Oops. new page. This is in reference to the yet another live version of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds post from the last page.
“A five-hour Audible version of the show has been made featuring with a cast including Michael Sheen, Taron Egerton and Ade Edmondson.”
Dammit, I just used my Audible credit for the month a few days ago. Guess I know what I’ll be checking out with November’s credit. And the last book in Peter F. Hamilton’s Salvation Sequence will have to wait til December.
Inspirobot says:
Seek advice. Don’t just try to build a teleporter.
So how’s that teleported coming along?
-d +r
Terrible. Nobody’s given me any good advice on building it.
Don’t build it in your bathroom.
No one needs that kind of extra traffic in there.
Next Friday, I might actually have time to do a PBP
Hubby and I were talking last night and he called me a bittle lunny. Then he stopped and said:
I swear, I’ve had nothing to drink.
Hubby needed some new clothes for work. Because we won’t do the mall thing, I took the initiative and bought him some clothes on line. Yesterday he has a big grin on his face and says:
“Except for the tie, every piece of clothing I’m wearing today is new! And this is the most comfortable underwear I think I’ve worn in a long time.”
This is actually a bad thing. I’m pretty sure it means I’m going to be doing his clothing shopping from now on.
*sigh*
Then there’s the wait while WordPress decided if your new name should be allowed, even if it’s under the same email address.
My Boo went to Japan a few years ago. She wanted to do the Ghibli studio tour but you had to book almost a year in advance. She was a little bummed out.
The free story this month on the Tor book club has been well reviewed:
Hopefully not tempting fate but Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood are still alive,
Silver linings and all that.
This seems like a random statement. . . ?
I’m sure I’ve told you my Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood story?
(Basically that I was supposed to interview them in front of a packed auditorium at a Phx Comicon. I was waiting for them backstsge, noticed too late that they’d gotten onstage by a different route. Keir Dullea sat down and started talking to the audience before I even got out there. He talked pretty much for the entire hour, with a few stories interjected from Gary Lockwood. I said maybe three words.)
You hadn’t and you actually met them you lucky so and so.
It was a very cool experience, yeah. Very nice guys.
CP: Running with the Wolves — AURORA
A version of that song was used in Wolf Walkers film:
Seems like cleaning the washroom in the nude, then showing, then dressing would be the best vector to avoid having cleaning chemicals on your clothes or person if that is the goal.
Wrong link, right link below. 😉
Doing bridge construction in the nude sounds full of perils.
Definitely want to avoid getting the bends.
Morning Pan
It occurs to me, I may be a little bit… quirky.
Today I cleaned the washrooms.
Normally, hubby and I will get up and I will have a shower first while he eats breakfast. This morning I slept in a bit so I waited to shower until after he left for work.
So I showered, then cleaned the entire washroom, then got dressed.
Who else cleans their washroom in the nude?
Well I can’t for others but you may have that distinction all to yourself.
So I had lunch today with a musician I’ve greatly admired since 1986. David Ellefson. I’m not a stargazer, but it was pretty cool to hang out and hear these stories.
That’s one even I think I recognize.
Although truthfully, at first glance, my brain went to Danny Elfman and then I was a little let down it wasn’t.
The Immigrant Song in Old Norse. I can’t say it’s great, but it’s pretty cool.
At my Boo’s while snow tires being put on the car
CP: Koyaanisqatsi — Philip Glass
I recall connecting with this guy at a Phoenix ComicCon 10,000 years ago. We also both did an artsy event together back in the day – – me playing guitar, him doing live drawing. Then life happened and that connection evaporated.
One of those people who it’s impossible to dislike.
Morning Pan
I think I’m going to clean my desk this morning. Who knows what I’ll find.
This is cute.
Type in your location and it will tell you where you would end up if you dug straight down.
Mine said, “You`re alone and the water is so cold.”
I guess the term, “Psychedelic Soul” has been around longer than I have, but I never realize that so much of my favorite Funk, RnB, Soul, Motown, etc. falls into this category.
There’s a world of difference between instant and homemade. If you like to make and eat soup, it is worth trying.
Yeah, one of our favorite restaurants in town is Ramen Hood. I really hope they survive.
We’ve tried a few successful homemade ramen experiments – – the real thing, not the 20 cent bricks – – but we’ve never gotten anything that really mimicked the restaurant.
Crap joke for the day:
During lunch at work, I ate 3 plates of beans (which I know I shouldn’t). When I got home, my husband seemed excited to see me and exclaimed delightedly, “Darling I have a surprise for dinner tonight.” He then blindfolded me and led me to my chair at the dinner table. I took a seat and just as he was about to remove my blindfold, the telephone rang. He made me promise not to touch the blindfold until he returned and went to answer the call.
The beans I had consumed were still affecting me and the pressure was becoming unbearable, so while my husband was out of the room I seized the opportunity, shifted my weight to one leg and let one go.
It was not only loud, but it smelled like a fertilizer truck running over a skunk in front of a garbage dump! I took my napkin from my lap and fanned the air around me vigorously. Then, shifting to the other leg, I ripped off three more. The stink was worse than cooked cabbage. Keeping my ears carefully tuned to the conversation in the other room, I went on releasing atomic bombs like this for another few minutes. The pleasure was indescribable!
Eventually the telephone farewells signaled the end of my freedom, so I quickly fanned the air a few more times with my napkin, placed it on my lap and folded my hands back on it feeling very relieved and pleased with myself.
My face must have been the picture of innocence when my husband returned, apologizing for taking so long.
He asked me if I had peaked through the blindfold, and I assured him I had not.
At this point, he removed the blindfold, and twelve dinner guests seated around the table, with their hands to their noses, chorused, “Happy Birthday!”
Morning Pan
Will be doing a bpb later today. Don’t know what movie it will be yet.
So the day will begin like this huh? I think I might do a pbp instead.
Finished watching a NetFlix docuseries last night called High Score. It was about the early days of video games. We quite liked it.
We’re about twenty minutes away from movie silliness
Here we go.
Today’s movie is House of the Witch
The write up: A group of daring teens find themselves in a fight for their lives inside a haunted house where a sinister spirit crashes their Halloween party
A quiet suburban street
No trespassing
Kitty cat ears
A dare
Numbers for a number
I am so shocked
One year later
You don’t want to be a grease monkey all your life
Product placement
Why do most haunted houses have half moon upper floor windows for spirits to look out of?
That’s illegal in Alberta
Knock knock
That’s not how it works
Time to explore
Bloody walls
He’s spoiling the mood
Now the chair is spoiling the mood
A phonograph
A relative?
They can’t leave
No service
Can’t get out that way either
A broken mirror
Nine fingers Sal
Egging the house
Is that Lloyd?
A study
Really? Just put your hand in an urn?
He’s turning into a zombie
People stew
Her room
She’s a wild thing
Actual parents worrying. What’s that about?
He’s getting worse
It’s moving
What do you want?
Seriously? It’s a deserted place
Cue the thunderstorms
Don’t go down there
She’s coming
Lloyd doesn’t look so good
Game over man
Not Scooby Doo haunted
Ewww
Here comes the sun
Where’s Rachel?
Now for the bent over backwards walk
She’s aging
Do you really think a door will help?
She helped
Burn it down
She’s watching
Dax is going to do something stupid
Ok, that was pretty cheesy
Here comes the Calvary
ReLly gonna try that. It’s been hours
Why not call an ambulance?
She’s heartless
The twist ending was such a shocker
Meh. It was what it was. Not exactly ground breaking but entertaining enough, I guess
Well, the new season of the Mandalorian is off to a high powered start. Though, I must confess, while all the callbacks and easter eggs generated a pretty strong endorphin rush while watching….a few hours later I find myself a bit let down by what feels like a bit of a rerun.
I have confidence that the whole season will payoff like it did last year, but I’m a bit underwhelmed with this kickoff.
I was never overwhelmed by The Mandelorian. The child was cute enough, I guess, but I found the whole thing over hyped, It to say it was bad. It was ok enough that we will watch season two. I just didn’t find it good enough for all the accolades it seems to be receiving
The new season is making my appreciate turning up the volume on my Sonos soundbar.
I guess M and the Marshall are comparing dick sizes with the speeders.
I thought season 1 was mostly great. It’s the first thing in 35 years to really feel like the original trilogy Star Wars.
Last night’s episode was not the best, but still good. Especially the finale.
We did determine about halfway through that this show is a bit too intense for the 2-year-old, so we paused and watched the 2nd half later.
Yeah, I heard about this. However, 90 years is still a good run.
Good night James Bond
🙁
Wait a cotton picking minute, so one of the bad guys in Get Smart was called The Claw, the bad guy in Inspector Gadget cartoon was Dr Claw and Don Adams voiced IG and played Maxwell Smart:
Hubby and I decided to watch the 2020 movie of The Turning. It was based on the same book as NetFlix’s Haunting of Bly Manor.
While The Turning was not good movie, I was with it… until the end. It was baffling to both hubby and I. It’s not often we have to go on line to find an explanation of a movie. We did for this one.
It also broke the rule of, if you see a gun in the first act, it must be used by the third act. While there was not gun, in horror movies, life sized creepy dolls that are made a big deal of have the same rule… except in movies that have nonsensical endings.
I read The Turn of the Screw a buncha years back and found it surprisingly, effectively creepy, for a book written in the 19th century.
We watched the first 2 eps of Bly Manor last night, and as Van said on the previous thread, the production feels extremely cheap. Like a soap or an old Doctor Who.
In other news, hubby spent part of the day laughing at me. I sent him in to the washroom to kill a spider. He comes out and says he couldn’t find it. I then pointed it out to him. It turned out to be sock lint. It seems I’m afraid of sock lint now.
Where we stand –
SCOTUS rules that a specific state did NOT have to count any ballots the postal service delivers after Election Day if they don’t want to. Their general ruling was that States make their own rules about which votes get counted. In their specific case.
Friday, video from a post office in Dade County Florida shows bins full of legally filled out ballots, simply shoved in a back room. Now local postmaster claims they cannot be sorted and delivered befor Election Day.
Yesterday, thousands of voters marching to their polling place in N.C. were pepper sprayed by police.
Now Texas Republican’s are suing to have 100,000 votes thrown out in one County, because the county allowed voters to line up in their cars and vote outside instead of standing in line and going inside. They aren’t declaring that there is something wrong with the votes … they want them thrown out because the SCOTUS just ruled a State legislature makes the voting rules and this proceedure was allowed by a county.
These are active assaults on the American voter. These people are showing their hand now. They are engaged in stealing the election.
Michigan—a swing-state—has just decided to allow open-carry at the polls.
So here is a “This just in” Twist…
The all-Republican Texas Supreme Court has denied a GOP-led petition to toss nearly 127,000 ballots already cast at drive-thru voting places in the Houston area. A federal judge is expected to rule on the same issue on Monday.
In Canada, for a federal election, the federal government sets the rules. Therefore it’s the same across the country. This different rules for different states is confusing.
(note: provincial (state) elections are run by the province so they are different for each province)
The violence that just occurred in Texas and North Carolina is chilling. While I’d like to say that Biden should have just gone ahead anyway to show these thugs that he won’t be intimidated, I don’t have all of the facts about the security threat. Maybe they were right to cancel.
Floyd County, Georgia Democrats cancel a planned rally today ahead of Trump’s visit to Rome because a large, domestic terrorist presence is expected.
Nothing like a cat having a massive seizure right in front of you to singe every last nerve.
I think she’s OK now. She’s wandering around. She seems every bit as freaked out as I am.
Oh no. *hugs*
This is pretty cool. select the year you were born and see what words were first used that year.
I have a crap load of words “born” the same year as me including: lunar module, dance off, Automatic teller machine (who knew ATM was that old?), humongous, recreational drug, and spaghetti western.
John Lennon is in the crowd, clearly enjoying his altered state.
Not a fan BUTas a fan of music this excites me
Charlie Watts’ Adam’s Apple is the unofficial 6th member.
Great name for a band too…
CP: Whichever Way the Wind Blows – Bob Mould
Excellent.
9:30 at night. Now hubby is told to call parents of a single class to tell them to keep their kids home due to a COVID case.
Now? It’s pretty late and We were asleep
(It may seem early to you, but some if us were up at 3am because the cat doesn’t understand daylight savings)
Kitty woke us at ten to four this morning. Almost a normal time.
Here we go.
I posted a picture today on the FB of my uncle and dad sitting on groovy 70s lawnchairs in my childhood backyard. My dad was born on Nov 3, 1940, his first brother Frank, my oldest uncle, was born on the same day in 1942.
Pretty fascinating take on ISS’s past and present.
Was just reading a Scientific American article on efforts (and challenges) of avoiding war in space.
Seems there is a legion of “Hobbiests” That are keeping the world honest by monitoring space activity and tweeting out what they see in real time.
One of these guys pointed out that the biggest danger in space right now is how crowded it is getting. That, and something they refer to as RUD
(Rapid Unplanned Disassembly).
I found that amusing.
ROUSes? I don’t believe they exist.
CP: A Victory Of Love — Alphaville
We might be headed for another record breaking warm day today
And I’m so insecure, I have to scour the comments to make sure no one is mocking the interviewers. Luckily, even the trolls are sticking to the topic.
I will hunt them down and rip out their eyeballs if they troll you!
Great job on getting this interview picked up!
CP: Here Comes The End — Gerard Way
I fnished watching The Queen’s Gambit.
Sooo good! The lead actress was mesmerizing.
The ebook is 99p on Amazon in the U.K. today, think I’m going to buy it.
CP: Hell’s Eight Acres — Adam Ant
I feel sorry for all you Americans. Your country is broken.
If Trump wins, he won’t care.
However, if Biden wins, he will be head of a very broken and divisive country that will not mend easily or quickly. And, since it looks like Republicans will still hold the senate, it is doubtful Biden will be able to get much of what he wants done as Mitch McConnell will likely not pass any sweeping reforms. It’s an untenable position and, no matter Biden’s good intentions, not likely to be resolved during his tenure.
*shrug* Just my two cents worth.
My goals are:
1. Not to have to spend the next 4 years listening to people bitch endlessly about Trump (I hate him too, just so much so that I don’t want to see everything every day be about him).
2. I work with a lot of government agencies that have to have the president’s portrait in the lobby. I want to not have to look at his scowling face every time I walk into one of those buildings.
I thought I hated everything about politics. I strongly disagree with almost every political tactic I see and I’m turned off by the rhetoric of both extremes (and little seems to be said that isn’t an extreme). But I must admit. Watching the math of the election results coming in is fascinating. I lost a lot of time today just watching it all play out.
We can still abolish the electoral college, though. That’d be fine.
And impose term limits. That would also be just great.
In these pandemic times we are urged to buy books to support author and book shops.
But what if the author is long dead?
How long? If their work is not yet in public domain, then all income would go to their estate.
We have an author that passed and all his royalties go to his widow. So, in buying the book, you are still supporting their family.
