SORRY, BABY was at only one theater in the Detroit are. It was a good movie about our ability to overcome a "very bad thing" and get on with our lives. THis despite the fact she got no backup on her assault from the police or university. Worth thinking about.
Reading RAISING HARE, by Chloe Dalton. I knew nothing about hares before reading this and it is fascinating. Also reading ABSOLUTION BY Alice McDermott.
Watching PRIME TARGET on Apple. Finished POKER FACE. The second season had some real winning episodes. Could not finish DYING FOR SEX on Hulu. Still watching the series on the Mitford sisters. What a handful they were.
What about you?
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Have helped to take care of domestic rabbits (my first serious womanfriend's family had up to four rabbits at a time), which I suspect might run pretty close to raising hares (if less terrifying, for the pun).
The Mitfords at least knew how to strike their own paths, to varying extents. SORRY BABY's poster seems to suggest cats can help--film sound a bit grim if interesting. Cats and rabbits, and dogs and rabbits, can cohabit comfortably (perhaps mostly irrelevant here, but it can be adorable). Fighting off a summer cold, which led to me sleeping entirely too much of the daylight hours on Sunday. Watching Drumpf stamp his feet and whine doesn't exactly amuse, but anything that helps take away from R majorities in the Congress and state legislatures and governorships is at least an improvement, assuming we don't get a Whole Lot of clueless neoliberals/business-Republicans-lite.
First off, I am alive an well. My recent bout of guietitude was due to a pesky attack of ransomware. My reguilar computer guys were unavailable so I unwisely took my computer to a large chain store which shall go unmentioned (B*st B*y and their G**k Sq**d), an act for whiich I shall be kicking myself for weeks to come. I am at the age where I understand that faceless corporations live only for their bottom line but I am also at the age where I greatly resent this being done at the expense of timeliness and customer service. Grrr. "Nuf said. I have my computer back now and should begin blogging again tomorrow.
Walt dodged a bullet. We found last week that his job is not being DOGEd, and is good until his company's contract expires in October; there is every reason to believe that the contract (and Walt's job) will be extended for another year. That same day, Christina learned that her contract was renewed and that she will be folllwing her deaf student into the fourth grade next month. The only jobless one right now is Amy (she and most of the staff left when her company began making arrangements to be sold and began instituting drastic economic and policy changes); Amy had a good shot at several administrative positions with the County and should be hearing in a couple of weeks. And now that Trey has graduated and has received his engineering certificate, he is in search of steady employment
instead of his part-time college job. Mark had an interview with a zoo in Orlando but is not hopeful (he is extremely introverted and does not do well on interviews). He has been at the Albuquerque zoo for nearly a year and loves it but really wants to work more with venomous reptiles. He has applied to three other zoos, so we'll see what happens. Meanwhile, Mark keeps sending us picture. the lastest of a (very) newly-hatched so ugly it's cute raptor. It was next to two unhatched aggs. We asked if the other eggs would hatch but Mark wasn't sure; half an hour later he wrote bacjk to say they now had two new-lay hatched chicks. He also sent along a photo of him celebrating Ziggy the flamingo's first birthday. Erin also has a haboit of sending photos for her job at the animal clinic -- usually photos of tricky operations. The last was of an operation to remove a large tumor from a hedghog penis -- something I did not need to see.
Speaking of hedgehogs, Erin's hedghog Potato has a bad eye imnfection and may lose the eye. In the meantime, Sebastian the Russian tortoise has been hiding in his enclosure for several days and won't come out to eat. And Ben the bearded dragon has been refusing to eat mealworms. Hopefully this is just a seasonal thing with Sebastian and Ben. Walt also found an eighteen-inch snake in their bathroom with no idea as to how he got in there; Walt picked up the snake and re-homed it to the back year.
July is a birthday month around here. To celebrate Jack entering his teen years, Walt, Christina, Jack, and Jack's friend Robert traveled to Lake Chicot in northern Louisiana for a three-day birthday fishing trip. Lake Chicot is an alligator lake and NOT a swimming lake. Sadly. no fish were caught but Wlat did hook a dinner plate-sized turtle and Jack hooked a five-foot alligator -- both were released back into the lake. Nonetheless, a good time was had by all. July also marked Trey's birthday, as well as my mother's birthday and that of my late sister and her husband.
