I highly recommend both. Into the Pride Lands is probably the better look at how lion society actually works; Lion is the one that will have you emotionally invested in individual lions and yelling advice at the television as though Kio can hear you.
Of course he never listens. Neither does Ollie. 
