Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Shatner in Space

I have been through all the videos purporting to show Shatner in Space. 

Pressing nose to window? Check.

Being moved by the vulnerability of life? Check.

Experiencing weightlessness? Not so much.

He does not float. (Also, therefore, he is not a witch.)

I mean, I know he's ninety and not as agile and lightweight as the other passengers, but I'd  think one of the young folks could have stopped doing backflips to spot Captain Kirk, maybe. Pass him around over their heads maybe. 

Weekly Paint Progress: 10/14

This week the Buffalo went from this:

… to this:

He’s loose! I like him. He needs to be a little darker behind his armpit again.

Baseball

Well, last week the Cardinals were on the cusp of the playoffs, and then, ex-Cardinal Albert Pujols came up to bat as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the ninth inning, and everything fell apart.

You will notice I blame Pujols, not the unfortunate Cardinals pitcher swapped in moments earlier, who then almost immediately threw a walk-off home run to the Dodgers. You can watch it below.

So sure, we lost. But we lost with drama. The king can’t die from colitis, he has to die with his boots on, or assassinated, or gloriously usurped. This finish was so much better than if they’d been ahead of us by one run for five innings and then time ran out.

A friend had an even better attitude, he said “The Streak was my series.” I like that, the World Series is only seven games and The Streak was what, 17? Much better than a Series. 

 

 

Britney vs Her Father

Big news last week was that Britney Spears is “free” from the conservatorship her father controls.

People are compassionate. They empathize with Britney. They know how they’d feel in her situation. I empathize with her father. At least, I can see what’s motivating him. 

Let’s re-cast this. Let’s say it’s Bill Gates, drop-out, fresh out of his garage holding a floppy with MS-DOS, and he’s earned scads of money from his talent. Then he becomes seriously, self-admittedly, bipolar. (Symptom one: spending 30 million dollars to build a state-of-the 1990s-era mansion.)

Pretend that Bill’s parents become concerned because their son’s doing all the Bipolar Type 1 things: spending money recklessly, being paranoid, and especially, having random sex.

The random sex is a concern because, I swear, the Tinder scam artists target mentally ill people. “I can’t wait for our date” followed by, “I was on my way over and this police officer has arrested me for no reason and wants five grand to let me go, can you PayPal me?” 

Wouldn’t they need to look at Bill’s texts? Especially the ones that say, “Stop listening to your parents, marry me and I’ll make you happy. No pre-nup, though.” 

Someday I will have to turn off CNN when they are shocked to report Britney is penniless and in the hospital because she got in a fist fight with some random paramour whom she claims is a spy from Mars, and there was no conservatorship to save her from herself. They’ll probably say that the new situation is her father’s fault too. 

Speaking of fathers, I empathize with Britney’s kids, too. Being raised by someone more emotionally unstable than you are — when you are six — is not healthy. Britney is unhappy because she can’t be with her kids whenever she pleases. I’m glad she isn’t frustrated enough to cut off all contact in that situation, like Jerry did. Like mentally ill people do, sometimes.

Untreated mental illness jacks with your family enough without having media outlets come in and play one side over the other. 

I understand she’s still got someone providing some kind of conservatorship. I honestly hope someone is vetting her friends.

Weekly Paint Progress: 10/7

This week the Buffalo went from  this:

… to this:

The Vatican Top 45

The IMDb for The Lavender Hill Mob sent me to this most Eminent List, the High Holy List of the Vatican’s Most-Favored movies. 

The Vatican’s List of Top 45 Films is divided into three categories: Religion, Values, and Art.

