1,022 thoughts on “Brand New Day

  1. My new company is mostly twenty-somethings. I like everyone, but holy crap. . . I’m feeling the old.

    “1980s movies? Like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?”

    • Literally 90% of the people at the company I work for (70 or so person company) are in the age range of my children (23-30). I’ve been feeling the old for many years now.

  2. Just watched the “Apollo 11” movie on Amazon.
    This was a master class in film making. I can’t begin to imagine the hundreds of hours of audio, video and film they had to sift through in order to put this together.

    Using only original footage (digitally restored) and mostly original audio they put something together that felt much less like a documentary and much more like a theatrical movie.
    I say BRAVO !

  3. We have taken the plunge!

    Ep 1 : Chernobyl.

    My heart is so heavy with sadness for the innocent involved and for the workers who were so afraid to stand up to their superiors.

    • I would reccomend reading Midnight In Chernobyl after watching the tv series. it gives a more nuanced look at the ‘staff of the plant.

    • Agree with Van. The Show is amazing, but that book definitely adds a lot of context that the show glosses over. Not everyone was simply a hero or villain.

  4. Cool to see Emily getting so much love from Tor.

    Is this generation ship thing a modern trend in Sci-Fi books? I haven’t seen it a lot in my reading.

  5. Crap joke for the day:

    A grasshopper walks into a bar and the bartender says “we have a drink named after you.”

    To which the grasshopper responds, “You have a drink named Dave?”

    • I must confess, especially after seeing the latest trailer, I have no interest at all in the new Picard series. Maybe I’m wired up wrong, but I’ve just not been able to develop any enthusiasm for it. This latest trailer especially makes Patrick Steward look every bit of his 79 years old. He looks like more of a prop than an actor in those shots.

  6. Crap joke for the day:

    A Kentucky teacher was quizzing her students. “Johnny, who signed the Declaration of Independence?” He said, “Damn if I know.” She was a little put out by his swearing, so she told him to go home and to bring his father with him when he came back. Next day, the father came with his son, sat in the back of the room to observe. She started back in on her quiz and finally got back to the boy. “Now, Johnny, I’ll ask you again. Well hell teacher,” Johnny said, “I told you I didn’t know.” The father jumped up in the back, pointed a stern finger at his son, and said, “Johnny, if you signed that damn thing, hell, you damn well better admit it!

    • It’s been a few years, but I recall a lot of laughs in that movie. Especially when they get to Wally World. There are a couple of lines/scenes that still get occasional references in day-to-day conversation.

    • One of the common gripes I see in these articles is the pain of charging infostructure. It really points out how Chevrolet dropped the ball on marketing the Volt. For those that don’t know the Volt operates as a fully electric vehicle for about 64 miles then it uses a gas generator to let it run about 300 miles beyond that on gas. I bought my second Volt back in March (a used 2016 model). It has almost twice the electric range of the 2012 (64 miles of pure electric range verses 35 miles). A used Volt with 25k miles on it cost less than half a brand new one, so score one for affordability. Funny what the extra range does for me. I bought the Volt back in March and the gas tank still shows it as full. With 64 miles of range and a 40 mile work commute, I just don’t use that much gas. But because of the gas back up, I never have to look for a public charging station. It’s like owning an electric car without the drawbacks of an electric car. A great transition vehicle while the charging infrastructure is being built.

    • From what I’m reading, if you are a “two car” family and have your own house/garage … making that 2nd car an EV makes sense and wouldn’t really impact your mobility. That is of course, if the cost of the EV is within what you would have already budgeted for that 2nd car.

      In reality, if you commute less than 50 miles a day, the mileage limit is just not a factor.

      That being said … if the EV dealerships would ALSO get into the business of renting cars and offer their customers a discounted rate, it would eliminate a large part of the argument against.

      • Yep, pretty much. EVs still have a chicken and egg problem. People won’t buy EVs before there is a robust charging network and there won’t be a robust charging network until people start buying EVs. Right now I would say an EV or plug-in hybrid don’t make sense unless you have a place to charge them at home.

    • He was supposedly as eccentric as they come, but one of those rare cases where their insanity actually did lead to success and innovation. The Apollo’s successes would have supposedly been very different without him. RIP

      • Beats the hell out of me.
        Daddy in law went for his first physio on Friday, and had his follow up with the surgeon yesterday. Hubby figures he’ll be home some time this week but hasn’t really spoken to his parents about it yet.
        This is the longest we’ve been apart in a single stretch in our 23 years of marriage

  7. Ok Pan, it’s movie time

    Today’s movie is Soul to Keep
    The write up: Beelzebub, a powerful demon hellbent to possess and consume souls, goes after siblings and their lifelong friends at a rundown country house.

    Can’t go wrong with that

  8. Yes, let’s as the biggest and strongest to be the “vessel” and get possessed by the demon.

    These things would resolve quicker if it was the weakest that was possessed

  9. Just finished our first game of “Ticket to Ride – Europe”
    I declare it FUN.

    Bonus fun was playing it while listening to the soundtrack from “Tomorrow Never Dies”. Made it all the more urgent/dramatic !

  10. Three episodes into Jessica Jones S3. A lot of nothing things have happened. I hold out hope though. I assume it’s going somewhere.

  11. The library tells me that “The Three Body Problem” is available for digital borrow. . . . Not sure if I can squeeze that one in right now, though.

