1,015 thoughts on “On With the Action Now”

    • If I was a writer involved in Batman v Superman, Justice League, and Rise of Skywalker….I’d probably go sign up for that truck driving school that Goose was suggesting in Top Gun.

    • I really enjoyed “Man of Steel” worts and all and “Wonder Woman”, but I’ve been pretty meh about every other DC offering. I’ll get around to watching the Snyder Cut eventually.

  5. The elder daughter has gotten way into My Hero Academia. I was gonna ask the experts about hit, but she’s already fully immersed. I don’t think she needs any pointers or other recommendations. 🙂

    I haven’t seen it, but it seems pretty cool.

    I think she’s going to try Attack on Titan next.

    • She’s excellent, never knew she was a Jersey girl.
      I do get just about all of the obscure references in that essay. I had a rich friend who went to Pingry.

      There’s much truth in this. But I’d never fucking move back there.

    • To be fair, apparently the plan was Falcon and The Winter Soldier to be released first. And, it was intended to be a more “traditional” type of Marvel story.

      I am finding it an interesting take on what the Winter Solider/Civil War more political intrigue style of Marvel stories could look like in a post Endgame world. Hopefully this all has a payoff in the next phase of the MCU.

  14. Parts 1 and 2 of the Snyder cut under our belts.

    I barely remember the theatrical cut, but I can pretty confidently say that this is no better.

    • So yesterday achieved all the trophies on Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.

      An old game now, but well worth checking out if you can pick it up cheap.

  18. JW: The Nevers E1

    Although my first thought was “not another bloody supernatural drama set in Victoria London” ended up rather enjoying it.

      • So the son of Snake Plisskin is the new Captain America? I guess that’s not that big of a stretch given that Snake Plisskin is a planet these days.

      • Wondering if this is the same Plisskin Jr. who was the goalie for our local college hockey team for several years.
        I had heard that Curt and Goldie had bought the top floor of a local hotel but I had always assumed they must have had kids at Space Camp.
        Only found out after the fact about the hockey thing so I never went to see him play.

  25. When movies started to take over from live theater, masses of live theaters were converted into movie theaters. As we lose more and more movie theaters now, what will they become? I wonder what businesses will start to take up residences in old multiplexes? Maybe we’ll get a rash of artisanal marketplaces with each theater holding a different business. They could become the shopping malls of the millennials.

    • I think I just saw the answer to your question last week.
      I was in a section of town I used to live in and they had a big multi-plex that was the talk of the town when it went in.
      Now…they were in the process of demolishing it.
      I suspect it will either be over priced apartments or yet another cookie cutter strip mall with it’s nail salon, frough frough shop that sells painted monogram letters and stationary and a lot of empty shops.

    • My take is they are likely to be demolished. A movie theater space doesn’t lend itself to adaptive reuse, with the projection space and slanted aisles and floor space.

    • Someone told me the other day that they went to a Karaoke club where each group rents out their own space. You are taken down a hallway and go into a room. Each room has a karaoke setup and a bunch of couches. This is the kind of think I would like to see happen.

      I was hoping more for some creative takes on what could be done with these places rather than just assuming they will be bulldozed and built over.

  27. Crap thoughts for the day:

    Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard when he lives in the jungle without a razor?
    Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are flat?
    Why do banks charge a fee on ‘insufficient funds’ when they know there is not enough?
    Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
    Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
    Whose idea was it to put an ‘S’ in the word ‘lisp’?
    What is the speed of darkness?
    Why is it that people say they ‘slept like a baby’ when babies wake up every two hours?
    If the temperature is zero outside today and it’s going to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold will it be?
    Do married people live longer than single ones or does it only seem longer?
    How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
    Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
    Did you ever stop and wonder…….
    Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, ‘I think I’ll squeeze
    these pink dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?’
    Who was the first person to say, ‘See that chicken there… I’m gonna eat the next thing that comes outta it’s bum.’
    Why do toasters always have a setting so high that could burn the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?
    Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?
    Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don’t point to their bum when they ask where the bathroom is?
    Why does your Gynaecologist leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?
    Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They’re both dogs !
    If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?
    If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?
    If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
    Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?
    Stop singing and read on……
    Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?
    Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?

    • Yeah, I’m not planning any big changes two weeks after my second shot. I’ll be less inclined to wear a mask during one on one conversations with likewise vaccinated coworkers or friends. But I’ll still wear a mask for anyone who wishes me to continue to. Mid-summer, we have a trip planned. I won’t feel bad about traveling on a jet while wearing a mask. Hockey games or cinema will be a no until the fall if there are no more outbreaks.

    • I’ll still wear a mask. Frankly, I think it is a good look for me. I will be willing to meet friends for food or beer if they are willing to chance getting something from me… but only in empty restaurant/bars or ones that have outdoor seating. Preferably outdoor seating. I will be willing to invite other couples over … but again, people who I know have also vaccinated and still with space between us and or sitting out of doors.

    • There were 3 fun scenes I remembered from the theatrical version. Only 1 made it to this version (when Superman watches The Flash running).

      I don’t understand the love. The dialogue is hokey, the plot is a giant tangle of nonsense, the fight scenes are zero stakes CGI blurs. Meh.