RELIGION

• Andrei Rublev (1966)  … never heard of it in my state of sin 
• Babette's Feast (1987) … have heard of it, wanted to see it, never did. Sin of omission.
• Ben-Hur (1959) … overly loooooong. Good chariot race.
• The Flowers of St. Francis (1950) … never heard of it, cult film I suppose
• Francesco (1989)… never heard of it, must be Italian
• The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1966) … never heard of it, read the book
• La Passion de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ (1905) … never heard of it, French
• A Man for All Seasons (1966) … love this movie! Well, loved the play. Haven’t actually seen it.
• The Mission (1986) … the trailer for this scared me off in the 1980s.
• Monsieur Vincent (1947) … really no idea. Supposedly features the Black Death.
• Nazarin (1958) … never heard of it, but it’s a Vatican-approved satire? Intriguing.
• Ordet (1955) … this is not even a word.
• The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) … I think I’ve seen clips.
• The Sacrifice (1986) … another 1986 movie. Pope was up for the movies this year.
• Therese (1986) … that’s three movies from 1986. Was the Pope dating?

VALUES

• Au Revoir les Enfants (1988) … French!
• Bicycle Thieves (1949) … is this the sequel to The Bicycle Thief? Oh! It’s the same movie. Odd. 
• The Burmese Harp (1956) … Burmese!
• Chariots of Fire (1981) … I did see this, with, Mom, just out of high school.
• Dekalog (1988) … also not a word
• Dersu Uzala (1975) … a space alien word
• Gandhi (1982) … tried twice to watch this and gave up after an hour each time
• Intolerance (1916) … okay, I liked this one.
• It's a Wonderful Life (1946) … okay, everyone likes this one, except Mom, who could never make it past the scene with the lost money.
• On the Waterfront (1954) … another one I’ve given up on halfway through. Clearly the Pope is more patient than I. This makes sense.
• Rome, Open City (1945) … hometown favorite for the Pope.
• Schindler's List (1993) … you bet I liked it. Pope and I give it two thumbs up.
• The Seventh Seal (1957) … another Black Death movie.
• The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978) … never heard of this either.
• Wild Strawberries (1957) … I think I had a perfume in junior high named Wild Strawberries.

ART

• Citizen Kane (1941) … what? Charles Foster Kane has an affair for half the movie. I guess that’s why this is in the Art category and not the Values category.
• 8½ (1963) … I confused this with 9 1/2 Weeks at first. Still, this is a Fellini movie. Unexpected.
• Fantasia (1940) … Sorcerer’s Apprentices! Film of the Devil!
• Grand Illusion (1937) … I begin to realize I have seen very few of these movies. I do not have the same taste as the pope.
• La Strada (1954) … another Fellini movie. Still unexpected.
• The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) … good choice, still a little fluffy for the Pope’s list.
• The Leopard (1963) … lukewarm reception in the US and prize-winning everywhere else. I never heard of this either. I live in a tighter bubble than the Pope.
• Little Women (1933) … is this the one with Katherine Hepburn as Jo? Good choice.
• Metropolis (1927) … I’ve seen the sexy outfit the robot woman wears. Surprising.
• Modern Times (1936) … I concur. We all love the Little Tramp.
• Napoleon (1927) … I wonder if this was before or after the big restoration of the movie.
• Nosferatu (1922) … what the hell. What. The. Hell.
• Stagecoach (1939) … should have watched it, no excuse.
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) … HATED it.
• The Wizard of Oz (1939) … the Pope sees your sorcerers and raises three witches! 

I should stop ragging on the pope, he may well have had his PR cardinal make this list. Still 45 movies and I’ve seen 11. Very low percentage. I am a bad Catholic. I need to watch 8 1/2 as penance.

Reviews: Lavender Hill Mob / M

The Lavender Hill Mob. Last week I watched the The Lavender Hill Mob, which I have often refused to see, thinking it was The Ladykillers, because I have only one neuron available for Alec Guinness movies beginning with L.

I didn’t guffaw all the way through, but I laughed often. The characters are very appealing, there is a ferry-catching scene any traveller will appreciate, and a young Audrey Hepburn has one line. The IMDB entry says the Bank of England helped to plot out the heist, which might explain why there is a giant plot hole around how the mob is caught. 

Now I need to watch The Man in the White Suit and Kind Hearts and Coronets, though I will have to watch that last one alone. (Gary cringes at men in drag.) 

