1,005 thoughts on “Scroll For Initiative

  1. As terrible as last week’s X-Files was , this week’s was a damn fine X-Files. Old school to the max. The kind that’s a joy to watch. Know why? Because it’s a one off and not part of the shitty cock knockery that the mythology episodes have become

  2. A couple of big thinkers, led by Bruce Sterling, have made an annual tradition of starting the year with “State of the World” discussions at The Well, one of the longest-running electronic gathering places in existence.

    They don’t ignore the orange disaster in the White House, but they also don’t get bogged down in his swamp. It’s a lot of reading from a number of contributors, but it’s fun to tag along.

    https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/503/State-of-the-World-2018-Bruce-St-page07.html

    • He was disliked by coaches Tippet and Tocchet, but showed amazing flashes of talent on the ice, and was popular with the fans. I was eager to see him become a superstar – – but it looks like that will now happen elsewhere.

      Note to Coyotes management: he wasn’t the problem. This trade isn’t going to fix your disaster of a season.

  3. The skating rink consistently has hockey on a few TVs, Foxnews on the rest. The caption : “We are all created equal by God, Trump echoes King after s**hole comments” is there now under dipshit talking heads.

    Earlier, it was “Obama’s obsession with Foxnews.”

    • … and since we’re playing billiards –
      couldn’t help but notice that a Pennsylvania coal mine shut down today with 400 jobs lost.

      – After a big media splash 2 days ago about bonuses to Walmart employees, with no fan fare or notice to employees – overnight they shut down “Sam’s Clubs” all across America resulting in thousands of lost jobs.

      -Oh also saw where that the Carrier plant in Indiana that got millions of tax dollars in a well advertised, Trump push “to save jobs” … has laid off another 215 people. They laid off 300 shortly after they got their Trump deal. They have also announced that they plan to spend their 16 million “investment” on automation which should lead to further layoffs.

      There you go Trump supporters. Feeling the greatness yet?

      • JJ its real simple…. This could DIRECTLY (and it will) affect staunch Trump supporters and they wouldn’t bat an eyelash blaming anyone but him. They’d blame Obama, blame congress, blame other Republicans, blame Democrats, blame the Tea Party, blame China, blame “shithole illegals from shithole countries”. Anyone but him. That’s how he stays. That’s why he’s not going anywhere. That’s why they’ll never change their minds. We’ve got 3 more years of this no matter what….

        • Hey let’s be fair here, there’s a good chance they actually want to blame “shithouse illegals from shithouse countries.”

          All the difference, you see?

  4. These old legs are feeling a big stiff this morning. Group of friends from work had our sort of annual “Great Walkabout” yesterday. Almost a 19 mile hike. Came home, had dinner and a shower…and crashed at 8pm. Now it’s 2am and I’m not quite sure what to do with myself.

  5. A bit of an amendment…while eating and gathering the strength to stumble to bed, we did watch the first two episodes of the new “Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams” on Amazon Prime. Enjoyed them both. I don’t know the exact nature of the connection to Philip K. Dick – presumably inspired by writing. The first episode felt like it was inspired by Total Recall. I haven’t read enough of his work to say that it was tied to something else more directly.

    • Any list of funny words that doesn’t include “kerfuffle” just isn’t up to snuff. Someday I will name one of my dogs kerfuffle. Mrs. Asshat gets the next naming and has her heart set on “shazbot”. I’ll have to be content with “woofles” for quite some time.

  6. Lately M.A.D.D. Have been running ads about not drinking if you’re going to be operating a boat. I wonder if, in the summer, ads will run about not drinking while operating a snowmobile

    *shakes head*

  7. In other sad news I finally saw WW. I don’t get the love. Really don’t. I get the love of the character in this film as well as Gal’s portrayal ( brilliant) but this this acts just like an upper mid tier Marvel film complete with unmemorable big bad and great middle action piece.

    Just because this is light years above the other DC films don’t make it great. It’s fine and I’m sure I’ll watch it again and I know I will see any film which she’s the main focus.

    What confounds me is Jack’s (yeah I’m calling you out buddy!) love for this one while hating Captain America. IT IS THE SAME FILM. SAME! FILM! Now if you wanna say the character of WW is more enjoyable than the character of CA in that film, I could get behind that.

    But this is all just one man’s opinion. Bring on Van calling me a misogynist.

    • It’s not a perfect movie. The villain is awful (as bad as Red Skull in Cap), and her companions are straight from the “generic side characters bin.” But it’s definitely good. It also doesn’t have a guy’s big head awkwardly CGI’ed onto the wrong body.

      I think the “Girl Power” aspect is great, and a huge part of its appeal. And the scenes in No Man’s Land and in the village are fantastic. And Gal Gadot.

      • It’s that second paragraph I’ll agree with wholeheartedly.