  34. “Statistically speaking, six is not that significant, since nearly seven million people in the U.S. have received Johnson & Johnson shots so far. That’s less than one in a million. To put that in perspective, it’s slightly better odds than you have of getting to visit Willy Wonka’s Fantabulous Chocolate Factory, which, for the record, kills or maims four out of the five children who step foot inside.” — Stephen Colbert

    • Very true. But, also to be fair, when the other two vaccines don’t seem to have this side-effect, it kind of makes sense to put the brakes on the one that might have an issue.

      • Yes, except that J&J and Astra Zeneca are cheaper and more easily distributable – the majority of the world is counting on these while those of us in the 1st world have the luxury of access to the two mRNA vaccines.

        So, “playing it safe” could still kill quite a few people.

        • Also a fair point that I hadn’t researched or considered.

          But I don’t think anyone is advocating scrapping J&J, just being damn responsible.

          • Also keep in mind that they haven’t completely stopped J&J. They have stopped recommending it, but have said that if a doctor and their patient still feel it’s the best vaccine they can still get it. They aren’t giving up on the J&J vaccine. Just putting a pause in long enough to investigate.

            I got my J&J last Monday. But as I’m not 18-48 or a woman I’m not that concerned. Also, I just got my semi-annual blood test that looks at platelet counts yesterday so I’ll have those results to reassure me soon as well.

          • I am in a clinical trial for J&J. The recently called us in to “unblind” us. They told us whether or not we had the vaccine and then (like in my case) if we got the placebo, they went ahead and gave us the vaccine.

    • I did a quick Google search as to how many people randomly show up with blood clots every year in the US and discovered that (depending on what factors you want to include or overlook) it is 3-16 per million.

      No mass group has been as closely followed for this sort medical issue as is the vaccinated group.

      So, yes… keep an eye on things and closely recording the data is a wise thing but if you take any group of a million people and follow them closely … haveing 1 of them develop unexpected blood clots is not unusual.

      As for people who have had the other two and “not shown clots” … I have to wonder if this results from recent, specific, increased scrutiny of participants “post vaccine” because of the Astra Zeneca concerns?

  36. Do any deadpan items have a sub woofer on their tv sound systems?

    Just wondering if it’s worth splashing on a Sonos Sub for my sound bar.

    • Yeah, I had to add the “.1” to my “5.1” system. And you can tell when certain scenes cause the whole room to viberate.

    • My soundbar came with one. Somewhere along the way it got unplugged and I never got around to plugging it back in. Just don’t feel like I need it. Then again, I’m the old man that complained that the theater volume was so loud it was likely causing me hearing damage when I went to see Godzilla vs. Kong.

  40. CR Son of Rosemary. Really kind of meh compared to Rosemary’s Baby but it did posit the question
    Is Mother Nature just God in drag?

    (Of course, if you believe god is a woman, then is God simply Mother Nature cross dressing?)

    • While I can sympathize with his disappointment–I say this without knowing anything about the contracts of comic book creators–Disney and Marvel were probably under no obligation to give him anything. He may have created the character, but he doesn’t own it; at least not anymore.

  52. I picked up the novel that inspired The Warriors on sale for 1.99. I’m not even a superfan, just seemed like an intriguing alternate universe of 70s NYC.

    Not done yet, but this looks to be one of those cases where the movie is a vast improvement. For one thing, the “heroes” in the movie aren’t murderers and rapists.

  54. Ok all of you who watched Dark on Netflix:

    How did you watch? In German with English subtitles? In the English dub? Some other method?

    • I finished the article. A lot of points and ideas are made, some pulled from facts, others from the author’s opinions. Probably about 30% of those points are off or just plain wrong. That leaves an uncomfortable 70% that are harsh truths.

      I didn’t realize it was an Umair Haque essay until I hit the end and went, “oh, of course he’s the author.” I’ve read him before. He’s kind of like that ultra-arrogant, supersmart, super-nihilistic, condescending guy on college campus who you at first thought was cool, but very quickly came to dislike. His witty takedowns seem insightful at first, until you realize that’s ALL he has.

      You: “Hey buddy, we’re going out for beers, if you wanna–”
      That guy: “Beer is a bourgeoise social construct to keep the lower classes dumb and- – ”
      You: “OK, bye!”

      In short, I prefer the counterpoint:
      https://brookemeredith.medium.com/americans-are-many-things-some-great-and-some-horrible-d3b242bef7f1

      • Yeh, I don’t know the author but that was my take-away. He wasn’t really wrong … but like everyone else he has over simplified and then went on and on and on.
        Also, anytime someone slips in “Bernie has all the answers if you’d just listen to him” I get a real negative vibe…and I’m even a fan of government provided basic healthcare!

        I think as more accurate assessment would be rather than calling out “Americans” as psychopaths … the title should be “American Society Caters to it’s Psychopaths”.

        • I think it is easy to point out the bad things in a society. This is especially true of Americans because we are kind of in a reckoning of many poor decisions from decades ago coming to a head. People have become desperate, some for good reasons, some for bad. Desperate people are not thoughtful or generally full of empathy. The large political/corporate machine has many players and the inertia of the two is immense, so it will take time to change. We Americans don’t have an aptitude for foresight, consequently, things have to blow up in our face before we’ll admit there is a problem. But America’s strength is when we are in agreement, we can effect change faster than anyone.

