Stuff you, Bret!

Some of the very cool posters they use in Murray's office on Flight of the Conchords.

• New Zealand: Why not? 
• New Zealand, take your Mum
• New Zealand: Ewe should come 
• It's not boring in New Zealand
• New Zealand: Like Scotland but further
• New Zealand: only 18 hours from New York
• New Zealand: Don't expect too much - you'll love it!
• New Zealand: It's Not Going Anywhere
• Woolcome to New Zealand
• New Zealand: It's not part of Australia
• New Zealand: Come visit us down underer
• New Zealand: It's better than Old Zealand
• New Zealand: Cool!
• New Zealand... Rocks! 
• New Zealand: Like Lord of the Rings
• New Zealand: 100% further than you think. 
• New Zealand: Worth a go
   
  

Escape now, hug later

Movie: Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens. Pretty sure I'm the last person in the universe to see this, but if that's not true: spoiler alert. What I've liked about Star Wars from the original was how it puts you right there. I've always felt like it could truly be happening and that's not an easy feat for SF. This episode had lots of action, excellent repartee (especially between Leia and Han, some between Finn and Poe), old characters we liked, new characters we like or fear (what kind of makeup and/or lighting did they use on Adam Driver? He hardly looked like himself. Maybe it was the hair gel.) One particular unfortunate event I didn't like. Harrison must not want to continue in the franchise which is a real bummer because no one has the same swagger, snarky attitude and clever lines. A horrible loss to the future movies and, knowing Star Wars's past "daddy issues" themes, rather predictable. The Rey character is a good addition, however Kiera Knightly twinny at times. I really liked Maz but fear she may have bit the dust. It was not clear. Finn has we'll see potential, though it's a bit disconcerting he was raised/trained to be a storm trooper and his original name was FN-#. Really? Effin? Luke did not show up until the last couple minutes which made me wonder how much Hammill got paid for that. Like, five dollars? And he didn't even have any lines. Not one word. Could have at least said. "Thank you." I say bump him down to four dollars. Maybe three fifty.

Separated at birth?

Eddie Murphy's Buckwheat

and Jimi Hendrix?

The world is going to put you under the spotlight

Movie: Spotlight. 2016 Academy Award winner for Best Picture. Before viewing, I was concerned this would be cringe-worthy due to the subject matter but they avoided showing personal experiences in favor of focusing on the journalism involved. As in: discovering a news story, investigating it, finding leads, corroborating evidence, gathering facts. How a story develops from idea to publishing. Underlying that was the theme of the power of the Catholic Church. Priests revered to the point of deification, their thoughtlessly breaking sacred vows and laws, the church's decades or longer systematic cover up, and what seemed like a nonchalant attitude of oh well, these things happen. Unanswered may have been questions like: What leads anyone to this? and If priests were allowed to marry, would these crimes nearly stop?

There's surely something to it all

When I first bought Steve Hackett's second solo record, Please Don't Touch, it was back when cassettes were replacing vinyl. So I bought the cassette. Back then, a lot of record companies didn't add much packaging so only the song titles were listed on the little slip of paper inside the case. I've listened to this record so many times since then but never knew many details about it. Thanks to the marvelous world of the internet and especially Wikipedia, I decided to learn more.

Side one starts with "Narnia," obviously based on CS Lewis's book The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and features vocals by Steve Walsh and drumming by Phil Ehart, both of Kansas. The band, not the state. The song was considered to be released as a single but Kansas's record company wouldn't allow it. Sad, because it's catchy and cheery enough to have been a big hit. "Carry On Up the Vicarage" is a tribune to Agatha Christie with Hackett on vocals, however distorted, so he's singing both very high and low at the same time. The lyrics mention many ways one could die, particularly if one was a character in a Christie novel. I always thought the second line was "People die from circumstance all the time" but it is "People die from sudden strokes all the time." Lots of effects in this song: choir, musical box, glockenspiel, church organ, laughing gnome, distorted echo at the end. "Racing In A" is the fastest and rockiest song on the album and one that I often find playing in my head, even if I haven't heard it for years. The lyrics (again sung by Walsh) describe getting away from it all, to the sun in the warm country air. Always a dream of  mine! After 3:50 the rock part ends and the guitar plays a classical finale.  "Kim" is an instrumental inspired by Erik Satie's "Gymnopédie No 1" and Hackett's then wife, Kim Poor. His brother John plays flute. "How Can I?" is a slow folk ballad with Richie Havens's smoky deep voice singing. Apparently Hackett and Havens met in 1977 when Havens opened for Genesis. Hackett wanted to work with him and brought up the idea. I didn't know that this song was released as a single, complete with a video with  Hackett and Havens. Was it not released in America?