Then, last night, we watched M. Wow. I’ve read about this movie but never seen it. Really remarkable direction for such an early movie. You’ll forget it’s from the 30’s, especially when you see the subject matter. About as far fro The Lavender Hill Mob as you can get.

LBJ Quote

I think with Covid we’ve got another variant on the LBJ quote about making the lowest white man feel superior to the best black man. 

Per Bill Moyers:

We were in Tennessee. During the motorcade, he spotted some ugly racial epithets scrawled on signs. Late that night in the hotel, when the local dignitaries had finished the last bottles of bourbon and branch water and departed, he started talking about those signs. “I’ll tell you what’s at the bottom of it,” he said. “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

And now with Covid we have the least educated man feeling superior to the most educated doctors and scientists. I wonder if they’re emptying their pockets too.

Weekly Paint Progress: 9/24

A few years ago I took this photo of a Buffalo.

Last week we had an exercise at work in which we had to spend 10 minutes doing something creative. The paints were out already so I slapped this out.

No one said “dog with horns.” They correctly identified it as a Buffalo.

I will spend more time on this one.

Post From the Past

Perhaps I will be comforted by the reminder of the last epidemic I survived. This is a re-post from the 2009 swine flu epidemic.

I was in bed this morning. Gary was awake.

"Ellen, I've been thinking you might want to sell those Elton John / Billy Joel tickets."

I ran it through a few times because I was a little groggy. Then I said,

"Why on earth would I want to do that?"

"You know ... swine flu. And you on the immunosuppressants ..."

I wanted to laugh at him outright, bu he was being truly concerned. "Let's wait on that decision for a few weeks."

"It might be too late to sell the tickets, then."

"What about masks? I could wear a mask." Because I would. He'd make me take it off two feet in the door because he'd be embarrassed.

Then I started thinking,  I could wear a mask that reads OFFICIAL TOUR '09 FACE MASK $50.00 ...

or I could draw the KISS tongue on it ...

or "Flu in from Miami beach B.O.A.C."

or "Pigs! Rude, Vile Pigs!"

——————————-

Well of course we went to the Elton John / Billy Joel concert, but it is nice to remember Gary was looking out for me about the immunosuppressant. And I did get a fever after. Just imagine if that happened today.

American Experience / Sandra Day O’Connor

As you know, I love the American Experience tv show, so I launched into the latest one about Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice.

I didn’t love all of it. Usually you get some kind of revelation about the person in these things, but not this time. Perhaps because she is still alive, or perhaps she is just that transparent. 

What I did love was the background on the 2000 presidential election (1 hour 36 min in) and the thinking behind her decision. That was fascinating. Like everyone, I saw the decision falling on party lines, but this show claims to spell out her logic. Supposedly, forget safe harbors and state vs federal courts. It was this:

• If Gore won the chance to continue the recount there would have to be a new set of electors.
• If a state has two sets of electors it goes to Congress.
• If it had gone to Congress the House and Senate each would get one vote (so the decision would be either unanimous or a tie), and they were controlled by separate parties so they would tie.
• Per the rules it would then be decided by the governor of Florida, who was, haha, the brother of George W. Bush.
• He would award the electors to his brother and “we would look like a banana republic.”

She knew that Bush would win, so decide that way anyway and spare us all. 

There’s always something to learn on that show. 

Update: Cardinals Winning Streak

Our baseball team habitually stinks until mid-season, then they harvest the farm teams and become the Saint Louis Phoenixes and soar into the playoffs. 

This year the Saint Louis Sports Drama Committee decided to juice it up and make them suck until the last possible moment and then have a dramatic reversal in which they win every game, preferably with loaded bases, a full count, then a walk-off homer. 

The current winning streak is in the double digits, currently 15, so it’s getting national attention. I even heard an out-of-town commentator try to reference Whiteyball, only he called it Whitey baseball or White Rat baseball or some other perversion of the phrase because in 1980 his parents were ten. 

Last night they got the streak up to 14 in a row to tie Dizzy Dean’s team record from 1935. If they had started earlier they could have doubled it to pass the 1916 New York Giant’s record. Not to mention the 20 game streak from the Saint Louis Marroons in 1884.

