Documentaries

While H was spending a long weekend umpiring in Oklahoma City last weekend, I decided to get caught up a little bit on my Netflix streaming queue.  I watched five documentaries, three worth blogging about. My favorite one, Chops, is about a high school jazz band preparing for a major competition.  I wrote more about that one on my music blog on Monday, June 25.

Last year sometime I heard Kevin Clash on NPR's Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me. He is Elmo's puppeteer, and when I saw that there was a documentary about him, I thought it would be worth watching. It most certainly was. Being Elmo is about as charming as you might imagine.

For some reason I had a documentary in my queue (perhaps it was suggested by Netflix, I'm not sure) entitled Bill Cunningham New York. Not really knowing anything about it except that Netflix thought I would rate it a 4, I started it up and then found out it was about the photographer for "On the Street" in the Sunday NY Times. These are the photos of people who are wearing similar kinds of clothing. Bill  Cunningham rides his bike through the streets of NY looking for style and taking photos on the fly.  I also recommend this film about an interesting character.

So, when the heat gets to you this summer, three recommendations for ways to amuse yourself.