        Like I said, they are exactly the same film in comparable quality and enjoyment.
        I think if CA was done today, that CG head thing wouldn’t be an issue. But hey it’s still light years beyond Tron Legacy’s bad young Jeff Bridges

    • I’m glad to hear someone else was underwhelmed by WW. It wasn’t a bad movie, but I’ve become very “meh” about most superhero movies anymore. Think I’ve been over saturated with them. WW seemed like every other superhero movie I’ve seen (including the same rehashed patterns I keep seeing over and over again).

      • I’m not going to call you a women hater Lo, well not over WW.

        The big thing was this was a film with a woman lead and directed by a woman. It deserves the praise it got. Hopefully it will lead to many more women superhero centred films getting the green light.

        I enjoyed WW, it was the only film (along with GOTG2 and TLJ) that I saw twice last year at the cinema.

          • I was (friendly) trolling a bit with that crack about Red Skull, although I did really dislike him – aside from his one moment of henchman mercy.

            Loki and Hela have been good Marvel big bads.

          • Disagree Van. As Jack said, Loki and Hela are great and I’d argue Baron Zemo from Civil War has been the most complex and sympathetic so far. Even tho Red Skull is a tried and true Marvel villain, he did kind of get tossed into the Marvel villain throw away pile

          • I think I said it at the time and will chime in again to say I was underwhelmed with WW. Not bad film but over all I’ve never had a desire to see it again. CA however I have seen again (on video) and enjoy it every time. It is just somehow more fun.

            AS for the “girl power” thing. Sadly, I don’t really care what the gender or sexual preference is of the people who make my movies. I just want them to make a good movie. I guess by the same reasoning … I think it’s stupid to deny someone the right to make film based on their sexual identity or preference.
            So with that as my baseline, I’ll cheer for “girl power” films getting made … but I won’t give them any more of “a pass” then I would any other film. (I’m looking at you, last THOR movie!).

  8. Justin Macumber, who some of you may know from the podcast world, passed away today. I only knew him through FB and the Podcast World, but he seemed like a good guy. One of us. RIP.

    Update: He appeared alongside me in the TOC of Dragon Moon’s “Podthology” anthology.

    • While I’m not sure which movies I’d kick out of there list (and I haven’t seen a few of them, so I can’t knock them just due to my ignorance). But these ones missing seems wrong:

      Blade Runner 2049

      Inception

      Edge of Tomorrow

      Moon

      Captain America: The Winter Soldier

      • I’d agree with all of these, Ed.

        The only one on their list that I haven’t seen is The Girl With All the Gifts.

        Van, you should see Attack the Block – – it’s fun. But I’m not even sure if it was in the Top 10 of films that came out in 2011, let alone a whole 10-year span.

        • It wasnt. IT was a lot of fun but not top ten. I’d actually recommend another similar film that came out around that time called Grabbers

  9. Member in the 80’s when parents freaked out about the band W.A.S.P and their overt Satanism? Who could blame them! Get a load of these unholy lyrics…

    I’m a wild child, come and love me
    I want you
    My heart’s in exile I need you to touch me
    ‘Cause I want what you do…

    *shudder* Thats eeeeeevil

    • The claims were that W.A.S.P. stood for either “We Are Satanic People” or “We Are Sexually Perverted.” The reality was probably more like one drunken band member said to the other, “Hey, let’s add dots to our name.”
      “Cool, man.”

      • I’m pretty sure I read in “Hit Parader” (looks around the room at people with quizzical looks on their faces) that Blackie Lawless was quoted as saying it stood for “We Are Sexual Perverts.”

        A kid that starts listening to W.A.S.P. is endanger of becoming a wild child.

      • I actually think one of them said that was the reason.

        “In a February 2010 interview, Lawless stated the main reason for the name was the periods. He claimed no band had ever used them before (although R.E.M. formed two years earlier) and, in essence, the periods created a “question mark of uncertainty” to make W.A.S.P. stand out more. “

    • I heard about him this morning. It’s alarming just how many serial killers are active all over the US, at any given time, especially when they’re found in your home state.

      And the guy’s name was Cleophus Cooksey. It’s like a deranged Lemony Snicket character come to life.

  10. My wife is awesome, and brought me a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf drink at work, while she was in the neighborhood. She’s done this on multiple occasions, and I will miss these little midday rendezvous when my office moves across town.

    • No. We got Escape From 100 Million BC instead. The Evolution games are on our want to buy list though. The problem is, there are too many shinies in games.
      We buy a lot less games since we’ve moved to Airdrie as there are no places here that sell games. We only buy about one game a month now. Easier on our pocketbook but doesn’t do much to shorten our list

  11. We don’t have a free weekend. Someone we were going to game with next weekend asked if he could switch it to this. We will be playing Lords of Waterdeep followed by Caverna

  12. The Last Jedi even better the second time. God damn I love this movie. And now that the government has shut down I’ll even have more time to see it! LOL hahaha

  13. And, Star Trek: Discovery proves once again to be some of the most mind blowing television being produced today. And considering what all is being produced, it is no small thing.

