It's gotten to the point where I'm afraid to read the news.
I keep adding key words to automatically delete the horrors of the day from my feed reader but, with new horrors arriving daily, it's a never-ending battle. Just when I think I've filtered out everything that sends my anxiety skyrocketing, heeeeeeere comes dread and despair!
The sad thing is that I usually pride myself on being up on current events and well-informed about what's going on in the world... but this? This?!??
Where is that world-ending giant meteor when you really need it?
Since I frickin' lost all the entries I had written for this week and am having to go back and remember what I must have been doing during this incredibly busy week.
Work, mostly.
And while I work? The many adaptations of Agatha Christie's fantastic murder mystery sleuth, Miss Marple. My mom was a huge Christie fan and I'd read the books she got from the library after she finished them. It was a natural progression from the Encyclopedia Brown books of my youth.
But anyway, back to adaptations...
My most favorite adaptation of Marple is the two TV movies starring Helen Hayes... A Caribbean Mystery and Murder with Mirrors. To this day I remain gutted that we didn't get another movie or six from her, because she added such a flawless and effortless air of mischief to the character.
Before Helen Hayes we got a different take on Marple by Angela Lansbury in The Mirror Crack'd. The movie was a good one, but Lansbury was much better suited to playing Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote (which my mom also loved). Alas, the movie didn't do well at the box office, killing a planned trilogy.
Joan Hickson is widely seen as the "definitive" Miss Marple by many, and her adaptations of the 12 novels are legend. What's bizarre is that Agatha Christie herself wanted Hickson to eventually play the character after seeing her in a play in the 1940's. It's bizarre because this series didn't start filming until 1984. Which means Christie was seeing the actor 40 years before she would play the role, and died before she saw Hickson realize her dream casting choice. Of all the adaptations made, this series is probably the most faithful (or, as faithful as it could be given that so much time had passed since the books were written).
And then we come to Marple... the adaptation which wasn't much of an adaptation which ran from 2004-2009. Granted, it's been so long since I read the books that I'm a bit fuzzy on details, but this series plopped Marple into stories she wasn't actually in and changed some major plot points of the books in which she did. As if that weren't enough, they invented details of Marple's life which don't remotely fit the character (she's always been a spinster, but this show gave her the back-story of having had an affair with a married man in the second episode?!?). Geraldine McEwan starred in the first three series and was fine... but the entire appeal of Marple is that she's a sweet old lady. Instead they wrote her as slightly more aggressive in this series, so the charm just wasn't there. When she retired and the role was taken by Julia Mckenzie, they kinda realized the error of their ways and reverted her personality back to the sweet old lady from the novels. Which is to say that I liked the final three series quite a bit more than the first three, and there were some excellent episodes. Even so, the Hickson series still manages to top anything we got here.
And now we're in 2025 where apparently we're getting new Miss Marple movie adaptations after the success of the Kenneth Branagh's Hercule Poirot films. I'll watch them, of course, but I didn't think any of the three modern Poirot adaptations were as good as what came before. Albert Finney (Murder on the Orient Express) and Peter Ustinov (Death on the Nile) were sublime in their respective film adaptations, and David Suchet's take on Hallowe'en Party (which became A Haunting in Venice) is also my preferred adaptation. But still... I'll hope for the best.
No matter what happens, the books still exist*
*Albeit with the racism, antisemitism, and other bits edited out for modern audiences.
Of course I ended up working on Labor Day. It's tradition, after all.
But it gets worse! I knew I would be very busy this week, so I wrote a series of entries over the weekend following up on how I've been buying picture frames every payday to start hanging up my various collectibles and prints and such. I took a photo of what got hung up, wrote about how, when, where, and why I ended up with the piece, then moved on to the next entry.
And then lost everything.
Except the photos.
So now I guess I've got something to blog about (again) sometime in the future.
I guess I'm on a blogcation until Saturday then.
