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shadowkatWe keep having thunderstorms at night, clearing in the mornings. What can I say it's been a stormy summer - albeit not as bad as Western Europe, which has suffered an insane amount of flooding. My heart goes out to my German friends, and those in the Netherlands.
Cleaned today - robot vacuum, tub, and got rid of the herb garden, which was down to just the basil. Cleaned out the aeorgarden and unplugged it - so that may help on the electric bill. It has a heat lamp that is on for about 12 hours a day - usually at night - to save on electricity. Regarding the aeorgarden? Mixed feelings or mixed reviews. It grows a limited number of herbs and veggies, and it requires a lot of pruning - which I suck at. I really have no clue how to prune plants. It does remind you when to water - which worked better when I was working full time at home, and when to feed the plants. But after a bit, the roots take over the tank and blend in together. I honestly don't think the plants are meant to survive more than three to six months.
Let's face it - I am not a gardener. Planting and nurturing plant life isn't my thing. It jumped over me and landed on my brother.
Photo is of a canon and a garden in front of a brick brownstown, which is doubling as a historic site. Apparently someone put in a canon, and a historic placard - explaining how on this site ages ago, The Battle of Brooklyn was fought in the Revolutionary War. Meanwhile we're trying to safe guard African Graves in the neighborhood - which are of slaves, buried in an area that they want to build a community center and housing development. Took the photo on my walk around the neighborhood - walked down a few blocks I'd not gone down previously - and discovered that the Windsor Terrace Brooklyn Public Library is just three to five blocks away, much closer than the one on Courteylou Road, there's also a Yoga Studio nearby, with Yoga classes. I may look into it. Does explain why I keep seeing all these women with yoga mats wandering around the neighborhood.
I prefer to do it at home - but I may check out a class in 2022.
There was a huge church across the street from the library and yoga studio.
I don't know what denomination it is - guessing Catholic, but I could be wrong about that. Religion has gotten way too politicized in the last twenty years for me to be able to handle it. Somewhere along the way - a lot of dingbats decided to mix religion with political ideology, and now I find it almost impossible to deal with it. Not that it wasn't always that way to one degree or another, but in the last twenty years - it's gotten increasingly worse.
Everything has become politicized, I'm tired of it. You can't discuss anything any longer without falling into politics - although my Dad had a saying back in the day: "Put more than two people in a room together and you have politics."
******
Anyhow, finished binge-watching "Virgin River S3" - mother and I agreed that it wasn't as well written as the previous seasons, and didn't make a lot of sense in spots. At one point, we both (separately) wonder why we were bothering with it. But it is an easy show to watch while you are doing other things, and requires little focus. The final episode of the "Season" had about six cliff-hangers. While not much happened during the season itself. And they didn't really wrap up or conclude the prior season's cliff-hanger. I was annoyed. Plus, half of the problems would have been resolved if people would just talk to each other. They talk - but they just don't say anything - except lots of platitudes. There were about two in every episode.
Me: There's lots of platitudes in this season. It felt like reading a lot of Hallmark Cards.
Mother: Yep, it's very Hallmarky.
So no, don't recommend it - well not unless you want fluff.
Followed it up with Gunpowder Milkshake - which stars Karen Gillian, Lena Headly, Carla Guiglino, Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeogh, and Paul Giametti. It's a bloody pulp fiction style film - neo-noir, with a lot of art deco sets. Heavy on the design, short on plot, and character development.
But I enjoyed it. Kind of cathartic actually. I got to watch Karen Gillian, Lena Headly, Carla Guiglino, Angela Bassett and Michelle Yeogh graphically kill a bunch of Eastern European thugs. It's cartoonish. But fun.
Felt a bit like a live-action anime, to be honest. It may well be. There were a lot of Japanese fetishes here and there. Such as we open on the lead character watching My Nieghbor Torturo, wearing a Japanese T-shirt, and the art deco design is straight out of Japanese anime. (I picked up on it because I'm familiar with Japanese anime.)
The plot is kind of a subversive gender flip on a noir trope. The hit person is played Karen Gillian, who towers over everyone in the cast. Throughout most of the film she wears a bowling alley jacket and pants, with Gutterbowl and a lion on the back. It's bright yellow with stripes. And zipped up. Her red hair is pulled up in a pig tail. Lena Headly who plays her mother, who is an assassin, is dressed in a long brown leather duster, brown leather pants (not sexy pants), and wears gun holsters. Angela Bassett and Michelle Yeoh wear men's suits, and Carla G is dressed like a librarian, an old school one, with glasses and a bun. None of the women are dressed for sex appeal - and there is no female nudity or even the suggestion of it in the film. Plus the child is a little girl with curly hair, wearing a puffy yellow jacket.
