If folks here are interested in helping to test the soft Am I Evil? GN backer launch, then please let me know. This page is far enough into the woods that I can probably safely post links right here in the comments.
If you’re a regular here, then you don’t need to have been in on the crowdfunder to help beta test the launch.
Of course I’ll help. I assumed that was a given.
Thank you! Not surprising, but absolutely appreciated 🙂
RIP Rico Browning, aka the Creature from the Black Lagoon. He was the last of the classic Universal Monsters actors.
I’m tired of snow
I don’t know what changed, but I can finally get to the site normally! 😀
I’m not tired of snow but I am tired of dampness, hopefully spring will start drying the ground out.
Agreed. Florida is nice because (with the solar heat that I finally got installed on my pool) we have been able to swim in February. On the other hand, I fight a constant battle with mold in my house and every time I get off a plane from anywhere else, I can immediately feel the intense moisture in the air on my hands like I’m some clammy handed jackass (and that’s in the climate controlled airport).
Bloody hell Bob Odenkirk has a one man show tour that is coming to a local theatre in April.
Well the first episode of S3 of The Mandalorian watched.
It certainly gave my sub woofer a workout.
After Andor it feels a bit of an anti-climax, still fun though.
I’ve already seen some strong reactions. Won’t see this one until next week, so I imagine its secrets will have been spoiled by then.
T Cat likes to call TLoU the “Yeast & Mold” show. 😀
I’d say the case for a hot dog being a sandwich is stronger.
I’m in the cereal = soup camp.
Isn’t a hot dog a pita?
If your tea bag breaks, does your tea become soup?
Is your hot chocolate soup until you’ve properly stirred it? Is it soup if you add marshmallows?
Is ice cream soup?
Well it’s an emulsion, so more like butter than soup.
But Rocky Road or Chocolate Chip cookie Dough?
I’m assuming that the cereal is soup argument is based primarily off of gazpacho being soup. As gazpacho is neither cooked nor served at a hot temperature, it gives free reign to call anything in a bowl in liquid format a soup. Thus, ice cream is just a liquid at even lower temperatures in a bowl and, therefore, soup. Being, at some point or other, “cooked” before being frozen, it might even have a better claim to being soup than gazpacho.
All told, I wonder it wouldn’t be easier to just claim that gazpacho isn’t soup than to dicker over what else constitutes soup?
Disclaimer: After spending a year in Spain as an exchange student, I love gazpacho. It is awesome and delicious.
Off to the city this morning, while the husband takes kitty in to the vet to get her arthritis shot. Kitty loves getting needles
Am I Evil? email away!
I’m glad you tell us here. I always have to search for the email as it never seems to come to my in box.
:-/ Was it in your spam folder?
I’ve also posted to FB, but I’m bad at the FB and its algorithms.
I still haven’t gone back to FB. I’m mad that I’ll lose some of my status
No, it seems to go straight into my trash folder and ignores the inbox or spam folder entirely
I don’t have it in either folder.
My bad. It was in my Inbox. I just didn’t see it in the deluge of email I’ve been getting.
So Carry on Screaming was released the year I was born.
I’m rather happy about that useless bit of information.
The husband and I are gonna play some Caverna on line with a friend in BC today. I love modern technology . . . sometimes
Crap joke for the day:
A woman meets a man in a bar.
They talk; they connect; they end up leaving together..
They get back to his place, and as he shows her around his apartment.
she notices that one wall of his bedroom is completely filled with soft,
sweet, cuddly teddy bears.
There are three shelves in the bedroom, with hundreds and hundreds of cute,
cuddly teddy bears carefully placed in rows, covering the entire wall!
It was obvious that he had taken quite some time to lovingly arrange them
and she was immediately touched by the amount of thought he had put into
organizing the display.
There were small bears all along the bottom shelf.
Medium-sized bears covering the length of the middle shelf.
And huge, enormous bears running all the way along the top shelf.
She found it strange for an obviously masculine guy to have such a large collection of Teddy Bears,
She is quite impressed by his sensitive side.
But doesn’t mention this to him.
They share a bottle of wine and continue talking and,
After awhile, she finds herself thinking,
‘Oh my God! Maybe, this guy could be the one!
Maybe he could be the future father of my children?’
She turns to him and kisses him lightly on the lips.
He responds warmly.
They continue to kiss, the passion builds.
And he romantically lifts her in his arms and carries her into his bedroom.
Where they rip off each other’s clothes and make hot, steamy love.
She is so overwhelmed that she responds with more passion,
More creativity, more heat than she has ever known.
After an intense, explosive night of raw passion with this sensitive guy, they are lying there together in the afterglow.
The woman rolls over, gently strokes his chest and asks coyly,
‘Well, how was it?’
The guy gently smiles at her, strokes her cheek, looks deeply into her eyes,
And says: ‘Help yourself to any prize from the middle shelf.’
Hey Nomad Scry, I hope you and yours are safe and warm. Egads.
This is only our second winter in northern Vermont. Last winter we had snow almost everyday but only about a foot of accumulation overall. This winter we actually had the Christmas snow melt off entirely, but it’s gotta be 2 ft in the yard and over 5ft where the roof snow slides off.
So of course I’ve seen Hellraiser movies (the first 3, at least), but I’d never ready any Clive Barker. The Hellbound Heart – – the novella upon which the movie was based – – is actually damned good. Good storytelling, but excellent writing style. And different enough from the original movie that it isn’t repetitive to get through. It’s also been a long time since I’ve seen any of them.
Maybe when I’m done I’ll suffer through Hulu ads and watch the Hellraiser reboot.
Snow!
Snow!
The news said this winter has been the sixth snowiest on record.
The only Barker I’ve read was Imajica. I remember that it was a lot more sexual and a lot more fantastic than I was expecting.
He isn’t shy about sex-related stuff in Hellbound Heart either, but it’s never a distraction. The main point is what you know from the movies: the puzzle box, the cenobites, the human guy who escaped them and is trying to rebuild his body on earth.
I prefer to follow authors over genres – – I’m definitely willing to try out more Clive Barker. I’ve added Imajica, The Thief of Always, Weaveworld, and The Great and Secret Show to my reading list.
Things are not always what the headlines mmake them seem.
It’s got to do with “Rec Leagues” who tangle with what are in essence semi-pro teams. Even at the grade school level. In fact it is even worse at that age level.
I tangled with that when my kids played T-ball/Softball.
To try and make things even and build up the sport, Rec leagues will often try to enforce rules that distribute experience across all the teams. Certain coaches however will find ways to cherry pick the best most experienced players and keep them together Year after year.
That was the case of the team in the article. They formed outside the Rec league and had played together for several years. They were told that due to not having enough gyms, only city Rec league teams could use the City gyms and there WAS a rule already in place that said if they wished to join the rec league as an already formed and very experienced team, they could but would have to play “up” to keep things competitive. As there was no Girls team there next level up, they were allowed to play in the boys league. Also, they could sit the tournament out or play but they would not be eligible for the trophy. Again, not because they were girls but because they were in essence, an All-Star team.
They were told all this and they agreed to it before they joined.
So… not so much the victims here.
Happy Birthday to Lo Pan, welcome to the long in the tooth crowd.
Happy birthday Lo!
Do eternal ancient gods have birthdays?
Hope you are awash in all the green eyes you desire.
A lot of the Eastern seaboard of the USA got much less snow this year:
Thank you, everyone. And thanks especially to Ryah, who put me in touch with the cover artist and the first interior artist – – who eventually put me in touch with Kyle, who completed the art interiors.
Chess.com changes their AI bots every month. Mittens, in January, seemed to be one of the more interesting.
This month it’s all famous women in history such as Jane Goodall, Amelia Airheart, etc.
(The husband plays regularly, that’s how I know this)
The Big Lebowski was released 25 years ago today in the US:
I do hope everyone enjoys the Am I Evil? book. It was a lot harder to complete than I’d ever anticipated, but I’m pleased with the final outcome.
I’m not sure how to promote it, because I don’t currently have a Point of Sale plan, or a way to get it onto comic shop shelves. So I don’t want to do a media blitz and drum up interest, only to have to tell people, “Yeah, thanks, I can’t get you a copy.”
Once you have a plan to get it on sale, whether through Ingram or other form, then you’ll have to think about how to promote it. Besides the usual social media blitz, because of it’s ties to the rock world, I would suggest a press release to various rock media (i.e. Rolling Stone, Hall of Fame, some of the better known radios stations, (MTV?) etc.) I would also approach various R & R podcasters to try to get interviews.
Again, all this would need to wait until you have a marketable version, both print and e versions.
Also, for local only, talk to your comic store. I know one or two in Calgary that do consignment based sales so they might be willing to take a few on that basis.
Also, see if Diamond Head themselves are willing to promote it on their social media sites and possibly in interviews.
Finally!
The graphic novel is good. I quite enjoyed it.
Ok, not finally
Because it’s not available for purchase, promoting it is not really something you can do. I know, for something like the Aurora Awards, it wouldn’t be eligible until it was available to the wider public. (Yes, I checked).
Ok, I’m really done now.
This is why one of the main characters is named Reah 🙂
The Auroras hadn’t occurred to me, but I guess we would be eligible with a Canadian artist?
I wonder what the Russians are using for their missile silos
Okay I’ve seen some reviews of this weeks Mandalorian was visually too dark, didn’t have a problem myself, but I was sitting in a half lit room when watching.
The lighting was fine for us. However, the show is a bit of a hot mess this season
I’ve liked both episodes so far. I get that the first was rather silly. Seems to me that they are still trying to build the narrative. My only real critique would be the episodes really need to run a full hour because this season feels like watching a 3-hour movie in 20 min intervals.
Looks like you are getting your wish, well for episode 3 at least:
Ming the Merciless finally got Dr. Zarkov! Noooooooooooo!
When the story was that R.L. Stine revised his books to be more aligned with the current zeitgeist it was (IMHO) a non story. He has every right and it was likely a good call on his part. However, the new story seems to be that Scholastic made the changes without even letting him know about them. That is an issue. I understand he probably signed away certain rights to his works with the publisher, but to not let the author know when you are making alterations is pretty crappy.
The larger issue: If any artist wants to Lucas-revise their work, then they should always feel empowered to do so. But – – artists need to use the Lucas case as a warning of how your “improvements” can go too far and detract rather than improve.
Yes, I’d worry about the sensitivity-revisions going too far, but I also think that no kids’ book publisher should push materials that are going to make kids feel bad about themselves.
This particular story: Fucked up. Whatever the contract, get the creator’s input – – or at least notify them – – if you want to update their works.
The husband and I are both in the city this afternoon
We got the Everything Everywhere All At Once DVD from the library and chose that over Mandalorian ep2 tonight.
This movie is way more bonkers than I expected. Great stuff. It lives up to the hype.
You have chosen wisely.
At least in THIS demension you have.
I did struggle to push play on the DVD player with my big, floppy fingers.
• Worrying you’ve accidentally packed 3 kilos of cocaine and a dead goat as you stroll through “Nothing to declare”
• Being unable to stand and leave without first saying “right”
• Not hearing someone for the third time, so just laughing and hoping for the best
• Saying “anywhere here’s fine” when the taxi’s directly outside your front door
• Being sure to start touching your bag 15 minutes before your station, so the person in the aisle seat is fully prepared for your exit
• Repeatedly pressing the door button on the train before it’s illuminated, to assure your fellow commuters you have the situation in hand
• Having someone sit next to you on the train, meaning you’ll have to eat your crisps at home
• The huge sense of relief after your perfectly valid train ticket is accepted by the inspector
• The horror of someone you only half know saying: “Oh I’m getting that train too”
• “Sorry, is anyone sitting here?” – Translation: Unless this is a person who looks remarkably like a bag, I suggest you move it
• Loudly tapping your fingers at the cashpoint, to assure the queue that you’ve asked for money and the wait is out of your hands
• Looking away so violently as someone nearby enters their PIN that you accidentally dislocate your neck
• Waiting for permission to leave after paying for something with the exact change
• Saying hello to a friend in the supermarket, then creeping around like a burglar to avoid seeing them again
• Watching with quiet sorrow as you receive a different haircut to the one you requested
• Being unable to pay for something with the exact change without saying “I think that’s right”
• Overtaking someone on foot and having to keep up the uncomfortably fast pace until safely over the horizon
• Being unable to turn and walk in the opposite direction without first taking out your phone and frowning at it
• Deeming it necessary to do a little jog over zebra crossings, while throwing in an apologetic mini wave
• Punishing people who don’t say thank you by saying “you’re welcome” as quietly as possible
• The overwhelming sorrow of finding a cup of tea you forgot about
• Turning down a cup of tea for no reason and instantly knowing you’ve made a terrible, terrible mistake
• Suddenly remembering your tea and necking it like a massive, lukewarm shot
• Realising you’ve got about fifty grand’s worth of plastic bags under your kitchen sink
• “You’ll have to excuse the mess” – Translation: I’ve spent seven hours tidying in preparation for your visit
• Indicating that you want the last roast potato by trying to force everyone else to take it
• “I’m off to bed” – Translation: “I’m off to stare at my phone in another part of the house”
• Mishearing somebody’s name on the second time of asking, meaning you must now avoid them forever
• Leaving it too late to correct someone, meaning you must live with your new name forever
• Running out of ways to say thanks when a succession of doors are held for you, having already deployed ‘cheers’, ‘ta’ and ‘nice one’
• Changing from ‘kind regards’ to just ‘regards’, to indicate that you’re rapidly reaching the end of your tether
• Staring at your phone in silent horror until the unknown number stops ringing
• Hearing a recording of your own voice and deciding it’s perhaps best never to speak again
• The relief when someone doesn’t answer their phone within three rings and you can hang up
• Filming an entire fireworks display on your phone, knowing full well you’ll never, ever watch it again
I must be at least partially British.
(By lineage, I am).
Same.
That’s goodbye for me.
I was supposed to get a shingles vaccine yesterday but doctor’s office was out and didn’t call me to reschedule. It’s a good thing I was in the city anyway with the husband or I would have been rather upset.
Only for 70-79 years old over here.
Really? I just got my first one at my checkup in December as my doc indicated it was recommended now that I’m 50. Getting my second in a couple more months.
Apparently, I will be a resident of Taylor Swift as well. *cough*
CW: The Mandalorian S3E2
Just doing a test by rewatching the episode on my old 4K tv that doesn’t have HDR. Apart from the colours being less vivid it still looks very pretty, you really don’t miss much watching it in SDR.
Oh and I’m watching it via Roku streaming stick+ which is still getting updates years after Panasonic stopped releasing firmware updates for the TV.
I had a coworker at the vaccine place who talked about her experience as an adult with Shingles.
So – – this is a good reminder.
My father in law had shingles and it broke him. I’m not quite old enough to get the vaccine yet but I’m getting it as soon as I can.
Watched the Edward Norton Incredible Hulk
1) it’s better than I remembered
2) it ties into She Hulk more tan I would have though5 had I not watched it
3). The end sequence makes it more cannon then I remembered
They finally came to take him away. RIP, Napoleon XIV:
So dug out my old chromecast, the first one that google released. Still works but boy does it get toasty after a few minutes of use, I could warm my hands on the dongle.
I’ve only just begun to investigate short fiction markets again.
I was horrified to see how many mags now actually charge authors to submit now. I can see some of the ways they justify it – – but – – no.
Oscar Isaac
Oscar the Grouch
Oscar Meyer
Oscar De La Hoya
Oscar Wilde
These are the Oscars.
(We no longer mention Oscar Pistorius, who may be paroled next month.)
Felix Unger: “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar. . .”
Sadly, I have never educated myself on the Odd Couple. It’s available on a Pluto, so maybe I’ll give a go this evening.
I wouldn’t recommend a straight watch through. Season 1 was a little different and (IMHO) not as good. It’s not like it had any great story arcs or anything and the plot of the show is simply explained in the opening credits.
This was one of my absolute favorites in late-night reruns, but thinking back, it really can’t have aged well.
IIRC, a bunch of season 1 episodes were just recreations of parts of the movie.
And IIRC, at some point, it became just a silly excuse to have early 70s celebrity guest stars.
So recently been playing a lot of Last of Us part 2.
The shock was spoilt before the game released but bloody hell I’m enjoying the Abby segments. Making me look forward to S2 of the tv series.
I just hope they don’t copout and actually find an actress who is jacked so to speak.
So you got over your initial objection? I remember you were so mad about a particular plot point that you swore you’d never play the game.
I’m glad you are playing it. It is an incredible game. And the end is as impactful as the first part. I really hope there will be a part 3 that wraps things up.
Yeah, it was on offer on the PSN store and I thought I should really give it a try. Glad I did.
That bit I objected to was still shocking, but story was more nuanced than I was expecting.
The season finale of The Last of Us tv series seemed to go by in the flash.
T Cat loved it. We had a great conversation about the ending.