    Also – – why the F are there any limitations or wait periods for digital borrows from the library? It’s not like there’s a physical book that’s taken off the shelf when I’m reading it.

    • I can answer that(sort of) Libraries pay a for an ebook based a set amount of downloads. For example, they will pay a licence for 10 downloads of a particular book. Therefore, if 10 people are currently looking at the same book, if an 11th person wants to read that book, the library would have to pay an extra fee (as if they had to purchase an extra book)

      Where it gets murky is renewals. Never having taken out an ebbok from the library, I’m not sure if you get the book for only a specific length of time. If that is the case, then if you don’t finish the book in that time and choose to renew it, like a physical book, it is then not available to the next person unless the library purchases another licence.

      I think this is similar to how a radio station has to pay a licensing fee based on the number of times it plays a particular song. The more a song is played (or the newer the title) the more the station pays

      I hope that made sense.

      • Thank you! That actually makes sense. You can renew an ebook borrow, but only if there’s no one else in the borrowing queue. If someone else is lined up for it, then they get it at the end of your time, and you’re SOL on the renewal.

        I got burned trying to read “The Fifth Season,” earlier this year. I didn’t have time to really get going, and I lost it only a few pages in. I’ve been in the queue to borrow it again since *January*.

  12. I’ve just realised I made the same mistake as those fundamentalist Christians made when complaining about Good Omens.

    So yes Hulu, fuck off!

  13. Ok, 1 and half episodes into The Boys (new series from Amazon based on a comic series) and I’m digging it.

    But bloody hell Dr McCoy’s accent is truly terrible.

      • Maybe you should reconsider. From a reviewer on IMDB
        :
        “If you did read the comics before, this show may disappoint you. It took away too many elements that made the comics great. Hard to say it’s not good though, the production is solid and you may actually enjoy it.”

  14. Google Docs keeps crashing on my iPad. It then takes forever to fucking reload. I don’t know who to shake my fist at, Apple or Google.

    I realize this is a first world problem, but it’s a bit more frustrating than, say, a barista forgetting to draw a little image in the foam on my vanilla latte.

    Any suggestions?

    • I’m hopeful I’ll be able to take on the rest of the books with fresh interest after these next couple of seasons air. I stopped reading where the third season ended. While I enjoy the story, the narrative style really grates on me with a small number of POV characters, and many of them only appearing in one book then getting changed out for others in the next one.
      I think Holden may be the only one whose been there the whole way, and he’s just not interesting enough to be the main narrator/protagonist.

  15. Watching a good friends family struggling from mental illness at multiple generations. Breaks my heart. And triggering, as the kids say.

  16. We spent the day at Downtown Disney, which was fun. The baby – – and our wallets – – couldn’t quite handle the park inside.

  17. This page has been quiet too! We’re headed home today, to the land of cell service. Orange County is apparently Sprint country.

  18. So watched the first two episodes of Pennyworth. Enjoyed them but gawd this alternative England comes over how Americans view England.

    Need a cup of tea now.

    • Started and finished this week. It’s… entertaining, but pretty outlandish. I think that if all the astronauts had been given a thorough psychological evaluation prior to being accepted, they could have avoided 90% of their issues.

      • It’s not required viewing. In one scene they haggle over how to detangle a sleep-inducing machine from a person’s brain without killing them and in another they reason they can power the ship’s warp drive by connecting to the alien device in other. (Pan to scene of crew member with large blue cable out the back of their head (USB 3.0?). I’m giving them a pass because Katee Sackov if the only celebrity I’ve met that said my name in a sexy voice. LOL

  19. I can’t even describe (and really shouldn’t go into detail about) the miracle that’s occurred in the Mangan world over the past few days. Sorry to post vagueness, but it’s just sharing my joy in a safe space, where no one should get any backlash. Whatever happens next… I’m going to cherish the vindication of these recent events

  20. Crap joke for the evening:

    A rabbit walks into a pub and says to the barman,
    ‘Can I have a pint of beer, and a Ham and Cheese Toastie?’

    The barman is amazed, but gives the rabbit a pint of beer and a ham and cheese toastie.

    The rabbit drinks the beer and eats the toastie. He then leaves.

    The following night the rabbit returns and again asks for a pint of beer, and a Ham and Cheese Toastie.

    The barman, now intrigued by the rabbit and the extra drinkers in the pub, (because word gets round), gives the rabbit the pint and the Toastie. The rabbit consumes them and leaves.

    The next night, the pub is packed.

    In walks the rabbit and says, ‘A pint of beer and a Ham and Cheese Toastie, please barman.’

    The crowd is hushed as the barman gives the rabbit his pint and toastie, and then burst into applause as the rabbit wolfs them down.

    The next night there is standing room only in the pub.

    Coaches have been laid on for the crowds of patrons attending.

    The barman is making more money in one week than he did all last year

    In walks the rabbit and says, ‘A pint of beer and a Ham and Cheese Toastie, please barman.’

    The barman says, ‘I’m sorry rabbit, old mate, old mucker, but we are right out of them Ham and Cheese Toasties.’

    The rabbit looks aghast.

    The crowd has quietened to almost a whisper, when the barman clears his throat nervously and says,
    ‘We do have a very nice Cheese and Onion Toastie.

    The rabbit looks him in the eye and says, ‘Are you sure I will like it.’