That’s the thing about a winning streak, the longer it is the harder it ends, or else it ends in another World Series win.

=======

Now up to 15 thanks in part to this insane double play:

Weekly Paint Progress: 9/23

This week the sundials went from this:

…to this:

…from the original of this:

Not as satisfying as the birdbath. And clearly I need to go a bit darker. Will I? Probably. 

Pronouns

I have edited my email signature at work to include my preferred pronouns: she/her. I guess those will do. There’s no pronoun for menopaused women. I should identify as Post-she. Ante-her. Semi-him?

It seems odd to have done that, given that I don’t remember encountering any person at work who identifies as “they”, but perhaps they will feel more comfortable seeing my she/her.

I did recently rephrase a noun-verb disagreement with “he or she” and was chastised and educated on the non-pluralism of “they.” Fine with me. He or she was tiresome. 

All this made me think of Eddie Izzard, and I re-watched Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill, Cake or Death, Executive Transvestite, Ciao, just genius.

I wondered what he’s been doing lately and it seems “he’s” been changing his pronouns to she/her, she’s even calling back to Dress to Kill, saying she feels more “girl mode” now.

That’s why I feel odd adding my pronouns to my email signature, I’m not gender-fluid, I’m gender-stagnant. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Izzard

All I remembered was cake or death at first. After menopause it’s all cake or death.

New Protests

I was utterly unprepared for the January 6 protest/uprising/insurrection. (I encourage you to pick your noun. I would say the idiots outside on the lawn were protesting. the idiots on the steps beating police officers were criminals, and as for the idiots inside, saying they were insurrectionists gives them too much credibility. Idiots inside admiring the sculpture hall and staying between the velvet ropes were idiots swept up in the mob. Alternatively, the idiots inside who were defecating and chanting, they need to have Mike Pence come to their homes and pry up their baseboards and poop in their living rooms.)

Supposedly a new batch of idiots will be back tomorrow, September 18. The capitol police have put the fencing around the Capitol again, and lately around the Supreme Court. Why not the White House?  Supposedly 78% of Republicans think Biden was not legitimately elected. That number isn’t so high when you realize fewer and fewer label themselves Republican.   

Enough with this nonsense. We have hurricanes, floods, a plague, swarms of flies, cicadas, armyworms, wars and rumors of wars. Do we really need an armed revolution this year?

Weekly Paint Progress: 9/16

This week the sundials went from this:

… and then I taped it up to be able to flick the rock speckles on with a toothbrush …

… and then I added all the other details except for the sundials themselves, and then the glaze for the color of the light.

Gary noticed the two rocks on the bottom two frames had moved. I told him the rabbits moved them. In reality, I just got sloppy.

Two Cicadas

The annual fall cicadas emerged, lived, and died by the time I noticed. These aren’t the ones that go dormant for 17 years, or the ones that they used to make my old drug Gilenya, or the Zombie cicadas (or, as this article calls them, the flying salt shakers of death).

No, these are the stocky ones that you can pick up in your hand and “fly” around your husband’s head until he screams.

I have pulled this prank twice and it always satisfies. There’s something about cicadas, they are so substantial they don’t feel like an insect. But they look like monsters.

 

 

 

“For You”

Check out the suggested news stories under the “For You” section in my iPad news feed. Notice a trend?

Dead kid.
Almost dead kid.
Dead kids.

All from People Magazine.

I don’t believe I have read any news stories about dead kids recently, from People Magazine or not. Have I? If I did, they didn’t stick with me. Maybe this is a test to see if I’m a child killer.

 

Fancy Like

The Applebee’s ‘Fancy Like’ commercial is getting the same airplay as “HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD,” which is to say it appears at every commercial break. 

Thankfully, HEAD ON didn’t have a catchy tune and a special dance.

Fancy Like does.

This means that every commercial break I think, “You say ‘Bougie’ like it’s a good thing. Read your Marx and stop bragging about being bourgeois, you oppressors.”