Yeah, John and I had a discussion on whether who was right or wrong at the end.
There were a couple of good episodes this season, but I definitely thought the finale was the most interesting.
The cat is having trouble getting the hang of this whole time change thing. Her feeding schedule is quite off according to her.
For my taste in fantasy novels, this is one of the best lists I’ve seen.
Going by that rule, I got 49. There were a few on there that I’d started and never finished.
I read sixty. Considering some of them were series (i.e. Dragon Riders books), it counts as more than that in actual numbers.
58, although a bit more if you count individual books in a series.
83, if you I only count the whole series if I read 1 or more books. I didn’t count series that I own but haven’t read yet.
And, yes, I think it is a pretty good list.
I only managed 50 on that list. Several I’ve got on my “to read” and quite a few that I just have no interest in.
And, of course, many things I’ve read that didn’t make that list, though any list like this has to be finite.
54. I’m more of a science fiction reader. Speaking of which, there were an awful lot of what I would consider hard core SF books on that list of Fantasy novels.
I noticed that I’d only read the first novel for a significant percentage of the seriesiesies…ies. I got 82 with another 72 that I want/intend to read.
Crap joke for the day:
A man called home to his wife and said, “Honey I have been asked to go fishing up in Canada with my boss & several of his Friends. We’ll be gone for a week. This is a good opportunity for me to get that Promotion I’ve been wanting, so could you please pack enough Clothes for a week and set out my rod and fishing box, we’re leaving from the office & I will swing by the house to pick my things up” “Oh! Please pack my new blue silk pajamas.”
The wife thinks this sounds a bit fishy but being the good wife she is, did exactly what her husband asked. The following Weekend he came home a little tired but
otherwise looking good. The wife welcomed him home and asked if he caught many fish? He said, “Yes! Lots of Salmon, some Bluegill, and a few Swordfish. But why didn’t you pack my new blue silk pajamas like I asked you to Do?”
The wife replied, “I did. They’re in your fishing box!”
I am trying to do too many things all at once.
I watched the first 3 available episodes of the Odd Couple. To turn a phrase, it’s odd. There’s no real intro to the characters or even to the show. It just… Starts.
Felix. In the 2000s, he’d have been flaming. Now, they’d do something clever with intentionally crossing stereotypes. But here, he is just a divorcee who likes home ec and tidiness. It’s kinda refreshing.
Wasn’t this a movie before it was on TV?
Or was it a Broadway show?
Seems like the TV show was a spin-off .
I suddenly remembered I had the internet.
“ The series is based on the 1965 play The Odd Couple written by Neil Simon, which was also adapted into the 1968 film The Odd Couple.”
I’d recommend the Matthau/Lemmon Odd Couple movie as the place to start.
Speaking of flashbacks…
Last night I caught an episode of the X-Files.
Probably haven’t seen any of this in over a decade. Still excellent in its ability to set a mood.
This particular episode “Drive” is the one that featured a Bryan Cranston and was written by Vince Gilligan. Years later when he was casting for Breaking Bad he remembered Cranston in that role and was so impressed with him that he stuck to his guns about hiring him even that the network was firmly against putting a “goofy, comedic actor” in the role of a chemistry teacher gone wrong.
Queensryche last night!
Unrelated, I think my Dell is well and truly done now. Thankfully, I (think) I got everything essential backed up, and I am on a new laptop.
Still a drag. And if I can help it, the end of my relationship with Dell.
What is the make and model of the new laptop?
Watching the latest episode of The Mandalorian and I would love to know if Doctor Pershing’s spectacles are available in the real world.
I think Christopher Nolan is dreaming (see what I did there?).
Maybe the studios never used that term before his movies?
Reading the article, I don’t think that Nolan is claiming that he invented the “reboot”, just that the concept of “reboot” wasn’t firmly established when he created his Batman series. To paraphrase “I had to find my own way to reimagine Batman, as it wasn’t common practice at the time.”
He may not be claiming to “invent” it, but his language is pretty clear: “there was no such thing conceptually as a ‘reboot.’ That idea didn’t exist when I came to look at Batman. That’s new terminology.”
Even if it wasn’t a common term, the “concept” of remaking a film series was well established by 2005. Examples include Godzilla (1985) and Planet of the Apes (2001). I will give him that the majority of films considered a reboot of a film series (not even tackling reboots of TV series as existing terminology) are after 2005. So it may not have been common. I still think he was overstating the situation at the time.
Disclaimer: I really like Nolan as a director and he has made some absolutely groundbreaking movies that really have been game changers (such as Memento). It’s only in this case that I don’t agree with him.
I’m only one episode in, but I didn’t think it was that bad.
Van Damme, I haven’t watched anything Willow since the 80s.
Dame Edna, me neither.
Today’s episode of The Mandalorian was the best of the season so far. But it was the story line without The Mandolorian that was the best of the episode
It certainly gave an interesting take on a post-war New Republic
It felt like it belonged in Andor rather than Mando.
They are expecting another stupid hot summer this year so we got a quote to have AC installed in the house.
The hoops you need to go through when you live in a townhouse. Hopefully we’ll get board approval soon.
There’s a Gizmodo article about it that was fascinating, but I’m not posting the link. While the article title preserves the spoiler….the frickin’ link itself has as part of the link text. You had one job!
Anyway, there’s all kinds of reason I shouldn’t be enjoying this season of Picard, especially after the first two seasons, but I can’t help but enjoy it anyway and it’s clear that’s thanks to Terry Matalas.
Off to the city this morning
The husband is expecting an Amazon delivery today. Now, every ten minutes I get “is it here yet?”
Does anyone want a slightly used husband?
Can’t he login and track the parcel?
Of course he can. He’s just being a brat
My Dad was very left wing, in his youth he joined the communist party, yet he loved John Wayne movies, especially this one:
Happy St. Paddy’s Day, to whomever will be celebrating. Just remember it was the New York Irish who ate corned beef and cabbage, because it was a cheap meat option for its time. Actual Irish will know you’re a tourist if you order it there.
(So I’m told.)
One of the priests at my wife’s church (back when she cared about such things) was from Ireland and he said much the same thing. I’m Irish, but from Northern (Protestant/Orange) Ireland, so my family didn’t really care one way of the other for St. Patrick’s Day.
My ancestors were those New York Irish! They came here just over 100 years ago.
And click the link to the “over 40” article at the bottom.
I had to google AARP.
I joined AARP because the annual savings on Audible was more than the cost to join. Little did I know that joining AARP isn’t a means of getting wonderful discounts, but rather a way of putting yourself on a monumentally large set of mailing lists, resulting in a shitstorm of junk mail, the likes of which I have never before beheld.
It’s pretty great, is what it is!
T-Pain covering War Pigs.
It’s locks chopping day
So, I’m reading a Wolverine Origins book. I’m having a lot of trouble getting my head around how evil these CANADIAN scientists and soldiers are.
I bet they take the last Timmy’s donut from the box and don’t even eat it.
Speaking of evil Canadians, I need to get my passport updated. Did we decide on a date range to be pursued by the royal mounties?
I thought we decided the first weekend of September, the long weekend
Me as well, booked time off from work on that weekend.
Labor Day!
*Labor Day, bub. (Tying it back to evil Canadians and Wolverine)
Evil Canadians who also seem to use Imperial measurements instead of the metric system. You can tell this book was written by an American who didn’t do his research
My initial thoughts are to fly out Thursday night and leave the following Tuesday. Is that the majority plan?
Let me know what everybody’s doing then we can decide on an itinerary
We’re leaning toward something similar, though maybe a Monday evening flight to come home.
Then again, this will be Mrs. from Texas first trip with us as empty nesters, so we may stay a couple extra days to explore on our own after the festivities.
I predict we’ll be travel on Thu and Mon, but let me confirm that.
CP: I Want To Take You Higher — Sly & The Family Stone
I’ve never looked into it, but I’m curious about how the Penn brothers all became stars. Was it all piggybacking on Sean’s success? Some kinda industry nepotism? Talent and good luck?
Whatever it was, Michael Penn ended up with a handful of great acousticky songs. No Myth, of course, but also Long Way Down and Walter Reed. Macy Day Parade is aight. (any others?)
Misleading headline:
“Writers Guild of America Considers Letting AI Write Hollywood Scripts”
The article actually says that the WGA wants to ensure that no software company or AI gets to claim authorship on a script. That’s a good decision on their part, because the use of AI in scriptwriting/editing/refining is inevitable. Like it or not (I’m in the “not” camp, but future generations won’t care).
Interesting. Yeah, AI is going to open up a whole pandora’s box of issues, some good, some bad. I was talking to my daughter about writing boring college essays. The possibility exists to say, have ChatGPT create an outline for any subject, then suggest subtopics for each outline heading. One could have it do the hard skeleton of a paper and then you could fill in the blanks. Sort of a hybrid method. I don’t really think of this as “cheating” as the college student is using a technology they will have access to in their future job. On the other hand, what cognitive skills are lost when we let machines do the heavy lifting?
Absolutely. If we start letting our kids use calculators in school they will never learn to do math in their heads the way they need to. Oh, sorry, a few technologies behind on that one.
Ah yes, the old quip saying you won’t always have a calculator to hand…
Pretty sure my iPhone just sniggered.
I used to know how to get everywhere. If I went once, it was burned into my brain.
Now, I am completely dependent on online maps to get anywhere.
I signed up and already forgot about it. I may never, ever use it.
This is the dumbest Star Wars. The characters’ actions are inconsistent and incomprehensibly stupid. It’s insulting.
I will say this: Kudos to them for the actor cameo.
Till they grow back, I no longer look like a bald Brezhnev.
Surrendered to the inevitable and ordered a 2TB SSD for my PS5, was getting tired of the shuffle of deleting games so I could install other games.
ikr?
I was looking for a bigger one. Considering the size of recent games, I expect 2TB won’t be enough.
Looks like $370 for a 4TB. I haven’t purchased a P5 yet, but I’m wondering if it would be better to get the diskless one for $100 less and put that toward a 4TB SSD. I’ve waited this long, I’ll probably wait for the refresh.
Some requirements from Sony:
SuperSpeed USB 5 Gbps or later. 250 GB minimum, 8 TB maximum capacity.
Not all devices are guaranteed to work with the PS5 console.
You can’t connect the drive through a USB hub.
Two or more USB extended storage drives can’t be connected at the same time. You can connect multiple USB drives to your console, but you can use only one at a time.
There’s apparently a “pivotal” post-credits scene at the end of John Wick 4. I don’t know when we’ll see this one.
Saw They Might Be Giants in Nashville last night.
Brilliantly entertaining show. I forget how clever/funny they are. The banter in between the songs is as entertaining as the music itself.
I haven’t read the Wired article, which is apparently Brandon Sanderson profile that turned savage. I’ve never read any Brandon Sanderson – – in fact, I’ve heard some unpleasant things about him – – but his response here is beautifully-written and incredibly classy.
OK, I don’t think it was as vicious as anyone’s saying, but I can where Sanderson himself might not be pleased. I also didn’t find his portrayal of the family unflattering. . . and is he wrong for noting that a large percentage of attendees at a Fantasy Convention are pasty dudes with body odor? I mean?
Did he cross a line? Probably, but it’s not as egregious as the general reactions. Kudos still to Sanderson for his classy response.
I have two thoughts. I wouldn’t able to be as sanguine as Sanderson, not after sharing my home and family with the writer.
And the writer, despite protesting he likes fantasy, doesn’t seem to understand that the words are ONLY in service of the story.
Those were the days my friends, we thought the would never end…
Only scary thing was removing the white plastic panel from the bottom of the PS5. It looks easy in the YouTube videos, mine needed a bit more force to shift. Still all done now…phew!
There’s some kinda irony in an AI creating these. Incredible detail, though.
Yes, although, to be fair from reading the comments, it’s not just a matter of typing in “Give me Star Trek the Next Generation with Indian actors”. Sounds like there is a good be of training involved to get a useful result.
I’ve today learned that we live far enough in the future that there are action cameras that can automatically remove the sticks they are mounted on in a video scene they are recording.
At first I thought the guy had someone flying a drone in front of him, but the movements were to tightly bound to the bike. Plus, you can see the shadow of the stick/camera on the ground from some angles. Finally had to ask him how this magic was created.
FFS, I’m tired of my life being so interesting.
My daughter is uninjured, but her car is damaged from being in a car accident. The important thing is that she’s uninjured.
But still.
Enough.
Update: thank god for Tiffany. She handled almost everything.
Daughter is still fine.
We’ll learn the fate of the car tomorrow.
Happy your daughter is fine. We’ve been lucky so far with the kids driving in an out of Tempe.
I must confess, my first reaction was trying to figure out which Canadian airport that was. Turns out it’s Toronto.
Don’t fly into Toronto on an upright bass.
Ticket booked to see John Wick 4.
Well that was fun.
We hope to catch it this weekend.
So The Last of Us has finally come to PC.
Think I will wait a while before buying.
Yeah. We don’t have a console so I never played it. Not sure when I’ll pick it up. Still deep into Midnight Suns, plus there is many other games on the wish list that cost a lot less thank $80 at the moment.
Obviously grammar eludes me today. I think you can still figure out what I’m saying.
Many people reporting crashes and not working well on the Steamdeck.
Don’t have a Steamdeck either so I’m ok.
Yeah, I don’t really have a need for portable gaming. If I ever play on the Switch, it’s connected to the tv. My current jam is Half-Life: Alyx in VR. Midnight Sons is on my radar. 🙂
Who said anything about need :-p
It’s time that the sound boards used at concerts have a blue tooth output of their main mix, allowing you to wear earphones/buds that make the horrible accoustics of the performance venue irrelevant.
… or is it?
I dunno, getting pretty close to why bother seeing them at all and just listen to the concert streamed.
I’m in. Rhett and I have both observed that the sound quality at the Marquee Theater in Tempe varies greatly, depending on where you’re standing.
Tis true.
Lovely all instrumental version of “The Seasons” aka “The Rain Song” aka Led Zeppelin’s most beautiful song. This was just released today! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n1Bxp-YfTs
I am SO in!
That looks like exactly my kind of weird .
Hey, by the way – – did everyone who pledged to the Am I Evil crowdfunder get their book? I’ve heard from 2 people that they didn’t know it was released.
Got mine. \m/!
I didn’t get mine through an official email. I just assumed it was because I got the “early edition” 😉
Got the link to the download.
It rocked!
Thank you, sir!
I did not. I see that it was supposed to come via an email link from IndieGoGo but I have updates #13, another #13, and #12.
I don’t know why we’ve had such challenges with IGG messages. . .
I’ll send you a direct email with the download link and password.
^^^ I sent the links out as an IndieGoGo backer update email.
The link and password were in one of the update #13 emails.
*headdesk*
Yup. It’s there. In the first #13. I assumed it was a duplicate and only read the second #13.
I’m sorry, Jack.
All good. No worries! I’m just glad you got it.
I got an email from Indiegogo with the link and password. I wonder if people not getting it have gotten tired of all of the other emails from Indiegogo and sent everything from them to spam?
BTW, also read it and greatly enjoyed it. Superb job on all ends!
Thanks so much! I’m really happy with Kyle’s art.
I tried not to overdo it with IGG updates, but yeah, I’m sure that happened in a few cases.
To be clear, I don’t think people would spam the updates. They likely actually want those. It’s the barrage of actual spam that Indiegogo (and all of the other crowd sourcing platforms) send you after you have sponsored someone. I’m not sure if spam filters are sophisticated enough to remove some Indiegogo emails and not all of them. I’m thinking some people might not get their update emails at all because they have blocked everything from Indiegogo.
I’m taking an intro to computer security class this term. I always imagined it was exciting, like a battle to keep the ne’er-do-wells out of the castle. So far it seems a lot more filling out TPMS reports and genuflecting to the hierarchy. Very disappointing.
As is my inability to spell “cowtow” or whatever that word is that isn’t genuflect.
I loved those Dragonlance books when I was a kid. I believe it was Tony Mast who said he’d hit them again recently. . . and that they were best left in the past. . .
The husband is sleeping in this morning. The cat has decided I am not
Today is Jon Astin’s birthday AND Bill Corbett, aka, the 2nd Crow from MST3K.
A gender-flipped Dead Ringers series starring Rachel Weisz in the role of the twins? Bizarre.
It’s fascinating that a group of people watched the original Cronenburg movie and thought that it needed to be remade and expanded. I can’t say I intend to watch, but it sure is an interesting choice.
I finished watching the Hellraiser reboot. Was curious about one thing, so I looked to IMDB for answers, and saw that almost all of the reviews trashed it. Whatever. I thought it was a cool rework of the mythology and characters.
The original Pinhead was one of horror’s absolute best boogymen, but I think the new one does him justice.
Teresa and I had low expectations for this one, but overall I thought it was done well. I like the reimagining of the Pinhead character.
