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1) At the grocery this morning and their clothing displays mirror the seesaw of our weather – puffy coats next to sundresses. It was so warm today than when I came back to drop the groceries off, I had to change into a t-shirt before I went out again, and it was barely 10 AM.

2) Had a nice piece of luck as well. The grocery was running a $10 coupon for $100 or more of purchases. I had to drop my partner off at work this morning because he had an all-day thing, and in the rush forgot to take the grocery list. So as I was putting stuff in the trunk I remembered I'd forgotten his celery. Went back and decided to pick up a few more things since I had the $10 coupon now. Got to the register and realized someone had left that same coupon sitting in the machine when they left! So I got the $10 off and still have my coupon for next week.

It amazes me how people don't bother taking their coupons. It's usually for things they're buying anyway and a free item is not unusual. And this was literally $10 in cash sitting there, when groceries are so expensive! I didn't even know what it was at first, just saw that someone hadn't taken their coupon and figured I'd look to see if it was something I could use.

3) Also on the grocery front, I have recently become addicted to Sumo oranges. Came across them during a sale, and got just one bag because they're pricey. Came back home with 3 the following week.

Oranges have never been my favorite, even though we had incredibly good ones growing in our backyard growing up. These are the closest I've gotten to those. I never end up eating only one.

3) As part of marchmetamatterschallenge, I have been going through my tv_talk comments in case I discussed much about a show (mostly, no). However it was a good reminder about a great many shows I watched which I liked and would recommend, but might not think of if someone asked me.

Some of these were strong throughout, and some long running ones have some weaker seasons but still worth watching. In no particular order, just as they came up on my entries: ( Read more... )

4) One of the things reviewing all these past posts made me aware of is how much more TV I'm watching, but overall with less enjoyment. Every so often I hit a show I would really recommend, but usually they fall into the "ok" category or I just nope out of it a few episodes in.

I think the changes in TV have a lot to do with this. ( Read more... )

1) I happened to catch the Heated Rivalry episode on NPR's 1A, and they mentioned these HBO stats: "The audience on HBO went from 53% women the week of December 22 to roughly two thirds women by January." This apparently refers to viewers and not signups to the service, so it makes me wonder how they know these demographics? Also, I would have thought new signups would be the bigger success rate for a streamer.

2) When we heard this news story on Wait Wait this morning, my partner said, "So it was Llama and Order" : https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/crime-fighting-llamas-catch-thief-by-surrounding-him-in-a-field-until-cops-arrive/

3) Americans now listen to podcasts more often than talk radio, study shows



What's interesting to me about this is that for a long time I had been reading articles about "when is podcasting going to break through". The surge in 2020 is unsurprising -- it's when a lot of people discovered podcasts, but then there's an immediate drop the following year. Meanwhile radio drops in 2020 because so many people listen to it mostly while commuting, which fewer are doing. ( Read more... )

4) Apparently we'd better prepare for a large wave of dementia patients in coming decades due to early wave Covid infections.

5) Had one of my best nights of bowling, at least in terms of outcomes. Normally my goal is just to break 100. I almost did so in game 1, did 114 in game 2, and 141 in game 3. This followed a 20+ minute delay when our lanes (which had been getting balls stuck all evening), stopped altogether and wouldn't lower pins. We were eventually moved to a different set of lanes to finish game 2 and do one of the fastest game 3s I've ever played. Paid off though!

1) Maybe given that Sunday morning's snow was light and disappeared when it hit the ground, no one was expecting it to stick. But it sure did. As a result, our complex had not salted stairs or sidewalks and had not plowed parking lots. And the local roadways hadn't been either.

The stairs had snow 2 inches deep on them, so I descended carefully Monday morning. The snow was very powdery so it brushed off the car easily. Funny thing though, the snow came from the southeast side. The other side of the car? Completely clear, no snow at all. ( Read more... )

I was thinking of how booking your own appointment online is rarely the convenience it's supposed to be. It's never worked for me at my medical group because I can't do it without inputting a mobile number. When I was trying to do it for car maintenance appointments, it would turn out the appointments didn't sync with the in-office calendar they had. And here, had I spoken to a person they would have known the doctor wouldn't be in on Monday at all.

2) Watched a multi-episode documentary on Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. I suspect that the various revelations would be unlikely to emerge with any living subject, or without the sort of research that went into it while they were still alive. ( Read more... )

3) First posted over at tv_talk, Paramount has just cut 1000 jobs and 1000 more job cuts are expected. They want to reach "$2 billion in expense cuts across the company." That's more than most companies and some countries are worth.

Job cuts after an acquisition aren't surprising. It usually happens in a frenzy, and some positions come back once the losses start leading to problems. But a line in this news story, as well as another article coming out the same day, made me start thinking about where big cuts are likely to come from.

"More than 800 people — or about 3.5% of the company’s workforce — were laid off in June, prior to the Ellison family takeover. At the time, Paramount’s management attributed the cuts to the decline of cable television subscriptions and an increased emphasis on bulking up its streaming TV business. In 2024, the company eliminated 2,000 positions, or 15% of its staff." (emphasis mine) ( Read more... )

4) Speaking of TV habits, a study about people's searching behavior finding content on streamers indicated 46% of those surveyed are having more trouble finding what they want, and are more willing to cancel their subscriptions because of the difficulties. Searching time can run from 12 to 26 minutes. Many users also use the Internet to find information rather than the apps themselves.