    The crowd’s bated breath is ear shatteringly silent.

    The barman, with a roguish smile says, ‘Do you think that I would let down one of my best friends. I know you’ll love it.’

    ‘Ok,’ says the rabbit, ‘I’ll have a pint of beer and a Cheese and Onion Toastie.’

    The pub erupts with glee as the rabbit quaffs the beer and guzzles the toastie.

    He then waves to the crowd and leaves….

    NEVER TO RETURN!!!!!!

    One year later, in the now impoverished public house, the barman, (who has only served 4 drinks tonight, 3 of which were his), calls time.

    When he is cleaning down the now empty bar, he sees a small white form, floating above the bar.

    The barman says, ‘Who are you?

    To which he is answered,
    ‘I am the ghost of the rabbit that used to frequent your public house.’

    The barman says, ‘I remember you. You made me famous.

    You would come in every night and have a pint of beer and a Ham and Cheese Toastie. Masses came to see you and this place was famous.’

    The rabbit says, ‘Yes I know.’

    The barman said, ‘I remember, on your last night we didn’t have any Ham and Cheese Toasties. You had a Cheese and Onion one instead.’

    The rabbit said, ‘Yes, you promised me that I would love it.’

    The barman said, ‘You never came back, what happened?’

    ‘I DIED’, said the rabbit.

    ‘NO!’ said the barman. ‘What from?’

    After a short pause, the rabbit said …

    ‘Mixin-me-toasties

  21. Agents of Shield has just gone off the rails bonkers and it is SUCH a joy to watch. What a great ride these last 6 seasons have been. In true St: TNG form I’m beyond stoked I stuck with it

  22. Crap joke for the day:

    One morning, the husband returns the boat to their lakeside
    cottage after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap.

    Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out.
    She motors out a short distance, anchors, puts her feet up,
    and begins to read her book.

    The peace and solitude are magnificent.

    Along comes a Fish and Game Warden in his boat.
    He pulls up alongside the woman and says, ‘Good morning, Ma’am. What are you doing?’
    ‘Reading a book,’ she replies, (thinking, ‘Isn’t that obvious?’)

    ‘You’re in a Restricted Fishing Area,’ he informs her.
    ‘I’m sorry, officer, but I’m not fishing. I’m reading.’
    ‘Yes, but I see you have all the equipment.
    For all I know you could start at any moment.
    I’ll have to take you in and write you up.’

    ‘If you do that, I’ll have to charge you with sexual assault,’ says the woman.
    ‘But I haven’t even touched you,’ says the Game Warden.
    ‘That’s true, but you have all the equipment.
    For all I know you could start at any moment.’

    ‘Have a nice day ma’am,’ and he left.

  23. I guess I should be relieved that the roach crawling up through the work men’s room sink was too big to fit through the drain opening. . . .

  24. Getting ready to go to the wilds of Scotland next week. High temperatures in August looking to be around 60-62F (15-18c). Quite the change from the 88-93F (31-33c) highs I’m getting in Orlando right now. Also looking like rain gear is going to be a good idea.

  25. First Man is a pretty damn good film. The stuff on the Moon (spoilers!!) got me right here. On a few levels.

    The musical score is pretty great too.

  26. This morning I tetrised my car.
    Later today, on the way back from the vampires, I will stop in to the local bakery and order goodies for our party room.
    Tomorrow morning I have breakfast with my boss and we load both our vehicles with boxes of books.

  27. Finished watching After Life on Netflix. It was pretty bad. While it ended with a lot of threads hanging, I’d be really surprised if it’s picked up for a second season. And if it is, I doubt I’ll watch it.

        • Looks like After Life gets two seasons on Netflix.

          As for “Another Life”, yeah it had a lot of problems. Katee and the computer dude do a pretty good acting job, but the script is poo. I’ll probably still watch a sequel series.

          I might be an outlier, but I actually liked the Netflix Will Smith movie “Bright’. It was savaged by the critics, but I thought it was everything it purported to be.

    • While I won’t see it until it comes to streaming, I always know what to expect, and enjoy, movies with Jason Statham in them. They are usually check your brain at the door, type of fun that you need in your life once in a while.

  28. Watched The Red Sea Diving resort with sister last night on Netflix. I can’t argue with people finding it problematic (white saviour and pro Mossad) but I enjoyed it.

  29. Internet outage last night was timed perfectly to wreck my half-hour window to work on cool shit.

    Starting the morning complaining, yay!

  30. I realized that the only Dwayne Johnson things I’ve ever seen are Southland Tales, Jumanji, Moana, and the Fast & Furious ride at Universal Studios (I’ve seen exactly zero F&F movies). He’s actually super likable and charismatic, unlike Tom Cruise, who – – while very talented – – seems charismatic, insane, and kind of awful.

    Yet I’m still feeling serious Rock fatigue. I’m glad people enjoyed Hobbs and Shaw, but the guy needs to take some PTO days from making movies.

    (I didn’t want to refer to it as Johnson Fatigue).

  31. Well, despite hoping otherwise, I haven’t been able to make traveling to the meetup to work for me this year.

    I hope everyone has fun in San Diego. I would have liked to go.