We picked up some Rush Blonde Ale on the way home.
It’s slightly better than your mass produced beers but, meh, it’s a beer *shrug*
I just saw a Rush set of Pop figures at a convention and they wanted $210 for it. Crazy. Now there is a Rush beer that I also won’t get unless I go to Canada. It’s a bad week for me as a Rush fan.
CP: Raindrops keep falling’ on my Head – Burt Bacharach
I’m disappointed. Today I made the husband watch The Pirates of Penzance. However, I wanted to then watch the spoof The Pirate Movie but can’t seem to find it on our many streaming services 🙁
Found this when I went looking. Haven’t seen it in forever. I’ll be curious if it’s accessible to you:
Little one felt better all day, but she had a meltdown about us leaving tonight. Her temp was 99.5, which is low grade, but I still made the call to stay home. So no John Wick 4 for me.
We watched the first episode of Agent Elvis last night. It was glorious in its strangeness
Saw the the new Dungeon and Dragons at the cinema, enjoyed it, but made me realise there are large swathes of the cinema I can no long sit comfortably in, luckily my row was largely empty so I could stretch my legs out.
Sorry, Van. Our theaters here have pretty good handicapped seating.
I’m interested in seeing the D&D movie, but I’ll probably have to wait til it’s Streaming.
We’re aware of much more grave crimes and offenses. We’re aware of the the threat he poses to democracy and actual freedom. I think many of us are so eager to see him neutralized that we’re getting over-excited over charges that will amount to basically nothing. Or worse.
Playing devils advocate, the only thing that took Al Capone down was tax evasion, not his myriad of other crimes
True.
And it must stop somewhere.
This is a career ”white collar” criminal who has never been held accountable and that has emboldened him to actually, literally, lead attacks on our very Democracy.
If the rule of law doesn’t stand up to this challenge it will cease to exist… for the criminals.
Yes. This all must happen. In theory, no one is above the law. And hopefully it creates a pre-existing record that helps when (if??) he’s forced to face charges for his major crimes.
In the short term, we all expect him to skate on this, or at worst, get fined a few thousand dollars – – which in turn fires up the narrative that he’s some kind of “freedom fighter against the evil system.” IDK if you saw idiot MTG comparing him to Jesus and Nelson Mandela. . . He’s absolutely gained few new supporters from the lunatic fringe.
I did read a BBC article indicating that he can still run for President, even from a jail cell.
Ahhhh! This article raises more questions than it answers. What are the little things coming out of the pyramid shaped container? How does it actually achieve amplification without electricity or a giant horn?
This is going to take some time. The container obviously contained needles. But even other articles just have statements like “the sound is amplified by the diaphragm and resonator right at the point of contact”. Yes… but HOW???!!!
Some sources site systems that use compressed air but 1) that still requires a horn and 2) that would be far bigger than what is used in the Mikiphone: https://www.deckersons.com/blog/speaker-history
OK…… what was that crazy video from early in the last decade where the obviously European guy with the mustache goes upstairs to his girlfriend’s house, and he does a crazy dance, she does a crazy dance, then everyone in the street does the crazy dance? Super silly? It was viral for a short time.
Someone has to remember this!
I’m sad.
Turns out, the Am I Evil Insta follows lots of people I know, but doesn’t love me 🙁
(blatant poke)
I haven’t touched the AIE Insta in a long time. :-/
If you want to watch a silly possession film then check out The Pope’s Exorcist when it comes to streaming.
I’ve already said I will see it at the cinema and the new trailer just makes me want to see it more:
Hopefully a nice return to form after this awful Mandalorian season.
I am cautiously optimistic for Ahsoka. She’s one of my favorite characters in the SW universe and I’ve got a pretty strong attachment to the whole Rebels crew as well.
The fact that the Mon Mothma actress looks to be continuing her role in the the post ROTJ era actually gives more hope than anything.
I’m still a bit more on the positive side than negative for the latest Mandalorian season.
Our kuereg is starting to whine at us. While it still seems to be working, I’m wondering if it’s a prelude to replacement.
Since we only use it for hot water, we’re thinking of actually getting a kettle instead. Now to find something that is a quick one or two cup maker, since we don’t do the teapot thing.
I’ll get you info on our hot water heater. I use it daily, haven’t touched a kettle in years.
He was never my first choice for the role in a live action casting, but between his voice work in Rebels and the other things I’ve seen him in as an actor, I have a lot of confidence he’s going to be excellent.
It’s cool that we’re going to effectively get a version of Zahn’s story in the new canon. Maybe he’ll get to novelize it some day as well.
He was excellent on Sherlock. Benedict Cumberbatch was rumored for this role, but I assume he’s out of reach.
Famous (kind of). I’m catching up on the latest season of What We Do In The Shadows and they just mentioned Binghamton, NY. Also appropriate that they pronounced it wrong as that always seems to be the case. I grew up in the town just next door to that (Johnson City). I haven’t heard it mentioned (in fiction) anywhere since Carl Sagan’s book Contact had a line about the Johnson City Wildcats (high school basketball) having a “spirited game” with the Union Endicott Tigers.
I knew of Binghamton, NY because of the NJ Devils minor league affiliate there in the 90s.
I think we always pronounced it bing-um-tun. Was this wrong?
bing-um-tun is absolutely fine. It’s when people put an emphasis on the ham that it sounds weird to us. I never thought of it as a name that would be hard to pronounce until we had a shooting at the bing-um-ton university downtown campus and I heard all of the news people butchering the name.
Fantastic actor. He was so goddamn great in Barton Fink. RIP
Ok, after watching the latest Last Week with John Oliver, has anybody in the USA had a run in with your local HOA? They sound like a fucking nightmare.
The only run-in I had was when they tried to make me move my solar panels to the back of the house. They were soon beseeched by Solar City lawyers and AZ state law and discovered they couldn’t keep me from putting them where they were most effective.
I saw that that was the topic, and I decided not to watch. The main reason we moved last year was due to HOA insanity in that neighborhood.
We’ve already seen some shady stuff from the HOA in our new neighborhood.
The majority of this species should be launched into the sun.
I’ve generally found that HOA’s that are run by a management company tend to be harmless nuisances and also pretty good about keeping a neighborhood from turning to shit.
HOA’s that are run by retired busybodies in the neighborhood lusting for power are exactly the nightmares that folks think all HOA’s are.
My previous and current neighborhoods are both HOA governed and both used professional management companies to handle the details (approving permits for modifications and such). We seem to change management companies about every three to four years when the HOA goes out for new bids. The first one we had when I was here took a month to approve my pool install because it just sat on someone’s desk without being looked at. Other than that, I haven’t had any serious issues with mine.
I’ve heard and seen the good and bad of HOAs. Ours is about as benign and cheap as you can find. It’s one of the reasons why we’ve stayed at this house for so long.
They were almost unheard of in the fairly rural area where I grew up. When I moved to Florida 14 years ago, I instinctively avoided them like the plague. That is actually difficult to do in the Orlando area but I managed it and have been 14 years without an HOA and loving it.
And also RIP Al Jaffee of MAD Magazine. Dead at 102.
Everyone is remembering his great fold-ins, but as a kid, I was a big fan of Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions. Sarcasm at its finest.
OK. Caught up on S3 of Mando. I was texting with my son as I watched much of it last night. He actually likes this season so I held back many of my thoughts. But the moment they walked into the vividly colored scene in the latest episode I texted “I have learned that any time the colors go from the typical subdued and dingy to the bright and flashy I’m in for a world of suck”. I was not wrong.
Not only in sound but in attempting to really look and feel like a band from the 70s.
Disclaimer: I’m not knocking on either band for this approach. I absolutely love Greta Van Fleet.
The husband goes back to work today. Is it wrong that, after nearly three months, I’m kind of glad to have him away for a few hours?
The brief solitude will probably be lovely.
We all, at least occasionally, need our space
Replaying The Last of Us Part 2 to get all of the achievements. Made one mistake and due to the save system means I will need to play five hours of the game again.
Sigh.
From twitter:
Pedro Pascal on Joel’s fate in The Last of Us HBO Season 2:
“It wouldn’t make sense to follow the first game so faithfully only to stray severely from the path. So yeah that’s my honest answer.”
Duh.
S1 made it pretty clear that they will stay true to that. The podcast pretty much said the same.
Ugh. It’s not “the fandom.”
There are racist scumbag everywhere. We should all condemn the attacks on Boyega, Tran, Ingram, and every other actor of color.
But stop saying that “the Star Wars fandom” went after Jon Boyega, Kelly Marie-Tran, the actor from the Obi-Wan show, etc. Those cretins may like some things about Star Wars, but they do not represent “the fandom.”
I 100% agree. All the fans I know are appalled by these so-called fans.
I’ve been to a number of conventions and watched fan reactions. I can say first hand that “fandom” is behind Boyega, and “fandom” is behind Gina Carano. There is no such thing as “fandom is behind” it’s just what group happens to be yelling loudest nearest to the person in question.
I don’t often throw my credentials around. But, I started out my real trip into adulthood in undergraduate college. During those years I was a member of the east coast’s largest lending public lending library of science fiction (Stony Brook University’s Science Fiction Forum), a co-chair and art show coordinator of the east coast’s largest (at the time in the late 80s) convention of science fiction, fact, and fantasy (I-Con, long Island), and a host of 2 different radio shows centered around science fiction (Destinies, and Faster Than Light Radio). And I can say first, hand that I have seen and been close friends with (indeed, my friendship extends past political lines) ultra conservatives and ultra liberals and all, all, all, points in between, with every one of those people firmly entrenched in “fandom”. There is no such thing (and never was such a thing) as “fandom is doing x”. Like anything else in life, fandom is too big to encompass any one perspective. I see anyone claiming that “fandom is doing x” as just plain uninformed and downright reckless.
Confirming my middle-aged whiteness, I bought tix to see Sting in the fall. The cheap seats.
I saw him in Vegas last year and it was one of the best concerts ever.
He did a long, full show that did not include all of my favorites and STILL every song was a hit. It’s amazing how big his/The Police catalogue is.
Hold your middle aged whiteness high on this one. It’s worth it.
Has it even been long enough to think about a reboot on this? Has the original been so outdated that the latest batch of younglings need to have it tailored for them?
Never mind that it’s a tone-deaf cultural moment – – it’s absolutely too soon.
If you must go back there, then why not tell new Hogwarts stories?
Chess has always been popular here, long before Queen’s Gambit came out. There is always a tournament somewhere and the husband always has it on. He would play on some of the bbs’s before Chess.com was a big thing and then has been on chess.com for quite some time.
I’m pretty sure we have as many chess boards as we do guitars in this house. Although, both have more in storage than on display.
One of the reasons I’m glad he’s back at work is I was getting pretty tired of nothing but chess coverage all day.
I have an uncle who was a chess fanatic since he was but a wee lad, once beat one of the great masters (maybe Karpov?) at a publicity tournament where the master was playing against many many other players at the same time. I was never able to gain anything close to his love of chess (I 100% suck at chess), but grew up with it on my mind. It was also big for me when the Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus “Chess” album came out in the early 80s. And, because of that Chess album, I watched and enjoyed Searching for Bobby Fischer. So it I never thought it wasn’t popular. But I definitely haven’t heard much about chess from the younger generations that I tend to work with, so I can buy that it might have fallen from popularity. I’ve never ever ever claimed to be in the know of the current zeitgeist.
I feel like chess literacy is important. It’s a great way to train young minds to anticipate and think in theoretical and potentiality terms. The mechanics of the game are still truly brilliant and elegant. This is all good.
Chess has always been popular outside of North America. The husband’s school system has a high immigrant population and, when he would start a chess club, it was always full.
That being said, this year he had to turn kids more kids away than usual as the spots filled up quicker than in the past
Space Precint has been given an HD makeover, you can watch a free episode at:
CP: Music And Politics — The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
CP: Howzat – Sherbet
Just finished the Willow series. Fantastic! Great character growth, it caught me early on, and a fantastic climax that both ended well and set up a season 2 (something missing from many other popular series as of late). We need more like this.
It may have been cancelled so no S2.
Am I mistaken (as I so often am) in that a bunch of us watched Mike Nesmith – Elephant Parts at CJs house at some point? Someone at work mentioned that their dog’s name was Ramona and I had Mike Nesmith’s Cruizin’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi0b8tcCQSE) going through my head the rest of the night (not that I was complaining about it, fantastic song).
It sounds vaguely familiar, but not me I was off doing something else (seeing the Grand Canyon with Cynthia).
Although that might have been before I started coming to the meet-ups.
Yes we watched Elephant Parts. It was actually my dvd. CJ didn’t have a copy so asked me to bring mine. I also had the sequel, Television Parts but we didn’t het a chance to watch it
Love the concept, but I’m so old that I really don’t even recognize 80% of the people showing up in this movie.
Alright, I’m looking to go ahead and book our flights for September. I don’t know why, but flights from Houston to Calgary at that time aren’t outrageous on Delta so I’m going to lock-in before the algorithms wise up and hose me.
We’re looking at flying in on Thursday the 31th and back on Tuesday the 5th. I’m expecting we’ll get a car for ourselves as we’ll likely do a bit of touring on our own, especially since the fight back leaves at 6pm, so we’ll pretty much have the full Tuesday.
What’s everyone else’s traveling looking like?
I’m stuck waiting to see if my knee op goes ahead.
I was looking to fly in on the Thursday and head home on the Monday.
I’m in now, not sure when I’m leaving 😉
I figured, around late June, once everybody had their dates, we can start an email thread discussing an itinerary. Places I would suggest off the top of my head would be:
Zoo (obviously)
Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology (approx 90 minutes NE of here passing the Horseshoe Canyon on the way back)
Heritage Park
Studio Bell (the music museum)
Maybe Banff. I know Van liked it but it is very… touristy.
I’m assuming we would be looking at three full days (Fri, Sat, Sun) and a half day with (pizza) dinner at our place on the Saturday as is the norm.
Be warned, pretty much every place will require a lot of walking. Although Heritage Park does have the train you can take between stops.
If you want a straight up amusement park, there’s also Calaway Park.
If you’re looking at hotels, the Best Western in Airdrie is technically closer to us but the Days Inn is newer. As I said before though, Airdrie is small enough, you can book pretty much anywhere and still be about a ten to minute drive to my place.
Just google map my address and see what suits your wants as far as accommodation.
This is my worry if I don’t get the knee op, these days I’m very constrained on how far I can walk.
Yeah Van. You’ve been to most of the places I mentioned. As you know, walking is a thing as they are all quite sprawling.
We also need to see how this whole car thing shakes out. Currently, we only have 1 car in the house, because I’m letting the elder use mine to get to class and work.
I did wonder if you wanted to leave Canada for another year with the expense of a new car.
Hmm, so sounds like things for this year aren’t as much a done deal as I thought.
I certainly be game for a PHX gathering, especially if more of the crew is able to make the meetup. I haven’t been there since whenever we actually last had a meetup there and my wife has never been.
Unfortunately, travel wouldn’t be in the cards for me this year
It may come down to me traveling alone – – but I think we should stick to it.
If it’d help, we could do another poll to see the definite yeses and nos, plus the maybes.
Unfortunately, I discovered that the Metallica concert we bought tickets to takes place on Friday, Sept 1st. With this in mind, I will likely fly out Saturday and return Tuesday.
It took me a while when I started watching this trailer for the penny to drop that it’s the ship from Bram
Stoker’s Dracula novel.
Great concept for a horror movie.
Not a great trailer.
I hadn’t seen the Bourne movies since they were new releases at Blockbuster. I remembered almost nothing about them. The Bourne Identity (the first one) was good – – and its influence on John Wick is clear – – but The Bourne Supremacy (the sequel) is, IMHO, a much better movie.
They both hold up.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the third one, or anything beyond that.
Interestingly, Identity features a very young, pre-famous Clive Owen as his adversary.
Supremacy features a very young, pre-famous Karl Urban as his adversary.
The author John Scalzi has released some electronica tracks he created:
Just got BritBox as I realize that it’s been forever since I watched a good British Comedy. I loved: Monty Python, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Young Ones, Father Ted, Absolutely Fabulous, Red Dwarf, League Of Gentlemen, Bottom, The IT Crowd, Mighty Boosh, Spaced, Black Books. What are the newest british comedy series I should check out? Hold The Sunset is already first on my list.
Not much springs to mind, the latest big thing is Colin from Accounts, but that is Australian.
The original Ghosts is worth a watch if it’s on Britbox.
Outlaws (more drama) and Inside No.9 (black comedy).
Derry Girls and Peep Show.
Although old now, The Fast Show is a good laugh.
I will defer to Van. I thought I knew my British comedy, but you have way more shows under your belt than me.
I love the first 4 and Red Dwarf (and HHGttG, of course). Couldn’t get into Ab Fab and have never seen any of the rest.