          • “American Society Caters to its Psychopaths”

            I think Joe has pretty well capture it…not that rather odious article, but indeed the current state of affairs.

  60. Well this was a day.
    Woke up shivering and hot all at once. Everything hurt. Had a fever of 104F
    Fought the nausea for hours but finally gave into it which is good because an hour later I could keep an aspirin down and that lowered my fever.
    So 16 or so hours later, I’m exhausted but all the fever is gone.
    I’ll just pretend this day didn’t happen.

    • Interesting parallel with the “Luke and Darth Vader” theme.
      I even saw light sabers.

      That’s not a judgement on the film, just what immediately came to mind.

  64. I watch “Godzilla vs Kong” last night. Overall I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It seemed less dark than the other Monsterverse movies and I think that helped it stand apart. That said I couldn’t tell you who the human characters were or why they did what they did. Of course, that could be said of most of the Toho films.

  67. Taking my car in to remove the snow tires this morning.
    Later this week hubby’s car gets its windshield replaced. This whole week is basically about the cars.

  72. My phone decided to do an update overnight. AND my fitbit wristband snapped yesterday. So my alarm and backup alarm were both out of commission this morning.

    I only slept 40 minutes late.

  73. “The internet has permanently damaged our collective sense of humor. It fucking sucks. Nobody has any idea what’s funny anymore. In the past decade and a half, a particular style of non-comedy comedy has risen up out of the global network of bored people on computers. We’ve all somehow apparently agreed that subjecting other people to obnoxious bullshit is the funniest thing that anyone can ever do.”

    https://www.stereogum.com/2144701/the-number-ones-rick-astleys-never-gonna-give-you-up/columns/the-number-ones/

  74. “We’ve all somehow apparently agreed that subjecting other people to obnoxious bullshit is the funniest thing that anyone can ever do.”

    Not wrong, as in that we all agreed to it, and that yes, it is hysterically funny.

  75. Just watched “Hunt for the Wilder People”

    Taking this into consideration with his other films that I’ve seen, I think Taika Waititi may be my new favorite writer/director.

  81. Crap joke for the day:

    A lovey dovey couple are sitting on a bench in the park and she says, “My ear hurts me…” He kisses it gently and asks, “Is it better now, my darling?” “It’s all gone,” giggles the girl, “but now I have a pain here,” and she points to her neck. The boy kisses it tenderly and asks, “Better now, sweet pea?” “It’s all healed, my love! But now I have a very bad pain here,” she replies and points to her collarbone. “Excuse me,” politely interrupts an old man from a neighboring bench, “this is really impressive! Do you heal hemorrhoids as well?”

  90. We made a construction paper finger puppet ghost, but the lil one chose pink.

    Every attempt to make it look less phallic only made it worse. (It’s smile only added a head, for example).

    Finally saved it with a “BOO” word balloon.

  92. Bought a pair of jeans, got home and they hadn’t remove the security tag.

    20 minutes of research on the Interwebs to find a method for removing this specific tag.
    5 minutes to make a tool out of a close hanger.
    About a minute to unlock the tag.

    Little victories FTW.

  95. I’m cleaning the floors and this text conversation happens between me and hubby

    Me: why is there a guitar pick under the couch
    Hubby: it must have fallen ther last time I played upstairs
    Me: and you couldn’t get it after you dropped it? That’s it. It’s lost to time now?
    Hubby: I wasn’t too worried, I have others.
    Me: *sigh*

  96. Re: the great TOS slow-motion binge:

    “The Alternative Factor” is one I’d never seen or even heard of. Its IMDB ranking is terrible. Most episodes – – even the crap ones – – are rated higher than 7/10, but this has a 5.8.

    It’s hokey as all getout, but it had some real promise. The alternate universe premise almost gets into Doctor Who territory.

    As I’ve been watching TOS season 1, I’ve had the notion that someone should really remake all of TOS with modern sensibilities and special FX (and acting abilities). This episode makes me think that more than any.

    • City on the Edge of Forever is up next. I know how highly I’d regarded it back in the day and how much fandom loves it, but I wonder if it could possibly hold up. The concept was mind-blowing (to me) 30 years ago, but it’s been copied and co-opted so many times since. . .

    • It has been a long time since I watched a TOS episode, but there was an independent television station that played all the episodes after school, so I’ve seen all of them multiple times. I think this episode confused me when I was a kid in elementary school. When I was older, I followed it a lot better. I think it is an enjoyable episode, but I agree, it is a candidate for an update.

  99. Just finished episode 3 of Shadow and Bone. Enjoying it so far. Never read the books previously, so it’s all new.

    Did have to turn the subtitles on to follow the dialogue.

  103. So installed iOS 14.5 on all my Apple devices and colour calibrated my AppleTv for when using on the tv using my iPhone.

    So there is that.

  114. So – – City on the Edge of Forever is still great, still probably the best of TOS, but way more loony than I remember.