Side two starts with "Hoping Love Will Last" featuring R&B singer Randy Crawford who Hackett saw perform in a bar in Chicago. Hackett wrote this for Genesis but wanted a female singer for it, so the band couldn't use it. Hackett said: “It was the kind of song that I wanted to do that could become a standard, that even Frank Sinatra could sing.” The guitar at the end moves into "Land Of Thousand Autumns," an instrumental ending with a drum fill that moves into "Please Don't Touch" which was also written for Genesis but they rejected it. The song was apparently a variation on a theme in "Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers..." "Please Don't Touch" is driven by a bass pedal that John Hackett hammers with his fists. Add hypnotic keyboards and Chester Thompson's driving drum beat. Hackett advised: “For maximum effect this track should be listened to as loudly as possible with as much treble and bass as your system can muster. - Not to be played to people with heart conditions or those in severely hallucinogenic states of mind.” Steve and John then play a merry tune as duet of flute and guitar in contrast to the rest of the piece. Steve wanted to include "Please Don’t Touch" on Genesis’ Wind & Wuthering. The band rehearsed it but the others rejected it. "The Voice of Necam" carries on with an organ and noises of whirs and steam. The computer enters and grows louder, pushing all other instruments aside until the guitar plays a calm, classical piece that moves into the last song, "Icarus Ascending" where Havens again guest vocals.  He is accompanied by choirs, a flute solo by John and an ensemble of instruments.The song fades away, like walking into the sunset or a cloud.

Kim Poor designed the album cover after visiting a shop in London that sold old automats and toys. It portrays a Victorian couple attacked by wind up dolls, small robots and other toys in a toy shop, and inspired a scene in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner where Harrison Ford's character is attacked by living toys.

Fubar, yah? Okay, then.

Series: Fargo, Season 2. I expected the body count to be even higher than Season 1 and sure enough, it was, by far. Luckily there was a whole buncha good acting (Danson, Smart, Dunst, etc.) to go along with the steamer full of stupid that was these crazy characters. My favorite moment had to be when Danson said to  Dunst, "Well, you're a little touched, now, aren't you?" To put it diplomatically. In a few areas I questioned motives, particularly when Hansee (I kept expecting someone to call him Fonzie) betrayed, well, everyone. Perhaps he'd had enough of being treated like an inferior and the racist remarks didn't help. Also, the uncle killing his niece was mighty cold and the UFO appearance was strange, but handled funny by Peggy. Interesting foreshadowing back to Season 1. Made me want to watch that again. I'm not sure there's any plastic surgery that could physically turn Hanzee into Tripoli, though. Perhaps they should have implied he traded places with Billy Bob. A minor gripe: while they chose interesting songs, I don't think any of them were from March 1979. It was as if they grabbed a CD called "Hits of the 70s" and thought, good enough. With the internet, it's easy to find out what was in the top 40 then.

Happy Trails to them

Movie: A Walk in the Woods. Produced by and starring Robert Redford as he returns to a buddy film. Originally optioned in 1998 for Redford to team up again with Paul Newman but sadly Newman's health didn't allow it. In a way the rapport Redford and Nolte had reminded me a lot of Redford and Newman from Butch Cassidy and The Sting movies. Redford has that marvelous sarcasm with perfect timing and tone. We laughed out loud several times throughout the movie. Rated R most likely for some colorful language. Made me interested in reading Bryson's books. On the list for: someday.

My friends from college, they're all married now

Documentary: Meet the Patels. While I'm sure the Patel parents are wonderful people - they seemed very nice from what we saw - I am grateful to have been born to parents who never pressured me to marry and give them grandchildren. And especially didn't pressure me to meet as many potential spouses as possible and choose one who wasn't so bad and from the right neighborhood. I am not married and have not ever been married. From the point of Papa Patel, there appears to be nothing I have to offer society. Wow. The son was obviously totally infatuated with the ex-girlfriend and wouldn't or couldn't look beyond his feelings for her to even see anyone else. The ex-girlfriend wanted him to commit and it seemed he couldn't because he was afraid his parents would disapprove of his marrying a white woman (which it seems they did, especially the mother.) I hope for everyone's sake things work out and the grandparents can enjoy and dote on their eventual grandchildren they were so desperate to have.