There’s the rub.
Have a great birthday, Pixie!
Happy Pixie Day !!!!!
Thank you!
Happy birthday to my main squeeeeeeeeeze!
And to mine!
Happy Birthday To Rhett’s wife!
Squeeeeeeeeeze you right back!
But also, happy birthday Pixie!
Yes! Happy birthday!
Thank you, Ditto!
Thank you!! And Happy Birthday to my bday Pannite buddy, Teresa!!!!
Looks like we will hit a high today of 97F/36C, but Sunday’s low will be 49F/9C. Nothing like a 50-degree temperature change over four days.
Awwwww. You are actually having weather there? Shocking, I say! 😀
Yeah, didn’t have any until now, but should be cleared up by mid-January.
I needed the AC in my car when I drove to pick up lunch today.
New Chuck Lorre sitcom premieres tonight.
The internet ad for it makes it look like standard sitcom blech.
That being said, I thought the same thing about Big Bang Theory and 2 1/2 Men when they came out. So much so I never watched them until they were in syndication. Now I have to admit that those two shows are some of my favorite, mindless TV.
Wow. That wasn’t so good. At least the first 10 minutes of it. That’s all I gave it.
Instead of election coverage the past 2 nights I have been binging Queens Gambit.
I feel it was a wise choice of time.
3 episodes left.
4 bit processor running at 1.5Mhz, no wonder 8 bit computers from 20 years before had programs that could eat these things for breakfast.
So, if I could be a time traveling tourist… meaning that I couldn’t actually change anything in the past, just go there… I’d spend 3 day weekends in 1960’s Las Vegas.
You could have added some class and style to the Rat Pack.
There’s a shortage of flu vaccine here. My appointment for last week was cancelled. My doctor still doesn’t have any but I’m finally able to go in this morning and get one from my local pharmacy
Sonos has updated their system again … which means that this morning, once again, I cannot use my Sonos system.
Apparently I have to invest ANOTHER few hours into trying to get Sonos, my router/wireless, all of the equipment talking again. I’ve had to do it before, many times but now I am beginning to see the exactly how the “sunken cost” principle works.
I simply cannot recommend Sonos. Yes, their speakers sound good and when the system DOES work it is pretty great.
… but you have to be willing to bow down to them with random infusions of cash and/or subservient hours of your life just to keep your initial (not unsubstantial) investment working.
I’m not sure when society decided this was acceptable, basically buying a product but only “renting” it’s functionality, but I don’t see it as a step forward.
Somewhere in my attic I have a clock radio I bought in 1978. I bought it to tell me what time it was, to wake me up, and to play the radio. I bet if I could find it and plug it in … it would still do all of those things.
I agree that I don’t like this new model, where giant corporations have the power to revoke my access to the things I’ve purchased from them.
But the kids are crazy for this system.
My 2cents is that the kids put up with it because they don’t know anything else.
For most 20 somethings, this is just the way it has always been so they don’t know the joy of buying stuff that just works and keeps working until the components physically break or wear out.
Much as I like my Sonos Beam, among smart speakers manufacturers it’s really a niche product line compared to Amazon and it’s range of Alexa speakers,
I was out raking leaves (with a rake I bought in the late 90’s and though the paint on the handle has worn off and a tine has broken off of each side, it still preforms the function I bought it for) … and pondering this situation some more.
I think a summation might be that we are migrating away from “owning” a product. In the new world we are buying a service delivery device but “renting” the functionality.
Hmmm. More leaves. More to ponder.
See, if you’d rented that rake, then they would come out and replace the broken parts for you! (for a small service and parts fee plus membership, tax, and usage charge, void in certain states)
I had a similar moment back in the 90s. I was working at a day treatment facility for people with disabilities on daily living skills and came across an egg beater that was obviously a leftover from the 1950s or 1960s. After laughing at how odd the thing looked I started thinking about how this thing was 30-40 years old and STILL WORKING.
My arm has been pricked. Now just waiting the requisite 15 minutes before I head out
Tubular Bells is one of the most fascinating pieces of music ever recorded. Mike Oldfield is a character. I kinda need to watch this, at some point:
The Republican Presidential nominee has won exactly one popular vote since 1988 (Bush over Kerry).
tRump’s highest approval rating during his presidency was lower than Obama’s lowest (citing Michael Ventrella – – correct me if that number is wrong).
The vote was decided by roughly 4.5 million votes and 50-60 points.
Americans do NOT want this brand of Conservatism anymore. It’s time for a new one to arise.
Now …
Let’s see what a former “world leader” country can do about a Pandemic if it puts the full weight of it’s science, economic power, political will and basic human compassion behind combating it.
THAT is at the top of my wish list.
*While foxnews and the Republican-controlled Senate launch a dedicated, zealous, irrational, concerted campaign to stifle and kill and denigrate every single good thing the administration tries to accomplish.
I think we’re going to go into the way back machine and watch Damnation Alley. A little sci-fi cheese is a good thing
“Politics are nothing but sand and gravel: it is art and life that feed us until we die. Everything else is ambition, hysteria or hatred.”
A friend of mine Googled their name and so I decided to do the same, as I don’t think I’ve ever done it before.
Did you know I’m on the SF database? It’s only a single line but still, cool. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/eaw.cgi?219088
Excellent!
Nice!
I’ll search the SF database for “Lunny, Bittle.”
We watched Damnation Alley last night. Now we’re asking ourselves why.
Ah a film with a great first 5 minutes and then bleurgh!
Morning Pan
Today, like yesterday, is a good day to hibernate.
I don’t think I’ve ever lost socks when doing laundry. Re-usable masks however…
Seriously, where do they go?
One of us might be pre-downloading Assassin’s Creed Valhalla right now.
Read as: Assasin’s Creed: Vanilla
🙂
The temp dropped pretty sharply here, which has the whole valley digging out their sweaters. Most of you would still be drinking iced tea in front the A/C at these temps, but a 1-day 40-degree plummet is jarring, no matter where you are.
“ Rhett is a wealthy CEO with a new desire for following God’s plan for his life, and he’s trying to reunite with his sister, Karen, whose life he once ruined.”
Seriously, what should we know
I think that was just the ruff draft.
Other than the name I can’t see any parallels. Plus, my sister isn’t a Karen.
“Skinny Love” is a great folk song. I really like everything I’ve ever heard from Bon Iver, but I’ve never really explored their catalog. Maybe this can be my map to start exploring.
It’s like most lists: a good starting point to explore. I’ve got a couple of albums that I enjoy. I don’t agree that Woods should be #1. I like Blood Bank much better than that. But yeah, I agree, they make good folk music.
Should we be highly alarmed at Pompeo’s “joke” about trump starting his 2nd term in January? Along with the rest of the rump admin’s refusal to acknowledge the election results? Or should we just laugh it off as sore loser behavior?
Do not think that our enemies have not noticed our current disarray and chaos.
These are dangerous times.
It’s a good point, but I’m more concerned about the people right here who’ve declared all of us to be their enemies.
CP: Circles And Squares — We Were Promised Jetpacks
Rich and I just did an audio interview with Jeff Scott Soto. I can say this in the relative privacy of Deadpan. . . I didn’t expect him to be such a nice guy. Really down to earth.
Based on his past with Yngwie and his virtuoso talent, I was fully expecting a primadonna.
the Sun has come up in the future, so you can relax about that…
A question for North American who can remember a time when they didn’t have a tumble dryer.
Do you think your clothes don’t last as long since you started using a. Tumble dryer?
My mother used to be fond of hanging clothes on a line instead of using a dryer. However, any recollection of how long clothing lasted at that stage also has to take into account that I was WAY more active and hard on my clothes as well as growth that lead to getting rid of clothes because they simply didn’t fit any more. I don’t feel currently like the drying is the cause of any of my modern clothes needing to be replaced. But I could be wrong.
I’ve always had a tumble dryer in my life.
I do try to air-dry all of my cottons, because as I get older, my physique is less and less forgiving of the tight, shrunk, clingy t-shirt.
But my jeans and t-shirts still end up with holes. *shrug*
Happy, happy, birthday ditto!
Dutch Museums Unveil Free Digital Collection of 1,000+ Artworks by Van Gogh
If you wanted to read yet another takedown of The Phantom Menace – – within the context of its release year: 1999. Which, it turns out, was a pretty great year for movies.
I’d agree that Toy Story 2 is an absolute triumph of a sequel.
Yeah I’m tired of reading about how “bad” TPM is. It’s fucking 21 years later. Get over it. We’ve had much worse Star Wars films since then.
..and I’m tired of your bitching about people botching about TPM.
-o +i
Whoops!
Honestly, after watching all the hate you spilled for Raised by Wolves and then watching it myself and seeing the brilliance that is it, your taste/opinions are extremely suspect.
Bitch.
Don’t talk to me about taste when you like that pile of crap..fucker!
I know I know buddy. Your peanut brain can’t grasp it. It’s ok, friend. There’s always Mad About You and King of Queens for you to be able to enjoy
I don’t actually believe you like the show, but you hold Scott on such a pedestal that you cannot bring yourself to say it’s shit.
Sleep tight pinhead.
I’m no Scott apologist. Believe what you like you fucktard, This is one of the best shows of 2020
Neither one of you guys are fucktards.
I thought there was a lot of brilliance going deep down below the surface of RBW. Some amazing philosophical ideas about the nature of families and parenthood. I’d love to read the screenplays and whatever other source material was there. Some great concepts. Ridley Scott has always been a deep thinker.
But man, I disliked the execution of this series. And much of the look of it. And the finale.
Amazing. Every word of what you just said in that last sentence was wrong.
It is a prime example of how a very few bad actors can ruin life for a great many. They state they have had less than a dozen intruders but because of that they have had to change procedures, changes that make life more difficult for those who have to be at the hospital.
Humans have found a way around natural selection and it is turning out badly.
In some good news, the Am I Evil? draft is in the hands of my lead artist. Now we figure out just how much needs to be trimmed or reworked.
So one of those limited edition Game and Watch from Nintendo arrived today. It also appears the clock announces the hour by coin collection sound.
But the thing is tiny, much smaller than I was expecting.
Crap joke for the evening:
I stopped at BP to get a bottle of water, and as I walked onto the forecourt I noticed these two cops watching a man who was smoking while pumping his petrol. I saw him and thought, “is this man stupid, crazy, or both”, especially with the police standing RIGHT there.. But anyways, I minded my own business and went inside and got my water.
As I was paying for my drink, I heard someone screaming! Like, I’m talking violent death screams.. I looked outside and I saw that this idiot’s arm was on fire!! He was swinging his arm, running around like a lunatic. Like, he was bat shit crazy .. When I got outside, the cops had him on the ground and they were putting the fire out!! Then they put handcuffs on him and threw him in the police car. I was thinking, arrested?? Shouldn’t he be in an ambulance, not a police car!?? Being the nosey person I am, I asked the police what they were arresting him for. And I shit you not, one of the cops looked at me, dead serious, and said, “WAVING A FIRE ARM IN A PUBLIC PLACE”!!
A one armed bandit?
The cops were in hot pursuit?
This evening’s cocktail choice is an honor of The Dude.
Care to guess?
White Russian?
The Dude abides.
Although I am wondering if I should be more woke and go with the Black Russian?
Behind the Bastards podcast has done several episodes on L. Ron Hubbard (the sex god with his own navy). It’s quite amazing… and not necessarily in a good way.
Apparently, the docuseries “Scientology and the Aftermath” takes him and his cult down hard (sorry if your article mentions this series; I could only bear to skim it).
This has been a difficult day.
*hugs*
Hey Deadpan
Had a wonderful long weekend. Didn’t want it to end.
Now, back to staring at spreadsheets.
What they don’t tell you is he was subsequently fired for leaving his workplace for an indefinite period of time, and now gets to spend the new year looking for a new job 😉
Amazing. . . Every word of what you just said was wrong.
I didn’t write the article!
“Every subsequent live-action film except Revenge of the Sith and Solo features an epic third act battle involving fighters.”
It’s like your all a bunch of astronauts…on some kind of Star Trek.
..no, wait that’s not right.
Right cause Sith STARTS the film with an epic battle involving fighters.
This article sucks. And Van’s an enabler for sharing it.
Ok, great!
NO YOU!
No yiu!
I love ROTJ. Interesting that this article completely misses the point of why ROTJ was a turning point. It was (IMHO) where the series started to be written specifically for children, with adults being able to tag along for the ride. I didn’t notice it at the time because I was a kid. I figured it out after rewatching years and years later. I still think the brilliance of Rogue One was that it was the first time since Empire that I felt the movie was written for adults.
I would agree with this.
Although I would add that I love all of the original 3 films, even with their faults.
Me: I need to really open up my listening again dig new, interesting music outside of my comfort zone.
Also me:
CP: Metallica – For Whom the Bell Tolls
Time marches on, friend.
Fade to Black.
One thing about getting up stupid early is your work is mostly done by the time everybody else gets to their desk.
Are we going to do DPSS this year?
I hope so. I’ll PM Amy
Amy says she’ll post an announcement either tomorrow or Thursday
Excellent.
Thank you, TEB!
Boy, this feels like a Slack conversation.
What’s that? You say you need a new pair of slacks?
We’d been invited to an outdoor Thanksgiving, but it just got cancelled.
TBH: probably the right call. Everyone has to do their part. Overdoing it with this thing is fine.
Beyond the right call, especially now. This holiday season is going to be small and compact in the Lo Pan household and I honestly can’t wait. We’re going to no get togethers.
I’m going to get much shit from my family for it, but some things are much bigger than simply having to receive shit.
Well done to both of you.
Also applauds making the right, if inconvenient and unpopular decision.
If you haven’t seen the spaceship comparison video. . . they do a good job of hitting all of the major and minor franchises.
Where else are you gonna see the Rocinante, the Millennium Falcon, and Space Battleship Yamato all together in one place?
Ok, that was cool. Some of those size comparisons are staggering.
There. My floors are clean for another fortnight.
I have 3 dogs. I can count how long my floors stay clean in minutes.
We talked to Kix last night on Facebook Live. They’re not the most famous people we’ve interviewed, but man, their fans are the most dedicated. The comments and viewers pretty wild.
Through a scheduling quirk, we’re doing two this week. Tonight is Bronx Casket Co. – – which includes one of my musical heroes, D.D. Verni.
Point being: With motivation, we can accomplish great things (mitigate pandemics, go to other worlds, etc.) Everything we do now is a red tape money nightmare. We’ve got to start pushing toward the Star Trek social model (not that nay of us will see it).
Part of the email my daughter’s school sent out yesterday. She is in Co.
Dear Mines students,
There are only 10 days separating us from Thanksgiving. That gives us a 10-day window during which we can take important steps to help ensure a safe and healthy holiday and end-of-semester—for ourselves and for our friends and loved ones.
