1,007 thoughts on “Site Password: 1234

  1. I put down a deposit for a steam deck.

    Gulp!

    At least this one might actually arrive at some point unlike the ominous silence from the makers of Play date.

  2. We watched, and enjoyed Army of Thieves last night. I know it’s supposed to be a prequel to Army of the Dead, but it wasn’t a zombie movie at all. If you like heist movies, I’d recommend it

    • I preferred Army of Thieves and was disappointed that Army of the Dead didn’t continue with the characters. Also, that final vault was so disappointing after the designs in Thieves.

    • Truly a rock icon in breadth and depth. The number of projects he was a part of as well as the number of artists he guested with is truly astounding.

  3. Ok, now Steam isn’t even pretending. At least with some, the titles are more obscure to the game theme. But when “Elf Wives Cheat to Ride My Meat” is recommended, you know they have given up trying.

  4. CW: All Our Yesterdays – ST:TOS

    You know S3 gets a lot of stick but this is a cracking episode.

    Yes I did read the sequels by A C Crispin

  5. Props for attributing the animation style to Tex Avery as he is one of the all time greats. But I think they drop the ball (most likely intentionally) on attributing much of the interactive idea to the Dragon’s Lair video game. If you watch the preview the concept looks like most of the “hour and a half of animation” is the cat dying because you answered a trivia question wrong (muck like most of the Don Bluth animation in Dragon’s Lair is Dirk dying over and over because you chose the wrong direction or didn’t time your response correctly).

    https://geektyrant.com/news/trailer-for-netflixs-tex-avery-inspired-interactive-animated-project-cat-burglar-from-the-creators-of-black-mirror

    • I wish there were anyway to confirm these stories. Or maybe not, because for every one story that might be fabricated you know there will be many many who die in anonimity doing horrifically brave things.

      I read another about a solder who stopped an advancing Russian tank Collum by running onto the bridge and setting off the demolition charges while on the bridge.

      When this finally ends, Putin should be arrested and prosecuted.

  6. On a lighter note. . . .

    TIL: All of the spaceships on the Boston album covers are actually spaceships.

    I should have checked these more closely when I was younger, but oh well. Don’t look back.

  7. Yesterday was my busiest day in years.

    RenFaire all day. Huzzah! It was as crowded as the worst day I’d ever seen at Disneyland. All outdoors, except the mermaid exhibit, and they required masks and social distancing in there. The girls had fun.

    I did feel for the regulars. (The NY RenFaire was briefly a big deal for me, many eons ago.) The hordes of mundanes (including us) must have been rough.

    • And then a Bruce Dickinson spoken word show at night. Which was great (although Henry Rollins does it better).

      So two big events with big crowds in one day. The numbers and official guidelines say I’m good (because I’m boosted) – – it just feels weird.

    • Had a beer with a buddy tonight. He and his wife are friends with a family that lives in the Ukraine between the airfield the antonov was in and a fighter base.
      My friend is trying to get the paperwork through to get that family’s daughter out, to come live with them. The dad is undergoing treatment for cancer and can’t leave. His wife will stay there with him.

      There really aren’t words. Or maybe it is all the words. Either way-
      Fuck Putin.

      • One thing missing in the article and other complaints is that you can no longer backup purchases. That used to allow you to download a .cbz or .pdf of many titles. Obviously that isn’t in line with Amazon’s stance that you don’t own your purchases, so it is gone with this upgrade.

        • I’ve heard and agree with this complaint too. I’m shocked Amazon has never had a major competitor rise up on that platform: “If you buy it, you own it. We won’t take it away from you.”

  8. Looks like the new Batman movie is getting generally favorable reviews. At 3 hours though, I’d rather watch it at home than in a theatre. I guess I’ll be waiting for streaming options to check it out.

  9. Marc Maron: Did you see Power of the Dog, did you see that movie?
    Sam Elliott: Yeah do you wanna talk about that piece of shit?
    Marc: [ohh noo] You didn’t like that one?
    Sam: Fuck no.

  10. Morning Pan
    I think kitty has a sore tooth. I’m going to call the vet this morning and see if I can get her in.

    • Had this conversation the other night. For all of the mental deficiencies in the US and Soviet leaders of the 80s, in hindsight, they were pretty clearly never going to just go off half-cocked and push the button.

      Recent US and Russian leadership? Yeah, I don’t have the same confidence.

      But what are ya gonna do?

      • In the book Dead Hand, there is a story about Brezhnev watching an exercise for a nuclear launch where he had to press a button that was not actually linked to missiles launching.

        Brezhnev was nervous it would lead to an actual
        launch so the Generals had to keep telling him
        It was fine to press the button…

        • Yeah. For many of those leaders and generals, up until the 80s, they had actual exposure to war and its consequences. Now… not so much.

  11. When working on a collection of short stories, you can sure tell the American authors from any of the others. They are the ones missing u’s in their words as well as spelling words er instead of re

    This just means extra work for me as I fix them all.

  12. First real concert in years. According to the CDC and the experts and the observations from the medical professionals in my life, I’m good.

    Volbeat/Ghost co-headlining. Unfortunately, Volbeat didn’t close the show, so I had to hear their entire set. Eh, they were fine. Ghost, however, put on an amazing performance. It was good to be back.

  13. I don’t see this going over well.

    https://geektyrant.com/news/amc-theaters-is-charging-extra-for-tickets-to-see-the-batman

    Their argument = concerts and sporting events work by having you pay extra for better seats and more popular bands/teams, therefore we should be able to do the same thing with movies.

    The problem (IMHO) = if all other theaters don’t take the same approach people will just go to see a more popular movie in a great seat at a different theater for less money.

    • Another point here.
      If the theatre charges me more for a “better” seat, in my mind they have just accepted responsibility for a “better” experience.
      If someone nearby is talking or carrying on, I will be asking for a refund.

      Also, f$&@ that.
      I will wait and watch it at home with my own cocktail, snacks, bathroom.

      Theatres are correct in thinking that they need to evolve … but making the experience WORSE (in this case financially) is not the direction to head in.

      • “Theatres are correct in thinking that they need to evolve … but making the experience WORSE (in this case financially) is not the direction to head in.”

      • The home experience is pretty amazing right now. What can a theatre offer to sweeten the deal other than (manufactured) early access?

        • There strengths I can think of are-
          -Early release.
          -BIG screen.
          -Rich surround sound.
          -Seating for a LARGE group of your friends.

          Somehow they need to leverage that.
          Maybe some sort of “box seating” for you and your pals?
          I don’t know what else they can do.

      • And all this after everyone thinking that theaters were not going to survive COVID. I don’t understand the reasoning behind the super rapid transition from what can we do to get more people into the theaters to the power move they are trying now. Maybe back when theaters were still really popular. But not now when they are struggling just to get anyone to go.

        • I’m curious about the market research that led to this. Was it based on consumer polls or just speculation? Was there a trial run somewhere?

          (I didn’t read the article end-to-end, so forgive me if it’s in there)

          • Excellent point. They claim that they’ve been doing it in Europe for many years. The article also said that they will be rolling this out slowly so I imagine that equates to the Batman movie being their trial run.

  14. I need more info, but it looks like the torches and pitchforks for Sam Elliott may be a little bit premature.

    https://consequence.net/2022/03/sam-elliott-power-of-the-dog/

    I only know what’s here and in a handful of the comments. Sure, I cringe at some of his words, but I don’t get the sense that he’s going full Pence. Or even half-Pence. According to one commenter, he also praised “Brokeback Mountain” and past Jane Campion films. So maybe he just has a huge beef with this “Power of the Dog” movie?

  15. Sometimes work is all whiskey and cheesecake.
    Sometimes it all be like Bam! Lulled you in a false sense of security. We’re gonna make you hate your life.
    Then sometimes, like today, it falls somewhere in between.

  16. A brand new gaming store in Scottsdale. I went in to check it out last weekend.

    The place was packed! – – but it was about 70 dudes playing Warhammer at 10 different tables, with one table dedicated to Magic: The Gathering.