I may not have a three day weekend like some people in the USA, but don't you fear about me making time for bullets... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Small, Small World! The Disfarers YouTube channel has been interesting, and I've been going back through them to see what I missed. This one from three months ago is hands-down one of the most fascinating Disney Parks video I've ever seen. It's not just about It's a Small World, it's about the fascinating process of Imagineering which has a lot of cameos by a lot of rides...
While not a fan of the ride so much, I'm a massive fan of Mary Blair, and have always appreciated the artistry of the ride. And now I appreciate it even more.
• Wedneday Murder Club? Why. Why would Netflix make a major change to The Thursday Murder Club when they KNOW that this has screwed up faithfully adapting the future books? Insanity. Just insanity. I know the book was much deeper and some things (like back-story) would be lost when translated to a 2-hour movie (requiring some things to change), but this? THIS?!? What possible reason? My opinion of Chris Columbus as a director just dropped several stories. And the pacing is awful. Slow at the start where things could have been cut, then rushes to the botched ending where the time should have been spent. Character personalities are changed to bad effect. A good director would understand the books well enough to realize that this change wasn't a good one, and had the writers re-think things. Jeez what a disappointment. If you buy the rights to the book to turn it into the movie... ADAPT THE FUCKING BOOK! Two out of five stars because I'm mad a book series I love with actors I love was mostly good... until it wasn't.
• Atom Man vs. Superman! YouTube has a lot of cool restoration videos. The ones I'm enjoying now are the paper poster videos, because it always amazes me how they can just dump water on everything in order to flatten it (something I've tried after watching it, and it works... if you're careful). This last one I saw is very cool because it's so big...
I cannot imagine how much this kind of restoration would cost.
• Peaches! In my news feed, there was an article about Thomas Rhett's wife being pregnant with their fifth child. And I didn't know who that was. So I Googled him and some images popped up. Didn't recognize him, but he's obviously a famous country singer. then I see him in a Boston Red Sox jersey and am like... okay... I like him already. Then I see how famous he is, and I'm like... oh... I'm sure I've heard his stuff then. I click on the Boston photo and it's from his Instagram. I click though to that. He's got a beautiful family. And then I see gem...
Legendary dad material.
• Cracker! I didn't think that the new Cracker Barrel logo was terrible (for the minute it was used). But it was beyond terrible FOR Cracker Barrel. The thing about branding is that people can get incredibly attached to stuff that they form a relationship with. If you're changing something, for better or worse, they're going to react. So you had better have a very good reason to do it. And you need to be very smart about how you do it. This was a massive misstep from the jump, all because whomever was in charge of this mess committed the First Sin of Branding... they did not know their own audience. Because to say that this was a glaringly obvious disaster is not an understatement...
I don't even have Cracker Barrel where I live (the nearest one is in Vegas) but I reacted with a wince to the rebrand because I knew immediately how it would be received. Because I've been to one of them once. A decade ago. What's ironic is that they probably did it hoping it would be more appealing to society at large because sales were sliding. Now they're in the dumpster having to try and crawl their way out.
• Negative Four-And-A-Half Stars! Maybe I was too quick condemning Paramount+ for canceling Strange New Worlds after an upcoming abbreviated fifth season. Because Four and a Half Vulcans has got to be one of the shittiest episodes of ANY Star Trek I've ever seen. Good Lord. Somebody watched this dumpster fire and thought it should air? How did it get past script stage in the first place? It would have been better to cut it completely and come up an episode short this season than to air something this horrendously bad...
Apparently when you take the Vulcanizing serum, it changes your hairstyle!
The stupid... it still lingers.
• Insecticide! And lastly, allow me to once again comment on a botched adaptation. Butterfly, the comic book series, was a brisk four issues. It was breakneck storytelling and an interesting read. So when I found out that Prime Video adapted the comics with a leisurely six episodes, I was excited. Watching it, I didn't think it was as good as the source material because it got repetitive in ways that weren't interesting... but I liked the cast and thought "Well, this will be a nice diversion!"