  32. Since Jack hasn’t answered my question, I’ll just have to ask Tim how the two of you know each other. And remind him, I’ve known him longer so I get Jack in the divorce 😉

  33. I’m just gonna leave Tommy Lee’s rant…right…here..

    “You Trumpsters better pray that liberals never gain control of the WH again because we are going to pay you back so fucking hard for all of this shit. Planned Parenthoods on every damn corner. We’re going to repaint Air Force One, pussy hat pnk and fly it over your beloved Bible Belt 6 days a week, tossing birth control pills, condoms & atheist literature from the cockpit. We’re going to tax your mega churches so bad Joel Olsteen will need to get a job at Chik Fil A to pay his light bill. Speaking of Chik Fil A, we’re buying all those and giving them to any LGBTQ person your sick cult leaders tortured with conversion therapy. Have fun with the new menu you bigoted fucks. Try the McPence. It’s a boiled unseasoned chicken breast that you have to eat in the closet with your mother. We’re going to gather up ALL of your guns, melt them down and turn them into a gargantuan metal mountain emblazoned with the face of Hillary Clinton. All parks will be renamed Rosa Parks ASAP. We’re replacing Confederate statues with BLM leaders & Mexican immigrants. Every single public school will be renamed after a child that was kidnapped by this regime. And after we fumigate the WH, we’re repainting the whole thing rainbow. Fox News will be taken over and turned into a family refugee shelter. We’re turning Hannity’s office into a giant unisex bathroom with changing tables & free tampons. And every single time a Trumpster complains about any of the changes, we’re adding an openly gay character to a Disney movie.”

  34. I love it when TV’s Frank gets into a complaining rant, and he just stops mid-sentence and throws his hands up with an “ahhh” as he’s overcome with disgust. Joel would sometimes do the same gag.
    It just sums up my feelings so perfectly, so much of the time.

  35. It’s kinda weird. I actually have a few irons in the fire right now. It’s looking to be a very busy fall – – but with cool shit.

    • I would pretty much just keep Hermione and Jar Jar from that list as actually important and widely memorable. Most of the rest of that list was either forgettable, or never worth knowing to begin with.

      Just a few I can think up
      Neo
      Daenerys (you could probably come up with many from Game of Thrones by itself)
      Dr Who (the modern incarnation got going in 2005 – if Thomas Jefferson can be pulled forward in time because of Hamilton, I would think Dr. Who would qualify)
      The cast of Jersey Shore – I’ve never even watched the show and I hate them all by osmosis.
      And, since I’ve never heard of “Milkshake Duck” I’d have to put “Grumpy Cat” as more likely to be on this list.

      • Without even giving it much thought – – how is Walter White not on this list? I’m not even the biggest Breaking Bad fanatic, but that show was massive.

        Frodo Baggins, hello? Or Gandalf?
        No one from the MCU?

        All of Ed’s suggestions??

        **TV’s Frank exasperated “bahhhhhhhhhh” noise**

  36. Morning Pan

    Hubby’s in for his physical. Somehow I got roped in to going to the doctor’s office with him
    I guess that means it’s reading time

    CR: Infractus by Sarah Johnson

  37. I finished the first 3 storylines of The Boys, which was definitely crude and over-the-top – – but still actually pretty smart and good. I’m curious about the show.

    After finishing that, I started “The Accidental Tourist.” I’m pretty sure I’m the only person in history to ever jump from reading “The Boys” comic to “The Accidental Tourist.”

      • I still have not seen Easy Rider (except I caught the end of the film one evening).

        My first memory of seeing him
        In a film was watching Futureworld at the cinema.

        • I think it was big for that generation. There’s a speech from Jack Nicholson that’s really memorable, but otherwise, it didn’t do much for me.

          That final scene that you saw is also pretty well-known.

    • One of my greatest History profs told me that when doing a research paper, stick with sources the closest to or farthest away from your topic..

      1991 is a bit in that grey area. He have any updated readings?

  38. I can’t believe big magazines are publishing articles about the Kanye West-Taylor Swift “Imma let you finish” moment, as if it’s this massive pop culture event.

    Beatles at Shea Stadium, Cobain suicide, the return of Star Wars, Imma let you finish.

    *TV’s Frank baaahhhhhhh*

  39. Fuck. Fuck. fuck. fuck.

    I just found out that a good friend of mine died last weekend. Her husband hasn’t posted any details, so I don’t know what happened.

    Fuck.

  40. My turn for a crap joke:

    Once. a long time ago, there was this young man who was in a terrible accident. He lost one of his eyes and it was replaced by a wooden one.
    A while after that, he meets this young lady with a club foot. They get along so he starts courting her.
    After some time, he gets up the courage and asks the young lady if she would marry him.
    The girl exclaims, “Would I!”
    “F you too, you club footed bitch,” says the man and stomps off, never to see her again.

    • to me the inevitable shitty Matrix sequel news is way overshadowed today by the news that Spidey is being yanked from the MCU. Sony has no idea wtf it’s doing

      • Shrewd move for Sony. Bummer for MCU Phase 3, though. But when did any movie exec ever give a shit about the fans or the greater good of the story?

        The silver lining: this means we’ll get Spider-Man in Venom 2!

        • I’m a little disappointed. You would think that by now these big corporations would see that when they give fans what they want they make billions. Instead, they want to play these games. Oh well. I’ve felt a sense of closure with Phase 3. I’m prepared for some new things from Marvel, lots of opportunities for their back catalog of characters.