Then I realized I am the bougiest of all, and I do like Applebee’s fajitas and applaud them for jumping on that viral marketing and bringing back the Oreo shake, and for beating out Wendy’s and Natural Light, and good for the songwriter for writing a song that panders to three massive  companies. I also like the lyrics and the tune. I just don’t want to hear it every 20 minutes.

But that was earlier this week. Evidently this commercial flamed out like a Bourbon Street Steak after a few days. Viewers hate it.

I can only assume this is planned and that soon we see the Wendy’s cut followed by the Natty cut.

Weekly Paint Progress: 9/9

This week the flycatcher-yellow sundials went from this:

… to this:

While I was muddying up the yellow, a fly became enraged and dive-bombed my head. (Actually, opinions vary on if the yellow color is attractive to flies, but all flypaper is that same color.)

I still need to add detail to the big and little stones and the sundials, then I can pack this up and turn it to the wall so it doesn’t attract the flies. 

Weekly Paint Progress: 9/2

This week the sundials went from this:

… to this:

Details soon! 

Milk

Mom’s friend Carleen would buy a quart of milk every week, and if she had any left over from the previous week she would pour it out.

I know she did this because Mom was so scandalized she would not let it go until “Aunt” Carleen explained there was only one spot for the milk and having milk in two locations in the refrigerator Would Not Do, and Carleen felt strongly about what Would Not Do and what Would.

This past year I have come out strongly on Team Carleen. Gary gets a quart of milk a week for his cereal, and he uses all but one half cup before the new quart comes in. I’ve been taking one for the team and chugging that milk, but really, I could use those calories for something better. So I have begun pouring out the half cup, just like Carleen.

It’s Gary’s milk, and he feels strongly that the symmetry of one Quart one Week should be maintained. 

Perhaps this is why I have been having these partial-waking episodes in which I think Mom is still with us. If I would just give her a minute she would say, “so I see you’re as crazy as Carleen now.”

Weekly Paint Progress: 8/26

This week the sundials went from this:

… to this:

These are all going to look the same until the details come in.

Review: GasLight (1944) vs Gaslight (1940)

In 2012 I watched the movie Gaslight (1944). I think everyone knows the term “gaslighting” and that it got its name from this movie. Only it didn’t - there was a 1940 British movie version four years before the Ingrid Bergman/ Angela Lansbury 1944 version.

I wasn’t interested in the 1940 version until I read that in 1944 the studio making the Ingrid Bergman version bought up all the copies of the 1940s version. Why? Why? Because the 1940 version (seen here) makes the 1944 version look sick, in my opinion.

This is not what critics evidently believe, but I disagree. The early version clips along at less than 90 minutes, while the 1944 version packs in backstory and plods for just shy of two hours. The husband is far more evil in the early version - there’s no reason to torture his wife except he’s just an asshole. It’s 1940 no explanation why people were being evil or fragile, in 1940 they just are. 

And now, of course before 1940 there was a play (Gas Light/aka Angel Street), and now that I’ve heard the radio dramatization it’s almost word for word the 1940s movie.

What is really terrifying? The term “gaslighting” didn’t come to mean psychological manipulation until the sixties. I suppose in the interval the practice was just called “married life.”

 

 

Review: The Mitchells Against the Machines

I know it’s been out for a while, but I only just saw The Mitchells Against the Machines and it’s as if Hyperbole and a Half  became a movie. Not the plot - there are no geese in the plot, no sedated party-goers (“Parp?”), none of that, but there’s just something about the animation and the humor in TMATM that favors that blog.

Like this:

Or this:

Also, there’s a nice reference to 1990s toys that I particularly enjoyed. 

Finally, Olivia Coleman is in it, so there you go. Go watch if you have Netflix and you haven’t seen it already.

Weekly Paint Progress: 8/19

This week the wall of sundials went from this barely there stencil of nothing:

… to this:

Tasmania: Pronounciation

Years ago I was at a party with someone who had lived in Tasmania. Or, as she pronounced it:

“Tes-min-EE-yuh.”