AND THEN I GOT TO THE END WHERE THEY CREATED A STUPID FUCKING CLIFFHANGER AND A NONSENSICAL FUCKING TWIST TO SET UP A SECOND SEASON THAT I WILL NEVER... NEVER EVER... WATCH. What a lazy-ass pile of shit. Why is it that nobody can just complete a series any more? It always, always has to have a stupid-ass cliffhanger for a next season that may never come. Lazy fucking writers. Just tie everything up with an ending in case this is all we get! Then, if you get a second season, you can find a new and exciting angle to begin again. But NOPE! Easier to just fuck over the audience. And "easy" is all these talentless hacks have to offer. My God. It's getting to where I don't want to watch TV series any more. Though movies are doing it too. Netflix made a shitty The Old Guard sequel, which I hated, then ended that MOVIE on a cliffhanger which probably won't be resolved. I need to create a new website explicitly where people can share whether or not a show ends on yet another lazy-ass fucking cliffhanger so people can decide whether or not they want to invest time in something THAT MAY NEVER BE FINISHED. At least The Thursday Murder Club was smartly written enough to have a satisfying conclusion (well, if you haven't read the books).
If you're an American who's off work tomorrow, enjoy your day off from labor. If you're an American who's not off work tomorrow (like me) try and enjoy your Monday.
Jenny, as I have undoubtedly mentioned, is a fiendishly clever and intelligent cat. She's also unbelievably manipulative. Not just towards me, but her brother as well. Once or twice a week she does something which has me wondering if she's smarter than I am.*
Except... only in specific areas.
As an example: Jenny loves running up to bed with me so she can get some pets before turning in for the night. Me, not her. Because she would gladly be petted for six hours. But the minute I turn the lights off, she runs back downstairs to sleep. But anyway... She used to head up with me when I went upstairs. But sometimes I'd forget something or was just going up to get something and wasn't actually going to bed. So then she stopped going up with me until I would turn off the television. When that wasn't guaranteed, she would wait for me to call her to say I'm going to bed. When that wasn't guaranteed (I'm forgetful), she started waiting until I'm upstairs and have Siri turn off the downstairs (I tell Siri "goodnight" once I'm in bed for real, and everything outside my bedroom turns off).
On Tuesday night I got into bed and told Siri "goodnight," then Jenny came running up as usual. But I forgot to set out something I needed to remember to take to work, so I had to get out of bed to go back downstairs. Right after Jenny had jumped up to be petted.
She was furious. Started meowing her head off upstairs, because how dare I leave her there un-petted! Then, when I was taking too long, she came downstairs to get me. Meowing the entire time.
So I don't know what happens next. I guess I have to pinky-swear that I'm really going to bed and won't be leaving until morning or something.
So, yeah, she's smart.
And then...
Jenny sometimes wants to be petted while I'm on the couch... but doesn't want to sit next to me for whatever reason. So she'll sit all the way at the other end of the couch and meow in frustration at me because I'm not petting her. I reach out my hand to show her that I can't reach. But instead of realizing it, she'll lean her little head towards me like she can somehow bridge the 4-foot gap between us.
After five minutes of this nonsense, she begrudgingly got up and moved closer because she realized I wasn't moving. But she was angry about it. Wouldn't even look at me, no matter how much I talked to her...
"Just give me my damn belly rubs and shut up about it."
Now, there are other things that I honestly don't know whether she's smart about or not.
Like when she gets a drink.
Jenny refuses to drink from the cat fountain in the dining room. Maybe the moving water bothers her or something. So I ended up buying a still water dispenser for her. No big deal, right? Well, maybe. Because she will never just walk up and get a drink. There's a process. First she sits in front of the bowl and stares at it... waiting for it to move or something. Then she will dip her paw into it... making sure it's not going to move, I guess. Then she will taste it off her paw five or six times... to make sure it's not poisonous, perhaps. Then, and only then will she take a drink.
But here's the problem... she's so skittish that if I walk into the kitchen while she's drinking (or, more likely, preparing to drink) she will run off. This is bad news, because a hydrated cat is a healthy cat. And so, any time I get up to go into the kitchen and Jenny's not around, I will stand at the cat tree and look into the kitchen to see if I can proceed. If she's waiting for the water to attack her or in process of drinking, I will wait for her to finish before heading towards the kitchen!