Thanksgiving and End-of-Semester Preparations:
What’s required this week—and beyond
In a sense, we should all spend the coming days acting as if we’re preparing to join the astronauts that SpaceX and NASA launched into space Sunday night. Simply put: We need to pull on our protective gear and prepare to spend the days and weeks ahead in a safe and smaller-than-usual bubble. By doing so, we can dramatically increase our chances of avoiding infection and transmission.
++++
It goes on in detail with specific ways of how to not be superspreaders and kill their friends and family back home. Including getting tested 2-3 days before heading home… which they offer for FREE to all their students.
Sure, these are kids and the may ignore this but I submit it as an example of LEADERSHIP.
My daughter goes to a different university in CO and they had a similar, if not as cool, email. She also gets tested for free 2-3 times a week… unfortunately most of her classmates don’t bother.
These kids! (Shakes old man fist in air) Their gonna kill us all with their rock n roll and their Beatles haircuts and their Corona Virus!!!!
I’m not gonna be that guy that says “no Malcolm, no AC/DC” since they pulled it off with aplomb after Bon Scott…. but man I’m close to saying it.
Curious to listen to this
I want to have beeeeers with LoPan until he gets REALLY angry and then I want to slink into a dark corner and just watch what happens next.
Oh it’s real easy. Just point me in the direction of people mixing circles during COVID for Thanksgiving…
I’ve listened to most of it. No classics (so far), but it’s good. Not on par with their best, but that’s OK.
I listened to most of it over the weekend. I enjoyed what I heard. As Jack said, it doesn’t seem to be any contenders for the classic label, but as an album, I like it better than “Flick of the Switch” so far.
Well, this just might make up for Raised by Wolves
Bear. Poked.
Well no HBO Max in the U.K. but I’m guessing it won’t be long before it’s available by other means.
I did not want to get up this morning.
I swear, I spend more time converting US words to Canadian than putting together the rest of the damn book.
Find: hat
Replace: toque
Replace all
… and center with centre, colour with colour, labeled with labelled, and so on, and so on
Must be a lot of work adding “eh” to the end of every sentence.
Good morning!
Did you know today is November 19th.
For all the memes about 2020 lasting forever – I feel like it’s suddenly November 19th.
All of a sudden.
How is everyone?
Also.
I have the hiccups.
For Thanksgiving this year, the kids and I are making a pot of Fettucini Alfredo and staying in to play games.
That sounds like a great Thanksgiving. Just you and the kids?
The kids do The Turkey Day festivities with their Dad and his wife’s family. I get them for late dinner so it’s usually just us. Sometimes we have one more.
Now that my kids have the Oculus Quest 2 VR thingie, there’s no reason to leave. We can pet elephants in Kenya while standing in the middle of our living room.
I have always appreciated living in the future.
We finally found some friends that didn’t have other plans so we can have someone over on Thanksgiving. I’m still making Turkey because it was at a ridiculous 39 cents a lb. I have a chest freezer so I bought 3 of them and will have one every few months or so. Can’t turn down meat that cheap. Just can’t do it.
I still have the hiccups.
BOO!
My cat snores. It’s both cute and disconcerting
I think one year, we need to do a Thanksgiving of buttered toast, popcorn, jellybeans, and pretzels, in honor of the Peanuts special.
Living Colour on a podcast talking about fascism. I haven’t listened, but I’m intrigued.
People suck
That is all
Hugs. Yes, and sorry.
That worked!
I’ve just been busy with spreadsheets and didn’t get around to tell you til now.
Rumor has it that Netflix AND Hulu are both raising their prices before EOY.
Yeah. Hulu can get bent. We’ll be cancelling. Maybe dropping a few? We’ll see.
I got a notice from Netflix on Nov. 8 that they are increasing their monthly online access price by $1 on Dec. 8. It’s been a while since the last hike and I would fully expect it every few years or so based on inflation. Compared to the hikes I would get from cable companies every year it doesn’t seem too bad.
Yeah, I think we’ll hang on to Netflix.
I’m told that some platforms have a Rifftrax app. That’s really the only one I’d need.
Sad indeed. I was fortunate enough to have visited Arecibo once. Glad I made it when I did.
Wow! End of an era.
Can we blame this on 2020 as well?
There. I set up a bunch of interviews for our YouTube channel, I have my second of four loads of laundry in the wash, and I even put in an hour of gaming.
Will conservatives (real conservatives not these “I hate the left and I’m a racist so I’m going to CALL myself conservative” types ) take this to heart though?
CP: Realize — AC/DC
I spoke to Amy. She’s having a week (we’ve all been there) but should have something up in the next few days
The first sci-fi book I ever bought was ADF’s novelisation of The Black Hole.
It’s Friday.
I’m in love with Flora Cash … like all their music. Anyone else?
Announcing the 2020 Deadpan Secret Santa Gift Exchange!
This year, we remained apart because we all want to be around to see each other at future MMMMMeetups. Since we didn’t get to see each other in person this year, I hope to have as many people as possible spreading holiday cheer! That said, if you prefer to give the Secret Santa Gift Exchange a pass this year for financial or other reasons, I completely understand. No judgment and no explanation necessary.
Here are the details for this year’s gift exchange:
– As always, all Facebook group members and participants in the comments page are welcome to participate.
– Participants in the exchange will send a gift costing approximately $15-25 to a fellow Deadpanite, and will receive one in return.
– Signups are open now and close at 11:59 PM CST on Thanksgiving (Thursday, Nov. 26).
– Sign up by replying to this comment, by messaging me on Facebook Messenger, or by emailing amybowenwrites at gmail dot com.
– The participant list will be randomized and assignment emails will go out sometime during the day on Friday, Nov. 27.
The fact this little punk is still alive when police executed the antifa shooter just boggle the mind.
JW: Love and Monsters
Rather enjoyed that film, didn’t end the way I thought it would.
I just watched the same film tonight! We’re film buddies. I loved it. Mrs. Asshat not so much. The less thinking and more bloodshed and/or action the better for Mrs. Asshat. I thought it was well thought out and just novel enough.
Well…
Hearing that the 80 something, mother-in-law plans on attending a 30 person, thanksgiving superspreader event.
That side of the family tends to make poor decisions to begin with…but to risk her life like that… just the sad cherry on an already sad 2020
So sorry man. I empathize.
This is why we’re still where we are in November. So many people are naturally selfish and need instant gratification.
I’m middle-ish but still scientific minded on the matter. My extended family cancelled their annual get-together with 40+ people and I’m 100% for it. I would like to have taken the time to visit my mother in Upstate New York (read rural New York) where the covid cases so far have numbered less than 100. But New York State still has 2 week self isolation in place that would make it impossible for me to go there with the vacation time I have left this year. Mrs. Asshat and I have been feeling sad and left out this Thanksgiving. But… we found some local (real as not mixing circles) friends that we just hung out with last week that also didn’t have Thanksgiving plans. We are going to get together on Thanksgiving day and share food and friendship. At some point in the day Mrs. Asshat and I are going to attend a Zoom event with the extended family. I think it’s a reasonable middle ground. We won’t exactly be self isolating on Thanksgiving day, but we still feel we’re being somewhat responsible.
I was just talking about this! As many of us are…. My opinion, FWIW:
If (hypothetically) the Lo Pans were getting together with the EssBees this year, I wouldn’t have any concerns, because I know they’d all mask up, stay socially distanced, etc. When Roaming Asshat says they’re doing a small get-together, I trust that they’ll do it responsibly. No judgments here.
Then there are the people with the fucking irresponsibly stupid “We’ll all get it, and we’ll all be fine” mentality who will gather in large groups without masks and social distancing. And people will get sick. And some will die.
I certainly think you can meet with people safely but you have to plan for a safe time.
I just want to tell my in-laws, “you realize that just ignoring the situation and doing what you traditionally do … some of you could be dead by Christmas. This year.”
Yes 🙁
Or for the “I’m willing to take that chance” crowd, someone else might be dead or on a ventilator by Xmas. This year.
I 10000000% appreciate Asshat, Jack, and JJ’s carefulness here. Honestly I do not mean to come off judgy. I just want safety.
But goddamn its nice (and awful) that I can/have to use a pandemic to have a simple holiday season with just my wife and 4 kids (I think that’s all). And FUCK if I’m not looking forward to it.
JW: Arrietty
My rewatch of Studio Ghibli films continues with this utterly charming film and I hated the Borrower books at school.
Morning Pan
Kitty was so cuddly last night. She curled herself into the crook of my arm, used my arm as a pillow, and that’s where she spent the night.
Hubby’s AP was around someone who tested positive. He is currently at home awaiting the results of his test. If the AP tests positive, then the whole school will probably be shut down for two weeks as there will be no front office staff left because of quarantine.
We need a professional to fix our sliding glass door, but every single employee at the company but one is positive, so we’re on hold. I applaud the company for doing the right thing. It sucks to still have the problem door, but it’s not worth exposure.
I know it’s a PANE but you have to applaud their TRANSPARENCY. They could have just let it SLIDE and ended up SHATTERING your world.
/applause
JustaJoe was seriously on track with his incredible puns.
Many many starts and stops getting through the 3 seasons of Legion – – but I’m glad I made it to the finale. They nailed it.
This series was so often unhinged and over-the-top and ridiculous. Unreasonably weird. So many WTF scenes. But damn. . . so smart and visually inventive. Pretentious and artsy, but I like that shit. It’s like a David Lynch trip, but with a lot less audience punishment (sorry, Lynch fans).
A lot to unpack.
As someone with no background in the source material, I enjoyed it all immensely….though I certainly probably missed a lot of references. A trip is definitely a good way to describe it.
I gave up on the 3rd season 1 or 2 eps in.
I loved the first 2 seasons but those first episodes felt more like homework then Entertainment. Or like staring at one of those 3D pictures and trying to see the hidden image.
I am encouraged to go back and give it another try though.
I haven’t made my way back to season 3 as my significant other cannot handle the level of psychedelic audacity. I will finish it though, I quite like it.
I finally got the Audible credit to get the War of the Worlds Musical Drama. Not quite what I was expecting, but (as with everything Jeff Wayne) insanely well done. No singing at all. The music was all instrumental and everything else was essentially a radio-drama with lots of narration. There were some interesting differences between the album version and the new version. I also found a standard version of the book on Audible for $1.50. I’ll do that next so I can see how each one varies from the original.
Part of me is excited, part wonders how this material failed to be capitalized on by Christopher Tolkien if there was any hope of making a dime off of it in the past.
I’m still holding out for his vast world-building texts on Farmer Giles of Ham.
Perhaps with some clever writing they can transition to the big screen.
I forgot to hit “stop recording” on an interview I just did. Now I have to go into it and delete about an hour of chat before I post it. Luckily, I wasn’t planning to put it up until around Christmas so I have lots of time to edit.
Silly me.
I often intentionally left record running (with the guest fully aware of it), planning to snip the tail end.
When I interviewed John Shirley for Deadpan, the followup conversation was so good that I ended up asking him if I could use it. He said yes, and (I think) he was our first 2-parter.
John use to play all the time. He would watch all the tournaments too. He hasn’t for a long time but was, for a while, pretty decent at it.
We are re-watching.
Binged like 6 episodes last night.
Really solid show.
Poor hubby.
Yesterday the Alberta government announced grades 7-12 will be switching to at home learning starting Monday. Of course, they didn’t tell the educators ahead of time. We learned of it at last night’s news conference like everybody else.
Hubby gets to spend the next three days mostly fielding parent questions and working with central office on how best to divide up his school (he has grades 5 – 8). He expects to come home rather harried.
He also says it’s silly because all the covid cases they’ve had were in the lower grades, none in the seven and eights.
How kind of them to wait until the last possible minute to tell the people on the front lines.
Although it still sounds like the correct move.
John isn’t against the idea, although having half the school still in will be strange. He just wishes the had a heads up first
Teachers getting a pay freeze over here as a ‘reward’ for working through a pandemic,
I woke up and went straight to my desk. I should think about throwing my body into the shower.
An Irish man is stumbling through the woods, totally drunk, when he comes upon a preacher baptising people in the river.
He proceeds to walk into the water and subsequently bumps into the preacher.
The preacher turns around and is almost overcome by the smell of alcohol, whereupon he asks the drunk,
‘Are you ready to find Jesus?’
The drunk shouts, ‘Yes, oi am.’
So the preacher grabs him and dunks him in the water.
He pulls him up and asks the drunk, ‘Brother, have you found Jesus?’
The drunk replies, ‘No, oi haven’t found Jesus.’
The preacher, shocked at the answer, dunks him into the water again for a little longer.
He again pulls him out of the water and asks, ‘Have you found Jesus, my brother?’
The drunk again answers, ‘No, oi I haven’t found Jesus.’
By this time the preacher is at his wits end and dunks the drunk in the water again – but this time holds him down for about 30 seconds, and when he begins kicking his arms and legs, he pulls him up.
The preacher again asks the drunk, ‘For the love of God, have you found Jesus?’
The drunk wipes his eyes and catches his breath and says to the preacher, ‘Are you sure this is where he fell in?’
This will ruffle some feathers. I don’t fully agree, but I don’t fully disagree.
First glance, I thought this was about the Mandelbrot set.
The word “Mandelbrot” makes me think of Howie Mandel playing with a Lite Brite.
I’ll admit that the trope happened enough for me to notice. I too would like to see the plotlines move toward a more meaningful direction. That said, I’m still enjoying Mando.
Overall, I prefer epic story arcs, but the episodic nature works. And so far, both seasons have had a loose overall thread. I think this reporter is bringing up that there’s not much compassion for the creatures they encounter.
I get that, but I also get the counter-argument: he’s a bounty hunter in a rough universe – – is he gonna try to hug it out with a krayt dragon?
Yep, agreed.
I have a beef dip going in the slow cooker. Pretty soon my house is going to smell yummy
Today’s Brussels sprouts not the same variety as the ones of your youth:
And thank goodness for that! I hated them as a kid for exactly the reasons described in the article.
I liked Brussel sprouts
Hubby’s working late today
It ain’t cool to be no jive turkey so close to Thanksgiving.
My poor husband is soooooo burnt out, I don’t know what to do. They are averaging one or two more new cases each day in his school.
*sigh* Looks like another late night for him tonight.
Addendum. Today the Alberta government declared an outbreak in hubby’s school. Doesn’t mean a damn thing as they won’t close it. They’re just acknowledging things might be a little out of control.
I thought your premier declared all indoor gatherings illegal?
Isn’t a school day an indoor gathering?
Are these students or staff that is getting sick?
both.
I hate my mom. Since she can no longer send me conspiracy theories through FB, she’s emailing them to me directly. At the moment I’m ignoring her but, at some point, I’m going to have to tell her to STFU
Hubby texted. Yup, another late night. I don’t think he’s been home before seven this week (closer to 8 yesterday) and worked all last weekend.
I’m pretty sure I have a husband but, since I haven’t seen much of him lately, I’m not too sure
*sorry, I know I’m venting. I’ll stop now
Vent away 🙁 Ugh and hugs all around.