The new comedy show that is big in the UK for now:
Aaaand, it’s not on BritBox. I’ll hold onto BritBox for one month and get through Hold the Sunset (latest from John Cleese). Everything else I look up isn’t on there. They really seem to be mostly a repository of old BBC shows. I’ve tried looking up people like Bill Bailey and Dylan Moran and it’s like Brit Box thinks they don’t even exist. Every show I have recommended just isn’t on there.
CW: One Hit Kill Sister E1
The over protective sister is rather icky.
Yeah, I gave this one a pass. “Oshi no Ko” on the other hand was an awesome 90 minute first episode. Definitely give this one a try. You won’t know what the series is about until you get to the end of the ep. 😀
I’ve been binge watching “The Imperfects”.
I seem to recall a mixed review here.
I find it entertaining. Definately the sense that there is a little bit of a struggle as to which demographic it is aimed at.
It could be smarter but it is also better than most.
We started watching this show too (I think we’re at episode 8). It’s “imperfect” but still rather entertaining
+25 for the pun
The husband and I were getting prescriptions filled at Safeway today. While perusing the aisles we were surprised to see they sold “personal massages”. Four different brands. One regular style, one rabbit style and two bullets
When has this become so mainstream?
…although, I admit, we were tempted to make a purchase (we didn’t)
I mean, they already sell cucumbers. . .
In some of the States it is illegal to sell those TO ANY ONE.
Laws
Passed by the people who say they are against “big Government”.
Go figure
Yeah, I wish they’d outlaw cucumbers here too 😉
Morning Pan
My Boo is getting her snow tires removed today. She also has some errands she wants to do so, like a good mom, I’ve agreed to be her chauffeur. Off to the city this morning
We’re down to one car so my elder little one can drive to class and school.
Almost down to zero after this morning’s close call. MFers think they own the gd roads.
Netflix has been streaming only on this side of the pond from the start.
There was a time when I would go back and forth to getting the DVDs and just streaming based on what strange and unique items I could only get through DVD. Can’t say as I’ve used their DVD portion for many years now though.
It’s been a really really long time since I got a Netflix DVD. I do still occasionally borrow DVDs from the library, though, for stuff that isn’t streaming anywhere.
So I did find at least one good thing on BritBox. 2009, so not exactly new… but Psychoville (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1305562/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_psychovill) is done by 2 of the 3 people from League of Gentlemen and has that same bizarre quality about it. Only one episode in, but really enjoying it so far.
It was rather foggy between home and the city today
Covid test is negative, but it sure feels like the thing. Blegh.
Watching a video where the narrator gets weight and mass mixed up.
Someone needs to be slapped HARD with a wet fish.
The husband’s working late tonight
If anyone missed this that last few times, it’s pretty interesting. This site sends you the Bram Stoker Dracula novel in sequential format. On each day that something occurs in the novel, you get an email with what occurred on that day. Really gives you a perspective on how long the plot of the book stretches out. The latest run starts up again on May 5.
Having beers with my NASA pal a few nights ago and he reminded me of todays launch and stated it would end in a fireball.
On the other hand, he did say they will ultimately be successful …if the owner of that venture doesn’t go full-on Howard Hughes.
I think Howard Hughes was more benign, even when yelling at his staff about tissue boxes.
That said, it does seem that this was an expected step on the journey.
If at first you don’t succeed…
It’s official. The Mandalorian has jumped the Mythosaur.
I’m glad to see that the S3 finale got some positive reactions. Pretty big meh from me, but that’s still an improvement over most of other episodes this season.
I enjoyed the finale but it’s been a very uneven season. The stand out was the Doctor Pershing episode even if it was aping Andor.
I was entertained by this season, but it is easily the weakest of the three. It felt like a lot of filler episodes waiting for the real narrative to finally kick in. I still like the characters though, I’m hoping they don’t keep dumbing down the stories.
Whoa!
CW: Romeo and Juliet
The DiCaprio one.
Anybody who thinks Paul Rudd does not age really needs to compare him in this and the latest Antman film.
Could be a risk associated with frequent trips to the Quantum Realm.
Wow, I forgot he was in that.
My all-time favorite Paul Rudd moment…. is a Dumbass Memory:
https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/paul-rudd-has-the-worst-date-story-of-all-time.html
I have no Paul Rudd comment. Can I still play?
It’s tough to paddle when you’re Rudd-erless.
It makes me sad they won’t be renewing Let the Right One In.
Yeah, I was enjoying that one.
Sad to learn of Tom Sizemore’s fate:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/27/entertainment/tom-sizemore-end-of-life-decision/index.html
If folks here are interested in helping to test the soft Am I Evil? GN backer launch, then please let me know. This page is far enough into the woods that I can probably safely post links right here in the comments.
If you’re a regular here, then you don’t need to have been in on the crowdfunder to help beta test the launch.
Of course I’ll help. I assumed that was a given.
Thank you! Not surprising, but absolutely appreciated 🙂
I’m in to help in any way I can.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/ricou-browning-the-gill-man-in-creature-from-the-black-lagoon-dies-at-93/ar-AA183wta
RIP Rico Browning, aka the Creature from the Black Lagoon. He was the last of the classic Universal Monsters actors.
I’m tired of snow
I don’t know what changed, but I can finally get to the site normally! 😀
I’m not tired of snow but I am tired of dampness, hopefully spring will start drying the ground out.
Agreed. Florida is nice because (with the solar heat that I finally got installed on my pool) we have been able to swim in February. On the other hand, I fight a constant battle with mold in my house and every time I get off a plane from anywhere else, I can immediately feel the intense moisture in the air on my hands like I’m some clammy handed jackass (and that’s in the climate controlled airport).
Bloody hell Bob Odenkirk has a one man show tour that is coming to a local theatre in April.
Well the first episode of S3 of The Mandalorian watched.
It certainly gave my sub woofer a workout.
After Andor it feels a bit of an anti-climax, still fun though.
I’ve already seen some strong reactions. Won’t see this one until next week, so I imagine its secrets will have been spoiled by then.
T Cat likes to call TLoU the “Yeast & Mold” show. 😀
I want to find a carousel that plays The Cure.
I would just love that cover. 😀
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/inside-david-bowie-s-final-years?utm_source=pocket-newtabInside&fbclid=IwAR3eFVNtwFE1Kgg37rIM0viDMCymj7xNPgIqSdF3wOzM1lyQ4aWZpXCIN1E
Seems like a fascinating look at 21st Century Bowie.
CP: Jump Jive An’ Wail — The Brian Setzer Orchestra
https://www.killerklownsthegame.com/
It looks good anyways. I wonder if it will actually deliver.
Okay, that sounds like V’Ger when the big nasty spaceship shows up.
CP: Headfuck Rollercoaster — Parasite Inc.
OMG, I wrote a review of this album in 2018. I even liked it, but I have zero recollection of it.
Somewhere between In Flames and Dark Tranquillity.
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/01/1159798950/psychologist-daniel-levitin-dissects-pink-floyds-dark-side-of-the-moon
Dark Side of the Moon is 50 years old today.
What a surprise, it’s snowing
Catchy:
https://youtu.be/pM8rDroaz-E
That’s some fancy pickin’!
An introduction to Chilean snacks:
https://t.co/ooS9aj6X5o
I’m surprised they left out the Rambo cartoon:
https://www.adampknave.com/2023/03/01/cartoon-thoughts/
I have no great opinion on Hook:
http://dlvr.it/SkFMTy
US Presidents with mullets:
https://www.upworthy.com/every-us-president-but-with-mullets
Go to Google and search for Grogu
Cute
So is breakfast cereal soup?
I’d say the case for a hot dog being a sandwich is stronger.
I’m in the cereal = soup camp.
Isn’t a hot dog a pita?
If your tea bag breaks, does your tea become soup?
Is your hot chocolate soup until you’ve properly stirred it? Is it soup if you add marshmallows?
Is ice cream soup?
Well it’s an emulsion, so more like butter than soup.
But Rocky Road or Chocolate Chip cookie Dough?
I’m assuming that the cereal is soup argument is based primarily off of gazpacho being soup. As gazpacho is neither cooked nor served at a hot temperature, it gives free reign to call anything in a bowl in liquid format a soup. Thus, ice cream is just a liquid at even lower temperatures in a bowl and, therefore, soup. Being, at some point or other, “cooked” before being frozen, it might even have a better claim to being soup than gazpacho.
All told, I wonder it wouldn’t be easier to just claim that gazpacho isn’t soup than to dicker over what else constitutes soup?
Disclaimer: After spending a year in Spain as an exchange student, I love gazpacho. It is awesome and delicious.
Off to the city this morning, while the husband takes kitty in to the vet to get her arthritis shot. Kitty loves getting needles
Am I Evil? email away!
I’m glad you tell us here. I always have to search for the email as it never seems to come to my in box.
:-/ Was it in your spam folder?
I’ve also posted to FB, but I’m bad at the FB and its algorithms.
I still haven’t gone back to FB. I’m mad that I’ll lose some of my status
No, it seems to go straight into my trash folder and ignores the inbox or spam folder entirely
I don’t have it in either folder.
My bad. It was in my Inbox. I just didn’t see it in the deluge of email I’ve been getting.
Received!
CP: River — Anonymouz
Flight simulators from 1979-2023:
https://youtu.be/cXQea59lorw
I had Flight Simulator for the Atari ST, the manual was thick enough to choke a whale.
I bought Flight Simulator 4.0 for my 486 PC. Finding a PC joystick back in the day was hard.
I remember them being slow and hard.
*snicker*
The snow is piled as high as the front porch and the next storm is due to start at 2am.
Ok, that first new Mandalorian episode was dumb as shit. Nothing anyone did made any goddamn sense.
I’m fully in for the season, but come on now.
I really hope this season isn’t just a series of fetch quests culminating in Mando taking a bath.
in still other writing news, I’ve posted my monthly MHOF column:
https://www.metalhalloffame.org/metal-legacy-the-ballad/
I’ll promote on Monday, but have a read, if you’re inclined.
Goodbye to Tom Sizemore:
https://variety.com/2023/film/news/tom-sizemore-taken-off-life-support-brain-aneurysm-1235538021/
So Carry on Screaming was released the year I was born.
I’m rather happy about that useless bit of information.
The husband and I are gonna play some Caverna on line with a friend in BC today. I love modern technology . . . sometimes
Crap joke for the day:
A woman meets a man in a bar.
They talk; they connect; they end up leaving together..
They get back to his place, and as he shows her around his apartment.
she notices that one wall of his bedroom is completely filled with soft,
sweet, cuddly teddy bears.
There are three shelves in the bedroom, with hundreds and hundreds of cute,
cuddly teddy bears carefully placed in rows, covering the entire wall!
It was obvious that he had taken quite some time to lovingly arrange them
and she was immediately touched by the amount of thought he had put into
organizing the display.
There were small bears all along the bottom shelf.
Medium-sized bears covering the length of the middle shelf.
And huge, enormous bears running all the way along the top shelf.
She found it strange for an obviously masculine guy to have such a large collection of Teddy Bears,
She is quite impressed by his sensitive side.
But doesn’t mention this to him.
They share a bottle of wine and continue talking and,
After awhile, she finds herself thinking,
‘Oh my God! Maybe, this guy could be the one!
Maybe he could be the future father of my children?’
She turns to him and kisses him lightly on the lips.
He responds warmly.
They continue to kiss, the passion builds.
And he romantically lifts her in his arms and carries her into his bedroom.
Where they rip off each other’s clothes and make hot, steamy love.
She is so overwhelmed that she responds with more passion,
More creativity, more heat than she has ever known.
After an intense, explosive night of raw passion with this sensitive guy, they are lying there together in the afterglow.
The woman rolls over, gently strokes his chest and asks coyly,
‘Well, how was it?’
The guy gently smiles at her, strokes her cheek, looks deeply into her eyes,
And says: ‘Help yourself to any prize from the middle shelf.’
Hey Nomad Scry, I hope you and yours are safe and warm. Egads.
This is only our second winter in northern Vermont. Last winter we had snow almost everyday but only about a foot of accumulation overall. This winter we actually had the Christmas snow melt off entirely, but it’s gotta be 2 ft in the yard and over 5ft where the roof snow slides off.
So of course I’ve seen Hellraiser movies (the first 3, at least), but I’d never ready any Clive Barker. The Hellbound Heart – – the novella upon which the movie was based – – is actually damned good. Good storytelling, but excellent writing style. And different enough from the original movie that it isn’t repetitive to get through. It’s also been a long time since I’ve seen any of them.
Maybe when I’m done I’ll suffer through Hulu ads and watch the Hellraiser reboot.
Snow!
Snow!
The news said this winter has been the sixth snowiest on record.
Nomad, you missed the opportunity to say Snap!
https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=snowblind+styx&fr=iphone&.tsrc=apple
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crDTz1skj9c
And inevitably…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6VCFrAqVpvg
The only Barker I’ve read was Imajica. I remember that it was a lot more sexual and a lot more fantastic than I was expecting.
He isn’t shy about sex-related stuff in Hellbound Heart either, but it’s never a distraction. The main point is what you know from the movies: the puzzle box, the cenobites, the human guy who escaped them and is trying to rebuild his body on earth.
I prefer to follow authors over genres – – I’m definitely willing to try out more Clive Barker. I’ve added Imajica, The Thief of Always, Weaveworld, and The Great and Secret Show to my reading list.
WTF:
https://t.co/We41cXCswV
Things are not always what the headlines mmake them seem.
It’s got to do with “Rec Leagues” who tangle with what are in essence semi-pro teams. Even at the grade school level. In fact it is even worse at that age level.
I tangled with that when my kids played T-ball/Softball.
To try and make things even and build up the sport, Rec leagues will often try to enforce rules that distribute experience across all the teams. Certain coaches however will find ways to cherry pick the best most experienced players and keep them together Year after year.
That was the case of the team in the article. They formed outside the Rec league and had played together for several years. They were told that due to not having enough gyms, only city Rec league teams could use the City gyms and there WAS a rule already in place that said if they wished to join the rec league as an already formed and very experienced team, they could but would have to play “up” to keep things competitive. As there was no Girls team there next level up, they were allowed to play in the boys league. Also, they could sit the tournament out or play but they would not be eligible for the trophy. Again, not because they were girls but because they were in essence, an All-Star team.
They were told all this and they agreed to it before they joined.
So… not so much the victims here.
Happy Birthday to Lo Pan, welcome to the long in the tooth crowd.
Happy birthday Lo!
Do eternal ancient gods have birthdays?
Hope you are awash in all the green eyes you desire.
A lot of the Eastern seaboard of the USA got much less snow this year:
https://t.co/oOa1S3wJcd
Happy birthday, Lo!
Happy Lo day!!!!
Lo happy Day!
Indeed!
Here is today’s useless trivia question.
What place in pop culture history do the words “heavy early“ come from .
Somehow I expect Ed to get this without the need of any hints.
Heavy Early> Does this have anything to do with flying turkeys?
Ha!
+ 50 for Jack!
CP: Welcome to Wrexham — Giouse Greco
No time to really read it, but this seems like a fascinating article:
https://slate.com/culture/2023/03/peak-tv-over-golden-age-hbo-streaming.html
Bookmarked
CP: Kill the Wabbit — Ozzy Fudd
Freebird on bagpipes:
https://youtu.be/27in81lrf6M
Occhh, this bird ye cannae change.
How very DickvandykeinMaryPoppins of you.
In this ‘ole wide world there’s no ‘appier bloke.
A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse.
The Am I Evil? Graphic Novel has gone public!
Thank you, everyone. And thanks especially to Ryah, who put me in touch with the cover artist and the first interior artist – – who eventually put me in touch with Kyle, who completed the art interiors.
W00t!
HaZaah !!!!
Yes I am!
How a chess bot drive players mad:
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/chess-bot-ai-mittens-site-down-b2267987.html
Ah Mittens
Chess.com changes their AI bots every month. Mittens, in January, seemed to be one of the more interesting.
This month it’s all famous women in history such as Jane Goodall, Amelia Airheart, etc.
(The husband plays regularly, that’s how I know this)
The Big Lebowski was released 25 years ago today in the US:
https://youtu.be/dooSFIvLn-Y
Well..
https://hackaday.com/2016/02/05/you-sank-my-dysprosium-periodic-table-battleship-game/
Clever!
Organic synthetic natural artificial intelligence:
https://scitechdaily.com/organoid-intelligence-revolutionary-biocomputers-powered-by-human-brain-cells/
I do hope everyone enjoys the Am I Evil? book. It was a lot harder to complete than I’d ever anticipated, but I’m pleased with the final outcome.
I’m not sure how to promote it, because I don’t currently have a Point of Sale plan, or a way to get it onto comic shop shelves. So I don’t want to do a media blitz and drum up interest, only to have to tell people, “Yeah, thanks, I can’t get you a copy.”
