Ramblings of a sad old nutter...

1. Woo-hoo! Democrats won across the board. (In NYC - they won everything but Staten Island Borough President, because you know...Staten Island? And Texas. But it is Staten Island and Texas...)

New York City hits 2 million votes for first time since 1969. Biggest turnout for a Mayoral election ever.

( Read more... )

Miki Sherrel won the Governor's Race in New Jersey - becoming the first female Democrat Governor of the State.

Oh, and NBC has an interactive map showing how each neighborhood in NYC voted for the Mayoral race. It's kind of fun, and shows that elections are complicated.

2. Work wore me out. That and lack of sleep - I couldn't get comfortable, and I kept waking up. Didn't fall asleep until Midnight, and woke up at 3 am and 5:26 am. Something beeped outside and woke me up at 3. Took a while to get back to sleep. Then something woke me at 5:26, and I never got back to sleep.

Very busy. Kind of inundated? They decided to get together and unload all their work on myself and Breaking Bad at the same time. Don't procrastinate folks? It just makes more work for everybody. But my good deed was installing two printers on my computer and Breaking Bad's. Just in time for the new folks to move in - in two weeks. Maybe they'll bring a printer that is in closer proximity. Albeit not too close proximity.

Commute wasn't easy either - but went smoother than expected. I miss hopping on the G taking it to 4/9th Streets, and running down the steps.
Now? Going down steps hurts, so I take the F, run up, then down steps, and wait on a tiny platform with a ton of folks for the R. Oh well, it's 35 minutes either way.

But overall? Happy to be back at work. I enjoy what I do for the most part - it's a lot of analysis, editing, problem solving, and figuring things out.

3. Cooler - in the 40s-low 60s. Typical Autumn weather in NY. A-typical is 60s-80s, typical is 40s,50s, and low 60s.

Time change is still messing with me though - by the time my body gets accustomed to it - they'll change it again, right around my birthday.
Whose bright idea was it to do the Time Warp?

4. Buffy/Angel re-watch.

I'm enjoying Angel more now than I did the first go-around. Buffy, I always enjoy. It occurred to me today that the writers fell in love with a specific plot twist - which they employed in S2. Which is the good guy turns bad or switches sides. They also did the bad guy switches sides to help the heroine - but they enjoy the good guy turns bad a lot more.
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[I'm mainly just writing about this at this point to please myself at this point. Hopefully it entertains others too. But alas, as in most things, there's really no way of knowing for sure. I'm thinking I probably wrote it to please myself back in the day as well. Although a bit better, and more targeted.]

1. On a brisk sunny Tuesday morning, with a crystal blue sky - I lugged myself off to the doctor. It's about twenty-twenty five minutes. Train is fifteen. Walk is about ten to fifteen, depending on how fast I go? Ten blocks.

The knee wasn't bothering me though, sciatic, yes, knee no. I'd been using a hip compression, and wandering about at home. Also I can sit with my legs elevated at home. This was leading me to believe that - it was indeed sciatic nerve and back/hip related, not knee related.

Got the X-ray. Waited about thirty-five minutes to see the doctor. And after the assistants took my vitals. A wet-behind the ears kid came in.
I stared at the kid. Okay, granted the doctors are getting younger - but this is ridiculous. I have Doogie Howser.

Kid: Hi I'm Lucas, I'm the student intern working with the Doctor.
Me (oh thank god.): Oh...right.

His job was to ask me what was going on. I was kind embarrassed because after killing me for weeks on end, the knee decided not to hurt today. When the Doctor eventually came in - he wasn't a kid at least (thinking mid-thirties) - he quipped, yeah it's like taking your car to the mechanic and all of a sudden it stops having mechanical difficulties.

The Knee Orthopedist thankfully found nothing wrong with my knees, outside of mild arthritis. (I was relieved. Mother was relieved - after I told her.) This is the second time I checked the knees out this year. So clearly this is a hip alignment/sciatic nerve issue. The knees just have mild osteoarthritis. Additional proof - the hip compression sleeves that I've been using this weekend, which I bought on Amazon, have actually helped. My knees weren't bothering me that much today. Of course I only went to the x-ray/doctor's office, then shopping after. Less steps, more walking, than I do going to and from work. The commute has more steps, less walking.

Apparently the knee doctor sees approximately eighty patients a day (explains a lot) while the pain management doctors only see ten, which is why it is almost impossible to get an appointment with the pain management. He didn't recommend muscle relaxants either - last resort and all the do is knock you out (or screw with digestion). PT is the best bet - and I've scheduled that.