    There was one corner with a small selection of tabletop games, but otherwise, almost their entire inventory was dedicated to Warhammer and other games like that.

    Is this the future of nerdy tabletop gaming?

    • Meanwhile, AZ Game Depot, one of the better gaming stores in town, is closing down. Apparently it’s owner retirement, so at least their story ends happily.

      Now the only good one left (that I know of) is Imperial Outpost, over on Rhett’s side of town.

      • Yeah, Imperial is still going strong. There is a newer, but smaller game store by the Stadiums that seems pretty cool. Goat Games or something.

    • That’s been about what I’ve seen in the gaming stores in Orlando. I used to belong to a group that played table top games every other Saturday. Every time we tried playing in a gaming store it was us in a back room and metric asston of Warhammer people.

    • The Gizmoplex is mostly a rebranding of the old MST3K site at this point. There should be the first episode of the new season (Santo in the Treasure of Dracula) in week or two. I’m at a kickstarter pledge level where I’ve seen the episode and had a tour of what the Gizmoplex is going to look like when they get it fully ramped up in May or so. It will be pretty cool and there will be ways to have group watch parties. BTW, they really changed up the intro quite a bit and the feel is a bit different as they were forced to transition to really small sets with greenscreens.

  17. Speaking of hokey terribleness. . . 3 eps into TOS S3. Paradise Syndrome is playing right now. Kirk loses his memory and a Native American tribe on another planet think he’s a god.

    As bad as Spock’s Brain was, it’s a thousand times better than this one.

    S3, E2: The Enterprise Incident, was actually pretty excellent.

  18. Well if the intelligence pundits are to be believed, the Russian army will collapse by Sunday.

    Fingers crossed and all that.

  19. Even before I’d started this TOS full watch, I’d thought that “And the Children Shall Lead” was the all-time worst episode. I still have most of S3 to go, but after rewatching, I think it’s going to keep that title. “Spock’s Brain” is The Godfather, in comparison.

    • It’s unfortunate that one can’t temporarily forget all they have seen AFTER these were made. I think it would soften the perception of them.

      I sheilded my young ones from seeing any sci-fi until I felt they were old enough to watch/ grasp TOS. They were in elementary school.
      Then we did what Jack is doing and watching it through their eyes was magical.
      With nothing to compare it to, they took it for what it was and not for what it wasn’t or what it could be.
      I guess we can never really go back.

  20. Crap joke for the day:

    A defendant was on trial for murder. There was strong evidence indicating guilt, but there was no corpse. In the defense’s closing statement the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, resorted to a trick.
    “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all,” the lawyer said as he looked at his watch. “Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom.” He looked toward the courtroom door. The jurors, somewhat stunned, all looked on eagerly. A minute passed.
    Nothing happened.
    Finally the lawyer said, “Actually, I made up the previous statement. But you all looked on with anticipation. I therefore put to you that you have a reasonable doubt in this case as to whether anyone was killed and insist that you return a verdict of not guilty.”
    The jury, clearly confused, retired to deliberate. A few minutes later, the jury returned and pronounced a verdict of guilty.
    “But how?” inquired the lawyer. “You must have had some doubt; I saw all of you stare at the door.”
    The jury foreman replied: “Oh, we did look, but your client didn’t.”

  21. We watched West Side Story on the weekend. Usually I’m a fan of musicals but this one just didn’t click for me. It had all the elements. Beautiful set. Music. Dance numbers. but still…
    John said he didn’t really feel any chemistry between the two main actors. Maybe that’s it. *shrug*

    • I had a good experience with them some years back. I get the sense that was early in the game though and those who participated were people who were listing properties that were already short time rentals and the owners were actually “professional” about it.
      Now it seems over run with grifters and those who have no intention(or ability) of providing a good experience. They are just trying to grab some of that cash.

    • I’ve also never seen the movie. I didn’t care much for the song back then, but it’s impossible to dislike now.

      Definitely transports me back.

      • I like “Stay” but I have a weird feeling whenever I consider the songs of that era. A lot of overplayed sad women folk songs in the day. Do you know where your cowboys have gone?

          • Yeah, that’s the thing. I like female singers, I like folk music, it just seemed to me that radio stations were trying to make a scene happen, rather than let it grow organically.

          • I get what you are saying–and you aren’t really wrong–but let’s not overlook the number of women rockers from that era too. Bikini Kill, Tracy Bonham, The Breeders, Liz Phair, Elastica, Garbage, just to name a few. And I like quite a few of the “sad women folk songs” too.

          • Well if we are naming names …
            Courtney Barnett makes me want to violently destroy my audio gear.
            I’m a guy who likes “unique” vocal styles but hers just makes me HATE to the point of rage!

  22. Crap joke for the day:

    An engineer dies and reports to the pearly gates. St. Peter checks his dossier and says, “Ah, you’re an engineer — you’re in the wrong place.”

    So, the engineer reports to the gates of hell and is let in. Pretty soon, the engineer gets dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and starts designing and building improvements. After awhile, they’ve got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and the engineer is a pretty popular guy.

    One day, God calls Satan up on the telephone and says with a sneer, “So, how’s it going down there in hell?”

    Satan replies, “Hey, things are going great. We’ve got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and there’s no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next.”

    God replies, “What??? You’ve got an engineer? That’s a mistake — he should never have gotten down there; send him up here.”

    Satan says, “No way. I like having an engineer on the staff, and I’m keeping him.”

    God says, “Send him back up here or I’ll sue.”

    Satan laughs uproariously and answers, “Yeah, right. And just where are YOU going to get a lawyer?”

    • Little known fact – engineers have to be able to recite this joke from memory to earn their diplomas.

      It never gets old.

  23. I enjoy it when the high school senior declares at 11:15pm that she needs to print stuff for school tomorrow. . .

    . . . When the dead old printer’s corpse is still plugged in, and it’s refurbed replacement is still sitting in the box it arrived in yesterday.

  24. Stealing Van’s crap joke thunder:

    Woman: Do you have any batteries?

    Clerk: Yes, come this way (wiggles finger).

    Woman: If I could come that way, I wouldn’t need batteries.

  25. So according to an article in the new scientist, if you have a a garden and a slug/snail problem, make balls of bread dough and leave them
    In the garden. The slugs/snail will home in on the dough, allowing you to collect them and dispose of them.

    Personally I just let my little garden run wild and leave the slugs/nails to themselves.

    • Started to read. Fascinating that it could have been the first feature cartoon before Snow White, if talks hadn’t fallen through.

      I thought John Carter was fine. It reminded me a lot of Attack of the Clones as a messy big-screen CGI action fest. I’d have been glad to have more sequels.

      • There is a lot of that but I assumed it was do to all the water I am drinking.
        People keep telling me my head won’t hurt so much if I drink a lot of water.

          • Ha! I wish.
            Head is much better this morning.
            Think I’ll avoid the alcohol though. At least a few more days. I’m afraid it might bring back the headache.
            Shame too because this place is swimming in craft beer!

      • That probably comes with less headache ?

        Sunny but cold day.
        Taking my eldest around for her Birthday. Visited a pet store to get her supplies for her Hermit Crabs (only pet her landlord will allow).
        Went to an area called Arvada (sp?) which seemed nice. Visited a greenhouse and got a lovely, hanging plant.
        Stopped in her favorite Disc Golf shop “Another Round”. Got her a disc and one for me that she is going to hand dye for my Birthday 🙂
        Having a nice visit. Learning to live with less oxygen.

    • I have to admitt that I don’t know any specifics about Cosby’s crimes.
      I know the overview, he was convicted of drugging and then rapping a woman (women?).
      I don’t know how many, I don’t know when (was it something he did for a decade? Durring the “Cosby Show” years? His whole life?)
      I mean, I have heard a bunch of stuff here and there but I don’t think I’ve ever read a detailed accounting of what came out in his trail (trails?).
      Don’t know if I need to. Basically, after he was convicted, I wrote him off.