    “So the Enterprise is flying around time ripples or something and Sulu falls down having heart problems so McCoy gives him a dangerous hypo which works but then McCoy accidentally stabs himself with the hypo and goes on a whacked out rampage and beams himself down to a planet with a portal that talks and shows a movie of earth history on repeat and McCoy jumps through just in time to cause human history to be erased and . . . . that’s just the first 10 minutes. “

  120. So Tiffany dug out some old liquid soaps, one of them has a picture of a witch on it and claims to be “candy corn” scented, but to me, it really just stinks of “early 1990s club guido cologne.”

    I don’t know how those 2 things are connected, but there you have it.

      • No, we thought it was really terrible and couldn’t believe it got even decent reviews. It wasn’t the worst movie I’ve seen, but….

        • I thought it was one of the better recent attempts at a kaiju movie. Far better than Godzilla (2014), Insanely better than Shin Godzilla, and about on par with Godzilla: King of the Monsters. I can barely remember ( to be honest) King Kong Skull Island, but I would bet it’s at least as good at that.

          • For me:

            Godzilla: King of the Monsters
            Kong: Skull Island
            Godzilla
            .
            .
            .
            .
            .
            Kong vs. Godzilla.

            But hey, a lot of people have enjoyed this latest one. More power to them. Especially if it means we get more Godzilla movies.

  125. It’s still the First of May for another hour and 20 minutes where I am. Hope you had a good one!

    I have missed you all. I don’t know why I didn’t post more during lockdown. I need to rectify that.

    Got my 1st Pfizer shot on Thursday. Arm was sore for about a day, but I felt fine otherwise. And now, I wait.

    • All of the normal rules for socializing and engagement went out the window with the Pandemic. No one needs to apologize for struggling to keep in touch. Especially not you, Amy!

      But of course, you’re missed! – – and I’m always happy to see you chime in here and on the Deadpan FB page.

      Team Pfizer!

    • Hi Amy!
      Good to hear from you.
      I am living in a Moderna world
      Because I am Moderna girl.

      Wait…. that’s Madonna.
      In 2 days, the requisite “14 days” will have passed since my 2nd shot!
      Fully Imunized!!! Give me a vaccine passport and I will carry it proudly!

      • My Moderna! Saturday was sort of a write-off as the day after my 2nd Moderna shot kicked me around a little. Had body-wide muscle cramps and joint aches, but no sharp pains. Come May 14th, my family’s risk of death from Covid is practically nil, so I would say it was worth it. Looking forward to having this mess behind us.

  127. (To steal a phrase from Van) Nicked from a Facebook comment:

    When you’re watching a great actor, you can see what the character is thinking under what they’re emoting. When they’re silent, they’re still communicating a hundred words. As much as I can enjoy Tom Cruise movies, he has been incapable of any of that.

  128. CW: Stowaway

    So many questions, why are the solar panels so far away from the ship, why did leave orbital booster attached to the ship?

    • Yeh.
      We watched that. I thought the production was pretty good but the writing was REALLY lazy. Seems like when ever they got their plot to a tuff spot … they said “and then some magical stuff will happen”.
      And told themselves “hey, the audience is already willing to BELIEVE they are in space so they will be willing to overlook these holes.
      … and also the stupid stuff we will have our astronauts do.”
      Lazy writing.
      I’d put it at the bottom of your “to be watched” cue.

  129. I’d never seen Bullitt before.

    Much better than I expected. I’m kinda shocked at the slow pace. . . . This is often cited as the movie that led to the 80s Action Movie boom.

    • Was discussing that effect just a few nights ago. Movies that I distinctly remembered as being action packed … but now seem so slow.
      To top “the last film” … they got more and
      More frenetic until we have retrained our brains to need something to happen every 15seconds in a film or it seems to drag.

  132. I asked this on FB, but hen did they stop putting manual controls on TVs?

    The new tv is useless without the remote. Heck you can’t even switch it on without the remote or asking Alexa to switch in tv.

    Sony doesn’t even have a remote control app for iOS.

  139. Thanks all.
    It is amazing how festive it was just to sit near other humans, share a meal and swap stories!!!

    Covid … bringing back perspective!

    • I cannot wear dentures, implants are not covered in the NHS pricing schemes, so I either have to accept gaps or pay eye watering money to get implants.

      If I live long enough you are probably going have to start calling me gums.

  142. CW: Star Wars: Bad Batch E1

    Yeah, I had forgotten I’m not keen on the CGI used in the SW animated series, especially the humans..ugh!

  146. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/disneyland-snow-white-ride-kiss-backlash_n_60904c27e4b0b9042d956c70

    Sigh. I saw someone posting their FauxNews-incited outrage, believing that “the left” are crying out against the Snow White Ride. I started to point out that it was seemingly just one review from one media outlet. . . but deleted my comment and moved on. Just didn’t want to deal with the inevitable back-and-forth. . .

    I wish I knew how to combat this scorched earth disinformation campaign.

    • You can be encouraged that this is further proof the right simply has nothing left to offer.
      No plans to get heAlthcare to Americans, no plans to modernize infrastructure, no clue how to put people back to work. Nothing, nadda, zero, ziltch.
      So in the absence of any platform, they are just trying to manufacture outrage and Snow White is all they got.