    Anyone else here watching the new Trek?

  14. BTW, I suppose I should also tout my defeat of the changing table. It got assembled this weekend. It was a PITA to put together, but no worse than I anticipated.

    • Ahhh. Javier Bardem and Johnny Depp are in there repeatedly for the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie as well. Seems it’s less about the quality of acting and more about them just picking on movies they didn’t like or find unoriginal.

      • Yes, it would seem that the snark of the Razzies is eating itself.
        I’d completely forgotten seeing that PotC movie. Some clever visuals, but obviously pretty forgettable.
        Johnny Depp definitely phoned it in, but Javier Bardem was good in his role.

  15. I missed out on the chance to see Blade Runner 2049 at the theater, but bought the Blu-Ray and watched it this weekend. I’ll add my full review to the Blade Runner thread, even though it is probably dead at this point. LOL

    • This is truly terrible news. I’ve reread A Wizard of Earthsea and the Tombs of Atuan a couple of times. The Left Hand of Darkness is the book I got for Xmas; I’d read it years ago and found it brilliant, was looking forward to revisiting.

      She was such a feminist powerhouse; it’s tragic she didn’t live long enough to see us emerge out of the trump dark age.

  16. So, here is a tale from the “odd” file.

    I know several people who attended the Kentucky High School that was the scene of the most recent mass shooting. Of course, they attended more than 30 years ago and it was a different building (they had since built a new HS) but this is relatively a very small community.

    Anyway … I personally know 2 women who, when comparing notes, discovered that they both had classmates from that school who are now currently serving time for murdering their wives. Other than being from that community and that school, these two men are not related.
    Weird huh?

  17. Ok, let’s see how many of these still work
    :alien:
    :angel:
    :angry:
    :blink:
    :blush:
    :cheerful:
    😎
    :cwy:
    :devil:
    :dizzy:
    :ermm:
    :face:
    :getlost:
    :biggrin:
    :happy:
    :heart:
    :kissing:
    😆
    :ninja:
    :pinch:
    :pouty:
    🙁
    :shocked:
    :sick:
    :sideways:
    :silly:
    :sleeping:
    🙂
    :tongue:
    :unsure:
    :w00t:
    :wassat:
    :whistle:
    😉
    :wub:
    :mush:
    :metal:
    :cth:
    :ftb:
    :drevil:
    :panties:
    :pan:

  18. SPEAKING of :colonoscopy: –
    after spending 2 hours and 3 minutes on the phone last night (I know because timer on my phone) with Verizon tech support we determined that a software glitch on their end had put my phone in “automatic call forwarding to voice mail” mode … but not to MY voice mail.
    Then eventually … our “troubleshooting” to try and get data and text messaging working corrupted my SIM card and the SIM card from another phone, even though I SPECIFICALLY ask … “this isn’t going to damage THIS SIM card will it?”
    All of this while I was enduring a low grade fever.
    It was a special time.

    Now I am off to the Verizon store where the misses Tech support lady promised me they would give me new SIM cards and make everything better.

  19. Today’s “TECH PBP”

    – back from store with new iPhone.
    – try restoring it from “back-up” of previous phone.
    – Get told that I have to update iTunes before I can do this.
    – Begin hearing ominous music in the background.
    – Push the “ok, update iTunes button” and get a message telling me that an error has occurred and the operation is canceled.
    – Background music begins to increase in volume.
    – Close App Store and re-open, Try iTunes update again and receive “jump scare” as error message pops back up.
    – restart computer
    -go to App Store and try again
    – success? It says it is installed. Try opening i tunes.
    – iTunes opens. Plug in iPhone. Get told iPhone cannot be used without a newer version of iTunes. WTF????
    – go to iTunes menu, “check for updates” – receive message “This version of iTunes is the current version.
    screaming at sky, fists clenched “KHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!”

  20. – takes a moment to reflect … remembers that all of this hassle (and last night’s wasted 2 hours) is all JUST in an attempt to get my communications capability back to what it was yesterday morning.

  21. Question: in the movies and shows I watch, often there is a “cleanse”, where sage is burned and the Lord’s Prayer is recited. Or, an exorcism using passages from the bible. What happens if the spirit/demon isn’t catholic? Or an atheist? I need to find a movie where the banishing is from a different religion

    • Fittingly, the AV Club gave the album a D. *hipstersigh*

      The fact that AV Club actually gave The Last Jedi a proper B+ confounds me

    • Meh. It’s like music. Every riff has already been done so once in a while there will be one too similar to one before. I highly doubt Guillermo needs to plagiarize. Dude’s full of ideas

  22. Holy…shit. this week’s X-Files was a fucking blessing from heaven. Seriously up there with classics like Jose Chung’s It Came From Outer Space. And yes… that Richard Nixon campaign poster in the background DID say “You can’t lick our dick”.

    Goddamn pleasure this one.