I laughed at all of your jokes

As Downton Abbey closes permanently, let's look back on some wonderful quotes from my favorite character, Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham:

• "No Englishman would dream of dying in someone else's house."
• "I couldn't have electricity in the house, I wouldn't sleep a wink. All those vapors floating about."
• “First electricity, now telephones. Sometimes I feel as if I’m living in an H.G. Wells novel.”
• “Everyone goes down the aisle with half the story hidden.”
• “I don’t dislike him, I just don’t like him. Which is quite different.”
• “I wonder your halo doesn’t grow heavy. It must be like wearing a tiara around the clock.”
• “We can’t have him assassinated. I suppose.”
• "Vulgarity is no substitute for wit".
• "All this endless thinking. It's very overrated"
•  "You must know by now, I never answer any question more incriminating than whether I need a new rug."
• “My dear. A lack of compassion can be as vulgar as an excess of tears.”
• "At my age, one must ration one's excitement."
•  "You are a woman with a brain and reasonable ability. Stop whining and find something to do." 
• "It always seemed rather dark when my mother-in-law lived here; but then, she made everything rather dark." 
• "I have plenty of friends I don't like."
• "That is the thing about nature, there's so *much* of it."

The long and winding solar road

During our often snowy Western New York winters, I find myself wondering why we don't have solar roads and sidewalks. And for that matter, driveways. It seems like in the long run, not having to pay for workers to plow and plows and upkeep on plows in addition to salt and sand, solar roads would be less costly and safer. In the Netherlands, they are already working on Solar Roads, or SolaRoads. A couple years ago they built a 70 meter (230 foot) test track along a bike path on the outskirts of Amsterdam. The panels underneath the road generated over 3 thousand kilowatt hours in six months. Enough to provide a household with electricity for a year. Cheap mass produced solar panels are layered between glass, silicon rubber and concrete. If one panel breaks, only that panel is switched off. Developers are working on solar panels that can take the weight of buses and large trucks. Eventually electric cars might be able to make use of the energy created.

What can I give you in return?

Movie: Bridge of Spies. You can always count on Tom Hanks to give a solid performance. Because of the serious subject matter, this didn't leap off the screen like the "thriller" the box proclaimed it to be. They seemed to enlist the talents of the Coen Brothers to make it more exciting but the material they added was fiction so that rather messed with the historical accuracy they might have wanted to keep. Mentioning Abel's accent a couple times as being not Russian but rather English was strange because it was so obviously Scottish. All they had to do was say he was born in Northern England but attended school in Scotland. Maybe because the world was bigger then, Americans didn't know what a Scottish accent sounded like? Pre-Lulu and everything. I don't know. One thing that was really noticeable was Donovan calling home from overseas with what appeared to be a quarter or two. When I was in Scotland in the late 1980s, I thought about calling home but knew I would need a lot more coins than I had in my pockets and I had a lot of coins in my pockets. The photographers flashbulbs really brought one back to a different time (although personally I wasn't actually in that time.) Seeing them on the floor made me wonder whose job it was to clean them up. Hello to Bono's daughter Eve Hewson who plays Donovan's elder daughter. And Sister Bernadette who sure looked like the wife but wasn't
ETA: Congratulations to Mark Rylance for winning best supporting actor at the Oscars. 

C'est Banana

Movie: The Minions. I'm not a fan of animation, but this was so huge and my little great nephews love the minions, so I thought I'd give it a try. Best thing about it: killer soundtrack since it was set in 1968. Happy Together, 19th Nervous Breakdown, Break on Through to the Other Side, Hair, You Really Got Me, Purple Haze, The Letter, My Generation, Got to Get You Into My Life, Mellow Yellow. Always an Ab Fab fan, I appreciated Jennifer Saunders voicing the Queen. I kept waiting for The Beatles cameo and was not disappointed. They were partially seen crossing Abbey Road, albeit a year too soon. Unless they used this zebra crossing regularly. I didn't find the Minions voices irritating. It seemed nice that Cousin Itt and the Jawas from Star Wars have found some voice over work after all these years. I'm not sure what this movie and its sequels in the Despicable Me series mean to children, though. Searching for an evil ruler to serve seems odd.
ETA: I let the ending go for a few minutes and caught a few extra scenes but once the credits started, I stopped the DVD. My mistake. After the credits finish, they return with one final song, The Beatles Revolution. Don't miss it, as I did.
 