The answer for many companies is to embed more AI with an eye to making their services able to answer general questions as well as viewing related ones.

5) More streamers are using pause ads. Personally I don't mind these, especially if they only take over the screen as an opt-in feature. I pause stuff often for different reasons, and as long as the ads aren't interrupting my viewing, they can have the screen.

That said, there are plans afoot to use AI to tie ads into the show action as well as localize your viewing. "Amazon has begun to offer the format to local and regional advertisers, says Jenn Donohue, director of local ad sales at Amazon Ads. Commercials from regional banks or community grocery stores can often be extremely meaningful to viewers, she says, and “there’s nothing more important than making it very relevant to the experience that I’m having as a viewer.”"

1) I posted several things to everykindofcraft the last few weeks. We seem to have a good number of subscribers but could use more posts from them!

2) Watched Thunderbolts and thought it was ok. ( Read more... )

3) Picked up the question from kazzy_cee, Has the area where you live changed much over the last decade? ( Read more... )

One thing that happened this year that's been particularly curious is the disappearance of donut stores. ( Read more... )

4) Speaking of food, I made some very tasty burgers recently. This all began with an effort to find an air pump for our car tires.( Read more... )

5) Due to foot problems I can't walk much anymore but just a few days ago took a stroll to our mailbox center and was reminded of how a visiting friend said that she was so struck by the quiet of our apartment. And it wasn't that early, but I could hear the slap of my shoes on the pavement, the scratch of the squirrels chasing one another around a tree, crickets and birds chirping in the trees, and the wind rustling through the corn.

We aren't in the middle of nowhere. I also heard a train whistling a mile away, and if one listened closely the whoosh of cars on the nearby interstate was clear, as are planes and helicopters that pass overhead from time to time. But it was a wonderfully peaceful 10 minutes where everything outdoors felt very close and calm.

1) A few more trip photos posted over at common_nature, these of Oneonta Gorge.

2) Saw The Flash film and found it better than expected but also so-so. The big problem to me was the lead himself. Granted his character isn't really written to have any charm but a good bit of the humor fell flat for me, and when he was on screen twice as much it made it worse. ( Read more... )

3) Just an update about the bed situation listed in my last post. Everything went well! The youngsters delivering the bed had no problem with taking the old one down to the moving truck, and moving the other one to another room. ( Read more... )

4) A new wrinkle in the last few weeks is that during yet another heavy rain we got a leak near our front door. ( Read more... )

5) I quite liked this diagram of the interaction between entertainment production and fan activities. This came from an interview on Henry Jenkins' blog about a new set of textbooks for studying fandom.

1) We only spent one day in Portland, and M had to nurse her feet after all the walking required the day before. So K and I went to see the International Rose Test Garden which was supposed to have hundreds of rose varieties which were expected to be in bloom by mid-May. While some clearly were, the beds were hit and miss with many varieties not yet available. What roses were in bloom however were attractive to see and some of the blooms were huge. The garden itself though was smaller than expected.

Nonetheless despite the overcast day and the difficulty with parking, the visit to the park was worthwhile as it's overall a great feature of the city. We drove up to the top of the hill for the trees and the view, though none were in a spot where we could park and take pictures. ( Read more... )

Anyhow, discussing the cards made us discuss the Star Wars series as K had recently watched Ahsoka but found it confusing. I told her this seemed inevitable to me because so much of the meaning in the series comes from it being a stealth 5th season of Rebels. So we started watching. M really liked Hera and Chopper. K liked making the connections to what came later in Ahsoka. My partner and I had rewatched S4 before seeing Ahsoka so it would be fresh. But I hadn't seen the first 3 seasons for some 4 years or so.

I found it really picked up speed quickly, and I my favorite thing was the mentor and apprentice relationship between Ezra and Kanan. The first time around I'd seen it mostly from Ezra's viewpoint since we're in it for much of the series. But this time I was seeing it from Kanan's and really liked how well done this was. And while most of it was in the writing I also liked the animation and the small gestures and expressions. It was quite rich and certainly had a long arc.

We got all the way through S2 during the trip and it made me want to see S3 through as well. I remember how tense I found it watching the season finale the first time around because it seemed quite possible anything could happen.

3) The time since my return has been something of a headache. My partner's sister had a roof leak which damaged a mattress in the room where he stays on his visits. The roof has been patched but reroofing will take place soon. In the meantime he is planning to leave for Ohio around the 25th. After discussion we decided to have him take his current bed to Ohio as a replacement. (She has already removed the damaged mattress but the box spring is ok). That means a new bed on our end. ( Read more... )

4) In less important news, my 3 water weights arrived, 2 while I was away and the last after. The laggard proved not to be worth the wait. While my partner tested out the first two while I was away this third one has a poor design that had it leaking within an hour. I contacted Amazon to return it and they refunded me and told me not to bother sending it back. I re-ordered a second copy of the smaller weight instead.