Gillian is able to take out five or six men at once. In the beginning she massacres ten. And she's a hired gun for old male firm - simply called the firm. She's hired by Paul Giametti - who raised her after her mother left, due to a fuck-up - to kill an accountant who stole money from the Firm. She locates the accountant, and kills him - only to discover that he stole the money to save his daughter - who is being held captive by nameless thugs.
Sam (Gillian's character) decides to save the daughter - and loses the money in the process. She also accidentally killed one of the firm's client's son. So, she's basically in trouble big time. Giametti sends her to her mother, but she's followed by the thugs. And they escape, with the little girl in tow to her mother's friends place - the library.
All hell breaks loose.
Kudos to the writers for making the villains smart and actually deadly. The women don't have an easy time of it.
So, if you have Netflix and want to watch cool female action heroes kill a bunch of Eastern European Male Thugs - this is the film for you.
***
So, one of the blocks I walked down had all these wooden signs hanging around tree trunks. Art done by the kids on the block thanking essential workers, such as teachers, health care providers, etc during the pandemic.
Mostly rainbows, and various signs signifying their love and gratitude.
Below is a picture of a rainbow and a few flowers hung around one of the tree trunks by the kids.
Not many folks wearing masks any longer on my walks. I'm not either, I just have it around my wrist. I figure, much like they do, that I'm safe enough outdoors. I'm vaccinated, most others are too, and the sunlight and breeze mean it is unlikely to infect me, also I'm not close enough to anyone for it to matter. We pass each other very briefly.
I only wear masks if I'm indoors and not six feet away. But it depends. The rules keep changing and are admittedly confusing at the moment. They are, however, still mandated on all public transportation, even though I do see idiots without them.
Leaving you with another photo of flowers...
Cleaned today - robot vacuum, tub, and got rid of the herb garden, which was down to just the basil. Cleaned out the aeorgarden and unplugged it - so that may help on the electric bill. It has a heat lamp that is on for about 12 hours a day - usually at night - to save on electricity. Regarding the aeorgarden? Mixed feelings or mixed reviews. It grows a limited number of herbs and veggies, and it requires a lot of pruning - which I suck at. I really have no clue how to prune plants. It does remind you when to water - which worked better when I was working full time at home, and when to feed the plants. But after a bit, the roots take over the tank and blend in together. I honestly don't think the plants are meant to survive more than three to six months.
Let's face it - I am not a gardener. Planting and nurturing plant life isn't my thing. It jumped over me and landed on my brother.
Photo is of a canon and a garden in front of a brick brownstown, which is doubling as a historic site. Apparently someone put in a canon, and a historic placard - explaining how on this site ages ago, The Battle of Brooklyn was fought in the Revolutionary War. Meanwhile we're trying to safe guard African Graves in the neighborhood - which are of slaves, buried in an area that they want to build a community center and housing development. Took the photo on my walk around the neighborhood - walked down a few blocks I'd not gone down previously - and discovered that the Windsor Terrace Brooklyn Public Library is just three to five blocks away, much closer than the one on Courteylou Road, there's also a Yoga Studio nearby, with Yoga classes. I may look into it. Does explain why I keep seeing all these women with yoga mats wandering around the neighborhood.
I prefer to do it at home - but I may check out a class in 2022.
There was a huge church across the street from the library and yoga studio.
I don't know what denomination it is - guessing Catholic, but I could be wrong about that. Religion has gotten way too politicized in the last twenty years for me to be able to handle it. Somewhere along the way - a lot of dingbats decided to mix religion with political ideology, and now I find it almost impossible to deal with it. Not that it wasn't always that way to one degree or another, but in the last twenty years - it's gotten increasingly worse.
Everything has become politicized, I'm tired of it. You can't discuss anything any longer without falling into politics - although my Dad had a saying back in the day: "Put more than two people in a room together and you have politics."
******
Anyhow, finished binge-watching "Virgin River S3" - mother and I agreed that it wasn't as well written as the previous seasons, and didn't make a lot of sense in spots. At one point, we both (separately) wonder why we were bothering with it. But it is an easy show to watch while you are doing other things, and requires little focus. The final episode of the "Season" had about six cliff-hangers. While not much happened during the season itself. And they didn't really wrap up or conclude the prior season's cliff-hanger. I was annoyed. Plus, half of the problems would have been resolved if people would just talk to each other. They talk - but they just don't say anything - except lots of platitudes. There were about two in every episode.