I do blame the lizard aliens who wear human disguises and control the world governments.
Did any of you guys indulge? I recall that Ed got into the Black Friday spirit in years past.
My Black Friday shopping this year consisted going to Walmart and buying a gallon of milk and some rain ponchos for my daughter when we went to visit her today.
You’re a loose cannon, Klein!
I thought about getting a Kindle Fire HD tablet or a Samsung Galaxy Tab A for my mom so she can engage in Zoom events. Decided that I’ll wait and see what Cyber Monday brings on the tablet front. I was pretty miffed that the $80 version of the Fire HD is Ad supported. Seriously, we now have ad supported tablets? It’s just all going too damn far.
To my Secret Santa recipient. I ordered three, but, because life is the way it is, it looks like they are being delivered in the wrong order. Please accept my apology.
Now I’m wondering if I mistyped the email address.
On the other hand, he’s dead (good riddance), and none of the shitbags in his circle will benefit if you do buy his stuff.
DPSS gift is on it’s way.
CP: Declination — NanowaR of Steel
Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was released 38 years ago today.
Good morning!… afternoon.
I’ve been awake. Honest.
I take offense at Jack’s note about Thriller.
I’m sure it’s true, but I’m still offended.
I’m almost done my Christmas shopping… I masked up and braved the Swap Meet.
It’s one of the emptiest places I’ve found to do my shopping. It’s outside and supports local business so … that’s what I’ve been up to.
Did I share this before? Crap jokes by the bushel.
So. A couple of weeks ago, there was a silent auction at a local store for a framed AC/DC piece of work. On a lark, I put in the minimum bid figuring I wouldn’t get it but, if I did, at least the money goes to charity.
I just got a call saying I won the bid. Given I did the minimum, I have to assume no one else bid on the piece.
Now I have to tell hubby I just spent $200
Bunny bids. Not! So! Cheap!
Nice!
Now here’s your coat.
Apparently Ben Bova passed of COVID related complications.
I heard he’d died. Didn’t know it was COVID. He was pretty universally loved by his readers and peers. He also discovered and launched many many great careers in Science Fiction.
RIP.
Holy crap, Billy Idol made it to 65.
Morning Pan
This morning I get to install and explore a newer version of our bookkeeping program. The excitement never stops here in bunnydom.
We’ve been watching a show on Netflix called Dark. We are enjoying it but I think hubby’s tired of me saying this is this person and then being right
That was going to be our next show after Queen’s Gambit, but we’ve started up The Good Place again.
So I learned today that the mythical bunyip hangs around in waterways,
So I finished reading “Something Wicked This Way Comes” last night. Wow, what a book. I’ve read some Ray Bradbury before, but this is the first time I was able to appreciate the greatness of his nuts and bolts writing. Every paragraph is poetry. And the allegories about youth and aging are just *chef’s kiss.* And what a great villain!
I remember liking the movie as a kid, but that’s the last time I saw it. I wonder if it holds up.
Well now.
Congratulations on getting funded.
film photography is not dead it seems:
https://petapixel.com/2020/10/21/lomography-unveils-panoramic-35mm-film-camera-with-liquid-filled-lens/
Oops. new page. This is in reference to the yet another live version of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds post from the last page.
“A five-hour Audible version of the show has been made featuring with a cast including Michael Sheen, Taron Egerton and Ade Edmondson.”
Dammit, I just used my Audible credit for the month a few days ago. Guess I know what I’ll be checking out with November’s credit. And the last book in Peter F. Hamilton’s Salvation Sequence will have to wait til December.
Inspirobot says:
Seek advice. Don’t just try to build a teleporter.
So how’s that teleported coming along?
-d +r
Terrible. Nobody’s given me any good advice on building it.
Don’t build it in your bathroom.
No one needs that kind of extra traffic in there.
Next Friday, I might actually have time to do a PBP
Hubby and I were talking last night and he called me a bittle lunny. Then he stopped and said:
I swear, I’ve had nothing to drink.
It was funny.
Halloween 2020
https://vimeo.com/470244796?ref=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR1k5CcW4onE-aAh-gTK2ut2xzUpcP5VBTq5RYtBacXXTkuozm_sZU3j5Zo
A reboot I can get behind. Too bad we don’t get Hulu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNCDu4nmt8M&feature=emb_logo&fbclid=IwAR3HSOzL5Yu6YjpNZqF4zmfC6WaywBG2ZHYJdqWEB80LnGxCIikMb3v-maM&ab_channel=Hulu
Hubby needed some new clothes for work. Because we won’t do the mall thing, I took the initiative and bought him some clothes on line. Yesterday he has a big grin on his face and says:
“Except for the tie, every piece of clothing I’m wearing today is new! And this is the most comfortable underwear I think I’ve worn in a long time.”
This is actually a bad thing. I’m pretty sure it means I’m going to be doing his clothing shopping from now on.
*sigh*
Then there’s the wait while WordPress decided if your new name should be allowed, even if it’s under the same email address.
I’m on it!
Virtual tour of the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo:
https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/get-a-sneak-peek-into-ghibli-museum-with-these-videos-052520
My Boo went to Japan a few years ago. She wanted to do the Ghibli studio tour but you had to book almost a year in advance. She was a little bummed out.
The free story this month on the Tor book club has been well reviewed:
https://www.tor.com/2020/10/20/download-a-free-ebook-of-the-haunting-of-tram-car-015-by-p-djeli-clark-before-october-24/?utm_source=exacttarget&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_term=tordotcom-tordotcomnewsletter&utm_content=na-readblog-blogpost&utm_campaign=tordotcom&e=3531931559f5003ca3c6eb11527363a50f511dd20dcb4a5592da9097b90f56da
Hopefully not tempting fate but Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood are still alive,
Silver linings and all that.
This seems like a random statement. . . ?
I’m sure I’ve told you my Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood story?
(Basically that I was supposed to interview them in front of a packed auditorium at a Phx Comicon. I was waiting for them backstsge, noticed too late that they’d gotten onstage by a different route. Keir Dullea sat down and started talking to the audience before I even got out there. He talked pretty much for the entire hour, with a few stories interjected from Gary Lockwood. I said maybe three words.)
You hadn’t and you actually met them you lucky so and so.
It was a very cool experience, yeah. Very nice guys.
CP: Running with the Wolves — AURORA
A version of that song was used in Wolf Walkers film:
https://youtu.be/rc0eMtRRkhw
https://twistedsifter.com/videos/14-century-bridge-construction-in-prague-animation/
Seems like cleaning the washroom in the nude, then showing, then dressing would be the best vector to avoid having cleaning chemicals on your clothes or person if that is the goal.
Wrong link, right link below. 😉
Doing bridge construction in the nude sounds full of perils.
Definitely want to avoid getting the bends.
Morning Pan
It occurs to me, I may be a little bit… quirky.
Today I cleaned the washrooms.
Normally, hubby and I will get up and I will have a shower first while he eats breakfast. This morning I slept in a bit so I waited to shower until after he left for work.
So I showered, then cleaned the entire washroom, then got dressed.
Who else cleans their washroom in the nude?
Well I can’t for others but you may have that distinction all to yourself.
I would put on boxers at least.
+speak
Would it make more sense to clean, then shower?
https://loudwire.com/sebastian-bach-walks-out-interview-rob-halford-joke-response/
Sebastian Bach shows class, Rob Halford is very graceful when dealing with dimwit homophobe comedians.
Interesting that when Sebastian Bach walked out of their interview, they tried to put the blame on him.
I can’t help but think that Sebastian was left out to dry here. He did the proper thing and no one, not even Halford, acknowledged it.
Look at us both sticking up for Sebastian Bach!
I agree. May we all be so fortunate to have such devoted friends that stick up for us.
I’ll fight the world for you, you fucking Canuck!!! 😉
another slice of computing history:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/10/how-indiana-jones-fought-the-communists-and-led-an-era-of-activist-video-games/
So I had lunch today with a musician I’ve greatly admired since 1986. David Ellefson. I’m not a stargazer, but it was pretty cool to hang out and hear these stories.
That’s one even I think I recognize.
Although truthfully, at first glance, my brain went to Danny Elfman and then I was a little let down it wasn’t.
CW: The Queen’s Gambit E1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia0vVQnNGcc
The Immigrant Song in Old Norse. I can’t say it’s great, but it’s pretty cool.
At my Boo’s while snow tires being put on the car
CP: Koyaanisqatsi — Philip Glass
I recall connecting with this guy at a Phoenix ComicCon 10,000 years ago. We also both did an artsy event together back in the day – – me playing guitar, him doing live drawing. Then life happened and that connection evaporated.
One of those people who it’s impossible to dislike.
https://shoutoutarizona.com/meet-daniel-davis-creative-hooligan/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln5OBnXmB8M&list=RDLn5OBnXmB8M&start_radio=1&t=6
She’s apparently a Phoenix local artist. No connection, just kind of a good song and a clever concept to the video.
Akira animation analyzed: https://boingboing.net/2020/10/23/a-deep-dive-into-the-incredible-animation-of-akira.html
Morning Pan
I think I’m going to clean my desk this morning. Who knows what I’ll find.
This is cute.
Type in your location and it will tell you where you would end up if you dug straight down.
Mine said, “You`re alone and the water is so cold.”
https://www.antipodesmap.com/
Water as well.
Yep. Water water water
Water. The closest land is Madagascar.
Same, though I believe that’s actually the case for most of us living on land.
Many years back, zeFrank did a thing where he had people on opposite sides of the globe put pieces of bread on the ground to make an earth sandwich.
http://www.zefrank.com/sandwich/
Yeah, his show was pretty fun
JW: Queen’s Gambit E2
Not a great fan of non scifi period dramas but really enjoying this series.
Did I mention that we slogged all the way through Raised By Wolves?
My one-word review: ugh.
At this rate we can start a HateRidleyScott club.
Ha! Never! He’s one of my all-time favorites.
Raised By Wolves is very smart and ambitious, but it’s also super sloppy and awkward. It’s confusing, yes, but it’s more confused.
It must be lonely all by yourself on that hill
A hill I’m prepare to die on..fucker!
That you will, Johnny. That you will
CP: Tainted Love — Claire Guerreso
There’s a new “Tainted Love” cover out there by Sepultura.
Yeah, it doesn’t work.
https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/10/david-bowie-livestream-tribute-reznor-corgan-oldman/?fbclid=IwAR0m1FxZY-1zrxBB1-pUV6t5NAUrx_nAt12QXvTN4PY1l3wwG7MsHDf4ixU
CP: Rat Race — Brody Dalle
Psychology Today and. . . . GWAR:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brick-brick/202010/michael-bishop-and-the-power-punk-rock-conversion
Looking at the British comics available in October 1965:
http://galacticjourney.org/october-20-1965-a-wonderful-shadow-british-comics-overview/
No Captain Britain? I’m disappointed.
CB wasn’t around in 1965.
That’s no excuse.
CP: The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill – Hüsker Dü
I may have to find time for this new musical obsession:
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/30-essential-psychedelic-soul-songs/
I guess the term, “Psychedelic Soul” has been around longer than I have, but I never realize that so much of my favorite Funk, RnB, Soul, Motown, etc. falls into this category.
Getting snow tire put on my car this morning
The 50 greatest apocalypse novels:
https://t.co/LVoulMoDFD
I’ve read very few of them, but have seen the movie adaptation for a good number of them
Kudos to LitHub for debasing themselves with an article about Spec Fic.
I’ve only read a handful of those.
Now we are all ready for the winter
Chains on the tires?
Chains are frowned upon in the city as it tears up the roads. However, changing out summer tires for winter ones are recommended.
Mike Patton is patient with an excited Eric Andre:
https://www.revolvermag.com/premium-video/culture/eric-andre-interviews-mike-patton-mr-bungle-faith-no-more
For those with the time, energy, and inclination: https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-the-best-ramen-at-home-236345
Alternately: settle for the $0.20 packets from the supermarket.
I already make ramen. I think the recipes in “Japanese Soul Cooking” are excellent. Plus, you want the marinaded eggs instead of just plain hard boiled, imo.
https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Soul-Cooking-Tonkatsu-Kitchens/dp/1607743523
There’s a world of difference between instant and homemade. If you like to make and eat soup, it is worth trying.
Yeah, one of our favorite restaurants in town is Ramen Hood. I really hope they survive.
We’ve tried a few successful homemade ramen experiments – – the real thing, not the 20 cent bricks – – but we’ve never gotten anything that really mimicked the restaurant.
Crap joke for the day:
During lunch at work, I ate 3 plates of beans (which I know I shouldn’t). When I got home, my husband seemed excited to see me and exclaimed delightedly, “Darling I have a surprise for dinner tonight.” He then blindfolded me and led me to my chair at the dinner table. I took a seat and just as he was about to remove my blindfold, the telephone rang. He made me promise not to touch the blindfold until he returned and went to answer the call.
The beans I had consumed were still affecting me and the pressure was becoming unbearable, so while my husband was out of the room I seized the opportunity, shifted my weight to one leg and let one go.
It was not only loud, but it smelled like a fertilizer truck running over a skunk in front of a garbage dump! I took my napkin from my lap and fanned the air around me vigorously. Then, shifting to the other leg, I ripped off three more. The stink was worse than cooked cabbage. Keeping my ears carefully tuned to the conversation in the other room, I went on releasing atomic bombs like this for another few minutes. The pleasure was indescribable!
Eventually the telephone farewells signaled the end of my freedom, so I quickly fanned the air a few more times with my napkin, placed it on my lap and folded my hands back on it feeling very relieved and pleased with myself.
My face must have been the picture of innocence when my husband returned, apologizing for taking so long.
He asked me if I had peaked through the blindfold, and I assured him I had not.
At this point, he removed the blindfold, and twelve dinner guests seated around the table, with their hands to their noses, chorused, “Happy Birthday!”
Morning Pan
Will be doing a bpb later today. Don’t know what movie it will be yet.
So the day will begin like this huh? I think I might do a pbp instead.
Finished watching a NetFlix docuseries last night called High Score. It was about the early days of video games. We quite liked it.
I liked episode 1. I intend to keep watching.
An interview with the guy who wore a long scarf:
https://t.co/CROZZcF2yl
Misremembering the British Empire:
https://t.co/xK3lNEDFe2
CP: Where Evil Grows — The Poppy Family
We’re about twenty minutes away from movie silliness
Here we go.
Today’s movie is House of the Witch
The write up: A group of daring teens find themselves in a fight for their lives inside a haunted house where a sinister spirit crashes their Halloween party
A quiet suburban street
No trespassing
Kitty cat ears
A dare
Numbers for a number
I am so shocked
One year later
You don’t want to be a grease monkey all your life
Product placement
Why do most haunted houses have half moon upper floor windows for spirits to look out of?
That’s illegal in Alberta
Knock knock
That’s not how it works
Time to explore
Bloody walls
He’s spoiling the mood
Now the chair is spoiling the mood
A phonograph
A relative?