5) We've signed back up to Apple+ and so are going to pick up new seasons of things and try out some new shows. So far we've started up the latest seasons of Slow Horses, Mythic Quest, and Pachinko and are trying out Buccaneers and Your Friends and Neighbors.

1) Will likely have more to say once the series ends, but wow, episodes 8 and 9 of Andor S2 are heart in your throat time.

2) Have been having the worst time changing my email on accounts. It seems every few accounts throw up some problem. Trying to change it on one of my credit cards was the worst because it sent me a phone verification call and it turned out...our phone was not working. This is the second time in the past year that this has happened, and because we don't use the landline for outgoing calls, we rarely notice until a call doesn't come through. ( Read more... )

3) Speaking of the prescription pickup, yesterday morning was also a mess. After I returned from the weekly grocery run the exterminator came by. My partner had forgotten it was his scheduled visit and was just getting out of the shower. (The exterminator kindly went next door first and came back to us). And after 5 CALLS (2 to the pharmacy and 3 to the doctor's office) over 10 days my prescription refill was still messed up. First my doctor's office never put in the refill order. Then after I got the pharmacy to request the refill permission they sent the wrong order which I got into an argument with the pharmacy tech about, because she kept insisting their 41 pill refill of a 90 pill order was correct.

I had to get the doctor's office to change the dosage instruction which was causing the pharmacy to limit the pills. Then they only sent in one of the two dosage refills so I had to call them again. Then several days later I had to call a third time because no one at the doctor's office had done anything and I'm down to my last pills (even though I still had a 21 day supply when I went to see the doctor!) so the admin person said she was putting an emergency rush on it. And they did but the pharmacy still gave me 45 pills for a 90 day order leading to my second call to them to fix that!

The original refill requests were the SAME ones already in the system, so why they all insisted on making these changes I just don't know! I swear an automated system would have been faster, especially since a 90 day prescription means they can just give me a whole bottle and don't even need to count anything out!

4) Speaking of emails, I didn't even twig to this scam at first because legitimate accounts keep sending emails to the old email 6 weeks or more after it's been changed. I got an email from Xfinity saying "Ple︊ase ch︊eck yo︊ur car︊d inf︊o an︊d mak︊e a pa︊yme︊nt" because my card had been declined. I logged in (not from the email) to check it since I actually did have an issue with the credit card back in January which forced me to change the card on the account for a month until it could be cleared up. ( Read more... )

5) The same afternoon I realized that the state has yet to process my tax payment from last month 😨 Called them and was told they probably hadn't opened the return yet. Let's hope that's all it is. Apparently the phone reps have no access to the processing data so there's no way to verify it's actually there until it goes through.

1) A follow up to last week's chaos. Thursday we still had no idea what was going on with our car after 6 workdays. I called the "personal" cell phone my partner thought he got, which was actually just the guy's direct number at the dealership. I left a message -- by closing time no return call. (Also tried calling the IRS again in hopes I could get some idea what to do about this year's filing given that some numbers are dependent on the refund due from last year. This time there was no option to talk to a person. I'm guessing in April it's all hands on deck for 2024 filings, forget a 2023 one that has gone through four redirects and was pending supervisor approval.) ( Read more... )

2) Overall still enjoying the new Daredevil. In episode six ( Read more... )

3) It occurred to me when watching Boston Legal (if not this particularly amusing Vulcan Anthropological vid by Rhaegal and TLara) that William Shatner is best known for two characters whose male friendships are central in their shows. I wonder if there are other actors out there who also fit that bill?

4) I was fascinated by these findings, but given how wildly differently we can see characters interpreted in fandom, I am not that surprised:

"For most of the characters in the poll, supporters of Harris and Trump are more likely to say they'd back their own preferred candidate. The Joker is an even rarer case: Not only are Harris supporters more likely to think he'd vote for Trump than Harris, but he's seen as an even bigger Trump fan among Harris supporters than he is among Trump supporters." ( Read more... )

5) I enjoyed reading this article about the Jonas' Brothers Con at a NJ mall. It struck me that part of the reason this could work was because their current state of success is an in-between sort of spot, where they're neither too successful nor has-beens, and because entertainers can currently mobilize a fanbase via social media. (Also, the location itself has struggled in recent years. I'd be glad to see more fan cons utilize the concept, though musical acts would make much better use of such venues than, say, TV cons.

1) A couple of minor distressing things but signs of the times. Thanks to the radical dietary change my partner (and thus I) went through last year, I discovered we were very protein deficient in terms of hitting our minimum daily targets. We were eating foods with protein but not in large enough quantities to prevent muscle loss.

I started looking for protein powders, which took me to a store which used to be the town's natural foods store, and after many years was sold to the international foods store owner. I'm not sure what's happened to it since, I get the sense it's changed hands at least once. We go there every once in a while but there have been lots of changes.