  26. Elton Dan show tonight. Not autocorrect – – it was an Elton John tribute show. The guys singing voice is nothing like the original, but the songs sounded great anyway.

    The show ended earlier than expected and right after “Sad Songs,” which felt weird. And I didn’t need “Candle in the Wind,” but it seems strange to do an Elton John set without it. I DID need “Funeral for a Friend/Loves Lies Bleeding” and I didn’t get those either. Oh well. I’d still see Elton Dan again.

    • Oh no!

      So many great roles. “Altered States” gets some oddball love .He was also great as Keanu Reeves’ braindead stoner buddy in I Love You To Death`

      • And of course, the gory details are coming out now. It seems he committed some heinous acts in the 1980s. Oh well, we can celebrate his great career.

        And the 80s was long time ago – – Hopefully he was able to make amends and become a better person in the following decades.

    • The last time I watched it, my reaction was “How the fk did anyone like this??”

      But that was awhile ago. I should give it a rewatch.

      I do recall that the Colin Farrell remake was completely forgettable. No pun intended.

  27. /Rant

    Saw Death on the Nile today, not too bad but bloody fucking hell can we stop AC adaptions, maybe adapt writers from the 21st century..just a thought.

    • I only found her books in the past decade, so I’m feeling the opposite. I’m good with well-produced adaptations for modern audiences. I liked Murder on the Orient Express, so I’m way down for this one.

      I know the pre-Branagh Agatha Christie shows and movies have a loyal fanbase, but they always seemed hopelessly dated to me.

    • Definitely some odd rumblings from across the pond today. I mean, aside from these couple of Kenneth Branaugh adaptions, I can’t say I’m familiar with any movies made from Agatha Christie’s works in the last few decades.

      On the other hand, it seems everything that isn’t a comic book movie is adapted from books written in this century (Hunger Games, Harry Potter, etc,)

    • How about adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland, A Princess on Mars, War of the Worlds, etc. Honestly I think we’ve had enough adaptations already of Sherlock Holmes and Alice in Wonderland. I’d like to see more Barsoom movies. And the last version of War of the Worlds was down right atrocious. But I think we can take from a variety of sources and time periods. It’s all in how well it’s executed.

  28. Having decided there was too much oxygen … we relocated to Breckinridge.
    Another day of headaches but that has past. Still trying to catch my breath.

  29. So. At the ER with my older daughter. She’s fine, but we’re just getting her checked out to be sure.

    She was crossing the street near our home and some sack of shit hit her with his car, then drove off. No one got any info on him, so this POS is off scot free. She was too scared to ID anything about him.

    I can only hope he crashed further up the road and was killed without harming anyone else.

  30. Oh look, she can do housework for the first time in several weeks.
    I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or not. *sigh*

  31. The husband took the wheels of his office chair. I know why he did it but it still makes the chair impossible to move when I want to vacuum.

    • Vonnegut is most likely always right. As for the theories in this article, I could never hope to fully wrap my head around all of the implications and any of them will be difficult to demonstrate scientifically so I think of them mostly as philosophy.

      Later in the article they talk about a different theory with a mirror universe in which time and entropy flow backwards. That one seems more like science fiction. I did love a David Brin book called The Practice Effect in which the protagonist finds himself in a world where time flows forward, but entropy flows backwards. I highly recommend it.

      • I wouldn’t even categorize the block universe theory as a “theory” since that should have direct, observable implications. In any case, it is an interesting mind experiment, but that’s about it imo.

        I think I’ve heard variations of the mirror universe for years.

    • The practical implication of that article seems to suggest that time doesn’t really exist if past, present, and future are all just “now”.

      I can’t say I find the proposal terribly convincing.

      • I don’t think they suggest that they are all now so much as that they are as fixed as x,y,z coordinates. The earth exists in space at a constantly moving set of coordinates. We can’t change that, but we can map it. They are suggesting the same with time (except that we can’t yet observe/map the future) The upside is a lack of paradoxes because traveling back in time would not change anything. The downside is that my dream of finding a way to bring my wizened adult mind back in time to inhabit my teenage head so I can avoid all my past mistakes (and make a whole new set of even dumber mistakes) is shot to hell in this framework. I’ll just have to assume a different framework. If I’m wrong, I’ll simply have to live my life all over again exactly the way it happened (ug).

    • I only know about her character because she was in Ultimate Alliance 3. I guess I understand that it would be hard to emulate her primary power without it looking goofy, but on the other hand that is her primary power. There was a Fantastic Four cartoon that came out in the 80s and they replaced the Human Torch with a robot because they didn’t want to constantly redraw the animated flames. This seems like the same kind of thinking.

  32. A few years back we upgraded our Amazon Alexa speaker unit to the new video version. The video version is now in the kitchen and the old Alexa speaker is now located in our television/office room. So last night we were watching a documentary on Netflix and there is a scene where a guy asks his Alexa to play a song. Our Alexa complied and we had his song playing on the television and our Alexa playing the same song a few milliseconds behind and we had this weird echo effect. Pretty surreal.

    • This is similar to why we had to change the “wake ID” on ours to “Computer”.
      I often keep the radio playing throughout the day and for a while it was all the rage to have commercials where the characters were asking their Alexa to do things. Ours would try to comply.
      I was not amused.

  33. OK. This is getting into the land of strange now. I have always really liked Vonnegut and his writing style. Slaughterhouse 5 is a definite contender for my favorite book of all time. I watched the recent documentary on Kurt Vonnegut and it has put me back onto re-reading some of his stuff. So I’m now in re-reading Breakfast of Champions. Today we had the Vonnegut discussion here about being unstuck in time. On a separate level, I like to find old movie that I might have missed. There is a movie called Slapstick of Another Kind that looks absolutely atrocious except that it is chock full of powerhouse people like Jerry Lewis, Madeline Kahn, and Marty Feldman. But I really like old crappy comedy so I decided to watch. The story is “A rich, beautiful couple give birth to deformed alien twins who, when their heads are together, are the smartest kids on the planet.” With the parents and the children both played by Jerry Lewis and Madeline Kahn. The special effects around the twins in particular look like this should be an MST3K movie.

    As I start watching the movie, the credits start and, lo and behold, it lists “in Kurt Vonnegut’s”. So I had to do some research. He is, indeed listed as the first name under “writers” (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088134/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0). I’m not familiar with the novel “Slapstick that it’s apparently based on, but I looked it up and it includes “Dr. Swain is a hideous man whose ugliness, along with that of his twin sister Eliza, led their parents to cut them off from modern society. The siblings came to realize that, when in close physical contact, they form a vastly powerful and creative intelligence.”

    So, wow, so much Vonnegut. It reminds me of the movie Repo Man where Tracy Walter’s character talks about the “lattice of coincidence” in which someone says “plate” or “shrimp” or “plate of shrimp” and you suddenly start to see “plate of shrimp” everywhere around you (at which point in the movie you start to see a lot of “plate of shrimp” references (side note: watch Repo Man if you haven’t yet. It’s insanely good). I feel like I’m going to see more and more Vonnegut all around me. And I couldn’t be happier about it.

    • I’ve somehow never heard of this movie(also haven’t read the book). It looks painful – – but I suppose Repo Man would look bad too, and it’s a favorite of mine (and it made a great Palooza).

  34. For those keeping score at home, I canceled ComiXology Unlimited. I’ll miss having access to all of those books, but the new interface is dreadful. It’s such a chore to find books, that I would be more frustrated than anything else. Also, it’s been over a month now, so I’m spite of some empty promises, they’re clearly not serious about undoing the damage.

    Sad, it used to be a great way to connect with comics.

    Sadly, ComiXology is the only game in town for digital comics that isn’t tied to one publisher (Marvel, DC), so I will still buy new books from them.