Me: There's lots of platitudes in this season. It felt like reading a lot of Hallmark Cards.
Mother: Yep, it's very Hallmarky.
So no, don't recommend it - well not unless you want fluff.
Followed it up with Gunpowder Milkshake - which stars Karen Gillian, Lena Headly, Carla Guiglino, Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeogh, and Paul Giametti. It's a bloody pulp fiction style film - neo-noir, with a lot of art deco sets. Heavy on the design, short on plot, and character development.
But I enjoyed it. Kind of cathartic actually. I got to watch Karen Gillian, Lena Headly, Carla Guiglino, Angela Bassett and Michelle Yeogh graphically kill a bunch of Eastern European thugs. It's cartoonish. But fun.
Felt a bit like a live-action anime, to be honest. It may well be. There were a lot of Japanese fetishes here and there. Such as we open on the lead character watching My Nieghbor Torturo, wearing a Japanese T-shirt, and the art deco design is straight out of Japanese anime. (I picked up on it because I'm familiar with Japanese anime.)
The plot is kind of a subversive gender flip on a noir trope. The hit person is played Karen Gillian, who towers over everyone in the cast. Throughout most of the film she wears a bowling alley jacket and pants, with Gutterbowl and a lion on the back. It's bright yellow with stripes. And zipped up. Her red hair is pulled up in a pig tail. Lena Headly who plays her mother, who is an assassin, is dressed in a long brown leather duster, brown leather pants (not sexy pants), and wears gun holsters. Angela Bassett and Michelle Yeoh wear men's suits, and Carla G is dressed like a librarian, an old school one, with glasses and a bun. None of the women are dressed for sex appeal - and there is no female nudity or even the suggestion of it in the film. Plus the child is a little girl with curly hair, wearing a puffy yellow jacket.
Gillian is able to take out five or six men at once. In the beginning she massacres ten. And she's a hired gun for old male firm - simply called the firm. She's hired by Paul Giametti - who raised her after her mother left, due to a fuck-up - to kill an accountant who stole money from the Firm. She locates the accountant, and kills him - only to discover that he stole the money to save his daughter - who is being held captive by nameless thugs.
Sam (Gillian's character) decides to save the daughter - and loses the money in the process. She also accidentally killed one of the firm's client's son. So, she's basically in trouble big time. Giametti sends her to her mother, but she's followed by the thugs. And they escape, with the little girl in tow to her mother's friends place - the library.
All hell breaks loose.
Kudos to the writers for making the villains smart and actually deadly. The women don't have an easy time of it.
So, if you have Netflix and want to watch cool female action heroes kill a bunch of Eastern European Male Thugs - this is the film for you.
***
So, one of the blocks I walked down had all these wooden signs hanging around tree trunks. Art done by the kids on the block thanking essential workers, such as teachers, health care providers, etc during the pandemic.
Mostly rainbows, and various signs signifying their love and gratitude.
Below is a picture of a rainbow and a few flowers hung around one of the tree trunks by the kids.
Not many folks wearing masks any longer on my walks. I'm not either, I just have it around my wrist. I figure, much like they do, that I'm safe enough outdoors. I'm vaccinated, most others are too, and the sunlight and breeze mean it is unlikely to infect me, also I'm not close enough to anyone for it to matter. We pass each other very briefly.
I only wear masks if I'm indoors and not six feet away. But it depends. The rules keep changing and are admittedly confusing at the moment. They are, however, still mandated on all public transportation, even though I do see idiots without them.
Leaving you with another photo of flowers...
no subject
Date: 2021-07-19 02:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-19 06:47 am (UTC)Just finished posting a new Images From My Hometown set over on my blog, see what you think!
:-)
no subject
Date: 2021-07-19 02:38 pm (UTC)Yeah, a few shows have stuff drag out rather longer simply because people didn't talk to each other usefully. E.g., while not a bad offender, on Netflix, while I liked it overall, does have some moments where moody people cut others off before they can tell them a thing they might have liked to know.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-19 03:14 pm (UTC)Yeah, the miscommunication trope is a favorite among romance writers and relationship dramas. I can handle it for the most part, but sometimes it gets silly and would have avoided so many problems.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-19 04:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-19 05:33 pm (UTC)