  147. In case anyone is interested (I know there are people here that really dig MST3K) here is way more information that one should want on the platform that MST3K wants to use for the upcoming season. The platform is called the Gismoplex. The biggest upshot for the deadpan community is that we can host virtual watch parties on there. Unfortunately, anyone without a Gizmoplex membership would have to pay a one day rate (they are thinking something like 99 cents) but the fee seems awfully small for the ability to have deadpan gatherings to watch something remotely. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mst3k/makemoremst3k/posts/3178709

    • I’ve been trying to reel in our budget. . . . but I definitely want to support this Kickstarter before it’s done (even though it’s already funded).

      Interesting that they’re sticking with Jonas. I thought for sure that Emily was going to take over.

      • Glad to hear you’re interested in supporting. Even a $1 pledge helps them out by increasing the number of backers and helping them to reach goals like being the most backed film and video project on kickstarter.

        They have been funded up to the 9 episode level. But they definitely still have some way to go to be funded at the full goal that will allow them to make 12 episodes.

        Also, they have plans to have Jonah and Emily host episodes (possibly even at the same time). Also, now that they are at the 9 episode level, Joel will come back to host an episode. If they make it to the full funding level Joel will host 2 episodes.

        • *Jonah (my error).

          I liked him, but he’s my least favorite host by far. I’d be fine with someone else replacing him.

          • Agreed that Jonah is my least favorite. I haven’t seen Emily yet because I think she was only on the live tour that I didn’t see (as opposed to the first live tour that I did see). So I don’t know where she will fit on the spectrum.

  150. I’m not sure if this song is good, or just pure nostalgia. I hadn’t heard in 30+ years, since it faded from MTV.

    I would say that I have no idea why it remained lodged in my brain all of this time, but. . . I’ve met my brain. This is just how things work in there.

    Darling Cruel – Everything’s Over

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpSSMViaQ9Q

  152. I did it! Watched Operation: Annihilate! and completed TOS: Season 1!

    I know there are 2 more seasons to go, but this is a big deal for me, you guys. It took me forever.

    Operation: Annihilate was one I remembered from the old days. Hard to forget the novelty vomit alien creatures. This is another one that could use a remake.

  157. A car full of Irish nuns is sitting at a traffic light in downtown Dublin, when a bunch of rowdy drunks pull up alongside of them.
    “Hey, show us yer tits, ya bloody penguins!” shouts one of the drunks.
    Quite shocked, Mother Superior turns to Sister Mary Immaculata and says, “I don’t think they know who we are; show them your cross.”
    Sister Mary Immaculata rolls down her window and shouts, “Piss off, ya fookin’ little wankers, before I come over there and rip yer balls off!”
    Sister Mary Immaculata then rolls up her window, looks back at Mother Superior, quite innocently, and asks, “Did that sound cross enough?

  162. Crap joke for the day:

    The Highways Agency found over 200 dead crows on the M4 near Bridgend recently, and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone’s relief, confirmed the problem was NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death appeared to be from vehicular impacts. However, during analysis it was noted that varying colours of paints appeared on the …bird’s beaks and claws. By analysing these paint residues it was found that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with lorrys, while only 2% were killed by cars.
    The Agency then hired an Ornithological Behaviourist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of truck kills versus car kills. The Ornithological Behaviourist quickly concluded that when crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow to warn of danger. They discovered that while all the lookout crows could shout “Cah”, not a single one could shout “Lorry”

    • Yeah, I saw this when it was aired. Unfortunately, he’s pretty much preaching to the choir.
      Hubby has an employee who is vaccine hesitant. Her parents have stopped talking to her as they are both in healthcare, in one of the eastern provinces (a.k.a states).
      Hubby and I are glad she embraced Alberta’s redneck stereotype when she moved here (sarcasm).

    • I don’t watch a lot of sit coms. Of the 100, I’ve only seen three completely, and maybe the occasional episodes/seasons of about a dozen more.
      Their number one, I’ve seen a few complete seasons of, but no way have I seen the entire series, especially the newer seasons.

      • Yeah, I’m very hit-or-miss on TV shows, especially sitcoms, but there are a few I’m glad to see represented:

        Curb Your Enthusiasm, Taxi, Barney Miller (When I met Ron Glass in the bar at a Sci-Fi Con, I told him I was a big Detective Harris fan). . . Young me watched a lot of The Honeymooners and Burns and Allen in reruns, so I’m happy to see them too.

        And of course, The Simpsons was such a game-changer in its early days. I haven’t seen a new episode in well over a decade.

        • I would put Frasier higher than the Simpson’s, heck I would put Futurama higher than the Simpsons.

          But Spaced would be my No.1 sitcom.

  174. JW: Starman

    Watching with my sister and when the plot gets to the scenes shot in Meteor Crater and loudly exclaiming “I’ve been there!”

      • “ if you are waiting for the heat death of the universe, you might want to bring a magazine.”

        I find that “T-Shirt worthy”.

        • I can’t take all the credit for that joke. There is a Far Side comic of a man sitting alone on a cloud in the afterlife, and he states “I should have brought a magazine.” LOL

  180. Morning Pan
    The snow from yesterday has pretty much melted. If it’s nice enough, I might go for a walk later today.

