Ah look at all the lonely people

 Movie: Rental Family. Brendan Fraser stars as an aspiring actor living in Japan who takes a job with a company that offers paying clients to hire actors to play family members or friends. Sounds like a strange concept, but it has been a real thing for a while. Hire a boyfriend to get one's family off one's back or as a needed plus one to an event. That sort of thing. At one point Fraser is given the job of being a young girl's father so she can apply to an elite school. He befriends the "daughter" and discovers some of what's like being a father, how strangers can suddenly become so important to you in a matter of meetings. The themes of loneliness and how vital connection with our fellow humans truly is are poignant and insightful. I loved this movie. Read other reviews if you think you might want to try it. They'll say it's: charming, appealing, well crafted, remarkable, beautiful, funny, wonderful, moving, tender, filled with warmth. They are right. 

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. 

 

That's a wrap

 Youtube's 2025 says my interests are: 

• Swedish lifestyle
• Renovating old homes
• Learning about history
• Exploring tiny homes
• Documentaries on music
• Current events coverage
• Exploring different cuisines
• Watching comedy shows

And my top interests are: 

• British vs American customs
• Unique home designs
• Exploring different cultures
• Home improvement projects
• Unusual stories

No thank you, Mrs Cleaver!

This spring, before the temperatures spiked super high and nothing grew anymore, my back yard became a site for this odd weed I didn't remember seeing before. A light to mid green color, growing up rather than spreading, and extremely sticky proliferating nuisance. I'd try not to touch it because it was so tough to remove it from my hands. In looking online as to what in the world this weed is, I found it was called Galium aparine. It's also called cleavers, catchweed, bedstraw, sticky willy and some other names that are probably more colorful because I'm sure many people despise it as much as me. 

Cleavers can grow up to four feet tall and are covered with hooked hairs. These are what cling to anything and everything with a vengeance, much like hyper Velcro. Although I don't recommend it, the leaves and stems of the weed are edible if cooked. Teas can be made from its dry leaves. Dry and roast the fruits to make a  drink similar to coffee. Its roots can be used to make a red dye. Personally, I decided to eliminate it from my yard. 

 

Separated at birth?

 Reba McEntire and whatever character this is from the movie Ice Age. (No offense to Reba. She's great!)

 

Do we need 'em: Flants

Years ago I began seeing ants with wings, something I was sure never existed when I was growing up. Were they mutants? Was there some kind of odd mating with flies creating winged ants? I began calling them flants, a mix of fly and ant. When I saw one again this spring, I decided to research the strange insect. Apparently they are normal and always have been. They are ants called alates. These winged alate ants fly in order for the queen to mate with males from different colonies. Then she creates nests in various places. Apparently, afterward mating, the queen will chew off her own wings. Something I'm sure she didn't sign up for. 

So, since flants are ants, the question then is, do we need ants? And that answer would be yes, because: 

• They improve soil aeration, redistributing nutrients and organic matter (dead insects, plants, debris), enriching the soil. 
• Some ants collect seeds and carry them to their nests, where they can sprout.
• Ants prey on insects (termites, aphids, caterpillars) and other pests, helping control their populations and reducing crop damage. 
• Ants provide food for birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals. (Sorry ants, them's the breaks.)

I could've sworn I saw fireworks From your house last night

 

In another month it will be the 4th of July and lots of people will be buying and setting off fireworks. As the decades roll on by, I find that I'm not as enthused as I used to be to see, or especially to hear, fireworks. It's rare to see something I haven't seen many times over and wow, I'm now understanding why the loud booms bother animals so much. To combat visual burn out and auditory sensitivity, as well as pollution, it might be nice if places could use dynamic, imaginative fireworks created by drones. The pictures here are examples of some drone handiwork. 

Unfortunately, it is still rare for drone fireworks to be used. The major reason is the cost. Traditional displays cost between ten and twenty thousand but drone fireworks average around a hundred thousand. In larger cities and places that can swing the cost, the spectacle, safety, environmental friendliness and minimal noise to bother animals and elderly might be worth it. 

Everybody cut footloose!

Not sure if I wrote about this way in the past. At The Oracle of Bacon, you can enter another actor you may have some degree of separation from and find out how many degrees they are separated from actor Kevin Bacon, thereby finding out how many degrees of separation you are from Bacon. For example, one time my college roommate literally (mistakenly) crashed into Angie Dickinson at an ice show in Los Angeles, knocking her over. Since Angie was in the movie Ocean's 11 with Jessica James and Jessica was in the movie Diner with Kevin Bacon, my degree of separation from Bacon is four. 

The Great Moose Migration

The science fiction comedy Red Dwarf asked the question: "It's 1971, a Swedish man crashes into a tree, what causes the accident? There's nothing medical, nothing wrong with the car." And the answer: 

 

This is a screenshot from SVT where usually nothing much happens until the moose begin their annual spring migration across the Ångerman River in northern Sweden to summer pastures. Last year 9 million people tuned in to watch them. This year, I'm joining the ranks.