  35. Ah, the famous interracial kiss between Kirk and Uhura (not actually the first on TV, there was an earlier one).

    Sadly, “Plato’s Stepchildren” is one of the worst of all TOS episodes (though not the actual worst). Good gawd, so many cringey scenes.

    -Kirk and Spock performing Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
    -Kirk slapping himself.
    -Kirk making horsey noises while the little guy rides his back.
    -Spock dancing.

  36. Deadpanites you really should give Severance a try,

    Just saying, cough up the 5 bucks and bunge it on AppleTV+, it’s worth it..

  37. So does anybody else find the DP website getting slowing when you refresh or post a message?

    It feels looks I have a dodgy connection but a speed test on my mobile connection indicates it’s fine.

    • Absolutely. Rebels started off a bit rough, but by the end of it run had given us some of the best Star Wars ever produced. That episode was a high water mark that, sadly, most Star Wars fans likely aren’t even aware of.

      • I would never have completed the first season if I was watching on my own, but I’m glad I persisted. Rebels best moments are the best of all the animated shows.

        Ahsoka dueling Vader was not quite as great as this one – – but up there.

    • As someone who has coached both male and female athletes in the same sport, over more than a decade, I can say that this author is “cherry picking” an awful lot of data just to support their theory.
      For the general athletic community, my experience does not support their thesis.

    • I’ve heard plenty of Nightwish before, but somehow never listened to Oceanborn.

      Wow, now I get it. I’ve always just liked them, nothing more – – but this album is a masterpiece. Even those with Metal allergies might dig it.

  38. Talking of Vonnegut, there is a documentary called ‘Kurt Vonnegut Unstuck in Time” which is available on Hulu in the US.

  39. Looks like Amazon is taking some feedback into account for ComiXology. The backup your purchases function is back, but you do have to look for it. I haven’t noticed much improvement in the app itself. I’ve been reading my comics in the iOS Kindle app, mostly because it will mark what I’m reading in GoodReads.

  40. JW: Quiz Show

    Watching this decades later, the realisation hits that Rob Morrow did a Robert Redford impression through the whole fucking film.

    Sigh.

  41. Hubby’s home this week for spring break. It’s very had to work when he’s playing games on his computer. I want to play too.

  42. So I bought these minimal shoes that are cheap version of those shoes that are supposed to support your feet in a more natural way.

    Which basically means slightly wider and thin soles. They are comfortable though, certainly might make a good spring/summer shoes if they last.

  43. Crap joke for the day:

    A guy was boarding a plane when he heard that the Pope was on the same flight. “This is exciting!” thought the gentleman. “I’ve always been a big fan of the Pope. Perhaps I’ll be able to see him in person.” Suddenly, the man realized his seat was right next to the Pope himself!
    Still, the gentleman was too shy to speak to His Holiness.

    Shortly after take-off, the Pope took a crossword puzzle out of his carry on bag and began penciling in the answers.

    “This is fantastic!” the gentleman mused. “I’m really good at crosswords!”

    It crossed his mind that if the Pope got stuck, he’d ask him for assistance.

    Almost as if providence struck, the Pope turned to the man and said, “Excuse me, but do you know a four letter word referring to a woman that ends in ‘unt’?”

    The three Cardinals behind, in front of and beside him shrunk down in their seats, as far as possible, all looking for something on the floor.

    The gentleman was in morbid shock.

    He couldn’t breathe.

    He went within himself, thought deeper, longer for a plausible answer and after almost a minute, the dark clouds of evil parted in his mind and the sun shone in.

    Turning to the Pope, the gentleman said with reverence and politeness, “I believe, Your Holiness, that you’re looking for the word, ‘aunt.'”

    “Of course!” the Pope mused, not taking his gaze off the crossword. “You wouldn’t happen to have an eraser, would you?”

  44. I think hubby and I are going to switch cars. They’re the same year but, because he commutes to the city for work, he has almost four times the klicks on his than I do. We’re hoping, having him put the extra kilometres on mine will extend the life of both cars.

  45. Have there been any changes to the backend of the Deadpan site in the last few days? I use Feedly to get updates and it’s been acting odd for only this site. Instead of displaying all of the updates, it says I have x number of updates and only shows me one at a time.

  46. Went to bed at 9 last night (me!!)

    Was still up until 3am coughing, sneezing and feeling blecch. Good times.

    The test was negative and I never lost my sense of taste or smell, so I don’t think it’s that. Just crud.

    /end complaining

    • Get better man!
      In total selfishness… if you can, keep us posted as to how things manifest. Sort of “our reporter on the ground”.
      Though I too am triple vaxed and still mask (about 50% of the time)… I figure it’s “when” and not “if” before it gets me and I’d like to know what to expect/watch for.

      • So. . . . the full story:

        I assume I caught it at the Judas Priest concert last week (Tuesday). I started to feel congested and achy on Saturday. I took a home COVID test on Sunday (or was it Monday?) and it was negative. I even took LeeLoo to her first karate class on Monday – – we were all masked up the whole time.
        The symptoms steadily worsened as the week progressed. Achy, headachy, congested, tired, blecch. So I took a different brand of home COVID test last night, and it came up positive.

        Today I’ve done nothing but sleep, which I think has helped, but I’m not out of the woods at all yet. Yes, because of my vax status, I’m not worried for myself.

        I am concerned because LeeLoo has tested positive. She had a 101 temp last night.

  47. Big news from MST3K land. You really want to do that free registration for the Gizmoplex (https://www.gizmoplex.com/browse). I just got a backer update with this information:

    “Starting on MAY 6, all registered Gizmoplex users will be able to stream EVERY AVAILABLE CLASSIC EPISODE – that’s over 125 episodes from Seasons 1-10 – for free, and without ads!
    Yeah, you heard us: even if you don’t have a Gizmoplex Member Pass, you’ll be able to stream the entire MST3K classic collection for free, and – for a limited time – without advertising!”

    And if you are interested in season 13:
    “Grab a Season Pass ($135) before the SEASON PREMIERE on May 6, and you’ll also get a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD of Season 13 – worth $85 – for free!”

    Honestly, $135 for a season pass is a bit steep. But they are doing more than just new episodes. They are also doing live stream events each month and a bunch of other bonuses. Although probably still steep at $135.

  48. Little one is crabby today. Presumably because she’s sick.

    Me, I’m still coughing and blecch. Sleep just isn’t happening (worse than usual).

    Seriously fuck COVID.

    • That blows. Sorry about the little one. There is some data that if you have been vaxed and still manage to get Covid, your immunity will be stronger. How long that immunity lasts is still up in the air.

        • The science is on our side. Little ones tend to recover just fine. Vaxxed people tend to recover fine. But I don’t want to tempt the universe any further with any optimism. Last time I did that, I caught covid.

          For posterity: we were both trending in the right direction yesterday, we’ve both had worse days today. I am less achy, but more congested. Her temp is fine, but she’s very moody, which is not like her at all.

  49. One more complaint – – I had a coworker telling me on a call to take ivermectin, to “not believe the media.” It worked for him! Being a polite person, I just nodded and smiled. I did mention that I’d heard good things from people I trust sources about remdesivir, but this expert then told me to avoid it because it was full of side effects.

    Seriously, how did these people come to dominate our conversations? It’s like the smelly guy on the subway has taken over all discourse.

    • The same guy took over a company call during Texas’s big energy crisis to rant about “the windmills.” When a higher up said, “That was disproven immediately,” he retreated into more dogma, so everyone else, recognizing treacherous political talk ahead, dropped the topic.

  50. We watched the first ep of Halo. It’s quite a departure from the games and books, imo. But, it was enjoyable in its own right. I’ll just think of it as an alternate universe version. 😀

  51. Interesting look at what may have been going on in other countries to make it APPEAR that ivermectin was effective against Covid. (Narrator- “It was not”.)

    Fwd to me from my eldest, who is currently studying for her Masters in the bio-engineering world.

    https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdarpE6R/

  52. We finally watched Eternals.

    It’s really not bad at all. It’s not amazing – – but I feel like a few days with a skilled film editor, and you could have had something really excellent.