    • Crap joke for the day:

      A bodybuilder was admiring his body in the mirror when he noticed he was suntanned everywhere but his penis. So, he went to the beach, naked, and buried himself in the sand with only his penis sticking out.
      Two elderly ladies walked by and saw this penis sticking out of the sand. One of them moved it around with her cane. She said to her friend, “There isn’t any justice in this world.”
      Her friend asked her what she meant.
      “When I was 20, I was curious about it. When I was 30, I enjoyed it. When I was 40, I demanded it. When I was 50, I paid for it. When I was 60, I prayed for it. When I was 70, I forgot about it. And now that I’m 80, the damn things are growing wild, and I’m too old to squat.”

  183. 2 episodes in for Jupiter’s Legacy.

    I may only be in for 2 episodes for Jupiter’s Legacy.

    Jupiter’s cock! This is a bad show.

  185. So we’re 2 episodes into season 2 of Dark. I highly recommend it, but there are a few things I wish I’d known going in:

    It’s a German language show, so be prepared to either use subtitles or English dub. We strongly prefer German with subtitles.
    It’s a complete mindbender. You almost need to take notes to follow all of the characters and their connections.
    In spite of the way Netflix marketed it, Dark only has a few superficial similarities to Stranger Things. They’re otherwise entirely different.
    It lives up to its name. The tone is Dark. There’s almost no gore, but a few moments are unnerving.

    • Seems that the data is still inconclusive on the vaccines’ effectiveness against the variants.

      Still. Wear a mask. It’s easy.

      • That’s the thing …
        The variants are here, there becoming prevalent in Fla (infecting tourists who take it back home with them) and we really don’t know what the implications are.
        One of the ways we will find out what this means, is by watching what happens to those who get it.
        I don’t see any advantage to being one of those test subjects.
        Mask up, keep a distance, play it safe and let the deniers volunteer to be the crash test dummies.

    • From what I’ve read, it still appears that fully vaccinated people are that vulnerable to the varients. However, fully vaccinated people could still be a vector to the unvaxed for the varients. If I’m around small groups who are 100 percent vaccinated, I won’t be afraid to be maskless. I’ll still wear one at the grocery store or any enclosed space with lots of strangers. But at this point, it is more done to keep them from getting sick than me.

      • Pretty much the same.
        I am fortunate that most of my friends are now vaccinated. So I would feel safe hanging with a few of them at a time.
        Certainly outdoors.

  188. So I haven’t seen any one story that puts this together but this is what I have gathered from the several stories I have read and an NPR report.

    Hackers did NOT shut Colonial’s pipelines down.
    They put ransom ware on the corporate computer system including the billing systems.
    Rather than take a chance on under billing a customer, they shut their own pipeline down until they could figure out how to manually bill folks. There was at least a weeks supply of gas already out there so they figured no one would notice.
    Someone noticed.
    So they released a statement about being hacked (worded ambiguously to let people think the shutdown was done by the hackers) and told everyone not to panic.
    Everyone is panicking.
    Because humans are idiots, around here at least, they crowded the gas stations this afternoon and were filling everything they could with gasoline because … HACKERS!
    Creating a needless shortage.

    Humans.

    • I’d love to see the venn diagram of the folks who go out and panic buy toilet paper, gas, etc. – – but who aren’t going to mask up or get vaxxed because they don’t “live in in fear.”

  189. Well, we caught the first episode of Jupiter’s Legacy this evening. I think it’s a pretty solid premise so far….seems something of a cross between The Incredibles and Watchmen.

    I expect to stick with it. It’s hard to go wrong with Ben Daniels.

    I guess we’ll see if I join team Lo Pan after episode 2.

  190. The day was a pile of shit.

    But on the positive,

    Tiffany made delicious cupcakes to celebrate the elder kid’s new job.
    I listened the Grizzly Bear’s gorgeous “Yellow House” album all the way through for the first time.
    We had a really fun Livestream tonight.

    Now, to the next ep of Dark, before diving back into the guhh.

    • Funny, I had no idea who Lady D was until reading the article. But earlier this morning I saw a post comparing Lady D and Christina Hendricks in a similar dress. I wonder why Lady D is trending?

  197. The Age of Samurai docu-series on Netflix is pretty good stuff. I’ve long found the 3 main “characters” to be pretty fascinating people, especially interacting with each other.

    • Tiffany and I were just discussing this. The article doesn’t discuss the variants, so – – that’s good news too?

      I’ll still mask up anywhere that requires it, or for anyone who feels uncomfortable. And for us, I’m still not going to risk my under 12-year-old unvaccinated child, so we as a family are still locked out of many of our favorite places.

    • Many years ago, a friend of mine who had just started at NASA was in a meeting where everyone was seated around a long wooden conference table.
      The presenter pushed a button and a panel in the ceiling above the table slid open and a video projector began to slowly lower and unfold itself.
      The meeting came to a complete stop as everyone watched this piece of equipment, servo motors whinning, maneuver itself into position. As it came to a stop, locking into place with a click, my buddy heard himself say out loud,
      “No Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!”
      Everyone just looked at him, crickets chirping loudly in the room.

      He is still MY hero for doing that.

        • I did a stint with Lockheed Martin that started with an internship. I am currently on my third career in life so this “intership” was completed when I was 37 years old. I was excited to be working with a bunch of engineers that would finally get my geeky humor. I don’t know what it is about Lockheed and the crowd they attract, but this was the least geeky group of engineers I ever met in my life. We had an icebreaker type event where you had to fill out a paper with questions like “what is your favorite book” and go around this cafeteria-sized room full of people looking for someone with the same response. All I could back from this crowd was responses like “I didn’t have anything for that one because I hate reading”.