Afterwards - I bought stuff. ( Read more... )

2. Voted on Saturday. I will be happy when the election is however, the ads are annoying. So is the discourse.
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We won't know the results until tomorrow - I think - or late tonight, since the polls close in NY at 9pm. Over 300,000 voted early. It's the highest turnout for early voting in the State's history.

3. Still rewatching Buffy and Angel.


* There's two very subversive character arcs in these series, actually more than two. But Spike and Cordelia, which are in some respects similar characters - are at the top of the list. ( Read more... )

The other takeaways from Buffy - is Buffy and Riley don't really work. They become bland fast. There's not enough conflict. It's kind of like Buffy S3 with Angel take 2? But from another angle? ( Read more... )

Overall - the episodes are still good, even if the central plot is flawed?
Oh, learned recently that Robin Sachs who played Ethan Rayne died several years back. He was a good friend of Juliet Landau's, apparently.

Almost forgot? S4 Buffy makes it clear to me that the writers watched Doctor Who, the Prisoner, and various British sci-fi shows. Buffy almost states - when she runs into the secret underground facility underneath Riley's frat house - that it's bigger on the inside than on the outside.

And..I realized that biggest problem with the whole Initiative storyline, is that they kind of combined Reptile Boy with Some Assembly Required - not the best episodes of the series? ( Read more... )

***

On Twitter, someone asks to name a better show than Buffy. And people named Charmed. Charmed??? I found Charmed unwatchable at times. I tried. But it took campy to a whole new level. Also I felt the writing was horrible.

1. Sigh, Let's Do the Time Warp Again

I don't know about anyone else? But regardless of what I do? I'm always thrown sideways by the time change. It's dark out - and I keep thinking it's 6:58 or almost 7pm, when in reality it's only 5:58 pm and almost 6. (I really wish they'd stop doing time change back and forth.

It just occurred to me that maybe this is the inspiration behind the song (or not as the case may be? I don't really want to know either way, and regardless - I posted it on FB too, so an annoying relative will most likely tell me) - Time Warp.

2. Watched the Associate Minister's last hurrah - so to speak - or her last sermon. The church really needs to acquire a Director of Religious Education who isn't interested in becoming a minister - this is the second one they've lost to the Minister path. There's clearly something about Religious Education that calls people to become Unitarian Minister's? That and yoga.

I didn't go in person - for various reasons - I had ambivalent feelings about the Minister in question, and my church isn't the most accessible on the planet? ( Read more... ) And I wasn't exactly close to the Assoc Minister, actually I'm kind of relieved she's leaving? And I can't say I didn't agree with her sentiment that letting go of this congregation and moving on to one out on Long Island, (the Assoc Ministers always go out to Long Island for some reason - the last one went to Huntington, this one to Shelter Rock), was a good idea for all involved? The church really needed to jettison the prior leadership - the music is fine, they can keep that, but the management of the church needed to be reconfigured.

Have you ever met people that you feel you are supposed to click with or should click with - and just don't no matter what you do? Or that you do sort of like, but sense that they don't really like or understand or see you - and wish you'd go away?

That's the energy I always kind of felt from the Associate Minister? I'm learning the best approach in these situations is to - back away and give that person plenty of space. It happens to me online as well. So it's not relegated to in-person interactions.

Also I'm irritable folks. ( Read more... )

I don't know if any of that made sense. Perhaps it did? Perhaps it didn't?

3. Television

* I've given up on Outlander. It's not my cup of coco. I don't like it and there are too many other shows to watch instead.

* I finished Rainmaker S1 finally - this is on Netflix. It's a legal procedural. And among the better ones. There are a lot of twists and turns.
It's more serialized than most - and far more character centric. It's based on the book by John Grisham, except instead of a big Insurance firm being the bad guy, it's a law firm. So a blending of The Firm and Rainmaker, I think? It has a lot of Grisham's legal tropes in it. ( Read more... )
Anyhow, recommend, the above doesn't really have any spoilers, or only vague ones.

* Watched two more Angel episodes from S1, She and I've Got You Under My Skin

A. "She" is the episode with the comedic dancing from Angel and Wes, and manages to get across both characters personalities with it. Also the humor of the writers - I think they were going for Seinfield's comedic bit with Elaine and the dancing? Hollywood writers like to make fun of how people dance for some reason? ( Read more... )

[I was going to skip it - glad I didn't - you kind of need to see it, to understand the Wes/Angel and Cordy dynamic. Also, it has great character moments. I think I kind of skipped over it the first two or three times I'd watched the series. I've not watched or rewatched since roughly 2005 or thereabouts. I think the only season I've rewatched since then was S5.]