Our latest visit was concerning. We were there early in the day but not at opening but there was no one else around. And the lone employee did not seem at his best. ( Read more... )

2) Went to our local Hobby Lobby because I needed to get some crimp beads for jewelry. With Jo-Ann's closing, other stores no longer carrying beads, and Michael's shrinking its selection, I wanted to see the state of HL's stock. The answer is that it too has shrunk substantially. ( Read more... )

3) And thirdly, there are my recent issues with Yahoo Mail. The switchover to the new format (aping Gmail and annoyingly defaulting to their assumption as to what I consider priority messages) is bad enough. But for some reason YM keeps insisting I'm blocking its ads with an ad blocker when in fact I am getting ads. What's more when I click on the button they offer to unblock ads nothing happens. This means I have to F5 every minute or so when looking at the Inbox on desktop. ( Read more... )

4) I watched the movie September 5th, and enjoyed it. It's very self-contained, almost entirely within a broadcast studio. What I found most fascinating are the differences in technology and worker availability. Everything is so limited and hard to do! I was particularly amazed at ABC having to share satellite time with CBS! ( Read more... )

5) A good reminder that one of the biggest advantages to American citizens of the federal government is all the data it gathers which would be too costly or too duplicative for private or state entities to do for themselves. Obviously that is all at risk now, but even if too little too late, I'm glad one org is making that value clearer.

1) threeforthememories remains open for posts for 2-3 more days (depending on timezone). Additionally tv_talk's Rec Fest did well and if you are looking for things to watch, just visit the sticky post at the top of the community. (You can also add your own recs at any time!)

2) A few things shared on Pillowfort that I thought I'd bring over here. First that the FTC is looking into AI effects. "The FTC is increasingly taking note of AI’s potential for real-world instances of harm—from incentivizing commercial surveillance to enabling fraud and impersonation to perpetuating illegal discrimination"

3) A reblog of a Tumblr post regarding heroic activity by the State Department on behalf of trans passport applicants:

"So... I heard from a friend of 20+ years who works for the State Department who confirmed to me in so many words that they can assure me, without specifics, that "all of the suppositions you have made here are true."

So... yep. Passport folx at the State Department really did work incredibly long hours this week just... shoveling every passport out the door (and prioritizing the ones that might be A Problem come Monday) and yes, they did On Purpose make sure that all of them weren't just DONE but MAILED and out the door and in the hands of the USPS so that they can't be told to pull those passports back and deny/destroy them. ( Read more... )

4) I just got my partner a Fitbit as now that the weather is bad he is not going for walks, and he is dutifully trying to get more exercise as urged by his doctor. Problem is we don't know exactly how active he is on a non-exercise day.

Hopefully his device will prove more useful than mine. ( Read more... )

5) Cancelled YouTube TV and signed up to Paramount+ and PBS Passport in trade. Cheaper options overall but boy have prices gone up, especially for Passport which I last subscribed to years ago (I thought it was not worth it for constantly disappearing content). It went from $65 a year to $96.

1) Wanted everyone to know that tv_talk will be having a week where we'll be gathering recs for TV shows you enjoy. The Rec Fest will run from January 12th-18th. Visit our post for more details and come help people find new things to watch!

2) I finally contributed something to starwars100. Unfortunately I'm not much of a fiction writer and drabbles seemed the most I could do. Even so I generally have had no ideas for the prompts or time in a given week to ponder them. I still have some ideas for Star Wars meta that I have yet to get to.

3) It's been a long time since I purchased any cologne as I only wear it when I'm going out and that's maybe twice a week. When I saw a sale at our big box store of buy one get one 50% off, I decided to restock since my current bottle only has a few months left in it. First, wow has it gotten expensive. Nothing like a rarely purchased item making clear how much inflation has occurred (and not just in these past few years).

But the absurd part was trying to buy it at all. ( Read more... )

4) I'm on my last few re-read books, this time Sword at Sunset. ( Read more... )

5) Firelord had been my favorite of the Arthurian stories I read over the years, but I hadn't re-read it for a very long time. I wondered if it would hold up. For the most part it did, having all the heart I found lacking in Sword. ( Read more... )

1) Seemed like a view of our times -- I often look out the window to see people on walks, by themselves, with dogs or with other people. The other day I saw two people bundled up in hoodies walking side by side...both looking down at their phones.

2) Also a sign of our times is higher prices and lower service. One of the speakers in our cars had become fuzzy and distorted. I planned to just take it to Best Buy and get a replacement but that was just the start of our problems. ( Read more... )

3) I saw Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara. I'd never heard anything about this issue but at the same time I think it could have happened in a lot of fandoms. The doc spends some time explaining why it was particularly believable that Sara might have been in fandom spaces and making personal connections with people, both because of their lesbian following and her own attempts to connect with fans at personal appearances. The most likely perpetrator of the hoaxes was someone who had run an LJ account featuring twincest about them. ( Read more... )

4) I watched all of S1 of Doctor Odyssey. It didn't take too long because I am not a fan of medical dramas and forward through all the stuff I don't need to be seeing. But I have to hand it to this show for putting everything on the table as if they weren't expecting a S2. ( Spoilers )

5) I found myself unsurprised by this report on how Americans are miles apart from research when it comes to crime and the economy, which ends up contributing to political results in voting (or even not voting).