    Lots of parallels between this and Justice League – – even a few DC jokes – – but it’s far, far better than any of the DCU movies.

    The most far-fetched thing in this movie would have been Angelie Jolie’s enormous lips.

  53. Still fighting with my MacBook and Firefox.
    Every site I try to go to gives me a warning that says it’s certificate is bad and it won’t open the site.
    Tried-
    – Making sure computer’s date/time is accurate. It is.
    – Erasing every bit of cache, history, cookies… everything has been deleted.

    Still nothing.
    I know the sites are OK because my old computer will access them.

    Frustraighting

    • Covupdate:

      We have 3/4 of the household tested positive now.

      The littlest one seems to be recovering. Fingers crossed.
      I’m recovering, but still coughing more than I’d like. The worst part is the Covidsomnia. And of course, lack of sleep (worse than my usual) isn’t helping anything.

  54. I’m not gonna shut down talk of the Smith/Rock thing. I’m sure there are important things to be said about it.

    But jesus, I was already tired of it last night.

  55. So we watched the animated Aladdin tonight, and wow, it has not aged well. Even the Robin Williams parts were often seriously dated. (Hey kids, look, it’s Jack Nicholson jokes! And a Rodney Dangerfield impression!)

  56. If I can distract you from that Star Trek episode you’ve watched 100 times, The Last Days of Ptolemy Greyon Apple TV+ is also rather good.

  57. Speaking of Apple TV+, we did at least make it through the 2 seasons of Ted Lasso.

    Truly a special show. Took us completely by surprise. It surpasses the hype. We’ll have to find ways to watch future seasons.

    • I HATED Kennedy.
      Like, a lot.
      Like, so much that I WROTE her a letter (email did not exist at the time) asking if perhaps she wouldn’t find something else to do with her life. I believe I may have been a bit more acerbic with my wording than that.
      That is the only “personality” I have ever written to in my life.
      This is how strongly I disliked her.

    • Regardless of his recent track record – – on and off camera – – this guy was such a huge part of our formative movie and TV days. Truly sad news.

  58. I didn’t think I was going to enjoy ‘Our Flag is Death’, but 5 episodes in and I’m really enjoying it.

    On HBO Max in the states or you could go down the ironic route to watch.

    Cough

  59. We quite liked the first episode of Moon Knight. However, personally speaking, I don’t think it’s a show my eldest should watch

    • As a casual fan of the character, I liked it too. Intriguing premise, intriguing bad guy. The main character whose perspective we get is a bit of a cliche, but it works.

      Do you think there would be triggers for for your eldest?

      • Yeah, big time triggers. I’ve never made it a secret she has schizophrenia. She doesn’t have a split personality, but the voices and hallucinations were big time early on before she was diagnosed. She keeps them in check now but still…

    • I was afraid Teresa wouldn’t like it because of the time gaps, but she really liked it. I’m quite happy with the first episode.

    • Fun idea. It looks more like a social/party game than a “sit down in your chair and play alone” kind of thing. From their perspective, it’s a good idea.

      Will I play it if invited? Sure! Will I buy it? Doubtful.

  60. Yesterday I replaced the 3, burned out bulbs in my kitchen ceiling fixtures with three LED bulbs.
    Today they wouldn’t turn on. Took one out and put it in a different fixture and it worked. Put it back up and nothing.
    Resolved to take them back. Went to kitchen pantry for breakfast, turned on the pantry light and all three kitchen bulbs came on.
    I begin to suspect I am living in a 3 stooges episode.

    Can turn pantry light off and the other bulbs stay on. Played with it a bit. Sometimes 1 or 2 lights come on when their switch is flipped but to get all 3 I must flip switch in pantry.
    Internet turned up no hits on this so I call GE help line. Got routed to a technical person. She was amused at the situation and congratulated me for being the first to report this situation.
    Guess I need to scour the town for any remaining, incandescent, “Reveal” bulbs.

    BTW – after spending 2 days trying to trouble shoot my laptop, it still tells me every website’s certificate is invalid and just will not work on many of them even if I tell it to ignore the security message.

    I think I shall go out and pull weeds from the garden. I don’t think those are digital yet.

      • Yeah, it is either your light fixture or your circuit that connects your fixtures. I’m not an electrician, but my intuition is telling me there is some electrical resistance in your fixture or circuit. The extra power draw of flipping on your other switch is enough to overcome the resistance and turn on the bulbs. Imagine me telling you this in the voice of Cliff Clavin.

  61. A joke worthy of Van:

    A little dog goes into a saloon in the Wild West, and beckons to
    the bartender. “Hey, bartender, gimme a whiskey.”

    The bartender ignores him.

    “Hey bartender, gimme a whiskey!”

    Still ignored.

    “HEY BARMAN!! GIMME A WHISKEY!!”

    The bartender takes out his six-shooter and shoots the dog in the
    leg, and the dog runs out the saloon, howling in pain.

    Three years later, the wee dog appears again, wearing boots,
    jeans, chaps, a Stetson, gun belt, and guns. He ambles slowly into the
    saloon, goes up to the bar, leans over it, and says to the bartender,
    “I’m here t’git the man that shot muh paw.”

    • Huh, I have just been hearing “Convoy” in recent days. Asking google to play “Eastbound and Down” auto generates a follow on play list that includes this one.

    • Even that one had some differences, yaknow.

      I’ll grudgingly agree with the article, but that still doesn’t diminish my love for BR and MR.

      ASD is goddamned great stuff, though. No debate.

    • Half a million views in a few days. At this rate he might just make enough money to pay off what it took to make that guitar.

      And totally agreed about the talent it takes to pull this off.

        • Vai was at the last MHoF event in Jan 2020, getting inducted and inducting Satriani. He and his wife were clearly not open to stop and chat, so I didn’t approach him.

          Unlike the gaggle of fanboys who chased him everywhere.

    • I didn’t notice anything off about it. But I’m not a native British English speaker. I will say that after years of watching British comedies, I can (with utter confidence) say that the accent was better than Dick Van Dyke in Marry Poppins.

    • And (minor detail spoiler) some one even says to him at one point, “What’s with that accent?” I think, even if it is dodgy, they gave a workable excuse.

  62. Morning Pan

    With luck, (fingers crossed) I’ll do a movie on Friday. It’s been awhile, I know.
    I’m getting off some meds today so I’m hoping life will be back to normal

    • From the article –

      A week before Russia invaded Ukraine, Waters told an interviewer on Russia Today that talk of a Russian invasion was “bullshit … anybody with an IQ above room temperature knows [an invasion] is nonsense”; he has subsequently condemned the invasion calling it “the act of a gangster”, while also condemning “propaganda to demonise Russia”

    • If we start to go down that route, how many clarifiers would it take to describe “Yes” for any given album?

    • With season 2 of Picard airing, there seems to be a lot of Trek news lately. In my Facebook feed, an old friend of mine, posted about how he and his brother were on set to observe the taping of TNG S1E25 “Conspiracy”.

      He posted, “At some point when Patrick is picking up the phaser and the take is cut, he stands up and tosses the phaser II in the air end over end and catches it again by the handle.
      Mind BLOWN.
      Picard and Riker holding those phasers in that shot will live with me forever.”

      • I was on Reddit today and on the /r/startrek group, someone was watching Star Trek : The Motion Picture for the first time thanks to the Paramount+ 4K Remaster.

        The fellow was astounded that the movie featured the theme from Star Trek: The Next Generation

        I’ve never felt so old…

        • I remember how the decades felt distinctly different. 1984 was so much different than 1994. 2008 and 2022 seem about the same. Everything after the ’90s is just one long decade. That gives me a warped perspective on the passage of time.

    • When we visited the wonderful Space Center in the south with the wonderful JustaJoe, they had a bunch of these kinds of posters, referencing Stargate, different versions of Trek, Aliens.