  23. I would have thought the temp would at least have to hit fifty before…

    It got a little over 40 today, earlier, while the sun was still up. Tonight, a little while ago, around 2:20am I got off work and drove straight home. Down the block was a big white pickup truck. The guy was parked there in the middle of a residential neighborhood, getting roadside assistance. No scratch that, more like curbside servicing. The… let’s call her the good samaritan, I guess. The good samaritan was standing on the pavement leaning into the cab, which I found an odd choice. I didn’t slow down or honk or anything, just drove home shaking my head at life in a college town.

  24. Cat is still hanging out by the door and pacing the windows. We still can’t see anything. There’s a bunny that hangs out in the back yard regularly, hubby and I figure it must have something to do with that

  25. Audacity was sketchy at first, but eventually its quirks were either repaired, or became tolerable.

    I’ve run into a new one recently, which has become really disruptive, and which may permanently end my longterm relationship with it.

  26. Schindler’s List. I’ve managed to avoid it for nearly 25 years— until today. The realism
    of its violence and genocide is too much for me to handle.

  27. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2018/01/29/musics-biggest-night-2018-grammys-were-out-touch-embarrassment/1074418001/

    I haven’t watched the Grammys in a long time as it seems to be a bunch of industry insiders trying to hype their established acts to drive sales. The article makes some valid points, but is Hip Hop really being snubbed? It’s not often that I would site Simon Cowell, but what he said about Hip Hop seems accurate. To paraphrase “Hip Hop” singers are usually also dancer/performers because the music doesn’t stand on its own.” Ouch. I would say that there are probably more musically adept “Hip Hop” groups out there, but for the most part, the ones given air play are the “safe” and “accessible” versions.

  28. X-Files. I have so many questions.

    I’ve not been an avid fan, but have watched over the years and feel like I know most of the main points, but now, as I watch the season opener, I have two big burning questions.

  29. Crap joke for the day:

    A Border Collie walks into a butchers shop and the butcher asks “What do you want?”.
    The Collie points to some steak in a glass case and the butcher says “How many pounds?”,
    the Collie barks twice
    “Anything else?” asks the butcher.
    The dog points at some pork chops and barks four times.
    The butcher wraps up the steak and chops and puts them in the dogs mouth.
    He takes the money from a purse around the Collies neck and shows him out.
    A customer who has been watching in amazement follows the dog to a house where he jumps up and rings the bell.
    The owner comes to the door and the customer says “What a remarkable dog you have there”
    ” Remarkable my ass” says the owner.
    “That’s the second time this week he’s forgotten his keys.”

  30. Review –
    Last Sunday I went to a Norman Rockwell exhibit and was surprised at my lack of knowledge about this American Icon.
    Turns out that for his most famous works he would more aptly be describe as a Commercial Illustrator” rather than what we would traditionally think of as a “Painter”
    Not to take anything away from his artistic ability but his work for the Saturday Evening Post was all incredibly scripted and laid out. He made extensive use of photography, often shooting hundreds of images of actors in costumes, props and even backgrounds before putting all the pieces together in sketches that would have to be approved by the “Post”.
    While the end “product” may have in fact been “product” he still had great artistic skill in how he put it all together, how he captured expressions and his overall painting style.

    Interesting is that he finally left the post because they wouldn’t let him grow beyound there product and in fact put censorship on him. His famous “4 Freedoms” for example.
    His original painting for “Freedom to worship” showed people of several faiths. The magazine axed that and had him go with some old white people praying in church.
    They also refused to let him show African American’s in scenes of “Normal America”. If they were included they were shown in positions such as a train porter.
    Some of the first pieces he did when he left the post was the very gripping “The Problem We All Live With ” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Problem_We_All_Live_With , “Southern Justice” and “New Kids in the Neighborhood”.

    I enjoyed the exhibition. I appreciate Rockwell’s artistic ability and love it anytime I learn more about something I thought I already knew about.

    I also couldn’t escape the irony that his work is often used as an example for those who want to “take us back to a better time”. “When America was like it is pictured in the Rockwell paintings.” … except it was never like that. All those images were very carefully and skillfully “made-up”, to sell a magazine.

  31. My commute jumped up from 10-15 minutes each way to 35+ minutes each way. Yay.

    I’ve had worse commutes before, but it’s the sudden loss of an hour from my day that hurts.

  32. Welp, a pedophile is dead by suicide. We should all be grateful; however, he is the second star of the tv show Glee to die at a young age. That show was fantastic on many levels. It was nerdy, it put a spotlight on bullying in school, being gay, and just being a nerd. All of the kids were talented singers and the show just gave me the feels every time I watched it.

    I’m saddened by the pitfalls of fame. I do wonder if Mark Salling would have been a pedophile even if he was never famous and was just some working schmuck. Probably so.

    Sad.

  33. Today I saw ‘The Commuter’.

    Liam Neelson is looking a bit frayed around the edges.

    If you look carefully you will realise it was mostly shot in the U.K.