  41. There’s this little black kitten that keeps hanging around our house. I have the bedroom window open and it was watching me fold laundry. I felt really bad for it because I wouldn’t let it in. (My cat does not play well with others. Also, presumably, it has a home) Finally I just closed the curtain so we couldn’t watch each other.

    • I know I shouldn’t get hung up on a movie’s “message,” especially in a QT film, but I was a little uncomfortable with that aspect. (it’s a spoiler discussion)

      I’ve always appreciated his films much more on the second viewing. I suspect that will be the case with this one.

    • Re watching Hateful 8 this time on the Netflix extended miniseries edition and fuck do I love that film. Watched Basterds a couple times lately too. I look forward to being way late to the party on this one

    • You really never played Scorched Earth? Forget Mario-Kart or any fighting game – – It’s the greatest sit-around-the-screen multiplayer game of all time.
      I have DOSBox on my laptop at home primarily for Scorched Earth.

      I don’t know any of the others.

    • Bottom line … if you have a project that you feal strongly about how it is treated … you just have to “Executive Produce” it yourself.
      I would think at this point that the Lee family would have the money to do so.

  42. Your crap joke for the day:

    A truck loaded with thousands of copies of Roget’s Thesaurus crashed yesterday losing its entire load. Witnesses were stunned, startled, aghast, taken aback, stupefied, confused, shocked, rattled, paralyses, dazed, bewildered, mixed up, surprised, awed, dumbfounded, nonplussed, flabbergasted, astounded, amazed, confounded, astonished, overwhelmed, horrified, numbed, speechless, and perplexed.

  43. Woah!
    Just watched “Serial Mom” for the first time in 20 some years and there was a scene that featured L7 !
    Just seemed
    Coincidental to the link with the article about them. That was the first I had read about them in years.

  44. Was gonna post a link, but the page was pop-up madness. So I’ll just tell you.
    Apparently Moon Knight, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel will each have their own shows on the new Disney streaming service.

  45. Finally managed to get to the third season of “Legion.” Definitely not your normal show, even by Marvel standards. I thought the decision to end it the way they did was bold. Very trippy ride. Although I do find myself agreeing some with the criticism of the behavior of one of the major characters in the finale.

    Though, probably the trippiest thing was seeing the actor who played Viserys Targarian (Danny’s “crown of gold” brother) in the last couple of episodes. After seeing it on IMDB, it was obvious, but quite a transformation compared to his character in Game of Thrones.

  46. Alright, maybe everybody else already knew this one, but I just discovered this fact today:

    https://imgur.com/gallery/TGYF8y8

    I am both oddly excited to make this discovery and deeply ashamed that I hadn’t already made the connection. I always thought there was something familiar about him on DS9, and thinking about the voice now, it is so obvious.

  47. Captain Obvious says: The first Avengers movie still really holds up. It’s great stuff.

    Captin Controversial says: It’s the best thing Joss Whedon has ever done. Even better than Firefly/Serenity.

  48. Morning Pan
    The cat decided that 3:15 was the perfect time for us to wake up. We wanted that extra hour of sleep.
    The compromise was we stayed in bed and she bugged us until we finally decided to drag our butts out of bet closer to 4:00

  49. Darkside Rey is sexy and exciting. I get it’s prolly a vision or clone or some shit but if they actually go that route… good god I will put this trillogy up with the original

  50. Had a long interesting talk with Dr. rick Chappell last night. Solar-Terrestrial astrophysicist. Former Spacelab Director, Astronaut Mission Specialist whose shuttle mission never happened because it was the next scheduled after Challanger.

    Anyway … he had an interesting comment on teleportation. He said that in a way, it was now happening with 3D printing. We scan a tool, turning it into data. Then we beam that data to the space station where the print out the tool.
    Maybe not exactly what Gene Roddenberry showed us but for most practical applications … the tool was here sent via data to where it wasn’t and then it exists there.
    Fun to think about but also fun to see a Scientist embracing Sci-Fi concepts.

  51. Hubby and I have been watching the Netflix show Better Than Us. We’re only four episodes in but are quite enjoying it so far. Kind of blows up a few Russian stereotypes.

  52. JW: Double Date

    Gender reversal horror where two women are the serial killers. Cheesey fun and a great fight scene towards the end.

  53. Well. Hard times on planet earth.
    Taking our snuggliest cat to the Vet in the morning to remove a tumor from his back leg. I’ve a bad feeling the surgeon is going to want the whole leg. 🙁
    Got a call today from my cardiologist who wants me in the hospital Thursday to do a Heart Cath and probably put a stent in.
    Yeh. So that.

  54. Hi guys… here is some juicy info regarding Disney+, if interested; but I am told by inside sources, that you should act ASAP, as it can take up to 36 hours to activate.

    You can get Disney + by buying 2 years and get the 3rd year for free, which makes it $3.88/month. You have to sign up for their fan club, D23 and they have a free membership option, called General Membership.

    Once you sign up for a disney account, you can join D23, and that is when it can take up to 36 hours to send you the link for the Disney+ signup.

    http://www.d23.com

  55. As their child grew, a woman thought their child looked nothing like either herself or her husband. When the child was ten, she decided to get a DNA test done on the child. The test came back saying it wasn’t related to either herself or her husband.
    She approached her husband and he said, “don’t you remember? After he was born, when we were leaving the hospital, he pooped. You tolls me his diaper was dirty so I should take him inside and get a clean one. That’s exactly what I did. I got a clean baby and left the dirty one there.”