B. In I've Got You Under the Skin - the writers pull an interesting twist, actually two twists. It's another episode written by Jeannine Renshaw - who was also responsible for co-writing I Will Always Remember You, and Parting Gifts. She's known for writing for The Cleaning Lady, In the Dark, and Grey's Anatomy, among others. The episode comments heavily on The Exorcist, and kind of makes fun of it - even has the name of the priest being the same name as the director of the Exorcist, and dead. It also furthers the bond between Wes and Angel. The writers are working over-time to develop Wes and Angel's bond to equal Doyle and Angel's. ( spoilers and length )

* Watched Jurassic World: Rebirth on Peacock - this is the latest Jurassic World flick. I have a weakness for these movies and have seen all of them. I saw roughly three of them in theaters. My favorites are 1, 3, and 5, or all the ones with Sam Neil and Laura Dern in them. Film 4 wasn't bad, and slightly better than film 2. But this film is horrible. ( Read more... )

Skippable.

* Welcome to Derry - this was on HBO. It's a prequel to IT. And I can't tell if it's a satire of Stephen King horror films and books or supposed to be taken seriously? It's a bit over the top? Even the credits are over the top and tongue in cheek. It's screaming satire or parody to me? And it's not real subtle about it. Reminds me a little bit of Fallout in that respect. ( Read more... )

***

Off to bed, have to get up early for eye doctor's appointment tomorrow.

Flirted with seeing the CHESS revival. But then I listened to the music again - and well, my music tastes have changed over the past forty some years? I loved the original cast recording and even saw the musical live in London with Anthony Head subbing for his brother Murray Head on London's West End, as The American. But I don't like the music now - it's overly melodramatic and doesn't really make sense? It's not ABBA or Tim Rice's best score, and I think Rice worked better with Lloyd Webber in retrospect. Also the story is a mess - and I didn't like any of the characters all that much - most of my sympathy was with Freddie and Anatoly's wife.

I think I'm over the power ballads in musicals? Listened to them one too many times? There's a revival concert of Les Miz at Radio City - and I may shoot myself in the head if I listen to that score one more time. I saw it with the original cast in London in 1987. And then again the touring show in Kansas City in the early 1990s. Plus the movie. It's interesting how tastes change over time? I used to hate celery for example? Now I love it.
I used to love ABBA power ballads, now I can't make it through them.

***

Didn't do much today - outside of binge watch The Diplomat on Netflix, watched Buffy S4 Episode 10 - HUSH (which still holds up and is a brilliant episode), and this week's Grey's Anatomy. My knee was killing me this morning - so I lay about. I did manage a walk to Met Fresh to pick up some food essentials. (Basically more bean soups, fresh made sushi, vegetables, salad greens, eggs, gluten free deli bread, gluten free coffee cake muffins, some rice and quinoa to make grain bowls for the bean (lentil and kidney bean) soups.) (I live in NYC - so I'm within walking distance to six or seven grocery and fruit/vegetable stores. )

Talked to mother, who told me what my niece was up to. Now I want to brag about my niece. ( cut for shameless bragging about niece - look I don't have plants, gardens, pets, or kids - but I do have a niece and she's amazing, so I'm bragging about her )

***

The knee is not getting better. And I'm worried about it. It's fine - when I'm not using it. But it hurts when I walk, go down steps, or move it a certain way. And last night, it kept waking me up. It also looks off somehow. So I sent a message to the primary care - asking for help today. And I might, try City MD urgent care near my work place next week.

The last thing I need is knee surgery or a knee replacement. But I'll cross the bridge when I come to it.

***

Television

1. Buffy S4 - this season is delightful. ( Read more... )

I've been listening to podcasts again. Landau's is the better bet - Charisma's isn't as good, and she saves most of it for her Patreon subscriber page, while Landau provides quite a bit on youtube. Landau's is called Revamped with Juliet Landau, and she does it with Dev Weeks (her husband), and her friend Rebecca Griggs (who interviews folks at cons and has a background in film production). They do a lot of research and provide interesting back story tid-bits on the episodes and Hollywood history - such as haunted Hollywood hotels, etc.

I'm not sure the "Revival, Continuation, Reboot" of Buffy will get picked up for a full order. ( Read more... )

2. Diplomat Finished S3 and ...Run, Kate, Run. Get as far away from Hal as you can get. Honestly by the end of this season, I wanted her to dump him and run off with Aidan Turner's Callum.

And that surprised me. I agree with my mother - I didn't like this season as well as the previous ones. And found some of the characters unlikable and borderline amoral.

3. Angel S1 episode 10 - Sonumbalist - this is among Jeremy Renner's first roles. (Buffy and Angel gave a lot of premiere actors/writers first roles...Shane West, Jeremy Renner, Amy Adams, Pedro Pascale, Danny Strong). ( Read more... )