Monday, November 04, 2024

Monday, Monday

 What are you guys up to?



Posted by at

21 comments:

Todd Mason said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
5:14 AM
Todd Mason said...

Still working on getting my sleep cycle normalized. One new HBO series I might not choose to look at again is IT'S FLORIDA, MAN, given the first episode (about someone who wants to hire someone else to literally sever and eat three of his toes while he watches). Not kink-shaming, but not something I need rather effectively acted out. Got about 10 minutes in, since I came to the series cold (other than knowing it was meant to be Comedy) and that was enough. Got too much TV to watch as it is. And a slew of new/old/reissued books have come in. Even the most violent parts of, say, PENGUIN aren't quite as fetishist as this debut episode. Bill Crider might've approved in concept, Jerry might not need any more reminders of certainly colorful locals.

And speaking of BATMAN characters, surely I'm not the only one who's noted that Tucker Carlson is edging ever closer to being a "real" version of the Joker?

5:18 AM
Todd Mason said...

Roxane Gay recs THE WOMEN'S HOTEL: https://audacity.substack.com/p/the-womens-hotel-by-danny-lavery

5:28 AM
Todd Mason said...

https://lesasbookcritiques.com/bill-crider-maintaining-his-legacy/

5:52 AM
Jerry House said...

As I have done for umpety-umpety years, I Fell Back this weekend...and landed squarely on my butt. I am getting too old for this change the clocks twice a year malarkey (you can tell I'm getting old because I'm beginning to talk like Joe Biden); my circadian rhythms have left the dance floor. Are they supposed to be getting rid of this nonsense sometime soon?

Speaking of getting old, I celebrated by 78th this past week. By "celebrate" I mean I got out of bed, checked the obituaries, did not see my name, and smiled. No birthday cake, but Jessie (who knows the way to my heart) brought over three large pies. (My kids and grandkids look at me strangely because I eat my apple pie with a chunk of sharp cheddar cheese; I fear that's showing my age again -- doesn't anyone else do that nowadays?) Despite my shambling ways (bad back, hips. knees. ankles, and feet -- I lurch like, well, Lurch -- I am in remarkably good health and fully expect to be around for at least another ten years.

For the past two weeks I have been having nightmares about the election. In my dreams, America has been turned into a dystopia's dystopia. I wake up suddenly and cannot return to sleep. Silly, I know. I have never been so negatively affected by current events as now. Yes, the election is said to be a tossup, but I truly believe Harris will win in a landslide. I've noticed that many of the polls that seem to favor Trump all come from the same sources and I suspect the questions used there were skewed in his favor. I have also read that a number of people are deliberately giving wrong answers when asked. And, really, how many "average" voters bother to answer phone calls from an unknown number?

Mark has named his new snake. Storm. I was pulling for "Bitey McGotcha," but Storm is a good name, too, I guess. Mark is currently working with the zoo's bird people and is being trained on various bird protocols. Albuquerque takes more of a hands-off attitude with the animals than the Gulf Breeze Zoo did; Mark is more used to walking around with a macaw on his shoulder. Nonetheless, he is liking the zoo more and more. The reptile people recently told the bird people that as soon as an opening comes up, they are going to poach Mark -- something that made him smile.

Walt finished installing the new floor in my room this week and we move from Mark's old room back into mine on Saturday. Most of the day was spend organizing and then going through ten big boxes of books -- sorting, shifting, and shelving. The whole effort did a number on my aforementioned back, and I almost fell forward (twice) rather than Falling Back for the time change.

Have been spending most of my time lying flat on my back (that's why there's no blog post today) trying to recuperate. However, yesterday was the final day of Pensacola's Greek Festival, so I got out of bed to go and stood an agonizing hour standing in line for the best Greek food in Northwest Florida. It was worth the pain.

More to come.

6:24 AM
Margot Kinberg said...

Waiting to see what tomorrow brings...

7:15 AM
Jerry House said...

Dang! My follow-up comments apparently disappeared somewhere in the interwebs. In brief, what I said was blah, blah, blah, and some more blah, and "Have a great week, Patti. Stay safe."