    I’ve seen worse action flicks

    • I think Bill Nye is a fine human being, but I also agree that his appearance is bad move for exactly the reasons the article mentions. Space exploration is important, but not at the expense of the integrity of the scientific community.

      • And along these lines, I will not be watching the State of the Funyun. Y’all are welcome to comment on and discuss it here, and I’ll gladly join the discussion, but I get no knowledge or value out of watching the orange hutt blather.

        If anything memorable happens (like Bill Nye stands up and tells him off), then I’ll catch the highlights afterwards.

        • I agree with everything you and Rhettro said. Nye pisses me off sometimes, but I think he means well. This is a massive tone-deaf move on his part.

  34. On a different note, I wasn’t expecting much from this video talking about the upcoming Battle Angel Alita, but it was remarkably good, imo.
    https://youtu.be/RJ6dBpT4JcE

    Just in case, you should know there are a lot of spoilers for the manga series. It’s worth watching for both its insightful analysis of the failures of other anime adaptations and especially for the analysis of the treatment of female characters in movies in general.

  35. Watching some highlights of TSOTU I WILL give Trump credit, and this hurts to say, but I will give him credit for being a two face no truth fucker face shitty fuck.

    • I’ve only read their Top 3 – – and The Killing Joke. And 2/3 of Knightfall (not listed).

      I’d agree that #7 is the most intriguing of the ones I haven’t read.

  36. Netflix recommends Open House
    The write up: following a tragedy, a mother and her teen son move to a relative’s vacant home, where eerie and unexplained forces conspire against them

    Gotta look out for those eerie and unexplained forces

  37. I watched a series called Paranormal Survivor. Basically it was a serialized version of the type of movies I watched trying to pass itself off as real
    Anyway, cameras were often used to capture images of spirits.

  38. Hot water tanks do not work that way. The water doesn’t suddenly go cold if the pilot light goes out in the middle of your shower. It’s a tank! The water will stay warm until you use the tank up.

  39. My mom just sent me an email. The content was pretty bland. It was just to update me on how my grandmother was doing. The background however… it’s basically breasts, over and over.
    Sometimes my mother is just strange.

  40. Hilarious.
    Trump D.O.L. rule that would let employers take all of their employee’s tips and then divide them among all of the employees both in the front and back of house … was carefully written so that employers could collect all of the tips – and legally pocket the money themselves if they wanted to.
    One of a myriad of reports that the White House has had buried because the data does not match the stories they are telling.
    https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/labor-department-report-mysteriously-disappears-after-contradicting-trump

    • Apparently, he also called for Congress to grant anyone in his admin the power to fire anyone any time?

      Note: I’m repeating an unresearched anecdote here, among friends, so please do correct me if I’m spreading disinformation.

      • That may be eluding to something he said in his State of the Dumpster Fire address.
        He called for congress to give “every cabinet secretary” the power to fire ANY federal employee who they deem to offer dissent.

        Some are calling this “The First Purge”, comparing it to the movie franchise.
        Experts however, point out that this comparison is way off base as this purge would be EVERY day of the year.

          • … and as I read this, a news alert popped up on my phone saying that trump had approved to do something “dismissing objections from FBI, Justice Dept. and intelligence community”
            Where to begin – That he is paying no attention to legions of career professionals whose job is to protect this country? … or skip right to the fact that if it has “intelligence” in the name, he is already out of his depth.

  41. Dumb question but I dont know the answer, and maybe some of you do.

    Why does my cell phone receive spam texts? How did I make myself vulnerable?

    • Someone sold your info. Could be a school loan company. Could be a private loan you have. Could have been a number of places you ordered a product from online. Hell you could have just registered to win something perhaps. There’s a number of ways for companies that don’t give two shits about you to gain profit from selling your info. Dani got hit by Nelnet of all places. As if we don’t owe them enough in student loans they sold her info (which was wrong info of all things) and now she gets a shit ton of junk main send to her parents house. Just takes one fuckin place.

  42. My #FirstWorldProblem for today, well the past 10 days, has been not having a working washing machine. Issue resolved today! Woot

  43. So booked to go and see ‘The Phantom Thread’ today and now I’m like “WTF you have never liked any film Daniel Day Lewis has been in”…that.

  44. JW: Counterpart E3

    I’ll have to disagree with Ed on this one, i’m Loving the show.

    Great acting from JK Simmons as he plays two roles, the subtle way differences between the parallel worlds are being revealed and then there is the conspiracy being played out.

    Low on CGI and all the better for it.

  45. I must confess, for the first time that I can remember, we didn’t watch the Super Bowl this time.

    I must also confess that I don’t regret it one bit. Perhaps I’m just becoming a curmudgeon.

    The latest Star Trek: Discovery tonight was again quite excellent, btw.