If she's checking for poison? Smart. If she's worried that the water might be going to attack her after drinking from the same dish hundreds of times? Wellll...
* Yeah, I'm sure everybody reading this is thinking "Of course Jenny is smarter than you are." But I'm all... "Well, I don't see her able to earn a living or surf the internet, so how smart could she possibly be?"**
** Oh...
I like to have television playing while I work at home. But it has to be something I've seen before. Otherwise I'll pay too much attention to the show instead of the task at hand. And whenever I don't know what old series to watch, I consult Wikipedia's List of television shows considered the best.
Some shows have to be ignored because I refuse to watch (I still loathe Succession no matter how many people love it), others I have no desire to watch again (All in The Family, Cheers, Hill Street Blues, etc.), and others I've already seen way too many times (The West Wing, for example).
As I started down the list, I saw Better Call Saul and decided that was the one. Vince Gilligan has a new top-secret show in development for Apple TV+ (coming November 9th), so it seemed like a good choice.
But it was a huge mistake, because this exceptional spin-off of Breaking Bad demands your attention. Part of the thrill of the show is the exceptional performances by Bob Odenkirk and the rest of the cast, and so much of that is played out on their faces. Which means it's too distracting because I'm staring at the TV instead of my laptop.
It's such a great series...
Too great, which is why I'm rewatching Community for the hundredth time instead. Also a great series, but one I can work during.
Last night I tuned into the New Heights podcast while eating dinner. And, no, I didn't start listening to it because Taylor Swift appeared on the previous episode. I was a fan of the show long before they even started dating and have blogged about it many times.
But speaking of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce... they got engaged. And the first thing I thought of after seeing the news is
And back to last night's episode of New Heights... it was filmed before the news of the engagement. But Jason prefaced the show by acknowledging it. Then we went into the pre-recorded show. Where they talked about the jaw-dropping numbers that last week's Taylor Episode pulled. And it was made very clear that if the proposal wasn't soon after they taped the Taylor Episode, he was proposing very soon after this one was taped. The guy absolutely delights in her. Never trying to eclipse her. Never spilling her business. Never feeling less of a man because she's a massively huge star raking in billions of dollars. He is perfectly happy to stand beside and be her cheerleader, which makes him a far bigger man that so-called "alpha males" who think that domination is the only option when it comes to women.
It's a refreshing thing to see...
And a great example to young men.
I hope they make it. Not only because they seem like decent people, but because Taylor Swift has been shitted on her entire career for her relationships. And because of this...
So congratulations to the happy couple.
I guess all their haters can just go be mad about it.
This past Saturday I finally got around to watching the second season opener of Peacemaker. It was even more insane than I had hoped. But first... tomatoes.
I honestly don't understand how my two small tomato plants keep pumping out so many 'maters. Even more unbelievable is that I am using no pesticides, have no netting or fencing, and pretty much ignore them... yet bugs and birds aren't bothering them at all.
Just before I started up Peacemaker I picked enough ripe ones to make another tomato salad with feta cheese and Mediterranean herbs. Unbelievably good...
I think I have at least one salad left in my plants once they ripen. Maybe two. I can't imagine how many I'll end up next year if I triple the number of plants. Hopefully enough for two salads a week instead of one every-other-week. Plus extra for burgers and spinach wraps and such. Dinner was delicious. Except I was embarrassed to include my garlic bread in the photo because it was made from hotdog buns.
And so... on Sunday I made a loaf of sourdough. Then I had to transfer my starter to a bowl so I could wash out the container I keep her in. Always a mess. And, if you've ever mixed flour and water, then you know it becomes glue that takes some effort to clean...
As for Peacemaker... it's as demented, crazy, and entertaining as I expected. Maybe more so. Suffice to say that if you can appreciate a good sex orgy (and are old enough to see such things), then this is the show for you.