      Who’s surprised that career space scientists are also nerds?

  63. Was going to do a movie today but woke up to a ton of work. Seriously, who drops a bunch of work on a Thursday evening?

  64. JW: The Duke

    An actual visit to the cinema to see this very British film. The geordie accents by the main cast were pretty good.

    Doubt you’ll see it on your side of the pond. ?but I enjoyed it.

  65. Today we were talking about porpoises and I made a Hudson Hawk reference. Hubby had no idea what I was talking about. I think I will introduce him to the (fun) hot mess that is Hudson Hawk. I wonder if it will hod up. I have my doubts.

  66. Took in the new 4K Remaster of Star Trek: The Motion Picture on Paramount+ . While still not a perfect film, it’s certainly much better than folks give it credit for. It’s based on the 2001 Director’s Edition, which I don’t think I had actually seen before.

    I do recommend it if you’ve got access. I also stayed through the credits to take in this bit of a 40 year overdue fix:

    https://www.facebook.com/michael.okuda/posts/10158334328617204

    • I’m definitely more Wars than Trek, but I’ve seen a goodly amount of Trek over the years. I remember people giving the first Trek movie a lot of crap for being slow, but I really, really liked it. It was visually stunning and I loved the concepts it got into.

      • I’ve never agreed with the common opinion that the first Star Trek is a bad movie – – but – – it is goddamn slow. That scene of viewing the Enterprise is majestic. . . then tedious. . . then oh my god, move on!!

        I recall reading as a kid that the Trek community felt that it was a fine Sci-Fi movie, but not really true to Star Trek. That’s why we got Wrath of Khan, which was more true to its roots.

  67. That Dark City article (I posted April 10) is pretty interesting. The parallels between Dark City and the Matrix are obvious, but I didn’t know DC was actually a direct influence on the Matrix.

  68. Well the ‘From’ season finale was rather short of anything indicating what the fuck was going on.

    Hopefully it will get a S2.

  69. For Mother’s Day, my Boo is using their 3D printer to make me a Majima statue. She keeps sending me pics of the work in process. The last one was of a bunch of limbs beside a Coke bottle. It was a little disturbing

  70. So, the eldest daughter wanted to see The Batman a second time, so I took her.

    OK – – it’s good. Way too long, but my interest held for most of it. Honestly, it waned* a little bit in the final chapter.

    All of the actors were damn good in their roles, yes, including Robert Pattinson.

  71. Ok, let’s see what Netflix has on tap. Whatever it is, it will just be a normal pbp. My brain is still getting off spreadsheet mode so isn’t feeling overly creative right now.

  72. Ok, today’s movie is Privlige
    The write up: Dark rituals. Family secrets. And a demonic evil lurking in the shadows. In this town, privlige comes at a terrible price.

  73. Just heard a version of “Billie Jean“ done by Chris Cornell. Oh my gosh it’s brilliant.
    You can’t dance to it …but so much soul!

    I am usually not a fan of covers but he makes it a whole new thing of its own.

  74. I had tickets to see KMFDM and Ministry in 2020, but time, cancellations, and reschedulings saw that lineup morph a bunch of times. It somehow ended up last night as Corrosion of Conformity, Melvins, and Ministry, which is a weird collection of bands.

    CoC were great. Never been much into the Melvins, but Buzz Osbourne’s “Sideshow Bob” hair was fascinating to watch.

    And Ministry was pretty unforgettable. It’s a miracle Al Jourgensen is still alive, but he seemed really energetic and lively at last night’s show. Turns out he’s a great performer. Man, that moshpit got going a bunch of times.

    • Sounds cool!

      Last weekend Tbird and I went to Tucson and saw the Megadeth, Lamb of God, Trivium, and In Flames show. The acoustics were some of the best I’ve heard. In Flames sounded incredible with new guitarist Chris Broderick. They played an older song “Behind Space” which I never thought I would hear live. Megadeth was pretty good, Dave still has most of his vocals and still comes off as sort of a dick. Trivium played well, but I think they are mostly an okay band. The big surprise was Lamb of God. I don’t usually listen to much straight-up death metal, but Lamb of God had an amazing energetic performance complete with pyrotechnics. It was so fun, Teresa was grinning ear to ear.

  75. CW: Columbo S1E3 Dead Weight

    If the scuttle butt is correct, Peter Falk was such an ark ward fucker on this that Eddie Albert called him an asshole.

  76. I saw a few authors complain recently about reopening their Google docs only to find that all of the previous day’s work was gone.

    Be warned.

  77. So our tax guy last year died unexpectedly. Very sad.
    He had a friend/professional relation reach out to cover his cases for this year.

    We agreed (We’ve learned that it typically saves money as well as time and stress to hire a tax pro. At least in the US).

    He didn’t tell us until a few days ago that he’d need to file an extension. Wonderful. He then said we were going to owe a lot. The number gave me palpitations.
    It’s going to hurt. This is going to be the most expensive year ever.

    I wonder if I can just put up $3 billion to buy Twitter instead of paying.

    • Ever since Bush, and then Trump, changed the tax laws to let you keep more money during the year, taking the standard deduction is a risky proposition. So we always have them take out more. While we still got a tax refund this year, it was a lot less than typical. My niece got into trouble about 10 years ago, owing something like 20k. They had to take out a loan to pay it back. Good thing Tbird has her CPA, that’s sort of a ridiculous requirement just to pay taxes.

    • We got into an under-withholding situation abut 15 years ago and had a pretty sizeable payment due for the day. Ever since, we’ve always made sure our withholding was high enough to make sure we get some kind of refund.

      I feel your pain, amigo.

      • I *thought* I did this last year, but maybe I never did.

        I’m going to reduce my take-home on my paycheck to $17 from here on out.

        • This reminds me of a joke I heard in college about the simplified tax return. Step one, record your total earnings for last year. Step two, send it in.

  78. Rob Zombie is great at slasher horror and has made some fantastic content over the year. I just can’t see how him doing The Munsters would work well. And I really, really can’t see how Sheri Moon Zombie would work as Lily. They they put Cassandra Peters (Elvira) in the movie playing a straight laced real estate agent. I think I’ll have to give this one a pass unless I hear from a lot of people I know and trust that it really does work.

    https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3711182/the-munsters-behind-the-scenes-shot-gives-us-fresh-look-at-sheri-moon-zombies-lily/

    • My two cents-

      The Munsters, which is a show I enjoyed very much as a youth, it’s just your very basic sitcom. It is loveable goofballs getting into shenanigans and straightening it out in the end because they have a lot of heart.
      It’s “Everybody loves Raymond“, wrapped in Halloween.

      RZ could surprise us but to date… he has shown no acumen or even any interest in that wheelhouse.

      I too shall avoid this unless I hear great things.

    • Very well said.
      I acknowledge that The Munsters was a dumb old sitcom, and is probably unwatchable now (I haven’t tried an episode in decades) – – but they did have a great look. The house, the car, the whole family. And yes, I did love it as a young TV viewer.

      I know every Munsters reboot attempt has tried and failed, and I expect this one to fail too. Zero interest from me.

    • I was interested in this but he didn’t tell me a lot more than I already new from watching movies.
      I would have liked to seen a comparison of the amount of explosive in each and also a comparison of lethality, given that the MK2 comes with fragmentation.

  79. I’ve reached the same scene that knocked me to the canvas during earlier drafts.

    It’s slapping me around again, though maybe not as bad.

    It’s a pivotal moment, so I can’t really just leave and come back to it.

  80. Going grocery shopping this morning. Normally hubby and I go together on Sunday but the silly store opened late yesterday because there was a holiday or something

  81. I’m going to complain again about this difficult scene.

    I know it’s gonna be great when it’s done, as long as I do it right – – but actually writing it properly is an exercise in UGGHH.

    Am I crying out for attention and validation? Possibly. I gotta vent.

    • “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”

      “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

      “There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you, and there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.”