They can’t leave
No service
Can’t get out that way either
A broken mirror
Nine fingers Sal
Egging the house
Is that Lloyd?
A study
Really? Just put your hand in an urn?
He’s turning into a zombie
People stew
Her room
She’s a wild thing
Actual parents worrying. What’s that about?
He’s getting worse
It’s moving
What do you want?
Seriously? It’s a deserted place
Cue the thunderstorms
Don’t go down there
She’s coming
Lloyd doesn’t look so good
Game over man
Not Scooby Doo haunted
Ewww
Here comes the sun
Where’s Rachel?
Now for the bent over backwards walk
She’s aging
Do you really think a door will help?
She helped
Burn it down
She’s watching
Dax is going to do something stupid
Ok, that was pretty cheesy
Here comes the Calvary
ReLly gonna try that. It’s been hours
Why not call an ambulance?
She’s heartless
The twist ending was such a shocker
Meh. It was what it was. Not exactly ground breaking but entertaining enough, I guess
Seems to have been a by-the-numbers Horror.
Playdate update:
https://t.co/lyoZ5Rd5Sg
Well, the new season of the Mandalorian is off to a high powered start. Though, I must confess, while all the callbacks and easter eggs generated a pretty strong endorphin rush while watching….a few hours later I find myself a bit let down by what feels like a bit of a rerun.
I have confidence that the whole season will payoff like it did last year, but I’m a bit underwhelmed with this kickoff.
I was never overwhelmed by The Mandelorian. The child was cute enough, I guess, but I found the whole thing over hyped, It to say it was bad. It was ok enough that we will watch season two. I just didn’t find it good enough for all the accolades it seems to be receiving
The new season is making my appreciate turning up the volume on my Sonos soundbar.
I guess M and the Marshall are comparing dick sizes with the speeders.
I thought season 1 was mostly great. It’s the first thing in 35 years to really feel like the original trilogy Star Wars.
Last night’s episode was not the best, but still good. Especially the finale.
We did determine about halfway through that this show is a bit too intense for the 2-year-old, so we paused and watched the 2nd half later.
And that proved to be a wise decision.
Fuck!
https://t.co/wqllERClZr
Yeah, I heard about this. However, 90 years is still a good run.
Good night James Bond
🙁
Wait a cotton picking minute, so one of the bad guys in Get Smart was called The Claw, the bad guy in Inspector Gadget cartoon was Dr Claw and Don Adams voiced IG and played Maxwell Smart:
https://youtu.be/lBcimH1OEbM
Yeah, Inspector Gadget was pretty clearly modeled after Get Smart.
A halloween costume party I can get behind:
https://t.co/sGag0t5lB0
These are great!
Hubby and I decided to watch the 2020 movie of The Turning. It was based on the same book as NetFlix’s Haunting of Bly Manor.
While The Turning was not good movie, I was with it… until the end. It was baffling to both hubby and I. It’s not often we have to go on line to find an explanation of a movie. We did for this one.
It also broke the rule of, if you see a gun in the first act, it must be used by the third act. While there was not gun, in horror movies, life sized creepy dolls that are made a big deal of have the same rule… except in movies that have nonsensical endings.
I read The Turn of the Screw a buncha years back and found it surprisingly, effectively creepy, for a book written in the 19th century.
We watched the first 2 eps of Bly Manor last night, and as Van said on the previous thread, the production feels extremely cheap. Like a soap or an old Doctor Who.
In other news, hubby spent part of the day laughing at me. I sent him in to the washroom to kill a spider. He comes out and says he couldn’t find it. I then pointed it out to him. It turned out to be sock lint. It seems I’m afraid of sock lint now.
Where we stand –
SCOTUS rules that a specific state did NOT have to count any ballots the postal service delivers after Election Day if they don’t want to. Their general ruling was that States make their own rules about which votes get counted. In their specific case.
Friday, video from a post office in Dade County Florida shows bins full of legally filled out ballots, simply shoved in a back room. Now local postmaster claims they cannot be sorted and delivered befor Election Day.
Yesterday, thousands of voters marching to their polling place in N.C. were pepper sprayed by police.
Now Texas Republican’s are suing to have 100,000 votes thrown out in one County, because the county allowed voters to line up in their cars and vote outside instead of standing in line and going inside. They aren’t declaring that there is something wrong with the votes … they want them thrown out because the SCOTUS just ruled a State legislature makes the voting rules and this proceedure was allowed by a county.
These are active assaults on the American voter. These people are showing their hand now. They are engaged in stealing the election.
Michigan—a swing-state—has just decided to allow open-carry at the polls.
So here is a “This just in” Twist…
The all-Republican Texas Supreme Court has denied a GOP-led petition to toss nearly 127,000 ballots already cast at drive-thru voting places in the Houston area. A federal judge is expected to rule on the same issue on Monday.
In Canada, for a federal election, the federal government sets the rules. Therefore it’s the same across the country. This different rules for different states is confusing.
(note: provincial (state) elections are run by the province so they are different for each province)
The violence that just occurred in Texas and North Carolina is chilling. While I’d like to say that Biden should have just gone ahead anyway to show these thugs that he won’t be intimidated, I don’t have all of the facts about the security threat. Maybe they were right to cancel.
Floyd County, Georgia Democrats cancel a planned rally today ahead of Trump’s visit to Rome because a large, domestic terrorist presence is expected.
So there is now airbags for cyclists:
https://hovding.com/
Nothing like a cat having a massive seizure right in front of you to singe every last nerve.
I think she’s OK now. She’s wandering around. She seems every bit as freaked out as I am.
Oh no. *hugs*
This is pretty cool. select the year you were born and see what words were first used that year.
I have a crap load of words “born” the same year as me including: lunar module, dance off, Automatic teller machine (who knew ATM was that old?), humongous, recreational drug, and spaghetti western.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1967
Grinch and knockoff in the long list for my birth year.
Higgs-boson! I find it hard to believe that “fly-on-the-wall,” “Heimlich maneuver,””zin,” and “string cheese” are that new.
I find it hard to believe that “lo mein” was not a word until 1970.
So today I’ve bought Hades and now I must wait as it downloads.
I’ve had several friends strongly encourage me to give this game a try. I’ll probably do that after I finish “Ghost of Tsushima”.
I enjoyed Hades
Unfortunately Ghosts isn’t available on the PC yet
I finished “Umbrella Academy” season 2 yesterday. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was a stronger season than the first.
I loved the sound track as well, still no news on whether there will be a S3..
S2 was a huge improvement on S1.
CP: Fa Fa — Guster
The intrigue is deepening on Bly Manor, after episode 3. We’ll probably keep at it.
I wish they’d spent a few more bucks on production, because it’s distracting.
We finished Bly Manor and decided to rewatch Hill House. We enjoyed Bly fine, but Hill House exceeded it in every way. Hill House is just splendid.
I’ve said elsewhere, Blyth Manor looks like it was shot in the 70s/80s on the cheap.
Agreed.
JW: The Queen’s Gambit E7
Great ending, bloody great series, if you have Netflix, give it a try.
We’re in the middle of it. Quite enjoying it so far
This is pretty electrifying, even if you’re not much of a Rolling Stones fan.
https://news.avclub.com/the-rolling-stones-share-remastered-footage-of-their-fi-1845548743
John Lennon is in the crowd, clearly enjoying his altered state.
Not a fan BUTas a fan of music this excites me
Charlie Watts’ Adam’s Apple is the unofficial 6th member.
Great name for a band too…
CP: Whichever Way the Wind Blows – Bob Mould
Excellent.
9:30 at night. Now hubby is told to call parents of a single class to tell them to keep their kids home due to a COVID case.
Now? It’s pretty late and We were asleep
(It may seem early to you, but some if us were up at 3am because the cat doesn’t understand daylight savings)
Kitty woke us at ten to four this morning. Almost a normal time.
Here we go.
I posted a picture today on the FB of my uncle and dad sitting on groovy 70s lawnchairs in my childhood backyard. My dad was born on Nov 3, 1940, his first brother Frank, my oldest uncle, was born on the same day in 1942.
You are a spitting image of your Dad.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/11/after-20-years-of-service-the-space-station-flies-into-an-uncertain-future
Pretty fascinating take on ISS’s past and present.
Was just reading a Scientific American article on efforts (and challenges) of avoiding war in space.
Seems there is a legion of “Hobbiests” That are keeping the world honest by monitoring space activity and tweeting out what they see in real time.
One of these guys pointed out that the biggest danger in space right now is how crowded it is getting. That, and something they refer to as RUD
(Rapid Unplanned Disassembly).
I found that amusing.
ROUSes? I don’t believe they exist.
CP: A Victory Of Love — Alphaville
We might be headed for another record breaking warm day today
I hadn’t heard of this Freaky Friday “remake” but making it into a comedy slasher film is brilliant! 😀
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svqgoAOYFq4&feature=emb_title
Nothing like a sneezing fit after you’ve just completed mastication of a mouthful of nuts…
A rare sighting of the lesser spotted JB
Toot toot, peanut butter.
Well off to bed, I’ll find out in the morning what sort of shit storm the rest of the world can expect.
I’ll check in later. It’s possible/probably we won’t know anything for certain tonight anyway.
I don’t need to watch pundits repeating, “It’s too soon to call it,” in front of a map, while the US speeds straight at a cliff.
I love it when I get “breaking news alerts” that are neither breaking, nor actually news.
I mean, did any of you know that today is election day? Thanks, New York Times, for that fascinating bit of journalism.
I think I may just have to turn off the internet tonight.
https://www.treblezine.com/22712-10-essential-psychedelic-soul-albums/
For further investigation.
Well that looks interesting:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/11/raspberry-pi-400-the-under-100-desktop-pc-you-didnt-know-you-needed/
If you want some distraction, watch videos of this guys Lego train sets:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1_vgAoHkxrxPCgl0BJqelQ/
Our local train park has a bunch of layouts of different size, including a small LEGO set. Neat stuff.
Morning Pan
Off to the city this afternoon
I haven’t read his books in years, haven’t watched a new adaptation of his in years – – but Stephen King’s perspectives are always gold:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2020/10/30/stephen-king-adaptations-mr-mercedes/
I see that “Emotional Support Canadians” is trending. So I was going to inquire if Ditto or Ryah have been assigned an American yet?
Haven’t been assigned anybody. Why, are you looking for support?
Poutine and Kraft Dinner required: stat.
I take support if it is being offered. 🙂
https://twitter.com/Darth_Pingu/status/1323786312084762624
CP: I’m Not Your Hero — Tegan and Sara
Off to the city!
BTW, this is the site I’ve been checking: https://www.bbc.com/news/world/us_and_canada
Too much clutter and noise at the usual US media staples.
Our recent interview with David Ellefson and Thom Hazaert has been getting some press – – mainly about his comments on playing bass with a pick.
https://www.guitarworld.com/news/megadeths-dave-ellefson-weekend-warrior-bass-players-give-me-sht-about-playing-with-a-pick
and
https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/megadeths-david-ellefson-says-he-still-gets-st-from-not-professional-bass-players-about-playing-with-a-pick/
And I’m so insecure, I have to scour the comments to make sure no one is mocking the interviewers. Luckily, even the trolls are sticking to the topic.
I will hunt them down and rip out their eyeballs if they troll you!
Great job on getting this interview picked up!
CP: Here Comes The End — Gerard Way
I fnished watching The Queen’s Gambit.
Sooo good! The lead actress was mesmerizing.
The ebook is 99p on Amazon in the U.K. today, think I’m going to buy it.
CP: Hell’s Eight Acres — Adam Ant
I feel sorry for all you Americans. Your country is broken.
If Trump wins, he won’t care.
However, if Biden wins, he will be head of a very broken and divisive country that will not mend easily or quickly. And, since it looks like Republicans will still hold the senate, it is doubtful Biden will be able to get much of what he wants done as Mitch McConnell will likely not pass any sweeping reforms. It’s an untenable position and, no matter Biden’s good intentions, not likely to be resolved during his tenure.
*shrug* Just my two cents worth.
My goals are:
1. Not to have to spend the next 4 years listening to people bitch endlessly about Trump (I hate him too, just so much so that I don’t want to see everything every day be about him).
2. I work with a lot of government agencies that have to have the president’s portrait in the lobby. I want to not have to look at his scowling face every time I walk into one of those buildings.
I thought I hated everything about politics. I strongly disagree with almost every political tactic I see and I’m turned off by the rhetoric of both extremes (and little seems to be said that isn’t an extreme). But I must admit. Watching the math of the election results coming in is fascinating. I lost a lot of time today just watching it all play out.
We can still abolish the electoral college, though. That’d be fine.
And impose term limits. That would also be just great.
Voyager 2 is still rocking:
https://www.engadget.com/nasa-contacts-voyager-2-via-deep-space-station-dish-154502422.html
In these pandemic times we are urged to buy books to support author and book shops.
But what if the author is long dead?
How long? If their work is not yet in public domain, then all income would go to their estate.
We have an author that passed and all his royalties go to his widow. So, in buying the book, you are still supporting their family.
There’s the rub.
Have a great birthday, Pixie!
Happy Pixie Day !!!!!
Thank you!
Happy birthday to my main squeeeeeeeeeze!
And to mine!
Happy Birthday To Rhett’s wife!
Squeeeeeeeeeze you right back!
But also, happy birthday Pixie!
Yes! Happy birthday!
Thank you, Ditto!
Thank you!! And Happy Birthday to my bday Pannite buddy, Teresa!!!!
Woot woot
No cavities!
I’m intrigued by a few of these:
https://music.avclub.com/nick-cave-miley-cyrus-and-21-more-albums-we-can-t-wai-1845530816
I had no idea we were getting a new Nick Cave.
No new Nickelback. 🙁
CP: Soul Man — Sam & Dave
Looks like we will hit a high today of 97F/36C, but Sunday’s low will be 49F/9C. Nothing like a 50-degree temperature change over four days.
Awwwww. You are actually having weather there? Shocking, I say! 😀
Yeah, didn’t have any until now, but should be cleared up by mid-January.
I needed the AC in my car when I drove to pick up lunch today.
New Chuck Lorre sitcom premieres tonight.
The internet ad for it makes it look like standard sitcom blech.
That being said, I thought the same thing about Big Bang Theory and 2 1/2 Men when they came out. So much so I never watched them until they were in syndication. Now I have to admit that those two shows are some of my favorite, mindless TV.
Wow. That wasn’t so good. At least the first 10 minutes of it. That’s all I gave it.
Instead of election coverage the past 2 nights I have been binging Queens Gambit.
I feel it was a wise choice of time.
3 episodes left.
Who had this on their 2020 bingo card?
https://www.spin.com/2020/11/creed-drummer-says-band-may-reunite/
Eyes wide open! 😉
One of my sisters bought me this chess computer back at the turn of the century (never opened):
http://kantack.com/chess/kingarthur.htm
4 bit processor running at 1.5Mhz, no wonder 8 bit computers from 20 years before had programs that could eat these things for breakfast.
