In which we will do anything Carol asks of us

Watching: I was enjoying "Pluribus" quite a bit, but when I went to watch my next episode last night, I discovered that I had already watched the final episode. Good gravy! Talk about your cliffhangers! I mean, it should have been obvious, but I really wanted to see what was going to happen next—and then it didn't. So I went back to "For All Mankind," starting where I left off at the beginning of Season 4. I've seen this show referred to as one of the best shows no one is watching. Could be. I've been putting off going back for a while to it simply not to O.D. on it. I recommend it.

I don't binge, btw. I have 4 streaming channels to speak of, and I watch whatever I'm watching on one, then the next night I rotate to the next channel, and so forth, continually going around in a circle. I try to vary the mix so that they're not all SF-ish, but that's easier said than done. In addition to Mankind at the moment, there's "Fallout," "Stranger Things," and "The Punisher." More on all of them when the time is right. 

Listening (audit division): "Surfin' U.S.A." is very early Beach Boys. Most of it is filler behind the popular singles hits, which was the norm back then when somebody hit the charts: package their handful of hits (or hit, singular) with a bunch of passable fodder and make an album out of it. Those kids will buy anything! (For all I know this is still the norm; you can probably tell I don't really follow popular music much.) But there is no question that, if they weren't yet at their peak, the Beach Boys harmonizations were definitely already in place. Good old sibling harmony (with a cousin and neighbor thrown in for spice)! BTW, it's got mono and stereo versions of everything. Word on the street is that in these situations, the mono mix is preferable. 

Next up in the queue was The Incredible String Band. I've never really taken to them much over the years, and after listening to them juxtaposed against the BBs, I now clearly know why: they are bad singers. I mean, there are other bad singers out there who I like—Neil Young quickly comes to mind—but as Tolstoy would have put it, every bad singer is bad in their own way. The Incredible String Band plays relatively harmless music that you would have to fall over it at night in a drunken stupor for it to even marginally register with you, so any singing that isn't comparably light and airy is going to grate on sensitive ears. Even when they're singing the right notes, which happens occasionally, their voices are not up to the task. I will be giving up on this group now that I understand that, in the light of day, they are nowhere near incredible.