  46. Fun fact:

    Ozzy Osbourne replaced lead vocals by Madonna on a Was (Not Was) song from 1983 which was then re recorded in 1991 adding vocals by Kim Basinger to make a true duet with Ozzy. While Madonna’s lead vocals were cut out she her voice was kept in the choir.

    Cliff note’s version: There is a song out there by Was (Not Was) that has Madonna backing up vocals by Ozzy and Kim Basinger.

  47. So … Black Panther. The previews are really leaving me un-interested. 🙁 It just looks like an un-inspired rehash of everything we’ve ever seen before in a super hero movie(right down to the “THOR, put one knee down and smash the ground knocking everyone away from you” shot) … only with an African American lead.

    I find myself committing to go see it ONLY because it is Marvel and because I want a superhero movie with an African American lead to do well in the box office.

    I am hoping it is just being poorly previewed.

  48. So, on the way home from birthday dinner with Boo last night, hubby and I were discussing dining places here in Airdrie. It was then we both realized, i’ll Be on a plane to Arizona on my birthday. Hubby says I can have two celebrations, one before I leave and one when I get back. I’m ok with that. :happy:

    • I liked the trailer. I’m happy there’s still a connection to the Extended Universe material even if Disney threw all that out. I agree with T Cat that the actor is trying too hard to walk in Harrison Ford’s shoes. It feels a bit forced.

      • I’m not sure what else you’d have him do. He s damned either way. Either he follows right in Harrison Ford’s shoes or he strays away from it and people freak out and say he’s too far from Harrison Ford. I prefer he get it too close than too far

          • Yeah. To be fair this is the first Disney SW film I am actually apprehensive about. I really think the May release date is going to throw it out of whack

          • I know what you mean. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. T Cat and I had a nice discussion about what kind of uproar would have happened had the original directors not been ousted. The word was they wanted to make something more like a slap-stick comedy. Can you imagine that?

          • Yeah, apparently the phrase “Ace Ventura” was used to describe the first approach to the Solo film. *shudder*

            Of course I’m excited to see this movie, but being honest, I’d have preferred if it had never been made. I don’t need a prequel filling in the details of Han Solo’s past. I prefer the mystique of him boasting about the Kessell run to knowing all of the details of it.

  49. Early reviews for Black Panther are very positive. Variety says “Now on its 18th film, Marvel Studios greenlights a movie that feels quite unlike the other Avengers one-offs, featuring a superhero with purpose”.

    Verge says “Black Panther is the grown-up Marvel movie we’ve been waiting for”

    And its goes. Tho I won’t read the actual review because spoilers.

    • The BP character and the setting of Wakanda are so rich. I hope the movie lives up to its initial reviews, and I hope we get a spin-off series.

  50. One of my fun new trauma side effects is that I’m now super-susceptible to others’ nervous energy. When dealing with some anxious people, I feel my brain either shutting down, or going into white noise mode. Yay.

  51. I got a last-minute invite tonight to see Hamilton tonight in Tempe.

    Wowza. My mind is blown — that musical was the most creative, modern, relevant, exciting piece of theatre I could have ever imagined. Phenominal.

    • I find this whole thing waaay cool! What’s the point of being a gazillionaire of you can’t put a sexy sports car in solar orbit? I mean … anyone can buy a dozen houses or their own Island or stick their name on a sky scraper.
      Not everyone is a Musk fan though. At last years mmmeet-up, several of you got to meet someone whose company designed the guidence and control system for this launch … but now they aren’t even allowed to mention they did so.
      Oh well. Such is life in corporate America.

  52. Also, Poland just made it a crime to call Poland complicit in the Holocaust. Literally if you call Auschwitz a “Polish Death Camp” you can serve jail time.

    I’m fucking done.

    • OK, exactly no one truly believes that Ringo was any good. I read the book from their sound engineer a few years back, though, and he felt like the important 3 guys were all good at their instruments. Sounds like Q is in the DGAF stage of his life.

      Funny that the Pryor thing was confirmed. I never knew he was bisexual.

  53. So I don’t want Jack and Rhett to fight over this…and I’m not saying ONE of them is definitely getting this… but I’m just saying….

    • Unfortunately, the one complaint about the lighting being phallic has stuck in my head more than I wish it to. Apparently they missed the symbolism of the 30 rings.

  54. I may have out-obscured even you guys (!?), with your collective cool stuff awareness.

    On ComiXology, I found a French comic (translated into English) set in feudal Japan, called “Samurai.” It’s pretty good! Reminds me of the old samurai flicks I used to watch obsessively.

    • All these years I’ve walked besides you but never touched you
      All ya tears you kept inside you, never cried
      The intersection of these moments, now boils over
      To forge a curios which I keep you inside
      Baby, baby, hold onto your mind
      Because your body just became more slippery

    • When the fantasy fuck bus runs out of gas
      There’ll be hell to pay for every lad and lass
      Who mismanaged their fortune for feeding their childish dreams

      And come apart at the seams

      Whatever made you evil in war
      Shall be discussed for centuries
      Whichever roads come to a fork between disgust and misery

        • I don’t know, so I’m asking…
          Are there really no American kids with humble backgrounds and a bushel of specialized talent in the Olympics?