So, if I could be a time traveling tourist… meaning that I couldn’t actually change anything in the past, just go there… I’d spend 3 day weekends in 1960’s Las Vegas.
You could have added some class and style to the Rat Pack.
There’s a shortage of flu vaccine here. My appointment for last week was cancelled. My doctor still doesn’t have any but I’m finally able to go in this morning and get one from my local pharmacy
Sonos has updated their system again … which means that this morning, once again, I cannot use my Sonos system.
Apparently I have to invest ANOTHER few hours into trying to get Sonos, my router/wireless, all of the equipment talking again. I’ve had to do it before, many times but now I am beginning to see the exactly how the “sunken cost” principle works.
I simply cannot recommend Sonos. Yes, their speakers sound good and when the system DOES work it is pretty great.
… but you have to be willing to bow down to them with random infusions of cash and/or subservient hours of your life just to keep your initial (not unsubstantial) investment working.
I’m not sure when society decided this was acceptable, basically buying a product but only “renting” it’s functionality, but I don’t see it as a step forward.
Somewhere in my attic I have a clock radio I bought in 1978. I bought it to tell me what time it was, to wake me up, and to play the radio. I bet if I could find it and plug it in … it would still do all of those things.
I agree that I don’t like this new model, where giant corporations have the power to revoke my access to the things I’ve purchased from them.
But the kids are crazy for this system.
My 2cents is that the kids put up with it because they don’t know anything else.
For most 20 somethings, this is just the way it has always been so they don’t know the joy of buying stuff that just works and keeps working until the components physically break or wear out.
Much as I like my Sonos Beam, among smart speakers manufacturers it’s really a niche product line compared to Amazon and it’s range of Alexa speakers,
I was out raking leaves (with a rake I bought in the late 90’s and though the paint on the handle has worn off and a tine has broken off of each side, it still preforms the function I bought it for) … and pondering this situation some more.
I think a summation might be that we are migrating away from “owning” a product. In the new world we are buying a service delivery device but “renting” the functionality.
Hmmm. More leaves. More to ponder.
See, if you’d rented that rake, then they would come out and replace the broken parts for you! (for a small service and parts fee plus membership, tax, and usage charge, void in certain states)
I had a similar moment back in the 90s. I was working at a day treatment facility for people with disabilities on daily living skills and came across an egg beater that was obviously a leftover from the 1950s or 1960s. After laughing at how odd the thing looked I started thinking about how this thing was 30-40 years old and STILL WORKING.
My arm has been pricked. Now just waiting the requisite 15 minutes before I head out
Tubular Bells is one of the most fascinating pieces of music ever recorded. Mike Oldfield is a character. I kinda need to watch this, at some point:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYGfaYI1n8c
This looks great.
I’ve got to find the time to watch this all later.
CP: No Time To Die — Billie Eilish
My god Ryah, did you watch the new Mandalorian episode??
Egads!
It has spiders in it.
We wait until all the episodes have dropped before watching the season.
Mandalorian – Into the Spider Verse
Have a wonderful birthday Lost Ralph!
Yea Ralph!
Happy Birthday!
I’ll just leave this right here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn-h78tuNiU&ab_channel=BadLipReading
Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse has finally arrived on the U.K. Netflix.
15 minutes in and it’s still Cool AF.
Congrats America
Well they are all calling a Biden win.
So thank fuck for that and I’m not even American.
This is amazing! My new favourite song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSWszdSHkyE
This joke will never get old.
This by the same band runs a close second
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9WWz95ripA
The Republican Presidential nominee has won exactly one popular vote since 1988 (Bush over Kerry).
tRump’s highest approval rating during his presidency was lower than Obama’s lowest (citing Michael Ventrella – – correct me if that number is wrong).
The vote was decided by roughly 4.5 million votes and 50-60 points.
Americans do NOT want this brand of Conservatism anymore. It’s time for a new one to arise.
Now …
Let’s see what a former “world leader” country can do about a Pandemic if it puts the full weight of it’s science, economic power, political will and basic human compassion behind combating it.
THAT is at the top of my wish list.
*While foxnews and the Republican-controlled Senate launch a dedicated, zealous, irrational, concerted campaign to stifle and kill and denigrate every single good thing the administration tries to accomplish.
I think we’re going to go into the way back machine and watch Damnation Alley. A little sci-fi cheese is a good thing
“Politics are nothing but sand and gravel: it is art and life that feed us until we die. Everything else is ambition, hysteria or hatred.”
Louise Bogan
A trip down memory lane:
https://youtu.be/OI20uSRtJUU
CP: El Camino – Elizabeth Cook
A friend of mine Googled their name and so I decided to do the same, as I don’t think I’ve ever done it before.
Did you know I’m on the SF database? It’s only a single line but still, cool.
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/eaw.cgi?219088
Excellent!
Nice!
I’ll search the SF database for “Lunny, Bittle.”
We watched Damnation Alley last night. Now we’re asking ourselves why.
Ah a film with a great first 5 minutes and then bleurgh!
Alex Trebek finally lost his battle with cancer
https://globalnews.ca/news/7450091/alex-trebek-jeopardy-dies-cancer/
What is “Great sadness”?
The guy brought a lot of joy and knowledge into the world. RIP
Wolves it seems are the more generous canine:
https://t.co/2OZc6RRIkO
Morning Pan
Today, like yesterday, is a good day to hibernate.
I don’t think I’ve ever lost socks when doing laundry. Re-usable masks however…
Seriously, where do they go?
One of us might be pre-downloading Assassin’s Creed Valhalla right now.
Read as: Assasin’s Creed: Vanilla
🙂
The temp dropped pretty sharply here, which has the whole valley digging out their sweaters. Most of you would still be drinking iced tea in front the A/C at these temps, but a 1-day 40-degree plummet is jarring, no matter where you are.
I kind of want a lizard backpack now.
https://gfycat.com/decentsecretgrouse-friendly-animals-friends-lizard
CP: What’ve I Done to Help — Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
If 2020 has been good for anything (aside from voting out fascists), it’s been cool collaborative cover tunes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhCvNhTzSt4&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0P9UFVI2XhyyrUfDJ3nGRYPyRKzF3yzhk8cvlvYWrOeADClr1fmB7XFd8
We Care a Lot.
And the very end!
Per Bunny’s act of googling her name I figured I would do the same. I found this: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fetching-sweetness-dana-mentink/1123225025
What the?
Is there something you want to tell us, Rhett?
“ Rhett is a wealthy CEO with a new desire for following God’s plan for his life, and he’s trying to reunite with his sister, Karen, whose life he once ruined.”
Seriously, what should we know
I think that was just the ruff draft.
Other than the name I can’t see any parallels. Plus, my sister isn’t a Karen.
Did you once ruin her life??
Not that I remember. LOL
Ha!
Type loser.com in a browser tab.
It’s snowing again.
*sigh*
https://www.stereogum.com/2105938/best-bon-iver-songs/lists/10-best-songs/
“Skinny Love” is a great folk song. I really like everything I’ve ever heard from Bon Iver, but I’ve never really explored their catalog. Maybe this can be my map to start exploring.
It’s like most lists: a good starting point to explore. I’ve got a couple of albums that I enjoy. I don’t agree that Woods should be #1. I like Blood Bank much better than that. But yeah, I agree, they make good folk music.
CP: Trouble’s Coming — Royal Blood
Bookmarked for later: it’s only 9 minutes, so…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&feature=share&v=Mh5LY4Mz15o&fbclid=IwAR2li-EkncraeEA0kdQ0KZS8xjZFpLqYyEil7sCvhe_ureX-wLoBS5t8MNo
A “Funny and relatively short history of Japan:”
Prepare yourself, bad Irish accents incoming:
https://youtu.be/kadUgcIxODM
Today is the start of a five day weekend. W00t!
Very nice!
Noice! For both of you?
Yup
So as I asked a friend last night:
Should we be highly alarmed at Pompeo’s “joke” about trump starting his 2nd term in January? Along with the rest of the rump admin’s refusal to acknowledge the election results? Or should we just laugh it off as sore loser behavior?
Do not think that our enemies have not noticed our current disarray and chaos.
These are dangerous times.
It’s a good point, but I’m more concerned about the people right here who’ve declared all of us to be their enemies.
UmBrella Academy is getting a S3.
Yahoooooo!
https://bit.ly/38uvn0A
I’m waiting for Klaus to get his own spinoff.
CP: Circles And Squares — We Were Promised Jetpacks
Rich and I just did an audio interview with Jeff Scott Soto. I can say this in the relative privacy of Deadpan. . . I didn’t expect him to be such a nice guy. Really down to earth.
Based on his past with Yngwie and his virtuoso talent, I was fully expecting a primadonna.
As much as I’m deeply suspicious of rah-rah self improvment blogposts, this one intrigued me:
https://ideas.ted.com/which-of-these-6-time-traps-is-eating-up-all-your-time/?utm_source=pocket-newtab
Many good points.
Hubby has started calling his Audible his “phonebook”
Why not, I say, why not?
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/arts/funniest-alex-trebek-clips-of-all-time-jeopardy-simpsons-11511843
Happy Birthday ditto!
the Sun has come up in the future, so you can relax about that…
A question for North American who can remember a time when they didn’t have a tumble dryer.
Do you think your clothes don’t last as long since you started using a. Tumble dryer?
My mother used to be fond of hanging clothes on a line instead of using a dryer. However, any recollection of how long clothing lasted at that stage also has to take into account that I was WAY more active and hard on my clothes as well as growth that lead to getting rid of clothes because they simply didn’t fit any more. I don’t feel currently like the drying is the cause of any of my modern clothes needing to be replaced. But I could be wrong.
I’ve always had a tumble dryer in my life.
I do try to air-dry all of my cottons, because as I get older, my physique is less and less forgiving of the tight, shrunk, clingy t-shirt.
But my jeans and t-shirts still end up with holes. *shrug*
Happy, happy, birthday ditto!
Dutch Museums Unveil Free Digital Collection of 1,000+ Artworks by Van Gogh
https://mymodernmet.com/van-gogh-worldwide/
Happy birthday, ditto! Thank you for being born!
Have a great birthday ditto!
Thanks everyone! It’s been an exhausting day at work, but at least I’ll have a long weekend. 😀
Leonids meteor shower starts this weekend:
https://earthsky.org/?p=53077
The clouds say no.
If you wanted to read yet another takedown of The Phantom Menace – – within the context of its release year: 1999. Which, it turns out, was a pretty great year for movies.
I’d agree that Toy Story 2 is an absolute triumph of a sequel.
https://film.avclub.com/the-20th-century-ended-with-the-creative-whimper-and-bo-1845615542
Yeah I’m tired of reading about how “bad” TPM is. It’s fucking 21 years later. Get over it. We’ve had much worse Star Wars films since then.
..and I’m tired of your bitching about people botching about TPM.
-o +i
Whoops!
Honestly, after watching all the hate you spilled for Raised by Wolves and then watching it myself and seeing the brilliance that is it, your taste/opinions are extremely suspect.
Bitch.
Don’t talk to me about taste when you like that pile of crap..fucker!
I know I know buddy. Your peanut brain can’t grasp it. It’s ok, friend. There’s always Mad About You and King of Queens for you to be able to enjoy
I don’t actually believe you like the show, but you hold Scott on such a pedestal that you cannot bring yourself to say it’s shit.
Sleep tight pinhead.
I’m no Scott apologist. Believe what you like you fucktard, This is one of the best shows of 2020
Neither one of you guys are fucktards.
I thought there was a lot of brilliance going deep down below the surface of RBW. Some amazing philosophical ideas about the nature of families and parenthood. I’d love to read the screenplays and whatever other source material was there. Some great concepts. Ridley Scott has always been a deep thinker.
But man, I disliked the execution of this series. And much of the look of it. And the finale.
Amazing. Every word of what you just said in that last sentence was wrong.
Ah stupidity reigns:
https://t.co/sXDOwvpxRV
Bad media influencing gullible people.
It is a prime example of how a very few bad actors can ruin life for a great many. They state they have had less than a dozen intruders but because of that they have had to change procedures, changes that make life more difficult for those who have to be at the hospital.
Humans have found a way around natural selection and it is turning out badly.
In some good news, the Am I Evil? draft is in the hands of my lead artist. Now we figure out just how much needs to be trimmed or reworked.
Yea!!
One tough lady:
https://t.co/TivqYLzoSS
CW: V for Vendetta
So one of those limited edition Game and Watch from Nintendo arrived today. It also appears the clock announces the hour by coin collection sound.
But the thing is tiny, much smaller than I was expecting.
Crap joke for the evening:
I stopped at BP to get a bottle of water, and as I walked onto the forecourt I noticed these two cops watching a man who was smoking while pumping his petrol. I saw him and thought, “is this man stupid, crazy, or both”, especially with the police standing RIGHT there.. But anyways, I minded my own business and went inside and got my water.
As I was paying for my drink, I heard someone screaming! Like, I’m talking violent death screams.. I looked outside and I saw that this idiot’s arm was on fire!! He was swinging his arm, running around like a lunatic. Like, he was bat shit crazy .. When I got outside, the cops had him on the ground and they were putting the fire out!! Then they put handcuffs on him and threw him in the police car. I was thinking, arrested?? Shouldn’t he be in an ambulance, not a police car!?? Being the nosey person I am, I asked the police what they were arresting him for. And I shit you not, one of the cops looked at me, dead serious, and said, “WAVING A FIRE ARM IN A PUBLIC PLACE”!!
A one armed bandit?
The cops were in hot pursuit?
This evening’s cocktail choice is an honor of The Dude.
Care to guess?
White Russian?
The Dude abides.
Although I am wondering if I should be more woke and go with the Black Russian?
A good Naked Gun joke
This is brutal:
https://tonyortega.org/2020/11/07/medal-by-medal-scientology-founder-l-ron-hubbards-stolen-valor-is-laid-bare/
Behind the Bastards podcast has done several episodes on L. Ron Hubbard (the sex god with his own navy). It’s quite amazing… and not necessarily in a good way.
Apparently, the docuseries “Scientology and the Aftermath” takes him and his cult down hard (sorry if your article mentions this series; I could only bear to skim it).
This has been a difficult day.
*hugs*
Hey Deadpan
Had a wonderful long weekend. Didn’t want it to end.
Now, back to staring at spreadsheets.
What they don’t tell you is he was subsequently fired for leaving his workplace for an indefinite period of time, and now gets to spend the new year looking for a new job 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg4Mq5EAEzw&fbclid=IwAR1AtcycXjvWVHf6VfCWV-KVJ_ppdsSGvJVwIeriRSdHXauCnzAk5fzFSpU&ab_channel=Coca-Cola
I’ll quiet my blackened, cynical heart and acknowledge a sweet short film. Not just a saccharine, coporat- – – no! It’s a sweet short little story.