Many fans wondered if the first season of the show was going to be canon in the new James Gunn DC Universe of movies. Turns out that, yes, it is. With one exception. The ending. In the original series, Peacemaker sees the Justice League arrive after the fighting is over. Superman, Aquaman, The Flash, and Wonder Woman (I'm guessing that Cyborg and Batman were off-limits for some reason). It's a hilarious bit that I won't spoil here, but I can tell you it's the most memorable thing to come out of Zack Snyder's dark slog of a DC Universe.
So... in the second season recap, Gunn fixes it. Now it's the Justice Gang which shows up... Mr. Terrific, Superman, Green Lantern Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and even Supergirl...
That's pretty great.
And now we wait for the Gunn DCU version of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Batman, Cyborg, and The Flash. Hopefully all comic bookey fun like Superman (2025) is.
My bedroom windows don't have blinds on them.
When she was little, Jenny got tangled up in the blinds that came with my place, so I removed them from every window in the house except the living room and guest room (those windows are quite large, so I just raised the blinds out of reach). My bedroom is on the second floor so it doesn't really matter. I suppose if somebody wants to climb a ladder or fly a drone up to watch me sleep... then oh well.
On clear nights, the stars are visible. Most times it doesn't phase me... I just look out and think something like "Oh... that's nice!" But there are times that I am quite phased.
Such as when there was this twinkling star that I kept thinking was an airplane. Except it stayed in the same spot in the sky. For a time. Turns out it wasn't an airplane, it was the planet Mars.
Right now when I lay on my bed and look out my window, I see three of the brightest observable stars in the night sky in the handle of The Big Dipper (AKA Ursa Major AKA Great Bear AKA The Plough)...
The stars, from left-to-right are Alkaid (35th brightest*), Mizar, and Alioth (31st brightest*). Alioth is so bright it was used for celestial navigation. Maybe it still is. Whatever the case, it and the other two stars keep distracting me while I'm trying to fall asleep.
Also distracting? Reading about these three stars on Wikipedia. Mizar, in particular, is absolutely fascinating.
I do feel lucky that Arcturus from the Little Dipper (4th brightest star in the sky*) is jussssst out of view of my window. Though that might change as the stars move around. Once more distraction from my getting a decent night's sleep...
But that's the night, now it's morning and time to face the horrors of the day.
*The rank of brightness varies depending on the list... I'm using 31st and 35th because that's what my StarWalk 2 app says. Wikipedia says Alkaid is 40th and Alioth is 32nd, so who knows?
The one-upmanship of life's miseries is physically exhausting.
You're not allowed to feel sad because there are people who have more reason to be sad than you. You're not allowed to feel afraid because there are people who have more reason to be afraid than you. You're not allowed to feel anything any more because there's always, always, a person out there worse off than you. Money, health, security, work, misfortune, friends, family, life, death... whatever the situation... you don't get feel what you're feeling because somebody somewhere has it worse. So what are you complaining about, you ungrateful piece of shit?
And God forbid if anything good actually happens to you. Heaven help you if you manage to carve out a little slice of happiness for yourself. You see something you enjoy, do something fun, go somewhere nice, get to experience something that makes you happy. Because then... then... you're just rubbing it in the faces of people who didn't get experience what you did.
No matter how meager it might be.
And it always escalates in bonkers ways...
"What did you do this weekend?"
"I watched this movie on Netflix I really enjoyed."
"Oh yeah? Well I know somebody who doesn't have a Netflix account. They don't have a television. In fact, they don't even have a home to put a television into. They probably can't even remember what it's like to watch television. Do you want to know what they probably did this weekend? They sat in their grandmothers unheated basement staring at the wall while eating a can of beans. AND IT WAS COLD BEANS BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE A MICROWAVE!"
And then...
"Really? Must be nice... because I read in the news about somebody whose grandmother DIED yesterday!"
But I exaggerate.
Kinda.
Because while this fictional conversation (likely) hasn't happened, it's a pretty accurate scenario generally speaking.
At least from my experience lately.
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