"When pollsters ask people whether their own financial situation is better or worse than it was a year ago, Republicans are much more likely to change their view when control of the White House changes. But there also seems to be something more fundamental happening. Before the covid pandemic, consumer sentiment was relatively predictable based on economic fundamentals. The hard data and the survey responses tended to move up and down in something like unison. But since 2020, they’ve become disconnected, with a wide and pessimistic gap opening up between them. It’s hard to look at that phenomenon and see the impact of a changed media environment." ( Read more... )

1) Still haven't seen any election coverage. I didn't realize Colbert wasn't going to have a show at all, which explained things easily enough when there was no recording for the 5th. But because the Daily Show changed the title of the show it didn't record on our YouTube TV DVR. What was even stranger though was that Wednesday's show was listed but trying to watch threw up an error. That got resolved by the next day and we're caught up on it now, but I still haven't seen the election show and I don't think I want to sit through the ads for it. Anyone else seen it?

2) We had a crack in the middle window of our 3 set in the main room. It developed slowly but eventually spread across the pane. When the window people came in to look at it they said they'd have to replace, not just the whole window but all three of them due to the window models no longer being made. Can't say the new ones look any different to me.

The team took about an hour and a half to do the work. They arrived sooner than expected and I saw the truck when I went outside to dump the trash and mail a letter I noticed the guy in the truck was watching another guy talking to the Amazon delivery driver. Then when he said "It's not at this end" I asked the truck guy if they were coming to put in windows. Yup! Window guys were lost.

I was unable to do anything but play some games in another room because the noise and conversation was so distracting. I was glad the downstairs neighbor's dog was apparently not home because she probably would have been terrified when they began the window removal. It sounded like they were going to collapse the wall it was so loud. Then two more guys arrived and one swapped out with another. I think the new people didn't even realize I was home. ( Read more... )

3) I saw Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and found myself very annoyed by it. The main reason is that the movie begins and ends with Jeff Goldblum's appearance, where he is testifying before some congressional panel about whether the government should help save the dinosaurs from their island's volcano. He says no which seemed entirely reasonable to me. (Among many possible points, where would you rehouse them where they wouldn't destroy the local ecosystem?)

Yet the entire movie is about people doing just that for various reasons. ( Spoilers )

4) Count me unsurprised that ChatGPT-4 outdiagnosed doctors. "The chatbot, from the company OpenAI, scored an average of 90 percent when diagnosing a medical condition from a case report and explaining its reasoning. Doctors randomly assigned to use the chatbot got an average score of 76 percent. Those randomly assigned not to use it had an average score of 74 percent." "It unveiled doctors’ sometimes unwavering belief in a diagnosis they made, even when a chatbot potentially suggests a better one." ( Read more... )

5) One of the things I find most remarkable about this article is how much a journalist relies on headlines as much as any average user, despite a far greater amount of time spent on news consumption. I can't imagine doing this myself rather than just going to the source (do they not realize how skewed "news" is by marketing??) I also can't imagine living my life the way they do. ( Read more... )

1) Days before Halloween happened, I passed a garden center that was completely decked out for Christmas with Santa cutouts and other decorations around the building. Really? Is Christmas that big a spending draw for plants?

2) I don't recall seeing dandelions this late in the year before, but a few weeks ago little yellow heads were popping up and then the puffballs. Must have been a treat for the bunnies.

3) I'm curious to hear if anyone is happy with their fitness tracker and what they use it for?

My Garmin broke the day before I left on my trip and the replacement, which arrived while I was away, just frustrates me constantly. Mind you the broken Garmin was disappointing when I first started to use it -- its sleep tracking was useless, it wildly underestimated my pulse ox and wildly overestimated my stair climbing for the better part of a year.

But at least I could sync it to the app at will and charge the battery and I could use it to track my bike workouts. This new one has a smaller, dimmer face so it's very hard to read, it is incredibly hard to sync (something I can no longer do from the app but only via the watch button which doesn't work well) and it can't be charged. So now I can only guestimate my bike workout via time spent because the app no longer keeps updating as I pedal.

4) I think there have been a number of news stories discussing how the Washington Post's non-endorsement decision cost them about 10% of their digital subscribers. The real story to me though is how many people chose to support news companies that are non-profits.

5) Speaking of the media but, more specifically, the way that for-profit companies lock up potential news sources, there are now non-profit efforts to create alternatives when it comes to court cases.

1) Made the mistake, as I prepared lunch yesterday, of listening to NPR. It feels like we live in Crazy Town. Elon Musk is bribing people with a million dollar daily lottery to sign a petition and direct payments of $47 to get others to sign, while a hospital chain executive has bankrupted the company due to lavish spending with company funds. He ought to be sentenced to end of life care in his own facility.

Can't wait for this election to be over.

2) That said, let me roll my eyes as much as possible over media segments about how tired people are of the bombardment of political ads which, granted, are particularly likely to be hitting people online vs on the radio or TV. But how about the media actually looking into their OWN ROLE in this because they are the ones most likely to lobby against changes in political advertising given how much money they're making off it. ( Read more... )

3) In just the past few days apparently most of the trees in the area decided, fuck it, despite the 70 degree temperatures they're going to start changing for their autumn colors.

4) While I was away my partner went to the grocery for some things and for some inexplicable reason bought a giant bag of dates, whereas he has never had an interest in dates before I got some for a salad a few months back. We still have that small bag half full!