Once you have a plan to get it on sale, whether through Ingram or other form, then you’ll have to think about how to promote it. Besides the usual social media blitz, because of it’s ties to the rock world, I would suggest a press release to various rock media (i.e. Rolling Stone, Hall of Fame, some of the better known radios stations, (MTV?) etc.) I would also approach various R & R podcasters to try to get interviews.
Again, all this would need to wait until you have a marketable version, both print and e versions.
Also, for local only, talk to your comic store. I know one or two in Calgary that do consignment based sales so they might be willing to take a few on that basis.
Also, see if Diamond Head themselves are willing to promote it on their social media sites and possibly in interviews.
Finally!
The graphic novel is good. I quite enjoyed it.
Ok, not finally
Because it’s not available for purchase, promoting it is not really something you can do. I know, for something like the Aurora Awards, it wouldn’t be eligible until it was available to the wider public. (Yes, I checked).
Ok, I’m really done now.
This is why one of the main characters is named Reah 🙂
The Auroras hadn’t occurred to me, but I guess we would be eligible with a Canadian artist?
Nice:
https://youtu.be/xVuIVP6Pef8
The newest MST3K season is on PlutoTV!
The newest MST3K season is on PlutoTV!
Floppy disks refuse to die:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/why-the-floppy-disk-just-wont-die/
I wonder what the Russians are using for their missile silos
Okay I’ve seen some reviews of this weeks Mandalorian was visually too dark, didn’t have a problem myself, but I was sitting in a half lit room when watching.
The lighting was fine for us. However, the show is a bit of a hot mess this season
I’ve liked both episodes so far. I get that the first was rather silly. Seems to me that they are still trying to build the narrative. My only real critique would be the episodes really need to run a full hour because this season feels like watching a 3-hour movie in 20 min intervals.
Looks like you are getting your wish, well for episode 3 at least:
http://bit.ly/3mGvAXH
My latest job has me working closely with pharmaceutical companies from a human factors standpoint. We were all glad to see this article.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/eli-lilly-caps-cost-insulin-35-month-rcna72713
Yeah, basic human decency seems to have won the day.
Speaking of cheesy movies:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/bert-i-gordon-dead-director-cult-cheap-sci-fi-classics-1235346478/
RIP Bert I. Gordon. Kudos to him for hitting 100.
Goodbye to Topol:
https://t.co/yJrTayiKEL
Ming the Merciless finally got Dr. Zarkov! Noooooooooooo!
When the story was that R.L. Stine revised his books to be more aligned with the current zeitgeist it was (IMHO) a non story. He has every right and it was likely a good call on his part. However, the new story seems to be that Scholastic made the changes without even letting him know about them. That is an issue. I understand he probably signed away certain rights to his works with the publisher, but to not let the author know when you are making alterations is pretty crappy.
https://geektyrant.com/news/rl-stein-responds-to-reports-of-goosebumps-book-series-revisions-saying-its-not-true
The larger issue: If any artist wants to Lucas-revise their work, then they should always feel empowered to do so. But – – artists need to use the Lucas case as a warning of how your “improvements” can go too far and detract rather than improve.
Yes, I’d worry about the sensitivity-revisions going too far, but I also think that no kids’ book publisher should push materials that are going to make kids feel bad about themselves.
This particular story: Fucked up. Whatever the contract, get the creator’s input – – or at least notify them – – if you want to update their works.
The husband and I are both in the city this afternoon
We got the Everything Everywhere All At Once DVD from the library and chose that over Mandalorian ep2 tonight.
This movie is way more bonkers than I expected. Great stuff. It lives up to the hype.
You have chosen wisely.
At least in THIS demension you have.
I did struggle to push play on the DVD player with my big, floppy fingers.
Bytesize recap of Last of Us:
https://youtu.be/edBQL_Bu4Dc
JL doing comedy fine, but the trailer was painfully unfunny:
https://t.co/XLy3VL6tyz
Well…
What it’s like to be British
• Worrying you’ve accidentally packed 3 kilos of cocaine and a dead goat as you stroll through “Nothing to declare”
• Being unable to stand and leave without first saying “right”
• Not hearing someone for the third time, so just laughing and hoping for the best
• Saying “anywhere here’s fine” when the taxi’s directly outside your front door
• Being sure to start touching your bag 15 minutes before your station, so the person in the aisle seat is fully prepared for your exit
• Repeatedly pressing the door button on the train before it’s illuminated, to assure your fellow commuters you have the situation in hand
• Having someone sit next to you on the train, meaning you’ll have to eat your crisps at home
• The huge sense of relief after your perfectly valid train ticket is accepted by the inspector
• The horror of someone you only half know saying: “Oh I’m getting that train too”
• “Sorry, is anyone sitting here?” – Translation: Unless this is a person who looks remarkably like a bag, I suggest you move it
• Loudly tapping your fingers at the cashpoint, to assure the queue that you’ve asked for money and the wait is out of your hands
• Looking away so violently as someone nearby enters their PIN that you accidentally dislocate your neck
• Waiting for permission to leave after paying for something with the exact change
• Saying hello to a friend in the supermarket, then creeping around like a burglar to avoid seeing them again
• Watching with quiet sorrow as you receive a different haircut to the one you requested
• Being unable to pay for something with the exact change without saying “I think that’s right”
• Overtaking someone on foot and having to keep up the uncomfortably fast pace until safely over the horizon
• Being unable to turn and walk in the opposite direction without first taking out your phone and frowning at it
• Deeming it necessary to do a little jog over zebra crossings, while throwing in an apologetic mini wave
• Punishing people who don’t say thank you by saying “you’re welcome” as quietly as possible
• The overwhelming sorrow of finding a cup of tea you forgot about
• Turning down a cup of tea for no reason and instantly knowing you’ve made a terrible, terrible mistake
• Suddenly remembering your tea and necking it like a massive, lukewarm shot
• Realising you’ve got about fifty grand’s worth of plastic bags under your kitchen sink
• “You’ll have to excuse the mess” – Translation: I’ve spent seven hours tidying in preparation for your visit
• Indicating that you want the last roast potato by trying to force everyone else to take it
• “I’m off to bed” – Translation: “I’m off to stare at my phone in another part of the house”
• Mishearing somebody’s name on the second time of asking, meaning you must now avoid them forever
• Leaving it too late to correct someone, meaning you must live with your new name forever
• Running out of ways to say thanks when a succession of doors are held for you, having already deployed ‘cheers’, ‘ta’ and ‘nice one’
• Changing from ‘kind regards’ to just ‘regards’, to indicate that you’re rapidly reaching the end of your tether
• Staring at your phone in silent horror until the unknown number stops ringing
• Hearing a recording of your own voice and deciding it’s perhaps best never to speak again
• The relief when someone doesn’t answer their phone within three rings and you can hang up
• Filming an entire fireworks display on your phone, knowing full well you’ll never, ever watch it again
I must be at least partially British.
(By lineage, I am).
Same.
That’s goodbye for me.
I was supposed to get a shingles vaccine yesterday but doctor’s office was out and didn’t call me to reschedule. It’s a good thing I was in the city anyway with the husband or I would have been rather upset.
Only for 70-79 years old over here.
Really? I just got my first one at my checkup in December as my doc indicated it was recommended now that I’m 50. Getting my second in a couple more months.
Interesting.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/who-can-have-the-shingles-vaccine/
It can be bought privately for the over 50s, but that costs around 200 quid.
Ugh. I’m too emotional cuz that would’ve ruined my whole day.
Why you should read Steel Claw:
https://bit.ly/3JpjYRO
Why did I agree to a project over the weekend? Some of us are quite silly.
A fun project, I hope?
nope. Actual work
I will briefly live inside Taylor Swift.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/glendale-taylors-version-city-changes-170936689.html
(Get your mind out of the gutter, you!)
Apparently, I will be a resident of Taylor Swift as well. *cough*
CW: The Mandalorian S3E2
Just doing a test by rewatching the episode on my old 4K tv that doesn’t have HDR. Apart from the colours being less vivid it still looks very pretty, you really don’t miss much watching it in SDR.
Oh and I’m watching it via Roku streaming stick+ which is still getting updates years after Panasonic stopped releasing firmware updates for the TV.
CP: Shake It Up – Taylor Swift
*cough*
Shake it Off not Shake it Up…
Slinks off in a sheepish fashion.
Shake it Up is a song by the Cars.
I have never lived in Ric Ocasek.
I offered to get the husband this but, for some reason, he turned me down.
https://www.amazon.ca/Strings-Acoustic-Double-Busuyi-Guitar/dp/B08M42G83B/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=Sleekguitars.com&qid=1678573950&sr=8-6
They would require some serious multitasking.
That not they.
Looks impossible to hold with one neck always jabbing you.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/shingles/public/shingrix/index.html
I had a coworker at the vaccine place who talked about her experience as an adult with Shingles.
So – – this is a good reminder.
My father in law had shingles and it broke him. I’m not quite old enough to get the vaccine yet but I’m getting it as soon as I can.
Watched the Edward Norton Incredible Hulk
1) it’s better than I remembered
2) it ties into She Hulk more tan I would have though5 had I not watched it
3). The end sequence makes it more cannon then I remembered
They finally came to take him away. RIP, Napoleon XIV:
https://bestclassicbands.com/jerry-samuels-obituary-napoleon-xiv-3-10-23/
That song was a big part of my whole “Dr Demento, nerd persona” in high school.
Thank you Jerry Samuels.
OK, the new Killing Joke song is as good as anything they’ve ever done. Damn!
https://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2023/03/11/killing-joke-full-spectrum-dominance/
So dug out my old chromecast, the first one that google released. Still works but boy does it get toasty after a few minutes of use, I could warm my hands on the dongle.
I often warm my hands on the dongle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5vRbPu4kcc
Started watching this 1992 documentary about Plan 9 From Outer Space. It’s soooo dated, but I don’t know, I’m fascinated by this terrible movie.
Crap joke for the day:
I was arguing with a guy at a bar. He said he was a big pop star in the 80s.
I didn’t believe him, but he was adamant…
Hubby decided to stay up late last night. We have things to do so I’m getting him up in half an hour. I expect a grumpy husband today
It’s -20 tight now. There’s something to be said for ignoring the day and just crawling back into bed with the husband
I broke my teapot.
You don’t get a more British tragedy than that.
Time to switch to booze.
Time to switch to booze.
The author Rachel Pollack is near the end of her life:
https://mastodon.social/@neilhimself/110011189963940704
Very sad. I need to read “The Unquenchable Fire.”
The Oscar winners, for those of us who skipped it:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/2023-oscars-winners-list-1235349224/
I’ve only just begun to investigate short fiction markets again.
I was horrified to see how many mags now actually charge authors to submit now. I can see some of the ways they justify it – – but – – no.
https://litmagnews.substack.com/p/submission-fees-are-wrong
Oscar Isaac
Oscar the Grouch
Oscar Meyer
Oscar De La Hoya
Oscar Wilde
These are the Oscars.
(We no longer mention Oscar Pistorius, who may be paroled next month.)
Felix Unger: “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar. . .”
Sadly, I have never educated myself on the Odd Couple. It’s available on a Pluto, so maybe I’ll give a go this evening.
I wouldn’t recommend a straight watch through. Season 1 was a little different and (IMHO) not as good. It’s not like it had any great story arcs or anything and the plot of the show is simply explained in the opening credits.
This was one of my absolute favorites in late-night reruns, but thinking back, it really can’t have aged well.
IIRC, a bunch of season 1 episodes were just recreations of parts of the movie.
And IIRC, at some point, it became just a silly excuse to have early 70s celebrity guest stars.
So recently been playing a lot of Last of Us part 2.
The shock was spoilt before the game released but bloody hell I’m enjoying the Abby segments. Making me look forward to S2 of the tv series.
I just hope they don’t copout and actually find an actress who is jacked so to speak.
So you got over your initial objection? I remember you were so mad about a particular plot point that you swore you’d never play the game.
I’m glad you are playing it. It is an incredible game. And the end is as impactful as the first part. I really hope there will be a part 3 that wraps things up.
Yeah, it was on offer on the PSN store and I thought I should really give it a try. Glad I did.
That bit I objected to was still shocking, but story was more nuanced than I was expecting.
The season finale of The Last of Us tv series seemed to go by in the flash.
T Cat loved it. We had a great conversation about the ending.
Yeah, John and I had a discussion on whether who was right or wrong at the end.
There were a couple of good episodes this season, but I definitely thought the finale was the most interesting.
The cat is having trouble getting the hang of this whole time change thing. Her feeding schedule is quite off according to her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYNFqmu2toI
Accurate
Once again, the country limiter strikes 😉
Strangely it is watchable from the UK.
I get to have a filling done this morning. Lucky me
I actually have the novelisation somewhere in the house:
https://youtu.be/7PH7uaAwBlM
https://www.listchallenges.com/rfantasy-top-novels-2023/list/7
It counts even if you’ve only read one.
For my taste in fantasy novels, this is one of the best lists I’ve seen.
Going by that rule, I got 49. There were a few on there that I’d started and never finished.
I read sixty. Considering some of them were series (i.e. Dragon Riders books), it counts as more than that in actual numbers.
58, although a bit more if you count individual books in a series.
83, if you I only count the whole series if I read 1 or more books. I didn’t count series that I own but haven’t read yet.
And, yes, I think it is a pretty good list.
I only managed 50 on that list. Several I’ve got on my “to read” and quite a few that I just have no interest in.
And, of course, many things I’ve read that didn’t make that list, though any list like this has to be finite.
54. I’m more of a science fiction reader. Speaking of which, there were an awful lot of what I would consider hard core SF books on that list of Fantasy novels.
I noticed that I’d only read the first novel for a significant percentage of the seriesiesies…ies. I got 82 with another 72 that I want/intend to read.
Crap joke for the day:
A man called home to his wife and said, “Honey I have been asked to go fishing up in Canada with my boss & several of his Friends. We’ll be gone for a week. This is a good opportunity for me to get that Promotion I’ve been wanting, so could you please pack enough Clothes for a week and set out my rod and fishing box, we’re leaving from the office & I will swing by the house to pick my things up” “Oh! Please pack my new blue silk pajamas.”
The wife thinks this sounds a bit fishy but being the good wife she is, did exactly what her husband asked. The following Weekend he came home a little tired but
otherwise looking good. The wife welcomed him home and asked if he caught many fish? He said, “Yes! Lots of Salmon, some Bluegill, and a few Swordfish. But why didn’t you pack my new blue silk pajamas like I asked you to Do?”
The wife replied, “I did. They’re in your fishing box!”
I am trying to do too many things all at once.
I watched the first 3 available episodes of the Odd Couple. To turn a phrase, it’s odd. There’s no real intro to the characters or even to the show. It just… Starts.
Felix. In the 2000s, he’d have been flaming. Now, they’d do something clever with intentionally crossing stereotypes. But here, he is just a divorcee who likes home ec and tidiness. It’s kinda refreshing.
Did you know? There was an 80s revival with Ron Glass as Felix and Demond Wilson as Oscar.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083454/?ref_=tt_ch
But it was just the same scripts as the original, reshot with new actors.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3595776/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_2_wr
And a 2015 revival with (the boring) Perry.
Wasn’t this a movie before it was on TV?
Or was it a Broadway show?
Seems like the TV show was a spin-off .
I suddenly remembered I had the internet.
“ The series is based on the 1965 play The Odd Couple written by Neil Simon, which was also adapted into the 1968 film The Odd Couple.”
I’d recommend the Matthau/Lemmon Odd Couple movie as the place to start.
Speaking of flashbacks…
Last night I caught an episode of the X-Files.
Probably haven’t seen any of this in over a decade. Still excellent in its ability to set a mood.
This particular episode “Drive” is the one that featured a Bryan Cranston and was written by Vince Gilligan. Years later when he was casting for Breaking Bad he remembered Cranston in that role and was so impressed with him that he stuck to his guns about hiring him even that the network was firmly against putting a “goofy, comedic actor” in the role of a chemistry teacher gone wrong.
Queensryche last night!
Unrelated, I think my Dell is well and truly done now. Thankfully, I (think) I got everything essential backed up, and I am on a new laptop.
Still a drag. And if I can help it, the end of my relationship with Dell.
What is the make and model of the new laptop?
Watching the latest episode of The Mandalorian and I would love to know if Doctor Pershing’s spectacles are available in the real world.
Looks like you can get pretty close.
https://www.amazon.com/Steampunk-Vintage-Sunglasses-Eyewear-Protection/dp/B07MBMKQPK/ref=sr_1_27?keywords=steampunk%2Bglasses&qid=1678910912&sr=8-27&th=1
Aaaaand, another director’s hubris suddenly leaps out and slaps us across the face.
https://geektyrant.com/news/christopher-nolan-says-that-there-was-no-such-thing-as-a-reboot-before-his-dark-knight-trilogy
I think Christopher Nolan is dreaming (see what I did there?).