          I will say that the people I’ve known from NASA were geekier than that.

          • Yes, I’ve had some lovely, super-geeky friends who worked at NASA. Their biggest complaints were about the bureaucracy.

  213. So watched the first episode of the new Amazon series ‘Underground Railroad’, based on the book.

    Enjoy is not the right word, but the first episode was interesting enough that I will watch all the series.

  214. Crap joke for the day:

    As a singer I sing at many funerals & I was recently asked by a funeral director to sing at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a Pauper’s Cemetery out near Lindale. As I was not familiar with the area, I got lost. Everyone that knows me knows I can be directionally challenged AND my navigation lost its signal.

    I hate Sprint!!

    Anyway, I finally arrived an hour late and saw that the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt bad and apologized to the guys for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn’t know what else to do, so I started to sing. The workers put down their lunch and began to gather around. I sang my heart and soul out for this man with no family and friends.

    As I sang “Amazing Grace”, the spirit began to move and the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished, I prayed a benediction and started for my car, my head hung low but my heart so FULL.

    As I opened the door to my car, I overheard one of the workers say, “I’ve never seen nothin’ like that before and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”

    Apparently, I was still lost….

    • You’re my boi, so just for you I hope it gets a season 2. Because I want you happy. And if you’re happy then I’m happy. And if I’m happy then you’re happy. And if you’re happy then you’re happy….

      For me it ain’t getting an episode 3 watch. Blech.

  218. File under: “probably just me.”

    The Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles trilogy books are among my sacred texts. I enjoyed the Tale of the Body as an oddball sequel, but never went back to it. And was kinda meh on Memnoch the Devil and Prince Lestat.

    Those 6 are the Core storyline, but you only really need to read the first 3.

    I’ve started Pandora, and am struggling. The first 12% is all seemingly unnecessary preamble. “I’m going to tell my story now…”

    Get on with it!

    I will stick it out til the end.

    • I don’t recall if it was “Interview With a Vampire” or “The Vampire LeStat” but one of those two was the book that got me to start reading again as an adult.
      It was MY cannon for all things vampire.

  219. Things I learned yesterday.
    1) Cold Chiros are extremely dissapointing. Oh, they smell as good as when they were fresh and warm the day before but… just so dissapointing.

    2) You cannot just show up at the Denver Art Museum and expect to buy a ticket to get in. ☹️

    • Have the rules changed? Cos the last time I was there a lot of it was shut for renovation and I bought a ticked at the entrance.

      • I know, in Calgary, a lot of places, like the zoo, make you pre-purchase your tickets on line so they can make sure they don’t have too many people in because of covid occupancy limits.

        • Exactly. That’s why they’re asking folks to buy tix online. It’s a much reduced COVID capacity still. You said it.

      • Had to buy on-line and well in advance. We were there 3 hrs before close on a Friday evening and they were “sold out” for the day. ☹️
        The Botanical Garden was Aces though!

        • I mean some places actually think COVID is still a thing… so…

          Not gonna lie I wish more places cracked down like that

          • I’m fine with it. Just wished when we checked their hours on-line… that fact had been made more obvious.
            I wasn’t the one who checked though so I don’t know what the warning wasn’t… but apparently it was not blatent enough.
            The Bot Garden clearly showed you had to get tickets on-line only and showed which time slots were available.

  220. I don’t have the background to understand much of what the fellow says musically, but this channel is still a fascinating rabbit hole into some iconic songs.

    This one is about The Police’s song “Message in a Bottle”

    https://youtu.be/KZnXYdKMs8I

    • These “expert analysis” videos are all the rage in my YouTube recommendations. I haven’t seen this guy, but I’m intrigued.

  224. Ok, so this cropped up on Facebook, if you own a front loading washing machine, does it have different RPM settings for how fast the drum spins during a wash?

    • Probably just as well. I expect with Warner/HBO/etc getting spun off from AT&T, my free HBO Max for being a Uverse subscriber will probably be taken away by then.

  233. Crap joke for the day:

    Two prawns were swimming around in the sea. One called Justin and the other called Kristian.
    The prawns were constantly being harassed and threatened by sharks that inhabited the area.

    Finally one day Justin said to Kristian, “I’m fed up with being a prawn; I wish I was a shark, and then I wouldn’t have any worries about being eaten”.

    A large mysterious cod appeared and said, “Your wish is granted”.

    Lo and behold, Justin turned into a shark. Horrified, Kristian immediately swam away, afraid of being eaten by his old friend.

    Time passed (as it does) and Justin found life as a shark boring and lonely. All his old chums simply swam away whenever he came close to them. Justin gradually realised that his new menacing appearance was the cause of his sad plight.

    While swimming alone one day he saw the mysterious cod again and he thought perhaps the mysterious fish could change him back into a prawn.

    He approached the cod and begged to be changed back, and, lo and behold, he found himself turned back into a prawn.

    With tears of joy in his tiny little eyes Justin swam to Kristian’s home.