It reminds me of the time he got a craving for V8 and bought a 2 liter bottle. Given I do not drink it, that bottle would have spoiled after he got his fill of 2 glasses or so. I asked him why he didn't just buy some cans which he could take to work with him. He had not noticed the cans -- or apparently ANY other packaging than the 2 liter bottle! I returned it, got a 6 pack of cans and he STILL has the last one sitting in the fridge despite my putting it in lunches week after week or sending it to baseball games with him...

5) When we were at the farmer's market last weekend I saw some apples and went to them as I know we're almost out. And a tiny Asian lady comes up and asks what kind we like, tart or sweet. My partner says sweet so she suggests some called, I think, Seranos. Then she asks us how our teeth are doing. ( Read more... )

1) It's been quite a week. One friend, who's been having major issues in her life already, had her father die a few days ago after a series of unfortunate events and inadequate medical care over the past few months. Just days before she and her husband were to fly across country so she could be with him, her mother-in-law ended up in the hospital with a heart issue. Luckily it sounds like she's going to be ok now that a pacemaker has been put in.

Then days after her loss another friend's mother died (although this was not unexpected). Then a close cousin got in touch sending me a wedding photo of her daughter's, only from what she said she didn't know it was going to happen nor was she at the event. Unsurprisingly she's taking it hard. I don't know what's going on this month but I want no part of it.

2) Got the Covid booster today and found it curious that the pharmacist said to wait 2 weeks to get the flu shot, given that I've seen a number of people get them done on the same day.

3) There was a recent discussion about whether one's preference is always for the first instance of a canon you've experienced -- the first show in a verse, or a book vs TV show or vice versa.

I know that I've mentioned before that I preferred the Inspector Lynley TV series over the books even though I read the books first. However this has a lot to do with what I'm looking for in a mystery. ( Read more... )

1) My fitness tracker has started doing odd things. About a month ago it suddenly started telling me I was climbing a ridiculous number of stairs (one day it was 96!) This seemed to have no relation to my normal activities which hadn't changed. Even though I saw no sign of it, I thought maybe it was responding to heartbeat changes or something. But the tracker also records "intensity minutes" and these were at their usual low number as well.

It may have simply been a response to some software change which, as we all know, always improves things /sarcasm. But its general tracking of steps seems about normal so I've no idea what's going on.

2) I have been reading through my Agatha Christie collection lately and noted that in more than one book she had a character reporting how their sense of smell was almost nonexistent due to having contracted the flu years before. I assume they are talking about the 1918-1920 flu epidemic, and found it interesting how the same thing occurred then as in the Covid pandemic with long Covid symptoms including a permanently changed sense of smell.

3) Finally finished watching The Americans. Well done series, really interesting to follow the various character arcs. I zoomed through all 6 seasons in the past month or so. ( Read more... )

4) One thing that stood out to me from the first season were the similarities between The Americans and Ozark. ( Read more... )

5) I found Loki S2 a mixed bag. Unlike S1 which, whatever its faults, had a clear and interesting set of reveals as it worked its way through the story, S2 felt like it was constrained by external forces. It's as if it must end up in a certain place with certain people and everything is stretched out to give us a certain number of episodes to get us there. At the same time we have very little exploration of anyone we'd already met in S1, even though this would be a good time to do more character development. ( Read more... )

1) Last week Petzi shared an article about why people leave organized religion. I wouldn't say there were any surprises there, but it was good to see the various threads of how people ended up doing so.

What struck me was that I'd recently been reading some of Ruth Rendell's final books, and one of them talked about how in the UK it had become unusual to discuss religion at all, and that it tended to make people uncomfortable. Certainly my impression is that it's far more secular than the U.S. It made me wonder how true that was about other former colonies?

2) Boy did we have a bad customer experience. It was Mike's birthday this month and he wanted a cupped pepperoni pizza, which he first had in college and is his favorite. For a long time no one around us served it, but then some of the pizza chains started carrying them, either as temporary specials or on the regular menu. We have had several pizza places we'd order from locally close over the past few years and had resorted to using Pizza Hut, but they don't have that. But we found that Little Caesars did. ( Read more... )

3) However single employees can also create a very positive experience. On the same outing as pizza place we went to the Target next door to pick up a few items. Usually I'd go through the self-check out, but normally I go to the stores early and this was lunchtime. A cashier had no line whereas there were 5 people waiting for self-check.

She recognized Mike's "Is Potato" shirt right away and started chatting with us about how much she enjoyed (and currently misses) seeing Colbert. Also when I reminded her I had my own bag, she said she could give me a credit.

Thing is, Target has had this policy since 2009 but I have never been offered one. Granted I am rarely going through the cashier line and in fact rarely went to Target before 2019. But I always take my own bags and absolutely should have been offered the credit a number of times. But unless the customer insists, chances are the employee won't bother.

4) In fact, it seems that most customers are likely to be paying for bags if they're ordering via app or for a pick up. This seems another example of how something that's supposed to increase convenience -- app ordering -- is actually a problem because it's impossible to customize some things. Or to be sure you'll be getting what you're paying for.

Although the Little Caesar's experience was really egregious, it was actually the third issue we'd had with take out orders in a week's time. ( Read more... )

5) I watched all of S1 of Tehran (Apple+) and am into S2. It's a pretty good spy thriller, and has some good twists in it. The opening episode of S2 gave a bit of backstory but then it was action most of the way through.