  56. Crap joke for the day:

    Little Red Riding Hood is skipping down the road when she sees the Big Bad Wolf crouched down behind a log. “My what big eyes you have, Mr Wolf”, says Little Red Riding Hood. The wolf jumps up and runs away. Further down the road Little Red Riding Hood sees the wolf again. This time he is crouched behind a tree stump. “My what big ears you have, Mr Wolf”, says Little Red Riding Hood. Again the wolf jumps up and runs away. Some distance further down the track Little Red Riding Hood again encounters the Big Bad Wolf, this time crouched behind a road sign. “My what big teeth you have, Mr Wolf”, taunts Little Red Riding Hood. With that the Big Bad Wolf jumps up and screams… “Will you get lost!,
    I’m trying to take a shit !”

  57. So many broken exhibits at the AZ Science Center today. Seriously disappointing.

    Leeloo was freaked out by the giant sneezing nose. At least that worked.

    • I needed to get something done, and with an internet outage at home, I popped out to a local coffee shop for Wi-fi, and got the extra horror of Fox News’s coverage of this.

      This place is broken.

    • Wow!
      This could go very, very wrong.
      Or be absolutely brilliant.
      But …
      Well, I’m go to trust Scarlett Johansson
      Wouldn’t be envolved if it was bad … because she’s pretty.

  58. I’m going to do a play by play in a few minutes. As soon as I get downstairs and in front of the tv.

    Two things.
    1) Since I haven’t figured out how to get laundry to fold itself, I’ll have to pause half way through the movie to fold said laundry.
    2) One thing in every post of the play by play will be wrong. Whether it’s the time of day, the gender of a character, the name of a character, etc. one thing will be wrong. Of course, unless you actually watch the movie, you’ll never know what’s wrong with my description 😉

  59. Ok, here we go
    Today’s movie is Look away

    The Netflix write up
    she had secret desires to inflict harm on those who wronged her. Until the mirror image made them a reality

    (This is the real write up. The lying doesn’t start until the movie does)

  60. Ok. Now that the movie is over, time to break from mis-truths. Or, in US terms, alternate facts 😉

    This movie did have a few cliche moments but, over all, it was actually pretty decent. Of course, like all these type of movies, it had a not quite the end ending, but it was done I. Such a way that it actually worked. As far as terrible b horror movies go, I might even recommend it. Although, it wasn’t really scary and had very little in the way of blood and death so, that either speaks well, or poorly about the movie, depending upon where your tastes lay

  61. Crap joke for the day you may not get if you haven’t seen old ads for a certain brand of German car:

    A German guy approaches a prostitute and says, “I vish to buy sex vit you.”

    “OK” says the girl, “I’ll charge £20 an hour.”

    “Ist goot, but I must varn you, I am a little kinky.”

    “No problem,” she replies cautiously, “I can do a little kinky.” So off they go to the girl’s flat, where the German produces four large bedsprings and a duck caller. I vant you to tie ze springs to each of your limbs.

    “The girl finds this most odd, but complies, fastening the springs to her elbows and knees.

    “Now you vill get on your hans und knees.” She duly does this, balancing on the springs.

    “You vill please blow zis vistle as I make love to you.” She find this odd, but it’s harmless, and after all the guy is paying well. The sex is fantastic.

    She is bounced all over the room by the energetic German, all the time honking on the duck caller. The climax is the most sensational that she has ever experienced and it is several minutes before she has recovered her breath to say:

    “That was totally amazing, where did you learn how to do that?”

    “Ah,” says the German, “Four-sprung duck technique”

  62. I’ve been wanting to posit this comment, to get reactions. . . I just don’t want to ask on FB, because I’ll come back 2 hours later and see people yelling about SJWs and Last Jedi in the comments. So here goes:

    John Williams’s best piece of music – – simply taken as a pure listening experience, removing all movie associations – – is:

    The main Superman Theme.

    • Curious.
      I’ll have to give it a listen.
      He has been quit the prolific film score guy.

      He is probably my pic for “most grandiose” film score composer but I might go with Danny Elfman as my favorite. Randy Newman and Williams being tied in a close second.
      I think Williams has far more “range” in style and feel of his music but Elfman and Newman absolutely crush it within their specific sub-genre.

      • Are you saying you don’t know John Williams’s Superman Theme song?
        Or you just need a relisten?
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78N2SP6JFaI

        There’s also a separate place to debate the best 20th Century film composers. Elfman, Kamen, Newman, Horner – – all in that mix – – but for my money, that honor also goes to John Williams.
        Hell, I don’t think there was a greater or more important 20th Century musician of any genre than John Williams.

        • Yeh, I just hadn’t heard it in a long time.
          I will give him his due as perhaps the most influential and probably even the best but I don’t think he’s my favorite. Under his top songs though, you’ve got to include the Olympic theme he wrote for the Summer Games some years back. As you would expect, it’s pretty epic.

      • Without dissecting it. . . It’s pretty simple, but it’s the most powerful and stirring. It transitions seamlessly from the rousing opening number to the more romantic “Can you read my mind” interlude, then back to the main theme. And the dramatic key change for the same melody in the final section is really powerful.