More to come.
I cannot express how relieved i am to hear that, Jerry. As is Todd.
Back again. Last week was National Ice Cream Day. For logistical reasons we were not able to get together and celebrate the July birthdays as we normally do, so Ice Cream Day was a good excuse to celebrate. We went to our favorite local ice cream shop -- Fanny Mae's in Pensacola - and most us had their "Flight Deck" (six small cones of homemade ice cream -- your choice); I went with peach, lemon, banana, salted caramel, cod=ffe, and one of their four types of chocolate. Yummy. We did not realize that it was also their Stanley Cup day -- where they fill up your Stanley cup with ice cream; customers and their Stanley cups were lined up beyond the door.
Christina just finished crocheting a sweater for baby Emma (she also crocheted a baby blanket). She wondered whether she should add buttons and wisely decided not to -- baby hands tend to grab things and pull. We'll be in Massachusetts in November to give Emma her soft, cuddly treats. In the meantime, Christina, Walt, Erin, and Trey will be headed to Virginai in the beginning of October to move his folks to Florida. Christina managed to score a bargain flight to Virginia for an incredible $40 a person; for that price I think they will be just be strapped to the wing. Walt's mother is very nervous about the move and has been calling at least once a day. Christina and Walt are exhibiting unhuman patience.
Caylee's wedding is Thusday and we are all excited. Wishing the happy couple a lifetime of joy.
Television is still not working. In addition to my computer problem, we also lost internet for a full day but I -- computer-less -- did not realize it. So what did I do over the past week or so? I read. A lot. Including a Michael Crichton binge: CONGO, SPHERE, STATE OF FEAR, and (with this brother Douglas, as "Michael Douglas) DEALING; or, THE BERKELEY-TO-BOSTON FORTY-BRICK LOST-BAG BLUES, as well as two nonvifction books, FIVE PATIENTS and ELECTRONIC LIFE. I also read the worst book ever published, TRIASSIC MOON, which plagiarized JURASSIC PARK, AVATAR, JAWS, and several other popular franchises with incomprehensible, unintelligible, and moronic prose, and was published as by "Michael Crichton" (or "Michael Chrichton." or "Michael Cole"); the actual author may have been "Shanewas Bhuiyan,' who may or may not be real, but is the actual name of a respected Indonesian academic. I also read Lee Goldberg's latest, HIDDEN IN SMOKE, two early (pre-Nero wolfe) books by Rex Stour, A PRIZE FOR PRINCES and UNDER THE ANDES, Mike Migola & Christopher Golden's fantasy BALTIMORE; or, THE STEADFAST TIN SOlDIER AND THE VAMPIRE, James Herbert's THE SECRET OF CRICKLEY HALL, Basil Copper's unproduced telepay COUNT MAGNUS (based on the M. R. James story), and James Lee Burke's latest DON"T FORGET ME, LITTLE BESSIE. (Burke has said that he thinks it's one of the best books he has ever written; as someone who has read every book he has ever published, I think he's right.) I also finished Fritz Leiber's collection THE BLACK GONDALIER & OTHE STORIES and Christine Bernard's anthilogy THE FOMTANA BOOK OF GREAT HORROR STORIES. I'm currently reading Stephen Graham Jones's THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER and am gleefully poking my way through Lee Goldberg's UNSOLD TV PILOTS 1959-1989.
Kitty was fascinated by the Mitford sisters, Patti; I hope you enjoy the series. Stay safe.
Jerry's back - yay!
Quiet week here again, and we'll be staying in again most of the next three days as the temperatures hit the mid-90s, with a real feel over 100. It's a benefit of being retired, you don't have to go out if you don't want to.
We got rid of the tickets for this Friday's concert at Jones Beach, a concert I never wanted to go to but Jackie insisted. Now she realized that she doesn't really want to see it either, so we sold our tickets and canceled the expensive hotel. Plus, we are too old to go to a concert that starts at 4:00 and runs that long. We do have two more concerts coming up in the first half of August. Frankly, I'm relieved.