Also watched Dear Edward and Liaison. The first was watched mostly in the background as a lot of it didn't interest me and the second I watched mostly while exercising, as political thrillers tend to skip over a lot of domestic melodrama. ( Read more... )

1) Well last week brought some pretty dramatic events and not for the better. One of Mike's former students died, a friend's company went through a massive set of layoffs (she was luckily spared -- for now, she pointed out), another friend broke a toe, and I got an unexpected job change. It's going to demand a lot more of my time and I suspect that at least over the next month this is going to limit any time I spend here (or anywhere).

I'm relieved the Dreamwidth Points Donation event wrapped just in time and that this didn't happen in March instead of May. Still -- my plans for this summer are out the window, and just when Mike's own work demands are winding down to minimal levels for the next 2 months. ☹️

Just wanted to give anyone concerned a heads up that while I'll try to keep up with my reading list, it's not likely to look like it!

2) I also made, just in time, a few new posts -- a rec list and nature post.

3) I don't think I mentioned that Pillowfort has added icon slots as part of its premium
services. Given I have twice had to weed out icons here because I keep adding more, it's nice to be able to have more slots to use them in!

4) Given all the recent stress, Ted Lasso episodes have been welcome viewing. I was particularly struck with Episode 3.2 which may have been its best yet. Anytime you have to stop a scene 5 times because you're laughing, that has to be one of your top episodes. ( Read more... )

5) I saw all of Extrapolations which was fairly grim viewing as might be expected with a theme of ecocide. I found it a mixed bag, since in several episodes it seemed more like they were taking the opportunity to speculate about future life and technology more than to explore what would be happening across cultures and countries. ( Read more... )

1) As part of the 3 Weeks Celebration, I thought I'd ask others what their favorite fandom events are? These could be big fandom-wide celebrations or specific challenges or exchanges. Leave a comment here or make your own post, but don't forget to tag your post with "three weeks for dreamwidth"!


3weeks4dreamwidth is celebrating Dreamwidth's anniversary!
Come join in for fun, memes, activities, and more ♥

2) This ambush made me laugh out loud, and I loved this cat's astonishment. Plus more anticipated attacks and making your own Slip n Slide.

3) I am annoyed with my dental office. We both had appointments in mid-April which we were emailed the day before they were cancelled, due to an unspecified emergency. ( Read more... )

1) I had a dream about a new social media platform, which was entirely image based. The concept was connecting photos to other photos. So each page you'd look at would be a main photo with rows of thumbnails beneath it. It was partly social but also a way of improving image search results.

After I woke up I realized this would never work because the potential for abuse (and useless connections) was so high. It saddens me, for example, to see AO3 turning off one feature after another on the site due to people's bad behavior.

2) Was also woken early yesterday by the pounding of hail on the roof and a big boom of thunder. I tried to go back to sleep, but over a month ago I strained the muscle behind my elbows (left worse than right, but they both twinge) and it hurt enough that I couldn't. The doctor told me to wrap it and use a warming cream and it would get better on its own but that seemed to do nothing and it hasn't.

3) I forget who pointed me to The Silent Sea on Netflix but I went through all of that in a few days. Mind you, a good bit of it had sneaking and running down corridors, which I forwarded through because I have no patience with that when it turns up on shows. But it was a good plot and well done. I am here for space mysteries!

4) We've also been burning through Unstable on Netflix. I saw an article shared by Petzi about the Lowes co-starring on it and it sounded fun. And it generally is. Despite the family angle it is primarily a workplace comedy, and I've laughed at least once each episode. There are some appealing characters and zigs and zags I didn't anticipate. I do find the humor somewhat forced, probably because even for a half hour show it's pretty fast paced. But I think a lot of people might like it.

5) marchmetamatterschallenge has ended for 2023 but there's certainly a lot of work to be found in its two collections covering hundreds of fandoms.

1) I guess this is where jump for joy came from.

2) I've been running into an odd problem with my bedside digital alarm clock. I'm not sure how long the time has been off because the only time I tend to look at it is when I'm about to go to bed, during the night and when I get up. It's not easily read at other time of days due to placement and glare.

I can't imagine my not having noticed this for a long time, but I have now reset the clock 3 times because it's off, often by an hour. I did it again this morning and by noon it was 7 minutes off again.

To my surprise this is not an uncommon problem (though I have older digital clocks that are still working fine) and apparently has to do with voltage and an internal crystal oscillator. The clock didn't cost enough to make it worthwhile trying to fix it, but from what I read the more concerning issue is electrical current in the apartment. Anyone ever have this happen?