8:39 AM
Jeff Meyerson said...

I just accidentally deleted a couple of paragraphs here because I'm a moron.

I was talking about this being a busy week for us. Tonight we have Steve Earle's Annual Benefit for The Keswell School, where his non-verbal autistic son goes, at The Town Hall. It's the 10th benefit and the seventh we've been to. This year's main guest is Jackson Browne. In the past we've seen Graham Nash, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, David Byrne, John Mellencamp (last year) and others. We're staying at a nearby Marriott. We'll be home tomorrow in time for the election, though we already voted by mail several weeks ago. I'm hoping the big orange gasbag spends the rest of his miserable existence in prison, where he belongs, or at least fades away.

Saturday is our rescheduled matinee for the Broadway adaptation of Delia Ephron's memoir, LEFT ON TENTH. It didn't get as good reviews as the book (which I really liked), but we're looking forward to it, with Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher starring.

As mentioned, we watched the first series of the French series ISKANDER, set in French Guiana. The second is set on the French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which are off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada, where the main character grew up, and where her mother just died. We watched the final two part RIDLEY last night. I assume there will be a third series. Watching THE LINCOLN LAWYER and NOBODY WANTS THIS on Netflix. The final two CANDICE RENOIR episodes are available now, but the first was bad. Candice and Antoine are in Corsica and the rest of the team is not in it. We started watching SILENT WITNESS with series 8 (of 27, so far!) when Emilia Fox joined the show, replacing Amanda Burton. We're up to the final series of FAT FRIENDS. Finished series 6 of the SPOOKS (MI-5) rewatch. And many more. Watching TOTAL CONTROL, the Aussie political show, and THE LONG SHADOW, about the incompetent British police search for the Yorkshire Ripper.

Books I read HOPE TO DIE, the last of Cara Hunter's Insp. Fawley police procedurals to date. Really good series. Book seven is coming in May. Also went back and read Blake Crouch's time travel/SF RECURSION, which has a strong GROUNDHOG DAY feel to it. Got two Lydia Davis short short story collections from the library that I hadn't read before.

I am making a copy of this in case the blog eats it like it did last week.

8:44 AM
Diane Kelley said...

I'm hoping the startling news that Iowa may be leaning towards Kamala is a good omen for tomorrow's Election. Another omen: it will be 75 degrees tomorrow which should bring out more voters. That's 25 degrees warmer than Normal.

Patrick returned from Singapore and later this week he'll be flying to Costa Rica for another GOOGLE conference where he'll be making a presentation.

Diane is changing our house over from Halloween to Thanksgiving. The pumpkins are gone and the Pilgrim is hanging on our front door. We just sent our lawnmower and snowblower to be serviced. Stay safe!

8:45 AM
Jeff Meyerson said...

Happy Birthday, Jerry! I have my 76th in three weeks.

I think of Bill Crider every year at this time, as he filled his blog with anti-Daylight Savings rants that - so far - have not had the desired result. Maybe next Congress.

8:47 AM
Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday, Jerry. On my way to airport. Will talk later.

9:04 AM
Gerard Saylor said...

Happy birthday to Jerry. You're still younger than my mother.
A double dose of Crider today with DST and forthcoming reprints.
I finished reading the run of THE PAPER GIRLS, a graphic novel of four 12-year-olds caught in a time traveler war. I saw the adaption - one season only - and I enjoyed the adaptation more than the novel.
Also finished THE BOOK OF STRANGE NEW THINGS by Michel Faber. A well done story but ran a bit long and ending felt like one of those, "Ugh, I can't end this, let's just make the reader with a happy-ish end" endings.
Also checked out a recent reprint of GODZILLA and GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN. Two novellas written by the screenwriter after the first film came out. My experience with 1950s SciFi is limited, and that limit was self-imposed after reading some real dreck. GODZILLA has been ok so far and I'm enjoying it. A benefit is that I don't recall much anything about the film version.
Boy #2 came home for the weekend. He listened to some LPs he found at a used sale, hung out with the cats, ignored the dog, and generally hung out.