I've been hanging around libraries

What is your library worth to you? Head on over to I Love Libraries to calculate how much. Just enter how often you check out or use any of their library materials or services per year and the site will add up what it would cost you without the library. My total was over a thousand dollars. To me, the library is invaluable. If you think so too, consider making a donation to your local library.

There's a Starman waiting in the sky

Movie: The Martian. One of the best movies I've seen in months or longer. When last we saw Matt Damon, he was a nasty slime bucket in Interstellar. In a dramatic role reversal here, he plays a motivated, logical, enterprising MacGyver type protagonist. Well done, sir. Technology aside, I didn't understand why or how a woman crew member of this day and age (probably in her late 20s) would be into disco music but was grateful that they played mostly good disco songs from the likes of Vicki Sue Robinson, The Hues Corporation, Gloria Gaynor and Abba compared to some of what my ears had to live through in the late 1970s. The council of Elrond inside joke with Sean Bean was funny but I didn't like Kristen Wiig's disparaging lines about it because it reinforced stereotypes often found on The Big Bang Theory that women do not like and/or are not interested in and/or can not possibly comprehend science fiction. Minor gripes. Nice to see such good usage of duct tape: "The handyman's secret weapon." Next trip: bring lots!

Separated at birth?

Author J.R. Ward and actress Meryl Streep?

Wodehousing

From my friend Mose who found it somewhere or from someone and posted it on facebook, The Drones Club is a site where you can find a new silly P. G. Wodehouse quote upon every page refresh.

Separated at Birth?

Pharrell and a Siamese cat?

Cold as ice to me

How winter is like an abusive boyfriend: 

• He pushes for quick involvement.  Blizzards and 9 feet of snow as early as October.
• He is controlling. Who wants to drive very far on ice and/or slush covered roads or be outside in minus 20 wind chill for more than a couple minutes? We have to wear certain clothes, put on extra moisturizer, pay high heating bills.
• He has very unrealistic expectations. Shoveling the sidewalk and driveway. Sometimes twice a day. The snow ends up piled so high, it’s difficult to throw it atop the heap with the shovel.
• There is isolation. Stuck mostly inside the house for months, watching endless bad television, bored.
• He blames others for his own mistakes. It’s global warming. It’s the polar vortex. It’s the arctic vortex. It’s El Niño. It’s the jet stream.
• He makes everyone else responsible for their feelings. We’d enjoy it if we were skiers.
• He is cruel to animals and children. Homeless animals freeze. Deer can’t find food. Kids have to walk in the street or trudge through snow up to their knees & risk being run over just walking to school for an education.
• He has sudden mood swings. Minus 30 wind chill one day and 50 degrees and sunny the next. If you're lucky.
• He has a past of battering. Centuries of abuse.
• There are threats of violence. The weather report.

Dear sir or madam will you read my book?

If you have some books (paperback, hardcover) or even audio discs and cassettes at home that you no longer want for one reason or another, but don't want to throw them in the recycling bin, check out the Paperback Swap site.You can list books you want to swap and when someone requests it, mail it to them. The first ten books you list earn you two credits to choose two books. Looks like after that whenever someone requests a book of yours, you receive a credit. There are over over 4 million titles to choose from. You print the postage labels for books people request from you at home and simply mail it to them.

Together for the first time

One morning last week my stapler became hopelessly jammed. Not what I was wanting when I had to staple together 24 invoices. And it's a little embarrassing having coworkers see one trying to fish out the stuck staples with an unbent paperclip. Honestly, those little buggers (the staples, not the coworkers!) took me about 20 minutes to free. The previous week I had to figure out how to reload staples in an electronic stapler. Open the visor, that was easy. Next step took me several Google searches to find and the next step was: unlock the cartridge. Nowhere did the internet tell me HOW to unlock the cartridge. I finally figured out to press down very hard (breaking a fingernail in the process) on a teeny blue button which apparently was the cartridge lock.

So for a couple weeks it seemed staples and/or staplers were out to get me. If only someone would invent a staple-free stapler. Oh wait, someone has!

There's a new handy device that cuts a little flap in the corner of your papers, folds those flaps back and tucks them into a tiny slit. It can clip together up to five sheets at once. It's safe for all ages and supposedly maintenance free. Prices start at six dollars. Government offices in Japan almost all use these devices exclusively. The current market for these is about 30% more than traditional staplers.