Maybe the studios never used that term before his movies?
Reading the article, I don’t think that Nolan is claiming that he invented the “reboot”, just that the concept of “reboot” wasn’t firmly established when he created his Batman series. To paraphrase “I had to find my own way to reimagine Batman, as it wasn’t common practice at the time.”
He may not be claiming to “invent” it, but his language is pretty clear: “there was no such thing conceptually as a ‘reboot.’ That idea didn’t exist when I came to look at Batman. That’s new terminology.”
Even if it wasn’t a common term, the “concept” of remaking a film series was well established by 2005. Examples include Godzilla (1985) and Planet of the Apes (2001). I will give him that the majority of films considered a reboot of a film series (not even tackling reboots of TV series as existing terminology) are after 2005. So it may not have been common. I still think he was overstating the situation at the time.
Disclaimer: I really like Nolan as a director and he has made some absolutely groundbreaking movies that really have been game changers (such as Memento). It’s only in this case that I don’t agree with him.
I’m only one episode in, but I didn’t think it was that bad.
https://geektyrant.com/news/disney-cancels-lucasfilms-willow-series-after-one-season
Dalam shame, I enjoyed that series.
Damn shame, I enjoyed that series.
Sham dame, I haven’t watched it yet.
Van Damme, I haven’t watched anything Willow since the 80s.
Dame Edna, me neither.
Today’s episode of The Mandalorian was the best of the season so far. But it was the story line without The Mandolorian that was the best of the episode
It certainly gave an interesting take on a post-war New Republic
It felt like it belonged in Andor rather than Mando.
By the numbers. Fascinating.
https://climate.nasa.gov/
They are expecting another stupid hot summer this year so we got a quote to have AC installed in the house.
The hoops you need to go through when you live in a townhouse. Hopefully we’ll get board approval soon.
Do you just have swamp coolers in the windows?
I would be terrified of the electric bill.
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-evolutionary-mystery-of-left-handedness?utm_source=pocket-newtab
Bookmarking
And March 16 National Panda Day. Who knew?
https://www.discovery.com/nature/celebrate-national-giant-panda-day–pictures
CW: Shadow and Bone S2E1
It’s back baby!
CP: Cloudbusting — Kate Bush
Latest Picard through quite a few gut punches.
There’s a Gizmodo article about it that was fascinating, but I’m not posting the link. While the article title preserves the spoiler….the frickin’ link itself has as part of the link text. You had one job!
Anyway, there’s all kinds of reason I shouldn’t be enjoying this season of Picard, especially after the first two seasons, but I can’t help but enjoy it anyway and it’s clear that’s thanks to Terry Matalas.
Off to the city this morning
The husband is expecting an Amazon delivery today. Now, every ten minutes I get “is it here yet?”
Does anyone want a slightly used husband?
Can’t he login and track the parcel?
Of course he can. He’s just being a brat
My Dad was very left wing, in his youth he joined the communist party, yet he loved John Wayne movies, especially this one:
https://t.co/KdagGi4i8o
Another slice of computer history:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/plato-how-an-educational-computer-system-from-the-60s-shaped-the-future/
Happy St. Paddy’s Day, to whomever will be celebrating. Just remember it was the New York Irish who ate corned beef and cabbage, because it was a cheap meat option for its time. Actual Irish will know you’re a tourist if you order it there.
(So I’m told.)
One of the priests at my wife’s church (back when she cared about such things) was from Ireland and he said much the same thing. I’m Irish, but from Northern (Protestant/Orange) Ireland, so my family didn’t really care one way of the other for St. Patrick’s Day.
My ancestors were those New York Irish! They came here just over 100 years ago.
The plot thickens…
https://geektyrant.com/news/willow-showrunner-says-that-series-has-not-been-cancelled
Goodbye to Lance Reddick:
https://www.tmz.com/2023/03/17/the-wire-star-lance-reddick-dead-dies/
That was a shock!
Way too young. He was fantastic in The Wire, and of course, in John Wick.
A different version of playing tabletop rpgs (nsfw)
https://tabletopless.org/
Oh, is that what you meant by D12?
It gives new meaning to “casting magic missile” 😉
Three episodes in now…. This season is a mess.
But just look at Doctor Pershing’s Spectacles!
Total agreement. Good character too!
I wouldn’t say he was wasted, because that storyline has potential.
I’m one with the Force, and the Force is with me.
Now that’s how you do Star Wars!
Rewatched Rogue One tonight.
The Women of UFO, one of them is Benedict Cumberbatch’s Mam:
https://youtu.be/nzzH3CVvbXI
The French had some weird trains:
https://www.google.com/search?q=sncf+x3800+picasso&sxsrf=AJOqlzW8v-8p9rLZ9em_mRzxQGQNbRTCJQ:1679163611798&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi7jOf0i-b9AhVOY8AKHYAVAWMQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1517&bih=730&dpr=0.9
TIL: The lost shoe in My Neighbor Totoro is the same lost shoe as in Spirited Away.
(This is deep geeking, I know)
Morning
My tea this morning has a slight coffee taste. I’m not impressed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gNACd_u8aI
If I ever direct a Cyberpunk movie, this is the Synthwave song the band will be playing in the bar.
Don’t forget your sunglasses.
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/24-surprising-ways-to-injure-yourself-when-youre-over-50
And click the link to the “over 40” article at the bottom.
I had to google AARP.
I joined AARP because the annual savings on Audible was more than the cost to join. Little did I know that joining AARP isn’t a means of getting wonderful discounts, but rather a way of putting yourself on a monumentally large set of mailing lists, resulting in a shitstorm of junk mail, the likes of which I have never before beheld.
Amassing Assloads of Recycled Papers.
Absolutely
What in the bloody hell is this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4nMjyT4epA
It’s pretty great, is what it is!
T-Pain covering War Pigs.
It’s locks chopping day
So, I’m reading a Wolverine Origins book. I’m having a lot of trouble getting my head around how evil these CANADIAN scientists and soldiers are.
I bet they take the last Timmy’s donut from the box and don’t even eat it.
Speaking of evil Canadians, I need to get my passport updated. Did we decide on a date range to be pursued by the royal mounties?
I thought we decided the first weekend of September, the long weekend
Me as well, booked time off from work on that weekend.
Labor Day!
*Labor Day, bub. (Tying it back to evil Canadians and Wolverine)
Evil Canadians who also seem to use Imperial measurements instead of the metric system. You can tell this book was written by an American who didn’t do his research
My initial thoughts are to fly out Thursday night and leave the following Tuesday. Is that the majority plan?
Let me know what everybody’s doing then we can decide on an itinerary
We’re leaning toward something similar, though maybe a Monday evening flight to come home.
Then again, this will be Mrs. from Texas first trip with us as empty nesters, so we may stay a couple extra days to explore on our own after the festivities.
I predict we’ll be travel on Thu and Mon, but let me confirm that.
CP: Soul Vaccination — Tower of Power
Fascinating, powered by gravity:
https://youtu.be/rPm_3EaeR5c
Interesting.
Thanks
Totally agree, but maybe shoot that final scene first and then bulk up:
https://t.co/nYutIFaC7W
The faux outrage about this amuses me. Why anyone thinks that Druckman and Mazin won’t stick to the spirit of the show…. *shrugs*
……. Deep sigh for humanity…..
So finished The Last of Us part 2 last night.
It has some sections that could probably have been deleted to make the game shorter without effecting the plot, but great game.
Didn’t hate Abby, enjoyed playing her segments.
Oh that ending was well done.
Yes, that ending was excellent. It’s why I feel that in many ways part 2 is a better game than the first.
I have hopes about part 3. But as Druckmann said, he’ll only do part 3 if the story is right.
Nice rendition of Wayfaring Stranger by the two main voice actors as the credits were rolling
https://youtu.be/culhHcdh71M
CP: I Want To Take You Higher — Sly & The Family Stone
I’ve never looked into it, but I’m curious about how the Penn brothers all became stars. Was it all piggybacking on Sean’s success? Some kinda industry nepotism? Talent and good luck?
Whatever it was, Michael Penn ended up with a handful of great acousticky songs. No Myth, of course, but also Long Way Down and Walter Reed. Macy Day Parade is aight. (any others?)
Misleading headline:
“Writers Guild of America Considers Letting AI Write Hollywood Scripts”
https://gizmodo.com/ai-chatgpt-screenplay-hollywood-writers-guild-1850251985
The article actually says that the WGA wants to ensure that no software company or AI gets to claim authorship on a script. That’s a good decision on their part, because the use of AI in scriptwriting/editing/refining is inevitable. Like it or not (I’m in the “not” camp, but future generations won’t care).
Interesting. Yeah, AI is going to open up a whole pandora’s box of issues, some good, some bad. I was talking to my daughter about writing boring college essays. The possibility exists to say, have ChatGPT create an outline for any subject, then suggest subtopics for each outline heading. One could have it do the hard skeleton of a paper and then you could fill in the blanks. Sort of a hybrid method. I don’t really think of this as “cheating” as the college student is using a technology they will have access to in their future job. On the other hand, what cognitive skills are lost when we let machines do the heavy lifting?
Absolutely. If we start letting our kids use calculators in school they will never learn to do math in their heads the way they need to. Oh, sorry, a few technologies behind on that one.
Ah yes, the old quip saying you won’t always have a calculator to hand…
Pretty sure my iPhone just sniggered.
I used to know how to get everywhere. If I went once, it was burned into my brain.
Now, I am completely dependent on online maps to get anywhere.
I signed up and already forgot about it. I may never, ever use it.
But here I am, for you other Mastodonners: https://mastodon.social/@jackmangan
I’m at https://mastodon.social/@ryah
Imaginative, I know
@vanamonde@mastodon.social
If your avatar is a pie and ice cream, then I just followed you
It is.
I noticed The Mangan hasn’t followed us. 😉
He is now.
Mastodone!
CP: Jack Merritt’s Boots – The Young’uns
..and it’s goodbye to Eric Brown:
https://t.co/u4BvMHbRDY
This is the dumbest Star Wars. The characters’ actions are inconsistent and incomprehensibly stupid. It’s insulting.
I will say this: Kudos to them for the actor cameo.
Till they grow back, I no longer look like a bald Brezhnev.
Surrendered to the inevitable and ordered a 2TB SSD for my PS5, was getting tired of the shuffle of deleting games so I could install other games.
ikr?
I was looking for a bigger one. Considering the size of recent games, I expect 2TB won’t be enough.
Looks like $370 for a 4TB. I haven’t purchased a P5 yet, but I’m wondering if it would be better to get the diskless one for $100 less and put that toward a 4TB SSD. I’ve waited this long, I’ll probably wait for the refresh.
Some requirements from Sony:
SuperSpeed USB 5 Gbps or later. 250 GB minimum, 8 TB maximum capacity.
Not all devices are guaranteed to work with the PS5 console.
You can’t connect the drive through a USB hub.
Two or more USB extended storage drives can’t be connected at the same time. You can connect multiple USB drives to your console, but you can use only one at a time.
Corsair MP600 PRO LPX 2TB M.2 NVMe PCIe x4 Gen4 SSD
It comes with a heat sink, £174 in the UK, I would guess a lot cheaper in the US.
The 4TB model is more than twice the price of the 2TB model.
That is usually how it works.
This was the one I was looking at. Apparently, it was recommended for the PS5 in the comments. https://www.amazon.com/WD_BLACK-SN850X-Internal-Gaming-Solid/dp/B0B7CQ2CHH/ref=sr_1_3?crid=XUJBW0Q8T4RP&keywords=m.2%2Bgaming%2Bssd%2B4tb&qid=1679688728&s=electronics&sprefix=%2Celectronics%2C160&sr=1-3&th=1
Off to the city later this morning.
Seattle?
There’s apparently a “pivotal” post-credits scene at the end of John Wick 4. I don’t know when we’ll see this one.
Saw They Might Be Giants in Nashville last night.
Brilliantly entertaining show. I forget how clever/funny they are. The banter in between the songs is as entertaining as the music itself.
I hope no one brought their racist friend.
https://www.reddit.com/r/brandonsanderson/comments/1200dzk/on_the_wired_article/
I haven’t read the Wired article, which is apparently Brandon Sanderson profile that turned savage. I’ve never read any Brandon Sanderson – – in fact, I’ve heard some unpleasant things about him – – but his response here is beautifully-written and incredibly classy.
The Wired article: https://www.wired.com/story/brandon-sanderson-is-your-god/
OK, I don’t think it was as vicious as anyone’s saying, but I can where Sanderson himself might not be pleased. I also didn’t find his portrayal of the family unflattering. . . and is he wrong for noting that a large percentage of attendees at a Fantasy Convention are pasty dudes with body odor? I mean?
Did he cross a line? Probably, but it’s not as egregious as the general reactions. Kudos still to Sanderson for his classy response.
I have two thoughts. I wouldn’t able to be as sanguine as Sanderson, not after sharing my home and family with the writer.
And the writer, despite protesting he likes fantasy, doesn’t seem to understand that the words are ONLY in service of the story.
Those were the days my friends, we thought the would never end…
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/egad-7-key-british-pcs-of-the-1980s-americans-might-have-missed/
I remember when I thought the wood would never end too.
Instant beer, no alcohol though:
https://newatlas.com/lifestyle/powdered-beer/
That’s not beer. That’s beer flavored water.
First drink of the day!
First drink of the day!
Wow.
That’s been a minute ago.
CP: bang — Haru Nemuri
Cyberpunk is still alive:
http://dlvr.it/SlR76S
*applause*
Since the husband is currently playing the Cyberpunk 2077 on the computer, I could have told you that
I’m playing it too. 😀
Arguing against a manned Mars mission;
https://idlewords.com/2023/1/why_not_mars.htm
Goodbye to the guy who formulated Moore’s Law:
https://t.co/ZckiHzyI9X
He’s not wrong.
https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/neil-young-blasts-ticketmaster-fees-letter-1235292063/
His rant won’t accomplish anything, but I’ve still got his back on this.
New George Hrab tune is fun(ky)!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3nhqEey01k
Well now:
https://t.co/Hef2KrTI0c
TMZ.
New SSD installed and formatted on the PS5.
Only scary thing was removing the white plastic panel from the bottom of the PS5. It looks easy in the YouTube videos, mine needed a bit more force to shift. Still all done now…phew!
https://gizmodo.com/big-shark-movie-trailer-tommy-wiseau-the-room-hi-mark-1850258851
Good god.
This. Looks. Awesome!!!
Now I really want to see this movie.
Ugh. It’s snowing again. I’m very ready for spring
I’ve gone back to this a bunch of times since discovering it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3EuiU1qdpE
The more I listen, the better it gets. It’s amazing that she runs all of this herself.
Yeah, I really like her stuff.
Her name is Hania Rani, btw.
Nothing like internet instability to start off the week. . . .
I found these pretty intriguing
https://www.reddit.com/r/StableDiffusion/comments/120aqld/in_a_parallel_universe_star_trek_the_next/
There’s some kinda irony in an AI creating these. Incredible detail, though.
Yes, although, to be fair from reading the comments, it’s not just a matter of typing in “Give me Star Trek the Next Generation with Indian actors”. Sounds like there is a good be of training involved to get a useful result.
I’ve today learned that we live far enough in the future that there are action cameras that can automatically remove the sticks they are mounted on in a video scene they are recording.
You only need to watch the first minute or so to see it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jipn3NN0p8g
At first I thought the guy had someone flying a drone in front of him, but the movements were to tightly bound to the bike. Plus, you can see the shadow of the stick/camera on the ground from some angles. Finally had to ask him how this magic was created.
FFS, I’m tired of my life being so interesting.
My daughter is uninjured, but her car is damaged from being in a car accident. The important thing is that she’s uninjured.
But still.
Enough.
Update: thank god for Tiffany. She handled almost everything.
Daughter is still fine.
We’ll learn the fate of the car tomorrow.
Happy your daughter is fine. We’ve been lucky so far with the kids driving in an out of Tempe.
Glad to hear the daughter is OK, Jack.
Agreed.
YYZ on an upright bass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9xtBsLP_-Y
I must confess, my first reaction was trying to figure out which Canadian airport that was. Turns out it’s Toronto.
Don’t fly into Toronto on an upright bass.
Ticket booked to see John Wick 4.
Well that was fun.
We hope to catch it this weekend.
So The Last of Us has finally come to PC.
Think I will wait a while before buying.
Yeah. We don’t have a console so I never played it. Not sure when I’ll pick it up. Still deep into Midnight Suns, plus there is many other games on the wish list that cost a lot less thank $80 at the moment.
Obviously grammar eludes me today. I think you can still figure out what I’m saying.
Many people reporting crashes and not working well on the Steamdeck.
Don’t have a Steamdeck either so I’m ok.