“No,” I said. “Taz-MAY-nee-yuh.”

She corrected me. “That’s not how it’s pronounced.”

”That’s how it should be pronounced,” I said, and I stand by that, because the people would then be Taz-Maniacs, and what could be better?

I recently saw the new Hannah Gadsby show in which she claims she is from “Hobart, in tiz-MAAAAAAAAY-neyuh,” said as written. 

“Good on you,” I thought, because I had already picked up Australian five minutes in. And it is a good, very good show, not as impactful as Nanette but still good.

Could This Be Big Dot?

Big Dot, world traveller (spelled that way for international inclusivity), runs TravelSkite.

Her blog is about the connections and coincidences that bring us together through travel.

I know that she’s been to Rapa Nui. (I recently used that name she taught me instead of “Easter Island,” and it elevated my status at work.)

So is it possible that this photo I saw on Facebook might contain an image of Big Dot herself? Would that be too much of a coincidence?

Maybe? 


Not as blond as Big Dot, and this would be an unflattering photo, but glasses, forearms - could it be? That would be the ultimate coincidence.

 

Dog Update

Evidently my stalker dog next door told the new dog next door that I am a constant source of amusement, so now they are both stalking me. 

Here’s the problem:  Honey and I had a system. I’d hang over the dance, she’d jump up for head pats, then she’d lie on the ground and I’d stick my arm through the fence and rub her belly.

New dog does not follow the system. I lean over the fence to pat heads, and though I am deliberately spreading my arms as far apart as possible to accommodate all dogs, new dog will only accepts pats from the hand that is patting the Original Dog, Honey. If Honey lays down for a belly rub, New Dog leaps on Honey and shoves in between to steal the belly rub. 

So, I have gone from being ignored to being hounded. I’m sure later on both dogs will shun me again, but for today I am adored.

Weekly Paint Progress: 8/12

So here’s a big photo of all the sundials and the times of day they were taken:

(Yes, the sundial’s accuracy is a little iffy.)

I know it looks like the same image over and over - I may need to exaggerate a bit.

It’s very pale because the stencil’s just been traced in so far - for some reason my ethics allow me to trace a photo if I’m making duplicates like this. There’s still room for error: I missed some rocks in the one on the top left.

Weekly Paint Progress: 8/5

I liked the multiple bird baths. I liked the three chances to get something right. Working on three versions of the same thing allowed me to break away from the idea that I have to duplicate the one true version. 

So this week, the new subject is my new nemesis:

I need to wait till the sun’s out to take the photos, though. And that’s right where it was when it caught my toe crotch. That might need to move to a sunnier and safer spot. 

Not the Point

I have posted often about how impressed I am with hotels that take the end of the toilet paper and fold it into a point.

I recently became aware that there is a toilet paper with wavy perforations:

It would seem the Charmin people tested this out. 
And I say: Test this? This is like when they rush drugs through the FDA for humanitarian reasons. Get this on the market; screw the test.

 

Review: The Little Foxes

Two things struck me about the Bette Davis classic The Little Foxes.

1. There were no foxes.
2. I knew I had watched the movie a long time ago, and I especially remembered the staircase scene.  But I was confused seeing it this time, because the staircase was way smaller and darker than I remembered.
   
   Turns out what I remembered was the Carol Burnett parody.

Weekly Paint Progress: 7/29

Done with the bird baths. 

This was last week:

Here is this week:

This is the original:

I finally like it. The slant of the light in the morning is all off, and I never felt like I was getting the colors right, but now that I look at it side by side it isn’t too bad.

Cleveland Indians

How was this ever okay? The term Indian became controversial in my adult life, somehow — I mean, we knew we didn’t live in India — but the grinning mascot could not ever have been okay. Could it? 

I like the new name better … but, couldn’t the cartoon fastball have used more work?

It’s less offensive, sure, but it’s no Cardinal’s logo.

(Cool logos, even though the intertwined letters were stolen from the Catholic church.)