  63. We watched the NetFlix series, Better Than Us. (well, ok, we have one episode left). The main villain has scotch glasses that have divots in them so they rock. We thought they were cool enough we ordered a set for ourselves.
    While this is not exactly product placement, it still had no effect on us. Nope, nope, nope.

  64. I spent weeks entering stuff in a database for Booknet Canada. They asked me to do a backwards conversion. Not only did the backwards conversion not work, it deleted the original file. Of course, I didn’t think of doing a backup save of the thing first. I basically lost 2/3 of my database (I did have a back up of the file from a couple of weeks ago).
    I could just cry.

  65. The new Tool album lives up to expectations. For an album who’s songs (not including interludes) average 12 minutes long, only one feels like it. The rest breeze by at a sonic level unprecedented. It’s good.

  66. Well I’m almost packed, getting to the airport tomorrow will be ‘fun’ as the Great North Run is happening tomorrow.

    I’m mentally preparing for a day of fuck ups.

  67. Well finally completed my watch of S3 of The Man in the High Castle.

    Compared to S2 it has a rather subdued ending but left me looking forward to the S4 which is going to be the final season.

  68. Hey Jack

    Way back when, you mentioned us watching/reading something like The Andromeda Strain for a work broadcast. Is that still happening or did I miss it?

  69. We had to replace one of the switches in our washroom. The switches are white. The one we got looked white in the package but is not quite as white as the switch that is currently in the washroom. It’s actually quite noticeable having one very white switch and one less white switch side by side.

  70. https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-English-translation-to-the-lyrics-of-%C3%87a-Plane-Pour-Moi-by-Plastic-Bertrand

    I had no idea.

    “It was written by a songwriter, son of a Flemish farmer, who hated punk. Just for fun he wrote (a parody of) a punk/disco song to fill a B-side of a single. He is a Belgian who usually wrote… Brazilian dance music. The music and the lyrics were meant to ridiculize the punk genre.”

    If you don’t know the song, yes you do.

  71. The JW’s just came to the door. They like to visit us because hubby and I are willing to engage. We all know we will never agree on things, but there is nothing wrong with a little civil discourse and debate now and then

  72. I had one of those moments in a conference call yesterday when I saw myself in the camera view of the full room and went, “Hey, why is my dad in this meeting?”

  73. I think I’m going to try an experiment
    I make tea and put it in the fridge for making iced tea later. I think I’m going to put it through my soda stream and see if I can get carbonated ice tea

  74. I am in San Diego!

    Waiting for Ed to arrive from the airport and getting suspicious glances from the hotel staff.

    Maybe they think I’m a bum…

  75. I went to this FREE talk yesterday.
    It was brilliant.
    —————-
    All,
    As our next offering in the Pass the Torch Series, we have a very special and unique lecture for you to hear. Mr. David Concannon, an explorer, photographer, author, diver, and specialist in deep water search and recovery will share his adventures as he and his Jeff Bezos (Amazon, etc.) partners describe the recovery of Saturn Apollo F-1 first stage engines from the Atlantic Ocean. David, who was also involved in the filming and recovery of Titanic components, will speak to how and why they decided to recover the Saturn engines from 14,000 feet of ocean 400 miles off the coast of Florida. This will be a most interesting story, explaining the special techniques required to accomplish such a feat.

  76. Fun first night with the crew in SD! Delicious ice cream after waiting in line at the Salt & Straw. After a delicious swordfish sammich at Mitch’s.

    • I’m probably ordering mine today. Yesterday was about researching/weighing options on which one to get. Today is about sitting with my salesperson to make sure I get the best deal.

        • The Apple upgrade program is a deal in and of itself. I was considering buying the device straight from apple to get that program. But talking to Verizon, that same deal works if you get the device through them. That’s the plan I’m going on now.

  77. Well at the airport, waiting to fly home.

    Another great meet-up. Lovely to see everybody again and JR Murdock for the first time (his local knowledge was a great help).

    Thanks to Ed for the driving and arranging the hotel and Amy for the driving and hanging out with me for a few hours to save me from airport hell.

  78. Agreed. JR, you were an invaluable resource for the weekend!

    Things I said I would post here so they wouldn’t be lost or forgotten:
    1) This will be the year we continue Star Wars: Edge of the Empire over Discord/Roll20! All the setup has already been done; we just need to agree to a date and time. (Preferably late Saturday night in the US, which is early Sunday morning for Van.)
    2) The 5 of us who had breakfast together this morning (me, Jack, Rhettro, Van, and Ed) all agreed that attending Sausagefest at Archon 2020 is a strong contender among our ideas for the next MMMMMeetup. We’ll need to reach out to Tony and find out about the pros and cons of the main con hotel vs. any overflow hotels, and how early they book up. (Personally, as a longtime, experienced congoer, I don’t think there’s anything really wrong with being in a hotel that isn’t the main host hotel for a con, as long as it’s in a somewhat reasonable walking distance.)

  79. By the way, I just read back through some of the previous comments and realized I should share the announcement I made on Friday on this page:

    This past Thursday, for the first time, I finally submitted a show to the Apple podcast directory for approval! I haven’t heard back yet, but Movie Chat with the Movie Night Crew should be accessible to a wide audience sometime in the near future. That also means that if we want to do any more communal watches of movies (like “The Andromeda Strain” or any others we never go to before), I volunteer to compile and publish any resulting audio.