Yeah, I don’t really have a need for portable gaming. If I ever play on the Switch, it’s connected to the tv. My current jam is Half-Life: Alyx in VR. Midnight Sons is on my radar. 🙂
Who said anything about need :-p
It’s time that the sound boards used at concerts have a blue tooth output of their main mix, allowing you to wear earphones/buds that make the horrible accoustics of the performance venue irrelevant.
… or is it?
I dunno, getting pretty close to why bother seeing them at all and just listen to the concert streamed.
I’m in. Rhett and I have both observed that the sound quality at the Marquee Theater in Tempe varies greatly, depending on where you’re standing.
Tis true.
Lovely all instrumental version of “The Seasons” aka “The Rain Song” aka Led Zeppelin’s most beautiful song. This was just released today!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n1Bxp-YfTs
Finland looks like a good place to visit:
https://www.visitfinland.com/en/find-your-inner-finn/in-person-masterclass/
A certain song comes to mind.
Get Ed on the microphone.
Always up for another slice of Wes Anderson weirdness:
https://youtu.be/0PcnRc_ehO8
I am SO in!
That looks like exactly my kind of weird .
Hey, by the way – – did everyone who pledged to the Am I Evil crowdfunder get their book? I’ve heard from 2 people that they didn’t know it was released.
Got mine. \m/!
I didn’t get mine through an official email. I just assumed it was because I got the “early edition” 😉
Got the link to the download.
It rocked!
Thank you, sir!
I did not. I see that it was supposed to come via an email link from IndieGoGo but I have updates #13, another #13, and #12.
I don’t know why we’ve had such challenges with IGG messages. . .
I’ll send you a direct email with the download link and password.
^^^ I sent the links out as an IndieGoGo backer update email.
The link and password were in one of the update #13 emails.
*headdesk*
Yup. It’s there. In the first #13. I assumed it was a duplicate and only read the second #13.
I’m sorry, Jack.
All good. No worries! I’m just glad you got it.
I got an email from Indiegogo with the link and password. I wonder if people not getting it have gotten tired of all of the other emails from Indiegogo and sent everything from them to spam?
BTW, also read it and greatly enjoyed it. Superb job on all ends!
Thanks so much! I’m really happy with Kyle’s art.
I tried not to overdo it with IGG updates, but yeah, I’m sure that happened in a few cases.
To be clear, I don’t think people would spam the updates. They likely actually want those. It’s the barrage of actual spam that Indiegogo (and all of the other crowd sourcing platforms) send you after you have sponsored someone. I’m not sure if spam filters are sophisticated enough to remove some Indiegogo emails and not all of them. I’m thinking some people might not get their update emails at all because they have blocked everything from Indiegogo.
A tale of woe:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/03/the-last-of-us-first-pc-port-is-riddled-with-apparent-performance-issues/
Yeah, PC Gamer was showing some of the issues. They were actually quite funny, in a sad kind of way.
CW: The Big Door Prize E1
https://t.co/WAZmIyLVnr
I’m taking an intro to computer security class this term. I always imagined it was exciting, like a battle to keep the ne’er-do-wells out of the castle. So far it seems a lot more filling out TPMS reports and genuflecting to the hierarchy. Very disappointing.
As is my inability to spell “cowtow” or whatever that word is that isn’t genuflect.
Deadly spelling bee word.
Dragonslayer special edition coming:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonthompson/2023/03/25/how-cult-classic-dragonslayer-finally-delivers-the-directors-vision-in-4k/
Speaking of super old High Fantasy properties. . . . .
https://www.cbr.com/dnd-joe-manganiello-dragonlance-adaptation/
I loved those Dragonlance books when I was a kid. I believe it was Tony Mast who said he’d hit them again recently. . . and that they were best left in the past. . .
The husband is sleeping in this morning. The cat has decided I am not
Calendars:
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/what-is-a-calendar.html
Today is Jon Astin’s birthday AND Bill Corbett, aka, the 2nd Crow from MST3K.
A gender-flipped Dead Ringers series starring Rachel Weisz in the role of the twins? Bizarre.
It’s fascinating that a group of people watched the original Cronenburg movie and thought that it needed to be remade and expanded. I can’t say I intend to watch, but it sure is an interesting choice.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12923632/
Yes … but …
Rachel Weisz!
Speaking of disturbing movies. . .
I finished watching the Hellraiser reboot. Was curious about one thing, so I looked to IMDB for answers, and saw that almost all of the reviews trashed it. Whatever. I thought it was a cool rework of the mythology and characters.
The original Pinhead was one of horror’s absolute best boogymen, but I think the new one does him justice.
Teresa and I had low expectations for this one, but overall I thought it was done well. I like the reimagining of the Pinhead character.
The censoring of Tom and Jerry:
https://youtu.be/anbTKVH33dw
Headed to the zoo with the husband today
https://youtu.be/iTe9rhLC2XE
This is the one our kids grew up on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM8oNgMntto
Little one coughed all night, then had a high temp this morning. 🙁
Ah, the joys of having a young child. Hope she gets better soon.
Donnie Yen breaks down his most iconic roles:
https://bit.ly/3Zqpt7D
We picked up some Rush Blonde Ale on the way home.
It’s slightly better than your mass produced beers but, meh, it’s a beer *shrug*
I just saw a Rush set of Pop figures at a convention and they wanted $210 for it. Crazy. Now there is a Rush beer that I also won’t get unless I go to Canada. It’s a bad week for me as a Rush fan.
CP: Raindrops keep falling’ on my Head – Burt Bacharach
The Titanic never sank:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a26533526/olympic-titanic-conspiracy-theory/
Stanley Kubrick actually filmed it with Lee Harvey Oswald in a studio at Area 51.
It won’t let me read it unless I sign in
CW: Tetris (the movie)
Silently amused that it was all shot in Scotland.
The BBC documentary about Tetris:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ohCy4ktA5w
I’m disappointed. Today I made the husband watch The Pirates of Penzance. However, I wanted to then watch the spoof The Pirate Movie but can’t seem to find it on our many streaming services 🙁
Found this when I went looking. Haven’t seen it in forever. I’ll be curious if it’s accessible to you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1gt1yvUC-s
Cool. Will have to watch it later
Little one felt better all day, but she had a meltdown about us leaving tonight. Her temp was 99.5, which is low grade, but I still made the call to stay home. So no John Wick 4 for me.
Dropping stuff can be artistic in slow motion:
https://buff.ly/3F3pqrc
Those are quite neat
I wanted to know why liberal leaning people are called left, while more conservative people are right. I actually found an answer. Blame the French Revolution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left%E2%80%93right_political_spectrum
So you’re saying the French Revolutionaries were woke?
Muse and Evanescence last night with the not-so-little one. She loved it.
I do recommend catching Muse while they still command big arena concert budgets. Their visuals are some of the most amazing I’ve ever seen.
Ancient map and magical beasts:
https://t.co/IcC9MopFpd
Bit of a longer video, but I think at least a few will appreciate it since it’s history that we actually lived through and watch happen.
https://youtu.be/XfLlpxE6AYM
Intriguing!
John Wick 3 is less batty than I remembered. I’d thought it was trying a little too hard, but it was good fun to rewatch.
Sci-fi and fantasy books to look forward too in April:
https://t.co/gZUIKp5epN
New Across the Spiderverse teaser trailer:
https://youtu.be/uWohkaIb-Ss
We watched the first episode of Agent Elvis last night. It was glorious in its strangeness
Saw the the new Dungeon and Dragons at the cinema, enjoyed it, but made me realise there are large swathes of the cinema I can no long sit comfortably in, luckily my row was largely empty so I could stretch my legs out.
Sorry, Van. Our theaters here have pretty good handicapped seating.
I’m interested in seeing the D&D movie, but I’ll probably have to wait til it’s Streaming.
Historic day.
I agree with this assessment (whatever you think of CNN or the author). https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/02/opinions/donald-trump-indictment-gps-fareed-zakaria/index.html
We’re aware of much more grave crimes and offenses. We’re aware of the the threat he poses to democracy and actual freedom. I think many of us are so eager to see him neutralized that we’re getting over-excited over charges that will amount to basically nothing. Or worse.
Playing devils advocate, the only thing that took Al Capone down was tax evasion, not his myriad of other crimes
True.
And it must stop somewhere.
This is a career ”white collar” criminal who has never been held accountable and that has emboldened him to actually, literally, lead attacks on our very Democracy.
If the rule of law doesn’t stand up to this challenge it will cease to exist… for the criminals.
Yes. This all must happen. In theory, no one is above the law. And hopefully it creates a pre-existing record that helps when (if??) he’s forced to face charges for his major crimes.
In the short term, we all expect him to skate on this, or at worst, get fined a few thousand dollars – – which in turn fires up the narrative that he’s some kind of “freedom fighter against the evil system.” IDK if you saw idiot MTG comparing him to Jesus and Nelson Mandela. . . He’s absolutely gained few new supporters from the lunatic fringe.
I did read a BBC article indicating that he can still run for President, even from a jail cell.
Goodbye to the creator of Cataan:
https://t.co/rioFJyx0E0
Goodbye to the creator of Catan:
https://t.co/rioFJyx0E0
I’m glad he got to see his game supplant crap-ass Monopoly a the number 1 tabletop game in the US. RIP, Catan guy.
Damon Albarn interview where he reveals inspiration for the song Clint Eastwood, right at the beginning:
https://youtu.be/EDX6l9_58RA
https://earthlymission.com/the-mikiphone-pocket-phonograph-from-1926/
The 1920s version of a Walkman.
Ahhhh! This article raises more questions than it answers. What are the little things coming out of the pyramid shaped container? How does it actually achieve amplification without electricity or a giant horn?
This is going to take some time. The container obviously contained needles. But even other articles just have statements like “the sound is amplified by the diaphragm and resonator right at the point of contact”. Yes… but HOW???!!!
https://hive.blog/mikiphone/@cavesson/the-magnificent-miniature-mikiphone
Even a look into the history of speakers in general goes straight from the horn to the electric speaker: https://edisontechcenter.org/speakers.html
Some sources site systems that use compressed air but 1) that still requires a horn and 2) that would be far bigger than what is used in the Mikiphone: https://www.deckersons.com/blog/speaker-history
This interview with the 3 Artemis astronauts is 9 minutes of pure joy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AC5h4zKU4o
CP: RE4
I can only take short bursts at a time of this game.
Can you say why? I last played the game on the Wii.
Play it in a dark room, 32″ monitor, stereo sound.
Gets the heart pumping.
(I just got eaten by a giant fish)
Also, playing the remake, so the graphics are better
ZP is not a fan:
https://youtu.be/sAULfQXN5HQ
Meh. I’m still enjoying it. It probably helps that I never played the original, though
Another for the “fun never ends” column: the car is totaled. Not sure what this extra money hit is going to mean yet for the Mangans.
I posted about this song recently! Absolutely breathtaking cover of The Rain Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q37bBgElLbM
OK…… what was that crazy video from early in the last decade where the obviously European guy with the mustache goes upstairs to his girlfriend’s house, and he does a crazy dance, she does a crazy dance, then everyone in the street does the crazy dance? Super silly? It was viral for a short time.
Someone has to remember this!
I’m sad.
Turns out, the Am I Evil Insta follows lots of people I know, but doesn’t love me 🙁
(blatant poke)
I haven’t touched the AIE Insta in a long time. :-/
If you want to watch a silly possession film then check out The Pope’s Exorcist when it comes to streaming.
I’ve already said I will see it at the cinema and the new trailer just makes me want to see it more:
https://youtu.be/eQfMbSe7F2g
That appears to be a trailer that gives too much away. But – – hell yes, I’m in.
Speaking of exciting trailers. . . Ahsoka looks exciting! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnzNZ0Mdx4I
Hopefully a nice return to form after this awful Mandalorian season.
I am cautiously optimistic for Ahsoka. She’s one of my favorite characters in the SW universe and I’ve got a pretty strong attachment to the whole Rebels crew as well.
The fact that the Mon Mothma actress looks to be continuing her role in the the post ROTJ era actually gives more hope than anything.
I’m still a bit more on the positive side than negative for the latest Mandalorian season.
Dang, the Zahn is strong in this one.
This is fucked up:
https://t.co/GWgfHiaykJ
I trust NPR. I assume they’re not cherry-picking details to fit some predetermined narrative. Despicable.
Goodbye to Rachel Pollack:
https://buff.ly/3GsBVwZ
Our kuereg is starting to whine at us. While it still seems to be working, I’m wondering if it’s a prelude to replacement.
Since we only use it for hot water, we’re thinking of actually getting a kettle instead. Now to find something that is a quick one or two cup maker, since we don’t do the teapot thing.
I’ll get you info on our hot water heater. I use it daily, haven’t touched a kettle in years.
cool
In Filoni we trust:
https://gizmodo.com/thrawn-actor-ahsoka-star-wars-disney-plus-sith-villain-1850315377
He was never my first choice for the role in a live action casting, but between his voice work in Rebels and the other things I’ve seen him in as an actor, I have a lot of confidence he’s going to be excellent.
It’s cool that we’re going to effectively get a version of Zahn’s story in the new canon. Maybe he’ll get to novelize it some day as well.
He was excellent on Sherlock. Benedict Cumberbatch was rumored for this role, but I assume he’s out of reach.
Yikes!
https://www.washingtonian.com/2023/04/07/clarence-thomass-billionaire-benefactor-collects-hitler-artifacts/
What could have been:
https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/12f1tqn/how_the_duel_between_anakin_and_count_dooku_in/
Sick move!
Famous (kind of). I’m catching up on the latest season of What We Do In The Shadows and they just mentioned Binghamton, NY. Also appropriate that they pronounced it wrong as that always seems to be the case. I grew up in the town just next door to that (Johnson City). I haven’t heard it mentioned (in fiction) anywhere since Carl Sagan’s book Contact had a line about the Johnson City Wildcats (high school basketball) having a “spirited game” with the Union Endicott Tigers.
I knew of Binghamton, NY because of the NJ Devils minor league affiliate there in the 90s.
I think we always pronounced it bing-um-tun. Was this wrong?
bing-um-tun is absolutely fine. It’s when people put an emphasis on the ham that it sounds weird to us. I never thought of it as a name that would be hard to pronounce until we had a shooting at the bing-um-ton university downtown campus and I heard all of the news people butchering the name.
Return of the Jedi in theaters!
https://www.starwars.com/news/swce-2023-return-of-the-jedi-40th-anniversary
No!
Unless it’s the original theatrical release.
We watched M3gan last night. I questioned more than the husband did so I think he liked it better than I did. Overall, though, still pretty enjoyable
Well that leotard wouldn’t have offered up much protection:
https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2012/05/18/friday-image-the-dixie-showgirl-1953/
I love fandom in general. Good to know there are nuclear test fans out there somewhere geeking out over which test is which.
CW: 65
Dense asteroid field at the beginning is already pissing me off.
Goodbye to Michael Lerner:
https://t.co/fL6wyU9j4K
Fantastic actor. He was so goddamn great in Barton Fink. RIP
Ok, after watching the latest Last Week with John Oliver, has anybody in the USA had a run in with your local HOA? They sound like a fucking nightmare.
The only run-in I had was when they tried to make me move my solar panels to the back of the house. They were soon beseeched by Solar City lawyers and AZ state law and discovered they couldn’t keep me from putting them where they were most effective.
I saw that that was the topic, and I decided not to watch. The main reason we moved last year was due to HOA insanity in that neighborhood.
We’ve already seen some shady stuff from the HOA in our new neighborhood.
The majority of this species should be launched into the sun.
I’ve generally found that HOA’s that are run by a management company tend to be harmless nuisances and also pretty good about keeping a neighborhood from turning to shit.
HOA’s that are run by retired busybodies in the neighborhood lusting for power are exactly the nightmares that folks think all HOA’s are.
My previous and current neighborhoods are both HOA governed and both used professional management companies to handle the details (approving permits for modifications and such). We seem to change management companies about every three to four years when the HOA goes out for new bids. The first one we had when I was here took a month to approve my pool install because it just sat on someone’s desk without being looked at. Other than that, I haven’t had any serious issues with mine.
I’ve heard and seen the good and bad of HOAs. Ours is about as benign and cheap as you can find. It’s one of the reasons why we’ve stayed at this house for so long.
They were almost unheard of in the fairly rural area where I grew up. When I moved to Florida 14 years ago, I instinctively avoided them like the plague. That is actually difficult to do in the Orlando area but I managed it and have been 14 years without an HOA and loving it.
Wow, do I love their “Fever In, Fever Out” album. Very sad news. RIP.
https://www.stereogum.com/2219549/luscious-jacksons-vivian-trimble-dead-at-59/news/
And also RIP Al Jaffee of MAD Magazine. Dead at 102.
Everyone is remembering his great fold-ins, but as a kid, I was a big fan of Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions. Sarcasm at its finest.