… about a man who is now unemployed, and used all his savings to travel to northern Canada
Can’t be as bad as that film with the Japanese woman who thinks Fargo is literally true.
What went wrong with ROTJ:
https://t.co/qQOcQlsnNE
Amazing. . . Every word of what you just said was wrong.
I didn’t write the article!
“Every subsequent live-action film except Revenge of the Sith and Solo features an epic third act battle involving fighters.”
It’s like your all a bunch of astronauts…on some kind of Star Trek.
..no, wait that’s not right.
Right cause Sith STARTS the film with an epic battle involving fighters.
This article sucks. And Van’s an enabler for sharing it.
Ok, great!
NO YOU!
No yiu!
I love ROTJ. Interesting that this article completely misses the point of why ROTJ was a turning point. It was (IMHO) where the series started to be written specifically for children, with adults being able to tag along for the ride. I didn’t notice it at the time because I was a kid. I figured it out after rewatching years and years later. I still think the brilliance of Rogue One was that it was the first time since Empire that I felt the movie was written for adults.
I would agree with this.
Although I would add that I love all of the original 3 films, even with their faults.
Me: I need to really open up my listening again dig new, interesting music outside of my comfort zone.
Also me:
CP: Metallica – For Whom the Bell Tolls
Time marches on, friend.
Fade to Black.
One thing about getting up stupid early is your work is mostly done by the time everybody else gets to their desk.
Are we going to do DPSS this year?
I hope so. I’ll PM Amy
Amy says she’ll post an announcement either tomorrow or Thursday
Excellent.
Thank you, TEB!
Boy, this feels like a Slack conversation.
What’s that? You say you need a new pair of slacks?
We’d been invited to an outdoor Thanksgiving, but it just got cancelled.
TBH: probably the right call. Everyone has to do their part. Overdoing it with this thing is fine.
Beyond the right call, especially now. This holiday season is going to be small and compact in the Lo Pan household and I honestly can’t wait. We’re going to no get togethers.
I’m going to get much shit from my family for it, but some things are much bigger than simply having to receive shit.
Well done to both of you.
Also applauds making the right, if inconvenient and unpopular decision.
CP: Gereg — The HU
HU hast mich.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTPwbVqU6lc
If you haven’t seen the spaceship comparison video. . . they do a good job of hitting all of the major and minor franchises.
Where else are you gonna see the Rocinante, the Millennium Falcon, and Space Battleship Yamato all together in one place?
Ok, that was cool. Some of those size comparisons are staggering.
There. My floors are clean for another fortnight.
I have 3 dogs. I can count how long my floors stay clean in minutes.
We talked to Kix last night on Facebook Live. They’re not the most famous people we’ve interviewed, but man, their fans are the most dedicated. The comments and viewers pretty wild.
Through a scheduling quirk, we’re doing two this week. Tonight is Bronx Casket Co. – – which includes one of my musical heroes, D.D. Verni.
Good talk!
Thanks for tuning in last night, Mr. Lo Pan!
A positive, rational commentary on the vaccine:
https://twitter.com/mark_toshner/status/1328837111869566976?s=20
Point being: With motivation, we can accomplish great things (mitigate pandemics, go to other worlds, etc.) Everything we do now is a red tape money nightmare. We’ve got to start pushing toward the Star Trek social model (not that nay of us will see it).
Part of the email my daughter’s school sent out yesterday. She is in Co.
Dear Mines students,
There are only 10 days separating us from Thanksgiving. That gives us a 10-day window during which we can take important steps to help ensure a safe and healthy holiday and end-of-semester—for ourselves and for our friends and loved ones.
Thanksgiving and End-of-Semester Preparations:
What’s required this week—and beyond
In a sense, we should all spend the coming days acting as if we’re preparing to join the astronauts that SpaceX and NASA launched into space Sunday night. Simply put: We need to pull on our protective gear and prepare to spend the days and weeks ahead in a safe and smaller-than-usual bubble. By doing so, we can dramatically increase our chances of avoiding infection and transmission.
++++
It goes on in detail with specific ways of how to not be superspreaders and kill their friends and family back home. Including getting tested 2-3 days before heading home… which they offer for FREE to all their students.
Sure, these are kids and the may ignore this but I submit it as an example of LEADERSHIP.
My daughter goes to a different university in CO and they had a similar, if not as cool, email. She also gets tested for free 2-3 times a week… unfortunately most of her classmates don’t bother.
These kids! (Shakes old man fist in air) Their gonna kill us all with their rock n roll and their Beatles haircuts and their Corona Virus!!!!
Fun interview with AC/DC on their new album
https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/the-ongoing-history-of-new-music-episode-898b-the-return-of-ac-dc/
I’m not gonna be that guy that says “no Malcolm, no AC/DC” since they pulled it off with aplomb after Bon Scott…. but man I’m close to saying it.
Curious to listen to this
I want to have beeeeers with LoPan until he gets REALLY angry and then I want to slink into a dark corner and just watch what happens next.
Oh it’s real easy. Just point me in the direction of people mixing circles during COVID for Thanksgiving…
I’ve listened to most of it. No classics (so far), but it’s good. Not on par with their best, but that’s OK.
I listened to most of it over the weekend. I enjoyed what I heard. As Jack said, it doesn’t seem to be any contenders for the classic label, but as an album, I like it better than “Flick of the Switch” so far.
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/wonder-woman-1984-hbo-max-release-1234804411/
Good move. But the article isn’t very clearly-written. I guess they don’t know the release date?
I think it might be on Christmas Day.
https://geektyrant.com/news/wonder-woman-1984-will-be-released-in-theaters-and-on-hbo-max-on-christmas-day
Well, this just might make up for Raised by Wolves
Bear. Poked.
Well no HBO Max in the U.K. but I’m guessing it won’t be long before it’s available by other means.
I did not want to get up this morning.
I swear, I spend more time converting US words to Canadian than putting together the rest of the damn book.
Find: hat
Replace: toque
Replace all
… and center with centre, colour with colour, labeled with labelled, and so on, and so on
Must be a lot of work adding “eh” to the end of every sentence.
Good morning!
Did you know today is November 19th.
For all the memes about 2020 lasting forever – I feel like it’s suddenly November 19th.
All of a sudden.
How is everyone?
Also.
I have the hiccups.
For Thanksgiving this year, the kids and I are making a pot of Fettucini Alfredo and staying in to play games.
That sounds like a great Thanksgiving. Just you and the kids?
The kids do The Turkey Day festivities with their Dad and his wife’s family. I get them for late dinner so it’s usually just us. Sometimes we have one more.
Now that my kids have the Oculus Quest 2 VR thingie, there’s no reason to leave. We can pet elephants in Kenya while standing in the middle of our living room.
I have always appreciated living in the future.
We finally found some friends that didn’t have other plans so we can have someone over on Thanksgiving. I’m still making Turkey because it was at a ridiculous 39 cents a lb. I have a chest freezer so I bought 3 of them and will have one every few months or so. Can’t turn down meat that cheap. Just can’t do it.
I still have the hiccups.
BOO!
My cat snores. It’s both cute and disconcerting
I think one year, we need to do a Thanksgiving of buttered toast, popcorn, jellybeans, and pretzels, in honor of the Peanuts special.
Might need to get permission from Apple TV first.
My own dog, gone commercial. I can’t stand it.
https://www.singforscience.org/episodes/episode-06?fbclid=IwAR1JPrPdbMUyw4L57MF6Y05lyqtn6ya9AOzTucQWS4FPvWHajjXQKkSvSDI
Living Colour on a podcast talking about fascism. I haven’t listened, but I’m intrigued.
People suck
That is all
Hugs. Yes, and sorry.
That worked!
I’ve just been busy with spreadsheets and didn’t get around to tell you til now.
Rumor has it that Netflix AND Hulu are both raising their prices before EOY.
Yeah. Hulu can get bent. We’ll be cancelling. Maybe dropping a few? We’ll see.
I got a notice from Netflix on Nov. 8 that they are increasing their monthly online access price by $1 on Dec. 8. It’s been a while since the last hike and I would fully expect it every few years or so based on inflation. Compared to the hikes I would get from cable companies every year it doesn’t seem too bad.
Yeah, I think we’ll hang on to Netflix.
I’m told that some platforms have a Rifftrax app. That’s really the only one I’d need.
Detective L on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMX26aiIvX5pMzi8tiNAkFCYliG0n3MdD
Sad:
https://www.engadget.com/arecibo-observatory-decommission-182031343.html
Sad indeed. I was fortunate enough to have visited Arecibo once. Glad I made it when I did.
Wow! End of an era.
Can we blame this on 2020 as well?
There. I set up a bunch of interviews for our YouTube channel, I have my second of four loads of laundry in the wash, and I even put in an hour of gaming.
All in all, a good morning so far.
CP: Visitor — Of Monsters And Men
I don’t often post links to the National Review. . . https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-dumbest-coup/
It’s a short read.
Will conservatives (real conservatives not these “I hate the left and I’m a racist so I’m going to CALL myself conservative” types ) take this to heart though?
CP: Realize — AC/DC
I spoke to Amy. She’s having a week (we’ve all been there) but should have something up in the next few days
https://xkcd.com/2348/
My number 1 complaint with text-based and Monkey Island-style games.
Disney being wankers:
https://bit.ly/35JUQkI
The first sci-fi book I ever bought was ADF’s novelisation of The Black Hole.
It’s Friday.
I’m in love with Flora Cash … like all their music. Anyone else?
Announcing the 2020 Deadpan Secret Santa Gift Exchange!
This year, we remained apart because we all want to be around to see each other at future MMMMMeetups. Since we didn’t get to see each other in person this year, I hope to have as many people as possible spreading holiday cheer! That said, if you prefer to give the Secret Santa Gift Exchange a pass this year for financial or other reasons, I completely understand. No judgment and no explanation necessary.
Here are the details for this year’s gift exchange:
– As always, all Facebook group members and participants in the comments page are welcome to participate.
– Participants in the exchange will send a gift costing approximately $15-25 to a fellow Deadpanite, and will receive one in return.
– Signups are open now and close at 11:59 PM CST on Thanksgiving (Thursday, Nov. 26).
– Sign up by replying to this comment, by messaging me on Facebook Messenger, or by emailing amybowenwrites at gmail dot com.
– The participant list will be randomized and assignment emails will go out sometime during the day on Friday, Nov. 27.
Deadpan is the merry-making way!
(Crossposted to the Facebook group)
I’m in.
As I said on FB, I’m in.
You’ll have noticed his name in TOS credits:
https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/herb-solow-dead-star-trek-1234837054/?fbclid=IwAR13aK8-LkORE4xXe3OOwBzoT02aJbdcZWDyp-aKT_AdzWnySO3Lr9TOz2Q
I’m glad I live in a world where someone has time to record and compare various modem sounds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckc6XSSh52w
Epic fight!
https://t.co/sMU8Jr2iEp
WTF:
https://bit.ly/332rQTN
The fact this little punk is still alive when police executed the antifa shooter just boggle the mind.
JW: Love and Monsters
Rather enjoyed that film, didn’t end the way I thought it would.
I just watched the same film tonight! We’re film buddies. I loved it. Mrs. Asshat not so much. The less thinking and more bloodshed and/or action the better for Mrs. Asshat. I thought it was well thought out and just novel enough.
Well…
Hearing that the 80 something, mother-in-law plans on attending a 30 person, thanksgiving superspreader event.
That side of the family tends to make poor decisions to begin with…but to risk her life like that… just the sad cherry on an already sad 2020
So sorry man. I empathize.
This is why we’re still where we are in November. So many people are naturally selfish and need instant gratification.
I’m middle-ish but still scientific minded on the matter. My extended family cancelled their annual get-together with 40+ people and I’m 100% for it. I would like to have taken the time to visit my mother in Upstate New York (read rural New York) where the covid cases so far have numbered less than 100. But New York State still has 2 week self isolation in place that would make it impossible for me to go there with the vacation time I have left this year. Mrs. Asshat and I have been feeling sad and left out this Thanksgiving. But… we found some local (real as not mixing circles) friends that we just hung out with last week that also didn’t have Thanksgiving plans. We are going to get together on Thanksgiving day and share food and friendship. At some point in the day Mrs. Asshat and I are going to attend a Zoom event with the extended family. I think it’s a reasonable middle ground. We won’t exactly be self isolating on Thanksgiving day, but we still feel we’re being somewhat responsible.
I was just talking about this! As many of us are…. My opinion, FWIW:
If (hypothetically) the Lo Pans were getting together with the EssBees this year, I wouldn’t have any concerns, because I know they’d all mask up, stay socially distanced, etc. When Roaming Asshat says they’re doing a small get-together, I trust that they’ll do it responsibly. No judgments here.
Then there are the people with the fucking irresponsibly stupid “We’ll all get it, and we’ll all be fine” mentality who will gather in large groups without masks and social distancing. And people will get sick. And some will die.
I certainly think you can meet with people safely but you have to plan for a safe time.
I just want to tell my in-laws, “you realize that just ignoring the situation and doing what you traditionally do … some of you could be dead by Christmas. This year.”
Yes 🙁
Or for the “I’m willing to take that chance” crowd, someone else might be dead or on a ventilator by Xmas. This year.
I 10000000% appreciate Asshat, Jack, and JJ’s carefulness here. Honestly I do not mean to come off judgy. I just want safety.
But goddamn its nice (and awful) that I can/have to use a pandemic to have a simple holiday season with just my wife and 4 kids (I think that’s all). And FUCK if I’m not looking forward to it.
JW: Arrietty
My rewatch of Studio Ghibli films continues with this utterly charming film and I hated the Borrower books at school.
https://www.screen-idle.com/wagner-estate-officially-acknowledges-that-ride-of-the-valkyries-lyrics-are-kill-the-wabbit/
Now stuck in your head*
*if you were born before 1990.
57 years ago on this day, the first episode of Doctor Who aired.
Depressing reading:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/76144/why-no-one-wanted-aws-third-pound-burger
Morning Pan
Kitty was so cuddly last night. She curled herself into the crook of my arm, used my arm as a pillow, and that’s where she spent the night.
Hmmm:
https://t.co/x63OgUJr30
Hubby’s AP was around someone who tested positive. He is currently at home awaiting the results of his test. If the AP tests positive, then the whole school will probably be shut down for two weeks as there will be no front office staff left because of quarantine.
Plus, he’ll yeah:
https://t.co/eVKp5uLqEX
He’ll yeah, indeed. But don’t hold your breath.
We need a professional to fix our sliding glass door, but every single employee at the company but one is positive, so we’re on hold. I applaud the company for doing the right thing. It sucks to still have the problem door, but it’s not worth exposure.
I know it’s a PANE but you have to applaud their TRANSPARENCY. They could have just let it SLIDE and ended up SHATTERING your world.
/applause
JustaJoe was seriously on track with his incredible puns.
But I dunno, I suspect a frame job.