    RSS feed link

  80. It’s an election year here in Canada Land. Unlike you sully Americans, even though the election is in November, we are only now starting to see ads.
    I’m so glad our election doesn’t span years

  81. Ok, I had to speak to hubby before I committed to a Canadian Mmmmeetup. Despite what Van may have seen, he is the ultimate introvert and I had to make sure he would be up for it. He is.
    If we do a Canadian Mmmmeetup, I would suggest either June or September. Everything is open but you miss the vacationer crowds. You still have to be at places when they open, though. Van can attest to what the line ups were like as we were leaving places.
    We don’t own a BBQ so Saturday dinner would have to be order in.

    • It must be said: This was a huge imposition and assumption. . . . So – – many thanks to you and hubby for being so gracious.

      I do still need to get my travel documents in order.

  82. stolen:
    Romeo and Juliet is not a love story
    It’s a three day relationship between a 13-year-old and a 17-year-old that resulted in six deaths

  83. So it was dicy, but we made it to the Iron Maiden concert last night. Amazing, of course – – but the real magic was sharing this with the elder daughter. She was interested, this wasn’t just me dragging her along.

    Afterwards, she wanted a t-shirt, and said she really enjoyed it. So that’s the major win of the night.

  84. So I was reflecting my RPG experience since 2014.

    I mostly fired at somebody and did little damage or healed Jack’s character.

    The life of a medical droid…

  85. I watched “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” last night. That was more fun than I expected. And it probably set a record for the number of times motherfucker was said during a movie.

  86. So I covered the band, Fozzy, last night. I can’t promise that anyone here would love them, but they were nice guys. Their lead singer is the pro wrestler, Chris Jericho. I only met him for a minute, but he was cool. I talked mostly to their guitar player, Rich Ward.

    I also hung out a little bit with Jonah James Nichols. This guy is a monster on the guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU06c_Gxh7U He plays with no pick!

      • What were the objections to S3? I thought S2 was a little shaky, but this last one was the best yet.

        That said, I’m OK with it ending strong at S4, rather than dragging it out.

        • “Shakey” was the term most used for s3. There seemed to be objections to taking to focus off the wrestling which makes no sense. W/O the character development the wrestling means little

        • On rewatching DT’s episode I came to the realisation that the Doctor was pretty much an arsehole during his run.

          But yeah, not much love from me on that episode.

          The plot was pretty bad as well.

          • Disagree on every point!

            He has some asshole moments, but overall, he’s possibly the most empathic of all the Doctors, except maybe Baker and Davison. His crazy “I can do anything!!” stuff at the end was just establishing that his time was coming to an end.

            The plot is standard Doctor Who fare, but with a pretty clever concept and genuinely spooky “monsters.” (Don’t bring science into it – – this is Doctor Who). And the monster fodder in this one were a lot more interesting than the usual.

            In conclusion, you and your group are wrong.

          • It’s been a looong moment since I watched that episode but I recalled liking it and thinking it had a good, spooky vibe.

          • I’m kinda fascinated by that comment, actually. I don’t consider myself a Who/Tennant scholar, but I really can’t recall any times when he (the 10th Doctor) was unreasonably harsh. I’m not trying to troll you, I’d really like more on this – – especially since he’s everyone’s favorite.

          • Well if you rewatch how he treats Martha who is besotted with him compared to how Matt Smith’s doc treats Amy, both want to fuck their doctor.

          • “Entire ecosystems are dying. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money, and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you.”

  87. Morning Pan
    I think I’ll go in and get my hair trimmed later today. Hubby simply attacks his head with clippers. I threatened to do the same to my hair. This was one of the rare times he he gave me his opinion on my hair. It was a resounding no.

  88. Jacks burried comment from earlier

    “Entire ecosystems are dying. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money, and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you.”
    16 year old Greta Thunberg – in front of the UN special meeting on Monday

    • Trump’s response –
      “We respect the curouge it took for this young adult to speak in front of such a group and her interest in world affairs. However, we respectfully disagree with her assessments and hope that she will look further into this situation.”

    • Yep. This needs to happen. Sadly, his fans are going to ramp up from dangerous whiny bitches to actively dngerous screaming and rampaging bitches. It’s kinda fucking terrifying, but we as a society need to call out evil, especially when it sits on our thrones.

  89. morning Pan
    Yesterday was a strange weather day. We had sun, then rain, then sun again, then hail, then sun
    Today it’s a little chilly. They are saying to expect snow by the weekend.

  90. There. 2.5 washrooms cleaned. Bed stripped and remade, 1st of three loads of laundry in the wash. And I even got some work done.
    Not bad for 7:30 am 🙂

  91. Welp. I love a few of Dan Simmons’s books, so I rode out my Facebook connection to him, in spite of his right wing dogma spews – – until today.

    Talk shit about the “cash me ousside how bow dah” girl (within reason). Don’t talk shit at kids who see a wrong and speak up seriously about it. Disagree with them, sure. . . . Don’t belittle them.

  92. I called my ISP yesterday to inform them that even though I was paying for 100 MB Internet speed, for the last year I have rarely gotten above 20 MB and even then it’s only been to 30mb. From their end, they couldn’t see anything was wrong and then … my phone call got cut off.
    Oddly enough I immediately had 110 MB of service. As of this morning it’s vacillating between 20 and 50.

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