    As he opened the coral gate, memories came flooding back. He banged on the door and shouted, “It’s me, Justin, your old friend, come out and see me again”.

    Kristian replied, “No way man, you’ll eat me. You’re now a shark, the enemy, and I’ll not be tricked into being your dinner”.

    Justin cried back “No, I’m not. That was the old me. I’ve changed…”

    “I’ve found Cod. I’m a prawn again Kristian”.

    • Our state house just approved a bill to make vaccine passports illegal. Then they added a provision that said private businesses could NOT require customers to have a vaccine to enter. (No ruling on shirts and shoes. Also this bunch supports not making you a cake if your gay).
      THEN, because they just didn’t think their dumb-assery was completely clear to EVERYONE, they add a provision that said schools could STILL require proof of vaccination… but only for vaccines that were required before Jan of 2020.

      • That’s a lot to process. Of course, my State is still looking for bamboo traces on our voting ballots. I wouldn’t be surprised if they also stated they were looking for traces of sweet and sour sauce.

      • It has ever been thus. I can’t remember the director’s name, but he did the first two Brendan Fraiser “Mummy” movies, which were a lot of fun with some pretty sketch CGI. Back in the days when DVD’s were a thing with director’s commentary tracks, I remember listening to the guy talk about all the scrimping and saving they had to do with the script and locations and all to get the movies made on the budget he had.

        The same guy went on to make Van Helsing a few years later with about triple the budget of either Mummy movie. He didn’t have to cut back on anything…resulting in a bloated mess of a movie that had no joy.

          • I’m not going to agree with The Mummy examples because I don’t think I could even finish the first one – – but your points are also really valid.

            Some other points in his (possible) defense: it was the 80s, following unexpected big success for his little innovative B-movie. It’s possible that the studio was interfering a lot, requiring the next one to be PG-13, have a ragtag bunch of kid heroes, have a Pop singer as a meh villain, etc.

            Also telling: 2 directors are named; it wasn’t just George Miller by himself.

            And hey, it’s bad, but not a complete waste. Still lots of cool little Mad Max moments.

        • I feel like this is a common thing. I’ve heard perspectives that I agree with in which the original 3 Star Wars movies where Lucas was far more constrained were so much better than Episodes 1, 2, and 3 in which he had seemingly unlimited budgets and no one telling him what he could and couldn’t do.

    • Who run Bartertown?

      Okay, Beyond Thunderdome isn’t as good as The Road Warrior, or Fury Road, or Mad Max even. But none of those others have quotes about Bartertown, right? Right?

        • I’m hearing that Army of the Dead is crap, although to be fair, my interest in it was close to zero.

          I’d defended Snyder, pre-BvS/JL. Great style and directing chops.

          I think I’m over it now, though.

          • I watched Army of the Dead last night. The movie wasn’t bad, but definitely didn’t need to be 2 and a half hours long. Also, the soundtrack was full of astoundingly bad remakes of astoundingly great songs. Definitely put me off. The plot itself and many of the character interactions made the whole thing seem like a SyFy movie with a big budget. But I like those SyFy movies.

  253. Things have been a little nuts. No one in our household, but we do have a close family member on the hospital. Not COVID. There’s cause for hope, but there’s also cause for concern.

    • You know, I never liked rom-coms.
      This is a lesson that rom-coms are not real life. If people acted, in real life, like they do in rom-coms, there would be arrests and restraining orders.
      I think she came away lucky.

    • Yikes!
      “Stalker” much?

      And putting this guy’s name and hometown on the internet like this may have endangered his life.

    • Thanks Jack. We lost our 13 year old dog today. It was a struggle with the vet at the end. He kept wanting to try more and more things to help her out but nothing was working and we honestly let her suffer too long. We finally put our foot down today and said we needed her to stop suffering.

    • I’ve made it to the third episode and feel like it finally got an interesting story line. I haven’t been motivated to watch more yet.
      I do plan to get back to it though.

  266. Morning Pan
    Our newsletter went out this morning.
    That was all the work I had for today. Now what am I going to do?

  267. So second jab today, and judging from my symptoms after a few hours I’m going to get side effects this time as well.

    Bugger.

    • I did as well. Mine started about 8 hours after 2nd shot and lasted about 24 hours.
      Well worth it.
      If they recomend a booster shot 9 months from now I will take that as well.

    • There’s a lot of folklore from my mother’s side of my family that has tales of encounters with Big Foot and UFOs. According to two of my much older cousins, they were riding bikes down a country road in Kansas and saw a flying saucer sitting in a field. They approached it and tried to see inside of it. They left for home and came back a few hours later and it was gone. Both cousins will swear that they are telling the truth. My own theory is that someone had a saucer-shaped piece of hardware, like a septic tank, setting out prior to being hauled off and buried, that they mistook as a spacecraft. It’s funny how many stories like this exist in the midwest.

    • Without checking, I don’t think I could name any actual Linnea Quigley movie, but I know I saw dozens of them back in the day.

      • I remember her best in Return of the Living Dead. Partly because it was a very memorable character (where many of her roles aren’t) and partly because I would bet that she spends more screen time without clothes than with them in that movie.

  275. Today’s movie is The Prodigy

    When her brilliant young son starts behaving strangely, a mother suspects something malovent is at play and goes searching for answers