Olympics

I must have been partially asleep during the Olympic opening ceremonies. I “remember” these things, and yet they can’t be real:

The announcer said that the Winter Olympics are in “just a few months” and I thought, “The Winter Olympics are in just a few months and no one is canceling them?” But it’s true, if they start in February, technically they are in six months, right?

There was an ad for a weird all-electric car that talks to you, and Gary said, “That is our next car,” and I thought, “That is our current car,” but ours doesn’t use the floor mats to indicate who it is addressing.

Then Gary turned the Parade of Nations into the Parade of Mask-Shaming, with particular contempt for Nose-Exposers. 

A globe of drones appeared in the sky:

… and then they didn’t show it flying away, or exploding, or turning into a giant virus, or else they did and I was asleep.

I was particularly perplexed by the end of the ceremony, when they had celebrities sing the song Imagine in English (at least the parts I was awake for). Huh, I thought, shouldn’t the celebrity from each country sing in their native language?

And then, worse, they sang the Olympic Anthem in English. I began to suspect that this isn’t an “International” Olympic Committee. I mean, I know NBC pre-tapes the opening ceremony and edits it to focus on the English version of speeches, and the First Lady, and so on, but did they sing the Olympic Anthem in every language and then just air the English one? Or they might have and I just slept through it.

Weekly Paint Progress: 7/22

This week the morning went from this:

… to this:

The noon version went from this:

… to this:

The evening went from this:

… to this:

One more swing and they’ll be done. 

Fox Conflict

Fox was busy last week.

He chased what I imagine was a bunny:

He relaxed enough to sit down and have raccoons sneak up on him:

He did a little side step in the yard after a squirrel knocked the camera off kilter:

Speaking of wildlife …

News channels and People Magazine have had much to say about how this raccoon looks embarrassed after firefighters caught him raiding a house.

That raccoon isn’t embarrassed. He doesn’t like the light. It’s night time, he says, why is it so bright in here? And also, where are the big piles of nuts, both shelled and unshelled?

Poor baby.

Stimulus

So, okay, people with kids now get an extra $250-$350 per child as a tax credit because of the pandemic. That’s a good thing. Don’t begrudge that a bit.

But, why? It would make sense if unemployed parents got the extra cash, because I know kids are expensive. But these are working parents. I’d say it was so you could get daycare, but that’s nowhere near enough money for daycare.

All I can think is that it’s some social-engineering-dystopian-scheme to pay people to re-populate the earth that’s been semi-decimated from the pandemic. Fewer people, fewer consumers to have confidence? Fewer Amazon purchases, hence more global depression? 

There has to be a bottom line reason here: Uncle Sam doesn’t just feel sorry for Mom and Dad.

Review: Detour De Force

Friday I was playing Code Monkey by Jonathon Coulton on repeat at Maximum Alexa Volume just so I could hear this line over and over again:

“Code Monkey think/ maybe manager / wanna write / goddamned / login page himself”

… but then the new Barenaked Ladies CD Detour de Force landed on my porch.

Overall, 14 tracks. I am only guessing about themes here, but:

3 Songs about being a child: Man Made Lake, Big Back Yard, Live Well

2 Songs about being in a band: Good Life, Roll Out

2 Songs criticizing Current Dim-witted Fascist Society: Flat Earth, New Disaster 

3 Vague Worrisome Songs about Relationships: Flip, Here Together, God Forbid

2 Songs Complaining about Suburban Life: Bylaw, The National Park

2 Songs Remaining That Sound Like Other Songs : Paul Chambers which sounds like a 60’s LP my Dad would have, Internal Dynamo (which sounds like Liz Phair on Exile In Guyville)

I couldn’t find one typo. I thought there was one (b-apostrophe-y), but it’s a reference to BNL evidently hiring the tour manager away from Great Big Sea.

My favorite song is Man Made Lake, for the lyrics and progression, and then after that New Disaster, primarily for the rhyme “Stay tuned for scary monsters … But first a word from sponsors.”

My very favorite line overall is from Good Life: “It comes to pass / it doesn’t come to stay.”