OK. Caught up on S3 of Mando. I was texting with my son as I watched much of it last night. He actually likes this season so I held back many of my thoughts. But the moment they walked into the vividly colored scene in the latest episode I texted “I have learned that any time the colors go from the typical subdued and dingy to the bright and flashy I’m in for a world of suck”. I was not wrong.
Teaser trailer for The Marvels:
https://youtu.be/iuk77TjvfmE
Will be seeing this one at the cinema.
I’m underwhelmed. I don’t like the key plot device in this one. I’ll still see it though.
Crown Lands will be the music story of 2023.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cSp5QY7zo4
They have a sound that hews very close to 708s-early 80s Rush.
This song is NOT all that Rush-like, but it still has a great retro rock sound. And it’s fantastic.
OK, now I hear Rush. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW9ufgf0ihI
Unfortunately I hear too much Rush. I can pick out very specific songs from which they are taking riffs almost exactly.
But I will still give them every chance and listen to far more of them. They are astoundingly talented.
Yes, there was a moment listening to their new album where I thought, “Hey, it’s Xanadu!” But no.
Still, it feels like a tribute, not a ripoff. And the songs slap, as the kids say.
The songs are definitely rad!
To me they feel like (at least from this one song) like Greta Van Fleet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrWFu5k1Jpg
Not only in sound but in attempting to really look and feel like a band from the 70s.
Disclaimer: I’m not knocking on either band for this approach. I absolutely love Greta Van Fleet.
The husband goes back to work today. Is it wrong that, after nearly three months, I’m kind of glad to have him away for a few hours?
The brief solitude will probably be lovely.
We all, at least occasionally, need our space
Replaying The Last of Us Part 2 to get all of the achievements. Made one mistake and due to the save system means I will need to play five hours of the game again.
Sigh.
From twitter:
Pedro Pascal on Joel’s fate in The Last of Us HBO Season 2:
“It wouldn’t make sense to follow the first game so faithfully only to stray severely from the path. So yeah that’s my honest answer.”
Duh.
S1 made it pretty clear that they will stay true to that. The podcast pretty much said the same.
Ugh. It’s not “the fandom.”
There are racist scumbag everywhere. We should all condemn the attacks on Boyega, Tran, Ingram, and every other actor of color.
But stop saying that “the Star Wars fandom” went after Jon Boyega, Kelly Marie-Tran, the actor from the Obi-Wan show, etc. Those cretins may like some things about Star Wars, but they do not represent “the fandom.”
I 100% agree. All the fans I know are appalled by these so-called fans.
I’ve been to a number of conventions and watched fan reactions. I can say first hand that “fandom” is behind Boyega, and “fandom” is behind Gina Carano. There is no such thing as “fandom is behind” it’s just what group happens to be yelling loudest nearest to the person in question.
I don’t often throw my credentials around. But, I started out my real trip into adulthood in undergraduate college. During those years I was a member of the east coast’s largest lending public lending library of science fiction (Stony Brook University’s Science Fiction Forum), a co-chair and art show coordinator of the east coast’s largest (at the time in the late 80s) convention of science fiction, fact, and fantasy (I-Con, long Island), and a host of 2 different radio shows centered around science fiction (Destinies, and Faster Than Light Radio). And I can say first, hand that I have seen and been close friends with (indeed, my friendship extends past political lines) ultra conservatives and ultra liberals and all, all, all, points in between, with every one of those people firmly entrenched in “fandom”. There is no such thing (and never was such a thing) as “fandom is doing x”. Like anything else in life, fandom is too big to encompass any one perspective. I see anyone claiming that “fandom is doing x” as just plain uninformed and downright reckless.
Confirming my middle-aged whiteness, I bought tix to see Sting in the fall. The cheap seats.
I saw him in Vegas last year and it was one of the best concerts ever.
He did a long, full show that did not include all of my favorites and STILL every song was a hit. It’s amazing how big his/The Police catalogue is.
Hold your middle aged whiteness high on this one. It’s worth it.
Well that’s a shame, really enjoyed S1:
https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/a-league-of-the-rown-cancelled-fandom/
I never got around to seeing a league of the rown. Sad.
😀
Looking back at the first Mario film:
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/mar/22/super-mario-bros-movie-killing-fields-chariots-fire-video-game?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1IGS9FbCNhZJyPdd0HDwWZtCkGrr6XmNyhSscDboWBH81k6uhXP8jebf8#Echobox=1681297415
Insert reboot rage comments here:
https://geektyrant.com/news/the-new-harry-potter-series-gets-an-officially-announcement-teaser
Has it even been long enough to think about a reboot on this? Has the original been so outdated that the latest batch of younglings need to have it tailored for them?
Never mind that it’s a tone-deaf cultural moment – – it’s absolutely too soon.
If you must go back there, then why not tell new Hogwarts stories?
It snowed last night
Chess is popular again:
https://www.polygon.com/tabletop-games/23679440/teens-love-chess-memes-boom-2023
Chess has always been popular here, long before Queen’s Gambit came out. There is always a tournament somewhere and the husband always has it on. He would play on some of the bbs’s before Chess.com was a big thing and then has been on chess.com for quite some time.
I’m pretty sure we have as many chess boards as we do guitars in this house. Although, both have more in storage than on display.
One of the reasons I’m glad he’s back at work is I was getting pretty tired of nothing but chess coverage all day.
I have an uncle who was a chess fanatic since he was but a wee lad, once beat one of the great masters (maybe Karpov?) at a publicity tournament where the master was playing against many many other players at the same time. I was never able to gain anything close to his love of chess (I 100% suck at chess), but grew up with it on my mind. It was also big for me when the Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus “Chess” album came out in the early 80s. And, because of that Chess album, I watched and enjoyed Searching for Bobby Fischer. So it I never thought it wasn’t popular. But I definitely haven’t heard much about chess from the younger generations that I tend to work with, so I can buy that it might have fallen from popularity. I’ve never ever ever claimed to be in the know of the current zeitgeist.
I feel like chess literacy is important. It’s a great way to train young minds to anticipate and think in theoretical and potentiality terms. The mechanics of the game are still truly brilliant and elegant. This is all good.
Chess has always been popular outside of North America. The husband’s school system has a high immigrant population and, when he would start a chess club, it was always full.
That being said, this year he had to turn kids more kids away than usual as the spots filled up quicker than in the past
Space Precint has been given an HD makeover, you can watch a free episode at:
https://youtu.be/BCwNa3neqIE
CP: Brothers Gonna Work It Out — Public Enemy
You got it! What it takes.
CP: Music And Politics — The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
CP: Howzat – Sherbet
Just finished the Willow series. Fantastic! Great character growth, it caught me early on, and a fantastic climax that both ended well and set up a season 2 (something missing from many other popular series as of late). We need more like this.
It may have been cancelled so no S2.
Am I mistaken (as I so often am) in that a bunch of us watched Mike Nesmith – Elephant Parts at CJs house at some point? Someone at work mentioned that their dog’s name was Ramona and I had Mike Nesmith’s Cruizin’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi0b8tcCQSE) going through my head the rest of the night (not that I was complaining about it, fantastic song).
It sounds vaguely familiar, but not me I was off doing something else (seeing the Grand Canyon with Cynthia).
Although that might have been before I started coming to the meet-ups.
Yes we watched Elephant Parts. It was actually my dvd. CJ didn’t have a copy so asked me to bring mine. I also had the sequel, Television Parts but we didn’t het a chance to watch it
Love the concept, but I’m so old that I really don’t even recognize 80% of the people showing up in this movie.
https://geektyrant.com/news/the-electric-mayhem-set-out-to-make-their-first-album-in-fun-new-trailer-for-the-muppets-mayhem
Colorado vs Wyoming – an interesting contrast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHrq16I3vII
A population of only 580,000? Wow.
European Space Agency: Blast off for Jupiter icy moons mission https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65273857
CP: Freezer — BAND-MAID
I e got the cars booked to have the snow tires removed next week.
It’s currently snowing
So wow. New cars are over $25K now. OK.
☹️
Not a good time.
See if you can find a used Subaru.
They tend to hang in there
Is this a comment from 2018?
So ticket bought to see this film later:
https://youtu.be/5pTcio2hTSw
Been a good few years since I saw an anime film at the cinema.
I’m looking forward to that one. I’ve generally liked Makoto Shinkai’s work, though “Your Name” is probably his best work.
The many conversions of the arcade game Tapper:
https://youtu.be/1uJhgGq4YMQ
Alright, I’m looking to go ahead and book our flights for September. I don’t know why, but flights from Houston to Calgary at that time aren’t outrageous on Delta so I’m going to lock-in before the algorithms wise up and hose me.
We’re looking at flying in on Thursday the 31th and back on Tuesday the 5th. I’m expecting we’ll get a car for ourselves as we’ll likely do a bit of touring on our own, especially since the fight back leaves at 6pm, so we’ll pretty much have the full Tuesday.
What’s everyone else’s traveling looking like?
I’m stuck waiting to see if my knee op goes ahead.
I was looking to fly in on the Thursday and head home on the Monday.
I’m in now, not sure when I’m leaving 😉
I figured, around late June, once everybody had their dates, we can start an email thread discussing an itinerary. Places I would suggest off the top of my head would be:
Zoo (obviously)
Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology (approx 90 minutes NE of here passing the Horseshoe Canyon on the way back)
Heritage Park
Studio Bell (the music museum)
Maybe Banff. I know Van liked it but it is very… touristy.
I’m assuming we would be looking at three full days (Fri, Sat, Sun) and a half day with (pizza) dinner at our place on the Saturday as is the norm.
Be warned, pretty much every place will require a lot of walking. Although Heritage Park does have the train you can take between stops.
If you want a straight up amusement park, there’s also Calaway Park.
If you’re looking at hotels, the Best Western in Airdrie is technically closer to us but the Days Inn is newer. As I said before though, Airdrie is small enough, you can book pretty much anywhere and still be about a ten to minute drive to my place.
Just google map my address and see what suits your wants as far as accommodation.
This is my worry if I don’t get the knee op, these days I’m very constrained on how far I can walk.
Yeah Van. You’ve been to most of the places I mentioned. As you know, walking is a thing as they are all quite sprawling.
We also need to see how this whole car thing shakes out. Currently, we only have 1 car in the house, because I’m letting the elder use mine to get to class and work.
I did wonder if you wanted to leave Canada for another year with the expense of a new car.
Hmm, so sounds like things for this year aren’t as much a done deal as I thought.
I certainly be game for a PHX gathering, especially if more of the crew is able to make the meetup. I haven’t been there since whenever we actually last had a meetup there and my wife has never been.
Unfortunately, travel wouldn’t be in the cards for me this year
It may come down to me traveling alone – – but I think we should stick to it.
If it’d help, we could do another poll to see the definite yeses and nos, plus the maybes.
Unfortunately, I discovered that the Metallica concert we bought tickets to takes place on Friday, Sept 1st. With this in mind, I will likely fly out Saturday and return Tuesday.
I assume the dog isn’t going to survive the movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FgUUO9Ztd0
Kind of a hokey trailer, but I’m still curious.
It took me a while when I started watching this trailer for the penny to drop that it’s the ship from Bram
Stoker’s Dracula novel.
Great concept for a horror movie.
Not a great trailer.
I hadn’t seen the Bourne movies since they were new releases at Blockbuster. I remembered almost nothing about them. The Bourne Identity (the first one) was good – – and its influence on John Wick is clear – – but The Bourne Supremacy (the sequel) is, IMHO, a much better movie.
They both hold up.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the third one, or anything beyond that.
Interestingly, Identity features a very young, pre-famous Clive Owen as his adversary.
Supremacy features a very young, pre-famous Karl Urban as his adversary.
The author John Scalzi has released some electronica tracks he created:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_msazetf7QhT9SPQ5P-2YgisiyRKTRawaA
Team tiger:
https://buff.ly/2IhMG4w
CP: Graveyard – Loudon Wainwright III
Just got BritBox as I realize that it’s been forever since I watched a good British Comedy. I loved: Monty Python, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Young Ones, Father Ted, Absolutely Fabulous, Red Dwarf, League Of Gentlemen, Bottom, The IT Crowd, Mighty Boosh, Spaced, Black Books. What are the newest british comedy series I should check out? Hold The Sunset is already first on my list.
Not much springs to mind, the latest big thing is Colin from Accounts, but that is Australian.
The original Ghosts is worth a watch if it’s on Britbox.
Outlaws (more drama) and Inside No.9 (black comedy).
Derry Girls and Peep Show.
Although old now, The Fast Show is a good laugh.
I will defer to Van. I thought I knew my British comedy, but you have way more shows under your belt than me.
I love the first 4 and Red Dwarf (and HHGttG, of course). Couldn’t get into Ab Fab and have never seen any of the rest.
The new comedy show that is big in the UK for now:
https://t.co/SirMkP8LXQ
Aaaand, it’s not on BritBox. I’ll hold onto BritBox for one month and get through Hold the Sunset (latest from John Cleese). Everything else I look up isn’t on there. They really seem to be mostly a repository of old BBC shows. I’ve tried looking up people like Bill Bailey and Dylan Moran and it’s like Brit Box thinks they don’t even exist. Every show I have recommended just isn’t on there.
CW: One Hit Kill Sister E1
The over protective sister is rather icky.
Yeah, I gave this one a pass. “Oshi no Ko” on the other hand was an awesome 90 minute first episode. Definitely give this one a try. You won’t know what the series is about until you get to the end of the ep. 😀
I’ve been binge watching “The Imperfects”.
I seem to recall a mixed review here.
I find it entertaining. Definately the sense that there is a little bit of a struggle as to which demographic it is aimed at.
It could be smarter but it is also better than most.
We started watching this show too (I think we’re at episode 8). It’s “imperfect” but still rather entertaining
+25 for the pun
The husband and I were getting prescriptions filled at Safeway today. While perusing the aisles we were surprised to see they sold “personal massages”. Four different brands. One regular style, one rabbit style and two bullets
When has this become so mainstream?
…although, I admit, we were tempted to make a purchase (we didn’t)
I mean, they already sell cucumbers. . .
In some of the States it is illegal to sell those TO ANY ONE.
Laws
Passed by the people who say they are against “big Government”.
Go figure
Yeah, I wish they’d outlaw cucumbers here too 😉
Morning Pan
My Boo is getting her snow tires removed today. She also has some errands she wants to do so, like a good mom, I’ve agreed to be her chauffeur. Off to the city this morning
We’re down to one car so my elder little one can drive to class and school.
Almost down to zero after this morning’s close call. MFers think they own the gd roads.
CP: (Nothing But) Flowers — Talking Heads
No more Netflix DVDs.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/netflix-shutting-down-dvd-business-1235182150/
Netflix has been streaming only on this side of the pond from the start.
There was a time when I would go back and forth to getting the DVDs and just streaming based on what strange and unique items I could only get through DVD. Can’t say as I’ve used their DVD portion for many years now though.
It’s been a really really long time since I got a Netflix DVD. I do still occasionally borrow DVDs from the library, though, for stuff that isn’t streaming anywhere.
So I did find at least one good thing on BritBox. 2009, so not exactly new… but Psychoville (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1305562/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_psychovill) is done by 2 of the 3 people from League of Gentlemen and has that same bizarre quality about it. Only one episode in, but really enjoying it so far.
It was rather foggy between home and the city today
Covid test is negative, but it sure feels like the thing. Blegh.
Watching a video where the narrator gets weight and mass mixed up.
Someone needs to be slapped HARD with a wet fish.
The husband’s working late tonight
If anyone missed this that last few times, it’s pretty interesting. This site sends you the Bram Stoker Dracula novel in sequential format. On each day that something occurs in the novel, you get an email with what occurred on that day. Really gives you a perspective on how long the plot of the book stretches out. The latest run starts up again on May 5.
https://draculadaily.com/
My college age kids signed up for that a couple years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it!
Pretty cool!
CP:
https://youtu.be/DUH7zX2Bz1k
Having beers with my NASA pal a few nights ago and he reminded me of todays launch and stated it would end in a fireball.
On the other hand, he did say they will ultimately be successful …if the owner of that venture doesn’t go full-on Howard Hughes.
I think Howard Hughes was more benign, even when yelling at his staff about tissue boxes.
That said, it does seem that this was an expected step on the journey.
If at first you don’t succeed…
It’s official. The Mandalorian has jumped the Mythosaur.
I’m glad to see that the S3 finale got some positive reactions. Pretty big meh from me, but that’s still an improvement over most of other episodes this season.
I enjoyed the finale but it’s been a very uneven season. The stand out was the Doctor Pershing episode even if it was aping Andor.
I was entertained by this season, but it is easily the weakest of the three. It felt like a lot of filler episodes waiting for the real narrative to finally kick in. I still like the characters though, I’m hoping they don’t keep dumbing down the stories.
We found this season a hot mess ourselves
CP: Radio Free Europe — R.E.M.