      “All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

  82. Communication is key. I thought my boss was doing something, she thought I was doing it. I guess I’m doing it on an amazingly tight deadline.
    Note: not related to post above.

  83. *sigh*
    Work keeps hitting me. We uploaded an audiobook a few weeks ago for distribution. Turns out six of the eighty files didn’t upload properly. Didn’t find out until people started buying it and complaining about half chapters.
    Can’t blame the distributor as they don’t actually listen to the files, just assume they are correct. Can’t blame me because I get no feedback if the files are corrupted.
    *sigh* Just one of those things, I guess.

  84. Just looked out my window. There’s 5CM of new snow out there and it’s still falling.
    The cars are supposed to have the snow tires removed next week

    • “and in Russia, where the company lost another 700,000 subscribers after ceasing operations in response to the invasion of Ukraine.”

      At least it’s good to see that part of the loss is for the right reasons.

          • As he glances at the wallpaper, he focuses on its decrepit state. A large portion peeled back. “What is that?”, he wondered. There were markings on the back of the paper. No, not markings, RUINS! Were these left by his hateful mother? Was the old witch so paranoid that she would curse her very living space on the odd chance someone would come to corner her? Whether that was true or not, the paper, wallpaper holds a spell. One that may help him escape. God bless that cursed woman.

            Apologies.

  85. Waiting to see if a snow day will be called for schools. Even so, it’s possible hubby might have to go in. Schools cannot be left empty because there will always be some parent who doesn’t listen to the news and will still bring their kid in.
    However, since hubby has to take the highway into work, I’m hoping his VP will step up and go to the school instead.

    • Elementary, pretty much always went home. Mom worked so I was on my own to scrounge whatever I could find.
      Middle school was in an entirely different town so I only had box lunches then.

    • My first one was a beauty – – a metal lunchbox with images from Star Wars on it. Complete with plastic thermos.

      Replete with slightly sour milk smell.

    • I was mostly a brown paper bag lunch kid. I’m sure I had lunch boxes when I was really really young. But by middle school, anyone with an actual lunch box would have been ridiculed.

    • I disagree with some of these. Seems like a more appropriate title would be “great books have many themes. Here is why my choice of themes is more important than your choice of themes”. For example, his take that A Clockwork Orange was really about how settling down to a family life is the ultimate form of ultraviolence would seem to indicate that the theme of having the choice of good and evil (you, know… the one indicated in the title of the friken book) is totally unimportant and there really was only one thing to take away from it.

  86. I ran a test and all worked out well. Krull is one of my all time favorite movies and I even have a tattoo of the glaive. I recently watched the Rifftrax version of Krull and found I was just as happy to watch them riff a movie that I love as I was to watch them riff what I would consider a bad movie. I find this especially interesting as the Rifftrax crew are a bit more rough on the movies they riff and vocal about their distaste for a film. I still really enjoyed it.

      • I will not shame either of you guys for loving and even honoring that goofy-ass movie with permanent ink.

        I really want to see a spin-off detailing the torrid past love story between the spider-woman and that other supporting character.

        But please, don’t go NC-17 with it.

  87. Speaking of Paloozas….are we up for a Zoom call in the near future to discuss…something?

    I’m trying to remember the others that we picked.

  88. Today was x-ray day at the dentist. Both myself and the dental assistant hate that day. I have a small mouth and it’s always a battle getting the block in my mouth. I sometimes wonder why they don’t use kid sized blocks in my mouth for x-rays, it’s what they do if I need any actual work done.
    Anyway, no cavities, so that’s good.

    • The fellow strikes me as a bit of “doth protest too much” Just because something old was recognized as good or “classic” at some point, doesn’t mean it deserves to stay in our cultural pantheon forever.

      I have no need to drive a Model T to have a greater appreciation of my current car.

      His point about the books is particularly telling – it seems like a lot of those hang on in high school reading lists largely due to inertia as much as anything. And it has certainly cost us by excluding more contemporary and, dare I even say it, diverse reading choices from entering into our education curriculum.

      And, I’m certainly not saying that we shouldn’t consider older media altogether, as there is historical context to appreciate in some cases. That said, I’m not likely to ever read “Gone with the Wind” or watch “Birth of a Nation”.

    • This is like the opposite opinion of the music article that complained that new music had too much competition from old music “How can new musicians get a foothold when everyone keeps romanticizing the past?” Culture is very much obsessed with its own interest. The cinema of yesteryear was very concerned with its own time period, the same as today. What I think is different is there are so many forms of entertainment competing for our attention in the modern era, people will opt for what is familiar.

    • I think the concern I take away from this is that movies (and books) are being dismissed simply because they’re old and out of the pop culture scope.

      Sure, there are certainly plenty of old films, books, etc that can fade away at no cost to anyone’s “cultural literacy,” but there are also so many that are truly important – – on a small and large scale.

      Take “The Day the Earth Stood Still” from 1954, for example. It’s pacing is snail slow, its world is incredibly dated, FX laughable at places, but it’s also more than just a fun old romp to me. I’d feel like I was a less well-rounded pop culture geek if I’d dismissed it simply because of its age.

      Take: “Plan 9 From Outer Space.” Good gawd is it a disaster, but I’m a richer person for having seen it, with and without robot puppets cracking jokes at it.

      Or “Seven Samurai.” A 3.5 hour black-and-white 1950s movie with subtitles. Daunting, but damn, I’d be a different person if I hadn’t caught it in my 20s.

  89. How did I get roped in to coordinating Tyche’s entire programming stream for WWC? You’ve heard the term herding cats? Try herding authors.

  90. Well. That was — not fun. Complete white out in the highway between my place and the city. I I got into Calgary it was basically raining. Before Calgary…
    I hope it’s better by the time I’m ready to go back

  91. Currently wondering how many divorces have been precipitated by one of the spouses attempting to switch to a new cell phone on the existing plan.
    The horror
    The horror
    The horror

  92. Speaking of – – she’s 18 today! I can’t believe it. What a ride it’s been.

    I gotta say, I think she’s better than most of her generation, but if she’s any indication, then there’s hope for the future.

  93. We watched the first How to Train Your Dragon last night. I forgot just how great movie is. . . IIRC, the 2nd one was at least as great, if not better. These should be counted among the best traditional Fantasy movies of all time

    Never got around to the 3rd, but I think we’ll remedy that in the near future.

  94. In my limited spare time of late, I’ve been wanting to add some custom 3D models of my old hometown in Kansas. I’ve been scouring the internet for photos that I can use. This is how I stumbled on the article above. Well, I stumbled on another article that awakened some old memories, which I’ll link below.

    When I was 14, I worked at one of the two grocery stores in Herington, KS, a town of around 3000 people. Mostly I would stock the food isles and help bag groceries and help people load their cars. Herington was a pretty sleepy town with a lot of elderly retirees who took advantage of its low cost of living. One of the oddest characters that I can remember was a tiny disheveled woman in her late 60s. The thing that made her memorable was she would buy seven or eight of the largest dog food bags, the 100-pounders, and have us load up her truck. I remember doing this a few times and being 14, I remember that it was kind of an ordeal loading 700lbs of dog food at a time. I would try to make small talk with her, but she was quick to shut down any conversation. She became to be known as the “Dog Lady”, apparently she lived in seclusion out in the country and took in every stray dog she could. In December of 1983, she vanished without a trace and was never found. You can read about her here: https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2021/10/the-mysterious-vanishing-of-the-dog-lady-of-kansas/

    • So the series ignores the book and rather bases it’s contents on the movie version instead? That wouldn’t at all surprise me if they went that route even though I would bet that most of the people currently watching the series are familiar with neither. But more people would be willing to go out and watch a 2 hour film to gear themselves up than to read the source material. I have to say, as much as I love Bowie, that movie didn’t really move me that much. It was OK, but not much more than that.