We're off to Executive Members hour (9-10) at Costco, so will be back. Just wanted to welcome Jerry home.
Hot here also until Wednesday when I am hoping to go to the park concert. I have not been once this year with either rain or heat. A heck of a lot of reading Jerry. Clearly you have not lost your focus.
Enjoyed THE PENGUIN LESSONS on Netflix if you get it.
Western NY bakes under the Summer Heat and Humidity. We need rain badly.
Diane and I will be heading out to the AMC Theater to see THE FANTASTIC FOUR at a matinee. It took in $128 million over the weekend.
Patrick and friends saw Beyonce in Las Vagas. Destiny's Child also showed up. The night before, Patrick saw Kelly Clarkson in concert. He flies back to NYC today. Katie is going to meet with designer to discuss updating her kitchen.
Stay safe!
I've heard that Sorry, Baby was one of those somewhat-tough-to-watch-but-worth-watching experiences. And of course, it raises such important issues.
Oh, to be young and flying to Vegas. Of course, we never did that. We have had some rain but not enough.
Since there is so little space available in Brooklyn, our Costco is on two levels and does not have enough parking space (let alone a gas station). But now that they've instituted early hours for Executive members, we can go between 9 and 10 easily.
Anyway, we finished BALLARD (Prime) yesterday and it was pretty good overall. It was supposedly based on three early books, but I don't remember more than the vaguest plot, and couldn't tell you how much (if any) it was changed.
Now that we finished MONTALBANO and MAKARI, we found another Italian series, THE BASTARDS OF PIZZOFALCONE (MHz Choice, I think), which ran for several series. A bunch of misfit cops end up at a dead end precinct in Naples (where the series was filmed), and gradually pull together as a team to solve various murders. Nice scenery. As in Montalbano, Jackie noted how these run down looking buildings always seem to have these huge, gorgeous apartments inside.
LE CODE is a French series that ran two series. A top lawyer is shot in the head by a man mad because he successfully defended an insurance company that denied coverage to the man's daughter, who died. The lawyer is facing death himself, in a matter of months. Meanwhile, his estranged daughter was arrested for her second drunk driving and hit & run charge, and this time she severely injured someone. The firm also has other cases each episode. Two series of six episodes each.
THE GLASS DOME (Netflix) is a Swedish show about a woman who returns home from the US when her adopted mother dies. When she was a kid she was kidnapped and held prisoner for some time, and now similar crimes are happening. She is a criminologist in the US.
We watched the first (of five) series of the Norwegian PERNILLE (also Netflix), which we enjoyed quite a bit. Her daughters are pretty awful.
I'm enjoying the collection of Railway Detective short stories by Edward Marston, which George reviewed last week. Fun stories.
THE GLASS
Jerry, I am very glad to see you back also. I have been checking your blog all week.
I am fascinated by the Mitford sisters also. I am not sure about how much I will enjoy watching the new series but I am sure I will give it a try eventually.
My shoulder problem seems to be a bit better now and I am hoping to be able to do more weeding in the back area today.
Recently we have been watching THE MENTALIST, PROFESSOR T, and rewatching STARGATE SG-1. Last night we watched BEETLEJUICE, BEETLEJUICE. We did not like it as well as the original; the first movie was more humorous, not so dark. But I suspect it will benefit from rewatching.
Glen is reading three books, continuing with BORN TO BE POSTHUMOUS by Mark Dery, a biography of Edward Gorey, and PACKING FOR MARS by Mary Roach, about "space travel and life without gravity." He started a new short story book, THE ROOM OPPOSITE AND OTHER TALES by F.M. Mayor. The stories are mostly good, but there were a couple of the stories where he had no idea what was going on.
I finished reading OLIVE, AGAIN by Elizabeth Strout. It was a good read; some of the stories made me very sad. I liked the story about Jim and Bob Burgess, but for me it would have spoiled THE BURGESS BOYS book if I had read it first. I look forward to reading TELL ME EVERYTHING, after I have read OH WILLIAM! and LUCY BY THE SEA.