Christ would you get a handle on these posts?
Season’s Greetings from your Witcher…
https://youtu.be/ZVzFGttzPWc
Many many starts and stops getting through the 3 seasons of Legion – – but I’m glad I made it to the finale. They nailed it.
This series was so often unhinged and over-the-top and ridiculous. Unreasonably weird. So many WTF scenes. But damn. . . so smart and visually inventive. Pretentious and artsy, but I like that shit. It’s like a David Lynch trip, but with a lot less audience punishment (sorry, Lynch fans).
A lot to unpack.
As someone with no background in the source material, I enjoyed it all immensely….though I certainly probably missed a lot of references. A trip is definitely a good way to describe it.
I gave up on the 3rd season 1 or 2 eps in.
I loved the first 2 seasons but those first episodes felt more like homework then Entertainment. Or like staring at one of those 3D pictures and trying to see the hidden image.
I am encouraged to go back and give it another try though.
I haven’t made my way back to season 3 as my significant other cannot handle the level of psychedelic audacity. I will finish it though, I quite like it.
I finally got the Audible credit to get the War of the Worlds Musical Drama. Not quite what I was expecting, but (as with everything Jeff Wayne) insanely well done. No singing at all. The music was all instrumental and everything else was essentially a radio-drama with lots of narration. There were some interesting differences between the album version and the new version. I also found a standard version of the book on Audible for $1.50. I’ll do that next so I can see how each one varies from the original.
New material from J.R.R. Tolkien?
https://geektyrant.com/news/new-unreleased-middle-earth-material-from-jrr-tolkien-is-being-released-next-year
Part of me is excited, part wonders how this material failed to be capitalized on by Christopher Tolkien if there was any hope of making a dime off of it in the past.
I’m still holding out for his vast world-building texts on Farmer Giles of Ham.
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/utah-monolith-art-trnd/index.html
*Throws a bone in the air*
Paints the Danube blue.
It will be a little early, but I got hubby this for his birthday.
https://www.feinashi.shop/products/2020-advent-calendar-mini-guitar
Got some good news and I got some bad news:
https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-expanse-renewed-for-sixth-and-final.html
Perhaps with some clever writing they can transition to the big screen.
I forgot to hit “stop recording” on an interview I just did. Now I have to go into it and delete about an hour of chat before I post it. Luckily, I wasn’t planning to put it up until around Christmas so I have lots of time to edit.
Silly me.
I often intentionally left record running (with the guest fully aware of it), planning to snip the tail end.
When I interviewed John Shirley for Deadpan, the followup conversation was so good that I ended up asking him if I could use it. He said yes, and (I think) he was our first 2-parter.
Linda Interrupted:
https://crimereads.com/linda-interrupted/
Well this is awkward, looking at Amy’s DPSS post and a new guy wants to join in and I have no idea who he is.
Asking Amy not to give him my address doesn’t seem to be in the spirit of things.
Queen’s Gambit lived up to the hype.
It’s apparently setting Netflix viewer records too?
Deservedly so.
By all accounts it has also helped increase the sale of chess sets.
https://t.co/eKWKVwgYAy
John use to play all the time. He would watch all the tournaments too. He hasn’t for a long time but was, for a while, pretty decent at it.
We are re-watching.
Binged like 6 episodes last night.
Really solid show.
Poor hubby.
Yesterday the Alberta government announced grades 7-12 will be switching to at home learning starting Monday. Of course, they didn’t tell the educators ahead of time. We learned of it at last night’s news conference like everybody else.
Hubby gets to spend the next three days mostly fielding parent questions and working with central office on how best to divide up his school (he has grades 5 – 8). He expects to come home rather harried.
He also says it’s silly because all the covid cases they’ve had were in the lower grades, none in the seven and eights.
How kind of them to wait until the last possible minute to tell the people on the front lines.
Although it still sounds like the correct move.
John isn’t against the idea, although having half the school still in will be strange. He just wishes the had a heads up first
Teachers getting a pay freeze over here as a ‘reward’ for working through a pandemic,
I woke up and went straight to my desk. I should think about throwing my body into the shower.
https://lithub.com/ray-bradburys-greatest-writing-advice/
Ray Bradbury’s Greatest Writing Advice.
Crap joke for the day:
An Irish man is stumbling through the woods, totally drunk, when he comes upon a preacher baptising people in the river.
He proceeds to walk into the water and subsequently bumps into the preacher.
The preacher turns around and is almost overcome by the smell of alcohol, whereupon he asks the drunk,
‘Are you ready to find Jesus?’
The drunk shouts, ‘Yes, oi am.’
So the preacher grabs him and dunks him in the water.
He pulls him up and asks the drunk, ‘Brother, have you found Jesus?’
The drunk replies, ‘No, oi haven’t found Jesus.’
The preacher, shocked at the answer, dunks him into the water again for a little longer.
He again pulls him out of the water and asks, ‘Have you found Jesus, my brother?’
The drunk again answers, ‘No, oi I haven’t found Jesus.’
By this time the preacher is at his wits end and dunks the drunk in the water again – but this time holds him down for about 30 seconds, and when he begins kicking his arms and legs, he pulls him up.
The preacher again asks the drunk, ‘For the love of God, have you found Jesus?’
The drunk wipes his eyes and catches his breath and says to the preacher, ‘Are you sure this is where he fell in?’
TL/DL
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/20/opinions/the-mandalorian-is-this-really-the-way-stewart/index.html
This will ruffle some feathers. I don’t fully agree, but I don’t fully disagree.
First glance, I thought this was about the Mandelbrot set.
The word “Mandelbrot” makes me think of Howie Mandel playing with a Lite Brite.
I’ll admit that the trope happened enough for me to notice. I too would like to see the plotlines move toward a more meaningful direction. That said, I’m still enjoying Mando.
Overall, I prefer epic story arcs, but the episodic nature works. And so far, both seasons have had a loose overall thread. I think this reporter is bringing up that there’s not much compassion for the creatures they encounter.
I get that, but I also get the counter-argument: he’s a bounty hunter in a rough universe – – is he gonna try to hug it out with a krayt dragon?
Yep, agreed.
I have a beef dip going in the slow cooker. Pretty soon my house is going to smell yummy
Today’s Brussels sprouts not the same variety as the ones of your youth:
https://t.co/29Vcwx1pSn
And thank goodness for that! I hated them as a kid for exactly the reasons described in the article.
I liked Brussel sprouts
Hubby’s working late today
It ain’t cool to be no jive turkey so close to Thanksgiving.
My poor husband is soooooo burnt out, I don’t know what to do. They are averaging one or two more new cases each day in his school.
*sigh* Looks like another late night for him tonight.
Addendum. Today the Alberta government declared an outbreak in hubby’s school. Doesn’t mean a damn thing as they won’t close it. They’re just acknowledging things might be a little out of control.
I thought your premier declared all indoor gatherings illegal?
Isn’t a school day an indoor gathering?
Are these students or staff that is getting sick?
both.
I hate my mom. Since she can no longer send me conspiracy theories through FB, she’s emailing them to me directly. At the moment I’m ignoring her but, at some point, I’m going to have to tell her to STFU
Hubby texted. Yup, another late night. I don’t think he’s been home before seven this week (closer to 8 yesterday) and worked all last weekend.
I’m pretty sure I have a husband but, since I haven’t seen much of him lately, I’m not too sure
*sorry, I know I’m venting. I’ll stop now
Vent away 🙁 Ugh and hugs all around.
I do blame the lizard aliens who wear human disguises and control the world governments.
Happy Thanksgiving to us in the US!
To those abroad, Happy Thursday!
While I still prefer the Disturbed version, this is not a bad cover
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdVjVtpr55M&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR3mqY3ccED1_lVzxRKiRKSHcdJRIO7MBClN8n2YgpdAANYrLieeS78rry0&ab_channel=PTXofficial
Latest episode of the Mandalorian was rather good and had something for fans of the SW animated series.
It was a good episode!
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorial-cartoon/Editorial-cartoon-for-Nov-26-2020-573204051.html
Good Mourning/Black Friday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_1dHzlWzns
Did any of you guys indulge? I recall that Ed got into the Black Friday spirit in years past.
My Black Friday shopping this year consisted going to Walmart and buying a gallon of milk and some rain ponchos for my daughter when we went to visit her today.
You’re a loose cannon, Klein!
I thought about getting a Kindle Fire HD tablet or a Samsung Galaxy Tab A for my mom so she can engage in Zoom events. Decided that I’ll wait and see what Cyber Monday brings on the tablet front. I was pretty miffed that the $80 version of the Fire HD is Ad supported. Seriously, we now have ad supported tablets? It’s just all going too damn far.
OMG, this is a glorious Stan Lee moment.
https://laughingsquid.com/animation-of-stan-lee-on-profane-rant
Set to animation.
Or PBS station is at this moment, airing some concert of Joe Bonamossa (sp?) from England.
He make guitar sing pretty
Bonamassa is incredible. His ticket prices are the only reason I’ve never seen him live.
I saw him in concert once, was good but he talks like Deputy Dog.
That’s not a bad thing but I kept looking out for Musky..
My turn for a bad joke
Q: Do sea creatures play football?
A: Yes. In fact, there are 20,000 leagues under the sea
Q: How do you turn soup into gold?
A: you add 24 carrots
(Blame hubby for these)
All Deadpan Secret Santa emails and Facebook PMs have been sent! Enjoy! 🙂
Thank you Amy.
Hear ye, hear ye!
The LEGO Star Wars Holiday special is good. I have spoken.
Hubby had a rough week and wants this
https://propstore.com/mobile/product/conan-the-barbarian-1982/lot-183-entertainment-memorabilia-live-auction-conans-arnold-schwarzenegger-atlantean-sword-and-four-behind-the-scenes-photos/
I want a Zonda.
Looks like we are both going to be disappointed
Wow! I like that link.
Lots of James Bond memorabilia.
I think I already have my secret santa gift picked out. Just worried the person may already have it. Suppose it’s worth the taking the chance.
CW: Super-intelligence
Meant to be comedy but I’m not laughing.
Some wheeling and dealing behind the scenes at this year’s DPSS. (We’ll explain later)
/intrigued mode on
Oh no.
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-55117704
RIP, David Prowse. He changed my life as Darth Vader without ever speaking a word.
85, a damned good innings.
A trailer for the Mandalorian done in spaghetti western style:
https://youtu.be/IJH_RbnrGUs
When you want the fastest way to calculate pi to trillions of digits:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chudnovsky_algorithm
The Thing if it happened to Pengu:
https://youtu.be/QAoONl2P8fw
This was a tiny bit disturbing, actually.
But I found it interesting it was almost identical to Clay Cat. Why did we need two versions of the same thing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG33zECv8dc&ab_channel=LeeHardcastle
A slice of Arizona history:
https://buff.ly/3nM4hX7
Fascinating!
To my Secret Santa recipient. I ordered three, but, because life is the way it is, it looks like they are being delivered in the wrong order. Please accept my apology.
Now I’m wondering if I mistyped the email address.
How a computer program almost started WW3:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/11/wargames-for-real-how-one-1983-exercise-nearly-triggered-wwiii/
Morning Pan
We watched the first episode of the new Animaniacs yesterday. It was ok, but I don’t know if I’d go much beyond that.
I need to order two more items and my Christmas shopping is done. Those I’ll do next week as I’m looking at Prime shipping times.
You can cross David Eddings off your classic fantasy writers list:
https://t.co/zvyR7LJOet
He was never on my list, never will be.
On the other hand, he’s dead (good riddance), and none of the shitbags in his circle will benefit if you do buy his stuff.
DPSS gift is on it’s way.
CP: Declination — NanowaR of Steel
Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was released 38 years ago today.
Good morning!… afternoon.
I’ve been awake. Honest.
I take offense at Jack’s note about Thriller.
I’m sure it’s true, but I’m still offended.
I’m almost done my Christmas shopping… I masked up and braved the Swap Meet.
It’s one of the emptiest places I’ve found to do my shopping. It’s outside and supports local business so … that’s what I’ve been up to.
Also
CE: Pistachios (purchased at the Swap Meet)
Why are these so addictive?
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/the-50-best-jokes-for-little-kids/
Did I share this before? Crap jokes by the bushel.
So. A couple of weeks ago, there was a silent auction at a local store for a framed AC/DC piece of work. On a lark, I put in the minimum bid figuring I wouldn’t get it but, if I did, at least the money goes to charity.
I just got a call saying I won the bid. Given I did the minimum, I have to assume no one else bid on the piece.
Now I have to tell hubby I just spent $200
Bunny bids. Not! So! Cheap!
Nice!
Now here’s your coat.
Apparently Ben Bova passed of COVID related complications.
I heard he’d died. Didn’t know it was COVID. He was pretty universally loved by his readers and peers. He also discovered and launched many many great careers in Science Fiction.
RIP.
Holy crap, Billy Idol made it to 65.
Morning Pan
This morning I get to install and explore a newer version of our bookkeeping program. The excitement never stops here in bunnydom.
We’ve been watching a show on Netflix called Dark. We are enjoying it but I think hubby’s tired of me saying this is this person and then being right
That was going to be our next show after Queen’s Gambit, but we’ve started up The Good Place again.
So I learned today that the mythical bunyip hangs around in waterways,
So I finished reading “Something Wicked This Way Comes” last night. Wow, what a book. I’ve read some Ray Bradbury before, but this is the first time I was able to appreciate the greatness of his nuts and bolts writing. Every paragraph is poetry. And the allegories about youth and aging are just *chef’s kiss.* And what a great villain!
I remember liking the movie as a kid, but that’s the last time I saw it. I wonder if it holds up.
In short: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IxOS4VzKM
Is that the lass off Crazy Ex Girlfriend?
Classic. 😀
The book or the song? 😀
I think this is the thing that launched Rachel Bloom’s career to do stuff like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. (Never seen that show)
Both. 😀
My writing is a bit more clumsy, as evidenced by the phrase: “appreciate the greatness of his nuts” in that paragraph.
Although, I suppose it fits with the Rachel Bloom song. . .
This is scary:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/26ohtpc1ao
Ellen is now Elliot:
http://bit.ly/2JBjonj
Not really surprised, and am very glad for him.
Good for them finding their own way. Hopefully this helps create a more accepting society.
It will be interesting to see how it affects his role on Umbrella Academy.
Shame:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/12/arecibo-radio-telescopes-massive-instrument-platform-has-collapsed/
CP: Drown — milet
The things you reference throughout the course of the day. . . .
https://weirdal.fandom.com/wiki/Visuals:Fat
Could also reference this. The author is an extremely good friend of mine (my daughter’s godfather).
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082VPGQLK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Hmm! Te “You Got Lucky” video is an all-time MTV favorite.
Please tell me you can see this.
Perhaps someone can find a none Twitter version.
https://twitter.com/rexchapman/status/1333810781121630210?s=21
Yes! This is glorious.
That was awesome