          I recognize that no inner city Harlem kid is hitting the ski slopes with their custom snowboard….

          • I’m sure there are. I was being facetious. Although I really think 90% are privileged kids. And you’d be hard pressed to find any of the medalists with humble beginnings. I do know one team USA skier had to live in a tent on the mountain while he trained. He s also terrible.

          • Yah. So here’s the deal as I have experienced it.

            To get to that level of athletics, it has to be your life.
            Not a part time hobby. Not something you did “in season” with your school team.
            It is what you do.
            Your time is spent training and conditioning for your sport and then sometimes actually doing your sport.
            Then, of course, you have to train with the best coaches available. They do not live in your town. Unless you are really really lucky, they don’t even live within a few hours drive of where you live.
            This means you relocate … and have to have tutors.

            ALL of that means a HUGH out put of cash. Generally when you relocate it is just you. Because your parents have to keep their jobs to support you so they stay back at home. This means they are supporting at least two households. $$$ Plus your education $$$ Plus your training $$$ PLUS any equipment you need for your sport $$$ PLUS renting training time at a facility. $$$

            SO … in the United States, if you do not have access to a certain amount of financial backing, you will never make the Olympics.
            The kids you see on TV come from backgrounds where they had financial support and/or parents who were willing and able to give up their lives to the service of these kid’s training.
            These kids have lived a large part of there life in a bubble. Their day is very structured and all layed out for them to achieve this one thing. Everyone around them is focused on them and achieving this goal.

            So yes. If it seems like these athletes are not like kids who spent their lives hanging with other kids, eating cheetos and getting some sort of “normal” socialization it is because kids who did that, traded in their shot at being one of the best in the world for being “normal”.

            BTW – In other countries they have fully funded Olympic programs where, if you seem to have promise, you can get training paid for by “the state”. This is why they tend to have more athletes from “humble beginnings” … due to the isolation and focus of their training though, they still are not socially “normal”.

          • And this isn’t a problem in the summer games (save I suppose for gymnastics).

            So the fact that, as you say here, you HAVE to come from money in order to participate in the winter games makes me care about the athletes even less.

          • ???
            My experience IS about the summer games.
            Why do you think the training/$$investment is different?
            I think I have totally misunderstood what your complaint is.

            Are you talking purely about which races are represented?

          • Really? So an individual who is excellent at track has the exact same monetary background as an individual who’s excellent in skiing? Oh I think not.

            My point is SIMPLY from all the years I have watched the games the stories and backgrounds on summer Olympians are much more diverse and interesting. And yes, unfortunately race does have to come into play here.

          • I can give an UN-equivicable YES. A Track Athlete who makes the Olympic team has to have the same monetary support as someone who makes it in skiing.
            Where that money comes from for ANY of these athletes is as varied as each athlete’s story. Some have money from there own families, some get it from other familes or endowments. Track athletes can have the added edge of getting a sports scholarship to a college like Oregon … a school that almost doubles as an un-official Olympic training ground.

            Bottom line – 2 points I’d like to make.
            1) These athletes go through a large amount of competitions and qualifying events most people never even hear about just to get qualified to compete in the US Olympic trials. None of them are “given” a spot. They work hard for it. I hate to see people being disrespectful of the years of sacrifice that these athletes and their families have gone through to make the team … simply because they don’t like the way that athlete looks.
            It’s perhaps even more disrespectful to all of the others who made an identical sacrificed and yet came up just a bit short of making the team.

            2) To have a “diverse team” team you have to have a large pool of diverse athletes who are even interested in the sport to begin with. That usually starts with sports that they are exposed to by their families and sports who have stars that the can identify with.
            In the 92 Olympics, Japanese/American Kristine Yamaguchi Won the gold medal in figure skating. Suddenly a whole generation of kids saw a Gold medal Olympian who looked like them and said … “Hey, I could do that!” … sadly it was too late for most of them to make an Olympics … but THEIR kids have now been raised by parents who followed skating and thought of it as something to pursue. I don’t believe a third of my community is Asian American but at least a third of the kids at skating school are. Also … the US Olympic skating team has a large Asian/American contingent?

            I think what we are battling here is not an organized conspiracy but rather “social engineering”and “marketing”. If you want to speed up the “diversity” of winter sports you have to first convince massive amounts of kids from diverse backgrounds that those sports are “cool” and worth their time … more worth pursuing than all of the sports their friends are currently into and follow.

          • What I’m not clear about from your answer, J0e (and sorry if you answered this and I just missed it): if a dirt-poor American kid with tons of drive, passion, talent, and ability makes it his/her mission to make the Olympic team in their sport of choice, will they have a realistic chance?

            Obviously, everything is easier for kids with money – – and that includes athletics. But I’d worry if this dream is no longer available for kids below a certain wealth level.