I am currently reading NINEFOX GAMBIT by Yoon Ha Lee, a science fiction book and specifically a military space opera. I purchased the book based on a short story I read from a book that Rick Robinson sent me several years ago. It is so complex that it is taking me a while to get through it. A review at SFF Book Reviews calls it "brain-breaking" but encourages the reader to stick with it.
Oh, yes, most recent addition was STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Frankly, I was not that fond of VOYAGER - Michael Burnham really was a very annoying character the first couple of series, at least. I love Picard, but his series was weak and so was he at this stage. STRANGE NEW WORLDS is set in the original timeline; in fact, Captain Pike was the Captain just before Kirk took over. The show has much the same flavor as the original, with modern technology six decades later> Uhuru is a young cadet here. And Pike doesn't have the worst traits of James Tiberius Kirk. Plus, Spock is here, and very like the original version. We like it a lot so far.
Glad to read that Jerry's computer is working again.
I'm planning to fly to Dallas for a wedding in a month or so. My first airplane flight in a couple years and I hope I don't get sick from someone else.
Started reading a collection of Mike Hammer short stories that Max Allan Collins put out ten years ago. I found it unused but used in a bookstore in Iowa.
Spoke to Boy #1 last night and he told his mom and I that he is planning to attend a rocket hobbyist event in Northwest Nevada. The rocket event looks to be exclusive to People Who Know What They Are Doing and Proved It Already. "a venue for projects that should NOT be flown at other events or locations due to safety considerations and potential altitudes. This may include, but is not limited to, LARGE rockets, complex staging or clustering, metal rockets, self-designed and/or fabricated rocket motors and new technologies being developed or proven."
Meanwhile, I have been stalling on analyzing the 2026 budget and need to send out the library's weekly newsletter.
Yikes, on the rocket event. Flying is difficult although certainly more reasonable financially than in years past. My drive to the airport for my trip to DC is as expensive as the flight. I liked every Strout book although Lucy By the Sea was my least favorite. Maybe because of the Covidness of it. I would like to see that Star Trek series but I think it is on Paramount.
Sorry, should have mentioned that. It is on Paramount +.
Tracy, let us know how Glen likes the Gorey biography. I picked up a copy several months ago and, depending on Glen's recommendation,I may move it up on Mount TBR. I have read one story by Flora Mayor and was impressed; I may have to hunt that volume down. I have tried several times to read Yoon Ha Lee and was not able to get through anything; I suspect that is more a deficit on my part than in his writing.
Remember when the only thing standing between you and a show was your choice to watch or not watch.
Very glad to hear that thinks were a lot more annoying than catastrophic, Jerry...Patti is right that, given everything, I was worried a bit. Worrying things happening everywhere, of course, along with the merely sad, such as Tom Lehrer's passing, even at 97 (and I hope it wasn't a miserable last year or several). I was just the right age to catch his latter-day songs from THE ELECTRIC COMPANY on PBS when they were new, but they didn't have his name anywhere obvious to me as a 7yo for me to recognize, except for the faintest memory of his voice, that this was the same man who recorded the THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS album of songs from the US version of TWT WEEK THAT WAS the series that I first heard in junior high years. It's been a busy day, perhaps more later...
Though toward the end of the broadcast/cable dominance, there was still the possibility one might not have a local affiliate of one or several of the proliferating networks/channels. Our cable system in Kailua, HI, didn't have MTV for quite some time, more annoying for me in making me miss some of their early comedy series than the music videos (perhaps a very few concerts).
Or, even, things. Nothing is good nor bad except that thinging makes it so...or sew.
Jerry, I will let you know about the Gorey biography. He is getting through it slowly. I may read it sometime after he is done.
I like Yoon Ha Lee's writing but I am having problems grasping what is going on. It is both confusing and very technical. I hope I like the book better by the end.
Twenty years ago, when I started blogging I did not assume bad things had happened to someone who disappeared for a week. Although on several occasions it did. I am thinking of Sandra Seamans but there were others.
I was introduced to Tom Lehrer from my mathematics father. He had one or two albums. He must have played one for us.
Nice!
PENGUIN LESSONS reminds me of TURTLE DIARY (1985) that I saw at the art theater in Champaign at the time. TURTLE looks to be available online. I really enjoyed seeing that when it came out and wonder what my reaction will be now.
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