3) Melannen recently posted about seeing an uptick in genfic via AO3. There are some signs that there might indeed be some growth, but it is difficult to tell because of the randomness in how people tag at the site. And especially since you can category tag by ticky (so something could be labeled both M/M and Gen) the first obstacle to wrestle with is how people define gen. ( Read more... )

1) I learned the lesson to get dressed as soon as I'm out of bed. I actually was in the middle of dressing when the tornado sirens went off, and I could hear multiple ones. For a moment I thought nothing of it, because a test is made the first Tuesday of each month. Then I realized it was Monday and not yet March. ( Read more... )

2) I recently saw Wakanda Forever and I liked it, though in pairing it with its prequel, it made me wonder what a third film would be like. ( Read more... )

3) We also saw parts of Strange World, the Disney movie that didn't do well late last year. We could see why. We got through about 20 minutes of it before I just checked out of it and started doing other stuff. Mike kept watching for another 20 minutes and then gave up as well. It was just boring. I was happy about the representation, we even got a 3 legged dog. But unfortunately the overall film didn't grab either of us.

4) Essay of what long running characters who travel across shows can mean for how we see storytelling and TV production: focusing on the roles of Richard Belzer's Munch and the universe of Inspector Morse/Lewis. "Munch has become the only fictional character, played by a single actor, to physically appear on 10 different television series. These shows were on five different networks."

It's hard to imagine we'll ever have any more that can quite compare given the shortening of seasons as well as the glut of 1-2 season shows.

5) Pillowfort polled its users about the sharing of AI generated images on the site. They want further discussion before deciding on policies but the main thing I took away was how few people responded given the number of artists with accounts there. Part of it might be poor circulation of the poll, or maybe it's just not an issue that matters to that many people?

1) NPR ran a story on how more Protestant churches are just skipping Christmas services as attendance has become really low (especially with the holiday falling on a weekend). Their story about how a family with five kids dragged them awake for trips to church in the morning reminded me of a childhood visit to Brasil. ( Read more... )

2) I saw Frank and Ollie on Disney Plus. It was fun to hear the stories of the early days of Disney animation. But what really stuck with me was this lifelong partnership. At one point one of them mentions that they discovered very late in life that not only were they both raised by fathers who are educators, but both their mothers came from the same small town in Illinois. ( Read more... )

3) I watched Glass Onion and liked it better than the first movie. I found it more twisty, although its biggest weakness was, I think, in what stayed the same. ( Spoilers )

But I liked the layered POV and the way our assumptions were guided throughout. It also just felt like more fun. This may just be a matter of tone -- a squabbling family in a more claustrophobic setting creates more tension and makes things uglier. Also, I guess, the success of the initial film and the fact that it would be shown in theaters (however briefly) definitely gave it a big budget which was quite clear here.

4) Coincidentally another movie I saw over the holidays was The Last of Sheila. I'd seen a recommendation for this movie last month but it wasn't available anywhere except for rental. So the Amazon gift cards for Christmas came in handy 🙂

I was instantly struck by how much it reminded me of Glass Onion, and also how much has changed since the seventies. Part of it is simply CGI and movie budgets generally. Everything was so much more lavish for Glass Onion, and over the top. Of course the OTT was a feature of the film, character-wise, but still striking. ( Read more... )

5) I saw "If These Walls Could Sing", a documentary about Abbey Road. It had some of the expected stuff, but also unexpected bits, such as a super early interview with Jimmy Page, Shirley Bassey passing out while singing Goldfinger, John Williams explaining why British canteens are better than American craft services, and the story of a British classical music performer whose career was cut short.

1) I've found this seems to be a good time for grocery sales, stuck as it is in between the two holidays (so too early or late for event sales). Was able to buy a 3 pound bag of apples for 99 cents, blueberries for 99 cents a pint and grapes for 99 cents a pound. Also, finally able to get a 3 pound bag of potatoes for $2.20.

2) Thanks to a tip from venatrixlunaris over at Pillowfort, Standard EBooks is creating copies of public domain books and have a fair number of well known titles on hand. They are looking for volunteers as well as donors.

3) I was struck the other day by how comfortable life has become in the 21st century. I don't mean that in an economic sense, because the continuing disparities there are painfully obvious at this time of year. Rather, I meant it in terms of creature comforts.

I mean, back in the 17th century it didn't matter if you were king of the world, life was still uncomfortable. But today a comparatively small amount of money can buy things no king could have. ( Read more... )

4) World Cup quarterfinals!

Croatia vs. Brazil, ( Read more... )

Netherlands vs. Argentina ( Read more... )

Morocco vs Portugal ( Read more... )

England vs. France ( Read more... )

Probably only Americans of a certain age will get this joke. We noticed that there is a French player called Fofana. We speculated that his initials were B.F. Fofana. ( Read more... )

5) Petzi recently shared an article discussing the end of movie stars, and how Tom Cruise was maybe the last one. I was thinking of it when I saw Ronaldo walking off in the tunnel crying. Stars did not come to much in this Cup.

It was not the players everyone was talking about, who really stood out. Sure they made some goals and good plays. But so did a bunch of other players who nobody was talking about. And this is largely a media driven problem. At one point, the match commentators talked about how tired the French coach was about being asked Mbape questions. He said it was England versus France, not Harry Kane versus Mbape.

I would add that the Netherland's two goals in the quarterfinals came from a guy just off the bench. And two of the best goals I saw in the game came from a South Korean player in the group stage.

Personalizing the game is a lazy shortcut for the media, especially if they are targeting novice viewers. Most stars earn their reputations, but they can't win games alone. And movie stars may add something to a film, maybe even make it bearable viewing, but it starts with the script and is a collective effort.