          • So in answer to Jack’s question …
            It is a roll of the dice.
            Two things are at play here – do you have the talent. Can you get that talent in front of the right people.
            If you have the means to go to more competitions and more training camps you do give yourself the opportunity to show off your talent in front of the people who can work with that talent and give the a shot at making the Olympics.
            … but all the money in the world will NOT buy you the talent and the coaches at that level only need to see a kid once for about 10 minutes to know if they potentially have “the stuff”.

            Your concern that “this dream is no longer available for kids below a certain wealth level.” is sort of sideways correct.
            It is correct in that kids below a certain wealth level have less opportunity to get in front of the people they need to help them be the best. You are incorrect to think this is something somehow new though. Regardless of race or ethnicity there are thousands of potential superstars out there who will never get the chance to develop because one way or another, they didn’t have the means.
            In some ways the Soviets had it right. Scour the country side for potential prodigies under the age of 10 and then wisk them away from everything to start their training. It produced very dominant sports programs.

            When I found out how much it cost to participate on my local HS Teams I was appalled. $400 to be on the track team. Close to $2000 if you want to play baseball. How many kids have their possible dreams killed before they even get a chance. Of course if you are “star” potential, they find a way to help you meet those “fees”.

            I was just hearing last night that one of our Olympic Skating stars apparently had no means … but he got the attention of an Olympic level coach who took pity on him and let him live in his basement. The kid would sometimes take all the apples from the basket at his gym because it was all he had to eat.

            I also heard that one of our other winter athletes was working 3 jobs so she could afford to train.

            For what ever that is worth.

  55. A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for the greatest ice cream treat on earth.

    Humphry Bogart. Mary Astor. Peter Lorre. In a John Huston film…

    THE MALTESER MCFLURRY

  56. I just watched the Netflix doc on Gloria Allred. Totally facsinating. In the 90’s and early 2000’s, she would rub me the wrong way any time I saw her on TV.

    But, wow, what an amazing advocate she is for women, the oppressed, and for humanity.

  57. So in addition to that major life change that’s about to happen, I think I’m gonna scale back on mind-numbing distractions like phone games and FB. Nut cutting, just culling. I feel myself becoming stupid.

  58. Morning Pan!

    Good luck to the Mangans today.
    Here’s a story for you to remember when you are in the hospital. When I was in labour (I too was induced), the woman in the next bed over had her boyfriend with her. Whenever she had contractions, he would keep saying, “blow flower, blow flower, blow flower…”. I found it rather funny.

  59. Thanks everyone! It’s been hectic!

    Welcome baby Hollind Jackie Mangan. 7 lbs 11 oz and beautiful like her momma. Both ladies are recovering well from the C-section. Hail Caesar!

    Thousands of pictures to follow.

      • I saw it opening night (maybe weekend), pre-hype. I just remember my friends and I leaving the theater in stunned silence. It’s a near perfect movie. I’ve never understood the hate. I hope Cameron has another one this good in him.

          • It’s just uninteresting to me. Not a fan of the characters, really don’t like the story. Course I saw it well post-hype so I dunno.

            In other words:

            R U fookin blind? This was bullshit. This movie is bullshit. Youreede stup1d for even licking it,! “Stunned silese” HA! Cuck.

  60. For those Natalie Portman fans, she’s absolutely stunning in Planetarium. I know the language and subject matter will be hurdles for some.

      • The movie has a foreign film feel to it. It leaves a lot of questions and that doesn’t go over well with RT critics. It was an interesting plot, pre-World War II French film industry combined with the spiritualist resurgence (think Fox sisters if you know that part of history). And then you also get the bonus of seeing Johnny Depp’s daughter act.

  61. *driveby*

    oh wait, i’m not allowed to drive for two weeks. Grrrr

    BTW, the lil’ one already has a nickname and one of you will be so lroud.

    Little Bunny is my baby’s new name.

  62. Crap jokes for the day:

    How many Christians does it take to change a light bulb?……….

    Charismatic: Only one. Hands already in the air.
    Pentecostal: Ten. One to change the bulb, and nine to pray against
    spirit of darkness.
    Presbyterians: None. Lights will go on and off at predestined times.
    Roman Catholic: None. Candles only.
    Baptists: At least 15. One to change the light bulb, and three
    committees to approve the change and decide who brings the potato salad
    and fried chicken.
    Episcopalians: Three. One to call the electrician, one to mix the
    drinks, and one to talk about how much better the old one was.
    Methodists: Undetermined. Whether your light is bright, dull, or
    completely out, you are loved. You can be a light bulb, turnip bulb, or
    tulip bulb. Church-wide lighting service is planned for Sunday. Bring
    bulb of your choice and a covered dish.
    Nazarene: Six. One woman to replace the bulb while five men review
    church lighting policy.
    Lutherans: None. Lutherans don’t believe in change.
    Amish: What’s a light bulb?

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