  95. I got tagged with picking an “art film” for watching with some friends this evening.
    Knowing them as I do… I was looking for something quirky and a bit odd.
    I have suggested “Amélie” and am waiting to hear back but I am guessing they have seen it.
    Does anyone have any other suggestions along that line?
    These are people I used to watch things like “Eraserhead” with back in our 20s so I know they have a high tolerance for odd things like that and foreign films.

  96. While waiting for snow tires to be removed, Boo took me to her work where the animals live. It was fun. Unfortunately, the porcupines were on tour so I didn’t get to see them.
    I didn’t go into the creepy crawlers room though. Reptiles, birds, and mammals are good enough for me.

  97. So yesterday watched what I thought was the first episode in s2 of The Flight Attendant.

    All through the episode I was thinking ‘I don’t remember this from S1’.

    Turns out I was watching the second episode.

    Doh!

  98. Snow tires come off my car today. Bets on how long until our next snowfall? I’m thinking before the end of the week

    • I’ve probably posted this before but this seems like a good place to repeat it –

      If you have one billion$ invested in anything and get a ridiculously low 1% annual return – you will be getting paid over $1000/hr, every hour of every day.
      Asleep or awake.
      … and even if you have to pay taxes on that, at the end of the day you still have the original one billion to fall back on.

      At $1000 an hour… 24/7, loosing perspective seems almost inevitable.
      It is the sort of wealth that creates more wealth just by existing. It is like a fire that becomes so hot, any water sprayed on it converts back into oxygen and hydrogen creating more fire.

      Carting that a Billionaire might have to pay more taxes is like worrying about the sun burning out.
      Expecting that a Billionaire could emphathize with you is like thinking that the sun could empathize with you as well.

      *yes, you can always find AN exception to anything. It’s a big universe. Somewhere there is an empathetic sun.

  99. There. Ordered flowers for both my mom and mom-in-law to be delivered next week. I’m the good daughter… wait.
    I might be the only child, and child-in-law. I guess that makes me both the good and evil child.

  100. Stolen from a friend:
    The reason sex with a vampire doesn’t usually result in pregnancy isn’t because their sperm is dead, it’s because the vampire can’t come inside without an invitation.

  101. Took the fam to a video game con today. Slightly spur of the moment.

    Great great fun and silliness for all. Also extremely weird.
    Well, weirder than usual.

  102. Watched a video about the end of Game of Thrones and how terrible it was.

    And I’m irrationally angry again and how terrible that #@$)%*#@)$*@#)$(@#)$* ending was.

    Such a waste.

    • By all appearances, the GoT showrunners just rushed the ending so they could move on to their planned Star Wars trilogy.

      We’ll never know what went down between these guys and Disney (there is an official story), but in my preferred theory, Disney cancel their Star Wars project as a reaction to their mishandling of the last 2 GoT seasons.

    • Having rewatched the series a couple of times, I’ve softened a bit on the ending. It still wasn’t a great ending, but one could tell there were seeds planted on Daenerys’ good/evil nature. Teresa and I have mused that if that was the note they wanted to end GOT on, maybe it would have been better if Jon Snow joined her cause and together they would rule Westros with iron fists.

      • I don’t know if I agree with that last point… It seems like it would have been 100% counter to everything Ned and Jon ever were to have him turn evil.

        • “It seems like it would have been 100% counter to everything Ned and Jon ever were to have him turn evil.”

          And I agree, my point being if they wanted the shock of Daenerys turning evil, might as well commit and have Jon Snow go that path as well.

  103. Morning Pan

    Finished season four of Castlevania last night. Sorry to see it end. Hopefully the spin off will be just as good

  104. We finalized our pics for the CDN SF/F hall of fame yesterday. Of the three names, the only one you would probably know is Ed Greenwod.

  105. So Deadpan I’m in Ohio.

    I can confirm that if you don’t want to catch Covid flying is for now something to still avoid.

  106. Happy Birthday Van!
    An honor to share this day with you!

    My father’s side of the family were all from Ohio so here’s a tip … don’t say anything disparaging about a man named “Woody Hayes“!

    • I can’t argue with your logic. There are plenty of guitarists who can shred, but only a few who can play with emotion, and fewer still who can raise it as an art form that could rightfully be called a composition. Satriani is on that peak.

    • The only place I expect you to get heavy pushback is for the list of other great guitar players. Be prepared for a torrent of “let me tell you why … belongs in that list, and why you are a monster for leaving them out”.

      BTW, let me tell you why Alex Lifeson belongs on that list…

      • Thank you! Yeah, I’m prepared for some grousing.

        I recall trying to jam “Vital Signs” with a bassist buddy, and being absolutely defeated by Alex’s “simple” rhythm guitar parts. The bassist could handle Geddy’s sections, I just couldn’t hold up my end. Alex’s greatest skill is making it look easy.

        Imagine being as amazing as Alex Lifeson and being the least talented guy in the Rush!

        • Well there’s your problem right there. Should have started out with something simpler, like La Villa Strangiato. I think the time signature in that one only changes a half a dozen times or so.

    • Sadly, my depth of knowledge in this Dept would scarcely get your feet wet.
      That being said, “Surfing with the Alien” is the one, “Featured Guitarist” album that I own.

  107. So we spent over $700 to frame our Sandra Chevrier limited prints at Michaels. That was with a 70% discount applied. Custom framing is pricey.

  108. Crap joke for the day:

    Putin dies and goes to hell, but after a while, he is given a day off for good behavior.

    So he goes to Moscow, enters a bar, orders a drink, and asks the bartender:

    -Is Crimea ours?

    -Yes, it is.

    -And the Donbas?

    -Also ours.

    -And Kyiv?

    -We got that too.

    Satisfied, Putin drinks, and asks:

    -Thanks, how much do I owe you?

    -5 euros.

  109. A bonus crap joke:

    A guy sees a sign in front of a house: “Talking Dog for Sale.” He rings the bell and the owner tells him the dog is in the backyard.

    The guy goes into the backyard and sees a black mutt just sitting there.

    “You talk?” he asks.

    “Yep,” the mutt replies.

    “So, what’s your story?”

    The mutt looks up and says, “Well, I discovered my gift of talking pretty young and I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA about my gift, and in no time they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies eight years running.

    The jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn’t getting any younger and I wanted to settle down. So I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security work, mostly wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings there and was awarded a batch of medals. Had a wife, a mess of puppies, and now I’m just retired.”

    The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

    The owner says, “Ten dollars.”

    The guy says, “This dog is amazing. Why on earth are you selling him, so cheap?”

    The owner replies, “He’s just a big liar. He didn’t do any of that stuff.”

  110. I’m on my walk. A woman just approached me and asked if I had a cigarette she could buy from me. Since I don’t smoke, it was a moot question, but I found it strange all the same

  111. Ok, a question about window sills.

    Where you live do the bedroom windows have large or small window sills?

    The house I live in, almost all the windows (bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and downstairs toilet) have window sills large enough to store stuff on them.

    • The house I grew up in had some decent windowsills, but not large enough to store stuff.

      I haven’t seen many houses in AZ with windowsills.

      • I’m assuming you mean interior sills. From what I’ve seen, it depends on the country and the year the house was made. At least in NA, it’s become less common to put/store stuff on sills, so there’s no need or desire to make them bigger. I’ve seen it in much older houses though. Anything less than 40 years old and I’d be shocked if there were big sills in the house.

        • I’m thinking that might have had something to do with wall thickness? I know that older homes sometimes had thicker walls to provide better insulation given the insulating technology of their time.
          Also they often had real honest-to-goodness 2” x 4” studs in the walls. Add lath board and plaster on top of that and those made the wall thicker. Thicker walls would give you a larger window sills.

          • I would agree with this. In Florida, many of the homes are made with concrete block. Thus, my window sills are just slightly less thick than a concrete block.

  112. I’m becoming quite a fan of small(ish) museums. So spent this afternoon wandering around the Armstrong Air and Space Museum

    If you ever visit, the map full of pins of visitors locations, the pin near Newcastle was me.

    Gemini capsules were really tiny.

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