11:11 AM
Todd Mason said...

Well, the US cut of GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS, had a lot of younger Raymond Burr cut into it, and was pretty dull when Gojira wasn't slashing and burning, and generally wasn't very good; the second film was released in the US as GARGANTUA, originally, and was only somewhat tampered with in comparison, and thus was a Whole Lot More about what it';s like to be human ins the path of being bombed, or stomped and firestorm-breathed, flat...a much more grim and genuinely sad film, even with a giant lizardoid standing in for atomic and/or carpet bombing. Almost good on its own terms, as I remember it from seeing it as a kid, and nothing like the campfests of the color Gojira films. But these wouldn't be, even at their most sophisticated, the work to judge '50s sf novels by. Nor even Japanese sf of the time.
Bad blood between boy and dog?

11:53 AM
Todd Mason said...

Happy belated, Jerry! (Or did I wish a happy on the day? Days and nights coming and going in odd parcels). I don't think Harris will get a landslide, but I do expect Drumpf to lose solidly in the popular vote, as he has every other time and he has managed to be even more obnoxious than previously, so I believer he will lose the useless Electoral College again this time, even with the chauvinisms against an Indian/Jamaican-American woman as his opponent. Off to jail with Drumpf and at least a few of his cronies. Of course, in NJ, where I live, Drumpf doesn't have a snowball's chance. All the Democrats I voted for will win, and even the two I didn't vote for will win. (I voted for an impressive Green for the US House seat, but the relatively crooked Dem incumbent will walk back in past her, the goofy Repub, and a guy running for something and giggles while delivering pizzas at his day job. Hey, he got on the ballot.)

12:05 PM
Gerard Saylor said...

Not bad blood. Just that Boy #2 devotes his full interest to the cats and mostly tolerates the dog. I don't think the dog takes offense.
The cats were very pleased he was home.

12:46 PM
TracyK said...

Happy birthday to Jerry. I will be 76 tomorrow, so Jeff and I are close to the same age. I woke up this morning very anxious about the election, although I usually try to keep that under control. We are getting ready for a friend to visit on Wednesday, so I hope that will keep my mind busy on better things.

We are re-watching some older shows -- NUMB3RS and THE MENTALIST. Also THE ARK, a science fiction show. This weeked we watched CASABLANCA and the STARGATE movie with Kurt Russell and James Spader. Also featuring Erick Avari, Leon Rippy, and Richard Kind. Tonight we will be streaming some shows on Paramount: new season of NCIS, NCIS Origins, and MATLOCK.

This week I read TWO NIGHTS IN LISBON by Chris Pavone; I finished it late last night. I have read all of his books and liked them all. Most of his books have been about espionage; this one has characters in the CIA but is not really about espionage. Definitely not his best book but very entertaining. It could have been shorter though.

Glen is reading 1940: FDR, WILLKIE, LINDBERGH, HITLER—THE ELECTION AMID THE STORM. He says it is interesting, but slow going. The time period and the topics sound good to me.

1:37 PM
Gerard Saylor said...

I don't remember Richard Kind in STARGATE at all. Have not seen it in years though. My wife still watches the TV episodes.

4:09 PM
Jeff Meyerson said...

Happy Birthday, Tracy!

5:12 PM
TracyK said...

Thanks, Jeff. November is a good month for birthdays, usually.

Gerard, Richard Kind only had a small role (but well done) as one of the scientists at the beginning of the movie. We didn't notice it until we had seen him in later roles. We have watched the TV series at least 3 times all the way through and I am thinking of starting it over again soon.

5:55 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...

Happy Birthday, TracyK. I will be 77 in January. Had a great trip. Lovely weather, meals, a bluegrass bar, a French court drama, lots of walking and talking. The Lions won. Now if I can just have tomorrow go the right way...I am so anxious about that and the idea of civil unrest that may follow. Enjoyed Plainsong for the second time. Reading Oscar Hammerstein and the invention of the American musical. No TV to report this week.

10:48 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...

I never got used to the new woman on Silent Witness so I am like 20 years behind

10:49 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)