They say it's your birthday

 Chart showing the most and least common birthdays.

There goes the sun

Movie: The Ballad of Wallis Island. A sleeper that I keep recommending to people because I found it sweet, sometimes bittersweet, lovely, funny, touching, well acted, and well written. Basically everything I was looking for in a movie. A double lottery winning eccentric Charles (Tim Key) invites his late wife's favorite folk musician Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden) to give a concert, unknowingly just for him. Herb was part of a famous duo before breaking up with his partner. I really wanted her name to be Peaches. Sadly, it was not. It was Nell Mortimer, played by Carey Mulligan. Desperately in need of money, the now washed-up Herb agrees to the deal until he realizes Charles has invited Nell for an historical reunion concert of McGwyer Mortimer.

At first Herb finds Charles strange, then annoying, then funny and ultimately endearing. For an actor to pull this off, not only with a character in the same film, but also with the audience, was amazing to watch. Lots of props to Tim Key. The original music/soundtrack of tremendous, soulful folk songs is extremely pleasing. Tom Basden wrote all the songs. I hope he's writing a lot more exactly like these. Look for the songs around the net. Worth every moment. The movie's ending was unexpected but seemed true to the way life works. Filmed in Wales in 18 days. 

 

The night the lights went out in Mass

Due to the latest massive snowstorm on the east coast, over 165,000 homes are without power in Mass. If you're wondering if and how your area has been affected, head on over to Power Outage to find out. From their maps, you can see the areas most affected by the storm, including where I used to live many decades ago. People had to climb out their windows in order to shovel the three feet plus high snow so they could open their front doors. 

Never listen to what people say. Just watch what they do.

 Found in my wanderings: the ratings of all the episodes of the SF show The Expanse.